KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio

Freeze Frame

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The "Take Two" short segment reviews independently made films and art-house movies currently showing in Kansas City. Take Two first went on the air in 2012 and is co-hosted by Russ Simmons, producer of the “Freeze Frame” short segment, and Susan Sanders. The segment airs at the following times: Wednesdays 9:30 am Fridays 12:58 pm Saturdays at 5:58 pm Sundays 3:00 am

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KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio

Episodes

Freeze Frame: Russ’ Top Ten Movies of 2020 30.12.2020 2:00

As we begin a new year, it’s time to look back at the best movies of 2020. Here’s the cream of the year’s cinematic crop. 10) End of Sentence (Not rated) John Hawkes and Logan Lerman star in a sweetly sentimental comic drama about the attempted reconciliation of an estranged father and son. 9) Nomadland (R) Frances McDormand stars in Chloe Chow’s effective low-key drama about homeless seniors...

Freeze Frame: “Soul” (PG), “News of the World” (PG-13), “The Midnight Sky” (PG-13), “Promising Young Woman” (R), “Monster Hunter” (PG-13) 25.12.2020 2:00

The folks at Pixar continue to show their golden touch. “Soul” is a Disney+ feature that again demonstrates that animation can be a powerful way to tell a compelling story that would be difficult for live action. Jamie Fox voices the lead character, a jazz piano player who is accidentally transported to the pre-life realm and winds up helping another person find life’s purpose. “Soul” is heartfelt...

Freeze Frame: “Soul” (PG), “News of the World” (PG-13), “The Midnight Sky” (PG-13), “Promising Young Woman” (R), “Monster Hunter” (PG-13) 25.12.2020 2:00

Freeze Frame: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (R), “Fatale” (R), “Another Round” (Not rated), “The Bee Gees: How Do You Mend a Broken Heart” (Not rated) 17.12.2020 1:59

The valedictory performance from the late Chadwick Boseman may well earn him an Oscar. He’s dynamic as a troubled trumpet player in the Netflix adaptation of August Wilson’s acclaimed play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” It tells the tragic story of an ill-fated blues recording session in 1927 and touches on themes of racism, sexism, faith and disparity. Viola Davis is impressive, too, supported by a...

Freeze Frame: “The Prom” (PG-13), “Let Them All Talk” (R), “Wander Darkly” (R), “I’m Your Woman” (R), “The Stand-In” (R), “Wild Mountain Thyme” (PG-13), “Safety” (PG) 10.12.2020 2:00

Meryl Streep, James Cordon and Nicole Kidman headline Ryan Murphy’s energetic adaptation of the wacky Broadway musical, “The Prom.” They play narcissistic theater folk who decide to take up the cause of a small-town lesbian teenager for the sake of publicity. It’s overlong and it’s message as subtle as a sledgehammer, but a great cast makes this frantic prom worth attending. Streep appears once...

Freeze Frame: “Godmothered” (PG), “Black Bear” (R), “Wander” (R), “76 Days” (NR) 04.12.2020 1:58

Disney plays around with its own fairytale tropes with the lighthearted comic fantasy, “Godmothered.” Jillian Bell plays a fairy godmother-in-training who is called upon to save the motherland by granting the wish of a jaded TV journalist, played by Isla Fisher. Bell is perfectly cast as the bungling but good-hearted fairy. While this Disney+ offering never quite achieves its comic potential, “God...

Freeze Frame: “Black Beauty” (NR), “The Croods: A New Age” (PG), “Superintelligence” (PG), “Happiest Season” (PG-13), “The Christmas Chronicles 2” (PG), “Uncle Frank” (R) 26.11.2020 1:59

The updated Disney+ adaptation of the classic children’s novel “Black Beauty” takes many liberties with the original plot. Kate Winslet provides Beauty’s voice and Mackenzie Foy is the girl who loves her. While this version of “Black Beauty” is uninspired and the filmmaking is sometimes clumsy, it’s still a harmless, winsome distraction for kids. Watching the animated caveman sequel “The Croods:...

Freeze Frame: “Mank” (R), “Hillbilly Elegy” (R), “Sound of Metal” (R), “Collective” (NR), “Vanguard” (NR), “The Last Vermeer” (R), “Christmas on the Square” (NR), “I Am Greta” (NR) 20.11.2020 2:00

Gary Oldman stars in David Fincher’s outstanding showbiz drama, “Mank.” Filmed in glorious black-and-white, “Mank” showcases the difficulties that infamous alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz experienced while writing Orson Welles’ classic, “Citizen Kane.” It’s a shrewd, top-notch Hollywood biopic that crackles with great dialogue. “Mank” is pure Oscar bait. “Hillbilly Elegy” is a disapp...

