Review: "The School of Rock" is Sweetness Playing Edgy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 251 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The School of Rock (2003)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some rude humor and drug
DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater
WRITER: Mike White
PRODUCER: Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Rogier Stoffers, N.S.C.
EDITOR: Sandra Adair
Golden Globe nominee

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring: Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, Sarah Silverman, Adam Pascal, Lucas Papaelias, Lucas Babin, Jordan-Claire Green, Veronica Afflerbach, Miranda Cosgrove, Joey Gaydos, Jr., Robert Tsai, Angelo Massagali, Kevin (Alexander) Clark, Maryam Hassan, Caitlan Hale, Cole Hawkins, Brian Falduto, James Hosey, Aleisha Allen, Zachary Infante, Rebecca Brown, and Jaclyn Neidenthal with Frank Whaley (no credit)

Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is a wannabe rock star kicked out of his own band. Dewey has also been mooching off his roommate, Ned Schneebly (Mike White), a substitute teacher, for years, but Mike’s girlfriend, Patty Di Marco (Sarah Silverman), wants Dewey out of the picture if he doesn’t pay his rent. In need of cash, fortune favors Dewey, when he answers a phone call meant for Ned. Dewey, pretending to be Ned, poses as a substitute teacher at an exclusive prep school. Upon discovering that the students in his particular classroom are quite musically gifted, Dewey tries to turn them into a rock band with himself as the leader. His goal is to enter the upcoming Battle of the Bands contest and win the $20,000 prize. Of course, there are complications.

The School of Rock certainly seems out of place in the filmography of director Richard Linklater, the fine director behind such fabulous films as Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Dazed and Confused. However, that this feel-good, warm-hearted, family-friendly comedy actually feels very good, is simply warm-hearted, is nicely family-friendly, and is funny is a testament to Linklater’s skill. This could have been yet another mediocre flick about a rebel who sneaks into the system and teaches the kids (the Socrates motif) to feel good about themselves, believe in themselves, and unleash their creative skills and talents. Yes, it is just another one of those films, but it works because it’s entertaining and ultimately doesn’t seem so contrived.

A lot of the credit goes to Jack Black. His performance is one of sustained madness that is a shaky house of lies built upon a flimsy foundation. Black isn’t just another funny fat guy; he’s also a movie star with an intriguing film personality. So far, he’s basically played the same person, but there is something about him that works on the big screen, even when you realize that the characters he plays are selfish and sneaky suckas. He has a look on his face and a mean glint in his eyes that suggest he deserves watching; for some reason it works.

The School of Rock is not without it’s problems. At times it seems too contrived and too long. The narrative seems bogged down in the classroom when the entire school begs to be examined, especially Joan Cusack’s uptight and anal school principal Rosalie Mullins. Ultimately, Dewey Finn is let off the hook too easily, but it leads to a sweet finale, so I can cut The School of Rock some slack.

7 of 10
B+

NOTE:
2004 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Jack Black)

-------------------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

NYC Online Film Critics Love "The Social Network" and "Black Swan"

The New York Film Critics Online is a group of Internet film critics based in New York City that meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.  As usual, The Social Network dominates, winning awards for "Best Picture" and "Best Director."  Aaron Sorkin wins the screenplay award, which he has done for most of the awards season so far, at least except when Chris Nolan wins for Inception's screenplay:  Black Swan picked up a number of awards, including the actress award for Natalie Portman.

THE WINNERS:
Picture: The Social Network

Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Actor: James Franco, 127 Hours

Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Supporting: Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Breakthrough Performer: Noomi Rapace, The Millennium Trilogy

Debut Director: John Wells, The Company Men

Ensemble Cast: The Kids Are All Right

Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Foreign Language: I Am Love

Animated: Toy Story 3

Cinematography: Matthew Libatique, Black Swan

Music: Clint Mansell, Black Swan

TOP 10 FILMS
127 Hours
Another Year
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
The Ghost Writer
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Social Network

http://www.nyfco.org/

Meet the Fockers Just Wants to Make You Laugh... Nothing More

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 111 (of No. 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Meet the Fockers (2004)
Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language, and a brief drug reference
DIRECTOR: Jay Roach
WRITERS: Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg, from a story by Marc Hyman and Jim Herzfeld (based upon characters created by Greg Glienna and Mary Ruth Clarke)
PRODUCERS: Robert De Niro, Jay Roach, and Jane Rosenthal
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Schwartzman
EDITOR: Alan Baumgarten, Lee Haxall, and Jon Poll

COMEDY

Starring: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Owen Wilson, Spencer Pickren, Bradley Pickren, Alana Ubach, Ray Santiago, Tim Blake Nelson, Shelly Berman, and Cedric Yarbrough

