Pass the popcorn and ridicule this movie

Normally I would never watch romantic schlock like It Ends with Us (based on the Colleen Hoover book), the 2024 Netflix film directed by Justin Baldoni and starring him and Blake Lively. But given the massive controversy over the film and lawsuits back and forth between the two prime stars, Netflix's release of the film this weekend was a longing-for-popcorn moment. I sat back and watched and smirked the whole way through, constantly mouthing cutting remarks to both of the stars though I sided with Baldoni on this one. Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and Baldoni countersued, then a settlement was reached over the past month. She accused him of sexual harassment, ironically given that is a theme of the film. It was the stuff of constant Hollywood headlines and even I, someone not much into celebrity gossip, couldn't stop reading about it. So regardless of any quality the film might have had technically it's overlaid with the feud surrounding it. It's kind of like watching Tommy Wiseau's The Room, often considered the worst movie ever made. Technically, Ends is well made if a bit romantically syrupy. It oozes cotemporary vibes with Lively striking out as as a small town girl (Lily Bloom - seriously) in Boston opening her own flower shop. On a summer rooftop evening she meets Ryle, whom she takes for a crypto bro (he looks it) but is a neurosurgeon. Love, uh, blooms. And there is loads of intimacy, leading one to see how one or another of the characters may have stepped over the line. In the film Lively struck me as more vulnerable (and younger) than I imagined and Baldoni extraordinary handsome and a take no guff kind of guy (hence counter lawsuit). But what annoyed me the most was how gooey hip contemporary the whole thing was, complete with Rob Simonsen and Duncan Blickenstaff's plaintive emotive score. More chardonnay please, please. 

The most famous jazz piano concert record that almost never came off

Köln 75, directed by Ido Fluk, is a documentary that doesn't seem like a documentary. It's about this legendary German music promoter, Vera Brandes, and her production of a Keith Jarrett concert in Cologne (Köln) Germany in 1975. Which just happened to result in the best selling live jazz piano concert recording of all time. Yes, it's an against all odds kind of story but this actually happened. Brandes was a hell-raising 18-year-old when she met famed Brit jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott, who made romantic overtures in a local club. Nothing came of it but he saw her fearlessness and drive and hired her to book club dates. Learning literally on the job - and by the skin of her teeth - her recognition grew as Cologne became the centre of Germany's jazz scene. While the rest of the world was caught up in mid-1970s rock and roll (remember the Doobie Brothers?) and jazz was seen as old hat Köln and Vera were tuned to a different vibe. The film is creatively made, at turns with a third person narrator, but cutting sharply to a fictionalize style drama. The movie, of course, is about Brandes, and also her rebellion against her staid authoritarian parents, her father especially who despised what she was doing and made no effort to conceal his disdain. But Brandes's "bratty" personality underlined her goal of moving in the moment of the jazz world. When the famed pianist Keith Jarrett came to Germany she was chosen as his promoter. Jarrett, a prodigy and pianist with legendary Myles Davis but who struck out on his own, agreed to come to Köln. But tired and physically in pain and hearing the concert piano was poorly tuned he adamantly refused to play. That put Vera on the spot as she had paid upfront 10K Deutsche Marks and promised her mother (who lent her the money) she would quit music promotion if the concert failed. It didn't. But the excitement builds as Brandes and her friends work to a frenzy to see the concert - with a tuned if otherwise deficient piano - come off. Brandes is played by Mala Emde, Jarrett by John Magaro and Michael Chernus as jazz journalist Mick Watts (the last two of Orange is the New Black fame), who hitches a physically uncomfortable car ride across Europe with Jarrett and his producer Michael Eicher (Alexander Scheer), who'd go on to found ECM Records.