Movie Review: ***^ Transformers (2007) with Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf

 Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is into his great grandfather's history.  He purchased an old pair of glasses on Ebay which appear broken.  But the are special.  He purchases a car with his dad (Kevin Dunn).  An old Camaro picks them.  This is no regular car.  It has been sent to protect him.  He uses the car to meet a girl, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox).  She gets drawn into his adventures.  At the same time strange things are happening.  The Decepticons are on the move, and have accessed U.S. computer data at a couple points.  They are looking for the Allspark cube.  This cube makes inanimate objects come to life.  On the other side the Autobots are trying to keep them from finding the cube.  The key is the glasses on which has been implanted a map to the cube.  The special government agency invade the home of the Witwicky family.  They are all taken prisoner, including Sam, Micaela, father and mother (Julie White).  Agent Simmons (John Turturro) is in charge.  The are set up inside of Hoover Dam where they have the Allspark and Megatron (voice Hugo Weaving), leader of the Decepticons.  

 Secretary of Defense (Jon Voight) is using any resource he can to figure out what is happening and how to combat it.  This includes computer geeks, Maggie and Glen (Rachael Taylor and Anthony Anderson).  And soldiers on the ground who have battled the Decepticons, Captain Lennox and Sergeant Epps (Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson).

Of course Megatron gets free, and they must hide the Allspark because Megatron will use it to change the entire world to Decepticons; the end of humans.  This leads to a major bettle in town as they try to hide the cube and keep it from the decepticons.  The Autobots fight to prevent this, including their leader Optimus Prime (voice Peter Cullen).  Sam ends up with the cube at one point with a promise to push it into Optimus Prime's heart if they are about to lose.  This would destroy it as well as Megatron.  However Sam shoves it into directly into Megatron's heart.  This ends Megatron and the Allspark (except a sliver).

Lots of action and explosions.  I have always thought Transformers are too loud and I am still of that opinion.  

Music Review: Chicago: Night and Day: Big Band (1996)

 Chicago: Night and Day: Big Band, Chicago Records, 1996.

This is Chicago in a different light.  They participated in a TV special for Duke Ellington, and the idea for a big band album was thus hatched.  They in fact sing three Ellington songs on the CD.  Other composers include Glen Miller, Cole Porter, Joe Garland and Fabian André.  I enjoyed all the songs except for the last "Take the 'A' Train."  This song descended into chaos.  However "Dream a Little Dream," "In the Mood," :Sing, Sing Sing," and "Night and Day" are all very nice.  Chicago having many parts easily covers the big band feel.  Regular Chicago members Robert Lamm, Jacob Scheff and Bill Champlin provide the vocals.  This album has many instrumental sections like most of their music.

***The Last Airbender (2010)

 The Last Air Bender (Noah Ringer) can use all four powers, air, fire, earth and wind.  He must learn how to use them efficiently before the fire power destroys all the other peoples.  They plan to do so by killing the sacred Moon Spirit.  Commander Zhao (Aasif Mandvi) is able to accomplish this.  Princess Yue (Seychelle Gabriel) sacrifices her life to restore the Moon Spirit.  Prince Zuko (Dev Patel), who spent most of the show trying to capture Ang, grows and shifts and joins forces with Ang to defeat his father (Cliff Curtis) and the fire people.  Uncle Iroh (Shaun Toob) finally gets through to him.  Katara (Nicola Peltz Beckham) is a water bender and also works with Ang to defeat the fire people.  Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) does not bend, and relies on his intellect to also be helpful.  In the end they are able to repel the fire fleet as Ang takes on the full power of the Avatar.

Movie is directed by M. Night Shyamalan.  It is mildly entertaining.

Tom Hanks Movie: *****Forrest Gump

 The classic movie for which Tom Hanks won the best actor Oscar.  This was his second such win.  The movie also won best picture and Joe Zemeckis best director.  Gary Sinise was nominated for best supporting actor.  The story takes lace on the bus bench as Forrest tells his story.

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) has some intellectual issues in that his IQ is below 80, the cut off for regular school.  However his mother (Sally Fields) advocates for him and he goes to school.  Forrest has issues with his legs, but he out grows this and is actually very good at running.  He has to run away from the boys who bully him, and with the encouragement of Jenny (Robin Wright).  His running ability gets him through high school and college playing football and an All American.  He meets President Kennedy with the other All Americans. 

  He joins the military after college and goes to Viet Nam were he mets Lieutenant dan (Gary Sinise) and his friend Bubba (Mykelti Williamson).  Their unit is attacked, and Forrest runs away.  However he comes back and one by one takes the other soldiers and runs out with them.  This includes Lieutenant dan who wants to die like his ancestors.  He survives but loses his legs.  He does also find Bubba but Bubba does not survive.  He agrees to do shrimp fishing for Bubba.  Forrest was hit in the buttocks and lands in the hospital.  There he learns ping pong.  He is awarded the Medal of Honor for his efforts, which he receives from President Johnson.

He is so good at ping pong he is part of the tour to China.  Completing his tour playing ping pong he again sees the resident, this time Nixon.  However at the hotel he complains of lights in the room across the way--Watergate.  He is also finagled into talking at an anti-war rally, and there he runs into Jenny again.  She is hanging with the wrong crowd, and her boyfriend treats her poorly.  She is with the Black Panthers.  

Forrest Gump then tries shrimp fishing.  He had money from a ping pong endorsement.  Lieutenant Dan joins him, and some how they make out good.  They invest the money in a fruit business Apple, and are set for life.  They even share with Bubba's mother.

At some point Bubba's mother dies, and Jenny comes to him.  They make love, but she doesn't want to marry.  Forrest goes on a run, and keeps running.  He is inspiration for happy face and for "shit happens."  One day he is done running and goes home.  He cares for the lawn at the school.  He has been waiting at the bus stop for Jenny and realizes she is not far away so he runs to meet her, and his son (Haley Joe Osment).  Jenny is sick.  They marry and have almost a year before she passes away.  

There is a feather at the end, indicated the haphazard nature of life.  "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."

Sandra Bullock Movie: ***^ The Lost City (2022)

 Definitely not my favorite Sandra Bullock movie.  When the hero gets his head blown off, it made me sick enough to not like the movie.  They didn't show the gory details, but showed enough, and they talked of brain matter; pretty gross.  Another gross thing in this movie is leaches.  Nobody likes leaches.  

