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Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Review: Phoenix is the Man in Woody Allen's "IRRATIONAL MAN"
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Review: "JOHN WICK: Chapter 4" is Too Long, But Keanu is Still Hot
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Review: "THE EQUALIZER 2" is Brutal and Personal
Friday, June 9, 2023
Book Review: "THE WAY OF THE BEAR" Takes the Readers Deep into Greed and Murder
Friday, December 30, 2022
Review: Pam Grier is Radiant in "JACKIE BROWN," Tarantino's Best (Maybe) Film
Monday, November 14, 2022
Book Review: "THE SACRED BRIDGE" Offers Murder Most Foul x 2
Sunday, September 11, 2022
Review: In "THE BLACK PHONE," the Children Answer the Call
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 52 of 2022 (No. 1864) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Black Phone (2022)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPA – R for violence, bloody images, language and some drug use
DIRECTOR: Scott Derrickson
WRITERS: Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill (based on the short story “The Black Phone” by Joe Hill)
PRODUCERS: Jason Blum, Scott Derrickson, and C. Robert Cargill
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Brett Jutkiewicz (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Frédéric Thoraval
COMPOSER: Mark Korven
HORROR/CRIME/MYSTERY/THRILLER
Starring: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, E. Roger Mitchell, Troy Rudeseal, James Ransone, Miguel Cazarez Mora, Rebecca Clarke, Tristan Pravong, Brady Hepner, Jacob Moran, Banks Repeta, and Ethan Hawke
The Black Phone is a 2022 supernatural horror, mystery,and crime thriller from director Scott Derrickson. The film is based on the short story, “The Black Phone,” from author Joe Hill. The story was first published in the The 3rd Alternative No. 39, the Autumn 2004 issue of the former British horror magazine. The Black Phone the movie focuses on a teen boy who is abducted by a child killer and imprisoned in a basement where he starts receiving phone calls from a disconnected phone.
The Black Phone opens in North Denver, 1978. A presumed serial killer, nicknamed “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke), has been prowling the streets of a particular Denver suburb and abducting teenage boys. Shortly after the film begins, a boy named Bruce Yamada (Tristan Pravong) disappears and is presumed a victim of The Grabber.
Teen Finney Blake (Mason Thames) lives in this North Denver suburb with his younger sister, Gwen Blake (Madeleine McGraw), and their abusive, alcoholic, widowed father, Terrence Blake (Jeremy Davies). At school, Finney is frequently bullied and harassed, but he has struck up a friendship with a classmate, Robin Arellano ( Miguel Cazarez Mora), who fends off the bullies. Then, the Grabber gets Robin.
Meanwhile, Gwen, who has psychic dreams like her late mother, dreams of a masked man who drives a van and kidnaps Bruce, leaving black balloons in his wake. Then, Finney has a violent encounter with the Grabber. Finney awakens in a soundproofed basement where the Grabber has imprisoned him. On the rear wall is a black rotary phone that the Grabber says does not work. The black phone is supposedly disconnected, but later, the phone rings. When Finney answers it, he here's a familiar voice – a voice of one of the Grabber's victims. Now, Finney must rely on the instructions of ghosts, his own shaky bravery, and (unknown to him) the dreams of Gwen if he is going to survive the murderous plans of a maniac.
I have not read the short story, author Joe Hill's “The Black Phone,” upon which this film is based. [I have read Hill's 2013 novel, NOS4A2, and his 2019 short story and novelettes collection, Full Throttle.] Not reading the short story did not stop me from enjoying The Black Phone the movie, for the most part.
It takes a bit to really get into the nonsensical scenario: a guy drives around in a pitch black van, snatching kids in the middle of the day, practically right out in the street, and no one sees a thing. However, co-writer/director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill thrive on generating scares out of ridiculous scenarios, such as in their 2012 creepy horror film, Sinister. Truthfully, horror films should not necessarily make sense; whether the film is driven by a killer, demonic possession, or haunting, horror films are a fantastic scenario. Scary movies should not be logical or perhaps, be somewhat illogical. Still, until the Grabber grabs Finney, I was not invested in the film, although I was already feeling some fear.
