Showing posts with label Movie review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movie review. Show all posts

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Review: Very Scary "WOLF MAN" is Gleefully Gruesome

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 of 2025 (No. 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Wolf Man (2025)
Running time:  103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPA – R for bloody violent content, grisly images and some language
DIRECTOR:  Leigh Whannell
WRITERS:  Leigh Whannell and Corbett Tuck
PRODUCERS:  Jason Blue and Ryan Gosling
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Stefan Duscio
EDITOR: Andy Canny
COMPOSER:  Benjamin Wallfisch

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring:  Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, Matilda Firth, Sam Jaeger, Benedict Hardie, Zac Chandler, and Ben Prendergast

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:
Wolf Man is a scary, scary movie – a real scary movie that delivers the thrills, the chills, and some gruesome, gory moments.

It is one of the best werewolf movies in recent memory, without ever using the term “werewolf” in the movie, but it is the real deal in bark-at-the-moon, horror movie craziness.


Wolf Man is a 2025 American horror film from director Leigh Whannell.  The film follows a father, a mother, and their daughter in their struggle to fend off a murderous creature, even as the father begins to rapidly transform into something monstrous.

Wolf Man opens in 1995 in the remote mountains of Oregon.  A hiker has disappeared, and people in the isolated local community speculate that he may have fallen victim to a virus called “Hills Fever,” linked to the region's wildlife.  However, the Indigenous people of the area call this ailment, “the Face of the Wolf.”  During a deer hunt, survivalist Grady Lovell (Sam Jaeger), and his son, Blake (Zac Chandler), spot a mysterious creature lurking in the forest.  They have a terrifying encounter with it.

Thirty years later, Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbot) lives in the big city with his wife, Charlotte Lovell (Julia Garner), and their daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth).  One day, Blake finally receives documents indicating that his long-missing father has been declared dead.  Blake convinces Charlotte that they should travel to Grady's remote home and take possession of his belongings.

The trip starts off well enough for Blake, Charlotte, and Ginger, but an accident leads them into an encounter with a fast-moving and mysterious creature (Ben Prendergast), which scratches Blake's arm.  The three are able to escape the attack and arrive at Grady's home, where they barricade themselves.  Although the creature lurks outside, the house, which had long been fortified by the paranoid Grady, offers some security.  However, the scratch on Blake's arm has turned bloody and infected, and now, he is changing... into something.

Once upon a time, Universal Pictures wanted to build a “shared universe” (like the Marvel Cinematic Universe) around the portion of its film library known under the brand name, “Universal Monsters,” by rebooting select films from that brand.  The shared universe was known named “Dark Universe,” and the film that launched it was the heavily-criticized, box office disappointment, The Mummy (2017), and I am talking about the one with Tom Cruise.

After that disappointment, Universal decided to move away from a shared universe concept, but kept the idea of rebooting its Universal Monsters films.  The new direction was launched with writer-director Leigh Whannell's 2020 hit horror film, The Invisible Man, a reboot of the 1933 film, The Invisible Man.  Now, Whannell is back in the Universal reboot game with Wolf Man, which is apparently a re-imagining of Universal Picture's 1941, classic horror film, The Wolf Man.

If you are wondering, dear readers, if Leigh Whannell's new Wolf Man is scary, it is scary as f*ck.  It is a true scary movie.  It is a scary-ass movie.  Now, I think that Whannell and his co-writer Corbett Tuck offer shallow characters and melodramatic interpersonal character tropes, but they fashion a wild, hairy-ass horror movie that is not ashamed of being a gruesome, gross, and gory werewolf movie that leaks bodily fluids all over the place.  By the way, the terms, “werewolf” and “wolf man,” are never used in this film as far as I can tell.

Whannell's collaborators are on their “A” game with this film.  Hair and make-up and visual effects slow grind Blake's grisly transformation and throw us a nasty curve ball on consumption.  It seems as if Benjamin Wallfisch is trying to use his film music to make me choke on my own fear, and the film editing is a constant fear machine.

The cast is quite good at selling us that all of this is real.  The characters might by shallow, but the actors go deep into their craft, deep enough to make me feel as if I was there waiting to be slashed and gored by a... “mysterious creature.”

I didn't see Whannell's The Invisible Man, but Wolf Man makes me want to see all his films.  Whannell may be best known for creating the 2004 film, Saw, with director James Wan, that launched a two-decade old franchise.  However, I'd like him to return to the macabre world he has created with this new film.  Wolf Man is not perfect, but it is a perfectly scary movie.  Some of you might need a barf bag or some “Depends” undergarments in order to make it through the grim terror that is Wolf Man.

7 of 10
A-
★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, January 18, 2025


The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Thursday, January 16, 2025

Review: John Carpenter's "VAMPIRES" is Still Fun (Happy B'day, John Carpenter)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998)
Running time:  108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, and gore, language, and sexuality
DIRECTOR:  John Carpenter
WRITER:  Don Jakoby (based upon the novel by John Steakley)
PRODUCER:  Sandy King
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Gary B. Kibbe (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Edward A. Warschilka
COMPOSER:  John Carpenter

HORROR/FANTASY and ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith, Maximilian Schell, and Tim Guinee

Vampires (also known as John Carpenter's Vampires) is a 1998 American action, neo-Western, and vampire horror film from director John Carpenter.  It was adapted from the 1990 horror novel, Vampire$, by author John Steakley.  Vampires the movie focuses on an caustic vampire slayer who must track down the vampire master that ambushed and destroyed his team of slayers before the creature can find a relic that will allow it to walk in sunlight.

John Carpenter's Vampires introduces Jack Crow (James Woods), a vampire hunter for the Catholic Church.  He leads his "Team Crow," a band of roughnecks and mercenary types who hunt and kill vampires.  They destroy a nest of goons (vampires) in rural New Mexico, but Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith), a 600-year old master vampire, ambushes and massacres Team Crow during their victory celebration at a small motel.

Only Crow and his assistant, Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), survive, but Crow ignores the Vatican’s demands that he reform his team.  Crow, Montoya, and Father Adam Guiteau (Tim Guinee), a young priest, with tagalong Katrina (Sheryl Lee), a survivor of Valek’s attack, pursue the master vampire through the high deserts that ends in a confrontation to stop Valek from becoming unbeatable.

John Carpenter’s Vampires is a fun action horror flick that rises above being straight-to-video material in large measure because of James Woods hilarious and over-the-top performance as Jack Crow.  Crow curses like a pack of sailors, and won’t even spare holy men his vulgar tirades.  He beats priests and asks them inappropriate questions about their anatomies and lusts.  Woods’ performance is the one thing that entertains even detractors of Vampires.

The film is gory and action-packed, but a little light on genuine scares.  It has the charming qualities that make Carpenter’s film fun and unique – pulp storytelling, weird science, and the strange blend of real myth, lore, and culture spun from his fertile imagination.  While the characters here, other than Crow, don’t match up to some of Carpenter’s memorable creations from his earlier films, they’re adequate.  Vampires is a fun spin on the American pop culture version of vampires, and worth a viewing.

