Stay Alive: Good Movie, Poor Title

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Stay Alive (2006)
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for horror violence, disturbing images, language, and brief sexual and drug content
DIRECTOR: William Brent Bell
WRITERS: Matthew Peterman and William Brent Bell
PRODUCERS: McG, Matthew Peterman, Gary Barber, and Roger Birnbaum, Peter Schlessel, and James D. Stern
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alejandro Martinez
EDITOR: Harvey Rosenstock and Mark Stevens
COMPOSER: John Frizzell

HORROR

Starring: Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, Frankie Muniz, Sophia Bush, Jimmi Simpson, Adam Goldberg, Rio Hackford, Milo Ventimiglia, and Maria Kalinina

The subject of this movie review is Stay Alive, a 2006 horror film released by Hollywood Pictures, a Walt Disney Pictures production label. The film is directed by William Brent Bell, and McG (who directed the Charlie’s Angels films) is one of the film’s producers. Stay Alive follows a group of teens who enter the world of an online video game in order to solve the mystery of their friend’s death.

After the mysterious and brutal murder of his childhood best friend, Loomis Crowley (Milo Ventimiglia), Hutch MacNeil (Jon Foster) inherits “Stay Alive,” a test copy of a next generation, first person shooter, horror survival game that Loomis had. The game is based on the true story (only in the movie) of “The Blood Countess,” an 18th century New Orleans noblewoman who ran a boarding school for girls. It was later discovered that the countess was a witch and that she would torture and murder her students.

Hutch gathers a group of friends and fellow gamers to play Stay Alive, but they don’t know anything about the game other than that they shouldn’t have this test copy. Soon after playing the grisly game, Hutch and his friends discover a chilling connection: they are being murdered one-by-one by the same method by which the characters they play are murdered in Stay Alive. In fact, the game has blurred the line between the real world and the world of Stay Alive. Now, the gamers must unravel the mystery of The Blood Countess to defeat her because that’s the only way they are going to stay alive.

The advertising campaign for the new horror film, Stay Alive, suggests that the movie is a gruesome horror show about a gang of youngsters playing an equally gruesome horror video game. In order to get a “PG-13” rating, the filmmakers toned down what should be the goriest scenes, or perhaps the gore exists and will show up in an “unrated” DVD release. However, what does exist on film is quite good. Stay Alive is a goofy, fun horror flick that is way too unsettling and creepy at time. Director William Brent Bell has even mastered the jump-out-at-you tricks.

The film doesn’t really go into the gaming sub-culture, which is disappointing. The characters are contrived and hackneyed (I did like Frankie Muniz’s Swink Sylvania), and the plot has some holes. Still, this is a better video game movie than the mediocre adaptation of a real first person shooter game, Doom. The gaming sequences are convincing, and I certainly wanted to be in the game with Hutch and his friends. The sound effects and computer animated ghosts mixed with the idea of the supernatural creeping through our electronic entertainment makes this film kind of like an American version of such recent Japanese horror films as Ringu or Pulse. It also gives a nod to such apocalyptic scary movies as In the Mouth of Madness and Season of the Witch and video games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

In the final analysis, Stay Alive is a fun “gotcha” horror flick that combines the typical elements of a slasher film that has a supernatural boogieman (such as Halloween), and those are a youthful cast as the victims, a merciless killer, and lots of bumps in the night. In that case, Stay Alive is not as good as the best of that horror sub-genre, but it’s still good.

6 of 10
B

Friday, March 31, 2006

"Open Season" is a Good Buddy Comedy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 49 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


Open Season (2006)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some rude humor, mild action, and brief language
DIRECTORS: Roger Allers and Jill Culton with Anthony Stacchi
WRITERS: Steve Bencich & Ron J. Friedman and Nat Maudlin; from a screen story by Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi; from an original story by Steve Moore and John Carls
PRODUCER: Michelle Murdocca
EDITORS: Ken Solomon and Pam Ziegenhagen

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring: (voices) Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Billy Connolly, Jon Favreau, Patrick Warburton, Gordon Tootoosis, Jane Krakowski, Georgia Engel, and Cody Cameron

Open Season is Sony Pictures Animation’s first computer-animated (or 3D animation) feature film. This fish-out-water, reluctant buddy movie is a likeable story, but the animation is truly the star here.

Boog (Martin Lawrence), a domesticated grizzly bear, lives the good life in the tranquil town of Timberline with his kindhearted surrogate mother, Beth (Debra Messing), who rescued Boog when he was a cub. One day, Boog rescues Eliot (Ashton Kutcher), a mule deer with one antler missing, from the clutches of Shaw (Gary Sinise), the local law breaking, fanatical hunter. Eliot follows Boog home to his cushy digs where he lives with Beth, but this reluctant new friendship lands Boog in a lot of trouble. Before he knows it, Boog is left out in the wild, completely unprepared to live in the real world. Suddenly Boog and Eliot are forced into a partnership, and they have to survive the start of open season or they and all the forest animals may end up mounted on some hunter’s wall.

With 2006 being a busy year for 3D animated films, Open Season stands out for two reasons. First, the voice performances are very good, in particular Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, and Gary Sinise. Lawrence mixes gruff charm, a slight ego, and a genial self-effacing attitude that makes Boog come across as a sort of everyman who is simply looking to enjoy his comfy life without making too many waves. Kutcher’s Eliot is the classic manic funnyman who is always in trouble and manages to drag an unsuspecting stranger down with him. Sinise’s Shaw is a great comic villain, and he gives a fine performance by making his recognizable voice unrecognizable.

The animation is very good, and immediately had my attention. The character motion is fluid, and the movement of objects within the sets (car chases, floods, battle scenes, etc.) is spectacular. Sony Pictures Animation manages to duplicate the “squash and stretch” effect (think classic Looney Tunes and MGM cartoon shorts) of DreamWorks’ Madagascar with the kind of lush colors Pixar delivers in films like Finding Nemo and Cars. The characters are rubbery and flexible, and that adds to the comedy, especially in big action scenes (like the “dam break” and the battle between the forest animals and hunters). Open Season’s color palette perfectly recreates a lush autumn forest and the comforting earth tones of the great outdoors.

Open Season makes the buddy action comedy seem new by setting it as a delightful animal fable with lots of sassy banter and gentle innuendo. The animation captures the eye because it imitates the best of earlier 3D cartoon features, but also manages to be its own new thing. The characters are endearing, and Boog and Eliot make an excellent animation comedy pair, but this beautiful animation with its idiosyncratic visual style is something to remember.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Review: "A Scanner Darkly" is Amazing (Happy B'day, Keanu Reeves)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 166 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for drug and sexual content, language, and a brief violent image
DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater
WRITER: Richard Linklater (based upon the novel by Philip K. Dick)
PRODUCERS: Tommy Pallotta, Jonah Smith, Erwin Stoff, Anne Walker-McBay, and Palmer West
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shane F. Kelly
EDITOR: Sandra Adair
COMPOSER: Graham Reynolds

SCI-FI/DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Jr., Woody Harrelson, Rory Cochrane, Winona Ryder, Chamblee Ferguson, and Angela Rawna

The subject of this movie review is A Scanner Darkly, a 2006 science fiction thriller and animated film from director Richard Linklater. The film is based on the 1977 Philip K. Dick novel of the same title, and George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh are among its executive producers.

In a future world (“7 years from now” the movie tells us) where drug addiction is rampant, law enforcement will do anything to catch dealers and their suppliers – even turn one of their own into an addict. Fred (Keanu Reeves) is an undercover agent who spies on (or “scans”) a drug addict and dealer named Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves). Through this assignment Fred becomes hooked on Substance D, a hallucinogenic drug that is as destructive as meth is in our own times. However, this tale has a twist on reality for us. Fred is also Bob. Fred finds his sanity splintered as he deals with his duplicitous law enforcement superiors, and, as Bob, with the two addicts who are his housemates: the shaggy dopester, Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson), and the conniving James Barris (Robert Downey, Jr.). Barris turns stool pigeon and joins Fred and his superiors in a complicated scheme to catch Bob and tear down Bob’s drug operation. Meanwhile, Bob has fallen in love with another addict, Donna Hawthorne (Winona Ryder), but there may be more to her than meets the eye.

Richard Linklater’s trippy sci-fi film, A Scanner Darkly, is an animated film, but not the kind we usually think of (Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., etc.). For this movie, Linklater shot live-action footage of his cast and the sets. Animators then took that footage and painstakingly drew and painted over it – a process known as “interpolated rotoscoping” or simply “rotoscoping.” There was some rotoscoping in early Disney animated features, possibly Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (the animators animated Snow White by drawing her over footage of a live actress). Linklater used this process in his 2001 experimental film, Waking Life. Here, it’s like watching a film in which the characters, objects, places, and settings are all shifting liquids – living paint-by-numbers pastels.

