Netflix and Beyond

“Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. Cooking done with care is an act of love.” Craig Claiborne. “Chef” is an ambrosial feast, not solely for the palate, but the mind, heart and imagination; I never wanted this film to end. Jon Favreau (writer/director/star) gifts audiences a delectable homage to the passion, obsession, sheer  unmitigated happiness that the ... Read More »

Impossible to obliterate a highly creative monolithic monster, a mutant descendent of the dinosaur family;  thriving on   radioactivity,  deliciously dished by viable governments, determined to erase him from the globe; fortunately for viewers “Godzilla”, an amphibian of mammoth magnitude,  still possess pungently powerful immunities to weapons of mass extinction.   Interestingly “Godzilla” lacks the “fear factor”; being my first exposure to ... Read More »

Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014) stars in this unfortunate, misguided,  sad film, based on a puny, weary working class town imbued with minor minds, alcoholic imbeciles, petty miscreants and derelicts. Directed by John Slattery, Jr. “God’s Pocket” (a metaphor for the mundane, struggling average man, in need of spiritual guidance, protection); Hoffman is “Mickey Scarpato” a meager thief confronted, confounded by ... Read More »

This interesting and intelligent film focuses on a minimally highlighted slice of slavery’s abhorrent effects, and the Civil War (1861—65), in North America. 1864. Thirteen- years- old, fatherless, and working for a bounty hunter, “Will” (marvelous, insightful performance by Ashton Sanders) is sent to find freedmen and runaway slaves; “Burrell” (pungently evil depiction by Bill Oberst, Jr.) rules with killing ... Read More »

Recently there have been a plethora of films based on real- life, unknown characters, with the absence of fiction even mediocre movies generate positive responses: “The Railway Man” (Erik Lomax); “Walking With the Enemy” (Pincas Tibor Rosenbaum) and “Belle”, directed by Amma Asante, the remarkable story of “Dido Elizabeth Belle”  an aristocratic woman of mixed race; raised by her great ... Read More »

Trouble threatened when I started rooting for the villains, their mission was clearly defined, whereas “Peter Parker” was in an indeterminate ennui, limbo; having graduated from High School (a real age stretch), debating between doing his laundry or saving the city from catastrophic electrocution; Spider Man falls into the malaise that so many contemporary juveniles experience; needing time to “find ... Read More »

For those of you with a challenged attention span I am giving this salacious sludge, staring the stammering savant (Woody Allen) 1/2 star. Mr. Allen has gifted his legacy to actor/writer/director John Turturro. “Fading Gigolo” is a pathetic scenario revolving around an inventive florist “Fioravante” (Turturro), financially destitute, who allows himself to be conscripted into male prostitution by his friend ... Read More »

Tom Hardy as “Ivan Locke” gives one the most remarkable,  profound performances I have ever seen; breathtakingly poignant, his mellifluous, honey-infused Welsh accent, carries the film through travesties and pain; never suffering a loss of control; his universe crumbles as he refuses to be deterred from his mission. Written and directed by Steven Knight (“Eastern Promises”), this brilliant, poetic tale ... Read More »

On a recent trip to Amsterdam my friend and I spent time at the Portuguese Synagogue, Jewish History Museum and the Dutch Theatre (holding venue for thousands of Jews, before being sent to various concentration camps); painfully and powerfully connected to WWII, a shameful testimony to genocide, yet positive, because it challenges visitors to reflect and never forget the ultimate ... Read More »

Here is a Bollywood film guaranteed to entertain most audiences. Lacking the pervasive silliness that informs so many of India’s romantic comedies, it resonates with universal themes, enchanting performances by all the principals, stunning song and dance numbers, gifting audiences warmth, joy and empathy. Alia Bhatt is “Ananya Swaminathan” a Tamilian girl from Chennai; she is feisty, deliciously beautiful and ... Read More »