DISNEY PRESENTS LILY JAMES & CATE BLANCHETT IN CINDERELLA

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9zquEsdsEKwr8jjbO9aSqcRJA_uFu5rWpvI5mTs8XclFC2TW7pReV9WWLsdwhMhLCxr42sliBr6L6Sm-Fdy4_jPNsnjTmwkM8eSYxCE7MwXwY0G4WW5GRfDKWtFAOakqkW5mOczGoEY/s1600/Picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9zquEsdsEKwr8jjbO9aSqcRJA_uFu5rWpvI5mTs8XclFC2TW7pReV9WWLsdwhMhLCxr42sliBr6L6Sm-Fdy4_jPNsnjTmwkM8eSYxCE7MwXwY0G4WW5GRfDKWtFAOakqkW5mOczGoEY/s1600/Picture+2.png" width="166" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 2015 Grade: B–</td></tr> </tbody></table> By the time one of Cinderella’s stepsisters comes up with her nickname… Ella combined with the cinder dust from the attic where she resides… our pretty little heroine hadn’t gone through the mill; she <i>never </i>really does. And this entire live-action adaptation of CINDERELLA plays it sweet and gentle for the famously abused title character.<br /> <br /> While not given MALEFICENT treatment wherein the antagonist is turned sympathetic, the wicked Stepmother, played by Cate Blanchett, doesn't completely sink her venomous teeth into the matter. A negative description of an actor or actress going overboard is referred to as “chewing the scenery." But in this case, the scenery needed chewing.  <br /> <br /> Bathed in an opulent period-piece glow with lush countrysides and dreamy visuals, director Kenneth Branagh sums up the handsome prince falling for a "commoner" within one quick scene: the opposites bonding on horseback. And while both leads, Lily James and Richard Badden, share a kindhearted chemistry, and the attraction is completely believable, there’s never very much to lose for anyone, at any time.<br /> <br /> A last-minute political deal struck between Stepmother and a conniving (tacked-on) middleman, aimed to see the Prince marry right, is ditched before Blanchett can play her cards. Meanwhile, the stepsisters are more bratty than vicious and formidable. Yet the family's interaction, including her real mom and dad, feels very genuine. In fact, during the superior first half, director Branagh establishes such earthy realism that the fantastical elements, like mice morphing into horses and a Fairy Godmother, don't fit like they should in a CINDERELLA adaptation.  

2015, cate blanchett, disney, fantasy, lily taylor

DISNEY PRESENTS LILY JAMES & CATE BLANCHETT IN CINDERELLA

Year: 2015 Grade: B– By the time one of Cinderella’s stepsisters comes up with her nickname… Ella combined with the cinder dust from the...

