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Review: "The Holiday" is So Lovable (Happy B'day, Nancy Meyers)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Holiday (2006)
Running time: 138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content and some strong language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Nancy Meyers
PRODUCERS: Bruce A. Block and Nancy Meyers
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Cundey (director of photography)
EDITOR: Joe Hutshing
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer

ROMANCE/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Rufus Sewell, Edward Burns, and Shannyn Sossamon

The subject of this review is The Holiday, a 2006 romantic comedy film from writer-director, Nancy Meyers. This Christmas/Holiday-themed film focuses on two women who trade homes after each suffers some romantic heartbreak.

Two women who live 6000 miles apart and have never met find their lives in the same place. In Los Angeles, Amanda (Cameron Diaz), who directs movie trailers, realizes that her live-in lover, Ethan (Edward Burns), has been unfaithful. In London, newspaper writer Iris (Kate Winslet) has been in love with Jaspar (Rufus Sewell) for three years, and now he’s about to marry someone else. Amanda and Iris meet online at a home exchange website and impulsively switch homes for the (Christmas) holiday.

Iris moves into Amanda’s large house in sunny California. She befriends Amanda’s neighbor, Arthur Abbot (Eli Wallach), a legendary screenwriter, now retired, who peps up her spirit and encourages Iris to befriend Miles (Jack Black), a film composer and acquaintance of Amanda’s. Meanwhile, Amanda moves into Iris’ small cottage in the snow-covered English countryside where she finds herself charmed by Iris’ handsome brother, Graham (Jude Law). However, both women soon find old issues creeping into their holiday cheer.

Nancy Meyers, writer/director of the delightful chick flick Something’s Gotta Give, delivers The Holiday, another fluffy film confection best served on a holiday winter evening. After an awful start in which Kate Winslet babbles a dry opening narration, The Holiday rights itself with lovable characters. To that end, the four leads don’t so much deliver great performances as they deliver great big dollops of charm every time they appear on screen.

The Holiday plays to the female audience, but this is also the kind of pure gooey entertainment that, during the holidays, can ensnare the unsuspecting heart of any guy who is a romantic at heart.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

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"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" Best Civil War Vampire Movie Ever

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 95 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence throughout and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR: Timur Bekmambetov
WRITER: Seth Grahame-Smith (based upon his novel)
PRODUCERS: Timur Bekmambetov, Tim Burton, and Jim Lemley
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Caleb Deschanel
EDITOR: William Hoy
COMPOSER: Henry Jackman

FANTASY/ACTION/HISTORICAL/WAR

Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, Marton Csokas, Jimmi Simpson, Erin Wasson, Jaqueline Fleming, Lux Haney-Jardine, Frank Brennan, John McConnell, and Alan Tudyk

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a 2012 vampire movie and action fantasy from Russian film director, Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted). The film is based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Seth Grahame-Smith, who also wrote this film’s screenplay. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a fake historical that imagines real-life figure, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (1865), as secretly being a vampire hunter.

Young Abraham Lincoln (Lux Haney-Jardine) saw his mother killed by plantation owner, Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), who turned out to be a vampire. Adult Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker), obsessed with avenging his mother’s death, meets Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper), who is bursting with knowledge about vampires. Henry becomes Lincoln’s vampire hunting mentor and teaches him the fine art of slaying vampires. Law student by day and vampire slayer by night, Lincoln draws the attention of Adam (Rufus Sewell), a powerful vampire leader and owner of a plantation deep in Louisiana.

After meeting his wife, Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Lincoln moves on to a life in politics. He keeps a tiny inner circle around him: William “Will” Johnson (Anthony Mackie), a young black man Lincoln knew as a child, and Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson), Lincoln’s former employer. As the Civil War rages, however, Adam and his order play a large role in the bloodshed, forcing Lincoln to make it his mission to eliminate the vampires before they take over the nation.

When I first saw Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds back in 2009, I was put off by the wild liberties with real-world history that this alternative historical film took. But thanks to Tarantino’s film, I had fewer misgivings about the ersatz history in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I still cringed at some historical inaccuracies, but not nearly as much as I did with Inglorious Basterds.

With that out of the way, I can say that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is the best Civil War vampire movie that I’ve ever seen, and it is one of the best movies that is in whole or in part about the Civil War / War Between the States that I’ve seen. If anything, it certainly cements Timur Bekmambetov’s place as an imaginative and inventive architect of special-effects-wrought action sequences.

I do think that the cast gets much of the credit for keeping this historical epic-meets-monster movie from devolving into a joke. Benjamin Walker is surprisingly good as Lincoln, no mean feat in a year when Daniel Day-Lewis is also portraying Lincoln in a film. Rufus Sewell and Marton Csokas hit the right big-budget, B-movie monster notes as vampires. And I must give Mary Elizabeth Winstead extra credit for his portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln. She almost takes this thing entirely too seriously, but that still results in a heart-felt and spry performance.

