New Releases for the Week of June 16, 2017

CARS 3

(Disney*Pixar) Starring the voices of Owen Wilson, Kerry Washington, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, Armie Hammer, Chris Cooper, Nathan Fillion. Directed by Brian Fee

After a dominating run in the world of motorsports, Lightning McQueen is suddenly put out to pasture after suffering a terrible crash at the hands of a cocky young racer named Jackson Storm. Unable to compete with a new generation of lightweight, technologically advanced racecars, Lightning goes back to Radiator Springs, unable to believe he has been forced out of the sport he loves. With the help of an ambitious young technician, Lightning may still get back into the game – with the help of a few oldtimers who know what racing is truly all about.

See the trailer, interviews, promos and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, 3D, IMAX 3D
Genre: Animated Feature
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: G

47 Meters Down

(Dimension) Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Matthew Modine, Yani Gellman. Two young women vacationing in Mexico decide to go diving in a shark cage in waters infested by Great Whites. When the cable connecting the cage to the boat snaps the girls plummet to the bottom of the seabed 47 meters down. With their oxygen supply running low and the waters filled with hungry sharks, the women will have to rely on their courage to survive their shark encounter.

See the trailer, clips and video features here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Thriller
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of intense peril, bloody images, and brief strong language)

All Eyez on Me

(Codeblack/Summit) Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Kat Graham, Lauren Cohan. The story of Tupac Shakur, one of the most distinct and revolutionary voices to come out of rap. Although he died far too young, his legacy remains one of the most honored and respected in music.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Musical Biography
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for language and drug use throughout, violence, some nudity and sexuality)

The Book of Henry

(Focus) Naomi Watts, Jaeden Lieberher, Jacob Tremblay, Sarah Silverman. A precocious young boy takes care of his family including his mother, a hard-working waitress who lacks confidence. When a classmate who lives next door lets Henry in on a terrible secret, he resolves to help her. Utilizing his imagination and intellect, he concocts a plan that surprises his mom – who finds herself at the center of his machinations.

See the trailer, clips and interviews here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements and brief strong language)

Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary

(Abramorama) Denzel Washington (voice), John Coltrane, Common, Carlos Santana. One of the most gifted, innovative and inspiring performers in the history of jazz was John Coltrane. This documentary about the man and his music is coming to the Enzian as part of their monthly Music Monday series; it was previously reviewed here on Cinema365 and that review can be found here.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Musical Documentary
Now Playing: Enzian Theater (Monday only)
Rating: NR

Dean

(CBS) Demetri Martin, Kevin Kline, Gillian Jacobs, Mary Steenburgen. A young cartoonist is working on his follow-up book but can’t seem to find inspiration. It doesn’t help that his mother, his biggest supporter, recently passed away and his dad and he are drifting further apart, particularly when the news comes that dad is selling their childhood home. Frustrated and needing a change of scenery, he takes off on a trip to California that might just give him a lot more than he bargained for. This was one of the Florida Film Festival’s standout spotlight films this past April.

See the trailer, clips and a featurette here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for language and some suggestive material)

Kill Switch

(Saban/Lionsgate) Dan Stevens, Bérénice Marlohe, Mike Reus, Bas Keljzer. At first it was an experiment to create a limitless energy source, something our planet sorely needs. When things go horribly wrong, a pilot fights to save his family – and indeed, the whole planet – from the effects of the experiment gone awry.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Sci-Fi Action
Now Playing: AMC West Oaks
Rating: R (for language and some violence)

Rough Night

(Columbia) Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell, Zoë Kravitz, Kate McKinnon. Five best friends from college reunited for a weekend in Miami to celebrate one of their numbers impending nuptials. However, this badass bachelorette party turns a bit too wild and things get pretty real pretty fast. The girls elect to cover up the accident but that turns out to be a lot more difficult than they envisioned.

See the trailer, clips and a featurette here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for crude sexual content, language throughout, drug use and brief bloody images)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA

Slack Bay

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI:

Beatriz at Dinner
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki
Past Life
The Recall
You’re Killing Me Susanna

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA:

Ami Tumi
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent
Once Upon a Time in Venice
The Recall

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE:

Kedi
The Lure
Tomorrow Ever After

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Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary

John Coltrane in the abstract.

