The Lost City

 The Lost City (2022)

Starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Brad Pitt

Directed by Adam Nee and Aaron Nee

Written by Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, Adam Nee, and Aaron Nee

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Ad Astra

Ad Astra (2019)

Starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Donald Sutherland, and Liv Tyler

Directed by James Gray

Written by James Gray and Ethan Gross

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Julia Butters, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Luke Perry, and Al Pacino

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Written by Quentin Tarantino

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D

War Machine

War Machine (2017)

Starring Brad Pitt, Emory Cohen, RJ Cyler, Topher Grace, Anthony Michael Hall, Anthony Hayes, John Magaro, Scoot McNairy, Will Poulter, Lakeith Stanfield, Josh Stewart, Meg Tilly, Tilda Swinton, and Ben Kingsley

Directed by David Michôd

Written by David Michôd

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Four-star General Glen McMahon (Brad Pitt) heads to Afghanistan to figure out how to bring an end to the war in this subversive piece.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - By the Sea

By the Sea (2015)

Starring Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Melvil Poupaud, Richard Bohringer, and Niels Arestrup

Directed by Angelina Jolie Pitt

Due to circumstances not involved with the film, I had to stop watching By the Sea at just about an hour and fifteen minutes into my first viewing.  Upon returning to the film a mere few hours later, I had to re-find where I had stopped.  For the life of me, I couldn't.  Why is that?  Because By the Sea is essentially two hours of the same scenes over and over and over again - a mopey couple sitting around a luxurious French seaside hotel (either together or alone) pontificating about why their relationship went south and what they can do to make it better, whether that be attempting to connect with one another sexually or watching another younger couple connect sexually through a peephole.  Stagnant in its drama and overly repetitive, By the Sea is an interesting departure from Angelina Jolie's previous directorial feature Unbroken, but it's unsuccessful in its attempt to mimic some classic 1970s relationship dramas.

Jolie and her real-life husband Brad Pitt are Vanessa and Roland, a couple married for fourteen years who find themselves in obviously troubled relationship times.  Roland is a writer who is finding himself blocked so he decides to take a journey to a quaint, tiny French seaside town.  Upon arrival, Vanessa is distant, detached, emotionless and, quite frankly, a bit of a dramatic ice queen.  Inferences are made to something having happened in their past that has led to the emotional chasm that affects them now and while Roland hopes that this trip will help them reconnect, he finds himself met with reticence from Vanessa.  While Roland works in a local bar, Vanessa mopes around the hotel room where she discovers a circular peephole that peeks into the adjacent room where she watches the lives unfold of recently married and honeymooning couple Lea and François (Mélanie Laurent and Melvil Poupaud) whose lust for life stand in sharp contrast to her obvious depression.

I was along for the slow ride of By the Sea for nearly its first hour.  Sure, it had a meandering pace, but I was particularly interested and surprisingly invested in Brad Pitt's writer character and his struggle to get his wife out of her emotional funk.  However, as the film's second half came into focus, By the Sea felt like a film that didn't know where it was going, instead circling around the same scenes and themes over and over again.  Jolie (who also wrote the film) has crafted a movie that looks beautiful and sumptuous, but fails to create a substantive story to match the visuals.  Rather than feel well-rounded, her character Vanessa is excruciatingly one-note in her emotions.  Even when she begins to blossom after spying on the honeymooners, Vanessa's motives never seem reasonably explored.  And, quite frankly, the less said about that aforementioned something that caused Vanessa's deep depression, the better.

I'm oddly pleased that I gave By the Sea a chance because I'm still mildly intrigued by the notion of Angelina Jolie as a director (as I mentioned, the film looks gorgeous and the first hour was uniquely lensed), but she's missing something as a writer.  It's in the screenplay that By the Sea flounders and unfortunately it flounders too much to even think about recommending.

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 - Fury

Fury (2014)

Starring Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, and Jon Bernthal

Directed by David Ayer

April 1945 -- less than six months until the end of WWII.  The Allies are making one final push into Germany in order to bring an end to Hitler.  Throughout the war, it had become evident that German tanks were infinitely superior to the Allied machinery, but with nothing else in their arsenal, the Allies were still forced to fight using their inferior warcraft.  Fury follows the story of one tank crew detailing several small-scale (though intense and life-threatening) battles as they continue their mission to end the Nazi's reign.

