Netflix and Beyond

THE MOLE; Poland, FOUR STARS!!!! Loyalty, love, disillusionment, intrigue are the ingredients that comprise this succinct, finely- wrought, luminously performed film revolving around the birth of solidarity in Poland.   BONSAI; Chile/France, TWO STARS!! Stunning beginning, never attains supernova status, but fizzles with the same intensity. Proust is howling in his sarcophagus at this pathetic rendition of “Remembrance of Things …

WOMAN IN THE FIFTH; United Kingdom, ONE &1/2 STARS! Murky, meandering miasma of failed, faulty filmmaking. Ethan Hawke earns a star for his passable accomplishments in the French language. Kristin Scott Thomas’s talents are wasted in this dreary, foggy psychological thriller.   RETURN TICKET; China/Taiwan, 2 & 1/2 STARS!! Quiet, sweet, contemplative, sporadically humorous tale of migrant workers in Shanghai …

L. A. RAEVEN: BEYOND THE IMAGE; Netherlands, 2 &1/2 STARS!! Interesting but at times problematic documentary about twin sisters, both artists (Lisbeth & Angelique Raeven) living, working,  eating, thinking in tandem. A unique premise, but unfortunately an unsatisfying, disquieting conclusion. PATANG (THE KITE); India, FOUR & 1/2 STARS!!!! A superior film by Chicago director, Prashat Bhargava, highlighting a two day …

TICKET TO PARADISE, Cuba; THREE STARS!!! Well acted slice of incredible, but true conditions of young people facing insurmountable odds; devoid of options. Depressing but pivotally realistic.   HIS MOTHER’S EYES, France; FOUR STARS!!!! Even with its flaws, I loved this film of beautiful people, with not-so-beautiful souls. Catherine Deneuve is a French icon.   BOL; Pakistan; FOUR STARS!!!! Here …

To this point, after 6 films, 6 boxes of popcorn, 6 hot dogs and barely 6 hours of sleep (in 2 days) I have decided to give simple “sees” and “skips”; will review in depth when my life does not belong to AMC 21! GANDU, (India); 0 STARS! I was one of the few who stayed for the entire painful, …

Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”: Act 1, scene 2: Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music cry “Caesar”.              Speak, Caesar is turn’d to hear. Soothsayer: Beware the Ides of March. Caesar: What man is that? Brutus: a soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of march.   “Governor Mike …

One does not choose whom to love; the heart is without doors and to a certain extent always bleeding, pulsating, uncontrollable with a “mind” and an emotional language unique unto itself. “My Afternoons with Margueritte”  is an enchanting, compelling tale of two disparate souls, lonely, meeting on a park bench in a small French village. “Germain” depicted by a massively …

Few reach the age of reason without knowing someone who has been cursed with cancer. The disease is ubiquitous, knows no boundaries or parameters and strikes at will. But is more heartbreaking when it invades the young, those whose dreams have not yet blossomed, let alone realized. “50/50” tackles successfully a young man’s journey through the unknown blackness and fathomless …

Based on the novel “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” by Muriel Barbery. Some are stirred by words, others oratory; many by both. “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” struck a fine and rusty cord in my spirit and finely tuned this solitary string until a symphony of such purity and magnitude, spurred  me to purchase 25 copies of this splendid story …

Bogus title, absolutely bereft of elitism; flagrant waste of talent (Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro) in a supposed true tale involving a Sheik, seeking revenge for the death of his three sons; the one remaining, short-changed in the gene pool. British Secret Service, Special Ops, Mercenaries: rogues refining their slaying skills. The film is so convoluted, confusing, lacking …