You must watch “Dopesick” on Hulu!

"Dopesick" is an eight-part drama miniseries created by Danny Strong based on the non-fiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy. I watched the first episode last night and thought the story, acting, and message were terrific. I became interested in the subject matter - the Sackler family's production and marketing of OxyContin - after reading an article about it in "The New Yorker" several years ago. At that time an investigation had just started of the Sackler claims that this painkilling drug was only one percent addictive. You'll have to watch the miniseries on Hulu to see if those claims were true and how OxyContin use affected some communities in rural America. So will I. The second episode goes live tomorrow, Wednesday, October 27, 2021.   What makes this series even more watchable is the great cast - lead by Michael Keaton who plays a rural doctor who starts giving the pain killer to one of his female patients who … [Read more...]

The power of the movie Spotlight 

I loved the movie Spotlight, about a group of Boston Globe reporters who uncovered and reported on the alleged abuse and rape performed by Catholic priests and its ensuing cover-up. The movie's ensemble cast, including Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Live Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d'Arcy, and Stanley Tucci, has been nominated for six Oscars and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, among others. The movie is so well-written, acted, directed. Really what more can I say? Well there is more. Spotlight was highlighted in the LA Times today because it was screened at a Vatican commission on clerical sex abuse. Here's what LA Times correspondent, Tom Kington, wrote: A Vatican commission on clerical sex abuse gathered Thursday for a private screening of Spotlight, the Oscar-nominated film about abuse by Boston priests, even as Pope Francis came under fire for failing to act on the crisis. The … [Read more...]