New Releases for the Week of November 26, 2021

ENCANTO

(Disney/Pixar) Starring the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, Diane Guerrero, Angie Cepeda, John Leguizamo, Wilmer Valderrama. Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard

The Madrigal family have been blessed to live in an enchanted house called Encanto in the mountains of Columbia. The house bestows upon each of them a special power – all except Mirabel. But the magic of Encanto is in danger and the only one who can save it might just be Mirabel.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Animated Feature
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: PG (for thematic elements and mild peril)

A Holiday Chance

(Faith Media) Nafessa Williams, Sharon Leal, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Tobias Truvillion. Two estranged rival sisters must come together to help save the family business when their father suffers some tragic events during the holidays.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Holiday
Now Playing: Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: PG-13 (for some strong language and a suggestive reference)

Antim: The Final Truth

(Zee) Salman Khan, Aayush Sharma, Mahima Makwana, Mahesh Manjrekar. A penniless village boy sacrifices family and nearly everything else to rise to the top of organized crime, pursued closely by a relentless police officer.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Crime
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Springs, Regal Pavilion Port Orange
Rating: NR

Anubhavinchu Raja

(Annapurna) Ajay, Raj Tarun, Krishna Murali Posani, Sudharshan. A young man who inherits wealth at an early age becomes the village laughingstock when his lavish lifestyle catches up to him. Determined to prove himself worthy, his quest to gain respect goes awry.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: Cinemark Orlando
Rating: NR

For the Love of Money

(Freestyle) Keri Hilson, Rotimi, Jason Mitchell, Keith Sweat. When shadowy figures threaten a woman’s daughter, she is pulled into the life she had escaped and had hoped never to return to.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: R (for language, some sexual content/nudity and violence)

House of Gucci

(United Artists) Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons. Oscar-winning director Ridley Scott may have another awards contender on his hands as the family behind an Italian fashion empire is unraveled by the naked ambition of an outsider who married into the family.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: True Crime Drama
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: R (for language, some sexual content, and brief nudity and violence)

Julia

(Sony Classics) Julia Child, Ina Garten, Jacques Pepin, Marcus Samuelsson. This is the story of the woman who essentially created the modern cooking show, transformed the way Americans see food and cooking, and even made a difference in the role of women in society.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: Cinematique Daytona, Enzian
Rating: PG-13 (for brief strong language/sexual references, and some thematic elements)

Maanaadu

(V House) S.J. Suryah, T.R. Silambarasan, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Bharathiraja. The bodyguard of the chief minister of the state and a police officer are caught in a time loop on the day of an important conference.

See the trailer
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Adventure
Now Playing: Cinemark Orlando, Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: NR

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

(Screen Gems) Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, Robbie Amell, Donal Logue. The exodus of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella has turned a boom town into a ghost town, but the problems for Raccoon City are far worse below the surface, where the evil of the Umbrella Corporation is being born.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: R (for strong violence and gore, and language throughout)

The Unforgivable

(Netflix) Sandra Bullock, Jon Bernthal, Vincent D’Onofrio, Viola Davis. A woman convicted for a violent crime serves out her sentence after which she returns home, where she is decidedly not welcome. Her only hope for redemption is in finding her estranged younger sister, whom she was forced to leave behind.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Cinemark Universal Citywalk
Rating: R (for language and violence)

COMING TO VIRTUAL CINEMA/VOD:

14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible (Monday)
Adrienne (Wednesday)
Angéle
Badland Doves (Wednesday)
Burning (Monday)
Dig Deeper: The Disappearance of Birgit Meier
DMX: Don’t Try to Understand Me (Thursday)
Dog Years
Good Thief (Tuesday)
Green Snake
Lady Buds
More the Merrier (Monday)
Nash Bridges (Saturday)
The Power of the Dog (Wednesday)
South Park: Post-COVID (Thursday)
Spoiled Brats
The Summit of the Gods (Tuesday)

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Encanto
House of Gucci
Lady Buds
The Power of the Dog
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
The Unforgivable

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Julie & Julia

Meryl Streep is the consummate actress; she’ll even kiss a crab!

(Columbia) Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, Linda Emond, Helen Carey, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Jane Lynch, Joan Juliet Buck, Frances Sternhagen, Helen Coxe, Crystal Noelle, George Bartenieff. Directed by Nora Ephron

We all occasionally look for inspiration outside of ourselves. It can come from a person, or a book of poems or a hobby. Sometimes we need something to help us find our own meaning in life.

Julia Child (Streep) is the wife of Paul (Tucci), a career diplomat. In 1949, he gets a plum assignment to the American Embassy in Paris. Her French is limited, but she falls in love with the cuisine of France where there can never be enough butter or cream. She tries to find something to fill her time, taking hat-making lessons but what really inspires her is food, so she enrolls in the prestigious French cooking school Le Cordon Bleu. Although the mistress (Buck) is skeptical of the chances of the only woman in a class full of aspiring chefs, she is a natural and quickly becomes a very skilled chef in her own right.