Loretta (Sandra Bullock) is a romance novelist.  She writes of romance in the jungle and the ancient City of D.  Alan (Channing Tatum) poses as the male lead in her novels.  Loretta thinks he is very shallow.  Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire, Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe).  He is in pursuit of the City of D and feels Loretta can help him find it.  Loretta does have some history with interpreting lost texts.  

When it is known she has been kidnapped, Loretta's manager (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) organizes a rescue.  Alan comes along, but more importantly he recruits a super hero type mercenary, Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt).  He is able to rescue Loretta with Alan tagging along.  However this is when Trainer gets killed.  Loretta and Alan are left together the fend there way against dangerous criminals in the jungle.  Loretta stole a piece of parchment she was to translate for Fairfax.  She also hear's a local folk song talking of the legend, and they decide to find the treasure.  

They succeed, but Fairchild is close behind.  They are trapped by Fairchild and left to die in a coffin.  Turns out the treasure was the love of two people.  So the real treasure is love, but will this be enough to save Alan and Loretta.  They do have an ace in their pocket.  Loretta's manager is coming to the rescue, with Oscar (Oscar Nuñez) a new boyfriend helping.  

Spanish Music Review: RosalÍa: EL MAL QUERER

 Rosalía is from Spain.  Her music has many influences, including Tango.  She tries many different music styles which do not always work.  Her singing is very atypical.  In "Que no Salga la Luna" she almost sounds Arabic.  It does have a Flamenco rhythm.  One of the songs is called Bagdad.  It is very hard to follow because she does lots of ohohoh and ayayay runs.  This is her second of four albums.  You could say that Rosalía started a new Flamenco style of music.  All of the songs were written by Rosalía with cowriters on most.  C. Tangana a rap singer and her boyfriend ag the time was credited with being a co writer on nine of the eleven songs.  Another rapper El Guincho is credited credited on all eleven songs.  In the end we have a combination of rap, new Flamenco, pop, tango and religious chanting on this album.  Sometimes it is effective but other songs less so.  

James Stewart, Alfred Hitchcock Movie: Vertigo

 John Ferguson was traumatized by a police case where he almost fell off a building, and another officer did fall.  He now has fear of heights and vertigo which forced him to retire early from the police force.  A friend, Galvin Elster (Tom Helmore) contacts him out of the blue, and hires him to follow his wife (Kim Novak), who he says may be possessed by an ancestor.  Ferguson follows her, and saves her from an aparent suicide attempt when she throws herself into San Francisco Bay.  They soon become an item.  They travel to San Juan Bautista south of San Francisco.  They kiss and profess their love when she runs off.   It appears that the wife commits suicide by going into the mission and up the bell tower, throwing herself off.  (There actually is no bell tower at San Juan Bautista.  It was added cinematically.)

Ferguson goes into a melancholy depression, and ends up in a psychiatric hospital for about a year.  After he is out he discovers a woman who looks like the diseased wife.  He dresses her up as the deceased wife, but she wears a familiar necklace and then he realizes he was duped as part of a murder plot with him as the witness it was a suicide, not a murder.  

This is a very good movie, and very good portrayal by Jimmy Stewart.  Ferguson has an admirer, Marjorie (Barbara Bel Geddes) who is always available for him but they never make the connection.  

Music Review: Sofia: Louder!

 Sofia Reyes: Louder! Warner Musica Latina, 2017,

Louder is the debut album for Sofia.  She is a Mexican singer and performer.  Sofia writes or cowrites all of the songs.  She is pretty good at this.  She sings mot of the songs in Spanish but also in English.  All oif the songs seem to have the boy and girl theme, "But if you go, nothing more."  I personally enjoy the slower songs and not so much those that are louder or rap.  Most songs she sings in both languages.  She also has a Latin beat going on.  

Tom Hanks Movie: **** Cast Away (2000)

 Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) works for FedEx.  He has a girlfriend, Kelly Sears (Helen Hunt) and it appears it is serious.  When he leaves he says he will be back soon.  However the FedEx plane gets caught in a storm and crashes in the ocean.  Noland does get in a raft, and washes ashore on an island.  This begins a four year ordeal where his only companion is a volleyball with a blood stain that looks like a face.  Finally part of a 0orta potty washes ashore, and he turns it into a sail for a raft.  With that extra push he is able to g`et over the wake and get to sea, where he floats many days, but loses his volleyball.  Finally a boat discovers him and he is saved.  It has been four years.  His girlfriend has moved on, married and has a baby.  They still love each other but realize that opportunity has flown the coup.  So Noland goes to start a new life.  

This movie shows you do not need a large cast to make a movie.  It also shows the resilience of man, as Noland has to teach himself how to survive.  

Carole King Tapestry: Live in Hyde Park 2016

Carole King Tapestry: Live in Hyde Park 2016, available through Youtube.

This is a performance of a classic album.  The album Tapestry was released in 1971.  It marked a turning point for King who had been a song writer for some time, and now was a solo artist.  Carole King is a classic artist and has been making music since the late 50s when she wrote "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow."  This album is the pinnacle of her career.  It includes classics like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," And "You've Got a Friend."  It includes the song made famous by Aretha Franklin, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."  Another anthem is "I Feel the Earth Move."  "Where you Lead" was written as a show of support from a woman to a man, then the women's lib movement hit so she hesitated singing it.  However it was reworked for the Gilmore Girls as a daughter and mother singing it together.  Her own daughter, Louise Goffin, joined her in singing it.  It is uncanny how closely she resembles her mother of 40 years ago.  King played the guitar for the rock song "Smackwater Jack."

She also performed other songs, including a medley of songs she wrote for other artists.  There was "Go Away Little Girl" sung by Donny Osmond.  They performed Jazzman with Jamie Talbot joining them on saxophone.   

King also sang many encore numbers including "Up on the roof" which is the "when this old world starts to getting you down song."  Another encore song was "locomotion" and then "Tumbling Down."  The cast from Beautiful, The Carole King Musical  joined for a song.  She then concluded with another arrangement of "You've Got a Friend."  It is amazing to me how youthful King looked.  She was in her 70s for this concert.

