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Holiday for Heroes (2019)
Well acted, restrained, and accurate.
The military stuff is accurate to a point.
Maybe Hallmark did not intend to make a movie about the National Guard, or possibly Army Reserve, but they seem to have done so. Of course the reenlistment options seem to be for active duty assignments but they were available to Reservists during the war.
If the 1SG is a National Guard or Army Reserve soldier he could be stationed in Connecticut. However, he would have to be on active duty status to get terminal leave. So, the military stuff is accurate to a point. He is wearing a Reserve overseas training ribbon so the military advisor in this film knew their stuff.
Leaving the service, even for a Reservist, is terrifying and there should be a lot of reticence about the choice. This movie captures that well.
Ghosts of Christmas Always (2022)
Unscrooging into a plot twist(s)
This was a delightfully original Hallmark movie that followed a familiar theme and ran that theme into a ditch at every plot turn. Is this the Scrooging of Robert Peter Barron? Is this the Scrooging of someone else? What of importance of a random photo? And, what about Naomi? {HINT: There is no Naomi}. It had a narrative structure like a roller coaster than made no sense until the end. Every time the plot returned to the well beaten path of "A Christmas Carol" it suddenly veered into a nearby metaphorical snow bank. Then, we're off on a new direction. It was an enjoyable look at who the characters are and an investigation of who they want to be even if that knowledge was hidden to themselves.
Resident Alien (2021)
A show about an Alien that teaches how to be more human.H
This is a great series with a deep cast of characters lead by the Puppet Master Chris Sheridan. All the jokes hit on two levels like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The Scewey Wabbit himself is the alien- Dr. Henry Vanderspeigle- deftly played by Alan Trudyk. He simultaneously alternates between the poignant and the comic uncomfortably wearing the human- clad skin (literally) of an alien sent to destroy the world. As a definite stranger in a stranger land he immediately fits into a quirky, realistic, small town in Colorado. He is so openly bizarre in a place where all the residents fall into some degree of weirdness that he is almost invisible except to the one boy who can see him- the Mayor's son- Max Hawthorne (Judah Prehan).
The Alien's inadvertent path of destruction through the human race is pursued in fits by Sheriff Mike "Big Black" Thompson played by Cody Reynolds. He plays a law enforcement officer as if Elmer Fudd graduated first from the Police Academy. Others pursuing the alien in different directions are General Eleanor Wright played by Linda Hamilton leading a Men in Black agency that is run like a realistic, clumsy, government bureaucracy and The Alien Hunter- Terry O'Quinn's Peter Back serves as a pursuer and a UFO Mentor in the show.
Harry the Alien's foil and guide toward Human Being-hood is Sara Tomko as Asta Twelvetrees who forms the moral center of an amoral alien's view of the Earth and the meat puppets who he see's inhabit it. She leads the unofficial matriarchy that actually runs Patience, Colorado without letting then men in on who is actually in charge. Her backup trio consists of her best friend and Olympian train-wreck D'Arcy Bloom (Alice Wetterlund), the Mayor's hot wife Kate Hawthorne (Meredith Garretson), and the Sheriff's perceptive Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Brown). Never too far away from the mix are the Town Clinic's food stealer Nurse Ellen Cho (Diana Bang), town flirt Judy Cooper (Jenna Lamia), and Max's clever and mature classmate Sahar (Gracelyn Awad Rinke). Mayor Ben Hawthorne (Levi Fiedler) and Diner owner- as Asta's adopted Dad- Dan Twelvetrees (Gary Farmer) try to keep the town on an even keel while never really knowing what the hell is actually going on and watching the constellation of women constantly spin their machinations around them.
Season Three is coming on SyFy so get caught up on Peacock now before they destroy the planet next season (maybe).
The American Presidency (2022)
An Approachable History of the Executive
This is a broad, general, survey of the various aspects of the American Presidency. It looks over how the various Presidents defined their office over what they did and did not do in office. The presence of President Clinton and a variety of Presidential Historians add a degree of gravitas to the documentary. It's not an in-depth documentary, but it covers the major topics.