A Thousand Cuts doesn’t grapple with such global issues as much as it name checks them.” By Thomas Puhr. A sobering reminder that 21st-century demagoguery is not limited to the West, Ramona S. Diaz’s A Thousand Cuts (2020) focuses on two diametrically-opposed figures: Rodrigo Duterte, current President of the Philippines, […]
Characters in the “Stocks”: Paydirt
Paydirt feels more like fast food than haute cuisine.” By Ali Moosavi. Christian Sesma, the writer-director of Paydirt, has certainly an interesting resume. Already a successful restaurateur from Palm Springs, he also made “HBO’s first under-a-million-dollar action film acquired in over a decade.” The resume also informs us he has made a […]
A Visual Stylist’s Potboiler: Brian De Palma and Susan Lehman’s Are Snakes Necessary?
A Book Review by Ali Moosavi. My guess is that co-writer Lehman would have been at ease with sections dealing with the press and politics, while the sex and murder are products of De Palma’s imagination.” At the ripe old age of 79, that best known disciple of Hitchcock, Brian […]