“Ocean’s 8” Review
“Kluger’s Associate: Do you know this woman?
[shows her a photo]
Daphne Kluger: No.
Kluger’s Associate: Debbie Ocean. Convicted felon. Her brother, Danny Ocean, more convicted felon. She was present on the night of the incident.
Daphne Kluger: Ooh. So…”
It’s time for the little sister to pull off the ultimate crime of the century in the latest all female cast where now it’s Debbie’s turn.
In the same fashion as her older brother, Debbie, who has spent five years in jail devising the perfect crime will now put together a team of seven to steal a pricey diamond necklace, planted around the neck of Daphne Kluger while at the Met Gala. There’s only one question, will they get away with it?
At exactly 2 hour run time, the film captures the same charm as its masculine predecessors, Oceans 11 while bringing something new to the screen. The chemistry between Sandra Bullock who plays Debbie and her partner in crime, Cate Blanchett as Lou is adequately played, though one might think it could have been a little bit stronger. That was the only thing I found lacking, despite the teaser trailers that entices audiences. AS far as the movie goes, it seems the two struggled to find the chemistry to drive the crime plotting.
In addition, the others who made up the rest of the team, in a way sort of got lost in the shuffle as there was nothing really memorable, though Helena Bonham Carter as well as Anne Hathaway did have some funny moments which caught the audience by surprise, especially when Hathaway confronts the team with a line of “bad acting” from Carter.
That aside, I did find myself laughing all the way through as the true story of the anatomy of a crime played out on the big screen.
Ocean’s 8 came out in theaters, June 8, and is currently playing in a theater near you. See it with an open mind for funny moments about the criminal masterminds.
“Adrift” Review
“I Can’t Do this”- Tami Oldham
“You can do anything you put your mind to.” Richard Sharpe
The unbelievable true story of Tami and Richard who set sail from Tahiti to San Diego when their sail boat is nearly destroyed in a category five hurricane and leaves them adrift in the middle of the pacific ocean. Now it’s up to Tami to navigate and steer their boat as it drifts to the Hawaiian Islands. The question stands will they make it in time?
At an hour thirty six minute run time, the movie will leave audience members at the edge of their seats wondering if the next moment will be their last.
When the two trailers for this movie came out, they both leave one wanting to see for the adventure and thrill that goes into sailing ultimately around the world and the movie doesn’t disappoint. Edited seamlessly together, the viewer finds oneself on an adventure where they don’t know who will survive until the end but like the one line, it is the reason for sailing.
Richard says sailing is “Miserable, You’re either sun burnt, sleep deprived, or seasick and after awhile there’s hallucinations”. All of which is experienced in this hour and a half journey as one sees the love between a man and a woman tried and tested in this epic journey, but as Richard answers Tami as to why do it. “It’s a feeling, It’s intense. It’s just you and the infinite horizon.” The film definitely captures all of that and more in it’s hour 36 minute runtime.
Tami, played by Shailene Woodley in what is the most dramatic role of her career. Woodley does an exceptional job as a woman in the beginning who is that of a drifter herself. She arrives to tahiti only five months prior to meeting Richard and voyaging to California and yet she goes through the most growth as we see her challenged with trying to save not only herself but also the love of her life.
There are elements in this movie similar to Divergent series where again she is just trying to survive in the midst of being different and not fitting in but Woodley takes the passion from that film and elevates it to include that of learning how to survive when all hope should be lost. The other element is that of the romance aspect where we see in a short time how love as powerful as it is, it can drive one to do unexpectible things, even leaving with a stranger that she only mets a few short months ago but the message of
“come sail with me” rings true.
There is one other actor who is worth mentioning and that is of Richard played by Sam Claflin from Me Before You. Looking back on his previous work as a young man who is paralyzed, it is refreshing to see Claflin as more than a man paralyzed but one that helps guide Woodley to safety again. He portrays the same passion as he has in the past but he does it in such a way that one wonders after, did that really just happen? It’s a question at the end that the audience is left walking out with, but in a good way.
It’s about the journey and Adrift certainly takes us on a journey not only on the seas but also through the lives of our drifted lovers as it holds our attention from the first minute when Tami wakes up to water in the boat up to the moment when Richard truly professes his love.
Following in the shadows of the real life Tami and Richard, one could definitely see why the casting director chose Woodley and Clafin. There are emotions from both of them that definitely mirror that of the real life lovers. The actors did their research in the history in order to put on a star stunning performance that both Tami and Richard would be proud of.
Stx Entertainment’s Adrift is an action packed movie that combines elements of Castaway with that of The Notebook in a way that no movie has every done before. Sort of like Tom Hanks obsession with Walter the volleyball, but the director uses the love between a man and a woman in an effort to save at least one from the treacherous open seas. The bigger question is, do they succeed? One’ll have to see the movie to know the answer. Adrift came out in theaters Friday June 1 and is currently playing in a theater near you.
