Movie Review - The Gallows

The Gallows (2015)

Starring Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos, and Cassidy Gifford

Directed by Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing
***This film is currently available on HBO Now***

I will readily admit that there were one or two scares that had me jumping out of my seat as I watched The Gallows, but even with its 80-minute running time, the flick meanders through the lives of unlikeable characters in a tired found-footage format with a premise that just seems too far-fetched to really be believed.

Back in 1993, high school student Charlie Grimille is killed in a horrible accident during a school play titled "The Gallows" when he is left hanging from the titular execution device onstage.  Cut to twenty years later and senior drama student Pfeifer (Pfeifer Brown) stages a revival of the play, casting herself and football player Reese (Reese Mishler) as the leads.  After being taunted by one of his friends Ryan (Ryan Shoos), Reese agrees to wreck the set of "The Gallows" with Ryan and his girlfriend Cassidy (Cassidy Gifford) the set before the debut so that the production will have to be cancelled and Reese will save himself from embarrassment.  Unfortunately, upon entering the school that evening, they find themselves in a world of trouble with someone hellbent on not letting them escape alive.

As mentioned, there are moments in The Gallows when co-directors (and co-writers) Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing succeed at jump scares and building the requisite tension.  However, Cluff and Lofing's script contains one too many plot holes and inconceivabilities.  Contrivances abound to keep the kids locked in the school -- was there really no window in the entire school to break out of despite the fact that they try to tell us there isn't; secret passageways go unnoticed by faculty and students for decades -- and the plot ends up harming the film more than helping it.  The cast of relative unknowns in game (with the exception of Ryan Shoos who is unfortunately sired with an incredibly one-note obnoxious character), but the found footage format does them no favors and the film takes too long to really kick into gear.  There are certainly worse horror movies out there without a doubt, but The Gallows isn't a winner.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows (2015)

Starring Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Jonny Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, Ben Fransham, and Jackie van Beek

Directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
***This film is currently available on HBO Now***

I certainly haven't laughed as much during a movie in 2015 as I did while watching the New Zealand import What We Do in the Shadows, a mockumentary that takes us inside the shared flat of a group of vampires as they deal with each other, everyday life in New Zealand, and, of course, werewolves.  Completed on what I can only assume was a small budget, the writing and directing team of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi have crafted a hilarious spin on vampire tales by placing the audience into a Real World-type setting where creatures of the night stop acting nice and start getting real.

I went into this fairly fresh - unaware of the story, characters, or overall tone and I would like to reward my readers with that experience as well should they care to give this one a chance.  Filled with both physical comedy and verbal barbs, Clement and Waititi (who also star as two of the vampire roommates) prove equally adept at presenting both kinds of comedy onscreen.  There's a self-awareness on display -- several times they question the omnipresence of the "documentary" film crew recording them -- that proves to be perfect in setting the not-so-serious tone.  There's almost a sense of whimsy present and, considering the subject matter, it makes the whole thing even funnier as they try and paint a pleasantly "normal" atmosphere amongst the vampire crew.

With a great ensemble who are all adept at creating laughs, What We Do in the Shadows is a treat.  As mentioned, I'd discuss more, but I don't want to ruin the experience for others.  Surely, this will pop up in the RyMickey Awards in the months ahead and I'll delve into it a bit more there.  As long as you buy into the type of comedy - which will either occur in the first ten minutes or not -- I can't imagine you won't have a good time with this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Mortdecai

Mortdecai (2015)

Starring Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Ewan McGregor, and Olivia Munn

Directed by David Koepp

***This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime***

I'm not sure movies can come worse that Mortdecai.  A purported comedy, not only did I not laugh once, but I never even found a smile forming on my face.  Johnny Depp is the title character -- an art dealer, but also a bit of a deviant conniver, willing to be a bit unscrupulous in order to try and save his vast English countryside estate from going under due to back taxes.  When an assailant kills an art restorer and steals a priceless painting, Inspector Alistair Martland (Ewan McGregor) enlists Mortdecai's help to try and track the painting.

The problem with Mortdecai - and it's a major problem - is that the film is a jumbled mess in tone and style.  I guess one would call it a spoof of a heist flick, but director David Koepp's cinematic mess never once finds its footing.  There are mild attempts at sex comedy that fall undeniably flat, seemingly in place only to gain the film an R-rating, but even they are so childishly risqué that it seems incomprehensible that the filmmakers felt like a R-rating was the way to go with this one (which is perhaps why you can watch a PG-13 version on Amazon Prime as well).  Action sequences feel out of place and poorly staged, lacking any semblance of excitement.  Dramatic moments are played for laughs which, since this is a spoof, could have been fine, but they play out with excruciatingly mind-numbingly idiocy.

Depp plays Mortdecai so incredibly over-the-top when compared to the rest of the cast (who only play things somewhat over-the-top) that he stands out like a "character" amongst more "real" people which is never a good thing.  Everything about his performance and everything about the movie is so heinously misguided by the director and the screenwriter that after twenty minutes, I desperately wanted to turn it off, but willed myself onward so I could finalize my Worst Films of 2015 list.

I could go on with this one, but quite frankly, I'm already so irritated that I've allowed my life to spend so much time dealing with this one.  Mortdecai is undeniably one of the worst films I've ever reviewed on this blog.

