movie reviews – Page 7 – Unhealed Wound

The Menu–Prix Fixe Squid Game Anyone?

Written by Diana Paul on January 30, 2023. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on The Menu–Prix Fixe Squid Game Anyone?

“If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu” –a quote credited to Senator Elizabeth Warren in fighting for her constituency before Congress. But what about both–a seat at the table and on the menu too? In the opening scene of The Menu, a group of nine wealthy foodies have paid $1250 per person to travel by yacht to a privately-owned island where celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes at his sinister best) will provide a rarified feast at his uber-exclusive restaurant, Hawthorne. The narrative starts out very slowly, with a delightful...

My Top 15 Movies and TV Series for 2022

Written by Diana Paul on January 2, 2023. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on My Top 15 Movies and TV Series for 2022

Happy New Year 2023!! While we are all going into our third year of lockdown, many of us craved new content to watch, and feel like we are either running out of choices or there are too many to choose from. Some are less well-known and under-the-radar. Well, this year I have fifteen to recommend. Here are the reviews I wrote this past year with the criteria that they were available online since movie theaters were either shut down or offered very limited screenings. Of the 52 reviews I posted this year, here are my favorites. Yet another difficult year to make...

Where the Crawdads Sing—In Harmony with the Book

Written by Diana Paul on December 26, 2022. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on Where the Crawdads Sing—In Harmony with the Book

Any book-to-screen adaptation of a beloved best-seller has heightened risk of disappointing its audience. In the case of the blockbuster 2018 Delia Owens’ novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, Reese Witherspoon’s adaptation to film is not only a faithful adaptation but an original restructuring of the narrative without sacrificing the character arcs or the plots. Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones (from “Normal People”) as Kya, the abandoned little girl who survives in the North Carolina swamp as the “Marsh Girl”. She is taunted by the surrounding community. Part coming-of-age story and...

Top Gun: Maverick–Targeting Its Audience

Written by Diana Paul on November 28, 2022. Posted in movie reviews. 1 Comment on Top Gun: Maverick–Targeting Its Audience

This aviator cinematic sequel to the 1987 classic Tom Cruise movie, “Top Gun”, sees Pete “Maverick” Mitchell still having his need for speed, Fast and Furious style. Top Gun: Maverick picks up the story thirty years later, with Maverick still addicted to testosterone-driven airborne risk. Always a rogue, he has not made any high-ranking friends. In the Top Gun academy to which he is now assigned a teaching role, not a combat pilot on a mission, Maverick comes face-to-face with Rooster Bradshaw (an underserved...

Inside Man–Incarceration or Cancellation?

Written by Diana Paul on November 15, 2022. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews, Unhealed Wound. No Comments on Inside Man–Incarceration or Cancellation?

A dramatic four-episode mini-series by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who creator), Inside Man was released on Netflix October 31. There are two parallel plots: Former law professor Jefferson Grieff (Stanley Tucci) is on death row for strangling and beheading his wife. A brilliant Hannibal Lecter-style genius for solving cold cases, he waits execution. The second plot involves an English vicar Harry Watling (David Tennant who played Doctor Who) and his wife Mary (Lindsey Marshal). The vicar reluctantly accepts a flash drive from the deeply disturbed verger (vicar’s attendant) who wants...

The Watcher–Don’t Bother

Written by Diana Paul on November 7, 2022. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. No Comments on The Watcher–Don’t Bother

The Watcher (a seven-episode Netflix mini-series by Ryan Murphy, creator of Stranger Things and American Horror Story) was released on October 13 of this year and is currently rated #1 on that platform. Loosely based on a true story, a creative middle-aged couple Nora (Naomi Watts) and Dean Brannock (Bobby Cannavale), buy a mansion in a wealthy insular country-club enclave: Westfield, in upstate New Jersey. Soon they are haunted by a stalker, and besieged with financial problems from purchasing a home they couldn’t really afford. Their teenage daughter is, at first,...