Cate Ruane

5-STARS: For Nicholas Winton and what he accomplished in rescuing Jewish children from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis. I had cousins who lived in Prague and died in Auschwitz, one who was 14-years old when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. People like Nicholas Winton need to be honored with films. Hopefully, stories like his will inspire a new generation of people to have a heart for refugees and victims of war, no matter what their religion. 3-STARS FOR THE FILM ITSELF: Read my reviews and you'll see that I often complain about movies being too long and series stretching out a story that would have been better if edited into a two hour film. In this case, I felt like they tried to do too much in too short a format: 1980s Nicholas Winton as an old man in the UK, and 1939 Nicholas Winton helping rescue children. The wartime story was shortchanged, I felt. I wanted to know more about the connection between the rescue workers, more about the lives of these Jewish families. Imagine how heart-wrenching it would be to send your child off to foster parents you'd never met? The 1939 storyline was rushing in order to tell the big picture story. As a result, it lost the nuanced and more personal details. What's there is well done, just needed more. My other issue—and it's often the case with films that have the characters played by two casts—young and old—is that I was confused about Nicholas Winton's wife. I kept thinking that she was one of the two 1939 rescue workers. That the actress has a non-British accent might be what causes some of the confusion. By all means, see this film though. It's a very moving story.

One of my top five films. Just perfect.

Tom Hollander is brilliant in the role of Capote. He's sure to win an award. But Capote comes off as a mean little man. If that's not your cup of tea, then skip this. If you're not interested in watching a drunk slur his words—for hours—then skip. What might have been a good two-hour movie, was stretched out to the breaking point. I guess Hulu wants string subscribers along. It's not doing justice to the stories. Many themes are repeated, over and over: Lunches conversations full of grievances, mother issues, Capote's addictions, his relationship with Jack and other men, the Paley's broken marriage. You saw these themes reshuffled too many times and it got old. I kept thinking, "Have I seen this episode already?" Even after Capote dies, there's ANOTHER episode of him killing himself with drink. It was like a bad nightmare, like evil Ground Hog Day. My other problem is that the timeline is confusing. It keeps jumping back and forth and I didn't know where I was in the timeline. The best episode was #3, the black and white documentary outtakes. If you watch any of this, watch that.

If this wasn't nominated for an Oscar, I would have walked out of the theater. I shouldn't be such a snob. I was reminded of Babette's Feast, perhaps the most boring film I've ever seen. The Taste of Things is almost 2 1/2 hours long, but seems longer. If you've seen the trailer, you already know most of the plot. But If you love cooking, specifically, 19th century French cuisine involving a lot of veal and gross looking fish, then this might be for you. The film consist of cooking demonstrations: long scenes of nothing but cooking. If you want to learn how to gut a fish, this is your chance. Multiple fish are gutted in this film. You'll also get to see someone scrapping skin off of multiple proteins, even from chicken feet. On top of that, you'll learn a lot about broth. Half the time I was perplexed, trying to sort out what exactly the two cooks were up to. (Is Dodin just a rich guy who likes to cook for his friends? Is he a retired chef? Is this some sort of an old-school test kitchen? Is he a cookbook author? And who were the men eating the food? How could they possible consume so much and still be so thin? None of this was explained, but it got to the point that I didn't care.) That's not to say that there aren't lovely moments in the film. There just aren't enough to make much of a story. I confess to craving Baked Alaska after watching.

Worth watching if you are a Cary Grant fan. Jason Isaacs does as good a job in the lead role as expected, considering that he doesn't look anything like Cary Grant. Especially distracting when he's playing Grant in his early 30s. Jon Hamm, maybe, could have pulled off the role. Isaacs only starts to fit the role when wearing thick black glasses with white hair. He sometimes nails Grant's speech patterns and mannerisms, but inconsistently. Same can be said for the actor who plays the teen Cary Grant—just not as dashing as needed. What exacerbates this is that the scriptwriters don't stick to the timeline of Grant's life. North By Northwest is thrown into the mid-60s, with Isaac playing an elderly man. I mean, Cary Grant was in his prime for that film. Lots of stuff like that started to make my head spin. My biggest complaint is that the series is billed as a biopic. As such, Dyan Cannon plays an oversized role. (This is obviously due to the fact that she and her daughter are behind this production.) Meanwhile Cary Grant's earlier wives are skipped over entirely, when Barbara Hutton might have been a more interesting subject, "The Richest Woman in the World." The worst thing about this series is the casting of Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and Mae West. Disaster! I had to look away from the screen. Harriet Walter steals whatever scene she is in, as Grant's cantankerous mother. The other cast members can't hold a candle to her.

