Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Naomi Ackie about her work on ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,’ playing the music icon, getting her moves right, and working with Nafessa Williams on Robyn and Whitney’s relationship.
Naomi Ackie stars in ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Ackie, Nafessa Williams, and director by Kasi Lemmons.
Moviefone: To begin with, What does it mean to you both personally and professionally, to have the opportunity to play Whitney Houston and to be a part of telling her story?
Naomi Ackie: It’s a huge deal. It’s been a really life-changing event in my life. It was a catalyst for a lot of lessons for me, at a really important turning point in my life. From a career aspect, but also on a personal level, the things that I learnt about how I like to work and the connections that I have made, have really changed the course of my life, and I am really grateful for that.
Naomi Ackie in Tristar Pictures ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’
MF: I wanted to ask you about your approach to playing Whitney because you had all her moves down right, from every shoulder shrug, to every finger point and hand raise. Can you talk about really studying her as a performer?
NA: It took about eight months to really feel comfortable enough to begin to play, so it was a lot of technical stuff. In terms of movement, I worked with my friend and also my movement coach. We went through every single live performance we could find, and looked for patterns within those performances.
Then we actually ended up giving them names too. It was like a whole thing. We did it all over the summer, and there is a video of me where my friend shouts out the name of a move and I’d do the thing. So, by the time we came out and she was choreographing the bigger performances that I was doing, she would shout out the name of the thing and I was like, I know what that is, and then do it. So, it was really fun as well. We laughed a lot. There was a lot of exploration to be had.
(L to R) Nafessa Williams and Naomi Ackie in Tristar Pictures ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’
MF: Finally, can you talk about Whitney’s relationship to Robyn Crawford, as it is depicted in the film, and working on that relationship with actress Nafessa Williams?
NA: I mean, for me and Nafessa, it was an instantaneous connection, and it was weird because it was on Zoom and it’s really hard to build up any kind of level of chemistry on that thing. But she was so amazing that it worked and we instantly were like, oh, this is it. Because really what you need for that relationship is two people who are really fond of each other and connected to each other, and have a great bond and a deep love for each other.
So, when we were discussing it, we were just so on the same page because that’s one of Whitney’s most important relationships in her life. I think it was one of her formative relationships when it came to friendship, when it came to love, and it changed over time in a beautiful way, and in a not so beautiful way. It’s complicated, and that’s the story that deserves to be told.
Naomi Ackie in Tristar Pictures ‘Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’
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Biopics are still big business in Hollywood, and it’s not tough to see why – there’s the built-in fanbase of audiences eager to see an icon from another industry brought to screens, and when it comes to music industry movies – assuming you can secure the rights to the singer’s library – there are superb, memorable tunes to sprinkle throughout the movie.
Directed by ‘Eve’s Bayou’ and ‘Talk To Me’s Kasi Lemmons, ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ is described as a no-holds-barred portrait of the complex and multifaceted woman behind “The Voice.” From New Jersey choir girl to one of the best-selling and most awarded recording artists of all time.
And the script comes from Anthony McCarten, who has become a past master at writing biopics, having helped bring ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (Freddie Mercury), ‘The Theory of Everything’ (Stephen Hawking), and ‘Darkest Hour’ (Winston Churchill) to screens. McCarten has been nominated for several Oscars for his work, so it’s not surprising that he got this gig.
Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston in ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody.’
With McCarten and Lemmons guiding it, the film will hopefully prove to be more than just a greatest hits rundown of Houston’s life and career, though given the subject matter, those hits certainly are great. We’re promised her journey from the church choir to her massive breakthrough into the music industry and her knock-out (and record-setting) performances and songs, including her memorable 1991 Super Bowl rendition of the national anthem.
Along the way, she naturally faces challenges, including a pushy mother with her own history in performance and claims that her music style wasn’t “black enough”. “Look, I don’t know how to sing Black and I don’t know how to sing white either,” Ackie’s Houston says. “I know how to sing.”
Playing such an icon is no easy task, and even Ackie admits that she was intimidated. “She’s been elevated in my life for so long that it felt like an impossible thing to achieve at times,” Ackie told People. “But so many people told me the same thing: If I wasn’t scared and nervous, they’d think something was wrong with me… The biggest challenge was letting my fear of the magnitude of this task take a back seat. Nothing good comes from sitting in fear for too long.”