7 of 10
B+
★★★½ out of 4 stars

March 19, 2005

EDITED:  Sunday, January 5, 2025


The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Review: "PRINCE OF DARKNESS" Still Scares the Green Liquid Outta Me (Celebrating John Carpenter)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness (1987)
Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR:  John Carpenter
WRITER:  Martin Quatermass (John Carpenter)
PRODUCER:  Larry J. Franco
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Gary B. Kippe
EDITOR:  Steve Mikovich
COMPOSERS:  John Carpenter and Alan Howarth

HORROR/SCI-FI

Starring:  Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Anne Marie Howard, Ann Yen, Dirk Blocker, Jessie Lawrence Ferguson, Peter Jason, Robert Grasmere, Thom Bray, and Alice Cooper

Prince of Darkness is a 1987 American supernatural horror film from writer-director John Carpenter.  The film focuses on a Catholic priest, quantum physics university professor, and his graduate students as they investigate an ancient cylinder full of swirling liquid, which may be the embodiment of the “Prince of Darkness.”

Prince of Darkness introduces Father Loomis (Donald Pleasence), a high-ranking priest.  He has come across a long-hidden secret, one kept even from the Vatican.  A priestly order, “The Brotherhood of Sleep,” has possessed a canister that apparently contains the liquefied remains of the “Prince of Darkness.”  When the last of the order dies, Loomis seeks out a prestigious professor of physics, Prof. Howard Birack (Victor Wong), to help him understand the discoveries he’s made at the Brotherhood’s church.

Birack enlists the aid of a group of fellow scientists and students to study ancient texts and to learn the truth about the thing that may hold the “Prince of Darkness.”  However, whatever the liquid is, it is awakening, and it is beginning to possess some members of the investigation team, turning them into killer zombies.  Worse still, Father Loomis, Birack, and the students discover that the Prince of Darkness intends to bring his even more evil father back from the dark side to our world.

Prince of Darkness is one of my favorite John Carpenter films.  It is the second installment in what Carpenter calls his “Apocalypse Trilogy,” which began with his 1982 film, The Thing (1982), and concluded with his 1994 film, In the Mouth of Madness (1994).  Prince of Darkness is quite scary and suspenseful, and Carpenter’s screenplay is filled with many wonderful and eccentric ideas about the nature of time, existence, and religion.  Perhaps, the most frightening thing about the film is its atmosphere of the unknown.  A lot of the ideas and philosophy within the film are half-explained or unexplained, but there’s just enough to make you curious and feel that your safety and that of the film’s characters are on the line if someone doesn’t solve the riddles behind the dark conspiracy.  This is also one of the better examples of Carpenter’s ability to create a narrative flow that maintains a sense of dread or a sense of impending horror from start to finish.

The actors confine their performances to doing what’s necessary to serve a horror film, so there is some stiffness to the acting, as well as some occasionally unnecessary histrionics.  Still, they are integral in making this one of the better end-of-world movies.  Prince of Darkness also fits in well with that sub-genre in horror in which a small band of humans stand alone against forces bent on destroying or conquering the world – the last line of defense for a humanity that doesn’t know about the secret war to save it.  Prince of Darkness, in that sense, works and is a truly underrated and excellent film, especially for fans who love a good mixture of horror and science fiction.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

EDITED: Wednesday, January 15, 2025


The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Review: "STARMAN" Retains Its Charms (Celebrating John Carpenter)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 88 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carpenter’s Starman (1984)
Running time:  115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  John Carpenter
WRITERS:  Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon
PRODUCER:  Larry J. Franco
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Donald M. Morgan (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Marion Rothman
COMPOSER:  Jack Nitzsche
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring:  Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Phalen, and Tony Edwards

Starman is a 1984 American science fiction drama and romantic film from director John Carpenter.  The original screenplay was written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon, with Dean Riesner committing re-writes for which he did not received a screen credit.  Although the film was not a box office success, it inspired the short-lived “Starman” television series (ABC, 1986-87).  Starman the movie focuses on a young Wisconsin widow; the alien who takes the form of her late husband; and their cross-country drive to help the alien make a rendezvous with the space ship that will take him home.

Starman begins with an alien being who finds his space probe shot down by the U.S. Air Force, causing the probe to crash land in Wisconsin.  A pulsating, levitating blue orb, the alien enters the home of widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), where he jury-rigs or clones a body from the remains of Jenny’s late husband, Scott (Jeff Bridges).  After much confusion and fear, Jenny helps the alien Scott travel to Arizona where he is to rendezvous with the mother ship in 3 days or die.  Meanwhile, Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith), a SETI scientist who works for the government, and George Fox (Richard Jaeckel), a military officer, hotly pursue the peculiar pair of Scott and Jenny.

Jeff Bridges earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as an alien who crash lands on earth and assumes the form of young woman’s recently deceased husband.  Starman is also in the fine tradition of road pictures that feature a mismatched couple learning about one another before discovering love.  Bridges is superb as the awkward, not-quite-childlike alien visitor.  He completely sells the idea that the alien is struggling to learn and to understand this world.  Everything about him:  the way he walks and stands, his speech pattern, the way he answers questions (or doesn’t), and the way he dresses is peculiar and calls attention to him.  Having the alien Scott dress in red flannel shirt and wear a red cap makes him stand out in a film in which the photography emphasizes earth tones and the nights are murky.

Karen Allen is also good as the grieving widow; she reveals in her facial expressions the big lump of pain still in Jenny Hayden.  Director John Carpenter does well to simply allow his leads to build their characters and nurture their screen chemistry so that by the end of the film, this otherworldly romance resonates.

7 of 10
B+
★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, April 22, 2006

EDITED:  Tuesday, January 14, 2025


NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Jeff Bridges)

1985 Golden Globes:  2 nominations:  “Best Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama (Jeff Bridges) and “Best Original Score-Motion Picture” (Jack Nitzsche)


The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Friday, January 10, 2025

Review: First "DEN OF THIEVES" Brought the Heat, Man

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 of 2025 (No. 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Den of Thieves (2018)
Running time: 140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, language and some sexuality/nudity
DIRECTOR: Christian Gudegast
WRITERS:  Christian Gudegast; from a story by Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring
PRODUCERS:  Gerard Butler, Mark Canton, Alan Siegel, and Tucker Tooley
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen F. Windon (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: David S. Cox, Joel Cox, and Nathan Godley
COMPOSER: Cliff Martinez

ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring:  Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackon, Jr., Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Maurice Compte, Brian Van Holt, Evan Jones, Mo McRae, Kaiwi Lyman, Dawn Olivieri, Cooper Andrews, Jermaine Rivers, and Eric Braedon

Den of Thieves is a 2018 American action thriller, crime drama, and heist film from writer-director Christian Gudegast.  Den of Thieves focuses on the clash between an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a very successful bank robbery crew.

Den of Thieves opens at night and informs the viewer that Los Angeles, California is the “bank robbery capital of the world.”  In the city, there are 2400 bank robberies a year; 44 per week; 9 committed every day, which comes to about 1 every 48 minutes.  That same night, Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) leads a team of fellow ex-MARSOC Marines (United States Marines Special Operations Command) to hijack an armored truck that stops at a donut shop.  The ensuing shootout leaves several people dead, including one of Merrimen's crew.

