Co-written and directed by Felix Van Groeningen, Beautiful Boy follows the real story from the memoirs of father and son David and Nic Sheff. The movie stars Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, and Maura Tierney.
Groeningen is a Belgium writer and director. One movie he directed is The Broken Circle Breakdown, which earned an Oscar nomination for the Best Foreign Film. The movie won several awards, including Label Europa Cinemas at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, the movie chronicles the heart wrenching and inspiring experience of survival, relapse, and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.
The two movie clips show the discomfort of trying to reach your child when personal contact is lost.
David Sheff’s memoir is called “Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction,” and Nic Sheff’s memoir is called “Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines.”
Interestingly, kids get diagnosed with learning disabilities and given methamphetamines. They become addicted to them.
Watch the movie trailer and see some fine, fine acting by both Carell and Chalamet. Chalamet as Nic literal morphs in the restaurant scene. I didn’t even recognize him at first.
Directed by George Tillman, Jr. from the New York Times bestseller by Angie Thomas comes a poignant and contemporary story about the social scales tipping over as police officers unjustly kill a childhood friend.
The poster is so much better than the first. The star on the poster tells us it is a young girl’s story.
The Hate U Give follows Starr Carter, played by Amandla Stenberg, who constantly switches between two cultures. Two very diverse cultures from the poor, mostly black, neighborhood where she lives and the rich, mostly white, prep school she attends.
The strained balance between these cultures is toppled over when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil, played by Algee Smith, at the hands of a police officer.
Now, facing the community’s social pressures, Starr learns she must find her voice and stand up for what’s right.
Tillman helmed several movies and produced quite a few TV series and films. He is best known for Soul Food, his first movie as a director, which he made for $7 million. The movie grossed $43 million.
Audrey Wells adapted the screenplay. She has scripted and directed Under the Tuscan Sun and Guinevere while writing screenplays for diverse films such as George of the Jungle and Shall We Dance.
The Hate U Give also stars Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Issa Rae, KJ Apa, Sabrina Carpenter, Common and Anthony Mackie.
Based on the books by Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is written and directed by Dean DeBlois. The story follows that began as an unlikely friendship between an adolescent Viking and a fearsome Night Fury dragon. Some may call this franchise an epic trilogy. The studio released Kit Harington’s audition tape. Scroll down and take a look at what he went through to get the role.
The third installment arrives when Hiccup and Toothless will finally discover their true destinies. The village chief as ruler of Berk alongside Astrid, and the dragon as leader of his own kind. As both ascend, the darkest threat they’ve yet faced—as well as the appearance of a female Night Fury. They will come to learn more about their relationship.
Months went by without any movie clips or trailers. Now, there is a trailer to share. I hope the wait is worth it. The trailer plays a song and it is obviously a love story happens.
The movie trailer looks like the movie is going to be a lot of fun for kids of all ages.
The behind-the-scenes clip shows the audition process Kit Harington went through to get the coveted role of Eret. All kidding aside, the featurette is cute and funny. Harington is not bad looking either.
The featurette is more of a promotional or sizzle reel than anything, but it tells us more about the movie. It is obvious kids are going to love it.
Toothless courtship with Light Fury is cute and endearing. The kids are going to love this movie. Producer Brad Lewis explains the character’s relationships in the movie so well that I decided to post it for you to see.
I added the Jay Baruchel interview because he offers insight into what is happening with Hiccup and Toothless.
The bonus features comes with an alternative beginning, deleted scenes, behind the scenes viewing of actors recording their voices, and a Facebook app for Toothless and Little Fury.
The bonus features include two shorts. Bilby takes place in Australia where Bilby takes care of a little bird. Bird Karma is about a long-legged bird who just can’t have enough of anything.
Directed by Jacque Audiard, who won the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Director 2018 for The Sisters Brothers. Based on Patrick Dewitt’s novel of the same name, the story takes place in Oregon in 1851 and follows two brothers, played by John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix, Eli and Charlie Sisters.
