Review: James Cameron's "Aliens" is Still a Blast

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 162 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Aliens (1986)
Running time:  137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)
DIRECTOR: James Cameron
WRITER: James Cameron; from a story by David Giler & Walter Hill and James Cameron
PRODUCER: Gale Anne Hurd
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adrian Biddle (director of photography)
EDITOR: Ray Lovejoy
COMPOSER: James Horner
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER with elements of horror

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton, William Hope, and Jenette Goldman

One of the landmark action films of the last two decades is James Cameron’s Aliens. With it’s heart stopping plot twists, quick-cut editing, and nerve shattering suspense, Aliens almost killed the idea of cerebral science fiction films, and, to this day, sci-fi and action are synonymous terms when applied to film.

Aliens is the sequel to the film Alien, the 1979 Ridley Scott film that was easily one of the best of that year and spawned countless imitators. The film also introduced to a larger audience to the work of one of its visual effects creators/designers, European surrealist H. R. Giger (who earned an Academy Award for his work on the picture).

A giant corporation has colonized the planet that first appeared in Alien and where a group of interstellar miners of the Nostromo mining ship encountered the horrific alien life form. When earth loses contact with the colony, they send a group of space marines to learn what’s happened at the colony. Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the only surviving member of the Nostromo crew, goes along as a consultant. The mission turns disastrous after the aliens slaughter most of the marines. Ripley has to use her familiarity with the aliens to lead the rest of the remaining crew to safety, including a little girl who is the sole surviving colonist.

The performances in the film are excellent, in particular Ms. Weaver who’s Lt. Ripley must act as warrior to save her group from the relentlessly attacking creatures and as a mother to the little girl Newt (Carrie Henn). Bill Paxton as the whiny and frantic Pvt. Hudson made his first big screen splash with a wild-eyed, inspired, and memorable performance. Michael Biehn, (as Cpl. Dwayne Hicks), however, should have earned leading man status with his role, but never did, and Paul Reiser (as the dishonest, evil, and murderous corporate weasel Carter J. Burke) was decidedly out of character with the kind of roles that would later make him famous in the early to mid-90’s.

Several filmmakers ably assisted James Cameron in making this film a classic. James Horner’s Oscar-nominated score would be so well appreciated that nearly two decades later, many studios still uses pieces of it as background music in movie trailers and commercials to sell other action, suspense, thriller, and horror films. Stan Winston won one of his several Oscars as one of the SFX artists on this film who adapted Giger’s work from the first film to better suit Aliens, which was more kinetic than its atmospheric predecessor. Film editor Ray Lovejoy’s achievement in helping to create this film’s frantic, breakneck, and breathless pace also shaped how action films would look from then on.

Aliens was the picture where Cameron first started getting notice for the difficulty of his film shoots and for being a hard man to please. He’s a creative director and a great filmmaker, regardless of his temperament. He got the most out of what he had to make a great film, for instance, cutting away and shooting at angles that would hide the fact that many of the actors playing aliens were only wearing half of a suit. It didn’t matter. All that camera movement created the intensity for which Aliens is so celebrated. The film suffers from one of the faults that mar most thrillers and suspense films. It was too long, and, as good as every part of the last act is, it was a bit too much. Lovers of sci-fi, action, thrillers, and horror films, however, should not miss this film.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1987 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Don Sharpe) and “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson, and Suzanne M. Benson); 5 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Sigourney Weaver), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Peter Lamont and Crispian Sallis), “Best Film Editing” (Ray Lovejoy), “Best Music, Original Score” (James Horner), and “Best Sound” (Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier, Michael A. Carter, and Roy Charman)

1987 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Special Visual Effects” (Robert Skotak, Brian Johnson, John Richardson, and Stan Winston); 3 nominations: “Best Make Up Artist” (Peter Robb-King), “Best Production Design” (Peter Lamont), “Best Sound” (Don Sharpe, Roy Charman, and Graham V. Hartstone)

1987 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Sigourney Weaver)

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VIZ Cinema to Screen Four Crime Films by Akira Kurosawa

SUMMER HEATS UP AS VIZ CINEMA CELEBRATES ICONIC JAPANESE FILMMAKES IN NEW UNTOLD LEGENDS FILM SERIES

Month Kicks Off With Four Crime Noir Films By Akira Kurosawa

VIZ Cinema and NEW PEOPLE present a cinematic theme of Untold Legends for the month of June by offering audiences a rare chance to glimpse the lesser known sides of several of Japan’s most iconic filmmakers.

