In The Upside, Kevin Hart plays Dell Scott, a recently-released con who needs proof of three job applications to pacify his parole officer, and finds himself hired by Philip Lacasse (Bryan Cranston), a billionaire paraplegic, as his caregiver. Lacasse’s assistant, Yvonne Pendleton (Nicole Kidman), sees Scott for what he has been, and doubts his untrained,…
What began as an unlikely friendship between a young Viking and his fearsome dragon has developed into an epic adventure over much of their lives. In?How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,?Hiccup has grown as chief and ruler of Berk alongside Astrid (America Ferrara) and has created a stunning yet frenzied dragon utopia. When…
In the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones’ final season, Aaron Rodgers makes a negligible impact and everything burns. King’s Landing. The Iron Fleet. Varys. The Mountain and The Hound. [I wonder if anyone who didn’t burn might still actually be alive, even if they appear lost.] And maybe our hopes and dreams for just…
When a person finds purpose in what they do, every day is an opportunity just waiting to be explored. In the case of John and Molly Chester, their purpose lies on 214 acres of land just north of Los Angeles.? That swath of land, known as Apricot Lane Farms, is one of the most unique…
The filmmakers have admitted the new Tolkien movie uses some poetic license to capture a glimpse of the now-famous author of The Lord of the Rings. But did they use too much license and make him into something other than what he was? This a difficult question?one which I will attempt to answer as I…
Adam Shankman is best known for judging Dancing with the Stars but he’s directed nearly ten feature-length films, from the early 2000s (A Walk to Remember, The Wedding Planner) to more recent (Rock of Ages). In remaking Nancy Meyers’ What Women Want, he pushes Taraji P. Henson into the center of a shift in understanding…
We all owe Disney a collective ?Thank You?. After their unceremonial firing as directors of Solo: A Star Wars Story, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were immediately offered involvement in two projects that needed guidance. One such project was Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse, an animated spin outside the confines of the MCU that was…
?Failure is not the end. Failure is actually the beginning? In the early 1990s a group of Apple employees left the company to try to take computing to the next step?a handheld computer that people can carry around. And they did. Except the company they started failed. But failure isn?t always failure. General Magic documents…
For my final day at the 2019 Newport Beach Film Festival presented by Pacific Sales, I took in a pair of documentaries. But before I get to those movies, I want to thank the festival for providing me with tickets to see the films I saw, and especially thank the hundreds of volunteers without whom…
BBased on Savannah Knoop’s memoir, Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy, JT Leroytells the true story of deception and lies behind one of the greatest literary hoaxs of our time.Author of a NY Times best-seller,Laura Albert (Laura Dern) writes as her ?avatar,? a disenfranchised young queer man named JT LeRoy. When JT becomes a…