In 2000’s Meet the Parents, “Greg” Gaylord Focker (Ben Stiller) meets his girlfriend Pam Byrne’s (Teri Polo) parents, Jack (Robert De Niro) and Dina Byrnes (Blythe Danner), but Jack Byrnes is the suspicious father that is every date’s worst nightmare. Much hilarity ensued as Greg tried to earn Jack, a retired CIA officer’s, trust. Four years later, here comes the sequel, Meet the Fockers (the MPAA allegedly demanded that the studio find a family with Focker as a real last name before they allowed the name to be in the film’s title.), and this time Greg and Pam are planning marriage. Jack has more or less grown to accept Greg, mainly because most of his attention is currently on his grandson, Little Jack (Spencer and Bradley Pickren), whom the Byrne’s are sitting while his parents are away.

So it’s time for the Byrnes to meet the Fockers, Greg’s parents, Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) and Roz (Barbra Streisand). Greg and Pam join her parents for the long road trip to Miami where the Bernie and Roz live, and while the trip goes well, the initial meeting between the two sets of parents goes a little awry. That’s just a taste of troublesome things to come, especially after Jack learns that Greg has a few bombshell secrets that Greg’s trying to hide in order to stay in Jack’s vaunted “circle of trust.”

Meet the Fockers is exceedingly funny, although also deeply shallow. The film’s vulgar and crude comedy matches such teen and twenty-something favorites as There’s Something About Mary and American Pie for raunchiness. Meet the Fockers was a giant hit over the 2004 Christmas holidays and well into 2005 because it is ostensibly a family comedy with a lot of belly laughs and plenty of outrageous humor – some of it capable of chasing prudes out of the theatre. Still, the screenwriters and the cast, who are so game to play this script to the hilt, are to be commended for making great humor out of incidents, misunderstandings, misfires, miscalculations, etc. that would bring real families to the brink of a war of the relatives.

Ben Stiller, coolly playing the straight man, keeps this movie sane. Robert De Niro is too intense and actually makes his character hateful, except for the opening and closing scenes. Dustin Hoffman alternates between being annoying and funny. Barbra Streisand is a comedy dynamo, and shows a side of her talent that hasn’t been seen much the last 20 years or so – that of the delightful comedienne. Overall, Meet the Fockers gives much laughter for its value, whether you see it at home or in a theatre. In fact, this is a must-see for people who just want to watch a movie that will make them laugh.

6 of 10
B

-----------------------------

Chicago Film Critics Friend "The Social Network"

The Social Network express rolls on, as the Chicago Film Critics Association named the David Fincher film its "Best Picture" in the 22nd edition of these awards.  The film, which chronicles the drama around the development of Facebook, also won the director's award for Fincher and a screenplay prize.  Another film that is dominating its category during the awards season is Toy Story 3 (of which I've only seen the first half hour - more on that later), and it continues with the Chicago critics.

THE WINNERS:


Best Picture: The Social Network

Best Director: David Fincher "The Social Network"

Best Actor: Colin Firth "The King's Speech"

Best Actress: Natalie Portman "Black Swan"

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale "The Fighter"

Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld "True Grit"

Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan "Inception"

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin "The Social Network"

Best Foreign Language Film: A Prophet

Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister "Inception"

Best Original Score: Clint Mansell "Black Swan"

Most Promising Performer: Jennifer Lawrence "Winter's Bone"

Most Promising Filmmaker: Derek Cianfrance "Blue Valentine"

Review: "The Last Airbender" Doesn't Fly

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 105 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Last Airbender (2010)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG for fantasy action violence
DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan
WRITER: M. Night Shyamalan (based upon the animated television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko)
PRODUCERS: Scott Aversano, Sam Mercer, and M. Night Shyamalan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Lesnie
EDITOR: Conrad Buff
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard

FANTASY/ADVENTURE/ACTION

Starring: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, Cliff Curtis, Seychelle Gabriel, Damon Gupton, and Summer Bishil

The Last Airbender, a film by M. Night Shyamalan, is based on the animated television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and which originally aired on Nickelodeon. In The Last Airbender, the world is divided into four kingdoms named after the element they harness: water (Water Tribe), air (Air Nomads), earth (Earth Kingdom), and fire (Fire Nation).

The world has been ravaged by the Fire Nation’s aggression and its endless war against the other nations. Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her older brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), of the Southern Water Tribe, discover an iceberg that shoots a beam of light into the sky. Inside that iceberg is a boy named Aang (Noah Ringer), a young successor to a long line of Avatars. The Avatar is the only person who can “bend” or manipulate all four elements and also restore peace on the planet, which makes him wanted by the Fire Nation.