If there’s any concern, it’s the presence of Houston’s longtime collaborator and producer, Clive Davis (played here by Stanley Tucci) among those backing the movie, which makes us ponder how warts-and-all it might be. That said, ‘Rocketman’ featured full input from Elton John and he didn’t order the filmmakers to sidestep his faults.
The cast for this one also includes Ashton Sanders, Tamara Tunie, Nafessa Williams and Clarke Peters, and ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ will be in theaters on December 21st.
Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston in ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody.’
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It’s no surprise, then, that the streaming service leapt at the chance to make the siblings’ next planned film, an adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s illustrated novel ‘The Electric State’.
The pair has already cast Millie Bobbie Brown and Chris Pratt (because they seemingly refuse to make a film post-Avengers without one of the Marvel heroes in it) in the movie.
Stålenhag’s lushly illustrated novel is set in a post-apocalyptic 1997 and tells the story of a teenage girl (Brown) who realizes that a strange but sweet robot who comes to her has actually been sent by her missing brother. She and the robot set out to find the brother in an imaginative world of humans mixing with all manner of tech, uncovering a grand conspiracy in the process.
Stanley Tucci in 2017’s ‘Transformers: The Last Knight.’
Regular Russo writing collaborators Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wrote the script for the new movie after their company, AGBO, snapped up the rights and quickly sold a package including the writers, directors and Brown to Universal.
Yet it didn’t quite coalesce there, and, with the deal back up for grabs, Netflix locked it down. “This is a very human story about a teenage girl with all the powers of a teenage girl and nothing more,” Markus told Deadline around the time of the Universal deal. “Another thing we are really proud of when it comes to this story is all the major characters, barring one supporting character, are women which is super exciting to be involved in.”
There are no details of who the new arrivals might be playing, though Deadline’s report on the latest casting mentions that Cox and Slate will be lending their voices to CG characters.
And even though Netflix might love for the AGBO team to start work on the ‘Gray Man’ sequel and spin-off that was announced in the wake of its streaming success, this is certainly an intriguing prospect that is now crammed full of great actors.
Yeoh, of course, is a veteran enjoying current success with ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’. Cox is the foul-mouthed patriarch at the heart of HBO hit ‘Succession’. Tucci needs little introduction but was most recently seen on the big screen in a small role for ‘The King’s Man’. Alexander, most famous for ‘Seinfeld’ on TV, worked on comedy pic ‘Faith Based’. And Slate can be heard in ‘Marcel the Shell with Shoes On’ (and has a quick role in ‘Everything Everywhere’, where she causes trouble for Yeoh’s Evelyn.
Set to kick off shooting this fall, there’s no word yet of a date for ‘The Electric State’.
The story, based on Collins’ prequel novel, is set roughly 60 years before the events in the original book trilogy. It finds 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Blyth) as the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), the girl tribute from impoverished District 12.
But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.
This latest bit of casting is certainly a fun one: Schwartzman will play Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, the host of the 10th annual Hunger Games and dubbed the “voice of Panem.” Lucretius is the ancestor of Caesar Flickerman, who was played (with giant wig and gleaming white teeth) by Stanley Tucci in the original series of films). Schwartzman feels like a great call for this role – he can do charm and he can do smarm, and a Flickerman certainly needs a helping heaping of both. Not to mention a real knack for showmanship.
(L to R) Stanley Tucci and Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” AP Photo/Lionsgate, Murray Close.
Schwartzman is one of the more established names recently recruited for the movie, as we last heard of a group of newcomers and rising stars – Jerome Lance, Ashley Liao, Knox Gibson, Mackenzie Lansing, and Aamer Husain – playing a variety of tributes and mentors.
Then there’s ‘Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer, who scored the role of Tigris Snow. She’s Coriolanus’ cousin and confidante, who advises him in everything — from his role as mentor to the core of his moral compass.
