New Film Review: Hotel Mumbai

HOTEL MUMBAI


4 1/2 stars out of 5


This is the true story of the attack of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai in 2008.


The best film I have seen so far this year. It is intense to the point of exhaustion, and I was not even there. I cant imagine what these people went through. Well, I kind of can, I see it there on the screen. It is a story of survival and bravery of the guest; and staff, who decided to stay in the face of the danger in the hotel to protect the guest. There was a point while watching this film on the edge of my seat I looked at my phone and realized we have an hour to go still. That depressed me! It was just frightening to watch.
I take away from this film how kind the people were in Mumbai. How they really were not prepared or knew what to do in the face of this evil.
As for the performances:
I was thinking after watching this, has Dev Patel ever gave a bad performance??!! I mean Slumdog; Lion; The Wedding Guest and Marigold Hotel, just as examples. Here he is wonderful once again as Arjun a worker at the Taj.
Here is the list:
Nazanin Boniada
Armie Hammer
Jason Isaacs
And maybe the greatest actor coming out of India Anupam Kher.
Everyone...everyone gives an outstanding performance!


Why not 5 stars?!
Oh boy..
To be honest, it may be just me but the real subject manner, and I do mean real. The humanity the violence...it is brutal. You wonder sometimes is it pandering to the violence in the hotel as we are watching. This is no White House Down film, this happened. I always say does real violence watched create violence. Is there too much?
2nd...and this is small. I would have liked to know what happened to the survivors, or maybe they were not real, maybe they were a combination of people. I would have liked to know.


2 small negatives....don't let this sway you away. It is a very good movie. Real heroes the ones who survived and the ones who did not make it.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Gloria Bell

GLORIA BELL


2 stars out of 5


Sebastian Lelio brings his remake of Gloria from Chile. If  it was not for the wonderful performance here by Julianne Moore this American version would be a complete failure.
The storyline is the problem. We follow Gloria, who is a free spirited woman in her 50's. Yes she is kind of sweet. Maybe a little too sweet, she is a pushover. We see her as she tries to create a relationship, and I do mean create, with Arnold. Arnold is played by John Turturro, who is woefully miscast. So we follow this painful relationship, as Gloria tries to force it to work, and Arnold turns into a stalker. It is not a fun watch. it is more annoying...watching the odd behaviors from the lead characters. All added up, it is a film with slow movement and anuninteresting storyline. I mean people walked out of my screening. The trailer makes it look loose and fun, but it comes across as sad and claustrophobic.
The good, maybe great, is the performance by Julianne Moore. She says so much in this part by maybe just a look, or a smile. She carries this messy story to the end.


When it comes out for home viewing it is worth a look to see Julianne Moore. A disappointment.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time

New Fillm Review: Apollo 11

APOLLO 11


2 1/2 OUT OF 5 Stars


Directed by Todd Douglas Miller, on the year of the 50th anniversary of the moon walk, Apollo 11 dropped into the theatre for a limited engagement. I imagine it will show up on CNN during 2019, CNN helped produce this documentary.
Miller brings a great clear crisp documentary. Watching, it stuns you a bit how clear these videos are of the control room; the people camping and watching the lift off; the brave astronauts; and the lift-off.
That is all there is, the look is probably the best thing about the film. Other than that it really does not add anything new to the time period. We have seen it before. I was waiting for something in this to make me go WOW I DID NOT KNOW THAT, however it never came.


So 2 1/2 stars for its clear view, but other than that....been there..it is an amazing story that almost seems flat here.
Worth a look on CNN when it pops up later in the year I imagine.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: US

US
4 out of 5 stars

Well if you are a frequent flyer of my blog, and you really should be, it is a lovely blog with pictures, you know I am not a big horror fan. I tend to avoid these types of films unless there is a big buzz. Well...you know Jordan Peele's US has a lot of buzz!!!

This may be short because, as always, I try to keep my blog spoiler free.

