"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" on Blu-ray September 20th

The Turtles Rule Again in the Best Family Action Movie of the Year, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS, Arriving on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD September 20, 2016 with Two Reversible Turtle Masks in All Four Colors

Action-Packed Film Will be Available On Digital HD Two Weeks Early on September 6, 2016 and Also in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D™ Combo Pack and Limited Edition Collectible Turtle Van Lunchbox

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Your favorite pizza-loving heroes return in an epic new adventure loaded with wall-to-wall laughs that critics are calling “the best Ninja Turtles movie ever” (Eric Walkuski, JoBlo.com). TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS comes to Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, DVD and On Demand on September 20, 2016 from Paramount Home Media Distribution. The Heroes in a Half-Shell also will be available in a limited edition two-movie Blu-ray giftset with collectible metal lunchbox. The movie debuts two weeks early on Digital HD September 6, 2016.

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD Sept 20 & Digital HD Sept 6 #TMNT2

Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo are back to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O’Neil and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones. After supervillain Shredder escapes custody, he joins forces with two dimwitted henchmen, Bebop and Rocksteady, to unleash a diabolical plan to take over the world. As the Turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew, they find themselves facing an even greater threat with similar intentions: the notorious Krang. Hailed as “fun from start to finish” (Brian Medina, Movie Pilot), TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Laura Linney, Stephen Amell, and Tyler Perry in the live action film that is fun for the whole family.

The TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Packs include more than 40 minutes of action-packed bonus content. Peek under the shell at the film’s eye-popping special effects, take a look inside the Turtles’ tricked-out van, go behind-the-scenes to explore the Turtleverse and much more! The film additionally features a Dolby Atmos® soundtrack* remixed specifically for the home theater environment to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead.

Plus, the DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack comes with reversible Turtle Masks in all four colors, for a limited time while supplies last. The TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS Blu-ray Combo Pack will also be available in a collectible metal lunchbox that includes the Blu-ray Combo Pack of 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Digital HD copies of both movies, and the two reversible masks.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows Blu-ray Combo Pack

The TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English Dolby Atmos, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The DVD in the combo pack is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The combo pack includes access to a Digital HD copy of the film as well as the following:

Blu-ray
    Feature film in high definition
    Bonus Content:
        We Are Family
        Whoa! Expanding the Turtleverse
        House Party
        It’s Tricky: Inside the Van
        ILM—The Effects Beneath the Shell
        Did You Catch That? Turtle Eggs!
        Deleted Scenes

DVD
    Feature film in standard definition

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack

The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack includes all of the above, as well as a Blu-ray 3D presented in 1080p high definition with English Dolby Atmos, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The Blu-ray 3D disc includes the feature film in high definition and 3D. The Combo Pack also includes access to a Digital HD copy of the film.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack

Fans can enjoy the ultimate viewing experience with the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, which includes the Blu-ray detailed above, as well as an Ultra HD Disc presented in 4K Ultra HD with English Dolby Atmos, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The Combo Pack also includes access to a Digital HD copy of the film.

Two-Movie Blu-ray Giftset with Collectible Metal Lunchbox

The TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Two-Movie Giftset with Collectible Lunchbox includes Blu-ray Combo Packs with access to a Digital HD copy of each film as well as the following special features:

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS (2016)

Blu-ray
    Feature film in high definition
    Bonus Content:
        We Are Family
        Whoa! Expanding the Turtleverse
        House Party
        It’s Tricky: Inside the Van
        ILM—The Effects Beneath the Shell
        Did You Catch That? Turtle Eggs!
        Deleted Scenes

DVD
    Feature film in standard definition

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (2014)

Blu-ray
    Feature film in high definition
    Bonus Content:
        Digital Reality
        In Your Face! The Turtles in 3D
        It Ain’t Easy Being Green
        Evolutionary Mash-Up
        Turtle Rock
        Extended Ending
        “Shell Shocked” Music Video
        Making of “Shell Shocked”

DVD
    Feature film in standard definition

The Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack available for purchase include a Digital Version of the film that can be accessed through UltraViolet™, a way to collect, access and enjoy movies. With UltraViolet, consumers can add movies to their digital collection in the cloud, and then stream or download them—reliably and securely—to a variety of devices.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows Single-Disc DVD
The single-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The disc includes the feature film in standard definition.

Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present a Platinum Dunes production, a Gama Entertainment/Mednick Production/Smithrowe Entertainment production: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.” Music by Steve Jablonsky. Executive producers Denis L. Stewart, Grant Curtis, Eric Crown, Napoleon Smith III, Josh Appelbaum, and André Nemec. Produced by Michael Bay, pg.a., Andrew Form, p.g.a., Brad Fuller, p.g.a., Galen Walker, and Scott Mednick. Based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. Written by Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec. Directed by Dave Green.


