Home for the Holidays

 Home for the Holidays (1995)

Starring Holly Hunter, Robert Downey, Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chapman, Steve Guttenberg, Cynthia Stevenson, and Claire Danes

Directed by Jodie Foster

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Rick Yune, Dylan McDermott, Finley Jacobsen, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Robert Forster, and Ashley Judd

Directed by Antoine Fuqua

There's a feeling of "blah" that permeates throughout Olympus Has Fallen.  To me, "blah" doesn't necessarily mean bad, but it certainly doesn't connote anything good either.  There's a blandness here across the whole board from the acting to the story to the direction.  The screenwriters choose a topical enemy here as North Korean terrorists come into Washington, D.C., and wreak huge amounts of havoc on the city itself before honing in on the White House and taking the President (played by Aaron Eckhart), Vice President, and a few other important uppity-ups hostage.  With the terrorists having killed every Secret Service agent in the White House, the Commander in Chief's one chance at survival is Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), the President's former head Secret Service who quit his job after a horrible car accident eighteen months prior left the President's wife (Ashley Judd) dead.  Banning went to work at a different government position to distance himself from the shame he felt after being unable to save the First Lady, but when D.C. comes under attack, he springs into action, kills a bunch of the invading North Koreans and makes his way into the White House where he does his best to get the President and his close confidantes to safety.

Olympus Has Fallen only works when it keeps its focus on Gerard Butler.  Butler isn't given a whole lot to do, but when he's kicking ass and taking names, it's fun to watch.  It's not that Butler's Banning does anything particularly fresh, but he's got a charisma that at least makes things entertaining.  The rest of the film is unfortunately, as previously mentioned, generically bland.  Famous actors -- Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Ashley Judd -- appear for minutes and then fade into the background making us wonder how in the heck director Antoine Fuqua and the film's producers managed to snag them to appear in the film.

After watching this one, I'm kind of dreading the notion of watching this year's similarly themed White House Down...but now I kind of feel like I have to simply for comparisons sake.

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Movie Review - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Nina Dobrev, Johnny Simmons, Melanie Lynskey, Joan Cusack, and Paul Rudd

Directed by Stephen Chbosky

There's an aire of pretentiousness that runs throughout the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I found it a book that kept me at a distance because none of the characters were embraceable, nor were they nasty enough to be characters you loved to hate.  I was hoping that the movie might change my tune, but my overall reaction stayed pretty much the same.  Overall, the book's author Stephen Chbosky does a nice job in his first directorial gig in nearly two decades and he adapts his novel quite adequately to the screen, but this is simply a tale I never quite found winning.

The problem with The Perks of Being a Wallflower never lies with the storyline of the main character Charlie (Logan Lerman) who, as the film begins, is starting ninth grade after having a difficult summer in which he lost his best friend to suicide.  For most of his life, Charlie has always been battling psychological demons, but he hopes he's pushed them to the side as he begins the angst-filled four years of high school.  Charlie ends up befriending two seniors, step-siblings Patrick and Sam (Ezra Miller and Emma Watson) and it's in these two characters and their surroundings that the film (and the book) disappoint.  It's not that Patrick and Sam prove to be unrealistic, it's just that I couldn't care less about their problems and dreams for the future.  Patrick is an incredibly quirky gay teen who is seemingly the class clown and Sam is lovable with a pixie cut that indicates a slightly rough edge.  Everything with these two just feels overly angsty with a vibe of "aren't we unique/no teenager has ever done this before" thrown in when, in fact, their shenanigans are quite commonplace.

However, the character of Charlie makes the film work better than it probably should and Logan Lerman is a standout.  Lerman's fairly new to the acting scene and while I can't say I've ever been disappointed by the kid, I don't think I ever would've said I've been impressed.  That has changed.  Here, the now twenty year-old Lerman perfectly captures the fear of the initial days of high school, the insecurity of being one's true self even if it doesn't make you popular, and the tentativeness of one's first forays into romance, alcohol, and the other difficulties that come with one's teen years.  Also nice was Paul Rudd's turn as Charlie's English teacher, a friend/mentor who helps shape Charlie into a young man who can be proud of himself.

While there's part of me that can understand the effusive praise The Perks of Being a Wallflower received upon its release -- the film looks good, the acting is decent -- I've never been a fan of Mr. Chbosky's novel so its transition to film was going to be difficult to reel me in.  Still, thanks to a great performance from Logan Lerman, this one definitely lands in the "you should see this" category.

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Movie Review - Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

NOTE: With this review, I'm bringing this Christmas Movie a Day thing to a close for this year (Instead of 31 movies, it'll be the 12 Movies of Christmas, I guess). I'd really like to keep my New Year's resolution to have read a book a week this year and, with four more to go at this point, that won't happen if I continue this little Christmas thing. So, while I'm sure I'll be watching some Christmas movies in the upcoming weeks, it won't be a Movie a Day.

Christmas Movie a Day #12
Miracle on 34th Street (1994 edition)
Starring Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, and Mara Wilson
Directed by Les Mayfield

It's a sign of the times that we'd see a drunken Santa's butt crack in a remake of Miracle on 34th Street. Aaah...nearly 50 years after the original and we've grown so much as a society that we know deem butt cheeks funny. But maybe I'm just cynical...

Nevertheless, this remake moves the story to modern day and replaces Macy's with the make-believe Cole's (one would imagine that Macy's wouldn't shell out the product placement moolah...aahh...cynicism again). Everything else is pretty much the same, except there's a ridiculously unnecessary subplot about a rival store's attempts at a corporate takeover of Cole's (once again...nothing like placing modern-day worries into a sweet, sentimental tale) which manages to add twenty minutes to the plot.

Certainly helping this film revival is Mara Wilson as young Susan. She manages to convey a little more emotion into the character than Natalie Wood (although Wilson does fall into the "too smart for her own good" trap that screenwriters are want to do). On a side note, whatever happened to Mara Wilson? I guess people got tired of her lisp, but I thought she was kinda cute in Mrs. Doubtfire, Matilda, and this...but she hasn't done a thing this decade. Dylan McDermott is also a tad better as the lawyer who helps Kris Kringle get out of his jam. While others like Elizabeth Perkins as Susan's mom and Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle are fine, they don't quite match up to Maureen O'Hara and Edmund Gwenn (particularly Attenborough...although he had a very tough act to follow with the magical Gwenn).

This remake certainly isn't bad, and while I'd choose the original over this one, it still would be worth the watch should it come on tv.

The RyMickey Rating: C+
The Christmas Spirit Scale: 6/10
(The Christmas Spirit Scale is a totally pointless rating that is simply my feeling about how "Christmas-y" the movie felt to me)