“Crazy Rich Asians”
This rom-com is getting rave reviews and a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A New Yorker joins her Singapore-born boyfriend to his friend’s wedding and meets his family for the first time, discovering her beau is one of the richest, most eligible bachelors in Singapore. It’s the opposite of the raunchy rom-coms we’ve come to expect since “The 40 Year Old Virgin” 13 years ago. Think old-school Pg-13 rom-com. I didn’t see it but now I wish I had!!!
“Blaze”
I never heard of Blaze Foley ‘til I saw this Ethan Hawke-directed film about this unsung hero of the Texas outlaw movement that spawned the likes of Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. Fittingly, unknown star Benjamin Dickey plays the starring role with “Arrested Development’s” Alia Shawkat as his wife, Sybil. The real-life Sybil Rosen co-wrote the film with Ethan Hawke, who appears with only the back of his head to the camera as a radio interviewer talking to Blaze’s bandmates after his death. I loved the music and the story and Benjamin Dickey is Oscar-great! Loved the whole feel of the film and the lighting took you right into the heart of Texas and the South in the early 70’s. Hopefully, this will bring a whole new wave of fans to Blaze Foley’s music.
4 ♥
“The Wife”
Glenn Close gives perhaps the performance of her career and is the reason to see this film. She could end up with her very first Oscar. Close stars as the wife of a novelist about to accept his first Nobel Prize for literature. Turns out SHE is the real talent in the family- a closely held secret kept from everyone except the wife and husband. Jonathan Pryce stars as the hubby. Glenn Close’s real-life daughter, Annie Starke plays her younger version in flashbacks to the 50’s. While I loved Glenn Close in this, I just couldn’t buy the wife holding this secret over a lifetime- a lifetime that took us through the birth of the feminist movement. In fact, after the screening at the Sony building, I ran into the President of Sony Pictures Classic, Tom Bernard, who asked me what I thought of “The Wife.” I told him what I just told you and he argued, “No, this still happens in Hollywood.” I still can’t buy it. But see “The Wife” – just for Glenn Close.
3 ♥