Category Archives: The Arts

Oscars 2018 Predictions


Are you ready for all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s biggest night of the year?  On Sunday, the Oscars 2018 will take place.  Hopefully, there will be no repeat craziness (like last year’s La La Land/Moonlight mixup).

I will admit that two weeks ago I woke up and realized I hadn’t seen 90% of the films nominated this year.  A binge followed.  Luckily, I have a friend in the industry that helped me with this post, making sure I got to see all of the movies I had not been able to see yet.

Without further ado, here are my picks for this year’s Oscars.

Actor in a Leading Role

Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)
Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)
Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)
Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.)

REASON: Seriously, do you think anyone else will win?  Dude is playing Winston Churchill.  That’s a tall order, as well as a major transformation.



Actor in a Supporting Role

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water)
Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World)
Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

REASON:  Sam Rockwell…the same goofy guy from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Technically, he usually plays that goofy guy in every film.  His role in this film was so powerful.  You love to hate him as he tries to go from being a horrible, self-centered asshole to a normal person.  While, Woody Harrelson also stars in this film and did an extraordinary job, Sam kind of knocked it out of the ballpark.

Actress in a Leading Role

Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)
Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)
Meryl Streep (The Post)

REASON: McDormand is a powerhouse.  The other ladies pale in comparison to her role in Three Billboards.  She was beyond incredible.  I loved her character.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)
Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread)
Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)
Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water)

REASON: While I love Octavia Spencer and enjoyed her performance in The Shape of Water, Laurie Metcalf is my pick.  Within the first two minutes of watching her in Lady Bird, I thought…she’s the one that should win.



Animated Feature Film

The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

REASON: As much as I loved Coco, and loved the story from The Breadwinner, my pick is Loving Vincent.  This film is a work of art. With 100 artists telling the story of what happened to Vincent Van Gogh (did he kill himself, or did someone else?), you can’t help but notice how this film is unique and unlike any other animated film you’ve ever seen before.  They tell the story as if you are in a Van Gogh painting.  It was purely remarkable and unique.  It was far superior to any of the other nominees.

Cinematography

Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Mudbound
The Shape of Water

REASON: I will admit that I have been tossing back and forth on which film should win.  My doubts with Blade Runner 2049 is that it is purely CGI, but beautifully done.  It would not surprise me if Dunkirk won.

Costume Design

Beauty and the Beast
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Victoria & Abdul

REASON: I may be biased. Beauty and the Beast is my all-time favorite Disney cartoon.  Seeing Belle in her dress, and the Beast looking so dapper…I am just a little biased.  Also, if you have not seen Victoria & Abdul, you have to see it.  One of my favorite films from this year’s nominees.



Directing

Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan)
Get Out (Jordan Peele)
Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro)

REASON: I can’t stand Dunkirk.  The editing was so horrible, you can’t expect me to say Christopher Nolan should win.  Get Out was incredible and a great movie (very unique).  But I chose Guillermo del Toro for a reason.  When I finished watching The Shape of Water, he left his mark on my soul.  This film was so well done, I was tweeting del Toro about how much I enjoyed his film while I was still in front of the movie theater.

Documentary (Feature)

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island

[TBD]

Documentary (Short Subject)

Edith & Eddie
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop

REASON: This short started off as a story about the oldest inter-racial couple in America.  The story turned into something much more powerful.  Heroin(e) is being listed as everyone’s favorite to win.  While it is an interesting story, I think Edith & Eddie is more incredible.  When they started filming this, the crew had no idea the story would change.



Film Editing

Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

REASON: I hated Dunkirk purely because of the editing…watch, it will probably win for editing.  I chose Three Billboards because of the ending.  It reminded me of the ending of Prisoners, where the last few minutes of the film are the most important minutes of the entire movie.

Foreign Language Film

A Fantastic Woman
The Insult
Loveless
On Body and Soul
The Square

[TBD]

Makeup and Hairstyling

Darkest Hour
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder

REASON: They transformed Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill.  To me, that is remarkable.

Music (Original Score)

Dunkirk
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

REASON: While I love the music to Phantom Thread, it is the score from The Shape of Water that is unique.  When you hear it, you instantly think of this movie, the water, the love story…the song beautifully matches the magic of the movie.

Music (Original Song)

Mighty River (from Mudbound)
Mystery of Love (from Call Me By Your Name)
Remember Me (from Coco)
Stand Up for Something (from Marshall)
This is Me (from The Greatest Showman)

REASON: While “Remember Me” from Coco sticks out as such an incredible song, “This is Me” is my theme song for 2018.  It is such a wonderful and powerful song.  I expected The Greatest Showman to receive more nominations, because I had goosebumps from start to finish when I watched the film.  Best Original Song was its only nomination, and they chose the best song from the movie.



Best Picture

Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

REASON: I loved The Shape of Water, but when it comes right down to the movie I want to represent the 2018 Oscars as the best picture, I have to go with Three Billboards.  That is the movie I would want everyone to remember.  The Shape of Water and Three Billboards are the two top contenders for this category.  I would be happy with either of them winning.

Production Design

Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water

REASON:  Have you seen Blade Runner 2049?  The other films pale in comparison in this category.



Short Film (Animated)

Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou
Negative Space
Revolting Rhymes

REASON: Dear Basketball is Kobe Bryant’s retirement film.  There is a powerful message in the story of how basketball shaped Kobe’s childhood and made him into the person he is today, all the way to the end where he has to say goodbye.  It is an ode to the love of the game.  For any sports fan, they will understand how moving this is.

Short Film (Live Action)

Dekalb Elementary
The Eleven O’Clock
My Nephew Emmett
The Silent Child
Watu Wote/All of Us

REASON: When this story gripped the headlines, my heart went out to the people on that bus.  The re-telling of this story may be difficult for people to see, but it is the story everyone needs to see.



Sound Editing

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Reason: I have to throw Dunkirk a bone.

Sound Mixing

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

REASON: Or two.

Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Kong: Skull Island
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes

REASON:  This was a pretty tough category to choose from.  When I saw Guardians, I pointed out how much I loved the visual effects.  I mentioned it to so many people.  War for Planet of the Apes was another favorite that I remarked on how it was so beautifully done.  Keep on going down the list and I have to go with the film that blew them all out of the water…Blade Runner 2049.



Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Call Me By Your Name
The Disaster Artist
Logan
Molly’s Game
Mudbound

REASON: First, why was Logan listed in this category?  I mean, I love Logan, but you can’t make me choose the film that fucked me up emotionally for months.  For the record, I was really messed up that I was being forced to say goodbye to Logan.  I was not okay with saying goodbye.  Also, add in that this is an X-Men film.  Up for an Oscar nomination?  Huh?  If we were to go with how Logan fucked me up for months, then let’s give them an Oscar for how it emotionally messed me up.  But if you want to talk about an incredible story, you go with Mudbound.

Writing (Original Screenplay)

The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

REASON:  A lot of hot contenders here.  Only one is not up for Best Film.  Technically, the film wasn’t that great, but the story, on the other hand, was spectacular.  It is the very emotional, real life tale about Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon.  There were a lot of personal conflicts which will touch your heart.  The things you do for love…love of family, love of a dream, and the love of your life.  It was by far the best screenplay.  Hands down, none of the other films compare in this category.  That says a lot, considering I did not like The Big Sick as a film, and loved the other four nominees as a film.  The Big Sick is just an excellent screenplay.



The Scariest Movies to Binge On this Halloween Season

Matthew Lucifer is getting ready for one of his favorite holidays.

October is a change of seasons for me.  It symbolizes summer is indeed over and autumn is finally here.  The warmer clothes replace the summer ones.  Pumpkins are everywhere and the leaves are changing colors and falling to the ground.

October is a bit of fresh air, a time that marks the beginning of the feast before the famine.  We reach for everything sweet before we fill our bellies with turkey.  Holiday parties grace our December calendars before the New Year begins and we start our latest diet.

October is the sign of witches, werewolves and goblins coming out to trick or treat.  This is the time when the supernatural comes out to scare us and Hollywood takes the front stage.

Each year, I try to come up with a list of the scariest movies we should watch as we count down the days to Halloween.  This year, I decided to approach this list a little differently.  My task is to teach you a little bit about the classics of horror films by giving you a few suggestions on how you can expand your film education.


Alfred Hitchcock

Let us begin this journey with Alfred Hitchcock.  I began this year’s scary movie binge by focusing on Alfred Hitchcock’s work.  He has directed over 70 films.  Known as the “Master of Suspense,” he did not always direct scary films.

Back in 1928, he released a silent comedic romance called “The Farmer’s Wife.”  It is a story about a farmer that decides to remarry after his daughter marries and leaves the farm.  This tale is a complete comedy of errors as he goes from one woman to the next, before realizing the perfect wife was right under his nose the entire time.

Nothing suspenseful or scary about it.

Mr. Hitchcock did not begin his career with suspenseful classics until later.  Suspense back then did not mean scary movies.  They were usually mystery films.  It wasn’t until later when Psycho came into being that suspense turned into terror.

Psycho changed cinema forever.  It “opened the floodgates” for screen violence. [How Psycho Changed Cinema]  It is the first horror film, as well as the first slasher film in cinema history.

Many horror films that follow pay tribute to Psycho.  From the cinematography aspect of shooting in a “first person” perspective, rather than as a detached neutral observer, John Carpenter shot Halloween in that first person format where you can only see what the director wants you to see.  He also chose Janet Leigh’s daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, to star in the leading role.

From the musical aspect, the shrieking violins during the shower scene made the crowd jump out of their seats.  Stephen Spielberg used music as a way to scare his audience in Jaws like Hitchcock did in Psycho.

As a result of Psycho, Hitchcock changed cinema forever.  He followed Psycho with The Birds, another film that still scares people each time they look to the skies and see a swarm of birds.

Two films you should put on your Halloween binge list this October: Psycho and The Birds



The Fuck With Your Head Thriller

Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter painting by Borbay. Commissioned by Michelle Kenneth.

While Hitchcock changed the course of cinema, one film gave way to putting fear into our minds: the psychological thriller.

The Silence of the Lambs was the first of its kind in that it gave birth to a new way to scare people…by getting into your head and letting the fear take hold of you.  There were no jumping out of your seat moments.  They planted a seed of terror in your mind and let it grow.

Unlike most horror films, this film contained a few elements that made this movie unique.

When Jodie Foster read “The Silence of the Lambs” by Thomas Harris, she knew instantly this movie had to be brought to the screen.  She made a few calls and her project was underway.  Because, you see, when Jodie Foster calls about making a film, you not only take the call, you make the movie.  That Oscar gives her a lot of clout in Hollywood.

The reason why Foster wanted to bring this film to the screen was because there has never been a female heroine that saves the day.  In thrillers and suspense movies, men are always the heroes going in to save the damsel in distress.  What if, for once, it was a woman that came in to save the damsel in distress?

That is why she wanted to make this movie.

Jonathan Demme directed the film (he died of cancer this past April).  His vision created a brilliant masterpiece that will forever be heralded as one of the best movies of our time.  Because of his genius, The Silence of the Lambs went down in history as becoming the first thriller to ever win an Academy Award.  And yes, as they were filming this movie, they had that feeling all along the way that this film was going to win.

To add to the level of scary and creepy, a little bizarre and unknown fact is that Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster were never in the same room together.  Foster said she was petrified and scared of Hopkins.  He kind of creeped her out, so she never allowed herself to be in the same room with him.

What a surprise it was to find out that Hopkins said the exact same thing about her (as to why he never wanted to be in the same room as her).

Of course, you are thinking, “But when she interviews him…they are in the same room.”  Technically, no.  There was always a wall separating the two of them.

The Silence of the Lambs won for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards.  It is the first and only scary movie to win an Oscar.

A most noteworthy characteristic between Psycho and the character Hannibal Lecter is how the audience becomes sympathetic with the devil.  Understanding the character creates a unique love and fandom, similar to what you see with Dexter.  You are not sure why you like this evil person, you just do.  There is a conflict that goes on inside of you.  You know you are supposed to hate the bad guy, but you are strangely drawn to him and love him.

Binge on Hannibal Lecter: The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon, Hannibal, Hannibal Rising, Manhunter, Hannibal (Seasons 1-3)



The Innovator

Ghosts are a scary subject matter.  Movies like The Uninvited (1944) gave way to the concept of the haunted house.  Back then, ghosts, monsters, and the supernatural scared people, unlike today where it takes a lot of blood and gore (and lots of violence) to scare people.

In 1999, a 29 year old Indian immigrant created a film that would turn the cinematic world upside down.  M. Night Shyamalan released The Sixth Sense.  What made this movie so unique was not just the plot twist, but the fact that there was a story within a story that you don’t realize is there until the last few minutes of the film.

Shyamalan changed the way we saw supernatural films.  His script for The Sixth Sense is #50 in The Writers Guild’s 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.

While Shyamalan has gone on to create other incredible stories, none quite compare to his breakout movie.

The Best of M. Night Shyamalan: The Sixth Sense, Devil, Split, The Visit, Signs, The Village, The Happening



Classic Scarefest

Over the last hundred years, there are many stories that were created that truly scared people.  What scared people in the 1920s is very different from what scares people today.  From Mary Shelley penning “Frankenstein” to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” Hollywood has taken these stories of classic monsters and put them up on the silver screen.

Before Tom Cruise and Brendan Fraser starred in The Mummy, Boris Karloff was the original Mummy.  Filmed in 1932, Universal Studios released its third installment of Universal Monsters with one of its scariest monsters to date.  Karloff’s role in monster films made him one of the scariest actors in Hollywood.

Prior to The Mummy, Universal released Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931).  Karloff also played Frankenstein, the film that propelled him to stardom.  With 205 movies to his credit, this man spent almost 40 years scaring the pants off theatergoers.

Like Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr (The Wolf Man) were typecast because of their breakout roles in the monsters universe.  They spent the rest of their careers making horror films.

This year’s version of The Mummy is the start of The Dark Universe movies…a resurgence of the famous Universal Monsters.  All of these films are remakes of the originals, films that everyone should see before watching the new ones.

Watch the original Universal Monsters films before they are released as The Dark Universe: The Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.



The Films that Scared Them

Finally, I want to end with a couple of filmmakers that listed the films that scared them.  You will be surprised at their list.  Some of the movies, you just might be shaking your head in agreement.

Here are the movies Martin Scorsese said scared him: The Haunting, The Isle of the Dead, The Uninvited, The Entity, Dead of Night, The Changeling, The Shining, The Exorcist, Night of the Demon, The Innocents, and Psycho. 

Guillermo Del Toro: The Haunting, The Innocents, Alien, Jaws, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Exorcist.

[Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase a product through any of the links above, I may receive a commission as a result.  Those commissions go to help fund this site and buy treats for Matthew Lucifer.]



September Edition: A Note from the Editor

A Special Note from the Editor

Fashion. Books. Home. Food. DIY.  These are all things this site promises to deliver, but it has not really lived up to doing just that.  Or perhaps, it was something I always wanted to deliver, but needed some sort of direction on how I would deliver that to you.

When people ask me about this site, I never really passionately talk about it.  Perfectionist Wannabe  has not been in a place I was proud of yet.  I was honest about that with the people I met.  I did not know how to find that sweet spot where I was content with what I was putting out there.

So I went on a mission to discover what exactly I loved about magazines.  Blogs were no longer the answer to what I was looking for.

The Bold Type

As I flipped through a stack of magazines, Freeform’s The Bold Type, a show about three young women working for a fashion magazine, played in the background.  The show centers around a writer, a secretary turned stylist, and a social media director.  As the girls go from one disaster to another, it is the wisdom of their editor that resonates.

1) Write from your own perspective in life.

2) Print is dying.  The electronic age is making print media obsolete, so it is important to focus only on that.

