Review: Brandon Lee Gives "THE CROW" Staying Power

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 38 of 2024 (No. 1982) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Crow (1994)

Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)

MPAA – R for a great amount of strong violence and language, and for drug use and some sexuality

DIRECTOR: Alex Proyas

WRITERS:  David J. Schow and John Shirley (based on the comic book series and comics strip created by James O'Barr)

PRODUCERS:  Jeff Most and Edward R. Pressman

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dariusz Wolski (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Dov Hoenig and M. Scott Smith

COMPOSER:  Graeme Revell

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION/CRIME

Starring:  Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott, Ernie Hudson, Rochelle Davis, Bai Ling, Sofia Shinas, Anna Thomson, David Patrick Kelly, Angel David, Laurence Mason, Michael Massee, Tony Todd, Jon Polito, Bill Raymond, Marco Rodriguez, and Kim Sykes

The Crow is a 1994 American superhero and dark fantasy film from director Alex Proyas.  The movie is based on The Crow comic book series and on the character that first appeared in the comic book, Caliber Presents #1 (cover dated: January 1989), all created by James O'Barr.  The Crow the movie focuses on a musician who returns from the dead a year after he and his girlfriend were brutally murdered to seek vengeance against their murderers.

The Crow is infamous for the death of its lead actor, Brandon Lee (1965-1993), the son of film icon, Bruce Lee.  On March 31, 1993, Lee was fatally wounded by a discharge from a prop gun.  At that point, Lee had completed almost all his scenes for the film.  Through the use of special effects, digital face replacement, stunt doubles, and rewrites, Proyas was able to finish the film, and it was released in May 1994.

The Crow is set in a crime-ravaged and decrepit city that is like Detroit, Michigan, and the story opens on October 30th, Devil's Night (an infamous celebration in Detroit).  It introduces rock musician, Eric Draven (Brandon Lee), and his fiancée, Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas).  They are going to be married on Halloween.  Instead, Eric is beaten and murdered.  Shelly is brutally beaten and raped and later dies of her injuries.

One year later, Eric Draven rises from the grave as an avenging spirit, The Crow (Brandon Lee).  He has returned to killed the men who murdered him and Shelly:  T-Bird (David Patrick Kelly), Funboy (Michael Massee), Tin Tin (Laurence Mason), and Skank (Angel David).  Sarah (Rochelle Davis), a young girl who was Eric and Shelly's friend, and Albrecht (Ernie Hudson), and an outcast police officer, become personally involved in Eric's return as The Crow.  Waiting in the background, however, is Top Dollar (Michael Wincott), the crime lord who is connected to what happened to Eric and Shelley and who sees The Crow's rampage as a threat to his criminal empire.

Despite the notoriety it gained because of the onset tragedy, The Crow should also be known as a really good film.  It was Alex Proyas first major directorial effort, and that shows in the occasional clumsiness in the flow of the narrative.  However, Proyas unleashes a film that is highly-stylized and drenched in darkness that has a painterly quality.  In other films, this darkness would merely be a case of a poor lighting and mediocre cinematography.  Here, the film's production values and contributions from the cinematographer, production design/art direction team, hair and make-up crew, and film editors contribute to the creation of dark and gloomy cinematic art.

Proyas finds the film's substance in Eric Draven/The Crow's quest for revenge.  In this film, retribution has depth, weight, feel soul; in that, The Crow is like its comic book source material.  Proyas finds power and vulnerability in his lead character the way he finds power and juice in the violence that must happen before Draven can return to his grave.

Proyas, who would go on to direct Will Smith in I, Robot (2004), gets fine performances from a number of supporting actors, especially Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, and Rochelle Davis.  He gets the most out of his star, Brandon Lee, who was likely on the verge of blowing up.  In this film, Lee has his own charisma and presence, different from that of his father, Bruce Lee, who made his most charismatic turn in Enter the Dragon (1973).  Was The Crow going to be Brandon's Enter the Dragon?  I don't know, but Brandon makes The Crow feel solid in its slightest moments and grander in its biggest and most violent moments.

The Crow is a flawed jewel, but not a heavily flawed jewel.  Also, I imagine that it is a lot more influential than movie buffs realize.  I can see bits and pieces of it in later films like Blade (1998), The Matrix (1999), and The Dark Knight (2008).  The on-set death of its star cast a melancholy mood over The Crow, but the determination of the filmmakers, cast, and crew eventually brought it out to the public.  The Crow is not a morbid curiosity.  It is more like a rose that survived a deluge of misfortune.

