Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special

 Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special (2017)

Starring Michael Bolton, Adam Scott, Sarah Silverman, Randall Park, Andy Samberg, Fred Armison, Michael Sheen, Chris Parnell, Maya Rudolph, Will Forte, Eric André, Sarah Shahi, Casey Wilson, Brooke Shields, Janeane Garofalo, Louie Anderson, Sinbad, Andy Richter, and Bob Saget

Directed by Akiva Shaffer and Scott Aukerman

Written by Scott Aukerman, Dave Ferguson, Mike Hanford, Tim Kalpakis, Joe Saunders, and Akiva Schaffer

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C

7 Days in Hell

 7 Days in Hell (2015)

Starring Andy Samberg, Kit Harrington, Mary Steenburgen, Karen Gillan, Lena Dunham, Will Forte, Michael Sheen, Fred Armison, Chris Evert, John McEnroe, and Serena Williams

Directed by Jake Szymanski

Written by Murray Miller

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

Quiz

Quiz (2020)

Starring Matthew Macfadyen, Sian Clifford, Mark Bonnar, Helen McCrory, Michael Jibson, and Michael Sheen

Directed by Stephen Frears

Written by James Graham

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Passengers

Passengers (2016)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, and Laurence Fishburne

Directed by Morten Tyldum

There was so much promise in the first hour of Passengers that I found myself wondering why in the world the critics and general public dismissed this sci-fi flick upon its release last Christmas.  And then the second hour happens and all the goodwill engendered vanishes as the film resorts to the typical Hollywood-ization of "bigger equaling better" instead of continuing on with the more intimate tale created at the outset.  The tale of two disparate films that never mesh together, Passengers ends up being an ambitious disappointment which is quite a shame.

Sometime in the distant future, the starship Avalon is traveling to the colony of Homestead II, an Earth-like planet that will hopefully provide a sustainable life for the 258 crew members and 5000 passengers aboard.  It's not a quick jaunt, however -- the journey takes 120 years -- so the people aboard the Avalon are placed into hypersleep due to wake up four months prior to their arrival on Homestead II.  Unfortunately for mechanic Jim Preston (Chris Pratt), his sleep pod opens up 90 years early and he finds himself completely alone on the gigantic spaceship with robot bartender Arthur (Michael Sheen) as his only companion.  After a year, however, Jim is finally no longer alone when writer Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence) is found walking around outside of her pod.

This romance in space is what works so incredibly well in Passengers.  The chemistry between the affable Chris Pratt and the engagingly whip-smart Jennifer Lawrence is compellingly sweet as the duo run rampant through a huge futuristic world.  Their solitary companionship is surprisingly successful.  Unfortunately, the film veers off that path in its final half, forcing the charming duo to engage in a typical science fiction/action scenario that stands in such stark contrast to the lovely romance that precedes it.  Admittedly, there is a twist to Passengers that I'm unwilling to discuss here and the twist is believable and successful in its implementation...which is why it's even more disappointing that director Morten Tyldum's film shifts to genericness at its conclusion.  There was a huge opportunity for this film to be daring particularly in its final act and then screenwriter Jon Spaiths just takes the easy Hollywood way out.  It hurts even more since the first hour of this thing is filled with nice performances and a different perspective on the science fiction genre.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Nocturnal Animals

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber, Armie Hammer, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Sheen, and Laura Linney

Directed by Tom Ford

There's a line in Nocturnal Animals in which a character mentions that a book was disappointing because she found her mind drifting elsewhere whilst reading it.  The same could be said for the movie Nocturnal Animals, a film that tells a story within a story with neither tale being quite compelling enough to stand on its own and neither tale meshing together in a way that proves to be an all-around satisfying whole.  In his second film, writer-director Tom Ford (a fashion designer in his other line of work) continues to prove that he's got an eye for the visuals, but that he still hasn't quite grasped the storytelling aspect of cinema.

