Finally! Part two of the Movie Bomb, just in time for holiday couch potato-ing??
Petite Maman – After some very strange alchemy, a woman staying in her childhood home finds her daughter befriending HER child self in the magic of the forest. Beautiful and contemplative.
Radiance – A photographer, slowly losing his vision, befriends an idealistic woman and creator of audio descriptions for the visually impaired. In their time together, he helps her “see” her words more fluently and see for himself, in a new way.
Relax, I’m From the Future – A lonely man from the 22nd century travels to the 2020s to gain an easy fortune from lottery winnings and sports betting. Unable to go it alone, he befriends a queer black woman to help him. All goes amok when attempting to change the unfolding of events, some catastrophic, and they are hunted by goons from the future. Fun and funny and Rhys Darby. His voice!!
See How they Run – Let me, before I get to it, tell you of my sincere admiration for Sam Rockwell. If he’s in it, I am going to watch it (him?), just because the man is magic!
This is an Agatha Christie style narrative, which includes her very own character in a murderous tale of molotov cocktails, adultery, blackmail, and poison! Let the games begin…
Self Reliance – A man, still reeling from the breakup of his long-term relationship, agrees to participate in a dark web survival game. If he can keep from being murdered(!!) for the next thirty days, he wins one million dollars (said with a Mike Meyers voice – IYKYK, but not really). The one caveat, for the killers, is that he can only be taken down while alone. So, he enlists the help of Craigslist strangers and a homeless man named James in the tip of the iceberg of absolutely unhinged goings on. Thank you, Jake Johnson. I LOVED it!
Society of the Snow – In October of 1972, a plane carrying a Uraguayan rugby team crashes in a remote mountainous area. This is their story, and boy, is it a doozy!
Sometimes I Think About Dying – Fran, great at her job (In Astoria, Oregon! Holla!), terrible with people, and with a vivid inner life envisioning her death in myriad forms, is jostled into reality when a new co-worker seeks out her friendship.
Spaceman – A solitary astronaut on a mission to explore a strange cloud of space dust befriends a telepathic spider who helps him recapture his humanity. Yeah, it’s weird, but also poignant.
Strawberry Mansion – In a bizarre future where dreams are taxed, a tax man travels to the remote Strawberry Mansion for a long overdue audit of an elderly artist. He stays in her home and slowly unravels the truth of the government and his own work, all while falling in love with the beautiful woman in the artist’s dreams.
The Civil Dead – A dead man, visible only to one living person and sort of friend, longs for connection, but the self-absorbed man with a wretched haircut really isn’t having it.
The Midnight Sky – George Clooney plays a scientist who ruminates on life, isolation, choices and their consequences in a post-apocalyptic life of polar frigidity.
The Paragon – This is another of my open in case of melancholy films! It is fun and funny and wholesome. Dutch, a self serving jerk of a man, has a near death experience and wishes to exact revenge on the person responsible for his disablement. Enter Lyra, an expert in psionic power, who is willing to train him to find the vehicle that struck him. Undisciplined and quite childish, he and Lyra are amazed when his abilities blossom, but are later thwarted by her evil brother Haxan. Together, they must unite against his ill intentions to save the day and the world!
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare – Based, however loosely, on a real undercover mission to circumvent Nazis off the coast of Africa, a small band of fabulous fighters must sail, undetected, to save the day. Terrific fun!
Viking – A group of aspirational astronauts isolated in a remote area of the countryside mimic the lives of real life explorers millions of miles away as a means of problem solving. Life gets interesting when the line between fiction and reality begins to blur. Super inventive!
Yonder – After his wife dies tragically young, a man is given the opportunity to join her in a different reality.
Why, hello there. I uploaded the pictures for this post, and the one that will follow, two months ago, temporarily forgot about it, then had only intermittent movie thoughts, until now. Today is the day for the first movie bomb!!
