KatzSmith Productions, Lin Pictures, New Line Cinema,

Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor

All of the “Loser’s Club” of Derry, Maine have grown up and moved away except for Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) who has stayed in Derry. Mysteriously (at least to me) they have all forgotten about the things that happened, but Mike remembers and has been studying the weird happenings. But suddenly, on queue, 27 years later, young people are beginning to disappear again, and it appears Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) has returned on schedule. Mike calls every one of the childhood friends and asks them to return to Derry to fight Pennywise once again. All but one return, and the terror of their childhood returns.

This is a sequel to the earlier IT movie from 2017 which was a remake of the original. This is a LONG, LONG movie, the longest horror movie to receive a regular release. In many ways it was interesting to watch, but it did seem to go on and on and on. The horror of the first film wasn’t really there this time, and it was more about the Loser’s Club members crying over how hard their lives have been and how much they want to go back home. Pennywise is hardly in the 3 hours of this film, and when he is, he’s not near as frightening as he once was. We have to sit though all the angst of the characters one by one as they self reflect and try to remember the past and how they screwed up both back then and today in their lives. It’s a psychological drama piece more than a horror film. And did it say it goes on and on and on? I was rather disappointed in this sequel and really feel like it wasn’t necessary to make this. It seems a lot self serving for the author and the producers to do this, and it seems like they pushed the cash cow a bit too far. I wasn’t really impressed with it and can’t really recommend it. I mean, if you watch a lot of movies, and have the time to spend on this thing then it’s probably worth it to see how the story progresses, but I don’t feel like it was really that good to invest the time into this. I would suggest you just skip it, unless you’re really interested, or really bored, either one.

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Scion Films, Czech Anglo Productions, LD Entertainment,

Jessica Chastain, Daniel Brühl, Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton

Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina Zabinski (Jessica Chastain) and their son Ryszard (Val Maloku) are a happy family running the Warsaw Zoo, a popular attraction in the capitol of Poland. But when the Nazi’s came in, the zoo was nearly destroyed by the attack and the Jewish Poles are being rounded up and sent to the Warsaw slums until the Nazi’s can figure out what to do with them. Meanwhile, since the zoo is gone, the Zabinski’s develop a plan to turn the old zoo into a pig farm to provide food for the army, but only as a cover to the real plan of storing as many Jewish refugees, especially children, in the basement of their home. This is a true story of how the Zabinski Family was able to save over 300 Jewish people from certain death in the prison camps.

This is a touching and unique holocaust story, since it is centered in Poland where much of the hate and carnage took place throughout most of the war. It is a gray and dreary look at the place, and the beautiful party in the beginning is a stark contrast to the horrible conditions at the end. The sets are spectacularly done, and the horrors of the time is always in our faces as we can feel the real fear and terror in the faces of these kids who had to struggle to be alive. Everyone did a good job here, and I felt it was very well made and told the true story very well. In the first part of the film, there is a wide variety of animals in the zoo, and when the attack came and the destruction came to the zoo, many of the wild animals got away. Every animal in the movie is real. There was no CGI used at all. The director said that the original film was 3 1/2 hours long, and since they needed to cut it down to two hours, an hour and a half had to be cut. All in all, they put together a really good story, based on the diary that has never been published, it is a touching story that will help you understand how a single person can really make a difference.

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Transfilm, Archery Pictures, Canal+ Distribution,

Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alison Pill, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jake Lacy, John Lithgow, Sam Waterston

Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) is a Washington D.C. power lobbyist who is the best in the business. Everyone wants to work with her, but this time she’s taking on a gun control bill and is facing an uphill battle which may turn out to be the biggest in her career. She’s set on winning at any price, but the price may be too high as she may destroy herself along with lots of good friends along the way in this look at the lobbying profession and the special interests and corruption at the highest levels of government.

