Being the Ricardos

 Being the Ricardos (2021)

Starring Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, and Jake Lacy

Directed by Aaron Sorkin

Written by Aaron Sorkin

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Nine Perfect Strangers

 Nine Perfect Strangers (2021)

Starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Samara Weaving, Asher Keddie, Melvin Gregg, Tiffany Boone, Manny Jacinto, Grace Van Patten, Regina Hall, and Bobby Cannavale

Directed by Jonathan Levine

Written by David E. Kelley

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

The Undoing

 The Undoing (2021)

Starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Donald Sutherland, Lily Rabe, Noma Dumezweni, Édgar Ramirez, Matilda De Angelis, Noah Jupe and Edan Alexander

Directed by Susanne Bier

Written by David E. Kelley

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch (2019)

Starring Ansel Elgort, Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard, Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Denis O'Hare, Ashleigh Cummings, Willa Fitzgerald, and Nicole Kidman

Directed by John Crowley

Written by Peter Straughan

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Bombshell

Bombshell (2019)

Starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Malcolm McDowell, Allison Janney, Kate McKinnon, Connie Britton, Liv Hewsen, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Mark Duplass, Rob Delaney, Stephen Root, and Robin Weigart

Directed by Jay Roach

Written by Charles Randolph

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C

The Upside

The Upside (2019)

Starring Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman, Tate Donovan, and Julianna Marguilies

Directed by Neil Burger

Written by Jon Hartmere

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Aquaman

Aquaman (2018)

Starring Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, and Nicole Kidman

Directed by James Wan

Written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C

Boy Erased

Boy Erased (2018)

Starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Joel Edgerton, Joe Alwyn, Xavier Dolan, Troye Sivan, Britton Sear, Flea, Cherry Jones, and Russell Crowe

Directed by Joel Edgerton

Written by Joel Edgerton

Summary (in 500 words or less):  When Jared (Lucas Hedges) comes out to his parents after a semester at college, his preacher father (Russell Crowe) enrolls his son into a gay conversion program. 

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, and Alicia Silverstone

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou

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

Summary (in 500 words or less):  A cardiologist (Colin Farrell) befriends the teenage son (Barry Keoghan) of a man who died on his operating table only to discover that the young kid has some malevolent intentions.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C

The Beguiled

The Beguiled (2017)

Starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Oona Laurence, Angourie Rice, Addison Riecke, and Emma Howard

Directed by Sofia Coppola

Written by Sofia Coppola

***This film is currently streaming via HBO***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  In 1864 Virginia, three years into the Civil War, injured Union soldier John McBurney (Colin Farrell) deserts the Army and is found by young Amy (Oona Laurence), a student at a girls' boarding school run by Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) and teacher Edwina Morrow (Kirsten Dunst).  Having not had a man in the house/school for a very long time, Martha, Edwina, and oldest student Alicia (Elle Fanning) begin to fawn over McBurney and their jealousies and insecurities may prove damaging to all parties.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Movie Review - The Family Fang

The Family Fang (2016)

Starring Nicole Kidman, Jason Bateman, Christopher Walken, Maryann Plunkett, Jason Butler Harner, and Kathryn Hahn

Directed by Jason Bateman

Surprisingly more serious than I expected, The Family Fang is a drama with hints of dark comedy at the edges as we're introduced to the Fang family headed by patriarch Caleb (Christopher Walken in the present, Jason Butler Harner in the past) and matriarch Camille (Maryann Plunkett in the present, Kathryn Hahn in the past) who create performance art by placing the unsuspecting public in difficult situations presented by their family.  As adults, Caleb and Camille's children Baxter and Annie (Jason Bateman, Nicole Kidman) look back on their youth with disdain, feeling that their crazy parents harmed them in their adult careers as a writer and actress, respectively.  When the family is reunited after Baxter has an accident, Caleb and Camille try to unsuccessfully convince their children to help them with another piece of performance art, after which the parents decide to head off to a vacation in the Northeast...only to seemingly be involved in a horrible abduction that leaves them presumed dead.  Despite the police insistence, Baxter and Annie aren't convinced that their parents are actually dead, but rather creating an incredibly elaborate piece of performance art.

