jackie

Jackie

“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, StĂ©phane Fontaine, who also shot this years, “Captain Fantastic”, one of my top five for 2016, LarraĂ­n 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

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

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

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

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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Man Down

Is there an issue with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Of course there is, and it needs to be addressed. Is there a potential for family issues when a solider comes back to his family from the war front? Yes, and it can be quite severe. Is the best way to present these problems wrapped up in a movie that cannot decide if it is a serious look at the situation, or an overly dramatized version of the warrior’s mental disconnect?

That is “Man Down”, which follows the solider named Gabriel Drummer (Shia LaBeouf) who is married to Natalie (Kate Mara) and has a young son named Jonathan (Charlie Shotwell). He joins the Marines with his best friend Devin (Jai Courtney). Gabe gets sent to Afghanistan, while Devin recovers from an injury back in the States. Devin soon joins him over there in the thick of the nasty action.

 

Later, Gabe has a sit-down session with Captain Peyton (Gary Oldman) about ‘the incident’. It is finally revealed that a mistake by Gabe led to an ambush attack that had killed Devin. But then, later on when Gabe is back with his family, Gabe shuns his wife and his son to hang around with Devin. Eventually Gabe and Devin prowl about the bleak apocalyptic landscape for his son. But Devin did not make it back


The late Devin is Gabe’s closest friend and Gabe’s metal state is in question. Captain Peyton talked with Gabe about his reaction to ‘the incident’, and Gabe is still in denial. So now Gabe and Devin are searching a destroyed cityscape searching for his son. They meet a guy named Charlie (Clifton Collins Jr.) who says he knows nothing. But there are many clues that he knows Gabe’s son, and where he might be hiding.

But how much of Gabe’s post-war travels with Devin are real? Exactly what happened in ‘the incident’? And what happened back on the home front between Devin and Kate, when Gabe was deployed overseas? Does Captain Peyton know how broken Gabe is on the inside?

Any of these questions could be enough to construct a deep and meaningful movie. But the way that the various incidents and episodes are put together on the screen make a little too jumbled. The connection between the bleak deserted place and the happy home front does get revealed, and it is done in a very subtle way. But the various sequences do not seem to tie up as neatly as they should.

 

Shia LaBeouf does a workable job as Gabe. He is mostly very understated, but then at some points he is a little bit overemotional and melodramatic. Kate Mara and Jai Courtney have very cookie-cutter roles, and they do the best that they can.  Gary Oldman puts some empathy into his character and makes a very good impression. Clifton Collins Jr. has a brief role, but is creepy and odd-ball as that character.

A movie a few years back about the mental tribulations of John Nash was called ‘A Beautiful Mind’. This movie might be called ‘A FUBAR Mind’. That would describe the nightmare of delusions that Gabe finds himself in during the movie. It is truly scary place to be. But is might not be the best way to bring attention to the real problems of soldiers.

Fences Trailer 2

“FENCES” is directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson, adapted from Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The film stars Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sidney.  The film is produced by Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black.

Nocturnal Animals

Tom Ford, a fashion designer turned filmmaker, gives us “Nocturnal Animals”, his second feature film.  Ford clearly knows beauty when he sees it and makes this film a stunning piece of art to gaze upon, to say the least.  “Nocturnal Animals” is unusually artistic, intoxicatingly dark.  It’s a stylistic and clever drama/thriller that contrasts one scene with the other, one feeling with another and doesn’t give its audience an opportunity to feel vindicated in either of them.

 

At the beginning, we’re led into the tale of Susan (Adams) and her ex-husband Tony (Gyllenhaal).  She is now a successful art dealer married to the rich playboy, Hutton Morrow (Hammer), whom she left Tony for; the playboy who is never home and who sleeps around on her.  If she isn’t at an opening, she’s generally alone.  Unexpectedly, she receives the proof of Tony’s new book to read.  Having always encouraged him to write better she’s excited to begin reading it.  As she reads, she is spooked by how good he has become and terrorized by the narration.  As she reads, the tale unfolds before us.  It flashes back to Susan with Tony when they were younger and we after his face is established, we see that she has interjected her ex-husband into the lead character of the book in her hands.  The story is about loss.  Perhaps Tony’s new book is a message to her.  Maybe it’s just a book but all writing is ultimately about the writer in some sense or another and the loss in this frightening novel is clear and quite brutal
 maybe how Tony felt when he lost his wife.

