Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Julia Butters, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Luke Perry, and Al Pacino

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Written by Quentin Tarantino

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor (2013)

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Yousuf Azami, Ali Suliman, and Eric Bana 

Directed by Peter Berg

The problem with calling your movie Lone Survivor is that you're giving away the ending with the darn title.  Granted, if I had been "up" on my news, I would've known the true story of Marcus Lutrell (played here by Mark Wahlberg) and his Navy Seal mates who head into the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan in order  to capture or kill al Qaeda leader Ahmad Shahd (Yousuf Azami).  But, having not followed this story, I didn't know the details.  Right off the bat in the opening scene, we see that Marcus has survived this ordeal (with the rest of the movie told entirely in flashback), so not only do I know that only one person survives, but I know who the survivor is.

Perhaps I'm being a little petty, but I can't deny that this was a factor for me while watching the film, severely diminishing the tension that absolutely could've been a part of the experience.  Peter Berg does a great job with the action sequences placing the viewer squarely in the heat of the battle in the treacherous Afghan mountains, but he doesn't quite get us to connect with the quartet of American soldiers who are at the forefront of the mission.  Seeing as how there were only four soldiers -- Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, and Ben Foster join the aforementioned Wahlberg -- I expected to find myself a bit more invested in their characters, but with the exception of learning a tiny bit about their home lives, I wanted the emotional connection that I never got.  I don't think it's the fault of the actors, but moreso a fault in the script (also crafted by Berg).

Ultimately, I can't help but think I shouldn't have been "trying to guess" which soldier was going to die first, but the title and the flashback set-up inherently made me go that route.  Needless to say, what Lone Survivor excels at is taking us onto the battlefield -- a different battlefield for a different type of war.  These soldiers are heroes and even though I may not have fully connected with their characters, my admiration for them and their sacrifice cannot be denied.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Killer Joe

Killer Joe (2012)

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, June Temple, Thomas Haden Church, and Gina Gershon

Directed by William Friedkin

My experience with Tracy Letts's screenplays and plays has been mixed so far.  I was one of the few people I know who found the Ashley Judd-Michael Shannon 2006 flick Bug a frightening psychological horror flick (it's streaming on Netflix for those interested).  However, when I saw his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning August: Osage County onstage (soon to be a movie with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts), I found the whole thing to be a bloated soap opera.  [I also recently saw Mr. Letts act in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and he was quite good.]  I'd heard good things about Killer Joe and was eagerly looking forward to checking out the film and I'm pleased to say I wasn't disappointed in the twisted trailer park crime tale.

When Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) runs into a bit of trouble with his drug dealer, he figures that an easy way out of his predicament is to kill his own mother for her life insurance policy.  Seeing as how she just recently kicked him out of her house, Chris figures offing her might not be a bad idea.  When he discovers that his younger sister Dottie (Juno Temple) is the sole beneficiary of his mother's policy (despite the fact that Dottie hasn't had anything to do with her mother for years), Chris manages to get both Dottie and his father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) onboard with the plan.  However, seeing as how neither Chris nor Ansel has any experience killing someone, they decide to hire a hitman named Killer Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a somewhat sleazy cop who performs decidedly criminal work on the side.  When Joe demands $25,000 up front for the deed, Chris and Ansel are unable to come up with the money, so, as collateral, Joe decides that if young virginal Dottie agrees to date him, he'll commit the murder prior to getting paid.  This twisted tale spirals out of control and all the parties may regret their actions sooner then they ever expected.

The inhabitants of Killer Joe are as white trash as they come.  Sleazy, dumb, alcoholic slobs who spend as much time downing liquor or snorting coke in their trailer homes as they do working.  But what Tracy Letts manages to do with these characters is make them surprisingly enjoyable to watch despite their inherent sliminess.  The darkly comic tone that permeates throughout the whole film is certainly a reason why the audience is able to accept these unlikeable characters because the film almost feels as if it's slyly poking fun at them while telling their sordid tale.

This is director William Friedkin's second time around with a Tracy Letts script after Bug and Friedkin (perhaps best known for his one-two punch of The French Connection followed by The Exorcist in the early 1970s) proves he's got the eye to work these twisted plays into equally uncomfortable films.  Knowing that the film is based on a play, it's certainly obvious when watching how easily this would play out on a stage, but that doesn't make film any less viable an option for telling this tale.  Killer Joe is certainly much more "opened up" then Bug which essentially took place in the confines of a hotel room.

Perhaps the best thing Friedkin achieves here is some very nice performances from his main cast of five.  Matthew McConaughey had a high profile turn in Magic Mike this past summer, but I'd sooner watch his sordid take on the title character in this film again.  Despite Joe's secret job as a hitman, he presents himself as a rather moral character, but both the audience and the characters in the film soon begin to realize that despite his somewhat uppity and "well-mannered" charming appearance, he's quite the slimeball.  The sleaziness comes into play most often when Joe is paired up with the much younger (and perhaps underage, although that's never really fully detailed) Dottie played by Juno Temple.  I've seen Temple in a few minor roles, but she manages to really shine here playing a naive young girl who is nothing but a pawn in her family's twisted games.  Kudos also to Gina Gershon who takes on the role of Chris and Dottie's new stepmom Sharla, the epitome of trailer trash.  A seemingly minor character, her role takes on a greater importance towards the film's conclusion and she's front and center in some of film's more disturbing scenes.

There was a bit of buzz surrounding this film upon its release thanks to its NC-17 rating and perhaps it deserves it -- I, for one, will never look at a chicken drumstick in the same way again.  There are certainly disturbing sexual moments that probably earned it that rating, but the film surprisingly never felt too over-the-top thanks in part to that aforementioned darkly comic tone that runs throughout the piece.  While Killer Joe may not be for all tastes, I found it an all-around unique film that makes me want to explore the repertoire of its screenwriter-playwright Tracy Letts even more.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Darkest Hour

The Darkest Hour (2011)

Starring Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, and Joel Kinnamen

Directed by Chris Gorak

While visiting Moscow, a group of five twenty-somethings -- three Americans, an Australian, and a Swede -- manage to be some of the few survivors when an alien life-form comes to Earth one night and annihilates much of the Earth's population.  The aliens are essentially invisible, but sometimes appear to the human eye as visible electric currents that completely disintegrate to dust any living organism they touch.  Overall, the premise of The Darkest Hour had maybe a bit of promise, but in execution, it's basically a glorified SyFy Channel movie that found the budget to include 3D effects in its theatrical release.

Although it may have been difficult to craft a horror film featuring a nearly invisible foe, had The Darkest Hour been successful, it may have been unique enough to at least be worth a watch.  However, the film is a bore of a sci-fi/horror amalgamation in which its ninety minute runtime is its only positive.  There's very little tension and the main characters are all so incredibly underdeveloped that it doesn't matter in the slightest when they get zapped by the aliens.  While the actors all try their hardest, the inane dialog they're forced to spout makes them all look sillier than they deserve to appear.

The RyMickey Rating:  D