by Alvin G. Burstein Although I miss the silver screen and the ambience of the movie theatre, I have found that streamed television has given me access to films that I might not have encountered in a theatre. RRR, released 2022, is one of those. When I learned film writer and critic Robert Cargill described […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD All That Breathes is said to be a documentary, and it almost is. It is a Hindi-language film directed by Shaunak Sen and coproduced by him, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer for Rise Films. I say almost a documentary because it goes beyond recording to make philosophical and […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein In 2012, The Swedish author Fredrik Backman published a novel, A Man Called Ove. His book was on the The New York Times best seller list for almost a year. A film version appeared in 2015 that won multiple awards and is reportedly the most frequently viewed Swedish film. […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD Steven Speilberg is the crown prince of movie makers. His blockbusters, Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Bridge of Spies, ET and the Indiana Jones series, are too numerous to list completely here. His latest film, The Fabelmans, winning Motion Picture and Best Director awards at the 2023 Golden Globe […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD In 1963, when I moved from the University of Michigan to the Neuropsychiatric Institute of the University of Illinois, I met one of the last giants of Psychology, Ernest A. Haggard, who held a professorship there and a prestigious career investigator’s award from the National Institute of Mental […]
The holiday season is upon us, and I began thinking about a Christmas film. A few years ago, I reviewed several versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for the December issue of Psychology Times, and on another occasion It’s a Wonderful Life. It came to my attention that there is a third Christmas classic—one that […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD I need to begin this review with a disclaimer: this film is disturbing, both because stirs up the deep prejudice about the body dysmorphia we call obesity and because of its plot complexities. It is troubling in a third way as well. It combines acting so convincing that […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD In the early 1940’s while I was jerking sodas in Canar’s, a skid row drugstore in Omaha, one of my ancillary responsibilities was serving as guardian of the rack displaying comic books. I was to prevent the teenagers who frequented the store from reading the magazines on display […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD This is a frankly feel-good movie, one that promises that dreams can come true. It is based on a novel, one of a series by Paul Gallico, featuring the protagonist, Mrs. Harris, a cleaning woman in London in the late nineteen forties. Its theme seems an odd one […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD Spring break at the University of Texas at Austin has become the occasion for a conglomeration of presentations of interactive media, music and films called South by Southwest. Five films were featured at the 2022 festival. One, Everything Everywhere All At Once, dominated the awards, winning Best Picture, […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD As a youngster, going to a movie was a special experience for me. Omaha could swelter in the summer heat and in the nineteen thirties and forties the marquees of the theatres promised twenty degrees cooler inside” which added to the attraction of the exotic decor and the […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD The heroic comedy Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Edmond Rostand in 1897, has had a remarkable impact. Coquelin starred in the original 1897 stage version at Theatre de la Port Saint-Martin in Paris. His performance was a triumph; the audience applauded for over an hour after the final […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD From Ida Tarbell’s exposé of Standard Oil, to Upton Sinclair’s critical exploration of the plight of packing house workers, to Ralph Naders’ blistering attack on automakers, America has a rich tradition of what has become called “muckraking.” Some will see Andrea Arnold’s documentary debut, the 2021 movie Cow […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD This self-described Rom Com surprises with its wit, and its depth. The frothy wit with which it abounds is contrasted by flashes of tragic despair. German written and acted, with subtitles, directed by Maria Schrader, it more than merits its many awards. The female lead, Maria Egert, won […]
A Review by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD This very recent Netflix documentary’s popularity exploded during the first week of its release, drawing my attention to a genre that has not previously interested me: true crime accounts. The Tinder Swindler turned out to be interesting, and, to make a pun, even arresting, in unexpected ways. It […]