New Film Review Phoenix Forgotten

PHOENIX FORGOTTEN
Directed by Justin Barber
Screenplay by Justin Barber and T.S. Nowlin
Starring Florence Hartigan; Luke Spencer Roberts; Chelsea Lopez; and Justin Matthews




Three teenagers disappear after playing detectives and trying to find out the reason for the 1997 lights seen by many in Phoenix Arizona.

This film is getting ripped by critics. I do not think it is not that bad. Yet...it is not great either.

Positives?
-Critics are saying the "Found Footage" films have run its course, Well...I think it may be true unless there is a good story line attached to it. I felt the story line was different and kind of creepy so it kind of worked. I also liked that it wrapped its story around a true mystery.
-The lead...I mean the true lead....Ashley played by Lopez is fantastic. Yes, I know the story follows Sophie trying to figure out what happened to her brother but, as we find the lost footage....Lopez becomes the true lead. She plays Ashley as sorta tomboyish, smart, and a bit of a flirt also. You cannot help to love her and cheer for her to survive.
-Time. At one hour and twenty-seven minutes the film does not overstay its welcome.....However...

Negatives?
-Time again. It takes way too long to get to the Found Footage. Like an hour. So we spend an hour watching Sophie looking for answers and everyone saying go away, it is just boring and frustrating. So this is a big negative. We buy the ticket to be frightened by the lost footage and it takes too long to get there,

So 2 out of 5 stars for Phoenix Forgotten. May be worth a look for home viewing.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Unforgettable

UNFORGETTABLE
Starring Denise Di Novi
Screenplay by Christina Hodson; David Leslie Johnson
Starring Kathrine Heigl; Rosario Dawson: and Geoff Stults






Well....we have  all seen the story before ....woman scorned gets revenge on the new woman.
However you go in because it is kind of fun too watch how things go down.
Sadly this film was not fun...just annoying.
What was bad?
-Rosario Dawson as Julia Banks is an intelligent business woman...successful. However she is constantly doing stupid things and making bad decisions. She is just frustrating to watch. She just lets everybody around her walk all over her, including the husband to be. What are you doing???!! He is not standing with you...RUN!! Speaking of which.........................
-Geoff Stults as David the ex hubby and soon to be hubby is a dud. I do not get why crazy ex wants him. I do not understand why soon to be wife wants him. I mean...yes he is good looking, but he is just an ass.
-The plot was just stupid and  not even close to being realistic. Like letting a person who had a dead man in his/her house and using a knife with his/her finger prints on it walk away. We do not have enough to hold you. HUH??????????!!!!!! Or hitting someone on the back with a weapon....clearly the person was hit on the back not the head but the person had cuts all over his/her face. I could go on but ...I can not get this time back.


There is one good note....
Heigl as Tessa is really good at playing uptight crazy.


1 1/2 stars out of 5 for this annoying film. The only good thing is the acting by Heigl.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

Wednesday Revisit....My Number 1 Film Of 2008

2008 was a pretty good year:
A lot of good small films:
-Ms Pettigrew....was my number 2 film of that year.
-The Visitor
-The Lucky Ones
-Tell No One

A lot Of big Films
-Iron Man
-Wall-E .....which has gets better every time I see it

But my number one film that year was a small film that made it big...

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan
Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Based on the novel by Vikas Swarup
Starring Dev Patel; Freida Pinto; Ani Kapoor; and Irrfran Khan




What did this film do?
-It introduced us to a wonderful actress by the name of Freida Pinto as Latika. She is not only stunning she is a wonderful actress
-It introduced us to the wonderful actor Dev Patel as Jamal who just got nominated for Lion.
-It introduced the us to one of the great actors in the world (Which India already knew at the time) Irrfan Khan as the Police Inspector
-And most important it showed there is a place in the world for Bollywood films.

A wonderful story done by Danny Boyle, told mostly in flashbacks. It starts with Jamal on a Millionaire show. Then we see what lead him there and what lead him to be in front of the Police Inspector. Boyle also does not shy away from the tough life of India....I mean they fell in crap!!! Also it shows us how beautiful India can be.
Boyle also made a wonderful job of using A.R. Rahman as the composer....the music really helps with the tone.
It is a love story. It is a thriller. It is the story of family.
This film leaves you cheering and dancing at the end!!

Now...........time for fun or not so fun facts.

