Rocketman

Rocketman (2019)

Starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Gemma Jones, Stephen Graham, and Bryce Dallas Howard

Directed by Dexter Fletcher

Written by Lee Hall

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017)

Starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Kenneth Cranham, Stephen Graham, Frances Barber, Leanne Best, and Vanessa Redgrave

Directed by Paul McGuigan

Written by Matt Greenhalgh

Summary (in 500 words or less):  In the twilight of her career, Oscar winner Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) begins a relationship with the young twenty something British Peter Turner (Jamie Bell).  This true story details their unlikely love for one another.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four (2015)

Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Tim Blake Nelosn, and Reg E. Cathey

Directed by Josh Trank

***This film is currently available via HBO Now***

The claws came out upon the release of Fantastic Four last summer with the film garnering the worst reviews of any film in the Marvel canon.  (Granted, this isn't part of the Disney Marvel canon, but it's still Marvel nonetheless.)  I was hoping for a heinously bad film that proved to be enjoyable to watch.  Instead, I just got a bad film that never dipped into campy territory and while it isn't the worst film I saw from 2015, it will certainly find a spot in the bottom tenth of the flicks I watched.

Yet another superhero origin story, Fantastic Four spends over half of its short 100-minute runtime telling us how Sue and Johnny Storm, Reed Richards, and Ben Grimm became the titular fantastic quartet harboring super powers like invisibility, fire control, stretchability, and superhuman strength.  While I'm not usually a fan of origin tales - and Fantastic Four doesn't reinvent the wheel in this department - this part of the film isn't as awful as it could have been...particularly when compared to the film's second half which is a muddled, confused mess.  The film's conflict rears its head when Victor Von Doom decides to take on the title crew in some unknown alternate universe in an effort to destroy Earth.  (I mean, I think that's Von Doom's intention, but it's so unclear that I may just be guessing.)  The climax is so shoddily cobbled together (and so quickly resolved) that one has to wonder how anyone thought this would be a positive addition to the Marvel universe.

With characters underdeveloped (although played as well as they could by the young cast), Fantastic Four is a huge disappointment.  Don't be fooled by the awful reviews thinking you're going to get something laughably enjoyable, however.  It would've been better had that been the case.

The RyMickey Rating:  D 

Movie Review - Filth

Filth (2014)

Starring James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Eddie Marsan, Imogen Poots, and Jim Broadbent

Directed by Jon S. Baird

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

I don't really know what to make of Filth.  There's a part of me that is intrigued by director and screenwriter Jon S. Baird's unique dirty comic book/Monty Python/Tarantino-Luhrmann-esque comedic mashup. (Note:  Filth is weirdly none of those things I just mentioned and all of those things I just mentioned and more at the same time -- an odd mix.)  And then there's another part of me that found myself completely distanced from the proceedings that I didn't care at all what I was watching.

James McAvoy is Bruce, a British cop in line for a major promotion.  Outwardly pleasant to all his coworkers, Bruce's goal is to ruin their chances of upward mobility, therein securing himself the position.  More than just an underhanded manipulator, Bruce is an amoral deviant and a horribly unethical cop, taking drugs from his arrestees, attempting to sleep with underage prostitutes in a blackmail attempts to keep them from jail time, and many other less than kosher schemes.  To build a movie around a guy like this and try to get the audience to relate is a difficult task...and not entirely successful here.

While McAvoy does well with the seedier aspects of his character, the actor is also burdened with less-than-fruitful attempts to connect the audience with an emotional past that partly shaped Bruce into the nasty guy he has become.  This aspect of the plot seems tacked on -- why can't the character just be a giant a-hole?  Why does he need to be saddled with some heartbreaking back story?  Once again, this isn't McAvoy's fault, but he certainly isn't helped by this subplot.  Jamie Bell, Eddie Marsan, and Imogen Poots are quite good in their smaller roles as well, but this is McAvoy's character's story for sure.

In the end, I appreciated the attempt behind Filth with its larger than life comedic stylists, but it doesn't quite work and should've dropped the attempts at emotional heartstring-tugging.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Snowpiercer

Snowpiercer (2014)

Starring Chris Evans, Song Kang Ho, Tilda Swinon, John Hurt, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Ko Asung, and Ed Harris

Directed by Bong Joon Ho

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

I'm going to put aside any political ramifications of Snowpiercer -- a film which some may seem to be a call for socialism -- and simply say that I found director Bong Joon Ho's film to be quite an amusing take on the uprising of an oppressed lower class as they fight for fair treatment.  Part action, part sci-fi, part drama, and part comedy, Snowpiercer is one of the best films of 2014 with some surprisingly strong performances from an eclectic cast.

