Screen Test

Dominic Sessa and Emilia Jones in “Tony.” Photo via IMDb.com. 'Most of us don’t know when our time will be up. Uncertainty is one of the things that keeps life interesting. But the rules don’t apply when it comes to subjects of biopics. (Bob Dylan, as usual, being the exception.) In biopics, knowing how the story ends is why the story is being told in the first place. Instead of suspense or surprise, we get a spoiler alert.  So we know going into the theater to see “Tony,” that the film’s subject is Anthony Bourdain.  More accurately, it’s an origin story of  a teen dude with attitude who would, decades later, gain international notice as a bad boy chef and bestselling author before morphing into a sardonic travel guide and hedonistic philosopher until he committed suicide. But that’s all yet to come. “Tony” takes place in the summer of 1975 when its protagonist was a 19-year-old writing student at Vassar College. Sure, a huge ego is a prerequisite for anyone aspiring to...

Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and George (Hugh Jackman) in "The Sheep Detectives."  Amazon MGM photo via IMDb.com Showing my age, I’ve become fond of British whodunnits on PBS. So the end of “Grantchester” along with summer recess of “Patience” produced a bit of a funk. Luckily a woolly posse arrived to pick up the slack. Now available on Prime Video, the peculiarly titled, family-friendly crime comedy “The Sheep Detectives” is unexpectedly touching, not to mention, great fun. Reminiscent of the groundbreaking “Babe,” most of the cast members have four legs and are computer-generated. A stellar ensemble led by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Stewart, Bryan Cranston  and Brett Goldstein provide their voices. Hugh Jackman leads the actual humans on screen, playing shepherd George. From his oh-so-cozy caravan (that’s British for Airstream) parked in their meadow, George is utterly devoted to his flock. He turns out to be a bloomin’ genius, too, and more than a little prescient as...