Thor: The Dark World

 Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgård, and Rene Russo

Directed by Alan Taylor

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Click here for my previous RyMickey Rating review

Thor

 Thor (2011)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Written by Ashley Edward Miller, Zach Stentz, and Don Payne

Click here for my Letterboxd review

My Previous RyMickey Review

The current RyMickey Rating:  B

Lucy in the Sky

 Lucy in the Sky (2019)

Starring Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, Dan Stevens, and Ellen Burstyn

Directed by Noah Hawley

Written by Brian C. Brown, Elliott DiGuiseppi, and Noah Hawley

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Annihilation

Annihilation (2018)

Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, and Oscar Isaac

Directed by Alex Garland

Written by Alex Garland

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

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Jane Got a Gun

Jane Got a Gun (2016)

Starring Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Ewan McGregor, and Noah Emmerich

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

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

Loyal readers of this blog may know that westerns are not my thing.  Color me surprised then that through the first act of Jane Got a Gun I was finding myself moderately intrigued with the tale of revenge set in the New Mexico territory in 1871.  Unfortunately, as is the case with most films of this genre, slowness rears its ugly head and the snail's pace of the proceedings hampers the enjoyment.

Jane (Natalie Portman) lives in a secluded house with her five year-old daughter.  After a long absence, her husband Ham (Noah Emmerich) returns home riddled with several bullet wounds inflicted by John Bishop (Ewan McGregor) and his "Bishop Boys" - a group to which Ham had once been a member - telling his wife that John is on the hunt for him and will inevitably be on his way to their house.  Jane enlists the help of her former fiancé Dan (Joel Edgerton) to help save her family whilst we learn the backstory of how Jane, Dan, and John Bishop have all connected in one way or another over the past seven years and just exactly why Jane feels the need to seek out revenge on Bishop and his men.

This film sat on the shelf for years, going through a laundry list of different directors and co-stars for Natalie Portman.  When it was finally released, it ended up being the Weinstein Company's lowest-grossing wide-release ever.  In short, Jane Got a Gun isn't as bad as that damning list would make it seem.  Unfortunately, the film never really rises to the promise that Natalie Portman brings to the table in a strong, stoic performance.  While the back-and-forth time-jumping slowly peels back the layers of Jane's backstory with her three aforementioned male co-stars, the ploy grows tiresome as the film progresses.  Additionally, director Gavin O'Connor stages the film's climatic conclusion in the dark of night, leading to poorly shot moments that are almost indecipherable.  It's a bit of a shame, really, because this started out showing promise before it dissolved into a typically dry, boring western like many of its ilk.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Jackie

Jackie (2016)

Starring Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, John Hurt, and Billy Crudup

Directed by Pablo Larraín

There's something immensely compelling about Jackie as it details the days immediately following President John F. Kennedy's assassination and how Jackie Kennedy deals with her husband's death, and yet, there's also something oddly boring about Pablo Larraín's film which caused me to close my eyes and fall into one of those quick head-snapping doze-offs more than once during the flick's short 95-minute duration.  This juxtaposition has me at odds as to how to rate the film, but in the end, the pros (including an exquisitely mannered and emotional performance by Natalie Portman as the title character) outweigh the cons.

Told in a series of flashbacks as Jackie speaks to a journalist (Billy Crudup) in the weeks shortly following the assassination, screenwriter Noah Oppenheim's film jumps back and forth in time within those flashbacks as we witness the First Lady's immediate reactions to her husband's death, her preparation for her husband's funeral as she fights her brother-in-law Robert Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard) over the political ramifications of the optics of her husband's funeral, and her grappling with her religious faith with her priest (John Hurt) in the aftermath of the horrific event afflicted upon her, her children, and her country.

Through it all and at the center of everything is Natalie Portman's performance as Jackie.  Her steely demeanor as Jackie emotes a strength that is admirable and creates an all the more emotional experience when the rigid exterior cracks when the beleaguered widow is finally able to break down behind closed doors and fully mourn her husband's death.  Director Larraín rarely strays away from Portman's face for more than a minute or two and this almost-claustrophobic atmosphere pulls the viewer in to Jackie's plight, latching on to her strength and viscerally reacting to her private emotional moments.  Portman is fantastic here and not just in a mimicry way -- in fact, I won't judge her in that way at all as I'm admittedly not overly familiar with Jackie Kennedy's mannerisms and vocal inflections.  She is the reason this film works.

