NETFLIX

SMILE
* * ½
(Eerie Horror Tale)

“Smile” was a big hit with the younger horror movie fans a couple of years ago.

It popped up on my computer screen recently, so I decided to see what the fuss was all about, leaving Joyce to reading her mystery novels.

Sosie Bacon plays a mental hospital therapist who witnesses a patient committing suicide.

It has a powerful effect on her as the man has an eerie smile on his face as he cuts his throat only inches from her.

The more she tries to understand why, the deeper she gets into other similar cases, concluding that these people were possessed.

Her boss, her boyfriend, her sister,and her own therapist are convinced she is crazy as more and more people suffer horrible deaths.

Her investigation leads her to deal with her own dark secrets and guilt. She eventually confronts her own demons, resulting in a disappointing ending.

BAD THOUGHTS
*
(Disgusting, Crude “Humor”)

Comedian Tom Segura has compiled a six-part series of the most disgusting, crude attempts at humor we have ever seen on Netflix.

And this is right after watching the lovely little film, “Nonnas.”

Segura combines bathroom “humor” and prurient sexual “humor” that reaches the lowest levels of inanity.

Watching the first episode was all we could take, as an assassin messes himself and then makes a spectacle of it.

If you have young children, be sure to put your controls in place on this one.

AVON

THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND
* * * 
(Bittersweet British Romance)

Charles (Tim Key) is a wealthy widower who has retired to a remote island where his main desire is to hire an aging singer to come to his island and perform for him and “under 100 others.”

From the looks of things there are far less that 100 people on the remote island, available only by a small boat.

Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) accepts his unusual offer, hoping to use the money to finance a comeback album. Unbeknownst to him, his former partner in both love and music, also shows up with her husband.

Tension builds. Herb is still in love with her, but she rejects him.

Typical British humor is occasionally lost thanks to typical British accents, as the story plays out to its gentle, bittersweet ending.