WARWICK SHOWCASE

CYRANO
* * * * (Joyce) * * * * * (Don)
Classic Romantic Tale of Unrequited Love

Edmund Rostand’s classic tale of unrequited love is brilliantly recreated by director Joe Wright in the best movie we have seen this year.

I give it one of my rare five-star ratings, while stingy Joyce settles at four.

Peter Dinklage plays a perfect Cyrano, complete with a small body and a big heart.

You know the story: Cyrano is secretly in love with the fair Roxanne (Haley Bennett), who is madly in love with Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.).

Cyrano befriends Christian, serving as his intermediary and writing his love letters to Roxanne.

While Cyrano cannot compare with Christian’s physical attributes, he becomes his heart and soul, as Roxanne falls for his romantic and poetic writing.

What Cyrano lacks in size, he makes up for in his sword fighting and bravery. You don’t want to mess with the little guy, as displayed in the rollicking opening scene.

The scenery, costumes, music, acting and directing are all outstanding.

While not your typical Broadway musical, it may be looked at as a stage musical, where the lyrics to the songs supplement the dialogue by expressing the characters’ inner feelings.

Dinklage is a superior actor. Since I first saw him in a little film titled “The Station Master,” I knew he was destined for great things. He is so expressive with his body, especially his eyes, and his ability to articulate every syllable.

His scenes opposite Bennett are priceless, as he shows his love for her in agonizing fashion.

There are several mesmerizing scenes in the movie, especially the balcony scene with Roxanne, Christian and Cyrano holding fort.

Bennett plays Roxanne as a bit of a flake. It takes the final scene to bring her to a touch of reality. She is not the beauty Cyrano and Christian see her but has that unusual attractiveness that draw them to her.

Why can’t they make more movies like this?

Rated PG-13 with violence and some minor profanity.

NETFLIX

Gas, food, rent and now Netflix prices keep rising as people make tough decisions on how to spend their money.

I ordered the basic Netflix program, which will now cost me $9.99 a month.

Between the pandemic, the cold weather and an illness that kept me homebound for a couple of months, I watched a lot of Netflix and Amazon Prime and got my money’s worth.

Being new to the two programs gave me many options as I watched past years’ top programs, following suggestions of long-time viewers.

Watching foreign movies and TV series with closed caption has been a treat.

BABYLON BERLIN is in its third season. It follows detective commissioner George Rath as he moves to Berlin during the Golden Twenties, as the city is going through a radical change.

Night life has become a popular diversion, bringing with it prostitution, drugs, crime and political corruption. Rath is following a porno ring run by the Berlin Mafia, getting involved with blackmail and every conceivable vice.

VIKING VALLHALA continues a popular show, now in its sixth season. The Vikings previously had been slaughtered and driven from England. They regroup and plan an all-out attack on London, led by Leif Ericson and his sister Freydis.

The problem is that the Vikings are divided between the Pagans and the Christians, who hate each other as they collectively hate the English.

There are lots of bloody battles and a bit of history thrown in, plus some spectacular costuming.

RITA, a dramady about a Danish schoolteacher, is in its sixth season. Rita is a popular teacher with her students, while being criticized by her peers for her unorthodox message. She also has trouble managing her personal life.

SPACE FORCE is back for its second season, with the crew having returned from a disastrous journey to the moon where it survived a confrontation with the Chinese.

Steve Carell plays the leader of Space Force, with John Malkovich the planner of a future trip to Mars that has been threatened with funding cuts.

I find the humor on this series a bit sophomoric.

UNTIL LIFE DO US PART is a Portuguese series about a three-generation family of wedding planners.

It is another dramady that deals with the problems within the family and among the families of those having their weddings planned. I didn’t find it particularly funny.

YOUNG WALLANDER is a Swedish series in its second year about a young rookie cop who lives in the ghetto among many immigrants who are unwelcome by most Swedes and mistreated by the cops. Sound familiar?

A boy is murdered, and an immigrant is suspected. Young Wallander is on the case.

FALLET is another Swedish crime drama about an inept policeman who teams up with a female cop with a past to solve a murder.

AMAZON PRIME

THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL is currently in its fifth and final season.

The award-winning comedy is about a wealthy, young Jewish woman in the late fifties whose husband has left her as she attempts to redefine herself as a stand-up comedienne.

It is very well done, which is why it has survived so long. Costuming, period music, funny lines and fifties nostalgia all add to the fun.