Gerald's Game

Gerald's Game (2017)

Starring Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, and Chiara Aurelia

Directed by Mike Flanagan

Written by Jeff Howard and Mike Flanagan

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

Summary (in 500 words or less):  A sex game at a remote lakeside cabin turns troublesome when Gerald (Bruce Greenwood) dies of a heart attack after handcuffing his wife Jessie (Carla Gugino) to the bed.  Jessie needs to muster all she can in order to survive this scary ordeal.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - San Andreas

San Andreas (2015)

Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Ioan Gruffudd, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Art Parkinson, Archie Panjabi, and Paul Giamatti

Direted by Brad Peyton

There's not much to San Andreas except for what we'd expect -- a giant earthquake wreaking mighty havoc over the southern portions of California.  Sure, there are attempts at a little more substantive story -- divorced father and mother (Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino) band together to find their stranded daughter (Alexandra Daddario), earthquake expert (Paul Giamatti) creates a device to predict quakes but no one will listen -- but at the heart of it all, this is simply a flick filled with special effects earthquake mayhem.

The pure special effects-driven nature works for the film's first hour quite well wasting very little time getting into the action and driving the story along from set piece to set piece.  However, as the second hour begins, the idiocy of what we're watching begins to rear its ugly head.  With Giamatti given absolutely nothing to do except hide under desks after spouting warnings similar to "This aftershock will be the biggest one yet!", the film tries to create some form of realistic story behind Johnson and Gugino attempting to find their teenage daughter in the shambles of San Francisco as the two parents are forced to face increasingly ridiculous scenarios.  How will they outrun a collapsing building?  How will their boat make it over the wave of this rising tsunami?  How will they land a helicopter with engine failure?  Seeing the chaos caused by the earthquake in the first hour seemed naturally plausible...seeing two apparent super humans try and rescue their equally superheroic daughter who McGuyvers her way out of quite a few tight spots herself makes the second hour laughable.

For the most part, the actors are game and actually do a nice job of keeping us interested in the action despite the building implausibility.  Johnson and Gugino are a nice match and Daddario more than carries her storyline with the help of British mates she meets along the way played charmingly by Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson.  In the end, San Andreas is about what can be expected, however, the film hurts itself by presenting a surprisingly solid first half only to dive deep into the realm of impossibility in its second half.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch (2011)

Starring Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Oscar Isaac, Scott Glenn, and Carla Gugino 

Directed by Zack Snyder

Zack Snyder is the King of Style over Substance.  From 300 to Watchmen, Snyder finds a way to make stories seem pointless while transporting viewers into video game-reminiscent settings complete with a pulsing soundtrack. [Note:  This is coming from someone who actually didn't mind Watchmen.]  Sucker Punch is really no exception to the above characteristics and his stylized direction has worn out its welcome (if it was ever welcome to begin with).

In his latest assault on the senses, Snyder introduces us to Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who finds herself being forced into a mental institution after she accidentally kills her younger sister while trying to save her from their evil sexually abusive stepfather.  Unfortunately, after the surprisingly promising and genuinely exciting opening moments, things fall apart.  While in the institution, Baby Doll dreams that she, her fellow inmates, and all of the doctors work at a brothel.  Mirroring her thoughts in the loony bin, Baby Doll tries to rally her fellow hookers into escaping the clutches of the evil owner Blue (Oscar Isaac).  In order to do that, Baby Doll performs some sultry, sexy dance (which we the viewer never see) that puts all men into some sort of trance, thus allowing Baby Doll and her friends to steal the necessary supplies to bolt.

But wait...that's not all.  Instead of seeing Baby Doll dance, we go into her mind and see what she is imagining while she shakes her moneymaker.  And what she sees apparently is a war going on between her ladyfriends and Nazis, dragons, and futuristic robots.  It's these moments in particular (which take up at least half the film) that grow ridiculously repetitive and ultimately wreck Sucker Punch.  While I completely understand that none of these epically shot fight sequences are supposed to seem "real" since they're all occurring within Baby Doll's imagination, I couldn't help but think that the video game commercials I saw on the Blu-Ray prior to the film starting had better aesthetics and graphics.  Everything in these sequences (and the whole movie for that matter) is so washed out and hued in grays and browns that nothing is pleasing to the eye.  [This is a consistent problem for Snyder...for a guy that loves visuals so much, he manages to create worlds that are completely devoid of luminosity and appeal.]

