— by RON WILKINSON — Simplicity and elegance combine to make a powerful statement in this microcosmic visit to a Macedonian Honeyland. A simple documentary about rural bee-keeping morphed into a wild drama of capitalist commercialism and environmental common sense. One of the best docume[...]
Author Archive
Review: Earth
— by RON WILKINSON — Each year the forces of nature, wind, erosion, tides and other, move about 60 million tons of surface soil. In that same year, humans move about 156 million tons. Humans have become a force of nature greater than nature itself. This stirring documentary takes the vie[...]
Review: Wild Rose
— by RON WILKINSON — 2019 BAFTA Rising Star Award nominee Jessie Buckley takes it easy in this prodigal girl ditty set in the gritty streets of Glasgow. Truly a rising star with an impressive track record of formal education, the real Jessie may be straining at the harness as is her fict[...]
Review: Holy Trinity
— by RON WILKINSON — Protagonist Trinity is a sex-positive woman living in Chicago’s well-known(?) Glam world. Her profession as a sexual dominatrix prospers in the City of the Big Shoulders. Propelled by huffing vapors of various aerosol consumer products and supported by a redoubtabl[...]
Review: The Art of Self Defense
— by RON WILKINSON — There is nothing finer than a well-executed flick about going insane. The film medium is well suited to depicting the human psyche walking the fine line between rationality and lunacy. Jesse Eisenberg is developing a niche in this genre. As the protagonist who flies [...]
Review: Give Me Liberty
— by RON WILKINSON — A road trip through the city of Milwaukee turns into a trip to the twilight zone. A van full of Russian immigrants is late for a funeral and a wheelchair-bound black woman has to be somewhere, fast. No time for questions, just run, run, run. Crashes and fights ensue [...]
Review: Paris is Burning
— by RON WILKINSON — Having barely recovered from the 1970s, New York City lurched into the 1980s with restored wealth and confidence, for most of the population. For those outside the nine-to-five club, it was business as usual; eat when and where possible, hustle to make the rent, deal[...]
Review: I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians
— by RON WILKINSON — This delicious treatment of the art, craft or debacle of making a movie places the dilemmas of the commercial artist alongside the travesty of the Holocaust. The treatment of the concept as a movie within a movie comes through as simply superlative film making. It is[...]
Review: The Dead Don’t Die
— by RON WILKINSON — We thought Jim Jarmusch was getting serious with “Patterson.” But now this. A most glorious send-up of zombie films complete with anarchic cheerleading and bonus jabs at liberal smugness. A superb cast of thoroughly wasted performances sacrificed on the altar of [...]
Review: The Reports on Sarah and Saleem
— by RON WILKINSON — The most important ingredient in a great thriller is guilt, and right from the starting gun Sarah and Saleem have it in spades. Undeniably, the most inexplicable yet undeniable failure of human judgment is the extra-marital affair. Almost always doomed to failure, th[...]
Review: The Spy Behind Home Plate
— by RON WILKINSON — Intending to capture audiences for both spy thrillers and baseball memorabilia, this campy mix of archival footage and semi-historic interviews will not entrance either demographic. Pro ball player Moe Berg appears to be both “enigmatic and brilliant,” as adverti[...]
Review: The Professor
— by RON WILKINSON — All persons achieving great success have their moment of doubt. Johnny Depp’s professor, Richard, is having his, it seems, every day. Unfortunately, his persona is both the high point and low point of this movie. A frustrated, underpaid and, in his own eyes, undera[...]
Review: The Fall of the American Empire
— by RON WILKINSON — Part satire, part sermon, this lightweight caper yarn is by turns youthfully naïve and viscerally violent. The bad guys are well done, with no holds barred regarding the violence. The good guys are meandering and flawed, discussing philosophy beyond their depth (and[...]
Review: Red Joan
— by RON WILKINSON — If asked, most people would confirm they would give their life for their country. But would they give their honor? The decision to betray her country for the good of people of all nations is a step none of us wishes to make. Melita Norwood made that decision towards [...]