The Family Fang has a lot more depth than I expected.  Amidst the odd quirkiness which creates some truly comedic moments is a surprisingly heartfelt family drama.  The dysfunction displayed doesn't seem contrived, but instead feels natural and believable.  Sure, some of the performance art routines perpetrated by the youthful Caleb and Camille are a bit over-the-top and far-fetched, but they do a nice job in helping to build the resentment of Baxter and Annie which is wonderfully captured by the downtrodden, moderately depressed portrayals by Jason Bateman and Nicole Kidman.  The duo of Bateman and Kidman play off each other quite well and nicely balance the darkly comic and darkly dramatic sides present in director Bateman's film.  This is a big step up from Bateman's last directorial venture Bad Words and shows that the actor has definite promise behind the lens particularly in the "dramedy" genre where it's often difficult to create a well-balanced feature.  In addition to the nice performances by Kidman and Bateman, all of the actors portraying the parents are successful as well with particular kudos to Maryann Plunkett as the elder Camille who finds herself questioning in her adult life whether she's done more harm to her children than good.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

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-

TV Review - Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies (2017)

Starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz, Alexander Skarsgård, Adam Scott, James Tupper, Jeffrey Nordling, and Iain Armitage

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée

***This show is currently available via HBO Now/Go***

I don't usually delve into television all that much here on the blog, but the star wattage of HBO's Big Little Lies was undeniably calling for me to at least check out the first installment of this seven episode limited series.  Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Shailene Woodley headline this intriguing mystery series set in the beachfront community of Monterey, California -- a town where the wealthy adult inhabitants trash-talk one another behind their backs as if they were petty high school gossipers.  As the series opens, someone has died at a hugely popular fundraising event for the town's public elementary school.  We don't know who is dead, but we know that the police are investigating the scene as if something malicious occurred.  As the various residents of the community talk about the backstabbing, strong-willed moms and dads who attended the event, we flashback a few weeks to the start of the school year and that's where all the fun begins.

Single mom Jane Chapman (Woodley) has just moved to Monterey with her first-grade son Ziggy (Iain Armitage) who is quiet, subdued, and perhaps a bit of a pushover -- traits Jane carries as well which don't particularly fit in with the uppity community of Monterey.  After the first day of school, Ziggy is called out in public by classmate Annabella as having tried to choke her during class.  Annabella's mother is Renata Klein (Laura Dern), a strong-willed executive whose guilt about returning to the workforce makes her virulently appalled anytime her daughter is wronged.  Ziggy denies hurting Annabella and the wealthy Madeline Martha Mckenzie (Reese Witherspoon) immediately comes to Jane and Ziggy's aid, in large part because Madeline and Renata are seemingly the two den mothers of distinct large packs of Monterey elite with neither caring for one another in the slightest.  Madeline is also good friends with Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman), a retired lawyer and mom of twin boys, and while Celeste is a little more hesitant to simply believe Ziggy's innocence, she's frankly got more personal things to be worried about -- she's in the midst of a horribly abusive relationship with her husband Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) that she can't get out of...or perhaps doesn't want to remove herself from.

Yes, I realize the brief summary may create some confusion, but that's not even half of the web of interpersonal relationships that play a role in Big Little Lies and despite the tangled web, it's all incredibly crystal clear where and when allegiances are forged and tensions are raised.  David E. Kelley's script is pitch perfect at creating an uppity liberal atmosphere where wealth and bitchiness equals power.  Yes, the women presented are all strong, but they're all battling with the fact that they feel they have to exhibit nastiness in order to get their way in their town.  This inner conflict in all of them -- they so obviously don't want to act the way they do -- is a pivotal aspect of the character development here and Kelley nails it.

Not only does Kelley succeed, the actresses in this piece are all stellar.  Shailene Woodley is an actress I hadn't yet loved, but here she's spot-on as the beleaguered mother who desperately wants to believe her child's innocence, but begins to question it as the community begins to rally against her.  Reese Witherspoon is perhaps the best she's ever been (dramatically speaking) as Madeline whose past indiscretions begin to rear their ugly heads as the series progresses.  For the first several episodes, I thought she was going to be the MVP here, but then along comes a tour de force performance from Nicole Kidman in the final three episodes and I had to concede the MVP title to her.  As a bruised and battered wife who feels unworthy of love and affection, her Celeste is heartbreakingly numb to her surroundings and her pain is palpable throughout.

