Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Cruella

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There has been a continuing trend these days in television and movies to make prequels. Cruella is the latest movie to take an old favorite, in this case, 101 Dalmatians, and attempt to give us the back story. I did not hold out high hopes for a live action prequel to one of the lesser Disney animated movies. So, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Well done to all concerned! Emma Stone is excellent as Estella, a problem causing girl, who was born with two-toned hair and a rather dark side to her personality that she nicknames Cruella. She causes enough difficulties that she and her mother have to head for London – with a stop where her mother hopes for help from a mysterious potential benefactor. Estella manages to get into trouble – again!- and the dogs are set on her. She is eventually orphaned! The story follows Estella as she makes her way to London, where she is befriended by two lovable (and slightly clueless) street urchins a la Oliver Twist. Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser play these lovable petty criminals as a kind of Laurel and Hardy. After some clever and comic grifting, Emma, who with her friends is no longer a kid, moves on to pursue a career in fashion, something that was always in her dreams. Estella starts out as a janitor at an upscale clothiers, and is noticed by “THE Barroness,” a very haughty, influential clothing designer. She catches the Baroness’s eye, and favor, and works her way up to assistant before finally branching out to create her own designing company. And she’s ready to take on this Baroness. Enter Cruella! The duels between the two are lively and fierce. Emma Thompson has a field day playing the supremely arrogant and overbearing fashion designer Baroness; who eventually is revealed to be an individual much more cruel than Cruella herself as her rivalry with Estella intensifies. Rounding out the cast is Mark Strong who seems to be a henchman to the Baroness, but turns out to be something else. I wouldn’t be surprised if both Emmas were nominated for awards, their acting is just that good and so captivating! Throw in a great soundtrack, gorgeous costumes, bold effects, two cute dogs and some twists and turns and you have quite a thrilling ride. I strongly urge you to NOT watch this movie on Apple Plus. This is one of those movies that is too big for a mere TV screen. Do yoourself a favor and see this one on a big screen. You won’t be sorry.

A Quiet Place Part II

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Wow! What a deifference a week makes. Last week, our theatre was nearly empty. Today, the theatre was quite full; it seemed almost like pre COVID times! It looked like every group of viewers had only one “socially distanced” space between them. Many people were excited to see John Krasinski’s follow-up to his successful “A Quiet Place,” and so were Bill and I. This was a very worthy sequel! Emily Blunt, playing Evelyn Abbott once again, gives an amazing performance as a mother trying to keep her three children (including a baby) alive in a world overrun with aliens whose goal seems to be to utterly destroy the human race. The catch is that these aliens are basically blind but have super=sensitive hearing. Any small sound is enough to alert them-even from a good distance away! In order to survive, people must stay quiet. Abbott has even found a way to keep her baby quiet with a pretty ingenious “pacifer.” If you didn’t see the first movie, no worries. John Krasinski gives you a little recap of how this whole thing started. He creates a dystopian sort of post-alien massacre world where isolated humans can only eke out a meagre, desparate existence. In this movie, Blunt meets up with Cillian Murphy, a family friend, who reluctantly agrees to help them. The two kids, played by Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, give gut-wrentching performaces as the two older kids. A favorite of mine, Djimon Hounsu makes an unfortunately short appearance. I found this movie highly suspenseful, keeping me on the edge of my seat for the entire time. If you enjoyed the first movie, you will love this one too. If you didn’t see the first one, you won’t be disappointed with this sequel!