That said, the children are the stars of this film, especially the siblings, Finney and Gwen Blake. Finney tries to find answers in the mysterious phone calls he receives on the disconnected black phone. Gwen battles her own doubts even as she deals with an abusive father who is afraid of what will become of her and her abilities, to say nothing of the two police detectives who must come around to believing her visions.
The Black Phone is one of those times when both a boy and a girl come of age and undergo the heroic journey at the same time in the same movie. That makes the struggle and victory all the more satisfying. Mason Thames as Finney and Madeleine McGraw as Gwen are convincing as both the heroes and as the sensible ones. They make The Black Phone's last act visceral and invigorating, and dear readers, you will vicariously fear for your life, which makes the resolution so, so satisfying. It is rare that I cheer the end of a horror movie, but I did it for The Black Phone.
7 of 10
A-
★★★½ out of 4 stars
Saturday, September 10, 2022
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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Saturday, September 3, 2022
Review: Steven Spielberg's THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS (Countdown to "The Fabelmans")
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 51 of 2022 (No. 1863) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
Rated – PG
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins; from a story by Steven Spielberg and Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins
PRODUCERS: David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vilmos Zsigmond (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Edward M. Abroms and Verna Fields
COMPOSER: John Williams
CRIME/DRAMA/ACTION
Starring: Goldie Hawn, William Atherton, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks, Gregory Walcott, Steve Kanaly, Louise Latham, Dean Smith, and Harrison Zanuck
The Sugarland Express is a 1974 crime drama, road movie, and action film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is Spielberg's directorial debut in theatrical films. Based on a real life event, The Sugarland Express focuses on a young woman and her prison-escapee husband who go on the run in order to retrieve their toddler son from foster care.
The Sugarland Express opens in 1969 and introduces 25-year-old Lou Jean Sparrow Poplin (Goldie Hawn). She visits her incarcerated husband, 25-year-old Clovis Michael Poplin (William Atherton), at the Beauford H. Jester Unit, a pre-release center of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Lou Jean wants to tell Clovis that their son, two-year-old Baby Langston (Harrison Zanuck), has been placed in foster care by the Child Welfare Board.
Lou Jean convinces Clovis that she is breaking him out of prison, although he only has a few months left in pre-release, so that they can retrieve their child. After sneaking out of the prison, the couple ends up in a car crash. They waylay a Texas Highway Patrolman, Trooper Maxwell Slide (Michael Sacks), and taking him hostage and taking possession of his patrol car. Clovis and Lou Jean go on the run, headed for Sugarland, Texas, the home of Baby Langston's foster parents. Meanwhile, Captain Tanner (Ben Johnson) of the Texas Highway Patrol, leads an ever-growing caravan of police cars in dogged pursuit of Lou Jean and Clovis.
In anticipation of Steven Spielberg's upcoming “semi-autobiographical film, The Fablemans, I am perusing his filmography. I started with the television movie that first got him noticed, Duel (1971), and now I am at his first theatrical film.
The Sugarland Express is based on a real event that occurred in Texas in the spring of 1969. The film's lead characters, Lou Jean and Clovis, are not so much likable as they are pitiable because they are so stupid. Goldie Hawn gives a good performance as Lou Jean, but this isn't a “Goldie Hawn picture,” although her name is placed above the title on movie posters. However, Trooper Slide and his boss, Captain Tanner (played by the great Ben Johnson), are quite likable or even lovable. Still, this film is not so much about the characters as it is about the situation.
I think that what makes this film really work is how Steven Spielberg plays out the situation as a film narrative. I've always said that he gets the best out of his cast, crew, and creatives. The Sugarland Express is a slow-moving train wreck because the conductors, Lou Jean and Clovis, don't know what they are doing and do not really think out their decisions. Yet, they are … pulling a train of cop cars, and Spielberg's attention to the thrilling and exciting aspects of this situation: car chases and crashes, shoot-outs, colorful locales, etc. add some zing to this express to Sugarland.
