Hollywood

A sought-out movie at the Cannes Film Festival; knowing of its imminent release, waited to view it here; surprisingly, it surpassed my expectations; living in a metropolis of mixed hues, religions, disparate ethnicities, I have not been blinded by stereotypical taboos; crime, drugs, gangs, teenage murderers and victims are not exclusive to one race but there are poverty-stricken neighborhoods where …

The “trailers” for this film did zilch to ignite any interest; but the actual movie is a creative, energizing work, blossoming from a fecund imagination; a compelling story told by a nerdy high school student, hiding his piercing intelligence, insecurities by relegating his peers to categories,  slots unworthy of his commitment or admittance. “Greg” (realistically “uncool” depiction by Thomas Mann) …

There’s a plethora of books written about World War 1, stunning, devastating descriptions of war’s inimitable power to slay youth’s illusions: “All Quite on the Western Front” Erich Maria Remarque, “Guns of August”, Barbara Tuchman; my personal favorite, Mark Helprin’s “A Soldier of the Great War”; “Testament of Youth” is a profound portrait of war’s iconic ability to alter completely …

Sublime performances inform “Love and Mercy”; a fascinating and personal biopic of an iconic American Rock and Roll Band, “The Beach Boys”: brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson plus cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine: California boys who changed the world’s musical landscape; no longer needing a partner to dance, you could solo,  feel the “vibrations” and fly. The …

There was a time when just looking at Woody Allen or Bill Murray made me laugh; those days have waned but remarkable Melissa McCarthy has hilariously filled the laughter gap; she is CIA agent “Susan Cooper” pulled from a bat-infested surveillance basement when her charismatic partner  “Bradley Fine” (Jude Law peppers his performance with levity, a touch of “Bondish” savoir …

Bradley Cooper’s deep blue eyes and charming handsomeness cannot salvage Cameron Crowe’s  mediocre, apathetic attempt at a romantic comedy. “Brian Gilcrest” (Cooper) is a washed-up military contractor, hired by another “Hollywood”  ubiquitous, self-serving, billionaire (Bill Murray, minimally effective) as part of a US space program in Hawaii; he is chaperoned by “Captain Allison Ng” (Emma Stone), whose perky, pesky, energized …

What a difference seven days creates; last week’s pathetic “Piku” is beautifully overshadowed by director Anurag Kashyap’s slick, luminous “Bombay Velvet”, set in 1969; Bombay is experiencing a burgeoning building tsunami; gritty graft, gangsters galore, sepia-toned cinematography; a homage to Hollywood gangster flicks of the 30’s and 40’s and actor James Cagney; the film commences with Cagney’s death scene in …

Visited this dystopian adventure for a single reason….Tom Hardy. He is perched solidly at the pinnacle of my contemporary screen personalities; embarrassingly, it took me ten minutes to realize he was the hood ornament on an apocalyptic war machine, iron-faced, speechless, saved by the “Imperator Furiosa” (solidly, ferociously tempered and toned Charlize Theron); uneducated in the pathos, ethics, gravitas of …

Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel is lusciously endowed with sweeping, undulating landscapes, “Turneresque” sunsets and actors, imbuing their characters with all the scintillating romance and passionate drama Hardy intended; Carey Mulligan as “Bathsheba Everdene” is as tempestuous, and as alluring as her biblical namesake (Bathsheba, married King David, after he eliminated her husband, Uriah;  impregnated her with the future King of …

There is something powerfully enigmatic, hypnotic about the deftness of Tom Hardy’s artistry; he is a chameleon, from demon to divine his every role is a revelation:  beleaguered soldier in “Band of Brothers”; evil incarnate as “Bane” in “The Dark Knight Rises”; smoldering, darkly romantic  “Heathcliff” in Wuthering Heights”; skewered savant in “The Drop”; he soared in the minutely seen …