Review: Original "BEVERLY HILLS COP" is Still Crazy and Cool

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 of 2024 (No. 1972) by Leroy Douresseaux

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Running time:  105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: Martin Brest

WRITERS:  Daniel Petrie, Jr.; from a story by Daniel Petrie, Jr. and Danilo Bach

PRODUCERS:  Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Bruce Surtees (ASC)

EDITORS:  Arthur Coburn and Billy Weber

COMPOSER:  Harold Faltermeyer

Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/ACTION/CRIME

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher, Ronny Cox, Steven Berkoff, Jonathan Banks, James Russo, Stephen Elliot, Gilbert R. Hill, Art Kimbro, Joel Bailey, Bronson Pinchot, Paul Reiser, Michael Champion, and Damon Wayans

Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American buddy-cop film and action-comedy directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy.  This year (2024) makes the 40th anniversary of Beverly Hills Cop original theatrical release (specifically December 1984).  The film was the first entry in what would become the Beverly Hills Cop film franchise.  Beverly Hills Cop focuses on a cocky young Detroit cop who pursues a murder investigation in Beverly Hills where he must deal with a very different culture and a very different police department.

Beverly Hills Cop opens in Detroit, Michigan.  There, we meet Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), a plainclothes police detective.  As the story begins, his unauthorized sting operation goes sour resulting in a disastrous high-speed chase.  Axel's reckless behavior earns him the ire of his superior, Inspector Todd (Gilbert R. Hill), who threatens to fire him unless he changes his ways.

Axel returns to his apartment to find his childhood friend, Michael “Mikey” Tandino (James Russo).  After doing a stint in prison, Mikey got a job as a security guard in Beverly Hills, California via a childhood friend of both Axel and Mikey's, Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher).  However, Mikey has gotten into something dangerous, and it costs him his life.

In spite of threats from Inspector Todd, Axel travels to Beverly Hills and visits Jenny at her place of employment, the “Hollis Benton Art Gallery.”  There, he discovers that the gallery's owner, Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff), is involved in something very shady, and that he also likely had Mickey killed.  Meanwhile, Axel runs afoul Lt. Bogomil (Ronny Cox) at the local precinct of the Beverly Hills PD.  Bogomil has two of his detectives,  Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Sergeant John Taggart, trail Axel.  Can the street-smart Axel convince Rosewood and Taggart to help him discover exactly what Victor Maitland is doing?  Or will Axel end up sharing the same tragic fate as Mikey?

It has been well over 30 years since I had watched Beverly Hills Cop in its entirety.  As far as I can remember, I definitely saw it in a movie theater sometime in December 1984, likely with some or all of my sisters.  I may have watched it once or twice more before the 1980s came to an end.  In anticipation of the just released sequel, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (a “Netflix Original”), I decided to watch the first film again.  Just for starters, the film's soundtrack is still perky, although a bit quaint.  Harold Faltermeyer's score, especially the instrumental title tune/theme, “Axel F,” still seems pitch perfect for this movie, as if nearly four decades had not passed.

I wondered if I would like it as much as I did the first time I saw it, and I absolutely loved it back then.  This film made Eddie Murphy, for a few years, the biggest star in Hollywood.  Watching Beverly Hills Cop now, I feel as if I have fallen in love with it again.  Beverly Hills Cop was originally meant to be a star vehicle for Sylvester Stallone and be a straight action film.  Instead, it became an Eddie Murphy star vehicle, and a comic action film that has numerous funny moments, most of them executed by Eddie Murphy.  Here, you can see what made Murphy a transcendent star; he has true movie star qualities and loads of charisma.  Still, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton have their chances to be funny as Rosewood and Taggart, respectively.  Of course, Bronson Pinchot as the museum employee, Serge, steals every scene in which he appears.  He would go on to use this role to launch himself into television stardom.

As funny as Beverly Hills Cop is, it retains some of the edge that was probably in the early versions of its screenplay.  The beginning of the film shamelessly displays the inner city ruins of Detroit.  There are also multiple violent deaths, beginning with Mikey's, but I find that the excellent car chase scenes and gun battles are a bit of pop movie fun that balance out the poverty, deprivation, and violent firearm deaths that pepper this film.

Director Martin Brest, who made a career out of turning plain genre films into something just a bit more special, eagerly keeps his camera on his star.  Brest records every last bit of Murphy's talent, star power, and comedy modus operandi on the way to making Beverly Hills Cop a cop movie like nothing audiences had seen before or have seen since.  In spite of its sequels, Beverly Hills Cop remains one of a kind, and is surprisingly (at least to me) still crazy as heck and funny as hell.

A

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, July 4, 2024

NOTES:

1985 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Daniel Petrie Jr.-screenplay/story and Danilo Bach-story)

1985 Golden Globes, USA:  2 nominations:  “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Eddie Murphy)

1986 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Score” (Harold Faltermeyer)

The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "NAUSICAA IN THE VALLEY OF THE WIND" Soars to the Animation Heavens

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 of 2023 (No. 1925) by Leroy Douresseaux

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Kaze no Tani no Naushika – original Japanese title

Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)

MPAA – PG for violence

DIRECTOR:  Hayao Miyazaki

WRITER:  Hayao Miyazaki (based upon the manga by Hayao Miyazaki)

PRODUCER:  Isao Takahata

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Yasuhiro Shimizu, Koji Shiragami, Yukitomo Shudo, and Mamoru Sugiura

EDITORS: Naoki Kaneko, Tomoko Kida, and Shoji Saka

COMPOSER:  Joe Hisaishi

ANIMATION/FANTASY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (voices) Sumi Shimamoto, Goro Naya, Ichiro Nagai, Hisako Kyoda, Yoji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Iemasa Kayumi, Kohei Miyauchi, Joji Yanami, Minoru Yada, Mina Tominaga, Mahito Tsujimura, and Rihoko Yoshida

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 Japanese animated, post-apocalyptic, fantasy film from director Hayao Miyazaki.  The film is based on Miyazaki's manga (Japanese comic), also titled Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which first began publication in 1982.  Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind the movie focuses on a princess who is both warrior and pacifist and her desperate struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and her homeland.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind opens one thousand years after the event known as “the Seven Days of Fire.”  It was an apocalyptic war that destroyed civilization and caused an ecological collapse, creating something called “the Sea of Decay.”  This is a poisonous forest of fungal life and plants that swarm with giant mutant insects, the largest and most dangerous being the the trilobite-like and armored “Ohm.”  The poison from the plants can kill humans, and every day, the Sea of Decay spreads, encroaching on what little open land remains.

Nausicaä (Sumi Shimamoto) is a teenage warrior and princess of the Valley of the Wind, a land that has remained, thus far, free of the Sea of Decay.  Riding the wind and sky in a powered glider, Nausicaä explores the jungles of the Sea of Decay and communicates with its creatures.  That is how she is reunited with the explorer and great swordsman, Lord Yupa Miralda (Goro Naya), who has returned to meet with Nausicaä's father, Jihl (Mahito Tsujimura), the King of the Valley of the Wind.

But tragedy strikes.  The Valley of the Wind is soon at the epicenter of two warring nations, the Kingdom of Tolmekia and Pejite.  Princess Kushana (Yoshiko Sakakibara) has led the Tolmekian Frontier Forces into the Valley.  Thus, Nausicaä must forge a relationship with Prince Asbel of Pejite (Yoji Matsuda), but there is something worse than two warring nations.  Destruction is headed towards the Valley of the Wind, and it will take all of Nausicaä's talents, skills, and tricks to save her home.

