Venom

Venom (2018)

Starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, and Jenny Slate

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Written by Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Investigative reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is overtaken by an alien lifeform while he is visiting the bioengineering corporation Life Foundation run by billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) which causes him to take on the alter ego of Venom -- a nasty creature that has designs on taking over the earth for his kind.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Dunkirk

Dunkirk (2017)

Starring Fionn Whitehead, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Tom Glynn-Carney, Barry Keoghan, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Cillian Murphy, and Kenneth Branagh

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Written by Christopher Nolan

Summary (in 500 words or less):  A look at the land, sea, and air military actions taking place in Dunkirk, France, during an epic battle during WWII between the Allied and Nazi forces.

• There's a visceral excitement to Dunkirk as director-writer Christopher Nolan drops the viewers right into the action from the film's outset leaving behind backstories about characters and instead focusing the flick's entire 100-minute runtime on the action taking place as Allied troops retreat to coastal Dunkirk, France, while they await to be rescued as the Germans close in on them.
• The fact that Nolan isn't really in the running for the Best Director Oscar (despite being nominated) is shocking to me.  While it's true Nolan's film isn't so much about characters, what he's done here visually and cinematically is stunning. 
• The men on the beaches of Dunkirk fought together and died together and Nolan's desire to treat them as a mass of men instead of singular individuals is an interesting concept.  While it's not something we're used to as a cinematic audience, the film still manages to carry emotional weight which is a triumph.
• Nolan puzzle pieces the land, sea, and air battles together, eschewing a linear timeline which does at times prove a bit confusing, but in the end works as the pieces fit together and we see the whole picture he was trying to create.
• Ultimately, the film doesn't quite succeed at showcasing the MASSIVE battle and rescue attempt that happened at Dunkirk -- in fact, fellow Oscar nominee Darkest Hour did a better job at that -- but Nolan's film is still a great visceral piece of cinema...and this is coming from someone who thinks Nolan has been a bit overrated prior to this.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Child 44

Child 44 (2015)

Starring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Fares Fares, Jason Clarke, and Vincent Cassel

Directed by Daniel Espinosa

"In 1933, at the height of Stalin's state-imposed famine against the Ukranian people, an estimated 25,000 died each day from starvation.  The systematic extermination by hunger known as the Holodomor left millions of children orphaned."  One of those children mentioned in Child 44's opening subtitles is Leo Demidov who as an adult (played by Tom Hardy) has become a Russian Ministry of State Security agent.  When a series of child murders is uncovered including the killing of his partner's son, Leo sets off on a mission to find the murderer...however, this doesn't sit well with his commanders because Russia at the time failed to acknowledge murder as they felt that was a crime brought about by capitalism.  Soon, Leo finds his wife Raisa (Noomi Rapace) accused of being a traitor to the state and the only way Leo can save her is by moving far away and taking a job in a lowly militia.  Desperate to find the serial killer ending the lives of innocent children and also hoping to seek revenge on fellow agent Vasili Niktin (Joel Kinnaman) whom Leo believes set up his wife, the vengeful Leo finds himself battling a Russian mindset that is unwilling to face the truth.

Ultimately, the problem with Child 44 is that it tries too hard to be too many things.  In addition to the variety of story lines above -- murdered children, traitors, the Holodomor -- there are numerous other tales woven into the mix.  While the serial killer certainly takes precedence, it too often feels pushed to the side while a variety of other depressing aspects make appearances with very little emotional impact.  Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace are fine, but there's certainly no aire of charisma between the two.  Quite frankly, I didn't even realized they were actually married until about halfway through.  Gary Oldman (as an officer who befriends Leo) has a tendency to overdo it in certain films, but here, his screen presence is a welcome breath of fresh air in the film's second act.  Granted, it's not enough to save the film from being a rather tiresome slog to sit through.  While there are aspects of the story that could very well stand on their own, the kitchen sink method of Child 44 just doesn't work in its favor.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Leigh, and Courtney Eaton

Directed by George Miller

Winning six Academy Awards is no easy feat -- especially for a genre film such as Mad Max: Fury Road.  I will totally agree that director George Miller's film is uniquely designed in terms of sets, costumes, and sound -- all for which it won Oscars.  However, it's rather telling to me that the film didn't receive a screenplay nod amongst its ten nominations.  After watching, it's no surprise, though, as the script is one of the biggest downfalls of the manic film that, while better than the 1979 original which I despised, is still too much of a punk-fueled visual cacophony to merit me ever wanting me to subject myself to it again.

