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Being The Ricardos Review: Nicole Kidman And Javier Bardem Sparkle In Aaron Sorkin’s Complicated Biopic

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Being The Ricardos Review: Nicole Kidman And Javier Bardem Sparkle In Aaron Sorkin’s Complicated Biopic

Every year around this time, a fresh crop of prestige biopics and docudramas arrives to resurrect an old debate: when an actor is playing a real person, what defines a quality portrayal?  Is it totally about their ability to capture the essence of an individual in the context of the story that is being told, or is there a necessity for the performer to utterly disappear physically and turn invisible in their depiction – perhaps allowing the audience to believe that they are watching archive footage? The fact that this discussion is annually perpetuated by different projects taking different tactics suggests that there is no genuine answer, but in 2021, Aaron Sorkin’s Being The Ricardos is adding a fantastic new wrinkle to the conversation.

The project has been at the center of light controversy since its casting stage, with some fans questioning the choices to have Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem respectively playing Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz – the argument being that there are other actors in Hollywood who physically make better doubles of the I Love Lucy stars. Actually watching the film, one does have to concede that the loud online faction was partially right, as the movie doesn’t make the overt effort to have its two principals “become” Lucy and Desi; what’s ultimately more interesting, however, is the way in which the leads discover the powerful energies of the Hollywood legends and deliver performances that create spectacular contrast between their identities in front of the camera and behind it.

Structured in part as a faux documentary, with Linda Lavin, John Rubinstein, and Ronny Cox portraying I Love Lucy writers in contemporary interviews reflecting on their time making the show, Being The Ricardos sees Aaron Sorkin specifically focus on one week in the making of the hit television series – a week earmarked by controversy. As the writers and stars go through the stages of getting a new episode up on its feet, everyone nervously waits for a major bombshell to drop, as there is a slowly circulating rumor that Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) is a communist.

To deal with the stress, Lucy throws herself into her work, taking an even more commanding role in the creative decisions than usual, but, naturally, this leads to other feathers being rustled. Lucy’s firm hand on the wheel in production challenges Desi’s (Javier Bardem) more traditional view of masculine and feminine roles – and at the same time he is fighting on her behalf to try to get her recently announced pregnancy incorporated into the plot of the show. Fights about the origins of certain ideas are endless in the writer’s room, with showrunner Jess Oppenheimer (Tony Hale) stuck in the middle between Madelyn Pugh (Alia Shawkat) and Bob Carroll Jr. (Jake Lacy), and there is disharmony in the supporting cast as I Love Lucy co-stars Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda) and William Frawley (J.K. Simmons) have no compunction about exhibiting their dislike of one another.

Flashbacks about the origins of Lucy and Desi’s relationship and the creation of I Love Lucy add more spice to the conflict stew, creating a quite complicated gumbo, but every ingredient not only serves to heighten the drama, but also exposes the immense social complexity of the era, and the way in which Lucille Ball was constantly pulled in multiple directions as a wife, mother, and woman in a male-dominated industry.

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Aaron Sorkin bites off a lot with Being The Ricardos, but he does manage to chew it.

Biopics are often sunk by their efforts to try and do too much, and Being The Ricardos takes some bold risks dancing on that line. Aaron Sorkin very much tries to have it all by focusing on a singular week-in-the-life structure and also including the flashbacks and talking heads that add history and greater context to the events. In less skilled hands, the material could have emerged a jumble, but it plays because of Sorkin’s brilliant ability to take what could be a chaos of conflict and organize it all so that each piece of drama is designed to bounce off of another.

One could make the argument that the movie is overdramatized to the point where it strains credulity and sacrifices verisimilitude – pushing together key events that didn’t really collide in a seven day span as portrayed – but it’s a choice that works when you accept the emotional truth over the factual truth in the narrative and understand it as a depiction instead of a recreation.

The storm that Aaron Sorkin whips up from true stories is orchestrated as a means of best encapsulating the lives and experiences of Lucy and Desi, and in doing so he successfully shows sides of the two performers that audiences may have never known about or even thought about. We may think of her as a clownish redhead and he as a charismatic bandleader thanks to their iconic characters, but what unfolds in Being The Ricardos adds fascinating extra dimensions to them, and it’s because of Sorkin’s specific approach.

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem deliver unexpected and awesome turns as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

The writer/director’s call not to cover his stars in prosthetics and heavy makeup is a nice metaphorical representation of his methodology, and what completes the picture is that both Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are both phenomenal in the film. Rather than getting audiences to be impressed/distracted by an aesthetic transformation, the stars do their roles incredible justice by nailing mannerisms and physicality – not to mention their great accent work.

