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Flash Movie Review: The Accountant 2
THE OPPORTUNITIES SHE WAS MENTIONING WERE ones that never occurred, let alone been uttered, when I was in school. She talked about having multiple aides in the classroom whose sole purpose was to work individually with one assigned student. There were plans laid out for the student with goals and rewards to help their progression. The thing that amazed me the most was her telling me the other students in the classroom were aware of these group of students’ special needs. When I was growing up, I do not recall ever hearing the terms autism or on the spectrum. My science class was the only place I heard about spectrums and it had nothing to do with where a student might lie on the autism spectrum. Not one teacher ever broached the subject and it never appeared in any of our textbooks. This relative telling me about the things available for special needs students is an elementary school teacher. Out of a class of twenty-five students, there are six that need extra attention. The stories she told us about these students varied from heartbreaking to amazing. One student cannot sit still and focus for more than ten seconds before something else draws their attention away; there has not been one test they have passed since attending the school. Another student has little self control, yelling out of turn and fidgeting constantly in their seat. At least, these students have help from the moment they enter the school until the time they leave. FROM HER STORIES AND DESCRIPTIONS, I sat back and thought about the students that were in my classes. I now can say with certainty there were students who were on the spectrum. I have no idea if they were assessed or not, but there never was any extra help for them, nor did any of the students know what was going on with them. Instead, the majority of them were labeled losers, dorks, and other words that simply are too inappropriate to mention here. They were picked on and teased, some to a horrific level of abuse. The other students knew something was wrong but without any guidance, their imaginations came up with reasons these students acted the way they did. Stuff like, they were dropped on their head at birth or the doctors had to use a large set of pliers to get them out of their mother’s stomach. When I think about it, it was truly an awful, even at times hostile, environment for these kids. And the sad thing about all of this is when I graduated to being a high school freshman, I never saw any of those elementary students in the high school. After seeing this dramatic thriller, I think if any of those past students in my elementary school classes who were on the spectrum had the skills the main character had in this sequel, they would have had such an easier time in the school. WHEN HER BOSS IS FOUND DEAD, with a cryptic message sprawled on his arm, a treasury agent finds herself working with a man who does not follow the rules to solve the perplexing mystery. With Ben Affleck (Deep Water, This is Me…Now) as Christian Wolff, Jon Bernthal (The Amateur, Origin) as Braxton, Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Colombiana, The People We Hate at the Wedding) as Marybeth Medina, J.K. Simmons (Red One, Juror #2) as Ray King, and newcomer Allison Robertson as Justine; this action crime mystery had a hefty dose of the first movie built into it. The difference was the added cast members; they provided an interesting and at time humorous mix to the story. These is a lot of violence and blood in this picture, so if you can get past that, the movie can be entertaining. It helped that the story line had a pull the heartstring factor in it because there were times the script felt clunky and farfetched. The surprise for me was when the script did a 180 degree turn and had touching moments; those moments could have even been explored further in this film and I would not have minded. For pure escapism and some interesting performances, this picture kept my attention as long as I did not think about it too much.
2 3/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: The People We Hate at the Wedding
I HAVE ATTENDED ENOUGH WEDDINGS TO know what I do not want at mine. There was the wedding where the bride had a partial meltdown because the main dish was horrible; I mean it was barely edible and at least at my table, all the meals were lukewarm or cold. One wedding that is still vivid in my mind is the one where the bride and her mother-in-law got into a huge fight during the reception and the bride ran off to the bathroom, where she cried for several minutes. When she finally came out, she refused to acknowledge her mother-in-law’s presence for the rest of the evening. Talk about an awkward situation, it was surreal. The poor groom was so torn between his mother and the love of his life, he felt totally hopeless and wound up sitting at the foot of the head table, with his face in his hands. The entire evening felt like a theater produced farce because all the guests were so taken aback by the drama. Oh, I almost forgot about my friend, who was getting married, telling me how angry he was at his “crazy” relatives because they were calling his mother to tell her who they did not want to sit with at the reception. I was surprised the mother told him and did not put the relatives in their place. I guess weddings can bring the worst out of some people. A WEDDING IS A TIME TO put aside any issues one has with another wedding guest; whether it is a family member or friend, the nuptials should be a drama free zone. I was at a wedding where I was stuck at a table with an obnoxious drunk, who I had a previous run-in with at the groom’s house. I found him to be rude and inconsiderate. Despite my previous altercation with him, I remained neutral and polite during the wedding reception. I could see his negativity was negatively affecting the other guests at the table, but I chose not to share my opinion and past experiences of him. This was not the place to feed into his drama. Let the guests make up their own minds about him. Another point I want to make; if the food is not good, do not tell the wedding couple. in my opinion, it would be rude and immature. No matter how much planning goes into a wedding event, things happen and the happy couple should not be burdened with any of the guests’ issues. Apparently, the family members in this comedy think differently. DESPITE THE PROBLEMS BEING EXPERIENCED AT home, a family comes together for a half-sister’s wedding in England. It would have been easier if they had left some of their emotional baggage behind. With Allison Janney (Hairspray, Bad Education) as Donna, Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect franchise, Dear Evan Hansen) as Paul, Kristen Bell (Bad Moms franchise, The Boss) as Alice, Cynthia Addai-Robinson (The Accountant, Colombiana) as Eloise and Isaach De Bankole (Black Panther franchise, Shaft) as Henrique; this film needed to focus on rewriting the script instead of filling it with cliched jokes and humor. I did not find much to laugh or chuckle about. The cast was certainly capable, but the dialog was so basic, besides bordering on the ridiculous, that I felt myself cringing when the actors were acting out in some of the scenes. I honestly am not sure what the writers were trying to do with this piece. There was one story line that had a ring of truth to it, but it was being buried by the craziness of the other lines. I felt the worst for Allison and Kristen; they had to have known what they were getting into when they signed on to this picture. So, if you get an invitation to see this film, you might want to decline it.
1 ½ stars
moviejoltz 