Reviews

This film is not only idiotic in its attempt to be comical with a stuffed bear that is funnier than the stars, especially the racist Mark Wahlberg. I'd like to stuff the bear in his heinous anus!!

In this seven-episode true-crime documentary from Netflix (released May 19 of this year), The Keepers explores the 1969 death of 26-year old Catholic nun and Baltimore schoolteacher Sister Cathy Cesnik and touches on 20-year-old Joyce Malecki's murder four days later. Both slayings remain unsolved. The cover up that follows has echoes of Spotlight (see my review of January 16, 2016).

Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, two retired 60-something grandmothers and former students of Sister Cathy's at Archbishop Keough High School, still feel disturbed by the almost-half-a- century-old cold case. Who savagely beat and then murdered beloved teacher Sister Cathy? Starting a Facebook group in 2014 to reach out to others to share information about Sister Cathy's murder, these two badass senior citizens–as intrepid and analytical as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple–uncover a cold case like no other that the Baltimore police or Catholic Church has had to contend with. Abbie and Gemma create a safe space for people who had been afraid to speak up. And the role of social media is astounding as a tool for criminal investigation. These two amateur sleuths use the internet brilliantly! See the entire review at: unhealedwound.com

Loving opens as a tender romance between Richard Loving a white construction worker and tinkerer in car mechanics (the relative newcomer Joel Edgerton, a Golden Globe nominee), and a shy black and American Indian woman named Mildred (Academy Award-nominated Ruth Negga who gives a startlingly nuanced performance). Loving starts out revealing that Richard and Mildred's parents fear repercussions for their illicit love. Their fears were well founded. The Lovings were arrested, jailed and convicted. Ordered to never set foot in Virginia again, Richard and Mildred are exiled from their families. But neither family ever abandons their exceptional support for Richard and Mildred. Read the entire review on my unhealedwound.com blog!

This 2016 Academy Award nominated musical (a record-tying 14 nominations), written and directed by Damien Chazelle (the wunderkind creator of the astonishing Whiplash, see my December 8, 2014 review on my unhealedwound blog ) is this year's can-do-no-wrong rom-com starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

La La Land is a bold resurrection of the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers 1940-50s musical with a blend of nostalgia (using filtered-lens cinematography and costumes) mixed with the novelty of contemporary millennial life in Los Angeles. A flip-book of competing images of vintage and modern LA with twirling skirts and old-fashioned dancing, La La Land is all about dreaming for the big break in Hollywood.

An undeniable paean to the joy and ecstasy of following your passions, La La Land also touches upon the sacrifices to one's personal life, to missed human connections and to other dreams that will never come true. Part "Never-never Land" and part "Singing in the Rain". The conventional storyline –love vs. ambition–never really rises above the forgettable.

"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). The psychology of his damaged character Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) lies beneath the surface as the camera lingers on his charm--and his luminescent smile-- smothering his dark side. Parts of "Fences" are almost unendurable for the tragic nature of each character. Fathers acting out their pain onto their children appear throughout literature and film, and this quiet catastrophe is a masterpiece. Read my entire review at: unhealedwound.com

This eerily prescient documentary (2015) narrated by Noam Chomsky was in development before the official announcement of Donald Trump's candidacy. Yet, in the "Ten Principles of the Concentration of Wealth and Power" the viewer sees the redesigning of the US economy."Requiem for the American Dream" is indeed sobering. Chomsky, known for his activism during both the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War,bemoans the state of "an uninformed electorate making irrational choices often against their own self-interest." This is a documentary that is a must-see for all of us trying to make sense of the election of Trump. The historical perspective is an eye- opener!

This is a binge–worthy new eight-episode series from Amazon. "Goliath" characters are deeply flawed and yet vividly human and at least, to some extent, understandable. "Goliath" is extraordinary television.

