Guardians of the Galaxy

 Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio Del Toro

And the voice talents of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper

Directed by James Gunn

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Click here for my previous RyMickey Rating review

Nightmare Alley

 Nightmare Alley (2021)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenbergen, David Strathairn, and Rooney Mara

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Written by Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

The Mule

The Mule (2018)

Starring Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Dianne Weist, Taissa Farmiga, Ignacio Serricchio, and Andy Garcia

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by Nick Schenk

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin, Danai Guirra, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Holland, Zoe Saldana, Evangeline Lilly, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Tom Hiddleston, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Letitia Wright, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Cobie Smulders, Linda Cardellini, Vin Diesel, Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Tessa Thompson, Tilda Swinton, Hayley Atwell, Marisa Tomei, Rene Russo, Taika Waititi, Angela Bassett, William Hurt, Winston Duke, Frank Grillo, Robert Redford, Natalie Portman, and Gwyneth Paltrow

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

A Star Is Born

A Star Is Born (2018)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Rafi Gavron, Anthony Ramos, Dave Chappelle, and Andrew Dice Clay

Directed by Bradley Cooper

Written by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters

Summary (in 500 words or less):  A grizzled alcoholic rocker (Bradley Cooper) falls for a young budding songwriter (Lady Gaga) and their relationship goes through ups and downs as their careers begin to take different paths.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kurt Russell

And the vocal talents of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper

Directed by James Gunn

Written by James Gunn

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

Summary (in 500 words or less):  The Guardians clan is back as we further explore familial relationships of members of the group.  Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) reunites with his long-lost father, the god Ego (Kurt Russell), while Gamora (Zoe Saldana) continues to explore the rocky relationship with her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan).  

• Many Marvel fanboys love the irreverence of this series, but as evidenced in the first Guardians film and now this one, these movies don't excite me as much as others.  I like the characters that inhabit the films, but writer-director James Gunn hasn't yet crafted an overarching story that really pulls me in.  
• There is certainly a charm and ease that Gunn and his cast delivers.  The easy-going nature of this flick makes for an enjoyable watch at times, but whenever the film tries to create exciting action sequences, I find myself checking out.
• Unlike some other Marvel franchises which didn't succeed on their first go-rounds, but then rebounded on their second like Captain America (or even vice-versa, succeeding in their first and failing in their second like Thor), Guardians has maintained this middle ground of being simply average through both of its film iterations.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Joy

Joy (2015)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Edgar Ramírez, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Isabella Rosselini, Dascha Polanco, Elisabeth Rohn, and Bradley Cooper

Directed by David O. Russell

While I enjoyed The Fighter, David O. Russell's two subsequent well-received films --  Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle -- didn't register as successful to me as they did to others.  Considering the less-than-enthusiastic reviews for the writer-director's latest, Joy, my expectations were quite low.  However, I found myself pleasantly surprised with the tale which isn't without a few faults in its story, but manages to be Russell's most entertaining film to date.

Joy is the semi-biographical story of Joy Mangano (played here by Jennifer Lawrence), a divorced mother of two who invents an ingenious new mop in an effort to better her life.  Obstacles are certainly placed in Joy's way -- her live-in divorced mother (Virginia Madsen) refuses to leave her bedroom where she watches soap operas all day, her father (Robert De Niro) has just moved back in causing trouble, her ex-husband (Edgar Ramírez) lives in her basement -- but she's motivated by her grandmother (Diane Ladd) who has always believed that the high school valedictorian isn't living up to her potential.  With the monetary assistance of her father's new widowed girlfriend (Isabella Rosselini), Joy creates her mop and finds herself shilling the device on the shopping network QVC after convincing an executive (Bradley Cooper) of her wares.  

While I mentioned earlier that Joy is Russell's most entertaining film, that doesn't necessarily make it his best.  There are moments in Russell's story and in his direction of his actors where he loses some focus, opting for quirkiness rather than fluidity.  While this proves to be amusing at first, it does grow a little wearisome when we in the audience want the film to focus on Joy's passion, perseverance, and fortitude as opposed to her odd family.  De Niro, Madsen, and Rossellini are all good, but I sometimes felt they were in a different film as their characters felt more like "Characters" than actual people.  Also, although Jennifer Lawrence is totally engaging as the strong-willed title character, she has an accent problem here in that whatever she was trying to attempt vocally fades in and out throughout the film enough that it proves noticeable.

