Friday Flix – Page 4 – Six Degrees of Film

6 Degrees: Friday Flix

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Happy Friday! Here’s a look at some of the stories that have been front and center in Hollywood these past few days. The Oscar Race is underway, with leading contenders like “The Shape of Water” and its director Guillarme del Toro, vying for the Oscar along with some dark horses such as 22 year old Timothee Chalamet who is nominated for Best Actor for Call Me By Your Name.

Best Actor bets are on Gary Oldman for his portrayal of Churchill in Darkest Hour, but past winner Daniel Day-Lewis is also up for Phantom Thread, as well as fellow Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Roman J Israel, Esq) and Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out).

The Best Actress category features first time nominee Sally Hawkins, who played the mute cleaning woman in The Shape of Water up against Oscar winner Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), the “legendary’ Oscar winner Meryl Streep, who is nominated for The Post, plus Margot Robbie in I, Tonya and Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird.

In Theatres: Fifty Shades Freed is out, and mercifully brings the series based on the best-selling book to an end. The reviews have not been kind. Also out is the much-anticipated Black Panther superhero film, which has garnered good reviews in early release. Clint Eastwood directed the 15:17 to Paris film, based on true events, and it has had mixed reviews.

There’s an article in 6 Degrees Magazine about the highest grossing movies, and at Friday Flix, we listed the top ten a few weeks ago. The all time biggest grossing movies, both Number 1 & 2 were directed by the same man: James Cameron. Cameron directed both Avatar and Titanic.

The latest Star Wars offering just made the top ten list, which means there are two of the highest grossing films in history from the Star Wars Franchise. Disney, as we know, owns the Star Wars franchise, so the total number of films from the Disney franchise in the top ten list is five, meaning half of these big box office winners are Disney films.

The good news here is that there are creative forces at work that have helped to shape these films…from James Cameron’s innovative cinematography to the development of CGI that began when George Lucas started Industrial Light and Magic over thirty years ago (See the excerpt recently published on our blog from 6 Degrees of Film.)

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And “Girl Power” is more of a force than ever in film-making, with Frozen and the introduction of the Jedi Novitiate Rey in the Star Wars franchise. But there are still far too many films that rely on thin plots and comic book premises, CGI rendered story lines and weak plot points that have brought us to where we are in the film industry. Films that simply churn out the same tired super hero stories in sequel after sequel with formulaic plots and overly simplistic characters have become the standard in Hollywood filmmaking. And unfortunately, it sells.

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There are approximately three-count ‘em…three, films on the list of top ten films that are not sequels or have not been made into a series. Frozen has had spin-offs, but it is the only animated film to make the list. This speaks to the rising tide of women and girls who clamor for strong female role models, beginning with little girls who want to see the heroine carry the film for a change. Titanic was a ‘one-off’ for obvious reasons, although I would never say never in this environment. And the Avatar sequel is in the works, though Cameron has delayed the announcement of a definite opening date for several years.

Films like Lady Bird, The Florida Project, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Shape of Water still get made. There are original projects, great writers and talented actors and directors who give us wonderful and creative films despite the long odds. But the overwhelming trend in recent years has been to stick with the predictable models and continue to churn out the ‘chum’ of sequel-mania. And the list for 2018 doesn’t indicate many changes anytime soon.

Coming Soon: But when something comes along that looks interesting, original, creative and fun, we will be right up-front cheering the film along! There’s a unique entry from Wes Anderson coming soon called Isle of Dogs, which is a stop-motion film; and Ron Howard is directing Solo: A Star Wars story, which should be entertaining.

Sundance Film Festival featured The Kindergarten Teacher, and Joaquin Phoenix has received lots of buzz for his performance in the upcoming You Were Never Really Here. Check out the Film Comment Podcast: “I loved it when I was a kid”, talking about movies that the critics saw and remembered from their childhoods. It’s always fun to look back on those movies we loved, and sometimes to cringe when we watch them again and realize they weren’t always great cinematic gems, but then again, sometimes we enjoy them even more when we see them after all these years!

