GreatMartin

I don't ever recall Annette Bening or Bill Nighy giving a bad performance and they are in top form in the film. They are a couple about to celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary when he announces that he is leaving her for another woman. It is the second movie I have seen this month--the other being "The Way Back"--that could have been made in the 1950s (only the latter would have had to cut out all the four+ dirty words) and is a completely different story. Edward (Nighy) and Grace (Bening) have a grown son Jamie (Josh O'Connor) who lives alone in London which at one point leads Grace to ask her son if he is gay. As a wife and mother Grace is aggressive while her husband is quiet, agreeable and seems to allow his wife to make all the decisions in the marriage. After Edward leaves Grace gets a dog she calls Eddie and you get the feeling that she treated Edward just the way she treats the dog. In one instance she trains the dog to sit and roll over giving him a treat for performing for her and you get the feeling this is how the marriage had been for 29 years. We see how each feels, including the son who is sort of taken aback that he is taking after his father, instead of his mother, who he realizes may have made his father the meek man he seems. Through their acting and the seamless script and direction by William Nicholson we come to know this family and understand why each acts the way they do from the father walking out to the wife being angry, shocked and determined to make him come back, to the son, caught in the middle, not understanding who his parents are. Last year there was the film "Marriage Story" with strong performances by the leads playing a couple divorcing and received strong acclaim with Oscar nominations for the leads. Though "Hope Gap" is also a story about divorce it is completely different though just as strong in performances and script. "Hope Gap" is only 100 minutes but falters with too many scenic shots of the beach, white cliffs, and highways interfering with the flow of the movie. In addition, too many of those scenes take away from watching Annette Bening and Bill Nighy, each doing one of their finest movie performances and that is high praise indeed.

"The Way Back" is the kind of movie people are talking about when they say 'They don't make them the way they used to' (without the cursing!) Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck) was the star of his basketball team in high school but now is an alcoholic who never met his promise afterward. He is a construction worker who drinks vodka from a thermos on the job, stops at the bar on the way home, has a beer in the shower and goes through a case during an evening at home. For no reason that I could understand he is offered the job of head coach at his former high school where the team has been a loser in the 2 decades since he played there. Of course, there is(n't) a solid reason the assistant coach can't take over the position except to help Cunningham redeem himself. What happens from this point on should be known to anyone who has watched movies, oh say, the last 20 years so I'll leave that alone. This movie is a cut above others like it because of a smart script by Brad Ingelsby matched by the direction by Gavin O'Connor and the photography of Eduard Grau but by another factor that won't be avoided by anyone. Ben Afflick gives a strong performance of what is causing his pain and how he tries to stop the hurting. Is he acting or is he just playing the actor that we have read in all the news stories and Internet media? It doesn't make a difference as this is one of Afflick's best performances and raises "The Way Back" above other films in this genre.

Until I met a friend in 1967 I was a "Yes, I've read 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility' and that was my extent of 'knowing' Jane Austen. Over the years I have seen some movies based on the titles I mentioned and until I met the aforementioned friend I spelled the last name Austin! Little by little I read more of her books and, on my own, did some research on the author. I really wasn't familiar with Jane Austen's "Emma" or the movies, including "Clueless", based on the book. This version has constant reminders of the title actress, Anya Taylor-Joy, of her big expressive eyes and curled hair. She sees herself as a matchmaker who boasts that she has never been wrong yet! Three hours later I still see the eyes and curls but except for that one line, I couldn't tell you what else she said! I have mentioned before that recently I have had problems hearing in movies so I have been using earphones but though I could follow the storyline--being familiar with Austen's works helped--I had a hard time understanding any of the actors including Johnny Flynn, Josh O'Connor, Mia Goth and Amber Anderson but Bill Nighy, as Emma's father, gets across exactly what he is thinking and saying with his face, body and mere glances. The PBS aspect of "Emma" meaning the lush England lawns, gardens and homes plus the costumes and hairstyles is Masterpiece Theatre at its best. At times the music was jarring but at least it broke up the boredom I experienced watching the film.

"Those Who Remained" is a film about Hungarian people who survived the Holocaust physically but not quite mentally and they are now caught up in a Communist regime. It focuses on a 42-year-old gynecologist doctor, who lost his wife and two children, and a 16-year-old orphan who has not faced up to the fate of her parents and is brought to the clinic by an aunt because the girl has not gone through puberty yet. To tell any more would be giving spoilers so all I can do is give my reaction to the movie. I thought I knew where the relationship between the doctor Aldo and the teenager Klara was heading and though I wasn't far off I found myself not reacting which was very puzzling to me as it takes very little to get me involved emotionally with characters in films. Karoly Hajduk, as Aldo and Abigel Szoke as Klara, do an excellent job, especially the latter who shows her changes physically and mentally with her face and body plus a nod to the hairdresser! I am on the fence about recommending "Those Who Remained" simply because the director and screenwriters did not 'get' to me though at 83 minutes it does tackle a theme not often touched upon.

For many years I have stood up for seeing a movie in a theatre on the big screen it is made for. I am, also, a big backer of the #MeToo movement. I have seen 9 movies so far this year and can only recommend two: "Clemency" and "Just Mercy". Both have excellent performances by the actors and though the latter tackles an often told story it is approached with an intensity that takes you into the hearts and minds of the characters while the former takes us into a world that hasn't often been explored. The other 7 have either been a waste of time or a waste of money or a waste of time and money! "The Assistant" is both though it is one of the latest to tackle the the #MeToo movement. I was looking forward to seeing Julia Garner as I watched her in the Netflix series "Ozarks" and was intrigued by her performance. In a very short time, we have learned a lot about what goes on behind the scenes in the movie and television business and how badly women are treated. Kitty Green, the director and screenwriter of "The Assistant" shows us that having Garner give a monotone performance with many shots just on her face thinking. They both show us quickly how low on the ladder a woman is and how she is treated or ignored by all including other women and men who have the same position she has. What is to come is shown in the early scenes as Garner cleans her boss's couch and finds an earring. The film is 81 minutes filled with a lot of unnecessary and repetitious scenes which if eliminated would have made a stronger film or allowed more time for 2 scenes, with one being passed over far too quickly, which are important to the movement. Though I can't/won't/don't recommend "The Assistant" I am a hopeful person and I hope the next 9 movies I see should only be seen for the first time in a theatre on the large movie screen!

I have been sitting here for an hour trying hard to find something positive to say about this movie and the best I can come up with is, "It isn't a bad movie!" This movie runs 85 minutes and if all the useless 'fill' was edited out it just might have made an hour TV show in the 1960s except now the quite not out of the closet gay 19-year-old uses a phone app to hook up with other guys. Jose has a needy, religious mother and when he finally falls in love he has to choose between her and the man he loves. Does the fact that he is poor and lives in Guatemala make this an 'interesting and different' movie? No! What and how does his mother make a living? How does Jose make a living? He stands out in the middle of the street waving his hands, seemingly directing traffic. Why does Li Cheng, the director, and screenwriter with George F. Roberson, bring in a scene with Jose's grandmother except to allow a few more scenic shots? How does Jose, so poor, have the money to spend on 'rent by the hour' hotel rooms to take the guys he meets over the phone app? Why do Cheng and Roberson waste time with unnecessary cinematography and storylines that go nowhere? Why not tell us about the mother, the grandmother and, certainly more about Jose and Luis, the man he falls in love with? Yes, there is nudity and showing men having sex and about as interesting as showing heterosexual couples having sex in their movies! Oh yes, no full-frontal nudity and only one quick sideways shot! It is not all bad and/boring as there is a 10-15 minute scene of Jose (Enrique Salanic) and Luis (Manolo Herrera) riding on a motorcycle along the countryside that is as romantic, joyful and Valentine Day's worthy as you could have seen in and 1960s movie.

Anyone expecting to see Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" whether the novel, the several films in theatres and on TV or the recent hit musical on stage and in film will be disappointed even though there is a Hugo quote and it takes place in the Parisian suburb of Montfermeil, an important part of the book. Also, women play very minor roles and there is no Fantine or Cosette. The main story is that of a policeman, Stephane (played by Damien Bonnard) who joins the Anti-Crime Squad in Montfermeil teaming with Gwada (Djebril Zonga) and Chris (Alexis Manenti) and he is introduced to the many different groups from an African crime boss called 'The Mayor' (Steve Tientcheu) to Zorro (Raymond Lopez) the leader **** of gypsies with a traveling circus, Salah (Almamy Kanoute)restaurant owner and Pasteur Marcello Tunasi as the leader of a Muslim group. Very much involved with the adults are a couple of gangs of kids surviving the best way they can. At first we see them in the opening sequence of the movie reveling in their support of the French World Cup team contrasting with the way they live every day. The main youngster is Issa Perica who gives a strong performance as Issa, the one who gets everything in motion and gets the film off its slow start. Another young actor, Al-Hassan Ly, as Buzz, is into drones and not only provides the director Ladj Ly and the director of photography Julien Poupard with some beautiful shots while ugliness is at the heart of the screenplay written by Ly, Giordano Gederlini and Alexis Manenti but he is pivotal to what happens to everyone. "Les Miserables" is a good film but obviously the first film based on a shorter film that he made which may explain why there are so many, too many, things, subjects and ideas thrown into this one instead of using some of the topics in his next film.

