TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews: Drama

Showing posts with label Drama. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Review: "THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS" Focuses on Family

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 32 of 2025 (No. 2038) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

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

Rating: MPA – PG-13 for action/violence and some language

DIRECTOR: Matt Shakman

WRITERS: Josh Friedman, Eric Person, and Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer; from a story by Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer, and Kat Wood (based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)

PRODUCER: Kevin Feige

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jess Hall (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Nona Khodai and Tim Roche

COMPOSER: Michael Giacchino

SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION and FANTASY/DRAMA

Starring: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, and Matthew Wood (voice)

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

-- I found the lead characters, “The Fantastic Four” to be a bit too mild-mannered, and things do seem to come too easily for them. However, this quartet is quite lovable and adorable, and when he comes along, the baby starts to steal the show.

-- “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” has two great villains in Galactus and the Silver Surfer, with the Surfer dominating most scenes in which she appears. In fact, the action scenes are hyper-intense and breathtaking. I was riveted to the screen while watching them.

-- Overall, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is by far the best “Fantastic Four” movie to date, and I put it ahead of the recent “Superman” and “Thunderbolts*”

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a 2025 American superhero movie and science fiction film from director Matt Shakman and Marvel Studios. The film is based on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, which was created by artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee and first appeared in the comic book, The Fantastic Four #1 (cover dated: November 1961). It is also the 37th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the second reboot of the Fantastic Four film franchise. In First Steps, the Fantastic Four is forced to balance their family life and their superhero life as never before when a god-like space being and his enigmatic herald arrive and mark Earth for destruction.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens on Earth-828 in the year 1960. It introduces “The Fantastic Four,” a quartet of astronauts turned superheroes. First is the highly intelligent scientist, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), who as “Mr. Fantastic” can stretch any part of his body to great lengths. Next is Reed's wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), the founder of the “Future Foundation,” a global demilitarization and world peace organization. As the “Invisible Woman” Sue can generate force fields and turn invisible. Then, there is the brilliant pilot, former astronaut, and Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), a.k.a. “The Thing,” whose skin has been transformed into a layer of orange rock, which grants him super-human strength and durability. Finally, there is Sue's younger brother, Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), who as the “Human Torch,” can engulf his body in flames, control fire, and fly.

The world honors The Fantastic Four for what they have given humanity, so when Reed and Sue reveal that they are expecting a child, the world celebrates and prepares for the new arrival, while also wondering if the child will also have super-powers. However, the celebrating is short-lived. A metallic-skinned, seemingly-female alien arrives from space, riding a surfboard. This “Silver Surfer” (Julia Garner) is the herald of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a planet-devouring cosmic being, and he is coming to devour Earth. Now, the members of The Fantastic Four face their toughest test ever, and the price they must pay to save the Earth may be too high for even them to pay.

I actually enjoyed Tim Story's two Fantastic Four films the aughts, Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Director Josh Trank's 2015 reboot of the franchise, Fantastic Four, had a lot of good ideas, but alleged studio interference turned the film into a wreck. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is not at all a wreck. Its intense action sequences had me gripping the armrests of my seat at the local movie theater. The villains are great. Galactus is awesome and even scarier than the gargantuan “Celestials” of Marvel Studios' 2021 epic, Eternals; he seemed unbeatable. Julia Garner's Silver Surfer is 10 times the herald the one in Rise of the Silver Surfer is. This Silver Surfer, whose original name was “Shalla Bal,” is like a velociraptor on a surfboard. She chases our heroes with the unrelenting hellish fury of the “Headless Horseman” that chases Ichabod Crane in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” segment of Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949).

On the other hand, the heroes of The Fantastic Four: First Steps come across as too mild-mannered. They are so accomplished that everything seems to come too easy for them. Even when they are angry with one another, that anger lacks passion. In fact, I'd call the cast and characters dispassionate. It is as if the film's director, Matt Shakman, who does an excellent job overall, wants his leads to be inoffensive. I like the casting of the leads, but they need to breath a little more fire.

In the end, I like that Disney and Marvel Studios finally take the opportunity to honor the late Jack Kirby (1917-1994), the comic book writer-artist who created the Fantastic Four with the late Stan Lee (1922-2018). There are several nods to Kirby, and this is long overdue. That makes me love First Steps even more. It is almost a great film, and its special effects and inventive and imaginative retro-futuristic elements endlessly fascinate me. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is hugely entertaining, and these are the right first steps to bring the Fantastic Four into the cinematic prominence they deserve.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Review: "MARIA FULL OF GRACE" Remains a Timely Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Maria Full of Grace (2004)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/Columbia; Language: Spanish/English

Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)

Rating: MPAA – R for drug content and language

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Joshua Marston

PRODUCER: Paul S. Mezey

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jim Denault

EDITORS: Anne McCabe and Lee Percy

COMPOSERS: Leonardo Heiblum and Jacobo Lieberman

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yenny Paola Vega, John Alex Toro, Guilied Lopez, Patricia Rae, Orlando Tobon, Fernando Velasquez, and Jaime Osorio Gomez

Maria Full of Grace is a 2004 Spanish-language drama film from writer-director Joshua Marston. The film is a co-production between the U.S. and Colombia. Maria Full of Grace focuses on a pregnant Colombian teenager who becomes a drug mule for a trafficking ring in order to make desperately-needed money for her family.

Catalina Sandino Moreno earned a 2005 Oscar nomination in the category of “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” for her performance as a teenage coke mule in Joshua Marston’s Maria Full of Grace. Maria Alvarez (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is a spirited 17-year old girl who lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in impoverished rural Columbia. After learning that she may be pregnant, Maria suddenly quits her job stripping roses at a flower plantation after her boss continually hassles her because of her morning sickness.

She meets a handsome, motorcycle-riding young man named Franklin (John Alex Toro), who introduces her to the risky and ruthless world of international drug trafficking. She meets his boss, Javier (Jaime Osorio Gomez), who pays Maria a lot of money to swallow over 50 latex pellets containing cocaine. With the pellets in her stomach, she flies to New York City with three other coke mules, including her friend, Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega) and a somewhat experienced carrier named Lucy (Guilied Lopez), where they are too deliver the drugs to men waiting in a hotel. Complications arise, and Maria must gain the grace to survive and move towards a brighter future.

