Soul

 Soul (2020)

Featuring the vocal talents of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, and Angela Bassett

Directed by Pete Docter

Written by Pete Docter, Mike Jones, and Kemp Powers

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Starring Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Michelle Monaghan, Vanessa Kirby, Wes Bentley, and Alec Baldwin

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Written by Christopher McQuarrie

Summary (in 500 words or less):  When his team's mission fails, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his crew (Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg) are forced to be shadowed by CIA agent August Walker (Henry Cavill) at the behest of CIA director Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett).  At odds, Hunt and Walker attempt to track down missing plutonium before it falls into the hands of a terrorist group known as the "Apostles" who want to create several nuclear weapons and cause massive damage across the globe. 

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Black Panther

Black Panther (2018)

Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Guirra, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forrest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis

Directed by Ryan Coogler

Written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Following the death of T'Chaka (which occurred in Captain America: Civil War), his son T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) rises to the throne of Wakanda, an African country that has secretly created a wide array of high-tech weaponry and science-based technology thanks to a metallic substance called vibranium which arrived via a meteorite centuries ago.  A black-market arms dealer Klaue (Andy Serkis) teams up with Erik Stevens AKA Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) to steal some Wakandan artifacts in order to use the weaponry on the Wakandan people.  Upon his arrival in Wakanda, Killmonger sets out to take down T'Chaka and change the mindset of the Wakandan people.

• Black Panther is obviously a ground-breaking film as it places black superheroes front and center for the first time.  It's certainly heavily steeped in African culture, yet it's also inherently a Marvel movie.  It strikes a nice balance between the two.
• The stars of the flick are actually the women, with Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Guirra, and especially Letitia Wright mixing the right amount of charisma and strength.  The titular character as portrayed by Chadwick Boseman is certainly fine, but he's honestly a little bland.  
• Ultimately, the film is held back a bit by the typical origin story problems that plague any initial superhero flick.  While this one isn't quite a tedious as other origin flicks, it still is building a universe and oftentimes the building blocks aren't quite as exciting as what will inevitably be the final product.
• In addition, the flick's story structure feels like two separate tales -- the first dealing more with arms dealer Klaue and the second with Killmonger.  While the two are certainly appropriately pieced together, by the end of the film, the first half almost feels unnecessary when you look back upon it.
• I do think the film actually carries some deeper political meaning...and I'm not quite sure I can agree with its statements.  However, Black Panther as a film brings a solid new addition to the Marvel pantheon.  One may think that the rating below is low, but it's actually in the upper half of Marvel movies to me.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Chi-Raq

Chi-Raq (2015)

Starring Teyonah Parris, Nick Cannon, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cusack, Wesley Snipes, and Jennifer Hudson

Directed by Spike Lee

***This film is currently streaming via Amazon Prime***

At its heart, Chi-Raq means well as it attempts -- without any modicum of nuance or subtlety -- to detail the plight of inner city violence, but director and co-writer Spike Lee's joint ultimately can't balance its tone veering sharply from comedy to tragedy and back again without any clear path.  While the flick isn't without merit, by the time the film's ridiculous (and unintentionally funny) ending rolls around, Chi-Raq has wasted any good will we in the audience may have granted it as we walk away feeling that it unfortunately disappoints despite an admirable conceit.

Cleverly updating the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes to modern-day gang-plagued Chicago, Chi-Raq begins with a violent shooting at a nightclub where rapper Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon) is performing in front of a crowd including his girlfriend Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris).  Shortly thereafter, the young daughter of Irene (Jennifer Hudson) is killed in the streets by a stray bullet when the purple-coded gang of Chi-Raq tries to retaliate for the nightclub shooting against the orange-coded gang of Cyclops (Wesley Snipes).  [Yes, the gangs have names, but they're slipping my mind at the moment.]  Lysistrata is a bit distraught following the murder of the young girl and, after speaking with the wise and older teacher-figure Miss Helen (Angela Bassett), she decides to bring the women of Chicago together and withhold sex from their men until they come to peace with each other.