As for the quality of the rotoscoping in A Scanner Darkly on the performances, the cast largely looks like themselves, and the audience will certainly recognize the bigger names here: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Jr., and Woody Harrelson. Only Winona Ryder seems less like herself, at least until the end, and that may have been a deliberate choice on the part of Linklater. The technique serves the actors quiet well. They seem lively and free to be someone other than their famous selves, even Reeves who can be a bit stiff. It’s the kind of freedom that comes from wearing a masking, and in a sense, knowing that film recording of your performance will be painted over is like acting with a mask.

As for the narrative, A Scanner Darkly is trippy, but Linklater has captured the paranoia and schizophrenia of Dick’s work on screen like no one has ever done before. That’s saying a lot considering that Dick’s short stories have become films such as Total Recall, Minority Report, and Paycheck, and one of his novels became the film, Blade Runner. Published in 1977, Dick’s novel is a sci-fi allegorical recount of his drug experiences going back to the 1960’s, and it’s one of his most beloved works. I’m happy that Linklater was able to make his own film while retaining so much of PKD’s lunacy.

Here, it’s fun to wonder who is really who and if what’s going on is “real” or just drug-induced fantasies or simply paranoia. Linklater adds a counter-culture, post-millennium vibe all his own. The narrative gets a bit soft and slow in the middle and at the beginning of the last act, but otherwise Linklater’s experiment reaches for perfection. This is like watching his classic mid-90’s flick, Dazed and Confused with a David Lynch remix and backbeats from Requiem for a Dream. Occasionally maddening, sometimes confusing, rarely stupefying, A Scanner Darkly is an experimentalist art film that succeeds on the very path the filmmaker set for it.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, August 4, 2006

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"Monster House" is an Animated Horror Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 159 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Monster House (2005)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – PG for scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude humor, and brief language
DIRECTOR: Gil Kenan
WRITERS: Dan Harmon & Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler; from a story by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab
PRODUCERS: Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Paul C. Babin and Xavier Pérez Grobet
EDITORS: Fabienne Rawley and Adam Scott
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/HORROR/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring: (voices) Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Jason Lee, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jon Heder, and Kathleen Turner

The new computer-animated film, Monster House, isn’t just a kid’s film, and even if it were, it’s not just any kid’s movie. Monster House is a genuine horror movie, but one made for family viewing (perhaps a little too intense for younger than 8 or 9), and its roller-coaster, action movie ending makes the movie a bit more than standard computer animated fare. Free of all those sometimes annoying pop culture references that beset so many other computer animated films, Monster House is just a good solid ghost story told in a way that will scare the kids and has enough fright to engage older minds.

He’s on the verge of puberty, but when his parents head away for the weekend, DJ (Mitchel Musso) still gets a babysitter. To make matters worse, that very afternoon, DJ had a run-in with Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi), the neighbor who lives across the street in the rundown old house. During their confrontation, Nebbercracker seemingly dies, but that’s not the end of the story. Nebbercracker’s death apparently brings the old house to life as some kind of monster. The front door grows spiky teeth out of boards, and the rug in the front hall becomes a monstrous tongue that darts outside and snatches unsuspecting visitors. Anyone who steps foot on the lawn is monster house food.

The house seems to have a special hate for DJ, so he calls for the assistance of his best friend, the chubby prankster, Chowder (Sam Lerner). It’s not long before the boys add the final piece to their heroic trio when they save the life of Jenny (Spencer Locke), a beautiful young girl about the age of DJ and Chowder, who unwittingly stops by the monster house to sell school candy. It seems, however, that no adults will believe them that the house across from DJ’s is a living, breathing, scary monster. It’s up to them to save the neighborhood, but will it cost them their own lives.

Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, two Oscar-winning directors and sometime partners, Monster House is shot in motion-capture animation, the process Zemeckis used for his 2004 film, The Polar Express. In motion-capture, the performances of the live actors are filmed; then, the live action photography is used as a model for the motion-capture computer animation. Monster House, however, looks more like such 3-D animation films as Madagascar or The Incredibles than it looks like The Polar Express.

That said – I like the animation in this movie. Both the characters in their design and in the way they move look like something from one of Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated films (Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride). The film doesn’t look flat, and the characters almost seem like puppets on a set. This unique look makes Monster House stand out from the rest of the jam-packed computer-animation crowd (and 2005 is heavy with 3-D animation).

In terms of story, Monster House looks and feels like something Spielberg or Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) might have done two decades ago. The story’s setting is vaguely anachronistic, partially situated in the 1980’s, but with some touches that have only recently come into existence. The story has the distinct flavor of Spielberg’s mid-80’s anthology series, “Amazing Stories,” and even a little bit of “Tales from the Crypt, the late HBO series of which Zemeckis was one of the executive producers. Most of the audience will recognize the familiar plot – the neighborhood ghost story or the monster in the house down the street.

Monster House is just a well done film. From the wonderfully vivid colors to the fast-paced scares and thrills, it engages all ages. The lead characters: DJ, Chowder, and Jenny and the young voice actors who play them are appealing with winning comic personalities – giving a human touch to this computer-produced film. Even the supporting voice performances are good (Nick Cannon gives a surprisingly nimble and funny turn as a daffy rookie cop.). That’s why Monster House captured my attention and imagination and gave me thrills and chills the whole way through. Monster House does have a few lapses, but anyone willing to give it a chance just might find a good time. It’s one of those magical summer treasures that the kid in all of us loves to find in our favorite theatre.

7 of 10
A-

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Gil Kenan)

2007 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Film”

Review: "The Break-Up" Puts Starch in the Romantic Comedy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 241 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Break-Up (2006)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content, some nudity, and language
DIRECTOR: Peyton Reed
WRITERS: Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender; from a story by Vince Vaughn and Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender
PRODUCERS: Scott Stuber and Vince Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Edwards
EDITOR: David Rosenbloom and Dan Lebental

DRAMA/COMEDY with elements of romance

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Cole Hauser, Joey Lauren Adams, Peter Billingsley, John Michael Higgins, Ann-Margaret, Judy Davis, Justin Long, and Jacqueline Williams

When celebrity couples make a film, it can be a financial disaster (Gigli starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) or a box office smash (Mr. & Mrs. Smith starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston are a celebrity couple (although they are coy about it), and their film, The Break-Up, was a box office hit in spite of receiving mostly mediocre and poor reviews. But I liked it a lot.

Once upon a time, Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston) were deeply in love, but like all couples, the daily grind and same old routine started to drive them crazy. One evening, after a long an exhausting day, Gary and Brooke have an argument and somehow it becomes the break-up. The problem is they live together, and neither wants to give up their plum condo. An all-out war and a test of wills begins with each one turning to his or her friends and family for advice. Gary and Brooke are each determined to be the “last man standing,” but, even as things get nastier, will either one like where this feud is going when there are still strong feelings of love.

Vince Vaughn is charming and charismatic, and no matter how many times he plays a sarcastic slacker, it never gets tired. Jennifer Aniston, gorgeous with a tight body and rocking ass, is quiet good in romantic roles. She seems to excel at playing the girlfriend or object of affection, and she does it well enough to suggest that someone should try her in a dramatic role. The Break-Up is her test drive because it is more drama than it is romance or comedy.

Vaughn and Aniston make The Break-Up both spicy and edgy, and it’s absolute delicious fun to watch this take-no-prisoners disintegration of a once thriving relationship. The comedy is dark, and the script maybe goes too far for some viewers in the way the writers are almost anal about showing as many embarrassing scenes and ugly confrontations between Gary and Brooke. As he did in Down with Love, director Peyton Reed is proving to be adept at making offbeat romances.

There are some nice supporting characters, nicely performed by a clever cast of character actors and actors who make a living playing the friend. As good as Jon Favreau, John Michael Higgins, Judy Davis, and Justin long are, they’re really just filler – the kind of comic relief buddies that are all too common in Hollywood relationship flicks. The real treat is Vaughn and Aniston, and The Break-Up is certainly an example of how good it sometimes can be when celebrity couples work together.

