By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
“Bird Box,” Netflix’s streaming post-apocalyptic horror thriller, presents a world in which most of the global population has committed violent suicide. The only way to survive is not to ‘see it,’ whatever it is that is causing this mysterious, malevolent plague.
As her story begins, Malorie Shannon (Sandra Bullock) is instructing her two blindfolded children (Julian Edwards, Vivien Lyra Blair) about navigating a white-water river trip. They must NEVER remove their blindfolds: “If you look, you will die!”
A five-year earlier flashback reveals two horse-loving sisters — cynical, reluctantly pregnant Malorie (Sandra Bullock) and free-spirited Jessica (Sarah Paulson).
After the supernatural annihilation strikes, Malorie takes refuge in a house with other strangers.
There’s Douglas (John Malkovich), the self-serving homeowner; frightened Olympia (Danielle Macdonald), who is also pregnant; Charlie (Lil Red Howery), an amiable supermarket employee who’s writing a novel about humanity’s end; savvy Greg (BD Wong); and sensitive Tom (Trevante Rhodes), an Iraq War vet — among others.
Choosing the option to ‘live,’ rather than simply survive, Malorie uses radio communication to locate a community where people are seemingly unaffected by the terror and embarks on a treacherous journey to transport her children to this safe haven.
Based on Josh Malerman’s 2014 sci-fi novel of the same name, it’s adapted by Eric Heisserer, directed by Danish filmmaker Suzanne Bier and photographed by Salvatore Totino, effectively accompanied by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ ominous, unnerving score.
FYI: Risking life and limb, overzealous internet fans have posted a “Bird Box Challenge” in which blindfolded people foolishly attempt dangerous tasks. Popular YouTuber Morgan Adams, whose channel has 2.3 million subscribers, posted a video of being blindfolded for 24-hours.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bird Box” is an intense, enigmatic 8 — about the psychological struggle of parenthood.
“On the Basis of Sex” focuses on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s early years as a persevering law student and pioneering female attorney, long before she was Notorious RBG.
Beginning in 1956, when wide-eyed Ruth Bader (Felicity Jones) was already married to Martin Ginsburg (Armie Hammer) with a baby daughter, it shows how she became one of only nine women in the Harvard Law School class of more than 500 men.
“What does it mean to be a Harvard man?” the Dean (Sam Waterston) rhetorically asks.
Later, despite having graduated from Columbia Law School, tied for first in her class, she cannot get a job in a New York law firm. So she teaches at Rutgers — until she discovers a tantalizing 1972 sex discrimination case.
A single male Colorado caregiver, Charles Moritz (Christian Mulkley), is denied a $296 tax deduction — because he is male, and caregivers are assumed to be female.
Discrimination against men? That’s what propels Ginsburg through the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and right up to Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
It’s impossible to chronicle Ginsburg’s rising legal career without acknowledging the devotion of her husband, a lawyer himself, who was incredibly supportive, including doing the household chores, like cooking, while she pursued her passion.
Worshipfully written by Justice Ginsburg’s nephew, Daniel Stiepleman, it’s formulaically directed by Mimi Leder, who adroitly casts Kathy Bates as activist attorney Dorothy Kenyon and Justin Theroux as Mel Wulf of the A.C.L.U. And it concludes with a cameo of the real Ginsburg walking up the steps of the Supreme Court building.
On the Granger Gauge, “On the Basis of Sex” is an admiring, if soberly simplified 7. This idolatrous historical narrative doesn’t do RBG justice.
Warner Bros. adds the “Aquaman” origin-story to its DC Justice League franchise.
On the coast of Maine in 1985, a lonely lighthouse keeper, Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison), finds wounded aquatic warrior Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) washed up on the beach; she’s fleeing from an arranged marriage. Before long, they fall deeply in love and have an interspecies son.
After a while, Atlanna realizes that her husband and beloved son are in mortal danger unless she returns to Atlantis, but she promises to return — someday — if she isn’t killed in the Trench.
Meanwhile, under the relentless tutelage of Grand Vizier Vulko (Willem Dafoe), thickly-bearded, heavily tattooed Arthur (Jason Momoa) grows up to be a world-famous man-fish, who can breathe underwater and single-handedly rescue nuclear submariners from marauding pirates.
Until Princess Mera (Amber Heard) appears. She’s betrothed to Arthur’s half-brother, maniacal King Orm (Patrick Wilson), who wants to be Sea Master, conquering the submerged realms along with surface dwellers. Only Aquaman can restore peace to the underwater universe.
Based on the DC Comics hero created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger in 1941, the zany script was written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall.
Director James Wan hits a multitude of shallow plot points but he seems most besotted with spectacular CGI set pieces, including a fantastical one in which Orm’s ominous army rides armored sharks and another in which a giant octopus plays the drums.
Whirling Aquaman’s fabled trident, perfectly cast Jason Momoa is the 6-foot-5 tall Hawaiian-born actor best known as Khal Drogo, the formidable Dothraki on TV’s “Game of Thrones,” and the 2011 remake of “Conan the Barbarian.” Shirtless, he’s awe-inspiring.
It’s unfortunate that Mera’s red wig looks borrowed from Disney’s Ariel mermaid and Orm bears a startling resemblance to Harry Potter’s nefarious nemesis, Draco Malfoy.
On the Granger Gauge, “Aquaman” swims in with a visually stunning 6, exciting underwater lore.
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
