FILM: BEING THE RICARDOS (Streaming on Prime Video):
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, Tony Hale, J.K. Simmons, Robert Pine.
Details: Biography/Drama.
Year: 2021.
Rating:M.
Length: 125 Minutes.
Stars: ****
Review: Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the stars of classic 1950s TV comedy “I Love Lucy,” in this slice-of-life biopic from Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7).
Set during one week of production, the film shows Lucy and Desi
facing a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage.
Outstanding biopic brings to vivid life two of the small screens legendary pioneering characters, and throughout the one week of behind-the-scenes of one of the shows most revered episodes, as you are taken back to their early years and through such events as the communist with-hunt and the House of Un-American Activities, but most importantly, two sides of the coin in the shaping of a classic series and the powerhouse relationship between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez from the laughs in front of the camera to the drama running their Desilu Productions Studio empire.
Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem give tour-de-force performances as the dynamic couple, breathing compelling and captivating life as they navigate their way on both sides of the camera, and along with a stand-out supporting cast that includes J.K. Simmons (as William Frawley), Nina Arianda (as Vivian Vance and Tony Hale (as producer Jess Oppenheimer), a top-tier screenplay and direction by Aaron Sorkin, stand-out production design, costumes design and period detail, this all combines to bring you a gripping, hugely entertaining and unmissable experience on two dynamic pioneering forces of nature that made an unparalleled impact in the world of entertainment and changed television history forever.

FILM: THE ELECRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN (Streaming on Prime Video):
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Toby Jones. Andrea Riseborough.
Details: Biography/History/Drama.
Year: 2021.
Rating:M.
Length: 111 Minutes.
Stars: ***½
Review: English artist Louis Wain rises to prominence at the end of the 19th century for his surreal cat paintings that seemed to reflect his declining sanity.
Hot on the heels of his gripping award worthy performance in Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” Benedict Cumberbatch strikes again with great flare and conviction as the eccentric and troubled turn of the century Victorian artist Louis Wain, breathing vibrant and buoyant life into an anomalous genius whose passion and the art of feline creatures completely changed their standing in the then archaic culture, and as a result he and his art of cats became a cultural phenomenon, before plummeting into despair and poverty through tragedy and mental health, and ultimately forgotten by society and to history.
Narrated by Olivia Coleman, the stellar cast also includes Claire Foy as the long devoted and at times suffering wife, Toby Jones as his supportive but embittered U.K. “Illustrated London News” publisher of his art works, Nick Cave as H.G. Wells and Taika Waititi as
American newspaper writer and editor, Max Kase, but the unnamed stars are the cats, plenty of cats, and as a result, an abundance of now cherished and highly collectable cat art, all combined to ultimately reveal a captivating, surreal, sad, complex, charming and highly entertaining tapestry, a loving and respectful portrait of a uniquely idiosyncratic human being and artist who made a difference to so many across generations that resonates to this day.

• James Sherlock