Review: "The Raven," Nevermore? How 'Bout Nevermind

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 86 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Raven (2012)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for bloody violence and grisly images
DIRECTOR: James McTeigue
WRITERS: Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare
PRODUCERS: Marc D. Evans, Trevor Macy, and Aaron Ryder
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Danny Ruhlmann
EDITOR: Niven Howie
COMPOSER: Lucas Vidal

MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Dave Legeno, and Sam Hazeldine

The Raven is a 2012 mystery-thriller from director James McTeigue. This film is the most recent one to take its name from the Edgar Allen Poe poem, “The Raven” (first published in 1845). The Raven stars John Cusack as Poe, who is trying to solve a series of horrific murders that are seemingly inspired by his stories.

The film opens in 1849, and Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack) has just returned to Baltimore, Maryland. Broke and drunk, Poe is hoping to get some funds from the newspaper, the Baltimore Patriot, for publishing one of his reviews. What he finds instead is a general disinterest in him and his recent work. Poe also hopes to marry a young socialite, Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve), but her father, Captain Hamilton (Brendan Gleeson), would rather just kill Poe.

Things can’t get worse, can they? But they do when police Inspector Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) confronts Poe. Baltimore is rotten with unsolved murders, and the latest are two ghastly slayings that Fields believes is connected to Poe’s writings. Taunted by an unknown madman, Poe and Fields are forced into a cruel game of wits in which they must uncover the killer’s identity or more people will die.

When I first started reading about movies, I came across the term “high-concept.” It was used to describe a movie premise that could be pitched briefly and concisely. Imagine a movie that can be described in 20 words or less. The Raven is basically a high-concept: Edgar Allen Poe has to uncover the identity of a murderer who gets his ideas from Poe’s stories. That sound’s clever especially when you consider that Poe basically invented the genre of detective fiction as we know it with his stories starring the character, “C. Auguste Dupin.” Poe also died under mysterious circumstances, and this film’s story offers a fanciful version of events during Poe’s last days.

The Raven the movie is not clever. It’s just a bad movie. There were times while I was watching this that I could even convince myself that the filmmakers tried hard to make a good movie, but I just as often found myself thinking that at some point, the people involved with The Raven knew they had a really bad movie on their hands.

This movie is clumsy, but even worse, it’s ridiculous – from preposterous concept to silly ending. The whole thing is just a procession of absurdities. I like John Cusack, but he is awful in this, and the (dis)credit cannot go to the screenplay alone, which is amateurish (to put it mildly). Sometimes, Cusack seems disinterested and bored and other times lost. Poe deserves better.

1 of 10
D-

Friday, November 16, 2012

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"Star Trek into Darkness" Preview to Get IMAX Premiere

WORLD PREMIERE EXTENDED PREVIEW OF J. J. ABRAMS’ "STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS" TO DEBUT IN IMAX 3D ON DECEMBER 14th

The first 9-minutes FROM THE ANTICIPATED SEQUEL WILL BE RELEASED EXCLUSIVELY IN DIGITAL IMAX 3D THEATRES WORLDWIDE

Paramount Pictures will release the first 9 minutes from J.J. Abrams’ eagerly-awaited “STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS” exclusively in IMAX 3D months prior to the film’s official release in May 2013. This first-look at the movie will play in approximately 500 digital IMAX 3D theatres beginning December 14th.

“STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS,” the sequel to Abrams’ 2009 hit film that redefined the Star Trek universe for a new generation, marks the first time exclusive footage has played in IMAX 3D and only the third time a first-look will be released in IMAX.

“Our longtime partners J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and the Bad Robot team have really hit it out of the park – the footage is absolutely incredible," said Greg Foster, Chairman and President, IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “Their use of the IMAX® Camera and canvas is sure to impress current and future Star Trek fans alike, and we’re thrilled to once again work with our friends at Paramount Pictures to offer this extended ‘first look’ at this highly anticipated summer blockbuster.”

To further the IMAX experience, “STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS” used IMAX cameras to capture several sequences. Exclusively in IMAX theaters, sequences filmed with the extremely high-resolution cameras will expand to fill more of the screen with unprecedented crispness and clarity, putting moviegoers right into the explosive action and vast scope of the film.

“STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS” is written by Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci and directed by J.J. Abrams. Abrams is producing with Bryan Burk through Bad Robot Productions, along with Lindelof, Kurtzman and Orci.


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.

About Bad Robot
Bad Robot was formed by filmmaker J.J. Abrams in 2001. The company has produced television series such as ALIAS, LOST, FRINGE, PERSON OF INTEREST and REVOLUTION, and feature films such as CLOVERFIELD, STAR TREK, SUPER 8, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL, and the upcoming STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. Bad Robot is based in Los Angeles.

"In Time" is Timely and Right on Time

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 85 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


In Time (2011)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, some sexuality and partial nudity, and strong language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Andrew Niccol
PRODUCERS: Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, and Andrew Niccol
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Deakins
EDITOR: Zach Staenberg
COMPOSER: Craig Armstrong

SCI-FI/DRAMA with elements of action and crime

Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser, Alex Pettyfer, Johnny Galecki, Yaya DaCosta, Collins Pennie, Toby Hemingway, Olivia Wilde, and Matt Bomer

In Time is a 2012 science fiction drama from writer-director Andrew Niccol. The film stars Justine Timberlake as a fugitive in a future where time has replaced money as the currency that determines life and death.

In Time opens in the year 2169. In this world, people are genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, but they live only one more year after they turn 25. People can extend their lives by earning time, instead of money, for their labor, and the amount a time people have is displayed by a digital clock implanted in their forearms. However, that live-saving time must also be used to pay bills, debts, cost-of-living expenses, etc. Society is divided into specialized towns called “Time Zones,” that reflect class, wealth, and status. The super-rich have been able to obtain enough time to practically live as immortals in Time Zones like New Greenwich.

Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is a 28-year-old factory worker living in Dayton, a ghetto Time Zone. A chance meeting with 105-year-old Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) changes Will’s life, but tragedy strikes immediately after his windfall. Accused of murder, Will goes on the run, pursued by Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy), a cop called a “Timekeeper.” Will takes a hostage, New Greenwich resident, Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), and he is determined to destroy the system that makes the poor slaves to time and the wealthy masters of it.

Andrew Niccol is the director of one of my all-time favorite films, Gattaca (1997). Niccols’s work sometimes uses science fiction and fantasy settings, elements, and themes to tell stories concerning societal or political issues. In Time can be viewed as an allegorical tale about the increasing concentration of vast amounts of wealth in the hands of a relatively small group of people, happening in our own time. Call the time-wealthy this movie’s “the 1%.” In Time essentially addresses the naked greed of the modern financial class and Wall Street types that manipulate financial markets entirely for their benefit, regardless of how many people are left hungry, homeless, and destitute.

Lest you think In Time is heavy-handed, Niccol is clever in the way he uses familiar genres or elements to make his film entertaining and not strident or didactic. The relationship between Will and Sylvia recalls such true crime romance as Bonnie and Clyde, with Will also acting as a kind of Robin Hood. The characters Will and Sylvia are thematically similar to another pair of fugitives, Logan 3 and Jessica 6 of the novel, Logan’s Run.

All these citizens-turned-outlaw fugitive elements make In Time a crime fiction treat, while Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried make In Time dark and sexy. With them onscreen the majority of the runtime, In Time is never boring, and they actually bring clarity to Niccol’s concepts, ideas, and themes. Seyfriend can do sexy-but-dangerous as well as any young starlet; she’s like an irresistible, gourmet chocolate treat that might hide at least one razorblade (but you never know). Timberlake is a good, but not great actor, but he is a movie star. He sells this movie. Niccol is lucky to have them. This duo makes sure that In Time is on time when speaking about these times in which we live.

8 of 10
A

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Dwayne Johnson to Star as Hercules

MGM and Paramount Pictures to bring Radical Studios’ Hercules: The Thracian Wars to the big screen.

Radical Studios is excited to announce that its best-selling original graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars will be adapted as a motion picture to be co-produced by MGM Studios and Paramount Pictures.