7 of 10
A-

Saturday, November 25, 2006

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Review: "Little Children" is Social Satire at Play (Happy B'day, Jackie Earle Haley)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 87 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Little Children (2006)
Running time: 137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexuality and nudity, language, and some disturbing content
DIRECTOR: Todd Field
WRITERS: Todd Field and Tom Perrotta (based upon the novel by Tom Perrotta)
PRODUCERS: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, and Todd Field
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Antonio Calvache
EDITOR: Leo Trombetta
COMPOSER: Thomas Newman
2007 Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Gregg Edelman, Sadie Goldstein, Ty Simpkins, Noah Emmerich, Jackie Earle Haley, Phyllis Somerville, Helen Carey, and Mary B. McCann

The lives of several suburbanites who are struggling with satisfaction intersect on the streets of their small town in director Todd Field’s Little Children.

Little Children is a 2006 drama with darkly comic undertones from director Todd Field and starring Kate Winslet. The film is based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta, who also co-wrote the film’s screenplay.

Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) is a young mother who doesn’t really know how to be a mother to her daughter, Lucy (Sadie Goldstein). She is dissatisfied with her husband, Richard (Gregg Edelman), so she starts an affair with stay-home dad, Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson). Brad has failed the bar exam twice, much to the chagrin of his wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), who while preoccupied with her career, still has time to suspect that Brad and Sarah are having an affair while using Lucy and their son Aaron (Ty Simpkins) as cover. Meanwhile, Ronnie J. McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley), a child predator recently released from prison, has moved back in with his mother, May McGorvey (Phyllis Somerville), much to the consternation of his neighbors. The angriest resident is Larry Hedges (Noah Emmerich), a retired cop with a tragic past. Will Lyman, the voice of PBS’s “Frontline,” provides narration.

Fields seems to be of two minds in Little Children. For most of the first hour, Little Children is a satirical comedy about suburban dissatisfaction. It’s almost an anthropological study of suburbanites who are physically adults and who have taken on adult responsibilities, but who are really adolescents. The second half of Little Children is mostly a domestic drama that deals with the repercussions of immaturity, irresponsibility, and disloyalty to the nuclear family to which one belongs.

Chilling, smart, acerbic, poignant, and occasionally sly, Little Children takes a sharp look at suburban life without criticizing the lifestyle so much as it mocks how some live it. (Thanks in no small part to Will Lyman’s narration.) In that, Little Children is potent, but it has a glaring weakness. It drifts in the middle. Somewhere between transforming from a social satire to an edgy domestic drama, the narrative gets really soft. It’s enough to kill the film, before the edgy events of the second half take hold.

The performances are good, but Kate Winslet, who earned many award nominations for playing Sarah Pierce, is merely good, not great, which is good enough. (She doesn’t have to be great all the time.) On the other hand, Jackie Earle Haley makes the most of his relatively small role. He doesn’t make Ronnie a sex offender with a heart of gold. In fact, he isn’t shy about showing how dangerous Ronnie can be. Ultimately, what opens this film and what earned him so much praise, is how Haley reveals the struggle and frustrated anger that resides in a man who cannot grow a good future because he may be trapping himself in the poison ground of his dreadful, sinful past.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Kate Winslet), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jackie Earle Haley), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Todd Field and Tom Perrotta)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Kate Winslet)

2007 Golden Globes, USA: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Kate Winslet), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Todd Field and Tom Perrotta)

Thursday, June 07, 2007

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Review: "Ice Age: The Meltdown" is Good, Too

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 240 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some mild language and innuendo
DIRECTOR: Carlos Saldanha
WRITERS: Gerry Swallow and Peter Gaulke and Jim Hecht; from a story by Gerry Swallow and Peter Gaulke
PRODUCER: Lori Forte

ANIMATION/COMEDY/ADVENTURE/FAMILY/FANTASY

Starring: (voices) Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, and Queen Latifah, Will Arnett, Jay Leno, and Chris Wedge

The three-member herd from the hit 2002 film, Ice Age: Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary), Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), and Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) returns in the hit sequel, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and an impending natural disaster inadvertently adds members to this small family.

The deep freeze of the Ice Age is over, and the ice-covered earth is starting to melt, especially the gigantic glaciers that enclose the cherished valley where Diego, Manny, and Sid live. Reluctantly, the trio accepts the fact that the valley will be flooded, so they’re forced to leave. They begin a journey to the other side of the valley where supposedly awaits a boat that will save them from the flood. Along the way, the trio meets Ellie (Queen Latifah), a mammoth who thinks she is a possum, and her two possum brothers, Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), a rambunctious, prank playing duo. Manny, who thought he was the last mammoth, is anxious, but also reluctant to make a friend (or maybe more) of Ellie, who is standoffish with Manny. The trio turned sextet will have to stick together if they’re going to survive the impending flood and two deadly new enemies that are silently stalking them. The prehistoric squirrel/rat, Scrat (Chris Wedge), is also back and still fighting to retrieve that one special acorn.

Ice Age: The Meltdown is one of those sequels that improves on the original, and the filmmakers did that by adding characters that aren’t just new and novel. The new trio, Ellie and the possum brothers Crash and Eddie, is also actually highly entertaining. Both Ellie and the actress who gives the character her voice, Queen Latifah, have endearing personalities and no-nonsense streaks. Queen Latifah’s Ellie and Ray Romano’s Manny actually make a good couple, as Ellie’s sassiness and Manny’s cutting attitude mesh.

Denis Leary’s Diego is still a good sidekick, and John Leguizamo’s Sid is ever entertaining comic relief. However, Crash and Eddie steal their thunder. The animators and writers created supporting characters that would be great as stars in their own cartoons (think the penguins from Madagascar). It is, however, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck who make them truly winning characters, as they breathe life and personality, turning potential into triumph.

On one hand, Ice Age: The Meltdown could have been a pedestrian sequel, but this movie is a good example of how animators and voice actors can take any kind of material and turn it into a winner just by mining their talents to make the right choices. It’s a heady mixture of storytelling, art, and entertainment, and that means Ice Age: The Meltdown will always be more than just an obligatory sequel to a very popular movie. I really didn’t want this fun and heartwarming tale of a patchwork family to end.

7 of 10
A-

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Review: Tom Hanks' Magic Touch Energizes "The Da Vinci Code" (Happy B'day, Tom Hanks)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 109 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Running time: 149 minutes (2 hours, 29 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, some nudity, thematic material, brief drug references, and sexual content
DIRECTOR: Ron Howard
WRITER: Akiva Goldsman (based upon the book by Dan Brown)
PRODUCERS: John Calley, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Salvatore Totino
EDITORS: Dan Hanley, A.C.E. and Mike Hille, A.C.E.

MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, with Paul Bettany and Jean Reno, Jean-Yves Berteloot, Etienne Chicot, and Jean-Pierre Marielle

The subject of this movie review is The Da Vinci Code, a 2006 American mystery thriller from director Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. The film is based upon Dan Brown’s 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code, which was a worldwide bestseller.

The French police summon famed Harvard Professor of Religious Symbology, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), to the world renown Paris museum, the Louvre, to assist them in a murder investigation in which the victim, curator of the Louvre, Jacques Sauniere (Jean-Pierre Marielle), has left behind a bloody trail of symbols and clues, including a bloody pentacle Sauniere drew on his own body before he died. However, police cryptologist, Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), also arrives at the crime scene and surreptitiously informs Langdon that the lead investigator, Captain Fauche (Jean Reno), has pegged him as the first and only suspect in the murder.

Together, Langdon and Neveu unveil a series of stunning secrets hidden in the works of Renaissance painter Leonardo Da Vinci housed at the museum, all of which lead to a legendary secret society that has been guarding a secret nearly 2000 years old. Barely escaping the museum with the police hot on the tracks, Langdon and Neveu race from Paris to the French countryside to London, collecting clues as they attempt to crack Da Vinci’s code and reveal a conspiracy that may shake the very foundations of mankind. There, are however, sinister forces determined to stop them – personified in the form of a murderous albino monk, Silas (Paul Bettany).

Ron Howard’s latest film, The Da Vinci Code, is adapted by screenwriter Akiva Goldsman from author Dan Brown’s insanely popular novel of the same name. In fact, at 60 million copies sold worldwide, Brown’s book is the biggest selling hardcover work of fiction in history, and it has courted controversy because of its mix of conspiracy theory and pseudo history about the origins of Christianity virtually since the day it was published. Howard’s adaptation opened the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, where many of those who saw it allegedly panned the movie. By the time it opened theatrically worldwide on May 19th, U.S. film critics were either damning the movie with faint praise or simply skewering it.

