2015 Primetime Emmy Award Winners; "Game of Thrones" Rules

The Emmy Award (or simply “Emmy”) recognizes excellence in the television industry.  It corresponds to the Academy Award (for film), the Grammy Award (for music), and the Tony Award (for theatre).  The best known Emmy Awards are the Primetime Emmys and Daytime Emmys.  However, Emmys are awarded for sports programming, for national news and documentaries, and for regional and international television, among others.

The 2015 Primetime Emmy Award winners were announced on Sunday, September 20, 2015.  Andy Samberg hosted the 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony that was broadcast FOX, live from the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

2015 / 67th Emmy Award winners:

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
“Game of Thrones”

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
“Veep”

LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”

LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA
Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder”

LEAD ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Richard Jenkins, “Olive Kitteridge”

LEAD ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge”

LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY
Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”

LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”

REALITY-COMPETITION SERIES
“The Voice”

VARIETY SERIES
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”

LIMITED SERIES
“Olive Kitteridge”

VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
“Inside Amy Schumer”

TELEVISION MOVIE
“Bessie”

SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA
Peter Dinklage, “Game Of Thrones”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is The New Black”

GUEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Reg E. Cathey, “House of Cards”

GUEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Margo Martindale, “The Americans”

SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY
Tony Hale, “Veep”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY
Allison Janney, “Mom”

GUEST ACTOR, COMEDY
Bradley Whitford, “Transparent”

GUEST ACTRESS, COMEDY
Joan Cusack, “Shameless”

SUPPORTING ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Bill Murray, “Olive Kitteridge”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Regina King, “American Crime”

WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for Game Of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy” from HBO, HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead, Television 360, Startling Television and Generator Productions

DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
David Nutter for Game Of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy” from HBO, HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead, Television 360, Startling Television and Generator Productions

WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche for Veep, “Election Night” from HBO, HBO Entertainment in association with Dundee Productions

DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
Jill Soloway for Transparent, “Best New Girl” from Amazon Instant Video and Amazon Studios

WRITING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Jane Anderson or “Olive Kitteridge” from HBO, HBO Miniseries in association with Playtone

DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
Lisa Cholodenko for “Olive Kitteridge” from HBO, HBO Miniseries in association with Playtone

HOST, REALITY OR REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
Jane Lynch, “Hollywood Game Night”

STRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM
“Shark Tank”

UNSTRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM
“Deadliest Catch”

WRITING FOR A VARIETY SERIES
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”

DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY SERIES
Chuck O’Neil for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, “Show 20103″ from Comedy Central, Central Productions

SPECIAL CLASS PROGRAM
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street”

DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SPECIAL
“Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief”

DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SERIES
“The Jinx: The Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst”

INFORMATIONAL SERIES OR SPECIAL
“Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown”

EXCEPTIONAL MERIT IN DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING
“Citizenfour”

A 2015 Creative Arts Emmy Award winners list is here.

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Negromancer News Bits and Bites for the Week of August 9th to 15th, 2015 - Update #13

Support Leroy on Patreon.

NEWS:

From Deadline:  Lots of Pixar news at D23.

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From YahooTV:  AntennaTV is bringing Johnny Carson back to television starting January 1, 2016.

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From YahooMovies:  The first trailer of Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight.'

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From YahooMovies:  Entertainment Weekly has scoops from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

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From Variety:  The NWA music biopic could have a $40 million opening weekend.

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From THR:  Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's next collabo will be an adaptation of "Devil in the White City."

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From SlashFilm:  Frank Grillo in, so script for "The Purge 3" will exist.

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From Patreon:  This is my review of the Josh Trank's Fantastic Four film.  I will post a slightly altered version on Negromancer when the film arrives on DVD/Blu-ray.

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From BoxOfficeMojo:  In its second week of release, "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" wins the 8/7 - 8/9/15 weekend box office with an estimated take of $29.4 million.  It also won its debut weekend.  In its debut, the Fantastic Four reboot film finished way under early estimates and was second with an estimated take of $26.2 million.

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From THR:  Despite resisting, Bill Murray has finally agreed to appear in Paul Feig's all-female Ghostbusters.


COMICS - Films and Books:

From io9:  Talks about the "Civil War" and "Doctor Strange" reveals they saw at D23.

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From Deadline:  "RED" movies series is coming to TV.  The movies were based on a comic book series.

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From YahooMovies:  Josh Trank and Miles Teller almost came to blows on the set of Fantastic Four reboot bomb.

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From SlashFilm:  Patrick Stewart confirms that he will have a significant role in "Wolverine 3."

