Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Serenity

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

If you are a fan of the cult TV show “Firefly,”  I suggest that  you skip this movie, because you will be extremely disappointed by the title ( fellow nerds, you know what I’m talking about).  If you are not a fan of “Firefly,” I still suggest you that you skip this movie, because you are still going to be disappointed.  I expected way more from a movie starring Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey, who are both Oscar winning actors.  If you have seen trailers for “Serenity;” you will likely have been misdirected, as I was, because this movie is totally not what the trailer leads you to expect.  Matthew McConaughey stars as Baker Dill, an Iraq war veteran and fishing boat captain who spends every spare moment hunting a giant tuna called Justice.  His ex-wife, Karen, shows up with a story of being abused by her current millionaire husband (played unconvincingly and as a bland stereotype by Jason Clarke) and the bruises to prove it.  She wants him to take her husband out on a fishing trip and kill  him by throwing him overboard for the sharks.  She offers  ten million dollars in cold, hard cash.  Karen is played by Anne Hathaway with her hair dyed a perplexing and unflattering blond.  Diane Lane and DJimon Honshu are wasted in minor supporting roles, that frankly, don’t really servie to support anything! Up until this point, the action was slow, but the plot  seemed to be headed in the familiar territoy of suspense thriller.  Here is where the movie falls apart, and even gets silly.   I won’t give away the big plot “surprise,” although I feel I would be doing a public service if I did!  Anyway, think of a really bad rip off of Black Mirror’s ‘Bandersnatch,’ but without the myriad choices, and you will get the idea.  I read after the fact, that “Serenity” was scheduled to be released in September 2018, but was pulled and delayed until late January 2019.  It’s almost as if the distributors knew something, isn’t it?

On the Basis of Sex

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

I didn’t know anything about Ruth Bader Ginsberg before going into this movie except that she seems like a Bad Ass.  After seeing this movie, I have concluded that she IS a Bad Ass!!  “On the Basis of Sex” follows the life of RBG from her time at Harvard Law School as a married undergrad to a ground breaking case that got her career going.  That case helped to toppled decades old laws that discriminated against men as well as women.  Her case, Moritz vs. the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, was distinctive for involving sex discrimination against a man.   Charles Moritz was denied a $600 tax deduction because it was ruled that a man could not be considered a caregiver.  Ruth knew all about discrimination as she faced prejudice, condescension and ignorance in her pursuit of a degree and then a career in law.  As a lot of women back in the day found out, a woman had to work twice as hard to succeed in traditional male occupations.  Once she got her degree, she had a hard time finding a law firm that was willing to hire a woman, even one who was at the top of her class. One prospective employer assumed she would get pregnant and quit while another told her that women were too emotional.  Through it all, her husband Martin, a successful tax lawyer, supported and believed in her.  One potentially tragic  episode in her life occured while she and her husband were both in law school; and Martin ( played  by Armie Hammer) is diagnosed with testicular cancer.  At the time there was about a 5% survival rate, yet they pulled through it all, and he subsequently was a great helper in her reaching her goal. Though the focus of her efforts was sex discrimination (a term they modified to a less aggressive gender discrimination-it was the 60’s after all), she and her team (including her daughter and the ACLU) attacked the issue using the test case involving a man. Ruth, in a fine performance by Felicity Jones, manages her classes, his classes(while he battled cancer) and their daughter as they get through this trying time with an even stronger marriage.  While I found this movie interesting and extremely topical, it is a little slower paced than most movies and I found my self losing interest here and there.  But the performances are great and the plot is full of information that was new to me.  I came out of this movie with a greater respect for the justice that some have nicknamed The Notorious RBG.

