Hustlers

Hustlers (2019)

Starring Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo, Cardi B, and Mercedes Ruehl

Directed by Lorene Scafaria

Written by Lorene Scafaria

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Movie Review - Jason Bourne

***Movie #5 of BOURNE Week***

Jason Bourne (2016)

Starring Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed, and Julia Stiles

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Director Paul Greengrass and actor Matt Damon make their return to the action series that really made both of them famous with Jason Bourne which tosses Bourne Legacy star Jeremy Renner to the curb as we delve back into the story of the title character.  Unfortunately, in the first film in the series not to be co-written by Tony Gilroy, the flick flounders a bit, feeling more like a rehash rather than something original.

By now, we all get that the CIA is trying to shut down many of their special ops units -- they've been doing so for the past four movies -- so when former agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) finds and downloads a ton of info on the specialized programs, she quickly becomes a target of the CIA.  After Nicky enlists his help, Bourne discovers via the documents that his father helped to create the very same secret program that enlisted his son.  However, via flashbacks that begin to haunt Bourne, we discover that Bourne's father was killed in a violent terrorist attack in the Middle East.  Bourne soon begins to realize, however, that this father's death may not have been at the hands of a terrorist, but rather from his employers in the CIA, giving Bourne this film's vendetta to find the men responsible for his father's death.

Unfortunately, Bourne's vendetta is much too similar to everything we saw in the first three films of the series.  Rather than feel fresh, Jason Bourne ends up seeming like a repeat of everything we've seen.  The film certainly isn't awful -- Damon is good and the cast surrounding him works well together -- but it's too much of the same thing.  Tommy Lee Jones as the CIA head takes the place of David Strathairn and Chris Cooper's characters.  Alicia Vikander as the understanding, friendly CIA agent is Joan Allen's Pamela Landy.  Vincent Cassel as a hit man is like Clive Owen in the first film.  The script by Paul Greengrass and Christopher Rouse fails to do anything other than hit the notes that worked in the first three films.  Sure, the action sequences upped the ante -- including a decidedly un-Bourne-like Las Vegas chase scene that is so catastrophically damaging to the city that it feels like it was picked out from a Transformers movie -- but they're not enough to push the story to a fresh place.  You could certainly do worse when it comes to summer action flicks than Jason Bourne, but this final movie (thus far) in the Bourne series is unfortunately the worst.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Bourne Ultimatum

***Movie #3 of BOURNE Week***

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Starring Matt Damon, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney, and Julia Stiles

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Director Paul Greengrass returns a little wiser with The Bourne Ultimatum, the best Bourne film in the series up to this point.  Seemingly put together as a bit of a final chapter for the character of Jason Bourne, Ultimatum succeeds because it brings the character full circle, becoming fully aware of both the reasons he lost his memory and why he worked for the CIA.  While Matt Damon had thus far been a bit bland, he comes alive a little bit here as he tries to uncover the mystery of the CIA program Blackbriar which has turned his world upside down for the past few years.

Full of some nice smaller performances, The Bourne Ultimatum carries the most tension throughout with Greengrass really able to maintain excitement and verve not only his action sequences, but also within the film's calmer moments.  The action scenes, in particular, are the best we've seen in the series so far with a lengthy opening one involving Bourne and a British reporter (Paddy Considine) who is beginning to uncover Blackbriar the most thrilling.  Admittedly, Greengrass's penchant for quick cuts and shaky camera movements feels more obvious in this installment than his first venture, but it worked here, creating a bit of a chaotic feeling surrounding the main character.

The Bourne Ultimatum certainly had an advantage working in its favor in that it was trying to somewhat neatly tie things up in a bow for the character of Jason Bourne, so the sense of finality helps the flick.  Even without that, though, the film's technical aspects are the best in the series so far.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Bourne Supremacy

***Movie #2 of BOURNE Week***
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

Starring Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Karl Urban, and Julia Stiles

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Director Paul Greengrass carries a certain amount of caché for me as he helmed one of the films that is part of my Personal Canon -- United 93.  The Bourne Supremacy, however, was only his third feature film and his first big budget Hollywood flick...and unfortunately, his nascence shows a little here.

Two years have passed since the events of The Bourne Identity and Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) and his girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente) are living a peaceful existence in India.  In Russia, however, the CIA are in the midst of an operation headed by Deputy Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) to retrieve the "Neski Files" which contain details about the theft of millions of dollars of CIA allocations.  The mission is interrupted when a Russian agent steals the files, kills all the CIA agents present, and plants Bourne's fingerprints at the scene of the crime.  The Russian agent then sets out on a mission to kill Bourne, but that goes horribly awry, sending Bourne out into the world to track down the man who tried to assassinate him.  Meanwhile, Landy and the CIA believe that former agent Bourne is the one who killed their men in Russia.  With Bourne being tracked down by both the Russians and the CIA -- with both seemingly intent to end his life -- he's found himself in a bit of trouble again all the while trying to overcome his amnesia to determine how exactly he became a spy for the CIA in the first place.

