Trolls World Tour

 Trolls World Tour (2020

Featuring the vocal talents of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Rachel Bloom, James Corden, Ron Funches, Kelly Clarkson, Anderson .Paak, Sam Rockwell, George Clinton, and Mary J. Blige

Directed by Walt Dohrn

Written by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Elizabeth Tippett, Maya Forbes, and Wallace Wolodarsky

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Noelle

Noelle (2019)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Bill Hader, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Billy Eichner, Julie Hagerty, and Shirley MacLaine

Directed by Marc Lawrence

Written by Marc Lawrence

 Click here for my Letterbox review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

A Simple Favor

A Simple Favor (2018)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Linda Cardellini, Jean Smart, and Rupert Friend

Directed by Paul Feig

Written by Jessica Sharzer

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Table 19

Table 19 (2017)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant, Tony Revolori, and Wyatt Russell

Directed by Jeffrey Blitz

Written by Jeffrey Blitz

***This film is currently streaming via HBO***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  A group of unwanted guests find themselves seated at a table at the back of a wedding reception where they bond over their various foibles and idiosyncrasies.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Trolls

Trolls (2016)

Featuring the vocal talents of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Christine Baranski, Russell Brand, James Corden, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Cleese

Directed by Mike Mitchell

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

In all of my 2016 viewings, animated films have been decidedly lukewarm, failing to truly excite or entertain in any magnificent fashion.  Color me surprised, then, by my reaction to Trolls, a colorful, finely animated, nicely voice-acted, incredibly fun romp.  And the fact that it's brought to us by Dreamworks -- an animation studio that often leaves me disappointed -- is even more flabbergasting to me with Trolls undoubtedly being my favorite animated film the studio has released thus far.

The tiny elf-like creatures known as the Trolls are an incredibly happy group, prone to singing, dancing, and hugging every hour on the hour.  The Bergens, on the other hand, are human-sized goblin-like folks who live in a perpetual state of disappointment, unable to find happiness.  Years ago, however, the Bergens discovered that eating a Troll can provide a feeling of happiness and, because of this, the Bergens rounded up all the Trolls and caged them in a tree in a courtyard in Bergentown.  Every year on Trollstice, the Bergens allow themselves to eat one Troll and be truly happy for a few hours, and this year young Prince Gristle (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is going taste his first Troll, feeling contentment for the first time.  The Trolls, however, have finally had enough and plan an elaborate and successful escape from Bergetown thanks to King Peppy (Jeffrey Tambor) and his daughter Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick).  For years, the Trolls lived a blissful Bergen-free life, but following a raucous singing party, the Trolls are discovered by Chef (Christine Baranski), a Bergen banished from Bergentown following the escape of the Trolls.  Chef catches several of the Trolls and takes them back to the now King Gristle, but Princess Poppy along with the help of the only sad Troll around -- Branch (Justin Timberlake) -- set out to save their friends from digestion.

Sure, all of that sounds ridiculous and as I typed it, I couldn't actually fathom how I could've possibly enjoyed this silliness, but Trolls tells its upbeat story well and embraces the sheer frivolity.  The peppiness of the trolls is surprisingly enhanced by well-known pop songs as well as some pleasantly ear-catching original numbers sung by the likes of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, and Zooey Deschanel all of whom -- as well as the rest of the vocal cast -- create believable voices for their characters.  Animation-wise, I found the computer animation to carry a slight Claymation tone and the environments which the Trolls and Bergens inhabit feel decidedly unique -- bright, cheerful, and arts-and-crafts-like for the Trolls and pointy, dark, and gloomy for the Bergens -- lacking the somewhat generic habitats we sometimes see in the cinematic animation landscape.

Pixar often aims for the heart, but Trolls doesn't even attempt that instead aiming for a visceral euphoria via its music, color, and pleasantly engaging (though simple) story.  While Trolls doesn't attempt to be deep or emotionally-investing in a Pixar-like way, it's fun...and sometimes that's enough.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Accountant

The Accountant (2016)

Starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, John Lithgow, and Jean Smart

Directed by Gavin O'Conner

***This film is currently streaming via HBO Now/GO***

I can't say anything particularly bad about The Accountant, but I can't say anything particularly good either.  That damning middle ground is never a good thing.  Ben Affleck is the title character, a seemingly mild-mannered accountant from a small town outside of Chicago.  Little do his clients know that Christian Wolff, the meek, high-functioning autistic man hiding behind thick-brimmed eyeglasses, is actually a trained hit man who runs the accounts of several of the world's most infamous criminals.  When he's hired by the Living Robotics Corporation headed by scientist/creator Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow) and his sister Rita (Jean Smart) to determine how they're leaking money, Christian and LRC's internal auditor Dana (Anna Kendrick) find themselves in the midst of a huge conspiracy that will lead them into a world of danger.

Much like his role as Batman, Affleck's Christian is depressingly emotionless which is credited to his character's autism, but ends up creating a very bland main character.  There are moments of humor that pop up adding a much needed perk of energy to Affleck's performance, but in the end, it's a rather monotonous portrayal which is perhaps the reason I can't quite throw a ton of support behind the movie.  Fortunately, the rest of the cast perks things up, with a particularly intriguing performance from Jon Bernthal as a fellow hit man.