About Paramount Home Media Distribution
Paramount Home Media Distribution (PHMD) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. PPC is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), home to premier media brands that create television programs, motion pictures, consumer products, and digital content for audiences in 180 countries and territories. The PHMD division oversees PPC’s home entertainment and transactional digital distribution activities worldwide. The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment content on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and CBS and applicable licensing and servicing of certain DreamWorks Animation titles. PHMD additionally manages global licensing of studio content and transactional distribution across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices and emerging technologies.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS

Street Date: September 6, 2016 (Digital HD)

September 20, 2016 (Blu-ray, DVD, 4K UHD, Blu-ray 3D, Two-Movie Giftset with Collectible Metal Lunchbox and VOD)
U.S. Rating:             PG-13 for sci-fi action violence
Canadian Rating:             PG, not recommended for young children, violence
           

* To experience Dolby Atmos at home, a Dolby Atmos enabled AV receiver and additional speakers are required, or a Dolby Atmos enabled sound bar; however, Dolby Atmos soundtracks are also fully backward compatible with traditional audio configurations and legacy home entertainment equipment.

http://www.TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMovie.com/
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Amazon: http://j.mp/BuyTMNTurtles
#TMNT2

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" Has a Soundtrack

PARAMOUNT RECORDS PRESENTS TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS - MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK FROM THE PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND NICKELODEON MOVIES FILM

Features Original Score By Steve Jablonsky

(Los Angeles, CA) – Paramount Records announced today that it will release the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS – Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on June 3rd, 2016, featuring the film’s original score by Steve Jablonsky (the “Transformers” franchise, “Pain and Gain”). The Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies film is being released in theatres nationwide on June 3rd, 2016.

“The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has some of the most unique and fun characters ever created, which makes it a great canvas for music. I enjoyed the challenge of creating new musical themes for these characters,” said Jablonsky. “One of my main goals was to have fun with the music, because that's what the Turtles are all about; they could be fighting the craziest battle ever and still be cracking jokes. But the film also has a heart and a message, about being true to who you are. Out of the Shadows is a great combination of fun, action and heart.”

Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo return to theaters this summer in “TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS” to battle bigger, badder villains alongside April O’Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett), and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). After super villain Shredder (Brian Tee) escapes custody, he joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) and two dimwitted henchmen, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE Superstar “Sheamus”), to unleash a diabolical plan to take over the world. As the Turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew, they find themselves facing an even greater evil with similar intentions: the notorious Krang.

From Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Produced by Michael Bay, p.g.a., Andrew Form, p.g.a., Brad Fuller, p.g.a., Galen Walker and Scott Mednick. Based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. Written by Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec. Directed by Dave Green. Starring Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Laura Linney, Stephen Amell, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Alan Ritchson, Brian Tee and Tyler Perry.

Steve Jablonsky has composed the music for many of Hollywood’s most successful films.  He previously composed the score for director Michael Bay’s blockbuster “Transformers” films:  “Transformers,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”  He also created the music for the director’s dark comedy, “Pain and Gain,” as well as his 2005 futuristic thriller, “The Island.”  In addition, Jablonsky composed the scores for Bay’s Platinum Dunes horror remakes “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Friday the 13th,” “The Hitcher,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Amityville Horror.”

Jablonsky has also worked on multiple projects with director Peter Berg, including the action drama “Lone Survivor,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Taylor Kitsch, and the action adventure “Battleship,” starring Liam Neeson and Alexander Skarsgård.  He continues his collaboration with Berg on the action-thriller “Deepwater Horizon,” opening September 30.  Jablonsky also recently composed the score for the Keegan-Michael Key-Jordan Peele action comedy “Keanu.”

Jablonsky’s additional film credits include the scores for the Vin Diesel-Elijah Wood actioner “The Last Witch Hunter”; Gavin Hood’s adventure “Ender’s Game,” starring Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield; Ruben Fleischer’s “Gangster Squad,” starring Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling; David Gordon Green’s comedy adventure “Your Highness,” starring James Franco, Natalie Portman and Danny McBride; and the Japanese anime film “Steamboy,” directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, as well as the documentaries “Origin Story” and “When Elephants Fight.”

For television, Jablonsky wrote the music for the smash hit ABC series “Desperate Housewives.”   He also composed the score for the award-winning telefilm “Live From Baghdad,” as well as several series, including “Threat Matrix” and ESPN’s “Sports Century: The Century’s Greatest Athletes.”  He more recently scored the entire first season of NBC’s comedy, “You, Me and the Apocalypse.”

With videogames becoming more innovative and sophisticated, so have their scores.  Jablonsky’s music can be heard in such top-selling games as “Gears of War: Judgment,” “Gears of War 2 & 3,” “Transformers: War for Cybertron,” “Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands,” “Transformers: The Game,” “The Sims 3” and “Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath.”

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Review: "Mr. Holmes" Shows that Ian McKellan is as Sharp as Ever

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

[A version of this review originally appeared in Patreon.]

Mr. Holmes (2015)
Running time:  104 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  Bill Condon
WRITER:  Jeffrey Hatcher (based on the novel, A Slight Trick of the Mind, by Mitch Cullin)
PRODUCERS:  Iain Canning, Anne Carey, and Emile Sherman
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tobias A. Schliessler
EDITOR:  Virginia Katz
COMPOSER:  Carter Burwell

DRAMA with elements of a mystery

Starring:  Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hattie Morahan, Patrick Kennedy, Frances de la Tour, Roger Allam, and John Sessions

Mr. Holmes is a 2015 British-American drama from director Bill Condon and writer Jeffrey Hatcher.  The film is based on the 2005 novel, A Slight Trick of the Mind, from author Mitch Cullin.  Mr. Holmes the movie focuses on an aged and retired Sherlock Holmes, who struggles with early dementia as he tries to remember his final case, which haunts him.

