2020 Potential Blockbusters

2020 Potential Blockbusters 

(Looking Forward To)

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Action, Adventure, Fantasy - Plot unknown. A sequel to the 2017 super hero film 'Wonder Woman'. Director: Patty Jenkins | Stars: Pedro Pascal, Chris Pine, Gal Gadot, Connie Nielsen No Time to Die (2020) Action, Adventure, Thriller - Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga | Stars: Ana de Armas, Léa Seydoux, Daniel Craig, Rami Malek Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020) Action, Adventure, Crime - After splitting with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins superheroes Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord. Director: Cathy Yan | Stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor, Bojana Novakovic Dolittle (2020) Adventure, Comedy, Family  - A physician discovers that he can talk to animals. Director: Stephen Gaghan | Stars: Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Emma Thompson, Rami Malek Top Gun: Maverick (2020) Action, Drama - The plot is unknown at this time.Director: Joseph Kosinski | Stars: Jennifer Connelly, Tom Cruise, Monica Barbaro, Jon Hamm BIOS (2020) Sci-Fi - On a post-apocalyptic earth, a robot, built to protect the life of his dying creator's beloved dog, learns about life, love, friendship and what it means to be human. Director: Miguel Sapochnik | Stars: Tom Hanks, Laura Harrier, Skeet Ulrich, Caleb Landry Jones Red Notice (2020) Action, Adventure, Comedy - An Interpol agent tracks the world's most wanted art thief. Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber | Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot Legally Blonde 3 (2020) Comedy - Plot unknown. Third installment of 'Legally Blonde' ,Director: Jamie Suk | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Alanna Ubach, Jessica Cauffiel Bad Boys for Life (2020) Action, Comedy, Crime - Marcus Burnett is now a police inspector and Mike Lowery is in a midlife crisis. They unite again when an Albanian mercenary, whose brother they killed, promises them an important bonus. Directors: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah | Stars: Vanessa Hudgens, Will Smith, Alexander Ludwig, Joe Pantoliano Morbius (2020) Action, Adventure, Drama - Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead. Director: Daniel Espinosa | Stars: Matt Smith, J.K. Simmons, Adria Arjona, Jared Leto Tenet (2020) Action, Drama, Thriller - The plot is currently unknown. The project is described as an action epic revolving around international espionage, time travel, and evolution. Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kenneth Branagh Mulan (2020) A young Chinese maiden disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father. A live-action feature film based on Disney's 'Mulan.' Director: Niki Caro.

Coming 2 America (2020) Comedy - Akeem learns he has a long-lost son in the United States and must return to America to meet the unlikely heir to the throne of Zamunda. A sequel to the 1988 comedy 'Coming to America'. Director: Craig Brewer | Stars: Eddie Murphy, James Earl Jones, Wesley Snipes, Garcelle Beauvais Black Widow (2020) Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi - A film about Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War. Director: Cate Shortland | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., David Harbour Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) Comedy, Music, Sci-Fi  - Once told they'd save the universe during a time-traveling adventure, 2 would-be rockers from San Dimas, California find themselves as middle-aged dads still trying to crank out a hit song and fulfill their destiny. Director: Dean Parisot | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Jillian Bell Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2020) Comedy - A pair of best friends find themselves in over their heads. Director: Josh Greenbaum | Stars: Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Jamie Dornan, Wendi McLendon-Covey The Invisible Man (2020) Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller - When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see. Director: Leigh Whannell | Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid    The One and Only Ivan (2020) Animation, Adventure, Comedy - A gorilla named Ivan tries to piece together his past with the help from humans. Sterling K. Brown, Jude Law, Max Casella Gretel & Hansel (2020) Fantasy, Horror, Thriller  - A long time ago in a distant fairy tale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil. Director: Oz Perkins | Stars: Sophia Lillis, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Krige, Ian Kenny The Informer (2019) Crime, Drama - An ex-convict working undercover intentionally gets himself incarcerated again in order to infiltrate the mob at a maximum security prison. Director: Andrea Di Stefano | Stars: Ana de Armas, Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Clive Owen The War with Grandpa (2020) Comedy, Family  -  Upset that he has to share the room he loves with his grandfather, Peter decides to declare war in an attempt to get it back. Director: Tim Hill | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jane Seymour, Colin Ford, Christopher Walken Fantasy Island (2020) Adventure, Horror - A horror adaptation of the popular '70s TV show about a magical island resort. Director: Jeff Wadlow | Stars: Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Portia Doubleday, Michael Rooker American Fighter (2020) Action, Drama - A desperate teenager is forced into the dangerous world of underground fighting to win enough money to save his ailing mother. He finds out what he's made of in the face of these violent hungry competitors. Director: Shaun Paul Piccinino Writers: Carl Morris, Shaun Paul Piccinino Stars: Tommy Flanagan, Sean Patrick Flanery, Christina Moore

