Alex Gibney Hits the Jackpot with "Casino Jack" Documentary

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 81 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Casino Jack and the United States of Money (2010)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Alex Gibney
PRODUCER: Zena Barakat, Alison Ellwood, and Alex Gibney
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Maryse Alberti
EDITOR: Alison Ellwood

DOCUMENTARY – Politics

Starring: Tom DeLay, Thomas Frank, Adam Kidan, Bob Ney, Ron Platt, Sue Schmidt, Melanie Sloan, Neil Volz with Stanley Tucci and Paul Rudd

For almost 20 years, Jack Abramoff was an American lobbyist. He was also a businessman, film producer, and political figure. His ascendancy as an influential and powerful man, both as a lobbyist and within the Republican Party, began when the Republicans seized control of both houses of Congress in 1994. Over the next 12 years, Abramoff lobbied Congress for Indian casinos, sweatshop owners in Saipan, and even shadowy Russian interests. He eventually went to prison for defrauding his Native American clients and corruption of public officials.

Written and directed by Alex Gibney, Casino Jack and the United States of Money is a documentary film about Jack Abramoff, his career, his lobbying activities, and the people around him – including Congressmen, congressional staffers, fellow lobbyists, and assorted figures within conservative and right-wing Christian politics. Gibney won an Oscar for his 2007 documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, but Gibney deftly plumbed the depths of economic and political scandal in the Oscar-nominated documentary, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.

However, Casino Jack and the United States of Money is not just about Abramoff. It is really about the buying and selling of the American government with lobbyists as the go-betweens for the buyers (powerful business interests) and the sellers (Congress). Gibney dazzles with stories of Indian tribal councils spending millions of dollars to keep their casinos and to keep other tribes from having casinos. There is the sex slave industry in Saipan and a murdered Greek casino tycoon. Cold War intrigue mixes with African revolutionaries. Congressmen take lavish, overseas golf trips – transportation by private, corporate jet. But the real story is about the looting of the American government, our broken system of government, and the perilous state of our democracy.

Jack Abramoff was in prison while Gibney was making Casino Jack and the United States of Money, and although he was able to interview Abramoff in prison, Gibney was unable to film the former lobbyist for inclusion in the film. Not having Abramoff is a glaring omission, but this film is really about Casino Jack Abramoff AND the United States of Money. For all that the film covers Abramoff, his career, activities, associates, and business partners, the underlying theme of this documentary is the legalized bribery and influence peddling that has basically turned the American government over to people who can afford to buy it.

Gibney’s gift is to take subjects like accounting, finance, government, and law and make them interesting. Like the Enron movie, this Jack Abramoff movie is about corruption, and Gibney fills the film with interviews of the people involved and the people who are reporting on the takeover. What could be a boring piece of journalism is instead a compelling narrative that will wake up the viewer to corruption about which he should and must care. Gibney convinces the viewer that the corruption matters to him because it affects him and perhaps it will make that viewer become engaged and maybe even outraged.

Gibney can even find the humor in the con game. His interview with former Republican House Majority Leader, Tom Delay, reveals a man in denial about his activities with Abramoff. It is funny to watch Delay deliver half-truths and spin with smooth-as-silk dishonesty, as if he did not unethical, let alone wrong. I don’t know if Casino Jack and the United States of Money will make people take to the streets and demand change (probably not), but it is an important documentary in the modern history of American politics. It exists as a warning, a signpost on the road to American ruin. Ignore it at your peril.

9 of 10
A+

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

"Jesus Camp" Not as Passionate as its Subject Matter

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Jesus Camp (2006)
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some discussions of mature subject matter
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mira Chang and Jenna Rosher
EDITOR: Enat Sidi
Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY – POLITICS/RELIGION

Starring: Pastor Becky Fischer

The documentary, Jesus Camp, takes a sharp look at a particular part of the Evangelical revivalist subculture that indoctrinates devout Christian children and trains them to become “Christian soldiers in God’s army.” These are the children will grow up to become the adults who deliver the fundamentalist community’s religious and political messages.

The film focuses on Pastor Becky Fischer and her Kids on Fire summer camp at Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, where Fischer and her cohorts attempt to solidify and deepen the spirituality of the preteen children who come from around the country to attend the camp. Fischer and company also exhort the children towards political activism in which the goal is “taking back America for Christ.” The film also focuses on Levi, a boy who is already preaching to other children.