The title of the film would have you believe that "good guy" Max (Tom Hardy) is the star of the film, but the little story that Mad Max: Fury Road has to offer isn't really about him.  Sure, the flick opens with Max attempting to escape from the army of Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a tyrant who rules over a large group of people by controlling all access to water and fuel in a post-nuclear-explosion apocalyptic desert society.  When Max fails his escape, the film shifts to Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), one of Joe's best warriors who is responsible for heading out into the world to bring back gas and water in a giant tanker truck.  However, on her latest mission, it's discovered that she has smuggled out five of Joe's young wives in an attempt to take them to safety.  When her treachery is unveiled, one of Joe's War Boys, Nux (Nicholas Hoult), straps Max to the front of his truck (because, you see, Nux is draining the blood out of Max in order to get healthier himself) and chases after Furiousa along with a bevy of other crazy-looking folks.

And then everything else in the entire movie is one long chase sequence after another...after another...after another.  It never ends.  There's very few moments of respite and, quite frankly, because of the nonstop barrage of chaotic sound and in-your-face visuals, I zoned out after about an hour.  Quite frankly, there's nothing here.  Sure, you've got a "woman scorned" angle with Furiosa trying to help out objectified women, but the feminist angle never really rises to the occasion.  Max himself is left with very little to do in the film and Tom Hardy continues to give us just the low-voiced growling he's become so well known for over the past several years.  

George Miller (who also co-wrote the film) feels as if he came in with the attitude of "Let's throw everything at the wall and see what sticks."  And then he proceeded to either think everything stuck or he just was too lazy to clean up, because as his camera zigs and zags crazily through the insanity he's placed onscreen, he seems to hope that the audience can't see all the nuttiness he left scattered throughout.  Mad Max: Fury Road has reasons to be recognized.  The costumes are unique and the production design was admittedly awesome, but beyond the below-the-line crafts (which certainly hold merit and helped my rating be as high as it is), Fury Road is a mess.  I can't imagine watching this on a screen bigger than my tv screen at home -- I'm not quite sure I would've been able to sit through the freneticism.  

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - The Revenant

The Revenant (2015)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, and Forrest Goodluck

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

This is a frustrating review to write.  There are so many scenes in The Revenant that I found myself loving.  So many beautifully crafted shots both visually appealing and cinematically difficult.  Such good performances that couldn't help but make me feel as if I was placed squarely in the 1820s America fur trade.  So why is director/co-screenwriter Alejandro González Iñárritu's film such a chore to sit through?  Why did I find myself checking my watch twenty minutes in...and then forty minutes in...and then an hour in...and then I had to stop myself from checking every ten minutes.  Something doesn't quite gel and while I understand the director's methodical approach in terms of helping to understand our main character's horrific plight, the film can't help but feel tedious and almost a tiny bit episodic as we simply move from one torture porn-esque scene to the next.

Inspired by a true story, The Revenant is the tale of frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is left for dead by his fellow trappers after being mauled by a bear.  While the party's Captain, Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), wants the incapacitated Hugh (who has been invaluable to the trappers) to be watched over until he passes, most men in the party (which has already been depleted due to a vicious ambush by the Arikara Indians) feel hauling Glass to safety is harming them all.  With the promise of money from the Captain, rough and hard-nosed John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) agrees to wait with Hugh until he dies.  The young Bridger (Will Poulter) and Hugh's half-Indian son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) stay around with John, but they soon discover that John may be motivated more by the promise of money than keeping Hugh alive and what John does next sets a still-debilitated Hugh to seek revenge on Tom who has truly done him terribly wrong.

