June Pick: Love & Friendship

Love & Friendship, the movie version of an unfinished Jane Austen novel titled Lady Susan, is getting rave reviews and sounds like something many Movie Club members would enjoy. So that's our pick for our June outing.

We'll be seeing it at the Varsity Cinema (ManuLife Centre, Bloor & Bay) on Tuesday, June 7. Screen time is 2:40, so let's meet near the box office about 20 minutes earlier.


SYNOPSIS:  
Set in the opulent drawing rooms of eighteenth-century English society, Love & Friendship focuses on the machinations of a beautiful widow, Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale), who, while waiting for social chatter about a personal indiscretion to pass, takes up temporary residence at her in-laws' estate. While there, the intelligent, flirtatious, and amusingly egotistical Lady Vernon is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter Frederica -- and herself too, naturally. She enlists the assistance of her old friend Alicia (Chloë Sevigny), but two particularly handsome suitors (Xavier Samuel and Tom Bennett) complicate her orchestrations.


TRAILER:  http://www.cinemaclock.com/ont/toronto/movies/love-friendship-2016/videos/204639


REVIEW: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/love-friendship-20160512


 

Our May Pick: Hello, My Name is Doris

Again this month, I’ve chosen something that’s quite different from our usual fare of serious, issue-oriented films. It is: Hello, My Name is Doris, starring Sally Field.

Actually, you could say that it is issue-oriented because it’s a coming-of-age story for seniors. Watch the trailer (below) and you’ll see what this means. But the chief reason I chose Doris is that Sally Field decided to accept the starring role and I always trust her choices of roles and films. Plus, she brought along someone I’ve been missing from small and large screens: terrific Tyne Daly, whose best work, in my opinion, was on Cagney & Lacey, a TV breakthrough series about the partnership of a pair of female NYC police detectives.

Movie Club members will see Doris at the Varsity Cinema (ManuLife Centre, Bay & Bloor) on Tuesday, May 3, for the 1:40 screening. As always, let’s try to meet near the box office about 20 minutes earlier. If you don’t see me there, just go in and watch the film. Those of us who wish to nosh and natter afterwards will gather by the escalators and then descend to Scaccia. If you don’t see me/us there, just go down two escalator levels to the restaurant.

Here are the deets about Doris:

SYNOPSIS: 

After a lifetime of being overlooked and ignored, a woman of a certain age finds her world turned upside down by a handsome new co-worker and a self-help seminar that inspires her to take a chance on love in a witty and compassionate late-life coming-of-age-story.

TRAILER:

http://www.hellomynameisdorismovie.com/#trailer

REVIEW:

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/hello-my-name-is-doris-20160311

INTERVIEW WITH SALLY FIELD:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/sally-field-on-her-new-dramedy-doris-and-finding-good-roles-for-women-over-50/article29717092/

April Pick: Eye in the Sky

Dame Helen Mirren in a camo suit in command of a war room? I'm in! On a less frivolous note, our April pick - Eye in the Sky - is an action film (a rarity for the Movie Club), but what it really is is a serious debate about the moral issues involved in the relatively recent arrival of drones as weapons of war. A very timely topic.

Our Helen is joined by another of our favourites: Alan Rickman, who died in January. This was his final movie performance and his powerful presence and inimitable speaking style will be sorely missed on our screens.

DETAILS

Synopsis: London-based military intelligence officer Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) is remotely commanding a top secret drone operation to capture a group of dangerous terrorists at their safe-house in Nairobi, Kenya. The mission suddenly escalates from a capture to a kill operation when Powell realizes the terrorists are about to embark on a deadly suicide mission. American drone pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) is poised to destroy the safe-house when a nine-year-old-girl enters the kill zone just outside the walls of the house. With unforeseen collateral damage now entering the equation, the impossible decision of when to strike gets passed up the kill chain of politicians and lawyers as the seconds tick down.

Trailer: http://www.cinemaclock.com/ont/toronto/movies/eye-in-the-sky-2015/videos/203609

Interview with Helen Mirren:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/movies/review-eye-in-the-sky-drone-precision-vs-human-failings.html?emc=edit_fm_20160311&nl=movies&nlid=58112100&_r=0

March Pick: Where to Invade Next

 

Fans of Michael Moore's unique point of view as expressed in his documentaries, including Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 911, Sicko and Capitalism: A Love Story won't want to miss his latest: Where to Invade Next.

