Critical Commentary: "Dangerous Book..." and "The Death of Stalin"

Submitted for your approval, a TV Series and a Movie.

First, the TV series, "The Dangerous Book for Boys".

We stumbled upon this one by accident.  It debuted just last week on Amazon Prime.  It is the story about a family - a single mother of three middle school aged boys - that is facing life after the death of her husband and the boys' father. As the series opens, the death has already occurred, and we see that the boys' grandmother resides with them and, showing up in episode one is the twin brother of the deceased father.  We also learn that prior to his death, the Dad prepared a book, "The Dangerous Book for Boys", to help his sons navigate throughout life in his absence.  How to  Talk to Girls, How to Build a Treehouse, and How to Play Poker are some of the lessons, and each is played out to illustrate a life lesson for the boys.

There are a lot of sitcom elements here - Grandma is an ex-hippie from the sixties, and the uncle is a wacky, but lovable ne'er do well - but what the show does well is addressing the issues that confront families when a loved one dies.  How do we talk about the person who died?  What happens to the kids in school after someone dies?  How does a Mom who never had to pay the bills even try to cope with such a new responsibility?  How is grief different for a child, a spouse, and mother, and a sibling?

It is a sweet and serio-comic look at a topic that is all too pervasive, but is not often talked about until, of course, such a death visits itself upon a family.  It is a short series, only six half-hour episodes.  We watched it in two nights, and were sorry when it ended.  Sure hope that it will come back for another season.

Four stars all the way from The Grandstander.

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Now the movie.  

It is 1953.  USSR dictator Josef Stalin has just died, and the band of Commies who comprised Stalin's court have to decide what happens next and who will take over governing the Soviet Union.

The filmmakers play this power struggle for laughs while not hiding what a treacherous band of murderers and criminals they were.  To call this a "dark comedy" would be putting it mildly.  As we left the movie, Marilyn expressed her disdain for it because what was funny about Stalin and the oppression and terror that he embodied?  I certainly can't argue the point.

I will say, though, that seeing Steve Buscemi playing Nikita Khrushchev was funny.  Picture Carl Showalter, the inept kidnapper/killer that Buscemi played in the movie "Fargo", as the ultimate cold warrior Khrushchev.  What can I say, but that it is a terrific performance.

Two and 1/2 stars from The Grandstander.