Movie Review - Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland (2015)

Starring George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Robinson, Pierce Gagnon, and Judy Greer

Directed by Brad Bird

As a devoted Disney fan, it pains me to say that Tomorrowland is a big piece of trash.  As the first hour of the Brad Bird directed and co-written film came and went, I found myself asking the question out loud, "What is the story here?"  Seriously, an hour in, I felt like I was still sitting through an incredibly repetitive expositional phase with the film aimlessly meandering, completely failing to progress its story in any way.  Not a good start to an ambitious film that I wanted to like (in part because it's an original cinematic idea in a sea of big budget sequels), but found truly disappointing.

The film begins with a young boy named Frank (Thomas Robinson) showcasing his jetpack invention to an unimpressed judge (Hugh Laurie) at the 1964 World's Fair.  However, a young girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) sees potential in Frank, gives him a special orange and blue pin, and tells him to follow her onto the It's a Small World ride at the fair.  Frank obliges and, thanks to the pin that is scanned while on the ride, the young boy is transported to a futuristic city called Tomorrowland.

Cut to present day and teenage activist and optimist Casey (Britt Robertson) is arrested for attempting to stop the dismantling of NASA's Cape Canaveral space shuttle launching bay.  When she picks up her belongings from her short hours-long stint in jail, she sees the same pin orange and blue pin that transported young Frank to Tomorrowland.  When she grabs the pin, Casey is instantly taken to the futuristic land, but when she tries to show her father (Tim McGraw) the pin's magic, she realizes that no one but she can travel to Tomorrowland.  Completely confused by the pin which has now lost its battery life and refuses to work, Casey goes on a journey to try and find out about the pin which causes her to meet up with Athena and curmudgeonly Frank (now played as an adult by George Clooney) who wants nothing to do with Tomorrowland after he was banished decades ago for challenging the authorities there.

As I type this summary out, I actually find myself intrigued by the premise...unfortunately, that aforementioned story stretches itself out over nearly seventy minutes, repeating itself over and over again with extended sequences that showcase some decent special effects, but do nothing to progress the story.  It also doesn't help that in the final act, the denouement feels silly and too "up with people" to really have any impact.  As Casey and Frank try and figure out how to use Tomorrowland to their advantage, I found their ramblings incomprehensible -- although, admittedly, I had checked out at that point and my lack of interest most likely led to the unintelligible aspects of the plot.  Brad Bird and his co-writers Damon Lindelof and Jeff Jensen really dropped the ball with this one.  There was maybe potential for a franchise here (and Clooney and Robertson are both game and by far the best parts of the movie), but Tomorrowland is really a painfully awful big budget flick.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Wish I Was Here

Wish I Was Here (2014)

Starring Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Pierce Gagnon, Joey King, Mandy Patinkin, and Josh Gad

Directed by Zach Braff

Wish I Was Here is no Garden State, but I appreciate what film director and screenwriter Zach Braff brings to the table.  There's a melancholic happiness (oxymoronic, I know) that seems to permeate throughout his two feature films that gives the audience the appropriate balance of sadness and joy for the characters he creates.  Unfortunately, there's a failure to connect on an emotional level present in Braff's second feature which is a somewhat large flaw given the film's storyline.

Braff has grown up since Garden State and here he plays Aidan Bloom, husband to Sarah (Kate Hudson), father to Grace and Tucker (Joey King and Pierce Gagnon), brother to Noah (Josh Gad), and son to Gabe (Mandy Patinkin).  Aidan has always longed to be an actor, but he finds himself struggling as of late to find roles, forcing his wife to be the family's sole breadwinner.  When Aidan discovers that his father has failed to pay the semester's tuition at Grace and Tucker's rabbinical private school, he meets with Gabe only to discover that his father's once-in-remission cancer has reared its ugly head again and he must use his grandchildren's tuition money to pay for experimental treatment.  With his kids forced out of school, Aidan finds his life turned upside down as he takes on home schooling in addition to trying to take care of his ailing father.

Wish I Was Here works best when it focuses on the immediate household of Aidan -- his relationship with his kids, his relationship with his wife.  When the film ventures outside of the home -- to Noah who has had a rocky relationship with Gabe all his life; to Sarah at work who's dealing with an unseemly co-worker; to some odd daydreams that find Aidan in a spacesuit -- the film feels like its lost its way.  Zach Braff and his brother Adam don't quite narrow the focus enough and it ends up proving detrimental to the crux of the story which is Aidan's relationship with his father and his coping mechanisms with feeling as if he was never good enough for his dad or a good enough man for his own family.  This film should've had moments that grabbed me -- and it didn't.

