Chernobyl (TV Miniseries)

Chernobyl (2019)

Starring Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, Paul Ritter, and Jesse Buckley

Directed by Johan Renck

Written by Craig Mazin

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Little Boy

Little Boy (2015)

Starring Jakob Salvati, David Henrie, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin James, and Michael Rapaport

Directed by Alejandro Monteverde
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Faith-based movies are always a tricky go for this Catholic blogger.  Part of me wants to enjoy them, but they're quite frankly so poorly acted and written (or at least that's often the way their trailers look so I'm never drawn in) that it's tough to find one that is actually worth your time.  Little Boy doesn't change that notion although it is slightly more of a "movie" than a special after school edition of The 700 Club.  Perhaps more "Catholic" in its preachings than most other religious-themed films seeing as how the faith on display in the flick is the Catholic religion, Little Boy attempts to showcase how religion and faith can heal all, but the end result is a muddled mess.

The "little boy" of the title is Pepper Busbee (Jakob Salvati), an eight year-old who is saddened when his father and best buddy James (Michael Rapaport) is called off to fight in WWII after Pepper's older brother London (David Henrie) is said to be too unhealthy to go to war.  With the help of Father Oliver (Tom Wilkinson), Pepper begins a series of tasks that "prove" his faith in hopes that being strong in his beliefs will bring his father home safe.  And it's that "proving your faith" thing that makes Little Boy ridiculous.  I mean, I'm gonna spoil something here, but it's implied in this film that through "faith" and through Pepper's "hope," the little boy caused the war to end by praying for the US to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.  That's just inane and insulting.

Admittedly, the film does a nice job at creating an interesting relationship between young Pepper and older Hashimoto (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), an Asian-American who has just been released from an internment camp and is finding it very difficult to live in the US with the anti-Japanese feelings throughout the country during WWII.  Though their dialog is sometimes oddly written, I found the mutually beneficial relationship a tiny bit compelling, but that's the only thing Little Boy has going for it.  Beyond that, it's too simplistically (and sometimes embarrassingly and offensively) preachy for its own good.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Everest

Everest (2015)

***viewed in 3D***

Starring Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Elizabeth Debicki, Naoko Mori, Emily Watson, and Keira Knightley

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur

To me, there's an insanity that comes with wanting to climb a nearly unclimbable mountain like Mt. Everest.  Shelling out $64,000 to join the Adventure Consultants team headed by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) seems like a crazy notion to me, but mailman Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), doctor and father Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), writer Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly), and forty-eight year-old avid climber Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori) are just a few of the people who decided to do such a thing in March 1996.  Everest tells their tragic true story.

While there are certainly moments of sentimentality -- most stemming from the aforementioned climbers' phone calls home to their loved ones (Keira Knightley, Robin Wright) or base camp manager Helen (Emily Watson) -- Everest doesn't harp on them.  In a film that so easily could've created emotional connections between the climbers, Everest is really about Man vs. Nature.  When someone falls off a cliff edge, it's certainly a painful moment and it's greeted with sadness and grief by other climbers, but it's also the nature of the beast.  Don't mistake my writing and think that the film is callous to those who truly lost their lives -- it's not in the slightest.  It's simply that the film is like a docudrama, detailing the incidents with a bluntness we're not necessarily used to seeing in films -- and it works.

The film admittedly takes its time to get going, but director Baltasar Kormákur succeeds in making the build-up to the climb nearly as compelling as the climb itself.  Thanks to the adept screenplay, we learn little tidbits of info about each of our climbers without ever being burdened with big backstories (with the exception of perhaps Rob Hall who leads the expedition and is the main character in the ensemble).  Once we get onto the mountain itself, Kormákur creates an intense atmosphere where that aforementioned bluntness keeps us on a constant edge because we're never really given a warning or a build-up to when bad things are going to happen.