Part film noir, part legal drama similar to "Good Wife" or "Law and Order", with a bit of "Damages" and "House of Cards" thrown in, "Goliath" tells the story of a derelict, drunken grizzled lawyer, Billy McBride (played by Billy Bob Thornton in a star turn). McBride was once a leading legal mind who, with Donald Cooperman (the haunting William Hurt in one of the best roles of his career) had started one of the most powerful law firms in Los Angeles. Now Billy McBride is a bottom-feeder taking on a case which turns out to be against Cooperman. Read my entire review on my blog-- unhealedwound.com

"Bron"—the original "Bridge" is a well written, well balanced story in which every episode is riveting, complexly plotted, and occasionally funny. The Bridge has earned the honor of two versions being produced: an American/Mexican and a British/French one (renamed "The Tunnel").

With three seasons now completed and only the first imitated in the other versions, we are seeing one of the best narratives in a television series ever. This detective series, in its second and third seasons, outdoes its own standard of excellence. The main character—Saga Noren (the incomparable Sofia Helin)—is a reserved, non-emotive personality. She is brusque where her male partners (two different ones—Season 1: Martin and Seasons 2 and 3: Henrik) are the emotional, sensitive policemen trying to understand her behavior and lack of social skills. And as the series progresses, the viewer comes to admire her professional drive and ache for the damage and horrific backstory that makes Saga who she is. Read my entire review on my blog-- unhealedwound.

In Oliver Stone's new biopic thriller, "Snowden", we see the humanization of a young 20-something US software engineer who is self-taught and brilliant in his deciphering the surveillance agenda of the CIA and the NSA in 2013. In what is now the most well-known disclosure of US intelligence and surveillance policies targeting unaware citizens, Edward Joseph Snowden has become the personification of what counterintelligence represents in the global arena.No matter what you think of Snowden's colossal exposure of classified documents to the world, this epic story of why he did it and how he pulled it off makes for a compelling and exciting film. It should be seen along with "Citizenfour" which provides less of the idiosyncrasies of Snowden's personality and more of his software genius as well as the motivation for his disclosures to Poitras, in particular. Oliver Stone recaptured some "Citizenfour" scenes almost in identical detail. This is a must-see for 2016! Read the entire review at: www.unhealedwound.com and let me know what you think.

The 2010 American documentary film,"Catfish", directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, involves Ariel's brother, Nev, as he fantasizes about a "friendship" with a beautiful young woman on Facebook. A documentary reflecting our times, "Catfish" is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue. The film tells the unsettling story of cyber- friendship: who we are in real life versus the way we present ourselves online. A twisted fantasy world of surprises in Internet romance, this is the drama that novels are made of. Read the entire review on my blog at unhealedwound.com and let me know what you think!

This 90-minute PBS documentary, based upon the 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Blackmon, eviscerates one of America's most cherished myths: the belief that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. "Slavery by Another Name" documents how thousands of African Americans were pulled back into forced labor with shocking force and brutality, sanctioned by the judicial and legislative system, and propelled by the loss of slave labor after the Civil War.

African Americans were systematically charged for petty crimes, and sentenced to hard labor working for former white slave owners. "Convict leasing" became "Slavery by Another Name", coercing African American "convicts" to work on chain-gangs and for major corporations. A form of "industrial slavery", these purported convicts, who worked on month-to-month leases, were used and disposed of at will. Moreover, the brutality imposed on "prisoners" in the last part of the 19th and first half of the 20th century was identical to that used against slaves prior to the Civil War. The mortality rate was as high as 30-40% or more. No records were kept.

The BBC mini-series Thirteen (available online) follows 26-year-old Ivy Moxam, who was held captive in a cellar for thirteen years. After escaping from her attacker's prison, she returns to her family home outside of London, but struggles to put her life back together. There is an uncanny resemblance to the story in the American television series, The Family.

Thirteen presents the police investigation as a secondary plot and focuses on the victim's situation and psychology, touching upon the Stockholm syndrome and the fragility and unreliability of memory. Everyone closely associated with the crime is also, in some way, a victim. Read the entire review -- "Thirteen"--"An Unlucky Life" at: www.unhealedwound.com and let me know what you think!

