Monday Moments - Pure Imagination

Greetings - Enjoyed  Wonka on the big screen during  the Christmas holidays. It's a prequel to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story (by Roald Dahl), and it is amusing. I think I liked it more than Ray. 

Timothee Chalamet plays Willy Wonka with a wide eyed wonder. He does a very good job  and has a pleasant light voice for the musical numbers. He plays delicate, sensitive, and innocent well. Armed with mad chocolate skills he learned  from his late mother, he's ready to become a real chocolatier. 

 However, the secret cartel of chocolate makers will do anything to stop Willy. With perseverance, pluck, and clever friends plus an Oompa Loompa (hilarious Hugh Grant), Willy is wily and surprises await. 

Wonka is colorful and very entertaining for big screen viewing. It's different in a good way, and yes, I wanted some magic truffles at the end. 

Movie Review Madness - Florence Foster Jenkins

1944 New York City.  Florence Foster Jenkins ( the always talented Meryl Streep) is a wealthy socialite who once played the piano at the White House as a child. Now she’d like to get back into “her music”. Her husband St.Clair Bayfield ( the ever charming Hugh Grant) arranges everything – a famous voice teacher, a new pianist Cosme McMoon (funny Simon Helberg), payoffs to the newspapers, small friends-only dinner party/concerts. Money buys discretion because Florence can’t sing. Truly awful – flat, pitchy, and laughable.

But….but this is a true story and it’s about how Florence Foster Jenkins sang at Carnegie Hall. This is a small movie with a big heart. Florence did a great deal for music in NYC during WWII. She supported the troops and the arts. She was ill (you’ll find out more as the movie progresses) and yet she rallied when performing. She loved and embraced music and the movie deals with how folks came to embrace her. Florence Foster Jenkins is a movie with low key charm that shines through. Its humor is pleasant. You’ll laugh out loud when Florence first opens her mouth, but you’ll come to root for her by the end. Great acting, rich sets, and a nifty old fashioned tale.

Sing loud, sing proud!

Movie Review: The Man From U.N.C.L.E

The Man From U.N.C.L.E  movie revels in the 1960s glory days of the Cold War. It was a popular television show that perhaps should have stayed on the small screen. Audiences are not embracing it, but I think you’ll be amused if you wait for DVD or streaming. Henry Cavill is Napoleon Solo, the oh so slick American agent. Armie Hammer is the stoic Russian spy. The two are first seen trying to kill each other in a mission. Then they find they are being assigned to work together to keep a nuke out of the hands of evildoers. Their key is Alicia Vikander, the daughter of a famous physicist who’s being held captive.  

Stylish clothes, stylish digs, fancy travel, and old fashioned teamwork keep the plot moving along. Then there’s an appearance by Hugh Grant as a British spy coordinator. His bumbling graciousness adds class to the project. The movie is very light and rather silly, but that’s okay. It pales next to Mission Impossible, but that’s okay. If you don’t want to think too hard, The Man From U.N.C.L.E is okay.