Stu’s Reviews- #827 TV Series – “Seaside Hotel”- PBS- Season 10- (Danish- Sub-titles)

Stu’s Reviews

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A

Notable People: Amalie Dollerup, Lars Ranthe, Anne Louise Hassing, Annette Steffelbaek, Jens Jacob Tythsen, Created by: Hanna Lundblad, Stig Thorsboe

Title: Seaside Hotel

Review: Update: I stand by my original review (below)of the first eight seasons from 2022. This is a superb show that only got better with time. The final season was a complex wrap up of character themes from a 12-year run often amusing always relevant. The last two seasons picked up after the war years and pointed out the tenuous nature of Danish (occupied)- German (occupier) relations. Extraordinary ensemble cast-masters of Danish theater and television. This is a sleeper-not to be dismissed.

This compelling combined drama and subtle comedy “Badehotellet” in remote, NW Denmark opens for its wealthy guests each summer. We follow the guests and staff at the hotel from 1928 and into the 1940s. What starts out as a lighthearted comedy turns darker with each year as Demark is overtaken by the Depression and then Fascism and the Nazis. The show becomes overly political out of seemingly nowhere- a fascinating turn of events. The ensemble cast has many of Denmark’s’ top actors and is wonderful. This is a place we’d all like to spend our summers.

Stu’s Reviews- #826- TV Series – “Professor T”- PBS- Season 3

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A-

Notable People: Ben Miller, Emma Naomi, Barney White, Sarah Woodward, Frances de la Tour, Created by: Matt Baker

Title: Professor T

Review: the brilliant Ben Miller (Death in Paradise) plays Professor Jasper Tempest, a genius criminologist at Cambridge who has major OCD (wears gloves at all times) and an overbearing mother. He reluctantly (and often hilariously) assists the police in solving bizarre crimes. It is an adaptation from a Belgian TV series of the same name – but the original is not nearly as good without the eccentric Miller. Season 3 went even deeper on defining the origins of our hero’s over-the-moon angst, and Miller just gets quirkier and quirkier. This season also feature a greater role for his possibly even more eccentric mother, played most appropriately over-the-top by de la Tour. A fourth season is already in the works. Miller makes it worth watching.

Stu’s Reviews- #825- TV Series – “House of the Dragon”- HBO Max- Season 2

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+

Notable People: Matt Smith, Eve Best, Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke…and cast of thousands Created by: George RR Martin, Ryan Condal

Title: House of the Dragon

Review: well, I don’t think the breathlessly awaited second season managed to hold on to the standard set by Thrones or from its own Season 1. I struggled at times with keeping up with the plot swings and myriad of scheming characters; many of whom look and sound alike (is that prejudicial to say?) Not aa crisp as season one, but still…..What’s not to like? Dragons, deceit, drama, cuckoldry, heads falling left and right, mystical medicine men, bloodletting, children with big swords……set 200 years before Game of Thrones, the show is the origin story for all the families and the history of the coveted Iron Throne that we became acquainted with the groundbreaking GOT show. The cinematography is magnificent, the sets and costumes beyond compare and the acting almost Shakespearian. The hour is over before you know it. Feeling certain there is a next version to come in this veritable goldmine for HBO. And, man, how about them dragons?

Stu’s Reviews- #824- Film – “Oppenheimer” “

Genre: Film

Grade: A-

Notable People: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey, Jr., Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Title: Oppenheimer

Review: Under the category of better late than never, we finally made the time to watch this very long 3 hours’ epic historical drama-on Prime. Worked pretty well on the small screen- for which I am not typically a fan for watching films. Murphy is quietly brilliant in the lead role, just flat out owns sit-and what departure from his turn in Peaky Blinders. Loved the Einstein interactions and the film captured this extraordinary period in American history; both in terms of the race to end the war through atomic power and the McCarthy era shameful witch hunts. Very good cast and vey powerfully filmed. Blunt is excellent as the suffering spouse and Downey is nuts, as usual, which he does really well. I found it really invigorating for about 2 ½ hours but waned at the end-a bit too long for my tastes. But, an important work about an extraordinary man and time/event. Take a nap and give it a go.

Stu’s Reviews- #823- TV Series – “The Sympathizer”- Max – 1 Season

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+/B

Notable People: Hoa Xuande, Robert Downey Jr., Fred Nguyen Kahn, Created by: Jez Scharf

Title: The Sympathizer

Grade: an historical black comedy drama miniseries based on the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguye. The series is based on the story of the Captain, a North Vietnam spy in the South Vietnam army. He is forced to flee to the United States with his general near the end of the Vietnam War. While living within a community of South Vietnamese refugees, he continues to secretly spy on the community and report back to the Viet Cong, struggling between his original loyalties and his new life. I really liked the book, but the series is pretty hard to follow and bizarre, to say the least. Black comedy does not quite fully describe this. The era described, and the portrayal of Vietnamese refugees to America, it interesting and its alternating sunny 70s LA and the jungles of Vietnam is compelling. The acting is good. Downy is thoroughly out of control, playing four distinctly different, and equally crazy- person roles.

