Hidden Figures

A popcorn movie with all the right stuff.

Hidden Figures is a crowd-pleaser in the style of those 1990s movies that combined historical moments and personal stories with a light touch that begs you to laugh at comic vignettes, swoon as couples unite and, ultimately, cheer for underdog victories and historical milestones.

It’s a classic production with clearly manipulative storytelling that hits a little too obviously and a little too often. Yeh, it begs the audience to shout “you go girl” every five minutes or something like that, but dang it works anyway. In a season where I’ve been satisfied already with other innovative films, I can overlook a few trite “dancing in the kitchen” scenes and a few overwrought, speeches-as-conversation scenes to enjoy this as a whole.

Hidden Figures keeps its focus on celebrating the three overlooked heroines from NASA history. Its heart is in the right place — and we are rewarded.

Simply put: This is not groundbreaking moviemaking, but the glass-ceiling-busting story and irresistible cast makes this choice a charmer for the whole family.

Award potential: Despite unlikely nods in screenplay and all technical and sound categories, I think Hidden Figures will get a Best Picture Oscar nomination anyway. Janelle Monae has the standout performance that the Academy might recognize, but Octavia Spencer has the experience the Academy usually prefers. Having both of these women in the same Best Supporting Actress category may hurt both their chances. Kevin Costner is a wild card for Best Supporting Actor. 

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

Golden Globe Predictions for 2017

Historically, the Hollywood Foreign Press is as all-over-the-place as Meryl Streep's high notes in Florence Foster Jenkins, but I have an 82% correct prediction rate that could help you win your awards pool (or look really darn smart during the telecast). Here's what's gonna happen:

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Winner: Moonlight (It will edge out the equally dynamic Manchester. Both are deserving, but Moonlight’s themes give it an edge as a message and statement the HWP will likely want to reward in these times.)

Upset: Manchester by the Sea


Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
20th Century Women
Deadpool
Florence Foster Jenkins
La La Land
Sing Street

Winner: La La Land (It’s an original, whiz-bang musical in a category that has rewarded lesser musicals.)
Upset: Deadpool (The team that stayed tight to vision for Deadpool could be rewarded for their perseverance and delivery of this well-loved, and about-to-be overhyped, film.)


Best Director – Motion Picture
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

Winner: La La Land (Any four of the revolutionary new filmmakers —not Gibson—could win, but perhaps the hardest achievement was delivering a non-ironic musical.)
Upset: Moonlight


Best Actor, Drama
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences

Winner: Casey Affleck (An amazing performance that should be rewarded Sunday.)
Upset: Denzel Washington (Consistently amazing. He’s already the recipient of seven previous nominations with two wins and the Cecil B. DeMille Award.)


Best Actress, Drama
Amy Adams, Arrival
Jessica Chastain, Miss Sloane
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie

Winner: Natalie Portman (This will be her third win.)
Upset:  Isabelle Huppert, Elle (Amy Adams has two awards already, but has never won in the Drama category.) 


Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
Colin Farrell, The Lobster
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Jonah Hill, War Dogs
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

Winner: Ryan Gosling, for a true Musical or Comedy performance. (Hear that, The Martian’s Matt Damon?)
Upset: Colin Farrell and Ryan Reynolds will probably split the alt-vote. If not for Farrell I’d expect Reynolds to be rewarded for his decade-long struggle to get Deadpool made.


Best Actress, Musical or Comedy
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Lily Collins, Rules Don't Apply
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Winner: Emma Stone, for a true Musical or Comedy performance.
Upset: Meryl Streep (She was fabulous, hilarious and it is her night. She'll receive the Cecil B. DeMille award on Sunday.)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Winner: Viola Davis. (Have you seen the film or event trailer for Fences? Done.)
Upset: Naomie Harris (She has standout moments too, but The Hollywood Foreign Press likely wants to hear Viola’s acceptance speech more.)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Simon Helberg, Florence Foster Jenkins
Dev Patel, Lion
Aaron Taylor Johnson, Nocturnal Animals

Winner: Mahershala Ali (There will be extra-loud cheers when his name is announced. He’s this year’s J.K. Simmons.)
Upset: Jeff Bridges (He had the best lines of the year.)


Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
Winner: Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea (They’ll spread the love here.)
Upset: Chazelle for La La Land

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Trolls 
“City of Stars,” La La Land
“Faith,” Sing
“Gold,” Gold
“How Far I’ll Go,” Moana

Winner: “How Far I’ll Go,” (Who doesn’t want to see Lin-Manuel on stage?)
Upset: “City of Stars” (A la-la-landslide could happen.)


Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Moonlight
La La Land
Arrival
Lion
Hidden Figures

Winner: La La Land (Bet money.)
Upset: Moonlight (There’s always an upset.)


