"Be Cool" Never Heats Up

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 33 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Be Cool (2005)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, sensuality, and language including sexual references
DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray
WRITER: Peter Steinfeld (from the novel by Elmore Leonard)
PRODUCERS: Danny DeVito, David Nicksay, Michael Shamberg, and Stacey Sher
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeffrey L. Kimball
EDITOR: Sheldon Kahn

CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, André (3000) Benjamin, Steven Tyler, Christina Milian, Harvey Keitel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Paul Adelstein, Danny DeVito, Robert Pastorelli, James Woods, and Debi Mazar with Joe Perry and Aerosmith, The Black Eye Peas with Sergio Mendes, The RZA, Kobe Bryant, and Seth Green

Be Cool is a 2005 crime comedy and is also a sequel to the 1995 film, Get Shorty. It is adapted from the 1999 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard.

Ten years after Get Shorty, the sequel, Be Cool, shows up at theatres. Both films are based upon novels by Elmore Leonard, whose books have long been a source of film materials for Hollywood. Be Cool is not as witty and as sharp as Get Shorty, but it certainly tries to be the same blunt comic crime caper that the latter was. It has the characters, the cast, and some truly sidesplitting comedy, but ultimately, a faulty script and clunky directing mar a film that was so close to being a really fine crime comedy.

Chili Palmer (John Travolta), the Miami-based shylock who came to Hollywood and charmed and bullied his way into filmmaking, is now tired of the movie business. He’s interested in music, and when Tommy Athens (James Woods), a friend who owns a record label, is murdered by Russian mobsters before Chili’s eyes, that homicide opens the door for him. Chili meets Linda Moon (Christina Milian), a struggling singer stuck with a wannabe Negro named Raji (Vince Vaughn) for a manager. Chili, in his usual way, relieves Raji of Linda’s contract with him, and becomes her new manager.

Chili makes his next connection with Tommy’s widow, Edie Athens (Uma Thurman), who after some convincing is ready to take on Chili and Linda. However, there is the issue of Linda contract with Raji, and Raji’s partner, Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel) who isn’t crazy about letting go off a potential star. Edie also has another big problem: Tommy owed $300,000 to Sin LaSalle (Cedric Entertainer), a very successful, but violently inclined record producer. Raji, Nick, and Sin all see Chili as their problem; as they angle towards him, he’ll try to make Linda a star, woo Edie, and get his way, always dealing with violence and pressure by his motto, be cool.

There are probably a lot more belly laughs in Be Cool than Get Shorty, and that makes it worth seeing. The cast is littered with star turns and novel and hilarious supporting performances, especially Vaughn as Raji and The Rock as his gay, wannabe actor bodyguard, Elliot Wilhelm. Christina Milian holds her own; she works in this movie because her confidence makes her come across as a fine singer and actress, even if there might be stronger singing voices and better young actresses than her.

Travolta reportedly suggested Uma Thurman as his leading lady for Be Cool because they could recapture their screen chemistry from Pulp Fiction, which restarted Travolta’s career and boosted Ms. Thurman’s, but they don’t. Yes, a rapport and friendliness exist between them, but they are sluggish here. Travolta is Chili Palmer, but he’s on automatic here, older and heavier. Even Thurman looks strained, only managing about half the time to have the perkiness, determination, and raw magnetism that show themselves in her collaborations with Quentin Tarantino.

The lion’s share of the blame from this go to writer Paul Steinfeld and director F. Gary Gray. They never seem to be able to integrate the music business element into this plot (after all it’s about Chili getting in the music business), and the film’s musical numbers (except the Aerosmith/Christina Milian performance) and music videos ring hollow. This is a gangster film with laughs, lots of them, but these hilarious and likeable characters don’t seem to be in music because the music industry isn’t in this film the way the movie business was clearly and strongly a part of Get Shorty. Still, Travolta, Ms. Thurman, and a supporting cast of wacky players make this a crime comedy worth seeing, even if you can’t make it to the theatre.