For the film's first forty and last twenty minutes, there's a palpable sense of excitement and tension with some of the most brutally realistic and intense fight and battle sequences since Saving Private Ryan.  Grabbing me right away, I found myself questioning the critiques I'd heard that The Revenant is a slow burner.  And then Glass is left for dead and the film just became less and less interesting story wise as Iñárritu seemingly mimics the hazy, dreamlike sequences of Terrence Malick and leaves actual plot behind.  Perhaps I'm being a little too harsh there as we're certainly given "a story" -- it's just that the episodic torturous events that Glass finds himself getting into on his trek to seek revenge on Fitzgerald begin to feel repetitive particularly seeing as how they're interspersed by endless images of babbling brooks or leafless trees or memories of his Pawnee Indian lover.

Leonardo DiCaprio is very good here and his inevitable Oscar win is at least being awarded for a quality role.  While not his most layered performance or his best (that certainly goes to the tour de force turn in The Wolf of Wall Street which I still say is one of the finest film roles I've seen in ages), he conveys everything necessary with his physicality (or lack thereof at times) which is extremely important seeing as how Hugh Glass barely talks for nearly two-thirds of the film.  Tom Hardy continues the trend of creating a difficult-to-comprehend voice for his grizzled character, but Hardy is also strong here in what may be the best role I've seen him undertake thus far.  His motivations, though certainly lacking in morals, are surprisingly understandable given the circumstances of the time and while he's absolutely in the wrong, Hardy makes his character perfectly believable.

Unfortunately, despite many good things -- the film will likely pop up in certain RyMickey Award categories -- The Revenant is simply too long and lacks excitement and momentum.  Much like last year's lauded Birdman (which I overrated with a C+), The Revenant has been incorrectly lauded by many of the Hollywood Elite.  It's got good parts, but it doesn't quite add up to a good whole which is a shame because the positives here are so darn excellent.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Drop

The Drop (2014)

Starring Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, and Noomi Rapace

Directed by Michaël R. Roskam

When his cousin Marv's (James Gandolfini) bar gets robbed, bartender Bob (Tom Hardy) finds himself thrust into an investigation that makes him question his family, friends, and himself.  If that summary of The Drop sounds generic, that's because The Drop as a film is a bit generic.  That's certainly not to say that Michaël R. Roskam's film is a bust, but nothing new is brought to the table here in this tale of a corrupt New York City family.

However, I don't necessarily want to be a downer when it comes to this flick because it absolutely held my interest.  Helping to elevate things are the solid performances from the three leads with Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, and Noomi Rapace giving their roles a bit more intricate depth than the somewhat basic plot seemingly would allow.  There's an innocence to Hardy's role in particular that is oddly striking and ultimately compelling when stacked up against the hardened Gandolfini and a few other mobster types that make their presence known throughout the flick.  It's a bit refreshing as I'm used to Hardy taking the same tough edge in many of his films, so the almost childlike demeanor he presents here is a fresh twist for the actor.

Still, in the end, The Drop emits this sense of genericness that it never really is able to overcome.  It's a perfectly acceptable crime piece, but it never truly excels at elevating itself to something really captivating.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Locke

Locke (2014)

Starring Tom Hardy and the voice talents of Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson, Tom Holland, Andrew Scott, and Ben Daniels

Directed by Steven Knight

Maybe I was just remembering the trailer incorrectly, but Locke was not what I expected at all.  Previews seemed to indicate some life or death situation occurring to the title character as he raced somewhere in his car.  Nope.  Locke is a rather simple story of Ivan Locke (played by Tom Hardy), a successful construction worker starting a build on one of the largest high rises in England, who gets a phone call one evening that forces him to abandon both the construction site and his family and drive to London to meet another woman.  I'm leaving the details of the situation out of the picture here because, quite frankly, there isn't a whole lot that happens in this movie and the details are at least an interesting aspect as the bits and pieces are unfolded for us.

