Tag: Viola Davis

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes–Singing in the Right Key

Written by Diana Paul on March 1, 2026. Posted in movie reviews. 1 Comment on Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes–Singing in the Right Key

Based on the 2020 novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, this prequel to “The Hunger Games” (2012) and the fifth installment in “The Hunger Games” film series won the 2024 People’s Choice Action Movie of the Year. Set more than sixty years before The Hunger Games trilogy, the fictional...

“The First Lady” (2022)–Second to None

Written by Diana Paul on June 20, 2022. Posted in movie reviews, Television reviews. 1 Comment on “The First Lady” (2022)–Second to None

Three remarkable women, in The First Lady, a Showtime mini-series (released April 17), provided indispensable support to their husbands before and throughout their presidencies. Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson), Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Michelle Obama (Viola Davis)–all three made soul-crushing...

“Lila & Eve”–Loss Without Justice

Written by Diana Paul on July 27, 2020. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 3 Comments on “Lila & Eve”–Loss Without Justice

Lila & Eve, a 2015 sleeper female vigilante thriller , stars Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”) as Lila and Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”) as Eve, The opening scene shows Lila’s 18-year-old son, Stephon (Aml Ameen), in a pool of blood from a drive-by shooting. A grief-fueled fragile mother is...

“Fences”–In or Out?

Written by diana on January 23, 2017. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “Fences”–In or Out?

“Some people build fences to keep people out–and other people build fences to keep people in”. The film “Fences” (released Christmas Day 2016) is based on the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning play and screenplay by the brilliant playwright August Wilson (1945-2005). “Fences” is set in 1950’s...

“Prisoners”: Kidnapping Your Mind

Written by diana on October 27, 2013. Posted in movie reviews.

This provocative film opens with a father and son hunting in the woods, the Lord’s Prayer recited in voiceover. The viewer sees the father, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) as a deeply religious man, a carpenter who believes in family values and the safety of his community. When his little girl and her friend go missing on Thanksgiving...

“The Help”– “Telling the Truth Can Be a Revolutionary Act”

Written by diana on September 27, 2011. Posted in movie reviews. 7 Comments on “The Help”– “Telling the Truth Can Be a Revolutionary Act”

Based upon the best-selling 2009 novel by Kathryn Stockett, “The Help” is a vision of a divided America that is consistent, sometimes terrifying, in its insulting, insinuating dehumanization of African Americans. This movie is also easy-to-like –problematic but ultimately winning–and has now earned a huge $154.4 million...