Review: Retro "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is Kind of Like a Reboot

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Running time: 135 minutes (2 hours, 15 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi action violence
DIRECTOR:  J.J. Abrams
WRITERS:  Lawrence Kasdan and J.J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt (based on characters created by George Lucas)
PRODUCERS:  J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, and Kathleen Kennedy
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey
COMPOSER:  John Williams
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA

Starring:  Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, Peter Mayhew, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Anthony Daniels, Max von Sydow, Greg Grunberg, Ken Leung, Warwick Davis, and Mark Hamill

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a 2015 science fiction-fantasy action film directed by J. J. Abrams.  It is the seventh installment in the Star Wars film series, which began with the 1977 Oscar-winning film, Star Wars, created by George Lucas.  The Force Awakens is set 30 years after the events depicted in Return of the Jedi (1983).  This film follows a desert scavenger, a renegade stormtrooper, and an X-wing fighter pilot as they fight a new enemy, which is personified by a young dark warrior who is strong with the Force.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens approximately 30 years after the Rebel Alliance's defeat of the Galactic Empire and the destruction of the second Death Star.  However, the most famous hero of that battle, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last Jedi, has since disappeared.  The First Order has risen from the remains of the Empire, and is led by the mysterious Supreme Commander Snoke (Andy Serkis), who has two immediate goals.  He wants to destroy the New Republic (which was created by the Rebel Alliance) and its military wing, The Resistance, and will use his super-weapon, Starkiller Base, commanded by General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), to do so.

To find Skywalker, Snope has tasked Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a young dark warrior who is strong with the Force.  Ren's search for information about Skywalker's whereabouts has led him to the desert planet, Jakku.  There, Ren has a confrontation with a Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), which troubles a young First Order stormtrooper, FN-2187 (John Boyega), who is a witness to Dameron's capture.

Meanwhile, an astromech droid, BB-8, escapes into the Jakku night.  BB-8 eventually meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a young scavenger who will be the key to getting BB-8 and the crucial information he holds to the Resistance.  And legends of the past, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) will help her.

Truthfully, I am in love with the new Star Wars characters, especially Rey and Finn (known by his First Order masters as FN-2187).  I have also found a place in my heart for Poe, Kylo Ren, General Hux, Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong'o), and the actors playing them.  I have added BB-8 to my beloved droid duo of R2-D2 and C-3PO.  I think that Daisy Ridley as Rey and John Boyega as Finn are among the best actors ever to appear in a Star Wars film, and the script allows them to give what may very well be two of the best dramatic performances every given in this franchise.

On the other hand, the movie itself is odd.  I love Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but not unconditionally.  I have to admit that I have mixed emotions because this is the first Star Wars film that George Lucas has not directed (and he directed four of them) or at least guided to fruition.  Thus, a part of me wants to see this film as fan-fiction.

Lucas himself has described Star Wars: The Force Awakens as “retro,” and he is not far from the truth.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens is filled with visuals and a narrative that are similar and practically copy the first Star Wars (also known as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope).  At times, The Force Awakens seems like a remake and semi-re-imagining of the original film, or, if you want to be cruel, you can call it a rehash of the best moments from the beginnings of Star Wars.  I would not be surprised if Walt Disney Studios (the new owners of Star Wars) and the filmmakers intended Star Wars: The Force Awakens to be a reboot of the franchise, a fresh start after the much-maligned “prequel films,” but a reboot that is grounded in the original trilogy.

Whatever one might say about the prequel films (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith), they were ambitious.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens merely seeks to entertain and to thrill.  It is escapist entertainment like no other – just as Star Wars was back in 1977.  There was nothing like Star Wars, and its simple story, filled with universal themes, resonated with audiences.  That is true of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  I found myself exhilarated, and I often could not take my eyes off the screen.  I laughed and some scenes even tried to make me cry.

As I edit this, it has been over two weeks since I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  I have thought about it often, and I put off writing this review.  I have read other reviewers' opinions.  A writer for The Village Voice called it “the third good Star Wars” movie.  I think it is the fourth best Star Wars movie, behind the original three films, and a little ahead of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

I think I need to warm up more to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which might happen after repeated viewings.  Still, I think the future is bright for the new films.  Right now, I'd follow Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, and even Kylo Ren anywhere, and my favorite Star Wars character is back.  Regardless of the story, the characters are the ones I have always loved.  I am glad that some of the classic ones are back and that they have brought cool new ones with them.

8 of 10
A

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Edited on Thursday, April  14, 2016

NOTES:
2016 Academy Awards, USA:  5 nominations: “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (John Williams), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, and Stuart Wilson), “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Matthew Wood and David Acord), and Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Roger Guyett, Pat Tubach, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould)

2016 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, and Neal Scanlan); 3 nominations: “Best Production Design” (Rick Carter, Darren Gilford, and Lee Sandales), “Best Original Music” (John Williams), and “Best Sound” (David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Matthew Wood, and Stuart Wilson)


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: As a Character Study, "Birdman" Has Wings

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

[A version of this review originally appeared on Patreon.]

Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
Running time:  119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – R for language throughout, some sexual content and brief violence
DIRECTOR:  Alejandro G. Iñárritu
WRITERS:  Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., and Armando Bo
PRODUCERS:  Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, and James W. Skotchdopole
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Emmanuel Lubezki (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione
COMPOSER:  Antonio Sanchez (drum score)
Academy Award winner, including “Best Picture”

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Zach Galifanakis, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough, and Amy Ryan with Lindsay Duncan

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a 2014 drama and black comedy film from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu.  The film focuses on a Hollywood actor, who once starred in a series of popular superhero movies, as he tries to forge a comeback with a Broadway play.  Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), commonly known as Birdman, won four Oscars, including “Best Picture,” at the 87th Academy Awards (February 22, 2015).

Birdman introduces Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton).  He is a washed-up Hollywood actor and former movie star best known for playing the iconic superhero, Birdman, two decades ago in a series of blockbuster films.  Riggan hopes to reinvent his career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.  Riggan's play is a loosely based adaptation of “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” a short story written by the late Raymond Carver (and first published in the former literary journal, Antaeus, in 1981).

Unfortunately, Riggan's play is beset by complications.  The play is produced by Riggan's best friend and lawyer, Jake (Zach Galifanakis), who is very demanding and high-strung.  The film's two actresses are Riggan's girlfriend, Laura (Andrea Riseborough), who claims to be pregnant, and a first-time Broadway actress, Lesley (Naomi Watts), who has a worried mind.  Riggan's daughter, Samantha (Emma Stone), a recovering addict, serves as her father's assistant.  The other male actor in the play is Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), a brilliant actor who is also volatile, disruptive, and attention-seeking.  The biggest complication, however, is the spirit of Birdman, which haunts Riggan with a mocking, critical voice, and that voice wants another Birdman movie.

Taking what the movie gives us, which is a little over one hour and fifty minutes of film narrative, Birdman is an extraordinary character study about the life of a struggling actor in a particular moment in time.  This moment in time is a two-week period, of which we only observe in select pieces.  People who watch this movie have to take Riggan at face value because the film is vague about whatever happened to Riggan's life prior to the two-week period that it depicts.

