Movie #1937 ........................."Mrs. Wilson" (PBS)

Movie #1937 "Mrs. Wilson" (PBS) (3 episodes about 1 hour each) -- good suspense, and what story!  Every time she think she understands her dead husband's other life, there's still another twist in the story.  And to think this is a true story and it happened to the actress's grandmother (Ruth Wilson's grandmother) !!  What I liked about the writing, too, is that as the dead husband's true identity is pealed like an onion, so is Alison's character exposed.  We see how cold she was, in dealing with her kids, etc.  And how she oftentimes had to fend for herself because of her husband who was doing a "Job" he wasn't supposed to talk about, supposedly.  I don't want to give much away here, but sufficeth it to say this is a good mystery.  And we didn't plan on city down and watching all three episodes in one night, but we ended up doing just that because it was so intriguing.  I'd give it a 4 out of 5.

"MRS. WILSON"     PBS

A grieving widow discovers that her seemingly ideal husband lived many secret lives.

The drama follows Alison Wilson who thinks she is a normal, happily married woman. But when her husband Alec suddenly dies, a woman turns up on her doorstep, claiming that she is the real Mrs. Wilson. Alison is determined to prove the validity of her own marriage - and Alec's love for her - but is instead led into a world of dark and troubling secrets. Alec was a British spy and a best-selling novelist and Alison is pushed to the very brink to find out the truth.This is a true story of what happened to the actress Ruth Wilson's grandmother.

Stars:

 Ruth Wilson, Iain Glen, Calam Lynch

Movie #1936 ........................."Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia" (streaming netflix)

Movie #1936 "Trevor Noah:  Son of Patricia" (streaming netflix)  This was a little over an hour comedy special Trevor did that  covers racism, snakes, and esp. his mother Patricia.  If you enjoyed his book, you would enjoy this, or vice versa.  He has such ease in doing voices, accents, that it reminds me of humorous interpretation in high school forensics.  Some of this was in his shows ( when I got to see him  live in Arizona a couple of years ago) and a little from the book , but otherwise, there's some good new stuff I hadn't heard him do before.  And while driving our 13 hours last Sunday back to Illinois, it was fun to listen to this for a short time .  I'd give it 4.5 out of 5 and recommend it.

"TREVOR NOAH:  SON OF PATRICIA"  2018   1 hour and 3 mins
Trevor touches on tacos, runaway snakes, camping, racism immunity, and lessons he learned from his mother, Patricia.

Starring :  Trevor Noah

Movie #1935 ........,................."Hannah Gadsby: Doug (netflix streaming)

Movie #1935 "Hannah Gadsby:  Douglas" (netflix streaming)  This is the same comedienne who wrote and delivered the very clever "Nannette" a year or two ago, and she's back on fire here.  She outlines what she is about to perform, and then she hits every markas she does it,  but the clever thing about it is that by previewing what we will see, that makes it even funnier.  She takes chances and she succeeds, and it's pretty fun watching that.  What a writer she is ---- but once again, this is not a show for everyone --- the language and situations are pretty raw at times.  She esp. has a part in here with famous paintings and she makes crude observations about them --- This was a 4.5 to me out of 5, not quite as on  point  as "Nannette" and not as poignant, but it was really full of lots of feminist observations and truth.

"HANNAH GADSBY:  DOUGLAS"   1 hour and 12 min    2020

Hannah Gadsby ("Nanette") returns for her second stand-up special and shares her latest takes on popularity, identity, language, feminism and more.

Writer:

 Hannah Gadsby

Star:

 Hannah Gadsby

Movie #1934........................."The Dead Don't Die"

Movie #1934 "The Dead Don't Die" (dvd from  netflix) - well, here's a movie we hadn't seen  with one of our favorite people , Bill Murray, and it was billed a comedy, so we rented it.  We don't recommend it unless you are way into zombies, which we are not.  There are some deadpan moments between sheriff Bill Murray, and equally deadpan assistant sheriff Adam Driver --- and the assistant to the assistant. also  deadpan , Chloe Seveigny.  Those three are a hoot.  And Steve Buscemi and Danny Glover becoming zombies is pretty funny, too, for a few minutes, but after a while --- it was just too silly for us.   But, that's just us.  We are sure this could be a cult favorite with several people.  Oh, one thing, I want to share about this film.  Through the whole movie, Driver keeps saying lines of dialogue that go something like this: "This  isn't gonna end well."..And then Murray asks him, "How do you know that?"  And I while watching it kept answering the t.v. in the pause  with "He read the script" --- well, at the end of the movie, Driver says that exact answer to Bill Murray, and they have  a discussion which breaks the 4th wall about the script and that the director didn't give the   whole script to Murray.  That was the best part of the film to me.  So that tells you there wasn't much  here.  I give it a 3 out of 5  for the effort.

