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 P.S I Love You

P.S I Love You (2007) 

Directed by Richard LaGravenese 

Written by Steven Rogers 

Starring Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Harry Connick Jr., Gina Gershon, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Release Date December 21st, 20007

Published December 22nd, 2007 

If the movie P.S I Love You were a person her name would be Sybil. The name synonymous for multiple personality disorder is all too fitting for a manic, tone shifting on a dime, romantic comedy about a dead guy who romances his girl from the grave.

Hilary Swank stars in P.S I love You as Holly Kennedy. Her husband Jerry has died and her mourning takes the form of her hiding out in their apartment, wearing his clothes and singing along with songs in old movies. Three weeks after Jerry's funeral, weeks where she never left the apartment, Holly's 30th birthday arrives along with a package.

It's a birthday cake with an inscription from Jerry. Also included is a tape he made from his deathbed advising Holly on how to move on without forgetting him. For the next several weeks more letters will arrive and Holly is required to follow them literally. Instructions include, buy a pretty dress, sing karaoke, travel to Ireland and finally, find another man.

Directed by Richard LaGravenese and based on a novel by Cecillia Ahern, P.S I Love attempts to weave grief and humor and the mix is awkward, uncomfortable and a little creepy. Though the central theme is dealing with loss and it's clear that the character of Jerry wants the best for his wife; by not going away the character causes more problems than he solves.

As this gimmick plays out it becomes achingly clear that P.S I Love You is not instructive, insightful or even modestly comforting in the way it deals with grief and loss. Jerry and his letters are a ploy to create a plot around which goofy romantic encounters can play out.

Throw in a character played by Harry Connick Jr. that is arguably one of the worst written characters of all time and an ending so hackneyed it makes The Wedding Planner look like The English Patient and the result is an agitating, irritating shambles of a romantic comedy.

Are we supposed to laugh at Holly or with Holly? Do we feel grief and loss or just darkly goofy? P.S I Love You is so erratic you'll likely be at a loss to feeling anything other than ripped off for the cost of the rental on DVD.

Movie Review Kate and Leopold

Kate & Leopold 

Directed by James Mangold 

Written by James Mangold, Steven Rogers

Starring Hugh Jackman, Meg Ryan, Liev Schreiber, Breckin Meyer, Natasha Lyonne, Bradley Whitford

Release Date December 25th, 2001 

Published January 24th, 2002 

There has been talk that romantic comedy is a dying genre. The plots and conventions of the genre have become too familiar and many filmgoers are growing more pessimistic about on-screen romance. Kate & Leopold may not be the film to breathe new life into this struggling genre but for what it is, a light little cookie of a film, it's not bad.

You know your watching a romantic comedy when Meg Ryan comes on screen wrinkling her cute button nose that screams, “Love me.” In this film she is the titular Kate, who is more concerned about getting ahead at her job in advertising than finding a meaningful relationship. Her last relationship was with a quirky scientist played by Liev Schreiber. Schreiber is trying to solve the puzzle of time travel so that he can travel through time to meet his great-great uncle Leopold (Hugh Jackman), an inventor who may hold the key to Liev's scientific writer’s block.

After accomplishing time travel he accidentally brings Leopold back to the future with him. From there Kate meets Leopold who she assumes is some method actor. Leopold is immediately drawn to Kate but she at first just thinks he's weird. There is something odd about him, he's chivalrous and well mannered and well spoken. Very unusual for the modern male, but then as we already know he's not modern at all.

The love story develops well and director James Mangold doesn't let the film’s gimmicky premise get in the way of Ryan and Jackman's wonderful chemistry. All great romantic comedies are based on the chemistry of the lead actors, as Ryan has shown with Tom Hanks and Billy Crystal previously.

In Kate & Leopold, Jackman shows himself a worthy replacement for Hanks. Jackman's best work is in his willingness to humiliate himself while holding on to his Victorian era dignity. Jackman becomes a star right in front of our eyes, breaking out of the action genre and proving he can do just about anything as an actor, as he would later demonstrate in a brilliant hosting gig on SNL.

Ryan is her natural cute self in Kate & Leopold, which isn't a bad thing. But there are moments where you can see she is beginning to tire of this kind of role. More than a couple times she looks outright bored by material that she has done more than a few times. Jackman and the very surprising comic turn by Schreiber save the film. He steals every scene he's in with a goofy energy we haven't seen from him before.

Kate & Leopold isn't anything you haven't seen before but as a Friday night rental to relax and watch with your girlfriend, it’s an enjoyable rent that will leave you smiling.