A Very Murray Christmas

 A Very Murray Christmas (2015)

Starring Bill Murray, Paul Shaffer, Michael Cera, George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, Dimitri Dimitrov, David Johansen, Rashida Jones, Jenny Lewis, Amy Poehler, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman, and Julie White

Directed by Sofia Coppola

Written by Bill Murray, Sofia Coppola, and Mitch Glazer

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

The Polka King

The Polka King (2018)

Starring Jack Black, Jenny Slate, Jason Schwartzman, J.B. Smoove, Vanessa Bayer, and Jacki Weaver

Directed by Maya Forbes

Written by Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Klaus

Klaus (2019)

Featuring the vocal talents of Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Norm Macdonald, and Joan Cusack

Directed by Sergio Pablos

Written by Sergio Pablos, Jim Mahoney, and Zach Lewis

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Overnight

The Overnight (2015)

Starring Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman, Taylor Schilling, and Judith Godrèche

Directed by Patrick Brice

In The Overnight, we meet Alex and Emily (Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling) who have just moved to Los Angeles from Seattle.  While taking their son to a local park, they meet Kurt (Jason Schwartzman) who is also there with his son who tells the recent transplants to come to his house for dinner.  Knowing very few people, Alex and Emily agree and upon their arrival meet Kurt's French wife Charlotte (Judith Godrèche).  Eclectic and somehow oddly charming, as the wine is poured and the pot is smoked, Alex and Emily find themselves being won over by the free-wheeling LA couple.  As the night continues, things become increasingly more humorously wild and zanily crazy eventually reaching several points of no return that take Alex and Emily to places they've never been before.

Breezy, light, and certainly funny, The Overnight is simple, yet effective.  This adult sex comedy (of sorts) is all about pushing boundaries and comfort levels as we in the audience find ourselves relating to the LA newcomers and their shock as Kurt and Charlotte keep topping themselves with raucousness.  Featuring a strong quartet of actors, writer-director Patrick Brice has given each actor a few unique nuances to work with that give a surprising amount of character depth considering that the film essentially takes place over the course of one day.  All four actors more than hold their own and are certainly adept at creating comedic moments.

The Overnight isn't going to blow you away by any means, but it's definitely funny if you're willing to take the journey with the characters.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Big Eyes

Big Eyes (2014)

Starring Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Krysten Ritter, Danny Huston, Jason Schwartzman, and Terence Stamp

Directed by Tim Burton

The aesthetics of Big Eyes are certainly Tim Burton-esque in their 1950s/1960s stylizations although the quirky director has scaled back his trademark oddness, crafting a somewhat bland story out of the rather interesting true tale of Margaret Keane and her conniving husband Walter.  The weird lack of balance between comedy and drama causes Big Eyes to falter and an odd performance from one of the leads disappoints and further exacerbates the notion that this actor is a one-note performer.

That actor just so happens to be two-time Academy Award-winner Christoph Waltz who plays the aforementioned Walter.  When Margaret (played by Amy Adams) divorces her first husband, she runs to San Francisco with her young daughter.  Shortly after her arrival, she meets Walter who proposes to her mere weeks after meeting.  Walter purports to be an aspiring artist much like Margaret, although Walter's paintings all focus on the streets of Paris, whereas Margaret creates portraits of big eyed children who often look forlorn and saddened.  This initial artistic kinship Margaret feels is quickly diminished when Walter takes it upon himself to act as if Margaret's paintings are his own since female painters have such a tough time moving product.  Walter becomes a world-wide success, while Margaret is forced to paint images that she can't even call her own.

Unfortunately, the Walter character is oddly portrayed throughout in the kind of maniacal comedic manner by Waltz that we've seen him undertake in flicks like Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained.  Waltz has seemingly proven himself to be as one note an actor as Melissa McCarthy as of late (although Ms. McCarthy changed her tune a tad with this year's St. Vincent).  Another Oscar nomination for his role here would prove that the Academy lacks any kind of ingenuity as this is likely the worst role I've seen from him.  His Walter starts so cloyingly sweet and turns so quickly on a dime into a conniving jerk that his transformation seems implausible.  I'm sure, in all likelihood, there's truth behind this real life man's shift into deviousness, but Waltz (likely admittedly getting "help" from Burton and screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski) fails to give Walter any emotional arc from the film's onset to its conclusion.  The two distinct personalities we see that the beginning and the end feel like two different people rather than just one.

Adams fares better, although I also feel like she's simply playing a part we've seen her tackle before.  As the quiet and inwardly emotional Margaret, Adams hides her character's feelings, putting up walls to try and keep her husband from damaging her.  This doesn't allow us to fully connect with her, making the audience feel a bit distant from her desire to make herself be publicly known.  When she finally pushes herself to achieve this goal, it feels much too sudden and a bit uncharacteristic for her subtle character.

