Netflix and Beyond

The decimal number system can be traced to the Indus Valley (3000 BCE); the concept of “zero”,  the ubiquitous ruler, all were conceived in India. Indians have a natural affinity for mathematics and science. Writer/director Matthew Brown delves into the remarkable story of gifted, unschooled mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) born in Tamil Nadu, India and brilliantly educated G.H. Hardy (1877-1947) …

2013’s “A Thousand Times Good Night” starring inimitable Juliette Binoche, as a conflict photographer, is a prescient study of the psychology resonating at the core of the addictive allure of a war zone; why the magnet is so compelling, enthralling, that without its adrenalin, existence is transformed into a benign, bleak vacuum; even loved ones cannot lighten the murkiness. “Louder …

There have been a plethora of untimely deaths in the world of music icons: Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse,  Prince (1958-2016). I’d missed this film that put him at the pinnacle of musical mavens. As far as a script or scenario it is horrific; it would have fared better without sophomoric, jejune dialogue, predictable, laughable …

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does,  it is sensational; that jolt, awakening, knowing you are experiencing the finest ingredient of filmmaking…..pure, scintillating entertainment. “Sing Street” written and directed by John Carney (“Once”, “Begin Again”) captivates viewers long after the theatre is bright and the screen dark. Ireland in the 1980’s, “Conor/Cosmo” (remarkable Ferdia Walsh-Pello) a fifteen-year-old high “schooler” …

1970. Tumultuous times: massive protests about US government involvement in Cambodia and Vietnam; Kent State massacre; cyclone in Bangladesh taking a half million lives; earthquake in Peru claiming sixty-seven thousand individuals; Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, dies; the break-up of the Beatles and the meeting of the “King’ Elvis Presley (1933-1977) and the President, Richard Nixon (1913-1994). Michael Shannon (Elvis) …

An original take on a used and abused theme: a star whose “stalker” becomes a menacing, obsessive, destructive force. Loosely based on 1981’s “The Fan” starring Lauren Becall and James Garner and 1996’s imitation starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes; Bollywood heartthrob, Shah Rukh Khan, pulls out all the stops and plays both the “stalker” and the “star”. At …

Animation has to be sensationally compelling to ambush my attention and even more fascinating for me to become emotionally invested in the characters.  Disney’s “The Jungle Book” , inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s iconic tales,  directed by Jon Favreau (“Chef”),  staring child prodigy Neel Sethi, is a film to be viewed more than once, an enchanting story, rich with lessons, for …

“Life without labor is guilt; labor without art is brutality.” John Ruskin Director Andrew Rossi focuses on the annual New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, fashion extravaganza held on the first Monday in May; Vogue’s Anna Wintour and Met curator Andrew Bolton orchestrate this unique fundraiser. We experience the creation of the massively successful 2015, “China: Through the Looking Glass”. …

Director Jerzy Skolimowski’ s exhilarating, edgy, electrifying romp for an eleven-minute time span in luscious, contemporary Warsaw, has a deliciously paralyzing effect on the viewer; the dizzying pace renders one immobile for its fascinating and compelling 83 minutes.  Brilliant camerawork and editing bounces from one scenario to another, knowing these disparate individuals are destined to collide; Skolimowski’ s fathomless imagination …

This quiet, subtle film based on the life of Chet Baker (1929-1988) is tautly directed and written by Robert Burdreau and profoundly performed by Ethan Hawke; Baker’s warts are glaring and immutable; Hawke’s depiction focuses on his vulnerability, sensitivity and uphill struggle to starve off his burning, perpetual craving for heroine; Baker cannot touch his creative pinnacle without the “dust …