Within one movie I broke my 2 and only New Year's resolutions: 1) I will not go to a movie just for the sake of going to a movie especially if I know I won't like it and 2) I will walk out of a movie that I don't like! Yes, I like Mathew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Strong and since "Crazy Rich Asians" Henry Golding but nothing could save this movie. At first, it was interesting seeing Grant playing against type but 15 minutes in his heavy put on English accent (Yes, I know he is English but never like this) so I was glad he was working with/against Charlie Hunnam but that wasn't enough. I am not a fan of Guy Ritchie and believe I have seen only one of his movies but his having directed, produced and written the screenplay for this movie I have no desire to see them or anymore by him. This is an old type gangster movie with a few twists and turns, a lot of violence, racial comments against Asians, throw in some anti-Semitism along with homophobic darts not to forget the f, the many c words plus pig porn and blood and more blood and then some more blood! The theatre was full and a few people laughed at some of the lines but I broke my 2 and only New Year's resolutions!

There is no doubt that Alfre Woodard is the star of "Clemency" as the warden, Bernadine Williams, who oversees the execution of prisoners but Aldis Hodge as Anthony Woods is a prisoner convicted of killing a police officer and serving 15 years is going to be executed that gives her some stiff competition, especially in their scenes together. Capital punishment is looked at from all angles starting with an execution going wrong and reflected in the face of Woodard. We hear from the mother of the dead policeman, Vernee Watson, and the crowds outside protesting the execution. We meet Williams's husband, played by Wendell Pierce, and we are shown how his wife's job is affecting their marriage, not to forget Danielle Brooks as Evette, Woods's high school girlfriend at the time he was arrested, distancing herself from him for the 15 years. Another point of view comes from Richard Schiff as a lawyer who believes Woods is innocent and the religious point of view, as the prison's chaplain, is expressed by Michael O'Neill. From the opening shot of Alfre Woodard supervising the execution that goes wrong to another shot focused on her face as she walks through the halls of the prison the actress, this is not an easy picture to watch. Chinoye Chukwu wrote the screenplay and directed the movie with a hard to see opening segment that draws you into the movie but at the same time using Woodward's face to show what this woman goes through every time someone is executed! Alfre Woodard will hopefully be remembered at the end of the year when award season starts and we should be seeing more of Aldis Hodge as a leading man.

There have been many films about the Holocaust covering it from many different angles so a new film must be in the excellent category because 'good' isn't good enough and though "The Song Of Names" has some interesting sections it has too much working against it. One of the interesting parts is the name of the film itself and if there really is a song of names and after some research, I have to do more research because I haven't found a definite answer yet! The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine, based on a novel by Norman Lebrecht, goes back and forth from the 1930s to the 1980s with 3 different actors playing the 2 main characters Davidl Rapopart and Martin Simmonds when it could have easily been done chronologically. The story is about a 12-year-old violin protege, Davidl who is brought from Poland to England by his father hoping to find a place for him to escape from the ****. A music publisher, impressed by the boy's talent, agrees to take him in and after a minor skirmish with the publisher's son who is a couple of years younger, the 2 become fast friends. At the age of 21 Davidl is to give his musical debut completely subsidized by the publisher but never shows up and has disappeared. The film then follows Martin as he looks for his friend and tries to find out why he disappeared. There are many awkward scenes and some that take your breath away such as the one where Martin and his wife walk through Treblinka, a **** death camp, where tall, standing stones memorialize the dead. Some in the audience may not be aware that Davidl having a bar mitzvah means he is now a man at 13. The musical moments shine while it is hard to really rate the performances due to the going back and forth through the decades. "The Song Of Names" is a good movie but not quite good enough to attract enough of an audience.

I walked into the Classic Gateway Movie Theatre almost with a defiant attitude of "Show me!" as I have seen 3 versions, and read the book, of "Little Women". No way could anyone be prettier than Elizabeth Taylor in the 1949 version or Katherine Hepburn's strong, steadfast as Jo in the 1933 version or the realistic Jo of Winona Ryder in the 1994 film. After twenty minutes I was confused because the women we are seeing aren't 'little women', they are grown women. This is the only way that the director/screenwriter Greta Gerwig missteps in both categories because at times it becomes confusing at moments--important moments, otherwise she has kept everything under control from the perfect cast to keeping all important parts of the book. Most people reading this are familiar with "Little Women" either from previous movie versions or actually reading the classic book and if you aren't I don't want to spoil any of the film so on to the cast. Saoirse Ronan, as Jo, projects a strong women of yesteryear and today and has scored her 4th Oscar nomination. Emma Watson as Meg, Eliza Scanlen as Beth and Florence Pugh, who won a best Oscar supporting actress nomination interact as sisters do while Laura Dern as their mother is warm, stern and her own woman. Meryl Streep is playing Maggie Smith's role from "Downton Abbey"! Most of the men, except Timothee Chalamet who plays Laurie, and is prettier than Elizabeth Taylor or anyone in this film, captures the audience in a heartbreaking scene with Jo. Louis Garrel as a language professor in a few short scenes shows he can stand up to whatever is thrown at him. Chris Cooper, as Laurie's, grandfather, opens himself gradually until we get to know this intensely private human scene and Tracy Letts as Jo's first publisher and James Norton as Meg's husband support the women. "Little Women" will take hold of you about 30 minutes into the film and hold on to you for the next 105 minutes.

Before I say anything else, even though I am rooting for Antonio Banderas or Adam Driver for the Best Actor Oscar, Jamie Foxx deserved a nomination!! Of the previous 4 pictures I have seen, "1917", "Uncut Gems", "Cats" and "A Hidden Life", equaling over 10 hours of film putting them all together didn't move me as much as "Just Mercy" including a 10 minute combined scene of a courtroom and a prison cell that had tears running down my face and I didn't care who saw it if anyone could through their tears. A cliche is defined as "something that has become overly familiar or common place" and, sadly, this is a movie full of cliches because so much that is wrong in race relations has not changed in centuries. When a black man is pulled over by the police he will raise his hands above the wheel so they can see he has no weapons in his hands. Have you ever seen, even in a movie, a white man do this? When a white girl is **** and killed in Alabama can you guess what will be the color of the man arrested? The court scenes have been seen in many movies and in most of them you get what you expect in a deep south State in the U.S.A. but there area few differences there as in the rest of the movie mainly because of Foxx. "Just Mercy" is based on the true story of Bryan Stevenson, a black man, who, after graduating from Harvard, headed to Alabama to work for/with the Equal Justice Initiative which helps with the defense of those wrongly condemned and can't afford or get legal help . Part of the film takes place in Monroeville, Alabama, the home of Harper Lee who wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird". The book was published in 1960 taking place in the 1930s while the case of Walter "Johnny D." McMillan takes place in the 1980s and 1990s and shows that not much has changed over the 60 years including a threat to a white woman who works with Stevenson. Bryan Stevenson is played by Michael B. Jordan, who, unfortunately, has to say a lot of the cliches written by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham and plays the lawyer/advocator adequately but is out-shined by Foxx and Rob Morgan, as a Vietnam veteran living with PTSD, on death row in the cell next to Foxx. Brie Larson, as Stevenson's paralegal and colleague, really hasn't much to do while many other cast members, black and white, have cliched--there's that word again--roles you see in every movie about the South. "Just Mercy" should be seen and yet in today's showing there were 8 people! Maybe if people would understand that what happened in 1930, 1960, 1980 is still happening today as the following headline in today's news was: Detroit man exonerated after nearly 30 years in jail "always had faith this day would come"

Right now "1917" having already winning the Best Picture Golden Globe is the front runner for Best Picture Oscar. After seeing the picture it is obvious that the visual technique of director's Sam Mendes's collaboration with cinematographer Roger Deakins is what makes this movie rate so high. It looks like the picture has been made in one continuous take with 2-3 exceptions which are carefully explained in the script by Sam Mendes, with the help of Krysty-Wilson Cairns and based on stories told by his uncle Alfred Mendes. The story is a basic one of two young British soldiers who have to deliver a message to stop a raid which would be a deathtrap for 1600 men, one being a brother of one of the soldiers. One of the illogical parts of the script is that the two men are are too inexperienced to take on a task but 1) going to the movies in most cases you have to park your logic out in the lobby and 2) this takes place at the beginning of the movie when you are caught up in the film's technique so by the time you get involved with the story itself they have picked up much needed experience along with many coincidences that might not ring true. The two leads, Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay, are more than adequate, with one carrying a heavier load than the other, while there are many cameos from such actors as Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Madden, Daniel Mays and Claire Duburcq. "1917" is interesting for the way it appears to have been filmed but there have been much better war movies in the past and certainly better movies in 2019.

I am so glad I saw "Uncut Gems" as my first movie in 2002 for the following reasons: 1) I know I have seen the worst movie I will see this year 2) I know this will be the loudest/nosiest movie this year with A) Most of the actors shouting through 95% of the movie B) It will be the movie with the most curse words C) The soundtrack, whether needed or not, will be one of the loudest D) It will be the most stereotypical movie of the year regarding New Yorkers, Jews and/or Blacks. E) It will be my shortest review of the year! F) It helped me make up my mind to NOT have to go to a movie every Friday and G) I will walk out of a bad movie! Always trying to be positive I am glad to have seen Idina Menzel in a movie even though her role was negligible and being unfamiliar with Julia Fox she did make her second oldest role in movies--the other woman--noticeable. Last, but not least, I will say there is a lot of favorable talk about Adam Sandler's performance but it hasn't changed my mind about his lack of talent!