I usually like it when a big studio, event movie takes the time to be a little subversive, and this movie is subversive and sly. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is not only anti-slavery, but it is also anti-Confederate States of America. It in no way treats the “Southern cause” as noble or sympathetic. Vampires are equated with slave owners, and the vampire lust for human blood is equated with slave owners’ brutal treatment and exploitation of slaves for profit and gain. Although it is entirely fictional, having the Confederacy unite with a league of vampires in a vain attempt to defeat the Union makes perfect sense. Evil game recognizes evil game.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is in many ways silly, but it is unique and just politically daring enough to be more than just another vampire movie.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

National Board of Review Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, which is made up of film enthusiasts, academics, students, and filmmakers, historically launches the movie awards season. The group named the winners for the year 2012, yesterday, Wednesday, December 5. The NBR’s awards gala will be held Tuesday, January 8, 2013 and will be hosted by Meredith Vieira.

Zero Dark Thirty, a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, was named the “2012 Best Film of the Year” by the National Board of Review. The film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, was named “Best Director.” Bigelow previously won the best director Oscar for The Hurt Locker.

Below is a full list of the awards given by the National Board of Review for 2012:

Best Film: ZERO DARK THIRTY

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, ZERO DARK THIRTY

Best Actor: Bradley Cooper, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, ZERO DARK THIRTY

Best Supporting Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, DJANGO UNCHAINED

Best Supporting Actress: Ann Dowd, COMPLIANCE

Best Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson, LOOPER

Best Adapted Screenplay: David O. Russell, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Best Animated Feature: WRECK-IT RALPH

Special Achievement in Filmmaking: Ben Affleck, ARGO

Breakthrough Actor: Tom Holland, THE IMPOSSIBLE

Breakthrough Actress: Quvenzhané Wallis BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

Best Directorial Debut: Benh Zeitlin, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

Best Foreign Language Film: AMOUR (Austria)

Best Documentary: SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN

William K. Everson Film History Award: 50 YEARS OF BOND FILMS

Best Ensemble: LES MISÉRABLES

Spotlight Award: John Goodman (ARGO, FLIGHT, PARANORMAN, TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE)

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: CENTRAL PARK FIVE

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: PROMISED LAND


Top Films (in alphabetical order):
ARGO

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

DJANGO UNCHAINED

LES MISÉRABLES

LINCOLN

LOOPER

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

PROMISED LAND

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (In Alphabetical Order):
BARBARA

THE INTOUCHABLES

THE KID WITH A BIKE

NO

WAR WITCH

Top 5 Documentaries (In Alphabetical Order):
AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY

DETROPIA

THE GATEKEEPERS

THE INVISIBLE WAR

ONLY THE YOUNG

Top 10 Independent Films (In Alphabetical Order):
ARBITRAGE

BERNIE

COMPLIANCE

END OF WATCH

HELLO I MUST BE GOING

LITTLE BIRDS

MOONRISE KINGDOM

ON THE ROAD

QUARTET

SLEEPWALK WITH ME

Review: "That Night in Rio" Offers Music and Gaiety" (Remembering Don Ameche)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 83 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

That Night in Rio (1941)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Irving Cummings
WRITERS: George Seaton & Bess Meredyth and Hal Long, with Samuel Hoffenstein (additional dialogue) and Jessie Ernst (adaptation of original play); (based upon the play The Red Cat by Rudolph Lothar and Hans Adler)
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Ray Rennahan and Leon Shamroy
EDITOR: Walter Thompson
COMPOSERS: Mack Gordon and Harry Warren

MUSICAL/COMEDY/ROMANCE

Starring: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, S.Z. Sakall, J. Carroll Naish, Curt Bois, Leonid Kinskey, Frank Puglia, Lillian Porter, and Bando da Lua

20th Century Fox opened up its film vaults back in early 2007 and released several of its musicals from the 1930’s and early 1940’s on DVD, including the 1940 musical/comedy/romance, That Night in Rio (released separately and as part of the four-film The Alice Faye Collection boxed set). The movie’s original tagline “Have a rendezvous with music and gaiety,” is truth in advertising.

Actor/club owner, Jimmy Martin (Don Ameche) and aristocratic airline businessman, Baron Manuel Duarte (Don Ameche), are practically identical twins. When the Baron leaves town to fix a risky business deal, his partners hire Martin to stand in for the Baron. Not knowing that Martin has replace her husband, the Baroness Cecilia Duarte (Alice Faye), finds her philandering husband suddenly more attentive to her. The Baroness later learns that an impersonator has playing her husband, so she decides to have a little fun of her own. When the Baron returns and Martin’s wife Carmen (Carmen Miranda) learns of the scheme, the fun gets a lot more complicated.

