A Rainy Day in New York

 A Rainy Day in New York (2020)

Starring Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez, Jude Law, Diego Luna, Rebecca Hall, Cherry Jones, and Liev Schreiber

Directed by Woody Allen

Written by Woody Allen

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

The Rhythm Section

The Rhythm Section (2020)

Starring Blake Lively, Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown, Max Casella, and Raza Jaffrey

Directed by Reed Morano

Written by Mark Burnell

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel (2019)

Starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Clark Gregg, Annette Bening, and Jude Law

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

Written by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, William Nadylam, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp

Directed by David Yates

Written by J.K. Rowling

Summary (in 500 words or less):  The evil Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) escapes from custody while being transported from the USA back to Europe.  He settles down in Paris and prepares his evil wizards to stand up to the rules set forth by the wizarding world while also attempting to track down the young Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) whose powers are some of the strongest known to wizards.  Meanwhile, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) try and track him down.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Movie Review - Genius

Genius (2016)

Starring Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce, Dominic West, and Laura Linney

Directed by Michael Grandage

***This film is currently streaming via HBO Now/GO***

As the words of Thomas Wolfe were read aloud and his mellifluous prose lyrically opened Michael Grandage's film Genius, I was drawn into this tale about the unique author (played by Jude Law) and his publisher Maxwell Perkins (Colin Firth).  However, as I imagine I'd feel attempting to read one of Thomas Wolfe's lengthy tomes, lovely descriptive verbiage can only get you so far -- story also has to have some importance.  Unfortunately, Genius begins to falter as it enters its second half, failing to really take its characters on any type of journeys that weren't obvious from the film's opening scenes.

In 1929 New York, Perkins is reading Wolfe's first attempt at a novel with much aplomb.  Shot down by innumerable other publishers, the hickish-sounding, though verbose Wolfe was taking one final shot, going out on a limb by giving his novel to Perkins who edited and published works by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Guy Pearce) and Ernest Hemingway (Dominic West).  When Perkins agrees to publish Wolfe's work, a parental-type friendship is formed with Perkins seeing Wolfe as the son he never had.

There is something compelling in the opening act of Genius -- rarely do films translate the art of writing to the screen successfully and this film was working...at first.  However, as it progresses, it falls into stereotypical traps that don't allow its characters to feel fresh.  Its script also grows repetitive -- Perkins continues bickering with Wolfe about editing down his tomes, Perkins' wife Louise (Laura Linney) wants her husband to spend more time with his five daughters, Wolfe's lover Aline (Nicole Kidman) resents Wolfe spending all his time with Perkins -- failing to advance its characters in any substantial way, reiterating the same story notes over and over again.  Director Grandage with his first film has a fantastic cadre of actors at his disposal, but with the lukewarm script, he's unable to really pull anything substantial from any of them.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Spy

Spy (2015)

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, and Jude Law

Directed by Paul Feig

Lately, Melissa McCarthy's comedic ventures have been weak, attempting to recapture the brash persona that brought her an Oscar nomination for Bridesmaids, but only feeling like cheap carbon copies.  Fortunately, Spy changes things around a little bit as McCarthy stars as Susan Cooper, a rather humble CIA agent who spends her day behind a desk helping the dashing and debonair field agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law).  During a mission in which Fine is raiding the home of Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), a nasty criminal who perhaps knows the location of a nuclear bomb, Rayna shoots Fine dead, but not before stating that she knows the names and identities of many CIA field agents and will kill them just like she did Fine if they try and hunt her down.  With the knowledge that many of their agents may now be compromised, CIA director Elaine Crocker (Allison Janney) agrees to send Susan undercover to try and get information about Rayna and the location of the nuke.  Needless to say, the somewhat timid Susan finds herself needing to showcase her strength and machismo as she tries to take down Rayna.

