Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell (2019)

Starring Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Nina Arianda, Ian Gomez, and Kathy Bates

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by Billy Ray

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - Complete Unknown

Complete Unknown (2016)

Starring Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon, Michael Chernus, Azita Ghanizada, Danny Glover, and Kathy Bates

Directed by Joshua Marston

**This film is currently streaming via Amazon Prime***

When Clyde (Michael Chernus) brings his new girlfriend Alice (Rachel Weisz) to the birthday party of his co-worker Tom (Michael Shannon), he doesn't expect her to be such a hit.  A biologist studying the recent discovery of a new species of frog just outside of New York City, Tom's party guests fawn over Alice's pleasant, slightly shy demeanor and unique job.  Tom, however, recognizes her right away and, as the night progresses, Alice proves to be a different person entirely from whom she initially presented herself.

That summary of Complete Unknown may make the film sound scandalous or even exciting...it's not. Instead writer-director Joshua Marston's film devolves into a rather boring piece that perhaps thinks it's important, but really ends up feeling rather pedestrian.  Rachel Weisz and Michael Shannon are captivating enough in the first half when there's some unknown tension as the two stare at each other across a room cluing in the audience that something isn't quite kosher.  However, as the second half begins and Alice's truth comes to the surface, it ends up being not all that interesting and the focus on it hurts the film.  This is director Joshua Marston's first English-language film and his eye behind the lens shows promise -- the opening sequence, as an example, sets a slightly creepy tone that the film can't sustain -- but Complete Unknown ends up a disappointment.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Boss

The Boss (2016)

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Ella Anderson, and Kathy Bates

Directed by Ben Falcone

Oh, Melissa McCarthy...such promise after Bridesmaids has just been squashed by subsequently poor comedic film choices and The Boss is no exception.  McCarthy co-wrote the film with her husband Ben Falcone (who also directed the piece) and while her no-nonsense, brashness fits the character of self-made business tycoon Michelle Darnell, the character and the movie itself feel like a stretched-out sketch comedy routine as opposed to a fully realized piece.

Loved by millions for her eccentric approach to making money, Michelle is a self-help guru who seemingly has it all.  However, an insider trading deal gone awry sends Michelle to jail, causing her to lose her iconic status and the respect of her fans.  Upon release from prison, Michelle finds her previous earnings confiscated by the government, so with nowhere to go she lands on the doorstep of her former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell).  Claire is reluctant to help her former boss, but she eventually obliges after Michelle agrees to help watch Claire's tween daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) which leads Michelle to her new business venture -- a cookie-selling industry set up as competition to a Girl Scout-esque group.

Writing the above summary took me over a month to type out not because of any confusion regarding what The Boss is about, but because it's so unexciting.  This is a short skit waiting to happen and stretching this out to a 100-minute length grows aggravatingly dull.  McCarthy herself is actually okay here.  Although her character is grating, the actress is able to tap in to the absurdity in a way that at least makes the film watchable.  Unfortunately, when the film attempts to highlight its other characters - a bland Kristen Bell, a laughably and ludicrously villainous Peter Dinklage - it fails miserably.  While there are worse comedies out there, The Boss simply isn't worth your time.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Tammy

Tammy (2014)

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd, Mark Duplass, Gary Cole, Nat Faxon, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh, and Ben Falcone

Directed by Ben Falcone

What an unfunny mess Tammy is.  Melissa McCarthy stars as the title character, a foul-mouthed, bellowing, and brash woman who comes home after being fired from her job at a fast food joint only to find her husband (Nat Faxon) canoodling with the next door neighbor (Toni Collette).  Obviously upset, Tammy leaves and heads two doors down to her mom's house where she demands to take her mom's car and drive far away.  While her mother (Allison Janney) understands her pain, she dismisses Tammy's dreams of starting anew, but her grandmother Pearl (Susan Sarandon) also wants to get out of Dodge and agrees to let Tammy take her car as long as she can tag along.  Tammy agrees and the two set out on a cross-country journey of discovery.

