The Chair

 The Chair (2021)

Starring Sandra Oh, Jay Duplass, Bob Balaban, Nana Mensah, Everly Carganilla, David Morse, and Holland Taylor

Directed by Daniel Gray Longino

Created by Amanda Peet and Annie Julia Wyman

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Concussion

Concussion (2015)

Starring Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mike O'Malley, Eddie Marsan, Hill Harper, Luke Wilson, and David Morse

Directed by Peter Landesman

In better directorial hands, Concussion would've been a great film.  As it stands with second-time director Peter Landesman at the helm, it's simply a good film that can't quite overcome some schlocky sentimental visuals that hamper the important and intriguing true story at its core.

Nigerian-born Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) is a forensic pathologist for the city of Pittsburgh's coroner's office.  When former Pittsburgh Steelers' football player Mike Webster (David Morse) is found dead in his pick-up truck after a prolonged mental break-down that left him in a disoriented, woeful, and suicidal state, Omalu happens to be the coroner on hand to do the autopsy.  During his work, Omalu discovers that Webster had severe brain damage consistent with repeated blows to the head.  In subsequent years, additional football players follow a similar mental break-down to Webster and Omalu is able to perform the autopsies on these individuals as well, discovering a consistent pattern of brain damage.  Certain of his findings, Omalu decides to write an article in a medical journal, but this sets up a war between the doctor and one of the most profitable organizations on the planet -- the National Football League -- a group that, as Omalu's boss Cyril Wecht (Albert Brooks) says, "owns a day of the week."

Dr. Omalu is a fascinating figure, tremendously smart, well-mannered, and strong, and Will Smith portrays him with much dignity.  While I'm not quite sure he deserved that Oscar nomination that his wife deemed appropriate, Smith is a captivating presence here alongside Gugu Mbatha-Raw who portrays his friend-turned girlfriend-turned wife.  Their scenes together are poignant, albeit a little treacly at times.  That sentimental mushiness comes on too strong accompanied by some generically obvious visual cues from the director that mar the film particularly in its latter half when the tension between Omalu and the higher-ups in the NFL should be at its most enervating.  It's the second half that disappoints the most with the film sometimes shifting to an odd thriller aspect (unknown men following Omalu's wife, threatening phone calls, etc) that simply doesn't fit well with the heavier (and better executed) dramatics of the film's first half.  Still, Concussion works as a film and is worth seeing as it exposes a side of the NFL that they wished to stay hidden for years.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - World War Z

World War Z (2013)

***viewed in 3D***

Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Fana Mokoena, David Morse, Sterling Jerins, and Abigail Hargrove

Directed by Marc Foster

The great thing about World War Z is that it just jumps right into things without even attempting to provide any modicum of backstory as to why humans on Earth are turning into fast-running, crazed zombies.  Dad Gerry (Brad Pitt) is simply taking his kids (Sterling Jerins and Abigail Hargrove) to school and his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) to work when craziness hits Philadelphia and the family finds themselves desperate to find cover from the chaos taking over the east coast.  Fortunately, Gerry has recently retired from a job with the United Nations which gets him access to a "safe house" of sorts on a huge aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean.  While on the ship, Gerry agrees to travel around the world to try and find the source of the virus that is wreaking havoc on the human race.

While it's true that World War Z doesn't waste any time getting started, it's somewhat unfortunate that the film spends a huge portion of its second act slowing things down and explaining things way too much.  I mean, quite honestly, I could care less where this "zombie virus" started and following Gerry from country to country (in an episodic fashion) grows tiresome.  That isn't to say that these set pieces -- a journey to Jerusalem, a frenetic plane sequence -- don't create tension, it's just that they're linked so tenuously to one another that the story never feels entirely cohesive.  Admittedly, the final act (which apparently faced a huge rewrite months after the film finished shooting) is a success and had me intrigued.  Having read what the original ending was, things are certainly infinitely better in the updated version, but the finale doesn't quite make up for a surprisingly lackluster middle hour.

You could certainly fare worse with summer action fare than World War Z and most everything and everyone in front of and behind the camera is solid.  Unfortunately, the story just isn't quite strong enough.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Good Son

The Good Son (1993)
Starring Macauley Culkin, Elijah Wood, Wendy Crewson, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and David Morse
Directed by Joseph Ruben
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

***Posted as part of the Elijah Wood Early 90s Mini Film Festival***

There is a certain morbid charm in hearing a 12 year-old Macauley Culkin utter the words, "Don't fuck with me."  And it's Culkin's playing against type that makes this movie better than the generic nature of the script should permit it to be.  With a relatively quick running time (just a little over 80 minutes), The Good Son is a perfectly acceptable suspense flick that probably would be right at home as a 90s tv movie were it not for the occasional curse word.  (Yes, I say that as a slight jab, but I also say that with the understanding that the "tv movie" descriptor almost makes it a guilty pleasure to watch.)

Shortly after his mother dies, young Mark Evans (Elijah Wood) goes to live with his Aunt Susan (Wendy Crewson) and Uncle Wallace (Daniel Hugh Kelly) while his father (David Morse) travels to Asia for business.  While there, Mark befriends his cousin Henry (Macauley Culkin), but soon discovers that Henry's behavior leans towards the psychotic.

