Netflix News: Christopher Guest movie ‘Mascots’ now streaming!

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If you love Best In Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration or just great comedy, here’s your latest gift – Mascots.

STARRING:  Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred. Willard, Ed Begley, Jr., Christopher Moynihan, Don Lake, Brad Williams, Zach Woods, Chris O’Dowd, Susan Yeagley, Sarah Baker, Tom Bennett, Kerry Godliman, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Hitchcock, Maria Blasucci, John Michael Higgins  and Jim Piddock

DIRECTOR: Christopher Guest

Mascots is a new comedy from Christopher Guest, director of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. Starring many of his regular troupe of actors, this latest film takes place in the ultra-competitive world of sports mascots where they compete for the most prestigious award in their field, the Gold Fluffy.

Netflix News: ‘Mascots’ from Christopher Guest with a crazy awesome cast coming October 13th!

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Mascots is a new comedy from Christopher Guest, director of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. Starring many of his regular troupe of actors, this latest film takes place in the ultra-competitive world of sports mascots where they compete for the most prestigious award in their field, the Gold Fluffy.
 
The Netflix original film stars Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Ed Begley, Jr., Christopher Moynihan, Don Lake, Brad Williams, Zach Woods, Chris O’Dowd, Susan Yeagley, Sarah Baker, Tom Bennett, Kerry Godliman, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Hitchcock, Maria Blasucci, John Michael Higgins, and Jim Piddock. The film was written by Christopher Guest & Jim Piddock and produced by Karen Murphy. Mascots will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this September and will launch globally on Netflix on October 13, 2016.
 
Follow Mascots on Twitter and Facebook.

New trailer for Woody Allen’s latest movie ‘Cafe Society’ – Premiering at Cannes & releasing in Amazon July 15th

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CAFÉ SOCIETY will have its world premiere on opening night of the 69th Cannes Film Festival

Amazon Studios & Lionsgate will release CAFÉ SOCIETY on July 15, 2016

Directed and Written by Woody Allen

Starring Jeannie Berlin, Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll, and Ken Stott

Produced by Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum, and Edward Walson

Set in the 1930s, Woody Allen’s bittersweet romance CAFÉ SOCIETY follows Bronx-born Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) to Hollywood, where he falls in love, and back to New York, where he is swept up in the vibrant world of high society nightclub life.

Centering on events in the lives of Bobby’s colorful Bronx family, the film is a glittering valentine to the movie stars, socialites, playboys, debutantes, politicians, and gangsters who epitomized the excitement and glamour of the age.

Bobby’s family features his relentlessly bickering parents Rose (Jeannie Berlin) and Marty (Ken Stott), his casually amoral gangster brother Ben (Corey Stoll); his good-hearted teacher sister Evelyn (Sari Lennick), and her egghead husband Leonard (Stephen Kunken). For the hooligan Ben, there are no questions that can’t be answered with brute force, but the others are more likely to ponder deeper matters, like right and wrong, life and death, and the commercial viability of religion.

Seeking more out of life, Bobby flees his father’s jewelry store for Hollywood, where he works for his high-powered agent uncle Phil (Steve Carell). He soon falls for Phil’s charming assistant Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), but as she’s involved with another man, he settles for friendship. Bobby also befriends Rad (Parker Posey), a model agency owner, and her husband Steve (Paul Schneider), a wealthy producer.

When Vonnie’s boyfriend breaks up with her, Bobby seizes the opportunity to romance her, and she ultimately returns his affections. When he asks her to marry him and move to New York, she is tempted, but things do not go as smoothly as planned.

Heartbroken, Bobby returns to New York, where he begins working for Ben, who has muscled his way into owning a nightclub. Bobby displays natural talents as an impresario and swiftly promotes the club into the hottest in town, renaming it “Les Tropiques.”  Rad introduces him to the beautiful socialite Veronica (Blake Lively) and he courts her assiduously. Although he is still carrying a torch for Vonnie, when Veronica reveals she’s pregnant, they marry and begin a genuinely happy life together.

