Review: "Dreamgirls" a Delightful Spin on Music History (Happy B'day, Beyonce)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 77 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Dreamgirls (2006)
Running time: 131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for language, some sexuality, and drug content
DIRECTOR: Bill Condon
WRITER: Bill Condon (based upon the original Broadway Production Book and Lyrics by Tom Eyen)
PRODUCER: Laurence Mark
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tobias Schliessler
EDITOR: Virginia Katz, A.C.E.
Academy Award winner

MUSICAL/DRAMA

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, Keith Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, Sharon Leal, and Hinton Battle

Writer/director Bill Condon wrote the screenplay that brought the famous musical Chicago to the screen in 2002, and the film went onto to win six Academy Awards including "Best Picture" in 2003. Condon, who won an Oscar for writing his 1998 film Gods and Monsters, takes on the movie musical again with Dreamgirls, a film adaptation of the beloved 1981 Tony Award-winning musical of the same name. Condon uses music (featuring the score of Henry Krieger, who also scored the original musical) and song to drive this film into a memorable musical experience that recreates a particular period in American music.

In 1960's Detroit, an African-American singing trio, the Dreamettes - Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles), Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose), and lead singer Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), are trying to make it to the big time. They arrive at a big talent show in their cheap wigs and homemade dresses. The Dreamettes perform songs written by Effie's brother, C.C. (Keith Robinson), who also choreographs their dancing.

They get their big break when they meet Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jaime Foxx), an ambitious car salesman determined to make his mark on the music industry. He wants to form his own record label and get its music heard on mainstream radio stations - meaning white-owned - in a time when the Civil Rights movement is still struggling to get a foothold and when black recording artists are mostly marginalized. He sees the Dreamettes as the right angle to make that move to the mainstream. They've got the right talent and could be the right product to sell - if Curtis can shape it all the way he sees fit.

Curtis talks the girls into allowing him to become their manager, and he gets them a gig singing backup for James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy), a pioneer of the new Detroit sound that blends soul music and rock 'n' roll. Early, however, is stuck singing on the "Chitlin' Circuit," which, at the time, meant mostly black-owned clubs. Curtis promises Early to move him into the mainstream, replacing Early's original manager, Marty Madison (Danny Glover), but that's not the only changes Curtis plans on making. He changes the Dreamettes name to the Dreams, and moves to replace Effie as the lead singer. As a new musical age dawns and Curtis' new sound takes hold, some people are fading away and others are finding that their dreams have come true, but at a high price.

Dreamgirls is indeed a movie musical, pretty much in the fine tradition of Hollywood musicals, except that its major characters are all black. It's an absolutely lovely film. In terms of the film's creative staff (art direction, costumes, cinematography, etc.), Dreamgirls is as good as any in recent memories, and the Dreams' costumes seem right out of a musical dream. Tobias Schliessler's cinematography creates a crystal clear heavenly aura of color that mixes the hyper-reality of the music world with the harsh reality of failure and betrayal.

The acting is quite good, but the singing is what makes these performances so memorable. As an actress, Jennifer Hudson isn't yet as skilled as some she beat out for the Oscar she earned for this film, but film performances aren't always built just on dialogue and physical movement. What put her over the top were those extraordinary pipes. Watching this film, it's easy to see why she amazed people with both her powerful, booming voice and her ability to interpret songs. Coming from a novice actress, she impressed enough awards voters to win all the big prizes.

In fact, so much of this movie's narrative and characterization is done through song. Jaime Foxx and Beyoncé Knowles who are professional singers sound better than they ever have. Eddie Murphy who has recorded albums using a voice that imitated other singers, but was on its own not distinctive, sounds better than I thought it was possible. Anika Noni Rose, as Lorrell, is a classically trained actress, Broadway veteran, and Tony Award winner, and she sounds great in a part that puts her character in the shadow of Knowles and Hudson's.