Until next week, have fun and see you at the movies!

6 Degrees: Friday Flix

Your Armchair Film Fest: Some films to see and say “I”ve seen it” are found every month on Turner Classic Movies. (Click on the link to take you to dates and times). We’ve included a few of these in the list of films to record this month:

Films to record in February:

On the Waterfront: Some feel that, apart from his role as Don Corleone in The Godfather, this is one of Brando’s best performances (I am one of those people!)

Casablanca: If not for the plot, then simply to hear Bogey in one of his signature roles, say: “Play it, Sam” (He never said, Play it again, Sam!)

The political films are relevant in these turbulent times, and if you have not seen or experienced these documentaries and popular films that portray important periods in our nation’s history, then here is a great opportunity to catch up. I recommend not only All the President’s Men and Being There but also a back-to-back lineup that includes: Freedom on My Mind-about the Civil Rights movement and the Freedom Riders; Four Days in November which recalls the assassination of President Kennedy; An Inconvenient Truth, which is the documentary narrated by VP Al Gore on Climate change; The Times of Harvey Milk, a documentary on the life of one of the first openly gay politicians in the country who was assassinated (In my opinion, it’s superior to the film starring Sean Penn). The other films are Woodstock: The Director’s Cut which gives us a glimpse of the time period surrounding the famous folk festival at Woodstock in 1969. And finally, Hearts and Minds documents the Vietnam War, and the phrase is now familiar to all as we hear it in connection with “winning hearts and minds” in the Gulf Wars that have followed this one.

All of these films are recommended viewing for those who have never seen them and are perhaps curious about the time period surrounding the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, and the protest period that ensued in the late 60’s and early 70’s in our country.

In coming weeks, we will feature the Oscar News Newsletter out before the Sunday, March 4th Oscars Ceremony. Stay tuned and till next time, see you at the movies!

6 Degrees:Friday Flix

For Film Fans: About the Movie Pass: I’ve heard lots of good things about those who have signed up for the Movie Pass. If you go see more than one or two movies per month, or even one and have to pay almost 10 bucks just to get in the theatre, then it will pay you to get one. Word of caution: Check your location online and make sure that your local theatres, the ones you frequent the most, are on the list! If not, it’s not going to be such a good deal….

I have the chapter of From Star Wars to Sin City…online now for those who were not able to access it last week. It’s an extended excerpt from my book: 6 Degrees of Film: The Future of Film in the Global Village. In this chapter, I have several quotes from George Lucas that seem even more prescient as he has sold his work to Disney and was envisioning the Star Wars mythology to continue long after his own contributions had ended…

There are several films in 2018 that are highly anticipated:

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In February it’s Black Panther, the Marvel film that has some insights into the world of Avengers…

In March: Bruce Willis will return in a remake of the classic Charles Bronson film: Death Wish
Director Wes Anderson will offer: Isle of Dogs
And Steven Spielberg is directing Ready Player One, based on the popular book
Another interesting title: Mary Magdalene will open with Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix

In April: Phoenix again stars, this time in the crime movie: You Were Never Really Here, which has had some good “buzz” from early screenings

In May: Avengers: Infinity Wars drops. Like it or not, the comic book genre is here to stay…
Ron Howard will direct the spinoff: Solo: A Star Wars Story, with Alden Ehrenreich playing the Han Solo part

In June: The much-anticipated Ocean’s 8 female version, with Sandra Bullock starring will open.

