TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews: Golden Globe nominee

Showing posts with label Golden Globe nominee. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Review: "MOANA" Sails on a Sea of Delights

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 of 2024 (No. 1997) by Leroy Douresseaux

Moana (2016)

Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)

MPAA – PG for peril, some scary images and brief thematic elements

DIRECTORS: Ron Clements and John Musker with Don Hall and Chris Williams (co-directors)

WRITERS: Jared Bush; from a story by Ron Clements, John Musker, Don Hall, Chris Williams, Pamela Ribon, and Aaron Kandell and Jordan Kandell

PRODUCER: Osnat Shurer

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Alessandro Jacomini, Daniel Rice, and Nathan Warner

EDITOR: Jeff Draheim

ORIGINAL SONGS: Opetaia Foa'il, Mark Mancina, and Lin-Manuel Miranda

COMPOSER: Mark Mancina

Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY/DRAMA

Starring: (voices) Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger, Alan Tudyk, and Troy Polamalu

Moana is a 2016 American computer-animated, fantasy-adventure, and musical film directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. It was produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios – the 56th full-length animated feature film produced by that studio, and it was released by Walt Disney Pictures. Moana follows a girl who heeds the Ocean's call that she find a lost demigod and force him to help her end the terrible curse that he incurred in the distant past.

Moana introduces Moana (Auli'i Cravalho), a girl who lives in ancient Polynesian on the island of Motunui. She is also the daughter of Motunui's Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison). The inhabitants of the island worship Te Fiti, the mother island. Long ago, Te Fiti brought life to the ocean using a stone called “the heart of Te Fiti” as the source of her power. Then, along came Maui (Dwayne Johnson). He was a demigod of the wind and sea, a warrior, a trickster, and a shape-shifter who used a huge magical fish hook to wield his shape-shifting powers. Maui stole the heart and caused Te Fiti to disintegrate, but he immediately attacked by the volcanic demon “ Te Kā.” Maui lost both the heart and his magic fish hook to the depths of the sea.

A thousand years later, blight strikes Motunui and begins to kill the vegetation and shrink the number of fish available for the islanders to catch. The Ocean gives Moana the heart of Te Fiti and chooses her to find Maui and force him to restore what he took from Te Fiti. Only then, will Motunui and other islands be saved from the destroying blight, which is apparently a curse from Te Kā. In order to do that, Moana must do something she always wanted to do, but was also afraid to do. She must cross the barrier reef that surrounds Motunui and sale far into an ocean full of danger. That danger includes the kind of waves that can destroy the small boat upon which Moana sets sail.

I always struggle with writing reviews of modern Disney computer-animated feature films. The animation is always superb. The character design consistently is imaginative and inventive, and the character animation – regardless of whether the characters are human, animals, creatures of fantasy, or machines – is flawless. The production design, art direction, set decoration, and graphic design are so good that just about every Disney movie gets its own art book – deservedly so. That said, the tattoos on Maui's body steal the show; it's like they are their own film reel of hype men and Greek choruses.

Moana offers Disney's time-tested formula, telling the story of a girl who goes on a journey of discovery about what she expects of herself after living a life of doing what others expect of her. It has popped up recently in such films as Frozen (2013) and Zootopia (2016). Of late, Disney has offered girls who are not white or European as the stars of such stories, as seen here in Moana and also in Encanto (2021), a film released several years after Moana. The visual elements of this film might say non-white girl, but the voice actors bring a universal appeal to their voice performances that emphasizes the Moana's broad themes of bravery and redemption and also of the struggle between tradition (represented by Moana's father, Tui) and progress (represented by Moana herself).

By the way, Moana's original songs, written by Opetaia Foa'il, Mark Mancina, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the film score by Mancina are some of the best Disney music produced this century. It is hard to pick a favorite song from this film, but I like Mancina and Miranda's “Shiny” as much as like Miranda's “How Far I'll Go,” which is essentially the film's theme.

I avoided Moana when it was first released to theaters in 2016, and I finally decided to see it because Moana 2 is due this month (November 2024). I would have loved to have seen it on the big screen. Although I think the film drags a little in its last act, I really enjoyed its story and its bouncy songs and soaring score. Moana is one of Disney's great recent adventure films – live-action or animation – and I think fans of animated feature films – Disney or otherwise – are denying themselves an exceptional work if they don't see it.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, November 26, 2027

NOTES:

2017 Academy Awards, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Ron Clements, John Musker, and Osnat Shurer) and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Song” (Lin-Manuel Miranda for the song, “How Far I'll Go”)

2017 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Ron Clements and John Musker)

2017 Golden Globe Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Original Song-Motion Picture” (Lin-Manuel Miranda for the song, “How Far I'll Go”) and “Best Motion Picture - Animated”

2017 NAACP Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance-Television or Film” (Dwayne Johnson)

2017 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Voice Performance” (Dwayne Johnson)

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Friday, November 15, 2024

Review: "Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN" is a Serious and Sexy Standout

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 49 of 2024 (No. 1993) by Leroy Douresseaux

Y tu mamá también (2001)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Mexico; Language: Spanish

Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)

MPAA – initially not rated

DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón

WRITERS: Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón

PRODUCERS: Alfonso Cuarón and Jorge Vergara

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Emmanuel Lubezki (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Alfonso Cuarón and Alex Rodríguez

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Maribel Verdú, Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Ana López Mercado, Nathan Grinberg, Verónica Langer, María Aura, Silverio Palacios, Mayra Serbulo, and Daniel Giménez Cacho (narrator)

Y tu mamá también is a 2001 Mexican coming-of-age comedy-drama and road film from director Alfonso Cuarón. The title is Spanish for “And Your Mother Too.” Y tu mama también follows two teenage boys and an older woman as they embark on a road trip with Mexico's late 1990s political upheaval as a backdrop.

