Netflix and Beyond

A title referencing malfeasance, iniquity, corruption and moral depravity leaves no question in the viewer’s mind as to writer/director Adam McKay’s opinion of Vice President Dick Cheney (2001-2009); flashbacks of the most horrific period in American history are scalded in our memories and uncomfortable to revisit; to be in a position of power on September 11, 2001 was not enviable …

There is a reverence that saturates every blissful moment of this remarkably fine film, based on James Baldwin’s 1974 novel; Beale Street; a metaphor, microcosm for an African American’s unique experience: New Orleans, Chicago, New York, lives mimic each other. Writer/director Barry Jenkins, (“Moonlight”) true to Baldwin’s poetic tale but infused with a heart defined by the twenty-first century; here …

Choosing between two Bollywood blockbusters: “Zero”, Shah Rukh Khan playing a mini-version of himself or “K.G.F: Chapter 1”, my vote for the latter resulted in over 2 1/2 hours of bombastic, cacophonous, tumultuous entertainment. Writer/director Prashanth Neel’s tale of oppression commences in the early 1980’s; cutting to the chase with a limited script, “Rocky” champions the oppressed, inciting their rebellion …

This film is a conundrum, a therapeutic fantasy, a tribute to diminished artist, Mark Hogancamp, a talented illustrator, with a woman’s shoe fetish, beaten, so viciously, he now uses his camera to record his manufactured milieu where “evil” is annihilated by female warriors; his dolls, resembling kind women in his life, combatants who save him from Nazi villains (stand-ins for …

There will be those enchanted, charmed, joyously entertained: neophytes, who have never seen or revisited  the 1964 version, or have forgotten the magical “Banks” family and their ethereally, spell-binding Nanny, “Mary Poppins”, (inimitable Academy Award winning performance by Julie Andrews), her logical effervescence, intuitive genius in captivating her wards; here was a Mary Poppins, sprinkled in fairy dust, unparalleled in …

Commencing with a teenager, massacring his contemporaries, resulting in the burgeoning career of a surviving victim, “Vox Lux” mimics real and fictional lives of those whose meteoric rise to lionization is fueled by drugs, alcohol and their own manufactured megalomania; this is a tiresome topic that has engulfed filmgoers, especially in 2018. “A Star is Born”, in its fourth avatar, …

Rarely will you see a mother/son relationship, so profoundly depicted, magnificently perfected, defined by the acting acuity of thespians Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges (“Ben and Holly Burns”); their palatable, heart-wrenching love is the core of this exceedingly real scenario; its fictional tale, resonates as truth in today’s drug- infested environment; millions of families have been annihilated by the egregious …

Despite historical inaccuracies, poetic license is forgiving, what is unforgivable is a lugubrious plot, substandard writing and an overwhelming attention to two queens procreative powers; understanding the heir business, and aware of the ancient strife between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, commencing with Henry VIII, this disjointed saga focuses on the doomed Queen Mary, 1542-1587 (energetically compelling …

There is not a doubt that “Marian “Midge”Maisel” (irreverently dazzling, Rachel Brosnahan) is adorably “marvelous”; I had avoided meeting her, until a week ago, and now after 18 episodes, we have irrevocably bonded, puzzling as to why? I respect the skill but have never been a devotee of “stand-up” comedians; usually left with an uncomfortable, cringing embarrassment for the performer, …

Profundity prevails in this sweeping, magnificently glorious film; director/writer Alfonso Cuaron’s reminiscent tale of life in a middle class Mexican family stuns with its purity, lack of guile, genuine veracity; black and white format emphasizes the functionality of a household whose maid “Cleo” (newcomer, Yalitza Aparicio) adhesively keeps the family, and its daily mechanisms in tow; Cleo is worthy of …