The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two

 The Christmas Chronicles Part Two (2020)

Starring Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Darby Camp, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Jahzir Bruno, Julian Dennison, and Tyrese Gibson

Directed by Chris Columbus

Written by Matt Lieberman and Chris Columbus

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Swing Shift

Swing Shift (1984)

Starring Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Christine Lahti, Fred Ward, and Ed Harris

Directed by Jonathan Demme

Written by Nancy Dowd, Bo Goldman, and Ron Nyswaner

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

The Christmas Chronicles

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Starring Kurt Russell, Judah Lewis, Darby Camp, Lamorne Morris, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Oliver Hudson

Directed by Clay Kaytis

Written by Matt Lieberman

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kurt Russell

And the vocal talents of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper

Directed by James Gunn

Written by James Gunn

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  The Guardians clan is back as we further explore familial relationships of members of the group.  Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) reunites with his long-lost father, the god Ego (Kurt Russell), while Gamora (Zoe Saldana) continues to explore the rocky relationship with her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan).  

• Many Marvel fanboys love the irreverence of this series, but as evidenced in the first Guardians film and now this one, these movies don't excite me as much as others.  I like the characters that inhabit the films, but writer-director James Gunn hasn't yet crafted an overarching story that really pulls me in.  
• There is certainly a charm and ease that Gunn and his cast delivers.  The easy-going nature of this flick makes for an enjoyable watch at times, but whenever the film tries to create exciting action sequences, I find myself checking out.
• Unlike some other Marvel franchises which didn't succeed on their first go-rounds, but then rebounded on their second like Captain America (or even vice-versa, succeeding in their first and failing in their second like Thor), Guardians has maintained this middle ground of being simply average through both of its film iterations.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Deepwater Horizon

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien, and Kate Hudson

Directed by Peter Berg

Forty-one miles off the Louisiana coastline in April 2010, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon is preparing to begin drilling into the ocean floor for BP.  However, BP executives wish to forego some important safety tests and, in the midst of prepping the drill, a catastrophic series of events occurs, wreaking an enormous amount of damage on the Deepwater Horizon, the Gulf of Mexico, and the workers on the rig, eleven of whom died on that fateful day.

Thus is the true story of Deepwater Horizon, director Peter Berg's depiction of the biggest oil spill in US history.  Although there are certainly some big name stars in this -- Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson -- this isn't a movie where "characters" really matter.  Sure, we're introduced to Wahlberg's electronics technician Mike Williams and his caring and doting wife (Hudson), but his character along with Russell's rig supervisor Jimmy Harrell and Gina Rodriguez's navigation officer Andrea Fleytas are nothing more than nondescript entities who are simply a conduit for the audience to bear witness to the horrors that unfolded.

Ultimately, that's the biggest issue with Deepwater Horizon as a film -- Berg is more interested in upping the ante when it comes to the action than dealing with the human side of things.  Sure, the BP guys are the big baddies, but their manipulative business acumen is never really explored.  Similarly, for the "good guys," there's minimal backstory and what little there is you almost wish Berg had left out because of its stereotypical simplicity.  Deepwater Horizon isn't a bad film by any means, but it's very rote and by-the-book in every aspect from the initial character development in the very first minutes to the written postscript right before the credits roll telling us about the real-life people involved.  I almost feel that I'd have been more invested seeing a documentary of the events rather than a fictionalized depiction even though Berg is certainly adept at creating some exciting action sequences in this new age, true life Poseidon Adventure of sorts.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Bone Tomahawk

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins, Lili Simmons, and David Arquette

Directed by S. Craig Zahler

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

There aren't many western/horror/comedy mash-ups floating around, but Bone Tomahawk would probably fall into that amalgamated category.  When his wife (Lili Simmons), a young deputy sheriff, and a prisoner are kidnapped by a mysterious Native American tribe, Arthur (Patrick Wilson), the town sheriff (Kurt Russell), another deputy (Richard Jenkins), and a rich cowboy (Matthew Fox) set out to find them and bring them back to their small Western town safely.  Little does the quartet realize that they're about to meet face to face with a group of gruesome cannibals with no respect for Americanized society.

Although the film runs a bit too long and falls into the typical trap of the western genre with a whole lot of nothing happening for long periods of time, debut director S. Craig Zahler (who also wrote the flick) has crafted a quirky flick full of humorous dialog spouted by surprisingly detailed characters.  The cast gamely acts out the witty repartee with Kurt Russell, Richard Jenkins, Matthew Fox, and Patrick Wilson all playing nicely off one another as they trek across arid, barren landscapes.   Oftentimes, films that attempt to blend genres fail to adequately balance all aspects, but Zahler rather surprisingly is able to marry horror and western and comedy.  Quite frankly, it's a bit shocking that as the film veers into the horror category towards its finale, it feels like a natural fit and that's certainly a credit to Zahler.