50+ MOVIES TO CONSIDER IN 2020

50+ MOVIES TO CONSIDER IN 2020

(Looking Forward To)

Eternals (2020) Action, Adventure, Drama - The saga of the Eternals, a race of immortal beings who lived on Earth and shaped its history and civilizations. Director: Chloé Zhao | Stars: Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan Mulan (2020) Action, Adventure, Drama - A young Chinese maiden disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father. A live-action feature film based on Disney's 'Mulan.' Director: Niki Caro | Stars: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Li Gong Soul (2020) Animation, Adventure - A musician who has lost his passion for music is transported out of his body and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul learning about herself. Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers | Stars: Jamie Foxx, John Ratzenberger, Tina Fey, Daveed Diggs Live Die Repeat and Repeat (2020) Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi - Plot unknown. A follow-up to the 2014 sci-fi film, 'Edge of Tomorrow'. Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt Dune (2020) Adventure, Drama - Feature adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel, about the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the galaxy. Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Rebecca Ferguson, Timothée Chalamet, Jason Momoa, Zendaya No Time to Die (2020) Action, Adventure, Thriller | Post-production Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga | Stars: Ana de Armas, Léa Seydoux, Daniel Craig, Rami Malek A Quiet Place: Part II (2020) Horror, Thriller - Plot unknown. Sequel to the 2018 film, 'A Quiet Place'. Director: John Krasinski | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou Infinite (2020) Sci-Fi - A man discovers that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives. Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jason Mantzoukas, Dylan O'Brien The Division (2020) Action, Drama - On Black Friday In New York City, Bio-Terrorists release a modified strain of Smallpox called the "Green Poison" onto several amounts of currency bills. Director: David Leitch | Stars: Jessica Chastain, Jake Gyllenhaal The Devil All the Time (2020) Drama, Thriller - In the 1960s after World War II in Southern Ohio, bizarre, compelling and mentally disturbed people suffer from the war's psychological damages. Director: Antonio Campos | Stars: Riley Keough, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Tom Holland Good Morning, Midnight (2020) Drama - A scientist, alone in the Arctic, tries to make contact with a spacecraft returning to Earth. Director: George Clooney | Stars: Felicity Jones, George Clooney, Kyle Chandler, David Oyelowo The Gentlemen (2020) Action, Crime - A British drug lord tries to sell off his highly profitable empire to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires. Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong West Side Story (2020) Crime, Drama, Musical - An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love, and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Ansel Elgort, Corey Stoll, Rita Moreno, Maddie Ziegler The Last Duel (2020) Drama - King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges settle his dispute with his squire by challenging him to a duel. Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Adam Driver, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jodie Comer 1906 (2020) Animation, Adventure, Crime  - A young man discovers a series of secrets and lies that left San Francisco highly vulnerable to the fires that engulfed it in the aftermath of the historical 1906 earthquake. Director: Brad Bird Stowaway (2020) Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller - A stowaway on a mission to Mars sets off a series of unintended consequences. Director: Joe Penna | Stars: Anna Kendrick, Toni Collette, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson Without Remorse (2020) Action, Crime, Drama  - John Clark, a Navy SEAL, goes on a path to avenge his wife's murder only to find himself inside of a larger conspiracy. Director: Stefano Sollima | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Cam Gigandet The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2020) Biography, Drama  - Televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker seek redemption after their religious empire and marriage crumbles. Director: Michael Showalter | Stars: Jessica Chastain, Vincent D'Onofrio, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones Underwater (2020) Action, Drama, Horror - A crew of aquatic researchers work to get to safety after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. But the crew has more than the ocean seabed to fear. Director: William Eubank | Stars: Kristen Stewart, T.J. Miller, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick Abruptio (2020) Horror  - Les Hackel is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. Director: Evan Marlowe | Stars: Jordan Peele, Robert Englund, Sid Haig, Christopher McDonald Scarface (2020) Crime, Drama, Thriller - An immigrant rises to the top of the criminal underworld in the United States. Director: Antoine Fuqua | Star: Diego Luna The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) Crime, Drama, Mystery - A journalist quits her newspaper job and becomes an arms dealer for a covert government agency. Director: Dee Rees | Stars: Ben Affleck, Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, Toby Jones Medieval (2020) Action, Drama, History - The story of fourteenth century Czech icon and warlord Jan Zizka, who defeated armies of the Teutonic Order and the Holy Roman Empire. Director: Petr Jákl | Stars: Ben Foster, Sophie Lowe, Michael Caine, Til Schweiger

