TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews: Crime comedy

Showing posts with label Crime comedy. Show all posts

Monday, July 8, 2024

Review: Netflix's "BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F" is a Delightful Surprise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 29 of 2024 (No. 1973) by Leroy Douresseaux

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)

MPA – R for language throughout, violence and brief drug use

DIRECTOR: Mark Molloy

WRITERS: Will Beall and Tom Gormican & Kevin Etten; from a story by Will Beall (based on characters created by Daniel Petrie, Jr. and Danilo Bach)

PRODUCERS: Jerry Bruckheimer, Eddie Murphy, and Chad Oman

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eduard Grau (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Dan Lebental

COMPOSER: Lorne Balfe

COMEDY/ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot, Damien Diaz, Kyle S. More, Luiz Guzman, and Kevin Bacon

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

--Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is probably the closest in spirit and tone to the 1984 original film. It is one of Eddie Murphy's better recent efforts.

--The members of the original cast that manage a return in this new film work quite well and don't seem to be hear for nostalgic purposes.

--The new characters are quite good and are worthy of returning

--Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is surprisingly really good and certainly worth a original fan's time and viewers new to franchise may end up wanting to go back and discover the original after this film.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is a 2024 American buddy-cop film and action-comedy directed by Mark Molloy and starring Eddie Murphy. It is the fourth entry in the Beverly Hills Cop film franchise, and it began streaming July 3, 2024 on Netflix as a “Netflix Original.” Axel F finds Axel Foley returning to Beverly Hills after his estranged daughter's life is threatened.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F opens in Detroit, Michigan. After more than four decades on the job, Detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) of the Detroit Police Department is still wrecking cars and tearing up the city via his maniacal car chases in his bid to capture criminals. He has managed to remain on the job under the supervision of his friend, Deputy Chief Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser). Axel's latest antics, however, leads to Jeffrey's retirement.

As Axel contemplates this situation, he gets a call from his old friend, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), former Beverly Hills Police Department detective turned private investigator. Axel has a daughter, Jane Saunders (Taylour Paige), from whom he is estranged. She has taken on the case of a young drug dealer, Samuel Enriquez (Damien Diaz), who has been accused of murdering an undercover cop. Billy informs Axel that Jane is in grave danger

Axel flies to Beverly Hills, but he quickly discovers that Jane doesn't want to have anything to do with him. He also learns that the young policeman, Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), investigating the Enriquez case, also has a complicated relationship with Jane. Although Axel's other old BHPD buddy, former detective and now, Chief John Taggart (John Ashton), is happy to see him, Taggart is reluctant to take on the Enriquez case. He seems to have deferred most of it to Captain Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon), a well-dressed cop who acts mighty suspiciously. It will take a mix of old pals and new friends to help Axel Foley unravel a dangerous conspiracy, but will Axel do more harm than good?

This year (2024) is the 40th anniversary of the original theatrical release of Beverly Hills Cop (1984), which I recently watched for the first time in over thirty years. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F succeeds where the other sequels came up short, but it successfully replicates the best moments from the original film. There are four spectacular car chases that hold the viewer's attention and don't at all seem contrived or desperate to capture the spirit of what came before it. Plus, the “Axel F” theme (composed by Harold Faltermeyer) dominates the film's soundtrack in so many different ways that I could not help but think of the original film, which usually makes me feel good.

Director Mark Molloy gets the best out of the supporting cast, even the old guys, who look really old forty years after their debut in the original film. Still, the script gives the classic characters much to do so that they don't seem extraneous. Kevin Bacon is Kevin Bacon, and that usually means something quite good, as it does here. The new characters – Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Bobby Abbott and Taylour Paige's Jane Saunders – are good enough to carry a fifth film – if that becomes a necessity.

Of course, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is about Axel Foley, and that means Eddie Murphy, who doesn't need a director to tell him how to be him. Still, I think Mark Molly helps. Eddie was Eddie in the Coming to America (1988) sequel, 2021's Coming 2 America (which originally streamed on Amazon Prime Video), and that time, Eddie being Eddie yielded tepid comedic results. So I'm giving credit to the director and the screenwriters, Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Etten, for making Axel F something more than just another nostalgic sequel.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is surprisingly entertaining and delightful. It is way better than I thought it would be, and I must say that I won't wait thirty years to watch it again. I have never attempted to watch Beverly Hills Cop III (1984), of which I've heard bad things, but Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F makes this third shot at a sequel a charm.

B+

7 of 10

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, July 7, 2024

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Thursday, July 4, 2024

Review: Original "BEVERLY HILLS COP" is Still Crazy and Cool

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 of 2024 (No. 1972) by Leroy Douresseaux

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: Martin Brest

WRITERS: Daniel Petrie, Jr.; from a story by Daniel Petrie, Jr. and Danilo Bach

PRODUCERS: Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bruce Surtees (ASC)

EDITORS: Arthur Coburn and Billy Weber

COMPOSER: Harold Faltermeyer

Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher, Ronny Cox, Steven Berkoff, Jonathan Banks, James Russo, Stephen Elliot, Gilbert R. Hill, Art Kimbro, Joel Bailey, Bronson Pinchot, Paul Reiser, Michael Champion, and Damon Wayans

Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American buddy-cop film and action-comedy directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy. This year (2024) makes the 40th anniversary of Beverly Hills Cop original theatrical release (specifically December 1984). The film was the first entry in what would become the Beverly Hills Cop film franchise. Beverly Hills Cop focuses on a cocky young Detroit cop who pursues a murder investigation in Beverly Hills where he must deal with a very different culture and a very different police department.

Beverly Hills Cop opens in Detroit, Michigan. There, we meet Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), a plainclothes police detective. As the story begins, his unauthorized sting operation goes sour resulting in a disastrous high-speed chase. Axel's reckless behavior earns him the ire of his superior, Inspector Todd (Gilbert R. Hill), who threatens to fire him unless he changes his ways.

Axel returns to his apartment to find his childhood friend, Michael “Mikey” Tandino (James Russo). After doing a stint in prison, Mikey got a job as a security guard in Beverly Hills, California via a childhood friend of both Axel and Mikey's, Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher). However, Mikey has gotten into something dangerous, and it costs him his life.

In spite of threats from Inspector Todd, Axel travels to Beverly Hills and visits Jenny at her place of employment, the “Hollis Benton Art Gallery.” There, he discovers that the gallery's owner, Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff), is involved in something very shady, and that he also likely had Mickey killed. Meanwhile, Axel runs afoul Lt. Bogomil (Ronny Cox) at the local precinct of the Beverly Hills PD. Bogomil has two of his detectives, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Sergeant John Taggart, trail Axel. Can the street-smart Axel convince Rosewood and Taggart to help him discover exactly what Victor Maitland is doing? Or will Axel end up sharing the same tragic fate as Mikey?

It has been well over 30 years since I had watched Beverly Hills Cop in its entirety. As far as I can remember, I definitely saw it in a movie theater sometime in December 1984, likely with some or all of my sisters. I may have watched it once or twice more before the 1980s came to an end. In anticipation of the just released sequel, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (a “Netflix Original”), I decided to watch the first film again. Just for starters, the film's soundtrack is still perky, although a bit quaint. Harold Faltermeyer's score, especially the instrumental title tune/theme, “Axel F,” still seems pitch perfect for this movie, as if nearly four decades had not passed.

