The Night Clerk

The Night Clerk (2017)

Starring Tye Sheridan, Helen Hunt, Ana de Armas, and John Leguizamo

Directed by Michael Cristofer

Written by Michael Cristofer

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

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 - The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)

Starring Billy Crudup, Michael Angarano, Moises Arias, Nicholas Braun, Gaius Charles, Nelsan Ellis Keir Gilchrist, Ki Hong Lee, Thomas Mann, Ezra Miller, Logan Miller, Chris Sheffield, Tye Sheridan, Johnny Simmons, James Wolk, and Olivia Thirlby

Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Absolutely fascinating.  That was my reaction all throughout The Stanford Prison Experiment which is one of the year's most riveting edge-of-your-seat films.  While not a horror movie, director Kyle Patrick Alvarez's film plays like one as twenty-four young college students are recruited to portray either prisoners or guards and, over the course of what was supposed to be a fourteen-day mock prison experiment, form reactions and attitudes that these men had no idea were inside them.

What exactly are the psychological effects of being a prisoner or prison guard?  That's the question that psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup) wanted to explore in August 1971.  After placing an ad in the local paper looking for young male college students, two dozen kids were selected and randomly chosen to be either guards or prisoners by Zimbardo and his student colleagues.  On the relatively empty Stanford campus (thanks to summer break), Zimbardo took over a whole floor of his psychology building, creating cells and a variety of areas for the prisoners and guards to inhabit.  While things start out pleasant enough between the two groups of students, the prisoners begin to insist on certain considerations to which Zimbardo tells his guards to "take control" which they vigorously embrace leading to some horrifically chilling moments of psychological torture.

The fact that this happened in real life -- oh, I hadn't mentioned that tidbit yet -- is insane and it makes what unfolds all the more intriguing.  The cast of young men (and one woman) form one of the best ensembles put onto film in 2015.  Tye Sheridan gives his best performance yet as he gradually comes undone as Prisoner 819.  Similarly, Johnny Simmons has a heartbreaking scene as his Prisoner 1037 faces the parole board (yes, this experiment went so far as to have a parole board) and Thomas Mann also captivates as a prisoner brought in towards the end of the experiment who immediately realizes that something isn't quite right.  Kudos also to heretofore unknown actor Chris Sheffield as Prisoner 2093 who has an incredibly moving moment near the film's conclusion that makes Dr. Zimbardo question the ethics of his experiment.

Speaking of Zimbardo, Billy Crudup doesn't have the flashiest role in the film, but he's certainly the glue that holds things together and does a great job of conveying his initially innocent character's insistence of the importance of the mock prison and his slide into the frightening puppeteer who controls everything.  As the lead guard, Michael Angarano gives one of the scariest performances of the year.  His character's ease into strict authoritarianism depicts a frightening side to human emotions that we all may have inside us.  With the exception of Ezra Miller who I thought was playing his character similar to every other character I've ever seen the young actor play, the entire cast of knowns and unknowns kept my eyes glued to the screen.

The Stanford Prison Experiment is a film I didn't want to end.  I'm not a psychology buff in the slightest - I tend to think it's mostly a load of hooey - so for me to be riveted by this film was a complete surprise.  The talented ensemble should take a lot of the credit, but director Kyle Patrick Alvarez deserves much praise as well.  His film doesn't play like an educational documentary.  Instead, this is a tense discomforting two hour journey into human behavior with his camera allowing us to witness both the emotional trauma of the prisoners and the sadistic glee of the guards.  My words at the beginning of this review really sum up my thoughts about the movie as a whole -- absolutely fascinating.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Dark Places

Dark Places (2015)

Starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Corey Stall, Tye Sheridan, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Drea de Matteo

Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner

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

Gone Girl is perhaps my favorite film of the decade thus far -- a brilliant Hitchcockian piece of cinema crafted with a deft hand from director David Fincher and a biting screenplay from Gillian Flynn adapting her own novel.  So, when I saw that another novel of Flynn's was getting a feature film adaptation, I had to check it out.  Disappointingly, there was a reason for Dark Places to get an extremely limited release last summer as writer-director Gilles Paquet-Brenner is unable to create any modicum of suspense with his story or direction thereof.

When Libby Day was eight years old, she saw her mother and sisters be brutally murdered in their Kansas house.  Libby's testimony put her brother (Tye Sheridan as a youth, Corey Stall as an adult) behind bars for the crime, but thirty years later, an adult Libby (Charlize Theron) is compelled to reexamine the murders thanks to a young true crime "enthusiast" (Nicholas Hoult), realizing that her memories may not be accurate depictions of that horrific day.

Ultimately, Dark Places fails at creating a compelling storyline.  At its center, Charlize Theron's Libby lacks the emotional gravitas to be placed front and center due not so much to Theron's performance, but moreso because of the character's forlorn and malaise-filled life.  Sure, Libby has certainly been through a lot and has every right to lead a depressing life given her past, but her journey becomes tiresome rather quickly and lacks a payoff that excites.  The twisted humor and sensibility that runs rampant through Gone Girl and elevates it beyond the typical "thriller" is nonexistent here.  Instead, we're treated to a bland story with even blander characters and even blander twists and turns.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - The Forger

The Forger (2015)

Starring John Travolta, Christopher Plummer, Tye Sheridan, Abigail Spencer, Anson Mount, and Jennifer Ehle

Directed by Philip Martin

While I'd never find myself urging anyone to go rent The Forger, this little drama/heist flick isn't nearly as bad as its extremely minimal theatrical release indicates.  John Travolta is Raymond Cutter, a con man who strikes a deal with a criminal (Anson Mount) in order to get released early from prison so he can be with his son Will (Tye Sheridan) who has been diagnosed with an inoperable malignant brain tumor.  As a stipulation to his release, Raymond -- a talented artist -- must forge a painting by Monet and then take part in an operation to steal the original from a Boston library.