Director and screenwriter David Ayer creates a tense atmosphere throughout which is a bit surprising seeing as how Fury feels as if it's 80% battle sequences -- a notion that could easily wear thin (and does for a tiny bit during its first act), but ends up being surprisingly effective.  The film's final lengthy stand-off is easily the best battle scene and while not entirely realistic, it does a fantastic job at conveying the horrors of close combat warfare so evident in WWII.

Unfortunately, Ayer doesn't quite succeed in creating well-rounded, non-stereotypical characters.  Pitt as Don "Wardaddy" Collier is the leader of the tank quintet that we find ourselves focusing on and while he does a perfectly adequate job, I felt very little attachment to him and that's the fault of the script moreso than anything else.  Similarly, Logan Lerman plays the young, new-to-battle Norman and all the typical characteristics are present for him -- always nervous, unwilling to kill, quiet, the requisite vomiting shot when he sees something disgusting.  It's all there.  The film attempts to create a bond between Collier and Norman and while it somewhat successfully does so thanks to a moving scene in which duo invade the apartment of two German women, the teacher/student relationship between these two didn't flourish the way I would've liked.  Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, and Jon Bernthal make up the rest of the crew and while all seemingly give realistic portrayals of war torn soldiers, I wasn't swept up by their plight.

While I'd typically find this lack of connection a somewhat major problem, the other elements of the film create enough of a positive effect that I'm able to overlook these character flaws a bit.  Fury provides an engaging look at an aspect of war that isn't typically filmed and for that it deserves a bit of credit despite its shortcomings.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - 12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave (2013)

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy, Taran Kiliam, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard, and Brad Pitt

Directed by Steve McQueen

Director Steve McQueen is fairly new to the feature film scene, but his fantastic 2011 flick Shame put him onto my radar so I came to 12 Years a Slave with high expectations.  McQueen absolutely has an eye behind the camera that I find interesting, but this film lacks a tiny bit of drive to push the story along which knocks the otherwise well-done film down a notch or two.

Based on a true story, 12 Years a Slave tells the tale of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a freed black man living quite well in New York in the 1840s with his wife and two children by his side.  A musician by trade, Solomon is approached by two men (Scoot McNairy and Taran Kiliam) who desire to hire him to play music on tour with their traveling circus.  Solomon agrees and travels to Washington, D.C., where the two men wine and dine him one night to the point of Solomon getting drunk and passing out.  The next thing Solomon knows, he's chained in a dark room and his two new "employers" are nowhere to be found.  Solomon quickly comes to the realization that he was drugged and, despite his pleas, he is sold into slavery and shipped down to New Orleans where he's given the new name of "Platt" to try and conceal the fact that he was ever a free man.

The film then follows Solomon through a series of owners.  The first, William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), is a good man who recognizes the intelligence and education of Solomon.  Despite Ford's kindness, Solomon still finds himself working the field under the watchful eye of the nasty John Tibeats (Paul Dano) who resents the fact that Solomon is so respected by Ford.  Eventually, things get to such a boiling point between Solomon and Tibeats that Ford decides he must sell Solomon in order to keep unity amongst the slaves and the ownership.  Unfortunately for Solomon, his new owner Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender) isn't nearly as benevolent as Ford.  Epps, who owns a cotton plantation, could care less about Solomon's education -- he only wants to know how much cotton he can pick in a day.  Adding to the tension, the married Epps is having an affair (however one-sided it is) with female slave Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) which doesn't sit too well with Epps' wife (Sarah Paulson) and causes moments of chaos on the plantation.

I fully understand that this is a true story of a horrific journey of one man's life -- so who am I to knock it.  I will say, however, that the episodic nature of the tale -- as evidenced by the summary above -- does make the film feel a little disjointed and doesn't quite allow it to ever gain a driving momentum.  Once we finally get to the climax of one tale (the Ford chapter, as an example), we're sent to the next segment where we essentially have to start things all over again.  It's not as if either story isn't worth telling -- they certainly show the varied lives slaves may have endured in the 19th century -- but the screenplay by John Ridley, while good, doesn't quite succeed at keeping the story moving at a typical movie's pace.  Then again, maybe it's this screenplay's slow pace that attracted Steve McQueen to the project.  Many would say his previous film Shame had that same methodical tone to it and I wouldn't necessarily argue with them.  Shame was telling one story, however, whereas 12 Years a Slave almost feels as if it's telling two or three.

