Finding Nemo

 Finding Nemo (2003)

Featuring the vocal talents of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Stephen Root, Eric Bana, and Andrew Stanton

Directed by Andrew Stanton

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Nightmare Alley

 Nightmare Alley (2021)

Starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenbergen, David Strathairn, and Rooney Mara

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Written by Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Togo

Togo (2019)

Starring Willem Dafoe and Julianne Nicholson

Directed by Ericson Core

Written by Tom Flynn

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

At Eternity's Gate

At Eternity's Gate (2018)

Starring Willem Dafoe and Oscar Isaac

Directed by Julian Schnabel

Written by Jean-Claude Carriere, Louise Kugelberg, and Julian Schnabel

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Motherless Brooklyn

Motherless Brooklyn (2019)

Starring Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe, Bobby Cannavale, Cherry Jones, Michael K. Williams, Ethan Suplee, Dallas Roberts, and Leslie Mann

Directed by Edward Norton

Written by Edward Norton

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C-

The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse (2019)

Starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe

Directed by Robert Eggers

Written by Robert Eggers and Matt Eggers

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Aquaman

Aquaman (2018)

Starring Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, and Nicole Kidman

Directed by James Wan

Written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C

The Florida Project

The Florida Project (2017)

Starring Willem Dafoe, Brooklyn Kimberly Prince, Bria Vinaite, Valeria Cotto, Christopher Rivera, and Caleb Landry Jones

Directed by Sean Baker

Written by Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch

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

Summary (in 500 words or less):  During her summer vacation, a young girl (Brooklyn Prince) hangs out with her friends at a her residence, a cheap motel called the Magic Castle which is just a short ways away Disney World in Orlando.  Her mother (Bria Vinaite) struggles to pay rent and resorts to some illegal activities in order to cover the costs.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C+

What Happened to Monday

What Happened to Monday (2017)

Starring Noomi Rapace, Marwan Kenzari, Christian Rubeck, Pål Sverre Hagen, Clara Reed, Willem Dafoe, and Glenn Close

Directed by Tommy Wirkola

Written by Max Botkin and Kerry Williamson

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  In the relatively near future, Earth is hugely overpopulated.  In order to rectify the situation, the Child Allocation Bureau headed by Nicolette Cayman (Glenn Close) has been formed in order to limit the number of children to one per mother.  Somehow in the midst of this police state where electric bracelets pinpoint human locations, a grandfather (Willem Dafoe) has kept hidden a group of septuplets, naming them after every day of the week.  As they grow, each of the septuplets leaves the grandfather's apartment on the day of the week that matches their name.  Decades go by and now as adults, the sisters (played by Noomi Rapace) have taken on the persona of Karen Settman, an investment banker, but when Monday doesn't come home after her day out, the remaining sisters set out on an investigation to discover what happened to her.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Starring Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom, Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Written by Michael Green

Summary (in 500 words or less): Detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) embarks on what should be a pleasant train ride only to discover that a murder has occurred.  The only possible culprits are those on the train and it's up to Poirot to figure out whodunit before the train reaches its destination...and before they strike again.

• Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express feels like it could have been made decades prior to this one.  That's not a bad thing, however, in this fast-paced culture in which we live, even I feel like this one could've stood to have a bit more life injected into it.  The pace proves to be a bit too slow.
• It's fun to see a big cast like this and the film's twists and turns allow most of them to ham it up every now and again with some overly dramatic moments.  The cheesy corniness works in a film like this and isn't ever laughable, but instead adds to the overall aesthetic.  
• That said, while the actors' corniness isn't laughable, the story often is.  The plot's surprise mystery twists just end up seeming too convoluted to be even moderately believable.  Sure, the screenwriter is simply following in the footsteps of Agatha Christie's book...but that doesn't mean Agatha Christie's book was any good.  Sometimes simpler is better, but in my few experiences with Christie -- via movies, plays, or books -- she doesn't follow that mantra...and it doesn't always work with modern-day audiences.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - John Wick

John Wick (2014)

Starring Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Adrianne Palicki, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, and Bridget Moynahan

Directed by Chad Stahelski

"Keanu Reeves is back!" raved some of the overwhelmingly positive reviews for John Wick upon its release in the fall of 2014.  The story of the title character who seeks revenge on a group of Russian mobsters who kill his newly received beagle -- a gift from his recently deceased wife (Bridget Moynahan) -- John Wick is a series of (admittedly cool) violent fights with the tiniest strand of flimsy story to tie them together.