"The Night Of" combines elements of the popular podcast "Serial"' and the TV series "Oz". "The Night Of" depicts the horrific conditions endured by Naz on Ryker's Island, reminding the viewer of "Oz". And half-truths and damning evidence suggest the Serial podcast about a young Pakistani American teenager, Adnan Syed. Did he or didn't he—that is the question in both. Both the real-life Adnan and the fictional Naz maintain their innocence, even as more distressing details of the crime surface.

Read the entire review , "The Night Of"--"A Tale of Darkness" at www.unhealedwound.com and let me know what you think.

I have to admit I am drawn to bicultural co-productions--and Buen Dia Ramon is a Mexican- German film. The layers of complexity in navigating and directing actors with different cultural and linguistic points of view enriches the movie-viewing experience. "Buen Dia, Ramon" exemplifies this. The alternating points-of-view are not only character-based but culturally based. The actors who play Ramon (Kristyan Ferrer) and the German Ruth (Schöner) are understated, with such charm and poignancy that the incredible friendship becomes credible. Ramon's story is an unexpectedly lyrical tale of perseverance, tenacity, and generosity. "Buen Dia, Ramon" considers how friendship develops despite all sorts of challenges in a deeply affecting manner. This movie is a simple pleasure that no one should miss. Read the entire review at: www.unhealedwound.com

THE PAST (LE PASSÉ) was nominated for the 2013 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or award, the Iranian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award , and a Golden Globe. Directed and written by Asghar Farhadi of "A Separation" fame (winner of the 2011 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film).

"The Past" is a a web of intrigue of Rashomon proportions. Everyone tells their version of the truth, but they do not explain everything, and the viewer is puzzled by intentions, motives, and history. As "The Past" unfolds, each character is imprisoned by his or her own version of the past. Opportunities to move forward are constantly threatened by each character's backstory. The past seems to dominate and destabilize, reminding us of our own mistakes and unintended consequences.Read my complete review at www.unhealedwound.com

"Closed Circuit" (2013), an adrenaline-pumping political thriller, portrays corrupt government forces who will stop at nothing. It's an exciting genre. The title "Closed Circuit" is designed to raise the alarm over both the injustice of closed court hearings and the use of surveillance technology. Covert surveillance amplifies the sense that London has become a police state with ubiquitous security cameras. We don't know who's watching or how they're using what they see.

The opening scene provides the hook. After a truck explodes in London's bustling Borough Market, killling 120 people, authorities at MI5 swiftly arrest a Muslim immigrant, Farroukh Erdogan based on closed circuit surveillance. Read the entire review at: unhealedwound.com

For those who have seen the Hitchcock film, "Bates Motel" does not have the same sort of horror (i.e. gore fest) that the "Psycho" film is famous for (at least, not up until the finale of Season 3, the only seasons I've seen so far). There are some bloody and violent scenes (nothing like "American Horror Story") but what really gripped me was the family dynamics. Norman Bates (extraordinary young actor Freddie Highmore, who played Peter Pan in "Finding Neverland") is so astonishing in this role, I wondered how he could retain his sanity. No other film or television series I have seen so far unveils the darkest side imaginable of a mother-son relationship gone berserk, familiarity dissolving into psychosis. No spoiler alerts here. Read the entire review--"Bates Motel", Seasons 1- 3: A Mother-Son Obsession-- at www.unehaledwound.com My novel, Things Unsaid, touches upon some of the same themes!

This 2015 film about women fighting for the right to vote in England tackles an almost forgotten but nevertheless compelling struggle for women and men alike. Don't take that right for granted. The suffragette movement in England has received less cinematic attention than in the US [2004 film "Iron Jawed Angels" about the American suffragette Alice Paul] until now, with the release of Suffragette".

