Aside from having one of the longest titles for a movie I have seen in a long time, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”, is a story about grief and the loss of a child told in one of the most unusual ways I have ever seen. In order to make a movie today, considering just about every idea has been tried or tested, coming up with an idea this unusual is almost mandatory.

Surviving grief because of the loss of a child requires therapy, anti-depressant drugs and massive rationalization. Losing a child, especially one who was raped and murdered is just about impossible for anyone to ever recover from. The divorce rate for people who lose a child is understandably extremely high. Some people turn to drugs to cope with their grief and the constant reminders of what could have been, the opportunity lost, high school graduations, weddings, the birth of the first grandchild. But in this case of the story in this movie, some people get very angry, like the main character, played extremely well by Francis McDormand. Due to her frustration over the police never solving her daughters murder after 7 months, she decides to put put up 3 billboards to humiliate the police chief, played by Woody Harrelson. The billboards ask the police chief why nobody has been arrested for the crime of murdering her daughter after so many months. I thought that the 3 billboard idea in this story is not only very unusual and extreme but very believable when you get to know the main character played by Mcdormand who is tough, strong and takes no disrespect from anybody. There are very good side stories with the police officers in the town of Ebbing that include racial bigotry and the harsh reactions of the towns people towards this grieving mother because of her billboards, even despite her tragic loss that I thought was very well done.

The acting in this movie is outstanding enough to create several Academy Award nominations, starting with Francis Mcdormand with her best role since winning the Academy Award in 1996 for Fargo. I also think that this movie might also receive a nomination for best picture and it is one of the best films of 2017.

One can only wonder or try and estimate when this incredible flood of Marvel movies over the last 15 years will finally get old. We all know from the comic books that there are many super heroes but at some point, they all blend together and seem like the same movie. This is true of “Justice League” and is backed up by the low ratings of 40% on rottentomatoes. Perhaps the pendulum has started to swing the other way because these movies all seem to use the same formula every time. Some massive super villain is trying to destroy the world, and a few or several super heroes step in to save the world. The end of the movie has a huge amount of special effects and then a climatic battle that we have all seen many times before. In the end, most of us will never be able to remember what was unique or different with any one of these movies.

Justice League stars Ben Afleck as Batman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane,Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and some new super heroes making their Marvel movie debut. Jason Momoa as Aqua-man, Ezra Miller as the Flash and Ray Fischer as Cyborg, admittedly a super hero I have never heard of before. When this film was over, I felt like I have seen the same movie 10 in the past few years, and in fact I probably had. My advice to the producers is to hire a great screenwriter and come up with some new ideas we have not seen before. In my opinion, all of these Marvel movies have already reached their saturation point.

I thought that Justice League was too run of the mill to recommend.

This is one of the few movies I have seen in many years that is all about one of the most difficult times in anyone’s life; “You’re about to leave high school, you have to choose a college and decide what to do and you are only 18 years old”. Very often we all accept the way things are, even if the way things are is insane, like having to make a life decision so early in life. Some of us are able to figure out what we want to do when we are 18 years old, but what about the rest of us, who have no clue? The new movie, “Lady Bird” takes an unusual take on this adolescent dilemma and starts with the fact that the lead character wants to change her name from Christine to Lady Bird, but screenwriter never tells the audience why she wants to change her name to Lady Bird.

The reviews of Lady Bird are extremely high, reaching a very rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.4 on IMDB and I mostly agree with these high marks. The start of this story is a conversation in the car with Lady Bird played by Saoirse Ronan and her mother played by Laurie Metlcalf that could be called a summary of the whole movie based on one conversation. At the end of this argument Lady Bird actually jumps out of the car, because of her anger of what her mother is saying is so extreme. Given the fact that Lady Bird is so confused about what to do with her life and her very identity, her mother’s constant criticism and at times cruel berating is hard to hear at times during this film. Lady Bird goes through a few friendships and two boyfriends during the time she is desperately trying to get into an East Coast college, mainly so she can escape her boring Sacramento California life and her mother. Unfortunately, as her guidance counselor in her Catholic Girls high school laughingly reminds her, her grades are not good enough to get into most colleges. There are some very good laughs in this film along with the realities of an 18 year old not nearly ready to take the next step in her life. I thought all of this was very well done.

The screenwriter and director for this film is 34 year old Greta Gerwig, and due to the acclaim this movie has received so far she just might get a few Academy Award nominations.

I Lady Bird is a very good movie and I do recommend it.