February 3
"The Space Between Us" - The first human born on Mars travels to Earth for the first time, experiencing the wonders of the planet through fresh eyes. He embarks on an adventure with a street- smart girl to discover how he came to be.
February 10
"The Lego Batman Movie" (http://www.legobatman.com/) - Bruce Wayne must not only deal with the criminals of Gotham City, but also the responsibility of raising a boy he adopted.
"Fifty Shades Darker" (http://www.fiftyshadesmovie.com/) - While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her.
"John Wick 2" (http://www.johnwick.movie/) - After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life.
February 17
"The Great Wall" (http://www.thegreatwallmovie.com/) - European mercenaries searching for black powder become embroiled in the defense of the Great Wall of China against a horde of monstrous creatures.
"A Cure for Wellness" (http://www.acureforwellness.com/) - An ambitious young executive is sent to retrieve his company's CEO from an idyllic but mysterious "wellness center" at a remote location in the Swiss Alps but soon suspects that the spa's miraculous treatments are not what they seem.
February 24
"Tulip Fever" - An artist falls for a young married woman while he's commissioned to paint her portrait during the Tulip mania of 17th century Amsterdam.
'Crass commercialism' is what the true founders of McDonald's, Mac (John Carroll Lynch) and Dick (Nick Offerman), rejected in the 1950s. But if it's all up to them, we would never see the famed golden arches conquering the fast food world as it is today.
Directed by John Lee Hancock, "The Founder" tells the story about how a traveling milkshake machine salesman, Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton, "Spotlight"), gets into the business with the McDonald brothers and turns a single burger joint into a worldwide empire.
Initially the McDonald brothers wanted to move west to Hollywood and make it in the movie business. As luck would have it, their movie theater opened at the start of the Great Depression. One thing was clear, however. Even as businesses were failing, people still needed to eat. When a hot dog stand could thrive in such dire economic climate, they pivoted to the restaurant industry. The original McDonald's was born.
Riding the drive-in popularity, the McDonald brothers had customers drive in to the parking lot and waiters come to them. They soon noticed that the majority of sales came from three items - burger, fries and soft drink. The duo switched their business model and invented an automated system of food preparation, ordering and serving, as cleverly demonstrated in the 'burger ballet' practice sequence.
Fast food was a brand new concept at the time. Ray experiences first-hand how impressive it was to have his order ready in 30 seconds, in disposable wrapper, bag and cup. He sees an opportunity with massive potentials and wanted a slice of the pie. Ray envisions golden arches in every town as places of gathering for community, family and food.
While reluctant at first, the McDonald brothers allow Ray to join them. They decide to expand on the franchising element and put him in charge as the head of franchisees. Their main concern is quality control - how to maintain consistency in the standards as far as speed and quality across all locations.
The concern is valid. Facing challenges of rogue franchisees, Ray focuses his recruitment on the right type of people - those with desire, drive and fire to succeed, at the same time, are order-abiders.
The growth of the business has impacted Ray's family life and financials. A fortuitous encounter with a finance executive, Harry Sonneborn (B.J. Novak), at the bank gives him a new lease on life. Instead of being beholden to the McDonald brothers for a tiny percentage of profit, Ray dives into a new kind of business with Harry - land holdings. They tie the franchises into those lands through leases and gain complete control.
Emboldened by success and motivated by bigger profit, Ray goes a step further by violating his original contract with the McDonald brothers. At the suggestion of the wife of one of his franchisees, Joan Smith (Linda Cardellini), he uses a much cheaper raw material for a key item on the menu.
The McDonald brothers don't know what hits them until it's too late. Ray Kroc is the founder of the McDonald Corporation. He may not have the name or invent the system, but he's the one revolutionizing the industry and known to the public.
"The Founder" is fast-paced, crisply packaged with a retro look and comedic touch. Keaton plays the role with folksy charisma and hustler smarm, selling all his pitches. On one side, the movie portrays the ideals of having a vision, ambition, persistence and determination to achieve your dreams. On the other side, ruthlessness to exploit opportunities and win at all costs in the land of the free.
"The Founder" may not be as wholesome as the global brand markets itself to be, but it is an engaging story about the great idealism and darker reality of American capitalism.
Jimmy
Fallon came swinging as the host of the 74thGolden Globe Awards. The opening act was
fantastic, mirroring the Los Angeles jammed freeway song-and-dance number from “La
La Land,” only with celebrities in their cars lining up on the red carpet to
get to the awards show. It transitioned seamlessly
to a modified “City of Stars” piano-playing and gliding-into-the stars dancing
scene with Justin Timberlake.
Unlike
previous hosts – Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler – Fallon didn’t make much of an impression. He did get one political zinger out. Golden Globes show is the one place where
Americans still honor the popular vote.