The Tomorrow War (2020) Action, Sci-Fi - A man is drafted to fight in a future war where the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront his past. Director: Chris McKay | Stars: Yvonne Strahovski, Chris Pratt, J.K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin The French Dispatch (2020) Comedy, Drama, Romance - A love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th-century French city that brings to life a collection of stories published in "The French Dispatch" magazine. Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Léa Seydoux, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Lawther 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (2020) Action, Adventure, Drama - A look at how Jules Verne's classic character Captain Nemo created his underwater vessel, the Nautilus. Director: James Mangold The Merlin Saga (2020) Fantasy - An origin story of the mythical wizard from his boyhood in Wales through his training as a young man and ultimate role as defender of the natural world and mentor to King Arthur. Director: Ridley Scott Waldo (2020) Action, Thriller - A disgraced ex-cop seeks solace by moving to the woods, but his quiet life comes to an end when a private eye recruits him to investigate a murder. Director: Tim Kirkby | Stars: Clancy Brown, Morena Baccarin, Mel Gibson, Charlie Hunnam Untitled Lila Neugebauer Project (2020) Drama - A US soldier suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home. Director: Lila Neugebauer | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Samira Wiley, Brian Tyree Henry, Linda Emond  The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) Drama - The story of 7 people on trial stemming from various charges surrounding the uprising at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Director: Aaron Sorkin | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sacha Baron Cohen, Michael Keaton, Eddie Redmayne Antlers (2020) Horror, Mystery - A small-town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff, become entwined with a young student harboring a dangerous secret with frightening consequences. Director: Scott Cooper | Stars: Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene The Black Hand (2020) Drama - Police officer Joe Petrosino seeks justice against a ruthless Italian-American gang in New York. A feature adaptation of Stephan Talty's book 'The Black Hand'. Star: Leonardo DiCaprio Deep Water (2020) Thriller -  A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers. Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Ana de Armas, Ben Affleck, Finn Wittrock, Tracy Letts Breaking News In Yuba County (2020) Crime, Drama, Thriller - A woman catches her husband in bed with another woman, causing him to die of a heart attack. She buries his body and takes advantage of the growing celebrity status. Director: Tate Taylor | Stars: Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, Jimmi Simpson, Awkwafina The Witches (2020) Adventure, Comedy - Based on Roald Dahl's 1983 classic book 'The Witches', the story tells the scary, funny and imaginative tale of a seven year old boy who has a run in with some real life witches! Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Anne Hathaway, Charles Edwards, Stanley Tucci, Octavia Spencer    The Prom (2020) Comedy, Drama, Musical - A troupe of hilariously self-obsessed theater stars swarm into a small conservative Indiana town in support of a high school girl who wants to take her girlfriend to the prom. Director: Ryan Murphy | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key Stillwater (2020) – Drama - A father travels from Oklahoma to France to help his daughter who has been arrested for murder. Director: Tom McCarthy | Stars: Matt Damon, Abigail Breslin, Camille Cottin, Deanna Dunagan Mob Girl (2020) Biography, Crime, Drama  - A mother living in New York's lower East Side becomes a mafia informant for the FBI. Director: Paolo Sorrentino | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Lucas Royalty Bernstein (2020) Biography, Drama, Music - A portrait of Leonard Bernstein's singular charisma and passion for music as he rose to fame as America's first native born, world-renowned conductor, all along following his ambition to compose both symphonic and popular Broadway works. Director: Bradley Cooper | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan Greyhound (2020) Drama, War - During World War II, a Merchant Marine skipper must maintain his ship's place in a convoy being stalked by Nazi U-boat wolf packs. Director: Aaron Schneider | Stars: Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham, Elisabeth Shue, Lee Norris The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection (2020) Plot kept under wraps. Described as a sequel to The Passion of the Christ (2004). Directors: Mel Gibson, Randall Wallace | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Christo Jivkov, Francesco De Vito    The Six Billion Dollar Man (2020) Action, Sci-Fi - Plot unknown. Feature film based on the popular '70s TV series "The Six Million Dollar Man". Director: Travis Knight | Star: Mark Wahlberg The Force (2020) Crime, Thriller - A corrupt New York cop working for the department's elite crime-fighting squad is forced to choose between his family, his fellow officers and his life. Director: James Mangold Arkansas (2020) Crime, Drama, Thriller - Kyle and Swin live by the orders of an Arkansas-based drug kingpin named Frog, whom they've never met. But when a deal goes horribly wrong, the consequences are deadly. Director: Clark Duke | Stars: Liam Hemsworth, Vince Vaughn, Vivica A. Fox, John Malkovich The Rhythm Section (2020) Action, Drama, Mystery - A woman seeks revenge against those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her family. Director: Reed Morano | Stars: Blake Lively, Sterling K. Brown, Jude Law, Max Casella

The Irishman - Review

The Irishman

Legendary (for me he is) Oscar winning Director Martin Scorsese, along with a stellar cast that includes two time Oscar winner Robert DeNiro, Oscar winner Al Pacino and Oscar winner Joe Pesci in the highly anticipated NEFLIX produced film called “The Irishman”. A 2019 epic crime film written by Steven Zaillian (“Moneyball” and Schindler’s List”) and is based on the 2004 book “I Heard You Paint Houses”. The film also stars Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jesse Plemons (FX’s Fargo 3 and Breaking Bad) and Harvey Keitel in supporting roles.

