Ready or Not - Review

Ready or Not

“Ready Or Not” follows a young bride named Grace (Samara Weaving) as she about to join her new husband in eternal bliss (Mark O'Brien). Yes, Grace couldn't be any happier for today is her special day marrying the man of her dreams at his family's luxurious estate. And as any fairy tale wedding could be the entire evening affair goes off without a hitch. Well, that is until after all the guest have gone home. Seems there is a long-standing tradition as to when anyone marries into the family, they must play a game. And what is the game you ask.

Grace must now “hide” from midnight until dawn while her new in-laws (supposedly) playfully “seek” her with guns, crossbows and other weapons to suggestively kill her for a necessary ritual in their concocted warped elitist self-indulgent eccentric minds to continue living their opulent and wealthy lives (so to speak).  

So, Grace goes along with the game. After all when you marry into families you must respect time-honored traditions…………..and as she said “The rich have always been different”. Problem is Grace soon learns the initially friendly game is not just a playful ritual but in fact a real life and death struggle with her fighting for her survival.

REVIEW: At times filled with robust fun, humor and action and others with eye rolling disbelief, “Ready or Not” ultimately is a commentary on the upper 1% idle minds, idle time and insatiable need to be entertained in exotic ways by lower class people. And in the first 35 minutes of the 1:35 minute running time I thought the directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett had an innovative concept and cinematic canvas to do something different – special here.

But shortly after the moment Grace realizes her in laws are trying to kill her the film slowly starts to fill less exciting and “horrific” into something spiraling downward into underwhelming by making me wonder just what kind of movie the directors wanted to make.

Specifically, ranging from scenes that were witty (making a call on “On Star” for help) and scary (a scene with the kitchen help – butler) to others making no sense where the characters actions seemed on the surface just plain stupid. I mean (for example) if you are running around in the dark with people chasing you trying to kill you with guns, knives and other weapons, …..does it make a lot of sense to keep screaming letting them know where you are?

Now, there were a few very funny moments delivered by actress Nicky Guadagni  who played “Aunt Helene”; a vicious, angry and 100% all the time mean looking “Cruella de Vil” guillotine chasing homicidal maniac and actress Melanie Scrofano who played “Emille” a  cocaine brain fried house wife who dare I say was not the most reliable markswoman with a gun. I also find it coincidental or intentional they made her to look and sound a lot like Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex.

“Ready or Not” is not a bad film, just at times meandering silly. So, no need to rush out to see this. But if in a few months you are home working on your fifth vodka tonic definitely rent it for sure. You will think this is the funniest, madly hilarious and scariest movie of all time. Without the vodka………………Eeeeh, very amusing.

3.00 Stars

Luce - Review

Luce

Oscar winner Octavia Spencer along with Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Kelvin Harrison Jr. star in the provocative and mind twisting film “Luce”.  

A contemporary piece we find early a loving couple named Amy (Watts) and Peter Edgar (Roth). It's been ten years since Amy and Peter adopted their African son from “Eritrea”. The transition to being American – American culture for their son was difficult largely due to his adolescent emotional trauma of seeing his war torn country. But after much effort their son now with a new name “Luce” meaning ‘”light” Amy and Edgar have thought the worst was behind them. 

Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) has evolved into a stellar all-star student beloved by his community in Arlington, Virginia. His African American teacher, Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer), believes he is a symbol of black excellence that sets a positive example for his peers. But when he is assigned to write an essay in the voice of a historical twentieth-century figure, Luce turns in a paper that makes an alarming statement about political violence. Worried about how this assignment reflects upon her star pupil, Harriet searches his locker and finds something that confirms her worst fears.

REVIEW:  Feeling more like a theatrical screenplay the film “Luce” exudes a lot of raw, nuanced, extremely well-acted emotional power and effort from its beginning to its 1:57 minute running time end. A complicated but highly entertaining story that essentially is a psychological mystery operating in a moving back and forth “who done it” and “why they did it” precisely constructed human puzzle and emotionally political plot.

