Mom's Minute

Introduction to The Tina Documentary Movie Review 

When I found out that the Tina Turner documentary movie would be airing soon, I made a mental note to check it out.  After watching the trailer and  weeks of waiting, I finally saw the Tina Turner documentary movie. As expected, the Tina Turner documentary kept my interest, just as it may keep yours.

Was I satisfied with the contents of the Tina movie documentary?  Could there have been improvements made? Most importantly -- Would I recommend that you watch this Tina Turner documentary? Check out my movie review to find out.

Comparison of the Tina Documentary to the Tina Turner Movie

If you saw the Tina Turner movie starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner, you may begin comparing the two as you watch the Tina documentary film. You may even  have read some of Tina Turner's biographies that were mentioned during the documentary and made comparisons as well. 

Just as you may have done, I compared some of the happenings in the Tina Turner movie with the documentary, but for the most part, I concentrated on the documentary because frankly, I wanted to see and hear her story, almost directly from her.  Even though there’s a chance that the documentary was not all factual, by contrast, sometimes movie biographies are embellished or changed for drama, etc.

Tina Turner 's Music during the Tina Movie Documentary Movie

If you watch the Tina documentary, you may enjoy listening to some of her early songs, especially some of her hits, including, Proud Mary. 

 You may also be interested to know that some of her songs were not as popular as the others.  Additionally, and this was an eye opener for me -- one of her songs which she is well-known for was really a cover, and was not her original song. 

Tone of the Tina Movie Documentary Movie

Tina Turner categorized a lot of events that happened in her life as abusive, tragic and sad.  I can attest to the fact that quite a few incidents and things happening in her life were sad, unhappy and unfortunate. Thankfully, these dispicable actions by her then husband were described instead of depicted or shown on screen. Of course, this was shown during the movie version of Tina Turner's film.

I liked that the documentary did not “sugar coat” what happened in her life. However more discretion should have been used with the use of language. For example, in discussing her transition from singing with Ike Turner and becoming a solo singer, the documentary aired verbablly the use of the “N” word during the documentary when referencing her as an artist. This was a huge negative for me and affected my final rating of the documentary. 

Detachment from Ike Turner

It was interesting to me that throughout the documentary, Tina Turner focused on separating herself from Ike Turner -- and rightfully so.  It was also interesting that in trying to do so, quite a few entertainment type venues occurred, such as the  Angela Bassett Tina Turner movie, a Tina Turner book and to add fire to the flame, a New York broadway show about Tina Turner -- which of course would include the Ike Turner story.  Sadly, even though she tried, she may in some way always be linked to Ike Turner -- even  if just by the mere fact that she kept the stage name that he gave her. 

Omissions in the Tina Movie Documentary Movie

You may or may not know that Tina Turner considered herself a Rock singer, even though in my mind, I thought she was more of an R&B singer. Towards that end, in my opinion, it was not smart for the documentary to leave out her collaboration with Rod Stewart, who to me, helped also to bring her back into music’s mainstream after her split from Ike Turner. 

Interviewees in the Documentary Movie

I thought it was a good move to include Tina Turner’s mother in the documentary.  Adding her segment was a plus because early in the film, Tina mentions that she was deserted by her mother and as a result always felt unwanted.

Other scenes, among others, which are noteworthy is her current overseas homelife that she shares with her husband in Switzerland.

How to improve the Tina Documentary Movie

This movie could have been improved by adding additional artists, musicians, etc. she worked with, including actors in the documentary.  I’m sure they would have positive things to say about Tina Turner in their experiences working with her.

Additionally, sensitivity to and the omission of a certain word should have been exercised during the filming of this movie as I alluded to earlier.  

The above being said, I recommend you watch the Tina documentary to learn more about her life, struggles and triumphs.

Assessment of the Tina Documentary Movie

In my opinion, this documentary, even with some omissions cited previously, was well done.  If you watch the Tina documentary movie, you may discover something about Tina Turner that you never knew -- while at the same time being entertained by her music and artistry.

On a sad note, and this was asked by one of her interviewers as to why she did not leave the painful, abusive situation earlier.  You will find out  her answer from the documentary. More importantly and on a positive note, you will find out how she decided to take control of her life and to make a much needed change -- for the better.

Rating of the Tina Documentary Movie

Based on a rating of  1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate the Tina Documentary movie 4 ½  stars. 

