Netflix and Beyond

More often than not, first run movies On Demand are at best anemic or at worst, in need of life support. But “Dancer” is a glorious exception.  A spell-binding documentary about the Royal Ballet’s “Bad Boy”, Ukrainian Sergei Polunin; a magnificent prodigy whose promise was apparent at birth (November 20th, 1989); his muscular liquidity so stellar, amazingly atypical, was recorded …

There have been “whistleblowers” throughout history but the twentieth and twenty-first century have brought many to the fore, lionized or demonized, they have changed the course of history: Mark Felt (aka “Deep Throat”) Daniel Ellsberg, Karen Silkwood, Linda Tripp, and Edward Snowden, the man who in 2013 unleashed secret security documents relating to NSA’s policing policies (Big Brother antics) throughout …

Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger’s interview by Charlie Rose aired on September 9th, the day the film “Sully”, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring the inimitable Tom Hanks, as the man who miraculously landed on the Hudson River January 15th, 2009, saving all 155 passengers, opened in theatres nationwide; Captain Sullenberger’s interview illuminated a remarkable man, a humble man, one whose …

1918. Tom Sherbourne, emotionally crippled after four years in The Great War becomes a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, Australia. He meets and marries Isabel Graysmark. After two miscarriages they rescue a baby who prophetically lands on their isolated beach. This epic film based on the book by M.L. Stedman, directed by Derek Cianfrance, richly studies the decisions made because …

Directed by Fede Alvarez “Don”t Breathe” is a thriller, not a “horror” movie; there are no “Freddy’s”, Michael’s”, headless horsemen resurfacing after multiple stab and gunshot wounds, to stalk again; the protagonists are viable and the scenario is realistic and terrifying. Set in a decaying section of Detroit, three malcontents, yearning for a better life in California, have resorted to …

Directed and written by Jonathan Jakubowicz “Hands of Stone” is not destined to reign in the halls of the best boxing films of all time (“Raging Bull”, “Cinderella Man” “The Fighter”, “Requiem for a Heavyweight” “The Hurricane”, “Rocky” mania) but it is vastly entertaining, well-acted and infused with terrific fight scenes. Edgar Ramirez is galvanizing as the scrappy, brilliant boxer …

A lugubrious film of bleakness and ennui, based on the 2002 autobiographical novel by renown Israeli writer Amos Oz (aka Klausner, 1939). Natalie Portman directs, adapts and stars as Oz’s clinically depressed mother Fania (1913-1951), and her march towards extinction. The location is Jerusalem, 1947. Told through the wizened eyes of an elderly Oz (understand why it took him a …

By a wide margin one of the finest films of the year; stunning in its message, characterization; a positively superb example of stellar, sensational, spectacular animation (and I do not care for the genre). Directed by Travis Knight, written by Marc Haimes, Shannon Tindle, Chris Butler in collaboration with Laika Production Company have created a fantasy world imbued with magic, …

When one thinks of “Westerns” aka “Cowboy” movies one recalls nascent stars: John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott, James Stewart. They solidified the genre. From the onset, in this contemporary Western film, the protagonists are determined to accomplish their mission, regardless of the plagues visited upon them. Brothers, “Toby and Tanner Howard” (blazingly portrayed by Chris Pine and Ben Foster) …

Directed by Todd Phillips based on a Rolling Stone article by Guy Lawson (eventually became the book, “The Arms and the Dudes”). The protagonists, Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz are brilliantly depicted by Jonah Hill and Miles Teller; nonfiction is realized propitiously by, for the most part, a good script, enhanced by the performances of Teller and overwhelmingly, Hill. Diveroli …