Mr. Holmes opens in 1947.  The long-retired Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) returns from abroad and travels to Headley House, his farmhouse in Sussex.  He shares his home with Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney), his housekeeper and a war widow, and Roger (Milo Parker), her young son.  Holmes is suffering from early dementia or “senility.”  His trip abroad was to Japan, specifically Hiroshima, where he hoped to find the prickly ash plant, as he believes a “jelly” made from the plant can act as an elixir and help his failing memory.

Holmes is trying to recall his last case, which occurred over 30 years prior.  A suspicious husband, Thomas Kelmot (Patrick Kennedy), had asked Holmes to investigate his wife, Ann (Hattie Morahan).  Something happened, leaving the case unfinished and causing Holmes to retire.  Unhappy with his ex-partner, Dr. John Watson's account of the case, Holmes hopes to write his own account.  However, he has trouble recalling the details, but young Roger's curiosity drives the legendary detective to close a troubled chapter in his famed career.

Sherlock Holmes first appeared in the 1887 detective novel, A Study in Scarlet, which was written by British author, Arthur Conan Doyle.  Just over a decade later, the Holmes character began appearing in films, and after a little more than a century, Holmes has appeared in over 200 films (according to the British newspaper, The Telegraph).

Although I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I would be surprised if I have seen even 30 of those films.  I am certainly happy to have experienced Mr. Holmes.  It is one of the best Sherlock Holmes films that I have ever seen, primarily because of Ian McKellen's tenderly-wrought and alluring turn as Holmes.

As the 93-year-old Holmes, McKellen fashions a vulnerable man, who doggedly fights a losing battle with his health.  Still, he maintains his dignity and learns to change and to acknowledge his errors and misjudgments, both in the past and in the present.  As the Holmes seen in this film's flashbacks, who is in his late 50s or early 60s (which is somewhat unclear), McKellen presents a Holmes who is clearly a man of some age, but who is also clearly still a detective in full.  It is a testament to McKellen's skills and talent as a thespian that he can make two versions of “old-man Holmes” that are distinct from one another and are of different states of mind and intellect.

Laura Linney is potent and fiery as Mrs. Munro, although the script mostly keeps her restrained, even silently suffering.  Once again, a consummate actor takes what is given to her and makes it more than an actor of lesser skills could.  Young Milo Parker steals the movie as the brash Roger, who is on the cusp of young manhood and whose curiosity is a torch that brings light to what could have been a dark and moody film.

I recommend Mr. Holmes without reservations to fans of Sherlock Holmes movies and to fans of director Bill Condon.  He seems always to deliver interesting films that grab the audience with their unique way of being film narratives.  I think that there must simply be at least a few film award nominations in its future because Mr. Holmes does Sherlock Holmes so differently and so delightfully.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, November 21, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

New Teaser Trailer for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows"

Meet Casey Jones, Bebop, and Rocksteady in the new teaser trailer for: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS

https://youtu.be/HeaugHGd1Kw

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS is in-theaters June 3rd, 2016!

#TMNT2

“TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS” is the sequel to the 2014 hit film “TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.” The film is based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman and is directed by David Green (“EARTH TO ECHO”). Michael Bay (the “TRANSFORMERS franchise) returns to produce alongside his Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form (“ TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES”), with Galen Walker and Scott Mednick (“TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES”) also producing.

Also returning for the sequel is Megan Fox (“TRANSFORMERS”) as April O’Neil, Will Arnett (“Arrested Development”) as Vernon Fenwick and the Turtles: Alan Ritchson as Raphael, Noel Fisher as Michelangelo, Pete Ploszek at Leonardo, and Jeremy Howard as Donatello. Rounding out the cast is Stephen Amell (“Arrow,”) as Casey Jones, Tyler Perry ("GONE GIRL", the "MADEA" franchise) as Baxter Stockman, Academy Award nominated actress Laura Linney (“The Big C”, “LOVE ACTUALLY”) as Chief Rebecca Vincent, Brian Tee (“JURASSIC WORLD”) as Shredder, WWE World Heavy Weight Champion Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly as Rocksteady and Gary Anthony Williams (“THE INTERNSHIP”) as Bebop.

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Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks Begin Filming Biopic, "Sully"

Filming Takes Off on “Sully,” Directed by Clint Eastwood and Starring Tom Hanks

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Production is underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “Sully,” starring Oscar winner Tom Hanks (upcoming “Bridge of Spies,” “Captain Phillips,” “Forrest Gump”) as Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, under the direction of Oscar winner Clint Eastwood (“American Sniper,” “Million Dollar Baby”).

On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed the “Miracle on the Hudson” when Captain “Sully” Sullenberger (Hanks) glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and his career.

“Sully” also stars Aaron Eckhart (“Olympus Has Fallen,” “The Dark Knight”) as Sully’s co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, and Oscar nominee Laura Linney (“The Savages,” “Kinsey,” Showtime’s “The Big C”) as Sully’s wife, Lorraine Sullenberger.

