Month: October 2024

The Perfect Couple–Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

Written by Diana Paul on October 27, 2024. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews.

The Perfect Couple, an American seaside mystery based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand, was released on Netflix in September. Set in Nantucket in an opulent mansion, Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman), a famous murder mystery author, is obsessing over the wedding for her favorite son, Benji...

Civil War–Battleground States

Written by Diana Paul on October 21, 2024. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments on Civil War–Battleground States

In the 2024 film Civil War a van of war correspondents travels undercover from New York City to Washington DC to bear witness to the civil war between a dictator/president (Nick Offerman of “Parks and Recreations” fame) and violent secessionists. There is no explanation of why there is a civil war, who is fighting...

Hotel Portofino–A Pleasant Stay?

Written by Diana Paul on October 13, 2024. Posted in Television reviews.

In this three-season British historical drama, Hotel Portofino, Bella Ainsworth (Natasha McElhone), the beautiful middle-aged daughter of a wealthy manufacturer of fabrics, moves to Italy in the 1920s to fulfill her dream of having a luxury boutique hotel in the resort town of Portofino. Problem is that Mussolini is on the verge of...

For Love and Life: No Ordinary Campaign

Written by Diana Paul on October 6, 2024. Posted in movie reviews.

In the extraordinary 2024 documentary, For Love and Life, portraits in courage, we witness ALS patient Brian Wallach as well as his wife, Sandra, as they power through a commitment to fight for a cure. Previously an Obama administration lawyer, Brian and Sandra, also a lawyer, become indefatigable activists for...

Happy Valley: A Micro-Exorcism

Written by Diana Paul on October 1, 2024. Posted in Television reviews.

Happy Valley, a three-season Acorn mini-series, is an unnerving police procedural based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The name “Happy Valley” is the local police’s pejorative term for the low-income Halifax neighborhood. It suffers from a high rate of drug addiction and crime. Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire of “Last Tango...