Review: "Olympus Has Fallen" is an Entertaining, Cheesy Action Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
Running time:  120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – R for strong violence and language throughout
DIRECTOR:  Antoine Fuqua
WRITERS:  Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt
PRODUCERS:  Gerard Butler, Ed Cathell III, Antoine Fuqua, Mark Gill, Danny Lerner, and Alan Siegel
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Conrad W. Hall
EDITOR:  John Refoua
COMPOSER:  Trevor Morris

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Finley Jacobsen, Dylan McDermott, Rick Yune, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Phil Austin, Sean O’Bryan, Robert Forster, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Ashley Judd

While watching Morgan Freeman play an “Acting President of the United States” in Olympus Has Fallen, I remembered that he played the President during a disastrous time in another movie, Deep Impact, one of my very favorite films of all-time.  Olympus Has Fallen will not hold a place in my heart like Deep Impact, but it is, if nothing else, an entertaining and effective action movie.  Like me, you may very well feel the need to kick some enemy of the United States ass while watching it.

Olympus Has Fallen is a 2013 action thriller and semi-disaster movie from director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Tears of the Sun).  The film follows a disgraced, former Secret Service agent who finds himself trying to rescue the President after terrorists attack the White House.

Olympus Has Fallen opens on a snowy Christmas evening, when tragedy strikes.  Eighteen months later, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is a disgraced Secret Service agent working at the U.S. Treasury Department.  While pondering the state of his life, Banning witnesses a full-on invasion of the White House.  Now, Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune), a terrorist mastermind, is holding President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) hostage, and Kang’s demands, if met, will change the United States and the world forever.  Fate has given Banning a chance at redemption, but he may not have enough time to save the President or the world.

In some ways, Olympus Has Fallen is a throwback movie.  I can see Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or Bruce Willis playing the lead in a movie just like Olympus Has Fallen from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.  Lower the budget of such a movie, and your lead becomes Dolph Lundgren or Steven Seagal.  I can even imagine the voice over for an “old school” version of Olympus Has Fallen:

A pan-Asian devil has taken the White House,
The President – held hostage; the world in danger,
Now, only one man – one Caucasian man – can save the world
Bruce Willis-Stallone-Schwarzenegger, etc is Mike Banning in
OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

Seriously, this is a slightly above-average, American-macho-done-up action movie.  Director Antoine Fuqua does his best low-rent Michael Bay.  Fuqua seems to borrow the loudest and most obnoxious stylistic elements of Bay’s The Rock and Armageddon to make Olympus Has Fallen.

Here, Gerard Butler is either being a really bad actor – a 21st century Dolph Lundgren – or he’s being tongue-in-cheek.  Even MAD Magazine couldn’t mock the action hero in a way that would surpass Butler’s caricature known as Mike Banning.  As a villain, Rick Yune is Butler’s over-the-top mirror image.  Yune’s Kang belongs in a Jean-Claude Van Damme straight-to-DVD movie, not in a big-budget feature.

The opposite of Butler and Yune is Morgan Freeman who plays Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull as extra-deadly serious.  Angela Bassett, as Lynne Jacobs, Director of the Secret Service, is sometimes over-the-top hysterical and frantic; it made me wonder if Bassett had forgotten that she was in an action movie and not a soap opera.

Still, Olympus Has Fallen is fun to watch, because it is as much a disaster movie as it is a shoot ‘em up about a lone wolf-type.  And the disaster part of it really appealed to me.

5 of 10
C+

Monday, August 19, 2013

Warner Bros. Sets "Winter's Tale" for Valentine's Day 2014

Warner Bros. Pictures Announces February 14, 2014 Release for Akiva Goldsman’s “Winter’s Tale”

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures has set a winter release date for “Winter’s Tale,” written and directed by Oscar®-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (“A Beautiful Mind”) and based on the novel by Mark Helprin. The film, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, will open in North America on February 14, 2014, with international dates to follow. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Stated Fellman, “We look forward to unveiling ‘Winter’s Tale’ as Akiva’s directorial debut. It features a remarkable roster of acting talent and a sweeping, romantic story that’s ideally suited for the holiday play period.”

“With its pedigree and stellar international cast, this epic, moving tale will have broad appeal overseas,” said Kwan Vandenberg. “The February date provides us a strong corridor in which to launch the film worldwide.”

