The Father

 The Father (2020)

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewall, and Olivia Williams

Directed by Florian Zeller

Written by Florian Zeller

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

The Favourite

The Favourite (2018)

Starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, and Joe Alwyn

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Starring Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom, Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Written by Michael Green

Summary (in 500 words or less): Detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) embarks on what should be a pleasant train ride only to discover that a murder has occurred.  The only possible culprits are those on the train and it's up to Poirot to figure out whodunit before the train reaches its destination...and before they strike again.

• Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express feels like it could have been made decades prior to this one.  That's not a bad thing, however, in this fast-paced culture in which we live, even I feel like this one could've stood to have a bit more life injected into it.  The pace proves to be a bit too slow.
• It's fun to see a big cast like this and the film's twists and turns allow most of them to ham it up every now and again with some overly dramatic moments.  The cheesy corniness works in a film like this and isn't ever laughable, but instead adds to the overall aesthetic.  
• That said, while the actors' corniness isn't laughable, the story often is.  The plot's surprise mystery twists just end up seeming too convoluted to be even moderately believable.  Sure, the screenwriter is simply following in the footsteps of Agatha Christie's book...but that doesn't mean Agatha Christie's book was any good.  Sometimes simpler is better, but in my few experiences with Christie -- via movies, plays, or books -- she doesn't follow that mantra...and it doesn't always work with modern-day audiences.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Lobster

The Lobster (2016)

Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, John C. Reilly, and Olivia Colman

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

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

I was so on board with director/co-writer Yorgos Lanthimos' weirdly offbeat The Lobster throughout most of its first hour as its surreal tale begins to unfold.  David (Colin Farrell) has just gotten divorced and in the strange land in which The Lobster is set that means that he must find someone to fall in love with him in forty-five days lest he be turned into an animal.  Yep...I said it was weird.  David heads to a hotel run by a manager (Olivia Colman) who sets up a variety of activities to set people up with someone they can love.  As his days dwindle down and romance seems less likely, David ponders whether an escape is necessary...and that's where the story drastically changes and grows increasingly uninteresting in its second hour.

The comedic satire in the film's opening half creates a world with new rules that are fully embraced by both the film's characters -- which include John C. Reilly as a lisping loner and Ben Whishaw as a limping lover -- and the audience.  I bought into the insane set-up that people would actually turn into dogs or horses or even lobsters if they failed to fall in love, and I found the set-up unique and engaging despite the bleak and sometimes melancholy sadness that permeates the inhabitants of the hotel.  The second half, however, removes us from the hotel setting and things fall apart.  The comedic aspect fades away and the tone of the film shifts into something that disappoints.  (I'll admit to being vague here to avoid spoilers.)

Kudos to Colin Farrell for carrying the film and giving a solid performance as the depressed David who finds himself forced to find true love in a short amount of time.  Creatively, Lanthimos at least envisioned a dystopia that we haven't seen before.  Unfortunately, he can't sustain a two-hour film across this land set up in the way he has.  There was promise here that unfortunately didn't pan out.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Locke

Locke (2014)

Starring Tom Hardy and the voice talents of Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson, Tom Holland, Andrew Scott, and Ben Daniels

Directed by Steven Knight

Maybe I was just remembering the trailer incorrectly, but Locke was not what I expected at all.  Previews seemed to indicate some life or death situation occurring to the title character as he raced somewhere in his car.  Nope.  Locke is a rather simple story of Ivan Locke (played by Tom Hardy), a successful construction worker starting a build on one of the largest high rises in England, who gets a phone call one evening that forces him to abandon both the construction site and his family and drive to London to meet another woman.  I'm leaving the details of the situation out of the picture here because, quite frankly, there isn't a whole lot that happens in this movie and the details are at least an interesting aspect as the bits and pieces are unfolded for us.

Taking place entirely within the confines of Locke's fancy BMW, director Steven Knight does a nice job of keeping the visuals interesting, and while his screenplay does a solid job of detailing Locke's story through the use of a variety of telephone calls Locke makes and receives on his way to London, I didn't care as much as I should.  There's a mundaneness to the proceedings which I think is partly the point -- the universality of "this could be anyone" -- but also makes me ponder why the film needed to be made in the first place.

Tom Hardy is certainly solid here as a family man with an indiscretion that begins a downward spiral for his life and he does a good job holding our interest (which is absolutely necessary considering he's the only person we see the entire film), but I don't know if there's enough oomph here to reasonably say Locke should have ever been made.  I understand why some find this "day in the life" (or, more appropriately "ninety minutes in the life") an intriguing piece of cinema, but for me, it's just okay, leaving me feeling empty rather than any type of sympathy for its main character.

