Happy Anniversary, Michael Moore

Seven years ago, Michael Moore walked on stage to receive his Oscar statuette for "Best Documentary."  He invited his fellow nominees on stage and Moore made the following speech:

"I've invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us and we would like to ... they are here in solidarity with me because we like non-fiction. We like non-fiction, as we live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fiction of duct tape or fiction of orange alerts we are against this war, Mr Bush. Shame on you, Mr Bush, shame on you. And any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Thank you very much."

And the boo birds came out!  The Guardian (UK)'s Megan Carpentier talks about that incident and compares it to Kathryn Bigelow's recent acceptance speech at the Oscars.

Review: Academy Award Winning Documentary "Bowling for Columbine"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 171 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – R for some violent images and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Michael Moore
PRODUCERS: Charles Bishop, Jim Czarnecki, Michael Donovan, Kathleen Glynn, and Michael Moore
EDITOR: Kurt Engfehr
Academy Award winner

DOCUMENTARY/COMMENTARY

Starring: Michael Moore, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Manson, Matt Clark, and Dick Clark

After passing over his Roger and Me in 1989, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) handed out its Oscar for “Best Documentary, Features” to filmmaker Michael Moore for his 2002 feature Bowling for Columbine. The Writers Guild of America also awarded Moore “Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen,” one of many American and international awards the film won.

In the film, Moore explores the roots of American’s predilection for gun violence. He also takes a look at the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado where two students killed 13 people with guns and an incident in his hometown where a six year-old boy killed a six year-old girl with a handgun he found at his uncle’s home. Moore also examines American’s culture of fear and bigotry; he especially focuses on the bigotry against young, black men that marks them as violent predators. Moore also goes after powerful, elite political and corporate interests that directly make money by fanning a culture of bigotry, fear, and violence.

Bowling for Columbine is exacting in the detail to which it pursues its topics, although Moore seems as stumped as anyone to provide answers. It is as if he’s pointing at the symptoms or results of our culture, but can’t find out why things are as they are. It’s a fair and mostly balanced look because Moore gives people a chance to speak. Some, in particular, Charlton Heston (then president of the National Rifle Association or N.R.A.) seem simultaneously proud and embarrassed of their very vocal support of guns and tacit support of gun violence.

The film is often very funny. Its issues are perplexing – especially the examination of Canada, a country with a lot of guns, but very few gun deaths. BFC is also quite heartbreaking and dramatic; the segments on Columbine and the murder of the schoolgirl in Michigan are heartbreaking. Moore knows just how to push buttons when he reveals that the mother of the small boy who shot the girl works two very low paying jobs because of Michigan’s “welfare for work program.” Even with the two jobs, she couldn’t pay her rent and was evicted from her home. She moved in with her brother, and that’s where the child found the weapon.

The film is a little over the top at times. The Heston interview doesn’t go well, and in the segment, Moore seems to be picking on this elder statesman of acting, who was later revealed to be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Oh, God must not like ugly.

Some may find BRC unbalanced, and though that makes it almost as much commentary as documentary, the film is important. Someone had to document the horrors of this violent, bigoted, and greedy leader of the free world in a form that would force its way into pop culture and into the popular conscience. This excellent film only makes people mad because it is both real and truth revealing.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Documentary, Features” (Michael Moore and Michael Donovan)

Review: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" Revels in Character Drama

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Running time: 153 minutes (2 hours, 33 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality
DIRECTOR: David Yates
WRITER: Steve Kloves (based upon the novel by J.K. Rowling)
PRODUCERS: David Barron and David Heyman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bruno Delbonnel (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Mark Day
Academy Award nominee

FANTASY/DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, Bonnie Wright, Julie Walters, Mark Williams, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Felton, Elarica Gallacher, and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin

The sixth installment of the Harry Potter film franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, finds the dark lord, Voldemort increasing his attacks on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds. As he begins his sixth year, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) believes that Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was, so he searches the school for hidden enemies. Harry focuses his investigation on his rival, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), who does seem to be creeping around the castle a lot. Meanwhile, in the halls of Hogwarts, love is in the air

