What to Watch This Weekend: Shoplifters of the World, Truffle Hunters, Nobody, The Arbors, Blood Moon, News of the World, Soul, Boogie

For A Rebellious Music-Filled Night: Shopkeepers of the World (Theaters and Digital)
Shoplifters of the World is a musical journey through the Smith's discography, fueled by this rebellious soundtrack and the dreams, disappointments, and angst of youth.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Action-Filled John Wick-like: Nobody (Theaters)

Nobody is a middle class, family man John Wick, with high energy and varied action, a mysterious story, and an epic, final fightsravaganza.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Sumptuous and Fulfilling Documentary: The Truffle Hunters (Theaters)

The Truffle Hunters chronicles this unique business and its wonderful participants with sumptuous shots that let you fully savor the joy and traditions of this lifestyle.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Psychological, Dramatic Creature Feature: The Arbors (Digital)

The Arbors uses its wonderfully unsettling atmosphere, camera work, and unconventional story to deliver a more dramatic, psychological take on the creature feature.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Slow Burn Horror Film: Into the Dark: Blood Moon (Hulu)

Into the Dark: Blood Moon's measured, interesting, and mysterious story and great characters will leave a full moon-sized impression on you.  For more information, check out the review!

For Some Additional March Madness: Boogie (Theaters and Digital)
Boogie scores some easy points with its realistic setting and wonderful characters and uses sports to explore issues of race, dreams, and realities.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Simpler Time: News of the World (Redbox)
News of the World shows the power of information and connection in a unique western setting, delivering a wonderful performance by Zengel and two hours of signature Tom Hanks!  For more information, check out the review!

For One Some Amazing Animation And Music: Soul (Redbox)

Soul will reinvigorate your heart and soul, with its stunning animation, wonderfully diverse characters and focus on black culture, and humorous and heartfelt story.  For more information, check out the review!

What to Watch This Weekend: News of the World, Promising Young Woman, Sylvie's Love, Love Me, Soul, Twentieth Century, Dora, Photograph

We have a special Holiday-themed What to Watch with suggestions for streaming movies so you can stay in, stay warm, and avoid the cold.  Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday season!

For A Simpler Time: News of the World (Theaters)
News of the World shows the power of information and connection in a unique western setting, delivering a wonderful performance by Zengel and two hours of signature Tom Hanks!  For more information, check out the review!

For A Powerful And Darkly Comedic Story: Promising Young Woman (Theaters)
Promising Young Woman tells a dark tale with an amazingly bright style, sharp unapologetic writing, and painful lessons that will stay with you well after the credits roll.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Throw Back Jazz Love Story: Sylvie's Love (Amazon)

Sylvie's Love feels like a blend of modern sensibilities and a old time charm, with fantastic performances, wonderful music, and a striking classic film style.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Intricate And Intimate Romance Series: Love Me (Topic)

Love Me is a smart, realistic, and funny series about love and relationships that will touch both your funny bone and your heart.  For more information, check out the review!

For One Some Amazing Animation And Music: Soul (Disney+)

Soul will reinvigorate your heart and soul, with its stunning animation, wonderfully diverse characters and focus on black culture, and humorous and heartfelt story.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Ridiculous, Over The Top Experience: The Twentieth Century (Digital)
The Twentieth Century is so wonderfully different and strange that you will laugh and cringe at the odd characters, technicolor style, and biting satire.  For more information, check out the review!

For The Kids: Dora And The Lost City Of Gold (Amazon)
The live action movie based on the very popular animated kids show was a surprisingly good film, with a funny cast, plenty of Dora easter eggs, and an exciting story that will entertain young and older viewers. 

For A Love Story That Spans Time: The Photograph (HBO)

The Photograph provides a fresh romantic drama, with realistic characters in a modern story layered with an amazing jazz and hip-hop soundtrack and believable dialog.  For more information, check out the review!

Watch or Pass's Top 10 Movies of 2020: Weathering With You, Onward, All About Who You Know, The High Note, Host, Emma, Fishbowl, Sword of God, Gutterbug, Soul

2020 has been a unique year and one that has brought lots of hardship and challenges, but also some titanic changes in the movie industry.  With theaters essentially closed this year, the risse of digital distribution and indie films filled the void that theaters used to fill.  Here are my top 10 movies I saw this year. 

Weathering With You
My absolute favorite movie of this year!  It came out right at the start of 2020 but was such an amazingly beautiful, heartfelt animated film that it stuck with me all year.  It is absolutely the film I watched the most in 2020 and its lessons about burdening future generations is an important one.  For more information, check out the review!

Onward
One of the first casualties of theaters closing, Onward opened at the absolute worst time and led to an early Disney+ release.  It ushered in a more digital focus for releases and led to hours and hours of entertainment for kids and adults stuck at home.  And as a nerd, the fantasy modern setting and wonderfully heartfelt and heart wrenching story cast a spell over me from the first time I saw it.  For more information, check out the review!

Emma

What a wonderful burst of color right before the pandemic started.  Emma was a wonderful retelling of the Jane Austin classic with some amazing performances and a confident costume design that brought the story to life.  It was an enjoyable film even if you have no experience with the story and had an absolute charm that brought a smile to my face throughout.  For more information, check out the review!

All About Who You Know

This wonderful film was the first indie I saw this year to knock my socks off.  In a year that saw a huge uptick in indie films, this movie was such a refreshingly different love story that I had to take notice.  The characters, the writing, the acting, and the overall anit-Hollywood take on romantic films was so much fun to see and has held up on repeated viewings.  For more information, check out the review!

