Review: "Mississippi Masala" A Dish That Ages Well (Happy B'day, Mira Nair)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mississippi Masala (1991/1992)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Mira Nair
WRITER: Sooni Taraporevala
PRODUCERS: Mira Nair and Michael Nozik
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Lachman
EDITOR: Roberto Silvi
Image Award winner

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth, Sharmila Tagore, Charles Dutton, Jon Seneca, Ranjit Chowdhry, Tico Wells, and Yvette Hawkins

When Edi Amin takes power in Uganda in 1972, Jay (Roshan Seth), a Ugandan of Indian descent takes his wife Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore) and daughter Mina (Sarita Choudhury) into exile. They eventually arrive in Greenwood, Mississippi and some time passes.

In the early Nineties, Mina falls in love with Demetrius Williams (Denzel Washington), a black man who runs a small carpet cleaning business with his brother Tyrone (Charles S. Dutton). What follows is the story of the difficult time that Mina and Demetrius’s families have dealing with the mixed relationship. At the same time, Jay longs for his homeland of Kampala, Uganda and pursues a lawsuit through a post-Amin government to regain the property he lost when Amin expelled Asians and non-black Africans from Uganda.

In Mississippi Masala, director Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!) weaves a passionate, literate affair that slowly draws the viewer from a Uganda of rich, vibrant colors to a Greenwood, MS of heavy, earthy tones. She allows her prodigiously talented cast to do their thing, and they certainly take to it.

Washington is, as expected, very good. He is a sullen, cheeky fellow who quickly becomes smitten with the beautiful Mina after initially using her to spite his ex. Ms. Choudhury, who is sadly rarely seen in movies, possesses a face rich in its display of emotions. However, behind the husky, dark brown face is a mysterious pool of thoughts and feelings that one must brave to completely enjoy the experience of viewing her acting gifts.

Roshan Seth (Gandhi, A Passage to India) as Mina’s father Ray is also good; he is subtle even when he must be angry and passionate. The viewer can feel his pain and longing for his homeland. He is the bridge in the present from the past to the future, and he is the emotional center of the film. So good is he, that you will feel that you have to cry along with him when he cries, and you will struggle with him as he finds his way when he is lost.

A soundtrack that covers Hindu music, African songs, and the delta blues and soul flows through this film like a gentle breeze. It is a wonderful accompaniment to Taraporevala’s novel like script, which deals with its characters as if the film was a novel and had all the time in the world. It is only a slight problem that there are too many good characters. Taraporevala created such wonderful characters rich in back story, and he only has time to give us a small taste of most of them.

Taraporevala and Nair also make not too subtle comments on race and ethnicity. White folks are only minor characters in the film. They mar their brief appearances with their ignorance and racism. Even the poorest, trashiest whites in the film take on an air of superiority to any non-white they meet in the film. At one point, a loan manager at a local bank lectures Demetrius and Tyrone on how far hard work has gotten him, the loan officer, when it is clear that he hasn’t worked a hard day in his life, and. If he has, he has probably never known the struggle and disappointment that Demetrius and his brother have faced.

The “masala” of the title is an Indian dish composed of colorful spices, and the multi-national, multi-ethnic cast is just like that. The small servings that we get of most of them are indeed spicy and leave us longing for more.

This film only gets better with age, and leaves you always wanting more. One of the best films of its time, it is worth repeated viewings. Mississippi Masala is a thinking person’s film with an eye on telling a story to which anyone can relate – love so strong that no opposing forces are strong enough to dispose of it.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1994 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture” (Denzel Washington)

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65 Countries Submit Entries for 2010 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar

It is almost upon us - that time of year when the movie awards season cranks up - as this press release from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences attests:

65 Countries Enter Race for 2010 Foreign Language Film Oscar®

Beverly Hills, CA (October 13, 2010) — Sixty-five countries, including first-time entrants Ethiopia and Greenland, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 83rd Academy Awards®.

