#REVIEWSATURDAY - HEARTS BEAT LOUD (2018) - FILM REVIEW

Hearts Beat Loud (2018)

PG-13 | 1h 37min | Drama, Music | 8 June 2018 (USA) 

The modest scope of "Hearts Beat Loud," a new film directed by Brett Haley, which he co-wrote with Marc Basch, is its strongest point. It's refreshing to watch a film that doesn't feel obligated to go for the brass ring (of emotion, or social commentary, or even plot). Low-key scenes play out in a casual way, with simply drawn characters eloquently filled in by the talented cast. There's a relief as an audience member when you don't get the sense that actors or director are pushing for catharsis, for a message, to keep you interested. But "Hearts Beat Loud" could use more urgency in the telling, more sense of what is at stake for the characters. 

Frank Fisher (Nick Offerman) is a widower who owns a record shop in Red Hook, a Brooklyn neighborhood far removed from the bustle of Manhattan. If you go to Red Hook, you can feel the ghost of its industrial shipping-port past, the warehouses, the waterfront, its isolation, but the winds of gentrification are blowing. Gentrification is not the topic of "Hearts Beat Loud," but it is the worrisome undercurrent for the main characters. Frank has owned Red Hook Records for 17 years, and his landlord Leslie (Toni Collette) has held off on raising the rent because she loves the store and she likes Frank. But it's time to sell, so Frank puts up signs in the window saying "Everything Must Go" (which might have been a more evocative title for the film). Frank's daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) is taking pre-med classes during the summer before heading out for college on the West Coast. It's the end of an era, in more ways than one. Frank and his late wife had a band together, and he and Sam unwind with impromptu jam sessions, writing songs at the end of a long day. It's one of the ways they bond. But all of the impending changes make Frank determined to create a band with his daughter, even if she's not particularly into it. He's let go of so much, he doesn't want to let go of her.

"Hearts Beat Loud" simmers on a low boil, and this is sometimes in its favor. Frank hangs out with the stoner owner (Ted Danson) of a local Red Hook dive, and sometimes does karaoke with Leslie. Sam meets a girl (Sasha Lane, from "American Honey") who works in an art gallery, and the two begin a sweet romance, poignant because their time is limited. When Frank uploads one of the songs he and Sam recorded to Spotify, it's a modest "hit." Frank suggests maybe Sam should delay college so they can start playing gigs. "Hearts Beat Loud" doesn't go the predictable route, where father and daughter take the indie rock scene by storm. The film is up to something quieter, more realistic.

Clemons is wonderful here, but Offerman is the revelation. Normally he plays big broad characters, and he does it very well. In "Hearts Beat Loud," he is internal, with loss and grief etched into his face. There are times, talking with his daughter, where you can feel the intensity of his emotions, his love for her, his fear of being alone, all things he cannot express. Frank never married again. His daughter is everything to him. He comes alive when talking about music. There's a beautiful moment where he reads some song lyrics Sam wrote, and realizes she must be in love with someone. "Do you have a girlfriend?" he asks her, excited, curious. (It's refreshing to have the "issue" of someone's sexual orientation not be an "issue" at all.) Frank's latching onto the father-daughter band idea comes from a place of pain and fear, and Offerman makes that very clear, without drowning the character in self-pity or self-importance.

There's a lot of music in "Hearts Beat Loud," with a couple of original songs composed by Keegan DeWitt ("Cold Weather," "Listen Up Philip," "Queen of Earth," "Kate Plays Christine," "The Incredible Jessica James"). The songs—performed by Offerman and Clemons—are a huge part of the texture of the film. Their performances play out in full, so you're given a chance to get swept away in Clemons' strong expressive voice, in the dynamic between the two actors, the love and appreciation they have for one another, the fun they have together.

Some aspects of "Hearts Beat Loud" feel sketched-in, almost like a first draft. Sam is shown going to only one pre-med class, where the teacher, in a lecture about the heart, mentions how falling in love makes the heart beat faster, and then says, "Okay! Let's talk about ventricles!" Despite the rigors of pre-med programs, Sam has unlimited free time to play music with her dad and hang out with her girlfriend. There's a meandering pointless feeling to some of the scenes with Ted Danson. It's like he's there as a character just to give Frank someone to talk to. Leslie is not as developed a character as she could be, although Collette brings nice shadings to her work, as always. And Frank's suggestion that Sam put off college so they can start a band isn't explored as the truly delusional idea that it is. He's literally holding her back! The film is so easy-going towards Frank that all kinds of intriguing and possibly intense emotional avenues remain unexplored. The heart of the film could have beat just a little bit louder. 

