Those Who Wish Me Dead - Review

 Those Who Wish Me Dead

Oscar Winner Angelina Jolie along with writer and Director Taylor Sheridan of “Sicario, Hell or High Water, Wind River and Paramount Network’s Yellowstone” fame, combined their talents to lead a tight ensemble cast in Sheridan’s latest action thriller set in the beautiful wild wooded vista high country of Montana titled “Those Who Wish Me Dead”.

PLOT: Early we see the lead character “Hannah” (Jolie). She is a solitary emotionally withdrawn smoke jumper who is apparently still reeling from the loss of three lives in a flash fire in her not too distant past. And while she is personable, warm and feminine on a gaunt  frame she has no problem hanging tough through the many typical male flirtations and jocular banter from the men in her jumper unit. It is also very clear that even when she is smiling there is desperate pain and a fracture in her smile. It’s not too certainly clear early on what has put such a deep hole in her, you just accept it. She is genuinely tormented by something devastating, which explains why she does not sleep – why she does not eat – why she does not say much.

Quickly the story transports from the upper north west to all the way across country to the southern warm tropical climate of Florida where we find a middle age forensic accountant going about his morning routine. He is a loving widowed father raising his mop haired precocious preteen son. There is nothing out of the ordinary about their day as we see both father and son enjoying their breakfast together before the father drops his son off to school. But somewhere between their conversational bites there is a sudden breaking news story developing on the father’s lap top PC. changing the previous mild demeanor in the room  dramatically in an instant. Literally dropping everything the father and son frantically flee in their car, but not to the son’s school, bur rather to a destination much further north in Montana  There is a personal connection there and there is an urgency to get his son there to be safe before its too late. The father knows and we the views can see and know; there are killers coming after them and if they don't leave now they will die along with the father's secret..

REVIEW: “Those Who Wish Me Dead” is not Sheridan’s’ best work, but it has a confident muscularity to its tale that made the film’s basic plot overall work very efficient for me. It stays its entire 1:40 running time in a very testosterone laden lane with tight compact directorial precision, all the while immersed in smartly executed high octane action, some punctuated appropriate violence, crisp snappy dialog and a verbal and visual leanness that makes the film very easy to follow, devoid of any intricate or confusing twists and turns. Its  premise is clear up front .……….”Keep moving, keep the big secret hidden or you die”.

There is not much of a typical emotional rhythmic subplot in this film either to play clever tricks on our minds or be absorbed by. At its core this effort is a stripped down bare bones executed story not leaving much time for viewer’s to assess the plausibility of any of its sometime disjointed scenes to making total perfect connected sense. While most of characters in the film do elicit and and emotes some decent measure of empathy and sympathy to their plights there is not much of it to really make you really viscerally care about their wellbeing or be intrigued by with the one exception of a pregnant wife who definitely holds her own as an interesting twist in the film.

The father and son assassins played very effectively by Nicholas Hoult ( Mad Max Fury Road) as “Patrick Blackwell” and  Aidan Gillen (Peaky Binders) as “Jack Blackwell”, come across less as some run of the mill killers we have seen many times before in other films. Instead they come across more like two Harvard graduates driven by a calculated focused ruthlessness similar to two Arnold Schwarzenegger like Cyborg Terminators only with real flesh and blood running through their veins. They move and talk with great clarity but with a minimum use of words. Their physical striding movements also seem to always have some specific purpose.in mind. Nothing they do is a wasteful. Their focus and body language lets you know up front this is their chose professional line of work and they are not part of any one’s F-ing around crew. When they point their guns at something……………something is going to die.

You can see pretty much early on how this story will end. The only question is just how much realistic forest fires and human violence hell we have to endure just to get us there. So when the finale does arrive there is no wow moment as was in the fabulous Sicario. Rather it just gets us there with our cinematic bellies pretty much filled but not quite fully satisfied. Entertained but not enthralled. Plausible but not totally captivated by it, even after all of the energetic dramatic effort that was put into making this movie meal.

