Negromancer New Bits and Bites for the Week of November 9th to 15th, 2014 - Update #20

NEWS:

From YahooCelebrity:  Kirk Cameron says, Cook and sing for Christmas, bitches!  Well, not quite, but here comes more advice from the guy who said that homosexuals are the main problem in the world.

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From Deadline:  Armie Hammer joins actor/director Nate Parker's "The Birth of A Nation," a biopic of Nat Turner, the slave turned rebel in 1831 Virginia.

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From Vulture:  Jennifer Lawrence filmed a cameo for Dumb and Dumber To, this vetoed its inclusion in the film.

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From Eonline:  There will apparently be a sequel to the 1993 cult hit, Hocus Pocus.

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From CBS:  Jennifer Lawrence says she will never sign up for Twitter.

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From Variety:  Starz has ordered a sequel TV series to the original Evil Dead film franchise, entitled "Ash vs. Evil Dead," which will debut with 10 episodes in 2015.

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From THR:  Thank god.  Matt Damon will be back as Jason Bourne in 2016 with Paul Greengrass directing.

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From THR:  Disney's new animated film, Big Hero 6, wins the 11/7  to 11/9/2014 weekend box office with an estimated take of $56.2 million.  Chris Nolan's new film, Interstellar, finishes second with an estimated $50 million gross.

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From TheWrap:  A wrap up of the 2014 Academy's Governors Award, including Harry Belafonte's fiery speech.


COMIC BOOKS:  Movies and Books:

From the Examiner:  "Doctor Strange, say what!" Benedict Cumberbatch knows nothing about it.

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From YahooMovies:  Deadline has an exclusive story that Daniel Bruhl will be the villain in the next "Captain America" movie, which is set for May 2016.

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From THR:  "Game of Thrones" and "Breaking Bad" director, Michelle MacLaren, is top choice to direct Wonder Woman film.

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From YahooMovies:  Spider-Man merchandise is far ahead of other toy franchises, including Batman, in terms of annual gross - $1.3 billion.

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From TheVox:  There is a new (second) "extended" Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer.

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From TotalFilm:  Chris Nolan found Ben Affleck's casting as Batman "thrilling."

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From TheVerge:  More awful Spider-Man movie news - rumors of an Aunt May movie.

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From TheMovieBit:  I found this article from about a month ago that states that Will Smith and Tom Hardy are among the A-listers that Warner Bros. is pursuing for its "Suicide Squad" film.


STAR WARS:

From FlickeringMyth:  See Alex Ross' art for the variant cover of Marvel Comics' Star Wars: Darth Vader #1.

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From IBTimes:  A rumored scene involving Darth Vader...


MOVIE TRAILERS:

From FOX:  New Exodus: Gods & Kings trailer.


OBITS:

From HuffingtonPost:  Big Bank Hank (Henry Jackson), a member of one of the early rap groups, Sugar Hill, gang, died Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at the age of 57 of cancer.

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From Variety:  Carol Ann Susi, the actress who provided the voice of "Mrs. Wolowitz" on CBS' "The Big Bang Theory," died Tuesday, November 11, 2013, in Los Angeles.



MISC:

From Outsports:  The snubbing by the NFL or openly gay football player, Michael Sam.

Oscar Nominee Review: "Captain Phillips"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Captain Phillips (2013)
Running time:  134 minutes (2 hours, 14 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sustained intense sequences of menace, some violence with bloody images, and for substance use
DIRECTOR:  Paul Greengrass
WRITER:  Billy Ray (A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty)
PRODUCERS:  Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Barry Ackroyd (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Christopher Rouse
COMPOSER:  Henry Jackman
Academy Award nominee

THRILLER/DRAMA

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Catherine Keener, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Michael Chernus, David Warshofsky, Corey Johnson, Chris Mulkey, and Issak Farah Samatar

Captain Phillips is a 2013 thriller and drama from director Paul Greengrass.  The film is an adaptation of A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty.  The movie dramatizes the 2009 hijacking of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.  Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey is one of the film’s executive producers.

