Nightmare Alley

 Nightmare Alley (2021)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenbergen, David Strathairn, and Rooney Mara

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Written by Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene (2019)

Starring Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Tahar Rahim

Directed by Garth Davis

Written by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Una

Una (2017)

Starring Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed, Ruby Stokes, and Tara Fitzgerald

Directed by Benedict Andrews

Written by

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  A young woman named Una (Rooney Mara) arrives unannounced at the office of Ray (Ben Mendelsohn), an older man.  As the evening progresses, secrets are revealed and their ugly past is revisited.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

A Ghost Story

A Ghost Story (2017)

Starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara

Directed by David Lowery

Written by David Lowery

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

Summary (in 500 words or less):  A man (Casey Affleck) dies and returns as a silent ghost to see how is wife (Rooney Mara) copes with his death.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

The Discovery

The Discovery (2017)

Starring Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, Jesse Plemons, Riley Keogh, Mary Steenburgen, and Robert Redford

Directed by Charlie McDowell

Written by Justin Lader and Charlie McDowell

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Summary (in 500 words or less): Scientist Thomas Harbor (Robert Redford) has proven the existence of an afterlife and in the years since his discovery, the suicide rate around the world has risen astronomically.  Following a television interview that goes horribly wrong, Harbor goes into hiding.  Several years later, upon visiting his secluded father, Will (Jason Segel) discovers the almost cult-like atmosphere taking place at his father's homestead where Thomas has hired people whose suicides have gone awry to help him.  Thomas's latest experiment involves videotaping one's afterlife experience, but Will rightfully worries that this new experimentation may result in even more folks wanting to end their lives.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Kubo and the Two Strings

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Featuring the vocal talents of Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara, and Matthew McConnaughey

Directed by Travis Knight

The stop-motion animation from Laika Studios is always exquisite.  When their films begin (be it Coraline or Paranorman or The Boxtrolls) I find myself completely enthralled by the hand-crafted nature of the work and that awe was no exception with Kubo and the Two Strings, the company's latest venture.  Unfortunately, as is also the case with films by Laika, I find myself disappointed with the story and the company's inability to pace their films properly throughout.  Promising starts always lead into disappointing middle acts which are sometimes lifted in the finales.  Gorgeous animation can only get you so far.

That isn't to say that Kubo and the Two Strings is bad by any means.  It certainly is successful during its first half when we are introduced to our title character, a young one-eyed boy (voiced by Art Parkinson) who lives in a secluded cliffside cave with his depressed and sickly mother.  Every day, he makes the trek to the Japanese village near the cave to regale the townsfolk with a glorious story about a warrior who defeats an evil warrior -- all told through magical origami that comes to life when Kubo strums his guitar.  (Yes, it sounds odd, but it's rather beautifully imagined.)  Kubo has always been told to return home before dark, but one day Kubo attends a festival in town during which the living townsfolk create remembrances of the dead.  Enthralled by the festivities, Kubo stays out too late and the ghostly visages of his mother's two sisters Karasu and Yukami (Rooney Mara) come to try and steal Kubo's good eye in order to give it to his grandfather who, legend has it, stole his missing eye.  Kubo's mother fends off her two sisters and tells Kubo to run away and hide.  Upon waking up the next morning, Kubo is greeted by Monkey (Charlize Theron) which seems to be a real-life iteration of a wooden snow monkey figurine he had his entire life.  Together, Kubo and Monkey trek across the landscape of Japan in order to find the pieces of a magical armor that will protect Kubo from his grandfather who obviously wants to do him great harm.

