Review: "The Croods" Like a Full-Length Looney Tunes Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 75 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Croods (2013)
Running time:  98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some scary images action
DIRECTORS:  Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders
WRITERS:  Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders; from a story by John Cleese and Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders
PRODUCERS:  Kristine Belson and Jane Hartwell
EDITOR:  Darren T. Holmes
COMPOSER:  Alan Silvestri
PRODUCTION DESIGNER:  Christophe Lautrette
ART DIRECTORS:  Paul Duncan and Dominique R. Louis

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY with elements of action and drama

Starring:  (voices) Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Chris Sanders, and Randy Thom

The Croods is a 2013 computer-animated adventure and comedy film that was theatrically presented in 3D.  It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox.  The Croods focuses on a caveman family trekking through an unfamiliar, fantastical world with the help of an inventive boy.

The Croods is set in a fictional version of the prehistoric Pliocene era (apparently called “The Croodaceous”).  The Croods are a six-member family living in a cave.  The father is Grug Crood (Nicolas Cage), who is doggedly protective of his family:  wife, Ugga (Catherine Keener); teenage daughter, Eep (Emma Stone); nine-year-old son, Thunk (Clark Duke); ferocious toddler daughter, Sandy (Randy Thom); and Gran (Cloris Leachman), Grug’s mother-in-law and Ugga’s mother.

Grug wants his family to stay in the cave at all times, except when they hunt for food, which is getting harder to find.  Grug is also against his family trying new things or making discoveries; “new things” are a threat to survival, he declares.  This causes problems between Grug and his rebellious teen daughter, Eep, whose curious nature clashes with her conservative father.  Then, Eep meets Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a nomadic cave boy, who is both clever and inventive.  Eep is immediately attracted to the boy.  Grug hates Guy, but after their cave is destroyed, The Croods find they need Guy, as they travel through an exotic land in search of a new home.

Since the original Madagascar (2005) and Kung Fu Panda (2008), DreamWorks Animation has improved on the technology of computer animation in terms of motion (characters and objects), depiction and creation of environments, picture definition, texture, and range of color.  The Croods proves that this animation production company is determined to keep pushing the envelope.

As for the story and characters, The Croods is best when it’s being fast and funny.  I have found that some of DreamWorks Animation’s films (and even television episodes) have the zest and style of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated shorts.  In a way, much of The Croods is an extended series of gags that recall Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Road Runner cartoons.

Pretty much every member of The Croods’ cast seems to be a looney toon, except for the mother, Ugga.  For some reason Ugga is practically non-existent; she is like a voice of wisdom, reason, and caution that is repressed and only heard when the film needs to squeeze in a poignant moment between chuckles and yucks.  And then, Ugga’s voice seems barely able to be heard above the fray of manic comedy.  In fact, Catherine Keener, who gives voice to Ugga, is unable to distinguish herself from the standard female voice.  I actually thought that Maya Rudolph was Ugga’s voice.  That is shocking when one considers how distinctive a performer Keener is.

But I guess it comes down to this.  DreamWorks Animation has mastered the technology of computer animation.  They have refined a brand of comedy that ranges from broad to slapstick and from satire to parody.  They embrace the crazy concepts they turn into films that are often inventive concerts of explosive visuals.  Still, DreamWorks Animation’s films lack the emotional resonance frequently found in movies from Pixar (except for Cars 2, which is straight crap).

The Croods can be viewed as a love triangle involving Grug, Eep, and Guy – mostly with Eep in love with Guy and with Grug hating Guy, mainly for that reason.  The performances by the three actors playing these characters are good, but the script really does not delve into this conflict.  It is easier to be surface and let comic moments rather than dramatic moments sell this three-way conflict.

That said, going by what is on the screen, The Croods is an exceptional movie, although stronger drama could have made it a truly great film.  I love the physicality the filmmakers give the characters.  Their wildness and animal-like tendencies (especially the way they move) make them attractive; the way they move, their facial ticks and expressions, and their reactions may it hard to ignore them.  The animation has a sense of depth that makes even its fantastic backdrops seem real – such as the cave and surrounding landscape where the Croods live at the beginning of the film.  I can use this old standby:  The Croods is a visual feast.  It falls short of greatness and perfection, but there is nothing like it, and it is quite good, indeed.

