The Reel Dr. Bob

DECEMBER 8, 2022-

DEAR FRIENDS:

REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN ACCESS MY NEWSLETTER DIRECTLY FROM MY WEBSITE AT– www.thereeldrbob.com

QUICK LOOK AT MY FAVORITES OF THE WEEK-

1) BELFAST–

2) THE SWIMMERS–

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES I SAW THIS WEEK-

1) BELFAST- 2021. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “BELFAST is a movie straight from Branagh’s own experience. A nine-year-old boy must chart a path towards adulthood through a world that has suddenly turned upside down. His stable and loving community and everything he thought he understood about life is changed forever but joy, laughter, music and the formative magic of the movies remain.”

11/10/21- Very good reviews for this drama. TRDB.

12/1/21- I liked this movie very much. Lucky there were sub-titles. TRDB.

2) THE SWIMMERS– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Based on a true story, THE SWIMMERS follows the journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Two young sisters embark on a harrowing journey as refugees, putting both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use.”

11/27/22- Fairly good reviews for this drama. TRDB.

12/4/22- I liked the movie despite the obvious crowd-pleaser format. A true story about courage and family. Netflix.

_____________________________________________________________________

NEW MOVIES IN THEATERS AND/OR STREAMING-

1) THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “An artist and her elderly mother confront long-buried secrets when they return to a former family home, now a hotel haunted by its mysterious past.”

11/30/22- Excellent reviews for this drama. TRDB.

2) RETURN TO SEOUL– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “On an impulse to reconnect with her origins, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.”

12/3/22- Excellent reviews for this drama. TRDB.

3) LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “In the mid-1960s, Lowndes County, Alabama had zero registered Black voters despite an 80% Black population. Through first person accounts and searing archival footage, this documentary chronicles the citizens’ movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers led by Stokely Carmichael who risked their lives for Black voting rights.”

12/3/22- Excellent reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

4) TANTURA– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “The tape-recorded words “erase it” take on new weight in the context of history and war. When the State of Israel was established in 1948, war broke out and hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in its aftermath. Israelis know this as the War of Independence. Palestinians call it “Al Nakba” (the Catastrophe). In the late 1990s, graduate student Teddy Katz conducted research into a large-scale massacre that had allegedly occurred in the village of Tantura in 1948. His work later came under attack and his reputation was ruined, but 140 hours of audio testimonies remain.”

12/4/22- Excellent reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

5) SR.- 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Robert Downey Jr. pays tribute to his late father in this documentary chronicling the life and eclectic career of pioneering filmmaker Robert Downey Sr.”

12/4/22- Excellent reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

6) LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Marrying Sir Clifford Chatterley, Connie’s life of wealth and privilege seems set as she takes the title of Lady Chatterley. Yet this idealistic union gradually becomes an incarceration when Clifford returns from the First World War with injuries that have left him unable to walk. When she meets and falls for Oliver Mellors, the gamekeeper on the Chatterley family estate, their secret trysts lead her to a sensual, sexual awakening.”

12/4/22- Good reviews for this re-make of the classic. TRDB.

7) FARHA– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Farha is a 14 year old girl who lives in a small village in Palestine, 1948. Girls her age are traditionally married off or spoken for yet Farha wants to continue her education despite traditions and the restrictions of schooling in her village for boys only. Inseparable from her best friend Farida, who lives in the city but who spends weekends in the village, Farha dreams of joining her at a school in the city.”

12/4/22- Just 3 reviews noted and they are very good. TRDB.

8) WHAT REMAINS– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “A small town pastor is forced to reckon with an act of forgiveness when the convict he forgave for murdering his wife returns to town five years later, while the town sheriff investigates another murder that may be related.”

12/4/22- Terrible reviews from the critics and excellent ones from audiences. TRDB.

SKIP THESE-

1) EMANCIATION– This movie received terrible reviews from the critics and excellent ones from audiences.

2) FOUR SAMOSAS– Poor reviews from the critics but it faired better with audiences. TRDB.

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES PLAYING AT JACOB BURNS FILM CENTER IN PLEASANTVILLE, NY

1) THE FABELMANS–

2) THE MENU–

3) WHITE NOISE–

4) ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.”

