Movie report round up

Mary Queen of Scots-Good but very compressed telling of the life and intrigue surrounding Mary Stuart and Elizabeth the first.  Vanessa Redgrave is beautiful and very good as Mary and Glenda Jackson is good as Elizabeth.  Young Timothy Dalton over acts and chews every piece of scenery he's near.

Movie 43-Gross out comedy film.  It's made up of vignettes that are sophomoric and more often than not, dick related.  I found most all of it to be pretty damn funny but I can see how some would not.  I loved Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslett's bit and Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber's bit.

There But For Fortune-For some reason Phil Ochs had never been on my radar, I guess because folk was pretty much a minor sub genre of music when I came of age and I was too busy listening to rock and roll and disco.  So I pretty much missed out on him when he was alive, unfortunately.  This documentary tells the story of his performing life and his sad end.  He had a sting of topical songs and a rabid following but he never quite broke through despite his best efforts.  While others made hits, Ochs put his music on the line for social justice.  He suffered from alcoholism and manic depression and he took his own life in 1975 at age 35.  He left behind a daughter, a wife, and a rich musical legacy that I look forward to exploring.

League of Denial-Well told documentary about how the NFL has denied that concussions and repeated hits to the head have caused major illnesses.  I'm surprised that ESPN was allowed to be a part of this documentary that shows the NFL in such an unflattering light, especially considering that ESPN is one of the NFL's broadcasting partners.  The bottom line is the NFL knows that head injuries will cause major problems for players and they will continue to deny them and their families financial compensation.

Argo-As I get older more and more films will be made about events that occurred in my lifetime.  It's kind of a trip down memory lane when I see films like this one.  Argo is a taut well made thriller about how a CIA agent and some Hollywood producers hatched a plot to claim that some American hostages who had escaped to the Canadian embassy in the first moments when the Iranians stormed the US embassy in the late 1970's.  The Iranians were told that the Americans in question were really Canadians in Iran to scout locations for a sci fi film called Argo.  They managed to escape using their cover and I remember when they arrived home.  Of course the government couldn't tell us that the CIA was involved because it was classified, but I remember it was one of the few bright spots in the Iranian hostage crisis.