Frozen II

My View: Frozen 2 (2019) PG   Anna (Kristen Bell), Elsa (Idina Menzel), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Olaf (Josh Gad), and Sven leave Arendelle to find the origin of Elsa’s powers to save the kingdom. While not quite measuring up to the wonder and brilliance of the first Frozen film, this movie still hits all the right spots and makes it an enjoyable experience for you and your family. The film doesn’t have a showstopper song like ‘Let it Go,’ it does have several songs that hit the mark, including ‘Into the Unknown’ sung by AURORA and Idina Menzel. What makes this film such fun to watch is the antics of Olaf, expertly voiced by Josh Gad. Olaf, the dim but always overly optimistic snowman, provides just the right amount of comic relief that will make you not only giggle but laugh out loud. The film’s animation is stunning, and many of the scenes are just draw-dropping gorgeous. I think families will enjoy this film with its central message of girl power and how family is there to stand right by our sides when faced with obstacles that seem bigger than maybe we can handle.    My Rating: Full Price     Frozen II Website

My View:  A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood   (2019)  PG  Journalist Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) is a hard-hitting reporter who is known to ruffle the feathers of the people he interviews. Lloyd’s outlook on life is about to change as his next assignment is to interview the legendary nice guy, Mr. Rogers (Tom Hanks). Let me tell you right off that Mr. Rogers is not the focus of this film. In fact, Tom Hanks will probably be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor for his role and not leading role. The film centers around the journalist, Lloyd, a disliked reporter who doesn’t want to do a profile on someone he considers beneath his journalistic skills. Lloyd, while in a loving relationship with his wife (Susan Kelechi Watson) and just born baby but is troubled by his past with a father (Chris Cooper) who abandoned Lloyd and his mother early in Lloyd’s childhood. Matthew Rhys gives a winning performance as the reporter, but it's Tom Hanks that makes this film work. It would be hard to pick an actor who could do a better job in this role as a fascinating and lovely man who only wants to help children deal with their feelings and how to interact with the world around them. While it takes a little while to warm up to the structure of the film (which I won’t go into so I don’t ruin it), you will enjoy this film that has a mission at its core, to make you, the viewer, a better person.    My Rating: Full Price     A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Website

Indiefest:  Waves  (2019) R   The story of a suburban family, led by a domineering father (Sterling K. Brown), that starts to fall apart when an accident turns deadly. Writer/director (It Comes at Night (2017), Krisha (2015)) brings us a film that is separated into two parts. The first part centers around Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a popular high-school student who seemingly has everything going for him until it comes crashing down. The second part revolves around Tyler’s sister, Emily (Taylor Russell), who struggles to keep going in the aftermath of a horrible accident. The performances in this film are powerful and moving, with Sterling K Brown standing out as the father who knows he pushed his son too hard and too fast. This is a deep and weighty dive into a family's dynamics, where each member must ask the question, ‘Is there something I could have done to prevent this from happening to my family?’. You will be thinking about this film long after the final credits roll.    My Rating: Full Price     Waves Website

My View:  The Report (2019) R A Senate staffer (Adam Driver) is given the lead in an investigation into the CIA’s post 9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program. What he finds will cause shockwaves across the nation. This isn’t a film that you can just sit down and let it wash over you. You are going to have to think, sometimes really hard, while watching this film that is less about action and more about reaction. Adam Driver once again proves that he is one of the best actors out there, giving a complex and multi-faceted performance of a man who is driven to find out the truth, no matter the cost. It’s a intricate tale that will make you mad at times on how our government could have made the choices that it did in a quest to find terrorists, even if they weren’t always there. This isn’t a film for everyone, but for those that choose to see it, it will keep you interested until the end.  My Rating: Full Price     The Report Website

