Joe Carnahan's "Narc" is a Fiery Cop Thriller

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 129 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Narc (2002)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong brutal violence, drug content and pervasive language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Joe Carnahan
PRODUCERS: Michelle Grace, Ray Liotta, Diane Nabatoff, and Julius R. Nasso
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alex Nepomniaschy (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: John Gilroy
COMPOSER: Cliff Martinez

CRIME/DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring: Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, Chi McBride, Busta Rhymes, Alan Van Sprang, Krista Bridges, and Gavyn and Myles Donaldson

The subject of this movie review is Narc, a 2002 crime film from Joe Carnahan and starring Ray Liotta and Jason Patric. The film is about corrupt police involved in the drug trade in Detroit, Michigan.

Writer/director Joe Carnahan’s Narc is the kind of gritty cop film, that if done right, will make select audiences and critics sit up and take notice. Add a punch in the face and to the stomach ending and we have a film that actually gets better as it goes along, racing to a blistering climax. This is both a writer’s and an actors’ film, although the directing, photography, and editing are all quite good – lots of clever and quick cuts, extreme close-ups, and a sense of claustrophobia to go with all that washed out, bluish lighting that pervades the film.

In the film, Nick Tellis (Jason Patric), an undercover narcotics officer banished indiscriminately shooting at a suspect, returns to the Job to investigate the unsolved murder of a fellow narc, Michael Calvess (Alan Van Sprang). Tellis requests that Calvess’ partner Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) assist him in the investigation, but Detective Oak is one of those violent hot-tempered cops who need to be leashed. He has a record of battering suspects and wants nothing more than to do worse to Calvess’ murderers.

Both Liotta and Patric are way underrated actors in that neither one will ever be a big time matinee idol, but both are very good actors. Each has a knack for playing hard-nosed, but neither is a pretty boy. If a character needs to be “searing,” especially in a dark drama, either one is the man for the part. Liotta even has a stunning Oscar-worthy moment in Narc that, in the end, failed to earn him an Academy Award nomination.

Carnahan’s script for Narc is densely plotted, as the Calvess’ murder investigation is actually more than just an attempt to find the cop killers. It involves politics, convoluted and complex personal relationships, police procedure, hypocrisy, and redemption. Carnahan only hints at the larger personalities of Tellis and Oak, choosing to focus on their characteristics and personalities as they relate to being cops. In that vein, Narc is a complex, searing, and ultimately disheartening and frustrating look at the cop culture. Thrilling, riveting, and mesmerizing are just a few of the words that I could use to describe just how strongly this film holds the viewer in its sway. It is suffice to say that Carnahan (who is scheduled to direct Mission: Impossible 3) explodes our preconceptions much in the way his characters find out that little is what it seems. By the end of this movie, Carnahan leaves you crying for an encore.

8 of 10
A

New Release Date for Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby"

“The Great Gatsby” Moving to Summer 2013

Baz Luhrmann’s 3D Adaptation to Get New Play Date in Sought-After Summer Frame

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures have moved the release date of “The Great Gatsby” to Summer 2013. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

In making the announcement, Fellman stated, “Based on what we’ve seen, Baz Luhrmann’s incredible work is all we anticipated and so much more. It truly brings Fitzgerald’s American classic to life in a completely immersive, visually stunning and exciting way. We think moviegoers of all ages are going to embrace it, and it makes sense to ensure this unique film reaches the largest audience possible.”

Kwan Vandenberg confirmed, “Baz is known for being innovative, but with this film he has done something completely unexpected—making it in 3D—while capturing the emotion, the intimacy, the power and the spectacle of the time. The responses we’ve had to some of the early sneak peeks have been phenomenal, and we think ‘The Great Gatsby’ will be the perfect summer movie around the world.”

From the uniquely imaginative mind of writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann comes the new big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. The filmmaker has created his own distinctive visual interpretation of the classic story, bringing the period to life in a way that has never been seen before, in a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.

