The Lady Vanishes 2013

     Returning home from the Balkans during the 1930's, Iris Carr boards a train.  Before she boarded she suffered a blow to the head when she fell down.  She is befriended by a Miss Froy.  She is a former governess to a family headed by a baroness traveling with her poorly sister and medical staff.  When Miss Froy disappears, everyone denies ever seeing her??  They are claiming that Iris must have imagined Miss Froy because of the knock to her head.  Only language student Max Hare is sympathetic and even he has his doubts.  

     A German woman is produced and passed off as the missing lady??  Max unwittingly becomes part of the plot to dissuade Iris from her search for the truth. This film was originally intended to air around Christmas 2012 but it was delayed.

Special Note:  If you look carefully, there are red letters in some of the crew's names.  In order, they spell out "The Wheel Spins," the novel by Ethel Lena White on which this movie is based. Three different versions of the Lady Vanishes were written by George Axelrod for ABC but none of them were filmed.  The rights reverted to Rank Films and then it was made into a movie.     

    

90 min, mystery directed by Diarmuid Lawrence and written by Fiona Seres, Ethel Lina White with Charles Aitken, Paolo Antonio Simioni, Beatrix Biro, Marta Bolfan, Selina Cadell, Jesper Christensen, Stephanie Cole, Vilmos Cserenak, Zsuzsa David, Emeral Fennell, Balazs Galko, Daniel Gosling, Istvan Gyurity, Benedikte Hansen, Keeley Hawes, Tom Hughes.

Note:  Imdb 6.1 out of 10* with 2K ratings, Rotten Tomatoes 39% with 50+ ratings, SFgate.com sitting up in the seat David Wiegand. 

Special Note:  Other versions of The Lady Vanishes were released in 1938 (directed by Alfred Hitchcock), 1992 and 2008.  It is interesting to see some of the characters from other British movies and TV shows in this 2013 film!! 

Time of Death 2013

      The location for filming of this movie is Montreal Canada.  Following the death of CEO Robert Loring at precisely 10:44 pm, the FBI sends in Agent Jordan Price.  She is one of their best and brightest and they are confident that she can solve this case.  Her partner is Detective Elliot Larken.  Other key executives begin to be murdered at exactly the same time?  Jordan believes that investigating the past will solve the case and she quickly discovers the ultimate cover-up.  She is under the gun to solve this mystery before the next victim is killed.

     This film clearly shows that wealth protects wealth!!  It’s very okay for a company to build weapons of mass destruction but killing business executives is not??  It is along the format of NCIS or CSI.  I did like this movie but it feels like it is based on a Mary Higgins Clark movie and low budget.  I also liked the scenery of Montreal the cascading water and snow.  4* (I liked this movie)  

93 min, suspense directed by Frederic D/Amours with Kathleen Robertson, Gianpaolo Venuta, Sarah Power, Link Baker, Daniel Fathers, Dean Armstrong, Christian Campbell, Jonas Chernick, Terry Chen, Nigel Bennett, Marie-Noe Charbonneau, John Macclaren.

Note:  Imdb 5.8* out of 10* with 843 reviews, Amazon 3.1* out of 5* with 206 reviews, Letterboxd 2.8* out of 5*, The Movie Scene 3* out of 5*. 

Special Note:  Kathleen Robertson was also in The Terrorist Next Door and Gianpaolo Venuta was also in Second Chances.  Jordan is an experienced operative with ties to the FBI and CIA.  Elliot is still a detective but he does give good input on the case.  There is also a documentary Showtime Series with the same title from Oct 30, 2013. 

The Burning Plain 2008

     This film follows several different people separated by time and space.  Sylvia (Charlize Theron) is a woman in Oregon who needs to take an emotional odyssey to rid herself of her past.  Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) and Santiago (JD Pardo) are two teenagers.  They are trying to piece together the shattered lives of their parents in a New Mexico border town.  

      Maria is a little girl and she goes on a border-crossing trip.  She wants to help her parents find redemption, forgiveness and love.  Maria lives with her father and her mother left her when she was an infant.  Gina and Nick are a couple.  They need to deal with an intense and clandestine affair.  The biggest problem with them being together is that they are both married to other people.  