(2017) Music Documentary (Abramorama) Denzel Washington (voice), John Coltrane, Common, Carlos Santana, John Densmore, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, Cornel West, Wynton Marsalis, Bill Clinton, Ravi Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Heath, Antonia Andrews, Oran Coltrane, Ashley Kahn, Ben Ratliff, Kamasi Washington, Benny Golson, Michelle Coltrane. Directed by John Scheinfeld

 

In the pantheon of jazz greats, alto saxophonist John Coltrane has to stand out among its most enduring and influential figures. While never as popular as, say, Louis Armstrong (although he did have a big hit in a revved up version of “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music back in 1961) his music helped jazz evolve and changed, as Carlos Santana notes, the very nucleus of jazz.

This documentary starts in media res with a heroin-addicted and alcoholic Coltrane in 1957 being fired from the Miles Davis Quintet where he had begun to hone his reputation. He faced a crossroads and a vital decision; whether to continue with the heroin and end up like his idol Charlie Parker or to turn his back on the drugs and potentially embrace greatness. He would choose the latter, kicking heroin cold turkey which shows a strength of will that characterized his entire life.

He grew up in North Carolina in a home where both his grandfathers were preachers which gave him a spiritual influence that remained with him all his life. Although he didn’t adhere to a single religion, he studied nearly all of them and incorporated them into his inspirations. He joined the Navy as World War II was ending and his first known recordings were as part of a Navy jazz band and, as Wynton Marsalis put it kindly, didn’t sound like he had much potential.

But he had the good fortune to play with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and after being fired from that gig, Thelonious Monk – all jazz legends – which helped him find his confidence to grow and embrace change. Davis would accept Coltrane back for a second stint that would include one of Davis’ pivotal albums, Almost Blue which Coltrane recorded simultaneously with his own breakout album, Giant Steps. Shortly after that, Coltrane struck out on his own.

Although his career was short in years (he would die suddenly at the age of 40 of liver cancer), he was prolific releasing some 60 albums in the last decade of his life. Scheinfeld closely follows the arc of his influences, from bebop to free jazz to music that can only be called Coltrane. It is somewhat daunting to wonder what he would have come up with and how further he would have changed music had he lived another 20 or 30 years.

The archival footage and photographs are fascinating and the interviews – particularly with social commentator, activist and academic Cornel West (who at times is almost testifying to Coltrane in a religious fervor) and former President Bill Clinton who is surprisingly insightful into Coltrane’s art. While actor Denzel Washington reads from Coltrane’s writings, we never hear the jazz legend’s actual voice; he was notoriously interview-shy. While we don’t hear Coltrane’s actual voice here, his music does the talking. It’s as much an expression of his inner soul as we are going to find. Of particular note in that regard is “Alabama,” inspired by the speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave at the funeral of the victims of the Birmingham church bombing in 1963. The piece is mournful and yet hopeful; it follows the cadence of Dr. King’s speech and uplifts even as it grieves. It is as compelling a composition as has ever been written.

While we don’t hear Coltrane’s voice directly his personality comes to the fore mainly through the interviews with family and friends; his stepdaughter recalls him walking home late at night from a gig so he could spend his cash on shoes that she needed the next morning rather than spending it on cab fare. His childhood friend Jimmy Heath recalls how much he practiced, sometimes just fingering the sax in hotel rooms after angry guests complained about the noise.

In some ways the movie serves as a jumping off point for the music of Coltrane, although those who don’t “get” jazz may not necessarily find it compelling. However, the hope is that the film will introduce new generations to music that is sometimes described in overly enthusiastic terms. I don’t know that Coltrane’s music will change your life but it conceivably could; it has done so for many, many listeners and not all of them jazz aficionados. I don’t know that this is the ultimate tribute for Coltrane – there are an awful lot of talking heads and we don’t get as much context into the music as I might have liked  but this is an excellent place to start.

REASONS TO GO: The music is just incredible. The footage of Coltrane and his band is fascinating. The use of graphics is innovative.
REASONS TO STAY: There are too many talking heads. The film may not appeal to those who aren’t into jazz.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some drug content and some mild profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Some of the studio footage of Coltrane recording was discovered in a California garage while production was underway; the filmmakers arranged for the footage to be incorporated into the film and this is the first time it has been seen anywhere, or at least for decades.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 4/16/17: Rotten Tomatoes: 60% positive reviews. Metacritic: 68/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns
FINAL RATING:7.5/10
NEXT: Kong: Skull Island