Responding to the incident is Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Detective Nick “Big Nick” O'Brien (Gerard Butler) and his “Major Crimes Unit” team.  O'Brien and his team have Merrimen as their lead suspect in hijacking.  O'Brien and his crew are a “clique” or what is known as a “deputy gang.”  Acting like gang members, O'Brien and his crew kidnap Donnie Wilson (O'Shea Jackson, Jr.), an ex-marine who has been associated with Merrimen in the past, in order to coerce info on Wilson's alleged current association with Merrimen.

As his personal life falls apart, O'Brien gets more involved with Merrimen and his crew, even becoming more confrontational.  When Merriment targets the Federal Reserve Bank – Los Angeles Branch for a seemingly impossible heist, O'Brien finds himself in a complicated game of cat and mouse.  However, the reality of who is the cat and who are the mice is ever shifting.

I did not know that the Den of Thieves movie existed until I saw a commercial for its upcoming sequel, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025), about two weeks ago (as of this writing).  I decided to watch the first film and found it on the “Max” streaming service.  It was not long into watching the film that I realized how much it heavily resembles director Michael Mann's classic heist film, Heat (1995).  One of the stars of Heat was the late actor, Tom Sizemore (1961-2023), and for some reason, Den of Thieves made me think of a short-lived television series in which Sizemore starred.  That would be “Robbery Homicide Division” (CBS, September 2002 to April 2023), for which Mann was also an executive producer.  [I really liked that show, by the way, and was sad when it was canceled.]  However, “Robbery Homicide Division” focused on the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), rather than the L.A Sheriff's Department (LASD).

Den of Thieves is a very entertaining film, and will likely delight fans of Los Angeles-set crime films (although the film was actually mostly shot in and around Atlanta, Georgia).  However, Den of Thieves' story and concept, which was created by writer-director Christian Gudegast and his now former partner, Paul Scheuring, would have been put to better use for a television series.  Den of Thieves is filled with characters that have interesting back stories, but the film only shows us glimpses of that – mostly concerning Gerard Butler's Nick O'Brien.

For the most part, the Den of Thieves' character writing relies on types rather than on depicting fully developed characters.  I can also say that the film's actors pretty much give one-note performances.  Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson's Enson Levoux has one great moment, one good moment, and mostly one-note moments the rest of the time.  Evan Jones' striking facial features with the help of the Den of Thieves' hair and make-up team saves his one-note character, “Bosco.”  By the end of the film, the viewer might realize that O'Shea Jackson, Jr.'s Donnie Wilson is a missed opportunity.

That said – I enjoyed the hell out of Den of Thieves, which makes me think that Hollywood never really maximized the rip-off potential of Michael Mann's Heat.  Den of Thieves is engaging, and the big shoot-outs are a blast to watch.  This film is alluring in what its potential offers – even in the times that it does not deliver on that potential.  It is a good film made very good by its last act, which is full of twists and turns, surprises, and shocking reveals.  I am not sure that I will see its sequel in a movie theater, but I will very likely re-watch Den of Thieves in the future. 

7 of 10
B+
★★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, January 10, 2025


The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Thursday, January 2, 2025

Review: Skadoosh! "KUNG FU PANDA 3" Finds Itself in the End

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 of 2025 (No. 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG for martial arts action and some mild rude humor
DIRECTORS:  Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni
WRITERS:  Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger
PRODUCER:  Melissa Cobb
EDITOR: Clare Knight
COMPOSER:  Hans Zimmer

ANIMATION/MARTIAL ARTS/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring:  (voices) Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, J.K. Simmons, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Kate Hudson, James Hong, Randall Duk Kim, and Jackie Chan

Kung Fu Panda 3 is a computer-animated, martial arts and comic-fantasy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox.  It is the third entry in the Kung Fu Panda film series.  In Kung Fu Panda 3, Po must finally discover if he is really the legendary Dragon Warrior when faced with a threat to everything dear to him.

Kung Fu Panda 3 opens in the Spirit Realm.  There, Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) fights General Kai (J.K. Simmons), his former friend, who has attacked him.  Kai is a yak and spirit warrior who has defeated all the other deceased kung fu masters and has also stolen their vital energy or “chi” (here, personified at a flat jade stone).  Kai steals Oogway's chi, but Oogway warns Kai that someone is destined to stop him.  Kai returns to the Mortal Realm where he plans to destroy Oogway's legacy.

Meanwhile, in the Valley of Peace, Po (Jack Black), the giant panda, is living his best life as the legendary “Dragon Warrior.”  Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) surprisingly announces that he is retiring from teaching and names Po as his successor.  Although he does not believe that he can replace his master, Po finds that he is suddenly supposed to teach his friends and fellow kung fu masters, the legendary Furious FiveTigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Monkey (Jackie Chan).

Another surprise comes with the arrival of Li Shan (Bryan Cranston), a giant panda who turns out to be Po's father, which upsets Mr. Ping (James Hong), the Chinese goose who is Po's adoptive father.  The excitement is tempered by the fact that Kai has begun his assault, but Po and company learn that Kai can only be defeated by a true master of chi.  Po and Ping follow Li to the secret panda village where Li claims he can teach Po to master Chi.  Now, Po must learn who he really is?  Is he truly the Dragon Warrior and does he know himself enough to reach the Dragon Warrior's legendary destiny?

Like Kung Fu Panda (2008) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Kung Fu Panda 3 does have some really nice fight scenes.  I had avoided it until I realized that I really wanted to see Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024), which meant I had to see the third film first.  The film has the requisite visual splendor of dazzling colors, impressive production design, and superb character animation, However, this third part in the series is more about growth and development and about the transformation and inner journey of a character that is also known as the “character arc.”

Kung Fu Panda 3 is about Po finding out who he is and also about him learning to embrace what he can do – his destiny.  He is meant to be the Dragon Warrior, he simply needs to believe it and also to understand that he cannot do it alone.  Along the way, Kung Fu Pa 3 embraces the idea of families – traditional and blended.  This film also has plenty of playful new characters (Kate Hudson's Mei Mei, the ribbon dancing panda) and rascally young'uns characters that are meant to engage younger audience members.

Kung Fu Panda 3 does meander quite a bit during its first act and also during quite a bit of its second or middle act.  However, the film embraces it story of characters discovering that they are more than they know and that they can have more than one role in the lives of the people they love.  This film has a scary villain in J.K. Simmons' General Kai, but he is just a side piece in the arc of Po's struggle.  Kung Fu Panda 3 is really about the most difficult and consequential part of Po's journey – the journey into himself.  Skadoosh!

7 of 10
A-
★★★½ out of 4 stars

Thursday, January 2, 2024


The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Review: "THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT" Delivers Potent Drama and Powerful History

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 of 2025 (No. 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Six Triple Eight (2024)
Running time:  127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for language including racial slurs, thematic material and some war violence
DIRECTOR:  Tyler Perry
WRITER:  Tyler Perry (based on the magazine article by Kevin Hymel)
PRODUCERS:  Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, Nicole Avant, Carlota Espinosa, Keri Selig, and Tony L. Strickland 
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Michael Watson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Maysie Hoy
COMPOSER:  Aaron Zigman

DRAMA/HISTORICAL/WAR

Starring:  Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Moriah Brown, Jeanté Godlock, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston, Susan Sarandon, Oprah Winfrey, Gregg Sulkin, Donna Biscoe, and Baadja-Lyne Odums

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:
The Six Triple Eight is one of the most beautiful and powerful films about World War II that has ever been made.

