Review: "Shrek Forever After" is an Upgrade from Third Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 37 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Shrek Forever After (2010)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – PG for mild action, some rude humor and brief language
DIRECTOR: Mike Mitchell
WRITER: Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke
PRODUCERS: Teresa Cheng and Gina Shay
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Yong Duk Jhun

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE and COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, Jon Hamm, John Cleese, Craig Robinson, Jane Lynch, and Walt Dohrn

The magic is not gone! Shrek Forever After arrives in theatres and reminds us that the disappointing Shrek the Third was a fluke in the Shrek franchise. When Shrek debuted in 2001, it was certainly different from the typical animated film. Instead of being an update of some fairy tale meant to appease children, Shrek turned the fairy tale on its ear, spoofed pop culture, and introduced odd ball characters that were so endearing a few of them gradually became pop culture stars. The 2004 sequel, Shrek 2, was as good as the first film, but not as fresh and original. Shrek the Third was a misfire. While it may not be an original, Shrek Forever After returns to what the first two films did well.

The new film finds the title character, that lovable ogre, Shrek (Mike Myers), not loving being a lovable ogre. He fought an evil dragon to rescue Prince Fiona (Cameron Diaz), married her, and saved his in-laws’ kingdom, Far Far Away. Before that, however, Shrek was ogre who scared villagers and took mud baths. Now, he is a domesticated family man, changing diapers, and autographing pitchforks for admiring villagers, and his once-fearsome ogre’s roar has become a children’s favorite. Shrek longs for the days when he was “real ogre,” but there is someone with the magic to help him be bad again.

A smooth-talking dealmaker named Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) meets Shrek and offers him a magical contract. Shrek can get a day to feel like a real ogre again, in exchange for ANY day from Shrek’s past. Shrek signs the contract, but the deal creates a twisted, alternate version of Far Far Away. This is a world in which he and Princess Fiona never met, and his friends, even Donkey (Eddie Murphy), don’t know him. He has 24 hours to restore his world or disappear forever.

Shrek Forever After is essentially a spin on director Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, in which a man on the verge of suicide gets to see how unfortunate life would be for his family, friends, and community without him. Because it uses themes similar to the Capra film, this fourth Shrek movie is probably the most heartfelt and sentimental about the importance of close relationships. The narrative is insistent that each individual character is essential to the well-being and happiness of his or her fellow characters. [That said, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is getting a spin-off film.]

The entire story plays off the idea that the audience, by now, is familiar with these characters, knows their personalities, and has expectations about how the characters will entertain them. And Shrek Forever After delivers. All the voice performances are good, and, unlike in Shrek the Third, Eddie Murphy and Donkey have lots of screen time, which they use to spectacular results. This film also introduces another good Shrek villain, the winning Rumpelstiltskin, superbly performed by animator and voice actor, Walt Dohrn.

Shrek Forever After like the original is big and jolly. Cleverly chosen songs still populate the soundtrack and set the tone for key scenes in the story. Pop culture is slyly referenced and spoofed (like the funny break dancing witches routine), and the main characters still have some of the best jokes and one-liners the audience will hear during the summer movie season. But Shrek Forever After has heart. If this is indeed the last Shrek film (at least for awhile), we are left with a movie that reminds us how much fun Shrek and company are and how much we really like them or even love them.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Latest "Black Lagoon" Anime Screens at Anime Expo 2010

Anime Expo® 2010 Announces World Premiere Screening of BLACK LAGOON Roberta’s Blood Trail

ANAHEIM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anime Expo® is pleased to announce today that the world premiere of the third and the latest installment of the popular BLACK LAGOON anime series, Roberta’s Blood Trail, will be screened at its July convention. Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime and manga convention, is scheduled for July 1 – 4, 2010, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The exclusive uncut version of BLACK LAGOON Roberta’s Blood Trail, Episode 1, will premiere on July 1, 2010, at 1:30 p.m.

The BLACK LAGOON anime series began as an adaptation of the manga by the same title, created by one of Anime Expo’s 2010 Guests of Honor, Rei Hiroe. The series debuted in 2006 to much critical acclaim and has since been released worldwide. BLACK LAGOON made its North American broadcast debut on the Starz Edge channel in February 2008. The DVD version of the first two series is currently available through FUNimation Entertainment.

BLACK LAGOON is known for its hard-boiled storytelling, clever dialogue and its ultra-violent and stylized gun fight sequences, often compared to Hong Kong noirs and Hollywood action films. Its high-quality animation is produced by MADHOUSE Ltd., one of Japan’s most prestigious animation studios, known for titles like Hellsing Ultimate, Death Note and Trigun the Movie: Badlands Rumble.

