What's Next On My List? Sing

As you all may know, I love cartoons, and there are times during the year when all I do is look for things that came out finally on blue-ray. Among these I got the chance to finally see this adorable little thing:

Sing

In this story the owner of a theater, Buster Moon, wishes desperately to put up a show that will save his building. A series of unfortunate events lead to the destruction of the building, but all the participants still wish to perform for the sake of showmanship and not for any monetary reward.

This was not what I expected at all from the trailer, but I was pleasantly surprised, I have to admit. First, I had the same thought that the protagonist's best friend: who wants to watch another singing competition? But the main character did not focus on the selection process or the idea of humiliating anyone because they are tone deaf or just want to appear on TV/stage... no, he chooses the best people and with them puts up an order, a real show, building up the artist one after the other. The people he chooses are all those who want to perform - if you look close enough you'll see that it was really just one of them, who was driven by the idea of winning the money.

During the rehearsals we see that the others feel betrayed when they find that the promise of the money was a lie, but still stick around because performing on stage is far more important. If I look at this story as a criticism of our everyday life, I have to admit that theater is somewhat fallen behind... I for one don't go because I don't have any money for it, but I understand why ticket prices are the way they are. I personally don't watch singing competitions because I find them to be boring as sh*t, but this story made it interesting because it did approach it from a very different angle. And adding popular songs that we all know also help the audience get into it. My favorite character was Ms. Crawley, the old secretary/assistant, she was very honest but also an expert in what she does. Her ways are not perfect but besides one single mistake I cannot think of anything she did that was not on point. I just realized that she and Buster are both natives from Australia, so them working together so well comes genuinely.

Watch it? Oh, most definitely. I don't even know what I was expecting going in and I ended up laughing hysterically and crying as well... there were some heartfelt moments in this story. It was a great movie!

Until the next item on my list!

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Buster Moon - Matthew McConaughey

Rosita - Reese Witherspoon

Mike - Seth MacFarlane

Ash - Scarlett Johansson

Eddie - John C. Reilly

Johnny - Taron Egerton

Meena - Tori Kelly

Miss Crawly - Garth Jennings

Gunter - Nick Kroll

What's Next On My List? Frost/Nixon

About three years ago I decided to write about Richard Nixon's relationship with the media and I did so because this movie inspired me to dig deeper, as deep as I could. My approach was from the side of the media, and despite the fictitious dramatic elements in this movie, the real life elements kept making me wish to discover as much as possible about this man. Looking at the president today... I would say that people were pretty hard on Nixon for what he did and how he did, because, at the same time, it hurts to see that nothing really has any consequence anymore in this world. Nonetheless, let's talk about the movie.

Frost/Nixon

It is the story behind the interview series between the Australian TV host David Frost and the resigned president Richard Nixon. The story shows us the side of David, how he decided to set up the interview, paid for it from his own pocket, the research team behind it and finally how he got Nixon to confess to knowing about Watergate all along.

I was mesmerized by this movie. Prior to this movie all the information I ever got about Nixon was through a popular culture spectrum of jokes from the 90s. What is wonderful about this movie is that it made me care... I mean, I wanted to know more. A simple Ron Howard movie got be so hooked on US history that I ended up writing over 40 pages on it. First of all, I love that the rest of the interview was so boring that after the first time it aired the episodes disappeared completely and besides the confession people did not really care for it. Second, the casting was simply superb in my humble opinion. These are all top notch actors who, I believe, did the best job possible. Third, the story is itself interesting, but selling it as something new that people should care about is an immense work. I can say that they director and the writer did a great job.

My review won't go further into detail because I want everyone to see it. If you ever had questions about American presidents or to see how the media has changed over the years in US history than this is the movie for you. If you like any of the 300 actors in this movie, then you'll love it. If you are just looking for something of quality, again, this is it.

Until the next item on my list!

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Richard Nixon - Frank Langella

David Frost - Michael Sheen

James Reston, Jr. - Sam Rockwell

Jack Brennan - Kevin Bacon

John Birt - Matthew Macfadyen

Bob Zelnick - Oliver Platt

Caroline Cushing - Rebecca Hall

What's Next On My List? About Time

A friend reminded me of this movie a couple of weeks ago and as we got talking about it I decided to write that down.

