Review: Jackie Chan Really Rumbles in "RUMBLE IN THE BRONX"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 of 2021 (No. 1791) by Leroy Douresseaux

Rumble in the Bronx (1996)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language and violent sequences
DIRECTOR:  Stanley Tong
WRITERS:  Edward Tang and Fibe Ma
PRODUCER:  Barbie Tung
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jingle Ma
EDITOR:  Peter Cheung
COMPOSER:  J. Peter Robinson

MARTIAL ARTS/ACTION/COMEDY

Starring:  Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Francois Yip, Bill Tung, Carrie Cain-Sparks, Morgan Lam, Marc Akerstream, Garvin Cross, Alf Humphries and Kris Lord

[Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Marvel Studios' “Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings,” has said in interviews that the films of Jackie Chan heavily influenced his Marvel film.  I decided to go back and take a new look at the first Jackie Chan film I saw, “Rumble in the Bronx.”]

Rumble in the Bronx is a 1995 Hong Kong martial arts film starring Jackie Chan and directed by Stanley Tong.  Both Chan and Tong directed the film's action choreography.  Rumble in the Bronx was released in Hong Kong in 1995.  New Line Cinema released an English-dub version of the film with a shorter run time than the original version in February 1996.  The film also introduced Jackie Chan to a mainstream audience in the United States.  Rumble in the Bronx focuses on a young man from Hong Kong who uses his martial arts skills to take on a street gang and murderous mobsters while visiting his uncle in New York City.

Keung (Jackie Chan) comes to New York City to attend the wedding of his Uncle Bill (Bill Tung) to his bride-to-be, Whitney (Carrie Cain-Sparks).  Uncle Bill, who lives in the Bronx, is also about to sell his grocery store, “the Wah-Ha Supermarket.”  Keung meets Elena (Anita Mui), the woman who is buying the supermarket, and he ends up agreeing to stay in the U.S. a little longer to help Elena with the transition of ownership

What Keung does not know is that his uncle's store and this Bronx neighborhood is plagued by a street biker street gang led by a man named Tony (Marc Akerstream).  Keung thwarts the gang members the first time he meets them, but he also meets a Danny Chan (Morgan Lam), a disabled Chinese-American boy whose sister, Nancy (Francois Yip), is a member of the gang.  Keung attempts to help Danny and Nancy, while in constant battle with Tony and his crew.  However, neither Keung or Tony know that they are about to become entangled with a vicious crime lord, White Tiger (Kris Lord).

I had heard of Jackie Chan by reputation long before I had a chance to see Rumble in the Bronx.  Prior to the release of that film in 1996, Chan was an international movie star, but only had a cult following in the U.S.  I do remember that a friend of mine at the time was a huge Jackie Chan fan and went out of her way to see his films.  Also, the fact that Rumble in the Bronx was set in New York City, but was actually shot in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada fascinated some commentators.

The truth about most Jackie Chan films is that they are not about the plot, but are an excuse to show the amazing martial arts, acrobatic, gymnastic, and stunt skills of Jackie Chan.  Chan is an amazing performer and a charismatic movie star, even when speaking in what is not his first language, English.

At the time of the U.S. theatrical release of Rumble in the Bronx, I read an article that said that Chan had been seriously injured while performing his own stunts over forty times.  For much of his career, Chan has done most of his own stunts, and Rumble in the Bronx shows Chan in all his glory.  Watching it, I saw many instances in which he did things that could and should have killed him.  But Chan is like a real-life superhero, getting up every time he is knocked down.  Once I started watching Rumble in the Bronx this most recent time, I had a hard time stopping for anything.  Chan moves so fast that it makes the film seem to be shorter than it actually is.

Rumble in the Bronx is also a bit odd beyond Chan's act.  The film is surprisingly humorous, making it a delightful action-comedy, but it is also unexpectedly violent, including depicting a brutal kind of murder that one would not expect in this film, considering its humorous slant.  However, Rumble in the Bronx also includes one of my favorite Jackie Chan stunts, the scamper through the grocery cart.

