Movie Review - Eye in the Sky

Eye in the Sky (2016)

Starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, Aisha Takow, and Alan Rickman

Directed by Gavin Hood

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

In this day and age, the concept of war has shifted from the wide-scale, massive WWII-era attacks against an enemy's large army to a more intimate form of battle where individual terrorists may be targeted in a one-on-one-type tête-a-tête.  This smaller scale level of attack is being even further amplified by the usage of drones -- an eye in the sky that permits us to see things in a more secretive manner.  This new wartime assistant is the subject of director Gavin Hood's Eye in the Sky, a movie that despite being ninety percent talkative exposition somehow manages to create a surprising amount of tension.

British Army colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) has received the news that a British woman-turned-Islamic terrorist along with her husband are meeting several high ranking leaders of a terrorist group at a safehouse in Kenya.  Desperate to catch the traitor, Katherine and the British Army team up with the Americans to utilize drones in order to confirm the woman's presence so they can try and take her out.  However, morality comes into play when it's discovered that bombing the Kenyan safehouse would also harm innocent civilians including a young girl (Aisha Takow) who is selling bread outside the home.

The uniqueness of Eye in the Sky comes from the morality play that's depicted in the film.  Can we kill innocent civilians in order to take out known terrorists?  This conundrum plays out for almost the entirety of Eye in the Sky and the talkative pros and cons yield a surprisingly tense experience.  All of the characters -- Mirren as the Army colonel, Alan Rickman as a British Defense Ministry higher-up, Aaron Paul as a conflicted American soldier having difficulty coming to grips with the notion of possibly killing an innocent child, Barkhad Abdi as an undercover British operative who is onsite in Kenya -- never interact with one another onscreen at the same time.  They're all in different locations across the world and thus are only interacting via phone or video chat and yet, with much kudos to director Gavin Hood, their interactions feel believable and shockingly tense.

I must admit that I didn't expect a whole lot from Eye in the Sky, but I found that it more than delivered on creating an exciting environment, showing us an insider look at an aspect of modern-day warfare with which the public may be unfamiliar.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Gambit

Gambit (2014)

Starring Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman, and Tom Courtenay

Directed by Michael Hoffman

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

The fact that Gambit, a film toplined by the quite famous Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz, failed to get a theatrical release of any kind despite the celebrities attached should've keyed me in to the quality of the flick.  In addition, not only were Diaz and Firth starring, but the film was written by Joel and Ethan Coen whom are sometimes worthy of your time.  I admittedly go back and forth on my feelings towards these popular director/screenwriters, but a lot of their flicks are at least solid.  So with this big name Hollywood talent, how did Gambit not even muster a limited release in theaters?

Admittedly, Gambit is not as bad as its lack of a theatrical release of any kind would implicate.  Unfortunately, it's not very good either.  As the film opens, we meet Harry Deane (Firth) who begrudgingly works for the very rich London businessman Lionel Shahbander (Alan Rickman).  Lionel loves art and one of his favorite pieces is a work by Monet called Haystacks, part of a series of paintings focusing on the titular objects.  It's been Lionel's mission in life to get another painting in the series and Deane sees this as opportunity to pull a fast one on his boss.

A piece from Monet's Haystacks series was stolen by the Germans in WWII and, according to legend, was then taken by an American soldier after a successful attack on a German bunker.  Deane comes up with the brilliant idea to find one of this solider's descendants and, with the help of his master art forger (Tom Courtenay), convince Shahbander that a fake Haystacks is in fact the real deal.  In order to milk Shahbander of his money, Deane finds Texas cowgirl PJ Puznowski (Diaz) as the true descendant, but her rough around the edges demeanor will prove quite the challenge for Deane to reel in.

Gambit attempts to ape those classic capers of the 1960s in tone and style, but it never quite gets there.  (Gambit is actually a remake of a 1966 film.)  All the characters are rather one-dimensional, attempts at comedy are lukewarmly successful at best, and the direction doesn't have the vigor needed in order to keep the lighthearted romp briskly moving in an engaging manner.  While I've certainly seen worse direct-to-video flicks, Gambit doesn't change the stigma attached to films that forego the theatrical route.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Lee Daniels' The Butler

Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013)

Starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Terrence Howard, Robin Williams, John Cusack, James Marsden, Liev Schreiber, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, and Mariah Carey

Directed by Lee Daniels

Can someone please explain to me how Lee Daniels' The Butler was ever in the running for any category at the Oscars?  With an absolutely horrendous script by Danny Strong, pompously self-important direction by Lee Daniels, and overacting out the wazoo by nearly everyone involved, it's mind-boggling to me that people actually thought this movie was good in any way.  Incredibly heavy-handed in its way of trying to pigeonhole seemingly every important civil rights moment from the 1950s-80s into a two hour film, the film plays like a low-rent version of Forrest Gump as famous Hollywood celebrity after famous Hollywood celebrity pops up playing famous political figure after famous political figure.  And then, rather obnoxiously, the film ends with the triumphant crowning of Barack Obama as President signifying that "hope and change" have come and all is right in the world.  The final ten minutes of this movie had me so aggravated that they soured the entirety of the rest of the film (which, as stated, really wasn't that good to begin with).

