Review: "GRAVEYARD OF THE FIREFLIES" is as Powerful as Any Live-Action Wartime Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 of 2023 (No. 1924) by Leroy Douresseaux

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Hotaru no Haka – original Japanese title

Running time:  89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)

MPAA – not rated

DIRECTOR:  Isao Takahata

WRITER:  Isao Takahata (based on the novel by Akiyuki Nosaka)

PRODUCER:  Toru Hara

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Nobuo Koyama

EDITOR: Takeshi Seyama

COMPOSER:  Michio Mamiya

ANIMATION/WAR/DRAMA

Starring:  (voices) Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, and Yoshiko Shinohara

Hotaru no Haka or Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 Japanese animated World War II drama and historical film directed by Isao Takahata and produced by Studio Ghibli.  The film is based on the 1967 short story, “Grave of the Fireflies,” by Akiyuki Nosaka.  This was the fourth animated film produced by Studio Ghibli and the first one directed by studio co-founder, Isao Takahata.  Grave of the Fireflies focuses on a young boy and his little sister as they struggle to survive in World War II Japan.

Grave of the Fireflies introduces a boy, Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi), and his little sister, Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi).  They find themselves on their own as a result of one of the American raids that was part of “the Bombing of Kobe” campaign during World War II.

One day, a group of American Boeing bombers firebombs Kobe.  Though Seita and Setsuko survive the bombing, their mother (Yoshiko Shinohara) is severely injured and later dies.  Seita conceals their mother's death from Setsuko in an attempt to keep her happy.  Seita does not know the status of their father who is an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy.  The children move in with an aunt (Akemi Yamaguchi), but although Seita tries to accommodate his aunt's demands, she becomes resentful of the children being in her home.

After leaving their aunt's house, Seita and Setsuko move into an abandoned bomb shelter located near a pond.  The place is swarming with fireflies, which delights Setsuko.  For a time, Seita and Setsuko are happy, but like the life of an adult firefly, the children's happiness is short-lived.

Previously, I have only reviewed two Studio Ghilbi films that were not directed by Hayao Miyazaki.  They are Tales from Earthsea (2006), which was directed by Miyazaki's son Gorō Miyazaki, and The Secret World of Arrietty (2010).  As Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail division (in September 2023), I am hoping to get to more Studio Ghibli films that I have not previously watched.

I think Grave of the Fireflies has received much praise because it is not only a powerful war film, but it is also a truly unique war film.  Grave of the Fireflies is not an anti-war film, although it depicts the suffering that wartime can bring, mainly through Seita and Setsuko, but also via background characters.  The film is haunting and achingly sad, but at the same time, life goes on, even in wartime.  Seita and Setsuko make the best of life, a nearly inseparable pair enjoying life the best that they can.  The film portrays how Seita watches over Setsuko so that she can still live the life of a small girl, frockling, having adventures, and using her imagination.  Her smiles and happiness permeate this film even in its darker moments.  One might question the choices that Seita makes, but he did not make them out of concern of his own pride.  He made them so that his little sister could live in dignity.

Grave of the Fireflies proves that animated films can tackle the most achingly human conditions, including the heartbreaking experiences that afflicted many Japanese during World War II.  The animation's glorious colors might suggest a vivid pastoral fantasy, but the story is a depiction of the human pastoral.  Thematically, the film's fireflies can represent many things, from birth and decay to the flight of planes that attack Japan.  However, I usually thought of the spirits of children in flight when I saw a scene of fireflies gently moving upwards.

Grave of the Fireflies is a film that no fan of animated feature films should miss.  It has a timeless quality, and I found it hard to believe that this year (2023) is the thirty-fifth anniversary of the film's original Japanese theatrical release.  The story that it depicts may be from a long-gone time, but like Seita and Setsuko, the spirit of Grave of the Fireflies still stirs.

9 of 10

A+

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Thursday, August 3, 2023

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Review: "THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING" is a Fairy Tale of Love Stories

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 73 of 2022 (No. 1885) by Leroy Douresseaux

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

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

MPA – R for some sexual content, graphic nudity and brief violence

DIRECTOR:  George Miller

WRITERS:  George Miller and Augusta Gore (based upon the short story by A.S. Byatt)

PRODUCERS:  Doug Mitchell and George Miller

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  John Seale (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Margaret Sixel

COMPOSER: Junkie XL

FANTASY/ROMANCE/DRAMA

Starring:  Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba, Erdil Yasaroglu, Aamito Lagum, Ece Yuksel, Matteo Bocelli, and Nicolas Mouawad

Three Thousand Years of Longing is a 2022 fantasy film and romantic drama directed by George Miller  It is based on the short story, “The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye,” which was written by author A. S. Byatt and first published in the Winter 1994 edition of The Paris Review.  Three Thousand Years of Longing focuses on lonely scholar and a djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.

Three Thousand Years of Longing introduces Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton), a lonely British scholar and “narratologist.”  She travels to Istanbul, Turkey for a conference.  While there, Alithea visits Istanbul's “Grand Bazaar” where she enters a store filled with beautiful and intricate glassware.  She purchases an odd, antique bottle, and takes it back to her hotel.

While cleaning the bottle, Alithea is shocked to discover that there is something inside it and that she has unwittingly released its contents.  Alithea has accidentally unleashed a djinn that was trapped inside the bottle.  The Djinn (Idris Elba) offers to grant her three wishes, but Alithea believes that djinn are tricksters and that the wishes they grant turn out to be misfortune for those that did the wishing.  So The Djinn tells Alithea three tales that explain how he came to be in the bottle in which she found him.  Will this convince Alithea to accept his offer of three wishes – an act that will grant him freedom?

First, I must say that Three Thousand Years of Longing has excellent production values, and I would expect nothing less from a great filmmaker like George Miller, best known for his Mad Max films, including the original Mad Max (1979) and the most recent, the winner of multiple Oscar-winner, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).  The costumes, sets, art direction, hair and make-up, the score, and cinematography give Three Thousand Years of Longing a golden hue.  It is in the depiction of The Djinn's stories that this film's production values assert their power in transforming Three Thousand Years of Longing into a engaging fairy tale full of wondrous fairy tales

However, these same fairy tales often outshine the main narrative, much of which deals with the impasse in which Alithea and The Djinn find themselves.  Luckily, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a story with a beginning, middle, and an end.  For it is at the end that we learn that Three Thousand Years of Longing is truly a love story, but a love story that only a fairy tale can tell.  Love is a story, and in this story, love, with its endless longing, is different and lives differently.