In and of itself, that aforementioned story is engaging, unique, and melds modern and historic Japanese traditions.  However, once Kubo's trek starts, Kubo and the Two Strings loses much of its dramatic tension, essentially becoming a road movie with Kubo meeting the warrior from his stories (Matthew McConaughey) who helps the young boy and monkey on their quest.  Sure, there is some nice repartee between the voice actors with the trio of Theron, McConaughey, and Parkinson creating an enjoyable listening experience.  And, as mentioned before, the animation throughout the entire film is stellar.  Lush landscapes, gorgeous costumes, and fascinating imagery populate the entire film, creating a visually stunning experience.  However, the story falls apart a bit and while the animation saves it -- this one ekes out a win for me thus far when it comes to the animated films of 2016 -- I really want Laika to step it up in the story department because they've got the goods visually that's for darn sure.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

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 - Carol

Carol (2015)

Starring Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, and Kyle Chandler

Directed by Todd Haynes

While I can recognize (and appreciate) the rather gentle way Carol approaches the lesbian romance at its core, director Todd Haynes' film didn't connect with me in the slightest.  While the romance between the titular married-though-in-the-middle-of-divorce-proceedings character (played by Cate Blanchett) and a much younger shopgirl Therese (Rooney Mara) should've felt alive, Haynes has crafted a film where the hints of romance during its first two-thirds simply lead to incredible dullness -- at least for this viewer.

The way that Blanchett and Mara play their characters, the way Haynes films them, and the way Phyllis Nagy pens her script showcase an obvious infatuation between Carol and Therese -- the former whose husband (Kyle Chandler) has known of his wife's dalliances with other women and the latter who herself didn't know her attraction to women, let alone her boyfriend (Jake Lacy) being aware of her predilections.  While the film isn't completely about Carol and Therese "doing the deed" and consummating their relationship, the knowing glances (by the cast), the subtle flirtations (surely in the script), and blatant lensing of the director keep building up to this inevitable moment which, by the time it finally rolls around, feels hokey as opposed to passionate.  The way this piece is structured, crafted, and acted, there needed to be a payoff and that simply doesn't happen here.

Part of the reason behind that is due to the fact that the lead actresses -- both nominated for Oscars -- are frankly overpraised and underwhelming.  There is certainly a time for scenery chewing and Blanchett can chew with the best of them -- just look at Cinderella for an example where she can showcase this talent with aplomb.  Here, her Carol feels like a caricature -- the way she talks, the way she moves, the way she emotes -- none of it feels based in any form of reality.  Mara, on the other hand, is a blank slate, rarely showing emotion, forcing me to ask myself the question of why Carol ever became infatuated with her in the first place.  Granted, I give Mara a bit of credit, however, in that her Therese is just coming in touch with her true self in this relationship with Carol so her moments of blankness or seeming cluelessness are grounded at least in the roots of her character.

Personally, I think the film looks disappointing as well.  As I watched, I couldn't help but feel that is was distractingly grainy.  I legitimately thought it was an issue with the projection system, but upon researching things when I came home, the film was shot on 16mm film and while I'm all for different film aspects (see Steve Jobs as a brilliant example of how to properly use them), this style was off-putting here.

I didn't go into Carol expecting a sexualized lesbian drama so there's no disappointment in that department.  Instead, I wanted a story between two characters that took us on their journey to either happiness, sadness, or something in between.  Unfortunately, this is a journey that isn't well crafted.  While Carol certainly touches on the trials, travails, and struggles facing women like Carol and Therese in the early 1950s (and the best moments in the film deal with Carol's husbands attempts to take full custody of their daughter), the lifelessness of everything onscreen failed to draw me in and really capture my attention.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Her

Her (2013)

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Chris Pratt, and Olivia Wilde

Featuring the vocal talent of Scarlett Johansson

Directed by Spike Jonze

Full disclosure:  I watched Her immediately following shoveling a ton of snow and my tired body and rattled brain likely wasn't ready for the serious tone displayed by writer-director Spike Jonze.  While I appreciated the somewhat depressing look at love and intimacy presented by Jonze, I'm fully aware that a second viewing a few years from now may give me a greater appreciation of the film -- or may simply confirm my feelings that Her is good, but nothing more than that.