Finally, Jolie besides wearing an atrocious wig was just adequate as “Hannah” and that’s about it. She seemed out of place for the entire film from the beginning as I kept thinking Charlize Theron would have been more suited here. But it’s not so much her fault as Sheridan appears to not put much substantive dialogue meat on her character bones – figurately and literally. She projects less as a credible convincing fire fighter and more like a woman who was assigned to work by a temp agency at a fire watch tower in the wilderness just for one day to so some emails and answer the phones. Throughout her "Hannah" came across as someone who was just trying to make the best out of a really bad day that involved her fighting for her life with two machine minded aggressive assassins and a monstrous fire rapidly rampaging on her ass. She definitely should have called in sick that day.

Overall “Those Who Wish Me Dead looks great, has great pace and a solid evenness in its execution. What was missing was a grounded subplot and more story development to tie all of its loose ends that Taylor Sheridan either accidently or deliberately left out of his story. Or maybe he just got a little lazy and felt his bare lean approach with some appropriated scene stealing from his more successful efforts (and there were many)  like Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River would all collectively be enough to bring this colorful film effort to a dramatic memorable conclusion.

It does work, just not memorably.

3.25 Stars

20th Anniversary of 2001 Films

 

20^th Anniversary of 2001 Films

 *WINNER FOR BEST PICTURE

*NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE

LESTER'S FAVORITES 

==========================================

3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

A Knight's Tale (2001)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Along Came a Spider (2001)

Amélie (2001)

American Pie 2 (2001)

Baby Boy (2001)

Bandits (2001)

Behind Enemy Lines (2001)

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Black Knight (2001)

Blow (2001)

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Bubble Boy (2001)

Cats & Dogs (2001)

Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Don't Say a Word (2001)

Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Formula 51 (2001)

Frailty (2001)

Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

From Hell (2001)

Glitter (2001)

Gosford Park (2001)

Hannibal (2001)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Heist (2001)

I Am Sam (2001)

In the Bedroom (2001)

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

Jurassic Park III (2001)

Kate & Leopold (2001)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2001)

Kiss of the Dragon (2001)

K-PAX (2001)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Legally Blonde (2001)

Life as a House (2001)

Made (2001)

Monster's Ball (2001)

Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Original Sin (2001)

Pearl Harbor (2001)

Planet of the Apes (2001)

Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)

Rush Hour 2 (2001)

Save the Last Dance (2001)

Scary Movie 2 (2001)

Serendipity (2001)

Shallow Hal (2001)

Shrek (2001)

Spirited Away (2001)

Spy Game (2001)

Spy Kids (2001)

Sweet November (2001)

Swordfish (2001)

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

The Glass House (2001)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) 

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

The Mexican (2001)

The Mummy Returns (2001)

The Others (2001)

The Pledge (I) (2001)

The Princess Diaries (2001)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

The Score (2001)

The Shipping News (2001)

The Tailor of Panama (2001)

The Wedding Planner (2001)

Training Day (2001)

Vanilla Sky (2001)

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

Zoolander (2001)

 

ANTICIPATED MOVIES FOR 2021 Part 1 – Mainstream

 

ANTICIPATED MOVIES FOR 2021 

 Part 1 – Mainstream

 

JANUARY

The Last Duel

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer

Opening on: January 8, 2021

PLOT: Drama Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will reunite, with Killing Eve‘s breakout star Jodie Comer filling out the cast about a woman claims she's been raped by her husband's best friend, Jean de Carrouges. But when no one believes her accusation, her husband challenges his friend to a duel, the last legally sanctioned duel in the country's history.

 

THE 355

Directed by: Simon Kinberg

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Fan Bingbing, Penélope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, Edgar Ramirez, Sebastian Stan, Diane Kruger, Emilio Insolera

Opening on: January 15, 2021

PLOT: Mystery thriller where five women band together to stop a global organization from acquiring a weapon that could thrust the teetering world into total chaos.

