Author: James Hathaway

Good Day to all!

We are pleased to present you with Jim and John’s Oscar Picks for the 2019 91st Academy Awards, February 24 at 5 PM PST on ABC, from the Dolby Theater, Los Angeles, CA.

This year we’ve changed our format a bit.  Below is a link to our official ballot.  We know some of you host Oscar parties.  The attached ballot in RED is a PDF meaning you can customize and print the document as needed.

That said, you will notice OUR picks are noted in its column.  You and/or your guests may select their picks in the other columns.

Since we crashed and burned with our predictions last year, we doubled down our efforts to read the Oscar “tea leaves” this year.  We can say we have seen ALL but four of the nominated films.  (You will see our predictions for Hair and Makeup and Documentary Feature based on what we did see and our best research.)

Those four films are:

Border, Nominated for Makeup and Hair

Hale County This Morning, This evening, Nominated for Documentary Feature

Minding the Gap, Nominated for Documentary Feature

Of Fathers and Sons, Nominated for Documentary Feature

Click here to download your 2019 Oscar Ballot.

We would love to hear back from you regarding any of your favorite movies from this year, any parties/events, or any other related functions/insights.

We have planned a quiet evening at home with our traditional Oscar dinner of steamed Dungeness crab and a bottle of Champagne.  Our first toast will be to all of you!

Cheers!

J&J

PS:  A big THANK YOU to our friend and blog guru, John H, for all the help and support this year when we needed it.

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.

Rating  

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.

Rating: 

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.

Rating  

 

 

Cold Pursuit

We thought this film looked familiar when we saw the previews several weeks back.  We now know this film by Director Hans Petter Moland is based on the 2014 Norwegian thriller released in the US under the title In Order of Disappearance.  (Who can forget launching vehicles into the sky using giant snow plows at full speed?!)

This rendition continues with lots of drama, lots of really bad guys of all makes and models, multiple ‘kingpins” and plenty of snarky dark humor that must be intended to soften the protracted scenes of extreme violence.

The cast is impressive.  Liam Neeson is the headliner.  Tom Bateman, William Forsythe, Raoul Trujillo, Ben Hollingsworth, Domenick Lombardozzi, Tom Jackson and Ben Cotton are enough bad guys to take over a small country or in this case a small ski town in Colorado.

There are only a few ladies: Emmy Rossum, Julia Jones, Laura Dern and Elysia Rotaru round out the girls.

The movie is rated R for extensive strong violence, drug material, language including sexual references.  It is not appropriate for children.  It is listed as an Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Suspense with a run time of 118 minutes.

Rating  

Arctic

This Danish production has all the traits you would expect from a small plane crash in the Arctic.  First a survivor, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who knows what to do in such a situation.  Food, shelter, rescue.

In the next day or so an unexpected helicopter appears on the horizon and suddenly crashes, leaving one survivor injured but alive.  Icelandic actress Maria Thelma Smaradottir plays this survivor.

These two characters are basically the entire cast.  What makes this film work is the focus on survival.  It feels like you are there first hand, a chilling, death defying experience without any bells or whistles.

The film is rated PG-13 for language and some bloody images.  It’s listed as a drama with a run time of 98 minutes.  We do not think this film is suitable for children.  See it because it is different, insightful, humbling and loaded with suspense!

Rating  

The Prodigy

This recent film release is a haunting throw back to numerous possession stories, this one occurs in a child.  There is a big twist that makes the story quite unnerving.  The tension builds quickly and the visuals become more and more difficult to watch.  Upon reflection the story is a bit easier to comprehend.

The cast is quite small.  Award winner Taylor Schilling is excellent at the mom.  Peter Mooney plays the dad.  Ten year old Jackson Robert Scott plays their son. Canadian Actor Colm Feore plays the Psychiatrist.  Brittany Allen plays the victim.  Another dozen actors play bit parts to round out the cast.

The tension that is created in this film is both subtle and yet intense.  Much of the story is unique and different than similar story lines.

The film is rated R for violence, disturbing and bloody images, a sexual reference and brief graphic nudity.  It is listed as a Horror film with a run time of 92 minutes.  It is absolutely not appropriate for children.