They are complicated performances – if not especially because of Lucille Ball playing “Lucy” and Desi Arnaz playing “Desi” in the show within the movie – but the two Academy Award winning stars do genius work playing the different attitudes and dynamics. Nicole Kidman proves herself surprisingly adept at physical comedy, getting legitimate laughs in a recreation of an I Love Lucy gag where she goes grape-stomping at an Italian vineyard, but she is also exceptional in illustrating Ball’s genius comedic mind behind-the-scenes and her struggle dealing with the multitude of pressures in her life (such as being a model for women in Hollywood and her overwhelming desire to have a real “home”).

Being a Cuban immigrant married to a white woman in 1950s America, Desi Arnaz most certainly faced plenty of pressures of his own, and while Being The Ricardos does lean more on Lucille Ball’s story, the excellence in Javier Bardem’s turn is undeniable. He’s magnetic and charismatic in ways we’ve never seen before in the role (on the other side of the solar system from his characters in movies like No Country For Old Men, Biutiful, and Skyfall), but it’s also amazing to see him blend that charm with determination while arguing his vision for I Love Lucy with producers and network executives. It’s an awesome performance that perfectly matches Nicole Kidman’s.

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After Molly’s Game and The Trial Of The Chicago 7, Aaron Sorkin is in comfortable and familiar territory operating behind the scenes of a television show in Being The Ricardos, and in every way it enhances his reputation as an auteur. There are points where he can’t seem to help himself and he allows certain sequences to become overwritten – including an emotional cast gathering in the third act – but there is also an overwhelming love of the creative process demonstrated that will garner the appreciation of any film and television fan. It’s messy, but well-made, and a wonderful tribute to its subjects.

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Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octane Thrill Ride

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Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octane Thrill Ride

Brad Pitt leads a wickedly funny ensemble in a high-octane actioner loaded with twists. Adapted from the 2010 Japanese novel by Kōtarō Isaka, Bullet Train has a bevy of disparate assassins manipulated by a mysterious criminal mastermind. Stuntman turned action director, David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde), stays true to form with unrelenting bloody and flamboyant violence. The codenamed characters get downright verbose before beating, stabbing, and shooting each other to bits. The loquacious banter tends to run long, but the narrative always bounces back with sharp reveals. Strap in for a helluva ride.

Ladybug (Pitt) boards the overnight bullet train to Tokyo with a newfound sense of self. He’s chock-full of philosophy after recovering from a near fatal ambush. Ladybug ignores his unseen handler’s advice to take a gun. Surely any issues can be resolved peacefully. The job seems straightforward enough. Steal a briefcase with a sticker and exit at the next stop.

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Also on board are Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), ruthless “twins” known for their brutal methods. Lemon is obsessed with the British children’s show “Thomas & Friends”. He reads people by comparing them to the anthropomorphized trains. The twins are escorting the previously kidnapped son (Logan Lerman) of a powerful gangster, the White Death (Michael Shannon).

None of the hired guns are aware of the Father, aka Yuichi Kimura’s (Andrew Koji), mission. He’s out for vengeance but foolishly runs into a deceptive figure. The Prince (Joey King) has a score to settle with the White Death. Meanwhile, the Wolf (Bad Bunny) joins the fray after his truly horrific Mexican wedding. He’s also ready for serious comeuppance. Ladybug quickly realizes they’re all unwitting pawns in a dangerous game. Someone has packed the train with killers for an unknown purpose. He desperately wants to get off but can’t seem to escape the carnage.


Related: I Love My Dad Review: Patton Oswalt’s Delightfully Cringeworthy Catfishing Comedy

Cast of Bullet Train

Bullet Train introduces the cast with splashy entrances that flashes back to their dark pasts. The murderous montages are informative but don’t fill in every gap. The script doles out more critical information as the bodies pile up. Alliances bounce back and forth as everyone wonders who’s actually pulling the strings. The whodunit element works well as the audience becomes embroiled in a series of betrayals. You don’t have a sense of the plot’s true trajectory until the third act. The film builds to a showdown that delivers a huge action payoff.

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Bullet Train has complex characters that each contribute slices of devilish humor. Brad Pitt preaching self-help and understanding is an effective gag throughout. Brian Tyree Henry’s constant comparisons to Thomas & Friends aren’t as comical but play an important role in the story. There are a lot of moving parts. Leitch, who worked as Pitt’s stunt double for years, is clearly fond of his players. He gives everyone a chance to babble incessantly. I would have trimmed the dialogue to be more incisive.


