The majority of first run films on Netflix are at best average and in the case of “The Laundromat” a dismally pejorative, flimsily transparent rip off of “The Big Short”; based on “The Panama Papers”(2015), exposing the Panamanian law firm of Jurgen Mossack (Gary Oldman), Ramon Fonesca (Antonio Banderas) with slimy schtick, tongue-in-cheek audacity these “dandies” defend their fraudulent, flagrant …

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (“The Host”, “Snowpiercer”) won Cannes 2019’s, Palme d’or, for the astronomically mesmerizing “Parasite”; with biting, lacerating wit, psychological challenges, he orchestrates a scenario, in chess-like fashion, of a duel between the “haves” and those who long to be. Sublime acting by every character depicts a likeable group that earns respect from the inception. In dire …

Perpetually, I avoid exposing myself to “too much information” about any film; avoidance is easier in the “Foreign” category; “First Love” has catastrophically, with extreme circumstances, altered forever, my resolve. A bastardized attempt by director Takashi Miike to outlandishly mimic “Marvel Mania”, Wes Craven, Stephen King, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Coen brothers, Denis Villeneuve; with the first decapitation, and subsequent drug dynamic I …

Director Pedro Almodovar (b.1949) excavates his inner core gifting audiences his most intimate, revelatory film to date: an aged, aching, physically and mentally scarred director, “Salvador Mallo” (played presciently by an Almodovar favorite, Antonio Banderas) comes to terms with his vulnerabilities, liabilities and mortality. Flashbacks of his childhood, informed by poverty, are sensitively, beautifully portrayed by Penelope Cruz (another Almodovar …

Attention “Action Aficionados”! “War” is a breathless, intoxicating, swashbuckling ride of monumental gratification; in league with the “Matrix”, “Raiders” “Bourne” franchises; Bollywood knows how to capitalize on the “thrill factor”: “Dhoom” and “Don” dynamically roar with excitement; “War” directed by Siddharth Anand, starring seasoned heartthrob Hrithik Roshan and relative newcomer Tiger Shroff (Jackie’s son) score in their excessively elegant martial …

You know you’ve witnessed one of the finest films of the year when a “sold out” audience does not move or speak until the last credit has vanished and light contaminates an emotionally pulverized, awestruck corps; jingoism, in its purest form, celebrates the People’s Republic of China’s historical highs, in honor of its seventieth anniversary: seven thrilling, with as many …

Joaquin Phoenix joined the corps of actors who shed massive pounds to authenticate the viability of their characters; this was my first hint that “Joker” would disappoint, whatever the poundage “Joker” is a misfit of monumental proportions; as a hired clown, he is a terrifying, pitiful, misunderstood fool; his neurological, incessant laughter grates on all bombarded, tormented with it (including …

Epically sensational and overblown but truly a wonder to experience; based on the life of icon, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, who championed India’s gory march towards freedom in 1837; Reddy is depicted with pulsating, Herculean prowess by actor Chiranjeevi; as the Emperor of a region in Andhra Pradesh, Reddy initiates a rebellion against the egregious injustices of the British East …

A title implying ownership, shared familial DNA, director Matt Tyrnauer’s prescient documentary vivisects demigod Roy Cohn’s (1927-1986) amoral, Machiavellian history; from his coddled, privileged formative years; his prodigious intelligence led him to starship, at twenty-three, with Senator Joseph McCarthy’s (1908-1957), quest to destroy, malign anyone who flirted with Communism; pivotal in the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (1951); Army-McCarthy …

Renee Zellweger excavates the core of the vulnerable, superlatively gifted, but tremendously tragic Judy Garland (b.1922); her last stand, in London, 1969, where, like Custer, she flounders and fails. With flashbacks of her highway to stardom, viewers visit the embryonic source of her ultimate addictions; a creepy, controlling Louis B. Mayer (Richard Cordery) gives off pungent vibes of psychological (possibly, …