Granted, I'm making accusations about characters above who are REAL PEOPLE.  It's entirely possible that these REAL PEOPLE acted just like Adams and Waltz portray them.  However, in the grand scheme of movie, this keeps the audience at a distance because we can't latch on to their stories.  I will admit that despite my review full of qualms above, I wasn't ever bored during Big Eyes as I found its overarching story an intriguing one.  The film was actually better than my seemingly horrible review makes it out to be.  It's just unfortunate it wasn't better as I think there was potential here for something great.  Tim Burton, however, simply isn't able to determine what type of movie he wanted to tell -- light-hearted, serious, comedic, dramatic, biographical, fantastical, courtroom drama.  All of it is there -- just none of it is done up to par.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Annie Rose Buckley, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford, B.J. Novak, Jason Schwartzman, Kathy Baker, Melanie Paxson, and Rachel Griffiths

Directed by John Lee Hancock

Poor Saving Mr. Banks.  Hit with articles and speeches (thanks, Meryl Streep) saying that it's a whitewash of Walt Disney's "true" misogynistic and anti-Semitic leanings, intent on being a love letter for the cherished movie company, the family friendly film all but missed the boat on Oscar nomination day failing to earn a nod beyond Best Score.  Critics of the film will tell you that the movie sets up Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers as a put-upon lady who had to succumb to "Uncle Walt's" wishes in order to finally have a film version of her classic novel placed up on the screen.  Quite honestly, I can't help but think that's a bunch of baloney as that's not at all what I saw in this movie.  Travers' headstrong personality may have kowtowed in certain areas of production, but to call her an obsequious woman trampled on by a larger than life figure misses the boat completely.  Yes, Saving Mr. Banks is a film about letting things go, but Travers isn't "giving up" her beloved Mary Poppins.  Instead, she's giving up some long-standing guilt that's she's clung to since her childhood.  The story here isn't really about the making of a movie...it's about one woman's acceptance of the past and willingness to forgive herself for things beyond her control.

Saving Mr. Banks manages to take two separate storylines and weave them together rather seamlessly thanks to a lovely script by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith and nice (though perhaps a tiny touch heavyhanded) direction by John Lee Hancock.  First, we see an adult Pamela Travers (Emma Thompson) finding herself facing monetary trouble.  With her unwillingness to write any more novels and sales of her Mary Poppins series dwindling, London-based Travers is convinced by her agent/publisher to travel to California and meet with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) to discuss the making of Poppins into a feature film.  Upon her initial meeting with the Hollywood mogul, Travers agrees to see what Disney, screenwriter Don DeGradi (Bradley Whitford), and songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman (B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman) have crafted for her beloved nanny character.  Travers is not an easy woman to please.  While some may call her curmudgeonly, she simply has a vision as to what she believes Mary Poppins should be.

The reason for that vision is because, as much as she tried to suppress it for decades, Mary Poppins is really a re-imagined telling of what she longed for her childhood to be.  In the other half of Saving Mr. Banks, we bear witness to Travers' youth.  Young Ginty (Annie Rose Buckley) simply adores her father Travers Goff (Colin Farrell), a banker whose imaginative mind created a fantastical world for Ginty and her two siblings despite the family living on a dilapidated ranch in Australia.  Travers wanted nothing more than to provide for his family, however, he was dealing with his own personal demons in the form of alcohol and young Ginty carried around the guilt for decades of not being able to "save" her father from placing his lips to the bottle.

As we discover, Ginty is really Pamela Travers with Pamela changing her name in adulthood to honor her father.  The film bounces back and forth between the two storylines with each allowing the other to become richer and more well-rounded as layers are revealed.  We begin to realize that it's her childhood experiences that shaped Pamela Travers into the no-nonsense (perhaps even crotchety) woman that she became.  She used her novel to try and cope with the demons of her past, but rather than helping her let them go, the book made them cling to them even more.  Through the making of the film version of Mary Poppins, Travers is able to release them (even if just a little bit), but this doesn't come without an emotional toll for her.