Eastwood is directing the film from a screenplay by Todd Komarnicki, based on the book Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, by Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow. The project is being produced by Eastwood, Frank Marshall, Allyn Stewart and Tim Moore, with Kipp Nelson serving as executive producer.

The film reunites Eastwood with several of his longtime collaborators, who most recently worked with the director on the worldwide hit “American Sniper”: director of photography Tom Stern and production designer James J. Murakami, who were both Oscar-nominated for their work on “The Changeling”; costume designer Deborah Hopper; and editor Blu Murray.

Principal photography began on Monday, September 28, 2015, in New York, where the water landing that instantly made Sully a household name was achieved. Filming will also take place in North Carolina, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

A Malpaso, Flashlight Films, Kennedy/Marshall Company production, “Sully” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

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2013 Primetime Emmy Award Winners List

by Amos Semien

The Emmy Award is a television production award that is considered the television equivalent of the Academy Awards in film and the Grammy Awards in music.  Negromancer’s focus is usually on the Primetime Emmy Awards.  It is presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

The 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in television programming (at least as the members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences see it) from June 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013.  The awards ceremony was held on Sunday, September 22, 2013 and televised by CBS (in the United States) and hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, who is a multiple-Emmy winner.

The majority of 2013 Primetime Emmys were actually handed out at the 2013 Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony, which was held on Sunday, September 15, 2013.  Go here to read the list.

65th Annual / 2013 Primetime Emmys winners:

COMEDY

Best Comedy Series:
"Modern Family"

Best Comedy Actor:
Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory"

Best Comedy Actress
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep"

Best Comedy Supporting Actor:
Tony Hale, "Veep"

Best Comedy Supporting Actress:
Merritt Wever, "Nurse Jackie"

Best Comedy Writing
"30 Rock" -- "Last Lunch" (Tina Fey, Tracey Wigfield)

Best Comedy Directing
"Modern Family" -- "Arrested" (Gail Mancuso)

DRAMA

Best Drama Series
"Breaking Bad"

Best Drama Actor
Jeff Daniels, "The Newsroom"

Best Drama Actress
Claire Danes, "Homeland"

Best Drama Supporting Actor
Bobby Cannavale, "Boardwalk Empire"

Best Drama Supporting Actress
Anna Gunn, "Breaking Bad"

Best Drama Writing
"Homeland" -- "Q&A" (Henry Bromell)

Best Drama Directing
"House of Cards" -- "Chapter 1" (David Fincher)

MOVIE/MINISERIES

Best Movie/Miniseries
"Behind the Candelabra"

Best Movie/Mini Actor
Michael Douglas, "Behind the Candelabra"

Best Movie/Mini Actress
Laura Linney, "The Big C: Hereafter"

Best Movie/Mini Supporting Actor
James Cromwell, "American Horror Story: Asylum"

Best Movie/Mini Supporting Actress
Ellen Burstyn, "Political Animals"

Best Movie/Mini Writing
"The Hour" (Abi Morgan)

Best Movie/Mini Directing
"Behind the Candelabra" (Steven Soderbergh)

VARIETY

Best Variety Series
"The Colbert Report"

Best Variety Series Writing
"The Colbert Report"

Best Variety Series Directing
"Saturday Night Live"

REALITY

Best Reality Competition Series
"The Voice"

CHOREOGRAPHY

Best Choreography
"Dancing with the Stars" -- "Hey Pachuco/Para Los Rumberos/Walking on Air" (Derek Hough)

Thanks to Gold Derby for the list.

Review: "Mystic River" is Really Good, But is Too Damn Bleak (Happy B'day, Laurence Fishburne)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 92 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mystic River (2003)
Running time:  138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and violence
DIRECTOR:  Clint Eastwood
WRITER:  Brian Helgeland (from the novel by Dennis Lehane)
PRODUCERS:  Clint Eastwood, Judie G. Hoyt, and Robert Lorenz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Stern (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Joel Cox
COMPOSER:  Clint Eastwood
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/CRIME

Starring:  Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Kevin Chapman, Thomas Guiry, Emmy Rossum, Spencer Treat Clark, Andrew Mackin, Adam Nelson, and Robert Wahlberg

The subject of this movie review is Mystic River, a 2003 crime drama from director Clint Eastwood.  The film is based on Mystic River, the 2001 novel from author Dennis Lehane.  Mystic River focuses on three men who are reunited by circumstance after the daughter of one of the men is murdered.

Clint Eastwood’s film Mystic River was one of the most acclaimed films of 2003, and it earned several Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.  However, thanks to the onslaught that was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the 2004 Academy Awards, Mystic River only picked up the two “Best Actor” awards:  Leading Role (Sean Penn) and Supporting Role (Tim Robbins).

Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) are three childhood friends reunited after Markum’s daughter, Katie (Emmy Rossum), is found brutally murdered.  Their reunion is at cross-purposes, however.  Markum is small time hood, Devine is the investigator with the State Police investigating Katie’s murder, and Boyle survived being kidnapped and sexually assaulted when the three men were boys.  When Boyle becomes the lead suspect, the reunion spirals towards tragedy.

