— by BEV QUESTAD — “Be sure you’re right and then go ahead! It’s up to you, to do, as Davy Crockett said.” This was the theme song from Disney’s 1955-56 Davy Crockett TV series at a time when Dwight Eisenhower was president, the Supreme Court ruled segregated buses were illegal[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Deadly Justice
— by WILLIAM STERR — The story opens on the set of a TV show, “Real Crime.” Host Dale Jones (Brian Krause – “Charmed”) is interviewing former district attorney Holly Powell (Kelly Sullivan – “The Producers”). Jones is implying that Powell’s conviction of wife ki[...]
Review: Mourning in Lod
— by BEV QUESTAD — As crimson blood courses through circuitous tubes we wonder, “Whose blood is this and where is it going?” As the film continues, we witness in a flashback the murders of two innocent, kind men who were both in transit home to loved ones. But the blood in the compli[...]
Review: Lyd
— by WILLIAM STERR — Lyd, also known as al-Lyd, Lydda, and Lod is an almost 5,000-year-old city in southern Israel, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. In this film, Lyd is a character who tells us her story (voiced by Maisaa Abd El-Hadi – “The Alleys”). The story of modern day Lyd[...]
Review: Uncropped
— by WILLIAM STERR — Suppose you were invited to visit the New York apartment of a famous photographer, just so you could sit down and have him and some of his friends reminisce about his six-decade career taking pictures of people – famous, infamous, and anonymous. What an experience [...]
Review: Dancing with the Dead
— by BEV QUESTAD — Red Pine is the nom de plume of Bill Porter who grew up in LA, the son of a wildly disturbed, abusive multimillionaire patron of the Kennedys, who owned at least 52 hotels. Bill was sent to boarding school beginning in the fourth grade, so his parents could have more [[...]
Review: Older Gods
— by WILLIAM STERR — Every year – maybe every month – we read about new aspects of our ever-expanding knowledge of the universe. Of creation. And as this knowledge expands, even though our ability to comprehend the wonders of existence expands with it, our actually position in that u[...]
Review: Irena’s Vow
— by WILLIAM STERR — Sometimes people find themselves in desperate situations. Situations where they must make life and death decisions. Such was the situation Irena Gut (Sophie Nelisse – “Close”) faced in Lublin, Poland, during the German invasion in 1939. Training as a nurse,[...]
Review: All We Carry
— by BEV QUESTAD — “My father was murdered. I can never get that out of my mind.” It is spring, 2018. Magdiel, Mirna and their son, Joshua, are on the migrant caravan coming up from Honduras and headed for the US when they meet Cady Voge, filmmaker and journalist, who commits to film[...]
Bev’s 2023 Best Documentary List
— by BEV QUESTAD — There were 167 Oscar-qualified documentaries for 2023. I viewed about 70, using award nominations from various organizations and my own interests as a guide. Documentaries serve as my post-graduate education. They extend my knowledge in history, geography, politics, ph[...]
Review: Just Getting By
— by WILLIAM STERR — Bess O’Brien is located in the northeast corner (the Northeast Kingdom) of Vermont. There she has turned out a number of fascinating documentaries on the people of Vermont over many years. She has a new one out: “Just Getting By.” In her previous work, through [...]
Review: The Black Guelph
— by WILLIAM STERR — The Black Guelph was a group of men who, in 14th century Italy, took it upon themselves to violently support the Pope against any adversary seeking to weaken the stranglehold the papacy had over the Italian principalities. Among their victims was the great poet, Dant[...]
Review: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
— by BEV QUESTAD — Michael J. Fox is asked what it means to be still. Mentally or physically? Is it being non-productive and not creative? Is it being passive? Depressed? Does it mean being locked inside a body in a wheelchair? Parkinson’s Disease (PD) affects nerve cells in the brain.[...]
Review: The Uncertain Detective
— by WILLIAM STERR — This is a bizarre little film. Actually, it’s a film about a man making a filmed podcast called “The Uncertain Detective.” “The Uncertain Detective” is about a detective (Gregg Lachow) and his assistant detective (Eric Ray Anderson). Their motto is “No ca[...]