A

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, August 22, 2024

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: "PULP FICTION" is Still a Wild Child

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 23 of 2024 (No. 1967) by Leroy Douresseaux

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Running time:  154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes)

MPAA – R for strong graphic violence and drug use, pervasive strong language and some sexuality

DIRECTOR:  Quentin Tarantino

WRITERS:  Quentin Tarantino; from stories by Roger Avary and Quentin Tarantino

PRODUCER:  Lawrence Bender

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Andrzej Sekula

EDITOR:  Sally Menke

Academy Award winner

CRIME/DRAMA

Starring:  John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Phil LaMarr, Frank Whaley, Paul Calderon, Bronagh Gallagher, Rosanna Arquette, Eric Stoltz, Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Walken, and Harvey Keitel

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 crime film from writer-director Quentin Tarantino.  The film follows the lives of an ensemble of characters, including two mob hit men, a boxer, a pair of armed robbers, and a gangster and his wife in a series of intertwined tales of violence and redemption.

Thirty years ago, this month, May 1994, brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the then co-chairmen of Miramax Films, blew into France with the entire cast of Pulp Fiction for the 47th Cannes Film Festival.  On or about May 21, 1994, the Weinsteins unveiled Pulp Fiction at a midnight screening.  From what I read lo those many years ago, that screening cause a sensation.  Pulp Fiction would go on to win the festival's top prize, the “Palme d'Or,” for Tarantino.

I had been putting off seeing Pulp Fiction during its initial release, but it was re-released in the spring of 1995 in the run-up to the 67th Academy Awards (March 27, 1995).  Pulp Fiction had been nominated for seven Oscars.  A friend encourage me to see it with her, which I think we did a week or so before the Oscars.  I'd seen Reservoir Dogs (1992), which I considered to be an exceptional film of that time, but even the uncommon nature of Reservoir Dogs did not prepare me for the demented nature of the audacious art that was (and still is) Pulp Fiction.  In preparation for this film, I recently rewatched Tarantino's other early films, Jackie Brown (1997) and Reservoir Dogs.

Told out of chronological order, Pulp Fiction is set in and around Los Angeles.  It opens in a diner, where a couple, Pumpkin/Ringo (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny/Yolanda (Amanda Plummer), decide to pull of an armed robbery. Elsewhere, two hit men, Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta), seek to retrieve a brief case that belongs to their employer, crime boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), from a small group of thieves who tried to double-cross Wallace.

Later, Vega takes Wallace's wife, Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), out to dinner – by request of Marsellus.  They banter.  They dance.  They deal with an overdose.  Also, a palooka boxer, Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), double-crosses Marsellus.  Now, he's on the run, but before the night is done, Butch and Marsellus will find themselves delivered into evil.  Finally, Jules meets Pumpkin and Honey Bunny.

Reservoir Dogs is “neo-noir,” which is a modern versions of “Film-Noir,” a term that refers to the stylized Hollywood dramas – especially crime dramas – covering a period from the 1930s to the 1960s.  So if Reservoir Dogs is “neo-noir,” Pulp Fiction recalls another vintage American genre of fiction, the storytelling of the pulp magazines and hard-boiled crime novels of the mid-20th century.  Tarantino grabs the lurid, exploitative, and sensational, and also the violence and corruption that were featured in some pulps and crime novels and grafts that onto Pulp Fiction's non-linear narrative tale of people living, working, cheating, screwing, and killing in the criminal underground of L.A.

Three decades later, I find that some of the film has not aged will, such as the opening scene at the diner and the early parts of the misadventures of Vincent and Jules.  The rest of the film still sparkles with cinematic magic, as Tarantino delights in the myriad elements of both American pop culture and international cinema that he borrows (or steals) for this film.  I will say that this film's last act – the diner scene featuring Vincent & Jules and Pumpkin & Honey Bunny – is what keeps Pulp Fiction in place as one of the best films of the 1990s.  If I can divide films into increments of a quarter-hour or so, I'd say that Pulp Fiction's last 17 minutes before the end credits form the one of the best sequences of film that I have ever seen.

Seeing it again, I was frozen in place, mesmerized, and riveted by the power of this moment in American cinema.  Honestly, Samuel L. Jackson,who was nominated for a “Best Supporting Actor” Oscar for his work in this film, should have won the award based solely on his performance in this last act of Pulp Fiction.  And I say that even as I believe that the actor who did win, the late Martin Landau for Tim Burton's Ed Wood, was deserving of the Oscar.

Back in 1994, at the moment Dick Dale & His Del-Tones' 1962 surf rock anthem, “Misirlou,” blasts across the film's soundtrack, Pulp Fiction injected some much needed juice and venom into American cinema, even if some rejected that injection at the time.  Someone once described Pulp Fiction as a “succulent guilty pleasure.”  I'll still suck on it, and I won't feel guilty about its pleasures.

