Press release:
Mo'Nique To Join Academy President Tom Sherak For Oscar® Nominations
Beverly Hills, CA (January 4, 2011) –Beverly Hills, CA — Nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards® will be announced on Tuesday, January 25, by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Oscar-winning actress and Academy member Mo’Nique.
Sherak and Mo’Nique will unveil the nominations in 10 of the 24 categories at a 5:30 a.m. news conference at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where hundreds of media representatives from around the world will be gathered. Nominations information for all categories will be distributed simultaneously to news media in attendance and via the Internet on the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.
Last year Mo’Nique received her first Oscar nomination and win for her supporting performance in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” She currently hosts her own late-night talk show, "The Mo'Nique Show," on BET.
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 on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Review: "Cold Mountain" Wants to Be Epic and Literary (Happy B'day, Anthony Minghella)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
Cold Mountain (2003)
Running time: 154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and sexuality
DIRECTOR: Anthony Minghella
WRITER: Anthony Minghella (based upon the novel by Charles Frazier)
PRODUCERS: Albert Berger, William Horberg, Sydney Pollack, and Ron Yerxa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Seale (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Walter Murch
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/HISTORICAL/ROMANCE/WAR
Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Kathy Baker, James Gammon, and Giovanni Ribisi
Inman (Jude Law) fell in love with Reverend Monroe’s (Donald Sutherland) daughter, Ada (Nicole Kidman), without really knowing her, but there was something about her and there were no words to describe the strength of this new love. Then, Inman has to go off to fight for the Confederacy in the War Between States.
In the waning years of the war, Inman, after surviving a grave wound, deserts the Southern army and embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, realizing that he’s tired of killing and as a broken man, he could find comfort in Ada’s arms. Meanwhile, Ada is struggling on the home front until she’s meets a feisty young mountain girl, Ruby Thewes (Renée Zellweger), who helps Ada get her father’s farm back in order. Together the survive depredations, the home guard, and cruel local lawman looking for Ada’s love.
Director Anthony Minghella won an Academy Award for directing the powerful, tragic romance, The English Patient, and after following that with The Talented Mr. Ripley and now Cold Mountain, Minghella seems intent on making love stories that move inextricable to a tragic end. Minghella is a really good filmmaker; his movies play out as if directed by a thoughtful storyteller who combines the disciplined acting of stage drama with the visual punch of epic filmmaking.
Cold Mountain is beautifully photographed, and the war scenes, despite their brevity, are as emotionally charged as anything since Braveheart, and the scenes have that kind of old school charm that recalls the golden age Hollywood classic, Gone with the Wind. Cold Mountain is a film where all the skilled and technical crafts were put on film with bravado and intelligence and with an eye on beauty, as if the filmmakers knew that Cold Mountain was indeed a war film, but a war film with an eye on the love lives of the soldiers behind the lines.
The acting is earnest and good, but seems a bit strained at times. It’s too sweet, as if the actors know that they were in an important film, a film leaning more toward art than entertainment – we’re actors, and this time we’re acting in an important film, not starring in a blockbuster. In fact, the acting is reminiscent of the exaggerated, faux stage acting style of 1930 and 40’s Hollywood romance films. Combine this forced formalism with the fact that Cold Mountain is slightly miscast, and the film is suddenly kind of twitchy.
Cold Mountain is a very good film, and it is indeed a poignant romance with epic war as the backdrop. You weep for the character’s hardships, but you yearn as they long for love. If the ending had been at all agreeable, this would have been a perfect film, but what pleasures it offers are indeed gratifying, so I recommend it.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Renée Zellweger); 6 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Jude Law), “Best Cinematography” (John Seale), “Best Editing” (Walter Murch), “Best Music, Original Score” (Gabriel Yared), “Best Music, Original Song” (T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello for the song "Scarlet Tide") and “Best Music, Original Song” (Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love")
2004 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Gabriel Yared and T-Bone Burnett) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Renée Zellweger); 11 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, and Anthony Minghella), “Best Cinematography” (John Seale) “Best Costume Design” (Ann Roth and Carlo Poggioli), “Best Editing” (Walter Murch), “Best Film” (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger, and Ron Yerxa), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Paul Engelen and Ivana Primorac), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jude Law), “Best Production Design” (Dante Ferretti), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Anthony Minghella), “Best Sound” (Eddy Joseph, Ivan Sharrock, Walter Murch, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Matthew Gough) and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Anthony Minghella)
2004 Golden Globes: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Renée Zellweger); 7 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Anthony Minghella), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Gabriel Yared), “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love"), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Jude Law), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Nicole Kidman) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Anthony Minghella)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Running time: 154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and sexuality
DIRECTOR: Anthony Minghella
WRITER: Anthony Minghella (based upon the novel by Charles Frazier)
PRODUCERS: Albert Berger, William Horberg, Sydney Pollack, and Ron Yerxa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Seale (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Walter Murch
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/HISTORICAL/ROMANCE/WAR
Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Kathy Baker, James Gammon, and Giovanni Ribisi
Inman (Jude Law) fell in love with Reverend Monroe’s (Donald Sutherland) daughter, Ada (Nicole Kidman), without really knowing her, but there was something about her and there were no words to describe the strength of this new love. Then, Inman has to go off to fight for the Confederacy in the War Between States.