Taking place entirely within the confines of Locke's fancy BMW, director Steven Knight does a nice job of keeping the visuals interesting, and while his screenplay does a solid job of detailing Locke's story through the use of a variety of telephone calls Locke makes and receives on his way to London, I didn't care as much as I should.  There's a mundaneness to the proceedings which I think is partly the point -- the universality of "this could be anyone" -- but also makes me ponder why the film needed to be made in the first place.

Tom Hardy is certainly solid here as a family man with an indiscretion that begins a downward spiral for his life and he does a good job holding our interest (which is absolutely necessary considering he's the only person we see the entire film), but I don't know if there's enough oomph here to reasonably say Locke should have ever been made.  I understand why some find this "day in the life" (or, more appropriately "ninety minutes in the life") an intriguing piece of cinema, but for me, it's just okay, leaving me feeling empty rather than any type of sympathy for its main character.

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - This Means War

This Means War (2012)

Starring Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon, Chelsea Handler, Til Schweiger, and Angela Bassett 

Directed by McG

There's something innately appealing about the trio of Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon, and Tom Hardy, but the charming nature of all three actors is utterly wasted in the horrendous action-"comedy" This Means War.  With some of the shoddiest writing of 2012 and direction by McG that's just plain sloppy, there's simply no reason to subject yourself to this paint-by-numbers flick.

Hardy and Pine are Tuck and FDR (yep, FDR), covert CIA agents who just completed a mission in which they succeeded in preventing "international criminal" Heinrich (Til Schweiger) from getting his hands on a weapon of mass destruction.  However, in the midst of the mission, they kill Heinrich's brother which sends the supervillain on a mission of his own to hunt down and kill the CIA duo.  

Of course, this story doesn't really matter.  While the film opens and ends with its focus on Heinrich, the middle 85 minutes barely mention his name.  Instead, we're treated to a purportedly hilarious love triangle in which Tuck and FDR try and woo Lauren (Witherspoon), a beautiful gal who, like all beautiful gals in movies, has given up on love.  Instead, she dances around her apartment singing late 80s/early 90s rap songs and chats it up with her obnoxious best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler playing herself) who wants nothing more than to live vicariously through any sexcapade into which Lauren can venture.  Through a series of fateful events, Lauren finds herself dating both Tuck and FDR at the same time, and while Lauren has no idea her two beaus know each other, the CIA duo employ all the technology at their disposal to make sure the other fails at succeeding [while at the same time not using that same state-of-art gadgetry to make sure Heinrich doesn't make good on his vow to enact revenge on them.]

Perhaps there's something here in terms of a story, but with dialog so horrible this blogger could have done better and direction so odd that at moments I wondered if I was watching an edited-for-tv version of a film, This Means War is a chore to watch.  It's a shame because Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon really do give this everything they have and there are some moments where their charming natures almost make certain scenes work, but they're really never given a chance with this dead on arrival junk. Tom Hardy is fine, but he's fared better in the past (and unfortunately I feel like I've been saying that a bit more than I'd like as of late) -- I'm simply not sure romantic comedy is a genre that suits him despite his effort here.

Quite simply, there's nothing about this movie that works.  The comedic moments never made me laugh.  The action scenes never provided a moment of tension.  The romance aspects never created steaminess.  When you fail in all three of the genres you're trying to place your movie into, you've got a mess on your hands and This Means War is a one of the biggest mishandled botches of 2012.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Lawless

Lawless (2012)

Starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Dane DeHaan, and Guy Pearce

Directed by John Hillcoat

Although based on the true story of the three Bondurant brothers who, in the midst of early 1930s Prohibition, ran a very profitable moonshine business in a small Virginia county, Lawless is one of those films that you watch and simply ponder why it was brought to the big screen.  Why was this tale deemed exciting enough to be told?  And if it was worth retelling, what went wrong in its adaptation to the cinematic form?  Because, unfortunately, not much went right in this bland and boring flick directed by John Hillcoat (who also brought us the lukewarm The Road, a film which in retrospect I feel I overrated back in 2009).

