A uniquely feminine view of movies, Hollywood and the world.
Last winter I was stuck in bed with the flu for more than a week. With a box of tissue, a pot of hot tea, and plenty of chicken noodle soup, I fired up Netflix and I discovered the wonders of binge-watching.
And now after many, many … many months of coronavirus lockdown, I.m sure you are doing more than the usual amount of television viewing too. [Read more…] about Adventures in Binge-Watching
Released in 1997, director’s James Cameron’s Titanic was even more expensive than the actual RMS Titanic due to the CGI and special effects that weren’t commonplace in Hollywood studios at the time required to make Cameron’s film into a blockbuster hit movie.
You know how much I like special effects. I especially loved how the period fashion and effects in Titanic were so realistic. Notice how the film incorporates real-life scenes and people that were in the actual sinking. The theme of class consciousness isn’t so in-your-face like a lot of rich-girl-poor-boy movies. Also, the bittersweet ending showed Rose was capable of living a fulfilled life even without Jack.
[Read more…] about Titanic’s Iconic Jewelry: the Heart of the Ocean
Lately, I’ve been binge-watching great U.K. TV shows on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. I am taking a break from the Coronavirus news and binge-watching with some of my favorites TV series and a few new shows.
I’ve been pretty obsessed with Aidan Turner and the Poldark series, based on the Winston Graham novels. Don’t worry if you missed any of the adventures of Ross Poldark. You can binge-watch all 4 seasons of the BBC series on Amazon Prime. Season 5 will air in September 2019 on PBS.
Nora Ephron created strong, intelligent and sometimes quirky female characters like Sally Albright in When Harry Met Sally, Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle and made Meg Ryan the Queen of the Romantic Comedy in the ’80s and ’90s.
From her novel, Heartburn which was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in 1983 to Julie and Julia, also starring Meryl Streep. Nora Ephron died in 2012, but she has left us with a wonderful legacy of great movies. [Read more…] about Nora Ephron’s Best Chick Flicks
Sienna Miller (Foxcatcher, Lost City of Z) takes on a grittier look in her powerful performance in American Woman, an engaging story about the love and loss and hope.
Directed by Jake Scott (Welcome to the Rileys), American Woman features Siena Miller along with an incredible ensemble cast that includes Christina Hendricks, Amy Madigan, Aaron Paul and Will Sasso.
Sienna Miller plays Debra Callahan, a 31-year-old woman whose life in a small town in rural Pennsylvania is spiraling out of control.
Deb is a junky mess of a woman who smokes too much, drinks too much and is having an affair with a married man. She works a minimum wage job at a local grocery store to support herself, her 16-year old daughter Bridget, a single mom and her 1-year-old grandson Jesse.
She has a troubled relationship with her aging mother (Amy Madigan) and her married older sister Kathy, played by Christina Hendricks (Mad Men, Good Girls).
Deb loves her daughter and grandson, but she is pretty light on any kind of parental disciple or supervision. So when her daughter goes missing, her life falls apart.
Her family and their working-class neighborhood come together to support Deb during the search for her missing daughter.
As time goes by, Deb continues to search for her daughter, while raising her young grandson and trying to get her life together. Even though goes through a series of bad romances, Deb is determined to find out what happened to Bridget and make a better life for Jesse. She grows closer to her mom and her sister’s family as she moves closer to a living a
The 8th annual Oak Cliff Film Festival returns to Dallas’ historic Texas Theatre and Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Kessler Theater, and numerous other venues around Dallas’ vibrant Oak Cliff neighborhood, June 6 – 9, 2019 featuring the very best of Oak Cliff’s historic theater venues, the festival also highlights the area’s popular restaurants, bars, and small businesses, and seeks to showcase and cultivate the best of independent and brave filmmaking in Texas and beyond.
This year’s schedule includes 28 feature-length films, with 13 Texas premieres as well as 36 short films, opening and closing night parties, filmmaking workshops, live music events and much more!
“We welcome moviegoers and film fans to another Oak Cliff Film Festival! The diverse neighborhood of Oak Cliff is the perfect context for the varied programming the festival seeks to introduce to new audiences” said Barak Epstein and Jason Reimer, Oak Cliff Film Festival Co-Founders.
After learning their beloved matriarch has terminal lung cancer, a family opts not to tell her about the diagnosis, instead scheduling an impromptu wedding-reunion back in China.