I wondered if I would like it as much as I did the first time I saw it, and I absolutely loved it back then. This film made Eddie Murphy, for a few years, the biggest star in Hollywood. Watching Beverly Hills Cop now, I feel as if I have fallen in love with it again. Beverly Hills Cop was originally meant to be a star vehicle for Sylvester Stallone and be a straight action film. Instead, it became an Eddie Murphy star vehicle, and a comic action film that has numerous funny moments, most of them executed by Eddie Murphy. Here, you can see what made Murphy a transcendent star; he has true movie star qualities and loads of charisma. Still, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton have their chances to be funny as Rosewood and Taggart, respectively. Of course, Bronson Pinchot as the museum employee, Serge, steals every scene in which he appears. He would go on to use this role to launch himself into television stardom.

As funny as Beverly Hills Cop is, it retains some of the edge that was probably in the early versions of its screenplay. The beginning of the film shamelessly displays the inner city ruins of Detroit. There are also multiple violent deaths, beginning with Mikey's, but I find that the excellent car chase scenes and gun battles are a bit of pop movie fun that balance out the poverty, deprivation, and violent firearm deaths that pepper this film.

Director Martin Brest, who made a career out of turning plain genre films into something just a bit more special, eagerly keeps his camera on his star. Brest records every last bit of Murphy's talent, star power, and comedy modus operandi on the way to making Beverly Hills Cop a cop movie like nothing audiences had seen before or have seen since. In spite of its sequels, Beverly Hills Cop remains one of a kind, and is surprisingly (at least to me) still crazy as heck and funny as hell.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, July 4, 2024

NOTES:

1985 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Daniel Petrie Jr.-screenplay/story and Danilo Bach-story)

1985 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Eddie Murphy)

1986 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Score” (Harold Faltermeyer)

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Friday, June 14, 2024

Review: "BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE" is the Best Buddy Cop Action-Comedy in Decades

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 of 2024 (No. 1969) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)

Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)

MPA – R for strong violence, language throughout and some sexual references

DIRECTORS: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah

WRITERS: Chris Bremner and Will Beall (based on characters created by George Gallo)

PRODUCERS: Doug Belgrad, Jerry Bruckheimer, Chad Oman, and Will Smith

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robrecht Heyvaert (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Dan Lebental and Asaf Eisenberg

COMPOSER: Lorne Balfe

ACTION/CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Paola Núñez, Alexander Ludwig, Jacob Scipio, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Melanie Liburd, Rhea Seehorn, Tiffany Haddish, John Salley, Quinn Hemphill, Dennis Mcdonald, Tasha Smith and Joe Pantoliano

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is the best entry in the series to date

The comic timing and humor of Martin Lawrence as Marcus Burnett is unleashed in his best work of comedy in ages. Lawrence gives this movie so much energy, and he kept the audience where I saw this film laughing almost the entire time.

Will Smith as Mike Lowrey is a solid action-movie hero. Smith, who is also quite funny in this film, makes sure that Bad Boys is truly an explosive, violent action flick.

I unequivocally recommend this film to fans of the “Bad Boys” series and to fans of both Smith and Lawrence.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a 2024 American action, crime, and buddy cop film directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, better known as “Adil & Bilall.” It is the fourth entry in the Bad Boys film series, which began with 1995's Bad Boys, and it is a sequel to Bad Boys for Life (2020). In Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Detectives Lowrey and Burnett, the “Bad Boys,” have to take on their own department and a group of professional killers in order to clear their late captain's name.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die opens four years after the event depicted in Bad Boys for Life, Detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) marries his physical therapist, Christine (Melanie Liburd). However, at the reception, Detective Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) suffers a serious medical emergency, but worse is to come.

The FBI claims it has discovered a paper trail which proves that the late Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) was tied to drug cartels. Determined to stop the posthumous tarnishing of Capt. Howard, Mike and Marcus discover that Mike's imprisoned son, Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio), has information that might help their case. Eventually, Mike, Marcus, and Armando must join forces with new Miami PD Captain Rita Secada (Paola Núñez) and the remains of her “AMMO” (Advance Miami Metro Operations) unit – Kelly (Vanessa Hudgens) and Dorn (Alexander Ludwig). In order to clear Capt. Howard's name, however, Mike and Marcus' crew will have to take on a vicious killer, James McGrath (Eric Dane), and his secret mole inside the Miami PD.

I'd seen Bad Boys (1995) and Bad Boys II (2003), so I had to see Bad Boys for Life in preparation for Bad Boys: Ride or Die. It is a good idea to see the 2020 film because quite a bit of its plot and many of its character carry over into the new film. Being somewhat familiar with the Bad Boys film franchise will make the already enjoyable Bad Boys: Ride or Die even more enjoyable.

I think the thing that makes Bad Boys: Ride or Die such a joy to watch is that the team of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence seems to be re-energized. In Bad Boys for Life, Lawrence looked a bit bloated and slow, but here in Ride or Die, he has recovered his comedy mojo. Now, we get a Martin Lawrence that is like the Marty-Mar who was at the height of his powers in the 1990s. He kept me and the audience with which I saw Ride or Die last night in stitches. Lawrence was a constant barrage of comedy one-liners and comic riffs, and none of them seemed contrived. I'm happy for him because Lawrence has not been this good in well over a decade.

Will Smith's notorious slap has apparently not delivered a knock out to his talents as a film actor and movie star. I can't speak for the rest of y'all, dear readers, by I ain't canceling Will over that. Smith is most solid as an action movie hero in the Bad Boys franchise, and he is at his best here. Smith is quite funny himself, but as a gun-totting, pop-capping deliverer of justice and vengeance, Smith is as good as any other movie star. In Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Will Smith is as sturdy and as robust as Bruce Willis was in Die Hard and in its best sequels. As of right now, Smith is the king of action cinema.

Now, I won't act as if Bad Boys: Ride or Die is without problems. The plot strains credulity; honestly, it us obvious that Capt. Howard is being framed, but in order for the narrative to work, the audience has to act as if such a scenario as this would happen. Still, the directorial team of Adil & Bilall have made magic with their two entries in the Bad Boy series, and have delivered a new film that should thrill audiences throughout the summer movie season. Bad Boys: Ride or Die even has a cameo by the series' original director, Michael Bay.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, June 14, 2024

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Saturday, June 1, 2024

Review: "BAD BOYS FOR LIFE" Takes a Bit to Come to Life

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 of 2024 (No. 1968) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bad Boys for Life (2020)

Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)

MPA – R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, sexual references and brief drug use

DIRECTORS: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah

WRITERS: Chris Bremner, Peter Craig & Joe Carnahan; from a story by Peter Craig & Joe Carnahan (based on characters created by George Gallo)

PRODUCERS: Doug Belgrad, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Will Smith

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robrecht Heyvaert (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Dan Lebental and Peter McNulty

COMPOSER: Lorne Balfe

ACTION/CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Paola Núñez, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Kate del Castillo, Nicky Jam, Joe Pantoliano, Jacob Scipio, and Theresa Randle

Bad Boys for Life is a 2020 American action, crime, and buddy cop film directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, better known as “Adil & Bilall.” It is the third entry in the Bad Boys film series, which began with 1995's Bad Boys, and it is a sequel to Bad Boys II (2003). In Bad Boys for Life, Detectives Lowrey and Burnett, the “Bad Boys,” face off against a mysterious killer whose campaign of revenge is centered on Lowrey.

Bad Boys for Life opens in Mexico at the Santa Maria Ixcotel Prison. There, Isabel Aretas (Kate del Castillo) escapes with the help of her son, Armando (Jacob Scipio). Isabel is the son of the late cartel kingpin, Benito Aretas, and she wants revenge against the men who helped take down her husband twenty-four years ago. Armando, a highly-skilled criminal, savvy fighter, and vicious killer, is the instrument of her revenge.

