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Motherless Brooklyn
Well I think he was right to change the time period to 1950’s Noir, but at the same time, after the character Frank Minna (Bruce Willis) smirks his way to an early demise and Lionel (Edward Norton) starts his investigation, it soon becomes one of those “Maltese Falcon”/”Chinatown” type story that I tend to get bored following … Edward Norton is the writer/director/lead of #MotherlessBrooklyn, a passion project that took him 20 years to get to the screen, based on a 1999 novel by Jonathan Lethem. The story centers around solving the murder of Frank Minna, a private dick/hustler with a team of 4 misfit associates. His most loyal misfit…
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Last Christmas
by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor In my review of the “The Irishman” I admitted that I’m not the best person to review that movie as it’s just not my genre. But rom/coms, that’s something I know something about! And it’s sad when they don’t quite hit the mark; you want so badly to be charmed and yet you just can’t get there. “Last Christmas” is directed by Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids” “Spy”) and written by Bryony Kimmings and Emma Thompson, who co-wrote the story with her husband, Greg Wise. Based on the ubiquitous annual Christmas song of the same name by George Michael. Which I think comes in #2 on most…
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Jojo Rabbit
Writer/director Taika Waititi (“Thor Ragnarok”) created a Wes Anderson-esque offbeat Anne Frank-ish comedy, which won the People’s Choice Awards at TIFF. JOJO RABBIT is set near the end of World War II. Jojo Betzler, played by a remarkable young actor (Roman Griffin Davis) who could give both Jacob Tremblay (Room) and the Stranger Things kids a run for the money) is a German 10-year-old Nazi enthusiast so zealously ready to join the Third Reich, his imaginary friend is a wacky Adolf Hitler (played by Waititi). This is Roman’s first professional role and he really seemed to understand the whole tone of the movie and how to play it straight with…
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JOKER
I’m impressed with JOKER, yes, but still having trouble, as Joaquin Phoenix puts it in this interview – “finding something real” or original to say. Does it glorify these lone killers who tend to be white men on the fringes of society? Is it too inciting during a time when the country is even more divided and in political mayhem? On the other hand, does director Todd Phillips (co-writer Scott Silver) find a way to shine a light on these people who have been abused, are weird and ostracized, cut off from kindness, cut off from getting help as social programs shut down. This film could be seen as a…
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AD ASTRA
AD ASTRA otherwise known as “Brad Pitt in Space”, feels as if Pitt looked at his body of work and thought Damon, Clooney, McConaughey and Hanks all have space movies under their belts. If I’m gonna leave a legacy, I’ve got to get in on the astronaut game and check that off my list; and this is why we have AD ASTRA (the title is Latin for “to the stars”). The film is set in the near future and centers around the interplanetary and emotional journey of astronaut Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) who has followed in the footsteps of his famous astronaut father Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) who…
