Category Archives: Acceptable for teenagers

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Acceptable Sci-Fi, Action Film, Action sequences, Corny at times, Failed Father, Father-son relations, Fighter Pilot, Happy ending, Martial Arts, Maudlin, Mother-son relations, Netflix Streaming, Physical fighting, Time Travel

The Adam Project (2022)

From IMDB:

A time-traveling pilot teams up with his younger self and his late father to come to terms with his past while saving the future.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 46 minute complete film.

Consider it a rarity to find a film that both adults and kids can enjoy.  About the only suggestive comment made is that a man’s suit jacket is so tight it looks like a condom made of tweed.

“Kid” material includes Star Wars light sabre dueling, exploding reactor parts, and fighter pilot maneuvers. “Adult” material includes fathering skills (or the lack thereof),  mother appreciation, and several maudlin episodes.

Ryan Reynolds during filming was 46 years old which is the perfect age to portray the older Adam. Mark Ruffalo is now 55 years old and also fits the part of Adam’s somewhat absent physicist father. Catherine Keener is the wicked witch Maya. Walker Scobell is sharp as the young Adam.

Don’t expect to understand the time travel scientific blather. Not a bad B+ expenditure of screen time.

2021, Acceptable for teenagers, Alcoholism, Antique Cars, Based on a Book, Based on true facts, Bloody scenes, Brother-Brother relations, Bullying, Clever Plot, Could Be Hard To Watch, Dancing, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Embarrassing episodes, Emotional child abuse, Erotic Tension, Family Conflict, Gay theme, Homophobia, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Period Piece, Puzzling Conclusion, Sexual Tension, Suicide, Suspense, Uncle-Nephew relations, Western

The Power of the Dog (2021)

From IMDB:

Charismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.

From Netflix:

A domineering but charismatic rancher wages a war of intimidation on his brother’s new wife and her teen son — until long-hidden secrets come to light.

From Netflix you can stream this stunning 2 hour 8 minute film.

Filmed in New Zealand (and supposedly taking place in Montana), Jane Campion’s mystery film ended with my saying “Whoa! What just happened?”  After sitting for awhile in a daze, I thought I finally figured out what was going on in the story.  To check my conclusion I googled for “The Power of the Dog” and discovered that my own reaction was typical for the film.  There are lots of discussions and explanations concerning the plot. To my satisfaction, I had correctly solved the whodunit. And not a word more from me about the details. (Out of desperation, you might read a review.)

Needless to say Benedict Cumberbatch (as the villain Phil Burbank) shows off his consistently amazing skill as an actor-chameleon.  Note that his American English is pitch perfect.

But credits are due also to:

  • Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon, the fragile wife of George Burbank.
  • Kodi Smit-McPhee as her son Peter Gordon.
  • Jesse Plemons as Phil’s soft-spoken but steady a rock brother George Burbank.

Be prepared for Phil’s nasty cruelty. Let me know if you solved the puzzle.

DO NOT MISS!

2022, Abandoned child, Acceptable for teenagers, Alcoholism, Amazon Prime, America of the 1950s, Amusing banter, Based on a Book, Based on true facts, Brother-Sister relations, Coarse manners, Could Be Sad, Crude Talk, Disrespect toward women, DO NOT MISS, Eccentric cast of characters, Failed Father, Father-son relations, Fatherless child, Feel Good Not For Children, Friendship, Happy ending, Husband leaves wife, Local color, Sex Scenes, Social class differences, Uncle-Nephew relations, Vulgar, Wife Beating

The Tender Bar (2022)

From Amazon Prime:

​​From director George Clooney and based on the best-selling memoir, The Tender Bar follows an aspiring writer (Tye Sheridan) pursuing his romantic and professional dreams. From a stool in his uncle’s (Ben Affleck) bar, he learns what it means to grow up from a colorful group of local characters.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this gem of a film which lasts for 1 hour 46 minutes.

Ben Affleck’s resumé has seen its ups and downs, successes and embarrassing flops.  But with this wonderful film he has nailed a really memorable role.  Even one critic who found the film “bland” still conceded that Affleck (as Uncle George) delivered an excellent, terrific performance.

Although that Long Island neighborhood, home of a lot of foul-mouthed but warm-hearted men and women, was rougher than anything I ever experienced, nevertheless I admired their tight friendships.