Before Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Children of Men (2006) brought him mainstream acclaim, Mexican film director Alfonso Cuarón burst onto the international film scene with Y tu mama también. It became one of the most talked about movies of 2002.

Y tu mamá también introduces rich teenage friends, Tenoch Iturbide (Diego Luna) and Julio Zapata (Gael García Bernal). Abandoned by their girlfriends for the summer, they are on the prowl for new sexual experiences. At a wedding, they meet the alluring Luisa Cortes (Maribel Verdú), the Spanish wife of one of Tenoch's relatives. Both boys are smitten with her and try to impress her by weaving tales of Boca del Cielo – Heaven’s Mouth, a beautiful, secret beach.

Of course, there is no such place, but the boys are trying to get Luisa to join them on a road trip to the fictitious locale. Although she at first declines the sweet offer, Luisa changes her mind when she receives two pieces of bad news practically simultaneously. Once on the journey, however, the trio finds that their little escapade is riddled with conflict and sometimes interrupted by moments of seduction.

Y tu mama también is an original take on the road movie. Occasionally harsh (lots of painful revelations and venomous quarrels between the two boys) and often funny (the good-matured ribbing and frank conversations among the trio), the film is filled with witty banter. The poignancy is found in the fact that this coming of age journey that both strengthens and builds bonds also means that things are coming to an end. The sense of death, finality, and dissolution infuses this film giving even the sun-drenched Mexican locale a melancholy air.

Y tu mama también is also politically astute, with Cuarón and his co-writer Carlos Cuarón nimbly and skillfully dropping in commentary about political corruption and fraud rampant throughout the corruption (via the narrator). Cuarón also presents the rampant and widespread poverty among Mexican citizens offering it as a veritable visual feast. Everywhere the boys go, there is abundant evidence of the impoverished lives of so many people.

Perhaps, Cunard's best choice as director is allow his film to feel so natural, especially in the acting of the three main actors: Maribel Verdú, Diego Luna, and Gael García Bernal who give smooth, flowing performances. Cuarón doesn’t portray anything as being stages, and he presents this film as if we were peaking through a window that gives us an intimate view of these three lives in transition. Cuarón doesn’t just put us there; he makes us feel. That makes Y tu mama también such a wonderfully entertaining film that reaches out to touch the viewer on a personal level.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, November 15, 2024

NOTES:

2003 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón)

2003 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Film not in the English Language” (Alfonso Cuarón and Jorge Vergara) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón)

2002 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Mexico)

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Wednesday, August 14, 2024

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

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

Alien (1979)

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

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott

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

PRODUCERS: Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Derek Vanlint (director of photography)

EDITORS: Terry Rawlings and Peter Weatherley

COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith

Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/HORROR/THRILLER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 of 10

A+

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

NOTES:

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

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

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

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

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Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Review: "DEADPOOL" Goes in Through the Back Door on the Superhero Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 31 of 2024 (No. 1975) by Leroy Douresseaux

Deadpool (2016)

Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)

MPAA – R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity

DIRECTOR: Tim Miller

WRITERS: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (based on Marvel Comics characters)

PRODUCERS: Ryan Reynolds, Simon Kinberg, and Lauren Shuler Donner

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ken Seng (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Julian Clark

COMPOSER: Tom Holkenborg

SUPERHERO/ACTION/COMEDY

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Ed Skrein, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, Gina Carano, Leslie Uggams, Stan Lee, and Stefan Kapicic (voice)

Deadpool is a 2016 American superhero film and action-comedy from director Tim Miller. It is a spin-off film in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men film series and is the eighth film overall in the series. It is also the first entry in what would become the Deadpool movie franchise. The film is based on the Marvel Comics character, Deadpool, that was created by artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, and first appeared in New Mutants #98 (cover dated: December 1990). Deadpool the movie focuses on a wisecracking costumed antihero who seeks revenge against the man who left him hideously scarred after a series of experiments.

Deadpool introduces Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a smart-mouthed mercenary and former special forces operative (“the merc with a mouth”). Wade's life takes a dramatic turn when he meets and falls in love with Vanessa Carlysle (Morena Baccarin), a prostitute. However, after a whirlwind romance, Wade discovers that he has terminal cancer, but as he is preparing to accept death, he learns of a lab run by the mysterious Ajax (Ed Skrein). Ajax promises to not only cure Wade's cancer, but to also give him powers and make him a superhero. Unfortunately, Ajax is a lying monster.