The film begins with Captain Richard “Rich” Phillips (Tom Hanks) taking command of the MV Maersk Alabama.  This unarmed container ship is scheduled to sail from the Port of Salalah (in the city of Salalah, Oman) through the Gulf of Aden to Mombasa, Kenya.  After an alert concerning pirate activity around the Horn of Africa, Captain Phillips orders strict security precautions on the vessel and carries out practice drills.  In fact, during those drills, two skiffs containing Somali pirates chase the Alabama.

One group of pirates is eventually successful and actually boards and takes control of the Alabama.  The skiff’s captain, Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), and his cohorts:  Adan Bilal (Barkhad Abdirahman), Walid Elmi (Mahat M. Ali), and Nour Najee (Faysal Ahmed), plan to ransom the ship and its crew for millions of dollars.  Captain Phillips has called for help, but can he stall the pirates before they start killing his crew?

Audiences can practically always count on director Paul Greengrass to deliver a riveting film and an edge-of-your-seat thriller with each of his movies.  Greengrass’ films aren’t the average run-of-the-mill action thrillers; they’re smart and filled with strong characters facing real-world dilemmas.  Captain Phillips is Greengrass’ best film since his Jason Bourne movies.  Greengrass gets a championship effort from his editor Christopher Rouse, who delivers a film that gets better and better, more engaging, more entrancing with each minute.

Although, Tom Hanks is the star and Rich Phillips is the title character and focus, in some way, Captain Phillips is also about Abduwali Muse.  First-time actor, Barkhad Abdi, delivers a superb performance.  Abdi’s acting is especially impressive as the film only focuses on Muse’s personality in the context of what comes out of his actions.  Since Muse does not get to show himself as a fully-developed human, Abdi has to sell him as a three-dimensional villain who only reveals his intentions (getting a ransom), and little beyond that.  I can see why Abdi earned such acclaim and an Oscar nomination to go with a BAFTA win as best supporting actor.

This is pretty much the same with Captain Phillips.  His motivation, conflicts, and dilemmas are seen only in the context of him being a captain of a ship and also a captain of a ship that is under duress.  Tom Hanks is known for playing characters that are totally or mostly open to the audience.  As Phillips, Hanks erects a wall that makes it only easy to feel sympathy, pity, and fear for Phillips.  However, Hanks is so good that he still manages to deliver some fantastic acting – something that is more performance art than it is performance of a character.

All of Captain Phillips is good, but the last forty minutes are a doozy.  The rescue operation makes a very good film a truly exceptional film.  I wish more thrillers were like Captain Phillips.

9 of 10
A

Tuesday, March 25, 2014


NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  6 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Barkhad Abdi), “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Billy Ray), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Christopher Rouse), “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Oliver Tarney), and “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Chris Munro)

2014 Golden Globes, USA:  4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Tom Hanks), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Barkhad Abdi), and “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Paul Greengrass)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Supporting Actor” (Barkhad Abdi); 8 nominations: “Best Film” (Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca), “David Lean Award for Direction” (Paul Greengrass), “Best Leading Actor” (Tom Hanks), “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Henry Jackman), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Billy Ray), “Best Cinematography” (Barry Ackroyd), “Best Editing” (Christopher Rouse), “Best Sound” (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, and Oliver Tarney)

2014 Black Reel Awards:  2 wins: “Outstanding Supporting Actor, Motion Picture” (Barkhad Abdi) and “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male” (Barkhad Abdi)


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

2014 DGA Award Nominations: Cuaron, Greengrass, McQueen, Russell, Scorsese

by Amos Semien

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is the entertainment labor union that represents film and television directors.  The DGA gives out the Directors Guild of America Award each year to honor outstanding achievement.

The Directors Guild of America President announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2013 (also known as the 2014 DGA Awards) on Tuesday, January 07, 2014.

Alfonso Cuarón, Steve McQueen and David O. Russell were the expected nominations.  From what I’ve read, people who follow film awards did not expect Paul Greengrass and Martin Scorsese to receive nominations, or at least not as much as they expected others such as brothers Joel and Ethan Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis), Alexander Payne (Nebraska) and Spike Jonze (Her).

Historically the DGA Awards are a good predictor of five directors who will receive Oscar nominations.  However, last year, only two of DGA Award nominees received Oscar nominations, and the eventual best director Oscar winner, Ben Affleck, was not one of the two.

