Review: Jessica Chastain in "THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE" - Good Gawd!

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2022 (No. 1831) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

Running time:  126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content and drug abuse

DIRECTOR:  Michael Showalter

WRITER: Abe Sylvia (based on the documentary by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato)

PRODUCERS:  Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Gioulakis (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Mary Jo Markey and Andrew Weisblum

COMPOSER:  Theodore Shapiro

Academy Award winner

DRAMA/BIOPIC

Starring:  Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio, Mark Wystrach, Sam Jaeger, Louis Cancelmi, Gabriel Olds, Fredric Lehne, Jay Huguley, Dan Johnson, and Chandler Head

The Eyes of Tammy Faye is a 2021 biographical drama film directed by Michael Showalter.  The film is based on the 2000 documentary film, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which was directed and produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.  The Eyes of Tammy Faye the movie takes a look at the rise into fame and fall into infamy of evangelist and television personality, Tammy Faye Bakker.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye introduces young Tamara Faye LaValley (Chandler Head) in the year 1952.  Growing up in a religious community in International Falls, Minnesota, Tammy is an outcast because her mother, Rachel Grover (Cherry Jones), divorced Tammy's father.  Although she is now married to Fred Grover (Fredric Lehne), Rachel believes that she is seen by some as a harlot.  She hides Tammy in order to hide her shame.  However, young Tammy Faye ain't having none of that and inserts herself into the church.  The parishioners become attracted to the way she speaks Biblical scripture and the way in which she “speaks in tongues.”

In 1960, while attending North Central Bible College in Minneapolis Minnesota, Tammy (Jessica Chastain) meets and falls in love with fellow college student, Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield).  In 1961, the two marry and drop out of college.  They drive around the United States to preach and inspire Christian communities, with Jim preaching and Tammy singing and playing with puppets for children.  Seeking to create and have control over their own programs, the couple create “The PTL Club,” the flagship show of their PTL Satellite Network.  Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker become increasingly popular over the years, but with fame comes more money and more secrets and lies.  Can Jim and Tammy Faye save themselves with the success in which they save souls?

The Eyes of Tammy Faye is about Tammy Faye LaValley/Bakker/Messner, and as Tammy Faye, Jessica Chastain gives the performance of her career.  That is saying a lot, as Chastain's career is filled with bravura performances, except for her god-awful turn in 2019's (X-Men:) Dark Phoenix.  Chastain, who recently won a “Best Actress” Oscar for this performance, buries herself in the work of this film's make-up and hairstyling artists (who also won and Oscar) and reemerges as an attractive and alluring fictional version of the real life Tammy Faye.  I couldn't stop watching her, believing in her, and seeing Chastain's Tammy Faye as a real person that I wanted to think about for the entire run time of this film.

It is a testament to Andrew Garfield's acting skills that he created space in this film for Jim Bakker.  Garfield makes his Bakker a hollow man who is beset by greed and full of hypocrisy.  He condemns Tammy's minor infidelity while hiding three decades of homosexual dalliances and affairs.  Garfield's Bakker, however, can survive in the vortex that is Chastain's Tammy Faye.

The script presents Tammy as having good intentions, as being loving, and as being naive.  Jim Bakker is in love with himself and with money and fame as much as he loves God.  The story suggests that Jim's faults make the couple vulnerable to opportunists and predators, such as Jerry Faldwell, whom actor Vincent D'Onofrio portrays as some kind of evangelical crime lord.  On the other hand, the film suggests that Tammy Faye's ignorance and unwillingness to speak up at certain times contribute to her unwillingness or inability to pay heed to the warnings of Rachel, her mother.  Rachel is played by Cherry Jones in an excellent performance that would have been noticed more if it weren't in the shadow of Chastain's.

Director Michael Showalter takes the fine performances of his cast and makes a movie that is the epic as character drama.  He gives us the rise and the fall and the (somewhat) redemption of a woman who had a moment in time that ultimately trapped her in the public sphere as a figure worthy of mocking.  To me, The Eyes of Tammy Faye is saying that she did not deserve this, but I remember her as someone who deserved some of the derision pointed her way.  As the guiding force of The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Jessica Chastain deserves all the praise and awards pointed her way.

8 of 10
A

Tuesday, April 5, 2022


NOTES:
2022 Academy Awards, USA:  2 wins: “Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling” (Stephanie Ingram, Linda Dowds, and Justin Raleigh) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Jessica Chastain)

2022 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Make Up & Hair” (Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram, and Justin Raleigh)

2022 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama” (Jessica Chastain)


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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MGM Releases New Poster for Eli Roth, Bruce Willis' "Death Wish" Remake

From Press Materials:

DEATH WISH
Release Date: March 2, 2018
Genre: Action- Thriller
Director: Eli Roth
Screenplay: Joe Carnahan, based on a novel by Brian Garfield
Producer: Roger Birnbaum
CAST: Bruce Willis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Camila Morrone, Dean Norris and Kimberly Elise

SYNOPSIS:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents director Eli Roth's re-imagining of the classic 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish.  Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of Chicago violence when it is rushed into his ER - until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home.  With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts his family's assailants to deliver justice.  As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media's attention, the city wonders if this deadly vigilante is a guardian angel or a grim reaper.  Fury and fate collide in the intense, action-thriller
Death Wish.

