Review: ‘Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It’
A Documentary Of A Celebrated And Beloved Actor That Still Inspires To This Day

By
Jen Pourreza
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Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It is a documentary film highlighting aspects of Rita Moreno’s glamorous life as a leading heroine in Hollywood. She discusses the good, bad, and the ugly of when she was often overlooked, objectified, and sexualized in the early stages of her era. Her career of acting, singing, and dancing spans over 70+ years despite the ignorance and cruelty faced. Rita is still going strong as a pleasurable force to be reckoned with. Directed by Mariem Pérez Riera and an all-star cast of co-workers, friends and family, and people who Rita has inspired includes George Chakiris, Héctor Elizondo, Gloria Estefan, Tom Fontana, Morgan Freeman, Mitzi Gaynor, Whoopi Goldberg, Norman Lear, Eva Longoria, Justina Machado, Terrence McNally, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Karen Olivo just to name a few.

Moreno recounts her childhood memories of having been born into poverty on a Puerto Rican farm. Spending most of her time outside, she hardly wore shoes at all. One of her favorite memories is of all the local mothers hand washing laundry at the closest river. They talked gossip while their children played in the water. For Rita, these were happy and humble times. Even cherishing memories of her younger brother from whom she would never see again. Her parents divorced when she was 5 years old. Rita and her mother decided to leave Puerto Rico to look for work. They took the long and uncomfortable journey on a beat up clunker of a ship, and immigrated to the states.

Rita Moreno and her seamstress mother finally settle in New York City. It is here she discovers her love for dance. Not only was it therapeutic for her but it solidified her goal of fulfilling a life of entertaining people. A chance encounter changed her life completely when the opportunity presented itself to star in Hollywood films. Donning her best “Elizabeth Taylor” look (for whom she idolized at the time) and instantly impresses the representative. Her door to Hollywood opens. Unfortunately, studios would only cast Moreno as any ethnic minority such as Polynesian, Native American, or Egyptian. Painting her skin tone to the role that needed filled. Her growing frustration of relentless encounters of sexism and racism took a toll on her physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It illuminates the humor and grace of Moreno. She respectively bears all the struggles faced on her path to stardom. When she wasn’t a target of sexism and abuse, Rita would suffer long term bouts of depression. Most of her roller coaster turmoil stemmed from her on again, off again and toxic relationship with Marlon Brando. She suffered a botched abortion and after nearly 10 years of keeping their unhealthy relationship relatively discreet, it eventually lead to exploding onscreen. Feeling at her lowest point, Rita attempted to take her own life. The aftermath of this experience left her stronger and more determined to not take anymore bullshit from anyone else ever again. She is 100% a woman of her word!

Rita Moreno has become a celebrated and beloved, award winning actor of our time. Despite becoming the first Latina actress to win an Academy Award for her role as Anita in “West Side Story” (1961), the studios continued to offer Moreno lesser roles as stereotypical ethnic minorities, ignoring her proven talent. Her raw, natural flair and resilience triumphed over adversity. She broke barriers, fought for representation and forged the path for new generations of artists. Her power and tenacity further earned her the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) Awards. Rita Moreno is a total badass!!

Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It will play in theaters June 18th.

‘The Toxic Avenger’ Officially Casts Elijah Wood And Julia Davis

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June 18, 2021

So it’s now official: Elijah Wood is part of Legendary’s upcoming Toxic Avenger reboot. There had been a little bit of confusion about his casting. First reported as the villain, that was dismissed when Kevin Bacon signed on to that role. Wood is now on board, but playing a different character altogether.

Deadline confirms the news of Wood’s casting, joined by BAFTA Award-winning Sally4Ever creator Julia Davis. The film stars Peter Dinklage as a struggling everyman who gets dumped into a vat of toxic waste, only to emerge mutated and with superhuman abilities, which he uses to combat environmental enemies. Also in the cast are Jacob Tremblay and Taylour Paige.

Wood gets to reunite with director Macon Blair, who he worked with on the latter’s feature debut, I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore. Davis’ last film role was in wrestling comedy Fighting with My Family.