Jack, Forrest, and Howard Bondurant (Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Jason Clarke, respectively) are known throughout Franklin County, Virginia, for creating some of the best moonshine around.  Selling to the local cops, they seemingly have it made until a bigwig Special Agent from Chicago, Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce, overacting to the point of laughable ridiculousness), comes to the county and demands a share of their profits in order to allow them to continue their illegal shenanigans.  Well, the Bondurants don't want anything to do with that and their refusal leads to some violent outbursts from folks on both sides of the law.

When Lawless gets violent, there's actually some life in the story, but whenever there isn't a gun firing or a fist making the most out of hitting someone's face this is one of the most boring films released in 2012.  John Hillcoat is tasked with directing a misguided screenplay by Nick Cave that meanders all over the place.  Neither the director nor the screenwriter are able to reel in the story and give us the necessary dramatic ebb and flow to create a decent film.

Although I think Shia LaBeouf is obnoxious offscreen, I must admit that he's the best part of Lawless by far.  His scenes are the only ones worth watching and the only ones that have any modicum of life breathed into them.  Even the ridiculous romantic subplot he's shouldered with involving his character's fascination with an über-religious young gal (Mia Wasikowska) is better than it deserves to be because of his presence.  Unfortunately, when the film isn't in LaBeouf's hands, yawns are induced. Tom Hardy follows up his Dark Knight Rises mumblings with an even more incoherent performance here.  Seriously, open up your frickin' mouth when you talk, dude!  I liked you in Warrior and Bronson, but this marble-mouthed inarticulation is getting old.  And poor Jessica Chastain is just wasted here with nary a single character trait or meaningful plot point applied to her role as a former stripper with a heart of gold.

Even her unnecessary nudity couldn't save this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Starring Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Modine, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine

Directed by Christopher Nolan

I've been avoiding reviewing The Dark Knight Rises for nearly a month now and the only reason I can think of is that after concluding this film there was just a sense of apathy that has only increased as time as passed.  It's not that this final chapter in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is bad -- it's slightly better than the Batman Begins origin story, but not nearly as good as The Dark Knight -- but it's really just feels most genericly superhero-ey of the three flicks.

We've got our good guy Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale whose teeth-gritting toughness as his alter ego has worn out its welcome by this point) who has put Batman to rest after the masked vigilante took the blame for killing Harvey Dent in the prior film.  However, evil rears its ugly head again, this time in the form of Bane (Tom Hardy) who vows to fight the capitalistic rich pigs of Gotham by taking all of them down and suppressing the poor himself.  Throw in a petty thief named Selena Kyle (Anne Hathaway) who will later turn into the slinky Catwoman (although I'm not sure that name is ever uttered in the movie), a new love interest for Bruce in the form of Wayne Enterprises board member Miranda (Marion Cotillard), and a young cop named Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who tries to be the voice of reason to motivate Batman to come back to Gotham after Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) almost resigns himself to the fact that the masked man won't return and the cast for this one is pretty much complete.

The problem is that despite the film's nearly three-hour runtime, the cast isn't given a whole lot to do. Bane as a villain is a disappointment especially coming after the one-two punch of Heath Ledger's Joker and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent in the last film.  The motivation of taking down the upper class is fine (despite it sort of feeling like a retread of Ra's Al Ghul's evil plans in the first film), but the screenwriting duo of the Nolan brothers fail to make the story resonate even in these heightened economic times.

Gordon-Levitt and Hathaway were certainly welcome additions and it was nice that ample time was spent on their storylines since (as I mentioned above) Bale's incredibly one-note performance while in his Batsuit had worn out its welcome.  Unfortunately, Tom Hardy fails to really make an impression as Bane.  After the whimsically evil performance of Ledger's Joker, having Hardy behind a mask for the whole film and failing to see a single facial expression from our central villain is a bit of a letdown that isn't his fault in the slightest.

