Review: "Terminator Salvation" Remains a Fresh Take on the Franchise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Terminator Salvation (2009)
Running time: 130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language
DIRECTOR:  McG
WRITERS:  John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris
PRODUCERS:  Derek Anderson, Moritz Borman, Victor Kubicek, and Jeffrey Silver
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Shane Hurlbut (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Conrad Buff IV
COMPOSER:  Danny Elfman

SCI-FI/ACTION/WAR/THRILLER

Starring:  Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin, Jadagrace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, and Michael Ironside

Terminator Salvation is a 2009 post-apocalyptic science fiction film from director McG.  It is the fourth film in the Terminator film franchise.  The film is set in the year 2018, and focuses on a mysterious man who joins the resistance on the eve of an attack on Skynet, but whose side is he really on?

Seven years after the debut of The Terminator (1984), its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day arrived in 1991.  It was another 12 years before the third film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) debuted, but only six years later, the fourth film, Terminator Salvation arrives.  This shorter gestation period likely isn’t why Terminator Salvation is good enough to be considered the second best film in The Terminator franchise.

Terminator Salvation finally takes us into the world only hinted at in the other Terminator films – the post-apocalyptic future that finds the remnants of the human race fighting the all-powerful artificial intelligence, Skynet, and its army of man-killing Terminators.  John Connor (Christian Bale) is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and the Terminators.  It was his mother that Skynet marked for termination before she could give birth to John, so they sent a Terminator back in time to kill her (as seen in The Terminator).  In Judgment Day, Skynet sent a Terminator back in time to kill a 12-year-old John Connor.

This new film opens in 2018, and John Connor is not in charge of the Resistance.  Connor continues, however, to study his past, through his memories and through the tape recordings his late mother left, as he tries to determine what Skynet’s next move might be.  Then, Connor learns that Skynet has made a human civilian named Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), their top priority for termination.  Reese is a man who is of utmost importance to Connor’s existence, so Connor prepares to launch a rescue mission even if General Ashdown (Michael Ironside) and the Resistance leadership are against it.

Then, Connor meets Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row in 2003.  It seems that Wright’s appearance has altered what John knew the future to be.  Connor and Marcus embark on an odyssey into Skynet central operations in the ruins of Los Angeles, where they discover the truth of Skynet’s diabolical plans.

Any moviegoers that are familiar with the internal mythology of The Terminator films can follow all the twists and turns of this time-bending film franchise… for the most part.  Are there inconsistencies between Terminator Salvation and the original film (let alone the others)?  Yes, there are, but director McG (the Charlie’s Angels films) takes the script for this film (which apparently had at least six writers, if not more) and makes one of those great summer movies that keeps your eyes glued to the screen and just keeps you awestruck with the awesomeness of its action and special effects.  It’s fanboy eye candy.

It’s easy for critics and snobby fans to dismiss McG (whose name is Joseph McGinty Nichol), but in the case of Terminator Salvation, he makes the best use of his actors, getting superb performances out of Bale, Worthington, Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, and Jadagrace.  Plus, McG squeezes the best from the visual effects, special effects, and stunt crews.  When a director harnesses this effort to maximum effect, he can make that kind of action flick that is the Art of the summer movie.

There are times when McG and company stumble over themselves in an effort to both connect Terminator Salvation to the original films (especially the first two) and to be respectful of the originals, somewhat to the detriment of this film.  However, McG has led his cast and creative staff to the promised land of the great action film, one so stuffed with edge-of-the-seat thrills and breathtaking visuals that it won’t soon be forgotten.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, May 31, 2009

EDITED:  Thursday, November 5, 2015


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

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Review: "Solomon Kane" Raises a Little Cain

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Solomon Kane (209)
Running time:  104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence throughout
DIRECTOR:  Michael J. Bassett
WRITERS:  Michael J. Bassett (based upon the character created by Robert E. Howard)
PRODUCERS:  Paul Berrow and Samuel Hadida
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dan Laustsen (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Andrew MacRitchie
COMPOSER:  Klaus Badelt

FANTASY/ACTION

Starring:  James Purefoy, Max von Sydow, Pete Postlethwaite, Alice Krige, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Patrick Hurd-Wood, Philip Winchester, Anthony Wilks, Ben Steel, Rory McCann, Tomas Tobola, Mackenzie Crook, and Jason Flemyng

Solomon Kane is a 2009 dark fantasy and action film, starring James Purefoy in the title role.  The film was produced by a consortium of production companies from the countries of the Czech Republic, France, and the United Kingdom.  Solomon Kane first opened in France in December 2009, but did not open in theatres in the United States until September 2012.

The movie features Solomon Kane, a pulp magazine-era fictional character created by Robert E. Howard (who also created Conan the Barbarian).  Solomon Kane first appeared in publication in the August 1928 issue of Weird Tales in the short story, “Red Shadows.”  In Howard’s original stories, Kane traveled through Europe and Africa, vanquishing evil.

Solomon Kane the movie acts as an origin story for the character, and opens in North Africa, in the year 1600.  English mercenary Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) leads the crew of his ship into battle against the occupiers of a fortress town.  It is there that Kane learns that his soul is bound for Hell.  He renounces violence and lives in seclusion before being forced out into the world at large again.

Kane meets William Crowthorn (Pete Postlethwaite) and his wife, Katherine (Alice Krige).  They are Puritans, and with their three children, are planning to immigrate to the New World.  After the Crowthorns’ daughter, Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood), is kidnapped by the followers of a sorcerer named Malachi (Jason Flemyng), Kane is once again forced to fight in order to save the girl and perhaps gain the redemption of his soul.

I think Solomon Kane’s writer-director Michael J. Bassett wanted this movie to be like the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Instead, what Bassett created is like a straight-to-DVD, sword-and-sorcery movie, with only a few moments that suggest LoTR’s epic fantasy.  Solomon Kane isn’t bad, but it isn’t particularly good, mainly because it is inconsistent.

For instance, James Purefoy gives a mostly good performance as Solomon Kane.  However, the screenplay is clumsy and repetitive when it comes to developing Kane’s character.  Plus, I think Purefoy is miscast as Kane.  I would prefer someone taller, leaner, and certainly more dour and gaunt than the pretty Purefoy.

The main villains, Malachi and the Masked Rider (Malachi’s henchman), are superb adversaries, but the two, especially Malachi, are mostly relegated to the background.  Bassett is so determined to focus on Kane’s story that he misses how two great villains can create the kind of potent conflict that invigorates a drama.

Solomon Kane is a fantasy film that has the action, brutality, and violence of other films like it, but lacks the flair of other supernatural action films like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Underworld.  The pacing is sometime dry and stiff, which makes the movie feel a bit too long, but if you like the supernatural action genre, Solomon Kane is worth watching – as a rental.

5 of 10
C+

Friday, August 09, 2013

Noomi Rapace a Dragon in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Män som hatar kvinnor (original title)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Sweden with Denmark, Germany, and Norway
Running time: 152 minutes (2 hours, 32 minutes)
MPAA – R for disturbing violent content including rape, grisly images, sexual material, nudity and language
DIRECTOR: Niels Arden Oplev
WRITERS: Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg (based on the novel by Stieg Larsson)
PRODUCER: Søren Stærmose
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Kress (photographer)
EDITOR: Anne Østerud
COMPOSER: Jacob Groth
BAFTA winner

DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber, Peter Andersson, Marika Lagercrantz, Ingvar Hirdwall, and Bjorn Granath

Män som hatar kvinnor is a 2009 Swedish drama and mystery thriller. The title literally means “Men who hate women.” This film is based on the 2005 novel, Män som hatar kvinnor, written by the late author and journalist, Stieg Larsson. In English-language markets, the novel and its Swedish film adaptation are known as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The film focuses on a disgraced journalist and a young female hacker who try to discover the circumstances behind the disappearance of an apparently murdered young woman.

