 Shoes in the Bed Productions, 2020. Just nominated for a leading FIVE Critics Choice Documentary Awards, including "Best Documentary Feature," "Mr. SOUL!" is a story about one of the most important and influential TV shows of a generation, and the man who put the soul in SOUL!.
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 Focus Features, 2020. "Come Play" continues a long-standing Hollywood tradition of releasing dumb, disposable (re: cheaply made) horror films on or around Halloween weekend. Even within a genre that often asks the viewer to suspend their disbelief near the point of exhaustion, "Come Play," stands out as a special kind of ridiculousness.
 Apple TV+, 2020. "On the Rocks" is so satisfyingly simple, that it just might be one of the most delicious films of the year.
 Amazon, 2020. There is quite simply no one doing what Sacha Baron Cohen is doing right now, and has been doing now for nearly two decades. In a world where "cancel culture" reigns supreme, Cohen's satire is as sharp and deadly as his jokes are raunchy. This is stupidity done smartly. And in "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (yes, that's the full title), he manages to find heart and humanity in a world that doesn't often reflect much of either.
Oh, and then there's that scene. No spoilers here, other than to say that part of this "moviefilm" features a very well-known American political figure doing something you absolutely won't believe...and once the film goes public, there won't be a bigger story.  Netflix, 2020. Not technically a re-make of Alfred Hitchcock's first American film in 1940, "Rebecca" is based on the same 1938 Gothic novel by Dame Daphne du Maurier. Fans of the Hitchcock movie will quickly realize that A) Director Ben Wheatley is no Alfred Hitchcock, B) Lily James is good, but is no Joan Fontaine, and C) Armie Hammer is definitely no Laurence Olivier.
So if you're familiar with the film, it will fall short as an unworthy copy of the movie you know...and for everyone else who just learned a paragraph ago about Hitchcock's version, this "Rebecca" won't register as more than an empty drama.  Intervention Media, 2020. There has been a wave of political documentaries released over the past few months as we inch closer to the 2020 election. "The Accidental President" takes a look back at the 2016 election and how exactly Donald J. Trump became the 45th President of the United States. But what makes this one in particular stand out, is that it is the rare documentary that bothers to tell its story from all angles. Whether you consider yourself on the "left" or "right," you must agree that almost no one saw Trump becoming President until he actually did.
 Neon, 2020. It didn't have to be this way.
That's the consensus from the scientific community when it comes to explaining COVID-19 and how an outbreak in China led to a global pandemic and a crippling economic disaster in the United States. In the new documentary, "Totally Under Control," we are given a thoughtful, meticulously-detailed account as to what happened and in what order, and it more than just points a finger at the Trump administration for its failures in handling the virus, as well as how it shaped information for the general public. In the doc, we hear from scientists and from former administration personnel who were in the know. Partially, this is the problem with the film...scientists aren't usually known for creating excitement or for explaining things in just a few simplified words or phrases. Match that with the absolute saturation of coronavirus news that we are all exposed to on a daily basis, and "Totally Under Control" becomes a real bummer to sit through and has trouble resonating the way it probably should. Let me explain. NETFLIX Review: 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' a star-studded courtroom drama from Aaron Sorkin10/13/2020  Netflix, 2020. Back at the 1968 Democratic Convention, anti-war protesters clashed with law enforcement over the Vietnam War. In a move that reeked of politics, several unattached and independent men were charged with conspiracy and inciting riots, despite none of them (or most of them) having ever met.
The "Trial of the Chicago 8" as it was called, received national attention and put the Vietnam War itself on public trial. In the new Netflix film, "The Trial of the Chicago 7," (streaming on October 16th), profound wordsmith, writer and director Aaron Sorkin ("The Newsroom," "West Wing," "Molly's Game") gives this dark moment in American history his usual insightful spin, mixing in humor to fill-in-the-blanks between moments of real outrage. It's a courtroom drama for sure, but what makes it special is that it's a courtroom drama from Aaron Sorkin.  101 Studios, 2020. Be careful what you wish for. Yes movie theaters in Michigan are re-opening this weekend, but you'd have to be crazy or quite desperate if you're going to take that calculated risk just to see "The War with Grandpa." It's one of the worst films of the year and one of the worst screenplays in several years.
 Warner Bros. Pictures, 2020. People have been waiting for a long time for the newest Christopher Nolan film, and that was before the pandemic. Since the pandemic, "Tenet" hype and momentum has taken on a life of its own, as it represented not only Nolan's latest feature, but as the first big-budget movie that was supposed to relaunch the movie theater industry when it opened in mid-July.
That release never happened. Neither did subsequent release announcements. With word that Nolan himself refused to let his film debut on streaming, it was finally announced that Warner Bros. was going to do something unprecedented with "Tenet"'s roll-out: It was going to bypass theaters altogether in the States and would be distributed first overseas, trickling back to the U.S. only in markets where the film could be shown properly on the big-screen. Still not seeing the wide opening it once envisioned coming, "Tenet" is finally hitting theaters here in Michigan, and will be one of the first movies that movie-goers can see when theaters re-open - at limited capacity and with social distancing measures in place - on Friday, October 9th. And while for many, the simple joy of just going to the movies again at all will outshine the substance of any film that might actually grace the screen. In the case of "Tenet," that might be a good thing, because this convoluted mess of a film is a bit of a disappointment. In normal times pre-pandemic, it might have been called a major one. |
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tom santilli movie reviews
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, TV personality, host and
the Executive Producer of Movie Show Plus.
He also is the featured film critic appearing on WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit,
and appeared weekly on FOX-2 in Detroit from 2016-2020.
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