 

Odyssey. TV Miniseries (1997)

 With the big hubbub about "The Odyssey" I decided to watch this version on TUBI and not have to worry about the R rated movie version.  I imagine the story is the same, but the special effects probably not as great.  Odysseus is 20 years trying to get home, ten warring and another ten traveling.  Poseidon was against him.  All of his men die along the way.  But he finally makes it home, and cleans out the den of freeloaders who have been tormenting his wife.

• 

  Armand Assante

  Odysseus

  
  
• 

  Greta Scacchi

  Penelope

  
  
• 

  Geraldine Chaplin

  Eurycleia

Movie Review: **** The Penguin Lessons (2024)

 I found this movie truly enjoyable for a couple of reasons.  It is set in Buenos Aires shortly after the military coup which would have been shortly before I was in the country.  I was witness to some of the things which take place in the movie.  

The story is about a disillusioned english man, Tom (Steve Coogan) who takes up a teaching posiition at a private school in Buenos Aires outside the capital.  He teaches English and poetry and is assigned to coach the rugby team.  He barely knows the rules to rugby.  When the actual coup takes place, the boys are sent home for a week, and Tom travels to Uruguay for a vacation.  There he comes upon a group of penguins who have gotten caught in an oil slick and perished.  One is alive so he nurses it back to health.  The penguin becomes attached to him, and won't let him alone.  It won't go back to sea.  In the end he brings it back to the school where he hides it in his apartment.  During the day his housekeeper, Maria (Vivian el Jabber).  He befriends she and her granddaughter, Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio).  Sofia is active in politics and protesting against the military coup.  When she and Tom are out shopping, she is picked up by the military government and Tom is unable to intervene or protect her.  He deals with his failing until he cannot any longer, and he confronts who he knows is the head of the military secret police on behalf of Sofia asking for her return.  As he result he too is picked up and beat up and then returned.  He is a British subject.  It is only when the head master, Buckle (Jonathan Pryce) gets involved and talks to the government official that Sofia is released.  There was a point when the penguin is discovered and Tom is taken by the military police that Buckle had asked him to resign.  However he is spurned to to action and resolves this with himself.  The penguin becomes a part of the class, and the students actually learn when the penguin is in the classroom.

This movie is based on the memoir of Tom Michell of the same name.  In the movie the lead character is older and more crusty than Tom Michell was when he actually taught in Buenos Aires and had a penguin for a pet.  Other things from the movie I saw--the grandmothers protesting in the Plaza de Mayo across from the Pink house by the cathedral for their disappeared children and grandchildren.  Many of the grandchildren were adopted out after their parents were killed.  The checking of documents randomly on the street by military men in uniform.  I also knew a doctor who disappeared and then was retuned after being tortured.  And another woman who was grieving the loss of a child who had been taken and she didn't know what had become of the child.  And the story of another woman and her husband who taught in the illiteracy program.  They escaped to Spain but all their home was taken and given to a military family.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: ****Murder (1930)

 Diana Baring (Nora Baring) is accused of murder.  She does not remember what happened; but her defense in court of being in a fugue state does not go with the jury.  But one juror, Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall) still has his doubts.  He was convinced to vote guilty, but he still believes the woman.  She doesn't remember what happened.  He wants to find out.  

So he begins his own investigation.  She was the only one in the room.  He interviews the owners of the apartment Doucie and Ted Markham (Phyllis Konstam and Edward Chapman).  They do not give much information, but Ted decides to investigate with him.  Miss Mitcham (Marie Wright) isn't much help either.

They go to the theater where they work and find more clues there.  Here are people who are on the edge of society--circus performers.  Also people who can get into tight spaces, one being an acrobat.  Baring has been hiding the identity of a man in the room.  But she does mention he is half caste (bi racial).  At the circus Menier discovers Handel Fane (Esme Percy).  He is suppose to be biracial, and the murder victim had discovered this so he kills her to keep her silent.  It was taboo to be biracial during this period and would have reuined his career.  The victim and Baring were in deep conversation so he was able to sneak in the window, go past them and strike a blow with the poker.  

Menier traps him through the guise of reading a script for a theater production.  The script has the last page blank, and Menier recruits him to finish it, which he does describing how he completed the murder before killing himself.  

Fane is a male performing a trapeze act dressed as a woman.  He also hides his identity, as well as his involvement in the murder.  When this all comes out it is more than his psychic can take and he hangs himself from the trapeze bar.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: ***^ Stage Fright (1950)

 A movie very similar to the Hitchcock film Young and Innocent.  Eve Gill (Jane Wyman) has a crush on Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) who has been accused of murder.  He tells the story that the actress, Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich) is actually responsible based on her bloody dress.  He is helping her avoid legal entanglements, while he, himself is accused by the police.  

This movie follows the theme of Young and Innocent, but as time goes on Gill is less in love with Todd and more in love with the detective, Wilfred Smith (Michael Wilding).  Gill also involves her father (Alastair Sim) in keeping the fugitive safe.  

This movie does not end the same as Young and Innocent when the fugitive is proven innocent.  It turns out very differently.  I was a bit frustrated with Detective Smith.  I had a hard time understanding him with his accent.

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: **** Family Plot (1976)

Alfred Hitchcock's last movie.  It is very good, and pits two seemingly unrelated crime families.  George and Blanche (Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris have a very interesting relationship.  Blanche is a supposed psychic and George helps her in her schemes and is also a taxi driver.  She comes upon a scheme when a client (Cathleen Nesbitt) reveals she is hoping to reunite with a nephew who was adopted out.  She is willing to pay $10,000 if the psychic can find this nephew.  So Blanche puts up her boyfriend to do the detective work.

The other couple is Fran and Arthur (Karen Black and William Davane).  The are professional kidnappers and are very good at their job and are paid a lot of money in ransoms by prominent people.  They use a shot that puts people to sleep and then haul the people off to a secret room in their house, and then await the ransom money.

George starts poking around and discovers that the person in question supposedly died in a fire, as well as his adoptive parents.  A gas station (Ed Lauter) owner paid for a headstone for the son, which was placed later than the couple's head stone.  Turns out Arthur is the man they are looking for.  But when word gets to him he is sure they are onto the kidnapping scheme.  He asks the gas station owner to do them in.  The attendant was also involved in the fire that killed his parents.  In the attempt to kill George and Blanche by running them over, he goes off a cliff and kills himself.  