With special effects that are near flawless -- I genuinely felt like I was on Everest making the climb with the group -- Everest is certainly a success.  However, the lack of emotion -- the same thing I praised the film for earlier -- does end up being a slight downfall in the end.  It's the docudrama aspect of the whole affair that doesn't fully allow us in the audience to "feel" for the characters.  Only in the end when the requisite character codas flash up on the screen with "real life" photos of those who lost their lives on the mountain did I actually "feel" something.  The coda is there obviously to remind us that what we witnessed was true and there's no doubt in my mind that ending the film on this note is necessary to pay the proper respect to those who passed away.  However, the end also oddly makes us wish that the film itself inherently created the emotions that are aroused within us when we see the real-life photos.  It doesn't do that and because of that it's a bit too jarring of a conclusion.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Theory of Everything

The Theory of Everything (2014)

Starring Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox (boyfriend), Harry Lloyd (Hawking's friend), David Thewlis (professor), and Emily Watson

Directed by James Marsh

I can't even begin to pretend that anything that comes out of the mind of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking makes any lick of sense to me.  Hence, I was a bit hesitant to venture into a viewing of The Theory of Everything which takes a look at his life, biopic-style.  However, much to my surprise, I found director James Marsh's film to be an engaging look at a young couple (Stephen and Jane Hawking) fighting the odds to try and make it despite the many hardships that accompanied Stephen's ALS diagnosis in his early twenties.

Marsh doesn't hide the fact at any point in time that The Theory of Everything is a romance.  We get beautiful shots of two people wooing each other, winning each other, and, however unfortunate, falling out with each other.  Still, Marsh has crafted a film that in many ways epitomizes what I'd like a lasting romance to be for me.  There's a connection between his two main characters that he manages to capture that's obvious from the very get-go that builds and blossoms as his film progresses.

Of course, there would be no romantic connection between characters if the two actors portraying said parts didn't exude some chemistry and Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones do just that.  I'll admit that I came into this film thinking that it was going to be a showcase for the young Mr. Redmayne (and it was...more on that in a bit), but I found myself pleasantly won over by the lovely Ms. Jones as Mr. Hawking's paramour Jane.  Jones has a very difficult part that I'll admit at first I believed was going to be one note.  Playing the young college age Jane, she's seemingly just your average student who's fallen for some guy.  However, as Stephen's disease begins to rear its ugly head and he gets progressively worse, the strength of character that someone like Jane needs to survive not only for herself but for her husband is overwhelmingly massive, and Ms. Jones exquisitely paints the picture of a woman with a huge weight on her shoulders.  We see the struggle in her every expression and her love for Stephen in each gesture.  Jane is not a cookie cutter person and we discover as the film progresses that she isn't perfect, either, but this well-rounded portrayal by Jones is one of the better female performances I've seen this year.

Of course, Eddie Redmayne rightfully deserves praise, too, in a fabulous portrayal of a man facing head-on a debilitating disease.  There's a joy and vigor imbued into Redmayne's Stephen Hawking at the film's onset that it becomes all the more painful to watch as Stephen is forced to reconcile with the notion that he will become incapable of completing the simplest tasks on his own.  Redmayne certainly captures the physicality -- both vocally and physically -- of an ALS patient, but he also captures the emotional pain that obviously must accompany such a horrible illness.  We see the glimmers of joy in his eyes as he remembers his jubilant past or his love for Jane, but Redmayne also captures the devastation of this extremely intelligent man being relegated to having someone else have to feed and clothe him.  This is an emotional performance -- perhaps the most emotional performance I've seen this year.

Granted, I think the film falters a bit in its final act -- I won't spoil things entirely, but the film asks us to infer a few things regarding possible speed bumps in Stephen and Jane's relationship and I think for a film that's been so honest with us throughout, this vagueness is a bit off-putting.  Still, the flick is full of passion and that emotion is the key to The Theory of Everything working as well as it does.  I've been waiting for a movie this year to hit me on that emotionally guttural level and The Theory of Everything does just that.  You'd be forgiven if your eyes well up a time or two by what you're seeing onscreen with the magnificent combination of two great performances and fantastic direction.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Belle

Belle (2014)

Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Reid, Tom Felton, James Norton, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Sarah Gadon, and Matthew Goode

Directed by Amma Asante

Belle is by no means a bad movie, but I'm flabbergasted that this British period piece sits at an 83% Fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.  While it's true that it tells a story we haven't seen before (not easy when it comes to this genre), the film is quite simplistic, lacking a fervent bite that I feel like it could have had.

