Glass – Trailer

GLASS

REAL VILLAINS ARE AMONG US. REAL HEROES ARE WITHIN US.

M. Night Shyamalan brings together the narratives of two of his standout originalsā€”2000ā€™s Unbreakable, from Touchstone, and 2016ā€™s Split, from Universalā€”in one explosive, all-new comic-book thriller: Glass.

From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass.Ā  Joining from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast.

Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumbā€™s superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.

Joining the all-star cast are Unbreakableā€™s Spencer Treat Clark and Charlayne Woodard, who reprise their roles as Dunnā€™s son and Priceā€™s mother, as well as Golden Globe Award winner Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story series).

This riveting culmination of his worldwide blockbusters is produced by Shyamalan and Blumhouse Productionā€™s Jason Blum, who also produced the writer/directorā€™s previous two films for Universal.Ā  They produce again with Ashwin Rajan and Marc Bienstock, and Steven Schneider and Kevin Frakes, who executive produce.Ā  Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum also serve as executive producers.

A Blinding Edge Pictures and Blumhouse production, Glass will be released by Universal Pictures in North America on January 18, 2019, and by Buena Vista International abroad.

Genre:Ā Comic-Book Thriller

Cast:Ā James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Anya Taylor-Joy, with Sarah Paulson and Samuel L. Jackson

Written and Directed by:Ā M. Night Shyamalan

Produced by:Ā M. Night Shyamalan, Jason Blum, Marc Bienstock, Ashwin Rajan

Executive Producers:Ā Steven Schneider, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Kevin Frakes

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In Theaters January 18, 2019

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Beautiful Boy Movie Review

This story is based on a memoir written by David and Nic Sheff. Itā€™s about the cycle of drug abuse Nic couldnā€™t liberate himself from and David who tried everything he could think of to help him escape. The title, ā€˜Beautiful Boyā€™ comes from the John Lennon song that David (Carell) used to sing to Nic (Chalamet) when he couldnā€™t sleep at night be. He was singing it still when Nic was eighteen and laying on the bed passed out from the many drugs that were running through his system. They seized the boy, refusing to loosen their grip but there sits David, stroking his hair remembering the Nic he knew, certain that one day heā€™d return.

With this film director Felix Van Groeningen, who also had a hand in writing the script, is making available to you a world youā€™ll find frighteningly realistic and familiar or, hopefully, one youā€™re blissfully ignorant of yet paralyzed by. Regardless of which it is, youā€™ll be pleased with the presentation in every design choice heā€™s made to entertain and captivate you. The score is gorgeous, and the soundtrack is equally pleasing. The cinematography is such that you feel youā€™re experiencing how Nic feels when heā€™s high while concurrently reminded of what his exposure and reliance on the drugs is doing to those who love him. Weā€™ve all seen the drug abuse movie before but not the way Van Groeningen brings it to you. David is desperate to help rescue Nic and he rummages through Nicā€™s things. While he does this, we watch memories of Nic in various stages of childhood run through his mind. We watch them grow close and see when Nic begins to pull away

Nic tells him that heā€™s tried almost every drug there is but likes methamphetamineā€™s the most. He goes on to say that meth makes him feel better than he has ever felt in his life. Upon hearing this, you can feel the pain ripple through David as he realizes his child prefers drugs and what they can give him to the unconditional love he has always offered.

David researches rehab facilities several times but for the most part, theyā€™re unsuccessful, as is Nicā€™s lies about getting sober. Davidā€™s hopes are dashed when heā€™s told that Nicā€™s particular addictions have a success rate in the single digits. In order to get to know his son more, he takes some cocaine himself and starts talking to people who use. He does everything he can to learn not only what he can understand what Nic likes so much but about whether or not itā€™s time to do the inevitable and let him go.

