The groundbreaking new show premiered recently on CBS All Access streaming service, but they have now made the first episode of the show free for a limited time. 

Now watch below the first episode, which was filmed in the heart of the Central Coast in the Santa Ynez Valley at Sunstone Winery. Take a look on YouTube only here!

News broke this morning that NBA Superstar and Oscar Award Winner, Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash today. Cause of the crash is being investigated and the identities of the other passengers are yet to be released. However, multiple news outlets are reporting that Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna also died in the crash. They were reportedly en route to her basketball practice in Thousand Oaks in Ventura County.

His Academy Award winning animated short film, Dear Basketball, had local Central Coast animator, Aidan Terry, work with him on the award winning film. You can read about that article written by Daniel Lahr here in the Santa Ynez Valley Star. 

Watch the award winning film below.

As I begin to write this, I think of the title for The Gentlemen, and then I think about who are they talking about? The whole cast of characters are bad and we are brought in to root for our anti-hero. They're all murderers and gangsters and that become very apparent in the opening scene. And the pace never lets up to the very end. 

That is to say there is a lot of time jumping and some "fantasy sequences" as Hugh Grant's colorful character, Fletcher, is attempting to blackmail our main anti-hero, Matthew McConaughey's Mickey Pearson, as he has discovered the entire underground weed growing empire. Each of the characters, and actors, are unique and different. Collin Farrell's character, known simply as Coach, is a highlight, along with Hugh Grant. 

The film is filled with plot turns and twists enough to keep you guessing and leaves you with a very satisfying conclusion. This is for sure a dark comedy gangster film that modernizes the genre while still maintaining one foot in nostalgic cinematic premises. I am a fan of writer, director and producer Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, but this is a movie I feel that he was able to spread his wings and just be himself. He has his unique style of camera work as well as humor all throughout this film. 

If you're looking for a fun, dark and graphic comedy, this is a movie for you! But it can be a bit much sometimes, and even is borderline gratuitous. Some members of the audience in our theater couldn't stomach the constant blood lust and very graphic language and I saw two separate groups leave and not come back. But for me, it was a very fun ride!

Rating: 3/5 Stars

A titan of British comedy passed away yesterday. Terry Jones, actor, writer and director and member of the famous Monty Python troop finally lost his battle with dementia after four years, according to the BBC.

Fellow Python, and former Central Coast resident, John Cleese said: "It feels strange that a man of so many talents and such endless enthusiasm, should have faded so gently away..." He added: "Of his many achievements, for me the greatest gift he gave us all was his direction of Life of Brian. Perfection."

Well, they're bad and badder than ever. Our (in)famous bad boys from 1995 are back and campier than ever. I sat there thinking they're just trying to say the name of the movie as many times as they could. Bad Boys for Life is an action movie that has the camp you'd expect to find from a 90's action movie. Complete with the constant "getting to old for this s**t" groans, James Bond style secret lab with apparently unlimited budgets and a bad guy twist that you see coming from a mile away. 

I had someone ask if you need to see other Bad Boy movies to get what's going on here. Not at all. You don't need any backstory, because most of the movie is going back into their back story. Constantly looking back and not progressing anything. Where progress comes, it comes with groans. There's a death of a very familiar character and our villain is somehow forgiven for all of this because of the "big reveal" at the end. I had flashbacks of the "your mother's name is Martha too?" scene (and for those of you who saw Batman Vs. Superman know what I'm talking about). 

There's moments of fun action and stunt work, but most of the movie is lost in the sparkling gloss that goes over the entire movie. The humor is hit or miss and that makes it feel just worn out and tired, kind of like our stars (Will Smith and Martin Lawrence). This movie does work as a 90's action popcorn flick, but that was a long time ago and unfortunately, we've moved on. 

Rating: 2/5 Stars

As we broke the news back when the first trailer dropped, we knew we were going to see a bit of the Santa Ynez Valley in the latest Star Trek installation. Now, as the first episode is less than a week away, and streams on January 23rd. Marketing is in full swing for the show and we're starting to get more glimpses of how much the show will feature the Central Coast. 

In a new feature on the show, we are treated with some additional footage that was shot at the Sunstone Winery Villa, and it appears a good portion of interiors and other part of the property were shot as well. Take a look and see for yourself. 

We may still be a ways away from having decaf Earl Gray tea made instantly just by asking it, but you can still visit the tasting room located on the property and get a sense of what it's like to really be at Captain Picard's retirement plan in real life.

Watch this video below about the real Sunstone Winery and location in Santa Ynez, in the heart of the Central Coast. And watch Star Trek: Picard on the 23rd!  

What... was... that...?

