Let It Snow

 Let It Snow (2019)

Starring Isabela Merced, Shameik Moore, Kiernan Shipka, Odeya Rush, Liv Hewson, Mitchell Hope, Jacob Batalon, Matthew Noszka, and Joan Cusack

Directed by Luke Snellin

Written by Laura Solon, Victoria Strouse, and Kay Cannon

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

 It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

Starring The Muppets

And Joan Cusack, David Arquette, and Whoopi Goldberg

Directed by Kirk R. Thatcher

Written by Tom Martin and Jim Lewis

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C+

The Christmas Train

 The Christmas Train (2017)

Starring Dermot Mulroney, Kimberly Williams Paisley, Joan Cusack, and Danny Glover

Directed by Ron Oliver

Written by Neal Dobrofsky and Tippi Dobrofsky

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Working Girl

Working Girl (1988)

Starring Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Alec Baldwin, and Joan Cusack

Directed by Mike Nichols

Written by Kevin Wade

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

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

Snatched

Snatched (2017)

Starring Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Joan Cusack, Ike Barinholtz, Wanda Sykes, and Christopher Meloni

Directed by Jonathan Levine

Written by Katie Dippold

***This film is currently streaming via HBO***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Fired by her job and dumped by her boyfriend, Emily (Amy Schumer) is desperate to have fun on her pre-planned trip to Ecuador.  With no one to go with her, Emily reluctantly agrees to have her mother Linda (Goldie Hawn) tag along.  While out exploring the island, Emily and Linda are kidnapped by masked men and they must do all they can to return to safety.

• Snatched is a 2017 equivalent of Romancing the Stone -- an "adventure comedy" minus the romance -- but it's not as good as that fun 1980s flick.
• My first experience with Amy Schumer was with the very good Trainwreck, but this film squanders her comedic chops with a plot that can't really sustain itself even over the short runtime.
• That said, because of both Schumer and Goldie Hawn, Snatched is much more watchable than it deserves to be.  Yes, subplots with some ridiculous characters played by Ike Barinholtz, Joan Cusack, Wanda Sykes, and Christopher Meloni are too silly to merit screentime, but at its heart the mother/daughter dynamic between Schumer and Hawn is believable and undeniably enjoyable.  It makes me long for Hawn to take part in a better film instead of having this be her first screen venture in 15 years.  Here's hoping she doesn't wait another decade-and-a-half before she takes another role.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Welcome to Me

Welcome to Me (2015)

Starring Kristen Wiig, Wes Bentley, Linda Cardellini, Joan Cusack, Loretta Devine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Thomas Mann, James Marsden, Tim Robbins, and Alan Tudyk

Directed by Shira Piven

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

While I must admit that I laughed quite a bit during Welcome to Me, after nearly every chuckle I found myself cringing that I was finding what I was watching humorous.  Sometimes it's a good thing when a movie makes you question your innate emotional reaction, but by the end of Welcome to Me, I ended up just feeling unpleasantly uncomfortable because the film disappoints in creating a well-rounded lead character.

The problem lies in the fact that star Kristen Wiig is playing Alice Klieg -- a woman with Borderline Personality Disorder who wins an $86 million dollar lottery and immediately abandons her meds -- as if she were a caricature from a Saturday Night Live skit rather than a well-rounded person.  That isn't to say that Wiig isn't funny.  As Alice, who obsesses over Oprah Winfrey's feel-good talk show and decides to spend millions to create her own lifestyle low-budget cable access show, Wiig has many moments that elicit laughs.  However the script and Wiig's portrayal full of jittery physical motions and dazed eyes are one-note, attempting to define a character only by a psychiatric disorder and the idiosyncrasies that accompany the disease as opposed to other aspects of life.