Taking these two points, I began to see a clearer vision of what I wanted.

Book Reviews

To get a better handle on how book reviews should be done, I went to the best source: O Magazine.  As I read through the book reviews, I saw the importance of writing about experiencing the book.  Describing feelings eloquently is what ultimately gets people to read a book.

I read about one reviewer’s morning before she even sat down to read the book.  She made me experience her morning with her.  There was nothing extraordinary about it.  Her morning was a regular morning, just like anyone else’s morning.  But by the time she sat down to read the book, I  wanted to read whatever she was reading, even though she told me so little about the book.

What made this particular review stand out is that it was written incredibly well.  That is the beauty in writing a good review.  The writer made me see reviews, not just book reviews, in a whole new light.

The Voice

Finally, it began to occur to me what I was unhappy with.  I was dissatisfied with the voice I used on this site.  I was mimicking other bloggers and what they were doing instead of focusing on what I ultimately wanted to do with this site.

In the back of my mind, my friends who are well read, played in the back of my mind.  Their comments on fast literature (i.e. the books saturating our market), started to bring me down.  As much as I shared their opinions on great literature, it made me ask if what I write is great literature.  Would they even think I was good enough?

This is where that sense of wanting to be perfect comes in.  There is that fear of never being good enough for my friends to recommend my work to others.  They are brutally honest (which I respect and need).  What if what I was doing did not live up to their standards?

In our opinion, discovering an author or a book that is well written is difficult to find these days.  If you think about blogs in this context, it is not so often you will come across a lot of well written blogs.

Magazines and newspapers house many of the best writers that live up to these standards.  Yet, these types of publications are failing because of the saturation of mediocre or poorly written content flooding the market.  That means there are a lot of incredible writers out there that go undiscovered by the masses.

Branding

There are a lot of blogs out there I love that are both inspiring and beautiful.  I like their brand.  Even though many of these bloggers are the first of their kind in their niche markets, there are many who try to emulate that same voice, which in turn creates a problem.  That brand’s voice is copied, and then it becomes overdone, watering down the original voice.  I know, because this site started to do the same thing.  I ultimately did not want that.

The direction this site lacked was always something very simple.  It was missing my voice and the way I wanted to write and present my views of the world.  I spent too much time trying to be like the other bloggers.  As a result, I forgot why I created this site to begin with…to share my own adventure into learning how to be a better version of myself.

A Sense of Direction

Most noteworthy of this entire adventure are the opportunities that presented itself to me over these past few years.  From Martha Stewart’s American Made to Tribeca Film Festival to Book Expo America (BEA), the universe gave me every single tool I needed to discover how to create my vision for Perfectionist Wannabe.

As a result of those experiences, I learned that even though I believe I am not doing enough, the industry communicated the exact opposite.  Publishers explained to me at BEA that I was doing the right thing.  I did exactly what they were looking for in order to work with them.  They decided who they were allowing into the BEA this year, and I was among the select few they allowed in.  [Of all the publishers I spoke with, they only counted three bloggers that were allowed to attend, unlike previous years where the expo was saturated with bloggers.]

What all of these incredible experiences tell me is that I was always on the right track.

AHA!

I finally had an AHA! moment somewhere between flipping through the magazines and binge watching The Bold Type.  This site is my resumé.  In the end, this site is about a brand.  These past few years of discovery was about defining that brand.  That is the only thing it’s been about.  In a sense, this site is turning into a better version of itself.

So what can you look forward to?  Better content.  More continuous posts.  A more active social media experience.  Better inspiration.  More importantly, my voice.

xoxo,

Michelle Kenneth

 

The Oscars 2017: All of the Films and Where to Watch Them

Every year, I try to see as many Oscar nominated films as I can, as well as catch up on all of those films my filmmaker friends are raving about that I haven’t seen yet.

For those wanting to run out and see as many of the films as possible, I’ve simplified the process for you a little bit.  Here are the 62 films and where you can see them.  Fortunately, many of these films are available to stream, while others are still in the movie theaters.  There are a few that are not currently on the market and will be released to video or streaming after the Awards are over.Most movies that are in between theater and DVD release will be made available for streaming over the course of these next three weeks.

To simplify which movies are nominated, I’ve made an Excel spreadsheet you can print out to keep track of which movies you’ve seen. 

Download [15.05 KB]

If you want a detailed list by category, you can find that on the Academy Awards website.  This list is for those who need a simplified version of all of the films nominated in alphabetical order and where you can find the movie.  [NOTE: a few films are available directly online and the links are provided in the chart below.]

For those wanting the cheapest way to see all of the Best Picture nominations still in theaters, Regal Entertainment is hosting a film festival 2/17-2/26.  Tix are $35.  DETAILS.

Film Nominations Notes
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi Sound Mixing Available on Hulu, Amazon Prime; Youtube ($12.99); iTunes ($12.99); Vudu ($12.99) and Google Play ($12.99); FandangoNow ($14.99).
13th Best Documentary Available on Netflix.
20th Century Women Best Original Screenplay Available in theaters and on Vimeo.
4.1 Miles Best Documentary Short Available online at NY Times and Vimeo.
A Man Called Ove Best Foreign Film
Best Makeup/Hair		 Available through Amazon streaming rental ($4.99) or streaming purchase ($14.99); iTunes; FandangoNow
Allied Costume Design Available on Vudu ($14.99); Amazon and FandangoNow (2/14/17).
Arrival Best Picture
Cinematography
Best Director
Film Editing
Production Design
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing
Best Adapted Screenplay		 In Theaters. Also available for streaming purchase through Vudu ($14.99); CinemaNow ($15.99).
Blind Vaysha Best Animated Short Film In theaters, Vimeo and other streaming sites.
Borrowed Time Best Animated Short Film In theaters, also available online through Vimeo and other sites.
Captain Fantastic Best Actor-Viggo Mortensen Available on Amazon; iTunes; and FandangoNow.
Deepwater Horizon Sound Editing
Visual Effects		 Available on Amazon; iTunes; and FandangoNow.
Doctor Strange Visual Effects Scheduled streaming/video release 2/14/17.
Elle Best Actress-Isabelle Huppert Amazon release 2/28/17.
Ennemis Intérieurs Best Short In theaters.
Extremis Best Documentary Short Netflix.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Costume Design
Production Design		 Available to stream 3/7; for sale 3/28.
Fences Best Picture
Best Actor-Denzel Washington
Best Supporting Actress-Viola Davis
Best Adapted Screenplay		 In Theaters; available 2/24 at FandangoNow.
Fire at Sea Best Documentary iTunes.
Florence Foster Jenkins Best Actress-Meryl Streep
Costume Design		 Amazon; iTunes; Vudu; FandangoNow; OnDemand.
Hacksaw Ridge Best Picture
Best Actor-Andrew Garfield
Best Director
Film Editing
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing		 In Theaters and on FandangoNow on 2/7/17.
Hail, Caesar! Production Design HBO; FandangoNow ($14.99).
Hell or High Water Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor-Jeff Bridges
Film Editing
Best Original Screenplay		 Available for sale or rent at FandangoNow.
Hidden Figures Best Picture
Best Supporting Actress-Octavia Spencer
Best Adapted Screenplay		 In theaters.
I Am Not Your Negro Best Documentary Available on Amazon 6/13/17.
Jackie Best Actress-Natalie Portman
Costume Design
Best Original Score		 In theaters.
Jim: The James Foley Story Best Song-“The Empty Chair” HBO
Joe’s Violin Best Documentary Short New Yorker.
Kubo and the Two Strings Best Animated Feature
Visual Effects		 Vudu; CinemaNow; FandangoNow.
La Femme et le TGV Best Short iTunes.
La La Land Best Picture
Best Actor-Ryan Gosling
Best Actress-Emma Stone
Cinematography
Costume Design
Best Director
Film Editing
Best Original Score
Best Song-“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”; “City of Stars”
Production Design
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing
Best Original Screenplay		 In Theaters.
Land of Mine Best Foreign Film In theaters; FandangoNow.
Life, Animated Best Documentary Amazon Prime.
Lion Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor-Dev Patel
Best Supporting Actress-Nicole Kidman
Cinematography
Best Original Score
Best Adapted Screenplay		 In theaters.
Loving Best Actress-Ruth Negga Available at Vudu; FandangoNow.
Manchester By the Sea Best Picture
Best Actor-Casey Affleck
Best Supporting Actor-Lucas Hedges
Best Supporting Actress-Michelle Williams
Best Director
Best Original Screenplay		 In Theaters and FandangoNow, Vudu, iTunes, and Google Play on 2/7/17.
Moana Best Animated Feature
Best Song-“How Far I’ll Go”		 Available to stream 2/21/17.
Moonlight Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor-Mahershala Ali
Best Supporting Actress-Naomie Harris
Cinematography
Best Director
Film Editing
Best Original Score
Best Adapted Screenplay		 In Theaters. Available at FandangoNow on 2/14/17.
My Life as a Zucchini Best Animated Feature In theaters beginning 2/24/17 in select theaters.
Nocturnal Animals Best Supporting Actor-Michael Shannon Available 2/7/17 at FandangoNow, Amazon, iTunes, GooglePlay and Vudu.
O.J. Made in America Best Documentary Hulu.
Passengers Best Original Score
Production Design		 In theaters.
Pear Cider and Cigarettes Best Animated Short Film In theaters.
Pearl Best Animated Short Film Youtube (make sure to have a VR headset).
Piper Best Animated Short Film FandangoNow.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Sound Mixing
Visual Effects		 In theaters.
Silence Cinematography In theaters.
Silent Nights Best Short In theaters.
Sing Best Short In theaters.
Star Trek Beyond Best Makeup/Hair Available for sale everywhere.
Suicide Squad Best Makeup/Hair Available for sale everywhere.
Sully Sound Editing FandangoNow, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu.
Tanna Best Foreign Film Available 2/7/17 on iTunes.
The Jungle Book Visual Effects Available for sale and on Netflix.
The Lobster Best Original Screenplay Amazon Prime; FandangoNow.
The Red Turtle Best Animated Feature In select theaters.
The Salesman Best Foreign Film In theaters.
The White Helmets Best Documentary Short Netflix.
Timecode Best Short marvinwayne.com/en/timecode
Toni Erdmann Best Foreign Film Available to stream 4/11/17
Trolls Best Song-“Can’t Stop the Feeling” Vudu; FandangoNow.
Watani: My Homeland Best Documentary Short In theaters.
Zootopia Best Animated Feature Available for sale and on Netflix.

As If We Never Said Goodbye: Glenn Close Reprises Her Iconic Role on Broadway in Sunset Boulevard

If there is one thing you need to put on your bucket list today, especially if you love movies, old time films or musicals, you must see Glenn Close in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Sunset Boulevard.

With one look from this beautiful bright shining star, you realize as you are sitting in that old decrepit seat in a dark sea of onlookers that  you are in the presence of not just an icon, but a goddess.  This is the moment (yes, that might be a Frank Wildhorn reference) where you understand just how important these next few hours are going to be, because you have been graced with the honor of being in the same room as Glenn Close.

That feeling goes hand in hand with her character Norma Desmond, an aging silent film star who has lost her glory days. With one look, she could tell an entire story.  No words needed to be spoken or sung.  One look said everything.




But as Hollywood grew and technology advanced, Norma was left behind.  As she grew older, she became stuck in her glory days while the rest of the world moved on without her.  Thus, we dive into Norma’s own mental illness.

In this run, Close wanted to focus more on the mental illness part of the story.  [Variety, February 1, 2017]  There is part of you that sympathizes with Norma, and the other part of you that realizes that everyone has been sucked into her web and they can’t break free.  She won’t let you.  It’s not just the characters that are caught, it is the audience, too.

The Palace Theatre presents “Sunset Boulevard”



It takes a masterful actress to be able to do that to her audience as well.  Close is, of course, a  bewitching mistress of her craft.  She reprises her Tony Award winning role from 20 years ago.  But this time, she’s playing Norma just a little differently.  She is perfecting her.

If there is anything you see on Broadway, let it be this show.  Previews begin today (February 2, 2017) with the show running through May 28th.

If it were my guess at who will win Tonys this year, Sunset Boulevard and Glenn Close are at the top of my list.  This is a performance you will never forget.

Here is just a peek into the greatness Close gives to Norma Desmond.  Trust me when I say experiencing the performance in person is something you will never forget.

[youtube=https://youtu.be/4Y-hmaltmxs]

More…

For more on Glenn Close’s performance in Sunset Boulevard, the original 1994 cast recording is available for your listening pleasure.  For those with streaming services, the soundtrack is available to download.

For the movie, you can order it here:

Also something you should note, if you read the Variety article linked above, you’ll notice that there is some talk about a remake of the film starring Glenn Close.  It would be wonderful if they brought the musical version of Sunset Boulevard to the screen so that this incredible performance could be seen for all time, especially for those who could not see this in person.   That film would be absolutely magical.

Until then, get thee to Broadway to see Sunset Boulevard.  You will not regret it.



Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work.

A Scary Movie Binge You Haven’t Thought Of Yet

Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee

For those looking for a list of scary movies to watch this Halloween season, why not try something new?  In my research this past month, a friend of mine brought up the late actor Christopher Lee.

Lee is well known to many as being Saruman from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.  Last year, on June 7, 2015, he died at the age of 93.

What many people do not know is that Lee’s career spans over 69 years.  In that career, he was well known as playing the villain, mainly in scary movies.  He’s played the creature from Frankenstein, Dracula (ten times), the mummy, Rasputin, Jekyll and Hyde, and many other characters of the occult.

If you are looking for a new scary movie binge, why not honor the late Christopher Lee by bingeing on his scary movies during the month of October?  If you are an Amazon Prime member, these movies are available on Amazon Video for free as part of your membership.  They are also available for rent on Amazon Video.


Here’s what I’ll be watching.  Note that many films may have changed names.

  1. Circus of Fear (or Psycho-Circus)
  2. Raw Meat
  3. Season of the Witch
  4. Theatre of Death (or Blood Fiend)
  5. Dracula AD 1972
  6. To the Devil…a Daughter
  7. Horror Express
  8. House of the Long Shadows
  9. The Satanic Rites of Dracula (or Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride)
  10. Taste the Blood of Dracula
  11. In Search of Dracula
  12. Count Dracula
  13. The Mummy
  14. Hercules in the Haunted World
  15. The Blood of Fu Manchu
  16. The House that Dripped Blood
  17. Nothing But the Night
  18. Crimson Cult (or Curse of the Crimson Altar)
  19. Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors
  20. Dracula Prince of Darkness
  21. Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism
  22. The City of the Dead (or Horror Hotel)
  23. Dark Shadows
  24. The Resident
  25. Sleepy Hollow
  26. Gremlins II: The New Batch
  27. The Wicker Tree
  28. Corpse Bride
  29. The Bloody Judge
  30. Horror of Dracula
  31. Scars of Dracula




Focusing on the Passion and Making It the Mission

passionOver this past week, I’ve been pondering what I would like to do with this site.  My friends assisted me with the items they would like to see, as well as identifying the items they already liked about the site.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret…keeping up appearances for this site is very time consuming.  I plan on changing that.  My personal goal is to start posting on a daily basis.  That means planning what will go up on this site well in advance.

Planning leads to doing.  I started creating the content, cooking up recipes, taking the photographs, writing the posts and then began to feel overwhelmed.


As I was slicing up the pumpkins for the October recipes, I started to feel that pang in my gut.  It was that pain of feeling stressed and overwhelmed as I was trying to do something right for myself.  It’s that irony of the site’s name…wanting to be perfect.

