Review: Original "TOP GUN" is Still a Bad Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 33 of 2022 (No. 1845) by Leroy Douresseaux

Top Gun (1986)
Running time:  110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  Tony Scott
WRITERS:  Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. (based on the magazine article, “Top Guns,” by Ehud Yonay)
PRODUCERS:  Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jeffrey Kimball (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Chris Lebenzon and Billy Weber
COMPOSER:  Harold Faltermeyer
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/ACTION

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, Michael Ironside, Tim Robbins, John Stockwell, Barry Tubb, Rick Rossovich, Whip Hubley, James Tolkan, Adrian Pasdar, Meg Ryan, and Clarence Gilyard, Jr.

Top Gun is a 1986 action and drama film directed by Tony Scott and starring Tom Cruise.  The film was inspired by an article entitled, “Top Guns,” which was written by Ehud Yonay and published in the May 1983 issue of California Magazine.  Top Gun the film focuses on a daring young U.S. Navy pilot who is a student at an elite fighter weapons school where he competes with other students and learns a few things from a female instructor.

Top Gun opens on the Indian Ocean aboard the vessel, the “USS Enterprise.”  The story introduces United States Naval Aviator, Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), and his RIO (Radar Intercept Officer), Lieutenant Junior Grade Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards).  While on a mission flying their fighter aircraft, Maverick and Goose have an encounter with a hostile aircraft.  As a result of the incident, Maverick and Goose are invited to the U.S. Navy “Fighter Weapons School” in Miramar, California (also known as “Fightertown U.S.A.”).  The top one percent of naval aviators (pilots) get to attend Fighter Weapons School, also known as “Top Gun” (or “TOPGUN”).

Naval aviators have to complete a five-week course of classroom studies and flight training (called a “hop”).  The top graduating aviator receives the “Top Gun” plaque.  Maverick's rival for Top Gun is top student, Lieutenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), who considers Maverick's attitude foolish and his flying dangerous.  Maverick also becomes romantically involved with Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), an astrophysicist and civilian instructor, an unwise move for both.

Will Maverick earn the Top Gun trophy?  Or will his reckless ways and tendency to disobey orders endanger those around him and cost him his future.

Until recently, I had never watched Top Gun, not even a minute of it.  From the first time I saw a trailer for it, I thought Top Gun looked stupid, although I was a Tom Cruise fan at the time of its release (as I still am).  I only recently watched it in preparation for seeing the long-awaited sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, which has a good looking trailer and has received glowing early reviews.

But I was right.  Top Gun is stupid.  It is poorly written, especially on the character drama end.  Writers Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. are credited as the film's screenwriters.  The film's credited “Associate Producer,” the late Warren Skarren (1946-90), was a screenwriter known for rewriting the screenplays of big Hollywood projects (such as Beetlejuice and the 1989 Batman film).  Skarren apparently did some heavy rewriting for Top Gun's shooting script.  However, the film seems to be made from the parts of several screenplays that were combined to form a new script.  That especially shows during the character drama scenes, which are sometimes awkward, sometimes nonsensical, sometimes inauthentic, and sometimes all three at the same time.

To me, the film looks poorly edited (which was Oscar-nominated), once again, mainly on the drama scenes.  The film's musical score, composed by Harold Faltermeyer, is mostly atrocious.

However, the flight action sequences and the aerial stunts are quite good.  When the film is in the air with those fighter jets or when Maverick is riding his motorcycle, Top Gun can be entertaining and invigorating.  The drama is just so bad that it makes me forget the film's good stuff.

In 2015, Top Gun was added to the “National Film Registry” because it was considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”  For me, the only reason that would be true is because of its lead actor, Tom Cruise.  I think Top Gun is the film that made  Cruise a celluloid god.  He became his generation's biggest movie star and remains so.  Top Gun began a decade (1986-96) that gave us “peak” Tom Cruise.  Yes, he is still in his prime, but that was the decade that saw him give his most acclaimed and memorable performances, and in 1996, he began his most successful film franchise with the first Mission: Impossible.  Yes, Cruise has given other memorable and acclaimed performances, but never so many as in that time period of 1986 to 1996.

So Top Gun is significant because of Tom Cruise.  He is so handsome and fresh-faced here, and his youth, dynamism, and screen presence save this thoroughly mediocre film.  Even with the great action sequences, this film would have been at best a cult film had any actor or movie star other than Tom Cruise been the lead.

