Showing posts with label Clive Owen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clive Owen. Show all posts

Monday, January 13, 2020

Review: "Gemini Man" Strong Start, Embarrassing Finish

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Gemini Man (2019)
Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and action throughout, and brief strong language.
DIRECTOR:  Ang Lee
WRITERS:  David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke (from a story by Darren Lemke and David Benioff)
PRODUCERS:  Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dion Beebe
EDITOR:  Tim Squyres
COMPOSER:  Lorne Balfe

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong, Linda Emond, Douglas Hodge, Ralph Brown, Ilia Volok, and E.J. Bonilla

Gemini Man is a 2019 science fiction and action-thriller film from director Ang Lee and starring Will Smith.  The film focuses on an aging hit man who faces off against a younger version of himself.

Gemini Man introduces Henry Brogan (Will Smith), a government assassin who is considered the best assassin of his generation.  After completing an assassination mission in Europe that turns complicated, Henry decides to retire.  However, the government agency for which Henry kills, the Defense Intelligence Agency (D.I.A.), decides that it is time to permanently retire him, and sends an assassination squad to kill him.

Henry kills the team, and rescues a fellow D.I.A. agent, Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who had been watching him.  Henry and Danny turn to a longtime associate of Henry's, Baron (Benedict Wong), who flies them to Bogata, Colombia.  There, Henry plots his next move, but what he doesn't know is that a D.I.A. supervisor, Clayton “Clay” Varris (Clive Owen), head of a top-secret black ops unit code-named “GEMINI,” has marked him for death.  And the assassin Clay has sent to kill Henry may be the most-perfect assassin to take down the world's best assassin.

While watching Gemini Man, I thought the film reminded me of one of those mid-1990s action movies that had science fiction elements.  I am thinking of director John Woo's Nicolas Cage vs. John Travolta film, Face/Off (1997), or director Chuck Russell's Eraser (1996), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Sure enough, I later learned that Gemini Man was originally meant to go into production back in 1997, but it ended up in “development hell” until producer David Ellison bought the rights.

They really don't make movies like Gemini Man anymore.  Our current movie action heroes are superhero action heroes like Black Panther, Captain America, and Iron Man, and, quite frankly, their films are better than Gemini Man is.

Actually, Gemini Man starts off pretty strongly, kind of like a slightly less polished version of a Jason Bourne film.  The first hour or so of Gemini Man is tense, thrilling, and filled with mystery.  However, once the mystery is solved and once the film reveals the identity and origin of the killer (code-named “Junior”) sent to kill Henry Brogan, the tension and drama of the film is let out like air out of a balloon.  There is an fierce “final battle” in the film's last act, and there is a feel-good, if not weird, happy ending, but the atmosphere of high-tech thrills that initially filled Gemini Man is gone.

The special effects in Gemini Man look like special effects – in a too obvious way.  The computer-generated 23-year-old Will Smith sometimes looks weird and plastic.  I don't want to use the word “awful,” but...  I think Marvel Studios did a much better job creating a younger face for Samuel L. Jackson/Nick Fury in this year's blockbuster, mega-smash hit film, Captain Marvel.

Anyway, the performances are good, but not great.  Will Smith's performance as Henry Brogan is practically the same he gave in his previous sci-fi action-thriller, I, Robot (2004).  It is good to see that Mary Elizabeth Winstead can play an adult, and Benedict Wong is proving to be a winning character actor in roles that provide both comic relief and wit.  As usual, Clive Own proves that he can do mean, but his Clay Farris is much more menacing early in Gemini Man.  By the end of the film, Farris is practically a cartoon villain.

Gemini Man is a good and entertaining film.  It could have been so much better though; in fact, (as I keep saying), the beginning is really good and holds the promise of being the start of an exceptional action film.  Alas, Gemini Man is not exceptional.  If you are a Will Smith fan, Gemini Man is not so good that you have to see it in a theater; you can certainly wait for the home media release.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, October 12, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Saturday, November 16, 2019

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from November 10th to 16th, 2019 - Update #25

Support Leroy on Patreon:

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  Oscar-nominated actor Clive Owen ("Closer") will play President Bill Clinton in "Impreachment: American Crime Story," which will be the third entry in the "American Crime Story" series.

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MOVIES - From RollingStone:   This is the story of how Oscar-winning actress Mary Steenburgen ("Melvin and Howard") had surgery and then became a songwriter.

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DISNEY - From Variety:  Disney has greenlit Ridley Scott's period drama, "The Last Duel" with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver.

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BLM - From BET:  At a Tennessee Popeye's, a white customer called the employees "niggers," and one of them body-slammed her in the parking lot.  See the hilarious video.

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TELEVISION - From Deadline:  Last night (Wed., Nov. 13th), the fantastic ninth season of "American Horror Story," entitled "AHS 1984," came to an end.  Series co-creator, super-producer Ryan Murphy, talks about this season and the future of "American Horror Story."

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  Netflix and Paramount Pictures have reportedly struck a deal so that Netflix could make a fourth installment of the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise with star Eddie Murphy and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

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BUSINESS - From Variety:  Emotions run high as the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in Byron Allen vs. Comcast.

