Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

The Electrifying Life of Louis Wain

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

This movie won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it sure was mine. This is the kind of little British drama you can usually find on PBS.  It is the true story of Louis Wain. If you are like me, and never heard of him, I suggest you google his name before watching the movie.  Take a look at his very interesting, and sometimes bizarre, drawings and paintings of cats.  Before Louis Wain, people believed cats belonged outside catching mice.  Most would not have dreamed of keeping one in the house. Wain’s drawings were so popular that they helped launch cats as companions and pets.  In “The Electrifying Life of Louis Wain” Benedict Cumberbatch does an outstanding job of showing us Louis’s unorthodox mind.  His life is hard and confusing to him (he may have been autistic or suffered from schizophrenia) until he marries his sisters’ governess – played delightfully by Claire Foy.  Their romance is so sweet and Louis is blissfully happy.  But this being a true story, unfortunately, it doesn’t stay that way.  The electricity in the title refers to the Louis’s belief that electricity can pull us forward in time and help us hold on to our memories.  This idea inspired him to create cats that became more and more psychedelic over the years. But his inner demons cause his life to become sadder and his sanity more tenuous.   Olivia Colman adds her terrific voice as the narrator.  This story gave me a deep appreciation of this man I had never heard of, and his unique and powerful pictures of cats. If you’re interested, you can find this mesmerizing tale on Amazon Prime.

The King’s Daughter

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

What can you say about a truly terrible movie?  Not since I saw Johnny Depp in “Mordecai” have I been so disappointed in a movie as I was in “The King’s Daughter.”  Pierce Brosnan (shame on you!) stars as the most unhistorical Louis XIV in history.  He has the ludicrous idea that if he can catch and kill a mermaid, he will live forever.  For some unexplained reason, he has hidden an illegitimate daughter in a nunnery (even though he had many illegitimate offspring with many mistresses that he proudly took credit for).  While at the nunnery, his daughter, Marie-Josephe, played by a dismally underqualified and uninspiring Kaya Scodelario, is an independent and troublesome charge.  She is eventually brought to court, where it is revealed the King is actually her father.    In another story line, a mermaid from Atlantis (?) is captured in the most ham fisted and unbelievable way (the CGI is amateurish); and put in a super quickly created grotto near the palace.  (In an amazing feat of 17th century construction, the grotto is full of underwater pinnacles, deep fissures and a secret connection to the harbor of Le Havre via the River Seine!)  Louis needs this mermaid so he can have her killed during a solar eclipse, thereby somehow guaranteeing his immortality.  William Hurt (How dare you!  What a sad way to put a stake in the remnants of what used to be a great acting life) plays a priest who supports his king until even he realizes killing a mermaid is just plain wrong.  Many other pointless and uninspiring events occur. So what makes this movie so terrible (if the plot isn’t enough of a clue)?  Well, it is not interesting or entertaining, has no action, a half-hearted romance, and the worst costumes ever!  Most of the supporting characters are poorly developed cartoons who aren’t going to get anyone’s interest. It wasn’t until I was looking up the movie on my phone that I discovered this was actually filmed in 2014 and couldn’t find someone willing to distribute it.  I guess with COVID curtailing filming, even a terrible movie seems like a good investment.  It isn’t.  It is too late for me, but at least you can save yourself and your loved ones by totally ignoring “The King’s Daughter.”

Don’t Look Up

By 2 Comments

Apple Rating:

“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

By Leave a Comment

Apple Rating:

“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.

Being the Ricardos

By 2 Comments

Apple Rating:

Are you a fan of the old 1950’s sitcom, “I Love Lucy?”  If so, I think you will enjoy this movie.  If you are asking yourself, “Lucy who?” this may be one to skip.  As I am a fan, I totally enjoyed “Being the Ricardos.”  The whole thing takes place in one week  during the filming of an episode of the hit show.  It starts with the script read  on Monday and takes us all the way to the final live performance on Friday.  Much happens in that week though.  First, Lucille Ball is accused of being a communist.  This revelation could be, and was, the kiss of death for a lot of 50’s actors, writers and directors.  Second, the tabloids had published pictures of Desi out on the town with another woman.  Last of all, Lucy finds out that she is pregnant, and she and Desi have decided to write the pregnancy into the show. This is absolutely unprecedented and shocking to their network and sponsors who were afraid even referring to her as pregnant would  lose viewers (and revenue!).  All of this drama is woven in and out of the performances of the four key players.  And they are all marvelous!  Nicole Kidman does not do an imitation of Lucille Ball, she becomes her.  You really get to see the difference between the ditzy Lucy Ricardo and the tough as nails Lucille Ball.  Javier Bardem surprised me.  I never felt he parodied Desi Arnaz in any way.  J.K. Simmons was the curmudgeonly William Frawley as Fred Mertz.   Nina Arianda is heartbreaking as Vivian Vance who played Ethyl Mertz.  Even though she and Lucille Ball were around the same age, it was always her fate to play older, dowdier and dumpier.  On top of everything else, there are flashback scenes which were my favorites.  These scenes showed how Lucy and Desi met, how much in love they were, and how astute they were as business people. The two Arnaz children apparently approved of this vision of director Aaron Sorkin and they are the executive producers.   If you are looking for a documentary, this is not the movie for you, although you may want to check it out if it streams on Hulu or Netflix.  If you are a fan, you will definitely want to check this one out.