Katara and Sokka learn that Aang never completed his training to be the Avatar. They become his companions and protectors as they journey to the stronghold of the Northern Water Tribe, where Aang and Katara can learn to bend water. Prince Zuko (Dev Patel), the 16-year-old exiled son of the Fire Nation’s leader, Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis), follows the trio, hoping to capture the Avatar in a bid to restore his own honor. Can Zuko and the Fire Nation really stand in the way of Aang’s destiny?

Visually, The Last Airbender is dazzling. The special effects are impressive; although I didn’t see this in 3D, I thought the effects made for good eye candy. The exotic locales transported me to a wide range of magical and mystical places that gave the world of The Last Airbender a sense of enchantment. The striking sets, colorful costumes, and computer-generated backdrops added to supernatural charm.

Too bad that everything else in the movie is mediocre or problematic. This movie feels compressed, as if it were a half-hour too short. Even the fight scenes, which are at times nice, seem to be missing something. The nonsensical plot twists, the characters who just pop out of nowhere with almost no context, and the constant shifting from one setting to the next makes The Last Airbender feel like a disappointing, condensed version of a much better movie.

The writing is also poor because nothing feels or works as it should. The romance is bland and sometimes feels rushed and phony. The dialogue is wooden, especially the clumsy voiceovers, and the narrative is sodden. The characters are flat, and the overacting of some of the performers only makes those characters seem even flatter. Aang, the hero and ostensibly the lead, lacks personality, and as Aang, Noah Ringer is either a bad actor or is just struggling with a personality-free character.

The Last Airbender keeps throwing so many things at the viewers, and while some of it is pretty and stirring, the heart of the story: the drama, the conflict, and the characters are not at all stirring. You can like The Last Airbender, at the same time you marvel at how writer/director M. Night Shyamalan seems not to have a clue what he is doing. Everything is there to make The Last Airbender a really good fantasy epic, but apparently the notion that Shyamalan was the right director to make that good movie turned out to be a fantasy.

5 of 10
C+

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

--------------------------

41 Songs Compete for "Original Song" Oscar Nominations

Press release:

41 Original Songs Queue for 2010 Oscar®

Beverly Hills, CA (December 15, 2010) – Forty-one songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 83rd Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film and song title:

"Alice" from "Alice in Wonderland"

"Forever One Love" from "Black Tulip"

"Freedom Song" from "Black Tulip"

"Bound to You" from "Burlesque"

"Welcome to Burlesque" from "Burlesque"

"You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me" from "Burlesque"

"There’s a Place for Us" from "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"

"Coming Home" from "Country Strong"

"Me and Tennessee" from "Country Strong"

"Despicable Me" from "Despicable Me"

"Prettiest Girls" from "Despicable Me"

"Dear Laughing Doubters" from "Dinner for Schmucks"

"Better Days" from "Eat Pray Love"

"If You Run" from "Going the Distance"

"Darkness before the Dawn" from "Holy Rollers"

"Sticks & Stones" from "How to Train Your Dragon"

"Le Gris" from "Idiots and Angels"

"Chanson Illusionist" from "The Illusionist"

"Never Say Never" from "The Karate Kid"

"To the Sky" from "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole"

"What If" from "Letters to Juliet"

"Life during Wartime" from "Life during Wartime"

"Made in Dagenham" from "Made in Dagenham"

"Little One" from "Mother and Child"

"Be the One" from "The Next Three Days"

"If I Rise" from "127 Hours"

"When You See Forever" from "The Perfect Game"

"I Remain" from "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time"

"Dream Big" from "Pure Country 2: The Gift"

"How I Love You" from "Ramona and Beezus"

"Darling I Do" from "Shrek Forever After"

"Noka Oi" from "Six Days in Paradise"

"This Is a Low" from "Tamara Drewe"

"I See the Light" from "Tangled"

"Rise" from "3 Billion and Counting"

"We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3"

"Eclipse: All Yours" from "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"

"Nothing" from "Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too"

"A Better Life" from "Unbeaten"

"Shine" from "Waiting for ‘Superman’"

"The Reasons Why" from "Wretches & Jabberers"

On Thursday, January 6, the Academy will screen clips featuring each song, in random order, for voting members of the Music Branch in Los Angeles. Following the screenings, members will determine the nominees by an averaged point system vote. If no song receives an average score of 8.25 or more, there will be no nominees in the category. If only one song achieves that score, it and the song receiving the next highest score shall be the two nominees. If two or more songs (up to five) achieve that score, they shall be the nominees. A DVD copy of the song clips will be made available to those branch members who are unable to attend the screening and who request it for home viewing. A mail-in ballot will be provided.

Under Academy rules, a maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film. If more than two songs from a film are in contention, the two songs with the most votes will be the nominees.

To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.

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.