I stopped what I was doing and re-evaluated why I was doing this.  What was my current mindset?  I realized I was stressing myself out and not enjoying the ride.  If I didn’t change my mindset then I was going to end up with a bunch of crap meals.  You see, I am of the belief that how you are feeling as you prepare your food is a direct correlation with how well your food will taste.

People who love to cook tend to make food taste incredible because you can taste their emotion in the food.  I used to watch one chef create meals for me on a whim.  I would watch him as he poured his love for food and cooking right into the meal.  A simple fried egg tastes so different when such care is taken than one created with no emotion or feeling.  It’s about passion and sharing that passion with someone else.

I didn’t want all of the food I was making to taste horrible, so I changed my mindset and focused on why I love to cook.  As a result, everything turned out so well, my friend was surprised at how flavorful everything tasted.

Changing my mindset was all about reminding myself what I am passionate about and why.

I met with filmmaker Edwin Walker today for lunch.  He is in town from LA filming a new movie.  We met last year (see link to our story).  There was something about the timing when we met last year.  He mentioned to me that when we met, it was like a turning point in our lives.  There was something about the direction our lives would take and the people we would become after our first meeting.


We became so inspired by each other to live life fully and passionately.  Since we met, I have been trying to find my passion in life again.  I only find that my passion comes when I write and when I am being myself and not focusing on what other people want from me.

You see, we live in a world filled with mediocrity and false lives.  We struggle every single day to be perfect in our Instagram photos, Twitter, and all forms of social media.  Reality TV makes people believe that these stories we see are real lives, when it’s just an act.  We become depressed when we don’t have over a thousand friends or followers.  We feel like we are failing at life when people are not following us or reading our work or we’re not getting hundreds of thousands of hits on our sites or Youtube videos.

Life for most people has become about the get rich quick schemes, becoming viral, and making a ton of money in the process.  It’s not about creating a passion project and putting your blood, sweat and tears into it.  It’s about the instant gratification, not the eternal happiness.

We have to constantly think of how to falsely entertain people to make you think that our lives are super glamorous, even when, for many people, it is not.  People become superstars for portraying a life on reality TV, even though there is nothing real about their lives on that TV show.

It is like a drug addiction.  It’s about that instant high that makes you feel happy for a moment, instead of working on what will make you happy for life.

People don’t watch real artistic movies or qualitative television programming anymore. They’re flocking to the latest ‘explosive’ blockbuster where it’s very little script, and more action with everything blowing up every other minute.  The shows that make you think are constantly being canceled.

Children don’t go home and watch cartoons for half an hour like I did when I was a kid.  They watch four-minute Youtube videos for entertainment, because they can’t sit through a half hour cartoon anymore.


People complain about the ‘long form’ on blogs.  They don’t want to read a long drawn out story.  They want glamorous photos with very little text…maybe one paragraph of text and that’s it.  They want to see people living these lives that are so far fetched.  It’s like watching a fairy tale or a soap opera.  They assume it’s real, when it is only a glamour.

It’s depressing isn’t it?  It’s like comparing ourselves to the Joneses.  We try to emulate these people on a daily basis, as if that is how we are supposed to act and live, even though what they are doing on that reality TV is an act.  It’s not real.  People assume it is real and follow suit, like this is how they are supposed to act, think, live and dress…no matter how outrageous it is.

We’re supposed to get plastic surgery to be pretty.  If you’re ugly, that means you’re too poor to look perfect.  As one friend said, it’s what separates the rich from the poor.  That is the culture we live in.

People sweat it out and diet, not for themselves, but to look and be thin and accepted.  I mean, Donald Trump talks about how horrible it is for women and girls to be fat or ugly.  If you are overweight or gain weight, you are called nasty names and meant to feel less than what you are.

When you look at street style photos, they never ever photograph fashionable women that are not thin.  I know because I’ve watched thin, beautiful women pulled out of line at fashion shows to be photographed for street style, while the fashionable curvy ladies are overlooked.  I have yet to see a single curvy blogger be selected in the slideshows for street style photos, even if they do have more followers than that thin, pretty girl that was pulled out of line to be photographed.

It is as if to say that X is the only thing acceptable in society, which then creates the unhealthy narrative of what it means to be a human being.  We see what is on the outside, the shell, and never what is on the inside that makes each and every single one of us great individuals.

The narrative in our society today is about the false perceptions of reality.  It’s the quick fix drug that makes you feel something for a moment, to make you forget what is real in your life, instead of focusing on how you can make your life better.


People don’t want the stories that help them self-reflect, connect and learn something.  They don’t go see movies that will inspire them to be better human beings.  They don’t want to see movies that will fix what is wrong with them on the inside.  They only want those things that will help them escape reality, instead of focusing on creating a better reality for themselves and the people around them.

People focus on how they need to be fit, thin, beautiful, well-dressed, rich and famous in order to be accepted in society.  You have to have thousands of followers before anyone takes you seriously.

I know there are publishing houses that have said that they are not interested in talking to you unless they see you have over 1,000 followers on Twitter (and yes, they do check to see if your followers are real or if you bought a bunch of dead accounts).  That puts you into the 5% of people that do.  That’s the 5% they are willing to talk to and work with.

Back in the day, when I was working with bands, each record company said they were only interested in talking to bands that had a following already.  The artist needed that following before they would even listen to their music.  This, of course, was before blogs and social media were in the picture.  It was a lot harder back then to create a following, because they didn’t have social media to help spread the word.

What I’m getting at is this…

I’m glad I started talking about re-branding with my friends.  What they were asking of me was to be raw and real on this site.  Even Edwin today stressed that being real is what made this site unique.  I was sharing the stories of people that needed to be told.  These are the people that are living their lives passionately.  They are living their dreams.

Edwin wanted me to focus on my passions in life.  For me, that is writing, books and movies.  In my universe, all of those things are interconnected.


Last year, I discovered that my main followers and readers of this site were the entertainment and film industry.  I was doing something they needed.  I wasn’t putting out stories or reviews like everyone else.  I was telling the narrative untouched by the big dogs of the entertainment industry.  I was sharing the art and the passion…the reason why people got into acting, directing, filmmaking, writing, art, etc.

No one ever talks about that anymore.

I noticed recently that a film short that is turning into a feature film soon has been publishing their poster with a quote from me from this site.  I didn’t even notice it until I started reading the film’s poster and was like, ‘Wait…that sounds like me…’ and then I saw my site’s name underneath it.

I kind of did a little leap for joy when I saw it, because that directs more people in the film industry to this site.  This site, of course, is not about entertainment news.  It is about living life passionately.  In a way, the site’s name is about me being that perfectionist in the same way all artists strive for perfection in their art.  They are just looking for people to understand that dynamic and passion that went into their art.

Unfortunately, the art is always 80% business, 20% art.  I learned that a long time ago.  I’ll be honest, it is that 80% I hate about writing, because that 80% is what stresses me out all of the time.  It prevents me from being me and writing more.

I believe that is the real reason why I don’t post as often as I would like to do on this site, because it becomes more about business than it does about the art.  I plan on changing that mindset.

The business side is going to need to be something I am passionate about so that I can create.  I need to ask myself if what I am doing is a true reflection of who I am, because truthfully, I am not going to share anything that is not true to who I am.  There is too little time in life to waste it sharing the things that have no meaning.  I am not going to participate in the mediocrity that has consumed the lives of the world around us.  This is about being raw and real about everything.


What I do not share on this site is in actuality the side of me my friends have asked that I start sharing.  They want me to share my journey in life.  It is the narrative I don’t share completely.

You may think, ‘oh, this is going to be a dull and drab journey,’ when in actuality, it is quite surreal.  Like the irony of sharing the Russell Crowe binge on the site is that 15 years ago, would you believe he actually serenaded me in Chicago, Illinois?

Or that when I started the Russell Crowe binge, Paul Haggis (“Crash,” “The Next Three Days”) had stalked my Instagram account and liked a bunch of photos on it?  I hadn’t even gotten to “The Next Three Days” yet, and here the director was on my Instagram liking a bunch of photos on it.  How is that for irony?

Or how about meeting fashion designer Malan Breton and just being so enamored with our conversation that I looked at him like, if I could talk to you for the rest of my life, I would be one happy woman?  He was the first person that ever looked at me and told me right off the bat what my ethnicity was.  No one has ever been so spot on.  I think what was even cooler was that he knew who I was before I even introduced myself.

This is the world my friends want me to talk about.  One friend said that I had always told her these stories about the life I lived.  She said that she never even imagined how real that world really was for me until she saw how famous people would walk right up to me and we would have these long, drawn out conversations that were so intriguing.

It amazed her even more when she realized these people knew who I was, even if we were just meeting for the first time.  This is the world she wants me to share, because it is so surreal.  She wants me to share the gowns I wore.  Others want me to share the fashion I wear on a daily basis.  They want me to talk about the events I go to, because not everyone has that kind of life.  It’s a dream life.

It’s about that VIP status.  It’s a status I’ve had since my days in Washington, DC, where I could hear other society women complaining that I had what they wanted…status.


When I first moved to NYC, my boss told me that he knew when I was hired that I was known in societal circles in DC.  He told me that if I wanted to enter NYC society, he would help me, but he warned me that it was pretty mean.

I remember thanking him for offering to introduce me, but I would rather go at it alone, choosing who I would like to surround myself with, rather than trying to be accepted by a group of people that seeks to destroy the people around them.  In NYC there are different forms of VIP.  The number one thing you need is money and being constantly seen in those VIP circles.  After a while, you stop paying for the VIP treatment, because it comes to you for free.

You get the invites.  You stop running around trying to be accepted by the in crowd or pursuing people for interviews by going through their publisher or agent.  After you’ve established yourself, they come to you.  You don’t have to pursue anything in life anymore because you are ‘in.’

That is the world my friends want me to share, because not everyone is allowed into that VIP world.  It’s not always about parties, getting into clubs, etc.  It’s about being in a room with incredible people like yourself and learning something from them.  It’s about experiencing life in a new way beyond just attending an event.  It’s about learning how the event came into being (like a film), meeting the people involved with creating this art, and letting yourself become inspired by these people and inspiring them by sharing your own journey.

It’s about the human aspect beyond the celebrity.  The celebrity part…that’s not real, you know that, right?  Celebrity is a false illusion.

I remember there was this guy who told me years ago he was famous.  I told him I didn’t believe him.  He spent the next year trying to prove to me that he was.  I still don’t believe that he is, but during that time, it created a friendship.  I never saw the celebrity.  I saw him.  I saw his passion in life and I wanted him to pursue it at all cost, so I helped him wherever I could.

You see, that is the true essence of who I am and what this site is about.  I am drawn to other people like me, the creative types and the people pursuing their dreams and living life passionately.  Why?  Because these are the people that inspire me to be the person I truly am inside.


We are always learning from each other and inspiring each other.  It’s about sharing our journeys together and helping each other in our own ways.  That is the life I’m talking about.  There’s the glamour on the outside, but the true essence at the core is what is more important.  This is the stuff that The PW is all about.  It’s not about just the glitz and glamour of life.  It’s about the things that make us self-reflect in order to be true to our very own being.

This is about finding the true reality that is life.  What’s on the outside is always just the shell of a being.  It is not the true essence of what a human being is.  It’s the glamour.  In other words, it is not real.

It is the drug that makes you feel something for a moment, but never truly changing who you are on the inside.  It’s the drug that gives you temporary happiness, instead of focusing on healing what is inside of you and finding what true happiness is, your eternal contentment in life.

The Goal of This Site 

In trying to develop content on a daily basis for this site, and remaining true to myself as a writer (i.e. to write the novel, as well), I will be incorporating a version of the KonMari practice in minimizing my life.  I am setting out to learn how to make things simpler so that I can post daily.

I am going to attempt to accomplish this goal beginning today.  Along the way, hopefully, I’ll discover new and easier ways to create content without feeling overwhelmed (don’t worry, I’ll share my discoveries, because I’m sure that can help many others out there looking to simplify life).  It’s that overwhelmed feeling that keeps me from being passionate about this site.  I seek to change that, because this is supposed to be my passion project.  I just need to focus on what makes me so passionate about it.

For now, I’ll be testing the water in new ways.  There will be movies, books, home, arts, fashion, This Is 40, and more on this site.  It’s not about what I think people want to read.  This is going to be about the passion in life.


The Ultimate Russell Crowe Binge

man-of-steel-russell-croweFor those who follow me on Twitter, I went through a bit of a Russell Crowe binge this past month.  While I still have a few movies left to find (the earlier stuff from his pre-Hollywood days), I thought I’d share the actual binge with you…just in case you were interested in doing your own binge.

Here is the list of Crowe movies in order that I watched them.