Condon deserves so much of the credit for bringing actors singing and singers acting together to create an ensemble cast that brings this colorful fantasy to life. Dreamgirls is a musical, but it is also a musical revue and music-filled overview of a time when African-American music was trying to break into the mainstream. In that, Dreamgirls is an intimate look at the lives of black artists, entertainers, musicians, singers, composers, and businessmen. The songs may unite the audience, but the experience of the African-American struggle to be accepted in the wider society and culture may seem foreign to so many. Still, Condon's colorful song-filled, dreamy myth making of real musical history will delight many for a long time to come.

10 of10

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 2 wins: "Best performance by an actress in a supporting role" (Jennifer Hudson) and "Best achievement in sound mixing" (Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer, and Willie D. Burton); 6 nominations: "Best performance by an actor in a supporting role" (Eddie Murphy), "Best achievement in art direction" (John Myhre-art direction and Nancy Haigh-set decorator), "Best achievement in costume design" (Sharen Davis), and 3 nominations for "Best achievement in music written for motion pictures, original song" ("Listen" Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler-music and Anne Preven-lyrics; "Love You I Do" Henry Krieger-music and Siedah Garrett-lyrics; and "Patience" Henry Krieger-music and Willie Reale-lyrics)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Jennifer Hudson); 1 nomination: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Henry Krieger)

2007 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Eddie Murphy), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Jennifer Hudson); 2 nominations: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Beyoncé Knowles, Henry Krieger, Anne Preven, and Scott Cutler for the song "Listen"), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Beyoncé Knowles)

Review: Steve Martin is His Usual Self in 2006 Version of "The Pink Panther" (Happy B'day, Beyonce)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Pink Panther (2006)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – PG for occasional crude and suggestive humor and language
DIRECTOR: Shawn Levy
WRITERS: Len Blum and Steve Martin; from a story by Len Blum and Michael Saltzman (based on characters by Blake Edwards and Maurice Richlin)
PRODUCER: Robert Simonds
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jonathan Brown
EDITORS: George Folsey, Jr. and Brad E. Wilhite

COMEDY/CRIME with elements of mystery

Starring: Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Beyoncé Knowles, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Henry Czerny, Roger Rees, Jason Statham, and William Abadie

In the 2006 version of The Pink Panther, France’s greatest soccer coach, Yves Gluant (Jason Statham), is murdered in front of tens of thousands of people during a match, but no one knows who the murder is, and to make matters worse, his world famous diamond ring, The Pink Panther, is missing. Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline) wants to solve the case without the interference of the press, so he promotes small town policeman, Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin), to inspector.

However, Dreyfus wants the new Inspector Clouseau watched, so he assigns a veteran officer, Gendarme Gilbert Ponton (Jean Reno), to keep an eye on Clouseau. Meanwhile, the bumbling Clouseau has taken on the case of Gluant’s murder as if he were France’s best officer of the law. He questions all of Gluant’s rivals and shady associates (usually asking the dumbest questions), but he falls under the spell of Gluant’s beautiful girlfriend, an international pop singer named Xania (Beyoncé Knowles). Could Xania be Gluant’s murderer, and does she have the Pink Panther? Clouseau is willing to follow her to America to find out.

What’s the point of another Pink Panther film, especially since Peter Sellers, the actor who originated the character in the 1963 film, The Pink Panther, and defined him in A Shot in the Dark, is long dead? Well, the grave was already desecrated long ago when Pink Panther franchise director Blake Edwards had Roberto Benigni try to fill Sellers shoes by playing Inspector Clouseau’s illegitimate offspring in Son of the Pink Panther (1993). When the announcement came last year that Steve Martin would become the new Inspector Clouseau, there was some excitement among movie fans and the entertainment press, but I was wary. But in this new film, also entitled The Pink Panther, Martin is his reliably funny and silly self. He doesn’t deliver the kind of comedy he did from the 1970’s to the mid-80’s, but that was decades ago; regardless of style and content changes, he’s wild and funny (if not as crazy) guy. All that matters is that in this movie, he is damn funny.

If you put Sellers’ Clouseau out of your mind (and it’s possible to do), you will find Martin’s take on the character to be exceedingly silly and amazingly funny. Martin, a very talented actor and comedian never lets up in this film, and he can run the gamut of emotions and make the audience feel them. I laughed at Martin’s Clouseau, was annoyed by him, felt for him, thought he was cool, and ultimately cheered his slyly hidden intelligence. In a movie plagued by a pitiful script and absent direction, Martin made The Pink Panther live. This is a solid Steve Martin vehicle in spite of the dead air that stifles this remake.