And it's in that psychotic behavior as portrayed by Macauley "Home Alone" Culkin that makes this film surprisingly watchable.  Culkin is actually really good playing evil and Elijah Wood is just as good playing counter to the devil child.  Yes, the two kids are forced into silly situations and the parents are completely oblivious to the obvious things going on around them, but thanks to Culkin and Wood fully diving into their different characters, The Good Son works.  It's certainly not the best suspense movie you'll see, but it's absolutely better than it has any right to probably be.

In terms of the Elijah Wood mini film festival, this is probably my favorite role of Wood's so far.  As he's aging, you can see a little more depth behind the eyes, and, considering that this role is probably the most simplistic he'd been asked to tackle up until this point, that's an admirable task.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - The Hurt Locker (2009)

Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, David Morse, and Ralph Fiennes
Written by Mark Boal
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Whether you support the war in Iraq or not makes no difference to the filmmakers behind The Hurt Locker. They simply want to present what really happens to our courageous soldiers who risk their lives daily. It was a rather refreshing take and it made the flick play out as an action-suspense thriller rather than a message movie. [As surprising as this may be to those who know my Republican leanings, I'm not opposed to message movies, by the way. The two-year old In the Valley of Elah was a stunningly good look at post-war depression told in a fascinating way.]

Jeremy Renner is Staff Sergeant William James who is one of the army's best bomb diffusers. James and the two other soldiers in his Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit who serve as James's help and protection -- Sergeant JT Sanborn (Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Geraghty) -- go out on seemingly daily missions across Iraq diffusing a variety of different explosive devices. The flick is essentially a series of the various missions this EOD unit undertakes, but we also get glimpses into the different personalities of these three men.

Renner is fantastic. His James appears to be the strong one in the unit, but he's addicted to the adrenaline rush of diffusing bombs and also finds himself emotionally involved in helping the Iraqi people. There's one scene in particular where he breaks down after being so resolute that really got to me. Anthony Mackie is also great as Sanborn who doesn't take well to Sgt. James's approaches to diffusing EOD's. Similarly, Brian Geraghty's Eldridge is certainly emotionally unstable after having witnessed the death of a fellow soldier, and Sgt. James's gung-ho and reckless techniques don't sit too well with him. Geraghty was absolutely my favorite supporting character here. There wasn't a bum note in his performance which had to range from courageous to utterly frightened. I really loved it.

The star of the show, though, is Kathryn Bigelow's stellar direction. This flick is edge-of-your seat exciting and Bigelow is the one responsible for that. While she employs the shaky cam that has become so popular as of late, she doesn't overuse the method. In fact, my favorite scene of the film -- an hours-long showdown in the Iraqi desert that occurs about halfway through the flick -- is full of long pauses and absolutely has the feeling of tedium and weariness thanks in part to Bigelow's direction (and it's also helped immensely by the three actors I mentioned above).

I don't really want to ruin the movie for anyone, but I did have a problem with one particular vignette in the film. Sgt. James seeks revenge after a particular incident occurs and I honestly didn't buy it completely. It's not that I didn't understand the motivation behind it (I certainly understood it), but I just have my doubts that it would ever really happen. Without the extra ten minutes depicting this "event," the flick would've been a little more taut and would've been as close to a perfect movie as one could get.

Despite that one flaw, the film, as I said above, is nearly perfect. With spot-on performances, believable dialogue, three great performances, and some of the best direction I've seen in a long time, The Hurt Locker is an exciting piece of filmmaking that shouldn't be missed.

The RyMickey Rating: A-

Movie Review - Passengers (2008)

Starring Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson, Dianne Wiest, David Morse, Andre Braugher, and Clea DuVall
Written by Ronnie Christensen
Directed by Rodrigo García

Anne Hathaway Crush Alert! I'm not gonna even discuss my Anne Hathaway Attainability Theory (not that it's much of a theory), so instead let's focus on this movie that no one's ever heard of before. This flick lasted for a whopping week at our theater last year...I was away on vacation, came back, and it was already gone.

This one was reminiscent of the movie Fearless that I saw awhile ago with Jeff Daniels and Rosie Perez that, if memory serves me right, I loved (It also dealt with the survivor of a plane crash and how he dealt with the aftermath). Unfortunately, Passengers didn't really work at all.

Hathaway plays psychologist Claire Summers who is providing group therapy for the five survivors of a horrific plane crash. I love watching Hathaway onscreen (even in shit like Bride Wars) because I think she's a strong presence. However, she just wasn't believable as this intelligent psychologist...she had to spout some crappy psychobabble lines that would be difficult for anyone, but I just didn't buy her in the role. Anyway, back to the premise...Claire is intrigued with one patient in particular, Eric, who is oddly unaffected by the plane crash. There's sexual tension, the patient becomes the doctor, yada yada yada. When the five surviving passengers start disappearing, Claire begins to think that there's some elaborate scheme in place to cover up the airline's errors...and she may be right.

Unfortunately, this 90-minute film feels longer than that...it is just plodding and boring and it lays there on the screen like a lump. The writer and director bring nothing remotely exciting to the table. There's somewhat of a twist ending and it's just ridiculous. It doesn't make any sense and it makes the whole movie seem completely pointless. Even though I didn't like the flick, the twist made me dislike it even more.

The RyMickey Rating: D