10 of 10

Saturday, May 25, 2024

NOTES:

1995 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary); six nominations: “Best Picture” (Lawrence Bender), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (John Travolta), “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Samuel L. Jackson), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Uma Thurman), “Best Director” (Quentin Tarantino), and “Best Film Editing” (Sally Menke)

1995 BAFTA Awards:  2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Samuel L. Jackson) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary); 7 nominations: “Best Film” (Lawrence Bender), “Best Actor” (John Travolta), “Best Actress” (Uma Thurman), “Best Cinematography” (Andrzej Sekula) “David Lean Award for Direction” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Editing” (Sally Menke), and “Best Sound” (Stephen Hunter Flick, Ken King, Rick Ash, and Dean A. Zupancic)

1995 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Screenplay-Motion Picture: (Quentin Tarantino); 5 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (John Travolta), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Uma Thurman), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Samuel L. Jackson)

1994 Cannes Film Festival:  1 win: “Palme d'Or” (Quentin Tarantino)

2013 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  National Film Registry

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

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Review: "Fear of a Black Hat" Has Fun with N.W.H.

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 165 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fear of a Black Hat (1994)
Running time:  88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive strong language, and for sexuality
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Rusty Cundieff
PRODUCER:  Darin Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  John Demps, Jr.
EDITOR:  Karen Horn

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring:  Mark Christopher Lawrence, Larry B. Scott, Rusty Cundieff, Kasi Lemmons, Howie Gold, G. Smokey Campbell, Bobby Mardis, Brad Sanders, Faizon Love, and Kurt Loder

Fear of a Black Hat is a 1994 comedy and music film from writer-director, Rusty Cundieff.  The film is a mock documentary or “mockumentary.”  Fear of a Black Hat chronicles the rise and fall of a controversial hip-hop group, NWH, simultaneously examining the evolution of and the state of hip-hop music in America.

The early 90’s saw two This is Spinal Tap-like parodies of hip hop culture.  The first to make it to the screen was the Chris Rock starrer, CB4, but the funnier of the two was Rusty Cundieff’s Fear of a Black Hat.  Anyone familiar with the culture of rap, especially the rap music and artists of the late 80’s and early 90’s, will find this satire and parody extremely entertaining.

Fear of a Black Hat begins when Nina Blackburn (Kasi Lemmons), a college graduate student, decides to do her thesis on a rap group.  She chooses Niggas with Hats, or N.W.H. as the subject of a documentary film.  Her film follows the vulgar trio:  Ice Cold (Rusty Cundieff), Tasty Taste (Larry B. Scott), and Tone Def (Mark Christopher Lawrence) from their underground success to their ride as one of the top hip hop acts to their obligatory break up and subsequent reunion.

The acting is mostly very good, and the parody is dead on.  Like some rap music and hip hop culture, Fear of a Black Hat is vulgar, rude, insipid, ridiculous, and very fun.  Cundieff is sly.  On one had this is not taken too seriously; on the other, he’s making a lot of pointed commentary about racism, bigotry, and opportunism, and he’s especially skewering how entertainers use violence and hate in crass attempts to gain attention, money, and fame.  Cundieff seemed to understand that rap was often just Black America doing a self-parody of urban African-American culture – the civil rights activism, self-hate, misogyny, bigotry, and violence to make a point and cash.  Not only do the costumes, settings, and characters reflect that, but also the songs by Cundieff and his songwriting collaborator, Larry Johnson, that really hit upon the culture.

Even people who don’t like hip hop or don’t know it could find Fear of a Black Hat uproarious; some of the stuff in here is just absolutely outrageous and can’t help but elicit laughs.  Those who remember the time period that Fear of a Black Hat reflects will laugh as well as feel a little sentimental, maybe even missing acts like N.W.A., Public Enemy, and Ice T, who represented for an invisible American subculture and showed it off to the world.

6 of 10
B

Updated:  Friday, August 14, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

"The Santa Clause" Still a Christmas Treat

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 226 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Santa Clause (1994)
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: John Pasquin
WRITERS: Leo Benvenuti & Steve Rudnick
PRODUCERS: Robert Newmyer, Brian Reilly, and Jeffrey Silver
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Walt Lloyd
EDITOR: Larry Bock
COMPOSER: Michael Convertino

COMEDY/FANTASY/FAMILY

Starring: Tim Allen, Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold, Eric Lloyd, David Krumholtz, Larry Brandenburg, Mary Gross, Paige Tamada, Peter Boyle, and Judith Scott

The subject of this movie review is The Santa Clause, a 1994 fantasy film, family comedy, and Christmas movie starring Tim Allen. The film follows a divorced father who must become the new Santa Claus.

Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) is a divorced father who has found that his young son, Charlie (Eric Lloyd), is reluctant want to spend Christmas with him. He’d rather be with his mom, Laura Calvin Miller (Wendy Crewson), and her new husband, Dr. Neal Miller (Judge Reinhold), a psychiatrist and a very good stepfather to Charlie. While Scott and Charlie are spending a dreary Christmas Eve together, Santa Claus arrives, and Scott accidentally kills him. Panicked and encouraged by Charlie, Scott temporarily dons Santa’s suit so that he can deliver the rest of the gifts. The snow really hits the fan when Scott discovers that there is a Santa Clause about putting on the suit. By killing Santa and donning the suit, Scott has magically recruited himself to replace the deceased St. Nick. Although he was a Scrooge, Scott finds himself growing into the role of Father Christmas, but it may cost him his relationship with Charlie.

