“The course of true love never did run smooth” and director Andrew Ahn’s “The Wedding Banquet” jumps on the Shakespearean bandwagon and drives it full speed into a realistic romp appealing to all. A foursome of credited actors depict two gay couples trying to make sense of their lives, disappointments, and future commitments: “Min” (Han Gi-chan) loves “Chris” (Bowen Yang) …

Director David Cronenberg’s imaginative fecundity never ceases to astound; his intelligence and heuristic vastness touches realms of horror, (The King of Venereal Horror) science fiction; blending transformation, both physical, psychological with wonders of technology; following addictively, his products from the 70’s until today (“Crimes of the Future”, “Shivers”, “The Brood”, “Scanners”, “The Fly”, “Dead Ringers. “Naked Lunch”, “Crash”, “History of …

Director James Hawes gifts viewers an intelligent vigilante scenario where revenge is not served cold but steaming hot and calculated by CIA decoder “Charlie Heller” (Rami Malek is at the top of his prodigious acuity); quiescent behavior not in his DNA, he brilliantly plots the demise of the murderers who stole his link to joy. Based on the 1981 novel …

Two exceedingly likable actors, Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar star in “Drop” an innovative scenario targeting the tech savvy viewer; those lacking in techie acuity will still unquestionably relish the ride. “Violet” (Fahy) has accepted an electronic date, her first since the death of her husband; leaving her five-year-old son “Toby” (Jacob Robinson) with her sister “Jen” (Violett Beane); she …

Directors/writers Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza create one of the most fermented, realistic films about experiences suffered in Iraq in 2006; Ray Mendoza a Navy Seal depicts, in real time, the hideous and brutally gory re-enactment of an ambush that indelibly, both physically and psychologically, maimed these stalwart soldiers.  Of the myriads of war movies, this film rips and shreds …

On a recent sojourn in the city of bemouth culture I experienced a film, never seen, ever heard of, with wonderment and enchantment, a love story, without salacious, physical intimacy, just poignant, heart encompassing devotion. A story of love at first glimpse, palpating with bona fide longing, yearning for requitement. Directed by Max Ophuls (1902-1957), based on a novella written …

Periodically you visit a film that strikes the perfect cord, totally in sync, aligned with the human condition. “Bob Travino Likes It” is such a film, unique in its universality, appealing to anyone whose life has been informed by parental love or denied it; “Lily Travino” (Barbie Ferreira’s, stratospherically gifted performance stuns with its remarkability) quivers with the total absence …

Director Barry Levinson and actor Robert De Niro have a long and varied filmic relationship: “Sleepers”, “Wag the Dog” “What Just Happened”, “The Wizard of Lies”, and present day “The Alto Knights”; De Niro bests his previous roles depicting gangsters Frank Costello and Vito Genovese; never are viewers confused as to who is who. It is a homage to men …

Stylishly slick.  Prescient, well-honed actors at their physical peak working under the direction of Steven Soderberg. Writer David Koepp’s sensationally written script sucks audiences into a whirlpool of deception, espionage, infidelity, monogamy, dizzying intrigue. It is a festering guessing game guaranteed to demand one’s keen concentration, its hair-raising pace sears with divine, glamorous deceit. A black bag  exists, but also …

“Salome” and I have been friends for eons; our first encounter was in Bible Studies, she was introduced as a Jewish princess, daughter of Herodias and step-daughter of Herod Antipas; cursed with immeasurable beauty and an ungodly, iniquitous mother, demanding the head of John the Baptist, basically strip-teasing for her licentious stepfather; at sixteen she should have known better. Nonetheless, …