Yeah, I could talk about the other actors who were in Top Gun, but what they did could not rise above the mediocrity of this film's drama – both in screenwriting and in directing.  Tom Cruise – in a fighter or on a motorcycle – is Top Gun.  As much as I am a fan of his, however, I wouldn't watch this shit again.  But yes, I will see Top Gun: Maverick.

4 of 10
C
★★ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, May 25, 2022


1987 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Music, Original Song” (Giorgio Moroder-music and Tom Whitlock-lyrics for the song “Take My Breath Away”); 3 nominations: “Best Sound” (Donald O. Mitchell, Kevin O'Connell, Rick Kline, and William B. Kaplan), “Best Film Editing” (Billy Weber and Chris Lebenzon), and “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Cecelia Hall and George Watters II)

1987 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Giorgio Moroder-music and Tom Whitlock-lyrics for the song “Take My Breath Away”); 1 nomination: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Harold Faltermeyer)

2015 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  National Film Registry


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "The Hateful Eight" is Certainly Great

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

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

The Hateful Eight (2015)
Running time:  188 minutes (3 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence, a scene of violent sexual content, language and some graphic nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Quentin Tarantino
PRODUCERS:  Richard N. Gladstein, Shannon McIntosh, and Stacey Sher
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robert Richardson
EDITOR:  Fred Raskin
COMPOSER:  Ennio Morricone
Academy Award winner

WESTERN/CRIME/DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring:  Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoe Bell, Lee Horsley, Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson, Craig Strark, Belinda Owino, and Channing Tatum

The Hateful Eight is the 8th film from writer-director Quentin Tarantino.  A Western and mystery-thriller, The Hateful Eight focuses on two bounty hunters, a prisoner, and a new local sheriff who find themselves stranded in a cabin with a collection of nefarious strangers.  At least one of those strangers may be connected to the prisoner.

The Hateful Eight opens in the dead of a Wyoming winter some years after the Civil War.  O.B. Jackson (James Parks) drives a stagecoach through the snow-covered landscape.  Aboard his stagecoach is bounty hunter, John Ruth the Hangman (Kurt Russell), and his prisoner, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh).  Ruth is taking Domergue to Red Rock, Wyoming where she is to be tried and hanged for her crimes.

The stagecoach comes across a second bounty hunter, Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), who was transporting three dead bounties to Red Rock when his horse died.  It takes some convincing, but Ruth allows Warren to board the stagecoach.  Shortly afterwards, former Confederate, Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), who claims to be heading to Red Rock to assume the job of sheriff, hails the stagecoach.  It takes some talking, but Ruth also lets him aboard.

A sudden blizzard forces this quintet to seek shelter at the stagecoach stopover, Minnie's Haberdashery, but Minnie (Dana Gourrier) is nowhere to be found.  Instead, they are met by Bob (Demián Bichir), a Mexican who says that Minnie is visiting her mother and has left him in charge; Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth) who claims to be Red Rock's hangman; Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), a quiet cowboy; and General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern), a former Confederate officer.  John Ruth and Marquis Warren believe that at least one of the men they have found at Minnie's is in league with Daisy Domergue, but which one and when will he strike?

Although The Hateful Eight displays Quentin Tarantino's signature blend of wisecracking social commentary, action, humor, and over-the-top violence, this film is not like Tarantino's more popular films:  Pulp Fiction (1994), Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012).  These three films received best picture Oscar nominations, while The Hateful Eight did not.  The Hateful Eight is a parlor-room drama, but the parlor room is set up like a stage for live theater.

The other three films were wide-ranging epics full of hyper-kinetic violence.  They are flashy examples of Tarantino's bravura film making, while The Hateful Eight is quiet and edgy and brimming with malice, menace, and venom.  More than half the characters in The Hateful Eight really are fucking hateful, and that is a ratio that can be off-putting for the audience.

But not for me.  I would put The Hateful Eight in the top half of Tarantino's filmography.  This isn't Tarantino's best dialogue or screenplay for that matter, but his execution is impeccable, as usual.  The Hateful Eight is a riveting piece of work, three hours of glorious film narrative, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I wanted more.

Besides Tarantino's stellar work, there are a number of good performances in this film.  Samuel L. Jackson, a Tarantino regular, gives his best performance in a lead role in years.  He gives the sly Marquis Warren layers, from vengeful former slave to death-dealing former P.O.W., but Jackson suggests that there is so much more to this man that it would take at least two movies to discover what is inside him.

