Category: #MatineeMonday

Caridad shares her favorite movies and television shows.

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#MatineeMonday – Mindhunter on Netflix

I love crime thrillers and police procedurals and Netflix’s MINDHUNTER checks both of those boxes for me. The series premiered in 2017 and Season 2 was just released this August. According to Wikipedia the series is based on a true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit which was written by John E. Douglas, a real FBI profiler, and Mark Olshaker.

In Season 1 the stories revolve around three FBI agents who will come to develop the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy. The FBI Agents interview killers who have committed multiple crimes and try to analyze their motivations, psyches, etc. It’s fascinating to see just how matter-of-fact these men can be about what they did and some of it is pretty gruesome so this series is not for the faint of heart.

Season 2 varies from this setup as we instead get to see more about the lives of the FBI Agents (fictional by the way) and as the agents take what they’ve learned to apply it to various crimes, including the Atlanta Child Murders. There are also snippets involving the BTK killer and his crimes so I’m sure we’ll see more of that in the future, although that’s over two decades until he’s captured.

The series is fascinating as are the killers who we are introduced to and who we’re glad are behind bars and not still loose on the street. You can watch MINDHUNTER on Netflix at https://www.netflix.com/title/80114855.

Screen Capture courtesy of Netflix trailer Season 2. Used under Fair Use for review and commentary.

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#MatineeMonday – Big Dreams, Small Spaces with Monty Don

The Brits love their gardens and I’m always amazed by how wonderful they are even when they have only a small space with which to work. Enter Monty Don and my latest binge-worthy show: Big Dreams, Small Spaces. In this wonderful show, horticulturist and author Monty Don helps average people organize, plant, and grow the gardens they’ve always dreamed about. Whether it’s a New England beach-style garden or a completely edible garden intended to help feed a growing family, Monty dives in and not only offers his advice on how to achieve those dreams, he also labors beside the gardeners to show them how to do an assortment of tasks, from repotting to planting to pruning trees and shrubs. No job is too big or small for Monty or his amateur gardeners. It’s amazing to see the transformations of these small spaces into lovely oases. It’s inspired me to think about how I can add more plants into my small (and shared) space to really make it feel like a garden paradise. You can catch various seasons of this show on Netflix at https://www.netflix.com/title/80232852.

Big dreams, small spaces

Original Image by Emphyrio from Pixabay

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#ManCandyMonday #MatineeMonday – Zac Efron

You’re probably saying to yourself “Hasn’t she done Zac before?” You’d be totally right! To be honest, I cannot get enough of this delicious Man Candy. Today is actually a hybrid post since as you can see it’s also a Matinee Monday. Why you might wonder? Well I just watched Zac in the Netflix movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

Was it interesting? Yes.

Was it upsetting? Yes.

Many people have condemned the movie for glamourizing serial killer Ted Bundy. I didn’t find that it glamourized him so much as it humanized him and made it totally believable that this psychopath possibly didn’t commit these crimes, much as he claimed during the course of the various trials.

My recommendation to you is to first watch Zac in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile and then pop over and watch the Ted Bundy tapes which have not only the actual footage but also first-hand commentary from the individuals involved with the capture, arrest, and prosecution of Ted Bundy. It will be a true eye-opener and take away some of the glamour that casting Zac Efron created in the first movie.

P.S. Zac was wonderful in The Greatest Showman as well!


Photo: MTV International [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

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#MatineeMonday – Chef’s Table Asma Khan

One of the things that I’ve been doing for my new Hallmark book is to immerse myself in shows about chefs. I’ve always loved to cook and it’s been interesting to see the backstories about how some chefs began their careers and what their restaurants are like. One of the shows I’ve been watching is Chef’s Table on Netflix (https://www.netflix.com/title/80007945). I actually got started on Season Six and while the first two episodes were interesting, it was the third one about Indian chef Asma Khan that had me almost bawling. I say almost because I was on the train while watching it and didn’t want to embarrass myself. But I found myself crying again as I told my daughter about this chef’s inspiring story and the amazing legacy she will leave not just for chefs, but for all women. Every woman reading this post should go and watch this episode. It is a truly amazing story about a woman finding her place in life and helping others likewise find their place. For more on this inspiring chef and woman, please visit http://www.asma-khan.com/.

British chef Asma Khan

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#MatineeMonday – Always Be My Maybe

I was going to share another show today, but I needed a pick-me up and this movie definitely fits the bill. ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE is a rom-com with lots of humor and a feel good ending. I definitely recommend it. It’s the story of two life long friends who break apart after the death of the hero’s mother and a teenaged fling. Fast forward sixteen years and their lives have gone in very different directions. The heroine, Sasha Tran played by Ali Wong, is a celebrity chef and quite successful. The hero, Marcus Kim played by Randall Park, is living at home and working with his dad while sometimes playing music with his garage band. Sasha and Marcus find themselves thrown back together and rekindling the chemistry they once had, but not without some major bumps in the road. There is lots of humor, emotion and an ending that will have you smiling. There is also a surprise appearance by someone, but I won’t spoil that for you!

ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE is available on Netflix (https://www.netflix.com/title/80202874) and according to Wikipedia, was written by Ali Wong, Randall Park, Michael Golamco and directed by Nahnatchka Khan.
always_be_my_Maybe

This image is used as fair use for purposes of commentary and review.

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#MatineeMonday – Something new and a little wine!

Starting something a little new here for Mondays – a discussion of some of my fav new and old movies and television shows! On the flight down to New Orleans for the Book Lovers Con I downloaded WINE COUNTRY from Netflix. I love Amy Poehler and Tina Fey and so this was a must try and I was not disappointed. This tale of six friends spending a celebratory weekend in Napa is funny and thought-provoking at the same time. I even re-watched it with hubby and men will also enjoy how this group of women skewers many of the things faced in middle age. Warning, there is some cursing, minor nudity, sexual references, and some drug stuff (and I so like how this resolved by the way!). So definitely check out this movie for a lighthearted and hilarious time. You can watch or download from Netflix here: http://bit.ly/2WUQlwO
P.S. – If you’re wondering who I would be in this movie, definitely the Amy Poehler character. I map out our vacations but am sure to allow for that 20 minutes of planned spontaneity. LOL!

Also – sharing some photos from my New Orleans trip below.

You can see some more at my Facebook Fan Page.

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