Its true story about a battalion of Black women soldiers who broke the logjam of mail that kept overseas American servicemen and their families back home from connecting will bring tears to your eyes

The Six Triple Eight is one of the year's best films, and Kerry Washington gives the heroic performance of her career.


The Six Triple Eight is a 2024 wartime drama and historical film from writer-director Tyler Perry.  The film is based on the article, “WAC Corporal Lena Derriecott and the 6888th Central Postal Battalion,” written by Kevin M. Hymel and published in the February 2019 issue of WWII History Magazine.  The article details the contributions of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black and all-female battalion, in World War II.

The film is a Netflix Original,” and it began streaming on the service December 20, 2024, after a limited theatrical run that began December 6, 2024.  The Six Triple Eight the movie focuses on battalion of Black women soldiers who go overseas and take on the forces that are keeping American service personnel and their families back home from simply exchanging mail.

The Six Triple Eight introduces high school students and longtime friends, Lena Derriecott (Ebony Obsidian), a Black girl, and Abram David (Gregg Sulkin), a Jewish White boy.  They are reckoning with the difficulties of their budding romance in Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, a small town outside Philadelphia, in the year 1942.  David is enlisting in the U.S. military in order to serve in World War II, and he wants to be a pilot.  David wants Lena to wait for him to return from the war when he will propose marriage to her, and, in the meantime, he gives her a promise ring.

Meanwhile, in rural West Virginia, a mother waits everyday for news about her two sons who are serving overseas in the war.  She never gets any mail from her sons, and she later discovers that this is a problem all over the country.  It turns out that there is a terrible backlog of undelivered mail.  The mother approaches First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Susan Sarandon), and she approaches her husband, President Franklin Roosevelt (Sam Waterston), and philanthropist and civil rights activist, Mary McLeod Bethune (Oprah Winfrey), to solve the overseas military mail problem.

Meanwhile, Lena has received terrible news, and it spurs her to join the Women's Army Corps (WAC).  She travels to Georgia for basic training with the 6888th battalion – also known as “the Six Triple Eight” –  where she meets her battalion commander, the indomitable Captain Chasity Addams (Kerry Washington).  Despite being well trained, Capt. Adams and her battalion are never given any orders to serve from the War Department.  Then, thanks to the efforts of the Roosevelts and Miss Bethune, the 6888th becomes “The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.”

Now, they must travel to Glasgow, Scotland where they have six months to sort through 17 million pieces of undelivered mail and packages.  The must fight, however, a war on all fronts, fighting segregation and racism at home and abroad.  Many White military commanders, officers, and soldiers do not believe they can sort through the backlog.  Plus, some of these crackas will do everything to stop the Six Triple Eight from being successful.

If you, dear readers, wanted to watch World War II films based on on true events, you can find over eight decades of Hollywood films, including everything from recent films like Saving Private Ryan (1998), Hacksaw Ridge (2016), and Dunkirk (2017) to golden oldies like Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) and Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).  However, the those films focus on White servicemen.

When it comes to the service of Black personnel during WWII, there is a virtual Hollywood wall of silence that has only rarely been broken by such films as the HBO television movie, The Tuskegee Airmen (1995); Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna (2008), and the George Lucas-financed Red Tails (2012).  Director Budd Boetticher's Red Ball Express (1952) is about a racially integrated platoon, but the film's leads are White males.

Tyler Perry, a filmmaker whose TV and film work, has been reviled by both Black and White critics and detractors, breaks the wall of silence that exists in front of the story of African-American WWII personnel.  He has done it with The Six Triple Eight, the first such film in over a decade.

The film is filled with star-making turns by a cast of young African-American actresses who could see this movie launch their careers. Ebony Obsidian as Lena Derriecott and Shanice Shantay as Johnnie Mae Burton are the most obvious, but though they shine, all the actors make the most of their roles in this film.  I must say Dean Norris kills it as the Southern racist cracka-ass General Holt.  However, Kerry Washington practically devours this film with her power-move turn as the wily, strong, survivor, Captain (later Major) Chasity Adams.  In some ways, Adams is the co-lead with Derriecott, but there other times when the following point is clear.  The real-life “Six Triple Eight” probably would have not survived without Adams, and The Six Triple Eight the film probably would not survive without Washington as Adams.

I like that Tyler Perry's direction captures the desperation of families on the home front and of the service personnel overseas who are not connecting because the mail isn't being delivered.  Perry does not need to summon his usual melodramatic tropes to convey this to his audience, nor does he.  Perry plainly states what his audience can clearly understand; the mail backlog is a desperate situation.

And what better way to portray how much the racist and segregated system was at work against the women of the 6888th than to detail how some thought it was more important to sabotage the women of this battalion than to actually let them do their jobs and get the mail through.  Perry could have fallen back time and time again on depictions of verbal and physical racist violence, yet he didn't.  The word, “nigger,” does not make many appearance in The Six Triple Eight.  Perry merely had to show that in war we are sometimes our own worst enemy, and he showed the white devils who were against the “Six Triple Eight” in all their infamy.

The Six Triple Eight is Tyler Perry's best drama since 2010's For Colored Girls.  Although there will likely be no Oscar nods for this film, The Six Triple Eight does not need them.  It is more important that a Black filmmaker gets a chance or takes the opportunity to pierce the wall of silence about the honorable and heroic service of Black men and Black women during World War II.  The Six Triple Eight is the soaring symphony that, at least for now, shatters that silence. 

10 of 10

Wednesday, January 1, 2025


You can read Kevin M. Hymel's original article about the 6888th, "WAC Corporal Lena Derriecott and the 6888th Central Postal Battalion," here.


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, December 30, 2024

Review: Original "BLACK CHRISTMAS" is Still a Gift (In Memory of Olivia Hussey, 1951-2024)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 62 of 2024 (No. 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Christmas (1974)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Canada
Running time:  98 minutes
MPAA – R
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR:  Bob Clark
WRITER:  Roy Moore
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Reg Morris (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Stan Cole
COMPOSER:  Carl Zittrer

HORROR

Starring:  Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Marian Waldman, Andrea Martin, James Edmond, Douglas McGrath, Art Hindle, Lynne Griffin, Michael Rapport, Martha Gibson, Leslie Carlson, and Dave Clement

Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher horror film from director Bob Clark and writer Roy Moore.  One of the earliest films belonging to the horror sub-genre known as the “slasher” film, Black Christmas is the first in a series that includes two remakes.  Set during a university Christmas break, Black Christmas focuses on a group of sorority girls who are being stalked and killed by a stranger in their house.

Black Christmas opens on the campus of an unknown university located in a Canadian town named “Bedford.”  Located on 6 Belmont Street is the Pi Kappa Sigma sorority house where a Christmas party is being held.  An unseen man climbs the exterior of the house and enters it through the attic.

During the party, the house phone rings and sorority sister Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) answers it only to discover that it is an obscene phone call.  It is also from a person who has called before, a caller the sorority sisters have nicknamed “the Moaner.”  Jess and the other sisters listen as the caller rants and screams in a series of strange voices that range from male and female and from adult to small child.  The name “Billy” comes up a lot during this and subsequent calls from the Moaner.  The calls end the same; he abruptly threatens to kill the Pi Kappa Sigma sisters and hangs up.

