Movie: Nothing But a Man (1964) ****

I’m not sure how I came across this movie, but at some point, I placed a hold on it from my local library and then it was available. Nothing But a Man depicts Black misery, and centers on two people who are fighting to find moments of joy. It is brought to life with great acting, chock-full of internalized emotions and filmed in such a way that you get to look into the faces and see what’s contained. 

After the movie, I watched the recorded interview with the director, Michael Roemer, that's included on the Criterion edition DVD. I gleaned that he was implying that he regrets creating a "manipulative" movie with a happy-hopeful ending, “what Americans want to believe.”  I disagree. I don't see it as a perfect ending or a hopeful ending. I see it as an imperfect-open-ended ending.

“I don't like emphasis so everything I do is non-emphatic. Except that these things that happen that are very extreme. You may feel the tension all the way through, but the tension is subdued, and you are waiting for it to explode.” – Michael Roemer, Director

I loved this movie. I could definitely watch this movie over again and again. It is a film you can see differently at different stages of your life, and a movie I’d like to re-watch and find things in the fore and background that fascinate me. It may not be overtly happy, but the open-ended ending leaves room for you to root for Duff and Josie to thrive. ****

Watched this on a DVD checked out from my local library.  

Fall 2023 Cheesy Romance Triple Play

Big Sky River (2022)

Honestly, I don’t know where the title comes from. A recent divorcée travels from New York to spend the summer in Parable, Montana. While there, she falls in like with the widowed sheriff, make some friends, and is enamored by the beauty of Montana. There’s a slight complication because her stepdaughter who comes to visit, feels emotionally attached to her and abandoned by her father. I’m sure you can guess what happens in the end. This movie is based on a book written by one of my favorite romance authors, Linda Lael Miller. The cast features Kavan Smith, frequent Hallmark romantic lead, Lochlyn Munro, who you’ve seen if you watch any TV, and Lucia Walters, who was on the last season of Virgin River! 

Production: Authentic production and styling and a really good but terribly under-used supporting cast. Maybe that means there will be a sequel.
Tropes: Career vs. Love
Diversity: Some representation of BIPOC, but I’m not sure if that’s what Montana looks like!
Production: Front Street Pictures and released by Hallmark Channel.

How’d you watch it: DVD checked out from my local library.

To Her with Love (2022)
I’ve never done this before, but I want to analyze the DVD cover before I watch the movie: This is a Hallmark Mahogany production, Hallmark’s Black or African American line of films. There are two attractive Black people on the cover, and in the background is the brick façade of some kind of institution. There’s some kind of mural (I hope not graffiti) that fades up into the photo of the couple. So I am thinking that they’re playing on the Sidney Poitier classic To Sir, With Love, and the institution-like building is a school. The closer I look at the mural on the cover, I notice that it might have students or kids or people sitting at desks or maybe in an auditorium. I see some hands up in the background so maybe a classroom? But I hope its not an inner city classroom. Please no basic stereotypes!
The movie: Yes! This is an excellent Hallmark cheesy romance movie! No they did not fall for the basic stereotypes! A teacher fills in as the art teacher at her old high school, while she hopes for a job at a better-funded school and/or her dream of teaching abroad comes true. Of course, she meets another very dedicated teacher who also happens to be a handsome single man. I thought the story was unique and I love the throwback to To Sir, With Love. I like that in the end she didn’t have to give anything up and that it wasn’t just romance, but also friendship that she gained. Brittany L. Smith from Sweet Magnolia fame plays the friend in this movie!

Production: The acting was on par for a cheesy romance. The locations and styling looked authentic and the people comfortable in them. The only really bad thing was the lighting, which was off in many scenes. You would think they wouldn’t have such a hard time lighting Black folk since this is a Mahogany.
Tropes: Shared Goal • Return to Hometown • Career vs. Love
Diversity: Yep.
Production Co.: Evergreen Film Productions and released by Hallmark Mahogany
How’d you watch it: DVD checked out from my local library.

Pumpkin Pie Wars (2016)
The children of feuding bakers take up the mantle to win the annual baking competition for their respective parents’ bakeries. In the process, they learn that each of them has a skill that could help the other, so they trade to try to win the contest, and to succeed in their endeavors beyond the contest. Acting is on par with a good Hallmark movie. I found the story charming and somewhat unique with different-than-expected ending. Pumpkin Pie Wars is a good Hallmark movie that I watched on a DVD checked out from my local library.

Production: The production and styling gives a sense of authenticity: The actors look comfortable and familiar with the sets and costuming.
Tropes: Friends to lovers • Secret Contract/Agreement • Family Feud
Diversity: Nope.
Production Co.: Crown Media Productions and released by Hallmark Channel 

How’d you watch it: DVD checked out from my local library.

Movie: Buck and the Preacher (1972)

The Civil War was over and by law the slaves were freed. But when the promise of land and freedom was not honored, many ex-slaves journeyed out of the land of bondage, in search of new frontiers where they could be free at last. They place their hopes in the hands of the few black wagonmasters that knew the territories of the West. None of this came easy, for not only did they have to overcome a hostile wilderness, but nightriders and bounty hunters were hired by ‘persons unknown’ to hunt them down and turn them back to the fields. This picture is dedicated to those men, women and children who lie in graves as unmarked as their place in history.