As I said initially, the film is a bit of a tough go story-wise.  There's not much plot here and that does cause some issues in terms of pacing and holding one's interest.  Still, the visually appealing film -- the costumes, set design, and cinematography are beautiful -- is worth a watch if the notion of the story appeals to you in the slightest.  Granted, we may not know how "true" this piece is, but it still paints a vividly sad portrayal of grief and death that never once feels exploitative.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgård, and Rene Russo

Directed by Alan Taylor

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but 2011's Thor is my favorite Marvel comics movie (not including some X-Men co-productions...for some reason I don't think of them [or Spider-Man] when I think of "Marvel" movies).  There was something about the fun that director Kenneth Branagh brought to the flick that made the sheer ridiculousness of the title character and his hammer wielding an enjoyable summer romp.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Thor: The Dark World which feels like a heavy burden to sit through lacking any modicum of the fun and excitement that was found in its predecessor.  Quite frankly, this one is probably the worst film to come out of the Marvel/Disney pipeline in part because of an awful screenplay and direction that can't really compare to Mr. Branagh's in the first Thor. 

What the sequel really boils down to is this:  Two species in space -- one of which is Thor's people and one of which is someone else -- fought with each other a long time ago.  Thor's people won and buried this other people's energy source (or something) deep in the earth.  Thanks to wormholes (which played a prominent role in The Avengers) this energy source has been found by Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) who has been sitting around in London depressed since Thor (Chris Hemsworth) left her at the end of the last film.  This magical energy source somehow gets transferred into Jane which causes the bad guys to chase after Jane only to have Thor help her.

It's all so ridiculous...even more ridiculous than a guy from space coming down to Earth and fighting people with a magic hammer.  Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman look bored out of their mind in this with Portman in particular a blank slate whenever she appears onscreen (and, unfortunately, she's onscreen a lot in this one).  Tom Hiddleston injects a little bit of pizzazz into the mix, but even his Loki isn't able to overcome the inanity of the plot.

The one advantage the Thor flicks have going for them is that they do seem to understand just how silly their plots truly are.  There are jabs here and there about how ridiculous the goings-on are and I do appreciate that.  However, Thor: The Dark World is such a huge step down from the original that I don't think I'll be looking forward to the next one at all.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Thor

Thor (in 3D) (2011)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, and Anthony Hopkins

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

No one will ever mistake Thor for being a cinematic masterpiece, but in the realm of summer action movies (and in their subset "comic book movies"), it's a solid flick that is decently written, capably directed, and (for the most part) adequately paced.

Somewhere in the cosmos is the land of Asgard, ruled over by Odin (Anthony Hopkins).  Long ago, Odin waged a successful war against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim who desired to take over the Nine Realms (one of which is Earth).  Cut to a thousand years later and Odin is ready to pass on his crown to his son Thor (Chris Hemsworth), but the ceremony is interrupted by an invasion of the Frost Giants which sends war-hungry Thor into a vengeful state.  Odin, desiring to keep the long-standing peace between Asgard and Jotunheim banishes Thor to Earth where he meets scientist/astrologer Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and finds himself in the midst of a fish out of water storyline.  Meanwhile, back in Asgard, Odin's other son, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who has always been jealous of Thor, is finding himself next in line for the throne now that his father has slipped into what is essentially a (magical) coma.  Let's just say Loki may not be keen on allowing Thor to return to his homeland.

Believe me, the whole thing is as silly as can be -- sillier and lighter weight than the premises behind any Iron Man, Spiderman, or X-Men "origin" (read: first) movie.  Still, somehow this thing works and I think a large part of that is due to the tone set by director Kenneth Branagh.  He knows that what is unfolding is altogether ridiculous, but he never sets this movie up with a winking tone.  This will sound kind of silly, but Branagh culls some Shakespearean undertones from the script -- brother vs. brother, son vs. father, etc. -- and successfully gives them gravitas when they really had no right to have any.  He plays it for all its seriousness, while allowing a few moments of needed humor when necessary.  Normally, I'm all for tongue in cheek flicks, but I don't know if that would've worked here especially because Thor is part of the overarching storyline setting up an Avengers movie sometime in the upcoming years (and contains cameos from some folks who will be part of that story as well).

