Netflix and Beyond

It is a rarity, but it is nothing short of stupendous when a film exponentially gets better and better; David O. Russell’s (“The Fighter”) rocks the charts with this winner. Anticipation eliminated: “Silver Linings Playbook” garnishes five sterling STARS!!!!! I loved it. From its tragic-comic commencement: “Pat Solitano” (herculean performance by Bradley Cooper) is picked up from a stint in ... Read More »

Beautifully filmed,  exquisitely acted Danish movie revolving around the disastrous marriage of Englishwoman Caroline Mathilde (sister of King George III) to her cousin Danish King Christian VII. The film commences in 1766. Caroline is fifteen years old, accomplished, well-read and a musician; schooled in the ways of the age, she envisions a romantic match,(obviously accomplished by proxy) where she and ... Read More »

A couple of years ago I spent the summer immersed in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln”; imbued with remarkable scholarship and monumental respect for a man who changed a country, freed a population; now, almost a hundred and fifty years after his death is revered, lionized, quoted feverishly and consistently by all political ... Read More »

Daniel Craig is an incredible actor but I felt was totally miscast as the dashing, elegant special agent “ 007,James Bond”; he lacked the debonair, savoir faire, Lothario charm and beauty of his predecessors; his female interactions hovered at the wham/bam level. He excelled as the robotic, mechanical slayer of evil miscreants, but lacked the instincts of a man who ... Read More »

An oxymoron; there are no “perks” to being a “wallflower”; many a wall was stained with my youthful DNA, some memories time does not erase;  watching “Charlie” dealing with his disturbing visions, paranoia and primarily crippling shyness; hoping for the balm of friendship to sooth his painful vulnerabilities. Logan Lerman’s performance as Charlie is skillful, lacking cloying sensationalism; as a ... Read More »

Never, is one reminded more,  that life is a series of transitions, than in Yaron Zilberman’s “A Late Quartet”; four supremely talented musicians, after twenty-five years of performing together have reached a nadir in their professional and personal lives. Every actor brilliantly imbues their character with profound dignity. Philip Seymour Hoffman (2012 is his year) is second violinist, “Robert Gelbart”, ... Read More »

What a remarkable surprise, entering with massive trepidation, realizing after fifteen minutes that “I really liked it”. “Cloud Atlas”, (referring to a symphony composed as the film progresses ) is based upon the novel by David Mitchell, directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski (“The Matrix”); it is elegant, beautiful, lyrical, metaphorical, comical, confusing and confounding;  a feast for the imagination; ... Read More »

A tiresome, true tale of an Israeli man, after the death of his 98 –year- old grandmother, discovering correspondence, photographs and empirical evidence of a lifelong relationship between his Jewish grandparents and a German family, ranking high in Nazi echelons; their friendship commenced  before the second world war and lasted well into the sixties with repeated trips to post-war Germany ... Read More »

For those with the “cut to the chase syndrome”, this line should suffice: I did not care for “Flight”! Admittedly, Denzel Washington is a terrific actor, even a great one, but he cannot save this tiresome, plummeting plot revolving around an alcoholic, cocaine-addicted airline pilot. From the onset we watch as he sniffs and drinks with a fellow airline employee ... Read More »

French director Lorraine Levy has created a nightmarish scenario that evolves into a unique and quite beautiful movie. Imagine living harmoniously for eighteen years, cradled in a niche of comfort, love, security; your solitary concern is how to fill the hours before entering military service or medical school when the apocalypse strikes and reveals that you were switched at birth; ... Read More »