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loyalsock
Reviews
Bel-Air (2022)
Best watched not thinking of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (if you love that)
"Bel-Air" is not a comedy, but a drama and probably a more realistic portrayal of what could/would likely be the situation of a teen-ager from West Philly moving in with his highly educated, wealthy relatives he does not know in one of the wealthiest areas of CA. All the characters are dealing with issues not as yet completely unfolded. Unlike FPOBA, there is darkness (both in Philly and in the bank's home, the family's social networks, and for Will and Carlton in school).
No, I did not enjoy watching the first, three episodes the first time, 100% due to having TFPOBA on my mind--so I watched them again, trying to have an open mind. Yes, I shall watch future episodes. My rating of 5 is because I am still giving it a chance. As the season progresses, I know my rating will change.
FWIW, as a disclosure, I am a native Philadelphian so have a better idea of what life is like in West Philadelphia than the stereotype I have for places where the top 1% live and grow up in in CA.
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
Qhwn/if the DVD comes out on AMazon, O'm buying a copy
I just got home from the 4 p.m. showing of the closest theater showing it near me. In the States, it only had 4 showing on two days, 1 p.m. or 4 p.m. 19 or 27 December. It was not until the 17th, around 4:30 p.m., that I read about this documentary in an article (dated the 16th, great) in the NYT. Of the two theaters within reasonable driving range for me, only tickets for the 4 p.m. today were still available. More advertising should have been made in advance so more people who would have liked to see this documentary had a chance of getting a ticket.
I rarely think, "I want a copy of this," but I decided I'd like a copy even before leaving the theater. The commentary on how the documentary was made that showed after was as interesting, although from a different perspective, than the feature. Some of the footage used in the film originally looked so dark one could not tell what it was of. Via computer clean-up, a meaningless, basically black original film became incredibly important footage from WWI.
There is a small, community theater in town that shows non-feature films. I do hope they show it now that it has had it's tywo day, USA, feature run. I shall go watch it again on the big screen, while waiting for it to be released on DVD.