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From YahooNews:  More bad news for Fantastic Four film.

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From CinemaBlend:  So maybe FOX did mess with Josh Trank's "Fantastic Four" set pieces.

Review: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is Stylish and Quirky, of course

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Running time:  99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some sexual content and violence
DIRECTOR:  Wes Anderson
WRITERS:  Wes Anderson; from a story by Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness (inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig)
PRODUCERS:  Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robert Yeoman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Barney Pilling
COMPOSER:  Alexandre Desplat
Academy Award winner

ADVENTURE/COMEDY/DRAMA with elements of fantasy

Starring:  Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jeff Goldblum, Mathieu Amalric, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Lea Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Bob Balaban, and Owen Wilson

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a 2014 comedy-drama and adventure film from writer-director Wes Anderson.  Anderson and Hugo Guinness, who wrote the film's story with Anderson, were inspired by the writings of Austrian, Stefan Sweig (1881-19420, a novelist, playwright, journalist and biographer.  The Grand Budapest Hotel focuses on the adventures of a legendary concierge at a famous hotel and the lobby boy who becomes his trusted sidekick.

The Grand Budapest Hotel opens in the present day, before moving back to 1985.  The film moves back again to the year 1968.  A man, known as “The Author” (Jude Law), travels to the Republic of Zubrowka (a fictional Central European state).  He stays at a remote mountainside hotel in the spa town of Nebelsbad.  The Author discovers that the Grand Budapest Hotel has fallen on hard times.  He meets the owner of the hotel, an elderly gentleman named Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham).  Moustafa tells “The Author” how he came to own the Grand Budapest Hotel.

That takes the story back to the year 1932, during the hotel's glory days.  Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) is the Grand Budapest Hotel's devoted concierge.  He manages the hotel's large staff and sees to the needs of the hotel's wealthy clientele,  Gustave also often has sexual relationships with some of the hotel's elderly female clientele.  One of the aging women who flock to the hotel to enjoy M. Gustave's “exceptional service” is Madame Céline Villeneuve "Madame D" Desgoffe und Taxis a.k.a. “Madame D” (Tilda Swinton).

After Madame D dies, M. Gustave discovers that she has left him something in her will, a highly-sought after painting by Johannes van Hoytl (the younger), entitled, “Boy With Apple.”  M. Gustave also learns that Madame D was murdered and that he is not only the chief suspect, but that he is also caught up in a dispute over a vast family fortune.  M. Gustave is in trouble, but luckily he has hired a most capable and talented new lobby boy, Zero (Tony Revolori).  M Gustave's most trusted friend and protege, Zero, may be the only one who can help a legendary concierge save himself.

I said that Ethan and Joel Coen's 2010 film, True Grit (a remake of the classic John Wayne western), was a movie in which the brothers got to work out and to employ their visual tics, cinematic style, and storytelling techniques on a Western.  It was a good film, but it was truly “a Coen Bros. movie.”

In a similar fashion, The Grand Budapest Hotel is Wes Anderson employing everything that is eccentric, quirky, and unique to his films going back at least a decade.  Embodied in this movie, the Wes Anderson style is wonderful and invigorating and a joy to watch.  Truly, The Grand Budapest Hotel has a striking and an eye-catching visual style.  Anderson's mix of ornate visual environments and eccentric characters with deeply held emotions makes his movies hard to ignore, if you give them half the chance.

Those characters can be a problem, though.  For this film, Anderson easily offers 20 characters worth knowing, but other than M. Gustave and Zero, Anderson uses the others as quirky backdrops or as caricatures upon which he can hang his plot.  Thus, The Grand Budapest Hotel is beautiful, but depth of character is lacking.  The adventure of M. Gustave and Zero plays as if it were something straight out of a beloved children's book.  Much has been made of Ralph Fienne's performance in this film, and it is indeed a good one.  It must be noted that Tony Revolori as Zero is also quite good.  Still, the adventure of the two leads would be better with more interplay from the other characters than the film offers.  Adrien Brody's Dmitri Desgoffe und Taxis is wasted, and Willem Dafoe's J.G. Jopling is not so much a menacing villain as he is a bad guy straight out of Jay Ward Productions.

However, while this movie does not fail to burrow into the imagination, it does not really plant its roots in the viewers' hearts.  It is gorgeous on the surface, but Anderson seems to avoid the deeply emotional ideas he introduces, making The Grand Budapest Hotel an exceptional film, but keeping it from being truly great.  It is Wes Anderson art for Wes Anderson's art sake.

