House of Gucci

 House of Gucci (2021)

Starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jared Leto, and Jeremy Irons

Directed by Ridley Scott

Written by Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Red Sparrow

Red Sparrow (2018)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeremy Irons

Directed by Francis Lawrence

Written by Justin Haythe

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Justice League

Justice League (2017)

Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, J.K. Simmons, and Ciarán Hinds

Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Indulge me for a moment, as I copy the first paragraph of the Wikipedia summary for Justice League -- 

"Thousands of years ago, Steppenwolf and his legions of Parademons attempt to take over Earth with the combined energies of three Mother Boxes.  They are foiled by a unified army that includes the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, mankind, and the Green Lantern Corps.  After repelling Steppenwolf's army, the Mother Boxes are separated and hidden in locations on the planet.  In the present, mankind is in mourning over Superman, whose death triggers the Mother Boxes to reactivate and Steppenwolf's return to Earth an effort to regain favor with his master, Darkseid.  Steppenwolf aims to gather the artifacts to form "The Unity," which will destroy Earth's ecology and terraform it in the image of Steppenwolf's homeworld."

• Granted, there's a whole lot more to Justice League than that summary above, but just reading that gives you an idea of how ludicrous the overarching story of how this movie is.  Justice League is supposed to be DC Comics' equivalent of Marvel's Avengers, bringing together the best of DC's superheroes, and yet director Zach Snyder and his two screenwriters squander the appeal of bringing together Batman (Ben Affleck), Superman (Henry Cavill), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), the Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher).
• It's obvious that screenwriter Joss Whedon was brought on to add lightness and humor to the decidedly heavy aesthetic that always permeates the DC Universe films.  While some jokes land, most just feel like they were added on in reshoots.
• Ben Affleck has talked about leaving the franchise and I think that's best.  Granted, it isn't all his fault as Zack Snyder's choice of direction cause the character to lose any modicum of charisma, but Affleck just never seems like he's having fun with this iconic figure in the slightest.
• The Flash is certainly the standout here to me with Ezra Miller getting the bulk of Whedon's jokes and thereby showing the most charisma.  Perhaps his standalone film will be the first DC flick to actually win me over completely because thus far, they've been incredibly disappointing.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - High-Rise

High-Rise (2016)

Starring Tom Hiddleston, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, and Jeremy Irons

Directed by Ben Wheatley

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

High-Rise is like some very weird warped Downton Abbey -- an Upstairs, Downstairs-type situation that morphs into a Lord of the Flies-style war depicting the differences between the upper classes and lower classes in an amped-up, manic manner.  And, just as you'd imagine, the chaos of trying to mix those three aforementioned disparate British classics makes High-Rise a bit of a mess.  Although it's visually appealing with some beautiful sets and costumes coupled with a classically retro 1970s vibe, director Ben Wheatley's film simply doesn't work, overstaying its welcome by nearly a third and devolving into a mess in the flick's second half.

Brain surgeon Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) has just moved into an apartment on the twenty-fifty floor of a new luxury high-rise forty-story tower built by architect Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons) who himself lives in the penthouse with his uppity wife.  The high-rise contains a pool, gym, and even a grocery store, so its occupants find themselves with nary a need to leave.  The further up you live, the ritzier and more expensive your amenities become and the film soon becomes an allegory about class warfare with allusions at the end that capitalism is bad.

This is an odd film -- director Ben Wheatley peppers the flick with weird flash-forwards and it's full of some of the most bizarre characters I've seen in a long time.  The oddness of the whole thing had me intrigued initially, but I soon grew wary, only holding out hope that the allegorical nature would provide some philosophical intrigue.  Instead, the film becomes even odder, full of anarchic nihilism that had me angry I held on for as long as I did and didn't stop the flick sooner.  The cast admittedly gamely bites in to the quirkiness, but it's not enough to save this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Race

Race (2016)

Starring Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Eli Goree, Shanice Banton, David Kross, Barnaby Metschurat, and William Hurt

Directed by Stephen Hopkins

***This film is currently streaming via HBO Now/Go***

Better than I expected, Race is an extremely typical biographical retelling of the life of Jesse Owens, 1930s Olympic racing star, anchored by a fine performance by Stephan James as Owens.  While Owens certainly faced racism in the United States as he attended college in the mid-1930s, this film places most of its emphasis on the 1936 Olympics which took place in Germany just as Hitler was gaining power.  Facing anger from the African American community on the homefront for agreeing to compete in the games taking place in a decidedly racist country, Owens stands up to the Nazi regime by competing and succeeding at the Olympic games.  Admittedly, I wasn't too familiar with this piece of history and I found the story quite compelling.