Another Jurassic: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the sequel title.
Another sequel: Sicario 2: Soldado will open with Benicio Del Toro returning and Denis Villeneuve directing
In July: A Horror move: The Nun, part of The Conjuring Universe, debuts.
Another Sequel: Mission Impossible: 6 with Tom Cruise

In August: ANOTHER Sequel: The Equalizer 2 with Denzel Washington

In September: Here’s an idea. Another original version of Robin Hood with Taron Egerton in the lead role

In October: Tom Hardy will star as the villain from Spiderman’s Universe in Venom
Mowgli is another sequel of sorts. Andy Serkis takes on The Jungle Book character in this one.
First Man is a biopic of the first man who walked on the moon, Neil Armstrong

In November: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a Disney movie retelling the familiar tale.
Holmes and Watson is a comedy with Will Ferrell and John Reilly teaming up again
Fantastic Beasts is the next film in the series

In December: Aquaman drops into the Justice League category
Mary Poppins Returns is a musical scheduled for Christmas of 2018

Let us hope there are some original ideas along the way in the Indie department that are not yet on the radar. These films listed above are all big budget and as expected, they don’t break any new ground, but instead stick with the safest bets: Comic books and action hits that still draw big audiences.

In Case You Missed It: The Top Ten Highest Grossing films: (As of January 2018)

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1) Avatar -2009
2) Titanic (Both directed by James Cameron) – 1997
3) Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2015
4) Jurassic World – 2015
5) The Avengers – 2012
6) Furious 7 – 2015
7) Avengers: Age of Ultron – 2015
8) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2 – 2011
9) Frozen – 2013
10) Star Wars: The Last Jedi -2017

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*Star Wars: The Last Jedi just knocked the live action Beauty and the Beast off the top ten list. And the oldest film on the list is Titanic, from 1997. Frozen is the only animated film to make the list. And it’s usually the latest installment of the film series that makes the list. However, the Avengers from 2012 is the sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The eleventh film in the series, the sequel to Avengers, titled Avengers: Age of Ultron, is also in the top ten.

The only Harry Potter offering to still show up in the top ten is the last installment, completed in 201l, which was the final installment in the Harry Potter series. The box office winners tell the studios that people still love fantasy and romance, and Girlpower is on the ascendancy with the 2015 version of Star Wars featuring Rey as the heroine of the film.
The top two highest-grossing films have prominent romantic stories, with Leonardo Di Caprio in Titanic as the doomed lover of Rose (Kate Winslet). But fantasy and science fiction, action and super heroes are all wildly popular with audiences. The shock of the familiar helps to encourage Hollywood as they churn out sequel after sequel each year.

Lucky for us that films like Lady Bird and The Florida Project help to balance out the continual diet of superheroes and sequels that dot the landscape of most theaters throughout the year…Check out the excerpts From Star Wars to Sin City here…and till next time, see you at the movies!-ML

6 Degrees: Friday Flix

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Hello Film Fans! We are entering an exciting season with lots of awards and film releases that will kick off the start of Awards Season in Hollywood and around the globe. There’s the Sundance Film Festival for Independent films, followed by the Oscars in February and the Cannes Film Festival later in the Spring.

So that means there’s a surfeit of really good movies to see out there (for a change!). I’ve heard good buzz about The Shape of Water, one of my must-see’s, as well as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Spielberg’s The Post.

Other films in contention for top awards include The Florida Project with Willem Dafoe, Lady Bird, directed by Greta Gerwig, and Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day Lewis.

The Many Elephants in the Room: These days, there are many ways to be “Politically Incorrect” when talking about film and the Hollywood Studio System. Harvey Weinstein was just the tip of the iceberg which has set off a real earthquake which is long overdue, not only in the famed Halls of Hollywood, but as a National Conversation for Americans to begin in the workplace. At Friday Flix and on the Six Degrees blog, we’ve talked for the past year about the ways in which women are slighted in Hollywood. Not only slighted in the directors’ chair, but in women’s pay, and of course, on the infamous ‘casting couch’ which has become, thanks to serial offenders such as Weinstein, an open secret. So the fact that we are talking about these things is a positive development as we move into 2018.

