Movie Review - Free State of Jones

Free State of Jones (2016)

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, and Keri Russell

Directed by Gary Ross

Unfairly maligned upon its release last year, Free State of Jones isn't without its faults, but thanks to strong performances by Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mabatha-Raw, and Mahershala Ali, it's a solid look at a revolt against the Confederacy in the mid-1800s.  McConaughey is Newton Knight, a battlefield medic helping the Confederate Army who secretly returns home after he witnesses the death of his young nephew in battle.  His desertion won't sit well with those fighting against the Union, so with the help of his wife (Keri Russell), Newton hides out at various places in the area before finally having to take up residence in a swamp with several escaped slaves including Moses Washington (Ali) whom he befriends.  While in the swamp, he also comes to know Rachel (Mbatha-Raw), a literate slave, and their friendship leads to a romance.  Eventually, after several failed Confederate battles, more white men come to the swap to hide after desertion and Newton begins to rally these men along with the escaped slaves to form a militia to fight against the Confederate Army's forcible raids of Southern homes for livestock, food, and supplies.  Together, they form the Free State of Jones County and set out to battle the Confederate Army themselves.

The biggest reason Free State of Jones works so well is because of the cast.  McConaughey gives a great performance as the beleaguered Newton, worn down by the death of his nephew and the raiding of the homes of his family and friends.  You can palpably feel his disgust with the Confederacy and their actions and his vigor to try and fight the regime builds crescendo-like throughout the film's second half.  Gugu Mabatha-Raw and Mahershala Ali's characters are slightly less well-rounded, but they nevertheless make their roles captivating.  Mbatha-Raw, in particular, is saddled with the "romance" aspect of the plot and not given a whole lot else to work with, but she's still a great addition here.

The film falters a bit in the pacing by director Gary Ross -- its nearly two-and-a-half hour runtime feels it at times, particularly towards the beginning -- and the fact that a weird time jump to the 1950s that occurs multiple times throughout the piece is strongly out-of-place and unnecessary.  However, this is a better film by far than the somewhat similarly themed The Birth of a Nation which also came out the same year.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Mission: Impossible III

-- Mission: Impossible Week --
Please note that all Mission: Impossible Week film reviews may contain spoilers related to both the film that is being reviewed and other films in the series.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Starring Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg, Eddie Marsan, and Laurence Fishburne

Directed by J.J. Abrams

After the absolute debacle that was Mission: Impossible II, anything -- and I mean absolutely anything -- would've been an improvement.  Fortunately, this third installment in the M:I series leaves behind John Woo's white doves and fiery orange color palette for an admittedly much more cookie-cutter action picture.  Still, director J.J. Abrams' debut feature film rounded up a great cast (which as mentioned before is a bit of a staple for the M:I pics) and showed Hollywood that he had potential as a feature film helmer.

The film begins with Ethan Hunt (Cruise) setting out on a mission (impossible) to rescue fellow IMF agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) whom Hunt himself trained from an undercover assignment that has gone horribly wrong.  Unfortunately, the rescue is a failure and Lindsey ends up dead (much to the chagrin of this blogger and longtime fan of Ms. Russell).  Determined to find the person who killed her, Hunt and his team (this time made up of newcomers Maggie Q, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and returnee Ving Rhames) begin to hunt down arms dealer Declan Gormley (Philip Seymour Hoffman) whose "business" Lindsey was attempting to infiltrate.

While the action sequences are certainly solid, what makes Mission: Impossible III stand out is Philip Seymour Hoffman's villain.  Hoffman relishes the maniacal nature of his character and from his opening scene to his last, he brings a vibrancy to the flick that we hadn't quite seen yet in the pictures in the franchise.  To balance Hoffman out, Cruise's Hunt is given a serious love interest in this film in Michelle Monaghan's Julia and the relationship gives us a more well-rounded picture of the series' main protagonist.

