Battle of the Sexes

Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Starring Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, and Jessica McNamee

Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Written by Simon Beaufoy

Summary (in 500 words or less):  In 1973, former professional tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) challenged the popular Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) to a tennis match.  This battle of the sexes received much media coverage with the outspoken and braggadocios Riggs certain he'd prove victorious against the quiet, resolute King who was battling her own demons at the same time as she contemplated her sexuality when she begins to fall for a hairdresser (Andrea Riseborough) traveling with the ladies' pro tennis tour.

• Great performances from both Emma Stone and Steve Carell are the highlights of Battle of the Sexes.  Together, they lift this otherwise generic biopic to a greater level.
• The flick works very well during its first half as we get to learn about the private lives of Bobby and Billie Jean, but the actual Battle of the Sexes tennis match which makes up a large chunk of the final third feels a bit anticlimactic as most in the audience will already know the ending.  Tension never really mounts and the film unfortunately suffers because of the (admittedly necessary) emphasis on the titular match.
• Nice production design definitely creates a 70s aesthetic that proves quite charming

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - House at the End of the Street

House at the End of the Street (2012)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue, and Max Thieriot

Directed by Mark Tonderai

It's a sure bet that this is the last teen horror flick recent Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence is going to be starring in for quite a while, but she gives a surprisingly solid turn (although she's not tasked with anything difficult to do) as Elissa, the new girl who's moved to a new town with her mom Sarah (Elisabeth Shue).  They got a great deal on a big house because the titular House at the End of the Street just a few yards from their home was the scene of a murder a few years ago.  Still, despite hearing that the girl who had murdered her parents is presumed dead but has yet to be found, Elissa and Sarah brush off the notion of anything bad happening.  When Elissa discovers that Ryan, the son of the murdered parents, still lives in the house, she strikes up a friendship with the shy, sheltered college student much to Sarah's chagrin.  With this being a horror film, let's just say things don't turn out like they do in a Nicholas Sparks movie.

House at the End of the Street doesn't reinvent the horror wheel by any means and its story is admittedly shaky and stretched quite thin even over its short running time.  However, thanks to Lawrence giving her character a little bit of spunk rather than just being the typical horror ingenue, the film rises above the other teen scare flicks the tiniest of margins.  I realize I'm bucking the trend here (as Rotten Tomatoes has this sitting at 11% Fresh) and I don't want to overstate this film's worth -- it's still not anything special -- but it held my interest mainly because of Lawrence.  It's also nice to see Elisabeth Shue return to the screen even though her role (much like all the roles here) isn't really developed beyond a stereotype.  Max Thieriot also doesn't embarrass himself in a role that easily could've veered into corniness (and kind of does at times) -- somehow he reins in the quirkiness required that I didn't find myself laughing at him.

I realize every good comment above is laced with some bad undertone and that's simply because I must recognize that House at the End of the Street isn't a great film, but if you're in the mood for cheesy teen horror, you could certainly do worse.  Jennifer Lawrence makes this more than tolerable.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Piranha 3D

Piranha 3D (2010)

Starring Elisabeth Shue, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd, and Richard Dreyfuss

Directed by Alexandre Aja

I don't quite know where to go with this one.  Let's just start by saying that Piranha is not a good movie.  Nor does it have any intentions of being one.  It knows full well that it's awful.  The question then becomes does it reach the level of "so bad, it's good" which is the goal it sets out to achieve.

The answer is "it depends."

The problem with a movie like Piranha is that it isn't good or worth your time unless you're able to watch it with a group of people who can talk back to the screen.  Sitting and watching this flick in a theater with folks who are "forced" to be quiet is going to seriously dampen your fun...and it's going to make you realize that the movie doesn't quite hit the heinously hilarious levels it hoped it would.

When a pack of prehistoric-era killer piranhas is unleashed due to a seismic event (triggered -- no joke -- by a beer bottle falling into a lake), the town of Lake Victoria is in for some trouble.  Of course, it's Spring Break and tons of college hotties who are perfectly fine with dancing topless are ready for a dip in the town's lake.  There's really no point in explaining any more plot...killer piranhas attack senseless and obnoxious college students.  You don't need to know anything else.

We're treated to a who's who of has-been actors -- Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, and Christopher Lloyd -- who are all surprisingly decent.  Thankfully, the director realized that watching a movie riddled with horrible actors like the obnoxious Jerry O'Connell would have been painful to sit through, so he actually cast a few decent people to counter the awful ones.

On one hand, it's nice that director Alexandre Aja recognized he was going for pure camp.  There's a scene towards the beginning where two buxom ladies strip down to nothing but flippers and swim through the surprisingly clean waters of Lake Victoria while proceeding to hump one another.  This scene goes on for at least two minutes and it's all set to a classical opera aria.  Alone, the nude ladies would have been just nude ladies, but set to classical music, it becomes a somewhat hilarious scene.  Aja at least has an eye for the corny and it certainly is necessary in a film like this.

The 3D -- which was a conversion and not shot in the format -- was disappointing.  It created a dark tone at times where it became nearly impossible to see what was going on.  In the end, the corniness would've been perfectly acceptable in 2D.

Even after writing this review, I'm still not quite sure where to go with the rating here.  I enjoyed myself, but I'm well aware that this movie sucks.  If I watched it alone at home, I would think it was one of the worst movies I'd seen this year.  In the setting in which I watched it, however -- with a group of seven talking back to the screen -- it was an enjoyable diversion.

In the end, just know what you're getting into with this and maybe you'll come out of it with some moderate enjoyment.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+