"DEAD DON'T DIE"   2019     1 hour and 44 mins

The peaceful town of Centerville finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead start rising from their graves.

Director:

 Jim Jarmusch

Writer:

 Jim Jarmusch

Stars:

 Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tom Waits

Movie #1933 ........................."The Handmaid's Tale" (Hulu) Season 1, 10 episodes, 55 mins. each

Movie #1933 "Handmaid's Tale" (Hulu, Season 1, 10 episodes, 55  mins. each
I have been wanting to see this t.v. series for a  long time, ever since it came out, because I respect the book a lot.  However, after  watching the first 10 episodes (Season 1), I can say that I have seen enough, I think.  This series is so grim ---- lacks any humor at all ---- the pacing is soooooo slow; just waiting for something to happen, I have fallen asleep several times and had to watch things over.  It rarely changes in the slow pacing --- there's lots of gaps and pauses, and Joe Fiennes and his wife say all their lines the same.  This series definitely showcases Elisabeth Moss, whom I have been a fan of since "West  Wing."  But because it is stretched out into so many seasons, with 10 episodes each, for 50 minutes each episode, they fill it with more characters and more plot and more violence than the book had.  Maybe it is just me, and maybe it is the fact I am watching this show during a pandemic, but I feel this is too close to the reality we are facing now every day, so I don't need to see the rest of this series at this time.  I would rate it 4.  And I'll move on to something else.

"HANDMAID'S TALE"   10 episodes, 50+ minutes each, season 1 on hulu

Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.

Creator:

 Bruce Miller

Stars:

 Elisabeth Moss, Amanda Brugel, Madeline Brewer  |

Movie #1932 ........................."Gavin & Stacey" - Christmas specials and Season 3 (Amazon Prime)

Movie 1932 "Gavin & Stacey" - Christmas Special, Season 3, another Christmas
Special (Amazon Prime) ---- continued to love this show as they go through the trials and tribulations of Gavin moving to Cardiff, in Wales, much closer to Stacey's relatives.  They try to  have children and Smithy tries to parent from the  UK, while his kid grows up  in Wales.  Stacey applies for jobs, and the two families get together for a number of reasons.  We highly recommend this comedy, and can't wait until it continues some day in the future.  very memorable quirky characters here --- and James  Corden continues to impress me with his bountiful talent!  5 out of 5


"GAVIN & STACEY
Christmas Special  - 12 Days of Christmas 2008
The Barry folk come to Billericay for the holiday. Gavin surprises his mum and Smithy with news of his promotion in the company's new operation, located in Cardiff.

Season 3 ---- 6 episodes   2009
Gavin gets used to new job, Gavin  and Stacey  try to get pregnant, And there's a wedding

Christmas Special -- 2019
15 years later --- updates us on how everyone has changed (or not) when everyone comes to xmas at Essex and the Brits --- this one ends up in the air so we suspect another season  or christmas special to come?

Creators:

 James Corden, Ruth Jones

Stars:

 Mathew Horne, Joanna Page, Alison Steadman, James Corden, Ruth Jones 

Movie #`1931 "Collateral" - netflix streaming - miniseries with 4 episodes

Movie #1931 "Collateral" (netflix streaming - miniseries with 4 episodes)  I watched this because I really like Carey Mulligan , and the story gripped me from the opening.  But then the interest in it petered out for me because in  my opinion, there were way too many characters on the fringe of the story that were introduced and we were forced to follow them for no real good reason.  Maybe one of them was a witness, etc.  It was, to me, a way of stretching this story that could have lasted maybe a movie length, at most.  It just wasn't all that interesting to me, so I don't recommend it as a must see.  Strong in acting by Mulligan (not a surprise) but the script gave her little to do.  I'd give this a 3 out of 5.

"COLLATERAL"  2018   ---- 4 episodes, about 50 minutes each -- some nudity and violence

London detectives investigating the seemingly random murder of a pizza delivery man uncover a convoluted case of interlocking circumstances amid a cross-section of British society.

Stars:

 Carey Mulligan, Jeany Spark, Nicola Walker