And while Martin sparkles, his supporting casts works well with him. Although they start off cold, Kevin Kline (always game) and Jean Reno (looking a bit worn here) are fine straight guys for Martin’s relentless goofy and dense Clouseau. Kline is usually dead on as the straight guy, and here he plays the frustrated foil with self-confidence that is above this poorly constructed movie. Reno has a few good moments, though his character Ponton is just a sounding board for Martin’s craziness. However, he really gives a Clouseau/Ponton dance sequence a professional’s touch. He does it the way a good actor should – like he has to sell the performance both to the audience and to a guard who stands in the way of Clouseau and Ponton. There is actually some sexual tension and chemistry between Martin’s Clouseau and Nicole, played in a nice comic turn by Emily Mortimer. It would have been good to see more of that pairing in the film. Although she is a poor actress and it’s never more obvious than in this movie, Beyoncé Knowles is fine and pretty to look at, and that must count for something, right?

In the final analysis of The Pink Panther, Steve Martin makes this thoroughly mediocre film his star vehicle with a little help from his supporting cast. Here, as Martin so often does, he gets the hard laughs – sometimes bringing me to tears.

5 of 10
B-

Monday, February 27, 2006

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Review: "The Fighting Temptations" Has Good Music and a Good Message (Happy B'day, Beyonce)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 148 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Fighting Temptations (2003)
Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual references
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Lynn
WRITERS: Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson; from a story by Elizabeth Hunter
PRODUCERS: David Gale, Loretha C. Jones, Benny Medina, and Jeff Pollack
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Affonso Beato
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Beyoncé Knowles, Mike Epps, Steve Harvey, Angie Stone, Wendell Pierce, Ann Nesby, Faith Evans, Melba Moore, LaTanya Washington, Lou Myers, James E. Gaines, Rev. Shirley Ceasar, Rue McClanahan, Dave Sheridan, Faizon Love, and Eddie Levert, Sr.

Many, many movies are so hackneyed and contrived that you can see the contrivances minutes and if not hours ahead of the actual arrival time. Painfully predictable are the ideas and woefully stereotypical are the characters, but sometimes the movie is so absolutely entertaining and hilarious that it gives a bit of a jolt to the tired term “feel good movie.” Director Jonathan Lynn’s The Fighting Temptations is one that breaks away from the worn mold of which it was created. It is so awe-inspiring and uplifting that it just might have feet tapping for years to come.

Darrin Hill (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is a fast-talking junior level advertising executive who gets canned from his job for lying on his resume. He gets notice that his Aunt Sally (Ann Nesby) has died, so he returns to his hometown of Monte Carlo, Georgia for the funeral, a hometown he and his mother Maryann Hill (Faith Evans) left decades ago when Maryann was kicked from the church choir for singing secular music in a juke joint. Aunt Sally has left Darrin a small fortune ($150,000 in stocks), but to get it he has to direct the local church choir and take them to the annual Gospel Explosion music contest in Atlanta. Darrin, however, faces a stiff challenge for control of the choir from a self-righteous Christian hypocrite (LaTanya Washington). Of course, Darrin also finds a love interest in Lilly (Beyoncé Knowles), a single mother, and she mistrusts Darrin whom she sees as a slick conman.

It would be easy to point out how predictable The Fighting Temptations is, but the truth of the matter is that none of that matters. It’s a wonderful fairy tale full of toe-tapping music that takes the tried-and-true movie formula and uses it con mucho gusto to make TFT like an entirely new song. It’s almost impossible to dislike a movie that so immerses itself in Southern and “down home” stereotypes without demeaning the South. It shows that the eccentricities that are familiar to the South aren’t a bad thing, but are what makes living in the dirty worth it in spite of the bad things.

