Thor

 Thor (2011)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Written by Ashley Edward Miller, Zach Stentz, and Don Payne

Click here for my Letterboxd review

My Previous RyMickey Review

The current RyMickey Rating:  B

Cats

Cats (2019)

Starring Francesca Hayward, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Laurie Davidson, Robbie Fairchild, Rebel Wilson, James Cordon, Jason Derulo, Steven McRae, Danny Collins, Naoimh Morgan, Ray Winstone, and Taylor Swift

Directed by Tom Hooper

Written by Lee Hall and Tom Hooper

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Molly's Game

Molly's Game (2017)

Starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Bill Camp, and Brian D'arcy James

Directed by Aaron Sorkin

Written by Aaron Sorkin

Summary (in 500 words or less):  The true story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) who runs an underground poker ring after a failed Olympic mogul skiing career.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

The Mountain Between Us

The Mountain Between Us (2017)

Starring Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Dermot Mulroney, and Beau Bridges

Directed by Hany Abu-Assad

Written by Chris Weitz and J. Mills Goodloe

Summary (in 500 words or less):  When their flight to the East Coast is cancelled due to bad weather, strangers neurosurgeon Ben Bass (Idris Elba) and photojournalist Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) decide to pool their money together and get a local private pilot (Beau Bridges) to fly them to their destination.  Midflight, however, the pilot suffers a deadly stroke and their plane goes down in the mountains of Colorado.  Desperate to survive in the frigid landscape, Ben and Alex band together to make it to safety.

• The Mountain Between Us is unfortunately about forty-five minutes too long...and it's not all that long to begin with at 110 minutes.  
• Despite being anchored by two very strong and capable performances from Idris Elba and Kate Winslet, the film pushes a romantic chemistry between the duo which the survivalist pic didn't really need.  
• Director Hany Abu-Assad's film works best in its first act in the lead-up and immediate aftermath of the plane crash and then falls apart when it pushes Elba and Winslet to fall for one another which just ends up coming off as laughable.  It leads to one of the silliest and foolishly shot sex scenes I've seen in a while.
• It's a bit of a shame the film's script takes this flick where it eventually goes because there were pieces at the beginning that made this seem more promising than it ended up being.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Anthony Hopkins, and Mark Ruffalo

Directed by Taika Waititi

Written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns to his home planet of Asgard and forces his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to help find their father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) who was missing, but then found hiding in Norway.  Odin reveals that he is dying and that his death will unlock the prison cell that his firstborn daughter Hela (Cate Blanchett) has been kept in for years because of Odin's fear that his daughter was becoming too ambitious.  Upon Odin's death, Hela returns to Asgard and chaos begins to reign as she forces Thor and Loki off the planet.  Thor lands on  Sakaar, a weird planet full of space waste and home to massive gladiator-style battles by people captured by The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), one of whom happens to be the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) who had been missing ever since the events of "Captain America: Civil War."

• Right off the bat, I should just say that Thor: Ragnarok is my favorite Marvel movie yet.  Director Taika Waititi (along with the trio of screenwriters) have crafted a fun-filled humorous ride filled with solid action sequences that carry some gravitas and importance in the grand scheme of the Thor franchise storyline.
• The balance struck here by Waititi in terms of action and humor is what the Guardians movies wants to be, but hasn't yet achieved. 
• Considering how much I despised Thor: The Dark World, I admittedly wasn't expecting much here, but the change in tone to something a bit more light-hearted works amazing well.
• Despite the oftentimes more whimsical and humorous nature of the film, there's still some important stuff going on here.  The family dynamic between Thor, his sister Hela, and their brother Loki is some heavy stuff and carries heft in the grand scheme of Thor's story...all the while likely helping to set up storylines for the upcoming Avengers film.
• Kudos to the entire cast -- Chris Hemsworth gets to display his comedic chops (which are always impressive), Jeff Goldblum and Mark Ruffalo appear to be having a ton of fun, Tessa Thompson brings a strong female presence to the proceedings, and Cate Blanchett tears up the screen as the villainess.  SPOILER ALERT -- Here's hoping they can find some way to bring her back in future films because she lit up the screen whenever she appeared.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoë Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yeltsin, Sofia Boutella, and Idris Elba

Directed by Justin Lin

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

I have admiration for the new incarnation of the Star Trek film series and I think it's been quite successful thus far thanks to its ability to balance an homage to the past with an updated aesthetic.  Star Trek Beyond, the third film in this modern reboot, still maintains this equity, but it's the least engaging of the three films thus far, failing to really create a story that feels cinematic and instead seemingly could've taken place over a 45-minute episode of one of the Star Trek tv series.

