Netflix and Beyond

“One cannot count the moons that shimmer on her roofs/or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.” Saib-e-Tabrizi Two films focusing on the travails of American soldiers and their interpreters in the unchartered, explosive, terrifyingly beautiful landscape of Afghanistan. There is keen edification in both films but Guy Ritchie’s “Covenant” is a more intimate, accurate dissection of the dependency, bond …

Saturated with wholehearted poignancy we say goodbye to Mrs. Maisel; more than “marvelous” she possessed a flair for chicanery without guile, a vanity without pomposity, a wittiness without brutishness; Rachel Brosnahan (Miriam Maisel) along with the prescient writing of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, is the quintessential stand-up comedian: unblemished timing, impeccable judgment of her audience, a queen of self-depreciation …

A GOOD PERSON             (THEATRES, AMAZON PRIME) Not in the frame of mind to define “goodness” or its properties when it comes to an individual, but I know, without debate, a good film and “A Good Person” rocks with verisimilitude from the first scene to its quenching conclusion. Written and directed by Zach Braff, starring …

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 …

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) and his supernaturally bleak imagination translated into thrilling, titillating prose and poetry, has long held an undeniable fascination, compellingly haunting appeal: “Lenore”, “Annabelle Lee” their absence festers at the heart of Poe’s sensibilities, he mourningly acclaims the expiration of beauty; “the pale blue eye” of the purest ingenue, denied maturity. “The death of a beautiful woman …

WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (IN THEATRES) Naomi Ackie (Houston), Stanley Tucci (Clive Davis, record producer) and Ashton Sanders (husband, Bobby Brown) cannot salvage, what should have been a dynamic biopic, from mediocrity. Her blistering rise, from the age of nineteen to her tragic demise at forty-eight, was infused with impending gloom: nasty parenting, drug enabling husband, doomed …

I love foreign films; possibly because of the riveting concentration needed to follow the narrative or maybe because I lust after cultures different from my own, cultures that add to the elasticity of my brain, expand my imaginative landscape and enhance my existence. “Lost Illusions” (winner of 7 categories at 2022 Cesar Awards including Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Xavier …

“BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER” Overcoming palpable hesitancy, not imagining a “Black Panther” without the epochal Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020), but at the insistence of my youngest and astronomically smart friend, I went; it was every bit as superlative as described and redolently reverential to the deceased actor. Pungently powerful as the technical effects, cinematography, acting acuity, the underlying message of strength …

CAUSEWAY (Apple TV) Jennifer Lawrence is certifiably a grand actor; her skill reverberates and defines to perfection her every characterization: “Ree Dolly” (“Winter’s Bone”), “Katniss Everdeen” (“The Hunger Games”, Trilogy), “Tiffany” (“Silver Linings Playbook”), the list exponentially expands as she advances to her pinnacle. In tandem with director Lila Neugebauer, Lawrence imbues recovering soldier “Lindsay” (wounded in an explosion in …

Writer Erich Maria Remarque’s (1898-1970) iconic novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1929) film depiction is positively outstanding, compellingly watchable and one of the finest productions on television today; riveting to the point of exhaustion, German director Edward Berger vivisects the naivety of teenagers rallying around the “flag”, ignorant of the hideousness of the battleground; and the immediate, crushing …