King Richard

 King Richard (2021)

Starring Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Jon Bernthal, and Tony Goldwyn

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green

Written by Zach Baylin

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Gemini Man

Gemini Man (2019)

Starring Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong, Ralph Brown, and Linda Emond

Directed by Ang Lee

Written by David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Aladdin (2019)

Aladdin (2019)

Starring Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwen Kenzari, Navid Negahban, and Nasim Pedrad

Directed by Guy Ritchie

Written by Jon August and Guy Ritchie

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad (2016)

Starring Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, Ben Affleck, and Viola Davis

Directed by David Ayer

***This film is currently streaming on HBO Now/GO***

After the disaster that was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, there was an inevitable sense of dread as I began to watch Suicide Squad, the next film to unfold in the DC Universe.  Yet somehow, despite the horrid reviews (or perhaps because of them lowering expectations), I found this irreverent comedy-action piece a tiny bit better than the film that preceded it.

***SPOILERS from Batman v Superman below***

Notice that I just said "a tiny bit better" because in the end Suicide Squad is pretty bad as well.  However, at least writer-director David Ayer tries to inject a little bit of fun into the proceedings as it introduces a motley crew of imprisoned criminals brought together by government intelligence officer Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) in an attempt to help America fight big-time criminals following the death of Superman.  Unfortunately, bringing this whole group together in a single film gives little time to develop backstories beyond those of ace sniper Deadshot (Will Smith) and psycho criminal Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) who happened to be the love interest of the criminal mastermind Joker (Jared Leto) prior to her incarceration.  There are other folks that make up the squad including an alligator guy, an Australian bloke, and some Asian girl, but they are so disturbingly pushed to the sidelines that their existence in the film ends up being laughable by the time the credits roll.  And let's not even discuss the villain -- an evil spiritual entity that enters the body of archeologist June Moore (Cara Delevingne) and then proceeds to create zombie-like creatures that run rampant.

Despite the music video-esque series of introductions we get to each member of the Suicide Squad (which became immediately ridiculous by the time Ayer introduces his second or third character), I was onboard during the film's opening act.  As Amanda Waller rounds up the criminals, something was working for me and then it all devolves into the horrible dark and dreary DC Universe aesthetic with an hour-long finale that isn't the least bit compelling.  Unlike many I've spoken to about this disappointing flick, I didn't dislike Jared Leto as the Joker (although I'm obviously not attached to these characters in any shape or form) or Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn (who at least injected some light humor into the darkness that surrounds her), and I actually think Will Smith plays a nicely grounded character in Deadshot.  Still, Suicide Squad isn't good and it continues the rather abysmal track record for DC.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Concussion

Concussion (2015)

Starring Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mike O'Malley, Eddie Marsan, Hill Harper, Luke Wilson, and David Morse

Directed by Peter Landesman

In better directorial hands, Concussion would've been a great film.  As it stands with second-time director Peter Landesman at the helm, it's simply a good film that can't quite overcome some schlocky sentimental visuals that hamper the important and intriguing true story at its core.

Nigerian-born Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) is a forensic pathologist for the city of Pittsburgh's coroner's office.  When former Pittsburgh Steelers' football player Mike Webster (David Morse) is found dead in his pick-up truck after a prolonged mental break-down that left him in a disoriented, woeful, and suicidal state, Omalu happens to be the coroner on hand to do the autopsy.  During his work, Omalu discovers that Webster had severe brain damage consistent with repeated blows to the head.  In subsequent years, additional football players follow a similar mental break-down to Webster and Omalu is able to perform the autopsies on these individuals as well, discovering a consistent pattern of brain damage.  Certain of his findings, Omalu decides to write an article in a medical journal, but this sets up a war between the doctor and one of the most profitable organizations on the planet -- the National Football League -- a group that, as Omalu's boss Cyril Wecht (Albert Brooks) says, "owns a day of the week."