In the waning years of the war, Inman, after surviving a grave wound, deserts the Southern army and embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, realizing that he’s tired of killing and as a broken man, he could find comfort in Ada’s arms. Meanwhile, Ada is struggling on the home front until she’s meets a feisty young mountain girl, Ruby Thewes (Renée Zellweger), who helps Ada get her father’s farm back in order. Together the survive depredations, the home guard, and cruel local lawman looking for Ada’s love.
Director Anthony Minghella won an Academy Award for directing the powerful, tragic romance, The English Patient, and after following that with The Talented Mr. Ripley and now Cold Mountain, Minghella seems intent on making love stories that move inextricable to a tragic end. Minghella is a really good filmmaker; his movies play out as if directed by a thoughtful storyteller who combines the disciplined acting of stage drama with the visual punch of epic filmmaking.
Cold Mountain is beautifully photographed, and the war scenes, despite their brevity, are as emotionally charged as anything since Braveheart, and the scenes have that kind of old school charm that recalls the golden age Hollywood classic, Gone with the Wind. Cold Mountain is a film where all the skilled and technical crafts were put on film with bravado and intelligence and with an eye on beauty, as if the filmmakers knew that Cold Mountain was indeed a war film, but a war film with an eye on the love lives of the soldiers behind the lines.
The acting is earnest and good, but seems a bit strained at times. It’s too sweet, as if the actors know that they were in an important film, a film leaning more toward art than entertainment – we’re actors, and this time we’re acting in an important film, not starring in a blockbuster. In fact, the acting is reminiscent of the exaggerated, faux stage acting style of 1930 and 40’s Hollywood romance films. Combine this forced formalism with the fact that Cold Mountain is slightly miscast, and the film is suddenly kind of twitchy.
Cold Mountain is a very good film, and it is indeed a poignant romance with epic war as the backdrop. You weep for the character’s hardships, but you yearn as they long for love. If the ending had been at all agreeable, this would have been a perfect film, but what pleasures it offers are indeed gratifying, so I recommend it.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Renée Zellweger); 6 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Jude Law), “Best Cinematography” (John Seale), “Best Editing” (Walter Murch), “Best Music, Original Score” (Gabriel Yared), “Best Music, Original Song” (T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello for the song "Scarlet Tide") and “Best Music, Original Song” (Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love")
2004 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Gabriel Yared and T-Bone Burnett) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Renée Zellweger); 11 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, and Anthony Minghella), “Best Cinematography” (John Seale) “Best Costume Design” (Ann Roth and Carlo Poggioli), “Best Editing” (Walter Murch), “Best Film” (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger, and Ron Yerxa), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Paul Engelen and Ivana Primorac), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jude Law), “Best Production Design” (Dante Ferretti), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Anthony Minghella), “Best Sound” (Eddy Joseph, Ivan Sharrock, Walter Murch, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Matthew Gough) and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Anthony Minghella)
2004 Golden Globes: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Renée Zellweger); 7 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Anthony Minghella), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Gabriel Yared), “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love"), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Jude Law), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Nicole Kidman) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Anthony Minghella)
----------------------
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Happy Birthday, Hayao Miyazaki
The master filmmaker, animator, manga artist, and Oscar-winner is 71-years-old today.