In 2014, global warming has wreaked havoc on the earth and scientists decide to push chemicals into the atmosphere to cool things down.  This experiment, however, backfires and ends up freezing the earth making the planet seemingly uninhabitable.  A mysterious man named Wilford (Ed Harris) has built a train that contains various ecosystems and familiar earthly ways of life (beauty shops, sushi restaurants, nightclubs).  This "rattling ark" now contains the planet's last survivors, but the passengers are broken up into different economic strata based on the price of their ticket with the poorest relegated to the dungy, dark caboose of the train.

Jump ahead to 2031 and the inhabitants of the back of the train are fed up with their treatment.  With the help and wisdom of the elderly Gilliam (William Hurt), Curtis (Chris Evans) decides to lead a revolution against their oppressors by staging a coup that will allow them to inch their way up to the front of the train and take control of the engine.

Snowpiercer works because it's an action film -- filled with exciting fight scenes and tense moments -- combined with an actual story that's worth your time.  Director Bong Joon Ho is adept at crafting fight sequences (one that takes place in the dark is particularly intense), while at the same time allowing intimate character-driven moments to shine as well.  The entire cast is strong with particular kudos needing to be lauded upon Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton.

Evans, heretofore known only to me for his superhero roles, takes what we know him for -- those action-oriented roles -- and embraces that, while at the same time adding layers to a character that easily could've simply been a typical "savior" role.  Evans' Curtis is a flawed character with much depth, and in a memorably touching scene in which Curtis recalls a particularly horrific and harrowing time in the back of the train, we see Evans truly showcasing his emotional range and talent as an actor.

Swinton, on the other hand, gets an opportunity to showcase her comedic chops in the amusingly arrogant role of Mason -- Wilford's right-hand woman who is the political mouthpiece of the train's upper crust.  Hamming it up, while at the same embodying a somewhat horrific authoritative side, Swinton continues to prove that she's an actress who constantly makes interesting choices in the characters she portrays.

With some stellar production design to boot to add visual appeal, Snowpiercer is absolutely one of the more interesting and unique films of 2014.  Considering I enjoyed it this much and I'm not even delving into the political ramifications the film espouses, Snowpiercer is much richer than its surface appears.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Nymphomaniac: Vol I and Vol 2

Nymphomaniac: Vol 1 (2014)

Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBoeuf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Sophie Kennedy Clark, and Connie Nielsen

Directed by Lars von Trier

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

Nymphomaniac: Vol 2 (2014)

Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Shia LaBoeuf, Jamie Bell, Mia Goth, Stacy Martin, and Willem Dafoe

Directed by Lars von Trier

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

Well, that was four hours of my life that I can't get back...then again, maybe it was worth my time after all.  That's the problem with Lars von Trier -- I despise and appreciate his work at the same time.

Oh, Lars von Trier.  I experienced five of your films now (six if you count Nymphomaniac as two films) and you're a weird son of a gun.  Nymphomaniac is the third and final film in von Trier's "Depression Trilogy" following Antichrist and Melancholia, and, much like those films, it's all pretension and very little substance.

Nymphomaniac follows Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who is found in an alley by a man named Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) after she is beaten up.  Seligman takes Joe to his house to recover and Joe begins to tell Seligman her life story through her sexual experiences.  Why does she do this?  I don't know.  Shock effect? Her nymphomatic tendencies?  Because screenwriter Lars von Trier is a weird guy who likes to think he's pushing the envelope whenever possible?  Probably the latter as von Trier takes the approach here of being as graphic as possible including scenes of unsimulated sex in order to be risky and adventurous (but never stimulating or titillating).

Oddly enough, however, despite the heavy-handed nature of the piece and von Trier's incessant need to be provocative, the acting of everyone elevates this to something that at least makes the four hours not a boring sexual epic.  The best of the bunch is Stacy Martin in her first role as the young teenage/twentysomething Joe.  This is an extremely tricky role -- addicted to sex, yet emotionless when undertaking these sexual activities, Martin's Joe is a girl of few words, yet I found myself riveted with her story.  Martin certainly is the focus of Volume 1 with Charlotte Gainsbourg taking more of the reins in Volume 2 and the second film suffers for it.  Gainsbourg is fine, but the film becomes a bit too depressing and melancholic to be all that riveting.  Shia LaBoeuf and Uma Thurman also put in some nice turns, but neither are in either film for an extended period of time.

I appreciate Lars von Trier artistically as a director and I like what he visually brings to the screen.  As a writer, von Trier leaves quite a bit to be desired and that's where my constant see-sawing of "Did I like this or did I hate this?" comes in whenever I watch one of his films.  His pieces never work as a whole and Nymphomaniac is no exception.