Surprisingly violent (not that there's a problem with that), The Accountant meanders back and forth between an action piece and a drama and the balance is never quite perfected by director Gavin O'Conner.  While it's a better than average film, I wanted to like it more than I did, but the sum of its parts don't quite add up to a solid whole.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

Starring Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Stephen Root, Stephanie Faracy, Sugar Lyn Beard, and Sam Richardson

Directed by Jake Szymanski

***This film is currently available via HBO Now/GO***

I've been on a stupid comedy run as of late perhaps hoping that something will click and prove enjoyable.  Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates isn't that film.  Based partially on a true story, Zac Efron and Adam Devine are the title character brothers whose man-child boys-will-be-boys bachelor behavior at previous family functions has caused their parents (Stephen Root and Stephanie Faracy) to insist on them finding proper dates for the wedding of their only sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard) with the hopes that a lady will tamper their erratic behavior.  The brothers become a viral sensation when they post for dates online, but the women applying for the "job" all seem a bit crazy until the seemingly normal Alice and Tatiana show up.  Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) is a teacher, Alice (Anna Kendrick) is a hedge fund manager, and both seem to be the perfect "sane" match to please Mike and Dave's parents.  The problem:  Alice and Tatiana are crazed party girls who are putting on a show to get a free trip to Hawaii where Jeanie's wedding is taking place.  Needless to say, upon the quartet's arrival in Hawaii, the true Alice and Tatiana begin to reveal themselves and it leads to some chaos.

Zac Efron and Anna Kedrick are both fine here, but the film certainly isn't asking them to do anything special.  Adam Devine and Aubrey Plaza, on the other hand, are playing the same comedic schtick we're used to seeing from them.  While neither have reached the levels of Rebel Wilson annoyance yet, they're walking that fine line of becoming nearly unwatchable with their repetitive attempts at laughs.  Plaza, in particular, with her deadpan, sarcastic, nonemotional delivery of every joke is starting to wear thin with this reviewer.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates has its moments, but they're too few and far between.  In the end, it's just not funny enough to recommend.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Voices

The Voices (2015)

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, Ella Smith, and Jacki Weaver

Directed by Marjane Satrapi
***This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime***

More amusing than I expected, The Voices is a dark horror comedy about Jerry (Ryan Reynolds), a factory worker in a small town who had some psychological problems in his past, but has moved on from them...maybe.  You see, with his dog Bosco and his cat Mr. Whiskers talking to him in an angel-on-your-shoulder/devil-on-your-shoulder kind of way, Jerry may not quite be 100% sane yet.  When Jerry goes out to a restaurant with three secretaries from work (Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, and Ella Smith), he begins to think that he may have a chance of starting a relationship with one (or perhaps more) of them...except Jerry's mind has more deviant thoughts and murder is certainly not out of the question.

Embracing the quirky nature of the script, director Marjane Satrapi allows the cast to feel at home with either over-the-top (Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton) or subdued (Anna Kendrick) acting, rather surprisingly meshing the two styles thanks to the dark comedy that runs throughout.  Relishing in comedic gore (which some could admittedly find offensive), The Voices humorously presents the story of a deranged guy desperately trying to better himself with less than successful results.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Pitch Perfect 2

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Adam DeVine, Elizabeth Banks, John Michael Higgins, and Katey Sagal

Directed by Elizabeth Banks

I wasn't a huge fan of the original Pitch Perfect and expectations were not high for its sequel...and that's a good thing because Pitch Perfect 2 simply rehashes all the same jokes, character traits, and plot points as its predecessor.  The biggest problem with Pitch Perfect 2 is that not a single one of the a cappella numbers in the film seems as if it has any basis in reality.  Where exactly did the Barden Bellas headed by Beca, Chloe, and (Fat) Amy (Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, and Rebel Wilson) get the money for fire effects for a show set up in a hotel ballroom?  And let's not even delve into the opening scene that places the Bellas at a concert celebrating President Obama's birthday.

It's that concert for the president that sets the ball rolling as Fat Amy inadvertently exposes her nether regions to the public when her pants rip while hanging from a Cirque du Soleil-ish device.  Amy's commando ways bring shame to the Bellas and the a cappella community and higher-ups John and Gail (the rather hilarious John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks) ban the girl group from participating in any events or competing anywhere except for the World Finals in Copenhagen.  With the Bellas in chaos, they must regroup and regain their illustrious status once again.

Unfortunately, the film feels like a complete retread of the original with the same jokes, set-ups, and types of songs being made a cappella.  Like the original, there are a few laugh-out-loud moments here and there, but the directorial debut of Elizabeth Banks just doesn't ring true in any single moment of its screen time.  Perhaps on the plus side, the best aspect of the film is a rather subdued performance by Hailee Steinfeld as a freshman at Barden College who joins the Bellas -- Steinfeld will presumably carry the torch for subsequent sequels seeing as how this film concludes with the majority of the Bellas facing graduation.  Steinfeld is pleasant enough and perhaps the most grounded character, but my hopes aren't high that future films will maintain this realistic approach for character's wide-eyed innocence.

