Netflix and Beyond

The tulip is my most favorite flower; I love its capricious personality, its up and down mood swings; I love its heartiness, its whimsy, its myriad of colors; tulips shed happiness, satisfaction, warmth. Unfortunately Director Justin Chadwick’s adaptation of Deborah Moggach’s seventeenth novel lacks the pungency, redolence, joy, blooming potency of the magical tulip. Actors Alicia Vikander, Christoph Waltz, Dane …

Director Eliza Hittman, tackles with unbiased honesty, the grey befuddled, muddled area between boyhood and manhood; painful indecisiveness of one’s sexuality, conforming or railing against society’s code of acceptance; nineteen-year-old “Frankie” (British actor Harris Dickinson, overwhelms in this poignant, heartbreaking role,  coming to terms with burgeoning homosexuality, a looming frightening future; beyond handsome, he is a magnet for women and …

At “times” movie titles make absolutely no sense, no segway into the scenario; the viewer, if unaware of the synopsis, is befuddled; “Clockwork Orange”,” Reservoir Dogs”, “Cloverfield” but “Good Time” written and directed by Benny and Josh Safdin, tips the scale in nonsensical, baffling titles; they have created another gritty crime caper in the bowels of New York City’s disenfranchised, …

Predictability can be totally refreshing especially with the “dog” films of summer; watching “A Gentleman”, tumultuous reality, gritty politics and crime were suspended in favor of a raucous romp through Miami, Mumbai and Goa; gorgeously-paired Sidharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez, destined to bond, flirt, sing and dance, creating a sugary confection of romance and intrigue, ubiquitous on the Bollywood screen. …

To preserve your sensitives and sanity, with the exception of the ending, you’d be best served watching in “mute”; the luscious Spanish landscape (even in a deluge) and delectable cuisine, suffered with the innate, stale prattle of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon on their third (hopefully final) traveling trilogy; so tiresome is the monotonous mimicking of Robert De Niro, Marlon …

By far the most terrifying film of 2017; “Annabelle” cannot touch the intrinsic terror of this film; “Ingrid” (Aubrey Plaza, dazzles) is overwhelming pathetic; her existence is defined by Instagram, Twitter, etc. highlighted by emoji’s; loneliness has plundered her reason, she suffers a psychotic fracture after destroying a wedding she wasn’t invited to; rehabilitation has honed her electronic stalking skills; …

Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen” soared, and anchored his place in the hierarchy of the heist genre; disappointingly “Logan Lucky” does not touch his former status. Well-acted but tediously long, pushing too hard the “Robin Hood” theme, challenging viewers investment, in the all too complex sting, executed by (looks can be deceiving) not-so-bright perpetrators. Channing Tatum has doffed …

For those who have read the book there is a bludgeoning redundancy throughout the film; pivotally performed by actors Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Ella Anderson; frustration stroked by horrific circumstances; four children, if not physically abused were emotionally castrated by an inebriate of “air, whimsy and alcohol”; Harrelson plays Rex Walls,  the architect of the fantastical Glass Castle, …

This is a poetic, poignant, even painful portrait of a landscape so magnificent in its being, but ruthless in its demands; a landscape that celebrates its beauty but shuns man’s meddling; “Wind River” reveres, respects its isolation, segregation, its unwillingness to be part of the sphere; the vastness of the Wyoming, Native American reservation is the focus of Taylor Sheridan’s …

Far from the normal “kidnap” scenario, where sobbing, hysterical parents, etc., comply with the FBI, raping their bank accounts and 401K’s, leaving cash at the orchestrated location; Halle Barry as “Karla” is tenacious as a woman who pursues rapacious kidnappers (appropriate diabolical performances by Chris McGinn and Lew Temple) of her enchanting, six-year-old son “Frankie” (Sage Correa); preposterous and exhilarating …