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At a Screening of Dog Man the Movie

It was an enjoyable screening with two of the grandsons. The five year old said it was happy and sad at the same time. And he loved it! The twelve year old who has read …

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Unstoppable Streaming on Prime Video

Unstoppable is the inspiring true story of Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome) who was born with one leg but whose indomitable spirit and unbreakable resolve empowered him to defy the odds and pursue his dreams. With the …

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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 The Speed to the BoxOffice

“Sonic 3 will beat out Mufasa, for sure!” — JimmityCritic (12) Sonic the Hedgehog 3, what a fun evening with the grandkids it was. When you have a 12, 10 and 5 year-old clap their hands at the end …

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Mufasa: The Lion King the Prequel

Mufasa: The Lion King was entertaining and the production value was amazing to watch. Set in Africa, all-new film blends live-action filmmaking techniques with photoreal computer-generated imagery.  My 12 year-old grandson thought it was one …

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I’m Still Here the Official Brazilian Submission to the Oscars

I’m Still Here is an official Brazilian submission to the 97th Academy Awards. We really enjoyed this film. It’s a tough story with a lot of heart. And it has a great cast.   Synopsis: …

At a Screening of Dog Man the MovieUnstoppable Streaming on Prime VideoSonic the Hedgehog 3 The Speed to the BoxOfficeMufasa: The Lion King the PrequelI’m Still Here the Official Brazilian Submission to the Oscars

My Only Concern is Greatness! Timmy Failure

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is a fun family film. It’s heart-warming, funny, and sentimental. It reminds us of how important using our imagination is. Even though Timmy’s is way over the top. It’s a film perfect for the 4-year-old who’s starting to develop their imaginative thoughts and the adults who need a reminder of how it used to be, an imaginative kid.

Wallace Shawn and Angela Ortíz
Photo: Kyle Bornheimer

We had the great pleasure of sitting down with three of the adults in the film, actors Wallace Shawn (Mr. Crocus), Ophelia Lovibond (Patty Failure) and Kyle Bornheimer (Crispin), who reminisced about some of their favorite schoolteachers and working together on this new Disney flick.

Timmy Failure – Adults

Timmy Failure – Kids

We also got the kids! The four young actors we spoke to sounded like old souls and I could see why they were perfect in their roles. Kei (Rollo Tookus), Winslow Fegley (Timmy Failure), Chloe Coleman (Molly Moskin), and Ai-Chan Carrier (Corrina Corrina) loved their experience working on this project and are hoping strongly that they will be more Timmy Failure movies made from the other books.

You can listen in on the conversation by clicking on the audio boxes. They also jokingly told us to be nice to Wallace Shaun, because it was his first roundtable.

L-r Wallace Shawn, Ophelia Lovibond and Kyle Bornheimer.

L-r Kei, Winslow Fegley, Chloe Coleman and Ai-Chan Carrier.

Disney’s Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, is an original movie based on the best-selling book of the same name, debuts today, streaming only on Disney+. The film, follows the hilarious exploits of the quirky, deadpan hero, Timmy Failure, who, along with his 1,500-pound polar bear partner Total, operates Total Failure Inc., a Portland detective agency.

Directed by Tom McCarthy, who won an Oscar® for his Spotlight screenplay, Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is written by McCarthy and Stephan Pastis based on the book by Pastis. The film also stars Craig Robinson. — A.O.

Photos: ©2020 Angela María Ortíz S.

A Onward Featurette

Check out this behind look on the making of this new family adventure.

The plot: Set in a suburban fantasy world, Disney and Pixar’s Onward introduces two teenage elf brothers (voices of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland) who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there. A new trailer and poster are now available, and new character posters were recently revealed, introducing cast members Mel Rodriguez, who voices Officer Colt Bronco; Lena Waithe, who lends her voice to Officer Specter; and Ali Wong, the voice of Officer Gore.

The other wonderful voice actors are Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the boys fearless mom Laurel, and Octavia Spencer aka The Manticore. Directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae.

Onward is inspired by director Scanlon’s personal experiences with his brother. Disney and Pixar’s Onward comes to theaters March 6.

Film Review: Birds of Prey: A whole lot of crazy goin’ on

By Brad Munson (The Dark Multiverse of Stephen King)

The newest addition to the DC Cinematic Universe is a relentlessly madcap, ultra-violent super-dark, semi-humorous take on super-hero adventure and heroism in general. Some will love it. Some will walk away disappointed.

Make no mistake: Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is going to make a ton of money, and in many ways it deserves to. This whacky whirlwind visit to Batman’s Gotham (with Batman barely mentioned and the Joker never entirely seen) is extremely well-made. The slightly hallucinatory production design is great; the action sequences, editing, and especially the sound track are terrific, and the acting–over-the-top though it may be–is expert, especially from Margot Robbie is Harley and a nearly unrecognizable Ewan McGregor as Black Mask (This is the guy from Doctor Sleep? And Star Wars? And Fargo? Really?)

