Darkest Hour

The podcast is now up on podbean it's call Films Versus Movies. It'll soon be on itunes and stitcher soon. Check it out and follow me on social media. It's still a work in progress as I am not in the studio when we record. So that's the reason my voice may fade in and out.

I had pretty much decided that Timothee Chalamet would walk away with the Oscar even before I saw the film Call Me By Your Name. I saw Darkest Hour and now I am rethinking my decision. Gart Oldman's performance as Winston Churchill is great. There are several times I forgot I was watching Gary Oldman. The film should definitely win for best makeup.
I am sure I had seen Gary Oldman in a few films, but it wasn't until he did the film The Professional aka Leon that I was hooked. Of course like most actors his choices weren't always appealing so I didn't see them or add them to my collection.

Kirsten Scott Thomas plays Churchill's wife Clementine. I hadn't seen her in anything for quite some time. I think she should have been nominated for her role in the film. It was brought to my attention that Darkest Hour is the prelude to Dunkirk. Getting inside the head of a historical figure is always interesting. Churchill was not very well liked because he wasn't afraid to speak his mind.

"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." -Winston Churchill from the film Darkest Hour.

I'm going to try to see Dunkirk. There are still quite a few movies that I haven't seen, but eventually I'll get around to them. Maybe I'll find them at the library once they are released on DVD or Blu Ray.

Most of the people I talk to regarding films and movies are having mixed opinions as well so I'm not alone.

I'm trying to see if I'll be able to see Dunkirk and Three Billboards before next Sunday.


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http://psychedmaster.org

Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind. Do return to see where the journey leads.

Call Me By Your Name

Call Me By Your Name

Today I had another movie theater experience. I went to the Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar. For anyone not familiar with this chain, it's movies with food and drinks. There is a ledge big enough to hold food and beverages. This is the second time I've been to this location. The first time I went with co workers to see the original Ghostbusters. It was a very different experience.

This time I realized like the experience I had a week ago. The screens are too big for the theater. I find sitting on the last row is still too close. Perhaps its just me, but my neck was hurting and I definitely can't go longer than two and a half hours. The seats weren't as comfortable as those at the Regal and they didn't recline.

I will try one more time to see if perhaps another theater may have different seats. I'm using up gift cards I had received.

Call Me By Your Name is a film about love, being young, self discovery and experimentation. Although I had a few issues with this film I still love the story. It's set somewhere in the northern part of Italy. There was a scene that reminded me of Slovania and Treviso. Timothee Chalamet plays Elio and is really great in this film and the Oscar nomination is well deserved. He plays the role of Elio with such conviction, the innocence and reactions are so believable. Army Hammer plays Oliver, a teacher and research assistant to Elio's father.

Although the majority of the film is set in the summer, I see the shorter boxer short trunks as a big deal for 2018. Levi jeans never go out of style, but I see younger people wanted vintage Levi. The black and white shirt at the end of the film is also very cool. I had a similar shirt in the 80's.

Before even seeing the film I had sort of compared the film to A Death in Venice and For A Lost Soldier. Both are foreign films that deal with older men falling for younger boys. I have an issue with older people seducing younger people even when they are aware of their sexuality. That first time is something that can never be gained. Being hurt at a young age is something that stays with a person for the rest of their life. Sometimes it can be put away, but there is a good chance something will trigger that memory.

I wasn't sure how the film was going to play out. I don't want to give anything away, but it didn't happen the way I thought it might. There are many subtle things that could give one some insight into the character Elio. There is an image of Robert Mapplethorpe on the wall. There are lots of books and we find out that Elio is highly intelligent. Which is another factor that plays into trying to fit in when one can't really fit in when they can't be themselves. People at any age are capable of doubting themselves even when everyone tells them how good they are.
There are some sex scenes in the film. Some are natural and others we are not sure what took place, but it is up to us to make that decision. I happen to be sitting between two women who were about my age, maybe older, but they didn't seem to be disturbed by anything. One of them was crying by the end of the film.

I can relate to characters in certain movies and feel something, but I've never cried in a movie theater. We all react to things differently.
Call Me By Your Name will probably be available on DVD and Blu Ray in a couple of weeks.