George Miller and his co-writer, Augusta Gore, could only tell this film story with two extraordinary and exceptional actors.  Tilda Swinton, strange chameleon and splendid thespian, and Idris Elba, whose profound voice reveals the deep pool of ability from which it springs, are so perfectly matched in being mismatched and star-crossed, that they make us believe in what their characters ultimately make for themselves.  Three Thousand Years of Longing is not perfect, but it is the kind of fantasy film that only exceptional cinematic talents can create.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, December 3, 2022

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Review: "HELLRAISER III: Hell on Earth" Raises Fresh Hell

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 59 of 2022 (No. 1871) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)
Running time:  93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and sexuality, and for language
DIRECTOR:  Anthony Hickox
WRITERS:  Peter Atkins; from a story by Peter Atkins and Tony Randel (based on the characters created by Clive Barker)
PRODUCER:  Lawrence Mortorff
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Gerry Lively (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  James D.R. Hickox and Christopher Cibelli (supervising film editor)
COMPOSER:  Randy Miller

HORROR/FANTASY

Starring:  Terry Farrell, Doug Bradley, Paula Marshall, Kevin Bernhardt, Ken Carpenter, Peter Atkins, Peter G. Boynton, and Ashley Laurence

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is a 1992 supernatural horror and dark fantasy film directed by Anthony Hickox.  The film is based on characters and concepts taken from the 1986 novella, “The Hellbound Heart,” which was written by Clive Barker, who is the executive producer of this film.  Hell on Earth is also the third film in the Hellraiser film franchise.  Hellraiser III focuses on a young reporter who finds herself taking on the most powerful of the Cenobites.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth opens in the wake of the incidents depicted in Hellbound: Hellraiser II.  The Cenobite (demon) called “Pinhead” (Doug Bradley) has been split into two entities:  his former human self, World War I British Army Captain Elliot Spencer (Doug Bradley) and the manifestation of Spencer's id that has taken on the form of Pinhead.

In modern day New York City, J.P. Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt) visits the “Pyramid Gallery,” a creepy art gallery where he buys an intricately carved pillar, “the Pillar of Souls,” which depicts writhing figures and distorted faces etched into its surface.  J.P. installs the pillar at his popular nightclub, “The Boiler Room.” What Monroe does not know is that Pinhead is one of the figures trapped in the pillar, along with one of those puzzle boxes used to summon the Cenobites.

Meanwhile, Joanne “Joey” Summerskill (Terry Farrell), an ambitious young television reporter, is struggling to get respect and attention at the station for which she works, Channel 8.  However, an incident at a local hospital brings her into contact with Terri (Paula Marshall), a young homeless woman who has had a relationship with J.P. Monroe.  As Joey delves deeper into the the hospital incident, she learns that Terri has a puzzle box in her possession.  Now, the box is diving into Joey's dreams.  Trapped in limbo, Elliot Spencer needs Joey's help, because he is depending on her to send Pinhead and his new Cenobites back to Hell.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is a direct sequel to the second film in the series, Hellbound: Hellraiser II.  That surprised me, as I have only seen Hell on Earth once, and that was when it was first release to theaters – 30 years ago!  I remember not liking it, but now, I can honestly say that Hellraiser III is much better than Hellraiser II.

The third film was the first to be filmed in the United States (specifically North Carolina), and it is more action-oriented than the previous films, including the original, Hellraiser (1987).  Hell on Earth also emphasizes that the Cenobites are denizens of Hell and are demons.  Previously, the Cenobites' “home” was a dimension called “Labyrinth,” and they could be angels or demons – depending upon the point of view.  The third film also has something the first two films did not have – a thumbing soundtrack full of good rock and heavy metal music.

The film has some interesting characters, especially the human characters:  Joey, Terri, and J.P., but it really does not do much with them.  As Joey, Terry Farrell does her best with weak character material, and Kevin Bernhardt adds a jolt to the film as the arrogant womanizer, J.P.  Doug Bradley does his best work in his dual role as Pinhead and as Capt. Elliot Spencer.  If there were ever any doubt, Hellraiser III makes it clear that Pinhead is the true star of this franchise, although Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence), who makes a cameo here, is the film's “other star.”

To this day, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is the last film in the series that I have seen.  When I originally saw it, I did not care for it, and it finished the series for me.  Three decades later, I like it, and I really like the new Cenobites.  We are awaiting the debut of the franchise reboot, entitled Hellraiser, in early October 2022 on the streaming service, Hulu.  So, I feel comfortable recommending the heavy metal Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth for those interested in the original movies.

6 of 10
B
★★★ out of 4 stars

Monday, October 3, 2022


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Review: Gory "HELLBOUND: Hellraiser II" is More Weird Fantasy Than Horror

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 58 of 2022 (No. 1870) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Running time:  97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
Rated – R
DIRECTOR:  Tony Randel
WRITERS:  Peter Atkins; from a story by Clive Barker
PRODUCER:  Christopher Figg
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robin Vidgeon (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Richard Marden
COMPOSER:  Christopher Young

HORROR/FANTASY

Starring:  Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Doug Bradley, Kenneth Cranham, Imogen Boorman, William Hope, Barbie Wilde, Nicholas Vince, Simon Bamford, Sean Chapman, and Oliver Smith

Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a 1988 British supernatural horror and dark fantasy film directed by Tony Randel.  The film is a direct sequel to the 1987 film, Hellraiser.  Like the first film, Hellbound is based on characters and concepts taken from the 1986 novella, “The Hellbound Heart,” which was written by Clive Barker, one of the people behind this film.  Hellbound is also the second film in the Hellraiser film franchise.  Hellbound finds the survivor of the first film, Kirsty, in a psychiatric hospital and dealing with a doctor who is obsessed with the sadomasochistic beings known as the “Cenobites” and the occult world from which they originate.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II opens shortly after the events of the first film.  Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) has been admitted into the Channard Institute, a psychiatric hospital.  She is still dealing with the terrible events surrounding the death of her father, Larry Cotton.  When she is interviewed by Dr. Phillip Channard (Kenneth Cranham) and his assistant, Dr. Kyle MacRae (William Hope), she gives her account of the events at her father's home (as seen in the first film).  Kirsty is shocked to discover that the bloody mattress upon which her murderous and wicked stepmother, Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins), died is in police custody, and she begs Channard and MacRae to destroy it.

What Kirsty doesn't realize is that Dr. Channard is secretly obsessed with the puzzle boxes that bring forth the Cenobites and with their occult, demonic underworld.  Taking possession of the mattress, Channard discovers that Julia is still inside it, waiting for the blood of fresh victims that will revive her.  Channard's plot involves another patient at his institute, a girl named Tiffany (Imogen Boorman).  Seemingly mute, Tiffany demonstrates an aptitude for puzzles, and Channard wants her to solve one of the three puzzle boxes that have come into his possession.

Now, Kirsty must enter the labyrinth-like world of the Cenobites because she believes that is where she can save her father.  However, both she and Tiffany will have to survive the Cenobites, Julia and Channard's schemes, and “Leviathan the Lord of the Labyrinth.”

The original Hellraiser was indeed a supernatural horror film.  Hellbound: Hellraiser II is more dark fantasy than horror.  In fact, it reminds me of a number of weird and unusual 1980s sci-fi and/or fantasy films that took readers on strange journeys, from 1981's Heavy Metal and 1983's Krull to 1985's Legend and 1986's Labyrinth.

Hellbound has good production values – not as good as Hellraiser, however.  Christopher Young, who scored the first film, provides the musical score for Hellbound, but this time, the music is a bit noisier than in the first film.  The costumes are still good, but mostly repeats the aesthetic of Hellraiser.  The make-up seems more tacky, and in some cases, needlessly gory and excessively bloody.

