Directed by Andrew and Jon Erwin, I Still Believe, a faith-based movie follows the true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp.
The tearjerker story follows Camp’s journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope as long as you still believe in God.
Erwin brothers’ last Christian movieI Can Only Imaginedid well at the box office for a faith-based film winning the 2018 GMA Dove Award for Inspirational Film of the Year.
The movie clip is simple but shows the love and support Camp received from his family.
Only Tom Hanks can play Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Watch the trailer, and tears will form. The kindness and generosity of Hanks are distinguished to portray one of the most well-known icons in children’s television.
Directed by Marielle Heller, who brings emotional rhythm to movies like Can You Ever Forgive Me? – nurturing Oscar-nominated performances from Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant.
The studio calls this movie “a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism,” based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod.
After a jaded magazine writer, Junod, played by Matthew Rhys, is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about empathy, kindness, and decency from America’s most beloved neighbor.
Inspired by the article “Can You Say. . . Hero?” by Tom Junod, Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster turned the story into a screenplay. Both writers worked together on the episodic show Transparency and the movie Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
The rest of the exceptional cast includes Susan Kelechi Watson and Chris Cooper.
The featurette is a deserving message about a man who wanted people to be happy with themselves. It was okay to have feelings.
After viewing this featurette, all I want to do is see the movie.
I hope this movie changes people’s hearts, and they see the good in everyone.
Watching Tom Hanks in the next three clips is a treasure. He is such a fine actor and makes the movie believable.
Directed by A.J. Eaton, David Crosby: Remember My Name is a documentary produced by filmmaker Cameron Crowe. The movie is a portrait of Crosby in his Golden year with no thought of retirement. The studio is not much is being said about the documentary.
Watching the trailer, you get a sense that Crosby burned bridges and is lonely. He has his wife and land, but he is no longer in touch Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.
He still goes on tour, performs with ailing health. His wife fears for his overall health as he tours with his band.
Cameron Crowe, a former writer for the Rolling Stone magazine, is in the documentary. Crowe is a celebrated screenwriter and director for such movies at Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, and Say Anything…
The documentary is directed by Max Lewkowicz and he brings together some extraordinary talent to discuss the message of the musical Fiddler on the Roof. The story, though original, is universal and so timely.
It is one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals and its creative roots in early 1960s New York tells a story of when “tradition” was on the wane as gender roles, sexuality, race relations, and religion were evolving into what we have today.
The musical is popular around the world with community and academic theaters. The message that “tradition is changing and we can’t fight it but embrace it” is powerful.
Directed by Alex Holmes, Maiden is a documentary about the story of Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats who became the skipper of the first-ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989.
Alex Holmes is a documentarian. He’s produced and directed many documentaries, including Dunkirk, The Ice King, and Hunting the KGB Killers.
Seeing a movie about women competing against men in a man’s sport is enthralling.
The following movie clips tell a bit about the story, and it is a fantastic story about women achieving the unexpected.
The following movie clips transform the concept of sailing around the world with a crew of dedicated women. The crux of the journey is that this is the first women’s crew to join this sport. Sure, it is daunting but liberating.
Written and directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo and winner of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, Brittany Runs a Marathon follows an unusually poignant portrait of a young woman, played by Jillian Bell, uncovering her long-buried potential.
Brittany Forgler is everybody’s best friend ― except maybe her own. At 27, her hard-partying ways, chronic underemployment, and toxic relationships are catching up with her, but when she stops by a new doctor’s office to try to score some Adderall, she gets slapped with a prescription she never wanted: Get healthy. Too broke for a gym and too proud to ask for help, Brit is at a loss, until her seemingly together neighbor Catherine pushes her to lace up her Converse sneakers and run one sweaty block. The next day, she runs two. And soon, after finishing her first mile, she sets an almost unthinkable goal: running in the New York City Marathon.
The movie is the winner of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award.
The rest of the cast includes Michaela Watkins, Micah Stock, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Alice Lee, and Lil Rel Howery.
This movie could be the next sleeper hit.
Colaizzo won the Helen Hayes award for his playwrighting talent, and now, he is making his screenwriting and directorial debut with a slice of life movie. Brittany Runs a Marathon reminds me of Richard Curtis or Cameron Crowe storytelling.
The three movie clips show Brittany’s attitude before she starts changing her life around and getting in shape. The first clip is obscure, and its purpose of the scene is unconvincing.
The last clip is in the trailer but shows how Brittany managed to get by in life by lying. The doctor is smart and sits her on a path of redemption and a healthier lifestyle.
Directed by Nick Broomfield, the documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love is Broomfield’s personal and romantic film of his multi-level career.
The documentary starts on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960, where Leonard Cohen, then a struggling and unknown fiction writer, and Marianne Ihlen, a single mother with a young son, became part of a community of expat artists, writers, and musicians.
Never-before-seen footage shot by documentarian Broomfield brings to light a unique portrait of an idyllic 1960’s bohemia. It was a time that left a lasting imprint on both Marianne and Leonard, whose friendship would last another fifty years before their deaths in 2016.
