Category Archives: true stories

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Trailer, Featurettes & Movie Clips

based on a book, drama, true stories, , , ,

Directed by Marielle Heller, the true story follows Melissa McCarthy as the best-selling celebrity biographer Lee Israel. The movie is written by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty and is based on Israel’s memoir.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? starts after Israel made her living in the 1970s and 80s, profiling celebrities such as Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder, and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen.

Lee can no longer be published because, according to her memoir and movie, she has fallen out of step with current sensitivities. She decides to turn her talent into deception, aided by her loyal friend Jack, played by Richard E. Grant.

Heller is also an actor and earned several fellowships for her writing talent. A Diary of a Teenage Girl was her breakout movie as both writer and director, earning several awards, including the Spirit Award for Best First Feature Film.

The latest poster shows the main character, Israel, working in her office with a cascade of typewriters. I presume she used them to forge the letters.

I interviewed Nicole Holofcener over ten years ago and found it fate that she contributed to the screenplay. One particular comment I remember from my interview with Holofcener was about writing for film, “When I am writing, I am directing. I imagine every writer does because the picture is being said in a very specific way. The tone. Yes, I am always aware of how I would like it to look when writing it.”

Can You Forgive Me? appears to be Whitty’s first writing credit for a movie. He Won a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Avenue Q. He also has several acting credits in both film and television.

These two featurettes talk about the main two characters playing off each other and the creativity of creating a 1981 look for the film.

The featurette shows how the director and McCarthy worked together to create Lee Israel.

Melissa McCarthy plays this scene so well with Ben Falcone. The narrowly used bookstore gives a foreboding presence.

The movie clip shows McCarthy’s talent. This movie looks good; hopefully, it moves along and keeps the audience interested.

The Elevator Pitch Featurette is priceless and tells us the story and scenes of the dynamic cast. I love this director.

McCarthy is taking on a severe subject compared to her usual comedic roles. I hope the movie does well for her career and all the talent involved.

I connected with the director, and I am unsure why, but I like her persona. She’s young with an exceptional future ahead of her.

I like perusing used bookstores. I found some autographed first prints and such. I understand what it is like to find a collector’s item. I discovered from visiting used bookstores that each bookstore has a distinct personality.

Melissa McCarthy received several nominations for her portrayal of Lee Israel. She is stellar in this movie. I saw it the other night and am impressed with her acting ability. The story itself is not that entertaining. But seeing McCarthy and Grant act together is delightful and compelling.

If you haven’t seen it, now is our chance to see it because the Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming are available.

“Final Portrait” Trailer, Movie Clips, Poster

drama, true stories, ,

Written and directed by Stanley Tucci, Final Portrait centers on world-renowned Swiss painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti, played by Geoffrey Rush. The movie takes place in 1964, when James Lord, played by Armie Hammer, is on a short trip to Paris. Lord is an  American writer and art lover. His friend, Giacometti, asks him to sit for a portrait. The process, Giacometti assures Lord, will take only a day. Flattered and captivated, Lord agrees.

The offbeat friendship twists and bends along through the eyes of the Lord. He learns about beauty, frustration, perceptiveness and the chaotic process of creating art. The story is about defining a genius and a friendship between two completely different men. Still, they bond in creativity.

Tucci is a well-known actor in such films as The Hunger Games movies, Julie & Julia, and Spotlight. He has directed memorable films like Big Night, The Imposter, and Blind Date. Hammer starred recently in Call Me By Your Name and has other credits like The Social Network and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The trailer and clips reveal a great movie and an excellent character study of an artistic genius.

“Chappaquiddick” Trailers, Clips, and Posters

drama, true stories, , , ,

Directed by John Curran, Chappaquiddick follows Ted Kennedy, played by Jason Clarke,  who destroys his life and political career when he is involved in a fatal 1969 car accident that claims the life of a young campaign strategist, Mary Jo Kopechne, played by Kate Mara.

The fatal accident occurred two days before Apollo 11 walk on the moon and became one of the top scandals of the 1970s.

Ed Helms also stars. I am looking forward to seeing him step out of comedy and into this serious role.

The movie received two nominations. One with Golden Trailers Best Drama and the other screenplay from the Miami Film Festival brings me to the conclusion that the script is watch makes the movie.  Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan honed a screenplay worth producing. 