Running 3:30 minutes the film mostly follows “Frank Sheeran” (DeNiro), a World War 2 Veteran who comes home to be a meat slaughter house truck driver. One day through the coincidence of his truck breaking down at a roadside dinner - Texaco gas station he encounters a man who in a random act of kindness helps him fix the truck. That meeting eventually leads “Frank” to becoming a reliable and trusted hitman for the mob, exclusively working for the real life mobster “Russell Bufalino” (Pesci) and his crime family. Of his many duties “to paint houses” (mob code to “contract kill someone”) “Frank’s” other duties included providing some criminal muscle (when needed) by the then nationally powerful Teamster Truckers Union President Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).  

REVIEW: Scorsese once again captures the same magic of his previously acclaimed mob films in ‘GoodFellas” and “ Casino”, only in this effort it feels more like something that rarely happens in my movie going experiences. Specifically, telling a real life story spanning from the 1940s to the 1970’s through the back drop of historical events (i.e. Cuban Bay of Pigs Invasion and Kennedy Assassination) and with the use of some impressive software technology to make actors look younger to incredible youthful detail, “The Irishman” is an epic story bathed in cinematic grandeur, sumptuousness, steeliness and splendor. “The Irishman" is clearly the best film I have seen all year.  

Through an assuredly Best Adapted Screenplay nomination coming it’s way in January 2020, one that is probably a written combination of fact based events and dialogue and other parts creative licensing to infuse some strategic heighten drama, the whole experience of this film itself created a feeling of being “a listening fly” on the wall where the words are rich, intense, purposeful, always in the moment and simply something gloriously audible to have experience.

I would be shocked if the film, Director Scorsese and the three lead actors don’t all receive respective Oscar nominations. And while DeNiro’s chrarcter dominates the film and the story itself, it is Joe Pesci who reluctantly came out retirement and his passion to playing golf daily that is clearly the most memorable performance in the film.

In his previous roles in “Goodfellas” and “Casino”, Pesci played two highly volatile and disturbingly violent murderous psychopaths, but in his “Russell Bufalino” this might be the culmination of his entire career. His works here is no less menacing and less foreboding but here more sophisticatedly measured………… in that friendly avuncular – your favorite uncle down the street kind of way.  He is more dignified, more refined, even civilized to friends and his enemies. But when it’s time for him to order to have someone’s “house painted” he is still, maybe even more so no less terrifying to watch, unlike in the past with his noted spontaneous eruption of hotheadedness………. “Waddya mean I’m funny ;  I make you laugh? I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? Waddya mean “funny”? Funny how? How am I funny”. When his “Russell” gets angry or ever is disappointed you can feel him soberly, coldly, succinctly make the decision for that person to go away. Brilliant work here.

There is so, so, so much to enjoy about “The Irishman”. The way they operate in an alternate universe completely immune and devoid of local police involvement or accountability. The coded ways they talk about their business related problems so as not to say too much but still making their point fully known to all. Their hand gestures and body gesticulation to have meaning never to be misunderstood. To see literally grown men bend over backwards with adolescent emotion and posture with one another so as never to subtly offend anyone, not even a minuscule sign of disrespect. And finally the patriarchal family dynamics by men who are violent and murderous and yet still have a deep abiding protective love for their families, culture, food and the “la gioia di vivere’ aka their “joy of living”.

“The Irishman” is phenomenal film making. A story about people who willing agreed to come together of their own free will to operate with one another with ruthlessness, brutality and violence. Not fictional characters but real life men who are just as much a part of the historical footnotes of the American 20th century as the moon landing and the invention of the atom bomb. Only their footnote and their claim to fame were being some of the most notorious and infamous people ever in America if not the entire world has ever seen.

4.00 Stars
On NETFLIX November 27th

Knives Out - Review

 Knives Out

“Knives Out” is a “whodunit mystery” film written, produced and directed by Rian Johnson (“Looper”). Similar in style and adaptation to the 1976 film “Murder by Death” and the 1978 film “The Cheap Detective”, this tale is a modern murder mystery that follows a family gathering gone horribly awry after the family patriarch's death leads a master detective to investigate it. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, and Christopher Plummer.

PLOT: Wealthy crime novelist Harlan Thrombey invites his extended dysfunctional family to his remote mansion on his 85th birthday in hopes of reuniting them all. However, the day after the birthday party, Harlan is found dead by members of the family in an apparent suicide …………..or was it? 

