Hollywood

Commencing with Covid cauterization, cultural sterilization, forced isolation, the film world refused to be stymied, fostering escapism, so divinely pristine, our sensibilities are satiated within the hallowed walls of our domiciles. Still frequenting theatres but gorging on the fodder bountifully served 24/7 on a myriad of streaming devices: NETFLIX: “WAR SAILOR“, depicts the lives, of two Norwegian merchant sailors, friends …

We are living in an age of divisiveness, cultural cauterization, we’ve erased the narrative between opposites, eliminating the hope of understanding the “other” or curiosity as to why the dialogue was eliminated? Harkening back to Nabis (1888-1900 art movement) when art still symbolized the power to heal, artists were “prophets”. “seers”: Paul Serusier, Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Paul …

Writer Derek Kolstad conjured from his fecund imagination an “icon” destined to resonate in the archives of film’s legendary action heroes. Why? It has always been a conundrum as to the reasons some heroes resonate, and others fade into obscurity; the shelf life of action heroes is ephemeral; age, time and circumstances, especially tensions percolating center stage, in a world …

The Rocky Balboa franchise commenced in 1976; Sylvester Stallone referenced the legendary boxer Chuck Wepner (1939-) who lost to Muhammad Ali in a 1975 heavyweight championship fight. Rocky lost to “Apollo Creed” (Carl Weathers) by default at the conclusion of the first of 6 “Rocky” films; it’s the longstanding and outstanding sport franchise in filmdom.  “Creed III” is sharply defined, …

For the first time in eons, I had the satisfaction of picking a few of the winners; totally unfamiliar sensation, but one I hope to replicate in the future. The evening in general was delightfully bland and benign; no major faux pas, unless you count the woman with a huge white collar, blocking the view of rows behind her or …

Never, have I been so challenged in picking my “winners”; it was a year of wonderment and wallowing wholeheartedly in a myriad of futuristic realms, historical accuracies, biographical revelations and haunted, hunted psychological evaluations, resulting in delightful, delicious confusion. With the exception of “Avatar: The Way of Water” (“Finding Nemo” is a more satisfying aquatic experience), every film touched a …

Hugh Jackman, (“Peter”) is a worthwhile reason to view “The Son”; struggling from a major iron deficiency, an anemic plot, whose nucleus is a wrestling, divorced father, unequipped to aid a chronically, cumbrous, depressed teenager, “Nicholas” (Zen McGrath); a prequel to “The Father” erases all the sublimity, formability invested in a film anchored by Anthony Hopkins (his role in “The …

Hermine Beck (1923-2022) was a formidable woman who “sucked the marrow out of life” and graced its presence for almost a hundred years; I met her in Kolkata, India in 2004 and knew karmically that this was the “beginning of a beautiful friendship”, it was, until its finality. Hermine introduced me to “The Power Broker” by Robert Caro (1935-) a …

Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel “A Man Called Ove” translates prodigiously in director Marc Forster’s version of a charismatic curmudgeon, circumstantially forced to keep living after the death of his wife; Tom Hanks (in tandem with his son Truman Hanks, as an aged and youthful “Otto”) dazzles as a man at the precipice of despair, aching only to be united with …

Bill Nighy is overwhelming, stratospheric, instinctively perceptive in his role as “Mr. Williams”, based on the film “Ikiru” by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (“Seven Samurai”); here is a brilliant remake of a 1952 classic. No longer Japan, but London, where a robotic bureaucrat, Mr. Williams, learns of his imminent death and shockingly realizes he has never lived; impeccably imbued with …