Most pleasant about The Bourne Supremacy is that it does a nice job of slowly building the backstory of the title character.  Getting little tidbits here and there places the viewer in Bourne's shoes -- just as he is unaware of his background, we are as well.  This ambiguity connects us to the character in a way that most other films of this ilk are unable.

However, The Bourne Supremacy feels a little too complex for its own good.  It's not that it's particularly confusing, it's just that it seems "big" and more worldly than it needs to be.  Having Russian spies trying to frame Bourne in an effort to keep info from the US expanded the story beyond where I felt or wanted it to be, pulling the focus too much away from Bourne himself.  Director Greengrass also lacks the eye just yet to really lens an action sequence, with many of the moments feeling less impressive than director Doug Liman's venture in the series' first film.  Fortunately for the series, by the time Greengrass went behind the camera again for the third Bourne edition, he learned a tremendous amount.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Bourne Identity

***Movie #1 of BOURNE Week***
The Bourne Identity (2002)

Starring Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Julia Stiles

Directed by Doug Liman

It had been a long time since my last viewing of any movie in the Bourne series, so much so that I couldn't quite remember how many of the films I had actually seen.  With the latest film hitting theaters in 2016, I figured I'd revisit the series to determine if my lackluster feeling towards the films (so far as I could remember) was warranted.  After rewatching the first flick, The Bourne Identity, "lackluster" may be too strong of a negative word, but I will say that the flick was a surprisingly low-key affair, lacking the pivotal action sequences we've come to except from films in this "spy-ish" genre.

Granted, I'm all for reinventing the wheel, but The Bourne Identity doesn't really do that either.  What is unique about it is that is gives us a main character who doesn't know anything about himself -- who he is, what he does, what he's done -- when he is found lifelessly floating in a European sea and picked up by a boat.  Shot multiple times, one of the crew members nurses him back to health, discovering an embedded laser chip that seems to reveal the location of a safety deposit box.  Giving the chip to the nameless man upon arrival at a port, upon locating the box in Zurich, the man discovers that this name is Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), but he still doesn't know anything about himself.  However, he continues to have horrific violent memories popping into his mind of him seemingly committing crimes and he is surprisingly adept at fighting, using weapons, and thinking quickly on his feet.  Add to that, upon removing his items from the safety deposit box, he finds himself on the run from operatives who seem to be chasing him down for some reason.  Hoping to elude them, Bourne convinces a German woman named Marie (Franka Potente) to drive him to Paris where he believes he will uncover the truth about who he really is.

The Bourne Identity is certainly a solid piece of cinema and a decent film in the spy genre.  However, in director Doug Liman's hands, the film feels a little bland.  It doesn't take any chances visually and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, it doesn't ever feel special because of it.  The minimalist action sequences all work, but I surprisingly walked away from the film wanting a little more oomph and drive from those particular cinematic moments.  The character of Jason Bourne himself is an interesting one, though, whose story could easily be followed for subsequent films particularly due to his pre-amnesiac involvement in the CIA (which is revealed very early in the film, so no spoilers there).  While I didn't particularly love The Bourne Identity, things were looking up as I headed into the second film in the series...but would the Paul Greengrass-directed sequel continue my "This isn't as bad as I remember" mindset?

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Out of the Dark

Out of the Dark (2015)

Starring Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman, Stephen Rea, and Pixie Davies

Directed by Lluís Quilez

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

Ugh... one of these days I'll realize that horror flicks with limited theatrical releases even if they contain actors I know -- Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman, and Stephen Rea, in this case -- just aren't worth my time...particularly if Netflix has picked up streaming capabilities.  Until that day comes when I recognize this problem that I sometimes have, I'll at least know that I'll have some films filling in the lower rungs of my annual rating system.  Out of the Dark is one of these very films that falls into the lower echelons of the RyMickey Ratings.

When Sarah and Paul Harriman (Stiles and Speedman) head to Colombia for a new job working at the manufacturing plant founded and headed by Sarah's father (Rea), they're expecting a refreshing change of pace from their everyday life.  However, their daughter Hannah (Pixie Davis) begins to start acting odd and the Harrimans soon realize that their house may very well be haunted by ghosts of Colombian children.