Branagh also manages to get some above average performances from his actors.  Not being familiar with the source material one bit, I'll be honest and say I expected Thor to be more of a "Me Tarzan, you Jane" kind of macho figure.  However, Chris Hemsworth's Thor isn't like that a bit.  In fact, Hemsworth is absolutely believable as both action figure and romantic love interest for Natalie Portman's equally likable Jane.  Portman is eons better than moviegoers are used to seeing onscreen in a part like this that amounts to hardly anything but is standard in any kind of comic book movie.  While she doesn't play a damsel in distress, she's pretty much there simply to gawk and stare with mouth agape at the wonders of the superhero she's feasting her eyes upon.  Still, Portman manages to really hold her own here despite the irrelevant role and she manages to be completely enjoyable every time she is onscreen.

Kudos also to Tom Hiddleston as Thor's devious younger brother who Branagh allows to chew the scenery a bit...which I found altogether necessary for a role like his.  It was also nice to allow Hiddleston to take on the "chewing the scenery" role as opposed to Anthony Hopkins who tries to do that in every single movie he's in anymore (heck, he won his Oscar for doing that same thing).  Here, Hopkins is rather subdued and that's a good thing.

Overall, I was impressed by Thor.  It's certainly not perfect and the middle felt a little draggy (although I do commend Branagh for keeping the flick under two hours which is altogether uncommon for movies like this nowadays), but it's a pleasant start to the summer season.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached (2011)

Starring Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Greta Gerwig, Lake Bell, Mindy Kaling, Ludacris, Jake Johnson, and Kevin Kline

Directed by Ivan Reitman

Sometimes chick flicks surprise me (example) and sometimes they're simply failures (example).  When one just falls in the middle as No Strings Attached does, it doesn't really register with me at all.  Sure, some may take offense to the term "chick flick," but I'm classifying this as one for the sole reason that I saw Ashton Kutcher's ass but did not see Natalie Portman's.  If that doesn't shout "chick flick," I don't know what does.

Nonetheless, this tale of a guy and a girl who decide to have sex together without getting emotionally attached doesn't bring a single thing new to the genre.  Sometimes that's okay, but you've at least got to utilize the typical rom-com characteristics to the best of your ability.  Here, there's some moderately funny "best buddy" roles (played by Greta Gerwig, Mindy Kaling, Ludacris, and Jake Johnson), but they serve zero purpose in advancing any key points in the plot.  They're there simply to dole out a funny line or two, and while they were humorous at times, they could have been left on the chopping room floor and no one would have noticed.

There's the staple of the funny parent -- Kevin Kline plays Kutcher's former celebrity pop.  Unfortunately, his role contains one of my biggest movie pet peeves -- Old People Smoking Pot For Comedic Effect.  I've said it before and I'll say it again to filmmakers across the world -- a mid-fifties adult smoking pot is not funny.

And then there's the inevitable splitting up of the romantic couple only to find some way to bring them together again.  I know that this is pretty much a standard plot device and it actually works better in this flick than in some others I've seen, but it's just something that's wearing thin on me lately.  Once again, this is a rom-com standard that will never cease and I don't fault this film for it, but its charm (if it ever was charming) is waning.

Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher are fine here, but neither of them are able to elevate the mediocre material to anything above average.  For Valentine's Day this year, just stay home and throw in Sleepless in Seattle or Love, Actually.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Black Swan

Black Swan (2010)

Starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, and Barbara Hershey

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

I don't really know where to begin with Black Swan.  There are things like the direction and Natalie Portman's performance that I truly admired in Darren Aronofsky's character study of a tortured ballerina.  And then there's a script which, for the first two-thirds of the film, is riddled with clichés and painfully silly dialog that not even a talented director and actress can overcome.  While I do believe that Aronofsky is well aware of what I perceive as the script's problems (not that he would agree with that assessment) and attempts to play them to a full-tilt almost camp-like tone, the end product is flawed.

After struggling for a few years as part of a prestigious ballet troupe in New York City, Nina (Natalie Portman) finally seizes her chance to make a name for herself in her craft when the group's director, Thomas (Vincent Cassel) gives the young woman an opportunity to play the lead in his re-imagining of the classic ballet Swan Lake.  As the lead in the ballet, Nina must take on duel roles of both the white swan and black swan, with the former lending itself to the beautiful gracefulness that one typically associates with ballet and the latter adopting a more loose, aggressive, and powerful style.  Thomas is quite pleased with the softer side of Nina, but feels that her technique for the black swan is not nearly as gritty as he would like.  While he tries to prod Nina into exploring her inner self (which apparently only involves pleasuring oneself sexually), the young ballerina slowly begins to break down.  Feeling pressure from both her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) who treats Nina as if she were a little girl and Lilly, the sexy and talented newcomer to the group (Mila Kunis) whose wild, heavy-drinking ways are the complete opposite of the uptight and quiet Nina, Nina starts to go a little cuckoo (which is a completely different type of bird from a swan).