Jennifer Jason Leigh also turns Daisy Domergue into so much more than what she seems.  Her performances is built on subtle changes in note; it is a bouquet of scents meant to keep the viewers on their heels when it comes to what her motivations are.  Joined at the hip with Kurt Russell, who also gives a spry, spicy turn, they make a good pair.  Walton Goggins also surprises, especially since his career, thus far, has been filled with oddballs who are odd for the sake of being an oddity in a film.

Ennio Morricone's score and the film's soundtrack offer a nice backdrop, heightening the sinister mood of the story.  The Hateful Eight might not be a Tarantino audience favorite; it is too slow for the kick-ass crowd.  However, I think that it is a masterpiece, a great modern Western that stands with the very few great Westerns of the previous four decades.

9 of 10
A+

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Revised:  Thursday, July 16, 2020

NOTES:
2016 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Ennio Morricone); 2 nominations:  “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Robert Richardson)

2016 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Ennio Morricone); 2 nomination:  “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Quentin Tarantino)

2016 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Original Music” (Ennio Morricone); 2 nominations: “Best Supporting Actress” (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and “Best Original Screenplay” (Quentin Tarantino)


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "High Fidelity" is Endearing, Refreshing (Happy B'day, Nick Hornby)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 68 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

High Fidelity (2000)
Running time:  113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some sexuality
DIRECTOR:  Stephen Frears
WRITERS:  D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg (based upon the book by Nick Hornby)
PRODUCERS:  Tim Bevan and Rudd Simmons
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Seamus McGarvey
EDITOR:  Mick Audsley
COMPOSER:  Howard Shore
BAFTA Award nominee

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: John Cusack, Iben Hejejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins, Shannon Stillo, Joelle Carter, Lili Taylor, Alex Desert, and Bruce Springsteen

The subject of this movie review is High Fidelity, a 2000 comedy, drama, and romance from director Stephen Frears.  The film is based on the 1995 novel, High Fidelity, from author Nick Hornby.  High Fidelity focuses on a record store owner, who is a compulsive list maker, as he recounts his top five breakups, including the one that just occurred.

After seeing Identity, I decided to go back and see some John Cusack movies that I hadn’t seen.  I can call them “John Cusack movies” in the sense that Cusack’s personality pretty much dominates almost any film in which he stars.  He’s presence is simply quite dynamic and magnetic.  When he first came on the scene, many predicted that he’d be a huge star, and for some reason, his star isn’t as big as it should be.  However, few actors of his generation have a combination of tremendous acting talent and the sense about him that the camera loves.  Some have one or the other, but having both is rare.

In High Fidelity, John is Rob Gordon, owner of Championship Vinyl, a record store the specializes in collectible LP’s, emphasizing vinyl over compact disc, although the store does have a selection of hip and cool cd’s.  As the movie begins, his current girlfriend, Laura Lydon (Iben Hejejle) is leaving him.  So Rob, the film’s very dominate character and a compulsive list maker recounts his top five breakups, all the while trying to regain Laura’s companionship.

The film is based on a novel by Nick Hornby (the film About a Boy is also from one of his novels) and co-written by four writers including Cusack.  Although the film has a director with a pedigree, Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters), and a Hollywood hotshot as one of its screenwriters Scott Rosenberg (Con Air), this is John Cusack’s show.  In the beginning, the character Rob is a little hard to take.  It’s easy to see why he’d have problems with women, although Rob seems to think that his problems stem from his girlfriends.  Cusack builds Rob Gordon slowly, layer upon layer, before our eyes.  Rob talks a lot, and quite a bit of him is a mystery, but Cusack brings us in really close.  He totally breaks the mythical fourth wall between fictional character/performer and viewer, and though Rob remains something of an enigma, we learn enough about him to love him and to root for him.

There are quite a few interesting characters in the film that we don’t see more of because this is Rob’s show.  They might strengthen the story, but the storytelling is still excellent solely because of Cusack’s Rob.  Laura remains as elusive as Rob is, so we might need her version of High Fidelity to get her side of the relationship.