Pitch Perfect 2 is watchable, but not much works.  Anna Kendrick looks like she doesn't want to be there, Brittany Snow's Chloe is too ditzy to be believable, and Rebel Wilson doesn't improve her acting skills at all from her first attempt at Fat Amy.  Wilson, in particular, is just an embarrassment and while I imagine some tweens may find her shtick funny, I find it nearly unwatchable.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - The Last Five Years

The Last Five Years (2015)

Starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan

Directed by Richard LaGravenese

In the liner notes of the cd of the movie's soundtrack, lyricist and composer Jason Robert Brown says that he has read often that The Last Five Years is "the musical for people who don't like musicals."  While I would certainly consider myself a fan of the genre, I can understand the meaning behind that sentiment.  Although it's told nearly entirely through song (there is likely less than three minutes of spoken dialog in the ninety minute film), The Last Five Years is a hefty drama moreso than anything else that just happens to tell its story through music.  Much like the fantastic 2007 musical Once, The Last Five Years is a story about the highs and lows of love.  Also much like Once, The Last Five Years is one of the best musicals yet to come out of the recent influx of the genre ever since the one-two punch of Moulin Rouge-Chicago back in 2001-02.

With literate, smart lyrics and intimate orchestrations oftentimes utilizing only a piano and a violin or two, The Last Five Years tells the story of Cathy and Jamie (Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan) and the inevitable dissolving of their marriage.  Don't worry - that's not a spoiler.  The Last Five Years tells its story in a very unique way.  Cathy's side of the story is told from the end to the beginning, meaning as the film opens, we see Cathy devastated after Jamie has walked out the door.  Jamie's side of the story begins at the start of their blossoming relationship.  The film goes back and forth between a scene involving Cathy (moving backwards in time) and a scene involving Jamie (moving forwards in time).  The two timelines eventually meet in the middle...and then continue moving along so as the film ends we see Jamie's despair and Cathy's hope concerning their pairing.

It may seem confusing in concept, but if you have knowledge of the conceit before the film begins it actually works pretty well and provides a rather ingenious way of looking at things.  Granted, the back-and-forth timeline does take some getting used to and there are moments where I had to question at what time we were during "the last five years," but that confusion does dissipate quickly and the uniqueness of the whole thing shines through.  [This does beg the question that if it's necessary to know of the back-and-forth nature before the film begins, did director and adaptor Richard LaGravenese do a good enough job?  I'll try and answer this one in a bit.]

With the exception of the timelines crossing in the middle of the film, all of the songs are solos with Cathy or Jamie expressing their thoughts to one another through song...and it's rather genius.  While it's true not everything lands perfectly -- there's a little bit of a lull in the fifth and sixth songs -- the seeming simplicity of the tunes (which are really anything but simple) make the constant singing instantly believable and shockingly introspective.  Jason Robert Brown's libretto and accompanying music span a wide range of genres from jazz to ballads to uptempo, but even the "showstopper" numbers are done modestly -- as mentioned, we're not talking about full orchestral pieces here, but rather smaller orchestrations that may mimic rousing toe-tappers, but don't completely take us to that typical "musical" place.  And that's a good thing.

The film essentially is a two-person piece and for a film like this to succeed, the actors playing Cathy and Jamie need to really excel at their game and Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan do not disappoint.  From Kendrick's opening number as tears roll down her face as she grippingly tells us about Jamie having left her to her gleefully happy final number following the initial consummation of their relationship, Kendrick takes us on a believable backwards journey as an aspiring actress who finds herself living in the shadow of her famous author husband.  Kendrick has become the go-to gal for musicals, but this is the film that really gives her a chance to shine and showcase her ability to truly emote through song.

Her counterpart Jordan is also a revelation here.  A relative unknown on the cinematic landscape, he perfectly conveys Jamie's infatuation with the engaging Cathy, yet understandably gets frustrated when Cathy distances herself from him when her acting skills can't match her husband's success as a writer.  While Kendrick gets to start the film with a real emotional bang, Jordan is the one who gets to end it with a revelatory final number that I found absolutely riveting, showcasing the emotional depths to which his character has fallen.

Director Richard LaGravanese has a difficult task in making the film comprehensible and I think he does all that he can to help his audience grasp where we are in the story's timeline.  Clever placement of calendar dates or the script's usage of certain words key us in -- but you have to be paying attention.  Having read up on the Off-Broadway production of this piece, on stage the two actors never share a scene except for at the very beginning, the middle, and the very end.  They're essentially singing to an empty stage only acting as if the other character were there.  Obviously, that wouldn't work in a film, but LaGravanese still is tasked with the rather tricky concept of only one of the characters doing any singing in any particular scene while the other stands and simply has reaction shots.  Somehow, this works with LaGravanese utilizing a variety of camera techniques -- including some rather long takes which are simplistic but stellar -- in order to keep things interesting.