Best Motion Picture – Animated
Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
Sing
Trolls
Zootopia

Winner: Moana (Highly praised, and worldly.)
Upset: Zootopia (Highly praised, last summer.)

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
Divines
Elle
Neruda
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann

Winner: Toni Erdmann (This German-Austrian comedy and family-drama has won almost everything so far.)
Upset: The Salesman (Iran’s submission, a taut moral drama about a married couple who are acting in Death of a Salesman, may do better with Oscar voters who are actors and artists.)


Best Show Moments
Winners: Jimmy Fallon will delight audiences with a party atmosphere, a likely duet with Troll's nominee Justin Timberlake (ugh), and at least one of his tricks will take off. 

He’ll also use the opportunity to toss some tough edgy Trump jokes to distance himself from famously tousling Trump’s hair a bit too friendly for some folks. 

The Meryl Streep tribute seems way overdue and should be a showstopper.

Casey Afflek’s speech is the one to watch.

Upset: A real shocker will be if those on stage stay away from political commentary throughout the long night. Let’s hope they stick to the movies and all things la-la-land.

Seven movie wishes for 2017

On the eve of 2017, I’d like to share seven movie wishes for the coming year. Perhaps some Hollywood magic will make every one of them come true.

I wish for:

1. Wonder Woman to be wonderful.
If DC is ever going to have its first decent film, I’d bet on 2017 and Gal Gadot. (Mark your calendar for June 2)


2. No more production-company vanity logos that play before films. (Yeh, I wish.)
Don’t get me wrong, I love a single, studio intro (Universal, MGM, Paramount), and it was cute when PIXAR’s lamp intro played before Disney’s, but every film today seems to play a parade of hack mini-shorts featuring poorly designed logos. It’s a mood killer and those logos need to be in the end credits.


3. Sofia Coppola to make our day.
Hopefully, Coppola’s remake of Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film, The Beguiled, will revive the Western and not get, you know, lost in translation. (June 23)


4. The Academy Awards to move past #OscarsSoWhite.
This year’s quality collection of films all but guarantee nominees with diversity, so my wish is that the show gets back to business and the biggest controversy this year is whether “City of Stars” from La La Land is better than Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “How Far I’ll Go,” from Moana. (Oscar Night, February 26)


5. More original musicals.
Sing Street and La La Land were two of the best films of 2016; perhaps they started a trend of non-stage musicals on film. For starters, I wish for All Eyez On Me, the Tupac biopic, 2 deliver. (June 16)


6. Low ticket sales for these clearly uninspired remakes and sequels:
Baywatch, The Mummy, Alien, Transformers, Spider-Man, Fifty Shades, John Wick, Annabelle, XXX, Cars, Smurfs and Kong, for starters.


7. A Hugh-mongous year for Hugh Jackman.
Jackman has rocked many iconic scenes on film, but he’s never had a great movie. Will Logan be the Wolverine film we always wanted? (March 3). Or will Hugh find his best role as P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman (December 25)? I’m wishing for both.

Of course I'd also like to see new films from directors Damien Chapelle, Barry Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan, James Cameron, Richard Curtis or Alexjandro Inarritu — but I kinda know that none of those are happening, so I sure hope these seven movie wishes come true.

Happy 2017, everyone!

Office Christmas Party

One for the naughty list.

The first disappointing thing about Jennifer Anniston’s new film, Office Christmas Party, is that it is not a sequel to her Mike Judge film Office Space. The next disappointing thing is, well, everything that follows.

There is a funny holiday film somewhere starring T.J, Miller (Silicon Valley), Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) and Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live), but this is a lazy effort. It’s the same naughty, party-gone-wrong film we’ve seen before, and less fun than most.

Aniston plays a woman named Carol, but she’s basically “Rachel” trying to act like what a tough businesswoman might be like. She must not know any. It’s embarrassing and not funny at all.

There is one big laugh in the movie that comes from Carol’s Uber driver (Fortune Feimster), who ignites her average comic line with perfect comedic delivery. I was laughing all the way. Hollywood should snatch Fortune up for a starring role. Now that would be a party.

Simply put: Skip this year’s Office Christmas Party and avoid a hangover.

Award potential: None.

The Ten Buck Review: Not worth ten bucks.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Battle, we must.

The first seconds of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story are telling. The film opens with that familiar blue title card that lets us know the story takes places “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” but it quickly ditches the familiar iconic crawl of yellow story. Similarly, this Star Wars “standalone” film has nods to the legacy, but isn’t afraid to throw much of the formula out the window.

The result is refreshing, but not epic.

Fans of the original films will remember that “many died to bring us this information” and a team of Rebels stole the plans for the Death Star that revealed its weakness and set the stage for the 1977 film. This film is their story, and (spoiler alert), many die. This film puts the war in “Star Wars” from the first scenes of the film until the final, Invasion of Normandy-inspired battles.