The action scenes are worth the price of admission. Leitch has a great eye for mixing stylized set pieces with intimate fights. He knows when to go big and small. You never feel let down by his pacing. There’s always the right amount of adrenaline to keep your pulse pumping. Bullet Train is another feather in a skilled filmmaker’s cap. Watch out for A-list cameos and a mid-credits scene.

Bullet Train is a production of Columbia Pictures, Fuqua Films, and 87North Productions. It will be released theatrically on August 5th from Sony Pictures.

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Bullet Train Review: Brad Pitt Has A Blast In The Silly And Badass Action Comedy

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Bullet Train Review: Brad Pitt Has A Blast In The Silly And Badass Action Comedy

If orchestrated properly, with adjusted stakes, tone, and atmosphere, there can be a beautiful, symbiotic relationship between intense action and comedy. A hero pulling off a rapid and vicious series of blows against an opponent can be savage and dramatic in one context, but it can also be so deliriously awesome that an audience’s first reaction is to laugh. Fast paced martial arts can be used for wonderful physical humor (see: the legendary career of Jackie Chan), and the best examples provide dual layers of entertainment: you marvel at the skill in all the ass-kicking, and cackle at the creativity in the choreography.

This is a sweet spot that filmmaker David Leitch knows well. After peppering funny moments in John Wick and Atomic Blonde at the start of his directorial career, he brilliantly utilized the action/comedy weapon that is Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2, and crafted some excellent physicality with the unique styles of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. His latest, Bullet Train, is another effort that takes aim at that particular tonal target, this time with his most expansive ensemble yet, and it’s another success. With a sensibility that could be described as early Guy Ritchie with more specific action focus, it’s a movie that is both silly and skilled and inspires its primary star in particular to do energetic and engaging work.

Based on the novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka, the film weaves multiple narrative threads through the cars of the titular bullet train as it speeds through the country of Japan – all of the protagonists being killers with their own particular reason and motivation for being aboard. Ladybug (Brad Pitt), for example, is a hired gun who has been tasked by his handler (Sandra Bullock) to perform what sounds like a simple job: find a briefcase marked with a train sticker and steal it. What he doesn’t know, though, is that said briefcase belongs to a pair of British hit men named Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and that the contents include the recovered ransom for the kidnapped son (Logan Lerman) of a powerful crime lord known as The White Death.

Meanwhile, Kimura a.k.a. The Father (Andrew Koji) is on the bullet train because he is on a mission of vengeance – hunting down the person responsible for nearly killing his son by pushing the boy off of a building. What he doesn’t expect is that the individual he is looking for is a young woman identified as The Prince (Joey King), and that she has purposefully gotten him on the high speed rail with the intention of forcing him to execute an assassination attempt.

And while five killers sharing the space would be enough for most movies, Bullet Train actually has even more that pop in and surprise throughout the film’s runtime – and their roles are worth keeping as a secret pre-release.

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Bullet Train has a chaotic storyline, but the pieces properly connect as a fun puzzle.

Narratively speaking, Bullet Train is a messy movie to put together, as focus briskly ping-pongs between the different players, but everything stays in harmony as the film persistently finds ways to build on each protagonist’s arc. This is particularly cool later in the movie as different characters are drawn together from individual angles and instant conflict is generated from their simple interaction.

The film is at its best when it keeps things simple, but it does let things go off the rails at times (if you’ll pardon the pun). This is especially true as it gets into the third act and it tries to pull off stunts like one of the leads leaping from a platform on to the back of the train as it leaves a station; it’s both a problem for the “rules” of the universe and in its strained use of visual effects. The movie also frequently tries to get a bit too cute and Tarantino-esque with what are admittedly familiar-but-not-quite-stock characters – the most prominent example being an ongoing and quickly tiresome gag with Lemon explaining that he understands people through the lens of Thomas The Tank Engine.

Primarily, though, it’s a movie that is able to generate its entertainment with engaging and quippy dynamics between the members of the ensemble, both when they are talking out their issues and trying to kill one another.

David Leitch puts a lot of exciting and weird fights in a confined space, and is at its best when working with a “less is more” philosophy.

Coming from a stunt background, both as a performer and a coordinator, David Leitch’s bread and butter remains deftly and specifically choreographed action sequences, and Bullet Train proves to be a terrific challenge and opportunity for his skills. Regardless of where you are in the titular transport, space is not a luxury, and the best fights in the movie are those that are being fought only between the characters, but against the limitations provided by the location.

There are guns, knives and explosives in the mix, but Bullet Train also has some terrific “found item” moments that add spice and humor to the various showdowns, whether it’s a pocketed cell phone saving a character’s life from a blade, a laptop making for a solid cudgel, a water bottle making for a useful projectile, or a venomous snake showing up at a perfect moment.