McCarthy is certainly more of an actress than just her admittedly hilarious Bridesmaids character and I am more than pleased that the comedienne is able to show a different set of comedic chops in Spy.  Here, she's absolutely charming to watch onscreen and more than holds the audience's attention.  I can only hope that this type of character finds her more in the future.  Pairing McCarthy with the hardened Jason Statham as a CIA agent angered that Cooper is out in the field provides many a humorous moment as does McCarthy's repartee with the evilly snarky Rose Byrne who continues to showcase her talent in the comedy world.

I laughed out loud quite a bit during Spy, but the film doesn't quite find the balance in terms of teaming comedy with action.  I enjoyed the flick, but there are certainly more than a few dull moments that do little to move the story forward or provide laughs or excitement.  I'd certainly be game for another go-around with the characters in the film so there's definitely something to be said for that.  With a bit more editing (as is needed in nearly all comedies that come out of today's cinematic landscape), Spy would've been the tauter flick it needed to be to really succeed.  As it stands now, it's a solid vehicle for Melissa McCarthy who's finally given a chance to shine after several years of shoddy films.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Black Sea

Black Sea (2015)

Starring Jude Law, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Bobby Schofield 

Directed by Kevin Macdonald

Maybe I've just hit the wall with submarine movies.  In the past year, I've watched Pioneer and Pressure, and perhaps unfortunately Black Sea is hitting many of the same notes as those previous flicks.  In fact, and I'm spoiling the lede here, Black Sea ends up getting the same grade as those prior pics -- it's perfectly average.

Much like those other flicks, we get a group of men who head down in a submarine (or some submersible) -- here, the group headed by recently unemployed Robinson (Jude Law) are searching for a German U-boat that sank decades ago and is rumored to be filled with gold.  Robinson's crew is a joint venture between some Russians and some Brits and the tension between the two groups comes to a head once Robinson announces that the gold will be split evenly amongst the crew once they surface.  The theory arises, though, if there are less people alive when they surface that means more gold per individual and this notion leads to some deviance.

Black Sea is probably the best acted of the trio of submarine flicks with Jude Law giving a well-balanced performance, but the film itself feels slowly paced and oddly unexciting considering the premise of men starting to turn on one another.  Kevin Macdonald does a nice job of making the film feel as unclaustrophobic as possible, but by the time the film finally starts rolling about an hour in, I was in the process of checking out.  Fortunately, Law's performance and the story kick up a few notches and the flick becomes more captivating, but it's a shame it's not a fully well-rounded film.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Dom Hemingway

Dom Hemingway (2014)

Starring Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demian Bichir, and Emilia Clarke

Directed by Richard Shepard

Filled with cleverly snappy dialog, an oddly retro aesthetic, and a titular protagonist who's a bitterly nasty guy whom we can't help but think a bit fondly of despite his many deviant issues, director and screenwriter Richard Shepard's Dom Hemingway is a film that works about half the time, but unfortunately falters a bit when it attempts to give its otherwise crude lead character a bit of a heart of gold as the film progresses.

From the opening scene, we glimpse what kind of film we're getting into and while I don't want to spoil the hilarity of the sheer audacity of the moment, we really do immediately key in to the movie's pulpy usage of dialog and visuals to evoke humor.  In that scene (and the ones immediately following it), we discover that Dom Hemingway has been in jail for twelve years after having committed a crime and refusing to name the crime boss who tasked him with the job.  Upon his release, he meets up with his best friend (Richard E. Grant) to head to France to meet up with Ivan Fontaine (Demian Bichir), the man employing Dom when he was captured.  The ballsy, hold-no-punches guy that he is, the recently freed Dom demands that Ivan -- an incredibly wealthy, smooth-talking mafioso type -- give him a substantial payday.

Rather than spoil things, I'll leave the summary at that except to say that at about halfway through the film, Dom Hemingway begins to disappoint a bit.  Rather than continue on the comedically vulgar track, the second half of the flick attempts to reform Dom as he tries to reconcile with his adult daughter (Emilia Clarke) and her grandson.  I can understand how some films feel the need to make their nasty protagonist seem at least a bit rehabilitated as they progress and "grow," but Shepard did such a good job of creating a sleazy guy the audience can root for in Dom that this amelioration of his character is unnecessary and actually harms the film more than it does it good.  Granted, Dom never completely glistens with an angelic glow, but the whole last half struck me as a bit disingenuous for the character we had seen come before.

