Netflix and Beyond

Despite the ongoing conflict revolving around television’s Netflix versus the “Big Screen”, there is no doubt that the positive, unequivocally champions the negative; “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”, a stellar story, pulsating with vitality and heart, should be required viewing for all ages; directed by, and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, it throbs with genuine, unfeigned sincerity, pungently powerful emotional content …

From time immemorial I have been asked my favorite film; a myriad are housed, cared for, in the elite chambers of my filmic warehouse; always inhabiting the penthouse, never to relinquish its lease, is David O. Selznick’s “Gone With the Wind”; having read Margaret Mitchell’s masterpiece while in high school and seeing it for the first time in the early …

Certifiably, Isabelle Huppert, excels as a foremost actor of her generation; she has challenged the spectrum in “weird” (“The Piano Teacher”, “Elle”) but must have had a petit mal seizure accepting this half-witted, imbecilic role of a deviate stalker. Director Neil Jordan’s attempt at invigorating a stale theme, never inflates; fizzled initiative leaves viewers, at best bored; a mortal sin, …

For the first time, because of the dynamics of this year’s competition, a consolation prize will be given to Brian B. for going all the way, until he was foiled by “The Green Book”; congratulations on your prescient choices. For the most part, the evening was bland, benign and lacked the cohesiveness of a host; blessedly shorter than previous productions; …

Just received the entrees for Peneflix’s Annual Academy Award Contest; hundreds have an opportunity to win; always buoyed by the regulars! This year was extremely problematic for me; credit phenomenal material, directing and equally grand characterizations; indecisiveness rarely invades my realm but this year’s nominees kept me in foggy, filmic fug. My main conundrums were: 1. Best Female Actress: until …

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 …

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 …

From its inception, this epically grand film (188 minutes) ambushes one’s attention, and in my case, has not relinquished its hold, days after experiencing it; a phenom, magnificent in scope, narrative and vision; hypothetically based on the life of celebrated painter, Gerhard Richter (1932); director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (“The Lives of Others”) tackles the ambiguity of artistic modes, meandering, …

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 …

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi initially, stealthily seizes one’s attention from the moment you enter his filmic realm; winner of two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film: “A Separation” (2011 ) and “The Salesman” (2016), he capitalizes, while simultaneously allowing viewers to interpret, the depth of the human condition. What I admire about his filmmaking is the level of intimacy, innate conflict …