We haven't gone to many documentaries over the years, but Mike Wallace is Here promises to interest not only news junkies (like me), but also popular culture history buffs.
It's a Hot Docs screening, so we'll see it at the Bloor Theatre (on Bloor St. about a block east of Bathurst on the north side of the street) on Tuesday, August 13, for the 11:30 screening. As always, early arrivals may choose between mingling with other members for a bit, or going into the auditorium on their own. Afterwards, those who wish to nosh & natter will gather in the lobby and then head out to a nearby restaurant.
SYNOPSIS: For over half a century, "60 Minutes" fearsome newsman Mike Wallace went head-to-head with the world's most influential figures. Relying exclusively on archival footage, the film interrogates the interrogator, tracking Mike's storied career and troubled personal life while unpacking how broadcast journalism evolved to today's precarious tipping point.
TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDSq2fF9flk
REVIEWS: https://nowtoronto.com/movies/reviews/review-mike-wallace-is-here-avi-belkin/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/a-new-documentary-about-mike-wallace-reminds-us-of-journalisms-power--and-responsibility/2019/07/30/c3160408-b09c-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html?noredirect=on
Our June pick is: All is True, directed by Kenneth Branaugh, who also stars as William Shakespeare during the last three years of his life; Judi Dench as his long-suffering wife, Anne Hathaway; and Ian McLellan as the as Anne Hathaway. Ian McKellen as the pivotal Earl of Southampton.
This elegiac film is another of actor/director Branaugh's forays into the Shakespearean canon. They include: Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Love’s Labours Lost, Othello and As You Like It.
SYNOPSIS: The year is 1613, and Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground. Devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family. Haunted by the death of his only son, Hamnet, he struggles to mend the broken relationship with his wife and daughters. In so doing, he is ruthlessly forced to examine his own failings as a husband and father.
TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I5cKmiONDI
REVIEW: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/21/all-is-true-review-ben-elton-kenneth-branagh-shakespeare
We'll start off 2019 with an inspiring film about the early career of one of the most inspirational women of our time: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: On the Basis of Sex.
The title refers to the legal battle for reproductive choice that culminated in the passage of Roe v. Wade on January 22,1973. It happened to be my 28th birthday and despite not being American, I celebrated joyously with my feminist friends. We profoundly believed that the centuries-long crusade had finally be won in the U.S. It never even crossed our minds that, decades later, the anti-choice faction would try hard to repeal the law. It did, which makes the issues explored in On the Basis of Sex very timely all over again.
DATE & TIME: The movie opens on Christmas Day but Movie Club members will see it on Tuesday, January 8. It's too early at this writing to name the cinema and screen time, but I'll email you these details as soon as they're available.
SYNOPSIS: The film tells an inspiring and spirited true story that follows young lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg (played by Felicity Jones) as she teams with her husband Marty (played by Armie Hammer) to bring a groundbreaking case before the U.S. Court of Appeals and overturn centuries of gender discrimination.
TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28dHbIR_NB4
REVIEW: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/basis-sex-review-1159722
As movie lovers, you likely know that many of the films chosen for the People's Choice Award at TIFF go on to win the Oscar for best picture. Our December choice, Green Book, took the prize at the 2018 Festival and judging by the trailer, it may well join the Oscar list, which includes: Chariots of Fire, The Big Chill, Places in the Heart, Shine, Life is Beautiful, Slumdog Millionaire, The King's Speech, Silver Linings Playbook, Room, La La Land, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and others.
Green Book arrives in Toronto on Nov. 20, but I believe it's the best choice for our December outing - which will be at the Yonge/Dundas Cineplex on Tuesday, Dec. 4. Screen time is 1:30 but those who wish to will gather near the box office about 20 minutes earlier.
SYNOPSIS: Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a world-class African-American pianist is about to embark on a concert tour in the Deep South in 1962. Anticipating trouble from racists, he hires a combo driver and bodyguard, Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a tough-talking bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx. Despite their differences, the two men soon develop an unexpected bond while confronting racism and danger in an era of segregation.
TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYKjhaAkNbo
TRUE STORY on which Green Book is based: http://time.com/5453443/true-story-behind-green-book-movie/
REVIEW:
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/green-book-2018
Our November pick will be Can You Ever Forgive Me? When I saw the trailer a few months ago, I thought the film would be ideal for us and hoped it would arrive in Toronto within our time frame. What's it about? In a dramatic departure from her usual comedic roles, Melissa McCarthy stars in the fact-based tale about a celebrity writer who takes desperate measures when her career wanes.
If luck is with us, we'll be seeing it at the Varsity Cineplex on Sunday, November 4, for the first matinee. There's a chance that the timing will change between now and then, and I'll notify club members as soon as the details are announced.
SYNOPSIS: Celebrity biographer Lee Israel makes her living profiling the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen. When Lee is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception, abetted by her loyal friend Jack (played by Richard E. Grant).
TRAILER: https://www.google.ca/search?rlz=1C1KMZB_enCA549CA549&ei=7gzGW6PUO6XI5gKG6K2QBw&q=trailer+without+ads+can+you+ever+forgive+me&oq=trailer+without+ads+can+you+ever+forgive+me&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i22i29i30k1.8203.11475.0.12035.24.24.0.0.0.0.142.2328.9j13.22.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..2.14.1463...33i160k1j33i21k1j33i10k1.0.99ZTy69sGEM
REVIEW: www.rogerebert.com/reviews/can-you-ever-forgive-me-2018
Our October film choice is Colette, a biopic about the famous 19th century French novelist, which had a sensational debut at TIFF last month. The trailer makes the film seem delicious. Keira Knightly in the starring role is a funny, defiant whirlwind, while Dominic West, playing the husband who masqueraded as the author of her books, comes off as a convincingly devious villain.
We'll be seeing Colette at the Varsity Cineplex (Manulife Centre, Bloor & Bay) on Sunday, October 7 for the first matinee, exact time TBA. Yes, Sunday, not our usual Tuesday.
What gives? When I polled Movie Club members about whether Sunday would work for them when no other cinema is offering matinees of a movie that's ideal for us, the result was clearly Yes. But when we do have the option of seeing films on Tuesdays, that's what we'll do. And as soon as the Varsity resumes weekday matinees - currently suspended because of loud construction noise - we'll go back to Tuesdays-only.
SYNOPSIS: After marrying a successful Parisian writer known commonly as "Willy" (Dominic West), Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley) is transplanted from her childhood home in rural France to the intellectual and artistic splendour of Paris. Soon after, Willy convinces Colette to ghost-write for him. She pens a semi-autobiographical novel about a witty and brazen country girl named Claudine, sparking a bestseller and a cultural sensation. After its success, Colette and Willy become the talk of Paris and their adventures inspire additional Claudine novels. Colette's fight over creative ownership and gender roles drives her to overcome societal constraints, revolutionizing literature, fashion and sexual expression.
TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aVGl-UC19I
REVIEWS: https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/keira-knightley-collette-movie-review-726911/ and http://collider.com/colette-movie-review/
Judging by its trailer, The Bookshop is absolutely my personal cuppa: English, period (in this case, the late 50s), focussed on the zeitgeist at a certain time and place, and starring some of my favourite British actors. Gotta say: especially charming, quirky Bill Nighy, whose name is enough to put whichever film he's chosen to appear in on my Oh Yeah list. And after coordinating Life's Movie Club for about seven years, I have reason to believe that a lot of members feel the same way I do.
At this writing, it's still too early to tell you anything but the date, which is Tuesday, September 4th. As soon as the where and when details become available, I will email them pronto to all Movie Club members. Meanwhile, here's what we know about The Bookshop.
SYNOPSIS: England, 1959. Free-spirited widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) risks everything to open a bookshop in a conservative East Anglian coastal town. While bringing about a surprising cultural awakening through works by Ray Bradbury and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, she earns the polite but ruthless opposition of a local grand dame (Patricia Clarkson) and the support and affection of a reclusive book-loving widower (Bill Nighy). As Florence's obstacles amass and bear suspicious signs of a local power struggle, she is forced to ask: is there a place for a bookshop in a town that may not want one?
TRAILER: https://www.cinemaclock.com/movies/the-bookshop-2017/videos/211972
REVIEWS: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/reviews/article-review-the-bookshop-subverts-expectations-of-a-small-town-underdog/?cmpid=rss
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/bookshop-1059439