Emma Thompson is fantastic as P.L. Travers.  Admittedly, she starts off rather one note, with Travers being a woman of clipped, precise words, showing little to no emotion behind a rock-hard exterior.  However, as the film progresses, we see glimpses of her ice queen nature being melted away.  It's this change that has many of the film's critics crying fowl with the critique being that through the "magic of Disney," all of her problems were solved.  That's just not the case.  Thompson's Travers can really be summed up in the film's final scene (of which, I guess, this could be considered a spoiler, so read on with that knowledge) in which Travers sits watching the Hollywood premiere of Mary Poppins.  Without a single word and only through facial expressions and the slightest of body movement, we see Travers initially disgraced with her selling out of her beloved character, angered by the addition of animation (which she was adamantly against), yet moved by the lovely depiction of family life and of a father who wanted nothing more than his children to flourish and grow beyond what he could provide for them.  John Lee Hancock stays focused on Thompson's face and it's a fantastic moment that carries so much more emotional impact than what we're seeing on the surface because of everything Thompson brings to the role.

Although Thompson is certainly the center of the film, she's surrounded by fantastic performances all around, including Tom Hanks as the equally opinionated Walt Disney.  Disney here is a nice guy who's willing to make concessions to Travers, but not willing to forgo his knowledge of what makes "quality" movies.  The back-and-forth between the two actors is oftentimes brilliant and was a treat to watch.  A very nice and subdued supporting turn from Paul Giamatti as Travers' driver was also a nice addition.  Really, though, there's not a bad performance here at all and that's certainly something worth recognizing.

I will admit that I come to Saving Mr. Banks with some inherent bias in that I'm the biggest Disney fan I know.  However, I also approached this film with a great level of fear and trepidation that it wouldn't even come close to living up to the bar I had set for it.  In fact, I avoided watching the film for nearly a month because I simply didn't want to have my hopes shattered.  I'm beyond pleased to state that my worries were unfounded.  Saving Mr. Banks is an absolutely lovely film that carries much more emotional depth than I ever could have expected.

As a side note, stay halfway through the credits.  There, you'll hear taped recordings of Travers duking it out with the Sherman brothers and screenwriter Don DeGradi over the script.  It shows that the film's depiction of Travers was certainly true-to-form.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

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 - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Aubrey Plaza, Mae Whitman, Anna Kendrick, and Jason Schwartzman

Directed by Edgar Wright

I'm not a video game guy.  [When I was younger, those gaming systems weren't allowed in my household...until my brothers came along.  The first child was more protected, I guess.]  They're simply not my cup of tea.  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is (of course) a movie, but it's also like a giant real-life video game that, much to my pleasant surprise, is packed with visual pizzazz and style that makes this film a unique experience.

All you need to know about the film is that Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls in love with really cool chick Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who just happens to have seven evil exes with superpowers.  In order to be with Ramona, Scott must utilize his knowledge of comic books, indie music, and video games to defeat the exes and win himself the girl.

What makes the film ingenious is director and co-screenwriter Edgar Wright's visual style.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it, Wright has created a movie version of a video game/comic book complete with pop-up high scores, split screens, and old school Batman-esque "THWAP!"s and "BAM!"s running across the screen whenever someone gets hit.  At first, I thought maybe the film would fall into the problem I have with a movie like 300 which I felt looked too fake and screamed "LOOK AT ME!  DON'T I LOOK AWESOME?"  However, somehow Wright manages to make the flick never be just about the visuals because the characters are actually pretty darn nifty, too.

There isn't a single character or actor that I disliked in this film.  From all of Ramona's exes to all of Scott's friends, the characters are surprisingly unique (even though many are based off of standard "indie/grunge" clichés).  To accompany the characters, the acting across the board is top notch, with Wright bringing together one of the best acting ensembles this year.  There's not even really a point in delving into any specifics because I really liked every single person in the cast.

I'd like to say that Scott Pilgrim vs. the World isn't all that ingenious simply because it has a basis in video games -- an entertainment genre that just doesn't do a thing for me.   But there's no denying that I found the whole film incredibly clever and a joy to watch...even with the presence of Michael Cera whom I typically despise.  Even though this review falls into my typical "I don't know how to write incredibly positive reviews" posts, don't let my lack of adequate words deter you from watching this flick.  

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Featuring the voice talents of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, and Willem Dafoe
Directed by Wes Anderson

I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I am that this movie lived up to all my expectations. I've been desperately trying to not get excited about this film, but from the first preview, I was in love with the look of this thing and I couldn't wait for its release. Unlike some flicks that have had kick-ass trailers this year and failed to live up to expectations (*cough*Where the Wild Things Are*cough*), Fantastic Mr. Fox lived up to and exceeded my hopes for this film.

Mr. Fox (Clooney) has become "domesticated" in his later years. Once a criminal known for breaking into chicken, turkey, and squab farms, his wife (Streep) convinced him to give up that life upon the birth of their child, Ash (Schwartzman). A few fox-years have passed and Mr. Fox, having somewhat of a mid-life crisis, decides to move his family out of the foxhole they reside in and into a tree that happens to face the factories of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, who specialize in raising poultry and making alcoholic apple cider. Mr. Fox's old "wild animal" tendencies arise again and he decides to tackle one last caper. Little does he know that the three factory owners decide to join forces to fight back against the fox and his animal friends.