So begins the film Buck and the Preacher, an excellent western movie starring, directed, and produced by Sidney Poitier and Harry Bellafonte. Production started in 1971 and it’s only 117 minutes long. What can you do in that amount of time? You can tell a really good story with Black western antiheroes riding horses, chasing, and being chased in the chaparral. There’s also a little romance. 

I had never heard of this movie before this year. I listened to or read a Harry Bellafonte retrospective after his death (April 25, 2023) and heard that he and Sidney Poitier made a western! While I was never steeped in Sidney Poitier or Harry Bellafonte films, I feel like I should’ve heard of this one. Not only is it a good western movie, but it highlights some important historical facts like the newly freed slaves heading west to flee The South and the lack of opportunities of the east, while being hunted by former slave catchers turned “field hand recruiters” trying to scare them back to The South. Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier both gave excellent performances. Ruby Dee shows up in it too, and makes a third to the pair of Buck and the Preacher. The Native American characters, I believe are played by Native actors, which, in the 70s, is not that common. If you want to see a pre-woke-BLM, feel good, western with a cast full of people of color, you should watch Buck and the Preacher.

I checked out the DVD from my local library!

Photo by MikeGoad 

TV: Cedar Cove Seasons 1 and 2

Cedar Cove is a Hallmark Channel series that centers on a County judge and her friends in a small coastal northwestern town. Cheesy and predictable is fine. Sometimes it’s exactly what you need. So season 1 is fine. Nothing great about it. Season 2 started off fine, but then it turned into a commercial for Jimmy Dean. The product placement was so blatant, at one point, the camera closes in on a shot of a plate of Jimmy Dean sausage next to the box. No. I do not want to participate in these shenanigan.

I watched Season 1 with a free preview through Amazon. I checked out Season 2 on DVD from the local library. 

Movie: Tár (2022)

 “Tar… What is that movie about? Some sexually predatory artistic genius? She’s an EGOT, for crying out loud, and it’s so punitive. They drag her down so far that after that after a while it sort of turns into a gothic horror film.” Critic, Peter Rainer at the AirTalk 2023 Oscar Preview

Tár - A strange movie with nearly five minutes of credits at the beginning of the film, and a short set of end credits with music that yanks you out of any atmosphere left over from the last scene. Tár is about an egotistical conductor. She’s just so focused on her life,  maximizing her experience and prioritizing her pleasure and her expertise, that she loses sight of other people. Turns out almost everyone in her life dislikes or fears her. Her ego-self has lied to her and convinced her that she’s immune to the consequences of her cruel and inappropriate behavior. Those pesky consequences catch up to her when a scandal involving the suicide of a protégé comes to light. I gotta appreciate the comedy of a conversation  between Tár and her mentor when she asks him about how he would deal with “a student or a colleague misinterpreting your actions” and he immediately jumps to the conclusion that he’s been accused. Once convinced he’s not, he begins listing off conductors who have been accused and there is a list!

Cate Blanchett disappears in this performance: she is Lydia Tár. I was skeptical at the beginning of this, but I fell into it, and into the rabbit hole of the story until the end. The last chapter, so to speak, was rushed, and again the ending was odd. I see why Blanchett was nominated, but I also see why people aren’t raving about this movie. Overall, the story left a lot to be desired. I can’t think of any good reason to see it again. I’m trying to think of Tár in the same vein of Everything Everywhere All At Once, because I gave that movie a lot of credit for being different from traditional storytelling. Both movies use nontraditional techniques. So, with Tár I wonder what questions are still left unanswered. At the end of the movie, I still don’t know who was tormenting Tár throughout the film. Did we start to channel the mental break depicted in Black Swan? Or was what we saw onscreen Tár tormenting herself or paranormal, even? What was the story with the Russian cellist?

Click here to hear the AirTalk 2023 Oscar Preview

I watched this movie on a DVD checked out from my local library. 

TV: One Step Beyond (1959-1961)

You’ll witness things... Strange. Different. But not to be denied...

Similar to Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond features a different story each episode, all stories claim to be true accounts of the paranormal. I borrowed some DVDs from the library and got to watch a few episodes. Here are my favs so far:

The Trap- a man has strange dreams that recall another man’s accident.

The feminist in me watched Tonight at 12:17 and shook my head at how women were not only treated but generally considered weak hysterical things. 

Where are They? The mysterious rock rain in Chico, CA.

The Executioner- about the scout and his dog in the civil war

Persons Unknown- set in México about the Aztec giant ghost that haunts an abandoned convent made me think of Wakanda Forever. 

It’s clear production was not equally distributed in each episode because some were just awful: unfocused camerawork, clunky editing, bad writing, poor location choices, etc. My parents said even when they watched the original airings the quality was hit or miss. Unlike TZ, episodes of OSB look as if the film was restored from fire damage.  All that aside, they were still fun to watch and I'm looking for more ways to watch.