The Princess Switch

 The Princess Switch (2018)

Starring Vanessa Hudgens, Sam Palladio, Nick Sagar, and Alexa Adeosun

Directed by Mike Rohl

Written by Robin Bernheim and Megan Metzger

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Second Act

Second Act (2018)

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Leah Remini, Vanessa Hudgens, Treat Williams, Annaleigh Ashford, Charlyne Yi, Alan Aisenberg, Freddie Stroma, and Milo Ventimiglia

Directed by Peter Segal

Written by Justin Zackham and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - The Frozen Ground

The Frozen Ground (2013)

Starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, and Vanessa Hudgens

Directed by Scott Walker

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

Poor Nicolas Cage.  He (along with perhaps Cuba Gooding, Jr.) has certainly become the butt of jokes about what NOT to do with your career after you've won an Oscar.  Cage has made low budget B-movies his bread and butter over the last five years so much so that people seem to have forgotten that he could actually be taken seriously.  Perhaps The Frozen Ground was Cage's attempt to show that he isn't the joke people thought he was.  While he certainly doesn't embarrass himself here, Cage doesn't exactly redeem himself fully as Alaska State Trooper Jack Halcombe who is investigating a series of murders of young women in Anchorage in the early 1980s.

Admittedly, Cage isn't solely to blame for his lack of restitution.  First time director and screenwriter Scott Walker's virginal chops are evident as he can't quite craft characters and dialog that ring true or feel fully developed.  While he certainly is respectful of the true story upon which this is based, there's a grittiness that's missing despite his attempts to achieve it.  Admittedly, part of the issue is that Vanessa Hudgens simply isn't believable as a prostitute who is the only victim to escape the clutches of serial killer Robert Hansen (John Cusack).  When she dances on a stripper pole or snorts coke, I found myself laughing when I know I shouldn't.  Once again, like Cage, I'm not 100% sure it's her fault.  As an actress, Hudgens fights an uphill battle trying to rid herself of the "Disney image," but with the right script, she may be able to get there (although I'm also not quite sure she has the ability to successfully blossom into a respectable actress either).

Perhaps I'm being a little harsher on The Frozen Ground than I should because the film is certainly watchable with a storyline that consistently builds tension.  The true life aspect of the whole thing adds a disturbing element that gives us a rooting interest in the characters.  Scott Walker hasn't completely struck out with his first film, but he needs to up the ante a bit for any future projects on his horizon.

The RyMickey Rating:  C  

Movie Review - Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers (2013)

Starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine

Directed by Harmony Korine

If I were some hoity-toity critic, you'd hear me espouse the wonderment that is Spring Breakers.  I'd say:

"It's an amazing look at how our youth is being bombarded with images of sex and violence and how those same images come hand in hand with money and power.  Director-writer Harmony Korine presents these hedonistic elements in a kaleidoscopic barrage that appears to be adding to the onslaught of violence and misogyny.  Instead, it's poking fun of (and lamenting) the culture that idolizes such trash."

I'd probably mention that the simplicity of the plot allows the focus and true meaning of the film to be on the corruption of our youth:

"Good girl Faith (Selena Gomez) and her three college buddies -- Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson), and Cotty (Rachel Korine) -- are desperate to go on spring break, but they simply don't have the funds to do so.  One evening while Faith attends a college church meeting, Candy, Brit, and Cotty craft a scheme to perform an armed robbery with fake guns at a local diner.  They prove to be successful and the quartet find themselves traveling to Miami where they engage in liquored-up shenanigans.  The simplicity of the whole thing allows the light to truly be shown on the perils our youth face thanks to the media's constant hyping of sexualized celebrities (just see the Miley Cyrus MTV twerking incident as proof of this)."

I'd then mention how fantastic James Franco is:

"Franco completely embodies the chauvinistic Alien, a rapper who obviously sees himself as a modern-day Scarface (a go-to movie for the modern college crowd).  When he isn't fetishistically idolizing his guns or tossing his money around a room or serenading ladies with a solo piano version of Britney Spears' "Everytime," he's macking on any college gal that looks his way by showing his gold-grilled teeth.  To be honest, Franco is masterful and should certainly be in consideration when awards season comes around."

I'd say all those things if I was a hotiy-toity critic who maybe was in awe that a film like Spring Breakers premiered at the Venice Film Festival.  But I'm not an uppity critic.  I'm a normal guy.  And this normal guy thinks Spring Breakers is a complete waste of time.  This thing is played out like a satire, but the fact of the matter is Korine has created a pretentious mess full of repetitive voice-overs and poorly developed characters that never seem real for even a moment.  It certainly doesn't help that none of the actors (with the exception of Selena Gomez who was surprisingly decent) bring anything worthwhile to the table...especially the overhyped James Franco.   Don't let the more famous critics fool you into believing the hype.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch (2011)

Starring Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Oscar Isaac, Scott Glenn, and Carla Gugino 

Directed by Zack Snyder

Zack Snyder is the King of Style over Substance.  From 300 to Watchmen, Snyder finds a way to make stories seem pointless while transporting viewers into video game-reminiscent settings complete with a pulsing soundtrack. [Note:  This is coming from someone who actually didn't mind Watchmen.]  Sucker Punch is really no exception to the above characteristics and his stylized direction has worn out its welcome (if it was ever welcome to begin with).

In his latest assault on the senses, Snyder introduces us to Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who finds herself being forced into a mental institution after she accidentally kills her younger sister while trying to save her from their evil sexually abusive stepfather.  Unfortunately, after the surprisingly promising and genuinely exciting opening moments, things fall apart.  While in the institution, Baby Doll dreams that she, her fellow inmates, and all of the doctors work at a brothel.  Mirroring her thoughts in the loony bin, Baby Doll tries to rally her fellow hookers into escaping the clutches of the evil owner Blue (Oscar Isaac).  In order to do that, Baby Doll performs some sultry, sexy dance (which we the viewer never see) that puts all men into some sort of trance, thus allowing Baby Doll and her friends to steal the necessary supplies to bolt.

But wait...that's not all.  Instead of seeing Baby Doll dance, we go into her mind and see what she is imagining while she shakes her moneymaker.  And what she sees apparently is a war going on between her ladyfriends and Nazis, dragons, and futuristic robots.  It's these moments in particular (which take up at least half the film) that grow ridiculously repetitive and ultimately wreck Sucker Punch.  While I completely understand that none of these epically shot fight sequences are supposed to seem "real" since they're all occurring within Baby Doll's imagination, I couldn't help but think that the video game commercials I saw on the Blu-Ray prior to the film starting had better aesthetics and graphics.  Everything in these sequences (and the whole movie for that matter) is so washed out and hued in grays and browns that nothing is pleasing to the eye.  [This is a consistent problem for Snyder...for a guy that loves visuals so much, he manages to create worlds that are completely devoid of luminosity and appeal.]

While all of the ladies in the flick are certainly attractive, some -- Abbie Cornish and Jena Malone -- fare better than others -- Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung -- in the acting department.  Rather oddly, as the film's main character, Emily Browning is given absolutely nothing to do with her role.  She barely speaks and finds herself being told to stare blankly at things more often than not.  And the less said about Carla Gugino forcing out some laughable German or Austrian accent the better.

Not that I was ever on the Zack Snyder bandwagon, but Sucker Punch certainly knocked me off of it.  This writer-director needs to shake things up a bit and actually create a story that's worth telling and craft visuals to go with it that don't look so cheap.

The RyMickey Rating:  D