Tag: Drama

La La Land

December 20, 2016 (updated February 24, 2017) Published by

“Here’s to the fools that dream.”  That is the theme of this comedy, drama… musical. Yes.  This is a musical but I would like to ask that you don’t fear the musical!  It’s not in the style of “Cats” or the like so be willing to go.  If you love a good story and a good film that’s well done in almost every way possible… don’t worry.  You’ll love this movie!  Now, on to the review.  I can’t remember the last time we saw this but with “La La Land” we have a musical for the big screen that’s not based on a hit Broadway show!   “La La Land” stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an aspiring actress and jazz pianist, respectively, who fall in love.  Both have dreams very different from the other but the desire and ambition they see in one another, calls out to each other and attracts them even more.  The music and the romance at the heart of this story are alluring and will tantalize you, and the love… you will feel it.  In fact, it’s hard to believe Gosling and Stone aren’t a real couple.

To shed some light on where this came from, here’s a bit about the writer/director.  Damien Chazelle, is only thirty-one yet has accomplished so much.  Not only did he write and direct, “La La Land”, which is a very unique to these times piece, but he also wrote “Whiplash” and “10 Cloverfield Lane.”  J.K. Simmons won the Oscar for his performance in “Whiplash” so for Chazelle, after graduating Harvard, the Oscar win for Simmons is yet another feather for him to add to his cap; a cap that may be riddled with feathers really soon.  I’m looking very forward to his next project but let’s get back to this one. 

The love story is classic in that it starts out as anything but and becomes two people crazy about one another but Chazelle gives us, ultimately, what feels and looks real because not only is there a bond between the two with all the hopes they share freely but their chemistry is palpable.  Great job casting these two as Sebastian and Mia.  Another thing that gives the audience a connection is this; when have we not all desired something so greatly that we’d give up almost for it?  These two beautiful creatures love their goals as they do one another but the vital and fundamental question here becomes, would you give one of them up for the other?  

“ The music is amazing. Oscar will be nice to them…”
Shari K. Green

Sr. Film Writer and Community Manager, tmc.io

As far as dancing, I’ll admit that they aren’t Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but the choreography doesn’t ask too much of them and they handle themselves gracefully.  The footwork is impressive and they’re cute together; she not as polished as he but it works. 

Regarding musical taste Mia tells Sebastian that she doesn’t like jazz, his true love, and he takes it upon himself to show her that she doesn’t understand the complexity of it; that you can’t just hear it, you have to feel it by watching someone play.  He wants Mia to see its conflict and get excited because it needs help… ‘It’s dying’ he fears.  Well, he does until his friend, Keith (Legend), explains to him that Jazz is about the future, not the past.  Sebastian has always held onto what Jazz has always been and here, he discovers a bit about himself as well as what pushes him… that things change.  He decides to tour with Keith and Mia learns quickly that tours aren’t overnight.  She realizes dreams of becoming an actress aren’t either.  Maybe it’s time to move on?   

I’ll leave it there.  You need to go and experience “La La Land” to find out what happens.  Visually, the film beguiles but it’s not perfect.  You’re not going to hear their songs on the radio, however, the opening song, “Another Day of Sun” and the score won’t soon be forgotten, nor will Sebastian singing “City of Stars”… okay, the music is amazing.  Oscar will be nice to them.  The dance numbers can be a little clunky but overall the film is pretty extraordinary; sweet and innocent.  As much as it is a musical, it often feels like a play, which was another aspect that I adored.  You’ll never get bored and the final act will whisk you away to another place, and in today’s world, we need a little of that.  Comedies and Musicals don’t usually win Oscar gold for Best Picture but it wouldn’t surprise me if Chazelle’s effort pays off with a few statues.  If it walks away empty handed, it’ll be a travesty. 

Collateral Beauty

December 16, 2016 (updated December 20, 2016) Published by

Going to the movies has always been a wonderful experience because they are a way for a person to get away from their lives… possibly from big problems in their life.  Movies offer an escape for you to get to be someone else for awhile or at least push reality aside for a bit, right?  In “Collateral Beauty”, Will Smith plays Howard, a man in such deep pain, you hope that he will leap from the screen and the two of you go find a joyful comedy to watch.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily saying the movie isn’t worth seeing at all, but maybe take some antidepressants before you go if you do. 

“Collateral Beauty” is written by the very adept and creative, Allan Loeb, who has scores of credits to his name, so with David Frankel directing, the story is in good hands.  He has won an Emmy and an Academy Award and he directed “Devil Wears Prada” but then we should remember he also directed “The Big Year” so it’s hit or miss.  I think this time it’s a miss… more or less.  The trailer misleads you to a point but in the end, I think that was wise; it got you to consider going. 