Stu’s Reviews- #822- Book – “Clete””- James Lee Burke

Genre: Book

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: James Lee Burke

Title: Clete

Review: fine writers ranging from John Irving to Stephen King have proclaimed Burke to be our greatest living writer. Nearing 90, he remains prolific, and his wheelhouse mainstay has been his amazing Dave Robicheaux series, which he has penned for nearly 40 years now; leading us deftly through the swamp and bayous of southern Louisiana with acuity of spirit and a narrative style matched by none. Lift any paragraph from any Burke book, and it is instantly recognizable, and incomparable in its descriptive power and lucidity-it takes you there and then. The fact that these are “mysteries” is irrelevant; Burke’s greatness transcends genre. All that said, this is an unusual effort to have Dave’s perennial sidekick, Clete Purcell, a larger than life character for 40 years tell this story in the first person. It is a brave experiment in writing, and somewhat of an adjustment and the telling lacks some of the finesse of his other books, but then Clete has never been accused of finesse. I struggled a bit with the folksy narrative, but that is nit-picking. It is JLB, and always worth reading. And you will never know the bayou of south Louisiana, in is history, culture and demons like after reading one of these books.

Stu’s Reviews- #821- TV Series – “Bodkin”- Netflix – 1 Season

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+

Notable People: Will Forte, Siobhan Cullen, Robyn Cara, David Wilmot, Chris Walley, Created by: Jez Scharf

Title: Bodkin

Grade: Gilbert Power, an American podcaster, travels to Bodkin, an Irish coastal town, to investigate a cold case involving the disappearance of three people during a Samhaim celebration several decades prior. He is joined by Dublin-born “Dove” Maloney, an investigative journalist in London who is sent on assignment after the death of her source, a government whistleblower and Emmy, an aspiring journalist. This show started out clearly as a very back comedy, but morphed into something else that I had trouble following. On the other hand, JB seemed to really like it…might be our age difference and associated cognitive capabilities. We watched the seven episodes over quite a long period of time (as watching a dozen at a time) and this one might be better served to more or less binging-to keep up with the characters and plot twists. Very nice ensemble cast. One and done.

Stu’s Reviews- #820- TV Series – “The Mayor of Kingstown”- Paramount Plus – Season 3

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A

Notable People: Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, Hugh Dillon, Tobi Bamtefa, Taylor Handley, Emma Laird, Alden Gillen, Created by: Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon

Title: The Mayor of Kingstown

Grade: Double WOW- the third season somehow topped the first two for intensity and darkness. Role of a lifetime for Jeremy Renner (his walk alone is worth the price of admission) and it just got better as the season went on. You can’t get grittier than this. Lots of violence and stuff to make you wonder about our shared morality -so not for everyone. But, extremely well done. The writers on this show (including the ubiquitous Taylor Sheridan) are outstanding and the ensemble cast around The Mayor, magnificent. Shockingly, three seems to be a season 4 in the works. Great television!!!

Stu’s Reviews- #819- Book – “The color of Water””- James McBride

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: James McBride

Title: The Color of Water

Review: This very moving testament to his mother from McBride, a noted musician and writer, who was one of 12 black children born of, and raised by a white mother, starting in the 1940s. From the deep south to the notorious Red Hook (housing) Projects of Brooklyn and Harlem in its golden age, it a wonderful tale; alternating his and his mother’s story; she of an orthodox Jewish family and rabbi father, who became fully invested in black America at a time when it was not an easy choice (is it ever?). The parallels between the Jewish and African –American experience are potent; as is the sense of loss and alienation for her and for her children. Poignantly written with a great deal of emotion, it is a work worth pursuing, though, admittedly, I would not see McBride as a top echelon writer…but his story…..

Stu’s Reviews- #818- Book – “Three Inch Teeth””- CJ Box

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: CJ Box

Title: Three Inch Teeth

Review: another fine entity to this series about Wyoming Game Warden, Joe Picket, now in its third decade of publishing. The characters in the book have evolved very well over time, and this is one of the great current series for sense of place; if you love the American west, this is hard to put down. The story revolves around the uncommon, and suddenly plentiful, incidence of grizzly bear attacks throughout Wyoming. The writing is precise and evocative; and the story keeps you engaged, though it seemed a bit more of a stretch on believability than usual. Still, Box is a gem of a writer that happens to be work in the medium of mystery.