Around this time of year, many studios begin releasing\nmovies they believe may have the potential to be nominated for some end-of-year\nawards. One of those titles is the drama Armageddon Time<\/em>, which is being\nreleased this week. Despite the title, this film is not a disaster flick\ninvolving the end of the world. In fact, the moniker is actually a play on a\npiece of music used in the feature. Instead, it is a low-key, well-acted and\neffective coming-of-age drama. This is a solid production, but one that also doesn\u2019t\nfeel like a frontrunner to take home any big awards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on the real experiences of writer\/director James Gray\nand set in New York in 1980, this tale follows young Paul Graff (Banks Repeta).\nHe\u2019s a youngster who dreams of being an artist, displeasing many in his\nJewish-American family. His father Irving (Jeremy Strong) wants him to take\nlife seriously and mother Esther (Anne Hathaway) appears to merely tolerate his\ninterests. However, Paul does receive support and encouragement from his\nfavorite relative, grandfather Aaron Rabinowitz (Anthony Hopkins). Unfortunately,\nproblems arise after he begins acting out in class. Paul also notices and\nbefriends a black student in his class named Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb), who\nreceives far worse punishment for the very same infractions. As the school year\npasses, Paul gets a lucky break and is admitted into a private school, but embarks\non a plan to run away with Davis to Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This film certainly appears to be based on real experiences.\nIn fact, it looks like a perfect recreation of the era. As someone who\nremembers this time period well, the production design is top notch. All of the\nhousehold items, toys, records and even the wood paneling that covers much of\nthe inside of the Graff\u2019s modest home is expertly recreated. These little elements\ncertainly struck a chord with this reviewer, who felt like he was transported\nback to his own childhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, the cast are all very strong. Young leads\nRepeta and Webb have difficult and complex emotions to convey as they deal with\nsome terrible situations and a few ugly truths. They are both extremely\nlikable, despite the fact that their plans aren\u2019t particularly well thought-out\nand lead them at times into a downward spiral. Of course, it was also a different\ntime and the movie deserves some credit for being frank about how punishment\nwas meted out by some parents during this period. Irving Graff is at times\nbrutal with his son, but the actor portraying the character manages to add more\nlayers and depth to the role instead of simply being an abusive adult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But while the period look is captivating, the cast are top\nnotch and the movie does display examples of racism prevalent in many aspects\nof life, there is something about the restrained and quiet approach that does result\nin the film coming up short. Certain story aspects are predictable and while\nthe final conversations between Paul and other characters seem authentic, there\nisn\u2019t much emotional weight to them. And, since the young lead can\u2019t do much to\nchange his situation or make an overt and grandiose personal statement, the\nclose doesn\u2019t overwhelm or make a stirring impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, this is a fine drama that ticks most of the\nboxes and possesses some elements that feel more authentic than other films of\nits ilk. It just won\u2019t leave viewers bowled over or moved in the way that one\nmight hope for. The movie does its job efficiently and perhaps it is simply a\nresult of the downcast approach, but Armageddon Time<\/em> doesn\u2019t make the\nbig impact required to leave a lasting impression for end-of-the-year and award\naccolades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Running Time: 115 minutes This film from Focus Features will be released nationally at cinemas on November 4th. Around this time of year, many studios begin releasing movies they believe may have the potential to be nominated for some end-of-year awards. One of those titles is the drama Armageddon Time, which is being released this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,1519,1584,1798,1799,1800,1801,2277,2789,6251,10481,10613,14766],"class_list":["post-25581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-anne-hathaway","tag-anthony-hopkins","tag-armageddon-time","tag-armageddon-time-film-review","tag-armageddon-time-movie-review","tag-armageddon-time-review","tag-banks-repeta","tag-biopic","tag-drama","tag-jaylin-webb","tag-jeremy-strong","tag-new-york"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Armageddon-Time-01-fixed.jpg\")
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