"A Hidden Life" asks the question of how far you would go in your beliefs even if it means death when you have a chance to live? It is based on the true story of Austrian Franz Jagerstatter who refuses to swear his allegiance to **** though he does go when called up by the 3rd Reich for military training. He is a devoted husband and father of three girls who works side by side with his as much devoted wife on their large farm. His refusal to sign a loyalty oath takes him away from his family, farm and small town. Along with the moral questions there is also the beautiful love story between Franz and his wife Franziska plus their love and interaction with their children. The film takes place in St. Radegund, Austria, and, after the opening shots of **** and **** Germany, the camera pans over the stunning location of the town and at any minute you expect Julie Andrews to come out and sing "The Sound of Music" which is one the things that sabotages the film all the way through. Director/screenwriter Terrence Malick takes 3 hours to tell a story that could have easily been cut by an hour if he eliminated all the repetition of most scenes. He shows the hard work of working a farm from cutting, gathering hay, digging for the vegetables, planting potatoes not only once but each scene is repeated at least 3 times. Yes a river changes constantly and Malick makes sure we see that along with many shots inside the local church's beautiful paintings. He, also, fails to get into Franz's mind and why he believed so strongly to be the only man in the village who feels the way he does to the depths he does. There are bits and pieces spoken from the bible and he was a devout Catholic but how come he was the only one in the village? His love for his wife and children appears to be as strong as his love for his religion but it is never explained. August Diehl as Franz and Franziska by Valerie Pachner are beautifully matched and their love is shown in many big and little ways and she accepts the pain caused by her husband not only to them, their kids but also his mother and Franziska's sister. Is religion harder to explain than love? Is religion harder to show than love? The fact that we don't know what motivates the man to make his decisions and follow through with them, hurting many including those he loves being ostracized by all around them is the main and a big failure of the director/screenwriter! "The Hidden Life" is a good example of more is not necessarily better!

(Sorry AJ and other friends who I know love Star Wars!) I wouldn't know a Star Wars from a Star Trek though I believe I saw the first Star Wars movie and one later on. I had to approach this movie as a stand alone film and I must admit I was confused from the first frame to the last not knowing who was who and then all of a sudden there is Mark Hamil here for a few seconds, Harrison Ford with even less screen time but I did recognize Carrie Fisher who played the princess with the hair buns who faded in and out. It may mean something I remember the robots from the first film and I saw the hairy Chewbacca who I remember from somewhere but the relationships between the various characters are a complete mystery to me. There are certainly a lot plane fights not to forget all the light saber fights. There is one action scene after another as if the film stopped to hold its breath for a minute the audience would moan. The movie is 141 minutes, seems to move fast with all the action but seemed to have taken 4 days to watch! It was good seeing Adam Driver as I had been very impressed with him in both "The Report" a Prime Video movie and "The Marriage Story", which should definitely get him an Oscar nomination, but I have no idea who he is in this movie. Maybe if I had seen the 9 films, 5 series, 4 Animated mini-series, 3 live action series and the 3 Star Wars TV films I might have liked this better but even Allen, who is a Star Wars fan and the reason we went to see this, wasn't impressed. I really can't recommend this movie but I will let the Star Wars fans make up their own mind about seeing it and, yes, millions are seeing it.

In 2003/2004 I saw "Monster" and walked out of the theatre saying that if Charlize Theron doesn't win the Oscar for her performance I will never go to the movies. Well, she did I still go and today I saw a performance by Charlize Theron that might not get her that second Oscar but she, along with Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie, certainly deserve nominations. (Robbie stands a chance in the supporting category as the other two have won best actress Oscars.) I honestly did not recognize Theron until the near end of the movie due to makeup and prosthetics---another Oscar nomination?--and she has lowered her voice that she is Megyn Kelly. Though the film revolves around Theron/Kelly, for those who don't know the whole story, it was Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) who was responsible, not only for the downfall of Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) but helped bring the #METOO movement to the forefront. As with all 'based on a true story' I often wonder how true private conversations are but this man was so abusive that you know a lot wasn't being told and it boggles the mind what he did do and what he, and other men, got away with. The fact that many women covered up for him and one seems to be a pimp for him, doesn't bring any shame on them but on the industry for their practices regarding women. Any film dealing with the politics in the past 5 years will have to involve Trump and Fox News but, even if we see the behind the scenes involving the Murdochs, this is not a Republican versus Democrat movie. There is a reason why the 3 leads, and so many others, are beautiful blondes wearing tight and short dresses and showing their legs and it all points to Ailes, and Fox, allowing him to do what he did because he was making the company billions of dollars. Aside from Theron, Kidman and Robbie there are many name actresses such as Holland Taylor, Kate McKinnon, Allison Janney and Connie Britton playing large, small and all important parts. Lithgow is a repulsive looking man as Ailes--again makeup and prosthetics--making it so unimaginable that he could get any woman that he wanted sexually but he does because of the way the industry worked. Richard Kind does a quick impersonation of Rudy Giuliani while Malcolm McDowell plays Rupert Murdoch and various actors play well known TV figures. The screenplay by Charles Randolph holds your attention no matter how familiar you may be with the story while director Jay Roach keeps the film going at a quick pace. "Bombshell" is a must see for the performances, the story and getting out to all the public exactly what brought the #METOO movement forward. Certainly every man should see this film.

T. S. Eliot had written a book of verses regarding cats and wrote his publisher the following: "....there might be a part that children wouldn’t like and part that adults wouldn’t like and part that nobody would like. The mise-en-scène may not please. There seem to be many more ways of going wrong than of going right (to Geoffrey Faber, 6 March 1936) "Cats", the Broadway musical, ran for 18 years and 7,485 performances opening in 1982. The previous year it opened London and now, 83 years later, it is on the silver screen. (Do people still call it that?) The first time I saw it on stage I went to the Winter Garden theatre and was interested how they changed the whole theatre into an alley and additionally sparked my interest when you could see the 'cats' roam all over including the back of customer's seats. I didn't really pay attention to the story because there really wasn't any but watching the actors being cats was a joy of its own. It was more of an audition for some individual cats of which one would be chosen for the 'Heaviside Layer' and come back to a new life. The musical score by Andrew Lloyd Webber, using the verses of T.S.Eliot plus some help from Trevor Nunn and Richard Stilgoe, giving the world the song "Memory". Many people hated the show but more, specifically parents, their kids and tourists loved the show eventually making billions of dollars. The movie opened this week and will, too, have some loving it and others hating it but I think the latter will win. I don't fall into either category as I didn't feel one way or the other. Being a huge Jennifer Hudson fan I was anxious to hear/see her deliver "Memory" and she more than makes the song her own. Judi Dench, who was to be in the original production but who had to leave due to a Archilles tendon snapping a week before the show was to open, is here to decide who will go to the Heaviside Layer and Ian McKellen as Asaragus, Gus for short, is a once famous actor and now is old, has cerebral palsy and hopes to 'win' the chance for a new life. Various other cats are played by Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson and James Cordon while Francesca Hayward makes her film debut as Victoria a new cat abandoned by her human owners. There is also an excellent ensemble of professional dancers, many from the Royal Ballet, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler. The cat 'outfits' along with the disconcerting CGI effects and the direction by Tom Hopper lacks the charm of the stage productions. Though I am glad I went to see this version of "Cats" I won't recommend it as it is one of the many of less successful Broadway to Hollywood musicals. The movie runs an hour and 50 minutes and is rated R but I didn't hear/see anything that would be offensive for young kids who would probably get involved watched the cats.

There are many unbelievable moments in "Queen & Slim" but the most shocking, head shaking and unbelievable are 5 that will make you gasp and wonder how these things can happen and be taken for granted today. Giving spoilers are not my thing and after waiting a few weeks to see this movie I did come across a couple of things that almost ruined the movie for me and 3 involve violence. Those 3 things could have been read about in any newspaper or magazine and seen on every news telecast yet seeing them in this film will still effect you mentally if not physical. An example of one of the unbelievable moments, which is funny, is when a man who never had a drink slugs down about 3 ounces of bourbon and neither coughs or makes a face! There is the one where one of the leads get shot in the thigh and forgets to limp though if you blink you will miss it. Okay, none of this takes away from the screenplay by Lena Waithe or the direction by Melina Matsoukas, who bring to the movie things that haven't been shown or dealt with on film for all audiences. Though you may have heard, and it is referred to in the script, this is like a "Bonnie and Clyde" it is nothing like it except for a couple on the run. The film starts off with a first date gone wrong with her a lawyer and him a Costco employee meeting through Tinder and escalates from there though one of the unbelievable moments, at the beginning, is that he drives her home because she didn't come in her own car. There are a lot of fine actors in this movie starting with newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith as Queenie and Daniel Kaluuya as Slim. As mismatched as they may be and showing no chemistry that changes as the movie progresses. As it becomes a road movie we meet Bokeem Woodbine, Chloe Sevigny, Indya Moore, Flea, Sturgill Simpson, Melanie Halfkenny, Benito Martinez among others, most who add various insights into the beings of both Queen and Slim. I can tell you some of the things that happen but as a movie goer you would be better off experiencing them with fresh eyes and ears. Though first time director Halfkenny adds some unnecessary scenes, such as one with a horse and another in a gas station her biggest mistake which takes away from what should have been the last scene by adding 3-4 more, each fading to black, so don't leave until the end credits start. "Queen & Slim" is a very interesting movie and though many things may be 'old news' to Blacks both they and Whites should see it and maybe, just maybe, the unbelievable won't be so believable.

