Tag: Kirsten Dunst

Civil War–Battleground States

Written by Diana Paul on October 21, 2024. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments on Civil War–Battleground States

In the 2024 film Civil War a van of war correspondents travels undercover from New York City to Washington DC to bear witness to the civil war between a dictator/president (Nick Offerman of “Parks and Recreations” fame) and violent secessionists. There is no explanation of why there is a civil war, who is fighting whom, or what the expected outcome or mission is. The protagonist is Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), a renowned war photojournalist, who seems immune to the horrors of wars she was assigned to photograph in the past. Her mentor and veteran...

“The Power of the Dog”–Bad Dogs Barking Loud

Written by Diana Paul on January 31, 2022. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “The Power of the Dog”–Bad Dogs Barking Loud

Guest Reviewer Densie Webb (International Book Award finalist for When Robins Appear) This slow-spun Western, sparingly based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Savage, is set on a fictional sprawling ranch in 1920s Montana (filmed in New Zealand). Directed by Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog centers on the dysfunctional, co-dependent relationship of two brothers, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (of “Sherlock Holmes”, “Dr. Strange”, and “The Imitation Game”) as Phil and Jesse Plemons (of “Breaking Bad” and “Friday...

The Beguiled–Bewitched and Possessed

Written by diana on December 12, 2017. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 5 Comments on The Beguiled–Bewitched and Possessed

In Sophia Coppola’s reinterpretation of the 1971 Clint Eastwood film by the same name, The Beguiled opens with an eleven-year-old girl gathering mushrooms in her straw basket deep in a quiet wood in Virginia. Conjuring an image of Little Red Riding Hood soon coming upon a big bad wolf, we see her discover the wounded John McBurney (Colin Farrell), a Union soldier in the midst of the Civil War. The child decides to take him back to her girls’ boarding school. Headmistress Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) is reluctant but feels a moral obligation to tend to him. Edwina (Kirsten...

“Fargo”: Season 2—Still Far to Go

Written by diana on December 16, 2015. Posted in Unhealed Wound. No Comments on “Fargo”: Season 2—Still Far to Go

Season 2 of the award-winning Fargo mini-series is a stunning repeat performance not only of the Coen brothers’ iconic movie by the same name but also in its succession to Season 1. The season finale of Fargo was broadcast this week. Comedy meets tragedy. Humor meets violence. Surreal meets the real with an infusion of the main theme: the loss of innocence. Hell descends, though the characters are ill-prepared, and now there is no turning back. Their unexpected dark side grows like a cancer. [And the ferocious transformation of characters is not unlike Walter White in “Breaking Bad”.] Welcome...

Tag: Kirsten Dunst

Civil War–Battleground States

“The Power of the Dog”–Bad Dogs Barking Loud

The Beguiled–Bewitched and Possessed

“Fargo”: Season 2—Still Far to Go

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