Sister Act

Sister Act (1992)

Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Harvey Keitel, Bill Nunn, Mary Wickes, Kathy Najimy, and Wendy Makkena

Directed by Emile Ardolino

Written by Joseph Howard

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: A-

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver (1976)

Starring Robert DeNiro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Leonard Harris, Peter Boyle, and Cybill Shepherd

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Written by Paul Schrader

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

The Irishman

The Irishman (2019)
Starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Harvey Keitel, and Jesse Plemons
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Steven Zaillian

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Youth

Youth (2015)

Starring Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, Alex Macqueen, and Jane Fonda

Directed by Paolo Sorrentino

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

Oh, the potential of Youth.  A talented ensemble cast.  A sometimes touching story (with hints of humor) about two older men trying to remember their engaging past while dealing with their tediously dull present.  A stunningly beautiful nude woman portraying an intelligent Miss Universe winner.  This had a bunch of things going for it.  And then director Paolo Sorrentino goes and screws things up with some of the oddest direction I've seen in a 2015 movie.  Youth certainly looks beautiful, there's no denying that, but the images Sorrentino places up on the screen feel too esoteric to really push the film's plot along, and while I'm sure his visuals meant something to the director, they just befuddle the viewer with a "can't we just get on with the plot" mentality.

At the film's center is Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine), a famous classical composer and conductor who has left his profession behind after his wife fell ill.  Fred retreats at a luxurious spa catering to the incredibly wealthy in the Alps.  There with him is his daughter-cum-manager Lena (Rachel Weisz) who is always pushing him to reconnect with his sick wife (and her mother) whom he hasn't seen in a decade as well as his best friend Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel), a movie director prepping for what he believes to be his last film.  As Fred and Mick rest and relax, they reminisce and often have quite a lot to say about growing old and the effects it can have on one's life.  (Frankly, some of the dialog they spout is actually quite profound and oddly intellectually stimulating, so Sorrentino -- who also wrote the picture -- succeeds in that respect.)

The conflict in the picture arises from the arrival at the spa of a person into each of these men's lives.  For Fred, it's the Queen of England's emissary (Alex Macqueen) sent on a mission to coax the composer into one last outing to play his celebrated "Simple Songs" collection for Prince Philip's birthday.  For Mick, it's Brenda Morel (Jane Fonda), an aging actress who has starred in several of his films and whom Mick wants to appear in his final picture.  Both the emissary and Brenda cause the two men to question their current way of life, impacting them in surprising ways.

For the most part, the acting raises the bar for Youth with the ensemble impressing (including an understated Paul Dano playing a young actor also at the spa).  Michael Caine in particular captivates as his Fred copes with living with a bit of repressed guilt for past indiscretions.  Unfortunately, scenes that forward along the story are oftentimes broken up by tiny visual vignettes of other spa-goers that fall tremendously flat after Sorrentino decides to repetitively return to them throughout the film.  As I've said, I'm sure they mean something metaphorically, but this isn't a film that I particularly feel is "study worthy" to have to delve into and investigate what they really signify.  These throwaway scenes bog down the film's running time and take away from the heart of the story which lies in Fred's relationship with his daughter, his friend, and his estranged wife.

Youth is a weird beast because there are things I really liked about it (even the throwaway vignette-like scenes were shot well despite being frivolous).  In the end, however, it's too choppy and lacks a cohesion that I feel would've strengthened the picture.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Congress

The Congress (2014)

Starring Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jon Hamm, and Paul Giamatti

Directed by Ari Folman

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

Robin Wright plays a version of herself in The Congress set in an immediate future in which movie studios have perfected a method of digitizing images of stars and sending the real-life actors packing, creating new movies and media personas out of these fully lifelike computerized images.  Known for being a bit of a difficult actress (in the film, that is), Robin is also an aging woman -- something Hollywood is not overly fond of it seems.  Eager to spend a little more time at home with her two kids particularly since her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is suffering from the early onset of Usher Syndrome in which he is gradually and irrevocably losing his eyesight and hearing, Robin agrees to a contract that allows Miramount Studios to digitize her and use her image however they see fit.

I must admit that despite the somewhat slow pace, I was mildly intrigued with what The Congress was giving me during its first half with Robin Wright giving a surprisingly nuanced and understated performance as an actress struggling to have to let go of her family's source of livelihood and income.

And then the film jumps twenty years ahead and we see Robin driving down a desolate desert road only to be stopped at a checkpoint where she is given an ampule of liquid which she sniffs...and then turns into a cartoon.  Yep.  Although the animation in the film's second half is vivid, colorful, and steeped a visually impressive 1930s/40s style, the storyline of this segment of the film was much too difficult (and/or uninteresting) for me to follow.  With a whole bunch of metaphysical gobbledygook being spewed about one's real self and true being, I found myself zoning out way too many times for the film's own good.