A father and daughter form an unlikely songwriting duo in the summer before she leaves for college.

Director:

Brett Haley

Writers:

Brett Haley, Marc Basch

Stars:

Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Ted Danson 

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 2018 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

Los corazones laten fuerte See more »

Filming Locations:

Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

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Company Credits

Production Co:

Burn Later Productions, Houston King Productions, Park Pictures

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#REVIEWSATURDAY - WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR (2018) - FILM REVIEW

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

PG-13 | 1h 34min | Documentary, Biography | 8 June 2018 (USA) 

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” presents the history of Fred McFeely Rogers, Presbyterian minister, children’s advocate and the most beloved Republican since Abe Lincoln. Like Honest Abe, Mr. Rogers was known for wearing a specific article of clothing and his ability to sweet talk a Congressman or two. From 1968 to 2001, Mr. Rogers kept millions of little ones out of their parents’ hair by offering a half hour program designed to counter the cartoon violence and frenetic pacing of practically every other kids’ show on the air. On PBS, he sang, offered advice and worked a cat puppet whose feline vocal tic drove my mother absolutely insane. 15 years after his death, the heroic endeavors of Fred Rogers are finally being celebrated on the big screen.

One of the many “stand up and cheer” moments in Morgan Neville’s enchanting documentary, at least for me, is when cellist Yo-Yo Ma describes his first meeting with the man who will forever be known as the proprietor of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” “He scared the hell out of me,” says Ma. I felt vindicated, because when I was a kid, Mr. Rogers terrified me too. He made me nervous, a condition exacerbated by my cousin telling me that he was actually a serial killer. According to her, Mr. Rogers lured people on his show and then decapitated them with the Museum-Go-Round.

Whatever Mr. Rogers was up to, watching his show made me uneasy; he was just too mild-mannered, too quiet and too calm. That felt odd, because the environment of my upbringing was anything but calm and quiet. My sister thought he was magical, though, proving that old adage about girls figuring out things long before boys do. Eventually, I came around to her way of thinking, and it only took 24 years before I realized just what it was that made Mr. Rogers so beloved and so effective.

More on that later. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” puts to rest many of the most common rumors about Mr. Rogers. It does so in the same blunt yet understated way that its subject dealt out information to kids. The “torso full of tattoos” rumor is addressed by showing Mr. Rogers swimming his daily mile in the local pool. To my chagrin, there’s no mention of on-set violence featuring buildings from the Land of Make Believe, but the film makes up for that by revealing the inspiration for the puppet who lived inside the Museum-Go-Round. It’s a hilarious moment that shows that respectable Mr. Rogers could also be mischievous—and petty!

Rather than rely on celebrities or viewers espousing what Mr. Rogers meant to them, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” makes judicious use of a few people closest to the man or his neighborhood. These include his wife, Joanne and their children plus castmembers David “Mr. McFeely” Newell, François “Officer Clemmons” Clemmons and Joe “Handyman” Negri. Negri in particular makes the neighborhood set sound like a riotous party, but everyone leans into the idea that, under Mr. Rogers' sweet exterior was a true radical. And maybe even a clairvoyant: In a clip from the Neighborhood’s first week on the air, the Land of Make Believe’s “benevolent monarch” puppet King Friday XIII issues a proclamation to build a wall to keep “undesirables” out!

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” makes this “he’s a radical” idea credible. After all, a troublemaking idea existed in the titular song that Mr. Rogers sang to the kiddies at the beginning of each show. Here was a White man inviting everyone to live in his ‘hood, regardless of color. “I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,” he sings, a sentiment that wasn’t shared by most Americans in the still-segregated era when "Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood" premiered. (Eddie Murphy’s brilliant parody, “Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood,” excerpted here in a brief clip, seizes upon this “Fear of a Black Neighbor” notion and runs with it.) But Mr. Rogers’ true genius was showing by example, and Neville highlights two memorable instances of this.

