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American Factory-nf

This a documentary, which allows the viewer to be a “fly on the wall” as real life unfolds in factory in Dayton, Ohio.

A wealthy Chinese businessman opens up a new factory, which makes glass for automobiles, in a closed General Motors Auto Factory in Dayton, Ohio. He brings in from China the people who will be the supervisors of the workers, who come from the local community and are thrilled at being able to get back to work, although their minimum wages are below the wages they made from the now closed auto factory.

Everybody is optimistic that this gigantic plant will rejuvenate the local community. The workers try to get used to the Chinese work culture and the Chinese try to understand the American way of thinking. A delegation of American workers is sent to China where they are wined and dined and participate in the celebration of Chinese culture. The film production team led by producers/directors Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert  have obtained very good access to both the Americans and Chinese working in the factory and they are able to film the workers and their supervisors as they discussed their personal feelings. Things come to a head when there is a movement to unionize the workers, which is opposed by the management. The tension between the two sides builds to an ultimate vote whether this unionization should take place.

This movie highlights important political and social differences between contemporary American and Chinese cultures. It is of note that one of the backers of this film is Barack and Michelle Obama’s new production company, Higher Ground (2019).

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The Current War: Director’s Cut- sp

No, this is not about the current fighting between Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds. It is actually a very American story where “current” means “electricity” and the main characters in the movie are Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) and Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult).

This 2016 film got lost in movieland politics involved with Harvey Weinstein. However, its director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon was able to hold on to the film and bring back some of the stars and redo parts of the movie. The result is a very interesting story that we assume most of us knew very little about and that is that there was a historical battle about which kind of electricity would win the right to light up the Chicago World’s Fair and ultimately, win the race to light up the United States. Would it be direct current (DC) favored by Thomas Edison or alternating current (AC) championed by George Westinghouse? We also get some insight into the private lives of these men and their wives played by Katherine Waterston and Tuppence Middleton.

This is not a documentary film and not exactly a docudrama. However, it is a fascinating story about very interesting people. The main characters are household names not only associated with electricity but in the case of Edison, he is known for bringing us recorded sound and he essentially invented motion pictures.

While this movie might not have provided the deep insight that the director was striving for, it certainly personified these men and told the fascinating tale of the historical contributions to the world that they made.(2019)

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Pain and Glory-rm

The main character of this movie is a film director Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas) who appears to be an aging man with various physical conditions but is still under the influence of his childhood memories and experiences. He has recently learned that an earlier very successful movie that he made is going to be restored and he is invited to present it with the lead actor, Alberto Crespo (Asier Etxeandia) whom he hasn’t spoken to for 32 years since the film was originally made. The director was angry at the actor because he didn’t play his role the way the director had envisioned it. This scenario becomes a vehicle for the main character to relive and examine his childhood and early years which included his relationship with his mother (Penelope Cruz) as well as his attraction to heroin. His earlier sexual experiences with a man is also highlighted.

The movie is supposed to be semi autobiographical of the filmmaker Pedro Almodovar (whatever that means). While the movie shows meaningful childhood early life experiences and how it impacted the course of the character’s life in later years, we didn’t feel the storyline captured and held our interest. The movie was well-acted and produced, with topnotch acting and production. You forget that you are watching a film in Spanish and reading English subtitles. However, we still can’t give it a strong recommendation. (2019)

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****

Judy-rm

Do not expect this film to be filled with scenes of Judy Garland at the top of her game throughout her illustrious career. Rather, the movie focuses on the last year of her life where she went to England to try to rejuvenate her career, which was fading in the United States. There are some flashbacks to her childhood and early years, but it is mostly about the final curtain calls. The brightest part of this movie experience directed by Rupert Gooke, based on a play by Peter Quilter, is the outstanding performance of Renee Zellweger who plays Judy Garland. She has figured out the mannerisms and is pretty close to her voice as we remember it (maybe not quite the energy). Zellweger is superb and we would bet on her receiving some awards for this performance. We strongly recommend this movie to be seen and enjoyed. (2019)

Any comments are welcome below

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Where’s My Roy Cohn?-rm

Roy Cohn was an attorney who died more than 30 years ago and yet his memory is kept alive not only by this documentary  film but by the title of it which was recently uttered by President Donald Trump who was one of Cohn’s many famous clients. Cohn was one of two of Trump’s personal attorneys to be disbarred for misconduct as a lawyer. The other one was Michael Cohen who is currently in prison.

Roy Cohn first came to public attention as the chief attorney for Senator Joseph McCarthy during the famous McCarthy hearings which occurred in the 1950s as McCarthy was trying to root out communists in government. Cohn was also in that position as McCarthy’s committee was investigating supposed communists infiltrating the Army Signal Corps. Subsequently, the army accused McCarthy and his staff for seeking special treatment for Private David Schine who was the close friend of Cohn’s and who had been drafted into the army. This film suggests that Cohn was secretly a homosexual and may have had a relationship with Schine. Cohn never admitted he was gay and he vehemently denied that he had AIDS although it was documented that he had been hospitalized in an AIDS treatment center and eventually died of this disease.

We found this film which was directed by Matt Tyrnauer to be somewhat repetitious. It became clear that Cohn  was a brilliant although a vengeful and dishonest man. It is hard to believe that the President of the United States would wish that he had an attorney like him. On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. (2019)

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Hustlers-rm

It is an interesting phenomenon to see beautiful half-naked women doing suggestive sexy dances and yet, the net result is clearly a non-sexual experience. (Agreed upon by both reviewers). The reason being that the main focus of the film is to show how women so often have been objectified and used by men. Here, we see women who are not going to take it anymore and are going to stand up for themselves. If anybody is going to be “used” in the film, it is the rich men who are all too willing to throw hundreds of dollars around to see these girls dance and pretend to be sexually interested in them.

