’Rita, Sue and Bob Too’

Raunchy comedy as two Bradford schoolgirls take on more than simply babysitting for Bob and his aloof wife Michelle.

A hard as nails housing estate is home for Rita (Siobhan Finneran) and best mate Sue (Michelle Holmes). But every Friday night they escape the alcoholism and motor bike parts to babysit in the posh home of Bob (George Costigan) and Michelle (Lesley Sharp). Stereotypes abound as an uptight Michelle is blamed for Bob playing the field – and play he does with the two schoolgirls. But there’s never any question as to who has the upper hand – even when Sue moves in with taxi-driver Aslam (Kulvinder Ghir).

Of it’s time, social mores come under the microscope from playwright Andrea Dunbar, a resident of the housing estate where Rita, Sue and Bob Too is filmed. Brash and with a roughness to its edges ensures a level of social realism beyond its nudge nudge wink wink sexual promiscuity.

Rating: 61%

Director: Alan Clarke (Scum, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire)

Writer: Andrea Dunbar – adapted from her stage play

Main cast: Siobhan Finneran (TV’s Happy Valley, Downton Abbey), Michelle Holmes (TV’s Coronation Street, Hollyoaks), George Costigan (Calendar Girls, TV’s Happy Valley)

‘New Amsterdam’ (Seasons 1-2)

An extraordinary 40 episodes make-up seasons one and two of New Amsterdam, a New York hospital-based drama that follows the professional (and occasional personal) lives of a select number of medical staff based at one of the (fictional) oldest public hospitals in the US.

Adapted from the memoires of Dr. Eric Manheimer, former Chief Medical Officer of Bellevue Hospital in New York, the authentic series creates a supportive environment for staff and patients alike as the arrival of Dr Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) as the new Chief Medical Officer sees him embark on major, effective changes administratively and medically. Break the rules: heal the system. Goodwin is on a campaign to ensure the best service is provided to all patients, even reaching out to those who are not medically insured. He may ruffle a few feathers initially, but he quickly gathers a small band of allies among senior doctors/surgeons who form the basis of the melodrama that is New Amsterdam.

But at home, Goodwin has problems – a pregnant wife (Lisa O’Hare) who is less than impressed with his taking on the mantle of CMO within discussing the demands such a position would entail. Much of the first season sees Max navigate the schism in his marriage.

How can I help? is the mantra for the series as the new boss looks to solve problems. Dispensing with the waiting room for the Emergency Department immediately wins him the support of tough-talking Dr Lauren Bloom (Janet Montgomery) and the promotion of Dr Floyd Reynolds (Jocko Sims) to the head of the newly created Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery does him no harm. But arguably his major achievement in episode one (yep, it’s all undertaken at breakneck speed) is reining in Dr Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman). A glamorous spokeperson for the hospital, the Head of Oncology spends more time fundraising through TV appearances than at the hospital. Dr Helen becomes Max’s closest ally with more than a hint of sexual attraction developing between the two as the two seasons evolve.

Admittedly, aspects of New Amsterdam have to be taken with a pinch of salt. The six main medical characters seem to be everywhere – in the basement dealing with electrical shortages, on the streets helping sick homeless, campaigning for better treatment on the prison ward, Head of Oncology helping in the maternity ward and so many more unlikely scenarios. But the attraction of the series is the investment in the characters. How can I help is the mantra. Dr Iggy Frome (Tyler Labine), head of psych, has an eating disorder but constantly finds himself desperately in need of supporting his patients (particularly kids) beyond the norm and to the detriment of his homelife with husband Martin (Mike Doyle) and their four adopted kids. Iggy’s closest friend, the widowed yet wise Dr Vijay Kapoor (Anupam Kher) struggles through loneliness and an unexpected visit from someone from his past.

Whilst home life tales build our investment in the main characters, New Amsterdam still remains a predominantly medical drama. Patients and storylines come and go from episode to episode – most contained within a single episode, some spread out, a few constant within a season. The structure creates an engrossing drama. It can be confronting – it’s a hospital drama afterall and most episodes will see a graphic operation (usually headed by Reynolds) or two to add to the authenticity. It also wears its heart on its sleeve regarding health insurance politics and that New Amsterdam is a public hospital for all. And the ending of the last episode of season one is possibly one of the most dramatic captured on television.

Rating: 70%

’Memento’

A fascinating, cerebral thriller as an ex-insurance investigator looks to find who murdered his wife. But his search is compounded by a rare and untreatable form of memory loss.

The last thing Leonard (Guy Pearce) remembers is the death of his wife. But he now lives in a snapshot of repeats, aided by a Polaroid camera and notes jotted on the image or tattooed onto his body. The confusion of time is part of the quest – one part moves forward, the second part moves the narrative backwards. Where did the car and fancy suit come from? Just who is Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) – friend or foe? And waitress Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss). What is her role in his narrative?

Captivating, occasionally confusing and expansive in its ambition within a confined chronology. Only director Christopher Nolan’s second film, it’s a quiet, low-budget character piece that avoids much of the bluster and bombast of his later films.