Soon after the first call, the stranger who broke into the house begins killing the sorority sisters one by one, with no one in the house aware that a killing spree has begun.  Jess seems to be the focal point of the calls, and the police, led by Lt. Ken Fuller (John Saxon), believe that the caller is someone close Jess.  But the killer is closer than anyone seems to realize.

As I write this review, Sunday evening, December 29, 2024, it is two days (Friday, December 27, 2024) after the passing of actress Olivia Hussey (1951 to 2024).  Hussey may be best known for her breakthrough film role as “Juliet” in director Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film, Romeo and Juliet.  However, many movie fans remember Hussey specifically for her starring role in Black Christmas.

Directed by Bob Clark (1939-2007), Black Christmas is a seminal film in the “slasher” sub-genre of horror films.  It is apparently a direct inspiration for John Carpenter's 1978 film, Halloween, which kicks off what some consider the “Golden Age” of slash films (1978-1984).  The film has been remade twice, Black Christmas (2006) and Black Christmas (2019).  Strangely, Clark's other best known films are probably the raunchy, high school sex comedy, Porkys (1981) and the beloved Christmas perennial, A Christmas Story (1983).

Many have already written about the legacy of Black Christmas and about the individual performances and achievements that make up the film.  For instance, I want to shout out Carl Zittrer's pitch-perfect, psycho-perfect film score, and Margot Kidder's (1948-2018) scene-stealing turn as Barbara “Barb” Coard.

For this review, however, I would like to talk about Olivia Hussey.  There is a natural quality to her acting in general and to her performance here that makes this film seem more earthy than contrived and fantastic.  Jess' struggles, both with the the Moaner's phone calls and with her increasingly frantic boyfriend, Peter Smythe (Keir Dullea), come together to enrich the character drama.  Black Christmas is not just a film about a killer stalking girls, but it is also a tale that revolves around Jess and her external and internal struggles.

Here, Hussey is both vulnerable and endangered and calm and stalwart.  Watching Hussey in this film, it becomes obvious that her performance as Jess Bradford is the template for the common horror character or trope known as the “final girl,” which is the last girl or woman who survives to fight the killer in a horror film.  In Jess' final struggle, which takes her from the top of the sorority house to its very bottom, Hussey carries the film to victory.  Hussey's Jess seems so genuine and real that I found it difficult to focus on Black Christmas' nonsensical and inconsistent elements.

I was sad to hear of Hussey's passing.  I find her performance in Black Christmas to be unforgettable, and I think she makes the film unforgettable.  I watch Black Christmas whenever I get a chance because I love watching Hussey in it.  She makes me root for her Jess every step of the way.  As important as Clark's direction, Moore's writing, and the other actors' performances are, Hussey is “the Star of Bethlehem” in Black Christmas.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Monday, December 30, 2024


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: 2006 "BLACK CHRISTMAS" was Not as Good as its Trailer Suggested

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 259 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Christmas (2006)
Running time:  84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong horror violence and gore, sexuality, nudity, and language
DIRECTOR:  Glen Morgan
WRITER:  Glen Morgan (based upon the 1974 screenplay by Roy Moore)
PRODUCERS:  Marty Adelstein, Marc Butan, Steve Hoban, Scott Nemes, Dawn Parouse, Victor Solnicki, Glen Morgan, and James Wong
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robert McLachlan
EDITOR:  Chris G. Willingham
COMPOSER:  Shirley Walker

HORROR

Starring:  Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Oliver Hudson, Macy Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Kristen Cloke, Andrea Martin, Crystal Lowe, Karin Konoval, Robert Mann, and Kathleen Kole

Black Christmas is a 2006 slasher horror film from writer-director Glen Morgan.  It is a remake of director Bob Clark and writer Roy Moore's 1974 Canadian horror film, Black Christmas.  A joint U.S. and Canadian production, it is the third film in the Black Christmas film series.  Black Christmas 2006 focuses on an escaped maniac who returns to his childhood home, which is now a sorority house, and begins murdering the sorority sisters one by one on Christmas Eve.

Black Christmas opens at Clement University in New Hampshire.  The sisters of Delta Kappa Alpha are stuck in their sorority house for Christmas Eve.  The sisters and their sorority mother find themselves receiving harassing and threatening phone calls.  The caller may a mysterious man named Billy (Robert Mann), a maniac who long ago lived in that very house.  Fifteen years earlier, on Christmas day, Billy killed his deranged parents before being institutionalized.  The sisters really don’t have clue, but someone is also stalking and killing them one by one. 

Black Christmas is a remake of the 1974 film, Black Christmas, that was directed by Bob Clark of Porkys and A Christmas Story fame.  [Clark is one of the people credited as an executive producer on this remake.]  The new Black Christmas is truly a terrible movie, and only because it actually has some really creepy atmospheric moments is it not an absolute disaster.  There are times when Black Christmas made me wonder if it were a farce – perhaps a horror movie played absolutely straight, but meant to be an outrageous comedy.  That might be giving the filmmakers too much credit, or maybe not.  This is strange flick, and it’s hard to get a bead on it, other than to get the idea that Black Christmas is more annoying than scary.

Black Christmas is gruesome enough to capture the interest of horror fans that want gore, and this has blood thrown about by the buckets.  There are so many deaths by sharp objects that it’s a wonder the MPAA didn’t rate this “NC-17.”  Writer/director Glen Morgan clearly went retro for this, as it seems like one of those grisly and macabre slasher horror flicks that came out after John Carpenter’s 1978 movie, Halloween.  In fact, much of Black Christmas seems like a pastiche or sorry homage to 1980’s horror films.  It reminded me of Happy Birthday to Me, The People Under the Stairs, and any horror movie where inbreeding and incest come into play.

The murders are ghastly, and even the sex scenes in this movie are mean-spirited and common.  The actresses who play the sorority sisters have beautiful bodies, but they play characters that are so bitchy that it makes their faces look hard and mean.  Not one of the characters is sympathetic, so caring about their demises other than as a ritual of horror movies just doesn’t happen.  The methods of their horrific murders are also as obvious as the script’s sequence of events.  That there is more than one killer is, like so much in Black Christmas, painfully obvious, and the killers are about as crummy as stepping in dog feces with really good shoes.

2 of 10
D
★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, December 30, 2006

EDITED:  Saturday, December 28, 2024


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Friday, December 27, 2024

Review: "NOSFERATU" 2024: You'll Either Be Impressed or Roll Your Eyes

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 61 of 2024 (No. 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Nosferatu (2024)
Running time:  133 minutes (2 hours, 13 minutes)
MPA – R for bloody violent content, graphic nudity and some sexual content
DIRECTOR:  Robert Eggers
WRITER:  Robert Eggers (inspired by the film, Nosferatu, and the novel by Bram Stoker)
PRODUCERS:  Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus, Robert Eggers, John Graham, and Jeff Robinov
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jarin Blaschke (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Louise Ford
COMPOSER:  Robin Carolan

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring:  Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgard, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, and Simon McBurney

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:
Nosferatu is entertaining – in places, but quite a bit of it is also over-the-top and overdone. Honestly, I'd be reluctant to recommend it to people who don't go to movie theaters too often because they could find better films upon which to spend their infrequent cinema visits

Nepo-baby thespian, Lily-Rose Depp, gives an excellent performance, emphasizing facial expressions and physical feats, but Bill Skarsgard as the Nosferatu, manages only to create a vampire that is as boring as he is scary and ugly

Also, if you remember Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film, Bram Stoker's Dracula, you will find this film shockingly similar to it


Nosferatu is a 2024 American vampire horror film from writer-director Robert Eggers  It is a remake of the 1922 German silent film, Nosferatu.  Like that German film, the modern Nosferatu also takes inspiration from the 1897 novel Dracula, written by author Bram Stoker.  The new Nosferatu focuses on a young woman and the terrifying vampire that is infatuated with her.

