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

Victoria & Abdul

Victoria & Abdul (2017)

Starring Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Tim Pigott-Smith, Adeel Akhtar, Olivia Williams, Paul Higgins, and Eddie Izzard

Directed by Stephen Frears

Written by Lee Hall

Summary (in 500 words or less): The real-life story of the elderly seventy-something Queen Elizabeth (Judi Dench) and her friendship with an Indian servant Abdul (Ali Fazal) whose presence causes quite a stir amongst the Queen's family and her loyal British servants.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - Man Up

Man Up (2015)

Starring Simon Pegg, Lake Bell, Sharon Horgan, Ophelia Lovibond, Rory Kinnear, and Olivia Williams

Directed by Ben Palmer

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

Man Up is an average romantic comedy elevated only by the oddball chemistry and talents of Simon Pegg and Lake Bell who make this silly flick better than it really has any right to be.  Bell is Nancy, a thirty-four year-old single woman who has all but abandoned dating due to her admitted awkwardness.  While on a train out of the city to celebrate her parents' fortieth wedding anniversary, Nancy meets Jessica (Ophelia Lovibond), a young twenty-four year-old whose obsession with a very popular self-help book has led her to embark on a blind date.  Nancy falls asleep on the train after berating the young woman for her bubbly personality and when she awakens she discovers that Jessica has left her book behind.  Rushing to catch up with her, Nancy is mistaken by Jack (Pegg) to be Jessica as he was looking for a woman holding the aforementioned self-help book.  Nancy is immediately taken in by Jack's equally awkward, though charmingly witty, demeanor and Nancy decides to pretend to be Jessica, taking an uncharacteristic plunge and going on a blind date.  Not expecting much, Nancy begins to fall for Jack and he for her -- of course, considering the case of mistaken identity, humor should be abundant!

While all-out hilarity may not ensue, there were a several chuckles and maybe even a few flat-out guffaws throughout Man Up mostly thanks to Simon Pegg's deliveries and Lake Bell's reactions to them.  The two pair off of each other nicely and make this otherwise formulaic and typical rom-com fare a little better than average.  Unfortunately, rather than try and build a story that focuses squarely on these two individuals, the film's debut screenwriter peppers in one-note unfunny characters that do little to advance the plot, but take up much too much of the film's running time.  Even with a speedy 90-minute running time, these superfluous "extras" unnecessarily pad and bring down the movie.  There's better out there than Man Up, but it proves that Lake Bell is an underused commodity in Hollywood and Simon Pegg is a clever and witty cinematic comedian.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Maps to the Stars

Maps to the Stars (2015)

Starring Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Evan Bird, Olivia Williams, and Robert Pattinson

Directed by David Cronenberg

Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) is an aging Hollywood starlet who is desperate to remain relevant by starring in a remake of one of her deceased actress mother's movies.  She's having difficulty with the notion, however, as she's currently in therapy with Dr. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) dealing with repressed memories of her mother physically and sexually abusing her.  Stafford's family has its own issues -- his movie star tween son Benjie (Evan Bird) is just coming out of rehab for drug abuse and starring in the sequel to his mega hit with his wife Christina (Olivia Williams) negotiating a major multi-million dollar paycheck which is certainly contingent on Benjie staying sober.  Meanwhile, sullen Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) has traveled to Los Angeles from Florida and gets a job as the personal assistant to Havana, but she's hiding a secret connection to the Weiss family that may create havoc upon her return to California.

A David Cronenberg film (which essentially means that weirdness may take center stage at some point), Maps to the Stars is a darkly comic tale about Hollywood that I found surprisingly enjoyable.  Yes, it doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel in terms of its skewering of Big Name Actors and Television Psychologists, but the flick is aided by some really great performances, particularly that of Julianne Moore who embodies the role of an L.A. ditzy actress with such aplomb that you can't help but be impressed.  With John Cusack's best role in a while coupled with a solid turn from young Evan Bird, Maps to the Stars is able to really shine thanks to the acting on display.

