— by BEV QUESTAD — It is Abby’s 8th birthday. Her mother exclaims, “You know what that means!” They go out into the bay in their speedboat and Mom tosses a special ring overboard. Abby seems hesitant and scared. With just a snorkel, her mother expects her to follow the anchor chain[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Jacob the Baker
— by BEV QUESTAD — A news reporter is assigned to interview Noah, the writer of the Jacob the Baker series, which has been translated into 18 languages. She resents the assignment, wanting to cover more important new stories, but she complies. She asks all the good questions and with eve[...]
Review: Total Trust
— by BEV QUESTAD — In the US, freedom includes easily obtaining guns and having demonstrations with incendiary rhetoric. It is also a place where there are mass shootings, school shootings, random shootings and college presidents who ignore students calling for the genocide of another gr[...]
Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
— by BEV QUESTAD — What could be more fun for a movie than a mix of humans, aliens and furry anthropomorphic animals dressed up like humans? Especially adorable is Rocket, a furry racoon-like little guy voiced by Bradley Cooper. The premise in the the third of this three-part film series[...]
Review: Fast Charlie
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Fast Charlie” is a fun “Dirty Harry” meets “James Bond” kind of film. It is implausibility incarnate doused with a little wry humor and a quick-thinking, gun-slinging suave, nicely dressed, handsome guy. It all matches up except that Charlie Swift (Pierce [...]
Review: Origin
— by BEV QUESTAD — I knew it as soon as I saw it. A nice-looking, clean-cut black boy wearing a dark gray hoodie sweatshirt on a clear night — coming home from a 7-Eleven with a bag of Skittles and a can of pop. He’s smiling and talking to his girlfriend on his cell […][...]
Review: District of Second Chances
— by BEV QUESTAD — Pete was 16 and living in Washington DC. He was already involved with drugs and violence in his neighborhood. He figured the way out of any trouble was through fighting. When confronted by another guy who pulled out a meat cleaver from his pocket, Pete started shooting[...]
Review: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
— by BEV QUESTAD — Tourists and locals stroll up the garden path winding through Telegraph Hill, soaking in the lush mixture of plants, bushes, trees, vines and colorful flowers. They see a long-haired man up in the sun-filtered tree canopy mobbed by exotically vibrant red and green cher[...]
Review: Upon Entry
— by BEV QUESTAD — Elena (Bruna Cusí) and Diego (Alberto Ammann), a nondescript couple, are on a flight to New York City from Spain. Elena is able to sleep, but Diego moves to the tiny bathroom to swallow some kind of eye-dropper liquid. They land in New York City and end up being taken[...]
Review: Playing with Fire
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Playing with Fire” is the perfect title for this film of passion because it is so full of combustion, from the conductor’s unruly canopy of red curls to her full-bodied physical expressions of the story associated with her score. It is no surprise her baroque en[...]
Review: 26.2 to Life
— by BEV QUESTAD — “26.2 to Life” opens with a black screen and these words in white: “The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu The inmates featured in “26.2 to Life” are in for murder. They own it. But now what? “If you’re going to be loc[...]
Review: Kane
— by WILLIAM STERR — I always find it disconcerting when I run across someone who suffers from mood swings – a person who almost seems to shift from one personality to another. “Kane” is in a whole different league. Here, we have a gangland boss who actually suffers from multiple p[...]
Review: Miranda’s Victim
— by BEV QUESTAD — I think we’ve all heard it in a film or on TV. For sure, we don’t want to be the one to whom it’s directed: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a […][...]
Review: Showdown at the Grand
— by WILLIAM STERR — Those of us who love movies usually also love the grand movie palaces, dating for the 1920s and ’30s, that featured community-wide events. I grew up in the 1950s. TV was in and movie palaces were out, but even in my small town, there were four movie theaters, e[...]