2014 was a surprisingly fantastic year for actors (as my RyMickey Awards will show) and in a lesser year, Jude Law would undoubtedly rank in my Top Five Actors for his brash, ballsy, and positively delightful portrayal as the title character.  While I'm not quite sure he'll make it there this year, his performance alone makes Dom Hemingway worth watching even if the film itself is hampered by a misguided attempt at creating a tiny bit of morality in the end.

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Movie Review - The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Starring Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Matheiu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, and Tony Revolori

Directed by Wes Anderson

Director and screenwriter Wes Anderson's films are always easy to pick out by their colorful visual style, exquisite production design, sardonic, quirky humor, and the presence of Bill Murray, but with the exception of Fantastic Mr. Fox, I always tend to feel that Anderson can't quite craft a great story around his admittedly unique style.  While The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of his better efforts, I still find myself waiting for one of his live action flicks to really grab me and pull me in with its story.

Told in a flashback within a flashback, the film focuses on Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), the concierge at the prestigious Grand Budapest Hotel in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka in 1932.  While Gustave runs the hotel with precision, he's also well known amongst the elderly lady crowd for providing something a little bit extra during their stay.  (That "extra" would be sex...in case I was too vague.)  One such lady -- Madame Céline Villeneuve Desgoffe und Taxis (Tilda Swinton in a ton of make-up) -- has fallen in love with Gustave and while he admittedly reciprocates the feeling to her, he has too many other "duties" in the hotel to fully give himself to her.  However, after she leaves to travel back to her home, Gustave receives word that Madame D has been killed and that he must attend the reading of the will for she has left something to him.  Upon arrival, Gustave learns that Madame D has bequeathed the terribly expensive painting "Boy with Apple" to him much to the chagrin of his relatives.  Not only that, but Madame D was murdered and her sons and daughters are pointing to Gustave as the main culprit.

There are so many great things about The Grand Budapest Hotel that it pains me to not love it more.  Ralph Fiennes is fantastic as Gustave.  The dry humor and wit that exudes from every line reading and every movement from Fiennes is an enviable feat and he really is the unsung hero from the piece.  The rest of the supporting cast is pitch perfect as well with a very nice turn in particular from newcomer Tony Revolori as Gustave's lobby boy/right hand man.  Fiennes is a strong presence in the film and Revolori holds his own, providing his own bit of humor from his reactions to the oddness going on around him.  The cast itself certainly gets the tone of things from Wes Anderson himself who, as a director, has a way of creating humor simply from his direction -- the pan of a camera may be all that's needed in order to elicit a chuckle.  As I watched, I realized that not too many directors have this ability and Anderson understands how to utilize the lens itself in order to create humor.  And the production design -- top notch, melding old school and new school designs with ease, creating a storybook-like world that completely brings us into the fake land of Zubrowka.

But it's that darn story that doesn't quite elevate things.  For about an hour, I was onboard, but the thing peters out towards the end as it shifts from focusing on Gustave to focusing on Gustave's escape plan from those trying to pin him for murder.  I can't say that I want an emotional connection in Anderson's films -- that's not what I'm looking for from his pictures.  But there seems to be some fundamental piece of the puzzle missing in his live action flicks for me that fail to click with my mind on some level as the film progresses.  Perhaps it's just that I tire of the quirkiness after about an hour and I'm left with some pretty basic storytelling in nearly all his films.