Maria Full of Grace is a quiet and compelling drama, but it is also as riveting and as thrilling as the best edge-of-your-seat crime films. Catalina Sandino Moreno gives a gripping performance as a strong of heart young woman who is quiet savvy in even the worst circumstances. A lot of Ms. Moreno’s performance is shown through her face and soulful eyes, and she engages her audience without any flashy tricks. Writer/director Joshua Marston gets similar performances from all of his talented supporting cast, and his film is similar in tone to 2003’s Dirty Pretty Things, meaning that it’s a superb, taut drama that I highly recommend.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Edited from the original: Sunday, July 20, 2025

NOTES:

2005 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Catalina Sandino Moreno)

2005 NAACP Image Awards (NAACP): 1 nomination: “Outstanding Independent or Foreign Film”

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Sunday, July 6, 2025

Review: Tyler Perry's "STRAW" Gets the Best of Taraji P. Henson

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 29 of 2025 (No. 2035) by Leroy Douresseaux

Straw (2025)

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

Rating: not rated by the MPA / TV-MA

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, and Tony L. Strickland

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Justyn Moro (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Nick Coker

COMPOSER: Dara Taylor

DRAMA/CRIME

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Sherri Shepherd, Teyana Taylor, Sinbad, Rockmond Dunbar, Ashley Versher, Mike Merrill, Glynn Turman, Shalet Monique, Diva Tyler, Derek Phillips, Tilky Jones, Katrina Nelson, Justin James Boykin, and Gabby Jackson

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

-- Taraji P. Henson gives a tour-de-force performance in Straw, the third Tyler Perry film in which she has been the lead and her fourth Perry film, overall. It is a treat to watch so skilled and talented an actress in this film

-- However, as good as it is, Straw is very sad and mournful. Straw is not a tear-jerkier. It is a python of sadness that will squeeze the tears out of you, dear readers.

Straw is a 2025 psychological drama and crime film from writer-director Tyler Perry. The film is a “Netflix Original,” and it began streaming on the service June 6, 2025. Straw focuses on an African-American single mother who is forced by a series of unfortunate events into inadvertently taking hostages at a local bank branch.

Straw introduces Janiyah Wiltkinson (Taraji P. Henson). She is a single mother living in a dilapidated apartment with her frequently ill daughter, Aria (Gabby Jackson). Janiyah has been able to hold things together, but one particular day, everything starts to fall apart. Aria's school is demanding $40 for lunch money, and the landlord at her apartment complex is threatening to evict Janiyah if she does not come up with the rent money.

Janiyah's mean boss, Richard (Glynn Turman), at the “Super Center” grocery store is also threatening to fire her over being late for work and for often having to leave work early. Then, the unthinkable happens, and Janiyah finds herself at “Benevolent Bank & Trust,” where a misunderstanding becomes a major incident. Now, the bank's manager, Nicole Parker (Sherri Shepherd), and a female police detective, Detective Kay Raymond (Teyana Taylor), may be the only ones who can save Janiyah from more tragedy.

Straw is the fourth Tyler Perry in which actress Taraji P. Henson has appeared, and the third one in which she has been the lead. I have seen 2009's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Henson's first starring role in a Perry film, but I have yet to see her second Perry lead, 2018's Acrimony. Straw is very different from I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which also has Henson play a desperate single mother, but that film was nowhere near as heavyhearted as Straw.

Straw is so gloomy and mournful that it would not be much of an exaggeration to say that I could cut the sadness with a knife and make sandwiches out of it. I don't want to spoil the film because as crazy as it seems that everything starts to fall apart for Janiyah on the same day, an even crazier or perhaps surreal ending to the film is in the works the entire time.

For all that is unbelievable about his film's plot, Tyler Perry has made Straw into a statement about and indictment of a system that makes it really expensive for poor African-American women to be poor. Henson, in another sterling performance, makes Perry's eccentricities in Straw convey both his melodramatic goals and socioeconomic messages. If people think a film like Straw is beneath Henson's talents, they would be wrong. The very least one can say is that Tyler Perry is not under-utilizing Taraji P. Henson's talents the way the broader... film industry is.

Once again, I can say of a Tyler Perry movie that there is nothing like Straw. It is one of Perry's better directorial efforts because for all its intensity, Straw's is less melodrama and more cinema verite-ish. Perry and Henson make me feel that Straw is reality and that its possibilities and speculations are realistic. Sure, the film doesn't so much as jerk the tears out of the viewer as it squeezes the tears out of the viewer. Still, Straw reveals that in the lives of certain Americans, the last straw really has many other straws coming behind it.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, July 6, 2025

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Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Review: In "THE ALTO KNIGHTS," De Niro is Twice as Nice

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 of 2025 (No. 2032) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Alto Knights (2025)

Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, three minutes)

MPA – R for violence and pervasive language

DIRECTOR: Barry Levinson

WRITER: Nicholas Pileggi

PRODUCERS: Barry Levinson, Jason Sosnoff, Irwin Winkler, Charles Winkler, and David Winkler

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dante Spinotti (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Douglas Crise

COMPOSER: David Fleming

DRAMA/CRIME/HISTORICAL

Starring: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Kathrine Narducci, Cosmo Jarvis, Michael Rispoli, Robert Uricola, Frank Piccirillo, Matt Servitto, Louis Mustillo, Joe Bacino, Anthony J. Gallo, James Ciccone, Wallace Langham, and Amadeo Fusca

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

-- Robert De Nero's standout performance in the dual roles as infamous mobsters Frank Costello and Vito Genovese is work of a artist who is aging very well

-- The Alto Knights does have a slow pace, but it is a beautiful that recounts a pivotal moment in the history of the American Mafia. So this is a film for mob movie fans

The Alto Knights is a 2025 American historical drama, biopic, and mafia movie from director Barry Levinson and writer Nicholas Pileggi. The film stars Robert De Niro in a dual role as real-life 1950s mob bosses, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. The Alto Knights focuses on two of New York City's most notorious organized crime bosses as these once best friends' distrust of one another leads to a silent and deadly mob war.

The Alto Knights introduces Frank Costello (Robert De Niro) and Vito Genovese (Robert De Niro), two New York City mob bosses. They were childhood best friends and partners in crime. Eventually, Vito found himself atop the Luciano crime family, but when he was forced to leave the U.S. in 1937 for fear of criminal prosecution, Vito put Frank in his place. When he returned a decade later, Vito was unable to reclaim his old position from Frank.

Now, the story opens in New York City, 1957. Frank returns to the apartment complex where he lives in the penthouse suite with his wife, Bobbie Costello (Debra Messing). Vincent Gigante (Cosmo Jarvis), a rising solider in Vito's crew, shoots Frank in the head near the elevator. However, the bullet does not penetrate and only seriously wounds Frank, but that attempt on his life does leaves him at a crossroads.

Sensing Vito's ambition to be the “boss of bosses,” Frank decides to retire, but Vito, who is both exceedingly ambitious and extremely paranoid, does not believe Frank's intentions. The distrust between them spills over into murderous violence. Soon, Frank realizes that his life and the safety of his wife are hanging by a thread. To be rid of the empire he painstakingly built, he may have to tear it all down.

If you watch such cable networks as “The History Channel” and “National Geographic,” dear readers, some of the real-life events depicted in The Alto Knights will be familiar to you. The Alto Knights' screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi has authored two nonfiction books about the American Mafia that were adapted into film. He wrote the screenplay adaptation of his 1995 nonfiction book, Wiseguy, which became director Martin Scorsese's 1990 film, Goodfellas. Scorsese and Pileggi brought the latter's 1995 nonfiction book, Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas, to life as the 1995 film, Casino. With his original screenplay for The Alto Knights, Pileggi takes some liberties with the relationships, both professional and personal, regarding and surrounding Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. However, the event that ends this film is a real-life turning point in the history of the American Mafia. Also, this film's title, The Alto Knights, takes its nae from “The Alto Knights Social Club,” a once prominent Mafia hangout in New York City's “Little Italy” neighborhood.