5 of 10
B-

Review: "The Island" Floats on Ewan McGregor (Happy B'day, Michael Bay)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 120 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Island (2005)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexuality, and language
DIRECTOR: Michael Bay
WRITERS: Caspian Tredwell-Owen and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci; from a story by Caspian Tredwell-Owen
PRODUCERS: Walter F. Parkes, Ian Bryce, and Michael Bay
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mauro Fiore
EDITOR: Paul Rubell

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ethan Phillips, Brian Stepanek, Noa Tishby, and Mark Christopher Lawrence

The Island is a 2005 science fiction film and action movie from director Michael Bay. The movie follows the struggles of a young man to fit into the highly regimented world in which he lives. Then, he learns a shocking secret about that world and about himself that sends him on a race to freedom.

In the mid-21st century, Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson) are among the hundreds of residents living in a self-contained facility because, they are told, the world outside is contaminated due to an ecological disaster that took the lives of everyone on the planet, leaving the residents (for the most part) the only remaining humans. The facility’s environment is carefully controlled, and everything about Lincoln and Jordan’s day-to-day lives, like that of all the facilities residents, is monitored, seemingly for their own good, by a security staff and a team of doctors and scientists. The only way out for the residents—and the hope they all share—is to be chosen to go to The Island, reportedly the last uncontaminated spot in the world.

Lincoln is restless because of the unexplained nightmares that have recently plagued him, and he increasingly questions the restrictions placed on his life, even sharing his concerns with the head of the facility, Merrick (Sean Bean). For instance, Lincoln wonders why can the residents go to the Island, and the facility’s security and administration can’t. He is, however, unprepared for the truth when his growing curiosity leads to the terrible discovery that everything about his existence is a lie, that The Island is a cruel hoax…and that he, Jordan and everyone they know are actually more valuable dead than alive. With time running out, Lincoln and Jordan make a daring escape to the outside world they’ve never known. However, Merrick cannot afford the truth of his activities to get out. He hires a team of mercenaries, led by Albert Laurent (Djimon Hounsou), to hunt down Lincoln and Jordan – return them or kill them. With the forces of the institute relentlessly pursuing them, Lincoln and Jordan have one overriding concern, to live.

The Island is the latest film from director Michael Bay, who gave us Bad Boys II in 2003, but is best known for such films as The Rock and Armageddon. The Island is divided into two halves making it almost like two films. The first is a futuristic, dystopian tale set in a complex that protects people from the allegedly dead world outside, which is poisonous to humans. The second film (or half) is an action movie, with the usual Bay histrionics; imagine the car and helicopter chases in the Bad Boys franchise, in particular the over-the-top freeway car chase in Bad Boys II. Better yet: if you remember the film, Logan’s Run, or the novel upon which it’s based; then, you may recognize The Island as a kind of action movie/video game remake or re-imagining of Logan’s Run.

The film hardly touches the scientific and philosophical issues it raises (cloning; what does it mean to be human; and freedom) merely as window dressing for a big-budget Hollywood shoot out with the requisite hysterical car chase/car wrecks/automobile destruction scenes. Perhaps, the writers and director don’t have to really dig too deeply; just the idea of cloning and using clones as spare body parts for “regular” humans is creepy and nausea inducing as it is. But wouldn’t it have been nice for the film to make an effort to emphasize ideas over cinema of sensations and thrills? The design of the futuristic Los Angeles cityscape looks as if no one really bothered to put much thought into how L.A. will look in 50 years. Steven Spielberg put way much more effort in imagining the future for Minority Report, and that movie is set in a time much closer to our own than the one in The Island.

Scarlett Johansson is almost dead on arrival – too much like a machine, cold and aloof as if she mistakenly believes that she’s playing a cyborg killer in one of The Terminator movies. Ewan McGregor, on the other hand, is a movie star; he is a good actor, but he’s a great movie actor. The screen loves him, and he always seems to create the perfect film character – except in the Star Wars prequel, where he was just another film element for George Lucas to manipulate; he wasn’t allowed the freedom to build a movie character. Here, he does have the freedom to gradually build Lincoln into the kind of rebellious hero who questions the status quo of the world around him, the kind of hero through which we vicariously live as he fights his way to a satisfactory resolution. Hooray for Ewan; he makes this film. He saves it from Michael Bay’s intentions gone wrong.