You may not like the use of flashbacks and cuts in editing that constantly take you from one stage of Nicā€™s life to another; one stage of Davidā€™s discovery to the next. It sometimes gets a little hard to keep up but itā€™s reasonable to assume this the impression Van Groeningen wanted to leave you with is one of nervousness, restlessness and anxiety so you could understand the Sheffā€™s that much more. Ā 

Chalamet is flawless in his take on Nic. He was fully committed to the part even using facial tics the young child actor who played him as a little boy has when on screen. I predict right now that heā€™ll be walking up to the stage to accept an Academy Award or at the very least will be nominated for this outstanding performance. This is a very powerful and heartbreaking story. I recommend you see this as soon as humanly possible. Ā 

Bad Times at the El Royale Movie Review

You absolutely must get online and get your reservations for the El Royale tonight! This Tarantino style noir or ā€˜blackā€™ film has dustings of Hitchcock and early Hollywood capers and mysteries. Donā€™t waste another moment reading about it. Just go. The trailer does a spectacular job of keeping certain plotlines a secret which is rare these days so if you were already interested by watching them, you havenā€™t seen anything yet.
The opening of the film declares why a certain character is at the hotel and what heā€™s searching for. ā€˜Bad Times at the El Royale,ā€™ like similar films before it, allows us to get to know each of her other characters one by one. Little is revealed about them but as more people and circumstances crop up, with the use of flashbacks, youā€™re investigating the characters yourselves and learning more. Often, youā€™ll be surprised at what you see. A little warning to those who are faint of heart, there are several jump-scares that will leave you unsettled and anxious for whatā€™s to come during the rest of the film. This is something I liked about Drew Goddardā€™s film ā€˜The Cabin in the Woods,ā€™ too. He knows how to keep you sitting on the edge of your seat and he likes it.

The filmā€™s two hours and 21 minutes are rather long but for the most part, the cast makes each minute count. And donā€™t ask me to pick who, out of this magnificent assembly of actors, is best. They were all outstanding! Okay, fine. If youā€™re going to twist my arm, I have to admit that I couldnā€™t take my eyes off Jeff Bridges. The man is unbelievable in this role. But I digress. Letā€™s get back to the length of the movie. Though a well-orchestrated film otherwise, where Goddard could have shaved off some time would have been by not having the characters discover things the audience has already seen through the eyes of several others before. That said, Iā€™d see it again in a heartbeat. Let me tell you some about what to expect from your bi-state stay in the El Royale. The hotel sits on both Nevada and California and is split in half by a red line painted down the middle of the lobby. The hotel has hosted many performers of the stage and screen where gambling is allowed only on the Nevada side, obviously, but plenty of boozing and canoodling have happened on both. With the band of misfits joining us now, it certainly hasnā€™t been and still isnā€™t a virtuous place to stay. The hotel is very much a central figure of the film. It reveals and has as much personality as any of the others do.

Through Goddardā€™s clever and inventive script and exceedingly brilliant and vivid imagination, you get involved in their stories and grow to either love or hate them. The bellboy named Miles (played by Bill Pullmanā€™s son) Lewis, is perhaps the most compelling by movies end, something not expected upon first meeting him. I donā€™t really want to introduce you to them or reveal too much so Iā€™ll not be saying much more. You need to be sitting in the theatre watching, not reading about, why you need to see this. Youā€™ll be sucked in right away with a very impressive and striking opening. The thrills, the wit, and the outlandish situations along with the players and the music that accompanies them will take you voluntarily to the end of your stay.

First Man Movie Review

ā€˜First Manā€™ focuses on the beginnings of Nasa and invests most of its two hours and twenty minutes to Neil Armstrong, the first man to ever set foot on the moon. Itā€™s captured beautifully with an incredibly exciting screenplay by Josh Singer, who wrote ā€˜The Post,ā€™ ā€˜Spotlightā€™ and twenty-six episodes of ā€˜The West Wing,ā€™ thatā€™s filled with motivation, trepidation, elation and plenty of heartaches.
If you want to feel what Neil Armstrong felt as he flew his jet across the sky and if you want to experience the inside of a space capsule with him, as well, see this movie at the theatre but if you can, get to an IMAX theatre quickly for an enhanced adventure into space.