He finds time to give us just enough of a taste of the Bonnie and Clyde-like Lou Jean and Clovis and of Captain Tanner and Slide to keep the audience interested in the fate of the characters, if not the well-being of all. Even the Poplins' fans and admirers are a motley lot of lovable regular folks.
As the film races towards its end, Spielberg turns The Sugarland Express into a mesmerizing thriller. Every performance, small and large, takes on dramatic heft, and the audience knows one thing – this shit is for real, now. Seriously, it is in the last half-hour of The Sugarland Express that we can see the style and techniques that Spielberg used in his second film, Jaws, a legendary blockbuster movie and one of the most influential films of the last half-century.
7 of 10
B+
★★★½ out of 4 stars
Saturday, September 3, 2022
NOTES:
1974 Cannes Film Festival: 1 win: “Best Screenplay” (Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins, and Steven Spielberg); 1 nominee” “Palme d'Or” (Steven Spielberg)
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Saturday, March 26, 2022
Review: Hurt and Turner Put All the Heat in "BODY HEAT"
Body Heat (1981)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Lawrence Kasdan
PRODCUER: Fred T. Gallo
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Richard H. Kline (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Carol Littleton
COMPOSER: John Barry
DRAMA/ROMANCE/CRIME
Starring: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J.A. Preston, Oscar Grace, Mickey Rourke, Kim Zimmer, Jane Hallaren, Lanna Saunders, and Carola McGuinness
Body Heat is a 1981 romance and crime drama written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. The film is set in Florida during a searing heat wave and focuses on a small-town lawyer and a sultry woman who conspire to murder her rich husband.
Body Heat introduces Ned Racine (William Hurt), an inept lawyer who operates out of Okeelanta County, in southern Florida, which is in the middle of a searing heatwave. One night, he chances upon a very attractive woman, who is all alone. Although she initially rebuffs his amorous attempts, she eventually gives in to Ned's advances and identifies herself as Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner). She lives in a posh mansion with her mysteriously wealthy husband, Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna). Edmund is usually away on business during the week, so that is when Matty is alone.
Ned and Matty begin a torrid affair. When they can be together, they have lots of sex in the sweltering heat of the night. When Edmund is home on the weekends, Matty longs to be with Ned, as he longs to be with her. If Matty were to divorce her husband, an onerous marital prenuptial agreement would leave her with very little, but she would get half his estate if he died... Matty wishes Edmund was dead, and Ned presents her with a way to get rid of him. Ned believes that he has figured out how to get away with murder, but has he figured out Matty Walker?
William Hurt (1950-2022) recently died after a reported battle with cancer, and I was taken aback. William Hurt was one of the biggest names in Hollywood in the 1980s when I was first coming of age an a film fan. I have decided to go back and watch some of his films that I'd previously seen and also to watch some for the first time. One of those first time films is Body Heat, which was only the third film in which he'd starred. It is apparently the film that made him a “bankable” Hollywood movie star.
Body Heat is also the film debut of Kathleen Turner. Her physicality and obvious and frank sexuality made her a star of the 1980s. Her adventurousness in choosing movie roles created an eclectic filmography, but Turner's star waned in the 1990s. In Body Heat, however, she is ready to unleash her unique skill set on the world. Matty Walker is Turner's signature work, and bits and pieces of the character and her performance of the character continued to show up in her work in the decades that followed the original release of Body Heat.
Here, in Body Heat, Hurt and Turner are stars ascendant. At first, I wondered if they would have screen chemistry, and from my point of view, they are magnificent together. The fact that they are willing to be naked together so often in this film speaks to their professionalism and also the depth of their skill as actors. Both had performed on stage before they entered the world of Hollywood films, so they had acting experience. That experience was needed in filming what has been described as many explicit sex scenes that were not included in the finished film.
