Tag: Movie

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89th Annual Oscars RECAP

It’s the biggest night in Hollywood as celebrities fill the Dolby Theater in Hollywood to welcome the newest inductees into the Academy Award Family and the stakes are high as to who will take the prized Oscar.

At 5:30 p.s.t, the show kicked off with Justin Timberlake singing the opening number dedicated to his Oscar nominated song, “Can’t Stop The Feeling”.

Jimmy Kimmel took the stage after lightening the moment with jokes after jokes about stars as well as politics, as Kimmel introduced various oscar nominees, including the first Amazon Film, Manchester By The Sea and Casey Afflict, Isabelle Huppert for Elle and Denzel Washington for Fences.

  1. Mahershala Ali took the Oscar for best supporting actor in Moonlight.
  2. Suicide Squad took the Oscar for hair and makeup, while best costume design went to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
  3. O.J: Made In America won the Oscar for Best documentary feature, presented by the actresses from Hidden Figures as well as the real life hero, Katherine Johnson.
  4. Auli’i Cravalho performed her Oscar nominated song, from Moana, “How Far I’ll Go” with a stunning flag routine depicting waves and the island.
  5. Arrival received its first Oscar for sound editing and Hacksaw Ridge took the Oscar for sound mixing.
  6. Viola Davis took home the Oscar for Best Actress in a supporting role for the film Fences.
  7. Shirley MacLaine and Charlize Theron presented the best foreign language film to Iran’s film, The Salesman.
  8. Sting performed his song, The Empty Chair which is up for best original song.
  9. Piper took home the Oscar for Best Animated short film and the Oscar for best animated feature film went to Zootopia.
  10. La La Land took its first Oscar for production design.
  11. The Oscar for Visual Effects goes to the Jungle Book and the Oscar for Film Editing goes to Hacksaw Ridge for its second win.
  12. The White Helmets took the Oscar for documentary short subject and the Oscar for live action feature film goes to Sing.
  13. The Oscar for Cinematography goes to La La Land for its second Oscar.
  14. John Legend performs the last two songs from La La Land up for best original song, “City of Stars” and “Audition”.
  15. The Best original music score goes to Justin Hurwitz for La La Land and the best original song goes to “City of Stars” for La La Land’s fourth win  and the second win for Justin Hurwitz.
  16. Jennifer Aniston introduced the ‘In Memoriam’ to those lost in the 2016 year, including, Gene Wilder, Patty Duke, Gerry Marshall, Mary Tyler Moore John Hurt, Anton Yelchin, Nancy Reagan, Ken Howard, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Debbie Reynolds, and Carrie Fisher, including a special shout out to Bill Paxton who just passed away one day before the Oscars.
  17. Kenny Lonergan took the Oscar for Best original screenplay for Manchester By The Sea in its first Oscar for an Amazon film.
  18. The Best adapted screenplay Berry Jenkins and Terrell Alvin McCraney for Moonlight giving the film its second Oscar Win for the night.
  19. Damien Chazelle takes the Oscar for best director, becoming the youngest director to date at just 32 years old.
  20. Casey Afflict takes the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the Amazon film Manchester By The Sea making its second win for the night.
  21. Emma Stone takes the Oscar for best actress in a leading role in the film La La Land, making its 6th win out of 14 nominations.
  22. And finally, the best picture for the 89th Academy Awards is Moonlight, despite the error.  This makes Moonlight’s third Oscar, for best picture. Congratulations.

The 89th Academy Awards aired exclusively on ABC from 5:30 PST til 9 on February 26, 2017.  The winners are chosen by a collection of former actors and members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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“Elle” Review

The foreign language film which took two Golden Globes both for the film itself as well as Isabelle Huppert’s dramatic role as Michele Leblanc, is putting France on the map with it’s recent Academy Award nomination for best actress.

Sony’s Elle is the tale of tech savvy business woman, Michele Leblanc who goes on a search for the masked man who breaks in a forces himself on her one evening.  Leblanc doesn’t go to the police, for fear of her dark history with her father, but decides to take on the mask man herself.

All in all, the film set clearly in France, is wonderfully staged, from the details in the video game which Leblanc is producing to Huppert’s stunning acting ability as she plays the victim who seems to enjoy the forcefulness of her attacker.  Huppert has a stunning way of delivering her lines that, although in french, the audience captures every moment including the heart pounding realization of just who her attacker really is.

At 2 hours and 10 minutes, it’s a film that even non french speaking audiences will be sitting on the edge of their seats wondering who and what will happen next.