This situation helps to make Birdman ambiguous, and I think the director and his co-writers wanted their film to have many ambiguities.  Is this film a true black comedy?  Is it a drama about domestic and professional failures?  Is it real, or surreal, or both (when considering Riggan's powers)?  Is the last act and the ending a resolution via rebirth or by closure?  Birdman is a complex, different and fascinating work of cinema.

Considering its subject matter, that of a failed movie star in the tailspin of a midlife crisis, it is fairly obvious why the film was so attractive to so many Oscar voters.  How many members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which votes on the Oscars, have experienced something similar to Riggan's experiences or how many know they will... eventually.  I think that this is a tremendous movie, and I can see why it won the Oscars that it did.

On the other hand, Edward Norton and Emma Stone are good in Birdman, but there is little in their work here, in terms of substance or character portrayal, that says that either one of them gave a top five performance in the respective categories for which they were nominated for Oscars.  I also find Michael Keaton a little uneven.  He is at his best when he is emoting without dialogue and when he is giving voice to Birdman.  When he tries to give voice to anger and frustration, he is over-the-top, in his now trademark manner, familiar to us who remember him as Batman and as Beetlejuice.

Many people seem to think that Keaton was perfect for the role of Riggan Thomson who played a superhero at the height of his career and fame in Hollywood because Keaton played the title role in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) at the height of his film career.  Keaton's career seemed to diminish after Batman, gradually though, until he had seemingly disappeared from Hollywood films.  The truth is Keaton is a good actor whose full talent has rarely been utilized.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) gives him a chance, and there are moments in which Keaton shines.  This film is unique and has many moments of brilliance, in which Alejandro G. Iñárritu shows us that cinematic magic is indeed real.  Birdman has it, revealing that drama need not be tied to the ground nor to be framed in notions of stiff realism.  Birdman has a sense of wonder and of curiosity, believing that it is as exciting to explore a man's life as it is to explore a faraway magical kingdom or an island full of dinosaurs.

9 of 10
A+

Tuesday, September 15, 2015


NOTES:
2015 Academy Awards, USA:  4 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher, and James W. Skotchdopole), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Alejandro González Iñárritu), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo), and “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki); 5 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Michael Keaton), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Edward Norton), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Emma Stone), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, and Thomas Varga) and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Aaron Glascock and Martín Hernández)

2015 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Michael Keaton) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo); 5 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Alejandro González Iñárritu), “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Emma Stone), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Edward Norton) and “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Antonio Sanchez)

2015 BAFTA Awards:  1 win “Best Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki); 9 nominations: “Best Film” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher, and James W. Skotchdopole), “Best Leading Actor” (Michael Keaton), “Best Supporting Actor” (Edward Norton), “Best Supporting Actress” (Emma Stone), “Best Editing” (Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione), “Best Original Music” (Antonio Sanchez), “Best Sound” (Thomas Varga, Martín Hernández, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, and Frank A. Montaño), “Best Original Screenplay” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, and Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Alejandro González Iñárritu)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Citizenfour" Records the Revolution

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

[A version of the review first appeared on Patreon.]

Citizenfour (2014)
Running time:  114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR:  Laura Poitras
PRODUCERS:  Mathilde Bonnefoy, Laura Poitras, and Dirk Wilutzky
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Kirsten Johnson, Trevor Paglen, Laura Poitras, and Katy Scoggin
EDITOR:  Mathilde Bonnefoy
Academy Award winner

DOCUMENTARY – Politics, Society

Starring:  Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney, Ewan MacAskill, Jeremy Scahill, Jonathan Man, and Julian Assange with Laura Poitras and Barack Obama (archive)

Citizenfour (stylized as CITIZENFOUR) is a 2014 documentary film from director Laura Poitras.  The film focuses on Edward Snowden, who provided the information that revealed the illegal wiretapping of American citizens' communications by American intelligence agencies.  Citizenfour won the Oscar for “Best Documentary Feature” at the 87th Academy Awards (February 22, 2015).  Oscar-winning director, Steven Soderbergh, is one of this film's executive producers.

Citizenfour's narrative begins in January 2013 when documentarian Laura Poitras receives an encrypted email from an unknown person who calls himself “Citizenfour.”  He offers her inside information about the illegal wiretapping practices of the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies.  The NSA was recording and observing the phone calls of American citizens beyond the scope of what the U.S. Congress had authorized.

In June 2013, accompanied by investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald and The Guardian intelligence reporter, Ewen MacAskill, Poitras travels to Hong Kong for the first meeting with Citizenfour, who identifies himself as Edward Snowden.  Edward Joseph Snowden works for the CIA via his employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, a job that gives him access to highly sensitive and classified information about the wiretapping practices of the NSA, both in the U.S. and abroad.

On Monday, June 3, 2013, Poitras uses her camera to begin filming what would be a four-day interview, in which Snowden reveals to Greenwald and MacAskill the details of domestic surveillance of American citizens.  When Snowden's information becomes “breaking news” around the world, however, none of the participants in this interview feel safe in The Mira, the Hong Kong hotel where Snowden is staying.

Although it chronicles a momentous time in American history, Citizenfour is strangely quiet, even intimate.  This movie is not an all-encompassing survey of domestic surveillance and spying; it is the story of the first quiet days and then, frantic weeks when Snowden whispered the sour nothings that fully revealed the deceitful face of the American government.  It is as if Snowden, Poitras, and Greenwald said to us that we, the people of the United States, should finally, finally and really pay attention to that man behind the curtain.

Even if one is familiar with Edward Snowden and the furious sound of his whistle-blowing, Citizenfour still feels shocking.  Perhaps, this is because Poitras is recording the revelations and the resulting media and political fallout in real time.  This immediacy makes paranoia seem like a more than sensible and reasonable state of mind for any American and even for the rest of the world.

Citizenfour is one of the best films of the year (2014), and it is probably the most important film of the year.  Poitras proves that the documentary and the non-fiction film narrative are more important than ever.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2015 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win “Best Documentary, Feature” (Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky)

2015 BAFTA Awards:  1 win “Best Documentary” (Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, and Dirk Wilutzky)

Monday, September 7, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: "The Great Beauty" is" La grande bellezza"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 38 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

[A version of this review was first posted on Patreon.]

The Great Beauty (2013)
La grande bellezza – original title
Country: Italy/France
Running time:  141 minutes (2 hours, 21 minutes)
Not rated by the MPAA
DIRECTOR:  Paolo Sorrentino
WRITERS:  Paolo Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello; from a story by Paolo Sorrentino
PRODUCERS:  Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Luca Bigazzi
EDITOR:  Cristiano Travagl
COMPOSER:  Lele Marchitelli
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring:  Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi, Franco Graziosi, Giorgio Pasotti, Sonia Gessner, Luca Marinelli, Serena Grandi, Vernon Dobtcheff, Giovanna Vignola, Isabella Ferrari, and Giusi Merli

La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty) is a 2013 drama from director Paolo Sorrentino.  The Great Beauty is an Italian and French co-production, and as a representative of Italy, it won the Oscar for “Best Foreign Language Film of the Year” for the year 2013.  The film was released to U.S. theaters in 2014.  The Great Beauty follows a writer through timeless and beautiful Rome as he takes stock of his life after he receives a shock from the past.