Set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century, “Winter’s Tale” is a story of miracles, crossed destinies, and the age-old battle between good and evil.

The film stars Colin Farrell (“Total Recall”), Jessica Brown Findlay (TV’s “Downton Abbey”), and Oscar® winners Jennifer Connelly (“A Beautiful Mind”), William Hurt (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”), Eva Marie Saint (“On the Waterfront”) and Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”). It also introduces young newcomers Ripley Sobo and Mckayla Twiggs (both from Broadway’s “Once”).

“Winter’s Tale” marks the directorial debut of Akiva Goldsman, who also wrote the screenplay, based on the acclaimed novel by Mark Helprin. Goldsman is also producing, with Marc Platt (“Drive”), Michael Tadross (“Sherlock Holmes”) and Tony Allard (Showtime’s “The Baby Dance”). Kerry Foster and Bruce Berman serve as executive producers.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes five-time Oscar®-nominated director of photography Caleb Deschanel (“The Passion of the Christ,” “The Patriot”), production designer Naomi Shohan (“Constantine,” “I Am Legend”), costume designer Michael Kaplan (“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Star Trek”) and editors Wayne Wahrman (“I Am Legend”) and Oscar® nominee Tim Squyres (“Life of Pi,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). The music is composed by Oscar® winner Hans Zimmer (“The Lion King,” “Inception,” “Man of Steel”).

A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

Review: "Thunderbirds" is a Good Family Film (Happy B'day, Jonathan Frakes)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Thunderbirds (2004)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG for intense action sequences and language
DIRECTOR:  Jonathan Frakes
WRITERS:  William Osborne and Michael McCullers; from a story by Peter Hewitt and William Osborne (based upon the television series by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson)
PRODUCERS:  Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Mark Huffman
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Brendan Galvin
EDITOR:  Martin Walsh
COMPOSERS: Ramin Djawadi and Hans Zimmer

ACTION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY and FANTASY/SCI-FI with elements of comedy

Starring:  Brady Corbet, Soren Fulton, Bill Paxton, Ben Kingsley, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Anthony Edwards, Sophia Myles, Ron Cook, Deobia (Dhobi) Oparei, Rose Keegan, Phillip Winchester, Dominic Colenso, Ben Torgersen, Lex Shrapnel, Harvey Virdi, Bhasker Patel, Demetri Goritsas, Genie Francis, and Andy Smart

The subject of this movie review is Thunderbirds, a 2004 science fiction and action-adventure film from director Jonathan Frakes (best known as “Commander William T. Riker” of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”).  This film is loosely based on the 1960s British science fiction television series, “Thunderbirds” (1965-66), created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.  This Thunderbirds movie features live-action, human actors portraying the characters, while the television series used “Supermarionation” marionettes (a kind of puppet) as the characters.

Thunderbirds 2004 finds the Thunderbirds’ trapped and their secret base invaded by their arch-nemesis, and only the youngest Thunderbird is free to save the day.  I like this film’s story, but I would have preferred marionettes playing the characters.  However, I was shocked to find that I really enjoyed this movie, which owes as much to the Spy Kids franchise as it does to the Thunderbirds TV series.

After narrowly averting an oil rig disaster and rescuing a small group of rig workers, the Thunderbirds, led by papa Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton), return home to their secret headquarters, Tracy Island, a lush patch of land that hides a giant secret base, the home of the Thunderbirds’ organization, International Rescue.  What the Thunderbirds don’t know is that a tracking device was placed on their rescue vehicle by a henchman of long-time Thunderbird adversary, The Hood (Ben Kingsley).

The Hood launches an attack on Thunderbird 5, IR’s secret space station.  Jeff Tracy and three of the older boys rush off to TB5 to rescue eldest son John (Lex Shrapnel), who operates the station.  The Hood invades Tracy Island and takes over Thunderbird headquarters from where he launches another attack that traps Jeff and his fours sons on TB5.  Now, it’s up to youngest son and headstrong troublemaker, Alan Tracy (Brady Corbet), to gain maturity beyond his years if he’s going to rescue his father and brothers and stop The Hood’s diabolical plan to rob the biggest banks in the world.  Luckily he has his friends Fermat (Soren Fulton) and Tin Tin (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) to help him, and here comes Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles) and her driver/butler Parker (Ron Cook) on the way.