The first 70 minutes or so of The Santa Clause are brilliant – in a goofy, affable way that makes it a charming, heart-warming, Christmas film. The screenwriters came up with a novel way to juxtapose Scott’s struggle as a father to reconnect with his son Charlie, who is disappointed in him, with Scott’s struggle to live with something he must to accept, The Santa Clause. Fatherhood and career (even one forced on him) clash and blend with surprisingly funny results. In a way, being Santa is the best thing that ever happened to Scott and Charlie’s relationship, but it could also destroy it.

The movie withers when the narrative tries to modernize Santa or rationalize Santa Claus through science, because Santa is magic – pure and simple. For instance, why would Santa need a fire-proof suit when he comes down a chimney because its magic that protects him from fire, not to mention that it’s magic that allows Santa to do his job. The ending is also too long and phony, filled with forced emotion and saccharine level sentiment.

Still, about 80% of the film is an excellent fantasy comedy, and The Santa Clause would probably make any short list as one of the great Christmas comedies. I know that I want to put it on my annual Christmas list.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, November 5, 2006

Review: "Drop Zone: is an Underrated Action Film (Happy B'day, Wesley Snipes)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 63 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Drop Zone (1994)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and language
DIRECTOR: John Badham
WRITERS: Peter Barsocchini and John Bishop, from a story by Tony Griffin, Guy Manos, and Peter Barsocchini
PRODUCERS: D.J. Caruso, Lauren Lloyd, and Wallis Nicita
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roy H. Wagner (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Frank Morriss
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer

ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Gary Busey, Yancy Butler, Michael Jeter, Corin Nemec, Kyle Secor, Luca Bercovici, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Grace Zabriskie, Rex Linn, Robert LaSardo, Sam Hennings, Claire Stansfield, Mickey Jones, and Andy Romano

The subject of this movie review is Drop Zone, a 1994 action movie and crime thriller from director John Badham. This film was apparently initially conceived as a Steven Seagal project. Drop Zone stars Wesley Snipes as a U.S. Marshal tracking a team of skydiving crooks led by a former DEA agent.

A thoroughly underrated Wesley Snipes film (and there are several) is Drop Zone. At the time the film was first released, it was expected to be a huge hit, yet it didn’t gross $30 million at the North American box office. However, I think that any viewer who can identify with the character Snipes portrays will find that this movie really resonates for him.

Snipes is Pete Nessip, a U.S. Marshall, who is transferring a prisoner (Michael Jeter) to a safe house with his brother Terry (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) who is also a Marshall. A group of skyjackers stage an impossible prison break on a 747, kill Terry, and kidnaps the prisoner, Earl Leedy (Jeter). There is, however, more to this. Led by Ty Moncrief (Gary Busey), a former Drug Enforcement Agency agent, the skyjackers are actually a band of skydiving crooks that specialize in landing on the roofs of law enforcement buildings and hacking into law enforcement computer systems. They sell the information they get to drug lords. Nessip convinces Jessie Crossman (Yancy Butler), a roguish but loveable skydiving instructor, to help him track down the criminals.

Drop Zone is decidedly low-fi and is more like Snipes earlier hit, Passenger 57, or the Keanu Reaves classic Point Break. It’s a police procedural and crime thriller with some great action scenes. The skydiving stunt work and photography is breathtaking and, in fact, rocks. The acting is good, though a little stiff and over the top, but Snipes, Busey, and Ms. Butler carry the film quite well, especially Busey who does his usual good work as a crazy guy. Kyle Secor is also quite entertaining as the skydiving loony, Swoop, playing excellent comic relief. I give this film a hardy recommendation as a sure fire video rental or as a Saturday home matinee.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

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Review: "The Lion King" Still Reigns

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 94 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Lion King (1994)
Running time: 89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTORS: Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
WRITERS: Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton; from a story by multiple writers
PRODUCER: Don Hahn
EDITOR: Ivan Bilancio
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer
SONGS: Elton John and Tim Rice
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/FANTASY/DRAMA/FAMILY with elements of adventure and comedy

Starring: (voices) Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Madge Sinclair, Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Moira Kelly, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Niketa Calame, and Robert Guillaume

The Lion King is a 1994 Oscar-winning, animated film from Walt Disney Pictures. It is the story of a young lion who must take the place of his late father, the king, and save his land from his scheming uncle, his father’s brother. If The Little Mermaid (1989) was the beginning of the “Disney Renaissance,” then, The Lion King was the apex of Disney’s hand-drawn animated films during that renaissance.

