Antebellum

 Antebellum (2020)

Starring Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, and Gabourey Sidibe

Directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz

Written by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Neon Demon

The Neon Demon (2016)

Starring Elle Fanning, Karl Glusman, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee, Desmond Harrington, Alessandro Nivola, Christina Hendricks, and Keanu Reeves

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

***This film is currently streaming via Amazon Prime***

The fashion industry is a brutal one -- but one can only hope it's not as bad as what's depicted in The Neon Demon which details a profession that eats you up and spits you out...quite literally.  Young Jesse (Elle Fanning) has just moved alone to California in the hopes of making it big as a model.  Told to lie about her age in order to get more jobs, the innocent and naive fifteen year-old girl is nearly immediately fawned upon by some big-name photographers and designers which doesn't sit well with a few struggling industry models (Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee).  Adrift in the cutthroat world, Jesse befriends Dean (Karl Glusman) -- a nice guy who genuinely cares about her success and well-being -- and Ruby (Jena Malone) -- a make-up artist who's intentions may not be as pure as they seem.  As Jesse rises up in the ranks rather quickly, it's only natural that there will be some who want to take her down and they'll stop at nothing to succeed.

Totally original, but also completely full of WTF moments that had me questioning why I was watching, The Neon Demon is a visually stunning film with director Nicolas Winding Refn upping the stylish quotient from his previous endeavors.  That said, once you move beyond the look of things, there's not a whole lot here.  Fashion industry metaphors are obvious and they do nothing to advance the underdeveloped story which eventually devolves into a laughable horror movie of sorts.  Admittedly, the stylization of this film proves to be a near perfect match for the industry it's trying to send up, but with one-note characters and a too-basic story, The Neon Demon doesn't quite make the grade.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Time Out of Mind

Time Out of Mind (2015)

Starring Richard Gere, Ben Vereen, Jena Malone, and Kyra Sedgwick

Directed by Oren Moverman

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

Voyeuristically filmed at times, writer-director Oren Moverman's Time Out of Mind follows the life of George (Richard Gere), a homeless and possibly mentally ill man who roams New York City looking for food and shelter (along with the more than occasional consumption of alcohol).  Finding it difficult to sleep on the street, George decides to move into a homeless shelter where he meets the rambling and often nonsensical Dixon (Ben Vereen) and they strike up an odd, oftentimes contentious friendship.  Growing desperate to earn money, George reaches out to his estranged daughter Maggie (Jena Malone), a bartender who wants nothing to do with her father after he abandoned her for reasons revealed late in the film.

Moverman's camera plants itself far away from his main figures at times, causing the audience to feel as if they're peering in on George's life, creating a distance between the viewer and the characters that actually works surprisingly well.  As the film progresses, the camera gradually moves in a bit closer.  The concept is reminiscent of how most of us would feel around a homeless man -- keeping him at a distance, but, should we get to know him, we may welcome him into our circle with a bit less reticence.

Time Out of Mind is a very slow burn -- too slow at times.  The film's first half hour contains very little dialog, simply trying to paint a picture of George's difficult life on the street.  While it does a good job of getting across the trials facing the homeless (although it doesn't present solutions or espouse preachiness), the flick grows a bit wearisome at several moments throughout its runtime.  A condensing of certain aspects would've done wonders here, but the other Oren Moverman film I've seen -- The Messenger -- carries that same cinematic mindset of moving at a slower pace.  The film picks up particularly at the end as George attempts to reconcile his relationship with Maggie, but it's a bit too little too late.

Gere is very good here -- he's in every scene and there's a subtlety he brings to the character that never screams "Pity Me" which I very much appreciated.  Malone also makes the most of her two small scenes with Gere and it had me wishing the film would've explored her character in greater detail.  She really delivers in her moments and the film brightens in terms of story when she takes the stage.  It's these personal moments and connections Gere has with others that bring Time Out of Mind to life and while I appreciate Moverman's attempt here at creating something different, it doesn't work all the time, but it's certainly not a complete disappointment either.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Sam Claflin, Mahershala Ali, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Elizabeth Banks

Directed by Francis Lawrence

The thought that kept running through my head while watching this final chapter of The Hunger Games saga was that I'm not sure if there's been a more depressing film franchise placed to have such enormous monetary success.  While I rather enjoyed the first part of Mockingjay as it took a spin away from the titular fight-to-the-death battles set up by the tyrannical President Snow (Donald Sutherland), stretching what is a political flick across two over-two-hour films becomes a little tedious.  Everything heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was striving to achieve in Part 1, she's still striving to achieve here.  That isn't to say that there aren't some nice moments as director Francis Lawrence has a good eye for crafting action set pieces, but Mockingjay Part 2 feels like a bit of a letdown for a series I rather enjoyed.

