Tag: HBOMax

“The Staircase”—Entryway into Murder?

Written by Diana Paul on July 11, 2022. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on “The Staircase”—Entryway into Murder?

The Staircase (HBO Max released May 2022), loosely based on the 2004 French documentary by the same name, (see my October 2017 review of the Netflix documentary mini-series) dramatizes the death of wife Kathleen Peterson (Toni Collette), and the subsequent indictment and conviction for her murder by her husband, the novelist Michael Peterson (Colin Firth). All the features of a murder mystery are here: deflection, denial, confession, and motive. Viewers who are fans of the true-crime genre will find this “inspired by a true story” mini-series to be even...

“The Batman” (2022)–Another Dark Knight

Written by Diana Paul on April 26, 2022. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on “The Batman” (2022)–Another Dark Knight

In this newest movie in the Batman series, simply called The Batman, we see a completely different Batman from the classic Christopher Nolan trilogy starring Christian Bale. In “The Batman,” director Matt Reeves has redefined Batman and his alterego Bruce Wayne. In this newest of interpretations, a very young newb, Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson of “The Twilight Saga”), is just in his second year of training under the tutelage of Alfred (Andy Serkis of “Golub” fame in “The Lord of the Rings”), simultaneously manservant,...

The Eyes of Tammy Faye–A New Perspective

Written by Diana Paul on April 12, 2022. Posted in movie reviews.

In the biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye, we see Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain in her Academy Award winning role) and her husband Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield) as pioneers of televangelism,”sermons on the screen”. Opening in the 1950’s with two young, fervent small-town Christians believing in the mission of spreading the gospel, Tammy Faye and her soon-to-be-husband become traveling preachers. They gain a following with their appeal both to children and their parents by entertaining through stories and music. Tammy Faye is pivotal in designing...

“The Gilded Age”—Greed and Betrayal

Written by Diana Paul on March 29, 2022. Posted in Television reviews. 1 Comment on “The Gilded Age”—Greed and Betrayal

The Gilded Age (2022), created and produced by Julian Fellowes (of Downton Abbey fame) opens in 1882 in a small town in Pennsylvania. The penniless but “pedigreed” young Marian Brook (newcomer Louisa Jacobson has little recourse but to move to New York to live with her wealthy Aunt Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and her Aunt Ada (Cynthia Nixon). A young aspiring Black writer, Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), lends money to Marian for a train ticket to New York and their unlikely friendship begins. Across the street lives a spectacularly wealthier family,...

“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 White Lotus”–White Gaze

Written by Diana Paul on August 17, 2021. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 1 Comment on “The White Lotus”–White Gaze

In this HBOMax six-episode mini-series (which ended August 15), we watch two uber-wealthy families on vacation in Hawaii (at the upscale Four Seasons) make themselves miserable in a perfectly-seeming tropical paradise. Their privileged existence is the luxury not to be concerned with others. In White Lotus’s opening scene, at the airport, Shane Patton (Jake Lacy), an insufferable, narcissistic scion of a wealthy and powerful family, explains with great disdain to fellow passengers that his wife, Rachel, has died…on their honeymoon. A cardboard coffin marked “human...