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COMICS-FILM - From YahooMusic:  Danny Elfman scored the 1989 Tim Burton film, "Batman," but once upon a time producer Jon Peters wanted Elfman to compose the film's score with the late Prince, who did provides songs for the film.  Elfman refused and now, talks about how he thought that he was risking his career at the time.

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TELEVISION - From YahooTV:  Jodi Serling is the daughter of the late Rod Serling, who created the landmark and legendary television series, "The Twilight Zone."  Ms. Serling shares some secrets and stories about her father and the series on the 60th anniversary of "The Twilight Zone."

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DISNEY - From Variety:  Newcomer Jonah Hauer-King will play "Prince Eric" in Disney's live-action remake of its classic animated film, "The Littler Mermaid."

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STREAMING - From Variety:  A reunion special for the beloved NBC TV series, "Friends," is in the early planning stages.  The UNSCRIPTED special would appear in WarnerMedia's streaming service, "HBO Max."

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TELEVISION - From ShadowandAct:  We get a first look at HBO's "Lovecraft Country," from Jordan Peele, Misha Green, and J.J. Abrams and is based on the most excellent novel by Matt Ruff.

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AWARDS - From Deadline:  Ricky Gervais is returning to host the 77th Golden Globes Awards, Jan. 5th, 2020 on NBC.  It will be his fifth time hosting the awards ceremony, and he says it will be his last.

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STREAMING-DISNEY - From Deadline:  This is the launch day (Nov. 12th) of Disney's new streaming service, Disney+.  And, of course, there are a few tech issues.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Paramount Pictures has landed the worldwide distribution rights to Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle's next film, "Babylon," which is due for a limited release December 25, 2021.

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SPORTS-LGBTQ - From YahooFinance:  Former Major League Baseball player, Billy Bean, is now an LGBTQ advocate, but talks about his time "living a secret life."

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AWARDS - From Deadline:  The 2019 People's Choice Awards were announced Sunday night, Nov. 10th.  "Avengers: Endgame" and Netflix's "Stranger Things" were the big winners.

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BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo:  The winner of the 11/8 to 11/10/2019 weekend box office is "Midway" with an estimated take of 17.5 million dollars.

From Deadline:  Warner Bros. is looking at about a $20 million dollar loss on its Stephen King adaptation, "Doctor Sleep," which has a soft debut weekend.

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MOVIES - From YahooPeople:  Dan Aykroyd said during a radio interview that Bill Murray will appear in "Ghostbusters 2020."

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GUILD NEWS - From Variety:  The Writers Guild of America have named more than two dozen of its members to be on a negotiating committee as threat of a Hollywood writers' strike looms for next year.

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AWARDS - From Variety:  The nominations for the 2019 / 32nd European Film Awards have been announced.  Winners will be announced Dec. 7th in Berlin.

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STREAMING - From Deadline:  The Oscar-winning writer-director Woody Allen has settled his 68 million dollar lawsuit against Amazon.  Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

TRAILER:

From YouTube:  Here is the first official for the upcoming animated Scooby-Doo film, "Scoob," which is due May 15, 2020.

OBITS:

From LATimes:  The American scholar and historian, Noel Ignatiev, died at the age of 78, Saturday, November 9, 2019.  Ignatiev was best known for his efforts to abolish the concept of "whiteness" and to end white racial privilege.  His first book, "How the Irish Became White" (1995), was a sensation.

From Variety:  Holocaust survivor and Academy Award-winning film producer, Branko Lustig, has died at the age of 87, Wednesday, November 14, 2019.  Lustig won two Oscars, one for producing "Schindler's List" (1993) and one for producing "Gladiator" (2000).  During World War II, Lustig was imprisoned in the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.


Saturday, March 12, 2016

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from March 6th to 12th, 2016 - Update #37

Support Leroy on Patreon.

POLITICS - From WashPost:  See video of Trump supporter sucker-punch a Black protester.

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POLITICS - From RSN: Donald Trump backed out of a debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders.

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POLITICS - From RSN:  Elizabeth Warren says "Senate Republicans, do your job."

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COMICS - From Cinelinx: Marvel/Netflix's "Luke Cage" debuts September 30th, 2016.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Harry Styles of the pop group, One Direction, has bee cast in Christopher Nolan's 2017 film, "Dunkirk."

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WEBCOMICS - From CBB:  New Johnny Bullet (#64).

From CBB:  Johnny Bullet #64 in French.

From CBB:  The Slip #28 (formerly known as "Constant").

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  Director Atom Egoyan talks about his new film, "Remember," in which two men, played by Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau, seek revenge against Nazis.

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COMICS - From Deadline:  Halle Berry in talks to appear in the sequel to "Kingman: The Secret Service."

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MOVIES - From ThePlaylist:  Daisy Ridley is apparently being considered for the "Tomb Raider" reboot.

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COMICS - From YahooTV:  Spider-Man appears in new "Captain America: Civil War" trailer.

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CRIME - From VICENews: Nancy Reagan, high priestess of the War on Drugs,

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OBIT - From RollingStone:  Beatles' producer, Sir George Martin, died at the age of 90, Tuesday, March 8, 2016.