Sounds generic enough, right?  I could deal with generic.  The problem here is that director Lluís Quilez has crafted a film that is so utterly dark that I found myself literally unable to see what was going on in the film's purported "horror" moments.  That's a huge issue particularly in a horror film that gains its suspense from jump scares rather than a build-up of tension.  It doesn't help matters that the screenplay attempts to shoehorn environmental awareness into the plot to levels of epic failure.  With the actors left squandering in a listless and lifeless plot, Out of the Dark is truly one of the worst films of 2015.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Closed Circuit

Closed Circuit (2013)

Starring Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Julia Stiles, Anne-Marie Duff, Denis Moschitto, Hasancan Cifci, and Jim Broadbent

Directed by John Crowley

I keep waiting for the movie that's going to provide the breakout role for Rebecca Hall.  Not only is she incredibly attractive (with a British accent to boot), but she exudes an intelligence and a down-to-earth demeanor that I find appealing.  Closed Circuit certainly didn't provide the breakout, but it's a perfectly acceptable political thriller that is elevated because of the respectable cast.

The film opens with a bombing in a open-air market in central London.  The police arrest Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto), a man who seemingly has ties to Middle East terrorist organizations.  When the barrister set to represent Erdogan in the public hearing commits suicide, up-and-comer Martin Rose (Eric Bana) is plucked to replace him.  However, prior to the public hearing, a private hearing needs to be held.  With many aspects of the bombing having the ability to compromise MI-5's terrorism investigations, the government appoints another lawyer to Erdogan's defense, Claudia Simmons-Howe (Hall), to look over all of the government's secret information relating to the attack and determine what, if anything, needs to be made public record in order to help her accused client.  While Martin and Claudia are supposed to not have contact with each other -- as Claudia's private information may affect Martin's public defense -- the two used to have a romantic relationship and find it difficult to cut ties.  Not only that, but as both Claudia and Martin dig into the Erdogan case, they realize that things may not be as cut and dry as MI-5 hoped it would be.

Closed Circuit is a solidly made thriller that moves along at just the right pace.  However, I couldn't help but think this belonged on the BBC rather than in a movie theater.  There's nothing about it that screams "THEATRICS," but that doesn't by any means signify it's not of a high quality.  Seeing as how this is out of theaters and you'd just be watching it at home anyway, it's absolutely worth watching should political thrillers be your cup of tea.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker, John Ortiz, Julia Stiles, Anupam Kher, and Jacki Weaver

Directed by David O. Russell

David O. Russell's last film, The Fighter, had a strong focus on family and his follow-up Silver Linings Playbook carries on that familial theme albeit in a bit more comedic tone.  In fact, the odd mix of humor and drama in this flick is the one problem in this otherwise pleasant romantic comedy diversion. Granted, Mr. Russell manages to almost find the proper balance between the two extremes by hour #2, but its first sixty minutes is a tiny bit slow and off kilter.  Still, thanks to a crowd-pleasing finale and some very nice performances, Silver Linings Playbook proves to be moderately successful.

Bradley Cooper takes on his best role since his stint on Alias as Pat, a Philadelphia native who finds himself recently released from a Baltimore mental hospital after eight months of court-ordered examination.  Locked up after he beat up his wife's lover, Pat returns home hoping to have regained control of his anger (and his diagnosed bipolar disorder) allowing him to rekindle his relationship with his wife.  Pat's parents, Dolores and Pat, Sr. (Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro), try to convince Pat to move on with his life, but he's hellbent on proving he's a good guy to those he hurt in the past.  While out running one evening, he comes across his best friend Ronnie (John Ortiz) who invites him to dinner with his wife Veronica (Julia Stiles) and her recently widowed sister Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence).  Like Pat, Tiffany's a little off-the-wall, not quite all there mentally, and still emotionally hurt (on the inside) by her husband's death, but her instability creates a bit of an attraction for Pat.  As the two grow friendlier, Tiffany wants to take things a bit further, but Pat refuses her advances as he still believes that his wife will return to him.  Eventually the story shifts to the unstable duo competing in a dance competition, but it comes as no surprise that "dance" really is just a way of keeping these two centered, allowing themselves to grow into more spiritually, emotionally, and mentally steady people.

Silver Linings Playbook, unfortunately, lacks some groundedness.  Like its two main characters, it's almost searching for what it wants to be.  The first hour places quite serious with some nice comedic punches thrown in, but the last hour is almost sitcommy at times.  I understand David O. Russell was going for a bit of awkward quirkiness, but the film plays like two different movies and it never successfully melds into one cohesive piece.

That being said, the film rises above the average thanks to some great performances.  As previously mentioned, Bradley Cooper has finally stepped out of Douche-Land, a place where he's been stuck in ever since he became a "movie star."  He's still a guy with a hot-headed streak, but Cooper's finally allowed to give a character he portrays some quieter, emotion-driven moments and he succeeds.