That aside, while some critics have derided this film as being full of tired mob movie tropes and of having a meandering pace, I think The Alto Knights is fantastic. Pileggi essentially distills the decades-long and complicated relationship between Frank Costello and Vito Genovese into a streamlined film that delves into history, biography, and character drama. Where some would say meandering, I would say that director Barry Levinson ruminates and dissects.

Levinson has always been a patient storyteller, perhaps a bit too much. [I found his Oscar-winning triumph, Rain Man (1988), to be painful to watch the one time I saw it.] Through the eyes of Frank and via his relation with Vito, Levinson recounts the time in which Americans really began to understand just how deeply the roots of the American Mafia were buried inside American politics and business.

The Alto Knights has visually impressive production values. The art direction and set decoration is like a “best of” edition of Architectural Digest Magazine. The costumes – from everyday work clothing to elegant evening attire – is sumptuous. The make-up and hair department, lead by Lori Hicks and Ruth G. Carsch, does the damn thing. The make-up and hair-styling in The Alto Knights deserves an art gallery show and probably its own “art of” coffee table book. This crew does as much as the actors in establishing who and what the characters are.

Speaking of acting, there are some good performances in the film, including a wry turn by Debra Messing as Bobbie Costello. However, the star here is Robert De Niro, and it should not be a surprise that De Niro convincingly fashions two distance personalities in Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. Subtly and quietly, De Niro reveals why these two men would ultimately clash; everything about each was the opposite of the other.

I seriously love The Alto Knights. It is one of the year's best dramas, thus far. I plan on watching The Alto Knights again, and I heartily recommend it to fans of historical films about the mafia.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

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Saturday, May 17, 2025

Review: "THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR" Offers a Full Cup of Wes Anderson Sugar

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 of 2025 (No. 2028) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Wonderful Live of Henry Sugar (2023) – Live-Action Short Film

Running time: 40 minutes

MPA – PG for smoking

DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson

WRITER: Wes Anderson (based on the short story by Roald Dahl)

PRODUCERS: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, and Steven Rales

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Yeoman (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Andrew Weisblum and Barney Pilling

Academy Award winner

SHORT FILM – FANTASY and COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade

Roald Dahl's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a 2023 American live-action, fantasy and comedy-drama short film from director Wes Anderson. It is based on the 1977 short story, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” by Roald Dahl. [For this review, I will refer to the film as The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.] After a film festival debut and a limited theatrical release, the film began streaming on Netflix as a “Netflix Original” on September 27, 2023. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar the movie focuses mainly on the story of Henry Sugar whose life changes when he reads a story about a clairvoyant guru.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar opens in the writing hut of author Roald Dahl (Ralph Fiennes), who tells the tale of Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch). “Henry Sugar” is the pseudonym of a 41-year-old white man, a bachelor who inherited a fortune from his late father. Henry has never worked a day in his life and wanders the world aimlessly living the life of a useless rich man. While visiting the estate of his friend, “Sir William W,” Henry comes across a blue notebook containing the writings of Z Z Chatterjee (Dev Patel), the head surgeon at Lords and Ladies Hospital in Calcutta.

Chatterjee tells the story of his encounter with Imdad Kahn (Ben Kingsley), who is part of a traveling circus. Imdad is billed as “the man who sees without his eyes,” but before Imdad became this “clairvoyant guru,” he had an encountered with someone special. And the story of what happened to Imdad after this encounter will change Henry Sugar's life.

In anticipation of director Wes Anderson's new film, The Phoenician Scheme (2025), I decided to catch up on Anderson's films that I have not yet seen and re-watch some I'd previously seen. I'm also working on a “10 Best” list of Anderson's films.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the second time Anderson has adapted a work by author Roald Dahl. The other was 2009's primarily stop-motion animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was based on Dahl's 1970 children's book, Fantastic Mr. Fox. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is also one of four live-action short films directed by Anderson and based on Dahl's work. Netflix released the four of them as the anthology film, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, in March 2024.

Like Anderson's brilliant 2021 film, The French Dispatch, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is an exercise in Anderson's distinctive style of storytelling, featuring his particular visual aesthetic. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar looks like a mixture of a stage play performed on a series of shifting sets that are similar to dioramas, jewel boxes, and cabinets of curiosities. I think that The French Dispatch, thus far, is the ultimate expression of Anderson's style only because The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is only thirty-seven percent as long as The French Dispatch in terms of runtime.

With a main cast that is comprised of Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade, there are bound to be good performances. However, these are also the kinds of actors that both fit in and rise above being mere figurines in Anderson's panoramas or in any other “auteur's” work for that matter.

As for the film, Anderson offers a charming parable of spiritual growth that has a fairy tale, once-upon-a-time quality. I am sure that fans of Wes Anderson's films (like myself) will consider The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar special. People not familiar with the last 20 years of Anderson's filmmaking may not care for this... cup of sugar.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, May 17, 2025

NOTES:

2024 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Live Action Short Film” (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales)

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Friday, May 9, 2025

Review: Marvel's "THUNDERBOLTS*" Wants to Be "The New Avengers" So Badly

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 of 2025 (No. 2027) by Leroy Douresseaux

Thunderbolts* (2025)

Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive and drug references

DIRECTOR: Jake Schreier

WRITERS: Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo (based upon the Marvel Comics)

PRODUCER: Kevin Feige

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Droz Palermo (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Angela M. Catanzaro and Harry Yoon

COMPOSER: Son Lux (Ryan Lott, Rafiq Bhatia, Ian Chang)

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION and DRAMA

Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan, Olga Kurylenko, and Wendell Pierce

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

--Thunderbolts* is very entertaining. It fights a lot and talks a lot.

--The film's main character is really Yelena Belova. It would have been a better film with Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier as the lead, but Florence Pugh is quite good as Yelena

--Entertainment value aside, Thunderbolts* is Marvel Studios' least interesting team movie

Thunderbolts* is a 2025 American superhero fantasy film and action movie directed by Jake Schreier and produced by Marvel Studios. It is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film features Marvel Comics' “Thunderbolts,” an antihero and super-villain superhero team created by writer Kurt Busiek and artist Mark Bagley that first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #449 (cover dated: January 1997). Thunderbolts* the movie focuses on an unconventional team of antiheroes that takes on a conniving CIA official and a dangerous super-being while confronting their own dark pasts.

Thunderbolts* opens in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) destroys an O.X.E. Group laboratory on behalf of CIA director, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Valentina is facing a Congressional committee that wants to impeach her in order to have her removed as CIA director, so she is having to conceal all her illicit programs. One of those programs in need of concealment is the O.X.E. Group's “Sentry” project, which involves experimentation on humans in order to develop a superhuman.

