Sunday, March 10, 2024

Abbott Elementary 2.05

Juice

Janine gets the school to change the juice that the students are given each day. Barbara warned Janine not to do it. The new juice comes in larger containers with more juice which leads the students to have to use the bathroom more frequently.

Melissa has trouble with Ashley, her new teacher's aide.

Thoughts

They never really explain how it is that Janine got the school to switch juice. She urged the school to change the juice served at the school but how exactly did that translate to the school making the change?

This was a good one. It wasn't the best but it was solidly good.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Bottoms (2023)

Bottoms (2023)

starring Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri
directed by Emma Seligman

92 minutes

PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) lie about having spent time fighting for their lives in juvie, over the summer, and start a fight club for female students at their high school. They are hoping to get a chance to score with a couple of the cheerleaders. They find a teacher who is willing to be the group's faculty advisor and the club takes off.

The club is a success until one of the football players does a little digging and discovers the truth (about juvie and the reasons for starting the club). He shares it with the whole school. This creates a major setback for PJ and Josie.

Un Village Français 4.01

Le Train
or The Train

20 July 1942

A train carrying foreign Jews stops in Villeneuve. Daniel Larcher suggests that they could be housed in the school until another train arrives to take them away. Bériot isn't happy with this plan but Larcher doesn't give him any choice in the matter. Larcher doesn't know about the printing press in the basement of the school that Crémieux is using to print anti-German propaganda.

Raymond Schwartz finds out that Jeanine has helped her father to get a piece of his business. He also starts an affair with the new housekeeper after finding out that Jeanine is having an affair with Chassagne, her lawyer. His leg is damaged and he is an invalid for the present.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Five Came Back 1.03

The Price of Victory

This episode follows the the five directors through the end of their service and into their civilian lives after the war.

Topics discussed include
  • the D-Day landing (Stevens, Ford)
  • Ford's service in the war comes to an end in disgrace
  • the liberation of Paris (Stevens)
  • the liberation of Rome (Wyler)
  • Wyler's visit to the town where he was born in France
  • Wyler's service in the war comes to an end with disability (deafness)
  • the liberation of Dachau (Stevens)
  • end of the war in Europe
  • end of the war in the Pacific
  • Liberty Films (Capra, Wyler, Stevens)
  • the post war films of George Stevens

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Doctor Who (1963) 15.06.01

The Invasion of Time - Part One

The Doctor lands the TARDIS on a Vardan spaceship. He leaves Leela and K-9 in the TARDIS and meets with the Vardans. He makes a deal with them and then returns to the TARDIS. Leela tries to figure out what the Doctor is up to while he is gone but he locked the controls to the TARDIS.

The Doctor takes the TARDIS and his companions to Gallifrey. A troop of guards are waiting for him when he arrives. The Doctor insists on talking to Chancellor Borusa. The Doctor insists that he is the rightful leader of the High Council of Gallifrey. He asks that he be formally recognized as such.

Chancellor Borusa objects but the Doctor points out that while he may only be the President-elect, Borusa is similarly only the Chancellor-elect. Castellan Kelner is considerably more amenable to the Doctor's requests. The ceremony is arranged. The Doctor is invested as President of the High Council. The episode ends with the Doctor falling down in pain at the end of the ceremony as the crown is placed on his head.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Arcadia of My Youth (1982)

Arcadia of My Youth (1982)

starring Makio Inoue, Kei Tomiyama
directed by Tomoharu Katsumata

130 minutes

in Japanese with English subtitles

Harlock returns to Earth which is now occupied by an army of aliens. Some humans continue to resist the aliens, others are working with them. Halock goes looking for an old friend, Maya. Harlock finds a new friend, Tochiro, before he finds Maya. Harlock and Tochiro are captured Zoll, a man from the planet Tokarga. He uses a piece to technology to reveal to them that their ancestors were once friends.

Harlock goes looking for Maya once again. This time he finds her but they get separated after they are attacked by the aliens. Tochiro meets Emereldas, the captain of a pirate ship that just crashed on Earth. Tochiro helps to repair her ship.

3:10 to Yuma (1957)

3:10 to Yuma (1957)

starring Glenn Ford, Van Heflin
directed by Delmer Daves

92 minutes

Down-on-his-luck rancher Dan Evans (Van Heflin) agrees to get Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), a notorious gang leader, on to the train to Yuma. The two men crossed paths earlier that same day when Ben and his gang were robbing a stagecoach. Dan didn’t interfere with the robbery because he was outnumbered and because he had his sons, both fairly young, with him. Ben is later caught by the authorities.

Dan is desperate for money to feed his family. It isn’t until the man who owns the stagecoach offers $200 to anyone who is willing to get Ben on the train to Yuma that Ben steps up. Ben repeatedly offers Dan considerably more money if Dan will just let him go but Dan refuses Ben’s offers. Ben points out that his gang will be back to free him and that they won't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in their way. Dan insists on completing the job he was hired to do despite the impossible odds.