Beautiful Boy 2018

     This film is based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from David and Nic Sheff.  David was married previously to Vicki and they have a son Nic.  David has remarried and his wife is Karen Barbour.  They have two younger children, Daisy and Jasper Sheff.  Nic has been having trouble with drugs, he prefers crystal meth and he’s decided not to attend college.  He’s also been using cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana and alcohol.  Nic has been to a rehab clinic and he went to a halfway house.

     This is a very intense film and based on true stories.  I could feel the extreme emotions felt by Nic’s parents.  You want to do what is best for your son but it sometimes requires a refusal to give into what they want from you.  They want money but it’s not for the reason they say they are telling you.  If you give them money, it will just go into their arm or up their nose.  Can you send them to college or will the freedom be too much for them to handle??  You want to always be there for them but a time comes when you have to turn your back for them to get better.  Or the other side of the coin is they not get better and possibly die.  4* (I really liked this movie)

120 min, Bio directed by Felix can Groeningen with Steve Carell, Maura Tierney, Jack Dylan Grazer, Oakley Bull, Christian Convery, Timothee Chalamet, Amy Aquino, Carlton Wilborn, Stefanie Scott, Marypat Farrell, Timothy Hutton, Amy Forsyth.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, 69% critic 74% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Rojer Ebert 2*, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Empire Online 4* out of 5*, Metacritic 62 out of 100 with 45 critic 7.1 out of 10 with 58 reviews, Washington Post 2* out of 4*, Amazon Video 4.2* out of 5* with 476 reviews, 

Special Note:  Timothee Chalamet lost 25 pounds for his role as Nic Sheff.  He worked with a consultant and a doctor on set to ensure his acting as a drug addict was realistic and authentic.  I thought Timothee wore looser clothing to portray having a thinner frame?  David Sheff looks through a very dark book of drawings by Nic Sheff.  The book was actually drawn by Nic’s real life half brother Jasper Sheff.  The title comes from John Lennon’s song Beautiful Boy.  Co-screenwriter Luke Davies is a recovering addict.  During the 1980’s he was dependent on heroin and this led him on a path of self-destruction.  He turned himself around in 1990 and he wrote of his experiences in the novel Candy published in mid-1998.  This novel was made into a film in 2006 with Davis as the co-writer of the screenplay.  Nic Sheff has written the book Tweak and David Sheff has written Beautiful Boy: a Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction. 

Mary and the Witch’s Flower 2017

     This animated film is based on the book The Little Broomstick, Mary and the Witch’s Flower by British author Mary Stewart published in 1971.  Mary has recently moved to the country to live in the village of Red Manor with her Great-Aunt Charlotte.  Her parents will be arriving later.   She feels lonely and she doesn’t think there are any other friends for her to hang out with because it’s summer.  She follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest.  She discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower.  It’s a rare plant that blossoms only once every seven years and only in this forest.  The broomstick takes Mary to Endor College.  It’s a rare school of magic run by Madam Mumblechook and Doctor Dee.  Things are happening at the school that need to be changed.  Mary may be the only one able to make the changes?

     There is a LOT of fantasy in this film and some of the scenes may be scary for younger children.  Doctor Dee turns many animals into other types of creatures.  None of the animals are happy about the changes!!  Mary feel like she fit into her new neighborhood?  She has wild red hair and the only person her age that she knows is Peter.    

 

103 min, animation directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Giles New with the voices of Hana Sugisaki, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Yuki Amami, Fumiyo Kohinata, Hikari Mitsushima, Jiro Sato, Ken’ichi Endo, Eri Watanabe, Shinobu Otake, Ikue Otani, Ruby Barnhill, Kate Winslet.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, 88% critic 70% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Metacritic 75 out of 100 6.9 user score with 51 reviews, Common Sense Media age 8+, positive messages 4*, role models 4*, violence and scariness 3*, Empire Online 4* out of 5*, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 301 reviews, Guardian 4* out of 5*, Telegraph 5* out of 5*.

Special Note:  This is the debut film of Studio Ponoc.  Hiromasa Yonebayashi is a former colleague of the artists at Studio Ghibli.  He worked on Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Onyo.  He directed When Marnie Was There and The Secret World of Arrietty.   

Boardwalk Empire Season 5 2014

     In this Season there are flashbacks to Nucky’s childhood staring in 1884.  The time period is 1931 and Nucky is in Cuba.  He’s attempting to set up networks for shipping alcohol into the US after the Volstead Act is reversed.  Nucky is partnering with a Senator but he loses interest.  Nucky is forced to seek out a new line of support.  Sally is conducting business in Cuba but rumors swirl about a public uprising.  Chalk comes to Nucky hunting of Narcisse.  Chalky and Narcisse come to an agreement.  Nucky is at odds with Luciano.  The Feds have been tracking Al Capone.     

