Downton Abbey: A New Era

 Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Elisabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Maggie Smith, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Joanne Froggatt, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Sophie McShera, Tuppence Middleton, Lesley Nicol, Imelda Staunton, Penelope Wilton, Laura Haddock, Dominic West, Nathalie Baye, Jonathan Zaccaï, and Hugh Dancy

Directed by Simon Curtis

Written by Julian Fellowes

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

A Boy Called Christmas

 A Boy Called Christmas (2021)

Starring Henry Lawfull, Michiel Huisman, Kristen Wiig, Toby Jones, Sally Hawkins, Joel Fry, Maggie Smith, and the vocal talent of Stephen Merchant

Directed by Gil Kenan

Written by Ol Parker and Gil Kenan

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

The First Wives Club

The First Wives Club (1996)

Starring Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maggie Smith, Dan Hedaya, Bronson Pinchot, Marcia Gay Harden, Stephen Collins, Elizabeth Berkley, Eileen Heckart, Victor Garber, and Stockard Channing

Directed by Hugh Wilson

Written by Robert Harling

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey (2019)

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Michael C. Fox, Joanne Froggatt, Matthew Goode, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, Geraldine James, Simon Jones, Tuppence Middleton, Kate Phillips, and Imelda Staunton

Directed by Michael Engler

Written by Julian Fellowes

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Sister Act

Sister Act (1992)

Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Harvey Keitel, Bill Nunn, Mary Wickes, Kathy Najimy, and Wendy Makkena

Directed by Emile Ardolino

Written by Joseph Howard

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: A-

Movie Review - The Lady in the Van

The Lady in the Van (2015)

Starring Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Frances De La Tour, Roger Allam, Deborah Findlay, and Gwen Taylor

Directed by Nicholas Hytner

Marketed as a lighthearted comedy, The Lady in the Van is the victim of ill-conceived expectations because while it contains some humorous moments, director Nicholas Hytner's film is much heavier than I expected.  Elder stateswoman Maggie Smith is engagingly crotchety as the title character, but the film is a slog to get through, disappointingly boring as it tells the (mostly true) story of Mary Shepherd who lives in a run-down van on the streets of London.  Moving from street to street, Ms. Shepherd has parked her vehicle on a lovely city road in Camden, but when the government institutes a no street parking edict, young playwright Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings) reluctantly agrees to allow Shepherd to move her van into his driveway.  Little did he realize that his temporary good deed would turn into a fifteen-year squatting by the elderly woman.

Based off Alan Bennett's play, The Lady in the Van vacillates between whimsy (accentuated by a lyrical score) and slight dreariness (highlighted by classical music), but never finds an appropriate balance between the two.  The story also feels repetitive, spanning fifteen years but failing to give the characters a whole lot of growth in that time.  It's a shame, really, because Maggie Smith is enjoyable to watch (albeit in a very similar role to much that she's played over the past decade), but the character of writer Alan Bennett is irritatingly bland (to no fault, really, of the actor portraying him).  The film tries to give Bennett a bit of a creative punch by having two Bennetts onscreen at once -- one being Bennett as a writer and one being Bennett talking to his writer-self -- but this interaction comes off as too much of a creative crutch rather than inherently necessary to the story.  In the end, The Lady in the Van proves to be a disappointment and, even worse, a bore.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

Starring Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie, and Dev Patel

Directed by John Madden

Old people say the darndest things!  Sometimes they poke fun at the youth.  Sometimes they discuss their sex life for yucks.  And then there's always the humorous racist ones who've never moved out of the dark ages.  And each of these types of elderly folks has taken up residence at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in India.  Join them for two hours peppered with moments of laughs, but very little story or substance.  But if Viagra is on your (or your significant other's) bedside table, this may be just the movie for you!

There are some great performances here from very talented British folks.  Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, and Billy Nighy are just a few of the notable long in the tooth stars on display and they all attempt to make director John Madden's film as watchable as possible.  Those three celebrities and several others take on the roles of aging British citizens who, in their old age, decide to travel to India either wanting a change in atmosphere or for monetary reasons or for seeking discounted medical help.  They all settled on staying at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel run by the young Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) thanks to the establishment's lovely brochure promoting luxury accommodations for the elderly, but upon their arrival they realize Sonny may have misrepresented his rundown complex.  Still, as the group settles in, they realize that India has so much to offer that it my even turn the most racist of people (Maggie Smith in a one-note role) into the most magnanimous by film's end.

The film's problem is that it's entirely too simplistic.  We are well aware of where all these folks' stories are going to end up from the very beginning (with the exception of Wilkinson's character who, although he goes through a rather touching story arc, felt oddly out of place with the rest of the film's overall tone).  There's no depth here and that would be fine if the film didn't attempt to strive for deep meaning.  Whimsicality is perfectly acceptable...they just should've gone for that here rather than trying for something more.

Then again, I don't really think The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was made for me.  Were I forty years older and heading into my seventies, I might have gone gaga over it, but I have not reached the milestone of needing to wear Depends so I'm not the film's demographic.  Yes, I realize that there's flippancy in that last statement, but I really mean no disrespect to the film's audience.  There are people who will love this movie and it's great that the filmmakers behind this decided to (successfully...at least from a box office standpoint) appeal to an under-represented audience.  But perhaps because I wouldn't be allowed to check in to the Marigold Hotel, this one just didn't prove successful for me.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Gnomeo and Juliet

Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)

Featuring the voice talent of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Jason Statham, and Patrick Stewart 

Directed by Kelly Asbury

Romeo and Juliet is a story that has been told many times, and while it may never have been told through the eyes of stone garden gnomes, it certainly wasn't begging to be depicted in that capacity.  Gnomeo and Juliet is a film that simply doesn't work from a story perspective and it's pretty obvious why this flick which was formerly under the "Disney" banner went out under the company's "Touchstone" banner.  The animation folks at Disney knew it just didn't succeed.  [Of course, Disney released Mars Needs Moms under the Disney banner and that was an utter failure at the box office, so maybe they need to re-evaluate things in general.]

Saying that Gnomeo and Juliet doesn't work as a story isn't a knock against the source material.  At its core, the tale of star-crossed lovers pulled apart by their feuding families is successful.  However, taking this very adult story and trying to shoehorn it into a cutesy plot about garden gnomes for kids just doesn't fit.  When you take the family infighting of the Montagues and Capulets and simply turn things into Red Gnomes thinking they have a better garden than the Blue Gnomes, this becomes an animated film that may work fine for kids, but doesn't translate well in the least to adults.

The voice acting is lukewarm at best.  Although everyone was serviceable, James McAvoy and Emily Blunt didn't bring anything exciting or invigorating to the two title characters.  They were simply "Generic British Voices" thrust into the film.

The animation is fairly poor.  While a movie like Toy Story amazingly gave plasticized items a heart and soul, Gnomeo and Juliet doesn't even come close to creating life behind the stony eyes of its characters.  Sure, there were some cute moments, but nothing was really great to look at from a visual level.

When the best part of your film is trying to pick out what Elton John song variation is playing on the film's score ("Oooh, is that a bit of 'The Bitch Is Back?'"  "Hey, isn't that "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word?'"), you know your film's in trouble.  For some reason, Gnomeo and Juliet was a fairly successful venture in theaters, but it's quite a disappointment for anyone over the age of twelve.

The RyMickey Rating:  D