movie reviews – Page 60 – Unhealed Wound

“12”– Revisiting “12 Angry Men”

Written by diana on June 8, 2012. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments on “12”– Revisiting “12 Angry Men”

Academy Award nominee for best foreign film in 2008, “12″ is a Russian interpretation of “12 Angry Men” (1957) starring Henry Fonda and Lee Cobb. If “Twelve Angry Men” argued for the right to a fair trial in the time of McCarthyism, “12” dramatizes anti-Semitism, anti-immigration, class warfare, and hatred for Chechens. The majority of the jurors are grim middle-aged men who carry the scars of the turbulent history of the Soviet Union. In Moscow, twelve jurors weigh the fate of a Chechen teenager accused of murdering his stepfather, who was a...

“Bernie”– A Texas Tale

Written by diana on May 31, 2012. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 4 Comments on “Bernie”– A Texas Tale

This indie film defies easy categorization because it is sometimes comedic, often sad particularly with regard to the old and lonely, and always quirky. Based loosely on a true story, which took place in a Texas hamlet called Carthage, the small-community culture is faithfully and mercilessly presented. The writer-director, Richard Linklater (of “Dazed and Confused” fame) zeroes in on ordinary lives in Carthage, particularly of the old. Filmed in a quasi-documentary style of “interviews” with actors and local Texans, about the almost-too-good-to-be-true Bernie Tiede, ...

“Jiro Dreams of Sushi”–Not Just Another California Roll

Written by diana on April 29, 2012. Posted in movie reviews. 3 Comments on “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”–Not Just Another California Roll

This is a nuanced documentary about the 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. Ono is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inconspicuously located in a Tokyo subway station, where a sushi dinner starts at approximately $400 per person. Despite its humble appearance, Restaurant Jiro is the only sushi restaurant on the globe to receive the highly coveted 3-star Michelin rating. Sushi lovers, some with great trepidation, make pilgrimage, calling months in advance for a seat at the ten-customer sushi bar. Think French Laundry. For...

Netflix–Give Me What I Want to Watch!!

Written by diana on April 16, 2012. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 5 Comments on Netflix–Give Me What I Want to Watch!!

We are all familiar with recommendations that are “pushed” towards us on e-commerce sites–think Amazon.com, Netflix, Pandora, and even Facebook (who suggests “friends”). We never seem to receive Netflix recommendations that we like without suffering through a lot of misfires. For every movie we really love, there are at least 20 duds. And I have rated over 2580 movies on Netflix. So they should know what I like by now. In a recent article in USA Today (April 9th) I learned that Netflix is trying desperately to improve its recommendation system, especially for...

“A Separation”–Between Truth and Lies

Written by diana on March 23, 2012. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments on “A Separation”–Between Truth and Lies

I haven’t seen a film from Iran that I have loved as much as “A Separation” since I enjoyed “Children of Heaven” (1997). “A Separation”, winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, is an Iranian “Rashomon”. This masterpiece of cinema lays out multiple stories unfolding from six principal characters. Stripped of any vestige of a moral absolute, in spite of the low dramatic temperature of the filming, viewers will hang on every scene and every word. The vast middle ground of truth and falsehood leaves you spellbound. The storyline...

“Foyle’s War”–Crime Foiled

Written by diana on March 12, 2012. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 3 Comments on “Foyle’s War”–Crime Foiled

I am addicted to the series “Foyle’s War” (six extraordinary seasons –2002-2010–on BBC Television) now available through Netflix. Set in a small coastal town, Hastings, in Great Britain during World War II, a middle-aged police chief, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (the underrated Michael Kitchen) assumes the responsibility of solving murders in the midst of the confusion of war. While war rages around the world, perpetrators both civilian and military assume they can commit all sorts of heinous crimes with impunity: murder, robbery, espionage,...