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Doc: a TV series

A life shattering event plunges Dr. Amy Larsen into bitterness and cynicism. Played by Molly Parker, the physician becomes chief of staff at a busy hospital. For the next eight years, her acid tongue and aggressive behavior make everyone’s life hell, colleagues, family members, and even patients. Then, she’s in a car crash that results in a brain injury. The extensive damage erases eight years of her life, including memory of the terrible event. After the crash, Amy Larsen emerges from the accident as her old self, kind and humble. As she re-enters her world, she is bewildered to discover that people hate and fear her.

The premise, the screenplay and the acting makes this series worth watching. The writers deliver an insightful portrayal of how our attitudes and actions can affect others for both good and bad. Unfortunately, to create a hook for season two, writers came up with an episode that would have worked better in a soap opera. That decision diminished the power of the preceding nuanced exposition of plot. Despite the telenovella twist, the series is still entertaining. I probably will watch Season Two.

One Battle After Another: A Movie

Bruce and I did not like this movie. Critics loved it and so did audiences, so we are probably wrong. We got off to a bad start. My husband and I are not computer geniuses. We inadvertently rented the movie twice ($14.00) while trying to figure out how to get the captions to work. Then, a heated discussion occurred because had differing opinions as to who was at fault. (Him.) So, we had a grumpy start to the movie. The grumpiness deepened when we realized the movie ran 2 hours and 41 minutes, which included about 41 minutes of chase scenes.

Leonardo DiCaprio (who plays Bob) is a splendid actor. He delivered a pitch perfect performance of a whacked-out drug and alcohol addicted ex-revolutionary. The tone of the film is ironic with lots of tongue-in-cheek humor, especially regarding character names: Lockjaw, Toejam, Mae West, Perfidia Beverly Hills, and Ghetto Pat. Despite being on the run and trying to evade the law, DiCaprio spent a lot of the movie dressed in a long, plaid bathrobe. I felt irrationally obsessed by the impracticality and improbability of his continuing to wear the bathrobe during all the crazy events of the last hour of the movie. I kept mentioning the bathrobe to Bruce, which irritated him no end. Later, I realized I’d missed the point; the writers intended for viewers to enjoy the absurdity. My bad.

Sean Penn should get an Oscar for playing Colonel Lockjaw, a despicable racist and supremely creepy man who is out to destroy Bob (DiCaprio) and his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti). Willa is kidnapped by a good guy, then by a couple of bad guys, and later by a bad guy who turns out to be a good-ish guy. Bob remains one step behind the kidnappers. Willa’s simmering intensity keeps the tension high.

One hot-tempered decision by Willa’s mother set off a tragic chain of events that badly affected her daughter’s life. By the end of the movie, the violent acts of the revolutionaries hadn’t engendered the change they’d envisioned. However, that didn’t seem to inspire them to change their strategy or behavior. But maybe that was the writer’s point, that we continued to be mired in the mess. On second thought, I like this movie better now that I’ve written the review.

Relay: A Movie

Reminiscent of John Grisham books and movies, in its first few minutes, this film lets the viewer know where the screenwriter stands regarding corporate greed. Ash, played by Riz Ahmed, is a virtuous man who defends whistleblowers who are hounded by their powerful employers. Sarah Grant (played by Lily James of Downton Abbey fame) is a whistleblower who hires Ash. She tells him she is terrified by the scare tactics of her former employers and wants to return incriminating documents to them. Ash agrees to facilitate the process.

There is a tenderness in Ahmed’s portrayal of his character which makes this movie a pleasure to watch. Lily James delivers a great performance of a woman who is running for her life. I didn’t like the curve ball the writers threw at us viewers in the end. For a curve ball to be credible, the writer needs to have incorporated a hint at the onset. Maybe I missed the hint? All in all, I thought the movie was well-acted, kept a nice brisk pace, was not overly violent, and showed the lengths corporations will go to keep making money.

Last Christmas: A Movie

I am not a fan of Christmas movies. That being said, Last Christmas is not your normal Christmas movie. Emma Thompson who co-wrote the screenplay, gave a memorable, but slightly over-the-top performance of Petra, a Slavic mother. I love Emma Thompson and wanted to love this movie. But the emotional landscape did not quite make sense, and the plot made some confusing leaps. However, I admired the commitment of the actors—Emilia Clarke’s rendition of the feisty and erratic Kate, Henry Golding’s portrayal of the compassionate, yet ethereal Tom, and Emma Thompson’s robust delivery of the in-your-face mother, Petra. This movie did support the plot twist at the end. Film critics didn’t like the movie, but audiences were more forgiving of its flaws and gave it an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes and I would agree.

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(Photo by Jen Fariello)Deborah Prum’s fiction has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Across the Margin, Streetlight and other outlets. Her essays air on NPR member stations and have appeared in The Washington Post, Ladies Home Journal and Southern Living, as well as many other places. Check out her WEBSITE. Check out her DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SERVICES. Check out her PAINTINGS.

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