Dear Evan Hansen

 Dear Evan Hansen (2021)

Starring Ben Platt, Katilyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani, Colton Ryan, Danny Pino, Juliannę Moore, and Amy Adams 

Directed by Stephen Chbosky

Written by Steven Levenson

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

The Woman in the Window

 The Woman in the Window (2021)

Starring Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tracy Letts, and Julianne Moore

Directed by Joe Wright

Written by Tracy Letts

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Bel Canto

Bel Canto (2018)

Starring Julianne Moore, Ken Watanabe, Sebastian Koch, Ryo Kase, and Tenoch Huerta

Directed by Paul Weitz

Written by Paul Weitz and Anthony Weintraub

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Suburbicon

Suburbicon (2017)

Starring Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Noah Jupe, and Oscar Issac

Directed by George Clooney

Written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, George Clooney, and Grant Heslov

Summary (in 500 words or less):  The quaint cookie cutter town of 1950a Suburbicon is rocked by two incidences -- the arrival of a black family to the heretofore white neighborhood and a deadly home invasion that rocks the world of young Nicky Lodge (Noah Jupe) who begins to realize that his father (Matt Damon) may hold some dark secrets.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Sam Claflin, Mahershala Ali, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Elizabeth Banks

Directed by Francis Lawrence

The thought that kept running through my head while watching this final chapter of The Hunger Games saga was that I'm not sure if there's been a more depressing film franchise placed to have such enormous monetary success.  While I rather enjoyed the first part of Mockingjay as it took a spin away from the titular fight-to-the-death battles set up by the tyrannical President Snow (Donald Sutherland), stretching what is a political flick across two over-two-hour films becomes a little tedious.  Everything heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was striving to achieve in Part 1, she's still striving to achieve here.  That isn't to say that there aren't some nice moments as director Francis Lawrence has a good eye for crafting action set pieces, but Mockingjay Part 2 feels like a bit of a letdown for a series I rather enjoyed.

I could go on further in this review, but I'll leave things rather simplified.  It's not that Mockingjay, Part 2 is bad, but it's disappointingly bland considering what has come before.  Emotionally, I found myself rather disconnected at its conclusion and it's just a bit of a shame that the series couldn't end on a better note given all the positives that came before.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Maps to the Stars

Maps to the Stars (2015)

Starring Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Evan Bird, Olivia Williams, and Robert Pattinson

Directed by David Cronenberg

Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) is an aging Hollywood starlet who is desperate to remain relevant by starring in a remake of one of her deceased actress mother's movies.  She's having difficulty with the notion, however, as she's currently in therapy with Dr. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) dealing with repressed memories of her mother physically and sexually abusing her.  Stafford's family has its own issues -- his movie star tween son Benjie (Evan Bird) is just coming out of rehab for drug abuse and starring in the sequel to his mega hit with his wife Christina (Olivia Williams) negotiating a major multi-million dollar paycheck which is certainly contingent on Benjie staying sober.  Meanwhile, sullen Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) has traveled to Los Angeles from Florida and gets a job as the personal assistant to Havana, but she's hiding a secret connection to the Weiss family that may create havoc upon her return to California.

A David Cronenberg film (which essentially means that weirdness may take center stage at some point), Maps to the Stars is a darkly comic tale about Hollywood that I found surprisingly enjoyable.  Yes, it doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel in terms of its skewering of Big Name Actors and Television Psychologists, but the flick is aided by some really great performances, particularly that of Julianne Moore who embodies the role of an L.A. ditzy actress with such aplomb that you can't help but be impressed.  With John Cusack's best role in a while coupled with a solid turn from young Evan Bird, Maps to the Stars is able to really shine thanks to the acting on display.

The film does falter a bit towards the end when Agatha's secrets begin to reveal themselves and take hold of the Weiss family.  With a genuinely fantastic first two-thirds, I must say I grew a bit disappointed at the conclusion because the movie was so thoroughly enjoyable in its balance of quirky humor and depressing pathos up until that point.  Still, Maps to the Stars proves to be an intriguing film that certain connoisseurs may find appealing.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Lost World: Jurassic Park

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Starring Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Schiff, Arliss Howard, Vanessa Lee Chester, Peter Stormare, and Richard Attenborough

Directed by Steven Spielberg

How can the same director and half of the screenwriting team of one of the best "popcorn" blockbuster movies of all time fail so miserably the second go-around as we venture back to the islands off the coast of Costa Rica again in The Lost World: Jurassic Park?  Quite frankly, there's hardly anything to recommend in this second segment of the Jurassic Park Quadrilogy.  Instead we get rehashed scenes, duplicated themes, and special effects that can't hold a candle to its predecessor. I didn't remember The Lost World being as bad as this when I watched it decades ago...but this is really awful stuff.

