Midway

Midway (2019)

Starring Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans, Mandy Moore, Luke Kleintank, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Etsushi Toyokawa, Tadanobu Asano, Keean Johnson, Darren Criss, and Dennis Quaid

Directed by Roland Emmerich

Written by Wes Tooke

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Truth

Truth (2015)

Starring Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Dennis Quaid, Elisabeth Moss, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach, John Benjamin Hickey, and Dermot Mulroney

Directed by James Vanderbilt

Despite a solid performance from Cate Blanchett (who, lets be honest, rarely disappoints), Truth feels as if it's not quite doing what its title implies.  Based on a true story, Blanchett is Mary Mapes, a producer for the venerable CBS news series 60 Minutes.  With the 2004 presidential election on the horizon, Mapes and segment host Dan Rather (Robert Redford) present a story that claims that then-current President George W. Bush received preferential treatment from Air National Guard officials in the 1970s.  Nearly immediately after the airing of the segment, a variety of sources begin to question the thirty-plus year-old documents that were the building blocks and particularly damning evidence of Mapes and Rather's report.  As Mapes attempts to quell the criticism, she finds herself at odds with her CBS bosses who keep questioning her journalistic ethics.

Taking politics out of the equation, the ultimate problem with Truth stems from the fact that it is based on Mapes's memoir and it makes out her CBS bosses and the litigation team investigating her journalistic ethics to be manically devilish in their attempts to take her down.  You can almost see Dermot Mulroney's lawyer character twirling his comedically villainous mustache as he tries to silence Mapes, and a lengthy and vindictive diatribe against the CBS honchos spoken by Topher Grace's ambitious reporter (and Mapes colleage) proves laughably farcical rather than substantive.  While there may be some truth behind the preferential treatment Bush received (and there may very well not be), the lack of well-roundedness in the side players of Truth and the need to make Mapes seem "right" hinders the film greatly.

As mentioned, Blanchett is good as the strong-willed Mapes who faces a possible career-ending crisis with the actress allowing us to see the pain Mapes internally confronts, but the film steers her wrong at the end and the self-aggrandizing, boastful attitude of the film does Blanchett no favors.  The film is blatantly telling us how to feel about her character rather then letting the audience naturally come to that conclusion.  The rest of the typically solid cast isn't given much to do at all with Redford in particular inhabiting a role that feels underwritten and shockingly sidelined for much of the film.  Then again, this is Mary Mapes's story and despite its attempts at trying to balance both sides, the film, although adequately produced and lensed, just doesn't land in the way it hopes.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - At Any Price

At Any Price (2013)

Starring Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron, Kim Dickens, Heather Graham, Maika Monroe, and Clancy Brown
Directed by Ramin Bahrani

Despite decent performances from Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron, At Any Price is a heartland-set drama that plays more like a soap opera than a legitimate movie.  Quaid is Henry Whipple, a Midwestern farmer who sells seed to his fellow agriculturists.  Henry's son Dean (Efron) lived in the shadow of his older brother who, after he went off to college, left Dean to feel the brunt of Henry's desire to pass his farm down to one of his sons.  Dean, however, just wants to race cars leading to tension between father and son.

Beyond this little familial tiff, there are several other "issues" that come to the forefront as the movie progresses that elevate the drama.  Some of these elements work...some are laughable.  Quaid tackles these hurdles by making his character irritatingly chipper which works at moments and doesn't at others.  Efron comes off a bit better, proving that there may be potential for something from the young actor, but once again, he's not given much to stretch his acting chops here.  (Parkland and The Paperboy also allowed him to give decent performances, but also didn't give him a chance to really shine.)

The RyMickey Rating:  C

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 - Suspect

Suspect (1987)

Starring Cher, Dennis Quaid, Liam Neeson, Joe Mantegna, and John Mahoney

Directed by Peter Yates
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

I've only seen one movie with Cher before (Mask and that was probably close to fifteen years ago), so Suspect was nearly my first foray into her as an actress.  I've got to say that I was impressed with the singer.  There's a naturalness that comes from her that isn't seen most of the time in "stars."  She was absolutely believable as beleaguered public defender Kathleen Riley.  Unfortunately, the film around her fell a little short in the believability department.

Kathleen is placed on a case of a deaf homeless man (Liam Neeson) accused of murdering a Washington D.C. judge's secretary.  Once brought to trial, one of the jurors, a Congressional lobbyist (Dennis Quaid), for some reason or another takes on a detective role, dropping hints to Kathleen in order to bolster her case and get an acquittal for her client.  The problem with the film lies in the fact that there's no reason for this lobbyist to help Kathleen.  In the end, he's not connected with the actual murder at all so it's not like that's the big twist.  There was no valid reason...except that, he's kind of a man-whore and he had the hots for Kathleen.  Beyond that, there's nothing, and that's the downfall of the film.

That being said, I liked the movie despite the fairly major flaw.  As I said, Cher was quite good and, although his character was absolutely ridiculous, Dennis Quaid was rather charming.  In their scenes together, a real chemistry is evident.  