The music in this film is a mixture of classical and 80's It is beautifully shot and the symbolism of the tree and greenery gives us something to think about. I am a pretty visual person so I pick up on things that most people miss. I will definitely add this film to my collection. I hope that the DVD will have some extra footage. I'd like to know a few things that I've not heard the actors discuss on television.

The podcast is now up on podbean it's call Films Versus Movies. It'll soon be on itunes and stitcher soon. Check it out and follow me on social media.


www.dlonzo-OpenYourMind.blogspot.com
www.ArtbyDlonzo.blogspot.com
www.filmlover4pg@blogspot.com
http://psychedmaster.org

Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind. Do return to see where the journey leads.

Red Tails

(Dlonzo by Artography by Dlonzo, "It's not just a photograph, it's ART!"

Check out my new podcast- www.podbean.com


During the month of February I specifically make a list of films with black actors to watch. Because I can't seem to access this blog from my phone, I pay more attention to my main blog so that I can keep my readers up to date.

Last night I decided to watch the movie Red Tails. The first time I watched this film I was not into it. There are many reasons for this. One I felt the story had been told and I don't like remakes. For some reason I thought some of the same actors were in the film, but it turned out only Cuba Gooding, Jr, was in the original.

Although I still don't think the movie is as good at The Tuskeegee Airmen, I did like some elements of it. The film focuses more on the flying then the politics and prejudices that the men faced.
There are some great actors in this film that I have now had to see in other roles. This may also be one of the reasons why I feel differenly about the movie than I did the first time I viewed it.

The movie stars, Cuba Gooding, Jr, Terrence Howard, David Oyelowo, Nate Parker, Triston Wild,and Michael B. Jordan among others. Sometimes when a movie deals with a lot of special effects, the storyline suffers. There are instances where there are too many stories trying to be told. I think George Lucas tried to make it a Pearl Harbor and there just wasn't as much time. If the film had been longer, but its not always important what the men did outside of the military. There also seemed to be a difference of opinion as to how the men became known as Red Tails.
I recommend if you've seen this film watch The Tuskeegee Airmen and if you haven't seen either, I highly recommend The Tuskeegee Airmen.

That film stars, Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding, Jr, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance, Allen Payne and Andre Braugher to name a few.


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www.ArtbyDlonzo.blogspot.com
www.filmlover4pg@blogspot.com
http://psychedmaster.org

Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind. Do return to see where the journey leads.

Pam Grier

I was 12 years of age the first time I saw Pam Grier on the big screen. It was the Circle Theater on St. Bernard Avenue in New Orleans. It was in walking distance from the house; me and my friends would take our allowance and head to the movies. In those days you could see two movies and a cartoon. A Rally's was put on that spot when malls started to become popular with the introduction of multiple screen theaters.

The film (although its a movie, it is iconic)(I see a difference between a film and a movie) we had gone to see was Coffy. I don't know what it was about Pam Grier, but I was captivated. Maybe it was love at first sight. It definitely had a profound impact on me and I wanted to see anything that she was attached too. As I got older it started with magazines, and articles. Back tracking to see what films she had made previously. At the time I was starting my fascination, she had already made 17 films. I had a lot of catching up to do.

Although she would be known as the queen of the Blaxploitation films, she also did a string of B movies with Roger Corman. Other than the costumes, the storyline of Coffy still works. There is still drugs and corruption and no one really seems to be working hard enough. It makes you want to grab a gun and take control. Not many people could walk in Coffy's shoes.

It's been over 40 years since I've seen Coffy on the big screen. I usually watch this film and others by Pam Grier during the month of May to celebrate her birthday. This Monday, Alamo DraftHouse will do a screening in their new series entitled Fist City which will focus on films from the 70's.
If the weather cooperates, I plan to be there.

Coffy is my all time favorite film by the sex goddess. Pam Grier was like the black version of Marilyn Monroe for me. Of all of the movies the actress has done, I think Fort Apache The Bronx is second on my list followed by Black Mama, White Mama and Something Wicked this Way Comes. Pam Grier is the first black actress to have a lead role in a Disney film.
Pam Grier has now done well over 40 films and several television series. She has also written a book of some events in her life. I wish the book had been longer, but it added a lot of insight into a few things I didn't know.