The RyMickey Rating:  C (Volume 1)

The RyMickey Rating: C- (Volume 2)

Movie Review - Man on a Ledge

Man on a Ledge (2012)

Starring Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, Genesis Rodriguez, Edward Burns, Anthony Mackie, Kyra Sedgwick, and Ed Harris

Directed by Asger Leth

The cast of solid, but (let's face it) second-tier movie stars should've clued me in that Man on a Ledge wasn't exactly a high-caliber, but I was willing to give the thing a shot.  Unfortunately, the ludicrous plot and horribly written dialog ends up being a painful affair to suffer through.  The actors try, but are given an impossible task at which they simply can't succeed.

The film's title gives away a substantial amount of the plot, but why Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is out on that ledge is the question that seems to take forever to answer.  We learn from a flashback that Nick, a former cop, was in jail for stealing a pristine and large diamond from stereotypical nasty rich guy David Englander (Ed Harris) -- a crime which he denies he committed.  When his father dies, Nick is able to obtain a day leave from prison to attend the funeral.  While there, he manages to escape only to find himself months (years? maybe days?) later on the ledge of a hotel building threatening to jump.  There's a well-thought out reason Nick's there involving some insanely convoluted plan involving his brother (Jamie Bell) and his sassy Latina girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) to prove his innocence, but the attempt to clear his name is so ridiculously ludicrous that it's utterly laughable.

It shouldn't have been surprising when I looked at director Asger Leth's imdb page that Man on a Ledge is his first feature film.  There's simply not a grasp at how to handle the action on display and he certainly fails at achieving any emotional attachment to the characters.  Then again, Leth really isn't the film's biggest problem which is an awful script from Pablo F. Fenjves who also happens to be having his first foray into feature films with this piece of junk.  One needs only to look at the extraneous sidekick cop character of Edward Burns or the completely unnecessary tv news reporter played by Kyra Sedgwick to know that both Leth and Fenjves were failures at learning how to edit themselves -- just two of the many things in this movie that could have and should have been left on the cutting room floor.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Retreat

Retreat (2011)

Starring Thandie Newton, Cillian Murphy, and Jamie Bell

Directed by Carl Tibbetts

On the brink of divorce, husband and wife Martin and Kate (Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton) take a trip to an incredibly small island off the coast of England.  With only one house on the isle and with no communication with the outside world except for a rickety CB radio, the couple hope to reignite the passion that's been missing from their marriage ever since Kate miscarried.  However, shortly into their stay, Martin and Kate discover a battered and bruised man (Jamie Bell) who washes up on the shore.  When the man comes to, he relays to the couple that a terrible airborne virus has wreaked havoc on Europe and that the only way to save themselves is to seal up their small island home and try to wait out the outbreak.  Without any form of communication, Martin and Kate are placed into a difficult situation and must make a decision as to whether they can believe this man they just met.

To me, Retreat has a great concept and while it doesn't necessarily succeed fully as a movie, there is enough promise that should the film pop up on Instant Viewing on Netflix, it'd be worth a watch.  Essentially a three-character piece, the overarching premise of the movie works.  Where the movie drops the ball is in the development of the characters -- particularly the couple Martin and Kate.  With conveniently dropped tidbits of information to give us their backstory, any background characterizations we get of the couple are terribly forced and completely unnatural to the storytelling process, providing eye-rolling groan-inducing moments in the film's opening act.

Fortunately, for the most part, the trio of actors is successful at creating the tension needed for this claustrophobic film to succeed.  Jamie Bell (best known for the title role of Billy Elliott over a decade ago) brings out just the right amount of paranoia to always have the audience questioning whether his character of Jack is nuts or legitimately truthful in his panic concerning the virus.  Cillian Murphy is also quite good as the rather subdued husband.  Not wanting to create a stir, his Martin is the more levelheaded of the couple and Murphy allows his character's actions to always seem believable.

Thandie Newton, on the other hand, is an actress that has fallen out of my good graces in recent years.  Last year, she landed on the the RyMickey Awards' Worst Actress list for her work in For Colored Girls, but she's certainly better in Retreat than she was in that Tyler Perry flick.  However, the same critique of Newton that I mentioned when discussing her Worst Actress "award" -- that she "plays anger and frustration with this incredible screechiness that is so overpoweringly unbelievable" -- still rings true here. Granted, it's not nearly as bad here, but it still rears its ugly head.  She's a beautiful woman, but when Newton is forced to get really gritty, she just can't succeed.