The film is funny, touching, and in its own quirky way, very romantic.  The supporting performances give Cusack’s Rob room to do his thing and give us enough to make Rob’s environment beyond his musings interesting.  High Fidelity could have been a disaster because in many ways, Rob ain’t going anywhere.  He doesn’t have any plans, and he is unsatisfied with his life, but not enough to do something – to act, so we could have brushed him off as a loser.  I didn’t because I want to hear every word he has to say.  Kudos to Cusack for making Rob so endearing and this film so refreshing.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2001 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (John Cusack)

2001 BAFTA Awards:  1 nominations:  “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg)

2001 Black Reel Awards:  1 nomination: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actress” (Lisa Bonet)

Updated:  Thursday, April 17, 2014


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

Review: "Team America: World Police" is Crazy, Smart and True (Happy B'day, Trey Parker)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 209 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Team America: World Police (2004)
Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic, crude & sexual humor, violent images and strong language; all involving puppets
DIRECTOR:  Trey Parker
WRITERS:  Pam Brady, Matt Stone and Trey Parker
PRODUCERS:  Scott Rudin, Matt Stone, and Trey Parker
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Bill Pope, A.S.C. (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Thomas M. Vogt
COMPOSER:  Harry Gregson-Williams

COMEDY/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (voices) Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Kristen Miller, Masasa, Daran Norris, Phil Hendrie, Maurice LaMarche, and Paul Louis

The subject of this movie review is Team America: World Police, a 2004 satirical comedy film from the team of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the long-running animated series, “South Park.”  The film’s cast is composed of marionettes (puppets) instead of live actors.  Team America: World Police follows a popular Broadway actor who is recruited by an elite counter-terrorism organization to help stop a dictator who is plotting global terror attacks.

Team America: World Police may be 2004’s funniest film.  Some may consider it the most obnoxious and crass movie of the year, especially after viewing the graphic puppet “sex scene.”  It will certainly go down as one of the most outrageous movies not made by John Waters.  It’s a wonderful send up of action movies, especially as those made by super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and the hilarious characters that populate them.  Even the musical scores to Bruckheimer films get it up the butt and in the mouth from this movie.  It’s also a wicked satire of American military aggression and the celebrities who protest it.  However, as good as the film is (and it’s quite good), Team America: World Police frequently falls on its own spear.

Team America is an international police force dedicated to maintaining global security.  And they’re also marionettes; you may best remember marionettes as those puppets on the venerable British TV children’s series, “Thunderbirds.”  Team America’s latest mission takes them to Paris, France, where they fight a handful of terrorists with WMD’s, also known as weapons of mass destruction.  Team America also manages to destroy Paris’ most famous landmarks, and also loose a team member to a terrorist’s bullets.

Team America’s leader, Spottswoode, a gray-headed, older, distinguished gentleman, recruits a young Broadway actor named Gary to replace the fallen comrade.  Spottswoode thinks that Gary will make the perfect spy because in college he was a double major in theatre and world languages.  The other Team America members:  Lisa, Sarah, Chris, and Joe, are wary at first, but they back him up on their first mission to Cairo to infiltrate a band of Islamic fundamentalists with WMD’s.

There is however a larger crisis looming.  Power-mad dictator Kim Jong Il of North Korea has planned a series of simultaneous global terror attacks – imagine 9/11 times 2356.  He’s convinced the Hollywood Film Actors Guild, or F.A.G., and their leader, actor Alec Baldwin, to support a conference in North Korea in which all world leaders will attend.  The conference is merely a cover for the launch of the worldwide terror strikes, which will occur while Baldwin gives his peacenik keynote speech.  Can Team America stop Kim Jong Il…and the actors?

Team America: World Police is the second major studio film from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the uproarious and bawdy animated program, “South Park,” on Comedy Central.  Team America, on one hand, is a delightful and loving send up of “Thunderbirds” and the other puppet marionette shows produced by England’s Century 21.  On the other hand, the film is mostly a vicious and brutal satire of the contemporary American political landscape and American self-righteousness.  The use of marionettes instead of actors greatly takes the sense of people getting made fun of to a level that human actors couldn’t go.

Parker/Stone use clever dialogue, over-the-top violence, and hyper-patriotic songs to skewer heavy-handed U.S. military offenses, strikes, and pre-emptive attacks on international locales.  They also use marionettes that closely resemble well known Hollywood and celebrities that protest U.S. military action.  The marionettes, in some cases, barely look like the stars that they’re supposed to resemble; in some cases the resemblance is just close enough not to get the filmmakers sued.  Still, it works enough so that such stars as Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Matt Damon, Helen Hunt and others are mercilessly lampooned.

