Director Kelly Reichardt’s films creep in through the back door and emerge fully bloomed, in the living room, 75 plus minutes later. She is a mastermind of the benign, allowing viewers into the lives of the least noticed: working class, ordinary souls, nonthreatening or intimidating but through her lens, interesting. A myriad of movies define her intuitive aesthetic; my favorites …
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Sabbaticals are refreshing, rejuvenating, a time to canvass the unnurtured, unexplored; a time to dive into the abyss of tasted, but underdeveloped curiosities: authors, like iconic genius Stefan Zweig, loved, but volumes yet to become “friends”, yearning to be guzzled; directors whose nascent films, unwatched: John Carpenter, maven of horror, finally, horrifically requited; vistas of the world, tempting, luring, begging …
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Dear Subscribers, After close to 20 years, I have decided to take a sabbatical; time to plunder, nurture the other side of my brain before it atrophies. For all of you who’ve been in the movie market, chugging along with me, it’s been a jaunty journey, circulating, imbibing in the tame, innovative, foreign: mystery, romance, politics, war and every facet …
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Dear Subscribers, After close to 20 years, I have decided to take a sabbatical; time to plunder, cultivate the other side of my brain before it atrophies. For all of you who’ve been in the movie market, chugging along with me, it’s been a jaunty journey, circulating, imbibing in the tame, innovative, foreign: mystery, romance, politics, war and every facet of the human …
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Never have I fully understood the horror genre and its universal appeal: exhilarating, titillating, blood-pumping depravity erasing the mundanity of one’s everyday life? Maybe the exploration of “man’s inhumanity to man”, when does cruelty, bullying expand into egregious, litigious behavior; when does moral turpitude usurp morality, leaving souls reveling in the demonization of mankind; chastity, decency, civility, undermined by pure …
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Those weaned, gleaned on the poetic property of Jane Austen (1775-1817) will swoon over the enchanting, inappropriately titled “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life”; directed by Laura Piani it marvelously explores protagonist “Agathe Robinson” (insightfully wondrous Camille Rutherford) a lonely, frustrated bookseller and romance novelist, through a contemporary lens, suffused with the late 18th, initial 19th century aesthetics: love, marriage, satirizing …
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The final scenario commences with a recall of the previous Mission Impossible’s indomitable franchise; from 1996 to the present actor Tom Cruise as “Ethan Hunt” leader of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) is the quintessential field agent, spy, solving missions, conquering wickedness that the government cannot openly acknowledge. He is a mega-man, a physical phenom, a runner of Jesse Owens …
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After a brief hiatus, yearning for levity and laughter, heeding vocal praise for director Andrew DeYoung’s “Friendship”, I scurried to my local theatre to imbibe in fictional fluff; alas, what could/should have been a delightful jaunt into a male bonding scenario morphed into a “fatal attraction” dirge; a gloomy, predictable plot that sunk into derisory detritus. After a promising beginning …
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“The course of true love never did run smooth” and director Andrew Ahn’s “The Wedding Banquet” jumps on the Shakespearean bandwagon and drives it full speed into a realistic romp appealing to all. A foursome of credited actors depict two gay couples trying to make sense of their lives, disappointments, and future commitments: “Min” (Han Gi-chan) loves “Chris” (Bowen Yang) …
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Director David Cronenberg’s imaginative fecundity never ceases to astound; his intelligence and heuristic vastness touches realms of horror, (The King of Venereal Horror) science fiction; blending transformation, both physical, psychological with wonders of technology; following addictively, his products from the 70’s until today (“Crimes of the Future”, “Shivers”, “The Brood”, “Scanners”, “The Fly”, “Dead Ringers. “Naked Lunch”, “Crash”, “History of …
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