Still, despite my qualms, I don't want my criticism in any way to make it seem as if I didn't like the film.  This certainly is not a chore to sit through and I found the story rather fascinating in that Solomon Northup's tale of a free man being resold into slavery is something I'm not quite sure we've ever seen captured on film before.  McQueen doesn't shy away from the hardships slaves faced on a daily basis and the director seals his status as a filmmaker to watch with an incredibly long and unceasingly uncomfortable single-take scene towards the film's end of a brutal beating.  Although this long take filled me with an uneasy dread, I was fascinated by McQueen's technique, forcing the viewer to "stay with" the scene never allowing us to turn away to get a respite from the horrors endured by some African Americans in the 19th century.

There's an understated demeanor to Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance that endears him to the audience.  Behind his eyes, you can always see the longing to return home to his wife and children, but the fear that it may never happen.  Ejiofor gives a strength to Solomon that is admirable and is a commanding presence despite the character's oftentimes repressed nature.  Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Fassbender are two of today's most talked about actors and here they're playing complete opposite sides of the spectrum in slave owners Ford and Epps.  The audience immediately admires Ford's humanity which stands in stark contrast to the bitter anger that permeates seemingly through the pores of Epps.  Fassbender is at his best in scenes involving Sarah Paulson as his wife and newcomer Lupita Nyong'o as his lover.  Fassbender excels at radiating jealousy and he's near perfect at playing such a nasty guy.  However, Paulson and Nyong'o are equally as good at playing the two women he loves.  Paulson's bitterness is spot-on (albeit incredibly nasty) and Nyong'o's pain at being forced to accept being raped on a regular basis is absolutely painful.  I will say (and this harkens back to the screenplay's problems a tad), I wish Nyong'o had a little more to do.  This actress is certainly forced to run the spectrum of emotions (brutally so, at times) and I realize this is Solomon's story, but I wanted a little more depth for Nyong'o to sink her teeth into.

12 Years a Slave isn't an easy watch, but it certainly illustrates a point in our history that needs to be remembered and explored.  I'm happy that Solomon Northup's bittersweet tale has been told and it's a film that's so close to being great, but misses the mark a tiny bit in just a few key areas.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Counselor

The Counselor (2013)

Starring Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, and Penelope Cruz

Directed by Ridley Scott

Although reviews for The Counselor were mostly negative, the positive notices it received were intriguing enough to have me check this out before Ridley Scott's film made a quick escape from theaters.  With a cast that certainly adds some good pedigree to the adult drama, I was hoping that maybe author Cormac McCarthy's screenplay (his first) would be reminiscent of the solid No Country for Old Men and The Road -- two films based on his novels.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and the fault mostly falls on McCarthy himself as he seemingly finds it difficult to create dialog that sounds genuine and authentic which causes much of the movie's scenes to feel forced and contrived.

For a film that's basis is double-crossing and drug dealing, The Counselor is surprisingly simplistic and that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes adult-driven thrillers feel that there's a need to pile on twist after twist and it's almost a welcome change that this flick takes a quieter route.  The Counselor opens with much of the background plot work already having taken place.  We meet the title character (whose name is never provided to us) played by Michael Fassbender, a lawyer in the southern US who, in need of some quick cash, agrees to assist in a massive drug trade with the help of a rich guy named Reiner (Javier Bardem).  Things quickly start to turn for the worse with the Counselor fearing for his own life as well as that of his wife (Penelope Cruz).

Although not original, the story itself works, however, as we discover within the first ten minutes of the film, the type of dialog or scenes that work in a book don't always translate to a movie and Mr. McCarthy seems to have trouble with this concept.  McCarthy absolutely has an ear for slick verbiage, but it seems more suited to the page, coming off as stilted and uncomfortable when spoken.  It's unfortunate because there are flashes of brilliance at times when it comes to what is being said and how McCarthy intriguingly spins words, but I couldn't help but think as I was watching the film that people never speak like this to one another and that makes things feel fake.