GEORGE CLOONEY & MATT DAMON IN MONUMENTS MEN

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPHRLlGjtiQkG1KwqZw0fcG5Q3csJ0udcUEPP-wYZ8Mac4iixk0X8SsLfrw-sL_bW1IYPrb9mo_vk_kUwaE6jGhpMPjrAGb1xzsp6146p6cPiogwLPmliUf-f-qCnaH_kv2jbjSh09ME/s1600/monuments-men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPHRLlGjtiQkG1KwqZw0fcG5Q3csJ0udcUEPP-wYZ8Mac4iixk0X8SsLfrw-sL_bW1IYPrb9mo_vk_kUwaE6jGhpMPjrAGb1xzsp6146p6cPiogwLPmliUf-f-qCnaH_kv2jbjSh09ME/s320/monuments-men.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">year: 2014 rating: *</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;">Sure, many are intrigued to watch a group of professionally educated art lovers attempting to save priceless paintings and sculptures from the Nazis during the Second World War, and yet there are a few others curious to witness, after over thirty years, an out of shape Bill Murray going through boot camp all over again...</span><br /> <br /> Well that’s the initial flaw of George Clooney’s MONUMENTS MEN… What could have been a colorful first act – that being the gathering up and transforming of an “unlikely” group of civilians into soldiers – is all but rushed during the opening credit montage: thus followed by their quick training and soon enough, the plot’s underway... <br /> <br /> The problem is we hardly even know these guys, and with a seemingly dangerous mission ahead, the unequipped yet idealistically intrepid characters should feel like old friends more than paper mache cutouts. <br /> <br /> Bill Murray and Bob Balaban are two extremely unique, wonderfully quirky actors not only wasted but given a love/hate anti-camaraderie so forced and unfunny, much of the subliminal attention will depend on John Goodman and his French sidekick, a young man with more passion in his optimistic smile than the script offers point or purpose.  <br /> <br /> Although the main “couple,” trumping even Cate Blanchett’s weak attempt as a love interest later on, is George Clooney’s mellow chieftain Frank Stokes, and Matt Damon as the buried-lead, James Granger… Clooney and Damon possess a sluggish comfort level of two workmates meeting for lunch after having devoured a large breakfast. But MEN aren’t the only problem…<br /> <br /> The MONUMENTS fail to grab our attention as well. First off, if you counted how many rationalizations are made about saving artwork when so many humans are dying, you might get dizzy. With an exception of a few untimely deaths along the way, the artifacts are lazily gathered like an afternoon garage sale shopping spree. With all the running around, there's hardly any threat, in any direction... And speaking of <i>direction</i>: Half the time it’s difficult to tell where we are, what we’re doing, or what each mission entails. <br /> <br /> You’ll hear a lot of comparisons with Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, another <i>underdog in peril</i> WW2 flick that, in this reviewer’s opinion, also wastes an ensemble cast of ragtag heroes. But at least that portrait had a scene-stealing villain: These fellas could have used someone more than an off-screen historical tyrant to keep them on their toes...<br /> <br /> In fact, if it weren’t for the bombed-out buildings and sporadic gunfire, you’d forget there was even a war raging at all. And during one scene, Clooney's Frank looks at one of his men and says, "Got us a couple of trucks... Do I want to know how?" The answer is yes, we want to know how you got those trucks, and maybe we could have actually experienced it: That's called suspense... That's called a story.

2014, bill murray, bob balaban, cate blanchett, george clooney, john goodman, matt damon, war

GEORGE CLOONEY & MATT DAMON IN MONUMENTS MEN

year: 2014 rating: * Sure, many are intrigued to watch a group of professionally educated art lovers attempting to save priceless painti...

