A Rainy Day in New York

 A Rainy Day in New York (2020)

Starring Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez, Jude Law, Diego Luna, Rebecca Hall, Cherry Jones, and Liev Schreiber

Directed by Woody Allen

Written by Woody Allen

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

If Beale Street Could Talk

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Starring KiKi Lane, Stephan James, Regina King, Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Brian Tyree Hill, Michael Beach, Aunjanue Ellis, Ed Skrein, Emily Rios, Finn Wittrock, Diego Luna, and Dave Franco

Directed by Barry Jenkins

Written by Barry Jenkins

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Riz Ahmed, and Mads Mikkelsen

Directed by Gareth Edwards

As some may recall, I had not seen a single Star Wars film until last year.  I had gone more than three decades without fully learning about the travails of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia.  That all changed, however, as I watched Episodes IV through VII within the span of 48 hours with the last edition -- The Force Awakens -- landing on my Top Ten films of 2015.  With that newfound appreciation of the massively popular series, I will admit that I actually wanted to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story...but it was a huge letdown for this "newcomer" to the Star Wars pantheon.

A prequel of sorts to Episode IV, Rogue One tells us the tale of how the Rebel forces got hold of the plans for the Imperial's Death Star and were able to destroy it at the end of the 1977 film.  Here, a young girl named Jyn is sent into hiding by her research scientist father Galen (Mads Mikkelsen) right before he is captured by the Imperial forces to help with the plans for the planet-destroying Death Star.  Now grown up, Jyn (Felicity Jones) finds herself on the wrong side of the law and imprisoned, but is broken free by the Rebels when it's discovered that her father is trying to send them messages to help them defeat the Imperial armies.  Jyn leads a group of men to retrieve the blueprints to the Death Star which - surprise, surprise - is ultimately successful.

Part of the issue with Rogue One is that we already know the premise of the ending before the film even begins.  This group of ragtag folks - Jones along with Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk (as a smart-aleck robot), Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, and Riz Ahmed - succeeds or else Episode IV would've never happened.  The overarching dramatic tension simply isn't there.  Sure, there are individual moments in Rogue One that may excite, but the overall outcome is already known from the start.  Coming off of The Force Awakens which had quite a few surprises, this film felt like a huge letdown.

Ultimately, Rogue One is just a huge bore.  There are hardly any moments of lightheartedness (like in the form of Han Solo's wisecracks or Ewoks or R2D2) and attempts at laughs via Tudyk's K-2SO fall flat.  With the exception of Forest Whitaker (who is overacting to the nth degree), the cast is fine, but their characters are one-note and utterly bland, giving the audience no one to really latch onto in terms of a character to really relate.  In fact, the only bright spots in the film occur when Ben Mendelsohn takes the screen as the villainous Orson Krennic, the overseer of the Death Star project for the Imperial military.  He revels in his devious role and livens things up whenever he's onscreen which is more than I can say for anyone else.

I have been severely disappointed by director Gareth Edwards previous two efforts -- Monsters and Godzilla -- and Rogue One continues the trend of me not caring for his work.  Much like those other two films, he fails to create a momentum that's sorely needed in an action-centric story.  His key action-oriented scenes do little to enhance the story and are filmed in a bland, almost nonchalant fashion.  Edwards isn't helped by the screenplay which fails to flesh out the characters beyond a most basic set of descriptors, but he doesn't help himself either when it comes to creating a film that builds excitement and tension.  With the exception of the film's final ten minutes which admittedly (finally) holds one's interest, the preceding two hours could've been condensed into a crawl at the beginning of a Star Wars film -- oh wait...it was.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Book of Life

The Book of Life (2014)

Featuring the vocal talents of Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Ron Perlman, Christina Applegate, Kate del Castillo, and Ice Cube

Directed by Jorge R. Gutiérrez

Although visually stimulating, The Book of Life falls into a similar trap I've noticed lately of animated movies being unable to create an appropriate denouement at their conclusions.  It's a bit surprising actually as The Book of Life is quite solid at creating a love triangle between its three main characters, but when it treks into the folkloric and light-hearted Mexican "underworld" in the film's second half, the relationships are muted in a way that is detrimental to the flick's emotional impact.

The film is narrated by museum guide Mary Beth (Christina Applegate) who is showing a group of rambunctious kids artifacts related to the Mexican folktales of The Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten.  The former is ruled over by the lovely La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and is inhabited by the souls of dead who are remembered by those still living making the atmosphere a fun party, vibrantly colored, and full of vigor.  The latter is where those who are forgotten dwell in darkened shadows hiding from ruler Xibalba (Ron Perlman).  At first, I was irritated by the set-up of the museum guide narrator, but as the film progressed, I appreciated the mini-historical aspects her character brought to the story...although I can't help but think that in a better scripted and thought out film this still may not have been necessary.

Nevertheless, La Muerte and Xibalba have a bit of a love-hate relationship going on, constantly battling one another for supremacy.  Upon one of the their visits above ground, they come across Manolo, Joaquin, and Maria -- a young trio of kids who are quite fond of one another with the two boys obviously harboring some love for Maria.  La Muerte and Xibalba make a bet -- if Manolo weds Maria when they get older, Xiblaba can no longer come to the surface and mess with human affairs; if Joaquin weds Maria, Xibalba will take over the Land of the Remembered and La Muerte will be forced to reside in the Land of the Forgotten.  As the kids grow older, Manolo (Diego Luna) becomes a sensitive guitar player who is forced to become a bullfighter by his father, whereas Joaquin (Channing Tatum) becomes quite the ladies' man, known for his machismo and his strength in battle.  Maria (Zoe Saldana) finds herself torn between the two men, both of whom have a genuine love for her.

Well-voiced, the trio of main characters is charming and quite enjoyable to follow.  Additionally, I found the vocal talent of Kate del Castillo and Ron Perlman as the two underworld gods to have an amusingly humorous rapport.  Animation-wise, The Book of Life looks quite interesting.  Since museum guide Mary Beth is telling the story based on artifacts, the characters of Maria, Manolo, Joaquin, La Muerte, and Xibalba all look as if they're wooden dolls -- which actually isn't as weird as it sounds.  In fact, it's a rather ingenious move that gives the film some much needed oomph.

Unfortunately, a major aspect of the film when one of our trio of lovebirds visits the underworld fails pretty miserably and severely hampers the final half of the movie.  There was potential here for something really unique and amusing and while that first adjective still is maintained, the film doesn't keep up it's promise of being boisterously fun.  The Book of Life isn't bad, but it's a bit disappointing considering all the positives it had in its favor.

The RyMickey Rating:  C