"Pretty Baby Brooke Shields"

This two-part documentary is very well done.  Nicely structured and unexpectedly layered, it hits on a lot of topics of interest and weaves them through the narrative with the voices of Ms. Shields, friends, colleagues and ... experts.  Mental health experts, feminists, you name it.  These voices are critical and provide a strong context for the information being presented.  The work ranges from being analytical to personal and connects the points in a smooth quilt of a rich life.  As said in the documentary, Brooke Shields is a human being but she is often seen more as a symbol or an icon rather than an individual.  People see themselves in Ms. Shields -- a mirror reflecting their interests, needs and experiences rather than actually seeing her.  Ironically, the documentary paradoxically shatters this idea and reinforces it.  By the end, I learned much more about Brooke Shields than I was ever aware of.  But I also responded to the work because of my own connections -- a complicated relationship with a parent, growing up with an alcoholic, being treated as a "thing" on a film set rather than a fully realized person.  Perhaps the message here is that nothing is simple.  We are all kaleidoscopes.  The different colors come out depending on the light.  That's one of many lessons to consider in watching this.  Brava, Ms. Shields.  Keep speaking your truth, woman.

"Marcel the Shell with Shoes On"

In the style of a documentary this short and entertaining stop-motion film does the impossible ... it takes an ordinary object and instills it with oodles of life.  The film is absolutely charming.  Marcel, the shell, is an adorable fun creature who will grab your heart.  Dean Fleischer Camp created the character and envisioned the story, but Marcel's biggest asset is his voice, performed by Jenny Slate.  His awkward, humble nature comes out with every word.  There is also so much said in his pauses.  You will find yourself identifying with his unsureness of the world while his eagerness and innocence all speak to you.  You can be inspired, saddened and learn a lot about life while watching this little guy.  I smiled, laughed, and shed a tear.  For a nothing kind of story, I found myself on the edge of my seat, unable to look away.  It only took moments for me to become so attached that I was praying there would be a happy resolution.  It's a special thing ... a tiny tale which says so much.  Big thumbs up.

"Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris"

This remake of the 1992 TV film has a lot to offer.  It's less about the humor and more grounded.  It's fun, engaging and has a few subtle messages along the way.  It's gentle and sweet, touching and warm.  In a "interesting" time, this film has true charm.  Much of that comes from the performance of Lesley Manville, who plays the titular character with layers upon layers.  Yes, she is working class, but no, she's not stupid.  Yes, she wants a dress far beyond her means, but not because of material greed.  Life has handed her a good number of lemons.  She has the courage to dream of something more and is quietly determined to stick to her dreams no matter what others say.  And she is genuinely kind.  Surrounded by a strong cast we discover that these aren't caricatures, but people with their own secret yearnings and struggles.  I was completely sucked in and when Mrs. Harris gets her heart broken (more than once), I ached for her.  And then I smiled as she navigated a world which appeared so different from hers, but did so with more grace than those around her.  Brava.  Well worth watching.

"Anne Boleyn"

This streaming mini-series has a lot to offer, not the least of which is an amazing script.  I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the following exchange:  Queen Anne Boleyn, to Lady Jane Seymour, regarding a winning hand at cards, "Well, it seems the Mouse was ahead all the time".  Seymour, "I don't really understand the game".  Boleyn, "Well then, perhaps you shouldn't play".  Brilliant.  The series gets into a lot, including showing the complexities, and intelligence of Anne.  Often portrayed as a tart, a temptress, and unattractively power hungry, this show captures the grey areas.  Yes, Anne had pride and hubris, and, to some degree, it was an element in her downfall.  But the absolute truth of the matter is that England of the 1530s couldn't deal with a woman who spoke her mind.  As she is told, bluntly and cruelly, her power is in her belly, not her head.  Did she, like Icarus, reach too far?  Perhaps.  But I like this nuanced version.  One where she makes the mistakes she makes, but sees it all as it comes tumbling down -- albeit too late.  The deck, as they say, was stacked.  On a final point, I welcomed Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn, and Paapa Essiedu in the lead characters of Anne and her brother George, as they are warm, talented actors who both connected deeply with the roles.  My issue with the "color blind" casting is that it wasn't.  They were the only dark-skinned Blacks in the production.  Which made a story which isn't about race (it was very much about sexism and about religious intolerance), about race.  Feel like they could have gone further, done a "Hamilton" and just cast people across the racial spectrum, which would have made the story more holistic and less about pushing "the point."  Just my humble opinion.

"The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie

I tried.  I really did.  I love to read banned books, if for no other reason, than to tell book banners "nah nah nah nah."  However.  This book is dense.  Really dense.  It begins with two men falling out of a crashing plane.  It's metaphorical, symbolic, and most of the references are from Indian mythology or (semi) contemporary Indian cultural customs.  I understood none of it.  I plowed through.  The story swings.  In time, from character to character (seemingly unconnected).  I just couldn't keep track.  I tried to skim through.  To find a connecting thread.  I read the end before finishing it, something I NEVER do.  I still didn't get it.  I'm sure the book is brilliant.  I'm sure it's a classic.  I just didn't get one itty bitty little bit of it on any level.  So I put it down.  Which I almost never do.  But I had no choice.  This novel may have been translated into English, but the essence is of a world which I know nothing about.