The film opens in December 2002. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), publisher of Millennium magazine, loses a libel case, which gets him a huge fine and a three-month prison sentence. Meanwhile, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a young computer hacker who works as a surveillance agent, has been watching Blomkvist and researching his activities. Lisbeth delivers a comprehensive report on him to Dirch Frode (Ingvar Hirdwall). Frode convinces Blomkvist to meet his client, 82-year-old Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube).

Vanger hires Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, his niece who disappeared in 1966 and is believed to be dead. Vanger believes that Harriet was likely harmed by one of his family members, who are all part of the Vanger Group. Blomkvist’s investigation is going nowhere when Lisbeth intervenes and agrees to help him with the case. As they dig deeper into the Vangers, Blomkvist and Lisbeth discover dark family secrets that go back decades.

I rented a copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from Netflix. I intended to watch the first half-hour of the film and then stop and watch the rest of it at a later time. Those plans were crashed. I could not stop watching this tremendously gripping thriller. Everything works. The direction is tight, and that results in a tautly-paced film in which the characters’ lives are always perilously close to going over the edge.

The screenplay is well-written, but the writers are enamored with Lisbeth, while too much about Blomkvist is left out. As the film progresses, Blomkvist becomes just an investigator – the P.I., the classic whodunit detective, the gumshoe, etc. The script even relegates the Vanger Family to the background and sidelines of the story, although the resolution is firmly nestled in the family’s extra-dark past and present.

However, it is easy to see why the script is in love with Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo. She lights up the story, and Noomi Rapace’s luminous performance brings Lisbeth to brilliant life. As Lisbeth, Rapace radiates unusual beauty, raw sexual power, exceptional strength, uncommon intelligence, and fierce independence. She’s a goddess!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a great mystery thriller, but its center is a dazzling character named Lisbeth Salander. She makes a great mystery thriller even greater.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2011 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Film not in the English Language;” 2 nominations: “Best Leading Actress” (Noomi Rapace) and “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel)

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Review: Third "Ice Age" is Also a Charm

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
Running time: 94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some mild rude humor and peril
DIRECTORS: Carlos Saldanha with Mike Thurmeier
WRITERS: Peter Ackerman, Michael Berg, Yoni Brenner, and Mike Reiss; from a story by Jason Carter Eaton
PRODUCERS: Lori Forte and John C. Donkin
EDITORS: Harry Hitner with James Palumbo
COMPOSER: John Powell

ANIMATION/COMEDY/ADVENTURE/FAMILY/FANTASY

Starring: (voices) Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, and Queen Latifah, with Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Kristen Wiig, Karen Disher, and Chris Wedge

The subject of this movie review is Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, a 2009 computer-animated film from Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox. This comedy-adventure movie is the third film in the Ice Age series. Dawn of the Dinosaurs follows the “Ice Age herd” to a dinosaur-filled lost world as they try to rescue one of their own.

The original mismatched trio of ice age prehistoric critters: Manfred “Manny” (Ray Romano), a mammoth; Sid (John Leguizamo), a giant sloth; and Diego (Denis Leary) a saber-toothed tiger, are now part of a larger family. Manny has a mate, a mammoth named Ellie (Queen Latifah), and she has two possum brothers, Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), a rambunctious, prank playing duo.

There are big changes coming to this unusual herd. Ellie is pregnant, but this joyous situation does not come without complications. Diego is feeling a little old and wants to leave and go his own way, and Sid wants a family of his own. After he tries to play “mama” to three dinosaur eggs, Sid is taken by a Tyrannosaurus rex, the real mother, to a tropical lost world where dinosaurs still live. Manny and company follow in a bid to rescue Sid, but in order to survive they need the help of Buck (Simon Pegg), a probably insane, one-eyed, dagger-wielding weasel. But Buck’s mind is on Rudy, a monstrous dinosaur with a score to settle. The prehistoric squirrel/rat, Scrat (Chris Wedge), is also back and still fighting to retrieve that one special acorn, but this time, he finds a rival and perhaps, love.

I avoided Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs when it was first released back in 2009. It’s not because I thought that it was a bad movie; it was because I thought that I was finished with Ice Age, although I’d enjoyed the first two films in the series. I decided to see Dawn of the Dinosaurs because the fourth will be released this summer, and I am glad I did.

Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a really good movie. It starts out as a sweet and charming film about mild family dysfunction in a non-traditional family. When the story moves to the lost world of dinosaurs, it becomes a comedy and adventure film that mixes breathtaking, death-defying scenes with moments of tender love involving family and friends. There is a chase between a Pteranodon (acting as a chariot for three of the heroes) and a flock of Quetzalcoatlus that rivals (perhaps, even surpasses) the pod racing scene in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in terms of the pure excitement it gives and the technical wizardry it took the CGI artists to create it.

Although Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs largely moves the film away from its ice age setting (until the end), it keeps the fun of the series going. It makes me ready to see this new fourth film.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Review: "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" is Friendly to the Viewer

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009) – straight-to-video
Running minutes: 67 minutes (1 hour, 7 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence
DIRECTOR: Sam Liu
WRITER: Stan Berkowitz (based upon the graphic novel by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness)
PRODUCER: Michael Goguen and Bobbie Page
EDITOR: Margaret Hou
COMPOSER: Christopher Drake
ANIMATION STUDIO: Lotto Animation

ANIMATION/SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of drama

Starring: (voices) Clancy Brown, Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, Xander Berkeley, Corey Burton, Ricardo Chavira, Allison Mack, John C. McGinley, CCH Pounder, Calvin Tran, Mark Jonathan Davis, and LeVar Burton

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is a 2009 direct-to-video superhero animated film from Warner Bros. Animation. Starring DC Comics characters, Superman and Batman, this is also the sixth feature in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line.

The film is adapted from the opening story arc of the Superman/Batman comic book series. The storyline was entitled “The World’s Finest” (Superman/Batman #1-6, October 2003 to March 2004) and was produced by writer Jeph Loeb and pencil artist Ed McGuinness. Bruce Timm acted as the film’s executive producer.

At the beginning of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown), Superman’s nemesis, uses a severe, nation-wide economic crisis to get himself elected President of the United States. Then, he uses the threat of a kryptonite meteor on course to strike Earth as a rationale to frame Superman (Tim Daly) as a mad criminal. Luthor hires cyborg villain, Metallo (John C. McGinley), to kill Superman, but Batman (Kevin Conroy) rescues the Man of Steel. Luthor uses the video footage of that battle to frame Superman, and he also places a one billion dollar bounty on his head.

An army of supervillains look to collect the bounty on Superman, and Luthor also sends a small group of government-employed superheroes, led by Captain Atom (Xander Berkeley), to arrest Superman. Can Superman and Batman escape their hunters, save Earth from Luthor’s plot, and stop a killer meteor?

When I first started watching Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, I didn’t like it. For one thing, the filmmakers had copied the cartoony drawing style of Ed McGuinness, who drew the comic book upon which this film is based, in their character designs for this film. I didn’t think that worked. However, McGuinness’ drawing style is a traditional one closer to the comic books published in the 1950s and 60s, and this clean style is also friendlier to adaptation as animation than other more detailed or photo-realistic comic book art styles.

So that is my way of saying that visually, the design style and graphic aspects look right for this film. They capture the physicality of the characters and the colorful and quirky costumes and armor. As for the story, it’s very fun with lots of big fights and plenty of sci-fi, save-the-world action.

