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Movie Review: Spoiler Alert

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In the history of Television situation comedies, there has probably never been a more perfectly cast and talented character actor than Jim Parsons in the “Big Bang Theory”. Parsons is by far the major reason why the Big Bang Theory is one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, and like Friends, it is one of the most syndicated comedy shows in the history of Television. Parsons won 4 Emmys, in total receiving 65 nominations and 29 awards for his acting on the Big Bang Theory. Parson’s role as Sheldon Cooper was one of the luckiest and most perfect combinations of opportunity and ability in the history of acting. All of this salary and syndication have made the main characters of the Big Bang Theory a very wealthy group of actors.

As far as moving into major movie roles, Parson’s last very good role was in the great movie “Hidden Figures”, released in 2016 and reviewed in this blog. His new movie has an extremely bad title “Spoiler Alert” and is one of those movies where you know exactly what it is about just from the trailer – an ongoing trend that happens far too often in the movie industry. Maybe the title was an attempt at some subtle humor because the trailer gives away the entire plot of this movie. Yes, this is a tear-jerker, once again involving the horrors of Cancer and the horrendous effect it can have on the people around you. But this is one of the first tear jerkers involving a partner dying within a gay relationship.

Sally Field has a relatively small part in this film playing the mother of Kit Cowan, played by Ben Aldridge, who is the young man dying of all things anal cancer with Jim Parsons playing Michael Ausiello, Cowan’s husband. The story is mostly good, with some humor and all of the horrendous meetings with doctors along with the inevitable end – that as always with movies like this is hard to watch. There was some kind of a strange “trick the audience” attempt at the end of this story, that I thought was misplaced and in poor taste. Why they decided to put this trick scene at the end of this film made about as much sense as the bad title.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for this movie is an above average 80% with my rating about 75% and a mild recommendation.

Movie Review: The Inspection

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It has always been said that “The poor fight, and die in war because they have no other options”. The movie “The Inspection” is about a true story about a poor gay black man who has no other option within his almost homeless and bleak existence but to join the Marines. This entire story is about boot camp and the reality of the abuse new Marine recruits must endure and become a Marine. In this case of true story, the new recruit Ellis French, played very well by actor Jeremy Pope is gay – and this adds a lot of additional challenges Ellis must endure to become a Marine. His mother, Inez French, played very well by Gabrielle Union is extremely homophobic and both disowns and is abusive to her own son because he is homosexual.

This film reminded me of “Full Metal Jacket”. released in 1987 – because it shows the harsh reality of boot camp and the training that has evolved for hundreds of years to turn an ordinary man or woman into a soldier – who is capable of fighting in a war. The harshness and cruelty that has evolved over the centuries – necessary to train a soldier, is the main part of this movie and for the most part, is very well done.

The most important part of this movie in my opinion was the acting of Gabrielle Union who for perhaps the first time in her acting career has scored a significant and serious role in a low-budget “Indie” film. What stands out the most about Union’s performance is the harsh and damaged appearance of her face – without any makeup, that makes you wonder if this is Union’s real face or some additional appearance enhancements for this film. There is talk of a possible Oscar nomination for Union’s performance as Ellis French’s mother, but I thought her role was not long enough to receive an Oscar nomination.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 86% are too high for such a one-dimensional review of Marine boot camp and homophobia, which we have all seen before. My rating is a solid 75% and a marginal recommendation.

Amazon Prime Movie Review: Goodnight Oppy

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On July 7, 2003, two Mars Rover robots were launched into space. Their destination was millions of miles away – to the surface of Mars. After a flight that took over 6 months, both robots landed on Mars with flawless perfection, using a parachute and airbags that had to deploy and then release the robots at precisely the right times – using automated procedures. Right at the start of this impressive documentary, the genius of the scientists and engineers that invented this amazing mission showed their impressive abilities to invent and create. Originally both of these robots were supposed to last only 90 days. In the end Spirit lasted over 6 years and Opportunity lasted and incredible 15 years, yet another tribute to the brilliance of so many smart people who worked for NASA.

This documentary is about the science, the pictures and the hardships these two robots endured that included solar flares and huge dust storms that at times would clog the machinery and then at other times would clean off the solar panels providing needed energy for each robot rover. Throughout all of these many problems for so many years, the inventive brilliance of some of the most intelligent people in the world came through time after time. Just to get a simple message to the robots so far away – could take over 20 minutes. The crew on earth had to keep up with the time on Mars and over a period of weeks and months, their schedules included being at work after midnight to constantly monitor the progress of the mission. When the Opportunity robot finally stopped working on February 13, 2019 after over 15 years, understandably the entire project crew became very emotional, almost as if they were losing a child. This show of real emotion over 2 robots is one of the best parts of the great documentary.

“Goodnight Oppy” is the best documentary I have seen about space travel in many years and receives my highest recommendation.