Cats - HBO Review

Starring James Corden, Judi Dench, Robbie Fairchild, Francesca Hayward, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Laurie Davidson, Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo, Ray Winstone, Mette Towley and Taylor Swift.
Written by Lee Hall & Tom Hooper.
Directed by Tom Hooper.

★½ 

I saw this show up on HBOMax, and I said to myself, "I need to see something so spectacularly panned for myself." I've listened to the soundtrack several times but have never seen the play.

There's a level you have to give it if you're going to dare watch this. Yes, the CGI effects take a minute to get used to. This isn't like Bert Lahr in makeup as the Cowardly Lion. Their ears move like a real cat's, but their faces are human. But with whiskers. And... I don't know. You see what they are and know that it's going to be like THAT for the movie, so you go from there.

One of the problems I had with it was with Hooper's direction. He doesn't protect his actors in musicals. Because Hooper wanted live singing, Russell Crowe was left out to dry in Les Miserables. Here, Jennifer Hudson's "Memories" should be the emotional highlight of the movie, but she ugly-cries through the whole thing, and I'm like "Why? Why didn't the released version of the movie have more levels?"

The other problem is the source material. Let's face it. Cats has no plot. It has a series of songs strung together, and those involved have to hope their number is handled well. I thought James Corden's Bustopher Jones was fun, Laurie Davidson's Mr. Mistoffelees was one of the more sympathetic characters, and for others, well, I couldn't wait for Rebel Wilson's Jennyanydots to get off-screen.

There's one number where there are mice dancing to a number, and two or three get eaten during the number, but the show must go on. It's bizarre. The singing cockroaches were just unnerving.

Actors Who Voiced Mutiple Disney Animated Movies

It's nowhere near all of them but here are many of them.

Phil Harris
THE JUNGLE BOOK - Baloo
THE ARISTOCATS - Thomas O'Malley
ROBIN HOOD - Little John

Sebastian Cabot
THE SWORD IN THE STONE - Sir Ector
THE JUNGLE BOOK - Bagheera
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE-THE-POOH - Narrator

Pinto Colvig
SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DAWRFS - Sleepy / Grumpy
THE THREE CABALLEROS - Aracuan Bird
FUN & FANCY FREE - Goofy
THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD & MR. TOAD - Ichabod Crane (screaming)
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Flamingo
SLEEPING BEAUTY - Maleficent's Goon
GOOFY / PLUTO shorts from 1931-1965 - Goofy / Pluto

Verna Felton
DUMBO - Elephant Matriarch
CINDERELLA - Fairy Godmother
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Queen of Hearts
LADY & THE TRAMP - Aunt Sarah
SLEEPING BEAUTY - Flora
THE JUNGLE BOOK - Mildred the Elephant

J. Pat O'Malley
THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD & MR. TOAD - Cyril
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Walrus / Carpenter / Tweedledee / Tweedledum
101 DALMATIANS - Colonel the Dog / Jasper
THE JUNGLE BOOK - Col. Hathi the Elephant
ROBIN HOOD - Otto

Bill Thompson
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - White Rabbit / Dodo
PETER PAN - Mr. Smee
LADY & THE TRAMP - Jock / Bull
SLEEPING BEAUTY - King Hubert
THE ARISTOCATS - Uncle Waldo

Sterling Holloway
DUMBO - Mr. Stork
BAMBI - Adult Flower
THE THREE CABALLEROS - Prof. Holloway
MAKE MINE MUSIC - Peter & the Wolf narrator
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Chessire Cat
THE JUNGLE BOOK - Kaa the Snake
THE ARISTOCATS - Roquefort
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE-THE-POOH - Winnie-the-Pooh

Clarence Nash
PINOCCHIO - Figaro
BAMBI - Bullfrog
THE THREE CABALLEROS - Donald Duck
SONG OF THE SOUTH - Mr. Bluebird
THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD & MR. TOAD - Ichabod's Horse
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Dinah
THE FOX & THE HOUND - Snarling Bear
THE BLACK CAULDRON - Hen Wen

Barbara Luddy
LADY & THE TRAMP - Lady
SLEEPING BEAUTY - Merryweather
101 DALMATIANS - Rover
ROBIN HOOD - Mother Church Mouse
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE-THE-POOH - Kanga

