— by BEV QUESTAD — Domestic extremists are the people moderator Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump to repudiate at the Sept. 29 presidential debate. Trump responded, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” In the last 30 years, “The vast majority of the deadly terrorist attacks occurr[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Kajillionaire
— by RON WILKINSON — Three down-on-their luck locals shuffle through what may be the seediest neighborhood in Los Angeles. The dust, trash and heat have sucked the life out of everything in sight, desiccating the forlorn trio into little more than ragged floppy clothes that turn them int[...]
Review: Notturno
— by RON WILKINSON — In the battlefields of the Middle East, the background of war has permeated too many hours of everyday life. Civilians suffer the consequences of greed, avarice and doomed religious utopias and then are constantly reminded of those traumas by geographical institution[...]
Review: The Black Emperor of Broadway
— by BEV QUESTAD — “I grew up learning to revere and honor Eugene O’Neill as the father of American Theater – until I learned about Charles Gilpin,” reports Arthur Egeli, director and producer of the masterful film, “The Black Emperor of Broadway.” With just a little research[...]
Review: We Are Many
— by BEV QUESTAD — One Night For Peace is set for Sept. 21, 2020. It’s the UN International Day for Peace and a commemoration of the largest peace march in the history of the world. Beginning at sunrise on Feb. 15, 2003 in New Zealand, the world’s largest protest began and followed t[...]
Review: Epicentro
— by BEV QUESTAD — Decaying, dilapidated, dark Havana are the first shots we get from Hubert Sauper, documentary filmmaker extraordinaire. But as the film moves on, with uninhibited scenes of sensuality and crashing surf, he ends up in a children’s ballet class. A little girl heading u[...]
Review: The Andorra Hustle
— by BEV QUESTAD — Andorra, the setting for this revealing film, is a miniature picturesque country with ski resorts and duty-free shopping tucked between Spain and France in the Pyrenees Mountains. But the embedded details of banking corruption, money laundering and back-stabbing juxtap[...]
Review: Buoyancy
— by RON WILKINSON — Cambodian Chakra is a slave in his own family. As tradition requires, his family’s farm will go to his older brother and Chakra will be a laborer for the family for the rest of his life. His protests are met with stern rebukes by his father. “Don’t complain, yo[...]
Review: The Speed Cubers
— by SIMMI SEN — At first glance, you may be wondering what a speedcuber is. Like running a mile in six minutes, being a speedcuber is a competitive sport where you solve a Rubik’s Cube in a matter of seconds. Being a speed cuber myself, I was overjoyed when I found the Netflix Doc[...]
Review: Driven to Abstraction
— by RON WILKINSON — Faking works of art is a timeless tradition. Michelangelo is said to have faked a sculpture in the 15th century, making the work himself and then burying it to make it look older and fabricated by a presumably more esteemed artist. The buyer was so impressed with the[...]
Review: The 11th Green
— by BEV QUESTAD — Dwight Eisenhower meets Barack Obama in this ambitious historical fiction “What-if” drama beset with a secret so big the presidents have to ask, “Should we let the public know?” This is a good Republican president talking with a good Democrat president amidst a[...]
Review: Tesla
— by RON WILKINSON — Considering he brought electricity into our homes, invented motors we use every day and established the foundations of radio, we forgive this snippet’s lack of detail. Instead, writer/director Michael Almereyda takes us into the dreamscape of Nikola Tesla. At least[...]
Review: Skin Walker
— by RON WILKINSON — When Udo Kier is part of the cast all you have to do is sharpen the knives, load the rifle, bring out the hand-held sledge and the rest takes care of itself. Small comfort to Regine, a fragile waif who left daddy Claus ten years earlier when the memories of […[...]