Hollywood

Directed by Gabriella Cowperthwaite (“Blackfish”) the unusual scenario focuses on Marine Corporal Megan Leavey and her K-9 bomb detecting canine, Sergeant Rex; their relationship fills a haunting void echoing in both.  Megan, at the nadir of her life, is aimless, depressed  (her best friend is dead), she enlists solely to avoid the bleakness, nothingness looming in her future. Kate Mara’s …

“Wonder Woman”, officially banned in Lebanon, the lead is played by Israeli actor, Gal Gadot. Lebanon, a country whose religious groups are comprised of 54% Muslim, 40% Christian: Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox; Druze and approximately 200 Jews. It’s banning is the prime reason I saw the film; a plethora of surprises: physical, psychological and intellectual piqued, prodded and sealed my …

If you had never heard of the brilliant statesman Winston Churchill (1874-1965) you’d be hard pressed to reason why this lugubrious film was ever conceived or created; director Jonathan Teplitzky’s biopic is a dull, plodding scenario focusing on the darkest hours of Britain’s Prime Minister, at the conclusion of WWII  (aka D-Day); Brian Cox depicts Churchill as a bilious, cigar …

A titillating, scintillating scenario reminiscent of 2007’s “Sleuth” starring Michael Caine and Jude Law. Writers Marc Frydman and Justin Stanley partnering with director Brian Goodman and starring Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Rhys Myers serve a concoction of nerve twisting thrills; impenetrable nuances, hypnotic narrative sabotage one’s attention for its entirety. “Paul” (Banderas) an alcoholic, washed-up writer, lives outside a mountainous …

81 year-old Eleanor Coppola’s divine confection of a romantic jaunt from Cannes to Paris will titillate gourmands, oenophiles and those just loving a saffron, honey-infused excursion through idyllic France. Diane Lane is positively blissful as “Anne”, a woman of vast equanimity, flowing gracefully through life, defined by her high-powered, movie producer husband “Michael” (minimal role but well cast, Alec Baldwin); …

Disturbing, problematic but pragmatically real, dynamic scenario about war. Director Doug Liman, without sensationalism, paints a cerebral portrait of a wounded soldier, trapped by a sniper, behind a crumbling brick wall in post war Iraq, 2007. “Sargent Isaac” (intensely riveting performance by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and fellow combatant, “Sargent Matthews” (John Cena) after days of observing the aftermath of a killing …

Digital detritus. Director Guy Ritchie’s bastardization of the magical myth of King Arthur and his sword, Excalibur, is an excruciating excuse for entertainment. Minimal life support provided by actors Jude Law (King Vortigern), Charlie Hunnam (Arthur) and Eric Bana (Arthur’s father) could not salvage this disaster, croaking in theatres; blessedly exsanguinating after 2 hours and 6 minutes. King Arthur and …

“Mary” (Debra Winger), “Michael” (Tracy Letts), “Robert” (Aidan Gillen), “Lucy” (Melora Walters) four of the most bludgeoning boring individuals on today’s screen; dimensionless, dull, suffering from “arrested development”, without infidelity’s titillation their lives are defined by perilous mundanity. Mary professes that they are not “bad people”; there is nothing good or interesting about them either!   ONE STAR!   Peneflix

George Orwell’s “1984” was published in 1949; eerily disturbing, futuristic portrait of a world where privacy was banned; lives were watched and controlled by “Big Brother”; rules broken led to annihilation. Director James Ponsoldt’s “The Circle” (based on Dave Eggers 2014 novel) is a more benign, palliative world but just as invasive and lethal.  Tom Hanks as “Circle” Founder, “Eamon …

The prize for territorial inquisitiveness is championed by the British, it is imbedded in their DNA: Sir Frances Drake, 1540-1597 (circumnavigated the globe); Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552-1618 (the New World, Virginia); James Cooke, 1728-1779 (New Zealand); David Livingston, 1813-1872 (Africa); Percy Harrison Fawcett, 1867-1925 (South America) and the focus of the spectacular “The Lost City of Z”. Writer/director James Gray …