For the most part, the actors do their best with the dialog and try to make things work.  Michael Fassbender continues to impress and is truly becoming an actor that will draw me to his movies.  Javier Bardem also does a nice job of playing Reiner, a smarmy guy with both an edge and a heart of gold and I enjoyed his interactions with Fassbender in particular.  However, Cameron Diaz as Reiner's girlfriend nearly ruins the goodwill created by these actors.  She, in particular, is completely unable to wrap her lips around the tricky dialog she's forced to spout and she decides to simply enunciate everything as clearly as possible -- perhaps as a character choice or perhaps to pretend she actually understands what she's saying.  Rather than exude sexiness -- which her character is clearly supposed to do -- she comes off laughable.

While it's clear The Counselor doesn't work, I'm happy I watched it.  I wouldn't recommend it, but it's an interesting failure.  Director Ridley Scott has created a slick adult thriller filled with violence and sex -- there's a scene with Cameron Diaz on the hood of a car that I likely soon won't forget -- but it never comes together.  The film looks fantastic (kudos to cinematographer Dariusz Wolski), but it can't overcome McCarthy's clunky tale which I'd love to read as a novel, but would rather not have seen on a movie screen.

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - World War Z

World War Z (2013)

***viewed in 3D***

Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Fana Mokoena, David Morse, Sterling Jerins, and Abigail Hargrove

Directed by Marc Foster

The great thing about World War Z is that it just jumps right into things without even attempting to provide any modicum of backstory as to why humans on Earth are turning into fast-running, crazed zombies.  Dad Gerry (Brad Pitt) is simply taking his kids (Sterling Jerins and Abigail Hargrove) to school and his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) to work when craziness hits Philadelphia and the family finds themselves desperate to find cover from the chaos taking over the east coast.  Fortunately, Gerry has recently retired from a job with the United Nations which gets him access to a "safe house" of sorts on a huge aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean.  While on the ship, Gerry agrees to travel around the world to try and find the source of the virus that is wreaking havoc on the human race.

While it's true that World War Z doesn't waste any time getting started, it's somewhat unfortunate that the film spends a huge portion of its second act slowing things down and explaining things way too much.  I mean, quite honestly, I could care less where this "zombie virus" started and following Gerry from country to country (in an episodic fashion) grows tiresome.  That isn't to say that these set pieces -- a journey to Jerusalem, a frenetic plane sequence -- don't create tension, it's just that they're linked so tenuously to one another that the story never feels entirely cohesive.  Admittedly, the final act (which apparently faced a huge rewrite months after the film finished shooting) is a success and had me intrigued.  Having read what the original ending was, things are certainly infinitely better in the updated version, but the finale doesn't quite make up for a surprisingly lackluster middle hour.

You could certainly fare worse with summer action fare than World War Z and most everything and everyone in front of and behind the camera is solid.  Unfortunately, the story just isn't quite strong enough.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life (2011)

Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, and Hunter McCracken

Directed by Terrence Malick

Misfortune befalls the good...not just the bad...We are often uprooted like a tree...But we must go on.

Right off the bat, let me just say that I don't think I'm smart enough to watch The Tree of Life and fully understand it.  It's a movie that is in need of Cliff's Notes in order to fully get what director-writer Terrence Malick was trying to get across in his dream-like visual style.  In that respect, does anyone really want to go to a movie and feel like they're back in high school reading things like Shakespeare or Chaucer where you can't help but think you learn more by reading the notes that accompany the main works than the actual work itself?  I'm sure were I to watch the movie again, more details that seemed like they were throwaways in the initial viewing would take on more meaning.  Of course, any second viewing of a film reveals things that weren't noticed the first time, but I'm not sure where I stand on the notion that you should have to watch a film a second time in order to understand it's overarching themes.

It's not that I came away from The Tree of Life completely lost...I get that it's a film about grief, about relationships between children and their parents, and about faith.  I understand that at its core is the notion that death is simply a part of life that shouldn't be feared, but rather accepted.  And as I sit here typing out this review, I'm actually growing more and more appreciative of the film and the rather beautiful way it tackles these issues.  [I'm particularly impressed at the way it doesn't shy away from this notion of an all-powerful being (ie. God) and his role in Life.]