Valentina dispatches Yelena to a remote O.X.E. facility on a mission to destroy sensitive materials. After entering the facility, however, Yelena discovers that she is not alone. John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) are also there, under the pretense of a mission. The real reason all of them are in the facility is so that Valentina can have them and any incriminating evidence against her be destroyed simultaneously. Another of this mission's surprises is the sudden appearance of a mysterious man named “Bob” (Lewis Pullman).

Now, Yelena and this bunch of reprobates embark on mission to punish Valentina, and they are joined by Yelena's father, Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). They gather in New York City for a showdown, but there are wildcards. Who is “Sentry?” And what is “Void?”

Thunderbolts* is like a sequel, of sorts, to the 2021 Marvel Studios film, Black Widow. It also references such previous Marvel Studios films as Marvel's The Avengers (2012) and the recent Captain America: Brave New World (2025), and also the Disney+ television series, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021), to name a few.

At the center of Thunderbolts* is Yelena Belova, and the good thing is that the actress playing the character, Florence Pugh, is quite good. Pugh gives Yelena gravitas, and I find myself believing almost everything about the character. That said I would have preferred Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes a.k.a. “The Winter Soldier” as the “magnetic center” of Thunderbolts*, but I guess the character has already had plenty of time to showcase himself in previous Marvel Studios productions.

Beyond those two characters, I found myself bored with Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina, although I am a long time fan of Louis-Dreyfus because of her role in the former NBC sitcom, “Seinfeld.” I like actor David Harbour as “Red Guardian,” but the character is a bit overwrought, while Hannah John-Kamen is overly wasted as “Ghost.” Geraldine Viswanathan is very nice in the supporting role of Mel, Valentina's assistant. Lewis Pullman, who seems very skilled at creating a new personality for each acting role he takes on, is very, very good as “Bob.” Marvel Studios would do well not to waste the potential of what Pullman can bring to the MCU.

All that said, Thunderbolts* is my least favorite MCU team movie. Don't get me wrong. It is a very entertaining film because director Jake Schreier makes the most of an offbeat screenplay and of the work of the film editors, cinematographers, and other collaborators. The result is that they deliver a movie that is surprisingly humorous and is often laugh-out-loud funny.

I don't buy all the depression and battling-personal-demons melodrama of the film's story. It is often overdone, contrived, and tedious enough to drag down the moments when that does feel genuine. There is enough enjoyment in Thunderbolts* to make me give it a relatively high rating. If this movie were made by most other film studios, however, I would give it a lower rating.

[Thunderbolts* has an extra scene in the middle of the credits and one at the end of the credits.]

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, May 9, 2025

THUNDERBOLTS* is currently available in various DVD and Blu-ray format at Amazon.

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Thursday, April 24, 2025

Review: Merchant Ivory's "THE WILD PARTY" Gets Wild... Eventually

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2025 (No. 2025) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Wild Party (1975)

Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: James Ivory

WRITER: Walter Marks (based on the narrative poem by Walter Moncure March)

PRODUCER: Ismail Merchant

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Walter Lassally (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Kent McKinney

COMPOSERS: Laurence Rosenthal; Walter Marks (songs)

COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: James Coco, Raquel Welch, Perry King, Tiffany Bolling, Royal Dano, David Dukes, Annette Ferra, Eddie Laurence, Bobo Lewis, Regis Cordic, Dena Dietrich, Baruch Lamet, Fred Franklyn, J.S. Johnson, Tom Reese, Michael Grant Hall, Skipper, Jennifer Lee Pryor, Mews Small, and Geraldine Baron

The Wild Party is a 1975 comedy-drama and music film from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. The film is loosely based on The Wild Party, a book-length narrative poem written by Joseph Moncure March and first published in 1926. Walter Marks wrote the film's screenplay and the song score. The Wild Party the movie focuses on a silent film comedian who throws a lavish party where he will screen his new silent film in hopes that it will save his failing career.

The Wild Party opens in 1929 at “St. Mark's Hospital” in Los Angeles, California. There, we meet James Morrison (David Dukes), who has heavy bandaging around his neck. He begins to recount the activities of the previous day, and the story moves to “Casa Alegria,” the palatial home of the silent film star and comedian, Jolly Grimm (James Coco), born “Carlo Grimaldi.”

James is a poet, but he did some screenwriting for Jolly's latest silent film, “Brother Jasper,” a comic and dramatic biopic about a monk. Jolly seems to have everything: wealth; a mansion; a faithful manservant and friend in Tex (Royal Dano), and an excellent maid and housekeeper in Wilma (Bob Lewis). Jolly also has a beautiful and faithful mistress, the former vaudeville dancer, Queenie (Raquel Welch). But Jolly no longer has Hollywood's interest.

Jolly was once a great star of the silent era, but sound film is taking over, and it has been a long time since Jolly has had a hit. Although he has self-financed the production of “Brother Jasper,” Jolly still needs to sell the film to a studio for distribution. He decides to throw a huge party at his mansion where he will screen the film for perspective buyers, especially the studio heads, A.J. Murchison (Regis Cordic) and Kreutzer (Eddie Laurence).

The party is complicated by the fact that Hollywood power couple, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, are also throwing a lavish gathering at their mansion and estate known as “Pickfair,” and some of the people Jolly and Queenie want to invite would rather go to Pickfair. Jolly is a heavy drinker, and at the party, the more he drinks, the angrier he becomes. The arrival of the virile young actor, Dale Sword (Perry King), and Queenie's interest in him are about to make a wild party have an ending wilder than anyone expected.

2025 is the fiftieth anniversary of the original theatrical release (1975) of the Merchant Ivory's film, The Wild Party. This month (April 2025), the cable network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), is screening several films from Merchant Ivory Productions. The Wild Party is scheduled to be one of them. After early, moderate success in the 1960s with such films as The Householder (1963) and Shakespeare Wallah (1965), Merchant Ivory suffered some lean years in the 1970s, and The Wild Party, which yielded disappointing box office results, was one of the films that defined the lean years.

The Wild Party's wild party doesn't really turn crazy until the last 40 minutes or so of the film. Until then, the film really talks too much – for a film about the end of “Silent Film era.” Still, James Coco's strong performance as Jolly Grimm and Raquel Welch's luminous looks and subtle portrayal of Queenie have a surprising allure.

However, I must say that The Wild Party's following departments: hair and make-up, costumes, and art direction and set decoration, are also this film's stars. The American rapper who goes by the stage name, “Da Brat,” once said that she liked Old Hollywood movies because (not an exact quote) they had class and everyone dressed up and went to clubs and parties. This Wild Party, a 1975 feature film, recalls the lavish backdrops and non-stop reverie of a certain kind of Old Hollywood film.