The summer season heats up with a celebration marking the centennial birth of Japan’s most beloved film director – Akira Kurosawa – and presents four of his acclaimed crime noir films. Kurosawa masterfully combines thrilling storytelling with conflicted characters to depict the desperate human conditions and tense drama of post-war Japan in timeless movies like Drunken Angel, High And Low, The Bad Sleep Well and Stray Dog.

Tickets, screening times and more details are available at: www.vizcinema.com.

Drunken Angel, June 4th – 6th
(1948, 98min, 35mm, English Subtitles)
In this powerful early noir film from the great Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune bursts onto the screen as a volatile, tubercular criminal who strikes up an unlikely relationship with a jaded physician.

High and Low, June 7th – 8th and also June 10th
(1963, 143min, 35mm, English Subtitles)
Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable in his role as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in Akira Kurosawa’s impactful film that is a compelling race-against-time thriller and a penetrating portrait of contemporary Japanese post-war society.

The Bad Sleep Well, June 8th – 10th
(1960, 151min, 35mm, English Subtitles)
Continuing his legendary collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa combines elements of Hamlet and American film noir to chilling effect as a young executive hunts down his father’s killer.

Stray Dog, June 6th – 7th and also June 9th
(1949, 122min, 35mm, English Subtitles)
When a pickpocket steals a rookie detective’s gun on a hot and crowded bus, the cop goes undercover in a desperate attempt to right the wrong. Kurosawa’s thrilling noir film probes the squalid world of postwar Japan and the nature of the criminal mind.

VIZ Cinema is the nation’s only movie theatre devoted exclusively to Japanese film and anime. The 143-seat subterranean theatre is located in the basement of the NEW PEOPLE building and features plush seating, digital as well as 35mm projection, and a THX®-certified sound system.

NEW PEOPLE offers the latest films, art, fashion and retail brands from Japan and is the creative vision of the J-Pop Center Project and VIZ Pictures, a distributor and producer of Japanese live action film. Located at 1746 Post Street, the 20,000 square foot structure features a striking 3-floor transparent glass façade that frames a fun and exotic new environment to engage the imagination into the 21st Century. A dedicated web site is also now available at: http://www.newpeopleworld.com/.

My First Negromancer Movie Review: "The Ladies Man"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 of 2001 (No. 1) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Ladies Man (2000)
Running time: 84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Reginald Hudlin
WRITERS: Tim Meadows, Dennis McNicholas, and Andrew Steele
PRODUCER: Lorne Michaels
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Johnny E. Jensen
EDITOR: Earl Watson
COMPOSER: Marcus Miller

COMEDY

Starring: Tim Meadows, Karyn Parsons, Billy Dee Williams, John Witherspoon, Jill Talley, Lee Evans, Will Ferrell, Sofia Milos, Eugene Levy, David Huband, Kevin McDonald, Tiffani Thiessen, and Julianne Moore

When I first saw advertisements for this movie, The Ladies Man, I really wanted to see it. I wasn’t just another movie on my list; I craved seeing this movie. From the ads, it looked as if it would be filled with those obnoxious pimp daddy retro-60’s/70’s blaxtiplotation stereotypes that are in vogue, and at the moment, I wanted some of that.

I got it, but in a sort of wishy-washy, screwed up way. You see, black folks can be funny and entertaining to white audiences, if they know how and what to deliver. I watched Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker satisfy whatever that craving for silly Negroes is to different generations (though Murphy returned from his early to mid 90’s slump as a family movie comic actor). Black and white audiences expect the same thing from their black funny guys and gals, they just want it prepared differently. One group might flock to Booty Call and the other prefers Dr. Dolittle.