Bone Tomahawk isn't a perfect film, but considering it's in the western genre which I typically detest, it's much more enjoyable than I could've ever anticipated.  Sure, it's a bit of a cult-type piece that isn't going to be for everyone's tastes, but it worked enough for me to recommend it.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, and Channing Tatum

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino movies piss me off...and I mean that in the nicest way possible.

As I sit and watch them (with the exception of Kill Bill which I admittedly haven't watched in a while), I often find myself cursing the writer-director for being so loquacious, adding scenes that seemingly do little to advance the plot except to showcase his (only sometimes) brilliant ear for dialog.  But by the time most of the conclusions to his films roll around, I end up giving him a pass on the preceding verboseness because he manages to tie things up on such a clever note.  Such is the case with The Hateful Eight - a nearly three-hour epic that features an awful lot of talking, very minimal sets, and a group of essentially eight actors who carry the film very adequately on their shoulders doing Tarantino's Western-Agatha Christie And Then There Were None mash-up justice.

In his eighth film as a director, The Hateful Eight unfolds across six chapters detailing how a group of people end up seeking refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery in Wyoming during a horrible blizzard in the time shortly after the Civil War concludes.  Arriving just before the snowstorm really hits is John Ruth (Kurt Russell), a bounty hunter, who has the elusive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in tow ready to reap his reward upon delivering her to the authorities in Red Rock.  Ruth arrives at Minnie's with Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) - a Union major in the Civil War - and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) - the newly appointed sheriff of Red Rock.  Pent up at Minnie's already are four men whom are immediately distrusted -- Bob (Demian Bichir), a Mexican who claims he's working for Minnie who has left to see her sister several miles away; Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), an Englishman who is also a hangman; Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), a cowboy just passing through; and Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern), a Confederate general.  With a large bounty on the head of Daisy, John Ruth questions his safety and perhaps he is justified.  As the night unfurls, secrets and motivations are revealed as one by one people begin to bite the dust.

There's no doubting that The Hateful Eight moves at a slow pace -- many of the reviews and personal comments I heard from people stated that "nothing happens" until the last hour.  While it's certainly true in that there's not much plot per se in the film's first half, there is a sense of character building that I must admit is Tarantino's forte.  We get a real sense of who these characters are by the dialog they speak and their interactions with others.  Yes, it's true that the characters present are racist misogynists (of which there was much hoopla upon the film's release), but that's Tarantino's modus operandi across his last three films (for better or worse).  And, admittedly, that's part of the reason for my first sentence of this review in that I can't help but think that Tarantino sticks too closely to what has worked for him in the past -- films broken up into chapters; films told out of order or with massive flashbacks; brash language; insanely rough violence; characters all cut from the same cloth in terms of personality -- rather than branching off in unexpected directions.  Kudos to him for finding a niche that works and sticking to it, but I do long for something new and fresh from the guy.  However, The Hateful Eight works so maybe I should just let him do what he does.

As far as the small cast, most successful at settling into their characters are Jennifer Jason Leigh (Oscar-nominated for her role) and Kurt Russell taking center stage in a film for the first time in a long time which this reviewer found to be a bit of a pleasure.  Leigh and Russell have a lot of interactions with one another and right off the bat the two click with Leigh portraying the tough as nails criminal and Russell playing the tough as nails bounty hunter, neither liking each other, but quite literally linked together by chains.  Samuel L. Jackson is certainly entertaining and a captivating entity, but he's the only one of the group that feels as if he was transplanted from a more modern time into the past.  He doesn't necessarily take us out of the era, but his character never quite clicks realistically.

The Hateful Eight will never be a film for everyone -- it's undoubtedly a Tarantino film and if they're not your cup of tea, this will not be for you either.  Yes, it's too long and that harms it, but it's definitely on par with the director's efforts as of late which have all been quality flicks that would all fare a little better if an editor tried to trim things a little more.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

The Disney Discussion - The Fox and the Hound

Over the course of the year, we'll be spending our Wednesdays with Walt, having a discussion about each of Disney's animated films...