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CULTURE - From BuzzFlash:  The consequences of the world's meat addiction.

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OBIT - From Variety:  The actor Richard Davalos died at the age of 85 on Tuesday, March 8, 2016.  He is best known for playing alongside James Dean in "East of Eden."

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COMICS - From Variety:  Michael Keaton to headline film adaptation of "American Assassin" graphic novel series.

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LGBT - From Variety: The Wachowski Bros. are now the Wachowski Sisters, as Andy is now a transgender woman named "Lilly."  Larry became "Lana" several years ago.

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COMICS - From the NYTimes:  President Barack Obama has written the introduction to Fantagraphics Books' final volume of The Complete Peanuts 1999-2000 (Volume 25).  The book is due in May.

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BLACK LIVES MATTER - From RSN:  Police terrify residents and raid their home based on scant evidence.

BLACK LIVES MATTER - From OccupyDemocrats:  Trump's campaign ordered police to escort police African-American students from a rally at Valdosta State University.

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SPORTS - From CollegeSpun:  Spike Lee is directing a documentary about the Missouri football team's threat to boycott unless the university's president resign.

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POLITICS - From RSN: Can black voters disobey the Democratic Party?  - Or “A black person voting for a Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.”

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  Amanda Seyfried is rejoining Andrew Niccol for his new sci-fi thriller, "Anon," which will also feature Clive Owen.  Sefriend was in Niccol's "In Time," with Justin Timberlake.

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MOVIES - From YahooNews:  A Vanity Fair photo of actor Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler causes a lot of Black people to show how super-stupid they are.

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TELEVISION - From TheWrap:  Geena Davis cast in FOX's pilot based on "The Exorcist," the novel, apparently.

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AWARDS - From Variety:  Jimmy Kimmel will host the 2016 Emmy Awards ceremony.

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COMICS - From Deadline:  Disney Channel Star Zendaya has landed a major role in Sony/Marvel's "Spider-Man" reboot.

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DISNEY - CBR:  See first look at "Duck Tales" reboot.

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OBITS - CBR:  Long time comic book artist, Paul Ryan, died at the age of 66 on Sunday, March 6, 2016

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BOX OFFICE - BoxOfficeMojo:  The winner of the 3/4 to 3/6/2016 weekend box office is "Zootopia" with an estimated take of  $73.7 million.  This is the largest opening weekend for a film from Walt Disney Animation Studios (excluding Pixar, of course).

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SPORTS - From SBNation:  The Los Angeles Lakers get historical on the world champion Golden State Warriors.

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BLACK LIVES MATTER - From RSN:  So many Black people in jail that it has warped our sense of reality.

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MOVIES - From TheGuardian:  Tom Hiddleston teases that he could replace Daniel Craig as the next James Bond.  Personally, I wouldn't mind Idras Elba, Tom Hardy, and Henry Cavill.

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MOVIES - From SlashFilm:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is working on a film for Amazon.  It reportedly involves an Army unit that fought the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War.

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OBITS - YahooPolitics:  Nancy Reagan, the widow of the late President Ronald Reagan, has died at the age of 94, Sunday, March 6, 2016.

From YahooStyle:  Why Nancy liked read.

From YahooNews:  Nancy Reagan, a life in photos.

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BLACK LIVES MATTER - From YahooMusic:  Man films his interaction with an aggressive police officer, who has previously killed a Black man.

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COMICS - From BleedingCool:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is off "The Sandman" film project.

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  An article about Idris Elba cast in "The Dark Tower" series based on Stephen King's series.

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  Sony Pictures has stockpiled franchises for 2017.

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STAR WARS - From WeGotThisCovered:  Is this footage from a "Rogue One" teaser?

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BLACK LIVES MATTER - From TexasTribune:  One of the lead conspirators in the death of Sandra Bland, police officer Brian Encinia has been fired.  Trump is looking for brown shirts, Brian.

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POLITICS - From BuzzFlash:  ...Christianity for millions of white evangelicals in America is simply white supremacy in disguise.

POLITICS - From BuzzFlash:  Donald Trump summons his inner Jefferson Davis.




Friday, July 5, 2013

Review: "Derailed" Seems Unnecessarily Dark (Happy B'day, RZA)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 98 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Derailed (2005)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong disturbing violence, language, and some sexuality
DIRECTOR: Mikael Håfström
WRITER: Stuart Beattie (based upon the book by James Siegel)
PRODUCER: Lorezno di Bonaventura
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Biziou
EDITOR: Peter Boyle
COMPOSER: Edward Shearmur

CRIME/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassel, Melissa George, Addison Timlin, RZA, Tom Conti, Giancarlo Esposito, Denis O’Hare, and Xzibit

The subject of this movie review is Derailed, a 2005 British-American thriller and crime drama. The film is based on the 2003 novel, Derailed, from author James Siegel. Derailed the movie focuses on a married business executive and his mistress who are being blackmailed by a violent criminal.