“Florence Foster Jenkins” is enchanting!  The cast is delightful. This is an absolute must see!
Shari K. Green

Sr. Film Writer and Community Manager, tmc.io

Ford opens the film with a live art exhibit and closes the film the same way.  Though the players are different, it is obvious they are on display.  You’ll be moved by the opening and touched by the end.  The first might incite you to smile and giggle a bit at wiggling pounds of flesh dancing before your eyes and the later will stir you to sadness and despair.  Played beautifully with the music, we see Susan, a living art piece of her own, but I’ll not spoil all of that.

“Nocturnal Animals” is a movie you have to experience.  It’s simply not like all the rest.  It will pull you into the story as Tony’s book does to Susan.  Every background is contrived, locations are perfect, and the performers are good but if you didn’t already believe Michael Shannon is an acting deity, here’s another reason why so many do.

Rules Don’t Apply

In 1958, the sweet and innocent Ms. Apple Blossom Queen from Virginia, Marla Mabrey (Collins), with dreams of making it big in Hollywood, steps into the world of Howard Hughes and her life is never the same.  For four-hundred dollars a week, a house to reside and a driver she, along with many other woman, are actresses, singers and dancers, kept under contract and available at all times for screen by Hughes, ready for screen tests at a moments notice and at his whim.  What becomes evident and quickly is he may not have anything for them, but nobody else can have them.  They are what he sees as the best and he, the great and powerful Howard Hughes, has them.  It makes the point of the opening scroll clearer; a quote by Hughes, “Never check an interesting fact.”  Being very paranoid Hughes keeps close check on everyone he employees yet is emotionally close to few.  Of his many drivers, Frank (Ehrenreich), a young and deeply religious Methodist, grabs the attention of the virginal Baptist Blossom, Marla.  Frank is not only religious but engaged, however, he notices her, as well, struck by her ability to stand out in a crowd; to be different, speak as an individual and not try to fit into a mold.

“Perfect holiday release…Give it a watch!”
Shari K. Green

Sr. Film Writer and Community Manager, tmc.io

Hughes has strict rules about his drivers having affairs if they’re married, in fact, rule #1 is no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress.  He doesn’t want them getting too close in any capacity but Frank can’t help himself and breaks the rule.  Frank and Marla, having an almost immediate attraction to one another, get closer and closer and defy the rules of not only Hughes but of their church.  Perhaps this is the only way they find comfort in the abnormal life they cater to each day.

Paranoia grips the eccentric billionaire for which they work.  Frank and Marla become a lifeline to Hughes as he teeters on the edge of madness.  He sees almost no one and he lives in the shadows; in the dark and secrecy.  Once you’re in, you give up your life for his and his desires, his dreams.  His needs are always met and whether fake or fiction in the heart of the person doing it, everyone coddles him and indulges him, laughs at every joke and is at his beckon call.  Frank and Marla change who they are as time moves on, to please their boss but soon it comes clear his interest is only in himself.

The film is quite fascinating.  With rumors of his quizzical personality and the opening quote, “Never check an interesting fact,” the question is what or if any of the film is factual.  Did he really have to have certain ice-cream instantly at any given moment and insist on flying himself across the world at the drop of a hat?  Curiosity of Hughes himself is what makes this movie so riveting but the sweet love story, the old fashion style it’s presented and the music Beatty uses makes it that much more delightful.  Beatty is larger than life and it’s great to see him back with this particular project.  He also wrote and produced it so he chose cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel (The Natural, Hope Floats, The Passion of the Christ) who has everyone in a special glow that befits the time period and the ambience Beatty was going for.  “Rules Don’t Apply” is the perfect holiday release and I suggest you give it a watch this Thanksgiving weekend.