The negative to this film -- and admittedly it's a bit of a problem -- is that it's oddly forgettable.  As I sit here typing up this review a week after watching the flick, I found myself finding it difficult to remember key action pieces.  Even in the dismal M:I II, I recalled moments.  With Mission: Impossible III, however, it feels a bit too generic for its own good.  Without a particularly unique stylization from an auteur, Abrams has crafted a well-made action movie, but one that feels like it could've been a part of any other franchise.  Still, the film works and it works pretty well.  However, as you'll see soon, improvements could still be made on the franchise to really make it shine.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

**viewed in 3D***

Starring Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Toby Kebbel, and Gary Oldman

Directed by Matt Reeves

2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a big surprise for me.  I wasn't expecting anything other than some corny mess (Tim Burton's previous attempt at a reimagining of the franchise had ruined things), so when the film worked, I was thoroughly impressed.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes in fact landed at #13 on my Top Films of 2011 list.  Needless to say, because of how much I enjoyed that film, I was worried that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes wouldn't be able to hold a candle to it -- I'm very happy to say that my worries were unfounded with Matt Reeves' film taking the franchise in a different direction while still maintaining the "intelligent summer blockbuster" title of the previous flick.

At the end of Rise, ape Caesar (Andy Serkis) has escaped from the experimental medical testing facility where he was held captive and runs off into the San Francisco woods with his fellow apes. As Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens, we see that Caesar is the head of a large society of all different types of simians and they've made their own habitat in the woods.  Caesar has a teenage son, a pregnant wife, and the respect of his fellow apes.

If you remember, when Rise ended, some form of simian flu had infected the human population and we were just beginning to see it spread around the world.  In Dawn, we discover that massive amounts of humans died and those that are living (and immune to the disease) are camped out in barricaded towns, trying their best to survive without electricity, clean water, and basic needs for living.  Hoping to take advantage of a broken dam on the outskirts of San Francisco to create power, Malcolm (Jason Clarke), his wife Ellie (Keri Russell), his son Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and a few others head into the woods near Caesar's sanctuary.  When they meet up with the apes, tension is high.  Caesar agrees to allow the humans to fix the dam, but this doesn't sit well with all the apes including Koba (Toby Kebbel) who feels like the humans will simply wreak havoc once they get their way.

This sets up an incredibly interesting dynamic -- Caesar must try to play both sides in order to keep peace, but neither side fully trusts Caesar and both opposing factions ultimately do things to cause his leadership role to come into question in terms of its effectiveness.  This is a complicated conflict and one that I found refreshingly intellectual for what easily could've been a throwaway summer popcorn flick.

The true success of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, however, comes from the special effects department.  Much like my awe of the first Apes film, I found myself utterly enthralled with the motion capture of Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbel, and all the other actors and actresses who lent themselves to become apes for the film.  The first twenty minutes (maybe more) features nary a human onscreen and you never once felt like you were watching entire scenes of computer generated footage.  There's a seamlessness between the "real" and the "effects" that quite simply provides some of the best visual artistry you'll ever see in a film.  I really have to commend the whole team of fx folks behind this series because they are masterful magicians.

Perhaps it's unfair, but I'm still finding it a little difficult to figure out where someone like Andy Serkis ends and the computer masterminds that create the appearance of Caesar begin.  Serkis certainly brings a lot to the character -- in Dawn, his Caesar is the main character undoubtedly.  This is his film and Serkis (and his fellow effects artists) have crafted a character that grabs the audience and gets them to fully empathize with an ape.  Kudos also to Toby Kebbel whose Koba is frighteningly scary at moments and is probably one of the better "villain" characters I've seen in a movie in a long while.

Unfortunately, the human struggle in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes isn't nearly as exciting as the ape drama and the film lags a bit whenever the focus is on the homo sapiens.  Attempts at trying to create a backstory for several of the characters to give them some emotional traction flounder a bit.  Because of this, I think Dawn is just a smidge less successful than Rise -- however, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes could easily end up on my Best of 2014 list when that rolls around next summer.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Austenland

Austenland (2013)

Starring Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, James Callis, Georgia King, Ricky Whittle, and Jane Seymour

Directed by Jerusha Hesh

My Keri Russell fandom isn't unknown to those who know me.  I crushed on her when she first appeared on the 1990s incarnation of the Mickey Mouse Club during my formative early teen years and my fondness for her continues to this day.  Hence, she's the reason I desired to check out Austenland, a comedy in which Russell plays Jane, a dowdy office worker who is obsessed with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  With her apartment decked out from ceiling-to-floor in Austen memorabilia, Jane jumps at the chance to spend a boatload of money to visit Austenland in England -- a immersive Victorian-era experience that places guests squarely in the Jane Austen era.  While there, she finds herself in her own love triangle with a somewhat lowly stable man/maintenance guy named Martin (Bret McKenzie) and the uppity, cantankerous, and more aristocratic Mr. Henry Nobley (JJ Feild).

