Tag: Netflix

Stranger (Season 1)–Let the sleuthing begin

Written by Diana Paul on June 5, 2023. Posted in Television reviews, Unhealed Wound. 4 Comments on Stranger (Season 1)–Let the sleuthing begin

Stranger is a Korean crime thriller in two seasons (2017-2020) and was included on the New York Times 2017 list of Best TV Shows. Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok (Cho Seung-woo) underwent surgery as a child removing part of his cerebral cortex so that he would not suffer from the excruciating pain of hearing high-frequency sounds. However, the postoperative result was an extreme absence of empathy, a lack of social skills similar to autism spectrum disorder and its associated lack of communication, difficulty in expressing emotion through facial expressions, and lack...

The Diplomat–Tact Needed

Written by Diana Paul on May 28, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. 1 Comment on The Diplomat–Tact Needed

In this new Netflix series, The Diplomat is part comedy, espionage, politics, combined with a troubled marriage thrown into an action-packed eight-episode drama. The drama takes place mainly in British embassies and cabinet offices with plenty of tense negotiations and suspicious deaths in both England and the US. The opening scene focuses on a bombed British warship off the coast of Iran. Who bombed the ship and who is trigger-happy enough to cause a world war over it? Enter US Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell from “The Americans”) who is determined to use reason and diplomacy...

The Glory—Forgiveness vs Revenge?

Written by Diana Paul on May 21, 2023. Posted in Television reviews. No Comments on The Glory—Forgiveness vs Revenge?

The Glory is a sixteen-episode Korean revenge drama about high school bullying and associated trauma. Eighteen years later an elaborate, convoluted plot is conceived by the beautiful, scarred victim, Moon Dong-eun. Her obsession is to destroy the two girls and two guys who brutalized her and caused her to drop out of high school at the age of fourteen. She has been waiting eighteen years to mastermind their annihilation and humiliation. Dong-eun, abandoned by her drug-addicted, alcoholic mother at the age of fourteen, works menial jobs for years, earns her high...

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) –A Classic

Written by Diana Paul on May 1, 2023. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) –A Classic

This legendary thriller marked its sixtieth anniversary last year. Yet so many young viewers have yet to witness this masterpiece of film-making: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. This Robert Aldrich-produced film stands the test of time. An unforgettable descent into chaotic madness is exquisitely dramatized in true Alfred Hitchcock fashion. (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane was released only two years after “Psycho”, another masterpiece of psychic horror.) Child star ‘Baby Jane’ Hansen (Bette Davis), supports her family by playing a sweet innocent...

The Good Nurse–Compromising Bedside Manner

Written by Diana Paul on April 17, 2023. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on The Good Nurse–Compromising Bedside Manner

Inspired by a true story ripped from the headlines, The Good Nurse, a medical thriller, takes the viewer on a nightmare ride of the ICU unit at Parkfield Memorial Hospital, in New Jersey. The year is 2003. Charlie Cullens (the incomparable Eddie Redmayne) is hired to help Amy Loughren (the always dazzling Jessica Chastain), an overworked nurse and single mother with a life-threatening heart condition. Ironically, Amy cannot afford the medical care she desperately needs while working in a hospital. Grateful to have a highly competent nurse to share...

Narvik–A Forgotten Battle

Written by Diana Paul on April 10, 2023. Posted in movie reviews. 3 Comments on Narvik–A Forgotten Battle

In Narvik, a war drama inspired by historical events, we witness Hitler’s first defeat: in a small town in Norway called Narvik. Although sparsely populated, Narvik is strategically situated as a northern Norwegian coastal port that supplies iron ore to both Germany and the Allies. In April 1940, at the start of two months of fierce winter warfare, the Germans unilaterally seize a hotel for their center of command. The Nazis rely upon Narvik for 85% of their iron ore supply. However, Narvik considers itself a neutral supplier of iron ore to...