6 of 10
B

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"Crank" Don't Stank

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 60 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


Crank (2006)
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality, nudity, and drug use
WRITERS/DIRECTORS: Neveldine/Taylor
PRODUCERS: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Richard Wright, and Skip Williamson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adam Biddle (director of photography)
EDITOR: Brian Berdan

ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam, Carlos Sanz, Reno Wilson, Jay Xcala, Edi Gathegi, and Keone Young

In Crank, an action movie from the team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, a hit man tears through the streets of Los Angeles to get revenge on the man who fatally poisoned him, and he has to do it before the poison kills him. It’s like Speed, except instead riding a bus, we’re following a man on a mission.

Freelance killer Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) wakes up one morning to find that Ricky Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo), a petty mob boss wannabe, has fatally poisoned him with something called the “Chinese cocktail,” which is designed to make his heart stop. The poisoning is supposed to be some kind of payback for Chelios’ hit on Chinese crime lord, Don Kim (Keone Young).

The clocks starts ticking when Chelios realizes that to stave off death, he must keep his adrenaline pumping. With no time to waste, Chelios cuts a swatch through Los Angeles, on a rampage for Verona with the hope of getting his revenge before he dies, and he has to tie up his loose ends soon. Verona made it clear to Chelios that he plans of savaging Chev’s girlfriend, Eve (Amy Smart), so Chelios races to save Eve, wreaking havoc on anyone who gets in his way – bystanders, cops, emergency workers, store clerks, etc. His hopes of finding an antidote, if it one really exists, may rest in the hands of a debauched and loony underworld physician named Doc Miles (played with creepy mellowness by Dwight Yoakum).

I don’t know if the writing and directing team of Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor are great filmmakers, but they’re highly skilled and bursting with enough visual tricks and shorthand that they can certainly make engaging movies. If talent borrows and genius steals, they’re somewhere in the middle. Watching Crank, I recognize the gigantic buffet of camera effects and editing techniques from other movies that the duo used, and I’m overjoyed that Neveldine/Taylor use them well. Crank is at heart like other American action films with their breakneck pace and testosterone, but look carefully a you’ll find a Whitman sampler of exploitation movies, Pacific Rim action films, and stylish British gangster flicks. Neveldine/Taylor cram it all into something that’s like a video game.

For all their visual cleverness and editing dexterity, Neveldine/Taylor benefit from having a truly great action movie star in Jason Statham. His moderate box office success as a leading man in action movies might be reminiscent of the late 80’s to early 90’s career of Steven Segal (or even Jean-Claude Van Damme), but Statham’s badass aura seems genuine. A tough guy with a balding buzz cut, he literally leaks testosterone, and the cameras that film the roughneck B-movie action flicks in which he stars lap it up.

Crank may seem like a completely disposable thriller for those in need of an adrenaline rush, but that’s not exactly entirely the case. Occasionally clumsy, Crank is well staged when it comes to getting the kicks out. What Neveldine/Taylor and Statham (their skills and style; his tough guy-ness) bring to this misbegotten movie-as-videogame is enough to make Crank stand out. You won’t forget this little movie because it’s the asshole that gave you a kick in the teeth when you thought all it was going to be was just another action movie.

6 of 10
B

Monday, April 02, 2007

Review: "Tales from Earthsea" is Pretty

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Gedo senki – Original Japanese title
(U.S. theatrical release: August 2010)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some violent images
DIRECTOR: Goro Miyazaki
WRITERS: Goro Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa; from a concept by Hayao Miyazaki (based upon the Earthsea novels by Ursula K. Le Guin)
PRODUCERS: Toshio Suzuki and Steve Alpert and Javier Ponton
COMPOSER: Tamiya Terashima
ANIMATION STUDIO: Studio Ghibli

ANIMATION/FANTASY

Starring: (English dub voices) Timothy Dalton, Matt Levin, Blaire Restaneo, Mariska Hargitay, Willem Dafoe, Cheech Marin, Susanne Blakeslee, Terrence Stone, Liam O’Brien, and Kevin Michael Richardson

Tales from Earthsea is a 2006 Japanese animated fantasy film produced by the Studio Ghibli, best known for the animated films of director Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo). Tales from Earthsea is directed by Miyazaki’s son, Goro Miyazaki and is based upon the first four books in the Earthsea series by author, Ursula K. Le Guin. This movie is also inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s manga/illustrated story, The Journey of Shuna (1983).

