Netflix and Beyond

Francis Ford Coppola (1939-) in his dotage must have had a petit mal seizure, an hallucination; creating a fable, mimicking the fall of the Roman Empire (31BC-AD 476); steroidal ambition meshes the historical with the future; doused in euphemisms bordering on the ludicrous: Adam Driver, seemed ill-equipped and jejune as “Caesar” a supreme architect prancing atop a rather hideous structure, …

Lee Miller (1907-1977) was a woman of prodigious substance, a feminine force, a rule bender, barrier basher and a lifelong, in tandem with Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), destroyer of the male, testosterone dominated universal sphere. She had it all: luminous beauty, sophistication in qualitative abundance, lover and muse of Man Ray (1890-1976); inquisitive intellect that transcended gender bias; as a realistic …

Mephistopheles is cackling from his eighth level of hell, as “Elizabeth Sparkle” (magically sculpted by Demi Moore) succumbs to her Faustian fallacy; a perpetual mirrored image of her ingénue years; rather implausible since we meet her on her 50th birthday. Director Coralie Fargeat (48 years-old) pounces on the ubiquity of denial, futility of staving off the aging process and the …

Regardless of its Greek and Latin origins, defined as “able to discern”, the critic’s role, to judge, evaluate, interpret categorically sinks into the negative realm of toxic criticism in “The Critic” (based on 2015 novel “Curtain Call” by Anthony Quinn) and Ian McKellen as  “The Daily Chronicle’s” London theatre critic “Jimmy Erskine” champions as an acerbic annihilator, castrator, humiliator of all …

An oxymoronic title is the first hint of what is to come, and it plays out deliciously in Christie/Holmes style; lavish wedding on a sanctioned estate goes awry in the wee hours of the wedding day; beautiful, dead guest “Merritt Monaco”, (luscious Meghann Fahy) surfaces on the Nantucket shore of an apparent drowning/suicide. Estate owners “Greer Garrison Winbury”, a renowned …

Sorrowful, adulterated talents of Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway in this totally irrational scenario of a mother’s devotion and love. Directed by Benoit Delhomme, based on the novel by Barbara Abel; it is a cross between fantasy and horror, and fails in both arenas. Taking place in the early 1960’s when women are stretching the boundaries between professionalism and motherhood; …

Gut-wrenching, supremely intelligent, empathetically profound, director/writer Azazel Jacobs squeezes every ounce of emotional angst and hubris from his three protagonists: “Katie” (Carrie Coon), “Christina” (Elizabeth Olsen), “Rachel” (Natasha Lyonne), uniquely perfect performances by this trinity of superbness: Katie, the eldest, bossy, bright, sees the situation of their dying father through a lens of rigidity; Christina, metaphysical, lost in an unknow …

Recommended by my star-powered, producer nephew, Will Anderson, I lustily viewed with vast anticipation; directed by trans and non-binary filmmaker, Jane Schoenbrun I found it compelling, confounding but incomprehensible, I reached out to him for enlightenment; his perceptions, salient and introspective are worthy of quoting in entirety: It really moved me in a strange way. And I think you may …

You don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate this enchanting slice of life that owns no bias, parameters, visiting at whim all peoples regardless of sect, gender, creed; refreshing tale of disparate souls, connecting at the appropriate moment in their varied existence. “Between the Temples” is a poignant relief from the ubiquity of the “horror”, “Marvel” genres, monopolizing, overwhelming movie …

The bludgeoning skin care industry globally generates over 144 billion USD$ and climbing; Generation Z (between 12 & 27) leading the hordes of consumers. Director/writer Austin Peters gets targeted aspects of faux LA glamour on the “nose”: quest for beauty and perpetual youth; strappings of wealth (cars, flashy, fur-trimmed ensembles) pneumatic chests, plasticity pulsates on creaseless faces with eyelashes destined …