The Ladies Man, a film by Reginald Hudlin (House Party, Boomerang, and the Great White Hype) attempts to deliver the colored goods to a White audience. I honestly believe that upon reading the script, they knew that black people would see through this limp-wristed minstrel charade.

Based on an ongoing “Saturday Night Live” skit, the lead is Leon Phelps (Tim Meadows, who originated the character on SNL) as a radio advice show host who gets himself and his producer, Julie (Karyn Parsons, “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Major Payne), fired from the major Chicago gig because of his insistence on using crude language to discuss sexual topics (although kind of language keeps television talk shows on the air). During their difficult and unsuccessful hunt for other employment (the first point upon which this movie turns), Phelps receives a letter from a wealthy former lover who wants to take care of him; he must however discover her, as the letter is unsigned (the second point). Meanwhile, the husbands of Phelps many lovers have banded together to find and bring harm to Phelps whose identity is unknown to them because the only glimpse they ever got of him was of his ass and the distinct tattoo upon his right buttock (his unknown identity being the third point). This movie is actually not without possibilities. It is, after all, simply product, and if you make a good cheeseburger, garbage food though it may be compared to gourmet food, if made well it can be a satisfying meal.

When the writers moved Phelps from sketch character to full-length movie character, they forgot to fully develop him. In the movie, he’s stuck somewhere between cipher and character – almost, but not quite where he needs to be. Phelps is supposed to be some kind of fantastic lover man, but the audience must assume that because the script darn well never shows us why. If we suspend our disbelief, we still have a hard time convincing ourselves that his character’s silly “make out” lines are meant to be attractive and inviting to women. Phelps is undeniably dumb, dull-witted, and slow. He has a giant Afro that screams fake like Astroturf, and his wardrobe is porno movie chic. There should be some attempt to humanize him and make him attractive to the audience. There should be something real about him that makes him attractive to women. We can assume from a few scenes that he possesses massive genitalia, but we never see that; instead we see men gawking at his off screen groin area. We do see his ass a few times, which is nicely shaped and sculpted, whether it belong to Meadows or a butt double.

The actors certainly seem up to the task; they’re all earnest even with a bad script. All the cuckold husbands are quite convincing, especially the delightful Will Ferrell (SNL and A Night at the Roxbury) and Eugene Levy. Midway through this movie, you can sense that the actors are ready to bust out, if only they had the material. Karyn Parsons is willing passionate and believable, but she is largely reduced to playing lady in waiting to Meadows’ clueless Phelps. It was good to see Billy Dee Williams as the bar owner Lester. He is as handsome and as talented as, say Richard Gere. I wonder why we see so much of Gere, who has one flop after another, while we see almost nothing of Williams on the big screen.

But in the end, so much is left to assumptions and playing upon stereotypes. One can see in Meadows face the ability to give this character life, but he’s left with a caricature, a minstrel man. When the audience can identify the characters and then sympathize with them, they can better accept not only dramatic situations concerning the characters, but also comedic situations. The audience will giggle at a few situations that they might recognize because they are familiar with the stereotypes. However, a fully developed story with surprises that delight and familiarity that hits home will make for a fine cinematic experience. The writers should take the time to ground the story in reality, not necessarily make it realistic, but give it a sense of verisimilitude.

2 of 10
D

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Negromancer Casts Another Spell

Welcome to Negromancer, the rebirth of my former movie review website as a movie review and movie news blog. My name is Leroy Douresseaux, and I also blog at http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/. In addition to my blogging, I write for the Comic Book Bin, which has its own iPhone app.

All images appearing on this blog are © copyright and/or trademark their respective owners.