In what felt like me viewing acting subjects under a microscope that were also living inside a small box under that same microscope the film compels you to examine universal dynamics. Such as a nuclear family’s love and loyalty for their child at all costs. The pressures individuals place on themselves as well as society for them to not only achieve success but  be consumed by it to the point of 100% perfection. The well known dynamics of American racial strife both big and small.The issues of having a racially blended home even with the best of everyone's intentions to making it work. Having suspicions about someone rather justified or unfounded. The broad issues of personal constitutional privacy verses simply being an underage student. The complexity of and what constitutes someone telling a lie verses simply being mistaken. And finally the matters of someone being blatantly deceptive verse being simply naive. This is truly a very fascinating story seemingly compacted into a well-timed modern suburban sociopolitical drama.l to enjoy.

But the real reason to see this film is actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. His work here could be a star making turn for him in the same way Denzel Washington was catapulted into national stardom after his time on the 1980’s TV show “Saint Elsewhere”. Harrison delivers a masterful juxtaposition performance that was part charismatic and charming and equally disturbing and creepy. He owns the screen every second like some veteran actor of 20 plus years developing and executing “Luce” adroitly and very calculating as someone in one moment you really want to get to know better and then equally cause you real tension and anxiety in the same second, the very same sentence.

Overall, Nigerian-American director Julius Onah executes his “Luce” squarely focused for the audience to make the final judgement as to who is telling the truth and more importantly why you believe them?. And it is this very aspect of the film mysterious movement I  savored, as I was never really 100% sure who to believe.

“Luce” is a wonderfully uncomfortable and disturbing film to watch and to ponder to its very uncomfortable disturbing end. 

3.75 Stars

Lester's List of Contenders for 2020 Best Picture Nominations

Lester's List of Contenders for 2020

Best Picture Nominations

Blue Strong Contenders

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (Sony – November 22)
Director: Marielle Heller
Writers: Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster
Cast: Tom Hanks, Susan Kelechi Watson, Matthew Rhys
Plot: A jaded magazine writer is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers.

“Cats” (Universal – December 20)

Director: Tom Hooper
Writer: Lee Hall (who adapted  T.S. Eliot’s poetry collection “Old Possum’s Books of Practical Cats”)
Cast: Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, James Corden, Rebel Wilson
Plot: A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.

“Fair and Balanced” (Lionsgate – December 20)
Director: Jay Roach
Writer: Charles Randolph
Cast: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Allison Janney, Connie Britton
Plot: A few women decide to take on Fox News boss Roger Ailes and the toxic male culture he presided over.

“Ford v. Ferrari” (20th Century Fox – November 15)
Director: James Mangold
Writers: James Mangold, Jason Keller, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth
Cast: Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Remo Girone
Plot: The true story of the battle between Ford and Ferrari to win Le Mans in 1966.

“Gemini Man” (Paramount – October 11)
Director: Ang Lee
Writers: Billy Ray, Jonathan Hensleigh
Cast: Will Smith,  Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen
Plot: An over-the-hill hitman faces off against a younger clone of himself.

“The Goldfinch” (Warner Bros. – October 11)
Writer/Director: John Crowley (who adapted Donna Tartt’s novel of the same name)
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright, Sarah Paulson
Plot: A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy Upper East Side family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“Harriet” (Focus – Fall)
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Writers: Kasi Lemmons, Gregory Allen Howard
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monae, Joe Alwyn,  Leslie Odom Jr.
Plot: The story of iconic freedom fighter Harriet Tubman, her escape from slavery and subsequent missions to free dozens of slaves through the Underground Railroad.

“The Irishman” (Netflix – Fall)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Steven Zaillian (who adapted “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt)
Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin.
Plot: A mob hitman recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa.

“Just Mercy” (Warner Bros. – December 25)
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Writers: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham (who adapted Bryan Stevenson’s memoir of the same name)
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Rob Morgan, Rafe Spall, Tim Blake Nelson
Plot: Civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson recounts his experiences and details the case of a condemned death row prisoner whom he fought to free.

“The Last Thing He Wanted” (Netflix – Fall)
Writer/Director: Dee Rees (who adapted Joan Didion’s novel of the same name)
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, Ben Affleck, Toby Jones
Plot: A journalist quits her newspaper job and becomes an arms dealer for a covert government agency. 