“The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without of the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

Academy Award® nominee DiCaprio (“J. Edgar,” “Aviator”) plays Jay Gatsby, with Tobey Maguire starring as Nick Carraway; Oscar® nominee Carey Mulligan (“An Education”) and Joel Edgerton as Daisy and Tom Buchanan; Isla Fisher and Jason Clarke as Myrtle and George Wilson; and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker. Indian film legend Amitabh Bachchan will play the role of Meyer Wolfsheim.

Oscar® nominee Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge!”) directs the film in 3D from a screenplay co-written with frequent collaborator Craig Pearce, based on Fitzgerald’s book. Luhrmann produces, along with Catherine Martin, Academy Award® winner Douglas Wick (“Gladiator”), Lucy Fisher and Catherine Knapman. The executive producers are Academy Award® winner Barrie M. Osborne (“Lord of the Rings – Return of the King”) and Bruce Berman.

Two-time Academy Award®-winning production and costume designer Catherine Martin (“Moulin Rouge!”) designs as well as produces. The editors are Matt Villa, Jason Ballantine and Jonathan Redmond, and the director of photography is Simon Duggan. The music is by Craig Armstrong.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, in association with A&E Television, a Bazmark/Red Wagon Entertainment Production, a Film by Baz Luhrmann, “The Great Gatsby.” Opening Summer 2013, the film will be distributed in IMAX® 3D, 3D and 2D by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

Review: "The Village" is Great ... Until it Isn't (Happy B'day, M. Night Shyamalan)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 135 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Village (2004)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for scene of violence and frightening situations
WRITER/DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan
PRODUCERS: Sam Mercer, Scott Rudin, and M. Night Shyamalan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Deakins (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Christopher Tellefsen
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/FANTASY/THRILLER with elements of horror

Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Brendan Gleeson, Cherry Jones, Celia Weston, John Christopher Jones, Frank Collison, Jayne Atkinson, Judy Greer, Michael Pitt, and Jesse Eisenberg

The subject of this movie review is The Village, a 2004 fantasy thriller and mystery film from writer-director, M. Night Shyamalan. The film is set in a late 19th century village built in a forest supposedly filled with dangerous creatures.

Circa 1897, Covington, Pennsylvania is a nice, quiet town surrounded by a beautiful, but haunting forest where strange, apparently dangerous, and unseen creatures live. For ages, there has been a truce between the citizens of Covington and the mysterious denizens of the woods. The people of Covington do not go into the woods, and the creatures (or monsters) do not come into the village.

But when quiet, almost sullen, young townsmen Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) crosses the border from the town into the woods, the truce is broken, and the monsters start visiting the town. Soon, the villagers find an increasing number of their livestock slaughtered and skinned. In the midst of the fear, happiness blooms, but before long the scourge of the faraway towns comes to the village. Village elder Edward Walker’s (William Hurt) blind daughter, Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) must pass through the woods to find aid. But will the monsters dine on her beautiful flesh?

M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village is probably the least accomplished of his films since his worldwide blockbuster, The Sixth Sense. However, like his best-known films, the journey of watching the film is usually more important than the destination, which is the flick’s finale. Like Signs, the supernatural element is a red herring, and the most important element of The Village is its theme of dealing with heart-rending loss. The film also tackles the ideas of locking oneself off from the world to avoid devastating pain and of living in paranoid fear of the other, which is quite relevant in an America where “gated communities” seem to spring up everywhere on a daily basis.

As a work of movie art, The Village is an ambitious stumble. The ideas are good, but muddled, lost, and poorly considered, or at least poorly presented in the structure of this story. As big studio entertainment, The Village has a small numbers of genuinely frightening bumps in the dark, but the suspense is tepid and the thrills are exhausted half way through the film. The movie also takes such an idealized view of utopias, that it sometimes seems to take wild flights of fancy. However, Shyamalan just might be making a sly comment about the upper middle class and upper class’ fear of violence at the hand of the lower classes.

