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I am a longtime editor and film critic who lives in Burnsville, Minnesota, with my redheaded cat Pumpkin and have been writing my Short Redhead Reel Reviews column since 1986. Currently, my capsule film reviews are published in nine hard-copy publications, including "The itizen," "Quad Press," and "The St. Croix Valley Press." My column also appears online at www.shortredheadreviews.com, http://sunthisweek.com/tag/Short-Redhead-Reel-Reviews, http://www.minnyapple.com, and http://www.presspubs.com/forest_lake.
In the past, my film review outlets have included "The Uptown Neighborhood News," "The Scoop," "The Anoka City Shopper," "The Elk River Star News," "Cinestar," "The Twin City Times," and "The Good News” publications and their respective websites. I have also been a guest critic on KARE-11's weekly SHOWCASE MINNESOTA show and on WCCO radio to discuss films, and I wrote a film review for AMC950 radio for a film that they were sponsoring.
My film reviews first appeared on the Internet in 1995 when I was asked to write for MN Online, which was devoted to providing information about Minnesota and was cofounded by KTCA, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), and MRNet (a local telecommunications provider). The staff of MN Online asked me to be the Minnesota film critic for their site and to provide short, easily accessible, easy-to-read film recommendations. MN Online thought that my format/site was both unique from those of other film reviewers and that their audience wanted an alternative to the lengthy, time-consuming reviews currently being published in other venues.
I review more than 250 films annually, including mainstream, indie, and foreign-made films, and have been a movie buff for as long as I can remember—perhaps it is genetic. When visiting relatives in Wales with my beloved husband, I even learned that my grandmother always got the washing done early on Fridays so that she could see the movie at the local cinema.
Reviews
Anna (2019)
A woman kicks but in this satisfying Russian thriller
After a beautiful Russian blonde (Sasha Luss) in Moscow is abused by her slacker boyfriend (Alexander Petrov) and then is recruited by a KGB agent (Luke Evans) to work for his skeptical, no-nonsense boss (Helen Mirren) and the head of the KGB (Eric Godon) in Luc Besson's thrilling, twist-filled, well-paced, nonlinear, intriguing, 119-minute film reminiscent of La Femme Nitika, she becomes an efficient, ruthless, highly skilled assassin when she goes undercover as a model in Paris, begins a sexual relationship with another model (Lera Abova), and comes under the scrutiny of a CIA agent (Cillian Murphy) when a high-level Russian arms dealer (Andrew Howard) is murdered.
Echo in the Canyon (2018)
The canyon came to life with music
Wonderfulthe, nostalgic music dominates this fascinating, entertaining, uplifting, informative, 88-minute, 2018 documentary narrated by Jakob Dylan that examines the birth and influence of popular folk-rock music from bands such as The Beach Boys, The Association, The Mamas and the Papas, The Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield in Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and showcases music from both rehearsals and a 2015 concert at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, archival film footage, and interviews with singers and musicians such as Tom Petty, Brian Wilson, Michelle Phillips, Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr, Graham Nash, Stephen Sills, David Crosby, Lou Alder, Beck, Eric Clapton, Fiona Apple, Norah Jones, Cat Power, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Jade Castrinos, and Regina Spektor.
Toy Story 4 (2019)
Number 4 does not disappoint
When a young girl (voiceover by Madeleine McGraw) makes a toy out of a fork at orientation day at school and it ends up in an antique shop with a doll (voiceover by Christina Hendricks) desperate for a companion of her own and her mischievous sidekicks when her parents (voiceovers by Laurie Metcalf and Jay Hernandez) take a road trip in this adorable, charming, family-friendly, well-written, funny, 3D, star-studded (voiceovers by John Ratzenberger, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale, Bonnie Hunt, Estelle Harris, Patricia Arquette, Jodi Benson, Don Rickles, Kristen Schaal, Timothy Dalton, Wallace Shawn, and Jeff Garlin), 89-minute Disney animated comedy, the loyal cowboy Woody (voiceover by Tom Hanks) reunites with his longtime friend Bo Beep (voiceover by Annie Potts) and her sheep and along with astronaut Buzz Lightyear (voiceover by Tim Allen), a nervous motorcycle stunt driver (voiceover by Keanu Reeves), a fluffy duck (voiceover by Keegan-Michael Key), and bunny (voiceover by Jordan Peele) attempt to retrieve "Forky" while the other toys try to help from inside the van to get everyone home safely.
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018)
First woman filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché is brought into the light
In "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché," Jodi Foster narrates Pamela B. Green's engaging, fascinating, informative, 103-minute documentary that focuses on the remarkable, obscure career of pioneering, Paris-born, first woman filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché (1873-1968) who wrote, directed, and/or produced more than 1,000 films many with unconventional subject matter through her film production company Solax and tells her story through candid interview snippets with the groundbreaking filmmaker in 1964, excerpts from her letters, and black-and-white film clips and photographs and includes insightful interviews with filmmakers (such as Ava DuVernay, Catherine Hardwicke, Diablo Cody, Patricia Riggen, Tacita Dean, Julie Taymor, John Chu, Ann Fletcher, Liz Goldwyn, Cari Beauchamp, Cecile Starr, Anne Fontaine, Mark Romanek, Peter Farrelly, Floria Sigismondi, Kevin Macdonald, Maxine Haleff, Patty Jenkins, Michel Hazanavicius, Marjane Satpari, and Gary Mairs), actors (such as Sir Ben Kingsley, Julie Delpy, Evan Rachel Wood, Geena Davis, Lake Bell, Andy Samberg, Janeane Garofolo, and Kathleen Turner), producers Marc Abraham and Stephanie Dillain, Co-President of Roadside Attractions Howard Cohen, screenwriter Gale Ann Hurd, film critic Peter Bogdanovich, historians (such as Mark Wanamaker, Anthony Slide, Kevin Brownlow, Glenn Myrent, Alison McMahon, Naum 'Kleiman, and Alan Williams), Guy-Blaché memoirs co-editor Claire Clouzet, film preservationist Serge Bromberg, professors (such as Drake Stutesman, Jane Goenes, Henry Jenkins, Gigi Pritzker, Richard Koszaeski, and Vanessa Schwartz), journalist Jean-Michel Frodon, film editor Walter Murch, film archivist Dino Everett, facial recognition analyst Steve Wilkins, costume designer Deborah Nadvolman Landis, lecturer Roland-Francois Lick, cinematographers (such as Pierre-William Glenn, Claire Wickell, and John Bailey), film collector Murray Glass, visual effects supervisor Mark Stetson, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President John Bailey, and granddaughter Tatiana Page-Relo.