-Danny Boyle set up up a trust for the Three child actors to be used when they are 16. Also a driver to take then to school each day until they graduate.

-The poop scene was peanut butter and chocolate

-The movie was almost a straight to DVD release

-A.R. Rahman took 20 days to do the soundtrack

-The only kiss in the movie....is at the very end

Negatives?

-At two hours it felt long. They could have cut out some of Latika's imprisonment.

4 1/2 stars out of five for Slumdog Millionaire. See it again....it is still exciting and sweet.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Release For Home Video This Week: La La Land !!!!!!

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LA LA LAND
Directed by Damien Chazelle
Screenplay by Damien Chazelle
Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.







Someone in the crowd may be the one you need to know. So true.
I went in knowing the hype. Fear that the film can never reach the expectations that I was setting.
Wrong!! Everything you hear is true.
-Great acting and chemistry by Gosling and Stone. This is their third movie together. They may be the Bogart and Bacall of our day.
-Great look. From the wonderful costumes to the sets, this film is beautiful. Shadows. Colors that pop. Everything.
-Great music. From the amazing opening number, that has you going, wow this is different!! To the final hits on the key of the piano. It is all wonderful and fun.
-Great dance numbers. So good you want more.
-Great story. The story by Damien Chazelle is fantastic. I think a lot of people do not like the ending. Do not be fooled, this is not a love story. It is a story of two people with big dreams. They come together at a time and place and push each other forward. See Way We Were. See Casablanca.

Music, romance, humor.


I will now answer people's complaints:
-They both cannot sing!!! They were not suppose to be great singers, they were not suppose to be perfect!! That is what makes them likable. We can relate to them. They are not locks to be stars.
-A white man saves jazz. Really?? Is that a problem? I don't think people in New Orleans care what color Harry Connick Jr is. And he is not saving jazz, he is just goofy. He wants to own a small club in LA. Please!!
-The double ending. No spoilers here. The one side shows what would happen if things went right all the time. Note: only one would have reached their dreams. The other ending....they both do. Their dreams were too big to reach together. Again it is a story about dreams. Do not be fooled. They help each other.


This movie should have won the Oscar!


Here's to the dreamers!!!
5 out of 5 stars for La La Land

 If you have not seen it ....just see it...it will not awaken you to the worlds problems. It is just fun.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: The Zookeeper's Wife

THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE
Directed by Niki Caro
Screenplay by Angela Workman
Based on the book by Diane Ackerman
Starring Jessica Chastain; Johan Heldenbergh; and Daniel Bruhl




Oh boy. If you follow me on Instagram ...which you should https://www.instagram.com/wasp1963/
you would know I read the book.
So it is a difficult review because it is hard not to compare.
I did not really like the book very much. It was just okay. It was very choppy. I believe it was because Ackerman stayed true to the diary which was choppy with open time spans. Still it was an incredible story. Shockingly heroic.
In a rare event..............I like the movie better than the book.

What does the film do right:
-It follows the ........BASED ON A TRUE STORY. In other words it raised the tension.
And most important it does not mess with what the Zabinski's did. They are true heroes.

-As opposed to the book they kept some "Visitors" in the zoo the whole time. It gave us a face of the struggle. Yes...people come and go often like the book...but keeping people there adds tension and emotion.

-They bumped up the part of Heck played by Bruhl....he became the face of the the Germans.

-Casting Jessica Chastain as Antonina. She is absolutely fantastic here. Her fear and bravery just pours off the screen. She was amazing in Sloane last year but was ignored for an Oscar (If she was a man in that part it would have been different). Here she will be ignored because it is April.......voters will forget, which is a shame.

Like noted the story is amazing....the Warsaw Zoo becomes a zoo of people. Brave, scary, and TRUE. It is about love, plain and simple.

Negatives:
The very end. What happened to the daughter? The son? The Zabinski's? The people in the zoo? We just spent two hours with these people....let us know what happened!!! During the credits let us know!!!

4 out of 5 stars for The Zookeeper's Wife. See it...an amazing story that shows the cruelty of the uprising in Poland by the Germans, and the bravery at this zoo.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Gifted

GIFTED
Directed by Marc Webb
Screenplay by Tom Flynn
Starring Chris Evans; McKenna Grace; Lyndsay Duncan; Jenny Slate; and Octavia Spencer




Well....you see the story...so I do not have to explain.