The film is set in the world of Earthsea and focuses on Prince Arren of Enlad (Matt Levin). Enlad, like the rest of Earthsea, is troubled by drought and pestilence. After killing his father, Arren takes his father’s sword and goes on the run. He is later rescued by Sparrowhawk the Archmage (Timothy Dalton). Sparrowhawk and Arren travel to the farm of an old friend of Sparrowhawks’s, a woman named Tenar (Mariska Hargitay). There, Arren is also reunited with Therru (Blaire Restaneo), a young woman he’d recently protected from slave traders.

Therru is hostile to Arren, but he and Sparrowhawk remain on the farm, plowing and planting the fields for Tenar. However, the quartet’s agrarian lifestyle is interrupted by Lord Cob (Willem Dafoe), a sinister wizard who plans to shatter the barrier between life and death so that he can live forever. Cob needs Arren for his plans and wants revenge against Sparrowhawk.

Apparently, there was some hullabaloo and controversy around the production of Tales from Earthsea, including author Ursula K. Le Guin’s mixed feelings about how the film adapted the source material of her original novels. I like this movie, but I can understand how some would be put off by the film’s staid manner. The characters are way too laid back, and the dialogue is delivered at such an easy pace as to suggest that this film lacks conflict. In fact, Goro Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa (co-writer) have put together something that lacks dramatic punch. Tales from Earthsea is the most easy-going battle between good and evil on film that I can remember experiencing. The film’s most energetic element is Cheech Marin’s voice performance as the lackey, Hare, which is not only funny, but also scene-stealing when this movie really needs someone to steal a scene in order to save a scene.

Still, Tales from Earthsea sure is pretty. The film’s color is a symphony of shimmering reds and glowing pinks, and green is used almost entirely to suggest pastoral, verdant splendor. The film’s central theme is the need for balance, especially the balance of life and death. I think that in Tales from Earthsea, color is meant to celebrate not just life, but also living. This is unusual thematic material for an animated feature film, but Tales from Earthsea is characteristic of Studio Ghibli’s manner of doing things in animated films that are different and unique.

7 of 10
B+

Thursday, February 16, 2012

"Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" Now an International Box Office Success

Moviegoers Worldwide Take New Line Cinema’s “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” beyond the $100 Million Mark

Fans Also Turn Out in Force for its Concurrent IMAX® Release

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Audiences around the globe have enthusiastically embarked on the new 3D family adventure “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” delivering more than $112 million in combined domestic and overseas box office. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” opened in North America on Friday, February 10, going on to earn a weekend box office total of $27.3 million. That followed an international release, launched on January 19, which has taken in $85 million to date, exceeding by 85% the success achieved in the same markets by its popular predecessor, the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” is also a major hit on IMAX® screens in more than 410 locations around the world, with a strong box office performance of $8.9 million, and counting.

Fellman stated, “We are immensely happy to see this fun family film become the crowd pleaser we believed it would be and we anticipate continued success as more moviegoers join in the adventure in the weeks to come. Congratulations are in order for the talented filmmakers and cast, as well as our colleagues at New Line Cinema.”

“The strength of the film in international markets, releasing as early as three weeks prior to its successful domestic opening, shows that this is truly global entertainment,” Kwan-Rubinek said. “We’re thrilled that audiences everywhere have responded so strongly to the fantastic world brought to life by director Brad Peyton and his wonderful cast and crew.”

In this follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the new adventure begins when young Sean Anderson receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. It’s a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter, they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” stars Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzmán and Kristin Davis. It is directed by Brad Peyton and produced by Beau Flynn & Tripp Vinson and Charlotte Huggins, from a screenplay by Brian Gunn & Mark Gunn, screen story by Richard Outten. Serving as executive producers are Michael Bostick, Evan Turner, Marcus Viscidi, Richard Brener, Samuel J. Brown and Michael Disco. The creative filmmaking team includes director of photography David Tattersall; production designer Bill Boes; costume designer Denise Wingate; and Academy Award® nominee Boyd Shermis ("Poseidon") as visual effects supervisor. The music is composed by Andrew Lockington.