Odd forensic evidence suggest otherwise for lead “Detective Lieutenant Elliot” (Lakeith Stanfield aka for FX "Atlanta' and film "Get Out") and legendary super sleuth “Detective Benoit Blanc” (Daniel Craig aka 007). Together they summarily examine each member of the surviving family and their household staff, dramatically and hilariously questioning each one by one to determine if in fact the wealthy elder Thrombey died by his own hands or “is there something rotten in Denmark” by people who all had a legitimate motive to have killed him?”

REVIEW: “Knives Out” is a refreshing experience to have at the movies. Its part action, part thriller, part mystery, great ensemble, appropriately humorous and witty and sometimes very dramatic, all the while moving with a verbal fast pace of 2:08 running time and overall subtle “wink - wink“ juicy delicious farcical ridiculous tinge to its plot.  

What makes this movie work so well is it never ask you to really wonder each step of the way if any of this mystery makes any real life intellectual sense…………….OF COURSE IT DOES NOT. What is does ask is through some smooth transitional plot twists and turns is the story plausible and clever enough for you to buy as being a legitimate “whodunit’………….. WHICH IT DOES. And with fine ensemble acting performances all around “Knives Out” is a nostalgic noir-ish, no guns throwback where the police pursue the facts in hopes of getting the bad guy suspect(s). The powers of human reasoning and deduction is always at the forefront.

On a side not the one actor I found most amusing and very well developed was Daniel Craig's “Detective Benoit Blanc”. Besides being adroitly funny and smart, his character structurally was a throwback similar to the mannerisms of 1970 - 80's TV actor Peter Falk trench coat wearing, perpetual cigar chewing repetitive questioning “Detective Colombo” and the verbal over affectations of animation cartoon character “Foghorn Leghorn’s” KFC southern drawl” …………  “I say, I say pay attention there boy, I'm cuttin' but you ain't bleedin'!”

“Knives Out” manages to the very end to keep you guessing without ever being boring. All the characters are kooky and yet smart - nuanced and yet brash with a plot that is imaginative but never complicated every step of the way.

It's the most mature, inventive and creative movie fun you will have in the theater for 2019.

3.75 Stars

A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood - Review

A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood

Two times Academy Award winner - five times nominated Tom Hanks and British actor Matthew Rhys noted for portraying for six season the TV character “Philip Jennings”,  aka Mischa, who was in actuality a Soviet KGB officer operating in the suburbs of Washington DC during the 1980’s with his family in the highly acclaimed FX series “The Americans bring their considerable acting talents together in the much anticipated true event story of Fred Rodger in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”.

Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) was an American television personality, musician, puppeteer, writer, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was known as the creator, show-runner and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001. By some educational and child psychologist experts Fred Rogers through an almost angelic demeanor was in fact a genus in early childhood educational development in his willingness to talking about a who range of subjects ranging from the more playful sweet, adventurous and family oriented endearing subjects to far more weightier real life matters including divorce, anger and death to primarily an audience of adolescent children nationwide.

PLOT: In a rather straight forward story we see early journalist “Lloyd Vogel” (Rhys) who works for Esquire Magazine. He has been married for 8 years and he and wife Susan Kelechi “Andrea Vogel” (Susan Kelechi Watson) have had their first child; he is a happy man.

One day “Lloyd” is summoned to his supervisor office for a new assignment. To his astonishment and initial reluctance, he has been tasked to write a short 400-word piece on Fred Rogers aka “the TV puppet man”. But what “Lloyd” doesn’t realize is after their first meeting together “Fred” was quickly able discern he was in fact hiding some real pain of his own and through several subsequent face to face interviews “Lloyd” is not only able to come to terms with his hidden traumatic pain, but to be able to reconcile and offer forgiveness to all those who caused and contributed it. His life is transformed and enriched; his marriage is more improved and his depth of love for his child grows more by throwing away his prevailing tendency with burdensome skepticism by learning simply  being more empathetic, kind, forgiving and decent from America's most beloved neighbor and his new friend “Fred”.

REVIEW:  I must admit I was a bit surprised leaving the theater knowing I just saw a movie more about the reporter “Lloyd Vogel” life than “Mr. Rogers”. Don’t get me wrong the movie clearly makes enough of the central argument that “Fred’s kindness and emotional generosity were a powerful unassuming tool he used into making many people’s lives emotionally whole and healed. But, the arc of the entire film is all about the destructive broken places inside the “‘Lloyd” .

Now, I normally never impugn the motives nor the vision of a director or writer into telling their story as they see fit. But running 1:48 minutes, I could have accepted a little more running time if the film had delved into “Fred’s” back story, especially what events in his child hood were central into shaping him to becoming one of the most popular and admired figures in American TV culture, especially as it pertains to raising and talking with children. Instead, from the trailers I saw I felt slightly deceived with its sanctimoniousness to think that I or anyone else would care more about the pain and healing “Lloyd Vogel” than the potential “ups and downs” (and we all have them) to the “Mr. Rogers”  backstory.

