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” ... Read More »
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) ... Read More »
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 ... Read More »
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 ... Read More »
“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”. ... Read More »
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 ... Read More »
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 ... Read More »
In a ten-day period there has been a blitzkrieg of biopics about singers/musicians born between the years 1923-1929; inspired geniuses, “Apollo” (Greek mythological god of music) shed his potency, enabling them to sparkle above the fray; more than their distinguishing gifts, it is the lure of illicit substances that infuses, defines their commonality: Hank Williams, (1923-1953), “I saw the Light”; ... Read More »
Harrowing. Haunting. A drama so powerfully filmed and acted it will hover eerily in your consciousness for days after viewing. “Krisha” (sensational portrayal by Krisha Fairchild), a woman in her 60’s perpetually stares in the mirror searching for shadows of her bygone beauty; the camera mercilessly strokes a face ravaged by alcoholism; written and directed by Trey Edward Shults. Krisha, ... Read More »
How do average, relatively intelligent parents, cope with a prodigy? Writer/director Jeff Nichols, more than entertaining fantastical journey, featuring an eight-year-old boy, “Alton” (miraculously performed by Jaeden Lieberher) with skill sets beyond the norm and a time schedule predetermined by unknown forces, presciently addresses this dilemma; his father, “Roy” (another stunning portrayal by Michael Shannon) facing supernatural challenges and “Lucas” ... Read More »
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