Review: "Inception" is Fantastic but Hollow

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Inception (2010)
Running time: 148 minutes (2 hours, 28 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
PRODUCERS: Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Wally Pfister
EDITOR: Lee Smith
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Pete Postlethwaite, and Michael Caine

Christopher Nolan, the director of The Dark Knight, has unleashed a stunning new film – a visionary spectacle of spectacular visuals called Inception. Filled with mind-blowing visual effects, Inception is a mind-bending journey through the dreams and the subconscious. It will take your breath away; even dazzle you as long as you don’t pay attention to the shallow, clumsily built framework of a story.

Inception follows a thief named Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who has mastered a rather unusual craft called “extraction.” As an “extractor”, Cobb has the power the enter people’s dreams by thrusting himself into their subconscious, which gives him access to ideas and information that would be impossible to get otherwise. Cobb’s rare talent, ability, and technological know-how have made him a coveted player in this new frontier of corporate espionage, but this is a treacherous field that has also made him an international fugitive and keeps him from his family.

Now, Saito (Ken Watanabe), a Japanese businessman has offered Cobb a chance to clear his name. Saito wants Cobb to pull off the difficult (and thought to be impossible) job of inception – using a dream to plant an idea within a person’s mind. Their target is Robert Fischer, Jr. (Cillian Murphy), the heir to mega-corporation. Cobb and his team, including his point man, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the newest member, college graduate student Ariadne (Ellen Page), think they’re about to pull off the perfect heist, until a dangerous enemy begins to track their every move. And this enemy is someone Cobb should have seen coming.

Far all its razzle dazzle, Inception is a heist movie. It’s like blending The Matrix with Ocean’s Eleven. Imagine Neo and his friends going into the Matrix not to fight the machine, but to steal people’s stuff. Inception may be a trippy trip like The Matrix, but as a heist movie, Cobb and company aren’t as cool as Danny Ocean’s crew.

But it is difficult to feel for the characters when nothing in this movie feels real, and other than the impressive imagery and effects, nothing else is powerful in this story. The characters are shallow, although they all have potential, and the female characters, Marion Cotillard’s Mallorie and (the ridiculously skinny) Ellen Page’s Ariadne, are especially wasted on the flimsy character drama. In fact, it is only Leonardo DiCaprio’s usually intense performance that makes the Dom Cobb character interesting, even at times alluring. The movie is so visually overwhelming, yet the story is about nothing. As a movie, Inception is merely an ingenious game.

Perhaps, Christopher Nolan has stolen into our dreams and implanted the idea that this is a great movie, and it is indeed an exceptional movie. Thanks to composer Hans Zimmer’s pounding score, Inception is even invigorating. However, this is a riff on The Matrix, and while its ending may leave a smile on your face (as it did to me), the lack of story makes Inception more a great experience than a great movie or story.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, July 18, 2010

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Tyrese and Ludacris Return to "The Fast and the Furious"

According to this entry at AOL's Black Voices "BV on Movies" blog, actor-singer Tyrese Gibson and rapper-actor Ludacris announced via their Twitter accounts that they will be in the fifth installment of the The Fast and the Furious franchise.  The movie is tentatively titled "Fast Five."

"Just landed in Puerto Rico. Shooting for Fast & Furious 5 is about to be underway," tweeted Ludacris.

Of course, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reprising their roles as Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner.

Tyrese and Ludacris appeared in the 2003 entry in the franchise, 2 Fast 2 Furious, the first sequel to 2001's The Fast and the Furious.  Tyrese played Roman Pearce, Brian's boyhood friend who is on house arrest after serving time in prison for which he still blames Brian. Ludacris played Tej Parker, a race host and a friend of Brian's, who arranges high stakes street racing events that Brian often races in and wins.

Director Justin Lin, who helmed the third and fourth films, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast & Furious, is returning for "Fast Five."  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will play a lawman in pursuit of Dominic and Brian in the next filmm, which is scheduled to hit theatres in June 10, 2011.

Review: "The Twilight Samurai" Different and Moving

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Tasogare seibei (2002)
International English title: The Twilight Samurai (2003)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
Running time: 129 minutes (2 hours, 9 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Yoji Yamada
WRITERS: Yoshitaka Asama and Yoji Yamada (based upon the three novels by Shuuhei Fujisawa)
PRODUCERS: Hiroshi Fukazawa, Shigehiro Nakagawa, and Ichiro Yamamoto
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mutsuo Naganuma
EDITOR: Iwao Ishii
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA with elements of romance

Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Min Tanaka, Reiko Kusamura, Erina Hashiguchi, Miki Ito, Mitsuro Fukikoshi, and Tetsuro Tamba