Since I created a list in my Jurassic Park review, let's continue that trend here as we discuss the many detriments of The Lost World:

• Let's just begin with the obvious "gymnastics" foreshadowing at the beginning of the film that then wreaks havoc during a pivotal scene in the movie's climax.  Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), the only returning character to hold a pivotal role in this sequel, has a daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester) whom we discover at the beginning has been let go of her gymnastics team for not being good enough apparently.  When she stows away and arrives on the island with her father, we're well aware that her "lack" of gymnastics skills is going to come into play at some point.  For the whole film, Kelly is a character that is given next to nothing to do, hardly ever being put in peril.  However, at an integral point in the film's climax, Kelly, her father, and fellow scientist and current love interest of Ian, Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), are trapped in some type of facility with a bunch of beams and high walkways.  Of course, Kelly's gymnastics will come into play here as she jumps around the facility like some acrobatic mini Flying Wallenda brother.  Utterly preposterous and painful to watch.
• Similar to the first film, our main characters are placed into peril while in a vehicle, but this time, it's just ludicrous.  As Ian, Sarah, and videographer Nick (Vince Vaughn) fall over the edge of a cliff in a trailer, scenes of shattering glass and falling debris aren't perilous, but rather ridiculous.  This purportedly tense moment wreaks of unbelievability and the resolution to this scene is nonsensically laughable.
• What the heck is up with the subplot of what are essentially poachers (played by Pete Postlethwaite and Arliss Howard amongst other) coming to the island?  All these characters are is quite literally dead weight as we await for a T-Rex to chomp them to bits.  They play no part other than Stereotypical "Bad Guy" which the first film didn't need at all in order to succeed.
• The special effects here look so much worse than the original.  How they downgraded to dinosaurs that look less realistic than the original is unfathomable to me.  The use of less puppetry and more computer-driven graphics doesn't do the film any favors and the overall result is a huge letdown from the original's stellar effects.

It certainly doesn't help matters that the finale with a T-Rex wreaking havoc on San Francisco is so excessively irrational that The Lost World ends on a horrible note, but that would've really made no difference anyway.  Obviously, my affinity for Jurassic Park taints my opinion of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but it's not even that the sequel is inferior, it's just that it attempts to carbon copy the original at every turn and fails miserably.  

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Join in tomorrow as we explore more of the Jurassic Park Quadrilogy:

Tomorrow: Jurassic Park III

Saturday:  Jurassic World

Previously:  Jurassic Park

Movie Review - Still Alice

Still Alice (2014)

Starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kate Bosworth, and Kristen Stewart

Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland

While I wouldn't necessarily call Julianne Moore's performance in Still Alice a tour de force, I must admit that due to her acting choices and the way she reads certain lines, she nearly made me tear up in certain scenes in this film about a fifty-something year-old woman who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease.  While the film itself is "just fine," Moore does elevate things which is likely a reason she walked away with the Oscar for Best Actress this past year.  (It also certainly helped that the roles for women in films in 2014 were decidedly weak.)

While I could list a summary for you, quite frankly I've already written all you need to know about Still Alice in the opening paragraph.  Thanks to a relatively quick running time, the directing and screenwriting team of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland place the focus squarely on Alice (Moore), a linguistics professor who can't help but find irony in the fact that her education in language and communication is failing her personally now thanks to the incurable disease that is slowly deteriorating her mind.  With her three adult children and husband (Alec Baldwin) by her side, Alice must come to terms with the fact that her life will unfortunately never be the same.

While Moore is in every scene in the film, the moments that ring the most true for me were the ones in which she is discussing her disease with her family.  Baldwin as her husband and Kristen Stewart and Kate Bosworth as her daughters help to humanize things even more by reacting in a variety of believable ways to their wife/mother's diagnosis.  Without them to play off of, Moore wouldn't have shined nearly as bright as she does.

Still Alice certainly works as a movie and it doesn't particularly do anything wrong in any aspect, but don't go into this one expecting to be blown away because that won't happen.  This is a good film that I admittedly don't think can be any better than it is -- but it's simply good, not great.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Wright, and Stanley Tucci

Directed by Francis Lawrence

Admittedly, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 doesn't really go anywhere and it ends on roughly the same emotional note at which it begins, but I found the continuation of the dystopian saga oddly intriguing in that we've finally moved on from the arena-esque battle-to-the-death melees and have instead shifted focus to what has always been most intriguing about the series -- the government's manipulation of its people and those who try to rise up and fight those in charge.  While many critics harangued the cash grab to split Mockingjay into two parts, I couldn't help but find myself thoroughly involved in the goings-on of Part 1 of this final installment.

