Netflix Movie Review: The Six Triple Eight

Posted on December 21, 2024 by jjcwn • Posted in Uncategorized • Tagged art, books, Dean Norris, entertainment, food, Kerry Washington, Major Charity Adams, The 6888 • Leave a comment

The new Netflix movie “The Six Triple Eight”, written and directed by Tyler Perry is a World War II story about 855 black women in a troop commissioned to sort and deliver 17 million pieces of delayed mail, including letters, and packages that were addressed to U.S. troops in Europe. A task vital to the morale of the troops fighting in the war.

This movie reminded me in so many ways of the great 2016 movie “Hidden Figures” about genius black women who faced bigotry and disrespect from the men and women at NASA, but despite this, saved the space program and the lives of several astronauts along the way. Movies like this are necessary to finally show respect to great human beings who were never recognized like they should have been. The expression goes, “Better late than never”, but like Hidden Figures, this movie will make many people angry that it took so long for the world to know about this amazing group of 855 women during World War II.

The Six Triple Eight (6888) is the name of the army troop of black women who were given an impossible task under disaster conditions while facing nothing but resistance from the entire higher ranks of the U.S. Army, who through their bigotry, actually wanted these women to fail. Within a large series of huge airplane hangers, the Army stored millions of letters and packages that were never sent. The women were housed in a heavily damaged building, with no heat for months, and despite impossible odds and lies from several members of the U.S. Army claiming they were not doing their job, they managed to complete the task in 90 days, even though they were given 6 months.

This film stars Kerry Washington as Major Charity Adams, in one of her best acting roles. Washington is outstanding, especially in the scenes where she stands up to the outrageous disrespect she receives from her superior officers, with the main standout being General Halt, played by Dean Norris, who is most known for this portrayal of Hank Schrader the lead police officer in the “Breaking Bad” TV series.

I was also impressed with some of the early action scenes showing some battles of World War II, considering this is a lower-budget Netflix production.

A key quote from Major Adams in this film summarizes what these 855 women faced very well, “Because you are Negroes and women,” she tells them, “you do not have the luxury to be as good as the White soldiers. You have the burden to be better.” Another great quote is: “They did not send us because they thought we could do it, we are here because they are sure we cannot.” Considering the importance of this impossible task during World War II it is amazing to realize that the U.S. Army would employ so many black women to deliver so much mail while hoping they would fail.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for this very good and significant World War II movie, is an absurdly low 50%, with a correct audience ranking of 82%. This time around, I agree with the audience ranking and consider this a must-see Netflix film.

Movie Review: Oh, Canada

Posted on December 20, 2024 by jjcwn • Posted in Uncategorized • Tagged Oh Canda, Richard Gere, Uma Thurman • Leave a comment

For the new Richard Gere movie “Oh, Canada,” it is never a good sign when you are: 1. Hoping that you will doze off; 2. Wondering how a screenplay this bad could ever be greenlighted; 3. Thinking that a movie this bad would find better use as a night light in a nursing home; and 4. Saying to yourself many times during these nightmare two hours, “Please God, make it stop!”

This movie is about a man, Leo Fife, played by Richard Gere, dying of Cancer and decides to record a series of interviews about different events of his life. Unfortunately, all of these different events are extremely boring, disconnected, and at times hard to follow (especially considering the onset of a coma while watching his disaster of two wasted hours). Uma Thurman plays Emma, Leo Fife’s wife with a role that was hard to believe any well-known actress would take.

This entire film is nothing more than a series of scenes, then more scenes that do not make sense, and a final merciful conclusion after wasting 1 hour and 31 minutes that seemed like a 3-hours. I for one am very sick of sitting through bad movies like this, blog movie review author or not.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this horrific mess is a way too high 66% with an IMDB score of a very low 5.6. My rating is 6%, recommending this movie for only people who have trouble sleeping.

Movie Review: Nightbitch

Posted on December 7, 2024 by jjcwn • Posted in Uncategorized • Tagged Amy Adams, Nightbitch • Leave a comment

For those on the fence about whether to give up their careers to stay home and raise a child, this is not the movie for you.

The new movie “Nightbitch” stars Amy Adams in her first role in about 2 years. It is a mystery when a respected actor who has received six Oscar nominations and has been a major player in Hollywood for over 25 years, would choose this screenplay to return to acting. Adams wears no makeup in this film, has gained about 30 pounds, and plays an extremely depressed, exhausted, and suicidal married woman during the entire time she is living in this small house with her son, and has a husband who is rarely home. Adams’s character name in this movie is of all things, “Mother”, with her husband, played by actor Scoot McNairy, “Husband” – one of those “trying to be different, never seen this before” ideas that are seen far too often in movies in the last few years.

Nightbitch is based on the book written by Rachel Yoder, and being true to the book while creating another off-the-wall movie idea, Mother slowly starts to transition into a dog. She notices hair on her body that was not there before, her teeth become more pointed and sharper, and while in the shower, we see that she has developed 6 dog nipples – now that is something we have never seen before on screen – and never wanted to see on screen. Mother starts to walk on all fours like a dog and hangs out with other dogs in the neighborhood. Mother also has several incidents where she is eating food like a dog with her head in a bowl or a plate, even in front of several people at a local food store cafeteria, where she gets face to face with a plate of meat. For long-time fans of Amy Adams, “What the hell is she thinking, taking this role?”

This movie has too many fake scenes, where the actor fantasizes about something they would like to say or do, followed by what they say in real time. Too much of this can be distracting and somewhat annoying, with this practice getting old very quickly in any film. In one scene Mother is asked how she felt giving birth and goes into an insane tirade about her life being ruined, her dreams destroyed, her fears and desperation. Then says, “My brain just doesn’t operate the way it did before I had the baby,” she says. “I’m dumb, now.” In the real-time scene, Mother says, “I love being a mom”. Enough of this already.

The idea behind the Mother to dog transition has to do with the book stating that while giving birth and raising a child, a woman can become more like an animal than a human being, which is the entire reason for the dog transitioning throughout this mostly ridiculous and depressing film.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for Nightbitch are a correct and understandably low 60%, with my rating at 50% only because of some of the good acting in this hard-to-believe was ever produced insane movie.