The delight in this film is the debut of Academy Award winning director Ron Howard’s daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard. Her performance is luminous, so much so that it lights the way for this occasionally befuddled mess. Ms. Howard is spunky and rebellious when she needs to be, and the sheer terror she displays is practically the only thing that sells this film’s horror thriller aspects. She also portrays moments of bravery with openness in her performance that invites us into her life; she is the one through whom we live vicariously. She is The Village’s champion.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (James Newton Howard)

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Review: Charming Characters and Clever Writing Lead "The Lavender Hill Mob" (Remembering Sir Alec Guinness)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 46 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.K.
Running time: 81 minutes (1 hour, 21 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Charles Crichton
WRITER: T.E.B. Clarke
PRODUCER: Michael Balcon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Douglas Slocombe (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Seth Holt
COMPOSER: Georges Auric
Academy Award winner

CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Fielding, Edie Martin, John Salew, Ronald Adam, Arthur Hambling, Gibb McLaughlin, John Gregson, and Audrey Hepburn

The subject of this movie review is The Lavender Hill Mob, a 1951 British crime comedy. Directed by Charles Crichton, the film stars Sir Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway in a story about a plot to steal gold bullion.

Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) is a dedicated bank clerk, and he regularly sees to the delivery of gold bullion to the bank where he works. But he wants more out of life. One day he happens upon an idea to get the gold for himself and brings in a small group of accomplices with him to pull off a robbery. Henry plots the theft of one million pounds of gold, and suddenly the meek Henry becomes “Dutch,” the leader of The Lavender Hill Mob. The heist is successful, but the best laid plans of mice and men. Slowly, the intricate plan begins to fall away by pieces, and just maybe the law is on to Dutch and the Lavender Hill Mob.

Many film fans consider The Lavender Hill Mob to be one of the three great Ealing Studios comedies. Studio writer T.E.B. Clarke won an Oscar® for this film’s screenplay, which it is clever and occasionally witty, but mostly dry. Director Charles Crichton has his moments – most of them in the last second half of the film: the Eiffel Tower descent, Henry and Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) attempting to buy a cruise ship ticket, and the police car chase are among some of the best moments.

But the true star is Alec Guinness. By turns clever and subtle and droll and menacing, the film revolves around him, and he sells the entire thing. The film is not a great feat in directing or writing, but it is about a great actor who can so become a character that the audience buys into the character. Henry Holland is an interesting and intriguing fellow, and you may want to watch his every move. Sir Alec seems totally confident in what he’s doing before the camera. He’s the focal point, and the audience lives and dies with him, viewing the story entirely from Henry’s point of view. Many actors get us to buy into their characters because of the actors’ star power. Sir Alec did it by creating a character we want to know and through whom we want to live vicariously – a great performance that makes The Lavender Hill Mob memorable.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1953 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Writing, Story and Screenplay” (T.E.B. Clarke) and l nomination: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Alec Guinness)

1952 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best British Film” and 1 nomination: “Best Film from any Source”

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Olympian Khatuna Lorig as "Katniss Everdeen" from "The Hunger Games"

In anticipation of the release of The Hunger Games on Blu-ray, DVD, On Demand, and Digital Download on August 18, 2012 at 12:01 A.M. Lionsgate has released this image of Olympic Archer Khatuna Lorig posing as "Katniss Everdeen," the young heroine of The Hunger Games series.

Team USA member Khatuna Lorig was there at the beginning to teach actress Jennifer Lawrence how to shoot a bow and arrow in preparation for her iconic starring role. In this image, Olympian Khatuna Lorig poses as “Katniss Everdeen” in a replica jacket from the film, with a symbolic mockingjay pin, in celebration of The Hunger Games’ huge and lasting impact on the sport.

According to Lionsgate, The Hunger Games global phenomenon has inspired a surging popularity in the sport of archery demonstrated even further by the success of the United States Archery Team at the Olympics.  As of this writing, the U.S. trio of Brady Ellison, Jacob Wukie and Jake Kaminski has won the U.S.'s only archery medal in the London Games; that is the silver medal in the men's team event. It is USA Archery's first Olympic medal since 2000, and was the first medal won by the U.S. Olympic team at the London Games.

