The Founder tells us the story of how Ray Kroc turned McDonald’s into a franchise and left the founding brothers out to dry. All of my life, I was led to believe that McDonald’s #1 in Des Plaines, Illinois, was the very first McDonald’s ever built in America. It wasn’t. It was the second. The first was owned and operated by the McDonald brothers. Kroc only discovered the brothers and the fully automated burger joint…
"The Founder: How the McDonald’s Franchise Took America"Category: Movie Reviews
Dev Patel stars as Saroo, a native of India who is adopted by an Australian couple after getting seperated by his family. Years later, he starts to look for his hometown. Based on a true story of Saroo Brierley and directed by Top of the Lake‘s Garth Davis, Lion stars Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, and Nicole Kidman. The cast also includes Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Priyanka Bose, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Deepti Naval, and introduces Sunny Pawar. Screenwriter…
"Lion: A Man’s Search for Home"
Based on the Tony-winning Broadway play of the same name, Fences is just as powerful on the big screen. Directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay written by August Wilson and based on Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Fences stars Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sidney. Troy Maxon (Washington) works as a sanitation worker in Pittsburgh. He played baseball in the Negro League but was too old…
"Fences: Strong Cast Reunites for the Big Screen"
Hidden Figures tells the amazing true story of three women who were pioneers in the space program. These three women were such an important part of American history and their achievements have been overlooked until recently. Everyone knows about the Apollo missions and astronauts like John Glenn, Alan Shepard and Neil Armstrong. But has anyone heard of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson? I never heard their names growing up and I was…
"Hidden Figures: An Amazing True Story"
Why Him? is without a doubt a raunchier version of Meet the Parents. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone since director John Hamburg, who co-wrote the screenplay and story, was a writer or co-writer for all three films in the Meet the Parents franchise. Hamburg co-wrote the screenplay with Ian Helfer. The duo co-wrote the story with Jonah Hill. The movie stars James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck, and…
"Why Him? A Raunchier Redux of Meet the Parents"
This past year marked the 20th anniversary of the 1995-1996 Kentucky Wildcats winning the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. What better way to celebrate the anniversary than by watching The Team – The 1996 National Champion Kentucky Wildcats! The Team is a joint project between Dick Gabriel (Channel 27 WKYT), Jason Epperson (Eppic Films), and Cameron Mills. Mills was a member of The Untouchables. Nine players from the squad…
"The Team profiles 1996 Kentucky Wildcats champions"
To call La La Land amazing would be an understatement. Damien Chazelle’s new LA-set musical is absolute perfection. La La Land proves that Chazelle’s Whiplash was no fluke. Written and directed by Chazelle, the cast features Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, Callie Hernandez, Sonoya Mizuno, Jessica Rothe, Tom Everett Scott, Josh Pence, and JK Simmons. This has been a project that was six years in the making for Chazelle. Without…
"La La Land: Damien Chazelle’s Musical is Absolute Perfection"
Jyn Erso kicks ass in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the stand-alone anthology film that paves the way for the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. This may contain spoilers for Rogue One. Rogue One is the first Star Wars opening crawl to be given a live-action adaptation. This film did not disappoint at all. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) provides the franchise with another strong independent woman. One that young women can look…
"Rogue One: Spoiler-Filled Thoughts of Star Wars Prequel"
The last few years have not been kind to Will Smith and Collateral Beauty proves to be no exception. To be honest, this movie kept putting me to sleep repeatedly while I viewed it last night. If you want to see a movie that deals with loss and grief, please go watch Manchester by the Sea instead. David Frankel directs from a screenplay by Allan Loeb. The star-studded cast includes Smith, Edward Norton, Keira Knightley,…
"Collateral Beauty: It’s a Yawner"
Moana is the 56th animated film to be released by Walt Disney Animation Studios and it continues the studio’s reign of animated hits as it enters Disney lore. Disney veteran directors Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Princess & the Frog) directed the animated musical, set across the Pacific Ocean. They were joined by co-directors Don Hall and Chris Williams. The voice cast is led by Auli‘i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson.…
"Moana: The Ocean Comes Calling"