TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews: Movie review

Showing posts with label Movie review. Show all posts

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Review: Ryan Coogler's "SINNERS" is Crazy, Sexy, Cool, and Incredible

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 of 2025 (No. 2024) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sinners (2025)

Running time: 137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)

MPA – R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and language

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler

PRODUCERS: Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Autumn Durald Arkapaw (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Michael P. Shawver

COMPOSER: Ludwig Goransson

HORROR/HISTORICAL/THRILLER

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Canton, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O'Connell, Tenaj Jackson, David Maldonado, Li Jun Li, Yao, Helena Hu, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Bert Dreimanis, Loka Kirke, Saul Williams, Andre Ward-Hammond, Mark L. Patrick, and Delroy Lindo and Buddy Guy

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

Sinners is crazy and incredible, and there is no other supernatural horror film like it.

Part period film, part Southern Gothic, and part African-American historical, the film's story packs a lot of explosive energy into a short period of time

Writer-director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan collaborate Sinners into a film that could set Mississippi burning all over again

Sinners is a 2025 American supernatural horror, vampire, and period film from writer-director Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan, who plays twins. In Sinners, twin brothers return to their Mississippi home to start a new business only to encounter the old enemy of racism and a surprise new enemy in a charismatic monster.

Sinners opens in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on the morning of October 16, 1932. Sammie Moore (Miles Canton) staggers into his father's church, the broken neck of a guitar clutched in his right hand. As his father demands that he drop the guitar, give up music, and repent, Sammy recalls the previous 24 hours.

Early in the previous day, Sammie's cousins Elijah “Smoke” Moore (Michael B. Jordan) and Elias “Stack” Moore (Michael B. Jordan), identical twins and World War I veterans, return to Mississippi after spending several years in Chicago. Arriving with a lot of cash and a shocking amount of expensive Irish beer and Italian wine, the brothers announce their intention to start their own juke joint. In the morning, they buy an old sawmill from a racist landowner, Hogwood (David Maldonado), and start the process of preparing to open their juke joint that very night.

They recruit Sammie, a talented blues guitarist; Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), a local legend on the piano and the harmonica; and Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a sultry songstress, to provide the club's music. They also hire Smoke's estranged wife, Annie (Winmu Mosaku), a hoodoo woman and root worker, and Delta Chinese shopkeepers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao), to cater opening night.

Smoke and Stack start selling the idea of a juke joint to the local black community, with the food and the music as the main draw. What Smoke and Stack don't know is that their very talented cousin Sammie's singing and guitar playing will attract the attention of both the human world and the spirit world – including a great evil ready to welcome every person inside the juke joint into its family.

Just before I saw Sinners, I realized that Ryan Coogler is one of the few directors of which I have seen and reviewed all of his feature films: Fruitvale Station (2013), Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). I am still trying to process what I saw during a Sinners' Thursday night preview showing, but right now, I still cannot find anything that would make me say this film is not perfect. Coogler's talent is greater than I ever imagined, and I imagined a lot of greatness for him. Still, I was unprepared for this hurricane called Sinners that he has created.

Sinners is like a folk tale, and it is steeped in Southern African-American folk, religious, and superstitious tradition. Sinners is also deeply immersed in Mississippi Blackness. There is a scene in the film in which the past and future join the present to celebrate transcendent African-American art, Black excellence, and a spirit world connected to all humanity. Ryan Coogler's also screenplay recognizes the links between African-Americans and Native American and Indigenous, to Chinese-American, and to some reluctant poor White people.

Sinners is truly an American work of fiction and cinema, authentic in a way that the Hollywood film industry generally avoids marginalized, oppressed, and impoverished communities. Sinners is salt-of-the-Earth and no-ways-tired American cinema. Also, it sets the record straight on what the Great Migration of Black folks found when they went to Northern cities like Chicago.

Sinners also has a remarkable number of exceptional performances. I know that some people still have doubts about Michael B. Jordan as an exceptional actor, but as the twins, Smoke and Stack, he proves that his doubters are only hapless haters. Jordan makes the twins distinctive from one another in subtle shifts and sleight-of-hand moves. In a way, Jack O'Connell, in a supporting role as the lead villain, Remmick, matches Jordan's intensity by smoothly altering the way his character reveals his wickedness. O'Connell makes Remmick, a charismatic prince of lies and deceit, deserving of his own film, a prequel to Sinners.

Back in the aughts, Paramount Pictures put out a casting call for the female lead in the Coen Bros.'s 2010 Western film, True Grit. The casting call stated that young females vying for the role “must be able to portray Caucasian.” Hailee Steinfeld won the role in True Grit, and in Sinners, she proves that she can portray mulatto as Mary. I am not sure that a White actress has been as convincing as Steinfeld is as a Black and White biracial person in Sinners since Susan Kohner received a “Best Supporting Actress” nomination as “Sarah Jane” in Imitation of Life (1959).

So... I'm still reeling. I'll build a fortress around my heart to protect my belief that Sinners is perfect or as near to perfect as a supernatural horror film can get. As of today (Friday, April 18, 2025), it is my pick for best film of the year.

10 of 10

Saturday, April 19, 2025

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Thursday, April 17, 2025

Review: Merchant Ivory's "SHAKESPEARE WALLAH" is a Tale as Old as Time

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 of 2025 (No. 2023) by Leroy Douresseaux

Shakespeare Wallah (1965) – Black & White

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/India

Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)

Not rated

DIRECTOR: James Ivory

WRITERS: R. Prawer Jhabvala and James Ivory

PRODUCER: Ismail Merchant

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Subrata Mitra (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Amit Bose

COMPOSER: Satyajit Ray

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Shashi Kapoor, Felicity Kendal, Geoffrey Kendal, Laura Liddell, Madhur Jaffrey, Utpal Dutt, Praveen Paul, Prayag Raaj, Pinchoo Kapoor, and Jim D. Tytler

Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 romantic drama film from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. It was the second film produced by Merchant Ivory Productions. The film is co-written by Ivory and novelist and screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who wrote in some capacity 23 of Merchant Ivory's films. Shakespeare Wallah focuses on a traveling family theatre troupe that performs Shakespearean plays in towns across India even as demand for its work dwindles in the country.

Shakespeare Wallah introduces “the Buckingham Players,” a traveling family theatre troupe led by a British couple, husband Anthony “Tony” Buckingham (Geoffrey Kendal) and wife Carla Buckingham (Laura Liddell). Their young daughter, Lizzie (Felicity Kendal), is also an actor in this nomadic troupe. The Buckingham Players travel from town to town in post-colonial India, performing the plays of William Shakespeare before local audiences. However, demand for their work is dwindling as audiences begin to prefer the movies of “Hindi cinema,” also known as “Bollywood.”

One day, Lizzie meets Sanju Raj (Shashi Kapoor), a playboy. The two fall in love, but what Lizzie does not know is that Sanju is also romancing the actress, Manjula (Madhur Jaffrey), a very popular Bollywood star who is also very jealous.

2025 is the sixtieth anniversary of the original theatrical release (1965) of Merchant Ivory's second film, Shakespeare Wallah. As one of the production company's early films, it set the tone for future Merchant Ivory films that focused on cross-cultural romance and relationships.

