The French Dispatch

 The French Dispatch (2021)

Starring Bill Murray, Elizabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Benicio del Toro, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Adrian Brody, Tony Revolori, Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Lois Smith, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Liev Schreiber, Jeffrey Wright, Willem Dafoe, Mathieu Amalric, Edward Norton, Winston Ait Hellal, and Saoirse Ronan

Directed by Wes Anderson

Written by Wes Anderson

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Movie Review - The Lobster

The Lobster (2016)

Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, John C. Reilly, and Olivia Colman

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

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

I was so on board with director/co-writer Yorgos Lanthimos' weirdly offbeat The Lobster throughout most of its first hour as its surreal tale begins to unfold.  David (Colin Farrell) has just gotten divorced and in the strange land in which The Lobster is set that means that he must find someone to fall in love with him in forty-five days lest he be turned into an animal.  Yep...I said it was weird.  David heads to a hotel run by a manager (Olivia Colman) who sets up a variety of activities to set people up with someone they can love.  As his days dwindle down and romance seems less likely, David ponders whether an escape is necessary...and that's where the story drastically changes and grows increasingly uninteresting in its second hour.

The comedic satire in the film's opening half creates a world with new rules that are fully embraced by both the film's characters -- which include John C. Reilly as a lisping loner and Ben Whishaw as a limping lover -- and the audience.  I bought into the insane set-up that people would actually turn into dogs or horses or even lobsters if they failed to fall in love, and I found the set-up unique and engaging despite the bleak and sometimes melancholy sadness that permeates the inhabitants of the hotel.  The second half, however, removes us from the hotel setting and things fall apart.  The comedic aspect fades away and the tone of the film shifts into something that disappoints.  (I'll admit to being vague here to avoid spoilers.)

Kudos to Colin Farrell for carrying the film and giving a solid performance as the depressed David who finds himself forced to find true love in a short amount of time.  Creatively, Lanthimos at least envisioned a dystopia that we haven't seen before.  Unfortunately, he can't sustain a two-hour film across this land set up in the way he has.  There was promise here that unfortunately didn't pan out.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Spectre

Spectre (2015)

Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Dave Bautista, Rory Kinnear, Andrew Scott, Monica Bellucci, and Ralph Fiennes

Directed by Sam Mendes

While Spectre never hits the exciting levels of Skyfall, nor reaches (or even really tries for) the emotional peaks that its Sam Mendes-directed predecessor achieved, Mendes' return to the James Bond series is still a solid entry into the Daniel Craig-era of the super spy pics.  Whereas Skyfall was a character-driven piece that focused not only on Bond, but also the people and fellow agents closest to him, Spectre places the emphasis squarely back on the suave, debonair, and kick-ass British agent. Here Bond receives a message from someone in his past who tells him that a large heretofore unknown organization named SPECTRE is up to some sinisterly deviant deeds.  With the '00' sub-sector of the British Intelligence Agency under attack by "C" (Andrew Scott), "M" (Ralph Fiennes) is forced to allow Bond to try and uncover SPECTRE on his own without the aid of those who've helped him in the past.

Spectre works in nearly all aspects, but its ultimate "problem" is that it's not as good as Skyfall in any facet -- action scenes, emotional scenes, villain, character interaction, title song.  That's not to say that any of those aforementioned qualities are bad in any way, but Skyfall was so good that nothing quite reaches its levels in Spectre.

Still, what Sam Mendes brings to the Bond table is something that most action franchises would kill to have in their repertoire -- a director who understands how to capably film action sequences in a way that adds excitement while also allowing the audience to completely understand the visuals of high intensity quick-motion sequences.  The opening scene of Spectre as an example showcases Mendes' talent -- we get a very long single take shot that obviously adds to the tension (impressive in and of itself), followed by an explosion, and ending with a stellar sequence shot in a helicopter that had me hankering for more when it was finished.  Throughout this entire opening scene (which must have lasted close to fifteen minutes), Mendes displays a variety of different techniques in making an action scene work -- one of which being a slow burn followed by intensity -- all the while making every single obviously implausible aspect seem totally believable and absolutely comprehensible to the viewer.  Just try watching a Transformers movie or even The Avengers (I know, sacrilege to say such a thing about the latter) and really tell me if you can comprehend every single moment of every single action sequence.  Mendes has really elevated the entire genre with his two Bond films and considering this wasn't even the type of film he was known for helming prior to this, it's even more of a coup for him.