Rating  

Hi everyone,

This year the 2019 Oscar Nominated Short Documentary Films were released to the general public, albeit in extremely limited release.  While one crummy old theater in San Francisco was showing these shorts, we were happy to find these films in San Rafael (hum…a broken down flea bitten fire trap or a renovated/updated classic Art Deco movie palace?  The drive north was definitely worth it.)  J&J

Black Sheep/UK, 27 minutes

This film was based on true events.  An immigrant Nigerian family is living in London when a 10 year old girl is killed in their neighborhood for no apparent reason.  The family moves to Essex with the hopes of a better future only to discover worse racist attitudes.

The immigrant teenage son named Cornelius suddenly finds the local teenage “toughs” take a shine to him for some unclear reason.  Cornelius immediately decides to change who he is to match their approval, behavior, lightening his skin color and even wearing blue contact lenses.  Cornelius struggles with “making friends with monsters” leaves the audience contemplating the situation with no easy answers.

Rating  

End Game/USA, 40 minutes

WOW!  The title refers to “palliative care” and “hospice treatment”.  To be clear, in general, it looks at end of life treatment for terminally ill patients of all kinds.  It’s a look behind the curtains inside San Francisco’s Zen Hospice Project and UCSF’s Palliative Care Program.

It’s a tough look in clear language.  It’s often heart wrenching, sometimes amazing, but mostly respectful, sensitive and loving.  All the patients, staff and family’s collectively reveal perspective’s that are concurrently based on love, compassion and peace.

Rating  

Period. End of Sentence/USA, 26 minutes

OK.  Now we’ll travel to India and an upbeat story set in a small village outside Delhi, India.  It’s a blunt conversation about women’s menstruation.  Most local men don’t know what it is, the village women giggle and avoid the topic if possible.

Fast forward, the film is about “The Pad Project”.  Gender and subjective issues aside, this film is focused on local women taking control and ownership of a program where women develop, produce and sell/distribute sanitary pads to neighboring towns and villages spawning micro businesses that change lives and promote healthier behaviors.  Hindi with English subtitles.

Rating: 

Lifeboat/USA, 34 minutes

This film is based on the German non-profit organization dedicated to helping refugees fleeing Libya (and numerous other countries) in recent years.

An over arching sense of disconnection for the refugees is palatable on many levels.  Ultimately, these people are seeking a better life in another place.  The risks are terrifying and the future clouded at best.

Special note:  We were in Sicily a few years ago while these humanitarian rescues were occurring.  We had the opportunity to meet with recently “assimilated” arrivals to Italy.  It was a profound experience to connect with these refugees.  The guarded stories of their experiences are still fresh in our minds.

Rating: 

A Night at the Garden/USA, 7 minutes

OH MY!  Considered by some as “the best of the bunch” this film is shockingly different.  Using archival footage, this film is a powerful reminder of  historical events from Madison Square Garden in New York City, February 20, 1939, shortly before the beginning of WWII.  Over 20,000 “Pro-American Patriots” gathered to cheer on Nazism and fascist ideology.

Europe was already in disarray.  Adolf Hitler’s troops were already in the process of building concentration camps.  The result is a riveting and revolting reflection on a dark event and the tumultuous politics of the time.  Lest we forget.

Rating  

Wow!  This year’s Oscar nominees for Live Action Short Subject are all worthy of global recognition.  It’s one of the best selections of films in recent years.  That said, three of the nominees involve intense children topics, two involve racial violence and one involves end of life sexual acceptance.  Talk about tough material to watch and absorb?!

Enjoy. J&J

Oscar Nominated Live Action, Short Subject

Detainment/Ireland

This true story set in Liverpool, England is difficult to watch when a pair of 10 year old boys are part of an astounding crime against a toddler.  The story is often intense.  This short subject film feels like an eternity.  It’s an incredible story condensed to 30 minutes.

Rating  

Fauve/Canada

This 17 minute film takes place in a Quebec “surface mine” so huge and bleak its visual presence itself is other worldly.  Nonetheless two young adolescent boys are drawn to a soft hole in the surface.  What begins as two boys rough housing around turns into a life threatening event.  The film is haunting, unnerving and heartbreaking.  French with English subtitles.

Rating: 

Madre/Spain

This 19 minute film opened the show.  The mother, along with her mom receives a telephone call from her six year old son who’s vacationing with the ex-husband in France.  Her son is lost, cannot find his father and begins to panic. The mom tries to calm her son and tries to gather information that might help her help her son.  The film ends in angst as the child’s cell phone battery dies.  Spanish with English subtitles.

Rating  

Marguerite/Canada

Here is another 19 minute film about an elderly woman and her daily caregiver.  It’s a charming and sensitive end of life experience story.  It’s the only entry by a woman Director, French-Canadian Marianne Farley.  The on screen chemistry between the two actors is powerful, concurrently heart warming and heart wrenching.