Shakespeare Wallah is loosely based on the real life of actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal and his family. Kendal, his wife, Laura Liddell, and their daughter, Felicity Kendal, were part of a real-life traveling Shakespearean company that performed in India. That is how Geoffrey apparently earned the nickname, “Shakespearewallah” (with “wallah” being an informal term meaning a person involved in a particular thing or business).

Shakespeare Wallah being the second Merchant Ivory film showcases what many of the company's films would depict – seismic shifts in society and changes in culture. Tony and Carla have been performing Shakespeare across a specific region of India for decades, but the couple, essentially British expatriates, begin to wonder if time has passed them by and if they should return to England.

Meanwhile, their daughter, Lizzie, is experiencing a clash not so much of culture, but of gender roles. Her playboy paramour, Sanju, is wooing two actresses, but in truth, he does not think of acting as a proper role for a woman, especially more so in the case of Lizzie than in the case of Manjula.

The best thing that I can say about Shakespeare Wallah, and I can say a lot of good things about it, is that the film's emotions and feelings seem authentic. Manjula's jealousy is alive, dangerous, and electric. Lizzie and Sanju's romantic feelings are natural, but are also fragile and vulnerable because they are not only different people, but also are from different cultures and outlooks on life. The overall naturalism and relaxed pace of the narrative are also genuine.

The beautiful film score by Satyajit Ray embellishes the melancholy nature of the film when it comes to love. Whether one's love is another person, the nomadic life of a traveling troupe, or the profession of performing Shakespeare on the stage, it is bittersweet. Shakespeare Wallah, however, is the sweet art of cinema.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, April 17, 2025

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Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Review: Prime Video's "G20" Showcases Viola Davis and Black Excellence

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 of 2025 (No. 2022) by Leroy Douresseaux

G20 (2025)

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

MPA – R for violence throughout

DIRECTOR: Patricia Riggen

WRITERS: Caitlin Parrish & Erica Weiss and Logan Miller & Noah Miller; from a story by Logan Miller & Noah Miller

PRODUCERS: Viola Davis, Andrew Lazar, and Julius Tennon

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Checco Varese (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Doc Crotzer and Emma E. Hickox

COMPOSER: Joseph Trapanese

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramon Rodriguez, Marsai Martin, Christopher Farrar, Antony Starr, Douglas Hodge, Elizabeth Marvel, Sabrina Impacciatore, MeeWha Alana Lee, John Hoogenakker, Julius Tennon, Theo Bongani Ndyalvane, Noxolo Diamini, and Clark Gregg

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

-- I would call G20 a standard straight-to-streaming action movie, but Viola Davis makes this fast food hamburger almost seem like “USDA Prime Beef.”

-- G20 is hugely enjoyable, and it will keep you glued to your seats, dear readers, from beginning to end

--Yeah, I liked it enough to hope for a sequel

G20 is a 2025 action-thriller from director Patricia Riggen and starring Viola Davis, who is also one of the film's producers. The film is an Amazon “Prime Video Original” and debuted on the Prime Video streaming service, Thursday, April 10, 2025. In G20, the African-American female President of the United States battles a gang of white cryptocurrency terrorists after they take over the G20 summit she is hosting in South Africa.

G20 opens in Budapest, Hungary. There, former Australian Special Forces Corporal Edward Rutledge (Antony Starr) and his mercenaries are stalking a young woman. They are determined to acquire a $70 million cryptocurrency wallet in her possession.

Meanwhile, at the White House in Washington D.C., U.S. President Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis) is having some family melodrama. She may be President of the United States and an Army veteran of the Iraq War, but she is publicly embarrassed by the rebellious antics of her daughter, Serena (Marsai Martin), who has recently escaped from the White House without the Secret Service noticing.

President Sutton and her husband, the “First Gentleman” Derek (Anthony Anderson), decide that it is wisest to bring Serena and her brother, their son Demetrius (Christopher Farrar), with them to Capetown, South Africa for the G20 Summit of world leaders. However, waiting for them at the heavily fortified Grand Diamot hotel is Corporal Rutledge and his team of terrorists, ready to seize control of the summit and bring down the world economy as we know it. Soon, it will be up to President Sutton, Derek, Serena, Demetrius, and Special Agent Manny Ruiz (Ramon Rodriguez) to save themselves and the Summit's attendees and to stop Rutledge and his diabolical plot to burn down the world as we know it.

During the last year or so, I have seen a few star-studded, streaming original action movies, such as Prime Video's Role Play (2024) and Netflix's The Union (2024) and the recent Back in Action (2025). I have avoided most streaming action movies, but I have noticed something about the ones I have seen. They are a family and friends affair. Husbands and wives, children, and friends come together to stop the high-tech bad guys. In a way, they are like the 2004 kiddie action flick, Catch That Kid, which you probably don't remember starred a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart.

Anyway, G20 has lots of violent gun play, and I would dare to guess that more characters were killed in it than in most spy and espionage movies. That's because G20 is a kind of hybrid military-themed movie about terrorism, except that the lead is a Black female President of the United States. She is the star and she does the most killing, and while her Black husband and their two Black children also fight the bad guys, only she uses firearms and military-style weapons to kill the bad guys.

I found G20 thoroughly enjoyable, and I enjoyed watching Viola Davis' President Sutton kill the bad guys. She is one of the few actresses that could take President Sutton and make her both a solid dramatic character and a heavy weight action hero. I also like that the most of film's biggest heroes are black and brown people. Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramon Rodriguez, Marsai Martin, Christopher Farrar, Theo Bongani Ndyalvane and Noxolo Diamini show out for real. Douglas Hodge, Sabrina Impacciatore, and MeeWha Alana Lee also do the damn thing. Even Antony Starr deftly chews up the screen as the overheated villain, Corporal Rutledge.

Amazon MGM Studios, I want a sequel. I heartily recommend G20 for its pure entertainment value and for making a violent, R-rated action movie seem like family entertainment. This is one time that I can say that a direct-to-streaming action movie is as good as most of the flashy action movies that get theatrical releases. Best of all, G20 lets Viola David act like an O.G.

B+

7 of 10

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

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Friday, April 11, 2025

Review: "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" is a Good Thing

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 of 2025 (No. 2021) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) – anime

Running time: 134 minutes (2 hours, 14 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for strong violence

DIRECTOR: Kenji Kamiyama

WRITERS: Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou; from a story by Jeffrey Addis & Will Matthews and Philippa Boyens (based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien)

PRODUCERS: Philippa Boyens, Joseph Chou and Jason DeMarco

EDITOR: Tsuyoshi Sadamatsu

COMPOSER: Stephen Gallagher

ANIMATION: Sola Entertainment

ANIME/FANTASY/WAR

Starring: (voices) Gaia Wise, Brian Cox, Luca Pasqualino, Lorraine Ashbourne, Shaun Dooley, Benjamin Wainwright, Yazdan Qafouri, Laurence Ubong Williams, Michael Wildman, Janine Duvitski, Bilal Hasna, and Miranda Otto

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a 2024 anime fantasy film from director Kenji Kamiyama. The film is based on characters created by J. R. R. Tolkien and is thus connected to his two most famous works of high fantasy, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). The film is a production of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Animation, Domain Entertainment, and Sola Entertainment, which provides the animation. The War of the Rohirrim tells the story of a king's daughter who fights to defend her father's kingdom from a traitor to their people and his rebel army.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is narrated by Eowyn (Miranda Otto). She tells a tale set in the human kingdom of Rohan around 200 years before the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, finds the “One Ring” (as depicted in the 2012 film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey). At that time, Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox) is the King of Rohan. He has two sons, Haleth (Benjamin Wainwright) and Hame (Yazdan Oafouri), and one daughter, Hera (Gaia Wise).