At its heart (and in its basic sex strike center), Chi-Raq works as an intriguing update with Lee and his co-screenwriter Kevin Willmott instituting a rhyming nomenclature reminiscent of Shakespearean work (and modern-day rap, I guess).  However, the rest of the updating falls short because Lee as a director and writer can't grasp a proper tone.  We're given a somewhat powerful and lengthy sermon about gun violence by a preacher played by John Cusack and then mere scenes later an elderly white man is seen lustfully straddling an antique war cannon as he shouts racial epithets and deviant sexual remarks at Lysistrata in what one can only assume was Lee's attempt at comedy.  Characters are one-note caricatures as opposed to well-rounded individuals and any emotional connection to them is lost by their disappointingly written stories.

Fortunately, Teyonah Parris as the lead Lysistrata is impressive, following on the heels of an equally entertaining (and RyMickey Award-honored) performance in 2014's Dear White People.  Parris is the only character (and actor) able to deftly balance the comedic and dramatic aspects of the plot, shining brightly on both sides of the tale.  When Parris is onscreen, the film has a bit of a light emanating from it -- unfortunately, there are other aspects of this tale that simply don't work as well.

I'll give Spike Lee credit in that he really does attempt to place the blame on the violence in African American neighborhoods on a variety of reasons with heavy emphasis on black culture itself perpetuating the notion that this particular community can't better themselves.  This aspect of the film is perhaps most meaningful which is why it's all the more unfortunate that when he lays blame (perhaps justly so) on white society, he depicts them as comic, eccentric kooks.  There was great promise in Chi-Raq that is squandered too often.  In better hands, this Chi-Raq could've been something powerful.  Instead it just holds the promise of being something powerful which makes it even more sad.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - White Bird in a Blizzard

White Bird in a Blizzard (2014)

Starring Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, Shiloh Fernandez, Gabourey Sidibe, Thomas Jane, and Angela Bassett 

Directed by Gregg Araki

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

I don't quite know if White Bird in a Blizzard was attempting to be an awful film on purpose, but director Gregg Araki certainly has crafted a film in which every character inhabiting it feels as if they are fake.  Actors are seemingly instructed to play their roles in an oddly one-note fashion, almost as if we're watching some crappy high school play unfold before our very eyes.  If you're angry, be really angry.  If you're sad, be really sad.  If you're sexually aroused, be really turned on.  By playing every emotion to the nth degree, no emotion rings true and White Bird in a Blizzard falls apart nearly from its first moments.

When Kat Conners (Shailene Woodley) is in her final year of high school, her mother Eve (Eva Green) goes missing.  Her father Brock (Christopher Meloni) is devastated, but Kat feels oddly unemotional about the whole disappearance.  Instead, she finds herself becoming more sexually awakened in the absence of her overbearing mother.  Jump to the spring of her first year in college and Kat returns home on spring break and she uncovers a few secrets regarding her family that maybe should never have been uncovered.

I've read two novels by Laura Kasischke whose book this film is based upon and I find her works oddly pulpy and somewhat silly in their mysteries.  White Bird in a Blizzard follows this same line and although she didn't write the screenplay, her tone runs throughout.  However, Mr. Araki who directed and also wrote the screenplay decides to embrace the pulp, but unlike film noirs in the past where the pulpy, seedy nature of their stories elevated the actors, Araki doesn't find that success here.

Shailene Woodley perhaps comes off best as her character is at least given a scale of emotions to play off of, but even she is playing things to extremes.  Worst by far is Eva Green.  Quite frankly, I'm not quite sure who to blame here.  Ms. Green has never been someone who I've looked at as a talented actress, but she's just laughably bad here.  That said, Araki writes her mother character as so oddly un-human with nary a recognizable characteristic that I wonder if Araki is truly the one at fault here.  Either way, this central character whom the whole story revolves around is an unmitigated disaster and sinks the movie.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Rick Yune, Dylan McDermott, Finley Jacobsen, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Robert Forster, and Ashley Judd