Review: Ridley Scott Delivers Another Great Film in "Black Hawk Down"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Hawk Down (2001)
Running time: 144 minutes (2 hours, 24 minutes)
MPAA – R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
WRITER: Ken Nolan (based upon the book by Mark Bowden)
PRODUCERS: Jerry Bruckheimer and Ridley Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Slawomir Idziak (director of photography)
EDITOR: Pietro Scalia
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer
Academy Award winner

WAR/ACTION/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Jason Isaacs, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Eric Bana, Sam Shepard, Ewen Bremner, Tom Hardy, Ron Eldard, Charlie Hofheimer, Hugh Dancy, and Tom Guiry

On October 3, 1993, just over 100 American Delta units and Ranger infantrymen were dropped by helicopter into the city of Mogadishu, Somalia to abduct two of Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s lieutenants. Aidid had been stealing food provided by relief agencies for the Somalis; Somalia was suffering through a devastating famine, and images of the dead and dying filled the American television screens. By stealing the food, Aidid was using starvation to make his rivals submit to him.

The mission to capture his aides was only supposed to last an hour. However, a firefight between American military and Aidid’s forces led to the downing of two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, and that was the start of a prolonged and bloody fight. When the last American finally reached safety, the mission had lasted 15 hours. Nineteen Americans were killed and 73 wounded, and hundreds of Somalis were dead.

Directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator, Hannibal), Black Hawk Down focuses on the efforts of the Rangers and Delta forces to rescue the men of the downed helicopters. The story follows different groups of American servicemen. In two of the stories Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett) and his Rangers engage Aidid’s forces in prolonged street fighting, and Lt. Colonel Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore) leads a group of rescuers that gets lost in the maze of Mogadishu’s streets, where Somali gunmen and snipers rain gunfire upon the Americans.

Black Hawk Down is some of the best work Scott has ever done. While it shares the intensity of Saving Private Ryan, in particularly the hair-raising reenactment of D-Day landings on Normandy beach, much of Black Hawk’s impact comes from its dramatic structure, which emphasizes character and story. In addition to Sgt. Eversmann and Lt. Colonel McKnight’s group, the film also follows the plight of the only survivor of the second downed Black Hawk, Chief Warrant Officer Durant (Ron Eldard), who was a prisoner of Aidid’s forces for a few weeks after The Battle of Mogadishu. Staff Sgt. Ed Yurek (Tom Guiry) leads his decimated Ranger group through gunfire to safety. Scott follows the beleaguered Americans, moving deftly from one group of servicemen to the other, keeping the intensity of the drama very high.

Though very violent and occasionally quite gory, Black Hawk Down is the story of these brave men and their struggle to not only survive, but to also rescue and to save the lives of their fellow soldiers. Beyond issues of patriotism and bravery is the strength of dedication and skill of these men. Scott’s war movie is a movie about the camaraderie of soldiers.

While Scott is at the top of his craft in this film, the acting is also of the highest quality. The cast is quite convincing in their roles as soldiers, and the Somali extras aren’t bad either. Tom Sizemore delivers his usually quality work in a supporting role, but the surprise here is Josh Hartnett. A pretty boy in the Tom Cruise tradition, Hartnett hit his stride in this performance. His concentration and intensity in delivering on his role as Sgt. Eversmann is fascinating to watch. If the film’s ideas and intentions must, in the final analysis, hang upon the shoulders of one soldier, Hartnett ably supports the story.

Black Hawk Down will rise above many other war films because it is something more – a war story, a soldier’s story, and a combatant’s story. One cannot help but be impressed by how the storytellers and the cast convince us that in the face of the greatest of dangers, these men will not stick to their credo “Leave no man behind,” be they dead or alive. Black Hawk Down is special.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Editing” (Pietro Scalia) and “Best Sound” (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, and Chris Munro); 2 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Slawomir Idziak) and “Best Director” (Ridley Scott)

2002 BAFTA Awards: 3 nomination: “Best Cinematography” (Slawomir Idziak), “Best Editing” (Pietro Scalia), and “Best Sound” (Chris Munro, Per Hallberg, Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, and Karen M. Baker)

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OMG! Del Toro Out as Director of "The Hobbit"

This is breaking news this morning:

“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming “The Hobbit,” I am faced with the hardest decision of my life”, says Guillermo. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wlsh the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director”.

With that statement, Guillermo Del Toro is out as director of the two movies that will adapt JRR Tolkein's book, The Hobbit, for the big screen.  I first learned this news at the excellent Empire Online, but the story originated at The One Ring.net.