The story is based on a New York magazine article by Jessica Pressler played by Julia Stiles who teams up with writer/director, Lorene Scafaria to make this film which starred Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu. In this movie, we see a group of strippers and pole dancers who were tired of being used not only by their clients but by the club owners. They figured out a way that they can redirect to themselves a large part of the money being spent for their activities. The movie has a great deal of energy with powerful music from Janet Jackson to Chopin. The net result is a unique view of the world of exotic dancers and a meaningful relationship which develops between two of the “stars” as they try to take their destiny into their own hands. (2019)

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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood-rm

We think it is fair to say that Quentin Tarantino, the writer and director of this film, likes to do things his way and that he certainly does that in this film.

We meet the main characters, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a fading TV and movie star, and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who is Dalton’s stunt double, long-time friend and employee. Early in the story, Dalton’s agent (Al Pacino) suggests that his career is going downhill and he may have to resort in playing Italian movies. It happens that Rick has a lovely place in Hollywood Hills next door to movie star, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), and her husband Roman Polansky. Do those names sound familiar?

The setting, in addition to being in Hollywood, is taking place in1969. If you are an auto enthusiast, you will recognize many of the cars of that era. You will also get an inside glimpse of the movie sets of that time and how actors would rehearse their lines.

Tarantino, in addition through telling us a story his way, is showing us behind-the-scenes movie world where we can watch a classic Western movie being prepared. We even have a chance to meet Bruce Lee (Michael Moh) who has an interesting battle with the Brad Pitt character. There are other familiar supporting actors throughout the films such as Timothy Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Luke Perry, Lena Dunham, and Damian Lewis). In fact, the acting, writing and directing, as expected, is very imaginative. The main problem with the film is that it took three hours for Tarantino to show us his fantasy of the movie world nearly 50 years ago. (2019)

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The Game Changers-sp

A while back, a doctor suggested to one of us that he look into a “plant-based diet” and gave him a book which he put on his reading list. Well, after this film, he moved it up and now will definitely read it with great interest.

James Wilks, an athlete and someone who has done physical training for the U.S. Marines took up this film project and was the onscreen host of the movie. He enlisted among others as executive producers James Cameron, Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Needless to say they all advocate for the thesis of this film. Under the direction of Louie Psihoyos, they have put together a documentary film that will blow you away and may very well add greatly to your health and longevity.

The game changer is that there is scientific and empirical evidence that a plant-based diet with fruits and vegetables and no meat or even fish will allow you to be a strong, muscular, athletic person and have good health and live longer. A good documentary movie needs to demonstrate things with real people and not just boring scientific facts. In this movie, we meet a host of healthy athletes who lift the heaviest weights, show the most physical endurance running races and all sorts of fighting and other physical competition. We meet football players and other athletes and are also shown scientific research facts which confirms the main point of this movie.

If you care about your health and the health of your family, you have to take this movie seriously. You will want to share it with people that you care about. In a post film discussion with Mr. Wilks, he made the point that this need not be an all or nothing project but the facts and empirical evidence are there and this is a “game changer” of a film which can change your life. (2019)

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Before You Know It-sp

One of the most fascinating scenarios that we have seen in various films over the years is one where a previously unknown family relationship becomes known. That is the premise of this movie produced by a team of newcomer filmmakers. The co-stars, Hannah Pearl Utt and Jen Tullock in addition to co-starring in the film both co-wrote the story and Utt was the director.

The main subjects are a theatrical family where the two sisters and their dad (Mandy Patinkin – who is outstanding in this relatively short role) are trying to produce a play in a small theater in Greenwich Village in New York City where they live in an upstairs apartment. Tragic circumstances lead the girls to track down the woman who they unexpectedly came to understand is their actual biological mother. This woman (Judith Light) is herself a famous soap opera star who ultimately embraces her long-lost daughters. In this process, there was meaningful dialogue which deals with abandonment, adolescents, growing up as well as the complications of sharing credits in creative endeavors. There is also a sub-story about the oldest sisters’ pubescent daughter (Oona Yaffe) who discovers her womanhood and has to figure out how to deal with it. Along the way, there is a therapist (Alec Baldwin) who adds some passing humor to the story.

“Before you know it”, we have witnessed a meaningful slice of life for all the main characters who suffered but hopefully grew and matured. The audience shares the experience with them which include some good humor. This could have been a Woody Allen movie which actually is a backhanded compliment. (2019)

****

Brittany Runs A Marathon-sp

There is a tinge of “Rocky” in this story in that you are rooting for the protagonist to win her battle and achieve her goal and finish the glorious New York City marathon.

We meet Brittany (Jillian Bell) as a somewhat overweight young woman who drinks and eats a lot and isn’t the most pleasant person to others. We gain insight into her and begin to appreciate her struggles. Starting with the kindness of others, she becomes more reflective and develops some good friends. To one of us, it was almost as if she had entered into a psychotherapy and was working through her conflicts and hang-ups. Her old acquaintances and new friends are very meaningful to her and they are well played by Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Micah Stock, Lil Rel Howery, Alice Lee and Jennifer Dundas. The real co-star of this film is the writer and first-time director, Paul Downs Colaizzo. He drew upon his work in the theater to capture the main character’s insight and pathway for ultimate change. He was also fortunate enough to team up with Tobey Maguire who provided the major support in getting this film made. The final message of the movie is that everything doesn’t always work out exactly how you plan it but it is so often the journey that really counts. (2019)