Although the experiments leave his face and body hideously disfigured, Wade is rendered virtually immortal when his mutant power activates and gives him incredibly accelerated healing powers. Taking the name, “Deadpool,” Wade goes on a mission of revenge. On the other hand, Colossus, the mutant who has a giant organic steel body, wants Deadpool to join the X-Men and become a superhero. Will Deadpool become a good guy, or will he simply keep piling up dismembered and bullet-riddled bodies on the way to his reunion with Ajax?

We are nearing the release of the latest Disney/Marvel Studios blockbuster movie, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). I had seen Deadpool and Deadpool 2, previously, but I had never reviewed them. I decided that now is the time to foist my opinions upon you, dear readers. I'm also going to watch and review, Logan (2017), the one X-Men movie I have been unable to finish.

Gleefully profane in language and sexual content, Deadpool was a surprise to movie audiences upon its February 2016 original theatrical release. It was an R-rated superhero movie, and it was proud of it. At the time, movie audiences had seen plenty of movies featuring superheroes, ordinary heroes, and anti-heroes, in which the lead character brutally kills his adversaries. None of those films had done it like Deadpool, although 2013's The Wolverine, had tried.

The foul language is in such abundance in Deadpool that there are moments when it all seems like too much, but even in those moments, I started laughing after being repulsed for a few seconds. I think a movie has to be doing something right when it has even Emmy and Tony-winning actress, Leslie Uggams (as Blind Al), dropping F-bombs.

For all the credit I give director Tim Miller and film editor, Julian Clark, for this film's fast action and eye-popping dances of violence, actor Ryan Reynolds makes Deadpool work. Yeah, the sex scenes are a bit too long and too over-the-top, but it never seems as if Wade Wilson/Deadpool is talking too much. Reynolds makes Deadpool different and unique; he makes it work. Eight years after its original theatrical release, Deadpool and its superhero cinema blasphemy still seem fresh.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

NOTES:

2017 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Ryan Reynolds)

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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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Tuesday, July 2, 2024

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

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

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

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

MPAA – PG for rude humor and mild action

DIRECTORS: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

WRITERS: Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul

PRODUCERS: Janet Healy and Chris Meledandri

EDITOR: Gregory Perler

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

Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY and ACTION/COMEDY/FAMILY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

NOTES:

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

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

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

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

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

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Sunday, February 11, 2024

Review: Pixar's "TURNING RED" is Universal and Unique

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 of 2024 (No. 1952) by Leroy Douresseaux

Turning Red (2022)

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

MPA – PG for thematic material, suggestive content and language

DIRECTOR: Domee Shi

WRITERS: Domee Shi and Julie Cho; from a story by Domee Shi, Julie Cho, and Sarah Streicher

PRODUCER: Lindsey Collins

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Mahyar Abousaeedi and Jonathan Pytko

EDITORS: Nicholas C. Smith with Steve Bloom

COMPOSER: Ludwig Goransson

SONGS: Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: (voices) Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen, Jordan Fisher, Finneas O'Connell, and James Hong

Turning Red is a 2022 animated fantasy and comedy-drama film directed by Domee Shi and produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It is Pixar's 25th full-length animated feature film, and it is the first to be solely directed by a woman. Turning Red focuses on a teen girl who is dealing with her demanding mother and the changes of adolescence when she suddenly discovers that becoming really excited causes her to turn into a giant red panda.

Turning Red opens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2002. It introduces a Chinese-Canadian girl, 13-year-old Meilin “Mei” Lee (Rosalie Chiang). She lives with her parents, mother Ming (Sandra Oh) and father Jin (Orion Lee). Mei is a dutiful daughter to her mother who calls her “Mei-Mei,” and she helps take care of the family's temple, “the Lee Family Temple,” one of the the oldest temples in Toronto. The temple honors the Lee family ancestors instead of gods, and it is dedicated to Mei's maternal ancestor Sun Yee.

Mei is also dedicated to a trio of girl friends: Miriam (Ava Morse), Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and Abby (Hyein Park), and all three of them are dedicated fans of the boy band, “4*Town.” Life is busy, but it's about to get complicated. The morning after a night of humiliation, Mei wakes up to discover that she has been transformed into a giant red panda. This is a condition that happens when Mei is overly excited, but it can be cured. But what does Mei really want?

In the early days of the Disney+ streaming service and in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Walt Disney Company released three Pixar feature films as direct-to-streaming releases: Soul (2020), Luca (2021), and Turning Red, declining wide theatrical releases for the films. These were and still are three of Pixar's greatest films, but they are finally getting belated theatrical releases in early 2024. [Soul in January 2024; Turning Red in February 2024; and Luca in March 2024.]

Turning Red is an incredible coming-of-age story, and like Pixar's Oscar-winning Brave (2012), it is a story of transformations and of mother-daughter relationships and all the love and support and trials and tribulations that come with it. Its beautiful, terracotta-like colors amplify the film's sense of magic and magical realism. The variety of faces, body types, skin colors, hair styles, and clothes and costumes are a testament of how culturally expansive Pixar's films set in the human world are. Everything about Turning Red invites the entire world of moviegoers to come along on this timeless, universal tale of a child coming into her own and learning to love herself as she is becoming and to love her parents for what they were, are, and can be.