However, despite all this, I did find a major problem with the actual plot of the film -- yes, there is a plot, if you can find it amidst the interesting camerawork and incessant (though rather eloquent) voiceovers.  At its heart, The Tree of Life looks at the relationship between father and son and, in this film, we are supposed to take away that Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt) is much too harsh to his three boys, including Jack (Hunter McCracken) whom the film tends to focus on.  However -- and this is the major issue I have with the movie -- I never got the sense that Brad Pitt's character was a bad guy...in fact, there were moments where I felt he was oddly affectionate for what the viewing audience stereotypically thinks of when it comes to a 1950s father.  He wanted what was best for his sons and tried to show them how to be the best boys they could be.  Ultimately, this "tumultuous" relationship proved problematic for me because I never really got a sense as to why Jack was so angry with his father (and, in turn, his mother [played by Jessica Chastain] for putting up with what he felt were his father's faults).  The scars that the father left on his sons didn't seem legitimate.

I simply don't think this is a flaw that I'd be able to overcome on repeated viewings, but I can see myself taking on repeated viewings of this nonetheless.  I'm over a day removed from my initial watch and I still find myself thinking about the movie certainly because of the very vagueness that I critiqued in the opening paragraph.  I found much of the film beautiful to look at and I found the highly spiritual content welcoming and rather thought-provoking...SPOILER...the final scenes in which an adult Jack (Sean Penn) wanders around a heaven-like environment in which he learns that his family is still living on a different spiritual plane were particularly spiritually invigorating.  END SPOILER  However, in a film dealing with grief and the pain that comes along with that emotion, there is an odd detachment from the characters here.  I was never really moved by what I saw onscreen via the characters themselves, but the visual images were oftentimes quite thought-provoking.

Acting is decent overall with Brad Pitt continuing his rather positive year thanks to this and Moneyball. Jessica Chastain is seemingly in everything this year, but this is the first movie I've seen of hers and while she was perfectly adequate as the mother, I'll have to refrain from saying that she's the new "It Girl" as she is called in some parts.  Hunter McCracken was fine in his first acting role, but as I've mentioned before, I find the character a flawed one insomuch as I couldn't quite figure out why he despised his parents as much as he did.

Still, The Tree of Life is an interesting watch.  Kudos to Terrance Malick for creating a dream-like atmosphere containing minimal dialog and interesting camera cuts and movements.  It's for the visuals and the spirituality angle that would cause me to watch this again...and I just might in the near future.  I'll end with a rather simplistic, but beautiful quote from the flick that stuck with me for some reason post-viewing:

The only way to be happy is to love.  Unless you love your life will flash by.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Moneyball

Moneyball (2011)

Starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Directed by Bennett Miller

Moneyball is a non-sports sports movie.  While we get glimpses of some moments on the baseball field during the Oakland A's 2002 season, the real crux of the movie happens behind the scenes in the clubhouse as general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt in a role he completely embodies) utilizes a decades-old statistical method of choosing players based on their on-base percentage rather than anything else and ends up crafting a baseball team that finds themselves in the running to win the World Series.

After an unsuccessful playoff run in 2001, Beane's squad is hit with the loss of three key players to three teams willing to pay the athletes boatloads of money, and the A's owner refuses to pony up any more money for Beane to entice the so-called 'top tier' players to Oakland -- as Billy says, "there are the rich teams, then there are the poor teams, then there's 50 feet of crap, and then there's us."  Desperate, Billy meets Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a young Yale economics graduate who helps Beane use statistics in an attempt to build a cost-effective and, above all else, successful baseball team.

The whole flick was certainly intriguing and even though I follow the Phillies (a team which I'd rather not talk about in these weeks following their disappointing 2011 playoff run), I wasn't the least bit knowledgeable about this Oakland A's team.  Because of that, there was a bit of genuine suspense that built as the movie progressed and, thanks to a wonderful performance from Brad Pitt, viewers find themselves completely invested in the real-life "character" of Billy Beane.

Pitt plays Beane as a determined man -- he wants nothing more than for his baseball team to be as successful as possible.  But he's also an incredibly doubtful and nervous man, anxious to see if his new approach to the game will be successful, knowing full well that if he fails, he's out of a job.  Having bailed on a full scholarship to college in order to play for the Mets as a young man (which proved to be a quick and unsuccessful venture), he has nothing else to fall back on and Pitt is incredibly adept at relaying that sense of uncertainty and unease.

Jonah Hill as the numbers cruncher Brand and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the A's reluctant and dismissive coach Art Howe both find themselves more than holding their own with Pitt.  This is certainly Hill's best role yet (although that's a bit of faint praise for the heretofore comic actor), although I will say I'm not quite sure where the Oscar buzz for him comes in (although it could very well be that the Supporting Actor category appears incredibly weak at this stage in the game).  Also, nice work from Parks and Recreations' Chris Pratt as a player given a second lease on the game by Beane and the young Kerris Dorsey as Beane's daughter who helps us see the more "human" side of the GM.