Still, what is left on screen is hot and nasty. Turner and Hurt are so hot together that they damn near burned this film down, which it needs. The truth is that Body Heat is rather tepid. The film is described as a “neo-noir,” a modern version of the classic Hollywood film genre, “Film-Noir.” Outside of the depictions of sex and nudity, Body Heat's story and the execution of its narrative, to me, seem rather tame compared to a film like, for instance, 1950's Gun Crazy, another romantic crime drama about a killer couple. Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan, one of the best writer-directors and screen writers of the last five decades, apparently found inspiration for Body Heat in the 1944 Film-Noir classic, Double Indemnity. Well, it's time for me to see that one.
Beside Ned Racine and Matty Walker, I like the other characters in this film. Richard Crenna is really good in a small role as Edmund Walker; he deserved more screen time. Ted Danson's Peter Lowenstein is good, but seems extraneous in this film, and J.A. Preston's Oscar Grace, a police detective, has his best moments in Body Heat's last act. Also, if you ever wondered what Hollywood executives saw in Mickey Rourke that would make him a star, his small but potent turn as Teddy Lewis, an explosives expert and former client of Ned's, reveals the first glimmer of his movie star potential.
Body Heat is not William Hurt's best work, but his quirky takes make Ned Racine an interesting character. Kasdan throws out hints about the general sloppy nature of Ned's skills as an attorney and also his inability to see the big picture. Hurt takes that the rest of the way, creating a Ned Racine that is not savvy enough not to be a fall guy, but too smart not to figure it out eventually. Body Heat is not a crime fiction classic, but it is a classic “erotic thriller.” Hurt and Turner make it so.
7 of 10
B+
Saturday, March 26, 2022
NOTES:
1983 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles” (Kathleen Turner)
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Review: THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS is Perfectly 2 Fast 2 Furious
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 of 2021 (No. 1780) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Running time: 136 minutes (2 hours, 16 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for prolonged sequences of violence and destruction, suggestive content, and language
DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray
WRITER: Chris Morgan (based on the characters created by Gary Scott Thompson)
PRODUCERS: Vin Diesel, Neal H. Moritz, Chris Morgan and Michael Fottrell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen F. Windon (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Christian Wagner and Paul Rubell
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler
ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA
Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel, Scott Eastwood, Elsa Pataky, Kristopher Hivju, Patrick St. Esprit, Luke Evans, and Helen Mirren
The Fate of the Furious is a 2017 action movie from director F. Gary Gray and was released by Universal Pictures. It is the eighth installment in The Fast and the Furious movie franchise (now called the “Fast Saga”). A direct sequel to 2015's Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious introduces a mysterious woman who has the power to turn Dominic Toretto into a terrorist.
As The Fate of the Furious begins, Dominic “Dom” Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Letitia “Letty” Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) are on their honeymoon in Havana, Cuba. While there, Dom meets a mysterious woman who turns out to be the elusive cyberterrorist, Cipher (Charlize Theron). She has obtained something that she uses to coerce Dom into working for her. Soon afterwards, Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), recruits Dom and his team – his family: Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) to retrieve an EMP device from a military outpost in Berlin. However, Dom betrays them all and steals the device for Cipher, and Hobbs and Dom's family, including Letty, are branded criminals.
Intelligence operative and leader of a covert ops team, Frank Petty (Kurt Russell), a.k.a. “Mr Nobody,” arrives with his protege, Eric Reisner (Scott Eastwood), and he has an offer. Mr. Nobody wants Hobbs and Dom's family to help him find Dom and capture the highly elusive Cipher. Mr. Nobody also has a surprise for Hobbs and company. He has recruited Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), the rogue British Special Forces assassin who was hunting Dom and his family until they defeated him and Hobbs and the DSS imprisoned him. But will even Shaw be enough? Cipher can disappear at will and with Dom at her side, she seems unbeatable. Cipher's threat to the world and Dom's betrayal will test the family as never before.