The Lion King is set in Africa. King Mufasa (James Earl Jones) rules over the Pride Lands from Pride Rock. As the story begins, Queen Sarabi (Madge Sinclair) has just given birth to a cub, Simba, who will one day be king. Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is a playful and willful cub, but Mufasa guides and prepares him for the day when he will rule. Meanwhile, Mufasa’s brother, Scar (Jeremy Irons), lurks in the shadows, bitter that he is not king, and he plots with the hyenas to murder Mufasa. After tragedy strikes, Simba leaves the Pride Lands, intending never to return.

Years later, an adult Simba (Matthew Broderick) lives in exile. His constant companions are a meerkat, Timon (Nathan Lane), and a warthog, Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella). However, Simba’s past returns in the form of an old friend looking for food. It is then that Simba is forced to make important decisions about both his future and that of the Pride Lands.

The Lion King was Walt Disney Animation Studios 32nd full-length animated feature film. Some of Disney’s hand-drawn animated (or 2D animated) films produced in the last four decades are exceptional, even superb. None are as good as The Lion King. One could argue that The Lion King embodied everything up to that time that was great about Disney animated films. The Lion King is an engrossing animal fable or Disney anthropomorphic story like Bambi. It has a superb musical score and the kind of songs that are soaring, inspirational, heartfelt, toe-tapping, and/or romantic, in the tradition of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Its animation brings together the “art of Disney” animation, which is the illusion of life, and also the early introduction of computer animation – from the coloring to the computer generated wildebeest stampede.

The story, which borrows from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Holy Bible, is a universal story of a young hero’s journey from carefree childhood and youthful tragedy to reluctant man-child and adult responsibility. The obstacles that Simba faces, his conflicts and struggles, and his confusion all feel honest and true – not contrived and overly sentimental. The audience can buy into Simba because so much about his him seems genuine.

Each Disney animated film always has good voice performances and at least one great performance. The Lion King has more than a few great voice performances. James Earl Jones is regal personified as King Mufasa, while Jeremy Iron is his evil, velvety opposite. Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jim Cummings are superb as the hyena trio. However, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella are scene-stealing showstoppers as Timon and Pumbaa, respectively, by creating signature, unforgettable Disney characters.

The classic Disney animated films always get me, and The Lion King charms me now just as it charmed me 17 years ago. This superbly animated feature is simply magic.

10 of 10

NOTES:
1995 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Music, Original Score” (Hans Zimmer) and “Best Music, Original Song” (Elton John-music and Tim Rice-lyrics for the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"); 2 nominations “Best Music, Original Song” (Elton John-music and Tim Rice-lyrics for the song "Circle of Life") and “Best Music, Original Song” (Elton John-music and Tim Rice-lyrics for the song "Hakuna Matata")

1995 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Hans Zimmer) and “Best Sound” (Terry Porter, Mel Metcalfe, David Hudson, and Doc Kane)

1995 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Don Hahn), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Hans Zimmer), and “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Elton John-music and Tim Rice-lyrics for the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"); 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Elton John-music and Tim Rice-lyrics for the song “The Circle of Life”)

Sunday, November 20, 2011

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Review: "Clear and Present Danger" is Presently Really Good (Happy B'day, Harrison Ford)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 66 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Running time: 141 minutes (2 hours, 21 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some intense action/violence and language
DIRECTOR: Philip Noyce
WRITERS: Donald Stewart, Steven Zaillian, and John Milius
PRODUCERS: Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Donald McAlpine
EDITOR: Neil Travis
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/ESPIONAGE/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring: Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer, Joaquim de Alemeida, Henry Czerny, Harris Yulin, Donald Moffat, Miguel Sandoval, Benjamin Bratt, Raymond Cruz, Thora Birch, Ann Magnuson, Greg Germann, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Belita Moreno, Ted Raimi, and James Earl Jones

Tom Clancy’s intrepid CIA agent, Jack Ryan, makes his third big screen appearance, with Harrison Ford reprising the role of Ryan, which he first played in 1992’s Patriot Games, after replacing Alec Baldwin, who played Ryan in The Hunt for Red October.

When his mentor, Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones) becomes gravely ill, Jack Ryan (Ford) is assigned the position of acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence, but he meets some resistance in the form of two fellow CIA officers, Robert Ritter (Henry Czerny) and James Cutter (Harris Yulin). Ryan’s first assignment is to investigate the murder of a prominent U.S. businessman and his family. A friend of President Bennett (Donald Moffat), the murdered businessman apparently had secret ties to a Columbian drug lord, Ernesto Escobedo (Miguel Sandoval).

Unbeknownst to Ryan, Ritter and Cutter, with an unofficial, official go-ahead from President Bennett, have already dispatched a Columbian-based U.S. field operative named John Clark (Willem Dafoe) to lead a paramilitary force against the Columbian drug lords, Escobedo in particular. Ryan also finds that he must match wits with a Latin American version of himself, (Joaquim De Alemeida), who works for Escobedo. Caught in the middle of a brewing scandal and the crossfire of an illegal war, Ryan risks his career and life and jumps into the fray to uncover the thing that means the most to him – the truth.

