Negromancer News Bits and Bites for the Week of December 1 to 10, 2014 - Update #9

NEWS:

From Variety:  The 24th James Bond is named "Spectre" and is due November 6, 2015.

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From YahooMovies:  The title and cast of the new James Bond will be announced Thursday, December 4, 2014.

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From Variety:  The winner of the Thanksgiving holiday box office was The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 with an estimated gross of $82.7 million haul from Wednesday, November 26, 2014 to Sunday, November 30, 2014.

The film also won the Fri., Nov. 28th to 30th, 2014 weekend box office with an estimated take of $56.9 million.
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From THR:  Rupert Murdoch comments about the all-white cast of his company, 20th Century Fox's movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings.

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From THR:  Corey Sligh, an actor on "The Young and the Restless" was hit by a car and beaten on Thanksgiving.


COMIC BOOKS:

From YahooTV:  Krysten Ritter gets the lead in Marvel's Netflix series, "Marvel's A.K.A. Jessica Jones."

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From Variety:  Benedict Cumberbatch as Marvel's Doctor Strange is official.

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From YahooGames:  Synopsis for the "Fantastic Four" reboot.

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From YahooGames:  A look at the Vision as he will be in Avengers: Age of Ultron.


STAR WARS:

From IBTimes:  Rumors about Episode 7's take on Han and Leia's relationship.

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From TheVerge:  Next Episode 7 trailer may appear on "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

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From EntertainmentIE:  Could the plot described in this article be the plot for Episode 7.

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From CSN:  This whole "there were white stormtroopers only" thing simply reveals that a large percentage of white people in America are straight up racists.  If that were true, so what?  It's a new day in the Star Wars Universe.  Welcome to get over it or get out.

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From TheAtlantic:  Of course, there are black stormtroopers...

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From TheVerge:  Actor and nerd, Donald Faison, has been a Black stormtrooper for years.

From TheAtlantic:  Race in science fiction - mostly about films.

Review: "King's Ransom" is Funnier Than I Expected (Happy B'day, Anthony Anderson)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 138 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

King’s Ransom (2005)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual humor and language
DIRECTOR:  Jeff Byrd
WRITER:  Wayne Conley
PRODUCER:  Darryl Taja
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Robert McLachlan with Daniel Villeneuve
EDITOR:  Jeffrey Cooper
COMPOSERS:  Luce Gordon and Marcus Miller

COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Kellita Smith, Nicole Ari Parker, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine, Donald Faison, Leila Arcieri, Brooke D’Orsay, Jackie Burroughs, Lisa Marcos, and Charlie Murphy

The subject of this movie review is King’s Ransom, a 2005 comedy from New Line Cinema.  Starring Anthony Anderson, the film follows a despicable businessman who arranges his own kidnapping as a way to trump his gold-digging wife’s plans for his money, only to see the plot go awry.  King’s Ransom was poorly received by professional film critics, but I like it anyway.

In King’s Ransom (a kind of loose take on the 80’s comedy hit, Ruthless People), Malcolm King (Anthony Anderson), the owner of King Enterprises, is a successful and wealthy man, worth millions of dollars, but he’s also an A-#1-asshole and jerk.  He’s made a lot of enemies, from overworked and under-appreciated employees to his soon-to-be ex-wife, Renee King (Kellita Smith).  He is very concerned about his messy and likely expensive divorce, in which he may have to give up at least half of his wealth to Renee, so he devises a plan to keep his money out of her hands.  With the help of his mistress, Peaches Clarke (Regina Hall), Malcolm plots his own kidnapping in order to secure a fictitious ransom of $10 million – money he can keep away from his wife.

Malcolm, however, isn’t the only one with kidnapping him in mind.  Bitter that she wasn’t made a vice-president at King Enterprises, long-suffering employee, Angela Drake (Nicole Parker), cooks up a half-baked kidnap plot, but a dimwitted, down-on-his-luck, local bumpkin named Corey (Jay Mohr) is also plotting to kidnap Malcolm.  And it wouldn’t be a three-ring circus if Renee, with the help of her tongue-tied lover, didn’t have her own snatch and grab Malcolm plan go awry.

King’s Ransom was nearly dead on arrival when it opened in theatres this past spring, and it, of course, received awful reviews from movie reviewers.  However, the film is a comical and occasionally side-splitting laugher full of dumb jokes, bawdy humor, and low brow comedy, which is was likely deliberately written to be.  King’s Ransom is not great slapstick (and the timing seems a little off), but it works because the cast tries like heck to make it funny.  They succeeded; King’s Ransom is funny as hell.  I must repeat: it’s dumb, dumb, dumb again, but it’s supposed to be dumb, but funny, and it’s hilarious.  An urban comedy, it’s three times better than Soul Plane, but not as good as the Barbershop movies or Malibu’s Most Wanted.

