Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Thor: Love and Thunder

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Thor: Love and Thunder is a sequel to Thor: Ragnarok which came out in 2017.  Both movies were directed by (and in the later he also doubles as writer and actor)  Taika Waititi.  So you know the movie will be fun and maybe a little silly but highly entertaining.  Waititi definitely delivers the goods.  Thor (Chris Hemsworth) begins the movie where the first one left off with an overweight Thor fighting the good fight with The Guardians of the Galaxy.  In search of inner peace, he shapes up, and parts ways with the Guardians in order to answer a call.  Apparently Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) has made it his mission to destroy ALL gods in the universe. So Thor leaves the Guardians in order to help defend the transplanted remains of Asgard (which has been turned in to a Disney-like tourist attraction) from Gorr’s attacks. While he’s doing that, a former character returns, now wielding Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer! Now that we have the plot details out of the way, we can sit back and watch the fun.  One of my favorite moments was seeing Russell Crowe camp it up as Zeus.  Other fun roles were played by Sam Neill, Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth and Melissa McCarthy as the Asgardian Players and Taika Waititi  as Kong, Thor’s wacky sidekick.  Other people you will see in various parts big and small are Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander, Idris Elba, and a cute group of courageous kids.  As in all Marvel movies, there are end credits: two to be exact.  You will miss the second one if you do not stay to the very end.  I found myself laughing out loud at some of the writing, which is quite clever, but I found the story itself a little lackluster.  For mindless summer entertainment though , I don’t think you will be disappointed.   Oh, and fun fact – Chris Hemsworth’s daughter, India Rose plays the titular Love.

Ford Vs. Ferrari

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I know absolutely nothing about auto racing, and even less about the famous French 24 Hours of LeMans endurance race.  Did you know that the race is exactly what it says – a 24 hour auto race at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour?  I didn’t know that.  Did you know that a team of two racers take turns driving in four hour shifts?  I didn’t know that either.  This movie was quite an education for me, and it entertained me too!  Ford vs. Ferrari tells the true story of car designer (and one-time racer) Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and his friendship with driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale).  When Ferrari patriarch Enzo Ferrari rejects a deal for a merger with Henry Ford II in an insulting way, Ford decides he is going to win the next LeMans.  Shelby is hired to design and build the car, price is no object, as long as he is willing to listen to a committee of executives that include sympathetic Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) and Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas), who doesn’t like the driver Shelby has hand picked.  Ken Miles is rebellious to say the least and is apt to do or say something that doesn’t reflect the image Ford wants to project (this is the 60’s).  The movie does a really good job of showing the ins and outs of the auto racing industry, as well as the excitement and hazards of racing itself. It also shows the deceit and venality that seem to continue to be a hallmark of how business men conduct themselves. There is some good acting on the parts of Matt Damon and Christian Bale, but all the supporting actors are excellent too.  After you see the movie, google Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles – the movie is really good but still doesn’t do either men full justice.

 

Hostiles

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Hostiles was a boring, long movie that I would recommend you don’t go see.  It is unrelentingly depressing.  The main idea of the movie sounds promising.  Christian Bale plays Captain Joseph Blocker,  a grizzled, long serving cavalryman about to retire.  He is given one last mission, to escort a Cheyenne Chief, played by Wes Studi, from New Mexico to Montana on the orders of President Harrison.  The problem is that Blocker hates Indians, who have killed many of his friends while he has been killing many of them.  Along the way, he meets a young widow (Rosamund Pike) who has survived a Comanche attack that saw her husband and three children killed in front of her.  These reluctant travelers eventually form a bond and come to see each other as individual people.  The film is well acted, realistic and atmospheric; but that is sometimes not enough.  There are horrible murders, a gang rape, suicide, unending heartache and a bitter-sweet ending. Yet somehow, the movie still manages to come across as dull, almost boring. You would be better off seeing just about any other movie or perhaps visiting the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.