Netflix and Beyond

Jane Austen (1775-1817) would have been horrified at this insipid, inane, twenty-first century disambiguation of her classic 1813 novel,  “Pride and Prejudice”. Austen, like many brilliant women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, exercised her intellectual acuity through the written word; trapped in a male- manufactured bubble of hearth and home. From these confined maidens (Charlotte Bronte, George Sand, Mary …

This poignant, realistic and beautifully -acted film addresses issues facing teenagers in today’s breathlessly-paced, information–orientated milieu; unlike fifty years ago, when the gestation period between adolescence and adulthood could be measured in years, months, now it is in days, nanoseconds. “Sutter” (gifted portrayal by Miles Teller) is a senior in high school, class jokester,  perpetually inebriated in a sweet, pathetic …

Ashton Kutcher’s portrayal of messianic, Steve Jobs (1955-2011), the guru of  “Apple” computer, is finer than anticipated: he masters the inimitable “walk”, “talk”, “physiognomy”. The difficulty of playing an icon; someone who has been lionized by humanity, is the level of his recognition; it is impossible not to compare the actor to the man, especially a person so recently, formidably …

Lee Daniels and Danny Strong gift audiences a comprehensive history lesson,  a portrait of the United States and its march from the 1950’s to the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Forest Whitaker, is magnificently remarkable as “Cecil Gaines” (the butler); a man who served, toiled in the hallowed, confined halls of the most renown home in the universe: the …

How much thought do we devote to “voice -over’s”; faceless individuals, using vocal skills to enhance, terrify, imbue a film with success or failure?  Miniscule, moments. Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to snippets of iconic radio shows; the mind paints, sculpts the portrait behind the voice; those voices determined the longevity of a program: archival programs: “Jack Benny” …

Shah Rukh Khan, the 47-year-old, engagingly talented,  Indian icon (affectionately referred to as “Baadshah of Bollywood”/ “King Khan”) starring in over 75 films, garnishing a myriad of awards; hopefully optimistic, wishing for the Western success of this movie, as it has championed the box office in the East. Unfortunately, the first half is preposterously,  irritatingly silly, topping the scale at …

Out of the exquisite archives of Greek poet/bard Homer’s   (approximately, 800 BC-701BC ) “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” and Roman poet, Virgil’s (70 BC-19 BC) “Aenied” sprung the myth of the Elysium Fields; a Shangri-La for the gifted, righteous souls, blessed dead: heroes, poets, philosophers living for eternity in blissful brilliance, ruled by the just and the wise, not the wicked. …

Recently, celebrating a friend’s birthday I was questioned about my reaction and review of “The Wolverine”; chagrined, I confessed to never having seen “X-Men” or the first rendition of this infamous  “Marvel” mutant. Rectifying my previous ignorance/arrogance, I swallowed my elitism and found, as a neophyte, a surprising and empathetic attraction to “Logan” aka “The Wolverine”, his gravitas and monumental …

Cate Blanchett is hypnotically astounding as a fallen icon of wealth, fashion and social standing; fleeing New York, the bastion of her halcyon days, to San Francisco, where she hibernates in a vodka, drug-induced fog with her good-hearted, unsophisticated sister (Sally Hawkins, as “Ginger”, is perfect as the selfless foil, rescuing her hapless sister, “Jasmine”, (Blanchette). Stunning portrayals by both …

A long time ago, in a millennium far removed, I enjoyed a good, titillating, hair- raising horror flick; that ceased to be when the genre sunk to the lowest level of sensationalism; when the protagonist never died (“Michael”, “Jason”) when massacres became nothing but a torturous homage to mutilation. The key to a successful, terrifying, flesh-tingling film lies in the …