The Great Beauty focuses on Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo), a journalist and socialite living in Rome.  He has lived a lavish life in Rome since he moved to the city as a 26-year-old.  Once upon a time, Jep wrote an acclaimed and well-received novel, The Human Apparatus.  While people awaited a second novel, Jep lived a comfortable life of writing about about celebrities and of throwing parties for celebrities and socialites in his fancy luxury apartment.

After his 65th birthday, Jep receives some shocking news about an old girlfriend.  He walks through the side of Rome that is a timeless landscape of absurd beauty and exquisite antiquity.  He reflects on his life and the sense that he is unfulfilled, as he encounters various characters.

The Great Beauty is indeed a great beauty.  The audience follows Jep Gambardella through parts of Rome that are tourist destinations or are either museums or sections of palatial estates.  I could recommend The Great Beauty for the absurd beauty of the film's settings and locales, alone.

As for the film's narrative:  it would be too easy to say that the specter of death hangs over the film.  The theme of growing old permeates the film, and also most of the characters seem to be yearning for more of something in their lives, even if more of what they want is bad for them.  Their lives are emotionally and spiritually empty.  I think the idea is that Jep has drifted through the last four decades of his life without realizing that he needs to establish roots.

I think that The Great Beauty encourages people to realize that beauty comes in fits and flashes between long stretches of what is ugly and banal in life; don't chase the superficial prettiness could be a tag line for the movie.  Still, the parties depicted in this film look pretty good, and the apartments and houses are just lovely.  I enjoyed Jep Gambardella's journey, although it meanders at times, but once again, the beauty in The Great Beauty is just so... beautiful.  This visual splendor alone makes this a truly exceptional film.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, July 31, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Foreign Language Film of the Year” (Italy)

2014 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Italy)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Film not in the English Language” (Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, and Francesca Cima)

2013 Cannes Film Festival:  1 nomination: “Palme d'Or: (Paolo Sorrentino)

Review: "12 Years a Slave" is the Best of Its Year and Among the Best of All Years

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

12 Years a Slave (2013)
Running time:  134 minutes (2 hours, 14 minutes)
MPAA - R for violence/cruelty, some nudity and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR:  Steve McQueen
WRITER:  John Ridley
PRODUCERS:  Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Anthony Katagas, Arnon Milchan, and Bill Pohlad
CINEMATOGRAPER:  Sean Bobbitt (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Joe Walke
COMPOSER:  Hans Zimmer
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/HISTORICAL/BIOPIC

Starring:  Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Alfre Woodard, Adepero Oduye, Garret Dillahunt, Scoot McNairy, Taran Killam, Chris Chalk, Michael Kenneth Williams, Liza J. Bennett, Devyn A. Tyler, Kelsey Scott, Quvenzhané Wallis, Cameron Zeigler, Dwight Henry, and John McConnell

12 Years a Slave is a 2013 historical drama and period film from director Steve McQueen.  The film is based on the 1853 memoir and slave narrative, Twelve Years a Slave.  At the 86th Oscars, 12 Years a Slave became the first film directed and produced by a black filmmaker (Steve McQueen) and also the first film to be written by an African-American (John Ridley) to win the Academy Award for “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (for the year 2013).  12 Years a Slave the movie is the story of a free black man from upstate New York, who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in antebellum Louisiana.

12 Years a Slave introduces Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man.  In 1841, Solomon lives in New York with his wife, the former Anne Hampton (Kelsey Scott), and his children, Alonzo (Cameron Zeigler) and Margaret (Quvenzhané Wallis).  Solomon works as violinist, and that is what gets him the offer of a two-week job as a musician in Washington D.C.  What Solomon does not realize is that this job offer is a trap.  His erstwhile employers drug and abduct him, and later sell Solomon to a slave trader in New Orleans.

The slave trader gives Solomon a new name, “Platt.”  He is sold first, to sugar cane plantation owner, William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), and then, to cotton plantation owner, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).  It is on Epps' plantation that Solomon meets Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o), a young female slave.  Through her, Solomon learns the true depravity of slavery and falls into despair, believing that he may never see his family again.

12 Years a Slave is not only the best film of 2013, it may also be the best film of the 21st century.  Everything about it is magnificent.  Steve McQueen's directing is a work of art – truthfully.  McQueen stages and composes this film with a painter's attention to detail, dedication to story (both narrative and message), and an artist's quest for the sublime and for even the divine.

McQueen creates a sense of intimacy between his characters – master/slave, oppressor/oppressed, abuser/abused – so that the action and emotions between characters feels like the interactions between real people.  This is a masterstroke in film-making, with the film drama having the power and immediacy of stage drama.  Hans Zimmer's evocative and heartbreaking score has uncannily perfect timing and tone in emphasizing story, setting, and mood, and also in embellishing and strengthening McQueen's choices.

12 Years a Slave is buttressed by three incredible and dumbfounding performances that are also works of art.  Damn, you could take the performances given by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita Nyong'o, individually, in pairs, or as a trio, and hang them on a museum wall.

Fassbender could become the most honored actor of the next quarter-century the way that Daniel Day-Lewis has been the most honored of the last quarter-century or so.  As Edwin Epps, Fassbender personifies both the banality of evil of slavery and also of the institution's naked lust for money (as in the need to recoup costs and to make even more money).  Fassbender received an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor in 2014, but lost to Jared Leto as the cartoonish stereotype, Rayon (in Dallas Buyers Club).  That's a shame and maybe even a tragedy.  For real, it should have been Fassbender's.

On the other side, as Patsey, Lupita Nyong'o becomes the face of the slaves, especially the face of black female slaves, surviving brutality and enduring degradation even while wishing for the sweet freedom that death might bring.  The depth, the poignancy, and the prowess of Nyong'o as an actor defy description, but at least she won her Oscar as best supporting actress for her supernaturally good acting.

Chiwetel Ejiofor lost the best actor Oscar to Matthew McConaughey who played Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club.  McConaughey did deliver an exceptional performance, but the reason film award voters were so impressed with McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club was because they did not know that he had a Ron Woodroof in him.  Up to that point, McConaughey had spent much of his career playing shallow pussy-hounds, grown-ass men in a state of pathetic arrested development, and leading roles that required him to do little more than give good face.  Being a white man also gave McConaughey an advantage with Oscar voters.

On the other hand, it is easy to take Ejiofor for granted; he is always good.  In film, he has perhaps never been better than he is in 12 Years a Slave.  He carries this movie because it is his character's story, a personal and hellish travelogue into the darkest and cruelest countries of mankind's nature.  Ejiofor opens up his heart, his mind, his personality, his emotions – his very being – to the audience.  Through him, we experience the suffering and dehumanization of Solomon Northup.

I think this movie is, in large measure, about how people will make others suffer for their own material gain and how some humans degrade others for their own satisfaction and pleasure.  Few films have depicted that as well as 12 Years a Slave does.  Maybe, it is indeed too hard for some to watch, but 12 Years a Slave is a great film (one of the greatest of all time), and it is a necessary one – more necessary than some of us will admit.

