Movie Review - And So It Goes

And So It Goes (2014)

Starring Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, Sterling Jerins, Annie Parisse, and Austin Lysy

Directed by Rob Reiner

I fully went into And So It Goes expecting the two elderly leads to find some decades-old pot and smoke it for comedic effect.  That didn't happen so Rob Reiner's film doesn't immediately lose points for that old people hippie-druggie comedy bit that is one of my biggest movie pet peeves.  However, if there was such a scene at least it would've elicited a reaction from me of some kind -- something that And So It Goes failed at doing.  While the two leads are amiable -- I always find Diane Keaton immensely charming (even though she plays the same characters over and over again) and Michael Douglas is underrated when it comes to light-hearted fare -- the story feels old, tired, and worn-out.

Douglas is Oren Little, a pompous realtor who is selling his longtime home in preparation for doing the typical "old person" thing of moving to warmer weather.  During a showing, his estranged son (Austin Lysy) shows up with his ten year-old daughter Sarah (Sterling Jerins), asking Oren to watch over his heretofore unknown granddaughter while he has to spend a year in prison.  Oren reluctantly agrees, but has no idea how to deal with this, so he turns to Leah (Keaton) who lives in and runs a rental property of Oren's.  With Oren's curmudgeonly attitude, Leah's optimism, and Sarah's innocence, the trio make an unlikely triangle -- one that follows the same paths we've seen many times before.

And So It Goes isn't offensive in any way, but it's mind-numbingly dull and that's often a bigger kiss of death than simply being bad.  But, hey...at least the leads don't smoke pot!

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jean Dujardin, Joanna Lumley, Cristin Milioti, and P.J. Byrne 

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Much has already been said about the language, vulgarity, and loooong running time of The Wolf of Wall Street and I'll readily admit that it's full of f-bombs, various sexual proclivities, and rampant drug use throughout its 179-minute length.  However, I enjoyed the heck out of this one, finding myself constantly smiling at the sheer absurdity of the whole affair and almost being upset that my humdrum life couldn't hold a candle to the chaotic mayhem of Jordan Belfort's.  Granted, Belfort is a womanizing, scheming crook who contains nary a moralistic bone in his body and he's a horrific sleaze of a guy so my notion of trying to vicariously live like him faded really quickly, but thanks to a glorious performance by Leonardo DiCaprio and some vivacious direction from Martin Scorsese, this movie paints a vivid picture of the true story of the infamous stockbroker who duped thousands of people into losing boatloads of money.

While the overarching theme of the film is about the stock market and that aforementioned duping of the public by Belfort, Scorsese and screenwriter Terrence Winter wisely push that aside instead focusing on the wildly outrageous shenanigans of the rich Belfort (played by DiCaprio) and his cohorts as they spend their (well-earned or illegally earned?) dough on quaaludes, cocaine, prostitutes, yachts, extravagant homes, jewelry, flying dwarfs...I could go on and on.  Seeing the world of excess is admittedly at first a little exciting, but we all know that it's too good to be true.  This fantastical world is ripe for a breakdown and that certainly is the case here with Belfort's fall just as engrossing as his rise up the corporate ladder.

Front and center in nearly every scene of the movie is Leonardo DiCaprio, a guy who I've certainly come to appreciate in recent years for his acting prowess.  However, I've never seen him take on a role with such gusto and joie de vivre as he does here with Jordan Belfort.  With the perfect amount of sly charm, self absorption, self-confidence, financial smarts, and sex appeal, DiCaprio gives a performance that is loose, funny, and captivating.

While DiCaprio's Belfort certainly takes center stage, he isn't alone in shining onscreen.  Jonah Hill is quite good as a Long Island nobody whom Belfort grooms into his right hand man.  The jaw-droppingly gorgeous Margot Robbie plays Belfort's second wife and she's a stunning newcomer I can't wait to see more of in the future.  Additionally, Matthew McConaughey makes the most out of a mere ten minute scene as Belfort's first teacher in the stock trade.  He steals the show right off the bat (which DiCaprio then steals back from him) and sets the movie on a great path right from the outset.