Still, while Retreat may not be without its faults, it's still a movie that is worth a watch.  I was a bit worried that with the premise, I was inevitably going to be disappointed with the ending, but to its credit, the film manages to provide an satisfying conclusion that surprisingly appeased this reviewer's rather critical palette.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg

Directed by Steven Spielberg

I really wanted to like Steven Spielberg's animated The Adventures of Tintin, but despite what is certainly the best motion-capture technique I've ever seen, the action adventure flick (which reminded me of a kiddie version of the Indiana Jones flicks) lacks a story that ever captured my imagination.  While I'm completely unfamiliar with the apparently very popular European comic book series upon which the film is based, I can certainly see the promise that lies within the story -- a young reporter embarks on a variety of adventures with his trusty four-legged canine friend Snowy -- but must unfortunately state that it simply wasn't executed well in this cinematic incarnation.

In this first film of what is likely to be a series (the movie is doing exceptionally well overseas despite poor box office results in the US), Tintin stumbles upon the mystery of the sailing ship known as the Unicorn.  While wandering in an outdoor market one day, Tintin (voiced and "acted" by Jamie Bell) buys a small replica of the ship, but soon discovers that the model contains a secret message of sorts that is desperately wanted by the sinister Ivan Ivanovich Sakharine (Daniel Craig).  Sakharine goes so far as to kidnap Tintin and keep him hostage on a boat sailing to the Middle East.  Tintin soon discovers with the help of the captain of the ship Haddock (Andy Serkis) that Sakharine is in possession of two Unicorn ship replicas and their secret coded messages and is now in search of the final model to decipher the code and discover the location of a huge amount of buried treasure.

In and of itself, the plot is serviceable, but I couldn't help but be rather bored by the whole affair.  Subplots are thrown in involving Haddock's alcoholism, two bumbling Scotland Yard twin detectives (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) in search of a serial pickpocket, and the pirate-inspired ancestral pasts of both Haddock and Sakharine.  None of these garnered any interest from me in the slightest and they take up large parts of the film.

Spielberg certainly utilizes the ability to move his camera wherever he likes rather brilliantly thanks to the wonders of animation including a stellar "one-shot" chase sequence through the small, cluttered streets of the Arab city of Bagghar.  I also found most of the action sequences to be well executed and I very much liked many of Spielberg's rather ingenious ways of changing scenes (for example, the wide expansive ocean turns into a puddle on the streets of London in a seamless fashion).

Still, even with some nice work from Jamie Bell and the ever-reliable mo-cap actor Andy Serkis (who actually is given the opportunity to be quite funny here to great effect), I found the whole thing a bit boring.  Visually, The Adventures of Tintin is stunning from the very opening scenes (including a lovely "true" animated opening credits sequence accompanied by a charmingly light and airy John Williams score), and the film continues to show the improvements in motion capture technology, but the whole movie just felt like a series of set pieces without any real connection.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre (2011)

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, and Jamie Bell

Directed by Cary Fukunaga

Jane Eyre is a rather lovely film with beautiful cinematography, skillful direction, wonderful acting, and a melodic violin-heavy score.  It's also a period piece with a story that's so utterly depressing at times that it's a struggle to trudge through it.  In the movie's defense, I attempted to read the Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel over the summer and had to stop at its midpoint because I just couldn't get into the thing.  Despite everything being well-above-average in terms of a "film," the story unfortunately drags a bit despite the fact that at the film's end I couldn't help but be somewhat moved by the romanticism on display.

After her parents die, young Jane is sent to live with her aunt (Sally Hawkins) who is angered by the ward left to her by her relatives.  Rather than deal with the child whom she despises, she sends Jane off to an all-girl's boarding school where she remains until her late teens at which point she accepts the position of a governess.  While working at Thornfield Hall, Jane (Mia Wasikowska) finds herself oddly drawn to the master of the house, Mr. Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender) and he likewise to her.  The two are certainly from different social strata and it seemingly hinders Jane's ability to comprehend that Mr. Rochester could ever be in love with her, causing the young lady to suffer quite a bit under the emotional stress she begins to feel.

The brooding, heavy nature of the tale does cause Jane Eyre to be slow moving, but I certainly appreciate the Gothic tones on display (including a detour into "ghost" territory that provides an interesting twist to the whole story).  Still, I couldn't help but find the whole movie falling into that stereotypical "boringness" that so often permeates British period pieces (despite admirable attempts by director Cary Fukunaga to shake things up including some jumping around in time not present in the novel).

All that said, the film is full of wonderful things.  Its dark shadowy aesthetics are appropriately ominous and are always interesting to watch.  Coupled with a beautiful and haunting musical score, Jane Eyre is a feast for the eyes and the ears.  There are also some great performances from the two leads in an emotionally restrained Mia Wasikowska (in certainly her best role yet) and the somewhat sinister man with a heart of gold Michael Fassbender (who is one of 2011's "People to Watch" apparently based on buzz from his roles in this, the new X-Men film, and the upcoming Shame).

Ultimately, although the film lacks some fire in its story, Jane Eyre has much to admire even though it may not be suited for all tastes.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-