‘John Wick 4’ Adds ‘The Wolverine’ And ‘ Mortal Kombat’ Star Hiroyuki Sanada

By

Travis Hopson

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June 18, 2021

There are some actors who might not be huge names, and occasionally you forget about them, but every time they show up they steal the show. Hiroyuki Sanada is one of those actors for me. The Mortal Kombat and Sunshine star is now joining Keanu Reeves in the already-stacked cast of John Wick: Chapter 4, and given the depth of screen fighters in the cast I’m expecting a lot more fisticuffs this time around.

Sanada’s role is unclear at this point, but we know he’ll come face-to-face with Reeves’ titular assassin. He joins a cast that includes Donnie Yen, Rina Sawayama, Bill Skarsgard, and Shamier Anderson. The film will once again be directed by Chad Stahelski from a Shay Hatten and Michael Finch.

Lionsgate has set a May 27th 2022 release date.

“Having long admired Hiroyuki as both actor and action performer, I’m thrilled and honored to welcome him to the John Wick family,” Stahelski said in a statement to Deadline.

Most recently, Sanada played a key role in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. He’s also starred in The Wolverine, Speed Racer, and got his ass gutted by Ronin in Avengers: Endgame. Dude is a beast and I can’t wait to see him reunite with Reeves, who he co-starred with in 47 Ronin.

Review: ‘Take Back’
Gillian White's Charisma Highlights A Middling Action Flick With A Cartoonish Mickey Rourke

By
Travis Hopson
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As the landscape for female action stars gets steadily more competitive, it’s always exciting to see a brand new face enter the picture. Gillian White, wife of fan-favorite actor Michael Jai White, gets her moment to shine in Take Back. White is by far the most impressive aspect of a thriller that starts off hot, then cools down to such a degree that it never quite recovers, despite the presence of a lethal Michael Jai and a scummy, leather-faced Mickey Rourke.

Gillian kicks ass in the role of Zara, a small-town lawyer with a deep, dark secret. She’s married to her sensitive husband and martial arts dojo partner Brian (Michael Jai White), who seems to have come to accept Zara’s troubled past. Their quiet life goes up in smoke when Zara becomes an instant celeb after beating down a criminal at a coffee shop. Turns out, the perp was part of a sex trafficking ring led by Patrick (Rourke), a murderous, chihuahua-stroking terror from Zara’s past.

It’s easy to see the potential in Gillian White as an action star. Her physicality and intensity matches that of her husband’s past peformances. Together, they’d make quite a lethal team and hopefully the movie comes around that allows them to do that. Take Back isn’t that film, however. The plot grinds to a halt right around the time when it should be heating up, mainly because of the slow teasing of Zara’s backstory, which we’ve long since figured out by then. Director Christian Sesna and screenwriter Zach Zerries use the real-world issue of sex trafficking as reason to be overly serious, contradicted by Rourke’s cartoonish villainy.

While it’s not often I comment on production values, the limited budget does the film no favors, resulting in a very condensed style of filmmaking that is a distraction. Take Back still manages to be somewhat entertaining as a fresh introduction to Gillian White as possible genre fixture, and if we’re lucky this film will just be a footnote in her career.

Take Back is available now in select theaters and VOD.

‘Throw It Back’: Tiffany Haddish And Paul Feig Teaming Up For Musical Dance Comedy

By

Travis Hopson

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June 18, 2021

This is an interesting pairing that I hope leads to another movie in the future. Deadline reports Paul Feig and Tiffany Haddish are teaming up for musical dance dramedy Throw It Back, which will star The Lion King voice actress Shahadi Wright Joseph.

The film will find Feig and Haddish as producers, with the latter also taking a supporting role. Joseph, who also stars in the Amazon horror series Them, will play “Wytrell, a high school senior who has never stood out from the crowd. After a controversial superstar Miami rapper decides to feature the renowned dance team from her high school in his latest music video, it throws the school into chaos, and Wytrell battles for a spot on the squad and her final chance to be in the spotlight.”

