“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Out of desperation I visited this “horror” film solely to analyze Australian Samara Weaving’s performance as “Grace”, a nascent bride on her wedding day, forced to play a game of initiation into one of the weirdest, wealthiest filmic family’s ever invented; writers Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy along with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler …

What makes both of these films highly watchable is that they are based on actual events and more importantly, the iconic Bollywood stars who supported them with their “starship”. Unlike Hollywood, Bollywood actors have a huge say in the production, plot evolution and outcome of the storyline.  Hunky, handsome John Abraham, tackles the role of ACP Sanjay Kumar in the …

Predictability, sensationalism, oftentimes, can be comforting; knowing the “hero” will be around to fend off future threats to society; evil felled,  appropriate “bad guys” slain, all in the name of righteousness and a day’s work. “Mike Banning” (ubiquitous Gerard Butler) perpetual savior, initially lacking the spryness of past heroics, eventually saves the nation(hardly a spoiler) with the aid of his …

If a foreign film deeply resonates, oftentimes the American version, is acutely disappointing;  two recent examples, “The Upside” is an anemic adaptation of France’s,  “The Intouchables”, an even sorrier scenario is “Florence Foster Jenkins” contrasted with, again, France’s “Marguerite”; another pale imitation was “Gloria Bell”, Hollywood’s rendition of Chile’s 2014 “Gloria”; 2006’s Danish film, “After the Wedding” ranks as a …

A yummy, creamy, crunchy slice of filmic fun; directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz in “The Peanut Butter Falcon” serve a chunk of ingenuity, packaged in the form  of Zack Gottsagen as “Zak”, a “Down Syndrome character” who creatively escapes his smothering institution to fulfill his wrestling career; Shia LaBeouf is startling, in his best role in years, as a …

“Bernadette Fox” (ambitionally strained, Cate Blanchette) is mean, misanthropic, acerbic and if that isn’t enough, psychologically unbalanced; we intensely dislike her by the time we learn she won a MacArthur Genius Grant for architecture, over twenty years prior to the commencement of this flat, lifeless scenario; married to a savvy techie, “Elgie Branch” (clueless, lost depiction by Billy Crudup) and …

A film of such exuberant wonderment, I never wanted it to end; a dream actualized by the power of an artist to inspire; similar to Stockholm Syndrome, kidnaps and converts one to its cause; Bruce Springsteen, approaching seventy, has to be kvelling with this homage. Directed by Gurinder Chadha (“Bend it Like Beckham”), starring Viveik Kalra, as “Javed”  (memoir of …

Australia’s Jennifer Kent exceeds brutal boundaries in her latest petrifying revenge movie; those of a squeamish nature will be tested in the initial scenes; set in 1825 Tasmania, a British colony off the southeast corner of Australia; Kent owns the film as its writer, director and producer, and is fearless in her representation of genocide, colonial abuse and sexual sadism. …

Transformation. In recent years actors have gone to remarkable lengths to completely mask their persona, conforming to the physicality of their role; unimaginable dedication and pain, resulting in stunning, award-winning performances: Charlize Theron, “Monster”; Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”; Christian Bale, “The Machinist”, “Vice”; Patricia Arquette, “Escape at Dannemora”; Michael Fassbender, “Hunger.” Russell Crowe, “The Loudest Voice” tips …

“The brighter the “light” the darker the shadow”. “Luce” (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is dazzling, beyond charismatic, he is seventeen, an orator, athlete, class valedictorian; he is also a rescued victim of war-ravaged Eritrea, where at seven, he was a trained killer; his adoptive parents “Amy and Peter Edgar” (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) have dedicated ten years to his rehabilitation …