Movie and TV Reviews - November 2024

Movies and TV shows that Nancy and I watched in November. I do these posts mainly so I can keep track of what we've been watching, so the reviews are cursory. 

Movies

• Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version): I am not particularly a fan of Swift's music but I am impressed by her performance and showmanship in this concert film. (Disney+)
• Queen Rocks Montreal: This 1981 concert was released as an IMAX movie. I'm not sure that it would be more impressive on an IMAX screen though it might benefit from their sound system. If you like Queen, you'll like it but I don't think it would make anyone a new fan. 
• The Beach Boys: A documentary covering the long career of the Beach Boys. I thought it was a bit superficial. 
• Deadpool and Wolverine: We gave up on this after about 40 minutes. 'Nuff said. 
• Stargate: The Ark of Truth. A movie culled from a later season of the original Stargate TV series. If you like Stargate (which I do) you'll probably enjoy this but it won't make any new fans. (Prime)

TV Shows

• Whistable Pearl (season 3): This cozy mystery set in a sea-side English town continues. 
• Scrublands: A reporter comes to a small Australian town to do a follow-up story on a mass murder but gets much more than he bargained for. This one was quite good.
• Ellis: A series about a detective inspector who get sent to troubled police department to clean things up. Another good one. 
• Bad Sisters (season 1): A very dark comedy about a family of Irish sisters who try to murder an abusive husband. One of Apple's better series. 
• Cross: Yet another Michael Connolly adaptation. It started out well but got too complex and I didn't like the super-psycho villain trope. (Amazon Prime)
• Red Queen: A Spanish thriller about the smartest woman in the world taking on a shadowy underground conspiracy. It's a bit surrealistic in places, and maybe an episode or two too long, but we watched it all the way through. 
• Antiques Road Trip (season 5) The antique hunters' trips through the UK continue. 
• Madam Blanc: A widow travels to France to get details about her husband's accidental death and gets more than she bargained for. Another cozy mystery. (Acorn TV)

Featured Links - December 2, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Creepy Christmas yard ornaments

• Populism, freedom, and democracy in Alberta (and beyond). Here's a very good article about populism in the context of Alberta's politics. It has direct relevance to what's happening here in Ontario as well, not to mention the US.
• A Personal Pre-Pandemic Plan. "5 things you can do today to prepare for a possibility of seeing another pandemic sometime in the reasonably near future."
• Trumpomuskovia. From historian Timothy Snyder, "four scenarios for Trumpomuskovia, the musko-trumpified America that is already upon us." From a Canadian perspective, his second scenario is especially interesting.
• The Redbox Removal Team. "Redbox left 24,000 abandoned DVD rental kiosks. "The unceremonious end of Redbox is a reminder of how much stuff we make and buy, and how, when companies fail to plan for end-of-life or go out of business, they often leave a bunch of devices that suddenly become e-waste behind."
• Libraries can help end the culture wars. That’s why they’re under fire (gift link). "Nothing threatens authoritarianism like a quiet place to explore knowledge." Opinion piece by Annalee Newitz, author of Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind.
• Kennedy’s Inheritance: How Addiction and Trauma Shaped a Turbulent Life (gift link). Donald Trump’s pick to be health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reached a pinnacle of power after a life of fame and addictions and a career intertwined with conspiracy theories.
• TV In 2024. "It’s probably part of your life too. What happened was, we moved to a new place and it had a room set up for a huge TV, so I was left with no choice but to get one. Which got me thinking about TV in general and naturally it spilled over here into the blog. There is good and bad news."
• Notre Dame is a pipeline for Supreme Court clerks, magnet for justices. (gift link) "Growing ties between Notre Dame law school and the Supreme Court show the appeal of getting out of D.C. and of an environment that welcomes conservative views."

 

Photo of the Week - December 1, 2024

This week's photo is of a neighbour's maple tree that overshadows our backyard. All of the leaves have finally fallen and I find myself fascinated by the fractal patterns of the branches reaching for sunlight. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro. I was tempted to dump it into Photoshop to remove the cable and power lines but I'm too lazy. 

Reach for the sky