Netflix and Beyond

The good news: it is an excellent film; the not so good news: it is redundantly predictable.  For those who did not devour the trilogy written by Stieg Larsson( “The Girl Who Played with Fire”, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest”) or see the Swedish movie versions or are returning from an alternate universe; entertainment, mystery, engrossment are yours ... Read More »

There are a myriad varieties of pain: physical, anything from an ingrown toenail to a bullet wound; psychological, the mind can be just as fractured as a bone; broken heart, a bloodless, agonizing gash that can be fatal. “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” corners the market on the blindly, excruciating, bludgeoning pain of BOREDOM! This film is a travesty ... Read More »

Let’s state the obvious and move on. Charlize Theron is a gifted actor and has an Oscar to prove it (“Monster”).  She has physical attributes that most can only fantasize or dream about. So why take the role of “Mavis Gary”? Who is “Mavis” ? She is a washed- up mediocre writer of young adult fiction; she is a dissipated ... Read More »

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Carl Jung (1875-1961).  Dissertations have been written on the similarities and disparities between these iconic founders of psychoanalysis. David Croenberg (“A History of Violence”) spins an accurate version of the relationship between these men whose tools revolved around “discussion”, “talking” to unearth the screeching pain of dreams, hysteria, psychosis; the time is pre -WW1. Carl Jung is ... Read More »

  This outrageous, outlandish, horrific yakuza (Japan’s crime syndicate) film written, directed and starring Takeshi Kitano; he earns the blame and deserves no fame for this travesty of mutilation and obnoxious display of severed body parts. This gory scenario forsakes and destroys all boundaries accepted, expected in most organized crime films (“The Godfather”). Everyone dies, creatively; guns, knives, even banal ... Read More »

Enchanting, fascinating, spellbinding homage to the bygone, halcyon days of the silent film genre. This magical movie captures the aura of the waning 1920’s-early 1930’s, when times was simpler and “stars” were revered and protected by the press; always the epitome of glamour they would be incapable of envisioning the dawning of “grunge” and  “jeaned” culture pervasive in today’s celebrity ... Read More »

Addiction. It manifests itself in all forms; simple substances transcend their banal purposes and become lethal entrapments: alcohol, pills, food; the act of “shopping” , “acquiring” can lead to bankruptcy; gambling destroys the gambler and all he or she holds dear. “Anonymous” organizations claim a myriad of nameless, damaged, strangled spirits, seeking salvation. “Shame”, shamelessly addresses the obsession, disease of ... Read More »

Based on the novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick Martin Scorsese has created a 3-D fantasy, a tale resonating with reality, for adults. This exceptionally beautiful film is a homage to Georges Melies (1861-1938); a forgotten man, but pivotal in the archives of film. Children might be engrossed by the special effects and orphaned “Hugo”,( a bland ... Read More »

Marilyn Monroe died August 5th, 1962; two months after her thirty-sixth birthday; dead almost fifty years yet her legacy is as vibrant as ever. A phenomenon that puzzles today, defies comprehension; a magnetism that exponentially gathers devotees with the passage of time. The film is based on a book by filmmaker Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne as handsome, vapid  “Colin”; who ... Read More »

This wonderful movie is quintessential proof that George Clooney is not just a pretty face. As “Matt King” he portrays a man whose life has been vivisected by tragedy; an absentee father, his wife Elizabeth, lies in a coma;  he is confronted and confounded by his seventeen and ten- year- old daughters; they are aliens and he is clueless as ... Read More »