In the next week, nominees in the television, commercials, and documentary categories will be announced.  The winners, including in the feature film category, will be named at the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

66th Annual DGA Awards Full list of nominations below (with their teams and historical notes from the DGA):

ALFONSO CUARÓN
Gravity
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mr. Cuarón’s Directorial Team:
•         Unit Production Manager: David Siegel (Arizona Unit)
•         First Assistant Directors: Josh Robertson, Stephen Hagen (Arizona Unit)
•         Second Assistant Director: Ben Howard

This is Mr. Cuarón’s first DGA Award nomination.

PAUL GREENGRASS
Captain Phillips
(Columbia Pictures)

Mr. Greengrass’s Directorial Team:
•         Unit Production Managers: Todd Lewis, Gregory Goodman
•         First Assistant Director: Chris Carreras
•         Second Assistant Directors: Nick Shuttleworth, Mark S. Constance

This is Mr. Greengrass’s first DGA Award nomination.

STEVE McQUEEN
12 Years A Slave
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Mr. McQueen’s Directorial Team:
•         Unit Production Manager: Anthony Katagas
•         First Assistant Director: Doug Torres
•         Second Assistant Director: James Roque Jr.
•         Second Second Assistant Director: Sherman Shelton Jr.
•         Additional Second Assistant Director: Nathan Parker

This is Mr. McQueen’s first DGA Award nomination.

DAVID O. RUSSELL
American Hustle
(Columbia Pictures)

Mr. Russell’s Directorial Team:
•         Unit Production Managers: Shea Kammer, Mark Kamine
•         First Assistant Director: Michele ‘Shelley’ Ziegler
•         Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
•         Second Second Assistant Director: Jason Fesel
•         Location Managers: David Velasco, Guy Efrat (New York Unit)

This is Mr. Russell’s second DGA Award nomination.  He was previously nominated in this category for The Fighter in 2010.

MARTIN SCORSESE
The Wolf of Wall Street
(Paramount Pictures)

Mr. Scorsese’s Directorial Team:
•         Unit Production Manager: Richard Baratta
•         First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
•         Second Assistant Director: Francisco Oritz
•         Second Second Assistant Director: Jeremy Marks
•         Additional Second Assistant Director: Scott Koche
•         Location Manager: Nils Widboom

This is Mr. Scorsese’s eleventh DGA Award nomination.  He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2006 for The Departed, and has also been nominated in that category for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011).

Mr. Scorsese also won the DGA Award in 2010 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Television for Boardwalk Empire and he was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for George Harrison: Living in the Material World in 2011.  In 1999, Mr. Scorsese was presented with the Filmmaker Award at the inaugural DGA Honors Gala, and he was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

http://www.dga.org/

END

"Metro Manila" Tops 2013 British Independent Film Awards

by Amos Semien

The British-Filipino film, Metro Manila, was named "Best British Independent Film" by the British Independent Film Awards.  The crime drama won three awards, including "Best Director" for Sean Ellis.  Metro Manila follows a man who moves his family from the rural Philippines to Manila and finds peril in his new life and job.

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) were created in 1998.  This film award celebrates merit and achievement in independently funded British filmmaking, honors new film talent, and promotes British films and filmmaking to a wider public.  The awards are currently sponsored by Moët & Chandon Champagne.

The winners of the 2013 edition of the BIFA were announced at the 16th Moët British Independent Film Awards ceremony on Sunday, December 8, 2013 held at the Old Billingsgate in London and hosted by BIFA-winning actor, James Nesbitt.