Ugh.

Based on a true story (although changed DRASTICALLY in order to make things much more dramatic), The Butler centers around Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), a man who escaped Southern slavery in the 1920s and became well known around Washington, D.C., as a fantastic server/butler in local bars and lounges around the big city.  After catching the eye of someone who worked in the White House, Gaines snags a job as a butler where he stays on to serve eight presidents.  The film attempts to balance Gaines' workplace with his family life, but the transitions between the two are always awkward and oftentimes incredibly heavyhanded.  For, you see, while his professional life is moving along swimmingly, his home life leaves much to be desired.  His wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) is tired of her husband putting his focus on his job and abandoning her and their two sons so she fills the void she feels with alcohol and another man (Terrence Howard).  Meanwhile, Gaines' older son (David Oyelowo) is heading to college where he finds himself becoming involved in Woolworth counter sit-ins, Freedom Bus Riders, Martin Luther King's assassination, the Black Panthers, and rallies to free Nelson Mandela.  All this stuff -- and this son never even existed.  That's right.  It's simply the screenwriter's ploy to hammer home what they believe to be significant moments in the Civil Rights Movement.  There's certainly no denying each of these events' importance.  However, none of these moments are ever given anything more than snippets of attention.  Giving each of these pivotal aspects of the movement such short shrift is a disservice.

On Oscar morning, everyone was shocked that Oprah didn't garner a nomination, but her attempt at halfway channeling Mo'Nique's intense performance from Precious was laughable.  Forest Whitaker is as flat as could be, exuding an overwhelming sense of blandness.  Each and every presidential figure plays more like a really good impressionist you'd see on the Vegas strip than a person.  Lee Daniels really failed to reel in a good performance from anyone with the exception of Lenny Kravitz as another butler in the White House and David Oyelowo who, despite the horribly written role as Gaines' older son, does try his best with his ridiculous part.

Lee Daniels' The Butler begins with Cecil Gaines as a young child working on a cotton plantation and the film's first ten minutes echo similar sentiments espoused in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave.  However, there's simply no comparison and to have even placed The Butler in the same ballpark as 12 Years a Slave in the lead-up to awards season is an indignation that I'm trying to right with this review.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two (2011)

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, and Alan Rickman

Directed by David Yates

All I can say is that I'm happy the Harry Potter saga is over and done with so I can now never have to watch another moment of this boring fantasy series again.  It's not that any of the movies are godawful, but considering these flicks are supposed to be trips to a fantastical world of magic and sorcery there is a severe lack of creativity and joy onscreen in any of these films.

Picking up immediately where the bland Part One left off, Part Two of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a showdown between Mr. Potter and the evil Voldemort.  I'm not going to get into any additional story description because it all boils down to Good vs. Evil and it's likely not going to be a surprise as to who comes out the victor.  

As stated above, the problem with all of these Potter films is that they all simply seem much too cookie cutter and by the book.  Directors (with the exception of Alfonso Cuarón's take on Prisoner of Azkaban, the third flick in the series) all seem to lack the imagination to make this cinematic series successful and David Yates is no exception.  As a director, he's responsible for not only making the film visually appealing (which this isn't), but also making the film flow...and this film doesn't do that either.

Granted, I think Yates certainly would have been helped had the film been released as a single flick rather than be forced to be stretched out into two parts.  As much as I would have hated the experience, I would have rather had a three hour-and-fifteen minute flick as opposed to 2 two hour films.  Presented in the way they were released, I couldn't help but feel like the editor had to leave stuff in just to pad the running time.

I will say that Daniel Radcliffe whom I criticized in my review of Part One proved to be rather good in this final installment of the series.  This second film is purely his with many the other characters including Emma Watson's Hermione and Rupert Grint's Ron pushed more to the outskirts.  Rather surprisingly, Radcliffe proves that he may well have a career now that his decade as Harry Potter is over.

Take my review of this one with a grain of salt.  This series just never worked for me and although I saw all of them in theaters, they never once transported me into the magical, mystical world of J.K. Rowling's best-selling series.  With the exception of a pleasant theme by film composer John Williams, there's really nothing worth remembering about the Harry Potter series in the slightest.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Love Actually (2003)

Christmas Movie a Day #7
Love Actually
Starring Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kiera Knightley, and Bill Nighy
Directed by Richard Curtis

I understand that this isn't a perfect movie, but I really can't help but love it. There's just something so charming about this flick that wins me over every single time that I watch it.

