Moana 2

Familyfaire:  Moana 2  (2024)  PG   Moana 2 takes place when Moana receives a message from her wayfinding ancestors and must go on a journey to the far seas of Oceania. Moana and her friends will sail into dangerous, long-lost waters to seek out an island that could unify all the people of Oceania. I really liked Moana (2016). I thought it had a great message, some cool songs, and Auli’i Cravalho, who was delightful in the title role. Even Dwayne Johnson was fun in the role of the demigod. Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about Moana 2. Despite Auli'i Cravalho's excellent performance and top-notch singing, the plot and rest of the film are lacking. The film was originally conceived as a series, and that's what it feels like. It’s a bunch of 15-minute stories woven together, with some very forgettable songs and a plot that is incredibly hard to follow. The film has an ending that seems rushed and all too easy to happen when the rest of the movie was leading up to this breakthrough point. And don’t get me started on how Johnson’s demigod character has become annoying and bland. Add in Johnson once again trying to sing, and it makes for a long film to watch that only young kids will have fun with, mostly due to the stupid chicken that keeps popping up everywhere. A bonus scene at the end of all the credits explains what happened to one of the main characters in the film and sets up a Moana 3. Let’s hope they get better songs and a better plot.  My Rating: Cable  Moana 2 Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Maria  (2024)  R  Maria is about Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie), who was at one time the world's most famous opera singer with a voice that thrilled the masses. Now Maria has retired and has retreated to Paris, where she is attempting to mount a comeback but cannot escape the past. Maria is a film where the lead's performance lifts a meandering and weak script and makes it watchable. The film follows Maria during the last week that she was alive. She has been retired for five years but wants to mount a comeback. Her problem is twofold: she has a strong addiction to drugs, and her voice, once one of the world's greatest, has become a shadow of her former self. Jolie is brilliant in the role, playing a character who was a huge star whose every move was documented by the paparazzi. Jolie reveals the agony of realizing that Maria will never have that voice back, but she still believes she is a star. The film, though, lets Jolie’s performance down, mired in a series of weird flashbacks and drug-induced fantasies that don’t give you the emotional punch you need. The film never gives us in the flashbacks the big moments in her life, just glimpses of them as Maria stumbles through her last days. Still, Maria is a film to see because Jolie is spectacular in the role. I just wish it had been a different film that showed us why she was the star who captivated the world with her voice.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Maria Website  Now playing in select theaters and on the Netflix platform on December 11, 2024. 

My View:  Dear Santa  (2024)  PG-13   In Dear Santa, every year, tons of kids send letters to Santa. This year Liam (Robert Timothy Smith) sent his letter to someone else because he is a crappy speller: that man, Satan (Jack Black). Who the heck thought that giving Bobby Farrelly, one of the brothers behind films such as Shallow Hal and There’s Something About Mary, the reigns to a Christmas movie for kids would be a good idea? It is rated PG-13, so "it may not be suitable for children." I have no clue who this film is for. I just know that Dear Santa isn’t funny, has Jack Black making some pretty raunchy jokes, jokes that a kid Liam's age shouldn't be hearing and has an incredibly lazy ending. I wasn’t happy with this film almost from the start, as Liam isn’t a crappy speller (as I put in the description). Liam has dyslexia because that’s so funny. And the film goes downhill from there. Liam agrees to a deal with the Devil, granting him three wishes in exchange for his soul, and there are still more ha-ha moments to come. Maybe the kids will enjoy Post Malone being goofy but even that isn't funny. It's just kind of sad. If you find Jack Black dancing around in a leotard hilarious, go ahead and watch Dear Santa; otherwise, watch any other Christmas movie out there. They have to be better than this. My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again  Dear Santa Info     Now playing on the Paramount+ platform.

Indiefest:  All We Imagine as Light  (2024)   All We Imagine as Light is about Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha), nurses who work at the same Mumbai hospital and are roommates. Prabha and her husband, who is currently away in Germany, have not seen each other in a year, and the phone calls have stopped coming. Anu is younger and in a relationship with a Muslim boyfriend, which is challenging because of their conflicting religious beliefs. Prabha and Anu take a trip to a coastal town to get away, and there, they learn about life and love. All We Imagine as Light is a beautiful and touching story of love told from the perspective of two women. They are opposites in their lives, yet they are connected by a marriage custom that removes love from the picture. Anu is a young woman in the first stages of love, where you will do just about anything to steal time with that special person. Anu is blinded by love in the moment, not knowing or wanting to care about the future. All she wants is to be with the man she loves. The issue is that her parents won't approve of the relationship. In actuality, they are already preparing candidates for her to wed. Prabha is older, and she never had the chance to find love. Her marriage was arranged, and her husband is off in Germany, seemingly having forgotten her. There is a doctor who she likes and who is interested in her, but it can never happen because she is married. I loved the performances of the two leads. Kani Kusruti, as the sad and lonely Prabha, is brilliant in the role, letting us see Prabha’s true feelings in those small moments when she is alone and her thoughts take over. Divya Prabha, as Anu, is like a breath of fresh air when she is on the screen, making Anu someone who can contain herself when she is in her loved ones’ presence. This is also a love story about Mumbai, the city where they live. We are constantly shown the city as a warm and lively place where romance can happen, with the possibility of getting lost in the crowd on a train or in a restaurant. All We Imagine as Light is a story about love, loneliness, and the hope a city can bring you if you look hard enough. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  All We Imagine as Light Website  Now playing in select theaters. 

My View:  Beatles ’64  (2024)  Beatles ’64 is a documentary about the Beatles US debut, which created a frenzy that changed the world of music forever. Beatles ’64 is an inside look at the tour of America that the Beatles did in 1964, just months after President Kennedy had been assassinated. Two brothers, Albert and David Maysles, were given unprecedented access to the tour, as we join the Beatles in hotel rooms, trains and backstage at their legendary concerts. We get to experience what it was like for the four lads to tour America for the first time and experience the madness of how America’s teens went nuts over them. The footage includes interviews, both past and present, that detail the experience of being on that tour. And we get to see some of their legendary concert footage, not just the songs they sang on the Ed Sullivan Show, but also concerts in Miami and Carnegie Hall. You will fall in love with the four young men from Liverpool who are just as mystified by the mania that they inspired as the press is. Beatles ‘64 is a Beatles lover’s dream, but it’s also a way to understand how something like the Beatles coming to America could start the healing process of a country that had just lost a leader. My Rating: Full Price  Beatles '64 Info Now playing on the Disney+ platform. 

Forgotten Film:   A Hard Day's Night  (1964) G  Two days in the life of The Beatles as they prepare for an important live TV broadcast. Richard Lester directed this fantastic and fun look at The Beatles in a fictional look at what it was like to be them in England in 1964. The film allows the guys to have fun and showcase their personalities. While the plot is incredibly thin, and the boys mostly do a lot of jokes and winking at the camera, we do get to see how much fun they had at the time being together. Plus, we get a ton of their music. What is forgotten about this film is that it garnered two Academy Award nominations: Best Original Screenplay and Best Score.  My Rating: Full Price A Hard Day's Night Info The film is available to stream on Max and buy/rent on Amazon. 

Weird Credits: From the credits of Moana 2: Environment Lighting

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Babygirl  (2024) R  A high-powered CEO (Nicole Kidman) has everything she's ever desired except one thing. She finds it in a torrid affair with her much younger intern (Harris Dickinson). Nicole Kidman has won a couple of awards from film festivals for this role. Could an Academy Award nomination be coming next year?  Babygirl Website  The film will be in theatres on Christmas Day. 

Until Next Time!