     This season is different with the addition of insight into Nucky and Eli as children and their parents.  More background about Chalky is also included.  There is still a LOT of violence so be prepared for that!! 4 1/2* ( I really liked this series)

  

Note:  TV series shown on HBO, 55 min each episode, created by Terence Winter with Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Stephen Graham, Vincent Piazza, Miachael Kenneth Williams, Paul Sparks, Gretchen Mol, Anatol Yusef, Jeffrey Wright, Greg Antonacci, Nisi Sturgis, Chris Caldovino, Christiane Seidel, Michael Zegen. 

   

Episode Titles:  Golden Days for Boys and Girls, The Good Listener, What Jesus Said, Cuanto, King of Norway, Devil You Know, Friendless Child, Eldorado.

Special Note:  Enoch "Nucky" Thompson is based on the real person Enoch Lewis Johnson.  He was born on January 20, 1883 in Galloway Township New Jersey.  His parents were Irish-Americans Smith E. and Virginia.  In 1886, Johnson's father became sheriff of Mays Landing New Jersey for three years.  In 1905, Johnson became his father's under sheriff.  In 1908 he was elected sheriff after his father's term ended.  His power reached it's peak during prohibition because the law was not enforced in Atlantic City.  The city was called the World's Playground and Johnson got a cut of any money from serving alcohol, running a brothel or gambling den.  This was to ensure the establishments were not bothered by authorities.      

Everyone Says I Love You 1996

      A polite and comfortably well-off group of people seem to always have romantic difficulties?  Steffi and Joe are divorced but Steffi is always trying to fix Joe up with someone?  She believes that Joe doesn’t know how to read women and he always picks someone that’s not right for him?  Steffi is married to Bob and their children are Skyler and Scott.  There is also DJ and she is Steffi’s daughter with Joe.  Skyler is engaged to Holden but she becomes interested in Charles.  He is her mother’s latest fix up a person project.  He’s an ex-con plus he’s extremely rude and crude.  DJ is trying to set up her father Joe with Von.  DJ believes Von’s husband isn’t right for her and Joe is better suited for her as a husband.   

     The story is typical Woody Allen and filled with relationships and their problems.  Added in is the constant singing and dancing!!  This seems to detract from the story instead of adding to it?  I am not a fan of musicals so this isn’t my cup of tea??  Just stick with the story and throw out the music!!  The scenery of New York and Paris is very beautiful. 3* (This movie is OK)

101 min, Musical written and directed by Woody Allen with Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts, Woody Allen, Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Alan Alda, Gaby Hoffmann, Natalie Portman, Lukas Haas, Trued Klein, Goldie Hawn, Itzhak Perlman, Julia Roberts, John Griffin, Patrick Cranshaw.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, 79% critic 68% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*, Empire Online 5*, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 155 review, Common Sense Media age 17+, sex, language, drinking 3*.

Special Note:  Filmed in New York City, Paris France and Veneto Italy.  Allen did not tell the actors that this was a musical until after they signed their contracts?  Allen asked Goldie Hawn and Edward Norton to sing less well?  Everyone sang the songs themselves except for Drew Barrymore.  She protested that her singing is too awful.  Drew also wore a wig because her hair was purple.  Tracey Ullman and Liv Tyler filmed scenes but they were cut to reduce the run time. 

Come Early Morning DVD 2007

      The setting of this film is a small town near Little Rock Arkansas.  Lucy is 30 in her 30's and she works for a construction firm.  On the weekends she goes to bars and she drinks.  She meets someone at a bar, goes home with them and then she sneaks away in the early morning.  She insists on paying for the motel room and she gets a cab to take her home.  Lucy cares a LOT about her father and he has just come back to town.  He is painfully shy and he doesn’t have much to say to Lucy.  She goes to church with him on Sunday mornings.  Her Nana lives nearby and she goes to visit her a lot too.  Lucy meets Cal Percell and tries to work with her on her self-destructive behavior patterns.

     Lucy has a LOT of baggage from her past in this film.  Cal gives it his best shot but he doesn’t know if he can break down her inner and outer walls.  Lucy works hard at her job and she’s good at it.  She doesn’t know how to get over her past and change her current behavior.  She wants to change but she doesn’t know if she can.  It's easier to stay the same?  3* (This movie is OK)    

97 min, Drama written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams with Ashley Judd, Stacy Keach, Jeffrey Donovan, Tim Blake Nelson, Richard Lee Crow, Laura Prepon, Christine Renee Ward, Candyce Hinkle, Scott Wilson, Pat Corley, Diane Ladd, Wally Welch, Ritchie Montgomery, Jeffrey Donovan, Rick Dial.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10, 83% critic 48% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic 64 out of 100 with 16 critics 7.5 out of 10 with 10 reviews, Slant Magazine 2* out of 4*, MovieGuide.org, moderate language, light violence, moderate sex, light nudity, quality 2* out of 4* content -3, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 59 reviews. 