Introduction to The Next Three Days Netflix Movie Review

Some people may be of the mindset that only the most recent released movies are worth watching on Netflix. This may explain why one day a movie will be “hot to trot” so to speak and ranks number one on Netflix. However, just a few days later it slips from the number one spot because there is an even newer movie available on Netflix to watch.

I say the above because The Next Three Days film does not fall into this category.  In fact, the movie was made in 2010 and to me was just as enjoyable to watch as some of the more recently released movies.  It may have helped that currently so-called big name actors are in this movie --- namely, Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson. The question is just how important was their appearance in this movie to make it a film worth watching.  Check out my movie review of The Next Three Days film to find out.

Plot of The Next Three Days Movie

The Next Three Days movie is about a couple who went through extraordinary measures to make what they consider justice to happen. To make a long story short, the wife who is Lara Brennan played by Elizabeth Banks is convicted of a crime that she fervently denies that she committed. Her husband also supports that she is innocent regardless of the incriminating circumstantial evidence against the wife. To complicate matters, they have a young child.

As expected, she is incarcerated and stays in this status throughout the movie.  The meat of the story are the actions that Russell Crowe as John Brennan takes for his wife.

Contrived Scenes in The Next Three Days Movie

To add to the suspense of this film, several events happened in unrealistic quick sequences during the movie. For example, the “treatment” for Russel Crowe’s character’s wife "iillness" while she was incarcerated probably would not have taken place as fast as it did in the movie.

Also, after Russell Crowe’s character was caught in the building after failing to illegally reconfigure a key, he was released without nary a fine, an indictment, warning, etc.  In real life, I'm sure he would have faced some type of charge for what he did.

Spoiler Alert: There may have been other unrealistic scenes as well, including where and how did Russell Crowe’s character get the additional change of clothing and how he was transporting them during the escape scenes.

That being said, the occurrences I discuss above I think were necessary to keep the story moving along and made the movie more interesting to watch.

Predictability of The Next Three Days Movie

I believe you will find this movie to be somewhat predictable. In other words, once Russell Crowe's character starts his scheme, you probably know immediately whether or not he will succeed. But don't fret. To the contrary, there were several scenes in the movie that can be described as unexpected, i.e. what the wife does while being a passenger in the car the husband was driving, etc.

Assessment of The Next Three Days Movie

In response to the question of if having two well-known actors in this movie made it more interesting to watch, my response would be "No." Given the suspenseful storyline, any good actor probably could have played these roles. In other words, the plot of the movie carried it, instead of the stars who appeared in it.

In fact, I think that once you start watching The Next Three Days movie, you will want to watch the entire movie.  In The Next Three Days film you will find elements of action, adventure as well as some suspense from the beginning of the movie until the end.

Rating of The Next Three Days Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate The Next Three Days Netflix movie, 5 stars.

Introduction to Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie Review

After checking HBO Max periodically over the past few days to see if anything worth my time and attention was on, I found out that Zack Snyder’s Justice League movie was playing. You may be wondering if this movie is worth watching and if so, why or why not. Check out my movie review of Zack Snyder’s Justice League movie to find out.

 Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie Length

I know the league is composed of various superheroes but in order to streamline and possibly shorten the length of this movie, many of the superheroes could have been omitted from the film.  By the way if you have not yet watched this movie, the film is about 4 hours and 2 minutes long -- which is...well …very long. 

Plot of Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie

Of course there is an evil villain that the Justice League needs to band together to defeat. In addition to defeating this villain, the league's mission was to prevent the villain from retrieving three boxes, one of which seemed to be ultra-destructive. The storyline also included back stories on some of the superheroes such as Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Superman.

The Leader in Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie

 It was obvious to me that this movie clearly showed Batman as the leader; however, not only was this a poor choice but Batman did not make any ground-breaking type decisions. Additionally, his appearance in costume did not seem up to par. Namely, somehow the art or costume movie-making department managed to make Batman look out of shape when he wore his Batman outfit in various scenes.

With that being said, who should have been the leader?  My vote goes to Wonder Woman who during this movie, did not seem to have a lot of baggage and had a solid grasp on how to defeat the enemy.  

Action Scenes in Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie

The action scene that stood out for me occurred during the first part of the Justice League movie when Wonder Woman made her appearance and not only courageously fought, but defeated criminals and saved people who were in danger.

In my opinion, Wonder Woman’s fight scene was notably one of the highlights of the complete movie. In fact, to save time watching Zack Snyder’s Justice League ultra-long movie, I suggest you fast forward about twenty minutes in the movie to the scene that shows Wonder Woman standing on a ledge inside of a building with one of the criminals dangling from her golden lasso.  