Democrats and Republicans each can find something in this film to point out to each other though director Clint Eastwood sort of stacks the deck for the Conservatives. Based on a true story a viewer never knows what is true and what is imagined such as the reporter having sex with the FBI guy to get a story really true? The reporter is dead and the FBI man is really a mixture of a few people. There is no falsehood behind the story of reporter Kathy Scruggs of the Atlantic-Journal Constitution naming Richard Jewell as the suspect in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia after he was hailed for being a hero when he found the bomb and alerted the authorities saving thousands of lives. Tom Broker, on NBC TV, also reports that Jewell is a suspect. We watch the FBI, and the media, tear apart the lives of both Jewell and his mother who he lives with. Kathy Bates, as the mother, has two very strong scenes that would justify her being nominated for an Oscar while Sam Rockwell as the lawyer committing himself to clear Richard's name gives another one of his strong performances and Paul Walter Hauser as Richard Jewell gives a once in a lifetime performance and certainly deserves a lot of movie awards during award time! The actors are the ones who make this movie with the screenplay Billy Ray a little too scattered and director Clint Eastwood seems to want to show that liberals don't run the movie business so we have a lot of unnecessary politics and wasted time. I do recommend "Richard Sewell" for the aforementioned excellent performances plus what could be a realistic look at how a man's life could be ruined without substantial facts accusing him of something he hasn't done.

About half way into the film there is a 15-20 second that will have you holding your breath, sitting on the edge of your seat and waiting for the outcome. Though you have seen this scene in many movies it still catches and you wish the rest of the movie was as suspenseful. "Dark Waters" is about a lawyer who defended big companies and now is heading a class law suit against one of the biggest--Dupont! Mark Ruffalo plays Robert Bilott who has been just made partner of a well known admired law firm. He is not the sharp, $1,000 suit-wearing guy you mostly see in movies but when a farmer from West Virginia, a friend of his grandmother, comes in with a load of video tapes and eventually shows him where he has buried a hundred of his cows, along with the organs of many, Bilott feels he has no choice and takes the case against the thoughts of other partners. The case takes almost 20 years to be decided and we follow along how Dupont not manipulated the government but also the people. You may not have heard of PFOA but you are familiar with Teflon which is not only used in cookware and how it does kill people and disfigures babies. This is very much a procedural movie without much dramatics but it handles 20 decades in a little over 2 hours smoothly and let's us get to know many of the characters who are real people as this film is based on a story originally written in the New York Times. In the end credits you get to see some of the people but in the movie, along with Mark Ruffalo, the actors such as Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pulman, Victor Garber and Bill Camp with others, do a solid job of making their characters believable. As with many films this season "Dark Waters" runs over 2 hours and this one could have been a little tighter but director Todd Haynes had to cover 18-19 years and does it smartly.

Trey Edward Shults, director and screenwriter of "Waves", along with his cameraman Drew Daniels, has never met a color or a scene he doesn't love repeating more than once. If someone uses the 'f' word let's have a few people say it at least 20 times just as filming inside a car with a 360 degree turn of the camera is effective, and looks good, let's film it 3 different times. Oh and let's use every color of the rainbow flashing in all sorts of shapes over and over and over plus 2 more times. Should a scene have a guy throwing up let's do it again with the same guy and then another with a different guy. The film is cut into 2 parts with the first concentrating on Tyler, played by Kelvin Harrison, Jr., and the second on Emily, played by Taylor Russell, his younger sister. We meet their parents Ronald, played by Sterling K. Brown and Catherine, played by Renee Elise Goldsberry, who married Ronald and brought up the two kids as their mother had died when they were quite young. The first half is filled with violence and is basically a cliche all around. The script holds no surprises except, maybe, for whirling , flashing and never stop moving camera shot. The second is sweeter, quieter as Emily meets and gets to know Luke, played by Lucas Hedges, sharing a young love as only teenagers can. There is a completely unnecessary scene, and person, involving the two plus a third character who when you hear about them you know a hospital scene is ahead. It could have been cut and having a movie run 2 hours instead of 2 hours and 15 minutes! The acting by all, including Alexa Demie playing Alexis, Tyler's girlfriend, is above board handling scenes you have seen in many pictures before as if it was the first time it was shown on screen but, sadly, the screenwriter offers nothing new and only approaches each segment with flashing, fading, glowing bright lights. The best part of "Waves", and Shults does repeat it a few times, is hearing Dinah Washington singing her classic version of "What A Difference A Day Makes"!

I may be one of the very few who never saw Mister Rogers's show and though I heard of him I didn't know what a nice guy he was and hard he worked to be one. If anyone could play him it had to be Mister Nice Guy Tom Hanks but in spite of the role he is playing, with his name and picture the only ones in the ads, he is more of a supporting player. Yes they show bits and pieces of him interacting with people, doing songs and using hand puppets on his television show but the main character is Matthew Rhys. His role as Lloyd Vogel, a writer for Esquire magazine, brings him in touch with Fred Rogers as he is on an assignment to do a 400 word story of the man as a hero. The main story revolves around Vogel and his father Jerry, played by Chris Cooper, who is an alcoholic and left his wife and children when she was dying. Without giving any spoilers his interview with Rogers turns into Rogers questioning him and learns about Vogel's father when the latter returns upon his daughter's, wedding day. I believe it is the first time the sister and brother have seen their father since he walked out. By this time you know exactly where the story is heading and where it will end and you keep on waiting for something to happen! Like Rogers this film is a nice film about a nice guy and Hanks plays him to perfection. Once you would like to see him explode but the closest he comes to doing that is banging on the lower keys of the piano. I have seen his wife Joanne Rogers, played in a brief role by Maryann Plunkett, on interviews these past 2 weeks and I wanted to ask her how was it living with a constantly nice guy! Matthew Rhys does a fine job as Vogel and it was great seeing Susan Kelechi Watson, from "This Is Us", playing his wife. I don't know who's choice it was for him to have that '5 o'clock shadow' but it was a bad choice. I was surprised to see one of my favorite actresses in the role of the Esquire editor Ellen played by Christine Lahti though the role demands nothing from her. Chris Cooper as the father does his usual fine job while Enrico Colantoni role in an abbreviated role as a publicist for the show. "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" is a nice film but too low key.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I can count on 1 finger how many racing car movies I have seen and though I may recall who was in them I don't remember any of them and, sadly, because I had heard good things about "Ford v Ferrari" it will probably be in the same category. Based on a true story, the screen writers Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller, juggle 4-5 different stories to add human drama to the film while eliminating any one of them would have brought the movie in at a reasonable showing time, way less than the 2 hours and 30 minutes it runs. At the same time the director James Mangold has one too many race scenes, one too many shots of a foot hitting the brakes, more shots than necessary to prove Ken Myles is eccentric or business owners and their employees can be underhanded and ruthless. Caitriona Balfe, though a bit difficult to understand, impressed me playing the wife of Christian Bale, who as driver Ken Myles, has been getting raves for his role, left me cold and also hard to understand. Matt Damon is, as always, impressive in a strong, somewhat silent way, as former champion driver and now designer of race cars. Tracy Letts in the role of Henry Ford II has a 2 minute moving and at the same time funny scene while being solid in the rest of the film. Josh Lucas as the boss's right hand man is an effective villain even if the role is a bit overwritten and obvious. The banter between Damon and Bale tells a lot about both men but one segment, meant to be funny is only funny due to the reaction of Balfe while Bale's scenes with Noah Jupe, just right as his son, shows the man to be a good father. The behind the scenes of business life certainly isn't new but the behind the scenes of the racing sport and business aspect of it and car companies is interesting. Though you may know who the winner is, or will be, in "Ford v Ferrari" it will entertain you if you can get through the 30 to 40 minutes unnecessary segments.

Go into the theatre, buy your popcorn (or not) sit down for 109 minutes and be entertained by two charismatic, professional stars as they do their job. When you leave the theatre don't start questioning the screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher, based on the novel by Nicholas Searle, because some of it didn't make any sense. Bill Condon directs the two stars in sparkling locations and backdrops whether it be in London or Berlin. Time frames are today and back in the 1940s and, thankfully, the younger actors playing the older ones are real and not movie 'magic'. Talking about that it seems most movies today have flashbacks when in most cases the movie can be told in linear fashion whereas in this movie we do have to go back to explain the present. Is it a love story? A story about scams? Con artists? A comedy? Drama? A mystery thriller? Are the people who they say are? It is all of these and yet when you leave the theatre all you will remember is Helen Mirren's smile and Ian McKellen's hangdog face plus their playing off and to each other. "The Good Liar" is just an entertaining movie, except for two quick violent scenes (unless violence entertains you), that was a perfect way to spend this very rainy afternoon.