Russell's an intriguing director to me in that I appreciate his stylization -- his use of music is always unique, even if sometimes a bit pretentious -- but when he lenses his own screenplays, he lacks the focus needed to reel in some of his odd excesses.  His best film -- The Fighter -- wasn't penned by him and I can't help but think that the guy should open up to filming other peoples' stuff again.  Joy gets him headed in the right direction, though, and I hope he'll continue the upward trajectory.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Burnt

Burnt (2015)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Omar Sy, Daniel Brühl, Matthew Rhys, Alicia Vikander,  Uma Thurman, and Emma Thompson

Directed by John Wells

Burnt is a well-acted film about a once great Michelin Star-earning chef named Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) who lost it all when drugs and horrible behavior upended his career at an early age.  After taking time to reflect on his wrongs back home in the United States, Adam returns to London to start his career again, opening a new restaurant and trying to right the wrongs of his past.

Despite the aforementioned notion that Burnt is well-acted, it's a film that just kind of sits there and doesn't excite the audience in any way.  Director John Wells paces the already short film in such a way that it doesn't engage us and pull us in to Adam's life.  Sure, the glossy and well-lit scenes of kitchen work are pretty, but once we move beyond the boiling pots, buttered-up pans, and fancy sous vide machines, there's no dramatic tension in this otherwise typical film about a formerly unpleasant guy becoming pleasant.

Bradley Cooper is quite good and his character is at least a little bit captivating.  His relationships with his sous chefs (Sienna Miller, Omar Sy), his front-of-house staff (Daniel Brühl), and rival (Matthew Rhys) are all pleasant enough and all well-performed by the cast.  Unfortunately, there's very little for the actors to sink their teeth into which goes hand-in-hand with the lack of any tension and significant plot.  Burnt isn't a particularly bad movie, but by the end I just shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Serena

Serena (2015)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Rhys Ifans, David Dencik, and Toby Jones

Directed by Susanne Bier

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

A bit of a countrified film noir, Serena is the tale of timber empire head George Pemberton (Bradley Cooper) whose success in the 1929 Smoky Mountains has led to a rather prosperous community amongst his workers. Upon a visit to the more cultured big city, George meets Serena (Jennifer Lawrence), immediately falls for her, and marries her right away.  With her family having worked in timber, Serena steps up and begins to take charge which doesn't sit too well with some of the workers.  While George accepts and is actually quite pleased with his wife's demeanor and candor in his workplace, he also discovers that she has an awful jealous streak and that she may be a bit more conniving than he ever imagined.

Serena stars two big name celebrities, yet found itself sitting on the shelf for quite a while, finally getting a very limited release in early 2015.  That's oftentimes a death knell for films and while Serena isn't horrible, it's got a myriad of issues that is never quite succeeds in overcoming.  While Cooper and Lawrence are fine (and they actually have some nice moments individually), their chemistry is a little lacking, but there's part of me that wonders if that's the fault of the film's editing which is quite muddled.  There's a tendency for director Susanne Bier and her editor to linger on shots longer than is really necessary, creating an odd tone and timing throughout the piece.  In addition, the character of Serena herself is so quickly introduced and placed front and center that she fails to really resonate with the audience.  Lawrence attempts at giving a well-rounded performance, but the motivations of the character feel slight, forced, and disappointingly fleshed out.  By the time the film takes on the more noirish tone in its final act, Serena feels as if it hasn't earned that tone thanks to the way the editing and characters have played out prior.

There's no doubt that you could fare worse than Serena and I could understand the allure of wanting to watch it because of the film's two stars, but don't say I didn't warn you about the lackluster nature of the piece.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Aloha

Aloha (2015)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray, John Krasinski, Jaeden Lieberher, Danielle Rose Russell, Danny McBride, and Alec Baldwin

Directed by Cameron Crowe

There are moments of clever wordplay in director-screenwriter Cameron Crowe's Aloha that pinpoint that this lauded filmmaker (by others, not myself) has an ear for dialog that evokes a sense of spontaneity and naturalness while still feeling somewhat elegant and eloquent.  However, these small moments aren't enough to make a film work or carry a story and Aloha is a near disaster in the story department.  An hour into the film I found myself pondering what in the hell is the main storyline here?  The flick was a jumbled mess until that point and, quite frankly, doesn't get much better in its second half.