All this praise I'm heaping on the film makes it seem as if this one's ripe for an "A" rating.  Well, that's not going to happen and the reason harkens back to that aforementioned running time.  This thing moves along at a fast clip for its first hour and its last hour takes us on a bit of a different journey with Belfort's world beginning to crumble, but that middle hour leaves a bit to be desired.  We've already borne witness to the hedonistic tendencies of Belfort and his crew and this middle act teeters on actually becoming a bit boring -- there's only so much coke snorting you can take.  Perhaps Scorsese was mirroring the excessive nature of Belfort with the excessive running time, but a trimming of maybe thirty minutes would've put this one right in the running for a top three spot of the year for me.  As it stands now, it's a very good film that could've been near perfect, buoyed by the best performance I've seen in 2013 in Mr. DiCaprio.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - North

North (1994)

Starring Elijah Wood, Jon Lovitz, Bruce Willis, Matthew McCurly, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates, John Ritter, Faith Ford, and Scarlett Johannson

Directed by Rob Reiner

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

***Posted as part of the Elijah Wood Early 90s Mini Film Festival***

I remember watching North as a kid and thinking that I really liked it.  I also remember watching a 1994 Year in Review show on Siskel and Ebert and Siskel called this film "deplorable."  I was livid that Siskel hated this.  How dare he!  But, for some reason or another, I never watched this movie again.  Until today, that is, and I can now fully understand why Siskel trashed it.

North (Elijah Wood) is your average run-of-the-mill young kid who does quite well in school, has the starring roles in plays, and is quite adept at hitting a baseball.  The problem is that his parents (Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) don't pay him any mind, finding themselves too wrapped up in their miserable jobs to notice their son.  Fed up, North decides that he's going to take his parents to court and ask the judge (Alan Arkin) to allow him to find new parents.  The judge agrees and North sets out on his mission that takes him to Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, and New York where he meets both a wide array of kooky and quirky adults vying for him to be their son and a guardian angel of sorts (Bruce Willis) who pops up in every scene to remind North that maybe he really belongs back home with his real folks.

My problem with the film is that it just isn't funny and it is attempting to be.  The jokes are horrendous.  Here's a sample of one:  When North visits Hawaii, he asks why Mr. and Mrs. Ho want him to be their son.  Mr. Ho responds by saying, "Hawaii is a lush and fertile land.  In fact, there's only one barren area on all our islands.  Unfortunately, it's Mrs. Ho."  Yep, that's the kind of humor we're talking about.

Maybe at 14, I thought this was a rather adult kid's movie.  Seeing as how I had two younger brothers, I was still in the phase where I was being taken to see the most "kiddie" of kid movies and with North's bad language and talk about sex, maybe I thought it was a bit edgy.  Nowadays, it just doesn't work.

Still, I must give credit where credit is due.  I actually really liked the subplot about North's best friend Winchell (Matthew McCurly), a school newspaper reporter who starts a Che-like revolution amongst the kids across the country, telling them to stand up to their parents and take control of their lives.  Clever and well acted (even if it is played over-the-top), any scene with McCurly at least brought a bit of a relief from the onslaught of godawful auditioning parents.

In preparation for this review, I found the Siskel and Ebert clip of them reviewing it and Ebert throws out the line "I hated this movie as much as any movie we've ever reviewed in the nineteen years we've been doing this show."  While I wouldn't go that far, North is a movie that simply doesn't work...and it certainly makes me question my cinematic tastes from back in the day.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

The Personal Canon - Sleepless in Seattle

The Personal Canon is a recurring column highlighting my favorite films of all time.  While they may not necessarily be "A" rated, they are the movies that, for some reason or another, hold a special place in my filmgoing experience.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger, Bill Pullman, Rosie O'Donnell, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, David Hyde Pierce, and Rob Reiner