The Last Five Years has a few flaws, but I have found myself over the last several days being willing to overlook them.  Much like Once, this musical film has stuck with me in ways I never expected.  The story of Cathy and Jamie and their relationship is beautifully told.  I may not have necessarily been humming Jason Robert Brown's tunes at the film's conclusion, but they touched me in rather surprising ways -- and managed to motivate me to purchase the film's soundtrack which is something I rarely do.  If you go into this with the knowledge of the time-jumping conceit, The Last Five Years is a movie that stands a chance of really affecting you and I'm sure will land on my Best Film list in next year's RyMickey Awards.  Even if you're not a musical aficionado, as Jason Robert Brown says, this is "the musical for people who don't like musicals."

Edit 12/28/15:  So, a second viewing has unfortunately sullied my view of the film a tiny bit.  The biggest issue with the film is that the flick the whole "middle" of the film is just disappointing in terms of its songs.  The opening moments of sheer happiness and utter sadness and the closing moments also of sheer happiness and utter sadness are fantastic and contain some of the best scenes of films in 2015.  However, it's those middle moments that prove to be confoundingly repetitive and admittedly lacking in excitement.  Also, despite the nice acting job on display by Kendrick, there is a slight grating aspect to her voice which I absolutely noticed the first time around, but tried to gloss over.  

I note in my final paragraph above that "The Last Five Years has a few flaws, but I have found myself...willing to overlook them."  On a second viewing, it's much more difficult to overlook the flick's issues.  I still stand by the fact that there are portions of this film that are astoundingly heartbreaking and beautifully shot, directed, and acted.  It's just that the middle thirty minutes are a bit of a rougher go.

Edit 9/15/16:  So, a third viewing of the flick recognizes the problems I noticed in the second viewing, but I appreciated the storytelling aspects of these slower moments much more.  I appreciated different songs than I had the first and second times around.  The more "grating" aspect of Kendrick's voice on some of the higher belts wasn't as prominent (although I will admit it is there) and she does such a good job at emoting throughout the film that I walked away thoroughly impressed.  I'm still keeping my grade a 'B', however overall, this 'B' is better than several of the 'B+'s" I doled out in 2015.  I'd much rather watch this flawed movie than several of my B+'s.

The RyMickey Rating:  A- (original 10/15/15)
The RyMickey Rating:  B (updated 12/29/15)
The RyMickey Rating:  B (updated 9/15/16)

Movie Review - Cake

Cake (2014)

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Adriana Barraza, Anna Kendrick, Sam Worthington, Mamie Gummer, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, and Chris Messina

Directed by Daniel Barnz

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

A little more darkly comic than I was expecting, Cake gives Jennifer Aniston a nice vehicle to showcase her dramatic chops (with tinges of humor), but surprisingly doesn't give her that "Oscar" moment for her to really make a huge impact.  Granted, that's not necessarily a bad thing -- the simplicity of the movie doesn't really call for that "Oscar Scene" to happen.  Still, the flick really fails on creating an emotional arc, with things feeling decidedly and disappointingly one-note.

Aniston is Claire Bennett, a woman in chronic pain struggling to cope with an horrific event from her past that fails to let her create a livable present.  With her life in shambles -- her husband (Chris Messina) has left her, a friend (Anna Kendrick) from her chronic pain support group has committed suicide, her anger causing issues with her group's leader (Felicity Huffman) and physical therapist (Mamie Gummer) -- the only person giving Claire any modicum of support is her housemaid Silvana (Adriana Barraza) who wishes nothing but the best for her employer, but is increasingly frustrated by Claire's reliance on pain medication to make it through day-to-day routines.

The best part of Cake is this relationship between Claire and Silvana, with both Aniston and Barraza playing off each other quite well creating moments of both humor and heartache.  The film falters when it branches out to some of the other aforementioned characters mainly because none of them are really given adequate time to create an emotional impact.  Ultimately, that's the underlying problem with Cake -- too many superfluous side stories when the best part of the screenplay focuses Claire's grief and how she and her only friend -- her maid -- deal with her issues.

You could certainly do worse than watch Cake and Aniston and Barraza are absolutely the reasons to give it a go.  Unfortunately, the screenplay doesn't quite give these two characters the adequate justice they deserve.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Life After Beth

Life After Beth (2014)

Starring Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, Paul Reiser, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Anna Kendrick

Directed by Jeff Baena

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

Girlfriend dies.  Boyfriend is sad.  Girlfriend suddenly reappears...as a zombie.  Chaos ensues with a supposedly comedic purpose.  There's not much else to Life After Beth, a film whose premise shows some promise but fails to generate any laughs.  With a supporting cast of adult comedic actors whom I expected to buoy the younger set, the likes of John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, and Paul Reiser are given very little to do.  Their reactions to Dane DeHaan's Zach's comedic depression over his girlfriend's death and Aubrey Plaza's frenetic "teenage" zombie Beth are tired and worn, lacking any zip which is what the screenplay is lacking overall.  There's possibility here, but this flick is attempting to really play things for laughs (unlike the similarly themed Warm Bodies which played the romance angle a bit stronger) and it just doesn't deliver in the slightest.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Into the Woods

Into the Woods (2014)

Starring James Corden, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Billy Magnussen, Mackenzie Mauzy, and Johnny Depp

Directed by Rob Marshall

Note: The Disney Discussion will return soon.  In its stead, a review of Disney's latest fairy tale musical -- in live action form this time around.

