Netflix and Beyond

Knowing the outcome of this disastrous debacle in no way diminishes the intensity of Michael Bay’s film based on the book (“13 Hours: the Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi”) by Mitchell Zuckoff; sensationalized depiction of the days leading up to September 11, 2012, in little-known Benghazi, Libya. Driving through the circuitous, dusty streets the soldiers are met …

Strange, eerie Lilliputian-like puppets depict a lugubrious, despondent “slice of life”, pervasive and experienced in the real world, simply “Michael Stone” (voice of David Thewlis) a self-help maven, is suffering from a catastrophic mid-life crisis. His perilous condition leads him to seek out an old flame, cultivate a new one, “Anoma”Lisa” (voice of Jennifer Jason Leigh); she is an anomaly, …

In life (if one lives long enough)  negative epiphanies must be dealt with; “never again” to suffer the indignities and remorse of over-eating, smoking, drinking or in this case enduring 180 minutes of inane and foolish repartee by supposedly talented individuals. From commencement to conclusion beer-swilling host, Ricky Gervais, did not disappoint with his iconoclastic slurs, humorless barbs, toothy guffaws; …

Excellent pairing of two Bollywood superstars makes for a substantially entertaining film: Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar star as wounded men, victims of a palatably evil politician (masterfully malicious Neil Nitin Mukesh); both have lost daughters, whose demise may be traced to this egregious character. Bachchan, “Pandit” is a crippled, chess Grandmaster, his survival revolves around teaching the game to …

“Man is not himself only, he is all that he sees; all that flows to him from a thousand sources. He is the land, the lift of its mountain lines, the reach of its valleys.” Mary Austin Director Alejandro G. Inarritu and actor Leonardo DiCaprio lionize legendary Hugh Glass, a trapper and frontiersman, a man who in the early 19th …

Quentin Tarantino never fails to titillate, traumatize and massively entertain; probing the depths of his horrifically fantastic, fertile imagination he gifts audiences his best yet; a MUST in 70mm, (a rarity in the film world: “Ben Hur”, “Mutiny on the Bounty”, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”, “Battle of the Bulge”, “Khartoum”) worth every dime of the extra fee, …

Director Peter Landesman monumentally scores with “Concussion” based on the GQ article “Game Brain” (2009) by Jeanne Marie Laskas, which delves into the traumatic, devastating effects of repeated bludgeoning suffered by football players in pursuit of victory; the brain can withstand only so much brutality before it ceases to be viable, collapses,  dies,  taking the essence of the man in …

There is an incandescence, a luminosity, an aura that twenty-five-year-old Jennifer Lawrence possesses in staggering proportions; it is intoxicating, spellbinding watching her perform; she seizes and controls to the core her every character, and in portraying Joy (Mangano), the inventor of the Miracle Mop, she adds another rarefied gem to her ever-expanding list of archival achievements. Director David O. Russell’s …

Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay give subtle,  profound performances as a retired couple on the verge of their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. Directed by Andrew Haigh, based on a 10-page story by David Constantine, this quietly brilliant psychological scenario will haunt one long after its initial viewing. After two screenings I am still unsettled, pondering, contemplating the conclusion. “Geoff” (Courtenay) receives …

Reunions. They are a fact of life: schools, sororities, fraternities; encroaching, looming every five or ten years; once the decision to attend is made, the dieting, exercising, spa days grow exponentially with the magnitude of the number; culminating in disappointment once the event, infused with unrecognizable peers and jejune conversation, has fizzled and one heads home to microwave the frozen …