Dr. Omalu is a fascinating figure, tremendously smart, well-mannered, and strong, and Will Smith portrays him with much dignity.  While I'm not quite sure he deserved that Oscar nomination that his wife deemed appropriate, Smith is a captivating presence here alongside Gugu Mbatha-Raw who portrays his friend-turned girlfriend-turned wife.  Their scenes together are poignant, albeit a little treacly at times.  That sentimental mushiness comes on too strong accompanied by some generically obvious visual cues from the director that mar the film particularly in its latter half when the tension between Omalu and the higher-ups in the NFL should be at its most enervating.  It's the second half that disappoints the most with the film sometimes shifting to an odd thriller aspect (unknown men following Omalu's wife, threatening phone calls, etc) that simply doesn't fit well with the heavier (and better executed) dramatics of the film's first half.  Still, Concussion works as a film and is worth seeing as it exposes a side of the NFL that they wished to stay hidden for years.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Focus

Focus (2015)

Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santora, Gerald McRaney, and Adrian Martinez

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

There are moments of success throughout Focus in which stars Will Smith and Margot Robbie are so charming and charismatic as sly thieves, con artists, and lovers that the Glenn Ficarra and John Requa written-and-directed film almost makes you think that you're watching something that's worthy of your time.  And then the repetitive cat-and-mouse stereotypical double-crossing rears its ugly head and we realize that the story is rather tired and Ficarra and Requa haven't done enough to reinvent things despite making their film look crisp.

Smith is Nicky, a real big shot con artist who heads a fairly large group of crooks who pull off massive amounts of rather small heists that add up to a whole lot of dough.  He meets Jess (Robbie) one evening as she attempts to con him and the two end up falling for one another.  As Nicky trains Jess to be a better crook, we're essentially given two different films:  the first forty-five minutes showcase Nicky and Jess successfully running rampant in New Orleans over Super Bowl weekend and the final seventy-five minutes switch things to Buenos Aires where Nicky attempts to help a race car team owner (Rodrigo Santora) try and win some big race through underhandedness.

The problem with Focus is, ironically, the lack thereof in the film.  We're essentially getting two separate stories here and while the film's first act in New Orleans works in all aspects -- acting, direction, story -- the second act disappoints.  The audience is well aware that most of what they're seeing onscreen is simply double cross after double cross and it ultimately makes us care very little about what we're watching since we take everything we're seeing with a grain of salt, making assumptions that nothing we're seeing is "true."  Smith and Robbie carry the piece and help to ease the disappointment in the film's final hour, but Focus feels like two separate films that don't really come together as one.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Winter's Tale

Winter's Tale (2014)

Starring Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Eva Marie Saint, and Will Smith 

Directed by Akiva Goldsman

Savaged by critics and ending up on many "Worst of 2014" lists, Winter's Tale doesn't quite reach levels of awful offensiveness in terms of how bad it is, but it certainly misses the mark as an adult morality tale/fairy tale/fantasy/romance.  As the film opens, we see a foreign couple in the early 1900s being refused entrance into the United States because they have consumption.  Sent back to Europe on a boat, they leave their infant son behind in hopes that he'll have a better life.  The son grows up to be Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) who was raised on the rough New York City streets by Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe) and the two men couldn't be more different.  Despite rather oddly burying this lede and causing a bit of unnecessary confusion in the film's opening scenes, Pearly works for the Devil, while Peter is a bit more angelic and apparently has been granted the ability to truly help one person in his lifetime.  As Peter ages, this sets up conflict and Pearly sets out to take down the man whom he hoped at one time would be his successor.  This battle between good and evil is set against the backdrop of romance as Peter falls for Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay), a rich young woman who is dying of consumption.  And I haven't even begun to discuss the time jump that a little over halfway through the film moves the plot into modern times nor the mystical white horse that sprouts wings and saves the day multiple times.

There's simply too much going on in Winter's Tale to allow an audience to appreciate any aspect of it.   Based on a book that has had praise heaped upon it, I have to wonder if the fantastical meanderings work better on the page than played out visually on the screen.  This is Academy Award-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman's first feature film directorial gig and he can't formulate a singular vision here which is perhaps due to the fact that his screenplay feels haphazardly crafted.  The acting is okay, but that's admittedly faint praise.  Crowe is hamming it up at times although not necessarily in an awkward way as he is essentially playing an employee of the devil.  Farrell is fine, although he's a bit of a blank slate in some of the film's pivotal moments.  The rest of the cast makes do with what's given to them.

