Hollywood

On September 16th, Lauren Bacall would have been ninety years old; almost a century of viability, lusting and loving life, protected, enhanced by her inimitable intelligence and wit she was unequivocally the captain of her soul; archetypical woman of substance who did it her way; thrust into the lionizing limelight at nineteen (“To Have and Have Not”) she perpetually reiterated …

“The brighter the light the darker the shadow”. No one defines this prescient observation more than Robin Williams; he lit up film and television with his raucous, insightful humor, impeccable timing, fluent, gifted improvisation; lurking behind this amicable, ingratiating facade was always the omnipresent albatross of depression; a disease as insidious as the most crippling cancer; voraciously devouring one’s spirit …

Over two thousand years ago Jesus Christ was crucified on Mount Calvary/Golgotha; more than two billion people believe he is God. He died between two thieves; crucifixion was the traditional means of capital punishment at the time. Brendan Glesson as “Father James” is miraculous; the map of mankind’s woes is etched on his weary, pained countenance; he has seen and …

In the first minutes of this delectable dish of cultural- cuisine -clashes “Hassan’s” mother tells him food is about “ghosts”; redolent with pungent memories of cherished, deceased ancestors; proper preparation, flavoring, scents,  like a séance, keep archaic recipes and their creators vibrantly, pungently alive.  Director Lasse Hallstrom (“Chocolat”) with producers Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey pair two icons of the …

Growing up in a comic book-less home, these Marvel mavens of wonder slither into the subterraneous mass of my imagination; immobilize in a half nelson, reluctantly relinquishing their grip at the fascinating finale; never venture into these hallucinogenic fantasies until the crowds have subsided and my cluelessness can be masked by feigned comprehension. I blissfully admit to complete, vacuous ignorance …

Slavery, a massive stain on our remarkable history, gifted the nation and world, an incredible, indigenous musical legacy, that continues to inspire to this very day; Africans were “songsters”, musicians, using home made instruments to entertain, fracture the emotional bondage, subjugation of slavery; their “field hollers”, “patting juba”, spiritual, biographical, drum-beating, rhythmic, soul-throbbing lyrics, created an ephemeral respite from reality. …

Mythology (Greek/Roman) has always enthralled, mystified me; the gods and their antics were captivating, primarily because of the mischief and mayhem they wrought upon themselves and mere mortals; there were no boundaries or an appropriate code of behavior that applied to them; Mount Olympus had to be destructively boring to inspire such “devilry” in those with divine attributes. Also, their …

It was taxing, difficult watching “A Most Wanted Man”  separating the character from the actor; a vital talent, surrendering to the epic battle being waged in his mind, demons devouring his blithe spirit from within; it is serendipitous that Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final curtain wraps him in the beleaguered  role of a German intelligence officer.  Based on John le Carre’s …

Woody Allen has an old soul, and a huge hunk of that soul resides, lusciously pampered, in the pretax days of the 1920’s; a hedonistic, halcyon “lost generation” populated by Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his mercurial wife Zelda, Ernest Hemmingway, his mountainous angst; days and evenings saturated by libations of all hues and smoke, billows and billows of …

For twelve years director Richard Linklater, focuses on the life and development of “Mason” (age 6-18) and his family; what is remarkable about “Boyhood” is the extraordinary “ordinariness” of the characters whose lives we voyeuristically watch evolve. The ebb and flow of the film is so natural, so lackadaisical, insouciantly oozing into years, we are hardly aware of the transitions; …