Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

The Last Duel

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

The Last Duel is based on the true story of the last trial by combat in medieval France. Matt Damon plays Jean De Carrouges, a respected knight who is brave and skillful in battle. Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) is a squire renowned for intelligence and wit. The two men start out as friends, Jean even saves Jacques’ life in battle; but it all quickly goes wrong. The Count d’Alencon (Ben Affleck) however, hates Jean and goes out of the way to deny him his rightful position and privilege; while giving Jacques the position and makes him his right hand man. Jacques is enamored of Marguerite, De Carrouge’s sweet, beautiful wife (Jodie Comer) and takes liberties with her while Jean is away fighting in Scotland. She accuses Le Gris of raping her, thus setting up the famous duel when Jean demands the King grant him trial by combat…to the death. Director Ridley Scott has decided to tell the main events of the story three different times through the eyes of each main character. Obviously each retelling is slightly different than the last one. There is a religious court and legal wrangling that shows how little rights and protections women, even noble women, had in that society. The duel is the last resort to clear Marguerite’s name. If Jean doesn’t win, she will be put to the stake! Will she be saved? Tune in to find out! I enjoyed this movie, but I can’t quite give it a Golden Apple. Repeating events (with slight differences) three times made the middle of the movie drag. However, there are the great, gritty action scenes you’d expect of Scott, and the world of Middle Ages France is recreated very well. If you like period pieces based on true events that you probably didn’t even know about, this is the movie for you.

No Time To Die — No Spoilers Edition —

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

Talk about anticipation – I have been waiting for nearly two years for this movie. COVID really messed up movie premiers. This is to be the last outing for Daniel Craig as James Bond, 007, licensed to kill. I am going to miss his Bond. He is a superb actor and his James Bond was tough and vulnerable at the same time. Daniel Craig’s swan song is a very entertaining movie. Many loose ends are summed up, old favorites are alluded to, and new characters are introduced. Fans of an earlier Bond may catch a bit of foreshadowing early on. Moneypenny and Q (Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw) get some well deserved screen time. M in the role that Judy Dench vacated several movies ago is again well played by Ralph Fiennes. The story is complicated; but it’s basically the usual evil villain out to destroy the world. Safin has gotten ahold of genetic nanobots that can be individually targeted by a person’s DNA, so he can destroy virtually any person on Earth, individually or in very large numbers. The villain in this go around is played by Rami Malek, who I love. But he just isn’t given enough to do here. He doesn’t really appear until a bit late in the film, and his evilness is very understated. For a Bond villain, he’s kind of not involved, and he never really seems diabolical enough to pull off his plan. Christoph Waltz has a small, but memorable part as Blofeld, whom Bond put in prison in the previous Bond outing, and manages to taunt Bond from his cell. I also enjoyed a very brief appearance by Jeffery Wright who plays the CIA agent and friend of Bond, Felix Leiter. Bond is still having a hard time getting over Vesper Lynd, his love interest from Casino Royale, but may have finally found someone to settle down with. Lea Seydoux plays the love interest and Bond tenderly protects her and her daughter from Safin and his nanobots. Some people will not be happy with the way the writers decided to end this iteration of Bond. No matter what you think of the ending, this movie is full of chases, gadgets, intrigue, martinis (shaken not stirred) and rousing action. What more could you ask for in a Bond movie??

A WHOLE LOTTA MOVIES

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

It has been quite a summer! Even though I have been busy taking trips (one to Vermont and one to Disney World), I still found time to see movies. So here it goes, a whole bunch of reviews in the order that I liked the movies.

FREE GUY – This is my favorite movie in this group. It is mindless fun and I really enjoyed it. Ryan Reynolds (the Deadpool guy) stars as a wimpy bank teller who discovers he is actually a background character in a video game. His journey to rise above his coding and gain control of his own life is funny and entertaining. Reynold has a great supporting cast; including Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi and Lil Rel Howery (and Joe Keery from Stranger Things). Watch for couple of very funny short cameos!

STILLWATER: Now for something completely different. Matt Damon is a down on his luck oil rig worker who travels to Marseille, France to visit his daughter, who is serving time in prison for murder. She claims innocence and while he had been an indifferent failue as a dad, he supports her all the way. He spends a lot of time in Marseille proving her innocence, and connects with a single mom and her daughter. Things get rather complex. It’s a very different role for Damon, and he pulls it off well. The setting is in the seedier side of town, and gives an interesting perspective quite different from the more touristy environs of many movies. If you were expecting a Liam Neesem “Taken” story with a happy ending, this may not be the movie for you. However, if you want to see top level acting and something to make you think, you might want to check this out.

