Cyrano, I Love You
Those were the words that Peter Dinklage, title character in this brilliant interpretation of Edmond Rostand’s 19th Century play was longing to hear. It took over two hours of sword fighting, soul searching songs, engaging choreography, consuming visual settings and a tour de force by a cast of beautifully matched actors re-framing […]
Death on the Nile
The film may not be “perfect” in the aggrandized Hollywood critical sense, but it is an engaging, entertaining, challenging, beautifully presented film. And that, we would opine, is why we go to the movies in the first place. We want to be entertained. We want to be diverted. We want to think […]
It seems that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences love to fool moviegoers every year. The nominations for this year’s OSCARs provided the Academy with several opportunities to confuse … and they did not disappoint.
For most filmgoers, the real battle is for Best Picture … with the list of contenders seven strong, as […]
Being the Ricardos
Luci and Desi. They were giants. Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. They are legends. Aaron Sorkin. He’s an undisputed genius. Add together, mix well and roll out onto the screen as Being the Ricardos and the recipe holds up from start to two hour and five minute finish.
It’s highly unlikely that many of […]
Paul Thomas Anderson, writer and director (read “auteur”) of “Licorice Pizza” has a fondness of Los Angeles that infuses every scene of his latest film. It’s 1973 in the San Fernando Valley – that vast string of bedroom communities north of the Hollywood Hills and Mulholland Drive. During the 2 hours and 13 minutes of […]
Spielberg+ Bernstein+ Kushner+ Sondheim= AMAZING
The wait for West Side Story is finally over as the pandemic release of Steven Spielberg’s rendering of the class has finally hit the theaters, just in time for the holidays. And, it is …AMAZING
From the opening credits through to the final heart-rending high angle shot of the impromptu funereal parade, […]
Streaming on Netflix
The Power of the Dog is a masterful, engaging, intricate film that serves as a bully pulpit for both director Jane Campion and actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Campion has long been considered one of the elite writer/ directors ever since The Piano debuted in 1993 and the awards community went on hyper-drive.
As for Cumberbatch, […]
Very early in the unfolding saga of the catastrophic decline of the Gucci family, it becomes obvious that Producer/Director Ridley Scott wants us to understand that the avalanche was internally created, simply waiting for the right earthquake to make the mountain tumble. Lady Gaga (Patrizia Reggiani) is the earthquake, and much to the delight of […]
“Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?”
There is something ominous about the closing line of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. The film, delayed for release because of the pandemic and its likely influence on worldwide box office, has finally appeared in theaters and, simultaneously on HBO Max.
As Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) and his mother, […]
The critic for The Guardian may have said it best. “… a neat and gripping thriller …” What was true in that send up of 1962’s Dr. No, the first of the James Bond film franchise, seems equally appropriate for No Time to Die, playing locally at most theaters.
This is Daniel Craig’s “goodbye” in the […]