One Piece Film: Gold

Musicals are the "it" thing this year and even the anime game is getting in on the action with the release of Funimation Films...One Piece Film:  Gold!  The opening montage is complete with a Swinging Big Band, showgirls, kick lines and pirates ships.  The Gran Tesoro, where most of the action is set, reminds me of a golden version  The Venetian Hotel on the Vegas strip.  Aboard the Gran Tesoro, where it rains gold upon a golden river, The Straw Hat pirates become enamored with their VIP status and 300 Million dollars line of credit.  However, deception is king and the crew soon discovers that all that glitters is NOT gold.

Based on the wildly popular hit anime manga and television series, One Piece Film: Gold  follows the Straw Hat pirates to the big screen in an all-new high-flying adventure. The Batman-like graphics, slot machine sound effects and high-octane music keep the energy of this entertaining flick moving and grooving.

Originally a Japanese manga series, One Piece was adapted into a television series by Toei Animation (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon) that has since aired over 760 episodes. As of August 2016, the original manga series has more than 380 million copies printed worldwide – the best-selling manga series in history.

The new film One Piece Film: Gold is a standalone film that does not require new audiences to be familiar with previous content to enjoy the thrill of this new adventure.  Do the Straw Hat pirates luck turn them into billionaires?  Or,  are they turned into gold slaves?  You can find out for yourself when On Piece Film:  gold begins its North American Release begins TODAY  through January 17th.   Click Here to Grab Tickets to One Piece Film: Gold

Moonlight Takes Over Gotham

The IFP Gotham Awards were handed out at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City last night, and A24’s Moonlight was off to a good award-season start, taking home Best Feature and Best Screenplay to go with its previously announced special jury ensemble award. Casey Affleck won Best Actor for Manchester by the Sea, and Isabelle Huppert took Best Actress for Elle besting out award doyens Natalie Portman and Annette Bening. Check out the full list of winners below.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 26th annual Gotham Awards:

BEST FEATURE

Moonlight
Barry Jenkins, director; Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, producers (A24)

BEST ACTOR

Casey Affleck
Manchester by the Sea (Amazon Studios)

BEST ACTRESS

Isabelle Huppert
Elle (Sony Pictures Classics)

SPECIAL GOTHAM JURY AWARD

Cast Of Moonlight
(A24)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

O.J.: Made in America
Ezra Edelman, director; Caroline Waterlow, Ezra Edelman, Tamara Rosenberg, Nina Krstic, Deirdre Fenton, Erin Leyden, producers (ESPN Films)

BINGHAM RAY BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR AWARD

Trey Edward Shults
Krisha (A24)

BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR

Anya Taylor-Joy
The Witch (A24)

BEST SCREENPLAY

Moonlight
Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney; Screenplay by Barry Jenkins (A24)

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES – LONGFORM

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Rachel Bloom & Aline Brosh McKenna, creators; Marc Webb, Rachel Bloom, Aline Brosh McKenna, Erin Ehrlich, executive producers (The CW)

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES – SHORTFORM

Her Story
Jen Richards and Laura Zak, creators (herstoryshow.com)

MISS SLOANE

With the topsy-turvy, emotional election Americans have just experience, the release of Miss Sloane is right on time.  Not to mention, that this is the performance for which Jessica Chastain will be most remembered for.

As whip-smart, ruthless lobbyist Elizabeth Sloane, Chastain masters and delivers rapid fire dialogue notably associated with celebrated television writer Aaron Sorkin.  Sloane’s commitment to taking anyone and everyone down, including herself makes for an extremely interesting roller-coaster ride with an ending that smacks you in the face like a ton of bricks!! It’s all done with such an alarming speed, that if one is not paying attention,  you might miss a clue or two.

Director John Madden has outdone himself on this one assembling one of the most fabulous onscreen cast this awards season.  The twists and turns are dizzying, yet yummy and fascinating thanks to the brilliant writing skills of John Perera.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw can literally inhabit any type of character in any type of setting with a childlike vulnerability that is beautifully endearing to watch. However, it is layered with a quiet internal strength that took me from having empathy to having admiration

Jessica Chastain as Miss Sloane

Allison Pill , Sam Waterston, John Lithgow and the rest of this cast are stellar!  They not only compliment each other, but are the perfect support for Jessica Chastain.  Miss Sloane gives you an up close view at just how far a lobbyist will go to get what they want.Now in limited release in select cities, Miss Sloane can be seen nationwide TODAY.