After 10 minutes I was ready to leave "Parasite" but I can count on one hand how many movies I have walked out on so I decided to stay and find out why word of mouth was being so positive about the film. Basically it is the story of how a very poor family of 4, parents, son and daughter scams their way into the home of a very wealthy family of 4 consisting of the parents, daughter and son. Really can't talk about the movie itself without giving spoilers, though none of them jolted and/or surprised me. The movie is 2 hours and 13 minutes of which 13 minutes could have been cut very easily or spent in explaining some relationships that are sort of glossed over. "Parasite" takes place in Korea and the differences between the classes are made immediately. The film has subtitles that took me a few minutes to get used to but to which I adapted fairly quickly. I left the theatre glad I didn't walk out but at the same time I really can't see recommending it while, on the other hand, Allen thought it was a classic whodunit.

I knew very little about Harriet Taubman and except for the ending credits I didn't learn more about her. I was caught up in the movie, and the performance of Cynthia Erivo as Harriet aka Misty and Moses, until her first time as a leader sneaking slaves from Baltimore to Philadelphia. It has been said that Harriet had been beaten so badly as a child, including having a metal weight thrown at her head, that gave her a traumatic head wound that would make have her strange visions and revelations from God. Without getting into a discussion of religion her walking across, not on, a river took me out of the movie and the other visions and too many coincidences. From the beginning, and through the movie, there is a repeated scene of 3 girls being taken away from their family and somehow until just now when I read wikipedia about Harriet Taubman I didn't know that they were her sisters. "Harriet" in many ways is a by the book, Hollywood biography and skips many heavy issues regarding slavery, the Underground Railroad, how both black and white societies worked for and against her and what I was expecting to be a very emotional movie. We don't get to know what she is thinking or feeling before, during and/or after her 'visions'. I am glad I went to see "Harriet" because it made me more interested into getting her true story, if it is known, and the performance by Cynthia Erivo plus some very strong performances from supporting performers.

There is something wrong when an audience member (me!) in more tuned into the soundtrack than into the film. From the beginning I was aware of the music trying to make a scene more dramatic or suspenseful than it really was. I knew more about Edison than I did about Westinghouse or Tesla and I did learn more about the three men but basically it is a story of men cheating, lying but, yet, being decent men. Edison was a show-boater, brash, arrogant man who could charm reporters and would do anything to stop his rivals. Westinghouse was a more quiet man, one who believed you were a success if you left the world a better place than you were born into, yet wasn't above doing public harm. Tesla is brilliant, opinionated and a very flamboyant dresser. There is really no suspense in "The Current War"--pun intended-- and I still am not sure if this Tesla is the man behind the present day company but I do know Westinghouse did more than manufacture refrigerators! The performances are fine which are expected from such actors as Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon, the standout is Tom Holland as Edison's secretary. "The Current War" is too long, ironically too darkly lit, while the score is more interesting than the story.

I was so involved with who was playing who that the first 15 minutes of the movie is a blur to me! Was Antonio Banderas supposed to be Pedro Almodovar? Is Asia Exteandia supposed to be Banderas? Who the hell is Leonardo Sbaraglia who could easily pass for Banderas? Was there truly a Cesar Vicente in Almodovar's early pre-pubescent? Then I forgot all that and just got into the movie's screenplay by Almodovar and the superb acting by the cast, especially Antonio Banderas! I have been a huge fan of Pedro Almodovar since 1983 when I saw his "Dark Habits" and have seen about 15 of the 20 movies he has directed. This, without a doubt, is one of his best if for nothing else the writing and direction of a scene between Banderas and Julieta Mallo though this is just one of many scenes that grab and hold your attention. I defy you to take your eyes off the screen in the scene between Asier Flores, playing the young Salvador Mallo, and Cesar Vicente, a laborer with artistic abilities, that provides another scene with the older Salvador, played by Banderas, bringing back the past. Many of Almodovar's films have featured and/or revolved around beautiful women with one being Penelope Cruz who in this film plays the young mother of Salvador but in this one it revolves around 4 beautiful men, including Banderas who grows better looking every day he grows older! Talking about Antonio Banderas, there is no doubt in my mind he gives one of the best performances, not only of his career but, of this year. There are so many facets to this story of an old(er) man and his journey to where and who he is today and the actor deliveries in every scene. Whether in flashbacks or current day we follow him every step of the way and the complex life he has lead. "Pain and Glory" is in many ways a perfect film but not an easy one to watch as there is a lot of pain and a little glory. PS If for no other reason I will have to see it again and find out what I missed those first 15 minutes!

Was it titled "Lucy In The Sky" just so a few lines of the Beatles' song could be sung? Maybe. I hadn't been to a movie theatre for 11 days and though I watch movies on TV it isn't the same! My choices were "Jexi" which I would have liked to have seen but the schedule was wrong or "Joker"--NO WAY!---or "Lucy In The Sky". I like Natalie Portman when I see her but I usually don't go to a movie just because she is in it so off I went. "Inspired by real events" the names have been changed---to use the title song?---and is based on a female astronaut attacking a lover who has been seeing another woman. The picture starts off showing Lucy (Portman) in space, lost in thought and asking for just a few minutes more. After landing, and at the first opportunity, she signs up for another trip not comfortable on earth anymore with her husband (Dan Stevens). In a brief conversation they decide she will have another child after she returns from the next trip but she knows that will never happen and so the affair with Mark (Jon Hamm), another astronaut, starts. It is here the film goes completely off track. Lucy looks, feels different, even states that she never felt so alive and instead of following why the change, what happens physically and mentally when you go into space, we get into the melodrama. The script by Noah Hawley, who also directs, Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi misses the chance to approach a space movie from a different and interesting angle. Hawley's direction does many tricks with the camera to try and see Lucy's big world out in space and the small world she has returned to only making the screen annoying. Natalie Portman does fine as does Dan Stevens and Jon Hamm but Ellen Burstyn is wasted, as is the title tune! "Lucy In The Sky" is too long at 126 minutes to hold your interest but as your mind wanders what it could have been helps the time past.

For the past 19 years I have been going to a movie matinee on Friday, missing only 2, because in the back of my mind, for some stupid, unexplained reason that I know is not true, I think the world will come to an end. I wish I had taken that chance today. I had a choice between "Joker" and "Monos". I am a huge fan of Joaquin Phoenix and don't think I have ever missed a movie he has been in but I had heard about all the violence in "Joker" and I do not like seeing violence in movies no matter how phony I know it is but then I have never heard of "Monos". I looked up the synopsis of the latter and it seemed 'different' so I decided to go see that movie. When I got to The Classic Gateway Theatre I sort of smiled and, at the same time felt good about, to see that there were 2 fully dressed and armed policemen stationed at/in the auditorium that "Joker" was playing! "Monos" here I come. After 102 minutes watching a group of teenagers running amok, supposedly guarding an American hostage, I couldn't see how "Joker" could have been more violent, and "Monos" is one of those pictures that is so indecipherable I really want to ask you to go and see it and then tell me what it was/is about and what it is all suppose to mean? I came home and read a few critics reviews and I still ahve that question! I won't even ask how and/or what that American is doing in the jungles of Columbia---I guess that is where they are because the movie was made there---but who are the kids and what are they doing there? "Monos" is certainly a movie I don't recommend but wouldn't mind if you went to see it and emailed me what it was about!!

Renee Zellweger does an excellent job as Judy Garland but, using her own voice, shows that there was only one Judy Garland! Judy Davis, in 2001, did a 4 hour TV story called "Life With Judy Garland: Me & My Shadow", winning an Emmy, but lip-synced Judy's voice and was more effective. In "I Could Go On Singing", Garland's last movie, the screenplay did a much better job about a world famous singer showing the love for her children then this screenplay by Tom Edge based on a play by Peter Quilter. The flashbacks to Judy's start and her treatment by the studio, especially during "The Wizard of Oz", along with 'appearances' by actors such as Mickey Rooney, doesn't add anything new. More time spent with Judy's ex husband, Sid Luft (Rufus Sewell) and Jessie Buckley, as Judy's last assistant, Rosalie, would have added more to the story about her last days. Finn Wittrock, as Micky Deans, her last husband, for less than a year and rumored to be gay is given less attention but then another husband Vincent Minnelli, father of Liza and also gay, isn't even mentioned. Darci Shawn, as young Judy, would make perfect casting as a young Liz Taylor. "Judy" delivers one fine performance and a tearful last 5 minutes but instead of recommending seeing this I would recommend you seeing Judy Garland in "I Could Go On Singing" and Judy Davis in "Life With Judy Garland: Me & My Shadow".

