movie reviews – Unhealed Wound

Animals–Our Primal Nature?

Written by Diana Paul on October 19, 2026. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on Animals–Our Primal Nature?

Ben Affleck directed and co-wrote Animals, a 2026 Netflix production. This crime thriller centers on the kidnapping of a child and the political staging to win an election. Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck) is an independent Los Angeles mayoral candidate, convinced partly by his strategist, Sam (Steve Yuen), that he can win the hearts and...

Mayday–Top Gun Russian-Style

Written by Diana Paul on September 30, 2026. Posted in movie reviews.

The year is 1987 during the Cold War. In the buddy comedy Mayday, U.S. Navy pilot Troy “Assassin” Kelly (Ryan Reynolds) has just crashed into a deeply forested remote region of Russia. On a failed covert reconnaissance mission, Troy has to escape before the KGB discovers his whereabouts. He lands unconscious, and is dragged to...

Sing Sing–Art as Liberation

Written by Diana Paul on August 31, 2026. Posted in movie reviews.

The multiple-award winning Sing Sing is a richly textured film of friendship and brotherhood among prisoners. The major theme is rediscovering one’s own humanity in a world that refuses to see you as human. Theater –and the acting process– become the inmates’ survival. John “Divine G” Whitfield (played by...

Seed of the Sacred Fig–Growing Dissension

Written by Diana Paul on August 25, 2026. Posted in movie reviews.

Nominated for the 2025 Best International Film (Academy Awards), and the 2024 Festival Special Jury Prize (Cannes), Seed of the Sacred Fig is an Iranian thriller by the Iranian writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof. “The Ficus Religiosa is a tree with an unusual life cycle. Its seeds, contained in bird droppings, fall on other...

The King–Royal Turpitude?

Written by Diana Paul on August 2, 2026. Posted in movie reviews.

In this very loosely interpreted adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Henriad”, The King (2019) focuses on Prince Hal (Timothée Chalamet) and his reluctant acceptance of the crown, becoming Henry V, King of England. Hal’s defiance is due to his difficult relationship with his dying father, King Henry IV (Ben...

Project Hail Mary–A 2026 Version of E.T.

Written by Diana Paul on July 21, 2026. Posted in movie reviews.

In this crowd-pleasing sci-fi adaptation of Andy Weir’s book by the same name, Project Hail Mary opens with Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) waking up on a spacecraft, unable to remember who he is or how he got there. Floating in his astronaut suit, he hovers above the bodies of his two dead colleagues. He doesn’t quite remember...