We’re spoilt for choice nowadays when it comes to viewing entertainment, and if your thing is free videos, there’s a lot of choice, including YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, and others. However, where I live, most streaming subscriptions are priced for the third world, so the likes of Netflix et al are often well below $10 per month. Anyway, here’s what we’ve been watching.
The Apprentice (2024) Prime Video
Starring Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong this film tells the relationship between Roy Cohn and the current US president, how they met in the 70s and how Cohn made the latter the person he is today. I was in two minds at first because frankly, I’ve had a belly full of recent headlines, but curiosity got the better of me. Both actors put in stellar performances, but in the end, I was thankful to see the end credits roll because I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know or suspect. I won’t be watching it again.
Gladiator II (2024) Paramount+
A visual spectacle to be sure, but I was left wondering if this film should ever have been made. Gladiator was a wonderful film that brimmed with pathos, and we really connected with Maximus, played by Russell Crowe. Gladiator II, on the other hand, is a mash-up of a poor storyline and some really dodgy casting. Morgan Freeman talking with a New York accent in Rome grinds my teeth, Paul Mescal just doesn’t have the passion required for his role, and Pedro Pascal doesn’t shine as much as he should have. Add to that the rap music, which Romans were not renowned for, and you wonder what Ridley Scott was thinking.
Apple Cider Vinegar (2025) Netflix
I’ve watched numerous series and films about fraudsters who extract money from innocent (and not so innocent) victims, but nothing prepared me for this six-part Australian series. In it, we learn about influencer Belle Gibson, who pretends to have brain cancer, raises money for those who are real cancer patients, and publishes a wellness dietary cookbook, copying most of her material from an actual cancer sufferer and influencer, Milla Blake. Although the production and acting were first class, the timeline became confusing at times, and if the message was to loath the protagonist early on, then in that sense it was a success. By episode three, I simply wanted the lie to end, and it deepened even further my distrust and disdain for influencers who appear to me to be nothing but vultures. Fortunately, Belle Gibson didn’t make a penny from the series, but she still hasn’t made reparations for the damage she intentionally caused. Frankly, she deserves a prison sentence.
Vietnam: The War That Changed America (2025) Apple TV
In 1965, I was eight years old and had no idea that America was sending young men to a country I had never heard of, or, for that matter, neither had they. During the intervening years, my knowledge of the Vietnam War has largely been gleaned from Hollywood movies, YouTube documentaries, and encounters with the odd veteran. This documentary is a moving account of how the war unfolded, with personal accounts from both sides of the battlefield, not to mention the cultural changes taking place in America during the 60s and 70s. I was riveted from beginning to end and was left asking myself if I could ever trust a politician again.
The Thorn Birds (1983) DVD
I’ve read Colleen McCullough’s sweeping yet tragic novel set in 1920s Australia and spanning 60 years, several times over, and one is reminded of such epics as Gone With The Wind; such is the impact that the characters had and still have in modern culture. One wonders if this drama could be made in today’s world of the easily offended, so imagine if you will a Roman Catholic priest who becomes fixated with a beautiful eight-year-old girl, they form a bond which in time turns into passionate love. In essence, it’s a story of impossible love, ambition, and tragedy, yet you feel the love between Father Ralph and Meggie oozing from the screen. Starring Barbara Stanwick, Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Christopher Plummer, Jean Simmons, and Bryan Brown – both he and Rachel Ward fell in love on the set and later married. We were both enthralled by the series, with my only criticism being the almost total lack of Australian accents – mainly American or very bad Irish – and not one kangaroo in sight. Yet it’s a timeless classic that had my wife crying her eyes out at the end.
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