— by RON WILKINSON — Mofe’s new name is Sanchez and Rosa’s new name is, well, Rosa. There is nothing else disclosed about their current names because until they leave Nigeria, they are nothing. Two persons smart, focused and dedicated to leaving their home country behind do what they[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Dachra
— by RON WILKINSON — An encyclopedia of Western horror film tropes parades across the screen in this Tunisian discovered-film horror comedy. Almost nothing new here and yet things are thrown together in a way that speaks to talent if not good taste. Three naive journalism students are fa[...]
Review: Mama Weed
— by RON WILKINSON — A cop dabbles on the wrong side of the tracks in a mix of Robin Hood meets “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” threatening everything she has ever worked for. Growing up in a penniless Arabic immigrant household she is as determined as she is haunted by her fat[...]
Review: The Hidden Life of Trees
— by BEV QUESTAD — The entire forest, both above and underground, is an entire social mesh of connection, a true worldwide web. National forests that have been protected and cared for can even be referred to as “super organisms” similar to “ant colonies.” Germany’s Peter Wohlle[...]
Review: Roadrunner
— by BEV QUESTAD — In Saigon, he chomps down on the beating heart of a live cobra, chewing it until swallowed. In Borneo, he thrusts a spear deep into a frantic Borneo pig for a village feast. Anthony Bourdain, a manic extremist, exclaims, “If I’m an advocate for anything, it[...]
Review: The God Committee
— by BEV QUESTAD — “What is God’s will? How do we interpret it? How are we to understand it and act upon it?” asks Father Dunbar (Colman Domingo) of his congregation. But he also sits on the Transplant Committee, where he became a new voting member at the behest of a top investor. [...]
Review: Lansky
— by RON WILKINSON — Aging tales of mobsters seem to have turned into tales of aging mobsters as the gangster flick goes the way of the western. An easy going attempt to revise history, at least a little, finds its way as a suitable genre follow up to the successful “The Irishman.” A[...]
Review: Sun Children
— by RON WILKINSON — A 12-year-old boy and his friends are scurrying around the indoor parking garage in an upscale Iranian shopping center. Three are under the cars and one, far too young for his assignment, is on watch. The mission is to steal expensive wheels for their adult boss. The[...]
Review: Mission: Hebron
— by BEV QUESTAD — Blockades are randomly set up each day causing traffic chaos, children and adults are routinely apprehended and body searched, houses are ransacked and searched in the middle of the night without a warrant and without soldiers even knowing what they are looking for. Ha[...]
Review: Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times
— by BEV QUESTAD — HH Dalai Lama hosted Archbishop Desmond Tutu at The Tibetan Children’s Village, a boarding school/orphanage in Dharamsala, North India, for children from Tibet. Each child stood up to tell the story of how he or she arrived at this school. One girl spoke of being hid[...]
Review: Hamlet/Horatio
— by BEV QUESTAD — Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (circa 1600) is the most performed of all Shakespeare’s plays but mysteries and scholarly debates swirl around it. One of the reasons is because Shakespeare’s plays do not include the action occurring on the stage, only the words. T[...]
Review: The Amusement Park
— by RON WILKINSON — In 1973, George A. Romero joined an elite club of film makers distinguished by their completing a memorable movie or TV show and then being summarily fired when the original sponsors were confronted with the finished product. The infamous Rolling Stones documentary [...]
Review: The Dry
— by RON WILKINSON — Personal crisis in the context of climate crisis is a winning combination these days. There is something about the world burning up that reflects the burning of the soul, a land laid waste and a spirit destroyed in the wake of deception and betrayal. Although this ha[...]
Review: Cruella
— by LYNETTE CARRINGTON — This is the origin story movie we never knew we needed. “Cruella” is an insightful, thrilling and beautiful romp through the ’60s and ’70s that sheds light on how a young, sassy and determined Estella evolved into Cruella de Vil, originally made [...]