Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

If you only have time to see one movie this summer, I beg you to make it  “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” the gentle documentary about Fred Rogers, the kindly and compassionate human being and host of the long running children’s show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.  In these polarizing times, we need someone like Mr. Rogers to bring us together, and I think that may be the  point of this film.  Mr. Rogers started his show in the infancy of television, where he saw comedians throwing pies into each other’s faces.  He thought that the medium had such potential and wondered why it was only being used in such a fashion.  He sought to change things. This documentary includes interviews with Fred’s wife (she is just too cute), his two sons, and various people he worked with on the show, including Yo Yo Ma. If you are looking for dirt or something that rings false about the man, you won’t find that here.  To tell the truth, he was a genuinely nice man and cared deeply for the well being of children.   Did you kow he was a life-long conservative Republican and an ordained minister?  Many people thought he was a liberal democrat because of his preaching of inclusion.  The film clips that are shown by film maker Morgan Neville will make you want to search for episodes on Youtube.  What I liked the most were the quiet moments he had with others. I dare you not to cry when he is talking to a boy confined to a wheelchair or when he meets Koko the gorilla, who wants nothing more than to take off his shoes like she had watched him do so many times on his show. The highlight to me though, was when Fred Rogers went before Congress and convinced a very jaded congressman to not cut funding for public televsion.  Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood dealt with deep social issues in a way that helped kids to understand and to not be nervous or afraid.  I was especially moved when  Betty Aberlin (in character as Lady Aberlin) tries to expalin the assassination of Robert Kennedy to a puppet.  Another part that really got me was when Francois Clemmons, who is African American and gay, tells his story about playing Officer Clemmons for over 20 years.  It is as poignant as it is revealing.  You will not leave this movie with a dry eye, but you will leave with a new appreciation of the number 143!!

 

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

By 2 Comments

Apple Rating:

You know a movie can’t miss with these two! Benicio Del Toro, as mysterious operative Alejandro Gillick, and Josh Brolin, as federal agent Matt Graver, are back for another go around with the Mexican drug cartels.  The first ‘Sicario’ movie concentrated on the cartels, their influence over the  U.S. drug trade and the gritty anti-drug task force’s missions. This newest entry deals with those too, but the main focus is the exploitation of illegal immigrants who try to cross the border to seek a better life. It also touches on how children are drawn into and affected by gang activity.  The movie starts with a horrific scene of three Muslim extremists who blow up a super market, including a mom who unsuccessfully tries to protect her daughter.  I am not fond of movies that harm kids; although I understand that the point is to depict the horror terrorism inflicts.  Still, it was not easy to watch this scene and I found myself closing my eyes.  The main plot driver is the U.S. government officials’, including the Secretary of Defense (Matthew Modine), belief that the terrorists must have entered our country from Mexico; and that starting a war between the cartels will help stop this from happening, as well as getting the cartels taking each other out.  Graver’s  character is given carte blanche to do what ever he sees as necessary.  He recruits Gillick with the promise that he will be able to have his revenge on the head of the cartel who actually ordered the murder of his family (In the first movie. he got revenge on the man directly responsible for the murders).  To start the cartel war, the daughter of this cartel head is kidnapped.  Things do not go according to plan, of course, and when the government learns that the terrorists were actually homegrown, they decide to abort the mission.  The civilian official controlling the mission (Catherine Keener) decides that the girl and Gillick know too much, and must be eliminated along with anyone else involved.  She coldly tells Graver, sorry, but they are to become collateral damage.  As you probably suspect, Gillick is not so easy to get rid of.  How that all plays out is complex, violent and bloody; but: no spoilers! The move is bloody and violent throughout, this is not a movie for the squeamish!  I do feel that it gives an honest and heartbreaking look at how terribly these poor immigrants are taken advange of and abused.  Elijah Rodriguez gives an intriguing performance as an innocent school  boy who is lured by the easy money to be made as a coyote and whose fate is unknown (but suspected) by the end of the movie.  Beneath all the harsh action, this film asks us to take a hard look at the immigration problem while offering no solutions. Of course, that’s not the movie’s goal,, and there aren’t any easy answers anyway.  I do like the way that both main characters are shown to ultimitely have a heart, and the end definitely screams sequel!  Even though this is not my kind of movie, I found myself drawn in by Del Toro’s character.  I would probably watch the next inevitable installment.

