Greenland

 Greenland (2020)

Starring Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, David Denman, and Hope Davis

Directed by Ric Roman Waugh

Written by Chris Sparling

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - How to Train Your Dragon 2

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Featuring the voice talents of Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Djimon Hounsou, and Kristen Wiig

Directed by Dean DeBlois

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

I have to start this review with a bit of disclosure -- I had some tasks I had to complete while watching How to Train Your Dragon 2 and as the film headed towards its conclusion, I found myself drifting off a tiny bit and not giving the film my complete focus.  I typically try and avoid this occurrence as much as possible, but kudos to the film itself for drawing me back in for its particularly heartfelt finale...which made me all the more disappointed that I didn't give the flick my undivided attention.

By far, the How to Train Your Dragon franchise is Dreamworks Animation's best series of films they've ever created.  From a studio that built itself on pop culture references and "Big Hollywood Star Voice Acting," the Dragon series eschews that to a certain degree -- or, at the very least, places a bigger emphasis on story.  Much like its predecessor, Dragon 2 keeps the focus on now twentysomething Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) who, five years after the conclusion of the last film, has managed to keep his fellow village folk of Berk recognizing dragons' abilities to assist humans.  With his partner in crime Toothless, Hiccup and his dragon friend fly around searching for other dragons in need of assistance which happens to bring Hiccup back into contact with his presumably dead mother Valka (Cate Blanchett) who was supposedly taken by dragons upon an invasion when Hiccup was merely an infant.

Dragon 2 attempts to explore the relationship between Hiccup and his long-lost mother and how this newfound connection affects those around him, particularly his father Stoick (Gerard Butler).  These moments involving the newly reunited family are the film's most effective and are rendered quite nicely from an emotional perspective.  When the film throws in a bad guy in Drago (Djimon Hounsou) who desires to utilize all dragons for their worst potentials possible in order to gain control of various Nordic lands, things falter a bit.  However, and to the film's credit, the character of Drago is responsible for several of the film's most emotional moments so while the villain seemed a little too maniacal at times, this nastiness was put to great effect to forward the story.

Animation-wise, I must admit that I wasn't as wowed as Dragon 2's predecessor, but the film still boasts quality craftsmanship.  I continue to be a little disenchanted with Jay Baruchel voicing Hiccup -- I still stand by the fact that I feel like the voice doesn't quite fit the character or the time period of the piece, but it's not detrimental to the film in any way.  Nice turns from Blanchett and Butler utilize those "star voices" to great effect without drawing attention to their "star status" in any way.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

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 - Coriolanus

Coriolanus (2011)

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Jessica Chastain, Brian Cox, and Vanessa Redgrave

Directed by Ralph Fiennes

Shakespeare.  Right off the bat, uttering that word limits the marketplace for Coriolanus, the directorial debut of Ralph Fiennes.  The knowledge that Fiennes decided to keep the old world dialog in tact narrows the audience even further.  And choosing a play of the Bard's that no one in the world is familiar with is sort of the last straw.  Fortunately for Fiennes, the update of the work to modern times helps alleviate some of the marketable problems with a film like this, but in the end, there may very well be a reason this is one of Shakespeare's least performed works.

It's not that what is onscreen in this adaptation is bad by any means, but the story itself lacks depth.  Fiennes is the title character, a Roman soldier who has succeeded in helping his country in many of their battles.  However, he's not loved by the people and when he attempts to make his way into politics, the public tosses him out of the country forcing Coriolanus to befriend his biggest enemy, Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler), a general in the Volscian army.  The two men team up to wage war on Rome and its people and regain control.

Ultimately, Shakespeare has crafted a solid beginning and a good (though not great) conclusion, but the work suffers greatly in the middle.  Perhaps it wasn't explained well enough in this version, but I never understood (or cared, for that matter) why the Roman people had such a huge problem with Coriolanus.  Somewhere in there, we discover that Coriolanus despises the concept of "public rule" and the right of citizens to elect their representatives -- at least I think that's what happens -- but that never really seemed like enough of a reason (especially considering the film was updated to current times) to toss a guy out of the country.  Because of this awkward and "under-explained" middle, I found myself lost and losing interest quite a bit.