The music and singing, so big-hearted and full-throated, is what makes this film so special. The humor, however, is tart, tangy, sharp, and occasionally very edgy (especially the running commentary and satire of church people and Christian hypocrites) is also what separates it from being a paint-by-numbers R&B/gospel-flavored film. It’s so much fun, and so damn special.

The acting is pretty good, and Ms. Knowles carries herself quite well despite what previews (with scenes taken out of context) might show, plus the girl can sing down the roof with those awesome pipes. Cuba has seen better days (Jerry Maguire and As Good as it Gets), but he’s purportedly seen worse. Most of the time, he seems a bit stiff and over-compensating, but the truth of the matter is that when he’s allowed to let some of his boundless energy and sharp wit out, he’s absolutely fascinating; he just doesn’t do maudlin drama (and there’s some in this film) well.

It would be nice if a wide audience embraces this film, although early indications are that white folks are staying away. It’s a pity since The Fighting Temptations would probably entertain Southerners of all backgrounds as well as audiences who like My Big Fat Greek Wedding because TFT has a good message about love of family and home. And the music’s so damn (Lawd, forgive me) good.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards: 2 wins: “Best Song” (Beyoncé Knowles and Walter Williams Sr. for "He Still Loves Me") and “Film: Best Soundtrack;” 3 nominations: “Best Actress” (Beyoncé Knowles), “Film: Best Screenplay-Original or Adapted” (Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson), and “Film: Best Theatrical”

2004 Image Awards: 1 win for “Outstanding Motion Picture” and 1 nomination: “Actress in a Motion Picture” (Beyoncé Knowles)

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FOX Picks Jamie Foxx

BET.com's "Stay Tuned..." blog is reporting that FOX has picked up "The Jamie Foxx Project" as a mid-season replacement series.  FOX has also ordered 12 episodes of the proposed sketch comedy series, described as being in the vein of "In Living Colour," which also featured Jamie Foxx.

The blog quotes Deadline: Hollywood and details that the show will feature sketch comedian Affion Crockett, an alumnus of "The Boondocks."  One of the series writers, Carl Jones, is also an alumnus of "The Boondocks."

Review: George Clooney, Jeffrey Wright Shine in "SYRIANA"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 178 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Syriana (2005)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and language
DIRECTOR: Stephen Gaghan
WRITER: Stephen Gaghan (suggested by the book See No Evil by Robert Baer)
PRODUCERS: Jennifer Fox, Michael Nozik, and Georgia Kacand
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Elswit, A.S.C.
EDITOR: Tim Squyres
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, Mazhar Munir, Akbar Kurtha, Sonnell Dadral, Nadim Sawalha, and William C. Mitchell

In 2000, Stephen Gaghan won the “Best Adapted Screenplay” for the 1999 film, Traffic, which took a look at drug-trafficking through several different points of view, each one a sub-plot in the film, making Traffic not only one film, but a movie composed of several mini-movies. Gaghan, now as both writer and director, tries that method again with the film, Syriana, a politically-charged thriller about the international oil industry, oil trading, and the politics as seen through the eyes those personally involved in the business and politics and those affected by business and politics behind energy.

Syriana, even more so than Traffic, is a riveting, but cerebral political thriller that demands that the viewer pays attention, rather than “turn his brain off” as he or she would in a sit-back-and-enjoy, special effects-laden thriller. The film follows characters from the brokering rooms and halls of power in Washington D.C. to the oils fields of the Persian Gulf, and weaves multiple storylines that look at the human consequences of the decisions of the wealthy and powerful oil players.

A murder plot that he is initiating in Beirut, Lebanon goes bad for Bob Barnes (George Clooney), a career CIA operative. Suddenly, circumstances beyond his control mark him as a failure, and Barnes becomes the subject of an FBI investigation. Relegated to a desk job, he begins to wonder about the disturbing work to which he’s dedicated his life.