The Blu-ray/DVD movie trailer is so much better than the trailers promoting the release of the movie. This trailer shows what the story is about and what happened to Mary Jo Kopechne that fateful night. The story unfolds like a chess game.

I watched the movie with my husband.  We found the movie to be slow and depressing.  The acting is great. Ed Helms played the role as Kennedy’s cousin brilliantly.  Jason Clarke is just as good. But, such a sad occurrence is what made it so hard for us to watch.  Kennedy still ended up being a Senator for most his life.

The movie clip shows how Ted Kennedy completely lost all responsibility for what he did.

The final trailer says it all. The true story is hard to stomach because it so hard to understand how anyone could be so stupid and negligent.

The movie clips show how unready and unprofessional Kennedy’s staff handled Ted Kennedy’s mess up.  Ed Helms performance is stellar.

This clip is awfully dark and the sound quality is not that great.

Chappaquiddick is a tragic story full of conflicting testimonies and odd behavior by Ted Kennedy and his friends.

“Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot” Trailers and Poster

based on a book, drama, true stories, , , ,

Gus Van Sant directed Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot and brought us notable movies like To Die For, Milk and The Sea of Trees.

Based on a true story, the movie follows Joaquin Phoenix, a Van Sant alumni, as he performs John Callahan’s lust for life with a quirky knack for off-color jokes and an obvious drinking problem.

The tragedy begins with an all-night bender and ends in a catastrophic car accident. John wakes up using a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

The movie is about his journey back from rock bottom. His honesty and wicked humor turn out to be his saving grace. He builds friends with an oddball AA group while discovering that love is not beyond his reach. He develops a talent for drawing irreverent and sometimes shocking cartoons that bring him notoriety. 

Amazon Studios produced the movie, which means I am a Prime member and will see it as soon as it leaves the movie theaters. I look forward to peaking at the acting chops of some fine actors in this movie, including Rooney Mara, Jack Black, and Jonah Hill.

Here is a second trailer with a soundtrack that is like The Beatles.

Check out the trailer and notice Jack Black and Jonah Hill take severe turns in this poignant story.

Faith-based “I Can Only Imagine” Trailer and Clips

drama, family movies, true stories, , , , , , , , ,

Co-directed by Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin, I Can Only Imagine follows a true story based on a song by possibly the most popular faith-based song ever played on Christian radio – I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe. 

The story follows Bart Millard, who the lead singer of the Christian band MercyMe. His relationship with his troubled father played to the core by Dennis Quaid. I saw a dynamic clip of Quaid playing an emotionally torqued father. I encourage you to see the movie, just to Quaid, amazing.

The message in the movie, which is totally Christian, nobody is ever too far from God’s love — for too far from an eternal home in Heaven.

Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming are happening. If you are faith-based movie watcher or not, it’s worth seeing. The Blu-ray/DVD trailer is way better than the movie theater trailer.

The movie also stars Cloris Leachman, Trace Adkins, Michael Finley, Priscilla Shire, and Madeline Carroll.

“Winchester” Trailer, Poster, Interviews, Blu-ray/DVD Release

horror, mystery, true stories, , ,

Directed by the Spierig brothers, Winchester looks like a true, fancy horror story. The movie follows Sarah Winchester, played by Oscar-winner Helen Mirren, who lives on an isolated stretch of land 50 miles outside of San Francisco, where the most haunted house in the world is built. Sarah Winchester is the heiress to the Winchester fortune from the famous Winchester rifles, and she continues to build her house 24/7. A true mania that lasts for decades.

But Sarah is not building for herself, for her niece, played by Sarah Snook or for the troubled Doctor Eric Price, played by Jason Clarke, whom she has summoned to the house. She is building a prison, an asylum for hundreds of vengeful ghosts. The most terrifying among them have a score to settle with the Winchesters.

The Winchester house is a well-known tourist attraction. Even though I live in Northern California, I have never visited this house, but friends have told me about it, and I have seen the billboards around Interstate 80 promoting the Winchester House as a mysterious home, with nothing about it being haunted.

The Winchester Blu-ray/DVD is available, and I recommend you stream or buy it.