The brothers are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. The movie is a dark comedy with unique comedic elements. Audiard is best known for his Palme d’Or WinningDheepan, which premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
Another poster arrives. The images of both brothers is an awesome visual with “Brothers By Blood, Sisters By Name” at the top.
The sarcasm in the “Wanted” featurette is so thick and bitting. I wonder if the movie flows the same way.
The “Story” featurette tells about the movie and the relationship between the two brothers. The more I see of the movie the more I want to see it.
The “Meeting Mayfield” movie clip shows the talented acting as well as the skillful camera work with snappy dialogue.
Here is the final trailer, and I like the style. The trailer tells us the movie is a true western about two brothers on a journey of retribution and redemption.
Each poster is quite different from the others. I like the one with the skull as a dust trail. The first one is too simple with just bold lettering. Event the different colored lettering doesn’t help because the stark poster says nothing about the movie.
Directed by Rodrigo Cortes, Down A Dark Hall follows Kit, played by Anna Sophia Robb. She is a problematic young girl, and her temper makes it difficult for her mother to take care of her.
Hence, she ordered to the mysterious Blackwood Boarding School. She arrives at Blackwood and faces the eccentric headmistress, Madame Duret, played by Uma Thurman. She also meets the school’s only four other students. They, too, are young women headed down a troubled path.
While exploring the labyrinthine corridors of the school, Kit and her classmates discover that Blackwood Manor hides an age-old secret rooted in the paranormal.
Based on the classic gothic YA novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. Duncan also authored I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Isabelle Fuhrman, Victoria Moroles, Noah Silver, Taylor Russell, and Rosie Day round out a talented cast.
The author of Twilight and The Host, Stephenie Meyer, produced the movie. Cortés also directed the film Buried. They are calling Down A Dark Hall a supernatural thriller. But it sure seems like a horror movie. Watch the trailer, and you’ll see what I mean.
Co-written and directed by Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman was formerly called Black Klansman. The movie is based on the book by Ron Stallworth called Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime. The true story is a memoir of Stallworth, played by John David Washington, being the first black officer in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1978, he went undercover to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
The Stallworth and his partner, played by Adam Driver, penetrate into the Klan. They reach the highest levels and are able to stop a takeover of the city. During his undercover work, he even managed to disruption and stop several cross burnings and other activities of the disreputable hate group.
I watched the movie last night with my family. We were entertained and enlighted on the craziness of bigotry and injustices in the late 70s.
The fact that Jones won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, he wove a skillful story with talented actors playing real people in a messed up system.
Driver, as a non-practicing Jewish cop going undercover in the Ku Klux Klan, is a story in itself. Washington, as the Black man in a world of bigotry even in the police force, holds an even keel to the harshness of his culture.
Jones takes the movie further at the end with clips of contemporary riots in the South. Though I understand his purpose of these final clips, their congruity with the original story is not comforting.
The Blu-ray and DVD hit the street and is available for streaming. If you didn’t get a chance to see the movie yet, you can watch it in the comfort of your own home, and I recommend it.
The cast also includes Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, and Harry Bellefonte. Bellefonte’s seen is heartwrenching as he tells the story of the brutality of the South.
The movie clip shows the comedic undertones.
Interesting movie clip shows how Spike Lee directed a serious comedy. The poster above is silly as well. The movie trailer shows how the movie was filmed in a 1970s style. Obviously, it is a comedy with a strong message.
Written and directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa and based on the book Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar by Virginia Vallejo, Loving Pablo follows Vallejo’s story about her relationship with Pablo Escobar. He happened to be one of the most powerful drug lords in Columbia. His terror and reign took Colombia down to utter chaos.
The movie brings husband and wife Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz together, which is a brilliant combination. Both are Oscar winners, and I know the acting will be excellent. Other cast members include Peter Sarsgaard, Julieth Restrepo, Maria Victoria Henao, David Valencia, David Ojalvo, and Giselle Da Silva.
Leon de Aranoa received accolades for his movie Mondays in the Sun. He is a Spanish director, and Loving Pablo is in English.
The movie trailer shows how the director captures Colombia’s culture. Viewers will need to keep this in mind as they watch the movie.