For some reason or another, I remember seeing the video box for this film back when I was a kid in the local Blockbuster.  Of course, it was in the suspense section with all the Hitchcock films and so it always fell into that "maybe I'll watch that one day" category, so when it popped up on Netflix, I figured I'd give it a shot.  Despite its problems, Suspect is an enjoyable courtroom drama that won't land on anyone's best list, but qualifies as a nice diversion.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Legion

Legion (2010)

Starring Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton, Tyrese Gibson, Kate Walsh, and Dennis Quaid

Directed by Scott Stewart
 ***Currently streaming on Netflix***

SyFy channel movies know they're bad.  The revel in their low-budgetness.  The major studio release Legion, however, feels like a SyFy made-for-tv flick, but it never realizes it's bad.  It doesn't have the winking sensibility that is present in the trashy flicks on tv.

There's really no point in discussing this piece of trash, but the general plot is that God is angry at everyone on Earth and has sent his angels to destroy humanity in some apocalyptic catastrophe.  There is, of course, one hope of life on Earth surviving and that is the baby being born to some young gal named Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) in some diner in Arizona.  All of the angels begin to take on demon-like qualities as they try to attack Charlie and the patrons of the diner.  Fortunately for Charlie, one angel (Paul Bettany) has went against God and is attempting to save Charlie and her unborn savior child.

Any time grown men are walking around with angel wings on their back, it's hard to take things seriously.  And Legion doesn't play up the ridiculous factor nearly enough.  Plus, there's honestly better acting in SyFy movies than in this flick.  Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Kate Walsh, and Tyrese Gibson just embarrass themselves.  While Paul Bettany may fare a tad better, he's still godawful at moments.

I've talked enough about this one.  Don't bother.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Horsemen (2009)

Starring Dennis Quaid, Ziyi Zhang, Clifton Collins, Jr., and Lou Taylor Pucci
Directed by Jonas Akerlund

Clifton Collins, Jr. Alert! The character actor continues his trend of being in a bunch of movies this year...and in this fifth film of his this year, I'm not sure Mr. Collins is a good actor.

Dennis Quaid (better here than in G.I. Joe and Pandorum...although that's not saying much) is police detective Aidan Breslin who is investigating a serial killer who murders based on the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Unfortunately, there's no driving force here. This movie should have been suspenseful, but it's just boring (fortunately it's only 85 minutes, so it doesn't really overstay its welcome). And there's a "twist" that I saw coming thirty minutes in...and it's just absolutely ridiculous and obvious.

There's really no point in discussing this anymore...I'm sure no one's heard of this one despite it's release in theaters (I'm not sure if that should be pluralized or not since I'd never heard of it either) and based on this rating, I'm sure no one will care to watch it...nor should they.

The RyMickey Rating: 1/5

Side Note: According to the tags (which admittedly may not be 100% correct), this is the 200th movie review on the blog.

Movie Review - Pandorum (2009)

Starring Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid

Directed by Christian Alvert

Movies are a visual medium. For the most part, seeing things is better than hearing about them. In Pandorum, everything is simply explained to us, rather than being shown to us. Sure, sometimes awful flashback scenes are mixed in with the expository dialogue, but this flick is much too talky without really saying much of anything.

It doesn't help that it looks like it was made on an incredibly low budget. Granted, that's not always a bad thing when it comes to sci-fi (look at Moon for an example of low budget sci-fi done right), but in this film, it looks like the actors are running down the same hallway over and over again just lit differently. And the director doesn't help here either. He manages to shoot action sequences so awkwardly that any tension (of which there really isn't any to begin with) is negated.

Nothing here is worthwhile. The "aliens" look like any other alien we've seen. The acting (especially by Dennis Quaid) is poor. It runs on entirely too long, clocking in at a completely unnecessary nearly two hours. Poor all around.

The RyMickey Rating: D-

Movie Review - G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

Starring Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller, Christopher Eccleston, Jonathan Pryce, Rachel Nichols, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Written by Stuart Beattie and David Elliot
Directed by Stephen Sommers

So we're into August and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is going to be the last "big" action movie (I guess there's Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, but I don't know if that'll fall into the same "category"). We've seen one great action flick in these past four months (The Hurt Locker), two good ones (Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation), one less than average one (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and one of the worst movies I've seen this entire year (Transformers 2). Where does G.I. Joe fall? It's filled with some really crappy CGI stuff, incredibly stupid dialogue, and two of the worst acting performances I've seen this year...but it's not even close to Transformers levels of heinousness.

Some evil mastermind has created these nanobots (or something like that) that eat away at everything they touch, effectively destroying both living and non-living things. He plans to release them in order to gain power...same old stuff any other evil mastermind plots to do. The G.I. Joe team of special agents is going to stop him. There's more story than that (an unrequited romance, a brother-sister relationship, two Ninja Warriors who hate each other), but none of that matters despite the fact that the filmmakers try to make us think it's important.