But is the movie good?  The answer is a resounding yes; it’s one of the funniest films I’ve seen in years.  However, it is mean-spirited, graphic, obnoxious, brutal, vicious, vulgar, filthy, foul, nasty, rank, etc.  Sometimes, I had a hard time believing that Parker and Stone were going so far in their satire and humor.  Still, they’re not frat boys out of control; every joke and satirical comment and farcical moment seems well conceived.

Team America: World Police, in the end, takes the side of the “good guys,” but Parker and Stone obviously only trust them a little more than the “bad guys.”  They insist that even the protagonists be viewed with a wary eye, so in the end, it’s as if they question that anyone can be trusted.  Fighting assholes who want to kill everyone is a dirty job, and the heroes and their charges may not be “all that” themselves.  Team America: World Police is not perfect, but it’s the work of frankly honest and only barely inhibited filmmakers.  That’s refreshing when “looking good” is so important these days.

8 of 10
A

Updated:  Saturday, October 19, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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

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

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

DRAMA/CRIME

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 of 10
A-

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

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

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

Updated: Monday, July 08, 2013

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Review: "Bob Roberts" is Timeless and Always Timely (Happy B'day, Tim Robbins)

TRASH IN MY EYE No.170 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bob Roberts (1992)
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – R for momentary language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tim Robbins
PRODUCER: Forrest Murray
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jean Lépine
EDITOR: Lisa Churgin
Golden Globe nominee

COMEDY/POLITICAL

Starring: Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, Ray Wise, Gore Vidal, Alan Rickman, Brian Murray, Harry J. Lennix, Merrilee Dale, Tom Atkins, David Strathairn, Jack Black, Lynne Thigpen, Helen Hunt, Bob Balaban, with John Cusack, Peter Gallagher, Susan Sarandon, James Spader, and Fred Ward

It’s October 1990. A radical folksinger named Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins) becomes a right wing, Pennsylvania senatorial candidate running against an old-school liberal named Senator Brickley Paiste (Gore Vidal). Bugs Raplin (Giancarlo Esposito), radical writer/editor/publisher of the an independent muck-racking newspaper, the Trouble Times, tries to expose Roberts’ alleged ties to the savings and loans scandals and assorted CIA drug-smuggling and gun-running conspiracies of the late 1980’s. British filmmaker, Terry Manchester (Brian Murray), captures this and all the events that follow Roberts’ campaign, in a documentary through which the movie audience follows Bob Roberts’ narrative.

Tim Robbins scathing satirical comedy was probably preaching to the choir and converted in 1992, in particular to moderates, liberals, and leftists frustrated by 12 years of Republicans being in the White House. Still, the film’s blend of campaign antics, singing, music videos, and political scandal made it arguably the best comedy of the year. Robbins performed a rare trick. Wearing three hats: writer, director, and star, he still managed to make the film as much about the American political landscape of the time as it was about Bob Roberts. For all the preaching, the movie is just plain funny, and is in the tradition of that most famous faux documentary film (or “mockumentary”), This is…Spinal Tap. In fact, the film even has a scene that is a sly homage to Spinal Tap (Roberts and his campaign staff wandering through the bowels of a building trying to find their destination).

Robbins, who received a 1996 Golden Globe nomination in the category of “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical,” is brilliant as the reptilian, Bob Roberts, who is the kind of rich man that likes to act as if he’s just an ordinary guy – the common man. He blends folk and populism into a slick huckster that says all the right catchphrases to appeal to wealthy conservatives and also to the middle class and working class white people (and some Uncle Toms) who still chafe over the changes wrought by the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War protests and other social movements of the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Also quite entertaining are the folk songs, written by Tim and his brother David Robbins (who also composes the film score), which are full of dead-on right wing, ultraconservative, Republican vileness, venom, misinformation, and propaganda. Plus, each diddy has an uncanny ring of truth that in a way appeals even to moderate and liberal sensibilities.

The film also has standout performances by Giancarlo Esposito as a relentless fringe media reporter and Ray Wise as Robbins’ always-on-the-ball and rarely caught off guard campaign handler, Chet MacGregor. Brian Murray provides a steady, soothing voice as the documentary filmmaker/narrator who keeps everything linear and in order so that the audience understands what’s going on. Look for a small gem of a part by Jack Black, as an intense Bob Roberts acolyte. Actually, all the performances have so much verisimilitude that they, along with many others elements of this film, make Bob Roberts uncomfortable to watch. It hits too close to home, and Americans don’t want anyone, including other Americans, pointing out their blemishes, especially when Americans are well aware our dark side – so much so that they’re trying to keep them in the closet, so to speak.