In the end, I think Aloha is trying to tell the tale of a beginning and an ending (how clever in that "aloha" can mean "hello" or "goodbye") when it comes to relationships for its main character Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper), a hired defense worker who is employed by the filthy rich Carson Welch (Bill Murray) to do computer work (I think?) on Welch's new space communications satellite launching off the coast of Hawaii in the near future.  Hawaii used to be Brian's home and while living there, he was in a serious relationship with Tracy (Rachel McAdams) who is now married to Air Force pilot Woody (John Krasinki) with whom she has two kids.  Brian's return to the 49th State creates a bit of havoc in Tracy and Woody's relationship with long buried feelings resurfacing between the former couple.  Also thrown into the mix:  pilot Allison Ng (Emma Stone) who is tasked with escorting Brian around the island and begins to fall for him;  Tracy and Woody's son Mitchell (Jaeden Lieberher) believes that Brian's arrival signifies the beginning of some Hawaiian lore that will cause volcanic eruptions and new islands to form; and, just for kicks, Tracy and Woody's daughter Grace (Danielle Rose Russell) may or may not be Brian's biological daughter.

While another film may be able to balance all these storylines, Aloha is unable and proves to be a painful experiment to watch.  As mentioned, sixty minutes in, I had no clue what was supposed to be the "big" storyline here.  I figured it would be the love triangle between Brian, Rachel, and Allison, and while that proves ultimately to be true, this segment is so poorly laid out and structured in the film's opening hour that it's impossible to feel any connection to these characters or have any desire to see this plot point reach its conclusion.  Instead of honing in on this three-cornered relationship, much of the film's beginning is focused on Brian attempting to convince native Hawaiians to allow Carson Welch to build a bridge through their land along with a huge emphasis on "mystical" and "mysterious" ancient Hawaiian folklore.  And the kicker -- neither of these two concepts make much of an appearance in the film's second half.  Throw in some incredibly weird, purportedly comedic moments that just stick out like a sore thumb (or an extra toe which literally makes an appearance here) and Mr. Crowe's script just proves to be laughably bad.

Given the mediocrity of the script, the typically solid cast isn't given a lot to work with and they find themselves floundering for motivation.  McAdams and Krasinski fare the best, but their characters are supposed to be incredibly unhappy with one another and this never comes across despite the actors' best efforts.  The typically charming Cooper is all over the place in a role that never determines whether it's supposed to be comedic or dramatic or a mix of both.  The equally typically charming Stone is like a cartoon character, never once feeling real or based in reality.  Aloha is a huge miss and one that I couldn't wait to say "good-bye" to nearly as soon as I had said "hello."

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - American Sniper

American Sniper (2014)

Starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Plain and simple, I just don't think Clint Eastwood as a director creates an atmosphere in which actors can create characters that take us on an emotional journey.  (Granted, I'm several years removed from his heralded Mystic River so that may be an exception to the rule, but I can't recall.)  The same can be said for American Sniper -- the true story of Texan Chris Kyle who joined the Navy SEALs right around 9/11 and became the most accurate sniper in US military history.  Eastwood captures the horrors of war quite well, but when he steps away from the warfront, the esteemed auteur (by others, not me) fails at crafting any modicum of emotional impact.

Bradley Cooper plays Chris Kyle with a hearty (sometimes undecipherable) southern drawl, but don't allow the hickish initial appearance of Kyle make you doubt his intelligence or passion for both his family and his country.  Cooper does a nice job of tackling the authoritative nature of Kyle on the battlefield and, as the film progresses, we do grasp the sense that Cooper's Kyle is slowly mentally deteriorating from the horrors of war that he witnessed.  Unfortunately for Cooper, Eastwood is anything but subtle and Kyle's post-traumatic stress is sometimes a bit too blatant.  

This PTSD aspect of the story isn't aided by the fact that Eastwood and screenwriter Jason Hall paint Kyle's home life as a by-the-books, paint-by-numbers, stereotype.  Poor Sienna Miller.  After an admittedly amusing meet-cute with Kyle at a bar, her Taya is relegated to crying into a phone begging for her husband to give up his missions and come home.  I don't doubt for a second this happened, nor do I doubt that conversations like this happen every single day with our servicemen and their spouses.  However, Eastwood and Hall just keep hitting the same emotional beats over and over again and the repetition (however truthful) is wearing on the audience's patience.

