THE UPSIDE (2017) – My rating: 7.5/10

The Upside is a comedy-drama directed by Neil Burger and written by Jon Hartmere. It is a remake of the French 2011 film, The Intouchables, which was itself inspired by the life of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo.  The film follows a paralyzed billionaire who hires a recently paroled convict as a caregiver.  I was quite anxious to see The Upside but became waylaid by all the bad reviews.  I decided to see it anyway, before it left the theaters and I’m glad I did.  I felt the movie was well done and quite entertaining.

The Upside opens with Dell Scott (Kevin Hart) and Philip Lacasse (Bryan Cranston) speeding through New York City in a Ferrari. After they are pulled over by the police, Dell makes up a story that convinces the officers he is rushing Philip to the emergency room. Philip grudgingly plays along, and instead of being issued a ticket, the two are escorted to the hospital by the police.

Rewind six months earlier to where the recently paroled Dell is ordered to obtain three signatures to prove he is seeking a job. He appears to answer several ads pretending he wants employment but is only seeking the signatures he needs to keep from violating his parole.  When Dell visited the penthouse home of Philip, a wealthy quadriplegic, his search for a befitting job was finally over. Philip, along with his assistant Yvonne Pendleton (Nicole Kidman), is interviewing candidates for the position of his “life auxiliary” caregiver. After waiting behind a couple of other highly qualified applicants, Dell barges in and demands a signature for his parole officer. For unexplainable reasons, intrigued by Dell, Philip offers him the job, but he declines. After leaving such a lush residence, Dell visits his ex, Latrice (Aja Naomi King) and son Anthony (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) at their dilapidated apartment, but neither is interested in him rejoining their lives, so he gives his son a book he stole from Philip’s library and leaves. Desperate to turn his life around, Dell accepts the well-paying position of Philip’s live-in caregiver, for which Yvonne establishes a “three strikes and you’re out” rule. Dell is daunted by his new responsibilities, despite guidance from Philip’s physical therapist Maggie (Golshifteh Farahani) but forges on anyway.

The Upside shows life between the haves and the have nots.  Even though Philip is a quadriplegic, he had more money than JZ, which makes him a very, very rich individual.  Dell, having no caregiver experience, was dirt poor with an estranged baby mama and their son.  Because The Upside is based on a true story, I can’t say the likelihood of this scenario happening is one in a million or who knows, maybe I can, we’ve just not heard of any similar cases.  The movie was moving, funny and semi-quasi emotional.  The relationship between Philip and Dell was complicated, at best.  There were a lot of Kevin Hart dynamics displayed throughout the film and I think this was certainly one of Kevin’s better performances.  Speaking of being qualified for a job, I felt Nicol Kidman was over qualified for her role, which in my opinion, didn’t require such an experience actress.  It is interesting to see how the story develops and how relationships were mended and how a win, lose situation became a win, win for everyone.  I think The Upside is definitely worth seeing, Check It Out!

NOTE:  Although The Upside was filmed in 2017, it wasn’t released in the United States until January 11, 2019 because it was originally suppose to be distributed by The Weinstein Company in March 2018, however the film was shelved and sold off following the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations.

ISLE OF DOGS (2018) My rating: 7.5/10

Isle of Dogs (Japanese: 犬ヶ島 Hepburn: Inugashima) is a stop-motion-animated science-fiction comedy-drama written, produced and directed by Wes Anderson. Isle of Dogs was produced by Indian Paintbrush and Anderson’s own production company, American Empirical Pictures, in association with Studio Babelsberg. Set in a dystopian near-future Japan, the story follows a young boy searching for his dog after the species is banished to an island following the outbreak of a canine flu. I thought Isle of Dogs was well done with a very entertaining plot.

