The (Personal) Year in Review

Quite a year 2009 has been for me. I'll be posting some other year-end wrap-ups soon, but first, just a little personal note on my year in general.

If you've been following along, I'm sure you've seen my Year of Firsts posts. If not, here's a link to all of them. Not that there's anything too exciting on there, but I expanded my horizons a little (even if some things [like those MRIs and arterial ultrasounds] I'd prefer I hadn't experienced).

And that's what I take away from this year...probably the first year in a really long time where I feel like I did things. Sitting at home wasn't really on my agenda this year and I had a great time not being there.

True, it hasn't always been sunshine and lollipops, and it may be ending on a note that I'd prefer it didn't (not that things can't change...time heals all [maybe?], so I've heard), but I had a great time this year.

For those that made this such a memorable year for me (I'm sure you know who you are), I can say nothing but a truly genuine and heartfelt "thank you." I had a fun year and I couldn't ask for anything more than that.

Thanks for taking this sheltered 29 year-old guy and showing him that there are things outside of the four walls of his house and his job.

Thanks for allowing me into your life as well. Lord knows I'm not without faults and I wholeheartedly appreciate your willingness to (sometimes) look past them.

I'm a better person because of 2009 and I can't really ask for anything more than that.

Here's to 2010 being just as promising.

3...2..1...

...And it begins.

Movie Review - Nine (2009)

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench, Fergie, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, and Sophia Loren
Directed by Rob Marshall

As of this writing, Nine (not 9, the other 2009 release with the same title) is a conundrum to me. The more that I think of it (it's been settling in for about four hours now), the more I like it. In fact, I'm beginning to truly appreciate Rob Marshall's take on the Broadway musical which itself is a take on Frederico Fellini's 1963 film 8 1/2 (which, like most Italian cinema, I haven't seen...I'm not remotely familiar with the Broadway musical either). There's something really good here -- I think a huge chunk of the "good" lies in Marshall's direction. Unfortunately, there's some bad here, too, and that lies in the music behind the musical. When the music in your musical is lukewarm, it casts an unfortunate pallor over the whole affair and that seems to be the case here.

Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) is a famous Italian film director in the 1960s. He's in the midst of directing his latest film, the ambitious Italia, when he begins to have a mid-life crisis-type occurrence. The film he's making is somewhat autobiographical -- his take on how great women can affect a great man -- and Guido begins to think back on seven important women in his life (why not nine women? I have not clue). For some reason or another (this is a musical after all), all of these flashbacks occur with the ladies singing a song about their relationship with Guido.

Similar to Marshall's previous big screen musical, Chicago, in which the musical numbers were figments of characters' imaginations, all of the songs in Nine take place in Guido's mind. While this theatrical device works, I must admit that it took me a bit to warm up to the technique, but three songs in or so, I was on the bandwagon with Marshall. It helps that Marshall utilizes a variety of techniques during these flashbacks. While he overuses the quick cut, I appreciated how a few flashbacks were in beautiful black-and-white, really creating that old Italian film look (or that old Italian film look I've seen in clip retrospectives since, as I mentioned above, I'm quite unfamiliar with Italian cinema).

The burden of the film seems to be that the music just isn't all that good. Black-Eyed Peas singer Fergie actually has the most memorable and catchy song by far -- "Be Italian" -- and she performs it with zest. Kate Hudson sings "Cinema Italiano" which was apparently specifically written for the film and this number is also upbeat, whimsical, and enjoyable. I must admit that I never really got the love affair with Penélope Cruz's looks prior to this film, however she was completely sexy and alluring in her song (it's unfortunate that she's burdened with a silly subplot throughout the film). Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, and Nicole Kidman unfortunately come off the worst here, with Loren and Kidman being stuck with the worst songs by far in the flick (both of which come towards the end of the film, bringing the film to a halt after it had been on somewhat of an uptick).

By far, the shining star of the women here is Marion Cotillard. As Guido's wife, she gets to sing two songs, both of which, to me, contain the heart, soul, and emotional center of the film. As she longs for her husband to be faithful, she realizes that she's probably fighting a losing battle. Her "My Husband Makes Movies" was just heartbreaking and she sells it.

Daniel Day-Lewis is perfectly adequate and believable as the man-slut of the film. While I don't really think he learns his lesson in the end, I bought Day-Lewis as this sleazy director. But even though the film's center is his Guido, the film really belongs to the women in his life and Marshall rightly puts the focus on them.