Junius Matthews
101 DALMATIANS - Scottie
THE SWORD IN THE STONE - Archimedes
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE-THE-POOH - Rabbit

Pat Buttram
THE ARISTOCATS - Napoleon
ROBIN HOOD - Sheriff of Nottingham
THE RESCUERS - Luke
THE FOX & THE HOUND - Chief

George Lindsay
THE ARISTOCATS - Lafayette
ROBIN HOOD - Trigger
THE RESCUERS - Rabbit

Paul Winchell
THE ARISTOCATS - Chinese Cat
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE-THE-POOH - Tigger
THE FOX & THE HOUND - Boomer

Eva Gabor
THE ARISTOCATS - Duchess
THE RESCUERS - Miss Bianca
THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER - Miss Bianca

Ben Wright
101 DALMATIANS - Roger
THE JUNGLE BOOK - Akela the Wolf
THE LITTLE MERMAID - Grimsby

Jeanette Nolan
THE RESCUERS - Ellie Mae
THE FOX & THE HOUND - Widow Tweed

Betty Lou Gerson
CINDERELLA - Narrator
101 DALMATIANS - Cruella De Vil

Kathryn Beaumont
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Alice
PETER PAN - Wendy

Billy Gilbert
SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS - Sneezy
FUN & FANCY FREE - Willie the Giant

Cliff Edwards
PINOCCHIO - Jiminy Cricket
DUMBO - Dandy Crow

Eleanor Audley
CINDERELLA - Stepmother
SLEEPING BEAUTY - Maleficent

The Swamp - HBO Review

 

★★★

Directed by Daniel DiMauro & Morgan Pehme.

This documentary took a different tone than I expected. When I saw the main politician it planned to follow around for a year was proud bomb-thrower Matt Gaetz, I figured this would be the thousandth "Look how evil the Republicans are" doc in our post-Michael Moore world. The directors instead focus on what "draining the swamp" actually means to Gaetz and others in DC and how they plan to do it.

The other two that get the most screen-time are Thomas Massie and Ken Buck, two more Republican House members who genuinely want to reform Washington and make Congress work again.

This may seem impossible with a TV-ready troll like Gaetz, but what we see is a true Trump believer who thinks he can be bipartisan and hyper-partisan at the same time. I now view Gaetz as a full formed human with whom I disagree strongly to his approach to Trump and to publicity stunts. But we see that he does have Democratic friends and colleagues where they work on serious reform.

We all know that Congress is basically a place where our Reps have some hearings, give some soundbites, and then spend the rest of the time trying to raise money. The doc singles out Newt Gingrich as the main reason why money has flooded into Washington and how "bipartisan" became a dirty word. We also see how bitter partisanship is exactly what the Top .1% would want. Maintaining the status quo is best for business.

Because this takes place over the year from the Mueller report to the impeachment vote, we get sections of that. When dealing with these, we see Gaetz, Massie, and Buck settle comfortably into their talking points. We also see how Congress can't seem to focus on more than one thing at a time. Let's do a 3400-page budget bill and make everyone vote on it hours after they get it!

In the end, Gaetz decides to become the first Republican House member to swear off Super-PAC money. If he really wants to reform DC, he needs to set a good example. He might also want to look in the mirror at how he's handling TV.

2020 Emmy Nominations

Outstanding Drama Series
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid's Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession

Outstanding Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
Insecure
Schitt's Creek
The Good Place
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
What We Do in the Shadows

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate, Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me
Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, black-ish
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Eugene Levy, Schitt's Creek
Ramy Youssef, Ramy

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Zendaya, Euphoria

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
Brian Cox, Succession
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession

Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
The Masked Singer
Nailed It!
RuPaul's Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice

Outstanding Limited Series
Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen
Octavia Spencer, Self Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Nicholas Braun, Succession
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid's Tale
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Mark Duplass, The Morning Show
Jeffrey Wright, Westworld

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Laura Dern, Big Little Lies
Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies
Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
Julia Garner, Ozark
Sarah Snook, Succession
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid's Tale
Thandie Newton, Westworld

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Mahershala Ali, Ramy
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Daniel Levy, Schitt's Creek
William Jackson Harper, The Good Place
Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
Yvonne Orji, Insecure
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live
Annie Murphy, Schitt's Creek
D'Arcy Carden, The Good Place
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Dylan McDermott, Hollywood
Jim Parsons, Hollywood
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen
Jovan Adepo, Watchmen
Louis Gossett Jr., Watchmen