8 of 10
A

Thursday, November 07, 2013

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

"Horrible Bosses 2" Begins Production

New Line Cinema’s “Horrible Bosses 2” Now in Production

Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz Join Returning Stars Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx and Kevin Spacey for this Sequel to the Hit Comedy “Horrible Bosses”

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Filming has begun in Los Angeles on New Line Cinema’s “Horrible Bosses 2,” directed by Sean Anders (“Sex Drive”). The follow-up to the 2011 hit comedy “Horrible Bosses” reunites stars Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis as everyone’s favorite working stiffs Nick, Dale and Kurt. Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx and Kevin Spacey also reprise their starring roles, while Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz star as new adversaries standing between the guys and their dreams of success.

Fed up with answering to higher-ups, Nick, Dale and Kurt decide to become their own bosses by launching their own business in “Horrible Bosses 2.” But a slick investor soon pulls the rug out from under them. Outplayed and desperate, and with no legal recourse, the three would-be entrepreneurs hatch a misguided plan to kidnap the investor’s adult son and ransom him to regain control of their company.

Sean Anders directs from a screenplay by Anders & John Morris (“We’re the Millers”), and by John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2”), who also served as writers on the first film. “Horrible Bosses 2” is being produced by Brett Ratner, Jay Stern, John Morris, John Rickard and Chris Bender, with Diana Pokorny and John Cheng serving as executive producers.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Julio Macat (“Pitch Perfect”), production designer Clayton Hartley (“We’re the Millers”), editor Eric Kissack (“The Dictator”) and costume designer Carol Ramsey (“Identity Thief”).

“Horrible Bosses 2” is a New Line Cinema presentation of a RatPac Entertainment/Benderspink production. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Review: "The Matrix Revolutions" is the Good with the Bad

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 164 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Running time:  129 minutes (2 hours, nine minutes)
MPAA – R for sci-fi violence and brief sexual content
WRITERS/DIRECTORS:  The Wachowski Brothers
PRODUCER:  Joel Silver
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Bill Pope (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Zach Staenberg
COMPOSER:  Don Davis

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Collin Chou, Mary Alice, Tanveer Atwal, Helmut Bakaitas, Monica Bellucci, Nona M. Gaye, Nathaniel Lees, Harold Perrineau, Bruce Spense, Lambert Wilson, and Anthony Zerbe

The subject of this movie review is The Matrix Revolutions, a 2003 science fiction action movie from filmmaker siblings Andy and Larry (now Lana) Wachowski.  It is the third film in The Matrix film franchise, and it is both a direct sequel and continuation of The Matrix Reloaded, which was released six months earlier.  The Matrix Revolutions focuses on two main plots:  the attempt by the human city of Zion to defend itself against a massive invasion of machines and also Neo’s fight to end the human-machine war by battling the rogue Agent Smith.

The Matrix Revolutions end The Matrix trilogy not with a bang but with a whimper, a dud, and a plop.  It’s largely a bore, and, while not as talky as the first, the film drags like a wet rag when it does try to be all philosophical.  Like Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Matrix Revolutions is an average, meandering, dull film made by very talented filmmakers who know how to use all kinds of gadgets to make movies, but can’t tell a good story.  TMR tries to resolve all the plotlines, while cheekily leaving just enough unresolved to suggest that it is a never-ending story or, at least, that there will be more movies born of this immense cash cow.

The machines finally invade Zion, and human inhabitants of the underground sanctuary are wildly overmatched.  Meanwhile, Neo (Keanu Reeves) not only has to battle Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), who has become a self-replicating virus that is rapidly taking over the Matrix, but Neo also has to travel to the Machine City and make a peace deal with the machine central intelligence.  The Oracle (played by Mary Alice, as the original, Gloria Foster, died during filming of the second film), an important (but minor character), plays a larger role in Revolutions as she tries to save the Matrix from all the various rival programs that are attempting to have their own way in the artificial construct into which most of humanity is jacked.