I have previously reviewed the following Miyazaki-directed films:  The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013).  As Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail division, I am hoping to get to the Miyazaki films that I have not previously watched.

Apparently, the work of the legendary French comic book creator, Jean “Moebius” Giraud (1938-2012), influenced Miyazaki in the creation of his manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  The influence of Moebius remains with Miyazaki's film adaptation of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  I also see the influence of the famed animation director, Ralph Bakshi, especially of his 1977 fantasy film, Wizards.  J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novels (1954-55) are clearly influences, and Frank Herbert's famed science fiction novel, Dune (1965), is also an influence.  In fact, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind the film would arrive in theaters almost nine months before the first film adaption of Herbert's novel, director David Lynch's 1984 film, Dune.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a beautifully and practically designed film in the sense that the environments have both a sense of naturalism and realism to them while the insects are fantastical creations that seem more practical than impractical because they are based on real insects.  This makes the world of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind seem like a credible future world or at least genuine post-apocalyptic future.  Yes, Nausicaä's glider is impractical, but the animation gives it such beauty in motion that I believe in it and I believe in the way Nausicaä flies it.

The film's plot and subplots are strongly environmental and ecological and the conflict is a series of familiar tribal tropes.  However, what carries plot and narrative are the inventive and engaging characters.  Every players, regardless of the size of his or her role, is inviting and intriguing.  Yes, Nausicaä is a star born, a heroine out of fairy tale, folklore, and mythology who captures hearts and holds our imaginations captive.  Still, the denizens of the Valley and the feuding and conniving citizens of Tolmekia and Pejite are a delightful bunch, not good and evil, so much as they are selfish, but likable, each in his or her own way.  The legendary Yupa, like Nausicaä, stands as a typical heroic figure, although he stands behind Nausicaä.

A long time ago, I told a fellow Miyazaki fan that Spirited Away was my favorite of the director's films.  He insisted that I see Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  Now, I'm not so sure which is my favorite.  Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is like no other animated feature film, and I certainly consider it one of the greatest that I have ever seen.

10 of 10

Thursday, August 10, 2023

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Spielberg's "INDIANA JONES and the Temple of Doom" Still Goes Boom! (Celebrating "The Fabelmans")

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 71 of 2022 (No. 1883) by Leroy Douresseaux

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Running time:  118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg
WRITERS:  Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz; from a story by George Lucas
PRODUCER:  Robert Watts
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Douglas Slocombe (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Michael Kahn, A.C.E.
COMPOSER:  John Williams
Academy Awards winner

ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri, Roy Chiao, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone, Raj Singh, D. R. Nanayakkara, Dan Aykroyd, and Pat Roach

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 action-adventure film from director Steven Spielberg.  It is the second entry in the “Indiana Jones” film franchise that began with the 1981 film, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), but it is also a prequel to Raiders.  In the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones takes on a secret cult in India in order to reclaim a sacred rock stolen from a simple Indian village.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom opens in Shanghai, 1935.  Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. a.k.a. “Indy” (Harrison Ford) has been hired by Lao Che (Roy Chiao), a Shanghai crime boss, to find the remains of Emperor Nurhaci.  Che betrays Indy, who goes on the run with Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw), one of Che's nightclub singers, and Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), a young Chinese orphan who is Indy's sidekick.

After surviving a plane crash orchestrated by Lao Che, the trio ends up in a small village in northern India.  The village chieftain (D. R. Nanayakkara) believes that Indy's arrival is fated, and that he will help the village with two problems.  The first is to retrieve the village's stolen “Shivalinga,” a rock the villagers hold in high esteem.  Indy believes that this rock is one of the five sacred “Sankara stones.”  The chieftain also wants Indy to find the villagers' missing children.  The chieftain informs Indy that the village's troubles began when the new Maharajá reopened the Pankot Palace in Pankot, an opening that has brought back a “dark light” to the land.

Traveling to Pankot Palace, Indy, Willie, and Short Round discover that the Maharajá of Pankot (Raj Singh) is a child, and beneath his palace, the ancient “Thuggee” cult has also been revived.  The cult leader, Mola Ram (Amrish Puri), wants to find all five Sankara stones in order to gain power from the Thuggees' goddess, Kali.  Now, Indiana Jones has taken it upon himself to stop the cult.

For years, I encountered pretentious film fans who despised Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and who insisted that I should hate it, too.  However, I have always found Temple of Doom to be endlessly entertaining, but I also understand that it has a lot to live up to.  It is the sequel (prequel) to one of the most popular movies of all time and one of the greatest films of all time (as far as I'm concerned), Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a great action-adventure film precisely because the filmmakers were not trying to make “Raiders of the Lost Ark II” so much as they were creating a franchise.  Temple of Doom is essentially world-building, as the film, especially early in the narrative, hints that Indiana Jones has had many adventures.  So before there was Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, there was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  That is what I liked most when I first saw it and still like:  Indiana Jones was not a one-time great thing; it was new universe and a new series of adventures centering on an archaeologist who was as much a cowboy as he was an professor and academic.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom also remains the most unique film in the series.  To date, it is the only entry that does not have a single moment set in the United States.  Set in China and India, it is the only film in the series in which the main cast is largely non-white.  The film has an intriguing villain to open the story, the Shanghai crime boss, Lao Che, and a superb main villain, Mola Ram, the Thuggee cult leader.  Both actors play their respective villainous roles quite well.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is also the first film in the series to suggest that Indy has a network of helpers or at least a circle of associates.  For me, Short Round is an excellent sidekick, and he fits better than Kate Capshaw's Willie Scott, who seems like nothing more than a noisy dame.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom also has excellent production values, especially its costumes, hair and make-up, and art direction and sets.  The film won an Oscar for its visual effects, which remain impressive four decades later, especially for the scenes involving the lava pit and the chase through the mine's tunnel system.

I am watching and, in some cases, re-watching early Steven Spielberg films, such as Duel, Jaws, and 1941, in anticipation of Spielberg's autobiographical film, The Fabelmans.  I have lost track of how many times I have watched at least part of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but this is the first time that I have watched the film in its entirety in decades.  Watching it again, I am sure now, more than ever, that I love this film.  Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was the first sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, and to date, it remains the best.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, November 19, 2022

You can purchase the "INDIANA JONES 4-Movie Collection" Blu-ray or DVD here at AMAZON.

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Michael J. McAlister, Lorne Peterson, and George Gibbs) and 1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Score” (John Williams)

1985 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Special Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, George Gibbs, Michael J. McAlister, and Lorne Peterson; 3 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Douglas Slocombe), “Best Editing” (Michael Kahn), and “Best Sound” (Ben Burtt, Simon Kaye, and Laurel Ladevich)


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: 1984 "Dune" Retains its Cult Cinema Charms

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 62 of 2021 (No. 1800) by Leroy Douresseaux

Dune (1984)
Running time:  136 minutes (2 hours, 16 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR:  David Lynch
WRITER:  David Lynch (based on the novel by Frank Herbert)
PRODUCER:  Raffaella De Laurentiis
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Freddie Francis (photographed by)
EDITOR:  Antony Gibbs
COMPOSER: TOTO
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI

Starring:  Kyle MacLachlan, Francesca Annis, Jürgen Prochnow, José Ferrer, Kenneth McMillan, Sting, Paul Smith, Everett McGill, Sean Young, Patrick Stewart, Siân Phillips, Dean Stockwell, Max von Sydow, Linda Hunt, Richard Jordan, Brad Dourif, Virginia Madsen, and Alicia Witt

Dune is a 1984 science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch.  It is based on the 1965 novel, Dune, written by author Frank Herbert.  Dune the film focuses on a young nobleman who becomes the leader of a band of desert warriors as he attempts to free their planet from the clutches of a despotic galactic emperor.