The High Note

This film had the combination of wonderful characters, performances, and some truly amazing music.  A chance for Tracie Ellis Ross to show that she is both an amazingly funny actor and wonderful singer, this film had so much heart and a soundtrack that I listened to for months after the film was over.  For more information, check out the review!

Host

No film captured the pandemic quite like Host.  A film that was filmed completely during the early months of lockdown, Host showed what could be done even without the ability for people to gather on a set.  Filmed completely remotely, the movie had an amazingly modern take on life because it was filmed during that time.  The references were timely and the effects were still exciting and scary.  For more information, check out the review!

Fishbowl

Few movies this year spoke to me like this one did.  From the wonderful shot choice and fantastic characters, to the focus on small town and religious angst, this movie touched on some weighty topics with a dramatic and sometimes darkly comedic style.  The film is a special one and so smartly done.  It is a master of telling you about the story without overtly saying it, and the iconography and cinematography are truly amazing.  For more information, check out the review!

Sword of God

I called this a devoutly atmospheric masterpiece and I stick by it.  The movie has a horror aesthetic that is more primal than supernatural, but it just does everything so well.  It has a smart use of colors to really make the intense scene pop, and a story that evolves slowly as you learn more and more about this situation.  And the sets and costumes are perfectly done, completely transporting you to this unsettling medieval village.  For more information, check out the review!

Gutterbug

What a high energy film about mental illness and youthful rebellion, Gutterbug is fueled by an amazing performance by Andrew Yackel and a confident filmmaking that belies the indie nature of this film.  And underneath this all, it tells a very human story about many of societies vices and issues, and the trouble with coming to terms with your choices and changing your life.  For more information, check out the review!

Soul

What a way to close out the year.  In a year filled with so much uncertainty, we were given a hopeful, beautiful film about finding your purpose in life.  And it also marked a milestone being Pixar's first film with a black lead character and a wonderful animated portrayal of black culture.  But it also showed the beauty in the world, for a year with so much ugliness just stopping to appreciate what is around you and our short time on Earth is a gift in itself.  For more information, check out the review!

Soul Review: A Heartfelt and Soulful Animated Film

Release date: December 25, 2020
Running time: 100 minutes
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton 
Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
Writers: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers, Mike Jones

A musician who has lost his passion for music, Joe (Foxx), is transported out of his body and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul, 22 (Fey), learning about herself.  As the two explore life and living, Joe learns to see his life through the eyes of this soul and gets a better appreciation of his own existence.  

Disney surprised everyone by releasing Soul on Disney+ on Christmas day, rather than continue to delay it and deal with the uncertainty of movie theaters.  And what a great decision that was.  Soul is a Pixar film, so you already know that the animation will be absolutely stunning.  And it really is.  The film takes place partially in New York City and partially in the great beyond, and both are amazingly animated.  New York has bustling crowds, lights, and urban sprawl that looks perfect on the screen.  And the afterlife has bright colors, very different crowds, and some amazingly trippy effects that will take your breath away.  The afterlife has influences from art, other movies dealing with the afterlife, and some of Pixar's own whimsical nature.  But it is the New York scenes that are particularly interesting because they are accurate representations of New York, but also put it in its best light.  The city is beautifully rendered and the film really brings out some of the inner beauty of the city that can be missed in the day to day life.  

And along with the beautiful animation, the cast is wonderful.  Foxx and Fey are the stars and the highlights, and their interactions are natural and pure joy.  It is fun hearing their banter and seeing them both discover more about their characters as the film progresses.  But the movie has plenty of wonderful supporting characters in this journey too, ones that add diversity and heart to the film.  From some of Joe's students, to other musicians, to members of the great beyond, the whole film is wonderfully and enthusiastically voiced.  And speaking of the cast and the characters, Soul is Pixar's first film with a black protagonist, and the movie definitely dives feet first into diversity and inclusion.  The animated film has many prominent black members and has an emphasis on black culture and jazz music.  You can tell the care that was taken with this film in both the natural references and the number of creative and cultural consultants listed in the credits.  There are also prominent characters from a variety of races and cultures, but it is the care and natural inclusion of black culture in this film should be applauded.  

And as the film focuses on a hopeful jazz musician, it makes sense that jazz music is prominently and wonderfully featured.  There are so many great jazz numbers throughout that will make you tap your foot.  And the music accentuates both the performances where it is featured, but also when it is used to help keep the action moving and exciting.  And the story of Soul is one that will invigorate your own heart and soul.  As Pixar always does, it has some wonderful lessons about life and living it to the fullest.  There are some very heartfelt moments, along with some painful ones, but overall you get a film that will help you love the little things about our time on this rock.  There are so many small touches to appreciate, observations about life, funny little jokes that come naturally in films from this studio, and some important life lessons.  And through it all you will be amazed at another soulful hit from this amazing animation studio.

Soul will reinvigorate your heart and soul, with its stunning animation, wonderfully diverse characters and focus on black culture, and humorous and heartfelt story.  

Watch it.

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following us on our various social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.   Soul Premieres on Disney+ on Friday, December 25.

News: Disney Pixar's Soul Moves To Disney Plus Christmas Release, No Premium Payment Required

Disney Pixar's next movie, Soul, was supposed to have a November release before the coronavirus disrupted theaters across America.  Now, Disney will be releasing that movie on Disney Plus on Christmas day, giving all families a nice holiday surprise.  And unlike Disney's last Disney Plus release Mulan, this one will be free to all Disney Plus members.