Movie Not Monday - 6/24/2026

Last month, I watched many movies - shorts, features and student films - in the Women’s Voices Now Film Festival. Many were good, some were just okay, But all spoke to women’s issues and had relevant points. Other than that, I’ve mostly watched streamers.

I do have three movies to share:

Secret Mall Apartment on Netflix is a documentary about a group of friends who found a space in the Providence Place Mall in Rhode Island. They came up with the idea of building an apartment and living in it without being detected. They lasted four years before someone found the space and then they were barred from it. It was interesting.

Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack star in Good Luck To You, Leo Grand. A widowed, retired school teacher, who has only had one sex partner in her life, would like a little adventure, with six included. Ready with her list of things she’d like to accomplish, she hires a sex worker and gets down to business. It was pretty good.

And - finally, I watched People We Meet on Vacation - see last Book Chat. I did not like this adaptation. That’s all I’m going to say about that. 

Streamers:

First, I have to comment about The Split, starring Nicola Walker of Last Tango in Halifax, (another great watch) fame. This series is streaming on Prime. It’s about an attorney (Walker) who leaves the family firm and joins a competing one. It is so good. I highly recommend it.

The Pitt Season 2  - Apple - very good

The Testaments - Hulu - very good

Alice and Steve - Hulu - meh

Disco, Soundtrack of a Revolution  (three parts) - PBS - enlightening

Sweet Magnolias Season 5 - Netflix - three seasons too many

Next time.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 4/13/2026

I watched a couple of flicks this week. 

Downtown Abbey: The Grand Finale is a treat for all the Downton fans in the world. Dame Maggie Smith, who played the Dowager Countess in the series and in the other two movies is sorely missed. Her sassy quips added so much to n story. Most every one of the other actors returned to reprise their roles. The 1930s are upon us, and as time marches on, Earl Grantham is having a hard time handing Mary the keys to the big house and property. I liked it. It was a nice ending to the story.

Kristin Scott Thomas, Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham star in My Mother’s Wedding. Scott Thomas also directed the film. Three adult daughters return home for their mother’s nuptials. They are forced to face some unresolved issues. It was good.

Recent Streamers:

How to Get to Heaven From Belfast - Netflix

Shrinking, Season 3 - AppleTV

Too Much - Netflix

Diary of a Ditched Girl - Netflix - dumb

Age of Attraction - Netflix - dumb

 

MK out.

Movie Monday - 3/23/2026

I had the chance to watch the movies nominated for Best Live Action Short Film.

The Singers - a sing-off takes place in a bar.

Two People Exchanging Saliva - In this dystopian world where kissing is illegal. If you’re caught, you end up in a box that’s thrown over a cliff.

Butcher’s Stain - a Palestinian butcher is accused of tearing down hostage posters in the break room.

A Friend of Dorothy - an unlikely friendship forms between a young man and a grandmotherly woman.

And my personal favorite:

Jane Austen’s Period Drama - a period (not the grammar kind) causes much confusion between a young couple. It was very witty and clever. Pay attention to everyone’s names.

All were very good. The Singers won.

MK out.

The Oscars are Tonight!

I finished with watching the films nominated for Best picture and the acting awards last night. This should be an interesting Academy Awards ceremony.

Nominated for Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, and Best Actor (Wagner Moira), The Secret Agent tells the story of an academician on the run from an authoritarian government in 1970s Brazil. It was good, but I’m not really sure why it’s so acclaimed.

Weapons is a horror film. All but one kid from a classroom of student students disappear one night and most of the movie shows how the mystery is solved. Amy Madigan has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for playing dying, but crazy Aunt Gladys. I’m sure it was a fun role for her to play. She did a good job, I must admit. I don’t see any standouts in this category other than her performance. Typically, when faced with making a choice and one can play “One of these things is not like the others,” that one thing is the answer. I thought it was a stupid film, but I am highly biased against horror movies, unless they have a good measure of substance.