11/27/22- Excellent reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

5) EMPIRE OF LIGHT– Poor reviews by the critics

MOVIES PLAYING AT THE AMC THEATER IN DANBURY, CT

1) DEVOTION-

2) THE MENU–

3) THE FABELMANS–

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES PLAYING IN PALM BEACH COUNTY-

1) THE MOVIES OF LAKE WORTH- (Wed–Sun)

a) DEVOTION-

b) SHE SAID–

c) THE MENU–

d) THE FABELMANS–

e) SALVATORE–

f) UPHEAVAL: THE JOURNEY OF MENACHEM BEGIN–

2) THE MOVIES OF DELRAY- same as Lake Worth

3) THE LIVING ROOM THEATERS AT FAU IN BOCA RATON-

a) 2nd CHANCE–

b) DECISION TO LEAVE–

c) SALVATORE–

d) THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER–

e) THE FABELMANS–

4) THE STONZEK THEATER IN DOWNTOWN LAKE WORTH-

a) LOST ILLUSIONS– 2021. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “In 1821, Lucien de Rubempré (César winner Benjamin Voisin) arrives in Paris as a sensitive, and idealistic young poet determined to write a reputation-making novel. Instead, he finds himself swept into journalism, whose influence and reach is booming with the help of the printing press, widely available of late. Under the mentorship of cynical editor Étienne Lousteau (César winner Vincent Lacoste), Lucien agrees to write rave theater reviews for bribes, achieving material success at the expense of his conscience.”

12/9/22- Very good reviews for this drama. TRDB.

DECEMBER 1, 2022-

DEAR FRIENDS”

QUICK LOOK AT MY FAVORITES OF THE WEEK-

1) SHE SAID–

2) WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING-

_________________________________________________________________________________

MOVIES I SAW THIS WEEK-

1) SHE SAID– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Two-time Academy Award® nominee Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman, An Education) and Zoe Kazan (The Plot Against America limited series, The Big Sick) star as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation–a story that helped propel the #Metoo movement, shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and altered American culture forever.”

11/20/22- Good reviews. TRDB.

11/27/22- Very well done and I enjoyed the movie. TRDB.

2)  WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “From the best-selling novel comes a captivating mystery. Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina.”

12/1/22- Poor reviews from the critics and very good ones from audiences. TRDB.

12/1/22- I thought it was just OK. TRDB.

_________________________________________________________________________________

NEW MOVIES IN THEATERS AND/OR STREAMING-

1) WHITE NOISE– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “At once hilarious and horrifying, lyrical and absurd, ordinary and apocalyptic, White Noise dramatizes a contemporary American family’s attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world.”

11/27/22- Fair reviews from the critics and excellent ones from audiences. TRDB. In Theaters

2) ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.”

11/27/22- Excellent reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

3) DEVOTION– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Devotion, an aerial war epic based on the bestselling book of the same name, tells the harrowing true story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy’s most celebrated wingmen.”

11/27/22- Good reviews by the critics and excellent reviews from audiences. TRDB. In Theaters and Vudu

4) –THE CORRIDORS OF POWER– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Political heavyweights help build a picture of how America has responded to reports of genocide, war crimes and mass atrocities as the only global superpower after the fall of the Soviet Union.”

11/27/22- Just 3 reviews and they are excellent. TRDB.

5)  THE SWIMMERS– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Based on a true story, THE SWIMMERS follows the journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Two young sisters embark on a harrowing journey as refugees, putting both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use.”

11/27/22- Fairly good reviews for this drama. TRDB. Netflix

6) NANNY– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “In this psychological horror fable of displacement, Aisha (Anna Diop), a woman who recently emigrated from Senegal, is hired to care for the daughter of an affluent couple (Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Spector) living in New York City. Haunted by the absence of the young son she left behind, Aisha hopes her new job will afford her the chance to bring him to the U.S., but becomes increasingly unsettled by the family’s volatile home life. As his arrival approaches, a violent presence begins to invade both her dreams and her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together.”