Howard owns a company with his friends, Whit (Norton), Claire (Winslet) and Simon (Peña).  Howard is the driving force for the company and when his daughter dies, he checks out of life and being involved at all in the company.  Of course, things begin to go south.  Howard has 60% of the voting shares and, even after being begged to, he will not help save the business.  Without Howard’s initiative and his innovative spirit, not to mention his vote, Whit, Claire and Simon, who have their entire lives and well-being riding on an upcoming offer, do not stand a chance of surviving the impending failure of the company.  What makes this film ultimately a DVD watch only is what happens next.  Howard’s friends and partners, knowing he’s struggling with depression after the tragic loss of his daughter, want to, for all intense and purposes, do away with him.  That’s appalling!  But watching Howard walk around totally lifeless and staring off into space, unless he’s setting up dominoes, which is explained later but still doesn’t have true function in the film, perhaps you would, too.  The dominoes are a symbol for breaking down walls but nah… I’m just not buying it.  The time spent on those dominoes is painstaking to sit through, too, but then so is my mentioning it for this long, so I’ll continue with the review. 

Howard believes there are three things that connect everyone on earth and those are time, love and death.  Not particularly happy with his time anymore, losing the one thing he loved most and wishing to die but still existing, he writes a letter to the three of them.  The knuckleheads in the office have been scheming and hired someone to follow him.  She brilliantly retrieves the letters from the mailbox he dropped them into.  Now partaking in a federal crime, the three of them take the three letters to three actors.  Three… I’m sensing a pattern here.  The actors played by Knightley, Latimore and Mirren are offered a unique opportunity to represent one of the words and confront Howard with the letters he wrote.  As well intended on recreating “It’s A Wonderful Life” as Allan Loeb and David Frankel, as well as the three actors playing death, time and love are, the story of a man losing a child but then choosing to give up everything else that might give his life some meaning, simply doesn’t makes sense.  He refuses help, he can’t say his child’s name… it just doesn’t add up.  You’re more or less frustrated through the entire film.  

There are a few glaring twists that make it a see it on cable or DVD watch, but I wouldn’t recommend spending your hard earned money on running to the theatre this weekend.  I do think that Smith, toward the end, Mirren (always delightful) and Naomie Harris’s grief support group leader, Madeleine, sort of lend the film more purpose but the more I thought about it after seeing it, I wasn’t impressed at what they were trying to accomplish and that was a big emotional response from you and some tears.  If you lay down ten or more dollars at the theatre this weekend, the response and tears will more come from you asking, ‘why did I spend the money for this?’, than from the film itself.

Miss Sloane

December 13, 2016 (updated February 24, 2017) Published by

From “Shakespeare in Love” director, John Madden, comes “Miss Sloane”, a furiously clever film that has today’s politics in mind but is not its only theme.  It’s the story of a very efficient and skilled, nay cutthroat, lobbyist, Elizabeth Sloane, played by Jessica Chastain, who takes no prisoners when she wants to win for a client, putting any and everything in peril, including friendships, to do so.  One thing the film does more than anything, especially at a time when the country seems to really need it, is make it clear to a filmgoer exactly what a lobbyist does.  Let’s start with the definition of a lobbyist; one who engages in “lobbying”; trying to influence public officials to support a position on legislation.  It’s fairly obvious where the term may have derived from which is from these particular individuals waiting in the lobby outside a public official’s office.  Yes.  A story about a lobbyist just became compelling

Screenwriter Jonathan Perera penned such a monumental script that Madden had to direct and knew right away who to cast.  It’s so intense that he knew the very diverse Chastain had to be in the lead role.  He had been searching for the right project for her and this was it.  Of her as Sloane he told me, ‘Okay, now we have it!’  You’ll agree when you see her transformative performance; the best I’ve seen from her to date. 

This will most likely be considered a political thriller as it centers on the D.C. lives of lawyers and lobbyists but it’s much more.  Sloane is a master manipulator and at the heart of this movie is the ambition within her to win at any cost.  This cold, hard woman who could be placed in any position, anywhere; who would have any ruler at her feet, doesn’t have to be pegged into a certain hole nor does the film.  It’s a thriller, plain and simple and you get to see Chastain work both ends of the spectrum.  I’ll let you discover that on your own.  There is so much I want to tell you but I refuse to spoil it all the same.

“Chastain will get an Oscar nod.  Her character is brilliant and her performance is, possibly, twice as good as the film.”
Shari K. Green

Sr. Film Writer and Community Manager, tmc.io

Madden’s cast is exceptional.  Chastain will get an Oscar nod.  Her character is brilliant and her performance is, possibly, twice as good as the film as she goes deep to find this steely woman inside of her.  Perhaps some of the tedious language of the political rhetoric in the film would have you thinking you’d rather skip this movie.  Don’t make that mistake.  A lobbyist advocating for or against gun control may be a point in the film; it’s no way the main topic but rather a catalyst to move Miss Sloane forward.  The pacing of the movie is such that you’re always consumed, helped by Madden’s foresight to capture you further with the perfectly chosen music so make “Miss Sloane” your choice this weekend at the theatre… no waiting until Netflix for this one.  

jackie

Jackie

December 13, 2016 (updated February 24, 2017) Published by

“Jackie” is a film about what Jacqueline “Jackie” Kennedy had to endure directly after the assassination of not just the President of the United States of America, the country she loved so much and the man she most admired, but the assassination of her husband, Jack Kennedy, who was that President.  It’s an accurate portrayal of a woman in agony.  She loses the husband she always had to share with the world and has to share the pain of this, as well.  Nothing can be personal; nothing private.  The delicate nature of the story itself is handled beautifully.  To your joy, what is evident from the first moment she speaks is that Portman will not only get a Best Actress nomination but quite possibly win the Oscar this year.  She is Jackie. 