The RyMickey Rating:  F

Movie Review - Child 44

Child 44 (2015)

Starring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Fares Fares, Jason Clarke, and Vincent Cassel

Directed by Daniel Espinosa

"In 1933, at the height of Stalin's state-imposed famine against the Ukranian people, an estimated 25,000 died each day from starvation.  The systematic extermination by hunger known as the Holodomor left millions of children orphaned."  One of those children mentioned in Child 44's opening subtitles is Leo Demidov who as an adult (played by Tom Hardy) has become a Russian Ministry of State Security agent.  When a series of child murders is uncovered including the killing of his partner's son, Leo sets off on a mission to find the murderer...however, this doesn't sit well with his commanders because Russia at the time failed to acknowledge murder as they felt that was a crime brought about by capitalism.  Soon, Leo finds his wife Raisa (Noomi Rapace) accused of being a traitor to the state and the only way Leo can save her is by moving far away and taking a job in a lowly militia.  Desperate to find the serial killer ending the lives of innocent children and also hoping to seek revenge on fellow agent Vasili Niktin (Joel Kinnaman) whom Leo believes set up his wife, the vengeful Leo finds himself battling a Russian mindset that is unwilling to face the truth.

Ultimately, the problem with Child 44 is that it tries too hard to be too many things.  In addition to the variety of story lines above -- murdered children, traitors, the Holodomor -- there are numerous other tales woven into the mix.  While the serial killer certainly takes precedence, it too often feels pushed to the side while a variety of other depressing aspects make appearances with very little emotional impact.  Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace are fine, but there's certainly no aire of charisma between the two.  Quite frankly, I didn't even realized they were actually married until about halfway through.  Gary Oldman (as an officer who befriends Leo) has a tendency to overdo it in certain films, but here, his screen presence is a welcome breath of fresh air in the film's second act.  Granted, it's not enough to save the film from being a rather tiresome slog to sit through.  While there are aspects of the story that could very well stand on their own, the kitchen sink method of Child 44 just doesn't work in its favor.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Kingsman: The Secret Service

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Starring Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, Sophie Cookson, Sofia Boutella, and Mark Hamill

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

For a movie I actually enjoyed, I've waited over a month to write this review of Kingsman: The Secret Service.  I think part of my issue is that Kingsman is sometimes like two different movies -- there's an attempt to be James Bond-ian in its take on the British spy genre, but then it also feels very Quentin Tarantino-esque in terms of glorified, bloody violence.  While I find both of those genres appealing (at times) on their own, the meshing of the two never quite fits for me.

That said, the story of a rough-around-the-edges young man named Eggsy (Taron Egerton) who is recruited by the suave, debonair, and mysterious Harry Hart (Colin Firth) to join the ranks of an elite secret British spy agency is thoroughly entertaining.  Typically, I'd grow weary of "origin" stories, but Kingsman (based on a comic book) places its character of Eggsy through a recruitment process that is entertaining, exciting, and surprisingly tense.  As Eggsy gets to know both his potential and the intricacies of the agency for which he may soon work, director and co-writer Matthew Vaughn keeps things uniquely stylized.

At the same time Eggsy is learning the ropes, billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) is attempting to take over the world via his telecommunications company.  Needless to say, it's obvious that the two stories are eventually going to intertwine and while I enjoyed both the Eggsy and Richmond sides of the plot separately, when they begin to come together is when the film begins to falter a bit.  The disjointed nature of the film hits its peak when Firth's Harry Hart finds himself in the midst of an incredibly gruesome attack where more blood is spilled in one scene alone than I've seen since The Bride went nuts on the Yakuza and the Crazy 88 in Kill Bill.  In Tarantino's flick, however, stylized violence played a role from the beginning of the film, whereas here it feels as if Vaughn brings things on too suddenly to feel cohesive.  It's not that the film proves to be a disappointment, it's simply that the writers (and Vaughn as the director) begin to take things too over-the-top in terms of violence.

Despite its imperfections, Kingsman: The Secret Service proves to be an enjoyably fun ride.  Vaughn takes some risks here and while some pay off -- I very much appreciate that no one is safe here in terms of characters making it out of the movie alive -- others don't quite work.  Still, I'd certainly be willing to check out any sequel should it make its way to the big screen as I found the whole flick entertaining enough to warrant a second go with the characters it presents.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Leigh, and Courtney Eaton

Directed by George Miller

Winning six Academy Awards is no easy feat -- especially for a genre film such as Mad Max: Fury Road.  I will totally agree that director George Miller's film is uniquely designed in terms of sets, costumes, and sound -- all for which it won Oscars.  However, it's rather telling to me that the film didn't receive a screenplay nod amongst its ten nominations.  After watching, it's no surprise, though, as the script is one of the biggest downfalls of the manic film that, while better than the 1979 original which I despised, is still too much of a punk-fueled visual cacophony to merit me ever wanting me to subject myself to it again.