Some critics have said that Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou have no screen chemistry, but their characters certainly connect the first time they meet one another in the narrative. Some said that Hanks was miscast as novelist Dan Brown’s cerebral version of Indiana Jones, Robert Langdon, and Hanks is certainly older than the Langdon in Brown’s books (Langdon is also the star of Brown’s Angels and Demons) who is 30-something. However, Hanks is one of the most popular actors of his generation and of the last two decades, not to mention that he is a stellar movie actor. Regardless of the roles he takes, audiences take to Hanks and willingly live vicariously through his characters – seeing the movie through his eyes. He could sell salvation to the devil. So if he’s not like the Langdon of the book, it hardly seems to matter in the context of the movie.

Some critics have said that Howard’s direction is slow and makes The Da Vinci Code clunky. The film is riveting from beginning to end, and Howard, who has a Spielberg-like penchant forgetting audiences to respond favorably to the emotional cues he sets for different points in his films, takes us on an thrill ride that is equal parts intellect-engaging mystery tale and pulse-pounding, action/adventure flick. Some critics have also said that Howard’s film buries us in exposition. Much of the novel amounts to page after page of endless (but interesting) discussion of philosophy, religious history, art history, Middle Ages history, symbols, codes, Catholicism, etc. Goldsman screenplay only retains the exposition that is necessary for the turning the central plot of Dan Brown’s book into a film. Howard takes much of the novel’s historical discussion and turns it into flashbacks for the movie, so (for instance) we see snippets of The Knights Templars’ history rather than just be told about it.

The Da Vinci Code is simply a grand adult thriller that more than retains the spirit of Brown’s both controversial and internationally beloved book. The filmmaking on the part of writer and director is superb. The art direction and set decoration is top notch, all of it filmed in a cool and comforting photography that creates a sense of great mystery – an atmosphere that recalls Raiders of the Lost Ark. The acting is just right, with the performers knowing how to play up or down the fantastical and preposterous notions from Brown’s books – how to make their characters make the outlandish seem worth the effort to unravel it. The best at that is Ian McKellen as the jovial, bon vivant of alternative and wacky history, Sir Leigh Teabing. It all makes The Da Vinci Code one of the truly exceptional film mysteries to come along in many a year.

9 of 10
A+

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

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Review: "Over the Hedge" is a Surprising Delight

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 107 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Over the Hedge (2006)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some rude humor and mild comic action
DIRECTORS: Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick
WRITERS: Len Blum, Lorne Cameron and David Hoselton, and Karey Kirkpatrick with Chris Poche (based upon characters created by Michael Fry and T. Lewis)
PRODUCER: Bonnie Arnold
EDITOR: John K. Carr
COMPOSER: Rupert Gregson-Williams
SONGS: Ben Folds

ANIMATION/COMEDY/ACTION/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Haden Church, Allison Janney, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Avril Lavigne, Omid Djalili, Sami Kirkpatrick, Shane Baumel, and Madison Davenport

The subject of this movie review is Over the Hedge, a 2006 computer-animated film from DreamWorks Animation. This action comedy is based upon the syndicated newspaper comic strip, Over the Hedge, created by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. The film focuses on a raccoon who uses his friends to help him repay a debt.

RJ (Bruce Willis) is an opportunistic raccoon, and his greed causes him to destroy the treasure trove of a dangerous bear named Vincent (Nick Nolte). Vincent gives RJ less than a week to replace his loot. Fortune leads RJ to a sprawling new suburban neighborhood, where he figures he can replace all of Vincent’s things (such as potato chips, a red wagon, a blue ice cooler, etc.).

Meanwhile, Verne (Gary Shandling), a turtle, and the woodland friends that make up his family: a hyperactive squirrel named Hammy (Steve Carell); a sassy, but low on self esteem skunk named Stella (Wanda Sykes); a melodramatic possum named Ozzie (William Shatner) and his daughter, Heather (Avril Lavigne); Lou & Penny (Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara), a porcupine couple with three little ones, wake up from their long winter’s nap only to discover that a tall green thing has cropped up in the middle of their forest home. RJ arrives just in time to inform Verne and his group that the “thing” is actually a hedge, and over the hedge is the “gateway to the good life” – a neighborhood full of humans. Humans live to eat (where as the animals eat to live), and they have lots of food and lots of stuff, he tells them – stuff they can take for themselves.

Verne is suspicious and a little jealous of RJ’s assertive nature, but Verne’s woodland band is ready to follow the manipulative raccoon into the domain of their over-indulgent human neighbors. Verne believes that they have more to fear than to gain from humans, and he is right. Gladys (Allison Janney), the president of the neighborhood association, hires a murderous pest exterminator, Dwayne (Thomas Haden Church), to get rid or RJ, Verne, and the rest of the animals. Can RJ and Verne put aside their differences in time to save the group? Will RJ be able to replace Vincent’s things before he shows up to kill the poor raccoon?

Although there were times in DreamWorks Animation’s latest computer animated film, Over the Hedge, when I was sure the filmmakers were simply trying to make another middle of the road, easily digestible family film, there were many more times when I was shocked at how genuinely sly, witty, smart, and lightly subversive this cartoon movie is. The narrative takes the side of the group over the individual, in this case because the group survives best as a unit and not on the whims of an individual prone to always look out for number one. There’s lots of clever commentary on American consumerism and also on how much people waste, and class division comes up in the form of the woodland animals being poor people who are conservative and gather to live, while the humans over the hedge in suburbia are more about gathering things for status. The movie also takes several digs at junk food.

The quality of the computer animation in DreamWorks Animation’s films (produced by PDI) continues to improve with each film, and that’s evident in Over the Hedge. The texture of the animals’ fur, the reflective surfaces, and the sets (the neighborhood lawn grass is good enough to call attention to itself) are all quite impressive. The surface consistency looks more real; it’s as if the animals’ skins, fur, quills, etc are authentic and not rubber suits. Character movement, which took a leap forward for DreamWorks in last year’s Madagascar, improved here. RJ, Hammy, Ozzie & Heather, and the porcupine triplets move with such grace and fluidity. There is a subtlety to their facial expressions that gives a sincere feel to their emotional displays, and when combined with smooth physical movement, makes their performances feel genuine.

If Pixar (now officially owned by the Walt Disney Company, just a few weeks prior to this review) is like Disney in that the studio create animated feature films that focus on story and the art of animation, DreamWorks is like Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes in that it emphasizes broad comedy (sketch, slapstick, situation, etc.) of varying appeal to adults, and it stresses caricature and cartoon-style drawing in the design of its characters. PDI also goes for the “squash and stretch” animation that marked the work of cartoon short directors like Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, so in many ways DreamWorks’ computer animated films are like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, and Droopy cartoons.

While Over the Hedge occasionally drags in its first half, the voice acting comes together to strengthen both the film’s narrative and its message of family. The acting also makes for some surprisingly strong comedy. Bruce Willis, well known as an action movie hero, first came to fame in the romantic, detective comedy television series, “Moonlighting.” Audiences tend to forget his boyish charm and wit, his sharp sarcasm, and a sense of humor that make him a very good comic actor. It takes a bit of warming up, but he makes a great foil for Gary Shandling’s über-responsible family patriarch. Shandling also takes a bit of warming up to, but that’s true of most of the cast. The film’s writers play well to the actors’ strengths.

Who knew it was possible to get such excellent comedy out of the perception that William Shatner overacted in the original Star Trek TV series and films? Here, his penchant for over dramatizing or melodrama is turned into pure comedy gold. The writers also make good use of Wanda Sykes’ saucy personality and constant sarcasm, as well as her ability create characters that ingratiate themselves to others while still being a smart ass. By the end of the film, my favorite character by far was Steve Carell’s Hammy the squirrel. Carell can do manic, panic, and hyperactivity and can babble with the best. When combined with the superb character animation done on Hammy, Carell creates a memorable cartoon animal character – one worth seeing again.

Over the Hedge is also a good action comedy. The chase that closes its last act is almost as good as the kind of slam-bam showdowns in the Toy Story franchise and could rival a car chase in a Lethal Weapon movie. It’s this facility for action comedy and funny characters that makes Over the Hedge DreamWorks’ best non-Shrek film to date.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, May 21, 2006

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"Ultimate Avengers 2" Keeps the Fun Going

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 184 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Ultimate Avengers 2 (2006) – DVD release
Running time: 73 minutes (1 hour, 13 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense action violence
DIRECTORS: Will Meugnoit and Richard Seabast
WRITERS: Greg Johnson; from a screen story by Greg Johnson and Craig Kyle (based upon Marvel Comics’ The Ultimates created by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch)
PRODUCER/SUPERVISING DIRECTOR: Bob Richardson
EDITOR: George P. Rizkallah

ANIMATION/SUPERHERO/ACTION/SCI-FI

Starring: (voices) Justin Gross, Grey DeLisle, Michael Massee, Marc Worden, Olivia d’Abo, Nan McNamara, Nolan North, Andre Ware, David Boat, Jeffrey D. Samb, David Fennoy, Fred Tatasciore, James K. Ward, Susan Dalian, and Kendre Berry

Ultimate Avengers 2 is a 2006 direct-to-DVD animated superhero film. Featuring Marvel Comics’ The Avengers, this film is a sequel to Ultimate Avengers, which was also released on DVD earlier the same year. The film is loosely based on The Ultimates, a comic book series writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Wanted) and artist Bryan Hitch.