Mystic River is a very good film, but ultimately it’s a bit too cold for too long.  At times, I could have sworn that I was watching Clint Eastwood directing a drama as a formal dinner party.  Mystic River is professional and slick, as well as being raw and gritty.  The film has weight and gravity, but it all seems so laid back and cool.  Not until the last 20 minutes does the film really begin to unleash a tour de force of film drama, but those closing scenes are alien to the rest of the film.

Mystic River really plays with the idea that people are interconnected; the action or inaction of one has inevitable, although unseen, consequences upon another – neat but pat.  Besides, the award winning performances of Penn and Robbins, Kevin Bacon and especially Laurence Fishburne have the roles that anchor the film and they almost steal the show.  In the end Mystic River is all good, but waits for the closing act to show how really good it can be.  If you like dour dramas with good acting, this one is for you, but it’s not an exceptional work of movie art.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards, USA:  2 wins: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Sean Penn) and “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Tim Robbins); 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Marcia Gay Harden), “Best Director” (Clint Eastwood), “Best Picture” (Robert Lorenz, Judie Hoyt, and Clint Eastwood), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Brian Helgeland)

2004 BAFTA Awards:  4 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Sean Penn), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Tim Robbins), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Laura Linney), and “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Brian Helgeland)

2004 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Sean Penn) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Tim Robbins); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Clint Eastwood), “Best Motion Picture – Drama” (Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Brian Helgeland)

Updated: Monday, July 08, 2013

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DreamWorks Begins Production on "WikiLeaks" Movie

Production Begins on DreamWorks’ WikiLeaks Project “The Fifth Estate”

Drama Will Open in Theaters November 15, 2013

Participant Media Joins Project

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography has begun on the WikiLeaks drama “The Fifth Estate,” it was announced today by DreamWorks Studios. The film about the controversial website stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and Daniel Brühl as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, as well as Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, Dan Stevens, Alicia Vikander and Carice van Houten.

“The Fifth Estate” will open in U.S. theaters on November 15, 2013 and be distributed domestically by Disney’s Touchstone label. Distribution internationally will be split among Disney, DreamWorks partner Reliance, and deals made through the studio’s partnership with Mister Smith Entertainment.

Following Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Brühl), an early supporter and eventual colleague of Julian Assange (Cumberbatch), “The Fifth Estate” traces the heady, early days of WikiLeaks, culminating in the release of a series of controversial and history changing information leaks. The website’s overnight success brought instant fame to its principal architects and transformed the flow of information to news media and the world at large.

Joining DreamWorks as a co-financier on “The Fifth Estate” is Participant Media. This will be the fifth collaboration between the two companies who previously partnered on Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” the 2011 Academy Award-winning smash “The Help,” “The Kite Runner” and “The Soloist.” With a focus on real issues that shape our lives, Participant creates social action and advocacy programs to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Some of their other films include “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “Food, Inc.,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Waiting for ‘'Superman,’” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and the current Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, “No.”

Bill Condon (“Kinsey,” “Dreamgirls,” "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn") will direct “The Fifth Estate” from a screenplay by Josh Singer (TV’s “Fringe,” “The West Wing”), based on “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy” by David Leigh and Luke Harding. The producers are Steve Golin and Michael Sugar, with Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King joining Richard Sharkey as executive producers. “The Fifth Estate” is a coproduction between Afterworks and FBO, with Hilde De Laere co-producing for FBO. The film is supported by the Belgian Tax Shelter for Audiovisual Production.

Said director Bill Condon, “It may be decades before we understand the full impact of WikiLeaks and how it's revolutionized the spread of information. So this film won't claim any long view authority on its subject, or attempt any final judgment. We want to explore the complexities and challenges of transparency in the information age and, we hope, enliven and enrich the conversations WikiLeaks has already provoked.”


About DreamWorks Studios
DreamWorks Studios is a motion picture company formed in 2009 and led by Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider in partnership with The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The company’s recent releases include Spielberg's "Lincoln," starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. The film has grossed over $150 million at the U.S. box office and has been nominated for twelve Academy awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Other releases include “Real Steel,” starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy, Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” based on Michael Morpurgo’s award-winning book and was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, and “The Help,” which resonated with audiences around the country and earned over $200 million at the box office and received four Academy Award nominations with Octavia Spencer winning one for Best Supporting Actress. Upcoming films include the comedy "Delivery Man," starring Vince Vaughn, the WikiLeaks drama "The Fifth Estate," and car racing actioner "Need For Speed."

DreamWorks Studios can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DreamWorksStudios and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dw_studios.

Review: Norton is the Star in "PRIMAL FEAR" (Happy B'day, Edward Norton)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 06 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Primal Fear (1996)
Running time: 129 minutes (2 hours, 9 minutes)
MPAA – R for brief grisly violence, pervasive strong language and a sex scene
DIRECTOR: Gregory Hoblit
WRITERS: Steve Shagan and Ann Biderman (based upon the novel by William Diehl)
PRODUCER: Gary Lucchesi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Chapman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: David Rosenbloom
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney, Frances McDormand, Alfre Woodard, Terry O’Quinn, Andre Braugher, Steven Bauer, Joe Spano, Stanley Anderson, Maura Tierney, and Jon Seda

The subject of this movie review is Primal Fear, a 1996 courtroom drama and legal thriller starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney. The film is based on William Diehl’s 1993 novel, Primal Fear. This movie was also actor Edward Norton’s feature film debut, for which he earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination.

