Hollywood

James Thurber (1894-1961) a short story writer and cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine created “Walter Mitty” and his secret, fantasy world in 1939; when I read this story, decades later, I realized what a masterpiece of literature it was; a pecan that will resonate as long as it is read. Walter Mitty, minus any assertive characteristics, is a universal …

Earns its “R” rating: salacious, scandalous sex (ancient Rome’s Tiberius, a distant second) voracious drug use; total absence of accountability and bereft of a moral compass; debauchery, greed, Olympian ambition, addiction; based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, the “wolf” whose heroic rise to millions, and ultimate collapse is depicted in the film, based on the book he wrote, …

Watching this film I became anxious, agitated, frustrated, finally depressed; it was sad, scary, problematic and painfully pathetic; director/writer Spike Jonze and actor Joaquin Phoenix have created the most unique and soulful character in recent film history. For all its smothering discomfort, this strange and weirdly compelling film tackles a future society’s reliance on electronic connections for business,  personal relationships; …

Watching this film I became anxious, agitated, frustrated, finally depressed; it was sad, scary, problematic and painfully pathetic; director/writer Spike Jonze and actor Joaquin Phoenix have created the most unique and soulful character in recent film history. For all its smothering discomfort, this strange and weirdly compelling film tackles a future society’s reliance on electronic connections for business,  personal relationships; …

For its entirety I felt like an outsider watching “Inside Llewyn Davis”; while my friend kevelled, rhapsodized, sang with the actors from commencement to conclusion.  What was I missing? The versatile Coen brothers paint a realistic portrait of the “folk”  music genre, popular in the early sixties; Greenwich Village: grimy, seedy, smoke-filled bars; struggling, starving and in “Llewyn’s” scenario homeless, …

At one point in this enchanting film,  Mrs.Travers (Emma Thompson) and Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) visit Disneyland and ride a merry-go-round; if that is the only scene you experience, it is sufficient; it captures the dormant child in everyone, the child that never dies, that perpetually resides, comfortably ensconced, in the attic of one’s soul; it is joyful, poignant and …

There are moments in David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” that capture the profundity of film’s power to transport, entertain at the celestial level;  the actors are stratospherically brilliant in their depictions of con- artists, sovereigns of subterfuge, ambitious FBI agents, jealous, disgruntled housewives,  greedy, seedy politicians. Imbued with a myriad of hilarious twists, audiences breathlessly anticipate each tingling, scintillating curve. …

Writer/director Scott Cooper’s flawed but potent thriller about the “Baze” brothers, dealing with substantial issues in Pennsylvania’s steel landscape, 2008.  Christian Bale’s portrayal of “Russell” is sensitive and formidable; Russell has a kind heart and disposition while “Rodney” (solid performance by Casey Affleck) is volatile, most likely suffering from PTSD after serving four stints in Iraq; gambling and fighting are …

Director Spike Lee’s remake of Park Chan-wook’s Korean, 2003 film of the same title, is shatteringly brutal, ugly and by far the most horrifying, disturbing movie of the year; its bloodthirsty, barbaric scenario is not for those of feint  sensitivities; its meanness continues to haunt, days after viewing. If revenge is best served cold “Oldboy” hovers at the Antarctica level. …

Alexander Payne’s poignant and heartfelt slice of Midwestern reality never strikes a false cord. Bruce Dern as “Woody Grant”, walking from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to collect his million dollar sweepstakes prize, is riveting; he captures the ageing paranoia, painful frustrations of a man whose options and life are close to the finish line; grasping at any illusion to …