Yes, I understand that it's perhaps unfair to critique a true story for its lack of originality, but it's the job of the director and screenwriter to make us (a) care for these people, and (b) create a sustainable story that's worth watching.  Eastwood and Hall do a more than adequate job accomplishing this task when Chris Kyle is on the ground in the Middle East, but when the action brings him to his home soil, things fall apart.  When real life shots of Chris Kyle's funeral during the film's credits are the only thing that create an emotional impact, I can't help but think the director is at fault.

Negative critiques aside, this is Eastwood's best work in a while thanks to the incredibly intense war sequences.  With the exception an unfortunate slow motion shot during the film's final skirmish that forced me to stifle a laugh, whenever Bradley Cooper and his fellow actors are placed into combat situations, we can't help but feel viscerally involved with the images.  For this, Eastwood deserves a large amount of credit and proves that he has some chops as a director.  Unfortunately, the staid and tired way he directs the film's other sequences brings this down more notches than Chris Kyle's story deserves to be dropped.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+ 

Movie Review - American Hustle

American Hustle (2013)

Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, and Michael Peña

Directed by David O. Russell

Quite simply, American Hustle is the most overrated movie I've seen as of yet that's gained prevalence during this awards season.  (Captain Phillips is a close second.)  For a movie that is inherently about backstabbing and thievery, there wasn't a moment of tension or excitement and the characters failed to make any impact on me whatsoever.

David O. Russell who directed and co-wrote the picture was also behind the lens and put the pen to paper for last year's Silver Linings Playbook, another film I found to be incredibly overrated and undeserving of the heaps of praise thrown its way.  There's something about Russell's writing style that just doesn't grab me in the slightest (and would also explain why I enjoyed his previous film The Fighter seeing as how he didn't write it).  Silver Linings Playbook felt like two disparate halves that failed to come together.  Similarly, American Hustle is a mishmash of different genres, none of which resonate.  When the comedy is culled from jokes about people's perms or comb-overs or the sassiness of a "New Yawk" broad, it makes me wonder if Russell has any original ideas.

But perhaps Russell wasn't going for original.  Much has been said about American Hustle being Russell's ode to the 1970s films by Scorsese and while that very well be true, that doesn't make this worthwhile.  While the film itself is fictional, it has its basis in true events.  Back in the 1970s, Atlantic City was looking to rebuild its name as the gaming capital of the world.  In order to do so, Camden mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) tries to bribe other politicians to help the city flourish.  You'd think that'd be the basis of the film considering it's a story that could have some depth to it.  You'd be wrong.

Instead, Russell (and co-writer Eric Singer) place the emphasis on Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), a slimy owner of a collection of dry cleaning establishments who has a side business in offering fake loans to people.  At a swinging 1970s shindig, Irving meets Sydney (Amy Adams), a gal from New Mexico who moved to New York looking for a different lifestyle.  She immediately falls for Irving and shows him that she's quite game to help him with his "loan" business, willing to go so far as to create a new identity for herself -- Lady Edith Greensley whose English accent will instinctively make her seem more important to Irving's clients.  One of these clients just happens to be Richie DeMaso (Bradley Cooper), an undercover FBI agent, who manages to catch Irving and Sydney in the act of fraud.  After he arrests the couple, Richie agrees to free them only if they'll assist him in helping him track down even bigger folks committing fraudulent acts.

Throw in some love triangles, a brassy wife for Irving (played way too over-the-top by Jennifer Lawrence), and Robert DeNiro as a mafia kingpin, and American Hustle is just a mess in terms of story.  Much like Silver Linings Playbook, this film just doesn't know what it wants to be.  [I criticize Ms. Lawrence there, but her character's brashness was at least a breath of fresh air in this story, and her scenes, despite not having much to do in terms of advancing the film, were some of the film's best.  However, Lawrence is the one person that I felt you could "see" acting whereas the others embodied their characters more or less.]

Granted, I'll give Russell credit that he does manage to get some nice performances from his group of actors, but overall, the film is a mess.  The costumes were groovy, though!

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)

Starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Rose Byrne, Mahershala Ali, Bruce Greenwood, Harris Yulin, Ben Mendelsohn, and Ray Liotta

Directed by Derek Cianfrance

There's a grandness to the scale of The Place Beyond the Pines that isn't often seen in cinema.  Director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance takes his time building his characters and their arcs.  Some might even say he spends a bit too much time as the three intertwining stories he weaves here slowly unfold in their layers of connection to one another.  While the film isn't perfect, to me The Place Beyond the Pines features storytelling that you typically only get from a great novel and it's a welcome change of pace.

