TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews: BAFTA winner

Showing posts with label BAFTA winner. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Review: First "GLADIATOR" Film is Still Rockin' the Colosseum

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 of 2024 (No. 1994) by Leroy Douresseaux

Gladiator (2000)

Running time: 155 minutes (2 hours, 35 minutes)

MPAA – R for intense, graphic combat

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott

WRITERS: David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson (from a story by David Franzoni)

PRODUCERS: David Franzoni, Branko Lustig, and Douglas Wick

CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Mathieson

EDITOR: Pietro Scalia

COMPOSERS: Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard

Academy Award winner

DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, David Schofield, John Shrapnel, Tomas Arana, Ralf Moeller, Spencer Treat Clark, David Hemmings, and Tommy Flanagan

Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic film directed by Ridley Scott. At the 73rd Academy Awards (March 2001), the film won the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year 2000. Gladiator focuses on a Roman general who is reduced to slavery, becomes a gladiator, and takes on a corrupt Roman emperor in order to exact vengeance upon him.

Gladiator opens in the year 180 AD in the region known as Germania. Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) prepares to end his 17-year campaign against the barbarian tribes in their final stronghold in the region. The Roman general, Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), a Spaniard, intends to return home after he leads the Roman army to victory against the barbarians. After the battle, Emperor Aurelius tells Maximus that he does not wish to make his own son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the next emperor because he is unfit to rule. Instead, the emperor wants Maximus, who is like a son to him, to succeed him and act as the regent who will restore the Roman Republic.

After secretly murdering his father, Aurelius, Commodus proclaims himself the new emperor. After Maximus spurns his request for loyalty, Commodus has Maximus arrested and orders him executed. Commodus also has the Spaniard's family murdered. After foiling the attempt to execute him, Maximus, badly wounded, is unable to save his family. Maximus is later found and sold into slavery and becomes the property of Proximo (Oliver Reed), a man who trains slaves to become gladiators whom he forces into fighting in gladiatorial events.

Meanwhile, in Rome, Commodus decides to stage 150 days of games, including gladiatorial events held at “The Colosseum.” Seeking newfound wealth, Proximo enters his gladiators, which now include Maximus and Juba (Djimon Hounsou), an African Maximus has befriended. Fate has brought Maximus to Commodus. Now, the general who became a slave is now a gladiator who just might save Rome when he exacts his vengeance upon the new emperor for murdering his family.

In anticipation of the upcoming, Gladiator II, I decided to watch the original film in its entirety for the first time since I first saw it in a movie theater with some friends back in May of 2000. Since then, I have re-watched parts of Gladiator of during cable broadcasts more time than I can remember, but I felt that it was time to watch the entire thing again and commit a review.

Gladiator is a great film because it recalls what Hollywood has always done well, historical epics that are more epic than they are history. The screenplay is a collection of familiar tropes (sword and sandals); stock characters (the crazy usurper; the put-upon woman; the wronged hero); and beloved settings (the Roman empire). The script is really nothing to write home about. The cast and crew and the director and his creative cohorts are the people who turn Gladiator into one of those truly great films that gave the twentieth century a grand Hollywood send-off.

Gladiator is probably director Ridley Scott's slickest and most polished Hollywood film. The film's narrative heart beats strong because Scott gets the best out of his film editor, film music composers, production designer and set decorator, and cinematographer. Everyone pulls together to make this film a visually sumptuous masterpiece, the kind that pounds audiences until they stop resisting and give into the bliss of a grand cinematic epic made in a true Hollywood style.

However, I think the actors are the true heart of Gladiator, delivering performances that make even the least famous of them seem like movie stars. Richard Harris is philosophical and earnest as the doomed Emperor Marcus Aurelius, while Joaquin Phoenix turns what could have been a clownish role into an unpredictable, but alluring reptilian super man-beast, the usurper Emperor Commodus. Oliver Reed, in his final role, made Proximo real and really lovable. And it's sad that Djimon Hounsou as Maximus' steady, philosophic friend, Juba, got almost no love from the various movie award-giving organizations.

The king – or emperor, if you will – of Gladiator is Russell Crowe. Maximus Decimus Meridius is one of Crowe's finest roles, even if it isn't one of his most subtle, graceful, and profound performances. Crowe carries this movie, and Gladiator defeats its own warts because Crowe is its true and one and only Gladiator. Crowe is the center and the beating heart of Gladiator, and the passage of a quarter-century has not changed that. Gladiator remains a great work of Hollywood cinema because it has what the great works of Hollywood must have – a movie star that radiates enough light to blind us to the blemishes of film with ambitions to be great.

9 of 10

A+

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

NOTES:

2001 Academy Awards, USA: 5 wins: “Best Picture” (Douglas Wick, David Franzoni, and Branko Lustig), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Russell Crowe), and “Best Costume Design” (Janty Yates), “Best Sound” (Scott Millan, Bob Beemer, Ken Weston, and John Nelson), and “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke, and Rob Harvey); 7 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Joaquin Phoenix), “Best Director” (Ridley Scott), “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (David Franzoni-screenplay and story, John Logan-screenplay, and William Nicholson-screenplay), “Best Cinematography” (John Mathieson), “Best Film Editing” (Pietro Scalia), “Best Music, Original Score” (Hans Zimmer), and “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Arthur Max-art director and Crispian Sallis-set decorator)

2001 BAFTA Awards: 4 wins: “Best Film” (Douglas Wick, David Franzoni, and Branko Lustig), “Best Cinematography” (John Mathieson), “Best Production Design” (Arthur Max), “Best Editing” (Pietro Scalia); 10 nominations: “David Lean Award for Direction” (Ridley Scott), “Best Screenplay-Original” (David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Russell Crowe), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Joaquin Phoenix), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Oliver Reed-posthumously), “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard), “Best Costume Design” (Janty Yates), “Best Sound” (Ken Weston, Scott Millan, Bob Beemer, and Per Hallberg), “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (John Nelson, Tim Burke, Rob Harvey, and Neil Corbould), and “Best Make Up/Hair” (Paul Engelen and Graham Johnston)

2001 Golden Globes, USA: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture-Drama” and “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard); 3 nominations: “Best Director-Motion Picture” (Ridley Scott), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Russell Crowe), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Joaquin Phoenix)

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Thursday, September 5, 2024

Review "TERMINATOR: JUDGMENT DAY" is Still Landmark and Bloated

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 41 of 2024 (No. 1985) by Leroy Douresseaux

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Running time: 137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: James Cameron