Domee Shi and her co-writers, Julie Cho and Sarah Streicher, have created a character, a world, and a scenario of which I believe I can be a part. I am an old-ass Black man, a million miles away from a 13-year-old Canadian girl of Chinese descent, but Turning Red makes me understand that what the girl experiences are in some ways similar to what I've experienced. In a way, I am jealous of Turning Red and of Meilin Lee because I could never embrace the messy strangeness in me to the extent that she does. I definitely did not want my freak flag fluttering in the wind too much.

There is so much to like in this film. As usual, the animation is up to Pixar's astronomical standards, and Ludwig Goransson's score infuses itself into the film so much that it seems as if the animation is performing a concert. Speaking of music, I'm embarrassed to admit that I like 4*Town, the band, and its three songs performed in the movie, which are written by the sister-brother team of Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell. And I couldn't love the movie if I wasn't crazy about actress Rosalie Chiang's multi-layered and energetic voice performance as Mei. Chiang makes Mei feel like a real girl, genuine child in the throes of change and transformation.

Some have said that Turning Red's setting and its lead character, Mei, make the film not timeless and universal like Pixar's other films. They can go screw themselves. Turning Red is universal like other Pixar films and also unlike other Pixar films. Turning Red is Pixar high art and Disney magic, and it is a truly great film that I plan on watching again and again.

10 of 10

Sunday, February 11, 2024

NOTES:

2023 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins)

2023 BAFTA Film Awards: 1 nominee: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins)

2023 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nominee: “Best Motion Picture – Animated”

2023 Image Awards (NAACP): 1 nominee: “Outstanding Animated Motion Picture”

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

Review: First "CHICKEN RUN" Runs Wild at the End

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 54 of 2023 (No. 1943) by Leroy Douresseaux

Chicken Run (2000)

Running time: 84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)

MPAA – G

DIRECTORS: Peter Lord and Nick Park

WRITERS: Karey Kirkpatrick; from a story by Peter Lord and Nick Park

PRODUCERS: Peter Lord, Nick Park, and David Sproxton

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dave Alex Riddett (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Mark Solomon

COMPOSERS: Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell

BAFTA nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY

Starring: (voices): Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Phil Daniels, Lynn Ferguson, Tony Haygarth, Jane Horrocks, Miranda Richardson, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, and Benjamin Whitrow

Chicken Run is a 2000 stop-motion animated fantasy and comedy film directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park. It is a British, French, and U.S. co-production produced by Pathe and Aardman Animations in partnership with DreamWorks Animation. Chicken Run was Aardman's first feature-length animated film and, as of this writing, remains the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film in worldwide box office history. Chicken Run is set at a British chicken farm where the chickens hope that an American chicken can help them escape the farm's vicious owners.

Chicken Run opens in post World War II England, specifically at an egg farm that is run like a prisoner-of-war camp. The farm is owned and operated by the cruel Mrs. Malisha Tweedy (Miranda Richardson) and her submissive husband, Mr. Tweedy (Tony Haygarth), who eat and kill any chicken that is no longer able to lay eggs. Inside the chicken yard, a rebellious chicken, Ginger (Julia Sawalha), is constantly engaged in escape attempts. Her goal is to help all her fellow chickens escape the farm and find a new home in the land that lies behind a hill some distance from the Tweedy's farm.

One night, Ginger witnesses a rooster glide over the coop's fences. She learns that he is an American rooster, Rocky Rhodes (Mel Gibson), a.k.a. “Rocky the Flying Rooster” a.k.a. “Rocky the Rhode Island Red.” Believing that Rocky can fly, Ginger begs him to help teach her and the other chickens how to fly so that they can escape the farm. Rocky is not quite what he seems, however, and time is running out as Mrs. Tweedy has devised a new way to get more money out of the farm's large population of chickens.

I have been putting off seeing Chicken run for 23 years. Then, I discovered that a sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, was set to debut on Netflix December 15, 2023, so I decided to finally watch it. I am a fan of the later feature-length animated films that Aardman Animations produced in partnership with DreamWorks Animation, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Flushed Away (2006). I have also enjoyed a few of Aardman's animated short films, including A Grand Day Out with Wallace & Gromit (1989) and Wallace & Gromit in the Wrong Trousers (1993).

In the end, I like Chicken Run, not as much as I like other Aardman works I've seen. Chicken Run takes some inspiration from director John Sturges 1963 war and adventure film, The Great Escape. Chicken Run is also described as an adventure film, but it is really a sedate comedy and drama that only occasionally plays with its edgier elements. Honestly, I think the storytellers under-utilize the Tweedys who are delightfully menacing and are endlessly funny as a dysfunctional couple. The film is filled with interesting characters, inventive production design, and a novel plot, but the filmmakers seem to keep holding back the narrative's energy for the big ending – more than they need to as far as I'm concerned.

