Jesus of Nazareth

 Jesus of Nazareth (1977)

Starring Robert Powell, Olivia Hussey, Yorgo Voyagis, Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine, Claudia Cardinale, Valentina Cortese, James Farentino, James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach, Tony Lo Bianco, James Mason, Ian McShane, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasance, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Fernando Rey, Ralph Richardson, Rod Steiger, Peter Ustinov, and Michael York

Directed by Franco Zeffirelli

Written by Anthony Burgess, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, and Franco Zeffirelli

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Pottersville

Pottersville (2017)

Starring Michael Shannon,  Judy Greer, Ron Perlman, Thomas Lennon, Christina Hendricks, and Ian McShane

Directed by Seth Henrikson

Written by Daniel Meyer

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

Summary (in 500 words or less):  After discovering his wife (Christina Hendricks) wants to leave him, small town store clerk Maynard (Michael Shannon) goes on a nighttime drunken romp through the town of Pottersvilee in a gorilla costume.  When he wakes up the next morning, Maynard discovers that the town is all abuzz with a sighting of the mythical Bigfoot the night before.  Upon realizing how much Pottersville community has come together over this Bigfoot excitement, Maynard decides to continue dressing up in the gorilla costume in order to keep the town at its best.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Movie Review - John Wick

John Wick (2014)

Starring Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Adrianne Palicki, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, and Bridget Moynahan

Directed by Chad Stahelski

"Keanu Reeves is back!" raved some of the overwhelmingly positive reviews for John Wick upon its release in the fall of 2014.  The story of the title character who seeks revenge on a group of Russian mobsters who kill his newly received beagle -- a gift from his recently deceased wife (Bridget Moynahan) -- John Wick is a series of (admittedly cool) violent fights with the tiniest strand of flimsy story to tie them together.

Reeves seemingly speaks less than one hundred words as a retired hit man called back into duty when the members of a stereotypical Russian mob family pick on him for some reason and to say that the actor "is back" in top form based off this performance is outrageous hyperbole.  Yes, he works well enough in the choreographed fight scenes and he tries his best to engage the audience in his vengeful acts, but there's very little for the actor to latch onto.

The odd thing is that there's some weird sense of potential in screenwriter Derek Kolstad's script with hints of interesting elements.  For example, when Wick heads back into the realm of being a hit man, he sleeps at a hotel that caters to people of his type, keeping their residents' secrets and providing them with the necessary instruments to carry out their assignments.  This is just one of the unique elements present, but very little is done to expand upon them, making me wonder if there was an awful lot left on the cutting room floor...or perhaps it was all oddly surface on the scripted page.

Nevertheless, the incessant fight scenes grow tiresome a little less than halfway through and makes the film's final fifty minutes a slog to watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Eddie Marsan, and Toby Jones

Directed by Rupert Sanders

The more financially successful of the two Snow White flicks released in 2012, Snow White and the Huntsman is certainly darker than the lighthearted Mirror Mirror (which is now available to stream on Netflix), but they're essentially telling the same story we're all familiar with since our childhood.  Shockingly enough, I found both oddly enjoyable to watch in their own ways with both ultimately creating interesting enough twists on the well-known tale to make them never fall into the been-there-done-that realm.

Despite being called Snow White and the Huntsman, the film certainly revolves around the evil Queen Ravenna who is played with wicked abandon by Charlize Theron.  Sexy and alluring, but frighteningly menacing, Theron sinks her teeth into the dark side and goes for broke rather successfully.  When she isn't on the screen, you want the film to shift back to her.  [It should be noted that I said the same thing about Julia Roberts in Mirror Mirror so the role is obviously ripe for scene-stealing.]

But, despite the focus on the Queen, the film's title certainly implies that we're probably going to spend a bit of time with those two title characters, played in this film by Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth, both of whom are perfectly adequate, but undeniably bland.  Hemsworth fares better than Stewart, but that really shouldn't be a surprise considering that I've yet to see Stewart show any smidgen of realistic emotion onscreen in anything.  Here, I'm not sure she even utters fifty lines -- most of the film is her simply reacting vaguely and emptily to things -- but she still manages to prove irksome to this reviewer.

Still, despite the fact that the character of Snow White in a film called Snow White and the Huntsman is a bit of a dud, the film's delving into magic and eerie fantasy is a welcome addition to the tried and true story.  Sure, the Evil Queen has always dipped her hand into the dark arts, but here that's amplified by several degrees to great success and helps to add just enough variations to the tale.  Also amusing, the dwarfs here are typical "munchkin" height, but are played by some fairly famous faces -- Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, and Toby Jones to name a few -- which allows for some more solid acting than we're likely used to seeing from these smaller statured figures.