WRITERS: James Cameron and William Wisher

PRODUCER: James Cameron

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adam Greenberg (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Mark Goldblatt, Conrad Buff, and Richard A. Harris

COMPOSER: Brad Fiedel

Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Earl Boen, Joe Morton, S. Epatha Merkerson, Castulo Guerra, Danny Cooksey, Jenette Goldstein, Xander Berkeley, De Vaughn Nixon, and Michael Edwards

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 American science fiction film and action-drama from director James Cameron. Also known as “T2” and “T2: Judgment Day,”, it is a direct sequel to the film, The Terminator (1984), and is also the second entry in the Terminator film franchise. Judgment Day focuses on a cyborg that travels from the twenty-first century to protect a boy from a more advanced and powerful cyborg.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day opens in the year 2029. Earth has been ravaged by the war between the artificial intelligence, Skynet, and the human resistance. This war started on August 29, 1997, also known as “Judgment Day,” when Skynet launched the United States' entire nuclear arsenal, which started a global war. Afterwards, humanity emerged to find a devastated world, one filled with the machines – called “Terminators” – that were programmed to kill humans. Resistance leader, John Connor (Michael Edwards), has lead humanity to the brink of defeating Skynet and its human-killing machines.

Using time machine technology, Skynet sends an advanced prototype Terminator – a T-1000 – back in time to the year 1997 in order to kill 12-year-old John Connor (Edward Furlong). The T-1000 (Robert Patrick) is made of a “mimetic poly-alloy,” a liquid metal that allows the Terminator to shape-shift. To protect his younger self, the 2029 John Connor reprograms a model 101 Terminator and sends it back to 1997 to protect young John. The 101 looks just like the T-800 that traveled from the future to kill John's mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), back in the year 1984.

Can Sarah, John, and the model 101 Terminator come together to stop the T-1000, especially after they become fugitives from the law? Or is this new Terminator simply to advanced and wily to be stopped?

As I write this review, it is Tuesday, September 3, 2024. In Terminator mythopoeia (not “mythology” and not “lore”), August 29th is “Judgment Day” and fans of the franchise make note of it. This year, “Judgment Day” carries a little more relevance because of the arrival of the new Netflix animated series, “Terminator Zero.” I am planning on watching Episode 1 soon, but I felt that I needed to watch T2 again. It is the only Terminator film that I have not previously reviewed, and I had not watched it in its entirety in about thirty years, if my memory serves me well.

The Terminator, T2, and the 2003 film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, form a trilogy of sorts. In many ways, each film seems like its own thing, with the second and third films officially being sequels. However, these sequels feel like a hybrid of sequel, remake, and re-imagining. They contradict the original in some ways and both try to grapple with or correct the franchise's time-traveling shenanigans.

T2 is now acknowledged as being among the greatest science fiction, action, and sequel films in movie history. It is certainly a landmark film in terms of special visual effects and in the use of CGI (computer-generated imagery). The transformation and metamorphosis of actor Robert Patrick into the liquid metal, shape-shifting Terminator still wows, impresses, scares, and stuns me over thirty-three years after originally seeing the film. Some of T2's action scenes and sequences, especially the 18-wheeler tractor unit plunge off the overpass and the motorcycle crash into the helicopter still stop my breath. The film's director, James Cameron, made one of the most awesome (if not the most awesome) action films of the 1980s in The Terminator with what amounts to a micro-budget for an action and science fiction movie. With a one-hundred million dollars at his disposal of T2, Cameron and his crew and creative cohorts unleashed the most spectacular action scenes that had been seen in American film to that point.

On the other hand, back when I first saw T2 in 1991, I found it to be bloated. It is easily twenty minutes too long. As a character drama trio, Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, and Edward Furlong as John Connor seem more melodramatic than genuinely dramatic. Much of the family unit feels contrived. Schwarzenegger and Furlong have moments that seem poignant, but there are other moments that are made weaker but Furlong's acting inexperience. That Hamilton had reshaped the soft body she had in the original film into a sinewy, muscular, warrior woman for T2 was and still is impressive. Her performance in this film, however, is loud, even when it should be quieter and more subtle.

I once said that T2 was a two-and-half out of four stars film. I don't know if it is nostalgia, but I like the film more now. Some of it is still landmark and superb, and much of it is very well executed. Still, I think Terminator 2: Judgment Day needed to be tamed, both in terms of it runtime and in the scope of the story. In 1991, it was a hugely discussed and anticipated film. Terminator 2: Judgment Day holds a special place in the filmography of its director, James Cameron. If it were a better film, it would be at the top, where Avatar is now.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, September 5, 2024

NOTES:

1992 Academy Awards, USA: 4 wins: “Best Sound” (Tom Johnson,Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers, and Lee Orloff), “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Gary Rydstrom and Gloria S. Borders), “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Gene Warren Jr., and Robert Skotak), and “Best Makeup” (Stan Winston and Jeff Dawn); 2 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Adam Greenberg) and “Best Film Editing” (Conrad Buff IV, Mark Goldblatt, and Richard A. Harris)

1992 BAFTA Awards; 2 wins: “Best Sound” (Lee Orloff, Tom Johnson. Gary Rydstrom, and Gary Summers) and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Stan Winston, Dennis Muren, Gene Warren Jr., and Robert Skotak); 1 nomination: “Best Production Design” (Joseph C. Nemec III)

2023 National Film Preservation Board, USA: “National Film Registry”

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Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Review: 45 Years On, "ALIEN" is Still a Great Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 of 2024 (No. 1980) by Leroy Douresseaux

Alien (1979)

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

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott

WRITERS: Dan O'Bannon; from a story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett

PRODUCERS: Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Derek Vanlint (director of photography)

EDITORS: Terry Rawlings and Peter Weatherley

COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith

Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Bolaji Badejo, and Helen Horton (voice)

Alien is a 1979 American science fiction and horror film directed by Ridley Scott. It is the first movie in the Alien film series, which has entered its fifth decade and is comprised of prequels and a set of crossover films. Alien is also a multimedia franchise that includes comic books, novels, video games, and an upcoming television series. Alien focuses on the crew of a commercial spacecraft that encounters a deadly alien lifeform after landing on a mysterious moon.

Alien opens on the commercial towing vehicle, the Nostromo, which is returning to Earth. Its cargo is twenty tons of mineral ore that is being refined. It has a crew of seven in stasis (suspended animation): Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), 3rd Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), and engineers, Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton).