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” is a New Line Cinema presentation of a Contrafilm Production and is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. Concurrently, the film is being released in IMAX® theatres worldwide.

It is rated PG for some adventure action and brief, mild language.

http://www.themysteriousisland.com/

"Daffy's Rhapsody" Cartoon Showing with "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island"

New Looney Tunes Cartoon “Daffy’s Rhapsody” Debuts in Theaters February 10 with “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Moviegoers seeing the 3D family adventure “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” are in for a bonus reel of laughs and action with “Daffy’s Rhapsody.” The original Looney Tunes cartoon short makes its theatrical debut in tandem with the feature film release from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, opening nationwide Friday, February 10th.

In “Daffy’s Rhapsody,” a brand new escapade starring Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck, a relaxing evening at the theater turns into hunting season when Fudd is surprised by the unexpected appearance of his perpetual and ever-elusive target, Daffy. As Elmer gives chase, Daffy cleverly evades him while regaling the audience with a song that illustrates his plight—how hunters never leave him alone.

Featuring an original story and all-new animation, the short stars the voice of the late, legendary Mel Blanc in Daffy’s song, recorded in the 1950s, alongside acclaimed voice actor Billy West’s current characterization of Elmer Fudd.

Directed by Matthew O’Callaghan, it is the second in a new series of three original 3D cartoon shorts created for theatrical release, in keeping with Warner Bros. Animation’s commitment to present the Looney Tunes on the big screen as they were first enjoyed and embraced by audiences around the world.

Sam Register, Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs, Warner Bros. Animation, served as executive producer on “Daffy’s Rhapsody,” as well as the first short of the series, last year’s “I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat.” He says, “Everyone grew up loving the Looney Tunes characters, and it has been both a great honor and an enormous challenge to continue the legacy of these animation icons and introduce them to a new generation of fans. To hear the incomparable Mel Blanc voicing these characters once more is nothing short of a dream come true.”

As with “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” “Daffy’s Rhapsody” will screen in both 2D and 3D, and in IMAX where available, in theaters across the country.

"The Help" Sweeps Up at the 2012 Black Reel Awards

My favorite Negro-American film awards organization (and my favorite film critics awards, for that matter) is The Black Reel Awards.  The Black Reel Awards annually honors African-Americans in feature, independent and television film. The awards were launched in 2000, and this is the 12th year the awards will be handed out. The Black Reel Awards are now given out by the Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF).

More 50 film critics from television, radio, print and the Internet comprise the voting members of the Black Reel Awards. Winners were announced on Friday, February 10, 2012 in ceremony held in Washington D.C.  The Help dominated this year's awards winning six, including "Best Film."

2012 Black Reel Award Winners:

Theatrical
Outstanding Film – The Help

Outstanding Director – Steve McQueen / Shame

Outstanding Actor – John Boyega / Attack the Block

Outstanding Actress – Viola Davis / The Help

Outstanding Supporting Actor - Don Cheadle / The Guard

Outstanding Supporting Actress – Octavia Spencer / The Help

Outstanding Screenplay, Original or Adapted – Steve McQueen / Shame

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance – Adepero Oduye / Pariah

Outstanding Ensemble – The Help

Outstanding Original Song – “The Living Proof” / Mary J. Blige (The Help)

Outstanding Score – Thomas Newman / The Help

Outstanding Foreign Film – Attack the Block

Outstanding Feature Documentary – Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest / Michael Rapaport

Independent
Outstanding Independent Feature Film – My Last Day Without You / Stefan C. Schaefer

Outstanding Independent Short Film – Wake / Bree Newsome

Outstanding Independent Documentary – Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat By the Door / Christine Acham and Clifford Ward

Television
Outstanding Television or Mini-Series Performance, Male – Idris Elba / Luther

Outstanding Television or Mini-Series Performance, Female – Taraji P. Henson / Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story

Outstanding Television Documentary – Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation / VH1 (Richard Low and Martin Torgoff)

Outstanding Television or Mini-Series Film – Thurgood / HBO (Michael Stevens)

http://blackreelawards.wordpress.com/