Rumble in the Bronx is not a great Jackie Chan film, but truthfully, it was the perfect film in which to introduce mainstream American audiences to one of China's greatest movie stars.  And, also truthful, Rumble in the Bronx is quite enjoyable.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, September 2, 2021


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Review: "Trainspotting" is Still Cool (Happy B'day, Kelly Macdonald)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 69 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Trainspotting (1996)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  United Kingdom
Running time:  94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic heroin use and resulting depravity, strong language, sex, nudity and some violence
DIRECTOR:  Danny Boyle
WRITER:  John Hodge (from the novel by Irvine Welsh)
PRODUCER:  Andrew Macdonald
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Brian Tufano (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Masahiro Hirakubo
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA with elements of comedy

Starring:  Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Peter Mullan, and Kelly Macdonald

The subject of this movie review is Trainspotting, a 1996 British drama and black comedy from the team of director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and writer John Hodge.  The film is based on the 1993 novel, Trainspotting, by author Irvine Welsh.  Set in Edinburgh, Scotland, Trainspotting the film focuses on a heroin addict who tries to clean up despite the allure of the drugs and the influence of his friends.

Director Danny Boyle captured movie audiences’ attentions with his film Shallow Grave, but it was Trainspotting that blew him up big time.  It’s the story of five young Scotsmen and their decrepit lives – rarely has nasty and slovenliness seemed so appealing.

Mark “Rent-boy” Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a serious heroine addict, deeply involved in the Edinburgh drug scene, who tries to kick his habit and change his life.  Three of his friends are also hooked on smack:  Daniel “Spud” Murphy (Ewen Bremner), Simon David “Sick Boy” Williamson (Jonny Lee Miller), and Tommy MacKenzie (Kevin McKidd).  His other homey is a wacked-out, violent, thief, and ex-con named Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle), whom everyone calls Begbie.  Renton enjoys the dope, the violent friends, and the wild sex, but despite the allure, he wants to go clean.  If only his friends would let him be and that includes Diane (Kelly Macdonald), the hot young thing whose jailbait body can’t get enough of Renton.

The first half of Trainspotting seems to drag, but the death of a minor, but important character, really kicks off the festivities.  It seems that it took a horrible and gruesome discovery in the narrative flow to wake up screenwriter John Hodge’s storytelling beast.  Suddenly, the vibrant soundtrack, clever editing, dead-on acting, and drug fugue merge to make something splendid.  Boyle’s directing style for this film earned comparisons to films like Pulp Fiction and A Clockwork Orange, and the narrative spool of this film does mirror the latter film in style and execution, but Trainspotting is about sad people.  In Pulp Fiction and Clockwork, the characters are dangerous and dangerously sexy; in Trainspotting, they’re pretty pathetic, more sexual stank than sexually attractive.  Even McGregor’s Renton is a bore.

However, there is a neat trick Boyle and Hodge pull on us.  The closer Renton comes to the surface to free himself from his morass, the more attractive and sympathetic he becomes.  He goes from being the lead loser, the least repellent of the lowlife, to a hero for whom we can root.  As he cleans himself up, the film becomes all the more beautiful.

Trainspotting is something different, but something good, and it requires patience on the part of a viewer.  There’s a reward at the end of the rainbow.  Boyle and Hodge make this Renton’s story, about a kind of resurrection.  They wed him to the viewer, and as he rises, so does the viewer.  It’s an electric experience that has to be experienced; for the adventurous film fan, it’s a reward watching Renton finally win and leave the filth behind, not unlike kicking a bad habit.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1997 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published” (John Hodge)

1996 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (John Hodge); 1 nomination: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Andrew Macdonald and Danny Boyle)

1997 BAFTA Awards, Scotland:  2 wins: “Best Feature Film” (Andrew Macdonald-producer, Danny Boyle-director, and John Hodge-writer), “Best Actor – Film” (Ewan McGregor); 3 nominations: “Best Actor – Film” (Robert Carlyle), “Best Actress – Film” (Kelly Macdonald), and “Best Writer” (John Hodge)

Updated:  Sunday, February 23, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "James and the Giant Peach" a Delight

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 105 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Running time: 79 minutes (1 hour, 19 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some frightening images
DIRECTOR: Henry Selick
WRITERS: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, Steve Bloom (based upon the book by Roald Dahl)
PRODUCERS: Denise Di Novi and Tim Burton
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Hiro Narita (live action) and Pete Kozachik (animation)
EDITOR: Stan Webb
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award nominee

FANTASY/ANIMATION/MUSICAL and ADVENTURE/COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring: Paul Terry, Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Leeves, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, Pete Postlethwaite, Susan Sarandon, and David Thewlis

The subject of this movie review is James and the Giant Peach, a 1996 British-American stop-motion animation film and musical fantasy from director Henry Selick. The film is a co-production of Walt Disney Pictures and the British film production company, Allied Filmmakers.