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Holland Taylor, Hollywood
Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America
Margo Martindale, Mrs. America
Tracey Ullman, Mrs. America
Toni Collette, Unbelievable
Jean Smart, Watchmen

Outstanding Variety Talk Series
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Drunk History
Saturday Night Live

Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program
Amy Poehler, Making It
Nicole Byer, Nailed It!
Bobby Berk, Queer Eye
RuPaul, RuPaul's Drag Race
Barbara Corcoran, Shark Tank
Padma Lakshmi, Top Chef

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Andrew Scott, Black Mirror
James Cromwell, Succession
Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian
Martin Short, The Morning Show
Jason Bateman, The Outsider
Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away With Murder
Laverne Cox, Orange Is the New Black
Cherry Jones, Succession
Harriet Walter, Succession
Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid's Tale
Phylicia Rashad, This Is Us

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Fred Willard, Modern Family
Dev Patel, Modern Love
Brad Pitt, Saturday Night Live
Adam Driver, Saturday Night Live
Eddie Murphy, Saturday Night Live
Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Angela Bassett, A Black Lady Sketch Show
Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Saturday Night Live
Maya Rudolph, The Good Place
Wanda Sykes, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Bette Midler, The Politician

The Gentleman - Movie Review

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Tom Wu and Eddie Marsan.

Written by Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson & Marn Davies.

Directed by Guy Ritchie.

★★★

I first fell in love with Guy Ritchie with his gritty, blue-collar crime capers Lock Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels and Snatch. He’s since been diverse in his choices. The Sherlock Holmes movies, The Man from UNCLE, his better-than-expected Aladdin, and here, he’s returned to those gangsta roots, and we as film-lovers are blessed by it.

It’s not great, but it’s good. It stars Matthew McConaughey as Michael Pearson, the marijuana king of Great Britain. He’s looking to retire, as it’s expected that marijuana will be legalized soon, country-wide. He’s looking to sell.

BUT a local reporter (Hugh Grant) is in on what Pearson has going on, and he serves as our skeevey narrator as he explains to Pearson’s right-hand man Ray (Charlie Hunnam) how he knows what he knows. In Ritchie tradition, he has interesting actors show up in supporting roles to keep the gangster ball rolling. I don’t even want to spoil what Colin Farrell is doing here.

Tiger King - Netflix Review

Starring Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, Doc Antle, Jeff Lowe, Howard Baskin, John Finlay, and Rick Kirkham.

Directed by Eric Goode & Rebecca Chaikin.

Netflix has put out this seven-episode series, and it is the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen. The most bizarre true-story crime docudrama ever made. This is DYING to be made into a Danny McBride movie. 

It's about Joe Exotic, owner of a big-cat zoo in Oklahoma. His biggest rival is Carole Baskin, owner of Big Cat Rescue, and she's dedicated her life to shut down zoos like Joe's. And she's rich, so she has unlimited resources to go against Joe. You see Joe get crazier and crazier in his rivalry with her, and things escalate.

Some questions raised.

Spoilers......

Did Carole Baskin murder her first husband? The editing would certainly seem that way. Millionaire who wants to leave his way suddenly disappears and is never seen again? Hmmm…

Did Joe Exotic really order a hitman to kill Carole? Sounded like they had all the evidence. The final episode was the spottiest. I thought we’d get more time dedicated to the trial, but there was hardly any. The timeline of events needed to be studied a little more closely. 

Thing is, by the time you get to the trial, you just know Joe needs to be in jail for something. Screwing over his business partner and his own mother with fraud. Highly likely he blew up his own studio to hide evidence and screw over the documentarian who’d been at the zoo for years. Supplying meth to his straight husbands.

I got to the end of S1 of Making A Murder positive that there’d been a miscarriage of justice. I got to the end of this and thought, I should read up on what the facts actually were, because everyone in here is an unlikeable, unreliable narrator.

The Hunt - Movie Review

Starring Hilary Swank, Betty Gilpin, Emma Roberts, Ike Barinholtz, Ethan Suplee, Wayne Duvall, Amy Madigan, Glenn Howerton and Reed Birney.

Written by Nick Cuse & Damon Lindenof.

Directed by Craig Zobel.

★★½

This movie was supposed to come out in September 2019. After a mass shooting, it was delayed. It finally opened in March, and then the coronavirus outbreak meant it was crushed before enough people could see it. Should people see it?

