Soul

 Soul (2020)

Featuring the vocal talents of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, and Angela Bassett

Directed by Pete Docter

Written by Pete Docter, Mike Jones, and Kemp Powers

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

Starring Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Christopher Abbott, and Billy Bob Thornton

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

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

A film about an embedded American news reporter in Afghanistan from 2003-2006, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot works for its first half when its goal is a fish out of water comedy.  However, as it progresses and becomes a bit more serious, it falls apart.  It's no fault of Tina Fey who plays Kim, the central character of the piece who leaves behind a serious boyfriend to try and find her career calling as an on air cable news reporter in the war-torn Middle East.  Fey holds our attention and does a nice job of balancing her character's comedic moments with the weight of her character's situation of being a woman in a society that treats women in a much different light than America.

Still, while Fey balances things well, the film itself doesn't succeed in that regard.  When it shifts to be something way too serious in its final half, it stands in too stark contrast to what came before it.  Like Fey, the cast is engaging, but the likes of Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, and Billy Bob Thornton aren't enough to lift this one above being a disappointment.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Sisters

Sisters (2015)

Starring Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Ike Barinholz, Maya Rudolph, John Leguizamo, Bobby Moynihan, James Brolin, and Dianne Wiest

Directed by Jason Moore

Every review of Sisters that I read seemed to indicate that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler deserved a better film than what was placed in front of them when it came to this flick, but, if I'm being quite honest, I'm not sure they do.  I say that not nastily, but simply to indicate that Fey and Poehler are known and acclaimed (quite deservedly) for the their work on the small screen.  Not every tv star (and certainly not every Saturday Night Live alum) is worthy of a big screen career.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  Perhaps in time I'll be proven wrong when it comes to Fey and Poehler's cinematic ventures, but Sisters is not doing the very funny duo any favors.

Drawn out for an interminably long duration, Sisters gives us Maura and Kate Ellis (Poehler and Fey) -- two sisters who return to their childhood home in Orlando after they've discovered that their aging parents (James Brolin and Dianne Wiest) have just sold it so they can move into a retirement community condo.  Angry that their parents would do such a thing without consulting them, Maura and Kate decide to live it up one last time in the house and throw a party for all their high school friends like they did in the old days.  This leads to fellow SNL and variety show actors and actresses hooting and hollering it up in sketch-like scenes that do little to forward the actual plot of the film.  (Not that the film had much of a plot to start...)

There are laughs to be had in Sisters -- and, in fact, there are moments that sustained extended laughter for me which is never easy to do particularly when you watch a movie alone in your home -- but the bigger comedic bits aren't the least bit intrinsic to the plot.  Rather than add to the story, they make you feel as if you're watching an SNL-type show where only a few of bits are actually humorous and then you get angry at yourself for wasting so much time watching it.  [Therein is the reason I refuse to watch SNL anymore.]  The script by Paula Pell (an SNL writer herself) is a sketch in search of a full-length plot and it never gets there.

As far as Fey and Poehler go, the latter fares a tiny bit better than the former, but both aren't given much with which to work.  Perhaps one of these days, the two actresses will be given a movie part really worthy for their obvious comedic talent, but Sisters does not deliver in that department.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - This Is Where I Leave You

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

Starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stall, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, Timothy Olyphant, Dax Shepard, Debra Monk, Abigail Spencer, and Jane Fonda

Directed by Shawn Levy

When their father dies, the Altman family -- siblings Judd, Wendy, Paul, and Philip and their mother Hillary (Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Corey Stall, Adam Driver, and Jane Fonda -- gather together at their childhood home to sit shiva (a seven day Jewish period of mourning) in honor of their dad.  Old sibling rivalries and current spousal struggles rear their ugly heads as the Altmans learn to cope with their patriarch's death.

A completely believable familial banter isn't as easy to come by in films as one would think and the repartee that Bateman, Fey, Stall, and Driver have with one another in This Is Where I Leave You feels genuine.  While Fonda's role is a little over the top, I appreciated that her eccentricities appeared to have at least influenced her grown children's emotional states, helping to further craft authentic characters.  Solid performances by Rose Byrne, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, and Abigail Spencer add to the great cast.

While I would've liked to have had a bit more heart imbued into the flick, I still found myself engaged and interested in each sibling's highs and lows.  This Is Where I Leave You admittedly treads similar paths of typical familial dramedies, but with a stellar cast, director Shawn Levy's flick proves to be a nicely paced, pleasant sleeper that surprisingly balances its myriad of story lines with ease -- some prove a little more successful than others (and a particularly out-of-left-field "surprise" at the film's conclusion seems simply added for shock effect), but the overall result is quite successful.  

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

Starring Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and a whole mess of Muppets

Directed by James Bobin

I was inevitably prepared to be a little let down while watching Muppets Most Wanted after the genius that was The Muppets (the RyMickey Award winner for Best Movie of 2011) -- a film that provided the resurrection and "rebirth" of the Jim Henson-created franchise of characters whom I've loved since I was a wee lad.  I wasn't quite prepared to be let down as much as I was, however.