The 16th Annual Moët British Independent Film Awards winners:

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM (Sponsored by Moët & Chandon):
Metro Manila

BEST DIRECTOR (Sponsored by AllCity & Intermission):
Sean Ellis – Metro Manila

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD [BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR] - Sponsored by 3 Mills Studios:
Paul Wright – For Those in Peril

BEST SCREENPLAY:
Steven Knight – Locke

BEST ACTRESS (Sponsored by M.A.C Cosmetics):
Lindsay Duncan – Le Week-end

BEST ACTOR (Sponsored by BBC Films):
James McAvoy – Filth

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Imogen Poots – The Look Of Love

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Sponsored by Sanderson & St Martins Lane):
Ben Mendelsohn – Starred Up

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER (Sponsored by Studiocanal):
Chloe Pirrie – Shell

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION (Sponsored by Company3):
Metro Manila

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT (Sponsored by LightBrigade Media):
Amy Hubbard – Casting – The Selfish Giant

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer

BEST BRITISH SHORT (Supported by BFI NET.WORK):
Z1

BEST INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM:
Blue is the Warmest Colour

THE RAINDANCE AWARD (Sponsored by Wentworth Media and Arts):
The Machine

THE RICHARD HARRIS AWARD (for outstanding contribution by an actor to British Film):
Julie Walters

THE VARIETY AWARD:
Paul Greengrass

THE SPECIAL JURY PRIZE:
Sixteen Films & Friends (AKA Team Loach)

http://www.bifa.org.uk/

END

Green Zone Juggles Politics and Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 56 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Green Zone (2010)
Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and language
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITER: Brian Helgeland (based on the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Greengrass, and Lloyd Levin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Barry Ackroyd
EDITOR: Christopher Rouse

WAR/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdalla, Jason Isaacs, and Yigal Naor

Director Paul Greengrass and actor/movie star Matt Damon came together to produce two of the three Jason Bourne movies (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum). They reunited for the film Green Zone, which is not a Jason Bourne movie or anything like that. Green Zone is a movie set at the beginning of the Iraq War. Green Zone is part military action movie, but it also has something to say about the reasons for the Iraq War.

The story focuses on Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) and begins early in the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Miller leads a team of U.S. Army inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) believed to be stockpiled in and around Baghdad. After investigating a series of sites and finding nothing, Miller begins to suspect that the intelligence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction is faulty, at best.

Miller’s military superiors and other high-ranking officials dismiss his theories about flawed intelligence, and he comes into conflict with U.S. Defense Intelligence Agent Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) who seems to be guiding much of the American occupation of Iraq. After meeting, Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), a Middle East-based CIA officer, Miller stumbles upon an elaborate cover-up of the reasons behind the Iraq War. Now, Miller must navigate the intersecting agendas spun by competing operatives, as he hunts for answers that may clear Iraq’s fallen regime of war crimes or even stop an insurgency from being born.

Green Zone is a politically engaged film. Using Matt Damon’s Roy Miller as a vehicle, Paul Greengrass and screen writer Brian Helgeland addresses Greengrass’ contentions about the decision to invade Iraq (the country’s alleged possession of WMDs) and subsequent decisions made during the U.S.-led Coalition occupation (in particularly the decision to disband the Iraqi army).

Greengrass’ problems with the Iraq War have also been the subject of many television and theatrical films (both fiction and non-fiction). Making these arguments about Iraq within the framework of a military action thriller actually can result in a movie with an identity crisis, which is the case with Green Zone. Greengrass attempts to make his points about the war, unveiling them during the course of Roy Miller’s investigation, which involves talking to and shooting at people.

The first 55 minutes of the movie mostly sets up the story, and it follows Miller as he gradually makes a series of startling discoveries about the run-up to the Iraq War. This is more dry and dull than interesting. The first half of the film is so slow and awkward that it is almost a disaster. Honestly, Greengrass’ contentions about the Iraq War are only interesting in the context of the movie’s second half. That’s the action/thriller half which has Roy Miller trying to find Iraqi General Mohammed Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor) before a Special Forces unit does. This second half will remind audiences of those breathless action scenes Greengrass and Damon pulled off in their two Jason Bourne movies.

