Instead of flying to Lima, Peru today to begin a charity challenge trek of the Inca trail to Machu Picchu I find myself grounded, but fortunately with a great many reading and viewing options. Movie releases have been delayed and theatres closed across the continent with uncertain consequences: https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/pandemic-theater-chains-survive-coronavirus-box-office-1202217581/ https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/christopher-nolan-movie-theaters-coronavirus-1202219510/ However this interruption is already proving to be a huge boon to streaming services which can continue to be enjoyed in at-home isolation.   I have a half dozen. For more see this link and the articles below on the many streaming choices. https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/streaming-wars-indie-film-criterion-collection-shudder-mubi-1202218898/             Under the circumstances all of the following review notes and recommendations ref...

Who knows what’s next as the viral panic spreads?   It may increase the popularity of streaming services that can be enjoyed safely in home isolation.   From among what’s available I highly recommend the phenomenal third season of the Netflix German series Babylon Berlin .   I got so hooked I ended up binge watching through the 12 episodes into the wee hours.   Major movie releases are already being postponed, among these the 25 th James Bond epic which was the cover of the March/April Cineplex magazine, carrying the rather unfortunate title “No Time to Die”.   You’ll have to wait for to see 007 again until November, if we all survive till then.   Sorry for the gallows humour. However at my most recent multiplex visit the noisy trailers for coming releases all seemed to have a horror angle … dystopia sells apparently.   Just as long as it stays on the screen!   Below I review three films starting with an updated and fuller commentary on one of ...

First let me note that the best viewing on any screen is the just released season 3 on Netflix of the phenomenal German production Babylon Berlin . To get a sense of why read this early commentary on the first season in the New York Review of Books : https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/04/28/voluptuous-panic/ I review four features below, including one at the multiplex.   But continuing on streaming content I share the reservations about the new Amazon Prime series “Hunters” expressed in this recent discussion on CBC radio: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q/clip/15763459-auschwitz-memorial-criticizes-amazons-hunters-show-for-fictitious-holocaust-portrayal Viewer beware. Greed (UK 2019 https://tickets.greed-film.com/ ) This is also the title of one of the great classics of the silent era, from 1924 directed by Eric von Stroheim who was born to a Jewish family in Vienna. The original version was 9 hours long famously sparking a fight with studio mogul Louis B. Maye...