"Once upon a time in a far off kingdom, there lay a small village at the edge of the woods.  And in this village lived a young maiden, a carefree young lad, and a childless baker with his wife."  The opening line of Into the Woods sets up a broad view of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and playwright James Lapine's Broadway classic, but the film delves deeper into a world where some of the most well-known fairy tale characters interact with one another popping up into each others' familiar stories and creating some havoc.  Director Rob Marshall does a fantastic job allowing each character's storyline to shine, giving life to Sondheim's tricky lyrical melodies, and creating a film that flows effortlessly from one tale to another.

We have Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) whose evil stepmother (Christine Baranski) and nasty stepsisters (Tammy Blanchard and Lucy Punch) won't allow her to attend the Royal Ball of the Prince (Chris Pine).  Then there's Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) of Jack and the Beanstalk fame whose mother (Tracy Ullman) forces her son to sell his only friend -- Milky White, a cow -- in order to add to their measly income.  The third storyline deals with a Baker (James Corden) and His Wife (Emily Blunt) who have heretofore been unable to conceive a child.  They discover in the film's opening song, however, that the haggard and ugly Witch (Meryl Streep) has placed a spell on the Baker and His Wife which the couple can break if they bring her "the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold" before three midnights pass.  Add in Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy), a giant, and a horny wolf (Johnny Depp) and you've got a menagerie of characters.

The Baker, His Wife, and their plight are the impetus of much of the film's plot as they weave in and out of the various other characters' story lines in order to retrieve the objects from their Witch-sponsored scavenger hunt.  The first half of the film generally follows the familiar fairy tales in their typical fashion, however, as the flick progresses, things start to take a dark turn with these tried and true characters forced to do things that we typically aren't used to seeing them have to undertake.  Ultimately, Sondheim and Lapine seem to be telling us that life can't always be a fairy tale, but we still have to face the good and bad times in the best way we know how.  Yes, these are fractured fairy tales, but they're interesting twists on classics.

Sondheim's songs aren't exactly hummable and with the exception of the title number, you may very well not remember any of them upon the film's conclusion.  However, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  The film is filled to the brim with singing and the numbers flow effortlessly into one another and that's certainly attributed to Sondheim's songs, Lapine's book/screenplay, and Rob Marshall's direction.  Marshall isn't exactly a prolific director, but this is certainly his best film since his Chicago debut.  The film appears richly atmospheric (kudos to the costume and production designers) and places its audience squarely in the titular woods.

Sondheim's lyrics are a tricky beast to wrap your tongue around, but the cast gamely takes on the task of giving life to his words (and his uniquely syncopated rhythms).  James Corden and Emily Blunt are charming, witty, and carry the film admirably.  Lilla Crawford and Daniel Hiddleston are exactly what their young characters need to be -- adventurous, yet longing for guidance.  Meryl Streep hardly ever delivers a bad performance and this is no exception.  Award worthy?  I'm not quite sure, but she doesn't disappoint in the slightest.  Two of the film's best moments, however, belong to Anna Kendrick and Chris Pine whose romantic relationship as Cinderella and her Prince isn't exactly the epitome of perfection.  As Cinderella flees the ball, time stands still and Kendrick sings a lovely tune about how she's unsure of what she wants for her life.  Pine also gets a similarly-themed number about longing, although his slimy, though utterly charismatic and charming Prince has quite a different spin on his wishes and desires.

I will admit that I was expecting to be a little let down by Into the Woods.  Musicals are tough sells sometimes, often feeling hokey or corny unless the right tone is set right at the film's open.  However, from the opening two minutes, I could tell that Marshall was giving us a piece that wasn't ashamed of the notion that it was a musical.  It embraced the genre and, in turn, is the best live action musical since The Muppets in 2011.

It should be noted that I've been holding off writing this review for over a week now.  This is one of those movies that I really liked, yet can't quite get comfortable with expressing my thoughts on it.  Don't let my bland review (which flows so disappointingly for my taste) discourage you from seeing this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas (2014)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Joe Swanberg, and Lena Dunham

Directed by Joe Swanberg

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

I am not a huge fan of the mumblecore genre of film which focuses on low budgeted flicks about twenty somethings with much improvised dialog.  I'm not quite sure I've seen a film that prides itself on being a mumblecore-based flick and enjoyed it.  Unfortunately, Happy Christmas doesn't really change my mind.  Writer-director Joe Swanberg's film isn't the least bit exciting or interesting enough for us to really care about anything occurring in it.

The film's premise is pretty simple:  Jenny (Anna Kendrick) just broke up with her boyfriend and moves in with her brother Jeff (Joe Swanberg), his wife Kelly (Melanie Lynskey), and their toddler son Jude (the absolutely adorable and scene-stealing Jude Swanberg).  Although only slightly younger than Jeff, Jenny acts much younger than her twenty-nine years should show.  She immediately hits the town with her friend Carson (Lena Dunham) and after a night of drinking and pot-smoking, Jenny's lackadaisical attitude stands in stark contrast to Kelly's who has to focus on running a household and taking care of young Jude.

