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Reviews
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)
Good date night movie...
This film is quite romantic and humorous. I saw this film as the first date with a man who eventually became my partner. The film has the right vibe for a good date night movie especially if it is a first date.
The chemistry between Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor is endearing and sweet. There are no gratuitous or raunchy sexual scenes in this movie, so everything with their romance is in good taste. I appreciated the wit and affection that they showed each other without them being schmaltzy.
The plot about bringing salmon fishing to Yemen might seem far fetched, but it adds a certain idealistic vibe that fits fairly well with this light-hearted romantic comedy.
Tina Turner: Simply the Best (2021)
Her inner strength shines through
Tina is one of the best entertainers out there--with her combination of performance style, bold voice, and energetic dance moves. Her success over adversity is well documented in this biographic film.
The film is a retrospective of her accomplishments at a time when she had to overcome some very difficult circumstances in her life. It focuses on how Anna Ma Bullock became the superstar Tina Turner. The story is fascinating but at times very painful to watch about the physical and emotional abuse that she experienced from Ike Turner. The film delves enough into the painful chapters of her life to help viewers understand her deep courage to leave Ike and to make a new life on her own.
The story is chronological, so viewers are taken along on the journey. The film has a good mix of historic and contemporary concert footage of her singing and interviews with Tina, her husband, and other key people. The editing of her story manages to integrate all these things into a fairly cohesive whole. I particularly enjoyed the recent interview footage with Erwin Bach (her husband) and her.
Daisy Jones & the Six (2023)
Emotions, Memories, and Songs of Laurel Canyon
The series has captured the sense of place and time--its special defining qualities of the spatial and acoustic characteristics--of the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s in Laurel Canyon, the Strip, and LA. I've just started watching the series, and I am part way through the second episode, so my review reflects my experiences so far.
Capturing the quality of sense of place and time is actually one of the more difficult aspects to capture on film. The thoughtful approach used in this series helps to situate the viewers into the setting for this series--for all its sponateous outcomes, youthful energy, musical synchronicity, and material culture. The setting is one of the key drivers in this series.
The cast is another strength of the series. Chemistry is the best workd to describe the interactions among the cast. Riley Keough and Sam Claflin in the lead characters of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne help to drive the plot forward around the events that brings them together. Riley Keough is a major talent who is coming into her prime as an actress and singer.
If you are looking for something entertaining to watch on a Friday or Saturday evening, I definitely recommend it. For anyone who grew up during the 1970s music scene (i.e., Laurel Canyon and Disco), the bonus is that it will bring back fond memories of the music, sounds, and settings of the 1960s and 1970s.