The target of Barnes’ assassination plot was the handsome and charismatic Prince Nasir Al-Subaai (Alexander Siddig). Nasir makes a deal with a Chinese company for his country’s natural gas drilling rights, a arrangement that will bring more money to the nation than a similar deal with an American oil company, Connex Killen. He finds a kindred spirit in Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon), an oil broker/energy analyst, who discovers that an horrifically painful family tragedy has given him a lucrative deal with the idealistic Gulf prince. Nasir is the apparent heir to the throne of his country, and his father, the Emir Hamad Al-Subaai (Nadim Sawalha) is ill. However, Nasir’s younger brother, the callow and not bright Prince Meshal (Akbar Kurtha), is more amenable to American interests, so the Americans, in particular Connex Killen, are angling to have the Emir (king) chose Meshal as his successor.

The American oil company Connex Killen is the result of a recent merger of two energy entities – Connex, a Texas energy giant, and Killen, a smaller Texas oil company. Killen and its owner, Jimmy Pope (Chris Cooper), also used shading dealings to land drilling rights to coveted oil fields in Kazakhstan, which also lands them under an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) is a quiet, but highly ambitious Washington attorney at Sloan Whiting. It is his job to get the Connex Killen merger through the Justice Department. Holiday, subtle and very smart, must give the federal investigators enough material to make their case against Killeen for its shady dealings in Kazakhstan without jeopardizing either the deal or the merger with Connex.

Ultimately, the machinations of all these men play a part in the life of Wasim Kahn (Mazhar Munir), a young man from Pakistan who works in the Gulf oil fields with his father. After being laid off because of Nasir’s deal with the Chinese, he becomes angry and disillusioned. The Pakistani teenager and his friend Farooq (Sonnell Dadral) join a madrassa, where they fall under the sway of The Cleric (Omar Mostafa) a mysterious blue-eyed Egyptian. He is the same man who took possession of one of the Stinger missiles Bob Barnes sold to arms dealers in Tehran, Iran at the beginning of the film.

Syriana lacks the shaky camera work and rapid editing director Stephen Soderbergh used to give intensity to the Stephen Gaghan-penned Traffic. Gaghan’s film is subtle and eschews the documentary style atmosphere Traffic had. Syriana’s labyrinthine plot and convoluted script snake through a massive ensemble of players, of which very few are more important than others. Even someone with only a little screen time impacts the narrative, shaping the paths of other characters.

Although all the characters are interesting and the performances of them are nice, only two stood out to me. First, Alexander Siddig’s Prince Nasir is a driven man, and Siddig tells as much about the character through his face as he does through the script. Nasir is clearly a man of ideas, a leader and a charming and captivating one at that, but Gaghan only gives Nasir one scene in which he gets to show his ability to lead. That one scene, with generals and other leaders of his country, actually strikes as a bit hollow because there was never any indication prior to that that Nasir would go so far to assure his ascendancy to Emir. Nasir is essential to Syriana’s concept and more of him would have solidified the film’s ideology, but Gaghan ultimately leaves him bare (at least in this cut of the film, which apparently existed in a longer version before it hit U.S. theatres).

The other stand out character is Bennett Holiday, and in the role of Holiday, Jeffrey Wright gives Syriana’s best performance. Like the film, Wright’s Holiday is quiet, but determined. Delicately and with restraint, Holiday will achieve his means. Holiday is actually more successful in his venture than the film in which he exists. Wright makes Holiday Syriana’s focal point; basically, he is the point at which all sub-plots meet or he determines the resolution of others. Holiday, like Syriana, is pragmatic and not very judgmental. Clearly he knows right and wrong, and Syriana obviously believes that much of what people and nations do for the wealth and power that oil and natural gas gives them is harmful to their own long term interests and the immediate well being of many humans, but Holiday is pragmatic, and, to a lesser degree, so is Syriana though the creators might not admit that.

Still, Syriana is about how the world is than about how the world should be. Sometimes, the film’s tagline, “What is the price of oil?” seems like a rhetorical question. We can agree that the actions of many of the film’s players (and there real life counterparts) are selfish, harmful, and wrong, but things are what they are. Perhaps, Syriana is asking us to consider the ramifications of how we get our energy, but a lot of the film’s message and action are to the imagination. Gaghan is clearly sending his message to a more thoughtful film audience. He doesn’t expect the rank and file Joe Blow to give a hoot how the fuel gets to his four-wheeler, or what the ultimate cost of getting it there is. He does expect people who claim they care and are interested, regardless of their political affiliations and ideologies, to take this and create action. What that action is and how it benefits all of humanity is not answered, but I can guess it involves humans being less dependent on oil.

