Thank You for Your Service

Thank You for Your Service (2017)

Starring Miles Teller, Haley Bennett, Beulah Koale, Joe Cole, Keisha Castle-Hughes, and Amy Schumer

Directed by Jason Hall

Written by Jason Hall

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Three soldiers return home after deployment in Iraq, all suffering different levels of PTSD, creating some problems in their home lives.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four (2015)

Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Tim Blake Nelosn, and Reg E. Cathey

Directed by Josh Trank

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

The claws came out upon the release of Fantastic Four last summer with the film garnering the worst reviews of any film in the Marvel canon.  (Granted, this isn't part of the Disney Marvel canon, but it's still Marvel nonetheless.)  I was hoping for a heinously bad film that proved to be enjoyable to watch.  Instead, I just got a bad film that never dipped into campy territory and while it isn't the worst film I saw from 2015, it will certainly find a spot in the bottom tenth of the flicks I watched.

Yet another superhero origin story, Fantastic Four spends over half of its short 100-minute runtime telling us how Sue and Johnny Storm, Reed Richards, and Ben Grimm became the titular fantastic quartet harboring super powers like invisibility, fire control, stretchability, and superhuman strength.  While I'm not usually a fan of origin tales - and Fantastic Four doesn't reinvent the wheel in this department - this part of the film isn't as awful as it could have been...particularly when compared to the film's second half which is a muddled, confused mess.  The film's conflict rears its head when Victor Von Doom decides to take on the title crew in some unknown alternate universe in an effort to destroy Earth.  (I mean, I think that's Von Doom's intention, but it's so unclear that I may just be guessing.)  The climax is so shoddily cobbled together (and so quickly resolved) that one has to wonder how anyone thought this would be a positive addition to the Marvel universe.

With characters underdeveloped (although played as well as they could by the young cast), Fantastic Four is a huge disappointment.  Don't be fooled by the awful reviews thinking you're going to get something laughably enjoyable, however.  It would've been better had that been the case.

The RyMickey Rating:  D 

Movie Review - Two Night Stand

Two Night Stand (2014)

Starring Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton

Directed by Max Nichols

Watched only because I have some weird fascination with Analeigh Tipton ever since Crazy, Stupid, Love and because I'm still attempting to find out how I feel about Miles Teller, Two Night Stand is a generic sex comedy that isn't bad, but certainly isn't anything worth seeing.  Tipton and Teller are Megan and Alec -- two lovelorn souls who meet on a hook-up site for a one-night stand.  Purely looking for sex, Megan gets up to leave the next morning only to find herself snowed in with a Snowpocalypse wreaking havoc on New York City.  Of course Megan and Alec find each other repulsive at first, but as they're forced to spend another night together, their hatred turns to humorous adoration as it should in every single romantic comedy ever written.

Fortunately, Tipton and Teller work well together and exude a believable chemistry which is important considering that this is pretty much a two-person film.  Unfortunately, the film feels long (even at eighty minutes) and too often finds itself resorting to the typical tropes that found me rolling my eyes -- let's get high together (ugh), let's have something really silly happen to the woman in that Meg Ryan-y kind of way that will make the guy and the audience find her all the more charming (double ugh).  It's not that Two Night Stand is offensive in anything it presents, it's just that it isn't original in the slightest.  It's one of those movies that as it ends you simply say to yourself, "Why was this even made?"  And that's perhaps the most damning criticism of all.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - That Awkward Moment

That Awkward Moment (2014)

Starring Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis, and Jessica Lucas

Directed by Tom Gormican

At least Miles Teller has given the cinematic world his performance in Whiplash because his character of Daniel in the purported comedy That Awkward Moment rehashes the same fast-talking frat boy we've seen from him so many, many times before.  Mr. Teller isn't alone, however, as Zac Efron takes on Jason, the pretty boy sleaze bag ladies' man -- a character that he tackles in any comedy in which he partakes.  But Mr. Teller and Mr. Efron being carbon copies of former acting roles are just the beginning of the problems in That Awkward Moment -- a flick that has no idea whether it wants to be a raunchy comedy, a relationship drama, or a coming-of-age tale and this melange of ideas fails to allow any one of them to work.

