Damn Sarah Polley wrote and directed Women Talking, a searing indictment of male and female relationships and the horror of the patriarchy. The story revolves around a religious sect. Does the action take place in the 1960’s or in the 2010’s? That confusion at least for me was on purpose. The timelessness of the piece allows you to focus on how this film reflects our own culture today? How do we as a society treat the 50.5% of the population who are female? What is the power dynamic that continues to prevail in our culture, and can women alone affect lasting change? We are living these questions out right now in real time as states strip reproductive rights from women and offer no options to unwanted pregnancies. Women are still mostly expected to raise children and give up careers. Women are expected to make less money, and do more if they do work outside the home. It’s a difficult tightrope walk that’s been going on for centuries. Women Talking addresses all of this and more. There’s only one male character in the film and he’s gentle and burdened with his own issues. All the other characters represent the spectrum of reaction to the patriarchal rule of this sect. It’s a microcosm of what’s going on today. Every day. The story is deeply disturbing. The film written and directed by Polley is luminous, full of quiet beauty. The drawings throughout the film are particularly worth noting. An easy 5 out of 5. A must-see.
Women Talking is currently available for a rental free from various streaming platforms and free on disk from your local public library.
In 1999, Stephen King wrote the screenplay for the TV movie, Storm of the Century. A little island off the coast of Maine (surprise) prepares for the worst snowstorm in over 100 years. As the storm rages in, a stranger comes to town and people start dying mysteriously. Soon enough the stranger identifies himself and gets put into a jail cell for the duration of the storm. Supernatural elements appear and the familiar King story unfolds of a small town of regular folk facing extraordinary circumstances which may or may not be human in origin. That’s all I’m going to say. This is classic pre-streaming TV movie fare. Lots of fun. Cheesy throughout, silly, but pulls you in. King himself called Storm of the Century his favorite television production. Cast includes Tim Daly, Debrah Farentino, Colm Feore, Casey Siemasko, Jeffrey DeMunn, a very young Julianne Nicholson, and Peter MacNeil (Horvath on 
What started out as a romp, ended up pretty lackluster. Welcome to Chippendales is a limited series on Hulu which follows the real life story of founder and owner Steve Banerjee who gets greedy and doesn’t want to share any of his fortune with others who work hard to create the Chippendales brand. That specifically includes choreographer Nick De Noia. The two characters are played by Kumail Nanjiani and Murray Bartlett. Both men bring a lot of experience to the roles. They tried, but in the end, the story unravels into a melodramatic mess. The showrunners really should have scrapped the desire to create a heavy drama and leaned in more to the camp fest Chippendales truly is. Featured actors Juliette Lewis, Andrew Rannells, Robin de Jesus and Annaleigh Ashford try hard, but also fall short. This felt more like a 1970s TV movie of the week than a high end streaming limited series from 2023. 2 out of 5. Next.
Sabi’s back for another season of growing pains – the Toronto non-binary Pakistani-Canadian nanny/bartender who craves deeper connections with all the people they love. Sort Of follows Sabi’s often awkward journey searching for meaning, love, and their place in the world around them. I had trouble with this season because of all the awkwardness, the affection towards inappropriate people, the social malaise. It was hard for me to take in spots. But as I eased into the season, I realized we all experience moments or lifetimes of these emotions and to insert them into a complex, intelligent 20-minute television series in-between the quiet is ridiculously brilliant Also, Sabi’s sister acts as a reflection of Sabi’s remnants of male privilege which shatter during a cemetery moment where they finally shed any final embodiment of cis male. Profound and humbling to watch. Bessy and Paul continue to be a total mess. The kids are so much more mature than the parents, a true slice of modern day parenting life. 7ven who was my favorite character in Season 1 annoyed the shit out of me in Season 2. I kept wanting her to grow up whatever that means. The show certainly made me laugh in places, but what it truly did was challenge my notions of what it means to move, live, and create in this modern world when you don’t fit in. Another beautiful season of Sort Of. So happy this show exists in 2022. 5 out of 5.
I did something I haven’t done in a long time. I binged an entire season in one weekend: Friday – Sunday. Better Call Saul‘s final season’s packed with present day, back story, and future story. All the complicated worlds come crashing in on each other in this pivotal final season, including finally, solidly linking the series with 
Reel Charlie 