Director Jean-Marc Vallee (whose previous films Wild and Dallas Buyers Club failed to impress me) not only gets great performances from his trio of leading ladies, but from his entire cast including Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz, and the young Iain Armitage.  Along with a heavy dark, muted color palette that morosely paints most of the visuals, Vallee's camera often lingers in scenes, making us as viewers sometimes feel uncomfortable as we impede on the lives of these strong-willed, flawed women.  In the end, though, we don't want to leave.  At seven episodes, Big Little Lies was much too short.

Movie Review - Lion

Lion (2016)

Starring Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Abhishek Bharate, Priyanka Bose, Divian Ladwa, and Rooney Mara

Directed by Garth Davis

Five year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar) and his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) do all that they can to help out their struggling mother Kamla (Priyanka Bose) who herself works a laborious job in a small town in India.  One evening, the two brothers take a bike ride followed by a train ride to seek out a new job prospect.  Upon arriving at the train station, Guddu tells a sleepy Saroo to wait for him on a bench in the train station while he goes to find out about the job, but Guddu doesn't return.  A saddened Saroo falls asleep in an empty train car, only to wake up and find the train moving.  1600 kilometers and days later, five year-old Saroo arrives in Calcutta with no money and no real concept of where he lives.  After a series of treacherous events, young Saroo is adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) who give the boy a proper home in their country.  Twenty years later, an adult Saroo (now played by Dev Patel) begins attending college where his fellow students including his girlfriend Lucy (Rooney Mara) spur him on to try and find his place of birth and his biological mother.

Lion tells the true story above in an admittedly generic way, but one that is well acted and solidly lensed by first time director Garth Davis.  Split into almost even and equal parts across the two hour film, both aspects of Saroo's life -- his childhood and young adult years -- feel surprisingly fully realized with neither one getting the short shrift.  Fortunately, both actors playing Saroo are captivating, holding our attention throughout their halves of the film.  

Young Sunny Pawar makes his debut here and his wide-eyed innocence and genuine love for his family is perfectly conveyed at the film's outset which makes it all the more heartbreaking when he is essentially orphaned and forced to realize the horrors outside the walls of his admittedly run-down home.  The chaos of India with its hordes of people would certainly frighten this blogger so I can't imagine how it must've been for Saroo, but Pawar vividly emotes the fear and also the continuing hope that he will be able to return home someday.

Dev Patel is giving his best performance by far here.  His Saroo also begins with a wide-eyed innocence and genuine love for his Australian family at his character's outset.  The genuine appreciation for his adopted parents is evident as he is well aware that he has been afforded a wonderful life for the past twenty years.  Upon entering college and meeting some other students from India, however, memories begin to flood back into his mind from decades ago and Patel does a fantastic job showcasing his character's guilt for being chosen to leave India and for leaving behind his family as well as for even contemplating the notion of beginning a search for his biological mother and the pain that could cause his adoptive mother Sue.

Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara are nice additions to the mix as well although both roles are only truly in service to both iterations of Saroo who is the sole focus of the film.  While Lion never gets preachy in its message about home and family, it is admittedly a bit overly sentimental sometimes.  That's never usually a downfall for this reviewer and that holds true here, but I could see how some may be turned off by the uplifting nature of the piece.  Overall, Lion is a bit generic -- nothing reinvents the wheel here -- but it still delivers a beautiful true story that tugs at the heartstrings every now and then.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Secret in Their Eyes

Secret in Their Eyes (2015)

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris, Alfred Molina, Michael Kelly, Joe Cole, and Zoe Graham

Directed by Billy Ray

In 2002 in the months following the September 11 attacks, a group of Los Angeles investigators find themselves keeping a close eye on a mosque for any signs of terrorist activity.  One afternoon, they are called to a parking garage adjacent to the mosque to investigate a girl's body found in a dumpster.  Upon arrival, Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discovers that dead girl is Carolyn (Zoe Graham), the daughter of Jess (Julia Roberts), a fellow investigator in his office.  Devastated, Ray sets out to find out who committed this heinous act, but he's met with resistance within his office as his prime suspect - Marzin, a young Russian man (Joe Cole) - is a mole within the mosque.  With his boss (Alfred Molina) and the new district attorney Claire (Nicole Kidman), Ray seeks out justice on his own, but unfortunately doesn't succeed.  Thirteen years later, Ray, now an independent investigator, has never stopped looking for Marzin, whom he believes is Carolyn's murderer, and he may have discovered his current location.