I won’t spoil this movie any further here, but I must say this Wonder Woman scene and even her dialogue was well written during and after this fight scene.  Hint:The dialogue involves her using the words “Believe it,” and what she said to the little girl who proclaimed that she wanted to be just like Wonder Woman.

As for the other action scenes in Zack Snyder’s Justice League movie, they all seem to blur together with lots of fights, noise, fires and explosions.

Miscasting of Actor in Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie

The actor who stood out to me as being miscast was Jeremy Irons who played the character of Alfred, Batman’s elder butler as he usually appears in the comic books. Not only did he seem too young to play this character, but his language accent was out of place as well. 

Actor Jeremy Irons should have been cast as maybe a villain, similar to the late Alan Rickman who played Hans Gruber in the Bruce Willis classic action movie, Die Hard. The good news is that his lines in the movie were few and he played a relatively small part in Zack Snyder’s Justice League film.

Too Many Superheroes in Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie

Let’s be frank here. There were a lot of superheroes appearing in Zack Snyder’s Justice League film who did not add anything to this movie. Some of these heroes were Aquaman and the Flash.  Maybe Aquaman was cast because his solo movie had relatively good reviews, but since most of the action took place on land or in space, clearly, there was no need for his aquatic-based powers. 

Regarding Flash, he may have the superpower of being fast, but outside of him saving someone from an accident towards the beginning of the movie, his part in the film, to me, was purely fluff.

Positives of Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie

Including certain superheroes in the movie presented both positive and negative aspects of the film. I think maybe the movie tried to stay true to the Justice League by including just about all of the characters so no one could probably say that a particular superhero was left out.  On the other hand, adding the non-essential characters also unfortunately made the movie much longer than it should have been.

As mentioned earlier, and I repeat -- a plus for the movie was the Wonder Woman

rescue scene towards the beginning of the film.

Assessment of Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie

To make a long story short, Zack Snyder’s Justice League movie was not quite my cup of tea, and except for the Wonder Woman scene I mentioned previously, was not, in my opinion, worth watching.

Rating of Zack Snyder’s Justice League Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate Zack Snyder’s Justice League movie 3 stars.

Introduction to The Little Things HBO Max Movie Review

What happens sometimes when you bring, not one, not two, but three academy award winning actors together in the same film?  You get a movie that will probably keep you enthralled in what’s going on in the film so much so that you can literally be in movieland for at least the length of the movie. Should you watch the movie, The Little Things starring academy award winning actors, Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto? Check out my movie review of The Little Things film to find out.

Plot of The Little Things Movie

The Little Things movie has a slight semblance to a documentary series I watched recently called the Nightstalker.  Interestingly enough during the course of the movie, you will hear the Nightstalker mentioned by one of the detectives, even though of course this movie is ... well a movie, while the Nightstalker is a docuseries on another streaming service, Netflix.

That being said, as you probably know from the movie trailer or elsewhere -- the plot of the film evolves around the search for a serial killer.  The movie events are set in the 1990s, so much of the technology i.e. cell phones were not widely used then. To their credit, I think the movie art staff did an excellent job of showcasing that the movie is a period detective type film from the 1990's complete with what we would refer to now as out-dated tech.

Acting Skills Displayed in The Little Things Movie

Since all three of the main characters in The Little Things movie won Academy awards for their acting skills, it goes without saying that each of the actors -- Denzel Washington as Deke the Kern County Deputy Sheriff,  Rami Malek as Detective Jim Baxter and Jared Leto as Albert Sparma -- all performed their roles superbly.  I would also like to give a shout out to the supporting cast who worked to bring the Little Things movie to life and helped provide a platform for the aforementioned talented actors to display their acting skills.

Assessment of the Little Things Movie

If you want to watch an A-list suspenseful film, then I would strongly suggest you watch The Little Things movie. This movie not only has suspense and action, but to a certain degree, it also has riveting drama as well.  Coupled with the acting skills of the stars of this film, The Little Things movie easily becomes a film that you will not want to miss.

I would like to warn you that there are some scenes in the movie where you may want to turn your head away from the screen, due to the gruesomeness of them.  However, this probably can be expected when you are watching a movie dealing with the subject matter of this film.

Bottom line -- If you want to see quality acting skills displayed from the stars of this movie, then you will certainly want to watch the movie The Little Things.  The theme of the movie is of course on the negative side. Even with this being the case, you may come away feeling that you got your money’s worth when the movie ends. I know that I did.