Yeah, why not?

A group of stranger wake up in a field. They find an arsenal of weapons in the middle of said field. Feels very Hunger Games-ish, right? It turns out a group of rich weirdos are hunting “regular people” for sport. Or revenge? Who knows. The plot eventually reveals itself, and it doesn’t take too much time to do so. It’s a lean, mean 95 minutes of killing and mayhem.

The casting is clever. Let’s just say some characters I thought would be around a while are killed off pretty quickly. We don’t know who’s going to survive for the final showdown, or who exactly the main hero and main villain are until said showdown. I wish it had been a little more clever with its basic message, and yet I don’t want to give away spoilers on what its main message is. I will say that it has this red-state vs. blue-state mentality which I found gleefully subversive.

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey - Movie Review

Also known by its original title:

BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN)

Starring Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco and Ali Wong.

Written by Christina Hodson.

Directed by Cathy Yan.

★★★

First, the business. Much has been made that of this being the lowest opening for a DC comic movie in over a decade. To that, I’d say considering that the production budget was only $84 million, that’s okay. I’d also say the marketing for this was poor. The trailers didn’t look good. As I watched the actual movie, I sympathized with the marketing department a little more. It’s a good movie but how can one cut a trailer for it? Anyway, it did $200 million worldwide and probably would have squeaked out more if it wasn’t for the coronavirus killing all box office.

So, let’s get to the actual movie. It’s fun! They took the best character from the choppy, underwhelming Suicide Squad and gave her her own movie. It’s not groundbreaking or anything, but Harley Quinn seems to be DC’s answer to Deadpool.

Margot Robbie owns this from beginning to end. Robbie’s shown great range over the years, from The Wolf of Wall Street to Once Upon A Time in Hollywood to Bombshell, but THIS is her signature character. And she’s great. The surprise for me was how enjoyable Ewan McGregor was as the villain. Black Mask is dramatic one moment, neurotic the next, light-hearted the next. He really embraces his chance to be a comic-book villain here.

So now that we’re all quarantined, is this movie worth seeking out on streaming? Worth the $3.99 digital rental? Yes it is.

My Top Ten Films of 2019

I’ve seen 73 movies from 2019.

Honorable mentions (My 11-20 alphabetically):

APOLLO 11 - A you-are-there documentary that really makes you feel like you’re watching the moon landing as it happens. Brilliant blending of old footage.

EL CAMINO - A Breaking Bad epilogue. Better Call Saul is still in prequel territory, but here we get closure to Jesse’s story. After Walt dies, Jesse has to figure out how to survive. It’s the usual brilliance from Vince Gilligan, and while it’s nice to see Aaron Paul shine again, it’s another chance for Jesse Plemons to return as the polite sociopath Todd.

HONEYLAND - A documentary from Macedonia so good it was nominated for Best Documentary and Best Foreign Film. I was pulling for it to win Best Documentary. It’s the story of an extremely poor beekeeper whose life gets upended by a family who moves in next door and keeps bees of their own.

THE IRISHMAN - Leisurely paced, which is fine with me, as this’ll probably the last Martin Scorsese movie that’ll be like this. Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci are all in top form, and the de-aging CGI is done better here than any previous attempt I’ve seen. Nice to also see Scorsese alum like Harvey Keitel and Bobby Cannavale stop by.

MARRIAGE STORY - A very well done but bruuuuutal drama about a couple getting divorced. Should come with a warning label for anyone who’s in an insecure relationship or is a child of divorce. But the acting is terrific, and it effectively packs its emotional wallop with some unexpected humor. I also would have preferred Scarlett Johansson beating Renee Zellweger for Best Actress for this.

MIDSOMMAR - The slow build is very effective. And while most horror movies take advantage of night and shadow, this is almost all in the bright sunny day in a happy, ominous commune where things start to go bad pretty quickly once our heroes arrive.

PAIN & GLORY - Colorful semi-autobiographical tale from Pedro Almodovar, about an aging director (Antonio Banderas) reconciling with his past while having several flashbacks to his childhood with his determined mother (Penelope Cruz).

TOY STORY 4 - Pixar sequels are hit-and-miss, but not the Toy Story sequels. Woody and co. return for another adventure we didn’t know we wanted. It caps off the series beautifully.

