Battle of the Sexes

Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Starring Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, and Jessica McNamee

Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Written by Simon Beaufoy

Summary (in 500 words or less):  In 1973, former professional tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) challenged the popular Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) to a tennis match.  This battle of the sexes received much media coverage with the outspoken and braggadocios Riggs certain he'd prove victorious against the quiet, resolute King who was battling her own demons at the same time as she contemplated her sexuality when she begins to fall for a hairdresser (Andrea Riseborough) traveling with the ladies' pro tennis tour.

• Great performances from both Emma Stone and Steve Carell are the highlights of Battle of the Sexes.  Together, they lift this otherwise generic biopic to a greater level.
• The flick works very well during its first half as we get to learn about the private lives of Bobby and Billie Jean, but the actual Battle of the Sexes tennis match which makes up a large chunk of the final third feels a bit anticlimactic as most in the audience will already know the ending.  Tension never really mounts and the film unfortunately suffers because of the (admittedly necessary) emphasis on the titular match.
• Nice production design definitely creates a 70s aesthetic that proves quite charming

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Nocturnal Animals

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber, Armie Hammer, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Sheen, and Laura Linney

Directed by Tom Ford

There's a line in Nocturnal Animals in which a character mentions that a book was disappointing because she found her mind drifting elsewhere whilst reading it.  The same could be said for the movie Nocturnal Animals, a film that tells a story within a story with neither tale being quite compelling enough to stand on its own and neither tale meshing together in a way that proves to be an all-around satisfying whole.  In his second film, writer-director Tom Ford (a fashion designer in his other line of work) continues to prove that he's got an eye for the visuals, but that he still hasn't quite grasped the storytelling aspect of cinema.

We're first introduced to Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), an art gallery owner in Los Angeles, as she morosely mopes around her huge house dealing with an obviously unhappy marriage to her husband (Armie Hammer) who himself is facing some financial troubles.  Soon after, Susan receives a manuscript for a new novel from her ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) and she escapes into the book which features a main character who seems an awful lot like her.  As Susan reads, the novel plays out onscreen -- Tony Hastings (Jake Gyllenhaal) is driving along a deserted Texas roadway with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and daughter India (Ellie Bamber).  A group of frightening men headed by the skeezy Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) run the Hastings off the road and then kidnap the family.  Tony manages to escape but is unaware of where his wife and daughter are being kept so he finds a small-town cop (Michael Shannon) to set out and try to find his family and enact revenge those who committed this crime.

I'm sure that somewhere in the midst of the two tales there are solid connections -- either via visual similarities or storytelling allusions -- but things never came cohesively together for me.  Plus, the Amy Adams side of things is oddly uncompelling in any way.  It doesn't help that Adams shows nary an emotion throughout, presenting an ice queen persona that doesn't allow the viewer to feel sympathy for her despite her mundane life.  The "novel" storyline fares a little better with Gyllenhaal giving a nice performance as the beleaguered father.  Michael Sheen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe respectively for their roles here (and Taylor-Johnson even won), but their characters seemed a bit too one-note to garner any real attention for me.  Frankly, the same could be said for the film itself -- it doesn't really deserve to garner any real attention.  I continue to think that Tom Ford has the potential to be something great, but his two films thus far haven't landed him there.  Maybe sticking to lensing things as opposed to writing them is his road to a better directorial future.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Birdman

Birdman (2014)

Starring Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, and Lindsay Duncan

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Talk about overhyped Oscar bait.

Birdman is the story of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) who, in the early 90s starred in a series of popular comic book movies in which he starred as Birdman, but has found his career in a downturn after he refused to partake in the fourth entry of the series decades ago.  Now, in an attempt to revitalize his career and make himself relevant, Thomson is adapting a Raymond Carver book -- "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" -- to the stage by acting, directing, and starring in the production, but is finding the process much more difficult and much less rewarding than he expected.

Of course the "meta" self-referential aspect of Birdman and how it relates to Michael Keaton's own Hollywood trajectory has been much discussed and that's certainly an intriguing aspect to director/co-screenwriter Alejandro González Iñárritu's film.  However, a film needs a little more substance than "meta" in order to work.