Timothée Chalamet stars in Marty Supreme as Marty. It’s loosely based on real life table, tennis player, Marty Reisman. The film is a bit mad cap and a wild ride. Marty Mauser has a dream to win the British Open and bring American attention to the sport. By day, he works in his uncle‘s shoe store. Away from the store, spends quite a bit of the time trying to fund his dream. Let’s just say, he’s a bit of a hustler, on and off the table. Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin O’Leary (of all people - but he is suited for the role and did a great job) also star in this film. It’s been nominated for Best Picture and Chalamet is up for Best Actor.

I really loved Hamnet, and I can see why Jesse Buckley was nominated for Best Actress. She deserves the award. The film is based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell and it focuses on how William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes (aka Anne Hathaway) dealt with the grief of losing their son. Each coped in their own way. The play, Hamlet, is long believed to be Shakespeare’s tribute to his son. The film is quite moving. It has been nominated for Best Picture, but in going with the latest trends, it may not be out there enough to win.

Now that I’ve seen all the movies nominated for Best Picture, I thought, Hamlet, Train Dreams, Sentimental Value, One Battle After Another and Sinners would have made a tough field of contenders. Now, that would’ve been some contest. Those other movies would not have gotten nominated if I were in charge. I’ll be happy if any of my five win. Word on the street is that it’s between One Battle After Another and Sinners. 

There were many good performances in all the acting categories. It will be interesting to see which one wins.

Enjoy the show!

MK out.

Movie Monday - 3/9/2026

Let’s get to it. 

Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem star in F1, about a racer who comes out of retirement to help out a team and its rookie driver. It was action packed and very predictable. I don’t think it belongs in the Best Picture category. It was all right.

In Sentimental Value, a filmmaker, who is esstranged from his family reunites with his daughters after their mother dies. He wants his oldest daughter to star his latest movie and she’s not having it. Stella Skarsgård heads the cast of wonderful actors with whom I am not familiar. It has been nominated for Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, and many of the acting awards. It is very good.

I started watching Sinners, not knowing it was a supernatural horror film. There was an interesting scene at the beginning of the movie that seemed a little out of place but then I thought, “Oh.”  Wow, what a movie! I don’t really like horror films, and I don’t watch them much because they are mostly silly. This film has great production values, and really good acting. The story, though implausible, was also good. In recent years, horror films have been making their way onto the Best Picture list. I’m not really a fan of that. Anyway, despite it being good, I’m not too sure it deserves Best Picture. 

I’ll be back before next Monday because the Oscars are on Sunday night.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 3/2/2026

There was a bit of movie watching in the last couple of weeks. 

In Blue Moon, Lorenz Hart (played by Ethan Hawke) Reminisce about his prior successful career with his former partner, Richard Rogers (played by Andrew Scott).  The action takes place on the night that Oklahoma! (written by Rogers and Hammerstein) opens on Broadway. With many of the films in which Ethan Hawke plays, this movie is dialogue driven. Surprisingly, the dialogue, bogs down the action and only a couple of parts. It was good, just not sure if it was Best Picture good…yet.

Playing real life couple Mike and Claire Sardina, Kate Hudson, and Hugh Jackman star in Song Sung Blue. The couple or a Neil Diamond tribute band called Thunder and Lightning, and were popular in the Milwaukee area in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Words on the street if that Jesse Buckley will win for her performance in Hamnet, but dayum! Kate was fabulous. This film is warm and fuzzy, but it depicts real humans. There’s a documentary filmed in 2008 about a couple available on YouTube, also called Song Sung Blue. It’s a bit greater and it made my Pollyanna heart a bit sad. Anyway, the motion picture is good and worth a watch.

I wasn’t sure if I was gonna like Frankenstein. There have been so many adaptations of Mary Shelley’s book and I thought it would just be redundant. I was happy to see that Guillermo del Toro’s treatment was quite  pleasing. In this version, the creation is a sympathetic character, and Dr. Frankenstein is the real monster. Jacob Elordi Was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as a creature, and he did a great job.

Leonardo DiCaprio may have a messy personal life, but he sure can act. In One Battle After Another, he plays a single father running from a bad guy from his vigilante past. The film is quite entertaining, in a Quentin Tarantino kind of way.

