today, i completed my dance card

I already shared my philosophy of back to back double headers.

Now that all four films have been watched, let's get to them, shall we?

 

Yesterday, it was "Newborn" and "The Drama".

The first was about 'Chris Newborn', a man who went to prison in lieu of his younger brother for a hit-and-run death.

He ended up in solitary for seven years - yes, very hard to believe that part - when he saw guards kill an inmate.

Eventually, he's released to his wife and their autistic son, born after he went to prison.

His wife tries to get them into a family frame of mind at a resort, but things go a bit haywire.

It could have been a good film, but for unknown reasons, it incorporated horror elements which were a distinct distraction.

"The Drama" also held horror elements, in the form of a stupid drinking game that led to a near-moment of weakness being taken as actual.

Zendaya plays a young woman, 'Emma', who grew up in isolation, partly due to frequent moves around the country during her youth, then deafness in one ear during her teens.

So when her fiance's mettling friends start a game of "who did the worst thing ever", she answers honestly... and has it immediately cause a rift not only with his friends, but also with him.

"What if"... but it didn't happen, so why should it matter?

Ack.

Today's duo I had expected to be lighter.

I was half-right.

"You, Me, & Tuscany" was beautifully filmed in Italy, with lots of talk of good food and good drink and a special summer party that had notes of Il Palio of Siena - yes!

Here's the thing, though: it had all the earmarks of a Hallmark rom-com and I was absolutely sure by the end of it that I had seen both leads in movies of that ilk.

Near as I can tell, neither Halle Bailey nor Regé-Jean Page have been in any of those movies, nor the rom-coms of similar streaming services.

I sure hope they'll consider those - they were fabulous in this one!

I'll most def be seeing it again!

Not so for the other two movies in this quartet, nor this last one.

I misunderstood what "A Great Awakening" was about.

I expected a history lesson on my Great-Uncle Ben Franklin and his friendship with George Whitefield...

and so it was...

but I hadn't known who that other fellow was...

nor did I know of the religious revivals he instigated in England and brought to the colonies in the 1730's and 1740's.

What I learned about my ancestor was this: he was the tenth son of his religious father, who pledged him as a tithe to God.

Seriously.

No wonder the young man had turned to working in the print shop of his older brother, James (our forefather), to escape home.

I'm glad I managed to see four movies on this A*List, but I'll be hoping for some that are more pleasurable next week.