Old Man @ The Movies

It's difficult to realize that Hollywood can still produce a movie of epic proportions, but they have with GLADIATOR II, a sequel. Directed by the remarkably versatile Ridley Scott, whose work ranges from Blade Runner and The Martian to Thelma and Louise. it is a spectacular glimpse at history and fills the screen with everything you could wish for—violence, crowds, deceit, love, patriotism and family. It is the story of Lucius, son of a famous Roman, who must find his way battling overwhelming odds in the fully restored (for the film) Coliseum in Rome and destined to restore the city to its greatness after years of being ruined by evil emperors.  The only recognizable actor to me was Denzel Washington, a sly trouble-maker. It's not a great movie, but it is uniquely spectacular and should be seen on a huge screen. 71% of critics and 84% of audiences gave Gladiator II a thumbs up.  I forgot to mention in my previous review that Jesse Eisenberg not only starred in A Real Pain, h...

When I got to my multiplex theater on Saturday around noon, there was an unusually large amount of traffic. But because of the film I planned to see, my theater would be relatively empty and it was. The throngs were seeing Wicked and Gladiator, which I will see on less crowded days. I was rewarded by a nicely done movie which was not the comedy/drama promised. A REAL PAIN was a dark, very serious and depressing movie that did not make me laugh once. Kieran Culkin as Benji and Jesse Eisenberg as Daniel were outstanding as two cousins who are taking a tour of Poland to see where the recently deceased grandmother they loved lived, grew up and survived incarceration in a concentration camp during World War II.  Their trip was funded by money left to them by the grandmother.  They are two very different young men who were once very close.  David is married, with a young son, working and living in New York City; Benji is unemployed and living in the basement of his mother's hou...

I may be one of the few people in the world who never heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, so the film I saw yesterday was a revelation to me. A well-done, well-acted movie featuring no one I ever recall seeing before, it is the story of the title character, a German pastor who defies the Nazis and preaches against their activities and actions prior to World War II and who admonished them for their atrocities against Jews. The director of the film had few previous credits.  He was the screenwriter of Sully and the produceer of Elf, and did a credible job here.  In the film, Bonhoeffer comes across as a vibrant activist, who escaped Germany several times trying to enlist other countries to aid his efforts to quell Hitler and the Nazis but always came back to confront his foes.  He went so far as to pretend to join the enemy (as a spy), using that role to help Jews escape.  He even joined a group planning to assassinate Hitler even though he knew it was morally snd ethically ...

To say that the movie I saw yesterday was sexually explicit is an understatement.  Not only in action but in language, because all characters seem to have been intent on setting a world record for using the "f" word in every form available. ANORA is the story of a young woman, Ani, from Brooklyn, who is a hard working prostitute. Somewhere along the line, she meets and gets deeply involved with Vanya, a young Russian, son of as billionaire oligarch, who could have passed for anything from an early teenager to a twenty year old,  He wants her exclusively and they get married in Las Vegas. When Vanya's parents get word of the union they send henchman to get the marriage annulled as they search for Vanya in a wild tour through New York City. The movie is exciting, poignant, funny and insane and everyone plays their role well, especially Mikey Madison as Ani.  Critics and audiences alike gave it a rousing thumbs up, 96% of critics and 91% of audiences. I was entertained by it...

I was the only one in the theater today to watch what might be termed a very early entry in the seasonal movies cycle, and I actually shed a few tears.  Yes, it was faith-based and therefore religious; and yes, it was sentimental but not overly so or forced; and yes, it was silly at times; and yes, it treated its subject matter tenderly and not pedantically; and yes, sometimes it was funny and predictable. And yes, I liked it!  A lot. The storyline is simple. The small town location is poised to put on the 75th anniversary of its Christmas pageant, and the usual director is injured and unable to do the job. Townspeople enlist a local mother who is reluctant but accepts, but her role is thwarted by the appearance of the worst kids in town and maybe in any town: The Herdman's. They are undisciplined, bullies, crude, rude and completely unmanageable, and they demand to be cast as the leads in the pageant, Mary and Joseph, and the director is unable to turn them down. The townspeo...

When my visiting son and I went to the theater at 1:00 PM yesterday we were told there was a power outage, so we left, but called a few hours later and the theater was back in business.  We went to see Hugh Grant in the unlikely role of an evil man.  Two young missionary women are going door-to-door espousing the virtues of Mormonism and are invited in a home by Mr. Reed for blueberry pie, which he explained was being baked by his wife.  He engages them in a serious and very literate conversation about religion, morality and other subjects.  Despite the repeated requests from the missionaries, the wife never appears, and Mr. Reed gets more sinister by the minute, delaying the departure of the women with the excuse that they cannot go out of the front door, which is closed by a time lock for 24 hours.  When he offers the rear door it is with a caveat they must choose the right door.  More than you might want to see transpires.  The script is deep, thoug...

Most, if not all of you, may be unaware of the term blitz.  It was a massive and incredibly destructive bombing attack on the cities and towns of the United Kingdom in World War II.  Originally conducted during the daytime, it was moved to night thanks to the brilliant efforts of the Royal Air Force in fending  off the German air force, the Luftwaffe.  So, the film I saw yesterday is historical in nature in brutally depicting the Blitz but it is much more than that.  In telling the story of the misery of the people in the midst of this daily and nightly pummeling, it is a film filled with drama, sadness and evil.  it is the story of George, a 9-year old, racially mixed boy, who objects strenuously to his mother's desire to send him for safety to the country to avoid the bombing—a very popular practice in England at the time. On the train, George, the subject of racial barbs, jumps off the train and embarks on a journey to go home to his mother.  The jo...

I feel obligated to renew a request I made earlier this year or last year.  It's time for Liam Neeson to retire.  And if you're expecting a film with the title ABSOLUTION to be a religious one, you're going to be disappointed.  Neeson is an ex-boxer working for gangsters as an enforcer but he's suffering from a disease brought on by taking too many punches in the ring.  He can't remember his phone number or address and he writes notes to himself to remember what he's supposed to be doing. And then he decides he wants to be a good dad and get out of the racketeering business.  It was a dark and dismal story that compelled me to leave the theater without finding out what happened.  What part of it I saw was not the worst movie I ever watched Liam Neeson in, but by the same token I didn't feel I needed to see anymore.  And it should not surprise anyone that 47% of critics believed Neeson still has it and gave the film a thumbs up.  Once again audienc...

As you may recall from comments I have made previously that I was predisposed to dislike the latest Tom Hanks movie despite the fact that it starred the flawed icon and was directed by a highly praised, imaginative and successful Robert Zemekis whose credits include such hits as Back to the Future, Forest Gump and Cast Away.  Actually HERE was even worse than I expected when I drove to Virginia for a visit and a movie with my daughter there.  The director's imagination took a turn for the bizarre as he introduced some cinematic effects that were more distracting than effective such as silhouetted rectangles that materialized into characters or new scenes.  This is the story of a home, located somewhere in the northeastern U.S., which is historically notable and was the home of multiple families over the years, mostly a family of young and aging Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, their offspring and others.  The film jumped back and forth repeatedly from when the land was oc...