These days everyone is encouraged to “look at the source” of information they take in. “Don’t believe everything you hear” is a common refrain.
Well, my husband and I have the same policy with TV and movies. Certain people are in the “respected recommender” category. If Alissa or Ann or Gina tell us we should watch something because we’ll love it, we listen. I even jot it down for future reference.
Other people are in “the grain of salt” category. We’ll listen to their recommendations, but we have to consider the source. They might be someone we like very much personally, but we just don’t share their taste in TV and movies.
Some people who were once under consideration to be respected recommenders have recently been categorized “grain of salt” based on highly touting a pretty stupid show on Netflix. (I’m not going to say the name of the show, because many are finding it delightful.)
Now that Boston Globe TV critic Matthew Gilbert retired, I feel a little lost sometimes. If you’re the kind of person that eagerly awaited each new episode of Succession and is sad that both What We do in The Shadows and Somebody Somewhere just ended forever, then I’m listening.
We’re already aware and are excited for new seasons of Severance and White Lotus starting soon. And I went ahead and bought tickets to see A Complete Unknown on New Year’s Eve, because even though it’s getting mixed reviews, Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan. And I like to see all the big rock biopics on a big screen, with that big Hollywood sound.
I’m reblogging Dan’s review of Conclave. If you like movies and you’re not familiar with Dan’s blog, you’re missing out! He’s the real deal: a professional-level film critic with expansive knowledge of film history and the film industry. I think he’s about 30 years younger than me so occasionally I know that a film he liked is just not for me (because I’m too damn old), but I concur 100% with his opinion of Conclave. As I said in the comments, even my longstanding contempt for the Catholic Church could not keep me from this one.
And another good thing about Dan: he doesn’t spoil an ending. It’s safe to read his reviews, even if you haven’t seen the film yet.
I’m going to go ahead and give Wicked (the movie) two thumbs up. Five stars. A standing O.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. The two leads (Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba) are captivating and the movie magic is off the charts. It’s sort of Harry Potter meets Willy Wonka meets Legally Blonde, yet it retains all the heart of the original, beloved Wicked Broadway musical.
If you know the Broadway musical, the movie is Act One only. It ends when gravity is defied. Part two will be out next year and I will most certainly be getting a ticket.
I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so I won’t describe my favorite scenes or the very cool cameo appearances, but I will tell you that our movie theater of 300+ seats did not have an empty one last night and people clapped at the end. Even straight men seemed to like it. My husband described it as “good!” and said he liked the story (a rave for him, for a musical).
Despite the ban, I did sing along quietly in a few parts, but with the “Dolby Atmos” immersive surround sound, I don’t think anyone heard me. Hollywood pulled out ALL the stops for this one. Go ahead and see it.
We did our bit to help support the collective excitement by wearing the official Wicked colors to the show 🩷💚
We haven’t been to the movies in quite some time, but decided to venture out to see Heretic starring Hugh Grant last night. That’s right, we went to see a horror movie on the big screen. That’s unusual and out of character for us as we are officially old now. My husband, at 62, qualifies for the senior discount at movie theaters and everyone knows horror movies are for the young (who love to be frightened en masse).
But Hugh Grant is one of “ours.” At 64, he’s a young boomer (like my husband) and I feel like I’ve known him all of my adult life. From his very earliest period piece Maurice in 1987 (a tale of gay love in repressed Edwardian England), through all the rom coms (Love Actually, Notting Hill…), scandals, arrests and love affairs (why couldn’t he just work things out with Liz Hurley?), I followed it all.
In Heretic, he’s smart and evil, but still somewhat charming (that upperclass Brit accent, those twinkling eyes, the modest smile). The two young actresses who play Mormon missionaries entrapped by Grant are fantastic. There are many long monologues and dialogues about world religions that make you think. At one point, the young women are forced to make a choice between two doors—one labeled Belief and the other Disbelief—to try to escape Grant’s metal-reinforced house of horrors. But the scary parts aren’t all that scary. I didn’t scream once. It’s more of a thought-provoking thriller.
Bottom line: it’s worth seeing Grant in this role if you’ve “known” him your entire adult life like I have. Technically, he’s a Baby Boomer, but culturally, he’s GenX. Apparently this group now has a name and it’s Generation Jones.
Hugh Grant with Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East in Heretic
Hot couple Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley back in the day
An insightful post by Singing Gecko reminded me that I recently watched—and highly recommend—Woman of the Hour on Netflix. It stars Anna Kendrick, who also directed it. Quite a feat. She is extremely talented.
I think men especially should watch it.
We all know that the vast majority of men are not serial killers…or rapists…or even misogynists (despite the election results), but they’ve really never walked in our shoes. The “trapped” feeling when alone in an unlit area with a large man lurking is hard to describe in words. The mixture of fear, self-doubt (am I overreacting?) and calculation (what if I run to the stairs? will someone hear me if I scream?) is extremely well-portrayed in Woman of the Hour.
Woman of the Hour is a dramatic, bizarre and entertaining true story that helps explain why so many women recently said they’d choose the bear.
Even better, one of the major settings of the film is The Dating Game—a classic TV game show that elder GenXers like me will remember from childhood, especially if your parents let you watch tons of TV like mine did.
Tony Hale, Anna Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto in one of The Dating Game scenes in “Woman of the Hour.”
First, I learned a new word on Bluesky and it is “kakistocracy.”
Use it in a sentence: “The United States will become a kakistocracy soon.”
Second, I got my tickets for the new Wicked movie starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. We’re going Thanksgiving weekend and I fully expect the audience to be chock full of musical theater kids (young and old) who WILL sing along. My husband said he wanted to go with me, so he’ll just have to deal with it. (I will be one of the singing people.)
Did you get your tickets yet?