Freeze Frame: “Freaky” (R), “Fatman” (R), “Ammonite” (R), “The Life Ahead” (PG-13), “Wolfwalkers” (PG) 12.11.2020 2:00

“Freaky Friday” meets “Friday the 13th” in the bloody R-rated horror comedy, “Freaky.” Vince Vaughn plays a deranged serial killer who supernaturally switches bodies with a mousey teenager. While “Freaky” doesn’t quite live up to its wacky promise, Vaughn milks his dual role for all its comic worth. Mel Gibson plays Santa Claus…you heard that right…in yet another wacky, violent R-rated comedy,...

Freeze Frame: “Let Him Go” (R), “Operation Christmas Drop” (TV-G), “The Informer” (R), “Kindred” (R), 06.11.2020 1:59

Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play a retired couple who attempt to rescue their grandson from a rural North Dakota family in the harrowing drama “Let Him Go,” based on a novel by Larry Watson. Leslie Manville memorably chews the scenery as the cultish family’s domineering matriarch. Violent and a bit lurid, “Let Him Go” plays a bit like a neo-Western and is a well-acted and unsettling revenge thril...

Freeze Frame: “Holidate” (R), “His House” (R), “The Craft: Legacy” (PG-13), “Mr. Soul!” (Not rated) 29.10.2020 1:59

If you took a typical Hallmark Channel Christmas romantic comedy and added in plenty foul language and crude sexual banter, you might come up with something like the off-putting Netflix offering, “Holidate.” Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey star in the story of two singles who decide to use one another as a non-intimate date on holidays only. The game cast tries hard to find something resembling reali...

Freeze Frame: “Rebecca” (PG-13), “The Witches” (PG), “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (R), “Synchronic” (R), “Over the Moon” (PG), “Friendsgiving” (R) 22.10.2020 2:00

“Rebecca,” a Netflix remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic suspense drama is a handsomely produced but uninspired adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel. Armie Hammer and Lily James star in this dark gothic romance that checks all of the appropriate boxes but can’t match the 1940 Best Picture Oscar winner, which can be seen for free at any time on YouTube. “The Witches” is yet another remake, th...

Freeze Frame: “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (R), “Clouds” (PG-13), “The Secrets We Keep” (R), “Martin Eden” (Not rated) 16.10.2020 1:59

Oscar-winning filmmaker Aaron Sorkin offers one of the year’s finest movies, “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” This surprisingly timely drama covers the infamous case in which peace activists were tried for allegedly inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Sasha Baron Coen, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance are part of a great cast that skillfully delivers Sorkin’s sharp, incisive dia...

Freeze Frame: “On the Rocks” (R), “The Forty-Year-Old Version” (R), “Yellow Rose” (PG-13), “From the Vine” (Not rated) 08.10.2020 2:00

Bill Murray re-teams with “Lost in Translation” filmmaker Sophia Coppola for the disarming comedy, “On the Rocks.” Rashida Jones plays a woman who fears her husband, played by Marlon Wayans, may be cheating on her. Her pushy ne’er do well father, played by Murray, manipulates her into spying on her spouse. There’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye, making “On the Rocks” a sly, engaging a...

Freeze Frame: “The Glorias” (R), “The Boys in the Band” (R), “Herb Alpert Is” (Not rated), “A Call to Spy” (PG-13), “Eternal Beauty” (R) 01.10.2020 2:00

The life of feminist icon Gloria Steinem is given the art house treatment in Julie Taymor’s overambitious biography, “The Glorias.” Four actresses play Steinem in various stages of her life, including Oscar winners Alicia Vikander and Julianne Moore. While it’s illuminating and relevant, the film skims the surface while indulging in some unnecessary and pretentious sequences of surrealism. Still,...

Freeze Frame: “Kajillionaire” (R), “Enola Holmes” (PG-13), “Secret Society of Second Born Royals” (Not rated), “LX 2048” (Not rated), “Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles” (Not rated) 25.09.2020 2:00

If nothing else, you’ll have to admit that the comic drama “Kajillionaire” is not the same old thing. This quirky and gentle movie stars Evan Rachel Wood as an emotionally stunted young woman who works as a petty scam artist with her parents, Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger. Things get complicated when they invite a stranger, played by Gina Rodriguez, into one of their schemes. “Kajillionaire” ha...

Freeze Frame: “Antebellum” (R), “The Devil All the Time” (R), “Blackbird” (R), “H is for Happiness” (Not rated) 18.09.2020 1:59

Pop superstar and Kansas City native Janelle Monáe stars in “Antebellum,” a bizarre horror entry with significant social overtones. Monáe plays a slave on a plantation in the Civil War South…or is she a renowned author living today? This well acted but enigmatic film doesn’t make much sense until the final scenes when the film starts to look like a project that M. Night Shyamalan might have starte...