Reeves seemingly speaks less than one hundred words as a retired hit man called back into duty when the members of a stereotypical Russian mob family pick on him for some reason and to say that the actor "is back" in top form based off this performance is outrageous hyperbole.  Yes, he works well enough in the choreographed fight scenes and he tries his best to engage the audience in his vengeful acts, but there's very little for the actor to latch onto.

The odd thing is that there's some weird sense of potential in screenwriter Derek Kolstad's script with hints of interesting elements.  For example, when Wick heads back into the realm of being a hit man, he sleeps at a hotel that caters to people of his type, keeping their residents' secrets and providing them with the necessary instruments to carry out their assignments.  This is just one of the unique elements present, but very little is done to expand upon them, making me wonder if there was an awful lot left on the cutting room floor...or perhaps it was all oddly surface on the scripted page.

Nevertheless, the incessant fight scenes grow tiresome a little less than halfway through and makes the film's final fifty minutes a slog to watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Starring Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Matheiu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, and Tony Revolori

Directed by Wes Anderson

Director and screenwriter Wes Anderson's films are always easy to pick out by their colorful visual style, exquisite production design, sardonic, quirky humor, and the presence of Bill Murray, but with the exception of Fantastic Mr. Fox, I always tend to feel that Anderson can't quite craft a great story around his admittedly unique style.  While The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of his better efforts, I still find myself waiting for one of his live action flicks to really grab me and pull me in with its story.

Told in a flashback within a flashback, the film focuses on Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), the concierge at the prestigious Grand Budapest Hotel in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka in 1932.  While Gustave runs the hotel with precision, he's also well known amongst the elderly lady crowd for providing something a little bit extra during their stay.  (That "extra" would be sex...in case I was too vague.)  One such lady -- Madame Céline Villeneuve Desgoffe und Taxis (Tilda Swinton in a ton of make-up) -- has fallen in love with Gustave and while he admittedly reciprocates the feeling to her, he has too many other "duties" in the hotel to fully give himself to her.  However, after she leaves to travel back to her home, Gustave receives word that Madame D has been killed and that he must attend the reading of the will for she has left something to him.  Upon arrival, Gustave learns that Madame D has bequeathed the terribly expensive painting "Boy with Apple" to him much to the chagrin of his relatives.  Not only that, but Madame D was murdered and her sons and daughters are pointing to Gustave as the main culprit.

There are so many great things about The Grand Budapest Hotel that it pains me to not love it more.  Ralph Fiennes is fantastic as Gustave.  The dry humor and wit that exudes from every line reading and every movement from Fiennes is an enviable feat and he really is the unsung hero from the piece.  The rest of the supporting cast is pitch perfect as well with a very nice turn in particular from newcomer Tony Revolori as Gustave's lobby boy/right hand man.  Fiennes is a strong presence in the film and Revolori holds his own, providing his own bit of humor from his reactions to the oddness going on around him.  The cast itself certainly gets the tone of things from Wes Anderson himself who, as a director, has a way of creating humor simply from his direction -- the pan of a camera may be all that's needed in order to elicit a chuckle.  As I watched, I realized that not too many directors have this ability and Anderson understands how to utilize the lens itself in order to create humor.  And the production design -- top notch, melding old school and new school designs with ease, creating a storybook-like world that completely brings us into the fake land of Zubrowka.

But it's that darn story that doesn't quite elevate things.  For about an hour, I was onboard, but the thing peters out towards the end as it shifts from focusing on Gustave to focusing on Gustave's escape plan from those trying to pin him for murder.  I can't say that I want an emotional connection in Anderson's films -- that's not what I'm looking for from his pictures.  But there seems to be some fundamental piece of the puzzle missing in his live action flicks for me that fail to click with my mind on some level as the film progresses.  Perhaps it's just that I tire of the quirkiness after about an hour and I'm left with some pretty basic storytelling in nearly all his films.

