Netflix and Beyond

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolorist and printmaker; revolutionary in melding luscious chiaroscuro; miraculously blending the hues of dazzling day and nascent night; with German contemporary, Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) stun in glorifying nature’s tempestuous transcendence over man. Both men were monumentally inspirational and forerunners of impressionism; they awe to this day. Director Mike …

If you are a fan of Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine’s 1987 musical; it is more than likely you’ll enjoy the film. To be fair,  I was never a fairy -tale devotee, especially the scary, creepy stories of the Grimm Brothers; “Into the Woods” is a compilation of “Cinderella”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Rapunzel”. A hefty, singing …

Never had a “keen” interest in the eerie, grotesque, haunting paintings of Walter Keane; children reminiscent of a Stephen King novel, aliens; instead of being “windows to the soul” their eyes were vacant, soulless, dead. Also, astounded at their magnetic appeal, commoditization; like the invasion of the body snatchers, escaping their pervasiveness was hopeless, they championed the art market in …

Angelina Jolie is a compassionate, committed, courageous force in the world of film; as an actor and director she shines in her professionalism and is worthy of the countless accolades she has garnished over the years. Unfortunately, in “Unbroken” her judgment was slightly askew; she became too emotionally involved with Louis Zamperini (1917-2014); an Olympic runner, a hero whose tale …

Aamir Khan is one of the most remarkable, versatile actors on the contemporary screen; from action hero to alien his chameleon attributes never cease to overwhelm; “P.K.”, comparable to “Forest Gump”, “E.T”, “Dorothy” charms, intrigues and elucidates; he is a one-of-a-kind  creature who sheds enlightenment and enchantment as he looks for his stolen “remote”, without which he can never return …

Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as the solitary, mathematical genius Alan Turing is stratospheric; his every nuance, prophetic stuttering, gleaning gesture resonate with profound empathy for a man whose intellect changed the world, saved countless lives, accomplished the “unimaginable”. Based on Turing’s book “The Enigma” the film faithfully follows his scrupulous mission at Britain’s Bletchley Park (members of MI6 and Government Code …

“Tomorrow” seemed like an eternity away, not just a day, watching this bastardized version of America’s irresistible, adorable “orphan”; sophomorically-written, plastically-performed “Annie” is the poorest adaptation of a musical to be visited upon the screen, ever. Quvenzhane Wallis (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) is a dynamic, tremendously talented tyke, but she and her overabundance of saccharine “cuteness” cannot save this …

Cecil B. DeMille’s  1956 “The Ten Commandments” still shimmers as one of the most iconic films of all time; technological wizardry, blatantly remarkable, set the bar for future filmmakers; it is a masterpiece enjoyed yearly by millions as a Passover/Easter traditional viewing experience; Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner are memorably cemented as the eponymous embodiment of “Moses” and “Ramses”. Christian …

Woefully, for the first twenty minutes of this abused Bollywood theme (saviors vs villains) my impulse was to run, demand a refund, conserve my sanity, luxuriate in the freedom of three undetermined hours; reasoning aside, I remained. Ajay Devgan is the Eastern composite of: Sylvester Stallone, Charles Bronson, Bruce Willis,  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise; superheroes who have felled thousands of …

In 1977 Robyn Davidson trekked 1,700  miles across Australian desserts; she lionized her pilgrimage in “Tracks” a heartfelt, blatantly honest account of her journey; the 2013/14 film starring Mia Wasikowska is prescient in depicting Davidson’s vicissitudes during her seven-month odyssey. Eighteen years later (1995) Cheryl Strayed, driven by grief and moral turpitude, straps on a hundred -pound backpack, the “Monster” …