I really think that this is a film that I will grow to appreciate more on repeated viewings. For now, though, I'm going to say Nine's a flawed picture. Rob Marshall certainly moves the episodic film along, but, in the end, it's really just that -- an episodic film that goes from woman to woman in Guido's life, giving each of them a song to sing with several of those songs being lukewarm at the very best.

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Movie Review - Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, and Jean Hagen
Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly

I remember watching the "classic" Singin' in the Rain in a film class and not particularly enjoying it. The other night, though, it was on Turner Classic Movies at 2am and I decided I'd give it another shot.

My thoughts stayed the same -- this isn't a great film...or even a good film, for that matter.

Yes, it's got some really great scenes -- Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the rain is just one of the classics. You've got Donald O'Connor acting like a fool while crooning "Make 'Em Laugh." There's a perfectly charming Debbie Reynolds frolicking about while singing "All I Do Is Dream of You."

And Kelly, O'Connor, and Reynolds are all pretty splendid in terms of acting in this flick. Then they go and add a perfectly hilarious (and Oscar-nominated) squeaky-voiced Jean Hagen to the mix as a famous silent film actress who is finding it quite difficult to continue her stardom in "talking pictures."

So what makes this film a mess? It's the lack of story. Quite simply, Gene Kelly's Don Lockwood and Jean Hagen's Lina Lamont are a famous silent picture onscreen couple who don't exactly get together off-screen. With the advent of sound, Lina just can't cut it in films, so Don thinks up the clever idea of having Debbie Reynolds' Kathy Seldon dub over Lina's vocals. Suffice it to say, this doesn't sit well with Lina. And it doesn't really sit well with me either.

The film's just a bore. And I haven't even discussed the godawful fifteen-minute dance scene at the end which is only in the film to showcase Kelly's dance prowess. While Kelly is certainly a talent and a charmer (as is the entire cast, really), I don't need to see him mug to the camera. The final 25 minutes really just seem like an ego-trip for Kelly. And it ends the movie on an awfully bum note.

Singin' in the Rain is unfortunately full of good scenes and impressive performances, but those things can't overtake some poor story ideas.

The RyMickey Rating: D+

A Book a Week - The Film Club

Book Fifty-Two of the Book-a-Week Quest
The Film Club
by David Gilmour (2008)

"The second time you see something is really the first time. You need to know how it ends before you can appreciate how beautifully it's put together from the beginning."

To finish up this Book-a-Week Quest, I figured I might as well pick a book about film. In this year where (by the time the Oscars roll around in March) I will have seen nearly two hundred 2009 releases, why not read a book about a film club?

A memoir, David Gilmour's The Film Club tells the true story of a how he dealt with his troubled high school dropout son, Jesse. Jesse is failing school and his father makes a rash decision -- Jesse can drop out of school as long as he watches three movies a week with him. David was a former film critic and he hopes that films can open up Jesse's mind to things he's never thought of before.

While the experiment is somewhat of a success, the film club takes a back seat to "real life" which, in this book's case, means Jesse's trials and tribulations with two girls -- Rebecca and Chloë. Sure, it was fun to read about the films, but Jesse was really just a screwed-up guy when it came to girls. Break-ups lead to drugs and hospital visits...and, to be honest, I just got really tired of reading about the kid.

It doesn't help that I had a really difficult time figuring out a time line in this book. It takes place over three years (I think), but Gilmour never makes it easy to determine how much time has passed between chapters. It's not that he jumps around, but I had no clue that three years had gone by at the book's end.

Now, Gilmour is quite a good writer in the way he crafts his sentences. It's quite an easy read and when he talks about film, he really shines. It's just a little unfortunate that the family aspect of the book becomes repetitive and falls a little flat.

The Blog...2009

A big thanks to those of you reading and posting here on the blog during its first year. Let me tell you, there's an odd sensation you get as a "blogger" when you see that someone's commented on something you've written. It's a sense of validation (even if it's a disagreement). Sure, it's entirely self-aggrandizing and egotistical, but it is what it is.

I've thoroughly enjoyed blogging in '09 and will continue to do so into the new decade. I'm debating on what to focus on in the new year and I've narrowed it down to either delving into a particular director's repertoire each month or doing a retrospective of Best Picture Oscar winners (focusing on a particular year every two weeks or so, watching all five Best Picture nominees, and then determining which one I would choose as the winner). I'm probably leaning towards the latter at the moment (although I know for a fact I wouldn't be able to complete the task in one year).

That being said, I've got a few things planned for 2010-- a Hitchcock-fest next October, the Christmas-Movie-a-Day bit in December, a look-back at every Disney full-length animated movie throughout the year.

So, once again, thanks for reading my inane ramblings.