Oddly enough, however, despite this obviously major problem, I actually didn't dislike Welcome to Me altogether because the premise was certainly unique enough to warrant its existence.  With a supporting cast of many well-known names -- who really aren't given much to do -- the actors countering Wiig do a nice job of trying to keep the film based in reality.  As mentioned, I laughed during this one, but by the time the film ended, I found myself thinking back on it disappointed as opposed to pleased due to the fact that there was potential there for something only to be hindered by a script that fails to help its lead character.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Nina Dobrev, Johnny Simmons, Melanie Lynskey, Joan Cusack, and Paul Rudd

Directed by Stephen Chbosky

There's an aire of pretentiousness that runs throughout the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I found it a book that kept me at a distance because none of the characters were embraceable, nor were they nasty enough to be characters you loved to hate.  I was hoping that the movie might change my tune, but my overall reaction stayed pretty much the same.  Overall, the book's author Stephen Chbosky does a nice job in his first directorial gig in nearly two decades and he adapts his novel quite adequately to the screen, but this is simply a tale I never quite found winning.

The problem with The Perks of Being a Wallflower never lies with the storyline of the main character Charlie (Logan Lerman) who, as the film begins, is starting ninth grade after having a difficult summer in which he lost his best friend to suicide.  For most of his life, Charlie has always been battling psychological demons, but he hopes he's pushed them to the side as he begins the angst-filled four years of high school.  Charlie ends up befriending two seniors, step-siblings Patrick and Sam (Ezra Miller and Emma Watson) and it's in these two characters and their surroundings that the film (and the book) disappoint.  It's not that Patrick and Sam prove to be unrealistic, it's just that I couldn't care less about their problems and dreams for the future.  Patrick is an incredibly quirky gay teen who is seemingly the class clown and Sam is lovable with a pixie cut that indicates a slightly rough edge.  Everything with these two just feels overly angsty with a vibe of "aren't we unique/no teenager has ever done this before" thrown in when, in fact, their shenanigans are quite commonplace.

However, the character of Charlie makes the film work better than it probably should and Logan Lerman is a standout.  Lerman's fairly new to the acting scene and while I can't say I've ever been disappointed by the kid, I don't think I ever would've said I've been impressed.  That has changed.  Here, the now twenty year-old Lerman perfectly captures the fear of the initial days of high school, the insecurity of being one's true self even if it doesn't make you popular, and the tentativeness of one's first forays into romance, alcohol, and the other difficulties that come with one's teen years.  Also nice was Paul Rudd's turn as Charlie's English teacher, a friend/mentor who helps shape Charlie into a young man who can be proud of himself.

While there's part of me that can understand the effusive praise The Perks of Being a Wallflower received upon its release -- the film looks good, the acting is decent -- I've never been a fan of Mr. Chbosky's novel so its transition to film was going to be difficult to reel me in.  Still, thanks to a great performance from Logan Lerman, this one definitely lands in the "you should see this" category.

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Movie Review - Mars Needs Moms

Mars Needs Moms (2011)

Featuring the voice talent and/or motion capture of Seth Green, Joan Cusack, and Dan Fogler

Directed by Simon Wells

It's no secret that Mars Needs Moms is one of the biggest failures in Disney's long history.  As it stands now, the film ranks as the fourth biggest box office bomb ever losing over $100 million dollars.  I'd love to come here and say that people just didn't "get" this one or that the marketing just didn't get things right, but the fact is Mars Needs Moms simply isn't a good film, lacking any heart despite numerous attempts to shove tenderness and compassion on to the viewer.

On the positive side, Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers Digital Studios which utilizes motion-capture technology to animate has actually crafted a rather pleasant-looking film.  Some people have an absolute hatred for mo-cap animation, but I don't mind it at all and the craft has gotten much better from the days of the likes of The Polar Express.  The animation of both the characters and the space-age environment was a bright spot for sure.

That character animation is obviously helped by good performances by the actors taking part in the motion capture experience.  Seth Green's voice was deemed too adult during the midst of production so although his physical performance was captured by the camera, his voice was dubbed by a younger actor.  Still, Green rather brilliantly physically embodied the young protagonist Milo whose mom (played by Joan Cusack) is kidnapped by Martians and taken to their home planet.  While on Mars, the aliens attempt to utilize his mother's mind to create the "ultimate mom" robot caregiver to raise their young.  Milo manages to hop onto the alien spacecraft in an attempt to save her.  Once on Mars, though, nothing much happens and the movie, despite a short eighty minute running time, flounders aimlessly attempting to create emotional moments between a mother and son.  