The title of the film would have you believe that "good guy" Max (Tom Hardy) is the star of the film, but the little story that Mad Max: Fury Road has to offer isn't really about him.  Sure, the flick opens with Max attempting to escape from the army of Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a tyrant who rules over a large group of people by controlling all access to water and fuel in a post-nuclear-explosion apocalyptic desert society.  When Max fails his escape, the film shifts to Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), one of Joe's best warriors who is responsible for heading out into the world to bring back gas and water in a giant tanker truck.  However, on her latest mission, it's discovered that she has smuggled out five of Joe's young wives in an attempt to take them to safety.  When her treachery is unveiled, one of Joe's War Boys, Nux (Nicholas Hoult), straps Max to the front of his truck (because, you see, Nux is draining the blood out of Max in order to get healthier himself) and chases after Furiousa along with a bevy of other crazy-looking folks.

And then everything else in the entire movie is one long chase sequence after another...after another...after another.  It never ends.  There's very few moments of respite and, quite frankly, because of the nonstop barrage of chaotic sound and in-your-face visuals, I zoned out after about an hour.  Quite frankly, there's nothing here.  Sure, you've got a "woman scorned" angle with Furiosa trying to help out objectified women, but the feminist angle never really rises to the occasion.  Max himself is left with very little to do in the film and Tom Hardy continues to give us just the low-voiced growling he's become so well known for over the past several years.  

George Miller (who also co-wrote the film) feels as if he came in with the attitude of "Let's throw everything at the wall and see what sticks."  And then he proceeded to either think everything stuck or he just was too lazy to clean up, because as his camera zigs and zags crazily through the insanity he's placed onscreen, he seems to hope that the audience can't see all the nuttiness he left scattered throughout.  Mad Max: Fury Road has reasons to be recognized.  The costumes are unique and the production design was admittedly awesome, but beyond the below-the-line crafts (which certainly hold merit and helped my rating be as high as it is), Fury Road is a mess.  I can't imagine watching this on a screen bigger than my tv screen at home -- I'm not quite sure I would've been able to sit through the freneticism.  

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Amy

Amy (2015)

Directed by Asif Kapadia

***This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime***

With the exception of two or three songs on my iPod, Amy Winehouse never really impacted my musical landscape.  Her gravelly marble-mouthed voice never really appealed to me despite her obvious appreciation of old-school jazzy Motown-y stylizations.  It also didn't help that her heavily scrutinized public life showed that Winehouse lived precariously when it came to drugs and alcohol and I have a tough time rooting for someone to really succeed financially who falls down that path.  Little did I realize how treacherous that road had become for Winehouse, the subject of Asif Kapadia's documentary Amy which delves into the tragic price the singer paid for her success, eventually leading to an early death at the age of 27.

Told completely through interviews with the singer and her close friends, home videos, and personal photos, Amy is a rather damning look at the perils of success.  Amy Winehouse was likely always someone who walked on the edge of addiction, but her success catapulted both the ease of getting drugs and her desire to take them.  When we hear that Amy uttered the line, "This is so boring without drugs" after winning the Grammy for her popular (and prescient) song "Rehab," it's both incredibly sad and incredibly enervating that her family -- including her husband Blake who was also dependent on drugs -- allowed her to travel down this path.  Yes, they tried to make her go to rehab (as her most popular song states), but they never pushed hard enough in part because they worried both about the stigma that would place on Amy and the loss of money from tours, albums, and interviews during her stint in such facilities.

It's not that Amy tells a story we haven't seen before -- I mean, I grew up in the era of VH1's Behind the Music which built its success on the seedier sound of the music industry -- but Kapadia never presents his title subject as a victim, martyr, or saint.  Sure, Amy may have been predisposed to this type of lifestyle thanks to her upbringing, but it doesn't change the fact that this is a touchingly human story.  Hearing Amy's own words describe the pleasure of addiction make her tragic end all the more poignant and those words she said after winning the Grammy -- "This is so boring without drugs" -- just resonated with me long after the movie ended.  Kudos to Kapadia for painting the whole picture, warts and all, because I think Amy's story is an important one to tell since it's one that is so easily malleable if people in your life give you the needed assistance rather than turning the cold shoulder.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Oscar Predictions

Update Post-Awards:

18/24 -- I consider that not bad.  Granted, it's only two more than last year's tally, but I feel better about this year...mainly because I picked the contentious Best Picture winner...and also because my sound picks were troublesome and I knew it.  I felt like Mad Max couldn't sweep everything, but I knew that it would, but somehow I just went with Revenant because I felt Revenant was gonna get a little more love...

I'm also happy because I got two of the three short categories correct which I consider a big coup.  

Overall, the ceremony was paced well despite running 37 minutes long.  I thought Rock's opening monologue was decent -- you knew he was going to hit on the OscarsSoWhite controversy and I thought his skewering of the industry was decent.  But then it went on too far.  Once the fantastic Tracy Morgan Danish Girl bit was done, everything else went downhill.  The Girl Scout cookie thing was a cheap ploy to capture the Ellen selfie or pizza delivery thing and it didn't work.  Neither did much else.  So, good monologue, but disappointing the remainder of the show.  (And let's remember that the controversy should include all non-White minorities...not just the one that was promoted so highly in the show.)

Overall, I'm pleased with most winners.  Stallone's loss was sad as I thought he gave a great performance in Creed, but it's always nice to have some surprises.  And speaking of surprises, how about Ex Machina for Best Visual Effects?  That one came out of nowhere and while I'm not quite sure it deserved the win over its competitors, I'm thrilled that the great film got recognition.  Now if only Brooklyn had received some award, it would've been a fantastic night awards-wise.  