Sadly, the film is too short, sometimes oblique, and occasionally vague. The film’s star, George Clooney, is actually the star of a truncated sub-plot in Syriana. If given more screen time, Bob Barnes’ storyline would have been an edge-of-the-seat international thriller – the dessert portion of Syriana’s gourmet meal. I couldn’t help but leave the theatre wondering about what could have been. Still, what we do get is damn good.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, December 10, 2005

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (George Clooney); 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Stephen Gaghan)

2006 BAFTA Awards: 1 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (George Clooney)

2006 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actor” (Jeffrey Wright)

2006 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (George Clooney); 1 nomination: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Alexandre Desplat)

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Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 on DVD in November

Releasing for the First Time in Over a Decade - To Astound the Eyes and Ears of a New Generation!

Highly-Anticipated Hi-Def Debut of Disney’s Acclaimed Masterwork and the Modern Magnum Opus it Inspired

Fantasia & Fantasia 2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition On 4-Disc Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and 2-Disc DVD November 30, 2010

BURBANK, Calif., September 2010 — Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 -- the magical, animated musical masterpiece and the contemporary classic inspired by it -- debut in highly anticipated Blu-ray High Definition and DVD 2-Movie Collection Special Editions on November 30. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is opening the Disney vault to be able to present these two films that broke the boundaries of imagination in the highest quality possible.

The Fantasia and Fantasia 2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition will be available in a 4-disc Blu-ray Combo Pack ($45.99 SRP) and a 2-Disc DVD ($39.99 SRP) for a very limited time only. The Blu-ray transformation of Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 will reveal the magic, music and majesty of both films as never before experienced, with state-of-the-art picture restoration of the original Fantasia and pristine 7.1 Digital Theater System Hi-Def Surround Sound. The Blu-ray combo pack is a tremendous value featuring, in addition to the two films in two different formats, a wealth of bonus features.

Among those Blu-ray special features is the highly requested Academy Award® nominated short Destino. Available for the first time ever on Blu-ray, the seven minute film is the result of a unique collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali begun in 1946, but put on hold due to studio financial concerns. In 2003, Roy E. Disney worked with a team of modern day animators to complete the film as a tribute to Walt’s pioneering artistic vision. Accompanying the highly anticipated short is an all-new feature length documentary entitled “Dali & Disney: A Date With Destino,” which explores the origins of the relationship between Disney and Dali, their collaboration on Destino, and ultimately how the film came to fruition so many years after its inception.

Fantasia, an unprecedented and magnificent feast of music and animated images, was initially released by the Studio in 1940 as a “road show” release. The following year, at the 14th Annual Academy Awards, Fantasia earned two Special Awards. The first was given to Walt Disney and associates for their outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures, being the first commercial film released in multi-channel sound using a process called Fantasound, and the second to conductor Leopold Stokowski and his associates “for…unique achievement in the creation of a new form of visualized music…thereby widening the scope of the motion picture as entertainment and as an art form.”

Considered avant-garde during its time, Fantasia has gone on to become one of the most popular movies of all time and today is considered a classic. In 1990, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Stokowski, this groundbreaking film, which consists of animation set to eight musical pieces, is narrated by Deems Taylor and includes an appearance by Mickey Mouse (voiced by Disney himself).

Equally impressive is Fantasia 2000, the awe-inspiring extravaganza of sight and sound, executive produced by the late Roy E. Disney. Featuring an array of celebrity hosts including Steve Martin, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn and Teller, Angela Lansbury, Itzhak Perlman and Quincy Jones, the film, like its predecessor, expertly visualizes classical music compositions with various forms of animation and live-action introductions. Fantasia 2000 is primarily performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and conducted by James Levine.