Dune opens in the far future in the year 10,191.  The known universe is ruled by Padishah Emperor Shaddam the Fourth (José Ferrer). The most valuable substance in the universe is the spice, “melange.”  It is a drug that extends life and expands consciousness, and it is vital to space travel.  An “orange spice gas” gives the navigators of the “Space Guild” the ability to fold space, which permits safe and instantaneous interstellar travel.  The spice is only found on the desert planet, Arrakis, which is also called “Dune.”

The Emperor appoints a noble family of the “Landsraad” (the empire's noble houses) to mine and produce spice on Arrakis.  He fears the growing popularity of Duke Leto Atreides of the House Atreides and also the secret army Leto is supposedly amassing.  He appoints the House Atreides as the new stewards of Arrakis, replacing the current controllers, the House Harkonnen, let by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan), who is also Leto's enemy.  Ceding control of Arrakis to Duke Leto is just part of a plot by the Emperor and Baron Harkonnen to destroy the House Atreides.

However, Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan), the son of Leto and his concubine, Lady Jessica (Francesca Annis), is the focus of both the Space Guild and the Bene Gesserit, a powerful sisterhood.  For there is a prophecy concerning the “Kwisatz Haderach,” a messiah who will liberate Arrakis and its people, the “Fremen.”  The Bene Gesserit are afraid that Paul is this messiah.  On Arrakis, Paul will find his destiny, and he will find “Muad'Dib,” if he survives the conspiracies against him.

Until recently, I had not watched Dune in its entirety since I first saw it in a movie theater back in Fall 1984.  In spite of its many fault, I still like it.  The film has wonderful, unique, and even eccentric production values, which I can also say about its special effects and sound.  People like Kit West (mechanical special effects), Carlo Rimbaldi (creature creation), Barry Nolan (special photographic effects), Albert J. Whitlock (special effects), Bob Ringwood (costumes), Anthony Masters (production design), (Freddie Frances), and the Grammy Award-winning rock band, Toto (score) all do the work that makes Dune look, feel, and sound like no other film in American cinematic history.  Regardless of my conflicted feelings about the film, dear readers, I want these find artists, craftsman, and technicians to get at least some praise for their work on Dune.

I have read that the producers behind Dune hoped to make it the first of a film series that would be like “Star Wars for adults.”  In a few ways, Dune is as good as Star Wars.  The difference is that Star Wars is an original film story, and its plot, characters, and settings are simple, straightforward, and are narrowly focused for a two-hour film.  Dune is the adaptation of a complex science fiction novel that is packed with plots and subplots.  Dune the novel has settings that span a universe, including several planets, environments, and human habitats.  Star Wars' back story is briefly mentioned, while Dune's back story spans time in blocks – from decades to millennia – and is very important to the story in the present.

Watching Dune the movie the first time, one can feel that a lot of important parts of the story have been left out.  When I first saw Dune, that was obvious to me, although I had, at the time, never read the novel, but I was aware of it and its sequels.  [I would read the original novel about twenty years after I first saw the film]  Dune the movie has a narrator, Princess Irulan, the Emperor's daughter (played by a young Virginia Madsen), and multiple characters speak in voice-overs.  Frequent narration and constant voice-overs basically tell you that this film has too much story for its own good.  In fact, when Dune was first released, movie theaters handed out an information sheet that explained terms and names that would be featured in the film.  My copy of this Dune fact sheet has been lost to time, but I have never received such a sheet for any other film that I've seen in a movie theater.

[I must also note that I liked writer-director John Harrison's “Frank Herbert's Dune,” a three-part, television miniseries adaptation that aired on the Sci Fi Channel in December of 2000.]

As I said, however, there are things about the film that I really like, and even Kyle MacLachlan's amateurish performance as Paul Atreides does not keep me from enjoying Dune.  Actually, several actors deliver good performances in the film, even in small roles.  I watched Dune again in preparation for Warner Bros' new version, directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Denis Villeneuve, for which I have high hopes.  However, I suspect that I will return to David Lynch's Dune again.

6 of 10
B

Tuesday, October 19, 2021


NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Sound” (Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Kevin O'Connell, and Nelson Stoll)

The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#28DaysofBlack Review: "THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET" Still Out of This World

[Outside of television, no white filmmaker has presented the depth, diversity, and scope of African-American characters on the big screen to the extent that writer-director John Sayles has.  For years, I encountered black people who thought that Sayles' fourth feature film, “The Brother from Another Planet,” was a “black film.”  Why is that?  Sayles has the ability to create characters and stories from outside the mainstream of society or of storytelling, but his directorial approach is more observational than dictatorial.  The result is a film like The Brother from Another Planet, in which no one can say of those black characters, “they all look alike” or act alike.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 of 2021 (No. 1758) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some drug content and brief nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  John Sayles
PRODUCERS:  Peggy Rajski and Maggie Renzi
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ernest R. Dickerson
EDITOR:  John Sayles
COMPOSERS:  Mason Daring; Denzil Botus; Martin Brody; John Sayles and others

SCI-FI/DRAMA

Starring:  Joe Morton, Daryl Edwards, Steve James, Leonard Jackson, Carolyn Aaron, Bill Cobbs, Tom Wright, Minnie Gentry, Dee Dee Bridgewater, David Strathairn, John Sayles

The Brother from Another Planet is a 1984 science fiction and drama film from writer-director John Sayles.  This low-budget, independent film focuses on a mute alien that looks like an African-American man as he navigates the streets of Harlem and avoids the aliens hunting him.

The Brother from Another Planet opens inside an alien space craft of some kind that is in distress.  The pilot struggles with the controls of the ship that eventually crashes in the water near Ellis Island.  The alien emerges from the water, and other than his three-toed feet, he looks like a black human male.  He makes his way to New York City, specifically Harlem.

In a way, he successfully blends with the denizens of NYC, and makes his way into a bar owned by a man named, Odell (Steve James).  There, Odell and the regulars:  Fly (Daryl Edwards), Walter (Bill Cobbs), and Smokey (Leonard Jackson) begin to refer to the alien as “The Brother” (Joe Morton).  The Brother has the ability to heal his wounds and to heal or fix machines, and he soon lands a job as a technician and repairman.  Meanwhile, two men in black (David Strathairn and John Sayles) are hunting for The Brother … because he is a slave.

It has been over a decade since I last saw The Brother from Another Planet, but there was a time period when I saw it several times.  Every time I saw it, I loved it as much as I did the time before, if not more.  Before I watched it recently, I wondered how I would feel about it now, and it turns out that I am still in love with this film.  I once described The Brother from Another Planet as one of my all-time favorite films, and it must remain so.  As a low-budget, independent science fiction film, it is ripe for a remake.  However, the truth is that even with its seat-of-the-pants film-making and bare-bones special effects, The Brother from Another Planet seems to be perfect the way it is.  At least, that is what my mind keeps thinking.

Writer-director John Sayles has described The Brother from Another Planet as being about the immigrant experience of assimilation.  In a way, both The Brother and the denizens of Harlem and NYC, in general, are aliens, depending on the perspective and point of view from which they are viewed.  In fact, Sayles' Harlem in a grimy, funky alien world of people and places.  Somehow, Sayles makes every person and every thing unique; nothing and no one is like anything or anyone else.