THE PROTEGE: This one reminded me a little bit of Atomic Blond. It stars Maggie Q as Anna and Samuel L. Jackson as Moody, a paid assassin. Anna is his protege. But they have no particular political or criminal agenda and only go after people who deserve it. You can plainly see in the trailors that Moody is murdered and Anna must bring the killers to justice. Ah ah ah, not so fast. Be ready for a few twists. And look for Michael Keaton in a role as a somewhat honorable, if unmerciful, professional of his own. If you love Samuel L. Jackson (and I do) you will not think you wasted your time watching this one.

SUICIDE SQUAD: I apologize ahead of time to all the Suicide Squad fans out there. The first movie was okay, but this one didn’t do a thing for me. I didn’t find it funny, thought the Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn tiresome, and the plot weak, confused even. We watched it on television, and felt we wasted a few hours (though at least we didn’t waste our money on movie tickets). I guess if you love the first one; you will enjoy this one, but honestly,there are other movies out there worth more of a view.

Jungle Cruise

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

Do you want to completely escape your troubles and watch a movie that doesn’t involve any thinking what-so-ever; and yet is surprisingly entertaining? Then you are in luck, because I have the perfect movie for you. Disney is constantly coming out with movies that are loosely inspired by some of its most popular theme park rides. The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean immediately come to mind. Jungle Cruise is another one, but it is made enjoyable by the performances of Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. I was mesmerized by Emily Blunt’s performance in the Quiet Place I and II. But here she is equally engaging as a turn of the century scientist who wears pants and kicks butt. Dwayne Johnson plays a charming riverboat captain with a big secret. Paul Giamatti has a small role as the Italian dock owner Nilo Nemolato; while Jesse Plemons is the inevitable evil villain, Prince Joachim. The story is loaded with spectacular special effects, and a somewhat complicated plot with a few little twists here and there. And of course, there is the usual spooky jungle river mythos story. It doesn’t have much to do with the ride, but neither have the others! There are a number of interesting side characters (including British comedian Jack Whitehall as Emily’s brother) that really flesh out the tale and help add a touch of humor. They do a pretty good job of establishing the settings and atmosphere. No worries about me spoiling the plot, it is silly, full of holes, and really who cares? Just sit back, relax and escape.

Black Widow

By 2 Comments

Apple Rating:

It has been almost two years since Marvel has released a new super hero movie to the theatres. In the meantime they have offered some stellar televison entries such as “WandaVision” and “Loki,” just to name a few. “Black Widow” is the first of the delayed big budget movies to be released (The latest James Bond movie has been “coming” for two years) and it was mostly worth the wait. Scarlet Johansson has played the Black Widow in several Marvel movies and even died in one of them, so this is a prequel. The action takes place right after “Captain America: Civil War” where Black Widow is a fugitive seperated from the rest of The Avengers. This really isn’t explained in the movie and I only knew this because I read it on line. To start with, the movie gives us Black Widow’s origin story. Young Natasha lives with her family in Ohio: Mom and Dad – played by David Harbour and Rachel Weisz – are actually Russian spies. She and her sister Yelena – played surprisingly well by the scene stealing Florence Pugh – are totally surprised when things start to fall apart. It turns out this is a fake family and none of them are actaually related; though nevertheless there are familial feelings that will be helpful later in the movie. Yelena and Natasha are trained in a place called the Red Room; where they are taught to kill, fight and all the good action picture skills for super agents. Fast forward about 15 years. Black Widow is now a famous fugitive after the Civil War, and has lost contact with her “sister.” Circumstances lead to a reunion, and once the whole gang is reunited in an effort to destroy the Red Room controlled by the evil Dreykov (Ray Winstone) and his hench-women, the film really takes off. Up to that point, there was lots of action but no heart, no famous Marvel humor. Florence Pugh is a breath of fresh air as the younger sister who feels overshadowed by her older sibling but is a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Florence is extremely entertaining and actually upstages the other, more experienced actors. I smell a movie or television series for her!! This movie has everything you want to see in a Marvel movie: action, humor, impossible situations, and interesting villians. However, this is one confusing movie. Several events from other back histories were alluded to and it was taken for granted that the audience remembered them. I, and I’m sure other viewers not steeped in the esoterica of the MCU, had no idea why Black Widow was a fugitive, what the Red Room was, and how she even became an Avenger. A little exposition might have helped. Because of the confusing plot, I can’t quite give Black Widow a Golden Apple, but it was a good movie and best watched on a large theatre screen.