I could go on further in this review, but I'll leave things rather simplified.  It's not that Mockingjay, Part 2 is bad, but it's disappointingly bland considering what has come before.  Emotionally, I found myself rather disconnected at its conclusion and it's just a bit of a shame that the series couldn't end on a better note given all the positives that came before.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice (2014)

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Katherine Waterston, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Joanna Newsom, Jena Malone, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, and Martin Short 

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

What in the hell was in the critics' water when they deemed Inherent Vice worthy of a 73% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes?  Just because a film is directed by an esteemed director doesn't make it worthy of such a ranking.  Just because a film is well acted doesn't make it worthy of such a ranking.  Just because a film looks good and has better than average production values doesn't make it worthy of such a ranking.  A film still has to be enjoyable in a sense that the viewer must remain captivated by any of those aforementioned criteria mentioned or by its story.  Unfortunately, the directing, acting, and production values aren't enough to keep Inherent Vice afloat and, boy, is its story one of the worst and least captivating tales I've seen woven in a film in 2014.

There was talk of the story here being incoherent and frustrating, but I found the general gist of the plot fairly easy to comprehend.  A drug-addled private eye named Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is drafted by his former lover Shasta Fay (Katherine Waterston) to determine the seriousness of Shasta's current lover's wife and her lover's desire to put her husband (and, remember, Shasta's current lover) into a loony bin and take all of his money.  It should be noted that if the previous sentence has thrown you for a loop, Inherent Vice probably isn't for you.  Then again, Inherent Vice really isn't for anyone.  The biggest issue with director and screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson's flick is that it takes an already convoluted premise and branches off on so many tangents that admittedly are related, but fail to resonate or prove meaningful in the slightest.  Characters come in for single scenes, drop some other name for Doc to investigate, and then leave and never come back.  This pattern gets repetitive and old rather quickly and makes the nearly 150-minute run time feels like an eternity.

What saves Inherent Vice from the very bottom dregs of the RyMickey Rating system is that fact that the film looks good and contains acting that is certainly above average.  Unfortunately, I still found myself twiddling my thumbs, waiting for this never-ending story to conclude.  Unable to latch on to any of the film's characters or their plights, I found myself adrift here and completely unimpressed.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hofman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, and Donald Sutherland

Directed by Francis Lawrence

Comparing The Hunger Games film series to the Twilight series is inevitably going to happen simply because both focus on female protagonists and both stem from extremely popular literary tomes.  The comparison isn't fair in the slightest, however, because there's simply no competition -- The Hunger Games beats the Twilight series to a pulp in all areas -- story, acting, and direction.

With the first film in the series ending with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) formulating a plan for herself and her good friend Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) to win the Hunger Games together, her success and intelligence doesn't sit too well with President Snow (Donald Sutherland).  Seeing his nation desiring to rebel against The Capitol and his presidency, Snow decides to throw a twist at Katniss -- for the 75th Hunger Games, previous winners will be forced to battle each other to the death again with only one winner taking the glory.

Admittedly, Catching Fire is really just a rehash of The Hunger Games, however, I think overall, the film plays better than its predecessor.  We've come to hate President Snow which makes his maniacal ways even more disturbing.  We've grown to care for Katniss and feel more empathy for her being forced to take part in a love triangle with herself, her public love Peeta, and her private love Gale (Liam Hemsworth).  The battle between the twelve districts against the Capitol holds more gravitas after we've seen what the government puts its citizens through during the Hunger Games.  It's because of this increased feeling of import that Catching Fire works better than the original film despite similar plots.

Unfortunately, this very thing that makes Catching Fire resonate more also doesn't allow it to feel remotely original.  We're given, for all intents and purposes, the same story again.  The actors across the board sell it, keeping up the good work we saw in the original, and director Francis Lawrence also keeps the film looking as nice as the first flick.  However, I found myself longing for less of the Hunger Games themselves and more of the battle between the government and its citizens.  Fortunately, I hear that the third installment will grant my wishes.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch (2011)

Starring Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Oscar Isaac, Scott Glenn, and Carla Gugino 

Directed by Zack Snyder

Zack Snyder is the King of Style over Substance.  From 300 to Watchmen, Snyder finds a way to make stories seem pointless while transporting viewers into video game-reminiscent settings complete with a pulsing soundtrack. [Note:  This is coming from someone who actually didn't mind Watchmen.]  Sucker Punch is really no exception to the above characteristics and his stylized direction has worn out its welcome (if it was ever welcome to begin with).