Although trained as a samurai and belonging to a samurai clan, Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada) doesn’t fight alongside his clan in any battles. In the late Edo period of Japanese history, this samurai is a bookkeeper who rushes home at dusk, but doesn’t join his comrades in any festivities. Instead, the recent widower devotes himself to his two young daughters, Kayana (Miki Ito) and Ito (Erina Hashiguchi), and his ailing mother, Kino (Reiko Kusamura); that and his lack of hygiene make him a curiosity to his fellow clansmen, who call him Twilight Seibei. However, his defense of his friend, Michinojo Iinuma (Mitsuro Rukikoshi), and his unusual fighting technique bring him unwanted attention and soon an assignment that could cost him his life – just as he is accepting his love for his childhood friend, Michinojo’s sister, Tomoe Iinuma (Rie Miyazawa).

Tasogare seibei or The Twilight Samurai is a heartfelt elegy about man who doesn’t want to rise above his station in the world, but just wants to take care of his children and mother. Director Yoji Yamada takes a huge risk in losing his audience’s patience with the film’s slowly moving character drama. He focuses on somber, everyday detail to build Seibei’s character, a taciturn and impoverished man who eschews happiness for duty to family, as if they were mutual exclusive.

One might be fooled by the title, but this isn’t some martial arts slash fest. Seibei’s existence is bookkeeping and piecework to put food on his family’s table. However, there are hints at his past, both as a warrior and as a husband who believes that his late wife was disappointed in his material status, that come through gradually in this film. Thankfully, Sanada has the patience and acting chops to play with such sorrow until the film does have a chop-socky moment – a muscular and awkward fight scene that is more about one’s status in society than it is about power and violence.

There are good performances all around, and the voice over narration by an adult Kayana enhances the story of the father and adds easy commentary about this particular era of Japanese history. The Twilight Samurai, a 2004 Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film, is an eloquent domestic drama that doesn’t play to the usual samurai melodrama and shtick, but is still as moving as the most battling samurai films.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film (Japan)

Entertainment Weekly Covers Green Lantern Movie and Comic-Con International

From Entertainment Weekly’s July 23, 2010 issue (on newsstands nationwide Friday, July 16):

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’S SPECIAL COMIC-CON PREVIEW

THIS WEEK’S SPECIAL ISSUE HAS THE EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK AT RYAN REYNOLDS AS GREEN LANTERN

New York – Ryan Reynolds is Hollywood’s newest superhero, as he prepares to star in next summer’s Green Lantern. This week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, which is the third annual Comic-Con Preview issue, takes a look at whether Reynolds’ power ring (and his six-pack abs) can save the universe.

As he was propelled at 60 feet a second on a wire to create the illusion he can fly, Reynolds opens up about the perils of flying at high speed. “The first time you do it, you’re deeply considering an adult diaper,” he admits. He’s spent countless hours training for elaborately choreographed fight scenes and maintained a monklike diet. “It’s all part of the job, so I guess I can’t complain,” he says. “You spend one day a week eating what you want and the other six days eating drywall and wood chips.”

Since being created in 1940, Green Lantern has been one of the most beloved characters in the DC Comics stable of heroes, but beyond a hardcore audience of fanboys, he’s basically known as just a guy in a green suit with a magical ring. “Green Lantern doesn’t enjoy the familiarity or renown of, say, Batman or Spider-Man,” producer Donald De Line acknowledges. “We have to make the movie stand on its own.”

Figuring out the right way to bring the story to the screen wasn’t simple. In 2004, reports surfaced that a zany comedic take on Green Lantern was in the works, but fanboys didn’t like it and the project quickly died. Greg Berlanti, a comic-book fan and TV producer (Brothers & Sisters), wrote a screenplay and pitched Warner Bros. an outline for a grand trilogy. “I had to convince them this was the most valuable property they hadn’t tapped into and that it wasn’t just a cartoony thing about a guy with a magic ring,” says Berlanti. “Of all the comic-book movies, there hadn’t been something with an Americana feeling on earth and an epic feeling in space.”

Reynolds got hooked by the notion that power-ring slinging intergalactic do-gooder Hal Jordan’s ring can conjure anything he dreams up. And the actor already had experience in the superhero realm, playing the acerbic Deadpool in X-Men Oirins: Wolverine and flirted with playing the Flash. Though a Deadpool spin-off is in development, Reynolds foresees no problem juggling two superhero characters. “Green Lantern is a totally different bag of tricks,” he says. “I wouldn’t think twice about playing a cop in one movie and an FBI agent in another one.”

With Reynolds’ wife, Scarlett Johansson, playing Black Widow in the Iron Man franchise, he says, “We have a lot of comic books lying around the house – more than the average young married couple.”