10 of 10

Saturday, March 7, 2015


NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  3 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, and Anthony Katagas), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Lupita Nyong'o), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (John Ridley); 6 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Chiwetel Ejiofor), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Michael Fassbender), “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Patricia Norris), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Steve McQueen), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Joe Walker), and “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Adam Stockhausen-production design and Alice Baker-set decoration)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  2 wins: “Best Film” (Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Steve McQueen) and “Best Leading Actor” (Chiwetel Ejiofor); 8 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Hans Zimmer); “Best Adapted Screenplay” (John Ridley), “Best Supporting Actor” (Michael Fassbender), “Best Supporting Actress” (Lupita Nyong'o), “Best Cinematography” (Sean Bobbitt), “Best Editing” (Joe Walker), “Best Production Design” (Adam Stockhausen and Alice Baker), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Steve McQueen)

2014 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Motion Picture – Drama;” 6 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Chiwetel Ejiofor), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Michael Fassbender), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Lupita Nyong'o), “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steve McQueen), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (John Ridley), and “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Hans Zimmer)

2014 Black Reel Awards 2014:  8 wins: “Outstanding Motion Picture” (Brad Pitt, Steve McQueen, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohlad, and Arnon Milchan – Fox Searchlight Pictures), “Outstanding Actor, Motion Picture” (Chiwetel Ejiofor), “Outstanding Supporting Actress, Motion Picture” (Lupita Nyong'o), “Outstanding Director, Motion Picture” (Steve McQueen), “Outstanding Screenplay (Adapted or Original), Motion Picture” (John Ridley), “Outstanding Ensemble” (Francine Maisler (Casting Director), “Outstanding Score” (Hans Zimmer), and “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female” (Lupita Nyong'o); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Song” (Alicia Keys: Performer & Writer for the song "Queen of the Field (Patsey's Song))

2014 Image Awards:  4 wins: “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Lupita Nyong'o), “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture - (Theatrical or Television)” (John Ridley), and “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture” (Steve McQueen); 2 nominations: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Alfre Woodard)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "The Act of Killing" Delves into Mass Murder and Mass Murderers

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Act of Killing (2012)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Denmark/Norway/UK
Running time:  122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Joshua Oppenheimer with Christine Cynn and Anonymous
PRODUCERS:  Christine Cynn, Anne Kohncke,Signe Byrge Sorense, Joram ten Brink, Michael Uwemedimo, and Anonymous
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Carlos Arango De Montis, Lars Skree, and Anonymous
EDITORS:  Niels Pagh Andersen, Erik Andersson, Charlotte Munch Bengtsen, Ariadna Fatjo-Vilas Mestre, Janus Billeskov Jansen, and Mariko Montpetit
Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY – History

Starring:  Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Ibrahim Sinik, Yapto Soerjosomarno, Adi Zulkadry, Soaduon Siregar, and Sakhyan Asmara

The Act of Killing is a 2012 documentary film from director Joshua Oppenheimer.  A co-production of Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the film concerns the Indonesian killings of 1965-66.  In The Act of Killing,  former Indonesian death-squad leaders reenact the mass-killings in which they participated by imitating their favorite Hollywood films.  Acclaimed filmmakers, Werner Herzog and Oscar-winner Errol Morris, are executive producers of this film.

The genesis of the story told by The Act of Killing began in Indonesia in October 1965.  There is an intra-military dispute that leads to a failed coup.  The army overthrows the government.  It then uses paramilitaries and gangsters to form death squads to lead an anti-communist purge of Indonesia.  Anyone opposed to the new government could be accused of being a communist, and that included union members, landless farmers, intellectuals, and ethnic Chinese (according the the film's foreword).

From 1965 to 1966, death squads killed people, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.  The Act of Killing's director, Joshua Oppenheimer, places the number of deaths between one to three million people.  An accurate count of the actual number of deaths may never be known.

Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn began researching the Indonesian killings of 1965-66 over a decade ago.  Eventually, interviews Oppenheimer conducted led him to Anwar Congo, who had been a “movie theater gangster,” selling black market movie theater tickets to popular Hollywood films showing in Indonesia.  Congo and his partner, Adi Zulkadry, were promoted from gangsters to leaders of one of the most powerful death squads in the North Sumatra region of Indonesia.

Invited by Oppenheimer, Congo and his friends, especially a man named Herman Koto, recount and reenact their experiences killing people for the cameras.  The idea is to turn their memories into a movie in which scenes of torture and murder mimic their favorite Hollywood films.  However, the more he recollects his murderous deeds, the more Anwar is haunted by nightmares and guilt.

The word “shocking” is overused, but The Act of Killing is shocking.  The matter-of-fact and nonchalant way in which the death squad killers recall their murderous work can be off-putting.  The film takes the concept of the banality of evil and makes it mind-numbing.  The Hollywood-style reenactments of interrogation, torture, and murder are a collision of the absurd and the god-awful that could lead the audience to eye-rolling... that is when they aren't being repulsed and infuriated.

The problem for The Act of Killing is that after an hour of watching, all these recollections of the acts of killing become tedious.  At just over two hours in length, The Act of Killing is about a half-hour too long.  Honestly, I can see why some people think of this as a great film.  I think it tells a hugely important story, and the result is harrowing and intense.  I think it is an exceptional film and an important document (as far as documentaries go), but is it truly great? ... not quite.

8 of 10
A

Friday, September 26, 2014

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.


NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Documentary, Features” (Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Documentary” (Joshua Oppenheimer); 1 nomination: “Best Film not in the English Language” (Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen)

Review: "Blue Jasmine" Filled with Superb Performances

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Blue Jasmine (2013)
Running time:  98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic material, language and sexual content
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Woody Allen
PRODUCERS:  Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum, and Edward Walson
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Javier Aguirresarobe
EDITOR:  Alisa Lepselter
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring:  Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins, Alec Baldwin, Andrew Dice Clay, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Peter Sarsgaard, Daniel Jenks, Max Rutherford, Max Casella, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Alden Ehren

Blue Jasmine is a 2013 drama written and directed by Woody Allen.  The film follows a rich Manhattan socialite, fallen on hard times, who moves to San Francisco to live with her sister, with her troubles in tow.

Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) was a New York socialite, married to hugely successful real estate developer, Hal Francis (Alec Baldwin).  Jasmine, whose real name is Jeanette, leads a life of luxury and leisure, but Hal’s business is based on fraud.  After Hal is sent to prison, she loses everything (home, money, status, etc.).  Jasmine travels to San Francisco where she will move in with her sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins), a single mother of two boys, Matthew (Daniel) and Johnny (Max).

Jasmine’s arrival is an imposition, as Ginger had planned to allow her fiancé, Chili (Bobby Cannavale), to move in with her.  Hal’s fraudulent dealings also cost Ginger and her ex-husband, Augie (Andrew Dice Clay), a lot of money and financially ruined them.  Deeply troubled and in denial about the past, Jasmine looks fabulous, but her looks hide the fact that she isn’t bringing anything good to her new home.

Blue Jasmine is not only one of Woody Allen’s best screenplays of the last decade, but it also features some of his best characters ever.  In a way, their motivations and emotions are so obvious that they could be described as wearing their hearts on their sleeves.  On the other side of that, each character is also inscrutable, because what goes on inside their heads (thinking and thought processes) is largely a mystery.

