“Filmmakers for the Prosecution” – A picture is worth a thousand words [MOVIE REVIEWS]

Based on Sandra Schulberg’s monograph entitled “Filmmakers for the Prosecution”, director Jean-Christophe Klotz has crafted a documentary full of previously unknown information on how the first Nuremberg trial was constructed based on film and photographic documentation shot by the Nazis themselves.  In 1945, with the end of the war in Europe, the allies came together…

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“She Is Love” – For better or worse [MOVIE REVIEWS]

Exhausted from her work and international travels, Patricia receives a phone call boost from her partner. He wishes her well but doesn’t have great news. All of her hotel choices are unavailable but he’s found her a charming Inn in the English countryside. It will be perfect for her much needed rest and relaxation before…

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“Le Code” – His own [TELEVISION REVIEW]

A legal procedural in any other language is still a procedural and we just can’t get enough of them, especially when the lead is charismatic and handsome. This one, in French, centered in the city of Lille, is just such a series and is graced with a hunk of a lawyer able to leap tall…

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“Poppy” – Coming up roses [MOVIE REVIEW]

“Poppy,” written and directed by Linda Niccol, is the sweet coming of age story of Poppy Stevenson, a pert 19-year-old New Zealander with Down Syndrome. While everyone else sees limitations, Poppy sees only opportunity. She is determined to live the kind of normal life everyone else seems entitled to. Working at the family garage under…

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“Christmas with the Campbells” – Turkey rehash [MOVIE REVIEW]

Santa must be very unhappy this year because he left us with a piece of coal (actually something a lot smellier) in our stockings called “Christmas with the Campbells.” Directed perfunctorily by Clare Niederpruem, who in all honesty wasn’t given much to work with, and written badly and sophomorically (or is that moronically) by Vince…

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“Confessions of a Hitman” – Killing [MOVIE REVIEW]

Another in the genre of true crime or as the French Canadians put it at the beginning: “This film is a work of fiction freely inspired by true events.” I love that much more than the English translation of “This film is a work of fiction based on a true story.” No matter what they…

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“The Fabelmans” – Not a fairy tale [MOVIE REVIEW]

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy So much has been made of Steven Spielberg’s newest film being autobiographical, but dissecting the personal aspects of this wonderful movie diminishes its universal impact. The filmmaking is sly and misleading. Ostensibly his own origin story, undeniably it…

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“Love, Charlie” – Bittersweet [MOVIE REVIEW]

“Love, Charlie,” the excellent documentary by Rebecca Halpern, is an in depth look at Charlie Trotter, one of the first American superstar chefs. Although this is not a “rise and fall” story because Charlie Trotter never really fell from the heights he worked hard to achieve, it is a “warts and all” tale about a…

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“The Menu” – Tasty [MOVIE REVIEWS]

Seth Reis and Will Tracy, the writers of “The Menu,” have offered up a frothy mixture of dark comedy, thrills, and ultimately horror that goes down as readily as spherical beads of strawberry puree. Director Mark Mylod has taken this concoction and whisked it into a mile-high soufflé. Four couples and a trio, all strangers,…

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“Welcome to Chippendales” – Undressed [TELEVISION REVIEWS]

“Welcome to Chippendales,” the salacious and sordid account of the now-iconic role-reversal strip club should be better than it is. A compelling story filled with larger than life characters and a stranger than fiction true crime tale is somehow lacking a core. I’ve been struggling to put my finger on why such an outrageous true…

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“The Santa Clauses” – Time to pack it in [MOVIE REVIEW]

Disney+ has decided that there’s still more room for the “Santa Clause” franchise with Tim Allen. But this turkey may be a bit too stuffed.  Scott Calvin, aka Santa Claus, has now been on the job for almost 30 years, having inherited the job when he accidentally knocked Santa off his roof and was forced…

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“In Her Hands” – Gripping [MOVIE REVIEW]

Sometimes hope and despair go hand in hand. In the case of Zarifa Ghafari, those hands were burned by the Taliban as a warning to her. And why would the Taliban be concerned about such a petite, respectful woman? Therein lies the crux of the thoroughly engrossing documentary directed by Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen. …

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“Cheeky Business” or Dial 3615 Monique [TELEVISION REVIEW]

He’s a geek, she’s beautiful, and the third thinks he’s cool. Welcome to the world of “Cheeky Business,” the new French series created by Emmanuel Poulain-Arnaud and Armand Robin about the Minitel Revolution. It’s France in the 80s, the end of the conservative Giscard D’Estaing presidency and the cusp of the Socialist tsunami of François…

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