The alien invaders from Ultimate Avengers: The Movie, the Chitauri, are back, and this time they’re plaguing Wakanda, the mysterious jungle kingdom ruled by the Black Panther ( Jeffrey D. Samb). Unable to stop them, Black Panther reluctantly searches out the help of Captain America (Justin Gross), who is familiar with the Chitauri and their leader, Herr Kleiser (James K. Ward), who wears the guise of a Nazi officer.

However, the rest of the Avengers: the Wasp (Grey DeLisle), Iron Man (Marc Worden), the Black Widow (Olivia d’Abo), Giant Man (Nolan North), and Thor (David Boat) aren’t going to stand by while alien hordes threaten the earth. General Nick Fury (Andre Ware), Dr. Betty Ross (Nan McNamara), and Dr. Bruce Banner (Michael Massee) and his monstrous alter ego, the Hulk (Fred Tatasciore) are also in play as the Avengers fight an intergalactic menace in the remote domain of the Black Panther.

After the enjoyment of the original DVD (direct-to-video) animated feature, Ultimate Avengers: The Movie, earlier this year, I was anxious to see the sequel, Ultimate Avengers II, and, for the most part, I wasn’t let down. The follow up takes a bit of time to get going because of all the backstory about the Black Panther, his land of Wakanda, and his customs, as well as backstory about Captain America’s battles with Herr Kleiser. There’s also more character drama – lovers’ quarrels, teammate squabbles, and intra-tribal disputes.

Once it gets going, Ultimate Avengers II is a treat because it’s still fun to see beloved comic book characters transform from still images on the comics page into fully animated characters soaring and battling across the small screen. Except for not getting to see another massive Hulk battle, Ultimate Avengers II is a fun second serving.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Ultimate Avengers: The Movie is Quite Groovy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 52 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Ultimate Avengers: The Movie (2006) – video/animation
Running time: 71 minutes (1 hour, 11 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for action violence
DIRECTORS: Curt Geda and Steven E. Gordon
WRITERS: Greg Johnson; from a screen story by Greg Johnson, Boyd Kirkland, and Craig Kyle (based upon Marvel Comics’ The Ultimates created by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch)
PRODUCER: Bob Richardson
EDITOR: George P. Rizkallah

ANIMATION/SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of drama

Starring: (voices) Justin Gross, Andre Ware, Olivia d’Abo, Michael Massee, Nan McNamara, Grey DeLisle, Nolan North, Marc Worden, David Boat, and Frank Tatasciore

Marvel Comics formed a partnership with Lions Gate Film to produce direct-to-video (DVD) animated films for the home entertainment market. The first, Ultimate Avengers: The Movie, was released to DVD in late February 2006. Although the movie is entitled Ultimate Avengers, it has its origins in the long-running Marvel comic book series, The Avengers, which debuted in 1963 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

This particular animated movie is based upon and takes its story, characters, and concepts from the comic book, The Ultimates, a popular updating, re-imagining, and reworking of The Avengers by writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch, which was first published in late 2000. It also features a character created in the 1940’s by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Captain America.

At the close of World War II, super soldier Captain America (Justin Gross) leads American soldiers behind enemy lines to destroy a Nazi atomic weapon aimed at the United States. The Captain’s heroics, however, cost him his life as he falls from the sky after destroying the missile and plunges into the ocean depths… or does it? The American secret agent organization, SHIELD, finds Captain America frozen beneath the oceans, and the agency’s scientists, led by Bruce Banner (Michael Massee) and Dr. Betty Ross (Nan McNamara), are able to revive him.

Nick Fury (Andre Ware), the head of SHIELD, then, recruits Captain America to lead a team of surly superhero recruits, including Iron Man (Marc Worden), Thor (David Boat), the Wasp (Grey DeLisle), her husband Giant Man (Nolan North) in an all-out war against sinister alien forces that have been threatening humanity for decades. Now, the monsters are making their big aggressive move against Earth. However, as the Captain’s new team struggles to defeat their enemy, The Hulk (Frank Tatasciore) is about to crash the party.

I liked Ultimate Avengers. It’s a rollicking, high-octane adventure that rivals big budget Hollywood live action adventure movies. The visual look of the film, especially in the character design will remind some viewers of the old “G.I. Joe” animated series from the 1980’s or the “X-Men Evolution” animated series that ran for four seasons on The WB television network. The character animation is occasionally clunky – especially during quiet dramatic moments. When the characters are moving quickly and fighting, they look good. When they walk, they move awkwardly. This isn’t feature animation on the level of Disney, DreamWorks, or any of the big Hollywood studios that still do hand drawn animated features, but who would expect that level of animation from a direct-to-video cartoon?

But the film still looks quite good; except for some moments, I thought the animation was just fine. In the end, the important thing is how good this is at being superhero entertainment, and Ultimate Avengers wildly succeeds; action, adventure, fights, explosions, superhero melodrama, and cool CGI flying craft: this is good stuff. When The Hulk makes his long-awaited appearance in the third act, Ultimate Avengers hits the ceiling. Just the Hulk tearing across the screen taking on everyone is an amazing spectacle. You have to see him take on his teammates to believe how awesome a great superhero slugfest can be when it’s given the movement of film and Guy Michelmore’s near-perfect comic book movie score.

People who read comics long ago will find much in this in which to delight, although some hardcore fans will not be pleased that the film strays from the comic books in some aspects. Still, Ultimate Avengers recalls that old feeling of what it was to kick back and enjoy reading a comic book.

7 of 10
A-

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Review: Women Make Almodavor's "VOLVER" Spin (Happy B'day, Penelope Cruz)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 63 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Volver (2006)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Spain
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hour, 1 minutes)
MPAA – R for sexual content and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Pedro Almodóvar
PRODUCER: Esther García
CINEMATOGRAPHER: José Luis Alcaine (director of photography)
EDITOR: José Salcedo
2007 Academy Award nominee

DRAMA with elements of comedy and fantasy

Starring: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave

In his new film, Volver, two-time Academy Award winner Pedro Almodóvar (All About my Mother, Talk to Her) gives us three generations of women living in a world where the living and dead coexist. In this film, it is natural for the people of the La Mancha region of Spain, with its ever-present east wind, to practice a culture of death in which the deceased remain present in the lives of their living relatives. Also, José Luis Alcaine’s cinematograph for Volver is easily among the year’s best.

Abuela Irene (Carmen Maura), who died in a fire four years ago, is apparently revisiting her hometown in La Mancha. Irene wants to resolve the problems she didn’t or couldn’t during her lifetime, especially her relationship with her estranged daughter Raimunda (Penélope Cruz), who has her own problems. Raimunda has to surreptitiously bury her husband, Paco (Antonio de la Torre), after their daughter, Paula (Yohana Cobo who plays her part with such naturalness), kills him when he tries to rape his own daughter. After appearing first to her sister, the elderly Aunt Paula (Chus Lampreave), Irene also visits her daughter Sole (Lola Dueñas), who makes a living as an illegal, home-based hairdresser. Meanwhile, fellow villager, Agustina (Blanca Portillo), is seeking out Irene for help with her own family issues.

If there are men who were born to make movies, Pedro Almodóvar is undoubtedly one of them. That’s evident in his beautiful films filled with vibrant colors, narratives, and people; in fact, José Luis Alcaine’s vivid cinematograph for Volver is easily among the year’s best.

Almodóvar also understands women. Here, in Volver (which mean “coming back”) his female characters make it through life by lying when necessary – either to protect themselves or the feelings of their loved ones. These women also survive the troubles of life because they have persistent vitality and a treasure trove of goodness in them. That’s how Almodóvar makes you root for them. These are good, simple, plain folks who, if possible, won’t let their complex interior selves bring harm to their loved ones, but they’re still capable of making bold moves to enrich their lives.