Belle tells the tale of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay, the daughter of Captain John Lindsay (Matthew Goode), a well-respected British naval officer who falls in love with a black woman while in Africa who ends up having his baby.  Upon her mother's death, Captain Lindsay takes Dido to England where he asks his uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson) to look after Dido while he's off at war.  Much to their initial chagrin for fear of how this mixed race child will appear to the rest of society, they agree to raise Dido (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) as a free woman along with their other niece Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon).  Years later, Captain Lindsay dies and leaves Dido a significant amount of money.  This dowry is quite appealing to some English men despite the impropriety that stems from the possibility of marrying a black woman.  Although Dido and Elizabeth were quite close growing up, Dido's bequeathment is more substantial than what Elizabeth can offer which sets up much tension amongst the Mansfield's nieces.

Ultimately, this PG-rated film tells an interesting tale -- one that next to no one is familiar with -- but it fails to lift itself to something truly appealing.  The acting is all quite good -- Gugu Mbatha-Raw makes the best of what I think is a surprisingly underwritten role -- but with the exception of one or two scenes, the flick lacks any drive or excitement.  What could've been a somewhat interesting take on racism in the late 1700s devolves into a love triangle that just doesn't carry the same weight as the story deserves.  A nice effort -- with well-done below-the-title craftsmanship and adequate direction -- but Belle misses the mark a little bit.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Book Thief

The Book Thief (2013)

Starring Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Ben Schnetzer, and Emily Watson

Directed by Brian Percival

The Book Thief feels like a low-grade Diary of Anne Frank and, despite being nicely acted and adequately directed, it's one of the least interesting World War II-era films I've seen.  After given up for adoption by her mother, young Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) is taken in by Germans Hans and Rosa Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson).  Liesel's only possession is a book she stole from a gravedigger at her younger brother's funeral and she finds herself bonding with Hans over her desire to learn how to read and become better educated.  With Hitler's army on the rise, Hans and Rosa agree to hide a young twentysomething named Max (Ben Schnetzer), a Jew whose parents were good friends with the Hubermanns prior to Hitler.  The dynamics of this new "family" shape the remainder of the movie...which really doesn't become any cohesive shape at all.

The Book Thief fails to resonate in the slightest.  The family dynamic (which is certainly supposed to be the emotional crux of the film) fails miserably and there's not any unique "war" situation brought to the forefront at all.  With neither family or war packing an emotional punch, the film plays like a WWII film aimed at ten year-olds and, let's be honest, that age bracket would have zero desire to see it in the first place.  And, if they did want to see something of that nature they'd be much better served watching Anne Frank.

The RyMickey Rating:  C- 

Movie Review - Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina (2012)

Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Olivia Williams, and Emily Watson  

Directed by Joe Wright

Oh, what a conundrum Anna Karenina places me in.  It's not really a conundrum, I guess, so much as disappointment.  Considering all that is good about this re-telling of the classic Leo Tolstoy novel (of which I was entirely unfamiliar with), it pains me to not be able to recommend this one.  Despite some ingenious direction and a career-best performance from Keira Knightley, this flick just can't get past the fact that there's not enough story -- or at least not enough interesting story -- to cause the audience to give a damn.  I'm not quite sure there's anything director Joe Wright could have done -- and he certainly tries -- to have made this late 19th century soap opera appealing to a modern audience.

I knew absolutely nothing about Anna Karenina prior to venturing into this film.  In fact, I'm not even sure I saw a complete trailer for the movie, let alone cracked open a Cliffs Notes version of the book.  However, I knew going in (and this was probably incredibly helpful) that director Joe Wright had rather cleverly set up the film as if it was all being performed on a stage.  Sets move in and out fluidly.  Cast members are sometimes seen playing different roles in the background.  We see stage props and the unfinished backsides of backdrops.  This stylized, grandiose approach certainly kept my attention throughout and provides many glorious scenes that I truly loved.

