Author: diana
This darkly suspenseful tale of two privileged families is based upon the Dutch author Herman Koch's bestselling 2013 novel. The families struggle to make the most consequential decision of their lives, all over the course of dinner at an exclusive Manhattan restaurant. Upper class privilege and sibling rivalry are at the heart of The Dinner, a psychologically astute family saga.
Dawn Wall–They Persisted (The Only Wall to Consider?)
Dawn Wall was last year's SXSW Audience Award documentary winner. Free climber Tommy Caldwell and his climbing partner, Kevin Jorgeson, attempt to scale the unscalable 3000 ft. Dawn Wall, a vertical granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Dawn Wall is much more than a documentary about climbing
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? — The Golden Rule
There’s a lot to like about producer/director Morgan Neville’s moving, 2018 documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Neville (who also created 20 Feet from Stardom – see my August 19, 2018 review) interviews just about everyone who knew Fred Rogers– his wife and two sons, his longtime cast and crew on the pioneering PBS series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968 to 2001). Some baby-boomers, their children and their grandchildren grew up on the soothing words of Mister Rogers:
So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day/Since we’re together we might as well say/Would...
Bordertown, Season 2–Borderline Thriller
This long-awaited Finnish noir thriller’s second season continues
to feature the quirky and sullen detective Kari
Sorjonen (Ville Virtanen) and his partner, Lena Jaakola (Anu
Sinisalo), as they obsessively pursue a series of
grizzly murders similar to the first season of 2016 (see my July 23, 2017 review of Season 1) . The format of Bordertown Season 2 is similar to the first
season, namely five criminal
cases, each two episodes in length.
This dark and moody crime
series swept Finland’s top TV awards in its first season, winning Best Drama,
Best...
True Detective Season 3–Whodunit…or Not?
For armchair sleuths, the latest season of True Detective will probably not fit neatly into the category of cops-and-killers genre, buddy-cop, film noir, or police procedural. Surprisingly,True Detective’s latest season has elements of all four.
True Detective Season 3
Set in the Ozarks in the ‘80s (with virulent Jim Crow traditions), the ‘90s, and the recent past (probably 2015 or 2016), True Detectives focuses on one haunted Vietnam War veteran, detective Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali), as he investigates the disappearance of a little girl, and the death of her...
Narcos, Narcos Mexico and El Chapo–Cinema Verité
Three Netflix series -- Narcos, Narcos Mexico and El Chapo-- are gritty, raw, and bingeable. Each chronicles the most powerful drug lord and his cartel at the rise of cocaine and marijuana production in Colombia, Mexico, and other parts of the world.