Still, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a good flick -- certainly one of Anderson's better films -- with fantastic production values and great acting, but it's just missing that last bit of pizzazz from its screenplay.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - A Most Wanted Man

A Most Wanted Man (2014)

Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Homayoun Ershadi, and Willem Dafoe

Directed by Anton Corbijn

What starts out very promisingly ends up being a bit too slow for its own good in A Most Wanted Man, a "thriller" about the leader of a secret German government intelligence agency's search for Muslim terrorists making their home on the streets of Hamburg.  Director Anton Corbijn's film is well acted, nicely directed, and adequately scripted, but the flick pulls the audience along with the notion that something surprising or exciting or intriguing will happen at the film's end.  To me, the flick's conclusion wasn't shocking or thrilling in the slightest as I found it rather obviously telegraphed from the film's onset.  Granted, there may be a detail or two that wasn't blatantly conspicuous, but not enough to really wow me.

A Most Wanted Man is buoyed by a good performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman -- one of his last -- as Günther Bachmann, the head of the covert German terrorism unit.  Troubled by the notion that the 9/11 terrorists planned their attacks right under his nose, Hoffman's Bachmann heads to the drink and the smokes quite often in order to placate himself into a calmer disposition.  A little more depth for his character would've been nice, but in the end, the film's focus is actually more on the purported terrorist Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) who just entered the country who Bachmann and his team are vigilantly following around.  The tension in the film stems from the notion that Bachmann's undisclosed governmental team desires to simply track Karpov in order to hope he'll lead to bigger terroristic fish while the "official" German and American authorities (the latter headed by Robin Wright) want to jump on Karpov right away.  This tug of war between Bachmann and his bosses is the most interesting aspects of the film, presumably basing itself in realistic tension and adding a layer to the film that we oftentimes don't see portrayed.

Unfortunately for the film, it's too long for its own good.  Yes, the length builds the tension, but the payoff doesn't correlate to the running time.  Instead, we get the same things over and over again -- Bachmann fighting with the higher-ups, Karpov talking with his human rights lawyer (played by Rachel McAdams), Bachmann following people around in his car -- and after the first admittedly good forty-five minutes, I found myself twiddling my thumbs.  A Most Wanted Man wants to be called a smart thriller, but there simply aren't enough thrills to warrant the "thriller" moniker.  A decent film, but one that's missing a bit of oomph.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

Starring Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Nat Wolff, and Willem Dafoe

Directed by Josh Boone

Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is a teenager with terminal thyroid cancer.  Although the past few years have been promising for her, she still is faced with the fact that her cancer will be her demise.  In order to try and make her feel better, her mother (Laura Dern) insists that Hazel attend a teen cancer support group where she ends up meeting Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) who lost his leg to bone cancer.  Hazel and Augustus become good friends with Augustus instantly falling for Hazel...and Hazel not quite reciprocating that affection.

One of Hazel's favorite books is by the reclusive author Peter van Houten (Willem Dafoe) who now resides in Amsterdam.  Because he loves her company, Augustus ends up using his "wish" from the Make-a-Wish foundation to visit Amsterdam with Hazel to meet van Houten and, while on the journey, Augustus and Hazel both grow to appreciate one another more than they ever thought possible.

Aww...sweet and saccharine-sounding, right?  Well, sort of.  The Fault in Our Stars succeeds because it delicately balances the standard romantic film tropes with the more sarcastic and biting edge of modern society.  In fact, Hazel begins the film with a voiceover stating that everyone longs for a happy ending -- but that's not in the cards for her life story.  Her cancer forces her to look at life with a different mindset and that mindset creates a film that while certainly a romance also bases itself in a realistic setting.

As a thirty-something male, I can't help but think I shouldn't have been won over by this film, but I was.  With a screenplay that never places "CANCER" front and center, yet also never pushes it aside as an afterthought, The Fault in Our Stars takes what could've easily been a "disease of the week" TV movie and creates characters to whom you can't help but relate.

