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Saturday, June 29, 2024
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Thursday, October 5, 2023
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Sunday, April 30, 2023
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Review: Spielberg's "1941" - Raiders of the Lost Invasion (Countdown to "The Fabelmans")
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Review: Baz Luhrmann's "ELVIS" Reveals That White People Ruined Presley
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 55 of 2022 (No. 1867) by Leroy Douresseaux
Elvis (2022)
Running time: 159 minutes (2 hours, 39 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for substance abuse, strong language, suggestive material and smoking
DIRECTOR: Baz Luhrmann
WRITERS: Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner; from a story by Baz Luhrmann and Jeremy Doner
PRODUCERS: Baz Luhrmann, Gail Berman, Catherine Martin, Patrick McCormick, and Schuyler Weiss
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mandy Walker (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Jonathan Redmond and Matt Villa
COMPOSER: Elliot Wheeler
BIOPIC/HISTORICAL
Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Luke Bracey, Dacre Montgomery, Leon Ford, Gary Clark, Jr., Yola, Natasha Bassett, Xavier Samuel, Adam Dunn, Shonka Dukureh, and Chaydon Jay
Elvis is a 2022 biopic, musical drama, and historical film from director Baz Luhrmann. The film is an overview and fictional account of the life of Elvis Presley (1935–1977), the singer, songwriter, performer, and actor best known as simply “Elvis” and also as the “King of Rock and Roll.” Elvis the movie examines his life – from his childhood to his rise to cultural icon status – and his complicated relationship with his notorious manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Elvis opens in 1997 and introduces Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). After suffering a stroke, he is on his deathbed. His gambling addiction has left him broke, but once upon a time, he was somebody. He was both famous and infamous. He was the manager of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll.
Early in his life, Elvis Aaron Presley (Chaydon Jay) was a just a kid whose family had moved into a housing project in the white section of an African-American neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee (1948). Elvis' family was poor, and his father was in prison. Elvis, already familiar with country music, became steeped in the gospel music of the nearby Black churches and also in the rhythm and blues of the Black clubs and music halls on Memphis' Beale Street.
Later (1955), when Colonel Parker meets the now adult Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), he is making waves as a young singer and guitarist. Parker is already partnered with country singer, Hank Snow (David Wenham), when he hears Elvis, a young white artist who sounds black, especially on the groundbreaking single, “That's All Right.”
Soon, Parker is managing Elvis, and the young man's stage performances are making him very popular with young people, especially young women, who are driven crazy by Elvis' salacious wiggling legs, swinging hips, and thrusting pelvis. Under Parker's management, Elvis begins a meteoric rise to stardom, but his stage act is drawing the ire of white people who don't want their kids exposed to Black music and culture. To save Elvis from trouble, Colonel Parker exerts more control over Elvis' music, performances, and life, but what will that do to Parker and Elvis' already complex relationship?
Hard as it is to believe, Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has only directed six films in his thirty-year career, beginning with his 1992 debut, Strictly Ballroom, which I have never seen. Other than Elvis, I have only seen Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001), and I have only reviewed the latter.
Elvis is like Moulin Rouge!, a flashy, fast-moving musical drama with excellent production values. Everything about Elvis is lavish, spectacular, fabulous and beautiful. The production design, art direction, and sets are the most beautiful that I have seen this year and maybe in a long time. The costumes, regardless of the characters' wealth and social status, are gorgeous (the only word I can think of). The cinematography and lighting create a world of fantasy, and the film editing manages to convey the seemingly incalculable number of moods and emotions that Luhrmann wants the audience for Elvis to experience.
The soundtrack is filled with Presley's iconic recordings, including some sung by Austin Butler. There are a number of famous gospel and blues songs performed by their legendary originators. There are also modern jams, some reinterpretations of classic songs, including the work of Elvis.
Simply put, Austin Butler makes you believe that he is Elvis Presley. Butler seems to channel everything that made Elvis an icon and a legend. Even Elvis' ex-wife, Priscilla, and daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, were awed by Butler's performance. For anyone to beat Butler to the Oscar this year, they will have to be as amazing as him.
As for the entire film: Elvis is at its best when it chronicles Elvis' rise before he enters the military service (the U.S. Army 1958-60). When Elvis is close to his Memphis roots and hanging around Black singers and performers, he is happy and so is the film. Post-military, the film is still beautiful to look like, but the film takes a darker turn as Elvis is disconnected from his roots and becomes surrounded by white people, most of whom are parasites. And the ones that are not parasites are manipulators.
Tom Hanks' Colonel Tom Parker is one of the most ridiculously awful and awfully ridiculous film characters that I have ever seen. Hanks' Parker is like a mix of “Pennywise the Clown” from the It films (based on the Stephen King books) and a mangy elf. Parker epitomizes the morass that drags at the film for most of its running time. Hanks' Parker does make one of the film's themes obvious and true. Maybe, Elvis and Parker snowed themselves as much as they snowed each other.