We're first introduced to Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), an art gallery owner in Los Angeles, as she morosely mopes around her huge house dealing with an obviously unhappy marriage to her husband (Armie Hammer) who himself is facing some financial troubles.  Soon after, Susan receives a manuscript for a new novel from her ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) and she escapes into the book which features a main character who seems an awful lot like her.  As Susan reads, the novel plays out onscreen -- Tony Hastings (Jake Gyllenhaal) is driving along a deserted Texas roadway with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and daughter India (Ellie Bamber).  A group of frightening men headed by the skeezy Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) run the Hastings off the road and then kidnap the family.  Tony manages to escape but is unaware of where his wife and daughter are being kept so he finds a small-town cop (Michael Shannon) to set out and try to find his family and enact revenge those who committed this crime.

I'm sure that somewhere in the midst of the two tales there are solid connections -- either via visual similarities or storytelling allusions -- but things never came cohesively together for me.  Plus, the Amy Adams side of things is oddly uncompelling in any way.  It doesn't help that Adams shows nary an emotion throughout, presenting an ice queen persona that doesn't allow the viewer to feel sympathy for her despite her mundane life.  The "novel" storyline fares a little better with Gyllenhaal giving a nice performance as the beleaguered father.  Michael Sheen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe respectively for their roles here (and Taylor-Johnson even won), but their characters seemed a bit too one-note to garner any real attention for me.  Frankly, the same could be said for the film itself -- it doesn't really deserve to garner any real attention.  I continue to think that Tom Ford has the potential to be something great, but his two films thus far haven't landed him there.  Maybe sticking to lensing things as opposed to writing them is his road to a better directorial future.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)

Starring Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge, Juno Temple, and Jessica Barden

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg 

Far from the Madding Crowd is a lushly-lensed romance reminiscent of films shot decades earlier when sweeping Victorian love stories adapted from famous novels were commonplace occurrences in cinemas.  Sometimes these types of films can feel stuffy, slow-moving, and ostentatious, but thanks to a winning performance from Carey Mulligan as a liberated and independent English woman, Far from the Madding Crowd doesn't fall into any of those disappointing stereotypes, instead proving to be surprisingly captivating.

Two hundred miles outside of London in Dorset, Bathsheba Everdene (Mulligan) is living with and working on her aunt's farm.  While there, her aunt's neighbor and sheep farmer Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts) falls for the stunning Bathsheba, but she does not accept his advances and turns down his offer of marriage.  Bathsheba soon hears that she has inherited a large estate from her uncle following his death, while at the same time Gabriel loses his flock after a new sheep dog leads all of his sheep off a steep cliff into the ocean.  Both Bathsheba and Gabriel leave Dorset thinking they'll never see each other again, but fate works in mysterious ways.  One evening, the barn at Bathsheba's estate catches fire and Gabriel just happened to be walking by at the time, completely unaware that the estate belonged to Bathsheba.  He saves her barn and Bathsheba offers him a job on the estate which he reluctantly accepts seeing as how he still harbors feelings for the young woman.

Against all odds, Bathsheba is making it on her own which doesn't sit well with all the men in her town.  However, her neighbor William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) is immediately taken with her strength and falls for her.  At the same time, English soldier Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge) wanders onto her estate and also finds himself taken with Bathsheba.  With three suitors and independence always a goal in her life, Bathsheba faces the difficult question of whether to give herself to love or remain untethered to a man.

Far from the Madding Crowd embraces old school aesthetics and storytelling, yet somehow feels modern and fresh without ever feeling out of place.  Adapted from an 1874 Thomas Hardy novel, part of the "modernness" stems from the fact that Bathsheba is such a headstrong and independent woman.  Not knowing the story at all, I was quite taken by the character of Bathsheba, finding her a refreshing change to female characters we're used to seeing from novels of this one's era.  Carey Mulligan embraces the confidence of the character without ever coming across as overly feminist or off-putting.  The intelligence that radiates from Mulligan's persona is key to the film's plot and she successfully conveys it in what I think is her best role to date.