Indiefest:  Marriage Story (2019) R   The story of a couple (Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson) whose marriage is falling apart, told from the separate viewpoints of the husband and the wife. The heartbreaking story of a marriage that is crumbling before the eyes of both the parents and their young son. The story starts out with two people trying to make this break as quick and painless as possible, but as soon as lawyers get involved, the divorce becomes messy and ugly, with both sides making horrible mistakes that they both will regret. Driver and Johansson do remarkable jobs as the couple, with Johansson shining in a role that sometimes makes her the bad guy. Laura Dern is brilliant as Johansson’s characters lawyer, a woman who is all about taking as much as she can from the father, even if its not in wishes of her client. This is a devastating and powerful film that is often very painful to watch as two people we learn to care about are going through something that can destroy not only a relationship but the family dynamics as well.     My Rating: Full Price   Marriage Story Website 

Forgotten Film: Comfort and Joy (1984)   Just in time for the Holiday season is this film about a depressed Scottish morning radio host, Alan ‘Dicky Bird’ (Bill Paterson). Alan is the witness of an attack on an ice cream truck by a bunch of vandals (one who stops to make a song request for ‘Dicky Bird’ to play on the radio). Alan becomes enamored with the truck’s worker, a woman named Charlotte (C. P. Grogan) and because of her, he decides to find a solution to the great ice cream van wars, where two Italian families are battling over the rights to sell ice cream on the streets of Glasgow. Paterson gives a winning performance as the DJ that just may lose his mind over trying to solve this problem, and the film is greatly enhanced by a brilliant score by Dire Straights frontman Mark Knopfler.   My Rating: Full Price      Comfort and Joy Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Waves: Crafty Assistant

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: Knives Out (2019) PG-13 World famous mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) has committed suicide, throwing his extending family into a jumbled mess. Private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is on the case and thinks that Harlan’s death might just be murder, with a house full of relatives that are all suspects. An all-star cast that includes Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, and Katherine Langford make this mystery/comedy one of the holiday’s must-see films.     Knives Out Website

Until Next Time!

The Addams Family

Family Faire:  The Addams Family  (2019) PG   The creepy, ghoulish, and peculiar Addams Family is back, terrorizing their neighbors in hair-raising fun. No movie or TV show has come close to the very funny but also very dark humor that cartoonist Charles Addams put into his New Yorker cartoons. This animated family film doesn’t come close to match the inventiveness that those cartoons displayed. Instead, we get a PC version of those characters he created and a storyline that is predictable and boring. Most of the kids around me at my screening were no longer paying attention to the film by about ten minutes in. I did like that fact that the film tends to center on Wednesday, the young Addams daughter whose best friend is a tree that can move its branches to grab people and transport them around the grounds. To me, Wednesday has always been the most interesting character of the bunch, with her deadpan delivery and almost superior outlook about the world than the rest of her family. Unfortunately, this is a movie that both parents and kids will want to leave the theatre soon after it starts.    My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again   The Addams Family Website

My View:  Gemini Man  (2019)  PG-13   An over-the-hill hitman (Will Smith) takes on his worst nightmare, a younger clone of himself bent on killing him. Let's get right to what everyone will be talking about, the CGI younger Will Smith in the film. At times, the CGI does a great job and looks like a real person, but there are times, especially when we first meet the clone that looks fake and very animated. This takes away from the film, as you are consistently taken from the storyline or the action, looking at how well or not the film is carrying off this gimmick. I call it a gimmick because, as one of my fellow critics noted after the film screening, it would have been easier (and less costly) to cast a young actor in the part and then add makeup for the older version. The action is well done, but the storyline is weak, and the ending is just stupid and an easy out. Throughout the film I kept asking, why did two-time Oscar winner Ang Lee want to do this film, and how could it be this bad directed by him.   My Rating: Cable   Gemini Man Website

