"Skyline" No "Independence Day"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 38 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Skyline (2010)
Running time: 94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some language, and brief sexual content
DIRECTORS: The Brothers Strause
WRITERS: Joshua Cordes and Liam O'Donnell
PRODUCERS: Kristian James Andresen, Liam O'Donnell, and Colin Strause and Greg Strause
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Watson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Nicholas Wayman-Harris
COMPOSER: Matthew Margeson

SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring: Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Crystal Reed, Neil Hopkins, David Zayas, Robin Gammell, and Donald Faison

Skyline is a 2010 alien invasion film from Colin and Greg Strause. Known as the Brothers Strause, the siblings directed Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. They also own the visual effects company, Hydraulx, which has created special effects for films like 300, The Day After Tomorrow, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Skyline follows New York City-based artist, Jarrod (Eric Balfour), and his girlfriend, Elaine (Scottie Thompson). The two are traveling to Los Angeles for the birthday party of Terry (Donald Faison), Jarrod’s best friend who runs a successful movie special effects company. After a night of wild partying, Jarrod and company awaken to discover Terry’s apartment filled with a mysterious blue light. The origin of the light is an alien invasion. Monstrous alien ships hover over the city and are vacuuming up thousands of people. Jarrod and friends stick together to survive and plot a way to escape while the alien machines pick them off one by one.

Skyline has some wonderful visual special and creature effects. The film seems to be a mixture of ideas from George Pal’s The War of the Worlds (1953) and Independence Day (1996). There is some Oscar-worthy visual effects work here, but even this dazzling light show cannot blind the viewer to Skyline’s glaring problems – a poor cast and even poorer characters.

I don’t want to dog the actors, but they don’t inspire interest or even engage what interest you might have for this flick. The one actor who could do this film some good, Donald Faison, isn’t in the movie for very long. The rest of the actors have no star power and their acting isn’t bad – it’s just lackluster. The characters are just deadwood and driftwood. The writers merely hint at their personalities, professions, and interests, but abandon that when its time for the invasion theatrics to begin.

You may find yourself begging for more science fiction/alien stuff, especially during the moments when the movie focuses on the characters. Skyline is half a really good alien invasion movie, and the other half is pure tedium.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Also known as Miss Mary.  And I'm on time!

Tommy Lee Jones Among Actors Slated for Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln"

Steven Spielberg Adds Key Members to His "Lincoln" Cast

Tommy Lee Jones Among Those Joining DreamWorks Studios Film About Abraham Lincoln

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill and Joseph Cross are in negotiations to join the cast of DreamWorks Studios' "Lincoln," it was announced today by DreamWorks partners Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider. Also in negotiations to join the film are David Costabile, Byron Jennings, Dakin Matthews, Boris McGiver, Gloria Reuben, Jeremy Strong, and David Warshofsky. This group joins the previously announced casting of Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field in the Spielberg directed film about the 16th President of the United States.

Based on the best-selling book, Team of Rivals, by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the screenplay has been written by the Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony Award winner, and Academy Award nominated writer Tony Kushner. It will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg.

The film will focus on the political collision of Lincoln and the powerful men of his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War.

Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones will play Thaddeus Stevens, a Republican leader and powerful congressman from Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives. Stevens was a staunch supporter of abolishing slavery and was critical to writing the legislation that funded the American Civil War.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, known for his roles in "Inception," "(500) Days of Summer," and next year's "The Dark Knight Rises," will take on the role of Robert Todd Lincoln, eldest son of President Lincoln and the only one to live past his teenage years.

Other announced cast will take on various supporting roles in the film.

Doris Kearns Goodwin won her Pulitzer Prize for “No Ordinary Time,” the story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the home front in World War II. Kushner's prize was for his play “Angels in America,” which later became an Emmy Award-winning television special. He had previously worked with Spielberg on “Munich” for which he was nominated for an Oscar in the Adapted Screenplay category.

Filming is expected to begin in the fall of 2011 in Virginia for release in the fourth quarter of 2012 through Disney’s Touchstone distribution label.


About DreamWorks Studios
DreamWorks Studios is a motion picture company formed in 2009 and led by Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider in partnership with The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Upcoming releases include “Cowboys & Aliens,” “The Help,” “Fright Night,” “Real Steel,” and “War Horse.”

DreamWorks Studios can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DreamWorksStudios and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dw_studios.

Review: Kenneth Branagh Makes Much Magic in "Much Ado About Nothing"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 127 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
WRITER: Kenneth Branagh (adapted for the screen from Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare)
PRODUCERS: Stephen Evan, David Parfitt, and Branagh
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Lanser
EDITOR: Andrew Marcus
BAFTA nominee

COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of drama, music, and musical

Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Michael Keaton, Robert Sean Leonard, Keanu Reeves, Emma Thompson, and Denzel Washington, Richard Briers, Kate Beckinsale, Brian Blessed, Imelda Staunton, Jimmy Yuill, Phyllida Law, Richard Clifford, and Gerard Horan

Kenneth Branagh earned two Oscar-nominations (acting and directing) for his 1989 film, Henry V, a screen adaptation of William Shakespeare’s stage drama. Branagh brought the Bard back to the screen for a second time under his direction with the 1993 film, Much Ado About Nothing, which received a 1993 Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical (and an Independent Spirit Award nom for “Best Feature”).