Dream Horse

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I am a sucker for an underdog story with a happy ending. Especially when it is TRUE!! “Dream Horse” is a little movie with a big heart. It is the story of some of the inhabitants of a poor, forgotten Welsh town that has definitely seen better days. The coal mines are shut, jobs are scarce. Everyone seems to be barely ekeing out a living. Toni Collette playes Jan Volkes, a part time bartender and grocery check-out clerk who dreaams of getting out of her rut. A chance meeting with Howard Davies (Damien Lewis of Band of Brothers) sparks a crazy idea. Jan decides to raise enough money to buy a horse, breed her with a great racehorse, and raise the colt to be a champion racer – all with no experience. But it would cost a lot of money to do so, way more than she can finance. So, she convinces around 20 or so of her neighbors to join the venture as a syndicate, with each one promising to pay ten pounds a month for two years. Ten pounds is a challenge for these people, but they get caught up in Jan’s enthusiasm and hope for the future, and so the venture is a go. With the money, they are able to purchase a mare. A one time stud fee leads to the birth of an energetic little colt they name Dream Alliance who is raised in the little stable Jan’s husband (Owen Teale) has built in their small yard. Dream Alliance a shining beacon of hope for Jan, Howard and actually the whole town. British cinema stalwarts Nicholas Farrell (Chariots of Fire) and Peter Davidson (Doctor Who) perform ably in supporting roles. I am not going to spoil the plot, but of course there are many bumps along the way leading up to the culminating race – the Welsh Grand National! This is an exciting, emotional and heart warming story. I found myself actually clapping and there may have been a tear or two shed. In fact, I dare you not to cry! Currently Dream Horse is not streaming anywhere; so don’t walk, run out to a theatre before this gem of a movie is gone.

The Wrath of Man

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Adnerb is out there continuing to brave the theaters. Yes, many of these movies can be watched on televison,streaming services,laptops and even phones. However,for me, nothing beats seeing a movie, even a mediocre one, on the big screen. This week my husband and I watched the latest Guy Ritchie cinematic opus, “The Wrath of Man.” Jason Statham stars as “H,” a mysterious, over qualified, armoured truck driver who guns down a few would-be armed robbers during a robbery attempt with a callous indifference as easily and efficiently as swatting a fly. Everyone hails him as a hero, while wondering who he really is, where he comes from, and why he would want to work in a dangerous, and low paying, job. We eventually find out his back story and ulterior motive as he works his own version of vigilante justice. I found this to be a subpar offering and way too predictable. The story line jumped back and forth in time enough to be distracting; and there was an overreliance on bang bang, shoot-em-up to the detriment of acting performance. Statham played “H” too detached and emotionless, very understated and without the ‘charm’ of other performances, in movies such as “The Italian Job” or “Spies.” I enjoyed Bob Odenkirk in “Nobody” a lot more to be honest. However, if you are in the mood for this kind of movie, I think you would enjoy it better seeing the action play out on the big screen. Now, go buy your tickets and see something -anything- the theatres are doing a great job of keeping everyone safe. Coming up soon, the return of a long anticpated sequel! Not to say which one, but…..shhhhh!

Oscar Predictions – Pandemic Edition

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If you follow Adnerb, you probably noticed I haven’t posted for a few weeks. It is not because I haven’t seen any movies lately. I have. It isn’t because there have been no good movies released. There have. I guess you could say I have taken a break due to lack of interest. Since people can’t go out to theatres (well actually you can), it’s not like it was pre-pandemic; and interest in how good or bad a movie might be has dissipated. Movies I have seen but didn’t review include Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, Nobody (better than I thought it would be – Bob Odenkirk!) and The Courier (extremely well done) starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Be that as it may, Adnerb will carry on – a global pandemic will NOT stop me from predicting this year’s Oscar winners.

BEST PICTURE: This will be a close race between Nomadland and Minari. I think the academy will go with NOMADLAND though.

BEST DIRECTOR: I am pretty confident that CHLOE ZHAO, the director of Nomadland, will win this one.

BEST ACTRESS: This is a really hard one. Ordinarily I would say Viola Davis would get it for Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom or Francis McDormand might get it for Nomadland. However, since they both have won in the past, I think the Oscar might go to CAREY MULLIGAN.

BEST ACTOR: CHADWICK BOSEMAN. Enough said!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: I am pretty confident that this award will go to DANIEL KALUUYA for Judas and the Black Messiah.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: This is the one I am least sure about. It could be Maria Bakalova for the Borat movie or it might be Yuh-Jung Youn for Minari. Let me flip a coin……the Oscar goes to YUH-JUNG.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: NOMADLAND

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

BEST ANIMATED MOVIE: SOUL

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: SOUL

These are my picks. What do you think? What are yours?