One of those men is Detective Lt. Michael “Mike” Lowrey (Will Smith), and Armando comes close to killing him. Mike is a hard man to keep down, and he wants payback. His boss, Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano), wants Mike to let a new, tech-driven police unit, called “AMMO” (Advance Miami Metro Operations), hunt the shooter. Mike doesn't like that, especially as his former girlfriend, Lieutenant Rita Secada (Paolo Nunez), is head of AMMO. Even worse, Mike's longtime partner, Det. Lt. Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), has retired and wants to stay that way. But when things get worse, will the Bad Boys be forced to unite for one last ride?

I still laugh at the fact that the film that became 1995's Bad Boys was originally written for actor-comedians, Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz. Bad Boys would go on to become a signature entry in the filmographies of both eventual Oscar-winning actor, Will Smith (King Richard), and Martin Lawrence, who would go on to star in such films as Big Momma's House (2000) and Wild Hogs (2007). The duo eventually reunited for 2003's Bad Boys II. Because the fourth entry in the Bad Boys series, Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024), is about to be released, I decided to go back and watch and review the one film in the franchise that I had not seen in its entirety, Bad Boys for Life (2020).

A close friend told me that he thought Bad Boys for Life was bad. I did find the first hour to be rather poorly developed. After all, Lowrey and Burnett seem pretty slow in figuring out that the shootings of Lowrey and others are obviously related. All these veteran cops and young, smart, new-school law enforcement are working on this case, and they are as clueless as can be.

However, in the film's second hour, directors Adil & Bilall make the most of their creative cohorts, especially their stunt coordinators, lighting department, and film editors in order to deliver a film that is fast-paced and slickly violent. The filmmakers also bring out all of the colors and life in both the Miami and Mexican locations Adil & Bilall do their best to summon the spirit of Michael Bay, the director of the first two films. I wonder what he thought of the new directors' homage to his style. I must say that Adil & Bilall eschew Bay's over-the-top theatrics for a slick visual, action style that is more focused on the characters than on sweeping shots and a deafening score and soundtrack.

In some ways, Bad Boys for Life is this series' best entry. Yes, Martin Lawrence looks a little pudgy in the face, but his comic timing and humor eventual rev up. Will Smith still looks lithesome and on the edge. While it starts clunky, Bad Boys for Life doesn't show its age, but it does show that – surprisingly – there is still life in these cinematic bad boys.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, June 1, 2024

NOTES:

2021 Image Awards (NAACP): 1 win: “Outstanding Motion Picture” and 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Will Smith)

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Review: "BAD BOYS II": What'cha Gonna Do 'Cept Watch This

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 114 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bad Boys II (2003)

Running time: 147 minutes (2 hours, 27 minutes)

MPAA – R for strong violence and action, pervasive language, sexuality and drug content

DIRECTOR: Michael Bay

WRITERS: Ron Shelton and Jerry Stahl; from a story by Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley and Ron Shelton (based upon the characters created by George Gallo)

PRODUCER: Jerry Bruckheimer

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amir Mokri (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Roger Barton, Mark Goldblatt, and Thomas A. Muldoon

COMPOSER: Trevor Rabin

ACTION/COMEDY/THRILLER/CRIME

Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Gabrielle Union, Joe Pantoliano, Theresa Randle, Jordi Molla, Gary Nickens, Jason Manuel Olazabal, John Salley, Henry Rollins, and Dan Marino

Bad Boys II is a 2003 American buddy-cop film and action-comedy from director Michael Bay. It is a sequel to the 1995 film, Bad Boys, and is also the second film in the Bad Boys film series. In Bad Boys II, loose-cannon Detectives Burnett and Lowrey investigate the flow of illegal drugs into Miami and end up on the middle of a battle for control of the ecstasy trade.

In a crowded field of auteurs, director Michael Bay (The Rock, Armageddon) strives to become the director god of action movies; indeed, he may already be there. He returns for the sequel to Bad Boys, the film that put him on the map as a big time director of insane gunfights, fiery explosions, and slow motion ballets of unabashed violence. And since we must not worship any god before the god, this Zeus of adrenaline films unleashes a film of wall-to-wall mayhem that overwhelms the audience to paranoiac exhaustion just to show us what he can do.

Bay is fortunate (if a god can ever be called fortunate) to have two talents who are very good at what they do, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. It’s ironic that these roles weren’t originally written for them, but the two actor/comedians have made the bad boys, Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Smith) of Bad Boys II, their own because Burnett and Lowrey could not exist without them.

The plot is a confused half-assed muddle involving stereotypical Russian, Cuban, Jamaican, and redneck drug dealers battling it out in Miami for control of the ecstasy trade. If that wasn’t addled enough, Marcus’s sister, Sydney (the beautiful and sexy Gabrielle Union), is an undercover DEA agent caught in the middle of some mismanaged surveillance operation of a Russian and Cuban money-laundering scheme.

Smith and Lawrence are absolutely wonderful as the bad boys. They have to be because they’re on a very short list of actors whom Michael Bay cannot overwhelm with his thunderous conflagrations of balls-to-the-walls violence. Smith is pure bravado, sweating confidence with cartoonish machismo. His physical bearing and rapid-fire delivery of his dialogue create a seamless presence in the film that leads you to believe that Smith is always Lowery, even when you know that a stunt guy has to step in every now and then. He’s no bossy director’s action marionette or pretty boy A-list actor frontin’ like he’s all that. Smith is all that.

When he has good material, Martin Lawrence is a riot act of physical and facial humor. He’s a comedian, born to make us laugh despite his own personal demons. Lately, he’s sold himself for movies that treat him like a minstrel, when he’s at his best skewering the mainstream. In Bad Boy II, he reveals himself to be the best graduate of the Richard Pryor school of facial contortions, which Lawrence uses to grand effect to make us believe that the film’s juggernaut of violence actually scares him.

Even the overwhelming performances of Smith and Lawrence are almost no match for the overwhelming violence of Bad Boys II, but the actors are game. They do an admirable job keeping up with the exploding body parts, flying corpses, decapitated corpses, defiled corpses, gunshot wounds, gratuitous ass shots, the bare breasts of a naked corpse, flying cars, disintegrating cars, exploding cars, car wrecks, car crashes, and flesh wounds to the buttocks. There was a point early in the film when I was sure that Michael Bay was a fabulous artist of the absurd, cinema his canvas, and wanton violence his raw materials. The action was great and invigorating, the violence was cathartic and deliriously funny, and I wanted to revel in the excess. Lawrence and Smith were so on that I screamed with the kind of laughter I reserve for classic Richard Pryor, Mel Brooks, Marx Brothers, Lenny Bruce, and Burns and Allen.

After awhile, I realized that this was as much popcorn cinema as it was art. I still believe that Bay is on to something. One day, we will see him a great filmmaker who pushed the envelope with his inventiveness and imagination, but in Bad Boys II, he went too far too soon. It’s more popcorn than an even an audience ravenously hungry for Circus Maximus bedlam can stomach. With this film, Bay made the mistake that Martin Scorsese did with Gangs of New York: end the picture early enough and he has a cinematic classic, a truly great film. Overstay his welcome, and the director spoils his film.

