Review: "Hellboy: Sword of Storms" Animates Hellboy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 40 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hellboy Animated:  Sword of Storms (2006) – TV
Running time:  78 minutes
DIRECTORS:  Phil Weinstein and Tad Stones
WRITERS:  Matt Wayne and Tad Stones; from a story by Tad Stones and Mike Mignola (based upon characters created by Mike Mignola)
PRODUCERS:  Scott D. Greenberg and Sidney Clifton
EDITORS:  John Hoyos and Jeffrey Perlmutter
COMPOSER: Christopher Drake

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ACTION/HORROR

Starring:  (voices) Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, John Hurt, Peri Gilpin, and Yuriana Kim

Born a little, red demon with a giant hand, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) grew up to become a hero, saving the world from supernatural horrors and apocalypse.  In his latest adventure, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (the BPRD) sends him to Japan to investigate the disappearance of a college folklore professor.  However, an ancient, enchanted samurai sword transports Hellboy to a spirit world of specters and assorted bogeymen from Japanese folklore.

It seems two storm demons defeated by the sword’s owner and subsequently imprisoned in the sword want to escape to the physical world.  Once there, they’ll open up the floodgates and allow their demonic brethren into our world.  In order to escape from the sword, the storm demons need Hellboy to shatter the sword.  While Hellboy fights in the spirit world, his partners Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) are stranded off the coast of Japan with their own hands quite full.

Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms was originally broadcast on the Cartoon Network (October 28, 2006) before being released on DVD in February 2007.  Like 2004’s Hellboy, this animated film is based on the comic books and characters created by veteran comic book artist, Mike Mignola.  The animation for Sword of Storms is as good if not a little better than Marvel and Lionsgate’s Ultimate Avengers direct to DVD films.  Hellboy has several nice action sequences, and the character design is quite nice.

In fact, the script is not only imaginative in its use of Japanese folklore, but the writing here is much better than in the 2004 Hellboy live action film.  As far as taking viewers to exotic locales and creating imaginative supernatural scares, Hellboy Animated is similar to an Indiana Jones movie, but the character writing isn’t as good.  The voice acting is mixed – some good and some average.  Ron Perlman and Selma Blair were average to good as the live action Hellboy and Liz Sherman, respectively, and their voice performances here are the same.

Still, Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms is really fun to watch, and I’d like to see it again.  Although this isn’t Disney level animation when it comes to creating all things magic and supernatural, this is as good as TV action/fantasy animated features get, and that’s pretty good.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, February 23, 2007

Revised:  Friday, June 12, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and  syndication rights and fees.

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VIZ Media Announces Book on "The Craft of Creating Manga"

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF MANGA IN THEORY AND PRACTICE: THE CRAFT OF CREATING MANGA

Gain Unique Insights And Learn Creative Techniques In A New Hardcover Release By JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE Creator Hirohiko Araki

San Francisco, CA – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), a premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing, offers JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE fans and budding artists tremendous insight into the art of creating manga with the June 6th, 2017 release of MANGA IN THEORY AND PRACTICE: THE CRAFT OF CREATING MANGA.

The new hardcover release features unique instructions on drawing techniques, as well as fascinating explorations of character development, conceptualizing storylines, and scripting dialogue as set forth by Hirohiko Araki, one of the most esteemed creators at work today. MANGA IN THEORY AND PRACTICE: THE CRAFT OF CREATING MANGA published in a deluxe hardcover print edition under the Shonen Jump imprint and will carry an MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $26.99 CAN.

Hirohiko Araki is the author of one of the longest-running and most beloved manga of all-time, the epic fan favorite JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (also published in English by VIZ Media). According to him, “manga is the ultimate synthesis of all forms of art,” and in this book he reveals the secrets behind how to make the magic happen using concrete examples from his own work. Read all about his “golden way” of manga: the character histories he draws up for each of the characters he creates, his methodology for storytelling inspired by the great Ernest Hemingway, and many other aspects of manga creation in this how-to guide penned by an industry legend.

“This extraordinary release delivers an in-depth examination of Hirohiko Araki’s complete creative process for his manga, and explores what aspiring manga creators can learn from novelists, fine artists, and filmmakers,” says Nick Mamatas, Editor. “We invite readers to explore this special release, and gain fresh inspiration for their own artistic endeavors.”

Manga creator Hirohiko Araki made his professional debut in 1981 with the Wild West inspired story, Buso Poker. He experimented with several genres, including mystery (Mashonen B.T.) and action-horror (Baoh), before beginning JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE in 1986. Propelled by imaginative storylines, weird imagery and individualistic artwork, JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE is one of the longest-running and most popular shonen manga ever. Araki’s current works include a new series set in the JoJo universe, JoJolion.

For more information on MANGA IN THEORY AND PRACTICE: THE CRAFT OF CREATING MANGA, JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE and other manga titles available from VIZ Media, please visit VIZ.com.


About VIZ Media, LLC
Established in 1986, VIZ Media is the premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing. Along with its popular digital magazine WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, DRAGON BALL, SAILOR MOON, and POKÉMON, VIZ Media offers an extensive library of titles and original content in a wide variety of book and video formats, as well as through official licensed merchandise. Owned by three of Japan's largest publishing and entertainment companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media is dedicated to bringing the best titles for English-speaking audiences worldwide.

Learn more about VIZ Media and its properties at VIZ.com.

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Review: "The Wicker Man" Remake is Whickety Whickety Whack

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 201 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux (support on Patreon)

The Wicker Man (2006)
Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for disturbing images and violence, language, and thematic issues
DIRECTOR:  Neil LaBute
WRITER:  Neil LaBute (based upon the screenplay by Anthony Shaffer)
PRODUCERS:  Nicolas Cage, Norm Golightly, Avi Lerner, Randall Emmett, John Thompson, and Boaz Davidson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Paul Sarossy, B.S.C., C.S.C. (director of photography)
EDITOR:  Joel Plotch
COMPOSER:  Angelo Badalamenti

MYSTERY/HORROR/THRILLER with elements of drama

Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Beahan, Frances Conroy, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski, Diane Delano, Michael Wiseman, and Erika-Shaye Gair

The subject of this movie review is The Wicker Man, a 2006 horror film and mystery thriller from director Neil LaBute.  The film is a remake of the 1973 British film, The Wicker Man, and this remake sources both the 1973 screenplay by Anthony Shaffer and the 1967 horror novel, Ritual, that was the source material for the original film.  In the 2006 version of The Wicker Man, a policeman searches a small island for his missing daughter, but meets resistance from the island's secretive neo-pagan community.

After failing to save a little girl from a fiery car crash, California Highway Patrol officer Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) sinks into months of pill-popping.  He finds his chance at redemption when another opportunity arrives to save a little girl in danger.  He receives a mysterious and desperate letter from his former fiancée, Willow (Kate Beahan): her daughter, Rowan (Erika-Shaye Gair), is missing.  Willow begs Edward to come to her home on a private island in Washington’s Puget Sound, Summerisle.  Edward soon finds himself on a seaplane headed for the islands of the Pacific Northwest.

He finds, however, the community on Summerisle to be exceedingly strange.  The local culture, built around honey harvesting, is dominated by its matriarch, Sister Summerisle (Ellen Burstyn), and the community is in fact a commune and a matriarchy where the women apparently rule over the men who speak nary a word.  Malus finds Willow, now Sister Willow, vague about the disappearance of her daughter, saying only that she believes her fellow islanders have taken Rowan.  The secretive women of Summerisle only ridicule his investigation insisting that Rowan doesn’t exist or that she did but is no longer alive.

Edward also finds the islanders bound by arcane tradition, and they are preparing for a festival to which they refer as “the Day of Death and Rebirth.”  As Edward navigates these bizarre (to him) ancient traditions, he believes that he is getting closer to finding Rowan, but he is also moving towards something unspeakable and perhaps closer to a mysterious figure known as The Wicker Man.

