Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Bullet Train

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Brad Pitt plays a very unlucky assassin nicknamed Ladybug who is tasked with finding and removing a particular briefcase by his handler (voiced by Sandra Bullock). The action takes place entirely on a high speed train in Japan (A ‘bullet train.’ Coincidence? Unh unh).  Ladybug discovers that seemingly everyone on the train has an ulterior motive for being on board, AND for wanting the briefcase. No surprise that the gloves are off, and they all will stop at nothing to get it.  Some of his adversaries include Bad Bunny playing the Wolf, Joey King as Prince, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Tangerine, and Bryan Tyree Henry as Lemon.  The man behind it all has a complicated back story, but it will become clear that he’s earned his sobriquet ‘White Death.’ (The ever daunting Michael Shannon). This movie reminded me a lot of Pulp Fiction because of the witty dialogue, violence, and timeline mash ups. The action is fast paced and full of twists and unforeseen turns. Right in the middle of the action, for example, the movie shows you the journey of a water bottle from the vending machine where it is purchased through it’s appearance on the train and it’s inventive use as a weapon.   Oh and don’t forget some tongue-in-cheek cameos by Channing Tatum and Ryan Reynolds. This is an extremely violent, but yet, highly entertaining summer pop-corn movie.  I wouldn’t take young kids to see it, but otherwise, if you go, I doubt you will be bored.

Nope

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“Nope” is the latest movie written and directed by Jordan Peele and I feel it is his best so far.  He has put together a top-notch horror movie, that is about more than you expect, and will leave you thinking.  The movie’s first shocking scene will make you wonder what it has to do with the rest of the movie, but by the end, all will be clear.  The basic premise is that brother and sister horse wranglers run a stable in an isolated, high desert-like area of California. Odd things have happened.  There are strange power drains, horses are running away and they soon find something very mysterious is happening up in the clouds, which may or may not be an alien presence.  Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer), the extroverted sister, is sure it’s UFO’s, and wants to get pictures in order to become famous and make money.  Her introverted brother (Daniel Kaluuya) is more interested in the well-being of the horses than the  notoriety, but reluctantly agrees to help.  Other people who are interested in this possible UFO are Steven Yeun as a former child actor who is living on the past notoriety of a family tv show gone horribly wrong; Brandon Perea, an unhappy electronics and tech expert who becomes a key member of the little team they establish, and Michael Wincott as an older and supposedly wiser photographer they need to capture the phenomena on film, whatever it might be.  I have tried to tiptoe around the plot, because I don’t want to give too much away, and it is so much fun to speculate about what is happening.  This movie will keep you wondering for the entire 2 hours and 10 minutes.  It is well-written, superbly acted, and highly suspenseful.  The lonely, solitary stable evokes an atmosphere of impending danger and helps build the fear. If you see it, I would love to hear what you thought in the comments.

Thor: Love and Thunder

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Thor: Love and Thunder is a sequel to Thor: Ragnarok which came out in 2017.  Both movies were directed by (and in the later he also doubles as writer and actor)  Taika Waititi.  So you know the movie will be fun and maybe a little silly but highly entertaining.  Waititi definitely delivers the goods.  Thor (Chris Hemsworth) begins the movie where the first one left off with an overweight Thor fighting the good fight with The Guardians of the Galaxy.  In search of inner peace, he shapes up, and parts ways with the Guardians in order to answer a call.  Apparently Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) has made it his mission to destroy ALL gods in the universe. So Thor leaves the Guardians in order to help defend the transplanted remains of Asgard (which has been turned in to a Disney-like tourist attraction) from Gorr’s attacks. While he’s doing that, a former character returns, now wielding Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer! Now that we have the plot details out of the way, we can sit back and watch the fun.  One of my favorite moments was seeing Russell Crowe camp it up as Zeus.  Other fun roles were played by Sam Neill, Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth and Melissa McCarthy as the Asgardian Players and Taika Waititi  as Kong, Thor’s wacky sidekick.  Other people you will see in various parts big and small are Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander, Idris Elba, and a cute group of courageous kids.  As in all Marvel movies, there are end credits: two to be exact.  You will miss the second one if you do not stay to the very end.  I found myself laughing out loud at some of the writing, which is quite clever, but I found the story itself a little lackluster.  For mindless summer entertainment though , I don’t think you will be disappointed.   Oh, and fun fact – Chris Hemsworth’s daughter, India Rose plays the titular Love.

Minions: The Rise of Gru

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First of all, I am a Minions fan.  They are cute, lovable, yellow, banana lovin’ and loyal.  Their gibberish, as well as their antics, always put a smile on my face.  That being said, I didn’t like this one as well as the past Minions movies.  At first I couldn’t understand what the problem was.  They are still entertaining and the movie contains a few hilarious moments (especially on a plane) involving those cute yellow-skinned rascals!  And then I had an epiphany!  It is the Minions that make the movie.  Every time the movie was about Gru, I felt my interest wavering.  The scenes with Gru were not funny (to me anyway) and I kept on waiting for the Minions to reappear.  The Gru of Despicable Me (which I loved) is just not the same without Agnes and her siblings.  This younger, awkward, Gru comes across as just plain tedious.  So if you ignore the scenes about Gru, you may end up enjoying this movie.

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?