Paul Kersey becomes a divided person: A man who saves lives, and a man who takes them; a husband and father trying to take care of his family, and a shadowy figure fighting Chicago crime; a surgeon extracting bullets from suspects' bodies, and the vigilante called "The Grim Reaper" who detectives are quickly closing in on.

Updated from the original novel by Brian Garfield, director Eli Roth  and screenwriter Joe Carnahan's (The Grey, Narc) Death Wish also stars Vincent D'Onofrio (The Magnificent Seven, TV's Daredevil and Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), Camila Morrone, Dean Norris (Breaking Bad) and Kimberly Elise (The Great Debaters). It's a knife's-edge portrayal that challenges our assumptions, and pushes our buttons.

By bringing the complex psychology of Brian Garfield's book up-to-the-moment and injecting new thrills and a stark, unflinchinglook at the American psyche in 2017, Eli Roth and Death Wish brings audiences to the height of unforgettable suspense.

A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures production, Death Wish is set for release on March 2, 2018.  It will be distributed in the U.S. by APR and internationally by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.  Death Wish stars Bruce Willis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Camila Morrone, Dean Norris, Kimberly Elise.  Directed by Eli Roth.  Screenplay by Joe Carnahan, based on the 1974 Motion Picture by Wendell Mayes from the Novel by Brian Garfield.  Producer, Roger Birnbaum.  Associate Producer, Stephen J. Eads.  Executive Producer, Ilona Herzberg.  Director of Photography, Rogier Stoffers.  Edited by Mark Goldblatt.  Music by Ludwig Göransson.  Production Design by Paul Kirby.  Costume Design by Mary Jane Fort.

DEATH WISH Official Channels:
Website: http://deathwish.movie/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeathWishFilm
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeathWishMovie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DeathWishMovie 
#DeathWishMovie


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New "Rings" Poster - Tuesday, January 3, 2017

She does not forget.

Samara is back with a new poster.

RINGS is in theaters February 3

Directed by: F. Javier Gutierrez

Starring: Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan and Vincent D’Onofrio

A new chapter in the beloved RING horror franchise.  A young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it.  She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a “movie within the movie” that no one has ever seen before…

Rings Official Channels:

Hashtag: #Rings

Facebook: /RingsMovie

Twitter: @RingsMovie

Instagram: @RingsMovie

Snapchat: ringsmovie

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Marvel-Netflix's "Daredevil" Arrives on Blu-ray November 8th, 2016

"Marvel's Daredevil is a well-scripted, beautifully acted superhero saga that is surprisingly impressive." -- Tirdad Derakhshani, The Philadelphia Inquirer

OWN THE CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES “MARVEL’S DAREDEVIL: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON” ON BLU-RAY™ NOV. 8, 2016

Bring home or gift the first season of the popular live action series this Holiday

SYNOPSIS: “Marvel’s Daredevil” follows Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), attorney by day and vigilante by night. Blinded in an accident as a child, Murdock uses his heightened senses as Daredevil, fighting crime on the streets of New York after the sun goes down. His efforts are not welcomed by powerful businessman Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) and others whose interests collide with those of Daredevil. Though Murdock's day job portrays a man who believes in the criminal justice system, his alter ego suggests otherwise, as he takes the law into his own hands to protect his Hell's Kitchen neighborhood and the surrounding communities.

The complete first season of the Netflix Original Series “Marvel’s Daredevil” is available to own on Blu-ray™ on November 8, 2016. Season 1 of the action-packed drama was recently honored as Best New Media TV Series at the 42nd Annual Saturn Awards hosted by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The home release of Season 1 will thrill fans with all 13 episodes.

CAST: Charlie Cox (“Boardwalk Empire”) as Matt Murdock/Daredevil; Deborah Ann Woll (“True Blood”) as Karen Page; Elden Henson (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”) as Foggy Nelson; Vincent D’Onofrio (“The Magnificent Seven”) as Wilson Fisk; Rosario Dawson (“Marvel’s Luke Cage”) as Claire Temple

CREATOR & EXEC. PRODUCER: Steven S. DeKnight (“Spartacus: War of the Damned”)

EXEC. PRODUCERS: Drew Goddard (“The Martian”), Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s “Jessica Jones” and Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”)

RELEASE DATE: Nov. 8, 2016
PACKAGING: Blu-ray (13 episodes)

EPISODES:
1. Into The Ring
2. Cut Man
3. Rabbit In A Snowstorm
4. In The Blood
5. World On Fire
6. Condemned
7. Stick
8. Shadows in the Glass
9. Speak of the Devil
10. Nelson v. Murdock
11. The Path of the Righteous
12. The Ones We Leave Behind
13. Daredevil

RATING: TV-MA
ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1
AUDIO: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA
LANGUAGES & SUBTITLES: English SDH
SOCIAL MEDIA:  Facebook: Facebook.com/Daredevil
Website: Marvel.com/Daredevil
Twitter: Twitter.com/Daredevil
Instagram: Instagram.com/Daredevil


ABOUT MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT AND MARVEL TELEVISION:
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy-five years.  Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing.

