Media Notes: Roundup for February 2023

 

 

This is a somewhat random selection of the movies and series on DVD and/or online I watched during February 2023.

Movies and films (links to IMDB.com for basic information unless noted otherwise). Some of these I watched via TubiTv.com or other online source. The DVDs come from the public library (unless noted otherwise). In addition, I will try to add other trivia notes, such as when a film is based on a book adding the information about the book (at least the WorldCat record if available):

• Call Me Miss Cleo (2022. Documentary). Plot description: "This eye-opening documentary chronicles the rise, fall, and reinvention of revered and reviled '90s TV psychic Miss Cleo."  I saw this review on The Root of the documentary, and it made me curious enough to seek it out. If you watched late night television in the 1990s, odds are you saw some of her infomercials. The opening gives us a context, reminding us of the ubiquity of using the phone for offers, commercials, dating, many were per minute services like, well, calling Miss Cleo or other psychic lines. The internet was not here just yet. We also get a sampling of the ads back in those days. Documentary features interviews and features from various people including celebrities like comedian Debra Wilson, friends, people who worked with her, her godson, and others. We do get one of the attorneys who was a federal prosecutor back then discussing the fraud cases that arose in various parts of the U.S. They do feature interviews with her too when she was alive (she passed in 2016), and they even interviewed her partner. The ones they could not get to interview were the two owners of PRN (can't imagine why; they ended up settling, but as often happens, they get off easy). An interesting element is seeing the old commercials and the commentary from Cleo and those who worked for Psychic Readers Network (PRN), Miss Cleo's employer. We also learn a bit about the inner workings of PRN, workings that were not always ethical (to put it mildly). Overall, the documentary is mostly favorable to her, but in the end she remains as much a mystery at the end of the documentary as when the documentary starts. The documentary has some slow moments, but it also has interesting moments. It humanizes her, and this is what the documentary does best. It also gives viewers a look back at the decade of infomercials and the various phone scams of the time, a time not many may remember, or remember as well, by now. The documentary's ending, featuring Miss Cleo's own words, is moving. In the end, it was OK, not a lot of substance nor new insights, but it does bring her to life, even if we are still wondering a bit. I'd say 2.5 out of 5 stars. Via online stream. Watched 2/3. Some highlights from the documentary:
  
• People could be very open in talking on the phone. This is not unlike many people who also overshare on the Internet in social media. Very often they called PRN not so much for a psychic as for someone to talk to for advice. 
• The documentary highlights also the ways Miss Cleo was parodied such as Dave Chappelle's Educated Guess Line skit. The point was Miss Cleo was so famous others started to make fun of her and parody her.
• They do bring in a scholar or two,  including a Caribbean Studies professor, to put Cleo's use of a Jamaican accent and her blackness as useful in being a phone psychic in some context. The scholar looks at the Mamie figure, and how Miss Cleo could evoke it. Do remember she was not Jamaican; she was from Los Angeles, CA. Overall, her background and personal story is mysterious not so much because she was mystical. It was mysterious because she told different stories about herself to different people. 
• Keep in mind that even if the overall PRN was fraudulent, the company higher ups were the ones making the money. The workers, including Miss Cleo, were paid very little given what PRN was making from vulnerable people calling and charged by the minute. Miss Cleo herself was stuck in a bad contract in PRN where she had no right to her persona nor her work. They basically paid her a pittance while they made millions from her work. She did not even have the right to her own image. As the FTC receiver they interviewed says, her image and name were basically assets of the company. She eventually is left out of cases due to the exploitation she experienced, exonerated mostly (she still did play a role in the scams), and then vanishes once more.
  