I have to also say that this DC Universe Animated Original Movie has excellent voice performances from top to bottom. Clancy Brown is ominous and also melodramatic in the vein of an old movie serial villain as Lex Luthor. Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy are a magnificent team as Superman and Batman, respectively. They sound as if they belong together. I am pleased to be pleasantly surprised by Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. As this movie ended, I still wanted more.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

"Green Lantern: First Flight" Struggles on the Runway

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Green Lantern: First Flight (2009) – straight-to-video
Running minutes: 77 minutes (1 hour, 17 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence
DIRECTOR: Lauren Montgomery
WRITER: Alan Burnett
PRODUCER: Bruce W. Timm
EDITOR: Rob Desales
COMPOSER: Robert Kral
ANIMATION STUDIO: Telecom Animation Film Co., Ltd.

ANIMATION/SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of drama

Starring: (voices) Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer, Michael Madsen, John Larroquette, Kurtwood Smith, Larry Drake, William Schallert, Malachi Throne, Olivia d’Abo, Richard Green, Juliet Landau, David L. Lander, and Richard McGonagle

Green Lantern: First Flight is a 2009 direct-to-video superhero animated film from Warner Bros. Animation. Starring DC Comics character, Green Lantern, this is also the fifth feature in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line. The film is adapted from the DC Comics’ Green Lantern mythology.

Hal Jordan (Christopher Meloni) is the ace test pilot at Ferris Aircraft, but when the dying alien, Abin Sur (Richard McGonagle), summons him, Hal’s life changes. Hal becomes a Green Lantern and a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force whose power comes from green rings powered by the great Green Lantern battery. Jordan is whisked off to Oa, the home of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the creators of the Green Lantern Corps and the Green Lantern battery.

The Guardians place Hal under the supervision of a respected senior officer, Sinestro (Victor Garber), who is searching for Abin Sur’s murderer, Kanjar Ro (Kurtwood Smith), an alien criminal. Ro has come to possess the yellow element, the one substance that can defeat the great Green Lantern battery. But Hal Jordan finds himself caught in a great conspiracy that threatens the very existence of the Green Lantern Corps.

One positive thing that I can say about Green Lantern: First Flight is that the animation is good. The character movement here is smooth, almost liquid, and the character design is inventive and imaginative, as good as that found in animated films with bigger budgets. The problem with Green Lantern: First Flight is that the lead character, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, is a mostly flat character. Hal Jordan disappears early in the movie, and the story focuses on his alter-ego, Green Lantern. However, there is little development of Green Lantern’s character; he’s mostly a cog in an action movie. In fact, Sinestro, the antagonist, is far more interesting, and the film spends more time developing Sinestro’s personality, conflicts, and motivations than it does Jordan’s.

The script takes for granted that Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern is the hero, so there isn’t much of an arc of development of Jordan as a novice who learns his craft on the way to his ultimate triumph. The film portrays Jordan as a champion from the beginning, so his ultimate victory doesn’t feel as rewarding as it would if he actually had to really struggle to become the big dog – the hero.

Green Lantern: First Flight offers some impressive action movie set pieces, and the second half is non-stop action that is surprisingly riveting. The first half is awkward, at a time when the script should spend developing the lead character and doesn’t. I think Green Lantern: First Flight is like the 2011 Green Lantern live action movie. Both focus on fanboy tropes instead of both revealing the arc and discovering the heart of a hero.

5 of 10
B-

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Animated "Wonder Woman" Thunders

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 30 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Wonder Woman (2009) – straight-to-video
Running minutes: 74 minutes (1 hour, 14 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence throughout and some suggestive material
DIRECTOR: Lauren Montgomery
WRITERS: Michael Jelenic; from a story by Michael Jelenic and Gail Simone (based on characters created by William M. Marston)
PRODUCER: Bruce W. Timm
EDITOR: Rob Desales
COMPOSER: Christopher Drake
ANIMATION STUDIO: Moi Animation Studio

ANIMATION/SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of drama

Starring: (voices) Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Virginia Madsen, Vicki Lewis, Marg Helgenberger, Oliver Platt, and Skye Arens

Wonder Woman is a 2009 direct-to-video superhero animated film from Warner Bros. Animation. Starring DC Comics character, Wonder Woman, this is also the fourth feature in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line. The movie pits the most famous comic book super-heroine, Wonder Woman, against Ares, and is loosely based upon the stories by acclaimed comic book writer/artist, George Perez.

Wonder Woman begins during an epic battle between the proud and fierce race of warrior women, the Amazons, and the forces of Ares (Alfred Molina), the Greek god of war. After Amazon Queen Hippolyta (Virginia Madsen) defeats Ares, the gods force a peace. The Amazons are granted an island, Themyscira, where they can be eternally youthful and isolated from men, but Ares will also be imprisoned on the island.

Over a 1000 years later, United States Air Force pilot, Colonel Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion) crashes on Themyscira. Modern man’s trespass of the island also leads to events that enable the imprisoned Ares to escape with the help of an Amazon who betrays her sisters. Princess Diana (Keri Russell), daughter of Hippolyta, wins the right to return Trevor to his world and to also recapture Ares. However, Ares plans to not only regain his former powers, but also to bring total war to Earth. Will Princess Diana triumph and become Wonder Woman?

First, I must say that I am surprised at the amount of violence in Wonder Woman, and I’m not just talking about standard science fiction and fantasy violence. Although it is not explicitly depicted, murder and killing are prominent in the film from beginning to end. That doesn’t offend me, but does surprise me, and I thought that I should mention it.

Anyway, this is a terrific movie, and although I have many films to go in the series, I think this is the best of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies I’ve seen. The animation is good, but even better is the action. Wonder Woman’s action set pieces are like having the Lord of the Rings films and the 2007 hit, 300, turned into animation for our viewing pleasure, and it’s pleasurable, indeed. The writing is solid, especially the character development, which emphasizes the relationship between Diana and Steve and also allows both characters to go on a journey of growth.

The voice acting is good; you know that voice acting is good when you see the animated character and voice actor as one. I know that not all DC Universe Animated Original Movies are going to be as good as Wonder Woman. How could they since Wonder Woman is so good.

9 of 10
A+

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" Rises on Its Own

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – R for bloody violence and some sexuality
DIRECTOR: Patrick Tatopoulos
WRITERS: Danny McBride, Dirk Blackman, and Howard McCain; from a story by Len Wiseman, Robert Orr, and Danny McBride (based on characters created by Kevin Grevioux, and Len Wiseman, and Danny McBride)
PRODUCERS: Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Skip Williamson, Len Wiseman, and Richard S. Wright
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ross Emery
EDITORS: Peter Amundson and Eric Potter
COMPOSER: Paul Haslinger

HORROR/FANTASY/ACTION/ROMANCE

Starring: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh, Kevin Grevioux, David Aston, and Elizabeth Hawthorne

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is a 2009 American vampire/werewolf fantasy film. It is the third film in the Underworld film series and is also a prequel to the first two films, Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006). Rise of the Lycans is part origin story and also depicts how the Vampire-Lycan war (the centerpiece of the original film) began.

Rise of the Lycans opens in the Dark Ages of Europe. Viktor (Bill Nighy) is the ruthless elder lord of a vampire coven. Human nobles pay him to protect them from the ravenous, uncontrollable werewolves that are unable to return to their original human form. One day, a female werewolf gives birth to human child who grows up to be Lucian (Michael Sheen), the first werewolf able to take human form. Viktor uses Lucian to create a new breed of werewolf that can keep guard over the coven during the daylight hours, a breed Viktor calls “Lycans.”