There were two kind of people in the audience: those who have seen every, or almost every, 52 episodes of "Downton Abbey" and those who never saw it or, like me, only saw, maybe 3-4 episodes, over the 6 seasons it was on PBS. You could tell people from the first category as they laughed at EVERYTHING Maggie Smith said, and did, funny or not, while those in the latter category might have smiled at one of her barbed witticisms but certainly didn't laugh out loud. This is a review looking at it as a stand alone movie while those who see it as an extension of the series most definitely would review it differently. The screenplay by Julian Fellowes introduces between 30-40 characters with about as many story lines involving 2 or 10 of them. Anyone who is a movie goer can see where most of them are heading but a couple fail to pay off and a couple just fizzle out while a major one had me going, "So what's new? Knew that from the moment they came on screen!" The opening segment sets the direction of all the lush photographic scenes and rich looks, in more ways than one, of the costumes, jewelry, and the settings both in and out of Downton Abbey. The story revolves around the visit of King George V (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James) who will be spending an evening at Downton Abbey, bringing their own staff of kitchen and servants which brings about a rebellion between the Royal's and Abbey's staffs offering about 5-6 story lines while there are many, some confusing, story lines regarding family members in all sorts of matches from mother and daughter to sister-in-laws. There are too many actors/characters to mention all but, yes, Maggie Smith is a delight and the encounters between her and Imelda Staunton are master classes in acting. I have been a fan of Elizabeth McGovern since I saw her in 1981 in "Ragtime" but I have a feeling her role in the TV series was larger and stronger. I recognized a few actors such as Jim Carter but the one who really made an impression, and getting the biggest laugh, is one I am unable to put a name with the face even looking through the cast credits--possibly Brendon Coyle--playing one of the major Abbey servant's. While "Downton Abbey" is a good example of the genre it is not as memorable as "Howards End" or, my favorite, "A Room With A View". While the outdoor scenes are lush this sequel would have done better as a 'made for TV movie'. Am curious to hear from fans of the TV series as to what they thought of the movie.

Being as nice as I can, and a Brad Pitt fan, I would not call this the worst movie of the year, though it is certainly a contender, let's just call it the worst Brad Pitt movie ever! Instead of making a large, long list of negatives like it is one of the longest 2 hour movies I have ever seen let me just tell you not to see it!

Many years ago, when I was a kid, I use to dream of Chita Rivera and Rita Moreno doing a cabaret show together but now that I am a big kid I think of a cabaret show starring Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce Knowles. Where does all this come from? Watching "Hustlers" I thought of Lopez making a big splash in the movies when she starred opposite George Clooney in "Out of Sight" and Beyonce doing the same when she co-starred in the movie "Dreamgirls" and neither did any more movies worthwhile. Chita became a star playing Anita in "West Side Story" on Broadway and Rita won an Oscar for the same role in the movies. Chita would remain a big and much loved star on Broadway for the next 60 years while Rita became a star on television. In any case, thinking about the 4 women was a diversion from looking at a movie that, while certainly glorifying a woman's body, shows smart women 'taking' dumb rich men. It sort of looks like in spite of all having sad backgrounds, most being uneducated, what choice did women have except for pleasuring men whether stripping or giving them lap dancers while other men took most of the money they made. This all takes place before the 2008 recession when men threw money around as if it wasn't theirs and in most cases it wasn't but then that recession came along and the women team up together to fleece the wealthy clients they still have, making thousands of dollars knowing the men are either married or would be too humiliated to report them to the police or still had enough money not to worry about. After Lopez's fantastic entrance doing a pole dance I lost interest in the rest of the movie possibly because the story of rich men being taken is so common place in South Florida that it seems to be in the paper and on television at least once a month if not once a week. The performances, by Lopez especially, are all good while the direction by Lorene Scafaria keeps the movie going but her screenplay, based on a 2015 magazine story by Jessica Pressler, gets tiresome very quickly. "Hustlers" is getting good reviews including talk about Lopez getting an Oscar nomination but I would rather see a 'duel' between her and Knowles or, even better, between Moreno and Rivera!

Everyone knows fat people are comediennes, everyone's best friend and yet underneath are very sad people and losers in life when it comes to finding love, let alone sex, right? All they have to do is lose weight and everything goes their way with finances, sex, love and life! What is so maddening about "Brittany Runs A Marathon" is that the director-screenwriter is that basing the story on his own real life best friend he misses many opportunities, going for easy laughs in the beginning and then drama in the second half not doing justice to Brittany or all the fat people who will see this. Brittany moved to New York from Philadelphia to get into advertising but instead finds herself working in a small off-off Broadway theatre, singing and making quips to the customers as they come into to see a show and barely makes a living having to share a small walk-up apartment with, of course, a skinny roommate. Living above her is a divorcee who is into running, who is skinny of course, as are the gay guy (and his husband) she becomes friends with through her--surprise--wanting to lose weight and run in the New York marathon. Later, through some convoluted manipulation of the screenplay, she is living in luxury with a male roommate who, by the way is very skinny. Just as an aside I can only recall 2 fat people in the movie one being her brother-in-law aka as her stepfather--yeah go figure that one out--and a very obese woman the mirror image of Brittany. As a fat person I felt some empathy for Brittany and did laugh at some of the things she said and did but I, also, felt some anger at the things skipped over to go from a comedy to a drama. Though the film doesn't quite give you the feeling that "Rocky" did, which was filmed in Philadelphia by the way, you might shed a tear on the way getting to the end. The cast is quite superior to the screenplay with Jillian Bell as Brittany, Michaela Watkins as the divorcee, Micah Stock as the gay guy, Utkarsh Ambudkar as the male roommate, Lil Rel Howery as the brother-in-law and Alice Lee as the first roommate. "Brittany Runs A Marathon" did show me the New York 26+ mile marathon route which I had never known or seen before though during the rest of the movie I wasn't quite sure where the film was taking place whether it was Manhattan, Queens or Brooklyn though the scenes in Philadelphia were well identified. Would I, do I recommend the film? Let me just say that the thin people in the audience--about 3 of them--laughed more than the 5-6 fat people who were there. Paul Downs Colaizzo owes his friend an apology in the way he presents her as a two dimensional woman instead of the 3 dimensional woman she probably is in real life.

Whether you have never seen the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" or have seen it a thousand times you will see it in a different light when you see it for the first or thousand and first time! The first time I saw the musical was the night after it opened on Broadway, September 23, 1954, joining the long line and, luckily, getting 2 tickets for the first row mezzanine. Pepe, a refugee from Cuba, was in tears most of the show and I immediately put it on my top 10 list and yet I was not to see another stage production of the show until this past February when the stage revival appeared in Fort Lauderdale and I was, once again, completely taken in by it. Now I can't wait to see it in Miami October 29 after seeing this film today. Currently there is a sold out production of the show done completely in Yiddish in New York and watching this film and a few segments of the musical done completely in Japanese it is easy to understand why people who don't know any language except their own understand all that is going on watching this show. The movie ends with a note that "Fiddler on the Roof" is performed every day somewhere in the world and this movie shows why aside from the music. We hear from various actors who have played Tevye along with other performers but it is the behind the scenes that add so much to the dimension of the show. In spite of how nasty could be to everyone, including the book and music writers, Jerome Robbins is highly esteemed by all. Most give him complete credit for making the musical a hit. The documentary by Max Lewkowicz takes an in-depth look at "Fiddler on the Roof" from all angles and shows why it is brilliant and explaining how universal it has become. We hear from the many who have played various characters in the show and people along with many who haven't had anything to do with any production and feel connected to it in various ways. We see a high school production with Latin and Black teenagers playing all the roles, Lin-Manual Miranda and his father-in-law, at his wedding surprising his bride with a choreographed "To Life" by the wedding party, learn how Robbins came to do the bottle number, how the director Gurinder Chadha saw "Bend it Like Beckham" in relation to "Fiddler". We hear from Fran Lebowitz, Stephen Sondheim, Topel who starred as Teyve in the movie version. We hear about Mostel's, the original Teyve, feud with Robbins, conversations with lyricist Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock who wrote the music and Joseph Stein who wrote the book based on the stories by Sholem Aleichm plus Joel Grey who has directed the Yiddish version and Steven Skybell who plays Teyve. Harvey Fierstein, among the many who played Teyve on Broadway has said, "Fiddler" is a musical that speaks to the child, the parent and the older audience in different ways, all having been ostracized. All the above is just a very few moments out of a fascinating hour and 37 minutes which also includes the why of the the Marc Chagall influence on the set designer Boris Aronson not to forget the bad reviews out of town or those from Variety and the New York Times when it opened on Broadway. All in all I am very anxious to see the production in Miami next month after seeing the film!

"Luce" is a picture with many questions and very few answers, not giving you enough information to know what the questions are! We have a white couple (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) who adopted a black 7 year old boy(Kelvin Harrison Jr.) who was born in war torn Eritrea, Africa, and now is a model teenager who went through intensive therapy to be the perfect student and son. He is a soon-to-be valedictorian, a track star, football player, the debate team captain and to one of his black history teachers (Octavia Spencer) he represents what every black male should be who may or may not overstep her authority. She feels women must stand up for themselves using a student( Andrea Bang)) who may or may not have been assaulted by school jocks as an example and that men must be certain way. Luce, (Harrison Jr), writes an essay the history teacher (Spencer) asks the class to submit assuming the voice of a historical figure and instead of using someone like FDR as the teacher expected Luce uses the voice of Frantz Fanon, a French West Indian psychiatrist and revolutionary who talked about violence as a weapon. The screenwriters JC Lee and Julius Onah do not give you enough information on many points and Onah, who also directed, confuses things further by making cuts that make absolutely no sense. All of the cast are first class from the leads, especially Kelvin Harrison Jr, Noah Gaynor and Omar Brian Bradley as his friends with the latter losing a sports scholarship because he isn't a Luce model, Marxha Stephanie Blake as the history teacher's sister with a personality disorder plus Leo Norbert Butz as the principal of the school. "Luce" would have been a much better movie if either it made more sense or cleared up exactly what problems were involved and/or gave more information so a sensible debate could have taken place after the movie about some, if not all, the issues brought up.

