Netflix and Beyond

Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) a behemoth of stage and screen, an influencer, inspirer of countless, including Jonathan Larson (1960-1996) whose momentary existence gifts “Rent” a synopsis of his life; a forever legacy reminiscent of Puccini’s “La Boheme” is an absolute must: “a play about writing a play” with its intoxicating highs and calamitous lows, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s supreme direction, and by far …

Appropriately titled, Will Smith, stars as Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena Williams, two of the greatest tennis players, athletes, of all time; his word is law, he is sovereign in his household. The film was graced with the winning trophy at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival and audiences’ glow and cheer with acceptance and admiration. “King Richard” …

Actors attain peaks, and it is only hindsight that determines the summits: Tatum O’Neal was 10-years-old when she won the Academy Award for “Paper Moon” (1973) her father, Ryan was 29 when “Love Story: (1970) debuted; Tom Hulse, “Amadeus” (1984) at 31 disappeared; Tom Cruise, “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989) was 27 and has never reached that pinnacle …

Two well-to-do women connect after a chance meeting in a New York City hotel; educated, poised, living lives of affluence and grace in the 1920’s; they are black, but one has lived as a white woman. Director Rebecca Hall with an iron will in a gloved fist treats Nella Larsen’s 1929 novella, “Passing” with intuitive discernment, idiosyncratic style, intriguing complexity; …

Abashedly, I have neglected Bollywood in this era of pandemic trouncing, but director Rohena Gera’s 2018 “Sir”, has awakened my longing for the scents and enchantments of multi-faceted India: murky, mystical, poignant pollution seizes with its ineluctable tentacles, as one exits the airport, slipping into the blackest of night’s moments; if open to its charismatic, beguiling caprices, a part of …

On the surface not much in common, but after rumination, percolating beneath the exterior the filmmaker’s message simmers; one I agree with the other I question. “THE SQUID GAME’S” (9 episodes) hypothesis is the elimination of “deadbeats” those, so strangled by debt, that they are willing to sacrifice their lives to be saved from “debtors prison”; games, compellingly clever, are …

Moments of stunning brilliance shrouded in diabolical, draconian, sacrilegious horror; created and directed by Mike Flanagan (an altar boy in his youth); this series of seven episodes has enraptured or scandalized viewers; I find myself vacillating between the two. Familiarity with both the old and new testaments lends concrete legitimacy to Flanagan’s literal, visceral, visual interpretation of the texts; the …

Clint Eastwood is an urban icon; he’s the “make my day” guy, legendary “Dirty Harry”; I have seen Clint Eastwood and his presence off the screen is just as magnificent as on, pulsating with charismatic enormity; so why in the name of his vast and stellar career would he produce, direct and star in this abysmal testimony of self-aggrandizement? He …

“CANDYMAN”  (in theatres) A refreshing rendition of the 1992 original; taking it seriously from the get-go was an easy task because of the casting and direction (Nia DaCosta); “Candyman” is an urban legend, rising from the defunct Cabrini Green project in Chicago; doomed by his reputation, murdered unjustly; to meet him, stand in front of a mirror and say his …

“MYSTERY OF THE LOST PORTRAIT” (AMAZON PRIME) Remarkability pungently, powerfully informs these two documentaries about a man, a polymath, whose iconic genius defies categorization: analyzation of the human body, helicopter, parachute, armored tank, a pioneer in the field of robotics, but it is his visionary paintings that cement his lionization, still pulsating fervently at the center of today’s art world, …