The Diplomat

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye take a look at The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s sweeping adaptation of Homer’s epic starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, a weary warrior fighting his way home years after the Trojan War. As the film follows Odysseus through monsters, temptations, and the long ache of time away from his family, we explore how this ancient story speaks to the journeys of midlife: the pull of home, the weight of choices made long ago, and whether we can ever truly return to the people and places we left behind. Learn more on Uncertain Age! And if there’s a movie, show, or podcast you’d like us to review, let us know at [email protected].

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye take a look at The Outfit, the tightly wound crime thriller starring Mark Rylance as Leonard, a meticulous English cutter whose quiet Chicago shop becomes the setting for one long, dangerous night with the mob. As the film follows Leonard through a web of betrayal, loyalty, and carefully measured deception, we explore how the story turns patience, craft, and a lifetime of quiet observation into unexpected strengths, and what it means to be underestimated as we get older. Learn more on Uncertain Age! And if there’s a movie, show, or podcast you’d like us to review, let us know at [email protected].

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye brush up on their Italian for La Grazia, the latest film from Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino. It stars Toni Servillo as a widowed Italian president in the last months of his term, who has to make agonizing decisions about mercy, justice and his own legacy. Is the film a graceful, deeply moving meditation on conscience and aging, or a gorgeously shot but slow procession of needlessly heavy thoughts? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there's a movie, show, or podcast you'd like us to review, let us know at [email protected]! Grazie mille e a presto!

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye pour a strong cup of tea and settle in with Bad Sisters, the darkly comic Apple TV thriller from Sharon Horgan about the Garvey sisters, five fiercely loyal Irish siblings who'll stop at nothing to protect one another, even if that means murder. Is the show a sharp, wickedly funny ode to sisterhood, or a family drama that's buried under too many bodies? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there's a movie, show, or podcast you'd like us to review, let us know at [email protected]!

This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye put on their comfortable walking shoes for a stroll through Widow's Bay, where the scenery is gorgeous and the life expectancy is not. This 2026 Apple TV horror-comedy stars Matthew Rhys as an ambitious New England mayor bent on turning his little island into the next Martha's Vineyard, despite the centuries-old curse that keeps, wait for it, killing everybody. With Kate O'Flynn, Stephen Root, and Dale Dickey along for the very bumpy ferry ride. Is Katie Dippold's genre-bender a wickedly funny love letter to Jaws-era horror, or a tourist trap that runs out of chum? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there's a movie, show, or podcast you'd like us to review, let us know at [email protected]!

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye probe Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day, a UFO conspiracy thriller that plays like Close Encounters got recruited by the CIA and made to sign an NDA. Written by David Koepp from a story by Spielberg himself, the film stars Emily Blunt as a mild-mannered meteorologist who abruptly starts clicking and chittering on live TV (first contact by way of the Weather Channel) and Josh O'Connor as a cybersecurity whistleblower who's just cracked open a vault of stolen alien tech and government secrets he was paid to bury. Is the film a paranoid return to Spielberg's sense-of-wonder roots, or does its Three Days of the Condor-meets-alien-abduction plot buckle under its own cosmic weight? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there's a movie, show, or podcast you'd like us to review, let us know at [email protected].

  Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas hosts solo for a deep dive into the award-winning feature film The Addiction of Hope, with indie filmmakers Martin Grey Gottlieb and Anne-Marie Johnson. The film is a moving story about a successful female actor of a certain age coming to terms with the realities of ageism in show business as she reconnects with herself, her family, and discovers a new fulfilling passion. The film is streaming on Amazon, Apple, and Tubi, and there's lots more at theaddictionofhopefilm.com. A special note for anyone on the Big Island of Hawaii: there's a benefit screening on June 26 at the Historic Aloha Theatre! And if there's a movie, show, or podcast you'd like us to review, let us know at [email protected].

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye dissect the 2025 Netflix film A House of Dynamite. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, A House of Dynamite has the President of the United States (Elba) making the toughest decision of his life when a mysterious missile is launched toward the country, with only minutes to decide whether to retaliate or hold back. The film unfolds from three different perspectives, peeling back layers of political tension and human frailty along the way. Is A House of Dynamite a taut and thought-provoking portrait of doomsday decision-making, or does its unconventional structure leave audiences feeling shortchanged? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there's a movie, show, or podcast you'd like us to review, let us know at [email protected].

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye dissect the Netflix series The Diplomat. Keri Russell plays Kate Wyler, a no-nonsense American ambassador suddenly thrust into the heart of a major international crisis, all while navigating a complicated marriage to a politically ambitious husband and a role she never expected to be in. Is The Diplomat a savvy and compulsively watchable portrait of modern geopolitics, or does it stretch credibility in its race to the next twist? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there's a movie, show, or podcast you'd like us to review, let us know at [email protected].

Welcome to Uncertain Age! This week, AR (Anna) Nicholas and Dale Basye take on the 2025 film Black Bag. Starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, Black Bag is a sleek espionage thriller that delves into themes of trust, loyalty, and the dangerous intersection of marriage and spycraft.  Is the film a taut and stylishly crafted exercise in tension, or does it sacrifice emotional depth for genre thrills? Find out on Uncertain Age! And if there's a movie, show, or podcast you'd like us to review, let us know at [email protected]!