I think I mention this in every review of her films, but my introduction to Melissa McCarthy occurred when I watched the first few seasons of Gilmore Girls on tv.  I'm rewatching the show via Netflix and it makes me appreciate the sweet and charming persona that McCarthy can inhabit should she so choose.  So why does she choose motion picture vehicles in which she plays completely reprehensible, vile, vulgar, unappealing characters?  If she's trying to recapture the Bridesmaids magic that earned her a deserved Academy Award nomination, she's failing miserably.  There's nothing about the character of Tammy that makes you want to watch her.  She's slovenly sloppy, obnoxiously dimwitted, and ignorant to nearly everyone that crosses her path.  Spending ninety minutes with this woman is eighty-nine minutes too much.

McCarthy needs to seriously take a look at her choices and shake things up a bit.  She attempted that with an admirable turn in 2014's St. Vincent, but Tammy is an utter failure.  Written by McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone, Tammy is one to avoid at all costs.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Nina Arianda, Kurt Fuller, and Mimi Kennedy

Directed by Woody Allen

It should be noted that there are moderate spoilers below...I call them spoilers in the broadest sense of the word because the trailer, rather ingeniously, did not give away what this movie is about in the slightest.  Perhaps rather foolishly, my fellow moviegoer and I had no concept of a completely major aspect of the plot because of a lack of reading reviews for this and only seeing the trailer.  While I don't reveal any major plot points, just be aware that I'm "giving away" more than you'd see in the commercials.

UPDATED 2/15/12 -- I don't know if it's the fact that now that it's garnered Oscar nominations, I'm looking at the film differently and perhaps a little more critically, but I recently rewatched Midnight in Paris and boy, was my "B" rating way too high.  I found the whole flick this second time around rather pretentious.  While lovely to look at and acted fine by the leads (although Kathy Bates is really painful), it was almost a chore to sit through it a second time.  My adjusted rating will appear below.

Midnight in Paris is pleasant to watch...and that's simply it.  It's a pleasant film that doesn't try to be anything more than that.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  But all this talk about how it's one of writer-director Woody Allen's best films in ages seems rather unwarranted to me.  It's a satisfying romantic comedy, but the awards buzz surrounding this film boggles my mind.  Heck, Allen's Whatever Works was a more satisfying film and failed to get any traction in the Oscar race two years ago.

When the film opens, we meet former screenwriter-turned struggling novelist Gil (Owen Wilson taking on the "Woody Allen" role, but in a thankfully much less neurotic manner than is typically characteristic of Allen's films) who is visiting Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents John and Helen (a somewhat scene-stealing Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy).  After hanging out for several days with two friends of Inez's, Paul and Carol (Michael Sheen and Nina Arianda), Gil grows tired of Paul's know-it-all, booksmart, and arrogant nature and finds himself separating from the group walking the streets of Paris alone at night.  While contemplating both his career and his relationship, a clock in a small Parisian square strikes midnight and Gil finds himself magically transported back in time to the 1920s where he finds himself trading one-liners with folks like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dali.

Owen Wilson is one of the biggest reasons Midnight in Paris garners the "pleasant" moniker.  He's in nearly every scene and his Gil is a guy that you can't help but root for.  Oftentimes, the "Woody Allen doppelganger" is such a nebbishy whiner, but here Wilson dials down the crankiness...and it's much appreciated.  Wilson is evenly matched by Rachel McAdams who takes on a slightly different persona from the sweet gals we've seen her play recently (think back to her Mean Girls days as a reference point for this role).  With the exception of the overrated Marion Cotillard (an actress whose appeal I just don't get in the slightest) as Gil's 1920s muse, all of the supporting performances (including the aforementioned comedic chops of Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy as the conservative-skewing parents of Inez) are pleasant surprises and help elevate the flick.

Nostalgia is really a key plot point and overarching theme of Midnight in Paris.  Unhappy with his current state of affairs, Gil can't help but think that the Paris of nearly a century ago is the solution to all of his problems.  But is it?  In the end, I'm not sure the film answers that question and it kind of left me feeling a bit empty at its conclusion because of it.  I'm honestly not sure whether I'm supposed to be thinking "Yes, the past is better than the present" or "Learn from the past and shape your present with that knowledge."  (It should be noted that there's a rather interesting read on this conundrum here.  Finding myself confused by what I was "supposed to feel" at the end of this, I tried to do a little research and found that essay that doesn't really answer the question either and contains quite a few points I'd disagree with including calling Gil "anti-nostaligic," but at least is rather intuitive.)

Still, Midnight in Paris is a pleasant watch, and as I mentioned before, there's nothing wrong with simply being pleasant...just go into it trying to suppress the "Oscar talk" and you'll be fine.

