Year: 2015

“My Top 10 Movies for 2015”

Written by diana on December 28, 2015. Posted in movie reviews. 3 Comments on “My Top 10 Movies for 2015”

With 2015 coming to an end, I wanted to take a look back at the movie reviews I wrote this year. When I counted the reviews I have written this year (=24), I wanted to see what would be my top ten favorites. It was a bit easier to make a “listicle” than in past years, since I did not think this year’s output was as stunning. No...

“The Big Short”—We Were All Duped

Written by diana on December 21, 2015. Posted in Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments on “The Big Short”—We Were All Duped

The Big Short “The Big Short”, based on Michael Lewis’s book, is a film that wildly fluctuates between comedy and deadly serious criticism of Wall Street. The producers, shouting out “Finance For Dummies”, follow a group of outlier financial analysts who predicted and bet on the fall of the U.S. housing market. 2011’s “Margin Call” told a...

“Fargo”: Season 2—Still Far to Go

Written by diana on December 16, 2015. Posted in Unhealed Wound.

Season 2 of the award-winning Fargo mini-series is a stunning repeat performance not only of the Coen brothers’ iconic movie by the same name but also in its succession to Season 1. The season finale of Fargo was broadcast this week. Comedy meets tragedy. Humor meets violence. Surreal meets the real with an infusion of the main theme:...

“Trouble with the Curve”—Catching the Unexpected

Written by diana on December 7, 2015. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “Trouble with the Curve”—Catching the Unexpected

Trouble with the Curve This 2012 film is another Clint Eastwood sports movie. That being said, “Trouble with the Curve” is not so much about sports as it is about a father-daughter relationship. It also touches on how the human element (and an “old-school” methodology) cannot be discounted in favor of technology. (Think: “Money Ball” as its...

“Mr. Holmes”—Not the Sherlock We All Know

Written by diana on December 1, 2015. Posted in movie reviews. 5 Comments on “Mr. Holmes”—Not the Sherlock We All Know

“Mr. Holmes” is an imaginary and revisionist take on Sherlock Holmes as a 93-year old dispirited and retired detective, featuring the incomparable Ian McKellen in the title role. This 2015 British-American film , based on Mitch Cullin’s 2005 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, takes place in Sussex two years after the end of the...

“The Humans” –A Family Thanksgiving for a Fearful Middle Class

Written by diana on November 25, 2015. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals.

It starts as just another family drama on Thanksgiving. But family Thanksgivings can be horrific, chilling celebrative occasions for some of us. “The Humans” written by the Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Karam is just that. The aging dad worries about money, one daughter moans about her student debt, the other is heartbroken by...