— by BEV QUESTAD — This raw, intimate documentary reveals the most creative, versatile and eclectic musician of our time, Jon Batiste. From exposure to his personality on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” I was expecting a laid-back, fun, light-hearted guy. But his story runs mor[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Double Down South
— by WILLIAM STERR — Mississippi. A state named after a river named by the Minnesotan Ojibwa Indians. The name means “Big River.” There is an adage in the South: “Thank God for Mississippi.” It refers to the fact that, in almost all listings of cultural attainments, Mississippi i[...]
Review: The Zone of Interest
— by WILLIAM STERR — The year is 1943. The place is Auschwitz, Poland. German SS officer Rudolph Hoss (Christian Friedel – “Babylon Berlin”) has been commandant of the concentration death camp since its creation in 1940, and has made extensive expansion and improvement in effic[...]
Review: Poor Things
— by WILLIAM STERR — If you have a chance to see this film, be prepared for a WILD ride! Professor Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe – “The Lighthouse”) is a ruin of a man – brilliant, but disfigured physically and worse by his insane scientist father. He invites one of his anatomy[...]
Review: Oppenheimer
— by BEV QUESTAD — Historically, tides of American freedom and then its reversal have flooded and ebbed with crashing force. Lives can be lifted or ruined. For me, this is the foundational story behind Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” Why it surfaces now is an apt cautionary tale[...]
Review: Sunrise
— by WILLIAM STERR — There is a legend in the forestlands of the Pacific Northwest of a creature called The Red Coat. This creature lives on the blood of forest animals and, when it can, that of humans. At least, so believes Ma Reynolds. Ma (Olwen Fouere – “The Northman”) and h[...]
Review: 32 Sounds
— by BEV QUESTAD — Since sound is vibration and moves out like tiny ripples, then, if I understood correctly, all sounds ever occurring are all still out there moving in perpetuity: my mother’s voice and piano playing, my father’s laugh, my son’s first cry and the first big bang. T[...]
Review: The Holdovers
— by WILLIAM STERR — It’s 1970. Richard Nixon is president and despite his “secret plan” to end the Vietnam war, it is still raging. Most of the students at Barton Academy, a Massachusetts prep school, are about to leave on a two-week Christmas break. However, five have nowhere to [...]
Review: Bobi Wine: The People’s President
— by BEV QUESTAD — Little Richard meets Nelson Mandela – that’s Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine. With his energetic band, courageous Wine exposes injustice and corruption in Uganda as a musical sensation and political revolutionary. This pits him dangerously [...]
Review: Killers of the Flower Moon
— by WILLIAM STERR — Martin Scorsese is famous for his crime films. They may be contemporary (“The Irishman”), or from two centuries ago (“Gangs of New York”), but they are always entertaining and filled with superb performances. This film is an exception. Long awaited, it is a d[...]
Review: The Boy and the Heron
— by BEV QUESTAD — At age 82, Hayao Miyazaki, the world’s greatest animator, has created another film of exceptional artistic presentation. Ten years ago, “The Wind Rises,” thought to be his last film, was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Disney’s “Frozen.” Now, “The Boy[...]
Review: The Mission
— by BEV QUESTAD — Oh troubling waters of misguided humans and good intentions, how and when can we distinguish between the calling of God and the Sirens of Titan? In a classic modern tragedy, John Chau found himself drawn inexorably to proclaim the gospel to the last isolated tribe on e[...]
Review: Ferrari
— by BEV QUESTAD — Just the name Ferrari immediately evokes observations about the car: fast, red and expensive. With a few red flags, the man behind this famous fine-tuned vehicle was known to be calculated, distant, and autocratic. “Ferrari” is based on the revealing yet stark stor[...]
Review: American Fiction
— by BEV QUESTAD — An African-American author and professor with a PhD, a genius with excellent writing ability, crafts an acclaimed novel. Another author, feigning he is a fugitive from the FBI, misspells words and uses a vernacular dialect. He writes about a rough, poverty-ridden Black[...]