Following the nasty Quarter Quell in which President Snow (Donald Sutherland) forced previous Hunger Games winners to come back and fight to the death, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and a few of her fellow Tributes were rescued by the secret District 13 of Panem.  Headed by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and aided by President Snow's former colleague Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Katniss is asked to become a propaganda tool for District 13's attempts to overthrow Snow.  After reluctantly agreeing, Katniss heads out across the various districts, filming and seeing first-hand the damage that Snow and his government is inflicted on the lower class districts.

Of course, this wouldn't be a Hunger Games film if there wasn't some love triangle angle and Katniss still finds herself torn between her two men -- Gale (Liam Hemsworth), who valiantly tried to save his people when District 12 came under attack but now resides in District 13, and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who was taken by Snow after the Quarter Quell and is being manipulated by the government to spout Snow's agenda.  Katniss' struggle over who to love still continues here without any real resolution.

I know that I shouldn't care for Mockingjay - Part 1 and I should be ticked off that the Powers That Be stunted the momentum of the franchise by separating the final part of this trilogy into two installments, but despite the slower pace, I think that this first installment works.  Maybe it was just the change of pace from the war games-style flick to a revenge/vengeance-style film, but I found the film totally watchable and able to hold my attention.  Admittedly, Jennifer Lawrence's take on Katniss is wearing a little thin and her range of emotions is anything but subtle, but the rest of the cast helps carry the film beyond typical teen fare.  The addition of Julianne Moore here is a welcome treat who manages to elevate the whole affair and gives her character a surprising amount of hutzpah in just a few scenes.  Overall, color me surprised considering the critical thrashing this film received upon its release.  This edition of Mockingjay has me looking forward to the finale of this surprisingly enjoyable series.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Non-Stop

Non-Stop (2014)

Starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery, Corey Stall, Scoot McNairy, Nate Parker, and Lupita Nyong'o

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

As loyal readers are well aware, it took me quite a while to get through 2013 movies this year which admittedly put a crimp in my 2014 movie-watching.  "Let me hold off on 2014 movies until I finish 2013," I'd say.  In the back of my mind, however, I'd look forward to watching things like Non-Stop for the shear inanity of it -- I wanted something without substance to sink my teeth into.  Whether that set up unrealistic expectations for Non-Stop, I don't know, but this Liam Neeson actioner felt like a rehash and conglomeration of every other Liam Neeson picture since his star turn in Taken.

This time, though, Neeson's character federal air marshal Bill Marks is not saving his family, but an entire plane's worth of people as some crazy nutcase attempts to blow up an aircraft over the Atlantic on a non-stop flight from New York to London.  Or is Bill the one who's actually doing the terrorizing?  Someone appears to be setting him up as the terrorist, but is that just a clever cover for Bill to extort money from the US government while holding a plane's worth of people hostage?

The film's twists and turns ultimately just feel like a screenwriting team attempting to contort things just for the sake of movie-making and I found myself growing tired of the script's attempts to pull the rug out from under me.  Neeson's character is interchangeable with any one of his other characters from Taken or Unknown or Taken 2 or even The Grey -- his problem is all his roles as of late simply have "gruff" as a defining characteristic.  It's not that he's ever bad, it's just that he's become so predictable even in better films.

Non-Stop throws in some "I know that person" faces in the form of Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery, House of Cards' Corey Stall, and Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o (who has about three lines and obviously completed this film before 12 Years a Slave was on anyone's radar) as well as the bigger name of Julianne Moore, but none of these people or their characters really add depth to the script -- they just add to a seemingly unending list of red herrings that are thrown our way.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The English Teacher

The English Teacher (2013)

Starring Julianne Moore, Michael Angarano, Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins, and Nathan Lane

Directed by Craig Zisk

***The film is currently streaming on Netflix***

When Jason (Michael Angarano) returns to his small Pennsylvania hometown after spending a few years in New York City trying to make it as an aspiring playwright, he's greeted kindly by his former high school English teacher Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) who is thrilled to have a student who has gone on to write a play (despite the fact that it's never been produced).  After meeting with her school's drama teacher Carl Kapinas (Nathan Lane), Linda decides to produce Jason's play with Carl for their high school dramatic production.  Along the way, however, Linda and Jason begin to have a relationship beyond teacher-former student and complications arise that may affect Linda's typically mundane and rote life.