Blanche and George learn the name of the person they seek, but when they go to tell him the good news, they are in the middle of a kidnapping, and everything turns upside down.

This is a very fun movie.  The characters are well presented and there is enough tension and intrigue.  

James Stewart Movies

Jimmy Stewart's career in movies lasted five decades with many good movies.  

***** Mr. Kruegers Christmas. (1980). An annual ritual for me

**** The Shootist (1976). With John Wayne as the shootist.

**** Bandolero (1968). Character played by Stewart rescues his brother, and robs a bank

**** Anatomy of a Murder (1959). a good whodunnit

****^ Vertigo. Alfred Hitchcock. Murder mystery.  Stewart plays ex detective

**** The Man Who Knew Too Much. (1956)  A rtemake where an innocent couple gets drawn into a spy movie when their son is kidnapped.  With Doris Day.

****^ Rear Window (1955) Alfred Hitchcock and murder discovered out the back window

**** Broken Arrow (1950)  Which deals with a broken treaty with Native Americans

***^ The Rope (1948). A Hitchcock murder story.

***** Its a Wonderful Life (1946) The best Christmas movie ever

Movie Review: ****Enemy Mine (1985)

 Two space warrior enemies become stranded on a distant planet.  Davidge (Dennis Quaid) is a human fighter pilot in the future war with the Dracs.  Jeriba (Louis Gossage Jr.) is also marooned on the planet when their ships collide.  They at first continue to b enemies but soon discover they are each other's best resource for survival.  They also have to learn each other's language.  The Dracs have a very distinctive language.  It is made with gurgling sounds.  Jeriba and Davidge  survive many perils.  Over time the become friends.  Jeriba becomes pregnant as Dracs are just one sex.  Somehow Jeriba knows that something is wrong, and that he may not survive.  He teaches Davidge his genealogy in song and has Davidge swear he will take his child, Zammis (Bumper Robinson) to his home world and recite the genealogy.  

However there is a group of illegal miners on the planet lead by Stubbs (Brion James).  They shoot Davidge and leave him for dead, and the child is taken as a slave to work in the mines.  Davidge is rescued by a patrol ship.  He returns to rescue the child.  In doing so he effects a rebellion amongst the slaves, and the alliance he is a soldier for also helps and the miners are destroyed.  Davidge takes the boy to the Drac world.  

This is a very good movie about getting along with others and finding that differences are not always as large as they appear.

Alfred Hitchcock, Sean Connery, Tippi Hedren Movie: **** Marnie (1964)

 Marnie (Tippi Hedren) is a thief with emotional problems.  This movie is a very good psychological thriller.  Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) placers a mark and business owner.  He falls for Marnie despite her propensity to steal.  And gives himself the task of helping her deal with her past so she can have a better future.  He does this by marrying her.  The solution, or the past divulge is very interesting and unexpected.  But before we get there Marne is always trying to run away.  She also does not like storms not red.  This involves her mother (Louise Latham) and mother's history of working as a prostitute serving Navy men, and one of the clients (Bruce Dern).  This all took place when Marnie was a child.

Rutland's sister-in-law (Diane Baker) is a meddler.  She wanted to marry Rutland.  She invites a past mark (Martin Gabel) of Marnie to a party.  This sets in motion events which could lead to Marnie's arrest, and perhaps then she can marry Rutland.  It puts into motion a series of events that leads to Rutland and Marnie confronting her mother.

James Stewart, Alfred Hitchcock Movie: ***^ The Rope (1948)

 Brandon and Phillip (John Dall and Farley Granger) are two roommates who kill a former college roommate, Peter (Dick Hogan) just for the joy of killing and the feeling of superiority.  They have a couple guests coming over to celebrate (for them) but a flimsy reason for others.  This includes a couple other former roommates, Peter's father (Cedric Hardwicke) and Peter's girlfriend Janet (Joan Chandler).  One of the former roommates is Kenneth (Douglas Dick), Janet's former boyfriend.  The other is Rupert Cadell (James Stewart) who was sort of an intelligent person.  Brandon has invitd him for the thrill.  He also has views on murder that it should be allowed for smarter people, similar to Brandon and Phillip.  Peter does not show up for dinner, and everyone is worried.  And Cadell's senses are heightened trying to figure out what is going on.  Brandon and Phillip are acting strangely.  The housemaid (Edith Evanson) has also noticed they are acting strangely.  Phillip is especially nervous.  The party leaves, but Cadell returns on a pretext of misplacing his cigarette case.  

The rope is the tool used to commit the murder.  It was lying around, and set away with some books, but Cadell brings it back.  And Phillip knows the gig is up.  The body is in a chest.  

Music Review: Gotan Project: La Revancha del Tango

 Gotan is a group dedicated mostly to tango.  There are three artists, one from Argentina, One from France and the third from Switzerland.  They are centered in Paris.  Their name is the word tango with the syllables backwards as would by in Lunfardo, an Argentine slang language.  The music overall is very good, but sometimes it starts becoming very repetitive.  La Revancha is their first studio album released in 2001 on XL Recordings and ¡Ya Basta! Records.  Two songs are covers, "Chunga's Revenge" (Frank Zappa) and "Last Tango in Paris" (Gato Barbieri) from the movie of the same name.  This is great falling asleep to music for a Sunday afternoon because of the music is very repetitive.  However at the same time, most of the music has that tango feel that gets your blood boiling.  It is very passionate.  The song Santa Maria (del Buen Ayre) was used in the movies Bourne Identity, Shall We Dance and Knight and Day.  The songs I liked the best are the first and the last, "Queremos Paz" and "Vuelvo al Sur."  The song "El Capitalismo Foráneo" is unique in that it quotes Eva Peron and has a recording of Eva saying capitalismo foráneo referring to get foreign business interests out of Argentina.  

Music Review: Christmas with Placido Domingo, Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Christmas with Placido Domingo, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, arranged and directed Lee Holdridge, CBS, Tokyo, 1981. 

