Hollywood

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (1954-2004, published posthumously) gifted readers one of the most creatively untoward heroines to grace, dazzle and spellbind lovers of fictional mastery, in contemporary literature; “Lisbeth Salander” a Merlin of computer hackers, a female Jackie Chan, a savant with an uncanny perspicacity, was first depicted by Noomi Rapace, in the Swedish ... Read More »

Tolstoy said “the greatest surprise in life is old age”; haunting veracity of this phrase glibly informs the scenario of writer/director Elizabeth Chomok’s “What They Had”; a refined portrait of diminishment; “Ruth Everhardt” (sublime, Blyth Danner) is enmired in the quicksand of “Alzheimer’s”, its pathos affecting “Burt” (Robert Forster is galvanizing) her desperately devoted husband;  “Nick” (irrepressible Michael Shannon) beleaguered, ... Read More »

Gloom, bleakness, a pensive dread hovers over the initial scenes of this vital, directorial debut by Paul Dano; a family on the brink of disintegration, newcomers to a tiny community in Montana, where fires are devouring the mountainous range; blue skies warring with encroaching, villainous smoke.  The major conflagration is silently raging in the “Brinson” household: “Jerry” (another prescient performance ... Read More »

Run to see this film, worth so much more than its admission fee; run to see the enormity of Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara), the lead singer in the English band “Queen”; run to see glorious filmmaking and a musical feat of wizardry, the total reenactment of Queen’s 1985 set at “Live Aid” concert,  Wembley Stadium, London.  ... Read More »

By far, one of the most intelligent films of the year. Director George Tillman Jr.’s outstanding depiction of Angie Thomas’ novel “The Hate You Give” is spellbinding; contemporary to the point of comfortable redundancy: we recognize the protagonists, we understand them, we know them, we befriend some and avoid others; characterization developed to perfection, especially “Starr Carter” a dynamic sixteen-year-old ... Read More »

In the countless of films I have seen, there have been a limited number of performances that I have never forgotten: Louise Rainer, “The Great Ziegfeld”, Audrey Hepburn, “Roman Holiday”, Katharine Hepburn, “Lion in Winter”, Maggie Smith, “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”, Meryl Streep, “Sophie’s Choice”, Jane Fonda, “Klute”, Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”; Melissa McCarthy’s sublimely perfect ... Read More »

Addiction. Millions grasp its power: sugar, nicotine, alcohol, heroin; in “Beautiful Boy” it’s crystal meth that has wrapped its poisonous tentacles around the mind, body and will of Nic Sheff; Tomothee Chalamet’s staggeringly brilliant portrait of a boy’s lust for an aphrodisiac, so euphoric, tantalizing, delicious in its initiation, that by the time he recognized its toxicity, impotency reigned against ... Read More »

In preparation for, hopefully, the final version, of forty-year-old franchise, “Halloween” I watched the original, created in 1978; at the time I thought it was the most terrifying film I had ever seen; the frightful flavor, sans some of its redolence, is still there; with hindsight, its fascination lies, in its lack of technological effects; no seat belts, no cell ... Read More »

From the onset, director Damien Chazelle balances astronaut Neil Armstrong’s (1930-2012) life between the professional and the personal; initially plummeting through the atmosphere ensconced in space attire, versus his raw heartbreak, while caring for his dying daughter, Karen (1959-1962); Ryan Gosling humanizes (with the aid of Neil’s sons Eric and Mark) this remarkable, taciturn icon, whose legendary walk on the ... Read More »

Historically, female authors have camouflaged their gender by electing male nom de plumes: the Bronte sisters, Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848), Anne (1820-1849), used the sobriquet “Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell”; Mary Anne Evans (1819-1880), “George Eliot”; Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), “A. M. Bernard”; Karen Blixen (1885-1962), “Out of Africa” and “Babette’s Feast” renown, disguising herself as “Isak Dinesen”; today’s J. ... Read More »