Tenet

 Tenet (2021)

Starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Written by Christopher Nolan

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Widows

Widows (2018)

Starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Garret Dillahunt, Carrie Coon, Lukas Haas, Jacki Weaver, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson

Directed by Steve McQueen

Written by Gillian Flynn and Steve McQueen

Summary (in 500 words or less):  After their criminal husbands are killed while attempting to complete a robbery, their widowed wives are forced to contemplate committing a crime of their own when a shady man demands money their husbands owed him.

 

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

The Tale

The Tale (2018)

Starring Laura Dern, Isabelle Nélisse, Elizabeth Debicki, Jason Ritter, Frances Conroy, John Heard, Common, and Ellen Burstyn

Directed by Jennifer Fox

Written by Jennifer Fox

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Based on a true story from writer-director Jennifer Fox's childhood, The Tale examines how memory is a fluid and fickle entity as adult Jennifer (Laura Dern) begins to question the boundaries of a relationship she had when she was thirteen (played by Isabelle Nélisse) with both her equestrian instructor (Elizabeth Debicki) and her track coach (Jason Ritter).

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

The Cloverfield Paradox

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

Starring Daniel Brühl, Elizabeth Debicki, Aksel Hennie, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris O'Dowd, John Ortiz, David Oyelowo, Zhang Ziyi, Roger Davies, and Clover Nee

Directed by Julius Onah

Written by Oren Uziel

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Click here for a link to my Letterbxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kurt Russell

And the vocal talents of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper

Directed by James Gunn

Written by James Gunn

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  The Guardians clan is back as we further explore familial relationships of members of the group.  Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) reunites with his long-lost father, the god Ego (Kurt Russell), while Gamora (Zoe Saldana) continues to explore the rocky relationship with her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan).  

• Many Marvel fanboys love the irreverence of this series, but as evidenced in the first Guardians film and now this one, these movies don't excite me as much as others.  I like the characters that inhabit the films, but writer-director James Gunn hasn't yet crafted an overarching story that really pulls me in.  
• There is certainly a charm and ease that Gunn and his cast delivers.  The easy-going nature of this flick makes for an enjoyable watch at times, but whenever the film tries to create exciting action sequences, I find myself checking out.
• Unlike some other Marvel franchises which didn't succeed on their first go-rounds, but then rebounded on their second like Captain America (or even vice-versa, succeeding in their first and failing in their second like Thor), Guardians has maintained this middle ground of being simply average through both of its film iterations.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

Starring Henry Cavill, Armie Hamer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Sylvester Groth, Luca Calvani, and Hugh Grant 

Directed by Guy Ritchie

More style over substance, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. unfortunately doesn't come together as a full motion picture despite rather charming and winning performances from its key quartet.  When your film's climax feels unimportant, you know you've got a bit of a problem and that's the case here.  By the time the last twenty minutes rolls around, you may be in danger of having checked out even though you were somewhat intrigued by everything that came before.

Based on the tv show of the same name, The Man from Uncle is a spy flick that's firmly planted in the 1960s.  With WWII over, tensions are still high thanks to nuclear fears and the US, led by thief turned CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill), finds itself teaming up with Russia in the form of KGB operative Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) to track down the villainous Alexander and Victoria Vinciguerra (Luca Calvani and Elizabeth Debicki).  The wealthy couple may have kidnapped the physicist father of auto mechanic Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) in order to help formulate a nuke that they can sell to the highest bidder and the US and Russia see Gaby as the way to get into the Vinciguerra compounds.

Director and co-screenwriter Guy Ritchie certainly creates a stylish, classy, and mod-looking film.  Visually, there are absolutely appealing aspects to The Man from Uncle.  Ritchie also does a really nice job of bringing elements of comedy to the mix, cleverly mixing witty wordplay with some rather ingenious visual set-ups.  Unfortunately, there's something about the espionage aspect of the script that never quite lands.  After a rather fun opening chase sequence, Ritchie can't quite craft his action sequences in ways that feel as if they're enhancing the plot and they bog things down rather than rile things up.

The cast is all around charming (albeit a little wooden in that James Bond "suave" sense -- not a bad thing) and fits perfectly in the 1960s era the film depicts with particular kudos to Elizabeth Debicki who snidely plays the dastardly villainess.  Ritchie just can't bring the varying genres of his film together to create a fully realized flick.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Everest

Everest (2015)

***viewed in 3D***

Starring Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Elizabeth Debicki, Naoko Mori, Emily Watson, and Keira Knightley

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur

To me, there's an insanity that comes with wanting to climb a nearly unclimbable mountain like Mt. Everest.  Shelling out $64,000 to join the Adventure Consultants team headed by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) seems like a crazy notion to me, but mailman Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), doctor and father Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), writer Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly), and forty-eight year-old avid climber Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori) are just a few of the people who decided to do such a thing in March 1996.  Everest tells their tragic true story.

While there are certainly moments of sentimentality -- most stemming from the aforementioned climbers' phone calls home to their loved ones (Keira Knightley, Robin Wright) or base camp manager Helen (Emily Watson) -- Everest doesn't harp on them.  In a film that so easily could've created emotional connections between the climbers, Everest is really about Man vs. Nature.  When someone falls off a cliff edge, it's certainly a painful moment and it's greeted with sadness and grief by other climbers, but it's also the nature of the beast.  Don't mistake my writing and think that the film is callous to those who truly lost their lives -- it's not in the slightest.  It's simply that the film is like a docudrama, detailing the incidents with a bluntness we're not necessarily used to seeing in films -- and it works.