The story is odd, but has some interesting elements.  Unfortunately, the film does not have much of a plot, and there really isn't a beginning, middle, and end.  It is as if Hellbound is a slice of something larger.  Hellbound is more about shocking visuals and gruesome images than it is about plot.  Other than introducing the Cenobites' labyrinth-like dimension and its lord, Leviathan, the film tells us nothing in the way of details about it or its inhabitants.

The characters are intriguing, but the writer and director treat them like nothing more than bodies to be abused, tortured, and killed.  Still, I find myself fascinated by Ashley Laurence's Kirsty and newcomer Imogen Boorman's Tiffany.  In this film, I decided that Clare Higgins' Julia was more fascinating than she was in the original, although she was good in that, also.

Hellbound dimmed my enthusiasm for this franchise, and I had little patience for the next film in the series, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992).  Hellraiser wanted to tear your soul apart.  Hellbound: Hellraiser II only wants to cut your body to pieces … before the boredom sets in.

4 of 10
C
★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, September 27, 2022


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Review: Original "HELLRAISER" Will Still Tear Your Soul Apart

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 of 2022 (No. 1869) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hellraiser (1987)
Running time:  93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
Rated – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Clive Barker
PRODUCER:  Christopher Figg
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robin Vidgeon (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Richard Marden
COMPOSER:  Christopher Young

HORROR/FANTASY

Starring:  Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Andrew Robinson, Sean Chapman, Robert Hines, Doug Bradley, Nicholas Vince, Simon Bamford, Grace Kirby, Frank Baker, and Oliver Smith

Hellraiser is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker.  The film is an adaptation of Barker's 1986 novella, “The Hellbound Heart,” which was first published in the third volume in Dark Harvest's Night Visions anthology series.  This movie also launched the Hellraiser film series, which is currently comprised of eleven films, including an upcoming reboot film, entitled Hellraiser, to be streamed on Hulu.  The first Hellraiser movie focuses on a daughter, a father, his second wife, and his brother (who was his wife's lover), and a group of sadomasochistic beings known as the “Cenobites.”

Hellraiser introduces Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman), who searches the world for the greatest pleasures.  His travels take him to Morocco where he buys a strange puzzle box.  In the empty attic of his late parents' home, Frank solves the puzzle and opens the box.  From the box, hooked chains emerge and begin to tear Frank apart because he has fallen into the clutches of a group of extra-dimensional, sadomasochistic beings called the Cenobites.  Demons to some and angels to others, they offer the greatest pleasure … but also the greatest pain.

Some time afterward, Frank's brother, Larry Cotton (Andrew Robinson), moves into the house in a bid to rebuild his strained relationship with his second wife, Julia (Clare Higgins).  Larry's adult daughter, Kirsty (Ashley Laurence), decides to get a place of her own.  Larry is also unaware that shortly before they were married, Julia had a torrid affair with Frank.

While moving furniture into the house, Larry has an accident that leaves blood dripped onto the attic floor.  Beneath that floor are the desiccated remains of Frank, and Larry's blood begins to revive the tissue.  Soon, Frank has returned as a skinless corpse that is soon found by Julia.  In order to revive Frank, Julia begins luring men into the attic.  Julia and Frank's activities have not gone unnoticed and the puzzle box is still around.  And so are the Cenobites.

I first saw Hellraiser when it played at a local theater; my memory says 1988.  For me it was an unforgettable cinematic experience.  I saw it several times over the following years, but I have not watched it in well over two decades.  Seeing it again, I was surprised at how much of it I actually remembered correctly, which is not always the case when I haven't seen a movie in time that can be measured in decades.

Christopher Young's score is as great as I remembered it to be.  Bold and shamelessly intrusive, it is one of the best musical scores for a horror film that I have ever heard.  The make-up and costumes, especially the former, are still amazing and still seem imaginative, although much of it has been copied and replicated countless times since the original release of Hellraiser.  It is a shame that the committee that oversees the “best make-up” category of the Academy Awards isn't a bit more adventurous and imaginative in their choices.  Hellraiser deserved an Oscar nod for its make-up effects.

I like the performances.  When I see American actor Andrew Robinson on some television series, he usually looks as if he just killed someone, but here, he is convincing as Larry Cotton, loving father and determined spouse.  Claire Higgins looks as if she has a stick up her ass, but it serves her imperious ice queen character, Julia, quite well.  Sean Chapman is half-and-half as Frank, but Oliver Smith who plays the “monster version” of Frank, is excellent.  The best actor in this film, however, is Ashley Laurence, who comes across as genuine in the role of loving daughter and “final girl.”  I think the Hellraiser film franchise became low rent over time because she did not stick around past the second film in the series, Hellbound: Hellraiser II.

For me, Hellraiser works.  By the time I first saw it, I had read several of Clive Barker's short fiction via the American release of his Books of Blood short story collections.  I was familiar with his brand of horror and dark horror, which was deeply imaginative in terms of plot, setting, and characters and also in its depictions of violence.  Clive Barker is different, and so is his film, Hellraiser.  It is a viewing and storytelling experience like no other.  And almost four decades later, Hellraiser can still tear your soul apart, dear readers.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, September 22, 2022


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Review: In "THE BLACK PHONE," the Children Answer the Call

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 52 of 2022 (No. 1864) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Black Phone (2022)
Running time:  103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPA – R for violence, bloody images, language and some drug use
DIRECTOR:  Scott Derrickson
WRITERS:  Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill (based on the short story “The Black Phone” by Joe Hill)
PRODUCERS:  Jason Blum, Scott Derrickson, and C. Robert Cargill
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Brett Jutkiewicz (D.o.P.)  
EDITOR:  Frédéric Thoraval
COMPOSER:  Mark Korven

HORROR/CRIME/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring:  Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, E. Roger Mitchell, Troy Rudeseal, James Ransone, Miguel Cazarez Mora, Rebecca Clarke, Tristan Pravong, Brady Hepner, Jacob Moran, Banks Repeta, and Ethan Hawke

The Black Phone is a 2022 supernatural horror, mystery,and crime thriller from director Scott Derrickson.  The film is based on the short story, “The Black Phone,” from author Joe Hill.  The story was first published in the The 3rd Alternative No. 39, the Autumn 2004 issue of the former British horror magazine.  The Black Phone the movie focuses on a teen boy who is abducted by a child killer and imprisoned in a basement where he starts receiving phone calls from a disconnected phone.

The Black Phone opens in North Denver, 1978.  A presumed serial killer, nicknamed “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke), has been prowling the streets of a particular Denver suburb and abducting teenage boys.  Shortly after the film begins, a boy named Bruce Yamada (Tristan Pravong) disappears and is presumed a victim of The Grabber.

Teen Finney Blake (Mason Thames) lives in this North Denver suburb with his younger sister, Gwen Blake (Madeleine McGraw), and their abusive, alcoholic, widowed father, Terrence Blake (Jeremy Davies).  At school, Finney is frequently bullied and harassed, but he has struck up a friendship with a classmate, Robin Arellano ( Miguel Cazarez Mora), who fends off the bullies.  Then, the Grabber gets Robin.