Theatre Review - South Pacific

South Pacific

Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan

Music by Richard Rodgers // Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

directed by Bartlett Sher

When: Saturday, December 26, 2009

Where: Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont

What: Musical, Professional Theatre, Broadway

There were so many things right with this production of the "classic" musical South Pacific that it's easy to overlook it's major flaw -- the lack of any story that matters. Similar to the recent film release of Avatar, South Pacific at the Vivian Beaumont in NYC is a beautifully crafted piece...but it has no strong story and it manages to drag that nothingness out for three hours.

The general gist of the story is this -- stationed on an island in the South Pacific in WWII, young nurse Nellie Forbush has fallen in love with an older Frenchman, Emile de Becque, who has moved to the island after he ran away from France because he killed a man. Now, killing a man wasn't enough to push Nellie away from him, but once she finds out he has two interracial children from an affair with a Polynesian woman, she's through with him. That's pretty much it. It's obvious that the two of them will get back together, so why stretch this thing out to three hours?

Fortunately, despite the lack of any important story (although, to be fair, I guess it had some impact when it was first presented in 1949), everything else shines, particularly the two leads. Paulo Szot (who plays Emile) is apparently best known for singing opera and his voice was just amazing. The winner of the 2008 Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, Szot brings an astounding amount of emotion to his deep baritone (I had to look that up...I couldn't tell you a tenor from a soprano) and his acting skills were top notch, too.

The cute Kelli O'Hara, while perhaps a little too old to be playing a naïve twentysomething, steals the show in my opinion. Also nominated for a Tony for this role (she didn't win), O'Hara runs the gamut of emotions from perky to dejected to uptight to lovelorn. She's a fine dancer, a funny comedienne, and a beautiful singer. I was just drawn to her every second she was onstage. Whereas Szot is given some of the musical's most emotional ballads, O'Hara is privileged to sing some truly fun songs with clever lyrics and director Bartlett Sher really sets up the whole production around her Nellie, giving her some of the best set pieces to work with (literally taking a shower onstage while she sings "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" was just one of his clever stagings).

Szot and O'Hara are surrounded by a great cast of singers and dancers who all get a chance to shine. I'm not a huge fan of big dance numbers and, fortunately, this musical didn't really have any. What it does have, however, is a thirty piece orchestra...and that won me over in a big way. The music was simply, for lack of a better word, gorgeous (I think that "gorgeous" should probably only be used to discuss something visually, but who cares). The orchestrations just sounded amazing. From the 5-minute-plus Overture to the final notes of the curtain call, everything sounded sumptuous and full. Most musicals these days get by with a much smaller orchestra than this and having a group thirty people big adds that intangible something that makes South Pacific rise above the rest.

Now, did this thing move me emotionally as much as The Lion King? Nope. Were the songs as good as those in Mary Poppins? Nah. And while this may not be the best musical I've ever seen thanks to its lackluster story, South Pacific was absolutely a very enjoyable experience and well worth its ticket price.

Movie Review - The Hitcher (2007)

Starring Sophia Bush and Sean Bean
Directed by Dave Meyers

This just happened to be the only movie starting on either Cinemax or HBO at 9:30 the other day...so I watched. I'm not gonna even bother with a poster...not that it was bad, but it was just so unmemorable.

Guy and gal (Bush) pick up a hitchhiker (Bean) who just so happens to be a crazed killer. Murderous rampages ensue as the hitcher attempts to hunt down the two college students.

The acting is fine and the story's okay, but, in the end, like most horror movies, it's just really silly with people doing the least sensible thing all the time.

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Avatar 3D (2009)

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, and Sigourney Weaver
Directed by James Cameron

James Cameron's Avatar takes us to the planet Pandora where ten foot-tall blue human-like creatures roam, gaining strength (via some anemone-like phalanges at the ends of their ponytailed hair) from elements of their environment like trees and animals. The Marines, however, have been commissioned to assist some corporate bigwigs in mining for some special expensive, coal-like element on Pandora. In order to both better learn about and infiltrate the Na'vi people of Pandora, scientists have crafted avatars -- they take a human and create a Na'vi-like creature that the human can control from hundreds of miles away via some sophisticated machinery.

Jake Sully (Worthington) is a paraplegic marine whose twin brother was heavily involved in the avatar program. However, at the beginning of the film, the brother has died and since Jake's DNA is similar to his brother's, Jake is pulled into the program to take his brother's place. At odds with the program's scientific director, Grace (Weaver), Jake takes control of his avatar much too quickly and almost immediately infiltrates the Na'vi people, taking a liking to their leader's daughter, Neytiri (Saldana). Jake soon finds himself conflicted between his strong Marine training and the passive nature of the Na'vi.