11/27/22- Excellent reviews by the critics and OK reviews from audiences. TRDB. Amazon Studios

SKIP THESE-

1) THE NOEL DIARY– Weak reviews

2)  THE SON–

3)  THE SOUND OF CHRISTMAS

MOVIES SHOWING IN WESTCHESTER Co NY AND FAIRFIELD Co CT-

1) JACOB BURNS FILM CENTER IN PLEASANTVILLE NY

2) AMC THEATER IN DANBURY, CT

a) DEVOTION–

b) THE MENU–

c) THE FABELMANS–

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES SHOWING IN PALM BEACH Co. FL

1) THE MOVIES OF LAKE WORTH- (Wed.–Sun)

a) UPHEAVAL: THE JOURNEY OF MENACHEM BEGIN– 2021. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Jailed in a Soviet gulag before the war and scarred by loss in the Holocaust, Menachem Begin is remembered as one of Israel’s most democratic prime ministers for defending Jewish immigration and signing an historic peace accord with Egypt.”

12/3/22- Just 4 reviews for this documentary– 3 are very good and 1 is fair. TRDB.

b) DEVOTION-

c) SHE SAID–

d) THE MENU–

e) SALVATORE–

2) THE MOVIES OF DELRAY-  (Wed.–Sun)- SAME AS LAKE WORTH

3) THE LIVING ROOM THEATERS AT FAU IN BOCA RATON-

a) DECISION TO LEAVE–

b) MEMORIES OF MY FATHER–

c) SALVATORE–

d) THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “An artist and her elderly mother confront long-buried secrets when they return to a former family home, now a hotel haunted by its mysterious past.”

11/30/22- Excellent reviews for this drama. TRDB.

e) THE MENU–

4) THE STONZEK THEATER IN DOWNTOWN LAKE WORTH- Not available at this time

_________________________________________________________________________________

NOVEMBER 24, 2022-

DEAR FRIENDS:

TRY ACCESSING THIS NEWSLETTER DIRECTLY FROM MY WEBSITE-

(www.thereeldrbob.com)

QUICK LOOK AT MY FAVORITES OF THE WEEK- NONE

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES I SAW THIS WEEK- NONE

_____________________________________________________________________

NEW MOVIES IN THEATERS AND/OR STREAMING-

1) EO– 2022- Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel  of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss.”

11/18/22- Very good reviews. TRDB.

2) THE INSPECTION– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “In Elegance Bratton’s deeply moving film inspired by his own story, a young, gay Black man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside.”

11/18/22- Fairly good reviews. TRDB.

3) THE MENU– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.”

11/19/22- Very good reviews for this movie and I include it even with the genre of violence and horror. TRDB. 

4) THE PEOPLE WE HATE AT THE WEDDING– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “The film follows struggling American siblings Alice (Kristen Bell) and Paul (Ben Platt), who reluctantly agree to attend the wedding of their estranged, wealthy half-sister (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) in the English countryside alongside their mother, Donna (Allison Janney).”

11/19/22- Poor reviews all around, especially from the critics. TRDB.

5) THE WONDER– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “The Irish Midlands, 1862 — a young girl stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O’Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Is the village harboring a saint ‘surviving on manna from heaven’ or are there more ominous motives at work?”

11/23/22- Good reviews from the critics and fair ones from audiences. TRDB.

6) BAD AXE– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “A real-time portrait of 2020 unfolds as an Asian-American family in Trump’s rural America fights to keep their restaurant and American dream alive in the face of a pandemic, Neo-Nazis, and generational scars from the Cambodian Killing Fields.”

11/23/22- Excellent reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

7) ACTUAL PEOPLE– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “A bare-boned independent drama with brief but meaningful touches of gentle comedy, Actual People is a poignant triumph, a simple but effective voyage into the mind of a young woman trying to find herself in a world that has somehow become hostile to those who refuse to find a place within its preconceived standards.”

11/23/22- Fair to good reviews for this drama. TRDB.

8) BANTU MAMA– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “A French woman of African descent manages to escape after being arrested in the Dominican Republic. She finds shelter in the most dangerous district of Santo Domingo, where she is taken in by a group of children. By becoming their protégée and maternal figure, she will see her destiny change inexorably.”

11/23/22- Excellent reviews. TRDB.

9) SHE SAID– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Two-time Academy Award® nominee Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman, An Education) and Zoe Kazan (The Plot Against America limited series, The Big Sick) star as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation–a story that helped propel the #Metoo movement, shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and altered American culture forever.”

11/20/22- Good reviews. TRDB.

10) THE FABELMANS– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Young Sammy Fabelman falls in love with movies after his parents take him to see “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Armed with a camera, Sammy starts to make his own films at home, much to the delight of his supportive mother.”

SKIP THESE-

1) THERE THERE-

2) IN HER HANDS- Really poor reviews for this documentary about Afghanistan and about women in some cultures.