I have heard this called a masterpiece of a horror film. Well not really...but it is very good.
The plot, as you can see from the trailers, some strangers show up at this family's vacation rental and ends up being them. Yes odd, but I cant spoil. I will just say it strangely involves a type of mirroring of individuals. I think...I am not sure, but I think they are pissed because we as humans are walking the earth, and we get to see the sky. Yes I do understand the political message of the forgotten class that toils under the radar, and here we do mean under, and out of sight and out of mind. I get it. I try to stay with the films for what it is and not look into deeper meanings outside the film I am watching in the theater.. You just want to know should I throw money down to go see it, I keep it simple. The answer here is YES.
The film is almost exhausting. Peele has you are on the edge of your seat constantly and he still manages to throw in some laughs. Plus a twist at the end which was kind of awesome, yet I saw it coming and it still worked.
His casting was spot on with actors doing really good jobs playing double parts:
Winston Duke as father Gabe Wilson and also Abraham
Shahadi Wright Joseph as daughter Zora Wilson and Umbrae
Evan Alex as Jason Wilson and Pluto
Also Elisabeth Moss shows up in a small but wonderful part as family friend Kitty Tyler, but is fantastic as Dahlia!

Oh did I leave someone out??!!

An incredible performance by Lupiuta Nyong'o!!!!!!!!!!!!
She is pure perfection as both mother Adelaide Wilson, and also Red. Please remember she is from Kenya and Mexico also, she is doing all this running around and playing two parts in an American accent and some strange growl. She is crazy good here!!!!! Acting often with just a look saying so much!!

Negatives?
-Unfortunately it had the typical characters making really dumb decisions during the movie...no spoilers but...why get out of the car??!! As per example. Separating unnecessarily way to often. Stopping to watch TV? That is just a couple of examples.
-Holes. Like a town has a big issue here and America knows because it is on the news. No military (Maybe I am overthinking however)?

Well 4 out of 5 stars which is pretty good for this non-horror liking reviewer, I think it borderlines more toward thriller than horror I guess. For horror fans it gives you everything you want...tension...blood...scares...and it also gives you the "creepies". Well maybe this review was not as short as I thought it would be.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase

Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase

2 1/2 out of 5 stars

Well oddly I was entertained.
I understand it was not for me....I had a little trouble trying to figure out who it was for. I think 10 -13 maybe. Tone is a but scary for younger than ten.
I also do not understand why it was in the theater. It seems like it would work better as a Netflix series. It is almost too basic for a big screen movie....asking people to pay money for this.
It does a lot right...
- The film cast the wonderful Sophia Lillis (IT) as Nancy. She is great, and I would like to see her in this role again. Also a nice job by Zoe Renee as George Fayn and Mackenzie Graham as Bess Marvin Nancy's best friends.
-The story follows the book by Mildred Wirt Benson, It is a good mystery...a little slow...but it works. It did modernize it a bit with cell phones. Also, it was a nice message movie for young ladies, where all three best friends are all very smart kids. There is also a nice message about ramifications of bullies and not to bully back.
Negatives-
-Story is a bit slow. Had many holes (Not sure if young kids would pick up the holes) and major coincidences.
- Casting Laura Wiggins as the gangs new friend? AAAH Way too old for the part of a high school student. She is 30!!!
 The film is harmless with a good message for young girls...if you don't follow the story too much to see the holes lol. It is available this coming week on VOD after spending a week in the theatres.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Five Feet Apart

FIVE FEET APART

2 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5

I was blessed to go see this film on Wednesday night (It comes out Friday) with a screening with a Q and A with the stars and director afterwards.
This film was compared, before it came out, to Fault In Our Stars, and I really liked Fault.

Five Feet is well acted by the three main characters:
Haley Lu Richardson as Stella
Cole Sprouse as Will
Moises Arias as Poe
They are all wonderful here as patients in a hospital suffering from Cystic Fibrosis.
I am a big fan of Richardson, I have seen her in many films and she always shines, and she really does here also. If you are going to see this film, even after this review, it should be to see her performance.
I feel mean panning the script because it brings to light Cystic Fibrosis and the struggle of living with the disease. However I have to be honest and review the film as I see it. I know it was based on a book. Some books just do not make a good movie. I did not read the book, maybe in the book we heard the inner thoughts of the characters and that is hard to bring to a film.
So the script:
It had no movement. The script had no character development for Will and Poe who are important in this film. There was one good conversation between 2 characters near a pool and that lasted about 5 minutes.We really rely on Stella's You Tube videos to get her personality. When she is not on You Tube we just know she is sick and is OCD. It is not the actors fault, it is just sterile as the hospital. I wanted conversations like in The Before Sunrise movies, where they walk around and just talk. Here the characters do not communicate they almost just growl. Yes I know they are ill, but again it does not work as a movie. So at the end I think it was suppose to be emotional but...nah.
In Fault the characters moved around. House to house....even to different continents. Here, in Five Feet, they were just in one location and it made the movie, again, sterile as the hospital they were in. Now before you send me messages about but they had a disease that they had to stay apart and in the hospital. Agreed...however I am saying it does not make a good movie, maybe a better book.
Holes. Holes. Holes:
No cameras in the hospital...not keeping track of patients in hallways????
Lighting candles in a hospital??? Which happens I am sure but lighting candles and having a fancy dinner and no one in the hospital knows???
Someone is having a important surgery. So the staff, family, and very sick patient decorate outside/ Huh?