Marvel Television develops and produces some of the world’s most creative and popular live-action and animated programming for broadcast and cable television networks plus digital platforms including a historic deal with NETFLIX. Its portfolio of self-produced series include Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for ABC, Marvel’s Daredevil and the Peabody Award-winning Marvel’s Jessica Jones for NETFLIX and Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy for Disney XD. Marvel Television’s upcoming projects include Marvel’s Luke Cage, Marvel’s Iron Fist and the culminating Marvel’s The Defenders for NETFLIX as well as Marvel’s The Punisher (NETFLIX), Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger (Freeform) and Legion (FX). For more information, visit marvel.com.  © 2016 MARVEL

ABOUT THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS:
For over 90 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built. Today, the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under the following banners: Disney, including Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios; Disneynature; Marvel Studios; Lucasfilm; and Touchstone Pictures. The Disney Music Group encompasses the Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records labels, as well as Disney Music Publishing. The Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Disney on Broadway, Disney On Ice and Disney Live!.

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Sony Pictures Announces "The Magnificent Seven" for Worldwide IMAX Release

The Magnificent Seven TO BE RELEASED WORLDWIDE IN IMAX® THEATRES

LOS ANGELES – IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and Sony Pictures Entertainment today announced that The Magnificent Seven, starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke and directed by Antoine Fuqua, will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® format. The Magnificent Seven, which Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Columbia Pictures present in association with LStar Capital and Village Roadshow Pictures, will be released into IMAX® theatres worldwide coinciding with the film’s general release dates. The Magnificent Seven will be released domestically on September 23, 2016.

"The Magnificent Seven is not only among the most highly anticipated films of the fall, but Antoine Fuqua is delivering the visceral action that is perfect for the IMAX screen," said Rory Bruer, President of Worldwide Distribution for Sony Pictures. "The Magnificent Seven and IMAX are a great complement to each other and will play great to audiences around the world."

"After partnering on The Equalizer, we are excited to work again with the incredibly talented director Antoine Fuqua and the whole team at Sony, as well as our friends at MGM, on this exciting new film, The Magnificent Seven," said Greg Foster, Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. and CEO of IMAX Entertainment. "We believe the film’s sweeping visual style and heart-pounding action is the ideal fit for the IMAX presentation and we can’t wait for fans worldwide to enjoy the ride in IMAX."

The IMAX® release of The Magnificent Seven will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ and Columbia Pictures’ The Magnificent Seven. With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the desperate townspeople, led by Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns – Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money. The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua. The screenplay is by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk. The producers are Roger Birnbaum and Todd Black.


About Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com.

About Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is a leading entertainment company focused on the production and global distribution of film and television content across all platforms. The company owns one of the world’s deepest libraries of premium film and television content. In addition, MGM has investments in domestic and international television channels. For more information, visit www.mgm.com.

About IMAX Corporation
IMAX, an innovator in entertainment technology, combines proprietary software, architecture and equipment to create experiences that take you beyond the edge of your seat to a world you've never imagined. Top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX theatres to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, and, as such, IMAX's network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe.

IMAX is headquartered in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles, with offices in London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. As of March 31, 2016, there were 1,066 IMAX theatres (952 commercial multiplexes, 17 commercial destinations and 97 institutions) in 68 countries. On Oct. 8, 2015, shares of IMAX China, a subsidiary of IMAX Corp., began trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code "HK.1970."

IMAX®, IMAX® 3D, IMAX DMR®, Experience It In IMAX®, An IMAX 3D Experience®, The IMAX Experience® and IMAX ® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information about the Company can be found at www.imax.com. You may also connect with IMAX on Facebook (www.facebook.com/imax), Twitter (www.twitter.com/imax) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/imaxmovies).

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Review: "Jurassic World" is a Vending Machine Treat

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

Jurassic World (2015)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril 
DIRECTOR:  Colin Trevorrow
WRITERS:  Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver and Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly; from a story by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (based on characters created by Michael Crichton)
PRODUCERS:  Patrick Crowley and Frank Marshall
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  John Schwartzman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Kevin Stitt
COMPOSER:  Michael Giacchino

SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER

Starring:  Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, B.D. Wong, Judy Greer, Andy Buckley, Lauren Lapkus, Katie McGrath, Eric Edelstein, and Jimmy Fallon

Jurassic World is a 2015 science fiction-thriller and action-adventure film from director Colin Trevorrow.  The film is a restart of the Jurassic Park  film franchise.  Thomas Tull of Legendary Pictures and Steven Spielberg, who directed the original film, Jurassic Park (1993), are the executive producers of this movie.  Jurassic World returns to the setting of the first film, which is now a popular dinosaur theme park, but a new attraction turns the place into a nightmare.