Of course, Thunderbirds is the live-action update of the hit 1960’s British TV series and cult favorite, “Thunderbirds,” created by Gerry Anderson and his wife, Sylvia.  Obviously some people are going to have a difficult time accepting human actors in place of the series original “actors,” marionettes.  However, this is a fun family movie in the vein of the Spy Kids and Agent Cody Banks franchises.  The focus is not on the Thunderbirds as a team, but more on Alan Tracy and his friends Fermat and Tin Tin as a sort of makeshift young Thunderbirds.

That aside, Thunderbirds is a great kids action movie, superbly directed by Jonathan Frakes, best known as Commander William T. Riker of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” but Frakes has also directed several episodes of various TV series and a few feature films.  Frakes and the screenwriters deftly keep the action exciting without being intense, and they flirt with bawdy humor via verbal gags, taking advantage of Fermat and his father, Brains’ (Anthony Edwards) stuttering.

Bill Paxton seems to need half the film to warm up to playing Jeff Tracy, and Ben Kingsley is simply having fun, although he’s always a regal presence.  Nevertheless, the stars are the young trio of Alan Tracy, Fermat, and Tin Tin, and the young actors, who give striking performances, gamely carry this nice family thrill ride.

7 of 10
B+

Updated:  Monday, August 19, 2013

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Indie Drama "Little Accidents" Begins Production

"LITTLE ACCIDENTS" IN PRODUCTION

Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook, Chloë Sevigny, Jacob Lofland and Josh Lucas Join Indie Drama

Production is underway in West Virginia on the independent drama LITTLE ACCIDENTS, the first feature film from writer/director Sara Colangelo. The film, which was developed at both the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters and Directors Labs, will star Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook, Chloë Sevigny, Jacob Lofland and Josh Lucas.

LITTLE ACCIDENTS follows the disappearance of JT, a 14 year-old boy in an American coal town which has already seen its share of tragedy after a mining accident. JT’s disappearance draws together three local residents from very different walks of life. Together they struggle to navigate the web of secrets surrounding the boy’s death, unaware of how connected they truly are.

Colangelo previously directed the award-winning short film by the same name, which debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and explored some of the same themes as her debut feature.

“Sara Colangelo's script for Little Accidents is one of the strongest first features with which I've been associated,” said Anne Carey, President of Production for Archer Gray.  “She is both a subtle and ambitious filmmaker. The strength of her script attracted a terrific cast of actors, an excellent crew and a great group of producers.  I am very excited that this film is one of the launching titles for Archer Gray Productions.”

“We had the pleasure of being introduced to Sara and the project through the Sundance Institute and WME,” said Jason Michael Berman and Thomas B. Fore, producing partners at TideRock Media.  “We fell in love with Sara's script, which paints the Appalachian coal-mining community in an authentic and heartfelt way that hasn’t often been portrayed in popular culture.”

“Little Accidents is an extraordinary film that takes the viewer on a complex and deeply emotional journey,” said Chris Columbus, partner at Maiden Voyage.  “Sara Colangelo is a visionary filmmaker.  Maiden Voyage Films is thrilled to be part of this exceptional project.”

The film is being produced by Anne Carey of Archer Gray Productions, Jason Michael Berman and Thomas B. Fore of TideRock Media, and Summer Shelton. Executive producers are Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus of Maiden Voyage, Amy Nauiokas of Archer Gray Productions, Ruth Mutch of Soaring Flight Productions, and Kwesi Collisson, Mike Feuer and Todd Feuer of Mindsmack Productions. The project’s DP is Rachel Morrison.

Elizabeth Banks is also shooting William Pohlad’s Love & Mercy, and can be seen this Fall in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as Effie Trinket.  Boyd Holbrook had his on-screen debut in Milk, and can be seen in the upcoming films Walk Among the Tombstones, Untitled Terrence Malick Project, Jane Got a Gun and The Skeleton Twins.  Oscar nominee Chloë Sevigny (Boys Don’t Cry) is known for her recent roles on HBO’s “Big Love” and F/X’s “American Horror Story: Asylum.”  Jacob Lofland’s on-screen debut was in 2012’s Mud. Josh Lucas has recently been in films J. Edgar and The Lincoln Lawyer.

