— by BEV QUESTAD — When a master who-done-it is also a master documentary, a gripping film of uncommon depth is born. Triple genre’d as crime, thriller, and documentary, “The Dissident” is a courageous film that you’d normally predict as an Academy Award Winner. But suspiciously,[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Night of the Kings
— by RON WILKINSON — In a prison run by the inmates a newcomer seems destined to hold a special place in the hierarchy. However, there is a catch. Under the red moon he must tell stories until dawn or be hung by a most uninviting meat hook suspended above a concrete staircase. Scheheraza[...]
Review: Tulsa
— by LYNETTE CARRINGTON — “Tulsa” is a unique movie, start to finish. Not only is “Tulsa” heartwarming, but we become truly invested in the journey of its two main characters as much as the characters themselves. Scott Pryor may be an attorney in real life, but in “Tulsa” he [...]
Review: The Night
— by RON WILKINSON — And what a night it was. The Hotel Normandie is said to have seen more death than the WWII beach of the same name. Unlike the Eagles Hotel California one is able to leave any time by the simple act of telling the truth. Death is not a possibility, as […][...]
Review: Time
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Time” starts when Sibil Fox Richardson, aka Fox Rich, and Robert Richardson fall in love, get married, buy a house, and rob a bank. When hardship came, so did this crazy, inexplicable decision to rob a bank to pay for their expenses. On top of it all, at the time [...]
Review: Promising Young Woman
— by BEV QUESTAD — This is a first. I do not recommend the film I voted to receive the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) Award for Best Film shown in 2020. “Promising Young Woman,” shot in a remarkably short 23 days, has award-winning acting and a stunning script. The director has p[...]
Review: Atlantis
— by RON WILKINSON — No, not that Atlantis. This is the Atlantis of the recent future. It is 2025, a year after a devastating war that bombed a nation back to the 19th century. War and capitalist greed have left water poisoned with chemicals, statesmanship poisoned with propaganda and hu[...]
Review: Acasa, My Home
— by RON WILKINSON — Every few months, weeks or days, many working Americans dream of life in the wild. The simplicity of nature offers the ultimate freedom, work we like when we like it, without modern backstabbing urban politics. Then we sober up. There were people here who lived like [...]
Review: My Darling Vivian
— by BEV QUESTAD — This is a documentary about Vivian, the first wife of Johnny Cash, created by her children. “My Darling Vivian” rounds out the nature of Cash, first depicted in “Walk the Line,” as a world-famous singer with regrets over the family he betrayed. A masterful docu[...]
Review: Wander
— by RON WILKINSON — Opening with a nicely done highway accident in a colorless prairie, the setting could be Roswell New Mexico. The scenery is so plain and the tarmac so barren there must be something bad just outside of camera range. The shots shift to a huge red sign marking the entr[...]
Review: Born to Be
— by BEV QUESTAD — We hear a sonorous double bass. The deep sounds come in a tremulous, low awe switching to multi-faceted activity and diversity. As the film continues, we learn that the Julliard musician has another practice that parallels his daily music regimen perfecting the Bach su[...]
Review: Neither Confirm Nor Deny
— by RON WILKINSON — The early 1970s were not boring. Continuing the momentum of the riotous 1960s, a five year period saw President Nixon’s resignation, the end of US involvement in Viet Nam and the Hughes Glomar Explorer. OK, the Glomar Explorer may not be at the top of everyone’s [...]
Review: Jacinta
— by RON WILKINSON — Most parents would go to extremes to protect their child. They would sacrifice their life, their wealth, their honor, perhaps even their wife or husband. As it turns out, these sacrifices only scratch the surface. Consider the sacrifice of leaving one’s child. Aban[...]