The cast remains rock solid in this third film, but the direction shifts hands from J.J. Abrams to Justin Lin and the screenplay also moves to co-writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung and unfortunately both aspects end up being quite lacking when compared to their predecessors.  While Star Trek Beyond adds a little more comedic and emotional rapport between its characters, it comes as a bit of a disappointment after what is likely the best Star Trek film to date in Star Trek Into Darkness.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Zootopia

Zootopia (2016)

Featuring the vocal talents of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Alan Tudyk, Shakira, Maurice LaMarche, and Octavia Spencer

Directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore

Amusing and creative, Zootopia is an engaging animated film with clever gags, solid animation, and quality voice acting.  While some critics deemed this Disney's best animated film in decades, I'm not willing to go there.  However, once you get past the rather lengthy exposition at the film's outset, its story becomes quite engaging and easily is able to win over its audience of both kids and adults alike.

Zootopia takes us a world that is completely made up of anthropomorphic animals where the concept of predators and prey don't exist; rather everyone coexists peacefully.  As the flick begins, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) has just moved to the big titular city from the small rural town of Bunnyburrow with the aspirations to become the first rabbit police officer in the Zootopia Police Department.  While she eventually succeeds at achieving her dream, she's given very little respect by her superiors -- including water buffalo police chief Bogo (Idris Elba) -- and is tasked with being a lowly traffic cop.  In the course of her mundane duties, Judy runs across sly fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) who she feels in conducting some type of shady business, but she can't quite put her finger on it.  Back at the police station one afternoon, a concerned Mrs. Otterton (Octavia Spencer) pleads with Chief Bogo to search for her missing husband, but when Bogo seemingly pushes Mrs. Otterton aside, Judy jumps at the opportunity to work on a real case.  Bogo, seeing this as an opportunity to get rid of the overly ambitious Judy, tells the rabbit she has 48 hours to find Mrs. Otterton's husband Emmitt or else she must give up her position as a cop.  Desperate to keep her job and prove her worth, Judy tracks down Nick and bribes him into helping her.  The duo travels through the many landscapes of Zootopia and discover a nefarious plot that is turning the now peaceful predators into vicious animals again.

If that seems like a bit of a lengthy summarization, that's because I feel like it is...and that's the biggest problem I had with Zootopia.  The film just takes too long to get rolling -- too much exposition at the start and not enough verve to keep my interest.  Fortunately, once Judy and Nick head out on their mission to track down Emmitt Otterton, things begin to pick up and the film becomes filled with clever jokes and clever humanization of animals.  While the film's script doesn't really lend itself to those heart-wrenching or emotionally uplifting moments we've found in Pixar's films, it still ends up successfully balancing its comedic and dramatic moments in the film's final two acts.

Jason Bateman is perfect casting as Nick with the slick fox emanating Bateman's smart-alecky persona.  Ginnifer Goodwin is spot-on sweet as Judy, a character that could grow irksome in her perfectionism, but doesn't thanks to the vocals provided by the actress.  Nice turns also come from Don Lake and Bonnie Hunt (one of my favorite comediennes) as Judy's parents, the aforementioned Elba as the tough-as-nails police chief, and Jenny Slate as a tiny sheep playing assistant to the mayor of Zootopia.

The animators and screenwriters prove to be clever in their homages to other films and to human existence itself.  Puns abound, but never feel too in-your-face or over-the-top which is a good thing because these plays on words/plays on human culture could've gotten old quickly.  Instead, they add atmosphere to the animal environment.  In the end, Zootopia is a worthy entrant to the Disney animated canon, but it doesn't quite match the levels of the company's best.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Beasts of No Nation

Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Starring Abraham Attah, Idris Elba, Kurt Egyiawan, Jude Akuwudike, and Emmanuel "King Kong" Nii Adom Quaye

Directed by Cory Joji Fukunaga

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

"I saw terrible things...and I did terrible things...and if I tell you about these things, you'll think I'm some sort of beast, a devil.  But I also had a mother once, and a father, and a brother and sister...and they loved me."

