I really need to start watching movies again.  This has been an abysmal year for flicks and my movie consumption (or lack thereof) reflects that.  Nonetheless, where's the classic movies?  Where's the journey through the Disney oeuvre?

Hopefully, June'll kick things into gear...

Lost finale = near perfection

The Best Show on Television?

I can't deny that this final season of Lost has been a little disappointing, but the inevitable moderate let-down was a given.  Expectations were sky high and this funky parallel universe storyline just seemed to go nowhere -- my faith is high that the subplot will come to some spectacular conclusion on Sunday evening, as will the series as a whole.

There was something incredibly emotional seeing Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer crawling up onto the beach after the submarine explosion episode two weeks ago.  These four folks who we've come to know and care about for six years were breaking down in tears at the loss of their friends Jin, Sun, and Sayid, and it was impossible for us as an audience to not feel their pain.

And that's where Lost succeeded where many other television dramas fail.  Yes, the twists and the metaphysical mumbo-jumbo kept the plot flowing, but it was the characters that made the show a success.  Never have I felt so gut-punched from a tv show when Libby got shot by Michael, or Charlie drowned, or Juliet succumbs to her injuries (after she saved the day, of course).

From Jack and Kate and Locke all the way down to Rose and Bernard (let's forget about Nikki and Paolo), the show's success lies in the writers' abilities to allow us to emotionally connect with these flawed people.  So, no matter how this thing wraps up, it's been a fun journey that I don't regret taking in the slightest.

Book Review - Paranoia

Paranoia (2004)

by Joseph Finder

Keeping this brief...

Adam Cassidy is a young low-level worker at Wyatt Industries, a communications development firm.  One day, he sneaks into the company funds and throws a massive party for a retiring maintenance worker who has treated him kindly over the years.  Adam gets caught and, instead of being prosecuted and sent to jail, agrees to go undercover at Wyatt's competitor, Trion, gaining as much scoop as possible and reporting it back to his bosses at Wyatt.  Adam's "double agent" status is tested many a time, but he soon begins to enjoy working for Trion.  However, his attempts to leave Wyatt behind are much more difficult than he could have ever anticipated.

This was an incredibly readable book.  I whizzed through the 425 pages quite quickly.  That being said, I can't exactly say it was well written.  When the term "bodacious tatas" was used, I literally laughed out loud and rolled my eyes.  Still, while the author may not be the most eloquent, it was a decent read.  The characters felt fully realized and I enjoyed the moderately twisty ending which seemed completely logical (for the most part).

All in all, it was certainly worth the bargain bin price from Barnes & Noble.

Movie Review - 2012 (2009)

2012 (2009)

Starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, and Woody Harrelson

Directed by Roland Emmerich

Most disaster movies are horrendous.  Characters have one specific attribute or mannerism to distinguish them from the hordes of other characters, none of whom you can even remember their names after the movie is over.  Crowd scenes are set up with the sole purpose of creating mass destruction.  Dialog is silly.

All of that is true in 2012, but for some insane reason, I wasn't the least bit bored watching this.  Yes, I laughed out loud at the ridiculous first ninety minutes when loving father John Cusack (as I mentioned above, character names are irrelevant here) and his family utilize a variety of modes of transportation to narrowly escape exploding volcanoes, huge tremors, and giant clouds of smoke.  Yes, the scene where the President of the United States gets mowed down by an aircraft carrier was inane.  Sure, the scientific technobabble blabbed by geologist Chiwetel Ejiofer was mind-numbingly ludicrous. 

But, this movie is what it is.  It's a disaster movie along the same lines as The Poseidon Adventure and Armageddon, and while no one would call those two films cinematic masterpieces, I'm up for their silly fun every now and again.  (Unfortunately, the special effects in those two aforementioned flicks were much better than what was on display here.  In fact -- and this is a huge detriment to this film -- the fx were really awful.)

