Rose D. Cotton 
“Cyrano” was filmed in Sicily during the pandemic. There is an austere yet lavish look to the set, set in the 17th century.
One way Love. It’s hard to embrace, especially if you’re Cyrano De Bergerac – gifted with a knack for writing love letters, but not necessarily the romantic looks that go with it.
The classic love story was brought to life on the big screen by actors from Jose Ferrer in the 1950s to Steve Martin’s comic book ‘Roxanne’ in the 1980s. Now a new version is in theaters starring Peter Dinklage in the title role. Usually depicted with a long nose, the Cyrano in this version is small in stature.
Dinklage’s wife wrote the rendition for the stage, featuring her husband. Director Joe Wright (“Atonement,” “The Darkest Hour”) saw it, along with his girlfriend Haley Bennett. She is also reprising her role and we are gifted with the results. Kelvin Harrison, Junior completes the love triangle, as a dashing soldier who can’t properly express his feelings to the crazed Roxanne. So he leans on his friend.
“Cyrano” was filmed in Sicily during the pandemic. There is an austere yet lavish look to the set, set in the 17th century. They all sing too, with some sort of minstrel music from Bryce and Aaron Dessner of the Grammy-winning band “The National,” and there are full-scale dance numbers.
I really liked this movie. Dinklage presents a new range. Bennett is a breath of fresh air with a great voice to match. He’s only nominated for an Oscar, for costumes, but it can be hard to predict the Academy…much like Roxanne, who couldn’t figure out that her one true love was right under her nose all along.
(MGM. Rated PG-13. Duration 2 hr 4 min. In theaters only.)
Workshop 666
I only got to see the first 40 minutes of it, but that was enough to say that if you’re a Foo Fighters fan, you’ll get great enjoyment out of it.
The legendary group plays its own part. They rented a mansion in Encino in hopes of finding new inspiration for a long-awaited tenth album. The house turns out to be haunted by a macabre rock story. Leader Dave Grohl soon becomes demon-possessed, and we see a bunch of victims, one bloodier than the next.
You can tell Grohl really had fun with it, in fact they all seemed to. The heavy metal music deviated from their trademark rock, but that was fine. There are cameos from Whitney Cummings and Will Forte, but Lionel Richie steals the show, with a line he improvised.
(Open Road Films. Rated R. Runtime 1 hr 46 mins.)
A Homecoming Madea
Never Say Never with Tyler Perry.
We thought he was pulling off his hilarious “Madea” persona with 2019’s “Family Funeral” and his live tour. But when racial unrest and political discord were followed by the pandemic, he knew the world needed an extra dose. So here it goes again… and for the first time, directly on Netflix.
I haven’t seen “Homecoming”. It centers around the family reuniting for Madea’s great-grandson’s college graduation. (Of course, that also means Perry’s other characters.) Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll and his character from the popular sitcom “Mrs. Brown’s Boys” have also been thrown into the mix.
I’m always up for a good laugh Madea. So I’m going to check that. “Hail! »
(Netflix. Rated R. Running time 1 hr 45 min. Streaming.)