While Winter's Tale certainly isn't the worst film I've seen from 2014, it certainly isn't a winner by any means.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - After Earth

After Earth (2013)

Starring Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Zoë Kravitz, and Sophie Okonedo

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

While not quite the debacle I was expecting, After Earth is a dismal, depressing flick with nothing positive to note.  Father-son duo Will and Jaden Smith star as father-son duo Cypher and Kitai Raige who crash land on Earth centuries after the planet was deemed inhabitable.  Dad Cypher is immobilized during the crash and unable to walk, so he sends son Kitai out into the unknown landscape in order to find the tail end of their spacecraft which contains a beacon that can be used to send for help.  Along the way, Kitai is forced to face an environment that has adapted to kill humans while additionally having to do battle with an alien creature that was being carried on the afflicted spacecraft that just so happens to be able to smell fear.

As Kitai is out in the wild, he's in constant communication with his father who, thanks to conveniently innovative technology, is able to see everything going on in the environment around his son.  A pack of wild monkeys are coming Kitai's way?  No worries because Dad knows about it first.  A giant hawk is coming to attack Kitai?  We've got that taken care of.  All the while, we get to hear Papa Smith spout eloquent theology like, "Fear is not real.  It's a product of our imagination.  Danger is very real, but fear is a choice," in the most monotone voice caught on film in 2013.  With nary a modicum of emotion emanating from Will, it's obvious why Kitai wants to break away from his father.

While Will Smith is an emotional vacuum, Jaden doesn't have the charisma to carry the film.  Tackling some weird undecipherable accent, Jaden shouldn't have necessarily earned the Worst Actor Razzie Award, but any attempts by the Smith family to make their son a star should probably be quashed sooner rather than later.  Then again, maybe it's just the role as co-scripted by M. Night Shyamalan whose involvement with this was unceremoniously kept hidden in all ads after his recent directorial foibles.  After the one-two-three punch of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, Shyamalan has utterly ruined his reputation and After Earth (despite direction that isn't horrible...faint praise, I know) won't help to redeem that in the slightest.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Men in Black 3

Men in Black 3 (2012)

Starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alice Eve, and Emma Thompson

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld

It's been years since I've seen either of the first two Men in Black movies, but I remember finding them a bit better than typical action comedies.  They weren't anything fantastic, but I at least recall there being a slight enjoyment stemming from them (and if that isn't the case, at least they're remembered that way for their sake).  None of that sense of joie de vivre is present in Men in Black 3, a surprisingly joyless affair without any laughs and lacking either big or small action sequences to provide a sense of excitement.  This third movie just slogs along going nowhere in particular.

Men in Black 3 begins in the present day with alien outlaw Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) escaping from his lunar prison and traveling back down to Earth to enact revenge on the man who put him away and blew off his arm in the process -- Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones).  Boris finds a time machine and goes back to the 1969 day before he lost his arm and was captured in order to kill Agent K.  Somehow or another, K "rids" the world of everything that K himself caused since that fateful day so when K's partner Agent J (Will Smith) wakes up in the modern world, he is told that K died back in 1969.  [Why this has to happen, I'm not sure..]  J then goes back in time to try and help K kill Boris (and help past K not be killed by the modern-day Boris) rather than simply capture him in order to save the planet from Boris's modern day nastiness.

Confused?  Yeah, I was, too.  There's no easy way to write the summary in a way that makes sense because the film doesn't really attempt to make a whole lot of sense itself.  Will Smith attempts to try and work his smooth-talking charisma, but his charming persona as J can't win over the audience here because the audience is left flabbergasted at the foolishness of the plot.  With the film taking place mostly in the past, Tommy Lee Jones sits on the wayside for nearly all of the film with Josh Brolin doing an impressive impersonation of a young 1969 version of Agent K, and although Brolin is a bright spot, the allure of the impression wears off after a few minutes.

With that, I'm going to draw this shoddily written review to a close.  When I can't find a way to explain a summary of a movie, I'm turned off from writing my opinion about it.  Just know that Men in Black 3 is the worst of the bunch in this series.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+