Hercules is an original graphic novel written by Steve Moore for Radical Studios. It is an action-filled story based on the popular Ancient Greek mythology of Hercules. The film stars Dwayne Johnson and is directed by Brett Ratner. Hercules will be produced by Radical President Barry Levine, Beau Flynn and Brett Ratner. Peter Berg, Sarah Aubrey, and Radical EVP Jesse Berger will executive produce. The screenplay was adapted by Ryan Condal with script revisions by Evan Spiliotopoulos. Production is scheduled to start in early 2013.

Hercules is the second Radical Studios project set to reach the big screen following the recent wrap of production on Oblivion. Oblivion is an original concept conceived by TRON: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski and developed by Radical Studios. The film stars Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Melissa Leo. Oblivion is being produced by Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Joseph Kosinski, Duncan Henderson and Barry Levine, with executive producers David Morrison, Jesse Berger and Justin Springer. Oblivion is being distributed by Universal Pictures and is set for an April 12, 2013 IMAX release and April 19, 2013 worldwide release.

Please visit http://radicalstudios.com/ to learn more about Hercules: The Thracian Wars. The graphic novel is available for purchase on the site as well as digitally through iTunes and Amazon.

Radical Studios will continue to release news and updates surrounding both Hercules and Oblivion. Stay informed by liking Radical’s Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/RadicalPublishing, following Radical’s YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/RadicalPublishing, and following @radicalstudios on Twitter.

Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson Join LEGO Movie Voice Cast

Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman and Alison Brie Join New LEGO® Movie Cast in Starring Vocal Roles

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman and Alison Brie are the latest stars to sign on for the new LEGO® feature film adventure, currently in production. The four will join Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett and Morgan Freeman in voicing characters for the upcoming original 3D animated film, set for a February 7, 2014 release, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures.

The first-ever full length theatrical LEGO movie follows Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.

Ferrell (“The Campaign”) stars as the voice of Emmet’s primary adversary, President Business, an erudite, anal-retentive CEO who has a hard time balancing world domination with micro-managing his own life; while Neeson (“Taken” and “Taken 2,” Oscar nominee for “Schindler’s List”) stars as the voice of the president’s powerful henchman, known as Bad Cop, who will stop at nothing to catch Emmet. Offerman (NBC’s “Parks and Recreation”) takes on the role of a craggy, swaggering pirate obsessed with revenge on President Business and Brie (NBC’s “Community”) plays a sweet, loveable member of Emmet’s team with a powerful secret.

Chris Pratt (“Moneyball”) stars as the voice of Emmet. Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”) and Elizabeth Banks (“The Hunger Games,” Emmy nominee for “30 Rock”), will star as two of Emmet’s fellow travelers: Vitruvius, an old mystic; and tough-as-nails Lucy, who mistakes Emmet for the savior of the world and guides him on his quest. Lucy also calls upon the mysterious Batman, a LEGO minifigure voiced by Will Arnett (Emmy nominee, “30 Rock”), with whom she shares a history.

The 3D computer animated adventure will open nationwide on February 7, 2014.

Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (“21 Jump Street,” Golden Globe nominee “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”) are directing from their original screenplay, story by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman and Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, based on LEGO construction toys. The film will incorporate some of the most popular LEGO figures while introducing several new characters, inviting fans who have enjoyed the brand’s innovative toys and hugely popular video games for generations to experience their visually unique LEGO world as never seen before.

The film will be produced by Dan Lin (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”) and Roy Lee (“The Departed,” “How to Train Your Dragon”). It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

LEGO, its logo, brick & knob configuration and the Minifigure are trademarks of The LEGO Group. ©2012 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.

Review: "Skyfall" is Among the Best Daniel Craig James Bond Films... so far

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 84 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Skyfall (2012)
Running time: 143 minutes (2 hours, 23 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense violent sequences throughout, some sexuality, language and smoking
DIRECTOR: Sam Mendes
WRITERS: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and John Logan
PRODUCERS: Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Deakins
EDITORS: Stuart Baird with Kate Baird
COMPOSER: Thomas Newman
MAIN THEME: “Skyfall” performed by Adele and composed by Adele and Paul Epworth

ACTION/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Ben Wishaw, Rory Kinnear, and Ola Rapace

Skyfall is a 2012 action movie and spy thriller. Directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), Skyfall is the 23rd film in the James Bond series. Actor Daniel Craig returns for his third outing as James Bond, agent 007. Skyfall finds Bond’s loyalty tested as the British Secret Intelligence Service comes under attack.