Special Note:  Filmed in Little Rock, Arkansas.  It took Joey Lauren Adams five years to raise the necessary budget to make this film.  After Ashley Judd committed to star in the film, Joey was able to secure six million dollars.  Then, she had only five weeks to prep the film.  The films Tender Mercies of 1983 and Urban Cowboy of 1980 influenced Joey in her writing.  The original title was Lovin Up a Storm after the Jerry Lee Lewis song.  Premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

Woman Walks Ahead 2017

     This film is based on Eileen Pollack’s novel Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Welding and Sitting bull published in 2002.  This film is about just a portion of her life.  Catherine Weldon was a portrait painter from the 1890’s in Brooklyn New York.  She traveled to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull.  She became embroiled in the Lakota peoples’ struggle over the rights to their land.  In 1890, there was a vote by the tribal members to ratify a treaty to decide whether their reservation land would be allotted.  Since the treaty of 1868, congress unilaterally dictated Indian policy to the tribes.  The President was authorized to allot 40-160 acre tracts to tribal families and individuals.  Then, the open “surplus lands" were up for sale to the tribes.  Nearly 90 million acres of tribal lands were removed from Indian control.  The allotments also limited the amount of food supplies the tribes could receive.  This action was to encourage them to vote in favor of the treaty.

     It seems very unusual that a woman would travel from New York to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull??  It must be true since this is a historic fact?  After her divorce and then abandonment by her lover, she became committed to the cause of Native Americans.  She joined the NIDA, the National Indian Defense Association.  After her mother died in 1997, she inherited some money.  This gave her the means to freely travel to pursue her interests.  She changed her name to Caroline Weldon from her birth name of Susanna Karolina Faesch (she was born in Switzerland).  She denounced the Ghost Dance Movement, warned Sitting Bull that it would give the Government an excuse to kill him and Sitting Bull turned against her.  When her son became ill in November, she decided to leave.  When Sitting Bull was killed, she was proved to be right and this added to her sense of futility and failure.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

     

101 min, Bio directed by Susanna White with Jessica Chastain, Louisa Krause, Boots Southerland, Chaske Spencer, Ciaran Hinds, Kindall Charters, Sam Rockwell, Jacob Browne, Luce Rains, Rod Rondeaux, Rulan Tangen, Michael Greyeyes, Monika Crowfoot, Debbie Black Lance.

Note:  Imdb 6.5 out of 10, 53% critic 62% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*, Rolling Stone 2* out of 4*, 51 out of 100 with 19 critics 6.8 out of 10 with 9 reviews, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 471 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in New Mexico.  Caroline and Sitting Bull began corresponding around 1888.  This was after Sitting Bull had visited Washington.  He was there to discuss fair prices for Dakota land.  He also wanted to view maps showing the plans the government had to reduce the size of the tribes’ reservations.  This film states that Caroline Weldon was a widow but this isn’t true.  She was married to Bernhard Claudius Schlatter.  She left her husband for another man and she had a son.  She took her son with her to the Sioux settlement.  She divorced in her husband 1883.  Her painting hangs in the State Historical Society Museum in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Sitting Bull:  He was a Hunkpap Lakota leader and he led his people during years of resistance to US Government policies.  Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation killed him during an attempt to arrest him on December 16, 1890.  They feared he would leave the reservation to join the Ghost Dance movement.  This was a new religious movement of 1890 and it became incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems.  The proper practice of dance would reunite the living with the spirits of the dead.  The spirits would fight on the behalf of the living and make the white colonists leave the land.  They would bring peace, prosperity and unity to Native America people throughout the region.

Zama 2017

     This film is based on a novel by Antonio Di Benedetto written in 1956.  Don Diego deZama was a Spanish officer of the 17^th century and he was born in South America. He settled in Asuncion, a remote South American colony.  He is awaiting his transfer to Buenos Aires.  Years go by and he is still awaiting the letter from the King to arrive?

     I thought this film was difficult to watch!!  It’s hard to pay attention and people keep coming and going but there isn’t much else happening?  There must be a cultural difference.  It must require attentive and patient viewing with possible later appreciation?  Maybe the inclusion of a tour guide would better explain what is happening?   2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

115 min, Drama directed by Lucrecia Martel with Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Lola Duenas, Matheus Nachtergaele, Juan Minujin, Nahuel Cano, Mariana Nunes, Carlos Defeo, Rafel Spregelburd, Carlos Cano, Jorge Roman.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 96% critic 53% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*, Metacritic 89 out of 100 with 26 critics 7.7 out of 10 with 23 reviews, Amazon 3.5* out of 5* with 21 reviews, The Telegraph 4* out of 5*, The Guardian 5* Peter Bradshaw.

Special Note:  Filmed in Formosa, Argentina.  This film was the official submission of Argentina for the Best Foreign Language Film of the 90^th Academy Awards in 2018.  The premiere was at TIFF in Toronto in September 2017.  Goodreads.com gives the book 4.01* out of 5* with 1,220 ratings and 180 reviews.