The film admittedly takes its time to get going, but director Baltasar Kormákur succeeds in making the build-up to the climb nearly as compelling as the climb itself.  Thanks to the adept screenplay, we learn little tidbits of info about each of our climbers without ever being burdened with big backstories (with the exception of perhaps Rob Hall who leads the expedition and is the main character in the ensemble).  Once we get onto the mountain itself, Kormákur creates an intense atmosphere where that aforementioned bluntness keeps us on a constant edge because we're never really given a warning or a build-up to when bad things are going to happen.

With special effects that are near flawless -- I genuinely felt like I was on Everest making the climb with the group -- Everest is certainly a success.  However, the lack of emotion -- the same thing I praised the film for earlier -- does end up being a slight downfall in the end.  It's the docudrama aspect of the whole affair that doesn't fully allow us in the audience to "feel" for the characters.  Only in the end when the requisite character codas flash up on the screen with "real life" photos of those who lost their lives on the mountain did I actually "feel" something.  The coda is there obviously to remind us that what we witnessed was true and there's no doubt in my mind that ending the film on this note is necessary to pay the proper respect to those who passed away.  However, the end also oddly makes us wish that the film itself inherently created the emotions that are aroused within us when we see the real-life photos.  It doesn't do that and because of that it's a bit too jarring of a conclusion.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby (2013)

***viewed in 3D***
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgarton, Elizabeth Debicki, Jason Clarke, and Isla Fisher

Directed by Baz Luhrmann

The Great Gatsby is distinctly a Baz Luhrmann film and your initial like or dislike will largely hinge on your feelings towards the eclectic auteur.  I was a big fan of Romeo + Juliet upon its release in my junior year of high school, but a revisit in 2011 didn't sit so well with me.  Similarly, I was a huge admirer of Moulin Rouge upon its release simply for its unique take on the movie musical and I rewatched it last year certain that it would land in my Personal Canon, but that didn't come to fruition this time around.  (The less said about Australia the better.)  It's not that Lurhmann suddenly became an incompetent director in my eyes, it's simply that he is a bit of a one trick pony (similar to Quentin Tarantino in that respect).  He does what he does well, but when you already know what you're going to get with him, there aren't as many surprises around the corner.

This isn't to say that is take on The Great Gatsby doesn't provide a solid experience, but the quick cutting, bombastic music, and focus on "love" (all Luhrmann staples) overshadow the other aspects of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work.  And I say that as someone who finds Fitzgerald's so-called masterpiece a fine read, but nowhere near the perfection that others espouse it to be.  [I finished a re-read of the novel mere hours before I went to see the movie.]  To Luhrmann, Gatsby is nothing but a tragic love story between the title character (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and his long lost love Daisy (Carey Mulligan), the Midwest gal he's been pining over for the decade since he headed off to war and had to leave her.  Any semblance of Fitzgerald's take on the decline of American morals is brushed aside solely to focus on a love story.  Granted, I will admit that upon reading Gatsby again, I was quite surprised how much the Gatsby/Daisy love story was made a focus in the novel, but Luhrmann trains his camera (and script) right in on it, failing to leave the confines of the lovers' embrace for an exceedingly long time in the film's middle act.

Much like the book, the film is told through the wide eyes of Nick Carraway, played here by Tobey Maguire in the same dorky, oddly reflective way Tobey Maguire plays every single role he's ever undertaken.  No one was more surprised than me to discover that Maguire is a perfect fit for the role.  I realize that may not be a universally accepted opinion -- in fact, I've heard much derision sent Maguire's way -- but having recently read the novel, Maguire totally embodied my vision of Carraway.  That isn't to say that the actor did anything overly ambitious or out of his comfort zone, but Carraway is a part the oftentimes dumbfounded-looking former Spiderman was made to play.

Joel Edgarton and Elizabeth Debicki also aptly personified my visions of, respectively, the womanizing Tom Buchanan and the cynical Jordan Baker.  In her first major film role, I found myself unable to take my eyes off of Ms. Debicki who captivated me despite her character's bitter edge.  Mr. Edgarton continues to be an actor to watch as of late.  I could see how some might find his portrayal of Tom as a bit of a caricature, but he perfectly exemplified the hypocritical arrogance and machismo that comes across in Fitzgerald's work.

If anything, the problem with The Great Gatsby is with Gatsby himself and his paramour Daisy.  DiCaprio plays Gatsby much more fey and weak than I expected.  Yes, I realize once he lays eyes on Daisy, he essentially becomes a child again, but even in moments where he is supposed to exude strength and charisma, I found him a bit empty.  In the novel, Gatsby was a character whom I found passionate about a great many things, but none of this vigor comes to the surface in the film.  There's part of me that wonders if Luhrmann pushed DiCaprio in this direction in order to make the title character more sympathetic and appealing to women -- but that probably just comes off sounding sexist.

Gatsby's counterpart, Daisy, has always been an enigma to me.  She spouts lines that don't make sense to me in the novel and don't make sense to me in the movie either.  I don't understand who this woman is and why Gatsby fell head over heels for her.  Carey Mulligan didn't help my confusion.  Her character's arc is one that doesn't feel fulfilling for me and the film does nothing to change that.

I say all this and I realize the review comes across a bit more bitter than I intended it to be.  For the most part, I enjoyed The Great Gatsby while I was watching it.  However, like Baz Luhrmann's previous films, it hasn't lingered as well in my mind as time passes.  There's something alluring and even invigorating when watching Gatsby (at least in the first and final acts...the less said about the love story-fueled lengthy middle act the better), but when you peel back the visual and aural cacophony, there sometimes isn't enough there.  Then again, there aren't many directors that do visual and aural cacophony with the punch and pizzazz Luhrmann brings to the table.  And for that, The Great Gatsby is worth a view.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+