Lucian and Viktor’s daughter, Sonja (Rhona Mitra), are in a relationship that they struggle to keep hidden. Lucian also begins to struggle with the way Viktor and the other vampires treat his werewolf brothers. After he encounters Raze (Kevin Grevioux), a brave human destined to be turned into a werewolf, Lucian is inspired to plot a revolution. Love and revolution, however, may cost Lucian and Sonja everything.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is essentially a stand alone film. One need not have seen the first two films in order to enjoy Rise of the Lycans. In a way, this film’s story is like an aristocratic melodrama in which a noble lord’s precious daughter has a forbidden romance with the help or, in this case, a werewolf slave. This movie is as much about its themes of mixed race romance, racism, discrimination, and exploitation as it is about the tropes of modern vampire versus werewolf fiction. That makes Rise of the Lycans different from the other Underworld films, but not necessarily inferior, although I do think that it is the least of the three in terms of quality.

As a big fan of the series, I can say that I liked Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, and Michael Sheen’s vigorous and physical performance gives the film much dramatic credibility. Rhona Mitra and the reliable Bill Nighy also deliver sturdy performances. Director Patrick Tatopoulos is straight-forward, seeming to care more about the film than showing off to prove what a hotshot fantasy film director he is.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Review: "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" Does All Good for Itself

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA- PG-13 for mature thematic material involving a sexual assault on a minor, violence, drug references and smoking
DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
WRITER: Tyler Perry (based upon his play)
PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alexander Gruszynski
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy
Image Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC with elements of comedy and romance

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Adam Rodrigeuz, Brian J. White, Hope Olaide Wilson, Kwesi Boakye, Frederick Siglar, Gladys Knight, Mary J. Blige, Marvin Winans, and Tyler Perry

One could make the argument that every Tyler Perry movie seems to be made from the same stencil or template. There are the good women and the bad men they love (Madea’s Family Reunion). There are also the good men and the troubled women they try to save (Madea Goes to Jail). And there are always those who need to go back to church because they don’t know which way is up (Daddy’s Little Girls). Of course, there is usually room for the unsinkable matriarch Madea, and her brother and housemate, the un-politically correct, Joe. Perry’s new film, I Can Do Bad All by Myself (based upon his play) distills the essence of Perry’s oeuvre into its most perfect form to date.

After the pistol-packing Madea (Tyler Perry) catches three siblings breaking into her home, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Madea marches 16-year-old Jennifer (Hope Olaide Wilson) and her two younger brothers, Manny (Kwesi Boakye) and Byron (Frederick Siglar), to the only relative she can find – their Aunt April (Taraji P. Henson), a hard-living, heavy-drinking nightclub singer. April lives off her married boyfriend, Randy (Brian J. White). Already having several children of his own, Randy doesn’t want April’s niece and nephews around, and April certainly doesn’t think her dead crackhead sister’s children are her problem.

Fate, however, brings Sandino (Adam Rodriguez) into April’s life. The handsome Mexican immigrant is looking for work, so the local Pastor Brian (Marvin Winans) asks April to allow Sandino to move into her basement room in exchange for doing handiwork. The hard-luck immigrant challenges April to open her heart, which forces her to make the biggest choice of her life. Will she keep Randy and her old ways or will she choose the new possibilities for life that taking in her niece and nephew offer?

Why do I think that I Can Do Bad All by Myself is the best Tyler Perry movie? I think this film’s strength is based on the performances of its cast. The script isn’t anything particularly special, at least in the context of Perry’s other writing. The motivations for their actions and explanations for what ails the characters in this film are the usual ingredients for a Tyler Perry psychodrama: alcohol, childhood sexual abuse, drug use, and not going to church.

It is a performance like the one given by Taraji P. Henson that allows I Can Do Bad All by Myself to soar as a film about triumph and redemption. Henson is such a natural that whatever character she plays comes across as honest and authentic. In her performance, the audience can buy April, in spite of whatever contrivances Perry fashions for that character’s past. Henson also deftly executes her skills so that she can amplify the comedic moments even in the midst of the intense drama of this film. For instance, there is pathos and merriment in the scene in which Madea first confronts April with her niece and nephews. This scene defines I Can Do Bad All by Myself’s attitude that there is joy even the darkest times in life. Using laughter, Perry and his star give the audience a chance to step back and take a different look at this pivotal moment in the film.

There are other good performances. Brian J. White as the philandering husband and boyfriend, Randy, is exquisite, and Adam Rodriguez alternately simmers and shines as Sandino, the do-the-right-thing handyman. I would be remiss if I failed to mention Hope Olaide Wilson as April’s fierce and stubborn niece, Jennifer, a character that is essentially a younger version of her aunt. It is a testament to young Miss Wilson’s talent that she could present Jennifer as being destined to follow April’s sad path in life without it seeming contrived.

It also doesn’t hurt to have two of the best ever rhythm and blues and soul singers, Gladys Knight and Mary J. Blige, belting out a few songs, giving the kind of vocal performances that will raise the roof and then knock down the walls. It is these performances that make I Can Do Bad All by Myself the standout drama, thus far, in Tyler Perry’s filmography and a movie not to be missed.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, October 04, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actress” (Taraji P. Henson) and “Best Song, Original or Adapted” (Mary J. Blige for the song "I Can Do Bad All By Myself")

2010 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Adam Rodriguez); 2 nominations: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Taraji P. Henson) and “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Tyler Perry)

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Review: "Madea Goes to Jail" a Message-Heavy Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic material, drug content, some violence, and sexual situations
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alexander Gruszynski (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Tyler Perry, Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pullman, David Mann, Tamela J. Mann, RonReaco Lee, Ion Overman, Vanessa Ferlito, Viola Davis, Sofia Vergara, and Robin Coleman

In the seventh Tyler Perry movie (the sixth Perry has directed), his most popular character, the matriarch Mabel “Madea” Simmons, finally lands in jail in the film, Madea Goes to Jail. Madea’s commotions aside, this film’s primary focus is on the efforts of an up and coming attorney to save a former classmate from a life of drug addiction and prostitution.

A high speed car chase lands Madea (performed by Tyler Perry in drag) on the steps of the jail, but a technicality allows her another in a long line of reprieves. However, Madea’s anger management issues lead to an outrageous act of violence that finally earns her a stiff prison sentence. Madea’s eccentric family, including her daughter, Cora (Tamela J. Mann), and Cora's father, Brown (David Mann), rally behind her and lead the effort to free Madea.

Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke), who is on the fast track to career success, reunites with an old friend, Candace Washington (Keshia Knight Pullman), who is a drug addict and prostitute known to customers and colleagues as “Candy.” Joshua is determined to get Candy cleaned up, off drugs, and off the streets, but they share a dark secret from their past, which seems to hamper efforts to heal Candy. Joshua’s fiancé and fellow ADA, Linda Davis (Ion Overman) is simply enraged at Joshua’s efforts to help Candy, and she plots to permanently separate the two.

Like Tyler Perry’s other films, Madea Goes to Jail is filled with broad comedy (quite a bit of it slapstick), Christian themes, and principles of forgiveness, healing, and redemption, but of all of his films, this is one comes across as the most shallow in its message. Perry’s films, by his own admission, are more than just entertainment; they are message films, so criticizing them on the basis on that message or how the message is delivered is legitimate.

Madea Goes to Jail is Perry’s most polished effort to date, in terms of technical and craft aspects of filmmaking. The direction is smooth, and Perry has cast a group of highly-qualified and veteran actors. These actors bring a sense of weighty drama to this occasionally very dark movie. When this movie was first released earlier this year (2009), much was made of former child star, Keshia Knight Pulliam’s turn as a drug-addicted prostitute. This faux controversy about Pulliam (who played Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show) missed the truth of the excellent dramatic performance given by the underestimated Pulliam – not to mention that such criticism missed excellent dramatic turns by Derek Luke and the recently Oscar-nominated Viola Davis (Doubt).

