"Napoleon" Review

 

by John Zenoni

‘Napoleon’ is one of those films I could not wait to see after watching the trailer, knowing Joaquin Phoenix was starring in it and it was directed by Ridley Scott. Scott has directed so many great films, including ‘Gladiator’, ‘ Alien’, ‘House of Gucci’ and ‘The Martian.’

While ‘Napoleon’ is a very good film, in my opinion, it's not great as I was hoping for or expecting. I've been reading many mixed reviews, some justifiable and some not, but can see why this is happening. From a storyline perspective, I'm torn about it. The film focuses on Napoleon’s rise to power, and is fascinating, but it also focuses on the relationship between him and his beloved, Josephine. The political and war part of the film is my favorite, whereas the relationship side of the film -- not so much.

There are some great war moments and the battle scenes are amazing. It's a long film and has some really great moments but falls flat in others. As far as Phoenix’s performance, he's such a great actor and he does a great job in his portrayal but there are moments where I don't know if the intention was for the audience to laugh or not. It's still a film worth seeing, even with its minor faults, so I definitely recommend it.

"The Super Models" Review

 

by John Zenoni

Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelista - for anyone who grew up in the late 80’s, early 90’s, if these names don't ring a bell then you must have been living under a rock. These were THE - well, with the exception of Brooke Shields in my opinion, as I had a tremendous crush on her - super models of the day. There was not an advertisement, article, magazine cover, newspaper ad, or music video in which these women did not appear, and in many cases, they were all together. 

Out of curiosity I decided to catch an episode of Apple TV’s series, ‘The Super Models’, which focuses on these super ladies, and was immediately intrigued. Very well done in terms of capturing what was so appealing about these women and how they became so connected and such good friends. Of course, as this was at the height of their fame, the series touches on the famous George Michael video for the song, ‘Freedom! 90’, and how these ladies became involved in it. There is also talk about the infamous quote by one of these ladies that she, ‘Didn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.’ Needless to say, this backfired on her and caused quite a bit of controversy and cost her some jobs. Also, great insight into how they became as famous as they did and how each had to stand up for herself - and for each other - in certain situations. Best thing was seeing how they ended up coming back together and have gone on with their lives after their modeling careers.

"The Girl in the Eagle's Talons" Book Review

 

by John Zenoni

For those who are huge fans of the Millennium novels, such as I am, I can only imagine that most will agree that the latest in the series, ‘The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons’, by Karin Smirnoff, is not on the same level as the previous novels. This one was a tough read from the start, as it didn't capture you or draw you in early on as the others. Plus, honestly, it was confusing from a storyline perspective and didn't connect the dots like I would have expected and hoped. Eventually, things began to come together but this was just not as enjoyable a read as the others. And I didn't even feel like the two primary characters in the saga, Lisbeth Salander, an asocial computer hacker with a photographic memory, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of a magazine called Millennium, were the focus of the story. Definitely not the novel I was hoping for.