For Your Consideration

 For Your Consideration (2006)

Starring Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Ricky Gervais, Christopher Guest, Rachel Harris, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitchcock, Don Lake, Eugene Levy, Jane Lynch, Michael McKean, Christopher Moynihan, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, and Fred Willard 

Directed by Christopher Guest

Written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Movie Review - The Little Prince

The Little Prince (2016)

Featuring the vocal talents of Mackenzie Foy, Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Riley Osborne, James Franco, Benicio Del Toro, Ricky Gervais, Albert Brooks, Paul Giamatti, and Paul Rudd

Directed by Mark Osborne

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

2016 was a lukewarm year for animation and I was hoping this little flick -- which was supposed to be released in theaters, but was then shopped to Netflix -- would be a quirky venture that I could latch onto.  Unfortunately, the lack of a theatrical release for The Little Prince was probably the correct assessment as it proves to be much too talky and philosophical for a kids' film, but a little too childish to really engage adults.

I don't think I've ever read the popular children's book upon which this film is based so its resemblance to the source material is completely unknown to me.  However, the film revolves around The Little Girl (Mackenzie Foy) whose Mother (Rachel McAdams) forces her to live a very regimented life focused squarely on education rather than having any modicum of fun.  When The Mother and The Little Girl move to a new home, their next door neighbor ends up being a bit of a handful.  The elderly man (Jeff Bridges) was a former aviator who spends his time piecing together an old plane in his backyard.  Much to her mother's chagrin, The Little Girl ends up befriending The Aviator as he regales her with stories of his youth where he met The Little Prince (Riley Osborne) who traveled to Earth and taught him about being a better man.

The Little Prince looks lovely, there's no denying that.  The mostly typical Pixar-esque computer animation is interspersed with some charming paper-y looking stop motion work that is aesthetically appealing.  The voice acting, for the most part, is also quite good (although there are a few performances - Ricky Gervais, James Franco - that seem more celeb-driven than story-driven).  Unfortunately, it's not enough to help the philosophical mumbo jumbo that drives "The Little Prince" segments of the story which take over as the film progresses.  The film really appears to be unsure to whom it's marketing itself -- is this a kiddie film (as the first half would have you believe) or is this some deeper adult presentation about hanging onto the past and never losing the memories of what came before?  The flick isn't sure of that and it shows in its muddled nature.  Still, it's lovely to look at, but a bit boring to watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

Starring Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and a whole mess of Muppets

Directed by James Bobin

I was inevitably prepared to be a little let down while watching Muppets Most Wanted after the genius that was The Muppets (the RyMickey Award winner for Best Movie of 2011) -- a film that provided the resurrection and "rebirth" of the Jim Henson-created franchise of characters whom I've loved since I was a wee lad.  I wasn't quite prepared to be let down as much as I was, however.

It's not that Muppets Most Wanted is particularly bad in any way.  It's just that the heart that permeated throughout the humor of The Muppets isn't present this time around.  Granted, Muppets Most Wanted is a completely different beast -- it's a caper adventure with the Muppets trying to solve a crime spree across Europe -- and nothing like the nostalgia trip of director and co-writer James Bobin's first venture with the felt characters.  (Like Bobin, co-writer Nicholas Stoller returns for this flick as well.)  Still, if you're going to drop the emotional aspect, the humor needs to be pumped up and Muppets Most Wanted doesn't adequately succeed in that department.

After having successfully returned to the Hollywood scene thanks to their last movie, The Muppets are trying to decide what to do next to capitalize on their revitalization.  They meet with Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) who in a job interview to be the Muppets' manager suggests that the crew travel across Europe on a world tour.  Despite Kermit's misgivings, our favorite frog is outvoted by his friends and they agree to hire Dominic and head over to Germany to start their tour.  Little do the Muppets know that Dominic is a crook who works for the criminal mastermind known as Constantine.  With the exception of a mole on the right side of his face, Constantine is a dead ringer for Kermit so when Constantine escapes from a Russian gulag run by the hard-nosed Nadya (Tina Fey), he switches places with Kermit and, in a rather Superman/Clark Kent-ian manner, none of the Muppets (except for Walter, introduced in last year's The Muppets) notice a difference.  With Kermit being re-captured and taken back to the gulag, Constantine and Dominic set out on a mission to snatch the Crown Jewels of London, stealing a bunch of other valuable goods along the way as the Muppets travel across Europe.

The plot, while somewhat of a rehash in tone of The Great Muppet Caper, is actually humorously developed, but the film lingers around too long at 110 minutes.  Trimming twenty minutes would've done wonders for Muppets Most Wanted.  [As much as I love Sam Eagle, his lengthy bits with Ty Burrell as CIA and Interpol agents trying to track down the criminals could've all been left on the cutting room floor without me feeling the least bit depressed.]  Without the touching nostalgia of The Muppets and relying strictly on laughs, the flick is guilty of the typical 21st century "movie crime" of being a comedy that overstays its welcome.

