Dallas and North Texas Film Critics Raise "The Descendants"

The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association is also known as the DFW Film Critics Association. The group describes itself as a not-for-profit, unincorporated voluntary organization of print, broadcast and internet film critics based in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and greater North Texas who meet its membership criteria. The DFW Film Critics Association currently consists of 29 broadcast, print, and online journalists from throughout North Texas.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association 18th Annual Critics’ Poll:

Best Film: THE DESCENDANTS

Runner-ups:
2. THE ARTIST
3. EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
4. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
5. THE TREE OF LIFE
6. HUGO
7. 50/50
8. DRIVE
9. SHAME
10. MONEYBALL

Best Director: Alexander Payne for THE DESCENDANTS

Runner-ups:
Michel Hazanavicius for THE ARTIST
Terrence Malick for THE TREE OF LIFE
Martin Scorsese for HUGO
Woody Allen for MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Best Actor: George Clooney for THE DESCENDANTS

Runner-ups:
Jean Dujardin for THE ARTIST
Michael Fassbender for SHAME
Brad Pitt for MONEYBALL
Michael Shannon for TAKE SHELTER (5).

Best Actress: Michelle Williams for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN.

Runner-ups:
Tilda Swinton for WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Meryl Streep for THE IRON LADY
Charlize Theron for YOUNG ADULT
Kirsten Dunst for MELANCHOLIA

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer for BEGINNERS

Runner-ups:
Albert Brooks for DRIVE
Max von Sydow for EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Armie Hammer for J. EDGAR
Kenneth Branagh for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley for THE DESCENDANTS

Runners-up:
Berenice Bejo for THE ARTIST
Octavia Spencer for THE HELP
Melissa McCarthy for BRIDESMAIDS
Carey Mulligan for SHAME

Best Foreign-Language Film of the Year: A SEPARATION

Runners-up:
THE SKIN I LIVE IN
INCENDIES
13 ASSASSINS
Tie: OF GODS AND MEN and CERTIFIED COPY

Best Documentary: CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

Runners-up:
PROJECT NIM
THE INTERRUPTERS
PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES
BUCK

Best Animated Film: RANGO

Runner-up:
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for THE DESCENDANTS

Runner-up:
Woody Allen for MIDNIGHT IN PARIS.

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for THE TREE OF LIFE

Runner-up:
Janusz Kaminski for WAR HORSE.

The association voted WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN as the winner of the Russell Smith Award. Named for the late Dallas Morning News film critic, this honor is given annually to the best low-budget or cutting-edge independent film.

Review: First Tom Cruise "Mission: Impossible" is Still a Thrill

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mission: Impossible (1996)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Brian De Palma
WRITERS: David Koepp and Robert Towne; story by David Koepp and Steven Zallian (based on the television series created by Bruce Geller)
PRODUCERS: Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen H. Burum (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman

ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave, Dale Dye, and (uncredited) Emilio Estevez

The Impossible Missions Force (I.M.F.) must recover a computer disc that contains the code name of C.I.A. agents in deep cover in Eastern Europe and capture the spy who not only has the disc but also seeks the other half of the information, which gives the real identities of those same agents.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is the point man for the mission, under the guidance of Jim Phelps (a character holdover from the “Mission: Impossible” television series 1966-73 and a revival 1988-90) and leads his team (which includes parts played by Kristin Scott-Thomas and an uncredited Emilio Estevez). The mission goes awry and places Hunt, the sole survivor, under the false suspicion of betrayal.

Hunt recruits a new team: Phelps’s wife, Claire (Emmanuelle Beart), a thuggish, Franz Krieger (Jean Reno), and a master computer hacker, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), all to help him discover and expose the real mole in I.M.F.

One of the smartest summer movies of all time, Mission: Impossible, upon its release, left audiences shaking their heads. The film itself is like one of the mind games for which the television series was famous. The characters in the film, other than Hunt, are not what they seem, and the writers filled the film with hints that come and go quickly that inevitably reveal the secrets and secret identities. M: I is light on plot, but deceptively simple. Hunt must obtain the object of desire, the deep cover agent list that will in turn bring all the players out of the shadows and into the light of day. Only then, can he prove his innocence.

Cruise proves to be a very good actor (in addition to be such a magnifying screen presence) in the hands of a good director, and De Palma (Casualties of War), despite his spotty box office career, is a fine director. A student of Alfred Hitchcock’s work, De Palma brings the master’s sense of suspense and mystery to M: I. As with a Hitchcock lead, we know that Hunt is innocent, but the odds are so stacked against him that we wonder if he will escape alive, let alone solve the puzzle.

