Hollywood

By the time I read J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye”, published in 1951; much of the mystique had waned; I met my share of “Holden Caulfield” wannnabes; testosterone oozing from every pore, using “phony” intelligence to avoid the regulations of structured academia; boasting of tortured souls, being misunderstood by the mundane masses; destined for mediocrity and a premature obituary. …

A triumphant thriller packed with enough psychological twists to keep one riveted to the screen; terrific acting imbues director Denis Villeneuve’s taut, beautifully- structured scenario about the abduction of two little girls; always a disturbing, problematic theme. Handled magnificently by excellent writing (Aaron Guzikowski) and actors: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Paul Dano, and Melissa …

I have a friend who was poetically flawless, sumptious to behold: tall, pale, luminous Nordic beauty, thin and voluptuous simultaneously (before the image could be manufactured); everything she aspired to, she miraculously accomplished; honor roll, debate teem, cheerleader; legendary achievements, perpetually astounding all who revered her; even worshipped her. Until she tasted the fruit that would doom and consume her, …

It has been a long time since such profound honesty has been depicted on the screen. “Short Term 12”, written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton focuses on a care center; troubled children under the age of eighteen; castoffs, abused, shunned by family and society; struggling for autonomy, dignity within the boundaries of mainstream dictates. “Grace” and “Mason” are a …

Jennifer Hudson is superb as “Winnie Mandikizela-Mandela” (1936-) the sixth daughter of a teacher and  second wife of Nelson Mandela (1918-); her feistiness as a youngster and intellectual alacrity wins her a scholarship and enlightenment in Johannesburg; she is courted and returns the affections of revolutionary, anti-apartheid/lawyer Nelson Mandela (Terrence Howard’s  interpretation is infused with frustration and the agony of …

Well-acted, well-written and well-directed; audiences are served a British conspiracy thrilled with enough twists, subterfuge, unseemliness to keep one’s attention riveted to the screen. London has been traumatized by Islamic terrorists, in today’s vernacular: suicide bombers: July 7, 2005; tube and bus bombings left fifty-two dead and hundred maimed, forever scarred; this disaster birthed the mightiest of surveillance contrivances in …

This wickedly, wildly funny film revolves around five Englishmen, approaching forty, renewing their vow of imbibing  or “pinting” in every pub in the small English town of their youth; there are twelve such establishments, “The World’s End” being the heralded finale. Simon Pegg (with director, Edgar Wright) wrote and stars in this strange, haunting, testosterone-infused horror story; Mr. Pegg is …

Jane Austen (1775-1817) would have been horrified at this insipid, inane, twenty-first century disambiguation of her classic 1813 novel,  “Pride and Prejudice”. Austen, like many brilliant women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, exercised her intellectual acuity through the written word; trapped in a male- manufactured bubble of hearth and home. From these confined maidens (Charlotte Bronte, George Sand, Mary …

This poignant, realistic and beautifully -acted film addresses issues facing teenagers in today’s breathlessly-paced, information–orientated milieu; unlike fifty years ago, when the gestation period between adolescence and adulthood could be measured in years, months, now it is in days, nanoseconds. “Sutter” (gifted portrayal by Miles Teller) is a senior in high school, class jokester,  perpetually inebriated in a sweet, pathetic …

Ashton Kutcher’s portrayal of messianic, Steve Jobs (1955-2011), the guru of  “Apple” computer, is finer than anticipated: he masters the inimitable “walk”, “talk”, “physiognomy”. The difficulty of playing an icon; someone who has been lionized by humanity, is the level of his recognition; it is impossible not to compare the actor to the man, especially a person so recently, formidably …