“The Laundromat” (Netflix – Fall)

Writer/Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Alex Pettyfer, David Schwimmer, Will Forte, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeffrey Wright

Plot: A group of journalists unearth 11.5 million files, linking the world’s most powerful political figures to secret banking accounts to avoid taxes.

“Little Women” (Sony – December 25)
Writer/Director: Greta Gerwig (who adapted Louisa May Alcott’s novel of the same name‎)

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet, Emily Watson, Meryl Streep
Plot: Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Sony – July 26)
Writer/Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie
Plot: A faded TV actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry in 1969.

“The Report” (Amazon – Fall)
Writer/Director: Scott Z. Burns
Cast: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Morrison
Plot: In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, CIA agents begin using extreme interrogation tactics on those they think were behind it.

 “Ad Astra” (20th Century Fox – Fall)
Director: James Gray
Writers: James Gray, Ethan Gross
Cast: Brad Pitt, Ruth Negga, Tommy Lee Jones
Plot: An astronaut travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his missing father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of the planet.

“Dry Run” (Focus Features – Fall)
Director: Todd Haynes
Writers: Matthew Carnahan, Mario Correra
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Mark Ruffalo, Bill Pullman, William Jackson Harper
Plot: A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.

“Joker” (Warner Bros. – Oct. 4)
Director: Todd Phillips
Writers: Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy
Plot: A failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and becomes a psychopathic murderer.

“Judy” (BBC Films – Fall)
Director: Rupert Goold
Writers: Tom Edge (who adapted Peter Quilter’s stage play “End of the Rainbow”)
Cast: Renée Zellweger, Rufus Sewell, Finn Wittrock
Plot: Judy Garland arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.

“Lucy in the Sky” (Fox Searchlight – Fall)
Director: Noah Hawley
Writers: Brian C. Brown, John-Henry Butterworth
Cast: Natalie Portman, Zazie Beetz, Jon Hamm
Plot: The story of a female astronaut who, upon returning to Earth from a life-changing mission in space, begins to slowly unravel and lose touch with reality.

“Motherless Brooklyn” (Warner Bros. – November 1)
Writer/Director: Edward Norton (who adapted Jonathan Lethem’s novel of the same name)
Cast: Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Leslie Mann, Bobby Cannavale, Alec Baldwin
Plot: A private detective afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome tries to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend in 1950s New York.

“1917” (Universal – December 25)
Writer/Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay
Plot: Set against the backdrop of the last full year of World War I.

“Pain & Glory” (Sony Pictures Classics – Fall)
Writer/Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz, Asier Etxeandia
Plot: A film director reflects on the choices he’s made in life as past and present come crashing down around him.

 “Wendy” (Fox Searchlight – Fall)
Writer/Director: Benh Zeitlin
Cast: Shay Walker, Tommie Milazzo
Plot: Set on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, the tale of two children from different worlds fighting to maintain their grip on freedom and joy.

 “The Farewell” (A24 – July 12)
Writer/Director: Lulu Wang
Cast: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin
Plot: A Chinese family discover their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.

 “The King” (Netflix – Fall)
Writer/Director: David Michod
Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton
Plot: A retelling of Shakespeare’s “Henry V”

“Knives Out” (Lionsgate – November 27)
Writer/Director: Rian Johnson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer.
Plot: A modern murder mystery in a classic whodunit style.

 “Queen & Slim” (Universal – November 27)
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Writers:  James Frey, Lena Waithe
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Bokeem Woodbine, Jodie Turner-Smith
Plot: A couple’s first date takes an unexpected turn when a police officer pulls them over.

 “Tolkien” (Fox Searchlight – May 10)
Director: Dome Karukoski
Writers: David Gleeson, Stephen Beresford
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson
Plot: The formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school.

“Where’d You Go Bernadette” (United Artists – August 16)
Writer/Director: Richard Linklater (who adapted Maria Semple’s novel of the same name)
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig, Laurence Fishburne, Emma Nelson
Plot: After her anxiety-ridden mother disappears, 15-year-old Bee does everything she can to track her down.

“The Light House” (A24 - Release TBD)

Director: Robert Eggers

Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke

Screenplay: Robert Eggers, Max Eggers

Cast: Willem DaFoe and Robert Pattinson  

Plot: The story of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

“Clemency” (December 27, 2019 (USA)

Director: Chinonye Chukwu

Cast: Alfre Woodard – Aldis Hodge

Bernadine is a stoic prison warden, but two back-to-back executions put a strain on her marriage, career and convictions.

Little Woods - Review

Little Woods (On demand)

Little Woods, North Dakota, a fracking boom town well beyond its prime. Ollie (Tessa Thompson) is trying to survive the last few days of her probation after getting caught illegally running prescription pills over the Canadian border. But when her mother dies, she is thrust back into the life of her estranged sister Deb (Lily James), who is facing her own crisis with an unplanned pregnancy and a deadbeat ex. The two find they have one week to settle the mortgage on their mother's house or face foreclosure. As bills and pressure mount, Ollie faces a choice: whether to return to a way of life she thought she'd left behind for just one more score or to leave it all behind.

REVIEW: Lots of the story line of “Little Woods” plays out very similar to the superior 2016 Oscar Nominated film “Hell or High Water. Two siblings confronted with losing their dead parent’s home and land. One sibling is on parole while the other is not the best at parenting. The bank sends a foreclosure notice that will collect their home at the end of the week unless they can come up with $3,000. Pushed to extremes the sisters resorts to crime (selling drugs) to pay the bank loan before the COB Friday deadline. 

Besides having a solid plot the most significant compelling aspect to this film - the reason to see it is just how effective actress Tessa Thompson is in carrying and elevating this film’s material through her words, the anxiety painted on her face and her actions. Especially so  when she is confronted by men who see her as weak because she is a woman. She is no ones' push over, she is strong and she is the "one who get things done". Thompson’s portrayal of “Ollie” is a refreshing look at a woman who is self-reliantly tough and emotionally determined and yet equally fragile and feminine around the edges even when she is pushed to extremes, she always finds a way to persevere. This is Tessa's best work yet.

With the ambiance of a cold, dark, bleak and dank North Dakota, “Little Woods” is a quietly imaginative film operating through an intimate microscopic look at how some working class people get pain pill dependencies, not as addicts, but just as a means to keeping their jobs to pay the bills, to keeping a roof over their heads and to being able to feed their families. And on the flip side it also shows why some other working class people take up the part-time profession of selling drugs only to paying the bills, to keeping a roof over their heads and to being able to feed their families.

"Little Woods" is a slow nuanced film, but one that seems to manage to have from scene to scene a genuinely huge empathetic heart about decent people just wanting to survive.

“Little Woods” is worth a see.

3.25 Stars.

Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood - Review

 Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood” visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age, who while are.

REVIEW: "Once Upon A Time" threads a rather unusual story line needle through the societal and cultural complexity of transcendence of one generation to the next and also the weird oddities of how sometimes the slightest decision can change historical fate.

With transcendence Tarantino looks in the rear view mirror of America to focus his screenwriting talents on the year 1969. He sees it  as one of the most unique moments in America culture, probably far more transcendent for us all than we have ever imagined. And through his lens and words he looks at the year focusing on the celebrity famous and not so famous as well as their fashion, art, politics, power, fame, beauty, entertainment and yes, even death. He brings this convergence of issues through that fabulous alternate universe observant conversational mind of his by focusing the story on two fictional actors whose relationship with one another “more than a brother and less than a wife” as two men who are reluctant – resistant to change. And in the backdrop of these two men lives is a cult family hanging initially very innocently in the shadows as some small harmless counter cult just wanting to live free without rules or having responsibilities.  If the world was torn apart or started to burn one day that would be OK with them.

Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth are the past and they also are the alter egos of one another. One (Rick) is the embodiment of emotional excesses………..always drinking, smoking and worrying  while the other Cliff (Pitt) exudes charm, wit, and confidence;  always cool under pressure and supremely capable in his abilities. Together they are deliciously codependent upon one another as a dying breed of men in Hollywood who are not just ready yet to accept the new counterculture movement who in their minds are always hell bent to being disruptive; not wanting to accept the norms. For these two old timers they see the “Hippie” movement is just something that is not cool and it will never been cool and they want nothing to ever do with it. So, Rick and Cliff are like all other generations; at some point they think their time was the best to doing things but just like most former generations they are always the last to see the change coming and there is nothing they can do about it.