Chicken Run does not really live up to its comic and adventure potential until the last 20 minutes of the story before the end credits start. The film suddenly seems to wind up and then explode in a final act of flying contraptions, determined poultry, and maniacal farmers. In fact, the finale is the first time in the film that Mel Gibson's Rocky does not seem like an extraneous character. I will try to see the sequel on Netflix, but for the time being, finally seeing Chicken Run seems to be the only run I really need to make at the story.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, December 16, 2023

NOTES:

2001 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Peter Lord, David Sproxton, and Nick Park) and “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Paddy Eason, Mark Nelmes, and Dave Alex Riddett)

2001 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical”

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Monday, September 4, 2023

Review: "THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS" is a Masterpiece

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 125 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Les Invasion Barbares (2003)

The Barbarian Invasions (2003) – U.S. title

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada/France; Language: French/English

Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)

MPAA – R for language, sexual dialogue, and content

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Denys Arcand

PRODUCERS: Daniel Louis and Denise Robert

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Guy Dufaux

EDITOR: Isabelle Dedieu

COMPOSER: Pierre Aviat

Academy Award winner

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Rémy Girard, Stéphane Rousseau, Dorothée Berryman, Louise Portal, Dominique Michel, Yves Jacques, Pierre Curzi, Marie-Josée Croze, Marina Hands, Toni Cecchinato, and Mitsou Gélinas

Les Invasions barbares is a 2003 comedy and drama written and directed by Denys Arcand. A Canadian and French co-production, the film was released in the U.S. under the title, The Barbarian Invasions, the title I will used for this review. The Barbarian Invasions focuses on a dying man, who during his final days, is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.

Arcand’s The Barbarian Invasion won the Academy Award for “Best Foreign Language Film” at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004. A sequel to Arcand's 1986 film, The Decline of the American Empire, The Barbarian Invasions received only one other Oscar nomination, which was for best original screenplay (written by Arcand), and that was and still is ridiculous. Considering the performances and Arcand’s direction, the film should have received at least a few more.

The Barbarian Invasions is the story of 50-ish Rémy (Rémy Girard) and his family. He is dying of cancer and is laid up in a Montreal hospital. His ex-wife, Louise (Dorothée Berryman), summons home their son, Sébastien (Stéphane Rousseau), who is estranged from his father and is living in London. Sébastien, a rich oil trader for a huge British firm, is, in a sense, a disappointment to his father. The son is a wealthy capitalist and the father was an arm chair, leftist, radical type.

Soon after he arrives, Sébastien uses his money and connections to fight the entrenched Canadian nationalized health system, and he gets Rémy a private room and other amenities. But the most difficult part of the prodigal son’s return home is the reconciliation between father and son.

The most amazing thing about this thoroughly beautiful film is that Arcand is able to tell the story of a father trying to redeem himself, of a son trying to put aside his anger at this father, and of a man trying to find meaning in a life he believes that he lazily kept so modest and have still more sub-plots, philosophies, and ideas. The film also deals with mother/daughter relationships, the drug war, drug addiction, personal and professional failure, the Canadian health system, socialism, infidelity, friendship, politics, religion, genocide, and barbarian invasions of civilization. Arcand does all of this without losing the central, human focus of his lovely movie. Filled with rich performances, subtle humor, and endearing characters, The Barbarian Invasions is the best film of the year.

10 of 10

Re-edited: Saturday, September 2, 2023

NOTES:

2004 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Canada); 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Denys Arcand)

2004 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Screenplay-Original” (Denys Arcand) and “Best Film not in the English Language” (Denise Robert, Daniel Louis, and Denys Arcand)

2004 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Canada)

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Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Review: "INDIANA JONES and the Last Crusade" Stills Feels Like a True Ending

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 of 2023 (No. 1917) by Leroy Douresseaux

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg

WRITERS: Jeffrey Boam; from a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes (based on characters created by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman)

PRODUCER: Robert Watts

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Douglas Slocombe (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Michael Kahn, A.C.E.

COMPOSER: John Williams

Academy Award winner

ADVENTURE/ACTION/FANTASY

Starring: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Denholm Elliot, John Rhys-Davies, Julian Glover, River Phoenix, Michael Byrne, Kevork Malikyan, Robert Eddison, Richard Young, and Michael Sheard

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 action-adventure film from director Steven Spielberg. It is the third entry in the “Indiana Jones” film franchise that began with the 1981 film, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). The Last Crusade finds Indiana Jones searching for his father, who along with the Nazis, are search for the Holy Grail.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade opens in Utah, 1912. It is there that teenage Henry Jones, Jr. (River Phoenix) has his first experiences with raiders of an archaeological site.

Over a quarter-century later, in 1938, Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. (Harrison Ford) recovers the treasure he lost as a teenager. Jones returns to teaching (apparently at Barnett College in Fairfield, New York) when one of the college's wealthy patrons approaches him about a special mission. Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) wants Jones to help him locate the Holy Grail.

Jones informs him that his father, Professor Henry Jones, Sr. (Sean Connery), is the expert on the Holy Grail and the one whom Donovan should seek. Donovan shocks Jones by informing him that he had hired his father to find the Grail, but the senior Jones has disappeared. Jones and his colleague, Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot), race to Venice, his father's last known location. Waiting for them is Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), who was working with the elder Jones in Venice as he sought to find more clues about the Grail's location.