CATE BLANCHETT IN WOODY ALLEN'S BLUE JASMINE

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9GNlzCuqfVIvy7qwMsljruYnAsWeN6SAxFRXjDIBbyPOJ4EvElQ2AXT7YvjEGV0kTO8ahChrrr_ZwHxU-Ku-nz4JLTlkGkUmdmpLrFDmicfne9vV3thdkcjHRGRBrNJoBKP_mIP9Q5w/s1600/blue-jasmine.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9GNlzCuqfVIvy7qwMsljruYnAsWeN6SAxFRXjDIBbyPOJ4EvElQ2AXT7YvjEGV0kTO8ahChrrr_ZwHxU-Ku-nz4JLTlkGkUmdmpLrFDmicfne9vV3thdkcjHRGRBrNJoBKP_mIP9Q5w/s320/blue-jasmine.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Anyone who's seen Woody Allen’s science-fiction comedy SLEEPER will know he’s a fan of, or completely aware of, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE... But the scene where Woody Allen, Diane Keaton and John Beck imitate the DESIRE cast around a dinner table, set in the middle of a forest, isn’t exactly meant to be serious.<br /> <br /> So forty years later, Allen revamps the classic film based on a Tennessee Williams play, with Blanche Dubois now channeled by Cate Blanchett as Jasmine, who, as we begin, rambles to perfect strangers and has to live in a low-rent apartment with her sister (both were adopted), Ginger.<br /> <br /> Sally Hawkins is the Kim Hunter earthy girl saddled with two Marlon Brando types: a surprisingly serious (and dramatically competent) Andrew Dice Clay as Augie, Sally’s unlucky husband in the backstory and Bobby Cannavale as her blunt boyfriend in the present time, where most of the story takes place.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjobljC4naEuiyyjoCof8s7MLlnAPMQVi6OBX4zERUHqDrlpFGyaTt6MZHCiKklEszIyOdMswk0J6rdxnSrZjU5uzwhoGVlFs5K8BzmmKhJHCfABiIiI-F6gd1_h-SwkBdpiqkI0qVQ-lo/s1600/blue-jasmine-cate-blanchett-alec-baldwin-andrew-dice-clay.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>The flashbacks center on a high-class Jasmine, married to Alec Baldwin’s Hal, a multi-millionaire who, as told in the present story, turned out to be a womanizing thief. In this now-reality Jasmine has no money: popping pills with endless martinis, she must “lower” herself to exist among common human beings. <br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUfWrQF8-roZJ3as99SdUKNMSFRIKtzTe_PaaiOUKQGnZ1mfDawZvdRozj4yv-93ouKC_R6jpoUlqzV22CgpOdNSyNUYb4yL9iYKEYoDiDzEwi6nLuji-MoA1htxokJBL42m0_5DfZ3iU/s1600/blue-jasmine-cate-blanchett-alec-baldwin-andrew-dice-clay.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUfWrQF8-roZJ3as99SdUKNMSFRIKtzTe_PaaiOUKQGnZ1mfDawZvdRozj4yv-93ouKC_R6jpoUlqzV22CgpOdNSyNUYb4yL9iYKEYoDiDzEwi6nLuji-MoA1htxokJBL42m0_5DfZ3iU/s200/blue-jasmine-cate-blanchett-alec-baldwin-andrew-dice-clay.jpg" width="110" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dice Clay</td></tr> </tbody></table> Blanchett does a good job as the main/title character, although during her sporadic self-mumbling breakdowns, the tone of the film, an entertaining drama with funny moments, feels awkward and stagy.<br /> <br /> The best scenes have Jasmine trying to survive as a normal person, working menial jobs with the subliminal goal of finding a decent male companion. Although Allen provides a woman so oblivious, it’s difficult to tell if she’s someone to partially root for or completely pity. And a lot of the characters, including Sally and her swarthy companions, often seem like clichés, constantly repeating how much they do or don't have in the bank. <br /> <br /> On a more grounded level is Peter Sarsgaard’s Dwight, the Karl Malden <i>too-good-to-be-true</i> nice guy, providing a beacon light for Jasmine but with a price… And that price is what BLUE JASMINE ultimately strives for… <br /> <br /> With a performance more reminiscent of Gena Rowlands in A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE and/or Sally Kirkland in ANNA than the wonderfully overboard Vivian Leigh role, perhaps this could have made a much better underdog story than a class-based morality tale...<br /> <br /> Or maybe Cate Blanchett’s character deserved more of an arc than a treadmill, and the "kindness of strangers" wouldn't have hurt.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8ciWJ2dBBtnSOAvQfZT3BYtTtGJkPbDMwz-dLFNeJNllkvrMeKiCDG08NmWzDWO2zly5JEE9knHxS4R2X2jd2cGyi9X_WO6lbbt2iwTciG54Yh3hCj19An-lnKbAPLW4ffN-XeaQk-VH/s1600/0.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="405" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8ciWJ2dBBtnSOAvQfZT3BYtTtGJkPbDMwz-dLFNeJNllkvrMeKiCDG08NmWzDWO2zly5JEE9knHxS4R2X2jd2cGyi9X_WO6lbbt2iwTciG54Yh3hCj19An-lnKbAPLW4ffN-XeaQk-VH/w685-h405/0.jpg" width="685" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SLEEPER with Allen, Keaton & John Beck parodying A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE </td></tr> </tbody></table>

2013, alec baldwin, andrew dice clay, bobby cannavale, cate blanchett, peter sarsgaard, sally hawkins, woody allen

CATE BLANCHETT IN WOODY ALLEN'S BLUE JASMINE

year: 2013 rating: *** Anyone who's seen Woody Allen’s science-fiction comedy SLEEPER will know he’s a fan of, or completely aware o...