Still, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a good flick -- certainly one of Anderson's better films -- with fantastic production values and great acting, but it's just missing that last bit of pizzazz from its screenplay.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - 360

360 (2012)

Starring Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster, Maria Flor, Jamel Debbouze, Lucia Siposová, and Gabriella Marcinkova

Directed by Fernando Meirelles

***This film is streaming instantly on Netflix***

Some people can't stand it, but I'm a fan of films that have seemingly unrelated stories that manage to somehow weave together by the film's end in unexpected ways.  Whereas films like 2009's The Burning Plain and 2006's Babel use this storytelling technique to take on more serious subjects like domestic abuse and gun control, respectively, 360 attempts to utilize its interweaving stories by focusing on love.  However, we already have an excellent movie that does this incredibly well in Love, Actually, and 360 fails at creating the depth needed for its much more serious tone than that 2003 film.

360 opens (and ends...hence the title) with Mirka (Lucia Siposová), a young Slovakian twentysomething getting nude photos taken in an attempt to enter the lucrative world of being an internet call girl.  Almost immediately after having her pictures posted, she's chosen to have a meeting with Englishman Michael Daly (Jude Law) while he's on a business trip in Vienna.  Michael is a married man and, thanks to a serious of events, ends up not going through with the meeting with Mirka.  Little does Michael know that back in London, his wife Rose (Rachel Weisz) is having an affair with a Brazilian hunk named Rui.  When Rui's girlfriend Laura (Maria Flor) finds out about his escapades, she leaves him to head back to Brazil.  On the plane, Laura sits next to John (Anthony Hopkins) an older gentleman who has been looking for his missing daughter for years.  He's flying to Denver because he has been told that an unidentified woman matching his daughter's description has been found dead.  While on a layover in Colorado, Laura meets Tyler (Ben Foster) at an airport restaurant and she sees an opportunity to have an invigorating one-night stand as a means to forget about Rui who has done her wrong.  Tyler, however, has just been released from prison for committing what we can only assume was a horrible sex crime and has to fight the urges to turn into the horrible man he once was.

As these stories begin to link up with one another, the problem begins to arise that we don't really care about any of them.  Somehow, every single one of these stories seems superficial and fails to resonate on any type of emotional level with the audience.  It's not that all these characters are flawed (although most of them are) as a movie full of flawed characters has a tendency to create some intriguing conflict; it's just that none of their stories are given the opportunity to create any impact.  And, as 360 begins to come full circle, we realize that in the end these stories are rather mundane.  This movie by its very nature wants you to look at the grand scheme of things by focusing on more intimate moments, but neither the big nor small pictures are charismatic enough to carry the film.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Side Effects

Side Effects (2013)

Starring Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, and Catherine Zeta-Jones

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

When leaving the theater after watching Side Effects, the first word that I thought of to describe the film was "pulp," but that implies a sense of cheap sensationalism that doesn't befit this taut, effective thriller in the slightest.  Instead, I'll say that Steven Soderbergh's latest and reportedly last film echoes back to the days of classic film noir (a genre which oftentimes had an elevated "pulpy" sensibility) and, dare I say, is quite Hitchcockian in tone and execution.  Soderbergh has created a flick with many more twists and turns than I was expecting, many of which may be jaw-dropping, but all of which prove to be fitting to the overall story.  

As the film opens, twenty-eight year-old Emily (Rooney Mara) is eagerly awaiting the release of her husband Martin (Channing Tatum) from prison.  After serving four years for insider trading, Martin is ready to jump right back into the business end of things, but Emily finds herself quickly slipping into a depression.  After a suicide attempt, Emily begins seeing psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) who puts Emily on a series of anti-depressant medication.  Seeing little to no improvement and after talking with Emily's former psychiatrist Dr. Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Dr. Banks puts Emily on a new drug named Ablixa.  Unfortunately, one of the side effects of Ablixa is blackout-like sleepwalking.  While in one of these blackouts, Emily commits an act that places her into a mental institution and the questions begin to arise as to who exactly is to blame.