Certainly helping 2012 is the fact that I actually enjoyed watching several of the actors (despite their idiotic dialog and the impossible situations they finagle out of).  Cusack, Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, and Thandie Newton all did the very best they could with what they were given.  Certainly, there were some actors -- Oliver Platt and Woody Harrelson -- who chewed up the scenery with their over-the-top antics, but overall, the acting was better than it needed to be.

Is 2012 a good movie?  No.  Will I ever watch it again?  Probably not.  Would I recommend this two-hour-and-forty-minute flick to anyone?  Not a chance.

But I still had a moderately enjoyable time watching it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Book Review - Under the Dome

Under the Dome (2009)

by Stephen King

I started reading this book during the last week of December.  I just finished it today, May 8.  Granted, it was 1072 pages, but that either tells you that (a) I'm a slow reader (and I think that my reading of a book a week last year disproves this), or (b) it's just not that good.

The answer is certainly (b).  A cast of characters awakes one morning in their little rural Maine town only to discover that a giant clear dome has been placed over their whole community (a la The Simpsons Movie).  What happens underneath the dome is a power struggle and, in usual King fashion, evil rears its ugly head.  We've got the sexual deviants, the smarter-than-normal kids, and the normal folk who get sucked in to the chaos.  And chaos certainly reigns.

While the book reads easily, there's fifteen characters too many, none of whom are anything unique.  Too many storylines here to really allow me to care about any of these people.

And I'm not even going to discuss one of the most ridiculous endings to a novel that I've ever read.  I can't tell you how angry I was to have gotten through 1060 pages only to have the book end the way it did.  King had no clue how to end this thing and it shows in what is an awful, awful conclusion.

Had King cut this down by half and crafted a better ending, this might have worked, but as it reads now, it's a dud.

Theater Review - The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Written by Bertolt Brecht

Directed by Heinz-Uwe Haus

When: Sunday, May 2, 2010

Where: Thompson Theater at the Roselle Center for the Arts

(University of Delaware, Newark, DE)

What: Play, Professional Theater, Drama

The scene: 1930s Chicago.  A mobster known as Arturo Ui wants to rise up in the ranks and will do so by striking fear into the people throughout the city.  Will he succeed?  That's what we'll find out as we watch The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.  

Essentially, playwright Bertolt Brecht wanted to depict how easy it is for people to be manipulated by a powerful figure -- and the parallels Brecht makes between Ui and Hitler aren't exactly veiled.  The director of UD's Resident Ensemble Players latest production certainly makes this case clear in the final scene in which all of the house lights come up in the theater, the actors come off the stage and into the audience, and we, the viewers, are pulled right into Ui's scheme.  Will we follow him or are we brave enough to walk away?

This was certainly the most "off-Broadway" of the plays I've seen put on by the REP at UD.  Between each scene, there were odd singing and dancing interludes that had me shaking my head in confusion and bewilderment.  And the play itself was rather wordy, drawing from Shakespearean verse that, at times, made me feel incredibly dumb for not being able to keep up with what was being said.

Despite the dislike for the play itself, the production was, once again, stellar.  Although there was essentially no set other than chairs and a few moving platforms, the play was visually intriguing in its starkness.  The nearly blank stage also allowed Carine Montbertrand to shine in the title role.  Yes, it was a woman playing the part of the very masculine gangster, but she was quite amazing.  Montbertrand milks the character for all the humor that the role allows (a very funny bit involving Ui and a retiring Shakespearean actor is pretty uproarious), while at the same time managing to exude an incredibly powerful and frightening demeanor as the crooked politician.

So, while this may be my least favorite play I've seen at the REP this year, I once again am amazed at the quality of this theater in our little state of Delaware. 