Happy Christmas attempts to have Jenny's carefree lifestyle invigorate Kelly to "want more" out of her life, but that storyline just meanders along without ever really making a statement.  Similarly, any sense of a character arc for Jenny is nonexistent.  I'm not quite sure she learns anything from the beginning of the film to the end of it and I'm fairly certain she was supposed to achieve some sort of enlightenment.

While the actors are all decent, Joe Swanberg's script is just too bland to resonate.  Swanberg's young son Jude is fantastic -- although considering his youthful age, there really wasn't any acting involved, just innate charm -- but the young kid can't buoy an otherwise blasé film.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Company You Keep

The Company You Keep (2013)

Starring Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Terrence Howard, Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, Brendan Gleeson, Brit Marling, Sam Elliott, Stephen Root, and Jackie Evancho 

Directed by Robert Redford

Just take a look at that talent listed above -- that's a helluva lot of names, most of whom are known for giving good performances.  Robert Redford's film The Company You Keep (culled from a script by Lem Dobbs) plays like a novel, introducing each of these actors for a chapter and then having them disappear.  This episodic nature proves very tedious about halfway through once we realize what's going on.  It fails to allow us to connect to anyone...then again, I'm not sure we really want to connect with any of these people.

The film opens with a brief flashback in newsreel/news footage form about a series of protests in the 1960/70s by a homegrown American "terrorist" group known as the Weather Underground -- a real-life "activist" group that bombed government buildings and banks as public demonstrations to gain notoriety in an attempt to overthrow the US government for what they perceived as wrongdoings during the Vietnam era.  The last blip of the flashback tells us about a 1980 bank robbery in which a civilian was killed and how the three people responsible are still at large.

Cut to present time and Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) is arrested when buying gas at a convenience store in New York.  Solarz was one a Weather Underground member and one of the three people responsible for that ill-fated bank robbery that resulted in a death.  She had lived her life -- got married, had kids -- but the guilt of that day always stayed with her and Solarz, a Vermont resident, specifically crossed the New York state border to buy gas in order to get arrested and turn herself in.  This sets the FBI on a hunt for Solarz's colleagues in the crime, while also piquing the interest of Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf), a young reporter at the local Albany newspaper.  Shepard ends up discovering more than the FBI (which doesn't sit too well with the FBI chief played by Terrence Howard) when he uncovers the fact that a local lawyer named Jim Grant (Robert Redford) is actually Nick Sloan, a presumed dead Weather Underground member suspected of taking part in the murder at the bank in 1980.  When Shepard confronts Grant about this, Grant immediately grows suspicious that the FBI will soon be on his tail and he sets off across the country trying to evade the FBI, while also trying to clear his name.

While the premise above is actually interesting that all takes place in the film's opening thirty minutes after which things quickly fall apart, digressing into scenes in which Redford's character meets up an old, hardened former Weather Underground member who then gets tracked down by the FBI just as Grant manages to make an escape.  This seriously happens four or five times and maybe it could've worked if any of these scenes ended up being anything other than two old people reminiscing about how shitty the government's treatment of the less fortunate is.  (Of course, the majority of these old fogies are now living in expensive houses, sailing yachts, or working at prestigious universities...so their sympathetic allegiance with the poor feels disingenuous...then again, that's the good old liberal mindset, ain't it?)

There are a couple of decent performances here -- LaBeouf is strong as the go-getting reporter, Sarandon makes the most of her small role with a particularly good scene in which she explains her actions -- but the typically strong cast isn't given much to work with and Redford doesn't really pull great performances from their small parts.  For someone who was a supposed sex symbol and movie star back in the day, Redford himself is uncharismatic and particularly bland here which is a disappointment considering he and LaBeouf are the only two actors who we see throughout the entire film.  The Company You Keep may very well have the most prestigious cast assembled for a 2013 film, but despite the high quality of actors, Robert Redford's film just meanders along for two hours failing to be anything more exciting than a game of "Which Celebrity Will Appear Next?"

The RyMickey Rating:  C- 

Movie Review - Drinking Buddies

Drinking Buddies (2013)

Starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, and Ron Livingston

Directed by Joe Swanberg

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

Kate and Luke (Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson) work at a brewery together.  They're good buddies who constantly flirt with one another, yet remain only friends because they each have a significant other -- Kate's been dating Chris (Ron Livingston) for eight months, and Luke's been with Jill (Anna Kendrick) for years.  While each couple seems happy together, it's obvious that Kate and Luke have an attraction to one another and a friendship that seems destined for romance.  This connection is further explored when the two couples take a trip to Chris's cabin in the woods for a "couples weekend" and Chris and Jill also find themselves compatible with one another, leading to a quartet that is ripe for break-ups.