Stop-motion animation director Henry Selick followed up his 1993 collaboration with Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas, with James and the Giant Peach. Based upon a children’s book by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda), James and the Giant Peach is a mixture of live-action film and stop-motion animation.

While not as well done as Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach is a beautiful film full of flights of fancy and imagination, and Randy Newman’s Oscar-nominated score (“Best Music – Original Musical or Comedy Score”) provides the delightful backdrop and joyous songs to carry the narrative forward. This film is also more for children than Nightmare Before Christmas (which has a large cult following among adults), but the magic of the filmmaking will still impress older viewers.

After a rogue rhinoceros kills his parents, James (Paul Terry) is forced to live with his nasty Aunt Spiker (Joanna Lumley) and Aunt Sponge (Miriam Margolyes), who make him work hard, go hungry, and bar him from having any fun, but when magic causes a giant peach to grow in his aunts’ backyard, James climbs inside the massive fruit to find adventure (at this point the film goes from live action to stop-motion animation). He befriends a group of giant insects that used to live in his yard; the same magic that grew the peach has made them human-like. Together with his new friends, James embarks on a great adventure to the place his parents had planned to take him, New York City.

Paul Terry is strong and engaging as the film’s central character, and the voiceovers are a treat. Listen for Richard Dreyfuss’ delightful turn as the brash and pugnacious Centipede.

7 of 10
A-

July 3, 2005

NOTES:
1997 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score” (Randy Newman)

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Review: "Star Trek: First Contact" is a Franchise Highpoint

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 215 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sci-fi adventure violence
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Frakes
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: Matthew F. Leonetti (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: John W. Wheeler with Anastasia Emmons
COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige, Neal McDonough, Robert Picardo, and Dwight Schultz

The subject of this movie review is Star Trek: First Contact, a 1996 science fiction drama and thriller from director Jonathan Frakes, who is also a Star Trek cast member. First Contact is the eighth movie in the Star Trek film franchise.

The cast of the syndicated series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” returns in their second Star Trek feature film, Star Trek: First Contact. This time, Captain Jean Luc-Picard (Patrick Stewart) leads the crew of the newly commissioned U.S.S. Enterprise-E in a battle against one of the most feared villains of the TV series, the Borg, a sinister alien race of half-machine, half-organic beings.

Once upon a time, the Borg captured Picard and assimilated him into the Borg collective, re-naming him Locutus. Although Picard escaped (which is rare), he never forgot or forgave the Borg for the experience. As First Contact begins, the Enterprise-E is on a routine patrol when Picard gets a message from Starfleet Headquarters that the Borg have entered Federation space and are on a direct course for Earth. Although his orders are to stand down, Picard has the Enterprise enter the fray, and he leads the attack that destroys the Borg ship. Before their ship is destroyed, the Borg jettison an escape pod, which the Enterprise follows. Scanning the pod, the Enterprise discovers that it is entering a time vortex, so Picard has the Enterprise follow it through the vortex.

The Borg have gone back in time to attack Earth when it is vulnerable, a dark age just after World War III. Picard and crew learn that they have come back precisely on the day of April 4, 2063, which is 24 hours before the most momentous day in human history – April 5, 2063 – First Contact. Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) land on this Earth of the past to help a shabby scientist, Dr. Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), keep his date with destiny. Meanwhile, Picard, Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn), the remaining Enterprise crew, and a guest from the Earth below, Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard), fight to keep the Borg and their Borg Queen (Alice Krige) from using the ship to destroy the future, as they know it.

Star Trek: First Contact is the best of the four films spun from “The Next Generation,” and it’s an old fashioned romantic adventure (with “romance” in this instance not meaning “love”). ST:FC blends pulp sci-fi with the optimism of the original Star Trek. The central line of conflict – Picard and Worf’s attempts to save the Enterprise-E crew from being turned into Borg drones – is riveting. Towards that end, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Alfre Woodard shine in showy roles.