Over two decades after the disaster that was the late John Hammond's Jurassic Park, the island of Isla Nublar now has a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, named Jurassic World.  That is where Gray Mitchell (Ty Simpkins) and his older brother, Zach (Nick Robinson), are headed, with VIP access thanks to their aunt, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is Jurassic World's operations manager.

This new park is run by the Masrani Global Corporation, which also owns InGen, Hammond's genetics company that invented the process of using DNA found in dinosaur fossils to make new dinosaurs.  However, after a decade in operation, Jurassic World has been experiencing a decline in visitor rates, because dinosaurs are no longer the “hot thing.”

Park owner Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) demanded that a new attraction be created to spark visitors' interest.  Behold Indominus‍ rex, a hybrid dinosaur made by combining the DNA of an unknown number of animals.  U.S. Navy veteran, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), trains Jurassic World's four Velociraptors, which have imprinted on him as the pack alpha.  Masrani wants Owen to evaluate Indominus‍ rex before this new attraction is presented to the public. Owen discovers that this hybrid dinosaur is really dangerous.  Then, everything goes bad...

Jurassic World is quite an entertaining movie.  I watched it on DVD, and there were times that I could not stop watching it, even when the phone rang.  Like the Indominus rex, Jurassic World is itself a hybrid, as it blends the disaster film with the monster movie (much in the way a Godzilla film does).  This is pure escapist entertainment.  Pop some popcorn; sit on the sofa and turn out the lights.  Watch this movie and have a blast...

...because beyond that, you won't have much.  Jurassic World may be a restart of the franchise, but it lacks the newness and freshness, the sense of wonder and awe, that defined the original, 1993's Oscar-winning Jurassic Park.  So rather than being a restart, Jurassic World is in actuality nothing more than another Jurassic Park film.

The characters are not interesting, and their plight did not grab me, as the characters' troubles in the first film did.  When the most interesting female character in this film is a CGI dinosaur, as is the case with the raptor, Blue, then, the movie has fundamental problems.  Even the relationship troubles between the two brothers and its resolution feel forced and phony.  I can't remember the last time juvenile sibling characters had the kind of stiff dialogue that the Mitchell brothers had.

I like Chris Pratt, and he uses all his charm to make something out of Owen Grady, a character with potential, which the writers and director of this film did not seem to realize.  Bryce Dallas Howard uses her acting skills to make something of the mannequin that is Claire, but that character is beneath her.  And poor Omar Sy comes across as a pitiful token, playing Owen's stuck-in-the-corner assistant, Barry; yeah, Barry wasn't even worth a last name.

Yeah, Jurassic World is a blast as a scary monster movie, a dumb sci-fi thriller that actually delivers on the thrills.  But in the end, it is nothing more than film product – the equivalent of a fast food hamburger that you have already forgotten a few minutes after eating it.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, November 28, 2015


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

Review: "Escape Plan" Almost Old-Timey

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Escape Plan (2013)
Running time:  115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and language throughout
DIRECTOR:  Mikael Håfström
WRITERS:  Miles Chapman and Jason Keller; from a story by Miles Chapman
PRODUCERS:  Robbie Brenner, Mark Canton, Remington Chase, Randall Emmett, and Kevin King-Templeton
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Brendan Galvin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Elliot Greenberg
COMPOSER:  Alex Heffes

ACTION

Starring:  Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Faran Tahir, Amy Ryan, Sam Neill, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vinnie Jones, Matt Gerald, Caitriona Balfe, Alec Rayme, and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson

Escape Plan is a 2013 action movie from director Mikael Håfström.  The film stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a tale about a structural-security engineer incarcerated in the world’s most secret and secure prison and the escape plan he concocts with a fellow inmate.

Escape Plan opens in Bendwater Federal Penitentiary and introduces Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone).  Breslin seems to be prisoner, but actually, he specializes in breaking out of maximum security prisons in order to test their reliability.  With his partner, Lester Clark (Vincent D’Onofrio), Breslin owns the Los Angeles-based, independent security company, B&C Security, where Breslin studies, researches, and writes about prisons.

Breslin and Clark’s latest client is CIA Agent Jessica Mayer (Caitriona Balfe).  Mayer offers Breslin double his free to break out of the International Detainee Unit, a top-secret prison where the world’s most dangerous criminals and terrorists are held, in order to see if it is really escape-proof.  Breslin takes the identity of a Spanish terrorist named “Anthony Portos,” and prepares to be taken into custody.

The plan goes awry, and Breslin awakens in a glass cell located in a complex full of glass cells.  Warden Willard Hobbes (Jim Caviezel) seems delighted to have “Portos” in his prison.  Fellow inmate, Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), seems too eager to get to know him.  Now, Breslin must use all his skills to escape, but this prison seems designed to foil his every move.

If you have to see an action movie, Escape Plan will do.  The first half of the film is a nearly unwatchable bore, but the second half of the film is entertaining.  The plot is stretched past the point of credulity in order for the resolution to make sense.

Escape Plan is a pale imitation of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1980s mindless flicks.  From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Escape Plan would have been considered a cutting edge techno-thriller; now it’s a shame to see two such venerable stars in such a movie.  Actually, it would make sense for this to be a modern Steven Seagal or even a Jean-Claude Van Damme straight-to-DVD movie.  I must note that Schwarzenegger still looks good, but Stallone’s face is a post-op, plastic surgery wreck.