Joaquin Phoenix is Theodore Twombly, a thirtysomething guy who works as a writer of sorts.  You see, the film takes place in presumably the not-so-distant future and Theodore gets hired by regular folks to pen love notes or write personalized letters to their significant others.  (Odd, but kind of ingenious in the way it furthers the "lack of personal connection" in relationships that the film wants to highlight.)  Having just separated from his wife Catherine (Rooney Mara) and going through some rough divorce proceedings with her, Theodore downloads a new operating system for his computerized devices that is programmed to carry on conversations with its user.  Named Samantha (and voiced by Scarlett Johansson), the app quickly becomes a huge part of Theodore's daily life and, perhaps despite his best efforts, he becomes romantically attached to it/her.

Perhaps the reason for my lack of utter enjoyment of Her is the fact that I can't help but think that it paints a rather grim picture of our future.  While I loved Jonze's rendering of our country's upcoming years (set design and costumes were really top notch -- not too futuristic, but just enough to make their points), it's ultimately a bit disheartening.  While I think the film attempts to aim for your heart, it never really struck me there.  Phoenix is quite good as the lovable, though inherently sad Theodore, and it's incredibly easy to see why he fell for the sultry voice of Johansson, but despite their relationship being surprisingly believable, it was a tiny bit flat.  Perhaps that was the point, however -- a relationship with a "thing" rather than another person is going to be lacking that intimate connection.  (And see, as I type this, herein lies why I probably should watch this again...I'm liking it more as I ponder the film's conceptual ideals.)

With a great supporting turn from Amy Adams (is it wrong that I found her geeky character here much sexier than her alluring turn in American Hustle), Her is worth a watch, but I will admit that I'm a bit surprised it cracked the Best Picture list of nine.  Then again, as I mentioned, perhaps I wasn't in the right mindset and it may need another viewing in time.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Side Effects

Side Effects (2013)

Starring Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, and Catherine Zeta-Jones

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

When leaving the theater after watching Side Effects, the first word that I thought of to describe the film was "pulp," but that implies a sense of cheap sensationalism that doesn't befit this taut, effective thriller in the slightest.  Instead, I'll say that Steven Soderbergh's latest and reportedly last film echoes back to the days of classic film noir (a genre which oftentimes had an elevated "pulpy" sensibility) and, dare I say, is quite Hitchcockian in tone and execution.  Soderbergh has created a flick with many more twists and turns than I was expecting, many of which may be jaw-dropping, but all of which prove to be fitting to the overall story.  

As the film opens, twenty-eight year-old Emily (Rooney Mara) is eagerly awaiting the release of her husband Martin (Channing Tatum) from prison.  After serving four years for insider trading, Martin is ready to jump right back into the business end of things, but Emily finds herself quickly slipping into a depression.  After a suicide attempt, Emily begins seeing psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) who puts Emily on a series of anti-depressant medication.  Seeing little to no improvement and after talking with Emily's former psychiatrist Dr. Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Dr. Banks puts Emily on a new drug named Ablixa.  Unfortunately, one of the side effects of Ablixa is blackout-like sleepwalking.  While in one of these blackouts, Emily commits an act that places her into a mental institution and the questions begin to arise as to who exactly is to blame.

The film does take a little bit to find its balance and several of the actors, particularly the overly glum Rooney Mara and the rather one-note Catherine Zeta-Jones (who we know we're supposed to think is sexy because she wears tight skirts and thick-rimmed glasses like a librarian from a young kid's wet dream), are curious enigmas that certainly had me doubting Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Burns' screenplay during the first half.  [It should also be noted that I couldn't buy for a second that Channing Tatum was a smart, Wall Street-type stockbroker.] However, much to my delight, as the film heads into its final hour, puzzle pieces begin to fit together and twists, turns, and double crosses veer the flick on a decidedly different course than one expects at the onset.  It's at this time that the film shifts focus from Emily and towards Dr. Banks who is rather unexpectedly facing the brunt of the blame for his patient's criminal act.  Jude Law very nicely balances his character's need to find out the truth behind the questionable new drug while at the same time hoping that his findings won't prove him criminally culpable.  