THE TWO POPES - The set design alone is amazing, but this generous story of two men (Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins) who both happen to occupy the most powerful religious position in the world is great acting and great character work.

YESTERDAY - A high-concept “what if” comedy where a global blackout causes everyone on Earth - except one struggling musician - to forget all about the Beatles. He releases their songs as his own and becomes a global sensation.

I also really liked Alita: Battle Angel, For Sama, Good Boys, Harriet, Hustlers, Jumanji: The Next Level, Little Women, Shazam!, and Us.

I haven’t seen The Lighthouse, The Farewell, Waves, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Richard Jewell, Uncut Gems, and some of these other movies making top-ten lists everywhere, 

but of what I saw, 

... these were my top ten.

10. AVENGERS: ENDGAME - The season finale to the past ten years of Marvel movies. Everything comes together in the grandest possible way, and most of the core Avengers are at the center. Several surprise appearances from characters we didn’t think we’d see again, and the time-travel aspect allows for some inserting into previous scenes from different angles. (Captain America facing his old self is particularly fun.)

9. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD - Liked it better the second time. The assuredness, the tension at the ranch, the amazing suspense of the final ten minutes. Plus the balancing act of Leonardo DiCaprio’s insecure Nick Dalton bouncing off of Brad Pitt’s cool-as-ice Cliff Booth.

8. FORD V. FERRARI - Name a better car-racing movie. I don’t think there is one.

7. 1917 - It’s a simple story, shot as if in one take, but more importantly it’s a remarkable technical achievement where we’re treated to two hours of cinematographer Roger Deakins being on top of his game.

6. ROCKETMAN - Dexter Fletcher, who cleaned up Bohemian Rhapsody after its director Bryan Singer was dropped before post-production, gets to direct this Elton John musical biopic from the beginning, and it’s great. Taron Egerton (Kingman: The Secret Service) has never been better.

5. KNIVES OUT - Rian Johnson’s gigantically clever murder mystery is brimming with sparkling characters, and actors who seem delighted to embody them. I loved Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, and I hope he become the new Hercule Poirot, but this movie belonged to Ana de Arnas, the maid to this eccentric, rich family where everyone else is a suspect.

4. BOOKSMART - Smart, funny teen comedy about two brainiac girls who decide they want to party on their last night in high school. John Hughes would be proud of what Olivia Wilde’s done here.

3. JOJO RABBIT - Hilarious, yet poignant satire of Hitler’s youth, through the eyes of a naive German boy named Jojo in 1945 who discovers his mother’s been hiding a Jewish girl in their house. Writer/director Taika Waititi also co-stars as Jojo’s imaginary friend Adolf Hitler, and he walks the tightrope just right.

2. JOKER - If Martin Scorsese directed a comic book movie, it wouldn’t be much different than this, and to hit the point how much this story owes to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, Robert DeNiro himself co-stars. Meanwhile, Joaquin Phoenix owns this character with every inch of his body. Truly exceptional work.

1. PARASITE - Bong Joon Ho’s made his masterpiece, a comedy-drama about the class divide in South Korea, where a poor family ingratiates itself into a rich family’s home. There are unexpected twists and major tonal shifts, and it all works.

Sonic holds off Call of the Wild to stay #1

For the weekend of February 21-23, 2020, Sonic the Hedgehog held on to stay #1. It’s the highest opening ever for a movie based on a video game, and it’s on track to be the highest-grossing movie in the same category. Got to think Nintendo’s looking at this and figuring out how to make a different Super Mario Bros. movie. (It’s in development, but now they really have to be encouraged.)

The Call of the Wild was the winner of the new releases. It didn’t have a lot of competition besides Sonic, but maybe it’s a testament to Harrison Ford and the classic title that got people to come out. Most of the reviews I’ve read that were positive still had a problem with the CGI dog.

Brahms: The Boy II wasn’t screened for critics and fell flat on its face. 

Out of nowhere, the Impractical Jokers movie came out on 357 screens and had the best per-screen average of anything in the top 20. What?

Among the limited releases, Emma. did the best. Yes, the title has a period in it.

Opens February 28

THE INVISIBLE MAN with Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

Birds of Prey is #1

For the weekend of February 7-9, 2020, Birds of Prey was the easy #1. Can’t help but think WB expected more from it, but the marketing wasn’t great. Good thing the reviews are. Word-of-mouth should help keep it afloat, but this is a movie that should have opened to $50 million.

