All three had potential but like champagne, left in the refrigerator too long,  lost its fizz,  leaving pleasant packaging, but little tangible substance, only flatness. A margin call occurs ( from your broker) when securities bought with borrowed money, decline in value, beyond a certain point; time to “pay the piper” by selling assets or “coughing” up more cash to …

Pedro Almodovar’s newest film is a sickeningly, sensational, stunning masterpiece of “weird”; so repulsive and yet so compelling that it has haunted, lingered like a bad dream in my consciousness for days. Almodovar’s imagination is still pumping at the hydraulic level; effulgent, challenging and flirting with medical possibilities. Antonio Banderas, in his greatest performance to date, is rivetingly handsome and …

“Restoration” is dark, plodding, lugubrious, but ceaselessly overwhelming in its myriad of messages. Commencing with a death and concluding with a birth this tense, tightly -wrought slice of life rejuvenates and transforms all the principals. “Yakov Fidelman” (succinctly depicted by veteran actor Sasson Gabai) has lost his lifelong business partner, Max; they specialize in restoring the depleted beauty of antique …

Israel has been in the forefront of pivotal, challenging, inimitably entertaining movies, garnishing awards from all over the world. Do not miss this opportunity to view the newest films from Israel’s most talented writers and directors. Check your local listings for screens in Chicago and Northbrook. Stay tuned for my review of the brilliant “Restoration” directed by Joseph Madmony; his …

“Inebriate of air am I, and debauchee of dew”, aphrodisiac choices of Emily Dickinson; I favor movies, popcorn and hot dogs; satiated, spent and ready for a “program”, although in my case, could never be “anonymous”  For two weeks I have indulged at the gluttonous level my insatiable lust for film; thirty films, and five pounds later I am comforted …

DEKH INDIAN CIRCUS; India, THREE & 1/2 STARS!!! How refreshing to sit through a film where everyone remains fully clothed for its entirety; a family film, dealing with issues that all can empathize with. Warm, charming, compelling story of a mother taking her two children to a circus, an initiation into the practical world, fraught with pain, glory and gripping …

IF NOT US, WHO; Germany, FOUR STARS!!!! Incredible investigation into the creation of a revolutionary. Based upon the RAF (Red Army Faction, Germany 1960-70’s). This quasi -documentary concentrates on the lives of Bernward Vesper, Gudrun Ensslin, and Andreas Baader; intelligent writers whose idealism morphs into violence, and to their  ultimate demise. Original footage of the devastation, protests, politics of the …

THE MOLE; Poland, FOUR STARS!!!! Loyalty, love, disillusionment, intrigue are the ingredients that comprise this succinct, finely- wrought, luminously performed film revolving around the birth of solidarity in Poland.   BONSAI; Chile/France, TWO STARS!! Stunning beginning, never attains supernova status, but fizzles with the same intensity. Proust is howling in his sarcophagus at this pathetic rendition of “Remembrance of Things …

WOMAN IN THE FIFTH; United Kingdom, ONE &1/2 STARS! Murky, meandering miasma of failed, faulty filmmaking. Ethan Hawke earns a star for his passable accomplishments in the French language. Kristin Scott Thomas’s talents are wasted in this dreary, foggy psychological thriller.   RETURN TICKET; China/Taiwan, 2 & 1/2 STARS!! Quiet, sweet, contemplative, sporadically humorous tale of migrant workers in Shanghai …

L. A. RAEVEN: BEYOND THE IMAGE; Netherlands, 2 &1/2 STARS!! Interesting but at times problematic documentary about twin sisters, both artists (Lisbeth & Angelique Raeven) living, working,  eating, thinking in tandem. A unique premise, but unfortunately an unsatisfying, disquieting conclusion. PATANG (THE KITE); India, FOUR & 1/2 STARS!!!! A superior film by Chicago director, Prashat Bhargava, highlighting a two day …