       JD Pardo and Danny Pino play the same character at different ages.  Ten years later in 2018, they stared opposite each other in the FX series Mayans M.C. (2018).  It is important to pay attention to the three women characters in this film.  Kim Bassinger is the mother Gina with a husband and children in the opening scenes.  Charlize Theron is acting as the oldest daughter as an adult and her name is Sylvia.  She cares nothing about herself because she thinks she is a terrible person!!  Jennifer Lawrence is the oldest daughter Marianna, she hates her mother, spies on her and Santiago is her boyfriend.  Maria is a young girl that was abandoned as a baby and she has lived with her father.  He was cropdusting and has an accident with the plane.  Sylvia doesn’t know if she can meet with her daughter and father of their daughter since she feels terrible about never being in their lives??  5* (I really liked this movie)

     

107 min, Crime directed and written by Guillermo Arriaga with Charlize Theron, John Corbett, Jose Maria Yazpik, Robin Tunney, Gray Eubank, Fernanda Romero, Kacie Thomas, Martin Papazian, Sean McGrath, JD Pardo, Diego J. Torres, Jose Gallardo Jr., Rachel Ticotin, Brett Cullen.

Note:  Imdb 6.8* out of 10* with 20 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 38% with 80 reviews 56% with 5000+ audience scores, Metacritic 45 out of 100 with 18 critic reviews 7.4 out of 10 with 49 user scores, Roger Ebert 2 1/2*, Letterboxd 3.1* out of 5* with 5 reviews, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Andrew Pulver,  

Special Note:  In a 2008 interview, Charlize Theron said taking her clothes off in front of cameras in this and any other film is is as easy as drinking for her.  "I don't really think about it much.  I read the scene and if it makes sense I do it.  I treat it the same way as I would any other scene.  Whether it's a nude moment or sitting at a bar drinking, it's all choices.  I don't think about it as nudity.”  Writer and director Guillermo Arriaga stated that the 4 elements - earth, fire, wind and water - are intentionally present during the entire film.  The title can be translated to Spanish as "El Llano en Llamas", it is the title of Juan Rulfo’s short story collection and he is one of Mexico's most famous writers.  

Female Agents 2008

       The French title for this film is (Les femmes de l’ombre.)  This translates as "Women of the Shadows"  and this could be mistaken for "Shady Ladies?”  For this reason, there is the pragmatic English title of "Female Agents”.”  

     In 1944 in London, Lieutenant Pierre Desfontaines assigns his sister Louise Desfontaines to convince four other women to form a five-woman task force.  They will be under his command and their mission is to rescue a British geologist from a German hospital in the countryside.  The geologist was assigned by Colonel Maurice Buckmaster to do a reconnaissance mission of the soil of the beaches at Normandy for D-Day.  He has been captured by the Germans and they don't have the results of the soil samples.  

     Louise and Pierre need more women to join with them.  They recruit and force prostitute Jeanne Faussier to join them.  She is imprisoned for murdering her pimp.  They also add the explosives expert Gaëlle Lemenech and she wants to be included because she the misses action.  The former dancer and fiancé of Colonel Karl Heindrich, Suzy Desprez uses blackmail and unethical methods to fly to France.  She joins the Italian agent Maria Luzzato in the assignment.  

     All the members of the team are well established fighters but when they deliver the geologist to the British aeroplane, Pierre betrays the group?  He forces the women to travel to Paris to kill Colonel Heindrich.  He suspects the landing of the allied forces will be through Normandy and this will be a very dangerous mission.  5 1/2* (I really liked this movie)

     Director Jean-Paul Salome read:  The Times” in London and he saw a full page devoted to Lise Villameur.  She was a French Resistance agent who worked for the SOE, the Special Operations Executive branch created by Winston Churchill duing WWII.  She had just died at the age of 98.  She was a real war heroine and Britain paid tribute to her.  Salome started doing research with the help of historian Olivier Wieviorka.  Salome discovered that other women had been with the SOE.  They were among fifty or so agents of the French Section.  They were trained in England before working for the Allies in occupied WWII France.  The style and authenticity of the actors' hairstyles became a full-on obsession for director Jean-Paul Salome during principal photography.

Special Note:  This film is for adults only.  There are instances of shootings, torture, nudity, taking dangerous risks, the death of friends and partners.  This has scenes of war at it’s worst!!!

Note:  Imdb 6.8* out of 10* with 7.2K reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 67% with 8 critic reviews 71% with 2500+ audience scores, Letterboxd 3.2* out of 5*, Amazon 4* out of 5* with 367 ratings, play.google.com 3.8* out of 5* with 10 reviews. 

148 min, Drama directed and written by Jean-Paul Salome and written Laurent Vachaud with Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Moritz Bleibteu, Marie Gillain, Deborah Francois, Maya Sansa, Julien Boisselier, Voker Bruch.

Frankie Drake Mysteries Season 1 Episode 4 Healing Hands aired 6/29/2019

      A young girl is rebelling against her religious father’s desire to control her life. That’s a story that many woman can relate to and to  lessor or greater extent.  The crime at the center of this episode is driven by the dad’s shady connections from his time in prison.  Money laundering is involved and this is revealed just as an afterthought to the rest of this story.  