The 2010 submissions are:

Albania, “East, West, East,” Gjergj Xhuvani, director;

Algeria, “Hors la Loi” (“Outside the Law”), Rachid Bouchareb, director;

Argentina, “Carancho,” Pablo Trapero, director;

Austria, “La Pivellina,” Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, directors;

Azerbaijan, “The Precinct,” Ilgar Safat, director;

Bangladesh, “Third Person Singular Number,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;

Belgium, “Illegal,” Olivier Masset-Depasse, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Circus Columbia,” Danis Tanovic, director;

Brazil, “Lula, the Son of Brazil,” Fabio Barreto, director;

Bulgaria, “Eastern Plays,” Kamen Kalev, director;

Canada, “Incendies,” Denis Villeneuve, director;

Chile, “The Life of Fish,” Matias Bize, director;

China, “Aftershock,” Feng Xiaogang, director;

Colombia, “Crab Trap,” Oscar Ruiz Navia, director;

Costa Rica, “Of Love and Other Demons,” Hilda Hidalgo, director;

Croatia, “The Blacks,” Goran Devic and Zvonimir Juric, directors;

Czech Republic, “Kawasaki’s Rose,” Jan Hrebejk, director;

Denmark, “In a Better World,” Susanne Bier, director;

Egypt, “Messages from the Sea,” Daoud Abdel Sayed, director;

Estonia, “The Temptation of St. Tony,” Veiko Ounpuu, director;

Ethiopia, “The Athlete,” Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, directors;

Finland, “Steam of Life,” Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen, directors;

France, “Of Gods and Men,” Xavier Beauvois, director;

Georgia, “Street Days,” Levan Koguashvili, director;

Germany, “When We Leave,” Feo Aladag, director;

Greece, “Dogtooth,” Yorgos Lanthimos, director;

Greenland, “Nuummioq,” Otto Rosing and Torben Bech, directors;

Hong Kong, “Echoes of the Rainbow,” Alex Law, director;

Hungary, “Bibliotheque Pascal,” Szabolcs Hajdu, director;

Iceland, “Mamma Gogo,” Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, director;

India, “Peepli [Live],” Anusha Rizvi, director;

Indonesia, “How Funny (Our Country Is),” Deddy Mizwar, director;

Iran, “Farewell Baghdad,” Mehdi Naderi, director;

Iraq, “Son of Babylon,” Mohamed Al-Daradji, director;

Israel, “The Human Resources Manager,” Eran Riklis, director;

Italy, “La Prima Cosa Bella” (“The First Beautiful Thing”), Paolo Virzi, director;

Japan, “Confessions,” Tetsuya Nakashima, director;

Kazakhstan, “Strayed,” Akan Satayev, director;

Korea, “A Barefoot Dream,” Tae-kyun Kim, director;

Kyrgyzstan, “The Light Thief,” Aktan Arym Kubat, director;

Latvia, “Hong Kong Confidential,” Maris Martinsons, director;

Macedonia, “Mothers,” Milcho Manchevski, director;

Mexico, “Biutiful,” Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director;

Netherlands, “Tirza,” Rudolf van den Berg, director;

Nicaragua, “La Yuma,” Florence Jaugey, director;

Norway, “The Angel,” Margreth Olin, director;

Peru, “Undertow” (“Contracorriente”), Javier Fuentes-Leon, director;

Philippines, “Noy,” Dondon S. Santos and Rodel Nacianceno, directors;

Poland, “All That I Love,” Jacek Borcuch, director;

Portugal, “To Die Like a Man,” Joao Pedro Rodrigues, director;

Puerto Rico, “Miente” (“Lie”), Rafael Mercado, director;

Romania, “If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle,” Florin Serban, director;

Russia, “The Edge,” Alexey Uchitel, director;

Serbia, “Besa,” Srdjan Karanovic, director;

Slovakia, “Hranica” (“The Border”), Jaroslav Vojtek, director;

Slovenia, “9:06,” Igor Sterk, director;

South Africa, “Life, above All,” Oliver Schmitz, director;

Spain, “Tambien la Lluvia” (“Even the Rain”), Iciar Bollain, director;

Sweden, “Simple Simon,” Andreas Ohman, director;

Switzerland, “La Petite Chambre,” Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond, directors;

Taiwan, “Monga,” Chen-zer Niu, director;

Thailand, “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul, director;

Turkey, “Bal” (“Honey”), Semih Kaplanoglu, director;

Uruguay, “La Vida Util,” Federico Veiroj, director;

Venezuela, “Hermano,” Marcel Rasquin, director.