 

FEBRUARY

Nomadland

Directed by: Chloé Zhao

Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn

Opening on: February 19, 2021 (following one-week virtual release on December 4, 2020)

PLOT: Drama based on the nonfiction book by Jessica Bruder. The film stars Frances McDormand as a woman who loses everything in the Great Recession and decides to see if the van life is all it’s cracked up to be.

 

The Father

Directed by: Florian Zeller

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman

Opening on: February 26, 2021

PLOT: Drama starring two Oscar winners based on a 2012 French play Le Père by the film’s director and co-writer, Florian Zeller. The story focuses on an aging man (Anthony Hopkins) struggling with memory loss whose daughter (Olivia Colman) moves into his flat to help care for him.

 

MARCH

Coming 2 America

Directed by: Craig Brewer

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, John Amos, James Earl Jones, Garcelle Beauvais, Wesley Snipes

Opening on: March 5, 2021 on Amazon Prime.

PLOT: Comedy - After over three decades, it looks like Prince Akeem — ahem, King Akeem and Semmi are returning Stateside from their homeland of Zamunda. Much of the original cast are returning, including James Earl Jones as King Jaffe Joffer and John Amos as Cleo McDowell, as Akeem learns that he has a long-lost son he never knew about who might be the heir to the throne.

 

The Many Saints of Newark

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Starring: Michael Gandolfini, Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Billy Magnussen, Ray Liotta, Corey  Stoll, Alessandro Nivola - Opening on: March 12, 2021, with simultaneous release on HBO Max

PLOT: Prequel to HBO The Sopranos. Alan Taylor directs this look back at the early years of the iconic TV mobster, with Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, and Ray Liotta in supporting roles.

 

APRIL

No Time To Die

Directed by: Cary Fukunaga

Starring: Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Naomie Harris, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch

Opening on: April 2, 2021

PLOT: True Detective director Cary Fukunaga takes the reins for the 25th James Bond film, with Daniel Craig returning for his fifth and (presumably) final turn as 007.

 

BIOS

Directed by: Miguel Sapochnik

Starring: Tom Hanks

Opening on: April 16, 2021

PLOT: Tom Hanks is back, breaking our hearts again. Here he plays a sickly inventor — and the last human left on a post-apocalyptic earth — who creates a robot to protect the life of his dog when he dies and keep them both company while he’s alive.

 

A Quiet Place Part II

Directed by: John Krasinski

Starring: Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds, Cillian Murphy, Djimon Hounsou

Opening on: April 23, 2021

PLOT: Director John Krasinski returns to helm this sequel, which he also wrote, starring his real-life wife Emily Blunt, as it follows up with the Abbott family after the events of the first film.

 

MAY

Black Widow

Directed by: Cate Shortland

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz

Opening on: May 7, 2021

PLOT: The first Marvel property to kick off its Phase 4 will be this prequel focusing on Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff teaming up with her Russian sister.

 

Spiral

Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman

Starring: Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols

Opening on: May 21, 2021

PLOT: The Saw franchise officially gets revived in this new thriller, with Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III, and IV) back behind the camera. This time, two cops played by Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson investigate a series of gruesome murders and find themselves at the mercy of a killer reminiscent of the past (Jigsaw copycat, anyone?).

 

Cruella

Directed by: Alex Timbers and Craig Gillespie

Starring: Emma Stone, Joel Fry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Paul Walter Hauser, Emma Thompson

Opening on: May 28, 2021

PLOT: Emma Stone will star in Disney’s latest live-action remake of an old classic. In the vein of Maleficient, Cruella will focus on the enigmatic villain of 101 Dalmatians in her youth and show how she became obsessed with Dalmatian fur. With Emma Thompson and Mark Strong rounding out the cast.