Birdman works best and is most interesting when it details the inner workings of putting on a Broadway show and how an actor's dramatic process works.  The script is good at not taking itself too seriously all of the time and the comedic jabs at the entertainment industry and the sometimes self-important Hollywood actors and drama critics are enjoyable.  Unfortunately, whenever the film focuses on Riggan's sense of worthlessness -- which is the key element of the film -- I found myself being bored and completely uninterested.  With his lawyer/agent (Zach Galifianakis) pressuring him to soldier on with the play in order to make much-needed money, his just-out-of-rehab daughter (Emma Stone) hating her job as her father's new assistant, his ex-wife (Amy Ryan) showing up to support him in his new Broadway endeavor, and his current girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) sharing the stage with him and announcing that she's pregnant, Riggan's world is chaotic.  Despite the constant cacophony, however, there's not much there there.  The script tosses in an element of weird telekinesis thing with Riggan and various objects that I'm sure means something about the guy's emotional state, but just read kooky to me and not the least bit interesting.  (I could delve more into meaning if I desired, but I don't desire.)

Iñárritu presents the film as one continuous take and the technique is admittedly impressive and surprisingly not detrimental to the production.  Rather than stand out, the lack of cuts allows us to constantly be in the moment with the characters, giving a naturalness to the events of the film.  Despite this unique cinematic technique, I was thoroughly impressed with the fact that it never "felt" like a technique.  Kudos for that.

Kudos also to Edward Norton who is the most impressive member of the cast, taking on the role of Mike, a famous Broadway actor who joins Riggan's play at the last minute when one of the cast members is rendered incapable of performing.  Mike butts heads right away with Riggan, and Norton and Keaton's scenes together are the best in the flick.  However, Norton's so good that he makes Keaton look like a bad actor.  Then again, maybe that was the point.  I wasn't all that impressed with Keaton's Riggan, but maybe I wasn't supposed to be.  Maybe he wasn't supposed to be a fantastic actor after all.

I don't know.  I feel like there's so much I could say about Birdman, yet I've funnily enough got nothing to say about it at the same time.  The film is...interesting...but it's not the least bit riveting (a la Whiplash) or touching (a la The Fault in Our Stars) or simply entertaining (a la Gone Girl).  I didn't hate the experience, but I wasn't won over by any aspect of it.  While the behind-the-scenes moments provided a glimpse into a world we don't often see, the characters of Birdman didn't really intrigue me.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Disconnect

Disconnect (2013)

Starring Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Michael Nyqvist, Paula Patton, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Scarsgård, Max Thieriot, Colin Ford, Jonah Bobo, Norbert Leo Butz, Haley Ramm, Kasi Lemmons, and Aviad Bernstein

Directed by Henry-Alex Rubin

Disconnect is one of those movies where a bunch of apparently unrelated storylines have tenuous connections that allow the players from one tale to have interactions with players from another tale.  I typically really like these kinds of films and while Disconnect generally works, it's not nearly as deep and profound as it aspires to be.  Taking on the internet, Disconnect attempts to tell us that we enter this (not so) newfound technological breakthrough at our own risk -- but is that really new information for us?  Aren't we all aware that bad folks are ready to prey on us online?

Still, despite the obvious, we are treated to some good stories here.  The best involves a young high school kid named Ben (Jonah Bobo) who just so happens to look at two of his classmates Jason and Frye (Colin Ford and Aviad Bernstein) in a disdainful way as they play a trick on someone in a mall.  Jason and Frye get ticked off and decide to get back at the shy introvert Ben by befriending him on Facebook with a fake female profile.  Ben finds himself falling for this fake profile as Jason and Frye continue escalating the relationship until Ben is eventually humiliated at school.  Needless to say, the humiliation ends in tragedy, changing forever the lives of Ben, his parents (Jason Bateman and Hope Davis), and Jason and Frye.

Another major story revolves around a news reporter (Andrea Riseborough) who investigates and befriends a young man (Max Thieriot) who was willingly hired to work on an internet porn site catering to those wanting to video chat with young men and women.  The final tale focuses on Cindy and Derek Hull (Paula Patton and Alexander Scarsgård), a couple who recently lost their only child.  While Derek tries to suppress his grief by online gambling, Cindy has taken up visiting grief community websites where she befriends a guy who says he recently lost his wife.  When the Hulls find their credit cards maxed out and their savings depleted, they begin to investigate whether Cindy's online "friend" is the culprit.