Placido Domingo is the best singer for some songs, and then some songs just don't fit the opera style voice.  Cantique de Noel, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day and Silent Night are examples of songs perfectly suited for Domingo's style of singing.  These three conclude this album and are beautifully done.  On the other hand I'll Be Home for Christmas just doesn't work.  He also starts off with a medley of traditional Christmas songs that are really nice, Joy to the World, God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, Good King Wencelas, Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem and The First Noel all really pop.  I also like Mary's Boy Child.  This was C.D. has some beautiful singing.

  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: **** Young and Innocent (1937)

 Young and Innocent is a delightful early Hitchcock movie.  Robert Tisdall (Derrick De Marney) is accused of murder.  The belt off his coat was used, and two women saw him running away.  He maintains he was running away to get help.  However the deceased was a friend of his.  She was a movie star who was disaffected from her husband, but he would not give her a divorce.  The police commissioner's (Col. Burgoyne (Percy Marmont) daughter, Erica (Nova Pilbeam) has a liking for the accused murderer.  He escapes during police station confusion, and then convinces Erica to give him a ride in her car.  He is out to find his old coat so he can prove he is not the murderer.  The search many places and finally catch up with a bum, Old Will (Edward Rigby) who has the coat.   He describes who gave him the coat as a person with a twitch, not Tisdall.  They find in the coat a match and this leads them to a place to go next.  In the mean time the commissioner pressures his daughter to let him know where Tisdall is.  They follow her to the hotel/bar.  It is difficult to locate him, but they discover him in the band playing drum and in black face.  He admits to choking his wife.  This is in front of the police so Tisdall is no longer a suspect.  Our two love birds are free to pursue a relationship.  

I really enjoyed this movie.  It is a very good whodunnit with the romance added in.  

Matt Damon Movie: *** Inception (2010)

 This movie is very hard to understand.  Cobb (Matt Damon) is someone who helps draw information from people's subconscious as a form of industrial espionage.  However this time he is employed by Saito (Ken Watanabe) to put an idea into somebody's mind, Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy).  This movie has lots of excitement an action but I have difficulty understanding what is going on as they are in dreams inside dreams inside dreams.  It is really difficult.  Cobb recruits Ariadne (Ellen Page/ Elliot Page) as a designer.  In the movie we discover that Cobb's wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard) committed suicide because after a dream state she no longer believed the world was real.  At one point we get a dream in the snow on a mountain.  It just doesn't make sense at times.  Why did they need so many layers of dreams?  It is the new lady that is in onto Cobb and his instability mentally after his wife died.  he often sees her in his dreams and she is always violent.  Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Eames (Tom Hardy) help Cobb in his endeavors.

This movie had great success and received four Oscars.  I think people like not being able to understand as long as there is lots of gun shooting and explosions.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: ***^The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

 This movie was remade in 1956 with Doris day and James Stewart.  The movies are similar but not the same.  The Lawrences (Edna Best, Leslie Banks and daughter Betty, Nova Pilbeam) travel to Switzerland for a skiing event.  There mother participates in a shooting contest, and loses as one of the finalists to Ramon Levine (Frank Vosper),  In addition to being a marksman he is part of an terrorist group headed by Abbott (Peter Lorre).  That evening at dinner their new friend, Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresnay) is shot.  Before he dies he tells them to get a note intended for the British consul.  They find the note which tells of an assassination plot.  However before they can tell anyone, their daughter is kidnapped.  However they understand that the bad guys are headed to London as the assassination is to take place at the Royal Albert Music Hall.  Clive (Hugh Wakefield) and father, Bob look for the girl .  The track one of the kidnappers to a temple of a sun worshipping cult.  Father is captured but Clive gets away and helps to expose the group.  Mrs. Lawrence goes to the concert indicated on the note.  Her scream effects the aim of Levine and he wounds rather than kills the intended victim.  But he gets away, sneaking out in the chaos, but they are able to track his vehicle to the sun temple, which sets up a final gun battle.  Many police die, as do all the criminals, including Betty's nurse and Abbott love (Cicely Oates).  Father found his daughter and helped her escape, but Levine was after her and catches her on the roof.  They are exposed to the police below.  It is a tricky shot and the police officer marksman hesitates.  Mrs Lawrence takes te gun and makes the shot.  Abbott is hiding in a closet and his watch gives him away, so he takes his own life.

This is a very good early Hitchcock movie.  It also takes on the spy theme which becomes a Hitchcock trade mark.

Alfred Hitchcock Movie Review: ***^ Dial M for Murder (1954)

 A murder show, but not a mystery because we know who did it.  A man (Ray Milland) wanting to get rid of his wife (Grace Kelly), after discovering she has a new love, Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings) (but not her money) arranges her murder.  He does this by blackmailing an old college roommate (Anthony Dawson).  However when he does this, after planning the murder for several months, something goes wrong.  Instead of the murderer killing the wife, the wife defends herself, and finds a pair of scissors on the table and uses them to kill the murderer.  The husband then quickly sets in motion another lan, frame his wife.  He does this by giving bad advise, and destroying evidence; and his plan works.  She is condemned to death for the murder of her supposed blackmailer.  However there is something about the keys the has the inspector (John Williams) puzzling.  Also something about his gambling debts.

TV Review: Miss Scarlett

 PBS Masterpiece Theater, 3 seasons

Alfred Hitchcock Silent Movie: **^ The Ring (1927)

 One Round Jack Sander (Carl Brisson) works at a carnival as a boxer.  He takes on all challengers and if they can last a round with him they win and get money.  However Jack never loses.  He is smitten by the ticket taker (Lillian Hall Davis).  She catchers the eye of a man in the crowd, Bob Corby (Ian Hunter).  Turns out he is a boxing champion and wins the match.  However he is impressed with Jack and hires him as a sparring partner.  He is also helping him train as a boxer rather than a carnival performer.  He weds the ticket taker, and thimgs appear to be happy.  However she spends considerable time with Bob and he bercomes increasingly jealous.  He is losing his love.  Finally Jack meets Bob in the ring.  Bob handles him easily for several rounds and Jack is knokced down several times, one time saved by the bell.  His wife had been in Bob's corner, but as she sees Jack putting up a struggle, she slowly switches sides and ends up in Jack's corner.  This reanimates Jack and he is able to win the fight and his girl.  The ring is the boxing ring, but also the wedding ring given her by Jack, and a bangle given her by Bob with the money he won from winning the carnival fight.  