Anthony Anderson is a great comic actor.  He’s as good as members of the so-called Frat Pack like Vince Vaughn and Jack Black, and is way better than Owen and Luke Wilson, but he won’t get the kind of primo movie parts they do.  He’s just a funny guy, and his acting credentials show even in a simple-minded film like this.  Almost all the cast shines, particularly Charlie Murphy (Eddie’s brother and a supporting player on “The Chappelle Show”), but Regina Hall stands out amongst the supporting players.  She is superb at playing character roles in comedies.  I hope that like Anderson, her skin color doesn’t keep her from getting at least one meaty comedy role per year.

6 of 10
B

Updated:  Thursday, August 15, 2013

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Review: "Clueless" is Best Remembered for Who Was in It

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Clueless (1995)
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sex related dialogue and some teen use of alcohol and drugs
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Amy Heckerling
PRODUCERS: Robert Lawrence and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bill Pope
EDITOR: Debra Chiate

COMEDY

Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy, Stacy Dash, Donald Faison, Dan Hedaya, Breckin Meyer, Justin Walker, Wallace Shawn, Jeremy Sisto, and Julie Brown

Clueless is certainly one of the most entertaining “teenaged” movies ever made, and it is thus so because of its creator, writer-director Amy Heckerling. Heckerling (Look Who’s Talking) is well remembered for directing another landmark movie about teenagers, the fantastic Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which influenced the pop culture of at least two generations of teenagers and young people after its 1982 debut.

Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) is a pampered Beverly Hills princess who shops for fine clothes, shoes, and accessories almost non-stop. With her friend Dionne Marie Davenport (Stacey Dash), she is the most popular girl in school. When she draws the ire of her father Mel (Dan Hedaya) for poor grades, she decides that she can earn a better grade from one of her teachers, Mr. Alphonse Hall (Wallace Shawn), by setting him up with a girl friend.

That venture successful, she decides to upgrade the looks of the new girl in school, Tai Fraiser (Brittany Murphy), and to find a boyfriend for Tai. It is during her manipulation of other people’s status that she slowly discovers she is really lonely. Her frustrating search for companionship reveals to her that she is the one who is clueless.

Clueless was probably the first film to capture the attention and bucks of the so-called Generation Y baby boomers. Like the out-of-nowhere hit making band Hanson, Clueless was a surprise success. It captured the flavor and essences of Southern California teenagers from well-to-do and affluent families who could indulge their children with expensive toys, clothes, cars, and other material things. Heckerling ably captures the language and style of these teens, simultaneously poking at and documenting them in her fictional film. Her most important achievement was that she took those character types and made a good film out of it.

The performances are actually understated and accomplished considering that the characters are so over the top. Ms. Silverstone, the youthful blond of the moment for a few years, portrays Cher as thoughtful girl, who truly does understand the needs of others, but strictly through her needs. The goal of the movie seems to be to teach her that she doesn’t have to only help people if it benefits her as much, if not more than, the ones she is helping. Ms. Silverstone subtly travels that path of education all the while keeping her character interesting and entertaining. Sometimes a good character can become a bore during the course of a film when the creators are trying to teach that character a lesson.

The rest of the cast is equally up to the challenge of entertaining. Paul Rudd is quite good as Cher’s stepbrother Josh Lucas, and Dan Hedaya’s Mel is the perfect wrangler for his daughter. There is also a wealth of young Hollywood faces and character actors who take their turn making the world of Cher so vivid, so silly, and so joyous.

And that’s what this movie is - joyous.

Fun, silly, irreverent, it is also a sly commentary on particular group of the youth of America, but the film possesses enough charm that the viewer focuses mostly on the comedy and romance. Only the keenest mind of a killjoy would focus on how vacuous this film can be at times. Heckerling has created a bright, sunny movie that is both smart and enjoyable. Part parody, part satire, and a little farce, Clueless is, alas, simply fun to watch.

6 of 10
B

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"Skyline" No "Independence Day"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 38 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Skyline (2010)
Running time: 94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some language, and brief sexual content
DIRECTORS: The Brothers Strause
WRITERS: Joshua Cordes and Liam O'Donnell
PRODUCERS: Kristian James Andresen, Liam O'Donnell, and Colin Strause and Greg Strause
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Watson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Nicholas Wayman-Harris
COMPOSER: Matthew Margeson

SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring: Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Crystal Reed, Neil Hopkins, David Zayas, Robin Gammell, and Donald Faison

Skyline is a 2010 alien invasion film from Colin and Greg Strause. Known as the Brothers Strause, the siblings directed Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. They also own the visual effects company, Hydraulx, which has created special effects for films like 300, The Day After Tomorrow, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Skyline follows New York City-based artist, Jarrod (Eric Balfour), and his girlfriend, Elaine (Scottie Thompson). The two are traveling to Los Angeles for the birthday party of Terry (Donald Faison), Jarrod’s best friend who runs a successful movie special effects company. After a night of wild partying, Jarrod and company awaken to discover Terry’s apartment filled with a mysterious blue light. The origin of the light is an alien invasion. Monstrous alien ships hover over the city and are vacuuming up thousands of people. Jarrod and friends stick together to survive and plot a way to escape while the alien machines pick them off one by one.

