Movie Review: She Said


The “Me Too” Movement is now five years old. The phrase “Me Too” was coined in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke, but it was not until 2017 that actress Alyssa Milano was the first to urge all victims to share their experiences on social media. Then the movement exploded during a standup act with comedian Hannibal Burris who called Bill Cosby a rapist. The movement then expanded even further with movie producer Harvey Weinstein – who is the subject of the new movie “She Said”. The Me Too movement was a unique moment in history because many victims of sexual or work harassment were given strength in numbers to come out against so many well-known celebrities. Many of these celebrities, including Matt Laurer, Kevin Spacey, and Bill O’Riley no longer have careers in their chosen profession. Several of these famous and formerly successful people have also faced legal prosecution.

A lowlife like Harvey Weinstein is simple to understand. He is ugly and throughout his life was rejected by women countless times. Over the years his hurt over being constantly rejected turned from depression to anger and then rage. It could be argued that Weinstein’s huge success as a top movie producer could possibly be his unconscious way of getting even with so many good-looking women who rejected him. There is no better profession where an ugly man with power and influence could use his leverage to sexually harass women who desperately wanted to be an actress or wanted to stay in the highly competitive movie industry. Weinstein had the ability to make or break any woman’s acting career including famous actresses, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan and even Ashley Judd. All 3 of these actresses are referenced or appear in this movie and have accused Harvey Weinstein of ruining their careers.

At the end of this film, due to the strength in numbers so many women were given due to the “Me Too” movement, 82 women accused Weinstein of sexual harassment or rape. Weinstein is a person devoid of any empathy for any other human being. He is justifiably paying for decades of ruining the lives of so many people and will spend the rest of his life in jail. He is also a person who was at the top of the entertainment world and was called “A God” by Meryl Streep during a Golden Globes award ceremony a number of years ago (see video below). How times have changed. One amazing thing about men like Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein is that they say that large numbers of women are all lying and they are telling the truth. How or why any lawyer would take their case is another mystery, apart from the legal representation they can afford.

This movie is mostly about a long series of interviews with a large number of Weinstein victims, including both actors and employees of his movie production company Miramax. She Said reminds me of the movie “All the Presidents Men”, released in 1976 about the investigation and interviews leading to the resignation of Richard Nixon due to Watergate in August 1974. The stars of this story are Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan who play the real-life reporters of the New York Times Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor who broke the Weinstein case, leading to him being convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. Other actors in this very good drama include Andre Braugher and Patricia Clarkson who play executives of the New York Times. Weinstein still faces more trials in Los Angeles and London. Considering Weinstein is already going away for 23 years and is 70 years old, seems a waste of money to contest any of these cases.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for She Said are a very high 86% and I agree with this rating with a strong recommendation.

Movie Review: Armageddon Time


Very often the best films are about the simplest of stories. This is true of the new movie “Armageddon Time”, which is about an 11-year-old Jewish Boy in 1980, who is having trouble in school and is best friends with a trouble-making black boy in his class. Their teacher is rude, especially to the black boy Johnny, played by Jaylin Webb and the main character of this story Paul, played by Banks Repeta – one of the most unusual names I have ever seen. They are caught smoking weed in the bathroom and run off on their own during a class trip to the Guggenheim museum, but for some unexplained reason, they never get into trouble after they take the subway home and were missing from the group. I consider this a glaring hole in the screenplay, surprising in the middle of this mostly strong story. Paul is constantly bullied by his brother, which is hard to watch at times. Paul’s mother Esther, played by Anne Hathaway and her husband Irving played by Jeremy Strong are good in their roles but their characters seem overwhelmed by all that is going on and living with Esther’s father Aaron, played by the great Anthony Hopkins. There is also a very small part in this film where Jessica Chastain is playing someone naked Maryanne Trump who gives a school speech. There is some suggestion that she could be part of the Trump family.

Overall this story is relatively lightweight, with nothing that significant happening, other than some scenes of childhood bigotry and the plight of Johnny, who is a young black boy with dreams of being an astronaut and slowly realizing that because he is black his options in life are limited compared to the white students around him. For me, the likability of Paul, played by Banks Repeta steals this movie and is the main reason for the positive reviews.

This movie has a strong cast and good acting and despite the small story, I do recommend this film for its simplicity and many lessons about the difficulty of childhood.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings are a middle of the road 75% and I mostly agree with this rating.

Movie Review: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever


The director and screenwriter Ryan Coogler has now written and directed both of the “Black Panther” movies. The first “Black Panther”, released in 2018 was a deserved huge hit, with a great story and starring the late Chadwick Boseman who tragically died of colon cancer in August 2020. Imagine the tremendous pressure Coogler was under, trying to match the success of the last movie with a new story, even given the vast embedded audience for the new movie “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, that this time, might bring in over a billion dollars. It was probably this pressure that is the reason this new installment is only a good movie and not a great one, not nearly as good as the first film.

The story is about a much need metal called Vibranium that is defined as: “Established by Marvel Studios as the rarest metal and one of the strongest substances on Earth, Vibranium is an element obtained upon mining — and not just anywhere. Harboring the ability to absorb, as well as store huge amounts of kinetic energy, it can only be mined in Wakanda, the East African homeland of the mighty Black Panther. Of course, as seen in Black Panther, this does not prevent the metal from being smuggled abroad.” There is a highly gifted young black woman and MIT student who has invented a device that can find this very rare metal, anywhere in the world. This entire story then becomes about the kidnapping of this young woman and the daughter of the Queen of Wakanda by a warring and evil tribe. Unfortunately, this central idea is not strong enough to support what could be considered a great sequel to the original Black Panther. There are numerous action scenes, many involving the wearing of Iron Man-like suits and flying in the air while fighting this warring tribe in an attempt to retrieve the two women who were kidnapped. We have all seen this before, too many times, there is nothing new here. Throughout the movie, there are several tributes to the original Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman, especially at the end and this is very well done.

Overall I was disappointed with this average sequel to what is generally considered a great original movie. This film is also way too long at 2 hours and 41 minutes for a story that could have been told in less than 2 hours. The acting is great throughout, with most of the actors returning from the last movie including, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Florence Kasumba, Martin Freeman and the surprise new addition of Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

As for Rotten Tomatoes, the original Black Panther received very high 96% ratings with this one only 84%. My rating is a middle-of-the-road 75% rating and a mild recommendation mostly for fans of the original film.