Behind the camera is music video director Shadae Lamar Smith in his feature debut. He also co-wrote the script with Rochée Jeffrey, known for his work on the Hulu series Woke which was recently renewed for a second season.

Feig is currently shooting The School for Good and Evil. His most recent film was 2019’s holiday rom-com Last Christmas. Haddish was seen earlier this year in Here Today opposite Billy Crystal, and has wrapped shooting on Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter.

Scarlett Johansson On Black Widow Being Treated “Like A Piece Of Ass” In Her ‘Iron Man 2’ Debut

By

Travis Hopson

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June 17, 2021

In a way the timing of Black Widow‘s arrival is fortuitous. The long wait endured by fans, who have been calling for Marvel to give Scarlett Johansson her own movie for years, finds the hero at a much better place than she was back in 2010 during her Iron Man 2 debut. How so? Well, the character was portrayed quite differently back then.

To be fair, Natasha Romanoff was undercover as eye candy, designed to catch the eye of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and others, so the idea made sense. It’s something the Russian spy has done often in the pages of Marvel Comics. But looking back on it now, and all of the changes to the way women are portrayed on the big screen, it looks pretty bad. Looking back on it now, Johansson regrets the way Natasha was depicted, but is happy with the way the character has evolved. Here are her comments at a press roundtable captured by Collider…

“Obviously, 10 years have passed [since ‘Iron Man 2’] and things have happened and I have a much different, more evolved understanding of myself. As a woman, I’m in a different place in my life, you know? And I felt more forgiving of myself, as a woman, and not — sometimes probably not enough. I’m more accepting of myself, I think. All of that is related to that move away from the kind of hyper-sexualization of this character and, I mean, you look back at ‘Iron Man 2’ and while it was really fun and had a lot of great moments in it, the character is so sexualized, you know? Really talked about like she’s a piece of something, like a possession or a thing or whatever — like a piece of ass, really.”

She added, “Yeah, and at one point [Tony Stark] calls her a piece of meat and maybe at that time that actually felt like a compliment. You know what I mean? Because my thinking was different. Maybe I even would have, you know, my own self-worth was probably measured against that type of comment or, like a lot of young women, you come into your own and you understand your own self-worth. It’s changing now. Now people, young girls, are getting a much more positive message, but it’s been incredible to be a part of that shift and be able to come out the other side and be a part of that old story, but also progress. Evolve. I think it’s pretty cool.”

Marvel has definitely taken steps to give their female heroes more agency and focus less on their sex appeal. Black Widow, which finds Natasha taking on her complicated past, is the result of that and is getting terrific reviews from those who’ve already seen it.

Black Widow opens in theaters and Disney+ Premier Access on July 9th!

There’s No “Please Sir”, This Time He’s Taking More In The Trailer For ‘Twist’

By

John Nolan

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June 17, 2021

The last thing I thought I wanted to see was another adaptation of Charles’s Dickens grade school homework staple Oliver Twist. Once again the world has proved me wrong. Twist is a new movie by Martin Owen that takes the old tale, ages up it’s hero, and sets it in modern day London. This may seem a bit dodgy, but stick with me here, the trailer makes it look good. Oliver Twist (Rafferty Law), in his late-teens/early twenties, is a graffiti artist with a reputation for being uncatchable. Michael Caine plays Fagin, who has a score to settle with someone that “took everything from him” and assembles a team of street kids to take back what’s his. Rita Ora, Lena Headey, and the streets of London all play major roles in a movie that looks like it’s going to be WAY more fun then it has any right to be.

Official Synopsis:

Inspired by Charles Dickens’s iconic novel Oliver Twist, this action-fueled crime-thriller set in contemporary London follows the journey of Twist (Raff Law), a gifted graffiti artist trying to find his way after the loss of his mother. Lured into a street gang headed by the paternal Fagin (Oscar® winner* Michael Caine), Twist is attracted to the lifestyle — and to Red (Sophie Simnett), an alluring member of Fagin’s crew. But when an art theft goes wrong, Twist’s moral code is tested as he’s caught between Fagin, the police, and a loose-cannon enforcer (Lena Headey).