Review: "Open Range" a Welcomed Western (Happy B'day, Robert Duvall)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 139 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux
Open Range (2003)
Running time: 139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence
DIRECTOR: Kevin Costner
WRITER: Craig Storper (based upon the novel, The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine)
PRODUCERS: Kevin Costner, Jake Eberts, and David Valdes
CINEMATOGRAPHER: James Muro (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Michael J. Duthie and Miklos Wright
COMPOSER: Michael Kamen
WESTERN
Starring: Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, Michael Jeter, Diego Luna, James Russo, Abraham Benrubi, Dean McDermott, and Kim Coates
Much has been made of Kevin Costner’s ode to classic Western movies, the surprise hit Open Range, but I think this film is very good on its own, even if I ignore the respect it pays to older Westerns (so much so that it shows its influences). Open Range is Costner’s third credited effort as a film director (he finished Waterworld although Kevin Reynolds received director’s credit), and it shows that Costner shines when he’s making Westerns.
In the film, Costner is Charlie Waite, the protégé of Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall), a grizzled free graze cattleman. Unlike ranchers, freegrazers herded their cattle across the unowned land of the West. This was fine prior to the War Between the States, but after the conflict, big ranchers began to buy up all that open range, and they considered any land near that property to also be their territory. Consequently, the resented freegrazers’ cattle roaming across the west, so conflict ensued. When Spearman, Waite, and their men tend their herd on a patch of unspoiled terrain near the makeshift town of Harmonville, they encounter the wrath of vicious Irish brute named Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon). Baxter, a heartless rancher, owns the local sheriff (James Russo) and lords his power over the scared town folks. Baxter and his goons beat up one of Spearman’s men (Abraham Benrubi), and when Spearman and Waite fight back, the violence escalates from there.
Costner patterns Open Range on a number of sources, both old and new. In spirit, the film’s tone resembles Clint Eastwood’s epic film Unforgiven, and the immediacy of the violence in Open Range is similar to the portrayal of violence in Tombstone. Other than that, the film is pretty much its own thing. It lacks the snap and crack of older westerns, but Costner does fool the audience. The film’s laconic pace and somber mood in the beginning belies the coming storm of righteous violence coming in the end. The funny thing is that you can really identify with both Boss Spearman and Charlie Waite’s fierce sense of independence, and you can easily digest their need to bring hell down on those who go out of their way to deny Spearman and Waite their rights to a livelihood. Both characters strike me as men with a low tolerance threshold; they won’t warn you off too many times about screwing with them before they bring the pain.
Open Range is a gorgeous film with beautiful vistas of the wide, open spaces – an untamed country of beautiful green prairies and hills and of a lovely but dangerous sky. Even the filthy little town has a pretty quality to it despite all the dirty earth tones that define it.
This film is also one of those times that Kevin Costner’s monotone delivery of his dialogue works; usually that’s just a sign of poor acting. His Waite is quite man hiding a dark past; he’s slow to anger, and even when he explodes, he really doesn’t come apart at the seams so much as he remains a steady assault of death dealing. What more does one need to say about the consummate talent of the brilliant character actor that is Robert Duvall? He’s always a pleasure to watch and with his talent, he finds a way to make it seem as if he and Costner are old partners, both in the film and in reality. There is so much good chemistry between the two one might think this is just the latest in many film projects together. Many of the other parts are a bit hokey, character types familiar to almost every old horse opera, but the actors redeem them with the quiet and serious intensity of actors who treat every role as if it’s a career defining moment. Even Annette Bening gives her role as the saintly spinster Sue Barlow some zing as she makes goo goo eyes at Costner’s Waite.
I loved this film, and I heartily recommend it to people who love westerns, especially the old-fashioned kind in which bad guys (with their figurative black hats force) loose-spirited men to do something they’d rather not – pick up a gun and take a human life to save their own. I can see this as a stable on such cable channels as Turner Classic Movies or American Movie Classics, and Open Range has Saturday matinee written all over it. At times it is too dry and slow, but the grit and determination of the characters and the filmmakers will hold your attention. Beside, it’s also one of the few recent movies where all the male actors act like real grown men and not overgrown teenage boys.