Theater Review - August: Osage County

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August: Osage County

Written by Tracy Letts

Directed by Anna D. Shapiro

When: Saturday, May 1, 2010

Where: Forrest Theater, Philadelphia, PA

What: Play, Professional Theater, Drama

**Pretty big spoilers follow** 

A Pulitzer Prize winning play that racked up Tony Awards when it was released on Broadway, August: Osage County was named the decade's best play by Entertainment Weekly.  I don't know what the heck was so awards worthy about this thing.  It was quite a disappointment (as is unfortunately the case when you go into something with high expectations).

This three-hour-and twenty-minute saga tells the tale of three generations of the Weston family who come together when the patriarch of the clan mysteriously disappears.  We've got the pill-popping mother, the daughter who stayed in town to care for her, the other daughter who managed to get out of the small town with the "ideal" college professor husband, plus many more.

Throughout the play, shocking family secrets are revealed in the silliest of fashions -- this thing played out like a soap opera complete with the requisite audible "oh my's" from the audience herd that ate the thing up.  Don't get me wrong -- there were many moments in the play's much too long 200 minutes that were laugh-out-loud funny.  However, when the multiple shocks were unveiled, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at times.  Daughter sleeping with her cousin...oh no she didn't!  Aunt revealing that the daughter that the cousin she's sleeping with is actually her half-brother?  That's cra-a-a-a-a-zy!  Ugh.

For the most part, the play was well-acted, headed by the only "name" in the cast, Academy Award winner for Bonnie and Clyde Estelle Parsons.  Probably most well-known for playing the acerbic mom to the equally acerbic Roseanne on her eponymous tv show, Parsons is over eighty years old and she was spry, witty, and very funny.  Equally as impressive was Shannon Cochran as "the daughter who got away," Barbara.  She actually reminded me of Laurie Metcalf (the sister of Roseanne on the tv show) for some reason.  Cochran was given both light and heavy material and she handled it quite well.  I also quite enjoyed Libby George as the funny aunt Mattie Fae and Amy Morgan as the newly engaged youngest (and dumbest) Weston daughter.

Unfortunately, the play runs too long and just doesn't work as a whole.  There are moments of brilliance -- Act II is pretty excellent stuff with nearly the whole act taking place around a dinner table in which all the family members banter back and forth.  But, the accolades this play got were completely undeserving if you ask me.

Movie Review - The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)

Starring Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, and John Colicos

Directed by Bob Rafelson

**Currently streaming on Netflix** 

I've already reviewed this story twice -- once in book form here and once in a foreign re-telling of the tale here (which made my Top Movies of 2009 list).  The story itself is winning, but the execution in this 1981 version of the tale is a little long in the tooth, wearing out its welcome about two-thirds of the way through.

Frank Chambers (Nicholson) is a 1930s drifter, hitchhiking his way across the country.  One day, he stops at a California diner for a quick bite and becomes enthralled by the young woman running the kitchen.  Cora (Lange) is married to Nick Papdakis, a Greek immigrant who loves his wife, but also is incredibly overbearing.  It's obvious to Frank that Cora doesn't love Nick and they begin a torrid love affair, full of masochistic tendencies.  As their love blossoms, Cora and Frank plot to murder Nick so they can spend their life together.

When the film is focused on Frank, Cora, and Nick, it succeeds.  However, as the film trudges on, screenwriter David Mamet adds some superfluous characters that just drag the film down.  It's also a bit unfortunate that the plot to kill Nick seems to arise much too quickly.  A little more time in developing the love affair between Frank and Cora would have been welcome.

All that being said, I never thought I would say that Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange were sexy, but they really were in this flick.  Raw, sensual, and passionate, the love scenes between Frank and Cora were surprisingly hot...and performed with shockingly little nudity for the intensity on display.  It's a credit to Nicholson and Lange for making their roles entirely believable.  I never really felt that there was a false note on display (particularly from Jack).

Still, the better version of this film is in my previously reviewed Jerichow, but it's certainly not a waste of time.

