Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

The Lighthouse

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I will start out by saying this is one of the most bizarre movies I have ever seen, and I’ve seen some strange ones.  I also can’t say that I enjoyed watching it and I really do not want to see it again.  Ever. That being said, this was an acting tour-de-force by both Robert Pattinson and Willem DaFoe.  The Lighthouse is a black and white atmospheric movie set around 1880 somewhere on a New England Island.  Dafoe plays  gruff, enigmatic Thomas; a wickie, or lighthouse keeper.  Pattinson is Ephraim, who takes on a contract job serving as an assistant for a month under the strange supervision of Thomas.  Thomas gives Ephraim increasingly difficult tasks, like cleaning out the cistern or scrubbing floors he just scrubbed.  The booming of the foghorn, the terrible isolation, menacing seagulls, and harsh environment create an atmosphere of foreboding and oppression.  Left by themselves in this dismal lighthouse station, both  men become increasingly unhinged.  When their supply ship doesn’t make it through a terrible storm, it gets even worse.  The men have only alcohol as a diversion, and their behavior starts to slip.  They run out of alcohol and resort to drinking a weird mix made from kerosene to sustain them.  Behavior starts slipping to insanity. They both get crazier and crazier until finally they snap with disastrous results.  The acting is first rate, but the rest of the movie is almost incomprehensible, and unbelievable.  I really can’t recommend this to anyone.  However, if you do decide to watch, you can find it on Netflix.  But really, there are way better and more enjoyable things to watch.  Why not check out ANY of them?

Nightmare Alley

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“Nightmare Alley” is a gritty remake of a 1947 movie based on a book of the same name.  It is filmed in black and white which gives  the film a dark and evil look. It perfectly fits the plot.  This is a depressing movie about the sad lives of misfits working for a rather sad carnival in the 1940’s.  In bygone days, people could make a living by being freaks or having some pretty cliched acts, such as Ron Perlman who plays the world’s strongest man; or David Strathairn who has a mind reading act, when he isn’t drunk, with his wife played by Toni Collette.  One of the bigger draws of the carnival is the resident wild beast man/geek who readily and eagerly devours a live chicken for the entertainment of the masses.  How someone ends up being such a geek is  disgusting (and hopefully long gone relic of those bygone days).  The story starts with Stanton “Stan” Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), whom we see burning down his midwestern shack of a house after putting a body in a hole in the floor.  The reason for this inexplicable act will become clear by the end of the movie.  Fade to Stan wandering into a cheap carnival during a rainstorm, and being offered temporary employment as a sort of roustabout.  He makes himself very useful and is befriended by some of the carnival denizens and joins the company. At first he takes any job he can fill.  But eventually he develops his own clairvoyant act (which he may or may not have stolen from Strathairn’s character) and jazzes up a geek act for Molly (Rooney Mara). He manages to overcome her initial aloofness and gain her trust. He then decides to try his luck away from the carnival and lures sweet, innocent Molly (who he’s made  into an assistant, or accomplice!) into coming with him.  All is not as it seems though.   Of course, Stan’s act is nothing more than a con. Molly is a shill. After a few years, they are somewhat  successful, but a chance encounter with Dr. Ritter (Cate Blanchett)  changes their fortunes and ultimately their lives.  We’re talking big money here. Or are we? This is NOT a happy story and you will  probably be repulsed at points.  By the jars of preserved, grotesque, babies who died at birth, for example.  Even so, this is a top-notch thriller which also includes performances by Richard Jenkins (the victim of the ultimate scam, which brings everything tumbling down), Willem DaFoe, and Mary Steenburgen.  Romina Power, daughter of Tyrone Power – who played Stan in the original –  cameos as a viewer of Stanton’s show, but I didn’t know which person she was.  Maybe you will.  The set designs and settings are terrific! Guillermo del Toro directs a cinematographically scrumptious movie, but I can’t give it a golden apple for two reasons.  First of all, it was too long and kind of lagged in the middle.  Second, the ending was just too depressing (and you may figure the ending out before it arrives).  However, if you are a fan of film noir from the 40’s and 50’s, I think you will enjoy this psychological thriller.