Quite simply, this film is a joy to watch. The stop-motion animation here is exquisite. I'm a big animation buff and this has got to be the best-looking stop motion animation I've seen on the big screen. The thing that's really neat about it is that it looks totally old-school, bringing to mind the Rankin-Bass Christmas classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The stop-and-go style isn't seamless, but that's what makes it so darn cool to watch. The colors, character movements, costumes, and backdrops simply add to the stellar production.

The voice acting -- wow. Sure, you knew you were listening to George Clooney and Meryl Streep, but their subdued voices just fit with the tone of the movie so well. Particularly winning was Jason Schwartzman as Mr. and Mrs. Fox's son, Ash. That character and his relationship with his fox cousin, Kristofferson (which is seriously the coolest name ever), was absolutely my favorite part of this movie.

No doubt the script has a quirky nature that may not appeal to all. It's certainly felt like a live-action Wes Anderson film that just happened to be animated. Granted, I've only seen two of Anderson's other works -- The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic -- but the flick certainly reminded me of those previous works, filled with odd characters and dry humor. As I mentioned above, the production design -- colors, set design, costumes -- was reminiscent of those two Anderson movies I've seen as well. I remember reading a ton of Roald Dahl when I was a kid and I loved all of his books. (Perhaps as one of my final books in my Book-a-Week Quest, I'll wind up reading one of his books again.) His style and tone certainly seems to fit Wes Anderson very well.

I find it much more difficult to write about movies that I love...I simply don't want to write about them, but instead just want to get back to the theater and watch them again. So, this may seem like a lack of enthusiasm, but whatever I say won't begin to convey my love for this movie.

The RyMickey Rating: A
(Finally! My first A of 2009!)

Movie Review - Funny People (2009)

Starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza, and RZA
Written and Directed by Judd Apatow

One would think titling your movie Funny People would infer that there would be humor involved in the film. Well, if hearing "cock" jokes every other quip is your idea of humor, then you're in luck because Funny People will be your idea of a great time!

Adam Sandler plays George Simmons who is basically Sandler himself, or, at the very least, the same character Sandler's played in every other PG-13 lowbrow comedy he's starred in. Except in this flick, we're supposed to believe that he's being "serious" and "stepping up his game" because he's told in the film's first minutes that he has cancer (FYI...the film rarely [if it even ever] says the word "cancer" and uses the word "leukemia" instead because "cancer" would be too serious and this movie's about funny people...ugh...). He thinks back on his life, watches his shitty movies that have made him a star, and decides to go back to doing stand-up comedy. He's kind of lost his touch at comedy so he hires a fellow stand-up comic, Seth Rogen's Ira Wright, to help him out (FYI...Ira's real last name is Wiener...another penis joke...and Lord knows they go back to this joke multiple times!). With his life coming to an end, George also gets in touch with his ex Laura (Leslie Mann) and their relationship re-blossoms despite the fact that she's married to an Australian guy (Eric Bana) and has two kids.

In short, this movie sucked. I'm gonna go on a ramble here, so bear with me. None of the stand-up routines were funny. Humor was completely nonexistent. Writer-director Judd Apatow makes this crapfest go on for over two-and-a-half hours. Entire scenes and entire characters could've been cut. I didn't give a damn about any of these people in this movie. Sandler thinks that weird voices equals funny. Leslie Mann plays an awful character and is really poorly directed here. Apparently, throwing in a bunch of cameos by other "real" famous people is supposed to be funny (Andy Dick, Ray Romano, James Taylor, Eminem, Sarah Silverman all play themselves...there's a ton more). When RZA, who isn't even an actor by trade, is the funniest person in your movie, you're in trouble.

The positive that I gleaned from this movie is that Seth Rogen may have the potential to be an average actor. I actually thought he played a rather likable guy and he showed a bit of acting chops...not a lot, mind you, but I liked him a heckuva lot more than in anything else I've seen him in.

This movie reminded me of Public Enemies. There was potential for something good (that good being a story about a comedian who learns he has cancer and how he copes with it), but it never comes together in the slightest. Judd Apatow once again proves that he cannot edit his own movies. He seems to be too in love with his own writing and/or direction in order to make cuts. He thinks "dirty" equals "funny" and that's not always the case. He thinks adding side characters creates humorous foils for the main characters to play off of (but in reality, they just lengthen your movie by half). He thinks he's talented...I'm not so sure, because I've yet to be impressed with any of his ventures.

The RyMickey Rating: D-