In the end, Nolan's Batman trilogy is solid, but it's not nearly as fantastic as fanboys and critics would have you believe.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Warrior

Warrior (2011)

Starring Joel Edgarton, Tom Hardy, Jennifer Morrison, and Nick Nolte

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Prior to watching Warrior, I knew absolutely nothing about the world of MMA -- Mixed Martial Arts -- a boxing/wrestling/karate-type sporting event in which two men enter a hexagonal ring and duke it out until one of them is either knocked out or admits defeat by tapping his hand on his opponent's body or the floor.  Perhaps wrongly, I felt that I would have no desire to witness this sporting event on film, but if I'm being honest, Warrior not only proved to be a better film than I imagined, but made me interested in a sport I heretofore couldn't have cared about in the slightest.

When Warrior came out, I chalked it up to being 2011's version of The Fighter...and it is.  That doesn't necessarily make it less worthy to be made into a film, but facts are facts and both films deal with a broken family that has surrounded themselves in the world of competitive fighting for decades.  They both feature a brother who's gone down the road of addiction -- in this film's case that role goes to Tom Hardy as Tommy Conlon -- and a brother who has things together -- here played by Joel Edgarton as Brendan Conlon.  Both films feature a parent who has pushed his kids hard and has been through tough times on their own although Warrior gives the parent -- Nick Nolte in an Oscar-nominated performance --  the added arc of being a recovering alcoholic himself.  When the two brothers who are both down on their luck in terms of money hear of a sixteen-man five million-dollar worldwide MMA battle, they both instantly want in and somehow (by the magic of the movies) they both succeed.  In the March Madness-like tournament bracket, the two brothers find themselves on opposite sides and is it really any surprise who the final two are going to be?

While Warrior is really a slightly watered-down version of The Fighter, it still manages to hold its own thanks to some solid performances from Edgarton and Hardy.  However, the film really shines thanks to some incredibly intense fight scenes.  Director Gavin O'Connor also directed the hockey flick Miracle and he has a keen eye in terms of building suspense when it comes to sports movies which often have a tendency to become sappy and overly "inspiring."  Here, we find ourselves right in the middle of the caged ring and it's a frightening place to be.

Yes, The Fighter is a better movie than Warrior, but not by much.  Both are worthy glimpses at the rough world of hand-to-hand sports combat and both are well worth your time.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, and Mark Strong 

Directed by Tomas Alfredson

Man, this British spy flick is the kind of movie that tries its very best to make its viewers feel dumb.  In the end, I don't think ("think" being the operative word here) I misunderstood Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but I certainly didn't get anything out of it either.  There's a story here...one much simpler than the convoluted mess onscreen would have you believe.  In early 1970s Britain, the British secret service has been infiltrated by a traitor who is working for the Russians, stealing information and delivering it to the Soviets.  It's up to George Smiley (Gary Oldman) to figure out which of his co-workers is the mole.  The problem here is that this tale is told so mundanely that it's tough to get involved with anything taking place onscreen.  When the film's climactic moment -- the reveal of the spy -- is relegated to a small throwaway shot, I think I literally threw up my hands in disgust.  I waited two hours for that?!?!

Tomas Alfredson's film looks great as if it were made in the very 1970s it so creatively depicts.  The costumes and set direction are spot on and the cinematography is gorgeous at many moments.  Alfredson always manages to create beautiful things to look at and is quite the master here and composing an appealing visual display, but that can't hide the fact that the film feels like it goes nowhere (although it certainly saves the film from being an all-out disaster).  While I don't need my spy dramas to be all Bourne Identity in terms of pace (in fact, I'd rather they not be filled with the freneticism of the Bourne series), there's got to be some semblance of either action or tension and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has neither.

It's a shame, really, because in addition to the lovely visual aesthetics, the cast of British men is quite good, although a few of them seemed to find themselves wallowing in boredom without any twinge of life in them.  Oldman is fine (but I found his role lacking any type of character arc and rather one-notey although he played that note very well), as is Benedict Cumberbatch who plays his protégé of sorts.  But I can't shake the fact that I feel like this talented cast wasn't given much to do, and what they were given to do, they were directed to act as stern and emotionless as possible.