The
first award of the evening, Best Supporting Actor in the motion picture drama category,
went to Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Nocturnal Animals”). Best Supporting Actress went to Viola Davis (“Fences”). Frontrunner Casey Affleck scored Best Actor (“Manchesterby the Sea”). French actress Isabelle
Huppert surprisingly earned Best Actress award (“Elle”), besting Hollywood A-listers
Amy Adams, Natalie Portman and Jessica Chastain.
“Zootopia,” quite possibly the most brilliant animation of all time, won Best
Animation.
As
expected, “La La Land” racked up the most wins in the musical/comedy
category, including Best Original Score and Best Original Song to begin with. Ryan Gosling was awarded Best Actor. He quipped that it wasn’t the first time he
was mistaken for Ryan Reynolds. Singing and dancing his way through the movie was one of the best filming
experiences he had. Emma Stone, Gosling’s
co-star, predictably won Best Actress. Stone
cited hope and creativity as the two most important things and that she shared
the statue with other working artists. She moved 13 years ago to Los Angeles this week as an aspiring actress.
Damien
Chazelle took home two awards for Best Screenplay and Best Director. He thanked
the producers for taking on a gamble on his proposition for the modern, Los
Angeles-set musical, which was not easy to put together. The movie capped it all by winning Best
Picture in the same category.
Viola
Davis presented Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award to arguably the most revered
actress in Hollywood today, Meryl Streep.
She stated that Streep made her feel proud for being an artist and that
what she had in her – her body, her face, her age – was enough.
Streep
took the stage and made a political joke about Hollywood Foreign Press being the
most vilified party, Hollywood – Foreigners – Press. She went on to reveal which foreign countries
where some actors and actresses were born or raised in and sarcastically noted,
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if you kick us
all out, you’ll have nothing to watch except for football and mixed martial
arts, which are not arts."
Streep
asked the press to stand up to President-elect Donald Trump, “We need the
principled press to hold power to account, to call them on the carpet for every
outrage,” after she called out Trump for mocking a disabled reporter during his
campaign. "Disrespect invites
disrespect, violence incites violence. When
the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose." Streep stirringly ended her speech by quoting the belated Carrie Fisher, "Take your broken heart, make it into art."
And the Golden Globe goes to…
Best
Picture, Drama: “Moonlight”
Best
Picture, Comedy or Musical: “La La Land”
Actress,
Drama: Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Actor,
Drama: Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
"Every time we get a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line. Every time."
Directed by Theodore Melfi and based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, “Hidden Figures” is a remarkable story about three African-American women who worked at NASA in the age of space race as the 'human computers' and their significant contributions to the program. While it tells a weighty story, it is filmed with a lighthearted tone and has a breezy pace.
Katherine Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are colleagues and friends at a segregated research center. They ride to work together, socialize and bond over the reality of life in the 60s as women of color.
Denied promotion, Dorothy performs the work of a supervisor without the title or the pay. Mary has the brain of an engineer and prerequisite education but isn't able to enroll in an engineering program at the university. Katherine, a genius mathematician assigned to the Space Task Group is placed as the bottom of the totem pole. Simply because of their color and gender. No matter how brilliant their minds are, they are required to be subservient and are undermined at every turn.
Racism and sexism permeate every fabric of the severely prejudiced society. Not only relegated to the back of the bus, there are 'colored' sections for everything - work area, restroom, cafetaria, even a separate coffee thermos. It's an eye-opener for the younger generations who didn't live through that disturbing era.
Memorable scenes pack emotional and inspirational punch, powered by great acting. Dorothy has to sneak a programming book out of a white-only library because it's not available in her designated library. Mary has to petition the court and summon the courage to speak to the judge for a chance to be able to take the requisite engineering classes held in a white-only high school. Katherine's outburst from being questioned in the open about her work ethic because she disappears for a long period of time during work hours (she has to walk a half mile each time and back to go to the colored ladies room in another building).
Katherine in particular directly helps calculate trajectories of space launch and landing. Some portions of the film deal with number crunching, mathematical equations and later on the dawn of mainframe computers. Even though the end result is widely known, Colonel John Glenn's (Glenn Powell) historical orbit trip, both pre-launch and post-flight efforts to bring him back to Earth safely, bring suspenseful moments. Too soon of an entry point, he would burn upon re-entry. Too late, he will be further away from the Earth gravity and would never be able to return home.
These empowered women march on every day with dedication, diligence, persistence, resilience and determination. It's a fine balance between knowing their place, stepping further back and showing clear deference to their peers and supervisors (Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, Kirsten Dunst), and at the same time, being resourceful, assertive and confident in themselves in seizing opportunities, moving towards achieving their dreams, and being a part of history.
And if history has taught us anything, there's always a first in everything. It's wonderful to see that these pioneers are no longer hidden. One of the best films of the year, "Hidden Figures" is phenomenally uplifting and life-affirming.