This movie brings out all kinds of opinions from the folks that see it. That’s one of the good things about it. This is about lobbying and political blackmail, and though it’s revolving around a particular gun control bill, it’s not about gun control, really. With stunning dramatic scenes and courtroom scenes as the attempt to bring Elizabeth down once and for all, it makes for a very exiting film right out of the pages of the newspapers. From the sly back deals that cost us millions as the Democrats bought votes for ObamaCare, to the corruption in California where Governor Jerry Brown just did completely illegal on the side pork barrel deals worth a billion dollars or more to get enough votes to increase gasoline taxes by nearly a half a buck a gallon and a new car registration fee of about 50 bucks a year on every car registration to help raise money to pay the government pension deals that we are being sunk by. In California it’s completely illegal to offer bribes or funding to influence the vote of a legislator, yet it was very publicly done. The final vote waas acquired by convincing a Republican legislator who is being termed out a deal to protect the business he is going back to getting him to break ranks and vote for this devastating bill that cannot be overturned by a referendum. That’s the kind of thing this movie is about, and it’s a good look at the bribery, blackmail, and much worse that goes on in the lobby business every day. For that reason, I found it an interesting film, but even without that, there is very good dramatic and suspenseful story going on as well, even if you are not interesting in the lobbying stuff. Especially the courtroom scene that comes in the last part of the story is very well done. This is a role that was built for Jessica Chastain, and with a whole crew of backup actors who also perform very smartly, this is a very well told story and probably worth watching. It’s quite a change of pace from the usual stuff, and interesting to watch.

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Roth Films, Universal Pictures,

Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, Nick Frost, Sam Claflin, Rob Brydon

Long before Snow White the kingdoms were run by the evil queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) and her sister Freya (Emily Blunt). Freya was in love, but was betrayed and she become bitter and hateful. Her powers arrived and she had the abilities of snow and ice, and headed out to the North to find her own kingdom. Her soldiers would conquer the other kingdoms and bring the young people to her ice castle in the North where she trained them to be her army while outlawing love. But a young huntsman Eric (Chris Hemsworth), the best male warrior and Sara (Jessica Chastain) the greatest female warrior fell in love and found themselves banished while the sisters set out to conquer the whole land and each other in an all out war.

This is such a very well done film. The actors, all four leads, are all extremely accomplished actors in their own right, but together they make an assemblage that is spectacular to watch. The special effects are fantastic, and there’s humor (especially with a group of dwarfs the join the heroes to fight the war) and lots of action in the battle scenes. The settings are breathtaking, including the snow and ice effects and such. The story is very strong and a very fitting prequel to the fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was a really well done film and one of the best I have seen in a long time. Along with Disney’s Jungle Book, this is a very stunning time for feature films. Be sure to see both of these two films. This was a great experience, and this is one of those films you got to see on a big screen. This is what is best about going to theater. You can’t help but enjoy a night out for a blockbuster experience like this. Be sure not to miss it!

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Legendary Pictures,

Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Charlie Hunnam

Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) is an aspiring writer who lives with her single father. When she meets Baronet Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), and his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain), who are visiting her father to sell an idea for a machine to mine clay to make bricks, Edith is quickly swept off her feet. But when a family tragedy occurs suddenly, Edith quickly marries Thomas and heads off to Europe to her new home. But as soon as she arrives to this creepy falling down wreck of a house which is surely haunted, she quickly learns that not only does the house harbor dark and sinister secrets, but her husband and his sister also have some things they are hiding in this very creepy Gothic horror story.

This is a very, very well done horror film. I cannot say enough good things about it. The sets are stunningly horrible, and the idea of the house being a major character is absolutely true in this case. Mia is excellent as Edith Cushing, and does a wonderful job of playing the wannabe writer and innocent young bride who has to fight to survive when it all goes awry very quickly. The story is extremely well written, as if this is a old classic Gothic novel, but actually Del Toro wrote the screenplay and it’s a brand new story. I have heard that someone is currently busy writing the novel, but as a brand new story, it does, as I said, have the feel of a classic tale, with modern style blood and gore. The gory parts are not the main focus of the film, though, as it’s a classical horror tale where what you don’t see is as horrible as what you do see. Though not absolutely perfect (I thought the ghosts were silly), it’s one of the best horror films I’ve seen in a long time, and I highly recommend this for horror fans everywhere!

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