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

Nomadland

 Nomadland (2020)

Starring Frances McDormand and David Strathairn

Directed by Chloe Zhou

Written by Chloe Zhou

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Bourne Legacy

***Movie #4 of BOURNE Week***
The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach, Oscar Isaac, Albert Finney, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Donna Murphy, Corey Stoll, Zeljko Ivanek, and Joan Allen

Directed by Tony Gilroy

As we discovered in the previous Bourne films, Jason Bourne was just one of many men recruited by the CIA to violently act out missions for the agency.  The Bourne Legacy leaves Matt Damon behind (likely because they couldn't offer a big enough paycheck) and focuses on one of the other men -- Aaron Cross -- part of another black ops group Bourne and Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) were trying to uncover in earlier flicks.

The Bourne Legacy opens with many of its scenes running concurrently to the final moments in The Bourne Ultimatum.  Director Tony Gilroy (the co-screenwriter of the previous Bourne films as well as this one) picks up the reins from Paul Greengrass and nicely ties Aaron Cross's story into Jason Bourne's timeline with this concurrent opening.  Smartly, Gilroy plants Aaron Cross (played by Jeremy Renner) into a different CIA black ops program -- one that forces its recruits to take pills in order to maintain their stamina, strength, and intelligence.  This allows for a different background and starting point for Cross than Bourne and it plays well throughout the film, feeling like a somewhat different animal...which is a good thing.

The repercussions of the actions of Bourne and Landy, however, permeate throughout The Bourne Legacy, as Cross finds himself being hunted down by CIA agents as they try to cover their tracks about the government's black ops agencies.  This leads Cross to Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a biochemist who has medically tested him in the past and who Cross uses to help him evade those coming after him.

The Bourne Legacy works really well as a continuation of the overarching political conspiracy story that runs rampant throughout this cinematic series.  Where it falters, however, is in a few of the film's action moments, including a very ill-conceived final action sequence with some laughable reaction shots from Weisz that ends things on a decidedly disappointing note.  Renner is more chipper than the dour Bourne (at least as chipper as one can be when being hunted down by the CIA) and his interactions with Weisz, while more generic than Bourne's interactions with his female contacts, are pleasantly conceived.  However, Renner is actually a little too high on charisma -- a fault that I almost can't believe I'm writing.  He didn't quite sell me on the "operative on the run" aspect of his character.  Still, it was pleasant to put a different face front and center in the series even though it didn't quite match the success of its immediate predecessor.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - The Bourne Ultimatum

***Movie #3 of BOURNE Week***

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Starring Matt Damon, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney, and Julia Stiles

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Director Paul Greengrass returns a little wiser with The Bourne Ultimatum, the best Bourne film in the series up to this point.  Seemingly put together as a bit of a final chapter for the character of Jason Bourne, Ultimatum succeeds because it brings the character full circle, becoming fully aware of both the reasons he lost his memory and why he worked for the CIA.  While Matt Damon had thus far been a bit bland, he comes alive a little bit here as he tries to uncover the mystery of the CIA program Blackbriar which has turned his world upside down for the past few years.

Full of some nice smaller performances, The Bourne Ultimatum carries the most tension throughout with Greengrass really able to maintain excitement and verve not only his action sequences, but also within the film's calmer moments.  The action scenes, in particular, are the best we've seen in the series so far with a lengthy opening one involving Bourne and a British reporter (Paddy Considine) who is beginning to uncover Blackbriar the most thrilling.  Admittedly, Greengrass's penchant for quick cuts and shaky camera movements feels more obvious in this installment than his first venture, but it worked here, creating a bit of a chaotic feeling surrounding the main character.

The Bourne Ultimatum certainly had an advantage working in its favor in that it was trying to somewhat neatly tie things up in a bow for the character of Jason Bourne, so the sense of finality helps the flick.  Even without that, though, the film's technical aspects are the best in the series so far.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Godzilla

Godzilla (2014)

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olson, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Juliette Binoche

Directed by Gareth Edwards

Perhaps being my most eagerly anticipated film of the summer (which looks incredibly weak overall movie-wise) did Godzilla in, but I found this reinvention of the classic Japanese monster movie a pretty big disappointment.  Part of me respects the fact that director Gareth Edwards and screenwriter Max Borenstein were ballsy enough to keep the title figure off the screen for all but (seemingly) ten minutes of the film, but the other part of me can't help but think they squandered away their money shots with the creature.