With about thirty minutes left, I said aloud, "Why are you doing this to yourself?  Just stop watching."  And I almost gave in to that temptation, but I continued.  In the end, I'm glad I did as The Congress did become a little more comprehensible to me by the time it concluded, but it's still much too weird and dull for it to be even remotely recommendable which is a shame because the promise of the first half and the intriguing questions it raises about ageism and sexism in Hollywood are actually quite relevant.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Starring Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Bob Balaban, Harvey Keitel, and Jason Schwartzman

Directed by Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson is a director whose films often feature style trumping substance.  When he succeeds at finding a perfect balance, the result is one of the best movies of the new century.  When he disappoints, at least he always lets us down in an interesting way with a wonderful visual flair.  Moonrise Kingdom falls a bit in the middle of those two spectrums.  His trademark quirkiness is omnipresent in his typical storybook world he has created here, in this case the island town of New Penzance in New England circa 1965.  With beautiful color blocking and visually impressive camera work, Moonrise Kingdom never fails to be a lovely film to gaze upon.  Storywise, however, there's just not a whole lot upon which to heap praises.  It's all a bit too simplistic, feeling even a bit more unnecessarily padded than its short 96-minute runtime would have you believe.

When the film opens, twelve year-old Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) has run away from his Khaki Scout summer camp.  As Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton) frantically rallies his troop members into a search party, across the island young Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) has also run away from home, leaving her parents (Frances McDormand and Bill Murray) worried about her whereabouts.  It turns out that the two tweens have met up with one another to rekindle a budding puppy love romance that began a short time ago.  They plan on running away together and spending a lifetime with one another letting no one in town stop them from their entwined destinies.

That's Moonrise Kingdom in a nutshell and, quite honestly, not much else of importance happens.  There are some quirky side stories that fail to add much to the overarching tale and, as mentioned previously, the main story just doesn't have enough to sustain itself.  Sure, the whole thing is cute as could be, but that doesn't necessarily always cut it.  Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward are nice together as the young couple, but (and this always sounds harsh when critiquing younger actors) it took me quite a while to be won over by their mannered and wooden performances.  Ultimately, I think their director wanted their roles to be exactly as they have played them, but they aren't exactly emotionally riveting, falling instead on the side of bland as opposed to interesting.  The rest of the cast is fine, but with the exception of Mr. Norton's whimsical Scoutmaster, they really aren't given a whole lot to do.  None of the characters have a bit of depth (or at least any depth that proves meaningful) and that is a bit of a disappointment.

Ultimately, Moonrise Kingdom is an enjoyable diversion, but beyond the visuals (which, once again, I find beautiful and make the film certainly worth watching), this proves to be a film that I likely never need to see again sheerly because of the throwaway nature of the whole thing.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

(I realize that the above review sounds overly harsh for a 'B-' rating, but the visual style of the flick carried a lot of weight here.  And the plain and simple truth is that the story just didn't have enough oomph to warrant a higher rating.)

Movie Review - Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, and Quentin Tarantino

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

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

I came to the party late on Reservoir Dogs which probably caused the flick a little bit of harm in the grand scheme of things.  I'd heard that it was this fantastic piece of work filled with clever dialog and great performances.  While I'd agree with that to a certain extent, I have to be in the mood for Quentin Tarantino's writing sometimes and at the start of this heist-gone-bad film, I just didn't dig what I was hearing at all.

However, by the time the halfway point rolled around and "Quentin Tarantino, The Actor" took a backseat to folks who can actually act, I began to see what all the fuss was about.  Granted, I'm still not quite sure why it's revered as much as it is because to me now it seems just like every other Quentin Tarantino flick with its pop culture dialog, hip oldies soundtrack, and time jumping editing.  But, perhaps in 1992 this was new to the scene.  [Although now it really shows me that Tarantino is kind of a one-trick pony and while I may like his tricks, he really doesn't bring a whole lot new to the table in terms of technique in his films.]

The tale of a failed jewelry store robbery is filled with some solid performances from Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen as part of the group of men tasked to steal a load of diamonds and it's these performances that really make the movie work.  Sure, they've got a nice script from Tarantino that had a mild twist or two for the actors to sink their teeth into, but this is really a low budget actors' showcase.

In the end, I enjoyed Reservoir Dogs, but I probably would have enjoyed it more had I seen it fifteen years ago before every college student raved on and on about it thereby increasing expectations exponentially.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-