Tom Hanks was his typically compelling self even though in the first 10 minute there were a few faint moments I detected he was doing more of an impression of “Fred” and to the point it felt even slightly creepy. But overall as time went by, Hanks was able to round out his entire portrayal of this iconic figure by gaining some authentic emotional footing as to who he really was with another superb and excellent acting performance (especially the last 30 minutes). And while I don’t think this is his best work, he probably will still be considered heavily for another Oscar nomination this time in the Best Supporting Actor category. Some of the best and more emotional moving scenes in the film were when Hanks and Rhys are paired exclusively on the screen; sharing the same space.

The supporting cast lead by Oscar winner Chris Cooper (aka Seabiscuit trainer) as “Lloyd’s” father, Enrico Colantoni as Mr. Rogers’s handler, Susan Kelechi Watson as the wife and Christine Lahti as Esquire Magazine Editor were collectively good enough to balance out the story, but none of them actually seem to add anything meaningful to the film more than always being marginally and always appropriately dramatic when called for. Just human pivot points for ‘Lloyds” to continue to delve and dig more deeply into his personal struggles and inner demons.

In the end the film has real entertainment value, but I just kept hoping given it’s strong promotional glitz and Director Marielle Heller amazing previous work “Can You Ever Forgive Me” to have seen something with a little more of a crescendo more cinematically delectably delicious. In the same anticipatory way of sitting down to enjoy a table of White Star champagne, Foie gras and Beluga caviar. Instead, “A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood” is a lovely, soft-hearted and full of perfect sweetness film,,……. in fact, almost too perfect and too sweet. More like Pepperidge Farm Whole wheat bread, toasted and buttered with orange marmalade…………….not there is anything wrong with buttered toast and orange marmalade………….l mean I like it and so will you.

3.25 Stars

The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Review

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Filmmaker Joe Talbot makes his debut feature film in “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” which he co-wrote and directed and won the Best Director prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

The essential plot of this small myopic slice of life film takes place in contemporary San Francisco (obviously) where the principle characters are  “Jimmie Falls” (played by Jimmie Falls) and his best friend  “Montgomery Allen” aka “Mont” (played by Jonathan Majors) and Jimmie’ grandfather “Grandpa Allen” (played by Danny Glover). “Jimmie and Mont” are decent young men, who are not in any trouble and take great pains to avoid it as they are both street smart and very book smart. The two men even share the same appreciations for a lot of things including wanting some measure of the American Dream that they uniquely carve out for themselves, that they can uniquely claim as their own

.

One day while they’re waiting to catch the city bus to work, they began to engage in conversation reflecting on all of the social economic changes that has occurred since they were kids. While on their skateboards passing through the affluent Fillmore District of the city the two men come upon a classic Victorian house that Jimmie grew up in that he says was built by his grandfather in 1946. They discover the home is currently occupied by an older white couple and “Jimmie” begins to and often laments to “Mont” about how the couple seemingly doesn't take good care of the house as he remembered it.

One day “Jimmie” see’s the couple moving out and immediately gets the idea to buy it. But he finds out it’s not up for sale because it is in a major legal dispute between family members about who actually owns it outright. Undaunted “Jimmie” makes seemingly the rash and illogical decision by taking up residence in the home by moving all of his furniture in. His decision launches him and “Mont” on an unusual odyssey that connects them both to their treasured past, that also tests their friendship and overall their sense of actually belonging in this place. A place they believe they have the right to call their home.

REVIEW: Running 2 hours even, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is singular the most gorgeous film I have seen in all of 2019. The lighting and colors are rich and vibrant, with scenes of the SF city scape and vistas, trademark rolling streets – street cars and its morning rolling fog made the entire film something truly captivating to look at. So much so there were several instances while watching the film I became so transfixed and mesmerized by its sheer beauty I had to summarily hit the rewind to hear the dialogue I just missed.

In addition to its physical look the writing was genuinely fresh, new, poetic and picturesque both in its tone and delivery. The wealth of generous exchanges between the principle characters felt less like some recitation of pedestrian dialogue and more like real people taking exceptional great pride in having something meaningful to say when they spoke.

Actually, you can say very smart people, who at every turn seemingly communicated with one another as if it was some type of soulful catharsis to do so. To converse as if every utterance had their lives depending on them saying words in just the right way. Personal thoughts devoid of clichés and yet still filled with those universal themes of emotions of genuine depth, intimacy and sincerity. Artful expressions meant to convey some deeper aspects of a hidden part of their humanity.