Successful advertising executive Charles Schine (Clive Owen) misses his commuter train one day, which lead to a chance encounter with Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston), a seductive financial advisor, on a later train. Charles is having trouble at home. He and his wife, Deanna (Melissa George), are a bit at odds, and their daughter, Amy’s (Addison Timlin), Type-1 diabetes puts a tremendous strain on their finances and marriage. Thus, Charles is responsive to Lucinda’s magnetic attraction, and before long cocktails and lunches turn into an impromptu romp at a seedy hotel.

However, a brutal criminal, Philippe LaRoche (Vincent Cassel), breaks into their hotel room and derails their fun, and the illicit liaison becomes a nightmare world more violent and dangerous than Charles could ever have imagined. Unable to confide in his wife and friends or speak to the police, Charles must battle the violence, deception, blackmail, and crime as the life he once knew becomes something unimaginable.

Derailed starts off so slowly and dully that I thought the movie would never recover, but the film’s second half is a kick in the gut. It’s an old-fashioned hard-boiled, noir-ish, romantic, crime thriller, in the vein of Against All Odds. The film isn’t as well written or directed as such A-list romance and crime movies as Fatal Attraction or Basic Instinct, nor will Jennifer Anniston’s performance be as well remembered (if its remembered at all) as the actresses in the aforementioned films.

Owen and Aniston have zero screen chemistry. Owen is a decent actor, but doesn’t quite seem to fit inside the skin of this role; he’s better as a “heavy” or dark type. He doesn’t at all come across as a vulnerable businessman type (an ad exec of all things), but he does fit the part for the second half of the film. Aniston is a small screen actress. It’s clear to me (at least) that she is one of the luckiest actresses alive. She’s not an incredible beauty, and she is a one-note actress – at best – and thus getting parts way beyond her skill. In fact, Aniston don’t have strong dramatic chops, and as it stands she can’t carry a lead role in a drama. This screen pairing nearly kills Derailed.

However, Vincent Cassel as the supernaturally deceptive and wicked LaRoche is fantastic. Now, he is an actor, and he gives this film a superb lift, turning a disastrous movie about an unlikely affair into an edgy crime thriller that keeps surprising the viewer with its nastiness. Rappers RZA (the Wu-Tang Clan) and Xzibit also add some spicy malevolence and grittiness that seems right off mean streets of big city America. If not for Cassel, RZA, and Xzibit, Derailed would have died on the vine simply by the hands of its director, writer, and stars.

5 of 10
B-

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Updated: Friday, July 05, 2013

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

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

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

Inside Man (2006)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some violent images
DIRECTOR: Spike Lee
WRITER: Russell Gewirtz
PRODUCER: Brian Grazer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique (director of photography)
EDITOR: Barry Alexander Brown
COMPOSER: Terrence Blanchard

DRAMA/CRIME with elements of a thriller

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 of 10
B

Thursday, June 15, 2006

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

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

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Monday, February 20, 2012

Review: "Gosford Park" is Full of Intrigue and Thrills (Happy B'day, Robert Altman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Gosford Park (2001)
Running time: 137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR: Robert Altman
WRITER: Julian Fellowes (from an idea by Robert Altman and Bob Balaban)
PRODUCERS: Robert Altman, Bob Balaban, and David Levy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Dunn (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Tim Squyres
COMPOSER: Patrick Doyle
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Camilla Rutherford, Charles Dance, Geraldine Somerville, Tom Hollander, Natasha Wightman, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, James Wilby, Ryan Phillippe, Stephen Fry, Ron Webster, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Emily Watson, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Richard E. Grant, and Sophie Thompson

Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon, The Insider) and Lady Sylvia McCordle (Kristin Scott Thomas) invite many family and friends to their old style, English country estate for a weekend shooting party. Sir William has been the financial benefactor for many of his guests, some needing him more than others and him rejecting the needs of some. When Sir William is discovered dead in his study, everyone: family, guests, and their servants are suspects.

Directed by Robert Altman (The Player, Short Cuts, Nashville), Gosford Park is written in the fashion of an Agatha Christie whodunit, her brand of mystery story that was sometimes set in an old country manor. Altman, a master of the ensemble cast, uses this large cast of British thespians with the flair of a wizard and the skill of great director. Altman creates a pace for Gosford Park that is as still and as measured as a Merchant Ivory production, but underneath the stiff veneer is a film that is as sharp and as full of wit as the best comedies. Every time that Altman seems to start to slip in his craft, he unleashes something that is so rare in films this day: a movie in which the story, setting, and cast are so well played that the audience is knocked off its collective feet. With each marvelous comeback, we believe in him even more. Gosford Park has the kind of execution that brought us to our feet in The Player.

The script by actor Julian Fellowes from an idea by Altman and cast member Bob Balaban is, too say the least, excellent. To use such a large cast in which each and every actors plays what amounts to a major part in the film, even on small screen time, is rarely seen, and is usually reserved for the stage. To write a script that does this in a movie that is barely over two hours long is to understand quality over quantity. There are no big named stars here waiting to chew up scenery and to have their Oscar soliloquies. Fellowes creates a story that has the density and plot lines of a novel, but the brevity of a short story. He does not waste words and scenes, and Altman ably directs the script with the same efficiency. Fellowes wry take on class and social status is uncanny; he sums up British society in the time it would take most writers to begin their introduction to the topic.