Synopsis: The dreams and visions of Walt Disney come to life in Fantasia, which blends music and film magic into an exhilarating movie-going experience. Unforgettable images are brought to life by some of the world’s best music, and highlighted by the comedy of Mickey Mouse as a troublemaking sorcerer’s apprentice, along with the beauty of winged fairies and cascading snowflakes, the majesty of Noah’s ark and even plump hippos performing ballet in tutus.

Motivated by his uncle’s foresight, Roy Disney continued the magic with Fantasia 2000 which begins where its predecessor left off. There are seven completely new segments, and viewers watch a bustling Depression-era metropolis in the style of Al Hirschfeld’s famous cartoons, a flock of flamingos with slapstick yo-yo talents, an ark full of animals gathered by Donald Duck as Noah’s first mate, and musical life breathed into a family of flying humpback whales.

Fantasia DVD Bonus Features:
- New Audio Commentary with Disney historian Brian Sibley
- Disney Family Museum (running time: approx. 5 minutes) – Walt’s daughter Diane Disney-Miller takes viewers on a tour of the new Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California featuring a very large exhibit on Fantasia and most importantly, the Schultheis notebook with long lost Fantasia production notes found in more recent years in the walls of a convent.

Fantasia Blu-ray Bonus Features:
Everything on the DVD plus:
- Disney View – This viewing mode maximizes the Blu-ray viewing experience with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio. Original artwork created by a Disney artist, in a style that complements the beauty of the film.
- The Shultheis Notebook: A Disney Treasure (running time: approx. 14 minutes) –An in depth look at the recently discovered Schultheis Notebook. The detailed log was created by Herman Schultheis, an effects man on Fantasia, and intricately breaks down the film from a technical view. Many of the special effects used in Fantasia were a mystery to modern day animators until this notebook was recovered.
- Interactive Art Gallery and Screensavers – Viewers can explore the artwork of Fantasia as never before, in HD resolution with unique Blu-ray interactivity and programming.

Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection
- With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, animation historian John Canemaker, and Scott McQueen, manager of film restoration.
- Audio commentary with interviews and story note recreations by Walt Disney, hosted by John Canemaker.

Fantasia 2000 DVD Bonus Features:
- Musicana – Walt’s Inspiration for a Sequel (running time: approx. 10 minutes) – This documentary reveals rarely-seen art created for Musicana, a late 1970’s project intended as a Fantasia sequel with a focus on exploring other cultures via their greatest musical compositions. Viewers are offered a look at the origins of pieces that were started by Walt, such as “The Emperor and the Nightingale” which was then taken over by a very young John Lasseter. Ultimately, Musicana was stopped to begin production on “Mickey’s Christmas Carol,” but the memories of this piece still live on with the animators who conceived it.

Fantasia 2000 Blu-ray Bonus Features:
Everything on the DVD plus:
- Dali & Disney: A Date With Destino (running time: 82 minutes) – This feature length documentary explores the collaborative relationship between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, revealing how and why the Destino short came to fruition under the lead of Roy E. Disney in 2003 so many years after its inception in 1946.
- Destino (running time: approx. 7 minutes) – The legacy of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali lives on in this highly anticipated short film.

Disney’s Virtual Vault -- BD-Live Feature
- Original DVD Bonus Features from Legacy Collection

Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection (total running time: 84 minutes)
- With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, and producer Don Ernst.
- Audio commentary with the directors and art directors for each segment.

About Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Combo Packs (Blu-ray + DVD in a single package): To provide consumers with unprecedented quality, value and portability of their favorite Disney classics, in 2008 WDSHE pioneered the Combo Pack – Blu-ray Disc(s) plus a DVD in a single package. Classic Disney titles released as Combo Packs include Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The Fantasia and Fantasia 2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition Blu-ray™ + DVD Combo Pack is priced at $45.99 SRP and the 2-Disc DVD set is priced at $39.99 SRP.

STREET DATE: November 30, 2010
Direct prebook: October 5, 2010
Distributor prebook: October 19, 2010
Pricing: 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack: $45.99 SRP
2-Disc DVD: $39.99 SRP
Feature run time: 125 min – Fantasia; 75 min – Fantasia 2000
Rated:G
FastPlayTM: FastPlay enabled
Technical specifications may only apply to feature.