The world premier screening of BLACK LAGOON Roberta’s Blood Trail will precede the Japanese Blu-ray/DVD release scheduled for July 17. This special screening is made possible by the courtesy of Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan, LLC, and Shogakukan Inc.

Anime Expo’s 2010 Guest of Honor line-up includes manga artist Rei Hiroe; musical artist MELL; supergroup AKB48; voice actor Katsuyuki Konishi; Eden of the East trio Kenji Kamiyama, Satoru Nakamura and Tomohiko Ishii; voice actor Kyle Hebert; animation director Toshihiro Kawamoto; seiyuu Yuu Asakawa; J-rock band Sophia; and anime director Shinichi “Nabeshin” Watanabe. To stay updated on all of the latest Anime Expo 2010 news, follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook and check us out on YouTube.

To register for Anime Expo 2010, please visit our website.


About Anime Expo®
Anime Expo is located in Los Angeles and is the nation’s largest anime and manga convention. The Expo serves to foster trade, commerce and the interests of the general public and animation industry. This event serves as a key meeting place for the general public to express their interest and explore various aspects of both anime and manga, as well as for members of the industry to conduct business. AX 2010 will be held July 1 – July 4, 2010, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Southern California. More information can be found at www.anime-expo.org.

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation
The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment property, Anime Expo®. More information can be found at www.spja.org.

Review: Woody Allen's "Whatever Works" Doesn't Always Work

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Lee Daniels at American Black Film Festival

AOL Black Voices' "BV on Movies" is reporting that Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels will be this year's honoree at the 14th annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF).  The festival will be held in Miami from June 23-26.  Go here for more information on the festival.

Review: "Alamo Bay" is Powerful, But is Also Too Angry

 

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 138 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Alamo Bay (1985)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Louis Malle
WRITER: Alice Arlen
PRODUCERS: Louis Malle and Vincent Malle
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Curtis Clark
EDITOR: James Bruce
COMPOSER: Ry Cooder

DRAMA

Starring: Amy Madigan, Ed Harris, Ho Nguyen, Donald Moffat, Truyen V. Tran, Rudy Young, Cynthia Carle, and Bill Thurman

When filmmakers tackle difficult subjects, especially subjects dealing with social and class conflict, they often produce films that fail financially or that get lost in the shuffle of the movie making industry. Louis Malle’s (Atlantic City) film, Alamo Bay, is just such a movie. It’s about a clash of two cultures and two different ethnic groups. When one doesn’t understand the other, when one feels threatened by the other, and when has no regard for or cannot understand the other, the result is violent confrontation. This conflict may seem to have an easy solution - a coming together of the two groups to talk through their differences, but the process to joining hands is long, strained, difficult, painful, and often unlikely. The film reflects the absence of an easy solution, so it can be painful to watch.

Shang (Ed Harris, The Right Stuff) is a Vietnam veteran despondent over loosing his livelihood as a shrimp fisherman when he cannot meet his boat payments. He and his fellow townsmen clash with the newly arrived refugees from Vietnam who move to their (fictional) town of Alamo Bay. The Vietnamese immigrants work harder and labor longer hours to catch shrimp. Shang and his cohorts see this as undercutting them. His old girlfriend, Glory (Amy Madigan, Places in the Heart), returns to Alamo Bay further complicates his life, as does her friendship with a newly arrived young immigrant, Dihn (Ho Nguyen).

Malle and screenwriter Alice Arlen don’t spare us the nasty words, ugly confrontations, and brutal bigotry the white townspeople unleash against the immigrants. What the movie sorely lacks is better view of the Vietnamese townsfolk – their feelings, their grudges, and their ethics. Very few of Vietnamese characters speak English in the film, and the Vietnamese dialogue in the film does not come with English subtitles. That does help to create a sense of the immigrants as the other, as well as convey the sense that they have a difficult time communicating with their hostile new neighbors who really don’t want to talk to them. Still, the film felt like it needed more interplay from the new arrivals, because as the film is, it’s mostly about whitey’s anger.

The entire cast is very good. They absorbed their characters without overplaying them. They seemed up to the task, but many of townsfolk were left with little room to maneuver outside of being cardboard bigots or victims. Madigan’s character has dimension, but she spends a lot of time crying and pining over her lost love with Chang and whining in general. Harris is the true star of this film; he passionately takes on his part, and in his eyes, the audience can read a novel’s worth of history and information on this man. Sadly, except for a few snippets, all we get is the angry bigot.