In his latest assault on the senses, Snyder introduces us to Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who finds herself being forced into a mental institution after she accidentally kills her younger sister while trying to save her from their evil sexually abusive stepfather.  Unfortunately, after the surprisingly promising and genuinely exciting opening moments, things fall apart.  While in the institution, Baby Doll dreams that she, her fellow inmates, and all of the doctors work at a brothel.  Mirroring her thoughts in the loony bin, Baby Doll tries to rally her fellow hookers into escaping the clutches of the evil owner Blue (Oscar Isaac).  In order to do that, Baby Doll performs some sultry, sexy dance (which we the viewer never see) that puts all men into some sort of trance, thus allowing Baby Doll and her friends to steal the necessary supplies to bolt.

But wait...that's not all.  Instead of seeing Baby Doll dance, we go into her mind and see what she is imagining while she shakes her moneymaker.  And what she sees apparently is a war going on between her ladyfriends and Nazis, dragons, and futuristic robots.  It's these moments in particular (which take up at least half the film) that grow ridiculously repetitive and ultimately wreck Sucker Punch.  While I completely understand that none of these epically shot fight sequences are supposed to seem "real" since they're all occurring within Baby Doll's imagination, I couldn't help but think that the video game commercials I saw on the Blu-Ray prior to the film starting had better aesthetics and graphics.  Everything in these sequences (and the whole movie for that matter) is so washed out and hued in grays and browns that nothing is pleasing to the eye.  [This is a consistent problem for Snyder...for a guy that loves visuals so much, he manages to create worlds that are completely devoid of luminosity and appeal.]

While all of the ladies in the flick are certainly attractive, some -- Abbie Cornish and Jena Malone -- fare better than others -- Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung -- in the acting department.  Rather oddly, as the film's main character, Emily Browning is given absolutely nothing to do with her role.  She barely speaks and finds herself being told to stare blankly at things more often than not.  And the less said about Carla Gugino forcing out some laughable German or Austrian accent the better.

Not that I was ever on the Zack Snyder bandwagon, but Sucker Punch certainly knocked me off of it.  This writer-director needs to shake things up a bit and actually create a story that's worth telling and craft visuals to go with it that don't look so cheap.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - The Messenger (2009)

Starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, and Steve Buscemi
Directed by Oren Moverman

Little did I know walking into this movie that I would be watching some of the most gut-wrenching scenes put on film this year, getting a small glimpse at some of the most intimate moments of a soldier's family's life.

The Messenger revolves around two casualty notification officers -- men who are tasked with informing the family members of U.S. soldiers that their loved ones have died. Captain Tony Stone (Harrelson) is the veteran officer and he is in the process of training newcomer Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Foster), an Iraq war veteran who has returned home from war with both physical and psychological ailments. As they go from home to home, Will becomes enamored with one particular army widow, Olivia. Both Olivia and Will have their share of problems and their relationship is anything but easygoing.

What touched me the most were the scenes in which Will and Tony reveal the sad news to the family members. The varying reactions of the families and the acting on display of both the family members and of Foster and Harrelson was just stunning here. The muted strength and emotionally vacant faces of the two soldiers (obviously masking their palpable sadness) countering the utter devastation of the family members set up such a dichotomy that one can't help but be moved. There was an uncomfortable feeling in nearly every one of these scenes and they really were quite emotionally gripping.

Certainly helping these scenes earn their gravitas is the fantastic work of Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson. Harrelson, in particular, is pretty darn spectacular here. Always the steadfast and strong one of the pair, Harrelson's Tony is obviously suppressing some horrible "survivor's"-type guilt as evidenced by his past alcoholism and womanizing ways. And Foster, while feeling that same guilt, reacts to things in a much angrier way. It's this balance of the two personalities that make the film work so well -- at first, Will and Tony think they are quite different from one another, but, in the end, they realize they share more than they think. There's also some great (although subtle) work from Samantha Morton, and Jena Malone definitely stands out in what is essentially a glorified extended cameo.

Director Oren Moverman allows things to linger, but manages to never make things seem slow-moving. There's a several minute-long shot of Foster's Will and Morton's Olivia during which Olivia breaks down for the first time that was just stunning, exemplifying the director's idea of not shying away from things. He stays with this emotional scene for an extended period of time, just as he pulls us into every single one of the scenes in which the two officers must deliver the awful news to the next of kin of the fallen soldiers.

Ultimately, the film isn't perfect (although it's close) -- the film doesn't allow the audience to really connect with Will in the way that is necessary to be pulling/rooting for his character. By the film's end and in the final scenes, that emotional connection is finally achieved (boy, is it ever...), but for 90 minutes, I felt a wall up between myself and the main character.

Still, when you look at everything else that's so right with the movie, that feels like a minor quibble. Similar to The Hurt Locker, The Messenger is about war, but doesn't take an (obvious) pro or con stance. They both allow the viewer to make up their own minds and bring their own personal views into the film experience. And The Messenger was quite an experience.

The RyMickey Rating: A-