Right from the beginning, I found myself checked out as Milo in a fit of anger yells, "I wish I didn't have a mom!"  When your premise and emotional arc starts on such a typical, been there-done that flimsy note, it's difficult to rebound.  In the end, a disappointing story trumps a good-looking film and Mars Needs Moms lacks any type of promising narrative.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Toy Story 3 (2010)

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Featuring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Ned Beatty, and Michael Keaton

Directed by Lee Unkrich

I've taken some heat for not liking Pixar's last effort, Up, but even though I didn't love it, I recognize that the animation powerhouse can always be counted on to display heart.  Unlike any other studio, Pixar tugs on the heartstrings and does so in a way that never feels cloying or manipulative.  With Toy Story 2, the Pixar folks brought out the emotion in spades, creating a better story than the original.  Because of my fawning love for the second chapter, I admittedly had little hopes for the final (?) part of the series.

Well, there was nothing to worry about.  While it doesn't quite reach the powerful impact of 2, this third chapter takes us on quite an emotional journey -- one that we humans have been on with these toys for the past fifteen years.

Putting the toys in much more palpable danger than we've seen in the first two parts of these characters' tales, the third effort finds Woody and Buzz's human owner Andy heading off to college.  Having to leave his home behind, he also finds himself leading his childhood in the past as well.  This doesn't sit too well with the toys, who, through a stroke of (perhaps) luck wind up at a day care center where they find themselves incredibly excited to loved by children again.  Still, despite the "love" (and that's a term used very loosely when you're dealing with hyped-up, sugar-highed two year-old crazed toddlers), Buzz, Jessie, Rex, Hamm, the Potato Heads, Slinky Dog, and Bullseye soon realize that this may not be the place for them to be.

Woody realized this long ago and tried to convince his fellow toys to trek back to Andy's house to no avail.  Unfortunately for Woody, on his journey home, he gets picked up by the insanely adorable Bonnie who takes Woody home to her house where he meets up with another cast of cute toys (who I wish we could have spent more time with).  While Bonnie and her vivid imagination makes Woody feel needed again, Woody soon discovers that things at the day care center may not be going too well for his friends.  There's some nastiness afoot there and some toys that seemed welcoming at first may in fact be quite deceitful.

If there's something wrong with Toy Story 3, it's that the plot seems a little too stretched out for what actually happens.  It's essentially a "journey home" tale that could've been trimmed a bit early in its second act before that trek home happens -- there's a little too much introduction and internal/external "is this where we belong" debate at the day care center (in a surprisingly unfunny manner) and it makes the tale drag a bit in the middle.  That said, the film's opening and closing thirds are near perfect.  In fact, there are multiple scenes of sheer perfection (which I'd be more than happy to discuss in the comments) in the second half that really had me blown away, hitting a shockingly emotional level considering these things are simply plastic creations.

Throughout the film, I kept telling myself that this movie really didn't need to happen.  Yes, I was certainly enjoying it, but things were pleasantly wrapped up in the second movie and there was no need (other than for a profit) to visit these characters again.  That thought was silenced in the film's final set piece.  It's a beautiful ending and a perfect way to conclude Buzz and Woody's tale.  The finale is the epitome of what Pixar displays better than any other film studio -- heart.

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - Toy Story 1 and 2 Double Feature in 3D (1995/1999)

Featuring the voice talent of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack
Directed by John Lasseter

First things first...there's really no reason for these two films to be re-released in this 3D format. It doesn't appear that anything additional has been done to these films to give them a 3D effect. Sure, there's depth, but that's about it. The two flicks absolutely look good in digital, but there's nothing new here. That being said, for the price of a 3D upgraded ticket, you get to see two good films. Do you need to see them on the big screen? I don't know. There's nothing that really screams "you've got to see this again at a theater." Still, two decent films here, with one significantly better than the other.

I'm not gonna delve into plot summaries because everyone's seen these two movies already, I'm sure. Let's just jump into my thoughts.

The first flick was a landmark film -- the first full-length computer animated feature. For me, the unfortunate thing is that after a stellar 45 minutes that manges to whiz right by, the film falls flat when Buzz and Woody get stolen by mean kid Sid. The last 30 minutes or so feel drawn out for suspense and there really isn't all that much suspense to be had. It's disappointing because the character development here is superb all around. The filmmakers manage to make all the characters (with the exception of the one-note Sid) resonate with the audience. It should be said that the film looks good, too...it was an easy choice, I guess, for the computer animators at Pixar to choose to animate plastic things first and you can certainly see the advancements they've made over nearly fifteen years from this to Wall*E and Up. That being said, the film still looks darn good.