What Madea Goes to Jail should be criticized for is its ultimately dishonest and shallow message to its audience, in particularly Black women whose lives are in shambles because of drug addiction and because of past and present physical, mental, and sexual abuse. They suffer such abuse at the hands of loved ones. Madea Goes to Jail is actually a great film until the last 15 minutes or so. Tyler Perry is good at depicting suffering and anguish, but not as good when he suggests methods of healing. It is during the last 15 minutes of Madea Goes to Jail that Tyler Perry, as he rushes to tie everything in a feel-really-good, happy-ending bow, offers Christian platitudes (such as forgiveness) and self-help bromides as the cure for deep-rooted ills. When life gives you lemons, you make Jesus-flavored lemonade? I don’t think so.

I don’t begrudge Perry his happy endings, but if he must send messages, he is going to have to think seriously about the social and personal issues that he makes the centerpieces of his films. If he is going to offer answers and solutions, they should be more than “forgive and forget.” Otherwise, Madea Goes to Jail is an entertaining, at times exceptionally entertaining, film. But it could have been a truly important film.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actor” (Derek Luke)

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Review: "Drag Me to Hell" is Gross-Out Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images, and language
DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi
WRITERS: Ivan Raimi and Sam Raimi
PRODUCERS: Grant Curtis and Sam Raimi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Deming
EDITOR: Bill Murawski

HORROR with elements of comedy and thriller

Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza, Chelci Ross, Molly Cheek, and Reggie Lee

The Sam Raimi who directed The Evil Dead films has returned to his demonic spirits-gone-wild roots with the new film, Drag Me to Hell. Before he directed the Spider-Man films, Raimi unleashed ghoulish, comic horror movies that featured, among other things, preposterous scenes of mutilation and slapstick dismemberment, in flicks like Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992). Drag Me to Hell is essentially from the same family as those scary movies. It’s like EC Comics on crack with a steroid chaser – and rated PG-13!

This film focuses on the soft-hearted Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), an ambitious L.A. loan officer for WilshirePacific Bank. Christine also has a charming boyfriend, Clay Dalton (Justin Long), who has recently become a philosophy professor, but all is not well. The winsome girl with a dazed look in her eyes is tired of being life’s punching bag. She knows that Clay’s mother doesn’t like her (although they’ve never met), and at work, a cheesy co-worker, Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee), is scheming to snatch a promotion from her. When the mysterious, one-eyed Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) shows up at the bank and begs Christine for an extension on her home loan, Christine decides not to follow her instincts and give the old woman a break. Instead, Christine denies the extension in order to impress her boss, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer), and, in turn, get an edge in the battle for the promotion.

Christine’s fateful choice shames Mrs. Ganush and essentially dispossesses Ganush of her home. In retaliation, Ganush, a rotten-toothed old gypsy woman, places the powerful curse of the Black Lamia on Christine, which transforms the young woman’s life into a living hell. Almost immediately, the evil spirit starts to haunt and torment Christine, and her plight is misunderstood by her skeptical boyfriend. Christine seeks the aid of a seer, Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), in hopes that he can tell her what’s happening. What Christine learns is that after three days of tormenting her, the Lamia will drag her soul to hell to burn for eternity.

Perhaps, it is Allison Lohman loveable, huggable, girl-next-door quality that makes it easier for the viewer to sympathize with her and even want to take on her troubles. Maybe it’s Raimi’s ability to scare the hell out of his audience with cartoonish, ghoulish nightmares – or maybe both. Whatever the reasons are, Drag Me to Hell gets in your head. Raimi does that by creating a hellish carnival atmosphere: the kind where the ticket salesman is a hideous, curse-spewing crone; where the fun house is a level of hell; and where the cotton candy maker is a jack-in-the-box full of wormy devils. The film is also very old school; Raimi often creates the sense of creeping dread by using atmospherics like shifty shadows and sound effects. This film even features a favorite Raimi trademark – a demonic possession

Drag Me to Hell is also filled with wonderfully deranged sequences. The first physical altercation between Christine and Mrs. Ganush is film’s best confrontation, and it involves nothing but hands, feet, and teeth – nothing supernatural until the end of it. In fact, Mrs. Ganush is a great character, conceived to be a physically aggressive granny who is as delightfully vindictive as she is demonic and ghoulish.

You’ll laugh. You’ll scream. You may even laugh at your own gullibility, but Sam Raimi has returned to the wretched roots of his filmmaking – bugf*ck crazy horror movies. Drag Me to Hell isn’t perfect; there’s too much of a focus on Alison Lohman’s Christine to the detriment of the other quality characters (like Justin Long’s Clay and Dileep Rao’s Rham Jas, for instance). Still, its mixture of blood-curdling terror, gross-out horror, and inspired lunacy make Drag Me to Hell one of the most entertaining horror flicks in years.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, June 21, 2009

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"The Final Destination" is Free Death Porn

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 68 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Final Destination (2009)
Running time: 82 minutes (1 hour, 22 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality
DIRECTOR: David R. Ellis
WRITERS: Eric Bress (based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick)
PRODUCERS: Craig Perry and Warren Zide
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Glen MacPherson (director of photography)
EDITOR: Mark Stevens
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler

HORROR/THRILLER/ACTION/MYSTERY

Starring: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson, Krista Allen, and Andrew Fiscella

The Final Destination is a 2009 supernatural horror film and is also the fourth film in the Final Destination film series. The Final Destination takes place three years after the events of Final Destination 3 (2006), which began with the “Devil’s Flight roller coaster accident.” Once again, a group of teens survive an accident in which none of them were meant to survive, so Death stalks them one by one, killing them in elaborately-staged and bizarre accidents.

The Final Destination begins with four young friends enjoying car racing at McKinley Speedway. One of them, Nick O’Bannon (Bobby Campo), has a premonition of a terrible car crash that leads to the deaths of several people, including him and his friends. Nick persuades his girlfriend, Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten), and their friends, Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb) and Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano), to leave. There is indeed a horrendous multi-car crash that leads to death and devastation, but Nick, his friends, and several other people who were supposed to die survive.

Sometime, after the crash, Nick hears that a few of the survivors have been killed in bizarre accidents. He also discovers that there were other disasters in which one of the survivors had a premonition which saved lives. When he learns that those survivors died one by one in strange accidents, Nick starts to believe that Death is also stalking the survivors of the McKinley Speedway crash. Nick and Lori join another survivor, security guard George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson), and set out to break the chain of deaths and hopefully save as many lives as possible. But does Nick really understand how this game of Death works?

The Final Destination is like other Final Destination films – full of mayhem, desperation, death, blood, and mutilated bodies, but this movie isn’t just another gory horror flick. Every time I thought The Final Destination was turning to crap, something inventive, creepy, surprising, and/or shocking pulled me right back into the movie.

The characters are weak and are barely interesting and few of them are even likeable. It is not so much that you care about them; it’s just that you only anticipate the next horrible depiction of violent and bizarre death every time they are on screen. So, the movie works even without having at least one outstanding character, although Mykelti Williamson as George and Andrew Fiscella as the mechanic Andy Kewzer stand out by making something of the nothing the screenplay gives them.

The Final Destination is fun and has the best ending since the original film. It makes me look forward to the next installment.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Review: "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is Good/Bad

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 55 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Running time: 150 minutes (2 hours, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material
DIRECTOR: Michael Bay
WRITERS: Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman (based on Hasbro’s Transformers Action Figures)
PRODUCERS: Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Ian Bryce
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ben Seresin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Paul Rubell, A.C.E., Roger Barton, Thomas A. Muldoon, and Joel Negron
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of drama, thriller, and war

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Ramon Rodriguez, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Rainn Wilson, Deep Roy and (voices) Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, Frank Welker, Grey DeLisle, Reno Wilson, Michael York, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Tony Todd

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 science fiction/action film. It is the sequel to the 2007 film, Transformers, the live-action feature film starring those ever-popular toys, Hasbro’s the Transformers. Once again, the human hero from the first film is caught in a war between two factions of alien robots, the Autobots and the Decepticons, but another adversary joins the fray – an enemy who wants to destroy the Earth’s sun to attain his goal.