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www.filmlover4pg@blogspot.com
http://psychedmaster.org

Thanks for stopping by; keep an open mind.

It’s that time of year when SXSW happens in Austin with its music, technology and film. I am fortunate enough to work in a place that hosts some of the films so I get to see a few when I am not working. Of course I never know for sure if that will happen. It all depends on how popular a film is and how many seats are not sold.

Although I didn’t see the first two episodes which were shown, I like the premise of Nobodies produced by Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone, Michael McDonald (of Mad TV fame) and starring Hugh Davidson, Tony Hernandez, Larry Dorf, and Rachel Ramras.

I saw some shorts on Tuesday that were quite interesting. They all involved relationships or sexual interactions with people. Every so many years women make a mark on the film industry. They create stories from their point of view or what they would like something to be. That’s what artists do, they create a world that they would like to live in. Sometimes they get payback from whatever has been on their minds.

He Made a Mess - It was an interesting title, but I realized from the opening what was going on. I just didn’t know if he was in a relationship with a woman or a man. The man gets a call from his daughter after having his blood drawn for an HIV test. The he mentions her daddy and that clears up the fact that he is in a relationship with another guy. And this act of infidelity would change everything.

(From the film Hot Summer Nights, the Producers, actor and writer)

Spring - A young girl wants to be popular and she starts to take selfies of herself, but she doesn’t like the way they look. She gets a friend to help who seems to have an attraction and wants to see her friend naked. Once the friend becomes uncomfortable she asks the girl to leave. We can see the pain on the friends face as this was her only chance to admire and tell her how beautiful she looked.

(Actor Timothe'e Chalamet from the film Hot Summer Nights)

Melon Rainbow - This is somewhat of a disturbing film for me. Of course it makes you think and that’s what ART does. A young woman works as a cleaning lady for a home for visually impaired people. By night she shows off on camera for those willing to pay. She is offered money to do porn, but she has to send in a video tape of herself with another person. She talks to a friend about it, who then criticizes her about her body looking like that of a teenage boy. We think that the idea is squashed when we see her seduce a young blind guy and learn that she has filmed them having sex. The guilt gets to her and she destroys the camera.

(Director/writer of Hot Summer Nights Elijah Bynum)

Rubber Heart - Pubic hair or no pubic hair? That was the question presented to the boy friend as she stood in front of him naked. Of course no man is really going to refuse sex based upon that one thing. This was very interesting as it was the first time I recall seeing semen on film outside of porn and Greg Araki’s The Doom Generation.
This is the reason I like film festivals because they will show films that don’t always get to be seen by the public.

I Know Your From Somewhere - This one was right on the money. It was funny and deals with what is happening today with social media becoming so prevalent in the lives of most of us. We don’t give people our time, or presence. Everything is via text or messaging, emails, etc. A woman meets a guy online and they hook up, but she later finds out that the guy has hooked up with who she thought was her best friend. To get back at them she invites them to a restaurant and causes a scene. Unbeknownst to her, someone is video taping the incident and it ends up online ruining the woman’s life. She even tries to change her name after losing her job since no one wants to hire her. This one gets high marks if you can see it I highly recommend it.

Forever Now - This film was interesting as we see a couple presently and in flashbacks of their relationship. They are in the midst of a breakup. This was beautifully done.

Person to Person - This was an interesting film trying to track down who killed a woman’s husband. A young woman (Abbi Jacobson) joins a newspaper and its her first day on the job. Michael Cera plays her boss and tries to teach her the ropes of getting the story. The film has its moments.

Walk with me - A film that follows several Buddhist Monks in their rituals and reuniting with their families. You can learn a lot from watching documentaries. I had no idea their were female Monks.

The Son - Film festivals are changing as this is the first time I’ve known for episodic television shows to show up at a film festival. The first two episodes were shown which are very gripping. It’s interesting to see other nationalities going through similar struggles. This is based on the book of the same name which I want to read. It spans 150 years of a family ( The McCullough’s and The Mexican Indians in Texas.) I don’t know if the entire series is directed by Tom Harper, but the two episodes that were screen were.

