Her Smell

 Her Smell (2019)

Starring Elisabeth Moss, Amber Heard, Cara Delevingne, Dan Stevens, Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin, Ashley Benson, Eric Stoltz, and Virginia Madsen

Directed by Alex Ross Perry

Written by Alex Ross Perry

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B+

The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man (2020)

Starring Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Directed by Leigh Whannell

Written by Leigh Whannell

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

The Kitchen

The Kitchen (2019)

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian D'Arcy James, Margo Martindale, Bill Camp, Annabella Sciorra, and Common

Directed by Andrea Berloff

Written by Andrea Berloff

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C-

The Seagull

The Seagull (2018)

Starring Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan, Corey Stoll, Elisabeth Moss, Mare Winningham, Jon Tenney, Glenn Fleshler, Michael Zegen, Billy Howle, and Brian Dennehy

Directed by Michael Mayer

Written by Stephen Karam

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

Us

Us (2019)

Starring Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex

Directed by Jordan Peele

Written by Jordan Peele

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Movie Review - High-Rise

High-Rise (2016)

Starring Tom Hiddleston, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, and Jeremy Irons

Directed by Ben Wheatley

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

High-Rise is like some very weird warped Downton Abbey -- an Upstairs, Downstairs-type situation that morphs into a Lord of the Flies-style war depicting the differences between the upper classes and lower classes in an amped-up, manic manner.  And, just as you'd imagine, the chaos of trying to mix those three aforementioned disparate British classics makes High-Rise a bit of a mess.  Although it's visually appealing with some beautiful sets and costumes coupled with a classically retro 1970s vibe, director Ben Wheatley's film simply doesn't work, overstaying its welcome by nearly a third and devolving into a mess in the flick's second half.

Brain surgeon Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) has just moved into an apartment on the twenty-fifty floor of a new luxury high-rise forty-story tower built by architect Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons) who himself lives in the penthouse with his uppity wife.  The high-rise contains a pool, gym, and even a grocery store, so its occupants find themselves with nary a need to leave.  The further up you live, the ritzier and more expensive your amenities become and the film soon becomes an allegory about class warfare with allusions at the end that capitalism is bad.

This is an odd film -- director Ben Wheatley peppers the flick with weird flash-forwards and it's full of some of the most bizarre characters I've seen in a long time.  The oddness of the whole thing had me intrigued initially, but I soon grew wary, only holding out hope that the allegorical nature would provide some philosophical intrigue.  Instead, the film becomes even odder, full of anarchic nihilism that had me angry I held on for as long as I did and didn't stop the flick sooner.  The cast admittedly gamely bites in to the quirkiness, but it's not enough to save this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Meadowland

Meadowland (2015)

Starring Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, John Leguizamo, Elisabeth Moss, Ty Simpkins, and Giovanni Ribisi

Directed by Reed Morano
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

In Meadowland, a typical stop at a gas station convenience store ends in horror when the young son of Sarah and Phil (Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson) is snatched out of the bathroom right under their noses.  Panic sets in and unfortunately over a year later, their boy is still nowhere to be found.  Phil, a police officer, has succumbed to the fact that his son will likely never be returning, while Sarah, a middle school teacher, will not face the possibility that she will never hold her son again.  Unable to really connect with one another, they find other outlets to try and find relief, but relief doesn't equal happiness.

With some wonderfully nuanced performances from Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson (two actors who I must say that I may never have appreciated as much as I did in this film), it's a bit of a shame that about halfway through Meadowland starts to fall apart.  Watching Sarah and Phil's initial devastation is heartbreaking, but as they begin to explore opportunities that give them a little joy, director Reed Morano's film doesn't really know where to go story-wise, ending in such an awkward and unappealing way that a good chunk of the goodwill it harbored in the very good first half is nearly diminished.