Jeanette “Jasmine” Francis is the most inscrutable of all, and as Jasmine, Cate Blanchett gives what may be the best performance of her career.  That says a lot in a career full of incredible performances.  Jasmine is that rare instance when an actor brings to life a fully realized character that seems to devour everything that the actor is.  Blanchett also makes sure that there are no easy answers to Jasmine, who denies the past, but is inexorably trapped in it.

Sally Hawkins as Ginger manages to keep up with Blanchett, and in every scene that Ginger shares with Jasmine, Hawkins makes her character just as compelling.  Prepare to be surprised by the multi-dimensional performance by Andrew Dice Clay as Ginger’s ex-husband, Augie.  I was a huge fan of Clay when he was a blazing, red-hot, stand-up comic in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but his heartbreaking turn as the deeply wounded Augie is still a surprise to me.

I have read that some critics see Blue Jasmine as Woody Allen’s take on Tennessee William’s legendary play, A Streetcar Named Desire, as they share similar elements.  If this is true, Allen made Blue Jasmine worthy of being compared to the masterwork that is William’s play.  Even movie audiences who are not usually fans of Allen’s films should see the exceptional Blue Jasmine.

8 of 10
A

Friday, July 18, 2014

NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Cate Blanchett); 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Sally Hawkins) and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Woody Allen)

2014 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Cate Blanchett); 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Sally Hawkins)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Leading Actress” (Cate Blanchett); 2 nominations: “Best Original Screenplay” (Woody Allen) and “Best Supporting Actress” (Sally Hawkins)

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Topsy-Turvy" Goes Behind the Scenes (Happy B'day, Jim Broadbent)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 224 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Topsy-Turvy (1999)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  UK
Running time:  160 minutes (2 hours, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for a scene of risqué nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Mike Leigh
PRODUCER:  Simon Channing-Williams
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dick Pope
EDITOR:  Robin Sales
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring:  Allan Corduner, Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Wendy Nottingham, Dexter Fletcher, Sukie Smith, Roger Heathcott, Timothy Spall, Adam Searle, Martin Savage, Kate Doherty, Kenneth Hadley, Ron Cook, Eleanor David, Sam Kelly, and Andy Serkis

The subject of this movie review is Topsy-Turvy, a 1999 musical drama and comedy film from writer-director, Mike Leigh.  The film is a fictional account of the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan, following a failed opera and leading to the creation of the duo’s masterpiece, The Mikado.

Topsy-Turvy is writer/director Mike Leigh’s fictional account of the comic opera team of Gilbert & Sullivan during a particular period in their partnership.  After the lukewarm critical reception of the comic opera, Princess Ida, in 1884, English composer Sir Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) has grown weary of his 13-year partnership with playwright and comic librettist William Schwenck “Willie” Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) and of Gilbert’s topsy-turvy scenarios.

Sullivan embarks on a tour of Europe and when he returns he begins to work on what he calls serious musical compositions.  However, the musical partners have a contract to fulfill with their producer Richard D’Oyly Carte (Ron Cook) for the Savoy Theatre (which had been built to house Gilbert & Sullivan’s operas).

After much disagreement among Sullivan, Gilbert, and Carte, Gilbert writes the scenario for The Mikado, a story inspired by Gilbert’s experiences from his visits to an exposition of Japanese culture, history, and art held in London in 1885.  Topsy-Turvy (a term used to describe the kind of fictional scenarios that involved ordinary humans encountered magic and sorcery) follows the creation, development, and staging of The Mikado.  Leigh’s fictional account shows Sir Arthur Sullivan working on the music and Willie Gilbert struggling with the actors to get the staging, acting, and singing just right.  His attention to detail also brings him into conflict with actors over costumes and the assignment of roles.

The film should be a treat to fans of Gilbert & Sullivan, and Topsy-Turvy is an excellent look at both the creative process and all the work that goes into staging an opera, everything from conducting the music and designing the sets to staging the cast and preparing for opening night.  There are a lot of very good performances in this film, but nothing from the leads (Broadbent and Corduner) stand out other than from the fact that they are the leads.  Andy Serkis (Gollum and Smeagol of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) makes a nice turn as the opera’s choreographer.

Leigh gives a look at the behind-the-scenes struggles and politics of raising a staged work that is quite interesting and almost academic in its details.  The film, however, does come off as a bit cool, and Leigh does too much teasing about the private lives of Gilbert & Sullivan, without revealing anything but tidbits.  Still, Leigh manages to make a unique and exceptional film that shines in spite of a few flaws.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards, USA:  2 wins: “Best Costume Design” (Lindy Hemming) and “Best Makeup” (Christine Blundell and Trefor Proud); 2 nominees:  “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Mike Leigh) and “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Eve Stewart-art director and John Bush-set decorator)

2000 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Make Up/Hair” (Christine Blundell); 4 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Simon Channing Williams and Mike Leigh), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Mike Leigh), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jim Broadbent), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Timothy Spall)

Updated:  Saturday, May 24, 2014

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Mary Poppins" Still "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mary Poppins (1964)
Running time:  139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Robert Stevenson  
WRITERS: Bill Walsh and Don Da Gradi (based on: The "Mary Poppins" books by P.L. Travers)
PRODUCERS:  Walt Disney and Bill Walsh
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Edward Colman (D.o.P.) 
EDITOR:  Cotton Warburton
COMPOSERS/SONGS:  Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
SCORE:  Irwin Kostal
Academy Award winner

FANTASY/MUSICAL/FAMILY

Starring:  Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Karen Dotrice, Matthew Garber, Hermione Baddeley, Reta Shaw, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher, Reginald Owen, Don Barclay, and Ed Wynn

Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical fantasy film from Walt Disney Productions.  The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, although he did not receive a credit in the actual film as the producer, while producer Bill Walsh is only credited as co-producer.  In 1965, both Disney and Walsh received nominations for best producer for their work on Mary Poppins.

The primary source for Mary Poppins the movie is the 1934 novel, Mary Poppins, which was written by author P.L. Travers.  Eight Mary Poppins books written by Travers were published from 1934 to 1988.  The movie mixes adventures and episodes taken from each of the novels that existed at the time the film began production with new material created specifically for the movie.

Mary Poppins the film follows a nanny with magic powers who comes to work for the Banks family.  She takes care of two children whose father is an emotionally distant and cold banker and whose mother is a usually-absent suffragette.  The nanny gets some help working her magic on the family from a singing and dancing chimney-sweep.  I consider Mary Poppins to be an exceptional Hollywood fantasy film.  I would consider it a truly great film, except that I think the movie is too long and that it practically has no plot.

Mary Poppins opens in the year 1910.  In the city of London, England, there is trouble at No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane.  George W. Banks (David Tomlinson) and his wife, Winifred (Glynis Johns), are having trouble retaining a nanny to care for their two children, Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber).  Enter Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews); blown in on the east wind, she is the practically perfect nanny who will revolutionize the prim and proper Banks family with a bit of magic and a spoonful of sugar.  Of course, she will get some help from a Cockney jack-of-all-trades and chimney sweep, the dancing and singing Bert (Dick Van Dyke).