The actor reflects on the burden of carrying a superhero movie on his shoulders: “The pressure is all on me,” he says. “I try not to think too much about that.” He muses about the merchandising blitz that this summer tentpole movie will eventually unleash, a bonanza of green-hued products, each with his face plastered on it. “There’ll be the Green Lantern hubcaps,” he says drily. “The Green Lantern terry-cloth onesie. The Green Lantern prostate check.” For his part, there’s just one souvenir he wants when it’s all over: “I’m definitely leaving with a ring,” he says. “And maybe an ulcer.”


PLUS: AN EXCLUSIVE COMIC-CON PREVIEW

Each July, Hollywood offers sneak peeks at the hottest movies and TV shows at Comic-Con, the ultimate comic-book convention. This week’s issue offers an early look at some of this year’s coolest stuff, including Thor. Comic-book history might have been very different if Thor didn’t have a hammer but instead fought evil with, say, needle-nose pliers. “The look of the hammer was the very first conversation I had the day I started the job,” says director Kenneth Branagh. “We had conversations about Thor’s hammer the night before we started shooting. We had conversations about the hammer – the look of the hammer, how to shoot it – on the set. We’re still talking about the hammer.” Other exclusive sneak peeks include Sucker Punch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Motion Comic, Tron: Legacy, Paul, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, The Expendables, and more. (Cover Story Package, Page 36)

Link for full story on EW.com: http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/07/15/green-lantern-ryan-reynolds/

See related story at I Reads You blog.

Review: THE PRESTIGE's Brilliance is No Trick

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 225 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Prestige (2006)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and disturbing images
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
WRITERS: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan (based upon the novel by Christopher Priest)
PRODUCERS: Emma Thomas, Aaron Ryder, and Christopher Nolan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Wally Pfister, ASC
EDITOR: Lee Smith A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/THRILLER with elements of sci-fi and fantasy

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, David Bowie, and Andy Serkis

Director Christopher Nolan (Memento) reunites with two of the stars of his acclaimed hit film, Batman Begins – Christian Bale and Michael Caine – in The Prestige. Based upon the acclaimed novel of the same title by highly respected science fiction author, Christopher Priest, the film (like the book) blends sci-fi and history in telling the tale of magic and of an out-of-control rivalry.

In turn-of-the-century London, magicians are celebrities of the highest order, and in this age in which their craft can turn them into idols, two young magicians and colleagues are each ready to carve his path to fame and vast fortune. A tragic accident, however, turns them into enemies-for-life – bitter rivals intent on outdoing and upending each other. They’re either causing grave physical injury to one another or ruining each other’s act. The flashy showman and American, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) calls himself the “The Great Danton,” and he is obsessed with discovering the secrets of the edgy purist, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), a.k.a. “The Professor,” who is a genius at inventing new stage tricks, but who lacks Angier’s showmanship. Borden is technically the better magician, and Angier lives to see the shock on his audiences’ faces. Their competition and rivalry grow more ferocious, almost with each trick and every show.

They drag everyone around them into their private war, including Cutter (Michael Caine), Angier’s “ingeneur” (a technician who actually creates magic tricks) and Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johannson), Angier’s stage assistant, and Sarah (Rebecca Hall), Borden’s wife. Angier eventually turns to the fantastic new power of electricity and the brilliance of eccentric scientist, Nikola Tesla (David Bowie), in his bid to outdo Borden. But will the secret of “the prestige” take them too far into the darkest reaches of what is possible?

The Prestige is simply a riveting thriller built within a compelling drama, and the drama itself evolves from mesmeric characters. The Prestige is less like the literal-minded Batman Begins, and more like Nolan’s breakthrough flick, Memento – a time-shifting tale. The story (which Nolan co-wrote with his brother, Jonathan) hops back forth through the past, present, and future like Pulp Fiction, but demands your attention like The Sixth Sense. Grown up sensibilities and adult viewers demand engaging dramatic thrillers, and Christopher Nolan proves that he can deliver it, seemingly with stunning ease. The film isn’t without fault, as it is too dry in some segments and contrived in others. The end stumbles just a tad and overstates the obvious, but its flaws make actually make The Prestige worthy of contemplation long after the screen has faded to black.

Nolan’s cast gives him its all. Hugh Jackman completely sells the desperate and shamefully vain Robert Angier, while the always intense Christian Bale embodies Alfred Borden’s single-minded pursuit of craft and purity. Caine gives his edgiest performance since The Quiet American as Cutter. David Bowie is simply… delicious as the real-life Tesla, and Andy Serkis is a sweet curveball as the dodgy Alley.

Nolan also reunited key members of his technical crew from Batman Begins for The Prestige, and they play key roles (with brilliance) in creating an environment that is totally in synch with the film’s plot and setting. They make sure the visuals are tight, so that when the engaged viewer watches The Prestige with a careful eye, he will be delighted by surprising pledges, delightful turns, and one mind-numbing prestige.

