Happy Friday Film Fans! At the movies this week, we see Roger Ebert’s Film Festival-Ebertfest 2018 is going on this weekend in Chicago. Some of the featured films this week on the Ebert site include The Rider, praised as …” the best American movie this critic has seen in the past year”, which is high praise indeed for critic Godfrey Cheshire. Also a documentary of Elvis: The Searcher, is featured, which garnered good reviews also
Amy Schumer is out with a comedy called I Feel Pretty and the controversy from the start has to do with the idea of “body-shaming’ to generate laughs. We are indeed in a Brave New World, as I could take my millennial readers on a trip down memory lane where the norm was what is now called “Body-shaming.” We are living in a different world, but funny is funny, and according to most critics, the body shaming critique is not the movie’s biggest problem. *(Hint: Most comedies should be funny!)
There is a Time Media Company list of 100 Most Influential people that includes many current stars like Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman); Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman); Greta Gerwig (director of Lady Bird); Director of Oscar winner: The Shape of Water’s Guillermo del Toro; John Krasinski, star of the horror hit A Quiet Place, and Chadwick Boseman of Black Panther fame. All their tributes are featured in 6 Degrees magazine this week. They’re worth a read.
Last week we listed some of the more interesting upcoming films coming soon; Some will be featured at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival next weekend. There’s also a piece in 6 Degrees magazine about films that turn 20 this year. It does speak to the idea that there are some films that age well, and some that are forgettable and will fade from memory. It’s a fun parlor game-to think of films you have seen in the past decade, or since 2000, that really stand out in memory….I’ve written about some of these memorable films in the past, but write a comment to let me know if there’s some that stand out for you…
I have a piece that I published this week about some of the spiritual elements from the Oscar winning The Shape of Water. Some other films at the movies recommended are Wes Anderson’s quirky The Isle of Dogs, and we hear Blockers is a good light comedy. For the Armchair Film Fans, TCM is screening W.C Fields’ The Bank Dick and Steve McQueen’s The Thomas Crown Affair this weekend. Both are recommended viewing. Till next time, see you at the movies!-ML
Six Degrees of Film 