Year: 2021

“Blackbird” (2019)–The Final Flight

Written by Diana Paul on November 15, 2021. Posted in movie reviews.

In this timely and sensitive film, three generations get together for Christmas dinner–instead of Thanksgiving, even though it actually is Thanksgiving. As often happens in real-life family gatherings as well as in Blackbird, there will be dysfunction, a farrago scattered within warm laughter about shared memories and...

“The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley” (2019)

Written by Diana Paul on November 7, 2021. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley” (2019)

This 2019 HBO documentary, directed and produced by Alex Gibney (of “Enron: The Smartest Men in the Room” and “Taxi to the Dark Side”) opens in 2014 with Theranos, a startup in blood-testing technology. The Inventor is filmed at Theranos’s spectacular Silicon Valley chic...

“Supernova”(2021) –Nebulous?

Written by Diana Paul on November 1, 2021. Posted in movie reviews. 1 Comment on “Supernova”(2021) –Nebulous?

“A person dies when he loses his memories.” In Supernova we see Sam (Colin Firth), a concert pianist, and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), a novelist, traveling across England’s Lake District, in their RV van to visit friends, family and places from their past. Tusker was diagnosed with dementia two years...

“Only Murders in the Building”–A Cozy Mystery

Written by Diana Paul on October 25, 2021. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 5 Comments on “Only Murders in the Building”–A Cozy Mystery

In this Hulu original mini-series we see two septuagenarians from the entertainment industry begrudgingly have to team together to solve the murder of a young wealthy neighbor–Tim Kono– in The Arconia, a luxury New York City apartment building. Oliver (Martin Short), an out-of-work theatre director who relies upon his...

ON THE VERGE

Written by Diana Paul on October 20, 2021. Posted in Television reviews.

Guest Reviewer: Jerry Ludwig, retired Hollywood screenwriter and author of The Black List Let’s hear it for the ladies. Actually, let’s hear from the ladies. “On The Verge” is a popular new Netflix show. Twelve half hours set in the snazzy Venice and Santa Monica beach playgrounds of L.A. It...

“Squid Game”–Hunger Games Meets Snowpiercer: Gangnam Style

Written by Diana Paul on October 13, 2021. Posted in Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on “Squid Game”–Hunger Games Meets Snowpiercer: Gangnam Style

This #1 Netflix mega-hit, streaming in nine episodes, is a Korean dystopian story of survival. A mastermind known as the Front Man, in a mask like Darth Vader, stages a series of deadly childhood games (tug of war, red-light-green-light, and the Korean-specific squid game). The debt-ridden players, trapped on a...