by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:
ACADEMY AWARDS - From YahooUSA: Academy exceeds inclusion goal after #OscarsSoWhite: New voters are 45% female, 36% diverse.
CELEBRITY-BLM - From YahooEntertainment: John Wayne was not a racist says the late actor's son, Ethan Wayne.
MOVIES - From Collider: The site has several images from David Ayers' upcoming thriller, "The Tax Collector," starring Shia LaBeouf and Bobby Soto.
BLM-CRIME-HISTORY - From Alabama.com: 16th Street Baptist Church bomber Thomas Blanton dies in prison. The bombing, which occurred in 1963, is known for the "Four Little Girls."
MOVIES - From YahooMoviesUK: "John Wick" director, Chad Stahelski, says that a reboot of the 1980s action-fantasy movie cult classic, "Highlander," is "in heavy development mode."
CELEBRITY-POLITICS - From TheDailyBeast: How Mary Trump (President Donald's niece) Found Herself in the Hot Mess of a William Faulkner Novel
MUSIC-STREAMING - From Variety: The streaming service, Disney+, will releases Beyonce's new visual album, "Black is King," July 31st. The LP is inspired by "The Lion King," and its released date is just after the one-year anniversary of the 2019 release of Disney's live-action version of "The Lion King."
LGBTQ - From YahooLifestyle: Gay ER doctor who survived COVID-19 says he can't donate plasma because he’s sexually active
POLITICS - From RSN: "Saint Donald and the Dragon" - Donald Trump and the China!
SPORTS - From YahooSports: Bubba Wallace on Confederate flag ban protests: 'We won’t see cops pepper-spraying them and shooting them with rubber bullets'
MOVIES - From THR: Actor Margot Robbie and writer Christina Hodson, who teamed up on "Birds of Prey," are reunited on a new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. It is separate from the other reboot being developed "Pirates" scribe, Ted Elliot," and "Chernobyl" writer Craig Mazin.
MOVIES - From THR: The release date of Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" has been delayed again, from July 31st to August 12th, 2020.
MOVIES - From THR: Inside "Hollywood's nastiest producer feud," the story of Roy Lee vs. John Middleton.
POLITICS - From TheGuardian: How the US military has failed to address white supremacy in its ranks. This is in the wake of an alleged plot by a young solider to coordinate with a neo-Nazi group to attack and kill members of his own army unit.
BLM-ANIMATION - From TVGuide: Jenny Slate will no longer voice Missy on Netflix's "Big Mouth": 'Black Characters on an Animated Show Should be Played by Black People'
From BuzzFeed: Voice actor Mike Henry has retired from providing the voice of "Family Guy" African-American character, "Cleveland Brown." He is the latest white voice performer to announce that he is exiting the voice role of a Black character, following Jenny Slate leaving Big Mouth and Kristen Bell shifting to a different role on Central Park.
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MOVIES - From Deadline: Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio ("The Revenant") and Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight") have united to make a film adaptation of the documentary, "Virunga," about rangers who risk their lives to protect an African national park and its endangered gorillas.
BOX OFFICE - From Deadline: 27 years after it first hit movie theaters, "Jurassic Park" was the #1 movie at the Father's Day weekend box office. Steven Spielberg, who directed "Jurassic Park," had a big weekend as his 1975 classic, "Jaws" was a close second.
TRAILERS - From Deadline: Disney+ releases the first trailer for the live-action version of the Broadway smash, "Hamilton." The film arrives on Disney+ July 3rd, 2020.
CULTURE-BLM - From THR: African-American Hollywood attorney, Nina Shaw, writes a guest column on being "the Only Black Person in the Room" for 30-plus years.
CELEBRITY - From YahooDailyBeast: Actress Bryce Dallas Howard talks about having Oscar-winning producer-director, Ron Howard, as her father. The interview is done in conjunction with Bryce's new documentary film, "Dads," which debuted on Apple TV+.
MUSIC - From YahooEntertainment: An acoustic guitar belonging to the late Kurt Cobain of the band, Nirvana, sold for a record 6-plus million dollars at auction. That is the highest auction price ever paid for a guitar. The 1959 Martin D-19E is the guitar Cobain played for the entirety of his "MTV Unplugged" performance.
