Netflix and Beyond

This film based on the book by Tatiana de Rosnay, starring the luminous, talented Kristin Scott Thomas should be seen, if only for its historical accuracy. On July 16, 1942 the French police rounded up 13,000 Jews, many from the Marais district in Paris; cramping them in suffocating conditions in an indoor bicycle -racing stadium (Velodrome d’Hiver), before transporting them …

Rarely has a film/documentary left me more baffled or conflicted; vacillating between the revelations of Joyce McKinney, a femme fetal who supposedly stalked, kidnapped, manacled and raped her Mormon lover and the Tabloids who paint her as a nymphomaniac/nun. Errol Morris (“Fog of War”) allows the aging victim to aggrandize , emote blatantly throughout this 88 minute saga of the …

Musical styles fade in and out of vogue: jazz, big bands of the 30’s and 40’s, rock and roll, rap, hip- hop. Electronics has changed the temperament of contemporary music. “A Tribe Called Quest” is an intriguing and in depth documentary by Michael Rapaport concentrating on the twenty year run of the ground breaking musical skills of Phife Dawg, Ali …

The United States has millions of residents living illegally within its borders; you have had to be entombed not to realize the epidemic of concerns, both political and humane this has caused the government in recent years. Approximately 55% of illegal’s come from Mexico ( numbers vary between 6 and 7 million in residence at this time) a vast majority …

This has been a lean summer movie season. In desperation, craving a darkened theatre, avoiding the sizzling heat, I ventured into the fantastical world of “Harry Potter” and was surprisingly entertained. I saw the first and now the last (think there are six others) of the enchanted boy’s tale written by the sensationally imaginative J.K. Rowling. I am a neophyte …

Our first sojourn into the state of the fleeced and furred; shunning the traditional cruises chosen by our contemporaries, opting for an adventure into the landscape, the wildly wonderful, virginal terrain of the 49th state. Arriving at  Denali Backcountry Lodge, buried, far from the maddening crowd, cauterized from all communication (internet, TV, radio, telephone,); the droning, daily, orality, confounding and …

This documentary written and produced by Andrew Rossi is like all documentaries, slanted. I read the New York Times and being one of those guileless souls who would like to believe all that I read, but wisely inflicted with the obligation of deciphering, masticating, searching for the reasonable, believable, finding the middle road between fact and fiction. The main premise  …

Skip this movie. Skippable is the essence of this supercilious, trite, minimally amusing story of a man in his early fifties, fired from a position he excelled in, loved, creating profits for a company that decided because he did not have a college degree, he must go. What a ridiculous assault to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” , …

  This is the smartest movie of the season (albeit a dull season). I loved every second watching these two mid-life friends driving, eating and performing through the lustrous landscape of Northern England; it a tour de force; dialogue brilliantly written (Michael Winterbottom, “Tristram Shandy”) and delivered by Steve Coogan (playing himself) and Rob Brydon (playing himself). Steve, an actor …

A few months ago I eulogized the passing of Elizabeth Taylor now I must do the same for a neighborhood theatre that was courageous in showing first run Bollywood films. For five years I diligently strove to increase the viewership of this fascinating, complex, and vastly entertaining, joyous genre. Alas I must admit, begrudenly, defeat.  This is a personal loss …