It is interesting the way Hitchcock often uses close ups of faces to show emotions at the carnival.  

TV Review: ****^ Wednesday Season One (2022)

 This TV series is like nothing you have ever seen from Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) putting piranha in the swimming pool getting herself kicked out of regular school, and ending up in the school where her parents attended, Nevermore Academy.  Wendy is a lovely show.  I really like the character Wednesday as well as her friend, Enid (Emma Meyers).  The first season Wednesday is trying to solve a murder, and using her limited psychic ability to do so.  Sometimes if she touches an object she sees a vision of what happened.  She has run ins with the town sheriff, the school principle, and about anyone else you can think of.  During the year Wednesday's father  (Luis Gomez) is arrested and accused of murder.  And Wednesday learns thinks about her parent's time at the school.  Her mother (Katherine Zeta-Jones) is worried about Wednesday using her psychic ability.  She too has this ability.  

There is a monster about, a "Hyde."  And Wednesday is caught between two suitors, Tyler (Hunter Doohan) and Xavier (Percy Hynes White).  However she also suspects Xavier of being the monster.  This all changes when she kisses Tyler and her psychic sense reveals hm to be the monster.

Wednesday needs the help of all her friends to solve the problems.  The Hyde has a master, Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci) who is a teacheer.  The principle Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie) is also complicit in that she is fooled by Thornhill.  Thornhill kills her in the finale.  The final goal of Thornhill is to bring back a deceased villain with incredible powers in an effort to destroy the school.  She does not like the outcasts (those with magical abilities).

I find this series very fun.  My only regret is there is too much time between seasons.  Other fun characters are Thing (a hand which is alive and Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen).  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: ***The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1928)

 This is an early Alfred Hitchcock Silent movie.  There is a serial killer on the loss in London.  He kills every Tuesday and leaves a card "The Avenger."  About this time a new lodger (Ivor Novello) asks for a room at a boarding house.  The whole area is uptight as it seems the murders keep getting closer and closer to the boarding house.  The landlady (Marie Ault) suspects the new lodger, and the police come to question him.  In the meantime a young lady (June Tripp) at the house is falling for him.  He is quite an improvement over another lodger who is always trying to hit on her, and even locked her up in handcuffs against her will.  The police come back with a search warrant, and find a map of all the murders in the lodger's room, as well as a picture of one of the victims.  The detective arrests him for murder.  He claims his innocence and the young lady believes him and helps him escape.  They meet up an he explains the victim was his sister and he has been trying to find the murderer.  The murders have lead him to the boarding house as the most recent was very close and the murderer seems to be migrating.  When the London peole discover him they believe he is the murderer and all chase him and in the end capture him.  However the detective is able to intervene and lets the people know he has learned the murderer has already ben captured.  

A bit hard to follow at times.  They were trying to use news type for a scene but the picture didn't work so I couldn't read it.  However the story is good, and shows how hard it is to judge others.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: ***^ Easy Virtue (1928)

This is a silent movie and consequently hard to follow at times, but the theme is very intriguing.   A young woman, Larita Filton (Isabel Jeans) is divorced by her husband, and he proves in court she was unfaithful, however that status is in doubt.  There was an all male jury who decided the case.  This leaves a stain on her in England, so she fleas to France, where she meets a young man, John Whittaker (Robin Irvine) and marries, but doesn't speak of her past.  The supposed lover suicided.  

After the wedding she returns to England, and the young man's mother (Violet Farebrother) is very cold.   His father (Frank Elliott) is more accepting.  When news comes out of her past the mother drives a wedge between she and her husband.  It is just a matter of time that she is abandoned again.  The press, the courts and her husbands family have beaten her cruelly.  

John Grisham, Tom Cruise Movie: ***^ The Firm (1993)

 The Firm is a movie with lots of tension.  A young couple is starting their life after he, Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) finishes law school.  He accepts a position with a law firm in Memphis, and he and his wife, Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) move to the new law office, making much more than he would have from his other offers.  However it soon becomes evident that things are not right.  Two employees in Chicago are killed.  Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman) is assigned to groom him.  There is tight security at the firm.  William Devasher (Wilford Brimley) is director of security.  Wayne Tarrance (Ed Harris) of the FBI want him to gather information on his bosses.  He cooperates to a point.  He gathers information on the billing, as they all over bill.  He goers to Chicago as the work for the mob and he gets them to agree to releasing information on the billing.  He provides this to the FBI and gives them this with which they can put the FBI in jail, while leaving the mob (the client) alone and not violating client/lawyer confidentiality.  This movie is very intense.  His wife helps him, but he also gets help from Tammy Hemphill (Holly Hunter) who was the secretary for a private I murdered by the mob because McDeere approached him for help.  

Very tense but this movie is ratd R and has too much swearing and use of the F word.  

At the Movies: *****Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

 A great time at the movies yesterday.  The new Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is excellent.  The story is very good as Spider-Man struggles with mor of the spider DNA taking over as a result of his being stressed.  He is working too hard cleaning up the city, and then he sees MJ (Zendaya) kiss his old nemesis at school.  Turns out he is her girlfriend.  He also sees his old best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon).  As you remember in the last Spider-Man Doctor Strange has erased all memory of him from everyone.  On top of this there is a new nemesis, Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) who is a character from X-Men.  She has unique telepathic power, and the ability to control people telepathically and is trying to break into Department of Damage Control headed by Director Metzger (Tramell Tillman). The Punisher/Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) helps Spider-Man even though they have different styles.  Spider-Man also consults Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) with regards to suppressing his spider DNA.  The DNA enhances Spider-Man's abilities but also makes him more rageful.  This movie is very good.  There are flashbacks of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and they play an important part in the story.  Additionally Black Widow/Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) consults with Spider-Man and uses her Avenger resources to help.  There is a new character, Spidey's liaison with the police, Detective Jean Dewolff (Lisa Colón-Zayas). Fun interactions between she and her kids and Spider-Man.  

