Ride the Eagle is a heartfelt comedy that feels timely and should be able to resonate with audiences well over a year into the pandemic. Leif (Jake Johnson) doesn’t have the best relationship with his mother, Honey (Susan Sarandon). The two of them are estranged when she passes away. It’s not like it was any one thing that set them apart. She made choices that Leif didn’t agree with and the rest is history. Nobody…
"Ride the Eagle: A Heartfelt Comedy"Month: August 2021
Robin Williams may have been famous because of his comedy work but his non-comedy role in Dead Poets Society is one of his best performances. “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” – John Keating (Robin Williams) I try and watch a film every year in Robin William’s memory. Last year, it was Hook. Next year might be Good Will Hunting even if I hold my review for the film’s 25th anniversary.…
"Dead Poets Society: Remembering Robin Williams"
Marvel Studios’ What If…? takes what we know as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but delivers the animated action with a twist. The series draws on the Marvel Comics anthology series of the same name. Like the comic series, this is also an anthology series. We revisit key moments of the MCU through the eyes of Marvel newcomer Jeffrey Wright, who voices The Watcher, and see what would happen had characters done A instead of…
"What If…?: Animated Series Depicts A Different MCU"
Malice at the Palace, which revisits the Pacers/Pistons game, is the first film in a five-part weekly Untold documentary series streaming on Netflix. One can look at Untold serving as Netflix’s response to ESPN’S 30 for 30 series. After all, they are both a stand-alone documentary series. Chapman Way and Maclain Way developed the series, which aims to go behind the headlines with the people who made the news. This initial edition offers five different…
"Malice at the Palace Kicks Off Untold Doc Series"
Infinitum: Subject Unknown is a British sci-fi film that came about during the first British lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. Director/co-writer Matthew Butler-Hart and actress/co-writer Tori Butler-Hart make the best of the Covid lockdown. All sorts of creatives had their lives put on hold for much of early 2020. At least until filmmakers were able to figure out how to make movies safely during a pandemic. Matthew Butler-Hart shoots the film on an iPhone. When…
"Infinitum: Subject Unknown: A Time Loop Film"
Aretha Franklin might not have lived to see Respect on the screen but Jennifer Hudson shines in the new biopic about the Queen of Soul. The thing about biopics, let alone musical biopics, is figuring out where you want to focus the story. You have to go about the right angle because once you commit to depicting a lengthy time period, a film either will work or it won’t. Respect doesn’t spend much time focusing…
"Respect: Jennifer Hudson Shines As Aretha Franklin"
Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly star as a pair of baseball players who moonlight as vaudeville comedians in Take Me Out to the Ball Game. It’s late in the first decade of the 1900s when part-time vaudeville comedians Eddie O’Brien (Gene Kelly) and Dennis Ryan (Frank Sinatra) make the way to Florida to train for the upcoming season. When they’re not performing vaudeville, they are the shortstop and second baseman for the Chicago Wolves, respectively.…
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game: A Musical Classic"
Matt Yoka spoke with Solzy at the Movies during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival about the new Los Angeles documentary, Whirlybird. Yoka’s feature debut, Whirlybird, is about helicopter reporting pioneer Zoey Tur along with then-wife Marika Gerrad. They forever changed broadcast news as we know it when they reported on the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Two years later, they hovered above the O.J. Simpson Ford Bronco pursuit during the 1994 NBA Finals between the New…
"Matt Yoka talks Los Angeles documentary Whirlybird"
Here Today, a bittersweet comedy starring Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish, is now available to watch on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital. Comedy veteran Billy Crystal is a true triple-threat in front and behind the camera. Crystal directs, co-writes the script with legendary comedy writer Alan Zweibel, and delivers one of his best performances on screen. He truly outdoes his performance in last year’s Standing Up, Falling Down. There’s something about playing a comedian or writer…
"Here Today Is Now On Blu-ray, DVD"
Luca, the Italian-set film from Pixar, is now available for audiences to watch at home on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital. PSA: Please stick around for the credits as there is a post-credits scene. One can’t help but feel bad for Pixar on some level. This is the second consecutive Pixar film to go straight to streaming because of the pandemic. I don’t doubt that the film would have done solid box office.…
"Luca: Pixar Film Now On Blu-Ray, DVD"