A Somber Anniversary: Four Little Girls (Bits and Bites Special)

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama by the Ku Klux Klan.  Four children were killed - four little girls: 14-year-old Addie Mae Collins, 11-year-old Denise McNair, 14-year-old Carole Robertson, and 14-year-old Cynthia Wesley.

Read the review of Spike Lee's documentary about the children, 4 Little Girls.

Read the review of the documentary of Civil Rights organizer and leader, Bayard Rustin.

Read the review of March Book One, the graphic novel and comic book biography of Civil Rights icon, Congressman John Lewis.

J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Announce New Films

Warner Bros. Announces Expanded Creative Partnership with J.K. Rowling

Rowling to Make Screenwriting Debut on “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the First in a New Film Series

Partnership Spans All Areas of Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter Businesses, Including Theme Parks, Digital Initiatives, Games and Visitor Attractions

Plus Studio to Serve as Global International TV Distributor of J.K. Rowling’s Upcoming Adaptation of her Book “The Casual Vacancy” for the BBC

BURBANK, Calif. & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Entertainment today announced an expanded creative partnership with world-renowned, best-selling author J.K. Rowling. At the center of the partnership is a new film series from Rowling’s world of witches and wizards, inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and the adventures of the book’s fictitious author, Newt Scamander. The announcement was made by Kevin Tsujihara, Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros. Entertainment.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” will be an original story and will mark Rowling’s screenwriting debut. It is planned as the first picture in a new film series. Set in the wizarding world, the story will feature magical creatures and characters, some of which will be familiar to devoted Harry Potter fans.

“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world,” said Rowling. “The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.” (Expanded Rowling quote at bottom of release.)

“We are incredibly honored that Jo has chosen to partner with Warner Bros. on this exciting new exploration of the world of wizardry which has been tremendously successful across all of our businesses,” said Tsujihara. “She is an extraordinary writer, who ignited a reading revolution around the world, which then became an unprecedented film phenomenon. We know that audiences will be as excited as we are to see what her brilliant and boundless imagination conjures up for us.”

In addition to the film series, “Fantastic Beasts” will also be developed across the Studio’s video game, consumer products and digital initiatives businesses, including enhanced links with Pottermore.com, Rowling’s digital online experience built around the Harry Potter stories.

The Studio’s expanded partnership with Rowling also covers the continued expansion of its Harry Potter activities, including the wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks in conjunction with partner Universal Parks and Resorts (currently in Orlando, FL; opening in Hollywood, CA and Osaka, Japan), digital initiatives (including Pottermore), video games, consumer products and visitor attractions.

In addition, Warner Bros. will serve as the worldwide TV distributor (excluding the U.K.) of J.K. Rowling’s upcoming television adaptation for the BBC of “The Casual Vacancy,” her best-selling first novel aimed at adult audiences. This miniseries begins production in 2014.

The relationship will be managed in London by Neil Blair of The Blair Partnership, Rowling’s literary agency, and Josh Berger, President & Managing Director, Warner Bros. UK, Ireland and Spain, who will serve as Warner Bros.’ chief business contact for all J.K. Rowling initiatives going forward.

Rowling’s expanded quote regarding “Fantastic Beasts” is below:

“It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ into a film. I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of ‘Fantastic Beasts,’ realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood.

As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros.

Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.

I particularly want to thank Kevin Tsujihara of Warner Bros. for his support in this project, which would not have happened without him. I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it.”

ABOUT:
1) J.K. Rowling is the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books, published between 1997 and 2007, which have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, are distributed in more than 200 territories, translated into 74 languages, and have been turned into eight blockbuster films. She has also written two small volumes, which appear as the titles of Harry’s schoolbooks within the novels. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages were published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in March 2001 in aid of Comic Relief. In December 2008, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was published in aid of the Children’s High Level Group (now known as Lumos), and quickly became the fastest-selling book of the year. In 2012, J.K. Rowling published her first book for adults, The Casual Vacancy, which has since been published in 44 languages. J.K. Rowling has also written The Cuckoo's Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, which was published this year by Little, Brown.

2) Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter films have grossed more than $7.7 billion to date worldwide at the box office, making Harry Potter the largest-grossing film franchise in history. The Harry Potter franchise has also been successfully extended across the Studio’s television, home entertainment, consumer products, video game, digital initiatives and visitor attractions businesses.

Review: Original "Friday the 13th" Movie Surprisingly Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 62 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Friday the 13th (1980)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – X
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR:  Sean S. Cunningham
WRITERS:  Victor Miller; from a story by Sean S. Cunningham and Victor Miller
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Barry Abrams (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Bill Freda
COMPOSER:  Harry Manfredini

HORROR

Starring:  Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Peter Bouwer, Rex Everhart, Ronn Carroll, Ron Millkie, Walt Gorney, and Betsy Palmer

Friday the 13th is a 1980 slasher horror film from producer-director, Sean S. Cunningham.  It was the first movie in what is, as of this writing, a 12-film franchise, which includes a 2009 reboot of the franchise and a crossover film with another horror franchise, 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason.  The first Friday the 13th focuses on young camp counselors that are being stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant, as they try to reopen a summer camp with a troubled history.

Friday the 13th opens one night in 1958 at Camp Crystal Lake, where two young camp counselors are savagely murdered.  The story jumps to Friday, June 13, 1979.  Steve Christy (Peter Bouwer), son of the camp’s original owners, is trying to reopen Camp Crystal Lake.  Seven young camp counselors are arriving early to help Steve repair the camp site before it reopens.

Annie (Robbi Morgan), one of the early arrivals, finds that the town is not exactly happy about the idea of Steve reopening the camp, which has been the site of murders, fires, and water poisonings.  In fact, some of the locals specifically try to warn Annie to leave.  As this Friday the 13th turns to evening, the counselors are not aware that someone is watching and waiting and also preparing to kill them one by one.

Recently, I watched, for the first time, Friday the 13th in its entirety, and I liked it more than I ever thought I would.  It was clearly influenced by John Carpenter’s classic, 1978 slasher film, Halloween, but it is different.  I find Friday the 13th to be both moody and matter-of-fact about the murders committed in the film.  It is almost as if the filmmakers and storytellers (which include screenwriter Ron Kurz, who did not receive an onscreen credit) are saying to us that while sad, the death in this movie has to be.  This movie is less about pandering to the audience than about depicting a tragedy that has to be.

The film score for Friday the 13th, composed by Harry Manfredini, is probably the most important creative element in making this movie a chiller and thriller.  Manfredini seems to use elements from John Williams’ musical score for Jaws (1975) and Bernard Herrmann’s for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960).  If talent borrows and genius steals, it was a genius move on Manfredini’s part to emulate the best musical cues from Jaws and Psycho, strains of music that are perfect for creating an atmosphere of fear and impending doom in Friday the 13th.

After 33 years, anyone familiar with the Friday the 13th franchise knows the identity of the killer in the original movie, but I still will not reveal the identity.  I think one of the things that make the original movie stand out from both its sequels and other horror films is who and what the killer is.  Of note, acclaimed actor Kevin Bacon has one of his earliest screen roles in Friday the 13th, and that includes a rather explicit sex scene, in which his sex partner claws his buttocks.  Including the fact that this is a horror movie classic, bare Bacon is as good a reason as any to see Friday the 13th.

