Armageddon Time
A deeply personal story about the strength of family, the complexity of friendship, and the generational pursuit of the American Dream.
- Released: 2022-10-28
- Runtime: 114 minutes
- Genre: Drama
- Stars: Banks Repeta, Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Anthony Hopkins, Jaylin Webb, Ryan Sell, Teddy Coluca, Tovah Feldshuh, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Andrew Polk, Lauren Yaffe, Dane West, Dupree Francois Porter, Griffin Wallace Henkel, Jessica Chastain, Stephanie Groves, Marcia Haufrecht, Oona Girton-Marshall, Ian Hernandez-Oropeza, Aidan Christman, Eva Jette Putrello, Landon James Forlenza, John Dinello, Jacob Mackinnon, Jude Washock, Skyler Wenger, Psalm Mitchell, Jack Parrish, Stephanie Aguinaldo, Diamond Washington, Lauren Sharpe, Lizbeth MacKay, Domenick Lombardozzi, John Diehl, Richard Bekins
- Director: James Gray
Comments
- planktonrules - 9 January 2024
Some nice performances but the story itself fell a bit flat.
"Armageddon Time" is a coming of age story, much like the Baltimore films from Barry Levinson. But this one is set later (in the early 1980s) and the characters are not as likable nor relatable...at least not for me.
Paul (Banks Repeta) is a 6th grader who starts the school year off by ticking off his idiot teacher. And, through the course of the film, the boy has a variety of adventures. Sometimes, he's in trouble or doing some goofy or seriously maladjusted things. Other times, he seems like a nice, normal kid. His relationship with a kid in school and his grandfather help shape him.
The Levinson films are bathed in sentimentality and feature characters you really like. "Armageddon Time" lacks the same sentimentality and the boy who is the main character is not exactly easy to like. However, the acting IS good...with an amazing performance by Repeta...and very good supporting performances by Jaylin Webb and Anthony Hopkins. The story didn't connect with me, though I really liked the acting by the two kids...it was really spot on and shows good acting and direction. A decent time-passer that could have been better. - henry8-3 - 18 July 2023
Armageddon Time
In 1980s New York, a young Jewish boy, Paul is driving his parents up the wall through his bad behaviour exacerbated by his friendship with troubled African American kid Johnny. Eventually transferred to a strongly right wing Reagan supporting private school, Paul sees first hand institutional class and racial prejudice, but is disinclined / scared to stand up to these prejudiced despite advice from his beloved grandfather, played by Anthony Hopkins.
Whilst this is very nicely acted by all, particularly Hopkins and Strong and has a strong story to tell of growing US conservatism as well as the political and religious confluences in the Jewish faith, it does rather meander along. You do need therefore to concentrate here given the number of heavy themes on display, each fighting for centre stage. Worthy then and nicely scripted and played but rather dry - I'm not sure I could say I enjoyed a single moment of it. - therealjaysmoke - 18 June 2023
When a story let down an amazing cast
What did I just watch? This was an amazing production with a stellar cast and I was expecting something wonderful. The moment I saw Anthony Hopkins, I was like a child who had just seen Santa Claus. Boy was I mightily disappointed. I mean, prior to this rather unfortunate movie, I don't think I've seen Anthony Hopkins in a bad movie, so you can understand my misguided excitement.
This is a great example of how a story makes the movie not the cast. You can throw in all the best actors in the world but if your story sucks, there's nothing that can save the movie.
This was a serious let down... - Top_Dawg_Critic - 21 December 2022
This brought back some interesting memories.
I grew up in NYC and went to PS 154 around the same time Banks Repeta's character did, so I can totally relate to the story. That doesn't mean it makes this film better for me. In fact. I kept thinking "so what?". This entire story is a reality that almost everyone has experienced, whatever side of the coin you're on, so it's absolutely nothing revolutionary, and for that matter, it was rather hollow and bland. It was at least 30 mins too long, and the pacing was too slow to maintain engagement with the narrative. It was all basic filler with very little substance. Nevertheless, the young actors delivered convincing performances, as did the A-listers - although we have to expect that from them. I want to say it's a decent one-time watch for a reason I can't find, so I wont. You'll basically see great performances, a great score and soundtrack, excellent cinematography, but no compelling narrative. It's a generous 6/10 from me, only because it brought back memories when I was growing up in that era and neighborhood. - theredsky - 30 November 2022
Armageddon Time Review
One of the most boring films I've seen all year. I was definitely very disappointed with this since I loved Gray's previous film Ad Astra which is definitely a very slow burn as well but here the slow burn basically killed any enjoyment I had for the movie. The film feels like it's trying to say a lot without actually putting in a ton of effort to say it. The film has a good message and core about racism but it also doesn't do a whole lot to explore it. What I'm really trying to say is that the film just feels half baked all the way through in almost every aspect. The story just absolutely drags from the first 30 minutes to the final frame. There were moments where my interest perked up a little bit but never enough to where I can say I was enjoying myself and that was mostly because of the performances. Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong all did an amazing job here and anytime they were on screen, especially Hopkins, that's when my interest perked up. Once Hopkin's character leaves the screen though then my interest was pretty much gone for the rest of the film. Even some of the technical aspects feel halfbaked. The music is bland and forgettable, the directing is fine but Ad Astra is a much much better directed film and even the cinematography felt bland and inspired for the most part. There wasn't one moment in the film where I said in my head "that's a nice shot" or "that's a nice piece of music". There really isn't any aspect to this film other than performances I find to be very good. It's the pure definition of an Oscar bait film. I would definitely recommend skipping this unless it gets nominated for Best Picture and you decide to watch all the Best Picture nominees. - Alexander_Blanchett - 23 November 2022
Heartwarming coming of age
Its a very solid and inspiring coming of age story, even if it is not the most origianl movie, it still goes straight to the heart and has important topics. James Gray stays true to his immigrant theme and packs it to his own childhood memories of growing up in Queens.
The performances are very good. Finally Anne Hathaway turns into a wonderful performance again and chose the right project. So far one of the best supporting performances of the year because she nicely plays against character in a very grown up performance.
Anthony Hopkins gives a beautiful warm performance and is the heart and solul of this movie. Again, the master actor turns into an award worthy performance and proves that he still got it. Its nice to see him in that environment and one of the most heartwarming grandfather performances of the recent years. I loved Jeremy Strong because it was a very difficult performance he mastered wonderfully. He plays this brutally strict father but who has still good motives and the heart at the right spot. To portray that believably and avoiding that audiences hate him was truely a difficult task that he mastered excellently. Last but certinaly not least we have Banks Repeta who gives one of the best kids performances of the year so far. Really nicely nuanced and absolutely on the spot. Generally a great ensemble work that lives from a wonderful screenplay.