Now, this may seem like a cop out (and it sort of is as I'm trying to get this review done quickly), but I'm not really going to divulge much of the plot here.  If you're not aware of what the film is attempting to do, it's better that you stay in the dark and let things unfold scene by scene.  This isn't to say that The Place Beyond the Pines is particularly surprising or holds twists and turns, but it is told in a unique fashion that may be best kept secret if you're unfamiliar with the director's overall concept.

I will, however, simply state that the film tells the tale of two men -- Luke (Ryan Gosling), a stunt motorcyclist who discovers that he has a young son with Romina (Eva Mendes), a girl he had a fling with over a year ago; and Avery (Bradley Cooper), a first-year cop who also has a young son the same age as Luke's.  Luke and Avery's lives will become interwoven as will the lives of their sons as they grow older (played by Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen as teens).

I mentioned a "grand scale" in my opening sentence of this review and you shouldn't misinterpret that as being a multi-million dollar Ben Hur-esque special effects-driven type of scope.  Instead, the grandeur comes from the fact that we follow Luke, Avery, and their families over the course of two decades, seeing how their lives change, and how even a spur of the moment decision can affect those around them years down the line.  It's this concept of following multiple characters across generations -- a la Steinbeck's East of Eden -- that makes this movie unique and stand out from the crowd.

With a nice performance from Bradley Cooper anchoring the film [and kudos to Cooper for changing my opinion on him within this past year...he's becoming quite the actor], The Place Beyond the Pines is absolutely worth watching assuming you're ready for a slow-burning type of film.  Then again, Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine could've been described in a similar fashion.  While Pines can't hold a candle to the masterpiece that is Blue Valentine (my number one film of 2010...which is also streaming on Netflix, FYI, so watch it immediately), it's still a fine piece of cinema that admittedly sinks into a bit of hokeyness at times (to the detriment of the rawness it's trying to convey), but is still worthy of a watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Words

The Words (2012)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Ben Barnes, Nora Arnezeder, and Jeremy Irons

Directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal

There was maybe potential for The Words in terms of concept.  Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), a down-on-his luck writer whose latest work he's toiled over for years is rejected by multiple publishing agencies, visits Paris on his honeymoon with his wife Dora (Zoe Saldana).  While there, Rory purchases an old messenger bag from an antique shop only to discover when he returns to the States that inside the bag is one of the most well-written novels he has ever read...and it just happens to be unpublished.  Appearing to have been written decades prior, Rory decides to act as if the newfound novel is his own and, after handing it over to a publisher, finds astounding success with the book propelling him to near superstar status in the book world.  It's all rather unfortunate then when an old man (Jeremy Irons) confronts Rory in Central Park one afternoon and proclaims that he wrote the novel.  As the old man (who remains nameless) tells Rory his life story that led to the creation of this amazing work, we witness golden-hued flashbacks of the old man as a young man (Ben Barnes), his wife (Nora Arnezeder), and their struggles that they faced back in World War II-era France.

Not that the above story would have been anything overly special, but it would've made for an okay flick that while corny and overly sentimental still might have been successful to a certain degree.  However, the screenwriters (who are also the directors) end up making The Words a story-within-a-story-within-a-story and the most "outside" story is ludicrously tedious and completely unnecessary involving Dennis Quaid as an author reading Rory Jansen's story at a press event while being essentially stalked by a young chippie (Olivia Wilde) who wants to get in his pants.  As we discover that Dennis Quaid's character wrote a novel about Rory Jansen (so essentially, Dennis Quaid's character wrote the film we saw involving all his fellow actors), the movie is attempting to be meta and it just fails miserably.  The screenwriters were simply trying to add another layer that didn't need to be added to what should have been a simple and straightforward story.

Nice performances by Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana are somewhat negated because that extra layer makes their tale lack any resonance by the film's end which is a bit of a shame.  While they certainly weren't going to win any awards, they deserved a bit better.  I will admit that I was completely tired of Bradley Cooper around this time last year, finding his roles in things like The Hangover and Wedding Crashers had outstayed their welcome and turned him into an actor I couldn't stand.  However, with his Oscar-nominated turn in Silver Linings Playbook and this solid turn in The Words, he's becoming a bit more tolerable to me.  Faint praise, I know, but it's a definite turn in the right direction.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker, John Ortiz, Julia Stiles, Anupam Kher, and Jacki Weaver

Directed by David O. Russell

David O. Russell's last film, The Fighter, had a strong focus on family and his follow-up Silver Linings Playbook carries on that familial theme albeit in a bit more comedic tone.  In fact, the odd mix of humor and drama in this flick is the one problem in this otherwise pleasant romantic comedy diversion. Granted, Mr. Russell manages to almost find the proper balance between the two extremes by hour #2, but its first sixty minutes is a tiny bit slow and off kilter.  Still, thanks to a crowd-pleasing finale and some very nice performances, Silver Linings Playbook proves to be moderately successful.