The ship's computer, Mother (voice of Helen Horton), detects a mysterious transmission of unknown origin from a nearby moon and awakens the crew. The company that owns the Nostromo has a policy that the crew must investigate any transmission that indicates intelligent origin. After landing on the moon, Dallas, Kane, and Lambert head out to investigate the landscape, and they discover a derelict alien spaceship. What they find onboard that ship leads to a deadly encounter with an alien lifeform. The problem is that the crew does not know how dangerous the lifeform is, and not everyone on the ship is working towards the same goal.

20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox) is set to release Alien: Romulus (2024), the latest entry in the Alien film franchise. It is set between Alien and its sequel, Aliens (1986). I have already reviewed Aliens, so I decided to watch Alien for the first time in over three decades and to review it for you, dear readers.

There are generally three reasons that I fondly remember Alien. First, the Alien creature (now known as a “xenomorph”) was created and designed by the late Swiss artist, H. R. Giger (1940-2014). Alien was how I discovered Giger, and I became a huge fan of his. I sometimes paid premium prices for his art books, including those that focused on his work on Alien and his prior work that influenced the film.

The second reason is the film's director Ridley Scott. I am a fan of Scott's work, especially his 1982 science fiction classic, Blade Runner, and his Alien prequel, Prometheus (2012).

The third reason that I fondly remember Alien is that it is one of the first films that introduced me to the Oscar-nominated actress Sigourney Weaver. Her most famous films appeared in the 1980s and 1990s, including such personal favorites as Ghostbusters (1984) and Galaxy Quest (1999).

That aside, the film is rather good, although I think that Ridley Scott takes many of his cues for the film's pace, tone, and execution from Stanley Kubrick's space epic, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). That is not necessarily a bad thing. Unlike some of the Alien sequels, Alien is a science fiction film that is also a classic horror film. It builds its scares not on action and violence, but rather on building a sense of mystery, creating an atmosphere of fear and desperation, and throwing a blanket of suspense over the entire thing. Of course, the chest-bursting scene is still chilling and mesmerizing.

Alien remains a great film because it demands that we be patient and enjoy our steadily mounting feelings dread and terror. The film is not perfect, but because it acts as if its audience is smart enough to enjoy a film without fast-paced action scenes and frenzied blood and gore, it is almost perfect. Alien is as good today as it was when it first debuted in theaters forty-five years ago (specifically May 1979). I am happy that Alien remains a thrilling film full of imaginative and inventive production design, SFX, and make-up and creature effects. Not showing any wrinkles, Alien has aged well.

9 of 10

A+

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

NOTES:

1980 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (H.R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder, and Dennis Ayling) and 1 nomination: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Michael Seymour, Leslie Dilley, Roger Christian, and Ian Whittaker)

1980 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Production Design” (Michael Seymour) and “Best Sound Track” (Derrick Leather, Jim Shields, and Bill Rowe); 5 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (John Mollo and Terry Rawlings), “Best Editing” (Terry Rawlings), “Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Role” (Sigourney Weaver), “Best Supporting Actor” (John Hurt), and “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Jerry Goldsmith)

Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Jerry Goldsmith)

2002 National Film Preservation Board, USA: “National Film Registry”

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Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Review: "DESPICABLE ME 2" Will Make Kids Happy, Happy, Happy...

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 27 of 2024 (No. 1971) by Leroy Douresseaux

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)

MPAA – PG for rude humor and mild action

DIRECTORS: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

WRITERS: Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul

PRODUCERS: Janet Healy and Chris Meledandri

EDITOR: Gregory Perler

COMPOSERS: Heitor Pereira (score) and Pharrell Williams (songs)

Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY and ACTION/COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring: (voice) Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fisher Russell Brand, Benjamin Bratt, Moises Arias, Ken Jeong, Steve Coogan, Pierre Coffin, and Chris Renaud

Despicable Me 2 is a 2013 computer-animated action-fantasy and comedy film directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud. The film is produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is a direct sequel to the 2010 film, Despicable Me. Despicable Me 2 finds bad guy-tuned-dad guy, Gru, recruited by a secret organization to discover who stole a deadly chemical.

Despicable Me 2 finds Gru (Steve Carell), formerly the world’s number one super-villain, settled into his role as the adopted father of the three orphan girls: Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher). All is not well at home, however. Gru is trying to get his “jams and jellies” business to succeed, while one of his female neighbors tries to set him up on a blind date. Also, Gru's longtime gadget man, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), quits so that he can take a job that will allow him to be a bad guy again.

But Gru's old life comes calling when the Anti-Villain League (AVL) demands that he help them discover who stole the dangerous transmutation serum, “PX-41.” They appoint AVL agent, Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig), as his partner. The two set up in a fake business, a bakery named “Bake My Day,” in Paradise Mall, a shopping mall near Gru's home. As for the thief of the serum, Gru has a suspect in mind, a former super-villain who supposedly died in a volcano, but AVL doesn't believe him. Meanwhile, someone is stealing some of Gru's little helpers, the Minions.

I really liked the original Despicable Me, but when Despicable Me 2 arrived back in 2013, I decided not to see it because... well, because the first was enough. I'd gotten all the cuteness of Margo, Edith, and Agnes that I needed, and I had gotten the best of Gru's character arc and transformation from villain to father.

However, I was shocked to find that I really liked the first full-length trailer for the upcoming Despicable 4 (2024). So I decided to watch Despicable Me 2 for the first time, and I was right the first time. The first film was really enough for me. The girls are still cute, but there is less of them so that there can be more screen time for Gru's burgeoning relationship with Lucy Wilde. I'm only kinda interested in that. Gru's character arc in this film isn't as engaging as it was in the first film. Clearly, the Minions needed more screen time than they got here, although they do play a pivotal part in the villain's wacky plot. In fact, two years after the release of this film, the Minions got their own movie, 2015's Minions.

Despicable Me 2 isn't bad, but the film's storytellers play it safe rather than advance the elements that made the first film a surprise hit. It earned two Oscar nominations, one for Pharrell Williams' song, “Happy,” which was practically ubiquitous from July 2013 to well into 2014. I'm just not sure how invested I can be in this franchise, although the fourth film has sort of captured my interest. It is really in the last twenty minutes of the film before the end credits that Despicable Me 2 really comes to life. That's okay for me, but I'm sure family audiences will find it more than okay.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

NOTES:

2014 Academy Awards, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, Christopher Meledandri) and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Pharrell Williams-music and lyrics for the song, “Happy”)

2013 BAFTA Children's Awards: 1 win: “BAFTA Kids Vote – Feature Film”

2014 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Film” (Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin)

2013 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film”

2014 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Song” (Pharrell Williams-Performer & Writer for the song “Happy”)

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Sunday, August 27, 2023

Review: "TENET" May Have Been 2020's Best Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 39 of 2023 (No. 1928) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tenet (2020)

Running time: 150 minutes (2 hours, 30 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some suggestive references and brief strong language

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan

PRODUCERS: Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hoyte Van Hoytema (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Jennifer Lame

COMPOSER: Ludwig Goransson

Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/ACTION/SPY

Starring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Dimple Kapadia, Himesh Patel, Denzil Smith, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Clémency Poséy, Fiona Dourif, Laurie Shepherd, Martin Donovan, and Kenneth Branagh and Michael Caine

Tenet is a 2020 science fiction, secret agent, and action-thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film, Nolan's eleventh as a director, is a co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States. Tenet focuses on a CIA operative on a mission to save the world, armed with only one word, “Tenet.”

