Netflix and Beyond

If a foreign film deeply resonates, oftentimes the American version, is acutely disappointing;  two recent examples, “The Upside” is an anemic adaptation of France’s,  “The Intouchables”, an even sorrier scenario is “Florence Foster Jenkins” contrasted with, again, France’s “Marguerite”; another pale imitation was “Gloria Bell”, Hollywood’s rendition of Chile’s 2014 “Gloria”; 2006’s Danish film, “After the Wedding” ranks as a …

A yummy, creamy, crunchy slice of filmic fun; directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz in “The Peanut Butter Falcon” serve a chunk of ingenuity, packaged in the form  of Zack Gottsagen as “Zak”, a “Down Syndrome character” who creatively escapes his smothering institution to fulfill his wrestling career; Shia LaBeouf is startling, in his best role in years, as a …

“Bernadette Fox” (ambitionally strained, Cate Blanchette) is mean, misanthropic, acerbic and if that isn’t enough, psychologically unbalanced; we intensely dislike her by the time we learn she won a MacArthur Genius Grant for architecture, over twenty years prior to the commencement of this flat, lifeless scenario; married to a savvy techie, “Elgie Branch” (clueless, lost depiction by Billy Crudup) and …

A film of such exuberant wonderment, I never wanted it to end; a dream actualized by the power of an artist to inspire; similar to Stockholm Syndrome, kidnaps and converts one to its cause; Bruce Springsteen, approaching seventy, has to be kvelling with this homage. Directed by Gurinder Chadha (“Bend it Like Beckham”), starring Viveik Kalra, as “Javed”  (memoir of …

Australia’s Jennifer Kent exceeds brutal boundaries in her latest petrifying revenge movie; those of a squeamish nature will be tested in the initial scenes; set in 1825 Tasmania, a British colony off the southeast corner of Australia; Kent owns the film as its writer, director and producer, and is fearless in her representation of genocide, colonial abuse and sexual sadism. …

Transformation. In recent years actors have gone to remarkable lengths to completely mask their persona, conforming to the physicality of their role; unimaginable dedication and pain, resulting in stunning, award-winning performances: Charlize Theron, “Monster”; Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”; Christian Bale, “The Machinist”, “Vice”; Patricia Arquette, “Escape at Dannemora”; Michael Fassbender, “Hunger.” Russell Crowe, “The Loudest Voice” tips …

“The brighter the “light” the darker the shadow”. “Luce” (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is dazzling, beyond charismatic, he is seventeen, an orator, athlete, class valedictorian; he is also a rescued victim of war-ravaged Eritrea, where at seven, he was a trained killer; his adoptive parents “Amy and Peter Edgar” (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) have dedicated ten years to his rehabilitation …

An incendiary title that is anything but; director/writer Sameh Zoabi (a Palestinian raised in Israel) with fellow writer Dan Kleinman create a silly, “soapish” scenario that deliciously delights with its blend of the pungent political milieu hibernating at the core of Israeli-Palestinian tensions preceding the 1967 war; a flimsy plot focusing on a Palestinian spy “Tala” (quirky, enigmatic Lubna Azabel) …

Jamie Bell is convincingly compelling as Neo-Nazi, Byron Widner; he is a totem, poster boy for every racist, anti-Semitic, white supremacist, mendacious nitwit poisoning the disenfranchised, marginalized, those terrified of anyone who is not colorless, of pure Aryan stock; ironically, their corps is tattooed, unshaven, filthy icons of hate. Widner is a real life paradigm of miraculous upheaval; his catalyst …

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” Argentina. 1975. A home is stripped of its accessories, by disparate individuals; a metaphor for the ultimate disappearance of Argentines with left wing political ideals, leading to the “Dirty War” (1976-1983) a United States-backed military coup d’état, (overthrew Isabel Peron) clandestinely supporting state terrorism; a murky blot …