Not a lot for us this week although I am expecting a couple of things to arrive late. Up first is The Dancing Dogs of Dombrova. This is about a brother and sister who travel to Dombrova, Poland to find the bones of their grandmother’s dead dog. Their grandmother is dying and wants the dog’s bones to be buried with her. The brother is sort of anal-retentive and doesn’t want to eat most of what he’s served and had a major screw up at work. The sister is a recovering alcoholic. There’s a woman who drives a taxi, the woman who runs the place they are staying at, two small time gangsters, the taxi driver’s son, a priest, a rabbi and an old lady. It’s sort of a drama, sort of a dark comedy. The grandmother had lived there and survived the Holocaust. The town seems to want to hide its past and they can’t find their grandmother’s old address anywhere. The sister struggles not to drink, the brother struggles in the weird environment. I don’t know if it’s something I’d watch again, but for one time it’s pretty solid.
Next is I am a Dancer. To say I’m not the target audience for a film about ballet is an understatement. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard the name Rudolf Nureyev (the focus of the documentary) before, but one thing I will always respect is talent. Even if I don’t care about ballet, seeing the depths of what this man and his fellow dancers go through is insane. This documentary came out in 1972 and was a Golden Globe nominee for Best Documentary Film because it really is an intimate look at Nureyev and his performers. It shows them practicing and him teaching them steps and correcting them when they are wrong. It shows them in an out of their costumes and make up. It’s crazy the physical aspect of dancing like this. The man looks like a professional athlete with abs and toned arms and powerhouse legs. The women are long and lean and he moves them around with ease. The costuming and set design are gorgeous and you understand why he traveled the world doing this. For those who do enjoy ballet it even shows routines from famous performances. It’s hitting Blu-ray for the first time so if you like the film, this is the best it’s ever looked and comes with some bonus features. Despite not being interested in dancing, watching a perfectionist at the top of his craft is pretty incredible to see.
Third we have Amor Amor. It’s about a group of friends celebrating New Year’s Eve together in Lisbon. The one woman seems to be the interest of all the men despite having a boyfriend. She was talking about marriage, but he’s a photographer and is trying to push his friend (who’s in love with her) to take a shot. That guy already has a girlfriend who knows about his feelings for the other woman. It’s full of drinking and dancing and drugs and I have no idea if I’m familiar with anyone involved. It’s not bad and there’s one fantastic scene shot with the woman’s POV in and out of the dance club, but like the first film, not sure if it’s something I’d watch again. I think there’s too many side characters and it could have trimmed about 10-15 minutes off it.
The Good Fight: Season Four is out this week. It’s a show my mother will watch, but my father doesn’t. Season Four sees a lot of changes. There are adjustments to being part of a huge multi-national law firm. Episodes include helping the DNC attract African-American voters, a military trial, a swimmer who doesn’t make the Olympic team, straight from the headlines they are hired to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s death. Well under 10 episodes for this season.
Last we have No Safe Spaces: You Have the Right to Remain Silent. This came out last week from Mill Creek Entertainment, but I didn’t get my copy until later in the week. It stars comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla and radio talk show host Dennis Prager as they discuss how the First Amendment is slowly being lost in the US. It focuses on colleges and universities and how kids today can’t handle words. Lots of conservatives appear in it like Candace Owens, Dave Rubin, Ben Shapiro and the like and talk about how colleges won’t let them talk or if they do, they are boycotted and need security. People have lost their jobs because kids don’t like the words they use and it says how the majority of them don’t believe in free speech. For decades colleges have been indoctrinating kids into a certain mentality and this is showing some of the outcomes. It’s very interesting, but also really scary how easily a generation got manipulated into thinking people shouldn’t have the right to free speech. It also shows how it’s going to get worse with social media and how big tech like YouTube censors those not on the left.
The Nerds Templar 