Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: Creed!

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Denise

CREED one sheetGood news!  I’ve got more birthday Free Pass Thursday screening passes!  Not exactly great news for folks who work?  This screening starts at 6:30pm.  Still with me?  Groovy — because this screening is Creed! Y’all know you cried when Apollo Creed died in Rocky 4 [30 YEAR OLD SPOILER ALERT], so come see what happened to his little boy. Who, of course, is all grown up and boxing hisownself. And guess who his trainer is?  [SPOILER ALERT: check out the poster above….] Synopsis!

Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) never knew his famous father, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, who died before he was born.  Still, there’s no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed’s legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa.  Once in the City of Brotherly Love, Adonis tracks Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) down and asks him to be his trainer.  Despite his insistence that he is out of the fight game for good, Rocky sees in Adonis the strength and determination he had known in Apollo—the fierce rival who became his closest friend.  Agreeing to take him on, Rocky trains the young fighter, even as the former champ is battling an opponent more deadly than any he faced in the ring.  With Rocky in his corner, it isn’t long before Adonis gets his own shot at the title…but can he develop not only the drive but also the heart of a true fighter, in time to get into the ring?

Passes?  Want ’em?  Yes you do, because you’re smart and awesome.  Right this way! Continue reading →

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: Spotlight!

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Denise

spotlight onesheetHi there everybody! And welcome to my birthday Awards Season Screening Passes Onslaught Free Pass Thursday!  I’ve got passes for the Baltimore screening of Spotlight, what looks like a riveting film about the investigation into child abuse within the Catholic Church.  Spotlight has a slew of amazing actors, including Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton…and why am I typing this when the PR Posse has done an amazing job summing this up?  Synopsis!

Starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Brian d’Arcy James and Stanley Tucci, SPOTLIGHT tells the riveting true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that would rock the city and cause a crisis in one of the world’s oldest and most trusted institutions. When the newspaper’s tenacious “Spotlight” team of reporters delve into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston’s religious, legal, and government establishment, touching off a wave of revelations around the world. Directed by Academy Award-nominee Tom McCarthy, SPOTLIGHT is a tense investigative thriller, tracing the steps to one of the biggest crime stories in modern times.

Ready for passes?  Of course you are — follow me!

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Denise

mockingjay part 2 onesheetIt’s here.  Time to find out how it all ends for Katniss, Peta, Gale, Effie and the gang.  Well, for those of you who haven’t read the books or the Wiki, that is.  Still, ready to suit up with Katniss and kick some serious President Snow tuchas?  I’ve got passes, so let’s do this.  Synopsis!

The blockbuster Hunger Games franchise has taken audiences by storm around the world, grossing more than $2.2 billion at the global box office. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 now brings the franchise to its powerful final chapter in which Katniss Everdeen [Jennifer Lawrence] realizes the stakes are no longer just for survival – they are for the future. With the nation of Panem in a full scale war, Katniss confronts President Snow [Donald Sutherland] in the final showdown. Teamed with a group of her closest friends – including Gale [Liam Hemsworth], Finnick [Sam Claflin] and Peeta [Josh Hutcherson] – Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to liberate the citizens of Panem, and stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her. The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.

Ready to find out how to score some passes?  Right this way.  And may the odds be ever in your favor…

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: My All American!

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Denise

my all americanHuddle up, y’all! Time for some passes for the Baltimore area screening of My All American…well, it’s actually two treats in one.  How?  Because this screening is in Columbia, so it works for some DC area folks too!  What’s this movie about about?  Glad you asked.  Synopsis!

What  Freddie Steinmark  (Finn  Wittrock)  wants  most  in  the  world  is  to  play  football. Deemed  too  small  by  the  usual  athletic  standards,  his  father  trains  him  hard,  and Freddie brings a fight to the game that ultimately gets him noticed — by none other than legendary  University  of  Texas  coach  Darrell  Royal  (Aaron  Eckhart).  Awarded  a scholarship and a chance to play for the Longhorns, Freddie sets off to Austin with his loving  high  school  sweetheart  Linda  (Sarah  Bolger),  determined  to  make  the  team. Alongside  his  old  teammate  Bobby  Mitchell  (Rett  Terrell)  and  new  pal  James  Street (Juston Street), Freddie is put through the paces of a grueling practice schedule, but the boys’  camaraderie  off  the  field  translates into  solid  playing  on  it,  and  they  rise  up  the depth charts, giving the Longhorns a real chance to turn the team around. But just when they’re reveling in the success of the season, Freddie suffers an injury that leads to a shocking  diagnosis  and  the  biggest  challenge  he  will  ever face.  From  the  writer  of HOOSIERS and RUDY, MY ALL AMERICAN tells the true story of a boy who became a hero and what it truly means to have the heart of a champion.