Expect notable acting from:

  • Tye Sheridan as the young JR.  Naïve, plain looking, and hopelessly attracted to
  • Briana Middleton as Sidney. Did she ever love JR or was she looking for “experience” (as in “sex”)?
  • Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Sidney’s mother, whose sneering, smug, cruel treatment of JR left me boiling.
  • Daniel Ranieri as young JR.
  • Christopher Lloyd as Grandpa. “Don’t tell anybody I’m a good grandfather, everybody will want one.”
  • Lily Rabe as the  Mom whose life is centered on her son JR.
  • Max Martini as JR’s cringe-worthy drunk of a father.

In the IMDB entry for this movie, there is a sizeable user review that is much harder on the film than I have been. Still —

DO NOT MISS!

 

2021, Abduction, Acceptable for teenagers, Action Film, Ambitious Dirty Tricks, Amusing banter, Art theft, B-movie, Bromance, Buried Treasure, Career Criminal, Chase film, Comic Moments, Complicated Scams, Confusing Plot, Conspiracy, Martial Arts, Mayhem, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Plot twists, Suspense, Torture, Witty dialog

Red Notice (2021)

From Netflix:

An FBI profiler pursuing the world’s most wanted art thief
becomes his reluctant partner in crime to catch an elusive
crook who’s always one step ahead.

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour complete film.

Brainless but fun, what else would you expect from a combination like Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds?   Both of them have found their cinematic niche – stupid action films.

Funny bromance banter,  great action (the body doubles are capable athletes),  some surprising plot twists, explosive digital effects, and the usual requirement to suspend disbelief all provide the entertainment.

Popcorn and a cessation of cerebral activity make for a fun watch.

1982, Acceptable for teenagers, Adultery, Bizarre Episodes, Conspiracy, Defies Categorization, Flashbacks, Kanopy streaming, Mother-daughter relations, Offbeat, Outrageous Behavior, Peter Greenaway, Plot Twist, Sex Scenes, Sexual promiscuity, Somewhat ridiculous plot, Unhappy Marriage

Draughtsman’s Contract (1982)

From Kanopy you can stream this 1 hour 49 minute complete film.

From Kanopy:

Set in a richly exaggerated 17th-century England, Peter Greenaway’s sumptuous and sensuously charged brainteaser catapulted him to the forefront of international art cinema. Adorned with intricate wordplay, extravagant costumes and opulent photography, Greenaway’s first narrative feature weaves a labyrinthine mystery.

An aristocratic wife commissions a young, cocksure draughtsman to sketch her husband’s property while he is away–in exchange for a fee, room and board, and one sexual favor for each of the twelve drawings. As the draughtsman becomes more entrenched in the devious schemings in this seemingly idyllic country home, curious details emerge in his drawings that may reveal a murder. THE DRAUGHTMAN’S CONTRACT is a luscious cinematic banquet for eye, ear and mind.

Winner of the Grand Prix from the Belgian Film Critics Association. Nominated for a Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival.

“What we have here is a tantalizing puzzle, wrapped in eroticism and presented with the utmost elegance. I have never seen a film quite like it.” – Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun

If you have never seen a Peter Greenaway film, brace yourself.

2017, Acceptable for teenagers, Bisexual theme, Brother-Sister relations, Cooking, Cooking and food, Could Be Sad, DIY Ending, Drama, English, Extramarital Affair, Failed Marriage, Family Conflict, German, Hebrew, Israeli culture, Jewish Religious Observance, Keeping Kosher, Love Story, Mother-son relations, Nudity, Quiet, Sex Scenes, Slow, Unhappy Marriage

The Cakemaker (2017)

From Kanopy:

Thomas, a young German baker, is having an affair with Oren, an Israeli married man who has frequent business visits in Berlin. When Oren dies in a car crash in Israel, Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking for answers regarding his death. Under a fabricated identity, Thomas infiltrates into the life of Anat, his lover’s newly widowed wife, who owns a small Cafe in downtown Jerusalem. Thomas starts to work for her and create German cakes and cookies that bring life into her Cafe. Thomas finds himself involved in Anat’s life in a way far beyond his anticipation, and to protect the truth he will stretch his lie to a point of no return.

From Kanopy you can stream this 1 hour 50 minute complete film. Because the story takes place in Germany and Israel,  three languages are used: English, Hebrew, and German. English subtitles are provided.

Kanopy’s description is so complete that I need only say that the economy of dialog, the meaningful pauses at facial expressions, and the slow pace are essential components. Is it boring to watch Thomas slowly and painstakingly bake bread and cakes?  Instead are we not seeing his dogged, determined, accepting attitude toward life?