 

JUNE

In the Heights

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Starring: Anthony Ramos, Leslie Grace, Corey Hawkins, Jimmy Smits, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco

Opening on: June 18, 2021, with simultaneous release on HBO Max,

PLOT: Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu adapts Lin-Manuel Miranda’s breakout musical, In the Heights. The show, which kicked off the Hamilton creator’s career, won four Tony Awards in 2008, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Chu demonstrated real skill with spectacle in Crazy Rich Asians, and the new movie shares similar themes of reclaiming one’s heritage – it follows the stories of several characters in New York’s heavily Latino neighborhood, Washington Heights, over three days.

 

JULY

Top Gun: Maverick

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Jay Ellis, Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro

Opening on: July 2, 2021

PLOT: Top Gun sequel after 31 years! Not a whole lot is known about the movie, except that the filmmakers have recruited a cast of some of the most in-demand young actors in Hollywood – including Miles Teller, who will play Goose’s son – and that Val Kilmer is officially back as Iceman.

Space Jam 2

Directed by: Malcolm D. Lee

Starring: LeBron James, Don Cheadle

Opening on: July 16, 2021, with simultaneous release on HBO Max

PLOT: Speaking of old stories for new audiences, LeBron James‘long-awaited Space Jam sequel will finally arrive in 2021. With Don Cheadle starring alongside the basketball legend and Ryan Coogler producing.

 

AUGUST

The Suicide Squad

Directed by: James Gunn

Starring: Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney

Opening on: August 6, 2021, with simultaneous release on HBO Max

PLOT: 2016’s Suicide Squad may be rotten, but the 2021 follow-up might just redeem the series. Most of the primary cast is returning, with Idris Elba joining in a new role. The star-studded cast is also adding Storm Reid, Flula Borg, Nathan Fillion and Pete Davidson

 

Deep Water

Directed by: Adrian Lyne

Starring: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts

Opening on: August 13, 2021

PLOT: Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas star in director Adrian Lyne’s thriller based on the eponymous novel by Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Carol), about a married couple at odds with each other who begin to play dangerous mind games with each other, eventually leading to murder.

 

Candyman

Directed by: Nia DaCosta

Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Tony Todd, Teyonah Parris

Opening on: August 27, 2021

PLOT: Longtime fan and contemporary horror maestro Jordan Peele is producing this sequel to — not a remake of — the classic 1992 horror film about the murdered son of a slave whose ghost haunts the Chicago neighborhood where the Cabrini Green housing projects once stood.

 

The Beatles: Get Back

Directed by: Peter Jackson

Starring: The Beatles

Opening on: August 27, 2021

On the heels of his universally acclaimed World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson turns his eye towards the Fab Four. Utilizing never-before-seen footage behind the scenes, the new documentary chronicles the Beatles as they record their 1970 album Let It Be, as well as their legendary performance on the rooftop of Apple Records in London.

 

SEPTEMBER

Death on the Nile

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie, Letitia Wright

Opening on: September 17, 2021

PLOT: Kenneth Branagh will return as detective Hercule Poirot following the surprise success of 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, which Branagh also directed. So far, big names like Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Letitia Wright, and Rose Leslie have joined the whodunit.

 

OCTOBER

Dune

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Zendaya

Opening on: October 1, 2021

PLOT: Acclaimed director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario – Arrival – Blade Runner Sequel) takes on the massive challenge of re-adapting Frank Herbert’s sprawling sci-fi epic more than 30 years after David Lynch attempted the same.

 

Uncharted

Directed by: TBD (Ruben Flesicher wanted by Sony)

Starring: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg

Opening on: October 8, 2021

PLOT:  This Indiana Jones-styled action-adventure film, based on the popular video game series of the same name. Mark Wahlberg also signed on to co-star, and the latest report is that Sony is eyeing Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer to replace Knight as director.

 

NOVEMBER

Untitled Elvis Film

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann

Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks

Opening on: November 5, 2021

PLOT: Austin Butler beat out tons of hopefuls to win the role of the famed King of Rock and Roll for this biopic from Warner Brothers. With Baz Lurhmann on board to write and direct, it’s bound to be a lush cinematic experience. Tom Hanks is also attached in a supporting role.