Director Damien Chazelle (La La Land, Whiplash), obviously no novice when it comes to music and tone, had a sound department of thirty people working overtime for this one! The metal of the rocket the astronauts are jammed into before it takes off and after speaks to them. It moans and groans, shrieks and creaks, articulating its disapproval of what is being asked of it, setting your nerves on edge before youā€™re anywhere near the moon. Chazelle manages to make us see and feel the vibrations and each bump, jolt, quiver and jerk they are going through as they train for their mission and as theyā€™re launched into orbit. Uncertainty is a big part of the film which is puzzling because we all know how it turns out but thatā€™s how beautifully structured the film is and how strong the characters are. Itā€™s so believable that even YOU arenā€™t sure of whatā€™s next for them.

Though Armstrong and other astronauts were in happy marriages, Chazelle was able to catch and target in on their lives at home during the 1960ā€™s with the Apollo missions going on. As they watched friends burn up or blow up, they tried not to show it but were a bundle of nerves inside. Armstrong kept himself at a safe distance from his wife Janet, played quite skillfully by Claire Foy. They lose a child, Karen, which Neil never seems to recover but as they continue to have more children, he pulls away emotionally, saving it for the missions, and she remains strong for their family. She understood he had to direct his attention on surviving but wasnā€™t about to let him kill what they had. The scene between the two of them toward the end of the film strengthens an already powerful film and cements this as one of the best movies of the year. That said, however, itā€™s no ā€˜Whiplash,ā€™ which is a more determined Chazelle film, but this is still intense and a must-see this weekend. Donā€™t wait to watch it at home. The exceptional photography and superb score deserve to be seen and heard properly.Ā 

The Hate U Give Movie Review

“The Hate U Give” is a movie that shows while people may be Black and White, the world they live in is never just black and white. But just when the tone of the movie might start sounding preachy, it comes right up and grounds the characters in good ways. First, they are grounded in family, then grounded in friends, then grounded in the neighborhood, then finally in the community. Inner city Black areas or in gentrified, mostly White, suburbs — the story is the same.

‘The Hate U Give’ (as quoted in lyrics from a rap song) lead into the next step. That next step teaches children the wrong way. Ā Then it all gets FUBAR, so to speak. Blacks in the ‘hood feel that Prejudice, Prosecution, Poverty and the Police are pushing them down. When you are pushed so far down, then any way out seems fine. It could be a gang, it could be drugs and alcohol, but it just might be that strength of a family’s love is enough to elevate you out.

Starr (Amandla Stenberg) is a teenage Black girl who lives in the downtrodden section of Fremont. However, she attends high school in the high-class area of the town. She feels she wears two faces, one for her home and her ‘hood, but a different face for her school friends and her White boyfriend Chris (KJ Apa). Starr attends the school with her half-brother Seven (Lamar Johnson). Her very forceful mother Lisa (Regina Hall) along with her equally tough father Maverick (Russell Hornsby) both have raised her to be proud of herself and self-assured of her race. She knows to keep on the right side of the law, and to always be non-confrontational with police.

But Starr had been very close to a guy named Khalil (Lamar Johnson), who she has known since a young girl. Starr is out at a party in the ‘hood with her half-sister (Dominique Fishback), and she runs into Khalil. There is a fight and gunshots outside, so everyone leaves. Khalil takes Starr with him and will take her home. But they are stopped by the police. There is a shooting, where the cop thinks that Khalil is going for a weapon. It turns out to be a hairbrush. Starr is devastated, and the world that she knew is now gone. She continues to try and walk gently between the two worlds that she is in.

But she does not feel that she will really belong in either one. In the ‘hood, her family is threatened by King (Anthony Mackie), who is the head of a drug ring and part of the group that Khalil was dealing for. She does not feel at home in the White high school, where the other girls always look at her as if she were an alien. Her boyfriend Chris is still in the dark about how Starr is the only witness to the shooting. But Social Justice workers flood the ‘hood, and they want Starr to work with the Grand Jury to indict the quick-draw cop.

She feels she owes it to Khalil to be the voice that must be heard in the Legal System. But her uncle is Officer Carlos (Common), and he knows that the prosecutors will find any possible way to not press charges against a cop. But will the anger and rage go from a simple simmer to then becoming a boiling pot of hatred? Will the street gang feel the need to impose their own brand of justice on Starr, if they feel that she had testified and will bring the heat down on the drug operation?