Freca (Shaun Dooley), a “Dunlending” lord, arrives at Edoras, the seat of Helm's court, for a “witan” (council). Freca wants his son, Wulf (Luca Pasqualino), to marry Hera, which he claims will unite his family with Helm's, but what Freca really wants is to use the marriage to usurp Rohan's throne. Although she and Wulf are friends from childhood, Hera spurns Wulf's offer of marriage. That leads to a deadly confrontation between Helm and Freca.

Four years later, Wulf leads an army of hill-tribe rebels against Rohan. Helm is forced to lead his people to the ancient stronghold of “Hornburg,” and there, waits for allies to come to the aid of Rohan. With the former shieldmaiden, Olwyn (Lorraine Ashbourne), and the bard, Lief (Bilal Hasna), at her side, Hera struggles to hold her people together. Her only hope is her cousin, Lord Frealaf Hildeson (Laurence Ubong Williams), who is himself hold up in the fortress at Dunharrow. Can Hera and her people make a daring last stand in Hornburg, and will help come in time to save them?

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is well connected to the two Tolkien film trilogies, The Lord of the Rings (2001-03) and to The Hobbit (2012-14). The War of the Rohirrim is narrated by Eowyn, who appears in two films in The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy, The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). Miranda Otto, who played Eowyn in those films, also performs the voice for the character here. The War of the Rohirrim also has multiple other references to these two film trilogies, but how good is this animated film on its own?

The War of the Rohirrim reminds me of the Japanese anime film series that began with Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 – The Egg of the King (2012). Although I like The War of the Rohirrim, I don't like it as much as I liked the Berserk films that I saw. I find this LOTR film lacks magic and the supernatural; in fact, it is well past the halfway point in the story before this films drops some dark magic and sorcery. The film is too much like a war movie, but considering the high stakes involved in this war, the film also lacks the spectacle of the live-action LOTR movies, which were essential war movies – fantasy war movies – but still war movies.

Although some reviewers and critics did not like the quality of The War of the Rohirrim's animation, I do admire it, and I also like the animation's vivid colors and the character designs. The characters and narrative drama are good, not great. While the story strikes familiar notes in terms of plot and setting, I found myself very emotionally involved in a lot of this movie's narrative; it tugged at my heart in spite of its imperfections.

The War of the Rohirrim seems more like Earth “Middle Ages” than Tolkien's “Middle-earth,” but I consider myself lucky to have an anime Tolkien film. It has been almost four and half decades since audiences had animated feature films based on the work of the English writer J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973). It is not great, but it is great that we have The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, April 11, 2025

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Saturday, April 5, 2025

Review: Tyler Perry's "DUPLICITY" - Come On, Man

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 of 2025 (No. 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)

Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)

MPA – R for language and violence

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, and Will Areu

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Corey Burmester (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Larry Sexton

COMPOSERS: JimiJame$ and Wow Jones

DRAMA/THRILLER/CRIME

Starring: Kat Graham, Meagan Tandy, Tyler Lepley, RonReaco Lee, Joshua Adeyeye, Nick Barrotta, Jimi Stanton, Shannon LaNier, Kim Steele, Betty Mitchell, Angela Halili, and Kearia Schroeder

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

-- Tyler Perry's Duplicity is for Tyler Perry's hardcore fans

-- The last 20 minutes of “Duplicity” are by far the best, but they are also filled with implausible and crazy crap, too

Tyler Perry's Duplicity is a 2025 drama and crime thriller from writer-director Tyler Perry. The film is an Amazon “Prime Original,” and it began streaming on the service April 20, 2025. Duplicity finds a high-powered attorney taking on her most personal case when she attempts to find the truth behind the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man by a White police officer.

Duplicity opens in Atlanta, Georgia and introduces the high-powered female attorney, Marley Wells (Kat Graham). Her best friend is Fela Blackburn (Meagan Tandy), a co-anchor for the television station, Channel 3's “Early for Us” morning TV show. One day, while jogging, Fela's husband, Rodney (Joshua Adeyeye), is shot and killed by a white rookie police officer, Caleb Kaine (Jimi Stanton).

Marley becomes the grieving widow, Fela's attorney, and suddenly she is taking on the city in a wrongful death civil suit. Marley's boyfriend, Tony (Tyler Lepley), a private investigator and disgraced former police officer, helps her investigate the case. Fela's Channel 3 colleagues – Shannon Markus (Shannon LaNeir), her co-anchor, and Sam (Nick Barrotta), the station's chief investigator – also volunteer their services for Marley's investigation.

The fatal police shooting of Rodney becomes a hot-button political issue and protests and violent riots erupt. The case seems to be going in Marley and Fela's favor, but Marley is soon forced to stop ignoring the troubling signs and unanswered questions that surround the shooting.

I thought that Mea Culpa, a “Netflix Original” film released in February 2024, was likely Tyler Perry's craziest non-Madea film to date, being even wackier than his 2013 film, Temptations: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. However, Perry's 2024 Amazon Prime Video drama-thriller, Divorce in the Black, released mere months after Mea Culpa, is Perry's craziest non-Medea film, at least of the ones I have seen. Perry's latest Prime Video film is not quite as crazy as Divorce in the Black, but neither is a good film (although I would say that Divorce in the Black is a little better than Duplicity).

Duplicity is simply an empty film, and I think the reason is the screenwriting. Watching this film, I got the idea that Tyler Perry wasn't trying very hard, either as a director or writer, and especially not as a writer. One of the reasons the performances seem so listless is that the actors really don't have much with which to work in terms of story or character. Also, Duplicity really is not a police shooting movie, nor a “Black Lives Matter” movie, nor even social commentary, for that matter (despite some flatly delivered “commentary” at the end). I can't say much more than that.

The last 20 minutes of the Duplicity are by far the most watchable, but even those minutes are filled with implausible and frankly inadvertently comical moments. However, I must admit that there is a particular set of violent acts in the last act that are cathartic. Ultimately, Tyler Perry's Duplicity is for Tyler Perry's biggest fans – alone.

3 of 10

D+

★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, April 5, 2025

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Thursday, March 27, 2025

Review: "THE BEEKEEPER" Swarms with Vicarious Vigilante Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 of 2025 (No. 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Beekeeper (2024)

Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)

MPA – R for strong violence throughout, pervasive language, some sexual references and drug use.

