Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Being the Ricardos

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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.

mother!

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Apple Rating:

I am not one to give you spoilers, so don’t read this review if you do not want a little hint as to what this movie is about.  That said, I can guarantee that you will be totally confused without this hint.  I went to this movie without knowing that the whole thing was an allegory.   Knowing this upfront would have helped me get at least a little grasp of what was going on. I thought from the trailers that I would be seeing a kind of updated Rosemary’s Baby. I think the trailers were misleading. Ready?  Here it is, your hint….the movie is an allegory for Mother Earth and the first book of The Bible.  Each character, outside of Mother herself, represents a character in the Bible.  I could readily discern Mother Earth, God, Jesus, Adam, Eve, Cain and Able.  There are probably a lot more, but those are the ones I figured out.  Even knowing this, “Mother” is bewildering.  The cinematography is great, but that just isn’t enough.  Jennifer Lawrence is very subdued as a newlywed who is married to a writer.  They live in a gigantic, creepy house in the middle of nowhere.  Ed Harris and Michelle Pfieffer are spooky as a couple who appear out of nowhere and are inexplicably invited by Jennifer’s husband, Javier Bardem, to stay with them.  Things only get weirder, as more and more odd things happen, and crowds of people arrive in increasingly complex scenarios .  By the end of the movie, it seems as if the whole of humanity is living, loving and fighting in that house.  Will you like this movie?  I really don’t think many people will like it.  It is a brutal roller coaster of perplexing  allegories and people doing things that just don’t make any sense.  I am not giving it a rotten apple only because the performances are excellent, and I love Ed Harris and Javier Bardem.  But I think you will be happy to have missed this one.