Tenet introduces a CIA operative known only as "The Protagonist" (John David Washington). The Protagonist leads a covert CIA extraction during a staged terrorist siege at the National Opera House in Kyiv., Ukraine. After he is injured and the mission goes badly, the Protagonist is recruited by a secretive organization known only by the word, “Tenet.” He is told that with a gesture, Tenet can “open the right doors and the wrong doors.”

He is briefed about bullets with “inverted” entropy that move backwards through time. It seems that the man who possesses the technology to invert entropy is a Russian oligarch named Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh). The technology has been given to Sator from mysterious forces in the future, and those forces are also sending Sator the pieces of something called the “Algorithm,” which is a threat to the present world.

Suddenly, the Protagonist finds himself surrounded by a menagerie of people he cannot quite trust or really know. That includes the Mumbai-based arms dealer, Priya Singh (Dimple Kapadia), and Sator's estranged and abused wife, Katherine “Kat” Barton (Elizabeth Debicki). Another is Ives (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Tenet military commander. Most mysterious of all is Neil (Robert Pattinson), who is supposed to be the Protagonist's “handler” from Tenet, and Neil seems to know the Protagonist in ways he does not know Neil. Now, the Protagonist must uncover the secrets of inversion, the secrets of the Algorithm, and perhaps, even the secrets of himself.

Christopher Nolan gained many fans for his series of films starring DC Comics' Batman, known as “The Dark Knight Trilogy”: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). However, Tenet is closer to Nolan's films such as Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), The Prestige (2006), and Inception (2010), which, like Tenet, have some combination of complex plots and character time lines, ambiguous elements, and cleverly hidden details that are open to many theories and interpretations.

Tenet freely plays with the themes of free will and determinism. Do people really have free will, or is it better that people think that they have free will? In the end, I think the narrative ultimately decides that free will and determinism are compatible, which is one of many reasons that I love this film. Many secret agent and spy films offer the illusion that the hero (or the protagonist) is in control. From the first movie in Eon Productions' “James Bond film series, Dr No (1962), the hero, James Bond, seems to have a measure of control or at least force of will to save the day or often, the world. One can say the same of Universal Pictures' “Jason Bourne” film series. It starts with The Bourne Identity (2002), and Matt Damon's Jason Bourne seems to exert free will all the more with each film, although his fate was determined and settled before the narrative of the first film begins. In Tenet, free will is a work in progress, exercised within the settled plots of determinism.

I love Tenet's cast. Either The Protagonist was tailor-made for actor John David Washington, or he was the perfect casting. I feel the same way about Robert Pattison's Neil, and Kenneth Branagh is such a fine actor that he can make any role seem like a real person. Elizabeth Debicki, honestly, is Oscar-worthy as Kat Barton, and Dimple Kapadia adds a delightful flavor as Priya Singh. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is all fire, menace, and masculinity as Ives.

I had not seen a Christopher Nolan film since Inception, although I'd planned to see Tenet in a theater. However, I was really wary of returning to movie theaters during the 2020 year of COVID-19 movie theater shutdowns, even after they reopened. In a way, that worked out. I got to savor Tenet on DVD as a way of prepping for eventually seeing his most recent film, Oppenheimer.

I like Tenet's trippy, surreal, time-shifting, inscrutable nature, and I like that Nolan is willing both to throw out a lot of ideas and to engage them. For me, it is mysterious, a mystery worth losing myself in every chance I get. As far as my opinion is concerned, Tenet is Christopher Nolan's best, most imaginative, and truly most inventive film.

10 of 10

Sunday, August 27, 2023

NOTES:

2021 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, and Scott R. Fisher); 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Production Design”

{Nathan Crowley-production design and Kathy Lucas-set decoration)

2021 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Jackson, and Andrew Lockley)

2021 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Ludwig Göransson)

2021 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Outstanding Cinematography” (Hoyte Van Hoytema) and 1 nomination: “Outstanding Production Design” (Nathan Crowley)

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Sunday, April 30, 2023

Review: Mesmerizing "BABYLON" Sings and F**ks in the Rain

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 of 2023 (No. 1907) by Leroy Douresseaux

Babylon (2022)

Running time: 189 minutes (3 hours, 9 minutes)

MPA – R for strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity, bloody violence, drug use, and pervasive language.

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Damien Chazelle

PRODUCERS: Olivia Hamilton, Marc Platt, and Matthew Plouffe

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Linus Sandgren (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Tom Cross

COMPOSER: Justin Hurwitz

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Jean Smart, Li Jun Li, Olivia Wilde, Telvin Griffin, Flea, Eric Roberts, Max Minghella, Jeff Garlin, Ethan Suplee, and Tobey Maguire

Babylon is a 2022 period film, drama, and black comedy from writer-director Damien Chazelle. The film chronicles the rise and fall of several Hollywood characters as the film industry transitions from silent films to sound films in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Babylon opens in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, 1926. Manuel “Manny” Torres (Diego Calva), a Mexican immigrant, helps transport an elephant. It's destination is a debauched bacchanal (party) at the lavish mansion of Don Wallach (Jeff Garlin), chief of Hollywood's Kinoscope Studios, which produces silent films. It is there that Manny meets a young woman who has given herself the name, Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie). She is brash, ambitious, and declares that she is a “star” from New Jersey, and Manny is quickly smitten with her.

Manny and Nellie soon cross paths with the party's other colorful attendees, including the Chinese-American, lesbian, cabaret singer, Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li), and the Black American jazz trumpeter, Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo). All four of them are going to find a place in the ecosystem of Hollywood, playing an important part in making silent films. None of them will be as big as one of Hollywood's greatest silent film stars, Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), who seems to be married as often as he is starring in a new silent film epic.

