Netflix and Beyond

There are times when one does not venture out of house, apartment, ranch or tent; weather, frame-of-mind, or general ennui; the lure of the couch, greasy snacks and mindless movies placate the psyche. ON DEMAND’s fare generally serves the detritus of the film world (with the exception of second-run films); movies not generally released, hibernating in the limbo of films, …

“Jep Gambardella” (Toni Servillo) is a voyeur, flaneur gliding through life, observing, perpetually longing for “the great beauty” to accost him; a muse of inspiration capable of igniting the creative transformation he yearns for. Director Paolo Sorrentino’s homage to glorious Rome, its hedonistic lifestyle, commences with “Jep’s” sixty-fifth birthday party; freakishly beautiful members of Rome’s elite, sinuously writhing, frenetically dancing …

Being a glass “3/4” full person, I  usually find something redeeming in the majority of films I see; although many of you will find this unbelievable,  there are movies I intentionally, deliberately avoid;  anything to do with vampires, hangovers, anchormen, grudge matches, “this is the end”, or Las Vegas. When questioned about the BEST and the WORST films of the …

James Thurber (1894-1961) a short story writer and cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine created “Walter Mitty” and his secret, fantasy world in 1939; when I read this story, decades later, I realized what a masterpiece of literature it was; a pecan that will resonate as long as it is read. Walter Mitty, minus any assertive characteristics, is a universal …

Earns its “R” rating: salacious, scandalous sex (ancient Rome’s Tiberius, a distant second) voracious drug use; total absence of accountability and bereft of a moral compass; debauchery, greed, Olympian ambition, addiction; based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, the “wolf” whose heroic rise to millions, and ultimate collapse is depicted in the film, based on the book he wrote, …

Watching this film I became anxious, agitated, frustrated, finally depressed; it was sad, scary, problematic and painfully pathetic; director/writer Spike Jonze and actor Joaquin Phoenix have created the most unique and soulful character in recent film history. For all its smothering discomfort, this strange and weirdly compelling film tackles a future society’s reliance on electronic connections for business,  personal relationships; …

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Watching this film I became anxious, agitated, frustrated, finally depressed; it was sad, scary, problematic and painfully pathetic; director/writer Spike Jonze and actor Joaquin Phoenix have created the most unique and soulful character in recent film history. For all its smothering discomfort, this strange and weirdly compelling film tackles a future society’s reliance on electronic connections for business,  personal relationships; …

Run, drive, fly to see Bollywood at its scintillating, shimmering, sensational best; breaking box office records when it opened in India, here is a film worthy of any, and all audiences. The first two were entertaining but “Dhoom 3” is remarkable filmmaking, stunningly- acted, phenomenally, breathtakingly powerful to view. Aamir Khan, in his finest role since “Ghajini” is “Sahir” an …

For its entirety I felt like an outsider watching “Inside Llewyn Davis”; while my friend kevelled, rhapsodized, sang with the actors from commencement to conclusion.  What was I missing? The versatile Coen brothers paint a realistic portrait of the “folk”  music genre, popular in the early sixties; Greenwich Village: grimy, seedy, smoke-filled bars; struggling, starving and in “Llewyn’s” scenario homeless, …