I’ll begin with a minor spoiler warning, so skip to the second paragraph if you don’t want to know how the movie ends. I was thoroughly and completely happy that the murderer beats the system in the end; he was my hero throughout the movie. I enjoyed that he trumped the skuzzy and dishonest State’s Attorney John Shaughnessy (John Mahoney of TV’s “Fraiser”), who uses murder, intimidation, and lies to get his way like so many dirty people in district attorney and state’s attorney’s offices. Hooray to chaos! Damn the corrupt system! Now, on to the movie.

Richard Gere has spent the better part of three decades shining his lovely face in numerous films, although his skills as a thespian are usually in question, there is no doubt that he is a good movie star. He has an obvious, almost forced, charm, but he is also a charming rogue. He doesn’t bury himself in method acting; he simply plays the character as himself. It can be argued that no actress of similar skill and of similar shaky box office pedigree would continue to get choice projects, but then there’s Madonna.

In Primal Fear, Gere is the arrogant defense attorney Martin “Marty” Vail, and he just taken on the case of Aaron Stampler (Edward Norton) who has been arrested for the savagely murdering a popular bishop (Stanley Anderson). State’s Attorney Shaughnessy wants the death penalty, and he sends one of Marty’s former girlfriends and co-workers, Janet Venable (Laura Linney) to prosecute the case. Yes, Marty also has a history with the Shaughnessy, who was his boss not so long ago.

Gere is himself, and I can’t see any indication that this performance would standout amongst any others unless they were really bad. Laura Linney can certainly play the tough “cookie,” who roles with punches, taking anything life or ex-lovers have to throw her way. It’s always good to see the under utilized Alfre Woodard (as Judge Miriam Shoat) and John Mahoney is fun in practically anything.

Good performances by most of the cast aside, the scene stealing, showstopper is Edward Norton in this, his first film role. The fact of the matter is that Primal Fear is average potboiler without him. He so embodies his roles (he has more than one part, sort of) that you can’t help but be drawn into him. No matter what happens, you’re rooting for the boyish and obviously innocent and naïve country kid who was taken in and abused by the mean old city. He uses his entire body to become his character: gestures, facial expressions, hair, the way her wears his clothes, etc.

Director Gregory Hoblit, a director of episodic television, was lucky to have him. Norton transforms Hoblit’s film from a minor studio legal thriller that would have wound up in home video hell into something worth recommending to friends over and over again.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
1997 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Edward Norton)

1997 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Edward Norton)

1997 Golden Globes, USA: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Edward Norton)

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Complete List of 68th Golden Globe Winners

The Golden Globe Awards, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, were handed out last night.  On the film side of things, things were fairly boring as the expected winners won.  If you are starting to see a pattern, you are not paranoid.  Once again, The Social Network triumphs.  So here is a list of the winners in both the film and television categories:

2011 Golden Globe Awards Winners (For the year ended December 31, 2010)

FILM AWARDS
Picture, Drama: "The Social Network."

Picture, Musical or Comedy: "The Kids Are All Right."

Actor, Drama: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech."

Actress, Drama: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan."

Director: David Fincher, "The Social Network."

Actress, Musical or Comedy: Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right."

Actor, Musical or Comedy: Paul Giamatti, "Barney's Version."

Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter."

Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter."

Foreign Language: "In a Better World."

Animated Film: "Toy Story 3."

Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network."

Original Score: "The Social Network."

Original Song: "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," (written by Diane Warren), "Burlesque."

TELEVISION AWARDS
Series, Drama: "Boardwalk Empire," HBO.

Actor, Drama: Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire."

Actress, Drama: Katey Sagal, "Sons of Anarchy."

Series, Musical or Comedy: "Glee," Fox.

Actor, Musical or Comedy: Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory."

Actress, Musical or Comedy: Laura Linney, "The Big C."

Miniseries or Movie: "Carlos," Sundance Channel.

Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Claire Danes, "Temple Grandin."

Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Al Pacino, "You Don't Know Jack."

Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jane Lynch, "Glee."

Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Chris Colfer, "Glee."

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED
Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Robert De Niro.

Director and Stars Deliver the Goods in "The Savages"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Savages (2007)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R for some sexuality and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tamara Jenkins
PRODUCERS: Anne Carey, Ted Hope, and Erica Westheimer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: W. Mott Hupfel, III
EDITOR: Brian A. Kates
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, Gbenga Akinnagbe, David Zayas, and Cara Seymour

Writer/director Tamara Jenkins delivered some of the best screenwriting of 2007 with her drama, The Savages. Her stars, Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, in turn, delivered some of the best acting on screen all year.

Wendy Savage (Linney) and her brother Jon Savage (Hoffman) carry the emotional scars of an abusive childhood. Living in New York City’s East Village, Wendy is a long aspiring playwright who spends her days temping and spends her nights having an affair with her neighbor, Larry (Peter Friedman). Living in upstate Buffalo, New York, Jon is a professor of drama, struggling to finish his book on Bertolt Brecht. They suddenly get an unexpected call from Arizona informing them that their estranged and abusive father, Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco) is suffering from dementia.

