In The Area of Critical Commentary.....

 BABYLON

We were slated to see "Babylon" as our New Year's Eve movie, but for reasons that I have since forgotten, we never made it to the theater that day.  Well, we finally got around to seeing it last night, and it was, in may opinion, well worth the wait.  The movie is from Oscar winning director Damien Chazelle ("La La Land") and over its three hour length it weaves together four separate stories of Hollywood in the late 1920's and early 1930's when talking pictures were introduced and silent pictures were headed to extinction. Yeah, it is a story that has been told many times (Singin' in the Rain, Sunset Boulevard, The Artist), and the story as told by Chazelle, who also wrote the screenplay, is BIG and BOLD and BRASH.

It follows the stories of four people: Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) a big, big star of the silent era, who is failing to make the transition to talkies, Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), a girl from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who comes to California to make it in the movies, makes it and then loses it,  Manny Torres (Diego Calva), a Mexican American working as a gopher on movies sets who longs for bigger and better things in the movie industry, and Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo), a Black jazz musician playing on the sets of silent films who suddenly makes it in the movies, but then wonders if it's worth the price he has to pay.  Chronicling  it all is Elinor St. John (Jean Smart), a Hedda Hopper-like gossip columnist.

Did I say that it was BIG and BRASH?  The first thirty minutes of the movie, before the title card of the movie itself appeared on screen, took place at the home of a major studio mogul, and it showed a Hollywood Babylon Era party in full swing.  Unlimited booze, drugs, and sex.  People dancing in various states of dress and undress.  An elephant - an elephant! - as a featured part of the party.  Thirty minutes of full sensory overload.  Amazing stuff.

There were no happy endings in this one, and I'll give no spoilers here.  A scene late in the movie between Brad Pitt and Jean Smart summed up wonderfully just what Pitt, and those like him, have accomplished with their careers was a great one. The entire movie was pure Oscar-bait stuff, but it didn't receive a lot of love from either critics or the Motion Picture Academy.  In our house, it was a split decision.  I liked it a lot; Linda, not so much.

It was one heck of a lot better than Best Picture of the Year "Everything Everywhere All At Once", I can tell you.

Two and Three-Quarters Stars from The Grandstander.

TED LASSO

One episode remains in Season Three of this Emmy Award winning series, and while neither the producers of the show nor Apple TV have said so, all signs are pointing to the fact that this will be the final season for this one.   To me, the series has continued to be a terrific one, funny and moving, and great performances from all the actors involved.  However, it appears that there is not much of a story left to be told.  AFC Richmond has come back into the Premier League after a year of relegation, they have played in fits and starts, but they have rallied in the final weeks of the season, and with one game remaining in the season, a victory will give them the EPL Championship.  Whether they win or lose that game match is almost immaterial.  Coach Lasso has done his job, and appears that he needs to move on.  We'll find out this coming Wednesday evening.

What has surprised me, however, is the critical backlash that seems to have come upon this show.  If you read any number of critics online, they are almost unanimous in their derision of Season Three of the show. These same critics who praised "Ted Lasso" to the high heavens are now ruthless in savagely attacking it.   Maybe it hasn't cleared to bar it set in its first two seasons, but to read some of these critics, you'd think that it has turned into a 21st century version of "Gilligan's Island."  I mean.....

PERRY MASON

We are only three episodes into Season Two of the HBO Max series, "Perry Mason", but we are really enjoying it.

This is not the Raymond Burr's Perry Mason. It is, instead, a grittier, more noir-ish origin story for Mason, one that is more in line with author Erle Stanley Gardner's original vision of him.

Set in the 1930's, this is a beautifully done period production.  I have heard critics who have lived in Los Angeles all of their lives praise how the show evokes their city of another era.  And both Matthew Rhys and Juliet Rylance are quite good in the roles of Mason and his partner (no longer secretary) Della Street.

If you haven't seen this one, you should take a crack at it.  You don't have to have seen Season One to enjoy Season Two, but it might help fill in some background for you.