The surprising thing is that 13-years later, this film is still as funny as it was in 1992. In fact, its socio-political commentary (about right wing politics, sound bite political campaigns, slick, ready-for-TV candidates, shadow governments, “illegal” or trumped up foreign wars and covert operations; and slow moving, old school liberal politicians unable get their message to voters or make themselves appealing to voters) is truer today than it was then, making Bob Roberts something rare – a visionary political film both timely and timeless. Even when it becomes surreally bogged in conspiracy towards the end, Bob Roberts keeps it real. It reminds this Louisiana boy too much of the almost successful U.S. senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns of a former Klansman and how popular this racist was at both his and my old alma mater, Louisiana State University.

9 of 10
A+

Monday, November 07, 2005

NOTES:
1993 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Tim Robbins)

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Review: Colorful "Green Lantern" Film is Also a Bit Dim

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Green Lantern (2011)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
DIRECTOR: Martin Campbell
WRITERS: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, and Michael Goldenberg; from a screen story by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim (based upon the characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics)
PRODUCERS: Greg Berlanti and Donald De Line
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dion Beebe
EDITOR: Stuart Baird
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard

SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of drama

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Taika Waititi, Temuera Morrison, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins, Jay O. Sanders, and (voices) Clancy Brown, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Geoffrey Rush

Green Lantern is a 2011 superhero movie, and it is the fourth movie this year featuring a character that originated or made extensive appearances in comic books. Green Lantern has enough entertaining science fiction action and superhero theatrics, but not enough to hide the fact that the characters are either lame and onscreen too much or cool and onscreen too little.

First, some history: Green Lantern is a comic book superhero that first appeared in All-American Comics #16 (cover dated July 1940). The original version of Green Lantern was created by Bill Finger, the writer who essentially co-created Batman (but who doesn’t get official credit for that) and artist Martin Nodell. The original or “Golden Age” version of Green Lantern stopped appearing in comics by 1951.

In 1959, the modern version of Green Lantern, a space age and science fantasy revamp of the character, first appeared in the comic book, Showcase #22 (cover dated September-October 1959), in a story from writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane. This modern or “Silver Age” version of character is the one that stars in the new film, Green Lantern.

Green Lantern the movie focuses on brash test pilot, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Jordan’s bravado and recklessness has gotten him into trouble with his employer, Ferris Aircraft, and the company’s Vice-President, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), who is also Hal’s girlfriend. However, his strong-willed nature brings him to the attention of the alien, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), who is a Green Lantern. The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force that uses the “green essence of willpower” to keep peace. Their power is focused through a green power ring.

Sur is mortally wounded in a battle with Parallax (Clancy Brown), the ultimate being of fear, whom Sur defeated and imprisoned long ago. Sur’s ring chooses Jordan as a worthy successor, but Sur’s fellow Green Lanterns do not find Jordan worthy. Jordan is the first human to become a Green Lantern, and Thaal Sinestro (Mark Strong), something of a leader among the Corps, quickly and brutally tests Jordan, leading the new Lantern to also doubt why the ring chose him. He will, however, have no choice but to be a Green Lantern. Parallax is coming to Earth to take revenge against Hal Jordan because he is Abin Sur’s successor and to destroy Earth because it is Jordan’s home.

Early in Green Lantern, the movie’s soundtrack (music and sound) is so loud that it is hard to understand what the characters are saying. At times, this movie is merely a sound and light show that occasionally dazzles, while generally assaulting your hearing. But I suspect this sort of thing will appeal to children, especially boys, who will like the noise and the special effects, which range from striking to embarrassingly second-rate.

Young viewers are the ones unlikely to notice the thinly written drama and how good actors play laughable, pathetic characters. Here, are some examples: Peter Sarsgaard as the comical bad guy Hector Hammond; Tim Robbins as Robert Hammond, an empty suit politician and Hector’s awful father; Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, who is the standard action movie hero arm-candy/cheerleader [Belief in yourself! Sniff Sniff. You can do it, my brave hero man]; and poor, always under-utilized Angela Bassett as the generic government flunky, Dr. Amanda Waller. Then, there is Mark Strong, who builds Sinestro into an intriguing character and worthy rival of Jordan’s Green Lantern, only to see the character reduced to speechmaking.