So says young Agu (Abraham Attah) in a gut-wrenching moment in Beasts of No Nation, a terrifying film about the horrors of a territorial war in an unnamed country in Africa.  Agu and his family were living in in a buffer zone in the war, supposedly free of involvement from the fighting factions, but when the buffer zone is invaded, Agu goes on the run after his father and brother are killed.  In the jungle, Agu is captured by a group involved with the NDF - a rising rebel army.  The head of this faction of the NDF is the Commandant (Idris Elba) who decides instead of killing Agu to bring him in to his army which is largely formed of young pre-teen children.  Although allowed to live, Agu's life takes a terrible turn as he's forced to commit heinous acts that he never thought he'd be capable of doing.

Beasts of No Nation is not an easy sit.  Director Cory Joji Fukunaga does a fantastic job of creating an atmosphere that is oppressing and harrowing.  Agu's progression from a boy with a bright disposition to one whose weathered face shows no concern when asked to kill someone is brilliantly captured in both story (also written by Fukunaga) and acting by first timer Abraham Attah.  Attah is surprisingly captivating considering this is his first role ever and he more than carries the emotional heft of the film on his shoulders.

While shot nicely and acted well, Beasts of No Nation begins to fall apart a bit near its conclusion.  Building so much tension and story around Agu, the film shifts its attention in the final act towards the Commandant and despite a fantastic no-nonsense and strong performance from Idris Elba, the film isn't about him.  While the flick eventually moves back to Agu (and gives us a fantastic scene to end things on), this misguided emphasis on the Commandant knocks the film down a notch.  However, Beasts of No Nation is still a powerful film that just loses its way a little bit.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Gunman

The Gunman (2015)

Starring Sean Penn, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance, Jasmine Trinca, Idris Elba, and Javier Bardem

Directed by Pierre Morel

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

While not as awful as the poor reviews made it out to be, the biggest flaw of The Gunman is that it lacks originality.  After initially attempting to play out like an environmental/sociopolitical message movie (and seeing that it was co-written by Sean Penn, that's not a big surprise), the film thankfully shifts to an all-out action piece.  While that change of pace is certainly welcome (because the preachy heaviness of the film's opening minutes isn't amusing in the slightest), it's also the center of the flick's problem.  Director Pierre Morel also helmed Taken, and The Gunman feels like that film's sibling as an older man seeks revenge against people who are out to take him down.

Sean Penn is Terrier who in 2006 was a member of a assassination team who killed Congo's Minister of Mining and then is forced to go into hiding to prevent his identity from being revealed.  (The mining aspect is where the political and environmental concepts rear their heads, but that's fortunately abandoned rather quickly.)  Eight years later, Terrier is working for an African mining company when a group of vigilantes arrives at his worksite intent on killing him.  Terrier escapes, but must set out to find who wants him dead and why they've waited so long to do him in.

Surprisingly, Penn is capable of being the action star, bringing a bit of inward turmoil to Terrier that we don't often see in flicks like this.  That said, the character doesn't quite feel as developed as he should be.  Sure, he's given some odd quirks and a dire medical diagnosis that he must overcome, but I lacked a connection to his plight that could've come from a bit more deepening of the character.  The action sequences are well shot and well-paced, but I began to lose interest in the film's final act which is never a good sign for a film in this genre.  The supporting cast -- Ray Winstone, Javier Bardem, Mark Rylance -- is solid and certainly add to the quality of the film, but in the end The Gunman doesn't quite develop into the piece it could've been.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book (2016)

*viewed in 3D*

Starring Neel Sethi and featuring the voice talent of Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Walken

Directed by Jon Favreau

Exquisitely filmed with some of the best integration of computer-generated animation and live action acting I've ever seen, director Jon Favreau's reimagining of Disney's 1967 version of The Jungle Book is stunning to watch.  Unfortunately, it also left me feeling somewhat bored, pondering the notion why Disney feels the need to keep rehashing their prior successes instead of formulating new and original ideas.  Much like last year's Kenneth Branagh adaptation of Cinderella and, to a lesser extent, 2014's Maleficent, the production quality of these recent live action updates is undeniably stellar, but I have to wonder if I'll ever be emotionally moved by them seeing as how I've already seen the animated originals.