While Moneyball is absolutely a good film, there's a lack of passion that is necessary to make a "great" one.  Still, kudos to director Bennett Miller and writers Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for somehow crafting an interesting flick that's based around baseball statistics.  The fact that they managed to create high levels of tension considering the subject matter is a credit to their talent.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Interview with the Vampire

Interview with the Vampire:

The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

Starring Tom Cuise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Stephen Rea, Antonio Banderas, and Christian Slater

Directed by Neil Jordan

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

There's promise in the overall premise of Interview with a Vampire, but there's a surprising lack of drive and oomph behind the story with a particularly leaden final act that ends the whole thing on a disappointing note.  With two fairly bland main characters in the vampires Lestat (Tom Cruise) and Louis (Brad Pitt), the story simply can't maintain its momentum the whole way through.  However, thanks to thanks to some beautiful looking images, lovely sets, a nice musical score, and a fantastic performance from a young Kirsten Dunst, there's enough here to recommend the macabre flick despite the fact that it had the possibility of being better.

Bookended by modern-day scenes of two-hundred-plus-year old vampire Louis telling his life saga to a young San Francisco writer (Christian Slater), the general gist of the story is how Louis copes with being compassionate to humankind considering that he needs blood in order to survive.  Turned into a vampire by the insatiable and overtly sexual (in both hetero- and homosexual manners) Lestat, the two vampires we meet could not be more different.  As Lestat tries to help Louis maneuver through the new world of being a vampire, Louis can't quite succumb to becoming a true vampire -- he finds it next to impossible and almost repulsive to take a human's life in order to quench his vampiric need for blood.

While the tension between Louis and Lestat is amusing, the film really comes alive when a young Kirsten Dunst appears as twelve-year-old Claudia turned into a vampire and stuck in her child's body forever.  Dunst manages to become the star here and whenever she is onscreen, I was riveted by her performance.  When her character appears, it's as if life was breathed into the film.  She completely one-ups the "stars" Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, both of whom have performances who vacillate between too subtle and too over-the-top.

As said above, the film looks stunning and gives off a tone of incredible sumptuousness.  Director Neil Jordan does create a nice balance between humor, drama, and gothic horror, however, the story just doesn't quite work all the time thanks to the two somewhat disappointing main characters.  Still, I found the whole thing very intriguing and, even a day later, despite some serious problems with the story, I'm thinking of it moderately fondly.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Megamind

Megamind (2010)

Featuring the voice talent of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, and Brad Pitt

Directed by Tom McGrath

Megamind starts out so promisingly as it sets up a longstanding battle between two rivals -- the nefarious though bumbling villain Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) and the perfect but cocky hero Metro Man (voiced by Brad Pitt).  Since childhood, the supervillain and superhero have been trying to one up the other with Metro Man always coming out the victor.  This twenty-minute set-up showcasing this rivalry was full of humor, charm and great promise.  However, after the scene has been set, things begin to fall apart.  Megamind proves to be successful at one of his devious plans and things begin to head downhill from there.

It's not that Megamind is a bad film, it's just that it doesn't really go anywhere after its first act.  It tries to humanize its villain, but the character of Megamind is simply much more fun as an inept bad guy than as a reformed good guy.  His attempts to woo tv reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) take up much too much time in the already short film and unfortunately don't advance the story in a positive way.

With the exception of the plot, on all other fronts, Megamind is quite good.  The animation is crisp and appealing to the eye.  The voice talent is all quite good.  I was expecting over-(voice)acting on Will Ferrell's part, but it worked for the character.  Tina Fey was also droll and witty despite the fact that her character's storyline didn't really work for me.

Overall, Megamind is a moderate disappointment if only because the first act showed such promise and evoked laughter which the final two-thirds were sorely lacking.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Time to admit I was wrong. Just checked out this flick again on dvd and Tarantino has crafted a witty and thoroughly entertaining film. Scenes that I thought were much too long seemed to flow much better upon a second viewing. Pitt, Waltz, and Laurent were great. Yes, it's gimmicky at times and yes Tarantino goes over the top too often (that "music video" scene introducing the last chapter is ridiculously silly), but (in the complete opposite fashion of the last time I viewed this) the 150 minutes flew by.

