New Releases This Week For Home Viewing!! Including Cinderella!!

We have three new releases this week of note for home viewing:

CINDERELLA/FROZEN FEVER

First let me get to Frozen Fever, the short before Cinderella.
Yes it seemed like a commercial, but it had a sweet message at the end and its harmless.
The little Snowgies are kind of cute. The music is just okay, not as memorable as the feature film.
It is a fun little watch.

Now to Cinderella 2015

Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Screenplay by Chris Weitz
Starring: Lily James; Cate Blanchett; Richard Madden; Helena Bonham Carter



We now come to Cinderella 2015....
I was intrigued because this movie was being directed by freaking Kenneth Branagh!!!
Casting....Casting....Casting...Casting.
I can't say it enough. Everybody in this film is perfectly cast.
 Lily Collins as Cinderella...a star is born.
 Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmom.....if people can remember far back to March she could get an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.
Bonham Carter, I can just imagine her reaction to that phone call. "You want me to play what? Have you seen my other movies?"
 Richard Madden as the Prince is perfectly played as a kind soul not pompous like we usually see in films with a Prince.
I will not insult you and go through the plot but I will tell you some differences between this version and the classic animated version:
The first half hour is heavy. It is Disney and people have to die. And boy they do. We have three in this film. Kinda heavy. And I also wish they would have some how highlighted the word "Evil" a little more when it came to the stepmother. I can imagine a stepmom watching this with her step daughter thinking "HEY"!!!!There are Carol Brady's out there dammit. They are all not evil..just saying stepmother with a disgusted look made me cringe a bit.
Ella meets the Prince for the first time in the woods before the Ball which is different. The meeting is kind of cute.
We also get some more backstory on the characters. And I really liked that. All the additions to the story are well done.
A quick note: costume designer Sandy Powell may have not only got a nomination here..she may have just won an Oscar .Moms get the dress now for Halloween!!!
In an age where girls are bombarded with Kardashians fighting on TV. And wives from East Coast to the West Coast throwing things at each other, this film is a must see for adults and children with a theme of kindness through out. And what Cinderella says to the Evil Stepmother at the very end, and I will not spoil it..is fantastic.
4 1/2 stars out of 5. The world can be cruel. It is up to you on how you approach it.


LOVE AND MERCY
Directed by Bill Pohlad
Screenplay: Oren Moverman and Michael A Lerner
Story by Brian Wilson
Starring: John Cusack; Paul Dano; Paul Giamatti; and Elizabeth Banks



In the 1960s, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson struggles with mental illness as he attempts to craft his music. In the 1980s, he is a broken  man, a shell of the brilliant man he once was while under the 24-hour watch of shady therapist Dr. Eugene Landy.

This is not a pleasant film to watch. It covers Brian's younger days in the 60's, played by Paul Dano, and his struggles with  mental and physical abusive from his dad. Later during that same time period we see his drug use and his slip into depression and leaning toward bi-polar disorder. In later years, Brian Wilson, being played by John Cusack, is a loner who is being kept on a high dose of multiple medications by a handler Dr Eugene Landy. We constantly switch back and forth between time periods, often very confusingly so, where we get involded into a very important issue in a certain time period and the film pulls us away to the other time period, and often not switch very smoothly. A little editing problem? Or odd decision by the director Pohlad? Who ever made the decisions it is a bit disruptive for the viewer.
 Like I noted, this is not a pleasant film to watch. We see a young man who seems brilliant but cant slow his brain down, and that same middle age man being abused by a Doctor.
After you read the above you are thinking "this is not what I want to see". No...it is a really good film. I had no idea Brian Wilson had these struggles. I found the film really interesting, from how Wilson created some great songs. To how Wilson was pretty much saved by his now wife Melinda Ledbetter (with help from a housekeeper), played marvelously by Banks. It is a really interesting movie with fantastic performances. They turned me around and made me care!!

4 out of 5 stars for Love And Mercy. Well done film touching on mental illness, I thought while watching this, that I wish Michael Jackson had a Melinda Ledbetter in his life, maybe things would have turned out different for him.


FURIOUS 7
Directed by James Wan
Screnplay by Chris Morgan and Scott Thompson
Starring the Furious 7 of course



Deckard Shaw (Statham) seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his family for his comatose brother.

Okay it was a huuuge hit. However to me it was just the same thing.
They brilliantly used the death of Paul Walker to promote the film. Brilliant, but I thought it was  little creepy, knowing he died speeding in a car. So they pulled at our heart strings and it worked.
Stll....in the beginning weren't these 7 bad guys/girls bad??!!
You go to this film looking for action, with cars racing, even jumping through buildings and some plot and in that respect it worked....3 out of 5 stars for the Furious 7...I know a lot of people liked it but to me...it is getting old and by the way the actors are kind of getting a little old to be doing or acting this way.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.