Overall, the comparison of Snow White and the Huntsman to Mirror Mirror ends up being a bit of a wash.  I'll admit that most will like this version better, but I can at least recognize that for more light-hearted kiddie fare, Mirror Mirror is a solid picture as well.  Neither are fantastic films, but both are acceptable interpretations of the fairy tale.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Starring Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, and Ian McShane

Directed by Rob Marshall

After the absolutely dismal third chapter in the Pirates series, At World's End, it wasn't going to take much to make the fourth film better.  Fortunately, On Stranger Tides leaves the dankness and crazed mysticism aside (for the most part) and after an incredibly shaky opening hour during which at one point I turned to my brother and said "this is godawful and painful," the film actually becomes pretty entertaining and fulfills its mission of being a decent action-comedy.

As is the case with all of these Pirates films, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) manages to input himself into some scheme to gain access/control/possession of some mystical object -- in this case the Fountain of Youth -- and partakes in some double-crossing to get what he wants.  In this fourth film, the writers thankfully cast aside the dead weight of Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Swann and Orlando Bloom's Will Turner and place the focus solely on Jack Sparrow and his relationship with former partner-in-crime/"lover" Angelica (played gamely by Penelope Cruz).  Whereas in the past, I felt too much Jack Sparrow might wear thin, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that this may have been my favorite movie for Johnny Depp as Sparrow.  I genuinely liked his wordplay with Cruz's Angelica and found the duo quite appealing, bringing a sexy vibe to the flick that we haven't seen in the previous films.

While Depp and Cruz certainly helped elevate the film, for some reason, the writers felt the need to input some inane romance into the mix between two newly introduced characters -- "man of the cloth" Philip (Sam Claflin) and mermaid Serena (Astrid Berges-Frisby).  This forced love story by these one-note actors was so bland (particularly when placed against the witty lovey-dovey bickering between Depp and Cruz), it made Knightley and Bloom seem like amazing thespians.

Of course, without the mermaids in the mix, we wouldn't have been treated to what might possibly be the most exciting action sequence yet in a Pirates film.  The introduction of the mermaids about an hour into the movie kicked this movie into high gear and it never really stopped its momentum.  Prior to that, On Stranger Tides seemed like a lesser retread of the first Pirates flick, even going so far as to seemingly re-create the very first action sequence in that first movie when Sparrow fights Will Turner in his shop/warehouse, climbing up to the rafters amidst seemingly endless swordplay.  Honestly, this flick was kind of unbearable in the first hour simply because I couldn't help but feel like every single thing reeked of a "been there, done that" sensation.

In the end, it's kind of a shame that nearly half of the film doesn't work (and doesn't work so badly) because the half that does work is actually some of the best the Pirates series has to offer.  Yes, there are certainly problems that the writers will have to work out in the upcoming movies (for starters, there's no need to continue telling us about the love story between the religious man and the mermaid), but there's an excellent base to build off with the amusing connection between Depp and Cruz and I've got to say that despite the rating below, I'm actually looking forward to the next flick.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Case 39

Case 39 (2010)

Starring Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane, and Jodelle Ferland

Directed by Christian Alvart

There's a reason Case 39 was on the shelf for years.  Overly long, poorly acted, and simply a retread of every other evil kid movie that's already been released.

Renee Zellweger is social worker Emily Jenkins who is already bogged down with thirty-eight cases.  Guess what?  Case 39 is gonna be a doozy!  After meeting the parents of young Lilith (Jodelle Ferland), Emily suspects that the parents may not be capable of caring for the ten-year old, but it isn't until after the parents attempt to kill Lilith that she gains any traction with the people in her government department.  Emily takes Lilith in so that the youth can avoid going into foster care and Emily soon discovers that Lilith may not be the innocent girl she portrays herself to be.

Unfortunately, while there are some interesting scenes (including an exciting one featuring Bradley Cooper and some hornets which, despite featuring poor special effects, had me on the edge of my seat), the film doesn't work at all.  A mix of The Omen and The Ring, Case 39 goes on for way too long, treading water and not going anywhere.  It certainly isn't helped that chipmunk-cheeked Renee Zellweger (she of the school of "Squinty Eyed Acting") is lifeless onscreen and her counterpart Jodelle Ferland lacks the needed pizzazz to carry the role of the devil child.

The RyMickey Rating:  D