Passes?  Right this way…

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TrailerWatch: Will Smith goes to war in new “Concussion” trailer

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Denise

concussion onesheet

I’ve already shared info on Concussion, a film about the forensic pathologist who found brain damage — most specifically  CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) — in NFL players.  But here’s what I like to think of as the For Your Consideration trailer.  And it doesn’t disappoint.  There’s several bits that were in the original trailer, but this re-cut jettisons the 411 aspect and goes straight for the feels.  Synopsis!

Will Smith stars in Concussion, a dramatic thriller based on the incredible true David vs. Goliath story of American immigrant Dr. Bennet Omalu, the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in a pro player and fought for the truth to be known. Omalu’s emotional quest puts him at dangerous odds with one of the most powerful institutions in the world.

To prep for this docudrama, I recommend reading “Game Brain”, by Jeanne Marie Laskas, which was published in GQ, and League of Denial, either the Frontline piece and/or nonfiction book by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru.

Concussion hits theaters in December.

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Review in a Flash: Spectre

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Denise
Back to the usual RiaF format for this quickie.  Why?  Why not? Onward, to Spectre!

Spectre Onesheet sept 4“I always knew death would wear a familiar face… but not yours.”

Nutshell: Wham, bam, thank you…James.  A one-explosion-after-the-other film that will have you dazzled.  But perhaps not on the edge of your seat.  Blame that on a formulaic plot and one too many climaxes as the film winds up.  Come for the FX and the dazzling, comfortable way Daniel Craig now slips into 007.  But don’t expect more than the usual spy film cliches.  Grade: B-

Before: Sam Smith is singing the opening number!  There’s a Day of the Dead sequence!  The studio sure knows how to amp up the excitement for this new installment of the Bond franchise.  I did enjoy Casino Royale and Skyfall.  Alrighty.  I’m all in.

During: Now that’s the way to start off a bond film!  Though the opening credits scene is hentai-wonderland — tentacles!  All is tentacles! — Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall” is lush, gorgeous and everything you’d want in a Bond opening number.  I’ma need that single.
Continue reading →

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Review in a Flash: Suffragette

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Denise
Sometimes things come up…or in this case many things do, but enough about my food poisoning.  Onward, to my thoughts on Suffragette!

suffragette“Deeds, not words.”

Gotta admit the biggest draw for me when it came to catching Suffragette was the costuming. Many of the items the actors wear in this film are actual period pieces. As in really made in the early 1900s. Amazing, right?

But folks looking for an in-depth look at the UK’s suffragette movement may want to dig up a documentary instead.  Suffragette is exactly what the title says; a look at one woman’s involvement with the movement, and how that movement affected her life as the government, neighbors and her own family seek to keep her muzzled.

Carey Mulligan puts in a tour-de-force performance here, showing the depth of Maud Watts, from Maud’s hard life as a washerwoman, to her love of her son and how she gets inadvertently pulled into the movement.  Banding together with:
* Edith Ellyn (Helena Bonham-Carter, playing an amalgam of the more violent women in the movement, based in part on real-life suffragette Edith Margaret Garrud),
* Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep, in a role much briefer than her appearance on the movie poster woudl suggest)
* Emily Davison (Natalie Press)
…and others, Maud shifts from steadfast follower of the status quo to die-hard suffragette.  It’s a riveting performance, and one where Mulligan is able to show a range of emotion and depth of feeling that are the trademarks of her work.

Production design is fantastic, and paints a more realistic picture of life as a lower/middle class woman in the early 20th Century.  All my love to period dramas — Downton Abbey FTW! — but Suffragette gets down a dirty.  Shirtwaists get wrinkled, laundries are fearful places full of danger, and the streets look slick with more than just rain.

