— by BEV QUESTAD — This film by new Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Thien An will have you pondering, throughout the film, about what the title might mean. “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” takes place in Vietnam during a lot of overcast, rainy skies. It begins with a silly big-headed sport[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Facing the Wind
— by BEV QUESTAD — What do you do when your spouse changes from the vibrant intelligent man you fell in love with to someone who doesn’t always know who you are? The bottom-line question is this: What does a wife do when she has a career and her husband needs 24/7 care? Have you [&hell[...]
Review: The Apprentice
— by WILLIAM STERR — This biopic could be subtitled “How to Make a Monster.” In 1973, Donald Trump, a newly-minted member of the exclusive “Le Club” in New York, met notorious lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn. Donald (Sebastian Stan – “Avengers: Endgame”) is there with his dat[...]
Review: Vigilantes Inc.
— by WILLIAM STERR — This is a documentary about one of the most disturbing issues facing America today – and in fact, a threat that has existed since before the founding of the nation. We’re not talking about some foreign adversary seeking to crush our freedoms. It’s n[...]
Review: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
— by WILLIAM STERR — In the late 1950s, the world was in turmoil. One after another, people around the world were throwing off their oppressive western colonizers and becoming members of the United Nations. At the same time, the West was in full blown “cold war” mode with Russia, and[...]
Review: The Old Oak
— by BEV QUESTAD — “When you eat together you stick together.” I’m musing over this old adage used in “The Old Oak” as I’m on my way to Bangladesh for the 11th time. There is a stark chasm between those who have plenty and are safe and those who are suffering with their lives[...]
Review: The Convert
— by WILLIAM STERR — A beautiful fable for our time. The story of “The Convert” is set in 1830 in Aotearoa, the islands which would become New Zealand. British lay minister Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce) is concluding his travel to the English settlement of Epworth, where he has been hire[...]
Review: The Dead Don’t Hurt
— by BEV QUESTAD — This film is a tour de force in dramatization, headed up by charismatic Viggo Mortensen and inner strength phenome Vicky Krieps. The entire cast takes you inside the times and minds of people trying to survive in hardscrabble southwest America during the time of the Ci[...]
Review: Man and Witch
— by BEV QUESTAD — Talking animals, castles, hobbit-like scenery, wizards, witches and popular music are all in “Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps,” a delightful fairytale for the 21st century. The Contented Kingdom has lost its descriptor with the invasion of the [...]
Review: The Letter
— by WILLIAM STERR — I recently had the opportunity to attend the venerable (29th year) H.P. Lovecraft film Festival in Portland, Oregon. The HPLFF prides itself on showing features and shorts produced by individual filmmakers and small production companies. What they present over a two [...]
Review: Nocturnes
— by BEV QUESTAD — Turn off the lights and settle in for stereo sound and a cinematic rush. Who would have thought that a movie on a scientist’s project studying hawk moths would be such a symphony for the senses? You are led up into the eastern side of the densely forested mountains o[...]
Review: America’s Burning
— by WILLIAM STERR — It’s election time again in America. There are two choices as to which way to go. Any other choice is a wasted vote or a vote for the opposite side, say those running for office. “You have no choice” because the other side will mean the end of America as [&hell[...]
Review: The American Question
— by BEV QUESTAD — The rest of the world has a question about America. Why the gravitation to someone like Donald Trump? Guy Seemann, an Israeli-born entrepreneur and political operative, sought out the answer to America’s great divide and extremist lean. For eight years, he interviewe[...]
Review: The Secret Art of Human Flight
— by BEV QUESTAD — “If you want to leave this world, contact me.” Sometimes we are in a life situation so dark and painful we have to escape. Maybe through binge drinking, a drug overdose, a jump off a bridge, a self-inflicted gunshot, or a car crash. We could also just go crazy. Any[...]