My grade reflects how much I like this film's production values, music, and Austin Butler's performance. Butler is the shining light of Elvis. I could watch him play Elvis Presley again – in a better film.
6 of 10
B
★★★ out of 4 stars
Thursday, September 29, 2022
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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Friday, September 16, 2022
Review: "THE WOMAN KING" Delivers a Beat Down for Your Viewing Pleasure
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 of 2022 (No. 1865) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Woman King (2022)
Running time: 135 minutes (2 hours, 15 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing material, thematic content, brief language and partial nudity
DIRECTOR: Gina Prince-Bythewood
WRITERS: Dana Stevens; from a story by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello
PRODUCER: Maria Bello, Viola Davis, Cathy Schulman, and Julius Tennon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Polly Morgan (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Terilyn A. Shropshire
COMPOSER: Terrence Blanchard
HISTORICAL/DRAMA/WAR
Starring: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Shelia Atim, John Boyega, Jordan Bolger, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Jimmy Odukoya, Masali Baduza, Jayme Lawson, Adrienne Warren, and Chioma Antoinette Umeala
The Woman King is a 2022 epic war film and historical drama from director Gina Prince-Bythewood. The film is a fictional account of the all-female military regiment, the Agojie, who protected the West African Kingdom of Dahomey during the length of its existence (from approximately 1600 to 1904). The Woman King focuses on a woman general who must face the ghosts of her past as she leads her all-female band of warriors in a bid to protect their kingdom.
The Woman King opens in 1823 in West Africa in the Kingdom of Dahomey. The kingdom has a new monarch, the young King Ghezo (John Boyega), who is ambitious and has plans for a better future for Dahomey,which is currently paying tributes to the Oyo Empire. His kingdom is protected by the female warriors called the “Agojie,” whose notorious and fearsome reputation has led people to call them the “Dahomey Amazons.”
Agojie leader, General Nanisca (Viola Davis), knows that Dahomey is threatened with destruction from Oyo and its allies. Her enemy is the fearsome Oyo warrior, Oba Ade (Jimmy Odukoya), so she must recruit new warriors to replace the ones who have died in battle. Among her new recruits is Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), a stubborn girl who was given away by her father. Nanisca is running out of time as Dahomey's enemies plot against the kingdom. Also, the threat of European slave traders means that some of her own warriors could end up in barracoons (cages) before they are carried away as slaves. Meanwhile, Nanisca must face both a ghost and a demon from her past.
The “Dora Milaje,” the all-female “king's guard” of the Disney/Marvel Studios' film, Black Panther (2018), are based on the Agojie. Since the Dora Milaje kicked ass in the Marvel film, The Woman King had to depict the Agojie as ass-kickers, and the film does. The action choreography is quite good – martial arts, historical war epic, and superhero movie good. The Woman King, in some ways, is similar to films like Braveheart (1995) and Gladiator (2000). The Woman King manages to be quite the crowd-pleaser by having the female warrior kill their enemies, which includes plenty of white men involved in the slave trade.
I am not surprised that The Woman King reminds me of another Marvel film, last year's Black Widow (2021). The fight choreography in The Woman King sometimes resembles the techniques used by the character, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. Also like Black Widow the film, The Woman King delves into how much it costs the Agojie to be warriors. Via Nanisca, we see how hard these women work and how much they sacrifice. As Nanisca, Viola Davis gives her best performance since her Oscar-winning turn in Fences (2016), if not her best performance ever. Davis' muscular performance makes Nanisca gritty and determined and that defines the rest of the Agojie. It also defines this film because producers Maria Bello and Cathy Schulman had to show grit and determination as they tried to convince studios to finance this film.
The Woman King also has the distinction of being one of those rare films in which every performance is outstanding – from the largest to the smallest roles, in addition to Viola Davis' superb turn. John Boyega is surprisingly regal as King Ghezo. As Nawi, Thuso Mbedu nearly steals this entire film, and as her quasi-paramour, Malik, Jordan Bolger is a light-skinned Mandingo … and his acting is good, too. Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim fairly leap off the screen as Nanisca's lieutenants, Izogie and Amenza, respectively.
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood and her cohorts deliver a film that is an absolute blast. The mix of historical and alternate history feels uplifting, and it's totally fine for us to cheer and celebrate the battles and who gets killed in them. Thank you, Maria Bello (who should have been Oscar-nominated for her performance in the film, The Cooler) and Cathy Schulman for getting this started. Thank you, Viola Davis for leading all these goddesses in one of 2022's best films, The Woman King.