When The Fate of the Furious was initially released to theaters in April 2017, I was too mired in family troubles to bother going to a movie theater to see it. And quite frankly, after what I considered to be a barely average installment in Furious 7, I thought I was done with the franchise. In fact, I didn't even watch The Fate of the Furious when it started playing on basic cable. Recently, I saw a clip from the soon-to-be-released F9 (2021), and I was shocked to see Dominic Toretto playing with a baby. A friend informed me of the events in The Fate of the Furious, and because he and I talked about seeing F9, I decided to rent The Fate of the Furious via Netflix.
Well, I will never doubt you again, Fast & Furious / Fast Saga. I loved The Fate of the Furious. This film franchise's over-the-top action has become so … over-the-top that it is practically a kind of superhero and car chase movie series. These movies are fun, but I thought that the series had reached narrative exhaustion with Furious 7. The Fate of the Furious was the hot-shot injection of jet fuel that the series needed, as far as I'm concerned. And Vin Diesel may have given his best performance of the series in The Fate of the Furious. He really seemed like an evil terrorist, but, at the same time, his grit and determination to manage the evil in order to protect his family feels genuine.
I also want to credit Universal Pictures and The Fate of the Furious in using Havana, Cuba as the setting for the film's opening scenes. It is a love letter to a place that looks beautiful on film. And The Fate of the Furious is also a crazy, mad, insane, and beautiful action movie.
8 of 10
A
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Review: UNCUT GEMS Offers Surprising Performances from Its Cast
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 of 2021 (No. 1766) by Leroy Douresseaux
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
Uncut Gems (2019)
Running time: 135 minutes (2 hours, 15 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive strong language, violence, some sexual content and brief drug use
DIRECTORS: Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie
WRITERS: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie & Benny Safdie
PRODUCERS: Sebastian Bear-McClard (p.g.a.), Eli Bush (p.g.a.), and Scott Rudin (p.g.a.)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Darius Khondji (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie
COMPOSER: Daniel Lopatin
DRAMA
Starring: Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch, Keith William Richards, Tommy Kominik, Jonathan Aranbayev, Noa Fisher, Jacob Igielski, and Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd)
Uncut Gems is a 2019 crime drama film from directors Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie. Director Martin Scorsese is one of the film's executive producers. Uncut Gems focuses on a fast-talking New York City jeweler and gambling addict who risks everything in hope of staying afloat and alive.
Uncut Gems opens in 2010 in the Welo mine in Ethiopia where Ethiopian Jewish miners retrieve a rare black opal from the mine. The story moves to 2012 where we meet Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), who runs KMH, a jewelry store in New York City's Diamond District. A fast-talking businessman, Howard is also a gambling addict, and he is struggling to pay off his gambling debts, which include the $100,000 he owes his brother-in-law, Arno Moradian (Eric Bogosian), a loan shark.
Howard's personal life is also in shambles, as he is estranged from his wife, Dinah Ratner (Idina Menzel). Dinah insists on sticking to their plan of getting a divorce after Passover. Meanwhile, Howard's relationship with his girlfriend, Julia De Fiore (Julia Fox), a KMH employee, is also up-and-down. Still, Howard believes that all will be well when he gets that rare black opal that the Ethiopian miners found.
Things start to fall apart when Demany (Lakeith Stanfield), an intermediary who recruits clients for Howard, introduces him to NBA player, Kevin Garnett (Kevin Garnett), of the Boston Celtics. Suddenly, holding onto and selling the opal takes on a life-or-death significance.
Audiences may pull for Adam Sandler's Howard Ratner and even root for him simply because he is the lead character in Uncut Jewels, but the truth is that Ratner is worthy of pity more than he is of sympathy. He has a terrible case of “problem with immediate gratification.” He is a gambling addict, and one gets the idea that he is addicted to seeking his own satisfaction. He is vain, venal, narcissistic, and self-absorbed, and he tells lies the way people breathe air. However, this all leads to a last act of the film when the pity that one might feel towards the pathetic Howard turns to sympathy.