(L to R) Ralph Fiennes and Djimon Hounsou in ‘The King’s Man’
Opening in theaters on December 22nd is director Matthew Vaughn’s ‘The King’s Man,’ which is a prequel to his 2014 movie ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ and its sequel, ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle.’ The film tells the story of Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) and how he created the Kingsman during World War I to defeat a collection of history’s worst tyrants, including Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans). In addition to Fiennes and Ifans, the film also stars Harris Dickinson (‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’), Gemma Arterton (‘Quantum of Solace’), Djimon Hounsou (‘Captain Marvel’), Matthew Goode (‘Watchmen’), Daniel Brühl (‘Captain America: Civil War’), Charles Dance (‘Game of Thrones’), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’), and Stanley Tucci (‘The Hunger Games’). The result is an interesting premise that fails to recapture the energy and charm of the first movie, but still features some fun action sequences and strong performances from Fiennes and Ifans.
The movie starts pre-World War I and introduces us to Orlando Oxford (Fiennes), a former soldier now working with the Red Cross along with his wife and young son, Conrad (Dickinson). But when tragedy strikes the Oxford family, Orlando swears never to let Conrad near war again. Years later, King George, Kaiser Wilheim and Tsar Nicholas, the leaders of England, Germany and Russia, respectively, are on the brink of World War I, which is being engineered by a mysterious figure who leads a group of evildoers that includes Grigori Rasputin (Ifans), Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Bruhl) and Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner). King George eventually asks Oxford to assassinate Rasputin, which he agrees to do, and reluctantly brings Conrad to help. They are joined by Oxford’s staff, Polly (Gemma Arterton) and Shola (Djimon Hounsou), who are not the ordinary servants they seem to be and are actually well-trained fighters who can gather intel from a network of other servants around the world.
After the war begins, Conrad desperately wants to join the army and fight for England, but his father refuses, hoping he will keep fighting in the shadows by his side where Oxford can protect him. Eventually, Conrad defies his father’s wishes and joins the army, and is eventually sent to the frontlines. Meanwhile, Oxford, Polly and Shola work to crack Germany’s code and discover who is the sinister mastermind orchestrating the war. After Conrad risks his life to recover the intelligence needed to crack the code, Oxford and his team have new motivation to track down the mysterious villain and put a stop to the war, which in turn creates the Kingsman.
I really enjoyed ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ and ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ and was really excited about the prospect of seeing an origin story about the Kingsman, but the film falls flat and doesn’t have the same fun and charm as the first two movies. The characters are strong, and the action scenes are good, but there’s not much else to pull it together. The second act of the film basically becomes ‘1917’ or the “No Man’s Land” scene from ‘Wonder Woman’ and ceases to be a ‘Kingsman’ movie for about 20 minutes. It’s an odd turn in the film and doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the movie. Without giving anything away, there is a specific choice made that affects a pivotal character before the beginning of the third act. While I understand it was done to motivate other characters, I disagree with taking the film in that direction and wish they had done something different with that character’s storyline. The film also blurs the lines between fiction and history, and the plot becomes confusing at times when you are unsure what is factual and what is made up.
There are also some pretty big-name actors including Stanley Tucci and Aaron Taylor-Johnson who make appearances but have very small parts, possibly signaling larger roles in future sequels, but it’s unfortunate that we have to wait for an additional film in order to see Oxford’s new team together. What does work in ‘The King’s Man’ are the characters and the performances from the impressive cast. Daniel Brühl is well cast as Erik Jan Hanussen but does not have enough to do in the role and is too similar to characters the actor’s played before in ‘Inglorious Basterds’ and the MCU projects. But it’s really Rhys Ifans as an unrecognizable Grigori Rasputin that steals every scene he is in. Ifans plays Rasputin as a Goth madmen, part psychopath and part con-man. Ifans is clearly having fun in the role and chews up the scenery in every scene he’s in. Matthew Goode is solid as Herbert Kitchener’s righthand man, but the character’s not-so-surprising turn in the third act could be seen from a mile away.
I’m a big fan of Gemma Arterton and am very happy to see her back on the big screen. As Polly, she gives a sweet and strong performance, but doesn’t have enough screen time, something that would perhaps be rectified in a possible sequel. Djimon Hounson is also quite entertaining in the thankless role of Shola, another interesting character that does not get enough screen time and is relegated to having a larger role in a sequel that may or may not ever get made. Harris Dickinson is really good as Conrad Oxford, and as an audience member you really relate to his struggles, which is why the character’s twist at the end of the second act is so unwelcome. Dickinson has great chemistry with Fiennes, and the two actors make a fun onscreen father and son pair.