In and of itself, the story is fine.  The problem lies in both the dialog (which is so childish and stilted that there were moments I chuckled to myself) and the character of Nina who never really develops any characteristic other than "neurotic."  Even at the beginning of the film, Nina's timidity is too extreme to be normal and as the film progresses, she just gets increasingly more crazy.  Sure, the kookiness is a valid characteristic for the character, but there's nothing else there for Natalie Portman to latch onto as an actress despite the fact that multiple attempts are made to blatantly tell us that Nina is a fractured soul.  If she's so fractured, where are all these other elements besides "CRAZY" that make Nina who she is?

That said, Portman latches onto that craziness and gives the role her all.  Although, as evidenced by the previous paragraph, there's not nearly the depth that I thought was going to be present.  Portman is at her best in scenes where she's paired up with the lovely and sexy (and surprisingly talented) Mila Kunis and the frighteningly "Mommie Dearest-y" Barbara Hershey.  Both Kunis and Hershey are simply playing stereotypes to the hilt, but they embrace those clichés with gusto and make Portman's Nina an infinitely more interesting character.

As a director, Darren Aronofsky is certainly someone whom I admire.  Requiem for a Dream is one of the very few movies that I have given an 'A' to on this blog and it's a film that is probably in my Top 20 of All Time.  The Wrestler also was quite good and, similar to that film which was a tour de force character study for Mickey Rourke, Black Swan attempts to be a showcase for Portman.  Aronofsky certainly has talent -- there are scenes here that held me riveted...and then there was some insanely horrid dialog that ruined things.  But still, Aronsofsky has an eye for interesting visuals.  One scene that had me particularly entranced takes place in a night club and as the strobe lights begin to flash, Aronofsky simply pops up a completely different image with each flash of the strobes.  Portman...then Kunis...then the two together...et cetera.  That scene alone was sexier than any of the others in the film -- and this film certainly has a few sex scenes (although I'm sure a few will be very disappointed by the complete lack of nudity).

Anyway, I've rambled long enough and the more that I'm rambling, the more I'm actually disliking the film.  All that said, I do feel like this is a film I want to watch again without a doubt...and I honestly feel like the next time around, my thoughts could be completely different.  While I don't see this becoming the Best Film of 2010, I can see it rising up in the ratings.  Then again, I can also see it plummeting precipitously if I discover that it seems even emptier than I think it is now.  In the end, Black Swan is too many things and too few things at the same time.  It's a horror film, a psychological drama, and an intense character study...but it's also a character study with a complete lack of characteristics to be studying.  It's difficult to say that the film was one-note simply because I appreciate the direction of Aronofsky, but when you remove all the fluff around the edges of the story, there's really not nearly as much depth in the main character as the filmmakers would lead you to believe.  

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Brothers (2009)

Starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard, Mare Winningham, Carey Mulligan, Clifton Collins, Jr., and Bailee Madison

Directed by Jim Sheridan

There's something so emotionally gut-wrenching about watching the family members of a soldier being told that their courageous war hero has died in battle. As evidenced by the stellar film The Messenger earlier in 2009, the reactions of the family when they're told of the horrific news really seem to get to me. This holds true in Brothers, and although my fellow moviegoer (the poster known as "Anonymous" around these parts) will disagree entirely, I was quite moved by this surprising little movie. The emotional triangle that's crafted in this tale is entirely believable and certain scenes here packed quite a wallop.

Captain Sam Cahill (Maguire) has a loving family and as he heads off to Afghanistan for a second tour of duty, he knows that his wife, Grace (Portman), will hold down the fort with his two daughters (played by Bailee Madison and Taylor Geare in two of the most effective "young actor" roles this year). With his father (Sam Shepard) and mother-in-law (Winningham) helping out, Sam heads off to war feeling like things will be okay. The only wild card in the situation is his brother, Tommy (Gyllenhaal), who was released from prison a mere two days before he ships out. After serving his time for robbing a bank, Tommy's a loose cannon who appears to be resorting back to his old alcoholic ways.