8 of 10
A

Friday, April 10, 2015


NOTES:
2015 Academy Awards, USA:  4 wins: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Milena Canonero), “Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling” (Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Alexandre Desplat) and “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Adam Stockhausen-production design and Anna Pinnock-set decoration); 5 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven M. Rales, and Jeremy Dawson), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Wes Anderson), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Robert D. Yeoman), and “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Barney Pilling), and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Wes Anderson-screenplay/story and Hugo Guinness-story)

2015 BAFTA Awards:  5 wins: “Best Original Music” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best Costume Design” (Milena Canonero), “Best Production Design” (Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock), “Best Original Screenplay” (Wes Anderson), and “Best Make Up & Hair” (Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier); 6 nominations: “Best Film” (Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven M. Rales, and Jeremy Dawson), “Best Leading Actor” (Ralph Fiennes), “Best Cinematography” (Robert D. Yeoman), “Best Editing” (Barney Pilling), “Best Sound” (Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Wes Anderson)

2015 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical;” 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Wes Anderson), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Ralph Fiennes), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Wes Anderson)

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

Las Vegas Film Critics Name "Birdman" Best Picture of 2014

The Las Vegas Film Critics Society (LVFCS) is a non-profit organization that describes itself as “progressive” and “dedicated to the advancement and preservation of film.”  The LVFCS membership is comprised of “select” print, television and internet film critics in the Las Vegas area. The LVFCS presents its "Sierra" awards each year for the best in film, including The William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award, which is named for the late Academy Award winning actor.

2014 Sierra Award winners:

Best Picture
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Best Actor
Michael Keaton, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Best Actress
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

Best Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Best Supporting Actress
Tilda Swinton, “Snowpiercer”

Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Best Screenplay
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Best Cinematography
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Best Film Editing
James Herbert and Laura Jennings, “Edge of Tomorrow”

Best Costume Design
Alexandra Byrne, “Guardians of the Galaxy”

Best Art Direction
“The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

Best Visual Effects
“Interstellar”

Best Foreign Film
“Ida” (Poland)

Best Documentary
“Citzenfour”

Best Animated Film
“The Lego Movie”

Best Family Film
“The Lego Movie”

Best Horror/Sci-Fi Film
“Babadook”

Best Comedy Film
“Top 5”

Best Action Film
“Guardians of the Galaxy”

Best Ensemble
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Best Score
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Best Song
“I Love You All,” Stephen Rennicks – “Frank”

Youth in Film
Jaeden Lieberher, “St. Vincent”

Breakout Filmmaker of the Year
Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”

William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award
Bill Murray

Cinema Heritage Award
Prof. Francisco Menendez, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Film Dept. Chair

LVFCS Top 10 Films of 2013:

1. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

2. Boyhood

3. Whiplash

4. Nightcrawler

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

6. Wild

7. Selma

8. The Imitation Game

9. Snowpiercer

10.  Under the Skin

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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.

Review: "Charlie’s Angels" Pure Pop Pleasure

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 99 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Charlie’s Angels (2000)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for action violence, innuendo and some sensuality/nudity
DIRECTOR: McG
WRITERS: Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon, and John August (from the television series by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts)
PRODUCERS: Drew Barrymore, Leonard Goldberg, and Nancy Juvonen
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russell Carpenter (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Peter Teschner and Wayne Wahrman
COMPOSER: Edward Shearmur

ACTION/COMEDY

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Bill Murray, Sam Rockwell, Kelly Lynch, Tim Curry, Crispin Glover, Luke Wilson, Matt LeBlanc, Tom Green, LL Cool J, and John Forsythe (voice)

The subject of this movie review is Charlie’s Angels, a 2000 action comedy from director McG (the stage name of Joseph McGinty Nichol). The film is an adaptation of the television series, “Charlie’s Angels,” which was originally broadcast on ABC from 1976 to 1981. The film stars Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as three women employed by a private investigation agency and working for the voice known as “Charlie.”

When I first saw Charlie’s Angels, the big-screen adaptation of the late 70’s television series of the same name, I was sure that it was the best action/comedy that I’d seen in years, if ever. Having seen it again in anticipation of the 2003 sequel, I’m sure that it is one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen and one of the best action/comedies ever made. Although the film’s tongue is firmly planted in the Angel’s cheeks and the film is geared towards men, it’s so very entertaining that everyone should get the joke.