Warning: You will have to interpret the ending for yourself. Please let me know how you think things turned out.

Patience required for watching this worthwhile film that is not for everyone.

2020, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, Basically Sad, Conflicted childless couple, Drama, Gay theme, Hebrew, Israeli culture, Sex Scenes, Single Mother

15 Years (2020)

From IMDB:

Yoav’s demons start haunting him after his best friend becomes pregnant without telling him, and after his boyfriend of 15 years starts talking about children too. His life unravels, and self-destruction seems inevitable.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 28 minute complete film.  Hebrew with English Subtitles.

Because the acting is so good and the story so sadly real, this film is worth watching.  Probably the same story pertains to so many couples that it could just as easily centered on a straight couple as on a gay couple.

Do not expect a happy ending.

2021, Acceptable for teenagers, Addiction, Alcoholism, Amazon Prime, Big Pharma, Bullying, Career Competition, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Cover-up, DO NOT MISS, Eccentric Detective, Failed Father, Father-daughter relations, Good Brother - Bad Brother, Greed, Lawyers, Mental Illness, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Opioids, Reconciliation, Schizophrenia, Suspense, Trial Scenes, Wonderful acting

Goliath Season 4 (2021)

From Amazon Prime:

In the final season, after Patty takes a job at a prestigious white-shoe law firm in San Francisco, Billy returns to his Big Law roots. Together, they try to take down one of America’s most insidious Goliaths: the opioid industry.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 8 episodes of this last available season. Each episode lasts about 50 minutes.

As I have mentioned before,  you do best watching this series beginning with season 1, remembering that season 2 offers some ugly scenes.  Many characters have remained throughout the four seasons, notably  Billy’s sidekicks as well as some old enemies. Surprisingly Donald Cooperman (played by William Hurt) plays a positive role in resolving the lawsuit.  Wonderful performances are provided by:

  • Bruce Dern plays the good brother Frank Zax.
  • J.K. Simmons plays the evil brother George Zax.
  • Jena Malone plays the lawyer Samantha Margolis who is suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Part of the fun, as usual, is watching all the “Lawyer Trickery Bullshit” (which is the title of episode 7) as Billy and friends battle the opioid industry.

DO NOT MISS!

2021, Acceptable for teenagers, Comedy, Crude Talk, Eccentric cast of characters, Korean, Korean Culture, Mother-daughter relations, Netflix Streaming, Offbeat, Somewhat trashy, University Politics, Vulgar

The Chair (2021)

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From Netflix:

With the department facing budget cuts and low enrollment, Ji-Yoon vows to make some changes as chair while one professor struggles to keep it together.

From Netflix you can stream the only season of this academia comedy. Each of the 6 episodes lasts 30 minutes.

Sandra Oh as Ji-Yoon Kim plays the first Korean chairperson of the English department at small Pembroke College.  In this position she must play politics while managing a flock of eccentric, unruly, and most very aged professors. Indeed she has her hands full.

Welcome vulgar soap operatic relief from more violent entertainment.

1970, Acceptable for teenagers, Detective, DO NOT MISS, German Detectives, MHz Choice, Police Investigation

Tatort: Borowski (1970)

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From MHz Choice you can stream 5 seasons of this German detective series centering around detective Klaus Borowski. Seasons 1 through 3 offer 8 episodes each. Seasons 4 and 5 offer 4 episodes each.  Each of the 32 episodes lasts 1.5 hours.  Each episode is a complete story.

“Tatort” is the German word for “scene of the crime”.  MHz Choice offers 6 Tatort series of which Borowski is only one.

From Wikipedia:

Tatort (“Crime scene”) is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public service broadcasting organisation ARD for their channel Das Erste, it is unique in its approach, in that it is jointly produced by all of the organisation’s regional members as well as its partnering Austrian and Swiss national public-service broadcasters, whereby every regional station contributes a number of episodes to a common pool.

Because there are so many themes in the 32 episodes, that it makes no sense to attach categories to this blog post.

Klaus Borowski is a smart and experienced German detective.  If you follow all the episodes you can actually notice his aging. Along the way he has some love affairs and almost gets attached.  For the most part the plots are cringe-free and not very violent. Sometimes he gets hit over the head but, of course, survives the blow.

For me this is a superior detective series.

DO NOT MISS!