No one's going to mistake Side Effects for a cinematic masterpiece, but it's fun, smart, and very nicely places you on the edge of your seat for a good bit of its running time.  Sex, violence, and drugs -- a potent combination, but one that always has the potential of creating a good amount of riveting drama as is the case here.  A very nice start to cinema for me in 2013.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Starring Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright, and Stellan Skarsgård

Directed by David Fincher

Even though I watched the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo only a little over a year ago, I was rather surprised when I went back and looked at my original review because I don't remember liking it as much as I apparently did.  I think, unfortunately, the disappointments of the two subsequent Swedish flicks in the trilogy must have sullied my thoughts on the overall series because I certainly don't look back fondly on the saga as a whole.

That being said, David Fincher's remake falls into the category of "Completely Unnecessary."  It basically seems like a shot for shot retelling and although it's well acted and nice looking, I found myself bored since I'd seen this exact same story before.  Also, watching this tale unfold a second time made me realize that the three distinct storylines that the movie attempts to tell fail to combine and gel in a proper manner causing me to wonder why in the world they were told in the same movie to begin with.

I'm not going to rehash the summary here -- that can be found in the original review linked above -- except to say that this is a movie in search of which plot matters the most.  We've got shamed journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) who has just lost a libel suit brought on by a Swedish corporate bigwig. He wants to go into hiding, but he's hired by an elderly retired man named Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to discover what happened to his niece Harriet who went missing over forty years ago.  Henrik suspects that someone in his family is to blame and he wants Blomkvist to get to the bottom of things.

Meanwhile, we're introduced to the incredibly rough-around-the-edges Lisbeth Salandar (Rooney Mara) whose jet black hair, pale skin, and multiple piercings help her to hide a horrible past.  Lacking in any type of people skills, Lisbeth spends her days as a hired hand hacking computers and unearthing personal information for big companies -- sort of a modern day private eye.  Lisbeth also finds herself having to deal with the fact that she's a ward of the state -- I mentioned that "horrible past" that is coming back to haunt her despite her efforts -- and she's forced to report to a new and nasty legal guardian who proves to be a handful for the young woman.

Alone, these stories may have worked fine as their own film, but combining these tales -- Mikael's libel suit, the mystery of Henrik's missing niece, and Lisbeth's life -- ultimately doesn't work.  The missing girl storyline is the heart of the story and when that ends (in a rather unsatisfying way, I might add) and the film still goes on for another 35 minutes, you've got a major problem.  

Fortunately, what this movie has going for it is a very nice performance from Rooney Mara.  Despite seemingly lacking any type of emotion and appearing almost Aspergers-like, Mara imbues a rawness into Lisbeth that is exciting to watch despite the character's seemingly outwardly monotonous dryness.  It also helps that Daniel Craig is much better than his counterpart in the Swedish version of this film and gives Mara something to play off of once their characers meet nearly 100-plus minutes into the movie.

The acting is the ultimate reason to watch this American version rather than the Swedish original because Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig really do elevate this to a higher level.  David Fincher does a fine job directing, but this film is rather straightforward in terms of visuals.  If anything, though, Fincher should have been able to find a way to better edit this thing down and get to the true crux of the tale instead of allowing it to meander as much as it does.