Clear and Present Danger is the kind of espionage thriller that stands up to repeated viewings because it is also a very good drama, but the main reason the film remains popular is Harrison Ford. As he did so well from the early to the mid-90’s, Ford plays the self-righteous, heroic, sensitive macho man who fights for truth and justice (and sometimes the American way). He is a do-right man, but not just for the ladies. Here, he plays it to the hilt, grim-faced when confronted by lies and wrongful death, grim and solemn over a friend or colleague’s demise, and grimly but gamely going after the baddies.

Clear and Present Danger presents a cerebral Jack Ryan against a cast of Machiavellian bad guys, in particularly a trio of Americans willfully and recklessly waging a misguided and illegal war in the name of revenge and political expediency. Sound familiar? Although Clear and Present Danger seems at times to be a television mini-series (length and narrative structure), this timeless and timely tale, propped up by an amazing leading man (in the true sense of the term), maintains its edge and thrills.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1995 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Bruce Stambler and John Leveque) and “Best Sound” (Donald O. Mitchell, Michael Herbick, Frank A. Montaño, and Art Rochester)

Monday, April 03, 2006

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Review: "Star Trek: Generations" Does Not Stray Far from the TV Series

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 211 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: David Carson
WRITERS: Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga; from a story by Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Rick Berman (based on the TV series “Star Trek” created by Gene Roddenberry)
PRODUCER: Rick Berman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John A. Alonzo
EDITOR: Peter E. Berger, A.C.E.

SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Malcolm McDowell, James Doohan, Walter Koening, William Shatner, Alan Ruck, Tim Russ, and Whoppi Goldberg

In 1994, the seventh film in the Star Trek movie franchise debuted in theatres, but unlike the previous six films, this one featured a new incarnation of the U.S.S. Enterprise (Enterprise-D) and a new crew, led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Star Trek: Generations starred the cast of the second Trek series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which ran for seven seasons from 1987-1994 in syndication.

While investigating a disaster at an outlying observation station, the crew of the Enterprise finds that the catastrophe’s sole survivor is Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell), an intense man insistent that he be allowed to complete his work on the station. Soran turns out to be of the same race as the Enterprise’s bartender, Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg, who did not receive a screen credit in the film), the El Aurian. Soran has malevolent plans for a roaming energy field called The Nexus, which involves the destruction of the Veridian solar system. When Picard tries to intervene, he becomes caught in the Nexus and meets a man presumed-dead the last time a U.S.S. Enterprise (Enterprise-B) tangled with The Nexus, the retired Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner).

Star Trek: Generations is a good, but not great film, which is the same way one can categorize it as part of the Trek pantheon – good, but not great. Perhaps, it needs to grow on the audience; in fact, I certainly liked it much more the second time I saw it than I did the first. Generations is simply an extended version of the TV show, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” put in the context of a feature film, meaning a longer story, better special effects, and improved production values (even a few scenes of exceptional cinematography).

The acting is more or less the same as in the TV show with a moment here and there of more thoughtful performances. Malcolm McDowell brings a welcome jolt of viciousness as the single-minded Soran. The actors playing the Klingons also bring the same kind of intensity to their performances, as did the actors who played the aliens in the earlier installments of the franchise. Even director David Caruso seems to spring to life when the Klingons are involved.

The best parts of the film are those that take place in the past and involve the only three cast members from the original “Star Trek” television series and films to appear in Star Trek: Generations. Seeing Shatner, Koening, and Doohan made me sad because for all intents and purposes, their Trek can only exist as artifacts from a long time ago.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

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Review: "Ed Wood" Biopic is Still a Delight (Happy B'day, Ed Wood)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 161 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ed Wood (1994)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – R for some strong language
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (based upon the book Nightmare of Ecstasy by Rudolph Grey)
PRODUCERS: Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stefan Czapsky
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Howard Shore
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA/BIOPIC

Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Murray, Max Casella, Brent Hinkley, Lisa Marie, Vincent D’Onofrio, and George “The Animal” Steele

Martin Landau won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, a biopic of the legendary director of such “awful” movies as Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda. A box office flop when it was released on Halloween night in 1994, Ed Wood still earned rave reviews and today is a fan favorite amongst many movie buffs. At the time, it was Tim Burton’s best directorial effort since Beetlejuice (1988) and since that film, he has not made another film that is closer to the spirit he showed in his early works.

Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Johnny Depp) wanted to be a great filmmaker, but probably lacked the talent and skills, if not the vision, to be one. Just before his career kicks off in the early 1950’s, Wood meets the infamous Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) best known for starring in horror films, and especially for his trademark work, the 1931 film version of Dracula. Lugosi, a heroin addict on the tale end of his career and financial strapped, joins Ed Wood’s gang of merry idiots, outcasts, and weirdoes to make three truly awful films. Ed Wood and the elder thespian become close friends as Wood struggles to finance his pictures.

