Hollywood

A prickly, positively delightful mature fairy tale starring Olivia Coleman as an engaging “Fisherwoman” and Alexander Skarsgard as “Wicker Husband”; writers/directors Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson and Ursula Wills designed a period piece “tailored” to proselytize a man’s superiority in domination of, a lifetime of skullduggery, a woman’s destiny. Fisherwoman gives short shrift to these niggardly precepts and hires “Basket …

Seeing these two films one after another I was struck by the masterful performances of seasoned actors whose age exponentially, awesomely pulverized viewers; John Turturro, approaching seventy, maneuvers dexterously as well as an athletic quinquagenarian; he stunned in 1991 as “Barton Fink”, winning at Cannes Film Festival Best Actor, in 1992 in Cannes, as director of “Mac”; awards have tracked …

Visiting this film, realizing my hubris with the debasing of the word “like” was a lost campaign; intelligent people (director Nathan Fielder, Elizabeth Holmes, Billy Evans) soar in the debasement; the documentary/movie would have been 30 minutes shorter if half of the “likes” had been eliminated. Fielder’s creative approach centers on riveting conversations with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes just 34 days …

Peneflix has been at war with the Internet and the result was not even Pyrrhic; the Internet ate her 62nd CIFF reviews. They will be addressed as they are distributed. Thank you for your patience and loyalty. Helen Mirren has the time of her life depicting Patricia Highsmith in the waning days of her life. It is a fictional version …

The first scene in the film is the most telling; a young woman on a lonely highway, waiting for AAA to aid her failed automobile reacts insanely to two police officers who have offered to help her. She filmed her scathing, vitriolic, racist attack on the innocent police. Later, whistleblower Frances Haugen (b.1984) depicted depth- fully by actor Mikey Madison …

Confusing. There were moments that I reveled in my presence experiencing director Alejandro G. Inarritu’s latest film (“Amores Perros”, “The Revenant”, “Birdman”) unfortunately they were transcended by too many scenes of failed expectations, embarrassment and grotesqueness. Tom Cruise (I am a lifelong  admirer) is a homely, aging billionaire oil tycoon, in thick prosthetic makeup and fat suit as “Digger  Rockwell”, …

2006 witnessed the debut of Twitter, the birth of Shiloh Jolie-Pitt; highest grossing movie of the year was “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at $1.06 billion; execution of Saddam Hussein.  It was the reality television show “To Catch a Predator” that confiscated American viewers from 2004-2007. Admittedly, I had never seen or known of its existence, nor its …

Two engaging films, likely destined for major streaming platforms, are especially rewarding when seen in a traditional movie theater. In director Paul Greengrass’s dramatization of England’s 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, Andrew Garfield shifts from a superhero role into the vivid character of a peasant “Ploughman.” The Black Plague (1346–1353) had killed an estimated 25 to 50 million people across Europe and …

Reminiscent of a bleak and dreary period in our mid-twentieth century historical fight for racial equality: 1964, Mississippi where 3 civil rights workers were murdered; the film commences in 1966 with black FBI agent Wayne Strider (excellent Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) paired with legendary mafia maniac Greg Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg, cloned for the role); the value of the film lies in …

Director Ridley Scott (who I grace with tremendous respect) from “The Gladiator”, “White Squall”, “Alien” to “The Dog Stars” the fecundity of his masterful vision knows no bounds; it is a dystopian era and “Jasper” is the canine companion of survivor “Hig” (Jacob Elordi, a primary reason to view the film); in tandem, they fly to untamed areas to pilfer …