DIRECTOR: David Ayer

WRITER: Kurt Wimmer

PRODUCERS: David Ayer, Jason Statham, Bill Block, Chris Long, and Kurt Wimmer

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gabriel Beristain (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Geoffrey O'Brien

COMPOSERS: Jared Michael Fry and David Sardy

ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bobby Naderi, Josh Hutcherson, Jeremy Irons, David Witts, Michael Epp, Taylor James, Jemma Redgrave, Minnie Driver, Don Gilet, Dan Li, Derek Siow, and Phylicia Rashad

The Beekeeper is a 2024 American vigilante action-thriller from director David Ayer and writer Kurt Wimmer. Starring Jason Statham, the film follows an assassin who sets out for revenge after his kindhearted landlady falls victim to a phishing scam.

The Beekeeper opens in rural Massachusetts. There, Adam Clay (Jason Statham) is a quiet beekeeper who rents land and barn space from retired school teacher, Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad). The two have a warm relationship. Eloise also manages a children's charity and watches over her retirement funds. However, Eloise falls victim to a phishing and hacking scam operated by a call center, “United Data Group.” The lead hacker, Boyd Garnett (David Witts), tricks Eloise into giving him access to her computer, whereupon he drains it of all her life savings and of the two million dollars she manages for the charity. Eloise is devastated and tragedy strikes.

In response, Adam sets out on a mission of revenge. He heads to Boston to confront Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson), the owner of “Nine Star United,” the company behind United Data Group. Danforth, however, is very well connected, so well connected that it is impossible to imagine. Soon, Adam Clay is taking on the FBI Boston field office, S.W.A.T., and hired mercenaries. How can one man take on all that? Well, Adam Clay, the beekeeper, is also an former assassin and operative of the type known as a “Beekeeper.”

If you enjoyed the 2014 Denzel Washington revenge vehicle, The Equalizer, and its sequels, and the 2014 Keanu Reeves revenge vehicle, John Wick, and its sequels, you will likely enjoy The Beekeeper. First, it's one of the better movies from the filmography of director David Ayer (Suicide Squad). Secondly, it is one of the better movies written by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium).

Third, it's Jason Statham, and if you are a fan of his (and I am), then The Beekeeper shows that he has not lost his sting... his punch... his kick... or his firearm and bladed weapon skills. Plus, the allegorical and symbolic nature of Adam Clay as both a beekeeper and as a “Beekeeper” are quite clever and genuinely connected. I don't want to say more because I find this movie's plot and plot points easy to spoil, but I can say that it is a blast to watch. Even if you are not the biggest Statham fans, dear readers, I believe that you will enjoy – to some extent – this tightly composed and cheerfully violent movie. I can say that anyone who gets in the way of Statham's Adam Clay – good guy or bad guy – is put in a world of pain.

The rest of the performances are okay. The other characters are merely there to be acted upon by Adam Clay. Still, Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune) and Oscar-nominee Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) are sadly wasted in this film. I really only watched The Beekeeper in preparation for Statham's new film with David Ayer (as of this writing), the ridiculously titled, A Working Man, which I may or may not see during its theatrical release. Still, I am glad that I stopped putting off seeing The Beekeeper because it is a hugely entertaining action movie. It floats like a butterfly and stings like a demonic bee.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Thursday, March 27, 2025

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Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Review: "ULTRAVIOLET" is Mostly Misspent Potential

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 164 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ultraviolet (2006)

Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of violent action throughout, partial nudity, and language

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Kurt Wimmer

PRODUCERS: John Badecchi and Lucas Foster

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Arthur Wong Ngok Tai and Jimmy Wong

EDITOR: William Yeh

COMPOSER: Klaus Badelt

SCI-FI/ACTION and MARTIAL ARTS/MYSTERY

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Cameron Bright, Nick Chinlund, Sebastien Andrieu, Ida Martin, and William Fichtner

Ultraviolet is a 2006 American science fiction action film from writer-director Kurt Wimmer. The film focuses on a woman infected with a virus that gives her superhuman and vampire-like powers who has to protect a boy thought to carry antigens that would destroy others like her.

Ultraviolet opens in the late 21st century. The Hemoglophagic Virus has infected the human population – a disease causing symptoms that many associate with vampires. Those afflicted gain enhanced intelligence, fantastic stamina, and lightning-fast speed (like the vampires in Blade). The world is divided into those who don’t have it (normal humans), and those who do (called “hemophages”).

The government, led by the powerful scientist, Vicecardinum Ferdinand Daxus (Nick Chinlund), hunts hemophages in hopes of wiping them out. One woman, a highly-skilled hemophage warrior named Violet Song jat Shariff (Milla Jovovich), infiltrates a governmental research station. Violet steals a case containing a secret weapon that will reportedly wipe out the infected. However, Violet finds herself on the run and protecting a mysterious child, called “Six” (Cameron Bright), who may or may not be infected with a virus dangerous to hemophages. Now, Daxus and his entire military force is out to get her and the child.

From writer/director Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium), Ultraviolet is non-interactive entertainment (a movie) trying to act like interactive entertainment (a videogame). Awash in bright colors (computer-generated neon), the film looks like a comic book, especially when Milla Jovovich poses – standing still and trying to look badass before she begins a fight sequence. It’s the only time her performance can be said to be anything near good. Most of the time, she is so dreadful that it’s impossible to believe that she’s been acting for nearly two decades.

Ultraviolet has a lot of potential, but ultimately it’s just a poorly developed and disastrously executed movie that a computer made all gooey with color and the filmmakers filled with an electronics expo full of fancy gadgets.

3 of 10

C-

★½ out of 4 stars

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Edited: Monday, March 24, 2025

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Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Review: "HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN" Raises All Kinds of Hell, Boy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 of 2025 (No. 2018) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)

Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)

MPA – R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, and language

DIRECTOR: Brian Taylor

WRITERS: Brian Taylor, Christopher Golden, and Mike Mignola (based upon the Dark Horse comic book series created by Mike Mignola)

PRODUCERS: Jeffrey Greenstein, Sam Schulte, Robert Van Norden, Yariv Lerner, Mike Richardson, Les Weldon, and Jonathan Yunger

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ivan Vatsov (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Ryan Denmark

COMPOSER: Sven Faulconer

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/HORROR

Starring: Jack Kesy, Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph, Leah McNamara, Joseph Marcell, Martin Bassindale, Hannah Margetson, Bogdan Haralambov, Carola Columbo, Anton Trendafilov, Michael Flemming, and Suzanne Bertish

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a 2024 superhero, horror, and dark fantasy film from director Brian Taylor. The film is based on the Hellboy character and comic books created by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics. The film is also the second reboot of the Hellboy film franchise. In Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Hellboy and a first-time field agent unexpectedly find themselves in a mountain community dominated by witchcraft and ruled over by a local demon.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man opens in 1959. We meet Hellboy (Jack Kesy) and Special Agent Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph), both of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). The two are transporting a supernatural toxic spider by train when something goes awry, and they suddenly find themselves stranded in the Appalachian Mountains. They wander until they come to a backwoods community that is filled with superstition and with the belief in witches.

