COVIDIAN VIEWING REVIEWS

AFTER LIFE- a British drama/comedy starring Ricky Gervais is a very well written and scripted 2 season series about a writer for a small newspaper in London who recently lost his wife. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this because the language is so incredibly foul and profane. The main character is an atheist and tries to fix his emotional and personal crisis with good works and finding love at home and in the work place. EUREKA- is a series that originally aired on the Scifi channel about a single parent sheriff who presides over a small town in the Norwest inhabited by the most intelligent scientist in the world who work at a super-secret defense research facility. The acting is lack luster, but the story lines are entertaining and fanciful. WAREHOUSE 13 is about a secret government storage area that houses powerful and usually magical artifacts that are cared for by a semi-dysfunctional group of agents and somewhat grumpy obese Jewish supervisor. The fairly written series is a combination of scifi and comedy. MID SOMMER MURDERS- an incredibly well written long running British TV series centers around a married chief inspector and his usually comedic sidekick assistant that investigates murders in a rural English township and it’s surrounding areas. The plots are intelligent and unpredictable. Character development throughout the series is sophisticated and detailed. A must see. MURDOCH MYSTERIES is about a devoutly Catholic inspector who works murders in turn of the century Toronto. His boss is a comical salty Scotsman. His love interest is a female physician who serves as the city coroner. Different important historical characters weave in and out of episodes throughout the series. Unfortunately, liberal, humanist themes are woven in to a number of episodes. Despite this, it is worth watching. FATHER BROWN is a British production mystery series based on the GK Chesterton book series of the same name. It centers around a Roman Catholic priest in a rural English parish who, despite opposition by the local police force, is a reliable amateur sleuth. In the course of solving the mystery, he often promotes Christian and semi-Christian virtues and practices. THE DOCTOR BLAKE MYSTERIES is an Australian crime series that takes place in the country town of Ballarat Australia. Dr Blake returns home after serving in WWII to take over his deceased father’s practice. In addition to serving as a GP, he acts as the local police surgeon. He is an agnostic, but has a love interest who is a devout Catholic widow.

Review Brooks Museum: Abrecht Durer's Small Passion & Claire Van Vliet: Illustrating Babel

ALBRECHT DURER’S SMALL PASSION SERIES: This current display (runs through 10/27) feature a series of prints from this probably most famous German renaissance printmaker. The displayed images are woodcuts, a type of printing where the design is cut into a block of wood. He published a number of illustrated including The Apocalypse, The Large Passion and The Small Passion. The current exhibit includes one example of the Large Passion, and thirty five out of thirty six illustrations and the title page of the Small Passion. CLAIRE VAN VLIET; ILLUSTRATING BABEL: This artist utilizes lithography to illustrate BUILDERS OF BABEL, TEN PORTRATS. In lithography, the artist draws directly on a stone using a greasy crayon. These drawn marks are translating during the printing process, allowing the viewer to see the artist’s smallest gestures. She also utilized wood engraving for some of the displayed prints. This display includes Illustrations for The Great Wall and Tower of Bable and Paradoxes by Franz Kafka & Builders of Babel: Ten Portraits for selections from Book of Proverbs.

Movie Review: "The Peanut Butter Falcon"

This currently released movie centers around a high functioning 22 year old Down’s Syndrome character named Zak who is a ward of the state in a nursing home in North Carolina. With the help of his elderly room mate (played by Bruce Dern), he escapes in search of attending a studio wrestling school manned by his hero The Saltwater Redneck. Without resources or clear direction, he is aided by a vagabond commercial fisherman named Tyler. In time they are joined by Zak’s case worker and journey along the Outer Banks en route to The Saltwater Redneck’s wrestling school. This incredibly “Southern” movie is a well filmed blending of Tom Sawyer, Brother Where Art Thou and The Apostle.

Review: “The Artistic World of Eugenia Errazuriz”

This recently opened exhibit at the Dixon Museum chronicles the life, friends, family and artist friends of Eugenia Errazuriz, the wife of a late 19th century Chilean ambassador. In addition to being an ambassador, her husband, Jose tomas Errazuriz was also an amateur painter. During the course of her life in France, England and Spain, she consorted with and sponsored numerous impressionist, cubist and realist painters- including Picasso and John Singer Sargent. This display has paintings and water colors of these artist and more. In addition to her sponsorships, Eugenia was also know for her minimalist decor and cubist needlepoint. Samples of both are also on display.

Dixon Museum: Power & Piety & Edward Giobbi

POWER & PIETY: SPANISH COLONIAL ART This exhibits runs through September 24. These liturgical objects are from a private collection and organized by the now defunct Museum of Biblical Art in NYNY (an arm of the Bible Society of America). Items include paintings, church furniture, statues and communion ware. Many of the pieces were from Venezuala and Cuba. Of interest is one sculpture made on the west coast of South America from ivory imported from the Philippines during colonial times. The exhibit is well displayed, varied and with detailed provenance. EDWARD GIOBBI: AN ARTIST COMES TO MEMPHIS This exhibit also runs through September 24. Edward Giobbi was born in Connecticut and married Memphian Ellie Turner. Ellie’s brother, Norfleet Turner was a close personal friend of the Hugo Dixons and served on the original board of the museum. Painting style is somewhere between impressionism and modern art. Subjects include the Maji, as well as his wife and friends. Of interest is a photo of the artist painting one of his subjects that is on display. His style is an unusual but recognizable fusion of forms.

Movie Review: "The Finest Hours"

This movie, starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck, is a recounting of the greatest small boat rescue in US Coast Guard history. In 1952, a massive winter storm strikes the Northeast, ripping an oil tanker in two. Thirty men are trapped in the stern of the tanker off the coast of Massachusetts. Casey Affleck plays an assistant engineer who takes charge of keeping the remnant of the tanker afloat. Chris Pine is a young coast guard warrant officer who is tasked with the seemingly impossible task of braving the storm with three man to rescue the tanker’s surviving crew. The film is a well scripted and developed story of two ordinary men (Pine and Affleck) accomplishing extraordinary feats with determination, self-sacrifice and bravery. The special effects are superb. The movie is suspenseful without being drawn out.

Movie Review: "Mr Holmes"

This movie is a different rendition of the famous detective series. The story takes place in 1947 England in a remote rural seaside setting near the white cliffs of Dover. Holmes has been retired for over 30 years. He is haunted the personal failure of the last case of his career. Most of his days are spent tending bees in the company of a somewhat cantankerous housekeeper and her young son. Aware of the diminishing powers of his mind, he searches for answers to this case and personal conflicts. The pace of the movie is necessarily slow. Ian McKellen’s performance was as usual, masterful. The cinematography was sumptuous.