While all of these stories are perfectly acceptable and never teeter into "boring" territory, they also fail to be fresh.  I couldn't help but feel that I'd seen all of these tales told before on daytime television.  Thankfully, the acting ensemble is all pretty great from the youngest actors to the oldest ones and they elevate the material beyond the obvious.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Oblivion

Oblivion (2013)

Starring Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, and Melissa Leo

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

I saw Oblivion on a whim on its last day of release in theaters and the only thing I really knew about it was that some article I read said that most audiences would find it too complicated to comprehend -- "You really have to pay attention," it stated.  I'm all for something deep and intricate, but I found myself bracing for something rough.  All I can say is that it'd be a shame if people read the same article as me and shied away from seeing this flick like I almost did because Oblivion is one of the best science fiction films I've seen in a long time.

In 2017, aliens known as the Scavengers destroyed Earth's moon which wreaked havoc on our atmosphere, causing earthquakes, tsunamis, and other weather-related disasters.  Seeing our weakness, the "Scavs" invaded Earth, and while we managed to defeat them it was only via nuclear warfare which left most of our planet inhabitable.  Sixty years have passed and the humans that survived the ordeal now find themselves living on Titan, one of Saturn's moons.  Their new colony is powered by giant energy stations that sit atop Earth's oceans and Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and his partner Victoria "Vic" Olsen (Andrea Riseborough) live atop and run station #49, reporting back daily to Sally (Melissa Leo), their mission commander back on Titan.  One day, while Jack is out fixing a drone that protects the power stations from the few remaining Scavs on Earth, five pods fall from the sky containing humans including a woman named Julia (Olga Kurylenko) whom Jack has been seeing in his dreams -- a woman whose past may hold secrets that could change Jack's future.

Director Joseph Kosinski helmed Tron: Legacy three years ago and while I enjoyed that film, I felt that the action sequences weren't quite up to par, making me wonder if the then-first-time director had what it took to craft a special effects-heavy film.  Oblivion erases any questions in my mind about Kosinski's capabilities as he not only gets solid performances from all his actors and corrects any pacing issues I may have had with his prior work (this film moves along exceedingly well), but also creates a fantastic world here for the characters to inhabit.  Granted, considering that the film takes place only sixty years in the future, it is a little bit difficult to fathom the seemingly amazing advancements this plot believes that we as a civilization would have made (especially considering we would have been making said advancements in the midst of an alien invasion), but once you get past the notion that incredibly complicated hovercrafts and flying metallic autonomous drones are commonplace, Kosinski's Earth is a pretty nifty one.  All of the effects here are top notch and are really seamless -- they deserve to be remembered at year's end.

Tom Cruise has his ups and downs in my opinion, but for every Rock of Ages, there's a an action film like this one and I think this is the genre where he succeeds the most for me.  For a good portion of the film, it's just Cruise onscreen alone and he completely holds our attention.  Granted, the film isn't exactly asking for a lot from the guy, but he does a nice job.  Andrea Riseborough (whom I saw live on stage in a play in New York several years ago) is a presence I'd like to see in movies a bit more often.  This was her first big budget film and despite her character's cold exterior, she lit up the screen for me.  I thought there was something special about her when I saw her onstage and I think that's certainly the case.

The film's one disappointment is Olga Kurylenko whom I didn't love in Quantum of Solace and I wasn't a huge fan of here either.  It's not that Ms. Kurylenko does anything drastically wrong, it's just that I've yet to see her bring any modicum of enthusiasm or spark to her acting.  She's a pretty face, but she might have been better off sticking to her earlier modeling career.

Nevertheless, Oblivion surprised me for sure, providing me with one of the best science fiction moviegoing experiences I've had in a long time.  When this one eventually makes its way to Blu Ray, I highly suggest giving it a go.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Brighton Rock

Brighton Rock (2011)

Starring Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren, John Hurt, and Andy Serkis

Directed by Rowan Joffe

Brighton Rock is one of those movies that I maybe should have read a little about prior to popping in the dvd.  Had I known it was a mobster flick I would have been a little more prepared for a genre I generally find clichéd and oftentimes boring.  Unfortunately, not being prepped, I was treated to one of the most boring movie experiences I've had this year.  While the story itself may have had some promise -- a young woman named Rose (Andrea Riseborough) witnesses the beginning of a mob hit by young up-and-coming kingpin named Pinkie (Sam Riley) whom decides to woo the girl in order to keep her from spilling the beans to the cops -- this film noir was just utterly melodramatic tedium.