As mean-spirited as this film gets, I’d still recommend this to die hard action fans and fans of Smith and Lawrence. I’d only recommend that they just have a bib ready for when you spit up from overeating this cinematic pandemonium.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Edited: Monday, July 1, 2024

NOTES:

2004 Image Awards (NAACP): 3 nominations: “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Will Smith), and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Gabrielle Union)

2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Film: Best Soundtrack”

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Review: "BAD BOYS" Has Had a Surprisingly Long Life

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 113 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bad Boys (1995)

Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)

MPAA – R for intense violent action and pervasive strong language

DIRECTOR: Michael Bay

WRITERS: Michael Barrie, Jim Mulholland, and Doug Richardson; from a story by George Gallo

PRODUCERS: Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Howard Atherton

EDITOR: Christian Wagner

COMPOSER: Mark Mancina

ACTION/COMEDY/THRILLER/CRIME

Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Tea Leoni, Joe Pantoliano, Tcheky Karyo, Theresa Randle, Marg Helgenberger, Nestor Serrano, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Saverio Guerra, Michael Imperioli, and Karen Alexander

As usual, a cog in the Hollywood system had written an action/comedy for Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey, two funny white men. Perhaps, the white studio bosses never thought of persons of colors playing the parts and playing them not only well, but also better than the actors of the default skin color. By happy accident, two tremendously talented comic actors, who also happened to be men of color inherited the parts, and, thus was born Bad Boys. Lord knows, we can never again think of Lovitz and Carvey, two milky-white Americans, as proper for these roles, not that there’s anything wrong with one’s skin color being that white.

Bad Boys is a 1995 American buddy-cop film and action-comedy directed by Michael Bay. Bad Boys focuses on two savvy, Black detectives who try to protect a witness to murder while also investigating the theft of heroin from their police precinct’s evidence room.

Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) are two hip detectives; at least they seem cooler than their Miami PD colleagues, but they can take the heat that comes with their job. As the film begins, they’ve already made a major heroin bust, but a gang of well-equipped thieves breaks into the precinct’s evidence room and steals the dope. Obviously, the raid is an inside job, so the precinct takes the blame. Burnett and Lowrey’s Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) feels the heat and returns it to the boys, putting the onus on them to find the dope. Making matters more complicated, they get saddled with protecting Julie Mott (Tea Leoni) a murder witness somehow connected to the smack thieves.

According to stories from the set of Bad Boys, director Michael Bay, Lawrence, and Smith hated the script, so they ad-libbed a lot of the dialogue. This was Bay’s first feature film, but he’d made a name for himself directing music videos for Tina Turner and “Wilson Phillips” (among others) and commercials for Nike and Budweiser (among others). Bay brings all the visual flair and clichés you could expect from music videos: quick-cut editing, dark alleyways full of steam, sexy chicks, and hot cars. He mixed in car chases, tremendous explosions, cartoonish violence, and gunfights with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Smith and Lawrence brought the comedy and the hip sensibility to play the characters so over the top that you’d think they were heroes right out of a comic book. It works to an extent. Bad Boys is a very funny, exciting, and visually agile action movie.

If anything, it’ll be remembered for its African-American leads, unusual for an cop buddy movie/action flick. Beyond that, Bay introduced his over the top visual style that he would bring all his heart-pounding, action vehicles: slow motion camera buzzing around a posing action stud, panoramic shots of the sky, narrow escapes from devastating fire balls, etc. Bad Boys is pleasant and fun, nothing important, but it stands out in the white bread world of Hollywood action romps. Certainly, Lawrence and Smith are more believable as renegade cops than say, Josh Hartnett or Ben Affleck.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Edited: Friday, June 28, 2024

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Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Review: "CAFÉ SOCIETY" Sounds More Scandalous Than It Actually Is

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 of 2024 (No. 1946) by Leroy Douresseaux

Café Society (2016)

Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for some violence, a drug reference, suggestive material and smoking

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Woody Allen

PRODUCERS: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum, and Edward Walson

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vittorio Storaro

EDITOR: Alisa Lepselter

COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of crime

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Sheryl Lee, Jeannie Berlin, Ken Stott, Sari Lennick, Stephen Kunken, and Corey Stoll

Café Society is a 2016 period comedy and romance film written and directed by Woody Allen. Set in the 1930s, the film follows a Bronx native who moves to Hollywood and falls in love with a young woman who is already in an affair with a mysterious married man.

Café Society introduces Robert Jacob “Bobby” Dorfman (Jessie Eisenberg). He is the youngest child and younger son of Marty Dorfman (Ken Stott) and his wife, Rose Dorfman (Jeannie Berlin). The Dorfman's middle child is their adult daughter, Evelyn (Sari Lennick), who is married to Leonard (Stephen Kunken), a teacher, an intellectual, and a communist. Dorfman's oldest child is their elder son, Ben (Corey Stoll), a gangster. While his siblings' lives are set, Bobby's is not. He is discontented with working for his father, Marty, who is a jeweler, so Bobby decides to move to Hollywood.

There, his mother Karen's brother, Phil Stern (Steve Carell), is a powerful talent agent who works with the most famous stars, biggest filmmakers, and most powerful movie studios. Phil is married to a beautiful woman, Karen (Sheryl Lee), and he lives in a lavish mansion in Hollywood. And he might have a job for his wayward nephew, Bobby Dorfman.

Bobby ends up taking a job running menial errands for Phil, and that brings him into contact with on of Phil's employees, Veronica “Vonnie” Sybil (Kristen Stewart). Bobby falls in love with Vonnie, but she claims that she already has a boyfriend, Doug, whom she describes as a journalist. Ultimately, Bobby returns to New York City, where he runs a high-end nightclub that he names “Les Tropiques.” It is there that Bobby embraces “café society,” as the club soon becomes a famous hangout for the rich and powerful. Bobby, however, cannot escape his recent past, nor can he avoid Ben's gangster activities.

Coup de chance, the film Woody Allen says will likely be his final directorial effort, was released in France in September (2023). Because of the controversies surrounding Allen the last few decades, especially the last five years, the film may not get a stateside theatrical release (although there has been a rumor that it has found a thus far secret U.S. distributor). In anticipation of eventually somehow seeing Coup de chance, I have decided to watch the recent Woody Allen films that I missed, such as the 2015 film, Irrational Man, and Cafe Society.

Cafe Society is an amiable, lightweight Woody Allen period comedy. It's nostalgic overtones certainly recall Allen's utterly delightful and semi-autobiographical period film, Radio Days (1987). I adore Radio Days and am tempted to call it his masterpiece. Unfortunately, Cafe Society is nowhere near the film that Radio Days is.

The first half of Cafe Society, which is mostly set in Hollywood, ends up being a prologue to the main story. You see, dear readers, Cafe Society's real story takes place after Bobby Dorfman returns to New York City and becomes a player in cafe society, the party scene of the Big Apple's rich and famous – from the blue bloods and celebrities to politicians and gangsters. In fact, the film is practically sleepy until Bobby becomes the impresario of NYC's most popular and notorious nightclub. That is when the two strands of his past – his aborted relationship with Vonnie and the natural end of Ben's activities – meet. Of course, it is a time when Bobby has the best of everything.

Cafe Society's themes of love-at-first-sight, love lost, and yearning for what might have been are familiar, and the film deals with it all so slightly that the story feels underdeveloped. I can't help but believe Cafe Society would work better as a television series, which would allow it to fully develop its multiple subplots and to play out a cast that is filled with potential. Ultimately, Café Society is an average put-together of familiar Woody Allen tropes, decorated with gorgeous production values. The cinematography, costumes, and sets are all Oscar worthy.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

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Saturday, April 1, 2023

Review: "THE BAD GUYS" is A.C.E. (Average, Cute & Entertaining)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 of 2023 (No. 1905) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Bad Guys (2022)

Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)

MPAA – PG for action and rude humor

DIRECTOR: Pierre Perifel

WRITERS: Etan Cohen (based on the books by Aaron Blabey)

PRODUCERS: Rebecca Huntley and Damon Ross

EDITOR: John Venzon

COMPOSER: Daniel Pemberton

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE and COMEDY/CRIME

Starring: (voices): Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, and Lilly Singh

The Bad Guys is a 2022 computer-animated crime comedy and adventure fantasy film directed by Pierre Perifel and produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film is loosely based on the children's book series, The Bad Guys, by Aaron Blabey. The Bad Guys the movie focuses on a gang of notorious animal criminals pretending to want to be rehabilitated until circumstances force them to really attempt to do something good.