But if the film works on any level, it is because of the commanding performance of Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford. In many ways, ‘The Kingsman’ franchise is a spoof of James Bond movies, and in that way, it’s great to see ‘No Time To Die’s M in the “James Bond” role. Fiennes has the perfect attitude and personality for the character and shines as the first Kingsman. Unfortunately, Fiennes’ strong performance is at times undermined by the film’s confusing screenplay and unclear tone. In the end, director Matthew Vaughn has delivered an interesting concept of a prequel, with strong characters and terrific performances, that is lost under the weight of its own ambition and omits the fun and charm demonstrated in the rest of the series.
Julia Child in archival footage featured in ‘Julia’
Julie Cohen attended Colgate University for undergrad before receiving a Master’s degree from Yale Law School, where she was a Knight Journalism Fellow. Currently, she is an adjunct professor in the documentary program at Columbia University. Betsy West attended Brown University for undergrad before receiving a Master’s in Communications from Syracuse University. After working for three decades in network news, she joined the faculty at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Cohen had directed seven documentaries and West had produced countless documentaries for film and television before the two joined forced on the Oscar-nominated doc ‘RBG’ about the life and career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. ‘Julia’ is their third collaboration together; their second documentary ‘My Name Is Pauli Murray’ was released on Prime Video earlier this year.
Combining archival research with new interviews with those who knew her best, and exquisitely shot food, ‘Julia’ is a crowd-pleasing documentary that brings the life and passion of Julia Child sizzling into focus. The documentary swiftly traces Child’s life from her upbringing in Pasadena, California to her time serving in WII to her passionate love affair with her husband in France, and how all of this culminated in her becoming the first celebrity chef. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will definitely leave the theater hungry.
Directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West spoke to Moviefone about bringing her extraordinary life to the big screen.
Moviefone: How do you choose a topic for your documentaries, and how did you land on Julia Child for this one?
Julie Cohen: You know, we’re always looking to tell amazing stories about groundbreaking Americans. And the font, the question of how we choose very much has to do with the individual. When we’re looking at someone’s story, we’re thinking: is this person someone who really changed America in one way or other? Are they fascinating? Do they have a life trajectory that will work well, in a film? And the big question: is there the right material, you know, audio and video to tell this story with? Julia Child’s story fits the bill perfectly in many ways.
MF: How long were you working on sort of the research side of this particular film?
Betsy West: We worked for about a year getting everything in place, talking to the Julia Child Foundation, figuring out where all the materials were, reading the number of biographies and other materials, and then securing the funding for the film. So that was about a year in development. In terms of making the film, it was a little under two years to film and to edit it.
MF: How do you decide what the trajectory and arc of the story is?
Cohen: It’s a process. In our mind, the shooting process and the editing process and the research are all kind of melded together. It’s not like you do one then the next time the next. As we’re researching the story, we’re trying to think about what things we want to focus on. As we’re picking out who to interview, we’re figuring out what makes each interview subject and an amazing character, who doesn’t just feel like an expert, but really feels connected to the story. By the time we get into an edit process, we already have some ideas in mind about what the story should be. That’s when Carla Gutierrez, who was the editor of this film, and also had been our editor ‘RBG’ comes into the process, and then it becomes the three of us together figuring out of all of the material that we’re gathering and seeing what’s the stuff that sings the loudest?
West: I remember after Carla screened every a lot of interviews that we have done, and screened highlights of all of the archive that our archive producers had organized, we had a meeting, and we went over the story points, and we made little cards of what are the main scenes and the main points that we want to highlight here. Now, of course, that keeps changing as you go along. But you’ve got to start somewhere. Carla will start doing a scene, and then we work on that and one scene leads to another step by step.
MF: How does your collaborative process work as co-directors?
West: I’m sure it’s different with different people. But you know, for us, we make all of the major decisions together, we have a certain amount of trust now because we’ve been working together since ‘RBG’. I think once we’ve set a path, then we will often divide and conquer. So Julie will do one interview, and she’ll write the questions, and she’ll be doing the interview, but I’ll look at the questions. And I’ll often be there for the interview and kind of backstop her. And in terms of putting together scenes, we often will split that up and each of us will work on a section and then when we feel like we’ve gotten into a pretty good place, show it to the other person to get the feedback. It’s very much back and forth.
