Little Women

My View: Little Women   (2019) PG    In the aftermath of the American Civil War, the movie explores the lives of the March sisters, Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen), all under the watchful eye of their beloved mother, Marmee (Laura Dern). I am a massive fan of the writer/director of this film Greta Gerwig, both as an actor (Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2012), and as a director (Lady Bird (2017), which I thought was one of the best films of 2017. Gerwig has done it again, bringing freshness and light to the Louisa May Alcott story that has been adapted to the screen seven times before. I loved the performances of the cast, especially Saoirse Ronan as, Jo, the young woman who is filled with passion for writing and Florence Pugh, as the self-centered Amy. Ronan brings a fierceness to the role; you can see the determination in her eyes as she wills Jo to succeed where almost everyone, including some in her family, feels that she is battling against windmills. Pugh is delightful as Amy, a young woman who is quite as mature as her fellow sisters, sometimes making decisions based on her heart and not her head. Little Women is a beautiful film, full of heart and occasionally, heartbreak, about growing up and having to face the harsh world, but always knowing that your family is there to fall back on. Take the whole family and enjoy the wonderful world of a group of four sisters experiencing the trials and tribulations of life.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again     Little Women Website

Familyfaire: Spies in Disguise  (2019) PG   The world’s best spy, Lance Sterling (voiced by Will Smith), is turned into a pigeon; he must join forces with a low-level inventor, Walter (voiced by Tom Holland), to save the world. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this animated feature. A new take on the super spy saving the world genre, this time with a young inventor who thinks there is a better way to defeat the bad guys, with non-violent gadgets. Will Smith is perfect as Sterling, Lance Sterling, a spy who is used to saving the world daily, all the time with an ego to match. Lance is a lone wolf, but when he is set up by the evil Killian (voiced by Ben Mendelsohn) and Lance is forced to team up with Walter, who turns Lance into the ultimate disguise, a pigeon. The animation gives off a cool James Bond-like vibe, and the action is almost nonstop, with quite a few explosions and car chase scenes spread throughout the film. The bit younger crowd may be a bit bored, but the 6-12-year-olds will have a great time going on an adventure to save the world with Walter and his spy partner, Lance the pigeon.    My Rating: Full Price     Spies in Disguise Website

My View: Uncut Gems (2019) R   Howard (Adam Sandler) thinks his life is about to change due to the delivery of an uncut gem that could be worth millions. Howard is all about taking chances, and he starts a series of high-stakes bets that he could win big on or also lose everything. Adam Sandler is an actor that, most of the time, pisses me off. My problem with Sandler is not because of his continual compulsion to make incredibly crappy films with his friends, like Grown Ups (2010), That’s My Boy (2012) and one of the worst movies I have ever seen, Jack and Jill (2011). No, it’s not that, it’s that Sandler can be an excellent, even great actor when he chooses the right material. The list is small but notable with outstanding work in films such as Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Reign Over Me (2007) and Spanglish (2004), where Sandler brings a quiet force to make an ordinary film worthy of watching. Add to the list Uncut Gems, where Sandler plays a man you probably won’t like or maybe even not root for, going so far as to hope that he fails. Still, you can’t deny that Sandler fills the screen with a magical, almost hypnotic performance as a man who is desperate to keep pushing his luck, even if it means he has to beat impossible odds. Uncut Gems is not a film that you will be able to sit back and enjoy, as Sandler and the directors of the film, Benny and Josh Safdie, take you on a journey of the high’s and low’s of a gambler. It’s like taking a ride on a roller coaster but one that rarely takes an uphill break, as Howard’s life quickly moves down from one get rich scheme to another. I loved the cast, including Kevin Garnett, the NBA all-star who plays himself, Julia Fox, who plays Howard’s combative girlfriend and Idina Menzel as Howard’s long-suffering ex-wife, who has seen Howard’s life on the edge in close-up. After seeing this film, you may need to take a few minutes to gather your thoughts and your senses before exiting the theatre.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again     Uncut Gems Website

In Case You Missed It (A Film Just Released on DVD / Blu-ray): Abominable (2019) PG   Yi (voiced by Chloe Bennet), a young girl, finds a friendly Yeti that longs to go back to his mountain. Yi and two other friends make it their mission to help ‘Everest’ return to its homeland. The gang will have to avoid a wealthy man named Burnish (Eddie Izzard) who wants to put Everest in his collection. While very predictable and at times a little slow, the film is a warm look at friendship and how those friends will try their best to make their friend's dreams come true. Abominable is a sweet film that families will enjoy, and kids will love the action sequences. Sure the plot is a little too paint by numbers kids film, but Everest and his buddies may make you forget that.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee    Abominable Website

In Memory of Ed Wood (A Movie I've Only Seen in Trailers But Just Looks Like a Bad Idea): Dolittle (2020) PG   Seven years ago, the famed doctor and veterinarian of Victorian England, Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) lost his wife and has been sequestered behind the walls of Dolittle Manor with his menagerie of animals for his only company. When Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley) falls ill, Dr. Dolittle sets out on an epic adventure to find a cure. Just watch the trailer and see if you want Downey to talk to anything, including animals in this film.  Hollywood, quit remaking movies that were bad to begin with. Did I mention the animals talk?    Dolittle Website