Directed by Nora Ephron

Call me a wuss all you want, but I'm secure enough in my manhood to say that I love Sleepless in Seattle.  It's one of those movies that I will keep on every single time I come across it on TBS or TNT despite the fact that I own it.  It's a movie that I love enough that I wrote a paper on it in a college film class (that earned me a near perfect A-).  It's one of those movies that makes me feel good...and goshdarnit there's nothing wrong with that.  Sure, it may not be "epic" or ingeniously directed, but it holds a place in my Personal Canon and ranks quite high up there on my list of All-Time Favorite Movies (which, I guess is kind of redundant since the Personal Canon will really only contain my "All-Time Favorite Movies").

Based a bit upon the classic film An Affair to Remember (which I watched as part of a double feature following Sleepless one year and found it treacly and cloying), director and co-screenwriter Nora Ephron's flick keeps our two leading actors -- Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in perhaps my favorite roles of each of theirs -- apart for nearly the entire movie.  We know that fate will bring Hanks's widowed father-of-one Sam Baldwin and Ryan's recently-engaged-although-probably-just-settling-in-love Annie Reed together, but the process of getting the two to meet is what makes this movie work.

And a huge part of that successful process of uniting the two adults is child actor Ross Malinger as Sam's son Jonah.  This is a character that could've easily been one of those "too smart for his own good" types, but is probably the best part of the movie.  The father-son bond created by Hanks and Malinger is what sells me on this film.  The relationship moves seamlessly from the gut-wrenching moments of sadness following the death of Sam's wife to the rather humorous scenes several months later depicting Jonah's dislike of Sam's new girlfriend.  Despite the wide-range of emotions, there's never a false moment between these two and that's just as much of a credit to little Ross Malinger as it is Oscar-winning Tom Hanks.  [Of note: Malinger is the voice of T.J. on the animated show Recess...I knew I liked that show for a reason.]

As good as Hanks and Malinger are, Meg Ryan shines as well even if her role is a little less developed than her male counterparts.  This is film that made her America's Sweetheart in the early 90s and her Annie is just about as cute as could be.  She exudes charm, wit, and kindness -- three characteristics that will get a lady far in my book.  She may not be the sexiest woman on the block, but she's the one that would catch my eye nonetheless.  (Of course, nowadays, Ms. Ryan's plasticky face would make me run the other way).

Sleepless in Seattle actually falls a little more on the romance side of the "romantic comedy" descriptor, but the humor is provided by the supporting characters, none of whom overstay their welcome.  Whether it be Rob Reiner as Sam's buddy or Rosie O'Donnell as Annie's boss, they give the gentle funny nudging that the two leads need in order to get to that inevitable climactic meeting.  Add Rita Wilson, Victor Garber, and Bill Pullman to the mix and there's not a bad actor onscreen.  Honestly, there's not a funny moment that falls flat.  Every joke hits the mark.

All this being said, one of my favorite aspects of Sleepless in Seattle (and what I wrote that aforementioned paper on) is the film's spot-on use of music.  Using original recordings of classic songs like Nat King Cole's "Stardust," Gene Autry's "Back in the Saddle Again" and covers of standards like "Makin' Whoopee" and "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," music supervisor Marc Shaiman worked rather ingeniously with Nora Ephron to utilize music to both provide humor and further the plot by cluing us in to the characters' inner thoughts.  I'm not sure I've ever heard music so expertly placed in a film as in this flick and it's honestly one of the biggest reasons why I love this film.

Say what you will, but Sleepless in Seattle is one of the absolute best romantic comedies of my generation.  It never finds itself needing to be lewd or crude, but instead is sweet without ever being too sugary.  It's a movie that you can watch with your twelve year-old nephew or your ninety year-old grandmom and both will enjoy it.  It's simple, but lovely, full of terrific little moments that just make you go "awww" -- one concerning the peeling of an apple gets me every single time.  If you've never seen it, leave your cynicism at the door and check it out.  And Happy Valentine's Day to all...

The RyMickey Rating:  A