Seriously, I like this movie’s scrappy nature.  There is something about its awkward, not-well made spirit that actually makes the movie seem... well, well-made.  Friday the 13th has a low-budget aesthetic that surprisingly appeals to me, and in terms of photography, there are a few moments that are captivating.  In fact, some of this movie’s scenes and best moments are as effective as the best moments found in film thrillers that are much more admired.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1981 Razzie Awards:  2 nominations: “Worst Picture” (Sean S. Cunningham) and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Betsy Palmer)

Thursday, September 12, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Angelina Jolie to Receive Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Angelina Jolie, Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin and Piero Tosi to Receive the Academy's Governors Awards

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present Honorary Awards to Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin, and Piero Tosi, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Angelina Jolie. All four awards will be presented at the Academy's 5th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 16, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

“The Governors Awards pay tribute to individuals who’ve made indelible contributions in their respective fields,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.  “We couldn’t be more excited for this year’s honorees and look forward to bringing their peers and colleagues together to celebrate their extraordinary achievements.”

Lansbury has received three Academy Award® nominations for her supporting performances on film – the first in her 1944 feature debut in “Gaslight,” followed by “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945) and “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962).  Her numerous other credits include “The Long, Hot Summer,” “Blue Hawaii,” “The World of Henry Orient,” “Bedknobs and Broomsticks,” “Death on the Nile” and “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” as well as voice work for the first animated feature to receive a Best Picture nomination, “Beauty and the Beast.”

Martin, who got his start in television, is a versatile actor, writer, comedian and musician who began to display the breadth of his big-screen talent as the screenwriter and star of the 1977 Oscar®-nominated short film “The Absent-Minded Waiter.”  He wrote and starred in “The Jerk,” “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid,” “Three Amigos,” “Roxanne,” “L.A. Story,” “The Pink Panther” series and “Shopgirl,” which he adapted from his critically acclaimed book of the same name.  His other acting credits include “All of Me,” “Parenthood,” “Father of the Bride” and “It’s Complicated.”  He also is a three-time host of the Oscars®, most recently in 2010 with Alec Baldwin.

Tosi rose to prominence through his collaborations with Italian director Luchino Visconti on such films as “White Nights” and “Rocco and His Brothers,” and continued to work with him on several other features, including the Costume Design nominees “The Leopard,” “Death in Venice” and “Ludwig.”  Tosi received two more nominations for his designs for “La Cage aux Folles” and “La Traviata.”  His other notable credits include “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” a Foreign Language Film winner, and “Marriage Italian Style,” a Foreign Language Film nominee, both directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Jolie, who won an Oscar for her supporting performance in “Girl, Interrupted,” has been an impassioned advocate for humanitarian causes, traveling widely to promote organizations and social justice efforts such as the Prevent Sexual Violence Initiative.  Staking out a career at the nexus of entertainment and philanthropy, Jolie has worked for a number of global advocacy groups including the Council on Foreign Relations and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), for which she was appointed Special Envoy of High Commissioner António Guterres in 2012 after twelve years of service.  Her dedication to these causes has also shaped her work in films that tackle global humanitarian issues including “A Mighty Heart” and her feature film directorial debut “In the Land of Blood and Honey.”

The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”

Review: "Iraq in Fragments" Gives Voice to the Voiceless

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 80 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Iraq in Fragments (2006)
Running time:  94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – Not rated
DIRECTOR:  James Longley
COMPOSER/CINEMATOGRAPHER:  James Longley
PRODUCERS:  James Longley and John Sinno
EDITORS:  James Longley, Billy McMillin, and Fiona Otway
2007 Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY – War, Politics, Religion

Starring:  Mohammed Haithem and Suleiman Mahmoud

The subject of this movie review is Iraq in Fragments, a 2006 documentary from filmmaker James Longley.  The film offers stories from modern day Iraq, as told by Iraqis living in a time of war, occupation and ethnic tension.

Iraq in Fragments earned an Academy Award nomination.  The film also won 3 awards at the 2006 Sundance Festival:  “Cinematography Award,” “Directing Award,” and “Documentary Film Editing Award,” as well as being nominated for the “Grand Jury Price."

In his Oscar-nominated documentary, Iraq in Fragments, director James Longley presents a portrait of Iraq, a nation divided, one at war with itself after the United States invaded the country won Operation: Iraqi Freedom.  Through a collage of images and commentary from ordinary Iraqis, Longley illuminates post-invasion Iraq in three acts focusing on different regions of the country.

