movies

5 money tips from “Jurassic World Rebirth”

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My niece and I dropped in on Cinemark’s “Secret Movie Series” screening the other day. Each month the chain* does a $5 top-secret screening of an upcoming film. The only thing you know going in is the film’s rating – not even a hint of the genre. When I left the house I said to DF, “Wouldn’t it be fun if it’s the new Jurassic movie? But it won’t be.”

It was.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” stars Scarlett Johansson as Zora Bennett, a covert operations specialist (read: mercenary) who puts together a team to sneak into an isolated equatorial country to get dinosaur DNA. Seems that their giant hearts may hold the key to a medicine to cure heart disease in humans.

But…Didn’t all the dinosaurs die in the last movie?

Of course not. This is Hollywood. They always leave the door open for a sequel.

The film provides lip service to a couple of serious topics, such as climate change (dinos now thrive only in the equatorial region because it’s closest to their original habitat) and Big Pharma (a character cynically notes that any medical breakthroughs will be wildly expensive and thus available only to the well-off).

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5 money lessons from “One of Them Days.”

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As regular readers know, I can find personal finance lessons anywhere: action flicks, opera, monster movies, Westerns, sled-dog races, zombie shows, you name it. Today’s example is from the hit comedy “One of Them Days,” which gets bonus PF points from having payday loans as a major plot point.

Before I go any further, a warning: The film has salty language and a frank physical reveal involving male pulchritude. If modern urban speech and forthright discussions of sex wouldn’t sit well with you, avoid this movie.

But if you like buddy comedies – especially those with strong, intelligent women as the buddies – then this might be the film for you. Keke Palmer (“Nope,” “Akeelah and the Bee”) and singer-songwriter SZA play roommates and best friends who struggle to pay the rent while holding on to their dreams.

Like some of you, probably.

 

The two broke friends live in “the Jungle,” a neighborhood full of neglected apartment buildings and broken promises. It’s the kind of place where many folks can’t live live paycheck to paycheck without tacking on a side hustle like styling hair, selling T-shirts or running a mini-mart out of their apartment.

Also like some of you, probably. The Washington Post reports that 5.3 percent of U.S. workers had more than one job in 2024. That’s the highest level since the Great Recession. In some states, the number of multi-job workers is 10 percent.

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Giveaway: $25 Regal gift card.

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Wait…Didn’t I just have a movie gift card giveaway? Yes, I did. Now I’m having another one. This time around, it’s for the Regal theaters chain.

You might need to get away from it all after a little too much holiday family togetherness. And if times are tight right now, you could either sell the gift card (it’s a physical one) or give it as a holiday present.

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Today’s frugal win: Deal-stacking.

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DF wanted to see the Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcast of “Lohengrin,” but also second-guessed that wish. The $25 ticket wasn’t so bad when you consider the opera lasted a little over five* hours, but still…And then there was the popcorn and cold drink that he’d surely need to handle five-plus hours of Wagner. He was on the fence until I suggested a few frugal hacks.

Here are the (many) elements of today’s frugal win:

Senior discount. He got $2 off for being old.

Movie Club. This subscription deal at Cinemark gives me one free movie a month plus a concessions discount. I asked the cashier to apply one of my free movie credits to the Met Opera ticket, which lowered the price from $23 to $10.75.

Ibotta gift card. I redeemed a $20 Cinemark card from my Ibotta account. (For more on Ibotta and other frugal hackery, see “Rewards programs FTW!”)  

Cinemark coupon. I got a $1-off concessions coupon by cashing in 25 of my Cinemark rewards points (which you get each time you buy tickets and food).

Movie Club discount. I get 20 percent off concessions purchases with membership.

Once all the discounts and the gift card had been applied, the tab had shrunk to just $1.45.  Now you can see why he decided to go.

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5 money lessons from “Jurassic World: Dominion.”

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I do love finding personal finance lessons in popular culture. Today I’ll take out after “Jurassic World: Dominion.”

Was it a good movie? Hard to say. Asking this is like asking, “Was your McDonald’s meal a good dining experience?” Answer: It filled me up okay but it was neither memorable nor remember-able. “Jurassic World: Dominion” is the same sort of cinematic non-feast: I remember enjoying certain parts of it, but on the whole it was just…long. If I’d been wearing a watch, I’d have been checking it after about the 90-minute mark – and the film lasts for 147 minutes.

The first film in the series, “Jurassic Park,” was a wildly entertaining film with plenty of action and terrific (for the time) special effects. But it also asked the hard questions. You know, stuff about humankind’s ongoing attempts to control Nature and our inability to look at something wondrous without wondering how much money it could bring us.

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6 money lessons from “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.”

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I didn’t expect “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” to be a cinematic classic. It was clear from the first preview that this would be a popcorn movie. What I did expect is that Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon would take the lead in supernatural heroism.

So I was pleasantly surprised when the middle-school nerd, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace, of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” among others) and her new (and only) friend, Podcast (Logan Kim) pretty much walked away with the movie. They – and especially Phoebe – are the film’s heart and mind.

And the scene where Podcast asks if she would be….

…wait for it…

his lab partner? That was one of the shyer, sweeter movie scenes I’ve encountered in ages.

The protagonists are the daughter and grandkids of one of the original Ghostbuster gang, and they’ve inherited his dilapidated house in Middle-of-Nowhere, Oklahoma. The mom, Callie, tells the kids they’re just going out there to sell the place, but we know before they do that they’re going to stay; after all, an early scene shows Callie begging the landlord not to evict them.

