Hollywood

Doris Kearns Goodwin is the quintessential historian; with remarkable intelligence, insight and ultimate comprehension, she masters the lives, initiatives, goals, achievements of all her subjects: Abraham Lincoln (“Team of Rivals”), Franklin Roosevelt (& Eleanor)(“No Ordinary Time”) Lyndon Johnson (“And the American Dream”); it is the “Bully Pulpit”, focusing on Theordore Roosevelt (1858-1919) and his extraordinary life that Goodwin documents in …

As a lifelong Tom Cruise fan, (“Risky Business” and “Born on the Fourth of July” sealed my devotion) I went full throttle, excited to the max, without trepidation to the first showing of “Top Gun: Maverick”; happily, my expectations were not only met, but wildly surpassed. I loved the film from the onset; it is magnificent and must be experienced in the theatre. Jeffrey …

Having never visited the popular series of the inimitable Crawley family, I judge the films as entities totally without preconceived intimacy of the characters; possibly unfair, but films take precedence above and beyond the world of television (which I also admire). I found 2019’s “Downton Abbey” rather abysmal, apart from Maggie Smith as matriarch “Violet Crawley”; since her riveting Academy …

“VORTEX”  Dedicated “To all those whose brains will decompose before their hearts”; directed by Gasper Noe, “Vortex”, filmed as a diptych, a metaphor for the bifurcation of two lives, once entwined, now irrevocably fractured by age and its devastating vicissitudes; a husband and wife, “Liu” and “Elle” (incomparable Dario Argento and Francoise Lebrun) navigating the once familiar, now foreign, unknown …

Magic percolates within the carnage of director Robert Eggers (“The Lighthouse”) “The Northman;” seething with Norse mythology, witchcraft, vengeful promises; audiences are submerged in Viking lore, reminiscent of the hierarchy in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and King Arthur’s legendary sword Excalibur; a murdered King, kidnapped mother/wife and a son predestined to repeat the legacy. Alexander Skarsgard with heft and bravado depicts the …

“THE ANDY WARHOL DIARIES”     (NETFLIX)  Excellent, introspective, comprehensive study of a man who changed the medium, meaning of what constitutes “art”; Andy Warhol bulldozed the “pedestal”, “frame”, “vitrine”; rising above traditional “cross & crown”, the angst of Abstract Expressionism, focusing on contemporary, every day, and universal fascination with fame: television junkies, voyeuristic tabloids, shocking sensationalism of untimely demises, race riots, …

A film with enough cacophonous hilarity, reminiscent of horror, science fiction (died & revived) frenzy and “Kill Bill” chorography, a myriad of universes; the Alphaverse, the connective tissue, observing the others; premature outcomes; if it escaped your understanding the first go-round, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert visually bludgeon viewers repeatedly with metaphors “never trust the obvious, the brighter the …

Brash, bold, colorful couture bombarded the red carpet; I never realized that would be the highlight of the evening; an evening that suffered a low never experienced in Academy Award history; dignity destroyed on an altar of self-righteousness; no rebound, no “win” can ever erase or reward egregious behavior, witnessed worldwide. The actor should pray for paltry ratings.  As in …

Testament to the magnetic power of film, its accessibility, universal appeal, regardless of age, gender, heritage it has generated almost as many critics as imbibers; periodically you experience a critic, a devotee of the genre that soars above the flock, a person with an inimitable command of the English language; vocabulary alone paints a filmic scene, in no need of …

Two young women of extraordinary intelligence, drive, vision, whose hubris is of such magnitude that it transcends their mission, blinding them to the reality of their divergent decisions, comprising their journey to greatness, worthy of approbation. Theirs’ is a contemporary Shakespearian tragedy of overwhelming proportions.  Anna Sorokin (1991-) aka “Anna Delvey” the daughter of middle-class Russian parents, created a fictional …