The aforementioned James -- with whom I'm unfamiliar -- nicely conveys Owens' internal conflict about whether his competing in the Olympics is simply foolish self-centered pride or a ballsy attempt at giving a giant middle finger to the Nazi way of life.  As Owens' college coach Larry Snyder, Jason Sudeikis' role provides a change of pace for the actor known for his comedic chops.  Nevertheless, the film works because the story is so interesting.  Perhaps those familiar with the tale will find the rather rote, by-the-book way director Stephen Hopkins runs things a bit bland, but Owens' courageous life reeled me in and made me forget a little bit that the flick itself was just another biopic -- one of my least favorite genres.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot, Scoot McNairy, Callan Mulvey, and Tao Okamoto

Directed by Zack Snyder

***This film is currently streaming via HBO Now/HBO Go***

Questions I had while watching Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:

• Why does the voice of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) when in the Batsuit sound like he's speaking through some voice box that amplifies his voice, making it echoey and deeper than normal?  This amplification makes it utterly obvious that all the vocals were completed in post. (I guess technically there is amplification device in his mask, but considering that the lower half of his face isn't covered by the mask, it just makes Affleck's performance laughable...even moreso than his depressing melancholy already was...)
• Why do all of the fight scenes look as if they were created by a video game manufacturer instead of looking like creative visual effects?  Zack Snyder isn't exactly known for realism, but it's utterly ridiculous-looking.
• Why is this movie so long?  And considering how long the title already is, why not add the 's' after the 'v' in the abbreviation of the word 'versus?'
• Why is Zack Snyder allowed to continue to reign his ugly directorial aesthetic over any films anymore?  His dark, dreary, heavy-handed nature creates an utterly depressing feel throughout, carrying nary a modicum of charm, hopefulness, or pleasantness that even the worst Marvel films contain even if just for a moment or two.
• Amy Adams' red hair adds at least some color to the muted grays and blacks that permeate the screen.
• Despite the criticism of Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor, at least he's hamming it up in a amusingly crazy way as opposed to the dreary hamming of Affleck.
• When one of your main characters -- Bruce Wayne, in this case -- gets his motivations because of scary dreams he has, that's just cheap storytelling.  
• In my Man of Steel review from a few years ago, I mentioned that Henry Cavill carried some charm.  That's not present here at all as he's just an angry superhero the whole time.
• I admittedly appreciated that they at least tried to explain away the ludicrousness of Man of Steel's destructive finale in which much of Metropolis was destroyed. 
• And at least the finale of this one was a little less ludicrous.  The post-script of the plot after the final battle was actually oddly resonant and upped my grade below by a spot.
• I should have stopped watching this at the fifty-minute mark when I first contemplated the idea.  
• Why will I inevitably subject myself to Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman after this atrocity?  I should know better...

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures (2013)

Starring Aldren Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum, and Emma Thompson

Directed by Richard LaGravenese

Ever since the inception of the Twilight series and its surprising success, the movie industry has been hoping to find the next teen sensation.  Beautifiul Creatures is not that, despite their efforts to clone the success of that aforementioned horridly acted vampire/werewolf saga.  Not wanting to delve too far away from the supernatural nature of the Kristen Stewart/Robert Pattinson-starring dreck, Beautiful Creatures shifts its attention to witches,  but failing to create any semblance of story for the audience to actually give a damn.

Most of the actors here are better than expected, but they can't help imbue any sense of urgency or heightened sense of emotion into the languid plot which is, if this can be believed, worse than the good vampire vs. bad vampire (vs. werewolf) malarkey that Twilight heaped upon us.  Beautiful Creatures deals with Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) who, on her sixteenth birthday, will discover her true nature when it's determined if she will be a good witch or a bad witch all the while trying to make things work with her boyfriend Ethan (Aldren Ehrenreich) who, despite her supernatural powers, still loves her.  The problem with the film is that beyond that sentence, nothing else happens in its two hours.  Sure, Emma Thompson and Emmy Rossum come on the scene and try to wreak havoc while Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis try and fight for good, but they're all infinitely better than the material with which they're given to work.  Similarly, Aldren Ehrenreich is much more engaging that Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner ever hoped they could be, but his character's plight of wanting to get out of the Deep South in order to better himself is much too simplistic.