It's not that Muppets Most Wanted is particularly bad in any way.  It's just that the heart that permeated throughout the humor of The Muppets isn't present this time around.  Granted, Muppets Most Wanted is a completely different beast -- it's a caper adventure with the Muppets trying to solve a crime spree across Europe -- and nothing like the nostalgia trip of director and co-writer James Bobin's first venture with the felt characters.  (Like Bobin, co-writer Nicholas Stoller returns for this flick as well.)  Still, if you're going to drop the emotional aspect, the humor needs to be pumped up and Muppets Most Wanted doesn't adequately succeed in that department.

After having successfully returned to the Hollywood scene thanks to their last movie, The Muppets are trying to decide what to do next to capitalize on their revitalization.  They meet with Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) who in a job interview to be the Muppets' manager suggests that the crew travel across Europe on a world tour.  Despite Kermit's misgivings, our favorite frog is outvoted by his friends and they agree to hire Dominic and head over to Germany to start their tour.  Little do the Muppets know that Dominic is a crook who works for the criminal mastermind known as Constantine.  With the exception of a mole on the right side of his face, Constantine is a dead ringer for Kermit so when Constantine escapes from a Russian gulag run by the hard-nosed Nadya (Tina Fey), he switches places with Kermit and, in a rather Superman/Clark Kent-ian manner, none of the Muppets (except for Walter, introduced in last year's The Muppets) notice a difference.  With Kermit being re-captured and taken back to the gulag, Constantine and Dominic set out on a mission to snatch the Crown Jewels of London, stealing a bunch of other valuable goods along the way as the Muppets travel across Europe.

The plot, while somewhat of a rehash in tone of The Great Muppet Caper, is actually humorously developed, but the film lingers around too long at 110 minutes.  Trimming twenty minutes would've done wonders for Muppets Most Wanted.  [As much as I love Sam Eagle, his lengthy bits with Ty Burrell as CIA and Interpol agents trying to track down the criminals could've all been left on the cutting room floor without me feeling the least bit depressed.]  Without the touching nostalgia of The Muppets and relying strictly on laughs, the flick is guilty of the typical 21st century "movie crime" of being a comedy that overstays its welcome.

Much like the rest of the film falling short of its predecessor, Bret McKenzie's songs don't quite have the same impact as his wonderful, ingenious, and Oscar-winning numbers from the first film.  Granted, there are a few moments thanks to McKenzie's music where the film really comes to life -- the 1970s-inspired "I Can Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)" sung by Contantine (the best moment in the film by far and an early frontrunner for Best Scene of 2014), the power ballad "Something So Wrong" performed by Miss Piggy and Celine Dion (!), and the opening self-referntial number "We're Doing a Sequel" -- but overall they're not as inspired as his first venture into the Muppet realm.

I must confess, though, that perhaps I'm being way too harsh on this.  Any Muppet movie is better than no Muppet movie and maybe if this was the first Muppet movie in over a decade (like the last one was), I'd have felt a little differently.  However, 2011's The Muppets was so fantastic that I can't help but feel let down on this one.  A second viewing with a little perspective at the end of the year perhaps will be necessary to be certain that the rating below is the rating I want to give the film.  But for now Muppets Most Wanted is just...okay.  And that one word -- "okay" -- is the most damning one in the whole review.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Admission

Admission (2013)

Starring Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Gloria Reuben, Wallace Shawn, Nat Wolff,  Travaris Spears, and Lily Tomlin

Directed by Paul Weitz

Admission starts out promisingly enough, but after about forty minutes, I found it nearly inconceivable that there was still over an hour to go.  Tina Fey is charming as Portia Nathan, an admissions officer at Princeton who visits a small private high school run by John Pressman (Paul Rudd) only to discover that John's prize student Jeremiah (Nat Wolff) may be the son she gave up for adoption eighteen years prior.  With Jeremiah, whose transcript contains nothing spectacular, desperate to get into Princeton, Portia finds herself in a conundrum both professionally and personally.

And, unfortunately, the problem with Admission is that this aforementioned story is dished out in its first third and not much else happens for its remainder.  There's scene after scene of attempts at humor, but they fail to present a well-rounded story.  It certainly helps that Tina Fey and Paul Rudd are both pleasant to watch onscreen either together or separately and the rest of the cast is certainly appealing, but they're left floundering throughout the entire second half of the film.  It's a shame, really, because there's an attempt here to create a somewhat "smart" comedy, but the story simply isn't enough to sustain itself over its run time.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Megamind

Megamind (2010)

Featuring the voice talent of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, and Brad Pitt

Directed by Tom McGrath

Megamind starts out so promisingly as it sets up a longstanding battle between two rivals -- the nefarious though bumbling villain Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) and the perfect but cocky hero Metro Man (voiced by Brad Pitt).  Since childhood, the supervillain and superhero have been trying to one up the other with Metro Man always coming out the victor.  This twenty-minute set-up showcasing this rivalry was full of humor, charm and great promise.  However, after the scene has been set, things begin to fall apart.  Megamind proves to be successful at one of his devious plans and things begin to head downhill from there.

