Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

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I am a big fan of the first Fantastic Beasts movie.  First of all, Eddie Redmayne is delightful as Newt Scamander, the wrangler par excellence of all kinds of unusual and delightful creatures.  The romance between Queenie and Jacob Kowlaski was fresh and just plain cute.  There were a number of interesting subplots and the viewer could actually follow the story line. But I did not enjoy this movie as much as the previous one, and it has to do with the things I love about the first one.  This time around, Newt is not in search of fantastic creatures.  He still has the lovable Bowtruckle with him and the Niffler; and we do see a few visually resplendant creatures, but all too briefly.  Queenie is seen to act in very inexplicable ways; such as putting a love charm on Jacob, who she knew was already in love with her in the first movie!  That whole scene seems forced and unnecessary.  On top of that, Queenie and Jacob have very little to do – they spend alot of time just acting as window dressing.  They are almost lost in the convoluted and rather confusing plot.  Gellert Grindelwald escapes his imprisonment in a rather cliched “bad guy changes places with an apparent good guy” way, and procedes to look for Credence Barbones, who we were introduced to in the first movie.  Grindelwald isn’t the only one searching for him – so is everyone from young Dumbledore (a waste of Jude Law)  to Leta Lestrange to Newt.  Why the interest?  Credence is thought to be a very important person named in an ancient prophecy.  There is a very shocking revelation about Credence at the end of the movie; but it is a murky, disjointed road getting there.  Johnny Depp as Grindelwald is not that menacing. In fact, his performance is sort of bland. The introduction of  Credence’s family tree and how he orginally got to the U.S. makes absolutely no sense.  On the other hand, the visual effects are stupendous.  I especially enjoyed Newt’s ride on a truly fantastic creature, the bucket portkey and any time Jacob Kowalski is on the screen.  I understand that this movie is setting up the next one, but I could have done with a little less set up and a little more heart.  All in all, If you liked the first movie, you will really need to see this one, to be ready for the third  if nothing else.  Let’s just hope that one is a little more interesting!

Green Book

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This is just the kind of movie I love.  Green Book is based on the true friendship between Italian bouncer Tony Vallelonga, aka Tony Lip; and Dr Don Shirley, an African American concert pianist.  Viggo Mortenson gives a virtuoso performace as Tony Lip, a poor but honest working man who got the moniker “lip” for his abiltiy to talk his way out of problems – as well his almost legendary eating skills.  He is a bouncer at the Copacabana, but temporarily unemployed when it’s closed for repairs.  He meets Dr. Shirley in his home over Carnegie Hall, and is offered employment as a driver and muscle for Dr. Shirley who had already checked him out.  It is not every day that you get to see two great performances in one movie, but Mahershala Ali’s portrayal of Dr. Don Shirley is compelling. He is haughty, refined, cultured and even speaks 8 languages.  He also has a few secrets that keep him from finding happiness.  Tony is outgoing, a bit crude and profane, and is always eating; yet has a deep sense of what is right and wrong. These two men, who couldn’t be any more unalike, travel to various performances in the Deep South of the early 1960’s.  Tony helps Don become a little less uptight while Don helps open Tony’s eyes to new experiences and helps him compose letters home to his wife.  This movie will make you angry, laugh, cry and is ultimately a satisfying and hopeful experience.  The real story after the movie is equally fascinating.  Shirley and Vallelonga became life long friends.  In fact, Vallelonga’s son wrote the screen play!  Some of you may even recognize the name “Vallelonga” as he went on to become an actor and was featured in The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos.  For an honest feel good story that doesn’t hit you over the head, but rather makes its point elegantly, you won’t find a better way to spend an evening out!