This seems to have something to do with the financial uncertainly of MGM, which has the distribution rights to any films based upon The Hobbit.  The studio is currently in the midst of an ownership battle, and not only has this affected The Hobbit, but also the fate of the 23rd James Bond movie.

This is disappointing news, and as much as I'd wanted to see Del Toro's vision of Middle-Earth, I'd actually prefer another Hellboy movie.

Review: "A Soldier's Story" Still Fantastic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 41 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Soldier’s Story (1984)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Norman Jewison
WRITER: Charles Fuller (based upon his play, A Soldier’s Play)
PRODUCERS: Patrick J. Palmer, Ronald L. Schwary, and Norman Jewison
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russell Boyd
EDITORS: Caroline Biggerstaff and Mark Warner
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring: Howard Rollins, Jr., Adolph Caesar, Art Evans, David Allen Grier, David Harris, Dennis Lipscomb, Larry Riley, Robert Townsend, Denzel Washington, William Allen Young, Trey Wilson, and Patti LaBelle

In this gripping film that takes place near the end of World War II (1944), Captain Davenport (Howard Rollins, Jr.), a proud black army attorney, is sent to Fort Neal near Tynin, Louisiana to investigate the shooting death of Sergeant Waters (Adolph Caesar), who was murdered by unknown assailants near the black army base. Davenport’s interviews with the men under Sgt. Waters’ command reveal that he was a vicious man who despised Negroes who didn’t meet his exacting standards of speech, appearance, and duty. Although two bigoted white officers seem to be the lead and likely suspects, Davenport is sure that there is something going on behind the scenes that either he isn’t seeing or is being hidden from him. But what is it and who is hiding it?

When it was released back in late 1984, A Soldier’s Story received a lot of attention not only because of its large and mostly black cast, but also because the leads were also black actors (unlike The Cotton Club). The film featured the star turn by up and coming actors including Robert Townsend (who would go on to direct Hollywood Shuffle), David Alan Grier, a character actor best known for being on the early 90’s TV sketch comedy, “In Living Colour,” and also a young but not-so-raw Denzel Washington – two years from the role that would earn him his first Oscar nomination.

The film’s best roles belong to Howard Rollins, Jr. and Adolph Caesar (who were never on screen together), both of whom are now deceased. Rollins plays Captain Davenport with such gripping strength that he instantly commands the attention of the audience whenever he is on screen, even when he’s in the background. Rollins clearly understood that for Davenport to be a believable character in his particular situation, he would have to play Davenport as having a magnetic personality, an indomitable will, and a large amount of arrogance – if Davenport were to do his job while suffering the slings and arrows...

Caesar’s Sgt. Waters is a relentless force embodying the conflicting ideas of what a black man should be and how he should live in those particular times, a black America in an America on the verge of the Civil Rights movement. He wants black men to be proud, but he understands that a black man most live in a white world as an intelligent black man, although not as one who threatens white men. It’s this dichotomy of pride and deference that festers in Waters’ mind.

Charles Fuller adapted A Soldier’s Story from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, A Soldier’s Play. As good as the performances are, it’s this incredible script that is simultaneously a fine mystery, an amazing depiction of history, and precise social commentary. Although director Norman Jewison directs this at times as if it were a TV movie, he understands the complex issues brought forward by Fuller’s writing. Jewison allows the script’s flashbacks to define the elements of the murder mystery: the victim, the suspects, and the context. Through Rollins’ performance as Capt. Davenport, Jewison doesn’t intrude as Fuller’s script brings everything together into the present while dealing with the conflicting notions of what it means to be a black man. It’s spellbinding movie stuff. So what does it mean to be a real black man? Who knows? But A Soldier’s Story, a remarkable film ably performed by a fine cast, gives us something to think about.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Adolph Caesar), “Best Picture” (Norman Jewison, Ronald L. Schwary, and Patrick J. Palmer), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Charles Fuller)

1985 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Adolph Caesar), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Charles Fuller)

Monday, February 20, 2006

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