Review: Birthday Boy Samuel L. Jackson Shines in "Coach Carter"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 140 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Coach Carter (2005)
Running time: 130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, sexual content, language, teen partying, and some drug material
DIRECTOR: Thomas Carter
WRITERS: Mark Schwain and John Gatins (Inspired by the life of Ken Carter)
PRODUCERS: Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin, and David Gale
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sharone Meir
EDITOR: Peter Berger, A.C.E.
Black Reel Award winner

DRAMA/SPORTS

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Ri’chard, Rob Brown, Debbi Morgan, and Ashanti, Rick Gonzalez, Antwon Tanner, Nana Gbewonyo, Channing Tatum, Denise Dowse, and Texas Battle

A true story inspires the film, Coach Carter, in which former high school basketball star named Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) takes the job as the head basketball coach at his alma mater, an inner city high school in Richmond, California. The film is not only inspirational, but is also an excellent look at what one person can do when he demands much of young people – the kind of whom no one expects much except prison, dead end jobs, or death by violence. To watch Carter take on a community that believes that playing on a winning team is the last good thing that will happen in the lives of these young athletes is rousing. It’s also depressingly true because so many people think that the only good thing many young black men have is sports; maybe they’re right, but Carter helped a few of them gain a little high ground.

Watching the team play before he formerly accepts the job, Carter is taken aback by the players’ lack of cohesiveness as a team and their disdain for rudimentary basketball skills. After he takes the job as coach of the Richmond High Oilers, he demands that the players respect both himself and one another. In order to stay on the team, the players must each sign a contract promising to attend class, maintain a 2.3 grade point average (they formerly only needed to maintain a 2.0 gpa), and wear a coat and tie on game day. Carter wants the boys to reach for more in life than just basketball, and he wants them to certainly see attending college as a realistically attainable goal. In the real life story, Carter received both high praise and staunch criticism when he made national news for padlocking the Richmond High gym, benching his entire team, and forfeiting games because some had failed to meet the academic requirements of their contract. The community, which had never had a championship basketball team, erupted in dissension when he refused to allow the players access to the gym for the failing to keep up their grades. The movie Coach Carter is a fictionalized account of the events, from the time Carter became Richmond’s coach to the resolution of the lockout.

Coach Carter is very much a basketball movie; although the script frequently delves into the lives of Ken Carter and some of his players off the court, it does so with a mixture of brevity and succinctness. There are nicely played, but rich subplots. One involves a player, Kenyan Stone (Rob Brown), and his girlfriend, Kyra (singer Ashanti), dealing with teen pregnancy. It is tough, heartfelt, and honest, rather than fake, cloying, and sociopolitical; there’s enough in that subplot to be a movie all its own. A second subplot follows Timo Cruz, superbly played by a rising talent, Rick Gonzalez (The Rookie), a troubled young man who almost becomes a victim of Richmond’s drug culture. One plot that was sadly glossed over (or underdeveloped) is the relationship between Ken Carter and his son, Damien Carter (Robert Ri’chard); Damien leaves a prestigious private school and transfers to Richmond to play for his father, much to Coach Carter’s chagrin, at least initially. That’s pretty much where that subplot ends.

The film really doesn’t deal with the opposition to Ken Carter as being villains. The thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of the community aren’t denigrated. In a non-stereotypical fashion, screenwriters Mark Schwain and John Gatins depict people’s disagreements with Ken Carter as the result of them having limited vision. He shows the good and bad of high school sports, and shows how it can exacerbate the reluctance to strive in people who already have narrow dreams. While Schwain and Gatins deal with the character and philosophical issues, director Thomas Carter makes sure Coach Carter works as a basketball movie. The game sequences have an edge-of-the seat feel to them, the kind of verisimilitude that suggests watching live games up close and personal, as if the viewer were actually in the game. That’s probably better than watching the majority of collegiate and pro basketball telecasts.

As usual, Samuel L. Jackson is the consummate professional actor, and he’s played the best African-American disciplinarian since Morgan Freeman in Lean On Me. He’s a star, and he sells this movie to the audience the way Ken Carter sold his athletes on his message – perhaps more so. Although a movie star, Jackson can climb into a fictional character and give it a skin, bringing the fictional to starkly radiant life. It’s evident from the first time Ken Carter confronts Richmond High Principal Garrison (Denise Dowse) who doesn’t see that both she and he, as well the entire school, must ask these young men to reach for more and to believe that they are capable of more than just being basketball players. This is the kind of really good movie that affirms our way of life and the belief in an American dream, and Jackson is the head salesman and best preacher.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2006 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Director” (Thomas Carter); 3 nominations: “Best Actor” (Samuel L. Jackson), “Best Breakthrough Performance” (Ashanti), and “Best Film”

2006 Image Awards: 1 win “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Samuel L. Jackson); 3 nominations: “Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film/Television Movie” (Thomas Carter), “Outstanding Motion Picture,” and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Ashanti)

--------------------------