Best ‘Madoff’ yet; secret agents, FBI on hunt in well-made thrillers

Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street (9/10): Four episodes. TV-MA. Netflix. What Bernie Madoff actually did is explained, and the people who coordinated with him are exposed. I’ve seen all the Madoff treatments, and this is the best.

Agent Hamilton (8/10): Season 2, eight episodes. MHz Choice. TV-14. Charismatic Jakob Oftebro stars as Carl Hamilton, a former Swedish secret agent who is hired by the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) to find out who is responsible for a series of cyberattacks and bombings. He must fight against the powers in his own agency as well as Intelligence agents of Russia and the United States who seem to be conniving with international business interests (like the World Economic Forum?) encouraging a new Cold War. Based upon the novels by Jan Guillou, but updated to include modern technology, various episodes have different directors but all keep the same motif. Shot in Sweden, Lithuania, Morocco and Zagreb, Croatia, this is the second season of a well-made thriller that keeps the viewer involved throughout. The first season may be viewed on Prime Video.

The Night Agent (8/10): 10 episodes. TV-MA. Netflix.

Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Brasso) is a newbie FBI agent locked in an office in the lower echelons of The White House waiting for a phone that never rings to ring. When it does finally ring, he finds himself smack dab in the middle of a conspiracy that involves the Deep State threatening to take over the government as he is stuck with protecting a vital witness, Rose Larkin (Lucianne Buchanan), and,

At the Movies with Tony Medley

ultimately, saving the country. He is vilified, and they are chased by everyone including his own FBI, and he doesn’t know whom to trust.

Rabbit Hole (7/10): Eight episodes. TV-MA. Paramount+. While it’s got tension, it is diminished by the production, like the convoluted back-and-forth switches in time that can be annoyingly confusing. Then there is the whispered dialogue of star Kiefer Sutherland, the master of mutter, when everyone else is speaking normally. Subtitles, please! Even worse is the dark cinematography. Not only is it hard to hear, it’s hard to see.

In a nutshell, John Weir (Sutherland), some sort of corporate espionage expert, is framed for murder (in an only-in-Hollywood elaboration), so he spends the rest of the time trying to clear himself, stay alive and figure out what’s going on in what appears to be a grandiloquent scheme to, what? Take over the world? The producers did not grant access to the last two episodes, so this is based on the first six. As a result, fortunately, I don’t have to sit through the last two unless I really want to, which I probably don’t.

To Catch a Killer (4/10): 119 Minutes. R. This is a strange story of the chase to find a serial killer. Eleanor (Shailene Woodley) is a fledgling police investigator who has a troubled past when she is drafted by the FBI’s chief investigator (Ben Mendelsohn) to help track the killer down. She is demeaned by others because of her youth, inexperience and psychological problems, but Mendelsohn has faith in her mainly because he recognizes that her verstehen makes her the only person who could somehow intellectually identify with the killer and understand him.

It’s a tenuous proposition, and it leads to a denouement that challenges reason, given the sociopathy of the killer. Worse, it treats the vicious cold-blooded killer with surprising and blatantly unjustified sympathy and understanding.

Mafia Mamma (3/10): 101 Minutes. R. Anything you can do, I can do better. / I can do anything better than you.

-Irving Berlin

“Annie Get Your Gun,” 1946 Berlin beat director Catherine Hardwicke to this story 77 years ago, and he did it better. This movie epitomizes why everyone acknowledges that comedy is hard and requires unique talent for both director and actors. Toni Collette portrays a normal, if unconfident, American mother who works at an advertising agency where she is unappreciated due to her sex. She goes to Italy to attend her grandfather’s funeral. But this is no ordinary grandfather. He was a mafia godfather, unbeknownst to her.

From a screenplay by Michael J. Feldman and Debbie Jhoon, what follows is a silly screwball comedy attempt with Collette giving an inept Lucille Ball imitation as she fumbles her way into reluctantly replacing her grandfather as the godfather. It is so implausible with so many unlikely events that it’s more pitiful than humorous. I didn’t even smile once, much less laugh. Worse, it has a twist that strains credulity. The one thing that made this mildly watchable (ergo my 3/10 rating) was the location with beautiful shots of Rome and other parts of Italy. Even with talent, it would take a thaumaturge to make something of this bunkum.