If you’ve ever seen the Robin Hardy-directed British film, The Wicker Man, which stars Edward Woodward as a strongly-devout Christian (and virginal) cop investigating the disappearance of a little girl and Christopher Lee as the leader of a pagan community on an isolated Scottish isle, you’re probably angry that anyone would remake the cult classic.  The original (written by famed playwright Anthony Shaffer who was in turn influenced by actor/writer David Pinner’s novel, Ritual) was genuinely creepy (and occasionally kitschy) with a killer ending.  This film is required viewing for true film fanatics who must experience the pagan villagers swaying like mad trees in their happy, smiling dance of death.

Neil Labute’s remake, also entitled The Wicker Man, is an American “re-imagining” that does have its inventive moments, but is mostly so-so – the kind of thing that seems like a strange CBS television movie.  Some of LaBute’s (an indie director known for such films as In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors) new touches and ideas are rather sweet.  There is something uncomfortably charming about Summerisle as an old-fashioned agrarian society (this one sustains itself by harvesting honey).  Building the film’s costume and production design around the beehive motif adds for some cool visuals.  The beehives are in a field in which the layout resembles a honeycomb (super cool!).  The villagers are still creepy, but whereas they seemed like clueless Jonestown yokels in the original, they’re more dangerous, like Charles Manson’s followers.

Ellen Burstyn gives a simply delicious performance as Sister Summerisle, her every appearance dominates the screen and she literally eats up a script that cannot contain her performance nor satisfy her fire.  Nicolas Cage is actually pretty good as Edward Malus, but once again I think he would have played better had LaBute written stronger supporting characters to go up against Malus, as well as given some of them more lines.  The implausible aspects of this concept show more here than they did in the original.  Also, like the original, this would work better as a longer film, and like the original, the sight of The Wicker Man and that killer ending still hit hard.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, September 23, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Razzie Awards:  5 nominations: “Worst Picture,” “Worst Actor” (Nicolas Cage), “Worst Screen Couple” (Nicolas Cage... and his bear suit), “Worst Remake or Rip-Off,” and “Worst Screenplay” (Neil LaBute based on the original screenplay by Anthony Shaffer)


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

Review: Ken Watanabe Carries "Letters from Iwo Jima" (Happy B'day, Clint Eastwood)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 99 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA; Languages:  Japanese/English
Running time:  140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic war violence
DIRECTOR:  Clint Eastwood
WRITERS:  Iris Yamashita; story by Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis (based upon the book Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Tadamichi Kuribayashi and Tsuyoko Yoshido)
PRODUCERS:  Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Lorenz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Stern
EDITORS:  Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
COMPOSERS: Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens
2007 Academy Award winner

WAR/DRAMA

Starring:  Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando, Yuki Matsuzaki, and Luke Eberl

The subject of this movie review is Letters from Iwo Jima, a 2006 war film from director Clint Eastwood.  Set during World War II, the film is almost entirely in the Japanese language and tells the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers.  Eastwood also makes contributions to the film’s score which was created by his son, Kyle Eastwood, and Michael Stevens.

Letters from Iwo Jima is director Clint Eastwood’s companion piece to his film, Flags of our Fathers.  The films form a two-part examination of the ordinary men who fought on both sides of World War II during the crucial battle for a small island.

As tens of thousands of Allied troops storm Iwo Jima, Japanese General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) knows his men are outnumbered, running low on supplies, and have no hope of troop support or even rescue.  The Japanese troops prepare to meet their fate – to die in battle or to die by their own hands.  Gen. Kuribayashi and a soldier named Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) often pass the time writing letters to their wives, although they realize that the letters may never reach mainland Japan.

Eastwood directs Letters from Iwo Jima with stark simplicity that makes even its bloodiness seem eloquent and the drama never heavy-handed.  For a war picture, Letters from Iwo Jima is surprisingly both quiet and thoughtful.  Even the battle scenes come across as a time for reflection.  If there are still any doubts about Clint Eastwood as a talented director who has the ability to weave intimate character dramas, then, Letters from Iwo Jima should put that hogwash to rest.

Eastwood is also quite good at directing actors and getting strong dramatic turns from both his leads and his supporting cast.  Letters’ cast is strong, but Kazunari Ninomiya and Ken Watanabe stand out, in particularly the latter.  Watanabe has a regal air about him, but there is substance in all his performances.  He’s old Hollywood – a “face,” but he also has the dramatic chops to bury himself in characters and bring them to life.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards:  1 win for “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman); 3 nominations for “Best Picture of the Year” (Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Lorenz), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Clint Eastwood), and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Iris Yamashita-screenplay/story and Paul Haggis-story)

2007 Golden Globes:  1 win for “Best Foreign Language Film” and 1 nomination: “Best Director-Motion Picture” (Clint Eastwood)

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Updated: Saturday, May 31, 2014


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

Review: Supporting Actresses Shine on "Beerfest" (Happy B'day, Cloris Leachman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Beerfest (2006)
Running time:  110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive crude and sexual content, language, nudity, and substance abuse
DIRECTOR:  Jay Chandrasekhar
WRITERS:  Broken Lizard (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske)
PRODUCERS:  Bill Gerber and Richard Perello
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Frank G. DeMarco (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Lee Haxall
COMPOSER:  Nathan Barr

COMEDY

Starring:  Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Will Forte, Ralf Moeller, Nat Faxon, Gunter Schlierkamp, and Mo’Nique with Jurgen Prochnow and Cloris Leachman

The subject of this movie review is Beerfest, a 2006 comedy directed by Jay Chandrasekhar.  The film stars the comedy troupe, Broken Lizard, of which Chandrasekhar is a member.  Beerfest focuses on two brothers who discover a secret, underground beer-drinking tournament in Germany.

When German-American brothers, Todd (Erik Stolhanske) and Jan Wolfhouse (Paul Soter), travel to Germany to spread their grandfather Johan’s ashes at Oktoberfest, they stumble upon a secret, centuries old underground beer drinking competition called “Beerfest.”  They also discover long lost German relatives, the von Wolfhausens, who hold an old grudge against their American relatives over a lost beer recipe.  Led by the family patriarch, Baron von Wolfhausen (Jurgen Prochnow), the von Wolfhausens humiliate Todd and Jan, and sneer at their chances of ever winning Beerfest, this Olympics of beer drinking.  The rude Germans even sneer at Todd and Jan’s grandmother, Great Gam Gam (Cloris Leachman).

Todd and Jan return to American and prepare for another Beerfest showdown the following year.  The brothers recruit three friends to join their team:  the one-man bear-drinking machine, Phil Krundel aka “Landfill” (Kevin Heffernan); the nerdy lab tech, Charlie Finklestein aka “Fink” (Steve Lemme); and Barry Badrinath (Jay Chandrasekhar), a talented skills player who has fallen to street-level prostitution.   The quintet’s year of training, however, is marred by tragedy and hardships, and the five beer-chugging friends begin to doubt they’ll ever win Beerfest.

Beerfest is the fourth feature film from the five-man sketch comedy troupe, Broken Lizard, which is comprised of Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, and Jay Chandrasekhar.  Chandrasekhar directs the Broken Lizard films (including Super Troopers and Club Dread), and also directed the 2005 The Dukes of Hazzard film.  With Chandrasekhar at the helm, Beerfest looks like the other Broken Lizard films.  There are scenes in Beerfest that are as funny as anything in Super Troopers (what I consider to be their best feature).  However, whereas Super Trooper was smooth, Beerfest is uneven, though not as uneven as Club Dread.

Beerfest is truly a ribald comedy, and in some ways it reminds me of the bawdiest Mel Brooks movies.  Still, there’s lots of Beerfest that amounts to little more than simple, immature, juvenile humor.  Luckily, the film is blessed with a great supporting cast.  Jurgen Prochnow is fine as the spicy menace, Baron von Wolfhausen, and Mo’Nique throws herself fully into the role of the duplicitous and randy Cherry; her sex scene with Chandrasekhar is priceless.  Cloris Leachman’s turn as Todd and Jan’s Great Gam Gam, is a testament to her skill as both a comedienne and an actress, and lovers of comedy must and should not miss her performance.