Well I split it down middle with 2 1/2 stars because it is well acted, and I learned a lot about the disease. It just does not make a great movie. Maybe watch the movie then read the book?

As for the Q and A? It was interesting to hear about the work put in the film to learn about Cystic Fibrosis. The director Justin Baldoni was all in. It also seemed the characters were more appealing off camera as we saw the filming or making of. I wish we saw more of that in the movie.



Well as always thanks for your time as always.

New Film Review: Captain Marvel

CAPTAIN MARVEL

4 out of 5 Stars
It has been a pretty rough year for films....so here comes Captain Marvel flying in. This is the best film I have seen this year for sure.

I will get the negatives out of the way:
-As with most modern day superhero movies the final fight scene goes on way too long. This one I timed at 30 minutes...including a fight on a space ship. A fight in space. A fight on earth. Then another fight in space again. The directors/screenwriters Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck could not stop themselves...they always think more is better. In reality sometimes less is more....it makes the story cleaner and tighter. In the last 30 minutes it felt like they were just making it up as they went on.
-A surprise twist of the bad guy in the middle of the film was not much of a surprise when you show that in the trailer LOL!!
-Special effects were pretty bad. The first 15 minutes takes place with just green screen and it does not look good. Then when Captain Marvel flies....it is bad...it does not look like her at all. You would figure with all that Marvel/Disney money they would be able to clean it up, or use real sets and get rid of the dark green screen in the beginning of the film.

Now to the good!!!!
- Brie Larson...Brie Larson...Brie Larson. What a great decision. One of the best actresses working today! Bad ass; smart; and funny, she carries this film on her shoulders. Yes she gets lots of help (Sam Jackson), but it is her that makes this film work. She also has to act through some odd editing where we do not get much of a back story in one lump, her back story is scattered through out the film. So she is in a tough situation, for she is a little bit of a cold superhero. We do not know her back story very much, she has to try to get us to like her. In reality....we kind of do not fully like her, but we trust in her, which makes her different from other superheros.
-The screen play, even though a little sloppy at the end, and a bit confusing at the end, it has you guessing and cheering. Part action; part mystery; part comedy and all together it works.
-Oh my!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The best mid -credit scene ever!!!!!!!!!!! I mean after watching that last Avengers which was nothing short of watching heroes being disintegrated...then come this mid-credit scene which felt like hope!! I mean in my screening the place went nuts!! Also...there is an after credit scene which I think is important in a quiet way.
-The cat is a star!!

4 out of 5 stars for Captain Marvel.
Go see it.

From the shadows thanks for your time!!

New Film Review: Fighting With My Family

FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY
3 1/2 out of 5 Stars

Sometimes you get surprised.
I am not much of a modern day wrestling fan, so I put this film on the back-burner.
This movie delivers.
The trailer for this film is deceiving. It sells it as one woman's journey. However it is a story about family, the Knight family who runs a small wresting company in the UK. They are just a family who sticks together, yes they fight, but still they love and care for each other. Yes we follow Paig played wonderfully by Florence Pugh (First contender for best newcomer/breakout of the year), as she chases her dream to be in the WWE....and the difficulty of leaving her brother and other family members behind.
The film is sweet; often funny; and interesting (who knew there was a WWE minor league in Florida??!!).
Yes there are gaps in the story (Like her downfall should have been mentioned) and often you feel you are watching the same practice/workout scenes over and over. Plus it seemed that Vince Vaughn as Hutch did not want to be in this film...he seems to be mailing it in.
Still it is harmless fun. Surprise...I really liked it and I was cheering Paig on!!

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.