This is a terrific movie.  I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but there is a major twist and it doesn't go where you think it will.  Jean's powers are significant.  She even manipulates the Hulk and sets him loss on DODC.  Classic battle between Spider-Man and Hulk.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: *** Number Seventeen (1932)

 Number seventeen refers to a house, to which a group of jewelry thieves are congregating to find the jewels and be on their way.  The catch is a detective also present.  There has also been a murder, but the body disappears.  Barton (John Stuart) is the detective in disguise.  However several people are bad men.  The worse is Henry Doyle (Barry Jones), who is the gang leader.  Sheldrake (Garry Marsh) is the most ruthless.  The crooks get away from the house and jump a train, Nora Brant (Anne Grey) in tow.  She would like to get away but was with the criminals in the beginning.  There is a train chase, Barton in a bus trying to catch up to the train.  The train catches, but where are the jewels.  Turns out the hobo in the house, Ben (Leon M. Lion) was able to get the jewels away from the thieves.  He presents them to the inspector at the end.  This movie has a chase, and a train crash, and murder on the train as the conductors are killed.  It shows early special effects. and it provides entertainment.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: ***^ The Skin Game (1931)

 An industrialist, Mr. Hornblower (Edmund Gwenn) has moved to town, buying up real estate with the end goal of puttig in a pottery factory.  Mr. Hillcrist (C.V. France) represents old money and has sold some properties with the understanding that nothing will change.  However when Hornblower evicts a tenant Hillcrist confronts him, and they enter a skin game to see who will control the community.  It is obvious Hornblower is winning when he buys another property through a third party.  He will do whatever he needs to do to win, and change the community forever.  

However the Hillcrists have some hope when it comes to light that the daughter-in-law (Phyllis Konstam) of Mr, Hownblower has a checkered past Hillcrist's wife (Helen Haye) blackmails Hornblower into selling the property to Hillcrist, destroying his plans.  However, as will happen, the checkered past becomes common knowledge around the house, destroying a marriage, and the daughter-in-law attempts to take her life.  Hillcrist relents, and the industrial future takes over represented by the felling of a tree to make way for the factory.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: **^ Juno and the Paycock (1930)

 This film is based on a stage play by Sean O'Casey and adapted to the screen by Alfred Hitchcock.  This is Hitchcock's first film that was talking from the start.  A previous movie, "Blackmail" was first filmed as a silent movie and then parts re-filmed with talking.  It is set during the Irish Civil war and death is very near.  The movie is about the Boyle family.  The father Captain Boyle (Edward Chapman) is a vagabond who always says he is injured so as to not work.  The matriarch, Juno Boyle (Sara Allgood) keeps the family together.  Their son, Johnny (John Laurie) has been injured in the civil war and is suffering shell shock (PTSD).  Their daughter, Mary (Kathleen O'Regan) has a suitor who is a solicitor and announces that Captain Boyle is to inherit money.  The family then begins to live lavishly on credit.  The also have many friends for a time.  When the inheritance doesn't turn out the bill collectors start to pile up and the friends disappear.  They are ruined.  Juno leaves the Captain who continues in personal personal oblivion.  

This story seems it would be better in a play than a movie.  However the highlight was people singing around the table.  They were having a good time.  Sara Allgood does a very good job portraying the mother, and dealing with the captain, even when Mary is pregnant.  She goes with her daughter.  Then Johnny is killed and she deals the grief.  

Tom Clancy/Harrison Ford Movie: ***^ Patriot Games (1992)

Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is back and quickly becomes a hero when he says a British Royal from attack.  In his heroics he kills a terrorist.  The brother of the terrorist, Sean Miller (Sean Bean) is now gunning for Ryan, and his family, wife Cathy (Anne Archer) and daughter Sally (Thora Birch).  Sean Miller is the muscle while the head of the group is Kevin O'Donnell (Patrick Bergin) and his girlfriend Annette (Polly Walker).  Turns out she is a liability as the head of the Irish Republican Army, Paddy O'Neil (Richard Harris) will not turn on a fellow Irishman but she is British.  So through her they are able to track them down in Libya.  They mount an operation, but it misses them.  Instead the attack the Ryan residence when the Royal is there.  Lord Holmes (James Fox) is visiting.  Holmes' secretary Watkins (Hugh Fraser) is a traitor and Miller and the team are coming.  

This movie is more intense than the other Jack Ryan movies.  There is more swearing and more violence, and it earned an R rating.  Samuel Jackson and James Earl Jones also have parts, Jackson as Ryan's boss and Jones as director of the CIA.

In Theaters: **** Moana (2026)

 Of all the disnay remakes, this movie most closely reflects the original animated version.  The story is pretty much exact but we now have live characters with the obvious exceptions.  Moana (Catherine Laga'aia) is chosen by the ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti.  Many years ago Maui (Dwayne Johnson) stole the heart to give to people so they would have the power of creation.  However instead of being a good thing, with out her heart Te Fiti is unable to bless the people and everything is starting to rot, which spreads further and further each year.  Moana lives on an island, and is expected to stay there and serve the people.  Her father, Chief Tui (John Tui) and his wife Sina (Frankie Adams).  Even though she is told to stay, Moana always feels pulled by the ocean.  Her grandmother Tala (Rena Owen) encourages her in this.  When things get worse on the island, she finally gets the courage to go on her journey, to seek out Maui and restore the heart.  I really enjoyed this show, as did all those who went with us.  Where it was the same story as the animated feature, Tony stayed home.

Movie Review: ***^ A Beautiful Mind (2001)

 Russel Crowe stars as John Nash, a mathematical genius who developed a genius idea about economics when he was in school.  He also suffers from a mental illness.  The journey is very intense.  He has to learn how to distinguish what is delusion or hallucination vs what is real; and then ignore the hallucination.  He says he chooses not to acknowledge them even though he still sees them.  John Nash received a Nobel Prize for economics and this movie portrays this and how he overcame his mental illness.  In addition to Russel Crowe, Jennifer Connelly plays his wife, Christopher Plummer plays the psychiatrist, Ed Harris, Paul Bettany and Vivien Cardone all play hallucinations. School companions include Adam Goldberg, Josh Lucas and Anthony Rapp.  This is a film directed by Ron Howard.  He likes to direct movies based on true stories. 