Beerfest isn’t great, but it has great moments of laugh-out-loud and laugh-till-you-cry comedy, and tolerating the missteps is worth such hilarity.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Updated:  Wednesday, April 30, 2014

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

Review: "Barnyard" Surprises (Happy B'day, Kevin James)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 199 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Barnyard (2006)
Running time:  84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some mild peril and rude humor
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Steve Oedekerk
PRODUCERS:  Pam Marsden, Steve Oedekerk, and Paul Marshal
EDITORS:  Billy Weber and Paul Calder
COMPOSER:  John Debney

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring:  (voices) Kevin James, Courteney Cox, Sam Elliot, Danny Glover, Wanda Sykes, Andie MacDowell, David Koechner, Jeff Garcia, Cam Clarke, Rob Paulsen, Tino Insana, Laraine Newman, John DiMaggio, and Fred Tatasciore

The subject of this movie review is Barnyard, a 2006 computer-animated comedy and family film from writer-director Steve Oedekerk and Paramount Pictures.  The film is also known as Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, and yielded a spin-off animated television series, Back to the Barnyard, in 2007.  Barnyard, which features a group of anthropomorphic animals, focuses on a carefree cow that resists the call that he be the animal in charge of a barnyard.

In a barnyard of walking and talking animals, Otis the Cow (Kevin James) is the party animal.  Otis and his friends: Pip (Jeff Garcia) the mouse, Freddy (Cam Clarke) the ferret, Peck (Rob Paulsen) the rooster, and Pig (Tino Insana) the pig are world-class pranksters out for a laugh.  Otis’ father, Ben (Sam Elliot), however, wants his son to be like him – the cow who makes sure the barnyard runs on all cylinders and the cow who protects the barnyard’s denizens from their common enemy, a pack of coyotes led by the malevolent and conniving Dag (David Koechner).

Otis, who is in a state of perpetual arrested development, is not interested, but when Ben is no longer able to lead and protect, the responsibility falls on Otis.  It’s not an easy fit, and he struggles with the tension between a sense of duty and an urge to run away.  There is, however, a pretty girl cow, Daisy (Courtney Cox) and the crafty Miles the Mule (Danny Glover) who just may give Otis the impetus to take the mantle of leadership.  He’ll need the encouragement because Dag is plotting to make a major attack on the barnyard.

With its August 4 release date, Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies’ computer animated feature, Barnyard: The Original Party Animals was the eighth computer animated feature film to debut in U.S. theatres.  Barnyard is a story about taking responsibility and honoring obligations – a staple of computer animated family fare, but other than that, Barnyard looks different from the rest of its cartoon brethren.

As far as plot and character, Barnyard is mediocre and mildly entertaining.  The animation, however, is quite good.  The characters have a rubbery texture, so they look more like cartoon characters than computer rendered characters.  The story’s setting and environments personify 3-D animation.  Watching this film, it becomes evident that it is indeed taking place in a world of space and depth rather than in the traditional “flat” world of hand drawn animation.  It’s not that any of this looks real; it just doesn’t look flat, so the action looks like actual action.  When characters move, it looks like the figures are really moving.

Barnyard is a pretty and colorful animated feature, which makes up for the average narrative and voice acting.  Only Sam Elliot as Ben, Danny Glover as Miles, and Wanda Sykes as Bessie the Cow give voice performances that come across with any richness.  This is a typical children’s animated feature, filled as it is with funny animal supporting characters that spout line after line of silliness.  Barnyard’s simple story and childish and raucous humor explains why it has long legs at the box office.  It’s actually a family movie that the family can enjoy together.  Barnyard: The Original Party Animals is unashamedly for children.  Still, there are enough risqué gags, bathroom humor, and innuendo to keep teenagers interested and adults chuckling.

5 of 10
B-

Monday, September 18, 2006

Updated:  Saturday, April 26, 2014

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

Amy Berg's "Deliver Us from Evil" is Powerful and Pointed

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 90 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Deliver Us from Evil (2006)
Running time:  103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – (Not rated)
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Amy Berg
PRODUCERS:  Amy Berg, Matthew Cooke, Frank Donner, and Hermas Lassalle
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Jacob Kusk and Jens Schlosser
EDITOR:  Matthew Cooke
COMPOSERS:  Joseph Arthur and Mick Harvey
2007 Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY – Religion and Crime

Starring:  Oliver O’Grady, Thomas Doyle, Jane Degroot, Case Degroot, Anne Jyono, Bob Jyono, Marie Jyono, and Nancy Sloan

Deliver Us from Evil is a 2006 Oscar-nominated documentary film from writer-director, Amy Berg.  The film focuses on a Catholic priest whom the Catholic Church relocated to various parishes around the United States for the better part of two decades in order to cover up his rape of dozens of children.

Berg has recently gained notoriety because of a documentary film upon which she is currently working.  The unnamed film reportedly contains sex abuse allegations made against director Bryan Singer.  Singer is best known for his work on 20th Century Fox’s X-Men film franchise and for the Oscar-winning film, The Usual Suspects.

From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, Catholic priest, Father Oliver O’Grady moved about Northern California molesting and raping countless children.  With her unsettling documentary, Deliver Us from Evil, director Amy Berg exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed O’Grady to abuse children (and sometimes their parents).  Berg conducts a series of disturbing interviews with the pedophile priest that seek to provide a window for the viewer into the mind of this deeply troubled man, and Berg also mixes that with his victims’ stories.

Deliver Us from Evil attempts to construct a portrait of O’Grady as a spiritual leader who moved from church parish to church parish and gained the trust of various congregations, only to later betray so many of them by abusing their children.  Berg thoroughly investigates O’Grady’s past as a priest and speaks with many of his victims and parishioners, as well as participants involved in O’Grady’s legal cases.  Later in the film, she broadens her approach to take a look at clergy abuse of children in Boston, and she interviews people who believe that the problem of abuse is international and may have begun as early as the fourth century.  Experts on theology and law speak to the doctrinal, legal, and theological issues that establish an environment for abuse.

Although the film seems to lose focus the last 20 minutes or so, Deliver Us from Evil is as mesmerizing as any great film thriller or as riveting and frightening as any great horror movie, and it exposes evil that is widespread and even more destructive.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards:  1 nomination for “Best Documentary, Features” (Amy Berg and Frank Donner)

Monday, June 11, 2007

Updated:  Saturday, April 19, 2014


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

Review: "Eragon" Lacks Fire (Happy B'day, Robert Carlyle)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 258 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Eragon (2006)
Running time:  104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – PG for fantasy violence, intense battle sequences, and some frightening images
DIRECTOR:  Stefan Fangmeier
WRITER:  Peter Buchman (based upon the novel by Christopher Paolini)
PRODUCERS:  John Davis, Adam Goodman, and Wyck Godfrey
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Hugh Johnson (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Roger Barton, Masahiro Hirakubo, and Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER:  Patrick Doyle

FANTASY/ACTION

Starring:  Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, Djimon Hounsou, Garrett Hedlund, Rachel Weisz (voice) and John Malkovich, Alun Armstrong, Chris Egan, Gary Lewis, Richard Rifkin, Steve Speirs, Joss Stone, and Caroline Chikezie

The subject of this movie review is Eragon, a 2006 action-fantasy film.  It is based on the 2002 novel, Eragon, by Christopher Paolini.  Eragon the film follows a farm boy whose discovery of a dragon’s egg leads him on a predestined journey to defend his homeland from an evil king.

When he was a teenager, Christopher Paolini wrote the novel Eragon, which went from being privately published by his parents to being a worldwide bestseller published by Alfred A. Knopf.  Now, a film adaptation arrives with hopes of capturing much of the audience that devoured The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and Disney/Walden Media’s 2005 The Chronicles of Narnia movie adaptation.

Once upon a time in the land of Alagaësia, Dragon Riders brought peace and prosperity, and the Dragons gave their Riders magical powers.  They were unbeaten until one of their own, a Rider named Galbatorix (John Malkovich), rebelled against the other Riders and destroyed them so that he could have all the power for himself.  Now, King Galbatorix rules Alagaësia, and no one can stop him.