After a few months in Afghanistan, Sam's helicopter is shot down and he is presumed dead. The devastating news hits each family member in a different way, but it causes Tommy to begin to realize his hurtful ways and he begins to help out Grace and the two young girls. Seeing a new side of Tommy and being an emotional wreck herself, Grace is quite befuddled, and, one night, Grace and Tommy kiss. Although they both realize they can't begin to consummate this relationship, they both know they have feelings towards one another. And those feelings only become more confusing when Sam, as it turns out, is discovered alive and returns home, emotionally ravaged by the heinous things he was forced to do as a prisoner of war.

I bought into this movie from the very beginning. I didn't feel a false note onscreen at all. True, Tobey Maguire isn't my favorite actor and there were moments where I felt he went a little overboard (he's "wide-eyed" way too much), but he also has an amazing scene at the end that simply riveted me. Gyllenhaal is fine and Portman continues to be a joy for me to watch. Supporting turns from Sam Shepard and Mare Winningham as the parents of Sam and Tommy were excellent, and the two young daughters of Sam and Grace were incredible. In many flicks, kids can either be too cloying or too smart for their age, but every scene the two girls were in here rang true. [Although, as I said in my last review of a Clifton Collins, Jr., movie, Mr. Collins is not a good actor despite his ubiquitousness this year.]

Brothers certainly takes its time, but it manages to explore every family members' emotions in a way that isn't often seen in movies. From the little girls to their older grandfather and everyone in between, all their feelings are unearthed. There's definitely something special going on here.

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - New York, I Love You (2009)

Starring Jacinda Barrett, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Julie Christie, Bradley Cooper, Chris Cooper, Drea de Matteo, Andy Garcia, Ethan Hawke, Shia LaBeouf, Cloris Leachman, Robin Wright Penn, Natalie Portman, Christina Ricci, Qi Shu, Eli Wallach, and Anton Yelchin
Directed by 11 Directors of Varying Talent

I certainly haven't seen many short film collections, but it seems a difficult, unenviable task to assemble an anthology such as this. There's bound to be some works that are better than others and, when placed next to these intriguing shorts, all the other shorts pale in comparison. That's the case in New York, I Love You where you'll find three really good short films, but the other seven or so fall flat (or, at the very best, are simply adequate) and bog the film down.

Let's start with the good:

• My favorite segment was by director Allen Hughes starring Bradley Cooper and Drea de Matteo as two lovers who are contemplating the ramifications of their one-night stand. The short jumps back and forth between the two actors as the story is told through a voiceover depicting their thoughts and flashbacks to their sensual night before.
• Another winner was a segment starring Ethan Hawke and Qi Shu, directed by Yvan Attel. Hawke spends five minutes trying to bed married gal Shu whom he meets smoking on an NYC sidewalk. Little does he know that she's able to one-up him in the end. Later in the film, there's a segment starring Robin Wright Penn and Chris Cooper that appears to be very much the same story with the woman, Wright Penn, taking over Hawke's role. As I was watching it, I couldn't help but notice the similarity and I wondered to myself, why would they allow two shorts in this film to have such a similar storyline? Little did I know that they were directed by the same guy.
• The only other segment that I really enjoyed was directed by Joshua Marston and stars Cloris Leachman and Eli Wallach as an elderly couple celebrating their anniversary by returning to a memorable NYC landmark for them. Quite funny and beautifully acted by the two folks.

Unfortunately, after that, everything starts to go downhill. The segment Natalie Portman directed about a young girl and her father was alright (and starred one of my first crushes, Jacinda Barrett -- "Real World"er turned actress), but it wasn't anything special. And the segment that Portman starred in about some odd relationship between a Yiddish woman and an Indian man was awful.

In fact, the first three segments of this movie (of which Portman's starring role occurred in the middle) were awful. Starting the movie with the reteaming of Jumper stars Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson was a huge mistake. Bilson's a beauty to look at, but she can't act and Christensen was horrendous. And short #3 about Orlando Bloom as a composer was not good, either.

I haven't even discussed the obnoxiously pretentious segment about remembering one's youth starring Julie Christie and Shia LaBouef. The way it was filmed, it felt like I was watching some really expensive perfume commercial. Ugh.

The acting was all over the place -- some good performances (both Coopers, Hawke, Leachman, and Wallach) and some awful ones (Christensen, Bilson, Andy Garcia, Anton Yelchin) -- as was the direction.

Despite the fact that there were some good segments here, it just didn't work for me. And it certainly didn't seem to showcase New York City to me at all. In fact, the city came off as kind of drab.

The RyMickey Rating: D+