But…Birds is going to hit every viewer a little differently, depending–maybe–on their generation, their expectations, and their tolerance for the whole superhero genre. That was certainly the case in the half-dozen viewers from SeFija! who saw a pre-release screening.

The story, underneath it all, is actually pretty simple: Harley Quinn breaks up with the the Joker, the super-villain and Batman arch-nemesis who made her crazy-evil, then immediately gets involved in a wild series of chases and fist fights to acquire a very important diamond that’s been found and lost and found again, all so she can be free of her dark past and start a new, equally nutty chapter in her life. But how the story is told, and all the new-to-most characters that are introduced along the way, struck our little movie squad–ranging in age and comics tolerance from early twenties and newbies to sixties and jaded as hell–as everything from delightful to repellant to even a tad bit boring.

The bam-bam-bam editing, the twisty camera angles, and the roller-coaster storytelling on top of this ‘simple’ tale–doubling back to re-tell sections of the adventure, breaking off to give backgrounders on various new characters, even taking a short break for a disturbing Marilyn Monroe-inspired dance dumber–can leave you breathless and/or annoyed. For some of us, it had the gleeful abandon of a Guy Ritchie movie, like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch; for others, it was just puzzling and unnecessary. If you were a comics fan going in, it was fun to see these new versions of familiar characters like The Huntress, Black Canary, and Black Mask. We were the ones who reveled in the ‘secret’ knowledge that Detective Montoya might eventually become the masked detective called The Question (if she follows various comics continuities), and that another version of the rebellious young pickpocket Cassandra Cain is destined to become one of Batman’s protégés, a nearly silent super-stealthy bat-suited superhero called Orphan.  But for the non-comics-geek, there are a lot of characters you’ve never heard of before ramming in and out of Birds of Prey, each with their own backstory by the last act, the whole thing can look pretty crowded and chaotic. Read the rest of this entry »

New Trailers for Upcoming Films and Series

New films and series are showing up every where, in movie theaters, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, HULU, and many other streaming services. We are here to try and guide you to where you can find what’s new and where to find it. Check out these trailers below.

José February 7Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles, followed by Other Cities (Miami, Chicago, San Diego, and Phoenix).

Narcos: Mexico Season 2 on Netflix February 13.

The Photograph in theaters February 14.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars new episodes on Disney+ premiering February 21.

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Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island Trailer

This is not the Fantasy Island of my youth. Watch the trailer below.

Check out the story. In Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island, the enigmatic Mr. Roarke makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests come true at a luxurious but remote tropical resort. But when the fantasies turn into nightmares, the guests have to solve the island’s mystery in order to escape with their lives.

Cast: Michael Peña, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Jimmy O. Yang, Portia Doubleday, Ryan Hansen, and Michael Rooker.

In theaters this Valentines Day, February 14. Rated PG-13.

Film Review: The Gentlemen Kick Ass

The Gentlemen, from Guy Ritchie, serves as a redemption for this writer/director after his live action “comedy” Aladdin last year. This film brings back memories of his earlier, far better movies, like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch; it also reminds me of the sleekness of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The Gents are fun to watch—once you overcome the use of the “C” word over and over. I know it is used to describe both men and women in some working-class neighborhoods in England, but it’s still hard for an American to listen to over and over. For us, Hugh Grant (Fletcher) stole the film and Colin Farrell (Coach) was right behind him. Both were in roles you’ve never seen them do before and they were really good, fun to watch. Don’t get me wrong: everyone is good in this film, but these two really stand out.

The Gentlemen, is a star-studded, sophisticated action comedy. It follows American expatriate Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) who built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he’s looking to cash out of the business forever, it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail as everyone he knows (and a few he doesn’t) attempt to steal his domain out from under him. And that’s just the beginning of the craziness. It features an ensemble cast that includes Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, and Eddie Marsan.

The Gentlemen is in theaters now.

Film Review: Weirdly Confusing: The Turning

By Brad Munson (The Dark Multiverse of Stephen King)

Floria Sigismondi’s The Turning is an enigma wrapped in a mystery. The problem is there is no solution to the mystery, no explanation for the wrapping, and barely a decent jump-scare to be had in this beautifully acted, wonderfully photographed, absolutely baffling and ineffective new horror movie.

Most of Sigismondi’s credits are music videos, from David Bowie to Fiona Apple and beyond, and–despite her work on The Runaways a while back–she clearly can’t (or doesn’t want to) actually tell a story; she seems content to set up an almost unconnected string of set-pieces and images that are supposed to chill and thrill and do neither.