None of the previous films without the presence of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo (Star Wars: Episodes I-III) have worked; a bit of a problem for the expanding franchise. Unfortunately, Rogue One offers no break out characters. Even Jyn (Felicity Jones) is a less-interesting Rey.

To compensate, Rogue throws in some familiar faces for minor roles: Darth Vader, Mon Mothma, AT-ST Walkers, a CGI-resurrected Grand Moff Tarkin — and more — all make stunning appearances. It works.

Rogue One is not a landmark film, but it’s clearly the best action film of the year. More importantly, it sets up a world of cinematic possibilities for Star Wars’ future. That alone is pretty exciting.

Simply put: The final storm-the-beach sequence through the final scene is awesome and very satisfying, but none of the characters are. Rogue One sheds the weight, but doesn’t carry it.

Award potential: A likely nominee in Best Visual Effects and Best Sound and Best Sound Mixing categories, but it won’t be a contender for Best Picture or Best Score (without John Williams).

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

La La Land

An original musical? Ooh-la-la!

I should note that odds were 100-to-1 that I would swoon over an old-Hollywood throwback film and original musical starring Crazy, Stupid Love’s Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. But will you?

If you can sit (without squirming) through the film’s first five-minutes, which is an all-out, non-satirical ensemble number, you’ll experience the most-gushing romance on-screen this year, the most captivating set pieces of 2016, the splashiest costumes of the year and original musical numbers that transport you to something that is more in the future than the past.

Director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) has created the film event of the year.

In addition to Chazelle’s vision, this film also owes a lot to the onscreen couple. If this film starred, say, Julianne Hough (Footloose) and Ben Affleck (Gone Girl), this might have been the next Xanadu. Because of Stone and Gosling’s modern and inherent coolness individually, I surrendered to the song and dance storytelling. Plus, there’s that chemistry thing; they are this decade’s Kate & Leo. Together, they have the star power of the giants that made movies like this a century ago. 

Am I still swooning?

Simply put: I can’t stop singing the praises of La La Land. Go see this one on the big screen.

Award potential: It will be nominated for every major Academy Award and will battle Moonlight for Best Picture in February. Oscar loves to reward films about L.A., but they love to make a social statement in political times too. We'll see in two months.

Either way, this is a good year for the Academy to reward Emma Stone (Birdman, The Help).

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

Alan's Golden Globe Nominee Predictions 2017

The Golden Globes are voted on by The Hollywood Foreign press, which is an odd bunch of 90 foreign journalists who choose to live in Southern California and nominated and voted for The Martian as Best Motion Picture Comedy last year. Who knows what they think? Well, I might. I have an 87% accuracy rate, so here goes:

Best Motion Picture (Drama) 
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Spoilers: Any of these "acting performance" films could sneak in: Fences, Hidden Figures or Jackie


Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
La La Land
Florence Foster Jenkins
The Lobster

20th Century Women
Sing Street

Spoilers: A true comedy such as Hail Caesar, Nice Guys or Deadpool could steal a spot ("Spy" was a best picture nominee last year.)


Best Actor (Drama)
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving

Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Tom Hanks, Sully
Denzel Washington, Fences

Spoilers: Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic, Michael Keaton, The Founder, or Chris Pine, Hell or High Water


Best Actress (Drama) 
Amy Adams, Arrival
Taraji P. Henson, Hidden Figures
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie

Spoiler: They love Emily Blunt, The Girl on the Train


Best Actor (Comedy or Musical) 
Warren Beatty, Rules Don’t Apply

Colin Farrell, The Lobster

Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

Spoiler: Don Cheadle, Miles Ahead


Best Actress (Comedy or Musical)
Kate Beckinsale, Love & Friendship
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Lily Collins, Rules Don’t Apply
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Spoilers: Renee Zellweger, Bridge Jones’s Baby or Hailee Seinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen


Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Liam Neeson, Silence
Dev Patel, Lion

Spoilers: Kevin Costner, Hidden Figures, Ben Foster, Hell or High Water or Michael Shannon, Nocturnal


Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, Fences
Greta Gerwig, 20th Century Women
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Spoilers: Janelle Monae, Hidden Figures or Kate McKinnon, Ghostbusters

Best Director
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Martin Scorsese, Silence
Denzel Washington, Fences

Spoilers: Famous tough guys: Clint Eastwood, Sully or Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge


Best Screenplay
Arrival

Hell or High Water

The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Spoilers: La La Land, Jackie, Fences

Best Motion Picture – Animated
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
Sing
Zootopia

Spoilers: Finding Dory, The Red Turtle, or Sausage Party


Best Original Song
Runnin', from Hidden Figures
City of Stars, from La La Land
How Far I’ll Go, from Moana
Go Now, from Sing Street
Can’t Stop the Feeling!, from Trolls (ugh.)

Spoilers: Heathen by Tweny One Pilots, from Suicide Squad