I understand that movies need to relay the broad spectrum of personalities that are evident in the world, but when you choose to place conniving, manipulative man-whores as your main characters, I have a tendency to check out right away.  Maybe it's because I'll never understand how women fall for a-holes like these, but I can't get behind caring for characters whose only goal in life is to get a woman into bed as soon as possible.  I know these types of guys exist in real life (and I know for some otherworldly reason some women are drawn to them), but they're not the type of friends I'd like to hang out with, so when I see them onscreen, I get a little disgusted.  That Awkward Moment attempts to appease my concerns with the character of Mikey (Michael B. Jordan), a smart married doctor who discovers his wife is cheating on him.  Mikey is the polar opposite of Daniel and Jason -- longing for meaning in a relationship and not searching for a one night stand.  This, in turn, however, makes me ponder why in the heck Mikey would be friends with guys like Daniel and Jason which therein defeats the purpose of even having him in the film.  Not only am I disturbed by Daniel and Jason's womanizing, but I'm ticked off that Mikey simply shrugs it all off and coddles their infantile shenanigans.

As far as a plot goes in That Awkward Moment -- there isn't much of one.  "Hey guys.  Let's make a pact to not have any meaningful relationships.  Just sex and that's it," says one of the guys at some point at the beginning of the film.  "Okay," say the other two guys.  Does it come to any surprise that all three of these guys will find themselves falling in love and then trying to hide it from their buddies?  Does it come as any surprise that these guys will end up being pricks to their women in order to hide their burgeoning relationships from their bros?  Does it come as any surprise that these women will accept their guys back after they do horrible things to them?

Predictable, obnoxious, unfunny (I didn't laugh once), and a bit repulsive are the words I'd use to describe That Awkward Moment -- care to watch it?

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Whiplash

Whiplash (2014)

Starring Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, and Paul Reiser

Directed by Damien Chazelle

"There are no two words more harmful in the English language than 'good job.'"

Whiplash by the viciously harsh college jazz band instructor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) who cares not a smidgen about his students' emotional well-being, only about doing whatever it takes to get his fledgling musicians to the peak of their performance capabilities.  Not one to mince words (those students easily offended by sexual harassment or foul language need not venture into his classroom), Fletcher invites freshman Andrew (Miles Teller) to sit in and play drums with his elite jazz ensemble at Shaffer Conservatory of Music (a fictionalized Julliard), only to use Andrew's foibles (his mother left him as a kid, his father's failed at achieving his dream as a writer) against him in a wickedly abusive teacher-student relationship.  Verbal abuse quickly turns into physical abuse and Andrew's father (Paul Reiser) begins to question whether Andrew's strive to be the best drummer in his class may be overtaking his common sense in allowing this professor to treat him in such a way.
That strikingly powerful sentiment is voiced in the film

The funny thing about Whiplash is that its story is actually incredibly simplistic, but what it brings to the table is strikingly realistic picture of two men struggling to be the best and their co-dependent bond that links them together.  Fletcher wants to find "the one" -- the student who will become the "new jazz great."  He feels the only way to achieve that is to push his students to places they've never gone before emotionally by never coddling them and treating them as harshly as possible in order to reach this goal.  Andrew has wanted nothing more for his life than to be a fantastic drummer.  He sees Fletcher's tactics as helping him realize this dream and despite his hatred towards the man's caustic nature, he respects him since Andrew sees Fletcher as the only one who could possibly believe in him.  (In a fantastic moment, Andrew's family turns on him, belittling him in a similar way to Fletcher which seemingly makes Andrew wonder where exactly he can turn to for guidance in his life if not to Fletcher.)