The problem with Drinking Buddies is that the relationships between all four of the central characters are much too obvious.  There's no subtlety present -- we know right off the bat Kate and Luke are more compatible than Kate and Chris, and it's obvious that Chris's book-smartish nature fits more with Jill's demeanor.  Since the unraveling discord of the relationships never comes as a surprise, the suspense of the story is who will take the plunge and kiss off their significant other first...and that's just not a gripping enough story as presented here, effectively making the ninety-minute runtime feel longer than it should.  While the cast tries to sell the story (with dialog that seems improvised...and that's not necessarily a good thing), the supposed comedy that is Drinking Buddies  didn't cause me to laugh much at all.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - End of Watch

End of Watch (2012)

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick, and Natalie Martinez

Directed by David Ayer

End of Watch is a perfectly acceptable realistic "buddy cop" movie about Brian and Mike (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña) who work the crime-riddled streets of South Central LA.  As they go through their admittedly difficult and stressful days, they find time to joke around with one another and talk about their significant others -- Brian's got a serious girlfriend in Janet (Anna Kendrick) and Mike is married to Gabby (Natalie Martinez) and they have kids together with another on the way.  When the duo stumble across a human trafficking ring while out doing a routine check on an elderly woman, the Mexican gangs behind the ring are angered and vow to make Brian and Mike pay handily for simply doing their job.

Admittedly, the film is a bit gimmicky.  Brian is taking a college course on filmmaking and he decides to purchase some small cameras that he places in the cop car and on both his and Mike's uniforms in order to film a "day in the life" type documentary about South Central cops.  I actually would've been completely onboard with the concept had director and screenwriter David Ayer had the cojones to stick with it throughout the entirety of the film in a Blair Witch-ian way.  However, the film sometimes cuts to the Mexican gangs and then as it progresses and the action begins to kick up, it abandons the concept altogether at times.  This wasn't necessarily a detriment, but the lack of consistency was noticeable and a bit of a disappointment in terms of the concept.

This film garnered some surprisingly good reviews upon its release last fall and there was even a bit of Oscar buzz surrounding Michael Peña for his role, but for this reviewer, End of Watch didn't stand out in any significant way.  Everything about it was fine and, in fact, better than average, but I was never blown away by anything I was seeing in the acting, directing, or writing department.  This is likely one of the reasons it's taken me over a month to get this review up on the blog.  Despite the lack of anything negative to say about it, there was not a single thing about it that blew me over.  It's solid and you certainly shouldn't be disappointed should you decide to check it out, but I can't help but think End of Watch had a bit more potential than the director brought to it.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Pitch Perfect

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson, John Michael Higgins, and Elizabeth Banks

Directed by Jason Moore

I walked into Pitch Perfect hoping that it would do for a capella singing what Bring It On did for high school cheerleading -- a romp that pokes fun, but ultimately respects the extracurricular activity.  Unfortunately, while the collegiate-set musical comedy has some laughs (and is respectful of the music-based singing phenomenon), they're too few and far between and despite a nice performance from Anna Kendrick, there's a disappointing and bland story that never provides anything other than a "been there-done that" vibe.

We've got all the typical cliches we've come to know when it comes to a movie like this.  New girl in school -- in this case Kendrick's freshman Beca -- arrives on the scene and is "different" from others her age (we know this because she wears black nail polish and thinks everyone is too cookie cutter).  She meets the various stereotypes and then ends up joining an a capella group mainly because her father is worried that she's not fitting in.  Group competes in several competitions across the country leading up to "The Big One" in NYC in which Beca's group goes up against another a capella group from her same college which just so happens to feature the guy (Skylar Astin) who has been trying to get her to date him throughout the movie.

There's nothing new and exciting in the story and despite some laugh out loud moments, the story fails this movie in the end.  Granted, I realize I'm not the target audience for this -- some of the songs that I probably should have known were I a sixteen-year old girl whizzed in one ear and then right out the other without any recognition -- but the movie should've done something a little bit different in order to make it stand out from the typical teen flicks.

As mentioned above, Anna Kendrick is pretty darn good...definitely as good as you can get for a film like this and she's certainly a lovely singer.  [And it helps that she's easy on the eyes, but that's neither here nor there.]  In fact, the acting (and the singing), for the most part, is not too shabby.  However, this is only the second movie in which I've seen Rebel Wilson and her comedic schtick is already on my last nerve.  She provided some laughs, but her fifteen minutes of fame have reached their limit at this point unless she can change it up.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Paranorman

Paranorman (2012)

***viewed in 3D***

Featuring the voice talent of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Elaine Stritch, and John Goodman 

Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell

Kid flicks today often seem sugar-coated or, at the very least, a bit more sanitized than the movies kids from the 80s grew up on.  The weirdness of The Neverending Story or Labyrinth or even Disney's The Black Cauldron just aren't present in movies that have a goal of appealing to kids.  In fact, at times, it might have often seemed that movies like those aforementioned, while made for the younger generation, almost held more interest for the adults dragged to the theaters with their young'uns.  Paranorman reminded me more of the movies of my childhood generation than much of what is released today (and I don't mean that in any demeaning way to today's family films).  Oddly off-the-wall, kooky, and entertaining, although I had to wonder if it would hold the interest of a kid.