This film is built on anger, and although it gets the emotions and feelings correct, the story itself acts like an outsider, as if it just walked in on the bad situation in the town. It claims to be inspired by real events, but it only snatches up bit and pieces of the whole story. Powerful and visceral, it’s a noble attempt, but it could have been so much more.

6 of 10
B

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Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote to Return in 3D Shorts

Looney Tunes Favorites Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote Resume the Chase in 3D Shorts

Warner Bros. Animation Brings Classic Characters Back to the Big Screen in Three All New Shorts to Be Released with Upcoming Family Features

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, two of the most popular Looney Tunes characters of all time, are returning to the big screen in three all-new animated 3D shorts. The studio will attach the cartoon shorts to three of its upcoming family features—all three features to be released this year in 3D. The first short will be seen with “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” on July 30th; the second with “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” on September 24th; and the third with “Yogi Bear,” on December 17th. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution.

In the new cartoon shorts, each three minutes in length, Wile E. Coyote is as determined as ever to catch the elusive Road Runner, who continues to leave his hapless nemesis in the dust with a taunting “beep-beep.” However, bringing the classic characters into the 21st century, the resourceful Wile E. will now be employing an arsenal of state-of-the-art ACME gadgets to snag his quarry—with all of the action in stereographic 3D.

In making the announcement, Fellman said, “Audiences have always delighted in Wile E. Coyote’s dogged pursuit of the Road Runner, with hilarious, albeit predictable, results. We are thrilled to be presenting these characters for the first time in 3D, which will heighten the excitement and humor of the chase, not to mention the impact—at least for Wile E. We’re sure these three new adventures will entertain a new generation of fans while reminding us all why these two characters have been beloved for so long.”

Review: "Fantastic Mr. Fox" Actually Not Fantastic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – PG for action, smoking and slang humor
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson
WRITERS: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach (based upon the novel by Roald Dahl)
PRODUCERS: Allison Abbate, Wes Anderson , Jeremy Dawson, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tristan Oliver
EDITOR: Andrew Weisblum (supervising editor)
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/CRIME

Starring: (voices) George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Robin Hurlstone, Hugo Guinness Brian Cox, and Adrien Brody

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 stop-motion animation film from director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums). The film is based on a children’s book of the same title by author Roald Dahl first published in 1970. It is the story of a human-like fox who outwits his human neighbors and steals their livestock and food right from under their noses.

Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a thief. To feed his family, he steals livestock from three wealthy local farmers, and during one such mission, he is joined by his wife, Mrs. Felicity Fox (Meryl Streep). However, the couple is ensnared in a cage, but escape after Felicity reveals that she is pregnant. Years later, the couple is living an idyllic home life with their sullen son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman), and Mr. Fox’s visiting young nephew, the soft-spoken and talented Kristopherson Silverfox (Eric Chase Anderson).

After 12 years of domesticity, Mr. Fox feels his wild animal instincts coming to the fore, and this bucolic existence starts to bore him. With the help of his pal, an unassuming opossum named Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), Mr. Fox soon slips back into his old ways as a sneaky and highly successful thief stealing chickens, turkeys, and apple cider from the wealthy farmers, Franklin Bean (Michael Gambon), Walter Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), and Nathan Bunce (Hugo Guinness). Doing this endangers not only his beloved family, but also the whole animal community, when Bean leads a vicious, total war campaign to capture Mr. Fox. Trapped underground and without enough food to go around, will the animals band together or will they turn Mr. Fox over to the farmers?

Fantastic Mr. Fox is what happens when quirky drowns whimsical. Instead of a fanciful animal fable, what Wes Anderson gives us with this stop-motion animated film is weird and peculiar. It is sometimes entertaining, even delightful, but still weird and peculiar. The script by Anderson and Noah Baumbach tries to impart wisdom, but much of it is lost in the idiosyncratic visual vibe of this film.

There are some good voice performances, especially Wallace Wolodarsky as Kylie. Because their performances, Jason Schwartzman as Ash and Eric Chase Anderson as Kristopherson end up being the best pairing in the film – the most interesting team.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a sometimes fun ride, although much of it seems awkward. The strange textures of the animation are a mixed bag. Fantastic Mr. Fox looks like a Tim Burton stop-motion animation picture done with tattered puppets and shabby sets. Ultimately, I find myself sitting on the fence about this film because it entertains and perplexes in equal measure.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Alexandre Desplat) and “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Wes Anderson)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Animated Film” (Wes Anderson) and “Best Music” (Alexandre Desplat)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film”

Thursday, May 20, 2010

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