Reunited, the siblings face the challenge of caring for their ailing elderly father in spite of their emotional disconnect from him and each other. They move him into a Buffalo nursing home, and Wendy takes up residence with Jon. Living under the same roof again, Wendy and Jon rediscover each other’s eccentricities, personal failings, and the other things that drove them crazy. However, they may finally have to face adulthood and learn what good there really is in being part of a family.

If a director is to keep a family drama like The Savages from becoming a sappy soap opera, she must draw nuance from both her script and her performers, which Tamara Jenkins does in The Savages, earning herself an Oscar nomination for “Best Original Screenplay.” This smartly written and beautifully played film is for people who love films that allow great actors to do the thing they do so well.

Laura Linney, who also earned an Oscar nod for this picture, wows with her deep and sensitive portrayal of woman adrift in her middle age and trying to get her bearings. Linney really sells the notion that Wendy Savage will, through this tragedy, find the things in her past that she can both cherish and also bring into the future to make her life better. Philip Seymour Hoffman, having a career year in 2007, shows off his diversity by also playing a sensitive creative type. Hoffman also enriches Jon by gradually revealing a strong, steady side to a character that seems unable to take the next big step in anything he does.

Tamara Jenkins reveals an uncanny touch in the way she examines how nature and nurture go into making us who we are, and she makes an attractive narrative of this. It is a film that, while compassionate, is unsentimental.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Laura Linney) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Tamara Jenkins)

2008 Golden Globes: 1 nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Philip Seymour Hoffman)

Review: "The Squid and the Whale" Finds Comedy in Pain

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 90 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Running time: 81 minutes (1 hour, 21 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexual content, graphic dialogue, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach
PRODUCERS: Wes Anderson, Charlie Corwin, Clara Markowicz, and Peter Newman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert D. Yeoman
EDITOR: Tim Streeto
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Jesse Eisenberg, Laura Linney, Owen Kline, William Baldwin, Anna Paquin and Halley Feiffer

16-year old Walt Berkman (Jesse Eisenberg) and his 12-year old brother, Frank (Owen Kline), find themselves caught in the middle of their parents’ separation. Their dad, Bernard (Jeff Daniels), is a Brooklyn professor and writer who seems well past his prime as an author. Their mother, Joan (Laura Linney), is a writer with a burgeoning career. In fact, Joan is on the brink of stardom as she has a book deal, and The New Yorker is publishing an excerpt from her novel.

With their lives headed in different directions, Bernard and Joan are acrimonious about the past, present, and future of their relationship. As soon as their parents announce their separation to them, Walt and Frank’s steady foundation crumbles, and not only are the boys relegated to alternating days and a jumbled calendar when it comes to visitation, but their confusion and conflicted feelings also began to manifest in odd and troubling behavior. Walt passes off a song from a famous band as his own, and Frank begins to drink alcohol and chronically masturbate.

The Squid and the Whale is writer/director Noah Baumbach’s fictional account of his own parents; divorce. Of course, that sounds like an interest-killer, but Baumbach’s film is free of the kind of phony and cloying melodrama that often hampers even the best movies about divorce (or TV movies, that matter), simply because the filmmakers usually have “the best intentions” and “mean well” when such films. What probably makes The Squid and the Whale so good is that it is not only brutally frank and sometimes too frankly honest, but the film is also excruciating even in moments of levity. Divorce can be (very) destructive and painful, and just tears at the confidence and self-image of those involved. Baumbach is not out to provide cures, but to tell a riveting story.

The performances are… strong – no need of any special adjectives; they’re just strong. Jeff Daniels, more talented than most A-list stars, but lesser known than some “B-listers,” is haunting and hilarious as an academic whose fortunes have been on their way down for years. His Bernard Berkman (based on Baumbach’s father, the author Jonathan Baumbach) is hilarious in his intellectual snobbery and pathetic in his absolute belief that one shouldn’t engage in any endeavor unless there is the absolute guarantee of being an elite. Laura Linney’s Joan Berkman is a bit difficult to read. Complex and revealing her long held streak of independence, Linney’s Joan is one of the best and most fully realized female characters in recent memory. Joan is neither villain nor hero, but a person who wishes to have a life of her own not impeded by the sensitivities of insecure males.

The real stars of this film are Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline (the son of Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline) as the Berkmans’ children. Jesse ably creates Walt as a mimic of his father, and then shows him struggling to gain his own footing and identity, even as he seems to have whole-heartedly bought into Bernard’s superiority and snobbery. Owen is so intriguing as Frank, a sly imp as curious as a cat and one who dispenses information with the cunningness of a Beltway reporter.

As well made as The Squid and the Whale is, the film has an impeccable blueprint in its screenplay. Baumbach’s writing is the family drama as farce, but with an honest examination of love, family bonds, and dependency is jeopardy. There are no villains, just people, and if the film via its script has a weakness, it’s that it is so narrow. The end of the film shows promise for even richer characters and story, but still, what The Squid and the Whale does give us is extraordinary – an almost divine human comedy.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Noah Baumbach)

2006 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Jeff Daniels), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Laura Linney)

Sunday, April 23, 2006

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You Can Count on Me Counts on Superb Characters

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 38 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


You Can Count on Me (2000)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour 51 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some drug use, and a scene of sexuality
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Kenneth Lonergan
PRODUCER: Barbara De Fina, John N. Hart, Larry Meistrich, and Jeffrey Sharp
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen Kazmierski
EDITOR: Anne McCabe
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Rory Culkin, Jon Tenney, J. Smith-Cameron, Gaby Hoffman, and Adam LeFevre

Laura Linney (The Truman Show) earned an Academy Award nomination for her role as a single mother whose life is thrown into turmoil when her drifter brother (Mark Ruffalo) returns to their hometown in Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me. There is a standard and easy way to describe this film, a real movie about real people with real emotions – no supermodels, no disease of the week with actors emoting contrived hysterics, just a film where the actors act like real people.