A Life In Waves - Directed by Bret Whitcomb This documentary was about Suzanne Ciani, the innovator behind techno sound. You may not know the name, but you have certainly known her work unless of course you don’t watch television. She created the sounds for Atari, Pepsi, Star Wars, the pinball machine Xenon and so many others. She has countless albums of innovative sounds of New Age Music.

(Innovator of the techno sound, Susanne Ciani)

(The directors of the film A Life in Waves)

I saw a documentary on film maker David Lynch. I had no idea he was an artist outside of film making. In fact he started out as an artist. There were many facets of his life that I could relate to. I was very inspired by this film. There are so many ways I can tell my story. Film brings her through his child hood, up to his college years and ends with his first film which he says is his best, Eraser Head. There are some funny moments and the visuals are really great. There are some art pieces that I wish the camera had lingered on just a little longer. I would have liked to have heard more on some of his other films. I’ve only seen a handful of his films. I never got into Twin Peaks, perhaps because I didn’t see it from the very beginning. I was a fan of the leads in the show, Michael Ontkean and Kyle McLaughlin who had appeared in Blue Velvet.

I hung around to watch the documentary on Mike Brown, it was called Stranger Fruit. It takes its name from the song by Billie Holiday Strange Fruit. The gun has become the metaphor of the new lynching. This films brings to light everything that was left out. Lots of facts and how things get covered up. There’s also a history lesson as to how things were in Missouri. Most people just think of racism being in the south, but it was everywhere. The fear of people taking something that you think is yours… You uproot people and make them your property and when it is no longer just you just want to throw them away. You can’t do that sort of thing. The only way we are going to move forward is to be honest. Even an lie can become the truth, but honesty, there is no denying it.
Jason Pollock gets very emotional when he begins to talk about his film. His message was for everyone to write the department of Justice to reopen this case. Darren Wilson needs to be accountable for his actions. All of the correct information needs to be presented and not hidden from the grand jury.
Mike Brown’s mother just wanted everyone to imagine if it were their child.
If we don’t experience certain things its hard for us to understand what people are going through.

(The film maker from the film Down in The Valley)

Friday night I was going to see one of the films since my shift ended at 5 PM, but then I was asked to work the last two films. Hot Summer Nights is based upon actual events in a small Cape Cod community. The film written and directed by Elijah Bynum is very interesting. I really had no expectations or which direction the film would be going in. The film stars Timothe’e Chalamet, Maika Monroe, Alex Roe, Maia Mitchell, William Fictner, Thomas Jane and Emory Cohen.
The film is based on actual events from the Director/ Writers life. It’s about a teenage boy who comes to live with his grandmother while on summer break. He encounters, the hot girl and a man who is a small time drug dealer. The teenage boy befriends the drug dealer and encourages him to branch out. He soon finds himself involved with the hot girl who is the drug dealers sister and he had been warned to stay away from her. The film flows quite well with several twists and turns. There are similarities to Boogie Nights which the director was influenced by. Although set in Cape Cod, it was filmed in Atlanta, (the magic of Hollywood).

The second film that I saw was Madre- now this one was very interesting. A foreign language film, (in Spanish, with English subtitles) the film is about a woman raising a teenage son with Autism. She is expecting another child and wonders if she could give birth to another son with Autism. The stress and strain over having to do it all alone since her husband has been working in Japan, she stumbles upon a grocery clerk who seems to be able to handle her son’s outburst. Her husband tells her to hire the lady as a nanny even though she knows in her gut it isn’t the right thing. Soon, the nanny has the son doing things the mother never thought possible. The nanny then starts to put ideas into the mother’s head. She later finds out that the nanny is poisoning her which explains her hallucinations, but some of them are actually real. I don’t want to spoil any more of the film, but it has a surprise ending that I’ve not seen since the film Far North. The film was directed by Aaron Burns and stars Daniela Ramirez, Cristobal Tapia Montt, Aida Jabolin, Matias Bassi, Ignacia Allemand and Nicolas Duran.



This is why I love film festivals. You get to see films you might not normally get to see. When I attended the Seattle International Film Festival, I would always try to see the foreign films and those with bizarre story lines. I recall such films as Jamon, Jamon, Golden Balls, Umbrellas Under The Cherbourg (which incidentally was the inspiration for La La Land), Next Year in Bed by Ten, Different For Girls and Orlando just to name a few.

