— by BEV QUESTAD — Despite the incredible talents of Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln and Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, “Lincoln” would not keep the attention of high schoolers, even if being tested. A historical dramatization of the last four months of Lincoln’s presidency, the [...]
Author Archive
Review: Hyde Park on Hudson
— by BEV QUESTAD — This film does little more than caricature a past great president with innuendo, weakness and blatant misrepresentation. We have to wonder if there wasn’t some Tea Party backing. “Hyde Park on Hudson” has two major problems that will cast it into archival obscuri[...]
Review: This Is Not a Film
— by BEV QUESTAD — He eats jam and toast while sitting in his gorgeous Tehran apartment awaiting the results of his appeal. A camera is strategically stationed to record his life, including his phone calls, his latest movie idea and the huge but playful iguana that crawls up to his neck [...]
Review: Les Misérables
— by BEV QUESTAD — During the first 90 minutes, I was embarrassed. I couldn’t figure out what was happening in France at the turn of the 19th century, I couldn’t understand all the British accents and I found the music a little boring (oh no!). I was also having trouble figuring out [...]
Review: Anna Karenina
— by BEV QUESTAD — Part dance-musical, part Monty Python farce, part Shakespearean rendition on the “All the world’s a stage” theme, part melodrama and then a dollop of realistic tragedy makes “Anna Karenina” one ambitious experiment in art. But would Leo Tolstoy like it? With [...]
Review: Zero Dark Thirty
— by BEV QUESTAD — You’re right there. The camera has night goggles. You arrive at 12:30 a.m. and it is quiet. The Pakistani community, with its own rendition of West Point within a mile, must hear you. But the two experimental Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters’ low hum is deceptive[...]
A Clip from Zero Dark Thirty
— by BEV QUESTAD — One of the amazing true stories of the last 50 years is the death of Osama bin Laden in a surgical midnight raid by US Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011. Leave it to America to also make it into a film as fast as possible. Just in time for […][...]
Review: Arbitrage
— by BEV QUESTAD — This is characterization hit out of the ballpark – and this home-run by Richard Gere in “Arbitrage” is breath-taking. He plays a slick wheeler-dealer consumed with what he calls the five ways to success: M-O-N-E-Y. Okay, let’s skip an explanation of the title ([...]
Review: Samsara
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Samsara” is a magical experiment in the power of sound and imagery. This glorious poem of life, set to a gentle, haunting original score, guides the viewer in a visual meditation on the nature of life. The image choices and how they are organized propel a dialogue[...]
Review: White Tiger (aka Belyy tigr)
— by BEV QUESTAD — The official Russian entry for the 85th Academy Award competition for best foreign language film is not quite what you’d expect – yet then again, in the country producing Dostoevsky’s anguished “Crime and Punishment,” Chekov’s depressing “Ward Number 6”[...]
Review: Field Work: A Family Farm
— by BEV QUESTAD — With rustling corn tassels, warbling bird songs, skies rippled with pinks and iridescent blues, and sometimes just the calm silence of a meandering light breeze, John Helde has interspersed this look at the family farm life with tender respect. Set to the folksy fiddle[...]
Review: The Invisible War
— by BEV QUESTAD — The invisible war in our Armed Forces is the one few know about, talk about, acknowledge or do anything about. This important film exposes the military’s silent response to violent, heartbreaking sexual assaults in the US Military perpetrated by US soldiers against U[...]
Review: Escape Fire
— by BEV QUESTAD — There’s a burning inferno spreading quickly across forest land. Firefighters are dashing in desperation. One of the firefighters, Wag Dodge, thinks the only way out is to stop and set a fire where he stands. The others are sure he’s nuts and rush on. When the fire [...]