Unfortunately, this story is just too formulaic and too banal to have any reason to be filmed.  Maybe the novel was a revelation in 1877, but now the whole thing reads as a trite soap opera elevated to importance only because people speak in British accents (despite the fact that this takes place in Russia...but that didn't bother me in the slightest).  Keira Knightley is the title character, a young mother who is seemingly stuck in a marriage with a husband, Alexei (Jude Law), who monetarily provides for her, but fails to express love for her and her son.  While on a visit to see her brother (Matthew Macfadyen), Anna meets Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and instantly becomes mesmerized with him (as he does with her).  They begin a rather torrid affair that isn't exactly kept as secretive as it should be.  With Anna already in a marriage and Vronsky set to be betrothed to the young Kitty (Alicia Vikander), this doesn't sit well with the community and Anna finds herself being ostracized and looked down upon by all.

Had the Anna-Vronsky-Alexei triangle been all that we had to worry about, I may have been okay with the premise.  However, we then get sidetracked to a forlorn Kitty, sullen and upset that Vronsky left her, falling into the arms of the less wealthy Konstantin (Domhnall Gleeson).  Frankly, despite a decent effort by the actors to convince me otherwise, I couldn't have cared less about the Kitty-Konstantin angle and found that it slowed down the movie to uncomfortable levels.  It certainly doesn't help that Anna's now-ruined life is drawn out seemingly ad infinitum as well.

And the shame of it all is that Keira Knightley is pretty fantastic.  Even in her better roles (like last year's A Dangerous Method), Ms. Knightley still relied on her ever-present crutch of jaw-clenching to express frustration, anger, or fear.  Somehow, she's grown quite a bit as an actor and her director (whom she's worked with twice before) has nixed that jutting jaw of hers.  Anna is her most mature role yet with Knightley exuding passion, sexiness, heartbreak, and maternal instincts.  It really is a well-rounded performance in a movie whose story doesn't permit her character to soar the way it deserves.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - War Horse

War Horse (2011)

Starring Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Thewlis, and Niels Arestrup

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is a guy who always tries to tug the emotional heartstrings.  There's nothing wrong with that and its an overarching characteristic of nearly all his movies.  In War Horse, though, this heartstring tugging is more like manipulative puppeteering, forcing the audience to feel a certain way even if the story doesn't naturally lead its audience down that road.  I found War Horse lovely to look at, but absolutely stilted in terms of storytelling and repetitive when in comes to telling the tale of the "miracle" titular horse known as Joey.

From the very outset, I totally understood the vibe that Spielberg was trying to invoke here.  There's a 1930's Rin Tin Tin childlike innocence on display in both visuals and story.  The opening act in which teen Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) gets a ragged looking horse from his father (Peter Mullan) and must train it to pull a giant trough through England's stony landscape felt like I was watching a old-time children's movie.  Not that there's a problem with Spielberg replicating his innocence of E.T. -- War Horse is, in fact, based on a children's book -- but after the opening act ends with Albert's father selling off Joey to save the family farm much to Albert and his mother's (Emily Watson) chagrin, the film falls into depressing episodic melodrama.  We watch as Joey exchanges hands multiple times throughout the battles of World War I causing surprising amounts of bad luck and harm to those who come in contact with him.  It all just becomes laughable rather than emotional.

I understand the old film vibe Spielberg is trying to achieve, but War Horse just feels awfully hollow and uncertain for whom the flick is made. We get these grand war scenes (which lack the violent brutality of Saving Private Ryan), but then they're interspersed with the silliness of moments like Joey literally "volunteering" himself to save his fellow horse from a deathly job on the battlefield or a young French girl -- one of Joey's "owners" -- hiding the horse in her room when the Germans invade the family farm.  There's a severe lack of balance and Spielberg is never able to figure out what type of movie he wants to display.

The film looks fine, but even on that front, there isn't anything overly special about the visuals.  Spielberg certainly culls lighting and lensing from the olden golden age of cinema, but it once again feels like a rehash of things we've seen before.  Granted, one could certainly say (and I did say in my review of it) that The Artist is a rehash of films that came before it, but it at least knew who its audience was which is the huge overarching problem of War Horse.  It's too simplistic for adults and too violent for kids and therefore finds itself wallowing in the middle of mediocrity.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+