Thus is the story of Secret in Their Eyes, a remake of a well-regarded Argentinean film from 2009.  Spanning more than a decade and told in two parallel-running time frames, director-writer Billy Ray's film doesn't achieve the emotional resonance that a revenge-driven story should innately contain.  The heaviness accompanying the piece is understandable - I mean, we're dealing with the murder of a teenager - but the film never converts the hefty drama to palpable emotional connections with the characters.  We're given three talented actors in Ejiofor, Kidman, and Roberts, yet their scenes together lack oomph.  Something just doesn't quite click here which is unfortunate because this is the kind of movie - steeped in tones of film noir - that I'm inherently drawn to appreciate.  Perhaps I should watch the original...but I'll wait a few years to get the memory of this disappointing flick out of my mind.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Paddington

Paddington (2015)

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris, Jim Broadbent, and Nicole Kidman

Featuring the vocal talent of Ben Whishaw, Michael Gambon, and Imelda Staunton

Directed by Paul King

Those who read this blog know that I am not afraid to give adequate credit to a kid pic that does its job well.  (The Top Twenty placement of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day in the 2014 RyMickey Awards is evidence of that.)  Because of this, it's a bit disappointing to say that I wasn't completely captivated by Paddington, an admittedly charming film that feels a bit too choppy and episodic to make a big impression.

Through a rather odd and off-putting prologue, we learn that British explorer Montgomery Clyde discovered a new species of bear upon his travels to Peru.  While he had to leave South America, Clyde befriended the bears who learned English and he told the ursine creatures to visit him someday when they were able.  Cut to years (decades?) later and a terrible earthquake ruins the bear's Peruvian home and young Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) is sent to Britain by his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) in order to live a better life.

Upon his arrival in London, Paddington finds himself adrift in the Paddington subway station only to be discovered by the Brown family headed by dad Henry and mom Mary (Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins).  With it difficult to acclimate to suburban life, Paddington finds himself at odds with Henry who wants the bear out of his house.  With this apparently not enough of a story, Paddington also must avoid being captured by a rather sadistic taxidermist named Millicent (Nicole Kidman) who wants to stuff the rare bear for her collection.

If the summary seems rather at odds with itself and a conglomerative mess, that's because it kind of is.  There are too many "episodes" without a really singular captivating storyline to carry the film.  That isn't to say that the film disappoints entirely.  Director and co-screenwriter Paul King has made an innately "British" picture with much of the film's charm and laughs coming from Paddington's experiences with this new culture with which he's attempting to assimilate.  Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins are both delightful in their roles and Nicole Kidman succeeds with her rather underwritten and seemingly unnecessary character.  Additionally, the special effects that create Paddington himself are quite good and meld rather seamlessly with the bear's human counterparts.  However, overall, Paddington just doesn't quite cut it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Grace of Monaco

Grace of Monaco (2014)

Starring Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Frank Langella, and Parker Posey

Directed by Olivier Dahan

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

First off, I must say that the critical lashing Grace of Monaco received after its premiere at Cannes in 2014 that led to the film not being released theatrically is completely unwarranted.  While the Nicole Kidman-starring pic isn't mind-blowing, it's certainly not anywhere close to the bottom rungs of films released in 2014 and should've at least garnered a bit of an audience based on the subject matter and star alone.  Seeing as how it's actually up for an Emmy for Best TV Movie (it premiered on Lifetime earlier in 2015), I'm obviously not alone in this assessment.  For the RyMickey's Ramblings blog, however, logistically, I'm going to call Grace of Monaco a theatrical film released in 2014.

Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956 and by doing so the Oscar-winning actress essentially ended her Oscar-winning film career at the young age of 26.  However, as the film tells us, by 1962, Princess Grace was considering a return to the big screen when Alfred Hitchcock paid her a visit with the script for Marnie.  Seemingly ready for a return to Hollywood, Grace's yearning to act again is put on hold when the people of Monaco begin to question her loyalty to their small country just as her husband Prince Rainier (Tim Roth) finds himself in a dispute with Charles de Gaulle of France over taxation.

