— by BEV QUESTAD — Michael J. Fox is asked what it means to be still. Mentally or physically? Is it being non-productive and not creative? Is it being passive? Depressed? Does it mean being locked inside a body in a wheelchair? Parkinson’s Disease (PD) affects nerve cells in the brain. As they weaken, become […][...]
Review: The Uncertain Detective
— by WILLIAM STERR — This is a bizarre little film. Actually, it’s a film about a man making a filmed podcast called “The Uncertain Detective.” “The Uncertain Detective” is about a detective (Gregg Lachow) and his assistant detective (Eric Ray Anderson). Their motto is “No case too small; no mystery too big.” They deal […][...]
Review: American Dreamer
— by BEV QUESTAD — “What do we need to be happy? How far are we willing to go to get it? This is a human being’s daily dilemma,” asserts Dr. Phil Loder, an economics professor whose students hang on his every word. Move over Steve Martin! Peter Dinklage’s slapstick in “American Dreamer” is reminiscent […][...]
Review: All We Carry
— by WILLIAM STERR — What is it like to be threatened by ruthless gangs and then, when you go to the police, discover that they are being paid off by those same gangs? There are people in the US who know all too well what that is like, but most of us don’t. Even […][...]
Review: Limbo
— by WILLIAM STERR — Limbo – a fictional town in the hot, arid Australian Outback. Limbo – a place of indeterminate location, whose inhabitants are neither in heaven nor hell. Limbo – a film by aboriginal director/writer Ivan Sen, which explores a forgotten murder case that took place 20 years before. There are many […][...]
Review: Knox Goes Away
— by WILLIAM STERR — “Put it on the … the … the thing over there … you know.” How many times has something like that happened to you? You need a common, everyday word and it just wont come. Then the person you’re talking to says “counter?” and of course you knew that! It […][...]
Review: Just Getting By
— by BEV QUESTAD — Last Monday, I spent five hours preparing, serving, and cleaning up dinner for 15 homeless at my church in Vancouver, Washington. We alternate providing dinners, breakfasts, and overnight housing with another church. By 7:30 p.m., the guests nestled in on fold-out mattresses with thick blankets. One fellow had his dog, […][...]
Review: 20 Days in Mariupol
— by BEV QUESTAD — The city is still and quiet. Not a tree leaf moves, as if trying not to call attention to itself. At the border, a two-pronged attack, though denied, is methodically being organized. One will come from the north into Kyiv and the other, here, 35 miles from Russia in the […][...]
Review: Rustin
— by BEV QUESTAD — Diversity, inspiration, compassion, and transformation are the guiding principles of Higher Ground (HG), the Obamas’ production company. Michelle Obama says, “I always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire us, to make us think differently about the world around us, and to help us open our minds and hearts […][...]
Review: Yellow
— by BEV QUESTAD — In a sea of blue burqas, only a cat runs free, scampering freely from rooftop to rooftop high above the fettered women below. This 12-minute exceptional documentary short was nominated for a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for best short doc. It begins by showing the agile rooftop cat, a […][...]