The first is Mr. Rogers’ early appearance before Congress on behalf of funding for LBJ’s newest creation, the Public Broadcasting System. Facing an adversarial Senator Pastore, who had already made up his mind to pan PBS, Mr. Rogers makes his argument by simply reciting the words to a song he had written for his show. Pastore folds immediately. “You’ve just earned your $20 million,” he says. You wouldn’t buy this in a Jimmy Stewart movie—and God help us if this had to play out in today’s Washington D.C.—yet you can find this fascinating footage on YouTube.

The second instance of Mr. Rogers leading by example occurs with the character of Officer Clemmons. As an African-American, Clemmons was at first hesitant to play a cop on the show, but he realizes the importance of kids of color seeing a friendly, familiar-looking face as law enforcement. Even more importantly, he participates in a bit where Mr. Rogers basically gives the finger to the notion of segregated swimming pools by inviting Clemmons to join him in a very small wading pool. Neville intercuts this scene from the show with footage of White lifeguards pouring bleach into a pool where Black kids were swimming.

Clemmons also figures in an incident where Mr. Rogers wasn’t so enlightened. Someone from the show discovered that the then-closeted at work Clemmons had been to a gay bar. “I had a good time!” says Clemmons, who was then told that any future bar visits would result in his termination from the show. I can only imagine which Land of Make Believe puppet got tasked with informing Clemmons that Mister Roger’s Neighborhood did not have a Castro District. (I hope it was Henrietta Pussycat saying “meow meow gay bar meow meow nuh-uh meow meow fired!”) But at least Clemmons informs us that Mr. Rogers “eventually came around” to acceptance.

“Love is at the root of everything,” Mr. Rogers tells us in an early clip, “or lack of it.” Like his fellow puppeteer and PBS colleague Jim Henson, Fred Rogers used puppets to deliver much of his message. His first puppet, Daniel Striped Tiger, serves as an animated avatar between segments because, as Mrs. Rogers points out, Daniel was an evocation of her husband’s childhood feelings of insecurity and his need to be loved. It’s hinted that Mr. Rogers was bullied as a heavyset kid—he was called “fat Freddie” and picked on, which may have led to his insistence in adulthood that a child’s feelings were as important as any adult’s. Folks are quick to point out, however, that while Daniel represents innocence, Mr. Rogers also does the voice of King Friday XIII, who clearly represents that adult need to always get one’s way.

Looking at “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” with adult eyes is rather fascinating. You notice that there’s a clear distinction between imagination and reality—we’re never lead to believe that the puppet segments are anything but pretend, for example. Mr. Rogers never talks down to his viewers, nor does he really sugarcoat uncomfortable things like anger or death. He’s very matter of fact, and his manner was deliberate, constant and repetitive. Which leads me to my moment of Mr. Rogers clarity.

Many years ago, I’d come home from my Wall Street job in a state of great agitation and upset. I was stressed out, worn out and miserable beyond measure. I absent-mindedly turned on the television and went into the kitchen to make dinner. For some reason, my TV was on PBS and I could hear Mr. Rogers talking from the other room. Despite paying only half an ear’s worth of attention, I suddenly realized what it was that earned the undying love of kids like my sister: Mr. Rogers made you feel like someone gave a damn about you. He said you were special. He did NOT, as the jackasses at Fox News and the Wall Street Journal claimed in hideous failure-blaming articles, promise you success or glory. He just told you that, no matter what you looked like, how able you were or how much money you had, that you had value.

I stood in my kitchen listening to this message, which I of course should have already known as an adult,  and I started to cry. I tell you this because I had the same reaction at the end of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” I sat in the critics’ screening room holding my notepad up to my face so that nobody would know I was sobbing. Now, if someone like me, whose childhood memories of Mr. Rogers involve rumored mass murder sprees, could have this reaction, you can only imagine what this film will do to you if you’ve always loved this man. Bring Kleenex. Lots of it.

An exploration of the life, lessons, and legacy of iconic children's television host, Fred Rogers.