The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide. [END]

Review: "Hostel" is Trash Cinema with Imagination

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hostel (2005)
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – R for brutal scenes of torture and violence, strong sexual content, language, and drug use
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Eli Roth
PRODUCERS: Chris Briggs, Mike Fleiss, and Eli Roth
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Milan Chadima with Shane Daly (additional photography)
EDITOR: George Folsey, Jr.

HORROR

Starring: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson, Barbara Nedeljakova, Jana Kaderabkova, Jan Vlasák, and Jennifer Lim

Two American college students, Josh (Derek Richardson) and Paxton (Jay Hernandez), on the verge of grad and law school respectively, take a tour of Europe hoping to make the kind of wild memories they can vividly recall while doing the serious business of being grown up. With, Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), a European friend they meet in Barcelona, they travel to the Netherlands where they hear of a town in Slovakia where the women are horny for American men because all their own men were killed in one of the various civil wars that began after the fall of the Soviet Empire. Josh, Paxton, and Oli make the trip and find a hostel (a college dormitory style hotel for young people, which is usually supervised) in an out-of-the-way Slovakian town that is indeed stocked with European women hot for American men. However, there is something dark, brutal, and very ugly just beneath the surface of the easy sex.

Many film fans considered Eli Roth’s horror film, Cabin Fever, to be problematic, but they believed that it showed much promise for Roth’s future as a director of horror films. That promise is supposed to be met in Roth’s new horror film, Hostel. As far as I’m concerned Cabin Fever had problems, but was one of the best and truest horror films in the last decade. Hostel is actually a step back.

The film is gallows schlock, the kind of gory film a frat boy would make. In fact, the two American lead characters are not only spoiled college students, but are also the kind of dumb Americans who think every backwoods, exotic, international locale is just another place to score girls and indulge in super hedonistic behavior. The only thing that makes them sympathetic is that they are Americans, and since we can see their doom coming from ten miles away (while they apparently can’t see it a few feet in front of them), we can be sympathetic because we as Americans wouldn’t want to be trapped in a strange foreign place with no cavalry, let alone an American embassy, there to save us.

The film, like even the worst horror movies, at least succeeds in creating creepy atmosphere and a fine impending sense of doom that pervades the film’s first half hour. The film features nine foreign languages, none with subtitles – a record for an American film without subtitles, and that actually adds a nice touch to the film’s surreal and strange mood. However, the narrative itself is dull, and the gore shamelessly gruesome and overdone; it makes Rob Zombie’s flicks look mainstream. Hostel is also somewhat misogynistic. Women in this film are either flesh pots into which the Americans can insert their genitalia, or they’re skanky Euro-whores screwing, drugging, and lying men to their dooms – kind of like a heifer leading the bulls into the slaughter pens.

The film does have a redeeming quality – the last act, in particularly the last twenty minutes. At that point Hostel transforms itself from pornographic gore into a brilliant European chase flick. It’s taut, edge-of-the-seat pace is filled with moments of comic horror, just enough to make you laugh off the tension. Still, that’s not enough to make Hostel more than a DVD rental.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, January 07, 2006

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How to Train Your Dragon the TV Series Arriving in 2012

Cartoon Network Soars With Worldwide Broadcast Rights To DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon Television Series

Groundbreaking CG Animated Weekly Series to Premiere in 2012

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cartoon Network announced today that DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: DWA) critically acclaimed feature film, How To Train Your Dragon, will be coming to the network as a weekly series in both domestic and international regions beginning in 2012. A success with audiences and critics alike, this epic adventure-comedy about a young Viking and his unlikely friendship with a dragon has grossed nearly $500 million at the worldwide box office to date and will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 15, 2010.

“Great characters and captivating story telling along with state of the art animation is what we love giving our audience,” said Stuart Snyder, President/COO of Turner’s Animation, Young Adults & Kids Business. “The How To Train Your Dragon weekly series definitely falls into that category of giving our viewers around the globe something they can’t find anywhere else on television and DreamWorks Animation is a proven leader in taking this art form to the next level. We are ecstatic to be bringing this project to our network and working with everyone at DreamWorks Animation.”

