Elvis

 Elvis (2022)

Starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, and Kodi Smit-McPhee

Directed by Baz Luhrmann

Written by Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Dolemite Is My Name

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Starring Eddie Murphy, Da'Vine Joy Brown, Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Tituss Burgess, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Wesley Snipes

Directed by Craig Brewer

Written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - The Congress

The Congress (2014)

Starring Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jon Hamm, and Paul Giamatti

Directed by Ari Folman

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

Robin Wright plays a version of herself in The Congress set in an immediate future in which movie studios have perfected a method of digitizing images of stars and sending the real-life actors packing, creating new movies and media personas out of these fully lifelike computerized images.  Known for being a bit of a difficult actress (in the film, that is), Robin is also an aging woman -- something Hollywood is not overly fond of it seems.  Eager to spend a little more time at home with her two kids particularly since her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is suffering from the early onset of Usher Syndrome in which he is gradually and irrevocably losing his eyesight and hearing, Robin agrees to a contract that allows Miramount Studios to digitize her and use her image however they see fit.

I must admit that despite the somewhat slow pace, I was mildly intrigued with what The Congress was giving me during its first half with Robin Wright giving a surprisingly nuanced and understated performance as an actress struggling to have to let go of her family's source of livelihood and income.

And then the film jumps twenty years ahead and we see Robin driving down a desolate desert road only to be stopped at a checkpoint where she is given an ampule of liquid which she sniffs...and then turns into a cartoon.  Yep.  Although the animation in the film's second half is vivid, colorful, and steeped a visually impressive 1930s/40s style, the storyline of this segment of the film was much too difficult (and/or uninteresting) for me to follow.  With a whole bunch of metaphysical gobbledygook being spewed about one's real self and true being, I found myself zoning out way too many times for the film's own good.

With about thirty minutes left, I said aloud, "Why are you doing this to yourself?  Just stop watching."  And I almost gave in to that temptation, but I continued.  In the end, I'm glad I did as The Congress did become a little more comprehensible to me by the time it concluded, but it's still much too weird and dull for it to be even remotely recommendable which is a shame because the promise of the first half and the intriguing questions it raises about ageism and sexism in Hollywood are actually quite relevant.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Young Ones

Young Ones (2014)

Starring Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning, and Kodi Smit-McPhee

Directed by Jake Paltrow

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

Director and screenwriter Jake Paltrow's Young Ones takes place in the future, but feels squarely rooted in the past.  With some unique, odd, and retro cinematic and cinematographic choices, the visual landscape of Young Ones unfortunately overtakes the rather lukewarm and surprisingly emotionally empty story.

Taking place in the not-so-distant future when water is a scarce and precious commodity, Ernest Holm (Michael Shannon) lives in the dry and barren Midwest with his two children Jerome (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Mary (Elle Fanning) -- the former who travels with his father around the land as a traveling salesman/barterer and the latter who stays at home and cooks, cleans, and harbors a growing animosity for her dad for essentially being shackled in the house.  Mary's moments of happiness center around her boyfriend Flem Lever (Nicholas Hoult), but Flem gets upset when Ernest wins an auction for a simulated donkey (not as weird as it sounds) that Flem feels was rightly his causing the young man to ponder ways to get back at Mary's father.

Unfortunately, the story is quite slim and even a relatively short run time can't save it.  Despite some solid acting from all four of the main actors, I found next to no connection to the emotional plights of the characters.  Considering that Shannon, Hoult, Fanning, and Smit-McPhee have all been pretty solid in the past, I have to think that the fault therefore lies in the script which leaves their characters languishing in a dusty landscape.  While certainly having moments of uniqueness, Young Ones just lacks the spark and vigor to really make it compelling.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

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 - Paranorman

Paranorman (2012)

***viewed in 3D***

Featuring the voice talent of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Elaine Stritch, and John Goodman 

Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell

Kid flicks today often seem sugar-coated or, at the very least, a bit more sanitized than the movies kids from the 80s grew up on.  The weirdness of The Neverending Story or Labyrinth or even Disney's The Black Cauldron just aren't present in movies that have a goal of appealing to kids.  In fact, at times, it might have often seemed that movies like those aforementioned, while made for the younger generation, almost held more interest for the adults dragged to the theaters with their young'uns.  Paranorman reminded me more of the movies of my childhood generation than much of what is released today (and I don't mean that in any demeaning way to today's family films).  Oddly off-the-wall, kooky, and entertaining, although I had to wonder if it would hold the interest of a kid.