Elle came out in limited theaters, November 11th, 2016 and is still playing at several independent theaters.  It is rated R for language, adult content and graphic nudity, so beware, it’s not a move for the faint at heart, however it is a great movie for the nature and the acting.

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“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.

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“Seventeen” REVIEW

Hailee Steinfield is showing her dramatic side in the latest high school film that ultimately received her first Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a comedy or musical.

Steinfield shines throughout The Edge of Seventeen as the movie opens with her confronting her favorite teacher Mr. Bruner, (played by Woody Harrelson) with confessions of wanting to kill herself.  Ultimately the audience is drawn into this witty humor adolescent teenage coming of age story as we travel with her back to when all her troubles began.  Nadine (Steinfield) is a 7-year old twin, living in the shadows of her outgoing brother, Darian (Blake Jenner) who barely shows any concern over his sister’s moodiness, her mother (Kyra Sedgwick) cares more for her brother than for her and her only two friends are her father (Eric Keenleyside) who gives her the attention that she lacks from her mother until she witnesses his death as she enters teenage years at thirteen, and a little girl named Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) who she also meets when she’s seven and instantly forms a bond, but will that bond be broken when loves gets in the way?

At a hundred and four minutes run time, The Edge of Seventeen will have you caught up in all the drama of what goes on in the heads of teenagers, everything from school, to dating and adolescence in its purest forms.  Though slightly graphic at times, it is a movie to thoroughly enjoy and watch as Steinfield’s performance, both acting as well as narrating her life, is exceptional.  Though not a Golden Globe winner, she has already been nominated for 38 awards over the course of her short acting career and received 24 wins for both this film as well as her breakthrough performance in True Grit.

The Edge of Seventeen is rated R and may not be suitable for all ages but it is a performance by a young actress that is worth seeing.  It’s still playing in select theaters and is scheduled for Blu-Ray and DVD release on February 14.  It’s a great Valentine’s date night movie to remember adolescent years.

 

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“Patriots” Stand Strong

Lionsgate’s historical drama thriller is expanding to theaters this weekend as other new movies are coming out.  Despite its slow start of bringing in just under 1-million dollars at the box office, it is a movie that is worth seeing on the big screen.

Patriot’s Day stars Mark Walberg, a paramedic/ first responder, who saw first hand the devastating impact of the Boston Marathon Bombing including the aftermath, where the entire city of Boston pulled together to find the terrorists that planted the series of bombs in April 2013.

Overall, Patriots Day combined real life footage with that of the actors, in order to put together a film that truly captures the heart of the matter and showed the strength of one city and state that bounced back and survives today as Boston Strong.

Patriots Day also features, John Goodman as Commissioner Ed Davis, Michelle Monaghan as Walberg’s wife and Kevin Bacon as Special Agent Richard DesLauriers, as they worked together with the real life heroes to make this a movie to fully honor the fallen.

Patriots Day came out in theaters Dec 21 of last year and is expanding its reach this week for even more to see and remember.  See it in a theater near you.

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“Fantastic Beasts” Top Box Office

The highly anticipated prequel to the Harry Potter Franchise is bringing out all sorts of creatures to the big screen as fans flock the theaters opening weekend and help the movie take number one at the box office with 75 million domestically, as last week’s front-runners, Dr. Strange and Trolls, barely held on to the second and third places with 17 million each.

The latest film produced by J.K Rowling, delves into one of the many textbooks that Harry Potter and his friends study at Hogwarts and explores the journey to put together the manuscript as Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, comes to America with his briefcase of many monsters.  While in America, Scamander discovers that the witches and wizards are underground from their muggle or as they call them nonmaj residents who fear magic and seek actively to find and kill them in a second Salem act.  Meanwhile, the children who possess magic are punished for it and so are turned into the monsters that are making the Witches Council of the United States of America scared of discovery especially when Scamander arrives and some of his creatures escape through a chance encounter with a nonmaj, Kowalski, played by Dan Fogler.

Now it’s up to Scamander and Kowalski to track down all of his creatures before the council gets a hold of them and destroys them.  At two hours and thirteen minutes, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them brings audiences even deeper into the Wizarding World with an up close and personal looking into the mysterious creatures that Harry Potter has only read about.  Set in the 1920’s America, it’s a movie that truly stands on its own.  The imagery of the creatures and the land inside Scamander’s briefcase will have audiences wishing they could be there to as Scamander introduces for the first time a nonmaj to his creatures in order to help him truly understand that they are not dangerous.

