TV: The Sopranos Season 3 (2001)*****

I'm pretty sure The Sopranos is myfavorite TV show. It is the TV show my brain craves to watch the most, and every episode I've seen (all of them) are valuable. The past week or so, I've been re-watching season 3 and dogonnit, if it isn't chock full of the best Soprano moments!

* To start the whole season off, there's the FBI's effort to bug the Soprano house. The coordinated effort is soundtracked with the Peter Gunn spy theme mashed with Sting and the Police Every Breath You Take.

* The funeral Tony's mother dreaded and hoped wouldn't happen. Click here to watch. 

* After Dr. Melfi's horrible rape, the moment she realizes she has the power to have her rapist taken care of, but she decides not to use it.

* After AJ and friends break in and vandalize their school pool house, the Newark Police's super detective work with pizza forensics. The camera and editing in this scene is pure and beautiful comedy. Click here to watch. 

* The Big Mouth Billy Bass gift and related dream sequences.

* Paulie and Christopher get lost in the wintery southern New Jersey woods. This is top quality acting people. Click here to watch. 

As I said, this is one of, if not my #1 favorite TV show, so it gets five stars*****. 

I re-watched The Sopranos Season 3 thanks to my Amazon Prime subscription. 

Rating System Check-In

I've been having some thoughts on my rating system and wondering if I need to add another level.

Right now this is how things get rated:

• One star* is just awful. I never want to watch it again. I probably couldn't even get through the whole thing and I'm sorry I wasted precious minutes of my life.
• Two stars** are movies/tv shows that I didn't like, but I was able to get through and I don't want to ever watch again and I probably won't recommend to anyone else.
• Three stars*** are good, but I'm not itching to watch again and again.
• Four stars**** are great. I want to watch them again. I will sing their praises from my front porch.
• Five stars***** are my favorites. Not always critically acclaimed, but movies/tv shows I can watch over and over and I actually get cravings for. These are the pieces of film that I feel have really contributed to my life and are the basis of my addiction.

Sometimes I get stuck in the three stars*** and I wonder if I should split them up. Some three stars*** I don't want to see again and some I do.

• So I'm thinking of using a zero star {  } to indicate the worst film pieces that I couldn't even finish.
• Then, one star* would be for the pieces that I was able to finish, but I just don't like.
• Two stars** can be pieces that I was able to finish, I thought were okay, but not something I want to watch again.
• Three stars*** are good and I wouldn't mind watching again.
• Four **** and Five stars***** are the same as above.

That works for now!

Movie: American Pastoral (2016)

Movie: American Pastoral (2016)

American Pastoral is a tragic drama about a family that was destined to be perfectly happy, but ended up being somewhat miserable.

A beauty queen and the best high school football player in the country marry and create a beautiful life in the countryside, but give birth and raise a flawed daughter. She does something that ruins everything for everyone and the majority of the movie follows the aftermath of that event. No one ends up happy.

This was weird. It should have been good with the cast and the nice cinematography, but it felt like the actors were reading from giant cards being held up behind the camera. It also felt like it should have been a play, not a movie. Some light IMDB digging and I find out this was inspired by a novel and originally written in 2006, but the cast and directors dropped out for one reason or another until Ewan MacGregor came on board to direct, his first ever movie.

I'm giving American Pastoral two stars**. I watched the entire movie, but I think it was really stiff and I don't ever want to see it again, and I can't think of a good reason to recommend it to anyone. So there.

I checked this movie out on DVD from the library.  

TV: The Durrells in Corfu (2016)

The Durrells in Corfu, a Masterpiece family comedy about The Durrells, a widow and her four children, who move from an industrialized city in England to a small island in Greece that has no electricity. It seems that their new found simple life brings out the best and worst in each family member, but they of course also learn how much they love and need each other despite annoying the hell out of each other.

I thought it was written and played very well and reminded me of romantic travel comedies such as Under a Tuscan Sun and All You Need Is Love, both beautifully shot and featuring people who've experienced pain or some kind of life distress and the opportunity of newfound love in a lovely new location. How nice is that?

