Year: 2023

Hijack–Unfriendly Skies?

Written by Diana Paul on August 11, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Hijack–Unfriendly Skies?

In this seven-episode miniseries, released June 29, we see Sam Nelson (Idris Elba), a professional business consultant and expert negotiator, attempt to persuade four terrorists to peacefully land a Dubai-London flight. Each one-hour episode simulates an hour of the seven-hour flight. The panicky passengers, mostly from Dubai and Great Britain, are ill-suited for the required teamwork and unified strategy to overcome the terrorists. Sam, walking a tightrope between the passengers and hijackers, must convince the hijackers that passengers only want to see their families...

Living–A Life Worth Remembering

Written by Diana Paul on July 31, 2023. Posted in Unhealed Wound. No Comments on Living–A Life Worth Remembering

Inspired by the Japanese cinematic masterpiece “Ikiru” (“to live”) by Akira Kurosawa, Living is set in a post-war 1950s London office, the Department of Public Works, responsible for issuing building permits. In a stultifying, paper-shuffling bureaucratic agency, septuagenarian Williams (Bill Nighy in his 2023 Academy Award nominated role) manages a crowded office crammed with young civil servants. They are terrified of the old geezer, whom they have nicknamed “Zombie” for his lack of apparent emotion and his robotic demand for propriety at all times. Williams...

Trial by Fire–A Personal Ordeal

Written by Diana Paul on July 26, 2023. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. No Comments on Trial by Fire–A Personal Ordeal

Trial by Fire, based on the memoir written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, explores the lack of legal accountability and justice following the Uphaar fire in a Delhi movie theater in 1997. Fifty-nine people were killed, mostly families treating themselves to an afternoon at the movies. The Krishnamoorthy couple lose both of their teenage children in the tragic disaster. What follows is a first-hand look at the frustration of the victims investigating the Uphaar theater fire. Neelam organizes other victims’ families to advocate for a fair...

Chloe–A Fatal Attraction

Written by Diana Paul on July 17, 2023. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on Chloe–A Fatal Attraction

Chloe is a 2009 erotic sleeper of a remake of the 2003 French thriller, “Nathalie,” and directed by Atom Egoyan. A middle-aged affluent couple, Catherine (Julianne Moore) and David (Liam Neeson), seem, on first appearance, to be a happily married professional couple. Catherine is a caring and devoted gynecologist and David is a professor of music. Their teenage son Michael (Max Thieriot from “Bates Motel”) is interested in music and has a closer relationship with his father than his mother who desperately wants to be closer. When David misses a flight back...

The Last Thing He Told Me—Things Unsaid

Written by Diana Paul on July 9, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on The Last Thing He Told Me—Things Unsaid

Based on the popular novel by Laura Dave, The Last Thing He Told Me is an Apple+ mini-series in eight episodes. It tells the story of Hannah, a newly married second wife (Jennifer Garner) and her teenage stepdaughter, Bailey (Angourie Rice), who go in search of the suddenly gone-missing husband and father, Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau- Jaime Lannister in “Game of Thrones”). The FBI suspects Owen of involvement in a high-tech Ponzi scheme. Owen leaves a two-word message for Hannah: “Protect her.” The problem: ...

The Whale–- Moby Dick Revisited

Written by Diana Paul on June 26, 2023. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on The Whale–- Moby Dick Revisited

The Whale is an adaptation of Sam Hunter’s play, directed by Darren Aronofsky (“Requiem for a Dream”, “Black Swan”, and “mother!”). The opening scene zooms in on a middle-aged, morbidly obese professor, Charlie (the Academy-Award winning role for Brendan Fraser) sitting in front of a computer in his claustrophobic, dark apartment in a small town in Idaho. He teaches creative writing online to aspiring college students. His face is blocked out by the camera, revealing nothing of his physical condition. Now terminally ill with congestive...