Edited: Sun 12:43am

Predictions for Sunday's ceremony are below.  I did awful last year -- 16/24 -- and this year I fear I won't do much better seeing as how the two films that are nearly going to run the table are my least favorites of the bunch, so I'm sure I'm picking things wrong.

Best Picture (listed in order of my own personal ranking)

Room  (A)

Brooklyn  (A-)

The Martian  (B+)

Spotlight  (B+)

Bridge of Spies  (B-)

The Big Short  (B-)

The Revenant  (C+)

Mad Max: Fury Road (C- -- review forthcoming)

Will Win:  Spotlight (my "out on a limb" prediction -- I should probably be going with The Revenant)

Should Win: Room

Should've Been Nominated:  Steve Jobs

Best Director

Lenny Abrahamson - Room

Tom McCarthy - Spotlight

Adam McKay - The Big Short

George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - The Revenant

Will Win: Inarritu

Should Win: Abrahamson

Should've Been Nominated: Alex Garland - Ex Machina

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston - Trumbo

Matt Damon - The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Will Win: Dicaprio

Should Win: Fassbender

Should've Been Nominated: Jacob Tremblay - Room

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett - Carol

Brie Larson - Room

Jennifer Lawrence - Joy

Charlotte Rampling - 45 Years

Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn

Will Win: Larson

Should Win: Didn't see Joy/45 Years yet and I need a second viewing of Room/Brooklyn to really figure out if I like Larson or Ronan better because both were great

Should've Been Nominated: Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl (in the correct category)

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale - The Big Short

Tom Hardy - The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo - Spotlight

Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies

Sylvester Stallone - Creed

Will Win: Stallone

Should Win: Stallone

Should've Been Nominated: Weak year for this category

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara - Carol

Rachel McAdams - Spotlight

Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl

Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs

Will Win: Vikander

Should Win: Vikander was great, but she's not a supporting actress rather the film's lead; Winslet would probably get my vote had I a ballot.  Didn't see Hateful Eight

Should've Been Nominated: Elizabeth Banks - Love and Mercy

Original Screenplay: Spotlight

Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short

Cinematography: The Revenant

Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road

Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road

Make-up and Hair: Mad Max: Fury Road

Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road

Score: The Hateful Eight

Song: "'Til It Happens to You" - The Hunting Ground

Sound Editing: The Revenant

Sound Mixing: The Revenant

Visual Effects: Mad Max: Fury Road

Animated Feature: Inside Out

Documentary: Amy

Foreign Film: Son of Saul

Animated Short: Bear Story

Documentary Short: Body Team 12

Live Action Short: Stutterer

Movie Review - Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, and James Spader

Directed by Joss Whedon

Back in 2012, everyone fell head over heels for The Avengers -- everyone except for me, that is.  I didn't dislike the film as my C+ review attests, but I found it overblown and a bit underwhelming with the action sequences working, but many of the dialog and character-driven moments disappointing.  Oddly enough, Avengers: Age of Ultron has just the opposite problem with its character-based scenes working surprisingly well and its action aspects sorely lacking.  Considering both films were written and directed by Joss Whedon, the contrasting differences are a bit startling and, as the rating below will attest, end up being about equal in terms of how I felt overall about the flick.

Once again, our Avenger crew bands together to fight something gigantically evil.  Rather than aliens, though, this time it's a form of advanced artificial intelligence that Iron Man Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr) created in secret in order to try and assist should the world face another huge attack as occurred during the first film.  After a bit of a tête-á-tête about the necessity of AI to help, Tony, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) head out to find Ultron (James Spader), the AI that has created a robot body for himself and set out to destroy humanity with the help of two Russian twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) who want to bring down the Avengers due to an incident from their childhood caused by one of our fearless fighting crew that changed their lives forever.

Story-wise, I think the film is actually more successful than its predecessor.  I enjoyed the camaraderie between the heroic crew which I felt was sorely lacking in the first film as well as the deviousness of Ultron and the twins.  Knowing nothing about the comics upon which the films are based, Ultron was deliciously snide and humorously villainous.  Perhaps that isn't his demeanor in the comics, but on film, Spader voiced the character with such over-the-top charisma that I couldn't help but long for the character to appear again to liven things up.  Plus, I think it helped things that Ultron's villainous intentions stemmed from the chaos inflicted in the first film.

Unfortunately, the film's action set pieces just didn't work for me.  During the opening scene which includes slow motion AND seemingly sped up moments, I found myself vehemently annoyed, feeling as if I were watching a poorly conceived video game as opposed to a movie.  Fortunately, things got a little better after that, but I still went through the whole movie thinking that the action sequences felt less integral to the plot than nearly any other Marvel flick and were put into place simply because "we need an action scene now."  Whereas Whedon seemingly had control of these moments in the first Avengers, he disappointed here.