In Part One, entitled “Mohammed of Baghdad,” Mohammed, a fatherless 11-year old boy is apprenticed to a dictatorial garage owner, who is outraged that after several years of schooling Mohammed cannot read.  In, “Sadr’s South,” the followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr rally for regional elections, but also enforce Islamic law at the point of a gun, which some residents see as similar to things Saddam Hussein did and the American are doing.  In the final act, “Kurdish Spring,” a family of farmers welcome the American presence because it brings them a measure of freedom Kurdistan never knew, but one boy, Suleiman, will still see his dreams of an education dashed as he remains trapped in his elderly father’s meager occupations as a sheepherder and brick maker.

Through these interviews with Iraqis (although neither his nor his translators’ voices are ever heard), Longley, via words and images, captures the discord in the war-torn country – both in the abstract and in the literal that give the effects of war, political unrest, religious feuds deeper meaning.  In this way, Longley helps the audience to understand how living in uncertainty and deepening poverty drags on the people physically and spiritually.

Sometimes, the film seems to hunger for a historical context (especially when an Iraqi subject mentions distant historical events), and the near-absence of Americans in this documentary is noticeable.  That doesn’t really hurt Iraq in Fragment, for it remains a riveting film in which the images and subjects stick with you in an insistent fashion.  Besides, with this documentary, Longley forces us (at least the ones who do bother to see Iraq in Fragments) to do something more Americans should – see things from the ordinary Iraqi’s perspective.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards:  1 nomination for “Best Documentary, Features,” (James Longley and John Sinno)

Monday, May 21, 2007

Updated, Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

2013 Reaper Awards for Scary Movies Opens Voting

Voting Opens for the 2013 Reaper Awards

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Online voting is underway for the fifth annual Reaper Awards and will run through Oct. 13. The ballot can be accessed through HomeMediaMagazine.com/ReaperVote, HomeMediaAwards.com or ReaperAwards.com.

The Reaper Awards, honoring the best horror and thriller titles of the past year on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, are presented by Home Media Magazine and DreadCentral.com. Eligible titles were released between Aug. 1, 2012, and July 31, 2013. Winners will be announced Oct. 21.

Fans can select their favorites from the past year in several categories, as well as vote on which title they are most looking forward to in the coming months. Titles were submitted by participating studios.

Results of the consumer vote will be combined with the selections of a judging panel of horror experts and home entertainment reviewers. The panel of judges will also select a Title of the Year.

For a complete list of nominees, visit HomeMediaMagazine.com/ReaperVote. To view the box art nominees, visit homemediamagazine.com/awards/2013-reaper-award-box-art-nominees.

Home Media Magazine is the premier home entertainment business publication designed to inform, educate and facilitate communication among all parties and industries involved in the home entertainment marketplace. Through its weekly magazine, website (www.homemediamagazine.com) and daily electronic newsletter, Home Media Magazine delivers news, analysis, market research, product reviews and marketing updates to give studio executives, retailers, distributors, marketers and suppliers a one-stop resource to help grow their businesses and increase profits.

Review: "Gun Crazy" is Crazy Cool (Remembering Dalton Trumbo)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 151 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Gun Crazy (1950) – B&W
Deadly is the Female (1949) – original title
Running time: 86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Joseph H. Lewis
WRITERS:  MacKinlay Kantor, Millard Kaufman, and Dalton Trumbo (based upon the short story by MacKinlay Kantor)
PRODUCERS:  Frank King and Maurice King
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Russell Harlan (director of photography)
EDITOR:  Harry Gerstad
COMPOSER:  Victor Young

FILM-NOIR/CRIME/DRAMA

Starring:  Peggy Cummings, John Dall, Barry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, and Rusty Tamblyn with (cast that received no screen credit) David Bair, Paul Frison, and Trevor Bardette

The subject of this movie review is Gun Crazy, a 1950 film noir crime drama directed by Joseph H. Lewis.  The film was originally released under the title, Deadly is the Female, apparently sometime in 1949.  Gun Crazy is based on a short story written by MacKinlay Kantor, one of the film’s screenwriters.  Although Millard Kaufman is also credited as a screenwriter on Gun Crazy, he is not.  Kaufman was a “front writer,” meaning he allowed another screenwriter to use his name in order to work on the project.  The writer who used Kaufman’s name was Dalton Trumbo.