Bradley Cooper takes on his best role since his stint on Alias as Pat, a Philadelphia native who finds himself recently released from a Baltimore mental hospital after eight months of court-ordered examination.  Locked up after he beat up his wife's lover, Pat returns home hoping to have regained control of his anger (and his diagnosed bipolar disorder) allowing him to rekindle his relationship with his wife.  Pat's parents, Dolores and Pat, Sr. (Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro), try to convince Pat to move on with his life, but he's hellbent on proving he's a good guy to those he hurt in the past.  While out running one evening, he comes across his best friend Ronnie (John Ortiz) who invites him to dinner with his wife Veronica (Julia Stiles) and her recently widowed sister Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence).  Like Pat, Tiffany's a little off-the-wall, not quite all there mentally, and still emotionally hurt (on the inside) by her husband's death, but her instability creates a bit of an attraction for Pat.  As the two grow friendlier, Tiffany wants to take things a bit further, but Pat refuses her advances as he still believes that his wife will return to him.  Eventually the story shifts to the unstable duo competing in a dance competition, but it comes as no surprise that "dance" really is just a way of keeping these two centered, allowing themselves to grow into more spiritually, emotionally, and mentally steady people.

Silver Linings Playbook, unfortunately, lacks some groundedness.  Like its two main characters, it's almost searching for what it wants to be.  The first hour places quite serious with some nice comedic punches thrown in, but the last hour is almost sitcommy at times.  I understand David O. Russell was going for a bit of awkward quirkiness, but the film plays like two different movies and it never successfully melds into one cohesive piece.

That being said, the film rises above the average thanks to some great performances.  As previously mentioned, Bradley Cooper has finally stepped out of Douche-Land, a place where he's been stuck in ever since he became a "movie star."  He's still a guy with a hot-headed streak, but Cooper's finally allowed to give a character he portrays some quieter, emotion-driven moments and he succeeds.

It's also a complete pleasure to see Robert De Niro finally choosing a movie that has good intentions.  Just look at his 2011 -- New Year's Eve (which I started watching on a plane ride to Europe and couldn't complete), Killer Elite (which I started watching on Netflix and couldn't complete), and Limitless (which I shouldn't have allowed myself to complete) -- and you'll see how far he's slipped in recent years.  Here he plays a rough-around-the-edges die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan with complete accuracy (just listen to Philly sports radio stations and you'll understand the portrayal).  It was nice to see him commit to a role that isn't in a film that scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

But the true star of Silver Linings Playbook is Jennifer Lawrence.  Tough, strong, feisty, and sweet, Lawrence is fantastic.  She has a scene in which she essentially tells off Robert De Niro (not an easy thing to do with his strong onscreen presence) that is one of the best moments I've seen all year.  Her Tiffany recognizes her foibles and is attempting to better them, but Lawrence never once plays her as a victim which she so easily could have done.

This has been a very difficult review to write because the acting in Silver Linings Playbook deserves a film that better understands itself.  I completely understand the awards buzz for the actors, but the movie plays a bit like a really, really good Hallmark movie.  And maybe that's what it always wanted to be.  Sweet and charming.  And it succeeds at achieving those characteristics.  But I don't think that's all that it wanted to convey.  I think it wants to delve deeper than that, but when it tries, it doesn't really win.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Limitless

Limitless (2011)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Anna Friel, and Robert De Niro

Directed by Neil Burger

Was the world really asking for a PG-13 version of the gritty, harsh, and absolutely amazing drug addiction drama Requiem for a Dream?  Personally, I think not, but Limitless is kind of like a low-rent version of that 2000 Darren Aronofsky film complete with the same pulse-pounding music, rapid, fast-paced camera movements and edits, and "inside the body" glimpses of drugs entering someone's blood stream.  It's like a toned-down Requiem for folks like my mom (but she didn't like this movie either).  Try as he might and not helping matters in the slightest, I'm not quite sold on the concept of "Bradley Cooper -- Hollywood Star" despite the fact that his cache is certainly rising in the entertainment industry.  Add Robert De Niro into the mix continuing his trend of choosing rather ridiculous roles to garner a paycheck and Limitless just doesn't really have much going for it.

