LOVE, SIMON

Nick Robinson     Josh Duhamel     Jennifer Garner     Talitha Bateman

Katherine Langford     Alexandra Shipp     Logan Miller     Kelynan Lonsdale     Jorge Lendeborg, Jr.

    Unlike many films about teens, Love, Simon is mostly a realistic portrayal, with occasional gems of wisdom about how people in general think, act, and feel.  Simon (Robinson) is an appealing teenager with good friends, a wholesome family life, and enough talent to stand out in a crowd.  He has been brought up well, and only occasionally displays the sulk American adolescents are known for.  But, he is coming to the realization that he is attracted to boys and doesn’t quite know what to do about it.

   Enter a clueless wannabe Martin (Miller), who gains access to Simon’s personal information and proceeds to blackmail Simon, manipulating him to get a girl for Martin.  This will be matchmaking hell for Simon, but he is naïve and thinks he can pull it off—just to keep his secret, secret.

     Added to this scenario, are pictures of high school in general—hallway encounters, the cafeteria, the school play, and parties.  Based on a book by Becky Albertalli, a clinical psychologist whose experience includes a specialty in children and teens and work in a high school, it comes across as plausible and a perceptive understanding of life in that realm.  Screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker seem to have preserved many of the basic ideas, although I have a hunch that some scenes/characters were add-ons, such as the goofus vice principal (parody of a fool) and the sweet reveal and tie-up-with-a-bow ending.

     The director, Greg Berlanti, and screenwriters have a background in producing and writing for television, and in some ways, Love, Simon resembles a television program or series more than a feature film.  That is a way of saying that the story is delightfully entertaining, although it has “bite” as well in its observations about teens and high school life and the profound experience of facing/establishing one’s identity.  A special treat is seeing Simon trying to identify his anonymous correspondent on social media.  He makes the same mistakes that many of us have in trying to decide whether an acquaintance or friend is gay.

     Nick Robinson is well cast as Simon, with just the right balance of naïveté, trust, skepticism, and doubt in a coming-of-age teenager.  With his success in The Kings of Summer, he should have a bright future.  Other standouts among the teens are Katherine Langford as Leah, Simon’s life-long friend; Alexandra Shipp, the precocious sex symbol; and Logan Miller as the cringe-worthy budding sociopath.  Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel handle the not particularly challenging roles of mother and father to Simon.

     This is a film that will appeal to those interested in expanding their tolerance and understanding of alternative identities that go beyond simply male and female. 

A budding romance a little outside the norm.

Grade:  B+                        By Donna R. Copeland

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT

Mark Wahlberg   Anthony Hopkins   Josh Duhamel   Laura Haddock   Isabela Moner   Stanley Tucci   John Turturro   Peter Cullen

Reno Wilson   Gemma Chan   Jim Carter

     We start out with a bit of history of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table—with the addition of “knightly” autobots who stand behind each knight and who will help the English save their country from the Dark Age invaders.  They’re at a standoff with the invaders and are calling for Merlin the Magician, for aid.  He is on his way to engage a dragon—ancestor of the autobots—to align with the English to renew their partnership and save England.

     Fast forward to modern times.  The hero-bot Optimus Prime is missing, and autobots—which have been outlawed on earth—keep falling mysteriously from the sky.  Some land in a Bot junkyard overseen by Cade Yeager (Wahlberg), who regards the autobots as friends.  He is trying to repair their injuries by restoring lost parts.  Unbeknownst to him, a young girl Izabella (Moner) has lost her family and is now living in the junkyard, having made friends with the bots, especially Squeeks, trying to restore them just like Cade is.  But when he discovers she’s there, he tries to get rid of her, saying she is just a kid.  Little does he know, she is his persistent heir apparent, and will turn up intermittently throughout the film.  Needless to say, in this testosterone-filled fantasy, it takes him a long time to realize her value.

     Earth is in a state of panic now as it has realized that the autobots are attacking earth, and doesn’t really know why.  We the audience do; it has something to do with intrigue among the Bots.  Optimus Prime is devastated to find his beloved planet Cerberon—his home—has been destroyed.  Quintessa (Chan) the sorceress tells him that to save his planet he must go to earth, where a valuable artifact is buried.  If he brings it back to her, Cerberon will be restored.  He is bewitched, so although his reclaiming the artifact will destroy the earth, his ally, he proceeds to recapture it.