However, Hogwarts’ headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), is more focused on preparing Harry for the coming final battle with Voldemort that he knows is fast approaching. Together, Dumbledore and Harry work to discover the truth behind Voldemort’s powers. Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), a well-connected wizard who previously taught at Hogwarts, as the new potions instructor. Slughorn holds information that could be crucial in the battle with Voldemort, because Slughorn was a mentor to 11-year-old Tom Riddle (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin), the student who would become the dark lord.

Meanwhile, some of the students are feeling the rage of teenage hormones. Harry finds himself increasingly drawn to Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), the sister of his best friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), but another student, Dean Thomas (Alfie Enoch), is also vying for Ginny’s attention. The spunky Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave) has marked Ron for amorous conquest, which makes Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), who has strong feelings for Ron, simmer with jealousy (although Hermione is determined not to show her feelings). Remaining aloof from the romance, Draco looks to make his own dark mark, one that may lead to tragedy.

The way it begins, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince looks like it is going to be a long slog through a muddled movie full of mumbling characters and awkward scenes, but the film turns out to be a delight. At times, this movie seems entirely divorced from the magical reality created by J.K. Rowling, author the Harry Potter series of books from which this film series is adapted (as if you didn’t know…). However, the focus of Half-Blood Prince is on character drama. This is the first time in the series that the story really stops to consider the costs (personal and professional) of the state of civil war in the wizarding world.

Playing Draco Malfoy, actor Tom Felton portrays the costs of that war and the toll it a takes on the youth of the wizarding role, in his best performance to date. Michael Gambon, playing Dumbledore as a fierce Christ-like warrior marching inevitably towards his doom, also turns in a good performance. The always-good Jim Broadbent balances the bon vivant façade behind which Horace Slughorn hides his guilt with a sense of quiet desperation.

The rest of the cast, especially the star trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson are more earnest than good, but they sell their parts well. They’re also the best they’ve been at depicting the puppy love at which they’ve only teased in the earlier films. Somehow, this story of love and war comes together, until, by the end, you wish Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince wouldn’t end.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Bruno Delbonnel)


2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Production Design” (Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan) and “Best Special Visual Effects” (John Richardson, Tim Burke, Tim Alexander, and Nicolas Aithadi)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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Final Trailer for DreamWorks Animation's "Megamind" Arrives

First trailer for DreamWorks Animation's "Megamind":

Del Toro Gives "The Hobbit" a New Look

That's what this article from the Associated Press via Yahoo Movies will tell you.  The article features quotes from art designer Richard Taylor, a long time Peter Jackson collaborator...

but that he was unclear when shooting on the New Line Cinema production will start in New Zealand.

Hmm.

Review: "Artificial Intelligence: AI" is a Solemn Look at Humanity's Demise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
aka A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Running time: 146 minutes (2 hours, 26 minutes)
Rating: MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual content and violent images
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: Steven Spielberg; from a screen story by Ian Watson (based upon the short story by “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” by Brian W. Aldiss)
PRODUCERS: Steve Spielberg, Bonnie Curtis, and Kathleen Kennedy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Janusz Kaminski (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Michael Kahn
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI with elements of adventure and drama

Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Robards, William Hurt, Jake Thomas, and the voices of Jack Angel, Meryl Streep, Robin Williams, Ben Kingsley, and Chris Rock

In the future, humans have become technologically (if not morally) advanced enough to build humanly realistic robots called mechas to serve humanity. The most advanced is a robot called David (Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense), who can be programmed to have feelings of love for a human, a gift (or curse) no other robot has; he is, in a sense, an artificial kid. David moves in with Monica (Frances O’Connor) and Henry Swinton (Sam Robards), a couple whose own child, Martin (Jake Thomas) is in cryo-stasis, stricken with an incurable disease. After Martin is cured and comes home, Henry becomes angry that Monica still has strong feelings for David and wants David returned to his creators. Monica abandons David in the forest rather than return him to his creators for fear that they will destroy him.