7 of 10
B+
Open Range (2003)
Running time: 139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence
DIRECTOR: Kevin Costner
WRITER: Craig Storper (based upon the novel, The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine)
PRODUCERS: Kevin Costner, Jake Eberts, and David Valdes
CINEMATOGRAPHER: James Muro (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Michael J. Duthie and Miklos Wright
COMPOSER: Michael Kamen
WESTERN
Starring: Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, Michael Jeter, Diego Luna, James Russo, Abraham Benrubi, Dean McDermott, and Kim Coates
Much has been made of Kevin Costner’s ode to classic Western movies, the surprise hit Open Range, but I think this film is very good on its own, even if I ignore the respect it pays to older Westerns (so much so that it shows its influences). Open Range is Costner’s third credited effort as a film director (he finished Waterworld although Kevin Reynolds received director’s credit), and it shows that Costner shines when he’s making Westerns.
In the film, Costner is Charlie Waite, the protégé of Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall), a grizzled free graze cattleman. Unlike ranchers, freegrazers herded their cattle across the unowned land of the West. This was fine prior to the War Between the States, but after the conflict, big ranchers began to buy up all that open range, and they considered any land near that property to also be their territory. Consequently, the resented freegrazers’ cattle roaming across the west, so conflict ensued. When Spearman, Waite, and their men tend their herd on a patch of unspoiled terrain near the makeshift town of Harmonville, they encounter the wrath of vicious Irish brute named Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon). Baxter, a heartless rancher, owns the local sheriff (James Russo) and lords his power over the scared town folks. Baxter and his goons beat up one of Spearman’s men (Abraham Benrubi), and when Spearman and Waite fight back, the violence escalates from there.
Costner patterns Open Range on a number of sources, both old and new. In spirit, the film’s tone resembles Clint Eastwood’s epic film Unforgiven, and the immediacy of the violence in Open Range is similar to the portrayal of violence in Tombstone. Other than that, the film is pretty much its own thing. It lacks the snap and crack of older westerns, but Costner does fool the audience. The film’s laconic pace and somber mood in the beginning belies the coming storm of righteous violence coming in the end. The funny thing is that you can really identify with both Boss Spearman and Charlie Waite’s fierce sense of independence, and you can easily digest their need to bring hell down on those who go out of their way to deny Spearman and Waite their rights to a livelihood. Both characters strike me as men with a low tolerance threshold; they won’t warn you off too many times about screwing with them before they bring the pain.
Open Range is a gorgeous film with beautiful vistas of the wide, open spaces – an untamed country of beautiful green prairies and hills and of a lovely but dangerous sky. Even the filthy little town has a pretty quality to it despite all the dirty earth tones that define it.
This film is also one of those times that Kevin Costner’s monotone delivery of his dialogue works; usually that’s just a sign of poor acting. His Waite is quite man hiding a dark past; he’s slow to anger, and even when he explodes, he really doesn’t come apart at the seams so much as he remains a steady assault of death dealing. What more does one need to say about the consummate talent of the brilliant character actor that is Robert Duvall? He’s always a pleasure to watch and with his talent, he finds a way to make it seem as if he and Costner are old partners, both in the film and in reality. There is so much good chemistry between the two one might think this is just the latest in many film projects together. Many of the other parts are a bit hokey, character types familiar to almost every old horse opera, but the actors redeem them with the quiet and serious intensity of actors who treat every role as if it’s a career defining moment. Even Annette Bening gives her role as the saintly spinster Sue Barlow some zing as she makes goo goo eyes at Costner’s Waite.
I loved this film, and I heartily recommend it to people who love westerns, especially the old-fashioned kind in which bad guys (with their figurative black hats force) loose-spirited men to do something they’d rather not – pick up a gun and take a human life to save their own. I can see this as a stable on such cable channels as Turner Classic Movies or American Movie Classics, and Open Range has Saturday matinee written all over it. At times it is too dry and slow, but the grit and determination of the characters and the filmmakers will hold your attention. Beside, it’s also one of the few recent movies where all the male actors act like real grown men and not overgrown teenage boys.
7 of 10
B+
------------------------
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
18 and Counting: "The Social Network" Wins with Online Film Critics
Founded in 1997, the Online Film Critics Society describes itself as “the largest, most respected organization for critics whose work appears primarily on the Internet.” Last week these critics announced their nominees for their end of the year movie awards. Sunday night, they announced the winners. I'm not counting, but Entertainment Weekly says that with this "Best Picture" award, The Social Network has won 18 best picture awards.