The story is ridiculously drawn out over an unnecessary 165 minutes. Somehow, though, even with an incredibly boring middle 40 minutes, I didn't find myself wondering when this thing was going to be over. And the reason for that is the visuals and the visuals alone.

This is, without a doubt, the best looking 3D film I've seen in theaters. Cameron has crafted a rich, sumptuous land in Pandora, one that is unlike any I've seen on film. We're completely taken into this new land filled with dinosaur-like creatures and phototropic plants. While on Pandora, we venture into a land completely created by CGI and witness characters brought to life via motion-capture technology. Just recently, I reviewed Disney's A Christmas Carol and I said I wasn't completely sold on the motion-capture technique. Well, I'll eat my words because Avatar has taken this new technology and stepped up the game by leaps and bounds. Sure, it still feels like I'm watching a cartoon, but it's the most realistic-looking cartoon I've ever seen.

Often with 3D, there's a slight blur to any type of quick motion, but Avatar looked amazingly crystal clear. Whether on Pandora or on the human's spaceships, everything looked stunningly "perfect." It really was a beauty to behold.

While the story lacked, it certainly wasn't the fault of the actors, all of whom really brought their A-game. Sam Worthington who starred in this summer's Terminator: Salvation proves an strong leading man who, whether in his human or avatar form, is quite an onscreen presence. Sigourney Weaver is unfortunately saddled with the worst lines of the script, forced to often spout the "science" behind the goings-on, but she still manages to rise above the silly dialogue (and she's really quite attractive for being sixty). I loved Giovanni Ribisi's bit role as the corporate shill for the company going after the lucrative mineral deposits on Pandora. Taking on what is esentially the nasty Paul Reiser part in James Cameron's Aliens, Ribisi is a joy to watch...I just wish he had a bigger role.

Surprisingly, my favorite role belongs to Zoë Saldana who was completely computer-animated the entire time. As Jake Sully's love interest, the geniuses at the special effects departments captured every little nuance of Saldana's body language (they captured this in everyone...it really was a treat to watch the little facial and body tics like a tensing of the neck or a slight raise of an eyebrow...it certainly didn't go unnoticed by me). Saldana's really is an exquisite, unique, and gripping portrayal -- both animal and human in one.

So, is this the best movie of the year? Nah. But James Cameron really has created something special, one-of-a-kind, and innovative. Going into this, I had big doubts, but having seen it, I'm able to look past the simply average, mundane script and see the bigger picture. Avatar is quite possibly a revolution in animation and digital cinema and something that really shouldn't be missed on the big screen.

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Just as Good the Second Time...

Movie Review - The Road (2009)

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, and Guy Pearce
Directed by John Hillcoat

I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road last year and it really got me started on this "I should read more" kick. I truly enjoyed the book -- McCarthy created a tale about an apocalypse with heart. Unfortunately, it's the heart and compassion that really feels like it's missing from the film adaptation. It's not that the film in and of itself is bad -- in fact, it's quite a well-crafted movie all around -- it's just that the book's hopeful soul is nonexistent.

Somehow, Earth has fallen to shambles. The sun no longer shines. All life -- trees, animals -- has died. Ash constantly falls. Earthquakes are a common occurrence. The few human survivors hunt for whatever nutrition can sustain them...even if that means resorting to cannibalism. However, a nameless father (Mortensen) and his nameless son (Smit-McPhee) will not resort to eating their fellow man and instead are on a constant search for food, shelter, and safety.

That's it. That's the story. It's surely a simple premise as we watch the man and boy travel across barren wastelands having awful things happen to them in the process. They're traveling south seemingly because that's what the man's wife (Theron) told them to do before she died. It seems that the father's dreams of his wife are pushing him on this journey...that and his strong desire to not have anything bad happen to his son.

Yes, the film certainly depicts a father's love for his son and vice versa. But the heart and soul that were in the novel seemed to be missing. And it's not that it was Viggo Mortensen's fault. He, once again, proves that he's one of the great actors of our generation (seriously, everyone should watch his badassery in the flick Eastern Promises). The love and devotion for his son certainly come through. And as his son, the young Kodi Smit-McPhee plays the role with a child-like innocence that worked to a tee. To some, the son may seem too innocent for his own good -- but to me, even though he's seen some horrific things, his father's love has somehow shielded him from the world around him. Born after the apocalypse occurred, the son's never seen anything outside of what his father has shown him -- no tv, no movies, no radio. I can see how some would be annoyed with the soft-spoken son, but it seemed spot on to me.