     Back on earth, Cade gets a message that he is to meet with Sir Edmund Burton (Hopkins) in London, and is transported to his estate by his trusted Bot Cogman (Carter).  The earl Burton explains his historical connection to a family descended from Merlin, one of whose ancestors has passed down the power of the artifact sought by the Autobots.  She is Vivian Wembley (Haddock).  She and Cade, who has a significant medal picked up from the junkyard wrapped around his arm signifying that he is the last knight, must recover the artifact, thereby saving earth.

     Just as in all action movies these days, multiple intrigues and battles ensue between the autobots and earth, the central struggle being the recovery of the artifact to the rightful heir. 

Michael Bay has directed all five of the Transformers renditions, and his experience is evident in this production, in that the film perpetuates the theme of humans vs. robots, has impressive special effects, and recruits fine actors to play the roles.  Where it lapses is its repetition of well-worn themes and too many battles in which the protagonists are not well defined.  This rendition could have been reduced from its 148 minutes by eliminating extraneous elements, such as the Izabella character trailing after Cade and the spoof of a bad scientist.  Why discount science in this day and age??!!  Humor bits could also have been eliminated:  Vivian’s mother and aunts trying to marry her off and wise cracks made by many characters are tired jokes that fall flat.

     Parents, please don’t bring your children to this movie unless they’ve shown a particular interest in robots and have loved previous Transformer movies.  A measure of interest for children is the 20+ exits/entrances during the movie by people from my row, mostly by children. 

This is a continuation of the theme of humans vs. robots in the Transformers series.

Grade:  C                   By Donna R. Copeland

THIS IS YOUR DEATH

Josh Duhamel     Famke Janssen   Giancarlo Esposito   Caitlin Esposito   Sarah Wayne Callies

     The plot of This is Your Death is set on a topic that is both intriguing and horrifying—unconscionable, some would say.  The intriguing part is related to the issue of a person’s right to choose their own death, which has advocates for both pros and cons.  The horrifying aspect is a TV reality show setting with an audience to hear the person’s back story and witness the suicide itself.  The acceptability of this practice is rationalized by explicitly identifying someone—like a child—who will benefit from donations made in the person’s name.  And these come in by the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

     This idea is conceived by Adam Rogers (Duhamel) who was host of a previous reality show in which a tragedy occurred.  He expresses his guilt about that show, which he felt responsible for, in that he was “pitting two women against each other like dogs.”  He convinces his producers and managers of the charitable benefits that he says will justify the new show, saying that it is not a death show, but “life affirming”.  His arguments reveal a kind of “skewed morality” that smack of truth, but are really flawed.  Of course, the studio brings in attorneys to assure they are above the law, and it has a physician on site who will verify that the person is in their right mind.  It’s a requirement, of course, that the person complete the act on their own.  They can choose the means by which they do it.

     Among those we meet are a woman abused by her husband who wants to be sure her daughter will be well cared for; a man who is terminally ill; a woman who wants the donations to go to refugees; a man whose wife needs a heart transplant, which he can’t afford; and a hard working older man who keeps getting fired and cannot get another job.  He wants to help his wife and two children, one of which is on crutches.  We witness mixed audience reactions, but the donations pour in, and Adam has to keep upping the stakes. 

     As time goes on, we see the binds that develop for Adam and the producers to keep the show a hit and deal with unanticipated problems.  Moral outrage increases, and Adam develops a reputation as “the televangelist of death.”  One woman highly outraged from the beginning is his sister Karina (Callies), an oncology nurse on a pediatrics unit, where everyone knows Adam is her brother.

     The film starts out being interesting in highlighting the reasons people want to participate, but misses the opportunity to explore the topical subject of suicide, shifting instead to Adam’s increasing problems in keeping the show ratings up and his obsession with his career and popularity.  As it becomes more unrealistic and sensational, This is Your Death loses its appeal and becomes just another TV reality show.

    Director Giancarlo Esposito’s career has been primarily as a television actor, and he plays a strong role as one of the characters wanting to help his family.  Duhamel, Callies, Janssen, and the other actors do a creditable job in portraying the conflicts inherent in such a rather outlandish production. 

A sometimes shocking story about a bizarre television reality show.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland