In Oliver Stone’s new biopic thriller, “Snowden”, we see the humanization of a young 20-something US software engineer who is self-taught and brilliant in his deciphering the surveillance agenda of the CIA and the NSA in 2013. In what is now the most well-known disclosure of US intelligence and surveillance practices, Snowden has opened...
“Catfish” –Virtual Relationships and Cyber Fantasies
The 2010 American documentary film “Catfish”, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, involves Ariel’s brother, Nev, as he fantasizes about a “friendship” with a beautiful young woman on Facebook. A documentary reflecting our times, “Catfish” is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online...
“Morgan”—Science Embedded in Sci-Fi
Viewers of science fiction movies have an interest in the scientific ideas driving the plot. In the sci-fi movie, “Morgan”, (https://www.foxmovies.com/movies/morgan) a computer captures Morgan’s behavior with the intention of giving an in-depth understanding of the science behind artificial intelligence.
For years a team of scientific...
“Slavery by Another Name”—The Re-enslavement of Black Americans in the US
African Americans are pulled back into slavery after the Civil War.
“Weiner” — An Attention-Getter
Weiner
Hubris, narcissism, tabloid spectacle and massive self-deception collide with the mesmerizing inevitability of a slow-motion trainwreck in “Weiner”. The movie is an engrossing, almost shamefully entertaining documentary about former congressman Anthony Weiner and politics at its most sensationalist and superficial.
After a...
The Fundamentals of Caring—A Different Sort of Road Trip
In this Netflix original film, The Fundamentals of Caring, (based upon Jonathan Evison’s novel,“The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving,) takes us on a road trip with a sullen teenager, Trevor (the disingenous Craig Roberts), confined to a wheelchair with muscular dystrophy. His loving and overprotective mother– divorced and struggling...