Meanwhile, Gwen, who has psychic dreams like her late mother, dreams of a masked man who drives a van and kidnaps Bruce, leaving black balloons in his wake.  Then, Finney has a violent encounter with the Grabber.  Finney awakens in a soundproofed basement where the Grabber has imprisoned him.  On the rear wall is a black rotary phone that the Grabber says does not work.  The black phone is supposedly disconnected, but later, the phone rings.  When Finney answers it, he here's a familiar voice – a voice of one of the Grabber's victims.  Now, Finney must rely on the instructions of ghosts, his own shaky bravery, and (unknown to him) the dreams of Gwen if he is going to survive the murderous plans of a maniac.

I have not read the short story, author Joe Hill's “The Black Phone,” upon which this film is based.  [I have read Hill's 2013 novel, NOS4A2, and his 2019 short story and novelettes collection, Full Throttle.]  Not reading the short story did not stop me from enjoying The Black Phone the movie, for the most part.

It takes a bit to really get into the nonsensical scenario:  a guy drives around in a pitch black van, snatching kids in the middle of the day, practically right out in the street, and no one sees a thing.  However, co-writer/director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill thrive on generating scares out of ridiculous scenarios, such as in their 2012 creepy horror film, Sinister.  Truthfully, horror films should not necessarily make sense; whether the film is driven by a killer, demonic possession, or haunting, horror films are a fantastic scenario.  Scary movies should not be logical or perhaps, be somewhat illogical.  Still, until the Grabber grabs Finney, I was not invested in the film, although I was already feeling some fear.

That said, the children are the stars of this film, especially the siblings, Finney and Gwen Blake.  Finney tries to find answers in the mysterious phone calls he receives on the disconnected black phone.  Gwen battles her own doubts even as she deals with an abusive father who is afraid of what will become of her and her abilities, to say nothing of the two police detectives who must come around to believing her visions.

The Black Phone is one of those times when both a boy and a girl come of age and undergo the heroic journey at the same time in the same movie.  That makes the struggle and victory all the more satisfying.  Mason Thames as Finney and Madeleine McGraw as Gwen are convincing as both the heroes and as the sensible ones.  They make The Black Phone's last act visceral and invigorating, and dear readers, you will vicariously fear for your life, which makes the resolution so, so satisfying.  It is rare that I cheer the end of a horror movie, but I did it for The Black Phone.

7 of 10
A-
★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, September 10, 2022


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Review: "DRIVE MY CAR" is an Extraordinary Drama and is One of 2021's Best Films

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 47 of 2022 (No. 1859) by Leroy Douresseaux

Drive My Car (2021)
Original title: Doraibu Mai Kā (Japan)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Japan; Languages: Japanese, Korean Sign Language, English, and others
Running time:  179 minutes (2 hours, 59 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
WRITERS:  Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe (based on the short story by Haruki Murakami)
PRODUCERS:  Teruhisa Yamamoto
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Hidetoshi Shinomiya
EDITOR:  Azusa Yamazaki
COMPOSER:  Eiko Ishibashi
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring:  Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Reika Kirishima, Masaki Okada, Park Yu-rim, Jin Dae-yeon, Sonia Yuan, Ahn Hwitae, Peri Dizon, and Satoko Abe

Doraibu Mai Kā is a 2021 Japanese drama film directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.  The film is also known by its English title, Drive My Car (the title which I will use for this review).  The film is based on author Haruki Murakami's short story, "Drive My Car," which is included in Murakami's 2014 short story collection, Men Without Women.  Drive My Car the movie focuses on a recent widower who is directing a play and dealing with the fact that he must accept someone else driving his beloved car.

Drive My Car is set in Japan and introduces actor and well-known theater director, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima).  He was married to Oto (Reika Kirishima), an attractive screenwriter who suddenly died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Two years later, Yusuke accepts a residency in Hiroshima, where he will direct a multilingual adaptation of Uncle Vanya, the 1898 play by the renowned Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov.  Yusuke also discovers that the theater company financing Uncle Vanya, the Hiroshima Arts and Culture Center, requires that Yusuke not drive his car, but instead be chauffeured in his own car.  He objects at first, but a reserved young female chauffeur, Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), reveals herself to be a skilled driver.  So Yusuke accepts someone else driving his car.

Yusuke begins casting the play and discovers that one of the auditioning actors is Koshi Takatsuki, a former colleague of his late wife, Oto.  As he works through the play with the cast, Yusuke deals with his grief, but discovers that the young actor, Koshi, and his young driver, Misaki, are also dealing with grief, regret, and inner turmoil.

Apparently, the complicated feelings and trauma of the characters in Drive My Car echo the emotional turmoil of the characters in Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.  I have never read Uncle Vanya, nor have I ever seen a production of it.

That does not stop me from seeing Drive My Car as probably the best film of 2021.  The film is meditative and contemplative and has a smooth, calm pace which heightens the film's sense of intimacy.  This tranquility allows director Ryusuke Hamaguchi to direct a film in which it really looks like the actors are engaging in self-examination.  The film's themes of regret, of accepting others as they are, and of self-acceptance feel genuine.

One might think that Drive My Car is dull or even complicated, but it is not.  The film is rather straightforward, and the confrontations between characters can be intense but feel constructive.  Drive My Car may be too slow for most American audiences, but I think that serious film lovers will find themselves engrossed by this hauntingly beautiful and most painfully human film.  They may even find it helpful.  Watching the film, I felt as if I were experiencing something I needed to see and hear a long time ago.

This film received many honors, including winning the Academy Award for “Best Foreign Language Film.”  Still, I would have liked to have seen some of its cast, especially lead actor, Hidetoshi Nishijima (Yusuke), and supporting actress, Toko Miura (as the drive Misaki), earn Oscar acting notices.  Yusuke and Misaki's scenes at the latter's old home during the last half hour of the film are some of the best in years and some of the best performed.  Other cast members:  Reika Kirishima, Masaki Okada, and Park Yu-rim, are also worthy of award notice.

Drive My Car's cinematographer, Hidetoshi Shinomiya, made the film one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, of the year.  From majestic exterior vistas to shadowy and cozy interiors shots, Drive My Car looks both intimate and epic.  Eiko Ishibashi's film score, with its futuristic flourishes and electronica sensibilities, accentuates Shinomiya's cinematography,

That is the thing about Drive My Car.  Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi has great collaborators, including his co-writer, Takamasa Oe, and he could not have made Drive My Car the achievement in cinema that it is without them.  He could not have made a film in which some of its best scenes occur inside a moving car such an sublime film experience.  Drive My Car.

