Unhealed Wound – Page 93 – Passion for Art, Movies, and Culture

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers–The Most Famous Whistleblower of Our Time?

Written by diana on December 15, 2011. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 5 Comments

Nominated for a 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary, this past June marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, which was forced to stop publishing by a cease-and-desist order mandated by the Nixon administration. “The Most Dangerous Man in America” tells the inside story through the narration of Daniel Ellsberg himself, of this game-changing event that ended the Vietnam war and transformed our nation’s political discourse. This documentary is riveting because of the historic footage of Ellsberg, his colleagues, family and...

“Margin Call”–Soulless Capitalism at Its Finest

Written by diana on December 8, 2011. Posted in movie reviews. 4 Comments

An onslaught of “Occupy Wall Street” movies has been released in the last two years–think “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”, “Too Big to Fail”, “Up in the Air”, The Company Men”–in the wake of the financial meltdown of 2008. “Margin Call” deserves to be among the classics, which have focused on greed, power, and the vacuum resulting from gutting regulatory compliance. (My favorite among recent classics is “Glengarry Glen Ross”.) The brainchild of director and screenwriter, J.C....

“The Descendants” –Decent But Not Great

Written by diana on November 30, 2011. Posted in movie reviews. 3 Comments

I recently saw “The Descendants” at the Napa Valley Film Festival. I had high expectations. What’s not to like about either George Clooney or Alexander Payne? Both of them are very talented entertainment superstars. However, neither George Clooney’s pretty face nor Alexander Payne’s mastery of comedy and pathos (“Election”, “About Schmidt”, and “Sideways”, to say nothing of the hit TV series “Hung”) are sufficient to render this movie anything but mildly entertaining. It’s decent, but not great comedy...

“J. Edgar”—Investigating the Investigator

Written by diana on November 20, 2011. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 4 Comments

Based upon a script by “Milk” screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black, and directed by Clint Eastwood, “J. Edgar” is a biopic of the controversial FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. In this spellbinding movie, Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Hoover, ages five decades, as he grows from an ambitious young law enforcer to the most powerful, controversial, and intimidating FBI director the US has ever known. Even presidents feared him. “J. Edgar” depicts Hoover’s early career (the 1930’s), including raids on Communist “radicals” and organized crime,...

Napa Valley Film Festival–Is this the next Sundance?

Written by diana on November 15, 2011. Posted in Film Festivals, Local travel, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments

Last week (November 9-13) I attended the inaugural Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) with a friend who lives in Calistoga and has volunteered in the festival’s planning. Over 100 films were presented, many for the first time at any film festival, in 12 screening locations from Napa to Calistoga. Along with viewing films we had the pleasure of tasting fine wines from local wineries and delicious food at the welcome party (for holders of Pass Plus and patrons). In the next two or three posts, I will be reviewing several of my favorite movies from NVFF. While this year marks the 30th anniversary...

Profile in Scribbles–“All About Me”

Written by diana on November 7, 2011. Posted in Blogging, Writing and Blogging Tips. 3 Comments

I will be reviewing some movies from the upcoming Napa Valley Film Festival in the next few weeks. But in the meantime, I am posting a recent interview profiling my background writing “scribbles” in the newsletter by the same name distributed by my writers’ group, Central Coast Writers. Some of you have been asking for more information about my future writing plans. Here it is–“All about me”. MEMBER PROFILE in the October issue of Scribbles, the newsletter for Central Coast Writers From semiconductors to Buddhism, Diana Paul’s writing subjects reflect...