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Movie Review - Uncertainty (2009)

Uncertainty (2009)

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins

Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel

**Currently streaming on Netflix**

Gimmicky movies don't usually win me over.  Memento?  One of the most overrated films of the last decade.  Just because you twist time around doesn't automatically make your film a success.  (Same could be said for tv...Lost...bring it all together, I beg of you in these final four episodes.)

Uncertainty has a gimmick, too, and while the tactic itself works, there's not nearly enough story to warrant the film's nearly two hour length.

 As the film opens, young couple Kate and Bobby (Lynn Collins and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) stand on the Brooklyn Bridge talking about making a decision.  We don't know what the decision concerns, but we know that they can't seem to come to a conclusion.  Bobby pulls out a coin, flips it, and the audience is taken to two different realities.

On the heads side, Kate and Bobby attend a July 4th barbecue at Kate's parents' house.  It's a simple drama about a Latino family and Kate's struggle to please her mother.

On the tails side, Kate and Bobby find a cell phone in a taxi cab.  Little do they know that the cell belongs to some type of mobster who will stop at nothing to get it back.

The film is fairly evenly split between both tales and the co-directors and co-writers do a very good job of switching back and forth between the two stories.  We're never away from one or the other for more than five minutes, but it never feels too short or too long.  Unfortunately, neither of these stories can maintain any sense of interest over the span of their respective 50 minutes.  The family side is pleasant, but there's not any conflict there to make it really be interesting.   The mobster side is certainly the more exciting of the two, but it left me wanting more -- there was a whole lot of running, but not much else.

Still, Gordon-Levitt was quite good, and he's certainly proving himself to be a respectable actor of my generation.  Lynn Collins doesn't fare as well, but I'm not sure if that's her fault or the silly lines she has to spout at times (although I just read that the cast improvised a lot, so maybe it lies more with her).  I will say that I honestly did believe that the two of these actors were a couple, so that's definitely in their favor.

For an indie flick with (one would assume) a low-budget, the film looks really good.  Kudos to the cinematographer Rain Li for making the flick look incredibly rich.  I was impressed across the board when it came to things like the score, costuming, and that little-recognized under-the-radar stuff.

But, in the end, if the story can't maintain itself, the film doesn't work.  Uncertainty is an interesting experiment, but disappointing in execution.

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Movie Review - Breakdown (1997)

Breakdown (1997)

Starring Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey, and Jack Noseworthy

Directed by Jonathan Mostow

This is one of those movies that's been on my list of things to watch for years upon years, but I had never gotten around to it until now (thanks to instant streaming on Netflix).  It's an effective little thriller that, while not bringing anything new to the table, certainly is successful at creating tension.

Kurt Russell plays Jeff Taylor who, along with his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan), are traveling out to California in their new SUV.  Having just secured new jobs, they're leaving their old life in Massachusetts behind and heading out to the new unknown future (albeit with a little trepidation).  When their SUV breaks down on the side of the road in the middle of the Arizona desert, Amy hitches a ride with a friendly trucker (J.T. Walsh) who says he'll drop Amy off at a diner five miles down the road and let her call for a tow truck. 

Hours pass with no sign of a tow or Amy, and Jeff manages to get the SUV up and running again.  When he arrives at the diner, he's met with blank stares when he inquires about his wife.  Starting to get a bit scared, Jeff takes to the road to head to the nearest town.  Along the way, he spots the truck and driver who picked up Amy.  The only problem is that the trucker seems oblivious to the whole thing, saying to Jeff that he has no recollection of ever meeting him or his wife.  Jeff's frantic search for his wife ensues and leads him into some surprising circumstances.

All in all, the film does what it intends to do -- provide genuine excitement.  In its brisk 95-minute running time, director and co-writer Jonathan Mostow is able to keep the tension ever-rising, while keeping the somewhat silly story feeling believable. The film's last third is ludicrous, but Mostow does such a great job directing that the last twenty minutes had me on the edge-of-my-seat, including a fantastic final set piece.  Mostow is quite adept at filming action sequences, while at the same time creating some beautiful shots of with the lovely Arizona deserts in the background.