• One thing that comes out clearly is that Miss Cleo, the person, was quite the actress with an ability to invent and reinvent herself very well. Did she have gifts? Depends on who you ask. Some close to her say that yes, she had some gifts, even if she could not always handle them well. To others, it was an act. To those who knew her or were close, they saw her as being very spiritual in some form. The documentary does not really settle it.
• In life, she was also an activist and LGBTQIA advocate. She came out as lesbian in 2006. 
• On a trivia note, PRN sold Tarot decks and tabletop games with Miss Cleo's likeness. Now and then you can still find the Tarot decks in secondary markets if you are curious and/or interested. 
• Scars of Dracula (1970. Horror). Plot description: "A young man, Paul Carlson, is on a trip and spends the night at Count Dracula's castle. He is murdered. After some time has passed, the young man's brother Simon comes to the small town where all the traces end to look for him." This is one of Hammer Studios Dracula films with Christopher Lee in the title role. Dracula is dead by now, but he does not stay dead as a vampire bat flies over his tomb, spits some blood on his ashes, and Dracula comes back to life. Yes, that is the gist of it to get the movie going, and we go with it because it's the movie. Actually, the special effects to bring Dracula to live are not too bad for the time. With that small detail out of the way, the movie starts. Let's be honest: the plot on this one is pretty thin, and at times some characters do things that are not the brightest (as often happens in horror movies). Some of the acting can be a bit on the stiff side. One thing I like is the use of music to set the moods throughout the film. In terms of positives, we do have Christopher Lee as Dracula, though we do not see that much of him, but when we do it's good. The movie also sets up a good Gothic mood, and the Hammer women are quite nice too. By the way, unlike other more modern vampire tales, Dracula's powers are a bit more subtle. For example, the vampire's charm we can see mainly because Lee uses a bit of a glare and the music adds emphasis so we know he is charming a woman. Film uses small details to add to the suspense and horror. Another cool detail is Dracula's sleeping lair, very protected in the castle. Overall, the film's pace is a bit on the slow side, and as I said, the plot is pretty thin. Lee as Dracula is great, but the other actors are just not that good overall, boring at times even. Still it does have some good suspense moments. As I understand, this is the 6th film in the Hammer Dracula movie series, but you do not need to have seen the others to appreciate and enjoy this one. I get the feeling this was not one of the stronger entries, but as I mentioned, it does have some good moments. There are some small gory moments, which I am sure were very scary back when the film came out, but they are seriously tame compared to some hard horror films of today. The bat is kind of cheesy, especially by today's standards, but it is still fun to watch. The movie's ending is a bit of a Deus Ex Machina, but again, we go along with it. I liked it OK, so willing to give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars. Watched 2/12. Via Internet Archive. 
• Here is the link if you want to watch it too: https://archive.org/details/scars-of-dracula_202107.
  
• For reference, here is the list of Hammer Films Dracula series.
• The Rifleman (2019. Drama. War. International film. Latvian film. also known as Blizzard of Souls). Plot description: "A sixteen-year-old Arturs enlists to fight in WWI with dreams of becoming a hero, but after surviving the brutalities of trench warfare and the loss of his family, he wonders if his efforts in battle were futile and if hope is only to be found in rebuilding a family and a home as Latvia itself is born from the atrocities of war." Film starts in the middle of a battlefield, but soon they do the flashback to some time back so we can see how Arturs eventually ends up in the military. He goes to war with his father. Initially the army does not want to take them for being too young and too old respectively, but Arturs has his father's permission, and the commanding officer approves the father enlisting because he had previous military experience. Soon Arturs finds himself in war, a war of trenches that seems to make little progress as many die around him. We get to see the war mostly through his young eyes, and he is forced to grow up. The movie shows both the moments of boredom and the moments of terror in war in good detail. The drama can be a bit slow at times, but it can also be very moving. In addition to the war, keep in mind this was the time when the Bolsheviks were rising, so that plays a role in the story as well. Arturs goes from a soldier of the Tsar to a soldier of the Red Army.Yet war may not be the worse he faces. Overall, a good film, but it can be a bit slow at times. The acting at times was so so, but it captures the horror and at times banality of war well, especially the First World War in a place not many outside of Latvia may know. Still a film worth watching, and the cinematic effort still feels better than larger war films. I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. Via TubiTv. Watched 2/24.
  
• Film is based on the 1934 novel Blizzard of Souls by Aleksandrs Grīns, which he wrote while in the trenches in World War I. The novel draws on his experiences in the war. The book seems extremely difficult to find. I cannot find it on WorldCat nor online in English, so it is likely translations are scarce or just not available.
  

Television and other series (basic show information links via Wikipedia unless noted otherwise). Some of these come in DVD from the public library. Others may be via YouTube, which, as noted before, I keep finding all sorts of other old shows in it, often full episodes:.  

• Babylon 5 (1993-1998. Science Fiction.). I have this series, along with the movies collection, on DVD already. However, Tubi recently got the television series, and I found myself watching it once more. The more I watch it, the more I appreciate how good it is. I am in the middle of the first season. I am pretty much watching it here and there.
  
• Hell's Kitchen (2005-). Description: "Twelve aspiring restaurateurs compete before chef Gordon Ramsay." I commented on this last month in January. This month I start on season 12 (out of the 20 Tubi has). 
• Start this month with season 12. The opening of the first episode with the dance number was a bit of fun. I also liked the noir comic book title sequence for this season. 
• In season 12, episode 18, Stan Lee, the Marvel comics author and creator, makes an appearance. 
• By season 13, if not sooner, you can tell they are running out of ideas as they keep adding more drama and ridiculous challenges. By now the formula includes having "to be continued" at end of episodes for suspense, but not that suspenseful when revealed in the following episode. And Ramsay seems to be doing more moving people from one team to the other early on, which while stirring up drama, seems to be detrimental overall more often than not.
• Season 17 is an "All Stars" season where they bring back previous competitors, and it seems they picked many of the most obnoxious ones they had in previous seasons. On watching, I do notice they were somewhat restrained in which assholes they decided to bring back. It could have been worse. Still, the ones selected were clearly chosen for dramatic effect.