For all that the cast brings to the film, The Brother from Another Planet's strength is in its creator, John Sayles, and in its star, Joe Morton as The Brother.  Sometimes, the film seems like a series of documentary or anthropological vignettes – as erratic in their presentation as they are inventive in the conception.  In that he is a most imaginative filmmaker, Sayles is a genius at creating characters that the viewer will want to observe.

Joe Morton's performance, exploratory without being penetrative and aggressive, brings the disparate parts of this film together into a whole, although it is not a seamless whole.  Perhaps that is the point; very little of this film's setting should seem connected.  On this planet that is our Earth, Joe Morton's Brother explores the strange worlds within the strange world.  Morton's is one of the greatest film performances that I have ever seen.  Without saying a word, Morton becomes like the actors of the silent film era, using physicality and facial expressions (or lack thereof) to tell The Brother's story, doing so in vivid colors and with rich texture.

The Brother from Another Planet is indeed an immigrant story, focusing on a being forced to be an immigrant and to find a new place in which to live because he is a slave.  The film is not about slavery, although the fact that The Brother is a runaway slave waits patiently on the periphery of this film and its narrative.  But, then again, The Brother from Another Planet gives the viewer so much to think about, and its seems like a chapter in a larger narrative.  Perhaps, that is why every time I watch this film, I feel like The Brother, always discovering something new.

10 of 10

Tuesday, February 23, 2021


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Being Remastered Made "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" Better

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 38 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Running time:  105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:   Leonard Nimoy
WRITER:  Harve Bennett (based upon the TV series “Star Trek” created by Gene Roddenberry)
PRODUCER:  Harve Bennett
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Charles Correll
EDITOR:  Robert F. Shugrue
COMPOSER:  James Horner

SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Mark Leonard, Robin Curtis, Merritt Butrick, Christopher Lloyd, and Leonard Nimoy and Robert Hooks, Phil Morris, Phillip Richard Allen, Miguel Ferrer, and Carl Steven

The subject of this movie review is Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, a 1984 science fiction action-adventure film.  It is the third movie in the Star Trek film franchise, which is based on “Star Trek,” the science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry and originally broadcast on NBC from September 1966 to June 1969.  In The Search for Spock, the crew of USS Enterprise goes on a mission to recover the body of friend and crew mate, Spock, and finds more danger than they expected.

The Search for Spock follows the events depicted in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn.  Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) won the battle against his ghost-from-the-past, Khan Noonien Singh, but it was a hollow victory.  The USS Enterprise limps back to Earth.  Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) is going insane.  And Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is dead… or is he?

Spock’s father, Sarek (Mark Leonard), confronts Kirk about leaving Spock’s body in a casket on the “Genesis planet” which was created by the “Genesis device.”  Sarek tells Kirk that there might be hope for Spock.  Kirk and his bridge crew:  Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), risk their careers by stealing the decommissioned Enterprise to return to the now-restricted Genesis planet to recover Spock’s body.

Meanwhile, Kirk’s son, David (Merritt Butrick), one of the creators of Genesis, returns to the Genesis planet with the Vulcan, Lieutenant Saavik (Robin Curtis), to investigate strange sensor readings emanating from the planet.  Neither realizes that an ambitious and murderous Klingon commander named Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) is also interested in the Genesis device.  Kruge is leading his Klingon ship, the Bird of Prey, to the Genesis planet, determined to obtain the secrets of Genesis.

2014 is the 30th anniversary (specifically June 1, 1984) of the original theatrical release of Star Trek III:  The Search for Spock.  It was the first Star Trek film that I saw in a movie theatre.  Before I saw it, all I knew of the film’s plot was that it involved Spock, who was dead, and that the Enterprise was destroyed in the film.  From news media reports and through word-of-mouth, I heard that some Star Trek fans (“Trekkies” or “Trekkers”) were furious about the destruction of the ship.

When I finally saw the movie, I did not find myself particularly upset about the Enterprise’s destruction.  It was done.  What could I do about it?  What did upset me was (Spoiler!) the brutal stabbing death of Kirk’s son, David, at the hands of a Klingon.  For years, I thought Kruge had actually done the stabbing, but he only gave the order to kill a prisoner.  For years, also, I avoided The Search for Spock because I found David’s death upsetting and troubling in a way I could not explain then and cannot explain now.

This recent viewing of The Search for Spock is the first time that I have seen the film in its entirety since watching it a second time on VHS in either 1984 or 1985.  I don’t remember how much I liked the film then, but I now find myself quite fond of it.

I won’t lie and say that The Search for Spock is great; it is not.  Some of scenes have blatantly bad acting.  The last ten minutes of the film is somewhat marred by tedious mysticism.  Still, Christopher Lloyd’s turn as Kruge is both brilliant and unique.  His is one of the best and most memorable performances of a villain in a Star Trek film.

Besides Lloyd, two other things about The Search for Spock grabbed me.  First, the race to recover Spock against the ticking clock of the doomed Genesis planet coupled with the Klingon threat is a captivating hook.  Secondly, the theme of camaraderie, as exemplified by the crew of the Enterprise and measured against the blood-thirsty Kruge, makes me forget this film’s blemishes.  I know my feelings about Star Trek III: The Search for Spock are about me being nostalgic for “Star Trek classic,” but I would choose it over many other films, including many Oscar-winners, any old time of day.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, July 26, 2014


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Original "Red Dawn" Remains an 80s Curio

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 87 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Red Dawn (1984)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: John Milius
WRITERS: John Milius and Kevin Reynolds; from a story by Kevin Reynolds
PRODUCERS: Barry Beckerman and Buzz Feitshans
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ric Waite (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Thom Noble
COMPOSER: Basil Poledouris

WAR/DRAMA

Starring: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, Darren Dalton, Jennifer Grey, Brad Savage, Doug Toby, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Ron O’Neal, William Smith, Powers Boothe, Lane Smith, and Frank McRae

The subject of this movie review is Red Dawn, a 1984 war film from director John Milius (Conan the Barbarian). The film is set in an alternate version of the 1980s and depicts an invasion of the United States launched by the Soviet Union and its Cuban and Nicaraguan allies. The story follows a group of American high school students who launch a guerrilla war against the invaders.

World War III begins on a September morning. It arrives in the small town of Calumet, Colorado when paratroopers begin dropping from the sky. These are Russian Airborne Troops, and soon after them, Cuban and Soviet troops begin an occupation of Calumet. Jed Eckert (Patrick Swayze) and his teenage brother, Matt (Charlie Sheen), take a small group of Matt’s fellow high school students and flee into the surrounding mountains.

After taking in two teen girls, this group begins an armed resistance against the occupation forces. These young people start calling themselves “Wolverines.” Meanwhile, back in town, Colonel Ernesto Bella (Ron O’Neal) is punishing the townspeople for the Wolverines’ attacks on his troops. Which side will give in first?

When Red Dawn was first released to theatres in 1984, I ignored it, although I knew many people around my age who loved the movie. I recently watched it for the first time, and I found little about it worth loving or hating. Red Dawn is basically a misfire with a lot of good ideas. It is not pro-war and is not so much a war movie as it is a movie about children leading a resistance group during wartime. In fact, I guess that I can best describe Red Dawn as a poorly realized movie about guerrilla warfare and child soldiers.

I cannot say the acting is bad because the actors don’t have much with which to work. The script offers very little character development, and the action scenes that should help to develop the characters or at least help the audience to get to know them better actually make the characters’ motivations increasingly murkier.