Indiefest:   Dolemite is My Name   (2019)  R  Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy) is a has-been singer/comedian who now works in a dingy club as an MC. He decides to create a character called Dolemite and records numerous successful ‘blue’ comedy records. Rudy decides that to take his Dolemite character to the next level, he will star in a ‘Blaxploitation’ film. Giving what may be his best performance ever, Eddie Murphy fills the screen with a character that is so full of confidence and heart, he is sure that his vision will triumph. The great thing about his film is that Murphy is totally emersed in Rudy Ray Moore that you never see Eddie Murphy the comedic entertainer, sneak out at any point. Be warned, the film is filled with cursing and nudity but if you have seen any of the 70/80s Blaxploitation films, you will find this film an incredible ride. From the very start, this film sets a comedic tone that lasts through the closing credits when we see the actual Rudy Ray Moore star in the original Dolemite, and yes, the ceiling does fall on him as he makes love.   My Rating: Full Price    Dolemite is My Name Website

Indiefest: Lucy in the Sky  (2019)  R  Astronaut Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman) returns to Earth after having an otherworldly experience in space. Now Lucy begins to lose touch with reality as she strives to return to deep space. This film felt more like the woman goes nuts Lifetime movie of the week than a major motion picture. After about the first ten minutes, I just didn’t care about Lucy and her drive to get back to space, no matter the cost. The film goes from Lucy wanting, actually needing to get back to space, to suddenly needed to be with a fellow astronaut (Jon Hamm) Lucy has had an affair with and has dropped her for a new and younger recruit. It just didn’t make sense to me how, for two-thirds of the film, she is all consumed by getting back into space, and then she gives it all up for a man who doesn’t want her. Portman gives it everything she has but she can’t overcome a messy script or her bad Texas accent.   My Rating: Cable   Lucy in the Sky Website

My View:  Jexi    (2019)  R   Phil (Adam Devine) has no friends, a dead-end job, and his love life is just wishful dreams. His life changes when he gets a new phone that has an A.I. life coach named Jexi (voiced by Rose Byrne) that helps Phil get his life in order. Things change when Jexi (think a Siri that has gone rogue) becomes in love with Phil and will do anything to keep him hers. This could be my number one worst film of the year. The shocking thing is that right from the start Jexi is gross, crass, and horrible to Phil, and he takes it as the phone is being helpful. The amount of not just profanities but almost obscene material that comes from Jexi is amazing. Nothing about this film is funny, and several running gags (Jexi asks Phil to keep pulling the power cord in and out as she has an orgasm) are just drop dead dumb. The ending feels like the film ran out of money, as Jexi just gives up and lets Phil have a girlfriend, played by Alexandra Shipp (the only breath of fresh air in this stagnant film). I didn’t hear one laugh from the audience, and I would have heard it because there were only four other people in the audience.    My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again     Jexi Website

Forgotten Film: The Three Musketeers   (1973)   Having been trained by his father, a young D’Artagnan (Michael York), heads to Paris to join the King’s musketeers. Brashly, D’Drtagnan challenges Athos, Porthos, and Aramis (Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, and Richard Chamberlain) to separate duels. When the Three Musketeers find out that all three of them have been challenged by the same young fool, they take pity on him and take him under his wing. The Three Musketeers enlist D’Artagnan to help them take on the evil Rochefort (Christopher Lee) and Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston) and stop a plot to gain power by proving to King Louis XIII that his wife is cheating on him. I love this film as it is part swashbuckling sword-fighting action, but it is also part comedy, with someone of the comedic bits, out and out slapstick, especially the part of the clumsy and bumbling Constance de Bonacieux, played by the hilarious Raquel Welch. What is so much fun about this film is actors like Lee and Heston play their parts very straight and narrow, while others around them are almost camping it up. Oliver Reed stands out as the lead Musketeer, but the whole cast does an incredible job of making this a wonder to watch.   My Rating: Full Price    The Three Musketeers Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Gemini Man: Toolman

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) Based on the true-life story of the friendship between the beloved Fred Rodgers (Tom Hanks) and journalist Tom Junod ( Matthew Rhys). Anybody (including me) that saw the brilliant documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018) is going to have to see this film.     A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Website

Until Next Time!