Before long, Indiana Jones and Henry Jones Sr. are racing for their lives, staying one step ahead of the Nazis, who also want the Grail, and the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, who want to protect it. Reunited with his old friend, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), the Jones boys get closer to the Holy Grail, but the secret of the Grail is that it offers both eternal life and total destruction.

In preparation for the upcoming fifth film in the series, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, I decided to see the one Indiana Jones film that I have not watched in its entirety since the 1990s, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I have seen the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, countless times, and I rewatched its follow-up, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), in November of last year (2022). I have watched the fourth film in the series, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), many times since its release.

I have long considered Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade the true end of the Indiana Jones film series because it was the third film in the original trilogy and because it felt like the end of something. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull felt like a “coda,” in the sense that it was both an addition to the three-film series that ran from 1981 to 1989 and a final piece added to the ending of The Last Crusade's tale of family and friends out for one last adventure.

Seeing The Last Crusade in its entirety for the first time in decades, I still feel like I'm watching the end of trilogy. If there was going to be another film after it, that ceased to be when River Phoenix, the actor who played teen Henry Jones, Jr. in this film, died in 1993 at the age of 23. Actor Denholm Elliot, who played Marcus Brody in the original film and in The Last Crusade, died at the age of 70, a year earlier in 1992. Henry Jones Sr., actor Sean Connery, only recently died (2020) at the age of 90. So, you see, dear readers, because of the passing of a number of cast members, more and more, I associate Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with endings.

The Last Crusade is my least favorite film of the original trilogy. I know that some audiences prefer it to the darker Temple of Doom, and apparently, director Steven Spielberg made The Last Crusade the way he did to offer a lighter film in response to the criticism of the Temple of Doom's violence and exotic mysticism. However, I find Temple of Doom to be wildly inventive, darkly imaginative, and a roller coaster ride. If Raiders of the Lost Ark is an original, in a way, Temple of Doom still seems determined to be something very different from its predecessor.

Honestly, I find The Last Crusade to be only mildly entertaining until the film's last 45 minutes. Then, it explodes and really finds itself with lots of Nazi-punching and killing and also with a spine-tingling jaunt to the Holy Grail. Besides, Indiana Jones is always at his best when he's beating Nazis. Honestly, I think it is important that audiences who have not seen the original films watch them all before moving on to the new film. By the time they get to the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, many newbies may finally understand what Indiana Jones meant to American cinema once upon a time, and why, over four decades after the release of the first film, there is a new one.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

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

NOTES:

1990 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Ben Burtt and Richard Hymns); 2 nominations: “Best Sound” (Ben Burtt, Gary Summers, Shawn Murphy, and Tony Dawe), and “Best Music, Original Score” (John Williams)

1990 BAFTA Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Sean Connery), “Best Sound” (Richard Hymns, Tony Dawe, Ben Burtt, Gary Summers, and Shawn Murphy), and “Best Special Effects” (George Gibbs, Michael J. McAlister, Mark Sullivan, and John Ellis)

1990 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Sean Connery)

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Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Review: Entertaining "TRIANGLE OF SADNESS" is Not as Clever or as Sharp As it Thinks It Is

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 of 2023 (No. 1910) by Leroy Douresseaux

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

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

MPA – R for language and some sexual content

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Rubin Östlund

PRODUCERS: Philippe Bober and Erik Hemmendorff

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Fredrik Wenzel (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Mikel Cee Karlsson and Rubin Östlund

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Vicki Berlin, Dolly De Leon, Zlatko Buric, Sunnyi Melles, Iris Berben, Amanda Walker, Oliver Ford Davies, Ralph Schicha, Henrik Dorsin, Jean-Christophe Folly, Alicia Eriksson, and Woody Harrelson

Triangle of Sadness is a 2022 satirical film and black comedy from writer-director Ruben Östlund. It is the Swedish Östlund's first English-language film, and it is an international co-production between four nations: Sweden, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The film follows a celebrity couple, who are both fashion models, as they join a doomed luxury cruse for the super-rich.

Triangle of Sadness introduces Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean). Yaya is a successful fashion model, and Carl is male model, who is not as successful as Yaya. Yaya expects Carl to pay for their meals, although she makes more money than him, and her ambition is to be a trophy wife. Yaya is an “influencer,” and she is in a relationship with Carl for the social media engagement it earns them.

Carl and Yaya are invited on a luxury cruise aboard a super-yacht in exchange for its social media promotion. Among the wealthy guests are the Russian oligarch, Dimitry (Zlatko Buric), and his wife, Vera (Sunnyi Melles), and Jarmo (Henrik Dorsin), a lonely tech millionaire who flirts with Yaya. Paula (Vicki Berlin), the tightly wound head of the ship's staff, demands that the staff obey the guests' every request, even the absurd ones. The ship's Captain (Woody Harrelson) will not leave his room and seems to be drunk all the time. The captain's neglect of his duties, Paula's insistence on placating the super-wealthy guests, and the guests crazy demands culminate in a single disastrous evening.

