Review: With "Click" Adam Sandler Does a Family Movie True to His Style

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 230 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Click (2006)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for language, crude and sex related humor, and some drug references
DIRECTOR: Frank Coraci
WRITERS: Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe
PRODUCERS: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Neal H. Moritz, Steve Koren, and Mark O’Keefe
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Semler, A.C.S. A.S.C.
EDITOR: Jeff Gourson
Academy Award nominee

FANTASY/COMEDY with elements of drama and sci-fi

Starring: Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken, Henry Winkler, David Hasselhoff, Julie Kavner, Sean Astin, Joseph Castanon, Tatum McCann, Cameron Monaghan, Jake Hoffman, and Jennifer Coolidge

Adam Sandler is a dad now, and like some actors who began their career as rowdy or raunchy stand-up comedians, Sandler is probably going to start making movies that are more family friendly and less risqué since he’s a family man. Or probably not. Sandler’s recent Summer 2006 comedy hit, Click, features one of Sandler’s perpetually adolescent characters, but this time with a dramatic twist. This is another twist on It’s a Wonderful Life, but with more salt-of-the-earth type folks.

Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) is a workaholic architect with dreams of becoming a partner at the firm for which he works. His boss, Mr. Ammer (David Hasselhoff), keeps dangling promises of advancement, but only if Michael, his go-to guy, tackles the most difficult building design projects. These high profile assignments, however, keep Michael from spending time with his wife, Donna (Kate Beckinsale), and two children: son Ben (Joseph Castanon) and daughter Samantha (Tatum McCann). At Bed, Bath & Beyond, fate has him stumble across a mysterious figure named Morty (Christopher Walken), who offers Michael a magical universal remote that allows Michael to pause events in his life or fast-forward through them.

However, Michael begins to use the device not only to get out of daily tedium like dressing, showering, or driving through heavy traffic, but he also uses them to avoid times he doesn’t really want to be bothered with family obligations such as camping trips, dinner with his parents, Ted and Trudy Newman (Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner), or (good) sex with Donna. Things take a turn for the worse and the bizarre when the remote, through self-programming, takes on a mind of its own and starts fast-forwarding through Michael’s life. Michael always said that once he made partner and got the big paycheck, he’d stop working so much and spend more time with his wife and children, and now he may not be able to enjoy his family or his life.

Upon its theatrical release, many movie reviewers and film critics called Click crass and mean-spirited, which it is. The film is rude, crude, and vulgar, but Click is also a riotous, laugh-out-loud comedy. This film is trying to make a point, but it also wants to be funny. Sandler is true to his comic roots and to his core audience – an audience that wants him to be all-funny, all the time.

Click is also a life-altering comedy, but it doesn’t require Sandler’s Michael Newman to alter his character – just the way he lives. It’s not that Michael has forgotten how important his family is (and he apparently has little or no friends), but he’s ignoring them because he’s obsessed with being rich. He thinks that once he’s wealthy and can give his family all the niceties, life will be grand, but his wife and children are happy with life as they currently have it, only wanting more of him. Normally, a movie following this message would be syrupy and dull, but Click doesn’t short us on the belly laughs.

There are good performances all around, though none are great, and Sandler looks kinda punchy and tired. The greatness in this movie is the writing, and unlike Old School, Click’s writers don’t play at being subversive and rude, only to chicken out in the end to defend some bland, pop culture version of middle class values. It defends real middle class people – good guys who don’t have to be squeaky clean. That’s why Click is a heart-warming comedy/drama about love of family, but it’s still rowdy deep in its comic soul.

7 of 10
A-

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Makeup” (Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso)

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Former Ninja Turtle to Produce Martial Arts Films for Young Viewers

I found the following press release through Business Wire, and by running it, I am admitting that I liked those live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies from the early 1990s.  I think it's time to see them again:

Former Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Star Ernie Reyes Jr. Teams Up To Produce Slate of Youth Oriented Martial Arts Films

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Former Ninja Turtle star Ernie Reyes Jr. of Smasher Entertainment and Art Birzneck of Birch Tree Entertainment announced today at the American Film Market that they are teaming up to produce a slate of youth-oriented martial arts films targeted at the teen and twenty-something audience.