The mysterious Charles “Charlie” Townsend (voice of John Forsythe) has three very special little ladies in his employ: Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Drew Barrymore), and Alex Munday (Lucy Liu). Under the supervision of John Bosley (Bill Murray), Charlie’s Angels use martial arts, high tech skills, and sex appeal in their investigation work for clients who can afford Charlie’s agency. This time the client is kidnap victim Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell) who runs a giant software company. The girls not only have to rescue him, but also have to retrieve Knox’s revolutionary voice-ID software. However, the girls run into more than they were told to expect, including a sleazy billionaire (Tim Curry) and his mysterious, tall, thin, ass-kickin’ bodyguard (Crispin Glover).

Directed by music video maestro McG (videos for Korn and Sugar Ray, among others), Charlie's Angels is a high-octane, comic book-styled, action movie parody and farce. None of it should be taken seriously, least of all its conspiracy-within-a-conspiracy script. This is played for fun, recalling the best action movie scenes and clichés: car chases, exploding buildings, pumping soundtrack, quick-cut editing, and Matrix-style “wire-fu” martial arts. Maybe the funniest thing about this film is that this time women do the butt stomping. Usually in action movies, the girls are just the hang-ons of the male stars, following them around and screaming at the appropriate moments during gun fights, fist fights, car chases, aircraft falling out the sky, explosions, etc. This time the girls are in control. This time their sex appeal rules the story instead of just being sex used to decorate the violence. The ladies kick the butts and leave the men panting.

It’s all done so stylishly, and it’s all good and so cool. The vapid material gets inspired performances from the cast, but the actors really make this fun to watch. Bill Murray is tired though. His Bosley is just him doing his shtick, but it is so uninspired that he should have been embarrassed to see himself in the finished product. He was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong again.

But don’t let that keep you from watching this funny, exciting, and very wild action cartoon. Come on. Pull the stick out. Sit back and be entertained by this delicious serving of popcorn movie.

7 or 10
B+

NOTES:
2001 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Song” (Jean Claude Olivier-Writer, Samuel Barnes-Writer, Cory Rooney-Writer, Beyoncé Knowles-Writer, and Destiny’s Child-Performers for the song “Independent Women Part 1”)

Updated: Thursday, June 27, 2013

Review: Wes Anderson's "MOONRISE KINGDOM" is Simply Fantastic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 90 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Running time: 94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexuality content and smoking
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson
WRITERS: Roman Coppola and Wes Anderson
PRODUCERS: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven M. Rales and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert D. Yeoman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Andrew Weisblum
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat

ROMANCE/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Marianna Bassham, Charlie Kilgore, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, and Bob Balaban

Moonrise Kingdom is a 2011 romance film from director Wes Anderson. Co-written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, the film follows a pair of young lovers on the run from the local search parties out to find them.

Moonrise Kingdom opens in the late summer of 1965 and is set on the idyllic New England locale of New Penzance Island. Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) is a 12-year-old orphan attending a “Khaki Scout” summer camp. Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) is a local girl who lives with her parents, Walt (Bill Murray) and Laura Bishop (Frances McDormand), and her three younger brothers. After meeting during a local church play, Sam and Suzy run away together.

Captain Duffy Sharp (Bruce Willis) of the Island Police and Khaki Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) launch a search for the missing children. However, adult dysfunction and the approaching Hurricane Mabeline constantly hamper the various search efforts. Meanwhile, young love remains storm-proof.

When I reviewed the Coen Bros. remake of True Grit about two years ago, I said (more or less) that the film, while quite good, seemed like an exercise of the filmmaking brothers’ directorial trademarks and flourishes. I pretty much think the same of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. This movie is the quirky style and visual eccentricities of Anderson distilled into a fragrant essence that will entice his admirers, both old and new, for ages.

It’s all here. The primary colors have never been this primary, and the deliberate, methodical cinematography captures the intensity of those colors with such clarity that it could leave the viewer in a stupor (which it did to me early on in the movie). Anderson gets good performances that take the screenplay’s flat, one-dimensional characters and transforms them into poignant humans – flawed, but graceful.

Regardless of how quirky it all seems, Moonrise Kingdom is a love story like no other. Rarely do films capture stubborn youth in love as well as this film does. Jared Gilman as Sam and Kara Hayward as Suzy give inimitable performances, and without them, this movie would be nothing but an oddity that was shot in vivid color. Instead, Moonrise Kingdom is a rare romance in which the romantic comedy and drama elements cannot hide the fact that this is a pure love story.