However, let's just say that I'm fine with Godzilla not being the film's focal point.  That notion would be totally true if the film's centerpiece -- the humans who are facing an epic battle between Godzilla and to Mothra-esque creatures -- had any modicum of interesting storyline to latch onto.  There's actually been much talk about Aaron Taylor-Johnson (whose US solider character is the lead) and his inability to emote properly, but I found that the script didn't give him a damn thing to do.  For a film that follows this guy around and tries to make us connect with him by giving him a plotline about returning home to his wife (Elizabeth Olsen) after visiting his crazy father (Bryan Cranston) in Japan, Taylor-Johnson is in this movie solely to react to the CGI-ness of the monsters rampaging around him.  Without being the impetus of a single plot point, I found myself detached too much from his character and the story.

In the film's opening act, we are given a bit of background which admittedly does a decent job about setting up how Godzilla and these two gigantic winged creatures he fights manifested themselves thanks to radiation in the 1950s.  This is essentially where the rest of the film's cast -- Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and Juliette Binoche -- come into play.  Watanabe and Hawkins are here simply to elucidate the scientific goings-on, Binoche is essentially a walk-on cameo, and Cranston -- well, I'm warning you that I'm about to say something that Breaking Bad fans (myself being one of them) may find utterly sacrilegious -- overacts to a point of oddness.  Cranston's character is the first major player we meet in the film and at first, I actually thought Cranston was paying homage to the 1960s Godzilla films of yore.  However, as the film progressed, I realized that no one else was playing up the "corny factor" and that Cranston was just doing some schticky overly dramatic thing on his own accord.

If the fact that I've not talked about Godzilla much in this review seems a little odd that's because, as I already mentioned, Godzilla isn't in the flick all that much.  Once again, for me, this would've been a perfectly acceptable conceit had the humans in this story been given any type of emotional arc I could've looked to for some meatiness in terms of plot.  With that not being given to me, Godzilla ends up falling flat.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Lincoln

Lincoln (2012)

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Gloria Rueben, Hal Holbrook, John Hawkes, Jackie Earle Haley, Bruce McGill, Tim Blake Nelson, Lee Pace, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Gulliver McGrath

Directed by Steven Spielberg

I was not expecting to like Lincoln in the slightest.  First, it's a biopic -- that alone is enough of a reason to make me run.  Second, Mr. Spielberg's last three films ranged from lukewarm mediocrity (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Adventures of Tintin) to mushy sentimental disappointment (War Horse) which didn't exactly inspire confidence in the director.  Third, I was not looking forward to spending 155 minutes with an historical period piece.  Obviously, this opening paragraph has been a set-up simply to state that Lincoln exceeded all my expectations thanks to a fantastic performance in the title role by Daniel Day-Lewis, a script by Tony Kushner which deals with only a distinct period of time in the sixteenth president's life, and direction by Spielberg that feels like he's gotten his groove back behind the camera.

Set only within the months leading up to the ratification of the thirteenth amendment to abolish slavery, Lincoln details the troubles that the title character faced as a president, a party leader, and a man in attempting to create such a drastic change in our country's public policies.  Through the eyes of Lincoln, we see the struggle he faces -- with the Confederacy ready to surrender, does he accept their terms and undoubtedly diminish the "need" for the amendment and his Republican party's willingness to agree with ratifying it, or does he keep the Confederate's waving of a white flag a secret from everyone.  The difficulties didn't just affect Lincoln either, causing societal conundrums for others as well including Senator Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones), a Republican proponent of full equal rights for blacks.  Stevens obviously strongly supports Lincoln's amendment, but Lincoln asks that the senator soften his enthusiasm towards full equality as Lincoln fears that would be too radical a step and cause even his fellow Republicans to be turned off.