All of Us Strangers – Let us begin with something on the strange side, which you know I love. A man returns to his childhood home, only to find his deceased parents, just as they were before they died. He has dinner with them and returns for multiple visits to heal his past. At the same time, a man from his building shows interest in him and they establish a rapport, but not everything is as it seems. Beautiful and heartbreaking.
Disappearance at Clifton Hill – After witnessing the kidnapping of a one-eyed boy near Niagara Falls as a child, a troubled woman decides to investigate as an adult: disturbing truths are revealed and all sorts of chaos ensues. Plus, for the woman who loved a little intrigue as a kid and always wanted a miniature bottle of invisible ink, it is used here. Huzzah!
Freaky – My favorite kind of Vince Vaughn film, a little goofy, a little menacing. A high schooler exchanges bodies with a violent serial killer and must trade back before she is trapped forever in his physical form. So much hilarity (Vince’s voice and body with a teenage girl’s mind!) and mayhem, also serious gore. Steel yourselves…
Frybread Face and Me – A young boy from the city spends the summer on his grandmother’s ranch along with his cousin, who the majority cruelly call Frybread Face. It is a fish out of water tale in which humanity and love are found in abundance.
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin – A young man suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy enjoys a rich and complicated life via World of Warcraft, forming close relationships on the platform without revealing his personal truth. After his death, his parents reach out to the gaming community and learn his history. Gah! Have a box of tissues nearby, peeps.
In Her Place – A mother who feels trapped in a thankless marriage gains the luxury of living in the apartment of a woman on trial for murdering her romantic partner. It starts simply enough, accessing the home to retrieve clothes, and progresses by borrowing outfits, spritzing perfume, taking long afternoons, until she leaves her husband and sons for a sense of peace and autonomy, however temporary.
Into the Labyrinth – Not a popular fil-um on the review sites, but one I enjoyed nonetheless. A woman kidnapped and imprisoned in a below ground labyrinth escapes only to be forced into deprogramming via intensely psychological means. Nothing is as it seems!
Italian Studies – A woman loses her memory mid errand run and roams the streets of New York city in search of herself. Can you imagine??
Kajillionaire – Born into a family of heartless paranoid grifters, a lonely young woman yearns for the love and connection her parents are incapable of giving her.
Linoleum – A highly layered drama about an astronomer who aspired for the life of an astronaut but got a barely watched wannabe Bill Nye science show instead. An examination of a complicated family life, wrought in yearning, love, and sometimes, sadness. Some very pleasant surprises.
Ms. White Light – A father-daughter team helps the terminally ill and their families cope, and in some cases, radically fail, with the inevitable end.
Oh Lucy! Another layered tale of longing and depression, misunderstandings, mixed with learning English and travel to foreign lands. Vague enough for ya?
On the Rocks – A ridiculously wealthy smooth talker, serial philanderer, and fiercely loyal and protective father helps his daughter through a rough patch in her marriage.
Pagglait – After only five months of marriage, a woman finds it challenging to grieve the death of her husband, with whom she was not terribly close. Complicating the situation are his deeply grieving parents, who relied on him financially, an insurance payout meant solely for her, and a photograph of a beautiful mystery woman amongst his belongings.
Palm Springs – Hot damn, peeps! This is one of my favorite movies of the past few years, a rather fine open in case of melancholy type, as it brings me quickly to laughter. A couple at a wedding in Palm Springs goes through the stages of grief after learning they are trapped in a time loop together. Some excellent laughs, murder, and pandemonium here, also.
Perfect Days – A man leads a solitary, but not the least bit lonesome, existence as a janitor of some very posh Tokyo toilets. He reads books, listens to cassettes, has deep friendships with trees, nature, and people both known and unknown. An absolute stunner!
Hello All! Welcome to another addition of my favorite programs of the past three years or so. I don’t know what your watching habits are like, but Greg and I cycle through platforms. Sometimes we’ll have one for months, other times a week or two. We just finished a Netflix cycle, and as I was browsing, I saw a whole slew of titles I had forgotten from the last time, so this portion will be pretty Netflix heavy.