Early in Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s documentary film, a preteen girl finishes a faux-break dance routine, and then, tells the camera that she has to watch out and make sure that she isn’t “dancing for the flesh” and is instead dancing for Christ. Watching this film gives the viewer a chance to see how adults brainwash children and indoctrinate these impressionable young minds into whole heartedly buying the adults’ ideologies and beliefs. While this might appall some people, and, considering the politics of Jesus Camp’s subjects, also make liberals uncomfortable, brainwashing children is nothing new. As the film’s creepy star, Pastor Becky Fischer of Kids on Fire says, children never have a choice in what adults teach them. Thus, her attitude is more or less, why not program them with her ideas and lifestyle instead of allowing someone else to program them.

Certainly, Jesus Camp is excellent view of how religious factions and organizations indoctrinate children, but the directors certainly consider this a more important issue than I think it is. Ewing and Grady likely mean Jesus Camp to be more of a warning than a cautionary tale, and some viewers may find the contents of this documentary to be a sign of the looming apocalypse. No doubt there is a fair amount of shocking material here, but it’s shocking in a humorous sort of way. For instance, during a mini-rant about that literary “warlock,” Harry Potter, Pastor Becky mentions that Potter would have been killed in the Old Testament. When the members of a military family shown briefly in the film pledges allegiance to the “Christian flag” while holding an American flag, an Israeli flag, and some kind of flag with a cross on it, I laughed, (albeit with a bit of unease). Perhaps, the creepiest “star” of the picture is Levi, a boy who has really bought into the idea that he is going to be a preacher.

Why Jesus Camp received an Oscar nomination for “Best Documentary, Features,” over what I consider to be better documentary films (such as Why We Fight and Who Killed the Electric Car?), I’ll never know. There’s nothing cinematic about this documentary film, and it looks like something a television network such as CBS or ABC could have produced, although it is a co-production of A&E IndieFilms, a branch of the A&E cable network.

One thing that may have helped this film earn Oscar attention (and that of critics and audiences) is an appearance in the film by Pastor Ted Haggard of the Colorado Springs mega-church, New Life Church. In November 2006, Haggard resigned (or was removed) from his position at New Life Church after he confirmed some of the allegations of an alleged male prostitute that Haggard himself participated in homosexual sex and drug abuse. The resignation took place after Haggard was filmed for Jesus Camp.

5 of 10
B-

Thursday, February 01, 2007

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Documentary, Features” (Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady)

Honors for Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin at Hollywood Film Festival

Press release:

Danny Boyle, Christian Colson, Aaron Sorkin, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall to be honored at the Hollywood Awards Gala

Hollywood, CA, September 27, 2010 -- The 14th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards, presented by Starz, are pleased to announce that producers Danny Boyle and Christian Colson will be honored with the "Hollywood Producer Award," screenwriter Aaron Sorkin will get the "Hollywood Screenwriter Award," and Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall will be honored with the "Hollywood Editor Award" at the festival's Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony.

The announcement was made by Carlos de Abreu, Founder of the Hollywood Awards Gala.

"We are honored to recognize these exceptionally talented artists for their outstanding work and creative vision at this year's Hollywood Awards Gala," said de Abreu.

Previously announced honorees for this year's Hollywood Awards Gala include: Sean Penn for the "Humanitarian Award"; Helena Bonham Carter for the "Supporting Actress Award"; Sam Rockwell for the "Supporting Actor Award"; Andrew Garfield for the "Breakthrough Actor Award"; Mia Wasikowska for the "Breakthrough Actress Award"; Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" and director Lee Unkrich for the "Hollywood Animation Award"; Paramount Pictures' "Iron Man 2" and visual effects supervisors Ben Snow and Janek Sirrs for the "Hollywood Visual Effects Award"; Hans Zimmer for the "Film Composer Award"; Wally Pfister for "Cinematographer Award"; and Robert Stromberg for the "Production Designer Award."

The gala ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 25, 2010.


ABOUT DANNY BOYLE AND CHRISTIAN COLSON
DANNY BOYLE's (Director/Screenwriter/Producer) career started in the theatre with Howard Barker's "Victory," Howard Brenton's "The Genius" and Edward Bond's "Saved," which won the Time Out Award. Boyle also directed five productions for The Royal Shakespeare Company before moving into television where his work included producing Alan Clark's controversial "Elephant" and directing "Strumpet," "Vacuuming Completely Naked In Paradise" and the series Mr. Wroe's Virgins," for which he received a BAFTA nomination.