Lincoln as a film might have been a boring historical piece had we not been given an insight in the man's home life as well.  The biggest struggle facing the Lincoln family is that son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wants to join the Army and do his part to help his country and its revolution.  Like many parents, I imagine, the Lincolns don't want to possibly lose their son in war, especially after having just recently lost son Willie likely to typhoid fever.  Mary Lincoln (Sally Field) takes a very strong stance, angry at the notion that her husband would even consider allowing Robert to pick up a gun and head off to the battlefield.  This tension amongst the family adds another layer to the portrayal of Abraham Lincoln showing him not just as a politician, but as a husband and father and the conflicts that come with those familial roles.

Much praise has been heaped upon Daniel Day-Lewis already for this role and more is certainly headed his way.  It's all deserved.  As much as I hate the fact that yet another historical "impersonation" is going to win an Oscar, there's something transcendent about his portrayal here.  There was never a single moment in the movie where I felt like I was watching an actor.  I was able to completely lose myself in his role thanks to the strongly resolute, yet quirky down-home quality he brings to the character.  As Spielberg rather brilliantly has the camera stay stationary during many of Lincoln's lengthy anecdotal speeches, Day-Lewis is allowed several long takes to completely lose himself in the character.  These longer takes also allow us in the audience to feel as if we are one of the cabinet members, as an example, listening in.  Just like Lincoln's contemporaries onscreen, we find ourselves quieting down and honing in on his every word.  Together the director and actor have created something special.

They are of course aided by a wonderful script by Tony Kushner that settles on a few short months in Lincoln's life.  Kushner injects quite a bit of both humor and pathos in both the political and personal landscapes. While Day Lewis's Lincoln certainly provides a surprising amount of laughter and dramatic moments in both landscapes, Tommy Lee Jones's Senator Stevens is more than willing throw political jabs at his fellow Democratic opponents especially Senator Fernando Wood (Lee Pace) who is helping lead the charge on the Senate floor against the amendment.  Jones also gets some nice moments of quiet that showcase the actor's strengths.  On the familial front, Sally Field is given two absolutely fantastic scenes -- one in which she "talks smack" to her husband's political friends and another in which she beaks down at the prospect of her son Robert heading into the Army.  Field is fantastic here and in just a few moments she's able to create a well-rounded character with whom we in the audience immediately connect.

The film falters a bit at the end with a rather disappointing final coda tacked on, jumping ahead a few months to the President's final moments including a "gotcha" scene that was actually probably the worst moment I've seen in a good movie this year.  [Knowing what I know about Lincoln's final moments, the "gotcha" moment didn't even work for me which made things even worse.]  There would have been a brilliant place to conclude the film just after Lincoln received word of the amendment's passing as he walks down a set of stairs with lovely light shining into the White House's windows.  Instead, Kushner and Spielberg take it one step too far.  Still, Lincoln is a fantastic look at this important time in our country's history and kudos need to be given to the director, screenwriter, and the entire cast for creating something that even this biopic hater found fascinating.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - The Whistleblower

The Whistleblower (2011)

Starring Rachel Weisz, Monica Bellucci, David Strathairn, and Vanessa Redgrave

Directed by Larysa Kondracki

Based on a true story, The Whistleblower explores the United Nations cover-up of sex trafficking crimes in post-war Bosnia through the eyes of a Nebraska cop named Kathy Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) who took a job to help police the war-ravaged area.  For a film that essentially has no more story than that, I was rather surprised that the film, despite its nearly two hour run time, didn't drag.  In fact, it's actually quite a plus that the flick moves along at such a good pace.

Unfortunately, I couldn't shake the fact that the movie which highlights the lack of women's rights in Bosnia would have found a better home on Lifetime rather than in a movie theater.  Granted, it's got a decent performance from Rachel Weisz as the headstrong Bolkovac, but Weisz can't escape the fact that her character is so typical of movies like this -- strong female in a male-dominated working environment finds herself being harshly derided by her colleagues.  It's this aspect of failing to create anything beyond a stereotype for the character of Bolkovac (and her male co-workers) that makes the movie feel less worthy to be a theatrical release.