Lonergan, the screenwriter of Analyze This, is a first time director who also earned an Oscar nomination for this screenplay. He helms this film with the verve of a master. Surprisingly for a character piece, this film possesses the viewer’s attention with a spell like that of a classic suspense thriller, yet this is an intensely driven character piece.

Eschewing any kind of standard plot line that one would usually find in movies, Lonergan focus his story on Samantha “Sammy” Prescott (Ms. Linney) and her brother Terry (Rufflalo). Even without a plot, the film is still “about something,” the deeply felt relationship and bond of need between the siblings. As soon as the two meet for the first time on screen, Lonergan reveals the status quo of their relationship. What the movie is about is the urgent need for that relationship to evolve.

Ms. Linney isn’t alone in her outstanding performance. Anxious, confused, and weary, Ruffalo (Ride with the Devil) deftly draws us completely into his world. As Sammy’s son Rudy, Rory Culkin turns in a nice performance, and leaves us wanting more.

Although his characters occasionally seem stuck in the rut of their angst and pain, Lonergan gives us the kind of character-driven piece that puts you right inside the characters. You Can Count on Me is feels so much like real life that you understand that what we see on the screen is a small part of a larger story. And this chapter is so good that you can’t help but care for what happens past the fade out.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2001 Academy Awards: 2 nominations for “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Laura Linney) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Kenneth Lonergan)


2001 Golden Globes: 2 nominees “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Laura Linney) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Kenneth Lonergan)


2001 Independent Spirit Awards: 2 wins for “Best First Feature” Kenneth Lonergan (director), John Hart (producer), Jeff Sharp (producer), Barbara De Fina (producer), and Larry Meistrich (producer) and “Best Screenplay” (Kenneth Lonergan); and 3 nominations for “Best Debut Performance” (Rory Culkin), “Best Female Lead” (Laura Linney), and “Best Male Lead” (Mark Ruffalo)

Review: "Love Actually" is Christmas and "Valentine's Day"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 71 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Love Actually (2003)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/UK
Running time: 135 minutes
MPAA – R for sexuality, nudity, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Richard Curtis
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Duncan Kenworthy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Coulter (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Nick Moore

COMEDY/DRAMA with elements of romance

Starring: Bill Nighy, Gregory Fisher, Colin Firth, Sienna Guillory, Liam Neeson, Thomas Sangster, Emma Thompson, Kris Marshall, Heike Makatsch, Martin Freeman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Nina Sosanya, Martine McCutcheon, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Rodrigo Santoro, Declan Donnelly, Lúcia Moniz, Billy Bob Thornton, Rowan Atkinson, and Colin Coull

A father deals with the recent death of his wife by focusing all his attention on his young stepson’s schoolboy crush on an American girl who may soon be leaving for home. A man is deeply smitten by his best friend’s new bride, so he deals with it by acting coldly towards her. An aging rock star attempts to briefly reclaim the spotlight by dueling with a popular boy “band” for the number one spot on the charts with a Christmas song, and he does it by being a vulgar buffoon, much to the chagrin of his manager. This is just a small taste of the delights in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually.

Who would think that the British could make a feel good film as sweet, life affirming, and romantic as anything a big Hollywood studio could? Who would think that that film, Love Actually, would end up being one of the five best films of 2003? This ensemble comedy/drama about eight couples and their love lives in the five weeks before Christmas is an absolute delight.

Although the multitude of movie stars and character actors would comprise a dream team for any ensemble film, the true star of the film is writer/director Richard Curtis. An accomplished writer of British TV (the “Blackadder” series) and film (Four Weddings and a Funeral and the adaptation of the novel for Bridget Jones), Curtis had a ready-made disaster on his hands, as Love Actually starts off a bit slow and there are so many subplots to follow. However, if the viewer is patient, he can watch as Curtis brilliantly and subtly weaves together a film of tremendous power. I was completely taken in by the poignancy, the comedy, and (what I describe as) light-hearted pathos of Love Actually.

Love Actually is so feel-good, but not too sentimental. It’s a love letter to love – love of lovers, spouses, friends, and family. And when it’s done this well, there’s nothing wrong with being sweet. Love Actually makes a bad day good and a good day really fun, and the soundtrack is slammin,’ too.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:


2004 BAFTA Awards: 1 win for “Best Performance for an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Bill Nighy) and 2 nominations for “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Richard Curtis, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Duncan Kenworthy) and best supporting actress (Emma Thompson)


2004 Golden Globes Awards: 2 nominations for best motion picture-musical or comedy and best screenplay-motion picture

Buy Love Actually (Widescreen Edition)