Movie #24 of The Disney Discussion

The Fox and the Hound (1981)

Featuring the voice talents of Mickey Rooney, Kurt Russell, Pearl Bailey, Jack Albertson, Sandy Duncan, Corey Feldman, Keith Mitchell, Paul Winchell, and Jeanette Nolan

Directed by Art Stevens, Ted Berman, and Richard Rich

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

Summary (in 150 words or less):

When a young fox named Tod is orphaned after his mother is killed by a hunter, Tod is "adopted" by the kind elderly Widow Tweed.  While wandering through the woods one day, Tod meets young hound puppy Copper and the two bond quickly.  When they discover that they only live down the road from each other, the friendship grows even more despite the fact that Copper's owner Amos Slade and Slade's older hunting dog Chief would almost disown Copper if they knew it was occurring.  Time passes, fall turns to winter and winter to spring, and an older Copper has become quite the fierce hunting dog which doesn't bode well for Tod who now discovers that Copper's loyalties may not lie with their friendship.

Facts and Figures

The Fox and the Hound is the Walt Disney Company's twenty-fourth full-length animated feature and was released on July 10, 1981.

At the time of its release, The Fox and the Hound was the most expensive animated film produced with a budget of $12 million, however, it was a financial success, garnering $65 million over its multiple releases.

Let the Discussion Begin...

Prior to the release of The Fox and the Hound there was an epic shake-up among the ranks of Disney animators.  In 1979, many artists including Don Bluth (of An American Tale fame) left Disney in a dispute over creative and financial differences.  According to Leonard Maltin's book The Disney Films, Bluth said that "we felt like we were animating the same picture over and over again with just the faces changed a little."  This walk-out forced The Fox and the Hound to be delayed by more than six months.  This film did mark a turning point for Disney animation with some of Disney's "Nine Old Men" (nine animators who started working with Walt at the onset of the animation studio) working with new blood and essentially handing over the reins to them.  Funnily enough, The Fox and the Hound mirrors the fractious atmosphere in the animator's workroom with the film failing to cohesively come together.

The first half of the film is more successful than the latter and I think, as silly as this sounds, it's because of the "cute factor."  The younger versions of fox Tod and dog Copper (voiced by Corey Feldman and Keith Mitchell, respectively) exude humor, innocence, and genuine heartfelt emotions.  We can't help but feel an immediate connection with this duo as their friendship blossoms.  If only they could've stayed young forever...

Unfortunately, when the story shifts to the adult versions of Tod and Copper (now voiced by Mickey Rooney and Kurt Russell, respectively), things begins to fall apart.  The set-up for the dissension between Tod and Copper is decent -- older hunting dog Chief is hurt after chasing Tod which leads Copper to stand up for his fellow canine and turn against his longtime buddy Tod.  However, the separate stories for Tod and Copper that occur after this aren't all that intriguing.  Copper, unfortunately, gets the short end of the stick as his tale is nearly abandoned during the film's latter half.

Instead, we find ourselves following along with Tod who leaves Widow Tweed's and strikes out in the wilderness on his own where he immediately falls in love with a foxy fox named Vixey (voiced by Sandy Duncan).  This subplot is a redux of the Bambi "twitterpated" scenario, but much worse and decidedly more tacky.  Accompanied by the heinous song "Appreciate the Lady," part of me felt dirty during this segment of the film.  Tod finds himself swooning over his first glance at the female physique.  Big Mama (an owl...yet another Bambi homage, it seems) tells Tod that he's going to get "a whole lot of satisfaction" if he just "appreciates the lady / ...[and then he's] gonna be appreciated right back."  It is a bit off-putting, that's for sure.  And it's not a good song at that.

Music is admittedly not The Fox and the Hound's selling point.  Beyond "Appreciate the Lady," there's only one other number that stands out -- "Best of Friends" -- but the song about the burgeoning friendship between Tod and Copper comes a bit too early in their relationship to really resonate.  The film's plot doesn't really call for music, so I wish the animators would've just abandoned the notion of needing songs to push the plot lines along.

Animation-wise, The Fox and the Hound is solid.  In fact, the film's climactic scene involving a bear attack is frighteningly well-conceived.  The tension created in large part due to the animation adds significant gravitas to a second act that found itself floundering.  (Considering that the film doesn't really have a "villain" per se, this climactic bear scene really does a fantastic job creating a sense of excitement.)  While the rest of the film doesn't do anything mind-blowing, considering the chaos surrounding the production, I find the overall aesthetic of the film to be one of its saving graces.

Voice-wise, the cast is quite good and does a lot to elevate the tale beyond the average.  However, I must point out that Disney's insistence on creating comedic side characters wears out its welcome with The Fox and the Hound, particularly with the character of the woodpecker Boomer.  It's not the character of Boomer is particularly enervating, it's just that the voice actor behind the bird -- Paul Winchell -- does absolutely nothing to differentiate the bird from his voice as Tigger, complete with the "whoo-hoo-hoo" laugh.  Boomer is certainly a throwaway character with absolutely no importance to the plot and could've (and should've) been eliminated.