Revenge of the Fallen takes place two years after the first film. Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), the hero of the Transformers film franchise, leaves the Autobots behind for a normal life. Sam is ready to move on with his life, which means leaving home to go to college, but Autobot leader, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), wants Sam to stay because the war to protect humanity from the Decepticons continues. Sam’s father, Ron Witwicky (Kevin Dunn), is ambivalent about his son going across country to attend college, and his mother, Judy (Julie White), is in full meltdown mode. Sam’s girlfriend, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), is also not happy with the move because she questions why Sam wants a long-distance relationship when he still can’t say “I love you” to her.

As he tries to adapt to college life, however, Sam finds his mind filled with cryptic symbols in the robots’ Cybertronian language that cause him to have short mental breakdowns. Meanwhile, the Decepticons reunite with their leader, a mysterious figure known as the Fallen (Tony Todd), and Megatron (Hugo Weaving) is brought back to life. Inside Sam’s mind is information that the Fallen wants, so the Decepticons target Sam and drag him back into the Autobots/Decepticon war.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen got some really bad reviews, and some considered it one of the worst movies of 2009. I liked it. Sure, the story is under-plotted and an actual full, working screenplay for this movie is probably nonexistent. This is way too long; two and a half hours – freakin’ puh-lease. What I love is all the special effects and CGI magic that brings the Transformers to life. All that twisting, shape-shifting, and, well… transforming are what piques my interest. I can barely tolerate the “character drama” between scenes of the Transformers tearing each other apart while smashing through buildings, bridges, and whatever infrastructure that happens to be in their way.

Truthfully, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen only really works during the action scenes, especially during the last half hour. Those action set pieces are why I put up with what is an incredibly noisy film, which is sometimes like listening to an ADHD monkey banging pots and pans together.

The other element of the film that works for me is actor Shia LaBeouf. I must admit to being a fan of this talented young actor, but his character is saddled with bad secondary characters. This film’s script has no place for them, so they’re underdeveloped and stupid. Watching scenes with Shia’s Sam Witwicky means you have to put up with characters that are only a little more than mannequins. One big disappointment was that Revenge of the Fallen underplayed Josh Duhamel’s William Lennox and Tyrese Gibson’s Robert Epps.

But Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen temporarily fed my appetite for Autobots vs. Decepticons destruction, and I’m ready for more.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Sound” (Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, and Geoffrey Patterson)

2010 Razzie Awards: 3 wins: “Worst Director” (Michael Bay), “Worst Picture” (DreamWorks and Paramount), and “Worst Screenplay” (Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman); 4 nominations: “Worst Actress” (Megan Fox), “Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel,” “Worst Screen Couple” (Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, and Shia LaBeouf and either Megan Fox or any Transformer), and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Julie White)

Monday, June 27, 2011

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"The Most Dangerous Man in America" Tackles Still-Riveting Topic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 54 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
WRITERS: Lawrence Lerew, Rick Goldsmith, Judith Ehrlich, and Michael Chandler
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vicente Franco and Dan Krauss
EDITORS: Michael Chandler, Rick Goldsmith, and Lawrence Lerew
COMPOSER: Blake Leyh

DOCUMENTARY – History, Politics, War

Starring: Daniel Ellsberg (also narrator), Anthony Russo, Patricia Ellsberg, Mort Halperin, Egil “Bud” Krogh, Tom Oliphant, Janaki Tschannerl, and Howard Zinn

June marks the 40 anniversary of the New York Times’ first publication of excerpts from the Pentagon Papers (specifically June 13, 1971). Officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, the Pentagon Papers are a history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. This study was initiated by the United States Department of Defense by order of then Secretary of State Robert McNamara.

Daniel Ellsberg, PhD, (born April 7, 1931) was a United States military analyst beginning in 1964 for the Pentagon under Secretary McNamara and then for the State Department as a civilian in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Beginning in 1967, Dr. Ellsberg was at the RAND Corporation (a global policy think tank) where he worked on the top-secret study of classified documents that came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. This study was 7,000 pages long and was divided into 47 volumes.

Once a supporter of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Ellsberg became disaffected with the Vietnam War. Beginning in late 1969, Ellsberg and a former colleague, Anthony Russo, secretly photocopied several copies of the Pentagon Papers. In 1971, Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, which began publishing excerpts from the study. The Times’ publication precipitated a national political controversy because the Pentagon Papers exposed the top-secret military history of the United States involvement in Vietnam.

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers is a 2009 documentary film from directors Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith. Nominated in 2010 for a best documentary Oscar, The Most Dangerous Man in America explores the events around the publication of the Pentagon Papers by focusing on Daniel Ellsberg, who also acts as the film’s narrator. Some of the film’s narrative is also taken from Ellsberg’s 2002 book, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (Viking Press).

Daniel Ellsberg is certainly an important man in modern American political history, and The Most Dangerous Man in America gives us a glimpse into his personal history, including details into a childhood tragedy, his time in the U.S. Marine Corps, and his relationship, courtship, and eventual marriage to his second wife, Patricia Marx.

However, Ellsberg is a doorway into the secret history of the Vietnam War, and though much of that history has been revealed, thanks in large part to Ellsberg, the majority of Americans are likely still unfamiliar with how the U.S. really got involved in Vietnam. For a long time, the official story was that the U.S. stumbled into Vietnam, and that’s not true. Understanding American involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967 is crucial not only to understanding American foreign policy – how it works and why, but also to discovering how four U.S. Presidents lied to the American public about Vietnam.

Ellsberg and this film reveal that sometimes, even what is top secret should be made public. Perhaps, such revelations will protect the United States and its citizens both from dirty wars and also lying, even criminal Presidential administrations. None of the four Presidents mentioned here comes out looking good – especially Richard M. Nixon.

If one wants to be entertained, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers isn’t exactly entertaining. It is sometimes dry and academic, although there are moments of riveting drama and even bits that seem like a spy thriller. Still, it is our responsibility as citizens to know the truth and the things that are hidden, both in hour history and in the times in which we live. From time to time, this documentary is even broadcast by PBS. Watch it on television or rent it, but The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers is an essential film for everyone from high school students to adults.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Documentary, Features” (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)

Monday, June 27, 2011

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Review: A Year Later, Walt Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" is Still Magical

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTORS: Ron Clements, John Musker
PRODUCER: Peter Del Vecho
WRITERS: Ron Clements, John Musker, and Rob Edwards; from a story by Ron Clements, John Musker, Greg Erb, Don Hall, and Jason Oremland
EDITOR: Jeff Draheim
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/COMEDY/FANTASY/FAMILY/ROMANCE

Starring: (voices) Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jim Cummings, Jennifer Cody, Jenifer Lewis, Peter Bartlett, Terrence Howard, John Goodman, and Oprah Winfrey

Several years ago, Walt Disney announced that 2004’s Home on the Range would be the company’s last 2D animated (or hand drawn animation) feature length film because, the company insisted, audiences now wanted 3D or computer animated films. But praise God for Ed Catmull and John Lasseter! Taking over Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2007, the duo behind Pixar spearheaded the return to 2D. The result is the fantastic, The Princess and the Frog. In development since 2006, The Princess and the Frog not only marks the return to traditional 2D hand-drawn animation, but it is also the return of the Disney musical in the vein of Beauty and the Beast.