Colangelo is represented by WME, who packaged the project and will be representing the film for sales, as well as Victoria Cook at Frankfurt, Kurit, Klein and Slez PC.  Elizabeth Banks is represented by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and Ziffren Brittenham LLP; Boyd Holbrook is represented by CAA and Kanner Entertainment.

Review: "Broken City" Well Put Together

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 56 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Broken City (2013)
Running time:  109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence
DIRECTOR:  Allen Hughes
WRITER:  Brian Tucker
PRODUCERS:  Remington Chase, Randall Emmett, Allen Hughes, Stephen Levinson, Arnon Milchan, Teddy Schwarzman, and Mark Wahlberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ben Seresin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Cindy Mollo
COMPOSERS:  Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Claudia Sarne

CRIME/DRAMA with elements of a thriller

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright, Barry Pepper, Alona Tal, Natalie Martinez, Michael Beach, Kyle Chandler, James Ransone, Griffin Dunne, Justin Chambers, and Chance Kelly

Broken City is a 2013 big-city crime drama from director Allen Hughes.  Starring Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe, the film follows an ex-cop seeking to unravel a complex political mystery involving a powerful mayor.

Broken City opens by revealing a controversial police shooting.  Seven years later, ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) owns a private detective agency that is on the verge of bankruptcy.  Taggart gets a big break when New York City Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Russell Crowe) offers him $50,000 to learn the identity of the man with whom his wife, Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is having an affair.

When the suspected adulterer is found shot to death, Taggart thinks that he may have been double-crossed.  However, Taggart’s path to payback takes him into a complicated political conspiracy involving many elements, including a controversial real estate deal, a contentious mayoral election, and police Commissioner Carl Fairbanks (Jeffrey Wright) who despises Mayor Hostetler.

If you found my summary or synopsis of Broken City unusually vague (compared to what I normally offer), it is because I am trying to reveal as little of this film’s plot and story as possible.  I really enjoyed Broken City.  It reminds me of a smoky old Film-Noir movie from the 1950s that focuses on “the city” (such as John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle).  Broken City is also the first feature film that Allen Hughes has directed without his twin brother, Albert, with whom he has collaborated on such gems as Menace II Society and The Book of Eli.  Allen rarely falters in this solo effort.

Hughes works from an excellent screenplay by Brian Tucker, although I think Broken City would work even better as a novel or television series.  However, Hughes manages to squeeze every subplot, relationship, conflict, and bit of motivation onto the screen.  The result is a cynical tale of big city politics, cronyism, and murder that delivers surprises as if they were mean left hooks.

Broken City is something of an ensemble film.  The viewer enters the world of the film through Mark Wahlberg’s Billy Taggart.  While this isn’t his best performance, Wahlberg proves once again that he is both a fine actor and a true movie star because he will make you want to follow both Taggart’s investigation and his personal journey.

The rest of the cast takes what they are good at doing and distills it into powerful supporting performances.  For Russell Crowe, that means a meaty, masculine, and menacing turn as the powerful Mayor Nicholas Hostetler, a character which feels like a co-lead, but is more of a supporting player.  There is not enough Catherine Zeta-Jones who is smoky and husky as the bordering-on-fatale First Lady Cathleen Hostetler.  The always-superb Jeffrey Wright makes a pugnacious turn as the police commissioner, but the story also needs more of his character.

So that is the glaring flaw of Broken City.  It needs to be bigger in terms of its scope, and it needs to be longer in terms of length.  If any crime drama deserves to run at least three hours, Broken City is it.  Still, this movie was one of 2013’s first really good dramas, and it is hugely entertaining with a killer last act.