It certainly helps that both Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are so good in their roles.  Ms. Woodley is proving herself to be quite adept in bringing a nice realism to her teenage characters (what with the fantastic performance in the teenage drama The Spectacular Now last year) and I find her a refreshing change of pace from the cookie cutter types of performances we often see in teen pics.  Elgort is new to the movie scene, but I found him charming and charismatic here.  Some have said his Augustus comes off as too perfect, but considering his character's challenges, the optimism rings true as someone who is trying to make the most out of what life has offered him.

The teen drama has seen a definite uptick in quality over the past few years and The Fault in Our Stars is the latest solid addition to the genre.  I'm utterly surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did, but this one isn't just for the teen market and to pigeonhole it as such is an unfair assessment.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Nymphomaniac: Vol I and Vol 2

Nymphomaniac: Vol 1 (2014)

Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBoeuf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Sophie Kennedy Clark, and Connie Nielsen

Directed by Lars von Trier

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

Nymphomaniac: Vol 2 (2014)

Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Shia LaBoeuf, Jamie Bell, Mia Goth, Stacy Martin, and Willem Dafoe

Directed by Lars von Trier

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

Well, that was four hours of my life that I can't get back...then again, maybe it was worth my time after all.  That's the problem with Lars von Trier -- I despise and appreciate his work at the same time.

Oh, Lars von Trier.  I experienced five of your films now (six if you count Nymphomaniac as two films) and you're a weird son of a gun.  Nymphomaniac is the third and final film in von Trier's "Depression Trilogy" following Antichrist and Melancholia, and, much like those films, it's all pretension and very little substance.

Nymphomaniac follows Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who is found in an alley by a man named Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) after she is beaten up.  Seligman takes Joe to his house to recover and Joe begins to tell Seligman her life story through her sexual experiences.  Why does she do this?  I don't know.  Shock effect? Her nymphomatic tendencies?  Because screenwriter Lars von Trier is a weird guy who likes to think he's pushing the envelope whenever possible?  Probably the latter as von Trier takes the approach here of being as graphic as possible including scenes of unsimulated sex in order to be risky and adventurous (but never stimulating or titillating).

Oddly enough, however, despite the heavy-handed nature of the piece and von Trier's incessant need to be provocative, the acting of everyone elevates this to something that at least makes the four hours not a boring sexual epic.  The best of the bunch is Stacy Martin in her first role as the young teenage/twentysomething Joe.  This is an extremely tricky role -- addicted to sex, yet emotionless when undertaking these sexual activities, Martin's Joe is a girl of few words, yet I found myself riveted with her story.  Martin certainly is the focus of Volume 1 with Charlotte Gainsbourg taking more of the reins in Volume 2 and the second film suffers for it.  Gainsbourg is fine, but the film becomes a bit too depressing and melancholic to be all that riveting.  Shia LaBoeuf and Uma Thurman also put in some nice turns, but neither are in either film for an extended period of time.

I appreciate Lars von Trier artistically as a director and I like what he visually brings to the screen.  As a writer, von Trier leaves quite a bit to be desired and that's where my constant see-sawing of "Did I like this or did I hate this?" comes in whenever I watch one of his films.  His pieces never work as a whole and Nymphomaniac is no exception.

The RyMickey Rating:  C (Volume 1)

The RyMickey Rating: C- (Volume 2)

Movie Review - John Carter

John Carter (2012)

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Daryl Sabara, and Bryan Cranston

Directed by Andrew Stanton

While John Carter may not be worthy of the ridicule that came its way thanks to its extremely high budget and disappointing box office returns, this Andrew Stanton-directed picture was already at a disadvantage in my book as its premise simply isn't up my alley in the slightest (remember, you're talking about the guy who's never seen Star Wars and likely never will).  Ultimately, the film's biggest problem is that there's way too much story here for 130 minutes.  We've got introductions to multiple alien races, at least two civil wars amongst rivaling sanctions on the planet we know as Mars (but known to the natives as Barsoom), and, perhaps the most intriguing aspect (yet least focused upon) that some Civil War-era American has been transported to Mars and rather nonchalantly becomes the savior of some of Barsoom's peoples.

