As the calendar hits the halfway point of the year, Solzy at the Movies brings you the Solzy Awards contenders for the first half of 2019. Heading into the midway point, I’ve seen 229 narrative/documentary features and 29 short films (Letterboxd, 2019 releases only. This comes up to a grand total of 258 films as we enter the month of July. All films released before 2019 are not eligible. My overall total for the year…
"The Solzy Awards for 2019…So Far"Month: June 2019
The premise behind Yesterday is so preposterous because one cannot simply erase The Beatles from existence and expect those same songs to become hits in 2019. I’ve touched on the film in my review published last month during the 2019 Chicago Critics Film Festival. However, there are things that I didn’t say last month. I’m going to dive into some of this right now. The cultural context of these songs are a factor in why…
"Yesterday: You Can’t Just Plop The Beatles’ Music Into 2019"
Filmmaker Avi Nesher took some time recently to speak with Solzy at the Movies in advance of the US release of The Other Story. The Israeli film premiered last year during the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. When did the idea first form for The Other Story? Avi Nesher: Well, I’ve been very intrigued. I have a daughter with whom I’m close and the most horrible thing going to happen to me is if we…
"Avi Nesher talks The Other Story"
Spider-Man: Far From Home has the main responsibility of dealing with the after effects of Avengers: Endgame, including the Midtown High students. If you’ve seen trailers for the film, you have probably already shown a good part of what’s going on. Regardless of that, there’s a certainly lot of film not seen in the trailers. Let me warn you now: there’s a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene. Also: if you read nothing else before…
"Spider-Man: Far From Home Starts A New Chapter"
Maiden tells the inspiring true story of skipper Tracy Edwards and the first female crew who made history by entering the Whitbread Round the World race. It comes as no surprise that the misogyny that Tracy Edwards and her crew dealt with in the late 1980s still exists today. While the male competitors were asked the “sensible sports questions,” no reporters dared to ask the Maiden crew these questions. Nobody gave them a chance. As soon…
"Maiden: An Inspiring True Story"
The first wave of guests have been announced for the 2019 edition of Wizard World Chicago, taking place August 22-25 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Aquaman star Jason Momoa is among the headliners of the first wave of guests that were announced yesterday. While the convention takes place Thursday-Sunday, the DC superhero will only be in Chicago for Sunday only. Gotham stars Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin are scheduled to attend Friday through…
"Wizard World Chicago: First Guests Announced"
The Daisy Ridley-starring Ophelia is unfortunately a bit of a letdown in the most recent adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play. What the film does is tell the classic Hamlet story from Ophelia’s (Daisy Ridley) point of view in the Denmark-set film. It’s an admirable attempt but I feel like there’s something missing. In switching the point of view, the film falls quite short in that regard. This is unfortunate because the premise had the potential…
"Ophelia: Hamlet Fanfiction Is A Letdown"
The Other Story is grounded through a father-daughter relationship but also touches on the struggles between Ultra-Orthodox Judaism and secular lifestyles. There are two major plots going in The Other Story. One is the relationship between Anat Abadi (Joy Rieger) and Shachar Elkayam (Nathan Goshen). The other deals with patients of Dr. Shlomo Abadi (Sasson Gabai), Rami (Maayan Bloom) and Sari (Avigail Harari). While Shlomo brings in his son, Yonatan (Yuval Segal), to help these…
"The Other Story Focuses On Secular, Religious"
Cinderella is joining the Walt Disney Signature Collection with a new Blu-ray release in honor of the animated classic’s upcoming 70th anniversary in 2020. For the studio’s 12th animated feature film, Walt Disney and company turned to a fairy tale written by Charles Perrault. This story would prove to be a solid choice in adapting. I can point out the obvious with Cinderella fulfilling the Disney trope of a parent dying in the film. The…
"Cinderella joins Walt Disney Signature Collection"
Straight Up is an outright character study with regards to one person dealing with their internalized homophobia while finding their soulmate. The gist of the film is that Todd (James Sweeney) has found his soulmate in aspiring actress Rory (Katie Findlay). Once these two meet, they’re very quick to get along with each other. It’s mostly comfort for the sake of being intellectual. Even though Todd is seeing therapist Dr. Larson (Tracie Thoms), he seems…
"Frameline 2019: Straight Up"