New Bloggy Update! 3/2/23

Where to start…

I’m basically on Day #18 of this quirky, nightmarish illness. What started as a sinus/ear infection has mutated into trouble with my Eustachian tubes. Everything sounds like its underwater (me included when I talk), but generally I feel better than I did earlier on. All that to say, I’m at about 75%. I’m doing some normal, routine things, but others are still on hold.

Speaking of which, I finished Draft #6 of Sanctum, but will wait until I can hear again to start in on Draft #7. Even when I was working on this last draft, I felt like my brain wasn’t “all there”… (I’ve tested negative for Covid), so I don’t want to start another draft until this brain fog has lifted.

The one “good” thing about being sick is that it allows for laying around on the couch and watching shows…

Lately, we’ve seen:

Women at War (2022) – Eight episode mini-series focused on four women dealing with their lives during WWI in France. Honestly, it sounded pretty boring to me, BUT, I was wrong. Aside from the “thrown in romance”, this was a very compelling story and I found it to be very well done. All the stories start quite apart but end up coming together and making sense. I gave it an 8 out of 10. I would recommend this to anyone interested in historical stories, dramas, and strong women characters.

The Fourth Kind (2009) – “Since the 1960s, a disproportionate number of the population in and around Nome, Alaska, have gone missing. Despite FBI investigations, the disappearances remain a mystery. Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich), a psychologist, may be on the verge of blowing the unsolved cases wide open when, during the course of treating her patients, she finds evidence of alien abductions.” (Google) Uh, my best recollection on this one was that I was under the sway of antibiotics and partially sedated! LOL. I’m NOT a fan of “alien anything” and I don’t think I would have willfully volunteered to have seen this…Charlie must have snuck this one in one night. It was supposedly based on factual recordings…okay, whatever. I’m not a believer of this kind of thing, so I imagine there was a lot of eye-rolling from me… Watch at your own peril…I gave it a 4.8.

Brian and Charles (2022) – A charming, quirky, sometimes funny, sometimes forced film about a nerdy loner in Wales who creates a robot to be his companion. You might recognize a few folks from Ricky Gervais’s Afterlife crew (as many of them are comedians in their own right). It’s the kind of story that you can almost plot out point for point, yet, it does work on many levels. I wouldn’t say there are many surprise moments and the ending can be seen from miles away, but it’s still a fun romp. Plus, there’s sheep 🙂 I gave it a 6.4 (Charlie gave it a 7.9).

The Kings of the World (2022) – “Five friends from the streets of Medellín set out on a perilous journey through Colombia to recover a piece of land that was bequeathed to one of them.” (Google) I know this received really high ratings and won awards, but I have to say, I wasn’t a fan. This film is almost presented like a documentary (with no voice-over) as it follows this small group of teens through rough areas and rough circumstances. My biggest issue was the fact that I couldn’t get behind ANY of them. They were punks and ruffians from the start and (no spoilers, really) continued to be so throughout the film. If you’ve ever read any of my books, you KNOW that I love the seedy side of characters, but these kids barely had ANY redeeming qualities. There are a number of people who are brought up in terrible situations, but they don’t necessarily cause bodily harm on innocent people or vandalize everywhere they go. Nope, I couldn’t get on board with this one. Charlie really enjoyed it, however. So, I can’t recommend it, but you might see it from a different perspective.

Behind Her Eyes (2020) – “A single mother enters a world of twisted mind games when she begins an affair with her psychiatrist boss while secretly befriending his mysterious wife.” (Google) Based on the book by English author Sarah Pinborough, this six-episode psychological thriller was enjoyable as it was entertaining. You do have to suspend belief to some degree, as I can’t imagine a REAL psychiatrist breaking all kinds of protocol as this one did. But again, this is fiction. Sometimes, you have to overlook realism when telling/experiencing a story. If you like thrillers, intense moments, no real gore to speak of, and family struggles, you’re going to dig this one. High recommend.

The Consultant (2023) – “When a new consultant, Regus Patoff, is hired to improve the business of the app-based gaming company CompWare, employees experience new demands and challenges that put everything into question, including their lives.” (Google) Christoph Waltz! What can’t this guy do? Comedy, thriller, drama. Well, he nails the main character in this show, too. As Regus Patoff enters the world of CompWare, things go from zero to off the charts in more ways than one. This mini-series is based off of Bentley Little’s book of the same name. (Personally, I’ve read some of this author’s work and I am NOT a fan – too many animal killings and too much sophomoric dialogue. Not everyone thinks like a teenage boy, Mr. Little) Anyway, this creation by Tony Basgallop (a British television writer who took on the screenplay) hit it out of the park. There are more twists and turns than most shows these days. Again, you’ll need to suspend belief here and there, but we couldn’t wait to watch the next episode. I hope they consider doing a second season, although if they don’t, the ending does wrap up enough to leave things as they are and still make sense. High recommend on both our lists.

So, there it is. Watched more than wrote these past two and a half weeks, but that’s what happens when the germs kick in. Here’s to reaching that 100% point in the near future. 🙂