Director Jonathan Levine, writers Liz Hannah, Dan Sterling, but pivotally, stars Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen are grounds for visiting “Long Shot”; an unlikely duo, a stupefying example of “opposites bonding”; initially incomprehensible, with progression, systematically comprehensible; Secretary of State, “Charlotte Field” (Theron) anticipating a run for the Presidency hires “Fred Flarsky” (Rogen) a freelance writer, to pepper her speeches ... Read More »
Director/actor Ralph Fiennes, with intelligence and empathy, brings to fruition Julie Kavanagh’s biography “Rudolf Nureyev: The Life”; Fiennes studies Russian, adding legitimacy to his role as Pushkin, Nureyev’s ballet instructor, and neophyte Oleg Ivenko is vastly credible as iconic Rudi, a twenty-three-year-old, imbibing in the “garden of earthly delights” in Paris, 1961. The conundrum lies in Rudolf Nureyev’s inimitable, ... Read More »
“Marveldom” scholarship is not required to appreciate the marvelous, metaphorical message pulsating at the epicenter of this stunningly fine and beautifully filmed morality movie. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, excavate the core of Biblical, Talmudic, Vedic and Qur’anic texts, battles between righteousness and infamy; sacrificing one’s life for a greater good; passionately needing icons to venerate: those immune to the ... Read More »
Ambition and over simplification stymied what should have been a legitimate political thriller; that being stated director Trevor Nunn and an inimitable cast, lend viability to the true story of a remarkably brilliant woman (Joan Stanley) who helped with the development of the atomic bomb, shared its secrets with the Russians, loved a misguided idealist (Leo), married a professor (Max) ... Read More »
Director Abhishek Varman’s ravishing epic, highlighting a triangular love affair in Lahore, Pakistan before the 1947 partition from India, scores with its whimsically wonderful cinematography, elaborate, exultant chorography and staggeringly sensational performances: Varun Dhawan, “Zafar” with well-oiled, pneumatic pectorals, is the illegitimate offspring (Kalank) of a Muslim/Hindu assignation who woos “Roop” (naively, pungently sensitive Alia Bhatt) in an arranged marriage ... Read More »
Regardless of your creed, or lack thereof, there are documented incidents, where science bows out, shrugs its shoulders and kneels to a higher power; “Breakthrough” based on the book “The Impossible” by Joyce Smith is such an event; John (imposing performance by Marcel Ruiz) the fourteen-year-old, adopted son, of Joyce and Brian Smith (Josh Lucas) falls into a frozen lake ... Read More »
When mediocrity stars in theatres, television can satiate the most discriminating, discerning viewer. Recently I watched three shows that resonated profoundly, leaving a luscious residue of memorable performances, extraordinary writing, staggering scenarios: “The Politician’s Wife”: British miniseries (1995) starring Juliet Stevenson as a loyal but betrayed wife of Conservative Minister “Duncan Matlock” (Ian Bannen) with an “escort” (Minnie Driver). ... Read More »
French director Claire Denis shares certain affinities with fellow filmmakers Terrence Malick and Lars von Trier; disturbing, ubiquitous uncertainty, aura of apocalyptic gloom hover at the epicenter of their films; “High Life” at times, breathtaking cinematographically, shades of Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, focuses on hardened criminals surviving in a space ship, floating in an alternate galaxy; commencing ... Read More »
Periodically, it happens; almost instantly, acknowledging the worthiness of the movie, but wishing to remove oneself from the onslaught of massive, bludgeoning depression; “Diane” marvelously depicted by Mary Kay Place is a middle-aged depressive, her focus on others to the exclusion of her own issues, is devouring her sanity; she is a list maker, visiting and feeding the sick, working ... Read More »
British writer/director Mike Leigh’s intelligent, compelling polemic referencing a shameful blot in English antiquity, demands and deserves profound respect from the viewer; 1819, four years after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo; with haunting memories of the French Revolution (1789) and its guillotined aristocrats, the activists, demanding reform, suffrage, tax relief, elicited quaking alarm in the status quo; trussed in their breeches, ... Read More »
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