The rest of the story that takes place on mid-21st Earth – Riker and La Forge’s quest to help Zefram Cochrane make history – is a pleasant diversion from the heady action on the Enterprise. It is here that the writers reveal the ingenuity of the plot – that of man both in his past self and his future self fighting all manner of obstacles to reach the stars. Humanity literally has to be ready for anything, and has to be ready to create out of chaos. If you choose only to watch one Star Trek film, First Contact would be a fine choice.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1997 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Makeup” (Michael Westmore, Scott Wheeler, and Jake Garber)

1997 Image Awards: 1 nomination for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Alfre Woodard)

Thursday, October 19, 2006

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Review: Norton is the Star in "PRIMAL FEAR" (Happy B'day, Edward Norton)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 06 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Primal Fear (1996)
Running time: 129 minutes (2 hours, 9 minutes)
MPAA – R for brief grisly violence, pervasive strong language and a sex scene
DIRECTOR: Gregory Hoblit
WRITERS: Steve Shagan and Ann Biderman (based upon the novel by William Diehl)
PRODUCER: Gary Lucchesi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Chapman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: David Rosenbloom
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney, Frances McDormand, Alfre Woodard, Terry O’Quinn, Andre Braugher, Steven Bauer, Joe Spano, Stanley Anderson, Maura Tierney, and Jon Seda

The subject of this movie review is Primal Fear, a 1996 courtroom drama and legal thriller starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney. The film is based on William Diehl’s 1993 novel, Primal Fear. This movie was also actor Edward Norton’s feature film debut, for which he earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination.

I’ll begin with a minor spoiler warning, so skip to the second paragraph if you don’t want to know how the movie ends. I was thoroughly and completely happy that the murderer beats the system in the end; he was my hero throughout the movie. I enjoyed that he trumped the skuzzy and dishonest State’s Attorney John Shaughnessy (John Mahoney of TV’s “Fraiser”), who uses murder, intimidation, and lies to get his way like so many dirty people in district attorney and state’s attorney’s offices. Hooray to chaos! Damn the corrupt system! Now, on to the movie.

Richard Gere has spent the better part of three decades shining his lovely face in numerous films, although his skills as a thespian are usually in question, there is no doubt that he is a good movie star. He has an obvious, almost forced, charm, but he is also a charming rogue. He doesn’t bury himself in method acting; he simply plays the character as himself. It can be argued that no actress of similar skill and of similar shaky box office pedigree would continue to get choice projects, but then there’s Madonna.

In Primal Fear, Gere is the arrogant defense attorney Martin “Marty” Vail, and he just taken on the case of Aaron Stampler (Edward Norton) who has been arrested for the savagely murdering a popular bishop (Stanley Anderson). State’s Attorney Shaughnessy wants the death penalty, and he sends one of Marty’s former girlfriends and co-workers, Janet Venable (Laura Linney) to prosecute the case. Yes, Marty also has a history with the Shaughnessy, who was his boss not so long ago.

Gere is himself, and I can’t see any indication that this performance would standout amongst any others unless they were really bad. Laura Linney can certainly play the tough “cookie,” who roles with punches, taking anything life or ex-lovers have to throw her way. It’s always good to see the under utilized Alfre Woodard (as Judge Miriam Shoat) and John Mahoney is fun in practically anything.

Good performances by most of the cast aside, the scene stealing, showstopper is Edward Norton in this, his first film role. The fact of the matter is that Primal Fear is average potboiler without him. He so embodies his roles (he has more than one part, sort of) that you can’t help but be drawn into him. No matter what happens, you’re rooting for the boyish and obviously innocent and naïve country kid who was taken in and abused by the mean old city. He uses his entire body to become his character: gestures, facial expressions, hair, the way her wears his clothes, etc.

Director Gregory Hoblit, a director of episodic television, was lucky to have him. Norton transforms Hoblit’s film from a minor studio legal thriller that would have wound up in home video hell into something worth recommending to friends over and over again.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
1997 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Edward Norton)

1997 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Edward Norton)

1997 Golden Globes, USA: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Edward Norton)

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Review: First Tom Cruise "Mission: Impossible" is Still a Thrill

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mission: Impossible (1996)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Brian De Palma
WRITERS: David Koepp and Robert Towne; story by David Koepp and Steven Zallian (based on the television series created by Bruce Geller)
PRODUCERS: Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen H. Burum (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman

ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave, Dale Dye, and (uncredited) Emilio Estevez

The Impossible Missions Force (I.M.F.) must recover a computer disc that contains the code name of C.I.A. agents in deep cover in Eastern Europe and capture the spy who not only has the disc but also seeks the other half of the information, which gives the real identities of those same agents.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is the point man for the mission, under the guidance of Jim Phelps (a character holdover from the “Mission: Impossible” television series 1966-73 and a revival 1988-90) and leads his team (which includes parts played by Kristin Scott-Thomas and an uncredited Emilio Estevez). The mission goes awry and places Hunt, the sole survivor, under the false suspicion of betrayal.