2010 Online Film Critics Society Award Winners:
Best Picture: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Lead Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Lead 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 Cinematography: Roger Deakins, True Grit
Best Editing: Lee Smith, Inception
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Foreign Language Film: Mother
Best Documentary: Exit Through The Gift Shop
http://www.ofcs.org/
2010 Online Film Critics Society Award Winners:
Best Picture: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Lead Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Lead 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 Cinematography: Roger Deakins, True Grit
Best Editing: Lee Smith, Inception
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Foreign Language Film: Mother
Best Documentary: Exit Through The Gift Shop
http://www.ofcs.org/
"Grown Ups" a Stunted Buddy Comedy
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux
Grown Ups (2010)
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude material including suggestive references, language and some male rear nudity
DIRECTOR: Dennis Dugan
WRITERS: Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf
PRODUCERS: Jack Giarraputo and Adam Sandler
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Theo van de Sande
EDITOR: Tom Costain
COMEDY
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph, Joyce Van Patten, Ebony Jo-Ann, Di Quon, Steve Buscemi, Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, Madison Riley, Jamie Chung, and Ashley Loren
Adam Sandler’s recent summer comedy, Grown Ups, may seem like a family comedy, but it isn’t. There certainly are plenty of laughs for parents and their children, but this is an all-star, buddy-comedy aimed at Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers who are fans of Sandler and his comedian/comic actor friends: Chris Rock, Kevin James, Rob Schneider, and David Spade.
Grown Ups is the story of five childhood pals who reunite after 30 years to mourn the passing of their old basketball coach, “Buzzer” (Blake Clark). Most of them are husbands and fathers, but their families have never met. The leader of the friends is Lenny Feder (Adam Sandler), a high-powered Hollywood agent, who is married to Roxanne (Salma Hayek), a sexy fashion designer. Eric Lamonsoff (Kevin James) is a businessman married to a lovely wife, Sally (Maria Bello), who still breastfeeds their four-year-old son. Kurt McKenzie (Chris Rock) is a henpecked, stay-at-home dad whose wife, Deanne (Maya Rudolph), is the primary breadwinner. Rob Hilliard (Rob Schneider) is a thrice-divorced vegan married to a woman, Gloria (Joyce Van Patten) who is much older than him. Marcus Higgins (David Space) is merely a lazy womanizer.
Over the 4th of July weekend, these five men return to New England and gather at a lake house where they quickly reconnect. However, the great outdoors may test and/or strengthen the bonds of family and friendship in ways they never expect.
Grown Ups has cute child actors playing the children and good-looking (even sexy, especially the case of Salma Hayek) actresses playing the wives and older daughters, but this is about the quintet of Sandler, James, Rock, Schneider, and Spade. There are some good moments of family comedy, slapstick comedy, and raunchy comedy, but the focus is this modern day version of a “Rat Pack” movie. Grown Ups is aimed at the fans of the five stars, but even their fans will quickly realize that this is not their best work.
Grown Ups is an amiable comedy, but is nothing special. It is a domestic comedy with little, if anything, of substance to say about its middle-aged characters. I don’t know what to make of this film, but I suppose that because I like the stars I should be happy to get this gathering of pals. OK, I like it. Although as quality goes, Grown Ups is pretty bland and average, and the grade I give it reflects that I like these guys.
5 of 10
B-
Monday, January 03, 2011
Grown Ups (2010)
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude material including suggestive references, language and some male rear nudity
DIRECTOR: Dennis Dugan
WRITERS: Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf
PRODUCERS: Jack Giarraputo and Adam Sandler
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Theo van de Sande
EDITOR: Tom Costain
COMEDY
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph, Joyce Van Patten, Ebony Jo-Ann, Di Quon, Steve Buscemi, Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, Madison Riley, Jamie Chung, and Ashley Loren
Adam Sandler’s recent summer comedy, Grown Ups, may seem like a family comedy, but it isn’t. There certainly are plenty of laughs for parents and their children, but this is an all-star, buddy-comedy aimed at Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers who are fans of Sandler and his comedian/comic actor friends: Chris Rock, Kevin James, Rob Schneider, and David Spade.