69th Emmy Recap
69th Annual Emmys hosted by Stephen Colbert at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The awards show aired live on CBS 8 pm, est. as thousands watched live and at home in anticipation of who would take that coveted award. Highlights of the night include musical skits by Stephen Colbert himself as well as multiple Emmy’s for shows including the infamous Saturday Night Live, HBO’s Big Little Lies, FX’s Atlanta and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. For the complete recap, see below…
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series goes to John Lithgow for The Crown.
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a comedy Series goes to Kate McKinnon for Saturday Night Live.
- Outstanding Supporting actress in a limited series or movie goes to Laura Dern for Big Little Lies.
- Outstanding Directing in a comedy series goes to Donald Glover for Atlanta- “BAN”.
- Outstanding Variety sketch series goes to Saturday Night Live
- Outstanding Writer for drama series goes to Bruce Miller for The Handmaid’s Tale.
- Outstanding Supporting actor in a comedy series goes to Alec Baldwin for Saturday Night Live.
- Outstanding Directing for a limited series or movie goes to Jean-Marc Vallee for Big Little Lies.
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a limited series or movie goes to Alexander Skarsgard for Big Little Lies.
- Outstanding Writing for a Variety series goes to the team from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama series goes to Ann Dowd for The Handmaid’s Tale.
- Outstanding writing for a comedy series goes to Lena Waithe and Aziz Anazari for Master of None.
- Outstanding reality competition program goes to The Voice.
- Outstanding directing for a drama series goes to Reed Morano for The Handmaid’s Tale.
- Outstanding Writing for a limited series or movie goes to Charlie Brooker for Black Mirror: San Junipero.
- Outstanding director for a variety series goes to Don Roy King for Saturday Night Live.
- Outstanding Variety Talk Series goes to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy series goes to Donald Glover for Atlanta.
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy series goes to Julia Louis Dreyfus for Veep.
- Outstanding Comedy series goes to Veep.
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a limited series or movie goes to Riz Ahmed for The Night Of.
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a limited series or movie goes to Nicole Kidman for Big Little Lies.
- Outstanding TV movie goes to Black Mirror: San Junipero.
- Outstanding limited series goes to Big Little Lies.
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series goes to Sterling K Brown for This is Us.
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series goes to Elizabeth Moss for The Handmaid’s Tale.
- And Emmy winner Oprah Winfrey gave out the final Emmy of the night to the Outstanding Drama series, The Handmaid’s Tale, making a total of five Emmy’s tonight.
The Emmy are hand selected by a team of The Television Academy Foundation professionals.
“Moonlight” Review
The independent film about an African-American man, who struggles to find his place in the rough urban neighborhood of Miami Florida is bringing in over 150 wins including Best Picture for a drama at the Golden Globes as well as Best supporting Actress and Actor and is currently up for 8 additional Oscars.
The film chronicles the life of Chiron (Little) (Black) from childhood (roughly ages 10-through his late 20’s) and the situations that he encounters which ultimately shapes him into the man he becomes. Having to deal with bullying from classmates as well as his drug addicted mother, Chiron finds comfort in the friendliness of Juan, (Mahershala Ali) and his girl, Teresa, (Janelle Monae) who ends up taking him in as a second home, when he can’t go home to his own.
All in all, with a run time of nearly two hours, there is power in the acting from the first scene with Alex Hibbert in his first theatrical debut as “Little”. Hibbert excels in portraying the troubled young boy who just wants to be accepted, by both his friends and his mother. Through “Little’s” emotion we see without little words, the deep struggle as well as the beauty in bromance as his only friend, Kevin encourages him to keep fighting.
Moonlight came out in theaters, November 18, 2016, and has brought in over 18 million domestically. It’s currently still playing in select theaters, leading up to the 89th Annual Academy awards, which will air on February 26, 2017, where we will see if Moonlight has what it takes to win the ultimate award.
See it now either on the big screen or when it comes out on February 28, 2017 after the awards show.
Romance comes Early
The newest epic romance of the year about star cross lovers is coming to screens and getting crowds ready for Valentine’s Day in a couple of weeks.
Asa Butterfield plays Gardner, the son of lead astronaut Sarah Elliot (Janet Montgomery), whose voyage to Mars to live for four years turns into 16, when she realizes she is pregnant thus has the first child born on Mars shortly after arriving. Through the delivery, the baby is fine however Sarah doesn’t make it and the team, on earth, lead by Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman) is fearful to bring the baby back for fear of different atmospheres. They decide to keep the boy a secret.
Gardner is fine living on Mars, but as he ages, his curiosity grows and he finds himself communicating with a young teen on earth, Tulsa, (Britt Robertson) which causes him to want more of a physical connection as well as to find father.
But now, on Earth, it’s a race against time to find out the truth about his father before his large heart stops beating.
At 2 hour run time, The Space Between Us is a romantic teenage drama that will have you laughing and reminiscing at childhood innocence, cheering as Gardner and Tulsa races to find his last remaining family without getting caught and ultimately will have you tearing up with emotion as it comes down to the ultimate decision of staying on Earth or going back to Mars in order to survive.
The movie came out in theaters on the first Thursday night in February and will be buying for a top spot at the box office against the much-anticipated sequel, Rings.
See it in a theater near you.