Great interview with the directors. They explain the story and the life of Sarah Winchester. They even cover that it is a horror movie, and I wonder if it is haunted.

The trailer shows a horror movie at its best. This movie will be fun, especially with Mirren in the starring role.

“The Miracle Season” Trailers, Poster, Movie Clips

drama, family movies, true stories,

Take a look at who is starring in this movie. Oscar winners William Hurt and Helen Hunt are fantastic as a parent of a tragic death and a coach who must pull her champion team together and maintain a winning streak, unlike any other volleyball team.

Directed by  Sean McNamara, The Miracle Season follows a champion volleyball team that lost their star player to a tragic auto accident. The town, school, and team go through the process of snapping back to determining winners.

With such an awesome cast, I am sure this movie will not go unnoticed. The ending is predictable but still, it will be fun to watch as long as it doesn’t get too mushy.

The Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming are now available. So, there is no excuse for not seeing this movie. It is a true inspiration.

Helen Hunt totally nails this role as the coach. This movie clip she tells the girls they are strong women, great scene.

The final trailer explains why this heartfelt movie was produced. I hope it does well at the box office.

I like this clip because you meet the real people the true story is based on. It helps you understand how much this town appreciated the girl named Line.

Watch the trailer and see for yourself.

The Truth About “7 Days In Entebbe” is Astonishing

drama, thriller, true stories

Directed by José Padilha (Narcos, Elite Squad), 7 Days in Entebbe follows the truly inspired events of the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight en route from Tel Aviv to Paris.

Watching the trailer, I can sense the gripping terror of the passengers and those who attempted to rescue the hijack victims. The movie shows the most daring rescue mission ever attempted.

Written by Gregory Burke, who wrote 71, a gripping film about Ireland’s Civil War, 7 Days in Entebbe is a heartwrenching story. The talent cast includes Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Daniel Brühl (The Zookeeper’s Wife), Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes), Ben Schnetzer, Lior Ashkenazi, and Denis Ménochet.

The featurette explains the true story, and it was an exciting time in history. Hijacking planes happen during this era, and it was frightening. From the clips and trailers I’ve seen, the director has done a fantastic job of capturing this situation.

Hijacking is an intense clip based on a true story. The tight shots and unspoken intention drive this scene.

“Molly’s Game” Trailers, Featurette, Blu-ray/DVD

true stories

Directed by Arron Sorkin, Molly’s Game follows Molly Brown, played by Jessica Chastain, a true story of a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons.

Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business giants and finally, unbeknown to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer, Charlie Jaffey, played by Idris Elba, who learned there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led people to believe.

Kevin Costner plays Larry Brown, Molly’s father, and Graham Greene plays Judge Foxman with other talented actors like Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O’Dowd and Bill Camp.

The Blu-ray and DVD are on the streets. The movie streams on the Internet. Now is the time to see the film if you have not seen it. Chastain takes on the role of Molly Brown as if there is no tomorrow with an Oscar-nominated script by the movie’s director, Arron Sorkin. You just can’t get better than that.

The trailers show a great movie about a story that will unravel and bring to light the true meaning of honesty and being true to oneself.

The featurette has Arron Sorkin talking about the movie along with Jessica Chastain.

“The Post” Trailer, Poster, Blu-ray/DVD Clips and Featurette

drama, true stories, ,

There are some real powerhouses in Steven Spielberg’s The Post. It is about an era when the newspapers sometimes had it right and new their duty to report the truth despite the flak from governmental interference.

Here we have Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee and Meryl Streep as Kay Graham together under the direction of Spielberg’s mastery of timing in brilliant company. We follow them as they come to terms of printing classified information about the Vietnam War.

A time in history about an unlikely partnership between The Washington Post’s Katharine Graham, the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and editor Ben Bradlee, as they race to catch up with The New York Times to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents. If you know the story or read Graham’s book, you know these two people overcame their differences risking their livelihoods and careers – and their very freedom – to help bring long-buried truths out to the open.

Three powerhouses are working together, which I find super exciting and worth seeing. The movie also includes an ensemble cast including Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford and Zach Woods.

The movie clip shows how much work they went through to get this story straight.

The featurette below is all about strong women and how strong Kay Graham was during her time.