The Sleepover

 The Sleepover (2020)

Starring Malin Ackerman, Ken Marino, Sadie Stanley, Maxwell Simkins, Cree Cicchino, Lucas Jaye, Karla Souza, and Joe Manganiello

Directed by Trish Sie

Written by Sarah Rothschild

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Rampage

Rampage (2018)

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Ackerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, Marley Shelton, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Directed by Brad Peyton

Written by Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condal, and Adam Sztykiel

Click here for my Letterboxd review

There RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - I'll See You in My Dreams

I'll See You in My Dreams (2015)

Starring Blythe Danner, Martin Starr, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place, Malin Akerman, and Sam Elliott

Directed by Brett Haley

At the center of I'll See You in My Dreams is a lovely performance from Blythe Danner (in her first leading theatrical role after nearly five decades in the industry) as Carol Petersen, a widow whose husband died two decades prior and is now finally contemplating the possibility of getting into a relationship with another man.  Danner is very good, easily anchoring the film with her charm, glowing exuberance, and reflective emotion.

However, as you move away from Danner at the center, I'll See You in My Dreams as a film doesn't quite match the actress's performance.  Director/co-writer Brett Haley has the makings of a nice short film here, but when stretched out to feature length, the flick flounders a bit.  We're given typical "girlfriend" moments where a cast of funny co-stars -- June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place -- are rather wasted despite working well off of each other.  A rather odd (although admittedly somewhat intriguing) friendship for Carol with a much younger pool cleaner (Martin Starr) walks a weird line of hinting at romance while at the same time creating a maternal-type relationship.  (Granted, I think that was the point, but it never quite feels anything but unsettling.)  And let's not even delve into the fact that once again we're given the "old people smoking pot for comedy" trope which is, as loyal readers know, quite possibly my least favorite movie go-to and reason enough for me to knock this one down a few pegs.

Once again, Blythe Danner is very good here and reason enough to give this one a watch.  Her performance is absolutely captivating and as she navigates the tricky road of her character's late-in-life renaissance, Danner certainly holds the audience's attention.  It's just a bit of a shame that the film itself feels as if it's in need of a little more critical re-writing in order to fully flesh out Carol's new lease on life.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Numbers Station

The Numbers Station (2013)

Starring John Cusack, Malin Akerman, and Liam Cunningham

Directed by Kasper Barfoed

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

When CIA agent Emerson Kent (John Cusack) screws up a black ops mission, he's relegated to protecting code operator Katherine (Malin Ackerman) at a remote CIA radio broadcast station in England.  At this numbers station, Katherine sits in a broadcast booth and spouts series upon series of numbers which are codes containing information regarding missions for agents in the field.  Emerson and Katherine share the station with two other folks just like themselves, working on opposite shifts.  However, one morning, upon Emerson and Katherine's arrival, they find themselves being shot at by a sniper in a radio tower.  Quickly hustling into the numbers station, the two discover that their predecessors have been compromised and that their last act was unknowingly dispensing codes that told CIA agents to commit some horrible acts.  With that sniper outside trying to make his way in and those field agents getting ready to carry out their treasonous acts, Emerson and Katherine are working against the clock to get things right and save themselves.

What's most interesting about The Numbers Station is that, for the most part, this is a two-actor affair.  John Cusack and Malin Ackerman are onscreen together for most of the film and, considering what some may consider the "B-levelness" of the two stars, they more than hold their own with Ackerman proving to be the big surprise to me.  Cusack is seemingly playing a guy we've seen him play before, showing very little emotion as is often the case with him and his roles in the past decade.  Ackerman, however, gets us to feel for her character's plight despite the under-developed role she's been given.

Ultimately, what holds The Numbers Station back from being really good is a script that truly intrigues. Yes, the premise is moderately unique and the concept of never leaving the numbers station once we're inside it is an added twist, the claustrophobia doesn't really add to the tension we should be feeling.  Fortunately (and smartly), the film clocks in at under ninety minutes, so we're never really bored by it, but we do find ourselves wishing for a bit more pizzazz.  (You can certainly tell it was made with a low budget mindset.)