The Bad Guys is set in a world in which humans co-exist with anthropomorphic animals (animals that talk and act like humans). The film introduces “The Bad Guys,” a gang of five infamous criminal animals known for their numerous thefts and their uncanny ability to evade authorities. The Bad Guys are Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), a cool and slick pickpocket who is the team's leader; Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), a safe-cracking snake who is Wolf's second-in-command and best friend; Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), a sarcastic hacker also known as “Webs;” Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), a sensitive and child-like master of disguise; and Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), the sharp-tongued tough guy and muscle of the group.

Their latest target is the “Golden Dolphin,” a trophy to be handed out at the “Annual Good Samaritan Awards” being held at the Museum of Fine Arts. The Golden Dolphin will be awarded to Professor Rupert Marmalade IV, a wealthy guinea pig philanthropist whose generosity is almost as good as that of Mother Teresa. The event will also be attended by Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) and Police Chief Misty Luggins (Alex Borstein), a husky female law enforcement who is determined to nab the Bad Guys.

When the Bad Guys are nabbed, Mr. Wolf accepts an offer from Professor Marmalade, with Gov. Foxington's approval, to reform and rehabilitate the Bad Guys. There are problems with that. Mr. Snake is reluctant to be reformed. Not everyone is truthful about their roles in this plan or honest about their identity. But a part of Mr. Wolf secretly really wants to change his ways.

I created a new acronym for big studio, computer-animated (or CG animated) feature films aimed at the family audience. It is “A.C.E.,” which means “Average, Cute & Entertaining.” According to an April 2022 feature in the Los Angeles Times about The Bad Guys, the film's design is inspired by Sony Pictures Animation's 2018, Oscar-winning film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which mixed both a 3D and a 2D aesthetic in its design. Honestly, I can't tell that just by watching the film. I can tell that The Bad Guys also mixes 2D and 3D graphics and design elements, but The Bad Guys' animation lacks the spark of the highly-acclaimed Spider-Man film.

The characters are mildly amusing and interesting, but they seem more like types than actual characters. The only character that I really liked is a kitten that is not anthropomorphic and does not talk. Just as Disney/Pixar's Lightyear was uplifted by the robotic cat, “Sox,” The Bad Guys receive a jolt when this unnamed kitten appears.

Even the voice acting in The Bad Guys seems only kind of inspired. Sam Rockwell is too cool for his character, Mr. Wolf's own good. I can't believe that Zazie Beetz provides the voice for Governor Foxington because this distinctive performer sounds like a generic female voice performer.

So there it is. The Bad Guys is average entertainment, but cute average entertainment. There is a good chance that young audiences will adore it, but I kinda wish I hadn't bothered with it – except I would have missed the adorable kitty.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, March 31, 2023

NOTES:

2023 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Voice Performance” (Zazie Beetz)

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Wednesday, February 10, 2021

#28DaysofBlack Review: Eddie Murphy's "HARLEM NIGHTS" is Still Cool

[A little over 21 years after its initial release, Harlem Nights remains unique. It was the dream project of an African-American movie star, Eddie Murphy, who had reached heights that few African-American stars ever have. I'm glad Eddie Murphy made this movie.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2021 (No. 1749) by Leroy Douresseaux

Harlem Nights (1989)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Eddie Murphy
PRODUCER: Mark Lipsky and Robert D. Wachs
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Woody Omens (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Alan Balsam and George Bowers
COMPOSER: Herbie Hancock
Academy Award nominee

CRIME/DRAMA with elements of comedy

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello, Michael Lerner, Della Reese, Berlinda Tobert, Stan Shaw, Jasmine Guy, Vic Polizos, Lela Rochon, David Marciano, Arsenio Hall, Thomas Mikal Ford, Joe Pecoraro, Robin Harris, Charles Q. Murphy, Uncle Ray Murphy, Desi Arnez Hines II, Roberto Duran, and Gene Hartline

Harlem Nights is a 1989 crime film and period drama written and directed by Eddie Murphy. The film is set during the 1930s and focuses on a New York City club owner and his associates as they battle gangsters and corrupt cops.

Harlem Nights introduces Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor). In 1938, Ray and his surrogate son, Vernest Brown, best known as “Quick,” run a nightclub, dance hall, and gambling house called “Club Sugar Ray,” located in New York City's Harlem neighborhood. Ray's other associates include Madame Vera Walker (Della Reese), who runs the brothel at the back of Club Sugar Ray, and her longtime companion, Bennie Wilson (Redd Foxx), the craps table dealer.

Club Sugar Ray is wildly successful, making fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a week, and that has drawn the attention of a white gangster, Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner). Calhoune wants the majority share of Sugar Ray's revenues, and to that end, employs his criminal associates: his black enforcer, Tommy Smalls (Thomas Mikal Ford); his Creole mistress, Dominique La Rue (Jasmine Guy), and a corrupt police detective, Sgt. Phil Cantone (Danny Aiello).

Ray decides that he will have to give up his business and move on, although Quick is vehemently against this. Ray decides to use an upcoming championship boxing match between the world heavy weight champion, black boxer Jack Jenkins (Stan Shaw), and a white challenger, Michael Kirkpatrick (Gene Hartline), the “Irish Ironman,” to disguise his ultimate heist plan against Calhoune. But for the plan to work, Quick will have to avoid all the people trying to kill him?

Harlem Nights has some of the best production values that I have ever seen in an Eddie Murphy film. The costumes (which were Oscar-nominated), the art direction and set decoration, and the cinematography are gorgeous. Herbie Hancock's score captures Harlem Nights shifting tones – from jazzy and sexy to mixes of comic and dramatic violence. The film's soundtrack offers a buffet of songs written, co-written and performed by the great Duke Ellington, plus performances by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Buddy Clark, to name a few.

Yet, upon its initial release, that is not what some critics noted about Harlem Nights. They were obsessed with how many times Eddie Murphy's name appeared on the poster. They counted: Eddie was star, writer, director, and executive producer; it was too much – at least according to them. That all played into the “Eddie Murphy is arrogant” argument that many of these critics, mostly jealous white guys, made.

Harlem Nights remains the only film that Eddie Murphy has ever directed, which is a shame. Granted that his acting is stiff in this film. Granted that the screenwriting is average; it is never strong on character drama, and sometimes the story really needs it to be. Still, Harlem Nights moves smoothly through its narrative. It is slow and easy, although there have been those that have claimed that the film is “too slow.” Still, Eddie Murphy has a silken touch at directing.

None of Harlem Nights' problems matter to me. At the time, there had never been a film like it. Harlem Nights is a big budget, lavish, Hollywood period film that is thoroughly Black. Its cast is a once-in-a-life-time event. I'm not sure a black director could have gotten funding with Harlem Night's cast even as a low budget film. Harlem Nights is a film that only Eddie Murphy could get produced, and one could argue that it was not until well into the twenty-first century that any other black filmmaker could get something like Harlem Nights made. So I'm good with its problems, and I am simply happy that it exists.

Harlem Nights is an entertaining film, and I have highly enjoyed it every time that I have seen it. It stands as a testament to what Eddie Murphy became by the late 1980s – the only African-American who was a real Hollywood “player.” Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Della Reese: they were a dream lineup, a fleeting coming together that seemed to be gone in an instant. Harlem Nights lives on, as a gorgeous, strange hybrid drama-comedy-gangster-period film. And I, for one, am always ready to recommend it.

