Netflix and Beyond

Tuesday evening the world witnessed, Live, the nadir of American politics: slaughter of civility, denigration of a morality we should expect and categorically deserve from our leaders; instead, like the murder of George Floyd, the supposed head of the free world and his challenger failed the populace, shocking with stunning vituperative, scurrilous verbiage, murdering decency: an amoral bully, pledging not …

Two mysteries created to titillate the most seasoned of “series” or movie sleuths; missing murdered children, myriad of homicidal possibilities; both infused with an appropriate modicum of barbarity, enough to stave off ennui, and most importantly, capitalize on the element of surprise. “I See You” commences benignly with the search for a missing teen: Jon Tenney (“The Closer”, “Major Crimes”) …

Actor Jim Caviezel (“The Passion of Christ”, “Person of Interest”) is a keen advocative of Catholicism, secure in his proselytism; comfortable in debating its attributes, but open to a dialogue between faiths; his galvanizing performance as “Doug Rawlins”, a Christian blogger, kidnapped by members of the Iranian regime after a conversion plea to a Muslim audience in Cairo, Egypt, is …

Despite the political hubris, here are two films, whose attributes render the purist forms of entertainment: magically, magnificently filmed, landscapes proving a higher power, extraordinary metaphors universally resonating in this pandemic period; in spite of the controversy bubbling around the mythical “Mulan” or the veracity of the non-fictional “The Eight Hundred” directors Niki Caro’s (“Mulan”) and Guan Hu’s (“The Eight …

A palindrome that redolently focuses on “the present being attacked by the future”; monumentally taxing, I suggest not trying to decipher the convoluted, premise of inversion; just enjoy the fecundity of director Christopher Nolan’s imaginative display of endogenous variables; pandering to brainiacs, those, whose wired acuities, grasp the dynamics of the ancient Sator square, a four-directional palindrome. Or do as …

Korean filmmakers are “kings of creep” and the horror genre topples the titillation scale with their imaginative creativity; a genre that seems to have exponentially grown with the pandemic; things can degenerate and viewing these films confirms the worst case scenario.  Director Yeon Sang-ho scores with an allegorical tale of zombies versus humans, on a train to “Busan”; a “virus” …

Stunningly edifying is director Thor Freudenthal’s “Words on Bathroom Walls” based on the book by Julia Walton; brilliantly depicts the horrifying challenges of living, adapting, coping in a “normal” world, with schizophrenia; this film, which should be universally viewed, will strip any preconceived ideas about the affliction, clarify the exacting demands visited upon its victim: we see the “unseen people” …

Russell Crowe performs well as evil incarnate in director Derrick Borte’s “Unhinged”, tale of road rage on steroids. The opening scene is a commentary on today’s destructive chaos: rioters, looters, volatile, palatable hatred between strangers as they navigate highways, intersections, congested avenues. Mimicking the carnage exhibited in Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, exhibiting a reality that should only be fiction. We …

After a five-month drought it was déjà vu and weirdly comforting returning (masked) to the same theatre I frequented on Friday March 13, 2020: the historical shut down; strangely, familiarity did not breed contempt: unchanged, were the identical theatres, alphabetized rows, even the bathroom graffiti and malfunctioning toilets seemed welcoming in their constancy; time, frozen in its evasion of a venue that celebratespast, present and future.  Director …

Periodically one experiences a film, a television series so remarkably outstanding, that words to describe its potency have yet to be conjured; director Lee Eung-bok’s “Mr. Sunshine” is one of a few to populate this category; it seizes the celestial in every domain: commencing in 1871 a nine-year-old boy “Eugene Choi” flees Joseon after his parents are slain, they are …