In 1994 his first feature, "Shallow Grave, earned him the Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film at the BAFTA Awards, among a host of other accolades. Boyle's second film, "Trainspotting," is one of the highest grossing British independent films of all time. The critically acclaimed film won four Empire Awards including Best Director and Best Film and was nominated for a BAFTA Alexander Korda Award and an Academy Award® for Best Adapted Screenplay.

In 2002 the smash hit horror film "28 Days Later" earned Boyle a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Boyle's other feature films include "Millions" starring James Nesbitt, Alex Etel and Lewis McGibbon; "The Beach," starring Leonardo DiCaprio; "A Life Less Ordinary," starring Ewan McGregor and Cameron Diaz and "Sunshine," starring Cillian Murphy. "Slumdog Millionaire," his eighth internationally theatrically released film, won the People's Choice Award at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win more than 100 international industry awards including 4 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs and 8 Academy Awards including best picture. Boyle's latest feature "127 HOURS" stars James Franco in the extraordinary true story of outdoorsman Aron Ralston's entrapment in Blue John Canyon, Utah and will be released theatrically by Fox Searchlight on November 5th 2010. The film marks Boyle's second collaboration with producer Christian Colson and the duo are together developing a slate of new films.

CHRISTIAN COLSON (Producer) is an Academy Award® winning film producer, and Chairman of the London-based production company Cloud Eight Films. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1968, Christian graduated with a First Class Honours degree in English from Oxford University. In 1994 he began his film industry career at the talent agency London Management before becoming Head of Development UK for Harvey Weinstein's Miramax Films in 1998.

Between 2002 and 2009, Christian was Managing Director of Celador Films where he produced seven features including Neil Marshall's 2005 worldwide horror hit THE DESCENT, which won a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, and the Empire Award for Best Horror Film. In 2008 Christian produced Danny Boyle's multiple award-winning "Sumdog Millionaire," for which he received the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2008. 127 HOURS marks his second collaboration with Danny Boyle and will be released theatrically by Fox Searchlight on November 5th 2010.

Christian is currently in pre-production on the Civil Rights drama "Selma," to be directed by Lee Daniels, and is developing a slate of films with Danny Boyle.

ABOUT AARON SORKIN
Screenwriter and playwright Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay for the highly anticipated film "The Social Network," directed by David Fincher and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. The film is about the formation of Facebook and is set to be released on October 1.

Sorkin made his Broadway playwriting debut with the military courtroom drama "A Few Good Men," for which he received the John Gassner Award as Outstanding New American Playwright. He made his screenwriting debut with the film adaptation of "A Few Good Men," starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore, which was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Sorkin followed this success with the screenplays for "Malice" and "The American President." He also created and wrote the television series "Sports Night" and "The West Wing," for which he won numerous awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series for each of his four years on "The West Wing." Sorkin recently adapted "Moneyball," directed by Bennett Miller and starring Brad Pitt, which is currently in production at Sony. He has also acquired the rights to "The Politician," the best-selling book by Andrew Young about the downfall of former Senator John Edwards. Sorkin will adapt the book and make his directorial debut with "The Politician," which he will also produce.

ABOUT KIRK BAXTER AND ANGUS WALL
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall were both nominated for an Academy Award for their editing work on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Together they edited David Fincher's latest masterpiece "The Social Network" that stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake. In addition, they both edited David Fincher's "Zodiac" starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

Baxter's previous credits include title designer for HBO's "Big Love" and editor on the Academy Award nominated short live action film "Killing Joe." Wall's previous editing credits include Mike Mills' "Thumbsucker"; John Woo's "Hostage" starring Clive Owen; David Fincher's "Panic Room" starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, and Forest Whitaker; and Adam Collis' "Sunset Strip" starring Simon Baker.

The festival and awards will mark their return on October 20 for a weeklong series of screenings, competitions and awards. The Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 25, 2010.s

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 16 premium channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 17.3 million and 31.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for its Starz, Encore and MoviePlex brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and is attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group.

