V Gray

Quiet beauty dancing through our riotous lives. Absolutely perfect. I cried. And cried with the familiarity of these timelines, the kindred spirits. And then I smiled, knowing that I have made it past the darkness of losing someone I love.

Simply stunning in every way. Maestro the film is a feat that one can barely take in, it is so huge. Bradley Cooper, like his kindred spirit Leonard Bernstein teaches us again and again that we are never just one thing. See this film.

Visually stunning to counterpoint underwhelming performances. I liken this film to skipping a polished stone across the surface of a lake, letting it make contact where it may. We the audience are the lake, the stone did not touch us often enough, yet it is still deeply satisfying. Damn you Joaquin Phoenix! Most breathtaking, the cataclysmic cavalry scenes. Surreal in-camera sequences, dominated by choreographed war horse surges, the Battle of Austerlitz took us inside Napoleon's ruthless military mind. Throughout this film, we frequently experienced the vulgarity of the battlefield, in an era when cannons and horses led victories. Don't get me started on the drumming soldiers at Waterloo. To be honest, in its authenticity, the 'drummers' in situ underscored what clowns we are as human beings. Not surprising from Ridley Scott, whose iconic feature 'Gladiator' reminds us that military prowess, political positioning is always down to the decisive motivation of a very few individuals. No matter what the virtues, military victories are ephemeral, someone is always waiting in the wings to disrupt. Tragically this film resonates as it reminds us that the battlefields of today claim 'collateral damage' is the price of freedom, which is truly a veiled phrase for victory at any cost.

A beautiful story about love and the sacrifices we make, the compromises and the resistence. Performances sublime. Set in British Columbia, who can't love this.

Taut storyline, lots of procedural detail, heartbreaking portrayals of conflicted minds. Streaming on CBC.

Without boundaries, relationships at face value. A beautiful film, a profoundly tragic story that is replayed every single day in this world of the privileged classes, and yes they are experiencing a repugnant renaissance in the 21st century.

Incredible pacing, slow and entirely unpredictable. Lean dialogue, stunning long shots, settings gorgeous. Pitch perfect performances.

Watching this again, 3 years later. It is such a damned good film. From start to finish. No one touches this.

Winterbottom and Coogan blindsided me with a story that cajoles into narcissist fashion thuggery, amuses us with the absurdity of it all and then tears our heart out. The last 10 minutes are priceless. An interesting effort. Hopefully audiences will take away the overarching message. Greed is ugly, no more so than the industry that sells beauty.