The film does falter a bit towards the end when Agatha's secrets begin to reveal themselves and take hold of the Weiss family.  With a genuinely fantastic first two-thirds, I must say I grew a bit disappointed at the conclusion because the movie was so thoroughly enjoyable in its balance of quirky humor and depressing pathos up until that point.  Still, Maps to the Stars proves to be an intriguing film that certain connoisseurs may find appealing.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Sabotage

Sabotage (2014)

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Terrence Howard, Olivia Williams, and Mireille Enos

Directed by David Ayer

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

I don't know why Sabotage looked compelling when I saw the trailer over a year ago, but for some reason, I had in my mind that this was an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie that I wanted to see.  I'm shaking my head now because this was certainly a waste of time with The Governator playing a DEA agent who heads a team of stereotypical characters as they attempt to take down a Mexican drug lord only to have the DEA team being killed one by one in an act of revenge.

David Ayer who solidly directed End of Watch and Fury fails miserably here, but with Schwarzenegger's poor acting (and really the poor acting of everyone across the board) failing to garner any sympathy for his character who is seeking revenge for the deaths of his wife and son at the hands of drug dealers, Ayer's task was unenviable.  Then again, Ayer also co-wrote the piece and the flick certainly disappoints heavily in that department, too -- particularly the film's final twenty minutes which ends with two ludicrously shot set pieces that laughably bring things to a conclusion.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - The Last Days on Mars

The Last Days on Mars (2013)

Starring Liev Schrieber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Olivia Williams, and Johnny Harris

Directed by Ruairi Robinson

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

Seven astronauts are finishing up a research mission to Mars.  On their last day, one of the astronauts sees a spike in some scientific readings and goes out to investigate only to fall into a gigantic pit.  As other members of the crew go out to try and find the missing astronaut, they discover that some type of planetary bacteria has infected the crew member and turned him into a man-eating zombie.

Yeah...zombies...on Mars...

The Last Days on Mars is surprisingly well acted considering the ridiculousness of the plot, but the film isn't very tense and it certainly isn't scary.  With neither tension or scares, the film just falls flat and proves to be ultimately a bit boring.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina (2012)

Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Olivia Williams, and Emily Watson  

Directed by Joe Wright

Oh, what a conundrum Anna Karenina places me in.  It's not really a conundrum, I guess, so much as disappointment.  Considering all that is good about this re-telling of the classic Leo Tolstoy novel (of which I was entirely unfamiliar with), it pains me to not be able to recommend this one.  Despite some ingenious direction and a career-best performance from Keira Knightley, this flick just can't get past the fact that there's not enough story -- or at least not enough interesting story -- to cause the audience to give a damn.  I'm not quite sure there's anything director Joe Wright could have done -- and he certainly tries -- to have made this late 19th century soap opera appealing to a modern audience.

I knew absolutely nothing about Anna Karenina prior to venturing into this film.  In fact, I'm not even sure I saw a complete trailer for the movie, let alone cracked open a Cliffs Notes version of the book.  However, I knew going in (and this was probably incredibly helpful) that director Joe Wright had rather cleverly set up the film as if it was all being performed on a stage.  Sets move in and out fluidly.  Cast members are sometimes seen playing different roles in the background.  We see stage props and the unfinished backsides of backdrops.  This stylized, grandiose approach certainly kept my attention throughout and provides many glorious scenes that I truly loved.

Unfortunately, this story is just too formulaic and too banal to have any reason to be filmed.  Maybe the novel was a revelation in 1877, but now the whole thing reads as a trite soap opera elevated to importance only because people speak in British accents (despite the fact that this takes place in Russia...but that didn't bother me in the slightest).  Keira Knightley is the title character, a young mother who is seemingly stuck in a marriage with a husband, Alexei (Jude Law), who monetarily provides for her, but fails to express love for her and her son.  While on a visit to see her brother (Matthew Macfadyen), Anna meets Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and instantly becomes mesmerized with him (as he does with her).  They begin a rather torrid affair that isn't exactly kept as secretive as it should be.  With Anna already in a marriage and Vronsky set to be betrothed to the young Kitty (Alicia Vikander), this doesn't sit well with the community and Anna finds herself being ostracized and looked down upon by all.