Eco Fair is May 7

A free family-friendly Eco Fair is on Sun., May 7 from 1 to 4 p.m. at 546 N. June St. The second annual event will feature games, music, planet-conscious vendors and information on recycling and rebate programs. Everyone is welcome to this Hang Out Do Good event, but space is limited. RSVP at tinyurl.com/ ynb696a4. To volunteer write hangoutdogood@gmail.com.

Area youth share camaraderie on Loyola swim team

During my first year of college dormitory living, I roomed with a swimmer. I wrestled, and Steeb Hall, located on Ohio State’s south campus, was where most of us Buckeye athletes lived.

Wrestlers work hard. Add that we have to lose weight, and there probably isn’t a more demanding sport. That’s what I believed until my first year in the dormitories. My roommate woke at 5:30 a.m. five days a week, then walked — no matter what the weather was like — to Larkins Hall, where Ohio State’s aquatic facilities were located, so he could practice before breakfast and classes. Then he’d return to the pool later that afternoon to join his teammates for their second practice of the day.

I became thankful I only wrestled. The plunge

Loyola High School’s pool is outdoors. The water is heated (they use a cover to reduce energy costs) but, with the brisk temperatures this winter, the pool temperature remained below comfortable. It’s surprising anybody goes out for the swim team or gets in the pool.

“A lot of us just sit on deck stalling as long as we can,” said junior Kenny You. “It’s only a few minutes of being cold, but I don’t think anyone ever gets used to it.”

Frigid water isn’t the only challenge that makes swimming one of the most difficult sports.

“Training often includes multiple timed sprints or distance swims with very little rest,” explained You. “Most of that time is spent staring at a black line on the bottom of the pool for hours on end as we push our bodies to their physical limits for the smallest improvements.”

“A lot of people don’t understand the level of training this requires,” said Joe Drynan, a senior who likes the 500-yard freestyle race. “Swimming engages almost every muscle in

Youth Sports by

Jim Kalin

the body, and we have to work out while holding our breath most of the time. I would say it is fairly difficult.”

Starting young

Eugene Choi is a junior who likes to swim the 100- and 200yard freestyle races. He recently logged his personal best times during an invitational hosted by Loyola High School at USC’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center that saw the Santa Margarita High girls’ 200 freestyle relay set a national high school record.

“I began swimming when I was 5,” said Choi.

Kenny You was also 5 when he started.

“My parents wanted me to do a sport when I was little, and I initially took lessons at the YMCA,” said You. “I started swimming competitively when I was 11 for LACC (Los Angeles Community College) in Rapids

Swim Club, then Team Century Swim. My favorite race is the 100-yard backstroke.”

Joe Drynan started later than Choi and You. He was in fifth grade when he began.

“It was initially just for fun,” said Drynan. “I swam for team HPSC (Hancock Park Swim Club), which had a name change to BLAST (Burbank-Los Angeles Swim Team). We swam at Marlborough’s pool.”

Camaraderie

Strenuous training builds camaraderie, but so do other things. One tradition at Loyola pertains to every first-year member of the varsity swim team. They get their heads shaved. Without humor, reward and student leadership (the team captains are Max Cahill and Rex Mauer), there is no team unity.

Two years ago, on April Fools’ Day, the swim coaches decided to play a joke on the team. None of the coaches showed up for practice. So what did the swimmers do?

“After about an hour of waiting we all went to eat breakfast together,” said You. Talk about getting the last laugh!

ST. JAMES’ EPISCOPAL

Evan Listi

6th Grade

At St. James’ we have our Night of the Arts on May 11. It is a joyous evening where students showcase what they have been learning in music and performing arts. The 6th graders will be singing “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift and I can’t wait to see the other grades’ performances.

Another highly anticipated day in May is Grandparents and Special Friends’ Day on May 12. We bring our loved ones to school and they get to see what it’s like being a St. James’ student.

May is also the time that 5th and 6th graders travel for their overnight field study trips. The 6th graders will travel to Washington D.C. It is such an amazing experience to be able to see, in-person, the things we have been learning about in class. It is definitely a highlight of the year for most 6th graders. The 5th graders will be taking an equally exciting trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. I know the 5th graders are looking forward to this out-of-this-world trip!