​That's probably what you'd be thinking when (or if) you see this movie. I decided to take the family to go see what appeared to be a fun family movie, and at very least, the kids will like to see the animals run around on the screen. Well that's not true either and they barely were able to stay in the same theater for this movie, but resorted to just jumping around on the chairs of a mostly empty theater. That about sums up the reaction to this movie. 

With the cast present and the money spent on this movie, there was so much potential! But it crashed hard. I had heard about a questionable scene that is at the end of the movie, which if you want to know, there is a creature with a blockage, and Dr. Dolittle reaches right up and removes the blockage. I mean, Robert Downey Jr., Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen and Jim Broadbent have decent on-screen presence, but still can't hold this movie up. Big name actors lend their voices to the animals, including Emma Thompson, Tom Holland, Ralph Fines and Selena Gomez, but they're lost completely in this. Emma Thompson's Poly is maybe the only one you can connect with and is the sole voice of reason. 

Lots of questionable choices, but again I saw the potential of actually doing a proper steam-punk style Dr. Dolittle movie could be fantastic! Honestly, there really should be more in that genre, but this movie is a mess. Is it a kids movie? Is it an adult humor movie? I'm still not sure. It was a hard mess and even had times where my wife and I looked at each other like "what... was... that...?" 

You'll be scratching your head during and after viewing of this movie, and more than likely it won't even matter to your kids. There's much better stuff out there. 

​Rating: 1/5 Stars

"Fox" will be dropped from the studios' name with near immediate effect. Variety reports that Disney will be dropping the "Fox" name of 20th Century Fox, a name in the Hollywood Industry since 1935, to simple "20th Century Studios." Fox Searchlight Pictures is also getting the fox-less rebranding of simply "Searchlight Pictures."  Variety goes on to say that "those logos won’t be dramatically altered, just updated. The most notable change is that the word “Fox” has been removed from the logo marks. Otherwise, the signature elements — swirling klieg lights, monolith, triumphal fanfare — will remain the same."

Early this morning, nominations were announced for the 92nd Academy Awards. Joker takes the lead with 11 nominations with The Irishman, 1917 and Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood came in a close second with 10 nominations each. 

Be sure to come to our Oscar Viewing Party to watch, at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. in Arroyo Grande. The show will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby® Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.  The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

OSCAR NOMINATIONS 2020 BY CATEGORY - 92ND AWARDS


Best motion picture of the year nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold, Producers
THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
JOJO RABBIT
Carthew Neal and Taika Waititi, Producers
JOKER
Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
LITTLE WOMEN
Amy Pascal, Producer
MARRIAGE STORY
Noah Baumbach and David Heyman, Producers
1917
Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall, Producers
ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino, Producers
PARASITE
Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho, Producers

​
Performance by an actor in a leading role nominees:
Antonio Banderas in PAIN AND GLORY
Leonardo DiCaprio in ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
Adam Driver in MARRIAGE STORY
Joaquin Phoenix in JOKER
Jonathan Pryce in THE TWO POPES


Performance by an actor in a supporting role nominees:
Tom Hanks in A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Anthony Hopkins in THE TWO POPES
Al Pacino in THE IRISHMAN
Joe Pesci in THE IRISHMAN
Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD


Performance by an actress in a leading role nominees:
Cynthia Erivo in HARRIET
Scarlett Johansson in MARRIAGE STORY
Saoirse Ronan in LITTLE WOMEN
Charlize Theron in BOMBSHELL
Renée Zellweger in JUDY


Performance by an actress in a supporting role nominees:
Kathy Bates in RICHARD JEWELL
Laura Dern in MARRIAGE STORY
Scarlett Johansson in JOJO RABBIT
Florence Pugh in LITTLE WOMEN
Margot Robbie in BOMBSHELL


Best animated feature film of the year nominees:
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD
Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis and Bonnie Arnold
I LOST MY BODY
Jérémy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice
KLAUS
Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Román
MISSING LINK
Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner and Travis Knight
TOY STORY 4
Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera


Achievement in cinematography nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Rodrigo Prieto
JOKER
Lawrence Sher
THE LIGHTHOUSE
Jarin Blaschke
1917
Roger Deakins
ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
Robert Richardson


Achievement in costume design nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson
JOJO RABBIT
Mayes C. Rubeo
JOKER
Mark Bridges
LITTLE WOMEN
Jacqueline Durran
ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
Arianne Phillips


Achievement in directing nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese
JOKER
Todd Phillips
1917
Sam Mendes
ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE
Bong Joon Ho


Best documentary feature nominees:
AMERICAN FACTORY
Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert
THE CAVE
Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær
THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris and Tiago Pavan
FOR SAMA
Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
HONEYLAND
Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev


Best documentary short subject nominees:
IN THE ABSENCE
Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL)
Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva
LIFE OVERTAKES ME
John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN
Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
WALK RUN CHA-CHA
Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt


Achievement in film editing nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland
THE IRISHMAN
Thelma Schoonmaker
JOJO RABBIT
Tom Eagles
JOKER
Jeff Groth
PARASITE
Yang Jinmo


Best international feature film of the year nominees:
CORPUS CHRISTI
Poland
Directed by Jan Komasa
HONEYLAND
North Macedonia
Directed by Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevksa
LES MISÉRABLES
France
Directed by Ladj Ly
PAIN AND GLORY
Spain
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
PARASITE
South Korea
Directed by Bong Joon Ho


Achievement in makeup and hairstyling nominees:
BOMBSHELL
Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker
JOKER
Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou
JUDY
Jeremy Woodhead
MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL
Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White
1917
Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole


Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) nominees:
JOKER
Hildur Guðnadóttir
LITTLE WOMEN
Alexandre Desplat
MARRIAGE STORY
Randy Newman
1917
Thomas Newman
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
John Williams


Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) nominees:
"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" from TOY STORY 4
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from ROCKETMAN
Music by Elton John
Lyric by Bernie Taupin
"I'm Standing With You" from BREAKTHROUGH
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
"Into The Unknown" from FROZEN II
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
"Stand Up" from HARRIET
Music and Lyric by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo


Achievement in production design nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Production Design: Bob Shaw
Set Decoration: Regina Graves
JOJO RABBIT
Production Design: Ra Vincent
Set Decoration: Nora Sopková
1917
Production Design: Dennis Gassner
Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
Production Design: Barbara Ling
Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
PARASITE
Production Design: Lee Ha Jun
Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo


Best animated short film nominees:
DCERA (DAUGHTER)
Daria Kashcheeva
HAIR LOVE
Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
KITBULL
Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
MEMORABLE
Bruno Collet and Jean-François Le Corre
SISTER
Siqi Song


Best live action short film nominees:
BROTHERHOOD
Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon
NEFTA FOOTBALL CLUB
Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi
THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW
Marshall Curry
SARIA
Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre
A SISTER
Delphine Girard


Achievement in sound editing nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Donald Sylvester
JOKER
Alan Robert Murray
1917
Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
Wylie Stateman
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Matthew Wood and David Acord


Achievement in sound mixing nominees:
AD ASTRA
Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
FORD V FERRARI
Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow
JOKER
Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland
1917
Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano


Achievement in visual effects nominees:
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick
THE IRISHMAN
Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli
THE LION KING
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
1917
Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy


Adapted screenplay nominees:​
THE IRISHMAN
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian
JOJO RABBIT
Screenplay by Taika Waititi
JOKER
Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
LITTLE WOMEN
Written for the screen by Greta Gerwig
THE TWO POPES
Written by Anthony McCarten


Original screenplay nominees:
KNIVES OUT
Written by Rian Johnson
MARRIAGE STORY
Written by Noah Baumbach
1917
Written by Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD
Written by Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE
Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won
Story by Bong Joon Ho

​Watch the nomination announcements here: 

There has been lots of Oscar buzz around Sam Mendes' WWI epic 1917. But is that buzz justified? Short answer: Absolutely. 

The performances, the camera work and the direction is outstanding. If you don't already know, the film is presented as one long take, to be as real-time and first person as possible. That means massive amounts of pre-planning, massive set pieces and massive amounts of extras. You do have small intimate moments but it does get big at times. 

We follow two young soldiers who are given a special mission. Scattered throughout the film are a few A-List actors who give great performances, albeit brief ones. They play characters who have large ranks, and it seems like the more popular the actor, the higher the rank. Which I thought was an interesting take, because to the soldiers themselves, generals, colonels and other officers were sometimes celebrities themselves among their men. But their roles are brief as the camera is always moving, always following our heroes on their journey. 

I wanted to love the hell out of this movie. I am a huge fan of Saving Private Ryan and as the film progressed, I started to feel that this movie IS Saving Private Ryan but set in a different war. Also, having the camera seemingly never cut became, to me at least, a distraction. The movie was not shot all in one take, rather several very long takes and then cleverly edited together. However, I began looking for those edits, hunting for those, rather than thinking about the story. 

But on a technical level, I think Sam Mendes did an amazing accomplishment and feat in this movie that should be experienced on the big screen. It's moving, well performed and has some of the best production design you'll see in a WWI movie. I also want to commend the visual effects team who helped paint out some of the tools of the movie making process (wires, roads, crews, etc.). It really feels like you're there. 

Mark my words: This will win a lot (if not then some of the top) of Oscar gold.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

PS: for a bonus, check out this behind-the-scenes video.