I could delve into more plot, but if I did it'd just take too long, so that last sentence in the above paragraph will have to do.  That said, that last sentence is really the reason the film isn't successful.  I understand that this was likely setting up any future films (that will now never happen), but I'm still not sure why there was a need to place so many different plotlines into this first movie.  If anything, these various storylines fight for prominence and oftentimes become incomprehensible due to the plot's overly ambitious nature.  Ultimately, the fault lies in the director and co-screenwriter Andrew Stanton (to whom this was a pet project for years) for failing to either simplify (or at the very least condense) the various plotlines to create something a bit more enjoyable to watch.

I should say, though, that for Stanton's first foray into live action, he does a fine job in terms of creating an aesthetically pleasing landscape and he has quite an eye for mixing humor and action especially at the beginning of the film.  And, given the enormity of the plot he tries to present, the film's pacing is actually decent.  But in the end, there's simply too much story where there doesn't need to be.

Taylor Kitsch is fine, but bland, as the title character.  He's given very little to do despite being in nearly every scene.  I had hoped his character would've been given a little more emotional oomph considering this American got mystically transported to Mars, but after an amusing few minutes of Carter getting used to differences in gravity, the character almost acts as if this new planet is nothing he hasn't seen before.  The rest of the acting is par for the course.  Nothing exceptional, but about what is to be expected in a sci-fi/fantasy flick.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Daybreakers

Daybreakers (2010)

Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill

Directed by Michael and Peter Spierig

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

Oh, lowered expectations, how you please me at times.  Now, it's not like Daybreakers is a masterpiece, but it's an enjoyable B-movie style vampire flick that brings an entirely new premise to the screen that proves to be moderately intriguing in its uniqueness.

It's 2019 and us humans have all but been obliterated by vampires.  While there are some rogue groups of homo sapiens out there, for the most part, the fanged monsters have taken over the earth.  They seemingly live just like humans -- drive cars, have jobs, wear normal clothing -- but they just need a blood supply to survive.  However, since they've managed to eradicate nearly the whole human race, the vampires are attempting to find a blood substitute and hematologist vampire Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is leading the charge.  (Side Note:  Between this and Twilight, do all vampire protagonists need to be named Edward?)  Edward actually despises his need for human blood and hates the "farm system" his employer, the wealthy Charles Bromley (Sam Neill), has set up to both collect and sell the "product," so when he meets Elvis Cormac (Willem Defoe) who says he has a way of turning vampires human again, Edward is undeniably fascinated.

The story of Daybreakers really sold me.  I mean, maybe it's been done before, but this was fresh and extremely interesting to me.  Co-directors and co-screenwriters the Spierig Brothers definitely brought something new to the table.  Their somewhat-dystopian vampire society was brought vividly to the screen by both their visuals and their story.  Granted, the dialog is sometimes straight from B-movies of yore and the acting falls into one of two categories -- over-the-top (Sam Neill and Willem Defoe) or mind-numbingly muted (Ethan Hawke) -- but neither distract greatly from the overall tone of the film.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Featuring the voice talents of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, and Willem Dafoe
Directed by Wes Anderson

I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I am that this movie lived up to all my expectations. I've been desperately trying to not get excited about this film, but from the first preview, I was in love with the look of this thing and I couldn't wait for its release. Unlike some flicks that have had kick-ass trailers this year and failed to live up to expectations (*cough*Where the Wild Things Are*cough*), Fantastic Mr. Fox lived up to and exceeded my hopes for this film.

Mr. Fox (Clooney) has become "domesticated" in his later years. Once a criminal known for breaking into chicken, turkey, and squab farms, his wife (Streep) convinced him to give up that life upon the birth of their child, Ash (Schwartzman). A few fox-years have passed and Mr. Fox, having somewhat of a mid-life crisis, decides to move his family out of the foxhole they reside in and into a tree that happens to face the factories of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, who specialize in raising poultry and making alcoholic apple cider. Mr. Fox's old "wild animal" tendencies arise again and he decides to tackle one last caper. Little does he know that the three factory owners decide to join forces to fight back against the fox and his animal friends.

