Author: Diana Paul

The King’s Affection–”Romeo & Juliet” Meets “As You Like It”

Written by Diana Paul on March 13, 2023. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews.

In this Korean historical romance, The King’s Affection is part Shakespeare and part soap opera. Twins are born to the royal family: a baby boy and a baby girl. Having a crown prince share his mother’s womb with a girl is culturally unacceptable for the future heir to the throne. As a result, when the Crown Princess gives...

Elvis–Rocket Man of the 60’s?

Written by Diana Paul on March 8, 2023. Posted in Unhealed Wound.

In Baz Luhrmann’s Academy-award nominated 2022 biopic of Elvis Presley (an extraordinary performance by newcomer Austin Butler), we see the journey back in time to the 1940’s through 70’s with historically accurate fashions, scenes, and most of all, politics through the civil rights movement. Elvis’s life is told from the...

The Pale Blue Eye–A Second Look

Written by Diana Paul on February 27, 2023. Posted in movie reviews.

“The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends and where the other begins?” Based upon Louis Bayard’s novel by the same name, The Pale Blue Eye is a murder mystery thriller that intersects with horror. Opening with renowned detective Augustus...

The Recruit–Not Your Ordinary Nube

Written by Diana Paul on February 19, 2023. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews.

Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo of “All the Boys I Loved Before”), a newly minted lawyer hired by the CIA, is drafted into an investigation of a Russian double-agent, Max (Laura Haddock of “Downton Abbey: A New Era“). She is an invaluable asset who can air the dirty laundry of both the CIA and Russian intelligence. A...

Emily the Criminal–The Making of a Criminal Mind

Written by Diana Paul on February 11, 2023. Posted in movie reviews.

In this amoral thriller, anti-hero Emily (Aubrey Plaza of “White Lotus”, season 2 and “Parks and Recreations”) is interviewing for a job in a medical office. Problem is she has a felony on her record for aggravated assault. This fact will be crucial for the ongoing plot in Emily the Criminal. Angry and desperate with...

All Quiet on the Western Front–The Ugliness of War

Written by Diana Paul on February 6, 2023. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 4 Comments on All Quiet on the Western Front–The Ugliness of War

All Quiet on the Western Front, an October 2022 Netflix release, is Germany’s submission for this year’s Academy Award. Based upon the 1929 antiwar novel by Erich Maria Remarque, we see a profound drama about idealistic teenage boys volunteering to join the Imperial German Army during the closing year (1917) of the First World...