9 of 10
A+
★★★★+ out of 4 stars
Friday, September 16, 2022
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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Saturday, July 16, 2022
Review: DOWNTON ABBEY: A New Era" Celebrates the New with the Old
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, four minutes)
MPAA – PG for some suggestive references, language and thematic elements
DIRECTOR: Simon Curtis
WRITER: Julian Fellowes (based on the television series created by Julian Fellowes)
PRODUCERS: Julian Fellowes, Gareth Neame, and Liz Trubridge
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Dunn (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Adam Recht
COMPOSER: John Lunn
DRAMA/HISTORICAL
Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Joanne Froggatt, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Tuppence Middleton, Lesley Nicol, Harry Hadden-Paton, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, and Penelope Wilton with Dominic West, Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Jonathan Coy, Jonathan Zaccai, and Nathalie Baye
Downton Abbey: A New Era is a 2022 historical drama film directed by Simon Curtis. It is based on the British television series, “Downton Abbey” (ITV, 2010-15), which was created by Julian Fellowes, who also wrote the screenplay for this film. A New Era is also a direct sequel to the 2019 film, Downton Abbey. In A New Era, the Crawley family go on a grand journey to uncover the mysteries behind the dowager countess' recent inheritance, a villa in the south of France.
Downton Abbey: A New Era opens in 1928. Tom Branson (Alan Leech), the son-in-law of Robert Crawley, Lord Grantham and 7th Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), is marrying Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton). Lucy is the former maid and the recently-revealed daughter of Lady Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton), and she will become the heiress to Lady Bagshaw's extensive estate.
Returning from the wedding, the Crawley family experience two big surprises. First, they learn that Lord Grantham's mother, Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith), has inherited a villa near Toulon, in the south of France, from a gentleman she knew in the 1860s, the Marquis de Montmirail. He has recently died, and his son, the new Marquis (Jonathan Zaccai), has invited the Crawleys to visit the villa, named “La Villa des Colombes” (the Villa of the Doves).
Violet is not well enough to travel, but she is particularly anxious for Tom and Lucy to go, because she has decided to transfer ownership of the villa to Sybbie, Tom's daughter with the late Lady Sybil Crawley. So Lord Grantham and his wife, Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), lead a small group of family and servants to the south of France, where the late Maquis' wife, La Marquise, Madame Montmirail (Nathalie Baye), awaits them with a mind to challenge her late husband's will.
The second surprise is that a studio, British Lion, wishes to use Downton as a filming location for a silent film entitled, The Gambler. Although Robert, Lord Grantham is initially opposed to the idea, his eldest daughter, Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery), convinces him that the money from the film could be used to replace Downton Abbey's leaky roof.
So the film crew arrives. The members of the staff at Downton Abbey are intrigued by the chance to see the stars of the film, the leading man, Guy Dexter (Dominic West), and the leading lady, Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock). Lady Mary appears to make an impression on the film's director, Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy), and he soon needs her help. The Gambler is being made just as a great change is occurring in the world of cinema, one that could prematurely end production of the film.
These are just a few of the dramas and melodramas, both large and small, that threaten to upend the lives of those upstairs and downstairs at Downton Abbey.
The original television series, Downton Abbey, began airing on the British television network, ITV, in 2010 and ended in 2015, after six seasons and 52 episodes. It aired on the American broadcast network, PBS, as part of its “Masterpiece” series from 2011-20, before moving onto streaming services, Peacock and Netflix. The final episode of “Downton Abbey” was set on New Year's Eve, 1925. The first film, 2019's Downton Abbey, is set in 1927, 18 months after the TV series finale. Downton Abbey: A New Era opens in the following year and picks up on some of the plot lines from the first film.
As I wrote in my review of the first film, when I first heard of “Downton Abbey,” I mostly ignored it, although I watched a few minutes here and there. One Sunday afternoon, however, while channel surfing, I came across the show and recognized an actor (maybe American actress Elizabeth McGovern). I decided to see what she was doing on the show and within a few minutes I was hooked. It wasn't until two hours later I realized that I still had chores to do, but it was hard to pull myself away from the TV. I found myself in the thrall of “Downton Abbey's” hypnotic powers.
I also found Downton Abbey the movie hypnotic, and a New Era was no less hypnotic, in large part because director Simon Curtis seems to have a grasp of all elements of the film, down to the details. Both films offer many of the same ingredients of the television series that made it so popular and have since made it an enduring favorite.
One thing that A New Era does that the first film did not is offer a lot of change, including one monumental change. Much of that change directly or indirectly involves the ailing dowager countess, Violet Crawley, as she settles her affairs and prepares the family for her eventual passing. Series creator and screenwriter of both films, Julian Fellowes, specializes in historical ensemble dramas, such as Gosford Park (2001), and historical costume dramas, such as The Young Victoria (2009). Fellowes spends much of this film introducing a sense of newness or of renewal in the lives of the denizens of Downton Abbey and of those connected to them.
There are new relationships and changes in employment, including the promise of another wedding and of two acquaintances becoming a couple. Individuals assume new positions in the Crawley family, and even members of the film crew get new leases on their careers and in their personal relationships. Downton Abbey: A New Era is truly the dawning of a new era in this world, and while this film does indeed have two primary settings, its story feels a bit more focused than the first film's story.
If you liked the television series, you will like this second film, to some degree, because it is more Downton Abbey. Honestly, as with the first film, I love it and want more. Downton Abbey: A New Era makes me happy, and I look forward to what is next...
8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars
Saturday, July 16, 2022
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.