B+
7 of 10

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

NOTES:
1990 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Joe I. Tompkins)

The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, February 8, 2021

#28DaysofBlack Review: "BlacKkKlansman" is Bold and Brilliant

[Spike Lee finally earned his long-sought after competitive Academy Award, having won an “Honorary Academy Award” in 2015 at the age of 58, the youngest ever to achieve that award. BlacKkKlansman is not so much a biopic as it is a black comedy, police procedural, crime comedy, and semi-espionage film. Yet, this film retains Lee's fierce cinematic voice with its trademark campaign against American white supremacy/racism/privilege. Thank the Lord.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 of 2021 (No. 1747) by Leroy Douresseaux

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Running time: 135 minutes (2 hours, 15 minutes)

MPAA – R for language throughout, including racial epithets, and for disturbing/violent material and some sexual references

DIRECTOR: Spike Lee
WRITERS: Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott and Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz (based on the book, Black Klansman, by Ron Stallworth)
PRODUCER: Spike Lee, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele, and Shaun Redick
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Chayse Irvin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Barry Alexander Brown
COMPOSER: Terence Blanchard
Academy Award winner

DRAMA with some elements of comedy

Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Jasper Pääkkönen, Ryan Eggold, Paul Walter Hauser, Ashlie Atkinson, Corey Hawkins, Michael Buscemi, Ken Garito, Robert John Burke, Fred Weller, Nicholas Turturro, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Damaris Lewis, and Alec Baldwin and Harry Belafonte

BlacKkKlansman is 2018 historical film drama and black comedy from director Spike Lee. The film is based on the 2014 memoir, Black Klansman, by Ron Stallworth. The film focuses on an African American police officer who successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate.

BlacKkKlansman opens in 1972. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is hired as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Although he starts in the record room, he soon works his way into the position of undercover cop. His superior, Chief Bridges (Robert John Burke), assigns him to infiltrate a local rally where national civil rights leader, Kwame Ture (Corey Hawkins), formerly known as Stokely Carmichael, is giving a speech. At the rally, Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier), president of the Black Student Union at Colorado College, and he becomes attracted to her.

After being reassigned to the intelligence division under Sergeant Trapp (Ken Garito), Ron discovers the local division of the Ku Klux Klan in a newspaper ad. Taking the initiative, Ron, posing as a white man, calls the division and speaks to Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold), the president of the Colorado Springs, Colorado chapter. Since he mistakenly used his real name during the call, Ron realizes that he needs help after Walter invites him to a Klan meet-and-greet.

Sgt. Trapp brings Ron together with two detectives, Jimmy Creek (Michael Buscemi) and Phillip “Flip” Zimmerman (Adam Driver), who is Jewish. Ron continues to talk to the Klan on the phone, but Flip pretends to be Ron, acting as Ron's surrogate when he actually has to meet up with the Klan members. Flip gradually begins to infiltrate deeper into the local Klan organization, but some members grow suspicious of him. The stakes grow higher after Ron starts a phone relationship with infamous Klan leader, David Duke (Topher Grace), who is coming to meet the Colorado Klan.

BlacKkKlansman is a police procedural, a racial drama, a historical film, a period drama, a biographical film, and a true crime story, or at least, a true story. However, there is one thing that BlacKkKlansman certainly is, and that is a Spike Lee movie.

Lee's collaborators and actors certainly do some of their best work. Chayse Irvin's cinematography is beautiful, and Barry Alexander Brown's editing creates a hypnotic rhythm that drew me ever deeper into the film so that by the midpoint, I believed that I was part of the story. In fact, Irvin and Brown shine as a duo in the sequence that depicts Kwame Ture's speech in a sweeping interval of Black faces that captures the broad spectrum of Blackness in America. Everything sways and flows to Terence Blanchard's (of course) outstanding, Oscar-nominated score.

I can see how Adam Driver's performance as Flip captured the attention of Oscar voters. I also get why John David Washington and Laura Harrier's strong and beguiling performances did not capture the same attention from Academy Award voters. All the performances are good, as the actors took character types and did something different with them. Two short but important speaker roles, Corey Hawkins' Kwame Ture and Harry Belafonte's Jerome Turner, are the heartbeat of BlacKkKlansman.

But, as I said, this is Spike Lee's film; this is a Spike Lee film. Spike is a visionary, a contrary cinematic artist stubbornly making his films his own and making other people's stories his own. Spike has never been shy about putting the racism of white people on display. He condemns white racism and white supremacy, revealing its brutal violence, banal evil, and systematic oppression in stark and often blunt cinematic language – regardless of what of criticisms that may come his way because of the way he tells stories.

BlacKkKlansman is Lee's most savage take and rigorous excavation of white racism and white supremacy in America since his seminal classic, Do The Right Thing (1989). BlacKkKlansman is Lee's best film since Do The Right Thing, and it earned him his long overdue Oscar (for “Best Adapted Screenplay” that he shared with three other writers). [No, I'm not overlooking Chi-Raq.]

Do The Right Thing was a bomb that angered more white people than it impressed, but BlacKkKlansman is the work of a veteran filmmaker, a mature artist, so to speak. This time, Spike Lee acknowledged Black people's prejudices and bigotries, and many of the White characters in this film are sympathetic, are allies, and are even heroes. Still, BlacKkKlansman makes clear that whatever Black racism that exists, it is White racism that has wielded the power in American.

With allusions and outright references to the present struggle for equality and civil rights, BlacKkKlansman makes it clear that we still have to fight the power and the White devil. Three decades later, however, Spike Lee is willing to portray White allies, but he can still get under … honky skin. That is why so many Oscar voters chose Green Book's sentimentality over BlacKkKlansman's black-is-beautiful power in the “Best Picture” Oscar race … when BlacKkKlansman may be the best American film of 2018.

10 of 10

Saturday, February 6, 2021

NOTES:
2019 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win for “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee); 5 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Terence Blanchard), “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele, and Spike Lee), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Spike Lee), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Adam Driver), and “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Barry Alexander Brown)

2019 BAFTA Awards: 1 win for “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott); 4 nominations: “Best Supporting Actor” (Adam Driver), “Best Film” (Jason Blum, Spike Lee, Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, and Jordan Peele), “Original Music” (Terence Blanchard), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Spike Lee)

2019 Golden Globes, USA: 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Spike Lee), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (John David Washington), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Adam Driver)

2019 Black Reel Awards: 11 nominations: “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Director” (Spike Lee), “Outstanding Screenplay” (Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee), “Outstanding Ensemble,” “Outstanding Score” (Terence Blanchard), “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female” (Laura Harrier), “Outstanding Cinematography” (Chayse Irvin), “Outstanding Costume Design” (Marci Rodgers), and “Outstanding Production Design” (Curt Beech)

2019 Image Awards: 5 nominations: “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture-Film” (Spike Lee), and “Outstanding Breakthrough Role in a Motion Picture” (John David Washington)

The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Review: "Birds of Prey" is Crazy, Sexy, Tarantino

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Birds of Prey (2020)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R strong violence and language throughout, and some sexual and drug material
DIRECTOR: Cathy Yan
WRITER: Christina Hodson (based on characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics)
PRODUCERS: Sue Kroll, Margot Robbie, and Bryan Unkeless
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Jay Cassidy and Evan Schiff
COMPOSER: Daniel Pemberton

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/CRIME/COMEDY/ACTION

Starring: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ewan McGregor, Ella Jay Basco, Chris Messina, Dana Lee, and Steven Williams

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), or simply Birds of Prey, is a 2020 superhero fantasy film and crime comedy from director Cathy Yan. The movie is based on several characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Birds of Prey focuses on a group of women who find common cause in their struggle against a violent crime boss.

