Tag: Adam Driver

“The Last Duel”–A Fight to the End

Written by Diana Paul on March 1, 2022. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on “The Last Duel”–A Fight to the End

The Last Duel (2021) is based on Eric Jager’s nonfiction account of the late 14th-century French trial in which an alleged rape of the wife of one nobleman is committed by another of lesser rank. The Last Duel is part medieval saga and part female revenge drama. Set during the decade after the Black Death, and the calamitous Hundred Years’ War, social disturbances have ravaged France with debt and a reduced population to support the feckless aristocracy. Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) is one such landowning but illiterate nobleman deeply in debt. Forced to become...

The Report—An Exposé for Us All

Written by Diana Paul on February 10, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. No Comments on The Report—An Exposé for Us All

Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT)—is the focus of The Report, a provocative Amazon political thriller. A Senate staff researcher, Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) is assigned by Sen. Diane Feinstein (Annette Bening) to investigate detainees held by the CIA in “black sites”. A shameful chapter of American history unfolds , where torture was re-introduced as a legitimate tool in pursuit of national security. The Report employs flashbacks of “enhanced interrogation techniques” that are frightening and harrowing. Flashing back to 2001 immediately after 9/11, the anxiety...

Marriage Story (2019)-The Bonds of Love

Written by Diana Paul on January 14, 2020. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on Marriage Story (2019)-The Bonds of Love

Nominated this year for eleven Academy Awards, Marriage Story portrays two people who really care about, respect, and love each other, and yearn for a “gentle” amicable divorce resolution. They also are determined to nurture and nourish their young son, Henry, with as little wounding as possible. Written, directed and produced by Noah Baumbach (of “Squid and the Whale”, another excellent film about divorce), this film eviscerates what happens in even the best-intentioned divorces, reminiscent of the classic 1979 film “Kramer vs Kramer”. Charlie...

Burn This–Blazing Comedy on Broadway

Written by diana on May 26, 2019. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals. 3 Comments on Burn This–Blazing Comedy on Broadway

“Burn This”–a Broadway revival of a Lanford Wilson play Burn This, a revival of a 1980’s play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, well deserves the five Tony award nominations it has received this year. The exceptional performance by Adam Driver will leave you breathless. The tragic death of a young, gay dancer named Robbie has left his two roommates and his older brother broken-hearted. Anna (Keri Russell from “The Americans”) and Larry (Tony-nominated Brandon Uranowitz), are shattered by Robbie’s death...

“BlacKkKlansman”: Part of the American Fabric?

Written by diana on September 3, 2018. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “BlacKkKlansman”: Part of the American Fabric?

A Spike Lee film about white supremacy, BlacKkKlansman is based on Ron Stallworth’s 2006 memoir, which eviscerates the hideous social structures of racism in the US. In 1979 Stallworth (played by newcomer, John David Washington, son of Denzel Washington) becomes the first black detective in Colorado Springs’s police department. The police chief warns Stallworth: “We’ve never had a black police officer. So you’ll be the Jackie Robinson of the Colorado Springs police department.” Assigned to be an undercover cop at a black power student rally, Stallworth is to gather intelligence...

“What If”–She Doesn”t Understand?

Written by diana on November 14, 2017. Posted in movie reviews. 4 Comments on “What If”–She Doesn”t Understand?

"What If" is a well-written movie about two millennials who meet at a party and unexpectedly decide to start a friendship.