Next to Mulligan's Bathsheba, the men in the film are written with a little less depth, and as the film tries to give all of them their fair share of time attempting to woo her, it falters a bit towards its conclusion.  However, Far from the Madding Crowd was a wonderful surprise to me.  I expected to be bored silly, but I was anything but that.  Director Thomas Vinterberg has not only crafted a lovely film to look upon, but manages to create a bit of a romantic epic that doesn't feel the least bit tired or stale.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Kill the Messenger

Kill the Messenger (2014)

Starring Jeremy Renner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Platt, Ray Liotta, Tim Blake Nelson, Barry Pepper, Michael Sheen, Paz Vega, and Andy Garcia

Directed by Michael Cuesta

For full disclosure's sake, I nearly stopped Kill the Messenger at the forty minute mark, thinking that this true story about journalist Gary Webb's uncovering of CIA involvement in drug trafficking from Nicaragua to the US was a tad too slow moving and a bit too by the book in terms of the way it was handling Webb's investigation into the government conspiracy.  However, I'm actually quite happy I stuck it out because as the film progresses, it becomes much more than an investigative journey and instead begins to live up to its title as Webb (played by Jeremy Renner) becomes the target of news reports aided by CIA leaks (or lies?) that strive to bring him down by revealing secrets from his past.

The problem with Kill the Messenger is that the film's first half isn't all that interesting.  As Gary moves from location to location meeting a variety of characters uncovering minor details concerning the CIA's cover-up, the whole affair feels very rote and bland.  Fortunately, the change in tone in the second half works to the film's advantage creating a much more well-rounded character in Gary Webb who is essentially hung out to dry by his employers after the CIA and other media outlets go on a mission to discredit the reporter and the tiny newspaper for whom he works.

The performances here are all fine, but there aren't any real standouts which also doesn't help elevate the otherwise boring start to the piece.  In the end, Kill the Messenger tells an interesting story that I was certainly unaware of, but it doesn't quite elevate to a point of consistent interest.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II (2012)

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, and Michael Sheen

Directed by Bill Condon

From the opening scenes, I think I laughed more in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II than I did in the entirety of this supposed comedy.  Unfortunately, I'm fairly certain I was supposed to take newly vampiric Bella (Kristen Stewart) taking down a mountain lion by chomping it in the throat fairly seriously.  As was I not to laugh at Bella getting angry that werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) has imprinted on her three day-old daughter Renesmee (thus bonding the two together for life) by spouting the words, "You nicknamed her Nessie!  You nicknamed her after the Lock Ness Monster?!?!"  Let's not even discuss the computer-digitized baby Renesmee giggling and touching her hand to her mother's cheek.  All this craziness happens within the film's first fifteen minutes!

I'd rather director Bill Condon had relished in the kookiness of vampire-werewolf relations as he did in Part 1 of this epic finale, but instead he's forced to tackle the conclusion of The Twilight Saga which deals with the Volturi headed by Aro (Michael Sheen) who want to kill Renesmee because they believe she is an immortal vampire child.  Vampire children are untrainable and thus will wreak havoc by making vampires more visible to humans in some way.  Therefore, for centuries the Volturi have been killing vampiric kids and murdering their parents who sired them.  However, Renesmee is not an immortal because she was born from vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and now-vampire-but-formerly-human-and-human-when-she-gave-birth Bella.  Pretty much the entirety of the film is Edward, Bella, and the rest of the Cullen clan bringing together "witnesses" who can attest to the Volturi that Renesmee is not an immortal and thus causes no threat to their secretive civilization.  This assembly of fellow vampires may play like a Who's Who for the Twilight fans, but to this reviewer, he didn't understand why we were wasting so much time listening to these people talk about their problems as if they mattered in the grand scheme of the plot because they didn't in the slightest.

This all leads to the big standoff between the Volturi and the Cullen-led "witnesses" in which a lot of vampire's heads are decapitated (seriously, there's more disembodiments here than in any movie I've ever seen).  But, in the big surprise twist (and I'm gonna reveal it here because I have to discuss how ludicrous the finale is), the big showdown actually doesn't happen.  In fact, it was all playing out in the mind of Aro who was magically "touched" by one of the Cullen clan and was able to see the future which didn't pan out too well for his fellow Volturi.  Instead, Aro decides to quietly leave, therein creating perhaps one of the biggest letdowns in the history of movies.  Five movies and nearly ten hours of film lead to people walking away from each other rather than fighting for what they believe in.  You've got to be kidding me, right?  Come to find out, this whole fight scene was added just for the movie -- it wasn't even in the book.  What was the point of the books then?