As the film opens, MI6 agents James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) are in Turkey where they are tracking a killer named Patrice (Ola Rapace). This mercenary has in his possession a computer hard drive containing highly-sensitive information that belongs to the British, but the mission goes badly.

Later, Bond’s superior, M (Judi Dench), comes under political pressure to retire, even as MI6 comes under attack. With his credibility and ability to perform under question, Bond sets out to discover the identity of the attacker. What he finds is that M’s past has come back to haunt her in the form of a mysterious figure known as Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). As 007 tracks down the threat, he finds himself facing his own past, but he must destroy that threat no matter how personal the cost.

I don’t think that there is much to say. Skyfall is good, and it is the best James Bond movie in recent memory, and certainly one of the best Bond films ever. It is well-directed with bracing action set pieces and thrilling scenes that, quite frankly, enthralled me. The performances are good, especially Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva; surely, he should at least be considered for an Oscar nomination.

The film is well-written, but I wouldn’t say that it is much better written than any of the other Daniel Craig Bond films. Most of the first hour of Skyfall is testament to brilliant spy thriller screenwriting. Once the film moves to London (because the story is resolved in Great Britain), it loses some of its mojo. It is not that Skyfall turns bad. It simply slows from a genius pop confection and transitions into a highly-skillful, espionage, shoot-‘em-up, action flick.

That’s not much of a fall, but it is still a step down from the near-perfection that opened Skyfall. Anyway, no one who has every enjoyed a James Bond film should miss this. Plus, I saw Skyfall in digital, and the picture sure was pretty.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, November 11, 2012

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"Prometheus" is One of 2012's Best Films

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 83 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Prometheus (2012)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – R for sci-fi violence including some intense images, and brief language
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
WRITERS: Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof (based on elements created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett)
PRODUCERS: David Giler, Walter Hill, and Ridley Scott
COMPOSER: Marc Streitenfeld
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dariusz Wolski (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Pietro Scalia
COMPOSER: Marc Streitenfeld

SCI-FI/ACTION/MYSTERY

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, and Benedict Wong

Prometheus is a 2012 science fiction film from director Ridley Scott. The film is related to Ridley Scott’s 1979 film, Alien, and is not quite a prequel to the movie, at least according to Scott. I think that it is one of the year’s best films, thus far.

Prometheus is mainly set near the end of the 21st century. In 2089, archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a star map, one similar to others they have found at archaeological digs of other ancient sites. They interpret these maps as an invitation from the beings that created humanity, which the two call the “Engineers.”

They convince Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), the elderly and dying CEO of Weyland Corporation, to fund a space-going, scientific exploration vessel, Prometheus, so that they can follow the star map to a distant moon. Prometheus and her crew of 17 arrive at the moon, LV-223, where they find an artificial structure. What awaits them inside is a mystery that spans time and space and a terrifying battle to save the human race.

By the point in the film where Prometheus arrived at its destination, I was sure that Prometheus the movie was Ridley Scott’s attempt at making his own 2001: A Space Odyssey, the famous Stanley Kubrick science fiction film. This film has a sense of wonder, so much so that it seems to celebrate the human urge to explore and to discover. The screenplay, which is brimming with interesting ideas and intriguing notions, offers a counter-balance to Scott’s urge to explore. That is the idea that people do the things they do simply because they can, and that asking why may be irrelevant.

The film is beautiful. Its visual aesthetic design mixes the slick holographic cool of James Cameron’s Avatar with touches of H.R. Giger’s “biomechanoid” style which defined the film, Alien. There are also a number of good performances. As Meredith Vickers, Charlize Theron does menace in a way more bracing than in her Oscar-winning performance in Monster, and Idris Elba steals scenes as Janek, the captain of the Prometheus. However, Michael Fassbinder as the android, David, is fantastic. He is mesmerizing, intimidating, and even sexy.

Prometheus is thoughtful, always playing around with ideas or a thesis or two; even when the film turns on the action and the thrills, it’s still thinking. It does no damage to the original Alien film, but Scott and collaborators have the makings for a new, genuine science fiction franchise.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, November 09, 2012