CELEBRITY-COVID-19 - From ABCNews: Comedian D.L. Hughley passed out while performing on stage in Nashville TN. Afterwards, he tested positive for COVID-19 at a local hospital.
MOVIES - From YahooGMA: Jamie Foxx shows off his body transformation for his starring role in a biopic of champion boxer, Mike Tyson.
OBITS:
From Deadline: Pioneering television comedy writer and director, Carl Reiner has died at the age of 98, Monday, June 29, 2020. Reiner is best known as the creator and writer-director and actor on "The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66). Five of the 9 Primetime Emmy Awards Reiner won were for his work on the show. He first came to big TV fame and acclaim working on Sid Ceasar's TV series, "Your Show of Shows" (NBC, 1950-54) and "Ceasar's Hour" (NBC, 1954-57). Reiner was also famous for being the son of television and film writer, director, and actor, Rob Reiner.
From Variety: Animator and director, Kelly Asbury, has died at the age of 60, Friday, June 26, 2020. Asbury co-directed "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" (2002) and directed "Shrek 2" (2004). He began his career with Walt Disney Feature Animation and, he worked on such films as "The Black Cauldron" (1985) and "Toy Story" (1995).
From Deadline: Noted film director, Joel Schumacher, has died at the age of 80, Monday, June 22, 2020. Schumacher was known for a number of films, including "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985), "The Lost Boys" (1987), "Flatliners" (1990), "The Client" (1994), and "A Time to Kill" (1996). He caused ire among comic book fans with his two contributions to the Batman film franchise, "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman and Robin" (1997).
From Deadline: American businessman and film financier, Steve Bing, has died at the age of 55, Monday, June 22, 2020. In the film business, Bing invested in two animated films by director Robert Zemeckis, "The Polar Express" (2004) and "Beowulf." He founded Shangri-La Entertainment, which had interests in property, construction, entertainment, and music.
BLACK LIVES MATTER NEWS:
From RSN: The four corners of police violence
From TheIntercept: Black Lives Matter Wants to End Police Brutality. History Suggests It Will Go Much Further.
From YahooNews: "The Confederacy of California": life in the valley where Robert Fuller was found hanged
From CNN: Colorado police officers involved in the death of Elijah McClain reassigned for safety reasons.
From Truthout: " Three North Carolina Police Fired for Racist Rants, Threats to Kill Black People" - and what they said is crazy and scary
From Truthout: Bryant Gumbel Gives Powerful Commentary on the 'Black Tax,' the 'Added Burden' of Being Black
From YahooEntertainment: Oscar-nominated songwriter and Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Ray Parker, Jr., may be best known for writing the theme to the film, "Ghostbusters," but when he was a teenager, Parker was beaten by Detroit police officers.
From RSNewYorker: Jelani Cobb: An American Spring of Reckoning.
From NBCNews: Baton Rouge, LA activist, Gary Chambers, makes an impassioned speech about changing the name of Robert E. Lee High School in Baton Rouge.
From YahooNews: Racial violence and a pandemic: How the Red Summer of 1919 relates to 2020
From DemocracyNow: Fear Grows of Modern-Day Lynchings as Five People of Color Are Found Hanged
CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19 NEWS:
From CDC: The Centers for Disease Control has a "COVID Data Tracker."
From YahooNews: Why does COVID-19 kill some people and hardly affects others?
From YahooNews: Yahoo has a dedicated page of links updating news about COVID-19.
From Deadline: The news site "Deadline" has a dedicated page for news about coronavirus and the film, TV, and entertainment industries.
From TheNewYorker: The venerable magazine has a dedicate COVID-19 page free to all readers.
From YahooNews: Re: the federal government's response to COVID-19: What if the most important election of our lifetime was the last one - 2016?
From YahooLife: What is "happy hypoxia?" And do you have this COVID-19 symptom?
From JuanCole: Remeber when President Donald went crazy and suggested that we ingest household cleaning supplies and UV light to fight COVID-19. Here is the video and commentary from Juan Cole.
From TheIntercept: The federal government has ramped up security and police-related spending in response to the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic, including issuing contracts for riot gear, disclosures show. The purchase orders include requests for disposable cuffs, gas masks, ballistic helmets, and riot gloves...
From NPR: A sad milestone: over 100,000 American have died due to COVID-19.
