Adventures in Words

  Hugh Grant as Mr. Reed in “Heretic.”  https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2504771097/?ref_=ext_shr_em   Photo and trailer courtesy of A24 - © A24 via IMDB Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, frequent punchlines of the joke at this time of year, divide their Golden Globe nominations into two categories: Dramas, which usually dominate the Academy Awards; and everything else, which the HFPA lumps together as Comedy or Musical. There are even more categories and subsets in the TV nominations. This is a good way of multiplying the number of Big Stars   who will show up for the Golden Globe ceremony next Sunday on CBS.  Although the Globes aren't as much fun as they were when Ricky Gervais emceed and Jack Nicholson in his Ray-Bans was a fixture in the front row, the red-carpet soiree is still known for its open bar and tipsy attitude that separate the Globes from the more high-minded, and slightly stodgier Oscars, which will announce their nominat...

Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson in “Babygirl https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2219034137/  ref_=ext_shr_em   Photo and trailer courtesy of A24 - © A24 via IMDB.com Maybe if young actor Harrison Dickinson didn't play such a smug, arrogant creep, it would be easier to believe Nichole Kidman's character could instantly develop such a dangerous attraction to him in the new erotic thriller “Babygirl.” And maybe if there weren't a real person named Luigi Mangione seducing millions of social media followers with a similar posture of sexy entitlement as he faces murder charges for a cold-blooded killing, it would be easier to dismiss this kinky drama written and directed by Halina Reijn as pure fantasy. Either way, the movie is pretty much of a mess. It's getting a bit of buzz at the moment for Kidman's recent Golden Globe nomination, and for the –  gasp –  lengths she went to to earn it.  In case you've missed the sizzling ad campaigns, “Babygirl” opens with an app...

  Elle Fanning and  Timothée Chalamet  in "A Complete Unknown."    Photo and trailer via IMDB.com  https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2538325529/?ref_=ext_shr_em Even if you've heard the songs ten-thousand times, one of the many remarkable things about “A Complete Unknown” is remembering – or reliving – the sensation of hearing them for the first time. People who tear up just watching the trailer for this Bob Dylan biopic will know what I'm talking about.  People who don't – including a couple of generations who weren't around yet – have a lot to learn from writer-director James Mangold's magnificent retelling of Dylan's early years. They span his 1961 arrival in Greenwich Village and pilgrimage to the bedside of dying Woody Guthrie, to  the Newport Folk Festival  where he upended the folk music world he had championed by going electric in 1965. The movie features incredible Golden Globe-nominated performances – more like feats of channeling – by T...

            Trailer via IMDB.com:   https://www.imdb.com/video/vi988989721/?ref_=ext_shr_em   Stark and daring, “Brutalism” was a name given to a style of modern architecture that flourished in the '50s and '60s. Its curves and sharp angles were formed of humble materials like rebar and concrete. Light and shadow danced dramatically across its sheer walls and through its bold windows. In a sense, “The Brutalist” – nominated for numerous Golden Globes including Best Drama – is a work of architecture, too. If you can get past the title and its three-and-a-half hour runtime, it offers epic visions of immigrant aspirations and the American dream (pro and con) through a highly stylized lens. Best Actor nominee Adrien Brody delivers a  penetrating, fearless performance as  László Toth, a brilliant Hungarian Jewish architect who survives the World War II carnage of his homeland and arrives at the feet of the Statue of Liberty hoping to begin an...

Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofia Gascón in “Emilia Pérez.”  https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1984087577/?ref_=ext_shr_em Netflix photo and trailer link via IMDB.com Spoiler alert:  “Emilia Pérez,” leading the field of Golden Globe nominees announced Monday, is the story of a silver-toothed leader of a ruthless Mexican drug cartel who has a sex-change operation and becomes a saint. It's a musical.  I don't normally – as in never – give away surprises in thrillers. Much less, musical thrillers. But since this one also falls under the genres of comedy and crime on the Internet Movie Data Base, all bets are off. I'm not sure I get the comedy part, but that doesn't distract from the fascination of watching its colorful, uniquely twisted and surprisingly touching plot unfold. Folks in the background speak a variety of subtitled languages, and are liable to break into song and dance at key dramatic moments. It's unique and weird … and a lot of fun. Audaciously directed and co-writt...

   DC Studios image via IMDB.com What is a hero? wonders Christopher Reeve in the last scene of “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.”  Turns out the stricken actor-turned-activist is not the only hero in this powerful, tear-jerking documentary directed by Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui.  His children Matthew, Alexander and Will, all now grown, and especially his late wife Dana carry the weight of establishing Reeve's legacy long after the accident that put him in a wheelchair and on a ventilator for the last decade of his life. Then there are the friends, co-stars like Jeff Daniels, Susan Sarandon and Glenn Close, whose memories provide some of the funniest and most touching chapters of the fable of the man who could fly. Robin Williams, Reeve's best friend since they were roommates at New York's prestigious Julliard School, makes frequent appearances in the archival footage, becoming both brother and guardian angel during Reeves' fight to recover from paralysis....