Movie Review - The Phenom

The Phenom (2016)

Starring Johnny Simmons, Paul Giamatti, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Allison Elliott, and Ethan Hawke

Directed by Noah Buschel

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

A surprisingly serious sports film, The Phenom looks at the effect of immediate superstardom on a young baseball player thrust into the spotlight of the pro sports world.  Johnny Simmons is Hopper Gibson, a high school pitcher who decides to skip college and head straight to the pros when he's drafted by the Atlanta Braves.  Moving up the ranks rapidly, Hopper succeeds initially in his pro debut, but falls apart during a game throwing five wild pitches in one inning.  Unable to get his act together, the Braves send him to sports psychologist Dr. Mobely (Paul Giamatti) where Hopper's past rocky relationship with his mentally abusive father (Ethan Hawke) hints at the young ball player's current lack of confidence.

While The Phenom is admittedly a little slow, it gives a unique perspective for a sports film that we don't often see.  The focus isn't on the inevitable "big game" (or, frankly, any game at all), but instead on the mental highs and lows that come part and parcel with being a major league sports player.  Johnny Simmons is captivating as the title character whose cocky assurance as a high schooler (viewed in flashbacks) morphs into lots of self-doubt as he makes his way to the pros.  Considering that a huge chunk of Hopper's emotional arc occurs inside his head, Simmons succeeds at cluing the audience into exactly what his character is feeling.  Paul Giamatti is also good as the quiet, calming voice that helps Hopper try and become a bit more mentally stable in terms of his presence on the field.

Although The Phenom isn't lensed in any great fashion, writer-director Noah Buschel gives us a different spin on a tired genre.  The insular emotional nature of this piece is a difficult one to tell via a visual medium, but Buschel certainly succeeds on that front.  It's not a perfect film, but it's a good one nonetheless.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)

Starring Billy Crudup, Michael Angarano, Moises Arias, Nicholas Braun, Gaius Charles, Nelsan Ellis Keir Gilchrist, Ki Hong Lee, Thomas Mann, Ezra Miller, Logan Miller, Chris Sheffield, Tye Sheridan, Johnny Simmons, James Wolk, and Olivia Thirlby

Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Absolutely fascinating.  That was my reaction all throughout The Stanford Prison Experiment which is one of the year's most riveting edge-of-your-seat films.  While not a horror movie, director Kyle Patrick Alvarez's film plays like one as twenty-four young college students are recruited to portray either prisoners or guards and, over the course of what was supposed to be a fourteen-day mock prison experiment, form reactions and attitudes that these men had no idea were inside them.

What exactly are the psychological effects of being a prisoner or prison guard?  That's the question that psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup) wanted to explore in August 1971.  After placing an ad in the local paper looking for young male college students, two dozen kids were selected and randomly chosen to be either guards or prisoners by Zimbardo and his student colleagues.  On the relatively empty Stanford campus (thanks to summer break), Zimbardo took over a whole floor of his psychology building, creating cells and a variety of areas for the prisoners and guards to inhabit.  While things start out pleasant enough between the two groups of students, the prisoners begin to insist on certain considerations to which Zimbardo tells his guards to "take control" which they vigorously embrace leading to some horrifically chilling moments of psychological torture.

The fact that this happened in real life -- oh, I hadn't mentioned that tidbit yet -- is insane and it makes what unfolds all the more intriguing.  The cast of young men (and one woman) form one of the best ensembles put onto film in 2015.  Tye Sheridan gives his best performance yet as he gradually comes undone as Prisoner 819.  Similarly, Johnny Simmons has a heartbreaking scene as his Prisoner 1037 faces the parole board (yes, this experiment went so far as to have a parole board) and Thomas Mann also captivates as a prisoner brought in towards the end of the experiment who immediately realizes that something isn't quite right.  Kudos also to heretofore unknown actor Chris Sheffield as Prisoner 2093 who has an incredibly moving moment near the film's conclusion that makes Dr. Zimbardo question the ethics of his experiment.

Speaking of Zimbardo, Billy Crudup doesn't have the flashiest role in the film, but he's certainly the glue that holds things together and does a great job of conveying his initially innocent character's insistence of the importance of the mock prison and his slide into the frightening puppeteer who controls everything.  As the lead guard, Michael Angarano gives one of the scariest performances of the year.  His character's ease into strict authoritarianism depicts a frightening side to human emotions that we all may have inside us.  With the exception of Ezra Miller who I thought was playing his character similar to every other character I've ever seen the young actor play, the entire cast of knowns and unknowns kept my eyes glued to the screen.

