Movies for February 2019: Shoplifters and Roma

Dean is hosting in February and the movies to see are:

Shoplifters (2018)

A family of small-time crooks take in a child they find outside in the cold.

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Writers: Hirokazu Koreeda (original story), Hirokazu Koreeda (screenplay)
Stars: Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Mayu Matsuoka

Roma (2018)

A year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Writer: Alfonso Cuarón
Stars: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey

Scores for January 2019 Films

Vice (2018)  5.36 / 10
All the President's Men (1976)  8.73 / 10

Films of Merit

About Time (2013)

Bodyguard (TV series)

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Bosch (TV series)

Burning (2018)

Casablanca (1942)

Get Me Roger Stone (2017)

If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast (2017)

Inside Out (2015)

Jane Fonda in Five Acts (2018)

Land Girls (TV series)

Mary Poppins (1964)

Patriot (TV series)

The Kominsky Method (TV series)

The Price of Everything (2018)

Trotsky (TV series)

Movies for January 2019: Vice and All the President's Men

Bill G is hosting in January. We will move the January meeting back one week to Wednesday, January 9, 2019. The movies to see are:

Vice (2018)

 The story of Dick Cheney (Christian Bale), an unassuming bureaucratic Washington insider, who quietly wielded immense power as Vice President to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today.

Director: Adam McKay

Writer: Adam McKay

Stars: Alison Pill, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Christian Bale

All the President's Men (1976)

In an attempt to impress girls, two pot-smoking hippies go after the greatest president of our lifetimes and cause him to become a drunken loon. Fortunately for the country, he eventually sobered up long enough to write a letter to Donald Trump urging him to run for political office.

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Writers: Carl Bernstein (book), Bob Woodward (book), William Goldman 

Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden

Scores for December 2018 Films

Green Book (2018):  8.30 / 10
No Pay, Nudity (2016): 5.44 / 10

Films of Merit

A Private War (2018)

Battlefish (TV series)

Blochin: Die Lebenden und die Toten (TV series)

Boardwalk Empire  (TV series)

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Crashing  (TV series)

Free Solo (2018)

In Treatment  (TV series)

Journey's End (2017)

Outlaw King (2018)

Tea with the Dames (2018)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Final Table (TV series)

The Ghosts of Highway 20 (2017)

The Kominsky Method (TV series)

The Tunnel  (TV series)

Widows (2018)

Movies for December 2018: Green Book and No Pay, Nudity

Hugh is hosting in December and the movies to see are:

Green Book (2018)

 A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.

Director: Peter Farrelly
Writers: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly
Stars: Linda Cardellini, Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali

Open November 21st at The Living Room Theatre (and likely at other locations)

No Pay, Nudity (2016)

Aging actor Lester Rosenthal (Gabriel Byrne), who has lost his way with his career, with his family, and with his friends (Nathan Lane, Frances Conroy, & Boyd Gaines) finds out that the way out is through.

Director: Lee Wilkof

Writer: Ethan Sandler

Stars: Frances Conroy, Zoe Perry, Gabriel Byrne

Currently playing on Starz. Also available on Amazon Streaming.

Scores for November 2018 Films

A Star Is Born (2018): 7.55 / 10
Leave No Trace (2018): 7.00 / 10

Films of Merit

• Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
• Chocolat (2000)
• Colette (2018)
• First Man (2018)
• Goliath (TV series)
• Julie & Julia (2009)
• Monty Python's Best Bits (mostly) 
• Nappily Ever After (2018)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
• Sommersby (1993)
• The Lady Vanishes (1938)
• Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
• Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015)
• Wind River (2017)

Movies for November 2018: Leave No Trace and A Star is Born

Steve is hosting in November and the movies to see are:

A Star Is Born (2018)

A musician helps a young singer find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

Director: Bradley Cooper
Writers: Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Eric Roth, Will Fetters, Moss Hart, John Gregory Dunne, Joan Didion, Frank Pierson, William A. Wellman, Robert Carson
Stars: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott

Leave No Trace (2018)

 A father and his thirteen year-old daughter are living an ideal existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon, when a small mistake derails their lives forever.