Let’s get to it, with Apple Cider Vinegar. A woman desperate for attention jumps on the early days of Instagram and falsely claims she healed a brain tumor, not with medical intervention, but with whole foods and alternative remedies. She becomes a really big deal and a pathological liar (or maybe was one all along, right?) and is eventually exposed. Meanwhile, another young woman follows a similar path, but since her illness is real, the consequences are even more dire. Bananas!
Archive 81 – A film buff is hired to restore and edit damaged video from a mysterious fire at an equally mysterious building in the 90s. He begins to see parallels with his own life, and makes connections with the woman who made the original film, uncovering a strange cult in the process.
An aside, and maybe one I’ve already mentioned, Greg and I are slightly obsessed with cults and frequently worry that we two non-joiners could somehow be lured into one, because, as the kindly gentleman from Nexium said, “No one thinks they’re joining a cult!!”
Now for the Asian section of our programs, which really has me itching for a visit to Japan or South Korea! Behind Your Touch – this one is pretty unconventional, but very fun. After a young veterinarian witnesses a meteor while examining a cow, she gains the ability to access memories (in reverse chronological order) of any being by touching their butts! Her ability comes in handy (pun intended) with pets and their mysterious illnesses, as well as in aid of the newest local cop. The one caveat? The more butts she touches, the more hair she loses.
Inspector Koo is a in insurance investigator and former police officer. Propelled by a lack of money and her video game, beer, and salty snack addiction, she begrudgingly re-joins the force to help find a serial killer.
Hot Spot: After a front desk hotel employee is saved from death by her strong and speedy half-alien coworker, she and her circle of friends enlist his help to solve problems, big and small. This is a great slice of small town Japan, with, super bonus, a setting near Mount Fuji. What a wonderful backdrop!
The Makanai: two young friends embark on their life long dream of becoming Geiko (the Kyoto term for Geisha). For one, her skills and abilities come naturally, while the other is rather ill suited. Fear not! She’s arrived at the perfect moment to become the Makanai, or cook, for the establishment. What a fascinating glimpse at this side of Japanese culture, gloriously centered on women. I learned so much.
This and Hot Spot are what I am calling “big hug” series. In a world of wicked backstabbers, murderers, and thieves, these represent the best of humanity, via tenderness, love, caring, and good food!
Bodies is the investigation of a single murder at four different points in time. Very sci-fi cool!
Bodkin is a bit of a fun mad-cap thriller type, circling around the disappearance of three young men in a small Irish town twenty-five years prior. One of the leads is an American, producing a podcast about the mystery, so there is also a bit of a silly fish out of water aspect I rather enjoyed.
Categorized as supernatural horror detective comedy-drama, which is quite the mouthful, Dead Boy Detectives centers around two young men who decline a place in the afterlife to solve supernatural mysteries in the here and now. It’s a little bit of everything with a fair number of surprises!
Katla – after an Icelandic volcano erupts for more than a year and begins to exhibit unusual changes in chemistry, people dead for years suddenly appear from the ash. How did they come to be? Are they changelings of desire? Something sinister? Very thought provoking and atmospheric.
Eager to improve himself and his life, a man enters a sketchy strip mall store front and exits renewed. The problem? He is a clone, and his original self, who was supposed to die, lives on! What to do? This is Living With Yourself!
Lockwood & Company – More young people battling the supernatural in order to keep the world safe from dark forces! Such fun…
Mrs. Davis has got to be one of the most original and inventive shows I’ve ever seen, and definitely an all-time favorite! A young nun, desirous of a peaceful life with Jesus, is called upon by an AI entity (Mrs. Davis), who is literally in the ear of most of humanity. So very determined to find and destroy the Holy Grail, Mrs. Davis has staked her life upon it and enlisted the Nun’s help, OR ELSE. History! More mad-cap humor! Magic! Women of power! And a wilder than wild ending to a bananas AI beginning.