It is cool that a Hollywood movie would confront the controversies of the Iraq War, but the best thing about Green Zone is the tense pacing and smartly constructed action sequences. Unfortunately, the politics are, at best, distracting and, at worst, debilitating to the movie.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, July 25, 2010

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"United 93" Excellent Docudrama and Thriller

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 257 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

United 93 (2006)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, and some intense sequences of terror and violence
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Lloyd Levin, and Paul Greengrass
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Barry Akroyd, BSC
EDITOR: Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse, and Richard Pearson
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/THRILLER/HISTORICAL

Starring: Opal Alladin, David Alan Basche, Christian Clemenson, Gary Commock, Cheyenne Jackson, Corey Johnson, JJ Johnson, and Khalid Abdalla, Lewis Alsamari, Omar Berdouni, and Jamie Harding

Directed by Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy), United 93 is a fictional account of the incidents aboard United Airlines Flight 93, the fourth hijacked plane on September 11, 2001, the day of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil. This docu-drama follows the boarding of a Boeing 757 – United Flight 93 – for an ordinary flight to San Francisco. Then, it moves back and forth from flight control centers in Boston, Cleveland, and New York and the Herndon Command Centers back to 93 as the 9/11 attacks begin. The second half of the film finds the crew and passengers of United 93 realizing with dawning horror that America is under attack and that their flight, which has been hijacked by four men, is part of that attack. Some of the passengers and crew resolve to fight in a desperate attempt to take back control of the plane.

Quality action thrillers reward their viewers with exhilarating highs and even the occasional wallop to the old midsection. United 93 (2006 New York Film Critics Circle Award for “Best Picture”) does just that. This film, however, is really more than just an action movie; it is a memorial to the real events of 9/11. That it also manages to be a harrowing, heartbreaking, and ultimately masterful bit of filmmaking is a triple bonus.

Still, as director Paul Greengrass (2006 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards winner for “Best Director”) has admitted, no one really knows what happened aboard United 93 from the time it left Boston until it crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Phone calls from the passengers and crew are all that the public and storytellers have to piece together a probable timeline of the events. For the best storytellers, that is just enough material to tell a story that captures the popular imagination the way real history does.

This lean, mean fighting machine of movie can be harsh at times, but Greengrass makes us care no matter how desperate the situation is for the passengers and crew. Too bad, the first 50 minutes of this story is so antiseptic. Greengrass switches back and forth from United flight 93 to several command centers as various officials, bureaucrats, and authority types try to figure out what’s going on the day passengers planes were used to terrorize America. He’s clinical and occasionally bland in his attempt to nail down the technical details and reproduce history via digital photography. Why then is the first half so dull? It’s like watching an ordinary TV documentary on the Discovery or History Channels. It’s downright anal the way Greengrass creates verisimilitude in the first half, and his fidelity to what alleged facts he has about the real United 93 is admirable, although that all makes for a great dullness.

It’s in the second half of the film when Greengrass has to deal with speculation, myth, and a lack of facts that United 93 flirts with being a truly great film. As harsh as it is at times, United 93 makes us care about the characters, the place, and the situation no matter how painful it might be to watch. It’s as if we’re there with the characters and rooting for them – maybe, even begging that they survive. No one knows what happened when hijackers took over United Airlines Flight 93, but Paul Greengrass makes a darn good yarn out of speculation. United 93 is the art of making film myth out of history just as Oliver Stone did 15 years earlier with JFK.

8 of 10
A

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Directing” (Paul Greengrass) and “Best Achievement in Editing” (Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, and Christopher Rouse)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Editing” (Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse, and Richard Pearson) and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Paul Greengrass); 4 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Tim Bevan, Lloyd Levin, and Paul Greengrass), “Best Cinematography” (Barry Ackroyd), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Paul Greengrass), and “Best Sound” (Chris Munro, Mike Prestwood Smith, Doug Cooper, Oliver Tarney, and Eddy Joseph)

Review: "The Bourne Ultimaturm" is Ultimate

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 114 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITERS: Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, and George Nolfi; from a screen story by Tony Gilroy (based upon the novel by Robert Ludlum)
PRODUCERS: Frank Marshall and Paul Sandberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITOR: Christopher Rouse
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Chris Cooper, and Corey Johnson

In The Bourne Identity, he fought to answer the question, “Who am I?” In The Bourne Supremacy, he wanted to know, “Who killed my girlfriend,” and he killed for what was done to him. In The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) remembers everything, and his journey takes him from Europe and North Africa to a trip home to New York City where all the answers will be found.

