“Treason is inciting war and profiting from it at the expense of American lives.” – statement from “Casualties of the State.” — by BEV QUESTAD — Back in the ‘70s, US protesters claimed patriot status. Brought up by World War II dads who survived unspeakable ha[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Half-Brother
— by BEV QUESTAD — Invited to a dinner party, Sarah and Michael just don’t seem to be on the same page. Sarah is an attractive, self-confident New York City gal. Within hours Michael is going to lose her, his job and apartment. With nowhere else to go, he ironically returns to his fami[...]
Review: I Believe in Unicorns
— by BEV QUESTAD — “I Believe in Unicorns” is a lovely coming-of-age story. It’s based on that transition from what we hope and think might be possible, that fairytale mindset, to reality. We expect that overcoming challenges will result in reaching our goal. But writer/dir[...]
Review: Second Opinion
— by BEV QUESTAD — We’ve heard it before, the search for cancer has grown to such proportions that finding a cure would actually be counter-positive for an entire industry earning millions from the research. That Ralph Moss should innocently uncover in the 1970’s an example of this p[...]
Review: A Play of Bullets: Ram-Leela
— by BEV QUESTAD — Having read the original Shakespearean version of “Romeo and Juliet” more than 100 times with my high school English students, who would think that a campy Indian rendition would break me down to tears? “A Play of Bullets: Ram-Leela” is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’[...]
Review: In Between Songs
— by BEV QUESTAD — “We are all just visitors here to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to grow, to love – and then we go home.” ~ Aboriginal Proverb Challenged by industrialization, environmental toxicity, drugs, alcohol and social [...]
Review: Kooky (aka Kuky se vrací)
— by BEV QUESTAD — “We’ve all lost something. A person, a thing which meant the world to us, perhaps a place that no longer exists, or a time that’s passed — but what if we could have it back?” These are the words that begin this adorable little film about a[...]
Review: One Mile Above (aka Kora)
— by BEV QUESTAD — Who in the world would want to bike 1,200 miles up into the world’s highest elevations where icy roads give no mercy to little bikes with no snow tires? The scariest moments are the free-fall downhill coasts when there is so little control. A rock, an ice slick, anot[...]
Review: Fifi Howls from Happiness
— by BEV QUESTAD — Born in 1931 in Iran, Bahman Mohassess studied in and later permanently relocated to Rome. He says, “In this slim, vast uterus known as Rome I began to work and to live. A city whose population squirms in an eternal coitus, whose alleys are stained with the sperm of [...]
Review: Honeymoon (aka Líbánky)
— by BEV QUESTAD — This beautiful Czech film begins with gentle, romantic music, a wedding and a short car caravan through a pastoral Czechoslovakian countryside to a small reception at the family farm. A beautiful bride is in the arms of a self-confident, dashing, amorous groom. The onl[...]
Review: Rage
— by RON WILKINSON — Nicolas Cage plays ex-mobster Paul Maguire in this Cage vehicle for the free and thorough expression of one thing that Cage does well: rage. And there is plenty to rage about in this flick when perky daughter Caitlin is kidnapped and found dead. Maguire reunites with[...]
Review: Heatstroke
— by RON WILKINSON — Evelyn Purcell’s thriller, set in the African desert, combines wild animal mystique with a decidedly feministic point of view. Tally (Svetlana Metkina) and Josie (Maisie Williams) become stranded in the desert and must face the duel threats of dehydration and psych[...]
Review: The Hornet’s Nest
— by RON WILKINSON — It is hard to say where this film fatally diverges from what appears to be its inspiration, “Restrepo,” but it might be that the narration is the first cut. The movie is a documentary of two US military teams pushing into one of Afghanistan’s most hostile valle[...]
Review: Two Raging Grannies
— by BEV QUESTAD — Shirley Morrison, now 92 years old, has a history of speaking her mind, asking the important questions and being jailed over 12 times. Hinda Kipnis, age 85 (b. 1929), is known for her protest parodies and contrarian New York-bred point of view. A glorious Norwegian, H[...]