Nobody Wants This is a super fun and very thoughtful exploration of star-crossed love, as a non-religious sex pod caster falls for a rabbi. The highlight, however, is the hilarious and ever-so-sweet platonic relationship between their two siblings.
Sprung is another of my all-time great series, with a little bit of everything I like. I mentioned it once before, way back in 2022, noting I’d already watched it twice. Well, I’m probably at the five or six mark now, another show that’s like a big hug. Thank you, Greg Garcia!
When Jack, his former cellmate Rooster, and his girl on the inside, Gloria, are released early because of COVID, they have zero options and move in with Rooster’s Mom, who wants them to form a crew. Unwilling to return to prison after nearly 30 years inside on a single weed conviction, Jack will only commit crimes against “bad” people, using the myriad skills learned after befriending true criminals on the inside. Utterly hilarious and heart-warming, with so many fabulous twists. Watch it again and again – you won’t be alone!
Wellmania – After a major health crisis prevents her from getting her U.S. visa, an Australian woman jumps on the get healthy quick bandwagon, doing everything in her power, save doing the actual hard work (for a time) to make her body well. A wickedly clever train wreck show of the highest caliber, my friends!
Hey there! It’s been over three years since I posted a television or movie recommendation, but I have certainly not stopped partaking of either, so here we are with the first of a few installments. I hope you enjoy!
Before I get to them, a nod to my Grandma Tess. Whenever we spoke on the phone, she was one of two places, at the little table in the kitchen: listening to the radio, looking out the window, or sitting with Aunt Mary (before she died) or Grandpa. Sometimes all three! The second place was in front of the television in the basement, watching a program.
Though she died in 2014, I carry much of her with me, sometimes without even realizing. The other day, Greg was out of town, and we were catching up on the phone. When he asked me what I was doing, I said I was watching a program, which immediately got me giggling, and him to say, “Okay, Grandma.” It was, in no way, offensive, just an amusing recognition of fact. I now, seemingly out of nowhere, call shows programs. Another part of her DNA bubbling to the Colleen surface. Don’t mind if I do…
Speaking for Grandma Tess, about my programs, she would NOT like them, and, quite possibly, disapprove of my liking of them. If you haven’t yet grasped it, I like quirky and weird. Most of the shows I enjoy fall heavily on this spectrum, as I find the majority of television either thoroughly irksome or banal, which is definitely a me, NOT you or Grandma thing. I am what I am (to quote Popeye) and let my freak flag fly. I don’t generally like reality t.v., shows centering around doctors or hospitals, murder investigations, people being purposefully mean, or soap operas. Sorry, not sorry. Let this be your frame of reference as we proceed.
And now, to KLEO, a first-class German program, detailing the life of a former Stasi agent released from prison after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is two glorious seasons of late 80s/early 90s nostalgia, with a plethora of terrific Ladas, Trabants, and one 1965 Mustang, many fabulous clothes and interiors, albeit in the strange other-world of the former East Germany (mostly).
Kleo was imprisoned under false pretenses, had super horrible events occur while inside, and is very keen on exacting revenge on everyone even remotely involved, while also determining why events unfolded as they did. I believe the most apt descriptor would be madcap mystery-thriller, with a dose of violence (unfortunately). It is zany and laugh out loud funny, at the same time delving into the politics of a world of changing allegiances, enemies, and belief systems.
Imagine being high school age and gay and losing your beloved father and not really knowing how to deal with either and putting your life on hold to cope with your crippling grief!! Then imagine finally getting slightly ahead of it and going to college, where you are shoved into, not a dorm, but essentially a fancy shed, made to live with your polar opposite (who will eventually become your platonic soul mate) and do all of the normal college things. This is Big Boys. Also occasionally madcap, full of love and silliness, anger and acceptance, and quite a bit of confusion and wisdom.