MF: What is sort of the most surprising thing you learned about Julia Child that you didn’t know before starting?
Cohen: We should say we did not come into this film as great Julia Child experts, so there were many parts of her story that felt like revelations, like understanding how she had involved herself in various political movements. We were fascinating by the story of how her view towards gay rights had changed, basically going from being homophobic to being a vocal, active supporter of AIDS research in a completely unapologetic way. That was very unusual at the time that Julia was speaking out for research to help people with AIDS in 1988. No one was doing that, let alone someone like Julia Child, whose fan base was middle America. So that really felt like an interesting part of her character and just an amazing, fascinating story to us.
West: I’ll say also, the love story kind of blew us away. We knew that she had a great, supportive husband. But I think we were a little surprised to find a nude photo in the archive and other evidence of just how much Paul child adored his wife.
MF: How did you decide what recipes to cook and frame the film that way? They really made you feel the way she felt about the food.
West: We worked with food stylist Susan Spungen, and talked to her about which of the classic Julia Child recipes would help us illustrate the various aspects of the story. Like how to show making a mistake and trying over and over and over again. Anyone who has ever made hollandaise sauce knows that it can curdle. That’s one example. It was Susan’s idea to do the pear tart to illustrate the love story, because it has so many cool parts, massaging the dough and the pears bubbling around. I like that you use the word feeling because that’s what we were trying to get at: what’s the emotion involved in preparing and consuming food together with the people that you love?
MF: Do you think there’s a direct correlation between Julia Child’s show and today’s internet food culture?
Cohen: Absolutely, I don’t think there would be the internet obsessed food culture that exists today if it hadn’t been for Julia Child. Before Julia, there was something embarrassing almost for Americans about loving food. They didn’t have that very French sense of like you should stop everything in the middle of the day and just savor and enjoy your lunch and some wine. It’s a fantastic experience. Americans were like food was just like something to get through. The whole idea that your food is beautiful, and something to not only share, but kind of talk about and show off. That’s part of what Julia brought to our country. At the same time, we do feel it necessary to say that Julia, according to really everyone who was a friend, would not approve of the notion of taking a photo of your food before you eat it. As we say in the film, when the food is placed in front of you, and it’s hot, you should dig right.
MF: When the film is over, what you’re hoping people feel coming away from the film?
West: We hope that we’ve conveyed Julia’s joie de vivre. We hope people come out of the film feeling happy, and perhaps have a little more appreciation for Julia Child and what she did for all Americans. And maybe they’ll be a little hungry too, and go out and cook themselves a great meal or go out to a restaurant.
Julie & Julia – written and directed by Nora Ephron
Meryl Streep as Julia Child in ‘Julie & Julia’
Born in New York City, Nora Ephron was the eldest of four children. After her parents relocated to the west coast to work as screenwriters in Hollywood, Ephron grew up in Beverly Hills. Graduating from Wellesley College in 1962, Ephron briefly worked in JFK’s White House before applying to work at Newsweek, where she was famously rejected as a writer because they “did not hire women” in that department. She took a job in the mail room, but also took part in a class action lawsuit against the magazine for sexual descrimination. After many years working as a writer, Ephron began writing screenplays, starting with 1983’s ‘Silkwood’. She received an Oscar nomination for her work on ‘When Harry Met Sally…” Altogether, Ephron wrote or co-wrote 14 screenplays and directed eight feature films.
Based on Julia Child’s book ‘My Life in France’ and Julie Powell’s memoir ‘Julie & Julia,’ Ephron’s final film is a portrait of Child’s time in France learning to cook and eventually co-writing her cookbook masterpiece ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking.’ This is contrasted with Julie Powell (Amy Adams), who is going through a rough time in her life and decides to start a blog project documenting her attempt to cook every recipe in Julia’s book over the course of a year. Meryl Streep received an Oscar nomination for her performance as Julia Child, and has off-the-charts chemistry with Stanley Tucci as her husband, Paul Child. Another film in which you better have some really great food at home, or make time to go out and something scrumptious to eat when it’s over. Trust me.
