Change Your Image
harpie9
Reviews
Leaving Neverland (2019)
Don't watch for the entertainment factor but as a precautionary tale.
Nobody wants to believe that someone they look up to and admire is a pedophile. No one wants to believe that someone as talented to the point of being an entertainment genius is capable of being such a monster behind closed doors. While I listen to these two young men tell their stories, it makes me ashamed that I was so blinded by this Michael Jackson's super-stardom that I ever admired him. It took guts after purgering themselves in court to admit this not only to their families but to the world that's going to label them as liars and money hungry. After all, who didn't love Michael Jackson's music? He had legions of fans and still does. The stories are heart breaking. You can see how the parents and family were manipulated with promises of Jackson opening doors for them, the dinners, the vacations. It paints a picture of how these boys parents were seduced by wealth. How would you feel if someone with all that fame and money and talent told you how great your kid was and they were going to help make all their dreams of stardom a reality? You'd buy it hook, line and sinker. You'd be so flattered and dazzled by the champagne dinners and gifts not to mention having a superstar come to your house and call you to talk. They were lulled into feeling their child was safe around Jackson. It makes me also strongly suspect that Jackson was also a victim of a pedophile because no one is born knowing how to groom kids like that--he learned from somebody. I don't think this documentary is meant to be four hours of salacious gossip. It should be watched as a cautionary tale because pedophiles aren't limited to entertainers, they're the neighbor down the street, the old man sitting in the park on a bench or your Uncle Henry. It should be a lesson to every parent that if something doesn't seem right, then it probably isn't.
Here Come the Double Deckers! (1970)
Part of my fondest memories
How well I remember this show even though it didn't last very long. I was about 9 years old in 1970 and on weekends you'd usually find me in my pajamas on Sunday mornings watching shows like "The Double Deckers" while slurping down a bowl of Cheerios. These kids had great times along with singing some pop songs and a little dancing. They were in the same genre as shows like H.R. Puffinstuff. Pure fluff and pure fun.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
A thrill ride from the first second
The picture was action packed almost as soon as the marque that tells us, "A Long time ago in a galaxy far away..." finishes scrolling down explaining that there is a new dark force in the universe threatening the rebellion.
There are a lot of new faces in this movie to continue the saga for the next generation of Star Wars fans. The Torch has definitely been passed and we are left guessing Who is this new Jedi "Ray" and will she be trained and become as great a Jedi as Luke Skywalker? Will Ren go on to be as evil as Darth Vader or will he turn to the light before the dark side turns him into a machine too? Old friends turn up--Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and even C3PO and R2-D2 and many of the other unusual creatures we've seen in Star Wars movies past. But as good as this movie is, it has a very different feel to it directorial wise. The bits of subtle humor remain but there is a bitter-sweetness to it as we watch the characters we grew up with grow old and a new generation of heroes being born. Loved the movie but its not the same Star Wars I grew up with. As long as you get that going in, you'll love this film.
The Virginia Graham Show (1970)
Virginia Graham Show-pioneering television for women
I couldn't agree less with the previous review of the Virginia Graham show. I may have been a very little girl when I watched this show with my mother, even so I watched very carefully. While Miss Graham may have had a few lucky breaks early on in her career, she parlayed those experiences into a ground breaking television show for WOMEN. You have to look at the what was going on in the world for women in the late 1960's and early 1970's and judge the show in that context. Women were just entering into the work force and needed to be informed about the world around them. Virginia Graham laid the ground work for shows like Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue, Maury Povich and Jerry Springer--and every other person who has a talk show. The fact that she was able to do what she did at her age in that period of time was a miracle. Sure, the show wasn't as slick and polished as our talk shows today but Virginia Graham conducted her show with class. You'd never see a fist fight break out between two women on her show! For that decade-believe me, nobody else was trying to inform housewives of anything. I did enjoy her show and if it could keep a nine year old child interested (I was nine in 1970) then it was worth watching.