That Night in Rio is set in an idealized Rio, Brazil of lavish nightclubs and bouncy samba music. Like many musicals, That Night in Rio was filmed in Technicolor, the film color process known for its hyper-realistic saturated colors. In fact, it exemplifies why Hollywood was then called the “Dream Factory.” The sumptuous production values, gorgeous wardrobes, and opulent sets (all in vivid color) must have looked like heaven to early 1940’s America, which was still working its way out of the Great Depression and living with an increasingly ugly war in Europe that would soon engulf this nation.

This movie opens with a bang, as sparkling fireworks effects over a matte painting give way to Carmen Miranda belting out “Chicka Chicka Boom Chick,” which is but one of several fantastic musical numbers in this film. In fact, Miranda, who became an icon for some and a stereotype for others, enlivens this film, with the able assistance of her band, Bando da Lua. Ostensibly an Alice Faye vehicle, That Night in Rio belongs to the suave and very talented Don Ameche, playing the duel roles of Jimmy Martin and Baron Duarte. Although the film’s screenplay eventually becomes twisted in all this identity switching, Ameche (who would win a supporting actor Oscar for Cocoon 45 years later) makes it go down quite smoothly, and he makes what could have been a merely entertaining flick, a very good movie. People who love old time musical comedy may very well want That Night in Rio to never end.

7 of 10
A-

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Review: Ameche, Nicholas Brothers Dazzle "Down Argentine Way" (Remembering Don Ameche)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 92 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Down Argentine Way (1940)
Running time: 89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Irving Cummings
WRITERS: Karl Tunberg and Darrell Ware; from a story by Rian James and Ralph Spence
PRODUCER: Darryl F. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Ray Rennahan (D.o.P.) and Leon Shamroy (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Barbara McLean
COMPOSER: Cyril J. Mockridge
1941 Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/MUSICAL/ROMANCE

Starring: Betty Grable, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood, J. Carroll Naish, Henry Stephenson, Kay Aldridge, Leonid Kinskey, Chris-Pin Martin, Bobby Stone, Charles Judel, and the Nicholas Brothers

20th Century Fox opened its vault back in early 2007 and released several of its delightful Technicolor movie musicals on DVD, including the 1940 film, Down Argentine Way. In the film, American heiress Glenda Crawford (played by pin-up gal and girl-next-door Betty Grable) falls for Ricardo Quintana (Don Ameche), a dashing South American horse breeder.

Glenda is in Argentina to buy horses when she encounters Ricardo, the son of Don Diego Quintana (Henry Stephenson), a champion horse breeder. However, Don Diego won’t sell to Crawfords because of a long-standing feud he has with Glenda’s father. Ricardo follows Glenda back to New York to woo her with a deal for a champion jumping horse, but when that deal goes badly, Ricardo leaves.

Glenda and her aunt, Binnie Crawford (Charlotte Greenwood), follow him back to Argentina, where the new couple attempts to reconcile. The star-crossed lovers face tough odds to stay together. In between all the fussing and fighting, Carmen Miranda sings and the famous Nicholas Brothers (Fayard and Harold) perform a standout, show-stopping song and dance routine. An exciting day at the racetrack is the cherry on top.

One of the most enjoyable of 20th Century Fox’s early 40’s Technicolor musicals, Down Argentine Way is remembered for a few special reasons. It was Betty Grable’s breakthrough film, and it was also Carmen Miranda’s first film. Some will also remember Down Argentine Way for the spectacular dance sequence by the fabulous Nicholas Brothers, one of the few African-America film performers whose film appearances were not routinely edited out by theatres to satisfy racist audiences in some areas of the U.S.

After a slow first hour, Down Argentine Way comes to life after the Nicholas Brothers’ scene. Then, the wonderful comedy and thrilling dance numbers show through what is essentially a flimsy plot with stereotyped characters. Charlotte Greenwood’s Bennie Crawford, J. Carroll Naish’s Casiano, and Leonid Kinskey’s Tito Acuna add constant zany flourishes to this idealized Hollywood version of an exotic South American locale. The dazzling and colorful production values on display in this whimsical and gay musical fantasy are an example of why Hollywood became known as the “Dream Factory.”

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1941 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Art Direction, Color” (Richard Day and Joseph C. Wright) “Best Cinematography, Color” (Leon Shamroy and Ray Rennahan), and “Best Music, Original Song” (“Down Argentine Way” by Harry Warren-music and Mack Gordon-lyrics)

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Happy First Birthday, Ellie

Hope they make the first one good, but in the future, you'll know how to make them good.