The Tomorrow Man 2019

     Ed Hemsler and Ronnie Meisner live in the same small town.  Ed has a bomb shelter and he spends his life preparing for a disaster that may not happen?  Ronnie spends her life shopping for things she may never use?  Ed notices Ronnie in the grocery store and he invites her out for coffee.  They seem to hit it off?  How can they get beyond the things that are consuming them at their homes?
     A lot of times people become afraid of what might happen?  They are so busy preparing for this “might happen” that they aren’t living their life in the right now?  Both Ed and Ronnie are in their 60’s and if they want to have love between them and they need to let go of the what if?  Ed doesn’t get along with his adult son because he’s always telling him what to do?  Will his son ever listen, probably not?  This is a slow and quiet movie with elderly people who have a LOT of eccentricities!!  Some of Ed’s efforts to connect with Ronnie could be considered stalking?  Some adult drinking and one character smokes.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

94 min, Drama directed and written by Noble Jones with John Lithgow, Blythe Danner, Derek Cecil, Katie Aselton, Sophie Thatcher, Eve Harlow, Wendy Makkena, Isabelle Boni.

Note:  Imdb 5.7 out of 10 with 1,167 reviews, Roger Ebert 2 ½* Nell Minow, Rotten Tomatoes 42% with 55 critics 44% audience score with 43 ratings, Common Sense Media Tara McNamara age 13+, 2* out of 5*, 3* positive, 1* role models, 1* violence, 3* sex, 4* language, 3* consumerism, 2* drinking, drugs & smoking, SF Chronicle G. Allen Johnson sit up in seat, Letterboxd 2.9* out of 5*, Amazon 4* out of 5* with 182 reviews, Metacritic 49 out of 100 with 18 critic reviews (positive 5, mixed 10, negative 3), 6.2 out of 10 with 5 user scores (positive 2, mixed 3, negative 0), Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 876 reviews.

Special Note:  This is the directorial debut for Noble Jones.  The world premiere was at the Sundance Film Festival January 30, 2019.  Filming took place in Rochester, New York, Lithgow’s hometown.  When Ed shows his shelter for the first time there are three jars of Vegemite.  This is an Australian yeast extract spread and it is like Marmite that is used in the UK.  Vegemite is much loved by some in Australia but it is an acquired taste.  It does have a very long shelf life and a little goes a long way.  It could be a favorite of people with stocks of food and those with the what if frame of mind?  Vegemite is also mentioned in a song by Men at Work.  “Buying bread from a man in Brussels.  He was six-foot-four and full of muscle.  I said, “Do you speak-a my language?”  He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich.”