BEFORE: OK, here's the film that's going to get me to "Deadpool & Wolverine", although I may want to change the plan a bit, I haven't decided. It's very unsettling to not have a plan to the end of the year, or even to October at this point. Sure, there's two months until the start of the horror chain, but any wrong movie choice COULD prevent me from getting there. I need to put some time toward figuring out which horror movies I want to watch this year, also how many, that's important too. Also I need to allocate the right number of slots for August and September, that process goes hand in hand, I can't just keep looking two or three steps ahead, there's too much chance of breaking the chain. So even if "Deadpool & Wolverine" is my next nexus point, where the hell do I go from there?
OK, relax, let's take this in baby steps. Step 1, get to "Deadpool & Wolverine", that leads to step 2, figure out the cast list for that movie, because that may give some direction to the process. Step 3, go through the list of new movies streaming in August, and also maybe new movies coming out in theaters this fall, that could be important. Then Step 4, pick the damn horror movies for October, it's OK if there's just 15 or 20 in a small chain, that can work, too. And THEN, and only THEN can I start to figure out how to connect from here to there. Until then, I can only safely program two or three movies at a time. Life on the edge.
Anthony Hopkins carries over one more time from "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver".
THE PLOT: Peter has his busy life with his new partner Beth and their baby thrown into disarray when his ex-wife Kate turns up with their teenage son, Nicholas.
AFTER: This is another film that played at the theater where I work, and I worked at the screening (late October, 2022), but it was during the weekly Tuesday night class, and I'm not allowed to sit in. I have to be in the office, just in case of emergency, because if there's a fire or something, steps need to be taken. Preferably very quick ones, out of the building. JK. But I think I remember something about the Q&A after the movie, the director or writer was there, perhaps it was by Zoom, so maybe I had to move the microphone around the theater so people could ask questions, but then of course that's not akin to watching the movie, and also I may find out spoilers while doing that, so honestly I try to tune out the discussion, so I can see the film cold later on.
Let me try to get my mind off of "Deadpool & Wolverine", which is not easy for me, so I can focus on "The Son". I'll get to Deadpool and whats-his-face soon enough. Honestly, I was going to save this film for a Father's Day, but realistically, two Fathers Days have come and gone since this film was put on the list, and I'm not sure it's going to line up next year, so let me put it HERE and it serves a greater purpose, as a movie that helps connect the end of the Doc Block to this very important (?) Marvel movie. Look, I know I'm going to get there eventually, but it's a SLOW week for TV, everything's on hold like talk shows and stuff because of the Olympics, which is usually a ratings giant, although I couldn't care less about it.
Maybe it should be a Father's Day film, IDK - or maybe since it's about Peter Miller, a man in his second marriage, after a divorce, it belongs in a February chain since it's about a lot of relationship stuff. Maybe I should just stop overthinking it and just appreciate this film being where it is, OK? The film is really about the relationship between Peter and Nicholas, his teen son from his first marriage, who's been ditching school for a solid month, and has asked his mother if he can go live with his father for a while, instead of with her. Somehow, Peter's second wife, Beth, is OK with this, there's a newborn baby in the apartment and also, she and Peter haven't been together very long, maybe just two or three years, you'd think this situation would be very problematic, which of course it is.
Nicholas is struggling with depression, he can't explain why he ditched school for a month, or where he went every day when he was supposed to be at school, also he might be cutting himself, which is not a good sign. Sure, it's a side effect of the depression but it's still a form of self-harm and indicates that he may need therapy or a more serious treatment for his depression. There really should have been a point here where Peter maybe should have looked into this, but he's a busy man with a high-stress job and he's probably guilty here of both looking the other way and also being overly optimistic about Nicholas's prospects of getting better.
Eventually, it all comes out, when Peter finds out that Nicholas hasn't been to his new school in some time either, and he's fallen back into all of his old bad habits. Nicholas blames his depression on his father, for leaving his first marriage to start a second one, however this falls on deaf ears, Peter never really takes responsibility for the damage he may have inadvertently caused by falling in love with a new partner, and realizing that he was only staying with his first wife for the sake of his son. However, Peter reached a point where he couldn't do that any more, but there are still repercussions any time you burn down your whole life and head out to start a new one.
Nicholas is hospitalized after what we assume is a suicide attempt, and then placed in some kind of psychiatric facility, where the doctors want to limit his contact with his parents. Peter doesn't go on his summer holiday with Beth and their baby, because he wants to stay close to Nicholas while he's in treatment. When Peter and his ex-wife Kate finally do get to visit him, Nicholas tells them that he wants desperately to come home, that the facility is terrible, that he'll behave and go to school - really, it seems he'll say anything at that point to get his parents to sign his release, which the medical staff can't prevent, although they strongly recommend that Nicholas stays in treatment longer. Peter and Kate are faced with a very difficult decision to make, do they follow the advice of the doctors who want to keep him under observation and treatment longer, or do they listen to their own son, who claims he's thinking more clearly and wants to come home. I'd say to err on the safe side here, but you guys do you, what could possibly go wrong?
Anthony Hopkins plays Peter's father (Nicholas' grandfather) who similarly left Peter and his mother when he fell in love with someone new - Peter goes to visit him in D.C. at one point after Nicholas moves in, as if to demonstrate to his own father that he's a better father than he ever was. Sure, you're taking care of your son, Peter, but you STILL walked out on him and his mother, nothing can change that, so really, aren't you just like your own father, at heart? So, yeah, there's a lot to unpack in this movie, a lot of people feeling guilt about their own actions, and maybe remorse over the way things have gone down over time, but still, people make mistakes, it's part of being human, and naturally all relationships end at some point, but it's how we deal with these things that matter. How can we live our lives without having negative impacts on other people? Sometimes it's just not possible, and sometimes we end up making bad choices for that reason.
We might think we're doing well and winning at life, but honestly, that often remains to be seen. We could just be moving forward and continuing to make the same mistakes over and over, or worse, making the same mistakes our parents did, just in new ways. But that's kind of a bummer, isn't it?
Also starring Hugh Jackman (last seen in "Reminiscence"), Vanessa Kirby (last seen in "Jupiter Ascending"), Laura Dern (last seen in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"), Zen McGrath, Shin-Fei Chen (last seen in "Jason Bourne"), William Hope (last seen in "The Catcher Was a Spy"), Nancy Baldwin (last seen in "Mamma Mia!"), Akie Kotabe (last seen in "Gran Turismo"), Isaura Barbé-Brown (last seen in "The Favourite"), Erick Hayden (last seen in "The Gunman"), Joseph Mydell (last seen in "Woman in Gold"), Rachel Handshaw (last seen in "Venom: Let There Be Carnage"), George Potts (last seen in "The Current War"), George Cobell, Yolanda Nieto, Danielle Lewis (last seen in "Wonder Woman"), Gretchen Egolf (last seen in "The Namesake"), Alex Mugnaioni, Hugh Quarshie (last seen in "Book Club: The Next Chapter"), Mercedes Bahleda, Van Pierre.
RATING: 4 out of 10 boardroom meetings
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