Rating  

Skin/USA

This was the most disturbing film of the day.  A family of skinheads is led by the tattooed alpha male who clearly loves his family.  While shopping for groceries at a supermarket, the young son has a casual contact with a friendly African American man.  This brief exchange leads to a horrid act of racism.  The ending is extremely difficult to watch.  It carries a powerful message for all.  The run time is 20 minutes.

Rating  

 

HELLO ALL!

We are in the final two weeks before the 2019 Oscars.  This week the 2019 Oscar Nominated Short Films just opened nationwide.  Yesterday we viewed the five Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films, along with two Highly Commended Animated Shorts.

This review will be the first of three.  Next will be our reviews of the Live Action Shorts, and finally the Documentary Shorts.  Soon after we will publish our  Oscar Ballot with our predictions for all 2019 Oscar categories.

Cheers to all!  J&J

ANIMATION SHORTS

Late Afternoon, Canada

This 10 minute animated short is quite sad.  It’s about an elderly woman at home reflecting on memories only to confuse them with the past or another place.  That said, it’s heart warming and ultimately upbeat.

Rating  

One Small Step, USA

In this 8 minute film a Chinese American girl, Luna, aspires to be an astronaut.  She lives with her father Chu, who earns a living repairing shoes.  Luna struggles in college.  It has excellent style and animation.  It’s both touching and positive.

Rating  

Bao, USA

This Pixar created animated short film is an absolute delight.  It’s the product of a Chinese Canadian filmmaker.  It requires the viewer to have an open mind and an active imagination given its title.  Bao is a steamed Chinese bun that can be filled with any number of ingredients, i.e. BBQ pork or veggies…  It runs 8 minutes.

Rating  

Animal Behavior, Canada

This 14 minute Canadian film is too funny.  Six animals meet together with their psychotherapist for a session.  There is a snail, a bird, a pig, a cat, a cricket, a gorilla and a dog (as the therapist).  What is funny is the creatures are all just being themselves until all falls into chaos.  It’s truly a hoot.

Rating  

Weekends, USA

This animated short takes on a the serious topic of a young boy shuffling between divorced parents.  This 15 minute short toggles between surreal and a dream-like reality.  The film is quite open about the confusion, emotional torment, and disruption caused by fractured families.

Rating  

Wishing Box, USA/China

This 6 minute animated short was not nominated for an Oscar but was listed as “Highly Commended”.  It’s a production by China and the US.  It’s the story about a pirate and a monkey with a treasure box that yields food but no treasure…at first.  It’s both charming and funny.

Rating  

Tweet Tweet/Russia

This is also listed as “Highly Commended” in the Animated Shorts category.  It’s quite unique.  It is the story of “life cycles” depicted in the form of seasons and life forms.  It is very thought provoking.  The run time is 11 minutes.

Rating  

 

 

The Wandering Earth

In these weeks before the Oscar presentations, with few new releases, many of our theaters are as bleak as the political landscape.  When suddenly China releases a sci-fi blockbuster where our sun is about to vaporize our solar system.  The world unites and hatches a plan to move Earth to a new star, Proxima Centauri.

We chose to see the film in our largest IMAX theater in 3D.  Rare for us, but a monumental film with incredible visual effects just demands all the bells and whistles a five story theater screen and a Dolby surround sound system can muster.

The production is world class and reflects the rapid evolution of the Chinese film industry.  That said, some parts of the production wander into the odd to goofy section but overall it’s a unique, visually stunning story that will challenge the imagination.

It’s listed as Science Fiction.  The language is Mandarin with English subtitles.  The run time is 125 minutes.

Rating: 

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga

The literal translation according to Google is “A girl saw it.”  Obviously something is lost in translation.  This is an unusual film on several levels.  The director of the film states “it’s a film about a family, a community and a brother understanding the emotion about love”.

It’s our opinion there is a cultural/religious gap that keeps the LGBTQ conversation from an open and honest dialog.  In any case, the film is both interesting and highly entertaining.

There is a great Bollywood production that opens the film.  It’s classic, bawdy, colorful, semi-goofy and beautiful.  That actually describes the movie in general.

There are several scenes that start to reveal some conflict but the story never really walks through that portal.  Just as well.  The film would be completely different if the subtle conflicts were confronted on screen.

This film is not rated.  It’s listed as a Drama with a run time of a staggering 170 minutes.  Hindi with English subtitles.