I am not the biggest fan of Yorgos Lanthimos’s work, despite the fact that we have a common national heritage. Most of his films are weird. Bugonia is no exception. Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis play cousins who kidnap a pharmaceutical company CEO (played by Emma Stone) because they think she is part of an alien species that is killing off the honey bees. Is it a dark comedy or a horror film? Yes. And a little weird, but in the end, entertaining. Best Picture? Hmmm. Emma Stone as Best Actress? We’ll see.

And that concludes the latest installment.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 2/16/2026

I watched another movie in the last week.

Holy, moly - If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, starring Rose Byrne as Linda, is about a mother who is struggling with balancing all her roles. Byrnes was nominated for Best Actress for this performance. 

This film played like a fever dream. Linda has a child with special needs. She has a demanding job. Her husband is away for work. Her house got flooded and she has to move out while the repairs are being made. But the way it is shot, and the over-the-top acting…

I did not enjoy watching this film. Maybe, I should watch it again on a different day, when I don’t have a headache. Maybe, I’d like it better the next time. I don’t know.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 2/9/2026

I watched a movie! 

Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H. Macy and others star in Train Dreams. It’s based on a novella by Denis Johnson and is set predominantly in the early 20th century. The movie follows Robert Grainier (Edgerton) throughout his life. He starts out rather aimlessly, but then he gets married, settles down a bit and finds a job in railroad construction to support his family. The story is beautifully told and the acting is superb. 

Bonus - the film has nominations for four Oscars, including Best Picture.

That’s it.

MK out. 

Movie Monday - 2/2/2026

Y'all! Despite having fourteen films to watch before the Oscars, did I watch any this past week? Why, no I did not.

But I did watch Eleanor the Great, starring June Squibb. June plays a woman who ends up in the wrong group at the local Jewish Community Center. It’s the one for Holocaust survivors, and Eleanor is not a Holocaust survivor. She shares her story, which is really her recently departed best friend’s story. Unintended consequences result. It was very good.

Recent binges:

Emily in Paris Season 5 - Netflix

Members Only Palm Beach* - Netflix

Have a great week!

MK out.

*The way these woman act is so bad that it’s entertaining.

Movie Monday - 12/29/2025

Good evening, Peeps! I hope Santa was as good to y’all as he was to me. And, I was able to watch two new Netflix releases in the last week.

Jay Kelly, starring George Clooney, is about an actor who does a little growing up on his way to accept a tribute award. There are many good actors in it, including Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Riley Keough, Greta Gerwig, Emily, Mortimer, Isla Fisher, Stacy, Keach, Jim Broadbent, Patrick Wilson, and Billy Crudup. It was good.

Another movie with Jim Broadbent is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. He plays a gentleman with a friend that was recently placed on hospice. He believes that he can save her if she waits for him while he walks the almost 500 miles to see her. Other people starring in this film include Penelope Wilton, Linda Bassett and Claire Rushbrook, just to name a few. It was delightful.

Happy New Year!

MK out.

Movie Monday - 12/22/2025

Y’all, I have a confession to make. Last year, I didn’t record many Countdown to Christmas Hallmark Movies. This year, I didn’t record any. The production values for most of them have suffered through the years, except for the ones that involve the A group stars. They are a little better, (but not by much). That’s what happens when you put out 45 new movies (between the Hallmark Movie Channel and the Hallmark Murders and Mysteries Channel) for an eight-week run with the rotation of about four storylines.

BUT…

… I did watch a cute, well-made, Christmas movie on prime. Michelle Pfeiffer stars in Oh.What.Fun. about a mom who does everything to make Christmas special for her family. She has one special request that goes ignored. They, of course, take her efforts and everything for granted. They even forget her when they leave for a Christmas show that she had purchased tickets for the whole family to go see together. It was cute.

I had wanted to watch Shrink for quite a while, and I came across it the other day. I figured it was as good as time as any. The movie stars Kevin Spacey. I know the guy is problematic, but dang, he’s a good actor. Anyway, he plays a psychiatrist whose wife recently died. He’s struggling with doing life, never mind with effectively treating his patience. It was good. 