Gosford Park is a movie of good performances. Maggie Smith as Constance, Countess of Trentham and Helen Mirren as the housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson earned well-deserved Oscar nominations. Ms. Smith sets the stage and creates the atmosphere for this drama, comedy, and mystery. She embodies British reserve, attitude, and wit, but it is in those moments when she surprises with some unexpected line or sudden glance that she really defines the chameleonic nature of this film. Ms. Mirren well represents the hurt, the lies, and the secrets of Gosford Park; she is want and fulfillment so held in check that when it burst forth, someone must die.

Ryan Phillippe, Stephen Fry, Clive Owen, Ron Webster, Emily Watson, Kelly Macdonald, and Alan Bates among others of this fine cast all do wonderful work. It boggles the mind what these actors do with a great script and one of the great directors.

Gosford Park has as its foundation a well know genre, and it does not refute the trappings of this genre. While a mystery novel must play to its conventions, Gosford Park allows the human dramas to tell the story. Each character’s story and motivation underlies the story, and every character has at least one moment in the spotlight. As motives come forth, the film casts off its whodunit costume and becomes a real drama and witty satire on class. Like life, it is a comedy and mystery, and, like life, the story and its characters remains intriguing even as it ends.

It’s one of those special films that waits for a viewer hungry for some meat to go with the sugary plate most films offer as their sole course.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Julian Fellowes); 6 nominations: “Best Picture” (Robert Altman, Bob Balaban, and David Levy), “Best Director” (Robert Altman), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Helen Mirren), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Maggie Smith), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Stephen Altman-art director and Anna Pinnock-set decorator), and “Best Costume Design” (Jenny Beavan)

2002 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Robert Altman, Bob Balaban, and David Levy) and “Best Costume Design” (Jenny Beavan); 7 nominations: “Best Make Up/Hair” (Sallie Jaye and Jan Archibald), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Helen Mirren), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Maggie Smith), “Best Production Design” (Stephen Altman), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Julian Fellowes), “Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer” (Julian Fellowes-writer), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Robert Altman)

2002 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Robert Altman); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Helen Mirren), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Maggie Smith), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Julian Fellowes)

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Review: "Shoot 'Em Up" is Empty Calories (Happy B'day, Clive Owen)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Shoot ‘Em Up (2007)
Running time: 86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive strong bloody violence, sexuality, and some language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Michael Davis
PRODUCERS: Rick Benattar, Susan Montford, and Don Murphy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Pau
EDITOR: Peter Amundson

ACTION

Starring: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci, Stephen McHattie, Julian Richings, Tony Munch, and Lucas and Sidney Mende-Gibson

Writer/director Michael Davis’ film, Shoot ‘Em Up, may not be the last word in action movies, but dressed in a hail of bullets, Davis’ film certainly seems familiar with the best gunfights from the last three decades worth of American and Hong Kong action movies.

Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) is a mysterious man, but the one thing obvious about him is that he seems to be the angriest, most hardboiled man in the world. Now, this mysterious loner gets to play Mr. Hero when he delivers a woman’s baby during an intense shoot-out. Mr. Smith discovers that the infant boy, whom he dubs, “Oliver” (Lucas and Sidney Mende-Gibson), is the target of a ruthless killer named Hertz (Paul Giamatti) and his seemingly endless supply of gun-toting henchmen.

Smith teams up with an old acquaintance, a prostitute named Donna Quintano or “DQ” (Monica Bellucci), and the duo try to protect Oliver until Smith can discover why the baby is a target. Running through a storm of bullets and facing every conceivable (and some inconceivable) permutation of a gunfight, Smith takes the battle to Hertz in order to see who will be the last man standing.

Shoot ‘Em Up is gleefully sleazy and cheerfully offensive, and the cast knows it. Because the leads Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti play it strait with nary a wink or a nudge at the audience, we buy into this implausible, but highly entertaining nonsense. We’re all having fun, and this hyperactive bash isn’t witless, nor does it shoot itself in the foot. Owen and Giamatti are both fine actors and true movie stars; they simply know just how much to give and how to give it.

Davis has conceived a feast of gunfights that are both breathtaking and imaginative. Owen and Giamatti pull them off. Owen’s gun battle in the sky late in the film is so good that it lifts Shoot ‘Em Up’s pedigree. The final duel between Hertz and Smith is a showdown that is as much classic Western as it is Coen Bros. or Sam Raimi.

A movie that is largely just one extended, elaborate shoot out seems like, at best, a bad idea, and, at worse, a giant stink bomb. Shoot ‘Em Up, however, is a high concept built around something movies do well – create superb visual imagery and captivating visual moments and sequences. It may be low brow, but Shoot ‘Em Up is full of artful fun, cinematic thrills, and even a laugh or two (or three) at the expense of the gun lobby.

6 of 10
B

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Review: Strong Quartet Leads Us "Closer" (Happy B'day, Natalie Portman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 46 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Closer (2004)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of graphic sexual dialogue, nudity/sexuality, and language
DIRECTOR: Mike Nichols
WRITER: Patrick Marber (based upon his play)
PRODUCERS: Cary Brokaw, John Calley, and Mike Nichols
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen Goldblatt
EDITOR: John Bloom
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA with elements of romance

Starring: Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owens

Mike Nichols directed the extraordinary Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, an adaptation of a stage drama, which earned Nichols an Oscar nom for direction. He won an Emmy in 2004 for directing another acclaimed stage play, Angels in America, this time for television. Nichols again guides a play to the silver screen with Closer, from Patrick Marber’s play.