Spoiler Alert! My only issue is the issue that comes up in the last episode: Mrs. Durrell finds out her fiancé is gay and calls off the wedding. I thought that the issue was dealt with in a rushed manner. I feel like they could have given it more than five minutes to develop, climax and close. Not saying anyone having to do with the show is homophobic or anything like that. It is just that that particular story vector went by in a oddly quick way.

I would most certainly watch this again because I think it was well made and fun, so I'm giving it three stars***.

I watched The entire season, which originally aired on PBS in The States, on Amazon.

Movie: Dear White People (2014)**

The TV show was WAAAAAAAAAAY better than Dear White People, the movie. The movie didn't allow for character or plot development so a lot of stuff didn't make sense. The movie's story and characters were somewhat different than the TV shows and less interesting, in my opinion.

The best thing about the movie on DVD was the featurettes in the special features... oops! With some basic Internet search skills, I found them on YouTube! No need of the DVD. Check out the Dear White People Channel on YouTube to see some funny and poignant PSAs. Click here to see my favorite.

I give this movie two stars** because I have no need to watch it again, but I highly recommend the TV show.

I checked this DVD out from the library.  

Movie: Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution (2016)*****

More twists and turns than the teacup ride at Disneyland, the British mystery, Witness for the Prosecution,  had me on the edge of my recliner couch!

A wealthy older woman is found murdered in her home, her younger, male lover is accused of the crime. A down-on-his-luck solicitor takes up his case. But did he do it? This movie is a whodunnit in its finest form and it makes me want to read the entire Agatha Christie bibliography. What have I been missing out on?!

This movie has the feel of a made-for-tv movie, but I'm not looking at that as a detractor. In fact, that doesn't bother me at all, as I watch a lot of made-for-tv British dramas and mysteries. The acting was superb, notably TobyJones as the solicitor. I don't even think its worthy of mentioning (Oops! I just did!) how great the production was because that's the standard on British productions. I can't think of anything bad about this movie. After some digging, I learned that this was originally produced as a mini-series with two episodes and there was a previous movie adaptation made in 1957.

I'm giving Witness for the Prosecution five stars*****, that's right. This is getting the highest possible rating. It is now ranked amongst my favorites. I want to watch it over and over. I want to recommend this to friends who want a good mystery to curl up with in book or film form.

I checked this DVD out from the library.

Movie: The Founder (2016)***

The Founder is a movie based on the story of McDonald's and the man, who, for a time, claimed to be the founder of McDonald's, Ray Kroc. If you are not a fan of McDonald's, this movie will probably make you hate that corporation. I certainly do. According to this movie, it is a company built on greed, taking advantage of decent people and lies.

I did some internet digging and I found out that many of the facts in The Founder are true. Although I was annoyed when reading a few online articles about fact vs fiction and they all keep saying that in the movie Ray Kroc introduced the idea of franchising to the McDonald brothers. DID ANYONE ACTUALLY WATCH THE MOVIE?! There's a scene with really good editing work that shows the McDonald brothers had already tried franchising by the time Kroc showed up on their doorstep. Kroc just did a better job at franchising.

I didn't think the acting was particularly notable, although the cast was good group of comedy mainstays: Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch and BJ Novak. The writing represented the truth really well, while managing to be engaging and entertaining. I thought the production design was top notch. It looks like they rebuilt actual McDonald's locations on sets, the time period was well represented in costume and set design. The scene showing the McDonald brothers' speedy system choreography was a pleasure to watch. This might have won for Best Look at The Chocket Awards this year had I seen it earlier.

Anyway, I'm giving The Founder three stars***. I think its a good movie overall, but I don't see much reason to watch it over and over. I also think it offers a valuable point of reflection on one's choices as a consumer. For instance, I feel like I cannot support the McDonald's Corporation because they're greasy and gross literally and figuratively, but guess who is one of the major contributors to much of my favorite radio programming? The Joan B. Kroc Foundation. That's Joan, wife of the grease man, Ray Kroc.

I checked this DVD out from the library.