There’s still a long way to go. And the diversity issue, another well-known open secret in Hollywood, has also become an issue at the Oscars, with #OscarsSoWhite trending, as well as the many barriers which still need to be broken in terms of diversity and gender. For those who believe this is a recent phenomenon, cast your minds back (if you are just a child-use the Google Machine!) to the time that Marlon Brando refused his Best Actor Oscar in 1973 and sent a young Native American woman named Sacheen Littlefeather on stage in full Tribal dress to state the reasons why Brando didn’t want to accept his Academy Award. He was, to say the least, ahead of his time on this issue. And to bring this conversation full circle, there’s a good piece featured in 6 Degrees Magazine from The New Yorker this week that asks: Can Hollywood Change Its Ways?

Looking forward to: Hostiles, the Western with Christian Bale, which has gotten good advance reviews. For more films coming soon, we compiled a list of the 2018 releases that look promising. And Tom Hardy is starring in his own Comic book film, Venom, set to release in October of this year.

The Black Panther film opening next month has received lots of good advance press and has a big following as a long-anticipated comic offering. There’s a list of books set to become films in 2018 that are listed in an article from Bustle, if you feel so inclined to read the plots and compare. There’s a list of best 21st Century films out from Gizmodo. I can’t agree with many of the films listed, but Arrival and Ex Machina, and possibly Let the Right One In would probably make the cut on my list….

I’m working to compile some of the best films of the past two decades. That would be the films of the 21st Century. In my book, 6 Degrees of Film: The Future of Film in the Global Village, there’s an entire section that features the work of George Lucas and his Industrial Light & Magic Studio. The CGI concept of film-making has really revolutionized the industry. As someone said in the book, the ideas and concepts that were simply on paper or in someone’s head can now be conceptualized with the industry’s graphic and computer capability. The only limits now are bound in the limits of the director or filmmaker’s imagination.

My gift to all of the devoted film fans of 6 Degrees is a downloadable Chapter of 6 Degrees of Film: From Star Wars to Sin City. If you’d like a copy, please sign up here for the Friday Flix and the upcoming Oscar Newsletter, and you’ll get link to receive a copy of the chapter from my book. I’ve got other upcoming gifts for Film Fans in 2018, and hope to hear from all of you during the course of the year. Until then, See you at the movies!-ML

Next Week: A look at the new Movie Pass -the Good and bad points when using the service

• Can Hollywood Change its Ways?

6 Degrees: Friday Flix

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Happy New Year, Film Fans!
This week, here’s a look back at some of the things we’ve talked about in the past year. The changing business of movie making and changing habits of movie goers….

The “Woke” business of Hollywood: The #MeToo Movement and Harvey Weinstein scandal, as well as the #AllWhite Oscars issue is still dogging Hollywood. Diversity has been a problem since Marlon Brando sent a young Native American woman onstage at the Oscars to announce why he was not going to accept the Oscar for Best Actor for The Godfather in 1973.

In the year ahead, here’s what to expect: From the turn of the 21st Century, we expect what one of the more interesting articles of the week has pointed out: MOST of the biggest box office films of the past year were in one of four categories: 1) Superheroes; 2) Animation; 3) Live-action FROM animated original versions; and 4) …..Star Wars!

There is some good news with original films and screenplays. They are distributed more widely than ever before. The Sundance Film Festival has been a mainstream entity for the past two decades. And Indies are recognized for bringing diversity, original storylines and the introduction of new faces to inject new blood into the old Hollywood system.

So there’s good news and bad news with the year before us. We still have a long way to go in terms of diversity and gender equality as portrayed in most mainstream films. However, there is a new attitude and it’s a part of the collective consciousness sweeping the country that is dictating the terms for the future. And it bodes well for women and minorities.
In my book, 6 Degrees of Film: The Future of Film in the Global Village, I talk about the past as prologue for many of the problems facing Hollywood in the 21st Century. To some degree, they have never completely done away with the old Hollywood studio system, of corporate bigwigs and the casting couch syndrome dictating policy and making the final decisions as to who’s in and who’s out…This feels like a sea change has occurred, and a new vision and perhaps eventually, a new and improved Corporate mindset will take hold in Hollywood as well as throughout Corporate America.