Third, I will be spending the day with the world’s most adorable and perfect infant today. I thought my own kids were pretty darn cute, but my granddaughter is off-the-charts gorgeous. And it’s not just me saying that…there is a general consensus that she’s the prettiest little dark-haired, dark-eyed baby that anyone has ever seen! There is absolutely no danger that anyone has to fake it, like Jerry and Elaine did in that classic Seinfeld scene. 🤣
Have a great day, if you can. If not, just keep going.
I’m making a sincere attempt to leave my political anger behind for the weekend…there will be no F bombs in this post.
I’m from Massachusetts. We don’t say “y’all,” except when it rhymes. Well, it’s fall y’all and it’s absolutely gorgeous here. If you’ve never been to New England in the fall, you should add it to your bucket list.
After a few days of true sweater weather in the 50s, it’s going to be back in the 70s today.
A view of a pond along the rail trail I walk dailyA skeleton seated on a tractor beside the rail trailLate afternoon sun shining through some greenery along the rail trail
Speaking of “my” rail trail, there is an empty field that runs alongside it:
Interestingly, this field was used as a shooting location three years ago for “Salem’s Lot,” which is now streaming on Max. The movie is based on a book by Stephen King, the prolific horror writer from Maine.
Back in the fall of 2021 on my daily walk, I watched Hollywood transform this field into a 1970s drive-in, complete with numerous cars from the era.
This is the Salem’s Lot set under construction in October 2021. The blue building on the right is the projection booth for the drive-in.
As you can imagine, there was a lot of gawking by walkers and cyclists along the rail trail. It was still peak COVID, so many people were working remotely and there wasn’t much else going on. This was fascinating! By the time the filming actually started, there were production assistants keeping people off the field. But you could still see a lot of the activity from the rail trail. One day I saw what I thought were zombies crossing the field.
Well, last night we watched Salem’s Lot on Max and I discovered they weren’t zombies—they were vampires! As you might imagine, I paused the TV several times during the drive-in movie scenes to orient myself.
The beginning of one of the drive-in movie scenes in Salem’s Lot on Max. The blue projection booth building is on the left.
I’m sorry to report that it’s not a very good film, BUT if it’s free to you, it might be fun to watch it on Halloween night while you answer the doorbell for trick or treaters.
If you’re a GenXer like me, it might also bring back some bits of your childhood you’d forgotten. The story is set in 1975 and the kids in the film are about the same age I was then…10.
As a ten-year old, “Stranger Danger” was constantly lurking. Adults were always warning us about the possibility of somebody with a puppy or a candy bar luring us into their car. I never worried one bit about school shootings, but I did worry a lot about getting kidnapped!
When that first little kid gets snatched in the film, I thought to myself “stranger danger.”
As we walked back through the first floor of The Red Lion Inn to the elevator, I finally could speak to my friend Gail openly. “Do we believe this lady or what?” I should have known that a 251-year old hotel has only one elevator and that our new friend was headed to the exact same place we were. Although she had taken a slightly different route, she ended up right behind us. Hopefully she didn’t hear me say that!
She got into the elevator with us and we all smiled broadly and said how much we’d enjoyed our time together on the porch. The elevator stopped on the second floor and we said goodnight again as she got out. Gail and I rode up to the third floor and opened our antique door with the old key.
Before we were even inside our double room, we began plotting our Google searches. We figured it would take us about 60 seconds (2 minutes tops) to figure out if this woman was truly fascinating or full of shit. You see, Gail and I are advanced sleuths. She has a Master’s Degree in Journalism and I spent 30+ years in fundraising. Figuring out who people are, who they know, and how much money they have was all part of the job. (Private trusts and family foundations were my specialty.)
We jumped into our side-by-side beds and began checking her out. This was going to be fun! Well, two minutes went by and we hadn’t made much progress. We found one woman who looked a bit like her on Instagram and Gail sent a friend request.
We finally found the antique store owning daughter. She looked just like her mom in the photo. There was a bio of the daughter that said she’d been raised in western Massachusetts and Belgium by a British mother and German father. So all that was true!
We still couldn’t find anything on our new friend herself. What the heck? Were we spelling her last name wrong? It was a common-sounding last name, but spelled “the German way” she had said. (Neither of us studied German.) Finally, I found the daughter on Facebook. She had her maiden name in parentheses. A HA! We had been missing an S.
Then we found her. LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. There were videos of her on the land where she’s building her solar farm, on the Miami condo balcony, on her recent trip to Lake Como. It was all checking out. I even found the 990 (tax return) of her pediatric cancer foundation. It’s a legitimate charity.
Her bio on her Instagram profile says, “Entrepreneur, Life Coach, Neuroencoding Specialist, Sport Fanatik 🏀🔥🏈, Cruising 🛳️ addicted, Childhood Cancer Advocate 🎗️” and includes links to her foundation and her life coaching website.
So, it was all true. What a fascinating woman!
One mystery remained. The out-of-the-picture German engineer husband. Who was he and what happened to him? The next day Gail figured out his name and I learned that he had died four years ago. He was clearly older than her and a very big deal in plastics. One LinkedIn commenter described him as the “alpha one” of the industry. So…that explains where the money comes from, although we think they split up before he died.
We both followed our new friend on Instagram and Gail sent her a private message to which she responded, “It was such wonderful surprise and highlight of my trip meeting you and Mary too!! I hope we get to meet again!!”
So maybe we’ll see her again someday. Who knows? Life is short and fascinating people are hard to come by.
A name has been chosen, but not released. We know it’s two syllables and a bit “old fashioned” but it’s not a family name. Hmmmm….Hazel? (Nope) Alice? (Stop guessing)
A nurse asked…and was told! (she liked it). And it’s already on a baby hat!
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