Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Shaft

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Sometimes you will see a movie that is full of cliches, stereotypes, and so much political incorectness that you are sorry you wasted your money.  This was not that movie.  Despite being loaded with all those things, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Samuel L. Jackson plays Shaft, the ultra-cool, ultra-gritty, ultra-violent detective who has a son, Shaft, Jr. (Jessie Usher), whom he hasn’t seen in 25 years.  Shaft Jr. is now an FBI analyst, who abhors violence, wears designer clothing and is pretty intent on pursuing a successful career path in the Bureau.  The two join forces when Jr.’s best friend, a rehabilitated veteran, turns up dead under mysterious curcumstances and he needs the help of his long absent dad.  Between Junior and his very modern and centered doctor girlfriend, as well as his mom who Shaft had left when Jr was a baby, there is alot of interplay and adjustments to be addressed. There is also a lot of violence, as to be expected; but a lot of humorous banter, which was not expected. Look for Richard Roundtree (the original Shaft) as the kick-butt grandfather. This is not the kind of movie that will get good reviews, or win awards, but I found it highly entertaining.

The Dead Never Die

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This was a very strange movie, and I mean strange.  “The Dead Never Die” stars Bill Murray and Adam Driver as taciturn policemen who work in the sleepy small town of Centerville.  Fracking by American energy companies has caused a problem with the Earth’s rotational axis which leads to ZOMBIES!!  The movie follows various characters as they try to deal, mainly unsuccessfully, with this epidemic,   I usually love quirky zombie movies, but I must say, this one, not so much.  For a dark comedy, there are hardly any laughs.  For an action movie, there isn’t much action.  There are tons of zombies though, doing the usual things  that zombies do and it is very graphic.  It just wasn’t very interesting though.  There is even a potentially clever twist featuring Tilda Swinton that goes nowhere except into a strange sort of plot hole.  The movie ends with a preachy diatribe about how we are ruining the planet that seems totally unnecessary and out of place.  If I were you, I would rewatch Bill Murray in “Zombieland” and skip this one entriely.

Rocketman

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Well let me start out by saying that I thought before I even got to the theatre that I was not going to like this movie.  For some reason, I don’t care for the lead actor, Taron Egerton.  I don’t know why, I just don’t like him.  That being said, I did enjoy “Rocketman.”  First of all, how can you go wrong with a movie full of music written by Elton John and lyrics by Bernie Taupin?  Many of my favorites were here, including “Crocodile Rock,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Saturday Night’s Alright” and “Your Song.”  What I found compelling was the story of how shy, pudgy, Reginald Dwight evolved into the flamboyant and oh so talented Elton John.  There are some quite good performances in this movie, including an almost unrecognizeable Bryce Dallas Howard as Elton’s unhappy philandering mom.  Taron Egerton might not have had the shear brillance of Rami Malik as Freddie Mercury, but he did give a believable performance.  I also enjoyed Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin, the writing partner who enjoyed the trappings of being a rock star without actually having to get on a stage. I was fascinated with the creative process the duo used when they first started writing songs, after both answered ads for songwriters.  Bernie wrote lyrcs, mailed them to Elton, who would create the music without any direct contact and input from Bernie.  There is one thing I didn’t care for though, and that was the musical numbers.  I felt they were forced and didn’t really add to the plot. In fact, they were like an Academy Awards show production number and I found them distracting.  Elton and Bernie’s songs were the most enjoyable when they were being sung on stage, or when we saw the evolution of how the song was created.  All in all, this movie much better than I thought it would be and I think you would probably enjoy it.  Unless you hate Elton John songs.  Then I would stay home.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters

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Everyone knows who or what Godzilla is; movies about this classic monster have been around since the 1950s.  Everyone also knows about his “side-kicks” like Rodan and Mothra.  But I bet you didn’t know that these are all Titans who have been on earth protecting it for thousands of years.  Unfortunately for us, Ghidrah, an extraterrestrial monster shows up and wakes  the sleeping Titans (except Godzilla) and gets them to team together to destroy mankind and take back the Earth.  With me so far?  Vera Farmiga and Charles Dance are ecoterrorists who mean well (well, Charles Dance, perhaps channeling Tywin Lannister, doesn’t really mean well at all!), and contribute to the chaos.  Bobbie Millie Brown (Stranger Things) and Kyle Chandler try to set things right by recruiting Godzilla to destroy  Ghidrah, take his place as the King of Monsters, and save our planet.  Most of this movie is shot in a pretty dark light,  a very popular but infuriating, trend in movie making.  I found the whole thing rather silly and do not look forward to any future iterations of the Godzilla story.  Please let Godzilla Rest In Peace!

Aladdin

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Hollywood has a rich history of remaking movies.  At the top of the list has got to be “A Star is Born” with four remakes to date.  “The Italian Job”,” Ocean’s Eleven”,” Cape Fear”, “Dumbo”, “The Fly” and “Willie Wonka” have all had indiffering success at remakes too.  My question to Hollywood is —–why?  A few of these are better than the original, but most are subpar or equal in appeal.  “Aladdin” is in the category of no better or no worse than the original.  The original had the late, great Robin Williams whose manic energy would be hard for anyone to beat and its animated presentation was attractive and fitting for the story.  Will Smith as the Genie gives it a very good try, but he is merely adequate. If he hadn’t had to follow Williams, his humor and special panache would probably have resonated more.  But now, that is not good enough in my opinion.  Everyone tries very hard, and I can’t fault any of the actors. But there is too much flash, and too much divergence from the source tale.  Guy Ritchie’s direction is fine and the special effects are well-done.  I imagine children, most of whom haven’t seen the original, will love this version.  It has been updated though. There is a new feminist twist to this retelling and a few of the original lyrics have been altered to make them a little more PC.  Also, a few more songs have been added to move the new plot additions along.  The songs are still wonderful though.  I left the theatre not hating this movie, but I didn’t love it either.  In fact when I got home I went on You Tube to watch Robin Williams sing the original version of “You’ve Never had a Friend Like Me.”  Pure Heaven!!