Hollywood has always been about making money. Art was a secondary pursuit.
In this case, Life imitates Art to the point where Art may finally be on the winning side of history! Here’s a list of some of the articles in the past week edition of the online magazine: 6 Degrees of Film. Until next week, see you at the movies!
Featured in 6 Degrees of Film Magazine:
Movie Ticket Sales were the Lowest in 25 Years
How Songs Shaped Show Business on the Silver Screen
40 Most Beautiful Shots from Movies in 2017
Steven Spielberg at the Oscars
Movies to watch in 2018

6 Degrees: Friday Flix

For those who are disillusioned about politics and America, and America’s place in the world, please remember that we’ll always have Paris. You may have heard that line, and perhaps you don’t know that it’s one of the memorable lines from Casablanca. My personal favorite line in this film is NOT “Play it Again, Sam”, (which was a misquote: The line is: “Play it, Sam!…You played it for her, you can play it for me!”), but the line where Bogie tells someone that he came to Casablanca ‘for the waters.’ When told they were surrounded by desert, he says, “I was….misinformed.”

Casablanca

Casablanca is just one of the memorable films playing this month on Turner Classic Movies. Last week we mentioned Meet Me in St Louis, which is a great holiday film starring Judy Garland . One of the highlights of the film is Garland singing, “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which became one of her signature songs.

Garland is also in the remake of The Little Shop around the Corner, the classic Ernst Lubitsch film with Jimmy Stewart from the thirties. They remade it as a musical, In the Good Old Summertime, with Judy Garland and Van Johnson in the fifties. And then, they remade it again with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. As you can tell, the story is memorable enough to rework, and each of these films did well at the box office.

The plot revolves around two co-workers who compete for sales in a small music shop, and they develop a dislike for each other. Their personal life is marked by a correspondence, (they used to be called ‘pen-pals’ in the old days,) that develops into a romantic courtship.

For each slight given the other, they tell their friends about the wonderful nature of the person that they have met and their developing romance through the mail. Of course, they don’t know what the other looks like. And so, the plot thickens when they agree to meet, and the male in the story realizes that the person he has been dreaming about is the same annoying young woman he works with in the store.

At first, he begins to tease his co-worker, and begins to see that she has also fixated on him as her romantic ideal. From there, he begins to try and develop a friendship with her, and draws her out about her ‘intended.’ The girl eventually does decide that the real flesh and blood person she works with is the one she would choose, and the end has the two pairing up as he reveals his love for her.

The plot plays like a revamped Shakespearean comedy, with twists and turns and sub-plots that lend itself to the final denouement. But the story has proven to be a durable one, as they’ve remade it successfully in three separate variations of the theme. The story in each film starts as a kind of screwball comedy, with mistaken identities and revolving doors, but at the essence of this tale is the sweet and at times, bittersweet nature of love, where the eternal ideal is always at odds with the realities of life. The true meeting of the minds is seen in the final outcome for each of these stories, and the updated versions through the past century of film are worth a view (or two.)

We also talked last week about Lord Jim as a Spiritual film that’s recommended to rent or record. Another great performance from Peter O’Toole that is playing this month on TCM is My Favorite Year. The movie would never have worked without the over-the-top character of O’Toole parodying his own legendary capers and drunken displays. This is a good film for the holidays and for those old enough to appreciate the air of nostalgia that surrounds the main characters and the plot.

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There’s an Armchair Film Festival waiting for those who love Hitchcock: Rear Window, with Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart, and North by Northwest with Cary Grant are both on TCM this month. These two movies showcase Hitchcock in top form. The paranoia and slightly dark and deviant world that he hints at or alludes to at times is seen just peeking through enough in these two films to make them more than merely interesting.

For those who have never seen Albert Brooks on film, I would recommend hitting record for Modern Romance. Brooks has a droll way of delivering a line that no one else has been able to achieve. The closest I can think of in comparison is W C Fields. Both comics talk about the situations at hand, and at the same time they seem to comment on the state of the world and their own sly and paranoid asides and thought experiments tend to lend a totally different meaning to the spoken word. Watch the master at work in Modern Romance on TCM.