Freeze Frame: “The Broken Hearts Gallery” (PG-13), “I Am Woman” (Not rated), “All In: The Fight for Democracy” (PG-13) 10.09.2020 2:00

“The Broken Hearts Gallery” is a cute, maybe too cute romantic comedy for millennials that exists in an otherworldly rom-com dimension. Geraldine Viswanathan plays a young woman who saves mementos from her many failed romances and turns them into a gallery exhibit. Can she ever find true love? What do you think? The cast is affable and there are some hearty laughs, although the amusing dialogue of...

Freeze Frame: “Tenet” (PG-13), “Mulan” (PG-13), “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” (R), “All Together Now” (PG) 03.09.2020 2:00

Christopher Nolan’s mind-boggling sci-fi action thriller “Tenet” begs to be seen on the big screen. It also begs to have subtitles. While it’s involving and visually dazzling, the confounding time-inversion plotline is further muddled by an obtrusive soundtrack and heavy accents. John David Washington and Kevin Branagh do an impressive job of navigating their tricky roles. “Tenet” is virtuoso film...

Freeze Frame: “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” (PG), “Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies” (Not rated), “Cut Throat City” (R), “Desert One” (Not rated), “Get Duked” (R) 27.08.2020 2:00

“The Personal History of David Copperfield” is a fanciful reimagining of Charles Dickens’ classic novel. Dev Patel takes the title role in this quirky adaptation, an offbeat but fresh, exuberant and mostly comic take from writer/director Armando Iannucci, the man behind TV’s “Veep.” Purists may balk, but many viewers will be captivated by this version’s unconventional casting and upbeat whimsy....

Freeze Frame: “The 24th” (Not rated), “Unhinged” (R), “The Vanished” (R), “Words on Bathroom Walls” (PG-13), “The Sleepover” (Not rated), “The One and Only Ivan” (PG), “Tesla” (PG-13) 20.08.2020 1:59

Oscar winning filmmaker Kevin Willmott’s drama “The 24th” is a harrowing depiction of the intolerable racism that led to the 1917 mutiny of an all-black US infantry division. Trai Byers leads a solid cast in this true story that ably illuminates a dark episode in American history. Russell Crowe’s bloodcurdling performance fuels “Unhinged,” a sadistic thriller about a psycho with road rage. It’s...

Freeze Frame: “Project Power” (Not rated), “Endless” (PG-13), “Sputnik” (R), “Day 13” (Not rated), “What We Found” (Not rated) 14.08.2020 2:00

The star power of Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the only thing powering Netflix’s “Project Power,” a silly, overblown sci-fi action flick about a street drug that provides short-lived superpowers. The premise showed promise, but the plot gets goofier as it goes along. Try not to laugh. “Endless” is a morose paranormal romance that plays like a dull reworking of the 1990 film “Ghost.” Al...

Freeze Frame: “An American Pickle” (PG-13), “Work It” (Not rated), “The Secret Garden” (PG), “She Dies Tomorrow” (R) 07.08.2020 1:59

“An American Pickle” is a ‘stranger-in-a-strange-land’ comic fantasy starring Seth Rogan in dual roles. He plays an immigrant worker accidentally brined in a pickle vat 100 years in ago. When he miraculously awakens, he meets his only living descendant, his great-grandson, also played by Rogan. “An American Pickle” is a surprisingly sentimental look at the ups and downs of family ties. “Work It”...

Freeze Frame” “Upside-Down Magic” (Not rated), “Summerland” (Not rated), “Rebuilding Paradise” (PG-13) 30.07.2020 1:59

“Upside-Down Magic” is a “Harry Potter” wannabe aimed at an even younger demographic. This Disney Channel movie, based on the Scholastic book series, is about students who attend a school for kids with the gift of magic, but the story concentrates on the struggles of four misfits who are ostracized because their magical powers don’t conform to magical norms. The production values are fine, and the...

Freeze Frame: “Radioactive” (PG-13), “The Rental” (R), “The Big Ugly” (R), “Yes, God, Yes” (R), “Babysplitters” (R) 23.07.2020 2:00

Rosamund Pike’s solid performance is the main attraction of the arthouse biopic, “Radioactive,” the story of Madame Curie and her discovery of radium. Scenes that jump forward in time to illustrate the ultimate effects of her pioneering work are awkward and heavy handed. But “Radioactive” still serves as an informative primer about the world’s first female Noble Prize winner. “The Rental” is a g...