Forgotten Film: Children of a Lesser God (1986) R   James (William Hurt) has taught at some of the best institutions in the country but is always looking for a new challenge. James begins teaching at a school for the deaf and quickly notices a young cleaning woman named Sarah (Marlee Matlin), who is deaf, and learning that she has been at the school since she was five. Sarah chooses not to speak, haunted by her childhood, especially her relationship with her mother, who she has not seen in eight years. They begin a slow ride to romance as they learn about each other, and James will soon learn that Sarah does not speak because it allows her to live her life in solitude. As they fall in love, will the divide between the world of the hearing and the deaf be too much for their devotion to endure? The reason to see this film is the Oscar-winning performance of Matlin, as the headstrong, combative and angry Sarah, a woman who doesn’t want to enter into the land of speech, happy to live her life on her terms. It is a moving and beautiful performance, filled with fear, fear of the unknown, and the fear that if she lets someone in, she will get hurt again.   My Rating: Full Price     Children of a Lesser God Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Spies in Disguise:  Fur Supervisor

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: A Quiet Place Part II (2020)   After escaping from their home, now the family (Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Noah Jupe ) must go into the outside world and soon realize that the world is far more dangerous than they ever experienced or imagined.     A Quiet Place Part II Facebook Page

Until Next Time!

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!

Frozen

Family Faire:  Frozen  (2013)  PG   In the kingdom of Arendelle, there are two Princesses: Elsa (Idina Menzel), who is soon to be Queen and who has the strange ability to make snow and ice out of nothing, and her sister, Anna (Kristen Bell). When Elsa lets her emotions get the better of her, she accidentally triggers a magical winter that freezes the entire kingdom. Elsa, known now as the “Snow Queen,” goes into hiding, and Anna must set out on a journey with a mountain man named, Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), and a reindeer sidekick named, Sven, to find her sister and save the kingdom.  This the best Disney film in years with great songs, fun sidekicks and a winning cast.  Both Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel have beautiful singing voices, and several of the songs in the film are breakout hits.  The storyline has plenty of twists and turns, and the animation is eye-popping.  The film is worth seeing in 3-D if just for the opening animated short that is one of the best uses of 3-D animation that I have ever seen.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again

Indiefest:  Philomena  (2013)  PG-13   In an effort to resurrect his journalistic career, Martin (Steve Coogan) agrees to do a human interest story on Philomena (Judi Dench), a woman who is searching for her son and whom she gave up for adoption almost 50 years ago. Judi Dench is amazing in this touching, and, at times, funny film.  Her portrayal of Philomena, a kind-hearted, religious woman who is determined to find her long lost son, is worthy of an Oscar.  She plays her part perfectly and matches up well with Coogan, who plays a hard-hearted journalist who is very full of himself and really thinks her sob story is beneath his talents.  As the film develops, Philomena’s charm works over Martin, and he comes to truly enjoy his time with her.  But, it’s Dench who is the film's star, and she carries it off beautifully.  My Rating:  I Would Pay to See it Again  Philomena Website

Indiefest:  Nebraska  (2013)  R  Woody (Bruce Dern) is convinced that he has won a million dollars and wants to travel from Montana, where he lives, to Nebraska to collect the winnings. Against the wishes of Woody’s wife, Kate (June Squibb), and brother, Ross (Bob Odenkirk), David (Will Forte), Woody’s youngest son, decides to take his father cross-country to the company that has issued the ticket.  This is a brilliant film and my favorite at this year’s Austin Film Festival.  Dern gives a performance of a lifetime as the broken down, alcoholic Woody.  We never really know what Woody is thinking as Dern plays him as a man of very little words.  Forte does a nice job playing the son who desperately wants to reconnect with his father.  June Squibb steals the film as Woody’s opinionated, speak-her-mind wife.  The film is a road trip film where the people don’t seem to ever move.  My Rating:  I Would Pay to See it Again   Nebraska Website

My View:  Black Nativity  (2013)  PG  After Langston (Jacob Latimore) and his mom (Jennifer Hudson) have been evicted from their apartment, he is sent to New York City to spend the holidays with the Reverend Cornell Cobbs (Forest Whitaker) and his family. There Langston discovers the strength of family and friends.  This musical works much better when the cast is singing as both the dialouge and the storyline are very weak.  I did enjoy the songs, especially when Jennifer Hudson sang but that doesn't make up for the very predictable story.  My Rating:  Bargain Matinee  Black Nativity Website

Forgotten Film:  Citizen Ruth  (1997) R  Ruth (Laura Dern) is an unlikely poster child for the “Right to Life” movement.  She is a drug-sniffing addict who has had four children taken away from her, and the cops know her by name.  When she is arrested again, and a judge finds out that she is pregnant, he orders her to have an abortion.  A group called “Baby Savers” finds out about the judge’s order and they take up her cause.  She then becomes a pawn in the game between the Baby Savers and a pro-choice group.  This is a smart, and, at times, a very funny satire directed by Alexander Payne (The Descendants) that makes fun of both sides of the abortion battle.  Dern is brilliant as Ruth, who really doesn’t care about anything other than her next high.  The film is full of amazing performances and interesting characters who make this a fun film to watch.  My Rating:  Full Price  Citizen Ruth Info

Weird Credits:  From the film Philomena:  Snow effects floor supervisor

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You:  Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues  (2013)  Just in time for Christmas, the further adventures of our favorite TV anchorman (Will Ferrell) who takes the gang to New York to be on a 24 hour news channel.  The big question:  Will we be quoting lines from this film as much as we do from the first?  Anchorman 2 Website

Until Next Time!