10 of 10

Friday, August 12, 2022

NOTES:
2022 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best International Feature Film” (Japan); 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Teruhisa Yamamoto), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi), and “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe)

2022 BAFTA Awards:  1 win “Best Film Not in the English Language” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Teruhisa Yamamoto); 2 nominations: “Best Director” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi) and “Best Screenplay-Adapted” )Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

2022 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win : “Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language” (Japan)

2021 Cannes Film Festival:  3 wins: “Best Screenplay” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe), “FIPRESCI Prize” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi), and “Prize of the Ecumenical Jury” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi); 1 nomination: “Palme d'Or” (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

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: Steven Spielberg's "Duel" (Countdown to "The Fabelmans")

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 46 of 2022 (No. 1858) by Leroy Douresseaux

Duel (1971) – TV movie
Running time:  90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg
WRITER: Richard Matheson (based on his short story)
PRODUCER:  George Eckstein
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jack a Marta (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Frank Morriss
COMPOSER:  Billy Goldenberg
Primetime Emmy Award winner

THRILLER/ACTION

Starring:  Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell, Lucille Benson, and Carey Loftin

Duel is a 1971 action-thriller and television film directed by Steven Spielberg.  The film is based on the short story, “Duel,” which was first published in the April 1971 issue of Playboy Magazine.  It was written by Richard Matheson, who also wrote this film's teleplay (screenplay).  Duel the movie focuses on a business commuter pursued and terrorized by a driver in a massive tanker truck.

Duel was originally a “Movie of the Week” that was broadcast on ABC November 20, 1971.  Duel was the first film directed by Steven Spielberg, and it is considered to be the film that marked young Spielberg as an up and coming film director.  Following its successful air on television, Universal had Spielberg shoot new scenes for Duel in order to extend it from its original length of 74 minutes for TV to 90 minutes for a theatrical release.  This extended version of Duel was released to theaters internationally and also received a limited release in the United States.  The theatrical version is the subject of this review.

Duel focuses on David Mann (Dennis Weaver), a middle-aged salesman.  One morning, he leaves his suburban home to drive across California on a business trip.  Along the way, he encounters a dilapidated tanker truck that is driving too slow for David.  He drives his car past the tanker, but a short while later, the tanker speeds up and roars past David's car.  After David passes the tanker again, the truck driver blasts his horn.  That sets off a cat and mouse game in which the tanker's seemingly malevolent driver pursues David's car and terrorizes him.  And nothing David does can help him to escape the pursuit.

I think that the mark of a great film director is his or her ability to get the most out of his or her cast and creatives and a maximum effort from the film crew.  Duel is a display of excellent work on the stunt performers and drivers.  Together with the camera crew, sound technicians, and film editor, they deliver a small screen film that offers a big cinematic duel between a small car and relentless tanker truck.

Dennis Weaver delivers a performance in multiple layers as David Mann.  Weaver makes Mann seem like a real businessman type, a cog-in-the-machine and ordinary fellow just trying to make it in the world.  Weaver does not seem to be acting so much as he is living and fighting for survival.

Behind all this is the young maestro, Steven Spielberg.  It is not often that TV movies get the cinematic treatment, but I imagine that the original production company, Universal Television, was quite pleased when they first saw this film.  It is genuinely thrilling and unsettling, and the truck driver (played by stuntman Carey Loftin), who is unseen except for his forearm and waving hand and his jeans and cowboy boots, can unnerve like the best horror film slasher killers.  The way that dilapidated tanker truck moves makes me think that it was a precursor to the shark in Jaws, which would become Spielberg's first blockbuster theatrical film just a few years (1975) after the release of Duel.

Richard Matheson's script for the film seems to want to make the viewer really wonder about the driver.  Is he evil... or a maniac... or demented prankster?  Why does he focus on David Mann?  Has he done this before?  What is his endgame with David?  Does he want to kill him or just punish him.  Does he want to torment David before he crushes him and his car beneath his tanker truck's wheels?

Steven Spielberg brings those questions to fearsome life on the small screen and later big screen.  He makes Duel work both by scaring us and David with the big bad truck and by fascinating us with all these questions concerning the trucker's motivations and David's fate.  Hindsight is just as accurate as foresight in the case of Duel.  Steven Spielberg was great, practically from the beginning.

7 of 10
A-
★★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, August 12, 2022


NOTES:
1972 Primetime Emmy Awards:  1 win: “Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing” (Jerry Christian, James Troutman, Ronald LaVine, Sid Lubowm Richard Raderman, Dale Johnston, Sam Caylor, John Stacy, and Jack Kirschner – sound editors); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming – For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television (Jack A. Marta)

1972 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination “Best Movie Made for TV”


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

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Review: Live-Action "Aladdin" is Quite Lively

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Aladdin (2019)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some action/peril
DIRECTOR:  Guy Ritchie
WRITERS:  Guy Ritchie and John August (based the 1992 film, Aladdin, written by Ron Clements, John Musker, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio; and on the folk tale, “Aladdin,” from One Thousand and One Nights)
PRODUCERS:  Jonathan Eirich and Dan Lin
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Alan Stewart (D.o.P)
EDITOR:  James Herbert
COMPOSER: Alan Menken

FANTASY/MUSICAL/COMEDY and ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring:  Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Billy Magnussen, and Numan Acar with Alan Tudyk and Frank Welker

Aladdin is a 2019 fantasy adventure film directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Walt Disney Pictures.  The film is a live-action remake of Disney's classic animated film, Aladdin (1992), and both films are based on the folktale, “Aladdin,” from the collection, One Thousand and One Nights.  Aladdin 2019 focuses on a kindhearted street urchin and a power-hungry courtier who both vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.

Aladdin opens in the desert kingdom of Agrabah.  In the capital city, Aladdin (Mena Massoud), a kindhearted young street urchin, makes his living as a thief, lifting food from various stalls in the city's market, often with the help of his pet monkey, Abu.  One day, Aladdin and Abu come to the rescue of a young woman who turns out to be Princess Jasmine of Agrabah (Naomi Scott), and they befriend her although Aladdin assumes that she is someone else.

It turns out that Jasmine is not happy with her station in life.  Her father is The Sultan of Agrabah (Navid Negahban), and Jasmine hopes to one day become the new Sultan.  However, the laws of Agrabah require her, as the daughter of the Sultan, to marry a prince, regardless of her feelings for him, so that he may become the next Sultan.

Meanwhile, the Grand Vizier, Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), has grown tired of being “second best” to the Sultan.  He and his parrot, Iago (Alan Tudyk), seek a “magic lamp” that is hidden within “the Cave of Wonders,” which Jafar believes will give him the power to become the new Sultan.  However, only someone is who worthy (“the diamond in the rough”) can enter the cave, and that turns out to be Aladdin.  So can Aladdin and the mysterious Genie (Will Smith), the jinn of the magic lamp, save Agrabah from Jafar's machinations?

While watching this thoroughly enjoyable live-action film adaptation of Aladdin, I found myself surprised at how well Will Smith performed in a role the late actor Robin Williams made into an all-time famous voice performance in animated film.  The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that the original film has worked so well via sequels, spin-offs, and other adaptations because Aladdin 1992 is simply great material.

The characters, the setting, the story, the screenplay, the musical and song score, the sets, the costumes, etc. are all top-notch material.  The original film yielded a 2010 Broadway musical the was nominated for several Tony Awards, winning one.  An animated television series, “Aladdin,” ran for three seasons beginning in 1994 and won four of the seven Daytime Emmy nominations it received.  I imagine that even high school theater/drama departments that are not well funded could produce an interesting stage production of Aladdin.  The story and song material that makes up Disney's Aladdin is so good that people would have to go out of their way to mess up an update of Aladdin.