But just a year later, in 1927, the first sound film, The Jazz Singer, arrives, and everything begins to change – rapidly. A world of out-sized ambition and outrageous excess starts pretending to be a tad bit more conservative. So will any of the stars of silent film transition to the new world of sound film, also known as “talkies?” Will Jack Conrad remain a star? Is there still a place for Fay Zhu? And what of the newcomers, Nellie, Manny, and Sidney?

For me, Babylon is the film that delivers the way I was told Damien Chazelle's earlier film, La La Land (2016), would, but did not. What some critics saw as overwhelming in Babylon, I see as exhilarating spectacle. In a way, Babylon isn't so much about the end of the silent film era and the beginning of sound films as it is a celebration of Hollywood's glitz and glamour, which has enthralled audiences around the world for over a century. Chazelle treats Hollywood's excess as a wonderful, magical thing. Debauchery is loud, proud, and colorful. Why be conservative and safe when the audience for Hollywood's films want the opposite. Even as silence gives way to sound, films remain weird, wild, and wonderful, even if the people behind them pretend to have cleaned up their act and grown up.

The film's production values: cinematography, costume and production design, sound, lighting, and editing play up the fun part – the hedonism and the revelry. Babylon is one of the best-looking films of this still young century, and when I currently think of the word “cinematic,” I think of it.

The film has a number of good performances, but I will fault Chazelle for a screenplay that doesn't really immerse itself into the characters. This film isn't into the characters the way it dives into the spectacle and the darkness behind the Hollywood film industry and the lifestyle of the people in front of and behind the cameras. As much as they try, Brad Pitt and especially Margot Robbie and Diego Calva cannot really raise their characters above the sound and fury of Babylon. Speaking of sound and fury, Justin Hurwitz's score for Babylon is a thing of magic; it never lets Babylon's narrative, drama, or action fall.

I know that Babylon is a polarizing film among film critics, movie reviewers and audiences. I see it, however, as the work of a highly skilled writer-director, Damien Chazelle, who can do great things in movies. But will he? As far as I'm concerned, he has delivered with Babylon.

9 of 10

A+

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Sunday, April 30, 2023

NOTES:

2023 Academy Awards, USA: 3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score (Justin Hurwitz), and “Best Achievement in Costume Design: (Mary Zophres)

2023 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Production Design” (Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino); 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Mary Zophres), and “Original Score” (Justin Hurwitz)

2023 Golden Globes, USA: 1 win: “Best Original Score – Motion Picture” (Justin Hurwitz); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture” (Brad Pitt), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy” (Diego Calva), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy” (Margot Robbie)

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Saturday, March 11, 2023

Review: Disney's "ENCANTO" Spins Its Own Special Magic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 of 2023 (No. 1901) by Leroy Douresseaux

Encanto (2021)

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

MPAA – PG for some thematic elements and mild peril

DIRECTORS: Jared Bush and Byron Howard with Charise Castro Smith (co-director)

WRITERS: Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith; from a story by Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Charise Castro Smith, Jason Hand, Nancy Kruse, and Lin-Manuel Miranda

PRODUCERS: Clark Spencer and Yvett Merino

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Alessandro Jacomini, Daniel Rice, and Nathan Warner

EDITOR: Jeremy Milton

ORIGINAL SONGS: Lin-Manuel Miranda

COMPOSER: Germaine Franco

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY/DRAMA

Starring: (voices) Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitan, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama, Rhenzy Feliz, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Adassa, Maluma, Rose Portillo, Alan Tudyk, and Noemi Josefina Flores

Encanto is a 2021 computer-animated fantasy film from directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard and produced Walt Disney Animation Studios. It is the 60th animated feature film in the “Walt Disney Animated Classics” line. Encanto focuses on a teenage girl who must deal with being the only member of her family without magical powers even as the family's magic begins to fade.

Encanto introduces Mirabel Madrigal (Stephanie Beatriz), a teen girl who is part of the multi-generational "la familia Madrigal" (the Madrigal family). Fifty years ago, her grandfather and grandmother, Pedro and Alma Madrigal (Maria Cecilia Botero), were forced to flee their home village in rural Columbia. They took their infant triplets, Julieta, Pepa and Bruno, and escaped into the countryside, but their pursuers killed Pedro, but Alma had a candle that suddenly released magic and repelled the attackers. The magic also created, “Casita,” a living or sentient house for Alma and her children. The home is located in “Encanto,” a magical realm bordered by high mountains. A village of newcomers now thrives under the candle's protection, shining its light from an upper room in the Madrigal home, “La Casa Madrigal.”

But all is not well. The children and grandchildren of Abuela Alma were all granted magical gifts that each one uses to serve the villagers. For instance, Mirabel's oldest sister, Isabela (Diane Guerrero), can make flowers grow anywhere, and her second oldest sister, Luisa (Jessica Darrow), has superhuman strength. However, Mirabel did not receive any powers from the candle, and her Abuela Alma seems to act as if Mirabel is an obstacle in the way of the rest of the family. Mirabel is almost as cursed as her mysterious uncle, Bruno (John Leguizamo), who disappeared years ago. When Mirabel learns that her family members are losing their magic, she is determined to find out what is happening, although everyone else is in a state a denial about it.

I won't waste too much time telling you, dear readers, how beautiful Encanto looks. That is standard for animated films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The art direction yields beautiful sets and environments, and the costume designs results in colorful costumes that are dazzling, colorful, and imaginative. The visual effects go off like fireworks, and it makes the magic seem … well, really magical. Even the character design stands out, making Encanto one of the few mainstream American films set in Latin American or are Latino-themed that actually recognize that there are dark-skinned and black Latinos. Not every Latino has light skin tones, light enough to front as white.

Encanto plays with notions of “magical realism,” a story that is realistic, but is infused with magic and the supernatural. However, the world of Encanto barely looks realistic, as many animation films don't. In fact, Encanto is one of the most magically-infused Disney films in years.

