“Wicked Little Letters” (in theaters)

“Wicked Little Letters”, inspired by an actual case in Littlehampton, Sussex, England, 1919 is delightful. Olivia Coleman is her usual fabulous, versatile self. The rest of the cast includes very talented actors whose faces, if not their names, you will find familiar. The costumes and setting are terrific too. My friend,Susan, described it as a “Masterpiece Theater with profanity”. Some critics didn’t like it at all: “obvious plot” (you will pretty much figure out the perp fairly quickly), “ignores a serious psychosexual problem”, “trite”, “fails to be satirical”, etc. But I’ll bet they at least smiled at some parts–hard not to.

“The Sympathizer” (MAX) Looks like the streaming services have caught on to people like me who use the one week free trial to cram in a lotta free shows. Now they eke out episodes one or two weeks at a time, so no more free ride. This makes reviewing a series pretty difficult, so I may end up giving my opinion twice–once mid episodes and then again as it finishes. I’ve watched three episodes so far of The Sympathizer and while it has some of the confusing elements of the book, I still find it quite interesting. On the negative side, Robert Downey plays four different characters. This may be a demonstration of versatile acting(not as good as Olivia’s– tho I have to admit at first it was impressive), but ultimately it is surreally confusing in an already complex plot. It’s billed as a comedy/spy thriller. The spy part is the protagonist as double agent and I suppose much of the comedy is supposed to come from Downey’s role, but it doesn’t have the wit of “Catch 22” to make it particularly funny. Aside from the spy/thriller part, I find the post “American War” Vietnamese perspective fascinating and deeply sad. I have four more episodes to go, but I’m interested in hearing from those of you who are watching it.

“Hacks” (HBO) Hooray!!! Season Three just started and I continue to love this program. I reviewed it last year, so won’t go into it again. It is such a relief from the standard fare mangling, strangling, shoot-em-ups gore. Even though a few of you out there complained you didn’t like it, I think it is very funny.

“City Hunter” (Netflix) If you enjoyed “Tokyo Vice” and “Midnight Diner” you might find this very ridiculous sci fi, human anime series set in Tokyo quite amusing. The special effects are fun and quite compelling. One or two episodes might sate you, though.