About Time

Tim's family is peculiar, as they are able to travel in time, but only the men. After he is told by his father what they are capable of, he uses it to gain experience in life and make sure to end up with the love of his life. As time passes he learns that there are rules to time travel that he should not break, and there are times when he just cannot go back, no matter what. He decides to accept life as it comes and he makes the best of it.

I adored this movie. The plot is fairly simple, but what makes it fantastic is that it teaches us the most important lesson in life: we all wish to go back in time and change certain things, what we said, what we did, a loud sigh we want to take back... and this movie allows for that, but in the end our protagonist decides to let life play out as it was meant to be. His father tells him that sometimes he went back and re-lived just one day, in order to enjoy it, because we all tend to forget. We never live for the day. As time passes Tim stops going back even for that, he learns to appreciate life for what it is and be aware at all times that our time here is short. The fact that he is able to travel in time is a gift that nobody around him shares. Him learning the best lesson from it is a reminder to us all, whom aren't gifted, that life is precious and we need to live for the day. He finds the love of his life, they have children, he cares for his sister and his parents, as well as his best friend. His gift to time travel is used both for himself as all of the important people in his life.

Watch it? Definitely. A great British comedy and romantic movie that gives you a good cry with a marvelous story. It is beautiful how the little things that we take for granted really make us who we are. This movie never forgets what message it wants to convey and that's what makes it an exceptionally good film.

Until the next item on my list!

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Tim - Domhnall Gleeson

Mary - Rachel McAdams

Dad - Bill Nighy

Kit Kat - Lydia Wilson

Mum - Lindsay Duncan

Uncle D - Richard Cordery

Rory - Joshua McGuire

Harry - Tom Hollander

Charlotte - Margot Robbie

What's Next On My List? The Nice Guys

My sister suggested this movie for a night of family fun and I laughed hysterically on and on, at a simple but super clever story of two unlikely partners.

The Nice Guys

They are, in reality, terrible. Holland March is a private investigator who cons old ladies in order to take care of his daughter, and he meets Jackson Healy while investigating the case of a dead pornstar. The two realize that there is a much larger conspiracy at hand and they do their best to reveal who was behind the killing of a handful of innocent people.

"- Dad, there's like whores here and stuff.

- Sweetheart, how many times have I told you? Don't say 'and stuff'. 

Just say 'dad, there are whores here'."

I loved the 1970s setting, the buddy-cop feel, but in the end mystery detective story that was filled with jokes left and right. This was a wonderful movie for the exception of one little thing that I and my sister deemed completely unnecessary. [Spoiler] In the story the girl, Amelia, they were chasing in order the uncover what really happened ends up being killed by the gun for hire the guys were fighting. Her death contributed to nothing, if not made me sad. This girl escaped everything and then fell dead when she finally reached the good guys. Her mother turns out to be the main villain, and she claims that she wanted her safe. To be honest, catching her and claiming she is insane would have helped me believe that the mother did care on some level. Killing her only enforced the image that she would do anything for the pay-off that the companies her daughter was fighting were giving her. Jackson and March would've still tried to uncover the truth even if she was just locked away in a mental hospital (being deemed incapable by her mother). The writing could have gone a different way, is all I'm saying.

That having been said, there was nothing else I could complain about. March's daughter Holly was very funny, not to mention that her interaction with Jackson was kind of moving. Jackson's job is to make sure that everyone gets a good night sleep and people who abuse little girls in particular pay for their ways. He is a kind of hero, arguably for money, but a hero nonetheless in the end because he resorts to doing the right thing even when he is not paid. March seems desperate and he cannot get over the pain of having lost his wife, the fact that Jackson cares for Holly as much as he does makes him respect him. As they uncover the truth they learn a lot about each other and decide to partner up in the end. Although I personally would not have thought about casting these two together, I'm glad someone did because it was magnificent!

"- Jesus Christ! One at a time!

- You took the Lord's name in vain.

- No I didn't, Janet. I found it very useful actually. Ok, Janet?"

Watch it? Please do, you will not be disappointed. Ryan Gosling is simply hilarious, and even if at first you can't really see why you would care for either of these two, you cannot help but love them. I believe that this will be my favorite Russell Crowe movie of all time!

Until the next item on my list!

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Jackson Healy - Russell Crowe

Holland March - Ryan Gosling

Holly March - Angourie Rice

John Boy - Matt Bomer

Amelia Kuttner - Margaret Qualley

Tally - Yaya DaCosta