Farewell "Manifest"

As with other things, I took a while to get around to the final episodes of this series.  It was always good.  It was never great.  But the premise was kind of fun and the characters really grew on me.  I mourned the passing of a number of them.  The show always bordered on the whole Christian thing (which it leaned into more in the end), but never went full-on preachy.  The lessons here were more about community and forgiveness and choosing good.  With a twist of L. Ron Hubbard weirdness.  I enjoyed it, particularly as the series progressed.  The weaknesses ... drawing things out too much to keep the premise going, adding in romance after romance after romance, creating circular storylines where you kind of yelled "move it ALONG" ... pretty much went away in the last ten episodes.  But the issue was ... the show went the other way.  Plotpoints were rushed or skipped altogether.  It made the flow a little bumpy.  Characters appeared and disappeared and I got a confused because information was left out.  It was like reading CliffsNotes.  I guess what I don't understand is why they didn't just lengthen the episodes to cover the needed scenes.  That's what you do in streaming.  And yet the episodes were all tailored to broadcast specs, running 42 or 43 minutes.  In any case, this is a bit picky.  The wrap-up was good.  There was a real effort to honor the characters, the storyline and to complete the mission.  In the final episode I feared a "Lost" moment -- a few times.  But they swerved.  And it was all happy-shiny time for the most part (despite one really bad attempt to use special effects to age a character down).  Loves made and lost.  99% of the characters were squared away (two weren't, but that was kind of an oversight, I think).  The resolutions were satisfying and made sense.  Final take -- it's worth the binge.

"The Curious Case of Natalia Grace"

Typically, I don't watch this kind of stuff.  I don't watch real-life crime shows, docu-dramas, etc.  I find them exploitative and watching them feels dirty.  Like tragedy porn.  But when children are involved, I'm sometimes drawn to these kinds of programs.  I guess a part of me wants to know if the kids came out of it okay.  If they got their lives back together.  I'm usually disappointed.  Rarely, if ever, is there a happy ending when abuse is involved.  And so it goes.  This two season series reveals a lot of ugly.  So much so that I kept putting it aside.  I would watch an episode or two, then stop.  It was just too sad.  There are lies upon lies.  Manipulations and fabricated tales.  When all is said and done, however, I came to a few "truths" I will hold onto.  (Perhaps the draw of these things is to play judge and jury?  To feel empowered to judge others?)  Is Natalia Grace a sociopath?  No.  Was she an adult masquerading as a child?  Absolutely no.  She was a child.  And from birth she was saddled with health issues, abused and passed along.  To more abuse.  She was ten, and had suffered a LOT, by the time she finally found herself in a situation where she was treated with decency.  Where she was finally hugged and valued.  Where she was treated as a child and truly cared for.  Does she have issues?  Oh my, yes.  She is angry.  Defensive.  Perhaps abusive in some ways.  It was all she ever knew.  But here's another bottom line for me.  She was surrounded by adults.  Were some abusive?  Absolutely.  But others, like her stepfather, say they couldn't stop the abuse.  Couldn't help.  And that, my friends, is just bull****.  There were adults and a child.  Blaming the child for her behavior as a result of her abuse, refusing, as the adults, to step in, is criminal.  Period. 

"Renfield"

Listed as a comedy, I expected something along the lines of "Reginald the Vampire" or even "What We Do in the Shadows" (both are truly fabulous, by the way).  What I got, instead, was a gorefest which made "Deadpool" look like kiddy fare.  Great actors (honestly, I would watch Awkwafina read a dictionary, not to mention the delightfully bereft Nicolas Hoult with his puppy dog expressions) can't save a film which is just ... graphic.  I mean, there's some dialog.  But nothing clever.  Nothing to grab and hold your attention.  Twenty minutes in, I was checking email and shopping online as the bodies piled up.  Oh well.  

Goodbye to "Good Trouble"

Disliking having to wait from week to week for the next episode (what happened to streaming???), I didn't take the time to binge the final episodes of "Good Trouble" until now.  It got to me ... more than I expected.  And it was perfect.  The drama (oh, so. much. drama) continued right up until the final scene.  As a gift to the viewers there was a nice wrap-up for each character, bringing them to a place of hope, of promise.  After five seasons, it was really nice to see this group of (mostly) young folk finally get the hang of adulting.  Started as a show about Callie and Mariana from "The Fosters" it quickly grew into an ensemble show ... and what an ensemble!  Every character, including the offbeat "Kelly" really added to something which became a very rich stew.  The angsty nature of their screw-ups and perpetually miserable love-lives was hard to take at times but I always came back.  I came to care about these characters, and rooted for them to find meaning and peace in their lives.  The reward for hanging in there was rewarded in the form of a finale with promise.  And I realized that between "The Fosters" and this show, I've been watching this storyline since 2013.  ELEVEN YEARS!  I can't even begin to list all the chapters I've lived in my own life in this period of time.  To the residents of the Coterie -- bonne chance!  And to these amazing actors ... thank you.  I hope to see you soon in other projects.

"Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story"

This documentary is older than I thought, but quite powerful.  I was drawn to it after being reminded, again, that this was a woman who was known for her movie star status, but sadly forgotten for her brilliant inventions.  It's well-done.  The interviews, clips, structure are all solid.  For a documentary it hits the right notes with information but doesn't bore.  The pacing is good, the viewpoint is as unbiased as is possible.  It's good.  Really shines a light on one of many women whose impactful life has been lost to the shadows of memory.  This production shines a light into the dark and reminds us of the importance of the foundation which came before.

"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"

The brilliance of this really surprised me.  Familiar with Roald Dahl, I had not read this particular book.  The production did a terrific job of capturing the kind of quirky, oddball style of Dahl's works.  A short film (40 minutes) with an amazing cast (start with Ben Kingsley, add in Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel and more) and you have something very (very, very) watchable.  It has meaning, message, humor.  It is fresh.  It is surprising.  It is totally worthwhile (and it won an Oscar).  Watch it.  And then, maybe, watch it again ...

"All the Light We Cannot See"

This is one of those situations where I really wish I had read the book.  Anthony Doerr is a gifted author and I may have liked this better in book form???  Unlike "A Small Light", which I very much liked for its fresh qualities, this one hit a lot of familiar notes.  There is clear delineation between good and bad.  The Nazis come off like the ones from any given Indiana Jones film.  There are good actors here.  Each brings a lot more depth to roles which seem to be a bit two-dimensional, but it doesn't help.  It's sad but I felt a difficulty connecting.  The accents are distracting.  Most are British, some are vaguely European, and Mark Ruffalo, who has impressed with the wide variety of characters he has played (including identical twin brothers, where one is differently-abled), seems a little lost here.  His accent seems more like an affect than anything else.  Young Aria Mia Loberti is engaging but it is not enough.  There just isn't enough "something" to carry the story through.  Again, I have to wonder if Doerr's prose in print form would have been more engaging and would have drawn me in.  This production sadly didn't.  Maybe I'm ODing on all the Holocaust dramas out right now.  Who knows?  It's watchable.  It's just not "outstanding".  And, given the cast and the source material, I expected better.