It's also a complete pleasure to see Robert De Niro finally choosing a movie that has good intentions.  Just look at his 2011 -- New Year's Eve (which I started watching on a plane ride to Europe and couldn't complete), Killer Elite (which I started watching on Netflix and couldn't complete), and Limitless (which I shouldn't have allowed myself to complete) -- and you'll see how far he's slipped in recent years.  Here he plays a rough-around-the-edges die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan with complete accuracy (just listen to Philly sports radio stations and you'll understand the portrayal).  It was nice to see him commit to a role that isn't in a film that scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

But the true star of Silver Linings Playbook is Jennifer Lawrence.  Tough, strong, feisty, and sweet, Lawrence is fantastic.  She has a scene in which she essentially tells off Robert De Niro (not an easy thing to do with his strong onscreen presence) that is one of the best moments I've seen all year.  Her Tiffany recognizes her foibles and is attempting to better them, but Lawrence never once plays her as a victim which she so easily could have done.

This has been a very difficult review to write because the acting in Silver Linings Playbook deserves a film that better understands itself.  I completely understand the awards buzz for the actors, but the movie plays a bit like a really, really good Hallmark movie.  And maybe that's what it always wanted to be.  Sweet and charming.  And it succeeds at achieving those characteristics.  But I don't think that's all that it wanted to convey.  I think it wants to delve deeper than that, but when it tries, it doesn't really win.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Theatre Review - Oleanna

Oleanna
written by David Mamet
directed by Doug Hughes
When: Thursday, October 29, 2009
Where: John Golden Theatre (New York City)
What: Play, Drama, Two-Man Show, Professional Theater, Broadway

Spoilers abound ahead...

Going into David Mamet's Oleanna, I knew that it had something to do with sexual harassment and that it "gets people talking," supposedly leaving you questioning which character is "right" in the end. Unfortunately, to me, there's no question to me who was correct, and a huge reason for this certainty is that the female character here is tremendously flawed and absolutely unbelievable.

The play has no intermission, but is told in three acts. In Act One, we meet John, a college professor who is up for tenure. John, played by Bill Pullman, is nebbish and timid, while at the same time, when discussing his philosophies on higher education, incredibly smart, yet overly loquacious. We also meet Julia Stiles' Carol, one of his students who has come to John's office to refute her grade on a paper. She feels unintelligent and foolish, and is unfortunately burdened with some poor lines. This first act feels drawn out and I kept waiting for it to get to the point. When it ended, I really was left flat and wondering whether Stiles was to blame for awful line readings or whether she wasn't given good lines to begin with (I'm going with the latter).

Act Two is a few months later and we discover that Carol has lodged a complaint against John with the Tenure Committee at the university. She accuses him of sexual harassment, for at the end of act one, as Carol cries from frustration, John puts his hands on her shoulders. John tries to get Carol to explain her issues with him, but she keeps referring him to the report, mentioning a "group" she's joined, but not really telling him her own thoughts. There is a hugely drastic change between the Carol of Act One and the Carol of Act Two, and it didn't sit well with me at all.

In Act Three, the Tenure Committee has ruled in Carol's favor and John's tenure has been denied. It is incredibly obvious in this act that the roles have been reversed. From stage direction with Carol standing behind the professor's desk to dialog as Carol is constantly interrupting John (as opposed to the opposite in Act One), it's apparent that Carol is now in charge. The problem is that I couldn't believe that Carol became this completely different person. Yes, she's simply spouting her "group's" thoughts (it's obvious that she seems to be pressured into this by others), but I still could not fathom that this was the same person from Act One.

It's the character of Carol that ruins this play. I found a quote online that says Carol is Mamet's "most fully realized female character." Really? Really? If "fully realized" means the ability to change your personality without any rationale, then sure. Carol just feels flawed to me as a character and, since this is only a two-character play and the twists of the plot rely heavily on Carol, the play just doesn't work for me.

It's not the fault of Pullman, that's for sure. I wasn't sure what I thought of him in Act One, but as the play progressed, I grew to appreciate his portrayal of the character. That being said, if the play is supposed to be ambiguous at the end as far as who was right and who was wrong, Pullman makes me feel for him entirely. This guy didn't do a thing wrong, but in this age of political correctness, every little thing can be interpreted as fault.

As far as Stiles goes, I do think she's a talented actress. I truly enjoyed watching her strength onstage. I totally found myself looking at her even when Pullman was talking because I was enthralled with her facial reactions and physical movements. Still, I've explained my problems with the character and since Stiles couldn't rewrite the play, I'm gonna go with this being playwright Mamet's fault rather than Stiles'. That being said, was Stiles too strong of an actress to play the meek Carol of Act One? Maybe.

The play's name is taken from the folk song "Oleanna" which refers to a perfect American society. I'm sure that means something deep, but I'm just too tired to figure out what it means.