Henry James’ short novel, written in 1898, was one of the first true “haunted house” stories and a masterpiece of ambiguity that has continued to be a center of controversy for more than 120 years. Were there really ghosts, or was the governess going mad? Sigismondi seemed to reach for the same kind of spooky ambiguity using the bare bones (really just the premise and character names) that the original story of malevolent ghosts presented, but James’ story had a singular advantage: it made sense as a story. It had a beginning, middle, and end (though a tragic one), and was populated by human characters that acted in believable ways. This particular adaptation of the tale (and there have been plenty, including an opera and a ballet), has none of the above. The logical questions and inconsistent character behavior begins almost with the first beat, long before things get spooky. And it goes downhill–or really out every which-way–from there. Read the rest of this entry »

Mucho Mucho Amor for Walter Mercado at Sundance and NETFLIX

Walter Mercado

Walter Mercado mesmerized millions of Latino viewers over four decades. There wasn’t a Latino home (around the world) that didn’t have Mercado on their television at some point of the day and that includes my family. He died on Nov. 2, 2019 at age 87.

Story: Every day for decades, Walter Mercado—the iconic, gender non-conforming astrologer—mesmerized 120 million Latino viewers with his extravagance and positivity. Then he vanished from the public eye. Award-winning documentarians Cristina Costantini (Science Fair) and Kareem Tabsch (The Last Resort) direct Mucho Mucho Amor, produced by Alex Fumero (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson).

Featured on-screen talent: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Eugenio Derbez, and Raul De Molina.

Mucho Mucho Amor will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24 and will debut on Netflix this summer.

Los Angeles Art Show is Back and It’s their 25th Anniversary!

At SeFijaOnline we want to include more art stories and events this year and what best way to start with, is the Los Angeles Art Show of 2020. It takes place February 5-9, at the LA Convention Center South Hall. Below is information about some of this year’s exhibit that we are looking forward to.

DIVERSEartLA

For 2020, Marisa Caichiolo’s curatorial focus for DIVERSEartLA will be expanded to embrace and celebrate those art institutions and art collectors who support LA’s blossoming art community.

DIVERSEartLA is dedicated to bringing together some of the most important local and international art institutions, museums and non-profit organizations for an elevated and thoughtful dialogue.

The communities of Los Angeles reflect an impressive variety of ethnic backgrounds, and it’s iconic natural environs are equally varied and vast. To honor this unique biodiversity we are focusing on the representation of contemporary artists from around the world as a part of each institution.

Pyramids by Gronk

I See You, I Am Seen

Dactiloscopia Rosa

Celebrating Diversity

A sample list of what you’ll see this year:

  • Pyramids by Gronk
  • Curated by Chon Noriega
  • Presented by LACMA & UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
  • I See You, I Am Seen: On the Impact of the Diversity Curated by George Luna Peña Presented by The Broad
  • The Birth of the Niemand by Viktor Freso Curated by Marisa Caichiolo Presented by Danubiana Museum | Bratislava
  • From The South Portraits: Punta Arenas and Valparaíso By Vicente González Mimica Curated by Fabian Goncalvez Presented by AMA | Art Museum of the Americas
  • Dactiloscopia Rosa: Video Art and QUEER Constructions Curated by Nestor Prieto Presented by Museo La Neomudejar (Madrid, Spain)
  • Celebrating Diversity By Chiachio & Giannone Curated by Gabriela Urtiaga, Chief Curator at MOLAA Presented by MOLAA | Museum of Latin American Art

As we approach the 2020 US presidential election, I believe the importance of this year’s curatorial focus should remain committed to fostering and learning about the organizations supporting inclusion and diversity. Read the rest of this entry »

Touch The Stars 3D

Director Luke Ployhar
©2020 Angela María Ortíz S.

On a beautiful SoCal Saturday morning we screened Touch The Stars 3D in IMAX (7-story) with a question and answers with the director Luke Ployhar afterwards.

A bit on Luke Ployhar, he’s a director and film producer with experience in visual effects and animation that spans a career of over 20 years. Currently located in Minneapolis Minnesota, Ployhar is the founder of Afterglow Studios, a leading provider of design and animation for a wide range of clients. Ployhar’s career started in film production in Los Angeles with credits that include, Broken Arrow, Austin Powers, Speed 2, Armageddon, and The Insider. He later became a Visual Effects producer at Black Box Digital and worked on Minority Report, Planet of the Apes, A.I., and many others.

The film traces the path to space through the history of NASA’s probes, orbiters, and landers from the heart of our solar system and the surface of its planets and moons to the grand tour of the Voyager spacecraft through the outer planets and beyond. Created with the latest high definition imagery and scientific data, Touch The Stars 3D engages audiences through the use of real footage and 3-dimensional vistas, transporting them to planets and distant stars alongside these heroic robot explorers.

During the q&a we learned that it took 2.5 years to complete the film. He also explained that Deep space gateway is a concept ship for reaching Mars. It was really cool to watch because it is set up as modules that can be removed and reattached during the planet’s explorations.

There was info on the Parker Solar probe, which is going to the sun. It has a heat shield and a coolant to protect it and will be using Venus gravity to control its speed.

We found out that 85% of this film is VFX and 15% is real footage and images. For Ployhar, it’s a huge labor of love working on these type of projects.

Take the family, it opens on Friday, January 17 at the California Science Center.

Photos: ©2020 Angela María Ortíz S.

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