Normal is anything but. It is an HBO movie that brings new meaning to the phrase “over the top.” Coincidentally, it is also well done, and the actors take their preposterous roles seriously enough to make the thing almost believable.
Written by Derek Kolstad, the creator of the super successful John Wick series, Normal features a nice cast, headed by Bob Odenkirk and Henry Winkler and … what the heck … it is something to do. But not if there is something … almost anything … else to attract your attention.
I felt pretty much the same way about Lanterns. There was but one episode to screen on HBO when I looked … there are more now, but I do not feel compelled to watch them.
I rather liked the leading man, Kyle Chandler as the aging veteran with the green signet ring but did not notice any particular star power emanating from Aaron Pierre who plays the Lantern’s rookie trainee. In fairness this could develop into something … maybe … but why watch this when there are five years containing 40 episodes of The Boys on Amazon Prime which are oh so much better?
Project Hail Mary may very well deserve more than I will give it here. I am sorry to report that I viewed this at a substandard venue with mediocre digital quality and even poorer sound, and so, this motion picture starring Ryan Gosling was not allowed to put its best foot forward. As a reader of this review you now stand (sit?) forewarned.
Amazon Prime and MGM+ are presenting Project Hail Mary on your home video unit and there are other platforms where you can rent the movie as well. Gosling is as close to a film star as you will get these days and he can hold a movie together pretty much on his own. Good thing, because in the case of Project Hail Mary that is pretty much what he has to do.
Oh, he is eventually given something akin to a sidekick … think Tom Hanks and the volleyball Wilson in Cast Away over a quarter of a century ago … and you sorta have what Gosling has going for him here while armed with an abundance of on/off switches and literally dozens of computer screens which he controls from his outer space habitat.
I lost track early on as to just what he was doing out there, but that may not have been the movie’s fault but rather that of the poor quality of the screening I sadly attended. I can tell you this: whatever Gosling’s mission was, it sure took a long time (156 minutes). When you think of all the great films that were at least an hour shorter you might get my point about the length of this thing.
Let me tell you what you should watch. What everyone in the USA should watch … what, at the very least, should become required viewing for any school aged kid who does not have access to a civics class (and even those who do). There are a total of just five episodes of The American Experiment on Netflix and they are well worth the time it takes in order to get a little perspective on the country in which we Americans live and have been living for over 250 years.
The narrators of this fabulous piece of documentary film making range from Al Gore to Ted Cruz to Hillary Clinton, to name only three in a multitude of bright, interesting commentators on this country and its founders … warts and all.
It sort of gives the viewer hope that we just may survive this present time in our history, and if we don’t … at least you will have a better idea how we got this far.
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