It's not that Megamind is a bad film, it's just that it doesn't really go anywhere after its first act.  It tries to humanize its villain, but the character of Megamind is simply much more fun as an inept bad guy than as a reformed good guy.  His attempts to woo tv reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) take up much too much time in the already short film and unfortunately don't advance the story in a positive way.

With the exception of the plot, on all other fronts, Megamind is quite good.  The animation is crisp and appealing to the eye.  The voice talent is all quite good.  I was expecting over-(voice)acting on Will Ferrell's part, but it worked for the character.  Tina Fey was also droll and witty despite the fact that her character's storyline didn't really work for me.

Overall, Megamind is a moderate disappointment if only because the first act showed such promise and evoked laughter which the final two-thirds were sorely lacking.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Date Night

Date Night (2010)

Starring Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Taraji P. Henson, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Common, and Ray Liotta

Directed by Shawn Levy

Oh, Tina Fey.  I truly enjoy 30 Rock where you play the quick-witted Liz Lemon.  Your writing on that show is spot-on and makes me laugh out loud.

And Steve Carell.  While I haven't watched The Office on a regular basis, whenever I catch it in syndication, I find the whole thing incredibly amusing.  Your character Michael Scott creates a hilariously uncomfortable atmosphere that has put the series on my Netflix Instant Queue.

And yet, when the two of you comedians combine in the film Date Night, it's amazing how absolutely unfunny you both are.  When given an opportunity, you certainly can elicit laughs.  Just look at the scene where you both pretend to be strippers in a seedy club.  Who knew sexy robot dancing would make me crack up as much as I did?  But beyond the sexy robot, I hardly cracked a smile while watching this flick in which the two of you play a homely married couple from New Jersey who are mistaken for another couple on the run from some corrupt cops, local politicians, and mobsters.  While watching, I couldn't help but think of childhood film favorite with a similar plot -- Adventures in Babysitting -- and wishing I was watching that instead.

Granted, it's not really all your fault, Tina and Steve.  Director Shawn Levy (whose previous claim to fame are the godawful Night at the Museum films) doesn't exactly have a great eye for comedy.  Sometimes (as in the aforementioned strip club scene) he lets the two of you run wild to great effect.  However, at other times, he doesn't reel you in enough.  There seemed to be many moments where he let you run free which caused some scenes to go on for what felt like an eternity -- an eternity devoid of any laughter.

The plot is ridiculously convoluted, too, which I realize might have restrained you both from your full potential.  That being said, Tina and Steve, take my advice and stick to your day jobs.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Ponyo (2009)

Featuring the voice talent of Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Betty White, Cate Blanchett, and Matt Damon
Written and Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

I liked the watercolor look of the film and the score.

Now that that's out of the way, let's try and explain why the rest of this film isn't any good.

Sosuke is a five year-old boy who finds a fish-like creature he names Ponyo while exploring the Japanese coastline. He brings Ponyo home and all seems well, but Ponyo's father (a human who lives under the sea in some bubble house thing) is searching for her, longing for her return. He uses his mystical powers to coerce the sea into getting her back. However, Ponyo now has "tasted human blood" and wants to be a human. Lucky for her, she has the powers to simply grow hands and feet, and through some mystical bullshit she swims up to the surface, walks on water, and finds herself back in the arms of Sosuke.

Weird enough for you yet? There's more...Sosuke and Ponyo become good friends, but as we soon find out, Ponyo's existence on the surface has caused the oceans to rise and be pulled upward by the moon's gravitational pull (or something like that). So, a bunch of the land on Earth is now underwater. The only way things can revert back to normal is if Sosuke can pass some kind of test (about love? kindness? I'm not quite sure). I guess he passed it, but not before Ponyo turns back into a fish. Susoke meets up with his mom (who leaves this five-year old unattended for nearly the whole second half of the movie) by traveling under the sea into some giant bubble that at one point is filled with air and then at the next point filled with water...it doesn't really matter what it's filled with, though, because humans can breathe and talk in it regardless of the environment. Anyway, in the end, Ponyo's a human and world order is restored (thank God!).

Odd, huh? I didn't even mention there's some weird god-like creature who I think had sex with Ponyo's father to create Ponyo and the array of smaller Ponyos that swim around like little sperm with faces and flowing red robes (I'm honestly not sure of that sex part, but I do think that this goddess and Ponyo's pop had something going on...cue the bomchickawahwah music).

Okay, so I realize that I just rambled about the story, but that's exactly what the movie does, too. It just rambles...on and on and on.

I don't get it. If I didn't get what the hell was going on, how the heck is a six-year old supposed to? I honestly can't believe that Disney is putting this out into 800 theaters this upcoming weekend. I can't imagine this thing being successful.

But, hey...it looked pretty...

The RyMickey Rating: D