The Associated Press (via Yahoo) offers this article, "5 things to know about archery:"

Review: Naughty "Bad Santa" is Quite Nice (Happy B'day, Billy Bob Thornton)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 170 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Bad Santa (2003)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language, strong sexual content and some violence
DIRECTOR: Terry Zwigoff
WRITERS: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, with contributions from Joel Coen, Ethan Cohen, Arnie Marx, and Terry Zwigoff
PRODUCERS: Sarah Aubrey, John Cameron, and Bob Weinstein
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jamie Anderson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Robert Hoffman
COMPOSER: David Kitay

COMEDY/CRIME with elements of drama

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, Lauren Tom, Bernie Mac, John Ritter, Ajay Naidu, Octavia Spencer, and Ethan Phillips

The subject of this movie review is Bad Santa, a 2003 crime comedy and Christmas movie from director Terry Zwigoff. Although Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are credited as the film’s only writers, Joel Coen, Ethan Cohen, Arnie Marx, and Terry Zwigoff performed various rewrites of the script, with the Coen Bros. also credited as executive producers on the film. Bad Santa was the late actor John Ritter’s last film appearance.

Some bovine in the media have already asked, “Is nothing sacred?” in response to director Terry Zwigoff’s (Ghost World) new Christmas movie, Bad Santa. They can get over it. Bad Santa is the Christmas movie for the rest of us – those who don’t buy all the must-be-happy hype, over consumption, and phony religious tradition. Besides, it’s so damn funny.

Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is a department store Santa. He’s also a lecherous, nympho-manical alcoholic. For the past several holiday seasons, Willie and his dwarf partner, Marcus (Tony Cox), play Santa and elf in department stores. They case the businesses and eventually rob the store safes of tens of thousands of dollars. They move to Arizona for their next big heist, but they run into a few problems. One is fastidious store manager (John Ritter in his final film role). Another is a sly store dick (Bernie Mac) who discovers their scam and wants in on the action. The biggest stumbling block is when a lonely, strange boy (Brett Kelly) whom Willie calls The Kid, latches onto Willie for friendship.

The movie has a few rough and dry spots, but otherwise it’s hilarious. Bad Santa is dark, foul, and vulgar, but it’s not cynical. Many of the characters are just not the kind usually found in holiday fare. These are people who live on the periphery of society, lonely people, and criminals. Willie is depressed and suicidal. The Kid may not be mentally handicapped, but he’s a bit of a retard – euphemistically speaking. As dark as it is, however, Bad Santa is quite hilarious in the way it deals with frank sexual matter, people who are frankly sexual, and conniving criminals who’ll do whatever it takes to get what they want. Maybe the most frightening thing for many people is how much profane language is directed at children in the film. Willie consistently curses at The Kid, and as Santa, at children who come to the store to sit on his foul lap.

But Thornton is a fine actor with grand talent. His Willie is a living, breathing, and believable person whose life is falling apart. He and Zwigoff handle Willie’s transformation with subtleness and a kind of brazenness that surprises the viewer at each turn. In fact, Zwigoff masterfully directs the film, knowing, except for some poor moments, just when to hit the viewer on the head with blunt coarseness and when to gently splash the mire in our faces. Zwigoff pulls off the trick of making this film roughly anti-sentimental and sentimentally rough. In a way, Zwigoff does manage to make the typical Christmas movie, and it’s good that he does it the way he does.

I heartily recommend Bad Santa to anyone who can take it. This film also has one of the better Bernie Mac performances. This is the moment he proves that he is a comedian and an actor, and it’s in performances like this that he can find the road to being both a good comic and dramatic actor. Good Bernie Mac is always reason to see something.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2004 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Billy Bob Thornton)

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Original "Total Recall" Still a Total Beast

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 64 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Total Recall (1990)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Paul Verhoeven
WRITERS: Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, and Gary Goldman; from a screen story by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon and Jon Povill (inspired by the short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick)
PRODUCERS: Buzz Feitshans and Ronald Shusett
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jost Vacano
EDITORS: Carlos Puente and Frank J. Urioste
COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, Michael Ironside, Marshall Bell, Mel Johnson, Jr., and Michael Champion

The subject of this movie review is Total Recall, a 1990 science fiction action film from director Paul Verhoeven and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film is loosely based upon Philip K. Dick’s “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” which was first published in 1966. The film follows a man who accidentally has memories dredged up of a life he apparently had on Mars, which only gets him marked for death.