Press for the film is telling audiences that The Matrix Reloaded was about life and that this last film Revolutions is about death.  There is death here, but it’s mostly in a lame script and poorly executed concept.  The ideas behind The Matrix are grand and interesting.  The writer/directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, however, just don’t always know quite how to find that straight line that goes from concept to final product.

Revolutions is dry and slow, and the mish mash stew of Eastern philosophy and computer jargon is tasteless.  The cinematography by Bill Pope is lush a landscape of rich and sexy, dark watercolors.  The battle between the humans and sentinels in Zion is a spectacular blend of CGI, bravura editing, and human emoting that might not have viewers comparing it to the battles in Braveheart or Saving Private Ryan, but those familiar with video games will recognize this as the most awesome sci-fi battle put on film to date.  The leather bar segment and the final duel between Neo and Agent Smith are also fairly spectacular.

If anything, we can always remember The Matrix films for their groundbreaking and mind bending visual effects.  There truly is no doubt that these films are three of the most important movies films in advancing the technology and craft of movie making.

If you’ve seen the other two, there’s no point in not finishing this.  The Matrix Revolutions, however, is a mediocre movie.  The surface pyrotechnics are just fine, but the meat and bones of the film – the story, is weak and lousy; in the end, this is not a tale, but a collection of cool scenes that would be right at home in a video game.

This is the film result of two indulgent filmmakers who needed to be reigned in before their egos and unchecked imaginations went wild and made crap.  Sometimes, someone, even a studio executive – a suit, needs to harness the madness of young filmmakers.  They owe the audience that much.  It’s not at all acceptable that the price of admission buys the messy product of two directors who needed to take their fantasy back to the drawing board one more time.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards:  1 nomination: “Film: Best Supporting Actress” (Mary Alice)

2004 Image Awards:  3 nominations: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Laurence Fishburne), “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Nona Gaye), and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Jada Pinkett Smith)

2004 Razzie Awards:  1 nomination: “Worst Director” (Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski for The Matrix Reloaded)

Updated:  Thursday, November 07, 2013

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

19 Films Compete for "Best Animated Feature" 2014 Oscar Nods

19 Animated Features Submitted For 2013 Oscar® Race

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Nineteen features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®.

The 19 submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2”
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Epic”
“Ernest and Celestine”
“The Fake”
“Free Birds“
“Frozen”
“Khumba”
“The Legend of Sarila”
“A Letter to Momo”
“Monsters University”
“O Apóstolo”
“Planes”
“Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie – Rebellion”
“Rio: 2096 A Story of Love and Fury”
“The Smurfs 2”
“Turbo”
“The Wind Rises”

Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying runs. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process. At least eight eligible animated features must be theatrically released in Los Angeles County within the calendar year for this category to be activated.

Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Review: Suspenseful "Taking Lives" is Also Predictable (Happy B'day, Ethan Hawke)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Taking Lives (2004)
Running time:  103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence including disturbing images, language and some sexuality
DIRECTOR:  D.J. Caruso
WRITER:  Jon Bokenkamp, from a screenstory by Jon Bokenkamp (based upon the novel by Michael Pye)
PRODUCER:  Mark Canton and Bernie Goldmann
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Amir Mokri (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Anne V. Coates
COMPOSER:  Philip Glass

CRIME/MYSTERY/THRILLER with elements of action and drama

Starring:  Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland, Gena Rowlands, Olivier Martinez, Tchéky Karyo, Jean-Hughes Anglade, and Paul Dano

The subject of this movie review is Taking Lives, a 2004 psychological thriller from director D.J. Caruso.  The film is loosely based on the novel, Taking Lives, a thriller written by Michael Pye and first published in 1999.  Taking Lives the movie focuses on an FBI profiler who is called in by French Canadian police in order to help them catch a serial killer that takes on the identity of each new victim.