Random Thoughts
...while watching the film...

• The opening credit sequence lasts nearly five minutes, yet it's quite an impressive, though incredibly simplistic, set-up.  We see panoramic, though static (ie. with no moving animation) shots of a forest set to a calm score by Buddy Baker accompanied by chirping birds.  Suddenly the images grow darker, the score grows more intense, and we realize that something ominous is about to happen.
• Contrary to the aforementioned Paul Winchell's Tigger-like vocal acting (of which I wasn't a fan), I enjoyed hearing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory's Grandpa Joe -- Jack Albertson -- voicing the hunter Amos Slade.
• SPOILER ALERT -- The scene at the film's conclusion in which Copper stands in front of Amos in order to stop him from shooting Tod is surprisingly emotional.  The look in Copper's eyes says it all.

Final Analysis

(Does It Belong in the Revered Disney Pantheon and How Does It Stack Up to Past Films?)

I watched The Fox and the Hound a little over two years ago when I initially attempted to start an "analysis" of Disney's animated features.  Back then, I found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this somewhat forgotten Disney feature.  Unfortunately, the film didn't hold up upon a repeat viewing.  While certainly pleasant, there's just too much here that doesn't quite work to make it a stand-out film.

The animation is also quite solid (although beyond the climax there isn't anything mind-blowing) and the voice acting (with the exception of the aforementioned Paul Winchell) is perfectly suited for the characters.  However, the film loses a bit of focus whenever it shifts away from the relationship between Tod and Copper and, unfortunately, as the two friends grow older, my interest in their characters waned a bit.  Yes, the filmmakers do a good job in allowing us to understand their affection towards each other as young animals, yet grasp why they drifted apart as they aged.  However, things just don't quite come together as a full package making it not quite worthy of placement in the Disney Pantheon.

While I criticized the film quite a bit above, it should be noted that The Fox and the Hound isn't a bad film.  It's a flawed one and one that had great potential, but it doesn't manage to cohesively bring its two acts together.

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Join us next Wednesday for The Black Cauldron, the 25th film in The Disney Discussion.

Movie Review - Breakdown (1997)

Breakdown (1997)

Starring Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey, and Jack Noseworthy

Directed by Jonathan Mostow

This is one of those movies that's been on my list of things to watch for years upon years, but I had never gotten around to it until now (thanks to instant streaming on Netflix).  It's an effective little thriller that, while not bringing anything new to the table, certainly is successful at creating tension.

Kurt Russell plays Jeff Taylor who, along with his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan), are traveling out to California in their new SUV.  Having just secured new jobs, they're leaving their old life in Massachusetts behind and heading out to the new unknown future (albeit with a little trepidation).  When their SUV breaks down on the side of the road in the middle of the Arizona desert, Amy hitches a ride with a friendly trucker (J.T. Walsh) who says he'll drop Amy off at a diner five miles down the road and let her call for a tow truck. 

Hours pass with no sign of a tow or Amy, and Jeff manages to get the SUV up and running again.  When he arrives at the diner, he's met with blank stares when he inquires about his wife.  Starting to get a bit scared, Jeff takes to the road to head to the nearest town.  Along the way, he spots the truck and driver who picked up Amy.  The only problem is that the trucker seems oblivious to the whole thing, saying to Jeff that he has no recollection of ever meeting him or his wife.  Jeff's frantic search for his wife ensues and leads him into some surprising circumstances.

All in all, the film does what it intends to do -- provide genuine excitement.  In its brisk 95-minute running time, director and co-writer Jonathan Mostow is able to keep the tension ever-rising, while keeping the somewhat silly story feeling believable. The film's last third is ludicrous, but Mostow does such a great job directing that the last twenty minutes had me on the edge-of-my-seat, including a fantastic final set piece.  Mostow is quite adept at filming action sequences, while at the same time creating some beautiful shots of with the lovely Arizona deserts in the background.

The only real issue with the film is the star.  Kurt Russell is kind of just an emotional vacuum on the screen.  I never really got any sense of any emotion from him at all in this thing.  Towards the end, he ratchets up the "GIVE ME BACK MY WIFE!" anger, but for the most part, he's much too bland.  Considering that he's onscreen in every single scene, it's a bit of a let-down.  Russell certainly isn't bad enough not to watch this, but if he could have brought more to the table, this flick would have been really stellar.

The RyMickey Rating: B