The film focuses on four casual strangers, their chance meetings, instant attractions, and casual betrayals. Daniel (Jude Laws), a newspaper obituary writer, spies Alice (Natalie Portman), a waif who is also a stripper, in the streets of London. He falls for her. Later, Dan is instantly attracted to and falls in love with Anna (Julia Roberts), an American photographer and divorcee living in London. However, Dan inadvertently connects Anna with Larry (Clive Owens), a dermatologists, who falls deeply in love with Anna. The rest of the film follows this kind of love quadrangle and the emotional fallout from the betrayals these four commit against one another.

Closer is strictly an adult drama, and a damn fine one, at that. The language is frank, sexually explicit, profane, and straight razor sharp, and the characters certainly apply the blade to their relationships and lovers. Nichols, as he usually does, quietly allows the drama of the script to come to the surface and gives his actors the chance to bring some truth to the fiction, and boy, do they. Sometimes, it seems that some things in human sexual and personal relationships shouldn’t be onscreen, and I certainly thought that some of the drama in Closer went too far. Still, that doesn’t seem bad when it’s a skilled filmmaker doing it. Anyway, this is a formal and stylized version of the brutality that can result from deeply intimate relationships that are wrecked on the rocks of betrayal and infidelity, so it’s not too discomforting.

Although I consider the script to be the champion of this film, the cast is quite good in making this so riveting a drama when it could have struck a note as phony. Jude Law, Clive Owen, and Natalie Portman are especially potent. Natalie Portman makes another star turn, as if she hasn’t already done that, and we get to see how beautiful and how super duper fine her body is. What a knockout ass she has! Owen reeks of danger, aggression, wildness, vitality, and virility. Law is smooth and charming, and creates a three-dimensional portrait of self-obsession and romantic neurosis. Julia Roberts is good, but is the least of the four actors. She stands out a few times in the middle of the film, but overall, she seems determined not to stand out or chewy up the scenery. She supposedly likes to do ensemble work because she doesn’t want to always carry a film or stand out in front of everyone. Here, that attitude not to steal the spotlight hurts the film a little and her performance a lot.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Clive Owen) and “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Natalie Portman)

2005 BAFTA Awards: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Clive Owen); 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Natalie Portman) and “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Patrick Marber)

2005 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Clive Owen) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Natalie Portman); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Mike Nichols), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Patrick Marber)

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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Review: "Children of Men" is a Great Science Fiction Film (Happy B'Day, Alfonso Cuaron)


TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Children of Men (2006)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, language, some drug use, and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón
WRITERS: Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (based upon the book The Children of Men by P.D. James)
PRODUCERS: Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Hilary Shor, Tony Smith and Iain Smith
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Emmanuel Lubezki, A.S.C., A.M.C.
EDITORS: Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/DRAMA/THRILLER/WAR

Starring: Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Danny Huston, Peter Mullan, and Pam Ferris

It’s London, 2027, and Theo (Clive Owen) is just trying to get by, working as a bureaucrat who lives in a state of numbness. The world has changed so much since he was an idealistic young activist. Hope for the future is dying because it has been almost 19 years since the last baby was born. Most nations have fallen apart as people embrace separatism and descend into nihilism and lawlessness. To survive the ever-increasing internal strife, terror attacks, and tremendous influx of desperate refugees, Great Britain embraces militaristic imperialism. The government has been moving the refugees – called “fugees” – into detainment camps for deportation.

Meanwhile, Theo is content to visit his old friend, Jasper (Michael Caine, looking surprisingly fresh in a shock of long white hair) at his secluded home in the remote countryside away from London, but suddenly, Theo’s ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore), is back in his life. The leader of the Fishes, a covert group fighting for immigration rights, she needs Theo to obtain transit papers for a young woman named Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), whom Julian wants to move out of the country. Theo suddenly finds himself deep into Julian’s covert operations when disaster befalls them all, and Theo learns that Kee is eight-months pregnant. Suddenly, Theo and Kee are in a desperate race, avoiding friend and foe, in an attempt to get Kee to safety and maybe save the future of mankind.

Children of Men may very well be the best speculative science fiction film to come around in ages. With its relentlessly bleak view of the future, it is one of the scariest dystopian films to come along in while. Since this future is certainly plausible, Children of Men is one of the few sci-fi films of the last few decades with that favor the grit of realism rather than the flashy gleam of such science fiction stalwarts as aliens and time travel.