The only real issue with the film is the star.  Kurt Russell is kind of just an emotional vacuum on the screen.  I never really got any sense of any emotion from him at all in this thing.  Towards the end, he ratchets up the "GIVE ME BACK MY WIFE!" anger, but for the most part, he's much too bland.  Considering that he's onscreen in every single scene, it's a bit of a let-down.  Russell certainly isn't bad enough not to watch this, but if he could have brought more to the table, this flick would have been really stellar.

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - Triangle

Triangle (2009)

Starring Melissa George and Liam Hemsworth 

Directed by Christopher Smith

This is one of those movies that no one's heard of and while I really want to describe and discuss it doing so would completely ruin the plot and tone of the film.

In short, Jess (Melissa George) goes a boating trip with five other people that ends badly.  A terrible storm capsizes their yacht, but fortunately, a large cruise ship happens to come their way.  When they board the ship, the group finds the ship deserted, but also full of a few surprises.

This isn't a horror movie at all (no Ghost Ship here)...more of a psychological thriller.  In fact, for Lost fans, it is certainly a tad reminiscent of that whacked-out show (and that's already too much of a plot reveal).  Similar to the J.J. Abrams show, in the end, things may not make complete sense or be altogether "answered," but the ride is pretty fun thanks to both an inventive script by writer-director Christopher Smith and decent performances all around, including a difficult role undertaken by Melissa George (plus Miley Cyrus's current boyfriend Liam Hemsworth...cue screaming prepubescent girls across the country).

While not a perfect film, I enjoyed all 90 minutes and say that it's certainly worth a stream on Netflix.

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - C Me Dance (2009)

C Me Dance (2009)

Directed by Greg Robbins

I know this sounds weird, but it's as if God has chosen you.  And if that's the truth, this is gonna tick off the Devil.

Aaah...the joys of Christian filmmaking.  They preach to the choir utilizing the most unrealistic characters around spouting the worst dialog imaginable ("I just wanted to dance and hang out, Dad, and now...all this!").

 Listen, I go to church.  I consider myself a religious person, but I am absolutely not someone that espouses those beliefs to others.  I could never go out there and "convert" those to my beliefs, nor would I ever want to.  That's the complete opposite of a movie like C Me Dance, whose sole purpose is to spout the notion that if "You don't believe, your only purpose in life is to be saved."  On a personal level, I despise that notion.  Maybe it makes me a bad Catholic, but so be it.

On a cinematic level, everything about C Me Dance is heinous.  The acting is some of the worst I've seen in ages.  The dialog is, without a doubt, the worst of any film released in theaters in 2009.  The direction?  Please, I could do a better job than the auteur Greg Robbins.

Still, despite how awful it all is, the ridiculousness of the story made it insanely watchable.  Sheri is a high school ballet dancer who learns she has leukemia and is mere months away from dying.  Despite her initial anger, she soon realizes that, being the religious person that she is, she must determine what God has put her on Earth to do.  Come to find out, Sheri soon discovers that if she simply touches a non-believer, they'll get a vision of Jesus getting nailed to a cross and they'll immediately BELIEVE.  Simply priceless!  And she's not just going to stop at converting her friends.  She's going to go to tv execs and touch them, too, forcing them to give her tv time to spread her word about "being born again and filled with the spirit of God."  All that and I haven't even begun to discuss the fact that the Devil comes and tries to sabotage her whole plan!  But no worries, the Devil is "such a loser" that he can't stop her.

The question with these Christian themed movies is who are they preaching to?  This movie won't convert anyone.  Those that aren't "saved" won't watch this movie and do anything but laugh.  So, what's the point?  I'm all for Christian-themed tales, but being so overbearing and preachy hurts your cause in the end.

This movie is awful --there's not a good thing about it -- and the rating below is certainly warranted.  That being said, I enjoyed myself while watching it, and say that if you're in the mood for a good laugh, you should stream it on Netflix.