There is, however, another dragon egg, and it is in the possession of Arya (Sienna Guillory).  Using a spell and a prayer, her magic sends the egg where a young farm boy named Eragon (Ed Speleers) finds it.  Unsure of what this shiny stone is, Eragon watches as the egg hatches and out pops a dragon he names Saphira (voice of Rachel Weisz).  With the help of a mentor named Brom (Jeremy Irons), Eragon begins the journey to become one with Saphira as she grows more mature and passes more magical power onto him.  Eragon will need it to defeat a Shade (sorcerer) named Durza (Robert Carlyle), a minion of Galbatorix’s.  Eragon joins with the rebel group, the Varden and their leader, Ajihad (Djimon Hounsou), for a coming battle against Galbatorix’s forces.  Will Eragon and Saphira have bonded together enough to match the dark magic of Durza when it counts most?

On a recent talk show appearance near the time the film, Eragon, was released, the host asked Christopher Paolini point black if the young author liked the film adaptation of his best-selling and acclaimed children’s book.  Paolini dodged the question twice saying that he was thrilled to see his characters and hear dialogue he wrote on screen.  It only takes a few minutes into this movie to understand the young author’s misgivings.

Eragon has a mediocre script, no one, from the director to the cast, rises above it.  The movie only comes to life when Eragon and Saphira together or Saphira alone are on screen.  Director Stefan Fangmeier spent over 20 years working in companies that provided visual effects and computer effects for films, so his affinity with this film seems completely directed at the biggest computer effect in Eragon, the dragon Saphira.  The rest of the time, Eragon is just as awkward and clumsy as a run of the mill Sci-Fi Channel fantasy flick.

Eragon has the same quality acting as that of a middling TV movie, but with movie star names.  Jeremy Irons, who has spent a small part of the decade and a half since winning an Oscar, slumming as a serious-thespian-for-hire in various popcorn movies (Die Hard with a Vengeance) and costume drama/action movies (Kingdom of Heaven).  There is no doubt that Christopher Paolini created the character Irons plays, Brom, to be Eragon’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, but for all the effort Irons gives, Brom is more Yogi Bear than Obi-Wan.

Ed Speleers looks the part of Eragon – a boy determined to take on a task bigger and older than he is, but getting the look right is as far as Speleers goes.  His performance ranges for flat to just flat-out overacting.  Rachel Weisz’s voice performance as Saphira is weak and isn’t befitting of an actress of her skill.  Besides, she sounds more like Minnie Driver than herself.

By using two of Hollywood’s most honored visual effects houses, WETA Digital (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and Industrial Light and Magic (the Star Wars franchise and Jurassic Park), the producers of this film hoped to reach their stated goal of creating a photo-real dragon in Saphira.  She’s not quite that.  The CGI and computer rendering created a fantastical creature in Saphira, a computer generated beast with marvelous simulated skin texture.  The dragon looks as if she had really been there on location with the live actors during principal photography.

It’s clear that the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and George Lucas played a big part in the creation of Paolini’s original novel, yet the film comes across as a weak-kneed knock off Tolkien with a few tattered borrowings from Lucas.  If not for the CGI dragon and the climatic battle scene (created by WETA), Eragon would be one of the saddest fantasy movies in recent memory.  Only the stunningly beautiful locales where it was filmed (Hungary and Slovakia), some lavish costumes, and a sweet blend of action, fantasy and CGI make Eragon worth watching… at home.

5 of 10
C+

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Update:  Monday, April 14, 2014


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

Review: Silly "LiTTLE MAN" Offers Big Laughs (Happy B'day, Shawn Wayans)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 149 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Little Man (2006)
Running time:  90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual humor throughout, language and brief drug references
DIRECTOR:  Keenen Ivory Wayans
WRITERS:  Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans
PRODUCERS:  Rick Alvarez, Lee R. Mayes, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Steven Bernstein
EDITORS:  Michael Jackson and Nick Moore
COMPOSER:  Teddy Castellucci

COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Kerry Washington, Tracy Morgan, John Witherspoon, Lochlyn Munro, Fred Stoller, Damien Dante Wayans, Gary Owen, Chazz Palminteri, Alex Borstein, Brittany Daniel, John DeSantis, Dave Sheridan, Molly Shannon, and David Alan Grier with Rob Schneider (no screen credit)

The subject of this movie review is Little Man (also stylized as LiTTLE MAN), a 2006 crime comedy from director, Keenen Ivory Wayans, and starring his brothers, Marlon and Shawn Wayans.  The film focuses on a wannabe dad who mistakenly believes that a short-of-stature criminal is his newly adopted son.

As soon as diminutive criminal, Calvin (Marlon Wayans provides the face; Linden Porco and Gabriel Pimental provide the body), leaves prison, he joins his dim and hapless homeboy, Percy (Tracy Morgan, priceless as the criminally inept doofus), in the theft of a large diamond.  With the police hot on their trail, Calvin passes the diamond off to a suburban couple, Darryl (Shawn Wayans) and Vanessa (Kerry Washington).

Calvin and Percy follow the couple back to their home where they learn that the couple is struggling with whether or not they should have a child.  Percy convinces the short-statured Calvin to disguise himself as a baby, and Percy leaves Calvin on Darryl and Vanessa’s doorstep.  After discovering the “baby” Calvin on their doorstep, the couple takes him in, deciding to keep the toddler for at least the weekend until they can turn him over to child welfare authorities on Monday.  Now a part of the family, baby Calvin makes his move to retrieve the diamond he hid in Vanessa’s bag, but Pops (John Witherspoon, in a scene stealing role), Vanessa’s father who lives with them, doesn’t trust this new foundling and keeps his eyes on him.  Meanwhile, Walken (Chazz Palminteri), the cheap hood for whom Calvin and Percy stole the diamond, is moving in to retrieve his booty and he just may kill anyone in his way.

A midget or diminutive criminal passing himself off as a baby to be taken in by a naïve civilian who then unwittingly hides bogus baby from the law is a staple of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon shorts – 1954 Baby Buggy Bunny comes to mind.  The family team of director/co-writer Keenen Ivory Wayans and co-writers/stars Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans make the concept their own in the new comedy, Little Man.  Coming from the people who gave us the Fox sketch comedy series, “In Living Color,” and the reviled, but popular 2004 film, White Chicks ($113 million in worldwide box office, $42.2 of that earned internationally), we would expect Little Man to be in bad taste, and boy, is it in bad taste.

It’s grosser than most gross-out comedies.  In terms of sexual innuendo, bawdy humor, and sexual humor, it actually crosses the line.  There are moments that either outright offended me or stunned and shocked me into silence – killing my laughter as if someone hit an off switch.  This concept is ridiculous except in Bugs Bunny cartoons.  The execution of the narrative is illogical, implausible, improbable, and filled with impossibilities.

The CGI and visual effects that mold Marlon Wayans body with that of two dwarf  actors to create Calvin is some amazing movie technology, but it doesn’t totally work.  Marlon’s head often movies awkwardly, and sometimes his head still looks way too big for such a small body.  Sometimes the seams between the computer-created Calvin and reality are painfully obvious, and Calvin just looks as if he’s been pasted in.  On the other hand, about half the time, the “little man” in Little Man actually looks quite good.