Without a doubt, this will likely be the lowest rated film to land on any of my RyMickey Awards lists for 2011 (which, knowing me, likely won't start up until after the Oscars roll around) thanks to the look of the piece, but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a movie that simply shouldn't have been made.  While there's maybe something there with which to create a story, it simply wasn't done in a way that works in the slightest.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Inception

Inception (2010)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, and Marion Cotillard

Directed by Christopher Nolan

There are major spoilers ahead here...This isn't so much a review as a discussion of my thoughts a day after watching the film...If you haven't seen the film yet and don't want some key plot points to be ruined, don't read any further.

In the end, some magnificent "parts" of Christopher Nolan's newest film, Inception, don't quite add up to a fantastic "whole."  Now, fair warning -- I'm going to be overly critical here.  A creative film like this wants me to question it...so I'm going to do so.  But, as you'll notice by my rating at the end, I enjoyed myself thoroughly while watching it.  I simply wish it was something I could have loved.

This movie is about Leonardo Dicaprio's character Cobb.  It's about his need to be forgiven for what he considers to be the "crime" of causing his wife's (Marion Cotillard) death.  Being absolved of this sin will allow him to not only return to his children, but also to return to a more peaceful existence with himself.  If this is the main point (which, to me, there can be no argument that it isn't), why does it fall to the wayside for so much of this film's 150 minutes?

The final hour-long act of the film -- the dream within a dream within a dream within a dream where the key players are attempting to complete the inception in Fischer's (Cillian Murphy) mind -- hardly focuses on Cobb's emotional part of the story at all.  Not until we reach the "limbo" stage does Cobb really come into play.  Granted, this whole segment of the film was really amazing -- I truly enjoyed all of the levels within the dreams and that hotel scene is just a gigantic WOW -- but it's really just a huge McGuffin (sort of).  I can't help but think something could have been trimmed here or there (or something even added, if necessary) to bring the focus back to Cobb.  Yes, there were the occasional images of his children, but a larger emphasis on Cobb would have been much more powerful in terms of character development.

Speaking of character development, where was it?  Beyond Cobb, there's nothing.  I guess that could be because "this is all a dream" (an idea which I'll touch upon in a bit) and in dreams, character development is nonexistent, but that seems like a cop-out.  So, if the film's not a dream, that makes it real -- well, "real" in terms of the fact that we're watching a film.  And if this is a film, I'd like to know something about these people I'm watching.  Unfortunately, I know nothing beyond the fact that the girl from Juno is the Architect, the guy from (500) Days of Summer is Cobb's right-hand man, and the guy from Bronson (yes, I know you've never heard of it, but you should watch it anyway) is like some fancy X-Man that can change his form.  Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hardy are all very good, but they're not really given anything to do beyond what their job requires.  It's like a much more intelligent Oceans 11 film in that sense.

So is the whole thing a dream?  Is the reason that I don't know anything beyond the outer surface of these characters because I'm watching Cobb's dream?  I can't buy that (even if in the director commentary Christopher Nolan tells me that is the case).  For starters, if this is all a dream, how the heck is the story so linear?  Yes, I may have some dreams that follow a general storyline, but for the most part, the restraints are gone when one dreams and logic bears no importance.  Yes, I may be dreaming about work and it may seem perfectly straightforward, but I could change my thoughts within seconds and be some place completely different.  That never really happens here.  Yes, I'm sure there are things that point to this being a dream, but if that's the case, I'd be utterly disappointed simply because things are much to logical here for that to be the case.

Plus, it seems obvious to me that at the end of the film Cobb's spinning top is beginning to wobble.  When a top begins to slow down, the change in aural tone that it begins to make is blatant -- and it does that during the final scene (plus, it starts to wobble).  Yes, one could certainly make the statement that the top was never Cobb's token, but instead was Mal's, so it was never his "way back"to reality.  While that's certainly true, I always felt that the top was his connection to her and since she was so connected to the top, he, in turn, can be taken out of the dreamscape by the top as well.