After he got his revenge for the killing of Marie, Bourne planned to disappear and forget the life that was stolen from him, but a front-page story in a London newspaper speculates about his existence. Bourne sets up a meeting with Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), the journalist who wrote the story, but that meeting makes Bourne a target again. The journalist does give him a lead on two top-secret black operations or black-ops programs, Treadstone and its successor Blackbriar, which may hold the key to Bourne’s past. Bourne’s reemergence also gets him marked for death by Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), the head of a new covert wing of the CIA and the director of Blackbriar. Bourne gains the trust of conflicted agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and CIA operative/internal investigator and spy hunter Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), and with their help, he will have his day of reckoning.

Like his previous effort in the Jason Bourne series, The Bourne Supremacy, Oscar-nominated director Paul Greengrass (United 93) delivers mind blowing action, whiplash-paced fighting, and thoughtful plotting. Greengrass does this picture with equal parts humor and brutality, and makes it is as smart as it is stylish.

Matt Damon is Jason Bourne, and he leaves no doubt that it would be nearly impossible for anyone to take his place. His acting chops and screen charisma combined with his physical training for the role invents Bourne as a supernatural covert operative who can kick any ass, go anywhere, break into the most secure locations, and be invisible in a crowd.

The supporting cast may not be A-list actors in terms of star power, but they are A+ list in terms of screen acting. Added to Damon’s work here, they put The Bourne Ultimatum over the top. It’s not just a great espionage thriller; it’s the best thriller of the year and a great film. Whether you’re a Bourne fan, or just a friend, mother, father, etc. going along with a fan, you’ll go home impressed and happy.

9 of 10
A+

Sunday, August 12, 2007

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 3 wins: “Best Achievement in Editing” (Christopher Rouse), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Scott Millan, David Parker, and Kirk Francis), and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Karen M. Baker and Per Hallberg)

2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Editing” (Christopher Rouse) and “Best Sound” (Kirk Francis, Scott Millan, David Parker, Karen M. Baker, and Per Hallberg); 4 nominations: “Best British Film” (Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley, Paul Sandberg, Paul Greengrass, Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, and George Nolfi), “Best Cinematography” (Oliver Wood), “Best Director” (Paul Greengrass), and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Peter Chiang, Charlie Noble, Mattias Lindahl, and Joss Williams)

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Review: "The Bourne Supremacy" Was the First Greengrass-Damon Joint

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 131 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and intense action, and for brief language
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass
WRITER: Tony Gilroy (based upon the book by Robert Ludlum)
PRODUCERS: Patrick Crowley and Frank Marshall
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITORS: Richard Pearson and Christopher Rouse

ACTION/DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Gabriel Mann, Joan Allen, Marton Csokas, and Tom Gallop

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) has been hiding in India with the love of his life Marie (Franka Potente) since the incidents of the film The Bourne Identity. However, the ghosts and remnants of one of his long-forgotten missions come back to haunt him, and tragedy strikes. So Jason takes the war back to the Americans who are hunting him for two murders they believe he committed during a botched CIA operation in Berlin, Germany. Once again, Jason has to take up his former life as a highly trained super assassin to survive and find out who is framing him.

The Bourne Supremacy is not quite as good as The Bourne Identity, but it’s the probably going to be the best adult-oriented action thriller for mature minds to come along in for a while. Paul Greengrass’ direction in Supremacy is as good as Doug Liman’s in The Bourne Identity, but Liman worked with a better script. The screenplay for Supremacy is high on action, but light on drama and character. The characters are good enough for the standard action thriller. The Bourne Supremacy needed more, and here, they’re mostly checker pieces moved around a board. That wasn’t the case in the first film. Supremacy has lots of actions, excellent suspense, and thrills that run the razor’s edge, but the drama and character interplay is watery. Every time, two characters are about to develop a good conflict or relationship, the film abruptly leaves for some highflying, though quite thrilling, action.

Matt Damon really makes this film. He’s a good actor and has a wonderful and endearing screen persona, and has an engaging personality – even when he’s popping caps in someone. He’s adept at playing the victim and the victimizer – the hunted and the hunter. He sells you on Bourne’s perils, but makes you anticipate that Bourne will survive anything and find his way out of any trap. It’s the modern day black ops stud as Indiana Jones. If you liked the first film or movies like Ronin (1998), you’ll be down with this.

7 of 10
A-

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