"Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams" Debuts on Amazon Jan. 12th

Amazon Prime Original Anthology Series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams Debuts on Friday, January 12, 2018

All ten episodes—featuring an all-star cast including Steve Buscemi, Bryan Cranston, Greg Kinnear, Anna Paquin, Terrence Howard, Maura Tierney, Janelle Monáe, Richard Madden, Liam Cunningham, Vera Farmiga, Juno Temple, Essie Davis, Benedict Wong, Annalise Basso, Mireille Enos, Rachelle Lefevre and Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore, Michael Dinner, David Kanter and Bryan Cranston—will be available globally in select territories on Prime Video

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon announced that its new sci-fi anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams will premiere on Friday, January 12, 2018, exclusively on Prime Video. Based on various writings from author Philip K. Dick, each of the ten standalone episodes are set in a different and unique world – some which lay in the far reaches of the universe, and others which are much closer to home.

While the stories may be worlds apart, central to each is the poignant and warm exploration of the importance and significance of humanity. From five to 5000 years in the future, each compelling tale will both illustrate Philip K. Dick's prophetic vision and celebrate the enduring appeal of the prized sci-fi novelist’s work. Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams will be available as a Prime Exclusive Series in the U.S., as well as in select territories globally, including Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Latin America, Spain and Turkey, among others. Dick’s Emmy award-winning The Man in the High Castle, the most-watched scripted series in the history of Prime Video, will begin its third season in 2018.

    “We’re excited to share the fantastical world of Philip K. Dick as it’s never been experienced before”

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams features an all-star cast, including Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Greg Kinnear (Heaven is For Real), Maura Tierney (The Affair), Janelle Monáe (Moonlight), Mireille Enos (The Catch), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Terrence Howard (Empire), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones), Richard Madden (Game of Thrones), Holliday Grainger (The Finest Hours), Mel Rodriguez (Last Man on Earth), Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel), Jack Reynor (Macbeth), Essie Davis (The Babadook), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Geraldine Chaplin (A Monster Calls), Juno Temple (Vinyl) and David Lyons (Revolution), among many others.

Each episode is inspired by one of Philip K. Dick’s renowned short stories and has been adapted by leading American and British writers and directors, including Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander), Michael Dinner (Justified, Sneaky Pete), Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Matthew Graham (Doctor Who), David Farr (The Night Manager), Dee Rees (Bessie), Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim), Jessica Mecklenburg (Stranger Things), Francesca Gregorini (Humans), Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones, Mad Men) and Peter Horton (Grey’s Anatomy, The Shield).

“We’re excited to share the fantastical world of Philip K. Dick as it’s never been experienced before,” said Brad Beale, Vice President, Worldwide TV Content Acquisition, Amazon Prime Video. “With the combined creative genius behind this series, as well as the stellar cast and visually compelling locations, every episode of this sci-fi anthology is sure to be an entertaining experience for our Prime members.”

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions (Outlander) and Michael Dinner of Rooney McP Productions (Justified, Sneaky Pete), alongside Bryan Cranston and James Degus of Moonshot Entertainment (Sneaky Pete), Isa Dick Hackett, Kalen Egan and Christopher Tricarico of Electric Shepherd Productions (The Man in the High Castle), David Kanter and Matt DeRoss of Anonymous Content Entertainment (13 Reasons Why), Lila Rawlings and Marigo Kehoe of Left Bank Pictures (The Crown) and Don Kurt (Justified) and Kate DiMento (Justified), in association with Sony Pictures Television.

The entire first season of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams will be available to stream and members can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing at no additional cost to their membership. The series will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video for members to watch via the Prime Video app for popular smart TVs, Fire TV, Fire Tablets and Android and iOS phones and tablets. Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free 30-day trial at amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.


About Amazon Video
Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

•     Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed content plus critically acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, Love & Friendship, and kids series Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
•     Amazon Channels: Over 130 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more. To view the full list of channels available, visit www.amazon.com/channels.
•     Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers.
•     Instant Access: Customers can instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on compatible TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.
•     Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content.

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalog with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more, visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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Disney Channel Star, Olivia Holt, Joins "Same Kind of Different As Me"

OLIVIA HOLT TO STAR IN PARAMOUNT PICTURES’ “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME”

Olivia Holt, star of  Disney Channel’s “I Didn’t Do It,” has joined the cast of Paramount Pictures’ “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME,” based on the best-selling nonfiction book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent, author of the bestselling book Heaven Is for Real.

Holt will play Regan, the daughter of Ron and Debbie Hall, played by Greg Kinnear and Renee Zellweger, respectively.