The film does take a little bit to find its balance and several of the actors, particularly the overly glum Rooney Mara and the rather one-note Catherine Zeta-Jones (who we know we're supposed to think is sexy because she wears tight skirts and thick-rimmed glasses like a librarian from a young kid's wet dream), are curious enigmas that certainly had me doubting Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Burns' screenplay during the first half.  [It should also be noted that I couldn't buy for a second that Channing Tatum was a smart, Wall Street-type stockbroker.] However, much to my delight, as the film heads into its final hour, puzzle pieces begin to fit together and twists, turns, and double crosses veer the flick on a decidedly different course than one expects at the onset.  It's at this time that the film shifts focus from Emily and towards Dr. Banks who is rather unexpectedly facing the brunt of the blame for his patient's criminal act.  Jude Law very nicely balances his character's need to find out the truth behind the questionable new drug while at the same time hoping that his findings won't prove him criminally culpable.  

No one's going to mistake Side Effects for a cinematic masterpiece, but it's fun, smart, and very nicely places you on the edge of your seat for a good bit of its running time.  Sex, violence, and drugs -- a potent combination, but one that always has the potential of creating a good amount of riveting drama as is the case here.  A very nice start to cinema for me in 2013.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina (2012)

Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Olivia Williams, and Emily Watson  

Directed by Joe Wright

Oh, what a conundrum Anna Karenina places me in.  It's not really a conundrum, I guess, so much as disappointment.  Considering all that is good about this re-telling of the classic Leo Tolstoy novel (of which I was entirely unfamiliar with), it pains me to not be able to recommend this one.  Despite some ingenious direction and a career-best performance from Keira Knightley, this flick just can't get past the fact that there's not enough story -- or at least not enough interesting story -- to cause the audience to give a damn.  I'm not quite sure there's anything director Joe Wright could have done -- and he certainly tries -- to have made this late 19th century soap opera appealing to a modern audience.

I knew absolutely nothing about Anna Karenina prior to venturing into this film.  In fact, I'm not even sure I saw a complete trailer for the movie, let alone cracked open a Cliffs Notes version of the book.  However, I knew going in (and this was probably incredibly helpful) that director Joe Wright had rather cleverly set up the film as if it was all being performed on a stage.  Sets move in and out fluidly.  Cast members are sometimes seen playing different roles in the background.  We see stage props and the unfinished backsides of backdrops.  This stylized, grandiose approach certainly kept my attention throughout and provides many glorious scenes that I truly loved.

Unfortunately, this story is just too formulaic and too banal to have any reason to be filmed.  Maybe the novel was a revelation in 1877, but now the whole thing reads as a trite soap opera elevated to importance only because people speak in British accents (despite the fact that this takes place in Russia...but that didn't bother me in the slightest).  Keira Knightley is the title character, a young mother who is seemingly stuck in a marriage with a husband, Alexei (Jude Law), who monetarily provides for her, but fails to express love for her and her son.  While on a visit to see her brother (Matthew Macfadyen), Anna meets Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and instantly becomes mesmerized with him (as he does with her).  They begin a rather torrid affair that isn't exactly kept as secretive as it should be.  With Anna already in a marriage and Vronsky set to be betrothed to the young Kitty (Alicia Vikander), this doesn't sit well with the community and Anna finds herself being ostracized and looked down upon by all.

Had the Anna-Vronsky-Alexei triangle been all that we had to worry about, I may have been okay with the premise.  However, we then get sidetracked to a forlorn Kitty, sullen and upset that Vronsky left her, falling into the arms of the less wealthy Konstantin (Domhnall Gleeson).  Frankly, despite a decent effort by the actors to convince me otherwise, I couldn't have cared less about the Kitty-Konstantin angle and found that it slowed down the movie to uncomfortable levels.  It certainly doesn't help that Anna's now-ruined life is drawn out seemingly ad infinitum as well.