To begin the film the theatre goes dark and sounds of gun shots fill the house.  It’s November 22, 1963.  Dallas.  We also spend time in 1961 when the First Lady is giving a tour of the White House.  This is broadcast on television and is, some would consider, the defining moment for the American people, who fell in love with Jackie when Kennedy first took office, that she was their queen.  Why we’re flashing back to her life becomes clear when we are suddenly in a room on her estate in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts with “the journalist” (Crudup) from Life Magazine who is there to talk to her for his publication about the assassination and her life since. 

Many have told the Kennedy stories in books and on film but not so have they delved quite so deeply into the woman behind the man especially when it comes to touching the sensitive subject of her life directly after the his death. 

Quite addled, she clings to what she has left of the soon to be past position she held of First Lady with more than high acclaim in the world.  There are key moments in the film where we see her pain and if you’ve done any Kennedy reading you’ll recognize the truth telling of this piece, especially about why she wore her blood-stained dress, ‘Let them see what they’ve done’, and how difficult it became for, not only her, but for the Johnsons’ to get her to leave, which is why I appreciated this movie even more.

“It isn’t the tale of Camelot but a reminder of how it all ended”
Shari K. Green

Sr. Film Writer and Community Manager, tmc.io

Using real clips mixed in with those of director of photography, Stéphane Fontaine, who also shot this years, “Captain Fantastic”, one of my top five for 2016, Larraín creates for us the real trauma that was happening at the time.  The story may not be pretty but it does her justice in a way that it shows not only her vulnerability and vanity but her misery and contempt for what “they” did to her.  Writer Noah Oppenheim tells of one of the darkest times, the story of Jackie planning Jack’s funeral procession.  She wants the world to know that a good man was murdered and much to the chagrin of all around her, she wants the parade to be long and large, one like that of Lincoln.  Being, clearly, a very intelligent woman, she knew her children were at risk so she takes certain precautions with them during this time.

As I previously mention, Portman is fascinating in this role.  Billy Crudup isn’t really given much to do but be a character for Portman to act opposite of.  His character could have been a lamp and it wouldn’t have mattered.  Sarsgaard isn’t the best Bobby but again, the film was not about him; it’s about Jackie and if you want to see a film where only one role is sufficient enough for the film to stand on its own, it’s this.  Only she is truly necessary to move the story along.  This is a must see for anyone who likes biography’s and for anyone who lived through the Kennedy era and like to peek inside the dynasty that once was.  It’s a brave film.  It isn’t the tale of Camelot but a reminder of how it all ended; how one woman suffered through it and how we as a country were never the same.

War For The Planet Of The Apes Trailer

December 12, 2016 (updated December 22, 2016) Published by

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

Action/Drama

Release: July 14, 2017

Director: Matt Reeves

Written by: Mark Bomback & Matt Reeves

Producers: Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver

Cast: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Judy Greer, Steve Zahn, Amiah Miller, Karin Konoval & Terry Notary

SYNOPSIS

In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel.  After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind.  As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Official Channels

WEBSITE: WarForThePlanet.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ApesMovies

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ApesMovies

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ApesMovies/

#WarForThePlanet

In Theaters July 14, 2017

http://www.fandango.com

Lion Advance Screening

December 7, 2016 (updated December 22, 2016) Published by
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

Find your chance to receive special advance movie screening passes below. 

Phoenix, Arizona

Date: Tuesday, December 8
Location: Harkins Tempe Marketplace
Time: 7:00pm

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Collateral Beauty Advance Screening

December 7, 2016 (updated December 22, 2016) Published by

When a successful New York advertising executive suffers a great tragedy, he retreats from life. While his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death. But it’s not until his notes bring unexpected personal responses that he begins to understand how these constants interlock in a life fully lived, and how even the deepest loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty

Find your chance to receive special advance movie screening passes below. 

Phoenix, Arizona

Date: Tuesday, December 12
Location: Harkins Tempe Marketplace
Time: 7:00pm
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Las Vegas, Nevada

 

Date: Tuesday, December 12
Location: AMC Town Square
Time: 7:00pm
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Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

Date: Tuesday, December 13
Location: Century Rio 24
Time: 7:00pm
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Tucson, Arizona

 

Date: Tuesday, December 12
Location: Century El Con
Time: 7:00pm
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Miss Sloane Advance Screening

December 7, 2016 Published by
In the high-stakes world of political power-brokers, Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) is the most sought after and formidable lobbyist in D.C. Known equally for her cunning and her track record of success, she has always done whatever is required to win. But when she takes on the most powerful opponent of her career, she finds that winning may come at too high a price.

Find your chance to receive special advance movie screening passes below. 

Phoenix, Arizona

Date: Tuesday, December 6
Location: Harkins Tempe Marketplace
Time: 7:00pm

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Las Vegas, Nevada

Date: Tuesday, December 6
Location: AMC Town Square
Time: 7:00pm

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