Ultimately, despite the fact that I really wanted to like Beautiful Creatures at least moderately more than the Twilight saga and despite the fact that every actor here (even Alice Englert who isn't all that engaging in the slightest) is better than anyone in the Twilight films (with the exception of Anna Kendrick), this flick was utterly boring.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - The Words

The Words (2012)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Ben Barnes, Nora Arnezeder, and Jeremy Irons

Directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal

There was maybe potential for The Words in terms of concept.  Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), a down-on-his luck writer whose latest work he's toiled over for years is rejected by multiple publishing agencies, visits Paris on his honeymoon with his wife Dora (Zoe Saldana).  While there, Rory purchases an old messenger bag from an antique shop only to discover when he returns to the States that inside the bag is one of the most well-written novels he has ever read...and it just happens to be unpublished.  Appearing to have been written decades prior, Rory decides to act as if the newfound novel is his own and, after handing it over to a publisher, finds astounding success with the book propelling him to near superstar status in the book world.  It's all rather unfortunate then when an old man (Jeremy Irons) confronts Rory in Central Park one afternoon and proclaims that he wrote the novel.  As the old man (who remains nameless) tells Rory his life story that led to the creation of this amazing work, we witness golden-hued flashbacks of the old man as a young man (Ben Barnes), his wife (Nora Arnezeder), and their struggles that they faced back in World War II-era France.

Not that the above story would have been anything overly special, but it would've made for an okay flick that while corny and overly sentimental still might have been successful to a certain degree.  However, the screenwriters (who are also the directors) end up making The Words a story-within-a-story-within-a-story and the most "outside" story is ludicrously tedious and completely unnecessary involving Dennis Quaid as an author reading Rory Jansen's story at a press event while being essentially stalked by a young chippie (Olivia Wilde) who wants to get in his pants.  As we discover that Dennis Quaid's character wrote a novel about Rory Jansen (so essentially, Dennis Quaid's character wrote the film we saw involving all his fellow actors), the movie is attempting to be meta and it just fails miserably.  The screenwriters were simply trying to add another layer that didn't need to be added to what should have been a simple and straightforward story.

Nice performances by Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana are somewhat negated because that extra layer makes their tale lack any resonance by the film's end which is a bit of a shame.  While they certainly weren't going to win any awards, they deserved a bit better.  I will admit that I was completely tired of Bradley Cooper around this time last year, finding his roles in things like The Hangover and Wedding Crashers had outstayed their welcome and turned him into an actor I couldn't stand.  However, with his Oscar-nominated turn in Silver Linings Playbook and this solid turn in The Words, he's becoming a bit more tolerable to me.  Faint praise, I know, but it's a definite turn in the right direction.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Margin Call

Margin Call (2011)

Starring Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgely, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci

Directed by J.C. Chandor

Some movies no matter how well they're directed, acted, or written just don't work for the individual viewer because the subject matter simply doesn't resonate with him.  That's Margin Call for me.  The acting ensemble here is top notch. J.C. Chandor's directing and screenwriting debut is solidly tension-filled and quite impressive (although it does slip into a bit too much moralizing in the second half which diminished substantially the little enjoyment I was experiencing).  Still, the story about the start of the financial meltdown in the late 2000s and big corporate's involvement in forcing massive government bailouts just made me feel kind of dumb because it's something I really know nothing about.  Despite its admirable attempts at "dumbing down" the subject matter, I was still a bit lost at moments which is part of the reason why this flick garners its rating at the bottom of this review.

I'd love to tell you exactly what happened to cause the tension to build in Margin Call, but I'd just be making up what I think happened.  It has something to do with some big investment company wanting to sell off some stocks or something after they discover that if they were to hold onto them their company would go under.  Unfortunately for this company, the person that discovered this issue was just fired that morning, so as everyone attempts to get him back to unveil his findings, he's none to eager to help the bastards that let him go.

The whole thing looks good and feels smart, but I just don't know enough about stocks and mortgages and day trading to comprehend the goings-on here.  It also didn't help that towards the end, the film attempted to bring out the "moral police" by having its characters spout how morally wrong the company's actions were -- and, while that may be accurate, it felt much too preachy and "Occupy Wall Street" to appeal to this viewer.  Acting across the board was great and it was nice to see each actor have a scene or two to act with everyone in the cast in a one-on-one capacity.  But, in the end, this is a movie that I'll never want to watch again.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Lion King

The Lion King (1994)

Featuring the voices of Matthew Broderick, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Cheech Marin, and Whoopi Goldberg 

Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff

Having not seen The Lion King in probably more than a decade, I was looking forward to revisiting it upon its two-week limited engagement back in theaters in order to promote its upcoming 3D Blu-Ray release.  The flick was never a huge favorite of mine and, as I discovered, my thoughts really haven't changed on that matter.

Don't get me wrong.  The Lion King is a solid member of Disney's animation canon, but something just doesn't connect with me here and although I admittedly have a difficult time figuring out what my issue is with it, I think it stems from the fact that nothing in this movie is a stand-out.  Everything skates by being better than average, but nothing screams "EXCELLENT" which, ultimately is a detriment that likely keeps this film outside of my Top Ten Disney Movies of All Time.  [A list, by the way, which I need to get to one of these days on this blog.]