Sandler gives one of the best performances of his career, and although many commentators thought that he deserved an Oscar nomination for his performance in Uncut Gems (which he did not get), he had a better character arc in 2005's The Longest Yard. Still, Sandler proves in Uncut Gems that he can deliver a surprising performance that can even shock audiences.
However, I find the most fascinating character in this film to be Uncut Gem's version of the real-life former professional basketball player, Kevin Garnett. Garnett fashions a version of himself that is more complex, darker, and more nuanced than the player people know from his long career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), which lasted 21 seasons from 1995 to 2016. I could watch an entire film featuring this Garnett.
Overall, the Safdie Brothers deliver in Uncut Gems a crime drama like no other, and with screenwriter Ronald Bronstein, they offer a cast of interesting, even off-the-beaten path characters. Actress Idina Menzel is known for her big smile and her ability to belt out a song, but here, she takes the script's Dinah Ratner and makes her a salty woman who is utterly disinterested in her wayward husband, Howard's conceited charisma. Menzel's Dinah would set it off before she'd let it go.
The usual impeccable Lakeith Stanfield is impeccable – as usual, and I wish there was more of his Demany. Abel Tesfaye, better known as the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, The Weeknd, goes meta to turn in a delightfully edgy and smutty version of himself.
I don't know if I would recommend this film to fans of Adam Sandler's comedies, especially the raunchy and juvenile ones. Still, the Safdies and Sandler create something so different that I think movie audiences that like to take a dare sometimes will find a dark jewel of a movie in Uncut Gems.
7 of 10
A-
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Friday, February 26, 2021
#28DaysofBlack Review: "LITTLE WOODS" Introduces an Up and Coming Director
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 of 2021 (No. 1760) by Leroy Douresseaux
Little Woods (2018)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some drug material
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Nia DaCosta
PRODUCERS: Rachael Fung, Tim Headington, and Gabrielle Nadig
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matt Mitchell
EDITOR: Catrin Hedström
COMPOSER: Brian McOmber
DRAMA/CRIME with elements of thriller and western
Starring: Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Luke Kirby, James Badge Dale, Lance Reddick, Jeremy St. James, and Charlie Ray Reid
Little Woods is a 2018 drama and crime film from writer-director Nia DaCosta. The film focuses on two sisters who work outside the law to fix bad situations in their lives via the Canadian–U.S. cross-border drug trade.
Little Woods introduces a young woman named Oleander “Ollie” King (Tessa Thompson), who lives in Little Woods, North Dakota. Ollie is on probation because she had been bringing prescription medicine illegally across the border between Canada and North Dakota. With eight days left on her probation, Ollie is determined to reinvent her life. With the help and encouragement of her probation officer, Carter (Lance Reddick), Ollie has applied to find work in Spokane.
However, Ollie is getting numerous requests to return to her old life, which included illegally selling prescription medicine, as she scrapes by on odd jobs. And Ollie might have a reason to return to a life of crime. Her estranged sister, Deborah “Deb” Hale (Lily James), is barely surviving, living in an illegally parked trailer with her young son, Johnny (Charlie Ray Reid). Deb is barely getting any help from her bum baby-daddy, Ian (James Badge Dale).
Worse still, Ollie, who has been living in the home of her and Deb's recently deceased mother, Bridget Sorenson, has discovered that a local bank has begun foreclosure proceedings on the house. There is a payment of 5,682 dollars due to the bank in one week. Desperate to make a place for Deb and Johnny, Ollie may jeopardize her future by selling and running drugs again.
Little Woods is the directorial debut of writer-director Nia DaCosta. The subject matter and setting may seem like strange choices for an African-American director, but the story is a familiar one of familial obligations; the up-and-down relationship between bickering, but loving sisters; and the desperate day-to-day lives of the poor and struggling people of small town America. DaCosta offers a riveting family drama that is part crime thriller and modern Western – that also has an excellent soundtrack full of plaintive songs that set the appropriate mood. This is an engaging and sometimes haunting film that holds one attention.