However, Encanto is like many Disney animated films – a coming of age film that focuses on the lead character, in this case, Mirabel. The film's first dominant theme involves the struggle between tradition and change, the former embodied by Alma, who holds onto Madrigals' tradition of magic, and the latter by Mirabel, who clearly and correctly senses that something is wrong. The second main theme is the conflict between family obligations and individual desires. I think audiences will enjoy that, through Mirabel, Encanto shows that the family and the individual can work together for the benefit of everyone and each one.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's lively song score makes Encanto's narrative flow like an energetic stream, and the hit, “We Don't Talk About Bruno,” isn't the only excellent song. Encanto stands out because it celebrates people overcoming suffering and life's trials and tribulations. Also, one should take notice of the film's diversity and representation. That makes Encanto stand out as special and as a place worth visiting time and again.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, March 9, 2023

NOTES:

2022 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino, and Clark Spencer); 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Germaine Franco) and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Song” (Lin-Manuel Miranda-music and lyric for the song “Dos Oruguitas”)

2022 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Clark Spencer, Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Yvett Merino)

2022 Golden Globes, USA: 1 win: “Best Motion Picture – Animated;” 2 nominations: “Best Original Score-Motion Picture” (Germaine Franco) and “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Lin-Manuel Miranda for the song “Dos Oruguitas”)

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Saturday, December 10, 2022

Review: Netflix's "THE POWER OF THE DOG" is Certainly a Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 74 of 2022 (No. 1886) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)

MPA – R for strong sexuality and language

DIRECTOR: Jane Campion

WRITER: Jane Campion (based on a novel by Thomas Savage)

PRODUCERS: Jane Chapman, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier, Tanya Seghatchian, and Emile Sherman

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ari Wegner (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Peter Sciberras

COMPOSER: Jonny Greenwood

Academy Award winner

WESTERN/DRAMA

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Genevieve Lemon, Peter Carroll, Frances Conroy, Alison Bruce, Keith Carradine, Thomasin McKenzie, Ramontay McConnell, Adam Beach, and Maeson Stone Skuggedal

The Power of the Dog is a 2021 Western drama film from writer-director Jane Campion. It is based on the1967 novel, The Power of the Dog, from author Thomas Savage. The Power of the Dog the movie focuses on a charismatic rancher who torments his brother, his brother's new wife, and her son.

The Power of the Dog opens in rural Montana, 1925 and focuses on Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch). Phil is, along with brother, George Burbank (Jesse Plemons), wealthy ranch-owners. George meets Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst), a widow and inn owner, during a cattle drive. The kindhearted George is quickly smitten with Rose, but Phil, always coarse and volatile, dislikes her and considers her nothing more than a gold-digger who wants George's money.

Phil also belittles Rose's teenage son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), whom he derides as weak and effeminate – a sissy. George and Rose soon marry, and Rose comes to live at the Burbank brothers' isolated ranch estate and manor home. However, Rose withers under Phil's torment. Sometimes later, Peter comes to stay and things begin to change...

The Power of the Dog is a ridiculous title for a film, but I like it for a novel. The film is a psychological drama dressed in the rags of a Western. Its narrative focuses on two despicable characters (Phil and Pete) and two meek, but lovable and sympathetic characters (George and Rose).

I would not describe any of the characters as vague so much as they reflect a narrative that is oblique, which in turn reflects on characters with pinched personalities. Benedict Cumberbatch's Phil Burbank is mean and spiteful, but just like that, one day, he turns all … gay over a weirdo kid he only hated just a few seconds ago. Kodi Smit-McPhee's Peter may be the film's most well-developed character; it is obvious that there is a lot going on with him. He is more than the audience can imagine and apparently quite the litle psycho-sociopath.

As I said, Kirsten's Dunst's Rose and Jessie Plemons' George are lovable, but are slight characters. They both received Oscar nominations in supporting acting categories; whether they deserved them or not is a matter of opinion. I will say that Dunst spends most of the film crying and sniveling and yelling and stumbling around. Jesse Plemons is barely a whisper in the wind as George, and sometimes it seems as if George's entire screen time amounts to only a few minutes. Of course, he is onscreen more than that; it's just that he seems to be on it much less...

I can see why actor Sam Elliot questioned The Power of the Dog's credibility as a Western. The film lacks a central, focused voice, and girl, Westerns have voice. It is not a bad film. The Power of the Dog does indeed have some power and some powerful moments, but director Jane Campion sublimates the passion and the urges she says define this film. The film lacks heart and is unhurried to the point of being meandering.

My original plan was to write a review of The Power of the Dog that was comprised of a single question mark. However, the film's shock ending gave me a reason to say more. I guess I'm one critic who is not buying into The Power of the Dog.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, December 10, 2022

NOTES:

2022 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Achievement in Directing” (Jane Campion); 11 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, and Roger Frappier), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Jane Campion), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jesse Plemons), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Kirsten Dunst), “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Grant Major-production design and Amber Richards-set decoration), “Best Sound” (Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie, and Tara Webb), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Ari Wegner), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Peter Sciberras), and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Jonny Greenwood)

2022 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Film” (Jane Campion, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier, Tanya Seghatchian, and Emile Sherman) and “Best Director” (Jane Campion); 6 nominations: “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Jane Campion), “Best Leading Actor” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Supporting Actor” (Jesse Plemons), “Best Supporting Actor” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), “Best Cinematography” (Ari Wegner), and “Original Score” (Jonny Greenwood)

2022 Golden Globes, USA: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture-Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and “Best Director-Motion Picture” (Jane Campion); 4 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Kirsten Dunst), “Best Screenplay-Motion Picture” (Jane Campion), and “Best Original Score-Motion Picture” (Jonny Greenwood)

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Saturday, November 19, 2022

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

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

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

ACTION/ADVENTURE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, November 19, 2022

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

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

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

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

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Thursday, October 27, 2022

Review: Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (Countdown to "The Fabelmans")

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 64 of 2022 (No. 1876) by Leroy Douresseaux

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Running time: 135 minutes (2 hour, 15 minutes)
MPAA – PG
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
PRODUCERS: Julia Phillips and Michael Phillips
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vilmos Zsigmond (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Michael Kahn
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/ADVENTURE/MYSTERY/DRAMA

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Terri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film follows an everyday blue-collar worker from Indiana who has a life-changing encounter with a UFO and then, embarks on a cross-country journey to the place where a momentous event is to occur.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind opens in the Sonoran Desert. There, French scientist Claude Lacombe (François Truffaut), his American interpreter, David Laughlin (Bob Balaban), and a group of other researchers make a shocking discovery regarding a three-decade-old mystery.

Then, the film introduces Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), an rural electrical lineman living in Muncie, Indiana with his wife, Ronnie (Terri Garr), and their three children. One night, while working on a power outage, Roy has a “close encounter” with a UFO (unidentified flying object). The encounter is so intense that the right side of Roy's face is lightly burned, and it also becomes a kind of metaphysical experience for Roy. He becomes fascinated with the UFO and obsessed with some kind of mountain-like image that won't leave his mind.

Roy isn't the only one who has had a close encounter. Single mother Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon) watches in horror as her three-year-old son, Barry Guiler (Cary Guffey), is abducted, apparently by a UFO. Now, Roy and Jillian are headed to a place they have never been, Devils Tower in Moorcroft, Wyoming, where they will hopefully find answers to the questions plaguing their minds.