Director Guy Ritchie and his co-screenwriter, John August, do not mess up.  Aladdin 2019 is not a great film, but it is a hugely enjoyable film.  Will Smith, Mena Massoud, and Naomi Scott give good performances, each of them proves able to “hold a tune,” with Massoud and Scott turning out to be quite good at singing.  The costumes and sets are lavish and gorgeous.  The music of Alan Menken, the late Howard Ashman, and Tim Rice – old and new – and the new contributions from the songwriting duo of Pasek & Paul are singalong, toe-tapping delights.

Aladdin 2019 is the kind of broad humor, fantasy-tinged, all-ages entertainment that Disney does so well.  Often, these movies are not high-art, nor do they advance the cinematic arts, but they are fun to watch.  For some of us, they are fun to watch over and over again.  Aladdin 2019 has its awkward moments, and certain scenes fall flat.  Overall, Aladdin 2019 still finds a way to be a delightful time at the movies.  I wish more movies – even some arty ones – would do that more often.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, May 26, 2019


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Review: Disney's "The Jungle Book" is Animation That Sounds Cool

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Jungle Book (1967)
Running time:  78 minutes
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR:  Wolfgang Reitherman
WRITERS:  Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry (inspired the “Mowgli” stories written by Rudyard Kipling)
PRODUCER: Walt Disney
EDITORS:  Tom Acosta and Norman Carlisle
COMPOSER:  George Bruns
SONGS:  Terry Gilkyson; Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY

Starring:  Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Bruce Reitherman, George Sanders, Sterling Holloway, Louis Prima, J. Pat O'Malley, Verna Felton, Clint Howard, and Ben Wright

The Jungle Book is a 1967 animated, musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Wolfgang Reitherman.  It is inspired by Rudyard Kipling's “Mowgli” stories found in his 1894 collection of stories, The Jungle Book, from which this movie also takes its name.  The Jungle Book is the 19th Disney animated feature film and is also the last film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production (1966).  Disney's The Jungle Book focuses on a talking panther and bear who try to convince a human boy that he must leave the jungle before an evil tiger kills him.

The Jungle Book opens in the deep jungles of India.  Bagheera the black panther (Sebastian Cabot) finds a human male baby in a basket in the deep and gives him to a mother wolf who just had cubs.  She raises the boy along with her own cubs.  Ten years later, the human boy is Mowgli (Bruce Reitherman, the director's son), a feral child who lives among the wolves as if he were one of them.

However, the wolf tribes learn that Shere Khan (George Sanders), a man-eating Bengal tiger, has returned to the jungle, and that the human-hating tiger wants to kill Mowgli.  Baheera volunteers to take Mowgli to the “Man-Village,” a nearby human settlement, but Mowgli is determined to stay in the jungle.  Mowgli finds a sympathetic animal in Baloo the sloth bear (Phil Harris).  The laid-back, fun-loving bear decides to raise Mowgli himself, but will Baloo and Mowgli do the right thing before Shere Khan strikes?

I love the beautiful background art for The Jungle Book, even the foliage in the foreground that is animated is nice.  The characters that most entertain me are Baloo and Shere Khan; I think I am becoming a bigger fan of the late George Sanders, who gives voice to Shere Khan, every time I see him in a movie, even if I have seen that movie previously.

Beyond that, I am not particularly impressed, amused, or entertained by The Jungle Book the way I am by Disney films I consider exceptional (Bambi, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio to name a few).  I have to admit that having seen it for the first time (as far as I can remember) I can understand why some consider it a “beloved Disney classic.”  It is simply a Disney classic that I like, but don't love.

6 of 10
B

Friday, November 10, 2017

1968 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Song” (Terry Gilkyson for the song "The Bare Necessities")


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Review: Disney's Live-Action "Cinderella" is Good, But is not Disney Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Cinderella (2015)
Running time:  105 minutes (1 hour 45 minutes)
Rating: MPAA – PG for mild thematic elements
DIRECTOR:  Kenneth Branagh
WRITER:  Chris Weitz
PRODUCED:  David Barron, Simon Kinberg, and Allison Shearmur
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Haris Zambarloukos (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Martin Walsh
COMPOSER:  Patrick Doyle
Academy Award nominee

FANTASY/ROMANCE

Starring:  Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, Helen Bonham Carter, Nonso Anozie, Stellan Skarsgard, Sophie McShera, Holliday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, Ben Chaplin, and Hayley Atwell

Cinderella is a 2015 fantasy and romance film from director Kenneth Branagh and writer Chris Weitz.  Released by Walt Disney Pictures, the film is based on Walt Disney's 1950 animated feature film, Cinderella, and the folk tale of the same name.  In this new version of the story, a young woman is at the mercy of her cruel stepmother, but her fortunes change after she meets a dashing young man.

In a peaceful kingdom there is a father (Ben Chaplin), a mother (Hayley Atwell), and their beautiful daughter, Ella (Lily James).  Ella's parents teach her courage and kindness, and her mother teaches her to believe in magic.  Some years after her mother dies, Ella's father marries the Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett), who has two loud, rude daughters, Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drisella (Sophie McShera).

When Ella's father goes abroad for business, Lady Tremaine reveals her cruel and jealous nature.  After Ella's father dies, Lady Tremaine takes over the household and pushes Ella from her own bedroom and into the attic.  Anastasia and Drisella even give Ella a new name, Cinderella.  After one particularly cruel day, Ella rides off into the woods where she meets a young man who says his name is Kit (Richard Madden).  For both young people, this meeting is a turning point, but there are forces arrayed to keep them apart.

At the end of this movie, the Fairy Godmother (played by Helena Bonham Cater) describes the “forever-after” as being defined by “courage,” “kindess,” and “a little magic” (or something like that).  This live-action version of Cinderella is indeed about “just a little magic.”  Disney's classic, 1950 animated Cinderella is a fairy tale that is practically entirely infused with magic – from talking animals to an atmosphere of enchantment.  Cinderella is more like a fantasy-romance or a romantic fantasy than it is like a fairy tale.  With its lavish costumes and opulent sets, Cinderella plays like a period set piece set in a fictional kingdom in an indeterminate time.

But I can move past that.  2015 live-action Cinderella does not have to be 1950 animated Disney classic Cinderella.  This new Cinderella relies on its title character for the magic that a wand or a fairy godmother might provide.  As Cinderella, Lily James is quite good.  When she smiles or is happy, the movie lights up.  When she is sad, I felt sad, too.  In this film, James does not have the greatest range between happy and sad.  When Cinderella isn't happy or sad, James makes her look as if she is in a solid state of consternation.  Luckily, it is Cinderella's state of happiness or sadness that drives the movie, and that works.

I don't need to say that Cate Blanchett is really good as Lady Tremiane, “the Stepmother.”  Blanchett dominates her scenes, and the filmmakers were wise to limit her screen time; otherwise, Blanchett would have burned this movie down in a larger roll.  Everyone else is good enough to pretty good, although Stellan Skarsgård seems neutered as The Grand Duke.  Of course, there is not enough of Nonso Anozie as Captain of the Guards, but I am glad that this film's decision-makers were willing to cast him.