Directed by Antoine Fuqua

There's a feeling of "blah" that permeates throughout Olympus Has Fallen.  To me, "blah" doesn't necessarily mean bad, but it certainly doesn't connote anything good either.  There's a blandness here across the whole board from the acting to the story to the direction.  The screenwriters choose a topical enemy here as North Korean terrorists come into Washington, D.C., and wreak huge amounts of havoc on the city itself before honing in on the White House and taking the President (played by Aaron Eckhart), Vice President, and a few other important uppity-ups hostage.  With the terrorists having killed every Secret Service agent in the White House, the Commander in Chief's one chance at survival is Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), the President's former head Secret Service who quit his job after a horrible car accident eighteen months prior left the President's wife (Ashley Judd) dead.  Banning went to work at a different government position to distance himself from the shame he felt after being unable to save the First Lady, but when D.C. comes under attack, he springs into action, kills a bunch of the invading North Koreans and makes his way into the White House where he does his best to get the President and his close confidantes to safety.

Olympus Has Fallen only works when it keeps its focus on Gerard Butler.  Butler isn't given a whole lot to do, but when he's kicking ass and taking names, it's fun to watch.  It's not that Butler's Banning does anything particularly fresh, but he's got a charisma that at least makes things entertaining.  The rest of the film is unfortunately, as previously mentioned, generically bland.  Famous actors -- Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Ashley Judd -- appear for minutes and then fade into the background making us wonder how in the heck director Antoine Fuqua and the film's producers managed to snag them to appear in the film.

After watching this one, I'm kind of dreading the notion of watching this year's similarly themed White House Down...but now I kind of feel like I have to simply for comparisons sake.

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Movie Review - This Means War

This Means War (2012)

Starring Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon, Chelsea Handler, Til Schweiger, and Angela Bassett 

Directed by McG

There's something innately appealing about the trio of Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon, and Tom Hardy, but the charming nature of all three actors is utterly wasted in the horrendous action-"comedy" This Means War.  With some of the shoddiest writing of 2012 and direction by McG that's just plain sloppy, there's simply no reason to subject yourself to this paint-by-numbers flick.

Hardy and Pine are Tuck and FDR (yep, FDR), covert CIA agents who just completed a mission in which they succeeded in preventing "international criminal" Heinrich (Til Schweiger) from getting his hands on a weapon of mass destruction.  However, in the midst of the mission, they kill Heinrich's brother which sends the supervillain on a mission of his own to hunt down and kill the CIA duo.  

Of course, this story doesn't really matter.  While the film opens and ends with its focus on Heinrich, the middle 85 minutes barely mention his name.  Instead, we're treated to a purportedly hilarious love triangle in which Tuck and FDR try and woo Lauren (Witherspoon), a beautiful gal who, like all beautiful gals in movies, has given up on love.  Instead, she dances around her apartment singing late 80s/early 90s rap songs and chats it up with her obnoxious best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler playing herself) who wants nothing more than to live vicariously through any sexcapade into which Lauren can venture.  Through a series of fateful events, Lauren finds herself dating both Tuck and FDR at the same time, and while Lauren has no idea her two beaus know each other, the CIA duo employ all the technology at their disposal to make sure the other fails at succeeding [while at the same time not using that same state-of-art gadgetry to make sure Heinrich doesn't make good on his vow to enact revenge on them.]

Perhaps there's something here in terms of a story, but with dialog so horrible this blogger could have done better and direction so odd that at moments I wondered if I was watching an edited-for-tv version of a film, This Means War is a chore to watch.  It's a shame because Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon really do give this everything they have and there are some moments where their charming natures almost make certain scenes work, but they're really never given a chance with this dead on arrival junk. Tom Hardy is fine, but he's fared better in the past (and unfortunately I feel like I've been saying that a bit more than I'd like as of late) -- I'm simply not sure romantic comedy is a genre that suits him despite his effort here.