Good Streamers:

Task - HBOmax

Only Murders in the Building - Hulu

Loot Season 3 - AppleTV 

Man on the Inside Season 2 - Netflix

That’s all for now.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 11/3/2025

I only watched one movie last week and it was This Is Spinal Tap - the 1984 film, in anticipation of watching the sequel that came out several weeks ago. The movie is a parody of the craziness surrounding heavy metal bands of the 1970s-early 1980s. It was clever. I enjoyed watching.

It is the beginning of prime movie watching season and the last couple of weeks of the birthday season; so, we will see what happens.

Until next time…

MK out.

Movie Monday - 10/13/2025

Lord have mercy! You’d think I’m just sitting on my couch, staring at the wall and eating bonbons. I can’t get anything done around here. And that includes watching movies. I did watch a few in the last few weeks though.

I had been wanting to watch Kajillionaire ever since it came out in 2020. Evan Rachel Wood, Deborah Winger and Richard Jenkins star in this quirky film. They play a family and their motto seems to be: “A family who crimes together, stays together.” It was good.

A cook to a group of fur trappers and a Chinese immigrant on the run become fast friends in First Cow. Set in the early 1800s, The pair steal the milk of a wealthy trapper’s cow in an effort to make some money baking treats for the town. I liked it.

I used to watch the Ed Sullivan show when I was a young thing. Sunday Best is a documentary about how Sullivan could make people’s careers. I enjoyed reminiscing as I watched it.

Stupid Streamer:

The Hunting Wives - Netflix

That’s all for now!

MK out.

Movie Monday- 9/15/2025

The study of Led Zeppelin continues. There’s overlap of information between all the documentaries, but I still find everything fascinating:

In Led Zeppelin - The Original of the Species Unauthorized, People in the music industry, some who have worked with the band, tell about the origins of Led Zeppelin. They also cover the first two studio albums. There are concert clips as well.

In Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti: A Classic Album Under Review, again, people in the industry go through the tracks of the double album. It’s one of my favorites, but I am not alone. My favorite part is watching clips of the group performing.

I have a couple more LZ things to watch. Hopefully, I will get to them soon.

Good Binge:

I just finished watching season 3 of Fisk on Netflix. It’s an Australian comedy. You can fly through a season quickly. The episodes are 30 minutes long. It is very much worth a watch.

Today is the start of the Birthday Season. I have some fun things planned.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 9/8/2025

Back in the day, when I was but a wee girl, Led Zeppelin was in the background of my life. Of course, the song Stairway to Heaven was big, and I owned some of the albums, but Led Zeppelin was just there. I didn’t think too much about it. I listened to their music, apparently more than I had remembered. In the last few days, I found their YouTube channel on which they’ve uploaded several of their albums in their entireties. As I listened to Houses of the Holy, I was surprised when I anticipated the first cord of the next song, without looking at the song list. It was the same with Physical Graffiti. Hmmm.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been watching different interviews with each of the remaining members of the band. It has been fascinating. And then, I found some movies and documentaries; so, here we go…

Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same opens with an unexpected mob hit scene. Keep watching; you are in the right theater. Filmed live at the 1973 Madison Square Garden shows, but released in 1976, this documentary also includes fantasy sequences starring each band member. Up to them, there hadn’t been any footage of Led Zeppelin performances. The band members wanted to give their public what they wanted. 

The documentary, A to Zeppelin: The Story of Led Zeppelin, gives insight about how the band started from other musicians and people in the music industry that knew and worked with the principles wayback when.

Led Zeppelin IV is a documentary that goes through the songs on their fourth, untitled studio album. As with the previous films, there’s concert footage and some interview clips are interspersed throughout. I loved it.

That’s all I watched last week in my study of Led Zeppelin.

I also watched Happiest Season - Since Christmas is around the corner. In the film, we meet two women. Harper loves Christmas, but Abby has issues with it. Harper invites Abby to her family home where Christmas is big. Abby plans to propose without realizing that Harper hasn’t come out to her parents. I appreciated the levity. Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie DavisMary Steenburgen, Dan Levi, and others starred in this ensemble cast. It was cute.

