This Week’s Binge 2.26.21

Nomadland

Hulu

I’m a big Frances McDormand fan and since ‘Nomadland’ got nominated for a Best Drama Golden Globe, I was excited to watch it. If you also like Frances McDormand, you won’t be disappointed. She balances being Frances McDormand (you know there are certain actors that no matter what character they play bring a similar vibe) perfectly with being the lead character in ‘Nomadland’.

When a rural town is essentially wiped off the map when the industrial factory shuts down, Frances’s character falls into a nomadic lifestyle and this is her journey along the way. What is so profound is that the factory really did shut down, it really did eliminate a town from the map, and most of the nomads in the movie are nomads in real life. And that may be why the acting and the writing seemed so real…because it was.

I’m sticking with ‘Promising Young Woman‘ as Best Drama, but I won’t be shocked if this wins either.

I am: Entertained

I Care a Lot

Netflix

I watched the whole thing, I was entertained, but this was never a made for theater movie.

‘I Care a Lot’ has a solid A-/B+ cast with what could be a cool (albeit disturbing) premise, a white-collar con artist meets her match when she cons the wrong person, but it doesn’t quite deliver.

It feels like it could have been a great book that they didn’t know exactly how to adapt into a film and runs about 30 minutes too long. Rosamund Pike did a fine job, but I’m surprised she was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe. I’m sticking with Maria Bakalova as my pick…I do not know how she pulled off her Borat performance.

I am: Entertained

Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives

Michael Newton

Stick with me here as I have some disclaimers. First let me say, this book was published in the mid-90s, and literary art wasn’t what it is today so don’t judge a book by its cover. Second, I consider myself to be somewhat woo-woo curious, but I am a natural skeptic. And last, I feel (really feel) so much about this book that doing a proper review is difficult. I actually had to get on a Zoom with a friend to discuss the book when I finished it because that’s how overwhelming it is.

There are few books that are life-changing, and I believe ‘Journey of Souls’ to be one. The author, Dr. Michael Newton, was a renowned hypnotherapist that developed a regression technique to take his patients back in time before their souls were incarnate. I know…it actually sounds crazy just saying it. But I read plenty of fiction books so when a friend recommended this and said it was mind-blowing I thought, why not?

It took 3 months for me to finish it (which is why I haven’t reviewed any books recently) because it is heavy and it is so much to unpack. I found myself thinking of the content in the book almost on a daily basis. Sometimes over a week would go by before I could pick it up again because I needed to have the mental energy, but at the same time I was eager to read it because I wanted to see what it had to say.

What I love about this book is that it comes, since he’s a doctor, from a scientific point of view. Also, unlike many ‘what is the meaning of life’ books or beliefs, this is not conceptual or vague. Dr. Newton gives clear-cut answers, via the transcripts of 29 case studies with patients, to what happens afterlife, before life, and to the soul in between lives. It. Is. Fascinating.

Is it real? I can’t answer that. Has it got me thinking? 100%. I highly, HIGHLY, recommend reading it and deciding for yourself. What do you have to lose?

Oh, and because my husband asked me…no, I’m not joining a cult. At least I don’t think I am.

I am: Obsessed