“How To Train Your Dragon has already captured the hearts and minds of audiences around the world and we are thrilled to join together with Cartoon Network to expand on this amazing movie in a television series of its own,” commented Ann Daly, COO of DreamWorks Animation. “It is incredibly exciting to be able to bring viewers deeper into the world of dragons and tell new stories each week inspired by our characters from the film.”

DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon, based on the book by Cressida Cowell, rolls fire-breathing action, epic adventure and laughs into a captivating and original story. Hiccup is a young Viking who defies tradition when he befriends one of his deadliest foes — a ferocious dragon he calls Toothless. Together, the unlikely heroes must fight against all odds to save both of their worlds.

In the How To Train Your Dragon television series on Cartoon Network, the characters and worlds originally created for the big screen will be explored and further developed in a number of exciting ways that will be revealed over time. TV audiences will be taken on original, new adventures with Hiccup and Toothless every week.

Cartoon Network (CartoonNetwork.com), currently seen in more than 97 million U.S. homes and 166 countries around the world, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s ad-supported cable service now available in HD offering the best in original, acquired and classic entertainment for youth and families. Nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (ET, PT), Cartoon Network U.S. shares its channel space with Adult Swim, a late-night destination showcasing original and acquired animated and live-action series for young adults 18-34. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

DreamWorks Animation creates high-quality entertainment, including CG animated feature films, television specials and series, live entertainment properties and online virtual worlds, meant for audiences around the world. The Company has world-class creative talent, a strong and experienced management team and advanced filmmaking technology and techniques. DreamWorks Animation has been named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by FORTUNE® Magazine for two consecutive years. In 2010, DreamWorks Animation ranks #6 on the list. All of DreamWorks Animation’s feature films are now being produced in 3D. The Company has theatrically released a total of 20 animated feature films, including the franchise properties of Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. DreamWorks Animation’s next feature film is Megamind, scheduled to be released in 3D on November 5, 2010.

"Cabin Fever" Will Make Your Skin Crawl

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 153 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Cabin Fever (2002/2003)
Running time: 94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and gore, sexuality, language, and brief drug use
DIRECTOR: Eli Roth
WRITERS: Randy Pearlstein and Eli Roth; from a story by Eli Roth
PRODUCERS: Evan Astrowsky, Sam Froelich, Lauren Moews, and Eli Roth
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Scott Kevan
EDITOR: Ryan Folsey

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Rider Strong, Jordan Ladd, James DeBello, Cerina Vincent, Joey Kern, Robert Harris, Hal Courtney, Matthew Helms, Giuseppe Andrews, Arie Verveen, and David Kaufbird (Eli Roth)

They’ve finally finished college, so five friends (three guys and two young women) rent a cabin in the woods for a weeklong getaway before entering the real world of work. However, the fun ends when one of the friends (James DeBelle) encounters Henry “the Hermit” a dazed and frantic local covered in bloody sores. Not long after that encounter Henry makes it to the cabin. Panicked at the sight of his horrible appearance, the friends fend him off, but contact has been made. Soon, one of the young women becomes ill and her body becomes infested with the same oozing, bloody sores. Filled with revulsion and terror, her four friends lock her away, and then, turn on one another as the fear of contagion sets in their minds.

Cabin Fever closed the 2002 Toronto Film Festival to a packed house. Nine film studios to enter into an intense bidding war for the distribution rights to the film, and the film opened September 13, 2003.

Although the film rifts several horror films, most notably Evil Dead, Cabin Fever is itself an original. The killer in this film is a flesh-eating virus of unknown origin, but the villains are the five college graduates themselves as each friend turns on the other for fear that he or she might have the virus and might pass it on. Eli Roth’s little scary movie is a creepy, Southern gothic delight (filmed partly on location in North Carolina) that could have you washing and scrubbing your body raw after viewing.