Life was the last film of SXSW Saturday night at ZACH and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to see it. Most people knew the stars of the film, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds would be in attendance. Our theatre only seats 420 and there were many staffers as well as volunteers from both SXSW and ZACH that wanted to see the film.
The film started 30 minutes late, but I managed to get in. I sat in our directors booth which is a great place to sit, but this would be my first time seeing a film from this location.
I knew it was a sci fi film, sort of like Alien, but I wasn’t sure how the film would play out. The story begins out in space and the crew, on this lavish space station has just discovered some sort of life form. The only black astronaut/scientist on board begins to mess around with it.
Immediately that running joke in most films of the black character dying first came to mind. The species looked like an amoeba, which I am quite familiar with from a science project I did back in high school. Soon the species began to grow and took a grip of the hand and just wrapped itself around until it was cracking bones. The species at this point was looking more like a starfish with jelly fish type features.
Everything I was learning about the film festival I would bring back to New Orleans to implement some of it into the New Orleans Film Festival.
I’ve noticed this year SXSW had a secret festival. I’m not sure how long they’ve had it, but this was the first time I’ve noticed it.
I wish I could afford to do the film festivals again, but its not in the cards at the moment. Since some of my younger co workers are into film and theatre, I’m becoming inspired to work on some projects that have been tucked away.
Timing is everything for me. Perhaps now is the time to start knocking on those old doors and maybe open some new ones.

(Include pic of entire cast - Daniel Espinosa Dir, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dhivichnaya, producers Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick)

Coming soon:  Lincoln, Silver Lining Playbook, Django Unchained, ARGO, August: Osage County, Grapes of Wrath- Henry Fonda, Wild River - Montgomery Cliff, Lee Remick

The rating system - (d) it’s okay, if you like the stars (D) worth a look, especially if you are a fan of the stars (DD) Great cinematography and costumes (DDD) good script, cinematography, (DDDD) Not to be missed (DDDDD) I highly recommend this film



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The World According to Garp -Robin Williams, Glenn Close, John Lithgow

Pariah -

The Girl -

Undertow -


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It's LENT
Let's Eliminate Negative Thinking


Open Your Mind
Keep the faith
Dlonzo


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SXSW 2017 recap

(The cast, producers, writer and director of the film Life)

(The moderator during the interview of Pierce Brosnan for the episodic series The Son)

(Pierce Brosnan)

It’s that time of year when SXSW happens in Austin with its music, technology and film. I am fortunate enough to work in a place that hosts some of the films so I get to see a few when I am not working. Of course I never know for sure if that will happen. It all depends on how popular a film is and how many seats are not sold.

Although I didn’t see the first two episodes which were shown, I like the premise of Nobodies produced by Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone, Michael McDonald (of Mad TV fame) and starring Hugh Davidson, Tony Hernandez, Larry Dorf, and Rachel Ramras.


I saw some shorts on Tuesday that were quite interesting. They all involved relationships or sexual interactions with people. Every so many years women make a mark on the film industry. They create stories from their point of view or what they would like something to be. That’s what artists do, they create a world that they would like to live in. Sometimes they get payback from whatever has been on their minds.



He Made a Mess - It was an interesting title, but I realized from the opening what was going on. I just didn’t know if he was in a relationship with a woman or a man. The man gets a call from his daughter after having his blood drawn for an HIV test. The he mentions her daddy and that clears up the fact that he is in a relationship with another guy. And this act of infidelity would change everything.

Spring - A young girl wants to be popular and she starts to take selfies of herself, but she doesn’t like the way they look. She gets a friend to help who seems to have an attraction and wants to see her friend naked. Once the friend becomes uncomfortable she asks the girl to leave. We can see the pain on the friends face as this was her only chance to admire and tell her how beautiful she looked.

Melon Rainbow - This is somewhat of a disturbing film for me. Of course it makes you think and that’s what ART does. A young woman works as a cleaning lady for a home for visually impaired people. By night she shows off on camera for those willing to pay. She is offered money to do porn, but she has to send in a video tape of herself with another person. She talks to a friend about it, who then criticizes her about her body looking like that of a teenage boy. We think that the idea is squashed when we see her seduce a young blind guy and learn that she has filmed them having sex. The guilt gets to her and she destroys the camera.