They meet a former local, Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White), himself a witch, who has home to atone for his sins and to settle a hateful debt he owes. Witches and witchcraft, however, are not the only things that haunt this isolated mountain community. The devil is about in the form of Mister Onselm (Martin Bassindale), also known as “The Crooked Man.” He has come to collect a debt, and Hellboy, Song and Ferrell are the resistance. Soon, the mountain church of the blind Reverend Watts (Joseph Marcell) will be the scene of an epic battle of good versus evil.

I am not a big fan of Guillermo del Toro's 2004 film, Hellboy, the first film in the series. It has great production values, and it is a gorgeous movie filled with fantastical visual elements. On the other hand, the story is executed in a clunky and awkward fashion, and the characters are not particularly interesting. However, del Toro's follow-up to that film, the Oscar-nominated Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), is one of my all-time favorite films, and I consider it to be one of the best-ever films adapted from a comic book. Director Neil Marshall's 2019 film, Hellboy, was supposed to reboot the Hellboy film franchise. It was a box office bomb, with its worldwide box office failing to recoup even the film's production costs, but Hellboy 2019 is far superior to Hellboy 2004. It is closer to Hellboy II, in terms of quality, and almost seems like a reworking of the plot of the 2008 film.

All that said, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is another try at rebooting or restarting the series. I remember reading press and promotion for The Crooked Man stating that it was the closest of the four films in terms of being faithful to the comic book. I get that being faithful to the comic book is important to comic book people, especially the comic book creators and fans, but in the larger world of the film business, that is irrelevant. What the people behind Hellboy: The Crooked Man should have been doing is telling the world that The Crooked Man is one helluva movie...

...Because it is. Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a mutha f**kin' good movie. I enjoyed the hell outta it, so much so that I might owe The Crooked Man of the film a debt. I am not trying to say that it is perfect, because it is not. Hellboy: The Crooked Man starts off slow, dry, awkward, and forced, and its first act seems like a collection of contrivances.

Then, the movie loses it mind and goes bonkers, and Hellboy: The Crooked Man flips the script so fast that I didn't know what hit me. The Crooked Man's director, Brian Taylor, is known for his work with fellow writer-director Mark Neveldine, and the duo specializes in directing nutty and bonkers film like Crank (2006) and the 2011 comic book movie, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. The duo also wrote the kooky horror-Western film hybrid, Jonah Hex (2010).

Going solo on The Crooked Man, Taylor busts out a film that takes the gruesome dead of the 1982 film, Creepshow, and mixes them with hoary hell hounds of director Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981). The result is the most horrifying film in the Hellboy franchise, a film with enough bone-rattling folk horror to convince many viewers that it is a legit horror flick.

I find that David Harbour, who played Hellboy in the 2019 film, didn't stray far in his performance from what Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy star, Ron Perlman, did with the character. The Crooked Man's Hellboy actor, Jack Kesy, is more like Jeff Bridges' “Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski” (from The Big Lebowski) than he is like the dark-fantasy action hero of the previous Hellboy films. It is not that Kesy is better or worse, for the matter; it is just that he takes a different path to bringing the character to life.

There are other good performances in this film. Jefferson White makes a mark as Tom Ferrell, but there are times when both White and his character, Ferrell, seem to get lost in the hell-raising of this film. Adeline Rudolph, however, does not get lost as Bobbie Jo Song, and Rudolph's robust performance makes Song not so much a supporting character as she is a co-lead. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Joseph Marcell as Reverend Watts because he is a scene-stealer in the role. I was shocked to learn that Marcell played “Geoffrey Butler,” the butler on the former NBC sitcom, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-96).

Hellboy: The Crooked Man lacks the superhero fantasy, blockbuster bombast of its predecessors, but it is a truly unique superhero movie convincingly cos-playing a scary movie. I don't want to give away too many of its chilling, goose flesh-raising frights. The film did receive mixed reviews, but here, I won't send a mixed message. Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a damn good movie, and I would be damned if I said otherwise.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

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Review: First "HELLBOY" Film Still Dances with the Devil

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hellboy (2004)

Running time: 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and frightening images

DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro

WRITERS: Guillermo del Toro; from screen story by Peter Briggs & Guillermo del Toro (based upon the comic book by Mike Mignola)

PRODUCERS: Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, and Mike Richardson

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Guillermo Navarro

EDITOR: Peter Amundson

COMPOSER: Marco Beltrami

HORROR/ACTION/ADVENTURE and SCI/FANTASY

Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, John Hurt, Corey Johnson, Doug Jones, Brian Caspe, James Babson, Biddy Hodson, Jim Howick, Kevin Trainor, and (voice) David Hyde Pierce

Hellboy is a 2004 American superhero and horror-fantasy film from director Guillermo del Toro. The film is based upon the Hellboy comic book franchise and character created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. Hellboy the movie focuses on a demon who becomes a defender against the forces of darkness after being conjured by the Nazis as an infant.

Mike Mignola’s titular character of his wonderful Hellboy comic books comes to life in director Guillermo del Toro’s colorful and well-dressed B-movie, Hellboy. This horror/action flick is dry, slow, and even the action is deadpan, although there are a few funny and genuinely scary moments. Now, I can describe a plethora of movies as having “a few good moments,” but this movie does have quite a few.

The film begins late in World War II. A young scientist, Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm (Kevin Trainor) and a squad of Allied soldiers come upon a group of Nazi kooks. The kooks include the Russian mystic, Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), in the midst of a ritual to summon a group of big bow wow evil gods. The Allies stop the evil that is coming “from the other side,” but something does slip through – a little demon kid they name Hellboy.

Sixty years later, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is now an adult, having been raised by Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt). Hellboy is the main man/strongman for "The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense," which is a group fighting the good fight against all manner of bogeymen and boogens. Our entry into this dark world of supernatural special operations is an FBI newbie, John Myers (Rupert Evans). Myers comes just in time, as Rasputin and his gang of uglies are back to finish what they started six decades earlier.

Hellboy is a pleasant diversion, and it certainly is pretty to look at, featuring colorful art direction, set decoration, and makeup. Hellboy looks a lot like Guillermo del Toro’s last film, Blade II, but whereas the latter had a dark atmosphere and a convincing, unbroken line of suspense, Hellboy is flat and too long to be as flat as it is. Perlman is, at times, almost D.O.A. as the title character, and then, quite lively at other times. I don’t think Perlman's interpretation of Hellboy really fits the comic book original version of the character. The four color Hellboy is more humble and earthy, whereas Perlman’s creation often comes across as a cocky, uncouth roughneck.