The RyMickey Rating: F

Movie Review - How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

How to Train Your Dragon 3D (2010)

Featuring the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Kristen Wiig

Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders

It was not my intention to see this film.  I came to theater thinking that I was going to see something else and when that fell through, this was the reluctant second option.  Perhaps the lowered expectations helped matters, but I truly enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon which I think is Dreamworks' best film to date.

It's not a surprise that the co-directors of this also directed the heartfelt Lilo and Stitch as Dragon is certainly the most emotionally impactful flick from the closest competitor of Disney/Pixar.  Teenage Viking Hicuup is ridiculed amongst his people because of his lack of dragon-fighting prowess.  One evening, when his village is being attacked by dragons, Hiccup takes his homemade weapon and manages to take down the elusive dragon, Night Fury.  No one believes young Hiccup, so the following day, he leaves the village to search for proof of his success and comes across the wounded dragon who has injured his tail, rendering him unable to fly.  Initially intent on killing the beast, Hiccup soon becomes friends with the dragon, eventually forming a friendship.

While the story may be rather simple, the animation is quite the opposite.  While the dragons themselves were fine (although nothing special), I was overly impressed that the filmmakers hired Roger Deakins, a cinematographer who has an incredible filmography (Revolutionary Road, Shawshank Redemption, Dead Man Walking, and ten Coen brothers movies), to help with lighting and framing shots.  The wide shots and landscapes here were beautiful and lush and really added to the overall animated effect.  The depth that 3D provides was certainly used to great effect.

Voice acting was very good with Craig Ferguson and Gerard Butler as, respectively, Hiccup's teacher and father faring the best.  Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, usually so annoying in "real life," proved to be quite humorous in animated form as Hiccup's classmates.  Unfortunately, Hiccup himself is where my biggest fault with the film lies.  Jay Baruchel has the "geeky" voice down to a tee, but I'm not sure it fit in with the Viking atmosphere.  Yes, Hiccup is the class clown/nerd, but it didn't quite work for me.  The character was not supposed to be annoying in the slightest, but at times I felt a tinge of aural irritation when he spoke.

Still, the film is Dreamworks' most touching to date.  A solid effort that makes me cringe that their next effort is Shrek 4.

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland 3D (2010)

Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, and Mia Wasikowska

Directed by Tim Burton

With a complete lack of whimsy and a rather heavy-handed joyless approach, Tim Burton's re-telling of Alice in Wonderland is just a dull bore.   Thirteen years ago, young Alice "fell down the rabbit hole" and entered the zany Wonderland.  Now, as a nineteen-year-old girl on the verge of womanhood, Alice (a bland Mia Wasikowska) happens to fall down the hole again.  While in Wonderland, she is told by all that she's the land's savior -- for, you see, the evil Queen of Hearts (played with gusto by Helena Bonham Carter) has taken over everything, forcing her sister, The White Queen (Hathaway) to be exiled, and causing some to live in a state of fear.

Yes, the whole premise of any Alice in Wonderland story hinges on "the odd," but it also always has a sense of childhood playfulness.  Everything in Burton's film feels so heavy-handed.  With the exception of the humorously nasty Bonham Carter, every other character feels like they were told to be as blasé as possible.  Mia Wasikowska didn't even seem like she wanted to be there -- not an ounce of emotion.  And the less said about Anne Hathaway the better.

That being said, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum is Johnny Depp who was given free reign to do whatever he damn well pleased and his Mad Hatter is a wreck.  Yes, I get that Depp was playing him as über-crazy and drugged-out, but when your character is so utterly incoherent, it just seems like painful overacting.  And I realize it's just a minor point, but let's not even discuss the Mad Hatter's "dance" at the end of the film (which they had been teasing throughout the movie) -- what an awful scene.