Finally, for some of the greatest repartee ever filmed, the Thin Man Series with William Powell and Myrna Loy is playing on TCM around New Years. Start the New Year the right way and record these two in action. They are funny and droll, they’re stylish and entertaining and witty as well as being perfect foils for each other in this series of films.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays and taking time to see a movie or two. I’m looking forward to The Shape of Water, and of course, the latest Star Wars film is about to drop in the next week. The other films that have been well received are Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Wonder, and The Disaster Artist. Till next week, see you at the movies-ML

6 Degrees: Friday Flix

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all! This week, in 6 Degrees Magazine, we are featuring reviews of the latest releases: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is reviewed; Coco-the new Pixar film and Denzel Washington’s Roman J. Israel, Esq., plus Thor: Ragnorak and Lady Bird are all reviewed in the magazine.
There is an in-depth review of Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. And one of Paul Newman’s greatest films, a masterpiece of the sixties: Cool Hand Luke is reviewed in Film Comment.
For the Holidays: The Man who Invented Christmas with Christopher Plummer and Dan Stevens is reviewed on Roger Ebert.com. The film looks at the real-life character of Charles Dickens and the motivations and circumstances that surrounded his creation of the Christmas classic, A Christmas Carol, and the invention of the iconic character of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Another Christmas release that has gotten good buzz is director Guillermo del Toro’s new film, The Shape of Water. And of course, there is the new Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, which is projected to break all box office records when it opens just two weeks before Christmas.

The Holiday Film Newsletter is coming soon. It’s hard to believe the year is coming to a close and with it, the film “lists” and the awards and the release of probably the best films of the year. No wonder they call it “The Crazy Season!”…Happy Thanksgiving and see you at the movies!-ML

6 Degrees: Friday Flix

This week in films, we are still reading about the fallout over a lot of the scandals that have snowballed from the Weinstein allegations. There have been rumblings for the past few years surrounding the nature of the lack of diversity in the Academy Awards and the members who choose the nominees. The small number of female directors, the female leads in film and the roles that they are offered, particularly for women who are over forty, are all controversial topics that we have covered in Six Degrees.

So the continuing saga and fallout is something that we will continue to watch. We celebrate some of the success in past years, notably the first female director, Kathryn Bigelow, to win an Academy Award. Also the first female African-American President of AMPAS, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science is Cheryl Boone Isaacs. And Meryl Streep announced a Screenwriters Lab for Women writers over 40. All of these things mark progress, but the numbers show that it’s a long, slow uphill slog.

6 Degrees Magazine: Some of the noted articles this week feature two very strong and talented women in Hollywood, one living and one long dead. The first is Frances McDormand, and the second is the legendary Katherine Hepburn.

Articles from this past week: Frances McDormand talks in the Daily Actor about her Academy Award winning role in Fargo as well as the new movie, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The film is reviewed in 6 Degrees Magazine from SF Gate. Another actor interviewed in The Daily Actor is Idris Elba, who is riding a wave and stars in the successful The Mountains Between Us.

Film Book Recommended: The book is called: Seduced by Mrs Robinson; How the Graduate Became the Touchstone of a Generation by Beverly Gray. Few born in the later decades can understand how ground-breaking films like The Graduate really were. This was a film with an anti-hero, outside of the norm of the stereotypical tall, dark and handsome leading man. And the film dealt with an anti-establishment period in history where young people protested the Vietnam War and questioned their parents’ values and traditional culture. Another recommended article this week is: “6 Books to read before the 2018 Movie Adaptations”

There’s a review of The Pink Panther, where the critic can’t quite understand the appeal of this 1963 hit. I am one of those firmly in the category that everything Peter Sellers did was funny, so this is just another of his ground-breaking films. Although it was a traditionally directed comedy from Blake Edwards, Sellers had a unique style that lent itself to absurd moments in comedy. That appeal may have come through loudest in my favorite Sellers performance(s) in Dr. Strangelove. But clearly it’s on display in this film.