Hellboy has excellent production values. It is a great looking film, from its set and environments to its costumes and hair and make-up that transform actors into a menagerie of inventive and imaginative characters. Still,I don't think audiences have to see Hellboy in a theater; they can save it for a rental.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

EDITED: Saturday, March 1, 2025

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Thursday, March 13, 2025

Review: "DAFFY DUCK'S QUACKBUSTERS" Mixes Old and New Quite Well

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 250 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters (1988) – animated

Running time: 78 minutes (1 hour, 18 minutes)

MPAA – PG

DIRECTORS: Greg Ford and Terry Lennon with Friz Freleng; Chuck Jones; Robert McKimson; and Maurice Noble

WRITERS: Greg Ford and Terry Lennon (story) with John W. Dunn; Michael Maltese; and Tedd Pierce

PRODUCER: Steven S. Greene

EDITORS: Treg Brown; Jim Champin

ANIMATION/COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring: (voice) Mel Blanc, Julie Bennett, Roy Firestone, June Foray, Ben Frommer, B.J. Ward, and Mel Tormé

Daffy Duck's Quackbusters is a 1988 animated compilation film directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon. The film is comprised of classic Warner Bros. Cartoons animated shorts with animated bridging sequences and other new material. It was released to theaters in September 1988 and was released on VHS in July 1989, which is how I saw it.

This film was the final theatrical production in which the primary “Looney Tunes” voice actor, Mel Blanc, provided the voices of the various Looney Tunes characters before his death in July 1989. Daffy Duck's Quackbusters focuses on Daffy Duck who opens a detective agency for the supernatural with the help of his Looney Tunes buddies in a bid to deal with meddlesome ghosts.

Daffy Duck's Quackbusters is preceded by Night of the Living Duck, a 1988 Daffy Duck animated theatrical short. It works as a kind of appetizer for what comes next. Then, comes Daffy Dilly, a 1948 Chuck Jones cartoon in which Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc) tries to earn a rich reward by making ailing millionaire J.B. Cubish (Mel Blanc), who hasn’t laughed in ages, laugh one more time. This short is the jump-off point for Quackbusters' story, as it ends and new animation footage and the film’s main plot and narrative begin.

The plot concerns Daffy who has inherited the bulk of J.B. Cubish’s fortune, but Cubish’s will stipulates that Daffy must use the money to further business and enterprise and also for goodwill. Daffy brushes off the stipulation, but he soon discovers that Cubish’s spirit/ghost/poltergeist can reach beyond death and take his millions with him to the next world. Every time Daffy lies, cheats, or acts like a jerk to someone, cue the lightening and magic and Daffy’s inherited millions start to disappear as wads of cash fade away.

Enraged, Daffy forms a ghost-busting agency, “Ghouls ‘R’ Us,” a group of “paranormalists” who fight meddlesome ghosts (like Cubish), as well as monsters, aliens, and other weird creatures. The agency is really a front for Daffy, behind which he can hide and pretend to do good. He convinces Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc) and Porky Pig (Mel Blanc), as well as Porky's pet, Sylvester the Cat (Mel Blanc), to join the agency. Daffy sends them out ghost and monster hunting, but in the end, as with all his machinations, Daffy is destined to fail.

I have been anticipating the new animated film, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024), which just went into wide theatrical release in the United States. With that in mind, I decided to re-edit my review of Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters. This film falls into the tradition of such Warner Bros. Looney Tunes films as Daffy Duck’s Fantastic Island (1983) and The Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981). Quackbusters is a kind of “clip show” movie in which the filmmakers combine new, original animated film footage with footage from classic “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” cartoons – also called a “compilation film.”

Writer-directors Greg Ford and Terry Lennon and their fellow filmmakers seamlessly weave classic cartoons with new animation. In fact, one has to look carefully to see where the Ford/Lennon-directed animation ends and old cartoons by famed Looney Tune/Merrie Melodies directors begin and then move back to Ford and Lennon’s work. In fact, only 40 percent of this film is classic animation from the 40s and 50s. These include The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961) with Bugs and Daffy; Hyde & Go Tweet (1960) with Sylvester and Tweety; The Prize Pest (1951) with Porky and Daffy; Punch Trunk (1953); Scaredy Cat (1948); and its 1954 remake, Claws for Alarm (1954), both with Porky and Sylvester; and Transylvania 6-5000 (1963) with Bugs.

The other 60 percent is made of brand new animation and two of Ford and Lennon’s late 80’s animated shorts. That includes The Duxorcist, which, when it appeared in 1987, was the first Warner Bros. animated theatrical short in 20 years, and also the aforementioned Night of the Living Duck. The new animation and narrative is so well done and incorporated with the older material that Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters is the best of the clip show movies. In fact, the new animation, while not nearly as good as the “Golden Age” Warner material, only looks a little off in a few minor instances.

Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters is not great, but is certainly good. It is fun, kid’s stuff that is as surprisingly entertaining as it is well put together and designed. I think Looney Tunes fans, in moments of nostalgia, will like this, so it is too bad that Warner has not tried this again (as of this writing).

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Re-edited: Thursday, March 13, 2025

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Sunday, March 2, 2025

Review: "OPPENHEIMER" Runs on the Atomic Power of Its Cast

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2025 (No. 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

Oppenheimer (2023)

Running time: 180 minutes (3 hours)

MPA – R for some sexuality, nudity and language

DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan

WRITER: Christopher Nolan (based on the book by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin)

PRODUCERS: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hoyte Van Hoytema (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Jennifer Lame

COMPOSER: Ludwig Goransson

Academy Award Best Picture winner

DRAMA/BIOPIC/HISTORICAL

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, Tony Goldwyn, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Conti, Josh Hartnett, Florence Pugh, Matthew Modine, David Dastmalchian, Casey Affleck, James Remar, Rami Malek, and Gary Oldman

Oppenheimer is a 2023 biographical drama and historical film from director Christopher Nolan. The film is based on the 2005 biography, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The film is a fictional depiction and dramatization of the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II. In Oppenheimer the movie, the most famous man in America looks back on his life as he faces a hearing to determine the fate of his security clearance.

Oppenheimer opens with two important events. In 1954, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the man who is sometimes known as “the father of the atomic bomb,” is facing a private security hearing before a Personnel Security Board. The hearing is in regards to the renewal of Oppenheimer's “Q clearance” with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which gives the holder access to “top secret restricted data.” During the hearing, Oppenheimer's loyalty to the United States is questioned and his past affiliation with and ties to communist friends and associates are raised. Oppenheimer's wife, Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt), wants Robert to fight such charges more aggressively, but he seems to be concerned about the potential of collateral damage to friends and allies.

Springing forward several years: it is 1959, and Rear Admiral Levi Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.) is facing a confirmation hearing concerning his nomination to the cabinet of President Dwight D. Eisenhower as U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Strauss desperately wants that cabinet position, but his past activities regarding J. Robert Oppenheimer are coming back to complicate matters.

Meanwhile, the film goes back to Oppenheimer's early days as a student overseas in England and Germany and moves to his teaching job at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he meets communists, marries Kitty, and has an intermittent affair with the troubled Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh). Eventually U.S. Army Colonel Leslie Groves (Matt Damon), the director of the Manhattan Project, recruits Oppenheimer to be the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. There, he will lead a team that is part of a nationwide effort to develop an atomic bomb during World War II before Nazi Germany does. Along the way Oppenheimer makes friends and also makes friends into enemies – all of which will come back to haunt him.