Karate Cops, the first film in the slate, is scheduled to start shooting April 2011 in San Francisco, CA. Karate Cops, created by Ernie Reyes Jr. and written by 2010 Page Award silver medalist Cody Yarbrough and Ernie Reyes Jr., features a pair of high-flying detectives in a battle against a super-villain on a quest to take over a mystical martial arts kingdom in Chinatown. Karate Cops will be followed by Cheer Ninjas and Teen Samurai.

“With our extensive connections and combined experience in the production and distribution of martial arts films, Birch Tree and Smasher are uniquely positioned to fill a void in what we believe is an under-serviced youth action film market,” stated Birzneck. “It also doesn’t hurt that we are both black belts.”

“We are re-inventing the classic martial arts hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s and making them relevant to young people today. I was fortunate to be part of The Last Dragon and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise and we are going to bring back that energy and excitement,” said Reyes Jr.

Smasher will take the lead in all creative and production aspects, with Birch Tree taking the lead in all business and distribution aspects. Strategic partnerships are also part of the production plan. Media Network Services and Straight Up Technologies will be providing video collaboration solutions for the production of Karate Cops. In addition to utilizing video collaboration technologies during the production of Karate Cops, a case study will be written on the behind the scenes integration of next generation technologies during the film making process.


About Birch Tree Entertainment
Birch Tree Entertainment is an international film sales and production company specializing in high quality martial arts and action films

About Smasher Entertainment
Smasher Entertainment is a martial arts multimedia production company

Review: Thandie Newton Makes Star Turn in "Flirting" (Happy B'day, Thandie Newton)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 64 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Flirting (1991)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Australia
Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – R for scenes of teen sexuality
WRITER/DIRECTOR: John Duigan
PRODUCERS: Terry Hayes, George Miller, and Doug Mitchell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Geoff Burton
EDITOR: Robert Gibson

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Noah Taylor, Thandie Newton, Nicole Kidman, Bartholomew Rose, Felix Nobis, Josh Picker, Kiri Paramore, Marc Gray, Kiri Paramore, Jeff Truman, Marshall Napier, Kym Wilson, and Naomi Watts

Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) is a free-spirited young man attending St. Alban’s, an all-boys prep school in rural Australia, circa 1965. Called “Bird” by his classmates, Danny is an outcast. He meets Thandiwe Adjewa (Thandie Newton), a sophisticated girl from Uganda, the daughter of Ugandan dissidents living in Australia. Thandiwe is a student at Cirencester Ladies College, an all-girls prep school across the lake from St. Albans. Danny and Thandiwe began an interracial romance that blossoms despite some prejudice they face from fellow students. Nicole Kidman plays Nicola Radcliffe, at first a rival, then eventual confidant of Thandiwe.

Flirting, a follow up (or sequel) to the 1987 John Duigan film, The Year My Voice Broke, is one of the best and least contrived depictions of first love ever put to film. Taylor and Newton bring verisimilitude to this tale of surprising and unexpected love. One can just feel the spark between them and how their love grows, so that as the relationship progresses, their actions seem so natural.

The film also has a numerous supporting performances; many are small, but add just the right touch for the film’s setting and narrative. Bartholomew Rose as Danny’s friend, Gilbert “Gilby” Fryer, is full of advice for Danny and perhaps a little envious of him (or has a “boy crush” on him as boys sometimes do have on particular male friends). Nicole Kidman also adds a nice touch in a small but motherly role as the “it” girl at Cirencester. John Duigan’s gentle film has touches of John Hughes’ teen romances (Pretty in Pink) with the dramatic narrative detail of a John Sayles (Passion Fish, Lone Star) film.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, April 2, 2006

