Netflix and Beyond

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the “Bard of Avon” has never relinquished the crown of the literary kingdom. Six hundred years after his passing, his works are as prescient, contemporary, as if they were written today: glorified ambition, greed, lust, never stale, outdated, pulsate at the core of the modern era as they did of yore. Blossoming from director Joel Coen’s fecund …

For the near future our lives will be pandemically scripted; at the bountiful mercy of the internet we can see classic, vintage, contemporary films, cemented in the confines of our domiciles. As a craver of the genre, after daily duties, I delve into the myriad of streaming choices available, my odds-on favorites: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Brit Box, Hulu, or Roku …

Director Guillermo del Toro’s negligibly flawed film is mesmerizing nonetheless; based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham, “Nightmare Alley” scores the unwholesomeness, uncleanliness of depression era carnivals, billets of misfits, freakish oddities, disenfranchised souls floating from one seedy backwater town to another; terrifying how comfortable the participants are, living on the edge, relishing their depravities; Willem Dafoe is devilishly …

Regardless of its redundancy Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” is a foot-stomping, hip-swiveling, heart-throbbing stampede of choreography, cinematography, and electrifying energy; the legitimacy of the Spanish speaking cast (Sharks) versus the “gringos” (Jets) aka the “entrenched” threatened, rivaled by the “immigrant” is a resounding metaphor for today’s migratory issues. The anxiety percolating at the nucleus of two cultures is exacerbated …

Director Paul Verhoeven at 83 is still pungently pushing the boundaries; “Benedetta” (1590-1661) a lesbian nun, who garnished well-known notoriety in the 17th century for her lifestyle, and cosmic visions; exhibited here in lurid detail, the elimination of imagination, a flaw, worth noting, but still scores high grades on the prurient, sensational vector. Actor Virginie Efira tackles the role of …

Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) a behemoth of stage and screen, an influencer, inspirer of countless, including Jonathan Larson (1960-1996) whose momentary existence gifts “Rent” a synopsis of his life; a forever legacy reminiscent of Puccini’s “La Boheme” is an absolute must: “a play about writing a play” with its intoxicating highs and calamitous lows, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s supreme direction, and by far …

“A film is inert, blank, non-existent without people there to complete the film by engaging with it. It is a beautiful relational situation.” Mike Mills, Director “C’mon C’mon” creates a compassionate, confidential portrait of familial stress, struggling to survive, understanding, and vocalizing emotional complexities that plague each member. Joaquin Phoenix is at his comfortable best as “Johnny”, a radio journalist …

What is it about fashion and its designers that compels us to gobble up the notoriety encircling them? Clothes, glamour, wealth, sinewy models, otherworldly lifestyles, unattainable for the common folk. But with scrutiny their lives are stricken with tragedy, oftentimes worse than the mundanity of us lesser beings. Certainly no one quests for the fate of Gianni Versace, Halston or …

Appropriately titled, Will Smith, stars as Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena Williams, two of the greatest tennis players, athletes, of all time; his word is law, he is sovereign in his household. The film was graced with the winning trophy at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival and audiences’ glow and cheer with acceptance and admiration. “King Richard” …

Actors attain peaks, and it is only hindsight that determines the summits: Tatum O’Neal was 10-years-old when she won the Academy Award for “Paper Moon” (1973) her father, Ryan was 29 when “Love Story: (1970) debuted; Tom Hulse, “Amadeus” (1984) at 31 disappeared; Tom Cruise, “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989) was 27 and has never reached that pinnacle …