Frozen II

Frozen II (2019)

Featuring the vocal talents of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Sterling K. Brown, Evan Rachel Wood, Alfred Molina, Martha Plimpton, Rachel Matthews, and Jason Ritter

Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee

Written by Jennifer Lee

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Movie Review - The Ides of March

The Ides of March (2011)

Starring Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, and Marisa Tomei

Directed by George Clooney

I'm not sure if The Ides of March was attempting to be something more thought-provoking than the simple melodrama I took away from it, but if George Clooney's film was trying to be meaningful and insightful, it didn't succeed at all on that level.  The slowly unfolding story (and I do mean slowly...particularly in the first fifty minutes of tedium) eventually turns into something rather riveting, but it's really just a glorified soap opera -- not that there's anything wrong with that if it's as well-crafted as this is in its final moments.  That said, The Ides of March tries to mask the overly dramatic moments, wanting instead to feign that it's incredibly important when, in fact, it simply reiterates what is already known -- politics is full of shady dealings and lapses in ethics by the very people who purport to be the moral pillars of society.

I knew very little going into The Ides of March and, in the end, that's probably for the best, so I'm going to reveal very little in terms of the plot except to say that the film focuses on thirty-year-old Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), a young campaign advisor for Pennsylvania governor/Democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris (George Clooney).  Stephen is a strong up-and-comer and is lauded for his smarts when it comes to the political spectrum.  Stephen's partner/boss on Morris's campaign is Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a longtime advisor to Democratic candidates.  Paul and Stephen seem like a solid duo, offering the opposite spectrums of weathered experience and wide-eyed optimism, respectively, to the Morris campaign.  For nearly the first fifty minutes, the film simply feels like a look at these three men on the campaign trail with occasional looks at Morris's competitor's campaign headed by Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) who is certain his candidate will overtake Morris's apparent lead.

Finally, nearly an hour into the movie, something interesting finally happens which I won't reveal here and the movie takes the viewer on an interesting little ride which, while not full of necessarily surprising twists and turns, is at least thoroughly entertaining.  As an auteur, George Clooney (like his fellow actor/director Clint Eastwood) is very old school, utilizing very little in terms of gimmickry.  Usually, I'd be all for that, but in all of Clooney's films (much like Eastwood's) he can't move the movie along at a quick enough clip to keep me interested.  While well shot and nicely framed, the story just lacks a powerful punch for nearly half of the running time.

Part of the problem in The Ides of March is that the film doesn't give the viewer anything new to chew on.  Are we surprised that members of the same political party do anything and everything they can to defame their fellow members (shades of Herman Cain and the current Republicans perhaps)?  Are we shocked by a lack of ethics from our political candidates and their campaign workers?  There's just nothing surprising about the uncouth underbelly of politics.  The film at least comes alive when it gravitates towards the melodrama that comes hand-in-hand with lapses in morality.  The lack of vivacity and any modicum of excitement in the first half, though, doesn't push the film forward at all.  [Truth be told here...I looked at my watch about twenty minutes into the movie and I seriously felt that at least fifty minutes had gone by...I almost said aloud, "You've got to be kidding me."]

"Star" George Clooney actually takes a backseat to Ryan Gosling's Stephen, but this is still Gosling's least interesting role this year (after Crazy, Stupid, Love and Drive).  However, Gosling continues to prove that he is probably the best actor of my generation.  He plays a smooth talker here with Stephen's up-and-coming status in politics not having sullied him yet by the cynicism that permeates his fellow older co-workers' daily lives.  Clooney is fine, but is hurt by an opening hour that simply has him spouting off speeches that seemed too well-written to ring true.  Hoffman and Giamatti are both quite good in their roles of the weathered campaign advisors and Evan Rachel Wood is also strong as the young intern who has a thing for Stephen.

Still, had The Ides of March simply dropped the pompous aire of self-importance in the opening acts and skipped directly to the smart soap opera-like twists and turns that made up the rather exciting climax, this would have been a flick I could have wholeheartedly recommended.  As it stands, though, it's too bland to really amount to anything worth talking about.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Conspirator

The Conspirator (2011)

Starring James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, Tom Wilkinson, Evan Rachel Wood, Justin Long, Johnny Simmons, and Alexis Bledel 

Directed by Robert Redford

A supposed metaphor for justice in this post-9/11 society, Robert Redford's The Conspirator never once manages to be anything but dull.  While Redford culls some confident performances from James McAvoy and Robin Wright, neither of the two actors is able to lift this interesting (and little told) story into anything other than a stodgy and stuffy period piece.