 

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: ***^ Jamaican Inn (1939)

 This is the las Hitchcock film in which Hitchcock himself did not have a cameo role.  Mary Yellen (Maureen O'Hara) travels to live with her aunt after her mother's death.  She is left at the home of the local squire, justice of the peace, Sir Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton).  The next day she walks to her aunts, Patience Merlyn (Marie Ney) home, and is not so warmly welcomed by her uncle, Josh Merlyn (Leslie Banks).  It doesn't take her long to figure that something is not right.  She discovers her uncle is the leader of a band of cutthroats who are causing shipping accidents and then stealing the goods.  They attempt to hang a member of their company, Robert Newton (Jem Trehearne).  They try to hang him and Yellen is successful in cutting the rope.  She and Newton make their way to Pengallan for protection.  Pengallan in truth is the leader of the gang, telling them what ships to attack based on information he gleams from his rich friends.  Pengallan goes along with Newton, who is a spy sent to stop the murder and theft of crewmen on the ships they have been sabotaging.  The group is doing another job, with Yellen captured and forced to go with.  They turn out the light warning of rocks, but while they are distracted, Yellen is able to restor the light and the ship escapes.  Everything goes to pot, with the men turning on Banks.  Banks and Yellen escape with Banks being shot.  When they get back to the Inn he dies, and Pangallan shooting his wife before she can divulge that Pengallan is the crime boss.  Pengallan leaves with Yellen, on their way to America.  He has an attraction to her.  Newton also has an attraction and follows with a group of officers.  They track him to the boat, where he jumps from a mast causing his own demise.

Lots of action and good acting.  Maurene O'Hara's firt major roll.  Alfred Hitchcock directs based on a book by Daphne Du Maurier.  Jamaican Inn is a real place in Cornwall, England and had problems with marauders.

In Theaters Movie Musical Review: ****^ Hadestown (2026)

 A telling of the Orpheus/Eurydice (Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada) love story.  I should have known things would not turn out happy.  Hermes (André De Shields) the narrator kept sing "it's a sad song."  The story also recounts the love of Hades and Persephone (Patrick Page and Amber Gray).  Hades had a boot on his leg and determined this was not part of the character but an actor playing the part with an injury.  Hades has a very deep voice, and Orpheus is a high tenor.  I really like his song, which he must sing to win his love's release.  I did not like the ending, but it was sealed by the fates make this a true Greek Romance.  So we start the story again hoping for a better ending.  The music is haunting and very effective.  Hades, Hermes, Orpheus, Eurydice and Persephone are all very strong musically. 

Only in theaters for a week, but I highly recommend this movie.  This is an on stage production.  The floor of the stage plays several different tricks to facilitate traveling.  It goes around and up and down.  

Movie Review: I Am Legend

 An apocalyptic New York with Doctor Robert Neville (Will Smith) trying to find a cure for a devastating virus that has killed most of the people, left others as man eating zombies and as far as he knows he is the only one with immunity.  He does have a dog, and mannequins he communicates with. We assume his wife and daughter (Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Willow Smith) do not get away, because in a flash back it appears they die in a helicopter crash. 

He keeps looking for a cure, and captures a zombie for a human test.  He feels he has failed in his studies, but the zombie does not die.

The zombies are allergic to sun light, so he is able to travel during the day at will, but at night it is zombie time.  Zombies have sharp teeth and big mouths, and are very gruesome.  His dog travels with him, but becomes infected when saving Neville from rabid dogs.  The dog becomes infected and he has to put him down.  Very emotional scene.  Turns out he wants to die and take as many zombies with him as he can.  However he is saved.  There is a woman, Anna (Alice Braga) and her son, Ethan (Charlie Tahan) who likewise are not infected, who save him.  They get him to his compound, but the zombies now know where he lives.  They attack with a vengeance, and they retreat to the basement, his lab.  The zombie he had experimented on is still breathing in the lab, and it looks like she has been cured.  Can the cure be given to people, or will the zombies kill everyone?  

Tom Clancy in the Movies

 ****^ The Hunt for Red October 1990. Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan and Sean Connery as Russian submarine commander

***^ Patriot Games 1992.  Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan, saves British Royal, rated R for language and violence.

****^ Clear and Present Danger   1994. Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan

**** The Sum of all Fears 2002.  Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan

**** Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 2014, Chris Pine as Jack Ryan

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan starring John Krasinski (2018-2023)

Jack Ryan Ghost War (2026) with John Krasinski 

Tom Clancy/ Harrison Ford Movie Review: ****^ Clear and Present Danger (1994)

The president's (Donald Moffat) friend is killed in the Caribbean.  And the president wants to seek revenge.  He indirectly orders forces to Columbia.  In this movie the head of the CIA (James Earl Jones) is diagnosed with cancer.  Consequently Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is shoved more into the spotlight.  The president wrangles him to go to Columbia.  They have discovered accounts in the name of the president's deceased friend where he was laundering drug money.  The Columbian drug lord is Ernesto Escobedo (Miguel Sandoval) and his henchman is Felix Cortez (Joaquim de Almeida).  Clark (Willem Dafoe) is tasked with putting together a team to go to Columbia.  These men are good at their job and cause Escobedo some headaches.  James Cutter (Harris Yulin) as security advisor and Robert Ritter (Henry Czerny) as his underling put the program together.  The even direct a plane dropping a bomb on a meeting of cartel leaders.  

Eventually Ryan, as the deputy director of the CIA, figures out what is happening.  Part of this is that a secretary (Ann Magnuson) of the US. government has inadvertently been feeding information to Cortez.  Cortez kills her.  Ryan's wife (Anne Archer) notices that her death coincides with other happenings, and they realize it is tied with the Columbian issue.  Cortez is tracked and a conversation intercepted he has with Cutter.  The President, Cutter and Ritter kill the programs with no extraction.  Ryan decides to go down to Columbia and get the U.S. service men out if he can.  He and Clark are to the rescue.  

Netflix Movie Review: ***^ Enola Holmes 3 (2026)

 I have loved the Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) movies, and the third movie does not disappoint.  However in this movie we have a couple kidnappings, Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Lord Tewkesbury's (Louis Partridge) mother (Hattie Morahan).  Enola's mother, Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) provides support, as does Dr. Watson (Himesh Patel).  Moriarty (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) is back and more evil than ever as they look for the gold stolen by Lord Tewkesbury's father many years ago.  This is over the top of the Tewkesbury/Holmes wedding.  This is a fun movie with lots of intrigue.