Bad Boys for Life keeps dominating, absolutely terrific for Will Smith. 1917 also has long legs and should get a boost next after it wins an Oscar or two tonight. Some of the other ones still hanging on by their fingernails in theaters (Parasite! Jojo Rabbit!) are hoping for some award boosts too.

Next week, the #1 spot should go to Sonic the Hedgehog.

Opens February 14

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG with Jim Carrey, James Marsden and Tika Sumpter.

FANTASY ISLAND with Michael Pena, Lucy Hale, Maggie Q and Portia Doubleday.

THE PHOTOGRAPH with LaKeith Stanfield, Issa Rae and Courtney B. Vance.

Bad Boys 3 bests Dolittle at box office

For the weekend of January 17-19, 2020, Bad Boys for Life was the hit Will Smith needed after Gemini Man flopped, and Martin Lawrence has got to be happy to be there. It’s another hit for Sony, which had another Jumanji movie, and it’s getting steady legs for the heavily-nominated Little Women. (Meanwhile let’s forget their Grudge reboot dropped 75% in its third week.)

Dolittle had been originally envisioned as a new franchise, but after disastrous re-shoots and a bloated budget, Universal saw the stink bomb they had and moved it to January. Meanwhile they added more screen for 1917, which is that studio’s bright spot. (Universal’s Christmas release? Cats.)

The Rise of Skywalker has crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide.

Opens January 24

THE GENTLEMEN with Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant.

THE TURNING with Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard and Brooklynn Prince.

RUN with Sarah Paulson, Pat Healy and Kiera Allen.

THE LAST FULL MEASURE with Sebastian Stan, Ed Harris and Samuel L. Jackson.

List of Oscar Nominations for 2019

BEST PICTURE
"Ford v Ferrari"
"The Irishman"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Joker"
"Little Women"
"Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood"
"Marriage Story"
"Parasite"
"1917"

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Antonio Banderas, "Pain and Glory"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood"
Adam Driver, "Marriage Story"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Joker"
Jonathan Pryce, "The Two Popes"

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Cynthia Erivo, "Harriet"
Scarlett Johansson, "Marriage Story"
Saoirse Ronan, "Little Women"
Renée Zellweger, "Judy"
Charlize Theron, "Bombshell"

DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese, "The Irishman"
Quentin Tarantino, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
Bong Joon-ho, "Parasite"
Sam Mendes, "1917"
Todd Phillips, "Joker"

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Kathy Bates, "Richard Jewell"
Laura Dern, "Marriage Story"
Scarlett Johansson, "Jojo Rabbit"
Florence Pugh, "Little Women"
Margot Robbie, "Bombshell"

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Tom Hanks, "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"
Anthony Hopkins, "The Two Popes"
Al Pacino, "The Irishman"
Joe Pesci, "The Irishman"
Brad Pitt, "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"The Irishman"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Little Women"
"The Two Popes"
"Joker"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Marriage Story"
"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
"Parasite"
"Knives Out"
"1917"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
South Korea, "Parasite"
Spain, "Pain and Glory"
France, "Les Misérables"
North Macedonia, "Honeyland"
Poland, "Corpus Christi"

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World"
"I Lost My Body"
"Klaus"
"Missing Link"
"Toy Story 4"

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
"American Factory"
"The Edge of Democracy"
"Honeyland"
"For Sama"
"The Cave"

ORIGINAL SONG
"I'm Standing With You," "Breakthrough"
"Into the Unknown," "Frozen II"
"Stand Up," "Harriet"
"(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again," "Rocketman"
"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away," "Toy Story 4"

ORIGINAL SCORE
"1917," Thomas Newman
"Joker," Hildur Guðnadóttir
"Little Women," Alexandre Desplat
"Marriage Story," Randy Newman
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," John Williams

PRODUCTION DESIGN
"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
"The Irishman"
"1917"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Parasite"

CINEMATOGRAPHY
"1917"
"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
"The Irishman"
"Joker"
"The Lighthouse"

COSTUME DESIGN
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
"Little Women"
"The Irishman"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Joker"

VISUAL EFFECTS
"Avengers: Endgame"
"The Lion King"
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"
"The Irishman"
"1917"

