Netflix and Beyond

“A picture is a poem without words.” Horace Juliette Binoche and Clive Owen shimmer as academics at a small prep school in Maine; “Dina Delsanto” is a renown artist debilitated by rheumatoid arthritis, enlisted to instruct gifted art students; “Jack Marcus”, a published author, teaches Honors English; living off past plaudits, a succinct wordsmith, cursed with a lethal hobby of …

Tom Cruise. For thirty years I have been a worshiper, a devout member of congregation “Cruisology”; “Risky Business” (1983) was my baptismal inauguration; here is a man with more avatars than Vishnu: lover, pilot, lawyer,  lover, football player, bartender, lover, gambler, samurai,  lover, vampire, rock star; endless characterizations.  But it is his role as super-hero that has monopolized his mega …

This is a film, that despite its origins, has universal appeal; it exponentially gets better and better; focusing on India/Pakistan relations; no sensational headlines, just an insightful look at ordinary people, some nefarious, some humane,  struggling to live in tumultuous times. The film is anchored by the remarkable performance of Sharib Hashmi as “Sunny” a frustrated wanna-be-Bollywood movie star; he …

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.”  William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”. John Green’s novel, “The Fault in Our Stars”, takes issue with Caesar’s prescient statement; one’s destiny can be  blighted, crippled, uncontrolled by one’s actions, desires, gifts; fate can curse or bless at whim; our stars, be they crossed or like …

Glumly, I waddled out of director Stephanie Soechtig’s (produced and narrated by Katie Couric) prescient documentary about the perils of sugar; determined not to write about it, but after two weeks of it creepily, crawling around in my conscience, bit the bagel and sallied forth to my trusty “live writer”. Commencing with the utmost truth: I love anything sweet, as …

Periodically, expecting nothing, a film excels in dissipating ennui, gifting audiences a solid, interesting scenario; captivating one’s attention for its entirety; “Cold in July” is such a film. Superb acting inform a fascinating story of a burglary gone awry. Michael C. Hall of “Dexter” notoriety is “Richard Dane”, a laconic, ordinary guy: solid marriage, adorable son, picture framer who slays …

Angelina Jolie is marvelous as malevolent “Maleficent”; a refreshing spin on the fiendish fairy in the ageless tale of “Sleeping Beauty”; like the play “Wicked” (“Elphaba” the Wicked Witch from the “Wizard of Oz”) it forces audiences to cast aside preconceived ideas of good and evil; concentrate on the cause of their transformation from the best to the bitter. The …

Frequently writers rely on “Webster or Oxford” to crush the roadblocks stymieing mental acuity, a cowardly crutch; but as I watched “Chinese Puzzle” laughing uproariously, surrounded by a modestly mute audience, surreptitiously looking at me, questioning my tenuous grip on reality; it struck me with tsunami velocity that “humor” is profoundly subjective.  So,  like a multitude before me, I checked …

Approximately ten years ago I saw artist Gregg Bordowitz (1964-) give a lecture, after a minimal audience, viewed his ripping film “Fast Trip, Long Drop”. Gregg was diagnosed H.I.V. positive in 1988; he was twenty-four years old. His brutally authentic, autobiographical film, savagely addresses his life before he became ill;  halcyon, fast, fun days of irresponsible youthful hedonism,  versus the …

Reminiscent of “Back to the Future”, but infused with tremendous angst and a monumental desire to stop the vicissitudes of the future by “adventuring” back to 1973; Director Bryan Singer’s worthy quest to protect the “mutants” (a metaphor for society’s outcasts, with extra-terrestrial gifts) is successful in its legitimate depiction of those outside the traditional genetic composition. Virginal, somehow “Marvel” …