But for all of the positive aesthetic virtues this film projects and for all of the interesting and thoughtful interplay between “Jimmie and Mont” who never try to be “in the hood” slick or cool, and for all of the well intentions by the Director and actors to only ask you to just listen to them, to observe them and to keep an open mind about them, “TLBMINSF” while solid comes off from my perspective as a flat gourmet cup of cinematic tea.

It’s far from being unwatchable, but it will never excite or thrill you and it will certainly not give you any redeeming greater meaning of life message for you to hold onto. And while its pace is methodically easy to follow its never an over revelatory story about who any of these principle characters ever were nor inside the present storyline itself. For me the two friends seemed too vacuous and empty with way too many unexplainable moments of deflation and rejoicing and rising and sighing that seemly never connected to anything of than a depressing story about two good men.

Ultimately, I found the film a bit too pretentious, too manipulative, and way too self-important to really take seriously or ever care about “Jimmie and Mont” in the end. Their initial decision to take a home that was not theirs was clearly meant to invoke some admiration in that Don Quixote-esque way………..meaning “someone who is determined to change what was a great wrong, but who does it in a way that seems not practical”. But their naïve actions were way too much of an intellectual hurdle for this viewer to ever overcome that decision in any empathetic way no matter how convincing their arguments were as modern-day squatters rights to a $4M home in SF. It was just never convincing enough for me really believe.

Still with several scenes that were impressive and interesting, I found “TLBMISF” not so much as a compelling standalone film, but more of an new imaginative amalgamation piece of art in the same way if someone took Jacob Lawrence paintings and presented them in a slideshow, bringing them to life with the words of Maya Angelou.

2.75 Stars

Jojo Rabbit - Review

Jojo Rabbit

Director Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian, who directed the highly successful 2017 “Thor: Ragnarok” with a box office total of $854 million, takes on a much smaller, more intimate project for his encore effort. A combination of drama and comedy woven into a very satirical examination with humor, seriousness and sensitivity about Germany’s Adolph Hitler’s influences on the impressionable minds of the Hitler youth toward the end of World War 2 in the film “Jojo Rabbit”.

Based on the book by Christine Leunens called “Caging Skies”, “Jojo Rabbit” tells the story of a 10 year old German boy (Roman Griffin Davis) nicked named “Jojo”. He was given the name because he was afraid to kill a rabbit in a Nazi Youth training camp resulting in him being ostracized by his youthful peers. But young Jojo is determined to preserver, he is unwavering, he idolizes Hitler to the point he has several large photos and posters of him on his bedroom wall. And it is because of his blind loyalty he also begins to believe he can actually speak to an affable kind hearted Hitler in his private imaginative moments of introspective thought.

So we see throughout the film “Jojo” seeking out advice from his “friend Adolph” in the hopes he can be a better, more loyal German. Meanwhile his mother (Scarlett Johansson) who pledges loyalty to all things Germany is in actuality part of the secret underground resistance, going as far to even hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their home attic.

As the events of history of the war are seen to be coming to an end, young “Jojo” is feeling more conflicted from embracing his mother’s saintly beliefs verses the guidance from his imaginary Hitler more dismissive “it’s no big deal to hate” buffoonish beliefs. But over time and slowly, we watch Jojo” beginning to question his many hateful infused indoctrinated beliefs. And with a supporting cast of Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen, and Sam Rockwell “Jojo” begins to confront his initial blind nationalism as nothing more than a bankrupt ideology and methodology.

REVIEW: With some of the funniest, smart and witty dialogue I have heard in a long time ”Jojo Rabbit” is almost certain to garner some serious Oscar consideration for a Best Adapted Screenplay  nomination next January 2020. And with a running at 1:48 minutes the subject matter of Hitler and Jews under any normal circumstance is a not something to trifle with in the slightest – even in the art form. But Director Taika Waititi manages to adroitly navigate this delicate subject area with aplomb, sophistications, composure and self-assurance to ultimately making the case for people everywhere to wake up, as the same level of bigoted discourse that was present in humanity’s recent dark history is making the same clarion calls for nativist hatred toward the “others” all over again.

Just as actor and director Roberto Benigni did with his 1997 double Oscar winning film “Life is Beautiful” we again get to look closely at ourselves under a cinematic microscope through a child’s innocence. We get to examine our young “Jojo” through a kind of reflectively analysis as his character here is perfectly developed in human flesh and blood form as well as a symbolic metaphoric vessel of just how children at key stages are confronted with having making powerful decisions. A monumental life altering decision about people either being fellow humans or only someone to be impulsively and instinctly despise because of the perpetual sinister encroachment of outside negative influences driven only with the desire of selfishly capturing as many unsophicated minds designed to demonizing and vilifying all people not just like you.

