Stu’s Reviews- #770- Album – “The Sun is Shining Down “- John Mayall

Genre: Album        

Grade: A-

Notable People: John Mayall and the most recent version of the Blues Breakers, Produced by: Eric Corne and john Mayall

Title:  The Sun is Shining Down

Review: Maybe nothing new or remarkable here –except that the undisputed Godfather of British Blues is still making fine albums well into his ninth decade. Every great British blues musician has done boot camp with Mayall’ s Blues Breakers (think Clapton, Page, Beck, John Mark, Johnny Almond and an endless list that far surpasses my available space)-and this version of the band is as good as ever. Mayall composed al the songs and lends his masterful vocals keyboards and unsurpassed harp to the proceedings (did I mention his uplifting blues songs that play against type?) along with the crackerjack band and surprise guest musician, Scarlett Rivera, on violin. Got Blues????-

Stu’s Reviews- #769- TV Series – “Mr. In Between”- HULU -3 Seasons

Genre: TV Series      

Grade: A

Notable People: Scott Ryan, Damon Herriman, Justin Rosniak, Created by: Scott Ryan

Title: Mr. In- Between

Review Brilliantly eccentric Australian dramedy that combines utter hilarity with absolute darkness. Ryan developed and is masterful in the lead role as a tortured killer-for-hire and all around pursuer of non-legal justice remedies-but also a loving brother and father and general softie in the right circumstance. Hard to decide whether you despise him or admire him from minute to minute. He simply owns this role and what seems like fluff early on in this series becomes downright existential at times as the show evolves. The supporting cast of wackos is wonderful. Half hour show that seems much longer-but pretty intensely engaging. Sadly, ending after three great seasons.

Stu’s Reviews- #768- Book – “An Evil Heart”- Lind Castillo

Genre: Book            

Grade: B+

Notable People: Linda Castillo

Title: An Evil Heart

Review: Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates the brutal death of a young Amish man in the latest installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo. Castillo continues to write insightfully about the nuances of Amish culture and her characters have become much more fleshed out and substantive over the course of this series. Some of the themes, and musings, are pretty repetitive but the stories are all barn burners and the inside scoop on this unusual culture is quite engaging. This is one of the 2-3 best offerings in this long running series and a can’t- put- it- down type of 300 page quick read (a gift after several 1000 page tomes)

Stu’s Reviews- #767- TV Series – “The Pacific”- Netflix/HBO -1 Seasons

Genre: TV Series              

Grade: B+/B

Notable People:  James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Sela, Ashton Holmes, Josh Helman, Created by: Bruce McKenna

Title: The Pacific

Review This mini series is a companion piece to the highly awarded HBO 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, but is focused on the much lesser known Pacific theater (interesting r?) of WWII. The sheer brutally of the endless battles from Iwo Jima to Okinawa through a hundred tiny and remote islands is staggering. The story is derived from the post-war books written by two of the three main characters and is generally a true story. The endless battle scenes can be bit much at times- very realistic and you feel like you are there dodging pieces of flying human flesh. The back stories are more accessible. Well done, well shot, and very informative- the utter horror of this war makes for more sympathy of why we dropped the bomb.

Stu’s Reviews- #766- TV Series – “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”- Paramount Plus -1 Seasons

Genre: TV Series            

Grade: B+

Notable People:  David Oyelowo, Lauren Banks, Dennis Quaid, Donald Sutherland, Forrest Goodluck, Created by: Chad Feehan

Title: Lawmen: Bass Reeves

Review: The latest of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone related franchise is the true story of Bass Reeves a former slave who became an American lawman. He was the first African-American US Marshall west of the Mississippi River and became a folk hero for his fight against ongoing post-civil war slavery practices. Sheridan is clearly the master of the modern day western and Oyelowo is compelling as the main a character, but the show felt a bit stiff and somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, the cast is sterling and the cinematography and attention to period detail is wonderful. Banks excels as the long suffering frontier wife. This is a major statement about the role of African -Americans in the settling of the West-one we have seen little of before. The “Lawmen” franchise is scheduled to continue with different historical protagonists each season- but this is one and done for Bass.

Stu’s Reviews- #765- TV Series – “NYPD Blue”- HULU -12 Seasons

Genre: TV Series      

Grade: A+

Notable People:  Dennis Franz, David Caruso, Jimmy Smits, Ricky Schroder, Mark -Paul Gossalaar, James McDaniel, Gordon Clapp, Henry Rollins, Sharon Lawrence, Kim Delaney, Amy Brenneman, Nicholas Turturro, Charlotte Ross, Bill Brochtrup, Jacqueline Obradors, Esai Morales, Created by Steven Bochco and David Milch