It's no fault of the actors as everyone is very good.  Fiennes is tough and nasty and makes a solid "action star" which this role almost requires of him.  Butler is fine as well, although his character really isn't given a whole lot to do.  Even in the final act when Coriolanus teams up with Aufidius, Butler's character almost seemed to be simply a higher paid, glorified extra more than anything else.  Vanessa Redgrave got a lot of praise for her role as the demanding and almost Oedipal mother of Coriolanus and it is deserved.  She's strong, forceful, and quite a presence, and the Shakespearean words roll off her tongue effortlessly.

While I've criticized the movie a bit, it's certainly an interesting look at a very underseen and underperformed play of William Shakespeare's and for that reason alone, this is worth a watch.  Ralph Fiennes certainly doesn't skimp on the violence and he has rather slyly turned this into an action film with Old English dialog.  Unfortunately, I just don't think the play's all that good to begin with which hinders what can be done with it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Bounty Hunter

The Bounty Hunter (2010)

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, and Jason Sudeikis

Directed by Andy Tennant

There's a minute-long scene at the very beginning of The Bounty Hunter that had my hopes raised for the flick right from the start.  We see Milo (Gerard Butler) driving down a highway with a smirk on his face when suddenly smoke begins to billow out of the car's trunk.  He pulls over, opens the trunk, and out pops Nikki (Jennifer Aniston) with one of those emergency highway light sticks.  She starts to run, he chases after her, and the screen pauses.  Up pops some arrows pointing to the characters, cleverly explaining what's going on, telling us that these two folks were previously married and Milo, a bounty hunter, has picked up Nikki, a news reporter, who skipped a court date because she was hot on the trail of a story.  All this was actually rather amusing...

...Then the title card popped up and it all went downhill from there.  I don't think I laughed once during this flick's overly long 110 minutes.  Aniston (who I could watch for hours on end) and Butler (who is certainly engaging in these "comedic" roles) do the best they can with what they're given, but they aren't given much.  I was hoping that at the very least this movie wouldn't go down the stereotypical route that these two exes would end up together in the end, but, lo and behold, the final shot finds our two lovebirds making out.

There's nothing to recommend in this one.  Not a thing.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

How to Train Your Dragon 3D (2010)

Featuring the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Kristen Wiig

Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders

It was not my intention to see this film.  I came to theater thinking that I was going to see something else and when that fell through, this was the reluctant second option.  Perhaps the lowered expectations helped matters, but I truly enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon which I think is Dreamworks' best film to date.

It's not a surprise that the co-directors of this also directed the heartfelt Lilo and Stitch as Dragon is certainly the most emotionally impactful flick from the closest competitor of Disney/Pixar.  Teenage Viking Hicuup is ridiculed amongst his people because of his lack of dragon-fighting prowess.  One evening, when his village is being attacked by dragons, Hiccup takes his homemade weapon and manages to take down the elusive dragon, Night Fury.  No one believes young Hiccup, so the following day, he leaves the village to search for proof of his success and comes across the wounded dragon who has injured his tail, rendering him unable to fly.  Initially intent on killing the beast, Hiccup soon becomes friends with the dragon, eventually forming a friendship.

While the story may be rather simple, the animation is quite the opposite.  While the dragons themselves were fine (although nothing special), I was overly impressed that the filmmakers hired Roger Deakins, a cinematographer who has an incredible filmography (Revolutionary Road, Shawshank Redemption, Dead Man Walking, and ten Coen brothers movies), to help with lighting and framing shots.  The wide shots and landscapes here were beautiful and lush and really added to the overall animated effect.  The depth that 3D provides was certainly used to great effect.

