Month: February 2017

  • Review: Around the Block

    Review: Around the Block

    Around the Block is an Australian Hamlet story. It’s set in a Sydney high school where the students are mostly indigenous or Maori or Pacific Islanders. It’s beautiful and tragic and full of unforgettable images.  Beware the spoilers.

  • Review: Hidden Figures

    Review: Hidden Figures

    I loved Hidden Figures. Maybe a man could watch this film and not love it, but there is no way a woman could watch Hidden Figures and not love it. It was the most emotionally satisfying film I’ve seen in a long time.

  • Review: Girls Lost (Pojkarna)

    Review: Girls Lost (Pojkarna)

    Watching Girls Lost (Pojkarna in the original Swedish) makes me wish I had all that education film critics have. That way I might understand all the Swedishness of this film with its strange symbolism, magical thinking, and morose ending. Beware the spoilers.

  • Watch This: Trailer for The Sinner

    Watch This: Trailer for The Sinner

    The Sinner is a new TV series coming to USA this summer. It stars Jessica Biel as a wife and mom who goes haywire one day and commits a very public act of violence.

  • Exclusive: Interview with Jake Graf, Creator of the Powerful Short ‘Headspace’

    Exclusive: Interview with Jake Graf, Creator of the Powerful Short ‘Headspace’

    British transgender activist and director Jake Graf granted us an email interview about his short film Headspace. Here’s how he describes the film: “Headspace gives a rare and intimate glimpse into the trials and tribulations faced by trans folk on a daily basis.”

  • Review: Clouds of Sils Maria

    Review: Clouds of Sils Maria

    Clouds of Sils Maria is a reflection on youth and aging with outstanding performances from Juliette Binoche as actress Maria Enders and Kristen Stewart as her personal assistant Val.

  • Review: Just Add Magic

    Review: Just Add Magic

    Just Add Magic is an Amazon Kids series featuring three tweens with a magic cookbook. It’s about empowered girls who act with their own agency to solve a serious problem – a grandmother under a spell.  This is a review of season 1 only and contains minor spoilers.

  • Review: Not Another Happy Ending

    Review: Not Another Happy Ending

    Not Another Happy Ending is from Scotland. The 2013 romance about a writer and her publisher is light and fun and utterly predictable. Nothing is wrong with a predictable romance, because half the fun comes from watching the people involved figure out who it is they are supposed to be with. The audience, of course,…

  • The Women of Taken

    The Women of Taken

    Taken the TV show is a prequel story to the Taken movies starring Liam Neeson. In the TV show, Clive Standen stars as a 30-years-younger version of the Bryan Mills character. I’ve been watching the publicity for the TV series, which starts Feb. 27 on NBC.

  • Review: An Unfinished Life

    Review: An Unfinished Life

    I watched 2005’s An Unfinished Life years ago and remember liking it. When I saw it on Netflix, I thought Why not give it another try? It’s crazy hard to find anything with a good lead female character on Netflix, and here was An Unfinished Life with Jennifer Lopez just waiting.