And the shame of it all is that Keira Knightley is pretty fantastic.  Even in her better roles (like last year's A Dangerous Method), Ms. Knightley still relied on her ever-present crutch of jaw-clenching to express frustration, anger, or fear.  Somehow, she's grown quite a bit as an actor and her director (whom she's worked with twice before) has nixed that jutting jaw of hers.  Anna is her most mature role yet with Knightley exuding passion, sexiness, heartbreak, and maternal instincts.  It really is a well-rounded performance in a movie whose story doesn't permit her character to soar the way it deserves.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Rise of the Guardians

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

***viewed in 3D***

Featuring the voice talents of Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, and Jude Law

Directed by Peter Ramsey

There is certainly the potential for a great movie in Rise of the Guardians, but in the end something doesn't quite come together completely resulting in a surprisingly cold and icy film (no pun intended to the main character Jack Frost).  Despite some lovely animation and a villain whom I relished for his constantly sneering menace, the film's story just didn't work concluding with a disappointing climax that proves to be a bit of a letdown.

First off, it must be mentioned that this is not a Christmas movie.  Yes, Santa is in it (although the not-quite-so-jolly guy is known as "North"), but it's not his story and it's not Noel-centric at all.  In fact, the tale takes place three days before Easter and while we see North in his residence, this isn't a film about him or the December holiday.  I say that not as a criticism at all, but simply as a way of countering the expectations that you would likely have had going into this.  I will admit that it threw me a bit off balance at first.

Trouble is afoot for the Guardians, an Avengers-like group of childhood bigwigs -- Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and the Sandman (a lovely Chaplin-esque voiceless character) -- who discover that the evil Pitch (AKA The Boogeyman voiced by Jude Law) is stealing the lovely dreams Sandman places into the minds of children and replacing them with nightmares.  Unable to defeat Pitch on their own, The Man in the Moon (who is essentially a faceless and voiceless omnipotent God) sends Jack Frost the guardians' way, hoping that he can help take down Pitch.  Jack (voiced by Chris Pine) doesn't necessarily want to join the exclusive club.  Unlike his Guardian counterparts, he's rather youthful and gets his kicks from making it snow which he realizes isn't exactly as exciting to a kid as Santa or the Easter Bunny.  However, before he can even walk away from the group, Jack and his fellow Guardians are forced to chase after Pitch who, having already stepped in on the Sandman's turf, has now ransacked the lair of the Tooth Fairy.  As children across the world begin to stop believing in the Guardians, their special powers start to weaken and they must join forces to defeat Pitch.

[Fairly obvious spoiler ahead if you've watched any kid movie ever...]

There's a great premise here based off of William Joyce's series of books, but while the film starts off plenty fine, it doesn't come to any form of satisfying conclusion.  There are some great moments when Pitch faces off against the Guardians during the middle of the film -- moments that were truly exciting and tense -- but the film ends with such a thud that it nearly negates all the build-up.  Ultimately, I simply couldn't buy in to the corny and hokey way Pitch is defeated in the end.  The notion that childhood fantasies and dreams could in some way save the day rang false and provided an incredibly disappointing finale.  Add to that an incredibly corny "find your center" chakra-esque mission for Jack Frost to "discover who he really is" and hokeyness was the name of the game.

[End Spoilers.]

Design-wise, the film looks great with an admittedly different look than we've come to expect from computer-animated films.  The lines are a little more sharp and the characters are a bit more anime-esque than we're used to seeing which is a positive (and this is coming from someone who cares not a bit for the anime style of animation).  Also, the film has a great villain in Pitch, voiced to perfection by Jude Law.  While it would have been nice to see a bit more malevolence from the character, he is far and away the best part of the movie...it's just a shame that his evil power grows a bit repetitive as the film progresses.

But, Rise of the Guardians just doesn't come together in the end, not quite managing to make the most of the most popular figures in childhood lore.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Hugo

Hugo (2011)

Starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Michael Stuhlbarg, Helen McCrory, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, and Jude Law

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Perhaps Hugo means a bit more to me, a guy who studied a bit of film in college, than the average viewer, but your ever so humble reviewer found Martin Scorsese's homage to early cinema a visual treat, a fanciful adventure, and a bit of a cinematic film lesson all wrapped into one.  Admittedly, I'm not a Martin Scorsese devotee (I've maybe seen six of his movies and most of those are from the last decade), but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that Hugo's whimsical and gentle nature is not a style that would typically be attributed to the much-lauded director.  Still, while Hugo is certainly a film that you can take the whole family to watch, it shouldn't be mistaken for a "kiddie" picture.  Instead, its message about preserving film history for future generations hit a nerve in this filmgoer who already misses the pre-digital days pined over in Hugo in which the actual flickering of a shutter flashed light onto a silver screen in a darkened room.