Admittedly, had I seen this remake first, I very well may have given it a higher rating, but having seen the original and seeing that this unnecessary redo does very little to fix the problems its predecessor, I can't help but give this the lower rating that I give it below.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Social Network

The Social Network (2010)

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hamer, Max Minghella, Rashida Jones, Brenda Song, and Rooney Mara

Directed by David Fincher

I avoided the Facebook thing for as long as I could, but one day in an attempt to look at pictures of some girl who I thought I might want to date, I signed up and began the process of "friending" people.  It's all rather foolish (though not as foolish as Twitter), but there is something to be said for Facebook being the new form of communication.  The final scene of The Social Network hints at the argument that Facebook has distanced people from others rather than brought people closer together, but that's the only moment where I felt the film was trying to say anything deep and meaningful.  Don't get me wrong.  The Social Network is a good film -- well crafted, well acted, and very well written.  But it's not groundbreaking cinema.  Still, in this lukewarm year for film, it's one of the best flicks I've seen in 2010.

Jesse Eisenberg is Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard student who is dumped by his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara) while at a bar one evening.  The gal wasn't wrong to dump him -- he was a stuck-up bastard -- but Mark doesn't see it that way.  Instead, this computer-savvy nerd takes to his blog and begins a bitter tirade against Erica.  This then leads to a rather misogynistic website which he formulates and releases on the very same night he was dumped -- a "who's hotter" kind of thing where Mark pitted pictures of two college girls against each other and allowed the public to vote on who was better looking.  When this website crashes the Harvard internet system, Mark gets into a bit of trouble, but that's only the start of his creative brainstorming.

Mark meets the Winklevoss twin brothers (Armie Hammer) and their buddy Divya (Max Minghella) who have an idea to create a dating site for Harvard students only.  The brothers and their pal recognize Mark's computer skills (and recognize that he may need to "rehabilitate" his image)  and hire him to create the code for the site.  Mark agrees to help, but in the process formulates his own idea -- "the Facebook."  With the help of his business-oriented friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield), Mark launches "the Facebook."  As is often the case with surprise successes, though, enemies can be made rather quickly, and Mark's life is no exception.

There's a kind of coldness on display in the flick -- director Fincher uses it to mirror the outwardly emotional coldness of Mark.  And there's not a whole lot of "brightness" onscreen either.  Fincher drapes the film in darkness for a fairly big chunk of the time whether it be in the scenes where Mark is creating the website or the litigation scenes where he's being sued for creating the very same website.  

Speaking of those litigation scenes (which Fincher does a rather brilliant job of balancing and cutting to throughout the whole film), screenwriter Aaron Sorkin amazingly makes them interesting.  It may seem like a simple task, but sometimes putting a lawyer into any scene makes the boredom factor spike greatly.  Not so, here.  In fact, as has been said in many reviews of the flick, Sorkin's screenplay is the true star of the picture.  There's a wit and genuine intelligence on display that isn't commonplace in mainstream films.  I was a big fan of Sorkin's television show Sports Night for the very same reason I'm a fan of his work in this film -- the quick patter of smart speak was welcome in that show and welcome here as well.

It certainly takes a talented actor to make Sorkin's fast-paced dialog work and Jesse Eisenberg steps up to the plate.  His Mark Zuckerberg is zeroed in on one thing -- creating "the Facebook" -- and pushes away everything and everyone else.  There was much talk before the film was released that Zuckerberg came off looking like a nasty guy.  I didn't see it that way at all and I think that's due to Eisenberg's performance.  To me, Zuckerberg was a loner who was not quite prepared for the nearly immediate success that his work would bring him.

While Justin Timberlake proves adequate (I wasn't bowled over by him, although he certainly didn't disappoint), my favorite actor was perhaps Andrew Garfield (who also starred in this year's Never Let Me Go) as Mark's friend and business partner Eduardo.  Eduardo actually has a bit more of an emotional arc (or at least a more obvious one) than Mark and Garfield makes his character the person we in the audience relate to most.

There's nothing really bad to say about The Social Network.  It's a well made smart film the likes of which we don't see onscreen often nowadays.  Across the board, everything is top notch.  That being said, it never really pulled me in emotionally and I think that's because of the "coldness" that I mentioned above.  Still, it's certainly a film I'd recommend and watch again.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+