When We Last Spoke 2019

      This movie is based on a book written by Marci Henna.  It has the heart and humor of Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes and Rebecca Wells’s Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.  Author Marci Henna introduces you to the Cranbourne family.  The setting is 1967 in the small town of Fireside.  They are a mostly lovable and undoubtedly nutty family who’ve had more than their fair share of hard times.  Sisters Juliet and Evangeline are abandoned by their mother when she leaves them at their grandparents country home.  She has gone back to New York to resume her singing career and the small town where they were living is too dull for her.  Their father has gone to fight in the war in Vietnam and it is unknown when he will be home again.  

     This film is about two sisters that grow up with their grandparents.  They are very fortunate that their grandparents are loving people and they represent good values.  It is about the things they learned, the love they felt and how it influenced their lives when the went out on their own.  This nostalgic American family drama spans decades, touches on Europe of the early 20th century, the Vietnam War, rural vs. urban life, death, grief, growing up without your parents and how much they are missed in the lives of children.  

     The characters are charming enough to draw in both kids and grownups.  It offers the uplifting message that in challenging times it's good to forgive and do one's best.  Adultery is mentioned, a mother abandons her children.  Language includes "hell."  Kids vandalize a front yard with toilet paper, they fight and throw dirt in someone's eye.  5 1/2* (I really liked this movie)

107 min, directed by Joanne Hock, with Cloris Leachman, Corbin Bernsen, Melissa Gilbert, Darby and Lucy Camp, Chandler Head, Alicia Fusting, Johanna Jowett, Julia Denton, Donny Boaz, Jayden Fontaine, Braxton Bjerken, Hope Ivers.

 

Note:  Imdb 8* out of 10*, Rotten Tomatoes 78% with less than 50 ratings, Amazon 4 1/2* with 2662 reviews, goodreads.com 4.16* out of 5* with 96 ratings and 31 reviews, commonsensemedia.com 1* sex and Language, 2* violence, 3* positive messages and positive role models & representations. 

Goliath Season 2 Episode 2 Politics 2018

      After a brutal court loss, Billy decides to formally take on Julio Suarez’s defense. But before he can go back to court, he has to get his team back together.    

     Billy has taken the case concerning Oscar’s son Julio.  Billy is going to present an alibi for Julio.  Oscar walks out of Billy’s hostel room to go to the hearing and a car pulls up.  A man shoots Oscar twice in the chest and he dies with Billy holding him.

 

     Billy doesn’t want to work another murder case but he has no choice after what has happed to Oscar and his son Julio.  Brittany is back working with Billy and this is unexpected because it was thought she would need to mend their relationship first?  Billy tells Patty that the only thing that is unforgivable is murder.  Billy starts getting his team back together.  He is also still seeing mayoral candidate Marisol Silva.  It is probably not a good idea for Billy to be seeing Marisol??  It can compromise the case and also possibly her campaign?  3* (This episode is OK)

Note:  Imdb 7.7* out of 10* with 795 reviews, indie wire.com Grade B, movies

streamonline.com7.6 B, out of 10*, Amazon 2.5* out of 5*, tv-recaps-reviews.com B-, tv-recaps-reviews.com B-.

Special Note:  The Ocean Lodge Motel was originally opened 1958 by Walt Disney’s personal accountant, Arthur Gregory.  

51 min episode directed by Lawrence Trilling, written by Noelle Valdivia, Tony Saltzman and David E. Kelley with Billy Bob Thornton, Nina Arianda, Ana de la Reguera, Tania Raymonde, Diana Hopper, Matthew Del Negro, Mark Duplass, Morris Chestnut, David Cross, Diego Josef, Paul Williams, Dominic Fumusa, Julie Brister, Alexandra Billings, Toni Torres.

Loves Music, Loves to Dance 2001

      The best friend of talk-show producer Darcy Scott is murdered while preparing a report about internet dating.  Darcy sets out to discover who the killer is and she is convinced it's one of the men her friend met online.  When Shona is talking to Darcy about topics for the show, as she walks away she says (to the group of men she is going to talk to) "Mr. Grosso! Mr. Jacobson!” and those are the names of the actual producers of this movie.  