Unfortunately for Julianne Moore, she's yet to star in a comedy that I've really enjoyed (yes, that includes The Big Lebowski which I think I highly overrated when I watched it several years ago).  The English Teacher does nothing to change this thought of mine.  Moore herself isn't the problem -- I think she could do decent with comedic roles if she'd only choose comedies that were actually funny.  All of the actors here are actually game and try their hardest in their roles, but even their significant acting chops couldn't elicit a single laugh from me.  Moore's facing a mid-life crisis, Angarano's trying to figure out his path in life, and Kinnear's attempting to become a better father to Jason, but none of these plot points are funny -- and therein lies the problem.

There's a sweetness that permeates through The English Teacher that is moderately enjoyable, but director Craig Zisk's first feature film is too trite and ultimately too bland to merit your time.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Don Jon

Don Jon (2013)

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Glenne Headley, Brie Larson, and Tony Danza

Directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

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

It's tough to feel bad for a guy who's screwing Scarlett Johannson I've come to discover after watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt's feature film directorial and screenwriting debut Don Jon.  Gordon-Levitt is Jon, a tough-around-the-edges New Jersey pretty boy who charms the undergarments right off women mere hours after meeting them.  Each weekend Jon and his two buddies head to the local club and each weekend Jon goes home without a different hottie.  One evening, however, he meets Barbara (Johannson) and is instantly taken by her despite the fact that she won't immediately sleep with him.  Barbara ends up changing Jon's lothario ways...or so she thinks.  Despite Jon exclusively sleeping with her, Jon is unhealthily addicted to online pornography so much so that it has warped his mind into being unable to have a normal relationship.

Don Jon is played for laughs and perhaps that's where the problem with the film comes into play.  There are never really any moments that are purposely driven to make you laugh out loud, yet the film never takes Jon's addiction serious enough to make you feel pity for the guy.  In fact, rather than feel sympathy for his addiction, we start to pity his relationship with Barbara who becomes more controlling as their courtship continues.  Ultimately, this proves to be a bit unsatisfying for the viewer as we flailingly strive to connect with Jon in a way that makes us root for his success.

Gordon-Levitt deepens his voice and picks up a thick Jersey accent to play the title character and he certainly embodies the persona.  Unfortunately, even towards the end when conversations with an older woman (played by Julianne Moore) try to get him to come to grips with his addiction, we can't sympathize with the guy.  Maybe it's because he's got ladies like Barbara fawning over him who, in Jon's own words, is a ten.  [That would be on a scale of one to ten with ten being the best, for those mathematically challenged.]  Johannson also does a nice job with the Jersey attitude (although her portrayal seems a tinge more like a caricature than Gordon-Levitt's) and she certainly plays the part of a sexy tease quite well.  Despite some cute moments of dialogue between the two, though, Gordon-Levitt's screenplay never really had me squarely in their camp hoping for their success.  Maybe it's an unconscious jealousy on my part -- "seriously, he's screwing Scarlett Johannson and still has to look at porn to get his jollies?" -- but something just didn't coalesce for me.

While I'd be interested to see what else "Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the Non-Actor" has down the pike, Don Jon is a bit too generic in both its script and its direction to really showcase any fantastic talent the fine young actor has behind the camera.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - What Maisie Knew

What Maisie Knew (2013)

Starring Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, Onata Aprile, Joanna Vanderham, and Steve Coogan

Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel

What Maisie Knew is a movie you desperately want to end a certain way, but you figure while you're watching it that it never will pan out the way you hope and it causes a depressing pall to ceaselessly hang around.  I say that not as a criticism of the film at all, but instead as a credit to the screenwriters Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright, young actress Onata Aprile in the title role, and directors Scott McGehee and David Seigel who craft a movie told essentially entirely from through the eyes of a six year-old girl being used as a pawn by her parents (Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan) in a bitter custody battle.  What Maisie Knew isn't without its faults, but it's a film worth seeing thanks to the unique perspective we witness to decidedly adult situations.

As the film opens we see black screen with a female and male voice arguing with each other using decidedly adult language.  We soon discover that these voices belong to Susanna (Julianne Moore), a pushy rock star who likes to live life a little on the edge, and Beale (Steve Coogan), her live-in long-time significant other who's had enough of her rough persona, but seems a bit too egotistical for his own good.  This argument between Susanna and Beale happens within earshot and eyeshot of six year-old Maisie (played by the aforementioned Aprile in her first film role) and it will be the first of many times we see her subjected to listening to her parents duke it out with one another and then later try and convince her that the other parent is "the bad one."  With Susanna and Beale fighting in court for custody of young Maisie, they both decide that they'll look better in the court's eyes if they find someone to "love" again, thereby raising Maisie in a two-person family.  Beale hooks up with Maisie's nanny Margo (Joanna Vanderham), a fellow Brit whose innocence makes her actually believe Beale has no ulterior motives to marrying her.  Susanna finds Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgård), a guy who at first glance seems to be a lackadaisical loser, but just may be the kind of loving support young Maisie needs.  Both Margo and Lincoln are simply props in the vicious game Susanna and Beale are playing and despite the fact that they're simply being used, they both find themselves growing to love young Maisie and hating what her parents are putting her through.