Hereditary

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

I provide this movie review as a PUBLIC SERVICE to all of you looking to avoid a terrible movie.  Do not listen to any of the critics out there who have annnoited this movie as the next “Get Out.”   I loved “Get Out,” but I can not say the same for this mess!  Do  not read any further if you plan on seeing this movie, despite all of my warnings, as there are a few spoilers mixed in.  Let me start out be saying that ‘Hereditary’ starts out promisingly.  Toni Collette is a superb actress and she does give a fine, creepy performance as a distraught artist mom (seems to be her main strength, crazy and distraught), grieving over her own mother’s death.   Her movie daughter, Charlie, and son, Peter, have issues of their own. Alex Wolff stumbles through his slacker stoner role with only minimal pathos; but Milly Shapiro is one of the creepiest kids I have seen in a movie in ages.  However, she is not really in the movie for very long, the major presence she seems to have in the trailers is quite misleading.  If the movie had focused  on her character, I think I would have enjoyed it much more, but her death is a key point in the developing ‘plot.’ The first half of the movie did contain genuine suspense; but also some gross-out scenes, especially involving a character’s pretty improbable decapitation.  Obviously, horror movies have characters doing stupid things, like going into a dark, creepy basement late at night, but this movie had so many such plot devices that it became ludicrous. Add in plot holes that you could drive a truck through and it became ridiculous – several people in the audience laughed at several points at the improbabilities.  SPOILER ALERT: Someone in the movie gets into a car accident in which their sibling passenger is gruesomely killed (see above).  Instead of calling the police, he drives home (with the dead body in the car) and goes to sleep!  When the mother discovers the dead body the next morning; after the screaming, the movie cuts right to a funeral. What?  No police, no counseling, a  disengaged husband and father (Gabriel Byrne sleepwalking through a mailed-in performance) does nothing.  The kid just goes back to school.  Later, as the “plot” develops, he brutally bangs his face into his desk in front of the shocked and strangely inactive class and teacher, apparently breaking his nose, and his parents calmly take him home and put him to bed?  Really?  No hospital or mental health evaluation?  A strangely chirpy woman who meets the mom at a group for those who grieve, goes the extra mile in pursuing the mom. Why? You should begin guessing by now.  She teaches the mother how to conduct a seance that brings people back from the dead after only one brief lesson?  The increasingly psychotic mom  then talks the disengaged husband and the increasingly jittery and crazed teenage son into a ridiculous seance of her own. It rapidly gets worse and more goofy.  I’m sure we were supposed to be grossed out and scared when one of the main characters cuts off her own head, but by this point, it was just all so silly!  If you want to see half of a good movie, and watch an ending that is so ludicrious you contemplate asking for your money back, then by all means go see this movie.  I do have one question though for Gabriel Byrne,”What kind of dirt does the dirctor have on you?” This one makes ‘Mother’ look great.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

By 2 Comments

Apple Rating:

I am pretty sure that I would want to visit a Jurassic Park as envisioned by Steven Spielberg and the original book by Michael Crichton.  Yes, things went wrong; but if scientists could bring dinosaurs back safely, admit it, you couldn’t stay away either.  However, I can’t imagine many people would want to go to a Jurassic World, with its sheer commercialism and lack of feeling and empathy, its wanton disregard for anything other than making money.  The newest entry into the Jurassic frachise demonstrates the pessimistic notion that people will do anything, and I mean anything, to feed their greed.  The movie opens with the abandoned island doomed because of an impending volcanic erruption.  All dinosaurs will perish. This is a big moral dilemma.  Should these creatures, who were engineered in a laboratory and have no business livng in our century, be saved – or should  nature be allowed to take its course?  Luckily (or is it?) for the dinosaurs, Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), the former business partner of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) and the team that created the original park, wants  to step in and save as many of these noble creatures as possible,  To this end, he hires Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and others, to retrieve the dinosaurs and place them in a reserve where no one will be able to bother and/or exploit them.  As you can imagine, this may be his intent, but it’s not the real plan.  Lockwood’s assisstant and right hand man Eli (Rafe Spall) has plans that are utterly mean and cruel.  This is a character beyond redemption! (Pretty much as all the bad guys in these movies are).  But you will find everything you would ever want to see in a Jurassic movie in this one: gorgeous scenery, realistic dinosaurs, evil scientists and a cautionary quote from Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum).  All of this being said, Jurassic World is scary, emotional and exciting.  I won’t spoil it here, but Jurassic World has one of the most sequel-worthy endings in the history of franchise summmer movies.  I’m betting Chris and Bryce have already been committed to a resolve-the-teasers movie! So, there will be a sequel; oh yes, you will want to go see it!

Ocean’s 8

By 2 Comments

Apple Rating:

I liked this movie.  It is light hearted and fun.  Sandra Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, sister of the famous Daniel Ocean from three past movies (2 great and 1 terrible), who has recently passed away (although  there  are several jokes about the fact that no one is 100% positive that he actually is in his crypt).  She has been in jail for five years, apparently framed by her former boy friend and partner in crime, Claude Becker (portrayed by Thorin Oaken…er, Richard Armitage).  She’s had a LOT of time to think, and when she gets out, she is ready to pull off a seemingly impossible  (aren’t they all?) heist that involves stealing a necklace – worth an incredible $150,000,000! – from the Met’s Annual Gala and the neck of the self centered Daphne Kugler (Anne Hathaway).  Watching how she pulls this off with partners like Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Rihanna is entertaining.  Director Gary Ross even throws in a few cameos from some of the original players of Ocean’s 11-13.  Hathaway makes a really good mark, one with more on the ball than you might think, and Armitage lightly oozes the charm as the boyfriend who may or may not be part of a revenge subplot.  The schemes are not as intricate and developed as the Clooney vehicles, but there are some good twists, some good performances and plenty of eye-catching fashion.  Ocean’s 8 may not be an intense ride like Dead Pool or Infinity War, but for a summer popcorn movie – It definitely fills the bill.