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MASTER GARDNER (STREAMING)

“Gardening is a manipulation of the natural world.” Joel Edgerton gives a perfectly preened performance as “Narvel Roth”, a punctilious horticulturist in charge of dowager’s “Norma Haverhill” (pristinely aged Sigourney Weaver) elegant estate; he is her pawn, carrying out demands both in and outside the mansion. Director Paul Schrader gifts the complicated Roth a robotic intensity: meticulous biographer of floral ... Read More »

THE COVENANT (STREAMING), KANDAHAR (IN THEATRES)

“One cannot count the moons that shimmer on her roofs/or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.” Saib-e-Tabrizi Two films focusing on the travails of American soldiers and their interpreters in the unchartered, explosive, terrifyingly beautiful landscape of Afghanistan. There is keen edification in both films but Guy Ritchie’s “Covenant” is a more intimate, accurate dissection of the dependency, bond ... Read More »

YOU HURT MY FEELINGS (in theatres)

Constantly being accused of disliking “comedy”; a subjective art form, admittedly there’s a modicum of truth in the accusation; humor to me must be rib-cracking, mascara running, bladder imperiled; guffawing uncontrollably, lusting for a repetition of the hilarious scene. Movies like Woody Allen’s “Sleeper” or Mel Brooks “The Producers” pass the “funny” test but the stellar, iconic funniest film I ... Read More »

BLACKBERRY (in theatres)

I have yet to meet anyone who did not love their BlackBerry; I will be in its debt for eternity; it changed my life (which initially, felt ideal), added a freedom impossible to define and pole vaulted me into the internet marvels of the twenty-first century; still nostalgically mourn its loss. Canadian director/actor Matt Johnson’s tragicomedy about the meteoric rise ... Read More »

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET

Doubtfully, has there been a more enchanting film based on a book; Judy Blume’s novels are icons of realism; she excavates the minds, psyches of pubescent children rarely depicted on the page, let alone soaring on the screen; this masterfully profound adaptation resonates with all viewers, regardless of age or demographics. I loved every magical, candid, forthright moment. “Margaret” portrayed ... Read More »

SHOWING UP (in theatres)

Director Kelly Reichardt has made some compelling, transfixing films; “First Cow” and “Certain Women” passed the scrutiny test of most critics. Sadly “Showing Up’s” lethargy exponentially expands as sculptor “Lizzy” (Michelle Williams, in a thirty-three & 1/3 depiction of an artist whose work resembles that of German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol) plodding, comatosely moves through her days; she is more comfortable ... Read More »

HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE (in theatres)

Electrifying and terrifying, sensationally realistic, here is fiction, whose genius lies in its documentary style; writer/director Daniel Goldhaber focuses on disillusioned, disenfranchised, environmental activists whose faith in the system has atrophied; their combined mission is to destroy a pipeline in Texas, alerting the populace to the toxic properties of “oil”, and the companies that deny their culpability and absence of ... Read More »

A GOOD PERSON (THEATRES, AMAZON PRIME)

A GOOD PERSON             (THEATRES, AMAZON PRIME) Not in the frame of mind to define “goodness” or its properties when it comes to an individual, but I know, without debate, a good film and “A Good Person” rocks with verisimilitude from the first scene to its quenching conclusion. Written and directed by Zach Braff, starring ... Read More »

AIR (IN THEATRES)

Three “letters” that defy categorization; one of the classical elements, essential for life; watching another pairing of two men destined to reign in the hierarchy of nascent filmmakers, pungently aware that “Air” is more than a component for living, it represents a man eluding nature’s laws, flying within the boundaries of a basketball court, securing an everlasting legacy of supremacy, ... Read More »

SIMPLY STREAMING

Commencing with Covid cauterization, cultural sterilization, forced isolation, the film world refused to be stymied, fostering escapism, so divinely pristine, our sensibilities are satiated within the hallowed walls of our domiciles. Still frequenting theatres but gorging on the fodder bountifully served 24/7 on a myriad of streaming devices: NETFLIX: “WAR SAILOR“, depicts the lives, of two Norwegian merchant sailors, friends ... Read More »

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