But after all is said and done, Little Man is just frickin’ funny.  It’s laugh-out-loud funny, howl with laughter in the theatre funny, choke-on-laughter funny, funny funny, etc.  Those who like the Wayans’ unabashedly low brow humor, chocked full of bad taste and taboo busting will find this a hilarious treat.  Little Man isn’t the classic great film, but it’s the classic make-you-laugh comedy.  What Little Man lacks in serious artistic merit, it makes up for in laughter inducing nonsense.  That’s the low art of high comedy.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, July 15, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Razzie Awards:  3 wins: “Worst Actor” (Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans), “Worst Screen Couple” (Shawn Wayans, Kerry Washington, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans and either Kerry Washington or Marlon Wayans), and “Worst Remake or Rip-Off” (Rip-Off of the 1954 Bugs Bunny cartoon Baby Buggy Bunny-1954); 4 nominations: “Worst Picture,” “Worst Actor” (Rob Schneider for The Benchwarmers), “Worst Director” (Keenen Ivory Wayans), and “Worst Screenplay” Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans)

Updated:  Sunday, January 19, 2014

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

Review: "The Ant Bully" is Impressive (Happy B'day, Nicolas Cage)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Ant Bully (2006) – computer animation
Running time:  89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some mild rude humor and action
DIRECTOR:  John A. Davis
WRITER:  John A. Davis (based upon the John Nickle)
PRODUCERS:  Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and John A. Davis
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ken Mitchroney (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Jon Price
COMPOSER:  John Debney

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring:  (voices) Zach Tyler Eisen, Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Paul Giamatti, Regina King, Bruce Campbell, Lily Tomlin, Cheri Oteri, Larry Miller, Allison Mack, Ricardo Montalban, and Myles Jeffrey

The subject of this movie review is The Ant Bully, a 2006 computer-animated fantasy film  from director John A Davis.  The movie is a joint venture from Warner Bros. Animation, Legendary Pictures, DNA Productions and Playtone, which is the production company owned by partners, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman.  The movie is based on The Ant Bully, a 1999 children’s picture book written and drawn by John Nickle.  The Ant Bully the film focuses on a boy who terrifies an ant colony and then finds himself magically shrunken down to insect size and sentenced to hard labor.

Ten-year old Lucas Nickle (Zach Tyler Eisen) doesn’t have any friends, and he’s always the target of the neighborhood bully, Steve (Myles Jeffrey), and his gang.  His sister, Tiffany (Allison Mack) mostly ignores him.  His father, Fred (Larry Miller), is too busy planning his wedding anniversary trip to Puerto Vallarta, and his grandmother, Mommo (Lily Tomlin), is just plain weird.  However, Lucas finds his mother, Doreen (Cheri Oteri), to be a bit overbearing, and he hates that she calls him “Peanut.”

Lucas takes his frustrations out on the anthill in his front yard – tormenting the ants by frequently flooding their territory.  Lucas thinks of them as “just a bunch of stupid ants,” but he doesn’t know that the anthill is a complex society, in which the members of that colony have names, relationships, emotions, and responsibilities.  They decide to fight back against Lucas – the one they know as the “Destroyer,” so Zoc (Nicolas Cage), a wizard ant, concocts a potion to take care of the Destroyer.  After the ants pour the magic elixir down his ear, Lucas shrinks down to their size, and the ants promptly take him to stand trial for “crimes against the colony.”

The wise Ant Queen (Meryl Streep) sentences Lucas to live amongst the ants and learn their ways so that he can become an ant.  Zoc’s girlfriend, Hova (Julia Roberts), a nurse ant, volunteers to mentor the miniaturized Lucas, much to Zoc’s chagrin.  With the help of Kreela (Regina King), a forager ant, and Fugax (Bruce Campbell), a scout ant, Hova helps the reluctant Lucas fit into the colony.  Lucas’ skills and new friendships are tested when he and the ants must have to take on Stan Beals (Paul Giamatti), a local exterminator, in an epic air battle over the Nickles’ front lawn.

There were so many computer-animated movies that received a wide theatrical release in 2006 that some were bound to get lost in the shuffle.  One of the lost was The Ant Bully, an excellent talking animal fable produced by actor Tom Hanks’ production company (Playtone) and the computer animation studio behind Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, DNA Productions.  Written for the screen and directed by the creator of Jimmy Neutron, John A. Davis, The Ant Bully is several times better than Jimmy Neutron, in terms of story, voice acting, and animation.

Adapting John Nickle’s book, Davis wrote a traditional animal fable that teaches a lesson or makes a moral point, but is not didactic or overbearing.  Davis simply uses comedy, adventure, action, dramatic conflict, and obstacles to make a point that a group of individuals with different skills can work together and make the whole better.  However, to take Davis’ film as saying that the group is good and the individual is bad would be a poor misreading.

The voice performances are quite good.  For all the star power the voice cast has, what stars like Julia Roberts and Nicolas Cage do is bring color and character to the parts the play.  Zach Tyler Eisen simply brings Lucas Nickle to life.  Lucas’ troubles fitting in, his stubbornness, and his struggle to break away from mommy all seem genuine.  Even Regina King, Bruce Campbell, Lily Tomlin manage to add much comic flavor to the film via their supporting roles.

At first, The Ant Bully’s animation seems to make every thing look plastic and fake, but perhaps, the eyes need time to adjust.  The film is imaginative in concept and design – especially in building a world of outsized and giant sets for tiny beings.  Everything has texture and surface quality to it.  The exoskeletons of the ants and wasps actually look solid; it’s as if the eyes are actually touching the surfaces to verify what is genuine.  The character movement is good, and jumps up to wonderful and superb during all the big action set pieces – especially during the air battle at the end.

Fans of computer animation and also families that want to share a movie with a good message absolutely won’t go wrong with The Ant Bully.  We follow Lucas down into the anthill where awaits a world of wonder and magical animal creatures that dazzle the eyes and sometimes blow the mind.  And the movie’s pretty funny, too.

8 of 10
A

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Updated:  Tuesday, January 07, 2014

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

Review: "High School Musical" is a Feel-Good Classic (Happy B'day, Vanessa Hudgens)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 116 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

High School Musical (2006) – TV movie
Running time:  98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
TV-G
DIRECTOR:  Kenny Ortega
WRITER:  Peter Barsocchini
PRODUCERS:  Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush (executive producers) and Don Schain
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Gordon C. Lonsdale (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Seth Flaum
COMPOSER:  David Lawrence

MUSICAL with elements of comedy, drama, romance, and sports

Starring:  Zac Efron, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Bart Johnson, Alyson Reed, Chris Warren, Jr., Olesya Rulin, and Socorro Herrera

When it debuted on the Disney Channel on January 20, 2006, High School Musical was just another “Disney Channel Original Movie” …to some.  To others, especially the so-called “‘tween” audience (usually described as 10 to12-years old), the telefilm was something special.  It was a smash hit in its time slot when just under eight million viewers tuned in to watch the premier, and the numerous repeat broadcasts since then also remain highly watched.  The High School Musical soundtrack album has been certified quadruple platinum, and the various DVD releases have also sold almost 8 million copies.  So what’s it all about?

High School Musical (HSM) is a twist on Romeo & Juliet and a kind of 21st century take on the hugely successful 1978 film, Grease (itself adapted from a Broadway musical).  HSM is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico and takes place mostly on the campus of East High School, home of the Wildcats.  Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the basketball team’s star player, and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens), a brainiac and the new girl in school, fall in puppy love.  They also end up auditioning for the school winter musical, performing a duet that earns them a call back.

However, Troy and Gabriella find themselves at odds with their family and friends who think that the two should “stick to what they know.”  For Troy, that means devotion to the Wildcats basketball team and the upcoming championship game against West Side High.  Troy feels the most heat from Coach Jack Bolton (Bart Johnson), who is also Troy’s father, and Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu), Troy’s best friend who is devoted to basketball.  For Gabriella, her friends in the Science Club, especially Taylor McKessie (Monique Coleman), think that Gabriella should focus on the upcoming Scholastic Decathlon.

Meanwhile, the school’s reigning musical duo, fraternal twins, Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) and her brother, Ryan (Lucas Grabeel, who has a strong, beautiful singing voice), don’t want anyone competing with them for the leads in the winter musical.  Also, Ms. Darbus (Alyson Reed), the school’s drama teacher, isn’t sure she wants a basketball player in her musical, especially Troy because Ms. Darbus and Coach Bolton are often at odds.