For more information please go to
Festival Contact: 1.310.288.1882
Hollywood Film Festival®
433 N. Camden Drive, Suite 600
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Review: First "Iron Man" Film Was Good - Surprisingly Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Iron Man (2008)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence and brief suggestive content
DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau
WRITERS: Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (based upon characters created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby)
PRODUCERS: Avi Arad and Kevin Feige
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique, ASC (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Dan Lebental, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bigg, Faran Tahir, Clark Gregg, Sayed Badreya, and Shaun Toub

After years of watching other movie studios make hundreds of millions bringing its comic book characters to the big screen (Spider-Man, X-Men), Marvel Studios makes its first foray into financing and making its own superhero movie. It’s called Iron Man, and this first Marvel Studios movie is as bold and as brash as Marvel’s attempt to bring the classic armored superhero to the silver screen on its own dime.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor, and his Stark Industries is the U.S. government’s top weapons contractor. He has celebrity status as the protector of American interests around the globe and lives a carefree lifestyle. While in Afghanistan, his military convoy/escort is attacked, Stark is gravely injured by life-threatening shrapnel embedded near his already weakened heart. Kidnapped and held hostage by a group of insurgents, Stark is forced to build a devastating weapon for Raza (Faran Tahir), the mysterious leader of the insurgents. Instead, Tony uses his intelligence and ingenuity to build a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity.

Returning to America, Stark is determined to come to terms with his past and vows to take Stark Industries in a new direction, but meets resistance from Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), his right-hand man and top executive, who took the reigns of the company while Stark was gone. Spending his days and nights in his workshop, Tony develops and refines the suit of armor that gives him superhuman strength and physical protection. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, Stark once again dons his new, more powerful armor, and with the help of his longtime assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and his trusted military liaison, Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Tony Stark fights evil as his new alter ego “Iron Man.”

There are several reasons why this Iron Man film turns out to be such a joyous and entertaining film. The main reason is Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Much has been made that Downey has used his experience as an addict to play Stark (a heavy-drinking playboy), who, in some of the Marvel comic books, was portrayed as an alcoholic. The truth is that Downey is simply a superb actor whose talent has been overshadowed by his public battle with his demons. Here, Downey offers a complicated view of both the man and superhero just as Tobey Maguire has done as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Christian Bale as Batman (in Batman Begins).

Downey presents Tony Stark as a hard worker and hard player. He’s dedicated to creating the best weapons for the United States, but he focuses on his down time with equal zeal; he’s all work and all play. This is how Downey presents Stark as a man who is so self-centered and so focused only on what he wants to do that he essentially ignores everything and everyone else around him. Stark takes his friends for granted, and although he works hard to create the best inventions for his company, he actually ignores how Stane is running it. By presenting such a fully developed character, Downey uses that performance to drive both the narrative and its central conceit – in order to better the world, Tony Stark, with the help of Iron Man has to better himself.

Iron Man’s visual effects are another element that sells the film. The CGI and other special effects look slick, as would befit a futuristic hero who wears shiny, beyond state-of-the-art technology. Still, there is an earthy quality to it that becomes this tale of a knight in shining armor that saves both the world and the man inside the armor.

The third and fourth elements about Iron Man that really stand out are actor Jeff Bridges and director Jon Favreau (who also has a small acting role here). Bridges is a consummate actor, and I would be hard-pressed to find an instance in which he gave a poor performance. Stane, for the most part, is a small role, but Bridges so easily creates the duplicity, menace, and outright evil of Stane that the character’s dark presence and ominous machinations straddle the narrative just the way a villain and his wrongness should do in a superhero movie.

Finally, Jon Favreau already has a blockbuster to his directing resume, the heart-warming and wonderfully endearing Christmas flick, Elf. It was, however, his thoroughly underrated children’s sci-fi flick, Zathura (2005) that gave him the chance to show how much he understood handling a complicated technical production. In Elf and Zathura, Favreau also showed his knack for constantly offering surprises in his film narratives. It doesn’t matter if it is a quiet moment, a moment of intense drama, or a sequence of slam-bang action and SFX; Favreau always offers something visually appealing – the presentation of an event or a bit of dialogue that keeps the film fresh and moving. The viewer’s interest is usually stimulated and kept focused on the film. With Iron Man, Favreau wisely takes Downey’s witty and droll turn and makes a film that from beginning to end is absolutely fun to watch – with no time for a dull moment.

7 of 10
A-

Monday, May 19, 2008

NOTES:
2009 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Frank E. Eulner and Christopher Boyes) and “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, and Shane Mahan)

2009 BAFTA Awards: 1 nominations: “Best Special Visual Effects” (Hal T. Hickel, Shane Mahan, John Nelson, and Ben Snow)

2008 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actor” (Terrence Howard)

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Happy Birthday, Jay!

A quarter-century, huh?