A musical comedy and fantasy, The Princess and the Frog is set in an idealized version of the city of New Orleans of the 1920s. Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) comes from hardworking parents: the strong and loving father, James (Terrence Howard), and her mother the inspiration and anchor, Eudora (Oprah Winfrey). Tiana’s dream is to open New Orleans’ finest restaurant. Believing like her father that wishes don’t come true without hard work, Tiana eschews fun and works double shifts to save money.

Spoiled and irresponsible, Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos), from the far-off kingdom of Maldonia, arrives in New Orleans, cut off from his parents’ money. Naveen meets Dr. Facilier (Keith David), “the Shadowman.” Facilier transforms Prince Naveen into a frog as part of a scheme to steal a local rich man’s money. When Tiana and froggy Prince Naveen’s meet, Naveen convinces Tiana that her kiss can make him human again. However, in a twist on the Grimm brothers’ fairy tale, “The Frog Prince,” the kiss leaves Naveen unchanged, but instead also transforms Tiana into a frog. With the assistance of Louis, a trumpet-playing alligator (Michael-Leon Wooley) and Ray, a Cajun firefly (Jim Cummings), Tiana and Naveen race against time to Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), the bayou-dwelling ancient who has the power to undo Facilier’s spell.

The Princess and the Frog is a Disney animation first – the lead is an African-American heroine (the Black Disney princess). However, one could be forgiven for forgetting that fact while watching this movie. Under the direction of the revered team of John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), The Princess and the Frog is so amazing, it almost makes you forget the historical and social implications. Even the Black princess not having a Black prince is no big deal when placed in the context of this magical film.

Musker and Clements have certainly put together an animated film that is every bit as visually impressive as modern animation, including Pixar’s 3D wonderland, Up. Most importantly, this stands next to the best of Disney’s modern, hand-drawn animated films. The Princess and the Frog has the shimmering colors of Beauty and the Beast and meaningful drama of The Lion King.

Oscar winner Randy Newman’s excellent score and bouncy musical numbers recall the melodious, song-driven narratives that made Disney’s late 80’s and early 90s films like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin timeless classics. From songs about gumption (“Almost There”) and optimism (“When We’re Human”) to the dueling natures of the dark side (“Friends on the Other Side”) and the light side (“Dig a Little Deeper”), The Princess and the Frog tells its story and conveys its messages as much through songs as it does through its superbly written story and screenplay.

For all its outstanding animation – from the stunning character animation to the glorious special effects that will make you believe in magic (Disney magic!), this film lives through a cast of voice actors that just wows, and few of the actors are big-name stars (except for Queen of the World, Ms. Winfrey). Anika Noni Rose defines the patient, lovely, industrious, entrepreneurial young woman that is Tiana; Rose brings the character to life in such a way that makes Tiana seem like a real person. Keith David, the actor most under utilized by Hollywood, makes a delightfully macabre turn as Dr. Facilier, a villain with the right amount of wicked and just enough comic undertones to fit this family friend film. The show-stealer is Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis, the jazz-loving alligator, who is so funny and so good that it defies description.

Walt Disney Animation Studio may never again have a 2D animation blockbuster on the level of 1994’s The Lion King. On the other hand, as the dominant theme of this film frequently reminds us, one cannot simply wish for something and hope it comes true; one has to work to make that wish come true. The hard work that went into this film made the wishes of fans of 2D animation come true. The Princess and the Frog is a Disney classic both groundbreaking and marvelous.

10 of 10

Sunday, December 13, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Randy Newman for the song "Almost There"), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Randy Newman for the song "Down in New Orleans"), and “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (John Musker and Ron Clements)

2010 Black Reel Awards: 2 wins: “Best Song, Original or Adapted” (Anika Noni Rose for the song "Almost There") and “Best Voice Performance” (Anika Noni Rose); 7 nominations: “Best Film,” “Best Ensemble” (Anika Noni Rose, Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard, Jenifer Lewis, John Goodman, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley, Bruno Campos, Elizabeth M. Dampier, and Jim Cummings), “Best Song, Original or Adapted” (Anika Noni Rose for the song "Almost There"), “Best Song, Original or Adapted” (Anika Noni Rose for the song "Down in New Orleans"), “Best Song, Original or Adapted” (Ne-Yo for the song "Never Knew I Needed"), “Best Voice Performance” (Keith David), and “Best Voice Performance” (Anika Noni Rose)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film”

2010 Image Awards: 2 nominations: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Anika Noni Rose) and “Outstanding Motion Picture”

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Review: "Inglourious Basterds" is One Crazy Bastard

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Running time: 153 minutes (2 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong graphic violence, language, and brief sexuality
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino
PRODUCER: Lawrence Bender
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Richardson
EDITOR: Sally Menke
Academy Award winner

ACTION/DRAMA/WAR

Starring: Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Jacky Ido, B.J. Novak, Omar Doom, Martin Wuttke, Mike Myers, Julie Dreyfus, Rod Taylor, Samm Levine, and Samuel L. Jackson (uncredited voice)

Inglourious Basterds is the most recent film from Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction). While Inglourious Basterds is actually short on the titular Basterds in action, it isn’t short of Tarantino hallmarks.

Apparently inspired by the 1978 Italian war movie, The Inglorious Bastards, Tarantino’s film opens in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), a “Jew hunter” or “Jew detective” (which is the term Landa prefers). Meanwhile, somewhere else in Europe, American 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish-American soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as, The Basterds, their mission is cause havoc and panic within the Third Reich by savagely killing Nazis and German servicemen. Raine tells his Basterds that being in this squad means they owe him a debt, and to pay it off, each man owes him 100 Nazi scalps.

Shosanna, who narrowly escaped Landa, fled to Paris, where four years later she has forged a new identity as Emmanuelle Mimieux, the owner and operator of a small cinema named La Gamaar. She catches the eye of a German marksman turned war hero, Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl). In an attempt to impress her, Zoller convinces his superiors to hold a film premiere at La Gamaar. Meanwhile, Raine’s squad has joined German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich – during the film premiere at La Gamaar. It seems that fates have converged at the cinema, as Shosanna, with the help of her projectionist boyfriend, Marcel (Jacky Ido), is poised to carry out her own plan of revenge on the Nazis.

I consider Tarantino’s best feature-length films to be his first three: Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), and Jackie Brown (1997), with Jackie Brown being his best work. His films since 1997 have been very good, but are mostly genre exercises and fanboy porn. Inglourious Basterds is the least of all of them, but compared to most American filmmaking, it is very good.

What else can be said about it? Basterds is not a World War II movie; in fact, it really isn’t a war movie. It’s just a Tarantino movie that may be, as the filmmaker himself described it, a spaghetti western dressed up as a WW II movie. Of course, the additives are gleefully executed violence and snappy banter passing as dialogue. Inglourious Basterds is a ferocious and sadistic fantasy that revels in a World War II that doesn’t even come close to existing.

This is also an ensemble movie. The film never depicts the entire Basterds squad in action together. Each scene focuses on a small group of characters chosen from the larger ensemble. In a way, Inglourious Basterds could have been called “Shosanna’s Last Picture Show” or “Landa the Basterd” because the film is as much about them as it is about Raine and his Basterds. Shosanna is one of the few truly high-quality characters in this film, and actor Christoph Waltz creates one of the year’s best villains in Hans Landa. Just about all the others are less characters and more like character types that Tarantino probably stole…err…borrowed from other films.