When Abraham Lincoln is assassinated, it is discovered that John Wilkes Booth was only one of several people who had conspired to commit the crime.  Boarding house owner Mary Surratt (Wright) is one of those accused conspirators and she is put on trial at a military tribunal.  Her lawyer is fresh-faced Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), a young 27-year old former Union soldier, assigned the case despite his misgivings and distrust of Surratt.  As the trial goes on, Aiken rightfully begins to believe that the government is doing whatever it takes (true justice be damned) to convict Surratt and quell the fears of the American public who are supposedly in turmoil after the assassination.

As I stated above, the story is an interesting piece of American history that isn't often told.  (Although, that being said, considering Redford's admitted attempt to mirror what he feels are misdeeds going on with post-9/11 trials, I'm unsure how accurate of a portrayal this really is.)  However, everything about this film just feels staged.  The sets and lighting seem unnatural.  With the exception of McAvoy and Wright, the acting seems over-the-top and scene-chewing.  It certainly doesn't help matters that the pacing is slow as molasses either.  There's a reason people often aren't fans of period pieces and this dreary, labored movie is an example of why that's the case.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Whatever Works (2009)

Starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley, Jr., and Conleth Hill

Written and directed by Woody Allen

I can live with or without Woody Allen movies. I can also live with or without Seinfeld (of which star Larry David played a big role in its creation). I went into Whatever Works with both those possible issues in mind, so I wasn't expecting much.

And I was pleasantly surprised.

Larry David is Boris Yellnikoff, a crotchety curmudgeon who really doesn't like anyone or anything. In some ways, he's the stereotypical middle age-to-elderly Jewish guy that we've seen in many flicks. Somehow, though, David makes this thing work. It helps that Woody has him talk directly to the camera at points. That connection with the audience, to me, was the reason I immediately connected with the flick. But, it's also proved to be a detriment in that I longed for David to always be onscreen. When he wasn't I just wasn't laughing all that much.

Anyway, the story is pretty simple, and, once again, it's another May-December romance from Woody Allen. The December of the equation is David, and the May is Evan Rachel Wood's Melodie St. Ann Celestine, a southern girl who has run away from her home to try and make it in New York City. When Boris sees Melodie on the street, he reluctantly allows her to spend the night in his home to get off the street. One night turns into two, two nights turn into two weeks, and as his distrust and distaste for all mankind begins to rub off on the formerly sweet and naive Melodie, the two end becoming two peas in a pod and end up getting married.

Like I said above, when the film focused on Boris, I loved it. The humor here was super-intelligent...I will readily admit that I didn't understand some of it, but it never made me angry that I didn't get it, because there was always another joke coming right on its tail. The problem begins when Melody's ultra-Christian mother (Clarkson) shows up and the story shifts from nonstop Boris humor to supporting cast humor. Clarkson was great, too, don't get me wrong, and her character was quite funny...but I longed to get back to Boris.

It also didn't help that Melodie, realizing that Boris may not be "the one," begins to fall in love with, it seems, the most boring guy on the planet (Conleth Hill) who happens to be much closer to her age. This romance felt shockingly more forced than the love between Melodie and Boris -- obviously, Woody didn't feel like writing anything good for the young guy trying to steal away his (I mean, Boris's) girl. The only other minor fault is that I was wishy-washy on Evan Rachel Wood's character. When she first appeared onscreen I literally said to myself, "This is gonna be a long movie if I don't get used to that corny Southern accent." Well, I did get used to the accent, but I also never really fully felt like Wood wasn't acting...it's surprising to me because, really, all Larry David is doing here is playing himself, but I felt like he embodied Boris more than Wood embodied Melodie.

Still, definitely the funniest movie I've seen this year. It was oh-so-close to a B+, but the problems I mentioned in the last paragraph brought it down a notch.

The RyMickey Rating: B+
(EDIT: Slight change...this movie was just too funny to merit a 'B'. Despite its faults, I laughed a whole heck of a lot...and isn't that the point in a comedy?)

Movie Review - Battle for Terra (2009)

Featuring the voice talents of Evan Rachel Wood, Brian Cox, James Garner, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, David Cross, Dennis Quaid, and Luke Wilson
Directed and Story by Aristomenis Tsirbas
Written by Evan Spiliotopolous

Well...if this is the start of the summer movie season, it can only go up from here.

Created to be seen in 3D, Battle for Terra was screened (in my case) in regular 35mm format. Most theaters across the country chose to show it in this "regular" way since there was zero buzz on this animated flick (deservedly so).