“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is directed by Michael Carney from a screenplay he co-wrote with Alexander Foard and Ron Hall. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter are producing through Disruption Entertainment, alongside Darren Moorman, Stephen Johnson and Hall. The executive producers are Chris Bancroft, Hans Graffunder, Carney and Foard.

Holt currently stars as ‘Lindy’ in the Disney Channel original series “I Didn’t Do It,” which is about to start production for season 2. She is best known for playing ‘Kim’ in the Disney XD hit martial arts series “Kickin’ It.” Earlier this year, Holt sang the theme song “Carry On” in the DisneyNatures film “BEARS” and in September, signed a record deal with Hollywood Records.

“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is the story of an international art dealer Ron Hall (Kinnear) who must befriend a dangerous homeless man (Djimon Hounsou) in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife (Zellweger), a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the most remarkable journey of their lives. Jon Voight plays Hall's father, with whom he reconciles thanks to the revelations of his new life.

The film is shooting in Jackson, Mississippi.

Holt is repped by Principato-Young Entertainment, Paradigm, & Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.

Production Begins on Paramount Pictures' "Same Kind of Different as Me"

GREG KINNEAR, RENEE ZELLWEGER, DJIMON HOUNSOU AND JON VOIGHT TO STAR IN PARAMOUNT PICTURES’ “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME”

PRODUCTION BEGAN OCTOBER 27TH IN JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

Paramount Pictures today announced that Academy Award®-nominees Greg Kinnear and Djimon Hounsou and Academy Award®-winners Renee Zellweger and Jon Voight will star in “SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME,” based on the best-selling nonfiction book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent, author of the bestselling book Heaven Is for Real.

Michael Carney will make his directorial debut from a screenplay he co-wrote with Alexander Foard and Ron Hall. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter will produce through Disruption Entertainment, alongside Darren Moorman, Stephen Johnson and Ron Hall. The executive producers are Chris Bancroft, Hans Graffunder, Michael Carney and Foard.

Principal photography began October 27th in Jackson, Mississippi.

“SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME” is the story of an international art dealer Ron Hall (Kinnear) who must befriend a dangerous homeless man (Hounsou) in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife (Zellweger), a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the most remarkable journey of their lives. Voight plays Hall's father, with whom he reconciles thanks to the revelations of his new life.

About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.

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Review: "Anchorman 2" is Enough... Really

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
Running time:  112 minutes; MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual content, drug use, language and comic violence
DIRECTOR:  Adam McKay
WRITERS:  Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (based on characters created by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay)
PRODUCERS:  Judd Apatow, Will Ferrell, and Adam McKay
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Patrick Capone and Oliver Wood (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Brent White and Melissa Bretherton
COMPOSERS:  Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau

COMEDY

Starring:  Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steven Carell, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Dylan Baker, Meagan Good, Judah Nelson, James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Josh Lawson, Kristen Wiig, Fred Willard, Chris Parnell, Bill Curtis (narrator) and Harrison Ford with Will Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kirsten Dunst, Marion Cotillard, and Joe Washington

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a 2013 comedy directed by Adam McKay and written by McKay and actor Will Ferrell.  The film is a sequel to Anchorman:  The Legend of Ron Burgundy.  Anchorman 2 finds Ron Burgundy putting the 70s behind him and returning to New York City to take a 24-hour news channel by storm.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues begins in New York City where Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) are the husband and wife co-anchors of WBC News.  Then, Veronica is promoted, while Ron is fired.  Ron returns to San Diego, but soon gets an offer to return to NYC.  GNN – Global News Network – is the world’s first 24-hour news network, and they offer Ron a job.

Ron gets to form his own news team, so he reassembles his old gang:  lecherous beat reporter, Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd); Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), the mentally challenged weatherman; and Champ Kind (David Koechner), the chauvinist, racist, and dude-cowboy sports reporter.  Back in NYC, Ron discovers that Veronica has moved on from their relationship, and he struggles to connect with his son, Walter (Judah Nelson).  GNN also proves to be filled with people that don’t like Ron and are determined to keep him from becoming a star in the big city.

However it worked out, having nine years pass between the first Anchorman movie and the sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, is a good thing.  If the sequel had been released even as late as five years after the original, I think it would have been too soon.  Nine years later, audiences are again ready for more of the utterly ridiculous antics of Ron Burgundy and his three clownish amigos plus one chick.  Yes, there are new characters, but the sequel is more of the same.

The noticeable difference is that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay gleefully poke fun at and mock cable news networks and the non-news, infotainment media junk food that these networks have elevated to top story status over the last two decades.  This includes car chases, celebrity scandals, missing white girls, and other lurid news.  Without being named, FOX News takes the biggest hits from Anchorman 2.

