Some Viewing Recommendations

 Let me recommend two selections for your viewing pleasure.

"Pressure"

This movie focuses on the days leading up to D-Day in June, 1944.  Brendan Fraser plays Dwight Eisenhower and Andrew Scott play Captain James Stagg, a British officer who is assigned to be the chief meteorologist as the Allied command makes plans for the invasion of Normandy, upon which the fate of the war hinges.  He's there because, according to Ike, "Churchill says he's brilliant", but he immediately butts heads with the weather guys who are already on Ike's staff when he tells everyone that there is no way that the invasion can take place as scheduled on June 5, but that maybe, just maybe, there might be a slight window of opportunity on June 6.

Hey, we all know how it turned out in Normandy eight-two years ago, but that doesn't take away from the drama and suspense that this movie delivers.  Both Fraser and Scott are terrific as is an Irish actress named Kerry Condon who played Kay Summersby.  She was Ike's driver, the movie shows her as a key member of the staff, and we all know that she was also Ike's, ahem, special pal during those days.

Three and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

"Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness"

This is a seven episode streaming HBO series in which Larry David puts his unique and neurotic spin on different episodes in American History.  Each episode is a half hour long and contains two or three different sketches.  Like any sketch comedy show, there are hits and misses, but when the sketches click, they more than make up for David's incomplete passes.  Three in particular:

• David played Alexander Graham Bell as he displays his new invention, the telephone, and realizes that after he makes the connection to his associate, Mr. Watson, they don't really have anything to talk about.
• A sketch where David plays an advisor to Abraham Lincoln and convinces Abe that he should attend this funny play at Ford's Theater to take his mind off of things.  He then spends the night mediating arguments between Abe, played by Bill Hadar, and Mary Lincoln, played by the wonderful Kathryn Hahn.  He then has to deal with a batshit crazy Marry who refuses to leave the White House after her husband's death.
• Larry is an advisor to President Obama who convinces him that he should wear a tan suit to a Presidential event, a real life incident that sparked amazing criticism of the President at the time.  Barack and Michelle Obama were Executive Producers of this series, and Obama plays himself to great effect in the skit.  They've even reproduced the Oval Office as it was before its gold leaf tackification by the current occupant.

Like I say, not all of the skits are great, but enough of them are to make this an enjoyable and entertaining series.  The sketches are also peppered with cameos and performances by folks like Jerry Seinfeld, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Paul Rudd, Rita Wilson, Kaley Cuoco, Jimmy Kimmel, and Rob Reiner.  I watched all seven episodes in one day.  Hey, there was nothing else going on that day!

Three Stars from The Grandstander.