Have modern film audiences seen everything?  Are they too jaded?  Sometimes I think they are, and sometimes I don’t.  Still, if films like Taking Lives are any indication, someone thinks film audiences, if they haven’t seen it all, have seen a lot.  Perhaps, a directors and screenwriters feel impelled to employ every twist and turn of a plot or story to shock the audiences into thinking, “Gee, I’ve never seen that before!”

In Taking Lives, Angelina Jolie is Illeana, an FBI profiler on loan to the French Canadian police in Montreal.  She is trying to track a serial killer who takes on the identity of each new victim.  When the police turn up Costa (Ethan Hawke), an alleged witness to one of the killer’s crimes, Illeana has an important lead in finding the illusive murderer, but when she begins to have strong feelings for Costa, she ends up getting dangerously closer to the mystery killer than she ever intended.

The film is competently directed, enough so to make it a standard and maybe a bit clunky, by-the-book thriller.  The acting is somewhat suspect.  In some scenes, Ms. Jolie hits her stride and without a word of dialogue, she’s able to transform Illeana from the typical, cardboard cutout FBI girl detective into a serious investigator with creepy insight into the mind of a psycho killer.  At other moments, her performance is pedestrian, and the only thing left for the viewer is to enjoy her beauty and admire those magical lips.

Taking Lives has some genuinely suspenseful and terrifying moments, but early in the film it starts to be a little too obvious who the killer really is and everything else becomes poorly disguised red herrings.  Taking Lives isn’t all that bad; it’s actually quite intriguing in a few places.  However, it’s not necessarily worth a trip to the theatre, but it’ll probably make a fairly decent rental.

5 of 10
C+

Updated:  Wednesday, November 06, 2013

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

Review: "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners" Reveals Angela Davis

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 74 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners (2012)
Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Shola Lynch
PRODUCERS:  Carole Lambert, Shola Lynch, Carine Ruszniewski, and Sidra Smith
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Sandi Sissel and Bradford Young
EDITORS:  Lewis Erskine and Marion Monnier with Sheila Shirazi
COMPOSER:  Vernon Reid

DOCUMENTARY – History, Politics, Crime

Starring:  Angela Davis, Leo Branton, Deacon Alexander, Bettina Apthecker, Judge Richard E. Arnason, Lowell Berman, Margaret Burnham, Earl Caldwell, Elisabeth Coleman, Fania Davis, Robert McCartin, Stephen Shames, and Doris Walker

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners is a 2012 documentary film from writer-director Shola Lynch.  The film focuses on a young college professor named Angela Davis and how her social activism led to her being implicated in a botched kidnapping and being placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.

The film opened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and made its theatrical debut in the United States in April 2013.  Free Angela and All Political Prisoners gained some notice because director Shola Lynch received financial backing to make the movie from actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who later brought in her husband, actor Will Smith, and recording artist and businessman, Jay-Z, as additional backers.  Oscar-winning filmmaker, Paul Haggis, was also a supporter of the film.

Born January 26, 1944, Angela Yvonne Davis, best known as simply “Angela Davis,” is an American political activist, scholar, and author.  During the 1960s, Davis returned to the United States after spending time in Germany.  She became a nationally known activist and radical; she was also a leader in the Communist Party USA.  It was her close relations with the Black Panther Party (although she was never an official member of the party) and her work for prisoner rights that brought her to prominence and earned her notoriety in establishment circles.

On August 7, 1970, at the Marin County court house, a botched kidnapping attempt ended with a shootout that left four people, including a judge, dead.  Davis was a close associate of one of the dead kidnappers, so the state of California brought conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder charges against her – all of which were punishable by the death penalty.  Davis became a fugitive and, at the time, the third woman to have her name appear on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List.