To play such funny, spontaneous, and intrepid women, Almodóvar guides a cast capable of deep, genuine emotion and of playing characters that sometimes take the hilarious path out of trouble. You’ll never look at Penélope Cruz the same way again after seeing her in this movie. Her Raimunda is a painterly performance, full of subtle color and audacious, but gentle strokes. Cruz is layered and flavored like a buffet of earthy dishes, and I was sad whenever her Raimunda left the screen.

The same can be said for the rest of cast: from Blanca Portillo as the troubled, gentle soul, Agustina to Carmen Maura as Irene, back-from-the-dead and looking to heal wounds and bandage hurts. Almodóvar’s Volver is why I like foreign cinema. It doesn’t mind telling stories that are as rich and as complex as literary fiction. But Almodóvar does the telling in a purely visual style that makes one appreciate storytelling shown on the screen.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best performance by an actress in a leading role” (Penélope Cruz)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Penélope Cruz) and “Best Film not in the English Language” (Agustín Almodóvar and Pedro Almodóvar)

2007 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Foreign Language Film” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Penélope Cruz)

2007 Image Awards: 2 nominations: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Penélope Cruz) and “Outstanding Independent or Foreign Film”

2006 Cannes Film Festival: 2 wins: “Best Actress” (Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave to the female ensemble cast) and “Best Screenplay” (Pedro Almodóvar); 1 nomination: “Palme d'Or” (Pedro Almodóvar)

Saturday, April 14, 2007

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Review: "Flushed Away" was the Best Animated Film of 2006

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 234 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Flushed Away (2006)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK (with USA)
Running time: 90 minutes; MPAA – PG for crude humor and some language
DIRECTORS: David Bowers and Sam Fell
WRITERS: Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd and Joe Keenan, and Will Davies; from a story by Sam Fell, Peter Lord and Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais
PRODUCERS: Peter Lord, David Sproxton, and Cecil Kramer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Brad Blackbourn and Frank Passingham
EDITOR: John Venzon and Eric Dapkewicz
BAFTA nominee

ANIMATION/COMEDY/ACTION

Starring: (voices) Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Shane Richie, and Jean Reno

The computer-animated feature film, Flushed Away, is the star child of two of the most successful animation studios of the last decade: DreamWorks Animation (Shrek) and Aardman Features (Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit). DreamWorks creates state-of-the-art computer animation. Aardman films are usually done with stop-motion animation, and their characters and sets are made of Plasticene (modeling clay) – called “claymation.” Now, the two studios have created a film with a story and characters that are as inventive as the technical and artistic process that created it.

The story begins in London – specifically the Kensington Gardens house where Roddy St. James (Hugh Jackman) lives the pampered life of a pet mouse. Roddy gets an unwanted guest in the form of a rowdy sewer rat named Sid (Shane Richie), after he comes spewing out of the sink. Roddy tries to get rid of Sid by tricking him into taking a whirlpool bath in the toilet, but Sid pushes Roddy in and Roddy gets flushed away.

After a rough trip, Roddy discovers a metropolis in the sewers beneath London, made by industrious rodents out of discarded items. Roddy meets the spunky and resourceful Rita (Kate Winslet), captain of her own boat, the Jammy Dodger. Rita, however, is in the middle of a long-running feud with a local crime lord, the villainous Toad (Ian McKellen, superb as a villain prone to fits of melodrama and theatrics). Toad despises all rodents and has hatched a diabolical plot to destroy all of them during halftime of the World Cup. Roddy and Rita are determined to stop him, but to do that, they have to battle Toad’s henchrats Spike (Andy Serkis) and Whitey (Bill Nighy), as well as Toad’s cousin, Le Frog (Jean Reno), every step of the way.

There are animated films in which the composition in terms of what the viewer sees on screen is prettier – Pixar productions come to mind, but when it comes to pure comedy, I would be hard pressed to find a more successful 3D animated film than Flushed Away. Visually, Flushed Away is true to the signature style of Aardman, as seen in the Wallace and Gromit films and in Chicken Run, but I would be remiss in this review if I emphasized the technical side. Flushed Away is a funny film, a superb achievement in comedy as good as live action.

The strong screenwriting emphasizes wacky, scatological humor and funny characters. The humor isn’t too crude for children; actually, it’s the kind of humor that frequently shows up in children’s entertainment: jokes and sight gags about bodily functions, taking a blow to the loins, and other light innuendo. This is a broad kind of humor, seemingly lowbrow but familiar to all regardless of age. Simply brilliant, the comedy writing is wry yet boisterous and both subtle and blunt. A blend of parody and slapstick, Flushed Away satirizes melodramatic, Hollywood action thrillers, and it still has time to be part romantic comedy.

It’s not as if any one group of people should get credit for Flushed Away being such a fine flick. However, if the voice performers weren’t so good, the excellent work of the directors, writers, animators, and computer guys would have been… flushed away. The vocal performances take this film to the next two levels by bringing the characters to life in such a way that they become more than just kiddie cartoons. Truthfully, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, and Ian McKellan, and Jean Reno are international movie stars and superb actors, and their supporting cast – Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, and Shane Richie – are fine character actors. Indeed, Serkis’ comically inept little brute, Spike, and Nighy’s Zen heavy, Whitey, are so funny and well done that the duo deserves its own flick. In the end, the actors give us the same great work they would in a live action movie, and that is the main reason why Flushed Away may be the year’s best animated feature film.

9 of 10
A+

Sunday, November 12, 2006

NOTES:
2007 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (David Bowers and Sam Fell)

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Review: "Slither" is a Truly Funny Horror Movie (Happy B'day, Nathan Fillion)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 224 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Slither (2006)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and gore and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: James Gunn
PRODUCERS: Paul Brooks and Eric Newman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gregory Middleton, CSC (director of photography)
EDITOR: John Axelrad

HORROR/COMEDY

Starring: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Tania Saulnier, Michael Rooker, Gregg Henry, Don Thompson, Brenda Gutierrez, Jenna Fischer, and Lorena Gale

Screenwriter James Gunn has a diverse filmography of horror screenwriting credits, including Tromeo & Juliet (for famed B-movie studio, Troma Entertainment) and the 2002 TV-to-film, Scooby-Doo. In March of 2004, he became the first screenwriter in cinema history to write the back-to-back #1 movies at the weekend box office – for the “re-imagined” Dawn of the Dead (March 19) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (March 26). He takes his talent at cartoon scares, comic horror, and zombie movies and blends them into his debut as a writer/director, a creepy horror/comedy, Slither, that’s pure B-movie entertainment and that pulls no punches when it comes to gross out fun.

In the north woods town of Wheelsy, the redneck locals are preparing for deer hunting season, but something from the deep dark of outer space has crashed in the woods outside of town, and it’s ready to hunt in Wheelsy. When Grant Grant (Michael Rooker), one of the town’s richest citizens, starts acting strangely, his young wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks), thinks that his behavior is something worse than what Grant says it is – a minor illness. When pets and livestock start turning up mutilated, Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) and his deputies peg Grant as their prime suspect, but they’re all about to find out that Grant is now a blood-thirsty monster. Soon Bill and Starla (former childhood sweethearts) are battling scores of giant slugs. A teenaged girl, Kylie Strutemyer (Tania Saulnier), also discovers that her parents are acting like… zombies.

Gunn’s film is a retro horror flick, recalling the films of John Carpenter and David Cronenberg – most notably two 50’s era B-movies that each director remade into 80’s horror classics, Carpenter’s The Thing and Cronenberg’s The Fly. Like those two films, Slither features lots of blood and guts, with huge servings of slime and goo, and Slither is also an action film. There’s not much in here in the way of teenagers hiding from vengeful ghosts or lonely women dodging knife-wielding psychopaths. People are running, screaming, and sometimes shooting, but they’re fighting for their lives against monsters that see them as meat for food or warm flesh for breeding stock.

Gunn also paints his film with broad strokes of camp humor, but it’s not so humorous that we can’t take anyone of it seriously. Slither has plenty of belly laughs, but so much of this flick is creepy – even some scenes that don’t involve monsters. There’s something rotten and backwards in Wheelsy. The citizens are unabashedly backwoods and, if they aren’t inbred, they act and look it. Perhaps, this is Gunn’s gentle ode to that classic scary movie setting – horror in a lonely, isolated small town.