Fantastic Beats and Where To Find Them opened with nearly all theaters sold out at the Thursday night showings on November 17th and is currently playing in a theater near you.  See it and let the magic transform you.

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“Trolls” Dance To #2

Dreamworks newest animated movie Trolls, starring Anna Kendrick as the happiest troll to be born, Princess Poppy and Justin Timberlake as Branch, the troll who just can’t be happy, is bringing families to the theater as it has already brought in over 46 million for its first weekend, coming in number two at the box office.

Trolls tells the story of the happy, dancing, hugging childhood toy made popular from the 60’s and again in the 90’s, who all they can do is be happy, while their counterparts, the Bergens can’t dance and sing and the only way for them to be happy is to eat the trolls from the Troll tree in a symbolic day called Trollstice, but the King of the trolls decide to relocate to save from another Trollstice.

But will the trolls truly be safe or will the Bergens have another Trollstice so they can be happy again.

Trolls also stars the voice talents of Russell Brand as Creek, John Cleese as King Gristle sr., Jeffrey Tambor as King Peppy, Zooey Deschanel, as Bridget, the maid in the Bergen King’s palace, who holds the true secret to happiness for the Bergens and Gwen Stefani as DJ Suki.

At just over an hour and a half, Trolls will have you laughing, crying and singing along with the fun loving trolls as Princess Poppy and Branch set out on a adventure to save their friends once more when the Bergens discover their whereabouts and long to be happy once again.

See Trolls in a theater near you.

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“Children” Reach 55 Million

After it’s second weekend at the box office, Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is still bringing a fair amount to theaters worldwide as the fantasy film has topped the box office with over 55 million for its second weekend though it has dropped to second for its second weekend.

The fantasy adventure based on the book by Ransom Riggs, stars Asa Butterfield as Jake, a young boy who discovers a magical world from the stories of his beloved grandfather (Terence Stamp) and releases for the first time that he isn’t just “ordinary” as he embraces is “peculiar” trait in order to save Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) and her mysterious school from the Hollows including Barron (Samuel L. Jackson) who only seeks one thing to become fully human again by using the children’s gifts.

At 2 hours and 7 minutes Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children is truly a unique tale about using one’s gifts to save everyone and discover where home really is.  It’s a film that full of adventure, mystery and even a little foretold romance in the most innocent way imaginable.

It’s a film that is definitely worth seeing in a theater near you.

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Western Remake Review

Warner Brothers has their eyes set on the prize with the Magnificient 7 reboot starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke as a band of outlaws set to save a town from thieving gold miners who wish to dig up the land for profit.

The high action adventure kicks off with a bang as the robbers come in and demand the land, killing several people when they don’t get their way.  They give them three weeks to change their mind.  Meanwhile widow, Emma Cullen, played by Haley Bennett, is determined not to let her husband die in vain.  She enlists the help of Chisolm (Washington) who agrees but not without a little back up.  It is what is called the most unlikely team of seven,  that will serve as the little towns last hope of redemption.

Magnificent 7 is a film that has all the ingredients of a good old fashion western including a bar room brawl, standout and gun fighting.  It’ll keep one on the edge of their seats from the first minute through including a few surprise twists that one might not see coming.

The film opened officially in theaters Sept. 23 and is a close front runner for the number one spot at the box office this week.  See it in a theater near you.  It won’t disappoint.

The original Magnificent 7 came out over 50 years ago and starred Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach,  and Steve McQueen.

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Pete’s Dragon takes 3

The Classic tale about a little boy and his dragon is returning to theaters after nearly 40 years since the original and has earned enough to take number three at the box office with 21.5 million in revenue.

Pete’s Dragon stars newcomer Oakes Fegley in his first big role as Pete, the little boy who befriends a dragon named Elliot after his mother and father are killed in a car crash.  He manages to survive with his dragon friend for six years until a little girl (Oona Laurence) discovers him by himself in the forest and takes him back to her mother (Bryce Dallas Howard), a forest ranger whose goal is to protect the forest as well as her father, (Robert Redford), the local storyteller, who is the only person besides Pete to have actually seen the dragon.

Now it is up to Pete to find some way to get back to Elliot before  something happens to his beloved friend.

As good as the original with a few plot twists, Pete’s Dragon is a great movie for the whole family to experience.  It’s heartwarming and will send chills down your spine as you are not sure what to expect next in the adventure of the little boy and his pet dragon.

Pete’s Dragon came out August 12, and is currently playing in a theater near you.