I decided that since tonight (as of this writing) is the ceremony for the 2025 / 97th Academy Awards (March 2, 2025), it is a good time to finally write a review of Oppenheimer, the winner of the “Best Motion Picture of the Year” Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards. I had been putting it off, and, at one point, decided against seeing it. Not long into watching Oppenheimer, I was reminded of director Terrance Malick's 2011 film, The Tree of Life. Like Malick's film, Oppenheimer features a non-linear narrative, and director Christopher Nolan largely succeeds in using the non-linear form to make Oppenheimer a thoroughly engaging film. At times, I think one could call this film a thriller as much as one might call it a drama, historical, or biographical film. I think what really makes this film work is the large number of excellent performances given by Oppenheimer's cast, but the two that stand out are Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Downey, Jr. as Levi Strauss. They both deserved their respective Oscar wins – “Best Actor” for Murphy and “Best Supporting Actor” for Downey.

Like many of the lead characters in Nolan's films, J. Robert Oppenheimer takes on the forces of nature, which includes mankind and its activities. Oppenheimer, also like many of Nolan's heroes, pays a heavy price, and I am convinced because Cillian Murphy, in a career best performance, sells me on the idea that he is a J. Robert Oppenheimer in a constant state of conflict and struggle. Murphy's performance is not so much a tour-de-force as it is the portrayal of the tour-de-force life and times of Oppenheimer. Murphy doesn't impersonate Oppenheimer; he summons a manifestation of the man that brings him to life in a dramatic performance.

As Levi Strauss, Robert Downey Jr. offers an insecure man seemingly made insecure by each subsequent success in his journey of social climbing. It is as if he cannot achieve any victory without attaching to it a perceived slight. Downey performance and Nolan's screenwriting make me wonder why there couldn't be a Levi Strauss biographical film that is also quite engaging.

Christopher Nolan also gets superb production values and creative assistance from his collaborators. The sound, the cinematography, the costumes, the hair and make-up, the visual effects, and Ludwig Goransson supernatural score help Nolan bring this film to the finish line of excellence and of movie award season triumph. It certainly does not feel like a three-hour film, and it nearly has that much narrative because the end credits are short. Oppenheimer is not only superb cinema, but it is also a highly entertaining film that would make for a good movie night or two.

9 of 10

A+

Sunday, March 2, 2025

NOTES:

2024 Academy Awards, USA: 7 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, and Christopher Nolan), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Cillian Murphy), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Robert Downey Jr.), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Hoyte Van Hoytema), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Jennifer Lame), and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Ludwig Goransson); 6 nominations: “Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling” (Luisa Abel), “Best Sound” (Willie D. Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo, and Kevin O'Connell), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Emily Blunt), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Ruth De Jong-production designer and Claire Kaufman-set decorator), and “Best Achievement in Costume Design: (Ellen Mirojnick)

2024 BAFTA Awards: 7 wins: “Best Film” (Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, and Emma Thomas); “Best Director” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Leading Actor” (Cillian Murphy), “Best Supporting Actor” (Robert Downey Jr.), “Best Cinematography” (Hoyte Van Hoytema), “Best Editing” (Jennifer Lame), “Original Score” (Ludwig Göransson); 6 nominations: “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Supporting Actress” (Emily Blunt), “Best Costume Design” (Ellen Mirojnick), “Best Make Up & Hair” (Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, and Ahou Mofid), “Best Production Design” (Claire Kaufman and Ruth De Jong), “Best Sound” (Richard King, Kevin O'Connell, Gary A. Rizzo, and Willie D. Burton)

2024 Golden Globes, USA: 5 wins: “Best Motion Picture, Drama,” “Best Director, Motion Picture” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Original Score, Motion Picture” (Ludwig Göransson), “Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama” (Cillian Murphy), “Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture” (Robert Downey Jr.); 3 nominations: “Best Screenplay, Motion Picture” (Christopher Nolan) and “Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture” (Emily Blunt), and “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement”

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Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Review: "VENOM: THE LAST DANCE" Has a Death Wish

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 of 2025 (No. 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

Venom: The Last Dance (2024)

Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images and strong language

DIRECTOR: Kelly Marcel

WRITERS: Kelly Marcel; from a story by Kelly Marcel and Tom Hardy (based on the Marvel Comics)

PRODUCERS: Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Matt Tolmach, Tom Hardy, Kelly Marcel, and Hutch Parker

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Fabian Wagner (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Mark Sanger

COMPOSER: Dan Deacon

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION

Starring: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu, Clark Backo, Alanna Ubach, Hala Finley, Dash McCloud, Cristo Fernandez, Jared Abrahamson, Jack Brady, Reid Scott, and Andy Serkis

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

Venom: The Last Dance is the least of the three films in this series in terms of quality.

The entire point of the movie seems to be to end the series as soon as possible, so it is strictly for fans of this series

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Venom: The Last Dance is a 2024 superhero fantasy-action film directed by Kelly Marcel. The film is based on the Marvel Comics super-villain/anti-hero characters, Eddie Brock/Venom. Several comic book writers, artists, and editors contributed in the development of this duo, and artist Todd McFarlane and writer David Michelinie are the creators of Venom. This is also the third entry in the Venom film series. In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie Brock and Venom are on the run from both an alien monster and a mysterious military officer, and they may be forced to break up their symbiotic partnership.

Venom: The Last Dance opens on Klyntar, the home world of the symbiotes. Knull (Andy Serkis), the creator of the symbiotes, seeks a way to escape the prison made for him by his rebellious creations. To that end, he has discovered a key – some thing called a “Codex” – that will free him. What and where is the codex?

Well, it is on Earth, and the Codex exists because of the relationship between the symbiote, Venom, and his human host, the former investigative reporter, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy). They have just returned to Earth after their short stay in the multiverse (as seen in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home) and has landed in the Mexico of their own Earth. While there, Eddie and Venom learn that Eddie is being blamed for the death of Detective Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham).

Mulligan is not dead. He was infected by a symbiote (as seen in 2021's Venom: Let There Be Carnage). He has been imprisoned in an underground facility at “Area 55” (which is beneath “Area 51”), and is being held in captivity by the “Imperium Program.” There, Mulligan and his symbiote are under the watchful gazes of Imperium scientist, Dr. Teddy Paine (Juno Temple), and the Imperium's military commander, General Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

Eddie and Venom are headed for New York City in a bid to clear Eddie's name, unaware that General Strickland is hunting them. The duo, however, is soon made aware of an even more dangerous hunter. Knull has sent a creature known as a “Xenophage” to capture the Codex within Eddie and Venom. Now, a year into their symbiotic relationship, Eddie Brock and Venom may have to make a most devastating and heart-wrenching decision in order to save the Earth and at least one of their lives.

Venom: The Last Dance is the fifth film in “Sony's Spider-Man Universe” line of films. It follows Venom (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), Morbius (2022), and Madame Web (2024). The Last Dance arrived in movie theaters a little more than a month before the series' sixth film, Kraven the Hunter (2024). This film series stars characters and properties commonly associated with Marvel Comics' character, Spider-Man. Sadly, media reports indicate that Kraven the Hunter will be the last entry in Sony's Spider-Man Universe.