Eventually, a small group of the yacht's guests, including Carl and Yaya, find themselves on what seems to be a deserted island. Now, the balance of power has shifted from the wealthy and powerful to a rather skillful cleaning woman, Abigail (Dolly De Leon). Will the guests adjust to this new status, and how well will they adjust?

There are some fun, outrageous, and outrageously funny material, moments, and scenes in Triangle of Sadness. The film critiques and mocks the obscenely wealthy, but I think that its strongest points are made when it takes swipes at how some people get rich and famous. Some are wealthy because they sell things that are destructive to humanity (things used in war), and some are rich and famous … for being rich and famous. Some people's wealth does not make their lives better, such as the lonely Jarmo. Some, like the Russian, Dimitry, merely happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right stuff to sell.

For all his film's political commentary and moral lessons, writer-director Ruben Östlund seems to be a tad too mannered. It's as if he doesn't know that while his film is edgy, he seems to be dulling the sharp edges that would really go after his social and political targets. Is Östlund saying that the super-rich and famous are obscene and that they need to be brought down to the level of ordinary people in order to regain their humanity? By the end of the film, it seems that way.

I would recommend Triangle of Sadness (which takes its title from a modeling term used in the film) to fans of foreign movies. Most movie fans can get a similar message, more or less, from the classic Eddie Murphy-Dan Aykroyd film, Trading Places (1983). I like Triangle of Sadness because it is a genuinely good film, but it feels like Ruben Östlund left the hardness of its allegories and metaphors on the cutting room floor.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

NOTES:

2023 Academy Awards, USA: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober), “Best Original Screenplay” (Ruben Östlund), and “Best Achievement in Directing” (Ruben Östlund)

2023 BAFTA Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Supporting Actress” (Dolly De Leon), “Best Casting” (Pauline Hansson), and “Best Screenplay-Original” (Ruben Östlund)

2023 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture” (Dolly De Leon)

2022 Cannes Film Festival: 2 wins: “Palme d'Or” (Ruben Östlund) and “CST Artist-Technician Prize” (Andreas Franck, Bent Holm, Jacob Ilgner, and Jonas Rudels)

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Thursday, May 4, 2023

Review: Riveting "WOMEN TALKING" is a Film That Speaks Directly, Even to Us

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2023 (No. 1908) by Leroy Douresseaux

Women Talking (2022)

Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for mature thematic content including sexual assault, bloody images, and some strong language

DIRECTOR: Sarah Polley

WRITER: Sarah Polley (based upon the book by Miriam Toews)

PRODUCERS: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Frances McDormand

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Luc Montpellier

EDITORS: Christopher Donaldson and Roslyn Kalloo

COMPOSER: Hildur Guðnadottir

Academy Award winner

DRAMA/RELIGION

Starring: Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, France McDormand, Judith Ivey, Emily Mitchell, Kate Hallet, Liv McNeil, Shelia McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Kira Guloien, Shayla Brown, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, August Winter, and Ben Whishaw

Women Talking is a 2022 drama film from writer-director Sarah Polley. The film is based on Miriam Towes' 2018 Canadian novel, Women Talking. Both the film and the novel are inspired by real-life events. Women Talking the film focuses on a group of women who must decide if they should do nothing, stay and fight, or leave their isolated religious community where sexual abuse of girls and women is common.

Women Talking opens in the year 2010 in an unnamed, isolated Mennonite colony. The colony's women and girls have discovered that some of the men in the colony have been using livestock tranquilizer to subdue them in order to rape them. Although other men in the colony have had these attackers arrested and imprisoned in a nearby city, they are also seeking bail for the attackers.

The men have left the women by themselves for two days in order for the women to determine what they will do going forward. However, the men expect the women to forgive their attackers or be expelled from the colony. The women gather in a barn to discuss and to vote. They have a young man named August (Ben Whishaw) sit in the meeting in order to take the minutes. When he was a boy, Ben's mother was expelled from the colony. Ben returned to become the colony's sole teacher, but he only teaches the boys because women are not allowed to attend school.

Elders like Agata (Judith Ivey) and Greta (Sheila McCarthy) lead the discussion, but young women like Ona (Rooney Mara), Salome (Claire Foy), Mariche (Jessie Buckley), and Mejal (Michelle McLeod) have strong opinions. Should the women do nothing... forgive... stay and fight... or leave the colony? As they grapple with the brutal reality of their faith, the time to decide is running out.

Almost four days out from watching Women Talking, and I find myself still thinking about it, dear readers. In the wake of the of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, it feels like a supernaturally timely film. The “Dobbs decision” held that the Constitution of the United States did not confer a right to abortion. It is just the latest in a more than three-decade assault on women's rights to reproductive freedom and choice.

Women Talking effectively delivers a valuable message. The women of the Mennonite colony that this film depicts must confront not only the violence against them, but also a religion designed down to its bones to give men all the power over women. Their faith essentially renders women and girls indentured servants and non-citizens.

I quibble that writer-director Sarah Polley's direction and Oscar-winning screenplay bury the actresses of Women Talking beneath the scenario and story. There is a lot of genuine talent here, and I wanted to see more of them, in a broader sense, although no one can really keep Rooney Mara from shining. In a way, however, that is good thing. The way Polley presents this makes Women Talking as timeless as it is timely.