So, I grossly misjudged this flick back in August '09. Take a look at my old review and the new rating below.

Original Post: 8/24/90

Starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, and Mélanie Laurent
Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Admittedly, I'm not a Tarantino savant. I've only seen Pulp Fiction (which I think is good), Kill Bill Vol 1 (which I think is amazing and near perfect), and Kill Bill Vol 2 (which I think is a pretentious pile of you-know-what). The problem with Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is that I feel like he's only copying himself. Nothing about this new flick feels original. You want long scenes of dialogue that are essentially about nothing? They're here. You want violent deaths? He's got you covered. You want moderately cool camera shots and odd musical accompaniment? He doesn't let you down in that regard (even though he's copying these camera shots and reusing some music he's used in his other flicks). The thing is that even though I've only seen three other Tarantino movies, I've seen all this stuff before...and it's getting old.

As my fellow movie-goer and I were discussing after the flick last night, the movie wants you to think that this movie is about this group of Jewish-American soldiers headed by Brad Pitt's Aldo Raine known as the Basterds who trek across Europe killing and scalping Nazis. However, the flick really focuses on Christoph Waltz's Nazi "detective" Hans Landa. At the start, Landa is seeking out Jewish refugees, but as the flick continues, Landa starts to track down the Basterds.

Although that's a short summary for a movie that's over two-and-a-half hours long, that's really all you need to know. Tarantino peppers his movie with incredibly long scenes of loquacious dialogue that, admittedly, end with something cool happening, but force the viewer to sit through interminable chitchat. There's probably 45 minutes of good (even great) stuff in this flick, but it's nestled amongst 110 minutes of pretentiousness.

And that's the thing -- there is some really super stuff here. The last reel of the film is amazing. Nonstop entertainment and a fitting end to the flick. Additionally, all the acting is pretty top-notch. I was dreading director Eli Roth as a Basterd (because if Tarantino's acting in Pulp Fiction is any indication of directorial acting chops, Roth was in trouble), but he was oddly funny. Christoph Waltz is also quite good in what I'd consider the lead role of the film. Unfortunately, it's during his scenes where the dialogue never seems to end. The two ladies of the flick -- Diane Kruger's German movie star working undercover for the Allies and Mélanie Laurent's Jewish movie theater owner with a stunning revenge plan against the Nazis -- were also enjoyable to watch.

The film, however, belongs to Brad Pitt. After watching the previews, I was not looking forward to Pitt's performance at all, but Pitt seems to realize that there's no point in taking himself seriously here. He's over-the-top, but not so much so as to remove the viewer from the "realism" of the flick. With the recent Burn After Reading and to a lesser extent Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Oceans flicks, Pitt definitely has a knack for comedy and he needs to pursue humor much more than the emotional melodrama of Benjamin Button.

As I'm watching the film, Tarantino just begs you to ask the question, is he a good director because he mimics other filmmakers/techniques/ideas and mashes them together into one movie? Or is he simply a copycat (even of himself, at times) who is adept at fooling people into thinking they're watching something original? Maybe that's a little harsh, and, if I'm being honest, I don't really ever want to see a "normal" straightforward Tarantino film. Despite the fact that I may not be effusively praising this flick, I would still much rather watch Tarantino at least do what he does than watch nearly any other action flick that came out this summer. But he's really kind of a joke to me now...he needs to expand his horizons a bit. Lord knows it's not as if he's making a movie a year, so maybe he needs to take some time and try something a little different on his next venture.

So, Inglourious Basterds is a conundrum. There's some really good stuff here, but it's too few and far between. The rating below is not going to fall into the "recommendation" category, but I actually urge folks to go and see it simply because, if you're a movie fan, it's worth viewing simply to be able to have a discussion post-movie. This movie commanded the longest post-movie discussion between me and my pal since My Sister's Keeper (you may think that's a joke, but the post-screening talk on My Sister's Keeper went on for over an hour). And should you watch the flick, I ask you this question...what exactly is Tarantino saying about film in general? The movie is very focused on the notion of cinema and what it can do to/for the masses and I don't necessarily think he's saying something positive (I'm sure he thinks he's cool because he's ironic in that regard...).