Had the Anna-Vronsky-Alexei triangle been all that we had to worry about, I may have been okay with the premise.  However, we then get sidetracked to a forlorn Kitty, sullen and upset that Vronsky left her, falling into the arms of the less wealthy Konstantin (Domhnall Gleeson).  Frankly, despite a decent effort by the actors to convince me otherwise, I couldn't have cared less about the Kitty-Konstantin angle and found that it slowed down the movie to uncomfortable levels.  It certainly doesn't help that Anna's now-ruined life is drawn out seemingly ad infinitum as well.

And the shame of it all is that Keira Knightley is pretty fantastic.  Even in her better roles (like last year's A Dangerous Method), Ms. Knightley still relied on her ever-present crutch of jaw-clenching to express frustration, anger, or fear.  Somehow, she's grown quite a bit as an actor and her director (whom she's worked with twice before) has nixed that jutting jaw of hers.  Anna is her most mature role yet with Knightley exuding passion, sexiness, heartbreak, and maternal instincts.  It really is a well-rounded performance in a movie whose story doesn't permit her character to soar the way it deserves.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

The Ghost Writer (2010)

starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, and Olivia Williams

Directed by Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski may not be the most well-regarded man...and rightly so.  But in terms of his films, I think he is quite the talented director.  Rosemary's Baby is one of my favorite films of all time.

Unfortunately, The Ghost Writer just can't compare with that near masterpiece, and Polanski as the co-screenwriter is partly to blame.  This film had some of the most ridiculous dialog I've heard in quite a while.  When you have, for all intents and purposes, a mature thriller that is aimed at intelligent adults, you need to have dialog that will not cause me to laugh out loud.  Unfortunately, The Ghost Writer is sometimes hilariously inept at showcasing believable conversations.

Ewan McGregor is The Ghost (his character is never named), a writer called in to help pen the memoirs of British politician Adam Lang (Brosnan) after Lang's first ghost writer mysteriously turns up dead, washed up along the shores in a small New England town.  As is the case in most political thrillers, things are not as they seem and twists and turns are inevitable.

McGregor and Brosnan are quite good in the flick, but their female counterparts, Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams don't step up to the plate, with Cattrall sporting one of the silliest off-and-on British accents I've heard in my many years of movie-watching and Williams being an emotional blank slate.  Plus, while the plot itself was interesting enough and Polanski did a more than adequate job of filming it (there were a couple of really neat shots), in the end the film just didn't excite me one bit.  It was all just kinda blah.  And when blah's the best you can do, it doesn't incite much emotion from me one way or the other.

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - An Education (2009)

Starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Emma Thompson, and Cara Seymour
Directed by Lone Scherfig

This is the second Peter Sarsgaard movie this year (the great Orphan being the other) in which he's played a character that has been involved in a "relationship" with an underage female. I'm not sure what that says about Mr. Sarsgaard...I'll let the psychologists determine whether that means something or not.

Set in 1961 (I've said it before, I'm a sucker for movies set in the '60s, for some reason), An Education tells the tale of a year in the life of Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a 16 year old teenager who seems content with achieving her father's dream for her of attending Oxford to earn an English degree. One day, she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard) who seems to immediately become infatuated with the girl. Their romance blossoms and Jenny begins to realize that an education may not be what she wants in life.

In order to even begin to like this, you have to look past the fact that there's a statutory rape feeling going on here...and if there's a failure in this movie it's that I felt kind of icky watching it (and I don't quite think that I was supposed to feel uncomfortable...as this idea was never even touched upon). I never quite understood how Jenny's parents (played brilliantly by Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour) were able to look past the fact that David appeared to be so much older.

That being said, if you look beyond that, this is a nice little film with a fantastic performance from relative newcomer Carey Mulligan. She was effortless, making me believe her feelings every moment she was onscreen. Fortunately, she's helped by some witty lines from screenwriter Nick Hornby. Nearly every scene between Jenny and her parents was so well-written that I couldn't help but smile at the humor and tenderness on display.

In addition to the great work from Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard is also quite good as the charming (though slimy) David. Not only does he win over Jenny's parents, but he wins over us moviegoers, too. We know that there's something about him that just doesn't seem right, but he enchants us against our better judgment.

The film veers a little preachy at the end, but overall, I was won over by the character of Jenny and particularly Carey Mulligan's performance.

The RyMickey Rating: B