Nominated for 2 Oscars in 2002 – original script, editing

Rating: 76%

Director: Christopher Nolan (Inception, Oppenheimer)

Writer: Christopher Nolan (Inception, Oppenheimer), Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight, TV’s Westworld)

Main cast: Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential, Holding the Man), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix, TV’s Wisting), Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix, Bad Boys For Life)

‘Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.’

The bittersweet story of the rise and fall of the American soul recording label Stax working out of Memphis, Tennessee in the 1960s and ’70s.

Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Booker T. Jones – just a few of the Black Music superstars who were part of the Stax legend. Detroit had Motown, Memphis had Stax. Yet the recording studio and attached record shop were founded by brother and sister duo Jim Stewart and Estelle Axon as an outlet for country music! Cheap rents saw the siblings set themselves up in the black neighbourhood of South Memphis. And slowly, the community began to use the local resource – unusual for white and black to mix in ’60s Tennessee.

A bevy of interviews build the history of Stax – from founder Jim Stewart to former CEO Al Bell; artists Carla Thomas, Booker T., David Porter, Steve Cropper; songwriter Bettye Crutcher; sound engineers, marketing staff and more. But Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. also contextualises – an enormously successful Black-owned company in Memphis went against the grain. Al Bell in particular watched, learned, negotiated out of the suspicions of the (white owned) market: distribution contracts with Atlantic and CBS sadly went pear-shaped, a move onto the west coast culminating in the legendary Wattstax concert at the LA Colosseum attended by 100,000 people. But the record label also had to navigate the tragic death of Otis Redding and members of The Bar-Kays in a plane accident in 1967 and the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis itself.

Knock them down and back they come even stronger. Stax notched up more and more record sales and exposure, with one of their greatest achievements the Isaac Hayes Oscar for best song – the theme song to Shaft.

But sadly, the final nail in the coffin for Stax came in the late 70s when financial mismanagement and embezzlement at the Memphis Union Planters Bank implicated Stax and Al Bell in particular. Although cleared, the company was left bankrupt and Bell so disillusioned he left Memphis for good.

It’s an engrossing four part documentary with archival material of Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas in performance, home footage of life in ’60s Memphis, and interviews that leave little doubt that racism in Memphis and beyond was a major contributory factor into the decline of the company.

Rating: 78%

Director: Jamila Wignot (Ailey, Town Hall)

’Dumb Money’

Snappy, fast-paced, fun David vs Goliath narrative as small time investors take on the might of Wall Street Hedge Fund analysts.

The strangulation of the video game store GameStop is the target for a quick, get-rich scheme by Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen). But in the time of COVID lockdowns, social behaviour follows no known pattern with ‘everyman’ Keith Gill (Paul Dano) following, analysing and broadcasting on YouTube the investment of his life savings into GameStop. Rather than strangling the company, with eight million followers mirroring Gill, the tables are turned on the billionaires as they head for bankruptcy. With Caroline Gill (Shailene Woodley) anxiously looking on as their investment moves from $100,000 to more than $20 million, Gill encourages all to stay firm and keep their shares: every dirty trick in the book is about to be thrown at them.

An incredible true story, director Craig Gillespie entertainingly covers several narratives linked to the core storyline. In-debt students, a GameStop employee (Anthony Ramos), a palliative care nurse (America Ferrara) are all first timers whilst Plotkin sees his life crumble in spite of massive injections of cash support from billionaires Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman).

Rating: 72%

Director: Craig Gillespie (I Tonya, Cruella)

Writer: Lauren Schuker Blum (TV’s Orange is the New Black), Rebecca Angelo (TV’s Orange is the New Black)

Main cast: Paul Dano (The Fabelmans, There Will Be Blood), Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island, The Suicide Squad), Shailene Woodley (Ferrari, The Fault in Our Stars)

’Uncle Frank’

A quiet, restrained narrative where secrets are exposed in the 1970s-set family drama. 18 year-old Beth escapes her redneck South Carolina home life to study at the New York college where her uncle Frank teaches.

Having been encouraged by her uncle to follow her dreams, Beth (Sophia Lillis) surprises him by arriving in New York. The closeted Frank (Paul Bettany) is forced into honesty with his niece on her meeting his lover, Wally (Peter Macdissi). News of the death of Frank Senior (Stephen Root) sees a road trip like no other as the three head south and the bigotry of small-town homesville.

Cute with the occasional barb and a few tragic secrets, Uncle Frank is a wry, nuanced, unchallenging feature that, if nothing else, is hard to dislike.

Rating: 62%

Director: Alan Ball ((Towelhead, TV’s Six Feet Under)

Writer: Alan Ball (American Beauty, TV’s True Blood)

Main cast: Paul Bettany (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Margin Call), Sophia Lillis (It, Asteroid City), Peter Macdissi (Towelhead, The Losers)

’JFK’

A wordy but engrossing conspiracy feature as New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison unearths more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.

The November 1963 assassination of American president John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas and the official version of events do not sit well with, among others, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner). The assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) and his killer, Jack Ruby (Brian Doyle-Murray), were reported as acting alone in their respective crimes. But things just do not add up.

