Unhealed Wound – Page 2 – Passion for Art, Movies, and Culture

Wicked– Behind the Curtain?

Written by Diana Paul on May 13, 2025. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on Wicked– Behind the Curtain?

In this highly original prequel to The Wizard of Oz, (based upon Gregory Maguire’s novel, Wicked), we have the portrayal of Elphaba’s childhood, in order to understand her later incarnation as the Wicked Witch of the West. Wicked opens with the family drama engulfing Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo). Her harsh father, who is the renowned governor of Oz, has no love for Elphaba, only for her younger sister Nessarose, who has suffered a tragic childhood catastrophe. Elphaba is highly analytical, studious, and courageously insightful. She knows...

The Gardener–Root Rot??

Written by Diana Paul on April 28, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on The Gardener–Root Rot??

In this six-episode Spanish psychological thriller (now #3 on Netflix), we see two mother-son pairs who are cold-blooded killers. The Gardener (Spanish: El Jardinero) showcases a quiet studious young gardener, Elmer, who lives with his mother, China, owner of a nursery. He has frontal lobe damage from a car accident. Avoiding a fatal end, Elmer and his mother, who was severely injured as well, become inexorably intertwined in a cat-and-mouse game of murder. China grooms her now adult son to be a contract killer. Having no feelings for his murder victims, Elmer seems...

Jewel in the Palace–Shining Through

Written by Diana Paul on April 15, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Jewel in the Palace–Shining Through

Based on a true story about the first woman physician in Korea, Jewel in the Palace (2003) takes the viewer on a 54-episode journey. Part melodrama, part court-intrigue, part-Shakespearean. An orphaned little girl, Jang Geum, born of aristocratic parents who were betrayed at eighteenth century court, finds herself homeless and desperate. After becoming literate as well as accomplished watching her mother cook, she soon excels in both scholarly classics and the fine art of cooking. Though only ten years old, Jang Geum wishes to avenge her parents’ wrongful deaths as well as...

Bad Sisters (Season 2)–Not a Bad Season

Written by Diana Paul on April 7, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Bad Sisters (Season 2)–Not a Bad Season

The sophomore season of a much-adored and praised debut always seems like a Sisyphean task. Usually, the return is the dreaded sequel. But there are exceptions, of course. In the case of Bad Sisters’ second season, the writing (by Sharon Hogan) and narrative surpass the first.. The four Garvey sisters are still being hounded by police officer, Detective Inspector Fergal Loftus (Barry Ward) two years after the murder of Grace’s abusive husband, John Paul. Thinking they had gotten away with murder, the cold case is reopened and a particularly tenacious and astute police...

Adolescence–A Parent’s Heartbreak

Written by Diana Paul on March 30, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. 1 Comment on Adolescence–A Parent’s Heartbreak

In this four-episode Netflix mini-series, Adolescence is a crime drama focusing on how the arrest of a thirteen-year old boy for murder affects his family and classmates. In the first episode a British SWAT team abruptly invades a working class home and ransacks the house before handcuffing the boy and taking him in a squad car to the police station. The entire booking and interview process chronicles the minor’s terror and the parents’ helplessness as they passively witness his crying and pleading with police. The Miller family does not understand their legal...

Zero Day–Weaponizing Cyberspace

Written by Diana Paul on March 24, 2025. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on Zero Day–Weaponizing Cyberspace

In this Netflix mini-series starring Robert DeNiro, a national security cyber-crisis challenges the US government and its citizenry to face unseen cyber terrorists. Are they domestic or Russian? Zero Day explores both possibilities. A “zero-day” vulnerability is a flaw in software or hardware that is unknown to the vendor or developers, meaning there’s no patch or fix available to address it. There are “zero days” to fix the weaponizing of cyberspace because the hackers have already exploited all possible solutions. Enter George Mullen (Robert...