"The Nightingale" is one of the most violent films I can ever recall seeing in 75 years of movie going, filled with ****, murders by guns, knives, spears and hangings. It is not 'fun' violence like you would see in "Angel Has Fallen" but realistic violence as certainly took place in Australia and its southern state Tasmania in the 1800s. It is an epic film taking a little over 2 hours and 15 minutes and intriguing but it doesn't grab you emotionally though the basis of the story is certainly emotional. This is a shocking film about man's inhumanity towards women and towards each other, particularly between aboriginal Australians and the British colonists with the latter wiping out complete tribes of the former. There is a particularly harrowing scene between an aboriginal mother who is with her child and accosted by a couple of British soldiers. The focus of the movie is the performance of a wronged Irish woman convict, Clare, played by Aisling Franciosi, a young aboriginal tracker, Billy, played by Baykali Ganambarr, and one of the most horrendous, despicable villains to ever appear in a movie, Lieutenant Hawkins, played by Sam Caflin. All 3 give powerful performances but the director/screenwriter Jennifer Kent goes astray with the story in the middle part while her directing and, the director of photography, Radek Ladczuk takes us into the Tasmanian wilderness locations adding a large dimension to the film. Damon Herriman as a crude, rude corporal, a young soldier played by Harry Greenwood, who is horrified at what he is seeing other people doing is, in many cases, filling in for the audience seeing the film, along with Magnolia Maymuru as the aforementioned aboriginal mother and Michael Sheasby as Clare's husband are all standouts along with the supporting players in the smaller roles. Many of the scenes between Franciosi and Ganambarr offer some laughs as two people who are so different but have one thing, a very important thing, that binds them. It is here that the Kent, as the screen writer, goes astray regarding these two characters in the middle of the film. "The Nightingale" is an epic, intriguing movie but I do not suggest it if you are unable to handle a lot of relentless, graphic violence which cuts into the emotional feelings so needed in a film like this.

The synopsis of "The Peanut Butter Falcon" (see below) tells you the basic story but isn't able to add what Zack Gottsagen (as Zak) and Shia LaBeouf (as Tyler) bring to the movie that makes it so moving. Gottsagen is an actor with Down Syndrome and though you won't forget that the whole time watching the movie you will also learn that he is a man with wants and needs and, given a chance, will get them. When the film opens Zak is in an old folks nursing home because there is no other place for him as he has no living family and the State doesn't have any other facilities for him. Pushed on by his roommate, played by Bruce Dern, Zak runs away one night, wearing only his white briefs, and hides under a tarp in a boat owned by Tyler, who is on the run from the law and some locals who after him to get revenge for his burning their equipment. Zak and Tyler join forces, the latter at first reluctantly, and soon Eleanor, (Dakota Johnson) who in charge of Zak in the home and is now looking for him, become part of a family initially made up of strangers. Shia LaBeouf gives a strong performance as a man who lost his older brother and, unknowingly, has a chance to redeem himself. He brings many layers into his role regarding both Zak and Eleanor and a man who is lost while Zack Gottsagen has a remarkable physical and emotional strength who want let anything stop him, including starring in a motion picture. Dakota Johnson does what she can with her role though it is very underwritten by the screenwriters Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, who did much better as the directors of the film. Bruce Dern does a fun turn with few minutes while Thomas Haden Church as the wrestler trainer, Salt Water Redneck, who Zak, after constantly watching a video the man made, wants to meet and go to his classes, portrays that backwood world, along with real life wrestlers Jake "The Snake" Roberts MIck Foley. Wayne DeHart, as a blind preacher, helps the 3 with their journey while preaching about leaving the wolves of their past behind. The journey that takes place mostly along the North Carolina coast affords the 'family' opportunities, both funny and emotional, to become just that and will hit home with many in the audience who have done the same thing, making strangers into a living family. "The Peanut Butter Falcon" is a sweet, moving film that makes heroes of the two male leads.

In 2003 Gerard Butler starred in "Timeline" and the next year "The Phantom of the Opera" and was on his way to being a top star. It seemed after the mixed reviews for Phantom something went wrong though he has made a good living overall making a total of 42 movies of which the last dozen have mainly been in the action genre which "Angel Has Fallen" definitely fits. All in all it probably has one of the highest body counts, countless violent scenes and surprise, surprise a few, very few, quiet scenes first with his wife and baby and then with his father, the latter played by Nick Nolte, who I have been a fan of since 1974 on television in "Rich Man, Poor Man".

(And a short review on Bruce Springsteen) My inclination is to write 2 different reviews regarding "Blinded by the Light" with the first being about Bruce Springsteen and his music while the second would be about the movie and how the music is used. I will try to be brief, for me, with the Springsteen review first. It has only been in the past few days that I have become familiar with Bruce Springsteen's music and life. Oh, I had heard of a couple of his hits but wouldn't seek him out to listen to him sing and/or perform. I knew about his record breaking concert "Springsteen On Broadway" and recently heard that the filmed version was being shown on Netflix. I, also, read he has directed a documentary and his latest album "Western Stars". I wasn't very much into the popular music of the 1970s when he made a name for himself as I was 'stuck' on music of the 1930s-1960s and music from Broadway and Hollywood but I do remember his Oscar winning "Streets of Philadelphia". Thinking of going to see "Blinded by the Light" I decided to watch his concert and was moved, not so much by his singing voice and/or music but by his life story and I still feel the same today after seeing the movie which I feel I got into better than I would have otherwise. "Blinded by the Light" is full of cliches, the kind I like in movies. The beginning of the movie didn't thrill me as I have enough problems hearing dialogue especially when spoken with an English accent and then adding a Pakistani accent to it! I don't know the exact point the first 'Hollywood' musical number was done but starting with that cliche I was hooked! Yes, there are a few of these elaborate musical numbers where students, parents and whoever is around burst into song though the first number "The Promised Land" is a solo that for whatever reason reminded me of Gene Kelley's "Singing in the Rain". The story is based on the true story of a teenager who gets into a world of music and writing and if you as a teenager ever felt a connection that affected how you thought and acted you will understand what this movie is about and if you haven't experienced it this movie will show you how they do. Yes, the cliches are here from the prejudice, not only the British against the Pakistani but the latter against Jews, the anger against immigrants, fathers coming to a new country to make a new life but not wanting his children to forget where the parents came from and getting upset if the children discover their own path, there is the first love, making and losing friends, sacrifices during a recession here taking place during Thatcher's era, children hiding things from their parents plus not to forget jokes about New Jersey! Our teenager meets a teacher who believes in him and, yes, it is corny, but it works just as the father and son scenes do. Let's not have any doubt about the importance of a teenager discovering something to believe in as in this case the music will have him stand up to bullies, kiss a girl, spend much needed money to see Springsteen in a concert and even help him make a major decision. Viveik Kalra, as the teenager Javed, Dean-Charles Chapman as his best friend Matt, (who I must admit I thought was a girl and put a crazy spin on the first 10-15 minutes of the movie!), Aaron Phagura as Roops as his new friend who introduces Javed to Bruce Springsteen, Nell Williams is Eliza, his soon to be girlfriend, maybe, Nikita Mehta as his sister Shazia who has a secret of her own that really surprises the audience while David Hayman, as his neighbor Mr. Evans and Haylay Atwell as the supportive teacher all perform admirably with Viveik Kalra a standout. As Javed parent's Kulvinder Chir as the father and Meera Ganatra as the mother take two roles that have been done thousands of times in movies add poignancy, laughter and drama with the greatest of ease and have a lot to do with the tears the audience sheds. "Blinded by the Light", as I said, is based on a true story and the screenplay was based on the book "Greetings from Bury Park" by Sarfraz Manzoor, who co-wrote the screenplay, and who the character Javed is based on, with Paul Mayeda and the director Gurinder Chadha. The latter keeps the film moving, the cliches and the unbelievable song and dance sequences believable. I certainly have to give Bruce Springsteen credit for making "Blinded by the Light" a much more interesting picture than it would have been without his music or my not knowing about his background.

There are some actresses that even when quiet still are acting up a storm and you can almost hear what they are thinking and Cate Blanchett is certainly one of those. In "Where's You Go, Bernadette" while talking, listening, acting, reacting, smiling, serious, crying, etc., makes no difference her whole body mesmerizes you making it impossible for you to not get involved with her and her character! The first half of the film takes its time setting up why Bernadette disappeared leaving her brilliant computer smart husband (Billy Crudup) and a daughter (Emma Nelson) who loves her and sees her as her best friend. Twenty years previously the very successful and admired architect , Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) and her husband left Los Angeles moving to Seatle where Elgin can advance his career with Microsoft while Bernadette, after a few tries, gives birth to Bee and devotes her life to both while working, slowly, on an old former reform school. Aside from fixing the house and taking care of her family Bernadette seems to have no friends or life and when Bee calls them on a promised trip to Antarctica for her school accomplishments Bernadette disappears. The screenwriters, Holly Gent and Vincett Palmo, Jr., the director Richard Linklater and the actress Blanchett, hints at why she disappears but all 3, and the supporting cast, in telling you where she disappears to and the reasons makes the second half of the film fast moving and involving. There is an extraneous story line that seems far fetched regarding a scam and the ending is too much 'Hollywood' but Blanchett is a marvel, it is good seeing a mature Billy Crudup with that little boy's grin and newcomer Emma Nelson as their daughter is a find. "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" is not a must see film but is certainly a film worth seeing.