Anyway, Slither is just a darn good horror movie – something for the viewer who likes some laughs with his gore. The cast is clearly in the spirit of things. Also, in an age when so many monsters are created in computers, half of Slither’s special effects are practical special effects and prosthetics with CGI used only when necessary. So, the crowd that loved The Evil Dead movies and found laughter in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (any of them) will find joy in this delightful flick that doesn’t deserve to disappear into horror movie oblivion.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

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Review: "Inside Man" is Slick Entertainment, Nothing More (Happy B'day, Spike Lee)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 130 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Inside Man (2006)

Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some violent images
DIRECTOR: Spike Lee
WRITER: Russell Gewirtz
PRODUCER: Brian Grazer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique (director of photography)
EDITOR: Barry Alexander Brown
COMPOSER: Terrence Blanchard

DRAMA/CRIME with elements of a thriller

Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carlos Andrés Gómez, Kim Director, James Ransone, Bernard Rachelle, Peter Gerety, Victor Colicchio, and Cassandra Freeman

Inside Man is a 2006 crime drama from director Spike Lee. Lee was basically a director-for-hire of this story of a peculiar bank heist, which was originally going to be directed by Ron Howard.

Four people dressed in painters outfits march into the Manhattan Trust Bank and take 50 customers and employees hostage, and then put the bank under a surgically planned siege. Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and Detective Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are dispatched to the seemingly airtight heist by their precinct captain, with Frazier acting as the hostage negotiator. Frazier is hopeful of resolving the situation quickly, but Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), the bank robbers’ leader, is exceedingly clever, uncannily calm, and totally in command. Not only does he manage to disorient his hostages, but he’s also managing to confuse the police and stall for time.

Meanwhile, the bank’s chairman of the board of directors (ostensibly the owner), Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), has used his vast and considerable political connections to arrange a meeting between Madeline White (Jodie Foster), a shadowy power player, and Russell – much to the chagrin of Detective Frazier. White is vague with Frazier about what she and Russell discuss during their brief meeting, but it seems as if looting a bank full of money isn’t Russell’s only objective. Detective Frazier needs to unravel this puzzle though, because he’s running out of time to keep this standoff from turning ugly and bloody for both hostages and hostage takers. The police high command is about to unleash Emergency Services Unit (ESU) Captain John Darius (Willem Dafoe) and his tactical unit to go in and settle the situation – to kill if necessary - and Frazier still isn’t sure just who is pulling the invisible strings of this strange case.

Inside Man may be Spike Lee’s most purely enjoyable film to date, being that it is almost totally free of his usual political drama and social commentary. The film is clever and Spike expertly extracts the unexpected turns and labyrinthine twists of writer Russell Gewirtz’s script. Lee adds the big time gloss to Gewirtz’s screenplay, his first produced for the big screen (He’d previously written for the late ABC TV series “Blind Justice.”). Lee makes the plot’s crafty tricks practical for a movie aimed at a broad audience.

Gewirtz’s script is rife with good characters, but it is obviously up to the director to set the tone and the actors to create by giving flesh to the concepts. There’s a natural humor to the characters, especially in their dialogue, and Lee allows that to play out, which brings the right amount of levity to this crime drama – a nice touch since this bank heist/hostage situation really isn’t about blood, guts, and guns. Lee also makes the most of the match of wits or chess game between Clive Owen’s Dalton Russell and Denzel Washington’s Keith Frazier.

This is the fourth collaboration between Spike and Denzel, after Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, and He Got Game. Lee also seems familiar with Clive Owen, as he comfortable taps into Owen’s understated air of menace – the charming rogue. Jodie Foster makes the most of her part and creates an adversary that engages the audience as much as she engages the other characters. Foster’s Madeline White is a charming reptile; like the actress, the character has a natural intelligence that is obvious the first time someone meets her, but Foster adds the twist of making Madeline the perfect trouble-shooting witch.

Still, Inside Man is a bit too clever for its own good. Gewirtz never really taps into the raw emotional power of the devastating secret at the heart of his heist story, and Lee seems more in love with the shiny bauble the plot is, with all its unexpected shifts and revelations in the narrative, than he is with the consequences of malfeasance and with genuine evil. As a police procedural and heist film, Inside Man is as crafty as its colorful cast of cunning and wily characters makes it, and that’s craftiness by the carload – enough to keep your mind fighting with the puzzle for just about all of this film. The last 20 minutes or so of Inside Man is a bit of a stumble, as the filmmakers avoid the meat of an ugly subject matter, but getting to the end was still fun to watch.

Once upon a time – not that long ago – Spike would have readily ignored the genre aspects of this story in favor of tackling the issues of bigotry, public corruption, and appalling evil this story raises. Oh, well. At least he proved that he can be a very capable director-for-hire.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, June 15, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Director” (Spike Lee); 3 nominations: “Best Actor” (Denzel Washington), “Best Film” (Brian Grazer and Jonathan Filley), “Best Original Score” (Terence Blanchard)

2007 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film/Television Movie - Comedy or Drama” (Spike Lee); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Denzel Washington)

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Review: "The Illusionist" Casts a Spell (Happy B'day, Jessica Biel)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Illusionist (2006)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual and violent content
DIRECTOR: Neil Burger
WRITER: Neil Burger (based upon the short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” by Steven Millhauser)
PRODUCERS: Michael London, Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Bob Yari & Cathy Schulman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dick Pope, BSC
EDITOR: Naomi Geraghty
2007 Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/FANTASY/MYSTERY/ROMANCE

Starring: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Marson, Jake Wood, Tom Fisher, Karl Johnson, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Aaron Johnson

The subject of this movie review is The Illusionist, a 2006 period drama written and directed by Neil Burger. Burger loosely bases his screenplay on “Eisenheim the Illusionist,” a 1989 short story by Pulitzer Prize-winner, Steven Millhauser.

When he was a boy, Eduard Abramovicz (Aaron Johnson) fell in love with the Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Eleanor Tomlinson) an aristocrat well above his social standing. Her parents kept them apart, so Eduard left his home and traveled the world. Early 1900’s, Eduard returns to Vienna as Eisenheim the Illusionist (Edward Norton), an extraordinary conjurer and master magician. During one of his performances, Eisenheim fatefully encounters the Duchess (Jessica Biel), now a beautiful young woman engaged to marry Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). Eisenheim employs his powers to win back her love, which is not necessary, as she never stopped loving him.

While Sophie is smitten with Eisenheim, Leopold feels threatened by the stage magician’s strange tricks, and attempts to apply cold logic to expose what he sees as Eisenheim’s scams. Leopold, however, has a history of abusing his female companions, and his apparent assault of Sophie during a jealous rage pits him against the illusionist extraordinaire in a duel of authority and stage magic. Caught in the middle of Eisenheim and Leopold’s feud is Chief Inspector Walter Uhl (Paul Giamatti), who deeply admires Eisenheim’s skills, but must serve Leopold if he wishes to advance socially and politically.

In his film, The Illusionist, director Neil Burger uses a mesmerizing performance by two-time Oscar nominee Edward Norton (Primal Fear, American History X) to deliver an enchanting supernatural mystery tale full of forbidden romance, imperial politics, and dazzling magic. Burger and cinematographer Dick Pope use autochrome photography to take the recognizable world and transfer it to the realm of mystery where everything is beautiful, but also has a disturbing undertone. Director and cinematographer saturate the world of The Illusionist in gold and green and then, allow the shadows to play ever so slightly on the edges of the picture’s frame. It’s a unique look that heightens the sense of magic, mystery, dreams, and that feeling of an otherness – the paranormal.

Not only did Burger build an enthralling world with his creative staff, but he also allowed his actors to play, guiding their considerable talents into selling this narrative. Paul Giamatti is excellent as the Chief Inspector Uhl, who admires Eisenheim, but is trapped between a rock and a hard place as Leopold’s strong-arm man. Giamatti wears his emotions on his face quite well – obvious, but with subtlety and grace, so he lets us see the struggle. Uhl admires Eisenheim even as he must control him. Sewell is super intense as Leopold, and he also allows to the audience to see the brilliant mind behind the face of a man with control issues. Jessica Biel is tolerable, but even her best moments seem weak compared to everyone else.

Still, this movie’s star is Edward Norton. Intelligent and intense, Norton always brings an air of elegance to his performances. Truthfully, he’s just too damn talented, and the fire of his abilities can burn through a weekly structured film. Here, there is no such problem. Norton’s Eisenheim is dark and mysterious, and we are drawn to this handsome creature who seems to have dark forces at play behind his placid face and his genial smile. Norton never lets us truly know Eisenheim, but he draws us to the character like moths to the magician’s exquisite flame. In the end, The Illusionist leaves so many questions unanswered, and it is indeed a great film that makes the viewer love the magic, mystery, and the great unknown of that which is supernatural. Neither The Illusionist nor its star character will let us know how a magician does “it,” but that won’t stop the audience from being spellbound and loving both.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Dick Pope)

Friday, February 16, 2007

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Review: "Lady in the Water" is a Beautiful Storybook Fantasy (Happy B'day, Bryce Dallas Howard)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 163 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Lady in the Water (2006)
Running time: 110 minutes; MPAA – PG-13 for some frightening sequences
WRITER/DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan
PRODUCERS: Sam Mercer and M. Night Shyamalan
CINEMATORGRAPHER: Christopher Doyle, H.K.S.C
EDITOR: Barbara Tulliver, A.C.E.