However, the character writing is not as strong as it needs to be. The screenplay relies on familiar conflicts between loved ones, friends, and acquaintances. Bill (Luke Kirby), the local pill kingpin, barely registers as a character, and Ian's relationships with both Deb and Ollie, which are obviously, rich with potential, rely on familiar indie drama tropes. Still, Tessa Thompson and Lily James deliver urgent and edgy performances of their respective characters.
My reservations aside, Little Woods is a necessary film because Nia DaCosta presents a side of the American experience, a side that need that needs to exist more in American popular culture. DaCosta expertly details the lack of affordable housing, inadequate heath care, and shitty jobs that make ordinary people make choices that often hurt them or land them in jails and prisons or on parole and probation. Little Woods is not a pretty film, but it exemplifies the power of film drama, and it makes me expect big things of Nia DaCosta.
7 of 10
B+
Friday, February 26, 2021
NOTES:
2020 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Emerging Director” (Nia DaCosta)
The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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Wednesday, February 10, 2021
#28DaysofBlack Review: Eddie Murphy's "HARLEM NIGHTS" is Still Cool
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2021 (No. 1749) by Leroy Douresseaux
Harlem Nights (1989)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Eddie Murphy
PRODUCER: Mark Lipsky and Robert D. Wachs
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Woody Omens (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Alan Balsam and George Bowers
COMPOSER: Herbie Hancock
Academy Award nominee
CRIME/DRAMA with elements of comedy
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello, Michael Lerner, Della Reese, Berlinda Tobert, Stan Shaw, Jasmine Guy, Vic Polizos, Lela Rochon, David Marciano, Arsenio Hall, Thomas Mikal Ford, Joe Pecoraro, Robin Harris, Charles Q. Murphy, Uncle Ray Murphy, Desi Arnez Hines II, Roberto Duran, and Gene Hartline
Harlem Nights is a 1989 crime film and period drama written and directed by Eddie Murphy. The film is set during the 1930s and focuses on a New York City club owner and his associates as they battle gangsters and corrupt cops.
Harlem Nights introduces Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor). In 1938, Ray and his surrogate son, Vernest Brown, best known as “Quick,” run a nightclub, dance hall, and gambling house called “Club Sugar Ray,” located in New York City's Harlem neighborhood. Ray's other associates include Madame Vera Walker (Della Reese), who runs the brothel at the back of Club Sugar Ray, and her longtime companion, Bennie Wilson (Redd Foxx), the craps table dealer.
Club Sugar Ray is wildly successful, making fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a week, and that has drawn the attention of a white gangster, Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner). Calhoune wants the majority share of Sugar Ray's revenues, and to that end, employs his criminal associates: his black enforcer, Tommy Smalls (Thomas Mikal Ford); his Creole mistress, Dominique La Rue (Jasmine Guy), and a corrupt police detective, Sgt. Phil Cantone (Danny Aiello).
Ray decides that he will have to give up his business and move on, although Quick is vehemently against this. Ray decides to use an upcoming championship boxing match between the world heavy weight champion, black boxer Jack Jenkins (Stan Shaw), and a white challenger, Michael Kirkpatrick (Gene Hartline), the “Irish Ironman,” to disguise his ultimate heist plan against Calhoune. But for the plan to work, Quick will have to avoid all the people trying to kill him?
Harlem Nights has some of the best production values that I have ever seen in an Eddie Murphy film. The costumes (which were Oscar-nominated), the art direction and set decoration, and the cinematography are gorgeous. Herbie Hancock's score captures Harlem Nights shifting tones – from jazzy and sexy to mixes of comic and dramatic violence. The film's soundtrack offers a buffet of songs written, co-written and performed by the great Duke Ellington, plus performances by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Buddy Clark, to name a few.
Yet, upon its initial release, that is not what some critics noted about Harlem Nights. They were obsessed with how many times Eddie Murphy's name appeared on the poster. They counted: Eddie was star, writer, director, and executive producer; it was too much – at least according to them. That all played into the “Eddie Murphy is arrogant” argument that many of these critics, mostly jealous white guys, made.