Where Toy Story fails a bit in the story department, Toy Story 2 succeeds greatly. Thanks to the addition of Jessie the Yodelin' Cowgirl (voiced wonderfully by Joan Cusack), the folks at Pixar manage to do a rare thing in Hollywood -- make a sequel that surpasses the original. Because of Jessie, the film contains one of my favorite scenes ever in movies. As Jessie remembers her past of being loved by her owner and then being discarded as she grew older, we are treated to a beautiful visual montage set to the heartbreaking song "When Somebody Loved Me" sung by Sarah McLachlan. Chills...just chills...There is something about that scene that gets to me every single time I watch this movie. I love it. I just love it.

The sequel works a little better in part because we don't have the obligatory set-up introduction of the characters. We're able to jump right into the story. It also helps that the story -- a toy collector "abducts" Woody and wants to ship him off to Japan to be part of a toy collection at a museum -- works much better than the Sid-centric storyline in the original.

I will say that going into this, I thought that Toy Story 2 had a place in my Top Ten Movies of All Time (which I still haven't crafted), but I don't think it will go there anymore. Top 25, maybe, but it just didn't hold up quite as well as I remembered. Still, it's a stellar movie (as evidenced by the rating below).

The RyMickey Rating for Toy Story: B-/C+
The RyMickey Rating for Toy Story 2: A-

Movie Review - Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

Starring Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, and Kristin Scott Thomas
Written by Tracey Jackson and Tim Firth
Directed by P.J. Hogan

I'll never understand women and fashion. Does owning a pair of shoes really make you feel better about yourself? Does purchasing some shitty looking green scarf make you think other people will like you more? Put on some clothes and go out, for Christ's sakes.

Isla Fisher is Rebecca who is in complete denial of the fact that she can't stop shopping. She's maxed out all of her credit cards, is unable to pay the rent to her roommate, and is constantly hiding from debt collectors. It doesn't help that she's lost her job as a writer at a gardening magazine. Through a twist of fate, she ends up working at a money magazine. How she gets hired there, I don't know. It's one of those typical movie moves where the character gets a job via false pretenses, then the lie is revealed and the person who was fibbed to gets angry, but all ends up fine in the end because the liar is so darn cute and nice and the deceitfulness wasn't that bad to begin with, right? Ugh.

This comment isn't all that important, but it really bugged me -- The film was filled with incredibly weird musical interludes (for example, Rebecca's dad pulls some ugly-looking camper up to his house to the tune of some crappy dance song that stops immediately when he stops the camper...the music was not playing in the camper, either). How clever is it that when she gets sent to group therapy, Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" plays (and they do that joke twice!)? Who woulda thunk of that? And what chick flick would be complete without a dance scene? Ladies love dancing, so let's throw that in there, please! But make sure we have one of the characters say something along the lines of "I don't know how to dance" and then dance amazingly well or super funny or both!

I must admit that Isla Fisher, who I've only seen in Wedding Crashers, is quite charming. It's a shame that she's burdened with such a lousy character in this. While she makes the most of it, it's tough to rise above this character who really never learns her lesson and who is stuck with a typical film romance where there's no way two people would fall in love, but end up swooning over each other in the end. And the character that Rebecca falls in love with is your typical emotionless robotic automaton who we've seen in tons of rom-coms. Still, without Fisher in the role, the movie would've been nearly unwatchable, so there's something to be said for that.

There were two things that were incredibly aggravating to me (and spoiler alert here). Apparently, the "bad guy" in this movie is the debt collector. Since he's doing his job, I don't understand why he's set up as this evil man. Rebecca owes a ton of money, why shouldn't she be hounded by this guy instead of buying the pair of knee-high Prada boots? Secondly, Rebecca makes her money back by having a sale of all her clothing. She's essentially coddling others (who are banging down doors in order to get into this sale) into becoming shopaholics to cure her "disease." I didn't get it at all. It's okay for you to fall apart as long as I'm getting better.

The RyMickey Rating: D