The RyMickey Rating upon initial release: C
The NEW RyMickey Rating (as of 2010): B+

DVD Round-Up 4/1/09

A completely random assortment of DVDs here...

Role Models (2008)

I had heard that this Paul Rudd-Seann William Scott comedy was funny, but I hardly laughed at all when sitting in my living room. Maybe a movie theater experience was necessary. There were some funny lines, but they couldn't even create one funny scene. Rudd and Scott were okay, but lacked any type of charisma...dull as could be. As the head of the volunteer organization that Rudd and Scott were forced to join to complete some community service, Jane Lynch was completely wasted, forced to deliver the most ridiculous lines about drugs and phallic-shaped hot dogs. Kid actor Bobb'e J. Thompson (really Bobb'e...an apostrophe in your name?) is perhaps one of the most annoying people ever to grace the screen...the unfortunate thing was that in this poorly constructed movie, having a 12 year-old kid spout curse words was about the funniest thing it had going for it.

The RyMickey Rating: D

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Burn After Reading (2008)

There were some great actors here who all turned in some amusing work -- George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, and a particularly funny Brad Pitt -- but the writing-directing Coen Brothers team didn't really know what to do with them. There's definitely a story here -- McDormand and Pitt come across an innocuous computer disk that they believe contains secret government information and try to blackmail its owner -- but in the end, I didn't really give a damn about it or any one of the characters. Not bad, but certainly nothing you need to rush out and rent.

The RyMickey Rating: C

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Lakeview Terrace (2008)

It's cliché to even say it nowadays, but Samuel L. Jackson will do anything for a paycheck. As a racist L.A. cop, Jackson is pissed that an interracial married couple moved in next door, and if you've seen the classic Snakes on a Plane, you know not to mess with motherf'n Samuel L. Jackson. This movie was awful. It bills itself as a suspense, but nothing happened in this movie for 115 minutes and then in the last 10 minutes it follows things way too "by the book" to be suspenseful in the least. Throw in a ridiculous storyline about impending California wildfires (which I'm sure is some metaphor for racism or something) and this was one of the worst movies I've seen in years.

The RyMickey Rating: F

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Reservation Road (2007)

Not to be confused with one of my favorite movies of last year (see review here), this Road movie is actually just as depressing, but ultimately not as good. The film starts out stunningly as the young son of Joaquin Phoenix (pre-rap artist crazy) and Jennifer Connelly is killed in a horrific hit-and-run car accident. Mark Ruffalo is the man who killed him, and he is wracked with guilt. When the police fail to find the killer, Phoenix attempts to take things into his own hands. The first 30 minutes of this one were utterly gripping. My eyes were literally welling up over the grief that was depicted onscreen. But then things got a little kooky...there were way too many coincidences and odd connections and too much time with Phoenix sitting in front of a computer. Despite my problems with the film which definitely falters in the final 45 minutes, the acting and story in the first half is too good to miss.

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, and Julia Ormand
directed by David Fincher
screenplay by Eric Roth

Inconsequential.

That's the only thing I could think of when this movie was finished. Who knew that a movie nominated for 13 Oscars could be so flippin' boring?

The story is simple and it's spread out over three painfully dull hours. Benjamin is born old knowing nothing and grows young while gaining knowledge. There are many, many vignettes that you would think lead up to some defining moment in his life, but they all end up being inconsequential. (There's that word again)

That's the problem with the film. There are scenes that are good by themselves (particularly his affair with Tilda Swinton), but Pitt's portrayal of Benjamin is so one-note that you never get the sense that he learned a thing from his journeys...and there are many journeys.

It's not just Pitt that's one-note...the whole movie is kinda flat. Washed out colors and monotone line readings just made the flick a drag both visually and aurally.

Taraji P. Henson's Oscar-nominated role as Benjamin's adopted mother is okay, but I always got the sense that she was "acting." She never embodied the role.

The special effects were certainly admirable and should probably win the Oscar. There was never a moment when I felt like I was watching a digitalized face of Brad Pitt on an old man. The make-up was also stellar. There were a few shots cinematography-wise that were good as well.

My main problem with the film is that I sat through three hours of it and I have no idea what it was trying to say. Love is everlasting? Age shouldn't hold us back? Age is nothing but a number? Don't judge a book by its cover? I have no clue because there really was no point to anything in this film.

It was simply inconsequential.

The RyMickey Rating: C-