— by WILLIAM STERR — Atta (Ricky Adelayitar – “Bad Luck Joe”) has toiled all his life as a fisherman on the coast of Ghana. But now his reward is coming. The old boat chief (Fred Nil Amugi – “Beautiful Ruins”), under whom Atta has worked for decades, is about to r[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Earth’s Greatest Enemy
— by BEV QUESTAD — Just who or what is Earth’s greatest enemy? Here are some spontaneous answers, duplicates not included, from recent interviews at The Covert Café, a bar in northeast Portland, Oregon, the city proud of its slogan, “Keep Portland Weird”: Greed – humans R[...]
Review: Over/Under
— by WILLIAM STERR — When we first meet them, Violet and Stella are 9-year-old California girls summering at the beach in New England. They are frolicking in the surf, spying on the adults at the nude beach (being alternately awed and disgusted by what they see), and collecting “mornin[...]
Review: The Odyssey
— by WILLIAM STERR — Lavish. Extravagant. Superbly acted. Updated morality. IMAX presentation. Almost three hours long with no intermission. The list of superlatives for Christopher Nolan’s production of “The Odyssey” is lengthy. The story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, thrall of Aga[...]
Review: A Sad and Beautiful World
— by BEV QUESTAD — As Marianne pushes her baby, Nino, out into the world, an explosion blasts through the hospital. The baby is rushed by an attendant through the chaos to save him from a potential building collapse. Exactly one minute after that bombing, Yasmina is born in the same hosp[...]
Review: Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie
— by BEV QUESTAD — Congrats to the Canadian crew who created this Shangri-la! Lush palms, friendly animals, responsible humans, sunny weather, and a tall mountain with a waterfall cascading down fill out this Bali Hai dream. Brimming with challenges, lessons, and respect for others, I th[...]
Review: American Doctor
— by WILLIAM STERR — This documentary has a misleading title – in fact there are three American (U.S.A.) doctors whom we follow as they try to serve injured Palestinian children and adults in Gaza. The injuries, needless to say, are the result of targeting with bullets, tank shells, bo[...]
Review: The Bend in the River
— by BEV QUESTAD — I’ve been thinking lately about what affects people’s destiny. There were seven of us freshmen friends at Whitman College. As an only child, I felt like I finally had sisters. But after that year we each veered off into different futures. If we could have chosen &#[...]
Review: Spider-Man: Brand New Day
— by BEV QUESTAD — Logan, aged 5, is reportedly too young for the PG-13 rated “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” because of “sequences of action and violence.” But if you ask him, it’s only children younger than 5 who shouldn’t see this film. Having watched the first two Spider-Man [...]
Review: Misan Harriman: Shoot the People
— by WILLIAM STERR — “A struggle without documentation is no struggle at all” – Peter Magubane, South African Photographer. Misan Harriman, who knew Magubane, and as a chronicler of civil struggles around the world has followed in the photographer’s footsteps, knows well what it [...]
Review: Starman
— by BEV QUESTAD — Are we alone in the universe? Why am I here? Why is there a world? Those are the questions super genius Gentry Lee, a NASA robotics engineer, poses. He is called Starman. He answers those questions in a surprising exposé on extraterrestrial life. In the end, he presen[...]
Review: American Doctor
— by BEV QUESTAD — Here are masked men who steal your heart. They are surgeons who signed up to work the trauma cases our tax dollars have created in Gaza. Award-winning filmmaker Poh Si Teng and her crew risked their lives to film these heroes, an American Jew and an American Zoroastria[...]
Review: American Pachuco
— by BEV QUESTAD — Jamie was 10 and a music lover. I took him to see “La Bamba.” Though rated PG-13, the rating noted he movie had no nudity, sex, violence or swearing. What could go wrong? In the end, Jamie cried right out loud, grief-stricken about what happened to Ritchie Valens, [...]
Review: Pescador
— by WILLIAM STERR — This is a strange one. First of all, the story was inspired by dreams the writer/director recalled from his time in an induced coma. Second, it includes a magical talking lobster. Third, it is divided into three very different parts. Part 1: The Woman Searches for a [...]