Despite that, Troy and Gabrielle get together with fellow student Kelsi Nielsen (Olesya Rulin), a pianist and the winter musical’s composer, and practice their singing.  When Troy’s teammates and Gabriella’s fellow science clubbers learn that the duo is serious about the musical, they conspire to break them apart, but will they end up wishing they’d kept Troy and Gabriella together.

Simply put, I’m a fan of this hugely fun and highly entertaining movie.  I don’t really know why it works.  Perhaps, it’s Disney magic.  I’m not being silly.  Shortly into the film, after two strangers, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, come together and start singing in harmony as if it were always meant to be, one has to believe only Disney can get away with this.  Just feel the magic and charm of this flick and go with it.

The songs are really good, and some of them are just good enough to move the narrative forward or flesh out a plot point, character, or mood.  The acting is credible if not often very good, but when the cast sings or when a song becomes an elaborate song and dance number, the move becomes even more fun.  Maybe, part of its appeal is that many wish their high schools were like East Side High, but since we can’t have that, we can dream.  High School Musical is that happy dream.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2006 Primetime Emmy Awards:  2 wins: “Outstanding Children’s Program” (Bill Borden, Barry Rosenbush, and Don Schain) and “Outstanding Choreography” (Kenny Ortega, Charles Klapow, and Bonnie Story); 4 nominations: “Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special” (casting by Jason La Padura and Natalie Hart), “Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special” (Kenny Ortega), “Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics” (Ray Cham, Greg Cham, and Drew Seeley for the song: "Get'cha Head In The Game"), and “Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics” (Jamie Houston-writer and producer for the song "Breaking Free")

2007 Image Awards:  2 nominations: “Outstanding Children's Program” and “Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Program - Series or Special” (Corbin Bleu)

Friday, August 17, 2007

Updated:  Saturday, December 14, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Death of a President" Riveting, Troubling

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 62 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Death of a President (2006)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  UK
Running time:  97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for brief violent images
DIRECTOR:  Gabriel Range
WRITERS:  Simon Finch and Gabriel Range
PRODUCERS:  Simon Finch, Gabriel Range, and Ed Guiney
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Graham Smith
EDITOR:  Brand Thumim
COMPOSER:  Richard Harvey

DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring:  Hend Ayoub, Brian Bolland, Becky Ann Baker, Robert Mangiardi, Jay Patterson, Jay Whittaker, M. Neko Parham, Chavez Ravine, and Malik Bader

In his mock documentary (also known as a “mockumentary”), Death of a President, director Gabriel Range presents a scenario in which U.S. President George W. Bush is assassinated in October of 2007.  Death of the President pretends to be an investigative documentary that examines the key players and events surrounding the killing of President Bush, several years after the as-yet-unsolved murder occurred.

Death of a President follows the events leading up to the assassination and its aftermath, and the film also features a bevy of talking heads, which includes the people around the president, murder suspects, and their families.  In his hypothetical film, Range focuses on the fallout that follows Bush’s murder – specifically the media’s reaction, the rush to convict a Muslim as the assassin, and the machinations of newly installed President Cheney to grab more presidential powers.

Since its appearance at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, Death of a President has been highly controversial, and the producers had a difficult time finding a company to distribute the film to U.S. theatres.  Ultimately, Newmarket Films, which handled Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, distributed the film in the U.S.

I like this movie, although I did find the scenes in which President Bush was shot and the ones occurring at the hospital where he later died to be in poor taste.  Like him or not, he is (as of this writing) a sitting U.S. President, and to portray his death in so brutal and perhaps cavalier fashion is to traffic in mean-spiritedness and carelessness.

On the other hand, what takes place before the assassination and after is riveting stuff.  In the scenes leading up to the shooting, director Gabriel Range creates a riveting thriller that quietly races to its damnable turning point.  After Bush’s death, Range and his co-writer Simon Finch display a knowledge of the American mass media, of law enforcement (in particularly the FBI) and how they work and react to big events that is surprising considering they are not Americans.  Their spin on how Vice-President Dick Cheney would react if he became President after an assassination is dead-on (and maybe a little obvious considering Cheney’s actions as Vice-President).  Who doesn’t think Cheney would move to consolidate more power for himself with a Congress and a country reeling from shock, reluctant to challenge him, and desperate for leadership in such a time of crisis.

Range apparently specializes in these kinds of dramatizations of probable future events, such as his TV film, The Day Britain Stopped (which I’ve never seen).  He’s so-so at presenting interviews with the fictional talking heads involved in the events of Death of a President.  Some of the interviewees don’t come across as authentic, so the film sometimes feels phony.  Still, Range has created an engaging, unforgettable “what if,” and he smartly realizes what is most frightening about a U.S. president being assassinated.  Such an event could very well mean the definite beginning of the certain end of this grand experiment called the United States of America.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

NOTES:
2007 BAFTA TV Awards:  1 nomination:  “Best Visual Effects”

2007 International Emmy Awards:  1 win: “TV Movie/Mini-Series” (UK)

Updated:  Sunday, November 10, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Flags of Our Fathers" a Haunting Look Back

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Running time:  132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of graphic war violence and carnage and for language
COMPOSER/DIRECTOR:  Clint Eastwood
WRITERS:  William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis (based upon the book by James Bradley with Ron Powers)
PRODUCERS:  Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Lorenz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Stern (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Joel Cox, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

WAR/HISTORY/DRAMA

Starring:  Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Paul Walker, Jamie Bell, Barry Pepper, John Benjamin Hickey, Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough, and Tom McCarthy

The subject of this movie review is Flags of Our Fathers, a 2006 war film from director Clint Eastwood.  The film examines the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II and its aftermath from the point of view of American servicemen.  The film is based upon the non-fiction book, Flags of Our Fathers, from authors James Bradley and Ron Powers and first published in 2000.  Eastwood also composed the film’s score with assistance from his son, Kyle Eastwood, and Michael Stevens.

In Clint Eastwood’s film, Flags of Our Fathers, a son attempts to learn of his father’s World War II experiences by talking to the men who served with him and discovers that friendship and brotherhood meant more to the men than the war itself.

The son, James Bradley (Tom McCarthy), knows that his father, John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), was in the famous photograph, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” which was taken by photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945 and which became the most memorable photograph taking during WWII (as well as winning the Pulitzer Price for photography).  The photograph depicted five Marines and one Navy Corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the tiny island of Iwo Jima, and “Doc” Bradley was that corpsman (medical personnel).  The battle for that tiny speck of black sand, which was barely eight square miles, would prove to be the tipping point in the Pacific campaign against the Japanese during the war.

Through the recollections of the WWII vets, the son hears harrowing tales of Iwo Jima, and for the first time learns what his father went through there.  The military later returns “Doc” Bradley and the two other surviving flag-raisers, Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) to the U.S. and where they trio becomes props in the governments’ Seventh War Bond Drive.  This particular bond drive is an attempt to raise desperately needed cash to finish fighting the war.  However, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes are uncomfortable with their celebrity and find themselves at odds with being America’s new heroes.

Flags of Our Fathers is the first of Clint Eastwood’s unique two-film take on the war movie.  The second film, Letters from Iwo Jima, depicts the Japanese side of the war.  Flags runs hot and cool – hot when Eastwood keeps the film on Iwo Jima and cool when the flag-raisers are back in America and dealing with public situations that make them uncomfortable.  The narrative, like Billy Pilgrim, the hero of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, becomes unstuck in time, dancing back in forth in the wartime and post-war past, with an occasional foray into the present.

Flags of Our Fathers is at its best when Eastwood focuses on Iwo Jima and the veterans nightmarish flashbacks, in particularly “Doc” Bradley’s flashbacks while he’s on the bond drive tour.  He transforms the horrors of war into a taut thriller, in which the monster of violent death stalks the Marines on the battlefield.  Eastwood also makes his point at certain times with beautiful subtlety.  In one scene, Ira Hayes (played by Adam Beach who is, like Hayes, a Native American) is refused service at a restaurant because the owner “doesn’t serve Indians.”  After all of Hayes’ dedication, the routine bigotry he faces is stinging and heart-rending, and Eastwood captures that moment (and so many others where bigotry is as common as air) in an understated fashion that turns that quiet scene into a blunt object he slams into the viewer.