Movie Year Notes
1 The Water Diviner 2014 This is Crowe’s directorial debut and probably one of the most powerful stories he has brought to the screen.
2 3:10 to Yuma 2007 Something you will start to notice in the Russell Crowe binge is that there are repeat offenders in his work.  In this movie, Logan Lerman (“Noah”) and Kevin Durand (multiple films) are the repeat offenders.  Crowe also has a bit of a bromance with Durand.
3 Broken City 2013 In a SNL skit in May 2016, Russell Crowe referenced his co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones’s husband’s (Michael Douglas) tongue cancer (a type of cancer that is ususally caused by HPV, transmitted by cunnilingus).  Crowe ran with that in the skit.
4 A Beautiful Mind 2001 We start to see the beginning of the bond between repeat offenders Jennifer Connelly and her spouse, Paul Bettany, in Crowe’s films.  This is the film where the two lovebirds met.  Connelly won an Academy Award for best actress in a supporting role for this film.
5 A Good Year 2006 This is just one of a handful of collaborations Crowe will have with Ridley Scott. Also, later, Crowe’s connection with this wine film will lead to another good year for wine in the “Red Obsession” 8 years later.
6 Noah 2014 Repeat offenders Jennifer Connelly and Logan Lerman star with Crowe in this artistic rendition of the ancient tale of the Great Flood.
7 Gladiator 2000 The first collaboration between Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott.  This movie earned 5 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor.
8 Heaven’s Burning 1997 This Australian movie is a bit Tarantino-esque.  This was Crowe’s last Australian film before heading to Hollywood.  It would be another 17 years before he would make another Australian film (“The Water Diviner”), which he also directed.
9 Fathers & Daughters 2015 Amanda Seyfried is the repeat offender in this film.  She starred with Crowe in “Les Miserables.”
10 Proof of Life 2000 Of all the Crowe films, this film is the most difficult to stomach.  It is because of what happened off screen.  Meg Ryan, Hollywood’s darling, starred in this film post-Gladiator with Crowe.  They started an affair, which led to her divorce from Dennis Quaid.  She lost a lot of love from the public because of this.  This movie was the beginning of her demise.  She was rarely cast after this movie.  She recently came out with the film “Ithaca,” making her directorial debut.  Compared to Crowe, after this film, she has starred in only 10 films to Crowe’s 25 films in the same time period.
11 The Quick and the Dead 1995 This film was Crowe’s introduction into Hollywood.  Repeat Offenders: Keith David (“The Nice Guys”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“Body of Lies”).
12 Cinderella Man 2005 “Cinderella Man” marks the second collaboration between Crowe and director Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”).
13 The Insider 1999 This film displays Crowe’s acting talent at its finest.  Of all the films he has made, this is the one he should have won an Oscar for.  He was nominated for an Oscar for best actor, but that statue went to his “LA Confidential” co-star Kevin Spacey for “American Beauty.”  “The Insider” received multiple nominations, but “American Beauty” dominated that year, and rightly so.
14 Robin Hood 2010 The bromance in this film is real.  Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand (his “Mystery, Alaska” buddies) reunite in this film.  These guys appear in a lot of films together.  The bromance is real.  Ridley Scott also directed this film.  This is the most current of the collaborations between the two.
15 Winter’s Tale 2014 Continuing the “Robin Hood” bromance, both Kevin Durand and Scott Grimes make small appearances in this film.  Jennifer Connelly also appears.
16 The Man With the Iron Fists 2012 RZA is the repeat offender in this film.  RZA both directed, wrote and starred in this film.  RZA appeared in “The Next Three Days” with Crowe.
17 State of Play 2009
18 The Nice Guys 2016 Probably one of the craziest films Crowe has ever made.  He’s found a new bromance with Ryan Gosling.  Gosling had Crowe breaking character and laughing so much, the director told Gosling that if he made Crowe laugh again, he would charge him $5 every time he broke character.  Repeat Offenders: Kim Basinger and Keith David.
19 Les Miserables 2012 This is the first time the two Australian Hollywood powerhouses would star together in a film.  Hugh Jackman takes the lead alongside Crowe for the first time.  Many people did not know that Crowe is a singer.  He has traveled around the world with his band over the last 20+ years and has a few albums out.  This film would make Amanda Seyfried into a repeat offender.  Anne Hathaway won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
20 Body of Lies 2008 Repeat Offender: Leonardo DiCaprio.
21 Master and Commander 2003 Repeat Offender: Paul Bettany.  This bromance is one of the favorites among the public.
22 Man of Steel 2013 18 years prior to making this film, Crowe starred in “No Way Back” with the original Supergirl.  Crowe has pitched the idea around in the media that he would like to reprise his role of Jor-El in a prequel.
23 American Gangster 2007 Another Ridley Scott film.  The repeat offender is none other than Denzel Washington himself.
24 The Next Three Days 2010 RZA’s small role in this film with Crowe would lead to “The Man With the Iron Fists.”
25 The Republic of Doyle (3.1) 2012 The bromance reappears in this Canadian TV show.  Crowe, Grimes and Durand star together in this episode.  Stupidity ensues in the form of the Three Stooges.
26 Virtuousity 1995 Once upon a time, Crowe used to get naked in his movies.  This is one of those films.  This film also stars Denzel Washington.  12 years later, they would reunite in “American Gangster.”
27 Romper Stomper 1992 This is the movie that paved the way for Crowe into Hollywood and would explain why he was perfect for his role in “LA Confidential.”  This film is very difficult to watch, so be forewarned.  The neo-Nazi violence against Asians is tough to see.  [I had to take a break from the binge because of how disturbed I was from the violence.]
28 The Silver Brumby (Stallion) 1993 This is one of the most beautiful and scenic movies you’ll ever see of Australia.  Just breathtaking.
29 LA Confidential 1997 One of the most beloved and best movies ever made.  Crowe’s role and his character’s anger is reminiscent of his role in “Romper Stomper.”  You can see how perfect this role was for him.  Kim Basinger would appear 19 years later in “The Nice Guys” as a repeat offender.
30 Red Obsession 2014 “A Good Year” is a great prelude to this film which discusses the wine industry, more importantly the wine industry in China.  This film is not listed in Crowe’s IMDb.  He is the narrator of this film.
31 Bra Boys 2007 This film is not listed in Crowe’s IMDb.  He appears as the narrator in this documentary of the Bra Boys in Australia.
32 Tenderness 2009 This is one of the strangest films ever, especially for Crowe.  [At the end of this film, I literally sat there going…”I have no idea what just happened.”]
33 Proof 1991 Hugo Weaving stars in this film with Crowe about a friendship between a young man and a blind guy.  Crowe does get naked.
34 No Way Back 1995 As a foreshadowing of things to come, Helen Slater, the original “Supergirl,” stars in this film with Crowe.  Crowe would later play Jor-El in “Man of Steel.”
35 Brides of Christ (TV series) 1991 This TV mini-series stars a young Naomi Watts.  Crowe appears in a few episodes.  This series is mainly about Catholic nuns at a school and the ethical challenges they face in a modern society.
36 Breaking Up 1997 Stars the beautiful Salma Hayek.  This movie is basically about a couple that fights all of the time, but then have amazing makeup sex afterward.  That is the movie in a nutshell.
37 Mystery, Alaska 1999 This was the beginning of the bromance between Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand.  For the next 15+ years, these three would star in one movie after another after another.  They are the current day Larry, Moe and Curly…after you see Republic of Doyle, you’ll get that.  Crowe = Moe.  Grimes = Curly.  Durand = Larry.





Not all of Crowe’s movies were easy to find.  There were nine films I was not able to get my hands on and that may have more to do with the fact that it was made in Australia in the early 1990s.  Most of the films are still on VHS or not able to be used on USA machines.  Many of the films have not been transposed to DVD or digital.  While I have seen “The Crossing,” that was 15 years ago and it was on VHS.  I have not seen a digital or DVD version of that movie  made available.  The VHS tape alone fetches for over $80 because of its scarcity.

Movies Hard to Find
1 Prisoners of the Sun 1990 George Takei stars.
2 The Crossing 1990 This is the movie where Crowe met and fell in love with Danielle Spencer.  They would later marry and have two sons.  They are currently divorced.  This movie doesn’t appear to have been transferred to DVD or digital, so it will be difficult to find unless you have a VHS player.
3 The Efficiency Expert 1992 Stars Anthony Hopkins.
4 Hammers Over the Anvil 1993
5 Love in Limbo 1993
6 For the Moment 1993
7 The Sum of Us 1994
8 Rough Magic 1995 Stars Bridget Fonda and Jim Broadbent.
9 The Spell of the Yukon 1996 He is the narrator in this short.




Make Everyone Happy: Remembering Gene Wilder

wilderYesterday, we lost Gene Wilder.  He was 83 years old when he passed away.

For many people, he brought laughter and many smiles that reached down deep into the very heart of mankind.  He touched our souls and filled it with happiness.  His character, Willy Wonka, became a part of that very fond story every child remembers from their childhood.

Depending on when you were born and your first Wilder movie, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The World’s Greatest Lover, or Stir Crazy, they became the movies you fondly remember of Gene Wilder.  Whichever movie is the movie that made you laugh in wonder for the very first time, that laughter and happiness is what he carries with him as his soul goes forward.

Gene Wilder’s movies, just like Robin Williams’ movies, were very much a part of my childhood.  They created movies in a new way, creating fond memories that people still hold close to their hearts.  Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were my modern day childhood version of Bing Crosby and Jerry Lewis and the legendary team of Abbott and Costello (and yes, I saw all of these films as a kid).

Losing Gene Wilder brings great sorrow to my heart.  I plan on binging on his movies after I finish my current binge.

[For those with DirecTV and cable, you’ll find many of his movies available for free On Demand.  Movie channels are also notorious for changing their programming to allow people to binge watch an actor’s movies after they have passed away (and on the anniversary of their death if they were popular and missed – like Robin Williams).  You can also binge watch his films on Netflix and Amazon Prime.  If you can’t find it there, dust off your library card and check the movies out for free at your local library.]


I’m In Heaven

While I was walking to the library last night, I was thinking about Gene Wilder and how sad I was that he was no longer with us.   Then I heard Louis Armstrong singing “I’m in heaven.”  I could envision Wilder singing and dancing around, happy as a lamb in that tuxedo from Young Frankenstein.  It made me smile.  He’s in a very happy place, so no one should be sad for him.

On the way home from the library, I heard the song again.  Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald singing “I’m in heaven,” from “Cheek to Cheek.”  Those were the only lyrics that kept playing over and over again: “I’m in heaven.”  There were no other words from the song, just “I’m in heaven” again and again.


Knowing how strange that was and for it to happen twice, I brought it up in my meditation last night.  What was explained was this…this is how you do life correctly.  If you want to make a lasting impact on your own life and be rewarded in the afterlife, you create happiness for others.  You want people speaking wonderful things about you when you die, so give them something to be happy about.  Impact their lives with happiness.  That is the goal everyone should have: to create everlasting happiness in the world.

That is what Gene Wilder did.  In the letter his nephew wrote, he spoke of when Gene was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, he did not want the world to know so that when children would see Willy Wonka, it would not be filled with sadness when parents had to explain what had happened to him.  He wanted that pure innocence and joy of seeing Willy Wonka to be something amazing for the children and not marked with sadness by his illness.  He did not want to scar this incredible moment for the child because a parent would have to explain to them about the illness, thus creating a sad moment instead of a happy moment.


He wanted the kids to be happy when they saw him.

That is the most important thing about life: to make others happy.  Make them laugh.  Let your legacy be about the happiness you brought to others so that when it is your time to depart this life, the world will be speaking wonders of how happy you made them.

What Gene Wilder brought to the world was laughter and happiness.  That’s the way the world sent him off, with happy blessings for all of the happiness he brought to them.  That is the key ingredient to having a blissful afterlife.  Ask yourself: How did you make the world feel about your existence here?


Making People Happy Long After You Are Gone

The Moroccans tell a tale from 1927 of an American woman who loved animals. She was appalled at the working conditions of the animals there, so she created an animal hospital (called the American Fondouk (fondouk means ‘inn’)) in Fez, Morocco.  There, any working animal can be treated for its ailments for free.  For those with pets, they have to pay a fee for their care.  [Since donkeys and horses are essential to the work people do in Morocco, to lose an animal could mean loss of income.  If you can afford to have a pet, then you should be able to pay for its care.]  MORE ON THAT STORY.

It is her kindness, that decades after her death, is still remembered.  They still speak praises of her and what she did for the people there.  Her good works continue long after her passing.  Her family may have forgotten her, but the people of Morocco remember her for the good she brought to them and continues to bring to them.


Live Life Miraculously

You want to live life miraculously?  Make your life story about what you did for others.  Let the world remember you for the great things you did to uplift them.

For Gene Wilder, he brought the world happiness.  He left this world hearing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”  I’m sure he’s happily dancing and singing his way through the corridors of heaven.  The world remembers how happy he made them.  That’s the way we should all leave this world, letting the world remember how happy we made them.  Our world is better for it.  That is the obligation we owe to this gift called life.  Repay the kindness of this gift of life by doing something extraordinarily good for the world.


Oprah’s New Greenleaf Does Something That’s Never Been Done Before

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Oprah’s new film series “Greenleaf” is set to begin June 21st.  This is a series everyone needs to see.  “Greenleaf” premiered during the Tribeca Film Festival in April.

What makes “Greenleaf” so unique is that this series dives into corruption within the church.  This is something that people know exists, but no one has ever exposed churches for their crimes.  From money laundering to rape/pedophilia to extramarital affairs, “Greenleaf” aims to uncover some of the truths that lie behind some of the biggest churches in Christianity.

Cast of Greenleaf.
Cast of Greenleaf.

The Plot

Set in Memphis, Tennessee, the film stars Lynn Whitfield, Keith David, Merle Dandridge and Ms. Oprah Winfrey herself.

Grace Greenleaf (Dandridge) returns to her family home in Memphis after her sister commits suicide.  Grace is from a church family known as the Greenleafs.  Her father (David) is the preacher of one of the most successful megachurches in the South.  Her uncle is the deacon and her siblings (and their spouses) all serve the church in their own way.

Grace left the church to become a journalist, which in turn, made her into the black sheep of the family.  When she stepped away, she also stepped away from God and the church completely.

Her decision to leave made her into an outcast.  Her family could not understand her decision.  She was one of the best church leaders in the family.  People came from miles around to hear her speak.

Her decision to leave was because of what happened to her sister.  Her sister had been sexually assaulted by her uncle (the deacon), the same man they let attend her funeral and sit at the family dinner table with the rest of them.

Oprah Winfrey with the Greenleaf cast.
Oprah Winfrey with the Greenleaf cast.



Everyone in the family knew what happened.  They covered up the indiscretion.  In turn, that led to her suicide, which is why Grace has returned…to attend her sister’s funeral.  While at home, she discovers from her aunt (played by Winfrey) that it happened again to another young girl.  The church, yet again, has covered it up.

Not only is her family the head of this megachurch, but they have riches beyond compare.  We learn in the pilot, the church is under investigation by Congress for questionable finances.  The big family secret is that they are laundering money from the church.

This is something Grace is well aware of.  It is one of the many of the reasons why she left the church to begin with.  She disagreed with how her family was stealing from the congregation.

She is adamant about wanting to leave her family home as soon as possible.  When she discovers that the sexual assault has happened again to another young girl, she decides to stay on.  Her plan is to take the church (her family) down and unravel all of its secrets.  This is her payback for what happened to her sister.

Merle Dandridge leads the cast of Greenleaf.
Merle Dandridge leads the cast of Greenleaf.

The series premieres on OWN at 10pm/9pm CT on Tuesday, June 21st.  This series will be a good one.  It is a must watch.  Set your DVRs.


David Duchovny’s “Bucky F*cking Dent”

David Duchovny's "Bucky Fucking Dent"
David Duchovny’s “Bucky F*cking Dent”

Last Monday, David Duchovny discussed his latest novel “Bucky F*cking Dent” at the New World Stages in New York City for Hudson Union Society.

Duchovny spoke about a side of him that most people are not used to…his literary side.  The actor best known as Agent Fox Mulder (The X-Files) and Hank Moody (Californication) received his education from both Princeton and Yale, majoring in Literature.  He didn’t know what he was going to do with his degree, except maybe become a literature professor.

Instead, while at Yale, he became interested in acting.




Now, he’s returning back to his literary side.  For those who are writers, his talk is very inspiring and funny.  For those stuck in a rut, it’s good to know we’re not alone, especially when a critic enters your mind of how you’re not good enough.

Here is the audio from his talk.

I originally was not going to attend this event, but when Hudson Union Society sent me an email saying I could go for free, I decided to go.  You could say that was the universe encouraging me to go.  I had no idea that this would not be a talk about Duchovny’s acting career, but a discussion on being a writer.

The main thing I learned from Duchovny was this…write for yourself.  Don’t write for anyone else.  Just write for yourself.  Tell your story, don’t let others tell your story for you.  You have an opportunity to be the narrator in your story and tell your own tale.

Looking at this site and my novel, I realized that sometimes I let my mind think of what other people want and what they want to read.  I waste so much time trying to figure out what to write for other people that I forget why I write to begin with.

I shouldn’t care what other people want, because I stop being true to myself as a writer.  I have to focus on telling the story I want to tell.  I find that people are more inspired from what I write when it comes from a true place.  People can sense your passion and admiration.  It gets them inspired as well.

Writing from a cold place…one that is reporting and uncaring…I’m not telling those stories anymore.  I am going to remain true to myself as a writer.  Thank you, David Duchovny, for reminding me of who I am.  I am a writer.

For those who are writers, I highly recommend listening to the audio from his talk.


Weekend Reading: Feel Good Stories and More

How is everyone’s summer so far?  We’ve been graced with this absolutely perfect 70+ degrees weather in NYC.  With Father’s Day this weekend, I’m sure there will be a lot of feasting, barbecuing and I Love You’s all across America.

Here is my weekly wrap up of some of my favorite things that caught my eye this week.  Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there.  Kids, make sure to spoil your daddy!

Feel Good Stories to Read This Weekend

I always love reading the good stories out there.  It really makes our hearts smile.

    1. Boy With Brain Tumor Gets His Very Own Dragon.  I am so jealous of Brody.
    2. NFL Player Adopts a Pitbull.  You have to see the look on the dog’s face on his way home from the shelter.  It is priceless.
    3. What happened when an Orthodox Jewish Congregation went to a gay bar to mourn Orlando.  This was an amazing read.  This story needs to be shared a gazillion times.