8 of 10
A

Monday, November 26, 2012

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Review: "Ghostbusters" Still in High Spirits

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 160 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ghost Busters (1984)
Running time: 117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Ivan Reitman
WRITERS: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Laszlo Kovacs (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: David Blewitt and Sheldon Kahn
COMPOSER: Elmer Bernstein
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR

Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Ernie Hudson, Reggie Vel Johnson and Frances E. Nealy with (cameos) Larry King, Joe Franklin, Casey Kasem

The subject of this review is Ghostbusters (originally titles Ghost Busters), 1984 supernatural comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. The film starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, and Harold Ramis and was written by Aykroyd and Ramis, apparently with some contributions from costar, Rick Moranis.

Doctors Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) are three unemployed parapsychology professors who set up a ghost, spirit, and spectre removal service called Ghost Busters. They successfully chase haunts and poltergeists, and they eventually earn so much cash and business that they have to hire a man off the street, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), to become the fourth Ghost Buster agent. Things are going well, until Venkman has his eye on Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), a musician who comes to the Ghost Busters with a problem. Her refrigerator has a demon in it, and that’s the first sign of the apocalyptic arrival of a Sumerian god bent on destroying the world.

Months after it was released in 1984, Ghost Busters became the highest-grossing comedy film ever made. It was and is a well written comedy with well-developed elements of fantasy, but most of all the fine cast of comic actors served Ghost Busters quite well. The best of the lot is Bill Murray, whose dry wit and sarcasm, as well as his deadpan delivery, made audiences willing to suspend their disbelief for this film. Somehow, Ghost Busters comic tone blended very well with the film’s low rent sci-fi and horror elements. The comedy worked, and the ghosts were so light and airy that it was hard to take them seriously, but at the same time not quite possible to dismiss them.

Actually, all the filmmakers were pretty sharp in their efforts. Ghost Busters was merely another example of director Ivan Reitman’s deft touch as a director of comic films, and the film’s writers, Ramis, Aykroyd, and Moranis (not given screen credit) are all funny guys who came up with a novel story. Together their film has stood the test of time, and there’s very little to criticize about it, though the film is a tad bit long and the final showdown is kind of loopy. This is a great screen comedy that I’d heartily recommend.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Richard Edlund, John Bruno, Mark Vargo, and Chuck Gaspar) and “Best Music, Original Song” (Ray Parker Jr. for the song "Ghostbusters")

1985 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Original Song” (Ray Parker Jr. for the song "Ghostbusters"); 1 nomination: “Best Special Visual Effects” (Richard Edlund)

1985 Golden Globes, USA: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical,” “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Ray Parker Jr. for the song "Ghostbusters"), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Bill Murray)

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"Ghostbusters II" Shows Less Spirit Than Original

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 161 of (2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


Ghostbusters II (1989)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Ivan Reitman
WRITERS: Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Chapman
EDITORS: Donn Cambern and Sheldon Kahn
COMPOSER: Randy Edelman

COMEDY with elements of sci-fi and horror

Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Peter MacNicol, David Margulies, Kurt Fuller, Wilhelm von Homburg, and Will Deutschendorf & Hank Deutschendorf

The subject of this movie review is Ghostbusters II, a 1989 supernatural comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. It is a squeal to the 1984 film, Ghostbusters.

Five years after the events of the original film, Ghostbusters II finds the Ghostbusters out of business and reviled by the New York City municipal government even after the Busters saved the city from Sumerian Armageddon in the first film. However, a resurgence in spectral (ghostly) activity allows the four Ghostbusters: Dr. Peter Vinkman (Bill Murray), Dr. Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) to revive the business.

Vinkman also attempts to rekindle his romance with Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), which fizzled between films. Barrett has a son, Oscar (infant twins Will & Hank Deutschendorf), and though she’s wary of Vinkman’s peculiar ways, she comes to rely on him when evil spirits start trying to abduct Oscar. When the team discovers a massive river of ectoplasm beneath NYC, they know something big and evil is on the way.

Ghostbusters II is really a domestic comedy about reuniting with old friends and strengthen bonds, whereas the first film was a big, funny summer genre picture. Ghost Busters featured well-known and popular comedic actors and what was at the time spectacular special effects; the talent and an off-kilter sci-fi/comedy/horror-lite tale mixed into a popular family friendly comedy with mass appeal.

The sequel is funny, but it appeared five years after the first film, and it seemed, at the time, as if the film’s window of opportunity had closed long before it was released. Years later, it still seems like something tacked on to the original film. Still, there is something appealing about it; maybe it is the sense of camaraderie and easy humor. It’s like a Ghost Busters for old people – a funny, light-hearted film that lacks the zing of high octane SFX films aimed at the young ‘uns. Besides, Bill Murray, who seems to be phoning it in, is still as sharp as ever. It’s amazing that he can be so laid back, so cool, so disinterested and make his sardonic and sarcastic humor twice as sharp as someone else trying three times as hard.