Nosferatu introduces Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp).  Since she was a child, Ellen has had a connection to the spiritual and mystical realms.  When she was a girl, she called out to a spirit, and that caused her to have a vision of a disfigured and corpse-like creature attack her.  This in turns leads to Ellen having a violent seizure.

In 1838, Ellie is now an adult and is newly wed to a husband, the young estate agent, Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult).  The couple is living in Wisborg, Germany where Thomas works for “Knock & Associates.”  His employer, Herr Knock (Simon McBurney), offers Thomas a generous commission, but to get it, Thomas must embark on a six-day journey to the small country of Transylvania.

There, Thomas will meet the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard), who wants to buy property in Wisborg, which he plans to make his new home.  However, there is a conspiracy behind this business venture between Knock and Orlok, and Ellen, who is once again besieged by dark, monster-filled dreams, is the prize.  Now, Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Willem Defoe), a controversial scientist and expert on the occult and mysticism, may be the only one who can figure out what everyone else seems to ignore.  And that is the fact that Orlok is a monstrous vampire – a Nosferatu!

First, some history: director F.W. Murnau's 1922 German silent film, Nosferatu, was an unauthorized film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula (1897).  Stoker's heirs sued and the film was ordered destroyed, but several prints survived this purge.  So the modern Nosferatu is both a remake of the 1922 film and an adaptation of Stoker's novel.  I also find quite a bit of this new Nosferatu to be a literally and spiritually rehash of director Francis Ford Coppola's visionary, Oscar-winning film, Bram Stokers Dracula (1992).

Moving on:  Lily-Rose Depp delivers a stunning performance as Ellen, one that is both emotionally charged and also physically impressive, thanks to the scenes in which she portrays having blood-curdling seizures, apparently without the help of computer-generated imagery.  Depp makes by far the best out of director Robert Eggers' screenplay, which I find to be shallow and also imaginative only in the superficial way that directors borrow from other directors' films in a bid to seem clever before their sycophants and devotees.

That is exemplified by Bill Skarsgard's Count Orlok.  He is both frightening and tedious.  Skarsgard is buried under a mound of makeup and likely computer-rendering that makes him look like a homeless and destitute version of the infamous Russian mystic and political Svengali, Grigori Rasputin.  The new Count Orlok is a scary mountain of monster-man, but he has no personality,  And girl, he grunts his garbled dialogue real good.  Ultimately, Skarsgard turn as Count Orlok is no better than one of actor Robert Englund's latter turns as “Freddy Krueger” in one of the many sequels to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

Eggers really does not give the rest of his characters great dramatic material.  Nicholas Hoult's Thomas Hutter is an embarrassing crybaby, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Friedrich Harding is a stubborn moron.  Willem Defoe's Von Franz is smart and stupid in alternating waves that suggest that suggests he was created by some AI algorithm.  Emma Corrin's Anna Harding (Friedrich's wife) seems very smart and capable, so the male writer's screenplay kills her off way too early.

Yeah, I have a lot of complaints about this new Nosferatu, mainly because it is one of those maddening films that has many brilliant elements that are beset by many tedious, hilarious, and ridiculous elements.  This is not “style over substance,” but it is style strangling the shit out of substance.  I heartily recommend Nosferatu to fans of vampire films and to adventurous movie lovers, but I would be reluctant to recommend it to people who are not as into movies as I am.  Something like Nosferatu would make them roll their eyes.

6 of 10
B
★★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, December 27, 2024


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Review: Tyler Perry's "DIVORCE IN THE BLACK" is Shamelessly Shameless

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 60 of 2024 (No. 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Divorce in the Black (2024)
Running time:  143 minutes (2 hours, 23 minutes)
MPA – R for language, some sexual content and violence
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Tyler Perry
PRODUCERS:  Will Areu, Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, Diane Ashford, and Meagan Good
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Michael Watson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Storm Evans
COMPOSER:  Sheri Chung

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring:  Meagan Good, Cory Hardrict, Joseph Lee Anderson, Taylor Polidore, Shannon Wallace, Richard Lawson, Debbi Morgan, Mark Elliot Brewer, Rakeem Laws, Berry Williams, Jr., Jeffrey Creightney, and Ursula O. Robinson

Divorce in the Black is a 2024 drama and thriller from writer-director Tyler Perry.  The film is an Amazon “Prime Original,” and it began streaming on the service July 11, 2024.  Divorce in the Black follows a young woman who is left heartbroken after her husband abandons their marriage.

Divorce in the Black introduces 37-year-old Ava (Meagan Good).  She is the daughter of a preacher, Clarence (Richard Lawson) and a demur church-going woman, Gene (Debbi Morgan).  Ava married Dallas Bertrand (Cory Hardrict), one of five sons from a family of trifling Negroes who were raised (not reared) by their obnoxious mother, Linda (Ursula O. Robinson)

Ava and Dallas's marriage was troubled from the start and is troubled now.  The recent troubles begin with the funeral of Dallas' 39-year-old brother, Cody Bertrand, who had just been released from prison when someone he attempted to mug shot him to death.  Ava's preacher father, Clarence, officiates the funeral, and he believes that he cannot lie and act as if Cody had been a decent person.  Clarence's words about Cody lead the Bertrands to commit a horribly disgusting act in order to put an end to the funeral service.

Shortly after the funeral, Ava and Dallas return to their home in Atlanta.  Dallas is feeling resentful, mainly egged on by his remaining brothers and his mother.  He tells Ava that he wants a divorce and that he has already taken care of everything.  He says all she needs to do is sign the divorce papers.  Ava is heartbroken and grief-stricken by this terrible turn of events.  She returns to her parents home in rural Georgia.  Eventually, she finds solace and friendship by reuniting with an old friend, Benji (Joseph Lee Anderson), which could turn romantic.  Dallas, however, starts to feel cheated when he discovers that Ava and Benji are seeing each other, and he begins to grow increasingly violent.  Now, Ava will have to make the toughest decisions of her life.

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.  Now, I'm declaring that Divorce in the Black, released mere months after Mea Culpa, is Perry's craziest film.  In many ways, Divorce in the Black is not a good film.  After its jaw-dropping opening act, the film's narrative has a hard time finding its footing.  It meanders, mostly focusing on Ava's grief over the sudden divorce announcement.

[Apparently, “divorce in the black” means a divorce in which you gain something or remain in the positive after the conclusion.  “Divorce in the red” means to lose something or end up in the negative after it is all over.]

Divorce in the Black redeems itself with an entertainingly outrageous and outrageously entertaining last act.  I wouldn't call Dallas' actions throughout the film over-the-top.  They're quite believable, and, in fact, I've known or heard of men like him.  What makes the ending of Divorce in the Black so satisfactory is Ava's change in attitude and Dallas' comeuppance.  I can't remember the last time I so enjoyed an African-American male character suffering something similar to Dallas' fate.  However, dear readers, you have to wade through a lot of mixed-bag storytelling and almost two hours of questionable runtime to get to the end's immense satisfaction.