The Wild Party was apparently a troubled production, and neither director James Ivory nor producer Ismail Merchant found the endeavor pleasant. That aside, I like this film (although director Damien Chazelle's 2022 film, Babylon, is better at depicting the chaos of the transition from silent film to sound motion pictures). Although it never really comes together until the party really gets wild, there are a number of stand-out scenes, and many of the supporting actors and actresses have a moment to really shine. The Wild Party isn't a typical Merchant Ivory film, but it shows that everything they touch has, at the very least, the air of high quality, even if the substance of high quality is not present.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, April 24, 2025

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Thursday, April 17, 2025

Review: Merchant Ivory's "SHAKESPEARE WALLAH" is a Tale as Old as Time

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 of 2025 (No. 2023) by Leroy Douresseaux

Shakespeare Wallah (1965) – Black & White

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/India

Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)

Not rated

DIRECTOR: James Ivory

WRITERS: R. Prawer Jhabvala and James Ivory

PRODUCER: Ismail Merchant

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Subrata Mitra (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Amit Bose

COMPOSER: Satyajit Ray

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Shashi Kapoor, Felicity Kendal, Geoffrey Kendal, Laura Liddell, Madhur Jaffrey, Utpal Dutt, Praveen Paul, Prayag Raaj, Pinchoo Kapoor, and Jim D. Tytler

Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 romantic drama film from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. It was the second film produced by Merchant Ivory Productions. The film is co-written by Ivory and novelist and screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who wrote in some capacity 23 of Merchant Ivory's films. Shakespeare Wallah focuses on a traveling family theatre troupe that performs Shakespearean plays in towns across India even as demand for its work dwindles in the country.

Shakespeare Wallah introduces “the Buckingham Players,” a traveling family theatre troupe led by a British couple, husband Anthony “Tony” Buckingham (Geoffrey Kendal) and wife Carla Buckingham (Laura Liddell). Their young daughter, Lizzie (Felicity Kendal), is also an actor in this nomadic troupe. The Buckingham Players travel from town to town in post-colonial India, performing the plays of William Shakespeare before local audiences. However, demand for their work is dwindling as audiences begin to prefer the movies of “Hindi cinema,” also known as “Bollywood.”

One day, Lizzie meets Sanju Raj (Shashi Kapoor), a playboy. The two fall in love, but what Lizzie does not know is that Sanju is also romancing the actress, Manjula (Madhur Jaffrey), a very popular Bollywood star who is also very jealous.

2025 is the sixtieth anniversary of the original theatrical release (1965) of Merchant Ivory's second film, Shakespeare Wallah. As one of the production company's early films, it set the tone for future Merchant Ivory films that focused on cross-cultural romance and relationships.

Shakespeare Wallah is loosely based on the real life of actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal and his family. Kendal, his wife, Laura Liddell, and their daughter, Felicity Kendal, were part of a real-life traveling Shakespearean company that performed in India. That is how Geoffrey apparently earned the nickname, “Shakespearewallah” (with “wallah” being an informal term meaning a person involved in a particular thing or business).

Shakespeare Wallah being the second Merchant Ivory film showcases what many of the company's films would depict – seismic shifts in society and changes in culture. Tony and Carla have been performing Shakespeare across a specific region of India for decades, but the couple, essentially British expatriates, begin to wonder if time has passed them by and if they should return to England.

Meanwhile, their daughter, Lizzie, is experiencing a clash not so much of culture, but of gender roles. Her playboy paramour, Sanju, is wooing two actresses, but in truth, he does not think of acting as a proper role for a woman, especially more so in the case of Lizzie than in the case of Manjula.

The best thing that I can say about Shakespeare Wallah, and I can say a lot of good things about it, is that the film's emotions and feelings seem authentic. Manjula's jealousy is alive, dangerous, and electric. Lizzie and Sanju's romantic feelings are natural, but are also fragile and vulnerable because they are not only different people, but also are from different cultures and outlooks on life. The overall naturalism and relaxed pace of the narrative are also genuine.

The beautiful film score by Satyajit Ray embellishes the melancholy nature of the film when it comes to love. Whether one's love is another person, the nomadic life of a traveling troupe, or the profession of performing Shakespeare on the stage, it is bittersweet. Shakespeare Wallah, however, is the sweet art of cinema.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, April 17, 2025

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Saturday, April 5, 2025

Review: Tyler Perry's "DUPLICITY" - Come On, Man

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 of 2025 (No. 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)

Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)

MPA – R for language and violence

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, and Will Areu

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Corey Burmester (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Larry Sexton

COMPOSERS: JimiJame$ and Wow Jones

DRAMA/THRILLER/CRIME

Starring: Kat Graham, Meagan Tandy, Tyler Lepley, RonReaco Lee, Joshua Adeyeye, Nick Barrotta, Jimi Stanton, Shannon LaNier, Kim Steele, Betty Mitchell, Angela Halili, and Kearia Schroeder

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

-- Tyler Perry's Duplicity is for Tyler Perry's hardcore fans

-- The last 20 minutes of “Duplicity” are by far the best, but they are also filled with implausible and crazy crap, too

Tyler Perry's Duplicity is a 2025 drama and crime thriller from writer-director Tyler Perry. The film is an Amazon “Prime Original,” and it began streaming on the service April 20, 2025. Duplicity finds a high-powered attorney taking on her most personal case when she attempts to find the truth behind the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man by a White police officer.

Duplicity opens in Atlanta, Georgia and introduces the high-powered female attorney, Marley Wells (Kat Graham). Her best friend is Fela Blackburn (Meagan Tandy), a co-anchor for the television station, Channel 3's “Early for Us” morning TV show. One day, while jogging, Fela's husband, Rodney (Joshua Adeyeye), is shot and killed by a white rookie police officer, Caleb Kaine (Jimi Stanton).

Marley becomes the grieving widow, Fela's attorney, and suddenly she is taking on the city in a wrongful death civil suit. Marley's boyfriend, Tony (Tyler Lepley), a private investigator and disgraced former police officer, helps her investigate the case. Fela's Channel 3 colleagues – Shannon Markus (Shannon LaNeir), her co-anchor, and Sam (Nick Barrotta), the station's chief investigator – also volunteer their services for Marley's investigation.

The fatal police shooting of Rodney becomes a hot-button political issue and protests and violent riots erupt. The case seems to be going in Marley and Fela's favor, but Marley is soon forced to stop ignoring the troubling signs and unanswered questions that surround the shooting.

I thought that Mea Culpa, a “Netflix Original” film released in February 2024, was likely Tyler Perry's craziest non-Madea film to date, being even wackier than his 2013 film, Temptations: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. However, Perry's 2024 Amazon Prime Video drama-thriller, Divorce in the Black, released mere months after Mea Culpa, is Perry's craziest non-Medea film, at least of the ones I have seen. Perry's latest Prime Video film is not quite as crazy as Divorce in the Black, but neither is a good film (although I would say that Divorce in the Black is a little better than Duplicity).

Duplicity is simply an empty film, and I think the reason is the screenwriting. Watching this film, I got the idea that Tyler Perry wasn't trying very hard, either as a director or writer, and especially not as a writer. One of the reasons the performances seem so listless is that the actors really don't have much with which to work in terms of story or character. Also, Duplicity really is not a police shooting movie, nor a “Black Lives Matter” movie, nor even social commentary, for that matter (despite some flatly delivered “commentary” at the end). I can't say much more than that.