Review: "Taxi to the Dark Side" Chases the Truth

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 90 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – R for disturbing images, and content involving torture and graphic nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Alex Gibney
PRODUCERS: Alex Gibney, Eva Orner, and Susannah Shipman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Maryse Alberti and Greg Andracke
EDITOR: Sloane Klevin
Academy Award winner

DOCUMENTARY

Starring: Alex Gibney (narrator), Moazzam Begg, Pfc. Willie Brand, Pfc. Jack Cloonan, Damien M. Corsetti, Sgt. Thomas Curtis Carlotta Gall, Tim Golden, Tony Lagouranis, Sen. Carl Levin, Anthony Morden, Dan Mori, Spc. Glendale C. Wallis, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, John Yoo, and George W. Bush (archival footage)

Taxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 documentary film from director Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room). It won the “Best Documentary, Features” Oscar at the 2008 Academy Awards. Taxi to the Dark Side takes an in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. The focal point for this film is the 2002 death of Dilawar, a 22-year-old Afghan taxi driver from the village of Yakubi.

More than a year after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, Dilawar and his three passengers were taken into custody at a checkpoint on a U.S. base. On December 5, 2002, Dilawar arrived at the prison facility at Bagram Air Base. He was declared dead five days later, and he turned out not to be an enemy combatant or terrorist. An investigation would also uncover that Dilawar was tortured and that his death was the result of assaults and attacks visited upon him by U.S. interrogators at Bagram.

From Dilawar’s death, Taxi to the Dark Side examines changes in U.S. policy toward detainees and suspects after 9/11, America’s policy on torture and interrogation (with a specific look at the CIA’s roll), and research into torture and sensory deprivation used by the CIA and the U.S. military. Gibney interviews numerous players, political figures, experts, military officials and personnel for this film. That includes the soldiers involved in Dilawar’s death, their attorneys, and military experts. The director also interviews Moazzam Begg; he is a British citizen held at Bagram during the time of Dilawar’s detention and death, who was also later held at Guantanamo Bay, before being released.

For all the area that it covers, Taxi to the Dark Side tries to get at the heart of America’s use of torture and how it interrogates detainees during the Global War on Terror. This movie has a central question. Was Dilawar’s death the result of a few “bad apples,” as in low-ranking officers and ground level soldiers, or was his death the result of the implementation of a new worldwide system of interrogation. Gibney argues that whatever the “bad apples” did, they were following orders that came down the chain of command, beginning at highest levels of the U.S. government and military.

Gibney does not only focus on the tragedy and crime of Dilawar’s death. He is like a journalist, asking who, what, when, why, and how. Gibney searches long and hard so that he can tell us everything about torture. How is torture defined? What acts constitute torture? What are the recent techniques in interrogation of prisoners and what are their origins? Who are the players that make the decisions? Who is to blame – the interrogator or the one who gives the orders to torture and to abuse?

Taxi to the Dark Side is both a piece of complex journalism and the kind of great documentary that captures the imagination. It is smart, almost scholarly, but it is also hot and passionate. Alex Gibney’s films are usually smart, but they can own your attention and imagination just as well as any Hollywood event movie. And Taxi to the Dark Side needs our attention – for our own good.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Documentary, Features” (Alex Gibney and Eva Orner)

Saturday, November 06, 2010

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"Bush's Brain" Chronicles a Rasputin

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 51 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bush’s Brain (2004)
Running time: 80 minutes (1 hour, 20 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for brief strong language
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Joseph Mealey and Michael Shoob
WRITERS: James C. Moore and Wayne Slater (based upon their book Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Joseph Mealey
EDITOR: Tom Siiter

DOCUMENTARY

Starring: Jacques Vroom (narrator), James C. Moore, Wayne Slater, Max Cleland, Richard Edgeworth, Bill Miller, Molly Ivins, Richard Leiby, Dave McNeely, and Glenn Smith

Joseph Mealey and Michael Shoob’s 2004 documentary, Bush’s Brain, takes a hard look at Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s closest advisor, who has almost single-handedly shaped the policies of our nation under President Bush.  Rove perhaps has been the leading mind behind the “Republican revolution” since the mid-1990’s, and who has certainly changed the way the Republican Party runs its campaigns both nationally and locally.