FANTASY/DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeffrey Wright, Bob Balaban, Sarita Choudhury, Cindy Cheung, Freddy Rodriguez, Bill Irwin, Jared Harris, M. Night Shyamalan, June Kyoto Lu, Mary Beth Hurt, and Noah Gray-Cabey

M. Night Shyamalan’s films have been thoughtful and profound. His characters fight pitched battles with their inner demons as they wage war with the outside forces that would destroy or enslave them. We’ve seen that in everything from the heart-rending ghost story, The Sixth Sense, to the story of a lapsed minister who finds his way back to his faith while battling an alien invasion in the 2002 hit film, Signs. Shyamalan’s films are also known for their twist endings – surprising finales that not only change the tone of the film, but also frustrate audiences who bought into one kind of story and find a shock ending ruins their expectations – Unbreakable (2000) and The Village (2004) being the best (or worst) examples.

In his new film, Lady in the Water, Shyamalan eschews the twist ending for a yarn that can be taken figuratively as a fairytale or literally as a tale of people who find their destiny in a fairytale made real. Or maybe the viewer can see it as both figurative and literal. Regardless of how one views it, Lady in the Water is one of the most lovely and heartfelt tales told in recent years – a thing as beautiful as its sparkling blue movie poster.

Modest and humble, Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti, in a performance that solidifies his place as a great American actor), manages an apartment building named “The Cove.” One night Cleveland is investigating the noises from the apartment’s swimming pool when he falls in by accident. He awakens to find that a pale, young woman with deep blue eyes, who says her name is Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), has rescued him from drowning. Cleveland discovers that Story is a “narf,” a creature from an old bedtime story, and she is trying to make the treacherous journey from our world back to her own, the “Blue World.” Cleveland and the rest of The Cove’s collection of oddball tenants realize that they have suddenly been drawn into Story’s fable. Young Soon (Cindy Cheung), a go-getter college student, Mr. Dury (Jeffrey Wright), a serene crossword puzzle fanatic and his son, Joey (Noah Gray-Cabey), Mr. Leeds (Bill Irwin), a housebound TV watcher, and Vick (M. Night Shyamalan), a writer and Anna Ran (Sarita Choudhury), his talkative sister, among many others, accept this strange story of which they are a part. With their help, Cleveland must protect this fragile young woman from a deadly creature hell-bent on keeping Story from returning home.

By now, many reviewers and audiences have turned on Shyamalan for this picture. However, where others see Lady in the Water as boring or mystifying, I see it has a simple fairytale. Yes, Shyamalan’s script is a bit artsy and pretentious at times, and the story (based upon a bedtime tale he wrote for his children) is stretched to the breaking point and challenges credibility. Still, for all that we might take it literally, much of the story is symbolic The characters, setting, and incidents are meant to remind us of a bedtime story, or to put it bluntly – “Once upon a time... Lady in the Water is a metaphor about people taking up their place in destiny, of the difficulty in taking up the journey to get to one’s place, and that each person does indeed have a purpose.

While the subject matter and characters might not make sense on the surface, they and the tale in which they exist have a deeper meaning. We’re supposed to see past the trappings and see the core – lives driven by purpose for the good of humanity. In Lady in the Water, the title character, but especially Cleveland Heep, have to break out of the protective shells they’ve made for themselves using their own fears, grief, and insecurities as building material. Thus, it’s no wonder that the other characters were so quick to embrace their part in this bedtime story – they’ve also hungered for a life of meaning. An enchanting fairytale filled with magical characters and dark fantasy, Lady in the Water is the most meaningful fable mainstream Hollywood has given us in a very long time.

8 of 10
A

Monday, July 31, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Razzie Awards: 2 wins: “Worst Director” (M. Night Shyamalan) and “Worst Supporting Actor” (M. Night Shyamalan); 2 nominations: “Worst Picture” ((Warner Bros.) and “Worst Screenplay” (M. Night Shyamalan)

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Review: "The Island" Floats on Ewan McGregor (Happy B'day, Michael Bay)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 120 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Island (2005)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexuality, and language
DIRECTOR: Michael Bay
WRITERS: Caspian Tredwell-Owen and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci; from a story by Caspian Tredwell-Owen
PRODUCERS: Walter F. Parkes, Ian Bryce, and Michael Bay
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mauro Fiore
EDITOR: Paul Rubell

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ethan Phillips, Brian Stepanek, Noa Tishby, and Mark Christopher Lawrence

The Island is a 2005 science fiction film and action movie from director Michael Bay. The movie follows the struggles of a young man to fit into the highly regimented world in which he lives. Then, he learns a shocking secret about that world and about himself that sends him on a race to freedom.

In the mid-21st century, Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson) are among the hundreds of residents living in a self-contained facility because, they are told, the world outside is contaminated due to an ecological disaster that took the lives of everyone on the planet, leaving the residents (for the most part) the only remaining humans. The facility’s environment is carefully controlled, and everything about Lincoln and Jordan’s day-to-day lives, like that of all the facilities residents, is monitored, seemingly for their own good, by a security staff and a team of doctors and scientists. The only way out for the residents—and the hope they all share—is to be chosen to go to The Island, reportedly the last uncontaminated spot in the world.

Lincoln is restless because of the unexplained nightmares that have recently plagued him, and he increasingly questions the restrictions placed on his life, even sharing his concerns with the head of the facility, Merrick (Sean Bean). For instance, Lincoln wonders why can the residents go to the Island, and the facility’s security and administration can’t. He is, however, unprepared for the truth when his growing curiosity leads to the terrible discovery that everything about his existence is a lie, that The Island is a cruel hoax…and that he, Jordan and everyone they know are actually more valuable dead than alive. With time running out, Lincoln and Jordan make a daring escape to the outside world they’ve never known. However, Merrick cannot afford the truth of his activities to get out. He hires a team of mercenaries, led by Albert Laurent (Djimon Hounsou), to hunt down Lincoln and Jordan – return them or kill them. With the forces of the institute relentlessly pursuing them, Lincoln and Jordan have one overriding concern, to live.

The Island is the latest film from director Michael Bay, who gave us Bad Boys II in 2003, but is best known for such films as The Rock and Armageddon. The Island is divided into two halves making it almost like two films. The first is a futuristic, dystopian tale set in a complex that protects people from the allegedly dead world outside, which is poisonous to humans. The second film (or half) is an action movie, with the usual Bay histrionics; imagine the car and helicopter chases in the Bad Boys franchise, in particular the over-the-top freeway car chase in Bad Boys II. Better yet: if you remember the film, Logan’s Run, or the novel upon which it’s based; then, you may recognize The Island as a kind of action movie/video game remake or re-imagining of Logan’s Run.

The film hardly touches the scientific and philosophical issues it raises (cloning; what does it mean to be human; and freedom) merely as window dressing for a big-budget Hollywood shoot out with the requisite hysterical car chase/car wrecks/automobile destruction scenes. Perhaps, the writers and director don’t have to really dig too deeply; just the idea of cloning and using clones as spare body parts for “regular” humans is creepy and nausea inducing as it is. But wouldn’t it have been nice for the film to make an effort to emphasize ideas over cinema of sensations and thrills? The design of the futuristic Los Angeles cityscape looks as if no one really bothered to put much thought into how L.A. will look in 50 years. Steven Spielberg put way much more effort in imagining the future for Minority Report, and that movie is set in a time much closer to our own than the one in The Island.

Scarlett Johansson is almost dead on arrival – too much like a machine, cold and aloof as if she mistakenly believes that she’s playing a cyborg killer in one of The Terminator movies. Ewan McGregor, on the other hand, is a movie star; he is a good actor, but he’s a great movie actor. The screen loves him, and he always seems to create the perfect film character – except in the Star Wars prequel, where he was just another film element for George Lucas to manipulate; he wasn’t allowed the freedom to build a movie character. Here, he does have the freedom to gradually build Lincoln into the kind of rebellious hero who questions the status quo of the world around him, the kind of hero through which we vicariously live as he fights his way to a satisfactory resolution. Hooray for Ewan; he makes this film. He saves it from Michael Bay’s intentions gone wrong.

6 of 10
B

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