Okay...enough rambling.  Let's get to a tiny bit of general thoughts here.  Inception was a treat to watch, without a doubt.  The more I sit and think about it, the more I appreciate it.  It's not a perfect film, but it's a more than admirable effort (I still say that its biggest fault is that first point I make above in that the emotional connection for Cobb's character is pushed to the sidelines for too long in the final act).  Nolan (a director and writer who I appreciate, but don't find myself fawning over) once again proves that he's a smart guy with an eye for some special set pieces.  The rotating hotel scene which was shown in the previews really blew me away.  Even though I knew it was coming, I was amazed while watching it.

Additionally, kudos to Nolan for making what could have been a convoluted mess of a film perfectly coherent.  Before going into this, I heard so much about how you "really have to pay attention," but I found the film to be easily comprehensible.  Little asides that in some movies may have made the viewer feel stupid (or made the viewer feel that the filmmaker thought they were stupid) proved to be quite natural and justified in their existence.  (This was actually a very impressive aspect of the film...and the whole point of Ellen Page's character.  Her Architect was "us," the audience, and since she was an intelligent character, whenever she asked for an explanation or elucidated on a certain topic, it was never done in a manner that talked down to the viewer.)

Still, the problem with the lack of character development is that Nolan doesn't allow any of his actors to shine.  None of the actors are problematic or detrimental to the film in any way, but they're not allowed to really add anything to the final product either.  Leo and Ellen and Marion and Joseph and Tom are all fine, but never given much to work with.

Yes, yes, this "review" was perhaps overly negative, but I enjoyed Inception and the more I think about it and the more I discuss it with others, the more I appreciate the film.  Do I wish it was a little better?  Absolutely.  A little trimming of the Fischer dream storyline could've done wonders to the film as a whole.  A bit more character development for anyone beyond Cobb would've been wonderful.

Still, Inception is no nightmare...it's just not the fantastical dream of a film that others say it is.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Bronson (2009)

Bronson

Starring Tom Hardy

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Interesting. Weird. Unique.

Three words I'd use to describe the British film Bronson. Based on the true story of Britain's most notorious prisoner, Michael Gordon Peterson, director Nicolas Winding Refn has crafted one oddball flick that contains a powerful performance from actor Tom Hardy.

At twentysomething, Michael Peterson robs a post office and is sent to prison for seven years. While there, Peterson displays many violent tendencies (which cause his sentence to be extended) and he spends much of his time in solitary confinement. He moves in and out of various prisons (and mental institutions) and soon crafts an alter ego for himself -- that of famous American tough guy Charles Bronson. It's not that Peterson is Bronson, it's just that he wants to embody the persona that the movie star carries.

In and of itself, Bronson (the film) is essentially a prison tale about a really rough guy. What sets the film apart is director Refn's choices. Bronson (the character) often talks directly to the camera. Refn utilizes some incredibly odd musical cues. But, most uniquely, Refn often has Bronson appearing on an empty stage, clothed in ever-changing attire, covered in a variety of make-up (from a clown to a mime to a woman), standing in front of an audience of elite British folk telling his tale. Explaining the set-up doesn't really do the mise-en-scene justice, but it's evident that Refn is setting Peterson/Bronson up as a "star." At the start of the film, Peterson states that all he ever wanted in life was "to be known for something...to be famous." Putting him front and center on a stage, while an obvious ploy, works immeasurably.

While Refn's directorial choices are certainly admirable, the real star of the show is Tom Hardy. His Bronson is funny and frightening, often within seconds of each other. The character is difficult to look at sometimes because there truly is a sense of "evil" up on the screen, which is all the more scary because this loose cannon is a real person. It's no wonder the real Bronson has spent over 30 of his 34 years in prison in solitary confinement. This is one nasty guy and Tom Hardy is pretty amazing at portraying him.

All that being said, the film falters a bit in the middle when Bronson is released from prison for the first (and only) time. The 69 days he spends outside of his cell felt a tad drawn out, but that's a minor quibble.

The way this flick is shot, it certainly won't appeal to all. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some couldn't make it past the first ten minutes. However, it worked quite well for me, and, if you're up for it, it's streaming on Netflix as of this posting.

The RyMickey Rating: B