Much like the rest of the film falling short of its predecessor, Bret McKenzie's songs don't quite have the same impact as his wonderful, ingenious, and Oscar-winning numbers from the first film.  Granted, there are a few moments thanks to McKenzie's music where the film really comes to life -- the 1970s-inspired "I Can Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)" sung by Contantine (the best moment in the film by far and an early frontrunner for Best Scene of 2014), the power ballad "Something So Wrong" performed by Miss Piggy and Celine Dion (!), and the opening self-referntial number "We're Doing a Sequel" -- but overall they're not as inspired as his first venture into the Muppet realm.

I must confess, though, that perhaps I'm being way too harsh on this.  Any Muppet movie is better than no Muppet movie and maybe if this was the first Muppet movie in over a decade (like the last one was), I'd have felt a little differently.  However, 2011's The Muppets was so fantastic that I can't help but feel let down on this one.  A second viewing with a little perspective at the end of the year perhaps will be necessary to be certain that the rating below is the rating I want to give the film.  But for now Muppets Most Wanted is just...okay.  And that one word -- "okay" -- is the most damning one in the whole review.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Escape from Planet Earth

Escape from Planet Earth (2013)

Featuring the voice talents of Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Ricky Gervais, Jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara, Sarah Jessica Parker, George Lopez, Steve Zahn, Craig Robinson, Jane Lynch, and William Shatner 

Directed by Cal Bruker

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

Ultimately, the question you're asking yourself upon seeing this post is "Why in the heck did you bother with this one?"  And, ultimately, the only answer I can give is "Because it was short."  Admittedly, I was looking for something light and super irrelevant as it was late at night and I wasn't quite ready to sleep yet and, unfortunately, Escape from Planet Earth seemingly fit that criteria.

Rather than delve into any review, let me just say that Escape from Planet Earth is a film that should consider itself lucky to have received any type of theatrical release because despite a cast that boasts a few second tier celebrity names, there's really nothing this film has going for it.  The animation is standard Nickelodeon fare and the story about a pair of fighting brothers who find peace with each other coming together to escape from Earth (hence the title) after being captured by an Area 51 agent is also sophomoric.

Just why bother?  I made the mistake...now you don't have to do the same.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - The Invention of Lying (2009)

Starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe, and Tina Fey
Directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson

I loved this movie.

That would be a lie.

In fact, I haven't been this frustrated with a movie in a bit (and I've seen some lousy ones lately). Unfortunately, I actually watched this one with paying patrons, so yelling at the screen was not an option.

Let me ask you this: If I am thinking something in my head -- a true, valid thought -- do I have to verbalize said thought in order for it to be true? Let's say that it's a sunny day. Must I say "It's a sunny day" in order for the notion of it being a sunny day to be true?

For the first twenty minutes or so of this movie, everyone says every single thing that's on their mind because, for some unknown reason, you must say what's on your mind in order for it to be true...as my brother said after the fact, it's as if everyone had verbal diarrhea. We're invited into this alternate reality in this movie in which lying hasn't been invented and everyone has to speak the truth...of course, you only spout what's on your mind when it serves a comedic purpose. Otherwise, you keep your mouth shut. And in addition to lying not being invented, couth and decorum haven't either [I may think this is a shittily written blog post, but I may not say it so as not to hurt someone's feelings...doesn't make it not true...NOTE: this is a shittily written blog post]. As the movie progresses, this notion of saying every single thing begins to fade away...mainly because the comedy portion of the movie is thrown out the window and we need to focus on both the romance between Mark (Ricky Gervais) and Anna (Jennifer Garner) and the denouncing of religion (which, admittedly, was the only intriguing part story-wise of the film). So, conveniently, there's no need to spout everything on your mind at this point. When Mark discovers that he can lie, he uses it to his advantage, both to attempt to get the girl and to eventually become a Jesus/Moses-type prophet who manages to convert the entire world onto his newfound notion of "religion." [NOTE: I realize I just said the same thing over and over again above, but I'm too lazy to go back and change it all.]

There's maybe an interesting premise here (although I'm not even sure of that), but it's all wasted. There's no comedy here. Gervais is a funny guy (watch the British version of The Office for proof), but he didn't even get a chuckle out of me here. Garner is okay, but nothing special. Side roles for Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, Louis C.K., and Jason Bateman are all wasted.

Another thing -- if everything everyone knew was truth and they had no reason to believe otherwise, there would be no debate about anything. However, we overhear a radio talk show where a debate is being held about Mark's personality...why would there be a debate as you would believe what you've heard because you know nothing else? There were a few other flaws, but I am trying to forget all aspects of this movie at this point because it's just not worth taking up brain space.

The RyMickey Rating: D-