Taking a small page out of Grace and Rainier's life, Grace of Monaco is not billed as a biopic and indeed it begins with the wording, "The following is a fictional account based on real events."  You may then ask yourself, "What's the point of the film then?"  To this blogger, it details the universal quest of most women to find balance in one's life in terms of family, career, and love -- here, it's simply amplified to someone more famous as she leaves her old world behind and is thrust into an even higher profile limelight.  Nicole Kidman does quite a good job at conveying Kelly's sense of doubt as to her place in Monaco and I actually think it's one of her better acted roles in recent years.  I was quite captivated any time she was onscreen (director Olivier Dahan excels at capturing the "glamour" of the star and of Monaco) and while I would've preferred her Australian accent be always muted (I was distracted at moments because of this), Kidman more than carries the film.

Considering its streaming status on Netflix, I think this one is worth a look if the subject matter is even remotely interesting to you.  The boos and hisses Grace of Monaco received after its premiere at Cannes in 2014 were simply those of uppity folks expecting a bit more than they probably should have.  For the Weinstein company to have abandoned this flick like they did is kind of ridiculous and paints an unfair portrait of the perfectly acceptable film itself.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Before I Go to Sleep

Before I Go to Sleep (2014)

Starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Anne-Marie Duff

Directed by Rowan Joffe

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

Considering the strength of the actors involved, Before I Go to Sleep had the potential of being a solid thriller.  Unfortunately, the combined talents of Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Anne-Marie Duff (all of whom I've certainly liked in things in the past) can't save a script that keeps hitting the same beats over and over again making this 90-minute flick a bit of a snooze.

Kidman plays Christine, a forty year-old woman who wakes up every morning unaware of who she is and where she's been for the last decade.  Next to her every single morning is Ben (Firth), her husband of fourteen years who strives to make the best of his wife's unfortunate situation which came about after a horrible accident caused trauma to her head.  Also trying to help Christine is Dr. Nasch (Strong) who gives Christine a camera to record her thoughts and memories throughout her day in an attempt to jog her mind the next morning.  However, Dr. Nasch seems to believe that Ben is not being entirely forthcoming with Christine and he may be hiding some dark secret from her.  Christine, on the other hand, begins to question whether Dr. Nasch is someone she can even trust.  This constant uncertainty plagues Christine and she can't help but question if she is truly safe in her own home.

I'll give Before I Go to Sleep credit in that admittedly I didn't peg the ending in director/screenwriter Rowan Joffe's flick.  I probably should have -- it's not like it was incredibly off-the-wall or unfathomable -- but I did wind up a tiny bit surprised at the end.  Unfortunately, the film's inherent flaw is that when Christine loses her memory and wakes up the next morning, we in the audience are constantly bombarded with her need to relearn everything again.  We seemingly witness the same scenes over and over and over again with the tiniest minutiae of changes.  While I understand this is a way for Joffe to allow us to connect with the film's dazed protagonist, it just wears out its welcome very quickly and it bogs down the film to an almost unwatchable point halfway through.

Credit certainly goes to the quartet of actors listed above who all make the most of what they've been given here.  Firth and Kidman in particular more than carry the film and strive to elevate it above the level of a television movie.  I'm not quite sure they achieve that goal, but their attempts are admirable.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Stoker

Stoker (2013)

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Phyllis Somerville, Jacki Weaver, and Dermot Mulroney

Directed by Chan-wook Park

I've only seen two Chan-wook Park films -- Thirst and now Stoker (I've heard great things about Oldboy so I probably should check that out) -- but I feel like I understand the director's quirky tendencies when it comes to choosing stories to lense, peppering his films with oddly uncomfortable moments.  Then again, two films does not a director make, but the similar aesthetic is certainly intriguing.  That isn't to say that Stoker doesn't feel "weird for weird's sake" at times because in the film's first half, I was certainly getting a bit antsy wondering if this was simply a director taking an unusual screenplay (by Prison Break's Wentworth Miller) and failing to inject anything other than a unique stylization behind it.  However, once some of the screenplay's secrets are revealed, the story kicks into high gear and doesn't take a whole lot of breaths, providing an unusual homage to Hitchcockian films of the past.

Owing a significant debt of gratitude to Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, Stoker begins with the death of 18 year-old India Stoker's father from a terrible car accident.  At the wake at the family home, India (Mia Wasikowska) is greeted by her father's brother Charlie (Matthew Goode) and Uncle Charlie and her mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) hit it off almost instantly.  Uncle Charlie had traveled the world for close to two decades and neither India nor Evelyn had ever met him, but Evelyn is pleased to have a man around the house.  Soon, however, people start disappearing and India begins to wonder if the charming Uncle Charlie is to blame.  While Evelyn slowly becomes enraptured by Charlie's good look, India also starts to fall under his spell despite her better judgment.

