Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

The Lighthouse

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I will start out by saying this is one of the most bizarre movies I have ever seen, and I’ve seen some strange ones.  I also can’t say that I enjoyed watching it and I really do not want to see it again.  Ever. That being said, this was an acting tour-de-force by both Robert Pattinson and Willem DaFoe.  The Lighthouse is a black and white atmospheric movie set around 1880 somewhere on a New England Island.  Dafoe plays  gruff, enigmatic Thomas; a wickie, or lighthouse keeper.  Pattinson is Ephraim, who takes on a contract job serving as an assistant for a month under the strange supervision of Thomas.  Thomas gives Ephraim increasingly difficult tasks, like cleaning out the cistern or scrubbing floors he just scrubbed.  The booming of the foghorn, the terrible isolation, menacing seagulls, and harsh environment create an atmosphere of foreboding and oppression.  Left by themselves in this dismal lighthouse station, both  men become increasingly unhinged.  When their supply ship doesn’t make it through a terrible storm, it gets even worse.  The men have only alcohol as a diversion, and their behavior starts to slip.  They run out of alcohol and resort to drinking a weird mix made from kerosene to sustain them.  Behavior starts slipping to insanity. They both get crazier and crazier until finally they snap with disastrous results.  The acting is first rate, but the rest of the movie is almost incomprehensible, and unbelievable.  I really can’t recommend this to anyone.  However, if you do decide to watch, you can find it on Netflix.  But really, there are way better and more enjoyable things to watch.  Why not check out ANY of them?

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.

Tenet

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Yay! Seeing a movie in the theatre is back, even if it’s quite different from the experience we are used to. I was so excited about being able to see a movie the way great movies are meant to be seen, that I almost gave this one a Golden Apple. I just couldn’t quite do it though. Tenet is directed by Chrisopher Nolan (Inception is one of his movies) and stars John David Washington (Denzel’s son). This is only the second movie I have seen him in (The first was Blackkklansman), and he is already emerging as a favorite with me. Tenet starts off with a bang as we see Washington playing some kind of secret agent who is “killed” in the line of duty during a special operation that goes awry. Believe me, I will be spoiling nothing if I tell you about the plot because the story is so confusing and convoluted that anything I will tell you might actually help with your understanding of the movie. It seems that people in the future have figured out how to ‘invert’ objects (that is, shift them through time). For example, an inverted bullet could go in the opposite direction it was fired initially, and change history. What if the same thing could be done with a nuclear weapon? All the plot shifts and twists are far, far more complicated than these simple examples. Washington is tasked with trying to stop this from happening. Washington’s partner is Robert Pattinson who may, or may not know what is going on. Everyone involved does a stellar job. The acting is great and the scenery and effects are eye-catching. However, the movie is very hard to follow (especially the first half hour) and there are a few too many plot holes for my taste; though it all eventually comes clear in the end. I still recommend Tenet, because you have never seen anything quite like it, and we all need a little escape into the past.