I was a fan of Bradley Cooper when he first appeared on my entertainment landscape via Alias, but I've never quite warmed to his smarmy attitude that's inhibited nearly every one of his movie characters to this date.  In this flick, Cooper is down-and-out writer Eddie who can't seem to get motivated to write his latest novel.  While roaming the streets of New York City, he meets his ex-wife's brother Vernon, a drug dealer who gives him a special pill called NZT that perks up all his senses and activates his brain into remembering nearly everything he's ever learned throughout his life.  Eddie is amazed and goes to meet his ex-brother-in-law for more pills, but finds him murdered and his apartment ransacked.  Someone was looking for NZT, but Eddie somehow magically figures out Vernon's hiding spot and finds a huge stash of pills.  Time passes and Eddie turns from a bum to a ladies man who finishes his novel and manages to become one of the best stock brokers in the industry, working for the famed Carl van Loon (Robert De Niro).

Perhaps I was a little harsh above on Mr. Cooper.  It's not that he's bad here, it's just that I don't quite see him as a "movie star" yet and this film attempts to put him in that role.  That being said, he comes off much better than De Niro who continues slumming it in his later years.  He's really just become a caricature of himself...there was a moment in this movie where his simple presence and squinty-eyed facial expression made me chuckle, ruining what should have been a rather serious moment.

Still, the biggest issue with Limitless is that is has no clue what movie it wants to be.  Is it a mystery surrounding who killed Vernon and why they did so?  Is it a drama about Eddie butting heads with new boss van Loon?  Is it a romance as Eddie tries to win back his ex-girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) who left him when he was a struggling novelist?  Or is it morality tale about our drug-addicted society?  While it tries to be all of these things, it doesn't succeed at any of them.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - The A-Team

The A-Team (2010)

Starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Sharlto Copley, and Patrick Wilson

Directed by Joe Carnahan

I've never seen an episode of the television show The A-Team, so I have no clue if this flick is some bastardization of the premise.  The lack of connection to the show may have helped my opinion of the flick as I shockingly enjoyed this ridiculous action movie.  Granted, I tend to like my action movies a little more grounded in reality, but despite the ludicrousness of many a scene, I enjoyed this one.  

I hate to harp on Stallone's The Expendables, but a little injection of humor into that one may have helped things out quite a bit as the cast of The A-Team realizes that when you're dealing with ridiculous plotlines that have army tanks parachuting out of airplanes you need to have fun with things.  As much as I want to dislike the smarmy Bradley Cooper, I liked his machismo in this one.  He was seemingly enjoying himself while working on this one and it paid off.  His pairing with the more solemn Liam Neeson worked quite well.  While I wish they could have maybe found a better Mr. T clone than the wooden Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Cooper and Neeson more than made up for Jackson's inadequacies.  

Yeah, I could get into plot here, but it really doesn't matter.  The whole thing's silly and so insanely implausible that if I sat here and typed it out, I think I'd wonder what the hell was wrong with me for liking the movie.  So, instead, I'll just say that while The A-Team is no masterpiece, it absolutely kept my interest for two hours and is worth your time if you want some mindless entertainment.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Case 39

Case 39 (2010)

Starring Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane, and Jodelle Ferland

Directed by Christian Alvart

There's a reason Case 39 was on the shelf for years.  Overly long, poorly acted, and simply a retread of every other evil kid movie that's already been released.

Renee Zellweger is social worker Emily Jenkins who is already bogged down with thirty-eight cases.  Guess what?  Case 39 is gonna be a doozy!  After meeting the parents of young Lilith (Jodelle Ferland), Emily suspects that the parents may not be capable of caring for the ten-year old, but it isn't until after the parents attempt to kill Lilith that she gains any traction with the people in her government department.  Emily takes Lilith in so that the youth can avoid going into foster care and Emily soon discovers that Lilith may not be the innocent girl she portrays herself to be.