Granted, I've never been a big fan of any Alice in Wonderland tale, but everything about Burton's version seemed so utterly dark and joyless.  If you wanted to go that route, go all-out depressing (or even veer into the horror genre or something).  As it stands now, Burton's version is a dud.

The RyMickey Rating: D

Theatre Review - Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman

Theatre Review

Written by Arthur Miller

Directed by Ethan McSweeney

When: Thursday, March 25, 7:30pm

Where: Thompson Theater at the Roselle Center for the Arts

(University of Delaware, Newark, DE)

What: Play, Professional Theatre, Drama

I'm like a broken record when it comes to these productions from the Resident Ensemble Players at University of Delaware.  Professional actors doing stellar work with stellar staging and stellar directing.

Once again, as in the past when I discuss these REP productions, Death of a Salesman has already ended, so there's not a whole lot of reason for me to push people to see this.  Nevertheless, a few things to point out here:

• As the play hit intermission, I couldn't help but feel that it wasn't resonating with me at all.  It felt very dated and completely irrelevant (similar to my feelings toward Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge which I saw in NYC this year with Scarlett Johannson and Liev Schrieber).  While it still didn't necessarily hit a nerve with me personally (not that all theater has to), when that second act rolled around...Wow...just wow...Talk about powerful stuff.  Miller managed to raise the tension to a boiling point, but it never felt forced or fake.  The final thirty minutes were powerfully devastating.
• And part of the reason for that success is the REP's acting ensemble who, once again, shines. 
  Stephen Pelinski as Willy Loman, Kathleen Pirkl Tague as his wife Linda, and Michael Gotch as their son Biff all proved their talent yet again.  Tague, in particular, was wonderful...her final scenes were gutwrenching.
• Once again, nifty set design as is always the case in these productions.

Like I said, no need to dwell on it since it's impossible to see it, but it was a great night at the theater and I'm eagerly looking forward to the REP's next production, Dancing at Lughnasa, in a few weeks.

Movie Review - The Eclipse

The Eclipse (2010)

Starring Ciarán Hinds, Iben Hjejle, and Aidan Quinn

Directed by Conor McPherson

(An early review -- this flick hits Philly theaters April 9)

The Eclipse is a well-made film that doesn't quite know what kind of movie it wants to be.

Does it want to be a depressing drama detailing Irishman Michael Farr's (Hinds) life after his wife has just passed away?  A peek at a man as he tries to be the best father he can to his teenage daughter and tween son?

Or is it trying to be a romance concerning a somewhat haughty horror novelist named Nicholas (Quinn) and his attempts to rekindle a relationship with fellow writer Lena as they meet up at an Irish town's famous book festival?

Or is trying to be a straight-up horror movie?  In the midst of the two melancholy tales above, there are genuine jump-out-of-your-seat moments...I did it twice and I'm not so easy to be startled in films.

The reason for that jumpiness, though, is because the film doesn't know what it wants to be.  There's nothing in the film that sets it up as a horror flick.  Yes, Lena is an author that specializes in "the beyond" and she meets up with Michael and they begin to discuss his dead wife whom he believes he has seen walking around his home.  That's the extent of the "supernatural" nature of the film.  Then, out of the blue, come these genuine scares.

Part of me wants to give writer-director Conor McPherson credit for that.  He takes this simple, rather elegant, film and throws in the gothic plot elements.  I mean, it succeeded, right, since it made me jump?  The other part of me says that he could have just made this really beautiful film about some aspect of "the afterlife" and left it at that.  I'm not sure which I would have preferred if I'm being honest, but something about the juxtapositions of tone just didn't sit right with me.

All that being said, The Eclipse is not a bad film by any means.  It's beautifully shot and Ciarán Hinds is pretty darn good as the grieving husband.  It's just a tad unfortunate that I couldn't get completely onboard with the director's odd vision in terms of the film's varying moods.

The RyMickey Rating: B-

The Ghost Writer (2010)

starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, and Olivia Williams

Directed by Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski may not be the most well-regarded man...and rightly so.  But in terms of his films, I think he is quite the talented director.  Rosemary's Baby is one of my favorite films of all time.