We all know the story here -- Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi) is a young boy who was somehow abandoned in the jungle and ends up being raised by a pack of wolves led by Akela and Raksha (voiced by Giancarlo Esposito and Lupita Nyong'o).  Thanks to a bit more ominous storyline than in the original animated film, it's decided that Mowgli must be taken to the man village to be raised with other humans.  Panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) begins the journey with Mowgli, but they are soon separated at which point the young boy comes across a lazy bear named Baloo (Bill Murray) and a friendship quickly ensues.  With Baloo willing to keep Mowgli company, Mowgli sees no reason to continue on to the man village, but little does he know that the vicious tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) seeks to end the young boy's life.

I'll give the film credit for going darker than the original and giving Mowgli's initial existence in the jungle a bit more of a backstory, but beyond that, the film mirrors very closely to the original in terms of overall plot.  Admittedly, when I reviewed the original, I found it a little episodic and Favreau's version is surprisingly able to solve that issue.  This live action version flows like a more singular piece of material rather than a melange of character meetings.  However, it never gripped me and pulled me in to the story in any way.  There was never any sense of dread for any of the characters nor any sense of excitement because I knew where the story was heading.

Young Neel Sethi deserves a lot of credit.  As the only speaking live-action human in the cast, he more than captivates and holds our attention.  His comedic timing is spot on and considering he stars with a cast of all computer animated creatures, his acting ability deserves commendation.  The voice cast is also stellar.  I loved the mellifluous slyness of George Sanders' vocalization of Shere Khan in the original, but Idris Elba's menacing anger in this updated version may win out for me in the end.  Similarly, Bill Murray as Baloo and Ben Kingsley as Bagheera strike a nice balance of paying a bit of homage to the original vocals while also crafting their own tones.  However, by the time Christopher Walken's King Louie comes into the picture, I found myself shrugging my shoulders and not really caring because I knew exactly what the end result was going to be at the end of the scene.

Admittedly, I find myself in a bit of a conundrum with 2016's The Jungle Book.  I think it's a better movie than the original and the special effects are incredibly realistic, but I also find myself oddly detached from the proceedings in the update because the story is too similar.  Therein lies the problem with these recent Disney updates.  Although they may be well-crafted, they lack any emotional oomph because they don't do enough to reinvigorate or reimagine the stories we know so well.  Maybe my mind will change when next year's reimagining of Beauty and the Beast comes out...but I will not get my hopes up in the slightest.  As for this version of The Jungle Book, it's certainly good, but perhaps it'd be better if you were completely unfamiliar with the Disney source material.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim (2013)

Starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Clifton Collins, Jr. 

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

I'm not sure anyone is more surprised than me that Pacific Rim works.  In fact, it's the movie 2014's Godzilla wishes it could've been.  Director and co-screenwriter Guillermo del Toro injects a lot of fun into his science fiction piece that make this big action pic move at a fairly rapid clip.  With some nice visual set pieces and an unique premise, Pacific Rim is a refreshing change of pace from typical summer blockbusters.

The year is 2020.  For the past seven years, the US and the world have been battling the Kaiju -- an ever-evolving fleet of gigantic monsters who rise up occasionally from a rift in a rim under the Pacific Ocean.  In order to counter the Kaiju, the world banded together and created the Jaeger -- huge robots that are used as hunters and a defense against the havoc the Kaiju wreak on the world.  While successful initially, the Kaiju have adapted to the defense mechanisms of the Jaeger and this savior of mankind is now becoming obsolete.  The Earth's governments declare the Jaeger project to be finished and start about building giant walls around the world's countries where the land meets the sea.  When these walls fail, the Jaeger are pulled out of retirement for one last attempt at defeating the ever-changing Kaiju.

The concept above is rather unique in and of itself, but del Toro adds even more interesting aspects to the mix in the way that the Jaeger are controlled.  Because of their gigantic size, two "pilots" are needed to control a Jaeger from the inside.  These two pilots must essentially "mind meld" in order to get in sync with one another so that the Jaeger's motions are seamless.  Adding to that, the ever-evolving Kaiju allow the monsters to be presented in similar, yet very different ways each time we encounter the beasts.  These unique twists provide just enough differences that make Pacific Rim stand out from something similar like a Godzilla movie.

While not without its faults -- the second to last battle sequence is a big payoff and when you realize there's still another one to come, you wonder why del Toro set up the film like he did; Charlie Day (while funny) plays a scientist in such a wacky way that you feel like you're watching a different movie every time his character is on screen -- Pacific Rim is a winner.  Guillermo del Toro has an eye for action sequences and has moments where heart prevails.  While its overarching story doesn't reinvent the wheel, the initial premise is singular enough that it makes us feel like we're watching something fresh.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+