Norman Babcock is a seemingly normal boy with one exception -- he can see and talk to ghosts.  Naturally, this doesn't sit well with his parents who want him to stop living in a dream world and it certainly doesn't help him at school where he finds himself bullied for his "gift."  With the whole New England town of Blithe Hollow thinking he's a nutjob, Norman finds himself quite the loner.  One evening, however, the town's crazy hobo (who also happens to be Norman's uncle) crosses paths with the boy and tells his nephew that it is up to him to stop a rising of the dead from occurring.  While he doesn't believe it, Norman eventually succumbs to his uncle's wishes, but finds trouble along the way that causes the dead to actually rise from their graves and begin invading the small town with only Norman having the ability to get the zombies back to their below ground residences.

In addition to the very nice stop-motion animation on display, Paranorman comes with a decidedly adult sensibility in tow filled with humor that will go over many a ten year-old's head.  I'm not talking about raunch here, but I am impressed with screenwriter Chris Butler's sensibility to not talk down to the kids in the audience (and the parents who accompanied them).  [There's a character "twist" at the end is shockingly ballsy -- even though it maybe shouldn't be in this day and age -- and further exemplifies the "mature-skewing" nature of the film.]  I'm sure the homages contained in this film are plentiful, but even something as simple as a slight rehashing of the Friday the 13th synthesizer score was enough to bring a smile to this reviewer's face.  Still, despite honoring some horror movies of the past, the film feels fresh and innovative, standing rightly on its own.

Somehow, though, Paranorman never quite allows us to connect to the characters in a way that Pixar movies do.  Those Pixar folks have seriously cornered the market on heartfelt animation and even when something like Paranorman attempts a tugging on the heartstrings, it never quite reaches the levels the Pixar guys manage to set.  That's not taking anything away from this movie, however, it does stop it from reaching the upper echelon of modern-day animated classics.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - 50/50

50/50 (2011)

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Angelica Huston

Directed by Jonathan Levine

I have a confession to make right off the bat here.  I've had my eyes well up in movies before (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was the most recent film to do that to me).  Something just hits me and connects with me on that visceral level, telling my brain that it's okay to feel a little emotional and causing my eyes to perhaps become small pools of saline.  It doesn't happen often, but ever so rarely a movie gets to you in that way.  But to actually have one of those pools escape the lids of my eye and cause a tear to fall down my face doesn't usually happen to this guy, your intrepid (stoic) movie reviewer.  In fact, I can't really remember the last time that occurred.

That all changed when I watched 50/50 which I fortunately viewed alone because when that one legitimate tear began to trickle down my cheek and I had to brush it away, I felt kinda weird.  What was wrong with me?  Why in the hell have I allowed this movie [co-starring Seth Rogen of all people, an actor I thought I despised] to get to me in this way?  It comes down to a solid script, a wonderful lead performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the simple fact that the movie generationally "spoke to me" in some way.

I don't mean that "generational" comment above to mean anything other than that 50/50 is a film about people my age going through something that is rather unfathomable to be experiencing.  When regular 27-year old Adam (Gordon-Levitt) discovers he has a rare form of spinal cancer, it's obviously a life-changing event that not only affects him, but also his best friend Kyle (Rogen), his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), and his mother (Angelica Huston), and it takes a young aspiring therapist named Katherine (Anna Kendrick) for Adam to realize that cancer doesn't have to be his battle to fight alone.  That's the story -- plain and simple.

What makes that rather straightforward story unique is a humorous script courtesy of Will Reiser who based the film off his own experiences battling cancer.  I never thought I'd say this, but Seth Rogen proved to set just the right tone here with his take as the supportive friend trying to inject a little bit of light-heartedness into Adam's obviously life-threatening situation.  There's also some great work from Anna Kendrick whom I worried a bit wasn't going to find success after Up in the Air.  Admittedly, her role as Katherine isn't given a ton of depth, but her character felt "normal" and "plain," and while some could look at that as a detriment, I thought it was a charming plus.  Katherine finds it difficult to maintain a balance between showing emotion and remaining completely objective with her patients and seeing her try and navigate these tricky waters is interesting.  Angelica Huston has a rather stock role as the overprotective and nagging mother, but what I thought would end up being quite typical ends up carrying a surprising amount of heart as the film heads into its final act.

Ultimately, however, the film works because director Jonathan Levine has allowed us to connect with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Adam in such a way that we in the audience genuinely give a damn about what happens to this normal young guy.  (SPOILER AHEAD detailing my single tear fallen)  There's a scene towards the end of the film in which Adam, moments before he goes into surgery to have his tumor removed, speaks to his Alzheimer's-afflicted father with such simplicity, but with such darn heart, that I couldn't help but begin to be moved.  Then, as the doctor begins to administer anesthesia and the realization that the possibility of death is imminent, Adam calls out panic-stricken, "Mom," reaching out to her to comfort him...and that was it.  That was when the tear fell.  Here was this guy who was so reserved, trying to not burden others with his life-changing diagnosis, and, finally, the shield comes down and the emotions are allowed to finally express themselves.  Something about that moment and Gordon-Levitt successfully portraying a likable guy in a situation no one would want to face got to me, revealing a shocking amount of heart and a lovely way of crafting a nuanced performance from an understated role.

Tbe RyMickey Rating:  A-