Director:

Morgan Neville

Stars:

Joanne Rogers, McColm Cephas Jr., François Scarborough Clemmons | See full cast & crew »

 

 

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 2018 (USA) See more »

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Company Credits

Production Co:

Tremolo Productions

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#REVIEWSATURDAY - OCEAN'S 8 (2018) - FILM REVIEW #REVIEWSATURDAY

Ocean's Eight (2018)

PG-13 | 1h 50min | Action, Comedy, Crime | 13 June 2018 (Philippines) 

In the midst of this bloated summer blockbuster season crammed with comic book superheroes, here are your true avengers: the formidable female cast of “Ocean’s 8,” taking us on a giddy, fizzy escape while also making a pointed statement about the realities of the world in which we live.

It’s a heist flick, carrying on the tradition of Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s” trilogy (Soderbergh serves as a producer this time), with all the elaborate machinations you’ve come to expect from the series. It is crime as high art—which is fitting, given that the robbery this time takes place at The Met Gala, the annual fashion extravaganza at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s also the most flat-out fun movie that director and co-writer Gary Ross has made since his directorial debut, “Pleasantville,” 20 years ago. Slickly paced and radiating sexy glamour, “Ocean’s 8” moves with the swagger of a supermodel prancing down the runway.

But beneath the couture gowns and glittering jewels, the high-tech equipment and good, old-fashioned sleight of hand, “Ocean’s 8” is about the power of women standing up for themselves, sticking with each other and making the impossible happen. Years of planning and reservoirs of chutzpah certainly help, but the real reason these ladies are able to pull off this particularly daring crime in plain sight is simple: “A ‘him’ gets noticed. A ‘her’ gets ignored,” says Sandra Bullock as crew chief Debbie Ocean. “And for once, we want to be ignored.”

Bullock is coolly charismatic and totally in command in the title role, taking over as the George Clooney figure in this reimagining of the franchise. (Debbie is the estranged sister of Clooney’s late Danny Ocean, which the film addresses efficiently before moving on to the action.) After giving the performance of a lifetime to persuade the parole board to release her from prison, Debbie promptly returns to New York City and begins assembling the team she’ll need to pull off the crime she’s been planning for the past five years, eight months and 12 days.

Her first stop is Bergdorf Goodman for a dazzling bit of high-dollar shoplifting. And one of the movie’s many strengths is its use of recognizable New York locations; it grounds the film in contemporary reality and keeps it from floating off completely into the stratosphere. Besides that luxury department store, the ladies also visit the Ukrainian restaurant Veselka in the East Village, Junior’s diner in Brooklyn and, of course, The Met.

As in Soderbergh’s original “Ocean’s 11,” part of the fun of “Ocean’s 8” is watching Debbie handpick the women who will help her pull off this daring crime: stealing a one-of-a-kind, $150 million diamond Cartier necklace from the starlet who’s wearing it, right in the middle of the gala. Each brings a specific talent and energy to the team; together, they create an unpredictable, irresistible alchemy.

Bullock especially has great chemistry with Cate Blanchett as Lou, her longtime partner with whom she enjoys a smart and playfully spiky repartee. The ever-changing Blanchett is all rock-and-roll bad-assery here—but in an intriguing twist, she also serves as the voice of reason compared to Bullock’s wildly ambitious Debbie.

Together, they round up Mindy Kaling’s Amita, a jeweler who’s used to doing shady work for Debbie but nothing quite like this; con artist and petty thief Constance (actress/musician Awkwafina, whose real name is Nora Lum), who brings a youthful, streetwise edge to the crew; Sarah Paulson’s Tammy, a reliable fence trying to live a quiet life as a wife and mom in suburbia; Rihanna as a resourceful hacker who goes by the name Nine Ball and solves every tricky security challenge with a low-key confidence; and fashion designer Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter), whose fame and clout provide the team with access to the star-studded event, even though her days of peak popularity are well behind her.

The final player is the one who doesn’t even realize she’s been recruited: Anne Hathaway as “It Girl” actress Daphne Kluger, who’s one of the gala’s hosts and whose neck will carry that expensive piece of shiny hardware. While Awkwafina is a breath of fresh air and Carter is her delightfully odd self, Hathaway is the film’s MVP. What she’s doing here is nothing short of inspired, controlled lunacy. She’s an actress playing an actress, which is always a juicy opportunity to ham it up. But Hathaway is clearly having a blast discovering all of this character’s colors, from preening egomania to dippy girlishness to insecure fragility. She’s pulled off a theft of her own here.