From TheAtlantic: The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying. The pandemic has exposed the bitter terms of our racial contract, which deems certain lives of greater value than others.
From ProPublica: Hospital's Secret COVID-19 Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns
From Truthout: Trump Moves to End Federal Support for Testing Sites Amid Record COVID Spikes
From TheGuardian: More than 20 million Americans could have contracted COVID-19, experts say.
From RSN/WashPost: The COVID-19 mutation that has taken over the world.
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Showing posts with label Joel Schumacher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joel Schumacher. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Review: "Batman and Robin" or Badman and Rotten
Batman and Robin (1997)
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for strong stylized action and some innuendos
DIRECTOR: Joel Schumacher
WRITER: Akiva Goldsman (based upon the Batman character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger)
PRODUCER: Peter Macgregor-Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen Goldblatt (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Mark Stevens and Dennis Virkler
COMPOSER: Elliot Goldenthal
SUPERHERO/ACTION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, John Glover, Elle Macpherson, Vivica A. Fox, Coolio, Nicky Katt, and Jeep Swenson
Until there is a fourth sequel, the third sequel to the 1989 box office smash Batman, Batman and Robin will be considered the film that killed the modern Batman film franchise. It’s not as if there is nothing redeemable about this film in particular because it has some good story elements. Batman and Robin is awful simply because it is over-produced. It is as ostentatious as a lavishly decorated and spectacularly colorful Mardi Gras or drag ball.
Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O’Donnell) face the combined forces of Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). Complicating matters is a rivalry that has grown between the Dynamic Duo. Robin/Dick Grayson wants to do his own thing, and although he understands his young friend’s quest for independence, Batman/Bruce Wayne thinks the young man has a lot to learn, and that he, Bruce, is the teacher, and that the boy should listen. Poison Ivy picks up on this and plays the partners against one another. More trouble arrives in the form of Wayne Manor butler Alfred Pennyworth’s (Michael Gough) niece Barbara Wilson (Alicia Silverstone) who eventually becomes Batgirl.
Everything is overdone in this movie except for the script and the acting, both of which seem neglected. The art direction is as over-the-top sweet as high fructose corn syrup, and the costumes are high camp. Clowns wouldn’t want them, and trick-or-treaters wouldn’t be caught dead in them. The script is poor when it comes to internal logic and consistency. For example, how does Poison Ivy create that ridiculously fancy lair of hers? Where does it come from, and what’s the point of it? It’s just another over-dressed set. I could suspend disbelief if that, along with so much else, just didn’t seem…well, stupid, dumb, and tactless.
The acting is also over the top and bad. At times, Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to revert to the skill (or lack thereof) he showed in his early films. George Clooney, though earnest, is very weak as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Batman needs to carry the movie, but Clooney struggles with poor material, and that’s made worse by the fact that he doesn’t have a grasp of what he’s supposed to do. It’s like the whole time he was running around the movie wondering just what the hell a “Batman” was. Also, it is high time to drop the use of sexual innuendo is Batman films. It’s not funny, and the dialogue is so hackneyed that these “naughty bits” fall flat when delivered by actors who are already being way too campy. I’m not saying that Batman needs to be so dark and serious, but nor should it be played as a bad joke.
However, there are good elements in the story: Mr. Freeze’s quest to save his wife, Poison Ivy’s machinations against Freeze and the Dynamic Duo, Alfred’s illness, Batman dealing with Robin’s growing pains, and the emphasis on family in the story. But it’s all tossed aside in favor of throwing tons of garish crap against the wall in hopes that something will stick; in the end, almost nothing does. The movie is almost a total failure from top to bottom, and it’s frustrating because it could have been something good. Director Joel Schumacher is not without some directorial skill and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman is one of Hollywood’s top scribes.
What we get in this movie is an overblown and wild spectacle made by people who cynically believed that enough people would pay to see this movie no matter how abysmal it was because they just have to see the next installment in the Batman franchise. And that worked to an extent, but many of their ticket buyers left as unsatisfied customers. If Warner Bros. wants to make shit, it’s no skin of my nose. There are always other action movies, always another action blast out, even if it’s from Warner’s own stable.
