Screen Test

What would RD do? That's been the recurring question lately. “RD” is shorthand for spiritual teacher and author Ram Dass. It was the name his Maui support team called him when they spoke to him, or about him. People whose identities grow larger than life sometimes need shorthand aliases to remind them of the difference between their public persona – like a separate entity with superpowers – and the flawed little human still living inside it. After a hemorrhagic stroke nearly killed him in 1997. the man who was born Richard Alpert in Boston in 1931, was left partially paralyzed in a wheelchair, with expressive aphasia showing his speech. The stroke happened on Maui, and made him unable to leave the island for the rest of his life. A prisoner of paradise, you might say. For the next two decades he continued his career, writing, teaching and guiding followers around the world. One of his themes in the later years was death and dying, which he described as “taking off a tight shoe.” Hi...

                                                                               Neon studios poster image via IMDb.com If you're not fond of the sight of blood, you might think twice about seeing “The Secret Agent.” Blood is the glue trying together the chapters of this Brazilian political thriller just nominated for four Academy Awards after winning the best-actor Golden Globe for Wagner Moura. Blood is both symbol and metaphor … not to mention literal, as gallons of the stuff flow through the fast-paced action. It comes from numerous donors, including one gnarly shark. Sharks, and the movie “Jaws,” are another recurrent theme for writer-director Kleber Mendonca Filho. Marcelo Alves (Moura) is not a secret agent. Instead, he is a one-time university professor forced underground by Brazil's ...

                                  Michael B. Jordan, twice, in “Sinners.”  Warner Bros. photo via IMDb.com When I saw “Sinners” the first time, I didn't review it. It was because of the vampires. What were a bunch of bloodsuckers doing in what would have otherwise been a sweeping historic epic – a brilliantly cinematic correction to the “Gone With the Wind” version of the Deep South? When awards season started cranking up a few months ago and “Sinners” was an obvious frontrunner, I went back and watched it again. The vampires still bugged me. But now I knew why they had to be there. Set in 1932, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both superbly played by Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown of Clarksdale in the Mississippi Delta in flashy suits with wads of cash in their pockets. After fighting in World War I, they made all that money joining forces with Al Capone's bootlegging mob in Chicago. No...

Laura Dern, Will Arnett and Calvin Knegten in “Is This Thing On?” Jason McDonald/Searchlight Pictures photo via IMDb.com Laura Dern won an Oscar for playing the divorce attorney in “Marriage Story.” Now, in “Is This Thing On?” she's the one getting the divorce. Hmmm, did she miss something … ? Her character Tess Novak, a former volleyball champion, takes the breakup in stride. Between her young sons, the dogs, her homey home and a possible new career coaching, there's not much room for depression. Her husband Alex (Will Arnett) handles it a little differently. He accidentally wanders into a comedy club one open-mic night, and before you can say, “Is this thing on?” he's doing stand-up comedy about the divorce and the sorry state of his life in general. Unlikely as it may sound, this is all based on true events. At least that's what it says in the end titles, right after the director's credit for Bradley Cooper. Cooper also costars as the goofball husband of Andra Da...

                           Leonardo DiCaprio in “One Battle After Another.”  Warner Bros. Pictures photo via IMDb.com …  Tough job but someone's gotta … , was the mantra during my decades of getting paid to review movies when the end of the year rolled around and it was time to make my Best List. I'm doing it pro bono now, but old habits die hard. Still, on the eve of a milestone birthday – the big 8-0 – there have been some lessons learned, and some changes made along the way. “Best” for openers. It's only taken this many decades to realize there's no such thing. True, prizes are given in creative endeavors of all sorts, but it's an imprecise calculation at best. It's occurring to me that none of us even see the same movie … and whatever we're watching isn't what the filmmakers pictured in their minds when they envisioned and created the thing. Sure, we follow the story they're telling, we escape into the w...

                     Stellan Skarsgard and Elle Fanning in “Sentimental Value.”  Neon photos via IMDb.com. Why do genius film artists like Norway's Jochim Trier make movies like “Sentimental Value”?  Why fill a movie screen with the pain some fathers and daughters have expressing their love?  That question crossed my mind as I watched the fragile drama unfold. But by the time it reached its precarious victory in the last scene, I had my answer. Winner of this year's Grand Prize at Cannes, nominated for numerous Golden Globes, expect to see “Sentimental Value” up for a lot of Oscars, too, including Best Picture in Foreign Language  a nd  English. Stellan Skarsgard delivers a masterful if maddening performance as Gustav Borg, who divorces his wife when his daughters are still young girls, but returns to the beloved family home for his ex-wife's funeral. His reappearance rekindles unresolved resentments for the...