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jonesincanada
Reviews
Everywhere (2010)
Lesson: don't always believe the ratings
I have to admit, after seeing the ratings for this movie, I thought, "why bother?" But I'm a Patrick McKenna fan, so thought I would take a chance. And I'm glad I did. I found it to be a sweet, funny story that I would recommend to friends.
Smash (2012)
Preferred the second season
Some reviewers thought the 2nd season was worse than the first, but I thought the 2nd season had much more to offer. The creation of a competing Broadway show allowed the viewer to see how Broadway evolves and changes. "Bombshell", the traditional, colourful spectacle and "Hitlist", the darker, edgier version of basically the same story demonstrated this well.
While I admit I teared up at the end of the first season as Marilyn sang "Don't Forget Me", the music for "Hitlist" was much more interesting, especially "Reach for Me" and "I'm Not Sorry". My only criticism of the 2nd season was that the plot lines of the last couple of episodes seemed rushed, probably because the storyline had to be wrapped up quickly.
Biography of the Millennium: 100 People - 1000 Years (1999)
My candidate for inclusion
I enjoyed this documentary and have been looking for it on DVD for a few years.
While I agree with some of the criticisms leveled against the choices that ended up on the list, the documentary does draw the conclusion that the past millennium was about the rise of the West. If that conclusion is accepted, one would not expect non-Western leaders to figure prominently on a list of the 100 most influential people of the prior millennium. Having said that, I believe that Deng Xiaoping of China should have made the list. By reversing the disastrous policies of Mao, brutally suppressing the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and gingerly opening China to the world, he exercised a great deal of influence (for good or ill) over the lives of 1/4 of the world's population.
Forbidden Nights (1990)
Would love to see this movie on DVD
I watched this movie when it came out in spring 1990 mainly because I was going to live in China that fall and wanted to find out what it might be like. (Fortunately by the time I lived in China, ice-cold showers were not the norm.) I didn't realize until later that I was to teach in the same city as Judith Shapiro (Changsha)and in fact taught in the university right next to hers. I also taught one or two of her students (who were teachers themselves by the time I met them). Judith and Liang Heng later married, moved to the US, and wrote at least 2 books together, including "The Son of the Revolution", a recounting of Liang Heng's time with the Red Guards. But I too have not forgotten this movie and would love to see it come out on DVD.