Red Dawn essentially has no plot, unless the depiction of a series of skirmishes and battles is the plot. The concept has potential; it simply was not developed nearly 30 years ago when the movie was made. As it stands, Red Dawn is a time capsule movie. It is a piece of pop culture, reflective of the mid-1980s, a time of Ronald Reagan, anti-Soviet Union propaganda, paranoia, and warmongering. At the time, there seemed to be a mood in the U.S., an aching for a fight with someone we could beat, especially if it was a country or entity that could act as a stand-in for the Soviet Union/Russia.

Red Dawn delivered what reality could not. Here, white guys wearing tight jeans, wielding high-powered firearms, and packing lots of military gear get to shoot some Ruskies. Too bad no one thought to shoot a good movie.

4 of 10
C

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Review: "Ghostbusters" Still in High Spirits

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 160 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ghost Busters (1984)
Running time: 117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Ivan Reitman
WRITERS: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Laszlo Kovacs (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: David Blewitt and Sheldon Kahn
COMPOSER: Elmer Bernstein
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR

Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Ernie Hudson, Reggie Vel Johnson and Frances E. Nealy with (cameos) Larry King, Joe Franklin, Casey Kasem

The subject of this review is Ghostbusters (originally titles Ghost Busters), 1984 supernatural comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. The film starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, and Harold Ramis and was written by Aykroyd and Ramis, apparently with some contributions from costar, Rick Moranis.

Doctors Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) are three unemployed parapsychology professors who set up a ghost, spirit, and spectre removal service called Ghost Busters. They successfully chase haunts and poltergeists, and they eventually earn so much cash and business that they have to hire a man off the street, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), to become the fourth Ghost Buster agent. Things are going well, until Venkman has his eye on Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), a musician who comes to the Ghost Busters with a problem. Her refrigerator has a demon in it, and that’s the first sign of the apocalyptic arrival of a Sumerian god bent on destroying the world.

Months after it was released in 1984, Ghost Busters became the highest-grossing comedy film ever made. It was and is a well written comedy with well-developed elements of fantasy, but most of all the fine cast of comic actors served Ghost Busters quite well. The best of the lot is Bill Murray, whose dry wit and sarcasm, as well as his deadpan delivery, made audiences willing to suspend their disbelief for this film. Somehow, Ghost Busters comic tone blended very well with the film’s low rent sci-fi and horror elements. The comedy worked, and the ghosts were so light and airy that it was hard to take them seriously, but at the same time not quite possible to dismiss them.

Actually, all the filmmakers were pretty sharp in their efforts. Ghost Busters was merely another example of director Ivan Reitman’s deft touch as a director of comic films, and the film’s writers, Ramis, Aykroyd, and Moranis (not given screen credit) are all funny guys who came up with a novel story. Together their film has stood the test of time, and there’s very little to criticize about it, though the film is a tad bit long and the final showdown is kind of loopy. This is a great screen comedy that I’d heartily recommend.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Richard Edlund, John Bruno, Mark Vargo, and Chuck Gaspar) and “Best Music, Original Song” (Ray Parker Jr. for the song "Ghostbusters")

1985 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Original Song” (Ray Parker Jr. for the song "Ghostbusters"); 1 nomination: “Best Special Visual Effects” (Richard Edlund)

1985 Golden Globes, USA: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical,” “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Ray Parker Jr. for the song "Ghostbusters"), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Bill Murray)

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Review: Original "Frankenweenie" Short and Sweet

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 187 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Frankenweenie (1984) – B&W
Running time: 27 minutes
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Leonard Ripps (from an idea by Tim Burton)
PRODUCER: Julie Hickson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Thomas Ackerman
EDITOR: Ernest Milano

SHORT/SCI-FI/COMEDY with elements of horror

Starring: Shelley Duvall, Daniel Stern, Barret Oliver, Joseph Maher, Roz Braverman, and Domino (Sofia Coppola)

Back in 1984, Tim Burton made a delightful little film short entitled, Frankenweenie, for Disney. Disney didn’t like the offbeat story and refused to release the film. However, after Burton had a hit film with Beetle Juice and landed the gig to direct Batman (1989), Disney released the film on videocassette in the late 80’s.

The film retells the Frankenstein story from a child’s perspective with gentle humor and simplicity. When his pet dog Sparky is hit and killed by a car, Victor Frankenstein (Barret Oliver) revives Sparky Frankenstein-style using electricity. While Victor’s parents Susan (Shelley Duval) and Ben (Daniel Stern) slowly come to accept the resurrected Sparky, the neighbors aren’t so cool with it. The chase Sparky to miniature golf course where Sparky becomes a tragic hero, but can he come back again?

In Frankenweenie, Burton reveals his whimsical gothic style and his penchant for putting the unusual, the weird, and the bizarre in a suburban setting, a theme he’s revisited several times. The black and white photography and Victor’s neighborhood, which the photography turns into a “Leave it to Beaver” wonderland, are a nice fit for this gentle tale about a boy and his dog. Frankenweenie is nowhere near as good as Burton’s great films, but it is a nice and charming little oddity-lite.

6 of 10
B

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Review: "The Terminator" is Still a Bad Ass (Happy B'day, Arnold Schwarzenegger)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Terminator (1984)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: James Cameron
WRITERS: Gale Ann Hurd and James Cameron, with William Wisher
PRODUCER: Gale Anne Hurd
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adam Greenberg (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Mark Goldblatt
COMPOSER: Brad Fiedel

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, and Bill Paxton

The subject of this movie review is The Terminator, a 1984 science fiction and action film from director James Cameron. Essentially an independent film, The Terminator was not expected to be a success. Not only was the film a commercial and critical hit, but it also spawned three sequels, a television series, and other spin-offs, including several comic book series. Of note, author Harlan Ellison received a screen credit on later releases of the film to acknowledge his work as a source for the film.

In the future, an artificial intelligence named Skynet, a kind of super computer, rules the planet and wages a total war on the small bands of human who survived Skynet’s initial genocidal campaign against mankind. When the human resistance reaches a point that it has defeated Skynet, it sends the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back in time to kill the Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the woman who would one day give birth to John Connor, the leader of the successful human resistance. One of John Connor’s most trusted fighters, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) volunteers to follow the Terminator into the past to save Sarah, the woman Reese has secretly loved since the day he first saw an aged photo of her.

Directed by James Cameron, The Terminator was one of the last low budget science fiction movies to have a measurable impact on filmmaking. Short on funds, Cameron relied on story and well executed action sequences to keep the viewer on the edge of his seat. It is a far cry from the bloated SFX extravagances that Cameron would go on to shoot.

Cameron reveals just enough of the bleak, burnt out future to simultaneously whet our appetites and to then leave us begging for more. He aims the camera close in to the actors and uses quick cut editing to heighten the sense of drama and tension. Layers of shots from several angles strengthen the dramatic impact of the story; you simply can’t ignore this film. It is a simple story – a man has to save the woman he loves from a relentless killer. However, Cameron uses his directorial prowess to up the ante when it comes to the chase; the pursuit is one long, unrelenting, bloody hunt.

In one scene in particular, the Terminator arises like a broken phoenix from its funeral pyre, still alive and still following its program. Before the magic of computer generated imagery (CGI), this scene had to be shot in stop motion glory. An evil leer made of silver metal teeth spread across its face, the machine marches on to terminate its target. These few moments of filmmaking reveal the savvy of mind that can create his vision despites restraints of budget or technology. Cameron was good a long time before CGI.

