RHODYLIFE

At the Movies with Joyce & Don

By DANIEL A. KITTREDGE
Posted 12/3/20

CROODS: A NEW AGE *** (For the kids) NBC showed the original "Croods" movie just before the sequel opened at Warwick Showcase. The animation is good and the story is fine for the young ones. It is funny and has lots of adventure, plus a couple of good

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RHODYLIFE

At the Movies with Joyce & Don

Posted

CROODS: A NEW AGE

***

(For the kids)

NBC showed the original “Croods” movie just before the sequel opened at Warwick Showcase.

The animation is good and the story is fine for the young ones. It is funny and has lots of adventure, plus a couple of good messages.

The Croods meet up with a more modern-thinking family named, appropriately, the Bettermans. Culture clash occurs and the families must learn to work together for their survival.

Nicolas Cage is the voice of Grug and Emma Stone is Eep.

Rated PG with some crude humor. Send the kids.

A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK

**

Woody Allen released this one before the pandemic, and it can be streamed on Netflix or you can catch it at the Avon.

Unfortunately, it is vintage Woody Allen, which means you have seen and heard it all before.

Timothee Chalamet plays Allen’s alter ego, Gatsby Welles, a college student who joins his girlfriend in the Big Apple, for a weekend during which she has a chance to interview a celebrity. They each go their separate ways for a bit, meet some native New Yorkers, have misadventures and dull conversations, and bore the heck out of the audience.

Been there, seen it before.

Rate PG-13.

Note: The Avon has reduced its showings to Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 3:45 and 6:20 p.m. Closed Monday through Thursday.

NETFLIX

Season four of “The Crown” carries on the story of Queen Elizabeth in the same impressive style as the first three seasons. Concentrating on the Thatcher years, it shows the contrast of style between the queen and the prime minister. We also meet Diana and watch her tumultuous marriage rise and fall.

In concert with the fictional series, we watched “Diana: In Her Own Words” based on the recent book and based on actual interviews with the late princess.

“Fishermen’s Friends” is a lovely little movie set in an English fishing village. A record promoter finds himself in the small village where he discovers a group of fishermen who pass the time singing sea shanties. He falls in love with a local lass, cuts a record of the group, and the rest is history. What makes the story even more charming is that it is based on a true story.

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” takes us back to the late ’60s and the protests against the war in Vietnam. Protesters came from all over the country to Chicago, causing confrontations with the police and leading to the incredible trial. Those old enough to remember will also learn new things about Bobby Seales, the lawyers and the judge. Most interesting is the “where are they now” epilogue.

“Hillbilly Elogy” is based on the memoir of J.D. Vance, the Yale graduate who was raised in rural Kentucky by a dysfunctional family. The story plays a bit melodramatically, but it is worth watching due to the incredible performances by Amy Adams as Vance’s addictive mother and Glenn Close as his eccentric but wise grandmother. You won’t recognize Close when she first appears on screen.

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