However, Rove’s extremely close relationship to President Bush (who has called Rove his “boy genius”) has raised a question that disturbs some Americans, particularly those on the left of the political spectrum: Who really runs this country? Is Bush an hand puppet and Rove the hand, or to put it nicely, is Bush a not too bright a mouthpiece for Rove’s political agenda. Bush’s Brain features interviews with a number of journalists, reporters, and political pundits – many from Rove’s former base of operations, Texas. A few of Rove’s former colleagues and opponents also weigh in on the man, and the directors also include much archival footage and material of Rove – who declined to be part of this film.

While Bush’s Brain does explore Rove’s political journey to the top of the heap as the presidential advisor (mostly through interviews of people who have worked for and against him), the film is soft on coverage of Rove’s part in the rise of George W. Bush from a man who frequently bankrupted the companies he began as a young businessman to a two-term governor of Texas and a two-term President of the United States. This film, at 80 minutes, is probably about 40 minutes too short. In order for Bush’s Brain to really explore Rove and his influence on President Bush, the film not only had to talk about the controversial 2000 Presidential elections, but also Rove’s influence on policy during Bush’s first term. The film actually spends a little time on the Iraq War – not enough, but there is a lot more to Bush’s first term than a war. Quite a bit of domestic policy changed – some of it at the behest of Bush’s religious supporters, some of it for corporate donors, and others for individual wealthy supporters. Much of that likely had Rove’s fingerprints on it.

This film’s obsession with Iraq (which it shares with other film and TV about Bush) overshadows the social and political changes that the country has undergone since George W. Bush became President. Rove’s fingerprints are also all over that. Perhaps, the next Bush’s Brain could turn away from war and Rove’s alleged dirty tricks election campaigning and take a deeper look at national policy – post election scandal. Still, what is here is quite good. The talking heads that directors Mealy and Shoob parade before us are intelligent, engaging, and have some damn good Rove stories to tell – some sad and others quite pitiful and tragic.

7 of 10
B+

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Zac Efron in New Nicholas Sparks Adaptation

Press release:

Scott Hicks Directs Zac Efron in New Romantic Drama

Film is based on the Nicholas Sparks novel The Lucky One

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography is underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ romantic drama based on Nicholas Sparks’ bestseller The Lucky One, starring Zac Efron (“17 Again,” “Charlie St. Cloud”), Taylor Schilling (upcoming “Atlas Shrugged”) and Blythe Danner (“Meet the Parents,” “Meet the Fockers”).

The film is being directed by Academy Award®-nominated writer/director Scott Hicks (“Shine,” “No Reservations”). Hicks directs from a screenplay by Will Fetters (“Remember Me”), adapted from the Nicholas Sparks novel The Lucky One. The producers are Denise Di Novi, who previously produced Nicolas Sparks novel-to-film adaptations of “A Walk To Remember,” “Nights In Rodanthe” and “Message in a Bottle,” and Kevin McCormick (upcoming “Arthur”). Ravi D. Mehta, Alison Greenspan and Bruce Berman serve as executive producers, and Kerry Heysen is co-producer.

Rounding out the cast are Riley Thomas Stewart (TV’s “90210”), Jay R. Ferguson (TV’s “Mad Men”) and Adam Lefevre (“The Bounty Hunter”).

U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Efron) returns from his third tour of duty in Iraq, with the one thing he credits with keeping him alive—a photograph he found of a woman he doesn’t even know. Learning her name is Beth (Schilling) and where she lives, he shows up at her door, and ends up taking a job at her family-run local kennel. Despite her initial mistrust and the complications in her life, a romance develops between them, giving Logan hope that Beth could be much more than his good luck charm.

