— by RON WILKINSON — In a story rich in family dynamics with a substantial kicker of gender, class and nationality discrimination, Wanda comes to a luxurious villa in Switzerland, the manse of an industrial magnate. Although she has no wealth, her riches lie in her family. On one level, [...]
Archive for April, 2021
Review: Percy vs. Goliath
— by BEV QUESTAD — We’re in a protestant church, maybe Lutheran, in Saskatchewan, Canada, during the Sunday morning singing of a hymn when a skinny old man with odd hair notices darkness out the window. He quietly gets up, taps a man on the shoulder in the front row, and they leave dow[...]
Review: The Virtuoso
— by RON WILKINSON — The thread of samurai tradition runs through this noir thriller. An assassin is exceptionally good at what he does thanks to a godfather figure, the soldier comrade of the assassin’s deceased father. Taking the young man under his wing and teaching him a trade that[...]
Review: Kiss the Ground
— by BEV QUESTAD — Woody Harrelson announces he’s given up on fixing the environment. It’s simply too vast a problem with each solution seemingly causing more problems. But then he asks, “What if there is another path?” What does he mean? This past week, churches celebrated Earth[...]
Review: Voyagers
— by RON WILKINSON — Thirty brainwashed kids and one semi-coherent adult launch in a spaceship on an 86-year mission that few of them will survive. What could go wrong? Well, anyone who watched “2001: A Space Odyssey” knows plenty can go wrong. If they also read “Lord of the Flies[...]
Review: Every Breath You Take
— by RON WILKINSON — The usual trip to hockey practice turns into a fatal car crash that changes lives forever. Unfortunately it does not do much to change the lives of thousands of people watching this tedious drama cum thriller. The problem is the film makers cannot decide which it is,[...]
Review: The Man Who Sold His Skin
— by RON WILKINSON — A Syrian citizen makes a big mistake by heralding the revolution on a bus. Besotted with love, he proclaims his devotion to his lover and his freedom and promptly loses both. Luckily, there was a solution, a way to be free and be a patron of the arts at the […[...]
Review: Nina Wu
— by RON WILKINSON — The film medium is made for that marvelous merging of dreams and life. The ultimate dream for some, the dream of fame and fortune, awaits those who reach stardom. The trick is to achieve that pinnacle of success and keep one’s sanity, or one’s soul if you will. O[...]
Review: Red Soil
— by RON WILKINSON — Something nasty is afoot at the alumina plant. One of the few chemicals not yet squarely implicated in outright poisonings of local populations, aluminum and its chemical progeny have their dark side. As alumina is freed from Bauxite ore a red sludge is left behind t[...]