Skip to main content

Month: March 2024

Mr. and Mrs. Smith–Trust Issues

The mini-series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which premiered in February of this year on Amazon Prime, is much more than a remake of the popular 2005 movie starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.  While still  anchored in a main plot of espionage hijinks, now the drama has been embedded within  a rom-com  infused  by the chemistry between its charming leads, Donald Glover (John Smith) and Maya Erskine (Jane Smith).   As two lonely, unemployed millennials, they  independently agree to become secret agents for a mysterious organization requiring them to go undercover as a married...

Continue reading

You Hurt My Feelings–Something to Think About

You Hurt My Feelings, a psychological family saga with humorous overtones, was released in May 2023.  Directed and produced by Nicole Holofcener (Last Duel, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Enough Said), the opening scene is of the mildly successful memoirist, Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus of “Seinfeld” and “Veep“)  who is working on a second book, a novel,  without much interest from her agent or prospective publishers.  In her daytime job  as a creative writing professor, Beth  encourages her students not to be afraid of writing what truly inspires them, without fear or...

Continue reading

Echo–Maya Lopez is Back

Guest reviewer:   Lora Chilton, author of 1666 : A Novel The character of Maya Lopez was introduced in the Marvel television series, Hawkeye (2021). Now she is  back in the spin-off series, Echo. Played by the captivating Alaqua Cox, Maya tells her story in a series of flashbacks involving  her childhood and trauma. Maya, of course, has the superpowers of a Marvel hero,  but this time, passed down through her matrilineal Choctaw heritage from Chafa, a Choctaw leader.  Focusing on the Choctaw nation,  Echo is a Marvel series with a  fresh and highly original cultural perspective. ...

Continue reading

Anna–A Woman Warrior a la “La Femme Nikita”?

This unexpectedly stylish action movie from  French filmmaker Luc Besson opens in 1990 at a local Moscow market.  Anna, a  beautiful young Russian (Sasha Luss), is selling Matryoshka nesting dolls.  A talent scout offers her work in a Paris modeling agency, a chance for her to leave a future of poverty in a relationship with  an abusive, violent thief. As Anna  progresses,  Anna’s life improves: as  a popular model in Paris–particularly with Russian oligarchs. A  KGB agent (Luke Evans from The Alienist) recognizes her  utility as a covert spy and she...

Continue reading

Subscribe to my Newsletter

* indicates required
Jan0 Posts
Feb0 Posts
Mar0 Posts
Apr0 Posts
May0 Posts
Jun0 Posts
Jul0 Posts
Aug0 Posts
Sep0 Posts
Oct0 Posts