2 of 10
D
NOTES:
1998 Razzie Awards: 1 win: “Worst Supporting Actress” (Alicia Silverstone); 10 nominations: “Worst Picture” (Peter Macgregor-Scott), “Worst Director” (Joel Schumacher), “Worst Original Song” (Billy Corgan for the song "The End is The Beginning is The End"), “Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property,” “Worst Remake or Sequel,” “Worst Screen Couple” (George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell), “Worst Screenplay” (Akiva Goldsman), “Worst Supporting Actor” (Chris O'Donnell), “Worst Supporting Actor” (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Uma Thurman)
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Thursday, March 18, 2010
Review: "The Lost Boys" is Eternally Youthful and Forever a Winner
The Lost Boys (1987)
Opening date: July 31, 1987
Running time: 97 minutes
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Joel Schumacher
WRITERS: Janice Fischer & James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam, story by Janice Fischer & James Jeremias
PRODUCER: Harvey Bernhard
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Chapman
EDITOR: Robert Brown
HORROR/COMEDY
Starring: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Edward Herrmann, Bernard Hughes, Kiefer Sutherland, and Dianne Wiest, Jamison Newlander, Brooke McCarter, Billy Wirth, Alex (Alexander) Winter, and Chance Michael Corbitt
“Sleep all day. Party all night. It’s fun to be a vampire.” was the tagline to The Lost Boys, a Joel Schumacher film that heavily re-imagines J.M. Barrie’s classic play and novel, Peter Pan. The film was a minor hit back when it was released in 1987, but the film has become even more popular (even a kind of cult hit) through its release on home video and later DVD, and its numerous appearances on various cable TV channels. The Lost Boys
also cleverly tweaks and twists some classic vampire myths, folklore, and legends – including some that were invented by Hollywood.Financial troubles force recent divorcee Lucy Emerson (Dianne Wiest) and her two teenage sons, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam Emerson (Corey Haim), to move to Santa Carla, CA (actually filmed in Santa Cruz, CA) to live with her father (Bernard Hughes). At first, her younger son, Sam laughs off the rumors of vampires in Santa Carla that he hears from the two brothers, Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog, (Jamison Newlander) who run their parents comic book shop on the Santa Carla Boardwalk. However, when Michael starts acting strange (stays out all night, sleeps all day, and tries to attack Sam) and showing classic signs of vampirism, Sam joins forces with the Frog Brothers to find and destroy the head vampire, which she free Michael of the vampire’s curse. Meanwhile, Michael has fallen for a half-vampire teenager named Star (Jami Gertz) and promises to help her and half-vampire boy, Laddie Thompson (Chance Michael Corbitt), for whom she cares. He’s also fallen in with a quartet of brash, teen vampires led by the charismatic David (Kiefer Sutherland).
I’ve seen The Lost Boys so many times, and I’m such a big fan that I don’t know if I can fairly review it for a viewer who hasn’t seen it. Heck, I’d recommend it to anybody. What do I like about it? Hmmm, where to start? It’s a fun, comic horror film, and puts a hip, cool spin on vampires – as they relate to Hollywood productions. It was not quite an MTV-type movie, but it did tap into the early to mid-80’s youth, cultural zeitgeist, if only to get some nice establishing shots of Santa Carla’s youth. Tapping into the style of young people in the mid-80’s also resulted in some flashy costumes of The Lost Boys’ teen characters. Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, and Jamison Newlander looked as if they’d step off the set of a Lionel Richie video (for either of the songs “All Night Long” or “Dancing on the Ceiling”). Jami Gertz and the Lost Boys (even the little half-vampire boy, Laddie) have mounds of big hair to go with the puffy shirts, faux Pirates of Penzance costumes, and Amadeus-vomit-leather ensembles. Somehow, it all looks and feels right – especially the handsome and alluring Kiefer Sutherland who plays a kind of teen rebel/pied piper vampire. He’s the real Peter Pan in this Lost Boys set.
As far as the filmmaking goes: Thomas Newman’s score is a smooth, crisp, and tight suite of music to suggest creepiness. The rewrites that director Joel Schumacher demanded of the original script (and likely done by Jeffrey Boam) turned the story into a tight little thriller with a slight fairy tale feel to it. Once upon a time, two boys and their mother moved to a town of vampires… and everybody was hip, cool, and now.
8 of 10
A
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