It’s difficult to find fault with Ed Wood, as pretty much everything about the film is top notch, from the wonderful art direction and costumes to Howard Shore’s magnificent score. Cinematographer Stefan Czapsky’s glorious black and white photography remains one of the best examples of black and white film used as an artistic choice in the last quarter century.

Ed Wood claims to be a mostly true story of Wood the filmmaker, but Burton’s intent here is what his intent is in many of his films – to tell the uplifting story of the outcast, outsider, weirdo, or nonconformist who struggles to do his own thing in spite of what normal society says. The script, by biopic experts Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon), takes a naïve, idealistic, and ultimately light-hearted approach in examining people who do really bad work, but who have the best intentions. The writers don’t, however, play everything as happy-go-lucky because the story depicts an awful lot of frustrations in the way of Wood and his crew.

Stylistically, Burton takes the approach of making Ed Wood look like a camp picture. Shot in black and white, the film’s style is almost as farcical as Wood’s filmography. Perhaps, it was best for Burton to make his film as off-kilter as his subject, and it worked. Biographical films face many obstacles; being boring and preachy or making saints and martyrs of their subjects are the worst sins of biopics. Ed Wood, however, is fun, surreal, and fantastical, and Burton sees the world through the eyes of a harmless madman who wanted to make great movies and made painfully bad pictures. This is a bold creative move on Burton’s part, the kind of adventurous and imaginative choices that he doesn’t always make. The Hollywood machine often eats the brilliance out of this visionary filmmaker.

Wood is also full of wonderful performances. Besides Landau’s Lugosi (for which he received numerous awards), Depp shows that he is every bit the wild spirit that his frequent collaborator Burton is. Depp’s Wood wears a kabuki mask of campy zaniness, but Depp also plays the character with such depth that how can we not help but take Wood seriously as a serious filmmaker even when we know he makes crap? Bill Murray for his wily and self-effacing performance and Lisa Marie for playing Vampira as a staid, ticking, sex bomb also deserve notice. Along with everybody else, they make Ed Wood a rare cinematic treat, an oddball movie about an oddball filmmaker. Ed Wood is hilarious, and is finally a deeply moving picture about the quest to share one’s dreams with the world.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1995 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Martin Landau) and “Best Makeup” (Rick Baker, Ve Neill, and Yolanda Toussieng)

1995 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Martin Landau); 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Johnny Depp)

1996 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Make Up/Hair” (Ve Neill, Rick Baker, and Yolanda Toussieng) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Martin Landau)

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Review: "Clerks" Was and Still Is the Real Deal

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 181 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Clerks. (1994) – Black & White
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – R for extensive use of extremely explicit sex-related dialogue
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Kevin Smith
EDITORS/PRODUCERS: Scott Mosier and Kevin Smith
CINEMATOGRAPHER: David Klein

COMEDY

Starring: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonhauser, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Walter Flanagan, and David Klein

Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) wasn’t even supposed to be at work today, but his boss called him to open the convenience store because the guy that was supposed to work called in sick. Going to work wouldn’t be so bad, if Dante hadn’t just finished a night shift, and he wasn’t dead tired. And, God, he hates the customers.

Kevin Smith’s Clerks. is the story of Dante and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson), two loser, nowhere-bound clerks, Dante in a convenience story and Randal in a video store next door. The film focuses on a day in their lives when Dante feuds with his girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) and obsesses over his old squeeze, Caitlin (Lisa Spoonhauser), and Dante and Randal deal with fines, customer hassles, a visit to a wake that goes badly, and dead customers. If that wasn’t crazy enough, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), two eccentric drug dealers, hang around outside all day.

Clerks. made Kevin Smith a cult favorite director and is probably his most beloved film. For anyone who has ever held a low-paying job as a clerk at a small business, Clerks. is the visual Bible of wage earner suffering. The film’s extremely low-budget look (it was allegedly shot for under $30,000) isn’t off-putting, but adds a sense of verisimilitude to the film. The acting (mostly made up of local theatre talent and friends of the filmmakers) ranges from sub-par to good, but what makes this film is the dialogue.

While Smith often gives his cast more than a mouthful to say, his dialogue is witty, subversive, real, sassy, philosophical, and hilariously outrageous. Add that to some brilliant key moments in the film, and Clerks. is a comedy that may not speak to everyone, but this radiant delight speaks loudly to some of us.