Director: Debra Granik

Writers: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Peter Rock

Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Ben Foster, Jeffery Rifflard

Scores for October 2018 Films

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)  6.75 / 10
BlacKkKlansman (2018)  6.11 / 10

Films of Merit

Battlefish (TV series)

Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking (2010)

Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (2015)

If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast (2017)

No Man's Land (2018)

Ozark (TV series)

Parks and Recreation (TV series)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (TV series)
The Promise (2016)
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003)

Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past (2016)

Movies for October 2018: BlacKkKlansman and Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Carl is hosting for October and the movies to see are:

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

An exploration of the life, lessons, and legacy of iconic children's television host, Fred Rogers.

Director: Morgan Neville
Stars: Joanne Rogers, Betty Aberlin, David Bianculli

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer from Colorado, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white surrogate, who eventually becomes head of the local branch.

Director: Spike Lee
Writers: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee, Ron Stallworth
Stars: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier

Scores for September 2018 Films

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World (2017) 7.86 / 10

Festival Express (2003)  6.85 / 10

Films of Merit

Amish Mafia (TV series)

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Crossfire Hurricane (2012)

Juliet, Naked (2018)

Operation Finale (2018)

Ozark (TV series)

The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke with Paul McCartney (YouTube)

Vikings  (TV series)

Live Theater

OSF: Henry V

OSF: Oklahoma!

OSF: Snow in Midsummer

Movies for September: Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World (2017) and Festival Express (2003)

Don is hosting in September and the movies to see are:

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World (2017)

Feature documentary about the role of Native Americans in popular music history.

Directors: Catherine Bainbridge, Alfonso Maiorana (co-director)
Writers: Catherine Bainbridge, Alfonso Maiorana
Stars: Apl.de.Ap, Dan Auerbach, Scott Barretta

Festival Express (2003)

The filmed account of a large Canadian rock festival train tour boasting major acts like Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and The Band.

Directors: Bob Smeaton, Frank Cvitanovich

Stars: Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, The Band 

Scores for August 2018 Films

Get Out (2017)  5.5 / 10

The Rider (2017) 8.78 / 10

Films of Merit

• Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018)
• Omnibus (TV series, episodes starring Leonard Bernstein)
• Ready Player One (2018)
• The Cakemaker (2017)
• The Deuce (TV series)
• Trumbo (2015)
• Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

August 2018 Meeting Notes

John C hosted in August and the movies to see were:

Get Out (2017) and The Rider (2017)

Scores for July 2018 Films

Training Day (2001) – 6.00 / 10
First Reformed (2017) – 7.67 / 10

Films of Merit

• Dark Money (2018)
• Goliath (TV series)
• Hostiles (2017)
• Journey's End (2017)
• Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005)
• Pati's Mexican Table (TV series)
• The Merry Gentleman (2008)

Movies for July 2018: First Reformed and Training Day

John C is hosting in July and the movies to see are:

First Reformed (2017) 

A priest of a small congregation in upstate New York grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past.

Director: Paul Schrader
Writer: Paul Schrader
Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Ethan Hawke, Cedric the Entertainer

Training Day (2001)

On his first day on the job as a Los Angeles narcotics officer, a rookie cop goes beyond a full work day in training within the narcotics division of the LAPD with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears to be.

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Writer: David Ayer

Stars: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn

Scores for June 2018 Films

On the Waterfront (1954)  7.78 / 10

Taxi Driver (1976)   7.74 / 10

Films of Merit

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Alone in Berlin (2016)
• City Hall (1996)
• Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)
• Dancing on the Edge (TV series)
• Itzhak (2017)
• Kodachrome (2017)
• Long Strange Trip (2017)
• Pie in the Sky (TV series)
• Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
• Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (2018)
• Stop Making Sense (1984)
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
• The Commander (2003)
• The Handmaiden (2016)
• Three Days of the Condor (1975)
• Water & Power: A California Heist (2017)

Place to visit: Hollywood Heritage Museum