A high-spirited tale of love, mistaken identity, and bawdy humor, Much Ado About Nothing is set in Messina (Sicily), where hot-bloodied youth, Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard), is engaged to marry a beautiful young woman named Hero (Kate Beckinsale). Claudio is so anxious to wed that his best friend, Don Pedro (Denzel Washington), devises some mischief to distract Claudio. Don Pedro concocts a romantic trap for Hero’s cousin, the sharp-tongued Beatrice (Emma Thompson, Independent Spirit Award nomination for “Best Female Lead”) and the man she most loves to hate, Benedick (Kenneth Branagh). However, amusement turns to horror, scandal, and tragedy by the hand of Don Pedro’s rakish brother, Don John (Keanu Reeves), who schemes to destroy the engagement and marriage of Claudio and Hero. Can the chance intervention of the local law, Dogberry (Michael Keaton), restore the love and laughter to this circle of friends?

It’s almost hard to believe, but Much Ado About Nothing manages to be ravishing entertainment, engaging brain food, and a finely crafted costume drama in only 102 minutes of screen time. It’s a sexy, joyous romp filmed with delightful rudeness, playful sexual innuendo, and the sun-drenched charm of its shooting location (Chianti, Toscana, Central Italy). It takes an attentive ear (and more patience than many moviegoers are willing to give) to hear every Shakespearean word and turn of a phrase, but the cast’s exuberant delivery of the Bard’s masterful language is… well, masterful.

If the good acting weren’t enough (Branagh and Emma Thompson actually outshine the rest of this talented cast of movie stars and fine character actors), this exuberant production is filled with lively songs, musical numbers, and a soaring life-giving score. If you like Shakespeare on the big screen, this is a gift for you. If you never believed that Shakespeare could be so funny and sexy, Branagh and his cohorts will convert you into a true believer.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1994 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Phyllis Dalton)

1993 Cannes Film Festival: 1 nomination: “Palme d'Or” (Kenneth Branagh)

1994 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical”

1994 Razzie Award: 1 nomination: “Worst Supporting Actor” (Keanu Reeves)

Happy Birthday, Sarah

Belated, of course.  I always miss these - even with a Microsoft Office Calendar reminder.

Sad, this boy is - Yoda.

About This Movie: THOR

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment Present
A Marvel Studios Production
A Kenneth Branagh Film

“Thor”

Co‐Producers: Craig Kyle Victoria Alonso
Executive Producers: Alan Fine Stan Lee David Maisel Patricia Whitcher Louis D’Esposito
Produced by Kevin Feige
Story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich
Screenplay by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz and Don Payne
Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings, Jaimie Alexander, Josh Dallas, Tadanobu Asano, Clark Gregg, with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin

Synopsis:
The epic adventure THOR spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the mystical realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. As a result, Thor is banished to Earth where he is forced to live among humans. When the most dangerous villain of his world sends its darkest forces to invade Earth, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero.

Release: May 6, 2011

THOR has been rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence


Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus

"The Tourist" May Trap Jolie and Depp Fans

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 37 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Tourist (2010)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
WRITERS: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Christopher McQuarrie, and Julian Fellowes (based upon the film Anthony Zimmer by Jérôme Salle)
PRODUCERS: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Tim Headington, and Graham King
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Seale
EDITORS: Joe Hutshing and Patricia Rommel
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard
Golden Globe nominee

CRIME/ROMANCE with elements of comedy

Starring: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Steve Berkoff and Rufus Sewell

Movies that bring together a big-time male and female movie star for a tale of romance and/or sex can be disastrous, such as Perfect Strangers with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis. The recent film, The Tourist, brings together A-list stars, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie (although they weren’t the original choices for this movie). Depp and Jolie have almost no screen chemistry; they simply seem like a mismatched pair, and for some reason, this works for The Tourist.

A remake of a French action film, The Tourist is the story of an American in Venice who becomes a decoy in a cat-and-mouse game involving the police, gangsters, a thief, and his lover. Widower Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) is an American tourist on a train to Venice, Italy, when he encounters a mysterious beauty, Elise Clifton-Ward (Angelina Jolie). Ward is going to Venice for a long-awaited reunion with her former boyfriend, Alexander Pearce.

Frank is smitten with Elise, and while she surprisingly spends some time with him, Elise abandons Frank to find Pearce. Elise isn’t the only one looking for Pearce. The others include Robert Shaw (Steve Berkoff), a gangster from whom Pearce stole 2.3 billion dollars, and Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany) and Scotland Yard. The problem for Frank is that they think he is Pearce because they saw Frank kissing Elise. But no one knows what Pearce now looks like, even Elise.

Truthfully, The Tourist has a slow, muddled plot. Combine that with the obvious-from-the-beginning lack of chemistry between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, and this is a recipe for disaster. So why do I like this movie? Well, I am a huge fan of Depp, and I also like Jolie quite a bit. Perhaps, putting them in such a lovely setting as Venice and also adding a bit of international intrigue are just enough to get a sap like me to go along for The Tourist’s ride.

This film is beautifully photographed by the accomplished, Australian cinematographer, John Seale, who won an Academy Award for his work on The English Patient (1996). Seale also received Oscar nominations for Witness, Rain Man, and Cold Mountain. Seale does the majority of the work that gives The Tourist its elegance and sophistication. This glowing, shimmering romantic, half-romp is one of the most beautiful movies of the year. It seems as if the director, writers, and even the stars Depp and Jolie didn’t know how to make The Tourist work, but the cinematographer did. How often does that happen?

That’s okay. Fans of Jolie and Depp can find reasons to enjoy The Tourist. It does not matter what those reason are.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2011 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Johnny Depp), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Angelina Jolie)

Thursday, May 05, 2011