On the other hand, these two old action movie dogs can still deliver some of what we expect of them.  Escape Plan gives plenty of Stallone brawling, and, in the movie’s last act, we get Schwarzenegger in a classic pose as he fires an automatic weapon, in a way that references him in The Terminator franchise.  I did not ask much of this movie, and thanks to a clunky, listless first half, I almost did get what little I expected.  I will say this:  Escape Plan actually could have been better, so I would like to see Stallone and Schwarzenegger team-up again.

4 of 10
C

Thursday, March 20, 2014


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

Warner Bros.' "Run All Night" Begins Production

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Run All Night” Begins Production in New York

Shooting underway on the crime thriller starring Liam Neeson and Ed Harris

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Run All Night,” starring Oscar® nominees Liam Neeson (“Schindler’s List,” “Taken”) and Ed Harris (“Pollock,” “The Hours”), as well as Joel Kinnaman (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra (“Unknown”).

Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon (Neeson), once known as The Gravedigger, has seen better days. Longtime best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. Lately, it seems Jimmy’s only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass.

But when Jimmy’s estranged son, Mike (Kinnaman), becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. With Mike on the run, Jimmy’s only penance for his past mistakes may be to keep his son from the same fate Jimmy is certain he’ll face himself…at the wrong end of a gun. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy just has one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.

Shooting in and around New York City, primarily in Brooklyn and Queens, “Run All Night” also stars Vincent D’Onofrio (TV’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”), Boyd Holbrook (HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra”), Patricia Kalember (“Limitless”), Genesis Rodriguez (“Identity Thief”), and Academy Award® nominee Nick Nolte (“Warrior”).

Collet-Serra directs from a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby. The film is being produced by Roy Lee (“The Departed”), Michael Tadross (“Gangster Squad,” “Sherlock Holmes”), and Brooklyn Weaver (executive producer, upcoming “Out of the Furnace”), with John Powers Middleton (TV’s “Bates Motel”) serving as executive producer.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Martin Ruhe (“The American”), production designer Sharon Seymour (“Argo”), Oscar®-nominated editor Craig McKay (“The Silence of the Lambs”), and costume designer Cat Thomas (“The Heat”).

“Run All Night” will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Review: "The Break-Up" Puts Starch in the Romantic Comedy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 241 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Break-Up (2006)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content, some nudity, and language
DIRECTOR: Peyton Reed
WRITERS: Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender; from a story by Vince Vaughn and Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender
PRODUCERS: Scott Stuber and Vince Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Edwards
EDITOR: David Rosenbloom and Dan Lebental

DRAMA/COMEDY with elements of romance

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Cole Hauser, Joey Lauren Adams, Peter Billingsley, John Michael Higgins, Ann-Margaret, Judy Davis, Justin Long, and Jacqueline Williams

When celebrity couples make a film, it can be a financial disaster (Gigli starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) or a box office smash (Mr. & Mrs. Smith starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston are a celebrity couple (although they are coy about it), and their film, The Break-Up, was a box office hit in spite of receiving mostly mediocre and poor reviews. But I liked it a lot.

Once upon a time, Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston) were deeply in love, but like all couples, the daily grind and same old routine started to drive them crazy. One evening, after a long an exhausting day, Gary and Brooke have an argument and somehow it becomes the break-up. The problem is they live together, and neither wants to give up their plum condo. An all-out war and a test of wills begins with each one turning to his or her friends and family for advice. Gary and Brooke are each determined to be the “last man standing,” but, even as things get nastier, will either one like where this feud is going when there are still strong feelings of love.

Vince Vaughn is charming and charismatic, and no matter how many times he plays a sarcastic slacker, it never gets tired. Jennifer Aniston, gorgeous with a tight body and rocking ass, is quiet good in romantic roles. She seems to excel at playing the girlfriend or object of affection, and she does it well enough to suggest that someone should try her in a dramatic role. The Break-Up is her test drive because it is more drama than it is romance or comedy.

Vaughn and Aniston make The Break-Up both spicy and edgy, and it’s absolute delicious fun to watch this take-no-prisoners disintegration of a once thriving relationship. The comedy is dark, and the script maybe goes too far for some viewers in the way the writers are almost anal about showing as many embarrassing scenes and ugly confrontations between Gary and Brooke. As he did in Down with Love, director Peyton Reed is proving to be adept at making offbeat romances.

There are some nice supporting characters, nicely performed by a clever cast of character actors and actors who make a living playing the friend. As good as Jon Favreau, John Michael Higgins, Judy Davis, and Justin long are, they’re really just filler – the kind of comic relief buddies that are all too common in Hollywood relationship flicks. The real treat is Vaughn and Aniston, and The Break-Up is certainly an example of how good it sometimes can be when celebrity couples work together.

