Year: 2020

“High Seas”–“Death on the Nile” meets “Murder on the Orient Express”

Written by Diana Paul on August 24, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 3 Comments on “High Seas”–“Death on the Nile” meets “Murder on the Orient Express”

In this Spanish melodrama (Spanish: Alta Mar) , two sisters discover some very disturbing family secrets aboard a ship sailing from Spain to Brazil just after World War II. Agatha Christie’s style of mystery plotting, overlaid with the Spanish love of melodrama and telenovela, makes High Seas an unusual series. Following the...

“Humans”–“Dark Mirror” Meets “Ex Machina”

Written by diana on August 17, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 1 Comment on “Humans”–“Dark Mirror” Meets “Ex Machina”

The Amazon Prime sci-fi series, Humans (three seasons), takes place in the not- too-distant future where the affluent purchase “synths”, artificially intelligent human-looking robots that can perform a multitude of tasks from housecleaning, surveillance, and sex-toy services. A suburban family buys Anita (the exquisitely...

“The Alienist: Angel of Darkness” (Season Two)–Stranger Things Happen

Written by Diana Paul on August 11, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 1 Comment on “The Alienist: Angel of Darkness” (Season Two)–Stranger Things Happen

In this relatively seamless sequel to “The Alienist”, based on Caleb Carr’s second psychological thriller, season two is a retelling of Carr’s Angel of Darkness. But this is much more than a sequel. (For my review of season one, see my April 29, 2018 review: “The...

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...

“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...

“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...