Director Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá tambíen and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and his creative staff, in particular cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and production designers, Geoffrey Kirkland and Jim Clay, focus on keeping Children of Men from being so way out there in the future (Blade Runner) or almost supernatural (The Matrix) that the audience is not only riveted, but can’t ignore a story that one could mark on a calendar as likely to occur soon. Cuarón goes full steam ahead mixing art, politics, and entertainment. Almost from the early moments of the film, it is hard to separate the film. I found myself entertained at the highest level, while being impressed with Children of Men as high art, but at the same time, I couldn’t ignore the politics. Cuarón makes England look like the ruined version of present-day Iraq that I see every day on the news. It’s so much to take in, and Cuarón has the film hit the ground running with the kind of wild ride that popcorn action movies provide. Children of Men, however, is a gourmet film meal with the kick of a Memphis (or Texas) barbeque event action movie.

There are good performances all around. Although Julianne Moore and Michael Caine share top billing with Clive Owen, the star couple is Owen and newcomer Clare-Hope Ashitey. They have the kind of screen chemistry that directors would almost sell their souls for in order to have it for the leads in their films. Owen and Ashitey with unyielding subtlety, quiet determination, and simmering intensity give Children of Men its spiritual hook. Together, they make sure that this political sci-fi, New Testament allegory closes as it should, and Alfonso Cuarón has chosen a grim and dour scenario and executed it with breathtaking technique. Children of Men is an undeniably entertaining art film and artfully entertaining movie that would make the short list of best pictures in any year.

10 of 10

Friday, January 12, 2007

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Alfonso Cuarón and Alex Rodríguez) and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki) and “Best Production Design” (Geoffrey Kirkland, Jim Clay, and Jennifer Williams); 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Frazer Churchill, Timothy Webber, Mike Eames, and Paul Corbould

2007 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Supporting Actor” (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and “Best Supporting Actress” (Clare-Hope Ashitey)

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Sunday, April 18, 2010

"Review: "Sin City" Crazy Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 56 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Frank Miller’s Sin City (2005)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – R for sustained strong stylized violence, nudity, and sexual content including dialogue
DIRECTORS: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller (with special guest Quentin Tarantino)
WRITER: Robert Rodriguez (based upon the Sin City graphic novels created by Frank Miller)
PRODUCERS: Elizabeth Avellan, Robert Rodriguez, and Frank Miller
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Rodriguez
EDITOR: Robert Rodriguez

CRIME/ACTION/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Nick Stahl, Powers Boothe, Rutger Hauer, Elijah Wood, Rosario Dawson, Benicio del Toro, Jamie King, Devon Aoki, Brittany Murphy, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, and Michael Madsen

Robert Rodriguez, director of films like Once Upon a Time in Mexico and the Spy Kids franchise, really wanted to direct a film adaptation of comic book creator Frank Miller’s series of graphic novels, Sin City. Miller, who blew up in the 80’s with by revitalizing and reworking Marvel Comics’ Daredevil and DC Comics Batman character in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, had already said “no” about a dozen times, according to Newsweek magazine, with Rodriguez being the 12th.

However, Rodriguez wouldn’t give up. He invited Miller to Austin, TX for what was supposed to be a test shoot, but what was really Rodriguez’s opportunity to show Miller what he already done in pre-production to make the film look like Frank Miller’s Sin City and not Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City. Rodriguez had already shot a short piece, an adaptation of a Miller Sin City short story “The Customer is Always Right,” with Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton playing the roles. Miller was convinced, and the footage reportedly also amazed the actors whom Rodriguez wanted to cast in the feature film when he showed it to them.

The film, Sin City, (or by its full title Frank Miller’s Sin City) is literally the comic book. This isn’t a film adaptation of a comic book character like the Spider-Man, X-Men, and Batman franchises. This is a movie as a comic book – a frame by frame (or panel by panel, in the case of a comic book) transfer of pictures from a comic book onto film and translated into moving pictures and a film narrative. Let it be called Rodriguez and Miller’s Sin City, and, thus far, it’s best movie I’ve seen this year.

The film adapts three of Miller’s Sin City graphic novels, which are set in and around Basin City or, as it’s better known, Sin City. The Hard Goodbye features Marv (Mickey Rourke, in prosthetics), a tough-as-nails, nearly impossible to kill street fighter/killing machine, who is out for revenge for the killing of a hooker named Goldie (Jamie King), who showed him a good time and the only touch of kindness he ever received. His search leads him to Kevin (Elijah Wood), a psycho serial killer who moves and bounces around like Spider-Man.

The second is The Big Fat Kill, which finds Dwight (Clive Owen), one of the few Sin City good guys, trying to help the hookers of Old Town, after they unknowingly kill Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro), a cop – a corrupt cop, but still a cop, and his posse. Killing a cop will end the truce that’s protected the ladies of Old Town via a deal that keeps the mob and the cops out of Old Town, as long as the cops are paid off and the girls never kill a cop, even one who gets rough with them. Now, Dwight has to keep evidence of Jackie Boy’s death a secret (by making sure his body, and then later, his severed head, not get into the wrong hands). Dwight’s lover and leader of the Amazonian prostitutes, Gail (Rosario Dawson), and a ninja super ho named Miho (Devon Aoki) assist him, but they find themselves up against a ruthless one-eyed (the other is a gold ball) mob henchmen named Manute (Michael Clarke Duncan).