Overall, though, Avengers: Age of Ultron works.  The flick is briskly paced and despite disliking the more "intense" moments, I never found them overblown or overlong.  The interplay between the core group of Avengers is growing more natural and I'm oddly looking forward to what the Marvel Universe has in store for these characters.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Out of the Dark

Out of the Dark (2015)

Starring Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman, Stephen Rea, and Pixie Davies

Directed by Lluís Quilez

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

Ugh... one of these days I'll realize that horror flicks with limited theatrical releases even if they contain actors I know -- Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman, and Stephen Rea, in this case -- just aren't worth my time...particularly if Netflix has picked up streaming capabilities.  Until that day comes when I recognize this problem that I sometimes have, I'll at least know that I'll have some films filling in the lower rungs of my annual rating system.  Out of the Dark is one of these very films that falls into the lower echelons of the RyMickey Ratings.

When Sarah and Paul Harriman (Stiles and Speedman) head to Colombia for a new job working at the manufacturing plant founded and headed by Sarah's father (Rea), they're expecting a refreshing change of pace from their everyday life.  However, their daughter Hannah (Pixie Davis) begins to start acting odd and the Harrimans soon realize that their house may very well be haunted by ghosts of Colombian children.

Sounds generic enough, right?  I could deal with generic.  The problem here is that director Lluís Quilez has crafted a film that is so utterly dark that I found myself literally unable to see what was going on in the film's purported "horror" moments.  That's a huge issue particularly in a horror film that gains its suspense from jump scares rather than a build-up of tension.  It doesn't help matters that the screenplay attempts to shoehorn environmental awareness into the plot to levels of epic failure.  With the actors left squandering in a listless and lifeless plot, Out of the Dark is truly one of the worst films of 2015.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Sicario

Sicario (2015)

Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, and Daniel Kaluuya

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

A taut and tense look at the drug trade between the US and countries south of our border, Sicario creates some of the most exciting moments captured in 2015 cinema.  It's unfortunate, though, that those edge-of-your-seat segments are interspersed with some dour, dreary, somewhat boring scenes that certainly advance the plot, but do so without the drive and vigor that carries the rest of the film.  Don't mistake this disappointment with detestation, however, as director Denis Villeneuve's flick is well worth a watch with some nice, un-showy, realistic performances from a solid cast.

At the crux of Sicario is Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), a quiet, though strong FBI agent who, after uncovering an horrific drug-related discovery, is approached by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), a CIA Special Activities Division officer, to join a task force to pick up a high-profile Mexican drug lord.  Also part of the team is Alejandro Gillick (Benicio Del Toro), a Colombian partner who holds a great many secrets that cause Kate to doubt the CIA's intentions and her place in their plans.

Admittedly, the less said the better about the plot of Sicario which, while not necessarily confusing or full of out-of-left-field surprises (both positives, for sure), is best seen not knowing about the tension-filled scenes that are to come.  Denis Villeneuve is quietly becoming the go-to director when your film needs to create a sense of palpable human anxiety as his three English-language films have thus far proven.  (See also Prisoners and Enemy for these similar emotional tones.)  With a script by Taylor Sheridan that gives Villeneuve some stellar set pieces with which to build dismay and distress and a pulsing score by Jóhann Jóhannsson that adds excitement, there are many reasons Sicario works.  As I mentioned previously, however, there are too many lulls in the story that drag the movie down.  Villeneuve has yet to create a flick (that I've seen) where he fully harnesses the nervous apprehension present in the script, but he's come awfully close several times.

Emily Blunt takes on the tough gal role again here (after having much success embodying that tone in Edge of Tomorrow) and she proves a worthy lead.  We can see her mind always questioning her surroundings, cognizant of the fact that the people who are supposed to protect her may just cause her downfall.  Benicio Del Toro's character seems quite one note at the start, but as the film progresses, we see deeper layers culminating in a final scene for his character that truly resonates.  Josh Brolin brings a smarminess to his CIA agent role, but he's quite watchable here.  (I say that as Brolin has never been a favorite of mine, but he tackles this role with just the right amount of smug egoism.)

Despite a few issues, Sicario is a really solid piece of cinema.  There are moments in the film -- a great many of them, actually -- that would've landed this film an 'A' grade, but in the end Villeneuve doesn't quite get everything to gel together perfectly...but he's still a director I'm keeping my eye on in the future.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Voices

The Voices (2015)

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, Ella Smith, and Jacki Weaver

Directed by Marjane Satrapi
***This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime***

More amusing than I expected, The Voices is a dark horror comedy about Jerry (Ryan Reynolds), a factory worker in a small town who had some psychological problems in his past, but has moved on from them...maybe.  You see, with his dog Bosco and his cat Mr. Whiskers talking to him in an angel-on-your-shoulder/devil-on-your-shoulder kind of way, Jerry may not quite be 100% sane yet.  When Jerry goes out to a restaurant with three secretaries from work (Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, and Ella Smith), he begins to think that he may have a chance of starting a relationship with one (or perhaps more) of them...except Jerry's mind has more deviant thoughts and murder is certainly not out of the question.

