After the annual flurry of terrific movies released during the holidays, there's a virtual dearth of good ones opening by the first Tuesday of February. So, with apologies to any club member who's already seen it, I chose a movie that opened a week or so ago for our February pick.
It is The Founder, for which star Michael Keaton is (as usual) drawing rave reviews. He plays Ray Kroc, the oddball whose epiphany about what a game-changer fast food franchising could be, turned a tiny business into a global behemoth.
We'll be seeing The Founder at the Yonge/Dundas Cineplex for the 1:45 screening - meaning that, as always, we'll try to gather near the box office about 20 minutes earlier. Those who wish to nosh & natter after seeing the film will do so at Spring Rolls.
SYNOPSIS: The true story of how Ray Kroc (Keaton), a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers' speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX2uz2XYkbo
REVIEWS:
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/peter-travers-the-founder-movie-review-w455928
http://observer.com/2017/01/the-founder-review-michael-keaton-rex-reed/
If you've waited to see La La Land, which is being called a "musical masterpiece" that hearkens back to those wonderful all-dancing all-singing films so many of us love, your reward is to see it with your fellow Movie Club members.
We'll do so on Tuesday, January 10, at the Yonge/Dundas Cineplex for the 1:20 screening (meeting, as always, near the box office about 20 minutes earlier). Here are the deets about a flick that's being touted for Oscar gold this year.
SYNOPSIS: Director Damien Chazelle, who made his first big splash with Whiplash, has his characters "dare to swoon the old-fashioned way," as Variety's review described the movie.
“La La Land,” the review goes on to say, "is set in contemporary Los Angeles, but its heart and soul are rooted in the past, and so are its characters: Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a sleek jazz pianist in silk ties who’s a cranky purist about what he listens to, what he plays, and where he plays it, and Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress and playwright who’s deep into the magic of the old movie stars, though she’s a tad less obsessive about her fixation.
"She works as a barista on the Warner Bros. lot and is always cutting out of work to get to auditions; if one of them ever resulted in her landing an acting job, she’d probably be ecstatic no matter what it was. These two meet, scuffle, and fall in love, and they do it through a series of song-and-dance numbers, composed by Justin Hurwitz (the lyrics are by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul), that are tenderly shocking in their catchy anachronistic beauty. The film’s score is such a melodious achievement that there are moments it evokes the bittersweet majesty of George Gershwin." You can read the entire Variety review at: http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/la-la-land-review-venice-ryan-gosling-emma-stone-1201846576/.
TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pdqf4P9MB8
