Before this year comes completely to a conclusion, you really should take in a couple of interesting movies…

Netflix provides us with The Glass Onion – a throwback to the old who done it movies we went to in college and those early supposed adult years. The acting is good. The story is not totally predictable. The cinematography (including the sets) is quite delightful. Whether you have an evening or just part of an hour you can watch this in its entirety or in sections – there are even black-out moments so that it can be shown in the future on regular tv. For me though the central joy is that there is a bit of Pink Panther, a hint of Perot, perhaps a little Matlock from TV days, maybe even some thoughts from the game of CLUE that combine to give me moments of nostalgia while enjoying a funny side of Daniel Craig I never saw in James Bond.

At the theatres the Whitney Houston bio-flick – I wanna dance with somebody – is a well done, well acted, reasonably true to life portrayal of that megastar. However, even though the lip-syncing is well done so that the music is great, the movie is too long. It runs almost 2.5 hours and it could have been neatly edited to maybe 1.75 hours. In fact, I would suggest that they could have cut out an hour of what they give us and add in a bit more depth, particularly the conflicts she faced being a mom, and the internal struggles within the family. Stanley Tucci is brilliant in the role of Clive Davis, the record mogul as is Nafessa Williams as Whitney’s girl friend and confidant. If you like her music and want a glimpse into her somewhat tragic life – go see the movie, but buy popcorn as you will need the sustenance!!

Never matter – Happy New Year & have a wonderful 2023 – and know that there are some good movies coming…

g.w.