The Terminator was a career defining and career changing moment for Schwarzenegger. The machine he portrays isn’t simply a cold efficient killer. It’s part specter and part machine – magic and science. His portrayal combines the coldest sci-fi villain with the scariest horror movie monster – Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Michael Myers from Halloween. As he storms through Los Angeles looking for his target, he examines his environment with the cool detachment of scientific device and stalks Kyle and Sarah with the hell born determination of masked slasher.

Biehn and Ms. Hamilton are very good in their parts. Reese is the consummate soldier, a sinewy runt, his body marked with gross scars. He has the single-minded determination to follow his commander’s orders and to successfully conclude his mission even at the cost of his life. Ms. Hamilton’s Sarah Connor is a dumped on young woman, whose comeliness hides behind a façade of homeliness and humility. The real woman in her waits the day when she can emerge fully formed and ready to throw off her waitress’s apron and kick butt.

Largely forgotten in the age of computer-enhanced movies, The Terminator remains as visceral, as funny, as exciting, and as poignant today as it was then. By no means perfect, it was more entertaining movie magic than thoughtful movie making. However, one cannot deny how effectively this movie delivers the thrills. Think of it as a B-movie made by an intelligent filmmaker steeped in the slums of maligned genres like horror, science fiction, fantasy, and comic books. This is the groundbreaking work of art that came from that ghetto.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2008 National Film Preservation Board, USA: “National Film Registry”

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Review: "This is Spinal Tap" Never Stops Being Funny (Happy B'day, Rob Reiner)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 106 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Running time: 83 minutes (1 hour, 23 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Rob Reiner
WRITERS: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, & Rob Reiner
PRODUCER: Karen Murphy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Smokler
EDITOR: Kent Beyda and Kim Secrist

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, June Chadwick, Tony Hendra, RJ Parnell, Fran Drescher, Patrick MacNee, Bruno Kirby, Ed Begley, Jr., Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Howard Hessman, Fred Willard, Paul Shaffer, Gloria Gifford, and Anjelica Huston

The subject of this review is This is Spinal Tap, a faux documentary that parodies rock documentary films. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film also satirizes the behavior and attitudes of members of hard rock and heavy metal bands.

This is Spinal Tap basically says that, “It’s time to get personal with one of music history’s greatest and loudest rock bands… Spinal Tap.” Documentary filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) is making a “rockumentary,” a rock documentary of the band’s 1982 tour in support of the release of its 15th album, but the band has falling on some hard times. They’re playing smaller venues in front of an ever-shrinking audience, and the band’s front men: guitarist/co-songwriter David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), lead guitarist/co-songwriter Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) are older and struggling with inner band turmoil. DiBergi’s documentary gives them a chance to talk about themselves, their history, and their music and gives the audience a behind the scenes look at rare footage and a chance to hear lots of music. Will Spinal Tap survive, or will we die laughing first?

This is Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner’s faux documentary, created a film genre, the “mockumentary” or mock documentary. This is Spinal Tap is a fake documentary that follows the life and times of an aged metal band on an less-than-successful American tour, and everyone involved, especially the band comes across as twits. They don’t, in all seriousness, see themselves as pathetically funny as they actually are. Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer wrote all the songs for the fake band called Spinal Tap (which some movie audiences initial thought was a real band), and with the rest of the cast, adlibbed most of the dialogue.

Anyone with more than a passing knowledge of heavy metal music and the eccentricities of metal’s most famous practitioners will double over in laughter at this “behind the scenes” look at band infighting, groupies, cancelled concerts, impractical stage sets, musical and performance pretensions, tight pants, misogynistic music, and the long hair and makeup. Even if you don’t like music, This is Spinal Tab is still funny; in fact the magazine, Entertainment Weekly, named it the #1 cult film of all time.

The film’s strength is in the music; one is actors playing the front men are all competent musicians. Spinal Tap’s songs are so funny and so dead on rock and roll and heavy metal, that for all that they are satires of metal songs, they also work quite well as actually metal music. Great parodies have to work as the thing they are parodying; Mel Brooks has made a career on getting the setting right in such films as Young Frankenstein, which looked like the classic black and white Universal Studios Frankenstein films and Blazing Saddles, which looked and acted like a western. The film’s other strength is the cast. Everyone is so good at playing so many absurd situations and saying so many ridiculous things with the straightest faces, as if the entire Spinal Tap scenario were all real and serious. This is Spinal Tap is a must-see for lovers of comedy.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2002 National Film Registry: National Film Preservation Board, USA

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Original "Footloose" Still Cuts Loose

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 81 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Footloose (1984)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: Herbert Ross
WRITER: Dean Pitchford
PRODUCERS: Lewis J. Rachmil and Craig Zadan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ric Waite (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/MUSIC with elements of romance

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Christopher Penn, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Laughlin, Elizabeth Gorcey, Frances Lee McCain, Jim Youngs, Lynne Marta, Arthur Rosenberg, and Timothy Scott

Footloose is a 1984 teen drama in which the story is driven, in part, by its pop music soundtrack. The film was a hit upon its initial release, and the soundtrack sold over nine millions copies, with two songs from the film earning Oscar nominations. Footloose spawned a 1998 Broadway musical and is the subject of a 2011 remake.

Footloose focuses on Ren MacCormack (Kevin Bacon), a teenager raised in Chicago. As the movie begins, Ren and his mother, Ethel (Frances Lee McCain), have just moved to the small Midwestern town of Bomont to live with Ethel’s sister, Lulu (Lynne Marta) and her husband, Wes Warnicker (Arthur Rosenberg). Ren soon makes a friend of a local kid, Willard Hewitt (Chris Penn), and eventually attracts the attention of a wild, but pretty teen girl, Ariel Moore (Lori Singer).

Ren, who likes to dance and play loud music, soon learns that dancing and loud music are not allowed in Bomont, mainly because of Ariel’s stern father, Reverend Shaw Moore (John Lithgow). Ren decides that his senior class should have a prom, but he and his small circle of friends may have to take on the entire town, especially the town council, if they want to hold a dance in public.

There is a lot of cheesy synthesizer-driven music on the soundtrack and plenty of weird dance moves are on display. Still, Footloose is actually a good little teen drama. It’s like an ABC After School Special with a soundtrack, and if Dean Pitchford’s script is anything, it is sincere.

The story is rarely overwrought, and Pitchford created familiar characters without making them stereotypes. I’ve seen John Lithgow’s character, Rev. Moore, described as a “bible thumper,” and Moore is not. Even if the character were, Lithgow, an accomplished actor, would never play Shaw Moore as such. He is a complex man who means well and sincerely cares about the people of Bomont. The arc of his character is a journey to make sure that his good intentions don’t pave a road to Hell.

Kevin Bacon made a star turn as Ren in Footloose, and while the character can be a bit overexcited, Bacon makes Ren likeable and genuine. Of course, Sarah Jessica Parker sparkles, showing a hint of what her fans love about her today, and it’s good to see Chris Penn young, in shape, and nice looking – the Chris Penn before the weight, the drugs, and the tragic ending.