I, for one, will miss Daniel Craig as James Bond should Spectre be his last film, but I must admit that Daniel Craig is the only James Bond I've ever known as I've yet to watch any other Bond flick.  Still, Craig brings a debonair demeanor that seemingly masks a darker side of Bond which we've come to discover over these last two films in particular.  His Bond has been given a lot of depth beyond being just another ladies' man and while credit is certainly due to the writers for exploring this aspect of the well-known character, credit must also be given to Craig himself.

Still, the film doesn't quite achieve the levels of Skyfall -- the villain Blofeld played by Christoph Waltz is one of the larger reasons for this.  Waltz is playing the exact same character we've seen him play in seemingly every other movie he's been in over the past eight years since he really popped onto the scene.  Calmly maniacal, I'm tiring of his same-old schtick and while it's not necessarily his fault that his character is so squarely in his wheelhouse, it is his fault for not expanding his own wheelhouse.  The lack of Judi Dench here also is a bit of a detriment (but one that we're going to have to get used to) and the film doesn't help this loss much having Bond be separated from the new M, Miss Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), and Q (Ben Whishaw) for long periods of time, missing the witty repartee Bond has had with these characters in the past.  (Seriously, the next film needs to expand Naomie Harris' role...please...she shows such potential and she's nearly wasted with nothing to show.)  However, Spectre is a solid action picture and one that shows that the Bond franchise is still alive and kicking.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

-- 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 - Ghost Protocol (2011)

Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Josh Holloway, Anil Kapoor, and Léa Seydoux

Directed by Brad Bird

***The review below was originally published on May 27, 2011.  Reading it over, my feelings are pretty much the same now as they were then.  Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is a really solid film and the best film in the Mission: Impossible series.  By far the funniest flick of the bunch (I laughed out loud when the machine that makes the famous Mission: Impossible face masks broke down), Ghost Protocol is also filled with great action sequences -- some of which should be noted for their surprising lack of weaponry and combat, but instead for their ability to create tense moments from something as simple as a desert dust storm.  Enjoy my original review below.***

Although Mission: Impossible II was one of my least favorite movies the year it came out, I don't utterly detest the Mission: Impossible series of films.  Maybe it's just the catchy theme music -- which really is one of the best tv theme songs ever created -- but it's probably more that I like the gadgety spy vibe that runs throughout.  I had heard really good things about animation director Brad Bird's first foray into live action filming.  Fortunately, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol did not disappoint and is probably the best action flick to come out of 2011.

Part of the reason for its success is that this Mission: Impossible has an odd joyfulness to it that I don't remember at all in previous incarnations in this series.  There's a humor here that I wasn't expecting and it added a breath of fresh air to the typical explosions and chase scenes that are part and parcel of a film of this ilk.  Certainly much of the chuckles come thanks to Simon Pegg who is the gadget guru Benji, part of the special team headed by Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, who after being rescued from a Russian prison finds himself on a mission (impossible) to hunt down a Swedish nuclear weapon expert (Michael Nyqvist) deadset on starting a world war.  Aided by Jane Carter (a very solid [and sexy] Paula Patton), Ethan and his team travel from Moscow to Dubai to India tracking down the baddie.

It also helps matters that the story is very straightforward -- read: easy to comprehend.  Sometimes spy films like this tend to throw more info at you than you really need -- red herrings here, ridiculously convoluted background information there.  MI4 doesn't do that at all and I don't mean this as an insult to it.  Don't think that things are overly simplified -- it's just that Brad Bird and his screenwriters have pared things down to be exactly what is needed to make this story fly by.  Bird also crafts his action sequences without the superfluous quick edits and nonstop explosions that are so prevalent in movies today.  There are some genuinely exciting moments here that rely on tension rather than rapid movement to succeed and that's often a rarity nowadays.

Unfortunately, I think the film falters a tiny bit in two areas.  One, Jeremy Renner's character of a government official who is forced to become part of Ethan's team seemed to simply be there to attempt to craft future movies around him.  He isn't really given a lot to do and although he's fine in the role, this is the one point in the movie that probably could've been fleshed out a bit more.  Secondly, the final act of the movie seems almost unnecessary.  When the team moves to India, I couldn't help but think things could've ended in Dubai to much greater effect -- not all movies need to be two hours and ten minutes long.  The final action sequence (which was genuinely tense and exciting) could so easily have taken place in Dubai that the move to India only screamed "Look at our budget!" to me.

Still, those are actually minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things because Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol really excels in all areas -- acting, directing, writing -- where most action movies nowadays fail miserably.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+