Underwater

 Underwater (2020)

Starring Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick, John Gallagher, Jr., Mamoudou Athie, and T.J. Miller

Directed by William Eubank

Written by Brian Duffield and Adam Cozad

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Ready Player One

Ready Player One (2018)

Starring Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Written by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline

Click here for my Letterbox review

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Cloverfield

Cloverfield (2008)

Starring Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, and Odette Yustman

Directed by Matt Reeves

Surprisingly more effective than I remember, Cloverfield is a rather intense seventy-minute found-footage sci-fi/horror flick.  Found-footage films often feel like a cheap ploy and, frankly, that's also the case here.  Does anyone really think that goofball Hud (T.J. Miller) would carry around a little camcorder throughout the chaos of some monster invasion of New York City?  Seeing as how we live in some uncomfortably weird digital age in which everyone films everything, maybe it's plausible, but it's the one fault I find in all of these types of films.  Come on -- put down the camera already.

That said, once Cloverfield is through detailing all of its requisite background info on its main characters in its opening twenty minutes, director Matt Reeves' flick is non-stop thrilling.  The audience has bought into the plights of these twentysomething folks trying to escape New York City which is under some kind of attack by some type of creature.  Tense, taut, and exciting, Cloverfield is worthy of another look if you haven't seen it in some time...or in case you wanted a refresher before you watch 10 Cloverfield Lane...the review of which just may happen to pop up tomorrow here.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Deadpool

Deadpool (2016)

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic, and Leslie Uggams

Directed by Tim Miller

While I tend to have the reputation that I'm not a fan of superhero movies (hell, I've even said it myself on the blog), that's not necessarily an accurate statement.  While the DC franchise has left me a bit disenchanted (even that lauded Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy leaves me feeling meh), Marvel films tend to have enough exuberance that I find the majority of them enjoyable even if they are a bit frivolous.  And no comic book movie is perhaps more frivolous than Deadpool, the R-rated smash that changed the comic book film landscape in early 2016.  Lauded by the fan base for its coarse language, sexual jokes, the occasional boob or butt (although surprisingly not as many as I expected), Deadpool does contain all these things we haven't yet seen in a Marvel flick.  But what it doesn't have is a decent story, relying instead on shock value and a snarky performance from Ryan Reynolds that's not compelling to this reviewer in the slightest.

Reynolds is Wade Wilson whose job nowadays is as a for-hire mercenary, going out every night hunting people down for a profit.  While at the local bar, he meets prostitute Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and the two hit it off right away.  Now boyfriend and girlfriend, things seem to be looking bright for the heretofore downtrodden and sullen Wade until he's diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Faced with his own demise, Wade agrees to an experimental treatment at some seedy establishment which turns out to be both a blessing and a curse.  It turns out the man running the experiment -- Francis Freeman (Ed Skrein) -- has more nefarious plans which end up permanently disfiguring Wade, but also giving him the fantastical superhero trait of being nearly invincible with the ability to regenerate every aspect of his body.  Despite this admittedly awesome ability, Wade is still devastated that he was pulled away from the one meaningful relationship in his life with Vanessa and he sets out on a mission to seek revenge on Francis.

The biggest issue with Deadpool is that it thinks it's infinitely funnier and more amusing than it really is.  Beyond Wade's backstory, there's very little plot here and the screenwriters decided that self-referential jokes would win people over -- and based on this film's blockbuster status, they were correct.  Unfortunately, it didn't work for me.  Sure, a few bits hit their mark and elicited a chuckle or two, but in the end, I found myself feeling decidedly disconnected from the story and the characters.  Granted, part of that disconnection is formed by placing a pompous egotistical jerk of a character at the center of your film -- but, honestly, that just means the filmmakers have to try a little bit harder to get people like me to care about things.  You can have an awful person at the center of your film and succeed -- just look at my all-time favorite movie Psycho -- you just have to work a little harder to have the audience buy into what they're watching.

Ryan Reynolds does a decent job exemplifying the title character, but his wry sensibilities throughout most of the film weren't enough to keep me engaged.  Part of me understands why people fell in love with this movie -- it is admittedly very different than comic books films we've seen previously -- but "different" doesn't necessarily equal "good" and that's the case with Deadpool.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Featuring the voice talents of Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, Alan Tudyk, Maya Rudolph, and James Cromwell 

Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams

Big Hero 6 is Walt Disney Animation's first collaboration with Marvel and while the film looks visually appealing and definitely has its successful moments, it falls into the same trap as most Marvel movies in that the film's final half abandons the importance of story and feels like action sequence atop action sequence.  Quite frankly, one of these days I'll get around to continuing my Disney Discussion and I think I'll save a more thorough summary until that point, however, the general gist of the plot is that young braniac Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter) becomes unlikely friends with a robot named Baymax (Scott Adsit) created by his brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney).  As the two bond, Hiro and Baymax uncover a plot by a sinister masked man to utilize some of Hiro's own robotic creations to commit dastardly deeds.

Eschewing the typical fairy tale stories or romances that usually inhabit Disney's animated fare, Big Hero 6 definitely has a different tone especially considering that the film's final half is completely one big battle between Hiro and his group of clever and humorous friends against the masked man whose reveal is supposed to be surprising but is completely obvious to anyone older than ten years old.  Unfortunately, the film isn't subtle in any aspect.  During the opening moments in which better written Disney movies would excel at exposition, Big Hero 6 very bluntly and laughably spells things out for us stating Hiro and Tadashi's back story.  While it sets a bad tone right off the bat, things perk up quite well during the remainder of the film's first and second acts.  Some nice voice acting from all parties -- the lack of "big name" stars is a definite plus -- and animation that is certainly a caliber above average aid Big Hero 6 in overcoming some of its denouement's problems, but it still falls into the 2014 animated credo of "We Must Have a Disappointing Finale" with nary a single release last year ending on a successful note.

I'll hold off on a more in depth analysis for now except to say that the fact that Big Hero 6 won the Best Animated feature Oscar really reveals what a disappointing year 2014 was for what is typically one of my favorite genres.  While I wouldn't hate another Marvel-Disney animated collaboration (and the film is certainly set up for multiple sequels), I hope that a better script creates a more subtle atmosphere for its cast of characters.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+