I like Ryan Reynolds, with his physique that looks like it was molded to be an action figure, but I don’t buy him as a test pilot or superhero. With his big teeth, seemingly sculpted by a dentist who really wanted to be an artist, Reynolds looks like he should be a junior executive in some corporate sales division.

With so much going against it, Green Lantern actually entertains with its big superhero set pieces and action sequences. On the other hand, the movie grinds to a halt whenever the actors pretend to be people instead of superheroes and strange beings. It’s this mixture of fun, goofy superhero action and tedious character drama that makes Green Lantern average at best. This movie needs to be a lavish sci-fi adventure (the goofy), but it doesn’t need the derivative character motivation and conflict [Daddy was mean to me! I can’t conquer my self-doubt and fear]. Green Lantern works in fits and starts. Sometimes, it impresses; sometimes, it is clunky and ineffective.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Ryan Reynolds and Green Lantern Salute the Troops

Ryan Reynolds to Host Advance Screening of “Green Lantern” Feature Film at MCAS Miramar

MIRAMAR, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Actor Ryan Reynolds will make an appearance at MCAS Miramar Bob Hope Theater to introduce an advance screening of “Green Lantern” on Thursday, June 16, at 12:45 p.m. for Marines and their families in celebration of Father’s Day.

About the Film:
In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, an elite, powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. Warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him the ability to create anything his mind can imagine. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan.

Bringing the enduringly popular superhero to the big screen for the first time, “Green Lantern” stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role, under the direction of Martin Campbell. Campbell directed the film from a screenplay by Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldenberg, story by Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim, based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The film also stars Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins. It was produced by Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti. Herbert W. Gains and Andrew Haas served as executive producers.

Review: Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" Remake is a Powerful SFX Bonanza

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 102 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

War of the Worlds (2005)
OPENING DATE: Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Running time: 117 minutes (1 hours, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: Josh Friedman and David Koepp (based upon the novel by H.G. Wells)
PRODUCERS: Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Janusz Kaminski, ASC
EDITOR: Michael Kahn, A.C.E.
Academy Awards nominee

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER/ADVENTURE with elements of drama

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Tim Robbins, Justin Chatwin, David Alan Basche, Rick Gonzalez, and Morgan Freeman

Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds is a big, giant, summer action movie that worth’s every dime paid to see it, and if you’re going to see it, you must see it on the big screen to appreciate the affect the action sequences can have on you. War of the Worlds may end up being dismissed by the Spielberg haters, but years from not, it’ll be seen as one of the great disaster movies and exceptional sci-fi films.

Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a bad father, but he’s about to find out just how much his children, teenager-with-attitude Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and his young daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning), mean to him. Not long after his ex-wife, MaryAnn (Miranda Otto), and her husband, Tim (David Alan Basche), drop the children off for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down. Not long after the drop off, Ray witnesses something that will change his life and the world forever – a towering three-legged war machine emerges from deep beneath the earth, and almost immediately begins to incinerate everything in sight. Thus, a cataclysmic alien attack on earth begins, and no matter where Ray and his children run on their long journey across a ravaged countryside, they cannot find safety or refuge from the extraterrestrial army of Tripods.

War of the Worlds is certainly a Steven Spielberg film, and like all Spielberg directed action/adventure/thrillers this one delivers the goods. It’s a monumentally breathtaking, heart-pumping, heart-racing, and fear-inducing, gargantuan thrill machine. The film looks good thanks in large part to the usual Spielberg cohorts, such as cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and editor Michael Kahn. Technically brilliant, War of the Worlds is full of the Spielberg magic that can keep you on the edge of your set for about two hours or so. The effects for the alien craft and the destruction they wreak are bloody brilliant and eye-popping, even as mind-bending as something like The Matrix; the destruction is enough to make you run from your seat in the theatre because it seems as if these alien behemoths will walk right off the screen and into your lap.