As I await the release of Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical film, The Fabelmans, I have been re-watching and, in some cases, watching for the first time, Spielberg's early films. Thus far, I have watched Duel (the TV film that first got Spielberg noticed), The Sugarland Express (his debut theatrical film), and Jaws (which I have seen countless times). I did not see Close Encounters of the Third Kind when it first arrived in movie theaters, but I finally got to watch it when it debuted on television. I recently watched a DVD release of what is known as Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Special Edition, a shortened (132 minutes long compared to the original's 135 minutes) and altered version of the film that Columbia Pictures released in August 1980.

The truth is that I have never been as crazy about Close Encounters of the Third Kind the way I have been about such Spielberg's films as Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park. I liked Close Encounters the first time I saw it (a few years after its theatrical release), but I had expected a lot from it after hearing such wonderful things about the film from acquaintances who had seen it in a theater. I was a bit underwhelmed,. I liked Close Encounters, but was not “wowed” by it, and was less so the second time I saw it a few years after the first time.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a combination of science fiction, adventure, drama, and mystery. The drama works, especially when Spielberg depicts the trouble that Roy Neary's obsession causes his family and also the terror of the “attack” on Jillian Guiler and her son, Barry. Roy's adventure and journey are quite captivating and result in the events of the film's final half hour, which is the part of the film that many consider to be marvelous. Close Encounters' last act certainly offers an impressive display of special effects and a dazzling light show.

I am attracted to the sense of wonder and discovery that infuses much of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I think my problem is that it seems like three movies in one: Claude Lacombe and Davie Laughlin's story, Roy's story, and the the big “close encounter” at Devils Tower. None of them really gets the time to develop properly, so the film's overall narrative and also the character development are somewhat shallow. There is a lot to like about Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and it is an impressive display of Spielberg's filmmaking skills. However, I am done with it. I don't need to see it again, although I am a huge fan of UFO-related media. I simply cannot warm to Close Encounters of the Third Kind the way I have with other Spielberg films.

7 of 10
B+
★★★½ out of 4 stars

Thursday, October 27, 2022

NOTES:
1978 Academy Awards, USA: 2 wins: “Best Cinematography” (Vilmos Zsigmond) and a “Special Achievement Award” (Frank E. Warner for sound effects editing); 7 nominations: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Melinda Dillon), “Best Director” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Joe Alves, Daniel A. Lomino, and Phil Abramson), “Best Sound” (Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall, and Gene S. Cantamessa), “Best Film Editing” (Michael Kahn), “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Roy Arbogast, Douglas Trumbull, Matthew Yuricich, Gregory Jein, and Richard Yuricich), and “Best Music, Original Score” (John Williams)

1979 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: Best Production Design/Art Direction (Joe Alves); 8 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (John Williams); “BAFTA Film Award Best Cinematography” (Vilmos Zsigmond), “Best Direction” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Film,” “Best Film Editing” (Michael Kahn), “Best Screenplay” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Sound” (Gene S. Cantamessa, Robert Knudson, Don MacDougall, Robert Glass, Stephen Katz, Frank E. Warner, Richard Oswald, David M. Horton, Sam Gemette, Gary S. Gerlich, Chester Slomka, and Neil Burrow), and “Best Supporting Actor? (François Truffaut)

1978 Golden Globes, USA: 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg), and “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (John Williams)

2007 National Film Preservation Board, USA: 1 win: “National Film Registry”

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

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Friday, September 23, 2022

Review: Steven Spielberg's "JAWS" is Still Hungry For Your Ass (Countdown to "The Fabelmans")

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 54 of 2022 (No. 1866) by Leroy Douresseaux

Jaws (1975)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
Rated – PG by the Classification and Ratings Administration
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb (based on the novel by Peter Benchley)
PRODUCERS: David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bill Butler (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Verna Fields
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/THRILLER/ADVENTURE

Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Carl Gottlieb, Jeffrey Kramer, Chris Rebello, Jay Mello, Lee Fierro, Jeffrey Voorhees, Robert Nevin, and Susan Backlinie

Jaws is a 1974 adventure drama and thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the 1974 novel, Jaws, by author Peter Benchley, who also wrote (with Carl Gottlieb) the screenplay adapting his novel. Jaws the film is set in and around a beach community that is dealing with a killer shark and focuses on the police chief who leads a team to hunt down and kill the creature.

Jaws opens in the New England beach town of Amity Island. During a nighttime beach party, a young woman, Christine “Chrissie” Watkins (Susan Backlinie), goes skinny dipping in the ocean. While treading water, something unseen attacks Chrissie and pulls her under the water, The next day, local police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) and Deputy Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) find the partial remains of Chrissie's body on the shore of the beach.

The medical examiner concludes that Chrissie died due to a shark attack. Still, Amity's Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) is more concerned with the town's summer economy, which is wholly reliant on tourism, and does not want the beaches closed. Then, the fact that a shark, specifically a “great white shark,” is hunting the waters off the island becomes reality when the shark attacks and kills a boy named Alex Kintner (Jeffrey Voorhees).

After another attack, Chief Brody takes matters into his own hands. He joins Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), a marine biologist who specializes in shark, and Quint (Robert Shaw), a crusty old shark fisherman, on a seafaring mission to hunt and kill the shark. But that mission proves more difficult than any of the many realized.

I have seen Jaws so many times that I have lost count. Still, the movie seems eternally fresh to me, in a semi-sepia tone kind of way. Jaws fascinates me because it seems to me, at least, to be like three short films merged into one film. The first section introduces the shark attacks and Chief Brody's misgivings and investigations. The second section pits Brody against the town fathers, led by money grubber, Mayor Vaughn, who want the beaches open at all cost. The film's final section focuses on the boys' adventure of Brody, Matt Hooper, and Quint going shark-hunting and ending up being the hunted. As much as I enjoy the film's final act, I find the first section of the film to be the most intriguing because of its sense of mystery. What is really beneath the waves, coming up to chomp on young folks?

Jaws is essentially the prototypical summer blockbuster, a kind of film that is designed to get as many people into movie theaters and chomping on popcorn and guzzling soda. The blockbuster, especially the summer kind, is the cinema of the sensations: thrills and chills to make the viewer's body tingle and get the heart racing. The bracing action scenes keep the viewer on the edge of his or her seat. Steven Spielberg turned out to be the perfect director of summer blockbusters – at least for awhile. He could press all our emotional buttons and ensnare our imaginations so that all we thought about was what he wanted us to think about – for two or so hours.