8 of 10
A

Friday, November 03, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Nathan Crowley-art director and Julie Ochipinti-set decorator) and “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Wally Pfister)

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Blacula's Lady, Vonetta McGee Dead at 65

Vonetta McGee, the African-American actress who had a starring role in Blacula, has died at the age of 65.  Born in San Francisco, McGee debuted in the 1968 Italian comedy, Faustina, playing the title role.  Among the films in which McGee appeared are the 1972 black action movie, Hammer (with Fred Williamson), the 1972 crime drama, Melinda, and Shaft in Africa (1973).  She also appeared opposite Clint Eastwood in The Eiger Sanction (1975).  McGee would go on to having recurring roles in 1980s television drama, Cagney and Lacey and L.A. Law.

The website for the magazine Cinema Retro has a small obit for the actress, but a longer article about her can be found at AOL's Black Voices.

Rest in peace, my Queen.

Review: Christopher Nolan's "Insomnia" Remake Offers Good Performances

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Insomnia (2002)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some violence and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
WRITER: Hilary Seitz (based upon the screenplay by Nikolai Frobenius and Erik Skjoldbjaerg)
PRODUCERS: Broderick Johnson, Paul Junger Witt, Andrew A. Kosove, and Edward L. McDonnell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Wally Pfister (director of photography)
EDITOR: Dody Dorn

CRIME/THRILLER with elements of drama

Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Martin Donovan, Hilary Swank, Paul Dooley, Nicky Katt, and Maura Tierney

Christopher Nolan, the director of the fantastic Memento, follows his breakthrough masterpiece with Insomnia, a remake of a 1997 Swedish film of the same title. Which is better? One is foreign film, and the other is big budget Hollywood production; although the plot is basically the same, they’re two different films.

Al Pacino is Will Dormer, a famous and an acclaimed homicide investigator with books to his credit. He and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are dispatched to Nightmute, Alaska, a town where the sun doesn’t set during the summer, to investigate the shocking murder of teenage girl. While in pursuit of the killer (Robin Williams), Dormer makes a horrible mistake (which he later learns the killer witnessed) and he compounds his error by covering it up. Suddenly, Dormer engages himself in a terrific juggling act. He has to deal with the killer, a wily fellow. Also, a bright, young detective, Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank, Boys Don’t Cry), is assigned to investigate the crime scene of Dormer’s “error,” and there are stars in her eyes, as she’s a huge fan of his. Further complicating matters, the lead, local detective, Fred Duggar (Nicky Katt) is a young stud who doesn’t like the big city investigator sniffing around his territory.

Pacino is good, and Robin Williams is very good. The film seems to be about the invasion of the societal demands, influence, power, and roles into the personal space of individuals - what they believe and desire to be their roles, needs, and responsibilities. The constant flood of daylight causes Dormer to lose sleep, and the lack of sleep causes his world to blur. Suddenly, his desire to solve the case is in conflict with his checkered past, with his errors in judgment regarding this case, and with his sense of right and wrong and crime and punishment. Williams plays it quiet; his character’s conceit is his wish to control the outer world the way he controls and manipulates the inner worlds of his creativity. There’s a nice test of wills and battle of sanities between Pacino and Williams' characters that could have been lost in the glare of their star power – credit to Nolan for keeping these bright lights in check.

However, I really liked the supporting roles. Donovan’s Hap Eckhart is a nice counterweight to Pacino’s Dormer; Dormer’s high wattage as a famous investigator simply does not faze Eckhart, a by the book, straight laced cop. Donovan correctly plays the character so that Eckhart immediately reveals the cracks in Dormer’s armor, so we know that Dormer’s not so perfect even if that is the public perception of him. Nicky Katt stares Pacino in the eyes and doesn’t blink; his character Duggar keeps Dormer and check so that when Dormer runs amok, he doesn’t completely control the investigation, even if his activities complicates it.

Hilary Swank is all good. Her character Ellie, in a sense, mirrors the victim, except that she survives her mentor and might become a better policeman for it. Perhaps, she won’t be as famous, but her quality and honesty will likely surpass his. She’s the quiet wild card in this movie, and really, she’s the axis. In a world of shifting realities, half-truths, lies, and masks, she strips away the facades to reveal the bare bone facts.

While not great, Insomnia is better than a lot of hackneyed thrillers. Nolan continues to prove that he is already a great director on the strength of just a few films, and the photography by Wally Pfister (Nolan’s partner in crime on Memento), from the opening panorama to the claustrophobic interiors, is gorgeous and perfectly sets the tone. Besides Nolan’s work, this film is certainly worth seeing for its performances, which include one of Robin Williams’s less manic, but still good, performances.

6 of 10
B

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