     Elise’s dream is to be a jazz singer and there are more insights into Trudy’s family dynamics.  The similarities between Elsie and Trudy go beyond their love of jazz.  They are both rebels in their own way.  Elise’s father wants her to be a faith healer and she does have the gift for this.  Her presence is a draw for his local church and that is why he wants her to remain where she is.  The story doesn’t prove or disprove Elsie’s healing abilities.  People believe in her and that makes her real to them.  5* (I really like this series) 

Mistake:  In the opening scenes at the church the hymn board alternates between being empty and having hymns posted with titles.  Protestants would never have a picture of Jesus' Mother Mary, especially depicting her Immaculate Heart, as was in the daughter's bedroom. 

 

Directed by Sudz Sutherland, written by Michelle Ricci, Carol Hay, Andrews Burrows-Trotman with Lauren Lee Smith, Chantel Riley, Rebecca Liddiard, Emmanuel Kabongo, Greta Onieogou, Richard Walters, Dion Johnstone, John Tench, Karen Robinson, Lyric Justice.

Note:  Episode 43 min, Imdb 7.2 out of 10 with 125 ratings, telltaletv.com3* out of 5*, playgoogle.com 3* with 2 reviews, Amazon 4 1/2* with 462 ratings.

One Mississippi Episode 1 Season 1 aired 9/8/2016

     This is a semi-autobiographical dark comedy loosely inspired by Big Notaro’s life.  It follows Big as she navigates a couple re-entry into her childhood hometown in Mississippi.  She has left her home in Los Angeles because her mother Caroline has unexpectedly gone to the hospital.  When she arrives, her mother’s ventilation tube has been removed and it is only a matter of time before she dies.  Tig has also had a cancer scare and she has recently had surgery to remove the cancer.

     Tig is struggling with being back in Mississippi since it brings back hurtful childhood memories.  She is staying with her stepfather Bill and he is a very severe man with many rules for living his home.  Her brother Remy is also living there in an attic room.  Both her Bill and Remy don’t have the skills to deal with family trauma.  Tig has been an LA-based radio host and she has found a station in her hometown of Bay St. Lucille that will air her program. 4* (I liked this series)

43 min, directed by Ruba Nadda written by Carol Hay, Michelle Ricci, executive producer Christina Jennings, Cal Coons, Scott Garvie, producers Jonathan Hackett and Julie Lacey with Lauren Lee Smith, Chantel Riley, Rebecca Liddiar, Sharron Matthews, Emmanuel Kabongo, Grace Lynn Kung.

Note:  Season 1 Imdb 100% with 6 critic ratings 41% with 20 user ratings, telltaletv.com 3 1/2* out of 5* with 3 user ratings, Amazon 4 1/2* out of 5* with 3,649 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes critic ratings 45 out of 100 with 93% ratings 87% out of 50 with 174 user ratings, Vulture.com 4* out of 5* editor's rating.   

Special Note :  This series aired for two seasons on Amazon.  The star of the series was happy when the series was canceled.  It was because Louis C.K. was involved in the series as a producer.  Five women accused him of sexual misconduct!!  This is why Tig was very relieved when the series was cancelled!!

Mistakes:  When posting flyers for the missing cat at the convenience store, there are two errors that prove they are not filming in Mississippi: for one thing the store carries liquor when Mississippi requires it be a separate store, and second, there are Lotto kiosks by the exit when Mississippi does not have a lottery. 

Modern Love Season 2: Episode 3: Strangers on a Train

      The story starts with Paula (played by Lucy Boynton) as she boards a train to Dublin.  As we come to find out, she is on her way home from a shortened semester at school.  Along her journey, she encounters a handsome passenger sitting across from her (horizontally) named Michael (played by Kit Harrington).  He’s also on an impromptu vacation and it’s eventually revealed that the entire episode takes place at the very beginning of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. That’s not the twist though. The twist is that the episode doesn’t entirely take place on the train.  Instead, it takes place in the aftermath of the couple’s meeting.

     When Paula is sitting on the train in the beginning, she watches people coming down the aisles and rates them on whether or not she wants them to set in the seat across from her.  Michael seems attractive but he sits in the seat across the aisle from Paula.  Soon after, the beautiful young woman sitting across from Michael leaves her seat.  Paula starts to ask Michael questions about why he sat with the other woman and not with her?  He says (true or not) that he likes to face the way the train is running.  He is not sitting that way with Paula and she asks him if he’d like to change seats and he is happy to do that.  They begin to like each other as they have conversations together.  They don’t exchange phone numbers?  How will they contact each other?  They agree to meet at the train station later for their return trip!!!  5* (I really liked this episode.  

Note:  readysteadycut.com 4.5* out of 5*, Amazon 55% with 11 critic ratings 31% with 16 user ratings, Imdb 4.5* out of 5*, Metacritic 61 out of 100.