Rubber Heart - Pubic hair or no pubic hair? That was the question presented to the boy friend as she stood in front of him naked. Of course no man is really going to refuse sex based upon that one thing. This was very interesting as it was the first time I recall seeing semen on film outside of porn and Greg Araki’s The Doom Generation.
This is the reason I like film festivals because they will show films that don’t always get to be seen by the public.

I Know Your From Somewhere - This one was right on the money. It was funny and deals with what is happening today with social media becoming so prevalent in the lives of most of us. We don’t give people our time, or presence. Everything is via text or messaging, emails, etc. A woman meets a guy online and they hook up, but she later finds out that the guy has hooked up with who she thought was her best friend. To get back at them she invites them to a restaurant and causes a scene. Unbeknownst to her, someone is video taping the incident and it ends up online ruining the woman’s life. She even tries to change her name after losing her job since no one wants to hire her. This one gets high marks if you can see it I highly recommend it.

Forever Now - This film was interesting as we see a couple presently and in flashbacks of their relationship. They are in the midst of a breakup. This was beautifully done.

Person to Person - This was an interesting film trying to track down who killed a woman’s husband. A young woman (Abbi Jacobson) joins a newspaper and its her first day on the job. Michael Cera plays her boss and tries to teach her the ropes of getting the story. The film has its moments.

Walk with me - A film that follows several Buddhist Monks in their rituals and reuniting with their families. You can learn a lot from watching documentaries. I had no idea their were female Monks.

The Son - Film festivals are changing as this is the first time I’ve known for episodic television shows to show up at a film festival. The first two episodes were shown which are very gripping. It’s interesting to see other nationalities going through similar struggles. This is based on the book of the same name which I want to read. It spans 150 years of a family ( The McCullough’s and The Mexican Indians in Texas.) I don’t know if the entire series is directed by Tom Harper, but the two episodes that were screen were.


A Life In Waves - Directed by Bret Whitcomb This documentary was about Suzanne Ciani, the innovator behind techno sound. You may not know the name, but you have certainly known her work unless of course you don’t watch television. She created the sounds for Atari, Pepsi, Star Wars, the pinball machine Xenon and so many others. She has countless albums of innovative sounds of New Age Music.

I saw a documentary on film maker David Lynch. I had no idea he was an artist outside of film making. In fact he started out as an artist. There were many facets of his life that I could relate to. I was very inspired by this film. There are so many ways I can tell my story. Film brings her through his child hood, up to his college years and ends with his first film which he says is his best, Eraser Head. There are some funny moments and the visuals are really great. There are some art pieces that I wish the camera had lingered on just a little longer. I would have liked to have heard more on some of his other films. I’ve only seen a handful of his films. I never got into Twin Peaks, perhaps because I didn’t see it from the very beginning. I was a fan of the leads in the show, Michael Ontkean and Kyle McLaughlin who had appeared in Blue Velvet.

I hung around to watch the documentary on Mike Brown, it was called Stranger Fruit. It takes its name from the song by Billie Holiday Strange Fruit. The gun has become the metaphor of the new lynching. This films brings to light everything that was left out. Lots of facts and how things get covered up. There’s also a history lesson as to how things were in Missouri. Most people just think of racism being in the south, but it was everywhere. The fear of people taking something that you think is yours… You uproot people and make them your property and when it is no longer just you just want to throw them away. You can’t do that sort of thing. The only way we are going to move forward is to be honest. Even an lie can become the truth, but honesty, there is no denying it.
Jason Pollock gets very emotional when he begins to talk about his film. His message was for everyone to write the department of Justice to reopen this case. Darren Wilson needs to be accountable for his actions. All of the correct information needs to be presented and not hidden from the grand jury.
Mike Brown’s mother just wanted everyone to imagine if it were their child.
If we don’t experience certain things its hard for us to understand what people are going through.

