One-line review: This anonymous “boy’s” coming-of-age story is universal. This is Taika Waititi’s second film, based on his Oscar-nominated short “Two cars one night, ” Although Waititi wrote Boy’s script before his first film, Eagle and the Shark, he decided to hold on to it after workshopping it at the Sundance Institute. It was a […]
This University is the Ivy League of continuing education. Tuition is free at NYSU (The New York Streets University), but you pay big bucks for room and board. NYSU doesn’t require a minimum GPA, conducts no exams, and awards no degrees. But attendance is mandatory because there are no online classes at NYSU. Here are
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One-line review: Well-aged wine in a charming new bottle, paired with some good cheese. I discovered this film only recently because of Taika Waititi’s rapidly rising star and the resulting interest in his previous work. This movie was a top grosser in New Zealand on its release, topping Taika’s previous film, Boy, and also screened
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (2016) Read More »
Blessed are those whose boats are rocked by oats. When did oats take over our lives as the bitter pill adults must swallow to get better? Most breakfast places serve oatmeal, but they are loaded with sugar and fat. I recently saw a healthy tip for eating your daily oatmeal: top it with creme fraiche!
One-line review: A National Geographic edition on the Wild West’s Coenesque inhabitants. The Ballad is an anthology of six short films in the Western tradition that the Coens wrote separately over the years. In fact, Tim Blake Nelson (Buster Scruggs) got the script in the early 2000s. But he didn’t know when and whether the
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One-line review: A migrant worker also helps an English farmer find love. God’s own country is a love story between two men working on a Yorkshire farm, and therefore comparisons with Brokeback Mountain are inevitable. But unlike Brokeback Mountain, neither homosexuality nor homophobia is God’s own country’s focus: love is. This is director Francis Lee’s
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Should applause be spontaneous or dictated by social norms? I first experienced the classism in applauding Western Classical music when attending a concert by a touring German Orchestra in Chennai, India. Chennai is the capital of Carnatic music, the classical music of South India. The venue for the concert was The Music Academy, a hallowed
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One-line review: A talented folk singer’s losing hustle to make it, thanks to mostly him getting in his way. Let us be clear that there would be no Inside Llewyn Davis without Oscar Isaac. Even the Coens admit that they thought the film’s lead was uncastable after a slew of auditions. It was impossible to
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013) Read More »
Creativity needs selfishness and selflessness. Most people are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s rule for success discussed in his book, Outliers: ten thousand hours of work spread over ten years (the work of late Professor Anders Ericsson). Although evidence is mixed about the holy grail of ten thousand hours – even Ericsson cautions about the role
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One-line review: Four middle-aged friends use alcohol to get back their high for living. Another Round’s original title in Danish is Druk, or binge drinking, which has no English equivalent. But the English title allows multiple interpretations of the term another round: it could be for a drink, love, and life. The film is director
ANOTHER ROUND (2020) Read More »