Norman Babcock is a seemingly normal boy with one exception -- he can see and talk to ghosts.  Naturally, this doesn't sit well with his parents who want him to stop living in a dream world and it certainly doesn't help him at school where he finds himself bullied for his "gift."  With the whole New England town of Blithe Hollow thinking he's a nutjob, Norman finds himself quite the loner.  One evening, however, the town's crazy hobo (who also happens to be Norman's uncle) crosses paths with the boy and tells his nephew that it is up to him to stop a rising of the dead from occurring.  While he doesn't believe it, Norman eventually succumbs to his uncle's wishes, but finds trouble along the way that causes the dead to actually rise from their graves and begin invading the small town with only Norman having the ability to get the zombies back to their below ground residences.

In addition to the very nice stop-motion animation on display, Paranorman comes with a decidedly adult sensibility in tow filled with humor that will go over many a ten year-old's head.  I'm not talking about raunch here, but I am impressed with screenwriter Chris Butler's sensibility to not talk down to the kids in the audience (and the parents who accompanied them).  [There's a character "twist" at the end is shockingly ballsy -- even though it maybe shouldn't be in this day and age -- and further exemplifies the "mature-skewing" nature of the film.]  I'm sure the homages contained in this film are plentiful, but even something as simple as a slight rehashing of the Friday the 13th synthesizer score was enough to bring a smile to this reviewer's face.  Still, despite honoring some horror movies of the past, the film feels fresh and innovative, standing rightly on its own.

Somehow, though, Paranorman never quite allows us to connect to the characters in a way that Pixar movies do.  Those Pixar folks have seriously cornered the market on heartfelt animation and even when something like Paranorman attempts a tugging on the heartstrings, it never quite reaches the levels the Pixar guys manage to set.  That's not taking anything away from this movie, however, it does stop it from reaching the upper echelon of modern-day animated classics.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Let Me In

Let Me In (2010)

Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Dylan Minette, and Elias Koteas

Directed by Matt Reeves

No need to mince words here.  Go see Let Me In.  As of now (and granted I haven't seen much this year), this is the best film released in 2010 and the best horror movie I've seen in a long while.

Twelve year-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is somewhat of a recluse.  He seems to have no friends at school and is constantly being assaulted by a nasty trio headed by bully Kenny (Dylan Minette, Jack's son on Lost...which -- side note -- had me wondering the whole darn time where I recognized the kid from...I just couldn't place him while watching it).  One evening a young girl (Chloe Moretz) and a man (Richard Jenkins) move into Owen's apartment complex.  The girl named Abby, also twelve, is kind to Owen -- something he's never really experienced before.  However, over the course of a month, Owen soon begins to realize that Abby is not who she appears to be...she is, in fact, a vampire and, as is the case with most vampires, she needs blood to survive.

I had seen the Swedish film Let the Right One In (review here) and I felt that it wasn't the least bit frightening.  Director and screenwriter Matt Reeves manages to achieve an overarching sense of dread and tension, while at the same time creating an incredibly intimate character-driven horror movie.  There's no denying that the pace is a little slow, but it's a credit to Reeves (who also directed the non-stop fast-paced Cloverfield) that he manages to keep the story interesting and eerie throughout.  And it's not just his ability to keep things creepy -- he has lensed a great looking film.  There's a dark tone to everything on the screen, but he constructs some exquisite shots.  I honestly can't say enough about Reeves here.  After Cloverfield (which had its faults, but was still enjoyable) and this film, he has absolutely become a director whose future films I will highly anticipate.

He's certainly helped by a great cast of actors.  Smit-McPhee (who I liked in last year's The Road) and Chloe Moretz (who I didn't really care for in this year's Kick-Ass) are wonderful.  Neither of the pre-teens are happy in life, but they both manage to craft characters you instantly care about despite (or perhaps because of) their gloomy, depressed demeanors.  Richard Jenkins also is gripping as Abby's "father" who will do whatever necessary (even if it disgusts him) to keep his girl alive (or as alive as a vampire can be).  Throw in Elias Koteas and Dylan Minette who both manage to make the most out of what could have easily been stereotypical roles as a cop and a bully, respectively, and there's not a single performance in this film that rings false.

As I said above, the pacing in Let Me In is slow and deliberate and it will be a turn-off to some.  Despite some truly frightening moments, this isn't your typical horror film at all.  However, there's a rather beautiful story on display here about friendship and fear, and the fact that director Reeves was able to balance both of those qualities is quite a feat.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-