Downton Abbey: A New Era

 Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Elisabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Maggie Smith, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Joanne Froggatt, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Sophie McShera, Tuppence Middleton, Lesley Nicol, Imelda Staunton, Penelope Wilton, Laura Haddock, Dominic West, Nathalie Baye, Jonathan Zaccaï, and Hugh Dancy

Directed by Simon Curtis

Written by Julian Fellowes

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)

Starring Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sam Riley, Ed Skrein, Harris Dickinson, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, and Lesley Manville

Directed by Joachin Rønning

Written by Linda Woolverton, Noah Harpster, and Micah Fitzerman-Blue

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Maleficent

Maleficent (2014)

Starring Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Leslie Manville, Sam Riley, and Brenton Thwaites

Directed by Robert Stromberg

Written by Linda Woolverton

Click here for my current Letterboxd review

Click here for the original RyMickey Rating

Current RyMickey Rating:  B

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey (2019)

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Michael C. Fox, Joanne Froggatt, Matthew Goode, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, Geraldine James, Simon Jones, Tuppence Middleton, Kate Phillips, and Imelda Staunton

Directed by Michael Engler

Written by Julian Fellowes

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Paddington

Paddington (2015)

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris, Jim Broadbent, and Nicole Kidman

Featuring the vocal talent of Ben Whishaw, Michael Gambon, and Imelda Staunton

Directed by Paul King

Those who read this blog know that I am not afraid to give adequate credit to a kid pic that does its job well.  (The Top Twenty placement of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day in the 2014 RyMickey Awards is evidence of that.)  Because of this, it's a bit disappointing to say that I wasn't completely captivated by Paddington, an admittedly charming film that feels a bit too choppy and episodic to make a big impression.

Through a rather odd and off-putting prologue, we learn that British explorer Montgomery Clyde discovered a new species of bear upon his travels to Peru.  While he had to leave South America, Clyde befriended the bears who learned English and he told the ursine creatures to visit him someday when they were able.  Cut to years (decades?) later and a terrible earthquake ruins the bear's Peruvian home and young Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) is sent to Britain by his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) in order to live a better life.

Upon his arrival in London, Paddington finds himself adrift in the Paddington subway station only to be discovered by the Brown family headed by dad Henry and mom Mary (Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins).  With it difficult to acclimate to suburban life, Paddington finds himself at odds with Henry who wants the bear out of his house.  With this apparently not enough of a story, Paddington also must avoid being captured by a rather sadistic taxidermist named Millicent (Nicole Kidman) who wants to stuff the rare bear for her collection.

If the summary seems rather at odds with itself and a conglomerative mess, that's because it kind of is.  There are too many "episodes" without a really singular captivating storyline to carry the film.  That isn't to say that the film disappoints entirely.  Director and co-screenwriter Paul King has made an innately "British" picture with much of the film's charm and laughs coming from Paddington's experiences with this new culture with which he's attempting to assimilate.  Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins are both delightful in their roles and Nicole Kidman succeeds with her rather underwritten and seemingly unnecessary character.  Additionally, the special effects that create Paddington himself are quite good and meld rather seamlessly with the bear's human counterparts.  However, overall, Paddington just doesn't quite cut it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Pride

Pride (2014)

Starring Ben Schnetzer, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Andrew Scott, George MacKay, and Joseph Gilgun

Directed by Matthew Warchus

While the jovial atmosphere nearly always omnipresent in Pride is welcoming and certainly entertaining, Matthew Warchus' film about a group of gay and lesbian activists working to help Welsh miners during a year-long 1984 strike finds itself a bit too packed to the gills with quirky characters to really make an impact.  The removal of a variety of subplots would've trimmed down the rather extended runtime and created a more concise and resonant piece.  As it stands now, Pride is a decent film, but always finds itself teetering on the edge of overstaying its welcome.