Jon Voight as Phelps fairly drips with duplicity and mystery; he is simultaneously an wise old teacher and reptilian cold war era spy. Vanessa Redgrave brings a lively elegance to the proceedings as the arms dealer, Max. Henry Czerny, as Eugene Kittridge, brings to the show the similar essence of his character Robert Ritter from Clear and Present Danger.

Mission: Impossible is a fine action thriller full of riveting suspense. It demands one’s attention with its unorthodox approach to action movies. Its premise is a gorilla that hangs by a thread on the suspension of disbelief. But it engages and demands that the viewer not only pay attention but uses his mind. The creators only ask that you surrender part of your thinking to them, while most movies, especially summer fare, ask for all of your good sense.

8 of 10
A

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"Joyful Noise" Soundtrack Has Dolly Parton, Queen Latifah and More

“Joyful Noise” Soundtrack to Be Released January 10, 2012

Soundtrack Features New Music Performed by Dolly Parton, Queen Latifah, Kirk Franklin, Keke Palmer and Others

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WaterTower Music announces the release of the soundtrack to Alcon Entertainment’s and Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Joyful Noise,” a funny and inspirational story of music, hope, love and renewal, which opens in theatres January 13, 2012.

This musically driven story brings together the sounds of gospel, pop, country, rock and R & B with multiple performances by Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and Oscar® winner Dolly Parton (“Transamerica,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Nine to Five”), Grammy, Oscar®, and Golden Globe Award winner Queen Latifah (“Chicago,” “Hairspray”), and BET and NAACP Award winner Keke Palmer (“True Jackson VP,” “Akeelah and the Bee”). The soundtrack to “Joyful Noise” includes these performances, including renditions of memorable songs originally recorded by a wide range of artists: Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Sly & the Family Stone, Usher, and Stevie Wonder. Additionally, the soundtrack boasts recordings of the three original songs Dolly Parton wrote for the film, “He’s Everything,” “Not Enough” and “From Here to the Moon and Back.”

The collection also includes tracks by some of the finest acts in gospel and R&B. Grammy winner Kirk Franklin wrote and takes the vocal reins on his jubilant new song “In Love,” and award winning gospel vocalist Karen Peck creates harmonic gold on “Mighty High.”

Five-time Grammy winner and 10-time Grammy nominee Mervyn Warren (“Dreamgirls,” “The Preacher’s Wife,” “Sister Act 2”) produced and arranged all songs on the “Joyful Noise” soundtrack. Warren has written arrangements for the likes of Quincy Jones, David Foster and Whitney Houston, and was a member of acclaimed a cappella group Take 6. He is also a recipient of a Soul Train Award and has been recognized by the NAACP Image Awards, Dove Awards, and Stellar Awards.

The “Joyful Noise” soundtrack will see its release at both physical and digital retail on January 10, 2012.

Track List:
1. Not Enough - Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah

2. Man In The Mirror - Keke Palmer

3. Maybe I'm Amazed - Jeremy Jordan and Keke Palmer

4. In Love - Kirk Franklin

5. Fix Me Jesus - Queen Latifah

6. From Here To The Moon And Back - Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan

7. I'm Yours - Keke Palmer, DeQuina Moore and Angela Grovey

8. Mighty High - Karen Peck

9. That's The Way God Planned It - Ivan Kelley, Jr.

10. Higher Medley - Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan, Andy Karl, Angela Grovey, and DeQuina Moore

11. He's Everything - Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan, Andy Karl and DeQuina Moore

12. Joyful Noise Suite - Mervyn Warren

ABOUT THE FILM
Oscar® nominees Queen Latifah (“Chicago,” “Hairspray”) and Dolly Parton (“Transamerica,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Nine to Five”) star in Alcon Entertainment’s and Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Joyful Noise,” a funny and inspirational story of music, hope, love and renewal.

The small town of Pacashau, Georgia, has fallen on hard times, but the people are counting on the Divinity Church Choir to lift their spirits by winning the National Joyful Noise Competition. The choir has always known how to sing in harmony, but the discord between its two leading ladies now threatens to tear them apart. Their newly appointed director, Vi Rose Hill (Latifah), stubbornly wants to stick with their tried-and-true traditional style, while the fiery G.G. Sparrow (Parton) thinks tried-and-true translates to tired-and-old. Shaking things up even more is the arrival of G.G.’s rebellious grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan). Randy has an ear for music, but he also has an eye for Vi Rose’s beautiful and talented daughter, Olivia (Keke Palmer), and the sparks between the two teenagers are causing even more friction between G.G. and Vi Rose. If these two strong-willed women can put aside their differences for the good of the people in their town, they—and their choir—may make the most joyful noise of all.

Starring with Latifah and Parton are Keke Palmer (“Akeelah and the Bee”), Courtney B. Vance (“Extraordinary Measures”), Jeremy Jordan (Broadway’s “Bonnie and Clyde”), and Kris Kristofferson (“Dolphin Tale”). Rounding out the main cast are Dexter Darden, Angela Grovey, Paul Woolfolk and Jesse L. Martin.

Todd Graff (“Bandslam”) directed “Joyful Noise” from his original screenplay. The film is produced by Oscar® nominee Michael Nathanson (“L.A. Confidential”), Joseph Farrell, Catherine Paura, and Oscar® nominees Broderick Johnson and Andrew A. Kosove (“The Blind Side”). The executive producers are Timothy M. Bourne, Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere, with Yolanda T. Cochran and Steven P. Wegner serving as co-producers. Five-time Grammy Award winner Mervyn Warren composed the score.

Alcon Entertainment presents a Farrell Paura Productions/O.N.C. Entertainment Production, “Joyful Noise,” being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. The film opens nationwide on January 13, 2012. This film has been rated PG-13 for some language including a sexual reference. http://www.joyfulnoisethemovie.com/

Review: DiCaprio, Hanks Catch Fire in "Catch Me if You Can" (Happy B'day, Steven Spielberg)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 96 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Catch Me if You Can (2002)
Running time: 141 minutes (2 hours, 21 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual content and brief language
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITER: Jeff Nathanson (based upon the book Catch Me If You Can: The Amazing True Story of the Youngest and Most Daring Con Man in the History of Fun and Profit by Frank W. Abagnale and Stan Redding
PRODUCERS: Walter F. Parkes and Steven Spielberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Janusz Kaminski
EDITOR: Michael Kahn
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/CRIME/DRAMA

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, James Brolin, Amy Adams, Nancy Lenehan, Ellen Pompeo, and Jennifer Garner

Steven Spielberg had two directorial works theatrically released in 2002. The first was the fantastic Minority Report (ahead of its time, perhaps), and the second was a box office smash that didn’t really feature any obvious directorial flourishes, Catch Me if You Can. It was as if Spielberg backed off a little (he wasn’t even among the top choices to direct this film), and let the film take a life of its own. Though plagued by a few scenes that could have been excluded (including one by the overrated and unattractive Jennifer Garner), it’s a very good film that relies not so much on the director or even on the intriguing tale (which is based upon a true story), but rather on the talents of its cast, in particular Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, and Christopher Walken.

When his parents’ financial security evaporates and causes their marriage to go kaput, 17-year old Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) comes up with a way to get his father Frank, Sr. (Christopher Walken) flush in paper again. He becomes a successful con artist, managing to pass himself off as several identities, in particular as an airline pilot, a physician, and an attorney. However, it is his ingenious check fraud schemes that draw the attention of a relentless FBI agent, Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), who begins a cross-country and trans-Atlantic chase to catch Frank, Jr.

Walken gives a very deep and heartfelt performance as Frank Sr., a man beset by the Internal Revenue Service and marital woes. Tom Hanks is dead on as the determined and stoic G-Man, Hanratty, whose dogged search belies his simple need to bring order where fraud creates chaos. Hank plays the agent as a persistent and by the book official who actually has a wry sense of humor; you have to watch carefully to catch the humor. DiCaprio’s Frank, Jr. is, on the surface, a one-note character, but the actor plays much of the young con beneath the surface. Frank succeeds as a confidence man simply because of his measured self-control. A con survives by not breaking each time he encounters something that threatens to spoil the con game. DiCaprio’s Frank is the legal opposite of Hank’s Hanratty, but, otherwise, they’re about the same in personality. Their insistence to do what they have to do keeps them going. A viewer can’t read that in the script. He has to read that in the actors’ performances: physical and facial and subtly verbal. This is the work of two artists.

Catch Me if You Can waffles between being a drama and comedy while really being neither. It’s not a great film; the set up to Frank’s life of crime is overly long and occasionally dull. Still, Catch Me if You Can is a very good and tremendously entertaining work in which the actors outplay all the other elements of the film. Nothing wrong with that – you can get a fine moving picture when great actors can get to do what they do so well and do it with relative ease.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Christopher Walken) and “Best Music, Original Score” (John Williams)

2003 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Christopher Walken); 3 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (John Williams), “Best Costume Design” (Mary Zophres), and “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Jeff Nathanson)

2003 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Leonardo DiCaprio)

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Detroit Film Critics are Patrons of "The Artist"

According to John Serba, film critic for The Grand Rapids Press and member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, the group has announced its 2011 winners.