Hunt recruits a new team: Phelps’s wife, Claire (Emmanuelle Beart), a thuggish, Franz Krieger (Jean Reno), and a master computer hacker, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), all to help him discover and expose the real mole in I.M.F.

One of the smartest summer movies of all time, Mission: Impossible, upon its release, left audiences shaking their heads. The film itself is like one of the mind games for which the television series was famous. The characters in the film, other than Hunt, are not what they seem, and the writers filled the film with hints that come and go quickly that inevitably reveal the secrets and secret identities. M: I is light on plot, but deceptively simple. Hunt must obtain the object of desire, the deep cover agent list that will in turn bring all the players out of the shadows and into the light of day. Only then, can he prove his innocence.

Cruise proves to be a very good actor (in addition to be such a magnifying screen presence) in the hands of a good director, and De Palma (Casualties of War), despite his spotty box office career, is a fine director. A student of Alfred Hitchcock’s work, De Palma brings the master’s sense of suspense and mystery to M: I. As with a Hitchcock lead, we know that Hunt is innocent, but the odds are so stacked against him that we wonder if he will escape alive, let alone solve the puzzle.

Jon Voight as Phelps fairly drips with duplicity and mystery; he is simultaneously an wise old teacher and reptilian cold war era spy. Vanessa Redgrave brings a lively elegance to the proceedings as the arms dealer, Max. Henry Czerny, as Eugene Kittridge, brings to the show the similar essence of his character Robert Ritter from Clear and Present Danger.

Mission: Impossible is a fine action thriller full of riveting suspense. It demands one’s attention with its unorthodox approach to action movies. Its premise is a gorilla that hangs by a thread on the suspension of disbelief. But it engages and demands that the viewer not only pay attention but uses his mind. The creators only ask that you surrender part of your thinking to them, while most movies, especially summer fare, ask for all of your good sense.

8 of 10
A

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Review: "From Dusk Till Dawn" Still a Bloody, Glorious Mess

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 68 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and gore, language, and nudity
DIRECTOR/EDITOR: Robert Rodriguez
WRITERS: Quentin Tarantino; based upon the story by Robert Kurtzman
PRODUCERS: Gianni Nunnari and Meir Teper
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Guillermo Navarro

HORROR/ACTION/DRAMA with elements of comedy and crime

Starring: Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Ernest Liu, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Tom Savini, Fred Williamson, Michael Parks, Kelly Preston, John Saxson, and Brenda Hillhouse

After a bloody bank robbery, Seth Gecko (George Clooney) and his younger brother, Richard (Quentin Tarantino), are on the lam. The brothers take Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel), an ex-preacher, and his children, Kate (Juliette Lewis) and Scott (Ernest Liu) hostage, in order to use the Fullers’ RV for their getaway. The Geckos and the Fullers escape the police dragnet across the border into Mexico, where the Gecko Brothers are supposed to rendezvous with a local drug kingpin at a biker and trucker cantina called the Titty Twister. What the quintet doesn’t know is that the bar’s owners and some of the clientele are bloodthirsty vampires.

Movies like Scream, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, or even Interview with a Vampire might make the list of great horror movies from the 1990’s, but the Robert Rodriguez directed, Quentin Tarantino scripted horror film, From Dusk Till Dawn is a horrifying, classic howler. Part dark comedy, part gore fest, part action horror, and part crime thriller, FDTD is hell of a film. It’s so blood soaked at times that it might give some people pause and grab their stomachs. Some of the monster and creature makeup and effects are way over the top and hilarious, but the film works.

From Dusk Till Dawn is actually like two movies in one. The first half is straight out of classic crime cinema – dangerous, murderous, cop-killing thieves are on the lam with hostages in tow. The second half is apparently an ode to outlandish Mexican horror films (of which I never seen a one). This mixture is something only genre storytellers do well, and two guys like Tarantino and Rodriguez are steeped in stuff like comics, pulp fiction, and lowbrow cinema to the point where they can make something like FDTD work.