Isle of Dogs opens in the Japanese archipelago, where 20 years into the future, an outbreak of canine influenza spreads throughout the city of Megasaki.  There’s a risk the canine flu could cross over to humans. The city’s 6-term authoritarian mayor, Kenji Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura), signs a decree banishing all dogs to Trash Island, despite a scientist named Professor Watanabe (Akira Ito) insisting he is close to finding a cure for the dog flu. The first dog exiled is Spots (Live Schreiber), a white and black-marked pink-nosed dog who served as the bodyguard of 12-year-old Atari Kobayashi (Koyui Rankin), the orphaned nephew and ward of the mayor. This action would later be revealed as part of a conspiracy by Mayor Kobayashi and his political party, who are seeking to finish what their ancestors attempted long ago, removing all dogs from Japan.

**** SPOILERS BELOW ****

Fast forward six months later, Atari hijacks a plane and flies it to Trash Island to search for Spots. After crash-landing, Atari is rescued by a pack of dogs led by a seemingly all-black dog named Chief (Brian Cranston), a former stray. The pack decides to help Atari locate Spots, although Chief refuses to join because of his inability to fraternize with humans. Together, they fend off a rescue team accompanied by a band of robot dogs, compliments of Mayor Kobayashi, who sent the dogs to retrieve Atari. The mayor claims Atari was kidnapped by the dogs and vows to kill them as punishment. At the insistence of a female purebred dog named Nutmeg (Scarlett Johansson), Chief reluctantly decides to accompany the group on their search.

During their journey, while the dogs reminisce on the foods their owners once fed them, Chief admits that he was once owned by a family, until he bit the youngest child out of fear. They seek advice from two sage dogs, Jupiter (F. Murray Abraham) and Oracle (Tilda Swinton), who warn them of the existence of an isolated tribe of dogs rumored to be cannibals. Meanwhile, Professor Watanabe finds a cure and shows the results to Kobayashi, who still refuses to lift the dog ban. The professor is put on house arrest for criticizing Kobayashi and is then killed by poisoned wasabi served in a psushi. An American exchange student, Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig), suspects a conspiracy and begins to investigate.

In the meanwhile, Chief and Atari are inadvertently separated from the others. Atari gives Chief a bath, which reveals that his coat is actually white with black markings. Noticing the similarity between Chief and Spots (other than Chief having a black nose), Atari realizes they must be of the same extremely rare breed. Chief remembers being part of a nine-pup litter of which all but one died. He bonds with Atari as they continue their journey.  Chief and Atari rejoin the group, but are ambushed by Mayor Kobayashi’s men.

Isle of Dogs is a solid story with on an exciting, adventurous journey.  I loved the entire movie and I especially liked the way it ended.  The adventure gets even more exciting as the plot thickens.  There is much to learn from this movie as the many messages are loud and clear.  An outstanding cast was assembled and it shows. The film’s voice cast also includes Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Balaban, Frances McDormand, Courtney B. Vance, Fisher Stevens, Harvey Keitel, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson, Frank Wood, Kunichi Nomura, and Yoko Ono.  It also received nominations for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score at the 76th Golden Globe Awards. See how Isle of Dogs turns out, I’m almost certain you won’t be able to predict what’s next!  Isle of Dogs is available on Amazon, iTunes, HBO and Xfinity — Check It Out!

[Isle of Dogs is Oscar nominated for Best Original Score and Best Animated Feature Film]

 

THE DISASTER ARTIST (2017) – My rating: 8.5/10

The Disaster Artist is a biographical comedy-drama film produced and directed by James Franco. Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the film is based on Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell’s non-fiction book of the same name and chronicles the making of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult film “The Room”, which was considered by many, one of the worst movies ever made.  In my opinion, The Disaster Artist is one of the most bizarrely good films I’ve seen in a long, long time.  While it was entertaining, it was strange and if you’ve never heard of “The Room” your curiosity will be peaked to the nth degree.

In 1998 while living in San Francisco, 19-year old aspiring actor Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) meets a mysterious man named Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) in his acting classes with instructor Jean Shelton (Melanie Griffith).  After Wiseau attempts to perform a scene from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, the performance is ripped apart by Shelton. Greg becomes infatuated by Wiseau’s fearlessness on stage and wants to learn from Wiseau. Over the coming months, Greg and Wiseau form a strong, bizarre-like friendship. Eventually, on Wiseau’s suggestion and dime, Greg uproots from his mother, Mrs. Sestero’s (Megan Mullally) home to Wiseau’s apartment in Los Angeles to give their acting careers more of a chance.