This is an outstanding film, a depiction of bone chilling evil. It's an eerie and strangely quiet film, which makes it the ultimate horror film. It's not a film I am likely to ever forget. Thank you Jonathan Glazer for making this important film.

Overrated. Boring. Had trouble not falling asleep and I was wide awake when I began watching it. A murder. A mystery: Did the wife kill her husband or did he commit suicide. In the end, you won't know what really happened. Wish I'd waited until it was free on a streaming site. If this wins the Oscar for best foreign film over Godzilla Minus One, then there is no justice in the world.

If I could give this 10-stars, I would. Not in a million years would I expect to like a Godzilla film, but this works on so many levels: great plot, characters, music, cinematography, acting, special effects, set design... Everything a film should be. And to all the 1-star reviewers panning the film because it's not in English? I don't quite have words.

BINGE RATING: 5 OVERALL RATING: 3 I don't get all the one star reviews. This was a decent thriller. The series is based upon a Harlan Coben thriller and he's no slouch. Is the plotting perfect: No. Sure, there are a few coincidences that require you to suspect disbelief. Sammy, the detective, makes many ridiculous decisions. Just put it down to: Sammy is an inept police officer. They exist in real life, even though we're conditioned to "Detective as Star" characters being infallible. Truth is, I'll watch anything Adeel Akhtar acts in— he's a terrific actor. So, two stars off for the improbable plot points, many which could have easily been fixed. Like, Maya, how about you send a missile at the road just in front of the approaching car?—would have stopped the car immediately without killing the passengers. Why is Shane an MP in most scenes and then a co-pilot in battle? Why was Maya trained like a Green Beret when she was a helicopter pilot? Would a policeman enter a highway against oncoming traffic? Why was Maya doing all that legwork when she knew who had killed whom already? Why didn't she get rid of the gun? Things of this sort are fairly regular throughout the series. And then there's the worst of these stupid plot points: A cyber sleuth hacks into the London Police Department's central computers, shutting down the whole system for a major city. And then Sammy the detective, who blacks out regularly whilst driving, takes off alone to catch the guy!!!! I mean, he's AT THE POLICE STATION, surrounded by other police officers just milling around looking dumbfounded. But Sammy doesn’t take anyone along—he rushes off to his car. For that one scene alone, I took off a star. Even so, it's a fun series to watch, keeps you guessing, and has many clever plot twists that actually work (I've written several mysteries and I've studied the art of a good one. This series checks a lot of boxes.) So what if there are one or two anachronisms—Brits say "public school," Americans "private schools"—chalk it up to a Netflix wanting to make the series accessible to an American audience. The screenwriter/showrunner is British, so this must have been intentional. Annoying for British viewers, although most viewers aren't going to notice. My advice: Give it a try.

The film is not as bad as the negative reviewers would have you to think. It's pretty cerebral and not action-packed. I like dystopian films/novels and this hit the spot. I might have given this four stars but for one improbable plot point. Like, dang, if the owners of an Airbnb show up wanting to occupy the house you've rented, wouldn't you just pack up and leave? Ask Airbnb or whomever for a refund? You let total strangers stay the night—with your kids in separate bedrooms—without being offered proof of ownership even? People from Brooklyn are quite a bit more untrusting than that. (Trust me, I'm a native New Yorker.) I appreciate that this film wasn't needlessly dragged out into multiple episodes like so many series I've watched recently. So, yeah, not everything is explained, but sometimes it's better that way. I thought the ending was well written and added a nice touch of humor to an otherwise dark scenario. I was reminded of the last scene of one of my favorite films, Dr. Strangelove. But I guess you have to be into that sort of wry humor. And as for the one-star reviewer who complains about the "nobody" Black actors, all I have to say is "sheesh." Mahershala Ali has won two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. That's not nobody by anybody's standards.