Voice acting was very good with Craig Ferguson and Gerard Butler as, respectively, Hiccup's teacher and father faring the best.  Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, usually so annoying in "real life," proved to be quite humorous in animated form as Hiccup's classmates.  Unfortunately, Hiccup himself is where my biggest fault with the film lies.  Jay Baruchel has the "geeky" voice down to a tee, but I'm not sure it fit in with the Viking atmosphere.  Yes, Hiccup is the class clown/nerd, but it didn't quite work for me.  The character was not supposed to be annoying in the slightest, but at times I felt a tinge of aural irritation when he spoke.

Still, the film is Dreamworks' most touching to date.  A solid effort that makes me cringe that their next effort is Shrek 4.

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Starring Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Bruce McGill, Leslie Bibb, Regina Hall, and Viola Davis
Directed by F. Gary Gray

Nicely directed, but absolutely ludicrous is the way I'd describe Law Abiding Citizen. F. Gary Gray (who directed the underrated The Negotiator in the 90s and the moderately amusing The Italian Job in the aughts) keeps this flick moving along at a very brisk pace, but he is forced to work with a ridiculous script, silly dialogue, and he's unfortunately unable to get a good performance out of Jamie Foxx (then again, is anyone able to get a really good performance out of the overrated actor?).

Gerard Butler is Clyde Shelton and, at the start of the film, his wife and child have been brutally murdered. Two men are charged with their murder, but Philadelphia district attorney Nick Rice (Foxx) seals both of their convictions by using one of the men to testify against the other, thereby giving one of the murderers a death sentence and the other only a five-year prison term. Cut to ten years later and the prisoner on death row's lethal injection goes awry, causing him an incredibly painful death, and the murderer released from jail gets butchered in a ghastly manner. Who committed the crimes? Clyde, the emotionally shattered widow. Clyde's sent to prison, but he's not done his murderous spree. Even from behind bars, he's exacting revenge on those he feels let the one murderer walk free after five years.

First off, let's just say that the way Clyde manages to kill people is pretty damn cool. Unfortunately, all of these elaborate traps seem to rely on people being in the right place at the right time...it's as if he knew where people were conveniently going to be at 'x' hour and was able to plan his crimes around their time table. It's honestly a little too difficult to describe my issues with this issue without revealing too much of the plot, but everything felt a little Saw-esque in terms of the crimes he was committing (granted, I've only seen bits and pieces of Saw movies -- the final 20 minutes of nearly every one while waiting for them to end at the theater and I've seen the first one edited on tv)...elaborate killings that rely on people being right where the killer wants them to be. And the way that Clyde manages to do these things that's revealed in the final act of the film was just silly -- completely unbelievable that he would be able to get away with what he was doing. I guess there's only one solitary confinement cell in prisons...

Second, the dialog here is ridiculous. Everything seemed forced. Jamie Foxx's character was given some ludicrous things to say simply to advance the plot. Despite the fact that the film moved at a brisk pace, it felt like there were several scenes that simply could've been excised and it would've made no difference to the overall film.

As far as the acting goes, Foxx is lukewarm at best. I didn't believe him as a D.A. for a second. Butler is decent, although his American accent is incredibly weak (at least, I think he was playing an American...the accent went back and forth so many times, I'm unsure). Other than that, Butler is actually quite engaging onscreen. With this, The Ugly Truth, and Gamer this year, I find that he's able to rise above an average script and come out looking better than the overall movie itself. And I loved every second Viola Davis was in the flick as the mayor of Philadelphia. She brings a strength to the screen that's not too overpowering to be unbelievable. (That being said, the ridiculous cameo by the real mayor of Philly, Michael Nutter, made people laugh at a time when the audience really shouldn't have been laughing. Stupid move on the director's part there).

So, unfortunately, despite the fact that the story overall never bored me and the director kept the flick moving, the silliness of the plot, the corny dialogue ("He's got police costumes...and other things..."), and a less-than-average performance by one of the film's leads make this one that I can't recommend.

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Gamer (2009)

Starring Gerard Butler, Amber Valeetta, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick, Logan Lerman, Alison Lohman, and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor

From the crazy minds that brought us Crank 2 comes this new insane creation. Set in a future "some years from this exact moment," Gerard Butler is Kable, a man on death row for murder, who is also a player in a new virtual reality game/reality show called "Slayers" created by the nutty billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall). In the game, nanochips are implanted into death row inmates' heads that allow them to be controlled solely by video game enthusiasts when the chips are activated. Should any inmate complete 30 levels of the game, they will earn their freedom and have their slates washed clean.