While the film makes small inroads towards a romance for Andrew (in a successfully simplistic way, I may add), Whiplash is about its two main characters brought to life by J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller.  While I placed Teller on my RyMickey Awards list of Breakthroughs of 2013, I worried that his characters would be nothing more than smug pricks, but that's not the case here at all and it pleased me considerably.  When the film began I found myself doubting that any sane person would put up with Fletcher's nonsense.  However, as the flick progresses, Teller convinced me that Andrew needed Fletcher in order to succeed, calloused and bleeding fingers and all.  The fluctuating emotions of cockiness to depression were pitch perfect and Teller convincingly portrays the struggle of a gifted prodigy without ever losing a sense of "being normal" which is a characteristic we often see in flicks that focus on wunderkinds.

With a shaved head, dressed all in black with a tight t-shirt showing off his muscular stature, J.K. Simmons' Terence Fletcher is an imposing figure right off the bat.  We in the audience can't take our eyes off the guy despite the fact that no student is safe from his brutality and manipulative demeanor. It's a privilege to be selected to be in his jazz band -- the oxymoronic notion of that statement isn't lost on the viewer as one has to wonder why anyone would subject themselves to this type of emotional and physical torture.  Towards the end of the film, Simmons has a small monologue (of which the opening quote of this review stems from) and while it doesn't necessarily make us see the character in a new light, it allows us to understand the character's motivations.  Simmons is a powerhouse here and perfectly conveys who Fletcher is by the time the end credits roll.

Writer-director Damien Chazelle (who also wrote the incredibly enjoyable Grand Piano earlier this year -- which is streaming on Netflix, so watch it) is a relative newcomer to the scene, but he brings such a sense of realism to the music world that there isn't a moment in Whiplash that feels disingenuous.  Making a film that focuses on jazz music is a feat unto itself, but finding new and unique ways as the film progresses to showcase a guy banging on a drum shows talent.  The flick feels fresh and vibrant despite oftentimes taking place in small, sterile, music studio spaces.  The struggle and difficult relationship between student and mentor has been tackled in films numerous times before, but Chazelle has created a thrilling experience in Whiplash that I'm still thinking about long after the movie has finished.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Divergent

Divergent (2014)

Starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, and Kate Winslet

Directed by Neil Burger

I feel like it's wrong that I didn't hate Divergent.  In reality, it's a bit of a carbon copy of The Hunger Games franchise -- dystopian society in a ravaged United States, different segments of the population broken off into distinct groups, girl savior tries to take down the evil governmental figurehead.  Much to my surprise, however, I found Divergent an interesting enough start of a series of films.  Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure from this point forward how the films progress into something worth watching, but the first flick is at least moderately appealing.

As mentioned, the overarching premise of Divergent is that the residents of the United States -- or at least the residents in the walled city of Chicago -- are broken up into five groups.  Each group represents one of the following qualities -- smart, kind, honest, selfless, brave -- and when teens reach the age of sixteen they must choose which quality they will follow for the rest of their lives after taking a specially designed test that helps them hone in on where they most likely belong.  Teen sister and brother Beatrice (Shailene Woodley) and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) have grown up with parents (Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn) who belong to the community of Abnegation which controls the government, but at the Choosing Ceremony, Caleb joins Erudite (the "smart" clique which desires to run the government) and Beatrice joins Dauntless (the "brave" group which is essentially the law enforcement aspect of the society).  Upon joining Dauntless, Beatrice shortens her name to Tris and soon discovers that she may not be cut out for this new life.  However, once you've chosen your community, you're stuck there and if you don't fit, you'll be forced to become homeless out on the streets.

Tris is also faced with the notion that her initial test to determine which group she belonged in came back showing that she was "divergent" -- meaning that she doesn't belong to any one group.  Divergents are not looked upon in a positive light by Erudite leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet) who sees Divergents as too independently-minded and unwilling to kowtow to her wishes.  While Jeanine seemingly has everyone's best wishes at heart, her only goal is to push Erudite to the forefront of the community and she'll stop at nothing to see that happen.