Skyline has some wonderful visual special and creature effects. The film seems to be a mixture of ideas from George Pal’s The War of the Worlds (1953) and Independence Day (1996). There is some Oscar-worthy visual effects work here, but even this dazzling light show cannot blind the viewer to Skyline’s glaring problems – a poor cast and even poorer characters.

I don’t want to dog the actors, but they don’t inspire interest or even engage what interest you might have for this flick. The one actor who could do this film some good, Donald Faison, isn’t in the movie for very long. The rest of the actors have no star power and their acting isn’t bad – it’s just lackluster. The characters are just deadwood and driftwood. The writers merely hint at their personalities, professions, and interests, but abandon that when its time for the invasion theatrics to begin.

You may find yourself begging for more science fiction/alien stuff, especially during the moments when the movie focuses on the characters. Skyline is half a really good alien invasion movie, and the other half is pure tedium.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, May 07, 2011

"Something New" is Quite Cool

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 135 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Something New (2006)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual references
DIRECTOR: Sanaa Hamri
WRITER: Kriss Turner
PRODUCER: Stephanie Allain
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shane Hurlbut
EDITOR: Melissa Kent
Black Reel Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Simon Baker, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Mike Epps, Taraji P. Henson, Donald Faison, Alfre Woodard, Blair Underwood, Golden Brooks, Earl Billings, and Matt Malloy

Kenya Denise McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) has carefully calculated her professional life, and the young African-American accounting executive is up for partner at the firm for which she works. Still, she’s concerned that her personal life doesn’t measure up to her professional success. She accepts a blind date coordinated by a colleague, but the blind date turns out to be a white man named Brian Kelly (Simon Baker). She brushes him off, but that’s not the last she hears from Brian. He also turns out to be the sexy, free-spirited landscape architect a friend recommends. A relationship develops between Kenya and Brian, but though he’s comfortable with her, she can’t get past the fact that he is a white man. She’s later meets the IBM, the Ideal Black Man, a tax attorney named Mark (Blair Underwood), and they seemingly hit it off. Although Mark seems like her dream come true, Kenya’s heart might be somewhere else – regardless of what her friends, family, and the rest of society have to say.

Something New is the latest film about interracial (an absurd term) dating. The best-known recent examples include Spike Lee’s infamous Jungle Fever and the Julia Stiles hit, Save the Last Dance. Something New is not as incendiary as the former, nor does it have the youthful passion of the latter. The film by director Sanaa Hamri and writer Kriss Turner (a TV scribe whose credits include “Whoopi” and “Everybody Hates Chris”) is rather tame, but gets its energy from a willing cast. We know what the film is supposed to be about – unexpected love, but we know what this film is really about – a black girl dating a white guy. The actors grapple with that, and all they have to work with is Turner’s screenplay, which doesn’t know if it’s a love story or a lesson planner. Everything seems a little too loose, in a subject matter that demands structure (although I may be wrong) Still, what Turner’s script and Hamri’s directing offer would be enough to make this a good film. The actors make Something New a little better than just “good.”

One really impressive thing about this is that it showcases so many talented Black actors, whom we’d normally not see, at least not more than once a year. Alfre Woodard is fantastic as Kenya’s mother, Joyce McQueen, and one can only assume that being a Black actress has more often than not been an impediment to her career. Here, she shines as a woman madly wedded to her social status and to the idea that her children should live up to it – or so it seems. Wendy Raquel Robinson is equally good as the friend/voice of reason, Cheryl.

Leads Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker do have screen chemistry, mostly because they play their characters so well, knowing exactly what to give their characters respective to the needs of the story. It’s their performances, in particularly Sanaa Lathan’s that gives this film its juice. Lathan practically emanates career obsession and embodies the hard-working, professional black woman tightly holding it together in all the ways it takes to climb the corporate ladder. At times, it is uncanny how true she makes Kenya’s reactions to people and situations. Her acting in the Starbucks’ scene when Kenya first meets Brian is uncommonly good – the art of verisimilitude with an attention to detail that gives this scene a documentary feel. It’s everything she does. Kenya’s vainly subtle ticks when she’s in public with Brian seem like painful compromises with strangers so that they won’t sneer at her for being with a white man. Those things that Lathan does make this a genuinely moving picture.

Baker is perfect as the laid-back, free spirit who just won’t hide his disdain for social hang-ups. In the end, he tips the balance and makes this movie seem, if not quite real, honest in its intentions. Something New makes its points in a gentle way while offering several entertaining supporting characters and then occasionally gives the viewer a hard nudge thanks to fine situational acting. Something New is the good choice for those wishing to either make that leap to the other side or just see how cool things could be if we all just got along… or at least the few of us who get along no matter what the hell the others have to say

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, June 24, 2006