The cast overall is solid although Mia Wasikowska continues to amaze in that her blandness has won her leading roles.  Granted, she's proven herself (see this as validation) and in this role her nonchalance and lack of emotion are warranted, but I am shocked she's a top choice amongst directors.  The rest of cast excel, including Jacki Weaver, Phyllis Somerville, and Dermot Mulroney who make the most out of small roles.  Matthew Goode in particular is fantastic.  Able to convey both an alluring suaveness and frightening slyness, it's as if Goode was picked right up out of a Hitchcock film -- it's a near perfect union of character and actor.  (And although I've failed to discuss Ms. Kidman, she also shines here.)

Much like Thirst, Stoker revels in the sexual tension it creates, at times reaching levels of true uncomfortableness in the audience.  It isn't that the film contains nudity or graphic sex scenes, but there's a sense of unease that's created that has the audience oddly repelled and intrigued at the same time.  Although India is certainly more "adult" than her young eighteen years would suggest, her infatuation with her uncle (and his reciprocation of that) is disconcerting.  But that's part of the game of Stoker and it's why the film works.  Hitchcock wasn't afraid of making his audiences squirm a bit and director Park (in this is first English language film) isn't either.  Park obviously is paying homage to that great director (there's a scene involving a fly that most would overlook, but screamed Psycho to me), but he's also ramping things up just a tiny bit for the modern age.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Paperboy

The Paperboy (2012)

Starring Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, David Oyelowo, John Cusack, and Nicole Kidman

Directed by Lee Daniels

I think it's extremely important that you know what you're getting into should you decide to watch The Paperboy, the latest film from Precious director Lee Daniels.  This flick is pure trash...and it knows it.  Reveling in the grainy look and feel of a 1970s low-budget Roger Corman flick, Daniels seems to be intending to make pure pulp and while he succeeds, the problem is that nobody really likes those types of movies for anything longer than about sixty minutes.  At that point, the cheesy music and the over-the-top (or just plain awful) acting wear thin and you find yourself wondering when the hell this piece of crap is going to be over.  That's kind of the case here, too.  I dug the retro vibe (complete with cuts made to replicate missing frames of film), but the story peters out.

The year is 1969 and we find ourselves in the steamy city of Lately, Florida, where a man named Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) is on Death Row for killing a local sheriff.  Newspaper reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) grew up in Lately and finds himself returning to his hometown to investigate what could have been a wrongful conviction for Van Wetter.  While at home, Ward and his younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) meet up with the beautiful, though incredibly trashy, Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman) who has been communicating with Van Wetter via mail for several months and now finds herself engaged to the man without ever having seen him in person.  Charlotte is sex (or sleaze) personified, but the young Jack instantly falls for her "womanly" charms, finding it difficult to go through days without seeing her despite the fact that the feeling is never reciprocated in his direction from Charlotte.

I will admit that I give Nicole Kidman some credit here for slumming it and she really comes across as the most believable and even honest character of anyone.  She embraces the slutty sleaziness and creates a character that is quite memorable.  As for the others in the cast, they don't fare nearly as well.  Efron's actually fine, but I thought maybe we'd see some dramatic stretching for him in this role and his character is unfortunately a bit one-note.  McConaughey really isn't doing anything we haven't seen from him before and the journey his character undergoes is ludicrously ridiculous.  And the less said about John Cusack the better.  He's definitely in the running for Worst Performance of the Year.

At its heart, The Paperboy is a young man's coming of age story...because once you get peed on by a chick, you're simply not a kid anymore.  You're officially a grown up.  Yep, in perhaps the film's most talked about moment, Kidman's Charlotte pees on Efron's Jack after the young guy gets ravaged by a swarm of jellyfish.  And that, folks, is the kind of movie you're getting with The Paperboy.  It's weird, off-the-wall, and at times enjoyable.  But then things go over-the-edge (as in the aforementioned scene) and you just shake your head in disbelief at what's unfolding.  Sleaze and trashiness are fine but in mild doses, and this one lingers a bit too long (with a final act that just doesn't really work).

The RyMickey Rating:  C-