The sheer brazenness of the crime in “Ocean’s 8” is enough to put a goofy smile on your face. But as is always the case in heist movies, the sustained thrill of the high-wire act comes from watching the players lay out their complex plan, then seeing whether it actually goes as smoothly as they’d hoped. Ross and co-writer Olivia Milch give each of these ladies an opportunity to shine along the way, but because they’ve amassed such a staggering lineup of talent, it makes you wish some of the supporting players had been better fleshed out. This is particularly the case with Kaling, Paulson and Awkwafina, and it’s the movie’s one real weakness.

But it makes a real statement to revisit an established franchise like the “Ocean’s” movies—which were ruled by roguish men—and place a murderer’s row of gifted actresses in the key roles. They also get to revel in their feminine sides thanks to the glorious costume work of Sarah Edwards, who not only crafted their stylish wardrobes but also worked with top designers including Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Naeem Khan and Zac Posen to create the stunning gowns the characters wear for the main event. Bullock’s black-and-metallic Alberta Feretti dress is a total knockout, as is the emerald-green, beaded Givenchy jumpsuit Blanchett wears.

So you can turn your brain on or off watching “Ocean’s 8.” Either way, you’ll have a blast—and you’ll be counting the days until the next job.

Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City's yearly Met Gala.

Director:

Gary Ross

Writers:

Gary Ross (screenplay by), Olivia Milch (screenplay by) | 3 more credits »

Stars:

Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 June 2018 (Philippines) See more »

Also Known As:

Ocean's 8 See more »

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA See more »

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Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

See more on IMDbPro »

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Company Credits

Production Co:

Smokehouse Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures

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HALLOWEEN Trailer (2018)

Halloween (2018)

Horror | 19 October 2018 (USA) 

Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

Director:

David Gordon Green

Writers:

John Carpenter (characters), Jeff Fradley | 3 more credits »

Stars:

Judy Greer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Virginia Gardner 

Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago. This film, the 11th film in the "Halloween" series, will ignore the events of all previous sequels, picking up 40 years after the events of the original film.

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WIDOWS Trailer (2018)

Widows (2018)

Crime, Drama, Thriller | 9 November 2018 (UK) 

Set in contemporary Chicago, amidst a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands' criminal activities, take fate into their own hands, and conspire to forge a future on their own terms.

Director:

Steve McQueen

Writers:

Gillian Flynn (screenplay by), Steve McQueen (screenplay by) | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell

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WHITE BOY ROCK Trailer (2018)

White Boy Rick (2018)

Crime, Drama | 21 September 2018 (USA) 

The story of teenager Richard Wershe Jr., who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.

Director:

Yann Demange

Writers:

Andy Weiss (screenplay by), Logan Miller (screenplay by) | 4 more credits »

Stars:

Jennifer Jason Leigh, Matthew McConaughey, Eddie Marsan

White Boy Rick is the new drama by Yann Demange, starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bel Powley.

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MORTAL ENGINES Trailer 2 (2018)

Mortal Engines (2018)

Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi | 14 December 2018 (USA) 

 

Many years after the "Sixty Minute War," cities survive a now desolate Earth by moving around on giant wheels attacking and devouring smaller towns to replenish their resources.

Director:

Christian Rivers

Writers:

Fran Walsh (screenplay by), Philippa Boyens (screenplay by) | 2 more credits »

Stars:

Hugo Weaving, Frankie Adams, Stephen Lang

Set in a world many thousands of years in the future. Earth’s cities now roam the globe on huge wheels, devouring each other in a struggle for ever diminishing resources. On one of these massive Traction Cities, Tom Natsworthy has an unexpected encounter with a mysterious young woman from the Outlands who will change the course of his life forever. Mortal Engines is the new science fiction movie by Christian Rivers, starring Robert Sheehan, Hera Hilmar and Ronan Raftery.

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BUMBLEBEE Trailer (2018) Transformers

Bumblebee (2018)

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi | 21 December 2018 (USA) 

On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken.

Director:

Travis Knight

Writer:

Christina Hodson (screenplay)

Stars:

Hailee Steinfeld, Martin Short, Pamela Adlon 

Bumblebee is the new action movie by Travis Knight, starring Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. and John Cena.

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