7 of 10
A-

Saturday, November 25, 2006

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First "Men in Black" Still Fresh and Original

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Men in Black (1997)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for language and sci-fi violence
DIRECTOR: Barry Sonnenfeld
WRITER: Ed Solomon, from a screenstory by Ed Solomon (based upon a comic book by Lowell Cunningham)
PRODUCERS: Laurie MacDonald and Walter F. Parkes
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Don Peterman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Jim Miller
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/FANTASY/COMEDY/ACTION

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D’Onofrio, Rip Torn, and Tony Shalhoub

The subject of this movie review is Men in Black, the 1997 science fiction comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, it focuses on a secret organization that monitors and polices the alien population that secretly lives on Earth. Steven Spielberg is the executive producer of Men in Black, which is based on the comic book created by Lowell Cunningham) as his production company, Amblin Entertainment, is one of the studios that produced the film.

I don’t watch many movies twice; I watch even fewer thrice. Movies that earn multiple viewings really have to entertain me, and much to my surprise, Men in Black is one of those movies. It is certainly one of the few examples of science fiction and comedy blended to make a great film. From the opening strains of Danny Elfman’s score over the credits, I realized that I was in for something special, something that combined some of my favorite forms of entertainment: B movies, EC Comics, weird and pseudo science fiction, alien conspiracies, monsters, wry comedy and black humor.

In the world of this movie, a secret organization, the Men in Black (who identify themselves to civilians as INS agents) monitor and regulate the presence of alien visitors and other world immigrants on earth. When his partner “retires,” Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) recruits a new partner, James Edwards (Will Smith), a brash young cop who showed excellent skill and much courage in the pursuit of an alien. After Edwards agrees to join, he must give up his identity; MiB literally erases everything that proved Edwards existed, and Edwards becomes Agent J.

Their first mission together is to find a dangerous alien “bug,” Edgar (Vincent D’ Onofrio) who seeks to possess a mysterious universe that is hidden somewhere in Manhattan, and, to keep him from getting it, a powerful race of aliens is ready to destroy the earth.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld was the perfect, though not the first, choice for this film. A former cinematographer (Raising Arizona, Misery), Sonnenfeld’s films always look gorgeous, and here he is abetted by MiB’s director of photography Don Peterman, who worked with Sonnenfeld on Addams Family Values and Get Shorty. Peterman captures the look and feel of low budget sci-fi film from the 1940’s and 50’s and the sparse look of such cult classics and The Brother from Another Planet and Buckaroo Banzai, while giving film a glossy, pretty look. Between director and photographer, they manage to make the film look like it belongs in the genres to which it aspires; this makes for a convincing and atmospheric film that feels right. At times, it is a sci-fi adventure, a detective story, a monster movie, and a horror film, but it never looks like an expensive, over produced Hollywood film, which it is.

The performances are excellent. Jones as Agent K is the consummate old veteran, and Linda Fiorentino as the morgue minder Dr. Laurel Weaver brings a wry and cynical sense of humor to the film. However, the actor who carries this film and sells it both as a wacky sci-fi film and as a funny movie is Will Smith.

Prejudiced science fiction and comic book fans often given short shrift to African American actors in genre films. The adventurous pasts and mysterious futures of sci-fi are often bereft of people of color, especially people of brown and darker hues. For years, racist fans blamed Richard Pryor for the poor quality of Superman III, when he was actually the film’s saving grace. In fact, when rumors placed Eddie Murphy in Star Trek IV, fans went into paroxysms of fear because black comedians can only ruin sci-fi films. “Look at Pryor in Superman III,” they cried through their white hoods. Of course, Star Trek films managed to suck eggs all on their own without a Negro jokester in sight.

Smith makes Men in Black. He’s our point of view. His reactions to his strange new environment sell the fantastical aspects of MiB as being actually both fantastic and weird. He’s the every man, albeit sexier and more personable than most, through which we follow the story. Despite the position of the actors’ names on the marquee, he’s the star and the lead. If you haven’t seen this wonderful and funny film, do so immediately.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1998 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Makeup” (Rick Baker and David LeRoy Anderson); 2 nominations: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Bo Welch-art director and Cheryl Carasik-set decorator), and “Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score” (Danny Elfman)

1998 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Special Effects” (Eric Brevig, Rick Baker, Rob Coleman, and Peter Chesney)

1998 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical”

Review: 2001 Oscar Nominee "The Cell" Finds Power in Vincent D'Onofrio

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 175 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Cell (2000)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R for bizarre violence and sexual images, nudity, and language
DIRECTOR: Tarsem Singh
WRITER: Mark Protosevich
PRODUCERS: Julie Caro and Eric McLeod
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Paul Laufer
EDITORS: Robert Duffy and Paul Rubell
Academy Award nominee

THRILLER/SCI-FI/HORROR

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Dylan Baker, Jake Weber, James Gammon, Colton James, and Jake Thomas

I never liked music video director Tarsem’s video for rock band R.E.M.’s fondly remembered single, “Losing My Religion,” – pretentious video for a pretentious song. However, I have a little more tolerance for Tarsem Singh (his full name) because of his movie, The Cell. In the film, science can send one person’s consciousness into the mind of another person. That scenario allows Tarsem to create wonderfully colorful and bizarre images that would make for a nice music video, but that also work in the context of a film narrative.