That’s all for now, Peeps. I hope to be back soon.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 9/1/2025

I have slacked in the movie watching department. 

In honor of Christmas in August,* I watched a movie I recorded on the DVR - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It was a highly predictable film about redemption. À woman takes over the church’s annual Christmas presentation. She causes concern when she allows a family of children who are widely considered the town hoodlums to participate. It was cute.

I did watch some good streamers:

And Just Like That, 3rd and final Season - HBO Max

The Gilded Age - HBO Max

The Legacy - PBS

MK out.

*What? That’s not a thing?

Movie Monday - 8/11/2025

I have a mixed bag of movies about which to tell you this week.

Nonnas, starring so many fun actors - Susan Sarandon, Vince, Vaughn, Lorraine Bracco, Linda Cardellini, Talia Shire, Joe Manganiello, Drea de Matteo and Brenda Vaccaro, is based on a true story. After his mother dies, a man opens an Italian restaurant and all the cooks he hires are grandmothers. It was cute.

In David Cassidy: The Last Session, Cassidy documents the recording of an album of standards that his father used to sing. Despite the fact that the two had a difficult relationship, Cassidy was trying to honor his father’s memory. Sadly, the album was released posthumously, as he died of liver disease secondary to his long-standing alcohol abuse. It was bittersweet. 

From the old, classic movies department, I watched Mrs. Miniver. I’ve been wanting to watch it for a long time. Greer Garson stars as an English wife and mother trying to keep the home fires burning during World War II. Walter pigeon also stars, along with several other actors you might recognize if you watch old movies. It was good.

I totally binge watched Leeann on Netflix. I love Leeann Morgan. She’s pretty funny and her personality shines through in this streaming sitcom. It’s about a woman putting her life back together after her husband‘s infidelity. It was fun and a total guilty pleasure.

See you next time.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 7/7/2025

Whelp, I’ve only watched one movie since I last wrote about movies…

My Mom Jayne is a documentary about Jayne Mansfield, directed by her daughter Mariska Hargitay. It was really good. There was lots of archival footage of Jayne being interviewed, performing and just being being filmed in home movies. I knew about Jayne, how she died and that she was Hargitay’s mom, but it was really nice to know a little more about her as a person. It was a lovely tribute. I liked it. 

That was it! In the last week, I’ve been reading, knitting, watching a couple of streamers and just living the dash.

Recent Streamer:

No Good Deed - Netflix

MK out.

Movie Monday - 6/23/2025

Ah, dear readers - it’s been a while. What have I been doing? Not much movie watching, apparently.

I finally was able to watch Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix. Both did a great job acting in the movie, but the material (especially for Lady Gaga) wasn’t much with which to work. Arthur Fleck is awaiting trial for killing those people (in the last film). In the meantime, he is being held at Akrham State Hospital. That’s where he meets the love of his life. It was all right.

Good streamers:

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 (final) - Hulu

Hacks Season 4 - Hulu

Funny Woman - PBS Passport

Pernille - Netflix

And now, I’ll go back to doing something, maybe involving watching a movie. 

MK out.

Movie Monday - 5/26/2025

This past week wasn’t documentary heavy.

I had to watch The Perfect Host when I saw that David Hyde Pierce stars in it, and because it is leaving Prime soon. I loved the character Niles in Fraser, but the character he plays in this movie is very different. Warwick has his own OCD issues but I digress. John, a former convict and current bank robber needs a place to hide. He picks Warwick’s house, but Warwick has his own agenda. It’s an older film and it’s rather dark. It was good. 

Stephanie and Emily meet again in Another Simple Favor. It’s a few years later and Emily, now out of prison, is getting married again. She invites Stephanie, not only to the wedding on Capri, but also to be her maid of honor. Nothing is ever that straightforward with these two, and the plot gets pretty thick. It was entertaining.

Good binges:

Cold Case The Tylenol Murders (the only documentary this week) - Netflix

Sirens - Netflix

Reba (all six seasons) - Netflix

And Just Like That returns this week!

MK out.