The final vignette is That Yellow Bastard, which is actually split in two. One part plays before “The Hard Goodbye” and “The Big Fat Kill” and the other closes the main section of the film. In the first part, Hartigan (Bruce Willis), a good cop with a bad ticker saves Nancy (Makenzie Vega) an 11-year girl, from Rourk, Jr. (Nick Stahl), a raging pedophile and the son of the powerful Senator Rourk (Powers Boothe). Although Hartigan saves the girl, his partner (Michael Madsen) shoots him down to keep him from killing Rourk, Jr.. In the second and closing installment, Hartigan ends up in prison on trumped up charges because of the senator’s influence. After getting out, he has to protect the grown up Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) from Yellow Bastard (Stahl), who is Rourk, his skin made yellow by the special medical treatments given to repair “the damage” Hartigan did to him in the first segment of Bastard.

Rodriguez, who insisted that Miller get a co-director credit (which forced Rodriguez to leave the Directors Guild of America because co-directors who aren’t siblings is a no-no), shot this film entirely before a green screen. The only things that are real are the actors, the objects they touch, and the cars they ride in. Everything else was digitally inserted later using special effects, such as in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The result is a digital painting in stark black and white with dashes of vibrant color – a red dress, gold hair, a yellow-skinned bastard, etc.

But is this movie good? It’s as good as it is groundbreaking. For all it’s visual flair and the fact that it really looks like a comic book brought to digital film live, the story and the characters are also riveting and engaging. I couldn’t’ take my eyes off the screen. This is power slap to the face like Pulp Fiction and The Matrix, where you get the hard-boiled crime story that enthralls in the former and the eye-popping and mind-bending technical explosion of the latter. Hell, this is better than The Matrix and Sky Captain. Comic book geeks and aficionados, hard core action movie junkies, and the young male demographic will likely love this; this mean baby of a movie was born for them. Anyone else who likes the daring in cinema and can stomach the strangest art films can also handle this, even if they, in the end, don’t like it.

Sin City does seem to run on a little too long, but even this minor quibble is for the best. It gives the large cast (that was anxious to star in this maverick project) more film time in which to shine. There are some truly good performance here – Stahl, Rourke, and Owen for sure. How can a true fan of movies miss this? Yes, it’s vile and almost pornographically violent, but violence looks great on the big screen. Besides, the opportunity to see Jessica Alba’s gyrating dance, Rosario Dawson’s super duper fine ass, and Jamie King’s breasts of a goddess are worth it.

9 of 10
A+

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

Review: "The Bourne Identity" is Classic Secret Agent

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 112 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Bourne Identity (2002)
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and some language
DIRECTOR: Doug Liman
WRITERS: Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron (from the novel by Robert Ludlum)
PRODUCERS: Doug Liman, Patrick Crowley, and Richard N. Gladstein
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITOR: Saar Klein

ACTION/THRILLER/MYSTERY

Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Julia Stiles

There really aren’t any bad Matt Damon movies, just bad movies in which Matt Damon is an actor or a star. He has boyishly good looks, but there’s also something in his character that suggests a solid stand up guy upon which one can rely – probably the two big things needed to make a great male star of the screen. Doug Liman is a rising star as a director. I haven’t seen his film Swingers, but I did see his rave scene version of Pulp Fiction, Go, which is an utterly fantastic fun ride of good music and loopy violence. If you put Damon and Liman together and give them a Robert Ludlum novel to make into a film, you might get the fantastic thriller, The Bourne Identity.

A French fishing vessel finds a man (Matt Damon) floating in the middle of the stormy Mediterranean Sea, whom the crew promptly rescues. He has two bullets in his back, and when he awakes, he doesn’t remember his name. Documents reveal his identity as Jason Bourne, but Jason doesn’t remember any special significance attached to his alleged name. As he follows the few clues he has in hopes of recovering from his amnesia, he must escape a web of international intrigue and a cadre of assassins bent of killing him.

I think a lot of people were surprised that this film became a fairly big hit, and many more were surprised that it was actually so good. The key players in this film are, of course, Damon and Liman. Damon’s Bourne is for all practical purposes, almost the only important character in the film. The rest of the characters are decent, but there is nothing to them beyond their role in a paper-thin shadowy conspiracy. The presence of veteran characters like Chris Cooper and Brian Cox are delightful, but I assume that their characters would have been richer characters if Ludlum’s novel from which this is film is adapted had been made into a television mini-series. A slight supporting cast could have been a liability, but Liman has this deft touch of making his film move briskly and with such vibrancy and life. The viewer hardly has time to focus his attention on story holes. Like a good book, you can’t walk away from The Bourne Identity. You don’t want to walk away, and there are many times when the only reason I finish a boring movie is because I think that I might as well finish what I started.

In Damon, Liman has star with screen presence, and he takes full advantage of it. Although we know only a little more about Bourne that the character himself, as the camera follows Damon, the actor makes us interested in Bourne. With so many run-of-the-mill action flicks, it’s good to see the occasional action/thriller (a genre primarily aimed at older audiences) like Ronin or The Negotiator that engages the thinking and the feeling. The Bourne Identity is a bravura performance by a director and his star that’s worth seeing. It’s a moment in film history when two people come together with utter determination to take what is meant to be slight entertainment and make it into something that goes to the top of the heap. It’ll leave you wanting more.

8 of 10
A

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