Movie Club members will be seeing the film at the Varsity Cinema (Manulife Centre, Bloor & Bay) on Tuesday, March 1. Screen time is 1:20.

SYNOPSIS: To study what can be learned from other countries about more equitable social and commercial policies and practices, compared with prevailing conditions in the United States, Michael Moore playfully "invades" Italy, France, Norway, Germany, Tunisia and elsewhere. He comes away with a startling conclusion - which will NOT be revealed here. In his trademark style, which combines humour with gut-wrenching realities, what Moore reveals is both inspirational and envy-inducing.

TRAILER:  http://www.tribute.ca/trailers/where-to-invade-next/20744/


TORONTO STAR REVIEW: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2016/02/25/where-to-invade-next-is-an-invasion-of-great-ideas-review.html

February Pick: The Lady in the Van

Maggie Smith. Those two words suffice as a green light to most of our members. If she's starring in a movie, we want to see it. Right? 

Well, we're in luck because The Lady in the Van arrived in time for this month's outing, which will be on Tuesday, February 9, at the Varsity Cinema (ManuLife Centre, Bloor & Bay). Screen time is 2:25, so let's try to meet near the box office about 20 minutes earlier. As always, if you don't see me or other club members, just go in and we'll meet up near the escalators after the film. Then those who wish to have a bite and a natter will go down to our usual spot, Scaccia.

The Lady in the Van is based on the true-life relationship of an eccentric woman down on her luck and prolific writer/playwright Alan Bennett, who rescued her from homelessness by allowing her to park her van the driveway of his London home. The arrangement was meant to be temporary, but stretched to 15 years and gave Bennett a book, a play and now a movie.

Those are the bare bones of the story, but NOW Magazine's Susan G. Cole, who gave the movie a good review, made these intriguing remarks: "This is a piece as much about a writer's ethics as it is about a high-born woman reduced to living in a van... Along the way, the film looks at ambivalence, timidity and a writer so intent on avoiding an emotional life that he has only his alter ego as a partner." 

TRAILER: http://www.cinemaclock.com/ont/toronto/movies/the-lady-in-the-van-2015/videos/200817

 

January Outing: The Big Short

We'll be seeing The Big Short on January 12 at the Yonge/Dundas Cineplex. Screen time is 1:00 p.m., so let's meet about 20 minutes earlier near the upstairs box office. Afterwards, we'll gather in the downstairs lobby and walk over to Fran's (Victoria & Shuter) for a nosh.

SYNOPSIS:Based on the true story and best-selling book by Michael Lewis, the film is about four outsiders who saw what the big banks, media and government refused to - the global collapse of the economy - and had an idea. Their bold investment leads them into the dark underbelly of modern banking where they must question everyone and everything.


STARS: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Marisa Tomei, Melissa Leo

 

TRAILER: http://www.cinemaclock.com/ont/toronto/movies/the-big-short-2015/videos/202806 

 

REVIEW: http://entertainment.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/big-short-hilarious-fun-collateralized-debt-obligations 

December Outing: Trumbo

For our December outing on Tuesday, December 1, we'll be seeing Trumbo, which promises to be a real treat for both true movie buffs and all of us who believe that civil liberties and free speech must be protected regardless of where or when we live. Dalton Trumbo was one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood in the late 30s and early 40s. Then, in 1947, he was caught in the snare of HUAC, the House Un-American Affairs Committee of the U.S. Congress . He was imprisoned and blacklisted, preventing him from being hired by any filmmakers. But the Oscar-winning Trumbo refused to go down without a fight.

We'll see the film at the Varsity Cinema (Manulife Centre, Bloor & Bay). Screen time is 1:20 p.m., so let's meet near the box office at about 1:00 p.m. If you don't see any Movie Club members, just go in and choose any seat and we'll meet up after the film.

As always, those who wish to chat about the movie over a bite or a drink will go downstairs to Scaccia. Please notify me by noon on Monday, November 30, if you plan to go to the restaurant so I can make a reservation for the correct number of people.




SYNOPSIS:  In 1947, Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was Hollywood's top screenwriter until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs. TRUMBO (directed by Jay Roach) recounts how Dalton used words and wit to win two Academy Awards and expose the absurdity and injustice under the blacklist, which entangled everyone from gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) to John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger.


TRAILER:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0dZ_2ICpJE


REVIEWS:  http://www.metacritic.com/movie/trumbo-2015


MORE ON DALTON TRUMBO:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Trumbo