“JOE BELL”
2 STARS
There’s a soul-baring and detrimental dialogue exchange in Joe Bell between a husband and wife played by Mark Wahlberg and Connie Britton that epitomizes the chief flaw of the movie itself. Wahlberg’s title character is asked whether he’s doing his cross-country walk for awareness or forgiveness. His answer reveals his, the movie’s, and the actor’s misshapen perspective.
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, the upcoming King Richard) and based on actual events written by Brokeback Mountain Oscar winners Diana Ossana and the late Larry McMurty, there’s a fair story to share here. The real Joe Bell…
“LONG STORY SHORT”
4 STARS
Rafe Spall’s Teddy shares a lovely line to his best girl Leanne, played by Zahra Newman, towards the beginning of Long Story Short. He says “I love you more than I did yesterday and not as much as I will tomorrow.” I adore that line. It speaks with such intentional optimism. If only we all lived our lives as honestly and as purposefully as that little mantra. …
“EDGE OF THE WORLD”
3 STARS
In a 2016 interview with the politically-minded website Dirty Movies, esteemed British filmmaker and two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach doubled-down on comments he made with BBC News earlier that year about the “fake nostalgia” of history being broadcast in TV and film that “puts your brain to sleep” about his country’s sometimes rurthless history. Loach stated:
“The British Empire was founded on land conquests, enslaving people, transporting them to other countries, stealing people’s natural resources, exploitation, brutality, concentration camps. We do need to tell the truth about that. I’m not saying we should wallow in guilt. This…
“A QUIET PLACE PART II”
4 STARS
Treading down the homemade sound-muffling sandy paths of eastern New York again for A Quiet Place Part II roused a chin-rubbing line of inquiry for this very writer. Now that we’re into a second film of this creature feature scenario, can John Krasinski’s movie still get away with holding back basic details? In 2018, not entirely knowing what the threat was about to the Abbott family was a large portion of the heady and suspenseful appeal that made A Quiet Place a tremendously vivid film and successful box office winner.
LESSON #1: HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO…
“CRUELLA”
3 STARS
Strutting through much of Cruella as the true villainess of the picture, Emma Thompson’s callously evil Baroness declares at one point that “gorgeous and vicious” is her “favorite combination” of character traits. That great line and pairing is also a fitting description for the movie and its turbulent pendulum. Much of Cruella’s ambitions arrive at spiteful and malicious, wholly suitable given the title character’s historical mystique and the 49 listed synonyms for “evil” on Thesaurus.com, of which “cruel,” curiously, does not make the list.
Jointly so, “gorgeous” is the proper baseline for descriptors necessary to commend the many…
“IN THE HEIGHTS”
5 STARS
LESSON #1: VERBALIZE YOUR GOALS — There is a certain peremptory call-and-response urged early on by the storytelling protagonist of In the Heights. In speaking to curious kids with rapt attention, he pronounces, “Say it so it doesn’t disappear!” when sharing the name of their neighborhood, Washington Heights. Hearing that imperative command, this school-teacher-by-day film critic can’t help but think of Edgar Dale’s old Cone of Experience theory where learners are said to only remember 10% of what they hear versus 70% of what they say and write or 90% of what they actively do.
This central Dominican-American…
“THE WATER MAN”
4 STARS
In the final scene of David Oyelowo’s directorial debut The Water Man, a teenage son looks to his father and asks him a purposeful question: “Would you want a short life with someone you love or a long life without that someone?” The teenager asking isn’t clueless anymore to life’s finality. He doesn’t need to be coaxed into an answer by the parent. He knows his heart now and his chosen preference. When his father offers his matching answer, that agreement is a spiritual bond of shared experience bigger than any academic or religious indoctrination.
Before this review…
“HERE TODAY”
4 STARS
There’s a very pleasing moment, one of many in Here Today, right around the middle where Billy Crystal’s decorated comedy writer character Charlie Berns is sharing a sidebar with a fledgling new talent named Darrell, played by Andrew Durand in his film debut. In a scene that could very well echo or mirror the gap of the stature between the two actors themselves, Berns is trying to help the young man discover a little more depth in his material with the notion that “comedy is encouragement” and that there’s a “music” to it. …
“THE OUTSIDE STORY”
3 STARS
LESSON #1: ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR KEYS — I don’t even have to ask. I know we’ve all done what sets off the basis of The Outside Story. We’ve all locked ourselves out of something, be it our car or home. It’s happened once and likely bound to happen again with our distracted, busybody tendencies, much to the chagrin of the “everything happens for a reason” crowd and the doses of public shame we feel and receive for making that habitual mistake. The educational reminder is obvious. …
“WITHOUT REMORSE”
4 STARS
If your experience with movies and TV shows based on Tom Clancy novels is predominantly filled by the five actors called upon to play the famous Jack Ryan character over the last 31 years, you need to call your gamer friend. We’ve all got one. You know who they are. They would like to introduce you to who the late author called “Ryan’s dark side” and a fat franchise of awesomeness named Rainbow Six. …
EveryMovieHasaLesson
Don Shanahan of “Every Movie Has a Lesson” is a middle school educator who writes film reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical.