 

Eternals

Directed by: Chloé Zhao

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kit Harington, Brian Tyree Henry

Opening on: November 5, 2021 (formerly February 12, 2021)

PLOT:  The second film of Marvel’s Phase 4 goes cosmic again with the Eternals. Much of the cast was announced in bits and pieces, with a big reveal at Comic-Con 2019 and a key addition made in August. In brief, the Eternals are powerful immortals who helped shape humanity and history on Earth.

 

Mission: Impossible 7

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise

Opening on: November 19, 2021

PLOT: Tom Cruise will be back in action for the seventh installment in the franchise that showcased his willingness to engage in death-defying stunts. Christopher McQuarrie will also be back as writer and director after serving those roles in the last two films.

 

DECEMBER

West Side Story

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Rita Moreno, Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler

Opening on: December 10, 2021 (formerly December 18, 2020)

PLOT: Steven Spielberg’s new adaptation of the famous Broadway musical of the same name, which is itself an alternative take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

 

The Matrix 4

Directed by: Lana Wachowski

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lambert Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nei Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, Jessica Henwick, Priyanka Chopra

Opening on: December 22, 2021 (formerly April 1, 2022), with simultaneous release on HBO Max

PLOT: Somehow, some way, Neo and Trinity are set to return to the world of The Matrix, as Lana Wachowski is set to bring us another sci-fi action-adventure set in the world digital world she helped create way back in 1999. We won’t get Agent Smith or Morpheus this time around, but people like Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, and Priyanka Chopra are joining the cast.

 

The French Dispatch

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Benicio Del Toro, Saoirse Ronan, Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Owen Wilson

PLOT: Initially reported to be a musical, Wes Anderson’s next film will be a drama that brings to life a handful of stories from a magazine created by an American living in a fictional city in France. The film’s press release calls it a “love letter to journalists,” and it brings together several regular collaborators in a massive, star-studded cast.

 

Stillwater

Directed by: Tom McCarthy

Starring: Matt Damon, Abigail Breslin, Camille Cottin

Opening on: TBD (formerly November 6, 2020)

PLOT: Matt Damon stars in this thriller about an Oklahoma oil-rig worker who travels to Marseille, France to unravel a mystery and clear his daughter’s name when she is imprisoned for a crime she says she didn’t commit.

 

Wicked

Directed by: Stephen Daldry

Starring: TBD

Opening on: TBD (formerly December 22, 2021)

PLOT: It feels like fans of the musical have been waiting forever for a screen adaption of Wicked, and in 2021, they’ll finally get their wish. No cast details have been announced yet, but with a legacy like Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth to live up to, the lucky ladies who get the gig will have enormous shoes to fill.

 

Blazing Samurai

Directed by: Chris Bailey, Mark Koetsier

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Cera, Michelle Yeoh, George Takei, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon Honsou

Opening on: 2021

PLOT: Originally slated for release in 2017, the star-studded animated feature will finally see the light of day in 2021. Inspired by Mel Brooks‘classic western Blazing Saddles, the cast includes Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson and Ricky Gervais.

 

The Power of the Dog

Directed by: Jane Campion

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Paul Dano

Opening on: 2021

PLOT: In her follow up to Top of the Lake: China Girl, Jane Campion will reunite with Elisabeth Moss for Netflix’s The Power of The Dog, based on the 1967 novel of the same name. Also starring Benedict Cumberbatch, the film centers on two brothers on a ranch whose relationship shifts when one falls in love with a local widow.

 

Pinocchio

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson

PLOT: This has been one of Guillermo del Toro’s long-in-development passion projects, and it will also be his first foray into animation. The stop motion-animated adaptation of the classic tale will reportedly be a tad darker than we may be accustomed to, with del Toro calling it a “brutalist fable.”

