— by RON WILKINSON — The Xeron computer has been linked to many mysterious information leaks, some were unconsciously intended by the users and some were not. Escalators travel up and down, opposite directions sliding past each other. Subway trains travel back and forth providing brief m[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: No Time to Die
— by RON WILKINSON — The last Daniel Craig James Bond movie tries to bridge the gap between the old and the new. Among the various filming locations, Jamaica stands out. The home of Ian Fleming’s first twelve Bond novels is revisited, if lacking the sparkling characters that turned the[...]
Review: The Village Detective: a song cycle
— by RON WILKINSON — Even legendary Soviet actor Mikhail Zharov probably did not consider it a masterpiece. Like dozens, if not hundreds, of his films, it was watched by adoring thousands, if not millions, and then fell by the wayside. A curiously unfinished copy did more than fall by th[...]
Review: The Song of the Butterflies
— by BEV QUESTAD — Where do the souls of the bodies of those enslaved, cruelly treated and slaughtered go? Is there a gentle reward for a life so savagely ended? “The Song of the Butterflies” takes us on a voyage with Rember Yahuarcani into the teeming, dark Amazon region, where he h[...]
Review: Wife of a Spy
— by RON WILKINSON — A loyal warrior once proclaimed he would give his life for his country. “Yes,” his commander said, “But would you give your honor?” The greatest heroes sometimes are called to do exactly that. Risk disgrace and ostracization as well as imprisonment and possib[...]
Review: Civil War (or Who Do We Think We Are)
— by WILLIAM STERR — “Why do we want to believe one version (of a story) and not another? Maybe because it makes us feel safe at night.” So begins this exploration of how we view the most catastrophic and perhaps most formative event in the nation’s history, after its foundation. H[...]
Review: The Viewing Booth
— by BEV QUESTAD — When a college student, Maia, views a film clip of a boy around 6 years old apprehended by one policeman and then kicked by another, she cannot just describe this as an incident in itself. She presupposes a context, guessing about what must have happened first so that [...]
Review: Small Engine Repair
— by RON WILKINSON — One mistake leads to another in America’s rust belt. There is a profound sense of loss in the setting– lost jobs, lost futures and lost lives. This is the setup for the greatest loss of all, the loss of innocence. What could have been a standard issue revenge[...]
Review: Dogs
— by RON WILKINSON — Most of the stories about city people coming back to the country are about conflict. The newcomer does not fit and the locals want him gone. This story is the opposite. The returning city boy only wants to sell his deceased grandfather’s land and return to the city[...]
Review: The Meaning of Hitler
— by WILLIAM STERR — This documentary explores the myth of Hitler and the rise of the Nazi Party through commentaries by various historians and visits to some of the notorious locations where Hitler and his henchmen met, celebrated the dominance of the Nazi party, and carried out their a[...]
Review: 499
— by WILLIAM STERR — “499” is a unique film, and a daring experiment in film making. It begins on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, at Veracruz. A man is struggling in the surf. He is a conquistador, part of the inner circle of the expeditionary force led by Hernan Cortez in 1[...]
Review: Wildland
— by RON WILKINSON — Teenagers should never have to make some decisions. They should not have to decide to be loyal to a drug addicted mom or a crime sodden family of cousins that makes Ma Barker’s clan look like The Partridge Family. They should not have to give up part of their lives[...]
Review: In the Same Breath
— by RON WILKINSON — The best documentaries are the ones with the best access. This exceptional doc explodes with complete access to hospitals in Wuhan during the first days of Covid. Shooting footage is tense, scary and at times potentially lethal due to government persecution as much a[...]
Review: Battle for Afghanistan
— by RON WILKINSON — Perhaps it is because of the staggering losses the Soviet Union has suffered in war that it took a Russian production to show the profound cost of military conflict with perfection. It also took profound courage to document the final days of the Soviet route from Afg[...]