Although the subject matter can get serious at times, Warchus keeps the atmosphere relatively light-hearted while detailing the mining strike and the oftentimes anti-homosexual attitudes of 1980s England.  Plus, despite the abundant and sometimes superfluously large cast, all the actors assembled here more than adequately provide the requisite humor and drama necessary for their individual characters.  Ben Schnetzer is certainly captivating as the film's lead, emoting the proper amount of strength and vulnerability in the role of the leader of his founded group - LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners).  Aided by the jaunty Imelda Staunton, buttoned-up Bill Nighy, and charming Paddy Considine as Welsh townsfolk who welcome LGSM to assist them in raising money for the miners, the cast clicks.

The successful cast, in the end, makes it all the more unfortunate that the movie doesn't quite click as well.  Pride is fine, but "fine" could've been so much better with a little more working with the script in order to excise some of the extra side stories.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Maleficent

Maleficent (2014)

Starring Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville, Sam Riley, and Brenton Thwaites

Directed by Robert Stromberg

Perhaps it's faint praise to tout Maleficent as being better than Disney's recent live action interpretations of Alice in Wonderland and Oz: The Great and Powerful considering that the former was horrendous and the latter was nothing to write home about.  Still, if Disney's going to insist on reinterpreting family classics, they're gradually starting to learn from their previous disappointments.

Moreso than their previous attempts, Maleficent draws greatly from Disney's animated classic Sleeping Beauty (yes, the Disney Discussion will be returning in September after a very long hiatus), twisting that story to its own whims.  In the animated film, Maleficent was pure evil, but here this formerly friendly fairy only turns fiendish when a neighboring kingdom's ruler tries to take over her home.  Years later, still hellbent on revenge thanks to an additional subplot involving stolen fairy wings (naturally), Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) hears that King Stefan and his wife are expecting a baby.  When the young Aurora is born, Maleficent appears at the festivities and curses the girl to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and fall into an unending sleep upon her sixteenth birthday only to be awakened by true love's kiss.  Sound familiar?  The remainder of the tale follows the storyline of Sleeping Beauty quite closely -- three fairies Knotgrass, Flittle, and Thistletwit (Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, and Juno Temple) -- raise the growing Aurora (played by Elle Fanning as a teen) in the woods away from all civilization in hopes that this will keep her safe.

However, unlike the previous Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent keeps a careful eye on Aurora and begins to feel sorry for what she's done to the girl who played no part in harming her.  This gentle, kind, magnanimous Maleficent is the change -- and it's not necessarily a change for the better.  For starters, Angelina Jolie is fantastic when she plays the title character for all her deliciously over-the-top scenery-chewing evilness.  Let's face it -- Maleficent is a quintessentially evil character and Jolie really embodies that aspect of the role.  However, when the film forces her character to downplay the nastiness and embrace niceness, things begin to falter a bit and become much less interesting.  Jolie certainly still is a presence, but it's not quite the presence we really long for her to be here.  Fortunately, as Jolie's Maleficent turns disappointingly kind, we're also able to see the innocence of Elle Fanning's Aurora which she displays perfectly to a tee.  You can almost see why Maleficent decides to befriend Aurora -- almost -- until you realize that this bastardization of a true cinematic villain is kind of boring to watch.

Still, despite my qualms which I admit are rather important in the grand scheme of the film, I liked Maleficent.  Maybe it's because I went in with such low expectations, but Jolie's performance certainly is solid.  I only wish she was able to be as gloriously evil as her title character should've been allowed to be.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Pirates! Band of Misfits

The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)

Featuring the voice talents of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, Anton Yelchin, Brendon Gleeson, and Salma Hayek

Directed by Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt

The Pirates! Band of Misfits feels distinctly Aardman, the same animation studio that brought us Flushed Away, Chicken Run, and the Wallace and Gromit shorts and film.  There's no mistaking the company's wry British sense of humo(u)r and the Claymation-style stop motion animation.  However, while the animation proves to be fantastic (I honestly thought it was computer-animated until I did a bit of research), the story about a band of misfit pirates (hence the title) doesn't quite have enough oomph to satisfy.

All Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) wants is to be named Pirate of the Year.  For years, he's never been able to get the coveted award and he's clamored to be anything other than a laughing stock amongst his fellow pirates (some voiced by Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek).  However, Pirate Captain's biggest problem is that he's simply not very good at his chosen profession.  He always seem to fail when it comes to one of the key factors in gauging a pirate's success -- stealing booty.  Determined to find his place at the top of the Pirate of the Year ballot, Pirate Captain sets off on a mission to steal as much booty as he can find and ends up raiding the ship of Charles Darwin (David Tennant).  Darwin has nothing worth stealing, but discovers that Pirate Captain's parrot is actually the last remaining dodo on the planet.  Seeing dollar signs before his eyes and with the prospect of earning much admiration from Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), Darwin convinces the Pirate Captain to travel to London with him to present the dodo at a huge science convention.  The Pirate Captain, lured by the prospect of a "giant prize" at the affair, obliges despite the fact that the Queen absolutely despises pirates and does all that she can to see they are executed.

All of that plot is certainly amusing and it had me convinced that I was in for a nice and unexpected treat.  However, that all takes place in the film's first thirty minutes and the remaining fifty minutes simply wanders about rather aimlessly, losing the momentum of the strong first act.  As I mentioned above, the animation is rather stunning.  I've always been a fan of Aardman's unique stop-motion style and it doesn't disappoint here.  In fact, the fluidity of movement in Pirates is the best I've seen from them, but it still maintains the uniqueness that is stop-motion animation.  Couple the beautiful animation with some nice voice acting particularly from an unrecognizable Hugh Grant as Pirate Captain and Martin Freeman as his trusty partner Pirate with a Scarf and you have all the makings of a nice film.

Which is why it's all the more unfortunate that the story didn't have a little more to offer.  The Pirates! Band of Misfits isn't a bad film and it's not even something I'd consider a disappointment.  It's disheartening, however, that there appeared to be so much potential here that wasn't quite fully realized.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Theater Review - Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd

Book by Hugh Wheeler

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim 

Directed by Jonathan Kent

Where: Adelphi Theatre, London, England

When: Saturday, April 28, 7:30pm

In what will likely be my only instance of seeing live theater in Britain, I am incredibly pleased to report that Sweeney Todd was the dark, morbid tale I was expecting -- and it was great.  I don't dislike the Johnny Depp-Tim Burton movie adaptation as much as others (although it did seem to lack any modicum of fun which, despite the freakish storyline, this work should have), but seeing Stephen Sondheim's wickedly delightful tale unfold on a stage with two fantastic lead performances was wonderful.

Although probably most famous for being a musical about stuffing humans into pies, Sweeney Todd weaves the tale of the title character, a barber who was banished from London after evil judge Turpin begins to lust after his wife.  Sweeney (played by Michael Ball) covertly returns to London and takes residence in piemaker Nellie Lovett's shop.  Mrs. Lovett (the delightful Imelda Staunton) tells Sweeney that his wife killed herself after Turpin raped her and that Sweeney's teenage daughter is kept locked away by Turpin.  Sweeney vows revenge and begins a murderous rampage that helps Mrs. Lovett's ailing pie shop as she brainstorms the devious idea of stuffing Sweeney's murder victims into delicious meat pies.

Despite its rather horrid premise, Sweeney Todd manages to be darkly humorous thanks mainly to Mrs. Lovett who is marvelously portrayed here by Imelda Staunton.  Staunton -- best known to American audiences for her role as Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies -- may not be the best singer, but she brings much needed comedic timing to the heavy affair.  Her interactions with the equally impressive, though frighteningly brooding Michael Ball were the best parts of the production...and ultimately make some of the scenes in which neither of them are involved a bit of a letdown only because these two leads were so electric that you wanted the story to always be revolving around them.

Still, this Stephen Sondheim musical is widely regarded as one of the best musical theater pieces ever written and it's easy to see why.  With two hefty roles, a unique story, and cleverly wry lyrics, it has the hallmarks of what one looks for in a musical.  This production re-imagined by director Jonathan Kent updated to 1930s London rather than the usual mid-19th century in which the play was initially written is visually sparse, but oddly spot-on in the urban aesthetic it desires to achieve.

Sweeney Todd wasn't necessarily the first choice to go see in London, but I'm certainly glad we decided to go this route.  The great reviews this production received were certainly warranted.