Movies, like the times, have changed over the years.

So have audiences. And critics.

The abundance of slasher, superhero, teenage, and downright lousy movies has grown to the point where weeks go by with nary a “good movie” to see. And they are expensive! Too expensive for most newspaper budgets. Friends tell me they can’t remember the last good movie they saw at the multiplexes.

While Don will continue to cover outstanding movies (Joyce’s health issues limit her attendance), he will concentrate on Rhode Island’s thriving theater scene.

We do plan to cover the best of Netflix, including a series that Don has been watching during his recent recuperation from a hospital stay.

NETFLIX

OUTLANDER: Season 6

* * * *

(Historical fantasy)

The sixth season of the historical fantasy continues to entertain and educate its audience.

Starring Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall, the time-travelling Boston doctor from the World War II era and Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser, the Scottish Highlander of the 1740s, Highlander follows the cultural clashes that occur as these totally different people fall in love while trying to survive in a violent, ever-changing world.

First, you have to accept that a proper American woman can travel back and forth in time and connect with a formally uneducated Scottish warrior as they try, and fail, to change history and educate those from the past as to what lies ahead if they don’t change their ways.

The series is filled with a torrid love affair, realistic battles (particularly the Battle of Culloden), man’s inhumanity and humanity, prejudice and just about every emotion possible.

We follow Claire as she becomes a healer, performing “miracles” and deemed a witch by many.

Jamie is torn between his allegiance to his Jacobite upbringing, duty to support the King of England, and finally love for America and Native Americans as he becomes the head of Freedom Ridge, a growing immigrant community in North Carolina.

As Season 6 begins, an event happens in Boston that changes everything: The Boston Tea Party. Claire and Jamie try to warn folks as to what awaits them. Can they change the course of history?

It is, of course, pure fantasy. It does, however, make you stop and think about what our ancestors could have done to change its course. To fully appreciate this beautifully filmed historical series, you have to buy into the characters with all their strengths and weaknesses.

Take in a couple of one-hour episodes a day and learn a bit of history while being entertained by this intoxicating series.