Author: stumberry

Stu’s Reviews- #458- TV Series- ” The Sinner”- Netflix (AMC)

Genre: TV Series (Two Seasons)   

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Jessica Biel, Bill Pullman, Created by: Derek Simonds

Title: The Sinner

Review:     I don’t usually review individual seasons of a serial show, but each of three seasons of this drama is a completely different story line with new cast members, so here goes with Season One. This was a recommendation from my high art critic-at-large, Feel, and very, very good one. Leonard Cohen would say…” You want it darker?” ….and this is it. Normal seeming, girl- next- door type, married woman goes to beach in upstate New York, hears strange music, goes berserk, and slashes a strange guy to death…and then…it really begins. I had no idea Biel could really act, thought she was just eye candy (good biceps though) …and Pullman is magnificent as the brooding, obsessed detective. The story is intense and unfolds slowly with lots of flashback…………very complex. well shot, well-acted, well written…. Well Done.

Stu’s Reviews- #457- Film- ” The Wife”

Genre: Film     

Grade: B+

Notable People: Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Directed by: Bjorn L. Runge

Title: The Wife

Review:    Intense film about a Pulitzer Prize winner for literature and the wife who has been the hidden creative force behind his lifetime of famed writing. Close is her usual magnificent self. Pryce is a Sean Connery-ish bear of a curmudgeon, Slater cloyingly wonderful. Visceral, emotive, very sad portrayal of a lifetime feigned. A bit slow at times.  

Stu’s Reviews- #456- Film- ” Parasite”

Genre: Film

Grade: NR

Notable People: A Cast of Korean notables that I cannot spell (why dos everyone have three names?) Directed by: Bong Joon-ho (see??)

Title: Parasite

Review:    Well, well, well…. this year’s Oscar for Best Picture……is …. well…. a doozy. I cannot rate this movie; it is over of my level of strangeness quotient. Clearly metaphoric in many ways, and with a lot of inside Korean political humor, it takes savagely unexpected turns throughout…none of which I am giving away. Suffice it to say that “Parasite” refers to a human (not beastly) condition, and is loosely based on a poor south Korean family that takes over a house and lives of some rich folks. Brutally honest, chillingly funny, class conscious, with an absolutely brilliant ensemble of actors. Personally, I liked it an awful lot…and left left me rally pondering the human condition….but it is truly a strange one, and likely not for everyone.  

Stu’s Reviews- #455- TV Series- ” Sex Education”- Netflix

Genre: TV Series (Two Seasons)    

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Emma Mackey, Created by: Laurie Nunn

Title: Sex Education

Review:     If you were a fan of the X Files, you won’t believe Anderson in this role and single mom sex therapist/educator living in remote Britain…with her confused and sexually challenged son. Northing heavy here, but great story lines, wonderful ensemble acting and a wonderful mix of laughs and tears. The supporting cast in mahvelous………it’s a keeper and has just been renewed for a third season.

Stu’s Reviews- #454- Book- “Almost Midnight”- Paul Doiron

Genre: Book

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Paul Doiron

Title: Almost Midnight

Review:    The 12th and most recent in Doiron’s long running Mike Bowditch series finds the Maine Game Warden (now investigator) once again embroiled in a complex web of conspiracy and evil in the backwoods of Maine. Doiron seems to get better with each book, adding characters, fleshing them out and more deeply exploring the culture of remote Maine settings. These are quick and rewarding reads. Star at the beginning… it will keep you busy for a while.

Stu’s Reviews- #453- TV Series- ” Schitt’s Creek”- Netflix

Genre: TV Series (Five Seasons)     

Grade:  A+

Notable People: Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Daniel Levy, Annie Murphy, Chris Elliot, Sarah Levy, Created by: Dan and Eugene Levy

Title: Schitt’s Creek

Review:     oh my……. what to say. For my money, SC is the funniest show ever to grace the small screen. The First Family of Canadian Comedy take over a depressing small town (and its sole motel) in the middle of nowhere after losing their Hollywood fortune. The plot is irrelevant…the family interaction is beyond priceless, their characters so flawed as to be peerless, and the supporting folks simply perfect. It is hard to even look at Dan Levy, as the wayward son, David Rose, without laughing. This is one for the ages. Very sadly, the coming season (now on POP TV-later this year on Netflix) will be the last. BIG Boo Hoo.

Stu’s Reviews- #452- TV Series- ” Peaky Blinders”- Netflix

Genre: TV Series (Five Seasons)

Grade:  A

Notable People: Cilian Murphy, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Crated by: Steven Knight

Title: Peaky Blinders

Review:     Magnificent Netflix original/ BBC series about family gang in rough and dirty Birmingham, England in the 1920’s. You’ll grit your teeth though this one…pure intensity. Great performances……Murphy is a revelation as the head of the family. Anderson is a walking bomb-always ready to go off. The hour goes really quickly with this one. Each season (only six episodes per) has been better than the previous one. See the fires of Hell come pouring out of the factory vents in the middle of the street…quite the metaphor.

Stu’s Reviews- #451- Book- “Lost Roses”- Martha Hall Kelly

Genre: Book    

Grade:  A+

Notable People: Martha Hall Kelly

Title: Lost Roses

Review:    Brilliant…just brilliant, Kelly, the author of the award winning “Lilac Girls” digs back into the historical fiction surrounding the Ferriday society woman of New York. The first book surrounded Caroline’s efforts to save French children during the second world war. This is the prequel, and is Caroline’s’ mother, Eliza Woolsey Ferriday’s’ story. An extraordinary tale of three women through the duration of the brutal first world war….…. the Great War. Extraordinary detail, magnificent storytelling, captivating writing…….and characters not to be forgotten. Think “1917” meets Dr. Zhivago………These books are masterpieces………. Read 450 pages in five days-could not put it down…

Stu’s Reviews- #450- Book- “The Guns of August”- Barbara Tuchman

Genre: Book

Grade:  B+/A-

Notable People: Barbara Tuchman

Title: The Guns of August

Review:    1961 Pulitzer Prize winning non- fiction about the horrid first month of World War One- a time that changed the world forever. Tuchman is kw is the recognized historian of that war to end all wars, and published at least a half dozen different volumes on it…this one typically a whopping 500 pages. Full disclosure- this is not my cup of tea…had a very hard keeping up with the Von somethings and Sir somethings and the difference between corps, divisions and units. Still, there is something special about this effort that so carefully narrates the day by day, hour by hour story of a time that most definitely changed the world was we know it Well and insightfully written, with a bit of dry humor….it still took me two months to read this book, with many thoughts of putting it back on the shelf and just claiming to have read it. I read three other books in between. But, you will find that people are really impressed if you tell them that you are reading this….  

Stu’s Reviews- #449- Film- ” 1917″

Genre: Film  

Grade: A-

Notable People: George Mackay, Dean Charles Chapman by: Sam Mendez

Title: 1917

Review:    Went to see what the hype is about- and well worth it. Riveting two-hour film- shot in one long shot-no edits, no fade outs, no breaks…. very original. The story captures the last stages of the longest, most brutal war in history…and well shows the overwhelming wear and tear on the participants. Top notch acting. Absolutely magnificent cinematography. Nice cameos from Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch. A film that deserves being seen on the silver careen.