This movie takes an extremely talented cast to create a world and a situation that makes a profound impact on the viewer. The story could be taken straight out of current headlines, and it strikes a somber tone. Every idea about bias and judgment will be questioned. The director has wonderfully laid out the difficult road that everyone must choose. Will they embrace the THUG life, and lead the next generation into chaos? Or can they raise their voices to speak for those who cannot, and attempt to bring peace and justice to the world?

Every actor in this movie is amazing, but none less than Amandla Stenberg. In the mail role, she portrays a young woman who is torn by events that surround her. Yet she remains strong and works to bring hope to her family and her community.

There is a ā€˜messageā€™ in ā€œThe Hate U giveā€, but it delivers it in a very honest and sincere way. You will be moved by the story, the events and the truth behind the emotions. Perhaps you will not agree with all the viewpoints, but you will again be reminded: world we live in is never just black and white.

First Man Movie Review

“First Man” is a gripping personal view of one of humanity’s crowning achievements. When three astronauts traveled to the Moon, and two of them touched down and explored the lunar surface, it was a stunning accomplishment. Now there is a movie that defines the inner drive and personal demons of that initial person who put down a boot onto the crusty dust of the Earth’s satellite. That person was Neil Armstrong, and he was the “First Man” to get that historical privilege. This movie is a reminder of the technological push of the 1960’s that took America to the Moon and back.

Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) is an engineer and a test pilot at NASA. He is not one of the military-bred astronauts that first rose in the ranks of the Air Force. Yet his cool-headed ability to think deeply, even in extreme circumstances, makes him a valuable addition to the group of space-bound pioneers. He and his wife Janet (Claire Foy) have a perfect 1960’s marriage. She tends the home front, and he ventures into space. Neil and Janet have a young daughter named Karen, but she passes away from cancer. Even with all the up-to-date technology, their little two-year-old could not be saved. They already have a son, and soon after, they have one more boy. But Neil is shattered inside from the pain of his loss. He is introverted and a shy person to begin with, so the loss does not help.

Neil has skills and knows how to take high-level math equations and then using that knowledge to fly and pilot a spacecraft. He has experience with the experimental rocket planes, and he jumps at the chance to get into the Gemini program. That space program will be another step on the way to the big cheese – the Moon. The Gemini craft will hold two astronauts, and the planned Apollo mission will carry three. When Neil gets selected, he is very pleased to be working for former astronaut Deke Slayton (Kyle Chandler). The Gemini missions will be important to pave the way for Apollo and moon landings. The mission that gets Neil into space goes well, and the docking tests go smoothly. That is, until there is a problem with the thrusters…

Neil and his fellow astronaut are soon spinning out-of-control. Neil figures out a way to reverse the bad thruster, and gets the Gemini under control again. It uses up most all the fuel, so the mission needs to be aborted. But one bad mission left the astronauts safe. Not so with the first testing of Apollo 1, with all three astronauts on-board in the capsule. In the simulated launch, there was an electrical spark that ignited the pure oxygen in the capsule. All three died in the test, and the Apollo missions were delayed for a while. But then Neil was picked for Apollo 11, as was Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) and Michael Collins (Lukas Haas). This was the mission that would go to the Moon, land and explore the surface, and get the three explorers back in one piece.

Neil and Buzz make it to the lunar surface, and they are true explorers. But every step of the way was a catastrophe that did not happen. Every piece of equipment had potential for failure, no matter how many engineers worked on the design. Some of the people lost their lives along the way to Neilā€™s ā€˜one small stepā€™.Ā  He knows that, and he knows that his safe return is only the best of the calculated odds. His trip is successful and NASA still explores into space.

Damien Chazelle has taken the story of the first man on the moon and explored the difficult personal journeys of the people involved. There is always an emphasis on the characters and what they can see and how they react to all the events that surround them. Even with a ground-breaking walk on the moon, there is the inner pain of Armstrongā€™s loss of his daughter. The launch is not shown as a breath-taking wide shot of the rocket zooming into the sky. There is a real person strapped into the Spam can attached to the top of a big firecracker. The sounds of creaking and straining bolts make you think at any moment it will become the Fourth of July.