Footloose stands the test of time. I think it is as good today as it was 27-and-a-half years ago. I will give it the same grade I gave it back then, and I’d even watch it again. Its story of friendship and small town melodrama are more engaging than quaint.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Music, Original Song” (Kenny Loggins-music and Dean Pitchford-lyric for the song "Footloose") and “Best Music, Original Song” (Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford for the song "Let's Hear It for the Boy")

1985 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Kenny Loggins and Dean Pitchford for the song "Footloose")

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Review: "Conan the Destroyer" Goes on an Adventure

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 138 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Conan the Destroyer (1984)
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: Richard Fleischer
WRITERS: Stanley Mann; from a story by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway (based upon the characters and stories created by Robert E. Howard)
PRODUCER: Raffaella De Laurentiis
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jack Cardiff
EDITOR: Frank J. Urioste

FANTASY/ADVENTURE/ACTION

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wilt Chamberlain, Grace Jones, Mako, Tracey Walter, Olivia d’Abo, and Sarah Douglas, Pat Roach, Sven Ole Thorsen, Bruce Fleischer, and Ferdinand Mayne

Queen Taramis (Sarah Douglas) makes a deal with Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger), the Cimmerian who is barbarian, warrior, and thief: accompany her niece, Princess Jehnna (Olivia d’Abo) and her bodyguard Bombatta (the late Wilt Chamberlain, in his first and only film role) to find a precious jewel and key, which they will bring back to Taramis’ kingdom. For that, Taramis says she will revive Conan’s lover, Valeria (who was killed in the film Conan the Barbarian).

Grieving and still madly in love with Valeria, Conan agrees and leads a ragtag group of adventures that includes his fellow thief, Malak (Tracey Walter), Akiro “The Wizard” (played by the actor, Mako, Akiro also appeared in the first film), and a wild warrior woman, Zula (Grace Jones), who escort Jehnna and Bombatta on a quest of find the princess’ treasure. Meanwhile, Queen Taramis secretly plots against Conan and Jehnna, as part of a larger plan to awaken Dagoth the Sleeping God, who currently resides in Taramis’ palace as a reclining marble statue.

Conan the Destroyer, is a lot lighter fare than its predecessor, Conan the Barbarian. Gone are macho men filmmakers, co-writer/director John Milius and co-writer, Oliver Stone. They are replaced for the second film by director Richard Fleischer and two comic book writers, Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, who wrote the treatment for this film, which screenwriter Stanley Mann apparently changed quite a bit. Fleischer, well known for directing such family-friend fantasy films as Walt Disney’s 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Fantastic Voyage, and Doctor Doolittle, gives Conan the Destroyer a lighter tone than the first film. It’s silly, but fun – almost cartoonish.

Even in a flick with a lighter tone, Arnold Schwarzenegger is still imposing and fun as Conan. Grace Jones and Tracey Walter’s characters are excellent comic relief (and have some decent screen chemistry between the two of them). The villains are straight out of fantasy pulp fiction and B-movies. Basil Poledouris returns to score the second film, but much of Destroyer’s score sounds like music from Conan the Barbarian. Although the first film is technically a better film (and more of a guy’s flick), I prefer the fun, adventure fantasy that Conan the Destroyer offers.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

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Review: "Police Academy" is Still Really Funny (Thanks for the Movie Memories, Bubba Smith)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 66 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Police Academy (1984)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Hugh Wilson
WRITERS: Neal Israel and Pat Proft and Hugh Wilson; story by Neal Israel and Pat Proft
PRODUCER: Paul Maslansky
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael D. Margulies
EDITORS: Robert Brown and Zach Staenberg

COMEDY

Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, G.W. Bailey, Bubba Smith, Donovan Scott, George Gaynes, Andrew Rubin, David Graf, Leslie Easterbrook, Michael Winslow, Bruce Mahler, Ted Ross, Scott Thompson, Brant Van Hoffman, and Marion Ramsey

Police Academy is a comedy film that debuted in early Spring 1984 and went on to become a box office smash hit. The film also spawned six sequels, an animated television series, and a short-lived live action TV series.

The movie takes place in an unnamed city. The newly-elected mayor decides that the Police Academy will now be open to any and all applicants regardless of height, weight, sex, intelligence, etc, and the floodgates of oddities and eccentrics bursts open. The story focuses on a group of good-hearted, but incompetent misfits led by Cadet Carey Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg), a prankster who was forced to join the Academy to avoid jail time. The instructors, in particular Lt. Thaddeus Harris (G.W. Bailey), are not going to put up with Mahoney’s pranks, and Harris is also determined to get rid of any cadet who wouldn’t have made it into the Academy under the old rules. However, Mahoney is determined not to let Lt. Harris get his way, so he leads his misfit friends into proving that they can protect and serve.

The 1984 R-rated Police Academy spawned a slew of PG-rated sequels, and while some of them are funny, the original is still the best. Over two decades later, the first film is still as funny today as it was then, and I have to admit to laughing hard and often while watching this. Basically, Police Academy was the Anchorman and Dodgeball of its day. The script doesn’t let you know the characters, although the jokes and humor are almost entirely character based. There isn’t a whole lot of comedy based on the setting (except for a gay bar); these characters could be played for jokes even if they weren’t at a Police Academy (in fact, future films often moved them outside the Academy).

Co-writer/director Hugh Wilson and fellow writers Neal Israel and Pat Proft (both known for writing movies that send-up or spoof just about anything) keep the often juvenile humor coming, and most of it works. Also, one cannot over emphasize how important the affable and likeable Steve Guttenberg playing the smart-assed/wise guy/jokester was to making this franchise’s early films work so well.

Police Academy – still going strong over a quarter-century later, and I think I’ll watch it again to remember Bubba Smith as Cadet Moses Hightower.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, August 04, 2011

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Original "Karate Kid" Still Kicking

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 41 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Karate Kid (1984)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
DIRECTOR: John G. Avildsen
WRITER: Robert Mark Kamen
PRODUCER: Jerry Weintraub
CINEMATOGRAPHER: James Crabe (director of photography)
EDITORS: John G. Avildsen, Walt Mulconery, and Bud Smith
COMPOSER: Bill Conti
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove, Randee Heller, William Zabka, and Larry B. Scott

It has been more than 20 years since I last saw the 1984 film, The Karate Kid (maybe even longer), so with the upcoming 2010 remake due to hit theatres shortly, I decided to see the original again. I saw The Karate Kid in a theatre, and I remember liking it a lot at the time, but back then, I’d like anything that entertained me – even bad movies.

However, I was delightfully surprised to find that The Karate Kid still had me rooting for its underdog hero, Daniel LaRusso. I cringed when he was in trouble, fretted with him over typical teen problems, and cheered when he became the victor. Some of the movie is still standard teen movie fare – even the listless romance between Daniel and Ali. It may not be perfect, but this movie is mostly a winner.

The Karate Kid is the story of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), who is the new kid in the California town of Reseda. Daniel moved from Newark, New Jersey with his mother, Lucille LaRusso (Randee Heller), because of Lucille’s new job. It doesn’t take long before Daniel falls afoul of a gang of bullies from a local martial arts school, the Cobra Kai dojo. When Daniel befriends a new classmate, Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue), he angers her ex-boyfriend, Cobra Kai stud and karate student, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Daniel knows a little karate, but that doesn’t protect him from a few beatings at the hand of Johnny and his cronies.

Luckily, the manager of the apartment building where Daniel lives, Kesuke Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita), is a martial arts master, and he rescues Daniel from one particularly bad beating. Hoping to resolve the situation, Mr. Miyagi and Daniel visit the Cobra Kai dojo, but the sensei (teacher), an ex-Special Forces thug named John Kreese (Martin Kove), refuses to defuse the situation between Daniel and his students. Mr. Miyagi and Kreese agree to settle the conflict between Daniel and Johnny at the “All Valley Karate Tournament.” Mr. Miyagi begins Daniel’s training, but Daniel is shocked to discover just how strange the training regimen is. Can he handle it?