The biggest problem lies in Sam Riley, a skinny pole of a timid-looking young man whom I never once bought as a guy to whom anyone in the Brighton, United Kingdom, mob would give any credence.  Ultimately, that's the biggest issue in fully investing in a story like this and the film can't overcome it.  Riley lacks any charisma or drive and I failed to understand how Rose would fall in love with him or his underlings would pay any attention to his nefarious demands.

Similarly, the character of Rose was quite the disappointment.  She's a character with zero personality and while I think we're supposed to feel for her in her plight, I couldn't muster up any semblance of care for her.  I saw Andrea Riseborough live on stage a few years ago in NYC and I liked her quite a bit -- comparing her to a young Kate Winslet, in fact -- but none of that promise was on display here.

Despite a game effort from Helen Mirren to at least up the acting quotient to a decent degree, her role is too small to register any help for this altogether disappointing flick.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, and Andrea Riseborough

Directed by Mark Romanek

There's a moment towards the end of Never Let Me Go where Andrew Garfield's character Tommy lets out a guttural, primal scream of anguish, pain, and bewilderment after learning some devastating news.  In that moment, I admittedly got chills.  It's a real shame that the remainder of the film couldn't elicit a single emotion from me one way or the other.  What could have been a powerful story about friendship (and in a broader sense, the implications of science and government impeding upon personal freedoms and choices) turns out to be simply a very well-acted flick that carries little emotional resonance.

In order to not spoil anything in the film, I'm simply going to copy and paste my summary from my book review with a few minor changes.

Never Let Me Go is a science fiction film in the loosest sense of the word.  There's not a hint of apocalyptic tones, nor does it take place in a future overrun by new technologies.  It actually takes place in Britain from the late 1970s-1990s and it's really a world similar to what we live in today.

The only real difference revolves around the young students at Hailsham, a private school that keeps its students far away from the outside world.  The students, including our narrator, Kathy (Carey Mulligan), and her friends Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield), are told right from the start of their schooling that they are "special" and will hold an important place in society as they grow older.  While they live a seemingly happy existence, as they head into their teen years and early twenties, they begin to realize their true purpose in life which leads to some students longing for a little something more.

In a nutshell, that's the tale.  The reason why these Hailsham children are "special" is where the emotional impact of the film should arise, but the film never really gets off the ground in that department.  I can't help but think that since nearly the entirety of the book was told in the mind of young Kathy that it was difficult to transfer to the screen all those inner emotions that were so easy to connect with while reading the novel.

The flick isn't a failure by any means and that is thanks to the great work of nearly all the actors that grace the screen.  Carey Mulligan is proving to be a force to be reckoned with.  Despite her melancholic tone throughout the whole film, she is a commanding presence.  Andrew Garfield (who I need to see in The Social Network still) was also quite good and, as I mentioned above, has the one moment in the film that actually hit me at an emotional level.  Supporting turns from Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, and Andrea Riseborough (who I saw and greatly admired in an Off-Broadway play last year) also added to the caliber of talent onscreen.

Keira Knightley, however, was a bit unimpressive.  In seemingly every single one of her movies, she does this incredibly odd thing with her chin and lower jaw when she talks. I think it's her way of trying to make her voice sound tougher and grittier, but all it does is tick me off.  [It's shades of good ole Kristen Stewart biting her lip in those damn Twilight movies.]  Admittedly, in Knightley's defense,  I think the character of Ruth in both the novel and the film is certainly the toughest for the audience to connect with, but in the film, the character's motivations are never quite clear.  [They were a little clearer in the book because we at least had an idea of Ruth's motivations thanks to Kathy's narration.]

The film was adequately shot, but director Mark Romanek doesn't really do anything special with his camera.  I think there were certain shots that were supposed to resonate with me on a visual and visceral level, but they didn't succeed.  Still, this is only his second film and I thought the direction was serviceable.