LION

I don’t know about you, but one of my greatest fears growing up is that I would somehow become separated from my parents and never see them again.

As a little girl in Hawaiit, on a typical grocery day, my Mom let go of my hand to grab something off a shelf.  By the time she turned around to put it in the cart I was gone.  As my parents frantically searched throughout the store, my Dad saw a woman in the parking lot with me in tow heading toward her car.

I don’t have to tell you,  My Daddy lost his mind.  He proceeded to verbally go off on this woman, snatched me away from her and headed back inside the store.  Needless to say, my parents were mortified that at the blink  of an eye I was almost never to be seen or heard from again.

Little did I know on the other side of the world, Saroo (Dev Patel), out on a night excursion with his brother Guduu (Abhishek Bharate), becomes separated and spends more than 22 years away from his family before reconnecting.

In Lion, five-year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar) gets lost on a train traveling away from his home and family ending up thousands of miles away, in chaotic Kolkata, India. Somehow he survives living on the streets before ending up in an orphanage that’s not exactly a safe haven. Adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham), Saroo finds love and security growing up in Hobart. As an adult,  his emotional need and hope of ever finding his lost mother and brother are becoming nearly flashback memories. But, a chance meeting with some fellow Indians reawakens his buried yearning. Armed with only a handful of memories and a revolutionary technology known as Google Earth, Saroo sets out to find his lost family and finally return to his first home in India.

As if I weren’t already a fan of Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, his performance in “Lion” has made me a “superfan”.  It’s always a thin line when one  portray’s a character based on a real person that is still living and breathing!  I can tell you that Patel is crushing his performance so hard you forget he’s sharing a screen with Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman.  We will most certainly be hearing alot from him this awards season.

Kudos to Garth Davis for keeping the Indian culture authentic by using actors from this country to communicate this amazing story. At the Q&A following the AFI Film Festival Screening, a few little known facts were revealed by Saroo and Nicole Kidman. First, the actor that plays Young Saroo doesn’t speak English…at all, which is unbelievable.  This kid (Sunny Pawar) is adorable and absolutely astonishing.  The depths of emotion and vulnerability he displays hasn’t been seen since such child actors like Dakota Fanning and Haley Joel Osment.

Saroo was misprouncing the name of his town, which resulted in his not being found for nearly two years after being separated from his brother, Guduu.  Guduu, by the way, didn’t abadon Saroo, but got hit by a train on his way back to scoop him up.

Watiting in the lobby, I ran into Saroo.  He is such a charming, put-together young man with manners and respect for others that sorely lack in today’s digital age society.

Lion is the type of film that proves one truly has to pay attention to those “gut feelings”  we so often ignore and that as Lin Manuel Miranda says “Love is Love Is Love”.  It will make your heart swell and give you faith back in humanity.

Lion can be seen nationwide by The Weinstein Company TODAY.

MOANA→

Disney is on a roll for 2016!!  Disney Animated Studios has bragging rights to Frozen (the highest grossest animated film of all time),  Zootopia in the #2 spot and Moana is well on its way to melting Frozens's record.

Moana (Auli‘i Cravalho) tells the story of a young Hawaiian girl who is searching for a demigod (Maui played by Dwayne Johnson), who once he is found, the two embark upon a journey to save her island and her people from impending destruction. Auli'l's voice is absolutely amazing and "The Rock" surprised me with his vocal prowess on "Your Welcome".

It was so nice to see Disney add another ethnic Princess to their stable twice in one year (Elena from Avalor was introduced to the Disney Channel earlier).  The photography is absolutely stunning and so life-like that one forgets that you are watching an animated feature.