If you’re curious as to what new movie this week might be best for you, Moviefone is here to help you find it and watch it. This week’s selection of movies features a lot of well-earned adult angst, stunning landscapes, wildlife (emphasis on wild), and rockin’ out. Here are the movies we’re suggesting this week:
Nomadland (In Theaters & Hulu)
Frances McDormand in ‘Nomadland’
Frances McDormand plays Fern, a woman disenfranchised by the closing of a sheetrock plant in Nevada, and a wife devastated by the death of her husband. She decides to take to the open road as she ponders life and does whatever she pleases after a life that didn’t allow her that path. Along the way, director Chloe Zhao spotlights the stories of real life nomads that Fern meets, driving home the point that the America that people were promised sometimes fails to materialize. Set against the backdrop of incredible Western skies, the story allows for McDormand to make the intangible materialize. She has the power to turn lighting a sparkler into a clip they’ll use for her inevitable Oscar nomination.
Watch It If: You’ve ever thought about how freeing it would be to sell your belongings, get in your car, and just drive. For any McDormand stans, and viewers that crave the scenery of Easy Rider with the relatability and quietness of Boyhood, with a dash of Tree of Life poetry.
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Flora & Ulysses (Disney+)
Matilda Lawler in ‘Flora & Ulysses’
Flora (Matilda Lawler) is really going through it. Her parents have separated, and her life as a self-proclaimed cynic isn’t helping her see the bright side of things. She’s also obsessed with superheroes but lamenting how she doesn’t have any of her own in real life. Soon, she rescues a squirrel that she names Ulysses, and life starts to get interesting, including when her family realizes Ulysses can type and is quite the poet. Her life (and feelings) will surely never be the same after this.
Watch It If: You need a follow-up for this week’s Disney+ episode of Wandavision that will leave everyone in your family feeling warm and fuzzy…and much kinder towards rodents.
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Supernova (PVOD)
Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth in ‘Supernova’
More adults in a camper here, but this time in England, with Stanley Tucci as a man suffering from early-onset dementia, and Colin Firth as his husband struggling to care for him. They are on a farewell tour of sorts, before Tucci no longer remembers the friends they’re going to see. Firth has stepped back from his career as a pianist and silently wrestles with worry. Longtime friends in real life, the two paint an unforgettable, emotional picture of a couple, for better or for worse.
Watch It If: You would like to know what’s it’s really like to hang out with The Tooch and Firthy. The intimacy in this film is off the charts.
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I Care a Lot (Netflix)
Rosamund Pike in ‘I Care a Lot’
Marla Grayson, a woman whose smile doesn’t ever reach her eyes, has a good thing going. She is played by an unsettling Rosamund Pike, and in the film is making a living stealing from the elderly. Her scheme involves hoodwinking judges into giving her legal guardianship over those who need her the most–or need someone anyway, hopefully one more honest. Unfortunately for Marla, her latest victim happens to have ties to the powerful people, and they have strong opinions about Marla’s methods.
Watch It If: You get especially hot under the collar seeing predators targeting the more vulnerable members of our society, and then live for them getting their comeuppance. Also if you need a dose of Chris Messina, he’s here dropping truth bombs.
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Body Brokers (In Theaters & VOD)
Michael K. Williams and Jack Kilmer in ‘Body Brokers’
Utah (Jack Kilmer) and Opal (Alice Englert) are two kids in Ohio who abuse drugs and commit crimes. It doesn’t look like much more is on the horizon for them, until Wood (Michael K. Williams) shows up promising them a better life in a California live-in rehab center. Utah is intrigued by the idea to heal his body and finally get to see the ocean. Soon, his challenges with sobriety are compounded by learning that drug rehabilitation is big business, and there are plenty of scavengers looking to exploit it at the cost of others.
Watch It If: You want to see another story about something helpful being destroyed by capitalism in a big grift that only hurts the little guy, a’la The Big Short. No bubble bath explainer scenes in this film, though.
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Rock Camp (PVOD)
Dave Mustaine (far right) in ‘Rock Camp’
It turns out that anybody can share a stage with rock royalty like Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper, Roger Daltrey, and Steven Tyler, as long as they enroll in Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. This documentary shows how 20 years ago, tour producer David Fischof wanted to give people the chance to live and jam like a rock star. With the help of music legends, he’s brought the dream to life, with rehearsals and performances, and now this documentary that’s going to make it impossible to get a spot–darnit, how is the line ALREADY busy?!
Watch It If: Seeing rock legends bonding over their shared love of music with guys wearing Dockers makes you a little misty. Which it really should.
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