Friday night I was going to see one of the films since my shift ended at 5 PM, but then I was asked to work the last two films. Hot Summer Nights is based upon actual events in a small Cape Cod community. The film written and directed by Elijah Bynum is very interesting. I really had no expectations or which direction the film would be going in. The film stars Timothe’e Chalamet, Maika Monroe, Alex Roe, Maia Mitchell, William Fictner, Thomas Jane and Emory Cohen.
The film is based on actual events from the Director/ Writers life. It’s about a teenage boy who comes to live with his grandmother while on summer break. He encounters, the hot girl and a man who is a small time drug dealer. The teenage boy befriends the drug dealer and encourages him to branch out. He soon finds himself involved with the hot girl who is the drug dealers sister and he had been warned to stay away from her. The film flows quite well with several twists and turns. There are similarities to Boogie Nights which the director was influenced by. Although set in Cape Cod, it was filmed in Atlanta, (the magic of Hollywood).

The second film that I saw was Madre- now this one was very interesting. A foreign language film, (in Spanish, with English subtitles) the film is about a woman raising a teenage son with Autism. She is expecting another child and wonders if she could give birth to another son with Autism. The stress and strain over having to do it all alone since her husband has been working in Japan, she stumbles upon a grocery clerk who seems to be able to handle her son’s outburst. Her husband tells her to hire the lady as a nanny even though she knows in her gut it isn’t the right thing. Soon, the nanny has the son doing things the mother never thought possible. The nanny then starts to put ideas into the mother’s head. She later finds out that the nanny is poisoning her which explains her hallucinations, but some of them are actually real. I don’t want to spoil any more of the film, but it has a surprise ending that I’ve not seen since the film Far North. The film was directed by Aaron Burns and stars Daniela Ramirez, Cristobal Tapia Montt, Aida Jabolin, Matias Bassi, Ignacia Allemand and Nicolas Duran.

 

This is why I love film festivals. You get to see films you might not normally get to see. When I attended the Seattle International Film Festival, I would always try to see the foreign films and those with bizarre story lines. I recall such films as Jamon, Jamon, Golden Balls, Umbrellas Under The Cherbourg (which incidentally was the inspiration for La La Land), Next Year in Bed by Ten, Different For Girls and Orlando just to name a few.

Life was the last film of SXSW on Saturday night at ZACH and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to see it. Most people knew the stars of the film, Jake Gyllenhal and Ryan Reynolds would be in attendance. Our theatre only seats 420 and there were many staffers as well as volunteers from both SXSW and ZACH that wanted to see the film.
The film started 30 minutes late, but I managed to get in. I sat in our directors booth which is a great place to sit, but this would be my first time seeing a film from this location.
I knew it was a sci fi film, sort of like Alien, but I wasn’t sure how the film would play out. The story begins out in space and the crew, on this lavish space station has just discovered some sort of life form. The only black astronaut/scientist on board begins to mess around with it.
Immediately that running joke in most films of the black character dying first came to mind. The species looked like an amoeba, which I am quite familiar with from a science project I did back in high school. Soon the species began to grow and took a grip of the hand and just wrapped itself around until it was cracking bones. The species at this point was looking more like a starfish with jelly fish type features.
Everything I was learning about the film festival I would bring back to New Orleans to implement some of it into the New Orleans Film Festival.
I’ve noticed this year SXSW had a secret festival. I’m not sure how long they’ve had it, but this was the first time I’ve noticed it.
I wish I could afford to do the film festivals again, but its not in the cards at the moment. Since some of my younger co workers are into film and theatre, I’m becoming inspired to work on some projects that have been tucked away.
Timing is everything for me. Perhaps now is the time to start knocking on those old doors and maybe open some new ones.



Coming soon:  Lincoln, Silver Lining Playbook, Django Unchained, ARGO, August: Osage County, Grapes of Wrath- Henry Fonda, Wild River - Montgomery Cliff, Lee Remick

The rating system - (d) it’s okay, if you like the stars (D) worth a look, especially if you are a fan of the stars (DD) Great cinematography and costumes (DDD) good script, cinematography, (DDDD) Not to be missed (DDDDD) I highly recommend this film



Check out my other blogs:
http://ArtbyDlonzo.blogspot.com
http://dlonzo-OpenYourMind.blogspot.com





Thanks for stopping by, and do come back again or become a follower. Remember to keep an open mind.