Headstrong and emotional writer Billi (Awkwafina) rebels against her parents’ directive to stay in New York and joins the family as they awkwardly attempt to rekindle old bonds, throw together a wedding that only grandma is actually looking forward to, and surreptitiously say their goodbyes. (USA, 98 mins) – Directed by Lulu Wang
The year is 1953. Andy, a young, introverted teenager, works as a Zamboni driver at an ice rink where his father is a flamboyant skating instructor. Andy’s mother is institutionalized. When Andy meets Dr. Wallace Fiennes (Jeff Goldblum), a famous lobotomist now in the sad decline of his career, the shy young man joins the doctor on a tour of rural mental hospitals.
As Fiennes desperately evangelizes for the lobotomy procedure to drum up business, Andy becomes infatuated with a patient and her father and immerses himself in the surreal, burgeoning New Age movement of the American West. (USA, 106 mins) – Directed by Rick Alverson
Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James).
After a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed — and he finds himself with a very complicated problem, indeed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his steel-hearted American agent, Debra (SNL’s Kate McKinnon), Jack’s fame explodes.
But as his star rises, he risks losing Ellie — the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love. (UK, 112 mins) – Directed by Danny Boyle
When Cynthia and Mary (Jillian Bell and Michaela Watkins) show up to collect Cynthia’s inheritance from her deceased grandfather, the only item she’s received is an antique sword that was believed by her grandfather to be proof that the South won the Civil War. The two attempt to unload the object to a curmudgeonly pawnshop owner (Marc Maron) and his man-child sidekick Nathaniel (Jon Bass).
When Mel and Nathaniel discover there’s a black market for the relic, the two pairs reluctantly join forces to sell this rarefied ‘prover item’ to the highest bidder. The adventure that ensues takes the four of them on a wild journey into the depths of conspiracy theory and Southern disillusionment. (USA, 88 mins) – Directed by Lynn Shelton
Traumatized 8-year old Luke invents an imaginary friend named Daniel who leads them both into a world of fantasy and imagination. After Daniel tricks Luke into doing something terrible, Luke is forced to lock him away. Twelve years later, Luke brings Daniel back — and he now appears as a charming, manipulative young man with a terrifying secret agenda. (USA, 96 mins) – Directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer
From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton’s impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man.
Love, Antosha explores his successes and his struggles and lets viewers get to know this extraordinary person the world was cheated from seeing grow old. (USA, 92 mins) – Directed by Garret Price
How to Attend the Oak Cliff Film Festival
Festival badges and tickets on sale now at OakCliffFilmFestival.com
VIP Badges and tickets for individual screenings are available for purchase here.
Tickets for individual screenings will also be available at the door for each venue at a later date. For the latest festival developments and announcements, visit the Oak Cliff Film Festival website.
About Oak Cliff Film Festival
The Oak Cliff Film Festival was established in 2012 as a regional film festival in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas. The festival has been received national acclaim from prominent sources including The New York Times, Filmmaker Magazine, and Moviemaker Magazine.
In the next movie in the X-Men universe, Dark Phoenix, the X-Men face their most formidable and powerful foe: one of their own, Jean Grey. Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters, and Jessica Chastain. [Read more…] about Preview: Dark Phoenix
You see the same people everyday. They are the passengers on your bus, the regulars at your neighborhood coffeeshop or maybe they are just strangers on the subway train.
You think you know them.
You think you know them from
The pretty African-American girl with braids…
the Hispanic construction worker…
the young Asian girl…
the middle-aged woman…
the nerdy guy with the backpack…
the homeless man pushing a grocery cart full of junk.
With original music composed by Riley Thomas and directed by Michael Berry, Stuck is an original pop musical film about six New York City Subway commuters who get to know each other while they at stuck together on a broken down New York City subway train.
This modern musical starring Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul), Amy Madigan (Gone Baby Gone, Field of Dreams), pop star Ashanti, Omar Chaparro (Show Dogs, Compadres), Arden Cho (Teen Wolf) and Gerard Canonico (Be More Chill) tells the stories of these six strangers through song.
Stuck is a lovely surprise of a movie. While they are waiting for the subway to be repaired. The six stranger get to know each other as they introduce themselves and their individual stories through song.
Amy Sherman Pallidino, the creator of The Gilmore Girls brings us another Emmy Award-winning hit series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
In this Amazon original series set in the late 1950s, a woman’s place was at home supporting her man. That’s why Midge Maisel was at home making pot roast to help her husband, Joel a part-time aspiring comedian get a prime at ‘The Gaslight‘, a Greenwich Village comedy club.
Do you know how long it takes to make a pot roast? Hours, seriously…hours in a hot oven.
You know how much I love Viola Davis, so I will be first in line to see her in Widows.
Academy Award®-winning director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and co-writer and bestselling author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) bring us a blistering, modern-day thriller. Widows is set against the backdrop of crime, passion, and corruption. [Read more…] about Trailer: Widows, starring Viola Davis