The Detroit Film Critics Society Winners for 2011:

Best Picture: “The Artist”

Best Director: Michel Hazanivicius

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, “Shame”

Best Actress: Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best Supporting Actress: Carey Mulligan, “Shame”

Best Ensemble: “Carnage”

Best Breakthrough Performance: Jessica Chastain, “The Tree of Life,” “Take Shelter,” “The Help”

Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, “Moneyball”

Best Documentary: “Tabloid”
 

"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" a Familiar, But Fun Game

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 105 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
Running time: 129 minutes (2 hours, 9 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some drug material
DIRECTOR: Guy Ritchie
WRITERS: Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney (based on the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle)
PRODUCERS: Susan Downey, Dan Lin, Joel Silver, and Lionel Wigram
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot
EDITOR: James Herbert
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer

ACTION/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry, Paul Anderson, Kelly Reilly, Rachel McAdams, Geraldine James, and Eddie Marsan

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a 2011 Sherlock Holmes film and action/mystery movie. It is a direct sequel to the 2009 film, Sherlock Holmes, which brought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective back to the big screen as an in-your-face, two-fisted genius. A Game of Shadows finds Holmes taking on his greatest adversary, Professor Moriarty.

A year after the events of the first film, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.), the renowned "consulting detective,” is investigating a seemingly unrelated series of crimes around Europe, including a bombing in London and the murder of prominent physician. Holmes believes the crimes are tied to the criminal mastermind, Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris), who is just as smart as Holmes and more ruthless. Meanwhile, Holmes’ trusted ally and physician, Dr. John Watson (Jude Law), is set to marry Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly).

It is Watson’s stag (bachelor) party that brings Holmes into contact with Sim (Noomi Rapace), a gypsy fortune teller marked for death by Moriarty. Holmes and Watson follow Sim to Paris where they discover the far-reaching implications of Moriarty’s plot. With his brother, Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry), providing some assistance (from a distance), Holmes tries to stop a possible war. But in Moriarty, Holmes may have met an opponent that even he cannot overcome.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadow offers the same thrills, chills, laughs, and mind games of the first film, except this new movie is more intense than wry. It is darker, has more action, and plays more on the razor’s edge than the first film, which was clever and loose, whereas this film is cunning and taut. You get the idea that the well-being of the world is on the line if Holmes’ slips up, and Moriarty is so damn formidable, Holmes is often outmaneuvered in this story. The best thing director Guy Ritchie gets out of the script is that the action in this story really matters.

Good performances abound. Watching Robert Downey, Jr. play Holmes, I got the feeling that if his brain were not firing on all cylinders, it was close. Downey’s performance was like mixing a high wire act with juggling and being on the receiving end of a knife-throwing act. Jared Harris is superb as Moriarty; I’ve never been more in awe and more afraid of this villain, and I wish Harris’ take on Moriarty had more screen time. Noomi Rapace makes the most of her role as Sim, a character whose screen time exceeds her importance.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows sticks with the winning formula of the first film with some refinement. It delivers glossy, high-caliber entertainment with a clever edge that puts it above the typical Hollywood fast food, movie product. I’m already ready for a third Robert Downey, Jr.-Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes movie.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Las Vegas Film Critics Support "The Artist"

The Las Vegas Film Critics Society is a non-profit organization that describes itself as “progressive” and “dedicated to the advancement and preservation of film.” The LVFCS membership is comprised of “select” print, television and internet film critics in the Las Vegas area. The LVFCS presents its "Sierra" awards each year for the best in film, including The William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award, which is named for the late Academy Award winning actor.

As are many other film critics groups in 2011, Las Vegas film critics are down with The Artist.

2011 Sierra Award winners:

Best Picture
“The Artist”

Best Actor
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”

Best Actress
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks, “Drive”

Best Supporting Actress
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”

Best Director
Nicholas Winding Refn, “Drive”

Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted)
Aaron Sorkin & Steve Zaillian, “Moneyball”

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezski, “Tree of Life”

Best Film Editing
Thelma Schoonmaker, “Hugo”

Best Costume Design
Mark Bridges, “The Artist”

Best Art Direction
Gregory S. Hooper, “The Artist”

Best Visual Effects
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Best Documentary
“Project NIM”

Best Foreign Film
“13 Assassins”

Best Song
“Man or Muppet” - Written by Bret McKenzie

Best Score
Ludovic Bource, “The Artist”

Best Family Film
“Hugo”

Best Animated Film
“Rango”

Youth in Film
Asa Butterfield, “Hugo”

Best DVD (Packaging, Design, and Content)
“Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy (Blu-Ray)

William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award for 2010:
Albert Brooks


http://www.lvfcs.org/lvfcs/Home.html