Unfortunately, it's the love triangle aspect of Austenland that never lands quite right and ruins much of the good will and humor that the rest of the script and the actors bring.  The film squarely sets forth her relationship with Martin and does so in a rather lovely and charming manner, but I kept feeling like the third part of the triangle -- her dalliances with Mr. Nobley -- felt forced and not well thought out.  There was never any sense of connection between the characters of Jane and Mr. Nobley, but rather a sense that the script was just forcing them together for want of tension.

Ms. Russell is charming as usual with that nice, calm, and sweet Felicity vibe being present for this one.  I loved seeing Bret McKenzie onscreen -- I'm not sure I've seen him in anything since Flight of the Conchords (with the exception of his fantastic behind-the-scenes songwriting for the past two Muppets movies).  Jennifer Coolidge is playing her typical brash, larger-than-life, idiotic, ditz persona...but for some reason I've failed to tire of it from her.  She's just so darn good at it that I'm able to overlook the fact that nearly every single one of her characters is interchangeable from one movie to another.  Still, despite these actors' charms, the script does them in on this one and, despite my goodwill going into it, I left a little disappointed.  (However, should you watch, make sure you stick around through the credits for a nice Victorian-era music video set to Nelly's "Hot in Herre" which was hilarious to me for some reason.)

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Dark Skies

Dark Skies (2013)

Starring Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo, Kadan Rockett, and J.K. Simmons

Directed by Scott Stewart

Back in the late eighties and early nineties, this here blogger would come home from school and turn on the new Mickey Mouse Club.  Little did he know that this little show would launch the careers of folks like Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera.  However, what the then eleven or twelve year-old kid knew was that he found himself having a crush on a young gal named Keri Russell.  Much like my teenage fascination with Helen Hunt (and I'm well aware that I was probably the only teenager in the 90s that had that crush), my appreciation for Ms. Russell has carried on into my adult life.  I watched all of Felicity (also due to J.J. Abrams' involvement) and have continued to follow her career (although I can't get into her current series The Americans).  This is a long-winded way of saying that I may be slightly biased when I say that Dark Skies proves to be a solid horror flick that manages to eschew the typical scary movie clichés.  It's not mind-blowing, but perhaps its focus on aliens rather than ghosts or supernatural entities made it a unique enough concept to this reviewer.

Russell is Lacy Barrett, wife of Daniel (Josh Hamilton) and mom to young teenage Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and six or seven-ish year-old Sam (Kadan Rockett).  Daniel was recently laid off of work and Lacy finds herself the sole bread winner with her real estate job, but even that is struggling as of late.  Still, they're a loving family, seemingly well-adjusted and "normal."  However, strange things begin happening in their house overnight -- the refrigerator is opened and food is strewn across the floor or their family pictures are removed from their frames -- with no explanation and no signs of forced entry. When Sam claims he's being visited by the mysterious "Sandman" in the middle of the night who takes responsibility for the mysterious occurrences, Lacy and Daniel chalk things up to childhood growing pains, but then the married couple start to experience some unwelcome scares of their own.

Dark Skies isn't a perfect horror film by any means, but it manages to combine decent acting with solid direction (a step up for Scott Stewart from this last film of his I reviewed) and a storyline that moves along at a pretty solid clip.  By the film's final moments, there's genuine tension created and I admittedly was on the edge of my seat wondering how it would conclude.  This isn't a horror film that attempts to frighten you with pulsing music or cheap jump scares.  Instead, it builds its uneasiness gradually with its story instead of trickery.  Don't mistake my fawning for excellence.  The film takes itself a little bit too seriously and I wanted it to provide a few more thrilling moments than it did, but Dark Skies is a good flick and was underappreciated upon its release earlier this year.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-