Rating: 

Tito and the Birds

Oy!  This is a most unusual animated film from Brazil.  It’s touted as a “boy- against- the-world” allegory about the far-right politics currently in control of Brazil society.

That would explain the darkly colored scenes, “seasick colors” and the distorted animation.  The central theme is about a 10-year-old boy who develops a machine that helps humans understand birds.  It was also the life’s work of his father, a scientist, banished from the family after a failed experiment.  As an epidemic of fear takes over the adults shrink into lumps of “human rocks”.

Tito on the other hand believes he has the solution and following his father’s footsteps, develops another machine that captures the songs of doves that counteracts the paranoia consuming the nation.  Pretty heavy stuff.  We assume the message was a metaphor for the confusing ending.

Critics have been applauding the story, animation and the reflection on current generations and the society they live in.  It’s all a bit tedious, macabre and esoteric for us.

The film is not rated.  It’s listed as Action & Adventure, Animation, Drama with a run time of 73 minutes.  We saw the dubbed English version of this film.  The original is Portuguese with English subtitles.

Rating 

A BIG HELLO to everyone!

It’s still that odd time of year when new releases are few and hard to find.  That said, there are still a handful of odd ball releases.  Some are better than you might expect.

The Oscars are three weeks from today.  We are preparing our ballot and will have it posted in plenty of time to include it in your Oscar festivities!  More to come!

J&J

The Clovehitch Killer

This film was originally released in September 2018 at the LA Film Festival and later a “limited release” in November 2018.  You can still find it on pay per view and some small art house theaters.

It’s set in a small town in Kentucky (and was also filmed there).  It’s the story about a devout Christian family in a quiet town where seemingly everyone knows everyone.

The acting is pretty good.  Charlie Plummer plays the son.  Dylan McDermott plays the dad, Samantha Mathis is the mother.  Ann Madisen plays the son’s girlfriend.

The film has an eerie undertone that starts early and slowly builds and builds.  There are more than a few creepy scenes that make you squirm in your seat.

Surprisingly the film is not rated.  There is mild nudity, some porn magazines and brief topless images.  There is one scene with disturbing violence.  That said, we do not feel this film is appropriate for children.

The film is noted as a horror film with a run time of 110 minutes.

Rating  

Miss Bala

This newly released Action Thriller is based on the 2011 Mexican film by the same name.  It’s a story about a Mexican drug cartel, kidnapping, corruption, good guys and bad guys double crossing everybody, murder, mostly bad guys abusing their power and anyone who impedes their objectives.  Throw in a Tijuana beauty pageant, and a massive party where a lot of people die.

The cast is quite compact.  Gina Rodriguez plays the lead as Gloria Fuentes, a makeup artist from Los Angeles.  Ismael Cruz Cordova plays Lino Esparza as the top bad guy.  Anthony Mackie as Jimmy, Aislinn Derbez as Isabel, Matt Luria as Brian, Cristina Rodlo as Susu Ramos.  While sometimes difficult to watch, we found this film very entertaining.

The film is rated PG-13 for sequences of gun violence, sexual and drug content, thematic material and language.  We do not recommend viewing by children, its simply too violent, with too much adult material.

It’s listed as an Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Suspense with a run time of 104 minutes.

Rating: 

Legend of the Demon Cat

This was a pleasant surprise.  This film is in very limited release with a February 1 release just in time for Chinese New Year, February 5.  It is currently playing in only one small theater in San Francisco.  In prep for this review I was surprised by several factual discoveries.  First, the film is set in 700 a.d.  The production budget was a whopping $170 million.

The film is set in the Imperial Tang Dynasty, a high point in Chinese history, culture and literature.  The center point is a demonic cat who possesses a powerful general’s wife and centuries of events from the imperial court.

It gets pretty dicey.  Lots of special effects, unexpected twists, some stunning, some beautiful, some gruesome.

There are about 20 key characters in the film that makes it challenging to keep track of who’s who and when.  (There is more than a little ‘time bending’ spanning centuries!)

It’s not an overstatement to applaud this film for creativity, a ride of fantasy and historically based legend filled with historical and social allegories.  Time is likely to declare this as a historical mine field of Chinese/Japanese history and culture.

This film has not been rated.  It’s listed as a Drama (and a whole lot more in our opinion) with a run time of 129 minutes.  Do try to see this film if it peaks your interest.   Mandarin and Japanese with English subtitles.  We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Rating