This film was a disappointment. The trailer sucked me in.

The relationship between Frank (Evans) and Bonnie (Slate), which was a very small part of this film was more interesting than the plot. Or maybe I should say less annoying. Bonnie is the only one here who is not annoying.
Frank: Just makes stupid decisions after stupid decisions. And he is an educator.
Mary: played by Mckenna Grace is sooooooooo annoying. I think the screenwriter thought she was cute and sassy. No!! Not so much. This is not a reflection on the actress Grace, she is wonderful but the script let her down.
Evelyn: Who plays Mary's Grand-mom. Who is unfocused and is just mean.

Then there is Roberta played by Octavia Spencer who is just plain wasted.Its Octavia Spencer!!!!
Then they wrap this up with a story around a one eyed cat. It felt rushed and stunningly anti climatic.

Is there any good?
Evans and every one else are very good here. It is just a bad script.

A disappointing 2 out of 5 stars for Gifted....wait until home viewing..

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: The Last Word

THE LAST WORD

Directed by Mark Pellington
Screenplay by Stuart Ross Fink
Starriung Shirley Maclaine; Amanda Seyfried; and AnnJewel Lee Dixon





Well you can tell by the trailer Harriet (Maclaine), who is a control freak, wants someone to write her obituary before she dies so she can read it. She hires Anne (Seyfried) to write it.

Yes there are small laughs here...but it is not really funny.
They add a little kid here (Dixon), which has nothing to do with the story and I still cant figure out why she is in this. "Hey lets throw a cute kid in hear to show three generations, it will be funny!!" No not so much.
The film had a neat idea but it just was ....boring...and there was not much happening. At one point Harriet became a DJ. I know....REALLY?
All leading to a very predictable ending with a unrealistic dance scene where you see it coming a mile away.
Amanda Seyfried. Time to fire your agent. This film....Ted 2......Love The Coopers....Fathers And Daughters...Pan, she is soooo much better than these films.

Positives?

Well Shirly Maclaine is in it.
I do like that she was successful in a world where females at the time were not accepted as leaders in business.

1 1/2 stars out of 5 for The Last Word.

I hoped for more laughs. More feeling.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

Wednesday Revisit My Number 1 Film Of 2007 JUNO

This Wednesday we revisit 2007:
It was just an okay year for movies:
-Superbad
-Waitress which is a musical now on Broadway
-Order Of The Phoenix
-Enchanted which is so underrated

But my number one film of 2007:

JUNO
Directed by Jason Reitman
Screenplay by Diablo Cody
Starring Ellen Page; Michael Cera; Jennifer Garner; Jason Bateman; Allison Janney; J.K. Simmons; and Olivia Thirlby



Juno follows the 9 month pregnancy of a high school teenager Juno (Page) as she has to make adult decisions.
The film introduced us to Diablo Cody as a screenwriter. The writing in this film is the star. It is Gilmore Girls quick and it and moves seemlessly from comedy to nice touching moments without skipping a beat.
Of course the acting by everyone is spot on:
Page as Juno is wonderful. She is very quick, her comic timing is wonderful. She is kind of a wiseass but she walks the line real well by letting us see her vulnerability. You have to love her.
Cera as Bleeker has the tough job of playing off Page (Juno). She is quick as noted and he has to almost play the stuttering straight man. However he says so much with a look. His chemistry with Page is fantastic.
Jennifer Garner in a small role as a wife who just wants to have a baby and is put in an awkward position. She has to play desperate but act like she is not desperate. A very difficult small part, and she pulls it off....as a strong woman. I think she should have received an Oscar Nom for this part.
Jason Bateman as Garners hubby plays against type......he is an ass...no spoilers but he pulls it off.
Janney and Simmons as Juno's parent/stepparent. Maybe in the top ten of parents in movie history. Highlighted by Janney with a  great lecture during a DR's visit and a night time conversation between Page and Simmons.


This movie sticks with you and oddly, being a touchy subject, it is rather funny, sad, and touching all at the same time.


Well time for fun and not so fun facts:


-Jennifer Garner took a huge pay cut to be in this film


-Movie was shot in 31 days


-No cellphones were used in this movie


-Olivia Thirlby auditioned for the role of Juno but ended up playing best friend Leah.


Well Juno is just a lovely film.
And remember ..............It Started With A Chair


4 1/2 stars out of 5 for Juno!!


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.