Counterpart – Parallel worlds created when an experiment in 1987 East Germany (a minor theme in our viewing!) goes awry, causing each human to have an identical counterpart in the other world. Then, a deadly virus, a cold war, intrigue, politics, questions of how and why. So very good.
The City & The City – another program of parallel worlds, my friends. Two cities exist in the same geographical space, one vibrant, advanced, and prosperous, the other a cornucopia of browns and yellows and disadvantaged people, each population “unseeing” the other spaces, despite their fluid borders, for fear of Breach and disappearing forever. Underlying is a mystery of a single, ancient city beneath it all.
When a detective is tasked with solving a murder of a woman from the other city within his borders, it brings a personal mystery to the fore, along with competing loyalties between the police, the government, and the truth.
Now for Creamerie, which fulfills my promise for weirdness to the nth degree. In a world void of men after a deadly virus killed them to virtual extinction, women struggle not only to cope with the loss of spouses, partners, brothers, and children, but also jockey for control of the WORLD!
Dinosaur– Nina, an autistic woman in her 30s, finds herself at her wit’s end when her roommate, who is also her sister and best friend, is rather suddenly engaged. The series focuses not only on their changing dynamics, but Nina’s struggles as an autistic woman, the ups and downs of her job at a museum in Glasgow (the city is an awesome additional character!), and her fears about dating and moving forward with life. Gosh, is it brainy and illuminating, and quite hilarious, too.
Irma Vep (2022) – An actress tired of playing superheroes ventures to Paris to remake a 1920s film about vampires. Her world begins to shift the moment she dons the Irma Vep costume, and the realities of time and space and gravity begin to blur, but that is only the tip of the iceberg, peeps. Fantastically brilliant. Also, Vincent Micagne absolutely steals the show.
Bad Monkey is Vince Vaughn at his best, a little new-agey, a little reckless, and very lovable. He’s a cop on suspension for some genuinely bad behavior, brought back into the fold with what should have been a simple case. A tourist snags an arm instead of a fish, and desperately bored and missing the job, rather than dispose of it, he delves into the mystery. It’s a wild ride.
In Ludwig, a reclusive twin is brought headlong into the world of police detection when his cop brother disappears without a trace. I know, police and murder, but sometimes the formula is just right.
Elsbeth is another example of the police and murder formula being just right. Elsbeth, always carrying a random bag or three (why???), is an attorney assigned to the New York City Police to help ensure cops follow proper protocol. The thing is, she’s great at solving mysteries, too. This is a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I am here for it!
My first foray into Korean drama! Missing: The Other Side follows the only two men, for reasons unknown, who can see and interact with a village of dead people, congregating solely based on the fact their bodies were never found, sometimes for months, other times decades. Watch as they investigate the mysteries surrounding each villager and how their remains can be retrieved to fully cross over.
OVNI(s) – Another show that gently pulls on the nostalgia heartstrings, this time in 1978 France. Didier is a scientist whose career literally bombs when the rocket he engineered explodes. Rather than finding himself unemployed, he’s sent to a tiny backwater to investigate UFO (OVNI en Francais) sightings.
In order to move back to his previous job, he must solve every case on file. He begins rather systematically, and quite cruelly, with his fellow employees and believers, unbelieving himself, until weird events inside and outside the office occur. Gah, such a gem!
Somebody Somewhere – Grieving the death of her sister, a kindly disaster of a woman moves into her home, makes good and bad relationship choices, drinks a shit-ton of booze, sings, rekindles the most marvelous friendship, and takes her alcoholic narcissist of a mother to task. A sweet, heart wrencher if ever there was.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Pardon my rant, but I must: after seriously disliking Deep Space Nine for essentially being a soap opera in a mall; Enterprise for its meanness; Discovery for starting very strong, then devolving into another soap opera about feelings rather than space travel; and rather sadly, Picard, for turning the whole Star Trek universe upside down by not following Gene Roddenberry’s vision; this is the best offering of the Star Trek genre Greg and I have seen in decades. It embodies everything I fell in love with, with exploration and science, great characters, good writing, and boldy going where no one has gone before. Huzzah!