7 of 10
A-

Saturday, August 17, 2013

"Cutie and the Boxer" Opens August 16, 2013

TWC/Radius Presents

CUTIE AND THE BOXER

Written & Directed By Zachary Heinzerling

Download the CUTIE AND THE BOXER trailer here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/669959/CUTIEandtheBOXER_Trailer_1080p.mp4.zip

IN THEATERS AUGUST 16th

SYNOPSIS:  A reflection on love, sacrifice, and the creative spirit, this candid New York story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of renowned “boxing” painter Ushio Shinohara and his artist wife, Noriko. As a rowdy, confrontational young artist in Tokyo, Ushio seemed destined for fame, but met with little commercial success after he moved to New York City in 1969, seeking international recognition. When 19-year-old Noriko moved to New York to study art, she fell in love with Ushio—abandoning her education to become the wife and assistant to an unruly, husband. Over the course of their marriage, the roles have shifted. Now 80, Ushio struggles to establish his artistic legacy, while Noriko is at last being recognized for her own art—a series of drawings entitled “Cutie,” depicting her challenging past with Ushio. Spanning four decades, the film is a moving portrait of a couple wrestling with the eternal themes of sacrifice, disappointment and aging, against a background of lives dedicated to art.

Review: "The Black Cat" Offers First Pairing of Karloff and Lugosi (Remembering Bela Lugosi)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 213 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Black Cat (1934)
Also known as: The Vanishing Body (1953)
Running time:  65 minutes (1 hour, 5 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Edgar G. Ulmer
WRITERS:  Peter Ruric; from a screen story by Peter Ruric and Edgar G. Ulmer (based upon a story by Edgar Allen Poe)
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  John J. Mescall
EDITOR:  Ray Curtiss

HORROR/MYSTERY/CRIME

Starring:  Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Jacqueline Wells, Lucille Lund, Egon Brecher, and Harry Cording

The subject of this movie review is The Black Cat, a 1934 film that blends the genres of crime, horror, and mystery.  The film was released by Universal Pictures and produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr.  The Black Cat was re-released in 1953 as The Vanishing Body.  This was the first of eight movies that paired actors, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.  This is apparently one of the first movies to have an almost continuous movie score, which was composed by Heinz Roemheld.

The Black Cat takes its name from the Edgar Allen Poe short story, “The Black Cat” (first published in 1843), but little else.  Television and screenwriter Tom Kilpatrick contributed to the writing of this movie’s screenplay, but did not receive a screen credit.  The Black Cat the movie follows an American couple, honeymooning in Hungary, who becomes trapped in the home of a Satan- worshiping priest.

Peter Alison (David Manners) and his wife Joan (Jacqueline Wells) are American honeymooners vacationing in Hungary when they encounter a peculiar psychiatrist, Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Bela Lugosi) on a passenger train.  Later, the couple shares a taxi with him.  After the taxi accident is involved in an accident, the trio is trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest, Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff).  Poelzig, an accomplished architect, desires Joan for a satanic ritual.  Unbeknownst to Peter and Joan, Poelzig and Dr. Werdegast are old acquaintances with a bitter history together.

I love gorgeous black and white movies, especially the beautiful horror films Universal produced in the 1930’s and 40’s.  The Black Cat is a superb example; the photography is excellent and the film has an eerie, but handsome dream-like quality.  A hip hop artist once commented on how films from Hollywood’s golden era of studio films had such class because everyone dressed so well, even the characters who weren’t wealthy.  The cast of this film wear the finest suits, in particular Lugosi’s Werdegast and Manners’ Peter Alison.  Lugosi’s ultra sharp suits add some kind of peculiar quality to his character that I just can’t explain; he looks so good in them that I can call him a mack.  Lugosi’s lounge attire:  smoking jackets, bathrobes, and top quality pajamas defy reason; they fit him like a tuxedo and would seem quite appropriate as formal dinner wear.

The most prominent element of The Black Cat is the art deco flavored art direction.  It does seem out of place in rural Hungary, but the mansion’s interiors add a special quality to movie.  Watching the story unfold in this art deco museum reminded me of a black and white version of a David Lynch creation like “Twin Peaks”.  It’s surreal, real, and dreamy, an atmosphere that I couldn’t ignore.  This is wonderful work by art director Charles D. Hall and set designer, director Edgar G. Ulmer.

Yes, the acting is a bit forced at times, but this kind of movie is special.  No one makes this kind of film anymore.  A kooky story, two famed, cult horror movie stars doing their shtick, exquisite costume design and the sleek designs of an art deco set are things too good to be miss.  This is perfect for Halloween, or just whenever you’re in the mood to see a kind of movie lost in time to us – gone, but not forgotten because quite a few gems like this still exist.  The Black Cat is also the first of eight screen parings of Karloff and Lugosi.

6 of 10
B

Updated:  Friday, August 16, 2013

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