Good Lord, what a horrible way to end a horrible cinematic series.  I won't even delve into criticizing Kristen Stewart or Robert Pattinson because I've done enough of that in previous reviews of the series (and, actually, they were their best in this two-part finale which isn't saying much).  What I don't understand at the end of this whole series is why these books became such a huge pop culture obsession.  I guess it's that "love triangle" aspect, but the screenplays of these movies lack any modicum of fun or excitement and the finale proved to end things on a huge sour note.  Thankfully, I won't ever need to venture near these movies ever again.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Previous Entries in the Series

Breaking Dawn - Part One -- C

Eclipse -- C-

New Moon -- D-

Twilight -- C-

I'm actually frightened by how highly I've rated the series as a whole...

Movie Review - Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy (2011)

Starring Maria Bello, Michael Sheen, Alan Tudyk, Moon Bloodgood, and Kyle Gallner

Directed by Shawn Ku

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

I was speaking just the other day with someone about the dearth of indie movies in 2011 that resonated with me.  There were a few here and there, but my top list of movies features a lot more mainstream wide-release movies than in years past.  Thankfully, Beautiful Boy, a little seen flick from last year, helps pick the slack in that 2011 independent movie market.  With two stunning performances and a story that just emotionally hits you at the core, the debut from director and co-screenwriter Shawn Ku is a welcome surprise.

Maria Bello and Michael Sheen are Kate and Bill, a married couple who are in the process of separating.  Their son, Sammy (Kyle Gallner), is off at his first semester in college, and the empty house is making their relationship even more difficult to bear.  The two could never be prepared for the news they receive early one morning when police officers show up on their doorstep and tell the couple that Sammy went on a shooting spree at his college, killing over fifteen people before turning the gun on himself.  

With this huge news occurring in the film's first ten minutes, the remainder of Beautiful Boy rather effortlessly focuses solely on the emotional impact of this horrific event on the parents of the murderer.  We never leave the side of either Kate or Bill and their grief and sorrow is gut-wrenching.  Their crumbling relationship is pushed to the limits -- for they've gone through something so devastating that few can relate to them -- and the script provides a resolution for the couple that is completely believable and wholly satisfying.

Maria Bello is simply wonderful.  Harboring a tremendous amount of guilt -- Kate was the last one to speak with Sammy the night before he went on his rampage -- Bello allows Kate to run the gamut of emotions from tearful grief to harsh anger, wondering whether she or her husband are also responsible for their son's actions.  Michael Sheen is also riveting, beginning the movie as the calmer of the two, but finally breaking down and unleashing his emotions as the film progresses. 

Together, the two are part of one of the best scenes I've seen in a 2011 film as a rather tender, lovely moment in a hotel room gradually shifts into a raw and hate-filled screaming match showcasing both Bello and Sheen's talent and proving that the film has allowed the audience to become so incredibly invested in these characters and their emotions.  As the scene unfurled, I both didn't want it to end, but couldn't wait for it to be over.  It was so uncomfortable, but so revealing and truth-filled.  The barriers had come down for the coupl (thanks to the introduction of alcohol) and it was positively riveting.

There were a few moments here and there that screamed "low budget indie" in terms of the camera work and editing which admittedly took a little bit away from the overall experience.  And, in the end, you kind of want to know what turned young Sammy down this painful road (although, on the other hand, the ambivalence makes us fully understand the disbelief Kate and Bill are feeling post-shooting spree).  Still, those are minor gripes in a film that moved me quite a bit and featured two fantastic performances.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Nina Arianda, Kurt Fuller, and Mimi Kennedy

Directed by Woody Allen

It should be noted that there are moderate spoilers below...I call them spoilers in the broadest sense of the word because the trailer, rather ingeniously, did not give away what this movie is about in the slightest.  Perhaps rather foolishly, my fellow moviegoer and I had no concept of a completely major aspect of the plot because of a lack of reading reviews for this and only seeing the trailer.  While I don't reveal any major plot points, just be aware that I'm "giving away" more than you'd see in the commercials.

UPDATED 2/15/12 -- I don't know if it's the fact that now that it's garnered Oscar nominations, I'm looking at the film differently and perhaps a little more critically, but I recently rewatched Midnight in Paris and boy, was my "B" rating way too high.  I found the whole flick this second time around rather pretentious.  While lovely to look at and acted fine by the leads (although Kathy Bates is really painful), it was almost a chore to sit through it a second time.  My adjusted rating will appear below.