Cinderella is not for everyone.  It is sweet and cute, a feel-good movie that goes down like warm hot chocolate on a cold winter's night.  Cinderella is a good, but not great film, and director Kenneth Branagh does nothing to distinguish himself here.  But there is enough Disney magic here to entertain some of us.

6 of 10
B

Sunday, September 18, 2016


NOTES:
2016 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Sandy Powell)

2016 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Sandy Powell)


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Review: "A View to a Kill" Still Has its Charm 30 Years Later

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

A View to a Kill (1985)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.K.
Running time:  131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  John Glen
WRITERS:  Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson (based on the character created by Ian Fleming)
PRODUCERS:  Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Alan Hume (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Peter Davies
COMPOSER:  John Barry
SONG:  “A View to a Kill” performed by Duran Duran
Golden Globe nominee

SPY/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Bauchau, David Yip, Fiona Fullerton, Manning Redwood, Alison Doody, Willoughby Gray, Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell, Walter Gotell, and Daniel Benzali

A View to a Kill is a 1985 spy and adventure film from director John Glen.  It is the 14th entry in Eon Productions' James Bond film franchise, and it is also the seventh and last time that actor Roger Moore played James Bond.  2015 also marks the 30th anniversary of A View to a Kill's original theatrical release (specifically May 1985).

A View to a Kill takes its title from the short story, “From a View to a Kill,” which first appeared in the 1960 short story collection, For Your Eyes Only.  A View to a Kill the movie finds James Bond investigating a horse-racing scam perpetrated by a power-mad French industrialist, who also has his eye on monopolizing the worldwide microchip market.

A View to a Kill opens with M16 agent James Bond (Roger Moore) locating the body of agent 003 in Siberia.  From the body, Bond (agent 007) recovers a microchip originating from the Soviet Union.  The microchip turns out to be a copy of one designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse, and one made specifically for the British government by a private contractor, Zorin Industries.

Bond discovers that Zorin Industries' owner, Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), breeds racehorses and may be cheating by drugging his horses.  Bond travels to Zorin's palatial estate outside of Paris and pretends to be a prospective buyer of thoroughbred horses.  Bond learns, however, that Zorin has even bigger plans on the west coast of the United States, specifically Silicon Valley in California.  Before Bond can uncover Zorin's diabolical plot, he will have to survive Zorin's Amazon-like body guard, Mayday (Grace Jones).

Roger Moore was the first actor I saw portraying James Bond, and it only took a few Bond films with Moore before the actor imprinted upon my imagination as being the quintessential James Bond.  Over the years, I have pretended, a few times, that I preferred Sean Connery as Bond, especially when I was with friends who claimed that they preferred Connery as Bond.  I have even been in the thrall of the three actors who have, to date, succeeded Moore as Bond:  Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.  I do think that Dr. No, the first film featuring Connery as Bond, remains the blueprint for both a Bond movie and for a secret agent movie.  Still, I come back to Roger Moore as Bond.

The past few years, I have revisited the two James Bond movies that I first saw while in high school, For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Octopussy (1983).  I recently revisited A View to a Kill, and after this nostalgic mini-Bond film festival, I am sure of my love for Roger Moore as my cinematic James Bond.

Now, I won't pretend that A View to a Kill is a great film or that it is even the best of Moore's Bond filmography.  For one thing, the entire horse-racing subplot feels like padding to make the story longer, but it is fun.  Christopher Walken is an engaging Bond villain, and Grace Jones is a delightful riot as his bodyguard, Mayday.  Thus, any subplots and story that give them even more screen time is perfectly good padding.  In fact, the horse-racing section of the film is the reason we get to see actor Patrick Macnee as Bond's partner, Sir Godfrey Tibbett.

After 12 years as Bond, Moore was, by 1985, the oldest actor to play Bond, being 58-years-old when he retired after A View to a Kill was originally released.  He definitely shows his age in this film.  Maybe, it was time for him to retire, but, at least, his last film was fun, even if it wasn't outstanding.  Yes, Tanya Roberts delivers an awful performance as Bond girl, Stacey Sutton, but Roberts is likable.  She puts out the effort, and that is worth something even if the result is pitiful.

Besides, Tanya Roberts helps Roger Moore go out with a bang, as she is the last of the three women he beds in this film (including Mayday).  A View to a Kill certainly delivers what we like about Roger Moore as James Bond, and it makes me appreciate him all the more.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, August 25, 2015


NOTES:
1986 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (John Barry and Duran Duran for the song "A View to a Kill")

1986 Razzie Awards:  1 nomination: “Worst Actress” (Tanya Roberts)


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

Review: "Sleeping Beauty" Not an Exceptional Disney Animated Feature

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 47 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Running time:  75 minutes (1 hour, 15 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Clyde Geronimi (supervising director), Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman,
WRITERS:  Erdman Penner (story adaptation) with additional story by Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, and Milt Banta (based on “La Belle au bois dormant” by Charles Perrault, “The Sleeping Beauty” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and “Little Briar Rose” by The Brothers Grimm)
PRODUCER:  Walt Disney
EDITORS:  Roy M. Brewer Jr. and Donald Halliday
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY with elements of comedy   

Starring:  (voices) Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy, Barbara Jo Allen, Taylor Holmes, and Bill Thompson

Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 animated musical fantasy film from Walt Disney Productions.  It is the 16th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, but it was the last animated Disney film based on a fairy tale until The Little Mermaid in 1989.

Sleeping Beauty is based on two similar fairy tales:  “La Belle au bois dormant” by Charles Perrault and “Little Briar Rose” by The Brothers Grimm.  The film also features adaptations and arrangements of musical numbers from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1890 ballet, The Sleeping Beauty.  In Disney's Sleeping Beauty, three good fairies protect a princess from a malevolent fairy who placed a curse on her when she was an infant.

Sleeping Beauty opens in the 14th century in an unnamed kingdom, where King Stephan (Taylor Holmes) and the Queen (Verna Felton) have been childless for years.  Then, they welcome the birth of a daughter, Aurora, and they proclaim a holiday so that their subjects can celebrate her birth.  At that celebration, the infant Aurora is betrothed to young Prince Phillip, the son King Hubert (Bill Thompson).  Three fairies:  Flora (Verna Felton), Fauna (Barbara Luddy), and Merryweather (Barbara Jo Allen) arrive to bless the child with gifts.

However, an welcomed visitor, the evil fairy queen, Maleficent (Eleanor Audley), arrives, furious that she has been snubbed by King Stephan and Queen Leah (who is only called “the Queen” in the film).  So she places a curse on baby Aurora that will killer her on her 16th birthday.  However, the fairies are able to temper the curse, and later, they spirit the child away in order to protect her.  Sixteen years later, Aurora, now named “Briar Rose” (Mary Costa), meets a handsome young man (Bill Shirley) and falls in love with him, while unaware of the death curse hanging over her sixteenth birthday.