The last 20 minutes of the Duplicity are by far the most watchable, but even those minutes are filled with implausible and frankly inadvertently comical moments. However, I must admit that there is a particular set of violent acts in the last act that are cathartic. Ultimately, Tyler Perry's Duplicity is for Tyler Perry's biggest fans – alone.

3 of 10

D+

★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, April 5, 2025

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Sunday, March 2, 2025

Review: "OPPENHEIMER" Runs on the Atomic Power of Its Cast

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2025 (No. 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

Oppenheimer (2023)

Running time: 180 minutes (3 hours)

MPA – R for some sexuality, nudity and language

DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan

WRITER: Christopher Nolan (based on the book by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin)

PRODUCERS: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven

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

EDITOR: Jennifer Lame

COMPOSER: Ludwig Goransson

Academy Award Best Picture winner

DRAMA/BIOPIC/HISTORICAL

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, Tony Goldwyn, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Conti, Josh Hartnett, Florence Pugh, Matthew Modine, David Dastmalchian, Casey Affleck, James Remar, Rami Malek, and Gary Oldman

Oppenheimer is a 2023 biographical drama and historical film from director Christopher Nolan. The film is based on the 2005 biography, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The film is a fictional depiction and dramatization of the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II. In Oppenheimer the movie, the most famous man in America looks back on his life as he faces a hearing to determine the fate of his security clearance.

Oppenheimer opens with two important events. In 1954, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the man who is sometimes known as “the father of the atomic bomb,” is facing a private security hearing before a Personnel Security Board. The hearing is in regards to the renewal of Oppenheimer's “Q clearance” with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which gives the holder access to “top secret restricted data.” During the hearing, Oppenheimer's loyalty to the United States is questioned and his past affiliation with and ties to communist friends and associates are raised. Oppenheimer's wife, Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt), wants Robert to fight such charges more aggressively, but he seems to be concerned about the potential of collateral damage to friends and allies.

Springing forward several years: it is 1959, and Rear Admiral Levi Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.) is facing a confirmation hearing concerning his nomination to the cabinet of President Dwight D. Eisenhower as U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Strauss desperately wants that cabinet position, but his past activities regarding J. Robert Oppenheimer are coming back to complicate matters.

Meanwhile, the film goes back to Oppenheimer's early days as a student overseas in England and Germany and moves to his teaching job at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he meets communists, marries Kitty, and has an intermittent affair with the troubled Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh). Eventually U.S. Army Colonel Leslie Groves (Matt Damon), the director of the Manhattan Project, recruits Oppenheimer to be the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. There, he will lead a team that is part of a nationwide effort to develop an atomic bomb during World War II before Nazi Germany does. Along the way Oppenheimer makes friends and also makes friends into enemies – all of which will come back to haunt him.

I decided that since tonight (as of this writing) is the ceremony for the 2025 / 97th Academy Awards (March 2, 2025), it is a good time to finally write a review of Oppenheimer, the winner of the “Best Motion Picture of the Year” Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards. I had been putting it off, and, at one point, decided against seeing it. Not long into watching Oppenheimer, I was reminded of director Terrance Malick's 2011 film, The Tree of Life. Like Malick's film, Oppenheimer features a non-linear narrative, and director Christopher Nolan largely succeeds in using the non-linear form to make Oppenheimer a thoroughly engaging film. At times, I think one could call this film a thriller as much as one might call it a drama, historical, or biographical film. I think what really makes this film work is the large number of excellent performances given by Oppenheimer's cast, but the two that stand out are Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Downey, Jr. as Levi Strauss. They both deserved their respective Oscar wins – “Best Actor” for Murphy and “Best Supporting Actor” for Downey.

Like many of the lead characters in Nolan's films, J. Robert Oppenheimer takes on the forces of nature, which includes mankind and its activities. Oppenheimer, also like many of Nolan's heroes, pays a heavy price, and I am convinced because Cillian Murphy, in a career best performance, sells me on the idea that he is a J. Robert Oppenheimer in a constant state of conflict and struggle. Murphy's performance is not so much a tour-de-force as it is the portrayal of the tour-de-force life and times of Oppenheimer. Murphy doesn't impersonate Oppenheimer; he summons a manifestation of the man that brings him to life in a dramatic performance.

As Levi Strauss, Robert Downey Jr. offers an insecure man seemingly made insecure by each subsequent success in his journey of social climbing. It is as if he cannot achieve any victory without attaching to it a perceived slight. Downey performance and Nolan's screenwriting make me wonder why there couldn't be a Levi Strauss biographical film that is also quite engaging.

Christopher Nolan also gets superb production values and creative assistance from his collaborators. The sound, the cinematography, the costumes, the hair and make-up, the visual effects, and Ludwig Goransson supernatural score help Nolan bring this film to the finish line of excellence and of movie award season triumph. It certainly does not feel like a three-hour film, and it nearly has that much narrative because the end credits are short. Oppenheimer is not only superb cinema, but it is also a highly entertaining film that would make for a good movie night or two.

9 of 10

A+

Sunday, March 2, 2025

NOTES:

2024 Academy Awards, USA: 7 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, and Christopher Nolan), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Cillian Murphy), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Robert Downey Jr.), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Hoyte Van Hoytema), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Jennifer Lame), and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Ludwig Goransson); 6 nominations: “Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling” (Luisa Abel), “Best Sound” (Willie D. Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo, and Kevin O'Connell), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Emily Blunt), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Ruth De Jong-production designer and Claire Kaufman-set decorator), and “Best Achievement in Costume Design: (Ellen Mirojnick)

2024 BAFTA Awards: 7 wins: “Best Film” (Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, and Emma Thomas); “Best Director” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Leading Actor” (Cillian Murphy), “Best Supporting Actor” (Robert Downey Jr.), “Best Cinematography” (Hoyte Van Hoytema), “Best Editing” (Jennifer Lame), “Original Score” (Ludwig Göransson); 6 nominations: “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Supporting Actress” (Emily Blunt), “Best Costume Design” (Ellen Mirojnick), “Best Make Up & Hair” (Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, and Ahou Mofid), “Best Production Design” (Claire Kaufman and Ruth De Jong), “Best Sound” (Richard King, Kevin O'Connell, Gary A. Rizzo, and Willie D. Burton)

2024 Golden Globes, USA: 5 wins: “Best Motion Picture, Drama,” “Best Director, Motion Picture” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Original Score, Motion Picture” (Ludwig Göransson), “Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama” (Cillian Murphy), “Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture” (Robert Downey Jr.); 3 nominations: “Best Screenplay, Motion Picture” (Christopher Nolan) and “Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture” (Emily Blunt), and “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement”

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Monday, February 3, 2025

Review: Christian Film, "PARALLEL - THE TRIAD," Keeps it Real

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 of 2025 (No. 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Parallel – The Triad (2024)

Running time: 86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)

MPA – no rated

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Jason Aleman

PRODUCER: Jason Aleman

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mike Wilson

EDITOR: Jason Aleman

COMPOSER: Robin Hannibal

FAITH/SCI-FI/DRAMA

Starring: Chad Garrett, Lizzie Camp, Terry Weaver, Marley Aleman, Troy Garza, Sharen Andrea White, Liam Robert Noack, Josh Thigpen, Marcus Luttrell, V.R. Norbert Maduzia, Michael T. Adams, Kieth Noack, and Jason Aleman

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

Parallel – The Triad is a faith-based film with some intriguing science fiction ideas about the war between good and evil

The film is far from perfect and is clunky at times, but its message and motivations seem genuine.