Thor: Ragnorak won the box office this past week, and the new Justice League has received some mixed reviews. Although I’m not known to be a fan of the superhero genre, there is definitely a double tier for the better films that have been made, and those that we can easily forget.

The American Film Institute is 50 years old, and celebrates in Hollywood this weekend with their annual AFI Film Fest. The American Film Institute educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. There is an AFI Catalog of Feature films that catalogs the first 100 years of this art form (I am so hopeful when I see films classified as an “art form”. Read my book to hear more on this!) The good news is the AFI Catalog is accessible online and it’s free of charge.

Recommended: Some Holiday movies are suggested in this week’s article of films to watch on Netflix. I always recommend kicking off the season with the original black & white Miracle on 34th Street. Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation has become a staple in our household. Some also love Will Ferrell’s Elf, as well as A Christmas Story, and the constant appeal of It’s a Wonderful Life and the very corny White Christmas, all of which are Holiday staples.

The Nativity Story is very appealing, and is especially powerful to watch during the Christmas season. And George C Scott remains my favorite Scrooge, but there are now so many versions that you can judge for yourself, But A Christmas Carol should be part of your schedule of Holiday viewing. Jim Carrey joins the pantheon with his take on The Grinch in the live-action The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Opening at Christmas: In past weeks, we have run a list of films opening, from the Fall Film Newsletter as well as in Friday Flix. But Star Wars, as usual, will suck much of the oxygen out of the room for all the December debuts. One of the more intriguing aspects of the newest Star Wars entry is the introduction of a mysterious character played by Benicio del Toro. Anything that may actually shake up the predictable nature of the Star Wars saga will be welcome! For my personal pick, The Shape of Water looks intriguing, and it opens in December.

For Children: Disney’s Pixar’s Coco has become the highest grossing animated film in Mexico’s history. Although The Star is also opening, I’m not a huge fan of the idea of an animated retelling of the Christmas story. For that, I’d recommend that families watch the afore-mentioned The Nativity Story and speak to children about the actual historical times that surrounded the Birth of Christ. However, there’s a host of talent poured into this lavish animated retelling of the story with the cute Shrek-like characters that somehow converge on Bethlehem and work themselves into the story of Jesus’ birth.

Recommended from the Vaults: To rent or record, find a time to watch The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor and starring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. This has been remade several times, with the latest version being the musical version with Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. But the Cukor film is definitely the one to watch, with the oft-seen vignette where Cary Grant pushed Hepburn down by simply shoving her in her elegant face! In today’s climate of misogyny and allegations of abuse, this may not be Politically Correct. But if anyone ever has seen Hepburn in action on film, then there’s no contest. She is one of the strongest female role models who ever worked in Hollywood. BTW, she is starring in Adam’s Rib on TCM this month, and it’s required viewing for all women everywhere. Take notes!

Recommended on 6 Degrees: Murder on the Orient Express has had mixed reviews, but the latest critique from SF Gate is a favorable one. There’s a couple of interesting articles in the magazine, one is in NPR that reviews a documentary made about Jim Carrey’s extraordinary journey into darkness when he played Andy Kaufman in Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond.

At the Movies: Lady Bird has been getting great reviews, a coming-of-age piece directed by Greta Gerwig. And Denzel Washington’s Roman J Israel, Esq. is another film that has gotten a lot of good buzz. There’s a review in Forbes of this one.

Coming Next: The Holiday Film Newsletter is coming next. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday, one and all, and remember this is a good time to catch a flick, so I hope to see you at the movies!-ML

6 Degrees: Friday Flix

Hello to all film fans! This week we begin with the scandals that are rocking Hollywood.