Mary Poppins has the magical quality that infused the Walt Disney animated films that preceded it.  One reason is because Mary Poppins combines live-action and animation.  This includes an extended sequence in which Mary Poppins, Bert, and Jane and Michael frolic in a world that is entirely animated except for them.  I think some of the live-action backgrounds and environments and some of the live-action sequences were produced in such a way that they would look like they belong in an animated feature film.

The acting is good, but not great, except for the wonderful Dick Van Dyke, who is outstanding in this film.  Julie Andrews plays the title character, but in many ways, Mary Poppins the movie is as much Bert’s film as it is Mary Poppins’.  Van Dyke’s wild, but precise and imaginative dancing sometimes cast a spell that made me watch every moment of his routines.  Van Dyke’s Bert is one of the best supporting characters in American film history, simply for the fact that he supports the film to the point of often carrying the story – especially when it really needs someone to carry it.

Of course, the songs are classic.  The songwriting duo of brothers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman are American treasures.  Even with silly titles, the Shermans’ songs are excellent and unforgettable.  Irwin Kostal adapts and orchestrates the Sherman Bros.’ songs into a musical score, and he should always get credit for how he translates those songs into music that is important to the storytelling’s mood, action, and drama.

However, I do think that the length of this film is a problem.  The film’s runtime is too long at two hours and 19 minutes.  Some of the song and dancing sequences stretch to the point of turning that which is captivating into something annoying.  Most glaring, the resolution of the Banks’ problems does not make sense.  It just comes out of nowhere, probably because at some point, everyone realized that even this movie had to end.

Still, Mary Poppins has that instant classic, Disney quality of which we all know and practically all of us love.  Perhaps, that is because Mary Poppins seems intent on plucking the audience’s emotions and playing up the good things about family.  However, the film does that with songs rather than through substantive plot and narrative.

Some of Mary Poppins is extraordinarily good.  Some of it made me tear-up, even the last act which I just criticized.  Mary Poppins is an American classic.  I don’t think we will ever stop loving it, and we will watch it again… and again.  It is “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” indeed.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1965 Academy Awards, USA:  5 wins: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Julie Andrews), “Best Film Editing” (Cotton Warburton), “Best Effects, Special Visual Effects” (Peter Ellenshaw, Hamilton Luske, and Eustace Lycett), “Best Music, Original Song” (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman for the song “Chim Chim Cher-ee”), and “Best Music, Substantially Original Score” (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); 8 nominations: “Best Picture” (Walt Disney and Bill Walsh), “Best Director” (Robert Stevenson), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi), “Best Cinematography, Color” (Edward Colman), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color” (Carroll Clark, William H. Tuntke, Emile Kuri, and Hal Gausman), “Best Costume Design, Color” (Tony Walton), “Best Sound” (Robert O. Cook - Walt Disney SSD), and “Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment” (Irwin Kostal)

1965 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy” (Julie Andrews); 3 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy), “Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy” (Dick Van Dyke), and “Best Original Score” (Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman)

1965 BAFTA Awards 1965:  1 win “Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles’ (Julie Andrews-USA)

2013 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  National Film Registry

Tuesday, May 06, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: Disney's "Frozen" is Pixar Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Frozen (2013)
Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some action and mild rude humor
DIRECTORS:  Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
WRITERS:  Jennifer Lee; from a story by Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck, and Shane Morris (based on the story “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen)
PRODUCER:  Peter Del Vecho
EDITOR:  Jeff Draheim
COMPOSER:  Christophe Beck
SONGS:  Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE and COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring:  (voices) Kristin Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk, Ciaran Hinds, Chris Williams, Stephen J. Anderson, Eva Bell, Spencer Lacey Ganus, Tyree Brown, and June Christopher

Frozen is a 2013 computer-animated musical, comedy, and fantasy film directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee.  Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Frozen was released theatrically in 3D.  Frozen is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Snow Queen,” which was first published in 1844.  Frozen focuses on a young woman trying to break the curse of eternal winter, a curse started by the Snow Queen, who is her sister.

In the kingdom of Arendelle, the King and Queen have two daughters.  The older sister, Elsa, has the magical ability to create ice and snow.  The younger daughter, Anna, accidentally becomes a victim of her older sister’s power, causing a rift between the two formerly close siblings.  Years later, Elsa (Idina Menzel), is about to be crowned Queen of Arendelle.  Anna (Kristin Bell) is excited about her sister’s coronation, which will open the castle to the outside world for the first time in years.  At the coronation, a dispute between the sisters leads to Elsa loosing control of her now immense powers.  She inadvertently puts Arendelle in a deep freeze, before running away.

Anna is determined to find Elsa, now known as the “Snow Queen,” and to reconcile their relationship.  She befriends Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), a mountain man, and his reindeer, Sven, who decide to help her find the reclusive Elsa.  They are eventually joined by Olaf (Josh Gad), a joyous snowman.  Their journey is epic, but if Anna cannot reach Elsa, Arendelle will be cursed to suffer an eternal winter.

Frozen is one of the truly great animated films from Walt Disney Pictures.  It is the first computer-animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios that is artistically and technically equal to the best computer-animated films from Pixar Animation Studios (now a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company).  In fact, Pixar’s John Lasseter was an executive producer on and a guiding hand behind Frozen.  Everything fantastic, wonderful, magical, joyous, and poignant that people expect of the best Disney and Pixar films is more than plentiful in Frozen, one of the finest films of 2013.

The voice cast, top to bottom, is excellent.  Honestly, every voice performance seems to be superb.  Kristin Bell and Idina Menzel give bravura performances individually and together; they have the kind of screen chemistry of which many casts can only dream of having.  Of course, Menzel is a standout singing Frozen’s signature song, the Oscar-winning “Let It Go.”  Josh Gad is scene-stealing gold as the comic-relief snowman, Olaf.  I have to admit that I’d like to see Olaf again.

Frozen’s song and musical score also make it the best Disney animated musical film since The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.  Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez’s songs for Frozen recall both the Broadway-styled numbers in Beauty and the Beast and the comic fantasy tunes of Aladdin.

Once upon a time, Walt Disney’s animated films were called “instant classics;” Frozen is an instant classic.  Also, the resolution of Elsa and Anna’s relationship separates Frozen from Disney’s other female-centric animated features.  For me, Frozen is now a personal favorite that I plan to watch repeatedly.

10 of 10

Monday, April 21, 2014


NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  2 wins: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho) and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for the song “Let It Go”)

2014 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Animated Feature Film” and 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for the song, “Let It Go”)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Animated Film” (Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee)

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Oscar Nominee Review: "Captain Phillips"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Captain Phillips (2013)
Running time:  134 minutes (2 hours, 14 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sustained intense sequences of menace, some violence with bloody images, and for substance use
DIRECTOR:  Paul Greengrass
WRITER:  Billy Ray (A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty)
PRODUCERS:  Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Barry Ackroyd (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Christopher Rouse
COMPOSER:  Henry Jackman
Academy Award nominee

THRILLER/DRAMA

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Catherine Keener, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Michael Chernus, David Warshofsky, Corey Johnson, Chris Mulkey, and Issak Farah Samatar

Captain Phillips is a 2013 thriller and drama from director Paul Greengrass.  The film is an adaptation of A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty.  The movie dramatizes the 2009 hijacking of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.  Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey is one of the film’s executive producers.