The production’s creative team also includes cinematographer Alar Kivilo (“The Blind Side”), production designer Barbara Ling (“No Reservations”), costume designer Dayna Pink (“Bruno,”) and editor Scott Gray (“The Boys Are Back”).

The film is being shot in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, notably in the surrounding communities of St. Bernard Parish, Covington, Abita Springs, Burnside, Ponchatoula and Madisonville. It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

Review: "The Hangover" is Simply Fantastic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Hangover (2009)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language, sexual content including nudity, and some drug material
DIRECTOR: Todd Phillips
WRITERS: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
PRODUCERS: Daniel Goldberg and Todd Phillips
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lawrence Sher
EDITOR: Debra Neil-Fisher
Golden Globe winner

COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Mike Epps, Sasha Barrese, Jeffrey Tambor, Ken Jeong, Rachel Harris, Mike Tyson, Jernard Burks, Rob Riggle, and Cleo King

It may be a cliché in movies and television series to send characters to Las Vegas for a bit of hedonism. Now, it is also a city where families can have fun and where businessmen can get down to business. Still, Las Vegas has long been the go-to place for many pleasure-seeking men.

The new film, The Hangover, from director Todd Phillips (Old School), takes a quartet of middleclass guys to Vegas for a bachelor party. While their plan for an evening of nightmarish debauchery eventually becomes a waking nightmare, their distress and torment are comedy gold for movie audiences.

Two days before his wedding to his bride-to-be, Tracy Garner (Sasha Barrese), Doug Billings (Justin Bartha) and three pals leave Los Angeles and drive to Las Vegas for a blow-out bachelor party that will be so crazy (they hope) they’ll never forget it. Doug’s friends are Phil Wenneck (Bradley Cooper), a good-looking, junior high school teacher, who puts on that married life is killing him. Dentist Stu Price (Ed Helms) is an uptight dweeb, who is made all the more anxious by his controlling girlfriend, Melissa (Rachel Harris). Melissa treats Stu like a slave, and he has to lie to her about the Vegas trip. Finally, there’s Tracy’s deranged brother, Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis); pudgy, bearded, and dumber than a bag of hammers, Alan may be as dangerous as he is clueless.

After offering a toast to their diabolical plans on the roof of their Caesar’s Palace, the guys head out for an evening of ritualized Vegas fun (gambling, drinking, whoring, etc.). But the next morning, Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up and discover they can’t remember the events of the previous evening. For unknown reasons, they now share their Caesar’s Palace suite with a tiger (in the bathroom) and a six-month-old baby (in the closet). And they can’t find Doug. With no memories of what transpired and only a day before the wedding, the three hung-over men must retrace their hazy steps, follow a handful of clues, and sift through all their bad decisions in order to find Doug and get him back to L.A. in time for his wedding.

In The Hangover, the surprises are everything, and those surprises are the strange people with which our heroes interacted, the shocking places they’ve been, and the outrageous things they’ve done. Some of those specific surprises involve Mike Tyson, a Vegas wedding chapel, and flamboyantly gay Asian gangster (Ken Jeong), and delightful performances given by Heather Graham and Mike Epps in small roles. That’s to say nothing about the riot that is the end-credit montage.

A lot of the fun in this movie is recognizing that the boys, especially Phil, Stu, and Alan, are types as much as they are characters, and that while each often acts as we would expect him to, it’s when they do something out of character that The Hangover hits a high point. Still, it would have been good to have richer character interplay, but there’s isn’t much time for soul searching when all a scene requires is that the character put his face in a hooker’s lap. It’s satisfying that Cooper, Helms, and Galifianakis are so good at making these character types at least seem like great characters.

The fun in this movie is getting the surprises, and The Hangover is all about shocking the viewer. Considering that one expects shocking things to happen when four ordinary guys go to Vegas for a bachelor party, the genius of The Hangover is that it finds a way to make the predictable always unpredictable.

8 of 10
A

Friday, June 19, 2009

NOTES:
2010 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Jon Lucas and Scott Moore)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy”

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