Month: July 2020

“Lila & Eve”–Loss Without Justice

Written by Diana Paul on July 27, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 3 Comments on “Lila & Eve”–Loss Without Justice

Lila & Eve, a 2015 sleeper female vigilante thriller , stars Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”) as Lila and Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”) as Eve, The opening scene shows Lila’s 18-year-old son, Stephon (Aml Ameen), in a pool of blood from a drive-by shooting. A grief-fueled fragile mother is determined to fix her life: to bring the murderers of her son to justice so she can move on in nurturing her fourteen-year- old son. Unsure how to go on with the effort of living, partly numbed by anti-anxiety drugs, Lila joins a support group for moms...

“I’ll Be Gone In the Dark”–Don’t Watch This Alone at Night

Written by Diana Paul on July 22, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 1 Comment on “I’ll Be Gone In the Dark”–Don’t Watch This Alone at Night

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, a six-part HBO documentary series based on Michelle McNamara’s book, explores the author and her obsessive investigation into the dark world of the “The Golden State Killer” who terrorized California in the 1970s and 80s. It is mostly due to McNamara’s investigative reporting that this cold case was kept alive and solved. Incredibly, that didn’t happen until late 2018 when the perpetrator was identified, charged and convicted of 50 rapes and 12 murders out of more than 100 known...

Queen & Slim–Majestic Yet Thin

Written by Diana Paul on July 13, 2020. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on Queen & Slim–Majestic Yet Thin

Queen & Slim, directed by Melina Matsoukas (“Insecure”) and written by Lena Waithe (“Master of None”), was influenced by the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. A story about police brutality and the stress and horror of daily life for a black person in America, Queen & Slim is a gripping fictional film that feels all too real. A first Tinder date– mediocre and uneventful– takes an unexpected turn. On their way home in a blustery winter night in Cleveland, a young couple are pulled over for a minor traffic incident....

“The Restaurant”–A Banquet of Plots

Written by Diana Paul on July 6, 2020. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “The Restaurant”–A Banquet of Plots

This Sundance Now series from Sweden begins in May 1945 in celebration of the end of World War II. Calle Svensson, a young working class aspiring chef, plants an impulsive kiss on a pretty young stranger, Nina Löwander. Her family owns a traditional, if old-fashioned, restaurant in Stockholm. Although officially neutral during the war, Sweden had both Nazi supporters and resisters. The first of three seasons in The Restaurant grapples with the war’s aftermath. While peace is proclaimed all over Europe, a family battle begins to rage among Löwander...

Month: July 2020

“Lila & Eve”–Loss Without Justice

“I’ll Be Gone In the Dark”–Don’t Watch This Alone at Night

Queen & Slim–Majestic Yet Thin

“The Restaurant”–A Banquet of Plots

Subscribe to my Newsletter