Julie Powell (Adams) works in a cubicle, dealing with the family of victims of 9-11. She and her husband Eric (Messina) have just moved to a loft in Queens above a pizza parlor; she feels removed from her life. She’d once had ambitions of being a writer but hadn’t been able to finish the novel she wanted to write. Stressed out and miserable, she finds solace in cooking, particularly from the recipes of Julia Child. Her husband suggests she cook all the recipes in Child’s landmark “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in a single year, a total of 524 recipes in 365 days and then blogging about it. Motivated, she agrees to do it even though initially she wonders if she’s communicating with anybody.

Meanwhile, back in the 50s, Julia has met Simone Beck (Emond) and Louisette Bertholle (Carey) at an embassy party. The two are trying to write a French cookbook for American housewives, without much success. They are having trouble relating to an American audience. They need Julia’s perspective. The three open up a cooking school, although Louisette contributes very little. Beck and Bertholle meet very little enthusiasm from American publishers, and Julia despairs as the project drags on. Only the support of her husband keeps her going.

Julie’s blog doesn’t seem to be betting much attention. The project is becoming more of an obsession, as Julie develops a kinship with the author of the cookbook. She begins to get stressed and when she fails from time to time, she has some spectacular meltdowns. Her single-mindedness has gotten to the point where her normally patient husband has walked out on her after one meltdown too many.

The two stories are told parallel to each other. Ephron weaves them together skillfully as they can be. Part of the problem is that there is a disparity between the performances of the two lead women. Streep is one of the best actresses of her generation, and she’s at the top of her game here. She captures Child’s mannerisms and personality nearly spot-on. Much of the material comes from letters written by Child herself and her husband Paul. They give insight into the couple that no biopic would normally be able to offer.

That’s not to say that Adams’ performance is bad. She’s a fine actress in her own right and she has a role here that is against type – a somewhat neurotic obsessive who has a slight streak of self-indulgence. The problem is that while Powell was an ardent admirer, her story is not nearly as interesting as Child’s. In many ways, Powell is basking in the reflected glow of Child. Adams in many ways relegated to a supporting role to Streep and I suspect she doesn’t mind too much.

Tucci and Messina have thankless tasks as the husbands. The roles of saints are inherently less interesting than those of sinners, and these husbands are definitely saints. Their patience and understanding would do Gandhi proud and while these make excellent traits in real-life husbands, they tend to make on-screen versions look like milksops.

One of the things the movie is successful in doing is portraying the satisfaction of creating a meal from scratch. It is true in our modern American society, meals have become a function more of ease and time as opposed to what they once were, a function of passion and love. We place emphasis on meals that are pre-prepared and easily heated in a microwave oven. We’ve lost the inclination to spend time preparing a meal, even one taken from a recipe. The sense of satisfaction from a well-made meal that is delicious is lost to us.

Vegans may have a difficult time watching this as various meats and fishes are shown in the process of preparation and it isn’t always a pretty picture, particularly a group of lobsters who do not go gently into that good night. French cooking relies heavily on butter and cream, and Julia Child was extremely fond of both. We have become obsessed with healthy eating in this country, which is a bit of a joke. On the one hand, we are perhaps the most obese culture in history, relying on the glories of Big Macs and Whoppers to keep our nation fed. On the other hand, we spend time eating bland, so-called healthy meals that have little soul or passion to them and are meant to be good for us but so very rarely satisfy other needs. Food isn’t merely fuel for the body; it is also something that feeds our souls. Spoken as a man who has battled weight issues his entire life, I might add.

If all you think of food is as a means to keep your body’s engine running then this movie probably doesn’t have a whole lot to say to you. If, on the other hand, food is something to be savored and enjoyed then this is the kind of film you might find inspiration in. Streep’s performance is extraordinary and well-worth seeing on its own merits.

Like any well-cooked meal, Julie & Julia takes time to savor. It’s not a typical summer release in that there are no explosions, no big laughs. Instead, it warms the soul quietly, much in the way a good casserole comforts us. It’s not spectacular, it’s nothing that is going to have fanboys twittering on the internet, but it’s a solid movie about passion – and that’s the spice of life right there.

REASONS TO GO: Once again, Meryl Streep gives an unforgettable performance. You may be inspired to cook a really great meal after seeing this.

REASONS TO STAY: Streep’s performance is so good that she overwhelms the other actors onscreen. Vegans may be put off by the preparing and cooking of meat.

FAMILY VALUES: There’s some blue language and some mild sexual situations but nothing the average teenager wouldn’t see or hear on an ordinary school day.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: In order to make the 5’6” Streep approximate the 6’2” Child, camera tricks, sets with lowered counter tops, and shorter actors were employed.

HOME OR THEATER: As much as I like this movie, I think the closer you see it to a kitchen, the better.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra