Nightmare Alley

 Nightmare Alley (2021)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenbergen, David Strathairn, and Rooney Mara

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Written by Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

The Witches of Eastwick

 The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Starring Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Veronica Cartwright, and Richard Jenkins

Directed by George Miller

Written by Michael Cristofer

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Trapped in Paradise

 Trapped in Paradise (1994)

Starring Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, Dana Carvey, Mädchen Amick, and Richard Jenkins

Directed by George Gallo

Written by George Gallo

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D

The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water (2017)

Starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Written by Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor

Summary (in 500 words or less): Mute janitor Elisa (Sally Hawkins) at a top secret government facility befriends a violent sea creature (Doug Jones) that was captured and is being held captive.  Elisa soon realizes that the sea creature doesn't see her for her faults, but instead enjoys her company and appreciates her for who she is.  This creates an idea in the lonely Elisa's mind to break the sea creature out of the facility with the help of her friends (Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer) while steering clear of the malevolent and watchful Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) whose torture of the creature is supposedly for the good of mankind.

• Much like Three Billboards, The Shape of Water feels a little kitchen-sinky with director-cowriter Guillermo del Toro tossing a bunch of plot points or character traits into the mix, jumbling them around, and hoping they make a cohesive movie together.  While Shape of Water fares better than Three Billboards, it's not a runaway success by any means.
• Sally Hawkins is always good and her performance here is no exception.  Without speaking a single word (well, for the most part), we in the audience know everything she is feeling and trying to convey.  A nice job.
• The film itself, though, is a bit odd -- although I'm sure that was the intention -- and I have a tough time trying to critique what I didn't really like about it because the whole thing -- the tone, the story -- just landed with a bit of a "nothing burger" for me.  del Toro wavers between quirky comedy and (sometimes over-the-top) melodrama and the balance never finds itself.  
• While the aforementioned Hawkins is in top form, Michael Shannon gives a blatantly one-note and extremely "caricaturish" performance as the egotistical man in charge at the secret government facility.  Granted, I'm sure Shannon was directed to act over-the-top by del Toro, but amidst the "normalcy" of Hawkins character (and even Doug Jones's sea creature character, to be honest), Shannon sticks out like a sore thumb.
• The film goes on too long as well with some silly subplot about the Russians attempting to steal the sea creature which goes absolutely nowhere.  In the end, The Shape of Water was just ho-hum.  I realize I'm kind of alone on the island with this one as it's shaping up to be the frontrunner of the Oscars Best Picture line-up (well, either this or the godawful Three Billboards), but this one just didn't work for me.

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 - God's Pocket

God's Pocket (2014)

Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, Eddie Marsan, and Caleb Landry Jones

Directed by John Slattery

Talk about a snooze fest.  One of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last films, God's Pocket tells the tale of a working class Philadelphia neighborhood known as Devil's Pocket wherein tough guys and broads abound.  Leon (Caleb Landry Jones) is a live wire -- a twentysomething factory worker whose racist remarks and poor work ethic don't sit well with his co-workers.  One day, after a spouting a particularly cruel diatribe against an older black man, the elderly gentleman whacks him on the side of the head with a pipe and Leon dies.  The manager of the factory and the crew decide to cover up the death, saying that it was an accident...and one would think that the movie would be about setting up whether these crew members would be discovered for their crime.

But no...after the murder in the film's opening ten minutes, we don't really revisit the investigation in the slightest.  Sure, Leon's death looms over the rest of the film's proceedings, but the film instead focuses on Leon's mother and stepfather Jeannine and Mickey (Christina Hendricks and Hoffman) and Jeannine's newfound affair with a reporter (Richard Jenkins) investigating Leon's death.  Taking place over the course of three days, God's Pocket goes nowhere with all of its characters wallowing around in dank, dark places not talking about anything of much importance except how hard life is in The Pocket.

This is actor John Slattery's first film as a director and there are sparks of interesting moments, but nothing ever truly lights up.  The acting is all so dreadfully sullen and dull that there's never a moment of respite from the dreariness.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - The Company You Keep

The Company You Keep (2013)

Starring Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Terrence Howard, Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, Brendan Gleeson, Brit Marling, Sam Elliott, Stephen Root, and Jackie Evancho 

Directed by Robert Redford

Just take a look at that talent listed above -- that's a helluva lot of names, most of whom are known for giving good performances.  Robert Redford's film The Company You Keep (culled from a script by Lem Dobbs) plays like a novel, introducing each of these actors for a chapter and then having them disappear.  This episodic nature proves very tedious about halfway through once we realize what's going on.  It fails to allow us to connect to anyone...then again, I'm not sure we really want to connect with any of these people.

The film opens with a brief flashback in newsreel/news footage form about a series of protests in the 1960/70s by a homegrown American "terrorist" group known as the Weather Underground -- a real-life "activist" group that bombed government buildings and banks as public demonstrations to gain notoriety in an attempt to overthrow the US government for what they perceived as wrongdoings during the Vietnam era.  The last blip of the flashback tells us about a 1980 bank robbery in which a civilian was killed and how the three people responsible are still at large.

Cut to present time and Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) is arrested when buying gas at a convenience store in New York.  Solarz was one a Weather Underground member and one of the three people responsible for that ill-fated bank robbery that resulted in a death.  She had lived her life -- got married, had kids -- but the guilt of that day always stayed with her and Solarz, a Vermont resident, specifically crossed the New York state border to buy gas in order to get arrested and turn herself in.  This sets the FBI on a hunt for Solarz's colleagues in the crime, while also piquing the interest of Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf), a young reporter at the local Albany newspaper.  Shepard ends up discovering more than the FBI (which doesn't sit too well with the FBI chief played by Terrence Howard) when he uncovers the fact that a local lawyer named Jim Grant (Robert Redford) is actually Nick Sloan, a presumed dead Weather Underground member suspected of taking part in the murder at the bank in 1980.  When Shepard confronts Grant about this, Grant immediately grows suspicious that the FBI will soon be on his tail and he sets off across the country trying to evade the FBI, while also trying to clear his name.

While the premise above is actually interesting that all takes place in the film's opening thirty minutes after which things quickly fall apart, digressing into scenes in which Redford's character meets up an old, hardened former Weather Underground member who then gets tracked down by the FBI just as Grant manages to make an escape.  This seriously happens four or five times and maybe it could've worked if any of these scenes ended up being anything other than two old people reminiscing about how shitty the government's treatment of the less fortunate is.  (Of course, the majority of these old fogies are now living in expensive houses, sailing yachts, or working at prestigious universities...so their sympathetic allegiance with the poor feels disingenuous...then again, that's the good old liberal mindset, ain't it?)

There are a couple of decent performances here -- LaBeouf is strong as the go-getting reporter, Sarandon makes the most of her small role with a particularly good scene in which she explains her actions -- but the typically strong cast isn't given much to work with and Redford doesn't really pull great performances from their small parts.  For someone who was a supposed sex symbol and movie star back in the day, Redford himself is uncharismatic and particularly bland here which is a disappointment considering he and LaBeouf are the only two actors who we see throughout the entire film.  The Company You Keep may very well have the most prestigious cast assembled for a 2013 film, but despite the high quality of actors, Robert Redford's film just meanders along for two hours failing to be anything more exciting than a game of "Which Celebrity Will Appear Next?"

The RyMickey Rating:  C- 

Movie Review - Turbo

Turbo (2013)

Featuring the voice talents of Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Samuel L. Jackson, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Snoop Dogg, Richard Jenkins, Michelle Rodriguez, and Ken Jeong

Directed by David Soren

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

About 35 minutes into Turbo, I found myself thinking that I had a nice little surprise on my hands with this fairly little seen film (in terms of mainstream animated flicks).  A NASCAR-obsessed snail named Theo (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) is the problem child of a clan of snails headed by Theo's older brother Chet (Paul Giamatti).  The snails take care of a tomato patch, but Theo seemingly causes chaos with his daydreaming about one day matching the talent of his favorite NASCAR driver Guy Gagne (Bill Hader).  Discouraged by his brother's disappointment in him, Theo wanders away from the tomato patch and, in a freak accident, gets sucked into the engine of a drag racing car wherein, through some crazy DNA fusion, he gets his veins filled with nitrous oxide causing him to be able to move as fast as the cars he's dreamed about.

While I enjoyed the tale's relationship between brothers Theo and Chet, once Theo leaves his home and becomes a souped-up snail, Turbo begins to fall apart.  Theo finds himself at Dos Bros Taco store and, perhaps serendipitously, Tito (Michael Peña), one of the Dos Bro's, races snails for fun.  (Yeah...sure...)  When he discovers Theo's prowess, Tito decides to try and get Theo -- whom he names Turbo -- into the Indianapolis 500.

While Turbo looks decent and its main voice actors -- Ryan Reynolds and Paul Giamatti -- are solid, its story just doesn't work once Theo "becomes" Turbo.  While at Dos Bros, Turbo meets a slew of other snails -- voiced by people like Snoop Dogg, Maya Rudolph, and Samuel L. Jackson -- who have ridiculously stereotypical personalities and don't do anything to advance the story whatsoever.  They all could've (and should've) been eliminated and the plot essentially could have been rolled out in the same manner.  The film's climax feels obvious and rather forced, allowing for very little tension which doesn't help things either.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher (2012)

Starring Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Joseph Sikora, Jai Courtney, Werner Herzog, and Robert Duvall 

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

***This film is crrently streaming on Netflix***

Super Quick Review #1 of Today

Tom Cruise is the title character in Jack Reacher, a former military man who now finds himself investigating crimes back in the States.  The crime featured in what is now apparently the first of a series of Jack Reacher films involves a sniper who shot and killed five innocent people in Pittsburgh.  The shooter - a former military sniper - has no recollection of the crime and Reacher believes that he's likely innocent.