     Loves Music, Loves to Dance is another Sonny Grosso-produced TV movie based on a Mary Higgins Clark novel.  There are some familiar Canadian actors, Cynthia Preston, Dean McDermott and Alan Hall.  It also stars Patsy Kensit, she is in the role of Darcy Scott, the producer of a trash-talk TV show.  Her friend Erin (Cynthia Preston) is doing a story for her on Internet dating.  When Erin is found murdered, Darcy is convinced the murder is committed by one of the men she dated and she sets out to find the killer!!  

     These Mary Higgins Clark TV movies are like seeing accidents, you can't help but look.  You determine to watch all of them, even though some are not very good.  This one is full of holes, especially the first scene when a woman is murdered a few feet away from a big party and she didn't scream her guts out?  It moves a little faster than some of the past adaptations.  Kensit does a good job and Preston playing Faith Roscoe on General Hospital, is lively.  Justin Louis plays the police detective assigned to the case.  Mary Higgins Clark's agent (I’m assuming) could have sold these books to anyone but the Grosso-Jacobsen group was chosen?

95 min with Patsy Kensit, Cynthia Preston, Dean McDermott Frank Pellegrino, Yannick Bisson, Louis Ferreira, Taborah Johnson, Michael Rhodes, Eugene Clark, Allan Royal, Lawrence Bayne, Robert Morelli.

Note:  Goodreads gives the book 3.92 avg rating, 26,444 ratings, published 1991,92 editions, Imdb 5* out of 10* with 338 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 45% with 50+ audience scores, Letterboxd 1* (5%), 4 1/2* (19%), 2* 8 (32%), 3 2 1/2* (14%), 3* 4 (19%, 1 4* (5%), Amazon 3.3* out of 5* with 21 ratings, The Movie Scene 2* out of 5*. 

Goliath Season 2 Episode 1 La Mano 2018

      Billy McBride is reluctantly pulled back into criminal defense when his friend's 16- year-old son is arrested for a double murder.  It has been almost two years since Billy won his case against Borns Tech.   A successful Los Angeles developer wants to give the city a distinct skyline.  He is also a major contributor to mayoral candidate Marisol Silva’s campaign.  Her campaign platform is the removal of drugs from Los Angeles.  Billy is also involved with Gabriel and he is a cartel kingpin.  Gabriel has asked Billy to help cover up the murders that Billy is trying to expose in court.  

     Marisol Silva is a new companion for Billy and they start hanging out together.  Billy seems to have spent a LOT of time after his big win at the bottom of a bottle?  He is still out at his regular bar and he still lives in the seedy motel.  He does have a new case when Oscar tells him that his youngest son has been arrested for a double homicide.  The police are the only ones that actually believe 16 year old Julio committed the murders.  It is suspected that the murders were retaliation for the deaths of Julio’s older brothers.  There is a lot of brutality and strangeness in this episode and season!!!  3* (this episode is OK)

Episode 50 min directed by Lawrence Trilling and written by Ben Myer, David E. Kelley, Jonathan Shapiro with Billy Bob Thornton, Ana De la Reguera, Tania Raymonde, Diana Hopper, Matthew Del Negro, Mark Duplass, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Lou Diamond Phillips, Diego Josef. Dominic Fumusa, Julie Brister, Zachary James Rukavina, Toni Torres.

Note:  Imdb 7.9* out of 10* with 945 reviews, IndieWire Grade B-, Amazon 2.5* out of 5*, tv-recaps-reviews.com B-, moviestreamonline.com 7.6* out of 10*, Amazon 2.5* out of 5*.

Where are the Children? 1986

     Nancy Harmon has long ago fled the heartbreak of her first marriage and the deaths of her two small children.  She has also forced aside the hostile front-page newspaper stories and the shocking charges against her.  She changed her name, dyed her red hair sable brown and left California for the wind-swept comforts of Cape Cod.  She is now remarried, she has two more beloved children and the terrible pain she has felt has begun to heal.  That is until the morning when she looks in the backyard for her little boy and girl and finds only one red mitten!!  She knows that the same nightmare she faced before is beginning again!!  It is easy to get wrapped up in this film because the storyline is very gripping.  You can’t help but want to know more about what happened and what will happen.