"Legend of the Guardians" a Strange, But Entertaining Bird

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 80 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010)
Running time: 90 minutes  (1 hour, 30 minuntes)
MPAA – PG for some sequences of scary action
DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder
WRITERS: John Orloff and Emil Stern (based on the Guardian of Ga’Hoole novels by Kathryn Lasky)
PRODUCER: Zareh Nalbandian

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ACTION/WAR

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Emily Barclay, Adrienne DeFaria, Miriam Margolyes, Ryan Kwanten, Helen Mirren, Sam Neill, Richard Roxburgh, Geoffrey Rush, Joel Edgerton, Anthony LaPaglia, Abbie Cornish, Hugo Weaving, and David Wenham

The film, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is a computer animated film based upon the Guardians of Ga’Hoole fantasy book series by Kathryn Lasky. Legend of the Guardians, which is apparently a loose adaptation of the first three books in the series, follows the adventures of a young owl kidnapped by a patrol of evil owls and thrown into an ages old conflict.

Legend of the Guardians is directed by Zack Snyder, master of the faux-historical 300 and the superhero faux pas, Watchmen. The computer animation is the work of Australian digital visual effects company, Animal Logic, which also produced the Oscar-winning Happy Feet. Unlike Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians may be too dark, too violent, and too intense for children younger than 8 or 9 years-old.

An easy way to describe this film is as Lord of the Rings with owls. Like LotR, Legend of the Guardians is visually astounding, especially when its characters (mostly all owls) take to the air for breathtaking displays of avian aerial prowess. The story features all the familiar characteristics of the hero’s quest, and the character drama is sometimes as dull as the flying and fighting are attention-grabbing. But this is done with owls, and that’s the hook that makes this movie work.

The film focuses on Soren (Jim Sturgess), a young owl enthralled by the epic stories his father, Noctus (Hugo Weaving) tells him. These are heroic and historical legends of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a mythic band of owl warriors that fought a great battle to save the Kingdom of Ga’Hoole from the Pure Ones, a group of evil owls.

Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes at their home, the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, but his older brother, Kludd (Ryan Kwanten), scoffs at the notion. Kludd is jealous of the attention his father gives Soren. Kludd’s jealousy leads to the brothers being kidnapped by minions of the Pure Ones and taken to their leaders Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton) and his mate, Nyra (Helen Mirren). When Soren learns of the true evil the Pure Ones are planning, his only hope is to find the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, but are these owls real? He and an elf owl named Gylfie (Emily Barclay) escape the Pure Ones and embark on a journey to find the truth and to perhaps save the owl kingdoms.

Legend of the Guardians is relentlessly dark in terms of the story, but is relentlessly splendid in terms of 3D animation. Ga’Hoole’s story treats war as something that is occasionally needed to stop evil and aggression. Here, war is an extraordinary event meant for warriors, and not for warrior-wannabes. It is just this attitude that gives the film’s battles so much weight and importance.

Legend of the Guardians is also a 3D movie, but the computer animation – in terms of stimulating character action, movement, blocking, and camera movement – make seeing it in plain old 2D quite a bracing experience. I saw it in 2D, and that did not keep me from marveling at the texture of owl feathers and the surface consistency of the costumes and implements the birds wore. Unreal feathers have never looked so real. Even the skin of the snake character, the nest maid, Miss Plithiver (Miriam Margolyes), looks like real snake skin. The drawing and design style tends towards realism, especially in the landscapes and backgrounds, but the colors keep the animation from going too far by giving everything a sense of magic and fantasy.

Geoffrey Rush as the wise old warrior owl, Ezylryb, and Helen Mirren (as Nyra), give excellent voice performances. Rush is great at making supporting characters zany and attractive, and Mirren would be award worthy even taking orders at McDonald’s. Jim Sturgess is also good as Soren, but no one else really does anything that stands out.

Where the film falters is character drama. When Legend of the Guardians shows its characters in flight or in a fight, the movie is fierce, passionate, and awesome. When it slows down for some drama, the movie feels grounded, even a bit a silly. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is a strange bird indeed. It is an excellent action fantasy movie, but like some of children’s fantasy films, it lacks heart. Its sentiment and messages feel phony and thrown in out of a sense of obligation. Where does that leave the viewer? Enjoy the action and patiently tolerate everything else.

[Also, before Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole begins, audiences in movie theatres get a new Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon short called “Fur of Flying.” However, unlike most Road Runner cartoons, which are 2D or hand-drawn animation, “Fur of Flying” is 3D or computer-animated. 3D animation is a weird way to see Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, but this short isn’t bad at all.]