Stories Worth Sharing this Weekend

1. Some Amusing Little Things in the US  You have to read this just for the laughs.  It’s funny to read stories of newcomers to the US and how things are so different here for them.  I always find it funny discovering differences when I travel to new countries.  I remember learning “Take Away” meant “To Go” in Ireland and London.  I remember standing there going, “HUH?” when she asked me about take away.  Then I saw there was a sign up that displayed two different prices for dining in and taking away.  Then it made sense.  Take away meant TO GO!

When you ask for hot sauce in some countries, they give you some weird version of sweet salsa (it’s disgusting) [Prague, Czech Republic].  When you’re in Africa, wee-fee means wifi.  In Ireland, there are XXXX number of ways to use one curse word.  Believe me when I say within the first 5 minutes of arriving in Dublin, I learned about 20 different ways to use one curse word.  I’m sure the woman had more meanings to it, too.  I was just like…welcome to Ireland.

2.  Bucky Fucking Dent.  Need something for your book loving Dad this Father’s Day?  Does he like baseball?  This book came on my radar this week when I attended an event with the author, David Duchovny (you know, Agent Fox Mulder and Hank Moody).  Who knew that this actor has a serious background in literature?  That’s what he went to Princeton and Yale for.

Here’s the Amazon synopsis:

Ted Fullilove, aka Mr. Peanut, is not like other Ivy League grads. He shares an apartment with Goldberg, his beloved battery-operated fish, sleeps on a bed littered with yellow legal pads penned with what he hopes will be the next great American Novel, and spends the waning days of the Carter administration at Yankee Stadium, waxing poetic while slinging peanuts to pay the rent.

When Ted hears the news that his estranged father, Marty, is dying of lung cancer, he immediately moves back into his childhood home, where a whirlwind of revelations ensues. The browbeating absentee father of Ted’s youth tries to make up for lost time, but his health dips drastically whenever his beloved Red Sox lose. And so, with help from Mariana―the Nuyorican grief counselor with whom Ted promptly falls in love―and a crew of neighborhood old-timers, Ted orchestrates the illusion of a Boston winning streak, enabling Marty and the Red Sox to reverse the Curse of the Bambino and cruise their way to World Series victory. Well, sort of.

David Duchovny’s richly drawn Bucky F*cking Dent explores the bonds between fathers and sons and the age-old rivalry between Yankee fans and the Fenway faithful, and grapples with our urgent need to persevere―and risk everything―in the name of love. Culminating in that fateful moment in October of ’78 when the mighty Bucky Dent hit his way into baseball history with the unlikeliest of home runs, this tender, insightful, and hilarious novel demonstrates how life truly belongs to the losers, and that the long shots are the ones worth betting on.

Bucky F*cking Dent is a singular tale that brims with the mirth, poignancy, and profound solitude of modern life.

I purchased a copy of the book after hearing Duchovny talk about writing.  Not acting, just writing. I’ll have more on that talk this weekend.

3. About the Night.  I’ve been reading this book for the past couple of weeks.  It’s the current selection for next month’s PW Book Club.  I had downloaded the Kindle version, but then ordered the book when it was released to the public on 6/1.  This was one of those books that had so many deep, heartfelt words that I had to buy one for my personal library.  I wanted to be able to highlight all of the beautiful words that touched my soul.  This is a story about an Arab man falling in love with a Jewish woman and then a wall divided them in Jerusalem.  It’s such an incredible story.  I’m only 2/3 of the way through it.

If you’ve ever loved someone greatly and then they were ripped away from you…you will understand this suffering.


ENTERTAINMENT

  1.  Mads Mikkelsen Wants Hannibal Back.  I love this man.  He loves Hannibal just as much as any Fannibal.
  2.  Battle of the Bastards.  If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you know the battle between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton is coming.
  3. Orange is the New Black Has Dropped.  Well, apparently all your plans this weekend have been cancelled for Netflix.  OITB was dropped today.  Let the binge-watching commence!

Food To Try This Weekend

  1. Pho, ramen and more slurp-worthy slow cooker Asian noodle soups.  OMG.  Definitely doing this over the summer now that I’ve switched to crockpot mode.
  2. Simple Trick that Makes Cupcakes Look Fancy.  It’s the little things that bring so much joy.
  3. 9 Best Bacon Breakfasts for Father’s Day.  Did someone say bacon?




Fashion Buys for the Weekend

1. Green Ombre Dress from Banana Republic.   I am in love with this dress.

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Banana Republic Ombre Dress

2.  Neiman Marcus Sale on Sale.  Neiman Marcus is having a sale on their sale.  Summer whites are on my radar.  Here are a few of my favorites.

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For the Weekend Summer Wedding

Sachin & Babi dress.

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To Beat the Heat During the Weekend

French Connection top.

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For the Weekend Evening Out

Jill Jill Stuart Jumpsuit.

3.  Oscar de la Renta.  If you saw my Instagram post of this beautiful necklace, you’re probably wondering why I’m wearing a necklace valued at $990 to the office.  And then there are some who say, “HOW?”  or “WHY would you pay that much for a necklace?”

odlr
Oscar De La Renta necklace.

One of my earlier posts [How to Rent Your Wardrobe] explains HOW.  This is just an example of the many items available under Rent the Runway Unlimited.  The dress in the photo is also from RTRU.

RTRU is a great way to add couture designers to your daily wardrobe without adding to your clutter.  For those who Kon Mari’d their wardrobe, you don’t really want to add any more items to your closet.  Renting is great for those who have minimized their closets, but still want something new to wear every now and again.  For $139/month, you can rent couture designer items (3 out at a time).

[If you click on the Rent The Runway Unlimited link in this post, you can take $30 off your first month.  You can cancel at any time.]




A Better You to Try Out This Weekend

    1. My Most Simple, Most Effective Productivity Technique.  For those who are looking for ways to focus and get things done, take a look at this article.  I’ve been practicing this technique.  It is a challenge, but it will help you to focus on the task at hand so you can get more things done.
    2. 4 Ways to Improve Your Memory.
    3. 12 Habits of Highly Productive People.




How to Save Big During Summer’s Movie Blockbusters

How to Save BIG During Summer's Movie Blockbusters
How to Save BIG During Summer’s Movie Blockbusters

Are you a cinephile?  Oh, I am.  I definitely am.  Summers are always the best time to hit the theaters.  It gets you out of the sweltering heat and into a nice air-conditioned room for a couple of hours.  A lot of times, that’s worth the $16.  But to do that more than a few times a month, movies can become pretty expensive.

Well, someone out there created MoviePass.  For around $30/month (I pay $34.99/month), you can see 1 movie every 24 hours.  For people in NYC, the monthly membership pays for itself in a little over 2 movies a month.

I’ve been using Movie Pass for almost two years now and I love it.  Everyone I know that is a member loves it!  I’ve never had an issue with it.  The way it works is you apply online for the membership, and they send you a MoviePass credit card which you will use to purchase your movies at the theater.  This card can only be activated by checking into a 2D movie on the MoviePass app on your phone.  You’ll have 30 minutes after checking into the movie to purchase the ticket.  The app is what activates the MoviePass credit card for that movie ticket purchase.


The card only works for 2D movies.  There are restrictions that you should familiarize yourself with, so read the fine print to learn how to get the most out of MoviePass.  Follow the rules and you’ll have no problems enjoying this great membership.

If you go to the movies every week, this would be a perfect money-saving option for you.  I try to go to the movies 2-3 times a week.

MoviePass is Only the Beginning of Savings

Make sure you sign up for movie rewards at each of the theaters you go to.  Combined with the MoviePass, you’ll rack up rewards much faster.

For instance, I just recently renewed my AMC Stubs card for $12.  Most people would kind of flinch and turn down paying $12 for a rewards card.  To me, I’ve gotten my money back plus more.

They sent me an email recently saying that if I renewed now, I could get $5 to spend in my account, so I renewed and got $5 to use at concessions.  I’ve also received other special offers via email that rewarded $5 to my account (so it pays to actually look at the emails they send).


Another great thing about AMC Stubs is that once or twice a year, they’ll give away free passes to a pre-screening of a movie.  I try to go every year they do this.  This year, it was Criminal.

Now here’s the trick to the savings with loyalty cards:

In order to get that first $10 rewards from AMC Stubs, you need to spend $100 at AMC.  The cheapest way to do that is by using your MoviePass.

Using MoviePass, that’s $15.99/movie applied to the AMC Stubs card.  In a little over 6 visits, that equates to a $10 reward added to your AMC Stubs account.

In order to get that $10 reward without MoviePass, you’d end up spending $100 out of pocket to get to that $10 reward.  With MoviePass, it’s around $34.99 to get to that $10 reward by seeing 6 movies in one month.  That’s a savings of $65.  That is the cheapest way to get to those rewards without spending any extra money.

But of course, many people like to stop at concessions to get their popcorn or drink.  Just make sure you are earning points with those purchases.  Remember, order the size down, because with AMC Stubs, it is an automatic upgrade to the next size.

Regal Crown Club is FREE to sign up.  They work on a point system.  You get points for movies/concessions which you can later redeem on concessions, free tickets and other exclusive movie items.  They reward you for becoming a frequent guest.  The more you check in during the year, the more points you’ll be able to earn per movie.


So whatever theater you frequent, make sure you sign up for their loyalty card program.  Free movie tickets and concessions are in your future.

The Rewards Don’t Stop There

My friends usually laugh when they see me pulling out all of these reward tickets and cards when we go to the movies.  Last week, I not only got a free ticket to see “The Huntsman,” but I also got a free small popcorn.  I don’t eat movie popcorn, so I gave the reward to my friend who was able to upgrade the small to a large for only $2.  I still got points added to my account for that $2 upgrade.

The thing is…they have no idea that the savings and rewards doesn’t stop there for me.  I get more points to use towards other rewards.

Are you a member of Disney Movie Rewards?  If you see Disney movies, Star Wars movies, Marvel movies, or even buy them…you are missing out on extra points you could be using towards Disney/Star Wars/Marvel items, gift cards (Starbucks, etc.), trip vouchers (Delta Vacations), or even photo processing gift certificates.  It’s completely free to join.  You can use your qualified movie tickets and DVD/Blu-Ray purchases to get points to use towards rewards.


I spend the year racking up as many points as I can get.  In November, I use the points to purchase gifts for children who would not have a Christmas if it weren’t for the generosity of strangers.

Sony Rewards is another rewards program.  You can rack up points in a variety of ways (fast track to getting rewards is to apply for their credit card and earn points that way).  The rewards?  They have everything from DVDs/Blurays on up to TVs, cameras, film equipment, etc.  You can even use the points towards Ultimate Rewards for concert tickets, etc.  It’s free to sign up and to make it easier to register your points…there’s an app.

Extras

For those 3D and 4DX movies that cannot be purchased by using the MoviePass, purchase your tickets through Fandango.  Make sure you’ve signed up for Fandango Rewards.  While some may be lamenting the fees involved with purchasing your tickets through Fandango…hear me out.  You’ll find that purchasing 4DX tickets will sell out very quickly.  [If you have not tried out 4DX, it is a must.  It is worth every single penny.  It is an experience in and of itself.  It’s like you are in the movie.]

I went to see Captain America: Civil War’s first showing, which in NYC, starts at 7PM the day before the actual release nationwide.  That morning, there were only 5 seats available for the 4DX showing.  I grabbed my ticket right then and there through Fandango.  As far as getting points, because it was a Marvel film, Disney Movie Rewards is connected to the Fandango account, as well as the Regal Crown Card, so I don’t have to do anything extra after the movie to make sure I got my credits through the rewards programs.  It was already taken care of.


Now, this is why I mention Fandango Rewards, I’m going to introduce you to an app called Fandango Now.  You can rent, buy and stream movies through the Fandango Now app.  Points from your Fandango VIP Rewards can be used towards a percentage off on your purchase at Fandango Now.  You get points through your purchases at Fandango Now (no points are rewarded through buying tickets at Fandango.com).

Fandango Now is still new to me, so I’ll explain why I am suggesting this app.  I use Cinema Now and Fandango Now to buy and rent movies.  Fandango Now has offered a lower sale price than Cinema Now on rentals.  Last week, the rentals for a variety of titles (many new and not on DVD yet) were $1.99 each.  I took an AmEx gift card I had received and bought up a few of the titles and streamed it on my tablet.

The Good Dinosaur was available on Fandango Now, but not on Cinema Now.  They had gotten the release before Cinema Now, so I got it through them.  That’s where Fandango Now has a little bit of an edge over Cinema Now.  You can view many movies before they hit DVD and before other streaming services get the titles.

Now, here’s the downside…The Good Dinosaur was not in Ultraviolet.  That means that I can’t put the title in my Ultraviolet library to watch in other Ultraviolet friendly apps such as Cinema Now.  That means you can only view the movie on the Fandango Now app.

Keep in mind that Fandango Now is limited in how it can be used.  It will work on your mobile devices, tablets and computers.  For televisions and streaming equipment, it only works on a few select devices.  Make sure to look closely at whether your Smart TV or streaming equipment is supported.  If it isn’t, you’ll only be able to watch your movie/TV show on your devices and computer…unless you get the electronics Fandango Now works with (I’m hoping this changes soon and they get more licensing deals with other platforms like Microsoft to use on Xbox One).

If you stream movies all of the time on your computer and devices, then this snafoo does not apply to you.  When purchasing titles, if you want to add it to your Ultraviolet library, make sure the title says ULTRAVIOLET on it.  If it does not, you will only be able to watch the movie through the app.

For those wanting to save money on a movie night, check between Fandango Now and other streaming movie apps.  Check their sales.  Movie night at home could only cost $1.99 for a family of four on a release that just left the theaters and hasn’t hit DVD yet.  I like that Fandango Now has titles not yet released through other streaming services.  For those cinephiles that can’t wait…Fandango Now may be your better option.

SAVE BIG

So what have you learned?  MOVIEPASS.  This is a membership that pays for itself if you are a cinephile that goes to the movies a lot.  If you’re an occasional movie goer, this isn’t for you.  If you go to the movies 3 or more times a month (or would like to go that many times), then this is the membership for you.

Use your movie reward cards to earn rewards towards concessions, movie tickets and other memorabilia.  For me, I am always earning rewards to use at the concessions every month.  Sometimes it is a free dinner!

Sign up for Disney Movie Rewards and Sony Rewards.  You may think you’re not watching a Disney movie, but if you love Star Wars and Marvel, then you’re actually at a Disney movie!  Earn points to use towards gift cards and merchandise!  

For streaming services, try Fandango Now.  With the Fandango VIP, you can redeem points to earn a percentage off on rentals/movies.  Fandango Now has releases before most streaming services.  So if you want to see a title that just left the theater, they are your best bet.  Also, make sure to check the sales between all of the streaming apps before purchasing.  You may end up finding a better deal!  

I hope you found this informative.  This is how I watch movies.  I try to bleed as many rewards out of that movie ticket as I can.  This is how you can watch movies frugally.  You can keep that $34.99/month (or less, depending on the region where you live) in your entertainment budget and reap the rewards of the various programs out there that can net you free concessions, free movie tickets for friends/family, and exclusive entries into sweepstakes. 

And in the summer heat…this could be your little relief every single day.  Happy Movie Watching!


Kevin Costner is a Smooth “Criminal”

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Criminal Movie Poster
Criminal. Due out in theaters April 15, 2016.

Kevin Costner takes on a very different role in his new film “Criminal.”  Also stars Ryan Reynolds (CIA Agent Bill Pope), Gary Oldman (Quaker Wells, CIA), Tommy Lee Jones (Dr. Franks), Alice Eve (Marta Lynch, CIA), Gal Gadot (Jill Pope, wife of Reynolds’ character Bill Pope).

