— by BEV QUESTAD — 1. “The last capitalist we hang is the one who sold us the rope.” Who said it? Nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, “Triangle of Sadness” is a cutting satire on power and the human condition. The very worst part of the film, which lasted many minutes, was the [...]
Author Archive
Review: The First Step
— by BEV QUESTAD — If you tend to watch CNN then you probably know the handsome, well-spoken Yale Law School commentator whose rich voice speaks with passion. On the night of the 2016 election he somberly intoned: “It’s hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids:[...]
Review: After Love
— by BEV QUESTAD — The day after the death of her husband, a British woman, whose home is in Dover, learns about a surprise her husband left behind across the Channel in Calais. This alone is intriguing enough, but the widow is a Muslim, all wrapped up in a hijab … with striking blue [[...]
Review: Navalny
— by BEV QUESTAD — Early on in this remarkable Oscar-nominated documentary, Alexei Navalny is asked, “If you are killed, what message do you leave for the Russian people?” Navalny is the handsome 41-year-old lawyer who campaigned against business and government corruption in Russia. [...]
Review: Motherland
— by BEV QUESTAD — What genocide began on Sept. 27, 2020? I posed that question to a social justice group who tracks this kind of thing. One person was sure of the answer, correctly, but the other 12 disagreed, asserting his answer couldn’t be true because they hadn’t heard of it. Az[...]
Review: Good Night Oppy
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Good Night Oppy” is a surprisingly-entertaining film about exploration on Mars and the hunt for water. It won the 2022 Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards for best director, best science/nature documentary, best narration, best score, and best overall doc[...]
Review: Maybe I Do
— by BEV QUESTAD — Oh boy! Right after fed-up Howard (Richard Gere) breaks up with his man-eating, sex-starved lover, Monica (Susan Sarandon), she threatens revenge. And right after shy Grace (Diane Keaton) attempts a hotel encounter with demoralized Sam (William Macy), she has regrets. [...]
Oscar picked the wrong crop!
— by BEV QUESTAD — The Academy Award nominations for Best Picture are suspect. Each film has its fatal flaw(s), whether because of Covid restrictions, technical challenges, tough subject matter, or production hubris. There are some surprises but, most disappointingly, there is an accumul[...]
Review: Wildcat
— by BEV QUESTAD — Harry Turner looks at his ocelot protege and kindly says, “We’re wild animals, me and you. We’re wild.” Though earning many awards and millions of dollars from Amazon, there has been controversy from critics over “Wildcat.” Perhaps some of the rougher comme[...]
Top 5: 2022 Documentary List for Congress
— by BEV QUESTAD — I am sending this list of five powerful 2022 documentaries to my legislators. I am also sending the list to selected columnists, politicians and people in the White House. Each documentary has well-documented, credible sources, first-person primary accounts, and a stud[...]
Review: Bad Axe
— by BEV QUESTAD — During the genocidal days of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Chun Siev, ran for days through crossfire with his mother and five siblings to freedom in Thailand. At a Red Cross camp, they are asked where they want to go. His mother, Sing Mo Siev, firmly says, “The United[...]
Review: Retrograde
— by BEV QUESTAD — Here we are, riding along with the Afghan general, Sami Sadat, being notified we are the target of a suicide bomber – right now! The car is driving wildly in and out of a protective caravan – the only defense maneuver possible. At other times, we are right in the [[...]
Review: A Man Called Otto
— by BEV QUESTAD — “The whole neighborhood is falling apart these days,” intones a fed-up Otto (Tom Hanks) to his wife’s gravestone. As a matter of fact, he plans to join her soon. Suicide is the antidote for his grief. So, as soon as he retires from his job and no longer has respo[...]
Review: Taming the Garden
— by BEV QUESTAD — There’s no narration to this doc verite. Overheard voices can be heard, but this is basically the silent story about transplanting a beautiful tree from a spot in rural Georgia, a nation of diverse geology and topography on Turkey’s border to the north. “Taming t[...]