Stu’s Reviews

Stu’s Reviews- #836- TV Series – “The Old Man”- Hulu- Season 2

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+

Notable People: Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Amy Brenneman, Alia Shawkat, Created by: Robert Levine and Jonathan Steinberg

Title: The Old Man

Review: Jeff Bridges once again shines in this second season about an aging rogue CIA agent who has been living a secret life off the grid for 30 years and is outed. Bridges is the definition of a suave and gentle deadly force even in his old age. The flashbacks to the origins of his story amidst the tempest of 1980s Afghanistan is well set and the intensity of the story well developed. Lithgow leads a sterling supporting cast. A perfect rebound vehicle for the recently recovered Bridges and the most watched show ever on FX. Cliffhanger ending bodes well for a third season.

Stu’s Reviews- #835- Book – “Sleepyhead “- Mark Billingham

Genre: Book

Grade: B+

Notable People: Mark Billingham

Title: Sleepyhead

Review: this big-ass bestseller was recommended to me by my longtime band mate, Brother Al, no doubt for the protagonists’ immersion into our kind of alt country music (think Gram and Merle). This was the first in what has become a lengthy Tom Thorne series for Billingham, previously known as a standup comic, and became a small sensation in crime fiction. Well written, interesting plot, familiar hero type detective, but the story is also told from the perspective of a woman in a more or less induced come, who is aware but cannot communicate. Good turns and twists, nice character development. Will see how the series proceeds since this first effort from 2001.

Stu’s Reviews- #835- Book – “A Grave in the Woods “- Martin Walker

Genre: Book

Grade: A

Notable People: Martin Walker

Title: A Grave in The Woods

Review: Number 17 in Walker’s’ critically acclaimed series that features, Bruno, the Chief of Police for the Vezere Valley and the town of St. Denis in southwestern France’s fabled Dordogne region. As usual the mystery soon melds into thoughtful fore’s into French culture, cuisine, history and, especially, Les Resistance movement of the second World War. You get to learn, you get to be allured, you get a good mystery.…and you get really hungry from the detailed meal prep descriptions in this region famous for its gastronomy and wine. These books are simply a must for anyone with a Francophile tendency.

Stu’s Reviews- #835- TV Series – “Dark Winds”- Netflix -2 Seasons

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A-

Notable People: Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, A Martinez, Noah Emmerich, Created by: Graham Roland

Title: Dark Winds

Review- Based on the “Leaphorn & Chee” novel series by Tony Hillerman and set in Monument Valley, Navajo country in 1971, “Dark Winds” follows the FBI investigation of a bank robbery in Gallup, N.M., and the Navajo Tribal inquiry into the local murder of two Native residents. Continuing the tradition of recent dark portraits of modern Native American reservation life, this story incorporates the horrors of forced sterilization, uranium based greed murders and the struggle to maintain traditional Tribal spiritual values in an unyielding white world. McClarnon, who has become a go-to actor for modern Native American police types, is subtly wonderful and the supporting cast is excellent. Scripts are well written, the landscape well portrayed and the music score is perfect. Hoping for more Joe Leaphorn.

Stu’s Reviews- #834- TV Series – “Eric”- Netflix -1 Season

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B

Notable People: Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffman, McKinley Belcher, Ivan Morris Howe Created by: Abi Morgan

Title: Eric

Review- in 1980s New York City, Vincent, a puppeteer in the Jim Henson mode, in an unhappy marriage and whose nine-year-old son, Edgar, goes missing. Vincent turns to a variety of substances and his barely held in check and increasingly volatile behavior alienates him from his friends, family, and coworkers^. In his inebriated and unbalanced state Vincent becomes convinced that he can reunite with Edgar with the help of his seven-foot-tall puppet, Eric. Like my review of “Under the Bridge”, this is another one that took a long time to watch, as it was pretty painful and not many likeable characters. That said, Cumberbatch is a virtuoso and always worth watching and young Howe is splendid. Beyond that, it got somewhat tedious, like “when will be it over” tedious. Made it to the finish line but lots of predictability. Quite fascinating portrayal of the city’s underground, beneath the subway, subterranean living environment.

