James' World 2

“Dog” is a comedy-drama directed by Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin, both making their respective feature directorial debuts. The film is about a U.S. Army Ranger who grudgingly must escort the Army Ranger dog of his fallen commander to his funeral, 1,500 miles away in three days.  I was drawn to Dog because I am a dog lover and a big fan of Channing Tatum.  I thought Dog was an emotionally, well-written and well directed family movie.

U.S. Army Ranger Jackson Briggs(Channing Tatum) is tasked with bringing Lulu (a Belgian Malinoismilitary, working dog), 1500 miles down the Pacific Coast from Joint Base Lewis–McChord in Washington to Nogales, Arizona, in time to attend her handler,  Sgt. Riley Rodriguez’s (Eric Urbiztondo) funeral.

Both Jackson and Lulu suffer from traumatic brain injury, due to their deployment in the Middle East. Jackson requires a letter of recommendation from a superior…

“The Batman” is a superhero film based on DC  Comics character Batman. Produced by DC Films, 6th & Idaho, and Dylan Clark Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a reboot of the Batman film franchise and was directed by Matt Reeves, who wrote the screenplay with Peter Craig.

We see Batman, who has been fighting crime in Gotham City for two years, uncovering a truckload of corruption while pursuing the Riddler, a serial killer who targets Gotham’s elite.

On Halloween, Gotham City mayor Don Mitchell Jr. (Rupert Penry-Jones) is murdered by a man calling himself the Riddler (Paul Dano). Reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson), who has operated for two years as the vigilante Batman, investigates alongside the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD). Lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) discovers a message left for Batman by the Riddler, but commissioner Pete Savage (Alex Ferns) berates him for allowing…

The 355 is a spy film directed by Simon Kinberg from a screenplay by Theresa Rebeck and Kinberg, and a story by Rebeck. The 355 follows a group of international spies who must work together to stop a terrorist organization from starting World War III. The title is derived from Agent 355, the codename of a female spy for the Patriots during the American Revolution. The 355 is about five women who save the world using their skills and training to keep the criminals from gaining access to a crucial device that would change everything. I enjoyed The 355 but found it unbelievable and a bit over the top.

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At a location 150 miles south of Bogotá, Colombia, a drug lord, and his son present criminal mastermind Elijah Clarke (Jason Flemyng) with a special decryption program drive that can access any digital system on Earth. Clarke…

Raya and the Last Dragon (/ˈraɪ.ə/ RYE-ə) is a computer-animated fantasy adventure produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The 59th film produced by the studio, it is directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada and is based on traditional Southeast Asian cultures. It was written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim. Raya and the Last Dragon follows a warrior princess who is in search of the fabled last dragon, with hopes of restoring the land of Kumandra and the dragons that use to watch over them.

Five hundred years ago, the peaceful and prosperous sub-continent of Kumandra is ravaged by the Druun, evil, dark-colored spirits that petrify, turning every living thing in its path to stone. Sisu (voice: Awkwafina), the last surviving dragon, concentrates her magic into a gem and blasts the Druun away, reviving Kumandra’s people but not the…

Luca is a computer-animated coming-of-age fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film was directed by Enrico Casarosa (in his feature-length directorial debut), written by Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones, from a story by Casarosa, Andrews, and Simon Stephenson, produced by Andrea Warren. Luca follows a family of sea “monsters” that change into human form when they emerge from the water.  This film was real family fun from beginning to end with a profound message about judging people and making assumptions without reason.

In the summer of 1959, young, timid sea monster Luca Paguro (voice: Jacob Tremblay) herds goatfish off the coast of the Italian town of Portorosso. His parents Daniela  (voice: Maya Rudolph) and Lorenzo (voice: Jim Gaffigan), fearing that humans might hunt him for food, forbid him to approach the surface. One day, Luca meets Alberto Scorfano (voice:

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is a documentary film directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The documentary examines the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which was held at Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in Harlem and lasted for six weeks. Despite having a large attendance and performers such as Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Blinky Williams, Sly and the Family Stone, and The Chambers Brothers, the festival was seen as obscure in pop culture, something that the documentarians investigate. This six-day Cultural Festival was historical and is unforgettable. This post is being brought to you, compliments of Wikipedia.

At the request of the festival organizer and host Tony Lawrence, television producer Hal Tulchin recorded about forty hours of footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival on videotape, excerpts from which were originally broadcast on two…

Flee (Danish: Flugt) is a Danish animated docudrama directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. It follows the story of a man called Amin Nawabi (not his real name), who shares his hidden past of fleeing his country for the first time. Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau serve as executive producers. An animated documentary telling the true story about a man’s need to confront his past in order to truly have a future. Amin arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Denmark from Afghanistan.  I have never seen an animated film like Flee.  Despite the sad and rough subject, I loved the storytelling and the outcome.

The film follows Adult Amin Nawabi (Amin Nawabi), Young Amin Nawabi (Daniel Karimyar), and Teenage Amin Nawabi (Fardin Mijdzadeh), who, on the verge of marrying his husband, shares his story for the first time about his hidden past fleeing his home country of Afghanistan to Denmark as a refugee…

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Jon Watts and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. In this version of Spider-man, Peter Parker asked Dr. Strange to use a magic spell to hide his identity that was exposed in the last Spider-man movie.  I wasn’t in love with the last two Spider-man films but I found No Way Home to be quite good.

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After Quentin Beck / Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) frames Peter Parker (Tom Holland) for murder and reveals his identity as Spider-Man in “Far from Home”, Parker, his girlfriend Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson (Zendaya)