Inglourious Basterds is merely glorious Tarantino. He is a highly skilled filmmaker with an encyclopedic knowledge of film, but he desires to make bloody pastiches of the violent action/martial arts/war/western films he so clearly loves. Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s version of a summer movie – entertaining, but loud, violent, and empty.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, September 12, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Christoph Waltz); 7 nominations: “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Robert Richardson), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Sally Menke), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, and Mark Ulano), “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Wylie Stateman), “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Lawrence Bender), “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Quentin Tarantino)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Supporting Actor” (Christoph Waltz); 5 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Robert Richardson), “Best Director” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Editing” (Sally Menke), “Best Production Design” (David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Quentin Tarantino)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Christoph Waltz); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Quentin Tarantino)

Chilling "The Cove" is also Thrilling

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 95 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Cove (2009)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for disturbing content
DIRECTOR: Louie Psihoyos
WRITER: Mark Monroe
PRODUCERS: Paula DuPré Pesman and Fisher Stevens
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Brook Aitken
EDITOR: Geoffrey Richman
COMPOSER: J. Ralph
Academy Award winner

DOCUMENTARY - Environmental

Starring: Richard O’Barry, Louis Psihoyos, Mandy-Rae Cruikshank, Charles Hambleton, Hardy Jones, Hayden Panettier, and Roger Payne

The Cove is a documentary film that depicts the annual killing of dolphins at Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. The film won the Oscar for “Best Documentary, Features” at the 2010 (82nd Annual) Academy Awards. The Cove follows former dolphin trainer, Ric O’Barry’s quest to document the capture and slaughter of dolphins at Taiji, as part of a larger plan to end the capture of dolphins worldwide. O’Barry captured and trained the five dolphins used in the 1960s television show, Flipper.

After meeting O’Barry, former National Geographic photographer, Louie Psihoyos, founder of the Oceanic Preservation Society, decided to get involved with O’Barry’s cause. Psihoyos and a crew traveled to Taiji in 2007. There, using underwater microphones and high-definition cameras, they secretly filmed the slaughter of dolphins in an isolated cove.

The best part of The Cove, indeed, the key to its power, comes near the end of the film with the playback of the video featuring the killing of the dolphins. I don’t know if I was more shocked at the blood in the water or the dolphins’ thrashing. The blood was so thick that the pink-colored water looked like some kind of shake or malted drink. The film’s musical score by J. Ralph creates suspense and tension with stunning precision, while also being the perfect musical accompaniment to savage, senseless murder.

Before that sequence, much of the film focuses on three other themes or elements. First, the film details the task of getting by authorities in Taiji and setting up recording equipment, which is fun to watch. It has an almost special ops quality to it and reveals the tight filmmaking chops of Psihoyos and film editor, Geoffrey Richman.

The film also focuses on the prevalence of mercury in dolphin meat, in amounts far higher than is acceptable for human consumption. That’s interesting, but the film seems to lose its focus when it goes off on its mercury tangent. Another important element in the film is the focus on the role governments, environmental organizations (which is surprising), and groups from various industries play directly or indirectly in the slaughter at Taiji.

It is good and important that The Cove exists. I’m sure that there are a lot of people who do not know that this is happening. I didn’t until I first heard of this film. Is The Cove one of those so-called “important films?” The answer is a resounding yes. This film is important because what is happening in that cove at Taiji is a reflection of what we are doing to our planet, specifically the world’s oceans and the fish population.

Right now, we can be entertained by The Cove because it is a good movie. We’ll cry later because it will be a warning we ignored.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Documentary, Features” (Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Review: "Up" as Good as it Gets (and Belated Happy B'Day, Ed Asner)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 7 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Up (2009)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some peril and action
DIRECTORS: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
WRITERS: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson; from a story by Thomas McCarthy and Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson
PRODUCER: Jonas Rivera
COMPOSER: Michael Giacchino
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/DRAMA/FANTASY

Starring: (voices) Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft, John Ratzenberger, and Donald Fullilove

Pixar Animation Studios’ 10th computer-animated feature-length film is entitled Up. This visually and emotionally beautiful film is also the 10th example of how a group of animators and filmmakers can use their tools and workstations to create fully rounded stories with depth of character and storytelling. And Pixar does it better and more consistently than live action film studios. Up tells the story of a sour old man, a lonely boy, and an old house that sails through the air powered by thousands of balloons tied to the structure.

The story centers on a grouchy widower, Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner), a squat old fellow with a box-shaped head and square glasses parked on his bulb of a nose. A retired balloon salesman in his 70s, Carl mourns the loss of his wife, Ellie. Once upon a time, the couple dreamed of traveling to the mysterious South American locale of Paradise Falls. At age 78, life seems to have passed Carl; that is until it delivers two twists of fate.

First, a misunderstood confrontation threatens Carl’s home and freedom. He decides that he will take his home to Paradise Falls by floating the house there with the help of thousands of colorful balloons tied to it. Life’s second surprise comes in the form of a persistent, 8-year-old Junior Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai). Russell becomes an accidental stowaway on the floating house – one that is not welcomed as far as Carl is concerned. However, the lad – himself round, buoyant, and bouncy as a balloon – proves to be an invaluable, loyal, and trustworthy pal, especially once the house finally lands.

Shortly after landing, Carl and Russell encounter a large flightless, ostrich-like bird, which Russell names Kevin. Kevin is being hunted by a vicious pack of dogs, led by a Doberman named Alpha (Bob Peterson). However, one of the dogs, Dug (Bob Peterson), the nerd of the pack, befriends Carl and Russell. Dug, like the other dogs, can speak because of a translating collar on his neck. But things really get hairy when Carl meets his boyhood idol, famed explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), who is obsessed with the mystery bird, Kevin.

Pixar’s films are always grounded in real emotion – whether it is a desperate father searching for his lost son (Finding Nemo), a marooned star determined to win again (Cars), or, as in this film, a grieving husband lost without his wife. Of all those films, Up seems to be the one best established on substantive ideas and themes. That might sound strange when considering (1) that Up is about a house that travels across continents by balloon power and (2) that for most of the movie, an old man with a lame hip and an eight-year-old kid drag the still floating house across rough terrain as if it were no more than a large and troublesome kite.

Yes, as is usual for a movie from Pixar (the gold standard in 3D/computer animation), the animation is superb. The sense of space (to say nothing of the composition, movement, and storytelling) in this 3D animation is superb. I’m starting to believe that 3D is the high-tech replacement for stop-motion animation. High-quality computer-animation gives the viewer the sense of watching something taking place on a stage, which is similar to the visual illusion stop-motion creates.

Yes, as is usual for a Pixar movie, the characters are also great. Only Pixar could make a animated feature that has as it star a widower who is almost 80-years-old, walks with a limp, and looks like a cross between Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau, a great lead. But one superb character isn’t enough for a Pixar film. Up also gives Russell, a misfit boy who is braver than he’d believe himself to be; Charles Muntz, a man made dangerous and pathetic by his obsessions; and Dug, an adorable canine who personifies all that is good in a loyal dog. Even the weird bird Kevin manages to be something we’ve never seen before.

As I stated earlier, however, Up is about substance and not just flights of fantasy. In Carl and his former idol Charles, Up posits that obsession can drain away the will to truly live, and before the obsessed knows it, he is old and alone. The creators of Up dare to deal with the issue of loved ones dying and loved ones leaving us, and the film implores its viewers to have an adventure with the ones we have – the people who are with us and the people who want to be with us. The impressive thing is that this movie is hugely entertaining, but the escapism can’t cloud Up’s strong and clear messages.

10 of 10

Sunday, July 05, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Michael Giacchino) and “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Pete Docter); 3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers), “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Jonas Rivera) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Bob Peterson-screenplay/story, Pete Docter-screenplay/story, and Thomas McCarthy-story)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Animated Film” (Pete Docter) and “Best Music” (Michael Giacchino); 2 nominations: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Bob Peterson and Pete Docter) and “Best Sound” (Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, and Michael Semanick)

2010 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Animated Feature Film” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Michael Giacchino)

2010 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Voice Performance” (Delroy Lindo)

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