Tag: Hulu

“Mrs. America”–A Closet Feminist?

Written by Diana Paul on June 23, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 1 Comment on “Mrs. America”–A Closet Feminist?

Mrs. America is the history-packed and binge-worthy nine-episode Hulu series created by Dahvi Waller (of “Mad Men”). We see a dazzling sweep of history from the early 1970s to 1982 as the fight against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment unfolds. Still unpassed, the ERA would create a constitutional ban on discrimination against women. Its failure to win approval was due in large measure to the brilliant political strategist Phyllis Schlafly. Cate Blanchett embodies captivating contradictions as Schlafly, the antiheroine in Mrs. America. The...

“Hillary”–Unmasked

Written by Diana Paul on May 19, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 2 Comments on “Hillary”–Unmasked

Hillary, an intimate and candid four-part series about former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton– one of the most admired and vilified women in the world–features never-before-seen footage of her life from birth in a close-knit family in Chicago, Illinois. The mission of this documentary is not only to interview Hillary Clinton (for a total of thirty-five hours) and several dozen colleagues and personal friends but also to try to analyze why people found Clinton so compelling—and so polarizing. Yet Hillary is so much more than a biopic....

“Little Fires Everywhere”–Incendiary at Its Best

Written by Diana Paul on April 27, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 3 Comments on “Little Fires Everywhere”–Incendiary at Its Best

Set in Shaker Heights, Ohio during the late 1990s, Little Fires Everywhere is based on Celeste Ng’s best-selling novel by the same name. Reese Witherspoon (Elena)and Kerry Washington (Mia) steal the show as mothers from vastly different socioeconomic backgrounds. This is a suburban saga with a painfully close lens focused on the income gap, class, and racial divide we know only so well. In the opening scene a house in Shaker Heights is engulfed in an inferno. Is it the target of arson? We will find out. The year is 1997. Shaker...

My Top 19 Movies and TV Series for 2017

Written by diana on January 18, 2018. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 8 Comments on My Top 19 Movies and TV Series for 2017

Here are the reviews I wrote this year with the criteria that they were available online or were at local movie theaters, although not necessarily widely distributed. Of the 45 reviews, here are my favorites. It was much more difficult than in past years, since this year was absolutely stunning as was 2016. Both television and cinema have continued to produce phenomenal story-telling. The following list is not ranked, only grouped by genre. I could not limit my choices to only 10. INDIES and FOREIGN CINEMA 1) “Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri”: A BOLO for Justice”...

The Handmaid’s Tale–In Service of Democracy?

Written by diana on May 14, 2017. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 1 Comment on The Handmaid’s Tale–In Service of Democracy?

The Handmaid’s Tale, based upon the psychological award-winning 1985 sci-fi thriller by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, is the Hulu adaptation of the dystopian Republic of Gilead, a fascist autocracy resulting from a religious coup, a war focused mainly on women. Within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America, residents in The Handmaid’s Tale are segregated along strict racial, sexual, and class lines with each social group is confined to a regimented behavioral code. Code infractions are punishable by torture or death. No one in Gilead has any autonomy,...