6 of 10
B

Review: Everything About "The Royal Tenenbaums" is Wonderful (Happy B'day, Wes Anderson)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language, sexuality/nudity and drug content
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson
WRITERS: Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson
PRODUCERS: Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Yeoman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Dylan Tichenor
COMPOSER: Mark Mothersbaugh
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, Alec Baldwin, Seymour Cassel, Kumar Pallana, Grant Rosenmeyer, and Jonah Meyerson

The subject of this movie review is The Royal Tenenbaums, the 2001 Oscar-nominated comedy and drama from director, Wes Anderson. The film follows siblings whose early success was mitigated by their eccentric father’s behavior. I love this film and…

Apparently, Rushmore was not a fluke.

When Royal O’Reilly Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) announces that he is dying, his family slowly, painfully reunites. His wife Etheline “Ethel” Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston) removed her philandering husband from the home over a decade prior to the beginning of the movie. Their three children are business whiz Chas (Ben Stiller), playwright Margot Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is actually adopted, and Richie “Baumer” (Luke Wilson), who grew up to become a professional tennis champion. Family friend and unofficial fourth Tenenbaum child is Elijah “Eli” Cash (Owen Wilson), a novelist and a drug addict, who is also in love with Margot.

Royal would like to get in good with his family, again, but he left so many open wounds when Ethel exiled him. The Tenenbaum children were celebrated prodigies who have fallen on bad times. Chas, a single father of two boys and who lost his wife the previous year in a plane crash, despises his father. Margot is a playwright in limbo, and Richie’s suffered a meltdown during his last championship tennis match. Royal is also disturbed by his wife’s engagement to her accountant Henry Sherman (Danny Glover), and he wants desperately to connect with Chas’s sons, his grandsons. What unfolds is a touching, but unusual family drama/comedy.

Directed by Wes Anderson of the aforementioned Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums is a film with a conventional story, the family drama, filled with the usual comedy, familial intrigue, and requisite feuds. What makes this film so different from other family dramas is Anderson’s conviction and determination not to be like other filmmakers or not to deliver something that is nothing more than film industry product. His vision is unique, and his storytelling technique demands not only one’s attention but that one also engage the film.

Anderson is a visual stylist, but in a quite manner. His cinematographer, Robert D. Yeoman has worked on Anderson’s other films and contributes a peculiar color palette that resembles Technicolor, but is merged with clean, earth tones. Tenenbaums has a dreamlike quality with a slight breath of realism. It’s eye candy, but doesn’t distract from the story; in fact, it keeps one attentive to what the camera reveals. Unlike many directors who are visually sharp by way of quick cuts and editing, Anderson doesn’t mind allowing his camera to linger on and to follow his characters.

The script by Anderson and Tenenbaum co-star Owen Wilson is filled with idiosyncrasies, but is, nevertheless, a story about a family and the damage family members do to one another. We’ve seen it before, but unlike American Beauty, Tenenbaums really manages to tell a familiar story in a unique and special way.

The performances are subtle and nuanced even as the characters appear to be over the top. We know that Gene Hackman is good, but he has a knack for giving range to familiar character types. His performances nearly always hint at characters that have lived long lives before their respective movies begin. Royal is like a book, and Hackman makes the mental exercise that it takes to figure out Royal worth it.

Gwyneth Paltrow continues to reveal the scope of her abilities. She is a classic film pretty face, but with the acting chops of serious thespian. Owen Wilson is his usual wacky self; he manages to be self-confident and endearing even when playing a not too bright character. However, the surprise here is his brother Luke Wilson. Even through dark glasses, he makes his eyes the windows to the soul of his troubled character. He is the film’s mystery man, and he is the sum of his family’s troubles. Wilson doesn’t miss a beat while carrying this burden.

The Royal Tenenbaums is filled with wonderful acting, directing, story telling. Too make such an offbeat clan and their associates so lovable, charming, and fun to follow is no minor feat. Anderson takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. Truly, he does it like few before him. Bravo!

We get all this and a wonderful voiceover narration by Alec Baldwin.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson)

2002 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson)

2002 Golden Globes, USA: 1 win: “Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Gene Hackman)

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Review: "Ed Wood" Biopic is Still a Delight (Happy B'day, Ed Wood)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 161 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ed Wood (1994)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – R for some strong language
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (based upon the book Nightmare of Ecstasy by Rudolph Grey)
PRODUCERS: Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stefan Czapsky
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Howard Shore
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA/BIOPIC

Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Murray, Max Casella, Brent Hinkley, Lisa Marie, Vincent D’Onofrio, and George “The Animal” Steele

Martin Landau won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, a biopic of the legendary director of such “awful” movies as Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda. A box office flop when it was released on Halloween night in 1994, Ed Wood still earned rave reviews and today is a fan favorite amongst many movie buffs. At the time, it was Tim Burton’s best directorial effort since Beetlejuice (1988) and since that film, he has not made another film that is closer to the spirit he showed in his early works.

Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Johnny Depp) wanted to be a great filmmaker, but probably lacked the talent and skills, if not the vision, to be one. Just before his career kicks off in the early 1950’s, Wood meets the infamous Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) best known for starring in horror films, and especially for his trademark work, the 1931 film version of Dracula. Lugosi, a heroin addict on the tale end of his career and financial strapped, joins Ed Wood’s gang of merry idiots, outcasts, and weirdoes to make three truly awful films. Ed Wood and the elder thespian become close friends as Wood struggles to finance his pictures.

It’s difficult to find fault with Ed Wood, as pretty much everything about the film is top notch, from the wonderful art direction and costumes to Howard Shore’s magnificent score. Cinematographer Stefan Czapsky’s glorious black and white photography remains one of the best examples of black and white film used as an artistic choice in the last quarter century.

Ed Wood claims to be a mostly true story of Wood the filmmaker, but Burton’s intent here is what his intent is in many of his films – to tell the uplifting story of the outcast, outsider, weirdo, or nonconformist who struggles to do his own thing in spite of what normal society says. The script, by biopic experts Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon), takes a naïve, idealistic, and ultimately light-hearted approach in examining people who do really bad work, but who have the best intentions. The writers don’t, however, play everything as happy-go-lucky because the story depicts an awful lot of frustrations in the way of Wood and his crew.

Stylistically, Burton takes the approach of making Ed Wood look like a camp picture. Shot in black and white, the film’s style is almost as farcical as Wood’s filmography. Perhaps, it was best for Burton to make his film as off-kilter as his subject, and it worked. Biographical films face many obstacles; being boring and preachy or making saints and martyrs of their subjects are the worst sins of biopics. Ed Wood, however, is fun, surreal, and fantastical, and Burton sees the world through the eyes of a harmless madman who wanted to make great movies and made painfully bad pictures. This is a bold creative move on Burton’s part, the kind of adventurous and imaginative choices that he doesn’t always make. The Hollywood machine often eats the brilliance out of this visionary filmmaker.

Wood is also full of wonderful performances. Besides Landau’s Lugosi (for which he received numerous awards), Depp shows that he is every bit the wild spirit that his frequent collaborator Burton is. Depp’s Wood wears a kabuki mask of campy zaniness, but Depp also plays the character with such depth that how can we not help but take Wood seriously as a serious filmmaker even when we know he makes crap? Bill Murray for his wily and self-effacing performance and Lisa Marie for playing Vampira as a staid, ticking, sex bomb also deserve notice. Along with everybody else, they make Ed Wood a rare cinematic treat, an oddball movie about an oddball filmmaker. Ed Wood is hilarious, and is finally a deeply moving picture about the quest to share one’s dreams with the world.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1995 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Martin Landau) and “Best Makeup” (Rick Baker, Ve Neill, and Yolanda Toussieng)

1995 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Martin Landau); 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Johnny Depp)

1996 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Make Up/Hair” (Ve Neill, Rick Baker, and Yolanda Toussieng) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Martin Landau)

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Review: "Fantastic Mr. Fox" Actually Not Fantastic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – PG for action, smoking and slang humor
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson
WRITERS: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach (based upon the novel by Roald Dahl)
PRODUCERS: Allison Abbate, Wes Anderson , Jeremy Dawson, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tristan Oliver
EDITOR: Andrew Weisblum (supervising editor)
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/CRIME

Starring: (voices) George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Robin Hurlstone, Hugo Guinness Brian Cox, and Adrien Brody

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 stop-motion animation film from director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums). The film is based on a children’s book of the same title by author Roald Dahl first published in 1970. It is the story of a human-like fox who outwits his human neighbors and steals their livestock and food right from under their noses.

Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a thief. To feed his family, he steals livestock from three wealthy local farmers, and during one such mission, he is joined by his wife, Mrs. Felicity Fox (Meryl Streep). However, the couple is ensnared in a cage, but escape after Felicity reveals that she is pregnant. Years later, the couple is living an idyllic home life with their sullen son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman), and Mr. Fox’s visiting young nephew, the soft-spoken and talented Kristopherson Silverfox (Eric Chase Anderson).