A lot of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues made me laugh out loud, but I found that the film was too long at almost two hours of runtime.  I was ready for it to be over, even with all the movie star and celebrity cameos that fill the last act like sparkly roaches.  Do I want more Ron Burgundy?  Ask me in another nine years.

6 of 10
B

Friday, April 11, 2014


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"Stuck on You" Not a Typical Farrelly Brothers Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 76 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


Stuck on You (2003)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and some language
DIRECTOR: The Farrelly Brothers
WRITERS: Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly; from a story by Charles B. Wessler, Bennett Yellin, and the Farrelly Brothers
PRODUCERS: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, Bradley Thomas, and Charles B. Wessler
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dan Mindel (D.o.P)
EDITORS: Christopher Greenbury and Dave Terman
COMPOSER: Charlie Gartner

COMEDY with elements of drama

Starring: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Eva Mendes, Cher, Seymour Cassel, Griffin Dunne, Wen Yann Shih, Jackie Flynn, Terence Bernie Hines, with Frankie Muniz, Jesse Ventura, and Meryl Streep

The subject of this review is Stuck on You, the 2003 comedy from brotherly filmmaking duo, Bobby and Peter Farrelly. The film follows the adventures of conjoined twin brothers who want to become professional actors.

In the Farrelly Bros.’ film, Stuck on You, Bob Tenor (Matt Damon) and his brother Walt (Greg Kinnear) are conjoined twins (also known as Siamese twins) living in Martha’s Vineyard and working at Bob restaurant, Quickie Burger. When Walt decides to pursue his acting career, Bob, of course, has to move to L.A. with Walt. The twins find fame and fortune when Cher (playing herself) picks the boys to be “co-stars” in a new TV show she’s obliged to do, hoping that the presence of the conjoined siblings will get the show cancelled. Of course, it doesn’t work, and the brothers become the program’s true stars. When Bob loses her girlfriend, however, the brothers may just have to do the thing that’s been in the back of their minds for most of their lives – have a difficult and dangerous surgery that will separate them. And even then, can they stand being apart from each other?

Farrelly films are known for the sibling directors including such shocking elements as characters with handicaps, physical deformities, retardation, and anything that makes a person really stand out in a crowd. Some of their characters are also astoundingly dumb, naïve, and stupid. Farrelly films succeed because their characters oddities make us uncomfortable, no matter how PC or charitable we may pretend to be. Within the context of the film, all the characters may act as if nothing is peculiar, but we know better, and this strangeness often leads to belly laughs.

In this Stuck on You, the Farrelly’s have toned things down considerable. Odd and odd-looking character prevail, but it all seems somewhat mundane, as if odd really isn’t odd. It’s part of the everyday fabric of the outside world. The citizens of Bob and Walt’s hometown certainly don’t act as if anything is “wrong” with the brothers; indeed, even the folks in la-la land don’t act all that freaked out by conjoined twins.

What makes Stuck on You work and that’s different from other Farrelly Bros. films is the poignancy; there is a realness to the story that goes beyond the usual craziness of Farrelly world. Damon and Kinnear are very good actors, and they sell us on the close-knit relationship between the brothers. Both are good-looking men and have charming personalities, so the audience is likely endeared to them. The closer the actors make us feel towards the characters, the more likely we’re going to laugh at the crazy things that happen to them and root for them to overcome obstacles.

Ultimately, it’s Damon and Kinnear who really sell this film as a heart-warming comedy and make it worth watching. That’s important because, Stuck on You is the antithesis of Farrelly classics like Kingpins and There’s Something About Mary. For all the laughs, the film is, indeed, quite dramatic, and while that drags at the film a few times, there are many heart-warming moments to go along with the belly laughs.

7 of 10
B+

Review: Excellent Cast Keeps "Little Miss Sunshine" Shining (Happy B'day, Alan Arkin)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 186 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some sex, and drug use
DIRECTORS: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
WRITER: Michael Arndt
PRODUCERS: Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, and Ron Yerxa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tim Suhrstedt
EDITOR: Pamela Martin
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin, Paula Newsome, Dean Norris, and Lauren Shiohama

Seven-year old Olive Hoover’s (Abigail Breslin) deepest wish is to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, CA. Schedules and financial issues compel her parents: her mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) and her father Richard (Greg Kinnear), who is struggling to take his motivational seminar national, to make the trip from their home in New Mexico to California in a VW bus. The trio won’t be alone, though; the rest of her odd clan is coming along on this stressful road trip. That includes her heroin snorting Grandpa (Alan Arkin), her suicidal, gay uncle, Frank (Steve Carell), and her brother, Dwayne (Paul Dano), who has taken a vow of silence until he attains his dream – the Air Force Academy. Along the way, the Hoovers must learn to deal with their broken dreams, heartaches, and the broken-down VW bus. It’s the only way they’ll learn to accept themselves for who they are and to give each other the support that helps to overcome the challenges on the path of life.