After a few weeks, Greg signs with Iris Burton (Sharon Stone), one of the top young talent agents at that time. Wiseau, on the other hand, faces rejection from agencies, casting directors, and Hollywood insiders. During this time, Greg develops a relationship with Amber (Alison Brie), whom he meets at a nightclub. Wiseau begins growing jealous and temperamental, feeling dejected and hopeless and ready to return to San Francisco. Greg’s auditions also dry up. He shares his frustrations with Wiseau, wishing that he could simply make a movie to supply himself with a role. Wiseau takes this suggestion literally.

Over the next three years, Wiseau writes The Room, and presents it to Greg. Despite recognizing its incoherence, Greg insists to Wiseau that the script is great. Wiseau offers him the role of Mark, along with an associate producer credit. Greg reluctantly accepts. They rent out Birns & Sawyer, a production house in North Hollywood. Wiseau insists on buying all of the production equipment himself, as well as insisting that the film be shot on 35mm film and HD Digital simultaneously. The employees of Birns & Sawyer introduce Wiseau to Raphael Smadja (Paul Scheer) and Sandy Schklair (Seth Rogen), who work as his cinematographer and script supervisor, respectively. Schklair, however, essentially performs all the director responsibilities for Wiseau. Production initially starts out smooth, but Wiseau grows increasingly narcissistic and demanding. He verbally lashes out at crew members, repeatedly forgets his lines, shows up late nearly every day, and refuses to supply his crew with basic needs such as drinking water. This culminates in Carolyn Minnott (Jacki Weaver), who also plays Claudette, fainting from exhaustion.

The crew grows more resentful of Wiseau, with many questioning his behavior despite an endless supply of money that nobody knows the source of. During prep for a sex scene, Wiseau humiliates Juliette Danielle, who plays Lisa, by pointing out how “disgusting” her body acne is in front of the entire crew. Smadja reaches his limit, and Wiseau briefly fires him. Having filmed near-constant behind-the-scenes footage, Wiseau reveals that he knows everybody hates him, and believes that nobody, including Greg, is interested in seeing his vision through. One afternoon, Greg and Amber happen upon Malcolm in the Middle star Bryan Cranston, who invites the bearded Greg to fill in for a small lumberjack part in a Malcolm episode currently shooting. Greg begs Wiseau to postpone shooting his beard-free scenes by a day to accommodate Cranston’s opportunity, but Wiseau refuses, disillusioning Greg even further and causing Amber to split up with him. On the last day of shooting, Greg finally calls Wiseau out for being entitled and selfish throughout the course of their relationship, and questioning his age, background, and source of income. They get into a brief fight and then do not see each other for eight months.

The Disaster Artist was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2017, as well as two received nominations from the 75th Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Musical or Comedy for James Franco.  The Bazaar thing about The Disaster Artist is it’s a really good movie about the relationship between two real people who’s lives were interesting enough to make Franco’s movie a hit. It was their actual life story that sold The disaster Artist not the actual story of The Room.  The mystery surrounding Wiseau is still what intrigues people — Franco does an excellent job of showing what a disaster The Room is both in it’s production and it’s story, which is why it still remains “one of the worst movies made”.  I was memorized from the very beginning.  I thought the ending was brilliant with just the right amount of information to keep me guessing.  No one knows the answers to Wiseau’s source of income or his age or where he’s from however he continues to make movies — all bad!  The Disaster Artist is brilliant.  Check it out!

[The Disaster Artist is Oscar nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay]

 

SNEAKY PETE (2016) – My rating: 8/10

Sneaky Pete is an Amazon original streaming on Amazon.  I found this series to be a fun adventure in the life of con artist.  Sneaky Pete focuses on a lone grifter and whatever crew he picks up for his con game.   At times the story gets pretty complicated as con games go.  I found myself binge watching the entire season in 1 night — so I’d say Sneaky Pete is pretty good.