David, who once heard Monica read Pinocchio to Martin, goes on a quest to find the Blue Fairy (voice of Meryl Streep) who made Pinocchio into a real boy, hoping that she will do the same for him. Joining him on his quest are Teddy (voice of Jack Angel), a supertoy that once belonged to Martin (and acts as a kind of Jiminy Cricket to David’s Pinocchio) and Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a love mecha designed to provide romantic and erotic pleasures to women.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, A. I. Artificial Intelligence was a project that director Stanley Kubrick had planned helm, but turned to Spielberg feeling that he could better served the potentially effects laden film. Some film aficionados still consider Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Spielberg’s early works to be his best films. Those movies were filled with a sense of wonder, awe, magic, terror, curiosity – basic emotions and feelings. Other people considered these films too manipulative and too sentimental. What the latter misunderstood was those films’ powerful visual storytelling; here, films worked the way they should. What we saw on the screen was supposed to move us, and the films certainly did. Alas, Spielberg grew up and started making serious grown up, big boy films that would be worthy of Oscar’s attention.

A. I. is a return of Spielberg the magician/storyteller, and the film’s screenplay is the first one written Spielberg has written without a collaborator since Close Encounters. He infuses A. I. with a sense of magic and wonder, but the film is about David’s determination to be a real boy. To that end, however, the film becomes a bit muddled as it nears the conclusion of that quest. At one point, David’s journey comes to an abrupt halt, and, in light of this, his determination seems pathetic, pitiable, and futile. On one hand, David obviously cannot be a “real boy,” in the sense of being an organic being. On the other hand, the issue is not the artificiality, but is whether are not his feelings for Monica are genuine. Upon that question does the movie hinge.

The performances are excellent. Osment has a natural gift to bring a character to life that is as rich and as uncanny as, say, that of Emily Watson. His hugely expressive eyes are, indeed, the windows to his soul. Unlike so many child actors, Osment can act rather than pretend; he literally takes on the identity of a fictional character. One has to see his work to truly believe how good he is. Jude Law is wonderful, charming, and has an air of danger about him as the confident mecha/dildo Gigolo Joe. Law transforms Joe into the perfect companion and very wise guide for David (although Teddy does his thing also), and Law seems perfectly at ease in his role next to Osment. Ms. O’Connor is the other gem in this film; she makes the evolution of Monica’s feelings for David natural and convincing, and she turns up the heat to make the scene of their parting quite tragic indeed.

The effects in A. I. are so prevalent, but like those in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, they are natural and unobtrusive, integral to the feel of the film and it’s story. The playful colorful lights that fill the forest and the night sky reminds one of scenes from E.T. Frankly, the visual effects are beautiful; it’s just fun to see them.

Artificial Intelligence seems to reach a near perfect state, but then the film is marred by moments of forced sentiment. Some of the story in the film’s last half hour is cold and dry. Actually, the film is nearly ruined until its closing images sweetly dissolve. Don’t let that deter; it is still a special film. You can ignore most of the end. What you take from A. I.’s extraordinary first three quarters is magical: fine acting, engaging story, and a director who is still an accomplished magician who sometimes messes up when he lets his show linger on too long.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, Stan Winston, and Michael Lantieri) and “Best Music, Original Score” (John Williams)


2002 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, and Michael Lantieri)


2002 Golden Globe Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (John Williams), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Jude Law)

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A Negromancer News Bits and Bites Special: Hugh Jackman Cast in Upcoming Lee Daniels Film

Over at AOL's Black Voices' BV on Movies, Wilson Morales has new information on director Lee Daniels' upcoming film, Selma.  British actor David Oyelowo has been cast as Martin Luther King.  Various sources are reporting that Hugh Jackman will also have a role in the film.

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