Month: January 2022

“The Power of the Dog”–Bad Dogs Barking Loud

Written by Diana Paul on January 31, 2022. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “The Power of the Dog”–Bad Dogs Barking Loud

Guest Reviewer Densie Webb (International Book Award finalist for When Robins Appear) This slow-spun Western, sparingly based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Savage, is set on a fictional sprawling ranch in 1920s Montana (filmed in New Zealand). Directed by Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog centers on the...

“Being the Ricardos”–Making America Great Again

Written by Diana Paul on January 24, 2022. Posted in movie reviews. 3 Comments on “Being the Ricardos”–Making America Great Again

Academy-Award nominated Being the Ricardos (2021) opens in the the year 1939 with a handsome 22-year old Cuban singer named Desi Arnaz (played by Javier Bardem), touring the country with his orchestra. After Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi fall in love and marry, Desi continues to have modest success on tour...

“The Dressmaker”–Quirky Down-Under Drama

Written by Diana Paul on January 17, 2022. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments on “The Dressmaker”–Quirky Down-Under Drama

Based upon Rosalie Ham’s novel by the same name, The Dressmaker (2015) gives us an opening scene in which 10-year-old Tilly Dunnage is being bullied by classmate Stewart Pettyman, the mayor’s son, and a group of boys in Dungatar, a town in the Australian outback. With little investigation she is sent...

“The Lost Daughter”–Missing Mom

Written by Diana Paul on January 10, 2022. Posted in movie reviews. 1 Comment on “The Lost Daughter”–Missing Mom

In her directing and writing debut Maggie Gyllenhaal gives us The Lost Daughter, a courageous look at the “maternal instinct”… which isn’t. Leda Caruso (Olivia Colman), a college professor, is vacationing in a quaint Greek resort. Traveling alone with her books, she is enjoying a lazy day on the...

My Top 30 Movies and TV Series for 2021

Written by Diana Paul on January 3, 2022. Posted in Unhealed Wound.

While we all continue to shelter-in-place during this lockdown, many of us craved new content to watch, some less well-known and under-the-radar. Well, this year I watched more movies and television than ever before, so I have thirty to recommend, instead of the usual 15-20. Here are the reviews I wrote this past year...