Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast
New Releases For the Week of 7/29/16
Jason Bourne (PG-13)
Starring: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Julia Stiles, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed
Directed By: Paul Greenglass
With all the Bourne wannabe movies this summer, it’s nice to have Matt Damon and Paul Greenglass making the real thing again. Cyber terrorism is the driving force behind Bourne’s latest return, and with scenes featuring Silicon Valley tech stars, arguments over privacy vs security, a Las Vegas electronics convention and even a truck mowing down innocent passersby on the sidewalks, the film is almost prescient. Our plucky, seemingly indestructible hero takes everything in stride and despite all the assault and battery he dishes out, he somehow makes us feel safer.
3 pieces of Matt Damon is Jason Bourne toast
Cafe Society (PG-13)
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carrell, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Jennie Berlin
Directed By: Woody Allen
Jesse Eisenberg is the Woody Allen stand-in in this homage to the escapist movies of the depression era. A jewish kid heads to Hollywood to work for his talent agent uncle and falls for the pretty assistant. Rejected by the girl, the lad heads back to New York to help run a swanky nightclub reminiscent of the places where patent-leather shiny pianos magically rises from under the dance floor with a sultry chanteuse singing into a huge microphone. The result is an artful fantasy world composed by a confident director who knows exactly what is he is doing
3 and 1/2 pieces of one of Woody Allen’s best toast
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (R)
Starring: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawahla, Jane Horrocks, June Witfield, Chris Colfer, Kate Moss, John Hamm
Directed By: Mandie Fletcher
The popular British TV show with the same name and stars was on for 30 years, and the formula that a life-long friendship fueled by champagne and slapstick almost works on the big screen. Trying to revive her PR business, Edina snags British supermodel Kate Moss as her client—and inevitably, bumps her into the Thames. The locale shifts to the sunny French Riviera where the champagne flows as easily as the celebrity cameos and sisterhood continues to be powerful.
2 and 1/2 pieces of British gal-pals toast
Bad Moms (PG)
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett Smith
Directed By: John Lucas, Scott Moore
Three PTA moms walk into a bar… Seriously, after catching glimpses of the lives of these overly busy women, that’s where this film takes us. After more than a few alcoholic beverages, the women share some of their secret fantasies. How about the luxury of eating your breakfast alone while reading a book? Or maybe faking an accident to get some “time off” where others fix your meals, do your laundry and give you a therapeutic massage? Self medicated by the alcohol, the three women hatch a plot against the bully who is the PTA president so that the women can emulate the film’s title. Sadly, the screenplay by the co-directors throws in an an unneeded romance and shoots some scenes like soft-core porn. How refreshing it would be to have female writers coming up with harried moms real fantasies!
2 and 1/2 pieces of trying too hard to be Bridesmaids toast
Life Animated (PG)
Starring: Owen Suskind, Ron Suskind
Directed By: Roger Ross Williams
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Ron Suskind discovers that using an hand puppet to play Iago from Disney’s animated classic Aladdin, helps his autistic son Owen from falling into deep withdrawal. This documentary chronicles how the now 25-year-old garnered support for his eventual independence by emulating beloved characters from Disney movies. Students of Carl Yung and Joseph Campbell will instantly recognize the therapeutic value of the archetypes found in these familiar fairy tales, and getting to know Owen is an added bonus.
3 pieces of Disney archetype therapy toast
Nerve (PG)
Starring: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Juliette Lewis, Colson Baker
Directed By: Ariel Shulman, Henry Joost
At the same time that Pokemon Go players are slavishly chasing after elusive characters (and walking into traffic, falling off cliffs and stumbling into dangerous and forbidden locales), this film shares the fictionalized story of people who are addicted to the adrenaline rush and cash-in-your-bank-account prizes available to “Players” who accept increasingly dangerous truth-or-dare challenges while millions of voyeuristic “Watchers” watch online.Yes, the Players knowingly give up all their privacy to be in the game—but aren’t the results worth the price?
2 and 1/2 pieces of cyber-lives toast