When young Hugo Cabret's (Asa Butterfield) father passes away, he is sent to live with his uncle in a small "apartment" behind the gears of the giant clock in a huge Parisian train station.  Hugo spends his day fixing and setting the various clocks in the station while also snatching up a few croissants and bottles of milk for a bit of sustenance always being mindful of the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) whose goal in life seems to be snatching up orphaned children and sending them to the dreaded orphanage.  On one afternoon, Hugo attempts to steal a toy from the toy shop in the station run by Georges (Ben Kingsley) only to find himself caught by the grumpy owner who forces Hugo to work for him rather than turn the kid over to the Inspector.  As Georges begins to discover some of Hugo's secrets, Hugo and his new friend, Georges's goddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), begin to discover a few secrets about Georges as well which explain why he is the curmudgeon that he is.

While appearing to be a simple tale, there's great depth here as (SPOILER ALERT) Georges is discovered to the famous filmmaker Georges Mélies who magically created some of the earliest, yet hugely complex for their time, cinematic tales.  A true visionary, Hugo turns into a beautiful remembrance of this oft-forgotten director (and older cinema in general), with Scorsese giving time onscreen to such classics as Mélies's  Le voyage dans la lune (from 1902) and the 1923 Harold Lloyd-starring Safety Last.  By acknowledging what came before him and embracing the simplicity of those earlier tales while at the same time crafting a completely "modern" tale utilizing beautiful 3D technology and computer effects, Scorsese has made a film with a lovely blend that balances both the past and the present.

Along with some stunning visuals, Scorsese has culled some very nice performances from Chloe Moretz (of Let Me In fame) and Asa Butterfield, the latter of whom uses his wide eyes to convey moments of both heartbreaking sadness and ebullient joy.  Ben Kingsley as the famous director who had to give up his passion is at first a tiny bit off-putting in his sheer grouchiness, but as his tale is slowly unraveled, his character is given much more depth than I ever could have expected at the film's outset.  [There's an extended sequence where Georges details the reasons he was forced to give up filmmaking that is touchingly handled by both Kingsley and Scorsese.]  Sacha Baron Cohen adds an appropriate amount of humor and there are some lovely small supporting turns from Emily Mortimer, Frances de la Tour, and Richard Griffiths whose roles as Parisian train station customers and workers brought a smile to my face.

2011 (or more specifically that final two months of 2011) seems to be a year where films about moviemaking have been given a chance to shine.  From My Week with Marilyn to The Artist, it's been a treat for a film lover.  Hugo is the latest addition to that mix and it's a beautifully crafted film to watch with a charming story to admire as it unfolds.  Time to go and watch some more Mélies...those few college film class viewings weren't nearly enough.

The RyMickey Rating:  A

Movie Review - Contagion

Contagion (2011)

Starring Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, John Hawkes, Sanaa Lathan, and Elliot Gould

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Contagion is a modern-day version of those 70s "classics" like Earthquake and The Towering Inferno.  Let's put a bunch of well-known actors into a plot, throw in a natural disaster, and see who makes it out alive.  Unlike those special effects-laden films of a few decades ago, however, Contagion is actually good.  

Really good.  

And genuinely frightening.  I do think that, in the end, Steven Soderbergh's thriller about a new strain of deadly virus wreaking havoc on the world hopes that it feels "important."  And while it certainly paints a rather grim picture of what would happen should such an incident occur, I can't help but think it seems more "fluffy" than "substantial," but that's certainly not a bad thing in this case because it still succeeds at nearly every level.

