Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

The Batman

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One thing I have always liked about Batman is that he is not a true superhero.  He has no superpowers and must rely on his wits, gadgets and his loyal factotum Alfred to help him in his role as a reluctant crime fighter.  One thing I hate about Batman movies is there are just too many of them.  Every movie seems to rehash The Joker or The Penguin, and you always know that Batman is conflicted, brooding and will be doomed to live a lonely life.  Even so, I did like The Batman.  In this iteration, Robert Pattison expertly plays Batman in his early stages; he has barely been Batman for two years.  Most people do not even know who he is yet, and those who do regard him merely as a vigilante.  There is no Robin mentioned throughout the movie. The only person who knows the identity of the mysterious crusader is Lieutenant James Gordon, who is played by one of my favorite actors, Jeffrey Wright.  (Yes, not-yet-commissioner Gordon). This is indeed a brooding, film-noir type Batman movie.  There is no time or place for humor or lightness.  There is a really disturbed serial killer on the loose, The Riddler (Paul Dano), who leaves twisted clues among grotesque corpses all around the city. Yet there is method to his madness, as the saying goes.  Batman teams up with Cat Woman (Zoe Kravitz) to explore the seedy individuals of the underbelly of Gotham and expose their rampant corruption.  Some of these despicable characters include Colin Farrell as The Penguin (completely unrecognisable in amazing prostheses) and John Turturro as crime boss Carmine Falcone.  Even though there is a running time of three hours, the movie didn’t drag and there were a lot of surprises or familiar Batman tropes spun in a different way.  I have two minor negatives.  First of all, the wonderful Andy Serkis played Alfred, but had very little screen time.  I would have loved to see more of him and I imagine part of his role ended up on the cutting room floor. If so, I hope some of those scenes will be included as deleted scenes in DVD releases.  The other thing I didn’t like was how dark this movie was.  I get it.  Batman lives in the shadows and roams the city at night,  BUT it makes it really hard to see everything that is going on. I mean, they are even investigating crime scenes with flashlights!  For Pete’s sake, turn on a light or two!  I would imagine if this is the first in a series (the end does set up at least one sequel), future movies may include Robin and the return of The Joker.  I am not sure I would take younger kids to this one, but the rest of you will probable enjoy Robert Pattinson’s  performance and the dark atmosphere of The Batman.

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).

The Power of the Dog

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“The Power of the Dog” has been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.  Why, you ask?  Well it is full of great acting, wonderful costumes, and breathtaking scenery.  Will you want to watch it?  My guess is probably not.  In summary, this is a story about two ranching brothers who live in 1925 Montana.  Phil Burbank is a bitter bully who torments his brother, his horse, and anyone else who makes him angry.  Phil is played by Benedict Cumberbatch who speaks in an American accent and is perfectly convincing and menacing in his role.  Phil and his brother George (Jesse Plemons) stop at a prairie restaurant in a small  town to give their men a break on a cattle drive and meet widow Rose played by Kirsten Dunst and her seemingly tender-hearted son, Peter (Kodi Smit McPhee).  After a whirlwind courtship, George marries Rose and she and her son move to the ranch where Phil’s ominous presence and overt bullying cause a change in behavior in both Rose and Peter.  Everything that happens (or doesn’t happen) is so slow and subtle that if you blink, you may miss an important piece of the plot. In fact, you will spend most of the movie waiting for ‘something’ to happen. This is one of those movies that needs 100% of your attention.  By the way, “The Power of the Dog” has nothing to do with dogs for you animal lovers out there, and there is animal abuse depicted that is hard to watch.  That being said, this may be some of the best acting  of Cumberbatch’s career  and I would not be surprised if he won an Oscar.  His performance may be reason enough to see this, although Jesse Plemons really surprised me as the quiet, long-suffering brother.  But the other characters are sketchily drawn and hardly figure in the story. And a lot of what action is depicted is detached and doesn’t really add or detract from the story, and borders on the lightly bizarre at times.  I’ll be honest, after seeing this movie, I had to look up a few things on Google in order to understand exactly what the ending was all about.  That rarely happens to me.  I know this movie is an artistic triumph, but I just can’t give it my highest rating as it was not an enjoyable experience  and I don’t see myself watching it again.  If you end up watching, I would love to hear what you thought!

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.