IN THE EARLY DAYS of this blog seven or eight years ago, I noted the rising trend of films  about women, directed by women, and likely featuring strong women as protagonists or antagonists as the case may be. The trend has strengthened with the many new series out now.   Dune: Prophecy   IF YOU ARE PREDISPOSED to watch fantasy or Sci-Fi and already know of the Dune franchise, you should enjoy Dune: Prophecy, a prequel by ten-thousand years of the  two earlier segments. In the Dune universe of the first two, there is a powerful group of mystical robed and hooded women who have supernatural powers. These are the Bene Gesserit and while they at first  hint at  something akin to the witches of

  SOME FRIENDS TOLD ME it was great and gave me the book that provides the basis for the show. It was great.  So imagine my delight when I saw Ewan McGregor, a favored actor of mine, cast as Count Alexander Rostov, who survived the purges of the aristos by the Bolsheviks only to be confined for life within the walls of a fine Moscow hotel–and not in his formerly capacious suite, rather in a dusty space just below the roof. This show–and the other series I  review this month, Sugar–sustain me with a total of 90 minutes of viewing ecstasy each week. I am no longer surprised at how the British can play Russian elites without adopting a Slavic accent. After Sean Connery as

  I HAVE ALWAYS enjoyed watching Colin Farrell act. Favorite movies of his come to mind such as In Bruges, Minority Report, and Banshees of Inisherin. Apple created an original  noir detective series called “Sugar,” after the main character: John Sugar, private investigator and played by Farrell. It is set in present-day LA and after four episodes, I am dazzled. There are other mysteries beyond the driving theme: the missing granddaughter to an ultra-famous movie producer.  He’s part of a larger service, but it’s not clear how that works (at least not to me, yet). He’s also got some personal psychological/physical symptoms that are starting to get more attention as the series progresses; all which build the tension and make it more compelling. The style,

True Detective Season Four: Night Country  I haven’t watched Jody Foster in a movie or series since perhaps Safe Room and certainly before that in Silence of the Lambs.As part of the True Detective series, this time the story is set in a remote part of Alaska where it’s dark for an entire month during winter. It’s also in a small coastal town where many of the townsfolk represent First Peoples. When mystery and mayhem visit a group of researchers who sequester themselves in a nearby compound, Foster plays local law enforcement, and compares notes on the case with a native American woman, a state trooper.At first, this  one reminded me strongly of Dark Winds, a series I reviewed that took place on reservation  land

I haven’t seen all of the nominated films–there are too many (ten) nominated films this year anyway. But I can talk about what I have seen. The Holdovers This one could also have been titled “The Throwback” in the sense that it’s an old-fashioned dramatic film: no CGI, no crazy special effects, no aliens, ghosts, monsters or supernatural beings, etc. It’s simply about a handful of people who encounter one another more acutely because they’re tossed together almost randomly like “leftovers “ that result in a surprisingly good goulash.  Like most good films, it’s unpredictable but credible. As a teacher, I was a little more engaged, perhaps, because the setting is the holiday break at a New England boarding school where the main character (Paul

CHRISTMAS REALLY DOES come early at times: I am already into the fifth season and the third season respectively of two of the best recent series I can think of: Fargo and Slow Horses.  Fargo has gone retro and evoked the original film. At first, the Minnesota-speak was a little heavy, though as with some seasonings, you have to err in the direction of a tad too much rather than too little.  In the second episode on FX, I got a glimpse of Jon Hamm’s character and enjoyed the transformation he underwent: Fargo characters are always very nuanced and must be 99.9% original with respect to non-Cohen Brothers characters.  I might mention that Jennifer Jason Leigh creates a compelling new character in this. I reviewed Slow

I WENT TO A THEATER to see the latest Ridley Scott “masterpiece,” Napoleon, on the big screen. I am a very big fan of Scott’s because he did Bladerunner and so many other great films. And as an enormous fan of Joaquin Phoenix who played the lead, it was hard not to have the greatest expectations going in. After two hours, I only stayed because I wanted to “see” the history and the ending. I still didn’t make it all the way. Even great directors meet their Waterloo as Napoleon did. Scott made an epic film that transported viewers more than two centuries back in time. The quality of the backdrop was excellent as expected. There were two major flaws, however, that spoiled it for

MERLIN I saw this series on Amazon and had to give it a chance; a few years back I read the classic fantasy The Once and Future King and its finale’ The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White. It is a lighter version of the saga of King Arthur loosely based on the much older (poem?) Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. Because the lore surrounding King Arthur is varied to begin with, many characters’ names were familiar, but the circumstances of their role were changed. I have to believe that, in addition the many historical versions of the story, the producers took additional license with it to fit the appetite for magic and fantasy and to fill several seasons with content. The acting

  AS A WES ANDERSON devotee, I was going to watch this film with no regard for reviews or hubbub about it aforehand. As with The French Dispatch, his most recent full feature, this movie will require another viewing; there’s too much detail to consume and it goes by too quickly.  The cast is replete with stars and familiar faces for Anderson’s film.  Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johannson, Liev Schreiber, and Bryan Cranston are all new (I think). Jason Schwartzman and Edward Norton are among the veterans. My initial reaction was that Anderson had become too stylized and too cute. He felt the need to frame the film as a movie about a play. For me, his movies will always survive a viewing because they are

  ABOUT TWENTY YEARS ago, while living in Arizona, I read a good number of the mystery novels by Tony Hillerman.  They centered on the exploits of a Navajo detective who used his senses of harmony and balance to solve crimes on the enormous reservation that covers parts of  Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.  It includes Hopi and other tribal sections.  Robert Redford bought the rights to some of the material and co-produced this with George R. R. Martin and others. One of the benefits of the “whodunnits” here is the look into the Navajo culture. It’s matriarchal and mystical, holistic and animist; it’s beautiful, noble and vulnerable. [There’s currently a Ken Burns’ documentary on the American Bison and the effect is the same: