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Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold – nf

Joan Didion is an accomplished writer who for the past 50 years has written novels, essays and screenplays including many pieces for Vogue and Vanity Fair Magazine. She has lived and written about the literary scene in New York in the 1950s and ‘60s as well as about her home State of California in the 1980s and 1990s. She has partied with Janis Joplin and has hung out with Jim Morrison.

This documentary film is made by Ms Didion’s nephew, Griffin Dunne, who is a well-known actor, director and producer. It is co-produced by his wife Anna Dunne and Mary Recine. The film was narrated by a somewhat frail elderly Ms. Didion who seems as sharp as ever. It begins when she must have been a toddler and her mother gave her a book and a pencil and told her to record her thoughts and feelings. She still has that book and of course has filled that book and many others. There are wonderful film clips and photos from past decades which reflect the times as well as the personal remembrances of Ms. Didion. This includes images and the words of her husband, John Gregory Dunne who was also a writer. During their long marriage, which included one dearly beloved daughter whom they adopted shortly after her birth, they always would read and edit each other’s writings even if they didn’t fully agree about everything.

We were captured by this review of this woman’s life and also how it reflected her perspective through Ms. Didion’s words and thoughts along with images of the time. (2019)

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Sea of Shadows-sp

This is an interesting documentary film which is at times quite exciting and dramatic although some of the fine points were difficult to understand. It appears that in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, the vaquita, a small whale-like mammal, is on the verge of extinction. The reason being that a Mexican cartel encourages rogue fishermen to set up fishing nets to capture another species, the totoaba, since the Chinese mafia will pay very large sums of money for the bladder of the totoaba because of supposed medicinal powers. The vaquita which die in these fishing nets are now near extinction with only 15 or 20 of them still alive. A group of environmental activists attempt to rescue the few remaining vaquita. Things get exciting as the Mexican navy gets involved, responding when the environmentalists identify the rogue fishermen. There are some very dramatic scenes shot by a drone as the criminal fishermen are confronted. But things become more complicated and quite scary as there is a sinister crime boss involved. The director and filmmaker, Richard Ladkani, risks his life along with the environmentalists as they, at times, arrange undercover meetings which are secretly recorded with the various participants and criminal elements.

This film project which was mostly supported by one of the executive producers, Leonardo DiCaprio, at times becomes an expose of the Mexican navy and the Mexican government itself. This film may make a difference in exposing corruption in Mexico as well as in saving a species on the verge of extinction. (2019)

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The Tomorrow Man

Noble Jones is an experienced cinematographer who wrote the screenplay for this movie and which he was given the opportunity to direct. He also chose to take the dual job as cinematographer of it. The movie was beautifully filmed and it was visually close to a work of art.

The storyline was quite original and the two star roles could not have been better chosen. John Lithgow and Blythe Danner played two now single folks “on the wrong side of 60.” He is self-identified as a “planner” who also might be called a “survivalist” as he accumulates all sorts of things in preparation for some future cataclysmic event. She is a “hoarder”, as she saves nearly everything because she cannot part with anything. In a post-film discussion, Jones, the writer/director, pointed out that the only difference between these personalities is “neatness” which he has and she doesn’t possess.

It is nice to see senior folks falling for each other, but we felt that there was no real development of the back story of the characters. We only learned a little bit about their past lives later in the film and there are no great insights or interesting complications in the plot. We are sorry to say that we felt that the story dragged on with a mildly interesting ending, but we didn’t feel it was worth the ride. (2019)

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William-sp

Certainly, this story is one of the most creative and imaginative movie plots that we have seen in a long time. Two professors at a university who ultimately become a husband and wife (Maria Dizzia and Waleed Zuaiter) are interested in certain characteristics that they believe existed in the Neanderthals who inhabited the earth before the homo sapiens dominated them and led to their extinction. These scientists have found a method of extracting some of the DNA from artifacts still existing and injecting them into a biological specimen that can become a human embryo to be carried by the women professor. This leaves to the birth of William (Played by Will Brittain and Callum Airlie). However, William seems very bright but with some limitation in his ways of thinking. He ultimately develops into a high school student. William, however, does seem to be “different” which he himself acknowledges. This concept is one of the themes of the movie. We believe that the movie is trying to make a statement that the majority of people look in a negative way at those people who are different. There is also the the underlying question of how we might have been developed as a human race if the Neanderthals had dominated over our ancestors.

Tim Disney, whose grandfather gave us one type of a fantasy land has worked hard to put together a story with another type of an imagined premise. His direction was on the mark assisted by a very talented team with camera work by directors of photography Nelson and Graham Talbot and some very creative design work including some prostheses for William lead by Daren Luc Sasges . There is also appropriate, somewhat haunting music background by Craig Wedren which rounds out this very well-done production. However, we suspect that not everyone will be completely satisfied with this imaginative experience (2019).

Any comments are welcome below

Gloria Bell-rm

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Julianne Moore is glorious, beautiful and fantastic to watch as a middle-aged divorcee who is looking for a second chance for love She goes to clubs and gets carried away with the music and dance as well as drinking martinis. She falls for a man (John Turturro) who is smitten by her but has his own baggage. As expected, this middle-age romance is also complicated by their own children’s situations and their attitudes about their parents.

Chilean, director and writer, Sebastian Lelio, is apparently recreating an earlier film entitled “Gloria” which was set in his home country and received a great deal of acclaim. No doubt the current film is an acting triumph for Ms. Moore who is on the screen just about all the time and will deserve recognition for this role.

Upon reflection, as likeable the main character is in the film, we must realize that she is deeply flawed and doomed to repeat her neurotic choices unless she can gain some insight into herself. We also realize how all the men shown in the film were quite flawed themselves and not very nice people. A boyfriend who led her on and could not commit, her ex-husband (Brad Garrett) who seemed quite unconnected, her son (Michael Sera) who came across as a nebbish and one who is never around, her son-in-law to be, a surfer who also seemed quite superficial, and then there was a second guy she met at a club in Las Vegas who stole her purse and her money.

So, in conclusion, the Gloria Bell character desperately needs psychotherapy so she can appreciate her own makeup and the pitfalls of the men around her. (2017)

Your comments are welcome below

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Almost Adults – nf

This is a coming of age film but not exactly in the usual way that things play out. Here we have two girls Mackenzie (Elise Bauman) and Cassie (Natasha Negovanlis) who have been friends since childhood and now roommates in their senior year of college. The big issue is that Mackenzie has just come out and told her parents that she is gay although they were not surprised. However, she has difficulty in telling her childhood friend who is straight and just had a break-up with longtime boyfriend Matthew (Mark Matechuk).

We witnessed the inner and outer struggles as each girl has to try to move on with her life. Of course, this is the time of social media and instant communication as well as in the age of Tumblr where gay people can meet up, all of which are part of the backdrop of this movie. There is also an experienced gay guy Levi, (Justin Gerhard) who tries to guide Mackenzie into the gay world.

We are sure that the film director Sarah Rotella and screenwriter Adrianna DiLonardo were not suggesting that this story is necessarily typical of young people dealing with these issues. However, they did succeed in reminding us that coming out even in the 21st Century can be a difficult time but that young people often have the resiliency to negotiate this life experience. (2016)

Any comments are always welcome below

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Ash Is Purest White -sp

This movie is in Chinese with English subtitles. The director and screenwriter is Jia Zhangke who is married to Zhao Tao, the accomplished star of this film.

The movie was extremely well done with beautiful photography in part because of the French director of photography, Eric Gautier, and an excellent riveting performance by Ms. Tao.

However, in our view, the storyline did not go anyplace. Perhaps the main value of the movie was to show a glimpse into the underworld life in modern day China. There appears to be a gang culture that exists with the usual expected loyalties. The story also depicts the classic situation of unrequited love. If a film is going to take us for 2 hours and 20 minutes, it should develop a pretty tight hold on us, which was not the case here. Maybe the language barrier hindered the ability of the movie to do it for us (2019).

Your comments are invited below

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Everybody Know-sp

Veteran Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi brings together Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz (who happen to be married to each other) to this Spanish film made in Spain.

Laura (Cruz) and her husband (Ricardo Darín) come to Spain from Argentina with their two children to celebrate a family wedding. Things get complicated when their thirteen-year-old daughter is abducted and held for ransom. Why is Paco (Bardem) a close friend, wiling to sell his share of the vineyard to pay the ransom? Who are the kidnappers? The scenery, the acting and the characters are quite attractive and intriguing. In the end however, the storyline was not quite believable but it was an interesting ride. (2019

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VICE-rm

If you remember Dick Cheney, you will have to agree that Christian Bale is a dead ringer for President George W. Bush’s vice-president in appearance, speech and mannerisms despite the fact that in real life Bale looks nothing like him. This is a great tribute to the actor and the film makers.

Depending on your political point of view, you will probably decide if the depiction of Cheney is true to life. He certainly is shown to be a power-hungry, manipulative, opportunist. Sam Rockwell does an excellent impersonation of President GW Bush who is shown to be somewhat weak and under the spell of his vice-president. Steve Carell plays Donald Rumsfeld who was a person involved in Cheney’s career early on as well as in his later years but we could not forget that it was Carell and we were expecting him to breakout into some comedy lines.

The movie highlights the importance of the influence of Cheneys’s wife, Lynne (Amy Adams) in his life. Perhaps the most moving and sympathetic moment in the film in regard to Cheney, was how he was able to accept his daughter’s coming out as gay whereas his wife seemed not to be able to do so. Otherwise, there is not much sympathy for this character who was shown to have led the country into the Iraq War as well as many other questionable decisions including favoring Halliburton, the company for which he had previously worked.

As realistic as the depiction of the main character was in this film, there were some distractions with flashbacks and other cinematic effects. Although well-done, we thought they took away from the flow of the movie. Also, you may recall that there was an incident where Cheney accidentally shot someone with a rifle. This event was briefly shown but there was no explanation of how it came about or who was the victim.

The movie was directed by Adam McKay who is known for the Big Short, Anchorman I and II and more recently Holmes & Watson. The producer team included Brad Pitt as well as Will Ferrell and there was a whopping 40 million dollar budget for it. One more thing, don’t leave the theater whenever you begin to see the credits come on the screen. Each time there is more to come. (2019)

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Sorry to Bother You – nf

It is very difficult to describe or categorize this movie. Certainly, it was not a comedy although somewhere it was advertised as such. We suppose it was a satire. It also was science fiction of sorts but more likely of the horror genre. The movie certainly was taking on racial issues as well as worker exploitation and it also has elements of a love story. In the end it was a serious movie trying to make a statement.

The setting is Oakland, California. Cassius Green is a black, newly hired telemarketer who gets advice that he could be successful in this type of work if he uses a “white voice.” He quickly moves to the next level in his work where he has to deal with a future world of a trending corporation which has a labor policy which offers extra benefits to workers while secretly enslaving them. This is not exactly a typical plot especially when Mr. Green is introduced to a cocaine-like substance which when snorting it can turn you into a half horse, half human creature, but “only for five years” or so our character was told.

This is an unusual story and a weird film that might catch your attention. The director is Boots Riley. The producers include Forest Whitaker. A few of the featured casts are Lakeith Stanfield (as Mr. Green), Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Michael X. Sommers and Danny Glover.

Be prepared for an offbeat different type of a film which will be thought-provoking. (2018)

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