8 of 10
A

Review: "The Return of Jafar" a Nice Follow-up to Walt Disney's "Aladdin"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 191 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Return of Jafar (1994) – straight to video – animation
Running time:  69 minutes (1 hour, 9 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTORS: Toby Shelton, Tad Stones, and Alan Zaslove
WRITERS: Kevin Campbell, Mirith JS Colao, Bill Motz, Steve Roberts, Dev Ross, Bob Roth, Jan Strnad, and Brian Swenlin; from a story by Duane Capizzi, Douglas Langdale, Mark McCorkle, Robert Schooley, and Tad Stones
PRODUCERS: Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove
EDITOR: Elen Orson

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY/ACTION/MUSICAL

Starring: (voices) Scott Weinger, Gilbert Gottfried, Linda Lavin, Dan Castellaneta, Jonathan Freeman, Jason Alexander, Val Bettin, Frank Welker, and Jim Cummings, Brad Kane, and Liz Callaway

The heroes and villains of Walt Disney’s Oscar-winning Aladdin (1992) return in the straight-to-video feature, The Return of Jafar – produced mostly by the now-defunct Walt Disney Television Animation based in Australia (DisneyToon Studios).

Aladdin (Scott Weinger) and Jasmine (Linda Lavin) are ready to begin their life as a royal couple, especially now that the Sultan of Agrabah (Val Bettin), Jasmine’s father, has a big announcement to make concerning Aladdin. However, Iago (Gilbert Gottfried), the parrot sidekick of Aladdin’s nemesis in the original film, Jafar (Jonathan Freeman) reappears. Iago, ever an opportunist, wants to be on the winning side and return to the life of luxury at the Sultan’s palace, so he attempts to make nice with Aladdin. Iago is succeeding in earning Aladdin’s trust on a provisional basis when Jafar, now the powerful Red Genie, returns to Agrabah with the help of Abis Mal (Jason Alexander), the chief of a local band of thieves. Both Jafar and Abis Mal want their revenge against Aladdin, and Jafar coerces Iago into helping him. The scene-stealing (blue) Genie (Dan Castellaneta) also returns, but can he help Aladdin stop Jafar’s diabolical plans and get rid of him for good?

The animation in The Return of Jafar isn’t nearly as good or as pretty as it is Aladdin. The colors aren’t as rich, and the shading on characters and objects isn’t there. The character animation is good, but not up to the standards of Disney feature animation. At the time of release, however, this was better than most of the animation produced domestically or overseas for American television, and The Return of Jafar is a nice second serving of the characters and situations from the original film. The last 20 minutes of this movie is riveting, thrilling stuff – as good as that in many live action, action flicks.

The characters are still themselves with the cast giving good voice acting performances, for the most part. Here, Genie is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the voice of “Homer Simpson” (and numerous others) on “The Simpsons,” but he’s so-so as Genie. The absence of Robin Williams, who refused to reprise the role because of a dispute over merchandising money with Disney, is painfully obvious. Luckily, the dispute was resolved and Williams returned for a second direct-to-video sequel to Aladdin.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, September 02, 2006

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Review: "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" Eternally Funny

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 116 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
Running time: 87 minutes
MPAA – PG-13 for off-color humor and some nudity
DIRECTOR: Tom Shadyac
WRITERS: Jack Bernstein and Tom Shadyac & Jim Carrey, from a story by Jack Bernstein
PRODUCER: James G. Robinson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Julio Macat
EDITOR: Don Zimmerman, A.C.E.

COMEDY

Starring: Jim Carrey, Sean Young, Courteney Cox, Tone Lōc, Dan Marino, Noble Willingham, Troy Evans, and Udo Kier

Jim Carrey had appeared in a few minor movies in the 1980’s; then, a national TV audience discovered his talents for monkeyshines, physical comedy, and impersonations in the hit television sketch comedy series, “In Living Color.” Carrey, however, blew up as a movie star with the 1994 debut of his first film as the lead actor, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and in the eleven and a half years since that movie first opened at the box office, Carrey’s film career has hit few potholes on the road to continued success.

Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey) is a Miami-based pet detective, a private dick who finds lost and stolen pets. He’s also a serious animal lover, and his apartment is filled with dogs, penguins, raccoons, etc. Ace, however, isn’t making much of a living as a pet detective, but he gets his big break when Snowflake, the dolphin mascot of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, is kidnapped. The Dolphins top management is furious because Snowflake is popular with both the fans and the superstitious Dolphin players who consider Snowflake a good luck charm – one without which they’d really rather not play the upcoming Super Bowl. No one else can find Snowflake, so a Dolphins front office employee, Melissa Robinson (Courteney Cox), hires Ace, but the case grows complex when another Dolphin official is found murdered. Can Ace solve the mystery before something else goes wrong, or will his unorthodox methods lead to disaster?

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which certainly would never win an “Edgar Allan Poe” award as an example of exceptional detective or mystery film, is strictly a vehicle for Jim Carrey’s talents, and it certainly features Carrey’s raw, juvenile, and sometimes infantile act – the talking butt hole, the twisted facial expressions, hamming for the camera, the ADD, the ADHD-inspired antics, etc. Of course, much of the act is uproarious; since those early years, however, Carrey’s refined his act, and we can look upon Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as the beginning of a short, golden age when Carrey reintroduced audiences to gross out comedy and then, took it to the next level.

6 of 10
B

July 18, 2005