Steve Carell’s hit NBC comedy, “The Office” resonates with audiences not because its portrayal of the working life in a corporate office is necessarily real, but because it captures the spirit of absurdity and idiocy that often thrives in the office space. Carell is also part of the ensemble cast of the film, Little Miss Sunshine, and perhaps, this movie resonates with audiences and critics not because it is a realistic portrayal of the nuclear and extended family (though the script does take verisimilitude to the next level). Little Miss Sunshine captures in its spirit the irritation, aggravation, and disappointments of being in a family while simultaneously capturing the essence of what makes being in a family so damn cool when it works right.

This charming little film gets it right from top to bottom – character, plot, setting, and concept. In fact, the Hoovers’ odyssey on that little VW bus and how they have to work together to make it run long enough to get them to the pageant and back is a metaphor for the hard won teamwork that it takes to keep a family in working order and working together – especially when it often seems that by every right it should be broken into hundreds of little pieces. Little Miss Sunshine doesn’t laugh at the family or their drama. Instead, it reveals the creamy inside of the family’s tough exterior through dry humor – the kind the family uses to deal with itself.

Little Miss Sunshine is also a superbly cast film because it has a superb cast. They hit their marks, and they get their moments right. Each actor knows that he or she has scenes scattered throughout the film when it’s up to the individual to not only sell his or her character, but to also sell this movie. From Steve Carell’s Frank having a run-in with a lover who spurned him to Abigail Breslin’s moment to make Olive shine at the pageant, this cast hits a home run or at least gets an extra base hit. It’s hard to find an ensemble cast that outshines them this year.

Little Miss Sunshine sometimes offers pat resolutions, but those are the sweetest pats of butter around. Sometimes, the actors seem too earnest and overact in making their characters weird and troubled. This flick, however, is filled with black humor, and ultimately, its seeming ease at reaching a resolution is hard fought. They show us the dark side of family, but it’s sweet as dark chocolate, and the aftertaste is one we’ll enjoy. Hooray to directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris who saw the magic in Michael Arndt’s script and spun gold cloth from it, and bravo to the fates for giving us an enchanting cast to bring it all to life.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, August 27, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Alan Arkin) and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Michael Arndt); 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, and Marc Turtletaub) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Abigail Breslin)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Alan Arkin) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Michael Arndt); 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Abigail Breslin), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Toni Collette), “Best Film” (Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, and Ron Yerxa), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris)

2007 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Toni Collette)

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Green Zone Juggles Politics and Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 56 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Green Zone (2010)
Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and language
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITER: Brian Helgeland (based on the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Greengrass, and Lloyd Levin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Barry Ackroyd
EDITOR: Christopher Rouse

WAR/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdalla, Jason Isaacs, and Yigal Naor

Director Paul Greengrass and actor/movie star Matt Damon came together to produce two of the three Jason Bourne movies (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum). They reunited for the film Green Zone, which is not a Jason Bourne movie or anything like that. Green Zone is a movie set at the beginning of the Iraq War. Green Zone is part military action movie, but it also has something to say about the reasons for the Iraq War.

The story focuses on Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) and begins early in the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Miller leads a team of U.S. Army inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) believed to be stockpiled in and around Baghdad. After investigating a series of sites and finding nothing, Miller begins to suspect that the intelligence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction is faulty, at best.

Miller’s military superiors and other high-ranking officials dismiss his theories about flawed intelligence, and he comes into conflict with U.S. Defense Intelligence Agent Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) who seems to be guiding much of the American occupation of Iraq. After meeting, Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), a Middle East-based CIA officer, Miller stumbles upon an elaborate cover-up of the reasons behind the Iraq War. Now, Miller must navigate the intersecting agendas spun by competing operatives, as he hunts for answers that may clear Iraq’s fallen regime of war crimes or even stop an insurgency from being born.

Green Zone is a politically engaged film. Using Matt Damon’s Roy Miller as a vehicle, Paul Greengrass and screen writer Brian Helgeland addresses Greengrass’ contentions about the decision to invade Iraq (the country’s alleged possession of WMDs) and subsequent decisions made during the U.S.-led Coalition occupation (in particularly the decision to disband the Iraqi army).