The film begins with Captain Richard “Rich” Phillips (Tom Hanks) taking command of the MV Maersk Alabama.  This unarmed container ship is scheduled to sail from the Port of Salalah (in the city of Salalah, Oman) through the Gulf of Aden to Mombasa, Kenya.  After an alert concerning pirate activity around the Horn of Africa, Captain Phillips orders strict security precautions on the vessel and carries out practice drills.  In fact, during those drills, two skiffs containing Somali pirates chase the Alabama.

One group of pirates is eventually successful and actually boards and takes control of the Alabama.  The skiff’s captain, Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), and his cohorts:  Adan Bilal (Barkhad Abdirahman), Walid Elmi (Mahat M. Ali), and Nour Najee (Faysal Ahmed), plan to ransom the ship and its crew for millions of dollars.  Captain Phillips has called for help, but can he stall the pirates before they start killing his crew?

Audiences can practically always count on director Paul Greengrass to deliver a riveting film and an edge-of-your-seat thriller with each of his movies.  Greengrass’ films aren’t the average run-of-the-mill action thrillers; they’re smart and filled with strong characters facing real-world dilemmas.  Captain Phillips is Greengrass’ best film since his Jason Bourne movies.  Greengrass gets a championship effort from his editor Christopher Rouse, who delivers a film that gets better and better, more engaging, more entrancing with each minute.

Although, Tom Hanks is the star and Rich Phillips is the title character and focus, in some way, Captain Phillips is also about Abduwali Muse.  First-time actor, Barkhad Abdi, delivers a superb performance.  Abdi’s acting is especially impressive as the film only focuses on Muse’s personality in the context of what comes out of his actions.  Since Muse does not get to show himself as a fully-developed human, Abdi has to sell him as a three-dimensional villain who only reveals his intentions (getting a ransom), and little beyond that.  I can see why Abdi earned such acclaim and an Oscar nomination to go with a BAFTA win as best supporting actor.

This is pretty much the same with Captain Phillips.  His motivation, conflicts, and dilemmas are seen only in the context of him being a captain of a ship and also a captain of a ship that is under duress.  Tom Hanks is known for playing characters that are totally or mostly open to the audience.  As Phillips, Hanks erects a wall that makes it only easy to feel sympathy, pity, and fear for Phillips.  However, Hanks is so good that he still manages to deliver some fantastic acting – something that is more performance art than it is performance of a character.

All of Captain Phillips is good, but the last forty minutes are a doozy.  The rescue operation makes a very good film a truly exceptional film.  I wish more thrillers were like Captain Phillips.

9 of 10
A

Tuesday, March 25, 2014


NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  6 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Barkhad Abdi), “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Billy Ray), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Christopher Rouse), “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Oliver Tarney), and “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Chris Munro)

2014 Golden Globes, USA:  4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Tom Hanks), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Barkhad Abdi), and “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Paul Greengrass)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Supporting Actor” (Barkhad Abdi); 8 nominations: “Best Film” (Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca), “David Lean Award for Direction” (Paul Greengrass), “Best Leading Actor” (Tom Hanks), “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Henry Jackman), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Billy Ray), “Best Cinematography” (Barry Ackroyd), “Best Editing” (Christopher Rouse), “Best Sound” (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, and Oliver Tarney)

2014 Black Reel Awards:  2 wins: “Outstanding Supporting Actor, Motion Picture” (Barkhad Abdi) and “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male” (Barkhad Abdi)


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Trainspotting" is Still Cool (Happy B'day, Kelly Macdonald)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 69 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Trainspotting (1996)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  United Kingdom
Running time:  94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic heroin use and resulting depravity, strong language, sex, nudity and some violence
DIRECTOR:  Danny Boyle
WRITER:  John Hodge (from the novel by Irvine Welsh)
PRODUCER:  Andrew Macdonald
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Brian Tufano (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Masahiro Hirakubo
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA with elements of comedy

Starring:  Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Peter Mullan, and Kelly Macdonald

The subject of this movie review is Trainspotting, a 1996 British drama and black comedy from the team of director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and writer John Hodge.  The film is based on the 1993 novel, Trainspotting, by author Irvine Welsh.  Set in Edinburgh, Scotland, Trainspotting the film focuses on a heroin addict who tries to clean up despite the allure of the drugs and the influence of his friends.

Director Danny Boyle captured movie audiences’ attentions with his film Shallow Grave, but it was Trainspotting that blew him up big time.  It’s the story of five young Scotsmen and their decrepit lives – rarely has nasty and slovenliness seemed so appealing.

Mark “Rent-boy” Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a serious heroine addict, deeply involved in the Edinburgh drug scene, who tries to kick his habit and change his life.  Three of his friends are also hooked on smack:  Daniel “Spud” Murphy (Ewen Bremner), Simon David “Sick Boy” Williamson (Jonny Lee Miller), and Tommy MacKenzie (Kevin McKidd).  His other homey is a wacked-out, violent, thief, and ex-con named Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle), whom everyone calls Begbie.  Renton enjoys the dope, the violent friends, and the wild sex, but despite the allure, he wants to go clean.  If only his friends would let him be and that includes Diane (Kelly Macdonald), the hot young thing whose jailbait body can’t get enough of Renton.

The first half of Trainspotting seems to drag, but the death of a minor, but important character, really kicks off the festivities.  It seems that it took a horrible and gruesome discovery in the narrative flow to wake up screenwriter John Hodge’s storytelling beast.  Suddenly, the vibrant soundtrack, clever editing, dead-on acting, and drug fugue merge to make something splendid.  Boyle’s directing style for this film earned comparisons to films like Pulp Fiction and A Clockwork Orange, and the narrative spool of this film does mirror the latter film in style and execution, but Trainspotting is about sad people.  In Pulp Fiction and Clockwork, the characters are dangerous and dangerously sexy; in Trainspotting, they’re pretty pathetic, more sexual stank than sexually attractive.  Even McGregor’s Renton is a bore.

However, there is a neat trick Boyle and Hodge pull on us.  The closer Renton comes to the surface to free himself from his morass, the more attractive and sympathetic he becomes.  He goes from being the lead loser, the least repellent of the lowlife, to a hero for whom we can root.  As he cleans himself up, the film becomes all the more beautiful.