     In this movie, the viewer isn't trying to guess who committed the crime?  You know who the kidnapper is from the beginning.  A good portion of the movie is from his pint of view.  The reason you would want to watch this movie are basically two-fold.  To learn why there was a kidnapping and to find out if they will be saved before the crimes mentioned in the beginning reoccur.

     This movie is gripping and suspenseful and you just HAVE TO see what what happens to the children.  It doesn't mean the movie is perfect.  I couldn't help feeling at times that the plot and all the happenstance meetings felt contrived.  I think some of this is due to how the movie is laid out with popping back and forth between previous events during suspenseful moments.  The movie also never really gives a reason why the 'bad-guy' was actually at that location.  Why did he want to torment Nancy?  I also have a complaint about the 'why' she lost her first set of children but it is a major spoiler!!   3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

97 min directed by Bruce Malmuth, written by Mary Higgins Clark and Jack Shoulder with jIll Clayburgh, Max Gail, Harley Cross, Elisabeth Harnois, Elizabeth Wilson, Barnard Hughes, Frederic Forrest, James Purcell, Clifton James, Eriq La Salle, Joseph Hindy, Devin Ratray.

Note:  Goodreads gives the book 4.02* out of 5* avg rating, 46,400 ratings, published 1975, 111 editions, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 917 ratings, Rotten Tomatoes 33% with 6 Tomatometer reviews 62% audience score with 50 ratings, Imdb 5.7* out of 10* with 250 reviews. 

I’ll Be Seeing You 2004

      A woman is murdered and when she is found the police assume she's Patricia Collins.  But, when they call her home to tell her mother, Collins answers so they ask her to come see the woman.  She is shocked to see she looks exactly like her!!  And, it appears she was on her way to see Patricia.  Patricia learns that the woman is her half sister and she was coming to see her about their father who disappeared some time ago.  She thinks that the person who was responsible for her father's disappearance was the one who killed her half sister to keep her from telling Patricia what she knows.

     Movies based on novels by Mary Higgins Clark have a lot of mystery and that can keep you involved.  They can also be very cheesy and less than subtle with  annoying added in??  There is also another problem for this family because Patricia and her mother have been renovating a dude ranch.  The insurance company won't pay after the death of Patricia's father.  His body was never found after a bridge accident.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

96 min, mystery written by Mary Higgins Clark, directed by Will Dixon, written by Jeffrey Cohen and john Benjamin Martin with Alison Eastwood, Iris Quinn, Bo Svenson, Derwin Jordan, Richy Muller, Mark Humphrey, Margot Kidder, Matthew Walker, Amy Matysio, Jennifer Miles, Rob Roy.

Special Note:  There is a film with the same title from 1944.

Note:  Imdb 5.2* out of 10* with 280 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 75% with 250+ ratings, The Movie Scene 2* out of 5*, vudu.com 3* out of 5* with 28 ratings, Netflix.com 3* out of 5*.

Red Rock Season 1 Episode 4 2015

     A decomposed body is uncovered near where a foot was found.  Dunne is horrified to learn it is Donna Burke.  Dunne oversteps the mark while interviewing Tony Doyle.  Callaghan berates Dunne for worrying about calling off Donna Burke's search.  Dunne's aghast at Callaghan's attitude.  Ash explains she didn't say anything about Dunne as she didn't want people thinking he'd give her an easy time.  Paudge is miffed that Sharon didn’t tell him she'd applied to the SDU.  Upset and also drunk, he bothers Linda.  Sharon learns that Jim was at a funeral/wake on the day that Robbie was killed.  He could not have killed Donna like he has claimed? After being beaten up in prison, Jim dies.

     There is a LOT going on in this episode.  Donna Burke was a prostitute but she didn’t deserve to die.  Her daughter is brought in to be questioned to see if she knows anything about the murder of her mother?  This is a tough inquiry!!  It’s possible that Callaghan knows more about Donna Burke than he lets on??

 

TV Series, crime, each episode 22 min, created by Peter McKenna with Patrick Bergin, Andrea Irvine, David Crowley, Nic Furlong, Jane McGrath David McMahon, Leah Minto, Conor Mullen, Chris Newman, Barry O’Connor, Roisin O’Donovan, Michael O’Kelly, Rebecca O’Mara.