— by BEV QUESTAD — “Playing with Fire” is the perfect title for this film of passion because it is so full of combustion, from the conductor’s unruly canopy of red curls to her full-bodied physical expressions of the story associated with her score. It is no surprise her baroque en[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
— by BEV QUESTAD — Tourists and locals stroll up the garden path winding through Telegraph Hill, soaking in the lush mixture of plants, bushes, trees, vines and colorful flowers. They see a long-haired man up in the sun-filtered tree canopy mobbed by exotically vibrant red and green cher[...]
Review: 26.2 to Life
— by BEV QUESTAD — “26.2 to Life” opens with a black screen and these words in white: “The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu The inmates featured in “26.2 to Life” are in for murder. They own it. But now what? “If you’re going to be loc[...]
Review: Kane
— by WILLIAM STERR — I always find it disconcerting when I run across someone who suffers from mood swings – a person who almost seems to shift from one personality to another. “Kane” is in a whole different league. Here, we have a gangland boss who actually suffers from multiple p[...]
Review: Miranda’s Victim
— by BEV QUESTAD — I think we’ve all heard it in a film or on TV. For sure, we don’t want to be the one to whom it’s directed: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a […][...]
Review: Showdown at the Grand
— by WILLIAM STERR — Those of us who love movies usually also love the grand movie palaces, dating for the 1920s and ’30s, that featured community-wide events. I grew up in the 1950s. TV was in and movie palaces were out, but even in my small town, there were four movie theaters, e[...]
Review: Pig Killer
— by WILLIAM STERR — Have you ever gone through an experience after which you just felt “dirty.” Not physically, but mentally. You feel like you need a psychological shower? That’s how I felt after viewing “Pig Killer.” Maybe that was the intent of the film-makers. I hope so. O[...]
Review: Project Z
— by WILLIAM STERR — “Project Z” is one roller coaster of a ride! It starts out as a couple driving an RV through the countryside. They are talking back and forth about relationship issues when the RV hits something. They pull to a stop and then … suddenly people start appe[...]
Review: Home is a Hotel
— by BEV QUESTAD — Back in the ’70s, US Bank was considering buying up property in the old part of Portland, Oregon, where the “bums” hung out in dilapidated, tiny one room old hotels with a shared bathroom down the hall. My housemate was the US Bank project coordinator[...]
Review: Glorious
— by WILLIAM STERR — Have you ever stopped along the highway at a rest-stop bathroom? If so, you know what a disgusting, even harrowing, experience it can be. Following some sort of breakup with his girlfriend, Brenda (Sylvia Grace Crim – “The Hunt”), Wes (Ryan Kwanten – [...]
Review: Americanish
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Take off your scarf and wax your mustache!” orders Maryam’s anxious mom, Khala. She knows the importance of Americanization. After she immigrated to the US years ago with her Pakistani husband and two daughters, he promptly left her to search for an American wom[...]
Review: Superpower
— by BEV QUESTAD — Individualist and political activist Sean Penn, possibly cringing at so public a media display, stepped onto talk show sets to promote his new movie, “Superpower.” Sean Hannity tried to engage him in political sparring, but he quietly just said, “I don’t agree [...]
Review: Miranda’s Victim
— by WILLIAM STERR — Patricia Weir is a shy, sexually inexperienced high school girl in Phoenix in 1963. She has a hectoring mother who is always after her to be prim and proper, and to be mindful of what the rest of society thinks of her. One late Saturday night, Patricia is on a [&hell[...]