While all of the ladies in the flick are certainly attractive, some -- Abbie Cornish and Jena Malone -- fare better than others -- Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung -- in the acting department.  Rather oddly, as the film's main character, Emily Browning is given absolutely nothing to do with her role.  She barely speaks and finds herself being told to stare blankly at things more often than not.  And the less said about Carla Gugino forcing out some laughable German or Austrian accent the better.

Not that I was ever on the Zack Snyder bandwagon, but Sucker Punch certainly knocked me off of it.  This writer-director needs to shake things up a bit and actually create a story that's worth telling and craft visuals to go with it that don't look so cheap.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Watchmen (2009)

Starring Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, and Carla Gugino
Directed by Zack Snyder

This is one of those movies (embarrassingly like Twilight) where even though I know it's bad, I still kind of like it. There's plenty of problems, and, honestly, not a ton to fawn over, but it still doesn't fail for some reason.

I read the graphic novel earlier this year as part of the Book-a-Week Quest and it holds no place in my heart, that's for sure. Not that it was bad, but I'm not geeking out over it.

Since the comic means nothing to me, my first problem is that the movie is much too long, retaining way too much of the superfluous storylines. It really feels like everything could be whittled down to an hour and forty-five minutes instead of two hours and forty-five minutes. Cut out the ridiculously awful sex scene aboard the "owl ship." You could truncate the first 50 minutes down to 20 easily. And the end felt a tad drawn out, too.

The acting was pretty darn awful -- Malin Ackerman, in particular. Good Lord, at first I thought it was just the dialog she had to spout, but towards the end, I realized it was her. And nobody (with the exception of Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach) was really any good.

Despite the fact that I felt the beginning was filled with lots of nothing, I was interested because of Zack Snyder's direction. Unfortunately, the direction became flat after the first hour.

So, with all the bad, why the heck did I like it? I'm not sure. I guess it stems from the fact that the premise in and of itself is kind of nifty. I like the idea of a group of "superheroes" being shunned by the public, trying to regain their image. I liked the interesting question that the film raises -- is it okay to kill some to save others? And, despite the fact that it was really long, it didn't feel like nearly three hours...I mean, don't get me wrong...like I said above, it's way too long...but it wasn't Funny People or Public Enemies long, if you get my drift.

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - Race to Witch Mountain (2009)

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig, and Ciarán Hinds

Directed by Andy Fickman

I enjoyed this kid pic much more than I probably had a right to...it's not aimed at me at all, but I liked that it was an action flick with moderately exciting sequences and little to no violence. The director managed to work up some tension without ever showing any blood or anyone getting killed. Kudos.

As far as the story goes, an alien spacecraft crashes on Earth and the two human-like passengers (AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig) manage to hitch a ride in the cab of Jack Bruno (played by The Rock...pardon me, Dwayne Johnson). Little does Jack know that the government is after these alien life forms and will stop at nothing to get them.

What helps this movie immensely is the surprisingly good acting by Dwayne Johnson. He's funny when he needs to be, caring when some emotion is necessary, and is willing to kick some PG-rated butt when called upon. He's helped by Carla Gugino who plays a paranormal professor. Gugino is really quite winning in this. Her role is by-the-book, but she brings a little something extra to the table which is much appreciated. The two kids were forced to play their roles in a robotic manner and the girl (Robb) fares a little better than the guy (Ludwig). Nevertheless, both were more than adequate.

Like I said above, I was fairly impressed by the action sequences and I must admit that I enjoyed the ride this movie took me on...even if it was suitable for all ages.

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Movie Review - The Unborn (2009)

Starring Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Meagan Good, and Carla Gugino

Written and Directed by David S. Goyer

Just don't watch this one.

Something about twins and Nazi experiments and Jewish rabbis performing exorcisms (isn't that an innately "Catholic" -- or at the very least, Christian -- thing?). All taking place in a poorly directed movie (seriously, the first 10 minutes of this one were possibly the worst directed opening 10 minutes of any movie I've seen this year...well, maybe not quite that bad, but close).

It's just not worth it. There's infinitely better horror flicks out there.

The RyMickey Rating: D-