The film opens on a black screen with the sound of someone coughing.  And already the mood is ominous.  We discover (thanks to a subtitle on the screen) that we are in Day 2 of this new viral outbreak and we see the young and vibrant Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) sitting at an airport bar talking on the phone with a man whom she just slept with.  All seems fine...except then we realize that Beth is the person whom we heard coughing mere seconds ago.  And Soderbergh makes it very clear via his directorial choices that Beth is passing this thing along to others -- the close up of the bowl of peanuts that she just ate from, the handing of a credit card to the bartender.  We're in for trouble and Soderbergh isn't hiding that from us.  The very fact that he makes these incredibly mundane things manage to appear so scary is a credit to him.

From there, the film branches off into various storylines -- some following "normal" citizens like Beth and her husband (Matt Damon), with others focusing on members of the Centers for Disease Control and their attempts to discover the origins of the virus (which is where folks like Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard come into play).  Never staying with any of these plotlines for extended periods of time allows the viewer to never tire of any of them and always keep them longing for more.  Much like the disaster flicks of the 70s, no one is safe here.  Big stars (all of whom perform very well here) are going to bite the dust and this certainly increases the nerves that the viewer feels.

Admittedly, the film is bogged down with the character of Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), a blogger who says that he will show the public the truth behind the secrets that the government and the CDC are hiding.  Anytime the plot veered into his territory, I kept wanting it to head to someone else.  His conspiracy theories just didn't seem well developed and, quite frankly, bored me (as most ludicrous conspiracy theories do).  Fortunately, as stated, the film doesn't stay on any one character for long and we find the plot quickly shifting to others.

Still, despite that one fault, I couldn't help but find myself absolutely enthralled by Contagion.  On the edge of my seat thanks to Soderbergh's creative direction, this is a completely believable real-life horror story the likes of which I hope we never see actually happen even though it positively could.  Time to grab that hand sanitizer...

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Starring Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Heath Ledger, Lily Cole, Verne Troyer, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell
Directed by Terry Gilliam

Without a doubt, this is one of the weirdest flicks of the year. Sometimes weird works (see here). Sometimes weird doesn't (see here). Parnassus falls into the latter category and I can't get back the two hours I spent with it.

The huge problem with the movie is that absolutely nothing that matters happens during the first hour. We are welcomed into the world of Dr. Parnassus (Plummer), an old "shaman-esque" guy who travels around in a gypsy wagon with his fifteen year-old daughter Valentina (Cole), her friend Anton, and midget Percy (Troyer). Together, they put on shows and pull people off the streets to venture into the mystic mirror where, on the other side, everyone's imaginations can become a reality. When traveling one night, the group finds a man hanging from the underside of a London bridge. The man (Ledger) seems to have lost his memory, but they enlist him to help them in their little magical street shows.

Of course, none of that is the crux of the story...despite the fact that it takes up over sixty minutes. The real story comes in hour two where we discover that Dr. Parnassus has made a deal with the devil (a genuinely creepy Tom Waits), and unless Parnassus can capture five souls before the devil does, the devil will get to steal Parnassus' daughter for his own.

The devil scheme is the real story...everything else is superfluous and unnecessary. The whole storyline with Ledger is extraneous. And it starts off quite uncomfortably. I'm actually quite shocked that our first glimpse of Ledger is of him hanging himself. Unfortunately, once you get past the initial shock, you realize that it's a shame this will be known as Ledger's last role...because he's really not very good here. He must've known he was in a flop.

When Ledger steps into the mirror, his visage changes into that of fellow actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell, all of whom do a much more entertaining job than Ledger. When that trio is onscreen, the film actually becomes a little more enjoyable. They're simply not there enough to make a dent in the boredom.

When Verne Troyer (of Austin Powers fame) is the most entertaining person onscreen for the majority of your film, your flick is in trouble (and, really, the only reason Troyer is a hoot is because they dress him in black-face and a wind-up monkey costume). This film is supposed to be fantastical and wondrous, but it's really just dreary and bleak.

The RyMickey Rating: D