Cruise is solid and the film was enjoyable enough to watch, but the plot was rather convoluted.  The film's overarching "conspiracy" failed to resonate and I found myself not caring about the resolution all that much.  Still, Jack Reacher was decent...I'm just not sure I'd really care to see a sequel.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - White House Down

White House Down (2013)

Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Joey King, Richard Jenkins, and James Woods

Directed by Roland Emmerich

I keep trying to tell myself that I shouldn't like Channing Tatum.  I keep telling myself that I should laugh off all of his movies.  I keep saying that since the ladies love him I should automatically carry some disdain towards him.  Because of this, it was easy to avoid Tatum's summer action picture White House Down.  Of course, that wasn't the only reason to scoff at this film.  I could certainly do without Jamie Foxx's irksome overacting and this was the second movie to come out within five months detailing a terroristic takeover of the White House following Olympus Has Fallen.  Plus, the trailer for Olympus seemed much better than this Roland Emmerich-directed "blockbuster."  Having watched Olympus Has Fallen a few months ago and finding it disappointing, when White House Down arrived in my mailbox last week, I was actually irritated that I hadn't reordered my Netflix queue.  Needless to say, White House Down proved to be surprisingly enjoyable -- a film that doesn't necessarily do a single thing we haven't seen before, but somehow manages to revel in its ridiculousness and keep things rocking and rolling for over two hours.

Like I said, White House Down doesn't reinvent the wheel.  Channing Tatum is Cale, a security officer for the Speaker of the House (Richard Jenkins).  Hoping for something more, he heads to the White House for an interview, bringing with him his precocious eleven year-old daughter (Joey King).  After being interviewed by Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal), one of the President's high-ranking Secret Service officers and (of course) a former fling of Cale's, Cale and his daughter bogart their way into a White House tour.  While on the tour, the White House finds itself under attack, taken over by a crew of men headed by the leading Secret Service agent Walker (James Woods), a man upset by the President's foreign relations policies that caused Walker's military son to be killed in combat.  Naturally, Cale springs into action, doing what he can to protect the well-liked President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) along with his daughter.

Honestly, I could've written the basic story behind White House Down, but I must give credit to director Roland Emmerich and screenwriter James Vanderbilt who keep the flick moving along at a steady pace punctuating some of the most ridiculously over-the-top action sequences with humorous quips wherein the characters themselves admit the ridiculousness of said action sequences.  Tatum is certainly game for both the action scenes and he's already proven himself a charmingly sly comedian.  Jamie Foxx is shockingly understated -- I was pleasantly surprised by the way he allowed his presidential character to play second fiddle to Tatum.  The supporting cast from Woods to Jenkins to Gyllenhaal all give better performances than is to be expected in a movie like this.

So, I must say that no one is more shocked than me to say that White House Down is worth your time and better than it really should be.  I think I need to admit that Channing Tatum isn't nearly as bad as I want him to be.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Starring Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Jenkins

Directed by Drew Goddard

Five college kids head to a remote cabin in the woods for a fun weekend, but they're soon in for much more than they bargained for as their vacation turns into a hellish nightmare.  And that's the only summary I'll give you for The Cabin in the Woods because part of the fun of watching this incredibly absurd and original horror flick is watching it unfurl in front of you with the rather unique turns seemingly coming out of left field, but proving to be completely believable by the film's end. (Well, maybe not believable in the "real world," but believable in the "cinematic world" this film inhabits.) 

It should be noted that when I like a horror movie, it's generally a good bet to assume that the American public will not.  And that very well may be why Drew Goddard's film has sat on the shelf since 2009.  This is certainly not going to be a movie for everyone.  And, admittedly, it wasn't a movie for me for the first thirty minutes (which I must say felt a little interminable).  The humor wasn't clicking for me and I was quite bored as the film followed an incredibly typical horror flick arc.  However co-screenwriters Goddard and Joss Whedon twist things around and while The Cabin in the Woods remains most definitely in the "slasher flick" genre, it expands upon the boundaries we think of when we think of cinematic blood and gore.  In a sense, it echoes a bit of what Scream did back in the 90s, but Whedon and Goddard push things even further.

It helps that, for the most part, the acting is above average for your standard horror flick and Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford prove to be a real treat as a duo whose purpose would be too much of a spoiler to reveal here.  As soon as Jenkins and Whitford appeared, it was quite obvious that The Cabin in the Woods was going to be a bit different and their quirky sensibilities provide many a laugh.

While there are certainly positives, I can't help but think that there isn't a whole lot of rewatchability in this one.  Knowing the twists and turns ahead of time may very well spoil what made the film so much fun the first go-around.  And, as I mentioned, the movie takes a bit too long to get rolling.  That said, this movie provides the right amounts of humor, tension, and scares, making The Cabin in the Woods an enjoyable ninety minute ride.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Hall Pass

Hall Pass (2011)

Starring Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate, and Richard Jenkins 

Directed by the Bobby and Peter Farrelly 

While the brotherly directing team of There's Something about Mary doesn't reinvent the wheel with Hall Pass, the Farrelly Brothers have managed to craft a respectable comedy that has enough laughs and likable enough characters to surprise this reviewer.

Hall Pass still has the requisite raunch and toilet humor, but in this day and age of the resurgence of the R-rated comedy, I almost felt like the brotherly writing-directing duo held back a bit and it was a welcome treat.  For a flick whose premise deals with two guys who receive a week-long hall pass from their wives to go out and do whatever they want with whomever they want, I enjoyed that Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis's characters never felt like they stooped to teenagery whims and characteristics.  Wilson and Sudeikis play adult guys simply trying to sow their wild oats after years of wallowing in the sometimes-monotony of monogamy.  Yet, the film never pushes these guys into incredibly over the top situations (although there are certainly many situations presented that your average non-Hollywood male would never find himself in) and manages to keep the two pleasant to watch as opposed to be annoyed by their foolish shenanigans.

Hall Pass certainly isn't a home run.  There are several lulls where laughs come few and far in between and there are moments where the childish humor had me rolling my eyes, but I've got to admit that I laughed out loud (and quite loudly) several times.  Wilson and Sudeikis make a good pair and both certainly make this movie a pleasant watch.  The same, unfortunately, can't be said for the womanly counterparts.  Jenna Fischer as Wilson's wife is kind of a dead weight.  Granted, the film doesn't give her a whole lot to do, but it keeps trying to shoehorn her into the story and it just doesn't succeed.  Christina Applegate fares a little better as the sassier wife of Sudeikis, but it's a role we've seen her play many times before.

Still, for what Hall Pass is -- a raunchy R-rated comedy -- it fares well.  Nothing amazing, but certainly not disappointing in the slightest.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Let Me In

Let Me In (2010)

Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Dylan Minette, and Elias Koteas

Directed by Matt Reeves

No need to mince words here.  Go see Let Me In.  As of now (and granted I haven't seen much this year), this is the best film released in 2010 and the best horror movie I've seen in a long while.

Twelve year-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is somewhat of a recluse.  He seems to have no friends at school and is constantly being assaulted by a nasty trio headed by bully Kenny (Dylan Minette, Jack's son on Lost...which -- side note -- had me wondering the whole darn time where I recognized the kid from...I just couldn't place him while watching it).  One evening a young girl (Chloe Moretz) and a man (Richard Jenkins) move into Owen's apartment complex.  The girl named Abby, also twelve, is kind to Owen -- something he's never really experienced before.  However, over the course of a month, Owen soon begins to realize that Abby is not who she appears to be...she is, in fact, a vampire and, as is the case with most vampires, she needs blood to survive.

I had seen the Swedish film Let the Right One In (review here) and I felt that it wasn't the least bit frightening.  Director and screenwriter Matt Reeves manages to achieve an overarching sense of dread and tension, while at the same time creating an incredibly intimate character-driven horror movie.  There's no denying that the pace is a little slow, but it's a credit to Reeves (who also directed the non-stop fast-paced Cloverfield) that he manages to keep the story interesting and eerie throughout.  And it's not just his ability to keep things creepy -- he has lensed a great looking film.  There's a dark tone to everything on the screen, but he constructs some exquisite shots.  I honestly can't say enough about Reeves here.  After Cloverfield (which had its faults, but was still enjoyable) and this film, he has absolutely become a director whose future films I will highly anticipate.

He's certainly helped by a great cast of actors.  Smit-McPhee (who I liked in last year's The Road) and Chloe Moretz (who I didn't really care for in this year's Kick-Ass) are wonderful.  Neither of the pre-teens are happy in life, but they both manage to craft characters you instantly care about despite (or perhaps because of) their gloomy, depressed demeanors.  Richard Jenkins also is gripping as Abby's "father" who will do whatever necessary (even if it disgusts him) to keep his girl alive (or as alive as a vampire can be).  Throw in Elias Koteas and Dylan Minette who both manage to make the most out of what could have easily been stereotypical roles as a cop and a bully, respectively, and there's not a single performance in this film that rings false.

As I said above, the pacing in Let Me In is slow and deliberate and it will be a turn-off to some.  Despite some truly frightening moments, this isn't your typical horror film at all.  However, there's a rather beautiful story on display here about friendship and fear, and the fact that director Reeves was able to balance both of those qualities is quite a feat.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-