Sleeping Beauty is not one of Walt Disney's better animated feature films, but it features one of Disney's most memorable villains, Maleficent, a classic animated character because of her unique look.  In fact, the overall look of Sleeping Beauty is something that makes it stand out, in large measure because of the work of Disney production designer regular, Ken Anderson, and Disney artist, Eyvind Earle, who was Sleeping Beauty's color stylist and chief background designer.  Chuck Jones, the legendary Looney Tunes and Warner Bros. Pictures animation director, was a layout artist for Sleeping Beauty, but did not receive a credit in the film.  The musical score and the songs in the film are also a hallmark of this film and are also Disney musical favorites.

Another thing about Sleeping Beauty is that it is also a bit irregular as fantasy films go.  People may remember it as a fairy tale romance with its happily-ever-after ending about a Disney princess finding her prince.  However, Sleeping Beauty is also a comic fantasy with a generous amount of humor, some of it involving even Maleficent.  Sleeping Beauty is an oddity in the Disney animated feature film pantheon, but there are reasons to remember it.  Like most Disney films, those reasons are why it is shared from one generation to the next.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, October 29, 2014


NOTES:
1960 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture” (George Bruns)

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

Remembering Clyde Geronomi: "Lady and the Tramp"

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

Lady and the Tramp (1955) – animation
Running time:  76 minutes (1 hour 16 minutes)
DIRECTORS:  Clyde Geronomi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske
WRITERS:  Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright, and Don DaGradi (based upon the story Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog by Ward Greene)
PRODUCERS:  Walt Disney with Erdman Penner
EDITOR:  Don Halliday
COMPOSER:  Oliver Wallace
BAFTA Award nominee

ANIMATION/COMEDY/MUSICAL/ROMANCE with elements of drama

Starring:  (voices) Peggy Lee, Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Bill Thompson, Bill Baucom, Stan Freberg, Verna Felton, and Lee Millar

Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 animated romantic film from Walt Disney Pictures.  It was the 15th full-length animated feature film from Disney.  The film is based in part on "Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog" by Ward Greene, a short story originally published in Cosmopolitan Magazine.  The film centers on the growing romantic relationship between two dogs, a female American Cocker Spaniel, who is from an upper middle-class family, and a male mutt who is a stray.

Because of drama and turmoil in her owners’ home, Lady (Barbara Luddy), a pampered and sheltered cocker spaniel, wanders away from the safety of her neighborhood and meets Tramp (Larry Roberts), a jolly, freedom-loving, and streetwise mutt with a heart of gold.  They share romantic adventures that occasionally imperil their safety while they move towards an inevitable union.  Memorable songs (written by Sonny Burke and Peggy Lee) and memorable characters including the twin Pekingese cats, Si and Am (Peggy Lee), highlight this classic, Disney’s fifteenth animated feature.

Lady and the Tramp remains Walt Disney’s signature romantic animated film; although romance often plays a part in their full-length animated films; this is the Disney animated love story.  It exemplifies two particular elements that really stand out in a Disney animated features – the art of beauty and technical skills.  The character animation is beautifully drawn making even characters meant to be ugly or villainous quite gorgeous and handsome eye candy.  The background art, backdrops, and sets are also elegant, even stunning.  The technical virtuosity on display is simply dazzling; this is text book work on animating animals.  Characters move with such grace and precision that the film looks, on one hand, like museum quality high art, and, on the other hand, has such striking realism in terms of movement and rhythm.

Lady and the Tramp is probably best known for its romantic heart.  A melodic score, charming and adorable songs, and the star-crossed pair of Lady and the Tramp make this an animated film that captures the romantic in the hearts of young and old viewers.  That’s why this film is so memorable and also well-remembered by adults who first saw it as a child – a true Disney classic.

9 of 10
A+

Sunday, April 2, 2006

NOTES:
1956 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Animated Film” (USA)

Updated:  Thursday, April 24, 2014


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

Review: Disney's "Frozen" is Pixar Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Frozen (2013)
Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some action and mild rude humor
DIRECTORS:  Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
WRITERS:  Jennifer Lee; from a story by Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck, and Shane Morris (based on the story “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen)
PRODUCER:  Peter Del Vecho
EDITOR:  Jeff Draheim
COMPOSER:  Christophe Beck
SONGS:  Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE and COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring:  (voices) Kristin Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk, Ciaran Hinds, Chris Williams, Stephen J. Anderson, Eva Bell, Spencer Lacey Ganus, Tyree Brown, and June Christopher

Frozen is a 2013 computer-animated musical, comedy, and fantasy film directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee.  Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Frozen was released theatrically in 3D.  Frozen is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Snow Queen,” which was first published in 1844.  Frozen focuses on a young woman trying to break the curse of eternal winter, a curse started by the Snow Queen, who is her sister.

In the kingdom of Arendelle, the King and Queen have two daughters.  The older sister, Elsa, has the magical ability to create ice and snow.  The younger daughter, Anna, accidentally becomes a victim of her older sister’s power, causing a rift between the two formerly close siblings.  Years later, Elsa (Idina Menzel), is about to be crowned Queen of Arendelle.  Anna (Kristin Bell) is excited about her sister’s coronation, which will open the castle to the outside world for the first time in years.  At the coronation, a dispute between the sisters leads to Elsa loosing control of her now immense powers.  She inadvertently puts Arendelle in a deep freeze, before running away.

Anna is determined to find Elsa, now known as the “Snow Queen,” and to reconcile their relationship.  She befriends Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), a mountain man, and his reindeer, Sven, who decide to help her find the reclusive Elsa.  They are eventually joined by Olaf (Josh Gad), a joyous snowman.  Their journey is epic, but if Anna cannot reach Elsa, Arendelle will be cursed to suffer an eternal winter.

Frozen is one of the truly great animated films from Walt Disney Pictures.  It is the first computer-animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios that is artistically and technically equal to the best computer-animated films from Pixar Animation Studios (now a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company).  In fact, Pixar’s John Lasseter was an executive producer on and a guiding hand behind Frozen.  Everything fantastic, wonderful, magical, joyous, and poignant that people expect of the best Disney and Pixar films is more than plentiful in Frozen, one of the finest films of 2013.

The voice cast, top to bottom, is excellent.  Honestly, every voice performance seems to be superb.  Kristin Bell and Idina Menzel give bravura performances individually and together; they have the kind of screen chemistry of which many casts can only dream of having.  Of course, Menzel is a standout singing Frozen’s signature song, the Oscar-winning “Let It Go.”  Josh Gad is scene-stealing gold as the comic-relief snowman, Olaf.  I have to admit that I’d like to see Olaf again.

Frozen’s song and musical score also make it the best Disney animated musical film since The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.  Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez’s songs for Frozen recall both the Broadway-styled numbers in Beauty and the Beast and the comic fantasy tunes of Aladdin.

Once upon a time, Walt Disney’s animated films were called “instant classics;” Frozen is an instant classic.  Also, the resolution of Elsa and Anna’s relationship separates Frozen from Disney’s other female-centric animated features.  For me, Frozen is now a personal favorite that I plan to watch repeatedly.

10 of 10

Monday, April 21, 2014


NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  2 wins: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho) and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for the song “Let It Go”)

2014 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Animated Feature Film” and 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for the song, “Let It Go”)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Animated Film” (Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee)

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