Birds of Prey opens after the events depicted in the film, Suicide Squad (2016). Psychiatrist turned crazed criminal, Dr. Harleen Quinzel a.k.a. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), has returned to Gotham City with her criminal accomplice and boyfriend, The Joker. However, Joker breaks up with Harley and kicks her out of their house, so she moves into an apartment above a Chinese restaurant owned by a man named Doc (Dana Lee).

In Gotham City, Harley Quinn was virtually untouchable... because she was the Joker's girlfriend... which she isn't anymore. Now, it's open season on Harley, The man who most wants her dead is Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), a sadistic gangster who masquerades as a suave nightclub owner, but Harley earns a reprieve from Sionis. He covets something called “the Bertinelli diamond,” which is currently in the possession of a young pickpocket named Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco).

However, the quest for Cain and the diamond will force Harley to unite with three other women: Dinah Lance a.k.a. “the Black Canary” (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a burlesque singer who works for Roman; Renee Montoya (Rose Perez), a police detective in the GCPD; and Helena Bertinelli a.k.a. “the Huntress” (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a vigilante that criminals call the “crossbow killer.” Now, Harley and these women will show Gotham's underworld that it is the criminal class that should be afraid... of these birds of prey.

Birds of Prey's paper-thin plot: retrieving a diamond; next, protecting a teen girl; and then, battling Roman Sionis, is not important. This is a movie about “bad girls” having fun at the expense of really bad men, and Birds of Prey is quite good at that. Director Cathy Yan makes the best of her ingredients: a zany mix of actors, fantastic costumes, and eclectic sets and delivers an inspired, madcap movie of brutal, comic violence. Birds of Prey is the kind of violent comedy that finds the wicked side of comic book stories and characters, the way the Deadpool films did.

Like the best comic books, Birds of Prey is over-the-top. Why have a pet dog when you can have a pet hyena? Why wear merely flashy costumes when you can wear the most fantabulous fashions? Why hit an adversary when you can maim the mutha? And what is a car chase without a chick on roller skates? The women of Birds of Prey: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Ella Jay Basco take their performances seriously without taking their roles too seriously. Even Ewan McGregor adds just a touch of camp to his gleefully cruel creation, Roman Sionis.

I won't pretend that Birds of Prey is a great film, but it is the kind of inspired, R-rated comic book film that I wish we saw more. And besides the soundtrack is pretty damn good. So I am heartily recommending Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) to moviegoers who enjoy comic book films.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, February 8, 2020

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

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Monday, July 21, 2014

Review: "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" a Nice Ode to 1940s Era Films

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 255 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual content
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Woody Allen
PRODUCER: Letty Aronson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Zhao Fei
EDITOR: Alisa Lepselter

COMEDY/CRIME/MYSTERY/ROMANCE

Starring: Woody Allen, Helen Hunt, Dan Aykroyd, Brian Markinson, Elizabeth Berkley, Wallace Shawn, Charlize Theron, David Ogden Stiers, and Carol Bayeux

The subject of this movie review is The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, a 2001 romance, crime-comedy and mystery film from writer-director Woody Allen. The film follows an insurance investigator and an efficiency expert, both hypnotized into stealing jewels by a crooked hypnotist using a jade scorpion.

New York City – 1940: C.W. Briggs (Woody Allen) is the top insurance investigator for North Coast Casualty and Fidelity of New York, and he is his boss, Chris Magruder’s (Dan Aykroyd) go-to-guy when it comes to solving the thefts of high value items that North Coast is insuring. C.W. has also been sparring with the company’s latest hire, Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt), an efficiency expert with an eye on putting C.W. in his place.

At a dinner party, a crooked hypnotist named Voltan (David Ogden Stiers) uses a jeweled charm, the Jade Scorpion, to hypnotize C.W. and Betty Ann. Soon, the combative co-workers are babbling like love struck kids. Their colleagues think this is some kind of clever hypnosis gag, so no one realizes that Voltan has placed C.W. and Betty Ann under a post-hypnotic suggestion. Voltan controls C.W. and makes the insurance investigator use his professional skills and inside information to steal a fortune in jewels from two prominent families that have insured their treasure with North Coast. With the police after him for the robberies, will C.W. ever get a clue that he’s a hypnotized dupe?

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is Woody Allen’s delightful ode to movies from the 1940’s, like his delightful 1987 movie, Radio Days, was. Jade is a nod to the light mystery films of the 40’s, but here, this material isn’t particularly strong, although the acting is quite good and gives the movie a sense of earnest fun. The entire cast seems up to recreating both the style and ambience of 40’s era movies and the characters in them, and that’s a credit to Allen’s direction.

Helen Hunt is spicy as Betty Ann Fitzgerald, and she makes an excellent foil for Allen’s C.W. Briggs, who is the typical wisecracking character Allen plays in his comedies. Charlize Theron glams it up to create the sexy, bold, and randy Laura Kensington, a character with an unfortunately too small part because she gives this flick a much-needed kick in the rear every time she’s on screen. Brian Markinson, Elizabeth Berkley, and Wallace Shawn also add the right touches to their parts and add flavor to this film.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion isn’t great Allen, nor is it anywhere nearly as good as Radio Days. It’s a minor, but good Allen flick that will entertain Allen fans to one extent or another.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Updated: Monday, May 19, 2014

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

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Review: "Super Troopers" Can Be Funny (Happy B'day, Jay Chandrasekhar)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Super Troopers (2001)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, sexual content and drug use
DIRECTOR: Jay Chandrasekhar
WRITERS: Broken Lizard (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske)
PRODUCER: Richard Perello
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Joaquín Baca-Asay
EDITORS: Jumbulingam (Jay Chandrasekhar), Jacob Craycroft, and Kevin Heffernan
COMPOSERS: 38 Special

COMEDY

Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Marisa Coughlan, Brian Cox, Daniel van Bargen, Michael Weaver, Dan Fey, Jim Gaffigan, and Lynda Carter

The subject of this movie review is Super Troopers, a 2001 comedy starring the comedy troupe, Broken Lizard, and directed by member, Jay Chandrasekhar. The film focuses on five Vermont state troopers, who are pranksters and screws ups, trying to outperform an overachieving local police department. Although Super Troopers was shown at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, it did not receive a national U.S. theatrical release (by Fox Searchlight Pictures) until 2002.

Movie reviewers often take the easy road or the high-minded road when they opine on what we film lovers call the guilty pleasure – the bad movie that is “really (seriously, now) entertaining.” So a movie often has to be taken for what it is, and what it is may not amount to very much. Perhaps the filmmakers were expressing themselves in the only way they knew. They were being themselves or being true to their game. Or maybe speaking in their own voices and not in someone else’s voice, and they made a movie just to have a silly time.

This is Super Troopers, and for the sake of the usual argument, this is a poorly constructed movie. It’s way too long, has a poor story, a predictable plot and premise, a boring setting, and is set in an indeterminate time, etc.

The plot, in which the appealing underdogs must overcome the overachieving jerks in order to save their low rent livelihoods, is the stiff upon which this cast hangs their act, and the act is the show.

Broken Lizard is a New York and Los Angeles based comedy troop made up of this movie’s director and his co-writers. The movie is merely a vehicle for their uproarious act. I’ve never seen them onstage, but, based upon this funny (no, really) film, I’m anxious to taste them. They are difficult to categorize. They aren’t slackers, because they lack the phony Gen X cool, and they aren’t thugs, ruffians, and lowlifes. Goofy and dumb doesn’t quite fit.