Ryan Gosling plays Neil Armstrong ass a very soft-spoken and subdued man. He is always examining and recalculating the situation, to make sure there is way to continue the mission. That includes his marriage. Claire Foy also gives a powerful performance as Janet; the wife who needs to raise her kids but is not afraid to raise her voice. The other actors have also been cast with an idea as to how well they would fit in the 1960ā€™s Space Race.

ā€œFirst Manā€ is nearly fifty years in the making since the actual events that mesmerized the world. It tells of real adventure in the outer space, but still keeps in focus the difficult emotions of Armstrongā€™s inner space.

22 July Movie Review

ā€˜22 Julyā€™ is shocking, stirring, itā€™s heart wrenching, unsettling and hard to wrap your mind around. Greengrass is best known for making several of the ‘Bourne’ films and ā€˜United 93ā€™ which was a real-time account of United Flight 93, the plane that was hijacked on 9/11, but crashed due to passengers willing to take drastic measures to stop the terrorists in their tracks. ā€˜22 Julyā€™ is, again, the story of a terroristā€™s actions as he carries out brutal killings only this time itā€™s a right-wing extremist named Anders Behring Breivik, played very coolly by Anders Danielsen Lie, in 2011 near Oslo Norway, who feels that he, as a white man, is being discriminated against.

He attacks what he refers to as a political summer camp which is located on an isolated island. He sees this camp as a place where the ā€˜Marxist, Liberals and members of the eliteā€™ send their children to learn to accept minorities.

Dressed as a police officer, he packs guns, plenty of ammo and explosives and leaves the house. He drives a van near the Prime Ministerā€™s office and parks. He gets out, lights a fuse, and slyly walks down the street where he easily slips into another vehicle and drives away, headed for the teenagers who await their fate like sitting ducks. He gets onto the island where the children are and starts, one by one, picking them off. They run but he knows there is absolutely nowhere for them to go. Heā€™ll get them all eventually.

The explosion is well done, along with the confusion in its aftermath, but watching the children run screaming is brutal. Anders goes into a building where people are hiding and tells them, ā€˜You will die today!ā€™ Itā€™s hard not to put yourself in that scenario once you start thinking of how often murder in the name of someoneā€™s beliefs goes on in this world.

One child, Viljar, gets a call off to his mother to tell her what has happened. Sheā€™s involved in politics and was near the explosion so sheā€™s able to alert the police about what her son informed her of and they head to the island immediately. An intense scene shows us that, sadly, Anders is still shooting and gravely injures Viljar. When heā€™s found by his parents, heā€™s only clinging to life. Greengrass does a beautiful job of making all the events seem as realistic as possible. What follows is how these people restore their lives in the wake of such a tragedy but on top of that, being very much alive, the gunman has ways to still twist the knife. He doesnā€™t care about his victims, he tells his lawyer, Geir Lippestad, he would do it all again for the cause. He also tells Geir his demands or a third attack will be coming. He wants the liquidation of the political camp and a ban on immigration. This is where my interest was piqued even more. I knew of this story but it so parallels whatā€™s happening in my own country today which makes it more relevant than I thought it would be.

Itā€™s frightening to take a good hard look at certain activities in our world, but I rather like that films are bringing these subjects to light. Itā€™s important not to hide racism and pretend itā€™s not going on.

The rest of the film is court filings, Viljarā€™s struggle to come back from what happened to him and the Prime Minister realizing where he went wrong. All of this is notably well done. Itā€™s an explosive, captivating story of good versus evil with meaningful dialogue and pacing that doesn’t bore. Donā€™t think for one minute you have to see it on the big screen to appreciate it. Netflix is doing more and more and with this proves theyā€™ll continue to get better and better. But if you’re lucky enough to be in a city where it’s coming out… it would be good to experience it that way.