Marius Josipovic (Giovanni Ribisi) is in prison for a crime he had to commit in order to save his life.  While in there, he finds out from his brother Eddie Josipovic (Michael Drayer), that he cannot come home once he makes parole, so Marius decides to hide from the gangsters he owes a great deal of money to by assuming the identity of his cellmate, Pete. He moves in with Pete’s family, who hasn’t seen him since he was a small boy (over 20 years ago) and is roped into the family’s bail bond business. Marius ends up a criminal taking down other criminals and, in the process, he’ll discover the family life he’s never had, among other things.  The situation is not “easy peasy” for Marius because the leader of the old crew knows Marius is out of prison and is threatening Eddie to get Marius to return.  Of course there are many unanswered questions Marius attributes to memory lapses, which cause suspicious moments from some of Pete’s family members. This problem definitely motivates Marius to work overtime researching the answers, even paying a visit to the prison to see Pete, who talks excessively about his pass family life.  Sneaky Pete is both dramatic and humorous but make no mistake, dangerous and violent.  Vince (Bryan Cranston) is the ruthless leader of the old crew and is always at the top of his game.  Otto and Audrey Burnhardt (Peter Gerety) and (Margo Martindale), respectively are Pete’s grandparents, who almost steal the show as they are smart, bad ass and resourceful, not your typical grandparents.

Sneaky Pete airs in 10 episodes on Amazon and is exciting, adventurous and suspenseful.  I was hooked after 1 episode.  Season 2 is slated to start in 2018.

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TRUMBO (2015) – My rating: 8.5/10

Based on a true story, Trumbo is about an era in Hollywood that referred to “The Hollywood Blacklist” or the “Entertainment Black List”.  This list was dedicated to Hollywood producers, directors, screenwriters, actors, musicians and other entertainment professionals who were suspected of belonging to or politically sympathizing with the American Communist Party.  The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was created in 1938 to investigate and carry out the elimination of Communist sympathizers in America.  The first Hollywood Blacklist was created in November of 1947, immediately after ten writers and directors refused to give testimony to the HUAC.  These ten were called the “Hollywood Ten”.  Senator Joseph McCathy conducted the “Witch Hunt” on all those suspected.  His paranoia and over zealousness became known as “McCarthyism”.  Many lives were destroyed during that time.  One of the Hollywood Ten was Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) known for Breaking Bad, who gives a fantastic performance as a brilliant Hollywood writer, husband and father.  Diane Lane plays as Cleo Fincher Trumbo, Bryan’s understanding and patient wife.  You also wouldn’t want to miss John Goodman as Frank King, the B rated movie producer who mysteriously manages to save the day or Helen Mirren as Hedda Hoppa the newspaper columnist who’s poison pen pulled many strings.

Trumbo sucks you in right from the beginning and never lets up.  The cast is superb, the acting is excellent and the story is captivating.  I understand a few award nominations have already been thrown their way.  I think this movie has flown way under the radar. There are so many great messages and fabulous scenes.  Trumbo is a movie definitely worth seeing.

[TRUMBO is nominated for Best Actor]

 

BREAKING BAD – My rating: 10/10

You can’t get any better than this action/drama about a chemistry teacher turned meth cook.  Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston, has been diagnosed with lung cancer, despite the fact he never smoked in his life.  Making a measly $43k a year, Walt is now destined to leave his pregnant wife, played by Anna Gunn, and 15 year old son, who was born with Cystic Fibrosis, a huge medical debt plus foreclosure on their home.  Eager to make a lot of money fast, as he was only given about 8 months to live, he turns to the unthinkable (cooking the best and purest meth for profit).  He joins with Jesse, brilliantly played by Aaron Paul who is already in the business, to learn the ropes and get the necessary connections.  To make matters more complicated, Walt’s brother-in-law, played by Dean Norris,  is a DEA agent and of course, Walt has to hide his new venture from his wife and son, which makes for lots of deceitfulness.

Walt and Jesse’s journey is unbelievably extraordinary.  You will be mesmerized from day one.  The series ends Sept. 30, 2013 but can be viewed, in it’s entirety on Netflix.  There are approximately 62 exciting episodes. This series was voted the “best series ever aired on television” and I most wholeheartedly agree.