They’re like regulars guys, and their extreme antics are their means to wile away the extreme boredom, continued dullness, and constant pain-in-the-ass throb of life. Their sexual antics are loud without being raunchy. Their act is harmful, but like “Beavis and Butthead” and “Bart Simpson,” they are mostly harmful to themselves. Broken Lizard comes across as regular guys having a way too wild time.

When you watch Super Troopers, you can forget about what a movie is supposed to be like and what’s supposed to be in a movie, you just have a great time laughing at these clowns.

Yeah, maybe the show does go on a bit too long, as if Broken Lizard is not aware that as funny as they are, they can wear out their welcome, but that doesn’t take away from the fun, not by much.

6 of 10
B

Updated: Wednesday, April 09, 2014

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

Friday, March 28, 2014

Review: "Rush Hour 3" Serves the Franchise Well

TRASH IN MY EYE, No. 3 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Rush Hour 3 (2007)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity, and language
DIRECTOR: Brett Ratner
WRITER: Jeff Nathanson (based on the characters created by Ross LaManna)
PRODUCERS: Roger Birnbaum, Andrew Z. Davis, Jonathan Glickman, Arthur M. Sarkissian, and Jay Stern
CINEMATOGRAPHER: J. Michael Muro
EDITORS: Mark Helfrich, Billy Weber, and Don Zimmerman
COMPOSER: Lalo Schifrin

ACTION/COMEDY/CRIME

Starring: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Youki Kudoh, Max von Sydow, Yvan Attal, Noémie Lenoir, Jingchu Zhang, Tzi Ma, and Roman Polanski

The subject of this movie review is Rush Hour 3, a 2007 action movie and crime comedy from director Brett Ratner. It is the third film in the Rush Hour movie franchise. In Rush Hour 3, Lee and Carter head to Paris, after an attempted assassination on an ambassador, to protect a French woman with knowledge about the Triads’ secret leaders.

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker return for the long-awaited third installment of their wildly popular comic action film franchise, Rush Hour. While Rush Hour 3 is funny and action-packed, the stars and director seem to be trying too hard.

After his dear friend, Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma), is shot, Hong Kong Police Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) finds himself guarding Han’s daughter, Soo Yung (Jingchu Zhang), from the Triads who want Han and the information he has on them destroyed. There is, however, another complication when Lee discovers that Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada), someone from his past who is greatly important to him, suddenly appears and is associated with the Triads.

LAPD Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) leaves the doghouse of traffic detail to help his old friend, Lee. Soon, the duo is in Paris looking for two elusive women, the sexy Geneviéve (Noémie Lenoir) and the mysterious “Shy Shen,” who may hold the secrets that the Triads guard so jealously. But in Paris, Lee and Carter are out of their element and always in trouble and/or danger.

Rush Hour 3 has its moments – in fact, plenty of them, but there seem to be an equal number of times in which the pratfalls, explosions, gunfire, banter, sex, etc. seem forced. The sad thing is that neither director Brett Ratner nor his two stars need to be so over the top. With two strong comic actors – Lee being the great physical comedian and Tucker personifying the fast-talking streetwise comic – the Rush Hour franchise has the perfect opposites-attract pair. It’s not that hard to build an action comedy around them with only the thinnest scenario.

Instead, Chris Tucker’s witty banter often turns to babbling, and Jackie Chan’s fighting and gymnastic scenes usually make him look like a tired windup toy or a beat-up action figure caught in a wind tunnel. It is okay to refry the same old shtick; Ratner and writer Jeff Nathanson just overcooked it and let some of the fun get scorched. Still, seeing Chan and Tucker back together is good, and the movie is not exactly bad. In fact, Rush Hour 3 is good enough to make a fourth film worth the wait.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Updated: Friday, March 28, 2014

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

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Review: "Kick-Ass 2" Kicks Better Ass

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 7 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Jeff Wadlow
WRITER: Jeff Wadlow (based upon the comic books by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.)
PRODUCERS: Adam Bohling, Tarquin Pack, Brad Pitt, David Reid, and Matthew Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tim Maurice Jones (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Eddie Hamilton
COMPOSERS: Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Morris Chestnut, Clark Duke, Augustus Prew, Donald Fiason, Garret M. Brown, Steve Mackintosh, Monica Dolan, Robert Emms, Lindy Booth, Daniel Kaluuya, Olga Kurkulina, Tom Wu, Yancy Butler, and Jim Carrey

Kick-Ass 2 is a 2013 British-American superhero film and crime comedy from writer-director, Jeff Wadlow. It is based upon two comic books, Kick-Ass 2 and Hit Girl, from writer Mark Millar (the creator of Wanted) and John Romita, Jr. Kick-Ass 2 is also a sequel to the 2010 film, Kick Ass, which was also based on a Millar-Romita, Jr. comic book of the same name. In Kick-Ass 2 the movie, high-school superhero Kick-Ass joins a group of costumed crime-fighters who were inspired by him, while an old enemy plots revenge against him.

After the events of the first film, high school student Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) retired from fighting crime as the costumed vigilante/superhero, “Kick-Ass.” But now, he is bored, and begins training with Mindy Macready a/k/a Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), who is now 15-years-old. However, Mindy’s guardian is her late father’s friend, Detective Marcus Williams (Morris Chestnut), and he demands that Mindy give up being Hit Girl and become a proper high school student.

With Hit Girl taken out of action, Dave looks for a new partner and finds a group of normal citizens who were inspired by Kick-Ass to fight crime in costume. Led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), Kick-Ass and a small band of wannabe superheroes fight crime and do charity work.

Meanwhile, Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), whose crime boss father was killed by Kick-Ass, is frustrated that his mother forced him to stop being the costumed Red Mist. After he takes control of his family’s wealthy, Chris becomes what he calls the world’s first supervillain, The Motherfucker, and swears vengeance against Kick-Ass.

I thought that the first Kick Ass movie wasn’t as deranged as it thought it was, nor was it as entertaining as its source material. Kick-Ass 2 is as deranged as it thinks it is – perhaps even more so. Sometimes, it is too deranged – with violence that is off-putting. It is not that the violence is over-the-top, so much that it seems like the filmmakers almost seemed obsessed with spiting the critics, prudes, and people who cannot accept that this is make-believe and has nothing to do with real-world violence (like Newtown).

I think I find Kick-Ass 2 more entertaining than the first movie because the new film has one main plot. The first movie was kind of all over the place, which is understandable as it was introducing a new kind of superhero concept. Kick-Ass 2 is about revenge. Yes, the story has subplots about teen angst and self-doubt, parental-child conflict, and peer acceptance, but this is a movie about payback and the mindset one has to have in order to engage in revenge.

I thought Hit Girl dominated the first movie, thankfully. This time, Dave Lizewski and Chris D’Amico are just as fun to watch as Mindy Macready, although I honestly wish that Kick-Ass 2 has a few more hits of Hit Girl. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse deliver excellent performances that make their characters’ respective conflicts, obstacles, and goals seem quite genuine.

I can’t say exactly what, but Kick-Ass 2 seems to be missing something. I like the movie and had a blast watching some of it, but there were moments that I found only mildly amusing and entertaining. I guess that should be enough. I can say that Kick-Ass 2 has the wanton violence, foul language, and sexual content of the first film, but done a little more thoughtfully. Plus, Jim Carrey’s turn in a small role is an amazing little thing that has to be seen.

6 of 10
B

Friday, February 14, 2014

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