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

On an unrelated note, if you haven't checked out Malin Ackerman's sitcom Trophy Wife on ABC, give it a look.  It started out rather unimpressive and I admittedly gave up on it, but its creative juices began flowing about four episodes in and it's definitely become one of the more underrated comedies on network tv at the moment. 

Movie Review - Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages (2012)

Starring Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman, Mary J. Blige, Bryan Cranston, Alec Baldwin, and Tom Cruise

Directed by Adam Shankman

Movies don't get much worse than Rock of Ages, one of the most dreadful films I've seen in a long time.     There's a line in Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" which is sung two or three times in this musical that says "the movie never ends / it goes on and on and on and on," and, boy, does this movie seem an interminable mess.  I'm legitimately not sure why I watched the whole thing except to say that I knew within the first ten minutes that this was going to be the worst movie of 2012 and I needed to at least be able to have seen the movie that warranted that ignominious prize.

Somehow or another, this melange of horrible '80s rock music has been running on Broadway since 2009 and it's still going strong.  With a paper thin plot involving "small town girl" Sherrie (Julianne Hough) who moves to L.A. to make it in the music industry only to find that life is more difficult than she could have imagined, Rock of Ages throws in a bunch of perfunctory characters to try and round out the tale.  Of course, Sherrie falls in love almost immediately upon arrival with Drew (Diego Boneta), an aspiring rock star who works at the iconic rock venue The Bourbon Room run by Lonny (Russell Brand) and Dennis (Alec Baldwin) whose "witty" repartee proves groan-inducing.  The Bourbon Room is unfortunately a bit behind in paying their taxes and Dennis formulates a deal for aging rock star and nonsensical alcoholic druggie Stacie Jaxx (Tom Cruise) to play a solo performance at the establishment, much to the chagrin of the new L.A. mayor (Bryan Cranston) and his bitchy wife Patricia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), the latter of whom is on a mission to "sanitize" the city by ridding it of its bars and strip clubs.

But since bars, strip clubs, alcohol, and rock and roll are totally tubular (there's an '80s term that thankfully faded), screw the government and rock on!  At least, that's what we're supposed to feel.  Instead, I just longed for this movie to come to a close.  Filled with some of the worst performances of the year (Mary J. Blige should never get another acting job after this), there's nothing even remotely positive to latch onto.  I thought maybe Tom Cruise who is certainly taking on a different role in Stacie Jaxx than we've seen from him before might at least provide some amusement in hamming it up for the screen, but instead I just felt bad for him to be involved in this dreck.  The two leads in Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta actually come out of this the most unscathed simply because their characters were the most "normal," and despite looking all doe-eyed and innocent for much of the film, neither were given embarrassing moments to undertake like the rest of their fellow cast members.

Director Adam Shankman who did a rather brilliant job with the amusing and cheerful Hairspray several years ago should've known better.  The film jolts back and forth between its various characters too much and the musical numbers are filmed rather blandly, lacking any imagination or creativity.  I don't think you could pay me enough money to watch Rock of Ages again.  Painful...just painful...

The RyMickey Rating:  F

Movie Review - Watchmen (2009)

Starring Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, and Carla Gugino
Directed by Zack Snyder

This is one of those movies (embarrassingly like Twilight) where even though I know it's bad, I still kind of like it. There's plenty of problems, and, honestly, not a ton to fawn over, but it still doesn't fail for some reason.

I read the graphic novel earlier this year as part of the Book-a-Week Quest and it holds no place in my heart, that's for sure. Not that it was bad, but I'm not geeking out over it.

