New Releases For Home Viewing This Week

I have 4 new releases for home viewing to cover:

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Directed by Bill Codon
Screenplay Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulis
Starring Emma Watson; Dan Stevens; Luke Evans; Josh Gad; and Kevin Kline



Well you know the story. So lets get right down to it shall we.

The film changes a lot from the other Disney version:

The ending is different involving a witch. I like this ending...it makes better sense than the original Disney Animated Version.
-The film adds more songs some are really sweet....How Can A moment Last Forever. Some just okay like Day In The Sun.
-We see more of a front end. How the beast became the beast and how the townspeople had their memory of the castle swiped away.
-Belle is not only a reader of books but also an inventor like her father!!

The film does a lot right...........
Everyone. I mean everyone is perfectly cast.
Watson looks great as Belle and gives us some spunk.
Evans as Gaston is great and maybe the best singer of all the cast.
Kline as Papa, is Kline, come on he is awesome.
Stevens as Beast, he is good though his face is CGI'd often.
Gadd as LeFou . The best for last!! He steals the film. He is hilarious with great comic timing and he can sing!!

The look!!! The costumes!! The sets. All just perfect!!!!!!

There are some negatives:
Other than Gaston"s song, all the songs sounded bad. I cannot tell if it was that I was just so use to the voices from the animated film or they were just bad. However I do know that was an awful version of Be Our Guest,,,,,UGH!!
As for Watson's singing........ I cant tell if her voice was bad. Again maybe I am used to the other versions. Maybe this is just her take. Still her singing did not knock me out of my seat. I am not going to bash her for taking a chance. I will go on record and say she was not bad she just sang the popular songs a different way. She was okay.
With all the talk about it being a Live Version. Well there was a lot of CGI...starting with chip and clock and so on. I hated them. I thought they looked awful and kind of creepy.
They added a back story of Beast's parents and Belle's mother. Trying to link the two. It was not needed and just depressing. If anything it was confusing and sad to younger viewers. Bad idea.

With all that being noted......Why do you watch this? To be entertained. In that aspect I found the film entertaining. It worked. We can debate was this really needed...but I do know the crowd in my private screening cheered at the end....I did not mind this remake...it was fun...4 out of 5 for this well acted re-imagined Beauty And The Beast.

Final note if you are planning on watching with young ones. Wolves attacking in an animated film is a lot different in a live action film. Very scary. Please note.



A UNITED KINGDOM


Directed by Amma Asante
Screenplay by Guy Hibbert
Based on the book by Susan Williams
Starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike









Prince Seretse Khama of Bottswana (Oyelowo) causes an international stir by marrying a white woman from London in the 1940's.

A true story that happens to be the most boring story so far this year on film.
Two wonderful actors. Interesting idea  for a story.  However the story ...well...nothing happens.
Okay maybe some arguing about divorcing a white wife. That was something but that was it.

It looked low budget. It just felt lazy. I also think they thought the story would bring tension but...I do not know if I cared enough about the characters.

Just slow and boring....you could fall asleep while watching this and not miss a thing. And I imagine in real life the tension while this was happening was high. So you have to put this on the screenwriter Hibbert.


1 1/2 stars out of 5 for A United Kingdom. What a disappointment because the trailer sucked me in.





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 her character 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.






A CURE FOR WELLNESS

Directed by Gore Verbinski
Screenplay by Justin Haythe and Gore Verbginski
Starring Dane Dehann as Lockhart
              Jason Isaacs as Volmer
              Mia Goth as Hannah



It is a strange film. Well...it is a strange story. Lockhart is asked to go to this....spa like place.... to go fetch a CEO of the company he works for.
Well he has trouble leaving as you see from the trailer.

The film is very well acted by our three leads.
Dane Dehaan as Lockhart is great as the every man here. Just trying to get the upper management off his back. He is so in over his head. You literally feel his confusion.
Jason Issac as Volmer the bad guy. He seemed to walk in from a Bond film. You hate him...he has that cocky over confident bad guy ...Bond villain way about him. He is perfect.
Mia Goth as Hannah almost steals the film.....she is the one we care about the most. We want to save her...hug her. She is fantastic.

The look of the film is fantastic. Special effects are just creepy . Shadows as and light and darkness look creepy. Just wonderful.

Ugh!! It all sounds great. Sorry. No!!!!

The script is awful. Close to stupid. Dude call an Uber from the bar and stop drinking!!!!
It seems monotonous. The same thing happens over and over:
A-Look for CEO.
B-Stumble on creepiness
C-Get caught.
D-Next Day Look for CEO.
Dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You will find another job leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Leeeeaaaave!!! Idiot!!!
2 and a half hours of this!!!! Editor please!!!!!

Then we come to the end where we see a surprise, a creepy one, about two leads, which everybody saw coming. Not a surprise!!
Then it turns into a kind of horror film.
The script is a long mess.

2 out of 5 stars for this well acted, good looking, messy film.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time