Everything seems to have fallen into place for Bobby until the night Vonnie walks into “Les Tropiques.”

Poignant, and often hilarious, CAFÉ SOCIETY, a film with a novel’s sweep, takes us on a journey from pastel-clad dealmakers in plush Hollywood mansions, to the quarrels and tribulations of a humble Bronx family, to the rough-and-tumble violence of New York gangsters, to the sparkling surfaces and secret scandals of Manhattan high life.

With CAFÉ SOCIETY, Woody Allen conjures up a 1930s world that has passed to tell a deeply romantic tale of dreams that never die.

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Opposing Reviews: Melissa & Liz review Woody Allen’s ‘Irrational Man’ with Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone & Parker Posey

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Liz and I often agree on movies, but there are occasions where we do not, and Irrational Man is one of them. As it rolls out to theaters across the country, starting with this weekend, we thought you might like to read two different opinions. Enjoy!

Melissa

Looking through the stills of Irrational Man, I almost remember it fondly. Seeing these characters without the context of the movie, they are attractive and happy. Within the movie, Joaquin is a bitter, drunk college professor with some sort of social disorder and a Emma is a student who falls in love with her teacher.

So what’s it about? Abe (Joaquin Phoenix) is the new philosophy professor whose cynical yet brilliant ideas attract a student, Jill (Emma Stone) as well as a colleague, Rita (Parker Posey). Ok, another example of a young woman attracted to an older man. But wait, is it?

I’m typically a Woody Allen fan, but I didn’t care for the last movie with Emma Stone, Magic in the Moonlight, either. In this, Emma is way too eager and without a likeable personality. She knows she’s a silly girl, yet she doesn’t shy away from it. Parker Posey is even more manic than expected and it actually works pretty well. She’s a bright spot.

Joaquin seems totally miscast and never really gets into the role. His words don’t seem natural at all and come off as though he’s adding words on his own. It kills me, as I’ve loved everything he’s been in.

The story is pretty original however, with unexpected turns, especially the ending. As per usual with a Woody Allen movie, it’s beautifully shot and edited. The soundtrack is unbelievably repetitive, with the same piano version of “Judy In Disguise” playing over and over again in pretty much every scene. I had never noticed this in Allen’s movies before, but I certainly noticed it this time around.

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Liz

On the flip side of the coin, I found this film to be pretty delightful. There is no mistaking this is pure Woody Allen fare. Punctuated by loose jazz standards, quippy, fast-paced dialogue, including dairy-esque monologues moving the film’s plot along nicely. It’s not too far fetched that one overheard conversation can change the course of your life forever, but certainly for amusing and dramatic purposes, this one is pretty over the top. The plot also revolves heavily around the concentration of philosophy, which is the subject Joaquin’s character teaches. One of the best tongue in cheek lines is a direct quote from his portrayal of Abe, ” Philosophy is verbal masturbation.” This is kind of the perfect way to describe Allen’s writing style in general and I think you either gravitate towards it, or you don’t.

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I was certainly pleased with all the performances in the film. Emma Stone‘s Jill is eager, bright, yet her flippant idolatry for her professor is not so far fetched. It’s a strong performance she owns with ease. Phoenix, for me, was perfectly cast as Abe. His jaded, depression filled, existential crisis excuses are anything but boring. It was refreshing to see him in something with a biting sense of humor as far as the script is concerned. And then we have my girl, Parker Posey as Rita. I’ve been a huge fan since her Waiting For Guffman and House of Yes days. She has an uncanny ability to slip into whatever role is thrown at her. Her genuine nonchalance as a bored fellow professor is just the best. Being of the same age and stage as Abe gives the two a breezy interaction that allows Posey to shine as a real person. Not a caricature of a woman, but a really well written woman, with hopes, dreams, opinions, unafraid and yet still completely vulnerable. I would have watched a full film about Rita.

So, there you go movie fans. Two Woody Allen fans with two very different opinions of the same film. I guess you’ll just have to buy a ticket and find out for yourself. Irrational  Man opens in theaters this weekend opening in more theaters throughout the coming weeks.