Hollywood

Lovable, despicable? Possibly, bucketsful of both. Undebatable, it is electrifying, mesmerizing, hypnotically addictive for every second of its three plus hours. Writer/director Damien Chazelle (“LaLa Land”,”Whiplash”) gifts a glorious, energetic, oftentimes inordinate paean to Hollywood’s embryonic bygone era. Commencing in 1926 silent movies are at their peak and idolized leading man “Jack Conrad” (Brad Pitt, with age exponentially swells, imbuing …

Occasionally, I see a film, that in retrospect, I wish I hadn’t; Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” captures the top prize in this category besting “Mother”, Aronofsky’s 2017 movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem and Michelle Pfeiffer; examples of boundary destruction at the “celestial” level; a more fitting title would have been “Death by Diet”. Granted Brendan Fraser’s ardent, overpowering depiction …

Olivia Coleman, out of 156 nominations has won 66, including an Academy Award (“The Favourite”, 2018) and three Golden Globes; this year she is again nominated for her stunning characterization of a floundering, fragile woman tenuously teetering on the thread between reality and disillusionment; treating viewers to an astounding, catastrophically heartbreaking performance; “Hilary Small”, manages the Empire Theatre on the …

Never have I reviewed a film a second time; but at the finale of the 10/14 (FOUR STARS!!!!) review I knew I had to see it again; I was troubled by the inconsistencies, conundrums, anomalies overshadowed by Cate Blanchett’s immensely prodigious performance as “Lydia Tar”.     Initially, I did not like Lydia; she was too perfect, too controlled, too …

“BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER” Overcoming palpable hesitancy, not imagining a “Black Panther” without the epochal Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020), but at the insistence of my youngest and astronomically smart friend, I went; it was every bit as superlative as described and redolently reverential to the deceased actor. Pungently powerful as the technical effects, cinematography, acting acuity, the underlying message of strength …

Individuals of iconic, legendary stature are, at a pivotal point, retrospective; pursuing their walkway to prominence; in recent years directors have splayed upon the screen the intimacy, the embryonic process to eminence: “Lady Bird” 2017 (Greta Gerwig); “Roma” 2018 (Alfonso Cuaron); “The Souvenir” 2019 (Joanna Hogg); “Belfast” 2021 (Kenneth Branagh); “The Hand of God” 2021 (Paolo Sorrentino). Surpassing all the …

Director Luca Guadagnino’s sublime sensitivity, “I Am Love”, “Call Me By Your Name”, “Brideshead Revisited”, is limitless, stratospheric; he has visualized, put on the screen, a narrative, emotions others have felt, but are incapable of expressing; his vision travels into untouched realms, recognizing, accepting the “other”, gifting viewers insights into those shunned, oftentimes horrified by; “Bones and All” (not for …

CAUSEWAY (Apple TV) Jennifer Lawrence is certifiably a grand actor; her skill reverberates and defines to perfection her every characterization: “Ree Dolly” (“Winter’s Bone”), “Katniss Everdeen” (“The Hunger Games”, Trilogy), “Tiffany” (“Silver Linings Playbook”), the list exponentially expands as she advances to her pinnacle. In tandem with director Lila Neugebauer, Lawrence imbues recovering soldier “Lindsay” (wounded in an explosion in …

If for no other reason, seek out this film to see Colin Farrell’s transformative performance; he is mesmerizing, stupefying as “Padraic”, living a secluded life on the fictional island of Inisherin, off the Irish coast; Padraic, a farmer, borderline “daff”, content living with his sister, “Siobhan” (sensitive Kerry Condon) and interacting daily with “Colm” (phenomenal Branden Gleeson) his closest friend; …

Two outstanding Academy Award winners (Jessica Chastine, Eddie Redmayne) with exhaustive efforts could not spur viewers to the level of interest, that on paper, should have soddened our attention for its entirety. The good nurse, Amy Loughren (Chastine) emotionally, psychologically, physically must come to terms with the evil embedded in the bad nurse, Charlie Cullen (Redmayne); both actors immerse their …