Month: January 2017

23rd Annual SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards – Short Recap

The 23rd Annual SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards aired last night. I don’t usually post about them, but there were several exciting things that happened on the show, so here goes…
First of all, if you haven’t seen “Fences” or “Hidden Figures”, you are doing yourself a dis-service.

While “La La Land” earned 7 Golden Globe nominations and 14 Oscar nominations, it only had 2 SAG Award nominations. It only won one of these. Emma Stone won the Female Actress in a Leading Role award. She also won this category at the Golden Globes. Who should have won is Amy Adams for her role in “Arrival” or Natalie Portman for her role in “Jackie”. Each of those performances were better.

What did happen is Ryan Gosling did not win a SAG for his role in “La La Land”.
Denzel Washington won the Male Actor in a Leading Role award for “Fences”. I was so happy and excited about this that I was in tears!!

Viola Davis won for her role in “Fences”. Winning the SAG gives her 2 for 2. She won the Golden Globe and she is also an Oscar nominee.

The entire cast of “Hidden Figures” won a SAG Award last night for Best Film.
The SAG Awards are the last stop before the Oscars. We will find out in a few weeks if “La La Land” sweeps or if there will be a few really nice surprises like last night.

In parting if you haven’t see “Arrival”, “Jackie”, “Hidden Figures” or “Fences”, you should check them all out. Also consider seeing “Hell or High Water” and “Florence Foster Jenkins”. These movies have actors nominated for Golden Globes, SAGs and Oscars.

Gold

“Gold” is based on true events that happened between 1980 and 1988. Prospector Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) is scratching hard for a lucky break. He teams up with another Geologist Micke Acosta (Edgar Ramirez) who is in a similar situation. Together they prospect an area in the jungle of Indonesia for gold and put together what appears to be a air-tight plan for a rags to riches result.

After several false starts, funds running low and the Indonesian workers wanting to quit, Wells and Acosta strike a small find. This small gold find leads to heavy hitters wanting to invest, a Wall Street Stock Market opening and everyone trying to get a piece of the action. But how long will it last, the story unfolds from there…

If this wasn’t based on true events, I would not have believed it. Matthew McConaughey’s portrayal of Kenny Wells is the bright spot of this movie. The story is jumbled, skips around and does not appear on the big screen in the order in which things actually happened. There are a lot of “Heavy Hitters” in this movie, so I expected better.

Some parts of “Gold” will remind you of the 2000 hit “Traffic”, but “Traffic” was an awesome flick and executed much better than “Gold”.

If you are a Matthew McConaughey fan, his performance in “Gold” is worth seeing. Otherwise wait for “Gold” to come out on cable, DVD or Blue Ray.

This is a 2 Star Movie!

A Dog’s Purpose

“A Dog’s Purpose” is about a Golden Retriever named “Bailey” who goes through several reincarnations. Through some of these reincarnations dog abuse is realized before the reincarnated “Bailey” lands where he/she is supposed to be.

Each time “Bailey” is reincarnated he/she learns a new purpose and life lesson. The story unfolds from there…

While we all know that animal cruelty does happen, I don’t like seeing it on the big screen. That made parts of the movie intolerable. At times the movie was very entertaining and other times it was boring. There was some comedy relief, but that too was brief. I had hoped for a better more fun movie than what I actually saw.

I believe small children might enjoy “A Dog’s Purpose”, but dog loving adults may not.

This is a 2 ½ Star Movie!

XxX:Return of Xander Cage the IMAX Experience

After a 14 year hiatus, Xander Cage is back!

In this third installment Xander Cage is lured from his self-imposed exile to help stop a Pandora’s Box that is being used to take control of satellites and use them as weapons. Xander has plenty of company as he tries to stop the unknown enemy, but also stop alpha warrior Xiang and his team who are also racing to get their hands on the box. Xander recruits a whole new team that are highly skilled and thrill-seeking just as he is. The story unfolds from there…

The sound track is “Dope!!” There is a ton of action, fight sequences, out-of-this-world stunts and some pretty cool cinematography and camera angles.
The movie will keep you engaged, but unfortunately the story is lacking and dull. We have seen it all before. This has been a blockbuster Franchise in the past, but the story doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

This is a 2 ½ Star Movie!