Blu-ray Discs
Aspect ratio: Fantasia - 1.33:1, Fantasia 2000 - 1.78:1
Sound/Language Tracks: 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 DEHT
French and Spanish Language Tracks
Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish

DVDs:
Aspect ratio: Fantasia - 1.33:1, Fantasia 2000 -1.78:1
Sound/Language Tracks: 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix (DEHT), 5.1 DEHT
French and Spanish Language Tracks
Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles


For more than 85 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company (DIS: NYSE) was built. Today, the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under four banners: Walt Disney Pictures, which includes Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios, Disneynature, Touchstone Pictures and Marvel. Through the Home Entertainment division, innovative distribution methods provide access to creative content across multiple platforms. Original music and motion picture soundtracks are produced under Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records, while Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Broadway theatrical productions, Disney on Ice and Disney LIVE!. For more information, please visit www.disney.com

Review: "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" - Robert Rodriguez's "Mexico Trilogy" Stumbled to the Finish Line

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 142 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and for language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez
PRODUCERS: Elizabeth Avellan, Carlos Gallardo, and Robert Rodriguez
CINEMATOGRAPHER/COMPOSER/EDITOR: Robert Rodriguez

ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes, Danny Trejo, Enrique Inglesias, Marco Leonardi, Cheech Marin, Ruben Blades, Gerardo Vigil, Pedro Armendariz, Jr., and Willem Dafoe

Take a Sergio Leone spaghetti western like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and spin it on its head; add the flavor of the Southwest and Mexico, and you just might have director Robert Rodriguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico, a follow up of sorts to his 1995 film Desperado, itself a remake of Rodriguez’s El Mariachi. The film is certainly unique, being a mixture of several genres, but not really being like anything else in particular. As with most Rodriguez’s work, the film is of his own unique and zesty recipe, even if the film ends up being quite messy.

Sands (Johnny Depp) maybe a rogue agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, but like a lot of things in this movie, it’s not entirely clear what he is and what he wants. He hires the legendary El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas, reprising his role from Desperado), the guitar case assassin, and his compadres to kill Mexico’s El Presidente (Pedro Armendariz). Sands, however, is into manipulating a whole slew of players including a police officer (Eva Mendes) for whom he has amorous feelings, retired FBI agent (Ruben Blades) and a drug lord (Willem Dafoe), among others. It’s an explosive plan Sands has set for detonation during Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, but he just might find himself scorched by the explosion.

Once Upon a Time has a lot going on in it, and there is so much to see; the film is literally a visual feast. Its most glaring deficit, probably the most important element, is a weak story and an even weaker script. Even if you take this film at its face value, which is that the tale is more impressionistic and symbolic than literal, the narrative is too jumbled to make much sense. There’s a lot of goofiness in the hyper-violence, and the film’s action sequences have a rapid and rabid, colorful, manic, music video cool about them. The film’s color palette is so lush and delicious that the film seems practically edible. Still, when all the dazzling is done, by the end of the film, the best you can do is agree that it seems as if the good guys won.

The acting (what there is of it) is mostly good, and Depp (He’s one of those actors that the camera really loves) steals the show. He is, however, not the lead, and although this is an ensemble drama, his character, if not the most important, is played by the most intriguing cast member. Maybe, he should have been the lead and his character more than just a catalyst (the crap starter) because Banderas, as the central figure here, just doesn’t work.

Rodriguez, as usual, is a one-man gang filmmaker. A musician, he scored the film, and edited it. He shot the film himself using digital video camera technology (which filmmaker George Lucas introduced him to in 2000), and he is, of course co-producer, writer, and director. I’m impressed with his verve, but I wish there was a little more meat to Rodriguez’s film. He’s a jack-of-all-trades, but sometimes, he doesn’t seem to be very good at any one. This is one of those times when a collaborator or two would have better served the end product. Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a good idea that doesn’t come to fruition. Although on the surface it may seem otherwise, it ends up being like a lot of summer action flicks, full of sound and fury, and not, surprisingly, empty.

5 of 10
C+

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