Embracing the quirky nature of the script, director Marjane Satrapi allows the cast to feel at home with either over-the-top (Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton) or subdued (Anna Kendrick) acting, rather surprisingly meshing the two styles thanks to the dark comedy that runs throughout.  Relishing in comedic gore (which some could admittedly find offensive), The Voices humorously presents the story of a deranged guy desperately trying to better himself with less than successful results.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Every Secret Thing

Every Secret Thing (2015)

Starring Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Dakota Fanning, Danielle Macdonald, Nate Parker, and Common

Directed by Amy Berg

As soon as the opening credits began to roll for Every Secret Thing and the screenwriter popped up as Nicole Holofcener, I found myself getting excited.  Holofcener wrote and directed the fantastic Enough Said, and while Every Secret Thing was certainly a dramatic shift away from that romantic comedy, I still held out hope that I was in for something worthwhile.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

As young girls, Alice Manning and Ronnie Fuller were convicted of stealing and killing a baby and sent to a juvenile detention center for seven years.  Now eighteen and released, another toddler has gone missing and Alice and Ronnie (Danielle Macdonald and Dakota Fanning) are suspected of the crime being investigated by Detective Nancy Porter (Elizabeth Banks).  With Alice claiming that she was innocent of the first crime, she and her mother Helen (Diane Lane) try to cooperate with the police, but feel that they're being targeted simply because of Alice's past.  However, Ronnie claims Alice manipulated her seven years ago and was the true mastermind behind the earlier kidnapping and murder.  Is either girl responsible for the newest crime, are they both playing one another, or are they in cahoots again?

Every Secret Thing takes us back and forth in time, revealing little bits of the story not in a way that is inherently integral to the story, but in a way to manipulate the viewer which proves to be enervating rather than enlightening.  With stilted dialog and blatant direction of actors that makes their "secrets" seem obvious from the film's outset, first-time director Amy Berg and screenwriter Holofcener don't succeed at creating a story that feels anything other than contrived.  Elizabeth Banks is solid as the detective desperate to find the missing child, but Diane Lane and relative newcomer Daniele Macdonald inhabit characters so poorly designed that it probably wouldn't have been possible to come out of this looking good.

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Love & Mercy

Love & Mercy (2015)

Starring John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, and Paul Giamatti

Directed by Bill Pohlad

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys was a bit of a songwriting savant making the surf-centric group one of the most popular of the 1960s.  However, Wilson led a troubled life likely brought on by his father's disappointment in him despite his son's great success.  Following a panic attack on a plane, Wilson stops touring and spends his time developing what he thought would be the greatest album ever made -- Pet Sounds.  His intense focus on the album lost him favor with his fellow group members and began the downward spiral in the relationship with his wife.  A few decades later in the 1980s, Wilson finds himself under the care of abusive therapist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), but begins to fall for car saleswoman Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks) who feels that Wilson is being manipulated and over-medicated by Landy so that he can have control over Wilson's fortune.

The story of Love & Mercy spans both eras of Wilson's life with Paul Dano taking on the singer in the 1960s and John Cusack playing him in the 1980s.  The film's clever balancing act of showing us two aspects of the singer's life makes this biographical flick a lot more interesting than I ever thought possible with both eras getting equal play and sharing equal amounts of gravitas.  Dano rather astutely shows us the downward spiral Wilson experienced, while Cusack does a nice job of playing a man desperately trying to break out of his rigidly structured life set forth by his supposed caretaker.

The real star of the show here, though, is Elizabeth Banks in what is really a break-out role for her as the elder Wilson's girlfriend Melinda.  Banks takes what could have certainly been a throwaway role and gives Melinda depth, strength, and conviction that I wasn't expecting in the slightest.  While it's true that much of her role is reactionary to Wilson or Landy's actions, Banks imbues Melinda with so much intelligence behind her eyes.  There could have been a huge amount of sentimentality or sheer mushiness in a role that requires an actress to "save her beau" from himself, but Banks tells us more from her heartfelt, nervous, contemplative gazes than I've seen in many other roles this year.  It's truly a stellar performance and one that captivated me from the moment she stepped onscreen.  If anything, it was slightly detrimental to the earlier Brian Wilson story because Banks is so good here that I wanted the story to pivot back to her.

Love & Mercy is a nicely directed, nicely written film that definitely deserved some awards attention, but failed to garner any.  If anything, see it for Elizabeth Banks who proves that she's much more of a talent than many of us thought, but even taking Banks out of the equation, the flick is a biopic that lacks much of the sentimental gooeyness that often accompanies the genre.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Shaun the Sheep Movie

Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)

Directed by Mark Burton and Richard Starzak

I can certainly understand why Shaun the Sheep Movie failed at the US box office.  [And it's not just because of that awful title.  I mean, where's the "The" at the beginning?  Or where's the "The" between "Sheep" and "Movie?"  Just odd.]  There's absolutely an innate Britishness to the proceedings and when that's coupled with a film in which there is no dialog and only sound effects, it's understandable that it could be a bit off-putting for the masses.  However, it's a darn shame because Shaun the Sheep Movie is an amusing, fluffy (no sheep pun intended), lighthearted romp that had me smiling quite a bit and laughing out loud more than I did during Pixar's lauded Inside Out which, while good, lacked a little something in the emotion department for me.

Shaun the Sheep Movie doesn't necessarily aim for the warmth of a typical Pixar movie, but that heart is still there below the surface as our title character -- a small sheep named Shaun -- finds himself disenchanted with the rigamarole of everyday life and decides to try and plan a day of rest and relaxation away from his owner -- The Farmer -- who, while kind to his sheep doesn't realize the monotony of their existence.  Unfortunately for Shaun, his plan goes awry when after locking the Farmer in a trailer, the vehicle becomes unhitched and sends the guy careening through the streets of London, eventually hitting his head and losing all memory of his former life.  When the Farmer doesn't return, Shaun and his fellow sheep head to the Big City to try and bring back their owner.

