Netflix and Beyond

In the stratospheric realm of Taylor Swift and Beyonce concerts, tenor Andrea Bocelli elevates Opera to a celestial level; sightless, his voice has enveloped millions in a genre encompassing all human emotions: incomprehensible joy, desecrating grief, positivity of remembrance, moments in life, forever scarred, forever sacred.  Levitating, watching wonderous staging, at roofless Theatro Del Silenzio in Tuscany, music and nature …

Will not debate the intelligence of actor/writer /director Jesse Eisenberg nor the acting acuity of Kieran Culkin; both men star as mismatched cousins “David (Eisenberg) and “Benji (Culkin) Kaplan”, journeying to Poland, a pilgrimage to the home of their recently deceased grandmother. They are members of a disparate tour group whose varied reasons for attending are unearthed as the days …

Cillian Murphy steps as far as possible away from his Academy Award winning performance as prodigious J. Robert Oppenheimer; he is a struggling Catholic coalman, father of four daughters, caught in a righteous dilemma revolving around his local convent, led by “Sister Mary” (Emily Watson is a worthy, threatening adversary). Based on the novel by Claire Keegan, directed by Tim Mielants, …

Peneflix through the years has periodically concentrated on the horror genre; to be taken seriously there are certain rules that must be adhered to,  to qualify as terrifying, number one is its feasibility; the probability that it could happen, surreal sacrificed for reality as in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or Australian “Wolf Creek”; but leaving “Heretic” this afternoon, I recognized …

Clint Eastwood, truly a legendary human being, at ninety-four, has produced and directed a film worthy of approbation, applause, and a first class score; it is a mind-twister, a panegyric thriller so engrossing it tips the scales in titillation, confounding confusion and the ultimate challenge of what would you do in a similar situation?; supremely intelligent, the scenario weaves its …

Director Sean Baker (“The Florida Project”) won this year’s Palme d’or at the Cannes Film Festival; it is nothing short of riveting and actor Mikey Madison (Russian-American) as the quintessential sex worker is astounding. Commencing with synchronized, grinding, pulverizing sexuality she takes prisoner her clients and requites their every fantasy, control, her ultimate asset. That control is tested when she …

Based on the 2016 novel by prodigious author Robert Harris, this gutsy, fictionalized peek at the secretive election of a new Pope is a rarefied and plausible take on the politics of the Catholic Church and those lobbying for its highest office. Director Edward Berger’s film resonates with political tricks and shenanigans we’ve been redolently bombarded with the past few …

“THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG” (IRAN, FRANCE, GERMANY) DIRECTOR, MOHAMMAD RASOULOF “Never trust the obvious” resonates continuously from the supposed “guilty” to the obvious “innocent”; soaked in the restricted city, Tehran, hounded by paranoid rules, a family flounders in this positively frightening political drama, that dares to challenge viewers sensitivities until the spell-binding conclusion and the discovery of the …

“MY FAVORITE CAKE”  (IRAN, FRANCE, SWEDEN & GERMANY) DIRECTORS, MARYAM MOGHADDAM, BEHTASH SANAEEHA Time does not dictate “affairs of the heart” and you do not choose the subject of desire; it just happens and “My Favorite Cake” is a refreshing, joyous connection between a chance meeting of two individuals “forever young”. FOUR STARS!!!! “GHOST TRAIL” (FRANCE, GERMANY, BELGIUM) DIRECTOR, JONATHAN …

“THE PIANO LESSON” (US) The Washington brothers (Malcolm, director, John David, actor) give immediate license to August Wilson’s 1987 play of the same title.  And an iconic, macabre exorcism, that will satisfy those lusting for the “horror” tremors. FOUR STARS!!!! “THE ART OF JOY” (ITALY/UK)  DIRECTOR, VALERIA GOLINO) For devotees of “length” this over five-hour film should satisfy your lusty, …