I mainly watched Divorce in the Black because I wanted to do some Tyler Perry catch-up before I watched his latest “Netflix Original,” the historical drama, The Six Triple Eight.  So I judge Divorce in the Black as mainly being fit for fans engaged in watching most of, if not all, of Perry's filmography.

5 of 10
C+
★★½ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, December 24, 2024


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Saturday, December 21, 2024

Review: "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3" Finds Jim Carrey Going Super-Sonic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 59 of 2024 (No. 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
Running time:  109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPA – PG for action, some violence, rude humor, thematic elements and mild language.
DIRECTOR:  Jeff Fowler
WRITERS:  Pat Casey & Josh Miller and John Whittington; based on a story by Pat Casey & Josh Miller (based on the Sega video game)
PRODUCERS:  Toby Ascher, Neal H. Moritz, Toru Nakahara, and Hitoshi Okuno
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Brandon Trost (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Al LeVine
COMPOSER: Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL)

FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY

Starring:  Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Lee Majdoub, Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore, Adam Pally, Krysten Ritter, Alyla Browne, and Tom Butler; (voices) Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, and Keanu Reeves

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:
Jim Carrey makes “Sonic and the Hedgehog 3” the best film of the series by making it his personal showcase.  He gives this film dramatic and comedic depth that I was not expecting; he gifts it the best of him.

This is still a Sonic the Hedgehog film, and once again voice actor Ben Schwartz brings Sonic to life in a way that makes him feel like a real-life character instead of being nothing more than one more special effect.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is dynamic and engaging in a way that makes it a family film which can impress adults as much as it entertains the kids.


Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 2024 action-adventure, fantasy and comedy film from director Jeff Fowler.  The film is based on the Sega Corporation's video game series and media franchise which began with the 1991 “Sega Genesis” game, Sonic the Hedgehog.  The film is also the third entry in Sonic the Hedgehog film series.  Sonic the Hedgehog 3 finds Sonic and his family taking on two powerful new adversaries, including one with a shocking connection to an old enemy.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 finds Sonic the Hedgehog (voice of Ben Schwartz) celebrating the anniversary of his arrival on Earth with his adopted parents, Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter).  Also celebrating are the two newest members of the family, Knuckles the Echidna (voice of Idris Elba) and Miles “Tails” Prower (voice of Colleen O'Shaughnessey).  Together, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails form “Team Sonic.”

However, while Sonic and family are celebrating, they don't know that trouble is brewing.  In Tokyo Bay is a secret prison run by the “Guardian Units of Nations” (G.U.N.), the military of Earth's government.  For decades, they have been holding an alien prisoner.  He is Shadow the Hedgehog (voice of Keanu Reeves), an anthropomorphic hedgehog like Sonic.

Now, Shadow has joined forces with the man who freed him, a mysterious scientist who has been stealing tech from Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey), Sonic's enemy.  That forces Robotnik to unite with “Team Sonic” in order to stop Shadow and his mysterious benefactor's mission of revenge against the Earth and mankind.  But can Sonic and his family really trust Robotnik?

Back in 2022, I saw Sonic the Hedgehog 2 because my niece asked to me to take her to the theater to see it.  A few days ago, I saw the first film, Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), for the first time (via Prime Video).  It got me in the mood for the new film, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, because, once again, my niece wanted me to take her to the theater to see it.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the best of the series mainly because Jim Carrey, in a dual role, gives one of his best performances in recent years.  In the first two films, Carrey relied on his familiar over-the-top shtick and shenanigans.  In this new film, Carrey unleashes the breath and length of his talent as a performer and actor.  In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Carrey is peak 1990s Carrey, and if this were not a Sonic the Hedgehog movie, he would be getting movie awards season notice for his performance in this film.  And this film is all the better for what Carrey does.

Once again, voice performer Colleen O'Shaughnessey makes Tails seem like both an innocent kid and a veteran tech expert.  In the second film, Idris Elba used his voice acting skills to make Knuckles a tough guy, but here, he gets a chance to brings some gravitas to the character.  As usual, Ben Schwartz brings Sonic to life as a fully developed film character and makes Sonic's doubts and dilemmas seem genuine.  Schwartz delivers exuberance and drama in his voice performance as Sonic.

Director Jeff Fowler shows that he can play in the big leagues of giant, event action films after directing the bouncy and pleasant first two films.  Fowler and his cohorts take the Sonic film franchise from a special effects fun fest to an action-adventure movie with more on the line than eye-popping visual effects (VFX), although there is plenty of that.

So after saying all that, it is obvious that I like Sonic the Hedgehog 3.  It is not perfect, and this film is obviously not for certain audiences.  It's not really for me, but still, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 manages to surprise and entertain me.  And my niece was crazy about it.

7 of 10
B+
★★★½ out of 4 stars


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Friday, December 20, 2024

Review: Humor Makes First "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG" Film Pleasingly Pleasant

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 58 of 2024 (No. 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Running time:  99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)
MPA – PG for action, some violence, rude humor and brief mild language
DIRECTOR:  Jeff Fowler
WRITERS:  Pat Casey & Josh Miller (based on the Sega video game)
PRODUCERS:  Toby Ascher, Neal H. Moritz, Toru Nakahara, and Takeshi Ito
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Stephen F. Windon (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Debra Neil-Fisher and Stacy Schroeder
COMPOSER: Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL)

FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY

Starring:  James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Lee Majdoub, Neal McDonough, Tom Butler, Frank C. Turner, Melody Niemann, and Jim Carrey; and (voices) Ben Schwartz and Donna Jay Fulks

Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2020 action-adventure, fantasy and comedy film directed by Jeff Fowler.  The film is based on the Sega Corporation video game series and media franchise that began with the 1991 Sega Genesis game, Sonic the Hedgehog.  In Sonic the Hedgehog the movie, Sonic takes refuge on Earth, but when his speed accidentally knocks out power in part of the United States, he draws the attention of a mad scientist.

Sonic the Hedgehog introduces Sonic (voice of Ben Schwartz).  He is an anthropomorphic (which means he is an animal that can walk and talk like a human), blue hedgehog who has the ability to move at superhuman speed.  Ten years earlier, Sonic fled to Earth to escape his enemies with the aid of a golden ring that opened a portal to Earth.  He carried a bag of more such rings with him to Earth.

Currently, Sonic lives an enjoyable secret life in a cavern under the rural town of Green Hills, Montana.  He zooms around the area, and has become something of a local legend, “the blue devil.”  He longs to make friends and spies on local sheriff, Thomas Michael “Tom” Wachowski (James Marsden), whom Sonic calls the “Donut Lord,” and Tom's wife, Maddie (Tika Sumpter), whom Sonic calls “Pretzel Lady.”  What Sonic does not know is that Tom and Maddie are planning to relocate to San Francisco.

It is Sonic's loneliness which leads him to initiating an accident that causes a massive power outage across the Pacific Northwest.  Determined to discover the origin of this power outage, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff reluctantly enlists the services of eccentric roboticist and scientific genius, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey).  Now, Sonic is forced to seek help from Tom Wachowski, but can this thrown-together duo escape the clutches of Robotnik and his drone army?