"The Stranger" by Camus

Somehow I missed reading this classic.  On a ship without wifi for 12 days, I picked it up.  A short tale, I read it in a matter of hours.  And then thought about it far longer.  The story is told from the point of view of Meursault, a Frenchman living in Algiers.  His mother has died.  We drift from the funeral, to his meeting a woman, to his vacation on a beach.  Events occur and Meursault ends up on trial for murder.  In the telling, Meursault is impassionate and factual.  He relates the events as if he is not a participant, and the only emotion he ever seems to express is a slight annoyance at human proclivities.  In modern standards he might be seen as a sociopath, a psychopath, a narcissist, or someone who fits any number of other diagnosis from the DSM V.  But this wasn't written recently.  It was written by Camus at the end of WWII.  Many of the literary works which came out at the time had a dehumanizing element (people waking up as cockroaches, for one).  I have to think, given the horrors of the German occupation of France, those who survived it had to find a way to explain true evil.  They came up with characters who weren't fully human.  Meursault's ability to divide his self from his acts is one way to look at the actions of the Germans.  They desensitized themselves to the genocide they perpetrated.  They walked through the world without making connections to other people.  They set themselves apart.  Perhaps.  Who knows what Camus' real intent was?  I'm sure there are a thousand college professors with a thousand different takes on this story.  One final note.  The original French title was "The Outsider" -- which is far more accurate than "The Stranger", in my humble opinion.  The title was changed so as not to be confused with S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders" novel.  But the original title seems more on point.  Meursault was a stranger to himself, but he was an outsider to society.

"Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr

This book is so many things it is difficult to create a succinct summary.  Multiple storylines wrap around a core -- a lost Greek book about an unhappy man who leaves his home to find Utopia.  The tale is told through many eyes and many time periods.  Young people in Constantinople near the end of the Ottoman reign, a soldier in the Korean War seeks to find meaning, an old man directs children in a play about the Greek story, an unhappy young man's life spools out to the point where he is intent on doing harm, a young girl pursues a mission in a space station ... alone except for a slightly judgy computer.  There are flashbacks and flashforwards and careful reading is needed to keep track of it all, lest you be lost.  All that said, the story is both literary and accessible.  It is also sweet, sad, funny and touching.  Despite the major events unfolding this feels like a quiet story, a personal tale.  Doerr is kind of brilliant in the way he weaves symbolism and myth into each of the narratives.  It's subtle and sometimes you don't see it until everything is laid out.  Chapters are short, pacing is good and I tore through it in days.  Bravo.  A terrific addition to Mr. Doerr's impressive catalog.

"Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus

This reads like a kind of cleaned up memoir.  A woman talks about her mother's challenging path as a female scientist of the 1950s.  But it's not a memoir.  It's 100% fiction.  The fact that it reads so realistically is a credit to author Bonnie Garmus.  She connects to the reader by making the prose accessible and the character, while a bit difficult, oddly approachable.  The book also has a good deal of humor, which is unexpected given the serious life-challenges of lead character Elizabeth Zott.  It is, perhaps, the quirky character of Ms. Zott which makes the whole thing work.  Ms. Garmus has done something terrific -- she has written a seemingly simple novel which has sneaky layers and inferences.  Even the title has a half-dozen meanings.  It was a fast read and a thoughtful story.  If some of the threads come together in a convenient manner it doesn't really matter.  I felt a connection to the tale, and will make a bet that most readers, particularly the ladies, will feel the same.  Favorite quote:  "(Men) either wanted to control her, touch her, dominate her, silence her, correct her, or tell her what to do.  She didn’t understand why they couldn’t just treat her as a fellow human being, as a colleague, a friend, an equal, or even a stranger on the street, someone to whom one is automatically respectful until you find out they’ve buried a bunch of bodies in the backyard."

"Fairy Tale" by Stephen King

Honestly, I thought this was "Fairy Tales" -- a series of short stories.  On a cruise, I was looking for an easy read.  And, while I'm not a fan of horror, this one fits into King's fantasy books, not his gory fare.  It's wonderful.  A lengthy page-turner, I read it in record time.  There is a story inside a story.  The first third of the book is set in the normal world.  A teenage boy, an old man, and a dog.  And then it takes a turn.  One I didn't fully see coming.  There is travel to another world, classic fantasy and fairy tale mythology, and, of course, some battles leading to the ultimate "good vs. evil" fight.  But it's a fresh take and not one where you see things coming.  The writing is rich, the characters layered, the images described in incredible detail.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, particularly in that it was wrapped up realistically, but not neatly.  Such is the world.  Any world.  Another Bravo to a man who makes writing these brilliant books look like child's play.

"She Said"

It is almost impossible to make a film about a current news event with any kind of tension because the resolution is a given.  That being said, ever since "All the President's Men" people have tried.  "She Said" portrays the long (long, long) effort of two NY Times reporters to get to the root of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.  In terms of creating any kind of "what will happen next" energy, this film doesn't quite get there.  But it does rope you in.  Credit goes to Zoe Kazan.  She interviews woman after woman.  Hears their stories.  Identifies, feels their pain.  You see it in her face, over and over.  And because of her performance, you feel what she feels.  The hurt, anger and hopelessness builds until the viewer wants to reach through the screen and DO SOMETHING.  It's also an interesting inside view of a newsroom -- and how legality rules everything these days.  So, not perfect, but not a bad outcome for a tale where we know exactly what happens.  

"Armageddon Time"

An amazing cast heads this film which is about ... not sure.  It's one of those slice-of-life things.  The filmmaker recalls a time in his childhood when he befriended a Black kid and his grandfather tried to give him life advice.  It's awesome to see Anne Hathaway in a role which is less sweet than her normal fare and Anthony Hopkins is, well, Anthony Hopkins, but mostly it's just NYC working class Jews yelling at each other.  If there was a payoff for the kid from his life experiences, we didn't see it.  The whole movie is just a snapshot.  Interesting but not fufulling.  And the title is never explained.