Tag: Mark Ruffalo

All the Light We Cannot See–Love is Blind

Written by Diana Paul on November 21, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. 1 Comment on All the Light We Cannot See–Love is Blind

All the Light We Cannot See opens with a devoted, widowed father, Daniel LeBlanc (Mark Ruffalo), teaching his young blind daughter, Marie (Aria Mia Loberti), the intricacies of artifacts in the museum where he works as a locksmith. Based upon the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Anthony Doerr, this four-part Netflix mini-series (released on November 2) takes the viewer on an emotionally intense journey through Nazi-occupied France. While teaching his daughter living skills to maneuver in a war-torn country–Marie’s father, Daniel, builds a miniature...

Dark Waters–Still an Abyss

Written by Diana Paul on August 3, 2020. Posted in movie reviews. 4 Comments on Dark Waters–Still an Abyss

Dark Waters is a 2019 American legal thriller directed by Todd Haynes (“Carol” and “Far from Heaven”). The movie dramatizes the whistleblowing story of a cover-up of toxic waste. We see close up the corporate corruption involving Dupont’s manufacturing of Teflon. The hero is Robert Bilott, (played by Mark Ruffalo of “I Know This Much is True”) an Ohio lawyer who spends more than eighteen years proving that DuPont was responsible for poisoning the town of Parkersburg, West Virginia with...

“Blindness” –Seeing is Believing

Written by diana on March 22, 2016. Posted in movie reviews. 1 Comment on “Blindness” –Seeing is Believing

Based on a popular novel by the Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, Blindness (2008) is a dystopian tale of survival in the face of a pandemic. Blindness opens with an affluent Japanese businessman suddenly blocking traffic during rush hour. Inexplicably blinded, he is unable to continue driving and a seemingly good Samaritan offers to help him. When they arrive at the Japanese man’s upscale apartment, however, the “good Samaritan” steals his car and escapes. Soon the entire city is overtaken by a pandemic of “white blindness”, like driving in a snow storm. The...

“Spotlight” –Illuminating Corruption and Cover-up

Written by diana on January 10, 2016. Posted in movie reviews. 1 Comment on “Spotlight” –Illuminating Corruption and Cover-up

In this Academy Award-nominated film, Spotlight (on my Top Ten Films for 2015) reveals the 2002 exposé into the Catholic Church’s cover-up of child molestation and rape by priests taking place over two decades. Unflinching in its focus, “Spotlight” underscores a subtle outrage and sense of resignation about the power of institutions. We watch as the “Spotlight “ team—named for undercover exposés of difficult-to-prove cases– chases down leads; goes through archives with missing documents; and interviews priests, judges, and victims. The investigative Spotlight team at the Boston Globe is...

“Foxcatcher”—Let This One Go

Written by diana on February 3, 2015. Posted in movie reviews. 1 Comment on “Foxcatcher”—Let This One Go

‘Foxcatcher” the movie “Foxcatcher” is director Bennett Miller’s explorations into the dark side of sports. Based on true events, “Foxcatcher” retells the dark and tragic story of the megalomaniac multimillionaire, John E. (“Eagle”) du Pont (played by the unrecognizable Steve Carrell). A failed wrestler himself, du Pont lavishes a fraction of his fortune onto the Schultz brothers whom he hopes will win the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Most of the scenes are shot near du Pont’s Foxcatcher estate in rural Pennsylvania. Flattered by du Pont’s attention and financial support, Mark Schultz (Channing...