The "Original" RyMickey Rating:  B
The "New" RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - North

North (1994)

Starring Elijah Wood, Jon Lovitz, Bruce Willis, Matthew McCurly, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates, John Ritter, Faith Ford, and Scarlett Johannson

Directed by Rob Reiner

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

***Posted as part of the Elijah Wood Early 90s Mini Film Festival***

I remember watching North as a kid and thinking that I really liked it.  I also remember watching a 1994 Year in Review show on Siskel and Ebert and Siskel called this film "deplorable."  I was livid that Siskel hated this.  How dare he!  But, for some reason or another, I never watched this movie again.  Until today, that is, and I can now fully understand why Siskel trashed it.

North (Elijah Wood) is your average run-of-the-mill young kid who does quite well in school, has the starring roles in plays, and is quite adept at hitting a baseball.  The problem is that his parents (Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) don't pay him any mind, finding themselves too wrapped up in their miserable jobs to notice their son.  Fed up, North decides that he's going to take his parents to court and ask the judge (Alan Arkin) to allow him to find new parents.  The judge agrees and North sets out on his mission that takes him to Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, and New York where he meets both a wide array of kooky and quirky adults vying for him to be their son and a guardian angel of sorts (Bruce Willis) who pops up in every scene to remind North that maybe he really belongs back home with his real folks.

My problem with the film is that it just isn't funny and it is attempting to be.  The jokes are horrendous.  Here's a sample of one:  When North visits Hawaii, he asks why Mr. and Mrs. Ho want him to be their son.  Mr. Ho responds by saying, "Hawaii is a lush and fertile land.  In fact, there's only one barren area on all our islands.  Unfortunately, it's Mrs. Ho."  Yep, that's the kind of humor we're talking about.

Maybe at 14, I thought this was a rather adult kid's movie.  Seeing as how I had two younger brothers, I was still in the phase where I was being taken to see the most "kiddie" of kid movies and with North's bad language and talk about sex, maybe I thought it was a bit edgy.  Nowadays, it just doesn't work.

Still, I must give credit where credit is due.  I actually really liked the subplot about North's best friend Winchell (Matthew McCurly), a school newspaper reporter who starts a Che-like revolution amongst the kids across the country, telling them to stand up to their parents and take control of their lives.  Clever and well acted (even if it is played over-the-top), any scene with McCurly at least brought a bit of a relief from the onslaught of godawful auditioning parents.

In preparation for this review, I found the Siskel and Ebert clip of them reviewing it and Ebert throws out the line "I hated this movie as much as any movie we've ever reviewed in the nineteen years we've been doing this show."  While I wouldn't go that far, North is a movie that simply doesn't work...and it certainly makes me question my cinematic tastes from back in the day.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - The Blind Side (2009)

Starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Kathy Bates, and Quinton Aaron
Directed by John Lee Hancock

There's nothing wrong with a feel-good movie and I guess that's what The Blind Side is. It doesn't try to be anything more than what the sum of its parts will allow it be. Sure, it's treacly and too sugary sentimental most of the time, but thanks to a winning performance from Sandra Bullock, this flick is able to rise a little bit above its "tv-movie-of-the-week" feel.

Based on a true story, Sandra Bullock is Leigh Anne Tuohy, a rich upper-class suburban interior designer from a small town in Texas. Driving home one night from their son's Thanksgiving play at his Christian school, she and her husband (played surprisingly well by country singer Tim McGraw) spot the school's new student, Big Mike, walking along the road by himself. It turns out that Mike is homeless and struggling to survive, abandoned by his druggie mother. The Tuohys take Mike into their home and, as is the case in all feel-good films, eventually make Mike a part of their family.

Like I said, the tale is overly maudlin and mushy, and the movie really goes on for about 30 minutes too long (I thought it was going to end two reels before it did). Somehow, though, thanks in large part to good ole Sandra Bullock, this flick comes out a slight winner. Bullock (whose accent completely annoyed me in the trailer for this film, but didn't bother me at all during the movie) comes across as a completely believable woman, which given the script's by-the-book storytelling technique, is an accomplishment. She takes on the role of Leigh Anne with gusto and it's probably the best role I've seen her tackle (football pun not intended).

