Monster-in Law

 Monster-in-Law (2005)

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Michael Vartan, Elaine Stritch, and Wanda Sykes

Directed by Robert Luketic

Written by Anya Kochoff

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Period of Adjustment

 Period of Adjustment (1962)

Starring Anthony Franciosa, Jane Fonda, Jim Hutton, Lois Nettleton, and John McGiver

Directed by George Roy Hill

Written by Isobel Lennart

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Nine to Five

Nine to Five (1980)

Starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman, Elizabeth Wilson, and Sterling Hayden

Directed by Colin Higgins

Written by Colin Higgins and Patricia Resnick

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - Youth

Youth (2015)

Starring Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, Alex Macqueen, and Jane Fonda

Directed by Paolo Sorrentino

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

Oh, the potential of Youth.  A talented ensemble cast.  A sometimes touching story (with hints of humor) about two older men trying to remember their engaging past while dealing with their tediously dull present.  A stunningly beautiful nude woman portraying an intelligent Miss Universe winner.  This had a bunch of things going for it.  And then director Paolo Sorrentino goes and screws things up with some of the oddest direction I've seen in a 2015 movie.  Youth certainly looks beautiful, there's no denying that, but the images Sorrentino places up on the screen feel too esoteric to really push the film's plot along, and while I'm sure his visuals meant something to the director, they just befuddle the viewer with a "can't we just get on with the plot" mentality.

At the film's center is Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine), a famous classical composer and conductor who has left his profession behind after his wife fell ill.  Fred retreats at a luxurious spa catering to the incredibly wealthy in the Alps.  There with him is his daughter-cum-manager Lena (Rachel Weisz) who is always pushing him to reconnect with his sick wife (and her mother) whom he hasn't seen in a decade as well as his best friend Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel), a movie director prepping for what he believes to be his last film.  As Fred and Mick rest and relax, they reminisce and often have quite a lot to say about growing old and the effects it can have on one's life.  (Frankly, some of the dialog they spout is actually quite profound and oddly intellectually stimulating, so Sorrentino -- who also wrote the picture -- succeeds in that respect.)

The conflict in the picture arises from the arrival at the spa of a person into each of these men's lives.  For Fred, it's the Queen of England's emissary (Alex Macqueen) sent on a mission to coax the composer into one last outing to play his celebrated "Simple Songs" collection for Prince Philip's birthday.  For Mick, it's Brenda Morel (Jane Fonda), an aging actress who has starred in several of his films and whom Mick wants to appear in his final picture.  Both the emissary and Brenda cause the two men to question their current way of life, impacting them in surprising ways.

For the most part, the acting raises the bar for Youth with the ensemble impressing (including an understated Paul Dano playing a young actor also at the spa).  Michael Caine in particular captivates as his Fred copes with living with a bit of repressed guilt for past indiscretions.  Unfortunately, scenes that forward along the story are oftentimes broken up by tiny visual vignettes of other spa-goers that fall tremendously flat after Sorrentino decides to repetitively return to them throughout the film.  As I've said, I'm sure they mean something metaphorically, but this isn't a film that I particularly feel is "study worthy" to have to delve into and investigate what they really signify.  These throwaway scenes bog down the film's running time and take away from the heart of the story which lies in Fred's relationship with his daughter, his friend, and his estranged wife.

Youth is a weird beast because there are things I really liked about it (even the throwaway vignette-like scenes were shot well despite being frivolous).  In the end, however, it's too choppy and lacks a cohesion that I feel would've strengthened the picture.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - This Is Where I Leave You

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

Starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stall, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, Timothy Olyphant, Dax Shepard, Debra Monk, Abigail Spencer, and Jane Fonda

Directed by Shawn Levy

When their father dies, the Altman family -- siblings Judd, Wendy, Paul, and Philip and their mother Hillary (Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Corey Stall, Adam Driver, and Jane Fonda -- gather together at their childhood home to sit shiva (a seven day Jewish period of mourning) in honor of their dad.  Old sibling rivalries and current spousal struggles rear their ugly heads as the Altmans learn to cope with their patriarch's death.

A completely believable familial banter isn't as easy to come by in films as one would think and the repartee that Bateman, Fey, Stall, and Driver have with one another in This Is Where I Leave You feels genuine.  While Fonda's role is a little over the top, I appreciated that her eccentricities appeared to have at least influenced her grown children's emotional states, helping to further craft authentic characters.  Solid performances by Rose Byrne, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, and Abigail Spencer add to the great cast.

While I would've liked to have had a bit more heart imbued into the flick, I still found myself engaged and interested in each sibling's highs and lows.  This Is Where I Leave You admittedly treads similar paths of typical familial dramedies, but with a stellar cast, director Shawn Levy's flick proves to be a nicely paced, pleasant sleeper that surprisingly balances its myriad of story lines with ease -- some prove a little more successful than others (and a particularly out-of-left-field "surprise" at the film's conclusion seems simply added for shock effect), but the overall result is quite successful.  

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Lee Daniels' The Butler

Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013)

Starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Terrence Howard, Robin Williams, John Cusack, James Marsden, Liev Schreiber, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, and Mariah Carey

Directed by Lee Daniels

Can someone please explain to me how Lee Daniels' The Butler was ever in the running for any category at the Oscars?  With an absolutely horrendous script by Danny Strong, pompously self-important direction by Lee Daniels, and overacting out the wazoo by nearly everyone involved, it's mind-boggling to me that people actually thought this movie was good in any way.  Incredibly heavy-handed in its way of trying to pigeonhole seemingly every important civil rights moment from the 1950s-80s into a two hour film, the film plays like a low-rent version of Forrest Gump as famous Hollywood celebrity after famous Hollywood celebrity pops up playing famous political figure after famous political figure.  And then, rather obnoxiously, the film ends with the triumphant crowning of Barack Obama as President signifying that "hope and change" have come and all is right in the world.  The final ten minutes of this movie had me so aggravated that they soured the entirety of the rest of the film (which, as stated, really wasn't that good to begin with).

