Netflix and Beyond

Incredible story, splayed across the screen, the entire spectrum of India’s predilections, intransigent traditions, contemporary culture; miraculously, even if you have never graced this remarkable, multi-faceted country, “Gully Boy” brilliantly, presciently, metaphorically, gifts viewers a redolent insight into the real India; director Zoya Akhtar stunningly, visually portrays in 2 1/2 hours what authors Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram …

Norwegian film director, Hans Petter Moland recreates his successful 2014 “In Order of Disappearance”, starring Stellan Skarsgard (“Nils”) with an American version; Liam Neeson (“Nelson”) is a benign snow-plow driver, turned revenge serial killer after his son “Kyle” (Neeson’s real-life son, Michael Redgrave) is mistakenly murdered by egregious drug traffickers; Colorado’s glacial mass and unforgiving, antagonistic, snowbound roads serve as …

Once again February has shed prominence on the stars, movies and those behind the scenes. This year is the most difficult, challenging to date, due to the range and diversity of the films and nominees. I feel there should be separate categories for drama and comedy. I also question “Roma” being in “Best Movie” and best “Foreign Film” categories. Every …

A nameless man, ambushed by a gorgeous, magnificently hostile, intransigent landscape, architects his survival; his doomed airplane and fishing expeditions keep him alive; Mads Mikkelsen’s performance is miraculous, imbued with astounding strength, tenacity and goodness; he rescues a wounded woman (Maria Thelma Smaradottir) after her plane and husband have perished; his phenomenal resourcefulness gifts viewers a look at a mythical, …

Dimpled, dazzling Taraji P. Henson registered as a dynamic, minimally heralded performer on my inventory of “actors to track” when she  played detective “Joss Carter” on television’s “Person of Interest” (2011-2016, Joss was eliminated in the third season); her career, stunningly escalated in 2016’s “Hidden Figures” with her brilliant depiction of NASA mathematician, Katherine Johnson (1918-), in director Adam Shankman’s …

1,700 Jews survived World War II living in Berlin; “The Invisibles” is Germany’s remarkable testament, lauding the indomitable survival instincts of four who defied the odds and lived. Archival interviews with the aged survivors, interspersed with actors depicting their youthful travails, is riveting filmmaking; director Claus Rafle, without blinders, creates a masterpiece, recognizing  not only the temerity of the Jewish …

With all the fantastical, superficial, sensational movies spawned upon the screen, “The Least of These” will quietly shrivel into obscurity, an undeserving demise for an analysis in quiet devotion, a pure evaluation of a sincere and godly man; Mother Teresa (1910-1997), founder of the “Missionaries of Charity”, whose altruistic dedication to the sick, disenfranchised, poverty-stricken of India, earned her a …

Once again February has shed prominence on the stars, movies and those behind the scenes. This year is the most difficult, challenging to date, due to the range and diversity of the films and nominees. I feel there should be separate categories for drama and comedy. I also question “Roma” being in “Best Movie” and best “Foreign Film” categories. Every …

With Cassandra prescience, harrowingly recognizing a precursor to a “Bala” franchise: “Ms.”, “Mrs.”, “Gramma Bala”; has to be terminated in the first trimester. Director Catherine Hardwicke and actors Gina Rodriguez (Miss Bala) and Ismael Cruz-Cordova struggle and fail in the recreation of Mexico’s 2011 Oscar nominee of the same name. “Gloria” (Rodriquez) is a naïve, makeup artist, in the wrong …

Bollywood reveres and perpetually energizes its myths, gods, heroes and heroines, ancient and contemporary; their films pulsate, stun and elucidate audiences, Eastern and Western. The Ramayan and Mahabharata through centuries of repetition, still hypnotically enchant viewers; the movie versions keep the stories, myths, warring factions vibrantly alive. An epic film featuring  “Asoka, The Great”, ruler of India’s subcontinent (268-232 BCE) …