Stu’s Reviews- #833- TV Series – “Under the Bridge”- Hulu -1 Season

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+

Notable People: Riley Keough, Lily Gladstone, Vritika Gupta, Alyana Goodfellow, Izzy G. Created by: Quinn Shephard

Title: Under the Bridge

Review- Based on the highly acclaimed story of fourteen-year-old girl from Victoria, BC, who went to a party with friends but never came home. The show delves into the secret world of the young girls accused of the murder and reveals shocking facts about the improbable killer via the eyes of the local girl turned magazine writer who comes home to her troubling past and her teen best friend (likely lover), now a local police officer. This was hugely popular book and the mini-series is well cast and well-acted. It is a frightening portrait of teen angst in modern times-and of an incredibly biased and subjective justice system with echoes of alienation and bullying, as well as the trials of cultural adaptation. Though it as very powerful, it took us a long time to finish it as it was really hard to like almost any of the characters-teens or adults. Very, very dark portrayal of modern states of anomie (look it up). To be fair many people liked this a lot more than we did. Keogh and Gladstone are both very talented but seem to be getting pigeonholed in similar role ruts.

Stu’s Reviews- #832- Book – “Points North “- Howard Frank Mosher

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: Howard Frank Mosher

Title: Points North

Review: the critically acclaimed final work of beloved Vermont fiction by Howard Frank Mosher, who died in 2017. Mosher continues his 30 year, 14 book odyssey exploring the story of centuries of the Kinneson family of Vermont’s loosely disguised remote Northeast Kingdom fictionally, Kingdom County). The setting, which has often been the focus of Mosher’s four-decade-long career, is brought up to the 21st Century. Through a series of stories rooted in Northern Vermont, Mosher captures the essence of rural America with dead eye commentary, subtle observations on people and relationships and a masterful dry wit. I periodically pick up one of these book at the library and always become immediately entwined in his fabled Kingdom community and its irreverent characters. Vermont’s fiction laureate in my book.

Stu’s Reviews- #832- TV Series – “The Perfect Couple”- Max -1 Season

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+

Notable People: Liev Schreiber, Nicole Kidman, Dakota Fanning, Eve Hewson, Meghann Fahy, Created by: Jenna Lamia

Title: The Perfect Couple

Review- I know that a lot of people really liked this mini- series from the popular 2018 novel by Erin Hillenbrand- but we found it was more of a guilty pleasure/eye candy-similar to our secret years of closet watching the shameless “Revenge”. Schreiber and Kidman (in an outstanding and complex role) make this eminently watchable and the supporting cast is good, the two police detectives are perfect as comic relief (masters of the eye roll), but in the end, it seemed pretty formulaic, though hard to figure out as a whodunnit. Hard to imagine Liev doing this after his brilliant turn as Ray Donovan, but he pulls it off, though he could sure use a shave. Hard not to watch, but not all that redeeming.

Stu’s Reviews- #831- Book – “North Woods”- Daniel Mason

Genre: Book

Grade: B+

Notable People: Daniel Mason

Title: North Woods

Review: This interesting fifth novel from a psychiatrist/ author has been the rage of our local mountain libraries. I got on a wait list for it, waited for a month, started reading it, and was ready to be done after first 25 pages. Not my style to give up, so persevered-and it got a lot better, though still obtuse at times. Story of a single house and its occupants in a rural area of Western Mass., for centuries, starting with what seemed to allegorically (or not) be the garden of Eden with the book’s apple orchard initial setting and related bad behavior, and then gravitating into an unending line of seriously dysfunctional generations of inhabitants. Got a lot more interesting in the pre-post civil war years and then faded some in modern times. Mason writes more like a shrink than a man of letters from my point of view, but the story is unusual and many of the characters are captivating. Could have been 100 pages shorter for my money……and have a bit less forbidden fruit.

Stu’s Reviews- #830- TV Series – “We Were the Lucky Ones”- Hulu -1 Season

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A-

Notable People: Joey King, Logan Lerman, Amit Rahav, Henry Hughes, Hadas Yaron, Robin Wiegert, Michael Aloni, Created by: Erika Lipez

Title: We Were the Lucky Ones

Review- this one was recommended to me by my CUZ, and is a real sleeper. An eight episode, one-shot miniseries; it is an adaptation of the 2017 book of the same name by Georgia Hunter, inspired by the story of her own family, and depicts the perspective of the Kurc family of Polish Jews, beginning in the surreal shift in1938, as the Poles are being harassed by the Nazis, and goes through 1947and the end of this extraordinary decade. It is a story almost too hard to believe, of immense courage, fortitude, perseverance and love- pitted against tyranny, hatred, inhumanity and evil…and evil, it is… portrayed in stunning details. This is not an easy show to watch and I wept through most of the final chapter. Humbling and equilibrium challenging, and can make our daily troubles seem rather minimal. The cast is stunning and settings and cinematography magnificent. I was initially put off by the use of English with heavy Polish accents instead sub-titles of Polish, but I got used to it and it seemed genuine in these people. This is one powerful series.