The main reason for seeing "The Kitchen" is if you really like the 3 actresses who star in the film. The one who impressed me the most was Elisabeth Moss who I have seen now and then but not her acclaimed "The Handmaiden's Tale". Here, as the abused wife ****, she has the best arc in the film and does an excellent job. I like Melissa McCarthy but have sort of rationed myself in the work I have seen her in. I love her appearances on Saturday Night Live, have watched and enjoyed a few of her "Mike and Molly" television episodes. I became aware of her first in "The Gilmore Girls" and thought she did a riveting portrait of Lee Israel in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" and was a standout in "St. Vincent". I, generally, skip movies she is in that has been written and/or directed by her husband. I can understand the third lead, Tiffany Haddish, making as many movies as she can, doing television shows and specials in what seems every week as she came on the screen, quickly becoming the 'flavor of the month' and was everywhere and annoying me with her loud, brash, cursing, blue comments so I started avoiding her. I must admit she does good work here and you can see her potential as a serious actress who can be subdued when needed to be and can sustain a believable character. The film about 3 women who take over their husband's 'gangster' business, offering protection in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York city when they are sentenced to jail is sort of far fetched but does include a lot of the violence that would come with the job. Talking about the violence, aside from showing the occasional shooting, it was different in today's cinema world whereas like in the old days it was indicated instead of being shown though I am still wondering why there were laughs during the explanation of cutting up a body in a bathtub, showing knives and blood, to get rid of it! The director/screenwriter Andrea Berloff did a good job sort of taming McCarthy and Haddish while offering the three strong actresses a male supporting cast who aren't blown away in their scenes with the women. Surprisingly Margo Martindale, having a one note role doesn't impress as usual. "The Kitchen" isn't as funny or as dramatic as it should be but for a rainy afternoon in Fort Lauderdale it is a good way of staying dry. Just a note: though the movie takes place in the last 1970s and the cars, clothes and building facades all are realistic the scene of 42nd Street between 7th & 8th Avenues with all the movie marquees does not have the Lyric theatre where I had one of my first jobs (in the 1950s)! :O)

As effective as "The Farewell" is on the huge movie screen I think it will be even more effective on the television screen. It is what use to be called a 'small' film but in reality it covers a lot of subjects all families deal with which brings laughs and tears and major differences no matter how small or big a family is. I have seen Awkwafina in both ""Crazy Rich Asians" and "Ocean's 8" and I vaguely remember her 'wacky' roles but here she becomes a major player in movies and should get an Oscar nomination if not more. In the pivotal role as Billi, a daughter and granddaughter, she is rarely off screen whether in the New York or Changchun, China. Starring opposite her and, at times, stealing the picture from everyone, is Zhoa Shuzhen as the grandmother Nai Nai who has kept a close relationship with her granddaughter. The film opens with "based on an actual lie" and it is a whopper of one as Nai Nai has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer without too much time left and the whole family conspires to keep the news from her and, yet, as in all families little lies are brought to light as we get to know the characters. In more than one way "The Farewell" is a family movie, for any family of any nationality and background. This is a film the whole family can see together and in many cases will see themselves in how they relate to the various relatives from parents to siblings to cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. The film is based upon the true story of the director's, Lulu Wang, family and she does a great job of drawing you into the story without any melodrama, keeping the lie real and except for two scenes keeping it all low keyed making it more moving not to forget bringing in a lot of humor. Has not knowing of her diagnosis did Nai Nai live longer and if she had known would she have died sooner? Be sure to see the ending credits which, in a way, answers that question but, in any case, be sure to see "The Farewell"!

The only reasons to see Tarantino's latest movie are the really alive performance by Brad Pitt, the red Rottweiler Brandy and a scene where Margot Robbie, playing Sharon Tate, watches herself on the screen in a theatre and enjoying the audience's reaction plus it is always good seeing Al Pacino, even in a wasted role. As to be expected in a Tarantino's film there is a lot of very vivid violence, much distortion of history and facts and a lot of extraneous scenes that bring nothing to the film. I have always been a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio since "What's Eating Gilbert ****" even in his lesser pictures but in this movie he is just bad and I put the blame on Tarantino's shoulders as director and screenplay writer. There are many cameos but none memorable or even remembered 5 minutes after you see them. The only reasons to see "Once Upon A **** Hollywood" are if you have 2 hours and 41 minutes of your life to waste and/or your electricity has gone out and this is the only theatre that has air conditioning!

In 1994 I saw the animated film of "The Lion King" and was impressed. I was even more impressed seeing the Broadway musical version 3 times including just this past May 9, 2019, in Miami and each time my jaw dropped to the floor with the opening number. Now we have a live action/CGI version. I admit I haven't the slightest idea what that means except the talking animals really seem to move and talk just as human actors do! I very seldom have good things to say about a remake but in this case a remake of a remake of an original held my attention from beginning to end even knowing the story forward and backwards. The cast voices fit perfectly and Billy Echner as Timon the meerkat almost, almost, makes me forget Nathan Lane's voice in the original animation and Seth Rogen gets all the laughs he can as Rumbaa the warthog. It is good to hear James Earl Jones reprise his roll as King Mufasa while the new voices of Chitwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Donald Glover as grown-up Simba and Beyonce Knowles as Nala are equal to the best. By the way the cubs playing Simba and Nala will make anyone a cat person! The direction, (how do you direct a live/CGI animal?) by Jon Favreau, the photography by Caleb Deschanel with the visual effects by Robert Legato and Adam Valdez all combine to make this version of "The Lion King" a clear winner!

All right, I do it in public so I might as well admit to all: most people who know me know I cry in movies and I have never been ashamed of it but to cry in an animated film??? Come on!! Okay I did and I do. I remember years ago crying when Bambi's mother died but until cartoon movies became way more, in technical ways, I didn't during Snow White, Pinocchio or even Fantasia! I saw "Toy Story 1" but aside from remembering some of the characters I remember little of the story. I skipped 2 & 3 but not having anything else to see today I decided to see the, supposedly, latest and last story. It is a story about how one feels not being wanted or loved anymore and how to handle the feelings and life changes. In this film we find an old friend Woody, a sheriff, has lost his first owner, Andy, who pushed him aside when Andy went off to college. Woody found consolation with Bonnie who inherited him but now she is off to kindergarten and has made her own toy, Forky, made from trash items like pipe cleaners, a plastic spoon, doll's eyes and considers himself trash but Bonnie loves him. Very shortly after bringing him home she loses him and Woody feels it is his duty to return Forky, now Bonnie's friend who in turn deserts him while at the same time convince Forky he is not just trash. The chase involves some old, and many new characters, in the Toy Story series but bogs down in the chase sequences while at the same time offering a few laughs such as a skunk sort of being a Trojan horse or at least camouflage! The main tug at the emotional strings are the reunion of Bo Peep and Woody with the former having accepted the fact that she no longer serves a purpose just moving here and there. Not having seen the middle stories I am not sure who is new here but Tom Hanks, as always, is very effective and, yes, believable as Woody. Tony Hale, new as Forky, is funny while Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear gives solid backup to his friends while Annie Potts returns as Bo Peep as a very strong woman and Christina Hendricks as sort of a villainous Gabby Gabby who wants Woody's voice box. One of the newest characters, and definitely the funniest, is Keanu Reeves as Duke Caboom, a Canadian stunt motorcyclist, full of himself and daring to do anything. "Toy Story 4" is a film for both children of all ages and adults will, in many cases, enjoy it more! After seeing about a dozen of the 'new' ways films are animated I am still intrigued at how the characters seem alive and, in many cases, you believe in them.

Sarah, a cafe owner, is cheating on her husband, Israeli army Colonel David, with Saleem, a delivery driver whose wife Bisa is pregnant, which is nothing new in the world of movies and television. The conflict here is that Sarah and David are Israelis while Saleem and Bisa are Palestinian and the affair takes on geopolitical dimensions when Saleem is arrested under not quite believable circumstances. Going back and forth between West and East Jerusalem, the illicit affair and the seemingly normal home lives of both couples the movie goes a bit awry from the point of Saleem's arrest, the unsuspecting spouses finding out what is going on and the reactions of all 4 with 1 having to lie in the hope of saving their marriage. The second half of the movie is a little over the top when it becomes a 'thriller'. A couple of scenes are way too melodramatic if not completely explainable but they do raise expectations of topics to be discussed after the movie. Sivane Kretchner (Sarah), Maisa Abd Elhadi (Bisa), Adeeb Safadi (Saleem) and Ishai Golan (David) give excellent performances with Elhadi having the greater arc of change. Though at times it is difficult to tell which side the officials are on the supporting cast does first rate job with Hanan Hillo a standout as public defender while Rebecca Esmeralda Telhami, as Sarah's employee, has a line that explains a lot of what the politics of Jews and Arabs are all about. The screenplay by Rami Alayan, brother of the director, Muayad Alayan, has to take some of the blame for not as clear last third of the picture while both deserve the credit for the open-ended scene. "The Reports of Sarah & Saleem" is a good movie but a little too long and one too many shots of the hillside village.