American Animals - Movie (from The Orchard) Review! #AmericanAnimals

Synopsis:

American Animals is the unbelievable but entirely true story of four young men who attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in U.S. history. The film centers around two friends from the middle-class suburbs of Lexington, Kentucky. Spencer (Barry Keoghan), is determined to become an artist but feels he lacks the essential ingredient that unites all great artists – suffering. His closest friend, Warren (Evan Peters), has also been raised to believe that his life will be special, and that he will be unique in some way. But as they leave the suburbs for universities in the same town, the realities of adult life begin to dawn on them and with that, the realization that their lives may in fact never be important or special in any way. Determined to live lives that are out of the ordinary, they plan the brazen theft of some of the world’s most valuable books from the special collections room of Spencer's college Library. Enlisting two more friends, accounting major Eric (Jared Abrahamson) and fitness fanatic Chas (Blake Jenner), and taking their cues from heist movies, the gang meticulously plots the theft and subsequent fence of the stolen artworks. Although some of the group begin to have second thoughts, they discover that the plan has seemingly taken on a life of its own. Unfolding from multiple perspectives, and innovatively incorporating the real-life figures at the heart of the story, writer-director Bart Layton (The Imposter) takes the heist movie into bold new territory.

Written and Directed by: Bart Layton

Produced by: Derrin Schlesinger, Katherine Butler, Dimitri Doganis, Mary Jane Skalski
Starring: Evan Peters ("American Horror Story"), Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk), Blake Jenner (The Edge of Seventeen), Ann Dowd ("The Handmaid’s Tale"), Udo Kier (Downsizing)
Run time: 117 mins.

My Review:

It was neat seeing how they made sure most everything was planned down to the finest detail. Then they went to do the heist, and they had to abort. So they set it up to do the next day. It was interesting to see the feelings of the men as they re-prepare, again, to do it the next day.

When things did go down, they were super stressful. They tied the lady up, she wet her pants in the process. They then can't find the keys to open the case! Will they pull it off? Will they be caught? Or will they give up, yet again? This is a good movie! And even more great that it was based on a true story, and to find out what all four boys are doing now.

AMERICAN ANIMALS is now available to own via digital platforms and available to stream on demand August 28!

WANDERLAND Movie Review. #WanderlandFilm

WANDERLAND will be available to own or rent on digital HD on April 17 and in select theaters (NY/LA) on April 20.

Starring: Tate Ellington ("The Brave"), Douglas Hodge ("Catastrophe," "Penny Dreadful"), music prodigy Brandon 'Taz' Niederauer, Jack Dishell (The Moldy Peaches), Tony Award winner Victoria Clark (A Light in the Piazza), Dree Hemingway (The Disaster Artist) and writer/director Josh Klausner (Writer: Shrek Forever After, Date Night)

About the Movie:

Fed up with his humdrum, isolated life in New York City, 34 year old Alex (TATE ELLINGTON) responds to an unusual group email invitation from an acquaintance (DREE HEMINGWAY) to house-sit at a picturesque cottage in the Hamptons for the weekend. Following his GPS, he drives to the isolated part of Long Island, but discovers his cellphone charger is broken and that he’s completely cut off from the internet. A chance meeting with a woman on the beach (TARA SUMMERS) sets off a chain of events where he finds himself stranded with a dead car and dead phone. In his effort to fix his car and get back to the cottage, he ends up lost on a musical, dream-like "Alex in Wonderland” adventure, caught in a series of awkward and surreal situations with a colorful cast of characters. Without his phone to protect him and forced to interact with these people face to face, Alex rediscovers the magic of human connection, and ultimately discovers that the vibrant, musical world he’s wished for his whole life is there all around him, if he listens.

My Review:
The beginning of this movie starts out with everyone being so involved in their phones and laptops, and possibly in social media. A man named Alex in the movie is so lonely. He decided to take up a person he knows online and stay her in house for the weekend. What Alex doesn't know, is that he's about to partake on an interesting adventure. He meets lots of different people and runs into some quirky ones too.

Wanderland will make you smile, laugh, tap your feet, and more! The music in the movie is amazing! I especially liked the jazz song by the foot doctor!

When you feel lonely, put down your phone, laptops, iPads, and actually pay attention to the real life and people around you. You never know who you might meet or run into, or if you might make some new friends along the way, and, you might be happier too! There is music all around us, if we just stop to hear it once in a while.

Movie Trailer:





Disclosure: I received a private screen of Wanderland, the movie, in exchange for my review post. No other compensation was exchanged or received.