Women Talking is truly an exceptional and spectacular film because the women at the heart of its story are talking. What they say crosses over into our real world. Because what is depicted in this film is real, it matters. Women Talking is based on something that happened not that long ago, in this century, so women struggling for equality and human rights must keep talking. And this movie, Women Talking, is entertainment, educational, and hopefully, inspiration for future generations.

9 of 10

A+

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Thursday, May 4, 2023

NOTES:

2023 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Sarah Polley) and 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, and Frances McDormand – producers)

2023 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Hildur Guðnadóttir) and “Best Screenplay-Motion Picture” (Sarah Polley)

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Sunday, April 16, 2023

Review: "PUSS IN BOOTS: The Last Wish" is a Delightful Surprise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 of 2023 (No. 1906) by Leroy Douresseaux

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

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

MPA – PG for action/violence, rude humor/language, and some scary moments

DIRECTOR: Joel Crawford with Januel Mercado

WRITERS: Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow; from a story by Tom Wheeler and Tommy Swerdlow

PRODUCER: Mark Swift

EDITOR: James Ryan

COMPOSER: Heitor Pereira

Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY

Starring: (voices) Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Coleman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Kevin McCann, Anthony Mendez, and Bernardo De Paula

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a 2022 computer-animated fantasy-adventure film directed by Joel Crawford and produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film is a sequel to Puss in Boots (2011) and is also the sixth installment in the Shrek film franchise. The Last Wish focuses on Puss in Boots' epic journey to gain the wish that will restore the eight of his nine lives that he has lost.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish opens in the town of Del Mar. There, the renowned hero and outlaw, Puss in Boots (Antionio Banderas), hosts a party and later, saves the town from a giant. After being injured during his battle with a giant, Puss sees a local doctor (Anthony Mendez) who informs him that he has used eight of his nine lives. [I'm assuming that you, dear readers, are familiar with the superstitious belief that cats have nine lives]. The doctor urges Puss to retire from adventuring before he loses his ninth and final life.

Puss refuses to retire, but then, he has an unfortunate encounter with a menacing, bounty-hunting. Known as Wolf (Wagner Moura), he is garbed in a black robe and hood and wields twin sickles, and he is so fearsome that Puss has to flee. While on the run, Puss learns of the magical “Wishing Star,” which can grant a single wish to someone bearing the map to its location. Puss begins his journey to the Star's location, the “Dark Forest.” Joining him on his journey is Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), the savvy Tuxedo cat he apparently betrayed, and also a small dog that Puss and Kitty call “Perrito” (Harvey Guillén). But they aren't the only ones looking for the Wishing Star.

I was happy to hear about Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. When I first saw the original, Puss in Boots, I was surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is like its fellow DreamWorks Animation 2022 stablemate, The Bad Guys. Both films take inspiration for their production design from Sony Pictures Animation's 2018, Oscar-winning film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which mixes both a 3D and a 2D aesthetic in its design. I think The Last Wish looks closer to Into the Spider-Verse than The Bad Guys does, but neither film electrifies the screen the way the Spider-Man film did.

Like its predecessor, The Last Wish has a lead character who is part Zorro and part Valentino. Puss in Boots is a charming rogue, the kind of character that can drive a swashbuckling adventure film to success. However, The Last Wish requires a character to not only undergo a character arc, but also to evolve. To that end, Antonio Banderas gives a performance with more humor and pathos than most actors give in live-action roles. By the time The Last Wish ends, Banderas has me wishing real hard for a third film in this series.

As Kitty Softpaws, Salma Hayek makes the most of her moments. The character doesn't get the space to roam dramatically that Puss does, but Hayek makes Kitty seem like a character that could carry her own movie. Actor Harvey Guillén keeps Perrito the dog perfectly cute for this film, because he is just the kind of character that can quickly go from lovable to annoying.

The rest of the characters in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish come across as extraneous. The “Three Bears Crime Family,” which includes Goldilocks (Florence Pugh), Mama Bear (Olivia Colman), Papa Bear (Ray Winstone), and Baby Bear (Samson Kayo), and also the crime lord, “Big” Jack Horner (John Mulaney), don't feel so important to the story that they could not be replaced with other famous fairy tale characters. They aren't bad characters, but they seem to exist in The Last Wish for no other reason than to be part of this film's big action set pieces. But Wagner Moura is awesome as the magnificent “Wolf.” The film could have used more of him and less of the other “criminals.”

Still, Antonio Banderas once again makes Puss in Boots an animated character worthy of headlining his own films. Hopefully, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is not the last Puss in Boots film.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, April 16, 2023

NOTES:

2023 Academy Awards, USA: 1nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Joel Crawford and Mark Swift)

2023 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Joel Crawford and Mark Swift)

2023 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture – Animated”

2023 Image Awards (NAACP): 1 nomination: “Outstanding Animated Motion Picture”

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Thursday, October 27, 2022

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

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

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

SCI-FI/ADVENTURE/MYSTERY/DRAMA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 of 10
B+
★★★½ out of 4 stars

Thursday, October 27, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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