Hollywood

Commencing with a teenager, massacring his contemporaries, resulting in the burgeoning career of a surviving victim, “Vox Lux” mimics real and fictional lives of those whose meteoric rise to lionization is fueled by drugs, alcohol and their own manufactured megalomania; this is a tiresome topic that has engulfed filmgoers, especially in 2018. “A Star is Born”, in its fourth avatar, …

Rarely will you see a mother/son relationship, so profoundly depicted, magnificently perfected, defined by the acting acuity of thespians Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges (“Ben and Holly Burns”); their palatable, heart-wrenching love is the core of this exceedingly real scenario; its fictional tale, resonates as truth in today’s drug- infested environment; millions of families have been annihilated by the egregious …

Despite historical inaccuracies, poetic license is forgiving, what is unforgivable is a lugubrious plot, substandard writing and an overwhelming attention to two queens procreative powers; understanding the heir business, and aware of the ancient strife between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, commencing with Henry VIII, this disjointed saga focuses on the doomed Queen Mary, 1542-1587 (energetically compelling …

There is not a doubt that “Marian “Midge”Maisel” (irreverently dazzling, Rachel Brosnahan) is adorably “marvelous”; I had avoided meeting her, until a week ago, and now after 18 episodes, we have irrevocably bonded, puzzling as to why? I respect the skill but have never been a devotee of “stand-up” comedians; usually left with an uncomfortable, cringing embarrassment for the performer, …

An iconic film, a masterpiece by director Steven Spielberg, a haunting musical score by John Williams and violinist Itzhak Perlman, and daunting performances by Liam Nesson (Oskar Schindler), Ben Kingsley (Itzhak Stern), and Ralph Fiennes (egregiously evil Amon Goeth); why revisit a testament to the incomprehensible shattering of every commandment adhered to, taught by the major faiths, why witness, once …

For those living in unfriendly weather environments, to those with physical challenges and the multitudes who lovingly lounge, cling on long, lazy weekends to their couches, here are some films to fill the hours: “The Kindergarten Teacher” Netflix. Maggie Gyllenhaal enthralls in a remake of 2014’s Israeli film of the same title. A frustrated, mediocre poet, discovers a poetic prodigy …

Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are perfectly paired as cousins, Abigail Hill and Lady Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, well-spoken, conniving rivals as Queen Anne’s confidants and intimates; Olivia Colman sears as the 18th century monarch, debating England’s most legitimate solution, in its relationship with France, war or peace. Controversial director Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth”, “Lobster”, “The Killing of Sacred Deer”) in …

Opera will forever remain an enigma to me; at nineteen, in Rome, Italy, Puccini’s (1858-1924) “La Boheme” reaped heavenly havoc on my spirit and the genre’s deliciously toxic tentacles have clasped me ever since; this is an art that generates the deepest form of passion, culling from one’s depth emotions reserved solely for loved ones; mysteriously, indiscriminately it claims the …

Brothers Ethan and Joel Coen once again cull from their scholarly Western aesthetic, (“No Country for Old Men”, “True Grit”) gifting movie lovers another blend of imaginative, macabre brutality with skilled dialogue, hilarity and blazingly terrific performances; six vignettes, tales of post Civil War lawlessness, commencing with songster “Buster Scruggs” Tim Blake bedazzles as an innovative, erudite slayer of the …

“Loving Vincent” last year’s sensationally thrilling, animated rendition of Vincent van Gogh’s (1853-1890) final days, tipped the scales in technological wizardry; artist/director Julian Schnabel (“Basquiat”, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, “Before Night Falls”) in “At Eternity’s Gate” brilliantly, presciently focuses on the effects of religious fervor on Van Gogh’s artistic prodigiousness; son of a Lutheran pastor Vincent was a …