The Reel Dr. Bob

DEAR FRIENDS:

QUICK LOOK AT MY FAVORITES OF THE WEEK-

1) HERSELF– Amazon Prime

2) CROSS CREEK– Amazon Prime

3) ANOTHER ROUND– Amazon Prime

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MOVIES I SAW THIS WEEK-

1) HERSELF– 2021. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Single mother Sandra (Clare Dunne) escapes her abusive partner with her two young children, only to find herself trapped in temporary accommodation. After months of struggling, she draws inspiration from one of her daughter’s bedtime stories and hits upon the idea of self-building an affordable home. ”

1/1/21- Very good reviews for this drama. TRDB.

1/11/21- I liked this movie very much. TRDB. Amazon Prime

2) CROSS CREEK– 1983. Premise by Netflix. “Frustrated newspaper reporter Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Mary Steenburgen) abandons her career and moves to a Florida bayou to concentrate on writing fiction. Here, Marjorie’s life is changed by a devoted servant (Alfre Woodard) who befriends her, a local businessman (Peter Coyote) who becomes her lover and the backwoods father (Rip Torn) and his daughter (Dana Hill) who become her greatest inspiration. Based on Rawlings’s best-selling memoirs.”

8/10- I saw this years ago and liked it very much. TRDB.

1/13/21- I saw this yet again (for the third time) and I still like it very much. TRDB.

3) SNOWPIERCER– 2014. Synopsis by Netflix. “The Earth’s remaining inhabitants are confined to a single train circling the globe as revolution brews among the class-divided cars. Based on a French graphic novel and set in a new ice age, this futuristic thriller stars a top-notch ensemble cast.”

6/27/14- Very good reviews from critics and fairly good ones from audiences as well. TRDB.

1/12/21- Junk!!!

4) ANOTHER ROUND– 2020. Synopsis by IMDB. “Four friends, all high school teachers, test a theory that they will improve their lives by maintaining a constant level of alcohol in their blood.”

12/4/2020- Excellent reviews for this movie from Denmark. TRDB.

1/15/21- I really enjoyed this Danish drama. Be sure you don’t miss the last scene where you get to see Mads Mikkelsen dance. TRDB.

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COMING TO NETFLIX BY DISC AND MAYBE STREAMING AS WELL-

1) MARTIN EDEN–  2020. Synopsis by Netflix. “Moving the action from California to an Italian port city, this adaptation of Jack London’s 1909 novel follows an uneducated sailor who falls for a rich university student and attempts to remake himself as a writer to win her heart.”

10/16/20- Very good reviews. TRDB.

2) THE CLIMB– 2020. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Two lifelong pals test the boundaries of their friendship when a woman comes between them.”Netflix had this to say-“The ties that bind are examined in this comic tale about the long-term friendship of best pals Kyle and Mike. Unfolding in seven vignettes spanning a decade, the story begins with Mike’s revelation that he slept with Kyle’s fiancée.”

11/13/20- Very good reviews for this drama. TRDB.

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NEW STREAMABLE MOVIES-

1) WHITE LIE– 2020. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “A university student who fakes a cancer diagnosis for the attention and financial gain struggles to maintain her secret.”

1/8/21- Excellent reviews for this drama. TRDB. On Vudu and Prime

2) IF NOT NOW, WHEN?- 2020. Synopsis by Netflix. “Friends since they were 14, Tyra, Suzanne, Patrice and Deidre have had their spats over the years. But when Tyra faces a crisis in the form of an opioid addiction, the women all reunite to help her — and one another.”

1/8/21- Weak reviews for this drama. A few critics did recommend it. TRDB. On Vudu and Prime

3) BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING LEFT BEHIND– 2021. Synopsis by Netflix. “By turns poignant and inspiring, this documentary follows a group of young children at New Jersey’s Good Grief counseling center, where they learn to cope with the traumatic loss of a parent or sibling by sharing their feelings with one another.”

1/8/21- Great reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

4) THE REASON I JUMP– 2020. Synopsis by Netflix. “With Naoki Higashida’s best seller about living with autism as a guide, this illuminating documentary looks at the reality of the disorder and how it’s viewed around the globe, dispelling myths and challenging common assumptions in the process.”

1/8/21- Very good early reviews for this documentary. TRDB. On Virtual Cinemas

5) MY REMBRANDT– 2020. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Rembrandt, the grandmaster of intimacy rocks the art world; 350 years after his death, many people, even entire nations are obsessed with his paintings.”

1/11/21- Excellent reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

6) BLIZZARD OF SOULS– 2020. Synopsis by Netflix. “Enraged by the loss of his home and mother to invading Germans during World War I, Latvian teen Arturs Vanags joins his country’s national battalion — and is forever changed by the horrors that he witnesses.

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MOVIES PLAYING AT THE LIVING ROOM THEATERS AT FAU IN BOCA RATON-

1) I BLAME SOCIETY– 2020. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “The lines between art and real life begin to blur when an ambitious filmmaker realizes she’s good at getting away with murder.”

1/14/21- Fairly good reviews for this drama/comedy. TRDB.

2) MLK/FBI– 2020. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered today as an American hero: a bridge-builder, a shrewd political tactician, and a moral leader. Yet throughout his history-altering political career, he was often treated by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies like an enemy of the state. This documentary exposes the nature of the surveillance used by the FBI to monitor King.”

1/15/21- Excellent reviews for this documentary. TRDB.

3) ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI- 2020. Synopsis by Netflix. “When Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston in 1964 to become world heavyweight champ, he celebrates at a motel in a black ward of Miami with Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and gridiron star Jim Brown in this fictionalized account of that night.”

1/7/21- Great reviews by the critics but awful ones from audiences. I’ll definitely see this movie. TRDB. Amazon Prime

4) PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN– 2020. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be — she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night. Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs from the past.”

5) SOME KIND OF HEAVEN– 2020. Synopsis by Netflix. “All the packaged positivity in the world can’t mask the unhappiness of some residents of the Villages, where documentarian Lance Oppenheim trains his lens on four members of the Central Florida community dubbed the “Disneyland for Retirees.”

1/7/21- Great reviews for this documentary. TRDB.