23 May
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In Movie Reviews

ALADDIN Director: Guy RitchieStarring: Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Will Smith, Marwan Kenzari, Nasim Pedrad, Navid Negahban Disney has four live action remakes in theaters in 2019 with Aladdin being their second one of the year. It’s a beloved animated classic for my generation, but is it a little too soon to bring it back? Aladdin (Massoud) is considered a “street rat” by many as he’s an orphan who, along with his pet monkey, wander the streets stealing food and live on a rooftop. It’s there in the streets where he meets Princess Jasmine (Scott) who’s in disguise desperately trying to have some down time awayRead More →

21 May
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In Movie Trailers

DOWNTON ABBEY Director: Michael EnglerStarring: Michelle Dockery, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Allen Leach, Imelda Staunton, Joanne Froggatt, Robert James-Collier, Penelope Wilton, Laura Carmichael, Brendan Coyle, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan Focus Features has revealed the first full-length trailer for Downtown Abbey. The television series became a cultural phenomenon when it aired on Masterpiece on PBS from 2010-2016. The six season series became appointment viewing for people who couldn’t get enough of the Granthams, Crawleys, and the wickedly clever Dowager Countess, played by Maggie Smith. Heaven forbid if you missed it and read a spoiler the next morning. The castle provided that picturesque getaway intoRead More →

16 May
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In Movie Reviews

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM Director: Chad StahelskiStarring: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Asia Kate, Dillon, Halle Berry, Anjelica Huston, Laurence Fishburne Keanu Reeves’ unstoppable assassin John Wick has marked a career high for the actor. The stakes are even higher and now everyone wants John dead. Chapter 3 picks up within minutes after the ending of Chapter 2 with a $14 million bounty on John’s head. The one hour window for John to be capture ends, and now that price tag goes up even more as he escapes the clutches of the High Table. He’s losing steam and there are eyes onRead More →

14 May
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THE HUSTLE Director: Chris AddisonStarring: Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, Alex Sharp, Dean Norris Josephine (Hathaway) is a world class con artist based in the French Riviera. She loves to con old rich men who have wronged their women. She’s high class, dressed to the nines, but can play dumb and innocent to lure them in. She meets her match in another con artist, Penny (Wilson), who seems to be following close in her footsteps. Penny is the opposite in her approach to the con game. She’s boisterous, bumbling, and not afraid to make a scene to steer men off her tracks. Josephine believes she canRead More →

14 May
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WINE COUNTRY Director: Amy PoehlerStarring: Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, Paula Pell, Emily Spivey, Tina Fey, Jason Schwartzman, Cherry Jones Rebecca (Dratch) is turning fifty but doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Her friend, Abby (Poehler), convinces her that a girls trip to wine country in the Napa Valley would make for the perfect getaway. They gather four of their other best friends to head out for the weekend. They all met back in the day as waitresses in a pizza joint in Chicago. They’ve since moved on to different states, careers, and lives and rarely get togetherRead More →

10 May
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In Special Series

“SINCE STONEWALL” at TRYLON I am thrilled to announce that I am partnering with the Trylon for their upcoming series “Since Stonewall” in June in honor of Pride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. They will be showing two films, The Celluloid Closet and The Boys in the Band, and I’ll be part of a Q&A with My Talk 107.1’s Bradley Traynor following the Sunday screenings on June 16. Here is their description for the series. On June 28, 1969, police raids at Greenwich Village’s Stonewall Inn led to street riots and the birth of the Gay Liberation movement. We mark the 50Read More →

09 May
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In Movie Trailers

IT: CHAPTER TWO Director: Andy MuschiettiStarring: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James Ransone The new adaptation of It was a massive success at the box office breaking opening records for the horror genre. Unlike many horror sequels, IT: Chapter Two is not a cash grab. If you read the Stephen King opus or have seen the original Tim Curry version, you may remember that IT is told through the perspective of the Losers Club as children (as we saw in Part 1) and now, twenty-seven years later, as adults. The Losers Club reunitesRead More →

08 May
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In Movie Reviews

EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL, AND VILE Director: Joe BerlingerStarring: Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Jim Parson, John Malkovich, Haley Joel Osment, Angela Sarafyan Zac Efron takes his career in a bold turn by starring as notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. The film picks up the night he met his girlfriend, Liz (Collins), in a dive bar. He’s charming and a smoother talker and convinces her to spend the night together back at her house. He’s studying law, while she is a single mother with a young baby girl. He appears to be loving and caring, but that happens to be just one side of him. TheRead More →

02 May
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In Movie Reviews

UGLY DOLLS Director: Kelly AsburyStarring: Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monáe, Wanda Sykes, Lizzo, Bebe Rexha, Charli XCX, Lizzo Not every toy that goes through the assembly line comes out perfect to its design. There are some made with the wrong pieces, parts, and shapes attached. Instead of being sent to live with a child, they bypass that tunnel into a land called Uglyville. The attitude there couldn’t be further from the name as all of the misfit dolls in Uglyville are happy, cheery, and living their best life. A little pink doll named Moxy (Clarkson) has bigger ambitions. Every day, she believesRead More →

02 May
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LONG SHOT Director: Jonathan LevineStarring: Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, June Diane Raphael, Ravi Patel, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Bob Odenkirk, Alexander Skarsgård Charlotte Field (Theron) is the current Secretary of State, but has larger ambitions for the Oval Office. She hears first hand that the current President (Odenkirk) will not be seeking a second term. He’s a former TV president, now real President, but wants to try out film acting. Charlotte is about to embark on a national tour to promote a environmental initiative and sees this as her launching pad to a candidacy run. First, she needs to improve her testing scores among her constituents.Read More →