Carl Rudolph Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio) is a serial killer, but before he can kill his latest victim, he has a seizure related to schizophrenia that puts him in a coma from which he will not recover. FBI Agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) knows from studying the evidence in Carl’s house that they have less than two days to find the latest victim before she drowns in a cell (or chamber) Carl has rigged to flood via a time release device. But where is the cell?

Enter pyschotherapist Catherine Dean (Jennifer Lopez). She is the only person with experience entering the mind of another human being, so Agent Novak convinces her to journey into Stargher’s mind to communicate with him in hopes that he will reveal the whereabouts of his latest victim to Catherine. However, Catherine has never entered the mind of someone she hadn’t studied. When she enters Stargher’s mind, Catherine finds a world of revulsion and hyper bizarre images. Before long she meets Stargher’s idealized version of himself, a powerful, cross-dressing, behemoth emperor of a strange land, who captures and traps Catherine in his mind.

No doubt, The Cell was released in hopes of attracting the same audience that liked the mind-bending trip of The Matrix’s shifting realities. The Cell isn’t anywhere nearly as good as The Matrix, but it’s a convincing thriller; Tarsem also creates a real sense that the clock is ticking while they search for Stargher’s latest victim. The bizarre landscapes and visuals within Stargher’s mind are intriguing and, with a few exceptions, both visually striking and appealing.

Sometimes, it all seems a little silly, but the journey into Stargher’s mind and the Stargher character are the entire film. Jennifer Lopez’s acting is quite bad in this film; she shows no emotion or life for that matter. There is little or nothing there; she’s an empty vessel. Vince Vaughn is just as bad, if not worse. He’s not acting; he’s pretending and doing a bad job of it.

Vincent D’Onofrio, who always seems willing to put himself through the contortions of makeup or to jump through emotional hoops, gives the performance that saves this film. He has a great film presence, especially when he plays the heavy or plays a bad guy. There’s an air of menace about him, or better yet, he always looks like he’s about to go postal. So everything that is scary and thrilling about this movie goes through him, and luckily Tarsem just happened to notice that.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2001 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Makeup” (Michèle Burke and Edouard F. Henriques)

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Review: "Strange Days" is a Vastly Underrated Sci-Fi Movie (Happy B'day, Katheryn Bigelow)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 78 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Strange Days (1995)
Running time: 145 minutes (2 hours, 25 minutes)
MPAA – R for intense disturbing violence, sexuality, and pervasive strong language
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow
WRITERS: James Cameron and Jay Cocks; from a story by Cameron
PRODUCERS: James Cameron and Steven-Charles Jaffe
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew F. Leonetti
EDITOR: Howard E. Smith (and James Cameron who did not receive a screen credit)

DRAMA/CRIME/SCI-FI/THRILLER

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott, Vincent D’Onofrio, Glenn Plummer, Brigitte Bako, Richard Edson, William Fichtner, and Josef Sommer

Set in a quasi-futuristic or near future Los Angeles on the eve of the new millennium, Strange Days was, at the time, director Kathryn Bigelow’s most ambitious film. This is especially true from the technical and production standpoints, as special cameras were designed to shoot the film and filming certain sequences required complex production planning. Bigelow also collaborated on Strange Days with her then-former husband James Cameron (they were married from 1989-91) who wrote the film’s story, co-wrote the screenplay, co-produced the film, and edited the film’s final cut (although he didn’t receive a screen credit as an editor because he wasn’t at the time a member of the film editors guild).

This neo-noir thriller opens on Dec. 30, 1999 and introduces ex-cop, Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes). Lenny is a pusher of illegal virtual reality clips. This potent technology records everything a person experiences on a small disc. Later, a special player sends a signal straight into the cerebral cortex of the brain and allows the wearer to relive those sensations. Of course, recordings of sex, murder, and violence are the most popular clips. When Lenny gets a clip that captured the murder of Jeriko One (Glenn Plummer), a high-profile rap musician and anti-government activist, he finds himself ensnared in a manhunt in which he can never be sure of the hunters’ identities. With the help of Lornette “Mace” Mason (Angela Bassett) an old friend and limo driver who is quite the fighter, Lenny tries to stay ahead of the danger and protect his old girlfriend, Faith Justin (Juliette Lewis), a musician who is somehow part of this. All the while, Lenny is trying to figure out what to do with a clip that could ignite the power keg that is Los Angeles on the eve of the year 2000 and set a fire that won’t stop burning.

Strange Days is a top-notch sci-fi drama, and it starts off with a good script and concept, for most of which visionary filmmaker James Cameron (The Terminator, Titanic) is responsible. This was also the film in which Kathryn Bigelow’s potential paid off quite nicely. Her choice of filmmaking genres likely surprised people early in a career, but this movie shows that she is more than capable of mounting a big production and controlling it. She maintains the integrity of Cameron’s vision, while visualizing it with consummate skill. She presents Strange Days as a plausible quasi-future and presents a frame of reference the audience can recognize. While Cameron’s stories have generally dealt with a strong action heroine or woman who can move to action, Bigelow emphasized gender stereotypes and portrayed the male, Lenny Nero, especially weak and enormously dependent upon the female, Lornette “Mace” Mason, who doesn’t back down or take prisoners in a fight.