LONDON – CIA Agent Bill Pope (Reynolds) is on the run.  After picking up a bag filled with $10 million and a US passport, he leaves the pickup point only to discover he’s being followed.  He stashes the bag and tries to get away in a black cab.  He sends a message to his team at the CIA office that he’s surrounded and then sets the GPS coordinates for the driver to take him to a safe place where he’ll meet up with CIA/military enforcement.

Even though he thinks he’s on his way to safety, it doesn’t help that the group that’s following him is an anarchist group and they are excellent hackers.  Hagbardaka Heimbahl (played by Jordi Mollà), the leader of this terrorist group, changes the GPS coordinates so that he’ll arrive at an abandoned slaughterhouse.  By the time he realizes what’s happened, it’s too late for Agent Pope.  He’s captured and tortured to death.

Agent Pope is holding important information everyone wants.  They want to know the whereabouts of The Dutchman (played by Michael Pitt).

The reason why The Dutchman is so important is because he’s created a wormhole into the US military weaponry system.  He controls all of America’s nuclear warheads.  This weapon was designed for Heimbahl’s  anarchist group, but feeling like he had made a mistake, he offered to sell the wormhole back to the US government for $10 million and a US passport.  For The Dutchman, this isn’t about money.  $10 million is the price of his freedom, because he will always be on the run from this anarchist’s group.

Agent Pope was the only person who knew where The Dutchman was located, because he hid him himself.  With his death, the information died with him…or did it?




Dr. Franks (Jones) has developed a technology where information can be transferred from one brain to another.  Pope is clinically dead, but they are able to keep him alive long enough to complete this brain transfer.  There’s only one man that can be a prime candidate for the transfer…a felon named Jericho (Costner) that’s currently in prison.

What makes Jericho so unique is that the front part of his brain is essentially turned off.  He was hit in the head when he was a young boy.  Because of that hit, his brain failed to develop correctly. He has no understanding of right from wrong.  He has no sympathy or emotions.  He just does as he pleases.  As the warden said, how can you punish someone when he does wrong when he has no concept or understanding that what he is doing is wrong.  You can’t teach him that it is wrong.  He does not understand.

(c) 2015 Michelle Kenneth
(c) 2015 Michelle Kenneth

This is what makes him a great candidate for the mind transfer.  They need his frontal lobe to transfer Agent Pope’s mind.

With the successful completion of the surgery, Agent Quaker (Oldman) immediately demands answers from Jericho…where is The Dutchman?  Jericho acts like the surgery was not successful, so he is sent back to prison.

On the way back, he manages to escape (very violently) and finds that he’s no longer in the United States, but in London.  With no money to his name, or any means to survival, he does what he does best.  He takes what he wants, when he wants.  If someone threatens him, he lives by the motto, “You hurt me, I hurt you worse.”

As he continues his crime spree across London, Agent Pope’s mind starts to awaken in his mind.  The memories of Pope’s wife and daughter are so prevalent, he heads to their home.  He knows where all the cameras are, what the access codes and PIN numbers are.  He breaks into the house, duct tapes Jill Pope (Gadot) to the bed in an attempt to rape her and then rob the house.  But Agent Pope starts to really work on him…because he starts to hold back when he realizes what he’s doing is wrong.  He could hurt them and that would not be a good thing.

He takes off with some valuables to pawn so he can have money to buy food.  One item he picked up in his heist was a silver hairbrush. He started to remember how Jill would brush Emma’s hair (the daughter).  The memory made him take back the brush, because it had sentimental meaning to Pope (and to him somehow).

He starts ordering food from the same places Pope went to.  He’d place his order in French, when he knows he doesn’t know any other language but English.  With Pope’s memories becoming more and more prevalent, he sees where a bag with money is stashed, but doesn’t know exactly where the place is.  Seeing that it had something to do with a library, he heads to the nearest library to search.

While at the library, he puts his newfound knowledge to work on the computer.  He hacks into the CIA’s system and locks them out of it, searching for information on Dr. Franks.  He’s the only one that can help him with his splitting headache and this new mind inside of his head.

Dr. Franks is willing to help him with the pain, but warns him that he only has 48 hours before the memories start to fade.  He needs medical attention.  Jericho doesn’t want to go back into any form of custody, so he tries to leave…only to be caught again by the CIA.

The CIA is racing against the clock to find The Dutchman.  The fact that Jericho hasn’t been able to access the memory yet causes big problems.  The Dutchman, upon finding out that Agent Pope has died, is desperate to find some sort of sanctuary away from the anarchist group.  He turns to the Russians to sell the wormhole to them.

Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015. (c) 2015 Michelle Kenneth
Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015. (c) 2015 Michelle Kenneth

Along the way, Heimbahl discovers that Jericho has Pope’s memories.  So now, not only does Jericho have the CIA chasing him down, but the anarchist group, too.

As Pope’s memories start to take over, Jericho begins to change from the sociopath criminal to a normal human being that cares, but will hurt you worse if you try to hurt him.  He means business.

This movie is one of the best action films I’ve seen in a long time.  Costner’s character is true evil, but you start to love this bad guy who turns into a hero.  This is a very different role for Costner, one that he performed in very well.  He definitely brought his A++ game to this role.

The accompanying cast was exquisitely picked.  When Tommy Lee Jones makes his first appearance, my immediate thought was “The Fugitive” where he’s chasing down the criminal, but that role belonged to Gary Oldman.  Jones’s character was more subdued.  He was the good guy that cared, instead of the law enforcement officer that didn’t give a damn.

This was a very well written script that does not disappoint.

This is a must see.  The movie is due out in theaters on April 15, 2016.

[youtube=https://youtu.be/JNfRQ4NBjUU]

{DISCLOSURE: AMC Theatres provided me with a free pass to an early screening of this movie.  All opinions are my own.}

 

 

The Resolutions 2016

Resolutions 2016

Resolutions.

We all make them.  Some try to say they tossed their resolutions out before the ball even dropped.  Then there are those who realize that they need a change.  Very few stick to those resolutions just a day into the new year.  Others go two to three weeks into the new year.  Some see it through for the first three months and then give up.  Then there are those who truly stick to their resolutions because they wanted to see it through until the end.

Over these last couple of years, I’ve tried to make resolutions, but because I was a little stuck in life, I just didn’t care about those resolutions because I wasn’t quite sure what it was about me that I wanted to change.

For those who don’t know, I was faced with my own mortality back in 2013 when I was told I had a tumor in my parathyroid gland (the gland that synthesizes calcium).  The gland and the tumor had to come out.  I was told to prepare for the worst.  The worst was death.  I found out in August 2013.  On October 22, 2013, I went under the knife and woke up a very different person.

I’ve been pushing myself since then to try to get back to some sort of normalcy.  But it just wouldn’t come.  That normalcy is about finding out who you are now that everything in your universe has changed.  This is normal for people who have had a major surgery or are faced with their own mortality (like a heart attack, an accident, cancer, etc.).  Your life before that moment means nothing to you.  It’s who you are after the surgery or life threatening moment that you are trying to define.  Just who are you now and what do you want out of life?

Since the surgery, I’ve had friends so absorbed in their own worlds that the second they can stop and ask what is going on they are shocked to discover just how much I’ve been struggling since the surgery and what I’ve been doing to get back to being normal again.  I can tell you one thing…it has not been easy.

But this year, I feel like it is time to evolve into the person I am trying to become, and in some cases, get back to.

This past year, I’ve been sharing a few of the things I’ve been doing on Instagram and Twitter.  It’s a way to take a glimpse at the path I’m ultimately following.  I’ve found that when you are on the right path, everything works out more magically for you than you can ever imagine.  I’ve made a lot of new friends this past year and have met and spoken to a lot of incredible people this past year.  When I got the invitation to Martha Stewart’s conference, I was shocked.

That was synchronicity. It was the defining moment of 2015 that helped me understand what I was going to do with my life.  What direction my life was heading was all laid before me in that conference.  It was like I could finally connect the dots stretching across the universe before me to create a new destiny.  In other words, I finally saw the person I was to become.

When people ask me what my resolution this year is, I say it’s to work on my Type-A personality.  People laugh like that’s absolutely crazy.  Who wants to work on being Type-A?  Well, I’ve been lingering between Type-A and B and I’m kind of sick and tired of being stuck in the middle there, gravitating between getting shit done and being too lazy to do it.

My friend said to me after Thanksgiving that she had read that the way you can tell if a person is Type-A or Type-B all falls under when they put their Christmas tree up.  Type-A’s have the tree up no later than the day after Thanksgiving.  Type-B’s procrastinate.  They get their trees up no later than Christmas Eve.  My tree was up the day after Thanksgiving.  Waiting until Christmas Eve would have driven me crazy since there’s so much to do between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Now, I’m going nuts because the tree is still up and it’s January 2.  No worries…it’s coming down at some point today.  I only kept it up until now because Matthew Lucifer’s birthday was yesterday and he loves hiding out under the tree.

Getting back to being Type-A, it falls under being a Perfectionist Wannabe.  Martha Stewart is the epitome of the Perfectionist.  After all, when it comes to home stuff, don’t we ask, “What would Martha do?”  One thing I learned at the conference is that we all need to be just as good as Martha, so that one day people will say, “What would ______ do?”

So this year, at the top of my list is to work on being a Type-A for one simple reason…because focusing on being that Type-A is what drives the motivation behind doing all of the things I want to do in life.  I’m tired of dreaming or just trying to figure out what I want to do.  Being a Type-A motivates me to stop thinking about it and just do it already.  Meandering between Type-A and Type-B to me means thinking about it, thinking about doing it, and then coming up with a lot of reasons on why I can’t do it.  When you do that, you find you start to suffer.

So I’m going to take you through each resolution one at a time.

 

FOCUS ON BEING THE TYPE-A PERSONALITY.

{Explained above.}

 

KON MARI (DECLUTTER) THE HELL OUT OF MY LIFE IN ALL ASPECTS: HOME, MIND, BODY, FINANCES, AND LIFE.

Over the next five months, I’ll be sharing how I’m decluttering the various aspects of my life. The reason why I chose to make this a major resolution is because I found that I was buried under so much stuff that each weekend when I told myself I was going to write, I’d find myself spending the entire weekend cleaning and taking care of stuff around the house.  I never got around to doing the things I wanted to do to advance my life because I was too busy taking care of the shit I already had in my life.  In November, I learned about the Japanese art of decluttering and started to apply it to my life.  I feel so much better now that I’ve started to create the right kind of change in my life.  I’m getting rid of things so I don’t have to take care of them anymore.  The less tidying I have to do, the more time I have to do the things I really want to be doing with my life.

I learned over these last couple of months that decluttering doesn’t just happen with your things, but it should also happen with the things you keep in your heart and your mind.  It should happen with your finances.  You have to clean house in every single aspect.

One thing I didn’t expect out of this were the emotions that come out of nowhere.  They’re emotions you never knew you had.  It can be pretty ugly to face, but it gets to the root of the problem with why you stockpile so many things around you…why you shop so much…why you do X, Y and Z until you are drowning in it.  When you face it, it will help you move forward to living with only the things you need in order to be happy.

PRACTICE YOGA REGULARLY.

This year will mark my 40th year of life.  One of the goals I’ve had for myself since I was in my early 20s was to have a yogalicious body.  Well, that Type-B in me has procrastinated until now.  So this is the year I want to finally make that change a permanent change.

DEVELOP CONTENT DAILY FOR PERFECTIONIST WANNABE.  WORK HARD AT MAKING THE SITE SUCCESSFUL.  

One thing I’ve discovered over these last few months is that the thing I wanted to do most was create more content and make this site successful.  But being bogged down with so many other things (like stuff) made me realize it’s time to be that Type-A, declutter the stuff that doesn’t bring me joy, and really bust my ass to do the things I want to do for this site.

Two days in a row of posting in 2016.  You can say I’m off to a good start.

I’ve been promoting my work, researching and putting things together to make sure I turn this site in the direction I want it to go into.

READ 52+ BOOKS THIS YEAR. 12 OF WHICH NEED TO BE A CLASSIC (1 CLASSIC A MONTH).

This is a resolution I make every year.  These last two years, it’s fallen to the wayside.  I decided to really to get things moving this year, especially since I’ve been talking to publishers these last six months.

These past few days, I’ve been following a lot of Instagram accounts for people who love books.  I’ve followed a January Instagram challenge.  I’ve sorted through and picked the books I want to read and review this month.  Photographed it.  Posted it.  More importantly, I’ve spent plenty of time reading, so I know I’ll cross one book off my ‘to be read’ list later today.  That’s one book down by the second day in 2016.  That is huge progress, especially since that’s a book I was supposed to review months ago.

52 books may seem like a lot, but I hope to read over 100.  There were a few Instagram accounts I followed that read over 100 books in 2015!  If they can make it possible, I know I can at least attempt to read over 52 books this year.  I’d feel like I accomplished something HUGE!

I do listen to audio books at the office and while I’m commuting or walking.  I’ve cracked out a few books this past year that way.  Now that I feel passionate about reading again and have started following a community with that same passion, I believe this is definitely a resolution that will be completed by the end of 2016.

[NOTE: If you have a resolution you need help with, follow inspiring accounts on Instagram of people with that same goal in mind.  A lot of times seeing something visually beautiful and stimulating, sharing your progress and joining challenges will help inspire you to complete your goal.]

GO ON A SPENDING DIET (SEE #2).  HAVE FEWER, BUT BETTER THINGS.

I carry a piece of paper in my wallet that says “Have Fewer, But Better Things.”  At first, figuring out what ‘better things’ was netted me a lot of stuff just to pare it down to figure out what was ‘better.’  In the process, I discovered what I truly loved.  I  kept only the things I knew would last for a very, very long time.  These were the things that I enjoyed.  In the process, I started to find my own sense of style.  No more are the things that don’t fit, pinch a little, or I don’t feel absolutely amazing in.  They were donated or sold.

I also have a large entertainment collection consisting of videos and books.  I learned new ways to pare those things down, and go digital.  That meant getting with the times and investing in new technology that would allow me to simplify my life, organize everything, and help me to get rid of things that would only require maintenance and space in my home.  The goal is essentially to have fewer, but better things.

That means…for the next 6 months, while I am saving for another resolution, I’ll be focused on a spending diet so I don’t accumulate while I’m trying to declutter and get things under control.  The focus is fewer, but better things.  I already have the better things, I just need to pare all the other stuff out just to make sure that’s all I have.  I don’t want to add to it anymore.

PHOTOGRAPH MORE.  RELEASE THE WORKS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS (like the Pete Yorn photo collection like the photo that appears above).

So when I met Pete Yorn after one of his concerts in NYC, I mentioned I was a photographer, because I had been photographing him all night in front of the stage.  He asked me where my studio was (I had a good laugh).

I promised him a couple of years ago I’d release my photo collection of him from that night.  Yeah.  It’s been two years.  That Type-A in me from here on out will be getting that collection, as well as all of the others, out this year.  After all, there are some photos out there that is available for sale through stock photography already.  I just have to work on a few more of my relationships with a few other stock photography companies this year.  Trust me, it’s on my TO DO list.

The stuff like this Pete Yorn photo are treated a little differently.  When the collection is released, it’s not available for stock photography.  It will be available in more of the art photography form.  A little pricier than licensing to publish a photo.  His photos are part of the Rockstar collection.  I would like to continue the Rockstar collection this year.  We’ll see who I add to the collection…

FINISH THE NOVEL.  NO EXCUSES.

No more procrastinating.  Just finish it.

LIVE EACH DAY FULLY.  WORK HARD.  PLAY HARD.  ENJOY IT ALL, EVEN THE TOUGH STUFF.

WRITE, WRITE AND WRITE.  THEN WRITE SOME MORE BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO WRITE.

TRY TO EAT MORE FRUITS/VEGETABLES WITH EACH MEAL.  SNEAK IT IN SOMEHOW.