The World According to Garp -Robin Williams, Glenn Close, John Lithgow

Pariah -

The Girl -

Undertow -


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It's LENT
Let's Eliminate Negative Thinking


Open Your Mind
Keep the faith
Dlonzo


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www.ArtbyDlonzo.blogspot.com

Have a great day.

There are many films that I don’t watch often. It has a lot to do with my mood and the subject matter. I usually watch foreign films on Sundays, when I don’t have anything else to do. That way I can focus on reading the subtitles.

There are other films like The Cement Garden, it’s a foreign film that is in English. I like being surprised as the story unfolds. I remembered the synopsis and it was still just as entertaining, but there was something else that I realized.

Madonna has a song called, (What It Feels Like For A Girl) I never paid attention that the opening stanza of the song was from the film The Cement Garden which of course Madonna gives credit to. All artists are inspired by certain things. It can be a movie, a painting, a person…

The film is based upon the book The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan. It was written and directed by Andrew Birkin. The film stars Andrew Robertson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alice Coulthard, Ned Birkin, Sinead Cusack and Hannz Zischler.
The film surrounds a family in a moral wasteland when the father suddenly dies and then the mother takes ill and dies, the children have to grow up, but its not that easy for Jack who turns 16 before his mother’s death.

I don’t like giving away key elements of a film, but it has to do with a boy becoming a man and the awkward time in his life as his sexual desires are poured out onto his sister who takes on the role of mother.

This is one of those films that is truly a work of art. Great visuals and a must see for film lovers.

It’s that time of year again, here are my film selections for Black History month -

The Imitation of Life, both versions, but I prefer the 1934 version which stars Claudette Colbert Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Fannie Hurst.

Lady Sings the Blues- Diana Ross plays the legendary blues singer, Billie Holiday.

Shaft - starring Richard Roundtree as a detective.

She’s Gotta Have It - Spike Lee’s first Box Office film.
Inside Man, School Daze, Bamboozled, Do The Right Thing  and Chi Raq, all films by Spike Lee.

Fences - Starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis who both won SAG awards for their performances, This film is based on the August Wilson play of the same name.

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Pam Grier stars as a ghostly which at a Carnival after dark. The reason this film is part of my selection for the month is because Pam Grier was the first black actress to have a lead role in a Disney film.

Also for the kids, either version of Sounder (although I do prefer the original with Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield and Kevin Hooks) and the animated film, The Princess and the Frog, Disney’s first black princess set in New Orleans.

Fort Apache the Bronx also features Pam Grier as a strung out serial killer hooker. The film stars Paul Newman who also directed the film.

Drum - stars Ken Norton and Pam Grier set in Louisiana dealing with the slave trade and life on the plantation.

In The Heat of the Night- starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger and Warren Oates

Carmen Jones - Stars Dorothy Dandridge, the first black actress to be nominated for a best actress Oscar.

Miss Jane Pittman- stars Cicely Tyson

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge - starring Halle Berry as the legendary singer, dancer and actress.

The Mack - The life of a pimp - starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor.

Superfly - Ron O’Neal stars as a pimp. This film has an awesome soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield.

Island in the Sun - is an all star cast in the sexy racially charged film set on an exotic island. Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte star.

Slam - For all of the poetry lovers this one is for you.

Mr. & Mrs. Loving stars Timothy Hutton and Lela Rochon as the interacial couple. Recently a remake has been done just called Loving. Unless someone sends me this film in the mail, I'll stick with the original.

The Color Purple, Gone With The Wind and A Soldiers Story I will also try to watch.



Coming soon:  Lincoln, Silver Lining Playbook, Django Unchained, ARGO, August: Osage County, Grapes of Wrath- Henry Fonda, Wild River - Montgomery Cliff, Lee Remick

The rating system - (d) it’s okay, if you like the stars (D) worth a look, especially if you are a fan of the stars (DD) Great cinematography and costumes (DDD) good script, cinematography, (DDDD) Not to be missed (DDDDD) I highly recommend this film



Check out my other blogs:
http://ArtbyDlonzo.blogspot.com
http://dlonzo-OpenYourMind.blogspot.com



Have a great year!


Open Your Mind
Keep the faith
Dlonzo


www.dlonzo-OpenYourMind.blogspot.com


www.ArtbyDlonzo.blogspot.com