Hollywood

Let’s talk about Adam Sandler. A man/actor I never focused on until 2019’s “Uncut Gems”, a shocking tour de force for one who never paid him an ounce of mite. He has garnished multiple awards: Critics Choice Movie Award, Independent Spirit Award, nominations for 7 Prime Time Emmy Awards, Golden Globe and Grammy salutes and a star on the Hollywood …

A perpetual fascination with the man-made creature of “Victor Frankstein”, brought to fruition by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelly (1797-1851), in 1818; a woman of prodigious intelligence, married poet Percy Busshe Shelly (1792-1822); tragedy informed her life, but her genius resonates for eternity. Of the hundreds of adaptations Director Guillermo del Toro’s sears with immortal acumen, gut-wrenching poignancy; actors Oscar Isaac …

Periodically you see a film that transcends all expectations; a movie that emanates the purest joy, sincerity, and profound happiness.  Japanese director Hikari, co-wrote the script with Stephen Blahut referencing agencies that hire actors to play real, mostly missing, family members in Japanese society. It is stunning, and filmically astounding plus a huge homage to Tokyo and the luscious landscape …

“Wicked the First” thrilled me to the bones and deeper; it accomplished what a fine film should: stunning, innovative scenario, based on the fantastical book by Winnie Holzman and bestselling novel by Gregory Maguire.  Composer Stephen Schwartz delves into the depths of his creative cache and scores in “Wicked: For Good”; actors Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (“Glinda” and “Elphaba”) …

Never has wickedness been served so mellifluously, deliciously, supercalifragilisticexpialidociously sensational as in director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”; a film so splendidly crafted, acted, choregraphed it was impossible to breathe with the breath, depth of its wonder. Every glittering glorious moment resonates with truth, integrity and lessons for living, understanding and embracing the goodness of the unknown, outlier, no matter their …

Jennifer Lawrence gives a career-defining portrait of madness and angst in “Die My Love” based on the 2012 novel by Arina Harwicz; director/writer Lynne Ramsay (“We Need to Talk About Kevin”) pulverizes viewers with the detrimental effects of postpartum depression’; “Grace” (Lawrence) was muddled before we meet her and her boyfriend “Jackson” (instinctive performance by Robert Pattinson) whose relationship, defined …

We are birthed with a cry and die with a sigh, or rattle. Director Oliver Hermamus gifts viewers a particularly poignant portrait of two young men instantaneously connected by their love and understanding of timeless folk tunes. Meeting at the Boston Conservatory in 1917 “Lionel” (Paul Mescal) and “David” (Josh O’ Connor) gracefully, plaintively, tenderly fall in love as Lionel …

Director Kelly Reichardt’s films creep in through the back door and emerge fully bloomed, in the living room, 75 plus minutes later. She is a mastermind of the benign, allowing viewers into the lives of the least noticed: working class, ordinary souls, nonthreatening or intimidating but through her lens, interesting. A myriad of movies define her intuitive aesthetic; my favorites …

Sabbaticals are refreshing, rejuvenating, a time to canvass the unnurtured, unexplored; a time to dive into the abyss of tasted, but underdeveloped curiosities: authors, like iconic genius Stefan Zweig, loved, but volumes yet to become “friends”, yearning to be guzzled; directors whose nascent films, unwatched: John Carpenter, maven of horror, finally, horrifically requited; vistas of the world, tempting, luring, begging …

Dear Subscribers, After close to 20 years, I have decided to take a sabbatical; time to plunder, nurture the other side of my brain before it atrophies. For all of you who’ve been in the movie market, chugging along with me, it’s been a jaunty journey, circulating, imbibing in the tame, innovative, foreign: mystery, romance, politics, war and every facet …