The multitudes who devoured the national bestseller by Paula Hawkins will find the movie, directed by Larry Brand, fervently faithful to the scenario. Divorced, perpetually sloshed, disillusioned “Rachel Watson” (Emily Blunt scores a knockout in the role) feeds her desperately lonely, hollow existence by living vicariously, imagining the lives of others as sublime, loving paradigms of bliss. Her daily train …

Director Neeraj Pandey (“A Wednesday”) has made an incredible bio-pic of the inimitable cricket player Mahendra Singh Dhoni (born, 1981); actor Sushant Singh Rajput nails to perfection the player that Time magazine hailed as one of the most influential people in the world. Being a Westerner, the game of cricket and all its “wickets” is a fug of unfathomability; but …

Director Peter Berg gifts viewers a tense, titillating, tightly-wrought film based on the 2010 BP oil drilling disaster, resulting in the cataclysmic disgorgement of 126 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and the loss of eleven lives. Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell with minimal dialogue give pungently powerful performances as an electronic technician, Mike Williams (Wahlberg) and …

Fifty-nine-year-old “Ove”, (Rolf Lassgard) bereaved widower, childless, retired, dresses impeccably, clean-shaven daily, preparing for his suicide; based on the novel by Fredrik Backman and directed by Hannes Holm, “A Man Called Ove” is a profoundly moving depiction of a man scarred by life’s injustices, rescued emotionally by an enchanting teacher “Sonja” (Ida Engvoll) only once again to be stunned by …

“Bridget Jones” is a brand with Renee Zellweger as its face. For fifteen years we’ve listened and watched as she unsuccessfully navigates her loves, life and decision-making process. We’ve all known the “Bridget’s” of the world: they arrive at the airport without their tickets; show up a day late for lunch, or forget altogether; never remember a birthday, but we …

Director Mira Nair is an intrepid, fearless force in the film world; she vanquishes taboos, champions the unrecognized, embraces and educates the masses. “Monsoon Wedding” (2002) the most acclaimed of her films but secondary to 1998’s “Salaam Bombay” a heart- wrenching tale of parentless children living on the streets of India; this brilliant film led to the creation of the …

Wild, wacky and wonderfully flawed, director Jocelyn Moorhouse’s adaptation of Rosalie Han’s novel is vastly entertaining, dramatically performed by actors Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving and Liam Hemsworth; reminiscent of Federico Fellini flicks, Irving Penn photographs, infused with meaningless and meaningful metaphors “The Dressmaker” stunningly highlights the prescient acting skills of Kate Winslet and especially Judy Davis (a neglected, …

More often than not, first run movies On Demand are at best anemic or at worst, in need of life support. But “Dancer” is a glorious exception.  A spell-binding documentary about the Royal Ballet’s “Bad Boy”, Ukrainian Sergei Polunin; a magnificent prodigy whose promise was apparent at birth (November 20th, 1989); his muscular liquidity so stellar, amazingly atypical, was recorded …

There have been “whistleblowers” throughout history but the twentieth and twenty-first century have brought many to the fore, lionized or demonized, they have changed the course of history: Mark Felt (aka “Deep Throat”) Daniel Ellsberg, Karen Silkwood, Linda Tripp, and Edward Snowden, the man who in 2013 unleashed secret security documents relating to NSA’s policing policies (Big Brother antics) throughout …

Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger’s interview by Charlie Rose aired on September 9th, the day the film “Sully”, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring the inimitable Tom Hanks, as the man who miraculously landed on the Hudson River January 15th, 2009, saving all 155 passengers, opened in theatres nationwide; Captain Sullenberger’s interview illuminated a remarkable man, a humble man, one whose …