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Review: Goliath

— by WILLIAM STERR —

This is a difficult, even infuriating, movie.

Most of us are familiar with the story of how the tobacco industry fought for decades to obscure the fact about tobacco use, addiction and health issues. We’ve seen the same thing with fossil fuels and opioids.

French writer/director Frederic Tellier (“Through the Fire”) has given us a similar story, based on real events, as seen through several persons on different sides of the issue.

The issue is a pesticide, Tetrazine (a product made up for the purpose of the story). (CONTINUED)


Review: The Whale

— by WILLIAM STERR — In 2012, Darren Aronofsky (“Mother!”), attended a performance of “The Whale,” a play by Samuel Hunter. A decade later, he directed a movie version with Hunter as screenwriter and Brendan Fraser (“Gods and Monsters”) starring as the protagonist, Charlie. Charlie is a recluse. He teaches a writing class online, invisible […][...]


Review: The First Step

— by BEV QUESTAD — If you tend to watch CNN then you probably know the handsome, well-spoken Yale Law School commentator whose rich voice speaks with passion. On the night of the 2016 election he somberly intoned: “It’s hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids: Don’t […][...]


Review: Alchemy of the Spirit

— by WILLIAM STERR — Oliver Black (Xander Berkeley – “Butcher’s Crossing) is an artist. He works out of a studio in his home in a village in Vermont. One fall morning, he wakes to find his wife, Evelyn (Sarah Clarke – “Coda”) dead beside him. His trauma is intense – she is clearly the […][...]


Review: Marlowe

— by WILLIAM STERR — Let me introduce you to something interesting. We’ll call it “The Case of Three Marlowes.” Once upon a time in California, way back in 1939, a detective fiction writer by the name of Raymond Chandler, published a novel, “Farewell, My Lovely,” featuring the private investigator Philip Marlowe. This, and seven […][...]


Review: After Love

— by BEV QUESTAD — The day after the death of her husband, a British woman, whose home is in Dover, learns about a surprise her husband left behind across the Channel in Calais. This alone is intriguing enough, but the widow is a Muslim, all wrapped up in a hijab … with striking blue […][...]


Review: Wolf Garden

— by WILLIAM STERR — Have you ever walked into a restaurant and ordered a juicy hamburger with all the trimmings? And when the server brings the meal, you see the tempting sesame seed bun, the crisp lettuce and the ripe tomato slice, the aroma of Bermuda onion and dill pickle. But when you bite […][...]


Review: Orchestrator of Storms

— by WILLIAM STERR — “Orchestrator of Storms” relates the life and career of the late French director Jean Rollin. While Rollin was a prolific writer, his supreme love was the production of films, almost exclusively in the “le cinema fantastique” genre. As such, his low budget productions featured a great deal of female nudity, […][...]


Review: El Equipo

— by WILLIAM STERR — In 1976, a military coup overthrew legitimately elected Argentinian President Isabel Peron and established a military government that lasted until 1983. Shortly after the coup, American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger urged the coup leaders to destroy their enemies in Argentina quickly. Kissinger was recorded describing the junta leader: “… […][...]



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