What I find refreshingly original about What Maisie Knew is that the entire story is told from the perspective of the six year-old Maisie.  I'm not sure there's a single scene that's depicted that doesn't have Maisie either in it or peering in on it.  Kudos to the directors for keeping things squarely focused -- it may not be the most technically fascinating film, but this perspective (and the willingness to not shift from this framework) certainly aids the movie.  

Whereas Maisie's innocence may not allow her to fully understand everything her parents are doing to her, we in the audience grow to have an intense hatred for the way Susanna and Beale manipulate her young mind into kowtowing to their intentions.  Little Onata Aprile gives a very nice performance in a role that never once feels as if it's being "acted."  Granted, Aprile's character isn't necessarily forced to do anything outwardly that gives her a fantastic "moment," but I was certainly impressed with the young girl's ability to communicate all we needed to know with simply the naturalness of her wide eyes or hushed silence.

Unfortunately, the film falters a bit with the performances of Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan.  Much focus is placed on their relationship and I found both of them to be playing their roles a bit too one-notish.  Neither adult seems fully developed, but rather portraying caricatures of who they are supposed to be.  Additionally -- and there's a slight spoilerish aspect that comes along with this final comment -- the film ends in a wholly unexpected way that seems a bit too farfetched to be truly believable.  I simply couldn't imagine the narcissistic parents we've grown to hate throughout the movie doing what they do at the film's conclusion.  Fault for this lies in both the screenwriters and the actors and it does ultimately knock the film down several notches despite its other positive attributes.  

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Psycho

Psycho (1998)

Starring Anne Heche, Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, and William H. Macy

Directed by Gus Van Sant

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

***Warning -- Spoilers ahead***

Why?  That's the question I've posed for the last fourteen years since I first found out that Gus Van Sant was making a near shot-by-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece (and my favorite movie of all time) Psycho.  What's the point?  I still don't get it even after I watched the film -- I guess it was some weird "experiment" -- but I will say that the film was better than I thought it would be.  That being said, I also thought this was going to be one of the worst moviewatching experiences I'd ever have so it wasn't going to take much to prove me wrong on that front.  However, the remake comes nowhere near close to the brilliance of the original.

Admittedly, I was actually quite impressed with Anne Heche's take on Marion Crane.  Janet Leigh is so iconic to me in that role and has an undeniably devious take on the character.  Not that the viewer ever gets a sense that Leigh's Marion "deserves" to die, but there is a slight feeling that she gets her appropriate comeuppance in the end.  Heche, however, plays Marion a bit more innocently and I admired that quality.  Unfortunately, Heche is only in the film for 35 minutes and things fall apart rather quickly at that point.

Vince Vaughn is simply painful as Norman Bates.  His Norman is visibly off his rocker right from the very first time we lay eyes on him -- he nervously laughs at the end of his first line and it felt so forced and "actor-y" that it took me out of his performance immediately.  Anthony Perkins played Norman as an outwardly normal guy who just so happened to be nuts.  Vaughn's Norman is simply nuts.  I despised nearly every line reading by him and when the last two-thirds of the movie shifts its focus towards him, it disappointed.  Similarly, Julianne Moore has been told to play Marion's sister Lila as a seemingly "butch" tough gal which didn't fit for me at all and felt incredibly off-putting.  When Lila gives Norman a take-down kick to debilitate him in the final basement scene at the Bates Motel, I couldn't help but think she should have yelled "Girl Power!" and it nauseated me with the political correctness of the change.  

The film updates the story to 1998 and I can't help but think it proves to be a detriment.  While it takes place in modern times, everything felt incredibly dated.  By replicating nearly everything from the 1960s -- sets, camera shots, music, costuming -- I don't quite understand the point.  Maybe it was done to allow the slight changes that are enacted -- like Norman masturbating when looking through the peephole as Marion prepares to shower or the odd flashes of rolling thunderclouds as Marion meets her demise in the shower -- seem appropriate in tone or something.  Nonetheless, those changes evoked chuckles from me and didn't add a thing to the tale.