Pat Morita earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as Mr. Miyagi, one certainly well deserved. Morita took what could have been an odd-duck, wizened martial arts master and turned Mr. Miyagi into a complex supporting character and guardian to the hero. Morita made Mr. Miyagi a friend when Daniel needed one, and a surrogate father even when Daniel didn’t know he needed one.

Ralph Macchio was equally as good, personifying the typical American high school teenager with skill and depth. Macchio captured the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of Daniel LaRusso in a variety of shades and colors. One of the best parts of Macchio’s performance is how he depicts Daniel’s uncertainty about how and when to confront his Cobra Kai bullies. Macchio plays those moments by giving Daniel a mixture of fear and craftiness that really defies firm description, but it exemplifies the sense of verisimilitude Macchio’s performance gives Daniel.

Morita and Macchio’s performances are why The Karate Kid resonates with audiences, then and now. They make their characters recognizable, likeable, and believable, and together, they are the kind of winning father-son and best friends dynamic duo that can make audiences love a movie enough to turn it into a franchise.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita)

1985 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita)

Monday, June 07, 2010

Review: "A Soldier's Story" Still Fantastic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 41 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Soldier’s Story (1984)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Norman Jewison
WRITER: Charles Fuller (based upon his play, A Soldier’s Play)
PRODUCERS: Patrick J. Palmer, Ronald L. Schwary, and Norman Jewison
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russell Boyd
EDITORS: Caroline Biggerstaff and Mark Warner
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring: Howard Rollins, Jr., Adolph Caesar, Art Evans, David Allen Grier, David Harris, Dennis Lipscomb, Larry Riley, Robert Townsend, Denzel Washington, William Allen Young, Trey Wilson, and Patti LaBelle

In this gripping film that takes place near the end of World War II (1944), Captain Davenport (Howard Rollins, Jr.), a proud black army attorney, is sent to Fort Neal near Tynin, Louisiana to investigate the shooting death of Sergeant Waters (Adolph Caesar), who was murdered by unknown assailants near the black army base. Davenport’s interviews with the men under Sgt. Waters’ command reveal that he was a vicious man who despised Negroes who didn’t meet his exacting standards of speech, appearance, and duty. Although two bigoted white officers seem to be the lead and likely suspects, Davenport is sure that there is something going on behind the scenes that either he isn’t seeing or is being hidden from him. But what is it and who is hiding it?

When it was released back in late 1984, A Soldier’s Story received a lot of attention not only because of its large and mostly black cast, but also because the leads were also black actors (unlike The Cotton Club). The film featured the star turn by up and coming actors including Robert Townsend (who would go on to direct Hollywood Shuffle), David Alan Grier, a character actor best known for being on the early 90’s TV sketch comedy, “In Living Colour,” and also a young but not-so-raw Denzel Washington – two years from the role that would earn him his first Oscar nomination.

The film’s best roles belong to Howard Rollins, Jr. and Adolph Caesar (who were never on screen together), both of whom are now deceased. Rollins plays Captain Davenport with such gripping strength that he instantly commands the attention of the audience whenever he is on screen, even when he’s in the background. Rollins clearly understood that for Davenport to be a believable character in his particular situation, he would have to play Davenport as having a magnetic personality, an indomitable will, and a large amount of arrogance – if Davenport were to do his job while suffering the slings and arrows...

Caesar’s Sgt. Waters is a relentless force embodying the conflicting ideas of what a black man should be and how he should live in those particular times, a black America in an America on the verge of the Civil Rights movement. He wants black men to be proud, but he understands that a black man most live in a white world as an intelligent black man, although not as one who threatens white men. It’s this dichotomy of pride and deference that festers in Waters’ mind.

Charles Fuller adapted A Soldier’s Story from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, A Soldier’s Play. As good as the performances are, it’s this incredible script that is simultaneously a fine mystery, an amazing depiction of history, and precise social commentary. Although director Norman Jewison directs this at times as if it were a TV movie, he understands the complex issues brought forward by Fuller’s writing. Jewison allows the script’s flashbacks to define the elements of the murder mystery: the victim, the suspects, and the context. Through Rollins’ performance as Capt. Davenport, Jewison doesn’t intrude as Fuller’s script brings everything together into the present while dealing with the conflicting notions of what it means to be a black man. It’s spellbinding movie stuff. So what does it mean to be a real black man? Who knows? But A Soldier’s Story, a remarkable film ably performed by a fine cast, gives us something to think about.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Adolph Caesar), “Best Picture” (Norman Jewison, Ronald L. Schwary, and Patrick J. Palmer), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Charles Fuller)

1985 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Adolph Caesar), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Charles Fuller)

Monday, February 20, 2006

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Original "Nightmare on Elm Street" IS a Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Wes Craven
PRODUCER: Robert Shaye
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jacques Haitkin
EDITORS: Pat McMahon and Rick Shaine

HORROR

Starring: Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri, Johnny Depp, Charles Fleischer, and Robert Englund

Originally released in 1984, A Nightmare on Elm Street was a film written and directed by legendary horror auteur, Wes Craven (Scream). A low-budget horror flick, A Nightmare on Elm Street launched a film franchise, a television series, merchandising, and imitators, but the film is a classic scary movie because of its penchant for blurring the border between dreams and reality. Most importantly, A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced one of the very best screen villains ever, Freddy Krueger.

Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) has a dream in which she is stalked by a mutilated man with a second distinctive feature, razor-sharp knives attached to the fingers on his right hand. Her friend, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), has experienced a similar dream involving the same sinister figure. Even Tina’s estranged boyfriend, Rod Lane (Nick Corri), has dreamed of this creepy man.

After Tina is murdered and Rod is blamed, Nancy discovers that Fred Krueger (Robert Englund), a child murderer killed by a mob of angry parents, is the man in her dreams. Krueger has returned to haunt the children of his killers, using their dreams to get his revenge from beyond the grave. When local teens fall asleep, Krueger attacks and kills them in their dreams, which also kills them in the real world. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp, in his screen debut), hatch a plan to drag Krueger into the real world, but will that help them or make things worse?

In spite its low budget, A Nightmare on Elm Street delivers the thrills, chills, and scares of a movie with many times its budget. This first installment of the franchise has a high creepy factor because the narrative muddles reality with surreal moments in which imagination and the dream world intrude on everyday reality. One could make an argument that all or most of the movie is a dream, and that neither the narrative nor its characters are reliable.

Plus, in Fred (eventually Freddy) Krueger, A Nightmare on Elm Street has a villain who can terrorize his victims in their dreams and occasionally wreak havoc in the real world, which strengthens this story’s unsettling atmosphere. He is a bloodthirsty demon with a wicked sense of humor, and his glove, with its sharp knives, is one of the great weapons in horror movie history and in cinematic history, in general. Practically all the credit for Freddy Krueger’s fame belongs to character actor, Robert Englund, who achieved a rare feat – creating movie monster whose fame spans generations and who has international appeal.

The film’s target audience – the audience that first saw it back in the mid-80s – and likely many that see it now, can identify with Nancy and her friends. Adults don’t take them or their fears and concerns seriously, leaving them at Krueger’s mercy, which is ironic considering that the adults killed Krueger in order to protect their children. The teens are on their own, unable to discern the shifty reality that has become their existence. Like them, we are left alone to figure out this crazy, scary dream world, and A Nightmare on Elm Street delivers. It is the real deal in scary movies, and Freddy is a fictional serial killer who seems almost real.

7 of 10
A-

Saturday, May 01, 2010