Parallel – The Triad is 2024 Christian science fiction film and faith-based drama from director Jason Aleman. The film follows a mechanic who joins three souls sent to Earth by God to fulfill His plan.

Parallel – The Triad introduces Cyrus Dooley (Chad Garrett), a hot-rod mechanic and automobile restoration expert. Cyrus has been grieving the loss of his father nearly a year earlier in an accident for which he blames himself. So lost in his grief is Cyrus that he does not notice that one of his employees, T.J. (Lizzie Camp), has fallen under the spell of Abimelech (Terry Weaver), a scheming businessman who becomes a servant of “the evil spirits that sway humans.”

God sends three souls: Briella (Marley Aleman), Urie (Troy Garza), and Sarie (Sharen Andrea White) to Earth from “the Parallel” on a mission to fulfill His plans. That means that they have to help Cyrus after more tragedy befalls him and he continues to lose his way in life. Can “The Triad” help Cyrus understand that he must “trust God's plan?”

I certainly do not belong to any of the target audiences for Parallel – The Triad, but I discovered the film's existence via social media. Although I have reviewed a few films that depict Jesus Christ, the only faith-based, Christian drama, or evangelical film that I have reviewed to date is 2014's Son of God, a really good movie which hails from Roma Downey and Mark Burnett's empire of Christian schmaltz, Lightworkers Media.

Something about Parallel – The Triad piqued my interest. Structurally, in terms of narrative and character, Parallel – The Triad has some major problems. I don't know if the dialogue is really as bad as it seems or if it is good and cast is simply not professional. The special effects are at least three decades behind current standards. The film's robotic villains, the “demon droids,” look like they were created for the original Mortal Kombat (1995) film.

However, Parallel – The Triad, for all its faults, seems genuine in what it has to say. This movie does not seem like corporate movie product meant to sell merchandise and ancillary products, as much as it sells tickets. Parallel – The Triad wants to spread the good news about God's plan and about trusting God's plan. The film does not shy away from portraying the high costs of the wages of sin and about how hard it is to get away from the “evil one” the more a person has invested in evil. I do find that the film's emphasis on technology, media, and “pharmacology” as spreaders of negative energy to be cringe-inducing, although there may be some truth to that notion.

I like “Cyrus Dooley” as the lead character; actor Chad Garrett really sells Cyrus' grief and guilt. Also, Lizzie Camp gives a tight performance as T.J., allowing her to have a nice character arc. These two characters steady the occasional rickety nature of the film's structure.

My criticisms aside, I found myself fascinated by Parallel – The Triad, and I think fans of faith-based films will find this movie's character drama to be every bit as intriguing as its sci-fi “Holy War” side. I'd like to see a sequel to Parallel – The Triad, hopefully one with a bigger VFX budget. If this concept had the CGI budget of even a small scale Hollywood film, it would rock the heavens... or the Parallel.

B-

5 of 10

★★½ out of 4 stars

Monday, February 3, 2025

"Parallel - The Triad" is available for rent or purchase at Amazon Prime Video. And yes, this blog does participate in Amazon's "affiliate advertising program," so I will get paid a small fee if you click on this link and actually rent it or purchase something from Amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/@ParallelFilmsStudio

https://bsky.app/profile/parallel-films.bsky.social

https://www.facebook.com/parallel.films.studio

https://x.com/ParallelTriad

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Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Review: "STARMAN" Retains Its Charms (Celebrating John Carpenter)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 88 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carpenter’s Starman (1984)

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

MPAA – PG

DIRECTOR: John Carpenter

WRITERS: Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon

PRODUCER: Larry J. Franco

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Donald M. Morgan (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Marion Rothman

COMPOSER: Jack Nitzsche

Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Phalen, and Tony Edwards

Starman is a 1984 American science fiction drama and romantic film from director John Carpenter. The original screenplay was written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon, with Dean Riesner committing re-writes for which he did not received a screen credit. Although the film was not a box office success, it inspired the short-lived “Starman” television series (ABC, 1986-87). Starman the movie focuses on a young Wisconsin widow; the alien who takes the form of her late husband; and their cross-country drive to help the alien make a rendezvous with the space ship that will take him home.

Starman begins with an alien being who finds his space probe shot down by the U.S. Air Force, causing the probe to crash land in Wisconsin. A pulsating, levitating blue orb, the alien enters the home of widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), where he jury-rigs or clones a body from the remains of Jenny’s late husband, Scott (Jeff Bridges). After much confusion and fear, Jenny helps the alien Scott travel to Arizona where he is to rendezvous with the mother ship in 3 days or die. Meanwhile, Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith), a SETI scientist who works for the government, and George Fox (Richard Jaeckel), a military officer, hotly pursue the peculiar pair of Scott and Jenny.

Jeff Bridges earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as an alien who crash lands on earth and assumes the form of young woman’s recently deceased husband. Starman is also in the fine tradition of road pictures that feature a mismatched couple learning about one another before discovering love. Bridges is superb as the awkward, not-quite-childlike alien visitor. He completely sells the idea that the alien is struggling to learn and to understand this world. Everything about him: the way he walks and stands, his speech pattern, the way he answers questions (or doesn’t), and the way he dresses is peculiar and calls attention to him. Having the alien Scott dress in red flannel shirt and wear a red cap makes him stand out in a film in which the photography emphasizes earth tones and the nights are murky.

Karen Allen is also good as the grieving widow; she reveals in her facial expressions the big lump of pain still in Jenny Hayden. Director John Carpenter does well to simply allow his leads to build their characters and nurture their screen chemistry so that by the end of the film, this otherworldly romance resonates.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, April 22, 2006

EDITED: Tuesday, January 14, 2025

NOTES:

1985 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Jeff Bridges)

1985 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama (Jeff Bridges) and “Best Original Score-Motion Picture” (Jack Nitzsche)

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Friday, January 10, 2025

Review: First "DEN OF THIEVES" Brought the Heat, Man

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 of 2025 (No. 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Den of Thieves (2018)

Running time: 140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for violence, language and some sexuality/nudity

DIRECTOR: Christian Gudegast

WRITERS: Christian Gudegast; from a story by Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring

PRODUCERS: Gerard Butler, Mark Canton, Alan Siegel, and Tucker Tooley

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen F. Windon (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: David S. Cox, Joel Cox, and Nathan Godley

COMPOSER: Cliff Martinez

ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackon, Jr., Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Maurice Compte, Brian Van Holt, Evan Jones, Mo McRae, Kaiwi Lyman, Dawn Olivieri, Cooper Andrews, Jermaine Rivers, and Eric Braedon

Den of Thieves is a 2018 American action thriller, crime drama, and heist film from writer-director Christian Gudegast. Den of Thieves focuses on the clash between an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a very successful bank robbery crew.

