— by BEV QUESTAD — “Women live longer than men. There’s a reason for it. They’re not married to women!” Old marriage jokes, at the expense of women, are part of the history of the evolution of comedy and help propel this doc in its exploration of how the famous stand-up comedians[...]
Author Archive
Review: Museum Hours
— by BEV QUESTAD — “What is it that you like about these paintings?” This is such a great question to ask. You have to step back and think, perhaps leading you to a surprising insight and appreciation inherent in the work and, further thinking about it, in your life. Anne, a single o[...]
Review: Survival Prayer
— by BEV QUESTAD — This beautiful work of art is a loving film experience that captures the old life of the Haida people who live on what used to be called the Queen Charlotte Islands. The exquisite photography is reason enough to see this important story of an ancient culture. Only 50 n[...]
Review: Cairo 678
— by BEV QUESTAD — Men, if you were born a woman, what would you do? What would you do when you were disrespected? Groped in public? Disregarded? If you’re a Westerner, would your answer be different if you lived in the Subcontinent, Africa, Southeast Asia or the Middle East? In the en[...]
Review: Nicky’s Family
— by BEV QUESTAD — “If something isn’t blatantly impossible, there must be a way of doing it.” This credo from Nicholas Winton motivated him to become one of the great saviors of the 19th century. In 1938, Nicky Winton, a champion fencer, sailor and skier from England, was hungry f[...]
Review: Beijing Flickers
— by BEV QUESTAD — Happiness, a big loping dog, runs through Beijing streets chased by his owner, San Bao (Duan Bowen), on his motorbike. An ill-timed stop manned by a traffic cop restricts Bao from following free-running Happiness, so Bao hauls off and decks him. Like a row of dominoes [...]
Review: In the Family
— by BEV QUESTAD — Patrick Wang has a gentle, honest, remarkably charismatic onscreen presence. What’s remarkable is that besides having the lead role, he produced, directed and wrote this tender legal gripper as well. All this surprisingly artsy involvement is from a Massachusetts Ins[...]
Review: Terms and Conditions May Apply
— by BEV QUESTAD — I’m glad we caught the bros who bombed the Boston Marathon so quickly. Surveillance cameras and private cell phones did their job. This act of wanton hurt is justification for an entire camera grid of all streets, malls, schools and government buildings. Yes, it soun[...]
Review: Leviathan
— by BEV QUESTAD — Sip some Ginger Ale, the sailor’s stabilizing brew, to get you in the mood to travel on this grueling ship of hardy yeomen. Using photography that defies the wet, windy, turbulent, listing life at sea, this ship experience off the coast of New Bedford, famed 19th cen[...]
Review: Elemental
— by BEV QUESTAD — Three stories of crisis are personified by three eco-warriors fighting for the elements of our global environment: water, earth and air. The first story features Rajendra Singh, a water conservationist and crusader for a clean Ganges River. The deadly filth of the Gang[...]
Review: Deceptive Practice
— by BEV QUESTAD — A stocky man tears up a piece of paper into tiny little pieces that flake to the ground. Then a little white butterfly flutters out of his hand. He picks up a slick deck of cards and fans them out in patterns. After shuffling a half dozen times he picks […][...]
Review: Louder Than a Bomb
— by BEV QUESTAD — If high schools put the same insane competitive energy they put into basketball and football into … well, let’s say poetry, what would it look like? You’d have tryouts to even get on the team. There would be determined coaches, individual drills and after-school [...]
Review: Drawing Dead
— by BEV QUESTAD — The sun is shining and a man is shown walking along an isolated road (where are those?) bordered by tall, thick grass with two dogs tramping at his side. He is pulling a cart and stops, pulls out his violin and masterfully creates an ambiance of light-hearted bliss[...]