Winky & Stinky

😝😝😝😉😉       I appear to be in a minority, but hear me out.       John Krasinski, a talented comedic actor but also drama (as he proves in this movie) is still a lightweight when it comes to directing (this his first major film) and screenwriting. It is certainly okay to trade on suspense, fun-frightening monsters, and a clever theme of forcing ordinary human beings to keep their mouths shut under endless stress and excruciating pain. However, for those ( like me ) who simply love intelligent science fiction this movie left me...well, fairly quiet.       There is no real explanation given for the predicament a family isolated on a farm (somewhere in the US) for about 15 months finds themselves in. We know the rest of world has been trashed by monsters of unknown origin, and we learn (already revealed in the trailers) that their honing ability is limited to sound. You might think they were ...

😉😉😉😉😉 On: Netfilix (original series) Length: 6 episodes (6 hours)       Documentaries present a variety of problems for their creators. The brothers Chapman and Maclain Way, who directed Wild Wild Country, took on the difficult task of recalling a specific piece of American history, in a specific place, that passed away as fast as its sensational details flooded American tabloids. The narrow impact belies the enormity of what occurred; thousands of people, millions of dollars, injustice, crime, and avarice (to name a few).       That reality, which I barely recalled (already in my 30s when it happened in the early 1980s), made this mini-series extraordinarily compelling.       The documentary chronicled the rise of a Buddhist splinter group that migrated from India to rural Oregon (USA) to begin the creation of what they believed to be the seed of a new utopian...

😉😉😉😉😐       That this film caused me an almost painful compulsion to replace our 16 year old Boarder Collie (gone last year) is a testimony to some basic human characteristics which this film capitalized on superbly.       The first is that people (most people) simply love dogs. This fact has the weight of history behind it and the science that has made this animal the most diverse on the planet.       Another is that those dog lovers intentionally, unintentionally, or unwittingly personify their dogs, interweaving unique canine traits with human strengths and frailties.       Wes Anderson (director), a probable army of creative geniuses, and talented (voice) actors (notably Bryan Cranston and Scarlett Johansson) used these characteristics to produce a compelling fable that combined both marvelous entertainment with thoughtful s...

😉😉😉😑😑 On : Netflix Original, Genre : Western, Length : 7 Episodes, If you missed Netflix’s Western mini-series Godless when it premiered last November, as I did, it’s worth a belated discovery. There are so many points of cinematic quality that even when the storyline bordered on the implausible it retained its embrace of dramatic entertainment. Jeff Daniels, who plays the dark and cruel antagonist Frank Griffin, is (as usual) superb. His persona, borne of religious psychosis, sets the stage for a clash of good versus evil that culminates in the final episode. The panorama of landscapes and “Big Sky” made me yearn for extended travel to the West without regard to the story. The role horses played was even endearing. There was little evidence that the producers nickel and dimed their reproduction of the period. Character studies were deftly portrayed by (among others) Michelle Dockery (Downton Abby) and Jack O’Connell, the protagonist, leavi...