The question still remains -- why was this remake needed?  What does it add to the discussion of Hitchcock's Psycho?  The answer seems to be that the story itself still holds up and the camera shots and dialog still work even in a modern-day setting.  However, it's not even remotely comparable in terms of quality and tension to the original.  Do yourself a favor -- if you've never watched Hitchcock's classic, rent it and revel in its awesomeness.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Crazy, Stupid, Love

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

Starring Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, and Kevin Bacon

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

I know full well that Crazy, Stupid, Love contains a ton of the typical romantic comedy clichés and I know full well that this fact should annoy me.  Instead, somehow screenwriter Dan Fogelman (who wrote my #2 film last year, Tangled), directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and a winning cast came together and have crafted a smaller-scale American version of Love, Actually that works just as well as that modern British classic.

The film opens with forty-something Cal (Steve Carell) being told by his wife of over twenty years Emily (Julianne Moore) that she has had an affair and wants a divorce.  Cal's completely devastated and heartbroken and finds himself drowning his sorrows at a trendy bar where he meets the suave and debonair playboy Jacob (Ryan Gosling) who (when he's not going home with a different lady every night) attempts to assist Cal in regaining his manhood after having suppressed it for so many years as a married man.

Cal's not the only one with love troubles...in fact that apple doesn't fall far from the family tree as his thirteen year-old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) finds himself crushing on his seventeen year-old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton).  Of course, things can't go smoothly in a romantic comedy and, in this case, Jessica is herself crushing on an older man...Robbie's father, Cal.

Our final tale revolves around Hannah (Emma Stone), a law student who is in a relationship with the rather serious Richard (singer Josh Groban).  Despite prodding from her best friend (a quite funny Liza Lapira who makes the most of what is essentially a throwaway role), Hannah refuses to move on from Richard even when the sexy and charming Jacob (remember him from Storyline #1 above?) hits on her.

Not surprisingly, and in the grand tradition of romantic comedies like this, these storylines will intertwine and yield some interesting results.  Fortunately, Crazy, Stupid, Love is successful in its interweaving and screenwriter Fogelman reveals things and brings things together at just the right times to make this flick flow at a great pace.  Fogelman should also receive credit for crafting a film that is all about sex and the feelings behind the act, but never slips into raunch or debauchery.  This is a comedy about adult situations and emotions and the film refreshingly allows the characters to all act as adults.  Yes, some are a little wackier than others, but the comedy doesn't stem from gross-out humor, instead coming from realistic reactions to unfolding situations.

Helping the directors achieve their humorous success is a fine ensemble of talented actors with nary a dud in the bunch.  Steve Carell is certainly at his finest here, playing Cal as a guy who's genuinely in disbelief that his lifelong love has found solace in the arms of another man.  He's pissed off at his wife, but in his eyes (and in a monologue he states as the film progresses), you can see that he's angry at himself for allowing things to slip to the point where she felt the need to cheat.

Equally appealing is Julianne Moore who brings a believability to her role that rings true to me.  The fact that we don't hate her Emily is a testament to the fact that she somehow manages to make us comprehend why she'd cheat on Cal even if we don't approve of her indiscretion.  

As if those two lead performances weren't enough, Ryan Gosling probably just captured RyMickey's "Best Rising Hollywood Actor" award after his back-to-back completely opposite-spectrum performances in this and last year's Blue Valentine.  Here, Gosling certainly evokes the most laughs as the sometimes over-the-top lothario, but his Jacob has a shocking amount of heart.  Roles like this sometimes grow irksome very quickly, but despite Jacob's take charge attitude when it comes to "making over" the unkempt Cal, we never once get the feeling that he's being condescending to the guy (which would typically be the way every other screenwriter would've crafted the character).

I could go on and on and write paragraphs about the lovely Emma Stone, the sexy Marisa Tomei, the charming Analeigh Tipton, and the lovelorn Jonah Bobo who all manage to make there never be a boring, bland moment in this flick.  But I've already rambled on too long.  Instead, I'll just say that despite a treacly ending (that still somehow manages to work), Crazy, Stupid, Love does enough other good stuff that I'm willing to give it a little bit of a pass on its denouement.  This is a movie that admits love can come with its share of frustrations, but also carries with it passion, sincerity, meaningful connections, and a whole lot of heart.  Yes, it's perhaps overly optimistic about love (very much the antithesis of the aforementioned Blue Valentine), but the fairy tale notion of love that is sometimes depicted here isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Without a doubt in my mind, this is a movie that I can't imagine won't be near the top (or perhaps even claim the top spot) on my year end list.  Yes, it's that good.  Get yourself to this one...you'll laugh, you'll find yourself caring about characters you've never met before, and you'll just plain and simply feel good after watching it.