Beneath transcendence QT also delves into how fate can sometimes change events in the universe with just a simple decision or conversation. To that point if you don’t know, in 1969 the real actress Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie), was brutally murdered in her home on Cielo Drive along with four of her friends. The killers (the cult mentioned above) lived not too far away at the Spahn Ranch and occupied by disciples of a then failed musician named Charles Manson. As a backdrop to that murder Tarantino uses the difficulties of Rick and Cliff up and down professional lives in an industry that seemed to be passing them by to offering up a slightly different alternate ending to the Tate’s murder, predicated on a decision Rick and Cliff made months before. And let me say this alternate ending to that tragic night was shocking, very violent, very delirious, very funny and filled with tension.

“Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood” is hard to characterize largely because it’s just not like any of QT previous works. This work is far more pedestrian, far more patient and far more respectful to the people and events his tries to draw upon that were prominent in 1969. And while I think a lot of his fans will come out wondering what they just experienced I felt the whole 2:45 minutes running time down this fictional lane in 1969 was very entertaining.

Through Quentin’s use of layers upon layers acting cameos and subplots including appearances by Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern and Zoe Bell; Al Pacino as a bottom-feeder agent, and Lena Dunham and Dakota Fanning as two of Charles Manson’s dim witted disciples, this film will be studied in films schools for decades as a homage to old movies, especially westerns, counter culture change and oddities of how the simplest of decisions can change historical fate …………….impacting an array of lives while  seemingly while they are just making ordinary plans.

“Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood” is a bit of an intellectual mind twist – a mind challenge, but I wager you can never stop thinking about what you just saw.

3.50 Stars

The Lion King (2019) - Review

The Lion King (2019)

Almost 25 years later to the day Director Jon Favreau has brought back to the audiences of 2019 one of film history’s most celebrated and successful animation films in the Disney story “The Lion King”. Only in his new effort here we don’t have a new story to share but rather a bold and ambitious reimagining of the exact same story in the form of “Live Action” animation.

“Live Action” animation is simply explained as a combined form of cinematography and videography that uses photography instead of pure animation. An while “live action” video simulates the real world better than animation can, animation gives director and cinematographer the power to do far more than is possible in real life, all with the power of simply drawing. Got it?........... So the bottom line is this 2019 version,.......... the “$#it” looked real.

THE FILM’S PLOT (again):  Young Simba (JD McCrary) idolizes his father King Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and takes to heart his own royal destiny on the plains of Africa. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub's arrival. Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Mufasa's brother and former heir to the throne has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is soon ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in young Simba's exile. Now, with help from a curious pair of newfound friends in Pumbaa the Wart Hog (Seth Rogen) Timon the Mir Cat (Billy Eichner) young Simba must figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his.

REVIEW: For a story I knew how it would end, the 2019 version held my attention throughout the 2:00 running time, minus the few minutes the annoying little adolescent  rug rat who kept kicking the back of my chair…………..but I digress. But the mandatory reason to see this story again in the theater is the extraordinary technological advancement of making these animals and the natural environment they reside in look amazingly real. It was simply exquisite and dazingly to look at. To see the detailed faint flicker of hair move from a subtle breeze would have you serious wondering is this fake or an episode of “Animal Planet”. In The Lion King, these details will both enthrall  and captivate you.

Kudos to most of the actors for bringing theses iconic characters back to life, especially Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner as the best buddy tandem of the Wart Hog and Mir Cat. They stole the film exuding a lot rich humor, warmth and acting chemistry.

On the other hand, Beyoncé portrayal as the mature Nala sounded more like someone simply reading lines. She came across flat and devoid of any emotional inflection in her voice which is a major requirement in any animation film -  to be able to project and inject authentic in the moment feelings and emotions.  With her, I didn’t hear it.