Anyway, just before the halfway mark in Venom: The Last Dance, the Venom symbiote enters a horse, and “venomizes” it, creating a “Venom horse.” The sequence featuring Venom as a horse, which becomes a wild ride across the desert with Eddie on its back, is probably the liveliest moment in this movie. Venom does not venomize any more animals the rest of the way, but strangely, the beginning of the film's end-credits is a montage of venomized animals, everything from insects and birds to mammals and amphibians. A Venom movie featuring the Venom symbiote venomizing countless different insects and animals?! – now, that would be a Venom movie I'd love and a lot of people would watch. Sadly, that is what we get in Venom: The Last Dance.

Yes, there are some genuine character moments – such as Eddie/Venom's relationship with the Moon family – but even that is overwhelmed by Venom: The Last Dance's need to end. Yes, this isn't so much a movie as it is an execution or suicide pact. Venom is a trilogy and Venom: The Last Dance must be the end of it: that's what this movie feels like – a race to the end.

I found myself unable to really enjoy this movie. I really didn't connect with the film's best action scenes, and there were a few really good ones. Also, I feel like the Knull subplot was woefully underutilized. There are some good moments here, and by the end of the film, I thought the good things had been downplayed in favor of this movie's fatalistic mood. Ultimately, I think Venom: The Last Dance is only for fans of the series who will want to see it through to the end.

5 of 10

C+

★★½ out of 4 stars out of 4 stars

[This film has one mid-credits scene and one scene that occurs at the end of the credits.]

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Friday, February 14, 2025

Review: "CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD" Explodes with Intensity

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 of 2025 (No. 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some strong language

DIRECTOR: Julius Onah

WRITERS: Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman & Dalan Musson, and Julius Onah & Peter Glanz; from a story by Rob Edwards and Malcolm Spellman & Dalan Musson (based on the Marvel Comics)

PRODUCERS: Kevin Feige and Nate Moore

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Kramer Morgenthau (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Madeleine Gavin and Matthew Schmidt

COMPOSER: Laura Karpman

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/DRAMA and SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Tim Blake Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, Xosha Roquemore, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, William Mark McCullough, and Takehiro Hira with Liv Tyler and Sebastian Stan

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

--Captain America: Brave New World is the subject of a social media smear campaign, but it is one of the best superheroes movies of the 2020s, and it is probably the best action movie of the decade

--The cast is dynamite. Not only does Anthony Mackie light up the screen as Sam Wilson/Captain America, but Harrison Ford also tears up the screen the way a Hollywood legend and icon should

--The supporting cast of Captain America: Brave New World is excellent, and the actors help make this film a rampaging good time at the movies

Captain America: Brave New World is a 2025 superhero and action film from Marvel Studios and directed by Julius Onah. The film focuses on the character, “Sam Wilson,” as the superhero, “Captain America.” Sam Wilson is a Marvel Comics character that was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan and that first appeared in Captain America #117 (cover dated: September 1969). Captain America is a Marvel Comics character that was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and that first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (December 1940).

This film is the fourth film in the Captain America film series and also the 35th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In Captain America: Brave New World, Captain America must discover the identity of the mastermind behind a plan to launch the United States into a global war over access to an amazing new metal alloy.

Captain America: Brave New World focuses on Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who is still early in his tenure as the superhero, Captain America, replacing his friend, the original Captain America, Steve Rogers. Wilson was once the superhero, “The Falcon,” and now, that mantle belongs to his partner, U.S. Air Force First Lt. Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez). Captain America and the Falcon begin the film on a mission in Oaxaca, Mexico where they take on the “Serpent Society” and its leader, Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), in a bid to intercept the sale of a canister of “Adamantium.”

Adamantium is the new metal alloy that was discovered on the “Celestial Island,” located in the Indian Ocean. Celestial Island is really the gigantic carcass of the “Celestial Tiamut,” whose emergence was stopped by the Eternals (as seen in the 2021 film, Eternals). The U.S., Japan, and India are vying to mine adamantium, and to that end, the three countries are working on a treaty that would create the infrastructure in which the three nations would share control of the island.

The current President of the United States, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford), formerly known as General “Thunderbolt” Ross, asks Sam to be the face of the adamantium treaty as Captain America. President Ross also wants Sam to join him in a plan to reform the superhero group, “The Avengers.” However, the announcement of the treaty is interrupted by an assassination attempt. Now, Sam's friend and mentor, Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the Korean War veteran and once-imprisoned “super soldier,” is once again imprisoned because of the incident.

Despite a growing rift with President Ross, Sam decides to investigate the assassination attempt, and Joaquin joins him. Shadowing them is a former “Black Widow,” the Israeli Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), but even she can't stop Captain America and the Falcon from discovering the mystery of a man named Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson). Can Sam Wilson stop a global war, and can Captain America really take on the creature known as the “Red Hulk.”

Captain America: Brave New World is the subject of an intense online and social media smear campaign. When you, dear readers, come across someone using the word, “woke,” to describe it, you should know that in the context of this film, “woke” is Confederate pig Latin for the name “Anthony Mackie.” People who complain that the story and/or the script are not good are against the film because of their grievances concerning an African-American actor, Antony Mackie, taking on the role of Captain America. With that said...

Captain America: Brave New World ties into some other Marvel Studios productions. Obviously, this film's “Celestial Island” subplot is related to events depicted in the 2021 film, Eternals. The Disney+/Marvel Studios series, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021) is a prologue to Brave New World. Surprisingly, Brave New World acts as a sort of sequel to the second film in the MCU, 2008's The Incredible Hulk. There are also references to numerous other MCU films.

Captain America: Brave New World is a superb superhero movie and great action film. Director Julius Onah has helmed a film that is a rampaging good time at the movies, doing this in spite of delays and reshoots. He should take pride in making a Captain America film that is as good as or better than the previous three films in the series. The action is great, and the conspiracy at the heart of the story is intense and shockingly personal. The character drama is surprisingly potent and is both complex and complicated. Plus, the Captain America vs. Red Hulk battle in the film's last act fell on me like a tree; it is so intense that for a moment I wished I was wearing an adult diaper while watching it.

With Captain America: Brave New World, Anthony Mackie not only proves that he is a true Marvel leading man who can carry a MCU film, but he also proves that he is a Hollywood leading man. In subtle ways, his performance and speeches clearly define that which Mackie fights in the real world and Sam Wilson fights in his world. Watching Mackie chop up this movie with his dramatic chops, I realized that it was long overdue that he lead a Marvel film.

I must also admit that Harrison Ford brings down the thunder in his role as President Thaddeus Ross, a.k.a. “Thunderbolt” Ross. Ford dominates his scenes so much that only Mackie can really match him in Captain America: Brave New World. Seeing Ford here reminds me of what a find dramatic actor he is and how he has always been fun in action movies.

Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Tim Blake Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Xosha Roquemore also deliver solid turns in their respective supporting roles. They deserve to pop up in the MCU again, many more times. I guess it is obvious that I am still buzzing from seeing Captain America: Brave New World last night (Thursday, February 13th). I had not expected much from this film because I had listened to too much of the propaganda. I love being wrong in these instance. Captain America: Brave New World is going to be my favorite film of 2025 for awhile, dear readers, and I heartily recommend it to you.

9 of 10

A+

Friday, February 14, 2025

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