Trumbo was one of the “Hollywood 10.”  They were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to give testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) concerning Communist activity in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s.  Trumbo and others were blacklisted from working on Hollywood film productions, or, if they did work on a production, their names were omitted from the film.  Trumbo is credited as the writer who reworked MacKinlay Kantor’s Gun Crazy story into a tale of a doomed love affair, but he could not receive a screen credit for his work on the film.

Gun Crazy the movie introduces Bart Tare (Rusty Tamblyn).  As a boy, Tare was obsessed with guns, although he was loathed to kill anything.  His obsession lands him in a reform school, but he retains the support of his family and especially of his friends, Dave Allister (Paul Frison) and Clyde Boston (Trevor Bardette).  After leaving the reform school and doing a stint in the army, adult Bart (John Dall) returns home to find that the adult Dave Allister (Nedrick Young) is now the editor of their hometown paper and that Clyde is now Sheriff Clyde Boston (Harry Lewis).

The trio attends a traveling carnival where Bart meets the love of his life, Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummings), a carnie trick pistol shooter, who, like Bart, is gun-obsessed.  The two run off and get married, but Laurie is a dangerous girl who wants the high life.  The legitimate jobs that poor Bart can get won’t pay enough to buy her all the things she wants.  He’s too in love to be without her, so it’s easy for her to talk him into a life of crime.  They commit a string of daring robberies across the country that eventually cause them to kill.  Hunted and desperate, Laurie and Bart head back home to Bart’s sister, Ruby (Anabel Shaw), and her family, but Sheriff Clyde and Dave are waiting for them.

Experts and students of the film genre known as Film-Noir consider Gun Crazy to be classic noir.  The film, released initially under the title, Deadly is the Female, is based upon novelist MacKinlay Kantor’s short story that was originally published in The Saturday Evening Post.  Gun Crazy was mostly forgotten until it fell into favor in France with film critics, especially the group of critics who would themselves one day become filmmakers and also become tied to a movement called French New Wave – the most famous of the lot being François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.  Godard’s 1960 film, Breathless, apparently references Gun Crazy.

Although many critics and reviewers have praised director Joseph H. Lewis for the film’s documentary feel, used especially during the robbery sequences, Lewis’ film is actually very stylized and expressionistic from a visual point of view.  Everything that is important for the audience to know about Laurie and Bart:  their roles, identities, thoughts, and feelings, as well as the roles of the people around them, Lewis tells through visual cues.  From the titled camera shots early in the film that suggest the mental state of young Bart to the sexualized first encounter of Bart and Laurie – all are stylish.  In fact, Lewis really pushes the idea of sex and the duo’s obsession with guns being interrelated.

The film has some good performances, a few exceptional – especially British actress Peggy Cummings as Laurie and, in two small roles, Barry Kroeger as Laurie’s carnival boss, Packett, and Morris Carnovsky as Judge Willoughby.  The script is a good blueprint for Lewis, but is soft on the dichotomy between Bart’s two worlds – Peggy and crime and Dave and Clyde.  Ultimately this film does fit the auteur theory that Truffaut, Godard, and their contemporaries pushed – the idea that the director is the film’s author.  Joseph H. Lewis takes the best that his cast and crew give him and turn Gun Crazy into a film of notorious love, sexual tension, lust, and the kind of violence that can come from two lovers’ obsessions.  This is definitely a precursor to Bonnie and Clyde.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, July 15, 2006

NOTES:
1998 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  National Film Registry

Updated: Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.