Netflix and Beyond

After 20 films, all comprising a bovine blob, sloshing simultaneously in my beleaguered brain, recognizing a need for a stimulus-free void to synthesize, analyze, masticate and separate the mediocre from the sublime; arriving home to the Academy Award nominations, exhausted, exhilarated, energized by the electric, enticing, exciting, imaginative world of cinema, knowing its ubiquity will never cease to overwhelm and ... Read More »

HAPPIEST OF NEW YEAR’S TO ALL MY DEVOTED SUBSCRIBERS. YOUR COMMENTS, INSIGHTS NEVER CEASE TO BRING ME JOY, WISDOM AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING MINUTES. FILM CONSTANTLY BROADENS HORIZONS, WARMS THE HEART, CHALLENGES CONCEPTIONS, KEEPING THE ARTERIES OPEN AND THE MIND ELASTIC. THANK YOU! BE ON THE ALERT FOR MINI REVIEWS OF WHAT TO AVOID OR SEEK OUT IN THE MAGICAL REALM OF ... Read More »

There are times when the comfort of predictability, a cocoon of complacency is the perfect anecdote in a season of massive doses of mayhem, morbidity, dismemberment and destruction. “Promised Land” is the fare, pabulum, alleviating the the gloom of “Les Miz,” “Django Unchained”; a dose of “fracking” (a combination of water, sand and chemicals, hydraulically drilled into the ground to ... Read More »

Unmitigated, gruesome violence, guts and gore resonate throughout Quentin Tarantino’s 1858 saga of an unshackled slave “Django” (incredible, brilliant performance by Jamie Foxx) and his associate Dr.King Schultz (Christoph Waltz, genius informs his every role) as they roll through bigoted, slavery -infested South; bounty hunters; ignoring the “alive” and focusing on the “dead” portion of the “wanted” poster. The deftness, ... Read More »

Possibly, it is too much of a good thing, like the last piece of pizza, third glass of wine, fourth chocolate chip cookie but after seeing the play twice, listening and loving the sound track through the decades, I  could not muster the enthusiasm, expressed by the masses for the spectacular film version of “Les Miz”. It was too long, ... Read More »

There have been a plethora of macho moaners, agonizing (kvetching) over the fact that Lee Childs’s 6’5”, iconic protagonist, mighty, ex -military, super –hero, “Jack Reacher” is depicted in the film by 5’7”, Tom Cruise; groan no more; Cruise is sensational and captures the essence and psychology of the reclusive hero; in other words he “nails it”. Surprisingly, the movie ... Read More »

Some films are not worthy of the mental gymnastics to critique, or discuss; cutting to the chase, this is a prime example of directorship/writing (Judd Apatow) gone rogue! I remember 40; it’s been awhile but having limber retentive skills I can reminisce about the “times of yesteryear”; when marriage, children, merited respect, civility and a modicum of maturity, or at ... Read More »

A major perk of the movies is the opportunity to meet individuals that under normal circumstances you would never encounter; such is the case in “Rust and Bone”. Two self-absorbed, struggling souls,  meet in a club; “Stephanie”, (Marion Cotillard) trains orcas (killer whales; largest of the Dolphin family) and “Ali” (Matthias Schoenaerts)  a bouncer, rescues her from an altercation resulting ... Read More »

It felt appropriate to see this film on the final day, according to the Mayan calendar, of mankind’s existence; for many who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and the hundreds of thousands who perished, it was apocalyptic, and second only to the devastation of the 1556 earthquake in Shaanxi (Shensi), China.   Director J.A. Bayona’s magnificently horrifying, beautifully brutal scenes ... Read More »

If only this interminable road trip would have just covered the state of New Jersey instead of an eight day jaunt from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean; tedium reigns, with intermittent levity. A mother/son “Joyce” and “Andy” (Barbra Streisand/Seth Rogen) bond over predictable quips and tons of shtick; weary of the overbearing stereotype of the smothering “Jewish Mother” and ... Read More »