The movie trailer is bleak with out of focus shots and undefining frames of a woman and a man. I never heard of these two people. I sense this documentary is for a limited audience. An audience who knows these individuals and can relate to them on a personal or fandom level.
I saw a clip of Cohen talking about the love between a man and a woman. I am not sure how it relates to promoting the movie, but it offers insight into his psyche – who this being is and how he feels about his relationship with Ihlen. The clip blocked, so you cannot see it. I have it posted below in hopes they will release it soon. At least, you can see an image of Cohen and how he looks, in the interview, an older man.
Directed by Rupert Goold, Judy begins during the Winter of 1968. The showbiz legend Judy Garland, played by Renee Zellweger, arrives in Swinging London to perform a five-week sold-out run at The Talk of the Town.
It is 30 years since she shot to global stardom in The Wizard of Oz, but if her voice has weakened, its dramatic intensity has only grown. As she prepares for the show, battles with management, charms musicians, and reminisces with friends and adoring fans, her wit and warmth shine through.
The movie derives from the play End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter and the screenplay adaption by Tom Edge. On the IMDB website, Quilter says Edge’s screenplay is more edger than the imaginative play.
Judy is available on Amazon Prime or wherever Blu-rays and DVDs can be purchased.
Goold directing credits include True Story, King Charles III, and The Hollow Crown, which won Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for Best Single Drama. Goold works with executive producer Sam Mendes, who directed a couple of James Bond 007 movies. Mendes is not involved with the production of Judy.
The movie looks promising with Zellweger as Judy. We come to find even her dreams of love seem undimmed as she embarks on a whirlwind romance with Mickey Deans, played by Finn Wittrock, her soon-to-be fifth husband. Featuring some of her best-known songs, we celebrate the voice, the capacity for love, and the sheer pizzazz of “the world’s greatest entertainer.”
The next trailer shows more of the movie with is flashbacks and Garland’s drug dependency and separation from her children because she needs to go to London and make money. We see more of the other actors in the movie, including Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, and Michael Gambon.
Buckley is making quite a name for herself with her starring role in the award-winning Wild Rose.
Zellweger becomes Judy Garland, and she embodies her. She makes the movie.
Judy Garland is an endearing soul who understood the hardships that life can bring. She lived tragically in the end. But I am sure she is doing well.
In this clip, I can see Judy Garland as Dorothy when she comforts the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. Zellweger is brilliant, and I hope she gets nominated for both the Golden Globe and Oscar.
It’s heartbreaking to watch this scene because of Judy Garland’s life rollercoaster. Here she is on an upswing when we know it will be tragic again.
Directed by Tom Shadyac, Brian Banks is a true story about an injustice made right. The studios are calling it “inspirational true story” when in fact I feel treachery.
The true story follows Brian Banks, played by Aldis Hodge, an All-American high school football star verbally committed to USC. His life is upended when he is unjustly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.
Despite lack of evidence, Banks is railroaded through a broken justice system and sentenced to a decade of prison and probation. Years later, with the support of Justin Brooks, played by Greg Kinnear, and the California Innocence Project, Banks fights to reclaim his life and fulfill his dreams of playing in the NFL.
Shadyac impressive credits offer encouragement for this movie to rock and entertain. He’s directed Ace Ventura, Bruce Almighty, and The Nutty Professional. Over the past decade or so, he’s involved himself in documentaries as director and producer. In 1983, he became the youngest staff writer for Bob Hope.
The cast also includes Sherri Shepherd, Melanie Liburd, and Morgan Freeman.
The injustice of what Banks went through is tough to face. The young woman lied and destroyed his life. The movie clip is a scene where Banks played the tap of the young woman confessing she lied.
The featurette tells what the story is about through the eyes of those who were there from Brian Banks as executive producer and Justin Brooks as executive producer to the actors who play the people who went through this tragic story about injustice.
The story is real, and injustice happens, unfortunately. In this clip, I understand what Banks mother is saying because I am a mother. I want nothing but good for my daughter.
“The System” movie clip sets the pace for going to trial.
Directed by Dan Pritzker, Bolden follows the tragic life of Buddy Bolden, played by Gary Carr, an unsung inventor of jazz. The movie is filled with compelling images. It’s a story worth telling since his life ended up in a mental asylum. They were placed under their tragic and brutal treatment, never released, and died twenty-five years later.
According to production notes, little biographical information is known about Bolden, and no recordings of his music are available anywhere – tragically gone.
Pritzker uses fragmented memories of Bolden’s past against the political and social context in which his revolutionary music was conceived. The movie is about passion, greed, and a musical genius in the early 1900s in New Orleans.
Wynton Marsalis, who is also one of the producers, wrote, arranged, and performed the movie’s original music. The dance scene in the sweatshop looks promising.
The movie co-stars Erik LaRay Harvey, Yaya DaCosta, Ian McShane, and Michael Rooker. You can also see McShane in Hellboy. He plays men who are outraged in both movies.
The next run of movie clips shows how the movie is not linear but told in flashbacks. My favorite is the “Seamstress Dance” clip. The “Clapping Out” clip is my next favorite. Though there is not much information about Bolden, the movie is told as if Bolden is a mythical character, a legend.
