My Current Interest

Photo of DVD cover taken by Kate Dorsey      Gifted is a sweet, infuriating movie. Yes. I mean exactly what I wrote. Gifted is both sweet and infuriating. Which might be why this hour and forty minute film feels longer than it is. But the time is worth it.      Seven-year-old Mary Adler (Mckenna Grace) is not an ordinary girl. She has been raised by her uncle, Frank (Chris Evans), since she was a baby. Her mother, Diane, Frank’s sister, commit suicide, leaving Mary in Frank’s care. He left his professorship in Massachusetts and moved Mary to Florida for a new life.      Frank relies on the help of his neighbor, Roberta Taylor ( Octavia Spencer ), with raising Mary. In fact, it is Roberta who objects to Mary going to school. She senses something will go wrong. The truth about Mary will be discovered, and nothing will go well from there.      The truth about Mary is she is a mathematical genius, as her mother was. This gets d...

     Just when I think the situation with rival baker Olivia has been eliminated, it rears up again.  When will this conflict end?!      It’s off to Las Vegas for the owners of Fairy Tale Cupcakes .   They are going in hopes of opening their first franchise.   Something head baker Mel Cooper is not happy to have happening.        Mel’s recipes and cupcakes are precious to her.   She does not want to risk the quality going down in a place where she does not have control.   Her two business partners, Angie DeLaura and Tate Harper completely disagree with Mel’s determination to stop the franchise.   With a vote of two to one, the franchise is happening.      While Tate is the one who set up the meeting with the woman who wants to franchise, it is the very reluctant Mel who must actually conduct the meeting.   Tate and Angie claim they missed the meeting because they lost track of time (pe...

     When going through a hard time, there are books that can help you get through it.   Sometimes that book is a mystery.   Other times it is a thriller.   Sometimes what you need is a light and easy book you know will have a happy ending.   Second Chance Girl is that book.      Carol Lund doesn’t think she’s anything special.   She used to when she was a child.   Her family told her she was.   The world has told her something different.      As an adult, Carol doesn’t feel as good as others around her.   All her friends and her sister, Violet, are creative.   She is not.   Instead, she is the caretaker of exotic animals at the Happily Inc Animal Preserve.   Her work is not glamorous, but she loves it.      Mathias Mitchell is an artist who lives near Carol.   Happily Inc is a wedding town, which Mathias takes full advantage of.   He picks up bridesmai...

     The third season of The Heart Guy ( Doctor Doctor ) is the best season so far.   Pretty much all the characters have improved to some extent.   All of them have gone through difficult situations and made important decisions in their lives.   This season is also more serious than previous ones, but there is humor too.   All this together is what makes season three the best so far.      The Knight family will never be the same.   Watching the stars with his wife Meryl (Tina Bursill), Jim Knight (Steve Bisley) has a heart attack and dies.   Meryl is filled with grief and guilt because she could not save him.   The only glimmer of comfort she has is when her heart surgeon son, Hugh ( Rodger Corser ), tells her even he would not have been able to save his father.      With Jim’s death, Hugh inherits the farm, along with the debt.   Hugh has no interest in the farm.   He has plans to leave the...

     What is the fascination with zombies?   It is a phenomenon I don’t understand.   Dracula .   Frankenstein’s monster.   Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.   Those I get.   Maybe because these characters are part of literature, I understand people’s fascination with them more.   There might be a book about a zombie, I just don’t know it.   But zombies as a whole, and wanting to walk around like one on a day other than Halloween, I just don’t get.        It’s Zombie Walk time, and the owners of Fairy Tale Cupcakes have decided to sell their cupcakes during the festivities.   Things do not go well from the start.      First, co-owner Angie’s rock and roll ex-boyfriend shows up to perform.   Then two kids follow bakery employee Marty around because they think he’s a ghost.   Co-owner Tate gets in a fight because of a false accusation cast at employee Oz .   And co-owner and head ba...

     The past several months I have watched a lot of Bohemian Rhapsody .  I mean A LOT.  Nearly every time it is on, I watch some part of it.  Each time, I wonder when Rocketman is going to begin airing on regular cable.  So far, I have been unable to find it.  Which is why I decided to get it from the library and watch it for a second time on DVD.  I did a short review about Rocketman before, but I always felt it deserved a longer one.  Here it is.      Reginald “Reggie” Dwight (Matthew Illesley) has a talent no one expects.   He can play the piano by ear after hearing something only once.   It is a talent his grandmother, Ivy (Gemma Jones), wants encouraged with piano lessons.   Reginald’s mother, Sheila (Bryce Dallas Howard), agrees.   Not out of care for her son.   But because it will keep Reggie out of her hair.   This attitude from Sheila should not come as too much of a surprise. ...

Photo of DVD back cover taken by Kate Dorsey      I eagerly await the new season of The Brokenwood Mysteries every year.   This year, with the seventh season, there were six episodes instead of four!   That made this show even better, and even more worth the wait.      Things are quirky as usual in Brokenwood, New Zealand.   People are killed in unusual ways.   DSS Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) and his team go around questioning people reluctant to be questioned, or with scattered memories.   They put pieces together from all over Brokenwood, trying to solve the crime and figure out the culprit. Putting the Pieces Together /Artwork by Kate Dorsey      In the first episode, a show similar to Antiques Roadshow is in town.   Those involved are very unimpressed with Mike’s collection of country music.   They also aren’t very interested when one of the hosts is killed in a medieval torture chair.   He...