The Stanford Prison Experiment is a film I didn't want to end.  I'm not a psychology buff in the slightest - I tend to think it's mostly a load of hooey - so for me to be riveted by this film was a complete surprise.  The talented ensemble should take a lot of the credit, but director Kyle Patrick Alvarez deserves much praise as well.  His film doesn't play like an educational documentary.  Instead, this is a tense discomforting two hour journey into human behavior with his camera allowing us to witness both the emotional trauma of the prisoners and the sadistic glee of the guards.  My words at the beginning of this review really sum up my thoughts about the movie as a whole -- absolutely fascinating.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Nina Dobrev, Johnny Simmons, Melanie Lynskey, Joan Cusack, and Paul Rudd

Directed by Stephen Chbosky

There's an aire of pretentiousness that runs throughout the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I found it a book that kept me at a distance because none of the characters were embraceable, nor were they nasty enough to be characters you loved to hate.  I was hoping that the movie might change my tune, but my overall reaction stayed pretty much the same.  Overall, the book's author Stephen Chbosky does a nice job in his first directorial gig in nearly two decades and he adapts his novel quite adequately to the screen, but this is simply a tale I never quite found winning.

The problem with The Perks of Being a Wallflower never lies with the storyline of the main character Charlie (Logan Lerman) who, as the film begins, is starting ninth grade after having a difficult summer in which he lost his best friend to suicide.  For most of his life, Charlie has always been battling psychological demons, but he hopes he's pushed them to the side as he begins the angst-filled four years of high school.  Charlie ends up befriending two seniors, step-siblings Patrick and Sam (Ezra Miller and Emma Watson) and it's in these two characters and their surroundings that the film (and the book) disappoint.  It's not that Patrick and Sam prove to be unrealistic, it's just that I couldn't care less about their problems and dreams for the future.  Patrick is an incredibly quirky gay teen who is seemingly the class clown and Sam is lovable with a pixie cut that indicates a slightly rough edge.  Everything with these two just feels overly angsty with a vibe of "aren't we unique/no teenager has ever done this before" thrown in when, in fact, their shenanigans are quite commonplace.

However, the character of Charlie makes the film work better than it probably should and Logan Lerman is a standout.  Lerman's fairly new to the acting scene and while I can't say I've ever been disappointed by the kid, I don't think I ever would've said I've been impressed.  That has changed.  Here, the now twenty year-old Lerman perfectly captures the fear of the initial days of high school, the insecurity of being one's true self even if it doesn't make you popular, and the tentativeness of one's first forays into romance, alcohol, and the other difficulties that come with one's teen years.  Also nice was Paul Rudd's turn as Charlie's English teacher, a friend/mentor who helps shape Charlie into a young man who can be proud of himself.

While there's part of me that can understand the effusive praise The Perks of Being a Wallflower received upon its release -- the film looks good, the acting is decent -- I've never been a fan of Mr. Chbosky's novel so its transition to film was going to be difficult to reel me in.  Still, thanks to a great performance from Logan Lerman, this one definitely lands in the "you should see this" category.

The RyMickey Rating: B-

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 - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Aubrey Plaza, Mae Whitman, Anna Kendrick, and Jason Schwartzman

Directed by Edgar Wright

I'm not a video game guy.  [When I was younger, those gaming systems weren't allowed in my household...until my brothers came along.  The first child was more protected, I guess.]  They're simply not my cup of tea.  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is (of course) a movie, but it's also like a giant real-life video game that, much to my pleasant surprise, is packed with visual pizzazz and style that makes this film a unique experience.

All you need to know about the film is that Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls in love with really cool chick Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who just happens to have seven evil exes with superpowers.  In order to be with Ramona, Scott must utilize his knowledge of comic books, indie music, and video games to defeat the exes and win himself the girl.

What makes the film ingenious is director and co-screenwriter Edgar Wright's visual style.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it, Wright has created a movie version of a video game/comic book complete with pop-up high scores, split screens, and old school Batman-esque "THWAP!"s and "BAM!"s running across the screen whenever someone gets hit.  At first, I thought maybe the film would fall into the problem I have with a movie like 300 which I felt looked too fake and screamed "LOOK AT ME!  DON'T I LOOK AWESOME?"  However, somehow Wright manages to make the flick never be just about the visuals because the characters are actually pretty darn nifty, too.

There isn't a single character or actor that I disliked in this film.  From all of Ramona's exes to all of Scott's friends, the characters are surprisingly unique (even though many are based off of standard "indie/grunge" clichés).  To accompany the characters, the acting across the board is top notch, with Wright bringing together one of the best acting ensembles this year.  There's not even really a point in delving into any specifics because I really liked every single person in the cast.

I'd like to say that Scott Pilgrim vs. the World isn't all that ingenious simply because it has a basis in video games -- an entertainment genre that just doesn't do a thing for me.   But there's no denying that I found the whole film incredibly clever and a joy to watch...even with the presence of Michael Cera whom I typically despise.  Even though this review falls into my typical "I don't know how to write incredibly positive reviews" posts, don't let my lack of adequate words deter you from watching this flick.  

The RyMickey Rating:  A-