Admittedly, it's all a bit ridiculous.  And it's all a bit of a rehash of The Hunger Games.  However, I did find myself intrigued by the plot.  Yes, Tris's training goes on for a bit too long and a romance with one of her fellow Dauntless colleagues seems forced and unnecessary (at least this early in the game), but I can't really say I was ever bored.  The acting is more than acceptable for a film like this -- meaning a film appealing to a youthful audience who may not care about such things -- and it elevates the flick to a higher level.

As I mentioned above, however, I can't quite see how this storyline carries on for three more films.  Quite honestly, the film concludes in a way that the story could've just ended and I'd have been fine with not discovering anything else about the community.  How they craft a tale that holds my interest in the future will be difficult and seemingly not possible.  I hope I'm proven wrong.  While Divergent isn't quite The Hunger Games in quality, it's certainly head over heels better than the Twilight saga.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - 21 and Over

21 and Over (2013)

Starring Miles Teller, Skylar Astin, Justin Chon, and Sarah Wright 

Directed by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore

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

Everyone knows that old philosophical question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?"  Well, what about the philosophical question, "If you make a comedy and no one laughs, is it really then a comedy?"  Despite some very strong efforts from its three leads -- The Spectacular Now's Miles Teller, Pitch Perfect's Skylar Astin, and Justin Chon -- co-directors and co-screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have somehow managed to craft a flick that languishes in its attempts to try and be as absurd as possible, but never creates a hint of humor from its absurdity.

In fact, the only time I found myself laughing in 21 & Over was in the moments that led up to the wild night of insanity as high school buddies Miller (Teller) and Casey (Astin) stage a surprise reunion on Jeff Chang's (Chon) college campus to celebrate his 21st birthday in bar-hopping style.  Jeff Chang has a med school interview in the morning, but agrees to go out for one drink.  Well, one drink leads to a few more and pretty soon Jeff Chang is completely and utterly wasted.  Unfortunately for Miller (the crazy one) and Casey (the centered soon-to-be businessman), they have no idea where Jeff Chang actually lives, so they spend the night wandering around Jeff Chang's college campus trying to find someone who knows where Jeff Chang resides.  [Note:  Is the repetition of the name "Jeff Chang" funny to you?  It's a running joke in the movie that's supposed to make you laugh so I figured I'd try it here.  Yeah...doesn't really work, does it?]  As they explore the wild nightlife, things get a little out of control and take a turn for the worse in that Hangover-esque style.

The Hangover comparison is quite apt as the helmers of this flick also penned that horribly overrated late aughts comedy.  The only real difference between the two is shifting the focus from Las Vegas to a college campus, but beyond that you're really in for the same exact storyline unfolding in front of you.  Ultimately, it's a shame that Jon Lucas and Scott Moore couldn't have crafted something funnier for the film's three stars -- all of whom are incredibly engaging and entertaining to watch, attempting to do all that they can to make the lackluster script shine a little brighter.  Unfortunately, they're unable to succeed.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - The Spectacular Now

The Spectacular Now (2013)

Starring Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Bob Odenkirk, Kaitlyn Dever, Masam Holden, Dayo Okeniyi, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Kyle Chandler

Directed by James Ponsoldt

In this day and age when teens flock to movies like the Twilight and Divergent series that supposedly tell stories to which they can relate, I can't help but think we're also in the midst of a great era for dramas focused on the regular everyday stories of American youths -- you know, without vampires, werewolves, and dystopian governments.  I may not have loved 2012's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but it was a film I could appreciate for what it brought to the table in its surprisingly dark and somewhat depressing look at teenage angst.  2013 ushered in The Way Way Back which proved to be another solid piece that gave new energy to a coming-of-age tale.  