The cast is obviously having a good time; the extras seem to have the best time. George Clooney’s cool and calm killer carries this film across two genres, and his movie star presence shines even in something like this. However, blaxtiploitation star Fred Williamson and horror movie makeup legend, Tom Savini, give sweet kicks to their small, but deliciously kooky parts.

8 of 10
A

Friday, May 20, 2005

From Dusk Till Dawn [Blu-ray]

Review: "Scream" Still a Scream

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scream (1996)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong graphic horror violence and gore, and for language
DIRECTOR: Wes Craven
WRITER: Kevin Williamson
PRODUCERS: Cathy Konrad and Cary Woods
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mark Irwin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Patrick Lussier
COMPOSER: Marco Beltrami

HORROR/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Skeet Ulrich, Rose McGowan, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy, W. Earl Brown, Drew Barrymore, Joseph Whipp, Lawrence Hecht, Roger Jackson (voice), Liev Schreiber, and Henry Winkler

In the GenX/post-GenX thriller Scream, a psychopathic killer stalks a group of teens just like psychos stalk victims in slasher movie. His primary focus is teenage virgin Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), and the killings begin near the one-year anniversary of her mother’s death. A tabloid reporter, Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), who covered sensational murder trial of the alleged killer of Sidney’s mom, is determined to uncover the truth because she believes the wrong man was convicted of killing Mrs. Prescott and that the real killer is still at large. Of course, the mystery surrounding the killer culminates during a raucous teen party held at the obligatory isolated farmhouse. Finding out who survives is as fun as learning who the killer is.

Much has been made of how Scream references the many horror films that preceded it, especially 1980’s slasher flicks, but Scream is simply a great horror film and as much a mystery thriller as it is a scary movie. Maybe that’s because the film is a horror movie for the sake of being a horror movie. Any social commentary the film makes is ancillary, and anything it says about other movies is just the nature of the beast. Just about any horror movie will reflect the others that came before it.

While casting young stars from TV shows popular with teens and twenty-somethings in the mid-90’s was a savvy move on the part of the filmmakers (most 80’s slasher movies cast young unknowns), the two elements of that make Scream great are screenwriter Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven. Williamson’s script is tight, smart, funny, deft, self-referential, and most of all, creates a solid structure of suspense. The characters are mostly throwaways, but Williamson makes us care about them because the situations he puts them in are so precarious, we’d be cruel not to root for them to escape. For all the artful window dressings, Williamson’s script simply tells a scary story.

Wes Craven is one of the greatest horror film directors of all time having helmed A Nightmare of Elm Street and The Last House on the Left. Scream simply cements his position as a master director of the suspense genre. He turns Williamson’s words into palatable fear. He knows when to make the film outright scary, and when slowly increase the level of suspense and fright. Craven knows when to be funny and silly, and he knows when to deliver the deathblow, but most of all when to leave it all hanging on a thin string.

Scream is a film no slasher fan should go without seeing, and certainly it’s a work not to be missed by admirers and students of horror cinema.

8 of 10
A

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Review: "Set It Off" (Happy B'day, Queen Latifah)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 63 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Set It Off (1996)
Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong graphic violence, pervasive language, some sex and drug use
DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray
WRITERS: Takashi Buford and Kate Lanier; from a story by Takashi Buford
PRODUCERS: Oren Koules and Dale Pollock
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Marc Reshovsky (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: John Carter
Image Award nominee

DRAMA/ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise, Blair Underwood, John C. McGinley, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Ella Joyce, Dr. Dre and Anna Marie Horsford

Set If Off, the second film from music video director F. Gary Gray, was almost the best film ever made about the plight of impoverished African-American women at the turn of the century. Instead, the filmmakers settled on making a film that is a decent drama and a cathartic action movie. Part western and part girl movie, Set If Off resonates with the pain of these female characters although the film only scratches the surface of who the characters are.

After some neighborhood acquaintances of Francesca “Frankie” Sutton’s (Vivica A. Fox) rob the bank where she works and kill a few people, her supervisors at the bank fire her because they find the fact that she knew the culprits disturbing. Her diligence and hard work (only a day prior, she’d counted $240,000 by hand to help one of her bosses) don’t matter one bit. Detective Strode (John C. McGinley), the lead detective in the case, also considers her to be in cahoots with the robbers.