Tom Cruise gives a fine performance, enough to not only give this effects-heavy (over 500 SFX shots) film some humanity, but to sell the idea that this version of War of the Worlds is about a family surviving disaster that is on an apocalyptic level. This is one time the fine young actress Dakota Fanning does not steal the show because Cruise’s performance reveals that at the core of this fabulous summer, atomic fury, joy bomb is the story of man trying to save the family he neglected. Spielberg’s combination of earthly family values and extraterrestrial fury and the heart stopping and the heartwarming is a winning combination.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Achievement in Sound Editing” (Richard King), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, and Ron Judkins), and “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randy Dutra, and Daniel Sudick)

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Review: "Zathura" is an Excellent Sci-Fi Adventure

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 73 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)
Opening date: November 11, 2005
Running time: 101 minutes; MPAA – PG for fantasy action and peril, and some language
DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau
WRITERS: David Koepp & John Kamps (based upon the book by Chris Van Allsburg)
PRODUCERS: Michael De Luca, Scott Kroopf, and William Teitler
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Guillermo Navarro
EDITOR: Dan Lebental

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY with elements of comedy and drama

Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo, Dax Sheppard, Kristen Stewart, Tim Robbins, and (voice) Frank Oz

After discovering a mysterious game called “Zathura” in the basement of their father’s (Tim Robbins) house, two brothers, 6-year old Danny (Jonah Bobo) and 10-year old Walter (Josh Hutcherson) find their home flying in space, after Danny begins to play the game. The brothers realize that they must finish the game by reaching the planet Zathura, or they’ll be trapped in space forever. If that weren’t enough, their doubting sister, Lisa (Kristen Stewart), is trapped with them. The bossy Astronaut (Dax Sheppard) is eating all the food they have in the refrigerator, and a vicious alien race of flesh-eating lizards, the Zorgons, is trying to destroy everyone and the house.

Zathura: A Space Adventure is the third film based upon a book by children’s storybook author, Chris Van Allsburg, following Jumanji and The Polar Express. In fact, Zathura was a kind of follow up to Jumanji, as both books dealt with children finding enchanted board games that send them on perilous adventures. Director Jon Favreau (Elf) also made a point of using practical effects as much as possible over computer generated images (CGI). In a way, Zathura is Favreau’s nod to the sci-fi and fantasy films of the late 1970 and the 1980’s that used miniatures, puppets, on-set pyrotechnics, superbly crafted props, makeup, and creature effects (suits and prosthetics) because there was no CGI to create fantastic worlds, creatures, and situations. Favreau’s film especially seems to reference Steven Spielberg’s early work (Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), in particular the Spielberg’s use of light and sound to create the presence of otherworldly creatures.

In fact, the film has an old-timey charm to it. It’s not the grand, testosterone, CGI extravaganza’s like the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings franchises or The Chronicles of Narnia that have come to define big, family-oriented, event fantasy films. Favreau relies on a savvy crew of craftsman, engineers, technicians, artists, etc. that use its collective hands and wits to build on-set special effects. There is some CGI, and it is almost never as impressive as the non-computer stuff. Everything seems so real and earthy. The perils are dangerous, but not so dangerous that two resourceful boys couldn’t survive it. Favreau’s real effects have a way of making the viewer feel that he’s in that house with Walter and Danny, racing to find a way home.

In telling this story of sibling rivalry, children of divorce, and brotherly love and bonding, Favreau leans heavily on his leads, Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo. They are wonderful and have superb screen chemistry. They create a big brother/little brother dynamic that is uncannily genuine. Hutcherson’s performance as a pre-teen boy is excellent and, ironically, beyond his years. He’s definitely a pro, and he acts more than he pretends (still a problem with some child actors). Bobo as Danny is surprisingly emotive. His performance comes alive in his facial expressions and in his wide, expressive eyes. He buys into Zathura’s scenario and has fun. Kristen Stewart is also fun in a woefully small and underutilized part as the sister, Lisa. I found Dax Sheppard’s performance as The Astronaut to be a mixed bag; sometimes he was good, and other times he wore his performance on his sleeve by overacting.

A flop when it was released in early fall of 2005, Zathura: A Space Adventure is a throwback film aimed at an audience (particularly young boys) that is more familiar with wide open CGI films than it is with old-fashioned sci-fi yarns that recall the golden age of juvenile sci-fi: rockets, boy astronauts, and reptilian aliens. They weren’t even born when miniature props and puppetry made hits of films like Gremlins and The Last Starfighter. Zathura’s tale of brother’s working together and of discovery has a sense of fun that is as wide-eyed as Jonah Bobo’s Danny. It’s a simple adventure film that may find a long, deserved life on TV.

7 of 10
A-

Saturday, April 15, 2006

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