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES SHOWING IN FAIRFIELD Co.. CT-

1) SHOWING AT THE AMC THEATER IN DANBURY,CT.

a) SHE SAID–

b) THE FABELMANS–

c) THE MENU–

2) SHOWING AT THE JACOB BURNS FILM CENTER IN PLEASANTVILLE, CT-

a) THE FABELMANS–

b) ARMAGEDDON TIME–

c) THE MENU–

d) SHE SAID-

e) THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

f) TAR-

MOVIES SHOWING IN PALM BEACH Co. FL

1) THE MOVIES OF LAKE WORTH-

a) SHE SAID–

b) THE MENU–

2) THE MOVIES OF DELRAY- Same  as Lake Worth  (closed on Mon.and Tues)

3) THE LIVING ROOM THEATERS AT FAU IN BOCA RATON-

a) MEMORIES OF MY FATHER–

b) DECISION TO LEAVE–

c) THE MENU-

D) AFTERSUN–

E) SALVATORE-

4) THE STONZEK THEATER IN DOWNTOWN LAKE WORTH-

d) AFTERSUN- (Weekend only)

(www.thereeldrbob.com)

NOVEMBER 17, 2022-

DEAR FRIENDS:

QUICK LOOK AT MY FAVORITES OF THE WEEK- NONE

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES I SAW THIS WEEK- NONE

_____________________________________________________________________

NEW MOVIES IN THEATERS AND/OR STREAMING-

1) THE BOX– 2021. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Teenager Hatzín travels from Mexico City to collect the remains of his father, found in a communal grave in Northern Mexico. But a casual encounter with a seemingly familiar man introduces both doubt and hope around the truth.”

11/16/22- Very good reviews for this Spanish drama. TRDB.

2) A COUPLE– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Married for 36 years, Leo and Sophie Tolstoï have 13 children. Loosely drawn from her diary and their letters to each other, Sophie monologues about the joys and struggles of their life together.”

11/16/22- Just 1 review and it is poor. TRDB.

3) THE FABELMANS– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Young Sammy Fabelman falls in love with movies after his parents take him to see “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Armed with a camera, Sammy starts to make his own films at home, much to the delight of his supportive mother.”

4) IS THAT BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU?!?- 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “From celebrated writer and film historian Elvis Mitchell, IS THAT BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU?!? is both a documentary and deeply personal essay. The film examines the craft and power of cinema from a perspective often overlooked: the African American contribution to films released from the landmark era of the 70s.”

11/16/22- Excellent reviews from the critics and poor ones from audiences. TRDB.

5) RETROGRADE– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “RETROGRADE captures the final nine months of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan from multiple perspectives: one of the last U.S. Special Forces units deployed there, a young Afghan general and his corps fighting to defend their homeland against all odds, and the civilians desperately attempting to flee as the country collapses and the Taliban take over.”

11/16/22- Very good reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

6 NOTHING LASTS FOREVER– 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Hidden from public view, a war is raging inside the diamond industry. When filmmaker Jason Kohn infiltrates this highly secretive world, he uncovers a vast, far reaching crime that threatens the value of every diamond ever mined.”

11/16/22- Just a few reviews for this documentary and they are excellent. TRDB.

SKIP THESE-

1) BEING THUNDER-

2) SAM & KATE-

3) INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES PLAYING AT THE JACOB BURNS FILM CENTER IN PLEASANTVILLE, NY-

1) ARMAGEDDON TIME-

2) TAR–

3) THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN–

MOVIES PLAYING AT THE AMC THEATER IN DANBURY, CT-

1) THE BANSHEES  OF INISHERIN

_____________________________________________________________________

MOVIES PLAYING IN PALM BEACH CO. FLORIDA-

1) THE MOVIES OF LAKE WORTH-

a) SHE SAID–

b) THE MENU–

c) TILL–

2) THE MOVIES OF DELRAY-

a) SHE SAID–

b) THE MENU–

3) THE LIVING ROOM THEATERS AT FAU IN BOCA RATON

a) AFTERSUN–

b) ARMAGEDDON TIME–

c) DECISION TO LEAVE–

d) UTAMA–

4) THE STONZEK THEATER IN DOWNTOWN LAKE WORTH-

a) ALL THAT BREATHES–

__________________________________________________________________