While I've always held a fondness toward stop-motion animation, Aardman Animation Studios (who were really one of the premiere stop motion producers in the 1980s/90s) hasn't been tremendously successful when translating their British sensibilities to theatrical features, not quite hitting the mark in my opinion.  Shaun the Sheep Movie changes that as it finds a great balance between animation, humor, story, and all-around animation quality.  The story by Mark Burton (who also co-directed) keeps things simple and short -- which is a good thing as I found myself getting a tiny bit restless towards the end of this dialog-free picture -- and the overall colorful aesthetic and charming sentimentality won me over from the opening scenes.

Shaun the Sheep Movie definitely flew under the radar at the box office, but I highly recommend checking it out as its simplicity is one of its biggest virtues.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Phoenix

Phoenix (2015)

Starring Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, and Nina Kunzendorf

Directed by Christian Petzold

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

German film Phoenix details the story of Nelly Lenz (Nina Hoss), a Holocaust survivor who returns to Germany after being horribly disfigured by the Nazis.  With the help of friend Lene (Nina Kunzendorf), Nelly undergoes reconstructive surgery which alters her appearance somewhat which worries Nelly because she has been told that her husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) is still alive.  Desperate to find her husband again, Nelly refuses to believe Lene's assertions that Johnny turned his own wife over to the Nazis in an attempt to save himself, so Nelly sets out in search of Johnny and successfully finds him at a cabaret bar named Phoenix.  The ever-conniving Johnny doesn't recognize Nelly, but believes that she bears resemblance to his presumed dead wife, so he asks Nelly (who has told her husband her name is Esther) to "play" his wife in order to get the inheritance Nelly is owed due to her dead relatives.  The question then remains did Johnny actually deceive his wife and send her to the concentration camps or was Lene incorrect in her assumption.

The problem I have with Phoenix is that the plot is a whole lot more interesting in theory than it actually appears onscreen.  There's a tension that comes even from just reading that storyline above that should feel resonant in the film, but it's simply not there.  Part of that stems from Nina Hoss's portrayal of Nelly as an incredibly quiet and weak woman.  While I'm not faulting Hoss -- surely, a Holocaust survivor would feel torn down and diminished -- her meek demeanor oddly made the film difficult for me to become invested.  I readily admit that it should've worked as I found her character's actions and emotions totally believable, but for some reason it failed to pull me in.  Perhaps it's the all-around gloominess of the piece coupled with the bleakness of the main character, but Phoenix doesn't hit the mark for me despite an intriguing premise for a story.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Big Short

The Big Short (2015)

Starring Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, John Magaro, Finn Wittrock, Hamish Linklater, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Adepero Oduye, Marisa Tomei, Melissa Leo, and Brad Pitt

Directed by Adam McKay

I know that The Big Short is a well-made, well-written, and well-acted film.  The issue is that the film which delves into 2007-08 the financial meltdown in which the housing market went belly up causing catastrophic damage to regular folks and the crooked big banks simply didn't resonate with me likely because I had no personal attachment to the crisis.  Granted, I don't need to have a personal connection to a film in order to become invested in it, but the overarching theme kept me at a bit of a distance despite being cleverly directed by Adam McKay so that the hefty and complicated subject matter seems a bit more relatable (and understandable) to the average moviegoer.

Quite frankly, there's no reason to delve into the story aspects of The Big Short in any greater detail than has already been mentioned because the film is a bit too complex to really simplistically explain.  Needless to say, the flick focuses on three groups or individuals who attempt to bring attention to the impending meltdown and are greeted with blank stares and laughs by those in charge.  Christian Bale is hedge fund manager Michael Burry who discovers the unsteady housing market and tries to use this to his advantage.  (Burry, admittedly, isn't really trying to "solve" the meltdown problem, he's just the first person who realized he may be able to use it to his advantage.) Steve Carell plays hedge fund manager Mark Baum who is approached by trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) to do the same thing Burry is doing, although Baum (whose Wall Street trader brother met an unfortunate demise) tries to uncover how the government is allowing it to happen.  Finally, up-and-coming young investors Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley (John Magaro and Finn Wittrock) uncover paperwork by Vennett that reveals his thoughts on the crisis and enlist the help of noted financial guru Ben Rickart (Brad Pitt) to make money on the housing collapse only to have a change of heart as they realize the chaos that the collapse will cause.

All of the aforementioned actors do an admirable job of making their sometimes convoluted plots seem understandable and there's not a weak link in the cast.  That said, as I mentioned before, there's a lack of connection for me here that I wasn't quite able to overcome.  While the film doesn't necessarily play like a college finance course, it sometimes doesn't quite succeed in altogether abandoning that mindset.  McKay (who co-wrote the film with Charles Randolph) does some clever cutaways with celebrities to try and make the intricacies of the convoluted housing trade at least comprehensible, but in the end, there's somehow a lack of dramatic tension and human connection here.  The Big Short is still a surprisingly enjoyable watch, but it just never quite hit home with me despite a valiant effort.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Spotlight

Spotlight (2015)

Starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Brian d'Arcy James, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci

Directed by Tom McCarthy

There's a straightforward, no-frills temperament to the true story that is Spotlight that is oddly refreshing in a cinematic era in which we find ourselves often wowed by exquisite cinematography or fancy special effects or even edgy scripts.  Director and co-screenwriter Tom McCarthy has crafted a film that not only honors the young victims sexually abused by Catholic priests, but also pays tribute to investigative newspaper journalism, a seemingly dying industry that proved vital in exposing this particularly heinous injustice.