Since the surgery in 2013, I gravitate between being a foodie and a kiddie.  That first year, you couldn’t ask me to get beyond eating what you’d feed your 5 year old child.  Grilled cheese.  Chicken nuggets.  Tater tots.  Spaghetti with meat sauce.  You know, the simple stuff.

I couldn’t enjoy the finer things that first year after the surgery.  Now, I either have a foodie moment, or I eat kid food.  There’s no in between.  When people say they’re on a diet, I look at them like…what’s that?

I don’t eat a lot of food.  I only eat as much as my body is interested in eating (which isn’t much).  What I would like to do is in that little amount of food I consume, that my veggies be more than ketchup with my chicken nuggets.  I would like to enjoy fruits and vegetables again.  This is a 2 year struggle post-op.  I’m hoping this is the year I get beyond the protein and carbs and can really add in fruits/vegetables on a regular basis.

MAKE MORE FRIENDS AND CONTACTS.  GET TO KNOW YOUR FOLLOWERS.

Over the years, I have tried not to get close to people.  I’ve tried to make sure there was that barrier.  You can say there were a few too many stalkers and weirdos in my past that contributed to that decision.

Over these last couple of years, I’ve learned that I can handle the crazies and the fans that call me all the time, text me, message me to the point of…ok…you’re being a little awkward and weird.  I can handle it now.

Why punish everyone because there are a few people that get a little nutso?  There are a lot of great people out there.  I’ve made some great friends over this last year in the various industry events I’ve attended.  I’ve been learning to start being friendlier to complete strangers on social media, and not so guarded.  Kindness gets you so much farther in the world these days.  Besides, being kind and just talking to people (including the homeless) has made me really see life in a whole new perspective.  It’s helped me to finally see humanity in everyone…including the forgotten and ignored.

FIND A SITTER FOR MATTHEW SO YOU CAN GO ON VACATION THIS YEAR.

So the main reason why I have not been able to travel in these last two years was because I was under a medical travel restriction the first year post-op.  After that, I adopted Matthew Lucifer.  He’s my sweet, adorable, can turn into Lucifer himself, Maine Coon cat.  He’s not a normal cat.  He is HIGH MAINTENANCE.

I can leave the other cat home for a week…no problem.  Matthew…I can’t leave alone for one night.  Both cats would be dehydrated if I left them alone a whole day, because Matthew plays with water.  He dumps out his water bowl so he can play in the water.  I have not been able to kick him of this habit.  He literally picks the heavy container up using his entire body weight to dump out the contents.  I fill his water bowl 3 times every morning.  Usually, there’s no water in the bowl when I get home.

Matthew is like a 4-year old child (he turned 4 yesterday).  You can’t leave him alone unattended for too long.  He is very social, but he’s not good with sleepovers because he is known to bite and keep people up all night long.  I had mom brain the whole first year I had him.  He’s been sleeping from 8PM-5:30AM for only 3 months now.  He wakes at 5:30AM, wakes mom up, and doesn’t stop until 6AM when it’s time for breakfast.  If you don’t rise to feed him at 6AM, plan on dealing with Lucifer until you get out of bed.  Full on cat attack while you’re trying to sleep.  Every morning it is like this.

If only I could find him a sitter so I can go to South America…I could really begin to travel again.

BUY YOUR NEW HOME BY THE END OF THE YEAR.

I’ve been tossing between buying/building for the last two years.  This is the year I’ll make that decision.  I am tired of living where I’m living now, being bothered by other people. I just want a place all my own without crazy landlords calling me up about apartments that have nothing to do with me.  Like I care the person next to me is moving out.  Why are you telling me to list their apartment?  It has nothing to do with me.  [Yes, this did happen just last month.]

HIT ALL MONTHLY FINANCIAL GOALS YOU’VE SET FOR YOURSELF. HUSTLE.

If you want to reach your own financial goals, you have to buckle down and get serious about it.  If I want to build my dream house, it requires the right funds.  If I want this site to do what I want it to do, I have to hustle.  If I want my own personal success and dreams to come true, I have to hustle.  The goal this year is to make sure all of those goals are met, especially financially.  It is not cheap to do the things I do.  There is a lot of money vested into the success of this site.  Between events, appearances, the correct wardrobe to go with it, conferences, etc. it costs a lot to go and do these things.

I have a certain audience and they are my peers.  Who are my peers?  The same people who understand that if you want a dream to come true, it takes a lot of your own capital.  You have to really invest in that life in order to make yourself successful.  If you want to be a millionaire, you have to surround yourself with millionaires.  You want to be an artist, you have to surround yourself with other artists.  You want to be a writer, you have to surround yourself with people in the industry.

When you have money and invest in putting yourself among those people that are the influencers and will inspire you to make your dream happen, it’s easier.  Most people think that success comes from luck, busting your ass, etc.  I’ll let you in on a secret…it is a whole lot easier when you have the money that can put you in the same audience as those people you admire and strive to be like.

What I plan to do over the course of this next year requires some serious hustle in order for this site (and my life) to turn into what I envision it to be.

All of the previous resolutions, especially the Type-A resolution, is what will fuel me in making sure that the ultimate goal for 2016 for this site comes to fruition.

…..

So over this year, I’ll be sharing this Type-A hustle journey with you.  There are so many aspects to it, especially with the decluttering over these next 5 months.

If you love to read books, follow my Instagram: diaryofaperfectionistwannabe.  I’ll be joining a lot of the reading challenges and discussing books there, since there is a pretty huge community there discussing it.  I’ll also look for other avenues to discuss books/movies, etc. with everyone if I see there’s an interest.

At any rate, I look forward to talking to everybody.  Feel free to share your resolutions or thoughts below.  Is there anything you’d like to see from the site this year?  Just let me know.  I already have one request in re: Justin Bieber…

Young fans…

Paul Bettany’s Directorial Debut “Shelter”

Anthony Mackie and Jennifer Connelly star in "Shelter," the directorial debut of Paul Bettany. Peter Travers of the New York Film Critics Series. November 9, 2015.
Anthony Mackie and Jennifer Connelly star in “Shelter,” a film written and directed by Paul Bettany. Peter Travers of the New York Film Critics Series preps to interview the cast and director. November 9, 2015.

Paul Bettany (“A Beautiful Mind,” “Priest,” “Legion”) makes his directorial debut with the film “Shelter.”

Bettany was inspired to write the film about a homeless couple in Manhattan, taking inspiration from a couple he used to see everyday near his home in Manhattan.  Every morning, as he was taking the kids to school, he’d come upon this couple.  Every day they exchanged pleasantries, a nice hello, before heading on their separate ways.

After Hurricane Sandy hit, he noticed they were gone.  He never saw them again.  He always wondered what happened to them.

It was that interracial couple living on the streets that inspired him to dive into the homeless culture and create a story that could have been their tale.

His wife, Jennifer Connelly (Oscar Award winning actress for “A Beautiful Mind”), was cast in the lead role.  Anthony Mackie (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “8 Mile,” “The Night Before”) plays opposite of her leading role.  Together, they tell the imagined tale of what could have happened to that couple that Bettany saw outside of his building.

This film dives deeply into the world of homelessness as we follow Tahir, a Nigerian refugee (and former terrorist) with no papers living on the streets.  He is trying to find some sort of redemption for the egregious sins he had committed in his lifetime.

He stumbles upon Hannah, a heroin addict, living on the streets.  She just so happens to be wearing his jacket that was stolen with the rest of his things while he was in lockup.  He follows her around all day before she confronts him for following her.  She gives him back his jacket, but he still refuses to leave her.  He knows why she is on that overpass.

The only reason why anyone goes up there is if they want to kill themselves.  She tries to climb over the fence, but he holds her back.

That is when his redemption begins.  He hopes that if he can save her, then he’ll be able to get into heaven to see his family again.

We follow the two as they get to know each other and eventually fall in love.  We see what they do to try and earn some money on the streets.  We watch as they go through garbage bins looking for food, clothes, boots, and anything they can use to survive living on the streets.  We watch how they survive living with only the things they can carry on their backs.

Bettany wants us to see and experience what the homeless go through on the streets of Manhattan.  We watch as their story takes a turn for the worst when the weather changes.  What they do in order to survive the winter, including the blizzard outside when all of the shelters and housing has turned them away, sheds light on the horrors that occur.  People take advantage of those in their most vulnerable states.  Hannah’s dignity is completely stripped away to nothing in her desperation to find someplace out of the blizzard.  A good Samaritan isn’t such a good Samaritan when he demands another form of payment for his kindness.

A wrench is thrown into the mix when Tahir becomes sick.  He knows he’s dying, so his interest becomes solely on Hannah’s safety.  He starts encouraging her to go home to her family.  They’re looking for her.  She refuses to go without him.

The message in this story of Tahir and Hannah is to take a closer look at the homeless around us and to not judge them for their failures.  Yes, there are some who are con artists pretending to be homeless and make more money than the person giving them that dollar, but then there are the real homeless people out there that we shouldn’t ignore.  Some only need just a chance to get themselves off the streets.  For some cities, they need better resources to help people.

“The film is about judgment, not about homelessness,” Bettany told Peter Travers of the New York Film Critics.  “I didn’t want to make a film about homelessness being bad or drug addiction being bad or how anybody deemed with those two situations are either criminals or victims.  I just wanted to understand the predicament a little bit more.  That’s all I wanted to do.”

“The responses to homelessness are a myriad.  One of them is ignoring, and the people being invisible.  Another one is some downright aggression which has to be borne out of fear.  ‘It couldn’t happen to me because I’m different from you.  You must have done something to bring yourself that low, because it will never happen to me.’  Well, explain to me why there are so many homeless veterans?  Those are men with medals.”

“Last year in New York we passed two milestones.  An apartment sold for $100 million.  Extraordinary, really.  Even more extraordinary though, 60,000 of New York City’s citizens sought shelter in the New York City shelter system every night.  4,000 of them were children.  19,000 of them are women.  Half of New York City’s homeless population are families, and all of that is going on in a town that holds more billionaires than any other city on earth.”

“Over the last ten years, we have lost 32% of public housing.”

Anthony Mackie and Paul Bettany. November 9, 2015.
Anthony Mackie and Paul Bettany. November 9, 2015.

The question of how they got to be that way isn’t because they chose to be that way.  Nobody chooses to be homeless and destitute.  As Anthony Mackie said, we are all just one second away from being homeless ourselves.  Anything can happen in our lives that can cause us to end up on the streets.  For Tahir, he was escaping a past in another country.  He was a refugee.  For Hannah, her husband died.  She didn’t know how to live without him, or how to take care of herself.  She was heartbroken and grieving.  She started taking heroin to numb the pain she was feeling inside.

There are families living on the streets.  People across America are finding it harder and harder to find stable work, especially in places where manufacturing companies closed their doors (see Detroit).  Even in NYC, 98% of the garment manufacturing companies closed shop over these last few years.  Public housing is becoming fewer and fewer as the number on the streets steadily climbs.

The important thing to note here is that people don’t choose to be destitute and poor.  They don’t do this because they want a free handout.  When you tell a bum to “Get a job,” you don’t know how many times he’s tried only to have the door slammed in his face again and again.  They get to the point where they give up.  It’s like the veterans out on the streets.  We sent these kids out to fight our wars, but when they came back, we gave up on them.  They couldn’t get a job because they were considered risky (due to PTSD).

Look at the job market where manufacturing companies that could have employed people back from the war, refugees, or even the homeless…those manufacturing companies were forced to close their doors one shop at a time.  The jobs went overseas.  American companies that want Made in the USA products are being forced to send their manufacturing jobs overseas because those manufacturing companies don’t exist on American soil anymore.  They don’t want to do it, but they have no choice because the manufacturers are gone.

Say you worked in a manufacturing company and they were forced to close their doors.  It was the only place that employed an entire town.  What do you do when everyone in town loses their source of income?  Pick up the family and move? To where?  Where do you take them?  If almost all of those manufacturing companies are closing their doors, and that’s where your skill set is, what are you going to do for money?

This is the reality of the homeless situation across America.  People don’t choose to be destitute.  The circumstances surrounding them forces them into this predicament.  It beats them down until they have no choice but to live on the streets.  If Americans were always picking up the bill for those living on welfare, keep in mind all of those that did not qualify for welfare.  Where are they?  They’re the ones in line for the non-profit food trucks carrying food for the homeless.  They’re the ones at their local churches asking for some clothes to wear.  They’re digging through the trash looking for a pair of shoes.  They’re the ones standing in line at the shelter when the weather gets too cold hoping to get a warm bed so they don’t have to sleep out in the storm.  These people are the forgotten.

“Shelter” doesn’t just dive into that dark place of homelessness with no redemption.  It has its own Hollywood ending.  Elements from Connelly’s work in “Requiem for a Dream” comes to light.  It was one of the first films that gave people the opportunity to see that she was a force to be reckoned with as being a superior actress.  It divorced us from that young girl in “Labyrinth.”  This is what that young girl grew up to be…an outstanding actress that would win her own Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in “A Beautiful Mind” (where she met her husband, Bettany).

Jennifer Connelly. November 9, 2015.
Jennifer Connelly. November 9, 2015.

While people may reminisce of how this film reminds us of her role in Requiem, you can also see how her husband pushes her to a whole different level of humanity in her acting.  There was one scene in the film that appears to be difficult for Bettany to stomach, even as the director.  As a husband, he had difficulties with one particular scene in the film where Hannah is completely degraded, humiliated and all dignity stripped from her.  While he was trying to shed light that this is what happens to women on the streets, it also shows the strength in the woman playing Hannah.  To see your wife be stripped of all dignity in that one moment, you can understand why Bettany has difficulties with the scene.  He tried to protect her all throughout the film.  It was as if he was apologizing to his wife for forcing her to go through that scene for the sake of his film.

But one look at Connelly as she watched her husband try to apologize in his own way for making her do that, you can see that’s not how she saw it.  She was just Hannah in that scene, not Jennifer Connelly.  She was telling Hannah’s story, not Jennifer Connelly’s story.  It’s seeing that in her eyes, you understand why she’s the one with the golden statue.  She earned that Oscar and you can see why she deserved the most coveted prize.  She lives up to that statue’s reputation.  She is an actress and plays the role impeccably.

The good thing about Connelly is that you can expect everyone else in the film to bring their A-game to the set each and every day.  That’s what Mackie brought to the film.  He brought his A-game.

While this film acts one part documentary of the homeless situation, it also shares its own beauty in the cinematography.  You can see the beauty and art of the film from the first few seconds as the introductory credits begin and then as it hits its peak in the rain, when the two actors plunge into the pool of water, and ends with a frosted over window on a train.

Paul Bettany’s directorial debut is perfection from beginning to end.  He pushes the envelope and takes us into places where we dare not tread in order to show the world…THIS IS HAPPENING.  It’s a cry that it’s time we do something.

For those in NYC who want to do something or if you (or someone you know) needs help, Coalition for the Homeless is there to help.  In New York, Supportive Housing Network of NY is also available.

Another resource located in Detroit, a group called The Empowerment Plan is a non-profit that employ the homeless and gives them a living wage to make coats for the homeless.  Those coats are now being distributed all around the world to the homeless.  You can’t buy the coat, but you can help by donating to the group so that they can make more coats for people on the streets.

You can learn more about the film and where you can view the interview at New York Film Critics.  There, the stars and director share their stories on how the story came into being and what playing these roles meant to them.

All in all, this film is about how we place judgment on the homeless.  The purpose is to try to create understanding that will hopefully change the way we see people living on the streets.  Maybe it will create change within ourselves by doing something to help.

Shelter is due to be released in movie theaters on Friday, November 13th.