I will admit that as I typed out that summary, it almost seems a little laughable, formulaic, and overly melodramatic.  And perhaps The Forger is all those things, but I was surprised that I didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would.  (That's a ringing endorsement, huh?)  Travolta is fine throughout, but he comes alive in scenes involving the young Sheridan (also quite good) and the charismatic Christopher Plummer who plays Raymond's father.  The trio of actors make The Forger an enjoyable quick watch.  Now, is this little known film going to set the world on fire as a sleeper hit in years to come?  Not in the slightest, but should it perchance pop up on any streaming entity in the near future, believe me when I say you could do far worse.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Joe

Joe (2014)

Starring Nicholas Cage, Tye Sheridan, and Gary Poulter

Directed by David Gordon Green

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

Nicolas Cage has become such a joke lately that anytime he's in a movie that carries any semblance of merit, it's somewhat shocking.  As the title character, Cage's Joe is a marble-mouthed mumbling ex-con who is trying to get his life together by running a tree-removal company in very rural Texas.  Well-liked by most, Joe still struggles to keep his violent tendencies in check.  When young Gary (Tye Sheridan) meets Joe one afternoon and asks him for a job, Joe obliges and a friendship begins to form between the two.  Gary has struggled with his horrible father Wade (Gary Poulter) beating him, his sister, and his mother and the young boy finds a calmness in the cool attitude of Joe.  When the alcoholic and destitute Wade discovers his son's new friendship, it doesn't sit well and Joe finds himself in the crosshairs of a father who wants to keep his son underneath his thumb.

While Cage is certainly the "star" here, despite being the title character, Joe doesn't particularly belong to him as a film.  Instead the relationship between Gary and his father Wade is the most striking aspect of the melancholic and somewhat heavy film.  Tye Sheridan was introduced to the cinematic scene with The Tree of Life and Mud -- two films that showed potential in the young actor that really comes to light here.  There's a naturalness to Sheridan that shows promise for his future.

Outshining both Cage and Sheridan, however, is Gary Poulter as the rather terrifying Wade.  This was Poulter's one and only role as the first-time actor died before the film's release.  I'm not sure I've seen a role inhabited in 2014 that felt as lived-in as Poulter's Wade.  Perhaps the reason Wade strikes a chord is that Poulter himself was found by director David Gordon Green living homeless on the streets of Austin, Texas.  When you talk about something feeling natural onscreen, I'm not sure it can get much more "real" than Poulter who struggled throughout his life with alcoholism and eventually died on the streets because of it.  It's really a bravura performance that is frighteningly captured onscreen.

While the film itself is a little drawn out, slowly paced, and focuses too much on Cage's Joe who simply isn't all that compelling, Joe is certainly worth a watch if only for the terrifying relationship between Gary and his father Wade and the performances of Sheridan and the deceased Poulter.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Mud

Mud (2013)

Starring Tye Sheridan, Matthew McConaughey, Jacob Lofland, Sam Shepard, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, and Reese Witherspoon

Directed by Jeff Nichols

Mud is a tale of two movies for me.  One film details the coming-of-age story of a kid named Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and his buddy Neckbone (Jacob Lofland).  The fourteen year-olds are struggling to deal with their strive for independence from their families as well as attempting to navigate the choppy waters of teenage love.  The other film deals with these two teens meeting a mysterious man named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) who befriends them, but seems to be hiding more than a few secrets.

The first film focusing on the kids which takes place during the first hour works...and works incredibly well.  I found the normalcy of the everyday trials of these Southern teens oddly riveting despite the fact that there was perhaps a mundane aspect to it.  Part of the reason for this half's success are the great performances from Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland.  Together, these two young talents more than held their own and their relationship and repartee with one another was wonderfully natural and believable.

Unfortunately, the second half of the film shifts much of its focus to the character of Mud and despite McConaughey's charm and charisma (coupled with a fine performance), I just found myself not caring about his plight of trying to win back his girl Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) and the chaos that surrounds his shady character's secrets.  Rather oddly, whenever Mud places its attention on its title character, it becomes much more bland.  The film's final moments (including a very oddly staged "action" sequence) prove to be more laughable than anything else and stand in stark contrast to the "reality" that the script provides for its two teen characters.

This is the second film I've seen from writer-director Jeff Nichols (after Take Shelter) and I appreciate his development of characters.  He's also quite adept at culling nice performances from his actors who, considering the aforementioned development of characters, have a nice script to sink their teeth into.  However, I do think that as Nichols grows as a filmmaker, he needs to get a bit more of a discerning eye when it comes to his work as I found Mud a bit meandering and unfocused especially in its flawed second half.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-