Crank: High Voltage was completely balls-to-the-wall psychotic and nuts, and that was one of the reasons I loved it. Unfortunately, Gamer doesn't quite reach that level. The action scenes in this movie were pretty damn cool. Sure, they were spastic and all over the place, but they were completely enjoyable. The unfortunate thing is that when the flick veers away from the "Slayers" game and into "Society", the other game created by Ken Castle, the film focuses on the "subversive humor" that was prevalent in Crank and it kind of lost me. That humor worked in Crank because the whole entire movie wallowed in that humor. This flick is much more of an action pic and I honestly just wanted it to get back to action.

Butler is fine in this, but he's not given anything to do and his character is absolutely one-note...not his fault. His wife in the flick, Amber Valletta, hasn't been good in anything I've seen her in and she continues that trend here. The star of the flick is certainly Michael C. Hall -- absurdly crazy and insanely funny, his character was so far over-the-top that you couldn't help but love him.

So, this flick isn't Crank, but directors/writers Neveldine/Taylor carry on the tradition of not giving a shit and creating nutty and freaky cinema. I certainly didn't dislike the film, although it's not quite as good as their previous effort this year.

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - The Ugly Truth (2009)

Starring Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Bree Turner, John Michael Higgins, and Cheryl Hines
Written by Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz, and Kirsten Smith
Directed by Robert Luketic

***SPOILERS AHEAD...THEN AGAIN, IT'S NOT LIKE YOU CAN'T GUESS THE ENDING OF THIS ONE.***

A friend has a theory that women like to watch movies with characters crazier than them because it can make them feel better about themselves -- an "I'm better than her and if she can get a man, I can get a man" kind of mentality. While I haven't seen as many flicks as him this year, I think he may be on to something with that theory.

The same thing happens here -- Katherine Heigl plays Abby, a morning news show producer, who is ridiculously out-of-touch with men. The film starts out with her on a date that is so unbelievable it just set her character off on the wrong track. Anyway, the morning news show is floundering in the ratings and her boss hires misogynistic "relationship expert" Mike (Gerard Butler) to host a segment called "The Ugly Truth" on the show. Abby's unhappy because she thinks Mike's a jerk, but in order to show Abby that he knows what he's talking about, he helps the unlucky-in-love Abby snag a man. Abby falls in love with the guy, Mike get jealous...there's witty repartee leading to sexual tension between them...you don't need to be a genius to know what's going to happen.

And that's the problem with the flick. In the end, it follows every romantic comedy cliché in the book. There was no surprise...I was really hoping it wasn't going to end the way it did, but I should've known better. And Heigl's character is a mess. She's a smart executive, yet has no social skills while on a date, admitting to doing a background check and ridiculing her date for ordering bottled water instead of tap water? That was the one of the opening scenes with Heigl's character and it just set me off on the wrong foot with her.

However, despite my issues with the main character, everyone surrounding her is top notch. Gerard Butler is really funny. He's given some deliciously dirty, nasty, and inappropriate lines to spew and he does it perfectly. Add in a cute performance from Bree Turner as Abby's assistant, and two absolutely winning roles from Cheryl Hines and John Michael Higgins as the sexually frustrated morning show news anchors (who also happen to be married), and it's a shame that the main character couldn't have been more convincing. Still, it's these four actors mentioned in this paragraph that elevate this movie and make it much better than it deserves to be.

Unfortunately, what really brings the movie down the most is that I can't understand in the slightest why Abby and Mike would end up together in the end. What does she find attractive in him? I mean, I guess it's that he can love her for who she really is (that's what the movie wants us to think, anyway), but, without a doubt, he's a prick.

If I learned anything from this movie, it's that I'm too damn nice. I need to wrestle with chicks in jello in order to find true love, I guess...

The RyMickey Rating: C-