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Six Triple Eight—Hidden Figures?

Based on journalist Kevin M. Hymel’s 2019 article “Fighting a Two-Front War,” Six Triple Eight  follows  the inspiring story of 855 women who overcame immense barriers to sort over seventeen million pieces of backlogged mail.  Sorting the mail became a priority to boost morale by ensuring soldiers stayed connected with loved ones. Their contributions, though largely forgotten by history, are brought to life in this powerful film. In this Tyler Perry WWII drama,  the only all-Black, all-female US WAC (Women’s Army Corps) unit of color –the 6888th Central Postal...

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Man on the Inside–Outside In

In this Netflix crowd-pleaser, Man on the Inside  opens with a retired curmudgeonly college professor, Charles (Ted Danson) who has recently lost his wife to dementia.  Out of boredom and grief, he  responds to an ad from a private investigator,   (Lilah Richcreek Estrada).   Someone in an upscale  San Francisco retirement home has had a valuable necklace stolen and her son wants the necklace back. The PI decides to hire Charles not only because he’ll fit in well as one of the few older male residents   but also because he just may have the skills needed to identify the...

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My Top 17 Movies and Series for 2024

This year I have seventeen films and series to recommend.  Some are less well-known and under-the-radar.  Also, there seemed to be more selections from DEI producers and writers, for a welcomed change! Here are the reviews I wrote this past year with the criteria that they were available online.  Of the 45 reviews I posted this year, these are my favorites, my “listicle”.  As in past years, both television and cinema have continued to produce phenomenal story-telling and intriguing characters. And this year many of the indie/foreign films could...

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Black Doves–”Slow Horses” meets “The Americans”?

The six-episode Netflix mini-series Black Doves is being promoted as a Christmas holiday spy thriller, full of such fun scenes as explosions, intense gun-fight street battles  and stylish upper-class British banter to mix up with the tinsel and ornaments.  Helen Webb (Keira Knightley of “Pirates of the Carribean”, “Pride and Prejudice” and “Bend It Like Beckham”) is an unlikely agent in a highly secretive espionage group called the Black Doves. Selling intel to whomever is willing to pay for it, Black Doves has no allegiance to the British. Married to the Defense Minister,...

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Day of the Jackal–Hunt or Be Hunted

In this Peacock mini-series released November 2024, British assassin-for-hire and super-sniper is known only as the “Jackal” by police and those paying him millions. Of course, he has multiple aliases and disguises.  An update of Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel and the 1973 movie, Day of the Jackal is a  modern high-stakes thriller of international politics, espionage, and the dark web. It is not a sequel to the movie.  A cold-blooded, shapeshifting chameleon, the Jackal (Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne for “The Theory of Everything” and nominated for “The Danish Girl”)...

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The Americans–Cold War at Home

In this multiple award-winning six-season Hulu series (2013-2018), The Americans has invaded the hearts of countless  viewers.  The Americans  takes place during the Reagan era of 1980-1987, the Cold War with Gorbachev and what was known then as the Soviet Union.   Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Catherine (Keri Russell) Jennings are high-level Soviet KGB spies who live in Falls Church, Virginia close to where the action is in Washington, DC. Matched as husband and wife by their KGB handlers, all allegiance in the first few seasons is to their homeland.  Their two American-born...

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