The Rhythm Section

The Rhythm Section (2020)

Starring Blake Lively, Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown, Max Casella, and Raza Jaffrey

Directed by Reed Morano

Written by Mark Burnell

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D+

A Simple Favor

A Simple Favor (2018)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Linda Cardellini, Jean Smart, and Rupert Friend

Directed by Paul Feig

Written by Jessica Sharzer

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Movie Review - Café Society

Café Society (2016)

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Corey Stoll, Jeannie Berlin, and Anna Camp

Directed by Woody Allen

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

Café Society is a nonstarter when it comes to a Woody Allen movie.  There's nothing about it that really pops, but there's nothing about it that's bad enough to rouse hatred.  In the end, it's just a middle-of-the-road flick from a prolific auteur who has maybe run out of ideas when it comes to comedy despite still having some life in him when it comes to writing and directing dramas.

It's the 1930s and Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) isn't happy working for his jeweler father in New York City so he decides to move to Los Angeles where he gets a job running errands for his uncle Phil (Steve Carell) who is one of the biggest agents in Hollywood.  At his uncle's office, Bobby meets secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) and immediately becomes infatuated with her.  Unfortunately for Bobby, Vonnie happens to be secretly seeing her married boss, Phil, but she's aggravated that he won't leave his wife despite promises that he will.  With Phil leaving her in limbo, Vonnie acquiesces to Bobby's advances, but their relationship eventually causes some tension between Bobby and Phil, leaving the young man to head back home to New York City where a whole second half of the story begins involving a ritzy supper club.

And therein lies the biggest problem with Café Society -- it's two disparate stories that don't really mesh together as well as they should.  The film really is broken into two halves and while neither half is disproportionately worse than the other, it just doesn't really click as a whole.  Fortunately, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart have nice chemistry (in what I believe is their third film together) which helps Woody Allen's words come to life.  Anna Camp, Parker Posey, and Blake Lively take on cameo-sized roles and inject a lot of character into them as well.  In the end, though, Woody Allen may have been better served if he just chose one half on which to focus.  Still, Café Society isn't the worst of Allen films, but it's certainly not the best.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Shallows

The Shallows (2016)

Starring Blake Lively

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

In my mind, Blake Lively came to prominence via MTV's Laguna Beach and its various fake-reality iterations.  I never watched an episode, but if I had I would know that Lively never was on those shows acting like some pompous self-centered egotist.  No, she became well known for tv's Gossip Girl, another show with which I have no history, but for some reason find myself assuming is Laguna Beach whenever I hear Lively's name.  I mention this only because my totally false impressions of Blake Lively caused me to scoff at the concept of The Shallows which is essentially a one-woman show about how a med student's surfing trip to Mexico turns horrific when she encounters a vicious shark.  However, following her role in The Age of Adeline (an underrated movie, FYI), Lively proves to be a innately watchable actress who takes control of the screen in a very understated, though believable way.

The Shallows is very simplistic -- it really is just the story of one woman against a shark -- but it's oddly compelling and tense at times thanks to the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra who keeps the film brisk, not overstaying its welcome.  Sure, there are moments that may seem implausible, but in this genre, you either have to accept it or not and this film garnered enough good will that I was willing to buy in to its plot.  Overall, color me surprised that this one was as enjoyable as it was.  It's a nice little sleeper flick if you're looking for a quick watch some rainy afternoon.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Age of Adaline

The Age of Adaline (2015)

Starring Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Kathy Baker, and Ellen Burstyn

Directed by Lee Toland Krieger

There have been several reviews in the past year (and there are some more to come) where I espouse how much I appreciate films that embrace a 1950s style of filmmaking where foul language is kept to a minimum, sex scenes are understated and chaste, and the story itself feels as if it could be planted in that era without any issues.  The Age of Adaline is one such film -- a film made for adults that you can watch with your grandmother and both enjoy the same amount.  That may seem odd praise, but I think it takes a special touch to make these types of films come off well, not seeming too silly for the modern viewer.  Color me surprised, but The Age of Adaline was a rather lovely film that despite its somewhat ludicrous premise won me over with its 1950s aesthetic.

Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) was born on January 1, 1908 at 12:01am.  At age 21, she married her husband and three years later, she gave birth to a baby girl they named Fleming.  In 1937, her husband died in an accident while building the Golden Gate Bridge and ten months later, during a freak snowstorm in Sonoma County, California, Adaline runs off the road while driving her car and falls into frigid water.  Her breathing stopped instantly and her heartbeat slowed and eventually stopped.  Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the vehicle and the charge defibrillated her heart, allowing Adaline to crawl out of the water.  She continued to live her life, but soon realized that thanks to the bolt of lightning, she was immune to the ravages of time and will never age another day.  As her daughter continues to age (played by Ellen Burstyn in the modern era), Adaline finds that she needs to always run away from people as her lack of aging makes it impossible to stay in one place for a long period of time without folks beginning to question things.