Roth and his collaborators: cinematographer, composers, makeup and visual effects crew, etc. spent a lot of time getting the details right. Cabin Fever looks like a film shot for 20 times its cost, which was one and half million dollars. For instance, the cinematography captures and enhances the glorious, burnished hues of autumn. However, some of the rest of the film, in particular the core elements, are pedestrian. There’s nothing in particularly noteworthy about the five lead actors except that they know how to scream, run, fight, and lose their nerves. The characters are about as noteworthy; they are the same panicked kids and small town, backwoods local residents that scare the panicked kids – all of which have appeared in at least one hundred teen-oriented horror flicks.

But Roth, his cast, crew, and fellow filmmakers somehow bring it together the good and bad to make a fun film. Cabin Fever, in a sense, is really about the disintegration of a society when disaster strikes (and as I write this, the U.S. is a little over two weeks into the Hurricane Katrina disaster and recovery). Although the script seems to lack focus or an organizing principle (at times, the characters just wander around, almost in a delaying tactic to hide the fact that this film has no plot), it works like a fairy tale, folk tale, or urban legend. It’s the idea of something eating away at one’s normalcy; of civility oozing away in a stream of blood, of social connections infected, and, worst of all, of a world that doesn’t seem to care or can’t understand that you really freakin’ need help.

Cabin Fever bleeds deterioration, and Peter Jackson liked it so much that he reportedly stopped production on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King three times to screen this flick for his crew. He even offered his name and some quotes to help sell the film. Cabin Fever, while not perfect, is more than worthy of Jackson’s attention; the sum overcomes any rotting parts.

7 of 10
B+

Monday, October 10, 2005

Zach Galifianakis and Jennifer Lawrence to Be Honored at Hollywood Film Festival

Press release:

Hollywood Fest to Honor Zach Galifianakis and Jennifer Lawrence at the Hollywood Awards Gala

Hollywood, CA, October 12, 2010. The 14th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards, presented by Starz, are pleased to announce that the star of "Due Date" Zach Galifianakis will receive the "Hollywood Comedy Actor Award" and actress Jennifer Lawrence will be recognized with the "New Hollywood Award," at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony.

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

Previously announced honorees for this year's Hollywood Awards Gala include: Sean Penn for the "Humanitarian Award"; Sylvester Stallone for the "Career Achievement Award"; Annette Bening for the "Actress Award"; Robert Duvall for the "Actor 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"; Morgan Freeman and Lorie McCreary for the "Innovator Award"; Danny Boyle and Chris Colson for the "Producer Award"; Tom Hooper for the "Director Award"; Aaron Sorkin for the "Screenwriter Award"; Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" and director Lee Unkrich for the "Animation Award"; Hans Zimmer for "Film Composer Award"; Wally Pfister for "Cinematographer Award"; Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for the "Editor Award"; Paramount Pictures' "Iron Man 2" and visual effects supervisors Ben Snow and Janek Sirrs for the "Visual Effects Award"; and Robert Stromberg for "Production Designer Award."


ABOUT ZACH GALIFIANAKIS
Zach Galifianakis will soon be seen in Todd Phillips' "Due Date," co-starring Robert Downey Jr. He moved to New York City after failing his last college course by one point at North Carolina State University. He got his start performing his brand of humor in the back of a hamburger joint in Times Square, graduating to doing stand-up at night in clubs and coffee houses in the city. While working as a busboy, he got his first acting job on the NBC sitcom "Boston Common."

Galifianakis' breakout role came in Todd Phillips' blockbuster hit "The Hangover," the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time. He will reunite with Phillips and castmates Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha in "Hangover 2," slated for a 2011 release.

He also stars in "It's Kind of a Funny Story," which premiered at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival. Recently, he also co-starred with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd in Jay Roach's comedy "Dinner for Schmucks." Galifianakis' additional film credits include the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced hit "G-Force"; the indie feature "Youth in Revolt," with Michael Cera, Steve Buscemi and Ray Liotta; a cameo in Jason Reitman's Oscar®-nominated film "Up in the Air"; "What Happens in Vegas," with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher; and the critically acclaimed true-life drama "Into the Wild," from director Sean Penn.