This is Morano's first film and there's certainly potential in the young director.  He got two great turns from his two leads and I think the fault lies more in the script (also from a debut screenwriter) than his direction.  While I'd like to recommend it (and the rating below infers a slight recommendation), Meadowland is really only worth watching for Wilde and Wilson -- there are better films about parental grief than this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

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 - The One I Love

The One I Love (2014)

Starring Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss, and Ted Danson

Directed by Charlie McDowell

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

The less said about The One I Love, the better in terms of its plot.  Let's just say that married couple Ethan and Sophie (Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss) have hit a rough patch.  Ethan cheated on her and Sophie is having a tough time forgiving so their therapist (Ted Danson) sends them to a secluded house in the lovely California hills for a romantic couples weekend.  There, they find themselves reconnecting, but also are forced to deal with a very unusual situation that could either hinder or help their relationship.

Difficult to discuss without spoiling things, The One I Love is a unique spin on the relationship drama -- I've certainly never seen anything like it before.  About twenty minutes into the film, something weird happens and the flick takes us down a path that hasn't been trodden (to the best of my knowledge).  While I did find myself twiddling my thumbs a bit during the middle act, The One I Love does a really nice job of creating a believable relationship between Ethan and Sophie at all points in the film.  As they fight at the beginning, I believed their contentiousness, but also believed they wanted to work it out.  As they begin to reconcile, I bought into their rediscovered joy.  As weird stuff begins to happen at the retreat, I understood their reactions to it and how it affected their connection with one another.  Kudos to first-time screenwriter Justin Lader for crafting characters that I could buy into and giving them relatable dialog despite the somewhat unrelatable situation going on around them.

The fim is essentially a two character piece and Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss bring Lader's words to life in a way that feels genuine.  I was drawn in right away by Duplass and Moss who have much more to do here than I can actually discuss.  The film gives them an opportunity to push their characters' boundaries a bit and both actors succeed.

Admittedly, there are times one when ponders whether The One I Love may have fared better as a short film.  While that wouldn't have allowed us to see the progression of Ethan and Sophie's relationship, the twisted premise does wear a little thin at moments.  Still, debut director Charlie McDowell does a nice job getting great performances from his (essentially) two member cast in this wholly unique take on a troubled relationship.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

(TV) Movie Review - Top of the Lake

Nominated for eight Emmys this year, Top of the Lake (which is currently streaming on Netflix) is a seven episode miniseries produced by the BBC which focuses on the disappearance of a twelve year-old girl (Jacqueline Joe) who, shortly before she vanishes, discovers she is pregnant.  When Australian detective Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss) who specializes in child rape and kidnapping cases travels back to her home country of New Zealand to investigate the crime, she uncovers small town secrets that affect not only the missing girl, but also Robin herself.

Top of the Lake is perfectly fine, but it plods along at times and, considering its length, I can't help but think not enough happened to warrant the over six hours of story presented.  However, what the length does provide is a well-rounded look at all the key players in the plot and that's certainly a welcome addition that the parameters of a miniseries allow.  Co-writer and co-director Jane Campion (of The Piano fame) crafts a strong female character in Detective Griffin and Elisabeth Moss gives the character the chutzpah needed for her scenes with the incredibly rough-around-edges men in the small towns she visits along with the necessary gentleness that comes along with dealing with victimized children.  I discovered after looking at Moss' imdb-ography that I'm not sure I've seen her in anything other than maybe a random episode of a tv show, but she is certainly capable of single-handedly carrying a heavy film like this which is a credit to her talent.

There are also some great turns from Peter Mullan as the father of the missing girl who becomes a suspect in both her disappearance and rape almost instantly and Thomas M. Wright as Griffin's old boyfriend and the missing girl's half-brother who stirs up quite a few feelings in the detective.  However, countering these nice performances is a subplot involving some new-agey American named GJ who sets up some commune in New Zealand for a wide variety of nutty women striving to better themselves by listening to GJ's babble.  Played by Holly Hunter, GJ's scenes were much too plentiful to simply be forgotten, but don't add a thing to the plot in the grander scheme of things, bogging down every single episode of the miniseries.

While I enjoyed Top of the Lake, perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the miniseries is the way things are tied up.  The final episode felt incredibly rushed and the ending was a bit of a letdown in that it provided a solid twist (that I guessed was coming yet still found intriguing), but didn't allow nearly enough time to delve into this conceit, making me a bit perturbed if I'm being honest.  As a viewer, I waited through seven episodes and wanted a bit more of an explanation of things.  All in all, though, Top of the Lake is decent viewing and may be worth checking out if the concept interests you.