Pixar (and to a moderately lesser extent, Disney, and, to even lesser an extent, Dreamworks) realize that in order to have a successful animated film, you need to appeal to a broad spectrum of people -- kids, teenagers, their parents, their grandparents. Lesser studios (including the company MeniThings which produced this flick) can't seem to pick up on that...or, if they do, they can't quite grasp what needs to be done in order to achieve broad-spectrum appeal. Battle for Terra has no idea who it wants to appeal to -- the story is much too complicated and boring for kids and ridiculously heavy-handed for grown-ups.

Essentially, Earth has been destroyed in some type of power struggle between humans (we destroyed Venus and Mars, as well, both of which we were inhabiting). Desperate for some place to live, we come across Terra whose inhabitants are sperm-like, completely emotionless creatures (at least I felt no emotion towards them) that float around in their world with little airplanes made of leaves and stuff. These Terra things are "peaceful"...us humans love war. Because we love war so much, we utilize it to take whatever we want...at least the humans in the military do. Who will win in the end? The peaceful people of Terra or the awful, awful humans?

The film is an incredibly thinly veiled attempt at pointing out that war is bad, the military is awful, and peace needs to reign supreme. In an ideal world, the latter would happen, but we don't live that way. Instead, in this movie, it is painfully obvious that the white, Anglo-Saxon male is evil (for, you see, us white men are the military fighters). All we want to do is go kill things. Females and African Americans in this film (who partly make up what is essentially a futuristic Congress) are thoroughly opposed to this. In this Obama Age, I would expect nothing less. The movie was essentially "Down with Republicans! Up with Democrats! Go hug each other and throw away your guns!"

Anyone who knows me knows I fall on the conservative side of most issues, but I'm always willing to listen to jokes and poke fun at the party with which I align myself (I'm no Sean Hannity "Republicans Can Do No Wrong" kind of guy). But this movie was so blatantly in my face about its agenda, it was annoying.

Let alone the awful story, the animation was poorly done, and the voice acting was painfully boring. When the best thing about the movie is trying to figure out whose voice you're hearing, you know you're in trouble. On another note about the voicing...granted, there aren't "huge stars" in this, but that list of actors above is full of highly recognizable names. How the heck did this nobody podunk little animation studio sign up all these big names for this ridiculousness that I watched? Oh...I know...Liberal Hollywood must've fallen head over heels for this one...

The RyMickey Rating: F

Movie Review -- The Wrestler (2008)

starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood

directed by Darren Aronofsky

written by Robert D. Siegel

I don't think that I have ever watched a wrestling match -- professional or the type of "professional" that Hulk Hogan calls himself. So this movie really didn't appeal to me in the least. It took me a long time to decide to finally watch...and I'm glad I did.

Plain and simple, I thought Mickey Rourke was amazing. Being a young kid in the 80s, I wasn't cognizant of Mickey's first "era" -- the era of the soft-core 9 1/2 Weeks and Angel Heart -- I've heard about both, but really have no desire to see either. So, knowing next to nothing about this guy, I came into this with a clean slate. But this was an incredible performance. Not only is Rourke incredibly believable in the ring as aging wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson, but he's gripping in his scenes with his estranged daughter Stephanie (Wood) and his stripper crush Cassidy (Tomei). I really could go on and on. I thought it was a stellar performance. By far, the best I've seen this year, male or female. (Granted, I didn't see Sean Penn's Milk, but I can't imagine I'd like it better than this, so I'm rooting for Rourke to get the Oscar.)

I never really thought of her in this way, but Marisa Tomei is sexy...and I swear that's not because her breasts are ever-present in this flick. There's something that kept me riveted whenever she was onscreen. Her scenes with Rourke felt very true (that's a compliment). As far as Oscar-worthy...I'm not so sure. There was nothing incredibly powerful and she didn't have any "wow" scenes. She played her role perfectly well and entirely believably. If that means Oscar, than so be it. The other lady in the flick, Evan Rachel Wood, has minimal screen time, but her scenes proved pivotal and quite emotional.

The flick isn't perfect. It lulls a bit in the middle and I'm not sure I cared for the ending. For those that saw it, what do you think happens at the end in terms of Rourke's relationship with Tomei?

Anyway, I loved director Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, but was very disappointed with his disjointed and entirely odd The Fountain, so this was a great comeback for him, in my opinion.

Be warned that the wrestling scenes are quite intense...I definitely cringed multiple times during one of the fights, but if you can make it through them (which I imagine won't be something everyone can do), you'll be able to see a performance people will be talking about for years to come.

The RyMickey Rating: B+