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Movie Review: Hamnet

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The new movie “Hamnet” is a fictional account of William Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, who died at age 11, and of Shakespeare’s relationship with his wife, Agnes, played by Jessie Buckley, and their three children, as the couple also had two daughters.

This story is a stark reminder of what life was like during the 1500s and 1600s, when there was very limited medical knowledge, and the majority of people lived in squalor and abject poverty – including Shakespeare and his entire family. Shakespeare’s wife gave birth without the help of any doctors, with her first birth alone in the woods. Her second birth was with a few relatives while giving birth to twins, a girl, Judith, played by Effie Linnen, and a boy, Hamnet, played by James Lintern.

The main part of this story was that William Shakespeare’s ambition to be a playwright was greater than his desire to be with his family, so Shakespeare, played by Paul Mescal, was constantly leaving for London to run his acting company. These absences became more depressing as this story continued, causing problems with his wife and especially his son, over time making Shakespeare’s constant leaving seem very cruel. Why get married and have children when you only care about writing and producing plays somewhere else? Why could Shakespeare’s family not travel with him to London? This idea was never considered in this story.

Shakespeare’s absences are speculation from the screenwriter and director Chloé Zhao, as there is no proof that Shakespeare abandoned his family for this writing and directing career in London. This is a fictional story that is well acted with powerful and emotional scenes that will very likely give actress Jessie Buckley an Oscar nomination, and, in my opinion, she will win for best actress this year.

This movie is very slow at times, and a little too long, it can be very depressing for a number of reasons, but the main reason to see this film is for the acting of Paul Mescal and mostly for Jessie Buckley. I agree with the high 86% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and give a solid recommendation for this film.

Movie Review: Eternity

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A movie about what might happen in the afterlife has not been a common idea in many years. The last one is the very good film written and directed by Albert Brooks, “Defending Your Life” (1991). This new one, “Eternity” starring Miles Teller as Larry, who dies after choking on a small pretzel, while his wife Joan played by Elizabeth Olsen is slowly dying of Cancer and is about 80 years old tries to cover new ground on this fundamental question for all of humanity.

In this story, the afterlife is like a giant Airport, where an A.C. (afterlife counselor), played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and John Early as Anna and Ryan, greet you when you arrive and then take you through all the rules you need to know before you can select your eternity.

It turns out that Joan was married once before to a young man who was killed in the Korean War, Luke, played by Callum Turner and two months later she married Larry and spent the next 67 years with him.

The rest of this movie, after they all arrive in this afterlife Airport, is waiting for Joan to make a decision on who she wants to spend eternity with. Unfortunately, this one decision that dominates this movie does not seem to be a strong enough premise to keep the audience’s attention for the entire two hours. This also includes the somewhat predictable twist at the end of this story.

Attempts at humor mostly fall flat, and the story is slow and boring in too many areas and too long. There are some small good parts, with much of the dialogue coming off like a B movie. There is not not enough to recommend here, and I do not agree with the too high ratings of 77% on Rotten Tomatoes, with my rating a 50% and a solid pass.

Movie Review: Jay Kelly

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The story of the new film “Jay Kelly” is about an aging, famous actor who experiences the highs and lows in his career as a successful movie star while trying to figure out if all of that fame and money was worth it, considering his divorce from his first wife, and his estrangement from his two daughters who hate him for abandoning them so many times while he traveled the world, acting in movies.

Jay Kelly (George Clooney) seems the perfect actor to play this part, due to his age and many years of fame in the acting profession. Kelly’s long-time agent, Ron Sukenick (Adam Sandler) is at odds much of the time with Kelly as they disagree about what the best movie roles that Kelly should play at this stage of his career. The other ongoing conflict is whether Ron and Jay are really friends or just business associates, because for many years, Jay has been paying Ron 15% of all of his earnings. This argument comes to a climactic conclusion at the end of the film. Adam Sandler is once again very good in one of his few serious acting roles, the last one being “Uncut Gems” (2019). Sandler should do more serious dramatic acting roles, rather than continue to make mostly unfunny comedy movies that for too much of the time, do not work.

There is some good dialogue and messages about life in this movie, especially in the many arguments between Kelly and his daughters, with Jay trying to convince his daughters and himself that he was not a bad father, he was just trying to do two things that could never coexist at the same time. Be a famous and wealthy actor and be there for his daughters when they were young.

There is an argument and fight between Kelly and a mostly failed acting friend (Billy Crudup) from years ago, that is told through the many flashbacks in this film, as Kelly went on an audition to read with his friend and then wound up getting the important part. Part of the acting profession, due to its constant rejection and precarious financial reality is the extreme jealousy of so many very talented actors who just never get their lucky break.

This movie has a large number of well-known actors, including Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough,
Stacy Keach, Isla Fisher and Greta Gerwig, the wife of the director and co-writer of this film, Noah Baumbach.

The conclusion of this movie is about a major tribute to Jay Kelly in Italy, and the train ride Jay took to get through the many towns and villages in Italy. The tribute showed some movie scenes in the career of George Clooney, and not new scenes for his fictional character in this story.

Mainly for the life messages and solid acting in this film, I do agree with the 79% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and do recommend it.