Towering over both those films, though, is The Spectacular Now, a flick that earned significantly less dough at the box office than either of those aforementioned flicks, but is a gem that absolutely should be seen.  Led by two fantastic performances from Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now is a touching look at young love and how early relationships can shape us into the person we grow up to be.  Teller is Sutter Keely, a hard-partying high school senior whose mixture of class clown-ish/cool guy demeanor masks the fact that he can't make it many hours throughout the day without sneaking a drink from his secret flask of alcohol stashed in his pocket.  His girlfriend Cassidy (Brie Larson) has just left him for Marcus (Dayo Okeniyi), the quarterback of the football team and the class president, in the hopes of finding a more serious relationship as she heads off to college.  While this upsets Sutter and certainly was a blow to his esteem, it doesn't stop him from partying even harder in an attempt to find a lady to latch on to even if it's just for a night.

After a night he can't remember, Sutter finds himself sprawled out on some unknown yard, discovered by Aimee (Shailene Woodley), a mousy, smart, yet certainly attractive senior at Sutter's school as she performs her morning paper route.  While the two had maybe seen each other in passing, they definitely belonged to different social cliques.  However, with Sutter woman-less, he sees an opportunity to perhaps make his ex feel a little jealous that he's moved on from her.  Although their relationship begins thanks to a somewhat deviously selfish notion on Sutter's part, he begins to find himself falling for Aimee's simplicity and mild-mannered nature -- the complete opposite of his lifestyle.

Director James Ponsoldt previously directed 2012's Smashed and my complaint about that film was that Ponsoldt didn't allow his camera to linger long enough in certain scenes in order to gain the full emotional impact that the story inherently had going for it.  Ponsoldt has certainly learned his lesson as The Spectacular Now is rather beautiful in its usage of simplistic long takes, taking its time to allow the story to unfold.  There's a naturalness to the dialog that almost languidly and off-the-cuff transpires between leads Teller and Woodley that gives you a sense of improvisation, never feeling forced and creating an incredibly believable world these two characters inhabit.

While I knew Shailene Woodley from her role in The Descendants, Miles Teller was a new face to me -- although I'd apparently seen him before in a film called Rabbit Hole.  What a breath of fresh air Mr. Teller is.  First, it should be mentioned that nearly all of the main actors playing teens here are in their mid-to-early twenties, yet they all believably jumped back into the roles of high schoolers.  That's what took me by surprise first as I found myself checking Teller's age while watching the film to see rather selfishly if I could place him on my Best Younger Actor/Actress list at the 2013 RyMickey Awards.  Second, Teller lands on a perfect mix of smarminess, cockiness, and angst-i-ness for his character of Sutter.  Sutter outwardly seems to have it all, but his constant drinking obviously hides an inner disappointment in himself and Teller captures that wonderfully.  When he finally is able to open up to Aimee, the more mellow side of Sutter rings just as true as the "bad boy" side.

Admittedly, upon her introduction, I was slightly disappointed by the obvious way the filmmakers decided to portray Shailene Woodley's Aimee.  She was given more homely clothes, wore significantly less make-up, and had more tussled hair than Sutter's ex-girlfriend Cassidy.  It just seemed like too obvious a set-up for the audience -- "See!  Aimee is the nice girl!"  However, as the film progressed, I appreciated the fact that Aimee as a character didn't change.  She stayed the down-home, sweet, and calming presence that we first witness from her.  Yes, Sutter opened her eyes to love, but she was strong enough to recognize that she didn't need to change for him.  For some reason, this felt rather refreshing and Woodley's performance was subtle and gentle, lacking a showiness that we so often see.

The script isn't quite flawless -- there's a subplot involving Sutter's estranged father that plays out a little too melodramatically to work with the rest of the film, as an example -- but the relationship between Sutter and Aimee and the camaraderie between the two actors that play those characters more than makes up for it.  The Spectacular Now is one of those under-the-radar films that you may not have heard of, but is absolutely worth seeking out.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-