Total Recall opens on Earth in the year 2084. Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a construction worker who yearns for more in his life. He is also troubled by dreams of Mars; in fact, he is obsessed with going to Mars. His wife, Lori (Sharon Stone), wants a different vacation, so Quaid decides to get a vacation to Mars in a unique way. He goes to a company called “Rekall,” which promises to implant memories of a virtual vacation. These false memories will seem just like real memories to Quaid.

However, something goes terribly wrong during the procedure to implant the memories in Quaid’s brain. Suddenly, his visit to Rekall is apparently the reason gun-toting men, led by the ruthless Richter (Michael Ironside), want to kill him. Quaid discovers that he has to get to Mars – for real this time – as soon as he can, because all the answers to his shattered memories are there… he hopes.

I believe that the Dutch-born filmmaker, Paul Verhoeven, does not get enough credit as a terrific director. This is because the amount of violence in his film is seen as excessive by some critics. Indeed, Verhoeven’s science fiction films, Robocop (1987) and Starship Troopers (1997), both contain copious amounts of violence, some of it so intense and gory that it made me cringe when I first watched these films.

However, there is also a strong undercurrent of humor in Verhoeven’s science fiction films. Some of it is black humor, but some of it mocks militarized institutions, such as corporations (Robocop), governments (Starship Troopers), and governments that are really corporations, as in Total Recall. Verhoeven and his screenwriters find absurdity in how such institutions are singularly focused on their goals and treat their employees, as well as others who get in their way, as expendable. This film is practically a metaphor for our modern resource wars and for people like the Neocons (best exemplified by former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney and mustachioed toad-humper, John Bolton).

Total Recall also received a Special Achievement Academy Award for its visual effects, which is usually a competitive award, but not in 1991. The special effects for the other films in the visual effects category simply did not match up to the effects in Total Recall. Thus, the committee that oversees this award for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) simply gave the award to Total Recall and named the other films as runners-up rather than as nominees. Honestly, Total Recall’s effects still look very good, and even the dated elements, such as the animatronics that are supposed to replicate heads and bodies of many of the characters, look good.

People probably remember Total Recall as an “Arnold Schwarzenegger movie,” and, in a way, it is. His film persona dominates the narrative and the action, and even 22 years later, his performance here reveals why, for a period, he was the biggest action movie star in the world and probably the world’s biggest movie star for most of that time.

Total Recall, however, is more than just Schwarzenegger. There are a number of good supporting performances, especially Michael Champion as Richter’s acerbic right-hand man, Helm. Also, Rachel Ticotin as Melina is one of the few actresses to play a partner to one of Schwarzenegger’s characters and not disappear in the shadow that Arnold’s personality and presence cast.

When I first saw Total Recall 22 years ago, I was lukewarm about it. I seem to remember that Meryl Streep was publicly critical of it. I think that I am more open-minded about movies now, and I have also learned not to view every film in a strictly literal manner. Perhaps, that is why I now think Total Recall is a science fiction movie classic, even if I didn’t think that two decades ago.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1991 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Special Achievement Award: (Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin Tim McGovern, Alex Funke for visual effects) [The other films in this category were listed as runners-up instead of as nominees: Back to the Future Part III, Dick Tracy, and Ghost.]; 2 nominations: Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Stephen Hunter Flick) and “Best Sound” (Nelson Stoll, Michael J. Kohut, Carlos Delarios, and Aaron Rochin)

1991 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Special Visual Effects” (To the whole special visual effects production team)

Thursday, August 02, 2012