Harlem Nights remains the only film that Eddie Murphy has ever directed, which is a shame. Granted that his acting is stiff in this film. Granted that the screenwriting is average; it is never strong on character drama, and sometimes the story really needs it to be. Still, Harlem Nights moves smoothly through its narrative. It is slow and easy, although there have been those that have claimed that the film is “too slow.” Still, Eddie Murphy has a silken touch at directing.
None of Harlem Nights' problems matter to me. At the time, there had never been a film like it. Harlem Nights is a big budget, lavish, Hollywood period film that is thoroughly Black. Its cast is a once-in-a-life-time event. I'm not sure a black director could have gotten funding with Harlem Night's cast even as a low budget film. Harlem Nights is a film that only Eddie Murphy could get produced, and one could argue that it was not until well into the twenty-first century that any other black filmmaker could get something like Harlem Nights made. So I'm good with its problems, and I am simply happy that it exists.
Harlem Nights is an entertaining film, and I have highly enjoyed it every time that I have seen it. It stands as a testament to what Eddie Murphy became by the late 1980s – the only African-American who was a real Hollywood “player.” Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Della Reese: they were a dream lineup, a fleeting coming together that seemed to be gone in an instant. Harlem Nights lives on, as a gorgeous, strange hybrid drama-comedy-gangster-period film. And I, for one, am always ready to recommend it.
B+
7 of 10
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
NOTES:
1990 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Joe I. Tompkins)
The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Friday, June 19, 2020
Review: "The Punisher" Could Have Been... But Isn't
The Punisher (2004)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive brutal violence, language and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Hensleigh
WRITERS: Michael France and Jonathan Hensleigh (based upon the Marvel Comics character created by)
PRODUCERS: Avi Arad and Gale Anne Hurd
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Conrad W. Hall
EDITORS: Jeff Gullo and Steven Kemper
COMPOSER: Carlo Siliotto
FANTASY/ACTION/CRIME
Starring: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Will Patton, Laura Elena Harring, James Carpinello, Samantha Mathis, Eddie Jemison, Mark Collie, John Pinette, Kevin Nash, Ben Foster, and Roy Scheider
The Punisher is a 2004 action and crime thriller from director Jonathan Hensleigh. The film is based on the Marvel Comics character, The Punisher/Frank Castle, that was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr. and Ross Andru and that made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129. The Punisher the movie focuses on an undercover FBI agent who becomes a vigilante assassin after a corrupt businessman slaughters his entire family.
The Punisher introduces Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), a Delta Force veteran, who recently completed his final mission as an undercover FBI agent. After hit men kill his wife, Maria (Samantha Mathis), and their children and leave him for dead, Castle declares a one-man war on the killers’ boss man, Howard Saint (John Travolta), and his organization. Castle also befriends three lonely misfits who share the rundown apartment building where he holes up, while popping caps and cutting throats during his mission to take down Saint and his organization.
The Punisher may be one of the worst film adaptations of a comic book or comic book character ever made, although it’s certainly not as hard to watch as The Crow: City of Angels, another misbegotten movie based on a comic book character. The Punisher's pace is ponderous, and its plot is the embodiment of monotony. All the acting is bad except for a decent performance by character actor Will Patton as Quentin Glass. The character is gay, and it’s nice to see that that fact is hardly acknowledged, except as a plot contrivance). Eddie Jemison is also good as Mickey Duka, a flunky, and a character utterly wasted by The Punisher's bad script.
Jane’s speaking parts, both as Castle and as The Punisher, amount to short, tired burst of listless and limp-wristed one-liners. After this sorry effort as Saint, Travolta will need another career boost from Quentin Tarantino or perhaps some other hot, new director who would just love to have the revolting one in his film.
Yeah, there are plenty of explosions in The Punisher, but they’re like candles on toast. This movie isn’t even worth recommending as a rental.
1 of 10
D-
Revised and reedited: Friday, June 19, 2020
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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