When new editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) is hired at the Boston Globe in 2001, several reporters find themselves on edge worried about their jobs, particularly Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton) who heads up a four-person investigative journalism team known as Spotlight who take months to research issues in order to produce incredibly in-depth articles.  The team -- which also includes Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Matt Carroll (Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Brian d'Arcy James) -- is stripped of their current investigation and tasked by Baron to look at possible sexual abuse crimes within the Catholic Church after the editor reads about a low-rent lawyer Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci) who is representing several alleged victims, purporting that the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Law, is simply moved offending priests from parish to parish after being faced with claims of abuse.

Spotlight unravels like an intense mystery -- albeit one in which the audience already knows the horrific outcome -- and director and co-screenwriter McCarthy does an admirable job of keeping us invested in the proceedings especially when a whole lot of names come in and out of play and the legal logistics of things may seem too heavy for the average moviegoer.  While certainly a film that respects the atrocities the victims of the sexual abuse faced, Spotlight also is a great homage to print journalism which has certainly suffered in the wake of the internet and 24-hour cable news (both of which have likely harmed the "institution of journalism" in irreversible ways with in-your-face biases).  The acting ensemble is an incredibly solid one with no one single actor "standing out" -- and that's a positive in a film like this.  There's a "no one is greater than any other" mentality and given the teamwork necessary for the Spotlight writers to pull off this investigation, the ensemble blends into one another quite well.  Kudos also must be lauded on the many actors playing sexual abuse victims who undoubtedly add the heart and gravitas to the story.

This movie hit close to home to me as a Catholic and perhaps my views are skewed because of it, however, I think it's an important flick for people of my faith to watch.  There was some horrific wrongs inflicted on a great many people and we must face our misdeeds in order to try and move past them as best we can.  Spotlight was an engaging experience for me and a well-made film on top of that.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Visit

The Visit (2015)

Starring Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

With their father having left their mother (Kathryn Hahn) a few years ago, Becca and her younger brother Tyler (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould) push their mom into going on a cruise with her new boyfriend.  Their mother obliges and sends Becca and Tyler to see their grandparents (Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie) whom their mom hasn't spoken to in nearly twenty years following a fight after which she ran away.  Recognizing the need for possible reconciliation and at the wishes of their grandparents who recently attempted to communicate with their daughter again, Becca and Tyler  head off only to discover that Nana and Pop Pop exhibit some disturbing behavior that may be hiding some dark secrets.

Told in a documentary style of filmmaking -- Becca is a budding filmmaker who wants a recording of her familial history -- M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit builds its tension at a gradual level, but is a bit too full of holes and contrivances (to suit the first-person style of direction) to fully succeed.  That doesn't mean The Visit isn't moderately successful...because it is.  A huge part of the success is the solid acting of Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould who admittedly aren't given much depth with which to act, but at least carry the film with aplomb.

While it's true Shyamalan fell off the wagon, I never was willing to give up on the director because I always felt -- even in his truly worst films -- there were slight glimmers of promise.  I'm hoping The Visit is a step back in the right direction for him (even if it isn't perfect) and we can see more from this suspense-driven auteur in the near future.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - People Places Things

People Places Things (2015)

Starring Jemaine Clement, Regina Hall, Stephanie Allynne, Jessica Williams, Michael Chernus, Gia Gadsby, and Andrea Gadsby 

Directed by Jim Strouse

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

Simple, yet charming, People Places Things tells the story of graphic artist Will Henry (Jemaine Clement) whose longtime girlfriend Charlie (Stephanie Allynne) reveals that she is leaving him on their twin daughters' fifth birthday.  Will spends a year focusing on teaching and when one of his students (Jessica Williams) sets him up with her English professor mother Diane (Regina Hall), Will begins to realize that there may be life for him outside of Charlie.

While I recognize that Jemaine Clement's dryly humorous personality may not be for everyone, I was a big fan of his short-lived comedy series Flight of the Conchords and Clement's tone is very similar in director-writer James Strouse's film.  Clement exudes a lackadaisical, yet caring nature and he brings a heartfelt (and sometimes heartbroken) drollness to the film that many actors may find difficult to convey.  Regina Hall provides a nice counterpoint, playing a very intelligent woman who wants her college age daughter to realize her mother can be strongly independent, yet also wants to find that special someone with whom to share her life.

No one will ever mistake People Places Things for being incredibly deep, but it brings a believably humorous treatment to a somewhat hefty life situation.  Clement and the cast do a great job of carrying both the comedic and dramatic moments of the film.  Sometimes these low-budget indie comedies can seem too "edgy" or "hip" for their own good.  That's not the case here in the slightest -- if anything, Clement's character is a bit of an anti-hipster (despite being a comic book artist).  I appreciated this tone that writer Strouse brings and I'm definitely interested in seeing his work in the future.

The RyMickey Rating:  B