Sleepless (2017)

“Sleepless” is a T.V. Cop Drama on the Big Screen.

Las Vegas police officer Vince Downs (Jamie Foxx) is caught up in a high stakes sting operation where he is trying to weed out the corrupt cops and bring down a known drug syndicate who controls one of Vegas’s Casinos. A heist goes wrong and Down’s son is kidnapped right in front of him. The story unfolds from there…

The story is mundane at best. We have seen it all before on TV. There is a strong cast and some decent action, but that’s not enough to keep you awake.

I like Jamie Foxx. He is a well-rounded entertainer, he can sing, act and crack some good jokes. He even has an Oscar to his credit, but Jamie appears to not be very invested in “Sleepless”. He looks as though he is going through the motions. I had high hopes for “Sleepless”, but unfortunately my hopes were dashed.

“Sleepless” will be a great movie to watch on DVD or Blue-Ray.

This is a 2 Star Movie!

Patriots Day

“Patriots Day” is a very well-orchestrated and very well executed account of the horrific Boston Marathon Terrorist Bombing that occurred in April 2013.

The movie shows the quick work of the Boston Police Dept, First Responders, the FBI, The Governor and other Boston and State Officials as they investigate and try to get to the bottom of this horrible incident as quickly as possible.

At the end of the movie the survivors speak about their challenges and triumphs. The movie reinforces to you that the human spirit is strong in the face of adversity.

While this movie is about a horrific incident that occurred in an American city, the movie is worth seeing because there are definite moments that are heart-warming.

This is a 4 Star Movie!

Live by Night

“Live by Night” is a slow burning gangster movie that has no sizzle. The movie is loosely based on Dennis Lehane’s Crime Novel about a prodigal son of a prominent police chief and his gradual descent into the crime world.

The cinematography is very good, there was lots of action and some of the camera angles were awesome, but the movie just doesn’t grab you. There is a HUGH cast, but even they couldn’t make an already hollow story whole. The story appears to have started in the middle instead of at the beginning.

Ben Affleck directs and stars in the movie. This could be part of the problem. Ben Affleck is brilliant behind the camera, but not in front of the camera.

Several people got up and left the theater long before the movie was over, that’s how boring the movie was.

The previews and trailers for “Live by Night” looked really good. Too bad the actual movie did not live up to its billing.

This is a 2 Star Movie!

A Monster Calls

“A Monster Calls” is based on a best-selling novel by Patrick Ness. The story is about a 12 year old boy, Conor (Lewis MacDougall) who has a lot on his young plate. Conor is dealing with his terminally ill mother (Felicity Jones), a mean, unsympathic grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) and if that’s not enough Conor is being bullied at school. To cope with all that is going on, Conor tries to loose himself in his art.

Soon Conor finds an unlikely ally when a Tree Monster (Liam Neeson) appears at his bedroom window at 12:07am. This time turns out to be significant because at 12:07am just about every night the Tree Monster appears doling out advise, stories and wisdom. The Monster helps give Conor courage to face the truth and deal with all of the events in his life. The story unfolds from there…

Although dark at times “A Monster Calls” has some eye pleasing visuals. The special effects are really good. The story is very emotional and moving.

This is a 4 ½ Star Movie!

Hidden Figures

This is a special edition of “Thursday Night at the Movies w/The Movie Warrior”

What a way to start off 2017!

Based on a true story, “Hidden Figures” is a very eye opening, moving and entertaining movie.
In the 1960’s NASA employed a number of women of color who were Mathematicians and Engineers. These brilliant women helped NASA figure out how to get a man on the moon and then back to earth safely.

The movie chronicles these historic events while dabbling in the personal lives of the three main female characters. The story unfolds from there…

The movie is awesome! My only complaint is that the personal lives of the three main female characters, Katherine Johnson (Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Monae) should have been a bit more prominent in the movie. It would have been nice to find out how they actually got to NASA.

Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae were awesome in their roles. The entire cast was really good.

“Hidden Figures” is definitely worth a look and deserves all of the buzz it’s been receiving.

This is a 5 Star Movie!