The RyMickey Rating:  A

Movie Review - Savage Grace

Savage Grace (2007)

Starring Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne, Hugh Dancy, and Stephen Dillane

Directed by Tom Kalin

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

I don't know why in the world this movie was in my Instant Queue, but it's been there for a while.  I must have read some decent review of it somewhere, because it's a film that wasn't on my radar at all.

And I'm tremendously thrilled that I watched Savage Grace if only so that I can now remove it from the queue and never think about it again.  While watching this movie, I couldn't help but wonder at what point have you invested too much time in a movie to stop watching even though you're completely aware that the movie is pure and utter crap?  I got 45 minutes into this biographical tale detailing the 1940s-1960s life of Barbara Baekeland (Julianne Moore) and her incestuous relationship with her son, Tony (Eddie Redmayne), and I was ready to check out.  But then I said to myself, this is halfway over...and according to the Netflix description, Tony's gonna kill Barbara so that's gotta be somewhat interesting, right?

Well, nope...it wasn't interesting.  Not in the least.  All the characters (all real-life people, apparently) seemed completely fake, lacking any kind of true depth.  None of their emotional arcs seemed like arcs at all, and I didn't understand any of the motives or reasoning behind their ever-changing thought processes as scene after scene progressed.  Julianne Moore never seems to come to grasp of who Barbara really is.  I never once had any sense of why the heck she was the twisted rich housewife she was portraying.  Eddie Redmayne as her son seemed rather normal and then appeared to change into some psychopath on a dime.  

Really despised this one.  That rating below doesn't come often, so in that regard, congrats to those involved with this dreck.

The RyMickey Rating:  F

Movie Review - The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)

Starring Annabella Sciorra, Rebecca De Mornay, Matt McCoy, Ernie Hudson, and Julianne Moore

Directed by Curtis Hanson

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

Completely mindless entertainment that falls into that late 80s/early 90s genre of adult suspense pics that isn't all that common today.  You'll remember this was the era of Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct, and although The Hand That Rocks the Cradle isn't based in sexuality as those previous two pics were, it has a tone reminiscent of those flicks.

Basically, Claire and Michael Bartel (Annabella Sciorra and Matt McCoy) are a happily married couple with a lovely young child.  Expecting another baby, Claire visits a new ob-gyn's office where he sexually molests her (lovely, I know).  When Claire accuses the doctor, he kills himself.  This, of course, doesn't sit too well with his wife (Rebecca De Mornay) who takes it upon herself to wreak havoc on the Bartel family by taking on the persona of the lovely Peyton Flanders and becoming their nanny.  Its safe to say Peyton's not exactly the sanest gal and things may not turn out so well for the Bartels.

Is this movie cheesy?  Yes.  Does it "feel" like it was made in the 90s?  Yes.  Still, I enjoyed the flick.  It's not gonna win any awards in my book, but it was a decent 105 minutes and Rebecca De Mornay is so over-the-top that she makes it moderately fun to watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, and Josh Hutcherson

Directed by Lisa Cholodenko

The tv commercials are pitching The Kids Are All Right as an "uproarious comedy."  While the flick certainly has its humorous moments, its roots are in family drama and, after a somewhat shaky opening fifteen minutes, the film is able to balance both quite well.

The story's pretty simple -- Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a lesbian couple who have been together for two decades.  They each had a child conceived by artificial insemination using the same sperm donor.  Their daughter, Joni (Mia Wasikowska), has just turned eighteen and she is convinced by her brother, Laser (Josh Hutcherson), to find out information about their donor dad.  Joni and Laser meet up with Paul (Mark Ruffalo) and a whole new dynamic is introduced to the family, affecting each member in a different way.

I'm not a huge Julianne Moore fan, but her "earth mom" hipster Jules is winning.  Bringing a comedic edge to her work that she hasn't done well since her turn in The Big Lebowski, Moore is light, breezy, and utterly charming.  Annette Bening's Nic is certainly the uptight one, masking any pain in a nice glass of Chardonnay.  The chemistry between Moore and Bening starts off a tiny bit rocky (which is more the fault of the screenplay), but they won me over soon after the movie began.  And I haven't even mentioned Mark Ruffalo yet whose Paul is a little bit aloof, but totally cool -- the dad any kid would love to call their own.  It's completely obvious why Joni and Laser instantly take a liking to him and Ruffalo nearly steals the show.

However, the film's not perfect and the problem is with the writing.  First, as I've mentioned before, the film starts out with a tone that didn't win me over in the slightest.  We get shots of Laser doing drugs, Joni being pressured to have sex, and Nic and Jules making love with male gay porn blaring on the television set.  It all seems a little spastic in the initial ten minutes.  Fortunately, things start to come down to earth soon after and once the main storyline of Laser and Joni meeting their dad surfaces, all is well from then on out.

