Greatest night in pop: Check your ego at the door
For those who love the pop songs and the singers from the 80s, Greatest night in pop, the documentary is a great trip down the memory lane. Nostalgic and emotional. Around 40 pop icons getting together to record a song is something out of ordinary, once in a lifetime opportunity like celestial event. IIRC, this is the first-time famous singers got together for a cause to record a song. Documentary traces the events from the time Harry Belafonte came up with the idea to how Quincy Jones and the crew assembled the singers for the recording in one night post the AMA ceremony event. Behind the scenes footage, preparation work put in by Quincy Jones and his team, assigning the verses to singers based on their range, how chaotically it starts, how Bob Geldof sets the tone and the mood for the night by his short moving speech, makes the documentary an engaging watch. Documentary has its share of fun moments – Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie’s wonderful job on the lyrics and the music, Prince walking up the stage accompanied by his bodyguard to collect the AMA award, Stevie Wonder showing how to sing the line to Bob Dylan, Cyndie Lauper jewelry causing a recording challenge, Check your Ego at the door poster, crew working under pressure, stars talking about their experiences. After watching the documentary, I have a greater appreciation for the finished product, We are the world, how it all came together in a matter of few hours.
For past few weeks went on spending the time on few limited series, 6-8 episodes. I wasn’t expecting much but surprisingly I got a hit rate of 2/4 being a good watch, Fool Me Once is not terrible but not good either, Devil in Ohio is hit the skip button.
The Sinner: Season 1
Cora Tanneti, a young mother, in a fit of rage commits a murder with nearly 40 witnesses watching in horror and doesn’t know why she did it. This is a clear open and shut case – there is no question on who committed the murder or what happened. The question is why. The investigator Harry Ambrose is obsessed with unravelling the buried motive. The Sinner is an interesting and well-made crime thriller as we follow Harry and Cora putting the pieces together taking a traumatic and torturous journey into the depths of Cora’s buried memories. They visit the real locations to trigger and extract the violent events hidden in her past. The Sinner keeps you guessing till the end with one surprise after another but be prepared for a dark and disturbing story.
Chestnut Man
Another Nordic Noir and didn’t disappoint. With just 6 episodes, the narration is crisp, fast moving with no drag. You get what is typical of Scandinavian series – great locations, good mix of women and men in lead roles, the leading characters have problems of their own, cruel case, how the case has an impact on their personal lives. Keeps you guessing on the who, I couldn’t guess and came as a surprise to me. A good watch for crime thriller lovers.
Fool me Once
Two murders happen in the life of Maya Stern, murder of her sister followed by her husband few months later. Are these two murders connected? Feeling insecure, she installs a nanny-cam to keep an eye on her young daughter. While checking the cam recording, she is shocked to see her husband who she thought was dead. Abby and Daniel, Maya’s niece, and nephew, are trying to find the truth about their mother’s past. Detective Sami Kierce leads the homicide investigation, and he has his own share of problems. Similar to Sami, Maya’s past continues to haunt her. While the story starts with an interesting conflict predictable events and easy resolutions pulls it down.
Devil in Ohio
Starts with a good premise but then it can’t decide whether it wants to be a crime thriller or a teenage flick like Beverly hills 90210. When the world around them is falling apart, characters discuss about their dance night 🤦🏻♂️ Mother, who is a psychiatrist worries about her patients but doesn’t know what her daughters are going through 🤔 All the build-up about the cult group fails to deliver. Devil in Ohio has its moments but overall feels like a drag.