Unfortunately, while there are some interesting scenes (including an exciting one featuring Bradley Cooper and some hornets which, despite featuring poor special effects, had me on the edge of my seat), the film doesn't work at all.  A mix of The Omen and The Ring, Case 39 goes on for way too long, treading water and not going anywhere.  It certainly isn't helped that chipmunk-cheeked Renee Zellweger (she of the school of "Squinty Eyed Acting") is lifeless onscreen and her counterpart Jodelle Ferland lacks the needed pizzazz to carry the role of the devil child.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Valentine's Day (2010)

Valentine's Day (2010)

Starring Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley Maclaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift

Directed by Garry Marshall 

It's not as if ensemble movies about love can't work.  One of my favorite movies of all time is Love, Actually, and that flick is all about an ensemble's quest for love.  However, with last year's He's Just Not That Into You and this year's Valentine's Day, the ensemble romantic comedy appears to be dead in the water.  While this 2010 flick fares a little better than its 2009 counterpart, one would think that with all the star power on display here, someone could craft a decent script.

I'm not even going to go into a summary here because (as is evidenced by the incredibly long "starring" list up above) there's just too many tangential stories to discuss.  And therein lies the problem.  Too many people with too many unnecessary tales.  Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner's high school romance -- I'd nix 'em since we've already got one youthful tale starring the charming Emma Roberts, but they're appealing to the youth.  Julia Roberts and Bradley Cooper's meeting on a plane -- totally pointless, but Roberts is a huge star and Cooper's star wattage is on the rise.  Shirley Maclaine and Hector Elizondo's out-of-left-field reveal of a "bombshell secret" -- who gives a damn -- oh, that's right, we need to appeal to the grandparents.

That's the problem.  The movie just wants to hit every demographic and it fails because of that.   Any positive vibes that come from actors like Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway, Topher Grace, Julia Roberts and her niece Emma, and (shockingly) Ashton Kutcher and George Lopez just get washed away by a horrible script.  Not that I'm necessarily one to criticize on this front, but screenwriters need to learn to edit.

And the awful script is shot so incredibly poorly by director Garry Marshall that I laughed out loud because of some of his choices.  Hey, let's put some nuns in that scene.  Throw a sign-language interpreter in there.  Let's have a girl with cerebral palsy point and yell at Ashton Kutcher because he doesn't have shoes on.  Yes, I realize that last sentence might seem callous, but these "attempts at realism" just come across as preposterous.  It honestly seemed like he had family members that he wanted to put into the movie somehow and he was going to do whatever it took to make it happen.

If you want a great romantic ensemble movie, just do yourself a favor and go with Love, Actually.  Skip this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

Starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connelly, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson, and Justin Long

Directed by Ken Kwapis

Wow. Women are nuts. If this movie is an accurate portrayal of the way the fairer sex thinks, then I don't think I'll ever understand the gender. I mean, how hard is the concept of "If he's not calling you, he doesn't like you?" I don't think it's all that difficult, yet it apparently cannot be grasped.

There's a bunch of interweaving storylines here...Gigi (Gennifer Goodwin) is single and crazy -- completlely unintelligent in the ways of love. Half-stalkerish, half-sweet, but 100% nuts. Gigi is friends with Janine (Jennifer Connelly) who's married to Ben (Bradley Cooper) who's cheating on his wife with the younger Anna (Scarlett Johansson). Anna is friends with Mary (Drew Barrymore), but I'll be completely honest...I don't know why Drew Barrymore's in this movie because her character is completely and utterly pointless and could've been left on the cutting room floor. Anyway, Anna used to sleep with Conor (Kevin Connelly) who is friends with Alex (Justin Long) who offers relationship advice to Gigi [see...we've gone full circle.] There's also a storyline involving Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck concerning Affleck not wanting to marry Aniston even though they've been together for seven years, but it also could've been totally removed from the plot as it doesn't really relate to anything else.

Most of the actors here are fine. Bradley Cooper continues his string of good roles in crappy movies (The Hangover, All About Steve, New York, I Love You). I'd watch Jennifer Aniston in anything. Justin Long continues to show promise. Scarlett Johannson is fine (I can't believe I typed that). Even Ginnifer Goodwin whose character is godawful is able to at least make me not want to pull out my hair every time her nutcase Gigi is onscreen.

Still, the film is a failure. And it's not because of the actors. Or even the direction (it's nothing special ,but it's certainly adequate). It's just that it's way too long. Not a single storyline works. Every female character is completely unrelateable to the male writing this review. And Drew Barrymore is one of the worst actresses ever onscreen (Drew, just because you produce or direct something doesn't mean you have to be in it).

If you want a good movie with interweaving storylines about love, rent Love, Actually. Leave this one on the shelf.

The RyMickey Rating: D