So begins several years of investigations as, identifying a New Orleans connection, Garrison assembles a team to unearth what happened: the official investigation by the Warren Commission is seen as nothing more than a whitewash. Inevitably, Garrison and his team are confronted by powerful government and political figures. Corruption, political ideologies, corporate profits are exposed: Kennedy’s refusal to go to war over Cuba along with plans to withdraw from Vietnam are the mainstay of the conspiracy theory as Garrison takes Cuban American businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) to court.

JFK as written and directed by Oliver Stone is a thrillingly moody bombast of a feature with a running time in excess of three hours. Evidence is compiled, witnesses interviewed as the team create a visual of events leading up to the event disproving so much of the so-called evidence. Eyewitnesses disappear, turning up dead: Garrison’s wife (Sissy Spacek) pleads and threatens: team members storm out fearful. Yet the DA continues. Passionate and electrifying.

Nominated for 8 Oscars in 1992 including best film, director, actor in supporting role (Tommy Lee Jones), adapted script, original score – won 2 for cinematography (Robert Richardson) and film editing

Rating: 80%

Director: Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July, Savages)

Writer: Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July, Savages), Zachary Sklar (La fiesta del Chivo, Almayer’s Folly) based the books by Jim Garrison and Jim Marrs

Main cast: Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves, Molly’s Game), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour, Mank), Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Help)

’Undine’

Based on the story of the mythological water nymph who becomes human through the love of a man, Christian Petzold’s Undine is an uncomfortable mix of folklore and contemporary love story.

Undine (Paula Beer) works at the Department of Urban Development in Berlin. Having been dumped by lover Johannes (Jacob Matschenz), she unexpectedly meets Christoph (Franz Rogowski), an industrial diver who introduces her to his underwater world. Love develops between the two but when Christoph catches up with former colleague Monika (Maryam Zaree), Undine is convinced he is being unfaithful to her.

Legend has it that Undine is doomed to die and return to the water if her lover is unfaithful. Having avoided her destiny once, can she circumvent it once more? The result is disquieting – a mix of magical realism, romance and Petzold’s trademark of characters with their dark obsessions. The German director always produces work worth watching – but Undine is not one of his best.

Rating: 63%

Director: Christian Petzold (Transit, Phoenix)

Writer: Christian Petzold (Transit, Phoenix)

Main cast: Paula Beer (Transit, Never Look Away), Franz Rogowski (Transit, A Hidden Life), Maryam Zaree (Transit, Faith)

’Behind Her Eyes’

Initially engaging yet ultimately dissatisfying, Behind Her Eyes presents a supernatural twist to an intertwined three way love affair.

Literally bumping into David on a rare night out for divorced single mom Louise (Simona Brown), a seemingly harmless flirtation proves to be embarrassing as, the next day, he turns up at her place of work. The married David (Tom Bateman) is the new doctor at the London health clinic where Louise works. And to make matters worse, she is his secretary.

There’s unquestionably something not quite right at home for the new doctor: wife Adele (Eve Hewson) is prescribed behavioural drugs with David controlling her home routine through (landline) phone calls at specific times of day. Yet Adele manages to create an accidental meeting with Louise where, unsuspected, Adele manipulates a friendship, only too aware of the attraction between her husband and his secretary. As that attraction evolves into something more, the drama intertwines tales of a younger Adele’s commitment to a psychiatric hospital in Scotland and her friendship with Glaswegian drug addict, Rob (Robert Aramayo). But how does Adele appear to know so much about the burgeoning love affair and Louise’s obvious guilt when in the company of her friend?

Adapted from the novel by Sarah Pinborough, a so-so run-of-the-mill relationship triangle is saved by the back story of the Scottish hospitalisation, helped in its narration by a notebook given to Louise by Adele and written by Rob. It’s a far stronger and more interesting narrative than the contemporary love story in spite of Adele dropping hints that in a fit of jealousy David killed Rob. But, as Louise discovers, nothing is as it seems and nothing is straightforward. But the final twist somewhat falls flat.

Rating: 54%

’Let the Canary Sing’

Singer-songwriter, icon, tireless advocate – Cyndi Lauper’s position in history is firmly cemented. But it wasn’t always this way.

Just one step away from the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony – only the Oscar remains to be won), Lauper hit the big time with the 1983 single Girls Just Want to Have Fun and album She’s So Unusual. By then, she had been in the industry struggling for more than a decade. And the documentary Let the Canary Sing provides a context to the struggles she faced both at home and within the male-dominated music business. Four successive top five songs from a debut album (the first female recording artist in history) still didn’t make it easy for her.

Tireless in the advocacy of her beliefs (feminism, gay rights and homelessness in particular) along with diverse musical tastes and influences, Let the Canary Sing overall accentuates the positive. A number of negatives in her early life are excluded (rape, hospitalisation for malnutrition, dropped by her record label) as Lauper looks not to (all) True Colours but in turning back time, looks to the many albums, Tony and Olivier Best New Musical Awards for Kinky Boots and personal journeys instead.

Nostalgic, insightful, Alison Ellwood’s documentary may not provide a great deal of new material, but it will undoubtedly please her legion of millions of fans.

Rating: 72%

Director: Alison Ellwood (Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place, TV’s How to Change Your Mind)