— by WILLIAM STERR — Academia! That ivory tower where esoteric thought and meaningless, endless conversation about nothing substitutes for real life. If the words are big enough, the problems are made small enough. At least at the “College on the Hill.” This is the world we are tempo[...]
Author Archive
Review: Those Who Call
— by WILLIAM STERR — It’s only a few days into 2023 and things are already headed for the drain. Wars rage on, famine increases, chaos reigns in the House of Representatives and, worst of all, I just sat through “Those Who Call.” This Opus Minus by writer/director Anubys Lopez (“[...]
Review: Corsage
— by WILLIAM STERR — This 2022 film, Austria’s Foreign Language entry to the Academy Awards, is the (highly) fictionalized account of a brief period in the life of Elizabeth, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. Not only is it a fictionalized account covering the years 1877 and 187[...]
Review: Pinocchio
— by WILLIAM STERR — This is not your grandfather’s Pinocchio. Nor is it Walt Disney’s 2022 live-action version. This one is courtesy of the incredible imagination of Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican director/writer who gave us the Oscar winning “The Shape of Water,” “Pan’s La[...]
Review: The Scottish Play
— by WILLIAM STERR — Poor Sydney (Tina Benko – “The Greatest Showman”). She has had some success in the movies and lives in New York City. Yet she’s looking for something more in her life – something meaningful. She wakes, dresses, and goes for a run, stopping at the statue[...]
Review: Elephant Refugees
— by WILLIAM STERR — Being a refugee is tough. You are usually fleeing violence, oppression, turmoil, and economic deprivation. If you are an elephant in southern Africa, you are fleeing the bullets and machetes of organized poachers, while at the same time suffering a loss of food and w[...]
Review: The Menu
— by WILLIAM STERR — There are some restaurants so exclusive, so expensive and so unique that having even a single meal there is the experience of a lifetime. In this case, an experience that may end your lifetime. Hawthorne is such a restaurant, located on its own island, accessible onl[...]
Review: Tantura
— by WILLIAM STERR — In 1947, the United Nations voted to partition the British Mandate of Palestine. The following year, the State of Israel was proclaimed. Both events were opposed by the Arabs. At the time of Israel’s founding, the population of Palestine, estimated at 1.7 million, [...]
Review: Tiger 24
— by WILLIAM STERR — Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?[...]
Review: Nope
— by WILLIAM STERR — At first, it appears that Jordan Peele (“Get Out”) has given us a two-fer: two separate stories for the price of one. The opening story is about an horrendous incident on the site of a family oriented TV comedy, Gordy’s Home, about a human-like chimpanzee, Gord[...]
Review: My Childhood, My Country
— by WILLIAM STERR — On September 11, 2001, the radical Islamic organization, al Qaida, attacked financial and military targets in mainland United States. What followed was the “War on Terror,” created and administered first by the Bush Administration, and on to the present day. The [...]
Recap: 2022 HP Lovecraft Film Festival
— by WILLIAM STERR — “The only festival that understands.” When the haze-dimmed sun lights days grown short, and the gibbous moon illuminates lengthening nights, the chill air is filled with cries of “Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph’nglui mglw’nfah Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’na[...]