Netflix and Beyond

Miles Teller, contemporary champion of the “method” acting technique; stellar in “Whiplash” as a drummer, and just as viable as boxer, “The Pasmanian Devil” aka Vinnie Pazienza, the paradigm of sport’s comebacks. Director Ben Younger focuses on Vinnie’s intransigent will to fight after his neck was broken (1991) in an automobile accident; recently defeating Gilbert Dele for the World Championship …

Director Ang Lee’s exploration of the Iraq War (the action takes place in 2004) is depicted through the perspective of nineteen-year-old hero “Billy Lynn” (a gentle, sublime Joe Alwyn); poetically, gracefully the film moves from the cacophony of battle to the equally cacophonous thunder of a football halftime, theatrical display, on Thanksgiving Day. The owner of the Texas team, “Norm …

Director Tom Ford eponymous style resonates in fashion, jewelry and film; “Nocturnal Animals” reflects his inimitable visual, artistic, innovative, imaginative skills. Commencing with a video of a Botero-like nude, corpulent, garishly painted model, lustily gyrating, salaciously stunning, hypnotizing viewers at a high-end art gallery in Los Angeles; “Susan” (commanding presence of Amy Adams) the proprietor of the gallery is a …

Fascinating study revolving around life’s decisions; “what if’s”, second chances, “would we, could we do it all again?”. Director Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” is vastly more than a science fiction, alien invasion film; on the surface, it is simplistic, the earth has been invaded by hovering egg-shaped saucers; intent?, friend or foe? Louise, (brilliant, subtle, heartbreaking performance by Amy Adams) a …

Thousands of lives were claimed in the battle for Hacksaw Ridge, Okinawa, Japan, 1945; Mel Gibson’s stunning, at times sensational film, based on the life of Desmond Doss (1919-2006), a bona fide conscientious objector, is brutally, savagely told. Desmond Doss, remarkably depicted by Andrew Garfield, in a profound, prescient performance. Doss, the son of an alcoholic, abusive father, a veteran …

Marvel mania continues to dominate box office sales; Benedict Cumberbatch and Mads Mikkelsen as beacons of good and evil, give intense, strenuous performances, but unfortunately cannot salvage the plot from sinking into stale, repetitive versions of marvel movies of the past; shades of “Inception”, “Superman”, “Spider-Man”. Wizardry abounds when megalomaniac, arrogant neurosurgeon “Dr. Stephen Strange’s” (Cumberbatch) hands are mutilated in …

From inception human beings are blessed with the distinction of knowing right from wrong; maturity hones the ability to further recognize the differentiation; in actuality the path followed comes down to one’s “choice”; “Moonlight”, directed by Barry Jenkins is a remarkable masterpiece, focusing on “Chiron” and three phases of his life, from boyhood to manhood (efficaciously acted by Alex Hibbert, …

If you survive the first hour wallowing in the abyss of silliness, manufactured mimicry, saccharine sophism, entertainment blossoms with the astounding radiance of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, in  this predictable, weepy scenario. Rambir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma star as a two-sum: “Ayan” (Kapoor) wants more than friendship from “Alizeh” (Sharma) who is satisfied with a “huggy”, platonic relationship; their song and …

Director Cristi Puiu (“The Death of Mr. Lazarescu”) won the Silver Hugo Award for the Best Director of this highly unforgettable family saga. “Sieranevada” (misspelled, intentional poetic license), claustrophobic, tense, traumatic, intimate analysis of a family in flux. The film is flawed but its ambitious intentions succeed on a massive scale, especially in writing and direction. The patriarch has died …

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, exponentially it does:   “STARLESS DREAMS”; IRAN. Powerful, disturbing documentary by director Mehrdad Oskovei, takes place in a juvenile detention center on the outskirts of Tehran; female murderers, thieves, prostitutes, drug-addicted, homeless; the oldest is seventeen. The result of a male-dominated, sharia law society where women are chattel, without a voice, …