Lida “Stony” Newson (Jada Pinkett) has been plans for her brother Stevie (Chaz Lamar Shepard) to attend UCLA. Stevie is a friend of one of the bank robbers. He visits him after the robbery, and a pack of cowardly, punk cops murders Stevie when they mistake him for the bank robber. Thinking Stevie has a gun, they shoot him down like a dog, only to discover that he was trying to show them that all he had in his jacket was a bottle of champagne a friend had given him for his birthday.

Tired of being on the beating end of the stick, Stony and Frankie join two other downtrodden friends, Cleopatra “Cleo” Sims (Queen Latifah) and Tisean “T.T.” Williams (Kimberly Elise, in a sparkling debut), as bank robbers themselves, to make a little money to get ahead in life and to stick it to the evil, white tyrants who go out of their way to oppress a sister.

This movie could have been so much more than it ended up being, maybe an intense urban drama about what these young women go through and the ends they meet when they finally lash out (perhaps blindly and unwisely) at the world for their pain. However, I will review this movie for what it is. The drama is about average. I caught on to what the story was about; I felt the sisters’ pain. Still, other than Stony, the film mostly relegates the characters to being ciphers, and the script only skims the surface of Stony’s character, for that matter. The filmmakers feel compelled to spend much of the film’s time detailing the intricacies and violence of bank robbery, and they do that quite well. As robbers, the four women are clumsy, but they’re raw and eager. Their crimes are swift and abrupt, and Gray presents it all in a bracing fashion in which the camera lovingly follows the ladies’ every move.

I wanted this film to be more, but, honestly, I really enjoyed what I got. The drama, as mishandled as it was, it still touching and visceral, and the action had me cheering my girls every step of the way. As things fall apart for them, I couldn’t help but feel the emotions and bond they shared, both strong enough to make them sacrifice for one another.

The acting is also quite good. This was a breakthrough role for Queen Latifah, who is full of snarling and barely checked rage; the camera loves her. Ms. Pinkett easily revealed the depth of her talent as a strong dramatic actress, but this performance didn’t earn her lots of new roles, being of the jigaboo persuasion. Ms. Fox’s character barely registers, but that’s the fault of the script. This was a good start for Ms. Elise; her large expressive eyes make her a film natural in her ability to convey feelings.

For all its shortcomings, Set It Off is a very good film, and we need more like it, albeit of a higher quality, that detail the hard lives of poor people and their willingness to fight back when they need to. See this film, and then watch it again.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1997 Image Awards: 3 nominations: “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture” (Jada Pinkett Smith), “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture” (Queen Latifah) and “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Blair Underwood)

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Review: "Crash" Crashes into Itself (Happy B'day, David Cronenberg)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Crash (1996)
Release date: March 21, 1997 (USA)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada/UK
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – NC-17 for numerous explicit sex scenes
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: David Cronenberg
WRITER: David Cronenberg (based upon the novel by J.G. Ballard)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Suschitzky
EDITOR: Ronald Sanders
Cannes winner

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger Rosanna Arquette, and Peter MacNeill

After being seriously scarred in a near-fatal collision (that was his fault and cost a man his life), television director James Ballard (James Spader) finds his soul mate in Dr. Helen Remington (Holly Hunter), fellow crash survivor and wife of the man killed in the accident. Anxious to connect with the widow, Ballard joins Dr. Remington in a study of cars, sex, and death in which they focus on the point where the three meet. Together, with a band of misfits that include Ballard’s wife, Catherine (Deborah Kara Unger), and Vaughn (Elias Koteas), a fetishist who recreates and eroticizes famous car crash deaths (James Dean and Jane Mansfield’s seem to be his favorites), they probe the eroticism of the automobile and the sexual violence of auto accidents.

To call David Cronenberg’s Crash “weird” would be kind of dumb and simple. To call it an obtuse art project would be close. The film continues Cronenberg’s look at the effects of technology, in this case machines, in particularly the automobile, on the human body. The film seems to take place in the near future, sort of a tomorrow or the day after that. Sensations increasingly have become the method of communication between humans, and mechanical things intrigue people, in particularly how they can be an extension of the human body and also extend perception of or enhance sensation. Cronenberg gives us lots of sex scenes that involve cars, car crashes, and death as aphrodisiacs.