Since the comic means nothing to me, my first problem is that the movie is much too long, retaining way too much of the superfluous storylines. It really feels like everything could be whittled down to an hour and forty-five minutes instead of two hours and forty-five minutes. Cut out the ridiculously awful sex scene aboard the "owl ship." You could truncate the first 50 minutes down to 20 easily. And the end felt a tad drawn out, too.

The acting was pretty darn awful -- Malin Ackerman, in particular. Good Lord, at first I thought it was just the dialog she had to spout, but towards the end, I realized it was her. And nobody (with the exception of Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach) was really any good.

Despite the fact that I felt the beginning was filled with lots of nothing, I was interested because of Zack Snyder's direction. Unfortunately, the direction became flat after the first hour.

So, with all the bad, why the heck did I like it? I'm not sure. I guess it stems from the fact that the premise in and of itself is kind of nifty. I like the idea of a group of "superheroes" being shunned by the public, trying to regain their image. I liked the interesting question that the film raises -- is it okay to kill some to save others? And, despite the fact that it was really long, it didn't feel like nearly three hours...I mean, don't get me wrong...like I said above, it's way too long...but it wasn't Funny People or Public Enemies long, if you get my drift.

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - The Proposal (2009)

Starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen, Malin Ackerman, and Betty White
Written by Peter Chiarelli
Directed by Anne Fletcher

I always kind of thought Sandra Bullock was attractive. Ever since Speed, I always liked her personality onscreen and off, despite the fact that she really hasn't starred in a bunch of good movies. So, I'll be completely honest here...I was looking forward to seeing this movie for some strange reason.

Bullock is Margaret Tate, an editor at a prestigious New York publishing company who is loathed and feared by all her employees. Her assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) puts up with her only because he longs to be an editor someday and also wants a manuscript of his published. Maggie gets some awful news and is told that she is being deported back to Canada because her visa has expired. On the fly, Maggie announces that she and Andrew are marrying each other. A reluctant Andrew agrees only because Maggie agrees to help him advance in his career. In order to learn more about each other (and to prove to the INS agent that they truly are a couple), they travel to Andrew's hometown in Alaska (because things are always funnier when it's cold) and meet his wacky relatives.

The worst part of the film (and I must allow my fellow moviegoer to take credit for this) is that Maggie becomes a complete dunce as soon as she steps on the plane to Alaska. She can't wheel her luggage around; she can't walk down a ladder; she can't walk in high heels. Somehow, moving Maggie out of her "comfort zone" of NYC makes her turn into this completely idiotic bitch rather than just a complete bitch. That being said, that was really my only problem with the flick.

I actually felt like there was some chemistry between Bullock and Reynolds and both of them were perfectly fine in their roles -- even though I despised the idiocy of Bullock's character, that's not her fault. Reynolds was quite good and provided quite a bit of laughs with his dry sense of humor. The supporting cast was also certainly above par -- Craig T. Nelson (Coach!) and Mary Steenburgen were both fine as Andrew's parents, and Betty White is always a joy to watch (even if she was given some awful lines to spout). In addition, there's an amusing turn from Oscar Nuñez (best known from tv's The Office) as a jack of all trades in the small Alaskan town.

I did discover a new cinematic crush while watching this film. Joining the club that currently has Amy Adams as a member is Malin Ackerman. She plays Gertrude, Andrew's ex-girlfriend, who still holds a special place in his heart. This relationship between Andrew and Gertrude was actually a very pleasant surprise. Typically ex-girlfriends are simply portrayed as "desperate to get back their man," but this relationship was actually quite sweet.

I could certainly have just been dumb, but I wasn't quite sure where the film was headed at the end...Andrew could have easily ended up with either Maggie or Gertrude or neither. I won't spoil it for you here. The fact that it wasn't spelled out completely ahead of time was definitely nice.

Now, the movie's not perfect. Many laughs fall flat, and, like I said above, Maggie's character is pretty godawful. But, overall, it's an adequate romantic comedy.

The RyMickey Rating: C