FILM EDITING
"The Irishman"
"Ford v Ferrari"
"Parasite"
"Joker"
"Jojo Rabbit"

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
"Bombshell"
"Joker"
"Judy"
"Maleficent: Mistress of Evil"
"1917"

SOUND EDITING
"1917"
"Ford v Ferrari"
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
"Joker"

SOUND MIXING
"1917"
"Ford v Ferrari"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
"Ad Astra"
"Joker"

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"Dcera (Daughter)"
"Hair Love"
"Kitbull"
"Memorable"
"Sister"

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"Brotherhood"
"Nefta Football Club"
"The Neighbors' Window"
"Saria"
"A Sister"

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
"In the Absence"
"Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)"
"Life Overtakes Me"
"St. Louis Superman"
"Walk Run Cha-Cha"

1917 is #1 at box office

For the weekend of January 10-12, 2020, the expansion of 1917 was the big winner. I can’t help but think all of the award buzz helped, but I think mainly audiences were ready for the next “good movie” to go see.

The Rise of Skywalker should cross the $1 billion mark worldwide sometime this week.

Of the brand-new releases, Like A Boss bested Underwater.

Opens January 17

BAD BOYS FOR LIFE with Will Smith, Martin Lawrence and Vanessa Hudgens.

DOLITTLE with Robert Downey Jr., Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen.

Golden Globes Winners

==MOVIES==

BEST PICTURE - DRAMA

1917

BEST PICTURE - COMEDY or MUSICAL

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA

Joaquin Phoenix - Joker

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA

Renee Zellweger - Judy

BEST ACTOR - COMEDY or MUSICAL

Taron Egerton - Rocketman

BEST ACTRESS - COMEDY or MUSICAL

Awkwafina - The Farewell

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Brad Pitt - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Laura Dern - Marriage Story

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Missing Link

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Parasite

BEST DIRECTOR

Sam Mendes - 1917

BEST SCREENPLAY

Quentin Tarantino - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

BEST SCORE

Joker

BEST SONG

“Love Me Again” - Rocketman

==TELEVISION==

BEST DRAMA

Succession (HBO)

BEST COMEDY

Fleabag (Amazon Prime)

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA

Brian Cox - Succession

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA

Olivia Colman - The Crown

BEST ACTOR - COMEDY

Ramy Youssef - Ramy

BEST ACTRESS - COMEDY

Phoebe Waller-Bridge - Fleabag

BEST MOVIE/MINISERIES

Chernobyl (HBO)

BEST ACTOR MOVIE/MINISERIES

Russell Crowe - The Loudest Voice

BEST ACTRESS MOVIE/MINISERIES

Michelle Williams - Fosse/Verdon

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Stellan Skarsgard - Chernobyl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette - The Act

CECIL B. DEMILLE AWARD (Film)

Tom Hanks

CAROL BURNETT AWARD (Television)

Ellen DeGeneres

Rise of Skywalker still #1 at box office

For the weekend of January 3-5, 2020, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker continues to rule. It’s now made over $915 million worldwide and should cross the $1 billion mark sometime next week. It’s not the force that Force Awakens was, but it should wind up grossing about as much as The Last Jedi. I also think the decision to not have another Star Wars movie for a good three years is a smart one. People can get their fix from DisneyPlus.

The only new wide release was The Grudge, a reboot that critics hated it, and so the quick $11 million opening it got means it should sink quickly, and so studios have tried and failed again to revive a horror franchise. Meanwhile we have reboots of Saw and Candyman coming this summer.

Of the holdovers, Jumanji: Next Level is doing quite well, thank you, at over $600 million worldwide, and if they want to make another one, the box office receipts are there to justify it.

Frozen II has passed $1.3 billion worldwide.

1917 is doing great in limited release. Just Mercy is doing decently, but it could use more award buzz around Jamie Foxx to bolster its box office potential.

Golden Globes are tonight!

Opens January 10

LIKE A BOSS with Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek.

UNDERWATER with Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick and TJ Miller.

(wide) 1917 with George Mackey, Dean-Charles Chapman and Colin Firth.

(wide) JUST MERCY with Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Brie Larsen.