What could go wrong? Especially when teenaged son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, of “Stranger Things”) and his new buddies start hanging around an abandoned mine? Or when Phoebe starts noticing some strange things of her own around their new home?

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” drags a bit here and there, and I could have done without the Hallmark-y denouement, but overall I had a pretty good time. Didn’t hurt a bit that I paid only $6 because it was cheap Tuesday, or that I had a $3-off coupon for the concessions stand. (Like I said: Popcorn movie.)

And, of course, I found money lessons therein. Don’t I always? 

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6 money lessons from “Black Widow.”

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A few weeks back I checked out “Black Widow” with my great-nephew, a superhero nerd. Appropriately enough for a Marvel Comics Universe film, I wore my mask, at least until we sat down. Social distancing is in effect in terms of how many tickets the theater will sell, so I felt safe enough removing my mask to enjoy some kettle corn* and a soft drink.

We’d been waiting a long time for this pandemic-postponed female action movie to open, and I went in planning to love the film so much that I wanted to bear its children.

This was not to be. Although I liked a lot of things about it, it ultimately didn’t hang together as a super-epic. One thing I did love was Florence Pugh’s portrayal of Yelena Belova, a sardonic young badass and sister to Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanov.

While I think Johansson’s a fine actress, and that the two of them played marvelously well against each other, Pugh walked off with the whole film tucked into one of her many pockets.** She lit up the screen and owned every scene in which she appeared.

So in-like, not in-love. Still a good day out – and I paid only $6 because it was cheap(ish) day. Even more luckily, I can call it a business expense if I write about it. So here we go.

Some people look for life lessons in movies. I look for financial ones, whether it’s in Metropolitan Opera HD Broadcast Series productions such as “Parsifal” and “Gotterdammerung,” or slam-bang action films like “Wrath of Man” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.”

Did I find them in “Black Widow”?

Do you really have to ask?

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5 money lessons from “Wrath of Man.”

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Sometimes I want to watch art films, international cinema or documentaries. And sometimes I just want to see a whole lotta stuff get blowed up real good. “Wrath of Man,” a heist film starring Jason Statham, did not disappoint even though at times it was hard to follow.

Mostly that was due to the flashbacks. Lots of flashbacks. A couple of other scenes were absolutely mystifying until later, when they finally begin to make sense. Patience is needed, along with a tolerance for gunfire and roaring engines.

Now and then the story is a bit mystifying, as when H (Statham) gives a sub-par performance at a shooting range and isn’t the best at parking a truck. Another character basically confesses to being a bad guy, at which point I whispered to my great-nephew, “Why in the world would he tell him that?”

“Because he doesn’t want him to die,” great-nephew whispered back.

Again, it all made sense eventually. And the whispering was okay: We were two of only five people in the theater, and the only ones in our section. Besides, there was all that gunfire and roaring engines to provide cover.

How did I find personal finance lessons in all this? The way I always do: by looking for them. Here’s what I found. 

 

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“Nomadland”: An elegy.

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From my first glimpse of the “Nomadland” trailer, I knew that pandemic or not, I would eventually see this movie. For starters, I’ll see anything Frances McDormand is in. The actor is a marvel of nuance. I have loved her work since “Blood Simple.”

Besides, the topic – people imperiled by the Great Recession – is one that I’d written about over and over for MSN Money. I was curious as to whether a director could truly capture that, rather than paper it over with a requisite Hollywood resolution.

Thankfully, director Chloe Zhao didn’t slap on a typical amor vincit omnia verdict – or even a happy ending as such. “Nomadland” represents  everyday life for a lot of people, whether they live on the road or not.

Working as many hours as they can get at whatever job will have them. Wondering whether the money will hold out. Hoping no one gets sick. Banding together with others who are living the same kinds of lives, and supporting one another insofar as it’s possible.

The film moves at a measured, almost mournful pace. In a sense, “Nomadland” is an elegy: not for the American Dream as such, but for the notion that any working person can ever truly be safe.

The fact that some real-life nomads play themselves in the movie is a case in point. It’s doubtful any of them ever thought, “Say, you know what would be cool? Losing everything and having to shovel sugar beets for minimum wage while living in a van in my 60s!” 

 

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5 money lessons from “Terminator: Dark Fate.”

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Sometimes I go to the movies to be intrigued, uplifted and educated. And sometimes I go just to watch a whole lot of stuff get blowed up real good.

You can guess into which category “Terminator: Dark Fate” falls.

This entry in the “Terminator” franchise picks up right after “Terminator: Judgment Day,” and posits that Sarah Connor (a deliciously well-aged Linda Hamilton) and her son were able to prevent Skynet from taking over the world.

However, things still go very badly indeed for a young Mexican auto factory worker named Dani Ramos (Natalie Reyes), who’s targeted for seemingly no reason by a sinister new brand of Terminator called a Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna).

But there’s always a reason, right? And there’s always a protector. In this film it’s Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a seriously buff and butt-kicking warrior from the future. Eventually Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up again, too, and he’s given a couple of funny bits along with the flash-bang stuff. (His deadpan descriptions of why he’s a perfect mate and the difference that the right blinds can make to décor are extremely amusing.)

“Terminator: Dark Fate” isn’t perfect. In particular, I wish that director Tim Miller (“Deadpool”) had trimmed some of the fight scenes. We get it: The Rev-9 can be sliced and diced and shredded but he always comes back for more. Stahp with the CGI, already!

Still, I was absolutely entertained – and it’s nice to have a film in which three of the four badasses are women.

Now let’s talk about money.

 

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