Rating of The Little Things Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate the movie The Little Things, starring academy award winning actors, Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto 5 stars.  

Introduction to The  Rhythm Section: An Amazon Prime Video Movie Review

The magic of watching a movie based on a novel is that events can be orchestrated to get the results the author wants the viewing audience to see.  As I watched The Rhythm Section film, I could envision the author conjuring up various scenarios that would make an intriguing movie, even though there may be questions as to the who, what, how, why and when of some of the events.

That being said, I watched The Rhythm Section with an open mind.  Did I enjoy watching the Rhythm Section movie? Would I recommend you watch it? Check out my movie review to find out.

Some Movie Actors Transitioning to Streaming Services

Is it just me, or does it seem as if the so-called big name actors are moving their acting crafts to streaming services instead of full fledged movie theaters. I guess that given the current world situation with the pandemic, actors just like others, need to keep the money coming in. Interesting enough, I noticed the trend toward some movie actors appearing in streaming services movies long before the pandemic happened and will probably continue when it is over. By the way, I’m sure these so-called A-list actors are generously compensated for sharing their acting talents with the viewing audiences, regardless of the media type that is used.

Creative Title of the Movie - The Rhythm Section

If you reached the conclusion that based on the movie title, The Rhythm Section, that this film  centers around a music theme, you will be incorrect. As you watch the movie, about midway, it is revealed why the movie is titled The Rhythm Section. I must admit the author, Mark Burnell, used his creative writing skills to come up with this title. While it is not unheard of, the author not only wrote the novel that the movie, The Rhythm Section is based on-- but also wrote the screenplay as well. To his credit, I think he did an adequate job of writing both.

Plot of The Rhythm Section Movie

The 007 name James Bond has been linked to describe The Rhythm Section movie starring Blake Lively as Stephanie Patrick. Based on that fact alone, you may be enticed to watch this film. However, I must warn you that if you are expecting the glitz, glamour, expensive cars, espionage, etc. usually equated with James Bond movies, you will not find much of it if you watch The Rhythm Section film.

Instead, you will find that the main character is focused on avenging an action that took place that destroyed her entire family 3 years prior -- while they were traveling abroad. Overwhelmed with grief, and probably guilt  as well as the question of why she was not traveling with her family at that time, the main character immerses herself in unscrupulous acts -- I guess in an attempt to try to forget the atrocious events that happened.

Manufactured Scenarios in The Rhythmic Section Movie

About midway through the movie, The Rhythm Section, you will find that the actor Blake Lively as Stephanie Patrick is so focused on avenging what happened to her family that she emphatically sought revenge. 

During these scenarios, it looks like there are lots of coincidental meet-ups, training, traveling, etc. that took place to move the plot of The Rhythmic Section movie along.  

For instance and back to the James Bond reference, without giving the movie away, there is a section of the movie where she takes on the persona and identity of someone else in an attempt to get to the bottom of what happened to her family as well as to seek revenge.

You would think that in a story such as this, especially dealing with terrorism, that the CIA would be  deeply involved. That was not the case here -- which opened the door for the main character, Blake Lively as Stephanie Patrick to take on actions and roles that probably would have been better performed by professionals -- unlike the impromptu training and direction she received from her co-star -- Jude Law’s character.

Slow-Moving Pace of The Rhythm Section Movie

In my opinion, The Rhythm Section movie was slow moving with quite a few casualties that happened that was not related to what the main character was seeking. Since this movie is slow-moving, especially in the beginning, it may seem longer than what it really is. In fact, you may probably find yourself wanting to skip over certain parts to get to the main action of the movie. This is where the saying comes to mind that "Patience is a virtue."

Assessment of The Rhythm Section Movie

In regards to rating this movie, I was going back and forth between giving the movie, The Rhythm Section 2 or 3 stars. I settled on a 3 star rating.  Here’s why. Regardless of the manufacturing scenarios mentioned above, and other unrealistic happenings in this movie, at the end of the day, this movie starred a woman as the main character in an action movie.  

Even though there were a lot of audible crying and other signs of woe during her fights and altercations, I thought it was valiant of the movie powers-that-be to keep the star of the movie as a woman -- just as it is in the novel the movie is based upon. To me, this was a huge plus for the movie, The Rhythm Section.

The Rhythm Section movie was what I would describe as a so-so type movie. I will leave it up to you to decide whether you want to see it for yourself. If you do, you may have to be patient and wait for actions that picked up the pace of the movie -- just as I did.

Rating of The Rhythm Section Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate The Rhythm Section movie Three (3) stars.