Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Death on the Nile

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If you are a fan of Agatha Christie, whodunits, Egypt, glamorous globetrotters or Kenneth Branagh; I have just the movie for you.  Sir Kenneth once again plays Hercule Poirot (returning as the classic Belgian detective with the little grey cells whom we last saw in Murder on the Orient Express),  He is taking a break from sleuthing by embarking on a relaxing vacation in Egypt.  Vacation abruptly turns into a murder investigation when one of the passengers on a private yacht is murdered.  It is obvious that someone on board is guilty of course, but who?  Therein lies the fun of the movie.  A myriad of characters and suspects are introduced.  All have hidden secrets and motives. There is the glamorous Linnet Doyle (Gal Gadot) who stole her girlfriend’s (Emma Mackey) fiancée.  The latter is stalking Linnet and her ex fiancée.  Armie Hammer plays the sleazy playboy – who may or may not only be after his new wife’s money.  Then there is Hercule’s old friend, Bouc, and his snarky artistic mother Euphemia – as well as Linnet’s ex fiancé, her personal maid and her lawyer, who all have something to hide.  The writer has added a backstory to explain why Poirot wears such massive moustaches.  This was not in any of the books I have read (I think I have read just about all of them), but I felt it was well-done and added to Poirot’s character.  Also two additional characters have been added:  Jazz singer Sophie Okenedo and her manager played by Leticia Wright, both with their own suspicious pasts.  There are so many characters, though, that some really get the short end of the stick as far as time on camera:  Russell Brand, Rose Leslie, Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders immediately come to mind.  Anyway, this movie is exactly what you’d expect out of a whodunit – great scenery, lavish sets and costumes, tons of red herrings, a plethora of suspects and a twist ending.  The thing that keeps me from giving this movie my highest rating is I do think it was too long and dragged in the middle.  But still, I am a big fan of whodunits, and if you are too, you are still going to want to catch this one (and hopefully the next one).

Moonfall

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The premise of Moonfall is that the moon is an alien-made structure that was put in place for some unknown reason (which will become apparent later).  Astronauts Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and Jo Fowler (Halle Berry)  are working on a satellite when they are attacked by a mysterious black cloud thingee. It swirls around with intelligent appearing malevolence and though they escape, it ends up causing another astronaut’s death.  No one believes Brian about the black cloud and he is blamed (and fired) for the catastrophe.   The movie then skips ahead ten years where the moon is acting weird, is off course, and heading for Earth.  Oh no!!  The U. S. military’s bright and  apparently only idea to stop this is to nuke the moon, yes, you heard me right, nuke the moon!  Since there are apparently no other astronauts or rockets available, Jo and Brian find an old relic and decide to go up into the moon and save the day.  Wait, they need help.  Why not take an overweight conspiracy theorist who has some serious anxiety issues and has never been in space?  Because his theories appear to be on target! That is where K.C. Housman (Game of Thrones’ John Bradley) comes in.  The movie is full of government cover ups, conspiracy theories, sentient A.I, kids in danger, separated families,and bone-headed decisions.  I found most of the movie silly and the reason for the ‘moon fall’ kind of dumb.  There is a large amount of exposition in the last half hour of the movie.  And a lot of the action, particularly the movements of the moon, really strains credulity…be ready to suspend a LOT of disbelief. Of course,in all movies where the Earth is in danger, a major landmark must be destroyed.  You will have to watch for yourself to see which one they get in this movie.  Should you see this movie?  I definitely wouldn’t pay to see it in a theatre, but on a rainy Sunday afternoon, if nothing else was showing, it would definitely pass the time.

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.

Don’t Look Up

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“Don’t Look Up” is stuffed to the brim with stars who can act.  Some of those you will see in this movie are:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Timothee Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Ariana Grande and Tyler Perry.  This is a tongue-in-cheek satire which will not appeal to everyone.  The premise is that two astronomers, Randall Mindy and Kate Dibiasky,  played by DiCaprio and Lawrence, discover that a comet larger than the one that killed the dinosaurs is heading for earth. But this one is large enough to completely destroy life on the planet. The comet will arrive in six months.  As our intrepid astronomers try to warn people and get them to take the situation seriously, no one believes them or even seems to care.  The media, portrayed by Blanchett and Perry, are parodied as the typical, utterly shallow and phony entertainment influencers of today. Blanchett is only focused on how handsome Mindy is, and loses interest in him once he loses his ratings draw.  Perry is a mindless, sycophant.  And of course, alternative media steps in to provide the idiotic, anti-science opposition. The government initially takes things seriously, but thanks to the interference of a mega-donor communications company owner (Rylance), hoping to exploit the resources the comet contains, they switch to his plan.  Of course, the plan fails utterly and we are all undone.  Meryl Streep plays the president of the United States as a clueless Trump-like character, while Jonah Hill is absolutely despicable as as her son (and Chief of Staff) who doesn’t appear to have ANY people skills whatsoever, or any intelligence for that matter.  You may feel like punching both of them by the end of the movie. There are some serious topics lampooned including greed, gullibility, nepotism, media responsibility, corruption, vanity, celebrity-obsession and politics. Sounds like a rather heavy handed, if absolutely on point, pillorying the worst aspects of social media and politics? It is. If you watch, make sure you watch the mid-credit scene because you will be glad you did! I loved this, and right now you can only see it on Netflix, so no worries about going out to a theatre.

The King’ s Man

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“The King’s Man” is an origin story that comes before the two way more entertaining Kingsman films.  Did we really  need an origin story?  I say no, and I really didn’t care for this one. According to the misleading trailer, this looked very much in the vein of the first two which gave us a ton of intrigue, plus Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Samuel L. Jackson and even Elton John.  This one has Ralph Fiennes and Djmon Hounsou (whom I love) but doesn’t give him much to do.   The story starts with Ralph, as the Duke of Oxford, losing his wife as a civilian casualty of the Boer War. She dies in his arms before the eyes of their horrified small son. He vows to do everything necessary to keep his son safe, as it was her dying wish.  In the meantime, some of history’s most evil criminals plot to change events and exacerbate bad situations in World War I to ensure the British lose.  (Playing very fast and loose with history.  There are some plain silly scenes like the one where President Wilson is being blackmailed with a phony sexy film roll!) The worst was a complete waste of 20 minutes or more with Rhys Ifans playing a highly improbable and totally disgusting Rasputin. The real Rasputin, bad as he was, was a choir boy in comparison.  That whole part of the movie could have been edited out with no loss to the story (such as it is).  Most of the action takes place in the last twenty minutes and is fairly well done.  But, I was very disappointed in this one and didn’t feel it kept to the spirit of the first two.  If you must see it, wait until it is streaming, no use throwing your money away.