Den of Thieves opens at night and informs the viewer that Los Angeles, California is the “bank robbery capital of the world.” In the city, there are 2400 bank robberies a year; 44 per week; 9 committed every day, which comes to about 1 every 48 minutes. That same night, Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) leads a team of fellow ex-MARSOC Marines (United States Marines Special Operations Command) to hijack an armored truck that stops at a donut shop. The ensuing shootout leaves several people dead, including one of Merrimen's crew.

Responding to the incident is Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Detective Nick “Big Nick” O'Brien (Gerard Butler) and his “Major Crimes Unit” team. O'Brien and his team have Merrimen as their lead suspect in hijacking. O'Brien and his crew are a “clique” or what is known as a “deputy gang.” Acting like gang members, O'Brien and his crew kidnap Donnie Wilson (O'Shea Jackson, Jr.), an ex-marine who has been associated with Merrimen in the past, in order to coerce info on Wilson's alleged current association with Merrimen.

As his personal life falls apart, O'Brien gets more involved with Merrimen and his crew, even becoming more confrontational. When Merriment targets the Federal Reserve Bank – Los Angeles Branch for a seemingly impossible heist, O'Brien finds himself in a complicated game of cat and mouse. However, the reality of who is the cat and who are the mice is ever shifting.

I did not know that the Den of Thieves movie existed until I saw a commercial for its upcoming sequel, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025), about two weeks ago (as of this writing). I decided to watch the first film and found it on the “Max” streaming service. It was not long into watching the film that I realized how much it heavily resembles director Michael Mann's classic heist film, Heat (1995). One of the stars of Heat was the late actor, Tom Sizemore (1961-2023), and for some reason, Den of Thieves made me think of a short-lived television series in which Sizemore starred. That would be “Robbery Homicide Division” (CBS, September 2002 to April 2023), for which Mann was also an executive producer. [I really liked that show, by the way, and was sad when it was canceled.] However, “Robbery Homicide Division” focused on the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), rather than the L.A Sheriff's Department (LASD).

Den of Thieves is a very entertaining film, and will likely delight fans of Los Angeles-set crime films (although the film was actually mostly shot in and around Atlanta, Georgia). However, Den of Thieves' story and concept, which was created by writer-director Christian Gudegast and his now former partner, Paul Scheuring, would have been put to better use for a television series. Den of Thieves is filled with characters that have interesting back stories, but the film only shows us glimpses of that – mostly concerning Gerard Butler's Nick O'Brien.

For the most part, the Den of Thieves' character writing relies on types rather than on depicting fully developed characters. I can also say that the film's actors pretty much give one-note performances. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson's Enson Levoux has one great moment, one good moment, and mostly one-note moments the rest of the time. Evan Jones' striking facial features with the help of the Den of Thieves' hair and make-up team saves his one-note character, “Bosco.” By the end of the film, the viewer might realize that O'Shea Jackson, Jr.'s Donnie Wilson is a missed opportunity.

That said – I enjoyed the hell out of Den of Thieves, which makes me think that Hollywood never really maximized the rip-off potential of Michael Mann's Heat. Den of Thieves is engaging, and the big shoot-outs are a blast to watch. This film is alluring in what its potential offers – even in the times that it does not deliver on that potential. It is a good film made very good by its last act, which is full of twists and turns, surprises, and shocking reveals. I am not sure that I will see its sequel in a movie theater, but I will very likely re-watch Den of Thieves in the future.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, January 10, 2025

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Thursday, January 2, 2025

Review: Skadoosh! "KUNG FU PANDA 3" Finds Itself in the End

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 of 2025 (No. 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)

MPAA – PG for martial arts action and some mild rude humor

DIRECTORS: Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni

WRITERS: Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger

PRODUCER: Melissa Cobb

EDITOR: Clare Knight

COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer

ANIMATION/MARTIAL ARTS/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: (voices) Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, J.K. Simmons, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Kate Hudson, James Hong, Randall Duk Kim, and Jackie Chan

Kung Fu Panda 3 is a computer-animated, martial arts and comic-fantasy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the third entry in the Kung Fu Panda film series. In Kung Fu Panda 3, Po must finally discover if he is really the legendary Dragon Warrior when faced with a threat to everything dear to him.

Kung Fu Panda 3 opens in the Spirit Realm. There, Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) fights General Kai (J.K. Simmons), his former friend, who has attacked him. Kai is a yak and spirit warrior who has defeated all the other deceased kung fu masters and has also stolen their vital energy or “chi” (here, personified at a flat jade stone). Kai steals Oogway's chi, but Oogway warns Kai that someone is destined to stop him. Kai returns to the Mortal Realm where he plans to destroy Oogway's legacy.

Meanwhile, in the Valley of Peace, Po (Jack Black), the giant panda, is living his best life as the legendary “Dragon Warrior.” Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) surprisingly announces that he is retiring from teaching and names Po as his successor. Although he does not believe that he can replace his master, Po finds that he is suddenly supposed to teach his friends and fellow kung fu masters, the legendary Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Monkey (Jackie Chan).

Another surprise comes with the arrival of Li Shan (Bryan Cranston), a giant panda who turns out to be Po's father, which upsets Mr. Ping (James Hong), the Chinese goose who is Po's adoptive father. The excitement is tempered by the fact that Kai has begun his assault, but Po and company learn that Kai can only be defeated by a true master of chi. Po and Ping follow Li to the secret panda village where Li claims he can teach Po to master Chi. Now, Po must learn who he really is? Is he truly the Dragon Warrior and does he know himself enough to reach the Dragon Warrior's legendary destiny?

Like Kung Fu Panda (2008) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Kung Fu Panda 3 does have some really nice fight scenes. I had avoided it until I realized that I really wanted to see Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024), which meant I had to see the third film first. The film has the requisite visual splendor of dazzling colors, impressive production design, and superb character animation, However, this third part in the series is more about growth and development and about the transformation and inner journey of a character that is also known as the “character arc.”

Kung Fu Panda 3 is about Po finding out who he is and also about him learning to embrace what he can do – his destiny. He is meant to be the Dragon Warrior, he simply needs to believe it and also to understand that he cannot do it alone. Along the way, Kung Fu Pa 3 embraces the idea of families – traditional and blended. This film also has plenty of playful new characters (Kate Hudson's Mei Mei, the ribbon dancing panda) and rascally young'uns characters that are meant to engage younger audience members.

Kung Fu Panda 3 does meander quite a bit during its first act and also during quite a bit of its second or middle act. However, the film embraces it story of characters discovering that they are more than they know and that they can have more than one role in the lives of the people they love. This film has a scary villain in J.K. Simmons' General Kai, but he is just a side piece in the arc of Po's struggle. Kung Fu Panda 3 is really about the most difficult and consequential part of Po's journey – the journey into himself. Skadoosh!

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Thursday, January 2, 2024

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