Let's look at the story, for starters.  Despite a few amazing moments -- the stampede, the "Circle of Life" number, Scar as an overall villain -- the film feels too bogged down in metaphysical gobbledy-gook.  Despite the fact that Rafiki is an amusing character, his swami-style New Age-y vibe gets under my craw at times.  Additionally, I can' help but feel that Simba much too quickly agrees to return home upon his reunion with Nala.  I just feel like there's no conflict there for him to overcome in order to want to return home.  In general, Simba as an adult feels greatly underdeveloped and, with Simba as your main character, that's a bit of a problem.  [The less said about the slow motion finale battle sequence the better...I'll just say it comes off as a horrible choice by the animators and it's almost laughable nearly two decades later.]

Music-wise, "Circle of Life" is stellar and "Be Prepared" is deliciously evil, but "I Just Can't Wait to Be King is a colorful disappointment, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" furthers the lack of development in the adult Simba as I mentioned above, and "Hakuna Matata," while funny, will always be the song in which Disney crafted a tune around bodily odors.  Still, I remember thinking when this first came out that there was a lack of songs in this flick (and considering this came out in the era of Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin this definitely has the least amount of songs in a Disney animated flick at that time).  This time around, though, I feel like the songs are appropriately spaced and never seem out of place.  The addition of more songs (like "The Morning Report" which was tacked on for the dvd release and thankfully doesn't show up in this theatrical rerelease) would have felt like overkill.

But enough about the criticisms...let's focus on some positives.  Firstly, the humor here is better than I remembered.  I worried that Timon and Pumbaa would come across as annoying sidekicks, but their one-liners were still quite successful.  Similarly, the hyenas -- Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed -- were also just as funny as I remembered them and were quite effective.

The voice talent is also certainly a positive here.  Jonathan Taylor Thomas as the young Simba probably has the most difficult part acting-wise, having to range from childhood innocence to sheer despair, and he's quite successful.  Ratcheting up the humor, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella are the perfect duo in Timon and Pumbaa.  Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin are also stand-outs as the aforementioned hyenas.  And, despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of the character, Robert Guillaume brings a unique spin to the baboon Rafiki.

But perhaps the best part of the film and the reason it works as well as it does lies in Jeremy Irons's Scar.  A perfect meld of voice acting, character design, animation, and story, Scar is one fantastic villain -- a stand-out amongst Disney films.  Over-the-top at times, Scar is quite the campy theatrical villain...but I mean that in the most positive way (and considering the flick is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, perhaps the screenwriters drew some inspiration from the Bard's evildoers).

The Lion King is certainly a successful animated film, but (and I realize I'm probably alone in this assessment) it's simply not a standout to me in the Disney pantheon.  A good premise filled with some amazing moments, but it doesn't quite add up to a great film.

[As far as the 3D goes...the less said, the better, I guess.  It's not the the film looks bad (and if 3D is what it takes to see this up on the big screen again then so be it), but I think I'm over the 3D fad.  There has yet to be a 3D film that matches the genius of the experiences you have when you see the short 3D movies at theme parks.  Granted, those flicks go for gimmickry, but in the end, isn't 3D a gimmick in and of itself?  I want the gimmicks when I watch something in 3D and 99% of the time, they aren't present in theatrically released 3D.]

[It also should be noted that, in the grand scheme of things, I feel like I've maybe been spoiled by seeing Broadway's version of The Lion King twice since I last watched the film.  Considering that the Broadway musical is perhaps the best thing I've seen on stage makes the film a bit more of a letdown for me.  The play manages to significantly improve the role of Simba which is a big step up from the film.]

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Damage (1992)

Damage (1992)

Starring Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Graves, and Leslie Caron

Directed by Louis Malle

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

This is another one of those flicks that's been on my list to see for quite a while.  One of those movies that looked much too risqué to even think about asking the parents to rent from Blockbuster as a teenager, but still looking like it had a sense of class and maturity that drew me in even as a young(er) film aficionado.  In the end, Damage is a fine film, but one that takes an interminable amount of time to get where it wants to go.

Although Damage wants you to think it's much deeper than this, it's basically the story of a British politician who has a torrid affair with a younger woman behind his wife's back.  The kicker is that the mistress is also his son's fiancé.  That's all you need to know because that's all that there is here.  Stretched out to two hours, the film fills its time with a bunch of talking between the guilt-stricken though sexually awakened Stephen (played quite well by Jeremy Irons) and the serious and emotionally damaged Anna (played unappealingly like a stone wall by Juliette Binoche).  A little talking would've gone a long way here.

Still, there is a considerable amount to like here and it revolves around Irons in particular.  His character's relationship with both his son Martyn (Rupert Graves) and his wife (Miranda Richardson) is an intriguing aspect of the film and, in the final act, makes the moments of boredom for the preceding 90 minutes almost worthwhile.

The RyMickey Rating: C+