Glass

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

If you liked M. Knight Shyamalan’s “Split” and “Unbreakable,” you are probably going to like “Glass,” even though it is not as good as either one.  That being said, it was nice to see some of these characters return.  I especially enjoyed Bruce Willis as David Dunn, the very reluctant super hero who uses his free time to find bad guys, and provide a little justice.  But he most notably is looking for  James McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb.  As the story begins, Kevin, and his many personalities, have kidnapped some female cheerleaders, and some of the personalities are warning the young women that ‘The Beast’ is coming soon.  We know that bad things will happen when The Beast arrives.  Just in time, enter David Dunn, and before you know it, the authorities – who’ve been watching for the two of them – have them both in custody.  Things get murky from here on.  Kevin Crumb has some 30 personalities, and James McAvoy is so spot on as he plays each one to perfection.  At some points, he flips from one to another with such facility and realism that you will be amazed that he is playing them all so quickly and believeably.  Samuel L. Jackson is back as the very breakable Mr. Glass, but I found his character too one-dimensional and unbelievable..  It wouldn’t be an M. Knight movie, though without some twists, which I will not spoil of course.  Part of the problem with this movie that keeps it from being really good is the character of Dr. Staple  played by Sarah Paulson.  She gets way too much screen time as a shrink trying to prove that the three main characters are not the super heroes they seem to believe they are.  The addition of the characters of Glass’ mother, Dunn’s son and the one cheerleader who escaped Kevin’s earlier attentions spread out the plot points, but not always to best advantage.  They are essential to a resolution that is essentially unsatisfying and a touch of that M. Night weak-ish resolution we all know. These parts of the movie lag, and it gives you time to notice many plot holes that you wouldn’t have otherwise bothered looking for.   But there are not a lot of great movies playing out there right now, so if you want to see some great acting by James McAvoy, the return of Bruce Willis, and a scene-stealing twitch, this is the movie for you!

Replicas

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

Have you heard about the new SciFi movie starring  Keanu Reeves?  Me neither, but I went ahead and saw “Replicas” anyway.  Keanu Reeves plays a computer genetics specialist/biologist who has been developing a procedure to capture the electronics of the  human brain on computer media that would allow it to be implanted into a robotic body.  The ultimate clone, it would retain all the person’s thoughts, knowlege and memories. If it works, he could even alter what is saved. But, his system hasn’t been working, the transplanted minds go crazy and the robots have to be shut down.  But he has an inspiration about what is causing it not to work, and just in time!  He and his family are going on vacation and his wife, son and two daughters are killed in a car accident.  Not surprisingly, he clones them and coerces his assistant into ‘borrowing’ the tools and equipment, setting them up in his basement (!) and cloning the bodies before re-inserting their personalities back in them.  Unfortunately, there are only three cloning devices, so he randomly decides he won’t bring his youngest back.  And of course, it doesn’t take long for cracks to appear and things to go horribly off kilter.  It’s all part of the weak science, plot holes and sketchy plotting in general that plague this movie.  Keanu is completely unconvincing as a mastermind biologist improvising his way into one increasingly dubious ajdustment after another, nor does he inspire sympathy or concern with his typical emotionless, dead pan delivery.  You could drive a truck through the plot holes, inconsistancies and just plain poorly designed and written action and dialogue.  His assistant was more lively, yet he and the attractive but underutilized Alice Eve do not shine. I did find some entertainment value in trying to determine which lie he creates to cover up his nefarious doings was  the most ludicrious, but that couldn’t sustain me forever.  If ever a movie was ripe for lampooning on Mystery Science Threatre 3000, this is it.  If you like Keanu Reeves, I would suggest you rewatch “The Matrix” or even “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”  The bottom line is:  Don’t go see this movie!  That is all!

Aquaman

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

Aquaman is exactly what you expected it to be.  There is a lot of Jason Mimosa’s bare chest, tons of CGI and dazzling scenery, ludicrious dialogue and a million plot holes.  It is hard to take Aquaman seriously though, and I think if the makers of the movie had been more tongue-in-cheek like Guardians of the Galaxy or even Ant Man, I would have enjoyed this movie better.  I mean, I didn’t hate it, and I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon.  Thanks to my friend, Kristin, I got to see this movie for free, so the price was deifnitely right.  Everyone is the movie seems to be trying their best, but it was all a bit too silly for me.  I know I am being picky but how can creatures who rarely, if ever, come to the surface know how to speak AND read English?  And it takes a whole mountain of suspension of belief for me to buy that somone has invented a way to turn water instantly into a deadly plamsa that can be fired like a bazooka. And how do thousands and thousands of ocean critters, much less five different tribes of subsurface denizens with huge cities, palaces and technological wonders really escape any notice from the surface dwellers?  I am sure even the kids who were in the audience could predict several key events, including the ending.   On top of everything else, this movie was almost 2 1/2 hours long!  In the middle I found myself getting drowsy and dreaming of having sushi for dinner.  Despite all of these shortcomings, I was oddly entertained by this movie.  I wouldn’t want to see it again, wouldn’t want to own the DVD and I am certainly glad I didn’t have to pay to get in.  I don’t want to stop you from going, and if you consider this movie as super hero eye candy lite, you will probably have a good  time.  A few people at our showing enjoyed it enough to clap, so it can’t be that bad, can it?