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners gives an account of the kidnapping, Davis’ flight from arrest, the FBI manhunt for her, her arrest and imprisonment, and the subsequent trial.  The film also chronicles Angela Davis’ life as a youth, a young scholar, and as a controversial young college professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The pivotal events of Free Angela and All Political Prisoners begin with events that took place in 1969, when Davis was hired by UCLA.  Her time as a professor is not the film’s central narrative, although this is not to say that the film is dry and boring for a time.  However, this documentary does not really come to life, in a way that reflects the fiery young radical that Angela Davis was, until it starts to recount the various events related to Davis that occurred in 1972.

In early 1972, Caruthers, California dairy farmer, Rodger McAfee (or Roger McAfee), with the help of a wealthy businessman, paid just over $100,000 in bail money to get Davis released from the county jail, while she awaited trial for the Marin County courthouse incident.  For me, this is when Free Angela and All Political Prisoners becomes energized as a narrative.

The elements of which director Shola Lynch makes best use in her film are the interviews, both new and archival.  As by chance or by destiny, the subjects of the new interviews are either good storytellers or are exceptionally good at conveying information.  I could listen to many of these interviewees for hours.

Archival interviews and news footage are also illuminating.  Then California governor (and future President), Ronald Reagan, does not come out looking like a good guy in this film.  He comes across as a pro-segregation-pro apartheid type who believes that Black people are second class citizens who don’t have full citizenship, and that outspoken people of color deserve imprisonment or even death.  As for President Richard Nixon, the side of him that is an authoritarian, paranoid psycho is fully in evidence.

Simply because of the story it tells and the incidents it recounts, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners should be treated like an important book – available in every public library in the United States.  All African-American parents should make sure that their children see this film.  Even conservative Black people whose Uncle Tom tendencies might make them act as if what happened to Angela Davis never happens to black people should show this film to their children.

7 of 10
A-

Tuesday, November 05, 2013


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

Review: "Reign of Fire" is a Hot Popcorn Thriller (Happy B'day, Matthew McConaughey)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 125 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Reign of Fire (2002)
Running time:  101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense action violence
DIRECTOR:  Rob Bowman
WRITERS:  Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka, and Matt Greenberg from a story by Gregg Chabot and Kevin Peterka
PRODUCERS:  Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Lili Fini Zanuck, and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Adrian Biddle (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Declan McGrath and Thom Noble
COMPOSERS:  Ed Shearmur and Brad Wagner

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler, Scott James Moutter, Ben Thorton, and Alice Krige

The subject of this movie review is Reign of Fire, a 2002 post-apocalyptic, science fiction and fantasy-action film from director Rob Bowman.  The film takes place in a time after fire-breathing dragons emerged from beneath Earth’s surface and began setting fire to everything, on their way to establishing their dominance over the planet.

Director Rob Bowman’s Reign of Fire is a beautiful, amped-up B-movie with the gloss and sheen of serious A-list action movie.  Bowman is known for his work on the television series, “The X-Files”.

Set a few decades into the 21st Century, it’s the tale of band of humans led by two rivals Quinn Abercromby (the sexy Christian Bale) and Denton Van Zan (the sexy Matthew McConaughey) who fight a brood of dragons that have destroyed civilization and hunt what’s left of mankind.  After the dragons deliver to huge setbacks to the humans, Quinn, Abercrombie, and the beautiful Alex (Izabella Scorupco), the action movie girl de rigueur, travel to London for a last stand against the mightiest of the dragons.

Bowman, who directed many episodes of “The X-Files” television series, as well as the feature film based upon the series, is very good at putting his cast and crew through the paces to create this fantastic and fun film.  It doesn’t have to make much sense (and it doesn’t) to be entertaining, but Bowman takes the B-movie to new cinematic heights.  Yes, I will wonder why everyone is filthy and grimy in this burnt-out world while Alex manages to look freshly washed every scene – a little thing compared to some others.  However, I enjoyed Reign of Fire’s intense portrayal of humans barely holding on, yet fighting for their lives in this post-apocalyptic thriller.  If you like fantasy and action, I’m sure you’ll have a good time with this tasty popcorn thriller.

7 of 10
B+

Updated:  Monday, November 04, 2013

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