Midnight in Paris is pleasant to watch...and that's simply it.  It's a pleasant film that doesn't try to be anything more than that.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  But all this talk about how it's one of writer-director Woody Allen's best films in ages seems rather unwarranted to me.  It's a satisfying romantic comedy, but the awards buzz surrounding this film boggles my mind.  Heck, Allen's Whatever Works was a more satisfying film and failed to get any traction in the Oscar race two years ago.

When the film opens, we meet former screenwriter-turned struggling novelist Gil (Owen Wilson taking on the "Woody Allen" role, but in a thankfully much less neurotic manner than is typically characteristic of Allen's films) who is visiting Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents John and Helen (a somewhat scene-stealing Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy).  After hanging out for several days with two friends of Inez's, Paul and Carol (Michael Sheen and Nina Arianda), Gil grows tired of Paul's know-it-all, booksmart, and arrogant nature and finds himself separating from the group walking the streets of Paris alone at night.  While contemplating both his career and his relationship, a clock in a small Parisian square strikes midnight and Gil finds himself magically transported back in time to the 1920s where he finds himself trading one-liners with folks like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dali.

Owen Wilson is one of the biggest reasons Midnight in Paris garners the "pleasant" moniker.  He's in nearly every scene and his Gil is a guy that you can't help but root for.  Oftentimes, the "Woody Allen doppelganger" is such a nebbishy whiner, but here Wilson dials down the crankiness...and it's much appreciated.  Wilson is evenly matched by Rachel McAdams who takes on a slightly different persona from the sweet gals we've seen her play recently (think back to her Mean Girls days as a reference point for this role).  With the exception of the overrated Marion Cotillard (an actress whose appeal I just don't get in the slightest) as Gil's 1920s muse, all of the supporting performances (including the aforementioned comedic chops of Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy as the conservative-skewing parents of Inez) are pleasant surprises and help elevate the flick.

Nostalgia is really a key plot point and overarching theme of Midnight in Paris.  Unhappy with his current state of affairs, Gil can't help but think that the Paris of nearly a century ago is the solution to all of his problems.  But is it?  In the end, I'm not sure the film answers that question and it kind of left me feeling a bit empty at its conclusion because of it.  I'm honestly not sure whether I'm supposed to be thinking "Yes, the past is better than the present" or "Learn from the past and shape your present with that knowledge."  (It should be noted that there's a rather interesting read on this conundrum here.  Finding myself confused by what I was "supposed to feel" at the end of this, I tried to do a little research and found that essay that doesn't really answer the question either and contains quite a few points I'd disagree with including calling Gil "anti-nostaligic," but at least is rather intuitive.)

Still, Midnight in Paris is a pleasant watch, and as I mentioned before, there's nothing wrong with simply being pleasant...just go into it trying to suppress the "Oscar talk" and you'll be fine.

The "Original" RyMickey Rating:  B
The "New" RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Tron Legacy

Tron: Legacy (2010)

Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, and Michael Sheen

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Mindless entertainment is perfectly fine sometimes.  I don't need everything I watch to be "awards-worthy."  But, on the other hand, "mindless entertainment" does have the responsibility of being entertaining.  I mean, the entertainment aspect is inherent in its name.  I'm not saying Tron: Legacy wasn't entertaining...I just can't help but feel that it could have been better than it was.

Perhaps my major problem with Tron: Legacy is that the action scenes seemed somewhat disjointed from the rather engaging and unique story going on around them.  When Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) inadvertently gets sucked into the virtual gaming world that his father Kevin (Jeff Bridges) created over a decade ago, the young man finds himself on a quest to find his father whom he believes to be trapped in the game as well.  The father-son relationship/dynamic between Bridges and Hedlund worked (I realize this isn't a popular opinion as this was trashed in a lot of reviews I read).  Unfortunately, the action scenes (while thoroughly entertaining) seemed placed in the film only to showcase the 3-D, which, while good, didn't reach Avatar levels in terms of execution.

I understand there innately needs to be some kind of conflict in order for a film to work, but as soon as Sam is trapped in the game, he forced to play a part in some giant futuristic gladiator-style tournament set up by the "ruler" of the gaming world Clu (also played by Jeff Bridges).  In a scene that seems to take forever, Sam battles against faceless robots using light sabers, light rings, and computerized motorcycles. It all looked cool and it was all well done, but I couldn't help but think that it was placed in the film simply because it looked neat.  The film sets up a nice competition of power (of sorts) between Clu and Kevin, but the first twenty minutes in the computer world are simply this game that means absolutely nothing in terms of the grand scheme of the film.  Ultimately, the story came together in a way that worked, but it's once again an action film that didn't need a lot of its action.  It would have been much more successful had certain scenes been deleted.

I realize I'm perhaps being a tad harsh because I did find it better than your average actioner.  I liked Jeff Bridges quite a bit and his duel roles allowed him to play both sides of the spectrum with equal gusto.  I also didn't have any problems with Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde (who plays Kevin's computerized assistant Quorra) who, while both given some silly things to say, were more than adequate in their roles.  And in terms of acting, Michael Sheen was hamming it up as futuristic club owner Zuse.  While the extravagance should have felt completely out of place, I couldn't help but love the over-the-top nature of it, injecting the film with some much needed humor (in fact, it probably won't be surprising to see Sheen on my list of 2010 Best Supporting Actors which I'll post some time in February).

In terms of production values, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Daft Punk's scoring which I thought was probably one of the best scores I've heard this year.  The pumping bass did more to help the mood of the film than any of the computer-generated special effects did (although they were certainly up to snuff as well).

While the film was certainly left open for the possibility of a sequel, I appreciated that it felt wrapped up as well.  I'm not against seeing another Tron, but I'm a little hesitant.  What I enjoyed about this one was the backstory of getting to know these characters and how they got to this point in their lives.  I worry that a sequel will simply be about the action, and in this film, those scenes didn't quite work for me as well as I would have liked.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Unthinkable

Unthinkable (2010)

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Michael Sheen

Directed by Gregor Jordan

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

I watch a lot of junk at times, but I rarely watch flicks that go direct-to-dvd.  Somewhere along the line, most things reviewed on this site have at least seen the darkness of one American theater.  The lack of a movie poster to the left and the picture of the dvd case are because Unthinkable went straight-to-dvd.  It's moderately surprising because while the film isn't perfect, the questions that it raises about the rights of American citizens are intriguing ones and Michael Sheen's performance alone are reason enough to give this one a shot if you're looking for a quick watch some evening.

Yusuf (Sheen), an American Muslim, is arrested by the United States government after he makes a tape stating that he has placed three nuclear bombs in three American cities ready to explode in less than a week's time.  FBI Agent Brody (Carrie-Anne Moss) is called in to interrogate the terrorist suspect, but she is joined by a man named "H" (Samuel L. Jackson) who is apparently the government's go-to guy for extreme torture techniques.  Playing a high level game of "good cop-bad cop," Brody and H attempt to crack Yusuf and get him to reveal the bombs' locations before it's too late.

Overly melodramatic?  Sure, but the film works in terms of tension and suspense.  Samuel L. Jackson is partly responsible for that as his character H is rather unhinged.  We in the audience are rather unsure of how far H will go in order to get his information, but (and as a big credit to the screenwriter) H's motives never seem out-of-place for his character.  The lengths that H goes to are extreme and graphic (heading into that Saw-level territory at times), but it was always believable.  

Part of the reason things felt "real" and tense was because of a rather brilliant performance from Michael Sheen.  Maniacal is probably the best word to describe his character.  There's an evil just underneath the surface of Yusuf that's even more frightening because his motives are realistic in today's society.  Sheen has to run the gamut of emotions from demonic to tortured to stoic and he handles them all rather brilliantly.

Unfortunately, I feel like the film cops out a bit at the end (the conclusion of the Extended Edition, while it seems a little silly based off of a description I read, would have been a little more interesting with a few tweaks) and Carrie-Anne Moss is quite a boring let-down.  And while I would've liked the film to have either taken a more solid pro- or anti-torture stance (although I think the ending chosen causes the film to lean slightly more to the anti- camp), it does open up the mind to questions about torture tactics and whether they are legitimate tools for the American government to use in the War on Terror.  While the film didn't necessarily change my opinion on the topic (which I won't state in order to keep this non-political), I like the morality play on display in Unthinkable.  I don't want you to think this is an amazing film because it certainly does have a direct-to-dvd "feel" to the aesthetics and set pieces, but it was an interesting flick that was worth the watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+