Janet Shannon

The best movie I have seen in a long, long time.

Stellar performances and a story that is both sad and uplifting about the transformative power of human relationships. It reminded me that the world is filled with decent people.

Nick Nolte gives a compelling performance as Thomas Jefferson, whose attempts to write an anti-slavery clause into an early version of the Constitution were defeated by the unwillingness of many Southern colonies to surrender their slaves. Nevertheless, at the time he wrote the clause, he was prepared to dissolve his estate and free his slaves. Life never offered him the opportunity to do so following the success of the American Revolution, but eventually he did decided to free Sally Hammings, a slave with whom he had a long, fruitful liaison, and her children begat by him as well as her brother upon his death. The film captures his time as ambassador to France on the eve of the French Revolution.

An overabundance of naked, gay men cavorting in glamorous settings, a plethora of over-the-hill women dressed to the nines, two African Americans, a paucity of beautiful, young women and a complete absence of young lesbians describes the cast of the main characters of Netflix's movie, "Hollywood," a far-fetched fantasy about what might have been possible in Hollywood in the 40's had it been a more inclusive environment filled with broad-minded people willing to take personal risks for the greater good. The trouble is that it does nothing to stir one's interest in justice or equality because it has failed to include lesbians in its focus on gay liberation. The writers have gay men on the the brain and cannot seem to imagine that a single female star in Hollywood ever had to keep the fact that she liked girls to herself. Having a one track mind can be a flaw. Nevertheless the movie is entertaining in its early episodes, before it totally succumbs to its lop-sided fantasy.

A really entertaining film about the unlikely friendship that develops between a retired security guard (Robert Deniro) and his neighbor, a drag queen (Philip Seymour Hoffman). At the beginning of the story the two are at odds, but dramatic events bring them together to form a friendship that, initially, is a friendship of convenience. Gradually, it develops into something deeper. There is never a dull moment in this flick! Seymour Hoffman goes head to head with the great master, Deniro, and delivers a masterful, scathingly funny and touching performance.