Netflix and Beyond

From its publication on Christmas Eve in 1843 Charles Dickens’ (1812-1870) “The Christmas Carol” has informed the life of every child in the free world for a hundred and seventy-four years; “The Man Who Invented Christmas” is a fantastic, fanciful concoction of Dickens’s madcap, frenetic rush to complete the “carol” by December 24th; Dan Stevens, with aplomb and, full-voltage electricity, …

Director/writer Dee Ree’s riveting masterpiece, focuses on racial divisiveness after WWII, in rural Mississippi; two families: “McAllan”, husband and wife “Laura” and “Henry” (Carrie Mulligan, Jason Clarke), brother “Jamie McAllan” (Garrett Hedlund) and “Pappy” (Jonathan Banks); “Jackson”, “Hap” and “Florence” (Rob Morgan, Mary J.Blige) and son “Ronsel” (Jason Mitchell); except for ownership, both families live within the eye of poverty’s …

Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday celebrated between All Saints Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day,  October 31st-November 2nd every year; “ofrendas” (altars) take center stage, with photos of the deceased; laden with food, flowers and mementos, the dead spirits cross over into the land of the living; it is a …

At times, the best of intentions go oft astray, such is the case with Denzel Washington’s foray into today’s ambiguous legal milieu; he is a throwback to the world of Angela Davis, Artis Gilmore, James Baldwin; he is a righteous savant with principles intact, but flounders when his partner dies, and discovers the financial roots of his practice are made …

“Being different isn’t a bad thing.  It means you’re brave enough to be yourself. “Auggie Pullman” (Jacob Tremblay) isn’t given a choice; born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, which affects facial development, he hides beneath an astronaut’s helmet and has been home schooled by his mother “Isabel” (Julia Roberts); he is ten years old and going to school for the first …

Frances McDormand is an unprecedented force, a presence, not to be tinkered with, terrifying in her role as “Mildred Hayes”, distraught, grieving mother, crippled emotionally, chastising the minimal police force, especially “Chief Willoughby” (Woody Harrelson Harrelson gives a surprisingly empathetic performance) in their lack of initiative, in capturing the culprit who savagely murdered her daughter “Angela” (Kathryn Newton) seven months …

Director/writer Richard Linklater’s “Last Flag Flying” is one of the finest “road trip” films ever to grace the screen, slipping stunningly into the realm of: “Rain Man”, “Thelma and Louise”, “Little Miss Sunshine”,”Motorcycle Diaries”, “Nebraska”; stratospheric performances by Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Lawrence Fishburne, three Vietnam veterans, after a thirty year hiatus, travel to Arlington cemetery to bury “Larry’s” …

Winner of Cannes highest accolade, Palme d’ Or,  Swedish director (“Force Majeure”) Ruben Ostlund’s “The Square” is staggering in its execution; expectations, never realized; pungent metaphors; it’s only flaw, colossal ambition.  Sensual, “imperially slim”, Claes Bang depicts “Christian”, as a charmingly caddish director of a Swedish contemporary museum; spewing innocuous, “art-speak” pervasive in today’s artsy, rarefied vacuum; “Anne”, an American …

If you’ve imbibed and remember Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name, seen 1974’s Sidney Lumet’s  film version, or television’s 2001 interpretation, pass on this slice of redundancy; with the exception of exquisite cinematography (Hans Zambarloukos) and Kenneth Branagh’s (also directed) superb depiction of iconic detective “Hercule Poirot” staleness prevents this “train” from reaching its maximum speed. Fine actors (Michelle …

There is a substantive, grounded sensitivity that saves “Lady Bird” from becoming another formulaic “coming of age” film; Greta Gerwig, more than her acting acuity, is an outstanding writer/director; at the age of thirty-four she’s advanced beyond the Mumblecore genre (hand-held camera technique, low budget, an ad-lib dialogue infused with a plethora of nerve-wracking “like’s”,  hemorrhaging from millennials vernacular, into …