This film and Dune: Part 2 were the only Oscar-nominated films for Best Picture that I watched all the way through. I never felt either was Best Picture material, though both were fine films. It goes without saying that the subject matter is very timely. The cast was excellent (excellent excellencies?). I would watch almost anything where Ralph Fiennes plays a lead role. I might remind readers that a Dan Brown novel had the Vatican as it’s setting where Evan McGregor played the camerlingo (which Fiennes plays in Conclave). It’s called Angels & Demons. I was impressed (as with Angels & Demons) at the “behind the scenes” peek into the Catholic Church with regard to the factions that arise between cardinals–and which are structures

Streaming TV Shows 1923– I watched the Yellowstone prequel 1923 starring Dame Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford. It was very compelling as a world-spanning saga and these two both did very well with their characters. Former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton plays (well) a supremely evil person (similar to situation below in Mobland). Keep an eye out for Brandon Sklanor—he plays an almost impeccable “hero” type of that era as well as Julia Schlaepfer who plays his equally bold and brave love interest.     Tracker has come through with another entertaining season of “finding missing people” where little has changed: I enjoy the theme and the episodes stand alone in different settings across the US. Even though I am forced to suspend my disbelief

THERE ARE MILLIONS who can’t understand why the stock and bond markets swooned and remain down for the year. After all, they keep hearing that everything is good and that the country’s imminent return to greatness is assured. I would only have a few words for members 0f such a group: The markets do not lie.  The stock and bond markets–usually through indexes comprised of the larger public companies in the US–are handy in that they give us current values of the  vehicles that people around the world use for savings and investment. More accurately, though, these financial assets (i.e. stocks and bonds) are actually forecasts of  economic conditions for corporate earnings in the near future–usually one or two years out. So the current market

[Author’s Note: Mom went to her rest on Dec. 14th 2022 at 90 years of age. I composed a tribute to her shortly after that; here’s the link: https://www.moviesmarketsandmore.com/paean-for-a-country-girl-or-faith-family-community-learning-and-little-baseball/ This piece, Mercy, is a reader favorite as well as one of my own. A couple of days ago, I returned to cemetery, planted and watered some flowers….and remembered to pray.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN MY MOTHER’S kitchen, and taped to the door of a cabinet where cups and plates are kept, is a laminated Catholic Diocese card. The card is divided into two distinct sections. The top part is titled The Corporal Works of Mercy. The “works” are ministrations to be made and observations to be kept in caring for –to name some of them–the poor, the

IN THE EARLY DAYS of this blog seven or eight years ago, I noted the rising trend of films  about women, directed by women, and likely featuring strong women as protagonists or antagonists as the case may be. The trend has strengthened with the many new series out now.   Dune: Prophecy   IF YOU ARE PREDISPOSED to watch fantasy or Sci-Fi and already know of the Dune franchise, you should enjoy Dune: Prophecy, a prequel by ten-thousand years of the  two earlier segments. In the Dune universe of the first two, there is a powerful group of mystical robed and hooded women who have supernatural powers. These are the Bene Gesserit and while they at first  hint at  something akin to the witches of

[Author’s Note: I wrote this a little over two years ago.  Dec 14th, 2024 (today) will be the two-year anniversary of her passing.] In Memory of Mary Helen Duren Hecht In the earliest memory I have of you, I woke to the music of your voice; my eyes opened on your smiling face. A young mother, you roused me from sleep with the softest, sweetest lilt you could produce. You knew how children’s dreams, their souls still bright, are visited by cherubs—in whose presence there can be no fear or need. You eased the harsh stir from soft bliss to garish day. And so, as a child, my heavenly dreams ended gently, and earthly days began with your smile and the music of your heart.