Those who like film as art with an emphasis on the visual sensation or the visual communication of film will find interest in this. However, Crash too often comes across as a boring exercise in creating mildly disturbing images. Sometimes, those images are disgusting, but in a way that makes you roll your eyes. Still, Cronenberg is, as always, daring in the way he challenges audiences to come with him as explores the darker side of humanity merging with machinery.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
1996 Cannes Film Festival: 1 win: “Jury Special Prize” (David Cronenberg); 1 nomination: “Golden Palm” (David Cronenberg)

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Review: "Don't Be a Menace" Says "Negro, Please" to Hood Movies

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)
Running time: 89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language, sexuality, some drug content and violence
DIRECTOR: Paris Barclay
WRITERS: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Phil Beauman
PRODUCERS: Eric L. Gold and Keenen Ivory Wayans
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russ Brandt
EDITORS: Marshall Harvey and William Young

COMEDY

Starring: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Tracey Cherelle Jones, Chris Spencer, Suli McCullough, Darrel Heath, Helen Martin, Lahmard J. Tate, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Kim Wayans, Vivica A. Fox, Omar Epps, Faizon Love, Bernie Mac, Antonio Fargas, LaWanda Page, and Damien Dante Wayans

The early 1990s saw a torrent of gritty urban movies, with the Oscar-nominated Boyz n the Hood being the best known. The Wayans family of comedians and comic actors, best known for the FOX Network sketch comedy series, In Living Colour, spoofed the black coming-of-age, growing-up-in-the-hood movies with the 1996 film, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.

The film follows the naïve, virginal Ashtray (Shawn Wayans), a young man sent to live in South Central Los Angeles with his father (Lahmard J. Tate), who seems to be no older than Ashtray. Ashtray falls in with his gang-banging cousin, the psychotic Loc Dog (Marlon Wayans). Ashtray gets an education in life on the streets from Loc Dog and his friends, the politically conscious Preach (Chris Spencer) and the wheel-chair bound Crazy Legs (Suli McCullough). After falling in love with Dashiki (Tracey Cherelle Jones), a young woman who has seven children by seven different men, Ashtray has to choose between the straight life and life in the inner city with Loc Dog.

Like the Wayans’ I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood spoofs a genre associated with African-Americans. I’m Gonna Git You Sucka was a send-up of 1970s blaxploitation movies, but Sucka was a love letter to black exploitation films like the Shaft franchise.

Don’t Be a Menace, however, attacks the genre it spoofs. This movie’s three writers, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Phil Beauman, mine urban flicks such as Friday, Dead Presidents, and Juice, but especially Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society to launch an all-out assault against “hood” films. Their self-important attitudes, reliance on violence and the worst aspects of black poverty to entertain, and their self-pitying messages to the broader society are all fodder for the Wayans’ brand of savage satire and mean-spirited parody.

Don’t Be a Menace also goes after black pop culture, especially low-brow entertainment, prison-inspired fashion, and the glorification of violence, promiscuous sex, and drug and alcohol abuse. Even certain aspects of African-American culture, politics, and religion get a swift kick from the Wayans. Pompous preachers, hypocritical Black separatists, and assorted sectarians are mocked. Everything moves to a soundtrack filled with the same kind of raunchy R&B, hip-hop, and rap that fills the soundtracks of straight urban movies.

The performances are good, with Tracey Cherelle Jones, Chris Spencer, and Suli McCullough managing to shine in what is really a Wayans fest. Don’t Be a Menace was the first time Shawn Wayans really got to show what he does best – play the straight man with deadpan perfection, while still showing his ability to be crazy when he has to be. Marlon Wayans, a brilliant physical comedian and gifted comic actor, comes close to owning this movie. I don’t know if he is just fearless or shameless, but Marlon is good.

That’s why it is a shame that Don’t Be a Menace, in spite of some really funny set pieces and some truly inspired dialogue, largely feels flat. It is as if Paris Barclay’s script and the screenplay are not on the same page. There are moments when everything comes together and delivers comedy gold, but that doesn’t happen often enough to make this movie truly great as it should be. Back in 1996, we needed Don’t Be a Menace as an antidote or counter to a rash of hood movies, and it was good enough at what it did that the film’s spoofing is still sharp.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

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