In case you were curious, the only reason ā€˜22 Julyā€™ didnā€™t get a higher score is for the few times it felt as if it went a little long and one other mistake that writer/director Paul Greengrass made, which was crucial, and thatā€™s where we first find ourselves in the story. Coming in at two hours and twenty-three minutes, he captured us by getting straight to the meat of the matter. That said, to the viewers, it felt as if he had nowhere to go but down. Turns out that itā€™s quite enough to be considered a must-see, but had he stretched out the action a bitā€¦ had the action happened a little later in the film, instead initially introduced to us some of the characters, it wouldnā€™t have become the long-lasting drama it felt it became. Then again, maybe this was done on purpose because what these Norwegians endured didnā€™t end with Anders Behring Breivikā€™s massacre of seventy-seven people, not to mention the hundreds of others he injured. The slaughter was only the beginning.

*22 JULY will debut Wednesday, October 10th globally in select theaters and on Netflix.

The Old Man and the Gun Movie Review

ā€˜The Old Man and the Gunā€™ is one of the most curious films of 2018, so far, thatā€™s for certain. Iā€™m not saying I disliked it but itā€™ll take some maneuvering to describe just what it was I liked about it. Youā€™ll see what I mean by that when you see it and I recommend that you do. The way the story is told is incredible. Itā€™s set in the 80ā€™s just as the country was coming out of the 70ā€™s with its long hair and darker colors but before florescent clothing and the mullet hairstyle hits. The country is open to change but isnā€™t quite there yet. To structure the film properly, Director David Lowery used all the tools he could, such as a grainy, VHS quality look to the picture, its comfortably casual canter, itā€™s pitch and vernacular appropriate for the time and as I mentioned, the drab color scheme everywhere. He doesnā€™t miss a thing. Whatā€™s particularly special is thisā€¦ to make it feel even more real Lowery uses clips of Redford from films of his past. Very clever.

Lowery designs his films in such a way that you get deeply involved in the characters and take the utmost interest in their survival and success; no matter what it is their entangled in; good or bad. Honestly, I thought his film ā€˜A Ghost Storyā€™ was one of the best and most overlooked films of 2017. Like ā€˜A Ghost Story,ā€™ people may not appreciate ā€˜The Old Man and the Gunā€™ or see the brilliance right away but given the talent involved, I do hope you overlook any criticisms and view it despite anything you hear. Itā€™s different but thereā€™s nothing wrong with different. In fact, itā€™s refreshing.

 

Redford plays Forrest Tucker who has spent most of his life in and out of trouble. Heā€™s been in prison and has escaped over fifteen times for which he has become famous. He even escaped from San Quentin. Did I mention this was based on a TRUE story?! So, we meet him, learn of his criminal activity and then move directly into discovering who he is on the inside. He meets Jewel (Spacek) and is smitten with her right off the bat. He tells her who he is and what he does, but she doesnā€™t believe him. No one would be honest about a thing like that, right? Heā€™s an elderly, seemingly trustworthy fellow and is very kind so she warms to him as they sit in a cafĆ© getting to know one another. This is whatā€™s so exceptional about Lowery ā€™s technique. He makes us aware of the two-sided nature of Forrest that even Forrest isnā€™t cognizant of. You, as does Jewel, immediately like his gentle personality.

As you watch, you see that one side of him just wants to do what itā€™s told it canā€™t do. This is what he and his friends have been doing for yearsā€¦ robbing banks. Heā€™s the gangsā€™ guy who nonchalantly strolls in, tells the bank manager or the teller that heā€™ll need their money and he exits with no fuss. He always keeps everyone calm, doesnā€™t bring attention to himself by smiling, being polite, hurting no one and then he leaves.

He and the audience are aware that perhaps his age has brought him to a moment in time where heā€™s finally conflicted with this side of him. Maybe itā€™s time to stop running and settle down?

 

Detective John Hunt (Affleck) knows of Forrest after he and his son happen to be inside one of the banks he robs. He makes a personal commitment to himself to bring this thieving gang of old-timers to justice. The character of John Hunt isnā€™t all that impactful at first but toward the end of the film, you realize how important he was in the grand scheme of things. As his search widens, he gets to know Forrest more and gets to respect the man he was and who heā€™s become.