Twist will be In Theaters and OnDemand July 30th, 2021

‘Pig’ Trailer: Nicolas Cage Is On The Hunt For His Beloved Foraging Pig

By

Travis Hopson

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June 17, 2021

The weirder Nicolas Cage’s roles have gotten, the greater his fans seem to love him. He’s been on a bizarre role with films such as Mandy, Jiu Jitsu, and Willy’s Wonderland, lighting up midnight screenings far and wide. And now another gem is on the horizon with Pig, which stars Cage as a truffle hunter.

Contrary to Cage’s last few films, Pig seems to be registering on a lower key. While it’s been described as a John Wick-style revenge movie, the trailer doesn’t look violent on that kind of level. The story, penned by director Michael Sarnoski, centers on a mushroom forager who must confront his past when his beloved foraging pig is kidnapped.

So yeah, it’s definitely strange but not wildly over-the-top…at least it doesn’t seem that way. We could be in for a surprise.

Also starring Alex Wolff and Adam Arkin, Pig opens on July 16th.

‘Settlers’ Trailer: Sofia Boutella And Brooklynn Prince Star In IFC Midnight’s Sci-Fi Western

By

Travis Hopson

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June 17, 2021

Making its way to Tribeca this week is the sci-fi Western, Settlers, marking the directorial debut of Wyatt Rockeller. IFC Films has already picked the film up for release later this summer, and you can see why with a cast led by Sofia Boutella (The Mummy), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), and Jonny Lee Miller (Elementary).

Here’s the synopsis: On a remote homestead amongst the Martian frontier, a refugee family from Earth clings to hope for a better life. But when strangers appear in the surrounding hills and attempt to run them off, nine-year-old Remmy (Brooklynn Prince, THE FLORIDA PROJECT) is faced with the desperate reality her mother (Sofia Boutella, THE MUMMY) and father (Jonny Lee Miller, TRAINSPOTTING) have tried so hard to keep from her.

The film was shot in South Africa in an isolated desert location of Vioolsdrif, which Rockefeller spoke about with Deadline…

“Shooting in such a remote location was not without its challenges, but it was well worth it for the unique landscape and sense of isolation it provided. In the course of a few days, we had to contend with extreme heat, sandstorms and a lightning storm that nearly collapsed the set — in a place where it almost never rains. But morale actually improved following the toughest stretch as the cast and crew pulled together to get through it.”

Also starring Ismael Cruz Córdova (The Undoing) and Nell Tiger Free (Servant), Settlers will be released by IFC Midnight in theaters and VOD on July 23rd.

‘How It Ends’ Trailer: Zoe Lister-Jones And A Star-Studded Cast Ride Out The Apocalypse With L.A. Chill

By

Travis Hopson

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June 17, 2021

Zoe Lister-Jones channeled her acerbic wit into a career behind the camera, finding success with the indie (and personal) favorite Band Aid a few years ago, followed by The Craft: Legacy. At Sundance she returned to the festival with the apocalyptic comedy How It Ends, a star-studded film about one woman’s existential crisis at the end of the world.

Shot during the pandemic, How it Ends is a bizarre little film, but fitting with Lister-Jones’ offbeat sensibilities. She plays Liza, who wanders around an empty Los Angeles on her way to an end-of-the-world party. Her strange journey involves tying up loose ends with friends and family, while accompanied by a younger, more hopeful version of herself played by Cailee Spaeny.

The cast includes Whitney Cummings, Olivia Wilde, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Helen Hunt, Lamorne Morris, Logan Marshall-Green, Paul Scheer, Glenn Howerton, Fred Armisen, and many more. Lister-Jones really emptied out the Rolodex for this one.

In my review from earlier this year, I likened the film to one of my favorites, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and praised it for being one of the better projects shot during quarantine.

How it Ends opens in theaters and VOD on July 21st.