Quite simply, this film is a joy to watch. The stop-motion animation here is exquisite. I'm a big animation buff and this has got to be the best-looking stop motion animation I've seen on the big screen. The thing that's really neat about it is that it looks totally old-school, bringing to mind the Rankin-Bass Christmas classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The stop-and-go style isn't seamless, but that's what makes it so darn cool to watch. The colors, character movements, costumes, and backdrops simply add to the stellar production.

The voice acting -- wow. Sure, you knew you were listening to George Clooney and Meryl Streep, but their subdued voices just fit with the tone of the movie so well. Particularly winning was Jason Schwartzman as Mr. and Mrs. Fox's son, Ash. That character and his relationship with his fox cousin, Kristofferson (which is seriously the coolest name ever), was absolutely my favorite part of this movie.

No doubt the script has a quirky nature that may not appeal to all. It's certainly felt like a live-action Wes Anderson film that just happened to be animated. Granted, I've only seen two of Anderson's other works -- The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic -- but the flick certainly reminded me of those previous works, filled with odd characters and dry humor. As I mentioned above, the production design -- colors, set design, costumes -- was reminiscent of those two Anderson movies I've seen as well. I remember reading a ton of Roald Dahl when I was a kid and I loved all of his books. (Perhaps as one of my final books in my Book-a-Week Quest, I'll wind up reading one of his books again.) His style and tone certainly seems to fit Wes Anderson very well.

I find it much more difficult to write about movies that I love...I simply don't want to write about them, but instead just want to get back to the theater and watch them again. So, this may seem like a lack of enthusiasm, but whatever I say won't begin to convey my love for this movie.

The RyMickey Rating: A
(Finally! My first A of 2009!)

Movie Review - Antichrist (2009)

Starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg
Directed by Lars von Trier

This film has been quite the hot topic, getting booed at Cannes this past summer, and is becoming quite well known for its graphic nature. Having seen it now, I am either too dumb to understand this movie or too intelligent to take its bullshit. I'm gonna go with the latter because I'm pretty certain I understand what was being said and simply think that it's ridiculous.

The film starts with an absolutely beautifully shot black and white "Prologue". As classical operatic music plays, we see a man (Defoe) and a woman (Gainsbourg) having sex (complete with what appears to be actual sex onscreen) while their toddler-aged son makes his way out of his crib, only to climb onto a windowsill and fall several stories to his death out an open window. During this opening five minutes, I was struck by how truly exquisite this flick looked -- just stunning in the way it was filmed. While the film continued to look nice, the story just fell apart after this Prologue.

As the film progresses, the Wife (we don't learn names of the characters) experiences terrible grief over her son's death, feeling responsible for failing to keep him safe. The Husband is a therapist and He tries to help his Wife through her troubles by having her face her fears. Through some convoluted and ridiculous psychological mumbo-jumbo dialog, He learns the She is most afraid of Nature and their "vacation home" in the forests which they call Eden. He decides that the best therapy is to take her to Eden, but upon their arrival, She begins to spiral out of control.

Maybe as a story this would be fine (maybe...), but director Lars von Trier throws in so many moments of symbolism -- a talking fox, a baby bird being eaten by ants, the Wife literally becoming one with Nature -- that it just becomes too difficult to keep up with what he's trying to say. Part of me does think that as some have said that this is von Trier's complete dismissal of the female gender, depicting that they are nothing but a weight to hold men back from life (this "weight" metaphor takes on quite a literal meaning at the end of the film). As She studies the abuse of women over time, She slowly turns into this devilish über-bitch who only wants to abuse men.

The other part of me thinks that's all a crock.

This is the thing, though...I may have disliked many things about this movie, but I wasn't the least bit bored by it. And I'm certainly still thinking about it many hours later. The cinematography by Timothy Dod Mantle is gorgeous. The black-and-white scenes that bookend the film are stunning and the rest of the film looks great, too. And Willem Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg both make the best of the difficult roles they were given (unfortunately Defoe is given some stupid lines to spout in the first 45 minutes that no one would be able to make sound "normal").

So, despite the fact that I bashed the movie at the beginning, I'm certainly happy that I watched it and I would recommend it to those who are interested in film because it's certainly unlike anything you will have ever seen.

Pretentious? Certainly.
Good? I'm not sure...

The RyMickey Rating: C