Movie Review I, Tonya

I, Tonya (2017) 

Directed by Craig Gillespie 

Written by Steven Rogers 

Starring Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Julianne Nicholson, Allison Janney 

Release Date December 8th, 2017 

It’s hard to pin down director Craig Gillespie. On one hand, he directed the wonderfully warm and quirky Lars and the Real Girl in 2007 but also directed the awful, unfunny "comedy" Mr. Woodcock that same year. Gillespie has since directed the remarkably dull sports flick Million Dollar Arm, the forgettable and unnecessary horror remake Fright Night and the wildly underrated and too quickly forgotten The Finest Hours. So, is Gillespie a great director or a hack? Is he an auteur or a Hollywood carpenter, cobbling together studio products?

Gillespie’s latest effort, the sports-bio-pic, I, Tonya doesn’t necessarily answer these questions. On the one hand, the film is quite entertaining with a rock star lead performance by Margot Robbie and an Academy Award level supporting performance by Allison Janney. On the other hand, the editing is often muddled as to who is recalling what portion of the story via the faux-documentary structure of the film and the tone is rather dissonant, inviting laughs one moment while asking to be taken seriously in others, especially those related to domestic violence.

I, Tonya tells the story of the life of the infamous figure skater Tonya Harding (Robbie). Tonya grew up with an abusive mother, Lavona (Janney) and a mostly absent father who taught Tonya how to hunt deer with precision and then ran away so as not to be destroyed by Tonya’s mother. As awful and abusive as Lavona Harding was, she instilled a toughness in her daughter that would become her hallmark as she rose through the ranks of American Figure Skating.

Tonya was thrown into the remarkably competitive and cutthroat world of competitive figure skating at just three years old, according to this story anyway. By the time she was five years old, Tonya had won her first competition against girls much older than her and by her teen years she was in high level competitions with the goal of making it to the Olympics. All the while Tonya faced down her abusive mother and a stuffy, unwelcoming figure skating world that seemed to have no place for someone as outlandish as Tonya, preferring the demure, classical music style competitors over Tonya’s less cultured, rock n’roll, power, and strength style.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review The Creator

The Creator (2023) 

Directed by Gareth Edwards 

Written by Gareth Edwards, Chris Weitz 

Starring John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Allison Janney 

Release Date September 29th, 2023 

Published October 2nd, 2023 

The Creator stars John David Washington as Joshua Taylor. Make note of that biblical name, it means something. Joshua is a double agent of the future. In this future world, A.I was built to make life easier for Americans. That worked until the A.I got too real and decided to nuke Los Angeles. Some time after that, America has banned A.I and is at war with New Asia, a country that has become a haven for A.I living in among the human population as equals. Joshua is a spy who was tasked with getting close to Maya (Gemma Chan), who is believed to be the daughter of the Nirmata, the A.I creator. 

Nirmata, we are told, has been working on a weapon that could turn the tide of the war between America and New Asia. This new A.I weapon is evolving quickly and will carry the ability to destroy non-A.I technology, like that used by the U.S military. Joshua's assignment works better than expected as not only does he get close to Maya, the two fall in love and Maya gets pregnant. That's when things hit the fan as the Americans decide to attack without warning Joshua first. In the attack, it appears that Maya and the rest of Joshua's band of A.I brothers, are killed. 

Returning to America, Joshua takes a crappy job and appears ready to spend the rest of his life guiltily drinking himself to death. That's when he's approached by General Andrews (Ralph Ineson) and Colonel Howell (Allison Janney). They have proof that Maya is still alive and they want Joshua to go to New Asia on a mission to reconnect with her and by extension, get close to the new A.I weapon so that it can be destroyed before it evolves to destroy the American military. That's the plan anyway, these things in movies tend to fall apart and fall apart they do. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Juno

Juno (2007) 

Directed by Jason Reitman

Written by Diablo Cody

Starring Elliott Page, Jason Bateman, J.K Simmons, Allison Janney, Jennifer Garner, Michael Cera

Release Date December 5th, 2007

Published December 4th 2007

We've seen movies with smart ass motormouths and quick to quip teens. What separates Juno from characters of our recent, acerbic past is a performance by Ellen Page that simply rings truer than other similar performances. Page's Juno plays like a real teenage who happens to be savvier than most of the people she meets.  

Juno (Elliot Page) is just 16 but she has that typically movie worldliness that seems so rare in real life. Quick with a quip, Juno's wit belies a vulnerability that comes out when forced to confront her real feelings for her good friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Juno and Paulie had danced around their feelings for each other in typical teenage gamesmanship until one night when each took things further than expected.

The sex was the kind that teenagers often experience, fumbling yet transformative on an emotional level. There is no real sex scene in Juno but visual and verbal allusions tell us all we need to know about the encounter. More important to the movie is the result of the brief encounter, Juno is pregnant.

Now she must tell her parents, Dad Mac (J.K Simmons) and stepmother Bren (Allison Janney) are both relieved and disappointed. The relief is that Juno hasn't been arrested or expelled from school, their initial suspicions when Juno when Juno sat them down for a talk. Their disappointment, typically parental, are concerns about her future and that of the unexpected grandchild.

After a brief flirtation with the big A, Juno is put off by a lone protester who tells her her baby already has fingernails, leads Juno to a more unique solution. The local Nickel Saver flyer has real advertisements for couples seeking babies. There Juno finds Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) a well to do yuppie suburban couple who seem like the perfect fit.

Looks are deceiving however as Juno bonds with Mark, a frustrated musician turned jingle writer, who longs for the days when it was just him and his band and his music. Meanwhile baby fevered Vanessa puts off all around her with her baby preparations and constant nervousness over whether Juno will actually give up the child.

Writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman wring some real surprises out of these characters whose lives unfold in a most unique and engaging manner. Holding it all together is Page's Juno whose vulnerability behind the quick witted bravado is the heart of the picture.

Page more than deserves the Oscar nomination she was recently rewarded with. The layers she brings to what could have been an overly familiar, too smart for her own good, teenage adult are quite surprising. The acerbic teen in movies more often than not sounds like a mini-adult with the writers of Seinfeld whispering in their ears. Juno too is quick with the quip but somehow Elliott Page makes it feel real.

She is aided greatly by a skilled supporting cast; that seem just the type of people who could bring about a personality like Juno. J.K Simmons as Juno's dad may not be hip and his wit is not as cutting as his daughters but his befuddled skepticism and earnest curiosity give a definite idea of where Juno came from. Especially when it's combined with the no nonsense toughness and good heartedness of Juno's stepmom played brilliantly by Allison Janney.

And then there is the exceptional Michael Cera who captures the awkwardness of youth like few actors we've ever seen. His Paulie is quirky and weird and clumsy but true hearted and in love with Juno whether she is willing to see it or not. The relationship is a near perfect depiction of teenage love, unlike anything we've seen before.

Juno and Paulie are not Dawson's Creek characters who say all the right things all the time or seem understanding beyond their years. This is how real teenagers express their love with metaphoric hair pulling and subtext filled bickering because they can't express or understand their true feelings. The love is clumsy and faltering and so very true.

It is at once astonishing and not all that surprising that all involved are so very young. For director Jason Reitman Juno is only a second feature. This is writer Diablo Cody's screen debut and for star Elliot Page, they are  almost a veteran appearing in their third feature outing following the well reviewed indie Hard Candy and the big budget actioner X-Men: The Last Stand.

It is their youth that invigorates Juno and gives the film its truth. They know these characters and this situation because they are so very close to them in terms of experience and age. Youthful exuberance is what enlivens the whole of Juno and makes it such a pleasure to behold.

I would be remiss if I did not also praise the soundtrack of Juno, so sadly overlooked by Oscar. The music of Juno is integral to the drama without ever overshadowing it. Nor does the music act as Greek chorus, Reitman and music supervisor Peter Afterman make near perfect use of both classic pop/alternative and newer music from bands like Belle and Sebastian and The Moldy Peaches.

The Peaches song "Anyone Else But You" provides one of the years great music moments, a coda to the film perfect in it's subtlety.

Movie Review How to Deal

How to Deal (2003) 

Directed by Claire Kilner

Written by Neena Beber

Starring Mandy Moore, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, Trent Ford, Dylan Baker 

Release Date July 18th, 2003 

Published July 18th, 2003 

Is it just my cynical nature or do you agree that the title How To Deal is a marketer's idea of how teenagers talk? Everything about How To Deal screams of a publicity department ranting and raving about test audiences and demographics. It plays as if there was a representative from the marketing department in the editing suite dictating where to place the top 40 pop tunes for maximum exposure.

The same could be said, quite cynically, about the film's star, Mandy Moore. From her first film AWalk To Remember to her pop albums to her Neutrogena commercials, Moore is a marketer's dream. That Moore manages a respectable performance in her new movie, How to Deal, is a sign that she is developing into quite a talented actress even as marketers attempt to manipulate her image for maximum dollars.

In How To Deal, Moore is Halley Martin, the daughter of bitterly divorced parents and exceptionally cynical about her own prospects for love. Her best friend Scarlett (Alexandra Holden) is far less cynical, she's in love with the captain of the soccer team and has begun having sex despite her friend’s disapproving, and slightly jealous, glare. Scarlett isn't the only person in Halley's life who's found love. To Halley's dismay, her father Len (Peter Gallagher), has a new girlfriend. Len, a morning radio DJ (more on that later), has fallen for his bimbette weather girl and they plan to marry live on the air. Halley's sister Ashley (Mary Catherine Garrison) is also getting married, her marriage is to a preppy rich kid played by Mackenzie Astin.

With all the love in the air it's not surprising that Halley is a little sick of it, even when a hunky friend of a friend, Macon (Trent Ford), turns his sights on her. Halley makes it clear to Macon that she's not interested. Soon after though, when tragedies begin to pile up, Halley turns to Macon for support. I won't give away the film’s numerous major and minor tragedies except to say that soap opera characters don't suffer as much as poor Halley. That said, <Mandy Moore does an excellent job of not allowing the melodramatics to overcome her character. The young actress who I instructed not to quit her day job after her first film has me eating those words with her heady performance in How To Deal.

It's unfortunate however that all that surrounds her fails so miserably. The blame for this failure obviously lies with the studio and the film’s producers who compromised the story at every turn. Every emotion is underscored with a pop tune and in every moment Moore's performance appears to chafe against the film’s obvious machinations toward a happy ending. Moore's acting belies an entirely different story, one that is slightly darker and more cynical, and likely more satisfying. 

The way that How to Deal is edited, Moore's Halley succumbs very easily to Macon. Yet, you can see where Moore and director Claire Kilner were looking for something deeper that would make her revelation at the end a crescendo rather than a whimper. Add to that an underwritten supporting cast that includes a God-awful performance by Peter Gallagher as Halley's dad and a radio DJ. I happen to work in radio so Gallagher's performance grates on me on more than one level. Gallagher has to be the worst example of Hollywood's idea of a radio professional since Dolly Parton in Straight Talk. This is a truly embarrassing performance.

How To Deal is a sad example of modern Hollywood where marketability trumps story and artistry at every turn. I hope that Mandy Moore can escape the marketers and move on to more challenging roles. I never thought I would write such nice things about Mandy Moore's acting but despite my prejudice against pop stars, she earned it in How To Deal.