That said, Braff deserves additional opportunities and the fact that he's only made two films so far in a decade is a bit disheartening.  Quite frankly, I love the tender, charming, and melancholic happiness (there's that oxymoron again) that's seemingly inherent in his creative process.  He's got something and I wish he'd be given the opportunity to explore his talent behind the lens and on paper a bit more.  I may not have loved Wish I Was Here, but I certainly recognize the potential that is there in Mr. Braff and I hope we don't have to wait another ten years to see some more output from him.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Looper

Looper (2012)

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Piper Perabo, Paul Dano, Pierce Gagnon, and Jeff Daniels

Directed by Rian Johnson

Why did I wait so long to see Looper?  Everyone raved about it.  It's directed and written by a guy whose last film I greatly admired specifically for its direction and story.  It stars the guy who was in my favorite scene in one of my favorite movies of 2011.  And yet, I waited.  And the buzz built.  And the movie could never live up to the hype.

But it did...and now I wished I had seen it sooner as it may have gotten me excited and interested about seeing movies again in theaters.  One great movie can do that you -- pique your interest enough to make you realize that not all movies are schlock.  Don't get me wrong.  Looper isn't without its faults (it's first act drags on a bit too long, but it has a second and third act that more than make up for it), but it's an original piece of cinema that is directed with a keen eye and acted with precision from the youngest member of the cast to the oldest.

By 2074, time travel has been invented, but the concept is controlled by someone who has never been seen and is known only as The Rainmaker -- the head of a crime syndicate.  When The Rainmaker wants to get rid of someone, he sends them back thirty years and has them killed by "a looper."  Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a looper in 2044 and he gets paid well for his job, but like all loopers, The Rainmaker will eventually decide to "close his loop" and eliminate Joe's job, allowing him to live a good life for 30 years before he's forced to "close the loop" by killing his future "older Joe" self.  [This sounds confusing, but it really isn't in the slightest when you see it acted out.]  However, when Old Joe (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time to be killed, he refuses to let it happen which puts Young Joe in a bit of a predicament for if he doesn't kill Old Joe, the future will irreversibly change perhaps to great effect.

That summary involves only Act I and the remainder of the film really should be left to simply let unfold before you.  It's not that it contains surprises, but it's a film that only knowing the science fiction basics really allows the rest of the "human" story to flesh out naturally.  Rian Johnson has two tales layered together here -- one would fit perfectly into a Star Trek or Twilight Zone episode involving time travel while the other pushes all of sci-fi to the side and allows a romance to blossom between Joe and a tough farmhand named Sara (Emily Blunt, oddly unrecognizable at first and talking without a hint of her British accent) who comes with some baggage in tow with her young son Cid (the fantastic Pierce Gagnon).  Neither side of the story is given the short shrift and because of that and Johnson's intricate way of melding the two, one finds oneself rapt the whole time with the proceedings.

Although set in the future and certainly peppered with inventions to which we are not yet privy, Looper almost feels retro (much like the tone set in Johnson's former work The Brothers Bloom).  Gordon-Levitt plays Joe as a 1950s James Dean-type guy and, in fact, he's even called out on his old-fashioned stylings by his boss (Jeff Daniels), the head of The Rainmaker's loopers in 2044.  I will admit that it took me a little bit to warm up to Gordon-Levitt's Joe -- I felt he was "playing a character" more than "embodying one" -- but I later grew to appreciate his approach.  As mentioned above, Emily Blunt is quite good here, un-prettying herself and getting a bit grittier than we usually see her.  I love the fact that she can usually elevate comedic fluff to something better, but in Looper she shows that she's also quite a talented dramatic actress.  And her young son, played by five year-old Pierce Gagnon is wonderful.  His role is an interesting one and he manages to be both child-like and adult with such ease that he helps elevate the film's second half to something quite special.

I wasn't a fan at all of Rian Johnson's first film Brick (but then again I'm kind of snob when it comes to good film noir), but I found The Brothers Bloom a pretty fun piece of work.  With Looper, he proves that he wasn't a one-trick pony.  Hopefully, he can continue this upward momentum and we don't have to wait another four years before his next work comes around.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-