Lester’s Eight Independent Movie Recommendations I Know You Did Not See That Are Really Good

Lester’s Eight Independent Movie Recommendations I Know You Did Not See That Are Really Good

“KILLING THEM SOFTLY” - R 2012 ‧ Crime/Drama ‧ 1h 37m - When rival crook Johnny Amato (Vincent Curatola) hatches a plan to rob a card game run by mob lackey Markie (Ray Liotta), he picks a low-rent thug named Frankie (Scoot McNairy) to do the job. Frankie picks a less-than-ideal partner (Ben Mendelsohn) to help him, but despite their combined incompetence, they manage to make off with the mob's money. In retaliation, Markie's bosses hire Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), a mob enforcer, to eradicate those responsible. NETFLIX

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDyaNnrgdp4

“WINTER’S BONE” -  R 2010 ‧ Drama/Drama ‧ 1h 40m - Faced with an unresponsive mother and a criminal father, Ozark teenager Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) does what she can to manage the household and take care of her two younger siblings. Informed by the sheriff (Garret Dillahunt) that their father put their home up for bond and then disappeared, Ree sets out on a dangerous quest to find him. Her entire family's fate now in her hands, Ree challenges her outlaw kin's code of silence and risks her life to learn her father's fate. HULU

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE_X2pDRXyY

“FROZEN RIVER” – R 2008 ‧ Drama/Crime ‧ 1h 37m - After her husband deserts her, working-class mother Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is in great need of money to find a home. Lured by the possibility of easy cash, Ray joins Lila (Misty Upham) a widowed Mohawk who earns a living by smuggling immigrants from Canada to the U.S. across the St. Lawrence. NETFLIX

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5pPQdLN4mg

“JUNEBUG” - 2005 ‧ Drama/Comedy-drama ‧ 1h 47m - On the way to meet with an independent artist in the South, newlywed art dealer Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) is convinced by her husband, George (Alessandro Nivola), that they should stop to meet his family in North Carolina. Madeleine's affluent lifestyle clashes with the family, but she befriends George's wide-eyed and pregnant sister-in-law, Ashley (Amy Adams), who is nearing her due date. Through the family, Madeleine gains greater insight into George's character. NETFLIX

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUj7k7Ypb60

“EVERYTHING MUST GO” - R 2010 ‧ Drama/Comedy-drama ‧ 1h 37m - Long time salesman Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell) has seen better days. No longer at the top of his game, Nick, an alcoholic, loses his job for showing up drunk one too many times. On the same day, he finds that his wife has dumped him -- and his possessions -- on the front lawn of their home. Facing the fact that his life is collapsing around him, Nick holds a giant yard sale that turns into a unique survival strategy. Based on a short story by Raymond Carver. NETFLIX

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZC-s2oNLT0

“THE RED VOILIN” -  R 1998 ‧ Drama/Music ‧ 2h 20m – Mostly English – Some Subtitles – MY PERSONAL TOP 10 OF ALL TIME - The intricate history of a beautiful antique violin is traced from its creation in Cremona, Italy, in 1681, where a legendary violin maker (Carlo Cecchi) paints it with his dead wife's blood to keep her memory alive, to an auction house in modern-day Montreal, where it draws the eye of an expert appraiser (Samuel L. Jackson). Over the years between, the violin travels through four different countries, where it has a profound impact on all those who own it. NETFLIX

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3feDUcDRNAg

“LOCKE” - 2013 ‧ Drama/Road ‧ 1h 25m - A man's (Tom Hardy) life unravels after he leaves a construction site at a critical time and drives to London to be present for the birth of a child conceived during a one-night stand. NETFLIX

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_METW96TAFw

“SHORT TERM 12” - R 2013 ‧ Drama/Indie film ‧ 1h 37m - Calm and competent, Grace (Brie Larson) is a young counsellor at a California care unit for at-risk teens. However, her cool facade begins to crack in the pressure cooker atmosphere as she and some of the unruly residents are reminded of past and present abuses. NETFLIX

Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhS6tvSb0UQ