The second (and final) issue is that the characters of Joni and Laser just weren't quite fleshed out enough for my liking.  They're each given a minor "problem" to deal with -- Joni and her aforementioned virginity and Laser dealing with a bully of a friend -- but both these issues seemed superfluous and tacked on.  Laser's issue is a little bit more developed and understandable -- his lack of a male role model forces him to want to seek out his bio-dad -- but it never seems fully realized.  Still, I will say that Mia Wasikowska (who I thought was stiff and boring as the title character in the heinous Alice in Wonderland remake) and Josh Hutcherson were both very good here.

The Kids Are All Right is a very good dramedy.  Yes, it has a few faults, but they're really just minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things.  There's a good story here and there's some wonderful acting that make this one well worth watching.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Chloe

Chloe (2010)

Starring Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried, and Liam Neeson

Directed by Atom Egoyan

Considering that Amanda Seyfried is being pushed as a new young film star, one would think that this flick in which the young lady bares close to everything would have gotten at least some moderate buzz when it was released earlier this year.  But, oh yeah, I guess the fact that the story pretty much blows negated any positives her nudity may have granted the film.

Julianne Moore is Dr. Catherine Stewart, an ob-gyn who worries that her music professor husband, David (Liam Neeson), may be cheating on her.  Catherine hires Chloe (Seyfried), an escort, in order to seduce David to see if her suspicions are true.  Catherine gets a little more than she bargains for, however, and the whole Stewart family (including the teenage son) are drawn under Chloe's sexy spell.

There's no denying that the film is going for "steamy," but it never goes beyond the Skinemax realm.  There's the soft lighting and the corny music and the cable channel nudity rule that only allows for lingering shots of breasts and ass and nothing else.  Chloe attempts to be salacious, but it oftentimes just comes off as laughable.  There's a slight Fatal Attraction vibe to it (albeit in a Sapphic manner), but you're better off just watching that 80s flick which, while also laughable, is at least a whole lot of fun.

It's a shame, too, because there's a really good performance here from Seyfried (and it's not just because she's naked).  Sure, her character is given a not-surprising-in-the-slightest "twist" at the end, but there's no denying Seyfried's seductiveness is effective.  It's a shame that her counterpart in Julianne Moore doesn't quite reach the same level.  Moore's role is nothing more than the cookie cutter "cheated-upon wife" that we've seen in movies tens of times before.

I've seen a couple movies by Atom Egoyan (one review is here) and I'm always intrigued by the premises, but I never quite feel like he's able to make his films come together in the end.  Chloe is no exception.

But Amanda Seyfried is stunning to look at...

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - A Single Man (2009)

A Single Man
Starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore
Directed by Tom Ford

Style over substance is what A Single Man is. First-time writer-director Tom Ford (best known, apparently, for being a fashion designer) certainly has crafted a beautiful-looking film and it can't be denied that Ford's directorial choices are intriguing (although sometimes "pretentious" would be a better adjective), but overall, it's these artistic choices that remove the audience from emotional connection with the film's title character.

The year is 1962 and George (Firth) is a gay man whose mate of sixteen years, Jim (Matthew Goode), has died in a car crash. On a fateful day in February, a morose George has decided that his life isn't worth living without Jim and he sets out to end it all. George, a college English professor in California, goes through the day, cognizant that it will be his last, attempting to make a lasting impression on his students, providing nice words to his colleagues, and meeting up with his best friend, fellow Brit, and former lover, the sassy and often-intoxicated Charley (Moore).

Knowing that George is wanting to commit suicide, you'd think that as we follow this guy around there'd be some emotional connection with his character. Colin Firth definitely does his best at trying to convey his character's sadness, but I never once felt any type of attachment with George. I can't help but think that a huge reason for this is because Tom Ford focuses more on aesthetics than story. There are some surprisingly "talky" moments that instead of revealing layers of George, pull the viewer out of the film.

As I said, it's no fault of Firth who is a joy to watch (and being "a joy to watch" in such a depressing role is task worthy of praise). Firth is never bad in anything and he's definitely at the top of his game here. Julianne Moore is also charming as George's best friend, Charley. She's the quintessential 60s British rich floozy, the comic relief (who also harbors some despondency), and a welcome respite from the dreariness of George.

There's much to like in A Single Man -- Firth, Moore, Ford's interesting palette of colors and intriguing directorial choices. But, in the end, if you don't have a story, you don't have a movie. Visuals are important with film being (obviously) a visual medium, but this film has this overarching sense of "importance" that its lukewarm story cannot support.

The RyMickey Rating: C-