Quite simply, there's nothing about this movie that works.  The comedic moments never made me laugh.  The action scenes never provided a moment of tension.  The romance aspects never created steaminess.  When you fail in all three of the genres you're trying to place your movie into, you've got a mess on your hands and This Means War is a one of the biggest mishandled botches of 2012.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Nothing But the Truth (2008)

Starring Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett, Alan Alda, Vera Farmiga, David Schwimmer, and Noah Wyle
Written and Directed by Rod Lurie

Loosely based on true events, Washington, D.C., newspaper reporter Rachel Armstrong (Beckinsale) has just published a report revealing the name of a C.I.A. operative -- Erica Van Doren (Farmiga) -- whose findings were ignored by the President. Rachel's hope is that she is a catalyst behind exposing a major problem with the presidential administration who ordered airstrikes on Venezuela despite the fact that Van Doren said the Venezuelan government wasn't really doing anything wrong. Refusing to reveal her source that exposed Van Doren as a C.I.A. agent, Armstrong is held in contempt of court and is sent to prison.

This movie starts out quickly and doesn't really stop moving, which is rather surprising considering it's part-courtroom drama (which tend to plod along sometimes). Director and writer Rod Lurie doesn't really create a bum note in the flick. He creates a great fictional story based around the Valerie Plame incident of the early aughts. While it definitely takes sides in support of the newspaper worker, the movie (which could've been political) doesn't veer that way at all. And the ending...quite the surprise...

Kate Beckinsale is the best I've seen her (though her British accent wasn't quite suppressed), balancing both the gritty newspaper side and the maternal side of her character quite well. There's an incident that happens an hour into the movie that allows Beckinsale to go to another emotional level that I wasn't expecting. Matt Dillon and Noah Wyle are also quite good as dueling attorneys on the case. And Vera Farmiga, who helped make Orphan be a winner (and was so good in The Departed, too), also shines here. She has really become one of my favorite actresses working today, and I think it's time I start looking back over her oeuvre.

It's a shame that the producers -- the Yari Film Group -- went bankrupt prior to this flick's being released and weren't able to push it for Oscars last year the way it deserved to be pushed. In a year of weak Best Picture contenders, this should've at least been in the running.

The RyMickey Rating: A-

Movie Review - Notorious (2009)

Starring Jamal Woodard, Derek Luke, Anthony Mackie, and Angela Bassett
Written by Reggie Rock Bythewood and Cheo Hodari Coker
Directed by George Tillman, Jr.

It's tough for me to get behind a movie that idolizes a drug dealer. Yes, he "rose above" the drug trade and decided to rap about his difficult life, but he still is known and revered for being part of the infamous East Coast/West Coast rivalry. The sole purpose of this movie is to appeal to youth and I'm not really sure that Christopher "Biggie" Wallace is someone that they should deify.

Despite my generalized misgivings, I actually thought the film was decent. The biopic is probably my least favorite genre, and while this didn't break the mold, it wasn't boring which is my major issue with these types of films. Still, I went into this knowing not a whole lot about the life of Notorious B.I.G. and I came out (at the very least) interested in the guy, despite the fact that I will never download a song by him (or his friend-turned rival Tupac).

The film is helped by some good performances from the supporting cast. Naturi Naughton as Lil' Kim was the stand-out to me -- quite appealing, exuding sex appeal, while at the same time, holding her own against the larger-than-life "characters" onscreen. Derek Luke's Puff Daddy was a notch above his co-stars, as well, although a little spastic and jumpy (although, I simply took that as the way Puffy actually is). I also liked Angela Bassett as Biggie's mother -- Bassett is always a strong presence onscreen and it really was no different here. If anything, the performance I was most disappointed in was that of Jamal Woodard's Biggie. This was his first (and as of now, only) role, but something didn't click for me with his performance. Not that he ruined the film for me, but I just felt like he was overshadowed by some of his costars, and he should've been the one that towered over them.

The film is full of incredibly corny dialogue -- "We can't change the world unless we change ourselves" is just one example -- and this is especially evident towards the end. Try as I might, I just can't seem to shake the thought that the movie paints Biggie as this saintly figure who just wants to follow the "Why can't we all just get along" mantra which I find incredibly unbelievable. And it still boggles my mind that this guy who released one album prior to his death at age 24 (with another that was to be released mere days after his death) was such a major figure in the rap scene during the 90s.

Despite these problems, the film looked good, flowed well, and helped me "learn" about something/someone that I really knew nothing about in an enjoyable manner. And while rap is a genre of music that I'll never get and probably never like, this flick was certainly better than I ever expected it to be.

The RyMickey Rating: B-