Once again we see David Leitch work a special magic turning dramatic and comedic actors into badasses with slick and stylish moves, and while everyone shows off some terrific skills, it’s very much the Brad Pitt show at the end of the day.

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Brad Pitt’s joy in the role of Ladybug is palpable.

At the nexus of everything good in Bullet Train is Brad Pitt, who very clearly had a blast reuniting with David Leitch (who performed the actor’s stunts in films including Fight Club, The Mexican, Mr. And Mrs. Smith and Troy). He’s a joy to watch in action not just because of the talented craft he demonstrates in his physicality, but how he channels the psychology of the character. As we meet him, Ladybug is reluctantly getting back into his business following a number of important breakthroughs with his therapist, and Pitt does a fantastic job conveying that he doesn’t ever want to choose violence as a first answer – both via verbal pleas and defense-heavy moves. Action/comedy is a genre he should revisit a lot more often.

Bullet Train doesn’t aim to revolutionize hitman movies, but instead plays with a tongue-in-cheek vibe that lets you recognize the tropes and appreciate how the film plays with them. It’s a slick/goofy action movie that is both contained and wild, and a satisfying late summer release.

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Luck Review: A Spectacular Debut Film from Skydance Animation

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Luck Review: A Spectacular Debut Film from Skydance Animation

The world’s unluckiest woman enters a magical land to change the fortunes of a fellow orphan. Luck will make you smile and possibly shed a few tears. The big-budget, CGI animated fantasy shines a spotlight on needy children while telling a truly original story. An assortment of lucky critters and creatures dazzle in a spectacular setting. The highly imaginative narrative gives age-old superstitions a dynamic new spin. Luck is a brilliant first film from Skydance Animation.

Sam Greenfield (Eva Noblezada) reaches her eighteenth birthday with trepidation. She’s finally aged out of the foster care system. Sam never found her “forever family”. She spent her entire life living in orphanages. It doesn’t help that Sam has the worst luck. Everything she does or touches ends in abject disaster. Her only thoughts are for young Hazel (Adelynn Spoon), Sam’s roommate at the girls home. Sam has been set up with a job and tiny apartment. She has to stay in school and employed to remain housed.

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Sam’s first day at Marv’s (Lil Rel Howery) floral shop goes exactly as expected. She sadly eats dinner sitting on a sidewalk. Sam learns that Hazel’s weekend trip with a foster family was canceled. She gives half of her sandwich to a curious black cat. It scampers away but leaves a strange penny behind.

The following day is a revelation. Sam’s lucky penny changes everything. Her ecstatic mood sours when she loses the penny in spectacular fashion. Stewing on the sidewalk, Sam’s surprised when the black cat returns. She’s astonished when Bob (Simon Pegg) asks for his penny. The “travel penny” is the only way a creature from the Land of the Luck stays safe in the human world. She follows an unnerved Bob back through the portal to the Land of Luck. Sam has to find another lucky penny to help Hazel. Bob reluctantly agrees, but they have to be careful. Misdeeds end up in banishment to Bad Luck.

Related: Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octaine Thrill Ride

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The Land of Luck

The Land of Luck is an absolute joy to behold. Leprechauns, cats, pigs, and rabbits, lucky creatures, are the bureaucrats tasked with spreading good fortune. Bringing Sam in such a place is a recipe for absolute chaos. Bob, and his leprechaun assistant Gerry’s (Colin O’Donoghue), efforts to contain Sam’s bad luck will have audiences in stitches. I’m still chuckling at Sam’s “Latvian leprechaun” disguise; their harebrained excuse for why she’s so much bigger than everyone else.

Luck’s serious themes are artfully addressed. Sam’s lonely childhood, and her desperate efforts to change Hazel’s, brings a melancholic touch to the narrative. The film reminds us to not take love and family for granted. Every kid deserves care, nurturing, and a safe place to grow. It shouldn’t take luck or chance for a child to find a “forever home”.

Insert sigh here. Recent headlines concerning John Lasseter (Toy Story, Cars) will undoubtedly cloud this film’s release. The genius storyteller and animator behind Pixar’s success left to head Skydance Animation after awful “Me Too” allegations. He’s brought his incredible talent to Luck, and it shows. This wonderful film deserves to be judged on its own merits. Sometimes we must divorce ourselves from art and the personality of the artist.

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Luck is a production of Skydance Animation and Apple Original Films. It will have an exclusive Apple TV+ premiere on August 5th.

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