My Worst Ten Films of 2019

Normally my Worst Ten movies lists will all be truly terrible movies, but that’s when I see 100 titles a year. For 2019, but my count is currently at 62, and I avoided a lot of movies I was iffy on. So I didn’t see a lot of truly bad movies. For instance, I never saw such universally panned titles as Replicas, Miss Bala, Hellboy, The Intruder, Poms, Brightburn, Shaft, Stuber, The Kitchen, The Goldfinch, Rambo: Last Blood, Jexi, Gemini Man, Playing with Fire, Charlie’s Angels, Playmobil, Black Christmas, or Cats.

So of what I have seen, these are the 53rd to 62nd best I’ve seen, i.e. the Ten Worst:

10. GLASS - I loved Unbreakable, I liked Split, and I had high hopes this would work. And I really enjoyed the first half or so. But man, that third act.. It became disjointed and self-indulgent the way the worst of M. Night Shyamalan can. He should have asked for another $10 million for his budget so he could have had a better ending. One should not leave a movie going "Man, I really wanted to like it..."

9. CHILD’S PLAY - It’s nice and grisly, but it also doesn’t quite capture the campy charm of the original. Instead of demonic possession involved, Chucky is a doll with an AI chip that goes haywire. Thing is, in the beginning Chucky doesn’t look like a doll any sane person would buy.

8. UNDER THE SILVER LAKE - There’s undeniable talent behind this movie written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, who made It Follows. It’s a swooping David Lynch type mystery, with strange characters, off-kilter angles, and weird stuff that happens for no reason and is never eluded to again. At the center is Sam (Andrew Garfield), a slacker who gets a crush on a neighbor girl who promptly disappears. The finale is a letdown, and even then it doesn’t wrap up half of what’s going on. So if this is all it was, why is it 2 hours and 19 minutes long?

7. ANNABELLE COME HOME - Not as bad as the original Annabelle, but not as good as Annabelle: Creation, this is another Conjuring spinoff where the jump scares all feel the same. And with this, we go for almost an hour before it even tries to be scary. I’ll admit I’d enjoy a Ferry Man spinoff, but I also thought I’d like a Nun spinoff, and that was awful.

6. DARK PHOENIX - The final X-Men movie (with this cast) goes out not with a bang but with a whimper. I loved First Class, liked Days of Future Past, and found Apocalypse to be meh, and this is the weakest of the four. It centers on Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), and it redoes the Dark Phoenix plot that X-Men: Last Stand tried. Also weirdly, this takes place in the 1990’s, so Xavier and Magneto are supposed to be just 5-6 year away from looking like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, but they haven’t aged much.

5. CAPTIVE STATE - Intriguing premise poorly executed. Aliens have occupied the Earth, and they demand allegiance in thought. The movie is mostly about a possible resistance against them, but when we got to the last five minutes, I realized that’s what the halfway mark should have been instead of most of the earlier stuff we wasted our time on.

4. GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS - Most of the original cast didn’t return, and this has one of the lamest terrorist motivations yet. They want to unleash all of the titans to destroy the vast majority of humanity in order to… save humanity? Bradley Whitford gets the thankless role as the sarcastic guy who’s actually in charge of giving tons of expository dialogue, Kyle Chandler is in permanent grimace mode, and while some of the titans’ special effects are cool, we don’t care about the characters. 

3. THE DIRT - Since we’re supposed to treat Netflix like real movies…. This Motley Crue biopic is ultimately a paint-by-numbers lazy approach to the music band biopic formula. It’s cool to see Game of Thrones’ Iwan Rheon (Ramsay) as Mick Mars, Machine Gun Kelly as Tommy Lee, etc., but it’s a really a relay of “this happened, then this happened, then this happened” while subplots like Lee’s domestic violence problems or Vince Neil’s daughter dying barely get mentioned so as to avoid emotional impact. We’re left wondering why Crue was ever a big deal. Or were they even?

2. THE PRODIGY - Cliched horror movie that betrays its own logic. It’s about a boy possessed by a serial killer, but it takes everyone else in the movie an hour to catch up to this while the audience is shown this in the beginning.

1. SERENITY - The movie sets up itself as a potboiler, a thriller about an old flame (Anne Hathaway) who’s come back into the life of her fisherman ex-husband (Matthew McConaughey) with a favor to ask - that he kills her current husband (Jason Clarke) and makes it look like an accident. The first half of the movie is about this… and then it changes into a completely different movie that feels like a cheat. It’s a crazy twist that might have worked in the final five minutes of a movie, but to do it halfway through, we get 45 minutes to contemplate how stupid this is.