Netflix and Beyond

In 1991 a friend and I ,without children, went to see this Disney animated fairy tale;  twenty years later my experience and emotional reaction is even more profound. This captivating, irresistible  story seeks to elucidate beyond the epidermis; unpeel the obvious, unearth the “beauty” beneath the “beast” and the “beast’ beneath the “beauty” (“Gaston”). Walt Disney (1901-1966) was a visionary …

Ronan Polanski creates a stunning film based upon Yasmina Reza’s play “God of Carnage”. I loved the play, and even more the movie. “Carnage” conjures mental malodorous images of massive massacres: “Rambo”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “Natural Born Killers”, “Kill Bill”, “Gladiator”; headless, limbless bodies nurturing vast wastelands, landscapes, meant for crop -rotation, relaxation, now just harbingers of death. Here we …

“Brevity is the soul of wit” Polonius said it, I am attempting to practice it. TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY Based on the John Le Carre 1974 novel is a throw- back and excellent adaptation of this spy thriller. If you were intrigued by the novel you will relish this deliberately slow, quiet trek through the dark, murky corridors of subterfuge, …

Meryl Streep is indisputably a titan, a genius in the world of film: it is unlikely that her abilities will be mimicked or duplicated in this century. Margaret Thatcher is also a remarkable woman, who with a will of steel triumphed and altered the political arena in England and the universe; a greengrocer’s daughter whose intelligence, vision and ambition led …

This harsh and provocative title references a brilliant portrayal of a gifted seventeen-year-old student coming to terms with her sexuality. “Alike” (sensational performance by Adepero Oduye) has few doubts about her sexual proclivities; her middle-class family poses the vicissitudes, tumult; shedding pain, confusion and obfuscation on daily life. A fractured marriage, parents in denial: Audrey and Arthur (solid, fine, legitimate …

This riveting film revolving around the atrocities of the Bosnia-Herzegovina war (1992-1995) is irrefutable proof that Angelina Jolie is a powerful “woman of substance”; she tackles and fearlessly adheres to the horrific genocide (euphemistically coined “ethnic cleansing”) perpetrated against the Muslims by Serbian Nationalists. The movie commences with a man and a woman connecting and dancing in a local bar; …

Soon to be in theatres. This creepy but compelling film recalls only the supine position of the fairy tale princess. “Sleeping Beauty” a darling of the Chicago Film Festival, an enigmatic movie written and directed  by Julia Leigh delves into the deepest, deviant male sexual fantasies; a pathetic metaphor for man’s incapacity to relate to or legitimize the emptiness, inadequacies, …

It has been a year of breath- defying heights and devastating lows but constantly the movies offer a palliative hiatus from the wonders and woes of the day. I will continue to be immensely grateful and appreciate your continued readership; from all corners of the globe you represent lovers of the magical world of film and its transformative powers. Roman …

Based upon the book by Benjamin Mee, “We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, A Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals that Changed Their Lives Forever”. Succinctly stated and accomplished. The actual Zoo is in England; the movie takes place in California. Matt Damon, whose seasoning as an actor keeps pungently improving, is …

This spectacular version of the dazzling play does not disappoint; once again I was ambushed emotionally and shed copious tears as I did in Lincoln Center. Steven Spielberg’s genius translates beautifully from stage to screen, one of the most original stories of the century; based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo. “War Horse” is a visual extravaganza and no one …