And as far as that missing "heart" goes, it's definitely there in a scene where the father and son come across stockpile of food in an underground shelter. That scene -- the one happy moment in the movie -- had everything that I was looking for in this movie. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie didn't have that sense of hope for me.

I realize I'm probably not making a lot of sense with this one, but I'm gonna post it this way anyway (it's 3am...). Once again, it's not that this movie was bad...in fact, the story itself was a decent adaptation. Something was missing, though. Maybe in a day or two I'll realize what that "thing" was.

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire (2009)

Starring Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey
Directed by Lee Daniels

Let me just get this out of the way right now. Hand Mo'Nique the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress right now. I find it hard to believe that someone will come along in the next two months or so worth of 2009 movie-watching that will deliver such a tour de force performance. First, I was amazed that it was comedienne Mo'Nique bringing this hideous character she portrays to life. But, even looking past the fact that she "stepped out of her comfort zone" (because I wholeheartedly do not believe that's a reason to give someone an Oscar), she was an incredibly powerful presence and really truly moved me in her final scenes.

All right. Now that that's been discussed, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (one of the most unnecessarily long and ungainly titles of all time) tells the tale of sixteen year old Precious (played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe), an overweight black girl in Harlem in 1987. When bad things happen to her (and, boy, do they ever) she escapes into her imagination where she's a movie star, an R & B singer, or a model -- realms that are as far away from her reality as possible. As the movie opens, Precious is pregnant with her second child, both of whom are fathered by her own father. At home, her mother Mary (the aforementioned Mo'Nique) abuses her with tirades of both the verbal and physical kind. Mary harbors terrible jealousy that her boyfriend "left her" to sexually abuse her daughter, and she refuses to let Precious forget that fact.

Although she's sixteen, Precious is still in middle school, but the school principal sends her to an alternative school to try to assist in her education. While there, Precious is befriended by her teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), who sees promise in the battered Precious. Also trying to help the teen is social worker, Mrs. Weiss (Mariah Carey), who desperately tries to get Precious to open up about her abusive home life.

Across the board, the acting ensemble is top notch. In addition to the amazing Mo'Nique, Paula Patton is quite moving as Ms. Rain, injecting sincerity into the role. Mariah Carey also steps up to the plate and delivers an honest performance that, while not showy, is quite touching. Gabourey Sidibe is forced to play the complete opposite of the loud, boisterous Mo'Nique, and Sidibe brings a quiet, understated demeanor to this rather depressed teenager. This young gal did not seem like she was acting in the slightest. In fact, no one in this film did...everyone embodied their roles to a tee.

Unfortunately, bringing the film down a notch is director Lee Daniels who relies much too heavily on camera trickery and an overuse of fade ins and outs. While at times I thought Daniels' techniques were ingenious, at other moments I was rolling my eyes. I completely understand the need to get inside the mind of young Precious and be able to visualize her inner thoughts, but sometimes it seemed like he went a few shots too far. Then again, Daniels certainly knows when to hold back the gimmicks and let his actresses become the focus, including a scene towards the end in which Mary begins to realize her faults -- it is simply one of the most emotionally draining and stunning moments I've seen in theaters this year. Just a "wow" moment.

Precious is often an uncomfortable experience, but it's a truly a riveting film -- one that really shouldn't be missed.

The RyMickey Rating: B+

Movie Review - Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

Starring Julia Roberts and Two Guys You've Never Heard Of
Directed by Joseph Ruben

For some reason or another, this Julia Roberts movie along with Flatliners have been in my Netflix queue for years but I never got around to watching them. Well, I checked this out on demand tonight and it was just an empty flick. I was viewing this one and couldn't help but think that this was like some cheesy tv movie that my mom would watch on Sunday nights on ABC, CBS, or NBC when I was growing up starring some awful soap opera star enacting revenge on a hurtful husband. The only difference between those tv movies and this is that Sleeping with the Enemy stars Julia Roberts instead of Susan Lucci.

Julia Roberts plays a woman abused by her husband. One day, she decides enough is enough and she stages her own death as a means to escape the relationship. She skedaddles to Iowa where she hopes to live her life carefree, but she's always on edge that her husband may be coming after her...and she may have a reason to be nervous.

The problem here is that it feels exactly like a tv movie. The acting's just okay, the music's cheesy, and the story feels like it tailor-made for commercial breaks.

Somehow I must have known this wasn't really worth the watch hence the lingering of this one in the queue for years...doesn't bode well for Flatliners...

The RyMickey Rating: D+