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - I Give It a Year

I Give It a Year (2013)

Starring Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Simon Baker, and Olivia Colman

Directed by Dan Mazer

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

I Give It a Year started out so promisingly.  Through a quickly paced montage, we see how Nat and Josh (Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall) meet and fall in love, leading up to their wedding.  Their reception is filled with hilarity thanks to Josh's best bud Danny (Stephen Merchant), but then the film skips ahead about eight months and Nat and Josh find themselves sitting in a marriage counselor's office talking about how they jumped into things too quickly and may not have been as compatible as they thought.  Through flashbacks we see that Josh has never really gotten over his girlfriend prior to Nat, an American named Chloe (Anna Faris) and the fact that they're trying to remain friends puts a strain on his current relationship.  Nat, on the other hand, is finding herself falling for an American herself -- a businessman (Simon Baker) whose suave and debonair demeanor is a bit more of a perfect match for her than Josh's lovable carefreeness.

Unfortunately, as I look back upon the film, I realize that even the humor that I enjoyed wasn't natural to the film itself.  In those opening minutes, I laughed more times than I can count thanks to Stephen Merchant's inappropriate speeches at the wedding and the reception.  However, Merchant's character seems out of place and affected as opposed to being intrinsic to the plot.  Similarly, the aforementioned marriage counselor (played by Olivia Colman) is a caricature rather than a real person.  The same could be said for Minnie Driver's best friend character whose purpose other than to provide a snarky comment here or there is beyond me.

The film doesn't help its leading actors either.  Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall -- both of whom are perfectly pleasant to watch and are fine in the acting department -- are bland and aren't given anything to do except stand around and get pissed off or glare at their partner so that doesn't help matters either.  Simon Baker is nothing except "The Perfect Guy," so his character is a bit yawn-inducing.  And poor Anna Faris is given a purportedly hilarious scene involving her character's experimentation in a threesome that is so incredibly out of place, I found myself cringing at writer-director Dan Mazur's taste levels.

I Give It a Year wasn't offensively bad, but I can't say it's worth your time either.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Tyrannosaur

Tyrannosaur (2011)

Starring Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, and Eddie Marsan

Directed by Paddy Considine

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

I apparently had saved one of the better acted 2011 films until the end.  As the RyMickey Awards are heading towards their conclusion, it's entirely possible that Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman may find themselves in the acting races for their roles in the indie British flick Tyrannosaur -- and, no, unfortunately there are no extinct dinosaurs in the flick.

Instead, the title could very easily refer to Joseph (Mullan), a widowed alcoholic whose temper easily turns him into a beast on a dime.  After a rough night, he wanders into a thrift shop run by Hannah (Colman) and becomes oddly entranced by her.  Outwardly, Hannah seems to have it all together, but her devout Christianity is hiding the fact that she's involved in an absolutely horrible marriage with a husband (Eddie Marsan) who, like Joseph, can't control his temper.  While Hannah tries to help Joseph deal with his demons, she has no one other than God to help her with her problems and since the Man upstairs seems to have forgotten about her, she slowly finds herself going secretly to liquor to drown her pain.

This is a film all about damaged souls and Tyrannosaur so easily could have become an incredible downer.  However, first time director Paddy Considine keeps things going at a good clip (the film clocks in at under ninety minutes) and shifts the emphasis between the characters just enough that it never becomes too bogged down in depression.  That said, don't mistake this for a happy-go-lucky film.  We're in the emotional trenches here and Considine takes us on a journey with a few unexpected moments that elevate this beyond the norm.

The true reasons the film succeeds, though, are the performances of Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman.  Once I got used to Mullan's strong accent (there's no shame in using the captions Netflix provides, is there?), I found myself rather fascinated with his character even though there is something rather rote and by the book when it comes to the self-destructive Joseph.  He's the rough alcoholic with a heart we've all seen before, but Mullan doesn't allow Joseph to ever stoop to stupidity.  He's a smart drunk...he knows wholeheartedly why he's angry and you can see the clarity in his glazed-over eyes.

Almost on the opposite end of the spectrum, Olivia Colman must attempt to hide Hannah's true emotions, trying to tell us that everything's okay, while deep within experiencing immense amounts of physical and emotional pain.  Colman is effortlessly able to achieve this difficult task and when the script finally allows Hannah to let her unfetter her emotions, she lets loose with an agony that palpably resonates with the audience.

Tyrannosaur's Joseph and Hannah have buried their pain, anger, and frustration much too deep within themselves.  When the emotions are finally "excavated," glimpses into the past show how their present has been shaped and a difficult, though engaging, film is the result.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+