"Suffragette" is an eye-opening film with political relevance for today. It is a reminder that not so long ago half of America was disenfranchised. It speaks for the suppressed and silenced, not exclusively to the women's rights movement but to all human rights battlegrounds. The sacrifice women made in England for the right to vote— including force feeding suggestive of water-boarding—reminds of us what is at stake. Read the entire review: "Suffragette--Suffering for the Right to Vote" at www.unhealedwound.com

"Joy" is based on the true story of a divorced Long Island entrepreneur, Joy Mangano (played by Jennifer Lawrence), who invented the Miracle Mop in 1989. In the process she overcomes significant personal and business obstacles. Mangano develops an immensely prosperous business empire, first with QVC and later with the Home Shopping Network (HSN). This is all before retail stores realized their distribution channel was going to be decimated—first by QVC and HSN, and later by Amazon.

"Joy" (written and directed by David O. Russell) reveals a deeply poignant story about a young intelligent woman, from a working class family, who battles a marginally functional mother, divorce, two young kids, a jealous step-sister and corporate risk-aversion. Joy ultimately is a modern fairly tale about believing in yourself and your dreams. Read the entire review,"Joy--To Behold," at: www.unhealedwound.com

The Good Wife ended its seventh addicting season on Mother's Day as a paean to Alicia Florrick , the award-winning Julianna Margulies, and the journey Florrick has taken over the course of seven long years. (See my earlier May 12, 2012 review of this series. ) She realizes her rebirth—from the ignominy of being an adulterous governor's wife, the lawyer who gave up her career to raise her two children to adolescence, to the brilliant lawyer who becomes a powerhouse both in the courtroom and in the political arena her husband thought was his territory alone. Read my second review at www.unhealedwound.com --this time of the series finale--"The Good Wife"--A Good End?--and bidding goodbye to probably the best series on broadcast TV in over a decade!

Almost twenty-five years ago, Anita Hill testified in front of an all-white male congressional hearing presided over by Senator Joe Biden, accusing Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, a legal concept that did not, as yet, resonate with the American public. In "Confirmation", an HBO mini-series, we see the reliving of the riveting testimony: Anita Hill's accusations and Clarence Thomas's defense with almost exact wording from the hearing transcripts.

At times the hearing seems to deal with race – particularly after Thomas's "high tech lynching" comment, which struck an emotional chord for some and a signal for others that Hill's testimony would be discounted. What "Confirmation" actually zeroes in on is how Anita Hill's world on the job was radically different from a male colleague's. Although sexual harassment had been defined as a form of sexual discrimination in 1977, almost fifteen years later the term "sexual harassment" was still not in the public conscience. The Anita Hill testimony changed that. Read the entire review at: www.unhealedwound.com

It is no longer possible to have a serious discussion about poverty and the income gap without having a serious discussion about housing. "99Homes" dramatizes this tragic social ill. Last week's publication of Evicted by Matthew Desmond, a Harvard sociologist, demonstrates through statistics how eviction feeds the cycle of poverty. In this country the human cost and callous treatment of those evicted is not publicized until now. "99Homes" is a vivid portrayal of the humiliation, greed, and perversion of the legal system which allows eviction without recourse or appeal. Read the entire movie review at: www.unhealedwound.com.

Based on a popular novel by the Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, Blindness (2008) is a dystopian tale of survival in the face of a pandemic.

Blindness opens with an affluent Japanese businessman suddenly blocking traffic during rush hour. Inexplicably blinded, he is unable to continue driving and a seemingly good Samaritan offers to help him. When they arrive at the Japanese man's upscale apartment, however, the "good Samaritan" steals his car and escapes. Soon the entire city is overtaken by a pandemic of "white blindness", like driving in a snow storm. The pandemic becomes global. Read the entire review at: www.unhealedwound.com

"Truth" (2015) somehow stayed under the radar last year. A compelling newsroom docudrama , "Truth" reminds me of "All the President's Men" and the Watergate scandal.

Opening with the September 2004 "60 Minutes" episode, Dan Rather accuses President George W. Bush of receiving preferential treatment in the National Guard in the early 1970s (Vietnam War era) as a result of his father's connections. Photocopied memos provided by a confidential source were the main evidence for Rather's accusations.

But Mary Mapes is the true hero. Read the entire review at: unhealedwound.com and let me know what you think!