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Todd Haynes brings his usual meticulous eye to the 2011 HBO version of "Mildred Pierce", with every curtain, cocktail, and coffee cup steeped in period authenticity. Kate Winslet is stellar in the title role, supported by a strong cast (and I'm always happy to see Mare Winningham pop up). I haven't read the book or seen the 1945 Joan Crawford film (egad!), but this version apparently hews more closely to the source material, and we've already queued up the movie for a future screening. Still, I'm not sure how much the story resonates today. Some of the dialogue feels hokey even for the time, and the pacing drags; it didn't need five long episodes. While it's undeniably gorgeous, the show's nostalgic lens occasionally slips into something too precious, even wistful, for a world gone by. I'm glad we watched it, but I wouldn't rush right into a repeat viewing.

We finished Netflix's 3-part Katrina docuseries on Friday night, which probably wasn't wise since it left me stewing in anger over the weekend. Nearly 20 years after the storm hit New Orleans, the footage and testimonies still lay bare two undeniable truths: America is very racist and Republicans ruin everything. Watching George Bush and Michael Brown fumble through their roles was a reminder that GOP administrations consistently install unqualified hacks, while lives of poor Black people hang in the balance. The disaster response was a cascade of failures that would never have unfolded the same way in a wealthy white community. Lieutenant General Russel Honoré emerges as the rare hero, stepping up while every level of government dithered as people drowned. The first two episodes lay out the facts with blunt force, while Spike Lee's 90-minute jazzy finale contextualizes the disaster within America's long, ugly history of racism. This documentary is a damning indictment that still resonates two decades later and is well worth your time.

In our ongoing quest to see every musician documentary available, we watched "Elton John: Never Too Late", a safe, easy, and affectionate look at the artist who soundtracked so much of my youth. Hearing those 70s hits again transported me back to summer drives through the southwest Ohio countryside with my dad at the wheel and Elton on the AM radio. Produced and directed by his husband David Furnish, this is a fairly conventional doc that builds to Elton's final U. S. show at Dodger Stadium. It doesn't break new ground, but it's still moving to see him with his kids and to hear him speak candidly, albeit briefly, about past struggles. The real heart is in his lifelong collaboration with Bernie Taupin, still going strong after 50 years. It's not a deep dive and the storytelling felt a bit disjointed, but it never tipped into the puff-piece zone common of hagiographies and left me wanting more, which is not a bad place to land.