Richard Curtis (writer-director of the recent Pirate Radio) crafts a movie full of interweaving tales of romance -- some of which end positively and others of which of conclude less than perfect. With the exception of the tale of the young Englishman who travels to the U.S. to work his British charms on unsuspecting American ladies and the story of the naked body double couple, there's not a bad story in the bunch. Particularly winning are Liam Neeson as a grieving widow dealing with his young stepson's first love and Emma Thompson as a wife who suspects her husband (Alan Rickman) of cheating on her with a hot office colleague. Hugh Grant as the new prime minister is also at his best here. Throw in Colin Firth, Laura Linney, and a hilarious Bill Nighy as an aging rock star and you've got one heckuva cast.

What's particularly enjoyable is that Richard Curtis is able to make many of these stories connect without ever seeming the least bit unbelievable. None of the relationships/interconnections ever seem forced even it's just as simple as a character sitting in the congregation at another character's wedding. That's a difficult task and Curtis was definitely up to it.

Once again, I realize this film isn't perfect, but it's one of my favorites, for sure. A new holiday tradition, perhaps, even if it's not the most "Christmas-y" movie around.

The RyMickey Rating: A-
The Christmas Spirit Scale: 6/10
(The Christmas Spirit Scale is a totally pointless rating that is simply my feeling about how "Christmas-y" the movie felt to me)

Movie Review - Die Hard (1988)

Christmas Movie a Day #3
Die Hard
Starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, and Carl Winslow (AKA Reginald VelJohnson)
Directed by John McTeirnan

Die Hard's a damn good action flick with only a very tenuous thread to Christmas, so its justification to be on this list can certainly be debated. I mean, it takes place on Christmas Eve and there's a Christmas tune or two that plays, but there's not really much else. But, that's perfectly fine, because winning performances from Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman along with some fun action sequences more than make up for the lack of yuletide joy.

Willis is John McClane, a cop who's visiting his estranged wife for Christmas. He goes to her job at some company located in a high rise building in L.A. Little does anyone know that a group of terrorists headed by Rickman's Hans Gruber is going to take over the building in order to steal millions of dollars of bonds from McClane's wife's boss. Fortunately for McClane, he manages to hide upon the terrorists' arrival and is able to escape onto other levels of the high rise where he can, in turn, wreak havoc on the criminals.

The biggest problem with the flick is that there's not a whole lot of story for its over 120-minute running time. Whittle this flick down to a more manageable 110 minutes and you've got yourself an incredibly taut action thriller. As it stands now, it's not quite perfect. But it's certainly not for a lack of trying. Willis is great -- possibly the best role I've seen him in. He's funny, yet he's got a strong "action guy" charismatic personality. And Rickman eats up the scenery (in a good way) as Hans Gruber.

This one is almost a great action movie, but as it stands now, it's just a really good one.

The RyMickey Rating: B
The Christmas Spirit Scale: 1/10
(The Christmas Spirit Scale is a totally pointless rating that is simply my feeling about how "Christmas-y" the movie felt to me)

Movie Review - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, and Jim Broadbent
Written by Steve Kloves
Directed by David Yates

The Potter movies have never been my cup of tea. My favorite (if you could even use that term) was Prisoner of Azkaban, and I didn't even think that one was better than average. I never made it through more than two of the books, either, so they hold no special place in my heart. So, I wasn't expecting a ton from this sixth movie. And, while it wasn't anything to necessarily rave about, it was definitely the best of the series.

Part of the reason for the winning nature of this flick is David Yates' direction and Bruno Delbonnel's cinematography. The film looks rich and decadent and there were some scenes that really did look beautiful. The muted tones and colors really create an eerie atmosphere, despite the fact that this seems to be the most lighthearted of all the Potter flicks.

It's that lighthearted nature that brings the movie down a bit. It's not that I didn't enjoy the high school melodramatic romances that are going on in this movie, but at 2 hours 45 minutes, I could've done with a ton less of the love triangle of Ron-Hermione-and some other chick. Once again, not like this aspect was bad, but it all just seems like filler...and then, when the really important stuff starts to happen, it feels like it's compacted within the last 20 minutes. Now, this could be what the book is like, too, but it doesn't make it good.

Still, despite my issues with the (lack of) plot, there are some winning performances here. Michael Gambon as Dumbledore is a treat to watch. I also love Alan Rickman's Snape...so utterly nasty that you can't help but love him. The best performance here is from Jim Broadbent. His dim-witted Professor Slughorn is great...a treat whenever he's onscreen. All the kid actors (who aren't really kids anymore) have come a tremendously long way since the first flick, particularly Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. If anyone still needs to work on their acting chops, it's the title character. Mr. Radcliffe is perfectly adequate, but he's such a dud onscreen. This could be an innate problem with the character, but Radcliffe's Potter is just boring.

So, overall, I'm pleasantly surprised with this Potter flick. It's still nothing excellent, but I have hopes that director David Yates can continue the improvements he made in this sixth film in the upcoming two-part finale to the series.

The RyMickey Rating: B-