I had no intention of watching Sonic the Hedgehog from the first time I heard about the movie's production back in the 20-teens.  I also had no plans on seeing its 2022 sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but when it was first released, my niece asked to me to take her to the theater to see it, as she did not want to wait for it to stream on Paramount+.  Because she rarely asks me to take her to the movies and because she usually turns down my offers to accompany me when I'm going, I (reluctantly) agreed to see Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with her.

Well, the third film, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, has been released, and my niece wants me to take her to see that one, too.  I found Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to be much better than I thought it would be, and I was able to follow it without having seen the first film.  However, I decided that it was past time to see the original, and I was able to because it is available via my Amazon Prime Video subscription.

I must say that I found the first film pleasingly pleasant.  Sonic the Hedgehog's visual effects (VFX) and humor drive the film's narrative and makes even the most raucous action and chases scenes sometimes breathtaking, sometimes funny, and sometimes both.  I think the film's director, Jeff Fowler, and his film editors get the most humor and energy that they can out of a lightweight script.  The result is an lighthearted and entertaining family film.

Voice actor Ben Schwartz brings Sonic to life as a fully developed film character.  Schwartz makes Sonic's doubts and dilemmas seem genuine, and his exuberant voice performances makes Sonic one of the most lovable CGI movie characters in recent memory.

The second standout performance comes from Jim Carrey.  With Carrey, audiences get the good, the bad, and ugly of the actor and former stand-up comedian's constant over-the-top mode.  However, in Sonic the Hedgehog, he gives a delightful comic performance.  His Robotnik is not so much over-the-top as he is the wackiest of wacky mad scientist; then, Carrey bumps that up a notch.  Carrey would actually steal this movie if Ben Schwartz was not pitch perfect as Sonic.

So it turns out that I like Sonic the Hedgehog as much as I liked Sonic the Hedgehog 2.  I highly recommend Sonic the Hedgehog for those looking for something that would be quite a treat for family movie night.

6 of 10
B
★★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, December 20, 2024


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Sunday, December 15, 2024

Review: "KRAVEN THE HUNTER" Has a Beast in Aaron Taylor-Johnson

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 of 2024 (No. 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kraven the Hunter (2024)
Running time:  127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPA – R for strong bloody violence, and language
DIRECTOR:  J.C. Chandor
WRITERS:  Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway; from a story by Richard Wenk (based on the Marvel Comics)
PRODUCERS:  Avi Arad, David B. Householter, and Matt Tolmach
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ben Davis (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Chris Lebenzon and Craig Wood
COMPOSERS:  Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine, and Benjamin Wallfisch

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION

Starring:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, Levi Miller, Billy Barratt, Tom Reed, Diaana Babnicova, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Damola Adelaja, and Russell Crowe

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:
“Kraven the Hunter” has already established itself as having the lowest opening weekend debut of any film carry the Marvel brand, but it is a lot better than many of the other comic book films that came before it

Star Aaron Taylor-Johnson is indeed a star as he carries this film to victory, and he maximizes several intense scenes with co-star, Oscar-winner Russell Crowe

You don't have to be a fan of comic book movies to enjoy “Kraven the Hunter” because its intensity and its extreme and extremely violent action scenes and sequences are exceptionally entertaining


Kraven the Hunter is a 2024 action movie and superhero film from director J.C. Chandor.  The movie is based on the Marvel Comics character, Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter, that was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 (cover dated: August 1964).  This is also the sixth film in “Sony's Spider-Man Universe” (SSU) series.  The film focuses on a hunter of men and his complex relationship with his father, a ruthless Russian crime lord, which starts him down the path to becoming the greatest hunter of men in the world.

Kraven the Hunter opens in Northern Russia at a prison.  Of particular interest is Prisoner #0864, but soon, prison security and imprisoned Russian gangster, Semyon Chorney (Yuri Kolokolnikov), will learn that this prisoner is really a legendary assassin known as “The Hunter.”  Who is “The Hunter?”

He is really Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the elder son of brutal Russian crime lord, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe).  Sixteen years before The Hunter killed Chorney, Nikolai took Sergei and his younger son, Dmitri, on a hunting expedition in Northern Ghana.  A terrible accident leaves Sergei near death until a local young woman intervenes in a manner that changes Sergei in ways he never imagined.

In the present day, Sergei goes by the name “Kraven.”  His activities as “The Hunter” have earned him the ire of many criminals.  Kraven has a kill-list, and once someone is on it, they don't get off until he kills them.  Kraven reunites with Calypso (Ariana DeBose), the young woman who saved him sixteen years earlier.  Now, an adult, Calypso is an attorney, and Kraven asks her to assist him in his activities as “The Hunter” by finding information on his targets.

However, Kraven himself is now being hunted.  Wannabe Russian crime boss, Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola), and his ally, “The Foreigner” (Christopher Abbott), have targeted Kraven's brother, Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), now an adult, as a way to trap their prey.  Kraven will have to prove to his enemies that he is indeed the world's greatest hunter and also its most dangerous apex predator.

Kraven the Hunter is sixth film in “Sony's Spider-Man Universe” line of films.  It follows Venom (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), Morbius (2022), Madame Web (2024), and the recently release, Venom: The Last Dance (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, and that's a shame because Kraven the Hunter deserves a sequel.

Most movie actors could not have saved Kraven the Hunter, if it did indeed need saving, as industry and fan gossip indicated.  If we accept those arguments, dear readers, that Kraven the Hunter needed saving, then Aaron Taylor-Johnson is indeed this film's savior.  Taylor-Johnson is a talented young actor, and he can certainly portray the tough-guy hero or antihero in a way that seems genuine, if not outright real.

Without Taylor-Johnson, I think Kraven the Hunter would still be a really entertaining film.  The screenplay, regardless of whatever number of writers contributed to it, intrigued me.  Director J.C. Chandor deftly weaves the film's story across continents and through shifts in plot that keeps things so interesting and involved that I didn't have time to search for plot holes and inconsistencies.  Also, Russell Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff makes his scenes with Taylor-Johnson's Kraven feel ultra edgy and especially dangerous.

With Taylor-Johnson, however, Kraven the Hunter, is not only a really entertaining film, but it is also an exceptional superhero spin-off comic book film.  As comic book and superhero movies go, Kraven the Hunter is kind of like a B-movie or, at least, a B-list film, but you, dear readers, don't have to be a comic book fan to enjoy the film or its star.  As Kraven, Taylor-Johnson has such animal magnetism; I wanted to see him be in action-mode and be violent.  Taylor-Johnson has true movie star qualities, such as charisma and presence, and girl, the camera absolutely loves him.  Seriously, Taylor-Johnson carries Kraven the Hunter past what most other actors would have done – all the way to whatever kind of cinematic glory a Spider-Man-adjacent film can have.

Marvel Comics fans will likely enjoy the fact that several Spider-Man-related characters appear in the film, some of them surprisingly so.  Still, this film is about Kraven the Hunter, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson makes every subplot, setting, and the other character bow down to his “king of the jungle” performance.  Kraven the Hunter is good, surprisingly and shockingly good, because its leading man knows how to be a beast.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Sunday, December 15, 2024


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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