“Collateral Beauty” Review
Will Smith is back in the most dramatic role yet as a man at the top of his game in the industry, whose life begins to crumb at the sudden death of his six-year-old daughter, Olivia due to brain cancer. His friends and partners at his work, played by Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, and Michael Pena, see the devastation, and try to let him cope but when they all fear losing their jobs, that fear takes place and they enlist three local actors to play death, time and love, in order to discredit Smith, but will that be the best thing for the struggling father in order to cope with his daughter’s death?
At an hour thirty-seven minutes, Collateral Beauty will have you deep in thought about how three very different elements work together in mysterious ways in order to see a collateral beauty in everything.
Collateral Beauty also stars Helen Mirren, who beautifully captures the role of death for Howard, Kiera Knightley portrays love in more ways than one, beginning with the weepy heartfelt moments to the love as a strong threshold and Jacob Latimore encompasses time in the raw, edgy type that will leave you wondering how one could ever forget about time.
All in all, Collateral Beauty, came out December 16, 2016 and thus has brought in well over 30 million at the box office. It’s still playing in a theater near you.
“Concussion” REVIEW
The true story about the mysterious deaths of nearly an entire football team is still drawing crowds to the theaters nearly a month after it came to the big screen Christmas weekend.
Concussion stars Will Smith as Dr. Omalu Bennet, an accomplished pathologist, who through a series of autopsies, discovers that repeated concussions during normal football play has resulted in brain damage. It’s a story of perseverance as Bennet (Smith) faces resistance from the NFL as he continues to uncover the truth and prevent more players from falling. Concussion also stars Alec Baldwin, as Dr. Julian Bailes, one of the lead NFL physician, who goes from fighting against Bennet to realizing the reality and fighting for truth.
At just over two hours, it’s an emotional drama that has viewers routing for science rather then an all American pastime called football. Smith’s and Baldwin’s performances are exceptional, and will hold your attention right away.
Concussion, opened in theaters December 25, and to date has earned over 33 million domestically. It’s currently playing in a theater near you.
Two Movies Attract Audiences Christmas Day
Paramount’s Comedy, Daddy’s Home and 21st Century Fox’s Joy are giving Star Wars Fans relief from the epic blockbuster and bringing in enough to claim the number 2 and 3 spots at the box office for its opening weekend.
The drama “Joy“, starring Jennifer Lawrence as the young girl with an ambition to create nearly anything she could imagine. Though as she grows up, her life doesn’t exactly become what she had envisioned, with having to take care of a divorced mother, who all she does is sit in her room watching her soap opera, to her ex-husband musician, who ends up becoming more of a friend as Joy strives to create an immersing family business enterprise, known as the home shopping network, despite the challenge that her father (Robert De Niro) and sister tries to hold her down by saying she will never make it.
At 2 hours and 4 minutes, Joy is an inspirational tale for anyone who has dreams that they hope to one day accomplish, and all of the acting including Lawrence’s performance as Joy are exceptionally and definitely worthy of Oscar recognition. If you want a inspirational film based on the inspiration of several brave women, see Joy in a theater near you.
The other comedy film, teams Will Ferrell as Brad Whitaker and Mark Wahlberg as Dusty Mayron in 21st Century Fox’s Daddy’s Home. It’s the tale of step dad meets dad as Wahlberg comes back to try to be a part of his children’s life, just as Farrell, is finally starting to become accepted by his step kids. So what will happen next?
At 96 minutes, Daddy’s Home will have you laughing from the first scene on as the comedy style of Farrell and Wahlberg resonates throughout the script and on the big screen in traditional slap stick comedy. It’s a good clean film about the role of fatherhood and in moderation is good for mostly the whole family. It shows the importance of compromise when dealing with someone else’s children and the performances make it entertaining overall. If you want a wise cracking movie see Daddy’s Home in a theater near you.
Both movies opened Christmas day and brought in a combined 50 million between the two films at the box office: 38 million for Daddy’s Home and 17 million for Joy. Of course they were no match for Star Wars which has now reached 1 billion world wide in just its second week.
“Truth” Questions Everything
The newsroom drama starring Robert Redford, Dennis Quaid and Cate Blanchett is drawing faithful news and movie goers to the theaters with a documentary style movie about the 60 minutes report that put News Anchor Dan Rathers’ and Producer Mary Mapes’ careers in jeopardy as they uncovered what they believed to be the truth about former President George Bush’s military career in the 70’s. The story follows the investigation and shows the challenges that news reporters face on a daily basis when dealing with tough politics as well as the backlash that comes with the questions that all journalist’s must ask to uncover the truth. Overall, it is a powerful movie about getting to the bottom in order to find the truth and the actor’s did a fantastic job in portraying their counterparts. Truth came out on October 16, in limited theaters and considering the challenges, it ranked 16 at the box office its opening weekend and currently has earned over 1.15 million in domestic revenues. As good as Redford’s, All The President’s Men, which came out in 1976 and follows the investigation into the Watergate Scandal, Truth is definitely another movie for anyone interested in US History as well as those pursuing a journalism career or currently in the News industry. Truth is still playing at select theaters near you.