Also, I was a bit amused early on to hear the adult animals talking as if they were educated at Cambridge and Oxford Universities and the baby animals sounding as if they attended Geogetown Prep School. Sophistiicated eloquence and erudite cadences were not what I was epecting. But over time I find their banter and exchanges more in line with the overall story than anything particularly distracting.  

Rotten Tomato score has this film under water. But for me this 2019 “The Lion King” rises to the full challenge of retelling something old into something effectively new by way of a full throated fantastic and majestic piece of family viewing entertainment. It's absolutely gorgeous. It's absolutely colorful. It's absolutely lush. Its absolutely fun.  Jon Favreau's should take a bow for his visually stunning effort here.

So, “Hakuna Matata”……………aka “no worries” as this Lion King is well worth the cinematic safari trip to see again. 

3.50 Stars

Maiden - Review

Maiden

In the documentary “Maiden” we are quickly introduced to Tracy Edwards as a young girl. Even then she obviously a highly intelligent British girl who was a restless vagabond malcontent who had a history by her loving mother of “being unable to finish anything”. Fast forward a decade later somewhere in Greece at the age of 22 she literally had the most random chance encounters one could hardly ever imagine by being in the presence of the then King Hussain of Jordan. He cordially and friendly engaged in her in respectful conversation that proceeded for him to encourage her to never give up on your dreams,………..never at all costs.

That conversation resulted in that very moment of Edwards to obsessively spend the next 4 years of her young life preparing, raising money, repairing her second hand 58 foot aluminum-hulled yacht and eventually selecting the very first all-female crew in history to compete in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race. A grueling and highly dangerous yachting competition that covers 33,000 miles that lasts nine months. And you ask, what was Tracey Edwards’s prior sailing experience at that point to taking on such a monumental perilous task? She was a cook on a boat for several months.

REVIEW: This is as brilliant film and an even greater emotionally moving and inspiring story you will ever see…………EVER. Its directorial brilliance lies in its ability in the running time of 1:37 minutes to show initially the sexism she endured daily but also how she meticulously forged ahead day after day. Always kept inching a little bit more forward to her goal by plodding, pushing and being a force of determined nature to sailing her ship. And if the financial backing naysayers were not enough to deter her, she also persevered through a gauntlet of negative press and coverage, tons of maligning sexist jokes and some even going as far to outright predict by then highly experienced male sailors that Tracey and her entire crew would certainly all be lost at sea in the first 30 day.

The other side of the brilliance of this film and the area I found most compelling was through both the stunning archival footage and the many compelling interviews by Edward’s and her amazing “Maiden” crew recounting all of the harrowing and stressful circumstances they found themselves. Including some of the in the moment gutsy tactical decisions they made with Tracey as the Skipper and Navigator and a crew who had no experience with this daunting type of sailing to know if they were wrong or not.

One such decision that stood out involved the second leg of the race from Uruguay to Australia. Typically heading eastward off the coast of South Africa most experienced sailors would take the more northern route to Australia. Tracey and her crew decided to take the more southern route closer to the continent of Antarctic that had the greater sustained winds. It also had the roughest and most unpredictable seas with the highly dangerous increased possibility of running into an iceberg at night.

This truly fabulous documentary reminded me in some ways as the “Apollo 11” documentary did that the ocean just like deep space will always be trying to kill you. And as with space when the land disappears behind you………….you are all alone with no one to rescue you... But if you can conquer it, dare I say even master it, the experience of surviving the journey (as the women testified to) was like having some type of deeper rebirth of their spirits. A rebirth that has never left them and is clearly still with them today.

Most of you will never heard of their names before this film. That’s’ a shame.  But the crew of Mandy Swan Neal; Mikaela Von Koskull; Claire Warren; Tanja Visser; Tracy Edwards MBE; Sally Hunter; Nancy Harris; Marie-Claude Kieffer Jeni Mundy; Jo Gooding and Sarah Davies were as wickedly determined, focused, driven and fearless as any men could have been. And from my perspective I would venture to say that in 1989 I believe these 11 brave women were more focused and determined than then their male counter parts.

If you want to see something that will lift your spirits then you absolutely must see “Maiden” in the theater. Not for some footnote feminist achievement, but for the triumph of the human spirit to succeed at all costs.

4.00 Stars