Lovable, despicable? Possibly, bucketsful of both. Undebatable, it is electrifying, mesmerizing, hypnotically addictive for every second of its three plus hours. Writer/director Damien Chazelle (“LaLa Land”,”Whiplash”) gifts a glorious, energetic, oftentimes inordinate paean to Hollywood’s embryonic bygone era. Commencing in 1926 silent movies are at their peak and idolized leading man “Jack Conrad” (Brad Pitt, with age exponentially swells, imbuing ... Read More »
Occasionally, I see a film, that in retrospect, I wish I hadn’t; Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” captures the top prize in this category besting “Mother”, Aronofsky’s 2017 movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem and Michelle Pfeiffer; examples of boundary destruction at the “celestial” level; a more fitting title would have been “Death by Diet”. Granted Brendan Fraser’s ardent, overpowering depiction ... Read More »
Olivia Coleman, out of 156 nominations has won 66, including an Academy Award (“The Favourite”, 2018) and three Golden Globes; this year she is again nominated for her stunning characterization of a floundering, fragile woman tenuously teetering on the thread between reality and disillusionment; treating viewers to an astounding, catastrophically heartbreaking performance; “Hilary Small”, manages the Empire Theatre on the ... Read More »
Never have I reviewed a film a second time; but at the finale of the 10/14 (FOUR STARS!!!!) review I knew I had to see it again; I was troubled by the inconsistencies, conundrums, anomalies overshadowed by Cate Blanchett’s immensely prodigious performance as “Lydia Tar”. Initially, I did not like Lydia; she was too perfect, too controlled, too ... Read More »
Auteur Jerzy Skolimowski at eighty-four endows film lovers a divinely consummate movie experience; inspired by Robert Bresson’s 1966 “Au Hasard Balthazar”; “EO” (compilation of six donkeys) follows an unscripted path, through the eyes of a donkey, whose odyssey opens the minds and sensitivities of all who view it. From the onset, EO stoically accepts his/her fate; as an observer, from ... Read More »
I love foreign films; possibly because of the riveting concentration needed to follow the narrative or maybe because I lust after cultures different from my own, cultures that add to the elasticity of my brain, expand my imaginative landscape and enhance my existence. “Lost Illusions” (winner of 7 categories at 2022 Cesar Awards including Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Xavier ... Read More »
“BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER” Overcoming palpable hesitancy, not imagining a “Black Panther” without the epochal Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020), but at the insistence of my youngest and astronomically smart friend, I went; it was every bit as superlative as described and redolently reverential to the deceased actor. Pungently powerful as the technical effects, cinematography, acting acuity, the underlying message of strength ... Read More »
Individuals of iconic, legendary stature are, at a pivotal point, retrospective; pursuing their walkway to prominence; in recent years directors have splayed upon the screen the intimacy, the embryonic process to eminence: “Lady Bird” 2017 (Greta Gerwig); “Roma” 2018 (Alfonso Cuaron); “The Souvenir” 2019 (Joanna Hogg); “Belfast” 2021 (Kenneth Branagh); “The Hand of God” 2021 (Paolo Sorrentino). Surpassing all the ... Read More »
THE FABLEMANS (IN THEATRES) Individuals of iconic, legendary stature are, at a pivotalpoint, retrospective; pursuing their walkway to prominence; in recent years directors have splayed upon the screen the intimacy, the embryonic process to eminence: “Lady Bird”2017 (Greta Gerwig); “Roma”2018 (Alfonso Cuaron); “The Souvenir” 2019 (Joanna Hogg); “Belfast” 2021 (Kenneth Branagh); “The Hand of God” 2021 (Paolo Sorrentino). Surpassing all theabove biographical scenarios, Steven Spielberg at seventy-five bequests his pubescent history in the fabulous “Fable”mans”; consisting of the essential elements of a fable: symbolism, lessons, ... Read More »
Director Luca Guadagnino’s sublime sensitivity, “I Am Love”, “Call Me By Your Name”, “Brideshead Revisited”, is limitless, stratospheric; he has visualized, put on the screen, a narrative, emotions others have felt, but are incapable of expressing; his vision travels into untouched realms, recognizing, accepting the “other”, gifting viewers insights into those shunned, oftentimes horrified by; “Bones and All” (not for ... Read More »
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