Uncertain Age

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye put on their reading glasses to peruse the 2020 murder mystery The Thursday Murder Club, a novel by British television presenter Richard Osman where a group of pensioners in an idyllic retirement village use their wits to crack open a murder case. Is the book a cozy page-turner with clever twists or a snoozy rehash of murder my...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye put on their comfortable walking shoes to go on The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: the 2023 drama starring Jim Broadbent as the restless title character who goes on a—wait for it—unlikely pilgrimage that he believes will keep an old friend alive. Is Harold’s story an affecting portrait of a man hoping to make amends with hi...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye revisit 1997’s “bee” movie Ulee’s Gold, a quietly powerful film that also explores themes of aging, redemption, and family. Directed by Victor Nunez and starring Peter Fonda in one of his most nuanced performances, Ulee’s Gold follows Ulee Jackson, a widowed beekeeper who struggles to hold his fractured family together while te...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye take a ride with Clint Eastwood’s 2018 film The Mule. Inspired by a true story, The Mule follows Earl Stone, an elderly horticulturist who inadvertently becomes a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. As he navigates a dangerous underworld, Earl is forced to confront his past mistakes, estranged family, and the unexpected conseque...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye gaze lovingly at Paolo Sorrentino’s 2013 cinematic masterpiece, The Great Beauty. Starring Toni Servillo as the charismatic yet world-weary Jep Gambardella, the film explores the lavish decadence of Rome’s high society while contemplating art, memory, and the search for meaning in a fleeting world. With its breathtaking cinemat...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye dissect the 2023 film Poor Things. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Academy Award-winning Emma Stone, Poor Things is a surreal and visually stunning tale of transformation, liberation, and self-discovery. Stone plays Bella Baxter, a young woman resurrected by an unorthodox scientist, who embarks on an adventure of enli...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas sharpen their critical shears for the 2022 film Master Gardener, while Dale Basye accidentally reviewed the 2005 film The Constant Gardener. This stuff happens sometimes. Is Master Gardener a compelling and meditative character study, or does it struggle to cultivate a meaningful narrative? Is The Constant Gardener a gripping political thrill...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye take on the 2011 film Beginners. Starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer, Beginners is a heartfelt drama that delves into themes of love, identity, and late-life reinvention. Plummer delivers an Oscar-winning performance as Hal, a man who comes out as gay in his seventies after the passing of his wife, while his son, pla...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye explore a selection of Alzheimer's-themed movies, analyzing how film portrays the struggles, realities, and emotional depths of living with the disease. From heart-wrenching dramas to thought-provoking narratives, we examine how cinema captures the complexities of memory loss, identity, and caregiving. Learn more on Uncertain A...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas, Dale Basye and special guest writer/director/sculptor Howard Goldberg visit The Old Man: the television series starring Jeff Bridges as Dan Chase, a former CIA operative who has been living off the grid for decades. When his past catches up to him, Chase is forced to go on the run, evading both the FBI and powerful enemies who want him dead....

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye pull up a chair to spend some time with the 2018 David Lowery film, The Old Man and the Gun, where Robert Redford plays a real-life convict who escaped San Quentin to perpetrate a string of heists. Is the film—Redford’s last— a fitting farewell for the legend, or a half-baked feel-good thriller that nobody asked for? Find out o...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye are DTW (Down To Watch) the 2001 crime classic Sexy Beast, where Ben Kingsley plays pretty much the exact opposite of his Oscar-winning portrayal as Gandhi. Does the film holdup as a gripping thriller of ruthless gangsters reluctantly reuniting for one last heist, or is it a Cockney mess of violence and humor? Find out on Uncer...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye embrace a “cantor-do” attitude and watch the 2024 Nathan Silver film, Between the Temples, where Jason Schwartzman plays a grieving cantor who finds solace and unexpected joy in an unlikely friendship with his childhood music teacher, Carol Kane. Is the film a poignant portrait of grief, loss, and the search for meaning after t...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye mourn the tragic loss of cinema visionary David Lynch by digging deep into what could be his strangest film (at least for him): 1999’s The Straight Story. The movie follows the real-life journey of 73-year-old Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth in his final role) who, with failing health and no driver's license, travels hundred...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye see if there’s life after Death and Other Details, the 2024 mystery drama Hulu show starring Violett Beane and Mandy Patinkin. Is the show a clever whodunit that keeps you guessing until the end or a tired rehash of genre tropes that will have you praying for a merciful release? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there’s a movie...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye put up their dukes for Feud, the anthology series created by American Horror Story’s Ryan Murphy that explores the lives and rivalries of famous figures in Hollywood. So is Feud a stylish and campy glimpse into iconic celebrity relationships or is it full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye stay in for the holidays and watch The Holdovers, director Alexander Payne’s 2023 comedy-drama where a disgraced English teacher (Paul Giamatti) is forced to spend Christmas break at his elite boarding school with a group of students who have nowhere else to go. Is the film a clever feast of unexpected connection and unlikely b...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye knock back the 2013 romantic comedy The Love Punch, where Emma Thompson and Pierce Brosnan play a divorced couple who team up to take back their stolen retirement money.  Is the film a sweet concoction of rekindled romance and intrigue, or a cloy potion of cinematic aspartame that will leave you gagging? Find out on Uncertain A...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye go through the motions to review the HBO Max show Hacks, the acclaimed comedy-drama series that follows Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a legendary stand-up comedian at a career crossroads, and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), a young, struggling writer. Does the show keenly tackle aging, fame, and the evolving nature of comedy, or...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye join the family for His Three Daughters, the 2023 drama where three estranged sisters (Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, and Carrie Coon) reunite to care for their ailing father in his New York City apartment. Is the film a compelling study of family, love, and loss, or is it a trite vehicle for three otherwise wonderful actress...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye get real, watching the 2018 documentary Lives Well Lived, which features a diverse group of seniors aged 75-100 who share their insights on life, love, and aging gracefully. Does the movie show the value of making the most of your precious time, or is it time best spent elsewhere? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there’s a mov...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye bone up on Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Wiser Than Me podcast, where the Seinfeld and Veep star interviews her older female idols. Is the show a candid and often hilarious series of insightful conversations, or is it yet another vanity celebrity podcast best left unheard? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there’s a movie, show, or podc...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye take a bite into Apples Never Fall: a 2024 psychological thriller miniseries starring Annette Bening and Sam Neill that lifts the rock off of a seemingly “perfect” family to expose the wriggling ugliness beneath. Is the show an engrossing exploration of dark family dynamics or is it a desperate Desperate Housewives-ish whodonei...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye swallow The Substance: the controversial 2024 psychological body-horror film starring Demi Moore as an aging celebrity who has hit bottom, and is willing to do ANYTHING to regain her youth. Is the film a provocative exploration of the warped funhouse mirror of female aging in modern society, or is it an off-putting mess of cine...

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye keep their voices down but run the risk of Waking Ned Devine, nonetheless. Yes, your plucky hosts hold vigil around the 2004 Irish comedy/drama where the title character wins the lottery and—spoiler—dies, so his village, desperate for financial relief, hatches a plan to claim the lottery winnings on Ned's behalf. Is the film a...