Trainspotting is something different, but something good, and it requires patience on the part of a viewer.  There’s a reward at the end of the rainbow.  Boyle and Hodge make this Renton’s story, about a kind of resurrection.  They wed him to the viewer, and as he rises, so does the viewer.  It’s an electric experience that has to be experienced; for the adventurous film fan, it’s a reward watching Renton finally win and leave the filth behind, not unlike kicking a bad habit.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1997 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published” (John Hodge)

1996 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (John Hodge); 1 nomination: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Andrew Macdonald and Danny Boyle)

1997 BAFTA Awards, Scotland:  2 wins: “Best Feature Film” (Andrew Macdonald-producer, Danny Boyle-director, and John Hodge-writer), “Best Actor – Film” (Ewan McGregor); 3 nominations: “Best Actor – Film” (Robert Carlyle), “Best Actress – Film” (Kelly Macdonald), and “Best Writer” (John Hodge)

Updated:  Sunday, February 23, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "The Iron Giant" is Still a Giant (Happy B'day, Jennifer Aniston)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 223 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Iron Giant (1999) – animated
Running time:  86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
MPAA – PG for fantasy action and mild language
DIRECTOR:  Brad Bird
WRITERS:  Tim McCanlies; from a screen story by Brad Bird; (based upon the book The Iron Man by Ted Hughes)
PRODUCERS:  Allison Abbate and Des McAnuff
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Steven Wilzbach
EDITOR:  Darren T. Holmes
COMPOSER:  Michael Kamen
BAFTA Award winner

ANIMATION/SCI-FI/FAMILY

Starring:  (voices) Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vin Diesel, Christopher MacDonald, and John Mahoney with Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston

The subject of this movie review is The Iron Giant, a 1999 animated science fiction film from director Brad Bird.  The film is based on the 1968 novel, The Iron Man, by author Ted Hughes.  The Iron Giant focuses on a boy who befriends a giant alien robot and then fights to protect that robot from the paranoid government agent who wants to destroy it.

Among the many popular animated films of 1999 (which included Disney’s Tarzan and the “South Park” feature film), one got lost in the crowd, a great family film with a message and heart.  It was The Iron Giant, a Cold War fable with a timeless message and was directed by Brad Bird, who at the time was known for his work on “The Simpsons” and is currently getting attention for directing Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles.

Based upon a book by Ted Hughes, the film was the story of Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal), a boy with a love for comics and sci-fi monster movies and who has an active imagination, and an innocent giant alien robot (Vin Diesel) the boy befriends.  Now, the robot is difficult to hide and eventually his presence earns the attention of Kent Mansley (Christopher MacDonald), a government agent who wants to destroy the robot.  Hogarth is afraid to tell his mother, Annie Hughes (Jennifer Aniston), a single parent, about his giant robot friend, but he luckily befriends an easy going beatnik artist named Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick, Jr.).  Dean runs a scrap yard, which proves to be a good source of food for the metal-eating giant, but how long can Hogarth and Dean hide the giant robot from the men who want to destroy him?

The Iron Giant’s story is very similar to that of E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, another story about a boy who befriends an innocent alien hounded by military types that want to hurt him.  The moral or message of The Iron Giant is not necessarily entirely about peace, but is more about choosing peace and defending oneself only when one is sure of his enemy instead of attacking the unknown because of paranoia, ignorance, and fear.  The film is also a heartfelt drama with many comic moments and lots of action and adventure aimed at the young-at-heart and those who still can recall child-like wonder.  The script lightly draws the characters, but gives enough of them to make the premise work.

The quality of the animation (2-D or traditional hand drawn with some CGI) is very high quality; in fact, it’s hard to tell that the “Iron Giant” is completely computer animated because the character fits in so well with the hand drawn figures.  The animation is not as fluid as the best of Disney, but this film looks as if it could have come out of the Disney animation studios that produced 101 Dalmatians or The Jungle Book.  I heartily recommend this film to animation and sci-fi fans, and I especially recommend it for family viewing.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2000 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: BAFTA Children's Award for “Best Feature Film” (Allison Abbate, Des McAnuff, Brad Bird, and Tim McCanlies)

Updated:  Tuesday, February 11, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Lost in Translation" is Superb (Happy B'day, Bill Murray)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Lost in Translation (2003)
Running time:  101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for some sexual content
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Sofia Coppola
PRODUCERS:  Sofia Coppola and Ross Katz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Lance Acord (D.o.P.)
COMPOSER:  Kevin Shields
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/ROMANCE with some elements of comedy

Starring:  Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, Nancy Steiner (uncredited voice), Fumihiro Hayashi, Hiroko Kawasaki, and Akiko Takeshita

The subject of this movie review is Lost in Translation, a 2003 drama and romantic film from writer-director Sofia Coppola.  Sofia’s legendary filmmaker father, Francis Ford Coppola, is also this film’s executive producer.

In 1990, film critics howled in derision when director Francis Ford Coppola cast his daughter, Sofia, in The Godfather: Part III, when another actress had to drop out early in filming schedule.  Over a decade later, Sofia Coppola has firmly established herself as a directorial talent to watch thanks to her excellent film, Lost In Translation, the story of two displaced Americans in Tokyo who form a unique friendship of platonic love.

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a fading TV star who goes to Tokyo after he’s paid $2 million to appear in an ad for Suntory whiskey.  Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is in Tokyo with her husband, John (Giovanni Ribisi), who is photographing a rock band for a major magazine.  Bob and Charlotte spend most of their time stuck in a hotel.  Charlotte is frozen in her life, unsure of where her marriage is going and of what’s she going to do in life.  Bob’s marriage is kind of shaky as he goes through a midlife crisis.

Bob and Charlotte meet in a hotel bar and bond.  It’s that bond that helps them to deal with their feelings of confusion and loneliness, and in that special friendship, they share  the hilarity caused by the cultural and language differences they encounter in Tokyo.  They turn their time in a strange land into a wonderful and special week in Japan.

Lost in Translation was one of 2003’s best films.  It’s smartly written, beautifully photographed, and splendidly directed.  If there’s an adjective that suggests good, it belongs in descriptions of LiT.  There is a patience in the filmmaking that suggests the filmmakers allowed the film to come together in an organic fashion, each adding their talents in the correct measure.

Ms. Coppola is brilliant in the way she lets her stars carry the film.  She does her part to give LiT a unique visual look, something that suggests a documentary and an atmosphere of futurism.  If you’ve heard that Bill Murray is just doing himself in this movie, you’re hearing ignorant people.  Yes, Murray brings a lot of his personality to the role, but Bob Harris is mostly a stranger to us.  Bill builds the character before our eyes, showing us a character new and rich in possibilities, someone with whom we can sympathize.  Bill shows us just enough to know him and keeps enough hidden to make Bob mysterious and intriguing.

Ms. Johansson carries herself like a veteran actress of many films.  She’s beautiful, but she’s puts those good looks to more use than just being eye candy.  She’s subtle and crafty, and a lot of her character is revealed in her eyes, in the careful nuances of facial expressions, and in the understated movements of her slender, sexy frame.  She’s a movie star.

For people who are always looking for something different in film, this is it.  Lost in Translation is like sex, lies, and videotape or Reservoir Dogs, an early film in a director’s career that is more foreign than American, and announces the coming of a director who might just be a visionary.  Plus, it’s a great romantic movie, as good as any classic love story.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Sofia Coppola); 3 nominations “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Bill Murray), “Best Director” (Sofia Coppola), “Best Picture” (Ross Katz and Sofia Coppola)

2004 BAFTA Awards:  3 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Bill Murray), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Scarlett Johansson), and “Best Editing” (Sarah Flack); 5 nominations: “Best Film” (Sofia Coppola and Ross Katz), “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Kevin Shields and Brian Reitzell), “Best Cinematography” (Lance Acord), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Sofia Coppola), “David Lean Award for Direction” (Sofia Coppola)

2004 Golden Globes, USA:  3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Bill Murray), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Sofia Coppola); 2 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Sofia Coppola) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Scarlett Johansson)

Updated:  Saturday, September 21, 2013

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