Flags is by no means perfect.  It lacks any great performances, and Jesse Bradford and Beach can only deliver soft performances since their characters are so thin.  “Doc” Bradley isn’t a stronger character, but Ryan Phillippe jumps between that haunted look or playing stoic, which gives Bradley more traction in the narrative.  Still, Flags of Our Fathers proves that Clint Eastwood is truly a great movie director, and that even his missteps here can’t hide this engaging look at brotherhood on the battlefield and surviving after war.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards:  2 nominations: “Best achievement in sound editing” (Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman) and “Best achievement in sound mixing” (John T. Reitz, David E. Campbell, Gregg Rudloff, and Walt Martin)

2007 Golden Globes:  1 nomination: “Best Director-Motion Picture” (Clint Eastwood)

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Updated:  Monday, November 11, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Firewall" is Not Memorable Harrison Ford Flick

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 145 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Firewall (2006)
Running time:  105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence
DIRECTOR:  Robert Loncraine
WRITER:  Joe Forte
PRODUCERS:  Armyan Bernstein, Basil Iwanyk, and Jonathan Shestack
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Marco Pontecorvo
EDITOR:  Jim Page
COMPOSER:  Alexandre Desplat

CRIME/THRILLER/ACTION

Starring:  Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Robert Patrick, Robert Forster, Alan Arkin, Carly Schroeder, Jimmy Bennett, Kett Turton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Vince Vieluf, and Vincent Gale

The subject of this movie review is Firewall, a 2006 British-American crime thriller starring Harrison Ford.  The film focuses on a security specialist who is forced into robbing the bank that he protects in order to pay a ransom for his family.

From 1990’s Presumed Innocent to 2000’s What Lies Beneath, Harrison Ford literally ruled the box office charts with a series of hit thriller flicks.  It didn’t matter if the film was set in a courtroom (like Presumed Innocent), in foreign countries (the Jack Ryan movies), a jet (Air Force One), or a haunted marriage (What Lies Beneath); Ford films were hits – some even blockbusters.  However, the new century has found Ford’s box office success largely diminished.  His 2006 film, Firewall, is a return to his 90’s form, but the film has only about a third of the scope and action thrills of his glory days.

Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) is the creator of Seattle-area Landrock Pacific Bank’s state-of-the-art-security system.  He has a reputation as being the man who’s thought of everything when it comes to protecting the bank from electronic theft, but Jack doesn’t know that he’s being watched.  A wily and vicious thief who says his name is Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) has hacked his way into Jack’s personal life and knows everything about Jack and his family:  wife, Beth (Virginia Madsen), his 14-year old daughter, Sarah (Carly Schroeder), and 8-year old son, Andy (Jimmy Bennett).

Now, Cox is holding Beth and the children hostage to force Jack to be their unwilling accomplice in a scheme to steal $100 million dollars from Landrock and the larger bank system with which Landrock recently merged.  Under constant surveillance, Jack must breach the very security system he created and siphon funds to several offshore accounts Cox and his accomplices own.  Jack, however, is sure that Cox will kill him and his family once Cox gets what he wants.  With only hours to accomplish his task, Jack must find, within Cox’s labyrinth of false identities, subterfuge, and plots Cox, an escape hatch through which he and his family can escape with their lives.

Firewall is an entertaining thriller, although it seems as if Ford is on automatic for this role.  Sure, he’s done this before.  He can turn on the grim intensity and growl on cue at the bad guys about what will happen if they hurt his family.  In fact, the script really plays up the hurt my family, protect the family, and family is all-important angles, as if the filmmakers were trying to hit some key red state demographic.  This family protection angle, like Ford’s performance, lacks spontaneity.

A thriller doesn’t have to be plausible to be thrilling, but Firewall stretches the limits of belief.  For every moment that I spent being thrilled, I spent two counting the times in this tale when some bank official, co-worker, or policeman would (or realistically should) have become so suspicious that he or she would have stepped in to stop this insane plot to rob a bank with the oh-so-formidable security system that the hero himself designed.  What?  Is there no oversight at this bank?

Other than Ford’s Jack Stanfield and Paul Bettany’s mechanical villain, Bill Cox, the script and the director ignore the rest of the characters, including several bank employees and officials.  The reason is simple:  the more you bring other people at the bank into this story, the more likely both the film’s plot and the villains’ plot would fall apart.  Still, Firewall is passable entertainment, especially for fans of Harrison Ford.  They won’t remember Firewall the way they do 1993’s The Fugitive, but it’s still something.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Updated:  Saturday, November 02, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "The Covenant" a Poorly Cast Spell

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 194 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Covenant (2006)
Running time:  97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense action sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, sexual content, partial nudity, and language
DIRECTOR:  Renny Harlin
WRITER:  J.S. Cardone
PRODUCERS:  Gary Lucchesi and Tom Rosenberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Pierre Gill (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Nicolas De Toth
COMPOSER: tomandandy

HORROR/FANTASY/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring:  Steven Strait, Laura Ramsey, Sebastian Stan, Taylor Kitsch, Toby Hemingway, Chace Crawford, Matt Austin, Wendy Crewson, Robert Crooks, Steven Crowder, Larry Day, and Jessica Lucas

The subject of this movie review is The Covenant, a 2006 supernatural horror and action-fantasy film from director Renny Harlin.  The film follows four young men who belong to a supernatural legacy and are forced to battle a fifth power long thought to have died out.  The young men must also contend with is their jealousy and suspicion of one another, which threatens to tear their union apart.

In 1692, four families of the Ipswich Colony of Massachusetts formed a covenant of silence to hide that they wielded The Power – what their fellow colonists identified as witchcraft.  Cut to the present: Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait), Pogue Parry (Taylor Kitsch), Reid Garwin (Toby Hemingway), and Tyler Sims (Chace Crawford) are the Sons of Ipswich, the heirs to the bloodline of those four families.  They are bound by their sacred ancestry, and Caleb, as the oldest, is their de facto leader.  As minors, they possess only a fraction of The Power they will have as adults, but Caleb is just a few days from his 18th birthday when he will “ascend” and receive his full powers.

Caleb and the other sons are students at the elite Spencer Academy.  There are two new students.  The attractive blond, Sarah Wenham (Laura Ramsey), catches Caleb’s eye.  The raffish Chace Collins (Sebastian Stan) becomes a rival for the affections of Pogue’s girlfriend, Kate Tunney (Jessica Lucas).  High school puppy love and rivalries are put on hold when the body of a dead student is found in the local woods after an outdoor party (rave?).  Caleb and Pogue sense that one of their own is abusing his power, threatening to break the covenant of silence that has protected their families for hundreds of years.  And this mystery user is very powerful and also hunting Caleb and Sarah.

The Covenant is kind of like the 1987 film, The Lost Boys, jammed into The WB’s (now The CW’s) TV series, “One Tree Hill.”  Director Renny Harlin (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Exorcist: The Beginning) is no stranger to cheesy horror flicks that have a few scary moments, and The Covenant is a cheesy horror flick with some genuine atmosphere, a few scary movie thrills, and an obnoxiously loud soundtrack and score.  The main problem with The Covenant is that it’s all surface – lots of pretty visuals.  In fact, Harlin focuses so much on how the film looks – with its bevy of sexy male leads and haunting Québec, Canada filming locations – that he never gets into the meat of the story.

I will grant that co-producer/writer J.S. Cardone’s script is top heavy with backstory, pre-history, and mythology, so Harlin has a lot of text and subtext to transform into a movie that holds the short attention spans of its intended audience.  (This probably would work better as a novel, or hey, even a television series on The CW.).  There is so much intriguing stuff left in the air, and Harlin only brushes on the characters enough to give the audience a nebulous idea about what’s going on.  Still, The Covenant is a faintly entertaining, half-assed popcorn flick.  It’s the kind of horror movie that will live a half-life in the limbo of video rentals – lucky to be an afterthought behind the good horror movies.