Then again, I'm critiquing The Whistleblower, but I found myself enjoying it quite a bit.  Admittedly, I wasn't expecting much, but it certainly was an interesting watch.  I just couldn't help but think it could've been much better with a little more depth in the main characters.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - The River Wild

The River Wild (1994)

Starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, John C. Reilly, Joseph Mazzello, and David Strathairn

Directed by Curtis Hanson

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

I hate to overly praise Meryl Streep because I think, as of late, she puts herself in a movie and the viewing public and the Academy automatically think she should be granted an Oscar nomination.  But that fact of the matter is, Streep is a pretty darn good actress, able to capably perform in comedies, dramas, and, in the case of The River Wild, action flicks.

This 1994 film features Streep as Gail, a mother of two whose marriage to Tom (David Strathairn) is perhaps on its last legs.  For a summer vacation, Gail, Tom, and their oldest child Roarke (Joseph Mazzello of Jurassic Park fame) decide to take a river rapids journey in Idaho.  Gail was a former rafting instructor so she's familiar with the river so when the group comes across Wade (Kevin Bacon) and Terry (John C. Reilly), two seemingly bumbling fools stuck on the side of the river, Gail decides to help them make their way down the treacherous rapids.  Little does Gail know that Wade and Terry are more insidious than the river could ever be.

I saw this movie back when it came out and I remembered thinking it was okay, but for some reason or another, I felt like giving it another shot and I'm glad I did.  The River Wild is actually a pretty solid actioner.  It takes a little bit to get started and all of the characters are rather one-note, lacking any real nuances, but to give credit where credit is due, Meryl Streep carves a nice little performance out of what she's given to work with.  She's the reason this movie works as well as it does because she genuinely elevates her character to a different level simply by adding an interesting facial expression here or an uncomfortable laugh there.  She really is an impressive actress and even a movie like The River Wild shows this.

Kudos also to director Curtis Hanson for lensing some pretty exciting rafting scenes that made me kind of want to attempt white water rafting one of these days.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

Starring Christian Bale, Calista Flockhart, Dominic West, Anna Friel, Rupert Everett, David Strathairn, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline, and Michelle Pfeiffer

Directed by Michael Hoffman

I liked this movie more before I watched a recent stage production of Shakespeare's lighthearted comedy.  However, after watching the Bard's words performed live onstage, the movie's faults began to surface and one begins to realize that watching this many "celebrities" perform Shakespeare makes you focus more on the stars (and their lackluster acting) than the actual story.

I'm not going to delve into a summary (that's what sparknotes.com is for when it comes to Shakespeare's works), but I'll simply say that A Midsummer Night's Dream tells the tale of the meeting of the human world and fairy world.  Wacky mayhem (at least wacky in terms of Shakespeare) ensues.  One portion of the tale deals with young lovers while another looks at a lower class group of actors trying to put on a play for the upper class.  The young lovers side (for the most part) works, but the "play within a play" aspect kind of fails.

Christian Bale and Dominic West are both capable of performing Shakespeare's words as the two men who are vying for Hermia's affections.  Anna Friel as Hermia is far and away the best actor in the film and anytime she was onscreen, it made me want to watch her now-cancelled tv show Pushing Daisies.  

While those three young actors fare well, the "bigger" stars at the time of the film's release -- Calista Flockhart, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kevin Kline -- aren't as successful at relaying Shakespeare's words.  Kline, in particular, just didn't work for me.  Watching this and then watching the play made me dislike Kline's take on the comedic character of Nick Bottom even more.  Kline goes over-the-top and while that works onstage, it doesn't onscreen.  

The film looks pretty and rich, and, in the end, it's certainly not a bad Shakespeare adaptation.  Still, the back-to-back viewing of A Midsummer Night's Dream on film and then stage made me realize that I think the stage may be the best place to view the Bard's work.

The RyMickey Rating:  C