After 12 years of domesticity, Mr. Fox feels his wild animal instincts coming to the fore, and this bucolic existence starts to bore him. With the help of his pal, an unassuming opossum named Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), Mr. Fox soon slips back into his old ways as a sneaky and highly successful thief stealing chickens, turkeys, and apple cider from the wealthy farmers, Franklin Bean (Michael Gambon), Walter Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), and Nathan Bunce (Hugo Guinness). Doing this endangers not only his beloved family, but also the whole animal community, when Bean leads a vicious, total war campaign to capture Mr. Fox. Trapped underground and without enough food to go around, will the animals band together or will they turn Mr. Fox over to the farmers?

Fantastic Mr. Fox is what happens when quirky drowns whimsical. Instead of a fanciful animal fable, what Wes Anderson gives us with this stop-motion animated film is weird and peculiar. It is sometimes entertaining, even delightful, but still weird and peculiar. The script by Anderson and Noah Baumbach tries to impart wisdom, but much of it is lost in the idiosyncratic visual vibe of this film.

There are some good voice performances, especially Wallace Wolodarsky as Kylie. Because their performances, Jason Schwartzman as Ash and Eric Chase Anderson as Kristopherson end up being the best pairing in the film – the most interesting team.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a sometimes fun ride, although much of it seems awkward. The strange textures of the animation are a mixed bag. Fantastic Mr. Fox looks like a Tim Burton stop-motion animation picture done with tattered puppets and shabby sets. Ultimately, I find myself sitting on the fence about this film because it entertains and perplexes in equal measure.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Alexandre Desplat) and “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Wes Anderson)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Animated Film” (Wes Anderson) and “Best Music” (Alexandre Desplat)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film”

Thursday, May 20, 2010

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Review: "Zombieland" is Like No Other

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

 

Zombieland (2009)

 

Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)

MPAA – R for horror violence/gore and language

DIRECTOR: Ruben Fleischer

WRITERS: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

PRODUCER: Gavin Polone

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Bonvillain (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Alan Baumgarten

 

HORROR/COMEDY

 

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Amber Heard, and Bill Murray

 

It is common wisdom that horror comedies do not do well at the box office, but last year’s late summer horror comedy, Zombieland, was a hit. Things seemed to come together for this peculiar zombie flick that mixes the zombie apocalypse genre both with gleeful destruction and with silver-tongued clowning.

 

The United States of America is no more. The world is no more. All there is left is Zombieland. Columbus (Jessie Eisenberg) is an easily spooked guy and, in general, a big wuss, but he has managed to stay alive using his book of rules. He joins forces with a wild man named Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a gun-toting, zombie-slaying badass whose primary goal is to find the last Twinkie on earth. Together, they fight for survival in a world virtually taken over by freakish zombies.

 

Columbus and Tallahassee eventually meet two others survivors, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who have a unique way surviving the zombie mayhem. These young ladies are traveling west to a supposedly-safe, abandoned amusement park, Pacific Playland. As they join forces, these four people will have to determine which is worse: trusting each other or succumbing to the undead hordes.

 

Zombieland does work as a zombie movie simply because the zombies are convincingly dangerous and frightful. The film even has that air of doom, desperation, and forlorn resignation that permeates most zombie movies. Although it is clearly a descendant George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, while also borrowing the fast zombies from 28 Days Later, Zombieland is most closely aligned with the 2004 zombie horror comedy, Shaun of the Dead.

 

As a comedy, Zombieland is not particularly sarcastic, snarky, or even edgy. It is, however, witty and has a wry sense of humor. The film feels so strange because the humor is absolutely at odds with the terror of the zombie death lurking around every corner. The comedy seems most dry and droll when the cast is killing zombies, and there is nothing like deadpan humor in the face of bile- and blood-drooling monsters.

 

The performances are good, with Jesse Eisenberg pitch perfect as the hapless, virginal everyman, Columbus. Woody Harrelson is brilliant, and the proof of his exceptional talents is that he brings the same skill and dedication to this zombie movie that he does to his more serious (if you will) dramatic work. Director Ruben Fleischer, a veteran of late-night television and reality shows (Rob & Big, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”), creates the right tone for practically every scene, seeming to know when the movie should be comic, gross, scary, poignant, or just odd. Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have created a concept, story, and characters that give the impression of being brand spanking new, while managing to make their influences practically not obvious.

 

Zombieland is a fine zombie movie. It is a distinctive horror comedy with inimitable style. I don’t know why it works, but I love this strange new film feast made from old genre ingredients.

 

7 of 10

A-

 

Saturday, March 27, 2010 

 

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