6 of 10
B

Sunday, September 26, 2010

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Review: Animated "Happy Feet" Tap Dances to Success

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 246 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Happy Feet (2006)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some mild peril and rude humor
DIRECTOR: George Miller with Warren Coleman and Judy Morris
WRITERS: George Miller, John Collee, Judy Morris, and Warren Coleman
PRODUCERS: Doug Mitchell, George Miller, and Bill Miller
EDITOR: Christian Gazal
SONG: “The Song of the Heart” by Prince
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY
ADVENTURE/ACTION/MUSIC with elements of drama and romance

Starring: (voices) Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Hugo Weaving, Anthony LaPaglia, Johnny A. Sanchez, Carlos Alazraqui, Lombardo Boyar, Jeff Garcia, Steve Irwin, Fat Joe, and E.G. Daily

Happy Feet is the new computer animation feature film from George Miller, the director of two hit movie franchises, Mad Max and Babe. Filled with breathtaking action sequences, impressive tap dancing, and rousing musical numbers, it may be the first computer animated flick that tries to be everything to everyone. Happy Feet’s story is also a bit darker than its “PG” rating would suggest.

Deep in Antarctica, in the land of the Emperor Penguins, a baby penguin named Mumble (E.G. Daily) is born dancing to his own tune – tap dancing. That’s not good; for emperor penguins discover their mates with their Heartsong, which is how Mumble’s parents, his mom Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) and his dad Memphis (Hugh Jackman, doing a strange Elvis Presley impersonation) met. Mumble can’t sing, and without a Heartsong, he may never find true love.

Later, when he grows up, the adult Mumble (Elijah Wood) still can’t sing, but he’s satisfied with his dancing. Mumble even has one close friend, Gloria (Brittany Murphy), who is the best singer in the land. Although she struggles with what the penguins consider Mumble’s “hippity-hoppity” ways, she has strong feelings for him. Still, that doesn’t keep Noah the Elder (Hugo Weaving), the stern leader of Emperor Land, from banishing Mumble.

Far away from home, Mumble finds himself in the land of the Adelie Penguins, who aren’t nearly as tall as the emperor penguins. Mumble is immediately befriended by the Adelie Posse. Led by gabby Ramon (Robin Williams), the Adelie Posse absorbs Mumble into their group because they’re impressed by Mumble’s tap dancing. With his new friends, Mumble sets out on the epic adventure of lifetime to discover why penguins’ chief food source (fish) is disappearing.

First, the computer animation in Happy Feet is some of the best seen yet, easily rivaling computer animation gold standard, Pixar (Finding Nemo, Cars). The film does have some live action sequences with human actors. The sequences of penguins sliding over ice fields or dodging avalanches, predators (killer whales and seals), and human machinery, are heart stopping, eye-popping, and just simply striking This has to be seen to be believed, because I can’t accurately convey the wonder of what’s on screen.

The story, however, is a jumble of genres, themes, and sub-plots. Happy Feet is an ecological tale about over fishing the penguins feeding grounds. It’s a tale of religious intolerance, dogma, and superstition. Mumble being made an outcast hits on themes of bigotry, discrimination, and narrow-mindedness. The relationship between Mumble and his father Memphis even brings up issues of parental acceptance.

Still, Happy Feet is a fun movie. Between the dizzying action scenes, rousing musical numbers, and the dancing, it’s hard to leave the theatre unhappy. It’s hard to not like that much singing and dancing, especially when the film mixes hit pop songs with modern hip-hop and tap dancing. George Miller used motion capture to record the moves of live dancers, and the penguins were animated over that. Famed American tap dancer Savion Glover provided Mumble’s remarkable and stirring moves.

The voice acting is also notable, especially Elijah Wood as Mumble and Robin Williams doing three roles (Ramon, Lovelace the Guru, and Cletus). While the entire cast is good at bringing the characters to life, Wood simply finds away of standing out as the protagonist, which isn’t necessarily easy; sometimes the voice actor playing the lead character seems lost in the cacophony of the supporting cast (like Brad Pitt in DreamWork’s Sinbad animated flick). Williams’ manic persona is now best suited for voice over work (as it seems tired in live action movies), and his three characters give Happy Feet energy and color.

Happy Feet is fun for the whole family, in spite of its unevenness and how it leaves out crucial details at key moments in the film. The singing, the dancing, and the epic adventure make Happy Feet a happy surprise.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, December 3, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (George Miller)

2007 BAFTA Awards: “Best Animated Feature Film” (George Miller); 1 nomination: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (John Powell)

2007 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Prince for the song "The Song of the Heart"); 1 nomination: “Best Animated Film”

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