Certainly aiding Bullock is Tim McGraw (I can't believe I just typed that). McGraw is the second name listed in the opening credits and 80 minutes into the movie I was wondering when he was going to show up. Then I realized that he was playing Bullock's husband...it completely threw me for a loop. He looks quite different than I recall him looking, and, he's a shockingly good actor. Sure, he isn't required to do a ton here, but he played off of Bullock incredibly well. Their relationship was entirely believable and rather charming.

So despite this movie's flaws (I didn't even touch on the Tuohy's annoying son, who, although very funny, was the only character in this thing that felt like a "character"), The Blind Side is certainly a charming enough piece of fluff to warrant the box office grosses it has been receiving for the past four weekends.

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Movie Review - Chéri (2009)

Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, and Rupert Friend
Directed by Stephen Frears

I must admit that I started out pretty darn confused in this movie. Considering that the only thing I knew about it was what was contained in the poster, I assumed that Michelle Pfeiffer was playing some woman name Chéri. Well, Chéri is a guy who falls for Pfeiffer's Lea, a courtesan. Chéri (Rupert Friend) and Lea begin a six-year love affair, much to the chagrin of Chéri's mother (Kathy Bates).

I'm thinking this movie is supposed to take place in 19th century France, but no one has French accents. Each character has fancy French names, but they have British accents and the accents of Pfeiffer and Bates fade in and out whenever they see fit. At times, there's witty banter between Lea and Chéri's mother, but at other times, the dialogue fell completely flat.

The acting is pretty darn weak across the board with Pfeiffer leading the way in disappointment. She isn't helped by the weak script. For a movie that's supposed to be romantic, there's very little romance to be had. We were supposed to believe that Chéri and Lea were in desperately in love, but I never once got a sense that their relationship was anything other than a sexual one.

It should be noted that this movie was only 85 minutes long, but it felt like an exorbitantly long two hours. I really couldn't wait for this to be over. When all you can say about a movie is that the period costumes looked nice and the musical score was interesting, there's something wrong with your flick.

The RyMickey Rating: D

Movie Review - Revolutionary Road (2008)

starring Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon, and Kathryn Hahn
directed by Sam Mendes
screenplay by Justin Haythe

Revolutionary Road is not a happy movie. You're not going to walk out of the theater skipping and whistling. It's intense, it's emotional, it's shocking at times, and it's one of the best movies of 2008.

Set in the mid-50s, DiCaprio and Winslet are married couple Frank and April Wheeler. From the outset, it's obvious that things aren't perfect in their relationship. With Frank languishing in a job he hates and April stuck in the home with their two children, neither is satisfied in their day-to-day life. With the hope of getting them out of their respective ruts, April devises a plan to make a big move with the whole family -- creating a new life and traveling away from their life on Revolutionary Road.

It wouldn't be a movie (or at least as nearly as an intriguing one) if everything went perfectly. And things definitely do not go perfectly.

Elevating the story to a whole new level is the excellent work by DiCaprio and Winslet. Both really deliver pitch-perfect performances. With the help of director (and Winslet's hubby) Mendes, I truly felt transported into the 1950s setting. Corny as that sounds, between the dialogue, the set design, and the costuming, it didn't feel like a movie made in this decade.


Jumping back to Winslet and DiCaprio for a minute, both were just stellar. Despite the fact that his recent films (The Departed, The Aviator) actually showcased his talent, I wasn't expecting much from DiCaprio. But his tone was perfect in this film...not many people can say "swell" and make it sound believable, but DiCaprio eases right into the 1950s setting. As good as DiCaprio is, Winslet is better. Talk about talent, Winslet never seems to disappoint. She was stunningly gorgeous, and can say so much with just her facial expressions.

There is a particular scene towards the end of the movie shared by only Winslet and DiCaprio as they sit at a kitchen table and it was just heartachingly beautiful...and the scenes that follow that one just make it resonate even more.

I also don't want to forget the great supporting turn by Kathryn Hahn as the Wheeler's next door neighbor. While initially providing some much needed comic relief, she makes the most out of what could've been a throwaway role. Kathy Bates and Michael Shannon are also serviceable in their roles, although if I had anything to pick at, Bates seemed a tad over the top, making her role of the elderly, slightly nosy, neighbor a little cliché.

It's a shame this seems to be only getting buzz for Kate Winslet's role (she received a well-deserved Golden Globe for this role), as I truly think it's one of the best films of '08.

The RyMickey Rating: A-