Movies: What Men Want, Alita: Battle Angel, Never Look Away

What Men Want

If you have seen the previews it should be obvious what the tone and theme of this film will be.  To be sure, it’s mostly predictable, often quite funny, occasionally audacious, sometimes corny, but also surprising with moments of both serious topics and real issues like integrity and social/gender equity.

There is an ample cast of characters headlined by Taraji P. Henson as a Sports Agent in a male dominated industry, Aldis Hodge as the love interest, Josh Brener as the assistant, Kellan Lutz as Captain F**tastic.  Other notable cast members included Erykah Badu as a hilarious fortune teller, Tete Davidson, Max Greenfield, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Tracy Morgan, Brian Bosworth, Phoebe Robinson, Shaquille O’ Neal and Mark Cuban.

The film is rated R for language and sexual content throughout and some drug material.  There are a few scenes showing sexual acts.  There is frequent profanity, women fighting and references to marijuana, cocaine and other drugs.  Needless to say this film is not appropriate for children.

The film is listed as Fantasy/Romance/Drama with a run time of 1 hour, 57 minutes.

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Alita: Battle Angel

The big release this week was the 20th Century Fox opening of Alita: Battle Angel.  It’s directed by cult filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and co-written and co-produced by James Cameron.  Weta Digital, Peter Jackson’s special-effects company, make the razzle-dazzle possible.

There is an impressive cast:  Rosa Salazar plays Alita.  Christoph Waltz is perfect as Dr. Dyson Ido. Jennifer Connelly plays the good/bad ex-wife Chiron.  Mahershala Ali plays a really bad guy Vector really well.  Other really bad guys are played believably by Ed Skrein as Zapan, Keean Johnson as Hugo, Leonard Wu as Kinuba and Marko Zzror as Ajakutty.

There is a lot of story built into this film.  The special effects make this film work.  The scenes are complex yet stunning.  The sets are elaborate and somewhat overwhelming but essential to the story.

The film is rated PG-13.  There is plenty of ‘fantasy violence’ (fighting, stabbing, blood, death).  Female characters are objectified and there is some poor language.  We do not feel this movie is appropriate for younger children.

The genre is listed as Action & Adventure, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller.  The run time is 122 minutes.

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Never Look Away

We were delighted to see this film finally released to US audiences just in time before the Academy Awards.  This film is nominated for Best Foreign Film this year.  It was also the only one we had NOT seen…until today.

It’s an interesting film that is “loosely” based on the life of German artist Gerhard Richter, a noted artist who experienced WWII as a young child and later used these life experiences as inspiration for his artwork.

More than a dozen plus German actors fill the screen as the cast of characters.  The script spans over three decades starting in 1937 Dresden, Germany and ending in 1967 Dusseldorf, Germany.

The movie is rated R for graphic nudity, sexuality and brief violent images.  It is not suitable for children.  It is listed as a Drama running an astounding 3 hours, 9 minutes.  German with English subtitles.  Try to see it if possible, before or after the Oscars.

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