And the reason none of that matters is because the whole point of this movie is simply to move from one action sequence to the next. And there were several action-filled sequences in this movie that completely throw logic and reality to the wayside...which is fine, but after the second such scene, it gets old quickly. And when your action sequences are so blatantly CGI'ed, it bums me out.

As far as the acting goes, there's nothing really good to say. Red-haired Rachel Nichols (who I remember thinking was hot on Alias when she took over for a pregnant Jennifer Garner) and the blond and brunette Sienna Miller were both a treat for the eyes, but I wouldn't exactly call them good actresses (sorry, ladies, but I think you were aware of that when you signed onto this and got fitted for the skintight gear). Marlon Wayans is the Silly Black Guy. Christopher Eccelston is Diabolical Evil Mastermind (complete with Token Foreign Accent -- this time, Celtic!). Joseph Gordon-Levitt is okay in a role that is quite different for him, but he was certainly directed to be over-the-top and oddly shaky and twittery.

And then there's two of the worst acting performances I've seen this year -- Dennis Quaid is horrifically awful as the head of the G.I. Joe "branch." I actually really like Quaid most of the time (he's my mom's favorite actor, so there's some family loyalty there, I guess), but his stereotypical gruff Army guy was just dumb. The less that can be said about the lead actor in this movie, Channing Tatum, the better. He is so emotionless and vacant onscreen...and he needs to open his frickin' mouth when he talks instead of just mumbling. Mumbling doesn't equal "Tough Guy." Oh, and there's a ridiculous cameo for some completely unknown reason by my favorite actor working today (please note the sarcasm) -- Brendan Fraser.

So I've pretty much bashed this thing completely, but it's definitely not the worst thing I've seen this year by a longshot. In terms of those action movies listed above, it falls below Wolverine, but way above Transformers. It's just mindless and silly and stupid (a la Crank: High Voltage but not nearly at that level of ridiculosity) and, while I wouldn't recommend it, if you've got a choice between this and Transformers, Funny People, The Collector, or Aliens in the Attic which are all currently in wide release, this is better than those...how's that for a ringing endorsement?

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Battle for Terra (2009)

Featuring the voice talents of Evan Rachel Wood, Brian Cox, James Garner, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, David Cross, Dennis Quaid, and Luke Wilson
Directed and Story by Aristomenis Tsirbas
Written by Evan Spiliotopolous

Well...if this is the start of the summer movie season, it can only go up from here.

Created to be seen in 3D, Battle for Terra was screened (in my case) in regular 35mm format. Most theaters across the country chose to show it in this "regular" way since there was zero buzz on this animated flick (deservedly so).

Pixar (and to a moderately lesser extent, Disney, and, to even lesser an extent, Dreamworks) realize that in order to have a successful animated film, you need to appeal to a broad spectrum of people -- kids, teenagers, their parents, their grandparents. Lesser studios (including the company MeniThings which produced this flick) can't seem to pick up on that...or, if they do, they can't quite grasp what needs to be done in order to achieve broad-spectrum appeal. Battle for Terra has no idea who it wants to appeal to -- the story is much too complicated and boring for kids and ridiculously heavy-handed for grown-ups.

Essentially, Earth has been destroyed in some type of power struggle between humans (we destroyed Venus and Mars, as well, both of which we were inhabiting). Desperate for some place to live, we come across Terra whose inhabitants are sperm-like, completely emotionless creatures (at least I felt no emotion towards them) that float around in their world with little airplanes made of leaves and stuff. These Terra things are "peaceful"...us humans love war. Because we love war so much, we utilize it to take whatever we want...at least the humans in the military do. Who will win in the end? The peaceful people of Terra or the awful, awful humans?

The film is an incredibly thinly veiled attempt at pointing out that war is bad, the military is awful, and peace needs to reign supreme. In an ideal world, the latter would happen, but we don't live that way. Instead, in this movie, it is painfully obvious that the white, Anglo-Saxon male is evil (for, you see, us white men are the military fighters). All we want to do is go kill things. Females and African Americans in this film (who partly make up what is essentially a futuristic Congress) are thoroughly opposed to this. In this Obama Age, I would expect nothing less. The movie was essentially "Down with Republicans! Up with Democrats! Go hug each other and throw away your guns!"

Anyone who knows me knows I fall on the conservative side of most issues, but I'm always willing to listen to jokes and poke fun at the party with which I align myself (I'm no Sean Hannity "Republicans Can Do No Wrong" kind of guy). But this movie was so blatantly in my face about its agenda, it was annoying.

Let alone the awful story, the animation was poorly done, and the voice acting was painfully boring. When the best thing about the movie is trying to figure out whose voice you're hearing, you know you're in trouble. On another note about the voicing...granted, there aren't "huge stars" in this, but that list of actors above is full of highly recognizable names. How the heck did this nobody podunk little animation studio sign up all these big names for this ridiculousness that I watched? Oh...I know...Liberal Hollywood must've fallen head over heels for this one...

The RyMickey Rating: F