Movie Review - Time Out of Mind

Time Out of Mind (2015)

Starring Richard Gere, Ben Vereen, Jena Malone, and Kyra Sedgwick

Directed by Oren Moverman

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

Voyeuristically filmed at times, writer-director Oren Moverman's Time Out of Mind follows the life of George (Richard Gere), a homeless and possibly mentally ill man who roams New York City looking for food and shelter (along with the more than occasional consumption of alcohol).  Finding it difficult to sleep on the street, George decides to move into a homeless shelter where he meets the rambling and often nonsensical Dixon (Ben Vereen) and they strike up an odd, oftentimes contentious friendship.  Growing desperate to earn money, George reaches out to his estranged daughter Maggie (Jena Malone), a bartender who wants nothing to do with her father after he abandoned her for reasons revealed late in the film.

Moverman's camera plants itself far away from his main figures at times, causing the audience to feel as if they're peering in on George's life, creating a distance between the viewer and the characters that actually works surprisingly well.  As the film progresses, the camera gradually moves in a bit closer.  The concept is reminiscent of how most of us would feel around a homeless man -- keeping him at a distance, but, should we get to know him, we may welcome him into our circle with a bit less reticence.

Time Out of Mind is a very slow burn -- too slow at times.  The film's first half hour contains very little dialog, simply trying to paint a picture of George's difficult life on the street.  While it does a good job of getting across the trials facing the homeless (although it doesn't present solutions or espouse preachiness), the flick grows a bit wearisome at several moments throughout its runtime.  A condensing of certain aspects would've done wonders here, but the other Oren Moverman film I've seen -- The Messenger -- carries that same cinematic mindset of moving at a slower pace.  The film picks up particularly at the end as George attempts to reconcile his relationship with Maggie, but it's a bit too little too late.

Gere is very good here -- he's in every scene and there's a subtlety he brings to the character that never screams "Pity Me" which I very much appreciated.  Malone also makes the most of her two small scenes with Gere and it had me wishing the film would've explored her character in greater detail.  She really delivers in her moments and the film brightens in terms of story when she takes the stage.  It's these personal moments and connections Gere has with others that bring Time Out of Mind to life and while I appreciate Moverman's attempt here at creating something different, it doesn't work all the time, but it's certainly not a complete disappointment either.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Arbitrage

Arbitrage (2012)

Starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Costa, and Nate Parker 

Directed by Nicholas Jarecki

Arbitrage is a taut, smart character study about how a single poor decision can balloon into something that can potentially ruin a man, his family, and his business.  Richard Gere is Robert Miller, a New York businessman who manages a seemingly successful hedge fund.  At age sixty, he's looking to step away from the daily rigors of the job and has found a wealthy man willing to buy his business.  However, despite outwardly appearing to be a great business and family man, Robert has secrets in both facets of his life that may very well lead to his downfall.

Rather than go into greater detail with the story, I'd much rather you experience Arbitrage without much knowledge about its plot.  I knew very little about the film except that Richard Gere played a businessman in trouble and I think that my naivete enhanced the viewing experience.  Nicholas Jarecki who both helmed and wrote the film does a really nice job in crafting a well-balanced story and a rich-looking film.  Considering that Jarecki's only other feature film credit was the heinously awful The Informers, I'm shocked that this tale came from his pen as it's a near 180-degree turnaround in terms of quality and overall story.

Jarecki manages to get a fantastic performance out of Richard Gere who was probably within shooting distance of snagging an Oscar nomination this year if his Golden Globe nomination for this film was any indication.  He's really very good here as a flawed guy who's made many bad decisions -- both personal and business-oriented -- and who thought he'd never have to deal with the consequences of his actions.  When he's forced to face his fraudulent actions in all aspects of his life, this man who's had everything handed to him for years finds himself in a downward spiral.

Gere is matched by some very nice turns from Susan Sarandon (who's been slumming it lately I feel in a Liam Neeson "I'll take any role" kind of way) as Robert's wife and Nate Parker as the son of one of Robert's former business partners who helps him when things begin to get rough.  The best supporting turn in the film comes from Brit Marling as Robert's daughter Brooke who is the Chief Financial Officer of her father's business.  When Brooke discovers her father's disappointing actions, she's forced to decide whether blood is thick enough to forgive, and it sets up a very interesting, conflicting, and surprisingly complex decision for a supporting character.

Arbitrage is the kind of movie Alfred Hitchcock would be making were he still around today.  Granted, Hitch liked to craft movies around innocent guys framed for horrible actions a lot of the time and Robert Miller here is fully aware of his poor actions.  However, this is a film that exudes that Hitchcock level of intelligence and character development and it's an underseen flick that I highly recommend.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Double

The Double (2011)

Starring Richard Gere, Topher Grace, Odette Yustman, and Martin Sheen

Directed by Michael Brandt

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

Although imdb lists The Double as getting a theatrical release last year, I certainly never heard anything about this until I saw some commercials promoting its appearance on Blu-Ray.  With a promise of political intrigue (and the ease of streaming availability), I figured why not give it a shot.  However, I soon discovered the reason this was buried at the box office is because The Double simply isn't very good.

Richard Gere is Paul Shepherdson, a retired CIA agent who spent much of his life tracking down a group of Russian bad guys led by an ominous assassin named Cassius.  Having seemingly taken down the bad Russians, Paul spends his days (creepily) watching Little League games outside of Washington, D.C.  When a prominent senator gets murdered in the same style as Cassius's killings, CIA director Tom Highland (Martin Sheen) calls Paul back into the game partnering him up with young FBI agent Ben Geary (Topher Grace).  Ben, a young expert on Cassius, soon begins to see that Paul has all the characteristics of the Russian baddie and slowly uncovers that Paul may be hiding a huge secret from the US government.

Sound moderately interesting, right?  It's not.  The "big reveals" aren't that exciting and the multiple twists thrown in at the film's end seem forced rather than natural to the story.  Gere and Grace are fine, but neither are given much to do and they don't provide a whole lot of charisma to liven things up.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Amelia (2009)

Starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, and Ewan McGregor
Directed by Mira Nair

Every time I watch a biopic, I state this: the biopic is my least favorite genre of film. I don't give a darn about them at all because there's never any tension because you inevitably know the ending. I know Amelia Earhart's plane is going to crash.

Still, I wanted to like this movie more than it allows me to like it. It looks rather sumptuous...costumes, sets, and the like look good. But the direction is just silly and several of the flying shots look computer-generated. Plus the script which includes some of the worst voiceover lines I've ever heard was much too philosophical and "new agey" for its own good. Plus, how many times have we seen the tired old biopic set-up of the subject of the pic looking back on their life through a series of flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks!)?

Swank is okay as Earhart, but she was rather stiff (then again, I guess Earhart was a tad on the manly side in terms of her demeanor). Gere was fine, but nothing special. And McGregor's role was simply a throwaway and really amounts to only a slightly lengthy cameo.

I wasn't expecting much and I certainly didn't get much from this.

The RyMickey Rating: D