Hollywood

Once again February has shed prominence on the stars, movies and those behind the scenes. This year is the most difficult, challenging to date, due to the range and diversity of the films and nominees. I feel there should be separate categories for drama and comedy. I also question “Roma” being in “Best Movie” and best “Foreign Film” categories. Every …

With Cassandra prescience, harrowingly recognizing a precursor to a “Bala” franchise: “Ms.”, “Mrs.”, “Gramma Bala”; has to be terminated in the first trimester. Director Catherine Hardwicke and actors Gina Rodriguez (Miss Bala) and Ismael Cruz-Cordova struggle and fail in the recreation of Mexico’s 2011 Oscar nominee of the same name. “Gloria” (Rodriquez) is a naïve, makeup artist, in the wrong …

Once again February has shed prominence on the stars, movies and those behind the scenes. This year is the most difficult, challenging to date, due to the range and diversity of the films and nominees. I feel there should be separate categories for drama and comedy. I also question “Roma” being in “Best Movie” and best “Foreign Film” categories. Every …

An abusive, egregious example of “poetic license” gone awry, a freefall of intense mediocrity; an embarrassment for two Academy Award winning actors: Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway as one-dimensional, divorced parents of an astrologically gifted son “Patrick” (Rafael Sayegh) who scripts the killing of his wretched stepfather “Frank” (Jason Clarke) from his wizardly computer. Commencing with unsubtle, unsuccessful, plagiaristic references …

For those who saw 2011’s French “The Intouchables”, starring Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy (Cesar Award for Best Actor) and Audrey Fleurot, this rendition, despite fine actors, at best, is an anemic cloning; Bryan Cranston as wealthy quadriplegic, “Phillip” and Kevin Hart as parolee caretaker, “Dell” struggle, and mostly succeed, in capturing the implausible relationship between two disparate men, whose partnership …

Director Karyn Kusama’s bleak, intensely depressive template for Nicole Kidman’s dire transformation is only partially successful. Kidman has fearlessly strengthened her reputation as an actor with idiosyncratic characters: “Dead Calm”, a damsel in distress; a homicidal weather forecaster, “To Die For”; “Moulin Rouge”, a courtesan; Academy Award for “The Hours”, playing doomed writer, Virginia Woolf; she’s depicted Grace Kelly, explorer …

Having missed the idiosyncratic era of “Laurel & Hardy” director Jon S. Baird’s “Stan & Ollie” biopic stuns with a profound poignancy; stars, John C. Reilly (Oliver Hardy, 1892-1957), Steve Coogan (Stan Laurel, 1890-1965) synchronize, incandescently the comedians hilarious, slapstick routines; from 1927, until their final road trip (“Birds of a Feather”) in 1953/54, their ingenious “schtick”, in over thirty …

A night of glitz and glamour (Lady Gaga in an award winning gown), more importantly a night of civility and class; it was as if the egregiousness of this past year was left in the wake of a new era; the presenters and winners, like the strongest steel, emerged from the flames, surviving a year of discontent, stronger, highly polished …

The year 2018 saw the rise of two remarkable women, recognized by gallerists for their innovative, painting acuity; both in their seventies, having excelled in alternate professions, have reinvented themselves and are soaring, proving that age should not be a factor in excavating one’s dormant sensibilities, disciplines. Watching Felicity Jones, donning the early years of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-), and …

A title referencing malfeasance, iniquity, corruption and moral depravity leaves no question in the viewer’s mind as to writer/director Adam McKay’s opinion of Vice President Dick Cheney (2001-2009); flashbacks of the most horrific period in American history are scalded in our memories and uncomfortable to revisit; to be in a position of power on September 11, 2001 was not enviable …