Grown Ups is the story of five childhood pals who reunite after 30 years to mourn the passing of their old basketball coach, “Buzzer” (Blake Clark). Most of them are husbands and fathers, but their families have never met. The leader of the friends is Lenny Feder (Adam Sandler), a high-powered Hollywood agent, who is married to Roxanne (Salma Hayek), a sexy fashion designer. Eric Lamonsoff (Kevin James) is a businessman married to a lovely wife, Sally (Maria Bello), who still breastfeeds their four-year-old son. Kurt McKenzie (Chris Rock) is a henpecked, stay-at-home dad whose wife, Deanne (Maya Rudolph), is the primary breadwinner. Rob Hilliard (Rob Schneider) is a thrice-divorced vegan married to a woman, Gloria (Joyce Van Patten) who is much older than him. Marcus Higgins (David Space) is merely a lazy womanizer.
Over the 4th of July weekend, these five men return to New England and gather at a lake house where they quickly reconnect. However, the great outdoors may test and/or strengthen the bonds of family and friendship in ways they never expect.
Grown Ups has cute child actors playing the children and good-looking (even sexy, especially the case of Salma Hayek) actresses playing the wives and older daughters, but this is about the quintet of Sandler, James, Rock, Schneider, and Spade. There are some good moments of family comedy, slapstick comedy, and raunchy comedy, but the focus is this modern day version of a “Rat Pack” movie. Grown Ups is aimed at the fans of the five stars, but even their fans will quickly realize that this is not their best work.
Grown Ups is an amiable comedy, but is nothing special. It is a domestic comedy with little, if anything, of substance to say about its middle-aged characters. I don’t know what to make of this film, but I suppose that because I like the stars I should be happy to get this gathering of pals. OK, I like it. Although as quality goes, Grown Ups is pretty bland and average, and the grade I give it reflects that I like these guys.
5 of 10
B-
Monday, January 03, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Review: "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" Dumb and Eloquent
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 144 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude sexual content throughout, nudity, language, and drug references
DIRECTOR: Dennis Dugan
WRITERS: Barry Fanaro and Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor; from a treatment by Lew Gallo
PRODUCERS: Michael Bostick, James D. Brubaker, Jack Giarraputo, Adam Sandler, and Tom Shadyac
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Semler
EDITOR: Jeff Gourson
COMEDY
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, Dan Aykroyd, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Nicholas Turturro, Nick Swardson, Blake Clark, Mary Pat Gleason, Cole Morgan, Shelby Adamowsky, and Robert Smigel; also Rob Schneider and David Spade
In I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, two guys’ guys pose as gay lovers in order for one of the men to make sure his children get his insurance benefits.
New York City firemen Chuck Levine (Adam Sandler) and Larry Valentine (Kevin James) are the pride of their fire station. Loyal to the core, they’ll do anything for each other, but after Larry saves Chuck’s life, Chuck is about to find out just how much owing his buddy will cost him. When widower Larry realizes that civil service red tape might keep his children, Eric (Cole Morgan) and Tori (Shelby Adamowsky), from getting his life insurance benefits, he knows that one of the ways to insure his children’s financial future is to get married.
Still deeply mourning his late wife, Larry hasn’t dated since her death or really moved on from that tragedy. A newspaper article gives him a crazy idea – domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples, so he asks Chuck to pose as his live-in gay lover. Chuck, however, has a vigorous sex life as a heterosexual and often entertains several women at a time, and wants no part of Larry’s plan. But he owes Larry. After the friends start posing as love-struck newlyweds, nosey city bureaucrat, Clinton Fitzer (Steve Buscemi), starts to investigate the alleged relationship, so the buddies are forced to present a genuine picture of domestic bliss. After the boys hire a lawyer that specializes in their situation, Chuck falls hard for their sexy attorney, Alex McDonough (Jessica Biel), and his lust just might reveal his and Larry’s secret.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is a somewhat badly made, broad comedy, but it sure is funny. The writers seem to have written a flimsy script that simply plays up to the numerous possibilities for comic misunderstanding this concept offers. It’s not lacking in cleverness so much as it is overly abundant in crassness and gross-out humor. That crudeness is actually personified more in Ving Rhames’ Fred G. Duncan, a sort of Mandingo as giant, threatening homo, than it is in Adam Sandler’s Chuck, who is a self-admitted “whore.” In fact, neither Sandler nor Kevin James is anywhere near doing his best work. As for Biel, her body is still a wonderland, and we get to see quite a bit of it.
Although this movie comes across as a rutting goat, where I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry actually beats the low expectations that many had for it is in the film’s not-too-preachy attitude about acceptance of gays and the gay lifestyle. The filmmakers and their stars, Sandler and Kevin, vigorously assault anti-gay sentiment, gay-bashing, and gay slurs wherever they find it. The film also offers generous samples of gay clubs, drag queens, and flashy dancing.