Title: NYPD Blue

Review: From THE VAULT. We always a have a show that we watch while eating dinner on TV tray table several nights a week, re-creating our 50s-60s childhoods- and NYPD Blue had been it for most of the last five years-took that long to get thru 12 seasons and over 250 episodes. The show ran from 1993 thru 2005, and may genuinely be the forerunner of what the art of streaming TV has become. Brilliantly shot and conceived, dark, gritty, funny and covering a virtual landmine of social issues week after week that stand up yet today. The cast was beyond perfect; Franz so well defined as the alcoholic curmudgeon, Andy Sipowitz, that he was hard put to find another role after this one. His four partners over 12 years, Caruso, Smits, Schroder and Gossalaar were a parade of primo matches. The supporting cast of the 15th precinct featured a who’s who of fine character actors and many of the show’s guest stars went on to great fame and fortune after the NYPD stepping stone. Captivating, hard hitting and the original must-see hour of television. If you have never watched, take the plunge. If like us, you are looking to revisit a classic, it was even better the second time around. I wept at the ending of season 12- episode 20 as Sipowitz fades away into the background. Brilliant.

Stu’s Reviews- #764- TV Series – “Hacks”- HBO Max -2 Seasons

Genre: TV Series                         

Grade: A

Notable People:  Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, Created by Jen Statsky and Paul Downs

Title: Hacks

Review: Brilliantly written and conceived dark comedy about a dark mentorship formed between Deborah Vance, a legendary, and fading, Las Vegas comic, and an entitled, outcast 25-year-old comedy writer. Smart, of Designing Women fame, is flat out THE Bomb on this eccentric and sleeper of a show. Th supporting cast is great and the capture of both Vegas fade and LA posh- fake seems dead on and ridiculously funny. Alternating between great one liners and really complicated relationships , this is a unique show, well worth the half hour investments of time. The chemistry between the two mains is shockingly good.

Stu’s Reviews- #763- Book – “The Running Grave”- Robert Galbraith

Genre: Book          

Grade: B+

Notable People: Robert Galbraith

Title: The Running Grave

Review: Number six in the wildly popular Cormoran Strike mystery series by noted Harry Potter author, JK Rowland, writing under the Galbreath pseudonym (what is that about, anyway?). This is her/his/their long awaited (by fanatics) book surrounding the mystery of cults-and it’s a whopper of a cult- dating back to 40 years and including murder, fields of dead bodies, pedophilia, child slavery, brainwashing and extreme punishment/deprivation-all in the guise of a gigantic humanitarian church with a brilliantly charismatic founder. Strike and his partner Robin (like Batman) are a brilliantly conceived pair with never ending sexual tension, reminiscent of Willis and Sheppard in Moonlighting. Galbraith/Rowland is a magnificent writer and the books are charming and inviting-but the length, oy, the length. This one became almost tedious at almost 1000 pages. So if you don’t mind a very long winter read and power lifting if you read in ol’ fashioned book form, it is well worth it.

Stu’s Reviews- #762- Film – “The Holdovers”

Genre: Film       

Grade: A-

Notable People: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa Directed by: Alexander Payne

Title:  The Holdovers

Review: Wonderfully done Christmas movie from the always excellent Alexander Payne, was a boon for me in my fist theater experience since last spring. Me and four wheelchair bound blue hairs in the dark matinee room- how is that not grace? If you like Giamatti, you will love this; if you’re not a fan, you may find his role a bit familiar, but the film is good enough to go see any way. Lifetime, isolated academic, Giamatti, gets left behind at prestigious New England boarding school to stay with the five kids whose parents don’t want them me for Christmas. All but one eventually get rescued leave but one, and the mayhem pursues. Sessa is a total revelation in his first role and Randolph completes the movie’s big three with aplomb. The film was surprisingly emotional- but not in a cheap sort of way, and nearly as predictable as you would think, given the concept. Best praise I can give is that I found myself thinking a lot about it two days later. Very well done period piece for 1970 with quirky cultural inclusions of Vietnam, Little Big Man, the Newlywed Game (a metaphor?), the resurgent Jonathan Edwards, Librium, and great hairdos. Very well worth an afternoon in the dark.

Stu’s Reviews- #761- TV Series – “All the Light We Cannot See”- Netflix -1 Season

Genre: TV Series      

Grade: B+

Notable People:  Aria Maria Loberti, Louis Hoffman, Lars Derringer, Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, Created by Shawn Levy

Title: All the Light We Cannot See

Review: The four part limited series is an ambitious attempt to follow the wonderful and complex 2014 bestselling novel by Anthony Doerr about a blind French girl broadcasting coded Allied secrets from a remote town shortwave radio at the defining moments of the second world war. Set in the Nazi stronghold of St. Malo, France as it is being overrun by the advancing allied army, it is a powerful tale of perseverance and redemption. Loberti shines in the meaty main role and Ruffalo and Laurie are excellent as her father and great uncle. A poignant portrait of the heroism of the French resistance that dos not quite do justice to the elaborately conceived masterful novel, but is certainly worth consideration its own merit.