“Jojo Rabbit is brilliantly and satirically smart, but ultimately focuses on “hate” and its ruinous effectiveness. The film makes the case that hate attacks not the human heart but more often the far more spongeable human mind. Slowly and brazenly permeating the minds of the most naïve into embracing early on many shallow, dangerous and idiotic notions such as you “can smell certain ethic groups by what they eat”, “they have huge horns”, “they eat their young children at birth” and “at night they hang from ceiling like bats. 

I found this surprisingly sleeper film to be very well-cast including Sam Rockwell, who has seemly cornered the Hollywood acting market of always playing some kind of redneck bigoted curmudgeon who slyly rises to a moment of human decency and kindness in the end (i.e, The Green Mile, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Way, Way Back). He, Rebel Wilson and others have some of the most memorable funny lines you will hear all year.

With a bit of Quentin Tarantino "Inglorious Basterds" flair and Wes Anderson "Moonrise Kingdom" honesty, “Jojo Rabbit” is a sincere story rooted in an abundance of sweetness and innocence from its beginning to its surprising heartwarming end. And even while this fictional story is flushed with much humor, the real horrors and atrocities of what actually happened in World War 2; those real life and death struggles and sacrifices are never made to ever feel either obscured or diminished. Rather, in the end “Jojo Rabbit” offers a profound message in the most salient and audacious way. An often quoted profound message from noted philosopher George Santayana which states……….. “those who don't remember their history are condemned to repeat it”.

“Jojo Rabbit”, see it, remember it and never forget it.

“Heil, Jojo Rabbit”.

3.75 Stars

Ford vs Ferrari - Review

Ford vs Ferrari

Academy Award-winners Matt Damon and Christian Bale star in “FORD v FERRARI”, based on the remarkable true story of the visionary American car designer Carroll Shelby (Damon) and the fearless British-born driver Ken Miles (Bale), who together battled corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company and take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.

REVIEW:  I love this movie and for so many reasons. First besides having a first rate screenplay, it is singularly the best movie I have seen about racing as well as the best at giving you the audience that raw naked experience and sense of cars moving at unfathomable speeds.

Secondly, the casting is an example of pitch perfect acting across the board. Every single character, whether their roles were big or small, felt like they had something important and essentially relevant to portray to the overall story.

Third, without being overly obvious as a specific moment in the film itself the impact of designer Richard Shelby and mechanic - driver Ken Miles coming together in the 1960’s to race in the prestigious 24 hour Le Mans Race was also a key historical moment when American consumers stop looking and buying cars simply as some utility like a toaster or waffle iron, but rather began to seeing cars and themselves in those cars as a social symbol of achievement, status and sex appeal.

Director James Mangold who also brought us other excellent films as “Walk the Line”, “The Last King of Scotland” and “3:10 to Yuma” keeps this latest work moving flawlessly at an even speed for all of its 2:30 minutes running time. His direction kind of reminded of the way they use to make movies where the story is front and center and the ensemble of actors give the story its lift as being something memorable while exhilarating and entertaining to watch.

In 2013 Director Ron Howard made a true story film about Grand Prix racing called “Rush”. While I found it an above average decent effort I always felt I was watching parts of it through some CGI special effects filter. That is not the case with “Ford vs Ferrari”. There is not one moment when Ken Miles or Carroll Shelby are behind the wheel that you don’t feel the vitality, the rush and the perilous dangers always around the next curve when man and machines come together to push the boundaries and limits of speed.

However two of the most important things about this film was just how tender and genuinely sincere the relationship that is nurtured on the screen between Ken Miles and his son Peter Miles played wonderfully by Peter Jupe. Their father and sons moments will make you smile and tug in your heart as their bond seemed as natural as anyone could imagine. The other memorable aspect to this film was the casting of Matt Damon and Christian Bale as best friends; together they are superb with loads of natural chemistry together. But in the end it was Christian Bale’s performance (again), that stands out and should garner him another Oscar nomination.

I have seen a lot of Bales work and in my life time I have not seen an actor who could have been literally nominated for almost every film he has released over the past 10 plus years starting in 2007 with both of his “Rescue Dawn” and “3:10 to Yuma”. His 2008 “The Dark Knight”. His 2009 “Public Enemies”. His 2010 “The Fighter” (he won Best Supporting Oscar)/  Both of his 2013 “Out of the Furnace” and “American Hustle” (nominated). His 2015 “The Big Short” (nominated) and finally both his 2018 “Hostiles” and “Vice”(nominated). He has transcended for me as a film fan as one of the top five actors I have ever seen all time as his recent work here (as in the past) delivers stellar believability and authenticity as well as humor and warmth like no one else working today on the big screen.

So trust me when I say, pleas don’t wait to rent this, speed out today to see “Ford vs Ferrari”…………..it is a 7000 RPM rush of a film, with lots of entertaining gas and tons of checkered flag acting perfection to get you to the finish line.

4.00 Stars