Needless to say, I was disappointed with Never Let Me Go.  It isn't a bad film, by any means, but it's a story that simply didn't translate well from the book to the screen.  The poignancy that made the book special wasn't present in the film at all.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Theatre Review - The Pride

The Pride
Written by Alexi Kaye Cambell
Directed by Joe Mantello
When: Saturday, February 13, 2010, 2pm
Where: Louise Lortel Theatre
What: Drama, Off-Broadway

"Hey. Do you wanna go see this play with really cheap tickets that stars two British guys that I'm sure you've heard of?"

"Sure, I'll go."

"Yeah, I have no idea what the play's about, but the tickets are only $20, so let's go."

That was essentially the conversation that occurred between myself and a friend prior to deciding to head up to NYC to see this Off-Broadway show. After a bit of research (of course, after the tickets were purchased), I discovered that the play was a look at gay relationships in the 1950s and the aughts. I'm not gonna lie (and if this makes me a bad person, so be it), I was a little uncomfortable going into this one. It probably didn't help that sitting down in the theater, I was definitely in the minority in terms of sexual orientation (the leather sex shop next to the theater and the gay pride flag I saw coming out of the subway were a big clue).

But, once the play started, I was completely drawn into the rather interesting premise. The Pride essentially tells two different stories in two different time periods with two different sets of characters who happen to have the same name in both stories. In the 1950s, Philip (Hugh Dancy) and Sylvia (Andrea Riseborough) are a married couple. Sylvia is a failed actress who has turned to illustrating children's books and Oliver (Ben Whishaw) is her employer. Oliver comes over to the couple's home one evening and there's immediately an odd connection between the two men -- a connection that Philip wants to ignore but is intrigued by. While it's not even stated that Oliver is gay, his dialogues hoping for an age of equality allow the audience to infer such a thing.

Suddenly, and initially rather awkwardly, the play jumps to the present time in which Oliver (a different Oliver than in the 1950s setting) and Philip have recently broken up. Oliver can't seem to control his sexual urges, promiscuously cheating on Philip with unknown men. As the aughts setting opens, Oliver and Philip's relationship is kaput and mutual friend, Sylvia, a somewhat successful actress, tries to help each of them through their difficult time.

In the end, I'm not 100% sure what message the play is trying to get across other than the fact that times have changed. Whereas homosexuality was veiled in the 1950s, it's more "out in the open" today. That's not exactly a life changing revelation there. That being said, the time bouncing and unique use of the same character names allows us to really see a compare/contrast quality that playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell is putting on display.

By far, what makes this play shine is the great acting. Of the two main male characters, Ben Whishaw comes off a little better simply because his two Olivers are really two completely different people. He gets to play both the shy, timid type and the aggressive one. I liked Whishaw quite a bit in this year's Bright Star (had him on my Best Actor list for a while) and he was enthralling in this. Hugh Dancy (perhaps the better known of the two actors) was perfectly fine and it's not as if he was upstaged by Whishaw in the acting department, it's just that his Philips are a little underdeveloped in comparison.

The star of the show, however, was the lovely Andrea Riseborough (who, at times, was a spitting image of Kate Winslet). Her 1950s Sylvia has more emotional oomph -- there is a scene in which she discovers her husband's infidelity and confronts Oliver that was heartwrenching. Her 2000s Sylvia doesn't quite have the same impact, but she's the epitome of fun and provided quite a few laughs. I don't know who this lady is, but she was great to watch.

The play actually contains one more actor -- Adam James -- who plays three different distinct characters -- The Man (who, let's just say, has a thing for S&M), Peter (a straight editor of a men's magazine), and The Doctor (whose purpose is a little bit of a spoiler so I won't mention it here). He creates three distinct personalities for each of these characters, and actually provides quite an emotional moment when, as Peter, he reminisces about his late gay uncle.

Suffice it to say, The Pride is buoyed by four great actors. And considering that this is playwright Campbell's first play, there's definitely some promise on display. While it's doesn't quite work completely and, in the end, seems a little too obvious in terms of what it's trying to say, it works nonetheless and was worth the "uncomfortableness" to see my first Off-Broadway play.