The diverse and dynamic team behind the film’s inspired music includes Tony®- and Grammy®-winning lyricist/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, who’s behind Broadway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning and multiple Tony-winning “Hamilton” and the Tony-winning “In the Heights,” and is a 2015 MacArthur Foundation Award recipient. Three-time Grammy®-winning composer Mark Mancina created memorable scores for films like “Speed,” “Tarzan” and the Oscar®-winning “Training Day,” and also co-wrote songs, produced and arranged the score for Broadway’s musical production of “The Lion King.” Opetaia Foa‘i, the founder and lead singer of Te Vaka, is a winner of numerous world music awards, including the Senior Pacific Artist award for his contribution to Pacific music. Miranda is well on his way to becoming an EGOT  (Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony) member before the end of 2017!!!

Click HERE for how the cast and crew felt about working with WATER

Kudos Disney  and directors Ron Clements & John Musker for really working it out on the diversity front for 2016!  Of course, this shouldn't be a surprise since this same team brought us Princess & The Frog and Aladdin.  We won't have to guess who all the little girls will want to be for Halloween 2017...lol.

Of course, No Disney film would be complete wthout villains (the Coconuts) and the loyal best friend (The Rooster and the Baby Pig).  Of course, my favorite was Grandma Tala (Rachel House).  She is sugar and spice with everything naughty and nice:).

Moana is a great film for the adults and the kiddies and an even greater flick to check out during the holiday season!!!

If you are not convinced...maybe these clips will convince you to run to the theatre NOW!

Click HERE for MOANA Trailer

13th

The 13th Amendment.  What do we really know about it other than it was part of the constitution that kicked slavery to the curb.  It declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime  whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Leave it to director Ava Duvernay to break it all the way down to make a case out of the fact that slavery hasn't really been abolished.  In fact, it's actually evolved into our current system of mass incarceration.  A system,  in which many prisons are run by major corporations (Walmart and Victoria's Secret)  for profit.  Prisoners  are paid a pittance for their labor. Twelve cents an hours to be exact.

In a year that has seen a black life murdered or jailed at a rapid rate, a movement incited by people of all races speaking out on the injustices called #BlackLivesMatter and year in film that began with the hashtag #oscarssowhite, 13th brings to the forefront a much need conversation about mass incarceration of people of color.

From Jim Crow laws to Nixon's "war on drugs" to Bill Clinton's "three strikes" legislation, mass incarceration is a real issue and one that sorely needs investigating and discussing.  In 1970, there were 200,000 prisoners and today the numbers are staggering toward more than 2 million.  Did you know that while the America has more than just 5% of the world's population, we have more than 25% of the world's population in prisoners?  It is a proven fact that one in three prisoners are black men and more than 60% of the people in the prison system are people of color.

Interviewing scholars and activists ranging from Angela Davis to rapper/Oscar winner Common, the film trots out images of lynchings, cellphone videos of police abuse and footage from the  1815 D.W. Griffith film "The Birth of a Nation".  That film alone glorified the Klu Klux Klan and was screened with pride at the White House for then President Woodrow Wilson. I know ...right??!!

13th couldn't  be more timely in an election year where we have candidates speaking of building walls, politicians pushing for criminal justice reform and reducing the prison population - particularly of non-violent offenders.  As if Hillary Clinton doesn't have enough on her plate with those damn emails, the film openly criticizes Bill and Hillary for supporting the 1990's crime bill that has led to a massive increase of the prison population today.  A bill in which those both now realize was a fatally flawed mistake for our country.

A pivotal, yet chilling moment for me was some footage of a recent Trump rally - where angry white people with black protestors are shown against archival clips of civil rights protestors.  All the while listening to Donald Trump say, "In the good old days...they would be carried out on stretchers."

I'm not gonna lie.  Watching these types of projects makes me feel some kind of way. Mostly angry, hurt and left with a massive desire to make difference.  Obviously, there is strength in numbers.  Each one teach and tell one.  So, today I have taught you more than you probably wanted to know about the 13th amendment through the lens of brilliant director Ava Duvernay.  The rest is literally up to you to keep the conversation going until a change is made.

13th can be streamed NOW via Netflix.

Click HERE for 13th Trailer