Netflix and Beyond

Artists are perpetually striving to portray the innovative within their own discipline: paint, marble, bronze have been substituted, traded for contemporary mediums: digitalization, interactive technology ignites unprecedented techniques; parameters of “what is art” are swelling; “The Man Who Sold His Skin” with remarkable depth focuses on Syrian refugee “Sam Ali” (spunky Yahya Mahayni) escaping to Beirut and selling his back …

There was a strange spirituality, almost a reckoning, comparable to exiting a bomb shelter and checking the remains, revealing the hereafter; a ghostly specter of another era permeated the evening; a staged, glitzy Gotham, populated by ideal mannequins, a purified zone of equality and perfection.  Gone were the “hosts” with their self-deprecating, stale schtick, guffaws and unintended slights; winners, given …

With a plethora of options I have become cavalier when investing time in front of my mini movie screen; if it doesn’t look good or kidnap my attention within the first ten minutes, I make a speedy exit, with no regrets. Here are a few that kept me binging well into the wee hours: “Shtisel” (Hebrew: English Subtitles) (Netflix). The …

Ernest Hemmingway (1899-1961) was a man, a writer who has informed all who seek edification, beauty, comfort, solace in the written word; binging on his every published manuscript, shedding rivers of tears, shattered by the poignancy of brutality, destructiveness of emotional stability; his soul splayed upon the page, without bias, pretense, he sought from an unfathomable depth the meaning of …

Unless it’s a classic, movies made before 2000, rarely tweak my interest, or a revisit; “The Ice House” directed by Tim Fywell, starring a youthful, heavily-accented Daniel Craig, was a worthy exception; Craig, as “Detective McLoughlin”, cynically sour, cagily perceptive, tries to solve a marvelous mystery of a withered corpse (found in a dilapidated, long disregarded ice house) a missing, …

Sensationalism is “King” in the latest of “scales vs. fur” epic; director Adam Wingard, relies monumentally on one’s lust for digitally amplified confrontations and destruction; these battles are rendered flawlessly; anthropomorphically acceptable, especially Kong, earns our reverence; unfortunately, the flimsy, dismal dialogue and one-dimensional villain (Demian Bichir, fizzles) are sappily depicted and the ultimate message too blatantly delivered. Saving the …

Anthony Hopkins a cinematic chameleon, once again proves his divinity in his portrayal of “Anthony”, a wise man dealing with the uninvited invasion of dementia. He is blazing as he combats the unaccommodating specter of depreciation; the evaporation of control, memory and accountability. In the care of his daughter “Anne” (Olivia Colman, the English actor, “that keeps on giving”) we …

There are characters that harbor, rent free in fatty corners of one’s brain; they are friends, making their presence known serendipitously, surprisingly when least expected. Over the years I have embraced numerous subjects for a myriad of inscrutable reasons: “House” (a Doctor of cantankerous genius), “Foyle” (WWII British detective), “Morse” (Renaissance man, solving crimes), “Nikki Alexander”, forensic pathologist (“Silent Witness”) …

Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan, 1915-1959) as viewed through the lens of director Lee Daniels is flawed, but impressively watchable;  Andra Day’s soaring interpretation of “Lady Day”, nascent jazz singer whose iconic gift and influence have resonated through the ages; Day mimics to perfection Holiday’s inimitable voice, style, and egregious drug addiction; astoundingly, she captures Holiday’s fearlessness, fortitude, in an era of segregation, where society was defined by color and the government held …

Not being a fan of heavy metal, I initially skipped director Darius Marder’s study of an absence of sound, not a choice, a lifestyle; two respected cinephiles pleaded the worthiness of Marder’s scrutiny of profound hearing loss and its effect on musician, “Ruben” (Riz Ahmed) and his altered state. Growing up in a cacophonous household, I have always craved quiet, …