I feel like a very bad lady-woman; before this film I knew none of these names.  And I would have liked to have seen more — or anything, honestly — about the women of color who were in the movement.  But there’s only so much time in a film that revolves around one life in the movement.

With Malala Yousafzai and others working for women’s rights worldwide, and the Black Lives Matter movement, now is a perfect time to look at another time in history where people had to stand up for their basic rights. Suffragette is not a perfect look at that movement, nor does it dive into topics beyond the scope of its lead character.  But with its earnestness and powerful message, it’s a brilliant place to start.  Grade: B

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TrailerWatch: “Warcraft” teaser is 16 seconds of awesome

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Denise

warcraft the beginningSure, you could wait for Friday to check out the full trailer for Warcraft.  But why would you?  Here’s 16 seconds of slam-bang coolness, including the White Wolf I’ve always thought was amazing.  (OMG Nymeria; you can’t ask why someone’s white…)  Synopsis!

From Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures comes Warcraft, an epic adventure of world-colliding conflict based on Blizzard Entertainment’s global phenomenon.

The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: Orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people and their home.

So begins a spectacular saga of power and sacrifice in which war has many faces, and everyone fights for something.

Peep the teaser — and then check out the trailer Friday.  Sweeeeet!

Warcraft hits theaters — probably with swords, battleaxes and other pointy objects — June 10th, 2016.

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: The 33!

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Denise

The 33 one sheet SMRemember hanging on the TV, anxiously awaiting the rescue of those Chilean miners back in 2010?  Man, I was riveted.  And their successful rescue (5-year-old spoiler alert) was a feel-good story that was tailor-made for the ol’ docudrama treatment.  So…The 33!  Y’all know this will be Awards Season Onslaught fodder.  Y’all know you wanna see this.  Synopsis!

In 2010, the eyes of the world turned to Chile, where 33 miners had been buried alive by the collapse of a gold and copper mine.  Over the next 69 days, an international team worked tirelessly in a desperate attempt to rescue the trapped men as their families and friends, as well as millions of people they had never even met, waited anxiously for any sign of hope.  But 200 stories beneath the surface, provisions—and time—were quickly running out.  A story of resilience, personal transformation and triumph of the human spirit, the film takes us to the Earth’s darkest depths, exploring the private lives and psyches of the men trapped in the mine, and depicting the courage of those who refused to give up. Based on the gripping, real-life survival story—and filmed with the cooperation of the real-life miners, their families and their rescuers—“The 33” shows the never-before-seen personal journeys and miraculous events that unfolded, above and below ground, which became nothing less than a global phenomenon.

The cast is amazing — Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Gabriel Byrne, to name a few — and the trailer is excellent.  One minute into the trailer, Great Big World’s “Say Something” wrecks me each time I watch it.  WRECKS ME. So, passes anyone?  Right this way… Continue reading →

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TrailerWatch: “Anomalisa” – humanity through claymation

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Denise

anomalisa onesheetMoving.  Enthralling.  Breathtaking.  Claymation…?  With Anomalisa, it looks entirely possible that a claymation film can be not only entertaining, but an amazing cinematic experience.  I love Kaufman’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Anomalisa looks like another deep, entertaining look at what drives us, and makes us human.

Synopsis!

Michael Stone, husband, father and respected author of “How May I Help You Help Them?” is a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he’s scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, he checks into the Fregoli Hotel. There, he is amazed to discover a possible escape from his desperation in the form of an unassuming Akron baked goods sales rep, Lisa, who may or may not be the love of his life. A beautifully tender and absurdly humorous dreamscape, from the brilliant minds of Charlie Kaufman (SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK) and Duke Johnson (“Community” episode, Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas), this stop-motion animation wonder features the vocal cast of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan and David Thewlis and a stirring strings-based score by Carter Burwell. The darkly comedic and surreal stop-motion journey of a man’s long night of the soul, ANOMALISA confirms Charlie Kaufman’s place amongst the most important of American filmmakers, and announces Duke Johnson as a major creative force.

Check out the trailer below. This looks like one of the movies folks will be talking about come awards time; it’s already sporting a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  What do you think?

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