4 of 10
C

Saturday, September 9, 2006

Updated: Thursday, October 31, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Brother Bear 2" Surpasses Original

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 212 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Brother Bear 2 (2006) – Direct-to-DVD – animation
Running time:  74 minutes (1 hour, 14 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Benjamin Gluck
WRITER:  Rich Burns
PRODUCERS:  Jim Ballantine and Carolyn Bates
EDITORS:  Nick Kenway and Tony Martinous Rocco
COMPOSERS:  Matthew Gerrard, Dave Metzger, and Robbie Nevil

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ROMANCE/COMEDY with elements of adventure

Starring:  (voices) Patrick Dempsey, Mandy Moore, Jeremy Suarez, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Wanda Sykes, Wendie Malick, Kathy Najimy, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jim Cummings, and Jeff Bennett

The subject of this movie review is Brother Bear 2, a 2006 straight-to-video animated feature film produced by DisneyToon Studios.  The film is a direct sequel to the 2003 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature film, Brother Bear.  Singer Melissa Etheridge contributed three songs to this film.  In Brother Bear 2, one brother bear gains a girlfriend, much to the consternation of the younger brother bear.

After waking from a long hibernation, the brother bears, Kenai (Patrick Dempsey) and Koda (Jeremy Suarez), are ready for a trip to Crowberry Ridge, the location of the best spring berries.  However, a former human friend of Kenai’s, Nita (Mandy Moore) interrupts their journey to ask for Kenai’s help.  Kenai was once human, and when he was just a boy, he and Nita made a childish promise of eternal love.

Their tribe’s Great Spirits heard them, and now that the adult Nita plans on marrying her betrothed, Atka (Jeff Bennett), a man from a prominent tribal family, the spirits apparently aren’t willing to let the marriage happen.  The village shaman, Innoko (Wanda Sykes), informs Nita that she must break her pact of devotion to Kenai before she can marry Atka.  That pact is signified by an amulet that Nita wears around her neck.  Nita and Kenai must burn the amulet together to severe the relationship.

Kenai reluctantly agrees to help Nita, and they begin the dangerous journey to Hokani Falls, the place where they made their pact.  However, as they conquer one challenge after another on the journey, the friends find their old relationship rekindled, and the bond they once made only deepens.  Meanwhile, Koda is afraid he’ll loose his brother, although he sees that Kenai deeply loves Nita, but Koda’s decisions to set things right could endanger them all.  The moose brothers, Rutt (Rick Moranis) and Tuke (Dave Thomas), among others, provide comic relief.

Brother Bear 2 (also called "BB2" in this review), the straight-to-video (direct-to-DVD) sequel to Disney’s 2003 Oscar-nominated, animated feature film, Brother Bear, has such high quality animation that BB2 could be mistaken for a traditionally-animated (hand drawn) movie released to theatres.  The story is good, but the script doesn’t sing out that its feature film material.  Still, the screenplay hits the high notes that are necessary for any Disney animal fable to be successful – those messages about family, courage, honor, sacrifice, and loyalty.  Melissa Etheridge also sings three songs, two of which she composed, and they’re in synch with the film’s tone.

Patrick Dempsey (now best known as Dr. Derek Shepherd or “Dr. McDreamy” of the hit ABC TV drama, “Grey’s Anatomy”) replaces Joaquin Phoenix as the voice of Kenai for BB2, and he’s pretty good.  It helps that Jeremy Suarez reprises his voice performance as the wisecracking bear cub, Koda, and he’s great – heads and shoulders above everyone else.  The beautiful animation work done on Koda manages to capture the energy and quality of Suarez’s performance.

Some of Disney’s earlier video sequels to their classic animated features had animation that was, at best, the quality of a good TV cartoon.  While not the work of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Brother Bear 2 is the best work from DisneyToon Studios, the group responsible for prior straight-to-video flicks.  DisneyToon was recently shut down, and this is a shame because the animators and artists there were just hitting their stride.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, October 13, 2006

Updated:  Monday, October 28, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Idiocracy" is Brilliant and Prophetic (Happy B'day, Mike Judge)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Idiocracy (2006)
Running time:  84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and sex-related humor
DIRECTOR:  Mike Judge
WRITERS:  Mike Judge and Etan Cohen; from a story by Mike Judge
PRODUCERS:  Mike Judge and Elysa Koplovitz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tim Suhrstedt
EDITOR:  David Rennie
COMPOSER:  Theodore Shapiro

COMEDY/SCI-FI

Starring:  Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Alan Crews, Anthony Campos, David Herman, and Brad “Scarface” Jordan

The subject of this movie review is Idiocracy, a 2006 science fiction and satirical comedy film from writer-director, Mike Judge (Office Space).  The film focuses on an “average American” who awakens from a hibernation project five centuries in the future, where he discovers a society that is so incredibly dumbed-down that he is easily the most intelligent person alive.

Idiocracy was essentially produced and abandoned.  20th Century Fox released the film to an estimated 130 theatres – much less than 600 theatres, the number that is usually considered the minimum for a film to be in wide release.  Fox also did little in the way of promotion, and did not screen the movie for film critics.

To test its top secret Human Hibernation Project, U.S. Army officials chose the most average American male they can find, an Army private named Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson).  The most average woman they find is Rita (Maya Rudolph), a prostitute.  Joe and Rita are only supposed to stay in hibernation for one year, but they are forgotten and reawaken 500 years later.  They find civilization so incredibly dumbed-down that they are the smartest people on earth.  The President of the United States of Uhh-merica, Dwayne Elizondo Camacho (Terry Alan Crews), a former professional wrestler, wants Joe to solve the country’s problems (chiefly crop failures), or Camacho will have him rehabilitated – meaning killed.

Idiocracy is director Mike Judge’s long-awaited follow up to his cult hit, Office Space.  Judge is also the creator of the popular animated television series “Beavis and Butt-head” (for MTV) and, co-creator with Greg Daniels of  “King of the Hill” (for FOX).  In this comic sci-fi flick, Judge and his co-screenwriter Etan Cohen transport the audience to a satirical future populated by dumb humans who do nothing but watch TV and who are too dumb to irrigate their crops with water (using instead a sports drink).

Watching this movie, it would not be hard to get the idea that Judge and his creative staff are being unnecessarily cynical, especially when one of the film’s tenets is that dumb people (rednecks, trailer trash, hood rats, etc.) breed too much, while smart people don’t have enough babies.  An underemployed man who lives in poverty and has many children with two or more baby mamas isn’t necessarily dumb, nor are his offspring destined to be big dummies.  To fixate on this, however, would be to take an anal view of the film.  Besides, like much satire, Judge’s Idiocracy is preaching to the choir.

Combine genetic devolution with a populace enslaved to crass media that sells rampant commercialism and entertainment that emphasizes hypersexuality, and you might have a primary ingredient for a dystopian future, even if it isn’t as comically inept as the one presented here.  Judge is trying to make a point about an America where so many people are stubbornly uncurious about their world, the people who live in it, and how their actions affect anyone beyond themselves and maybe the small circle of people around them.  Yet those same people slavishly fixate on the habits and lifestyles of celebrities and assorted public figures.  Judge smartly makes his point with outrageous humor, and truthfully, the film isn’t elitist, it’s just relentlessly and unapologetically funny about making fun of and satirizing its targets.

Luke Wilson is great as a sort of nobody everyman.  He’s the kind of average Joe who tends his little patch of green earth while the rest of the world is engaged in a rat race.  In Wilson’s quiet but well-played role as someone who just doesn’t want to make waves, Judge has the perfect character by which to offer as a contrast to a world of people who are nothing but spoiled dumb children.  They want to be fed, entertained, and pleasured, but they don’t care to clean up after themselves and are too lazy to earn their treats.  Before I make Idiocracy sound like a school lesson, it’s easily one of the year’s funniest flicks.  Referencing Mad Max, 1984, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and other classic cautionary speculative, science fiction, this is the gold standard in satirical comedies.

9 of 10
A+

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Updated:  Thursday, October 17, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.