Last Night in Soho

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“Last Night in Soho” is an interesting thriller that moves between London’s Soho of the 1960s and the present time. Thomasin McKenzie (JoJo Rabbit) plays Ellie, a country girl who has moved to London in order to study fashion designing. Ellie has some kind of presight, and sees things that aren’t ‘there.’ She sometimes sees visions of her mother, who committed suicide when she was 7. Thomasin brings to life the innocent girl in the big, wild city in a sympathetic and believable way. After moving in with a party girl room mate, and discovering she is the leader of a clique of ‘mean girls,’ Ellie decides to find a place of her own. She ends up in an old, creaky apartment owned by Dame Diana Rigg (in her last movie appearance). Things begin to go really wrong. Ellie sees visions of a mysterious girl named Sandy (Anya Taylor-Joy) who seems to be living the high life in the swinging sixties. She has aspirations to be a singer and falls under the sway of Jack (Dr. Who’s Matt Smith), who appears to be a friendly fun guy who seems to have the “ins” to help her get started. These dreams turn into nightmares as Jack shows himself as a real creep, bordering on pimp, who wants to absolutely control Sandy. Ellie believes she is seeing through her dreams the events that lead up to Sandy’s murder. And the lines are starting to blur between dream and reality. I won’t say more, but there are some delicious twists a la Alfred Hitchcock. The costumes are stunning and the soundtrack is mesmerizing. The recreations of “swinging” Soho are atmospheric and evocative. The whole thing was conceived and directed by Edgar Wright, who also helmed “Shaun of the Dead” and co-authored “Ant-Man.” I think this is his best movie to date. If you are obsessed with the 60’s like I am, you will enjoy the eerie and earthy quality and cinematography. The story is a little slow to start, but once it gets going, I think it will have you hooked until it comes to a most bizarre conclusion.

Unhinged

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Movies are starting to come back, and I am so happy. Nothing beats seeing a movie on a big screen with some “buttery” popcorn and reclining seats. Theaters are also doing a good job of following safety protocols. So all the pieces are in place for a wonderful movie immersion experience…except where are all the movies? Except for “Tenent,” the big studios are still holding back the good ones, hoping to get better box offices with late year releases. It is in this kind of an atmosphere that a movie like “Unhinged” even gets a chance to be noticed. “Unhinged” is a bad movie that stars a good actor. Russell Crowe plays a man who has been beaten down by life and a messy divorce that has turned him into a psychopath. He does that quite well. When the movie opens, we watch him beat in a suburban house door, murder the couple inside, torch the house and impassively watch as it explodes in flames. Only later do we find out that this was his ex-wife and her new husband. In the meantime, our protagonist Rachel, played by Caren Pistorious, is not having a good day. Late for an appointment because of traffic, she gets frustrated with a man who is slow to move when the light turns green and honks her horn at him. Of course, we know who it is, even if we hadn’t already recognized his massive pickup truck. This small act has huge consequences. The rest of the movie revolves around the Man’s vendetta against Rachel, her family, and friends as he becomes more and more unhinged. As Rachel is chased by this unglued man, she makes the most ridiculous decisions, most of which do not involve going to the police for help and result in a number of people dying gruesomely. Like all good psychos and their chosen implements of destruction; the Man is mostly unchallenged, his truck nearly indestructible and he is virtually impervious to crashes and physical injury; until the last 20 minutes or so. He unerringly finds Rachel, her son and family; though some of this is because Rachel, dopey throughout, leaves her no password protected cell phone in her unlocked car to be stolen while she shops at a gas station convenience store. The end of the movie was totally ludicrous. In normal non-COVID times, this movie would be forgotten among the big blockbusters like “Wonder Woman” or the next James Bond movie. Still, a return to the movie theater experience has to start somewhere! So even though it is a subpar movie, I don’t regret watching it, and can’t wait for our next big screen adventure!!

The Invisible Man

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Reading about this movie, I was sure it would be a so-so “B” movie, just entertaining enough to pass a sleepy February Leap Day.  I was kind of pleasantly surprised, I must admit.  The movie opens with Cecilia’s (Elisabeth Moss) elaborate escape from her abusive, brillant and and very wealthy husband – a genius with optics. She hides out with a friend and his daughter, afraid to even leave the house.  A few months later he commits suicide and leaves his millions to Cecilia.  There is a condition though; she must not commit a crime or be found mentally incompetent.  The movie becomes down right creepy from there.  I am not spoiling anything, I think, that can’t be seen in the trailers.  It seems that Cecilia is being haunted by something, or someone, who has been getting into her mind and apparently into her house.  What makes this movie stand out from this usual genre is the performance of Elizabeth Moss.  She is riveting as the abused woman whom no one believes, even her own sister.  The woman who has an inner strength she discovers as she faces the mysterious events going on around her. If you like suspense that verges on horror, I think you will enjoy “The Invisible Man.”