In the present, Adaline has returned to San Francisco, working as a library assistant.  There, she meets Ellis (Michiel Huisman) who instantly falls for her only to find his infatuation unreturned by Adaline.  In what she'd certainly consider a moment of weakness after decades of keeping love at a distance, Adaline spends the night with Ellis and begins to realize that she's missed the human connection that love brings, but she's unsure how to proceed due to her condition.

While there's certainly a suspension of disbelief one must embrace in order to buy into The Age of Adaline, the story hooked me and I was willing to go along for the ride.  Director Lee Toland Krieger has aesthetically created a film that embraces old school romance and charm and his cast gamely jumps on the bandwagon.  Blake Lively is good as the title character although there is part of me that wonders if a slightly more experienced actress could've added a little more depth to Adaline.  I'm not meaning that to be a dig against Lively who I'm admittedly not familiar with as an actress as she succeeds in carrying this film, but I did find myself pondering a different actress in the role.  Harrison Ford is also quite good here in a rather small role as Ellis's father who finds himself questioning Adaline's story.

The Age of Adaline is never going to win any awards - nor should it - but that's no reason not to give this one a go.  This one never was tops on my list of flicks to watch, but I'm quite pleased that I gave this a chance as it's rather lovely and surprisingly enjoyable.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Town

The Town (2010)

Starring Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Pete Postlewaite, and Chris Cooper

Directed by Ben Affleck

It's not as if there's anything new story-wise in The Town, but somehow director and co-screenwriter Ben Affleck manages to craft a taut thriller that succeeds in all aspects.  He isn't re-inventing the wheel, but Affleck proves to be a director with a keen eye for knowing how to move a film along at a brisk pace, while developing what could have been stereotypical characters into multi-dimensional personalities that help elevate the film to a whole other level.

Best friends Doug (Affleck) and Jem (Jeremy Renner) like to rob banks...and they're very good at it, eluding the FBI and covering up all of their tracks.  One bank robbery goes a little awry, however, and they need to take the bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall) hostage in order to escape.  While they let the hostage go, it's soon discovered that she lives a mere four blocks from Doug and Jem's home.  The highstrung and uptight Jem wants to do away with Claire for fear of their crime being uncovered, but Doug, the calmer and more caring of the two, tells Jem he'll watch over Claire and make sure she doesn't speak to the FBI.  Soon, a relationship forms between Doug and Claire with Claire completely unaware that she's dating the very man who took her hostage.

Let's call a spade a spade here -- there are clichés abounding in this movie.  We've got the bad guy with the heart of gold, the beautiful girl who causes the crook to question his "career path," and the need to pull off one last heist to name just a few of the commonplace stereotypes we come across.  Still, somehow, everything works in The Town and the reason is that the actors are all top notch, completely embodying these characters...even if we've seen these same characters before.

I'm perhaps sounding a little down on the flick and I don't want it to come off that way at all because The Town is, in fact, one of my favorite films of 2010 thus far.  So, instead of being negative, let's discuss the positives.

The acting across the board is great.  The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner is playing a completely different character here than his role in last year's Oscar-winning flick.  His Jem is a nasty guy -- not a likable thing about him -- but he's a treat to watch.  Rebecca Hall is also pretty perfect as the innocent Claire.  Anyone who's read my blog knows I like it when characters seem "real" and this her Claire is a perfect example of that.  From the way she moves her eyes to the way she spoke her lines, I kind of forgot I was watching an actress and not a real person.  Plus, you've got great turns from Jon Hamm as the FBI guy searching for Doug and Blake Lively as Doug's drug-addled former girlfriend.

And I didn't even talk about Affleck.  Yes, he was great in the film, but where he really shined was behind the camera.  This is definitely a step up from his previous directorial effort Gone Baby Gone, which, while a good film, lacked oomph.  In The Town, Affleck shows talent in the character-driven scenes, but really excels in the cleverly crafted action sequences.  Affleck manages to make each bank robbery scene seem fresh, never repetitive, and surprisingly nerve-wracking.  I can't imagine that the chase scenes he filmed were easy to capture and I was thoroughly impressed.

Don't think that I'm just giving Affleck props because he's "an actor" and did an admirable job directing "for an actor."  No, he did a good job for any director and I look forward to seeing whatever he tackles next in the directing department.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+