Unfortunately, The Ghost Writer just can't compare with that near masterpiece, and Polanski as the co-screenwriter is partly to blame.  This film had some of the most ridiculous dialog I've heard in quite a while.  When you have, for all intents and purposes, a mature thriller that is aimed at intelligent adults, you need to have dialog that will not cause me to laugh out loud.  Unfortunately, The Ghost Writer is sometimes hilariously inept at showcasing believable conversations.

Ewan McGregor is The Ghost (his character is never named), a writer called in to help pen the memoirs of British politician Adam Lang (Brosnan) after Lang's first ghost writer mysteriously turns up dead, washed up along the shores in a small New England town.  As is the case in most political thrillers, things are not as they seem and twists and turns are inevitable.

McGregor and Brosnan are quite good in the flick, but their female counterparts, Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams don't step up to the plate, with Cattrall sporting one of the silliest off-and-on British accents I've heard in my many years of movie-watching and Williams being an emotional blank slate.  Plus, while the plot itself was interesting enough and Polanski did a more than adequate job of filming it (there were a couple of really neat shots), in the end the film just didn't excite me one bit.  It was all just kinda blah.  And when blah's the best you can do, it doesn't incite much emotion from me one way or the other.

The RyMickey Rating: C

The RyMickey Awards - Best Films of 2009

I saw 200 movies in 2009.  Here's the Top 20...and the longest post ever on the blog...(Although this'll be my first time using that annoying blog staple "the click here for more" button)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order)

• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Clever, witty, and filled with some great one-liners, this would be movie #21 on the list.
• Humpday - The things people will do when they're drunk...
• In the Loop - A political comedy in the documentary-style of "The Office" filled with hilariously nasty characters
• Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation - A look at the insane Australian film industry from the 1960s-80s...plus more nudity than I've seen in any movie this year.
• Star Trek - A great reboot of a dying franchise
• Whatever Works - Woody Allen has shied away from comedy in recent years, but this is a return to form.
• Zombieland - Zombies.  Amusement Parks.  Twinkies.  What's not to like?

And the Best Movies of 2009 Are...

#20 - Crank: High Voltage

If the screengrab above doesn't tell you what you're in for with Crank: High Voltage, I don't know what will.   I mean, sure, it's not as odd as the line "I'm gonna go floss my teeth with some pubes" which is uttered during the film's quick running time, but a guy with first-degree burns essentially throwing out a "F@$% You" to the paying movie-going audience is something you don't see every day in cinema.

Certainly, Crank: High Voltage is no Citizen Kane, but it's one hell of an enjoyable ride.  It's an equal opportunity offender and it doesn't hold back a thing.  At moments, that "balls-to-the-wall" attitude is a detriment (the film does go over the top a few too many times), but, for the most part, you're in for a crazy funhouse of a film.

The rest of the Top 20 is after the jump...(seriously...I spent some time on this, so click on that darn tiny "read more" link below [can't figure out a way to make it bolder] and read on...and feel free to leave a comment!)

The RyMickey Awards - Best Director

Best Director 2009

Runners-up: 

#8 - Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds 
#7 - Rian Johnson - The Brothers Bloom 

#6 - Duncan Jones - Moon

And the Final Five...

#5 - Jane Campion - Bright Star

The film looks beautiful and Campion gets some great performances from her cast.

#4 - Oren Moverman - The Messenger

The camera is just there...in the midst of it all...never shying away or hiding from the emotional devastation on display.

#3 - James Cameron - Avatar

Gotta give credit where credit is due.  He's kind of a genius when it comes to mass-market appeal.

#2 - Joel and Ethan Coen - A Serious Man

The opposite of Cameron, these guys aren't around for mass-market appeal.  This film's on the risky side, but the payoff is stellar.

#1 - Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker

Tense.  'Nuff said.