Hollywood Buzz: On the Weinstein sexual harassment and abuse; the dominoes are cascading, and women are not tolerating this anymore. From the Roger Ebert site we feature in 6 Degrees magazine the piece: Why I stopped Watching Woody Allen Movies…. I have written about Allen in the past. His films are considered classics, especially many of his earlier ones. And I have a particular fondness for films like Hannah and her Sisters, which is showing on TCM this month. But over time, Woody Allen’s past behavior and the current climate have made his work toxic and his “brand” as they say, is as unpalatable as Bill Cosby’s and his ilk. So it’s not surprising to see more and more women particularly, coming out with this opinion about Woody Allen. Going forward, I don’t see anything that would turn this around. He is another sad commentary on a time long past where this behavior can just be overlooked with a wink and a nod. As Dylan told us, The Times They are a Changin.’ We have to get on board.
Casablanca Returns to theaters for the 75th Anniversary of the release of this classic. (Here is the 6 Degrees review.)
Recommended: The Florida Project has seen excellent reviews. Thor: Ragnorak has been well reviewed if you are a comic book movie fan, and for the small screen, they are screening some classic Hitchcock films on TCM this week, including Vertigo and Rear Window. At the movies, Captain Underpants is playing for kids, and The Mountain Between us with Kate Winslet and Idris Elba is recommended if you haven’t seen this one yet.

It’s time for my I’ll be the judge of that skepticism: Some of the articles on film have such overblown claims in their titles. The reason I can actually affirm this is that, unlike many who just glance at the headlines, I actually READ many of these lists that people put out as containing the best movies, the best genres, the most under-rated or over-rated films of ALL time! And I never agree with the entire list, but at times, there are some films that I do agree about when I think they’ve hit the right note. That’s why I groan at the end of the year “Best of” lists and the upcoming awards season where films are placed into categories. Rarely does any one year contain several masterpieces. And as those of us who love films agree, as time goes by, the works of many great filmmakers come to be appreciated more and more.
I believe that the film, Her is a great barometer for our times. And some of the greatest actors probably haven’t been acknowledged for their best work, which is found in films that most people have never seen! Tom Hardy is one actor I would recommend and should be on the list to binge watch his past films. Clive Owen and Russell Crowe are also great actors with filmographies containing many under-appreciated gems. (Try to rent Bent, The Sum of Us, Proof, and I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead)
6 Degrees upcoming Holiday Films Newsletter: On the subject of lists, there are some of the children’s Christmas movies to watch with your kids recommended this week: They include: Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas from 1999; Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer from 1998, The Santa Clause from 1994; the Remake of Miracle on 34th street from 1994 and Home alone from 1990. These are a few that are fairly good, as well as Elf and the original Miracle on 34th Street, which is a true classic.
Coming Soon: Stay tuned for the HUGE avalanche of Star Wars marketing and film reviews for the December release of the next entry in the saga… Also, The Post is coming soon, directed by Stephen Spielberg and starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. The film is about the newspaper business and the history of the journalism done in the wake of the Vietnam War and the release of the Pentagon Papers.

That’s it for this week. There are some great films coming soon that we are excited about, as well as the Holiday Film Newsletter to watch for…Till then, see you at the movies!-ML

Your Armchair Film Fest: Some films to see and say “I”ve seen it” are found every month on Turner Classic Movies. (Click on the link to take you to dates and times). We’ve included a few of these in the list of films to record this month:

Films to record in February:

In Case You Missed It: The Top Ten Highest Grossing films: (As of January 2018)

Happy New Year, Film Fans! This week, here’s a look back at some of the things we’ve talked about in the past year. The changing business of movie making and changing habits of movie goers….

6 Degrees Magazine: Some of the noted articles this week feature two very strong and talented women in Hollywood, one living and one long dead. The first is Frances McDormand, and the second is the legendary Katherine Hepburn.

Coming Next: The Holiday Film Newsletter is coming next. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday, one and all, and remember this is a good time to catch a flick, so I hope to see you at the movies!-ML

Happy New Year, Film Fans!
This week, here’s a look back at some of the things we’ve talked about in the past year. The changing business of movie making and changing habits of movie goers….