Let me be honest. I don’t like cats. Cats make me break out; cats make me sneeze. Cats, I should add, don’t like me either. So why did I sit there watching “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain,” whose whole life was covered, like moss and toadstools, with cats, real, artsy, and psychedelic. I only […]

It’s not top drawer, but stay with it

Axis Sally, a.k.a. “Axis Sally,” was a Portland-born American who broadcast Nazi propaganda at U.S. troops fighting in Europe. A new film, starring Al Pacino and Meadow Williams, delves into her complicated character.

Here’s a golden chance to watch Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, in a John le Carré story about spies of three countries vying for explosive Russian nuclear data. Out of the past comes a 2009 dark, romantic love and espionage story that shines a new light on those two stars. With the script written by […]

Historical drama based on Kenneth Feinberg’s book ‘What is Life Worth’ about being tasked with leading the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

How do you get viewers to watch a comedy with a dumb title? Just tell them Martin Short and Steve Martin star in it. Done. Into this streaming comedy series, add Selena Gomez (“Wizards of Waverly Place,” “Hotel Transylvania”) to the mix. Now you’ve got them hooked. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100 and […]

“I can’t believe I’m having lunch with spies,” he said, with the glee of a 9-year-old entering Disneyland. “He” is Greville Wynne, (Benedict Cumberbatch “Sherlock,” “The Imitation Game”) a British businessman who sells machinery parts on an international level, when his many trips abroad, including to the Soviet Union, catch the attention of the grey […]

It’s like jelly beans when I was 8, and M&Ms, and then popcorn and Pringles. My sister said to me over and over, “Don’t you want to save some for later?” No, I’ve never learned to “save some for later.” Today, with the advent of streaming, this trip down memory lane brings me to Sandra […]

There’s Frasier Crane. I know Frasier, who doesn’t? And we like Frasier. And there is the “marshmallow” herself, the lovable Kristin Bell (“The Good Place,” “Veronica Mars”). But who are all these other people? I recognize Rogen, but that’s Seth’s wife now writing and directing. It turns out that these unknowns keep this movie moving. […]

We have here on Amazon streaming, Emily Mortimer’s adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s 1945 novel, in a three-episode miniseries, and what is it? Yes, it’s pretty, the scenery and props, costumes all first rate. But do we care? Sadly, for those of us hungry for any kind of an upper, “Pursuit” is a drop. It’s a […]