Ugh.

Based on a true story (although changed DRASTICALLY in order to make things much more dramatic), The Butler centers around Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), a man who escaped Southern slavery in the 1920s and became well known around Washington, D.C., as a fantastic server/butler in local bars and lounges around the big city.  After catching the eye of someone who worked in the White House, Gaines snags a job as a butler where he stays on to serve eight presidents.  The film attempts to balance Gaines' workplace with his family life, but the transitions between the two are always awkward and oftentimes incredibly heavyhanded.  For, you see, while his professional life is moving along swimmingly, his home life leaves much to be desired.  His wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) is tired of her husband putting his focus on his job and abandoning her and their two sons so she fills the void she feels with alcohol and another man (Terrence Howard).  Meanwhile, Gaines' older son (David Oyelowo) is heading to college where he finds himself becoming involved in Woolworth counter sit-ins, Freedom Bus Riders, Martin Luther King's assassination, the Black Panthers, and rallies to free Nelson Mandela.  All this stuff -- and this son never even existed.  That's right.  It's simply the screenwriter's ploy to hammer home what they believe to be significant moments in the Civil Rights Movement.  There's certainly no denying each of these events' importance.  However, none of these moments are ever given anything more than snippets of attention.  Giving each of these pivotal aspects of the movement such short shrift is a disservice.

On Oscar morning, everyone was shocked that Oprah didn't garner a nomination, but her attempt at halfway channeling Mo'Nique's intense performance from Precious was laughable.  Forest Whitaker is as flat as could be, exuding an overwhelming sense of blandness.  Each and every presidential figure plays more like a really good impressionist you'd see on the Vegas strip than a person.  Lee Daniels really failed to reel in a good performance from anyone with the exception of Lenny Kravitz as another butler in the White House and David Oyelowo who, despite the horribly written role as Gaines' older son, does try his best with his ridiculous part.

Lee Daniels' The Butler begins with Cecil Gaines as a young child working on a cotton plantation and the film's first ten minutes echo similar sentiments espoused in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave.  However, there's simply no comparison and to have even placed The Butler in the same ballpark as 12 Years a Slave in the lead-up to awards season is an indignation that I'm trying to right with this review.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - The Morning After

The Morning After (1986)

Starring Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, and Raul Julia

Directed by Sidney Lumet

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

There's something about the 1980s.  Seeing as how the decade brought us smooth jazz and an overabundance of pastels (both of which get prominent placement in this film), it's ten years that are probably best forgotten.  The Morning After reeks of the year it was made, but I'm willing to give it that fault.  Unfortunately, the flick about an out-of-work alcoholic actress (Jane Fonda) who wakes up in a drunken haze next to the body of a murdered man just doesn't cut it in terms of a thriller.  From the outset, it's fairly obvious who the killer actually is and who the screenplay is simply setting up as the red herring.  Add to that one of the silliest "reveals" in film history and you've got a disappointment.

It also doesn't help that Jane Fonda (in an Oscar-nominated role no less) seems to be overacting to the hilt.  She brings nothing new to the role of "drunk" and instead utilizes all the stereotypical characteristics.  Granted, I wasn't bored when Fonda was onscreen, but, in actuality, despite the film's flaws, I actually wasn't bored by any of it.  Which places me in an odd conundrum.  I can't say that The Morning After should be watched, but I also can't say it was all that bad despite the fact that it doesn't have much going for it.

Of course, it doesn't really matter because the likelihood of anyone reading this actually watching this is slim to zippo.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Klute (1971)

Klute (1971)

Starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland

Directed by Alan J. Pakula

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

There is a genuine 60s-70s vibe in Klute (which is to be expected, I guess, considering it was made in 1971) that never once feels dated and that's not an easy task in films made in this time period.  Credit is certainly due to director Alan J. Pakula who has crafted a beautiful-looking film with some visually engaging images and some incredibly powerful simplistic long takes that allow his leading actress to really come off well.

And it's that Academy Award-winning turn of Jane Fonda has call girl Bree that really carries this piece.  Her Bree is troubled, longing to get out of prostitution, but unable to make it as an actress or model.  Going back to the world's oldest profession is the easy thing to do, but it leaves her utterly confused and expressing her thoughts weekly to a psychologist.

Also upsetting to Bree is the fact that she's seemingly being stalked by an unknown man.  Perhaps this stalker is connected to the missing person case that private detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) is trying to solve.  One of his best friends, Tom, apparently wrote an erotic note to Bree after a torrid night with her, but Bree can't recall the man.  Using Bree's connections, Klute tries to find out the clues to his best friend's disappearance, all the while finding himself drawn to the seductive Bree.

The film drags on a tiny bit and ultimately isn't as thrilling as I thought it was going to be, but in the end, Klute is much more of a character study than a mystery.  Fonda and Sutherland are pretty great here, with Fonda particularly impressive.  The scenes in her psychologist's office could have been throwaway scenes, but Fonda makes them surprisingly gripping.  Add that to the fact that director Pakula keeps the camera in one spot for many of Fonda's scenes, allowing long takes to show her emotional ups and downs and it's easy to see why she won the Oscar.  There's a crying scene that Fonda has at the end that was one of the most raw I've ever seen.

Take a look at this one if anything I wrote above catches your fancy...it's a nice piece of '70s era filmmaking.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+