Thursday, May 23, 2019

Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock n' Roll

When filmmaker Tom Jones premiered an earlier version of this film at Jersey Shore’s film festival in 2017, it was missing one key ingredient to the Asbury Park story: hometown boy Bruce Springsteen. For non-fans, it would be like a Jurassic Park film without the T-Rex. I mean, yous guys, his first album was titled Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., and it helped put the coastal town and the Jersey sound on the map.

Luckily for everyone, the Boss was there to see the film’s premiere and offered interviews, stories and music. The addition of Springsteen added a kick to this tale of a city that breathed rock and roll in the 60’s and 70’s, before a race riot destroyed the rock n’ roll city. The music was integrated; the people were not. The on camera subjects of this film describe the tensions that led to that heated moment, as well as the unexpected, recent resurgence. It’s a lean-in story that captures your attention.

However, the supporting actor to the city’s storied tale is the music itself. Those who were there describe what it was like to see bands define its sound: a unique mix of rock and R&B. It's a place that boasts Gary U.S. Bonds and South side Johnny as well as household names such as Steven Van Zandt and Springsteen. The documentary makes good use of photo and music treasures from its heyday and paints a portrait of the spirit of those nights.

Music. Drama. It's an engaging portrait of a rock and roll city and the birth of the Jersey sound. Worth your time if you can find it; in theaters nationwide for two nights, on May 22 and 29.

In a nutshell: You don’t need to be a Springsteen fan to enjoy this documentary on a magical rock town. But if you are, stay for the after-credits concert footage.

Award potential: None. A poor choice of VO and overuse of some average drone work won’t impress Academy documentary voters.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.



Tuesday, May 21, 2019

2019 Summer Movie Schedule

May 17 
The summer sequel: John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum 
The drama: Trial By Fire (Laura Dern) 
The family film: A Dog’s Journey (Dennis Quaid) 
The romance: The Sun Is Also a Star (Charles Melton and Yara Shahidi) 













May 24 
The whole new film: Aladdin 
The unique find: Booksmart 













May 31 
The monster blockbuster: Godzilla: King of the Monsters 
The horror film: Ma (Octavia Spencer) 
















May 31 
The rhapsody rock tale: Rocketman (Taron Egerton as Elton John) 
The romance: Always Be My Maybe (Randall Park, Ali Wong) 















June 7 
The superhero film: Dark Phoenix (X-Men) 
The comedy: Late Night (Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling) 
The family film: Secret Life of Pets 2 
The drama: The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Danny Glover, Finn Wittrock) 















June 14 
The summer sequel: Men In Black: International (Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson) 
The reboot: Shaft (Jessie T. Usher, Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Roundtree) 














June 21 
The family film: Toy Story 4  















June 28  
The potential summer gem: Yesterday (Lily James, Himesh Patel) 
The summer sequel: Annabelle Comes Home (Vera Farmiga) The one with Awkwafina: The Farewell 
 
 













July 3 
The superhero film: Spider-Man: Far From Home 
The counter programming: Midsommer  














July 12  
The rom-com: The Art of Self-Defense (Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg) The stupid uber film: Stuber (Kumail Nanjiani) 
 

















July 19 
The family film: The Lion King 
The Quentin Tarantino film: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 
















July 31
The family film: Dora and the Lost City of Gold 
















August 2 
The summer sequel: Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham) 


















August 9 
The girl power film: The Kitchen (Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Eilsabeth Moss) 















August 16 
The book-to-film: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig) 


 
August 23 
The action sequel: Angel Has Fallen (Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman)

Monday, May 20, 2019

Long Shot

“Long Shot” might describe your odds of finding a great comedy film in 2019. 

Isn’t It Romantic, Shazam! and Little only seem funny when compared to Beachbum, Poms and Lego Movie 2. Given the low bar for comedy in theaters, Long Shot is a welcome option at the theater because it does offer some laughs. It’s just really rough getting through the story.

“Long Shot” does not refer to the Presidential run featured in the film. Secretary of State  Charlotte (Charlize Theron) and slob speechwriter Fred (Seth Rogen) meet and fall in love. That pairing is the long shot.

The preposterous pairing is tough to swallow. At every moment we see Rogen, his character is portrayed worse than the scene before. Contrastly,Theron is practically perfect in every appearance. Despite a backstory that pairs them together as comfortable hometown, life-long friends, the film never finds a way to make the pairing believable.

Theron has solid comic timing. Rogen has been funnier. Many of the jokes do earn your chuckles.

However, having recently seen a 30th anniversary screening of Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything. I’d like to hold out for a rom com like that one. But if you laughed when I said “swallow” above, then you’ll be fine spending your ten dollars here.

In a nutshell: I can’t recommend this film, but if you want to go see a funny film, I understand; it's one of the better choices this year.

Award potential: None

The Ten Buck Review: Not worth ten bucks.