A new location for the blog, a new (temporary) location for me, and a new year on this planet.

Lots of new to review.

First things first, thank you for following me to the new location for Mary Dalton On Media. Now that we’re past the transition, I will keep you updated on what I’m watching and what I think about it.

Let’s start with yesterday.

I celebrated my birthday as I have many times during my adult years…by going to the movies.

But, this is my first birthday in Denmark!

I’m in Copenhagen for the semester teaching two media studies courses to Wake Forest students and enjoying every moment of it. It’s also helpful that a Saturday birthday doesn’t impinge on the work schedule in the least.

By joining the cinema club at the Palace, I earned free popcorn, and by telling the ticket taker it was my birthday, I got the surprise gift of a free ticket.

What else is in the photo? Caramel-flavored licorice sticks. There are scores of varieties of licorice on sale at the concession stand.

It is a very big deal here  and gorgeous to look gaze upon, don’t you think?

A lot of the English-language films playing in Copenhagen this week are movies I’ve already seen, so I stumbled upon Wind River for my birthday matinee.

Writer-director Taylor Sheridan won acclaim recently for writing Hell or High Water and then, as now, I appreciate his understated approach to action films. He is accomplished at writing the small moments, letting character development unfold with nuance and authenticity, and building tension over time.

I’m a huge fan of Jeremy Renner’s work, and he is compelling and sympathetic as a tracker for the Fish and Wildlife Service (that has certainly not been overdone!) who helps a less experienced FBI agent try to solve the murder of a young, Native American woman. All of the performances work for me.

There is nothing particularly surprising or original about the story, but that is not a problem. The film is well-crafted and wrenchingly captures the psychic pain transmitted across the generations on tribal lands without falling into cliché.

I recommend the film.

As a matter of coincidence, I’ve been watching Sons of Anarchy with my son and comparing notes with him. We used to watch together, but now we watch on our separate continents, our comparisons come in the form–mostly–of Instant Messenger chats.

He’s a little a head of me, and I have to admit that Season 6 is wearing me down because everyone has become so horribly duplicitous and, let’s admit it, vicious. He urges me on, and I have promised to keep watching, though no more back-to-back episodes for me!

Son, if you’re reading this, I’m excited to tell you that Taylor Sheridan–writer and director of Wind River–previously played Deputy David Hale on Sons of Anarchy.

I always liked his character; he was one of the good ones.