 

 

An Exclusive With Kim Thúy

Kim Thúy is the poetic author of two incredible books: the award winning book Ru: A Novel and her latest release Mãn. [You can read DoPW’s review here.]

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq0wrDVXS9E]

What makes Kim’s works so breathtaking is how she has mastered the craft of telling a story using very few, yet precise words, to illustrate a moment in the most poetic way.

Kim has graciously agreed to do an interview with DoPW.  If you have yet to read her works, you’ll understand what makes her books so special as you read through her interview.  I sighed throughout the interview from the beauty and truth to her words.  

man1.  Please tell us a little about yourself.
I am 47 years old, female, a bit shy of 5 feet, vacillating between 110 to 115 pounds but I still often think that I am invisible–or could be invisible. I love being on the bench observing others as much as being the one who points out to others the beautiful things existing around us. I spend a lot of time sharing the words I like with friends. Once, I began typing a page I wanted my best friend to read.  By the end of the month, she had the whole book emailed to her one bit at a time. However, some photographs would say that I move constantly, making their work impossible sometimes. My publishers worry I might fall off the plane after travelling to 22 cities of 13 countries in 6 months, crossing 18 time zones more than once. Personally, I think I am very still, almost motionless. The numbers contradict with my state of mind due to the fact that I am very slow–slow thinker, slow writer, slow at understanding jokes! So, my mind never gets to follow my body. It remains at the same spot at all time, which helps me not feeling the pace I guess…
2.  You’ve worn a lot of hats so far in this lifetime.  You’ve been a seamstress, interpreter, lawyer, restaurant owner, as well as an Award-winning author.  In Ru, you mention that this has a lot to do with realizing that you can do everything you’ve ever wanted to do after your aunt Six gave you a tin filled with professions she dreamed for you.  This allowed you to realize that you could dream your own dreams.  What other dreams have you had for yourself?  Of the jobs you’ve had already, which was your favorite? 
I never thought I could be any of things I’ve done. I simply followed the waves as they came to me. Everything was way beyond my ability, professionally and mentally and physically. But, as an immigrant, every job opportunity is considered to be a gift. And my responsibility is to be worthy of the gift. I have not had any dreams since the refugees camp where I did dreamed for constipation. The open pit was hopelessly horrible… After the camp, everything has been bigger than my imagination could imagine. My dreams have all come to me before I knew how to dream them.
 
I have loved all my jobs. Without them, I would not have been able to write the things I have written. Without them, I would not have seen all the complexity of life. Without them, I would not have known how to see the essence of things amidst chaos.
 
 3.  In your books, you share the stories of the immigrants that have left Vietnam and have settled in Quebec.  Each person has their own unique story.  Which stories have had their biggest impact on you?
All of them since together, they tell our collective story. Each one is interesting and mostly, important.
 4.  You have a very unique writing style.  You use very few words to tell a story.  Each choice of words weaves together a beautiful tale that strikes a person deep within their soul and leaves the reader gasping at the beauty of the words.  There is an art in using very few words to tell an entire story.  Were there any writers that inspired you to write this way?
The Lover by Marguerite Duras was my first book in French, or more precisely, the book which exposed me to literature. My uncle read it with me sentence by sentence to help me understand why Duras is exceptional and revolutionary. My mom used the book for my dictées from the first to the last page. And finally, I learned it by heart to absorb the musicality of the French language.
 5.  Be truthful, how long does it take you to write each paragraph?
Each paragraph had 3-4 pages at the beginning. Everyday, I read from the first sentence down. Everyday, I would delete, rewrite, delete and delete some more to take away all excess. And to make everything feels as light as a feather in the wind.
 6.  In Ru, you wrote about living the American Dream.  What does the American Dream mean to you?
It means possibility and freedom and hope.
7.  Mãn is a beautiful tale about the different forms of love, including how love is shown through food.  Can you tell us what kind of memories different types of food brings back to you?
It is mostly the food from street vendors in Saigon I did not have the right to eat due to the lack of hygiene. Even though I have eaten from the street and on the street once I could decide for myself, these types of food still attract me the most because they carry a lot of forbidden desires.
8.  One of the saddest stories in Mãn was the explanation of the dog tags.  “Before he left, he’d gone to see her in uniform and given her the plate to offer her “the life he hadn’t lived” and his dream of her that would be eternally a dream if he didn’t come back to retrieve it” (p. 135).  Then we discover that he did not choose her in the end.  He didn’t come back.  What Maman does ‘out of love’ shows great strength even in the greatest of heartbreaks.  In the stories you have collected throughout your lifetime, how have these individuals coped after letting go of their dream to be with the person they loved?
I simply LOVE your questions, especially this one. The broken heart people I know have a thing in their gaze–nothing identifiable or tangible but there is a certain void and depth at the same time. As well, I find them ‘man’, not serene as such but there is a calm in them, the calm of sadness maybe…or the calm of someone who no longer struggle, who has given up a part of themselves. Like Mia Couto has written, it feels like their organ to dream had been amputated from them…
[This reference is from Mia Couto’s The Tuner of Silences]
9.  There are two things your books did for me: 1) They made me very hungry; and 2) I now have a very strong desire to travel around Vietnam.  If readers wanted to take a literary journey through Vietnam using your books, what are the places/experiences you would want them to see/try above all?
The markets and more markets. Just sit in the middle of any of them, have a fresh sugar cane juice or a coffee and watch the flow of people in their daily lives.
10.  The tale of the Vietnamese immigrant is very humbling.  Many came from being well off to all of a sudden being refugees with nothing, scrounging for food, shelter and warmth.  I know a lot of immigrants come to North America with a dream.  Most times it isn’t for themselves.  It’s for their children.  They dream of their children having a better life than the ones they had.  Growing up, did your parents have dreams of the person they wanted you or your siblings to become?
They wish us choosing medicine or dentistry or pharmacology so that we have a stable salary from a stable profession. They wished a steady life for us. My brothers became a dentist and an actuary. I was a lawyer in one of the top 3 law firms in Canada but got lost somewhere on the way to the office at one point 🙂
11.  You’re a mother, too.  Do you find yourself in their shoes?  Do you also have dreams of your children having a better life than you have?  Or do you feel you are the one setting the example of how there are endless possibilities of the person they can become?
I have no specific dreams for my children. I only ask and help them to always make the most out of everything they do and be the most of what they can be. My second son is autistic. So, I often remind my older one to not waste his privilege to be born with no handicaps.
12.  What dreams for yourself do you still have on your list of things to be in this lifetime?
I have received too much from this life already. I do not need more. Actually, I feel very guilty for all my privileges–great family, good health, kind friends, generous readers and critics, unexpected love and affection…. I do not deserve this much.
 
 13.  What’s upcoming for you?  Are there any new projects coming up?
I am writing my next one. Enjoying every single minute, every single word… Writing is bliss.

 

Kevin Costner’s New Book

Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015.
Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015.

These days, you’ll find a lot of celebrities aspiring to cross one more thing off of their bucket lists.  Bruce Willis, for example, will be starring on Broadway for the first time ever in a theatrical adaptation of Stephen King’s “Misery,” alongside “Roseanne’s” Laurie Metcalfe.  Kevin Costner decided he wanted to finance and release a book of his own alongside Jon Baird (writer) and Rick Ross (illustrator).

Together, they created “The Explorers Guild: Vol. 1.”  This book has been in the works for the last 8 or 9 years.  Baird wrote the book, Costner gave his input and ideals, and Ross illustrated the book.  What they came up with was a novel they hope will be passed down from generation to generation, sitting next to the likes of Jules Verne or Joseph Conrad up on the bookshelf.  Costner’s need to have a perfect product like his previous works is reflected in the beauty of his first book.  This book is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Rick Ross (l) with Jon Baird (r). October 21, 2015.
Rick Ross (l) with Jon Baird (r). October 21, 2015.

The paper is soft and delicate with a beautiful layout.  Each word leads up to the graphic novel story, so you’re not just reading text, you’re also reading a comic strip.  They are interwoven together to tell the story.

While the topic of the evening was on how this unique book came to life, Costner, who is a master storyteller, told a few stories of his own.  He spoke about two films that made a huge impact on him as a child: “How the West Was Won” and “Giant.”  He also spoke about the moment he decided to become an actor, and when he encountered Richard Burton on a plane.




Costner was very inspiring as he spoke about the things in life that inspired him to become the person he became from acting and directing to this new book.

Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015.
Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015.

Here is the audio from the talk at the Modern Museum of Art (MOMA) in NYC on October 21, 2015. The talk becomes very interesting (and inspiring) during the last half when Costner starts telling his life stories.

We’ll have a review of “The Explorers Guild: Vol. 1” soon.




World Premiere of Ryan Reynolds New Film “Mississippi Grind”

reynolds
Ryan Reynolds’ latest film “Mississippi Grind” premiered at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center Tuesday night.

In attendance at the world premiere was Ryan Reynolds and the directors of the film.

“Mississippi Grind” is about a gambler named Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn) from Iowa, who, like most gambling addicts, finds himself in a bit of a pickle.  He’s broke.  He’s losing all of the time.  He owes a lot of people money.

Insert Curtis (played by Reynolds).  He walks into Gerry’s life like a beautiful leprechaun, bestowing incredible luck upon him.

Curtis is a bit of a drifter.  He has no set home.  He just travels all over the place.  Even though he’s a bit of a good luck charm for Gerry, he doesn’t care about winning…mostly because he wins all of the time.  He doesn’t really ever lose.

Curtis is drawn to people like Gerry, guys on self-destruct mode.  He’s tried to help other people like him in the past, people that need help seeing how they can become a better person.  Yet, all through this, you wonder if he is truly trying to save Gerry from himself?  The answer is: who knows.

After being threatened by some loan sharks, Gerry gets this idea that he should go to New Orleans to win enough money to pay off everyone.  He doesn’t have much money, so he asks Curtis for a $500 loan.  The buy-in to the poker tournament in New Orleans is $25,000.  Gerry proposes they stop in a few places on the way to New Orleans to win the money they need.  Curtis fronts him $2,000 and they head on an epic journey from Iowa to New Orleans to win it big.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooca5idaNSk]

mississippi grindHere is the audio from the talk with Reynolds, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (the directors) at The Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Of note, for Reynolds fans, he says that after Deadpool, it will be the last time he plays a superhero character.

Mississippi Grind hits theaters on Friday, September 25th.

Labyrinth of Lies

Movie Poster for "Labyrinth of Lies"
Movie Poster for “Labyrinth of Lies”

There are very few movies I have on my list of films that you have to see at least once in your lifetime.  These are the films that change you or open your mind in such a way that the movie becomes a part of you.  You become a very different person after seeing it.  These are the films that changed the way you saw reality and opened your mind to greater understanding.

Two of the films on that list for me are “American Beauty” and “Life is Beautiful.”  Both, of course, ended up winning an Academy Award for best picture (“Life is Beautiful” won for Best Foreign Film at the Academy).

This year, though, I’ve had the pleasure of viewing a few more films that need to be added to that list.  “Family on Board” (short film), “Winter” and now “Labyrinth of Lies.”  All three films are currently up for Oscar consideration.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jGxe6auuTg]

“Labyrinth of Lies” is a German film directed by Giulio Ricciarelli due to be released in the US in select theaters on September 25, 2015.  What makes this movie so unique is that it is an eye opener for the Baby Boomer generation and beyond of how the world came to know what happened in Auschwitz after World War II.

Many of us came to know the Holocaust as being a part of history.  We knew it happened.  But for the 20 years post WWII, the world did not know what happened at Auschwitz, especially the German people.  It wasn’t just denial, people believed in the propaganda put out by the Nazi party.  They believed the Jews were being relocated to either a new city or a summer camp.  They had no idea that thousands of people were murdered there.

That was what was so mind blowing about the film.  The people of Germany, especially the youth and the 20 somethings, had absolutely no idea what happened.  They hadn’t even heard of Auschwitz.  That is, until a young prosecutor decided to investigate a crazed reporter’s request to look into a teacher who was one of the soldiers at Auschwitz.  No one would take the request in his office, because many believed that it was just the normal course of the war.  People die in wars.  It wasn’t murder.

This leads the young prosecutor on a journey to discover what happened in Auschwitz and why the reporter believed what happened there was murder.  They had already missed the window for any criminal charges (if any) to be filed, that is, except murder.  Murder was the only charge that had no statute of limitations.  If they could find that an actual crime of murder took place, then they could proceed with their investigation.

They found the evidence they needed to begin and the attorney general, Fritz Bauer, allowed them to proceed, choosing this young prosecutor, who knew nothing of what happened at Auschwitz, to lead the investigation.  What unfolded for them was a labyrinth.  A labyrinth of lies, deceit, political barriers, international barriers, corruption, and the idea that everything is okay and nothing is wrong.

After the war, many of the Nazis returned to a civilized life. They were kind, normal people just like everyone else.  They did not believe they did anything wrong in Auschwitz, or at the least, they were protected by the Nazi Party members who were still in the bureaucracy.  To many of them, they were just doing their jobs.  It was a war.  But as the story unfolds, the question of whether this was the normal course of war or actual murder is answered.

One of the most powerful moments in this movie is when they interview the witnesses.  There are no words spoken.  It’s just music.  You see the shock and emotional expressions on their faces.  You have no idea what is being said, but for the audience, you can imagine what is being said.  This is the part of the movie where every story you’ve ever heard in your lifetime of what happened in Auschwitz comes forward.  It is as if each of these witnesses are telling the stories you read or heard about.  From the mass killings to the experiments to the shoes that are now sitting in the Holocaust Museum…these are the images you see flashing in your mind.  It all of a sudden becomes so real, that you can’t help but be on the verge of tears.

Yet, there are no words being said.  The music is what directs that story in your mind…and it is a powerful, yet horrible story.

This film is not another movie about the Holocaust.  It’s a movie about how justice was brought for the victims for the very first time after the war.  It wasn’t just about finding the murderers, it was about telling the victims’ stories instead of silencing them.  The difference between what happened in these trials vs. the Nuremberg trials is that Nuremberg was about the victors dictating to the losers after the war what was going to happen.  It wasn’t about bringing justice to the victims of the Holocaust.  They didn’t even know about the Holocaust during the Nuremberg trials.  It was the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials that brought the Holocaust to light and brought justice to its victims.  It was also the first time that Germany was holding themselves accountable to the shame they brought to Germany and humanity.

That is one of the most important characteristics of this film.  The director doesn’t want you to see or feel anything but the story.  He doesn’t want you to pick out the elements of the cinematography or the music, etc.  He wants the story to speak to you.  He wants every single element in the process of the movie to come together to create the story.  If you pick out any single element that goes beyond the story being told, it is as if he didn’t do his job correctly.  This was purely about the story.

Ricciarelli was at the private screening at The Roxy Hotel last night and spoke about his film.  Here’s the audio from the Q&A session with Hudson Union Society.

Labyrinth of Lies Q&A

One of the things I kept thinking about after this film is how our world is still like post-WWII Germany.  We become blind to the atrocities that we are still doing in the world.  Even in America, we target a certain group of people and call them the enemy.  The way this information is disseminated on why they should be our enemy is the same kind of propaganda the Nazis used during the war.  Propaganda is a way of keeping people blind to the reality of what is truly happening.

If anything, this movie is not just a historical drama, it is a way of reminding ourselves not to repeat the past.  Don’t be blind to what is happening in the world.  A government proclaiming any group of people (like Muslims, Arabs or Mexicans) as our enemy should be a red flag to the world.  No one should be persecuted for what they believe in, where they were born or the parents they were born to.  Everyone is human and they have a right to live as human beings.  Our willingness to remain blind silences those who have become the victims.  Their stories need to be heard.