I told you this would be a bit difficult to analyze for you but let me finish with this. Itā€™s short, itā€™s a fascinating mix between comedy and drama and the cast is spectacular. It opens this weekend. Go see it. I canā€™t think of one reason for you not to.

Vice – Trailer

VICE exploresĀ the epic story about how a bureaucratic Washington insider quietly became the most powerful man in the world as Vice-President to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today.


Writer/Director:Ā 
Adam McKay

Ā Production Companies:Ā Annapurna Pictures, Gary Sanchez Productions and Plan B.

Producers:Ā Megan Ellison, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Kevin Messick

Cast:Ā Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Jesse Plemons, Alison Pill, Lily Rabe, Tyler Perry, Justin Kirk, LisaGay Hamilton, Shea Whigham and Eddie Marsan.

Genre:Ā Ā Drama/ComedyĀ 

In Theaters Nationwide Christmas Day


#ViceMovie

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In Theaters Nationwide Christmas Day

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The Children Act Movie Review

In ā€˜The Children Actā€™ I believe I can safely say that Emma Thompsonā€™s portrayal of a Judge named Fiona Maye, whoā€™s going through the turmoil of making a life and death decision on a landmark case while at the same time her own life is going to hell, was the best part of the film. She very much makes ‘The Children Act’ worth seeing. Thompson was remarkable in this but then, when isnā€™t she?

The film opens on a different case involving whether or not to separate conjoined twins. The stronger infant would be saved if the procedure were to be done but the weaker of the two would die. Fiona has studied hard and tells the parents, who donā€™t want to risk losing one child over the other, as only God has the right to decide on life, that the court is a court of law, not of morals, and grants the hospital the right to perform the separation. This was a profoundly dramatic opening and totally captures your imagination with regards to her personality and how far sheā€™s going to be willing to go to fight for, as the title suggests, a child.

 

In the meantime, we see that her husband Jack (Tucci) has been neglected. So much so that he informs her that he would like to have an affair. Since they live only her life, schedule things around when she can do them, give pecks on the cheek in passing if they pass one another, theyā€™ll never get around to be the more adventurous couple they once were. This argument in movies against women working usually gets to me because it has never bothered men when they were the ones constantly working while the woman at home, but times have changed so if done correctly, it makes for a satisfying addition to the storyline and here it does the story justice. She stays stoic as she takes in what heā€™s doing and, though she doesnā€™t condone or accept his view of their marriage now as being ā€˜open,ā€™ wonā€™t show him exactly how much he has hurt her and how deeply she wishes she could stop him. In essence, make her judgment and stop him from ripping her heart out. Marriage doesnā€™t work that way.

 

She has plenty to keep her mind occupied, however. Her next case is to save a teenager named Adam (Fionn Whitehead) whoā€™s just shy of his eighteenth birthday. Heā€™s a Jehovahā€™s Witness who has Leukemia. Once again, a hospital can try and would most likely save his life if they could be allowed to give him a blood transfusion, something his parents strongly oppose. The doctor explains to Fiona that Adamā€™s red and white cell counts are dropping, that heā€™s fighting to breathe, could suffer blindness and brain damage because his body is no longer producing its own blood. Most likely, heā€™ll die an extremely horrible death. This weighs heavy on her as she listens to Adamā€™s father, Kevin (Chaplin) advocate not on behalf of his sonā€™s life but on the will of the church. Yes, Adam wants to do what the church has told him is good for him but at his terribly young age, is dying good for Adam? Fiona makes the decision to go and meet with him because she wants to be sure he understands whatā€™s at stake and will make her decision afterward. This is where the story goes off on a bit of a tangent. Not her decision on the case but, honestly, the rest of the film. For me, it gets chaotic and somewhat ridiculous, straying from the captivating story about this magnificent judgeā€™s world crumbling to the ground to the tale of a love-sick teenager. Had it not strayed, this would have been a contender for awards, but the ending simply doesn’t hold water.Ā  The idea that she’s now responsible for his life, doesn’t get by me but at the same time, reverses the narrative about the fact that, though a flawed human being, she is a damn good judge! I would suggest seeing it. The performances are worth it but maybe wait for cable.