ABOUT JENNIFER LAWRENCE
A natural talent with a striking presence and undeniable energy, Jennifer Lawrence is one of Hollywood's most promising young actresses. She was most recently seen in Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone" for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Seattle International Film Festival and The Blue Angel Award for Best Female Performance at the Bratislava Film Festival for her role.

Lawrence will next be seen in "The Beaver," directed by Jodie Foster who also stars, and alongside Mel Gibson and Anton Yelchin. She is currently in production on Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class" starring as Mystique, and recently wrapped production on Drake Doremus' "Like Crazy" and Mark Tonderai's "House at the End of the Street." Lawrence starred in Guillermo Arriaga's directorial debut "The Burning Plain," which premiered at the 65th Venice Film Festival where she won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress or Actor.

She also starred in Lori Petty's "Poker House" for which she was awarded the prize of 'Outstanding Performance in the Narrative Competition' at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival.

The festival and awards will mark their return on October 20 for a week long 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.

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 15.8 million and 28.2 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Starz On Demand and VongoSM. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group.

Festival Contact:
1.310.288.1882
festival@hollywoodawards.com
Hollywood Film Festival®
433 N. Camden Drive, Suite 600
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Review: "Van Helsing" is a Loud Misfire (Happy B'day, Hugh Jackman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 69 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Van Helsing (2004)
Running time: 131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for nonstop creature action violence and frightening images, and for sensuality
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Stephen Sommers
PRODUCERS: Bob Ducsay and Stephen Sommers
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Allen Daviau
EDITORS: Bob Ducsay, Kelly Matsumoto, and Jim May
COMPOSER: Alan Silvestri

HORROR/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Shuler Hensley, Elena Anaya, Will Kemp, Kevin J. O’Connor, Samuel West, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fisher

The film Van Helsing is set in the late 19th Century. Count Vladislaus Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) plots to use Frankenstein’s Monster (Shuler Hensley) to bring his brood of thousands of baby vampires (incubating in eggs) to life. The sole surviving member of the Valerious Family, Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), has pledged to stop Dracula. Before the last Valerious dies, he or she must kill the Count because that is the only way the family’s souls will ever know salvation. If that wasn’t pressure enough for the valiant Anna, her brother has been transformed into a werewolf who serves Dracula.

Enter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman), a no-nonsense warrior with no time for a pretty woman fighting monsters, but Van Helsing and Anna are soon bound by combat. Dracula, however, has a surprise for the famed monster hunter; he knows Van Helsing’s first name, plus, a whole lot more, and he’s offering Van Helsing peace of mind and his memories back, if only he’ll join the Count.

Stephen Sommers, who made his rep when he remade The Mummy into a successful franchise in 1999 and 2001, is a master of making thrilling, high grade, high tech, low brow monster movies. When he uses his favorite ingredients of special effects and CGI in the correct amounts, his films are quite fun, as is the aforementioned, The Mummy. When he just piles it on, the film is nothing more than a really cheesy creature flick, like the old black and white kind in which the monster is so painfully, obviously a man in a poorly made rubber suit. The creature in Sommer’s Deep Rising, an entertaining B-movie, was what has become the modern day rubber suit – overdone CGI that screams out that it’s fake.

Van Helsing falls in the cheesy category. It’s too much, too over the top, and too damn loud. More reliant on SFX than on plot or story, the film isn’t a motion picture, but it is a 3-D animated proposal for theme park rides and video games. The plot is a ludicrous excuse to get Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and a werewolf together. Van Helsing isn’t entirely awful. It does have some good moments, but when it comes down to it, the film is more annoying than fun. It’s spectacular and spectacularly dull.

I was sadly surprised that minutes into Van Helsing I realized that the film was going to be two things: ponderous and shrill. And it’s so swollen with CGI and other SFX, that it’s an embarrassment of riches – like a French nobleman too clueless to realize that maybe he should play down his wealth in front of the club-wielding mob.

Hugh Jackman’s Van Helsing isn’t nearly as interesting as his Wolverine from the X-Men movies, and Kate Beckinsale is lost in a giant fright wig and too-tight clothing. Richard Roxburgh’s cool Dracula is also wasted on this poor film.

3 of 10
C-

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