Hollywood

Commencing immediately there is a poetic, romantic poignancy pulsating at its lyrical core; in a myriad of ways reminiscent of the golden years of the Ziegfeld Follies and the 1936 “The Great Ziegfeld”, a time of spectacle, grandeur, an age where a woman was sensationally adored for her beauty, poise and kickable acuity. Those were the days when the dreariest, …

Director/writer Brady Corbet gifts film/art/architecture/ history lovers more than one’s digestive system can masticate in almost four hours; it is an epic masterpiece worthy of intense analyzation; knowledge of the Holocaust and the detritus of its evil, shadowing, stalking survivors like Jewish emigree “Laszlo Toth” (incomparable Adrien Brody); the Bauhaus movement, a revolutionary school, founded in Germany (1919-1933) sought to …

“One Day in September” (1999) won the 2000 Academy Award for the Best Documentary; brilliantly brutal scenario of the horrific slaughter of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. More than the massacre of innocents it dismantled the intrinsic, iconic goal of the Olympics…peace and harmony between ideologies, cultures; cancelling differences, uniting in spirt, sharing the competitions between mutual skills; …

Movie attendees have been feted to a plethora of exciting biopics in recent years: “Bohemian Rapsody” (2018) Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, “Rocketman” (2019), Taron Egerton, is Elton John; “Judy” (2019) Renne Zellweger’s portrait of Judy Garland; “Elvis” (2022) Austin Butler, reigns as the “King”. Awards galore were showered upon these iconic performances. But in my experience, there has never …

Written and directed by Halina Reijn (“Bodies Bodies Bodies”); at forty-nine is well-studied on staving off aging formulas (Botox, Juvéderm, plastic surgery) and grappling to maintain an aura of youth; in “Babygirl” her weapon of choice is Nicole Kidman, who at fifty-seven, is as perfect a human specimen in existence; in “Babygirl” she is the quintessential contemporary woman: ivy league …

At times faithful to the horrifyingly sensational 1922 silent film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror”, directed by F. W. Murnau (1888-1931), adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”; director Robert Eggers interaction seethes with titillation, tools of the contemporary and gorgeous, gory cinematography. German Expressionism pulsating at the core of 1922’s masterpiece is tempered with the six elements evident in the films …

Director Pablo Larrain’s third tribute to a feminine icon: “Jackie” 2016, starring Natalie Portman; “Spencer” 2021, gloomy actor, Kristin Stewart and the final film of the trilogy, “Maria” featuring the preeminent Diva, operatic legend, Maria Callas depicted by Angelina Jolie. In essence I found the trinity lacking in pungency, power and engrossment. Possibly Larrain’s awe of the protagonists clouded his …

Watching this nebulous, evocative film, Thomas Mann’s (1875-1955) “Death in Venice” kept plundering the forefront my mind; a distinguished writer so obsessed with a much younger boy that it destroys his rationale, eventually leading to his demise. In “Queer”, replaced by a decadent, drug and alcohol addicted “William Lee”. Daniel Craig’s, metamorphosis is astounding, erased is the 007, suave, “shaken, …

Director Justin Kurzel could not have selected a timelier era to debut this true travail which occurred in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1980’s; a white, antisemitic cabal led by charismatic Robert Mathews (a superb Nicholas Hoult), messianic leader of The Order and believer in the annihilation and recreation of the American government; funded by organized bank robberies. Enter …

One of the weirdest, strangest, but oddly compelling films of the year; based on 2021’s Rachel Yoder’s novel of the same title; I did not read the book, so the premise came as a shocking example of the most extreme postpartum depression ever depicted or imagined. An intentionally weightier Amy Adams growls, chews and roars as she slowly turns into …