On the other hand, the film does offer several brief scenes that reveal the not-fun-side of being a gay couple. Quite frankly, it’s uncomfortable and embarrassing to watch Chuck and Larry’s friends and colleagues suddenly become quite skittish about their old friends once they discover that the duo is a gay couple. Even worse is to watch the people that Larry knows from his children’s school, sports leagues, and the Boy Scouts suddenly remove his name from participation lists. It’s almost as if he died.
How this mixture of raunch and gross can have positive messages about family and acceptance of others is a mystery. That the filmmakers made a bad movie so funny and entertaining is an even deeper mystery.
6 of 10
B
Friday, December 28, 2007
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude sexual content throughout, nudity, language, and drug references
DIRECTOR: Dennis Dugan
WRITERS: Barry Fanaro and Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor; from a treatment by Lew Gallo
PRODUCERS: Michael Bostick, James D. Brubaker, Jack Giarraputo, Adam Sandler, and Tom Shadyac
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Semler
EDITOR: Jeff Gourson
COMEDY
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, Dan Aykroyd, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Nicholas Turturro, Nick Swardson, Blake Clark, Mary Pat Gleason, Cole Morgan, Shelby Adamowsky, and Robert Smigel; also Rob Schneider and David Spade
In I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, two guys’ guys pose as gay lovers in order for one of the men to make sure his children get his insurance benefits.
New York City firemen Chuck Levine (Adam Sandler) and Larry Valentine (Kevin James) are the pride of their fire station. Loyal to the core, they’ll do anything for each other, but after Larry saves Chuck’s life, Chuck is about to find out just how much owing his buddy will cost him. When widower Larry realizes that civil service red tape might keep his children, Eric (Cole Morgan) and Tori (Shelby Adamowsky), from getting his life insurance benefits, he knows that one of the ways to insure his children’s financial future is to get married.
Still deeply mourning his late wife, Larry hasn’t dated since her death or really moved on from that tragedy. A newspaper article gives him a crazy idea – domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples, so he asks Chuck to pose as his live-in gay lover. Chuck, however, has a vigorous sex life as a heterosexual and often entertains several women at a time, and wants no part of Larry’s plan. But he owes Larry. After the friends start posing as love-struck newlyweds, nosey city bureaucrat, Clinton Fitzer (Steve Buscemi), starts to investigate the alleged relationship, so the buddies are forced to present a genuine picture of domestic bliss. After the boys hire a lawyer that specializes in their situation, Chuck falls hard for their sexy attorney, Alex McDonough (Jessica Biel), and his lust just might reveal his and Larry’s secret.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is a somewhat badly made, broad comedy, but it sure is funny. The writers seem to have written a flimsy script that simply plays up to the numerous possibilities for comic misunderstanding this concept offers. It’s not lacking in cleverness so much as it is overly abundant in crassness and gross-out humor. That crudeness is actually personified more in Ving Rhames’ Fred G. Duncan, a sort of Mandingo as giant, threatening homo, than it is in Adam Sandler’s Chuck, who is a self-admitted “whore.” In fact, neither Sandler nor Kevin James is anywhere near doing his best work. As for Biel, her body is still a wonderland, and we get to see quite a bit of it.
Although this movie comes across as a rutting goat, where I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry actually beats the low expectations that many had for it is in the film’s not-too-preachy attitude about acceptance of gays and the gay lifestyle. The filmmakers and their stars, Sandler and Kevin, vigorously assault anti-gay sentiment, gay-bashing, and gay slurs wherever they find it. The film also offers generous samples of gay clubs, drag queens, and flashy dancing.
On the other hand, the film does offer several brief scenes that reveal the not-fun-side of being a gay couple. Quite frankly, it’s uncomfortable and embarrassing to watch Chuck and Larry’s friends and colleagues suddenly become quite skittish about their old friends once they discover that the duo is a gay couple. Even worse is to watch the people that Larry knows from his children’s school, sports leagues, and the Boy Scouts suddenly remove his name from participation lists. It’s almost as if he died.
How this mixture of raunch and gross can have positive messages about family and acceptance of others is a mystery. That the filmmakers made a bad movie so funny and entertaining is an even deeper mystery.
6 of 10
B
Friday, December 28, 2007
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