Still, Spielberg's prodigious skills as a filmmaker are evident. He is a superb film artist and a consummate cinematic entertainer. He gets the best out of his cast and crew and creatives – from composer John Williams' iconic and ominous shark-presence theme to Bill Butler's expansive cinematography that turns this movie into a vista of natural wonders. Plus, Spielberg allows his talented cast to really show their dramatic chops, especially Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper and Richard Shaw as Quint. Even Lorraine Gary gets to make the most of her moments as Ellen Brody.

If I am honest, however, Spielberg has a co-captain on this ship. Roy Scheider (1932-2008) brings the film together and at times, holds it together. Steady as a rock, Chief Brody epitomizes the small town law man who has to save the town not only from the bad guy – a shark in this instance – but also from themselves. I think serious movie lovers and film fans recognize both the breath and depth of Scheider's talent and that he was a mesmerizing film presence. If Jaws is the film that shot Spielberg's career into the stratosphere like a rocket, Scheider can certainly be described as the rocket booster.

9 of 10
A+
★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Friday, September 23, 2022

NOTES:
1976 Academy Awards, USA: 3 wins: “Best Sound” (Robert L. Hoyt, Roger Heman Jr., Earl Madery, and John R. Carter), “Best Film Editing” (Verna Fields), and “Best Music, Original Dramatic Score” (John Williams); 1 nomination: “Best Picture” (Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown)

1976 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (John Williams for Jaws and also The Towering Inferno); 6 nominations: “Best Actor”(Richard Dreyfuss), “Best Direction” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Film,” “Best Film Editing” (Verna Fields), “Best Screenplay” (Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb), and “Best Sound Track” (John R. Carter and Robert L. Hoyt)

1976 Golden Globes, USA: 1 win: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (John Williams); 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” (Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb), and “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg)

2001 National Film Preservation Board, USA: 1 win: “National Film Registry”

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

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Saturday, August 13, 2022

Review: "DRIVE MY CAR" is an Extraordinary Drama and is One of 2021's Best Films

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 47 of 2022 (No. 1859) by Leroy Douresseaux

Drive My Car (2021)
Original title: Doraibu Mai Kā (Japan)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan; Languages: Japanese, Korean Sign Language, English, and others
Running time: 179 minutes (2 hours, 59 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
WRITERS: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe (based on the short story by Haruki Murakami)
PRODUCERS: Teruhisa Yamamoto
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hidetoshi Shinomiya
EDITOR: Azusa Yamazaki
COMPOSER: Eiko Ishibashi
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Reika Kirishima, Masaki Okada, Park Yu-rim, Jin Dae-yeon, Sonia Yuan, Ahn Hwitae, Peri Dizon, and Satoko Abe

Doraibu Mai Kā is a 2021 Japanese drama film directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. The film is also known by its English title, Drive My Car (the title which I will use for this review). The film is based on author Haruki Murakami's short story, "Drive My Car," which is included in Murakami's 2014 short story collection, Men Without Women. Drive My Car the movie focuses on a recent widower who is directing a play and dealing with the fact that he must accept someone else driving his beloved car.

Drive My Car is set in Japan and introduces actor and well-known theater director, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima). He was married to Oto (Reika Kirishima), an attractive screenwriter who suddenly died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Two years later, Yusuke accepts a residency in Hiroshima, where he will direct a multilingual adaptation of Uncle Vanya, the 1898 play by the renowned Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov. Yusuke also discovers that the theater company financing Uncle Vanya, the Hiroshima Arts and Culture Center, requires that Yusuke not drive his car, but instead be chauffeured in his own car. He objects at first, but a reserved young female chauffeur, Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), reveals herself to be a skilled driver. So Yusuke accepts someone else driving his car.

Yusuke begins casting the play and discovers that one of the auditioning actors is Koshi Takatsuki, a former colleague of his late wife, Oto. As he works through the play with the cast, Yusuke deals with his grief, but discovers that the young actor, Koshi, and his young driver, Misaki, are also dealing with grief, regret, and inner turmoil.

Apparently, the complicated feelings and trauma of the characters in Drive My Car echo the emotional turmoil of the characters in Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. I have never read Uncle Vanya, nor have I ever seen a production of it.

That does not stop me from seeing Drive My Car as probably the best film of 2021. The film is meditative and contemplative and has a smooth, calm pace which heightens the film's sense of intimacy. This tranquility allows director Ryusuke Hamaguchi to direct a film in which it really looks like the actors are engaging in self-examination. The film's themes of regret, of accepting others as they are, and of self-acceptance feel genuine.

One might think that Drive My Car is dull or even complicated, but it is not. The film is rather straightforward, and the confrontations between characters can be intense but feel constructive. Drive My Car may be too slow for most American audiences, but I think that serious film lovers will find themselves engrossed by this hauntingly beautiful and most painfully human film. They may even find it helpful. Watching the film, I felt as if I were experiencing something I needed to see and hear a long time ago.

This film received many honors, including winning the Academy Award for “Best Foreign Language Film.” Still, I would have liked to have seen some of its cast, especially lead actor, Hidetoshi Nishijima (Yusuke), and supporting actress, Toko Miura (as the drive Misaki), earn Oscar acting notices. Yusuke and Misaki's scenes at the latter's old home during the last half hour of the film are some of the best in years and some of the best performed. Other cast members: Reika Kirishima, Masaki Okada, and Park Yu-rim, are also worthy of award notice.

Drive My Car's cinematographer, Hidetoshi Shinomiya, made the film one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, of the year. From majestic exterior vistas to shadowy and cozy interiors shots, Drive My Car looks both intimate and epic. Eiko Ishibashi's film score, with its futuristic flourishes and electronica sensibilities, accentuates Shinomiya's cinematography,

That is the thing about Drive My Car. Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi has great collaborators, including his co-writer, Takamasa Oe, and he could not have made Drive My Car the achievement in cinema that it is without them. He could not have made a film in which some of its best scenes occur inside a moving car such an sublime film experience. Drive My Car.

10 of 10

Friday, August 12, 2022

NOTES:
2022 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best International Feature Film” (Japan); 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Teruhisa Yamamoto), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi), and “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe)

2022 BAFTA Awards: 1 win “Best Film Not in the English Language” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Teruhisa Yamamoto); 2 nominations: “Best Director” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi) and “Best Screenplay-Adapted” )Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

2022 Golden Globes, USA: 1 win : “Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language” (Japan)

2021 Cannes Film Festival: 3 wins: “Best Screenplay” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe), “FIPRESCI Prize” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi), and “Prize of the Ecumenical Jury” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi); 1 nomination: “Palme d'Or” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

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

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