Greengrass’ problems with the Iraq War have also been the subject of many television and theatrical films (both fiction and non-fiction). Making these arguments about Iraq within the framework of a military action thriller actually can result in a movie with an identity crisis, which is the case with Green Zone. Greengrass attempts to make his points about the war, unveiling them during the course of Roy Miller’s investigation, which involves talking to and shooting at people.

The first 55 minutes of the movie mostly sets up the story, and it follows Miller as he gradually makes a series of startling discoveries about the run-up to the Iraq War. This is more dry and dull than interesting. The first half of the film is so slow and awkward that it is almost a disaster. Honestly, Greengrass’ contentions about the Iraq War are only interesting in the context of the movie’s second half. That’s the action/thriller half which has Roy Miller trying to find Iraqi General Mohammed Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor) before a Special Forces unit does. This second half will remind audiences of those breathless action scenes Greengrass and Damon pulled off in their two Jason Bourne movies.

It is cool that a Hollywood movie would confront the controversies of the Iraq War, but the best thing about Green Zone is the tense pacing and smartly constructed action sequences. Unfortunately, the politics are, at best, distracting and, at worst, debilitating to the movie.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, July 25, 2010

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Review: "Fast Food Nation" a Stomach-Turning Great Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fast Food Nation (2006)

Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)

MPAA – R for disturbing images, strong sexuality, language, and drug content

DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater

WRITERS: Eric Schlosser and Richard Linklater (based upon the nonfiction book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser)

PRODUCERS: Jeremy Thomas and Malcolm McLaren

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lee Daniel

EDITOR: Sandra Adair

DRAMA

Starring: Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale, Paul Dano, Frank Ertl, Luis Guzmán, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Lou Taylor Pucci, Ana Claudia Talancón, Wilmer Valderrama, and Bruce Willis

Richard Linklater’s film, Fast Food Nation, is a fictional take on Eric Schlosser’s 2001 best-selling nonfiction book of the same name. Like the book, the film critiques America’s fast-food industry, and the narrative covers everything involved in manufacturing, marketing, and selling hamburgers. Linklater was nominated for the “Golden Palm” at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival for his work in this movie.

The story takes place in and around the imaginary city of Cody, Colorado. It begins with Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear), a hotshot marketing guru at the fictional Mickey’s burger chain. Don arrives in Cody to investigate why there are contaminants in the frozen patties used to make, “The Big One,” Mickey’s best-selling hamburger. His visit takes him inside the bowels of their patty supplier, Uni-Globe Meat Packing, where undocumented workers toil in wretched conditions. As he visits strip malls, ranchers, and suppliers, and people recommended to him, Don doesn’t see nearly all the people who are connected to him and his company. He wonders what his investigation will make of all these perspectives because the fast-food world turns out to be fraught with more peril than he ever realized.

Richard Linklater achieves that rare feat of directing two great films released in the same year: the trippy, animated, sci-fi drama, A Scanner Darkly and the recent socio-political drama, Fast Food Nation. Both films examine flawed, but likeable people caught in larger dramas and dealing with forces of which they have no control or have much less than they think. Both films are at their best when Linklater allows the narratives (and audience) to hang out with an eclectic collection of flawed characters. In that, Nation has some similarities to Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and John Sayles’ Sunshine State. Fast Food Nation, however, deals with the immediate world in which we live today.

While it may seem as if Linklater and his co-writer Eric Schlosser, the writer of this movie’s source, are condemning Nation’s characters to hopelessness, this film is a rallying cry to all of us to wake up about the food we put into our bodies – both the food itself and how and who produces it. Although Nation isn’t merely a message film, it is informing us of our food culture, and Linklater and Schlosser allow the characters to inform us in concise, but rich and vibrant banter and debates. To that end, the filmmakers assembled a far-flung cast made of one bona fide Hollywood megastar (Bruce Willis), some well-known film and TV stars (Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, and Greg Kinnear), some acclaimed veteran actors, (Luis Guzmán and Kris Kristofferson), and some up and coming young talent (Paul Dano, Ashley Johnson, and Catalina Sandino Moreno). It’s obvious watching these earnest performances that the cast believes in this film, and each actor does his or her point to tie the various sub-plots and storylines together, so rather than something disjointed, we get a coherent multi-layered narrative.

Fast Food Nation will make you think about fast food, in particularly meat: the dangerous conditions in which meat packing workers toil; how the industry obtains these workers and then virtually enslave them; and how the animals that become our food are treated. Perhaps, Nation’s strongest point is revealing again the conditions in which these animals live and what food and drugs they are given. In a matter-of-fact, but engaging visual style, Linklater turns real world news into cinematic art – the most essential and important, important film in years.

9 of 10

A+

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

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