Directed by Otto Bathurst, another Robin Hood movie arrives on the silver screen. I recommend you watch the trailer because the movie is full of slow motion and action sequences. Some claim Robin Hood as a superhero, but I rather think of him as a legend – mythical legend.
The latest version is about the war-hardened crusader, played by Taron Egerton, and his Moorish commander, played by Jamie Foxx. They mount a strong revolt against the corrupt English crown.
Jamie Dornan of Fifty Days of Grey movies also stars as Will. Watching the trailer, I cannot tell if he is a friend or foe of Robin Hood.
Eve Hewson plays Maid Marian. I hope she is smarter than she appears in the trailer. I am banking on she is smarter and helps Robin Hood instead of only adding to the romance of the story.
The movie clip shows how John is a father figure. Robin Hood is learning from him and the details of overthrowing the Sheriff.
The studio is promoting the movie as a thriller and action-adventure, which includes gritty battlefield triumphs, mind-blowing fight choreography (slow motion), and a timeless romance.
The movie clip “Law and Order” lets us see the sheriff as a villain, which we know from the classic story by Howard Pyle.
In the “Training” movie clip, we see Egerton and Foxx work together creating a scene that shows Robin Hood and John building a relationship based on who is more capable of training who.
The final poster shows the eclectic quality of the cast with a nostalgia in reminiscent to the popcorn movies of the late 70s and early 80s.
The featurette is impressive and shows how hard Egerton worked to master his archery. I watched his teacher, who is in the featurette, on YouTube and he is an impressive archer. I learned that during the ancient times the archers were as fast as we see them shooting in the featurette. That makes the movie a bit more realistic than its predecessors. Egerton sings a bit for fun on the set, and his voice is fantastic. Foxx looks like he enjoys himself way too much on the set.
Otto Bathurst cut his teeth as an episodic director for binge-watching streaming shows like Black Mirror and Criminal Justice.
The third trailer is here and still seems to be like most Robin Hood movies.
The second trailer is not doing justice to the movie. Let’s hope for the best and the movie turns out great.
Robin Hood is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming online. Once again, another movie about Robin Hood. The tale is told over and over again. This time the story is quite different from the original and other versions. I am impressed with the archery but the rest of the story varies too much for me to be excited about it.
Directed by Peyton Reed, Ant-Man and The Wasp comes from Marvel. The story is a new age of superheroes that can shrink. Ant-Man arrived in Captain America: Civil War. Scott Lang contends with the values of his choices as both a superhero and a father. He tackles the complexity of home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man.
He confronts Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym with a crucial mission. Scott dons the suit and learns to fight alongside The Wasp. As a team, they work together and discover secrets from the past.
The movie has an impressive cast such as Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Douglas.
Paul Rudd contributed to the screenplay. He’s joined by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari. Reed helmed two other movies. The sleeper hit Bring It On, a cheerleading competition stars Kirsten Dunst. He also directed Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn in The Break-up.
Co-written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, How to Talk to Girls at Parties is based on a short story written by Neil Gaiman. The movie follows Enn, played by Alex Sharp. Enn is a shy teenager living in a London suburb in 1977.
He sneaks out with his best friends to frequent punk parties. They misstep into a rather strange gathering of sexy teenagers. They seem like they are from another planet.
They are from another planet. They are visiting Earth to complete a mysterious rite of passage. Enn falls madly in love with Zan, played by Elle Fanning. Zan is a beautiful and unruly alien teenager. Even though she holds allegiance to her strange colony, she is captivated by Enn.
Zan and Enn jump into a delirious adventure through the kinetic punk rock world of 1970s London. In all, they set off a series of events leading to the ultimate showdown of punks vs. aliens, which tests the limits of how far each of them will go for true love.
Nicole Kidman also stars in this movie as a punk rocker.
The movie trailer is convoluted and crazy, with no rhyme to the story. Hopefully, another trailer and movie clip will be released, making it easier to understand and figure out what is happening.
Co-written and directed by Felix Van Groeningen, Beautiful Boy follows the real story from the memoirs of father and son David and Nic Sheff. The movie stars Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, and Maura Tierney.