There are good performances all around, in particularly Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett. In Lenny Nero, Fiennes defines the noble criminal, a slick huckster constantly fending off his conscience. Bassett is a heavyweight, breathing life into Mace Mason, as she reveals so much about her in a subtle fashion. She helps us discover one side of Mace so quietly that it’s surprising to realize that by the middle of the film, we know Mace as well as we know Lenny. Then, Bassett will explode in a flurry of punches and whip out a pistol, and we’re looking at Mace as an entirely different person.

Looking back on Strange Days, Cameron’s script seems slightly prophetic and may yet reveal a few more prophecies. In the end, however, Bigelow guides her cast, in particularly her stellar leads, and creative crew into creating a vision of the future that wallows in the excesses of our present, showing us how social ills will likely get worse. Then, Bigelow tells us that the future promises hope and brings out the best of those who want to show their best.

7 of 10
A-

Thursday, May 17, 2007

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Review: "Ed Wood" Biopic is Still a Delight (Happy B'day, Ed Wood)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 161 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ed Wood (1994)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – R for some strong language
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (based upon the book Nightmare of Ecstasy by Rudolph Grey)
PRODUCERS: Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stefan Czapsky
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Howard Shore
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA/BIOPIC

Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Murray, Max Casella, Brent Hinkley, Lisa Marie, Vincent D’Onofrio, and George “The Animal” Steele

Martin Landau won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, a biopic of the legendary director of such “awful” movies as Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda. A box office flop when it was released on Halloween night in 1994, Ed Wood still earned rave reviews and today is a fan favorite amongst many movie buffs. At the time, it was Tim Burton’s best directorial effort since Beetlejuice (1988) and since that film, he has not made another film that is closer to the spirit he showed in his early works.

Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Johnny Depp) wanted to be a great filmmaker, but probably lacked the talent and skills, if not the vision, to be one. Just before his career kicks off in the early 1950’s, Wood meets the infamous Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) best known for starring in horror films, and especially for his trademark work, the 1931 film version of Dracula. Lugosi, a heroin addict on the tale end of his career and financial strapped, joins Ed Wood’s gang of merry idiots, outcasts, and weirdoes to make three truly awful films. Ed Wood and the elder thespian become close friends as Wood struggles to finance his pictures.

It’s difficult to find fault with Ed Wood, as pretty much everything about the film is top notch, from the wonderful art direction and costumes to Howard Shore’s magnificent score. Cinematographer Stefan Czapsky’s glorious black and white photography remains one of the best examples of black and white film used as an artistic choice in the last quarter century.

Ed Wood claims to be a mostly true story of Wood the filmmaker, but Burton’s intent here is what his intent is in many of his films – to tell the uplifting story of the outcast, outsider, weirdo, or nonconformist who struggles to do his own thing in spite of what normal society says. The script, by biopic experts Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon), takes a naïve, idealistic, and ultimately light-hearted approach in examining people who do really bad work, but who have the best intentions. The writers don’t, however, play everything as happy-go-lucky because the story depicts an awful lot of frustrations in the way of Wood and his crew.

Stylistically, Burton takes the approach of making Ed Wood look like a camp picture. Shot in black and white, the film’s style is almost as farcical as Wood’s filmography. Perhaps, it was best for Burton to make his film as off-kilter as his subject, and it worked. Biographical films face many obstacles; being boring and preachy or making saints and martyrs of their subjects are the worst sins of biopics. Ed Wood, however, is fun, surreal, and fantastical, and Burton sees the world through the eyes of a harmless madman who wanted to make great movies and made painfully bad pictures. This is a bold creative move on Burton’s part, the kind of adventurous and imaginative choices that he doesn’t always make. The Hollywood machine often eats the brilliance out of this visionary filmmaker.

Wood is also full of wonderful performances. Besides Landau’s Lugosi (for which he received numerous awards), Depp shows that he is every bit the wild spirit that his frequent collaborator Burton is. Depp’s Wood wears a kabuki mask of campy zaniness, but Depp also plays the character with such depth that how can we not help but take Wood seriously as a serious filmmaker even when we know he makes crap? Bill Murray for his wily and self-effacing performance and Lisa Marie for playing Vampira as a staid, ticking, sex bomb also deserve notice. Along with everybody else, they make Ed Wood a rare cinematic treat, an oddball movie about an oddball filmmaker. Ed Wood is hilarious, and is finally a deeply moving picture about the quest to share one’s dreams with the world.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1995 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Martin Landau) and “Best Makeup” (Rick Baker, Ve Neill, and Yolanda Toussieng)

1995 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Martin Landau); 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Johnny Depp)

1996 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Make Up/Hair” (Ve Neill, Rick Baker, and Yolanda Toussieng) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Martin Landau)

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