Hollywood

Jessica Chastain’s commanding and compelling performance as a cutthroat, ruthless, “take no prisoners” lobbyist is astoundingly admirable; with “Zorro’s” deftness, she lunges, parries with alarming precision, eliminating harbingers of irrelevancy with nary a scratch;  “Miss Sloane’s” mantra is to win at any cost, always being a move ahead, anticipating her adversary’s strategy, never revealing her trump card; a master, genius …

Natalie Portman is eerily exhilarating as former first lady Jackie Kennedy (1929-1994) in the aftermath of the horrific, surreal days after President John F. Kennedy’s (1917) assassination in 1963; director Pablo Larrain’s intense, compelling biopic will profoundly resonate with those who remember this nadir in American history and prove immensely educational for those who did not experience first hand, the …

Flirting with sensationalism, reminiscent of archival WWII movies (“Casablanca”, “From Here to Eternity”), a blend of politics, mystery and romance, “Allied” (Directed by Robert Zemeckis) is, in the words of A.O. Scott “elegant escapism”; from its luminous commencement, with the parachuting of Royal Air Force intelligence officer “Max”, (Brad Pitt) on the undulating dunes of Nazi-occupied French Morocco, 1942; part …

If only there were rules to keep this disappointing drivel from being distributed. From its inception to its finished embarrassment “Rules Don’t Apply” is Warren Beatty’s pejorative perspective on Howard Hughes’s diminished decline into his shameful dotage; harrowingly horrible, even if somewhat viable. Aldren Ehrenreich as “Frank Forbes”, is young enough to erase this from his filmography; Frank is part …

Casey Affleck is grippingly profound as “Lee Chandler” a man whose spirit is fractured beyond redemption, no emotional, psychological surgery can mend him, damaged irrevocably, feeling alive when he instigates fights, beaten bloody, a temporal penance worthy of his egregiousness;  a handyman, fixing the pipes, toilets, electricity of meaningless urban occupants, living in a squalid, solitary room, is named the …

2016. Although it is rare, interracial marriage is prevalent and legal, since the Supreme Court in 1967 overturned anti-miscegenation laws; the defining case was Loving vs Virginia. The populace regularly sees splayed across a myriad of media vehicles the actualization of this decision: Kardashian/West, DeNiro/Hightower, Lucas/Hobson, Turner/Bach. Two simple people, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving married in Washington D.C. in …

Miles Teller, contemporary champion of the “method” acting technique; stellar in “Whiplash” as a drummer, and just as viable as boxer, “The Pasmanian Devil” aka Vinnie Pazienza, the paradigm of sport’s comebacks. Director Ben Younger focuses on Vinnie’s intransigent will to fight after his neck was broken (1991) in an automobile accident; recently defeating Gilbert Dele for the World Championship …

Director Ang Lee’s exploration of the Iraq War (the action takes place in 2004) is depicted through the perspective of nineteen-year-old hero “Billy Lynn” (a gentle, sublime Joe Alwyn); poetically, gracefully the film moves from the cacophony of battle to the equally cacophonous thunder of a football halftime, theatrical display, on Thanksgiving Day. The owner of the Texas team, “Norm …

Director Tom Ford eponymous style resonates in fashion, jewelry and film; “Nocturnal Animals” reflects his inimitable visual, artistic, innovative, imaginative skills. Commencing with a video of a Botero-like nude, corpulent, garishly painted model, lustily gyrating, salaciously stunning, hypnotizing viewers at a high-end art gallery in Los Angeles; “Susan” (commanding presence of Amy Adams) the proprietor of the gallery is a …

Fascinating study revolving around life’s decisions; “what if’s”, second chances, “would we, could we do it all again?”. Director Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” is vastly more than a science fiction, alien invasion film; on the surface, it is simplistic, the earth has been invaded by hovering egg-shaped saucers; intent?, friend or foe? Louise, (brilliant, subtle, heartbreaking performance by Amy Adams) a …