Ted Lasso – upon hearing so much about the awesomeness of this show, I was very worried about how I’d receive it. Turns out, it really is that good, especially considering it revolves around a sport in which I have zero interest. I LOVE that it is primarily about redemption and people being kind! The women building each other up was especially refreshing.
Another sports themed program, and one I actually enjoy watching, though I rarely do – HOCKEY! There are some aspects I really don’t like, the objectification of women in slow-motion being top of mind, and the wildly raunchy talk of sex, but I digress. Shoresy is a stellar show. Lemme break it down: it centers on LOVE. First and foremost, love for the game of hockey; love of friends, family, and team mates; and a desire for loyalty, to do and be your very best, especially on the ice. Plus it is hilarious, a great study in Canadian culture, and brimming with heart. An astounding aside, the star, Jared Keeso (front and center), had his tooth surgically removed, permanently, for authenticity.
I first spied Greg Davies on an episode of Portrait Artist of The Year: very, very tall, big bellied, and ridiculously adorable and funny. I wanted more. Plus, his name is GREG. So I searched the interwebs and learned about The Cleaner, in which he plays, in quite an original spin on a comedy, a crime scene cleaner. Each episode has him cleaning up (or failing to) after a horrific event, and having sometimes tender, other times wild interactions with neighbors, caretakers, and the like. If you ever saw High Maintenance and enjoyed it, the self-contained aspect is reminiscent of that and obviously quite enjoyable!
This Way Up – Struggling to get back to “normal” after being hospitalized as a result of a nervous breakdown, Aine finds challenges all around: in her family, in her job teaching English as a second language, and in navigating the vagaries of friendship. I believe the theme here is never give up.
Alrighty! One very long post and eighteen shows I adore. I’m pooped. Happy Friday, y’all…
Remains of the blizzard, pretty that. Also note the flourish of leaf and bud on the fern bush, a reliable early notion of spring. I need it this year.
I have been struggling, for peace some days, mental wellness all along. My usual, every few years, precipitous dip into darkness. My maddening chemistry. Also, this country, of which I used to be ridiculously proud, making enemies of friends, blithely, with impunity, what could possibly go wrong?
I find respite in the usual pockets, the leaf of fern bush above, a porch-full of sun warmth on black clad legs, a Juniper snuffle and wiggle of tail, a Greg kiss and cuddle in the thin light of morning. I’m crafting a playlist of beloved-by-me dance songs, a medicine all their own. Essentials, if you will.
In an unusual turn, at least for the Colorado Springs leg of this journey of life, we have seen three movies in an actual theater recently. Entertaining and TWO directed by Steven Soderbergh, which, in the car on the way home from Black Bag (very good, plus Michael Fassbender, whose voice I could put on a loop for more good medicine) made me realize he is probably my favorite director of all time, with such a willingness to try — serious, historical, funny, strange — and does a brilliant job.
A semi-short list for funsies, exclamation points for personal favorites: Sex, Lies, and Video Tape, Out of Sight (!!), The Limey (!), Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven (!!), Solaris (!), Bubble, Che: Part One (!) and Two, Logan Lucky (!), Mosaic (Paul Reubens!), Kimi, Presence.
Also, to plug our favorite local theater since the demise of the Kimball’s Peak Three downtown (sadly, the owner died in 2023), Roadhouse Cinemas is seriously all the things. They have: really good drinks – boozy – margarita, an electric green apple drink whose name evades, and not – a most magical root beer, legit excellent food, even amazing churros! It is also full service to a comfy recliner, which, on a cold winter evening (or any time), can be made warm and toasty with the flick of a button. Why would you go anywhere else?!
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