The Girl in the Spider’s Web

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I was very disappointed in this movie.  I read the original book trilogy by Stieg Larsson and enjoyed the Swedish movies with Noomi Rapace immensely.  I even enjoyed David Lagercrantz’s reboot of the books, although they are not as gritty and intense as the original series.  So I am very perplexed by this movie.  It took some of the most intriguing parts of the book and threw them out the window.  The aspects of the story not in the book that were added are boring and bring nothing to the story beyond the conventional.  Claire Foy is the latest actress to play Lisbeth Salander. She does a decent job, but in the end her portrayal falls flat.  In a nutshell, Lisbeth is approached by Dr. Frans Balder (Stephan Merchant in a brief and ineffectual role), who wants her to hack into the NSA and steal a missile progam he created.  Frans has an autistic son, August, who in the book doesn’t speak and whose drawings contain a clue to a killer.  In the movie version, his son speaks and seems perfectly normal except for his almost savant facility with numbers.  Why change this interesting and compelling character and turn him into a normal kid?  Anyway, Lisbeth discovers her twisted sister, Camilla, who everyone had assumed was dead is, yes, you guessed it – alive.  It is Camilla who is out to steal the program, sell it and destroy her sister in the process.  Camilla’s character is never fully developed so you only begin to really understand why she hates her sister so much through some quick exposition.  The last chestnut is the addition of an American NSA agent, who comes to Lisbeth’s aid, and fortunately is also a sniper with access to a .50 caliber sniper rifle, supported by the incredible computer wizardry of Salander’s hacker friend from the series, Plague. Anyway, instead of watching this one, I would watch the American “Girl with the Dragon Tatoo” starring Rooney Mara or better still, the original Swedish version that starred Noomi Rapace.  Skip this one, you will be glad you did!

Bohemian Rhapsody

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Please do not listen to the other critics – trust Adnerb on this one.  ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a toe tapping, entertaining movie that any fan of Queen music is going to love.  Apparently, it has been getting poor reviews from some critics who felt that Freddie Mercury’s sexuality was whitewashed.  I don’t agree at all. The movie makes things quite clear, without hitting you over the head about it.  If you have a problem with that, perhaps it’s your agenda that should be in question! In the end, this is a celebration of the music created by a group that considered itself a family, and there is so much to love!!  First of all, Rami Malek gives one of the best performances I have seen in a while with his portrayal of the troubled Freddie, who was born with the name Farrokh Bulsara to Parsi parents.  Other stand outs include Mike Meyers, Aiden Gillan, Tom Hollander, Adam Leech and Aaron McCusker. Also, the other members of Queen played by Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello and Gwilym Lee were spot on.  But the real star of the movie is the music and the band that made it.  You learn alot about how the group processed things from their beginning, through massive success to Freddie’s personal demons to reconciliation and reunion.  Just about all Queen songs you know and love are heard at some point in the movie – from ‘Radio Gaga’ to ‘We are the Champions.’  The movie ends with Queen’s historic performance at Live Aid in 1985.  Freddie’s life was no bed of roses, and the ups and downs of success, the darkness of loneliness, and the search for love are all detailed in this compelling movie.  I learned a few things I didn’t know about the enigmatic Mercury, including the reason for this amazing three octave range singing voice.  If you are in the mood to hear some wonderful music (and learn about the origins of some great songs)  you can’t go wrong with this movie!

Johnny English Strikes Again

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Johnny English reminds me of Maxwell Smart, that inept CONTROL agent 86 from the 60’s spy TV comedy “Get Smart.” In the third (and probably last) movie in the series, Rowan Atkinson, as Johnny English,  bumbles his way through a series of misadventures, and yet saves the day without even knowing exactly why or how he did it.  This time around Johnny is retired and teaching Geography in a small, country boarding school – away from the intrigues of London.  Some of the funniest bits in the movie are Johnny teaching spy skills, like camoflauge and bomb building, to his enthusiastic students.  Through a series of serendipitous events, Johnny English is one of the few agents who have not been compromised by a massive security breach.  It was fun to see old timers Michael Gambon, Edward Fox and Charles Dance as the other agents who haven’t been exposed.  But it turns out they are very unlucky agents, and their cameos were all too brief.  You will not laugh out loud like  you would in a broad comedy, but there are isolated islands of chuckles.  Emma Thompson stars as the Prime Minister who will do anything, and I mean anything, to keep her job.  The movie lags in between the comedy bits, so I really can’t recommend you go see this at the theatres.  That is too bad, because I loved the first two Johnny English movies and had high hopes for this one.  Sometimes, you can go to the well once too often.