Showing posts with label Crime comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crime comedy. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Review: "CAFÉ SOCIETY" Sounds More Scandalous Than It Actually Is

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 of 2024 (No. 1946) by Leroy Douresseaux

Café Society (2016)
Running time:  96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA –  PG-13 for some violence, a drug reference, suggestive material and smoking
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Woody Allen
PRODUCERS:  Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum, and Edward Walson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Vittorio Storaro
EDITOR:  Alisa Lepselter

COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of crime

Starring:  Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Sheryl Lee, Jeannie Berlin, Ken Stott, Sari Lennick, Stephen Kunken, and Corey Stoll

Café Society is a 2016 period comedy and romance film written and directed by Woody Allen.  Set in the 1930s, the film follows a Bronx native who moves to Hollywood and falls in love with a young woman who is already in an affair with a mysterious married man.

Café Society introduces Robert Jacob “Bobby” Dorfman (Jessie Eisenberg).  He is the youngest child and younger son of Marty Dorfman (Ken Stott) and his wife, Rose Dorfman (Jeannie Berlin).  The Dorfman's middle child is their adult daughter, Evelyn (Sari Lennick), who is married to Leonard (Stephen Kunken), a teacher, an intellectual, and a communist.  Dorfman's oldest child is their elder son, Ben (Corey Stoll), a gangster.  While his siblings' lives are set, Bobby's is not.  He is discontented with working for his father, Marty, who is a jeweler, so Bobby decides to move to Hollywood.

There, his mother Karen's brother, Phil Stern (Steve Carell), is a powerful talent agent who works with the most famous stars, biggest filmmakers, and most powerful movie studios.  Phil is married to a beautiful woman, Karen (Sheryl Lee), and he lives in a lavish mansion in Hollywood.  And he might have a job for his wayward nephew, Bobby Dorfman.

Bobby ends up taking a job running menial errands for Phil, and that brings him into contact with on of Phil's employees, Veronica “Vonnie” Sybil (Kristen Stewart).  Bobby falls in love with Vonnie, but she claims that she already has a boyfriend, Doug, whom she describes as a journalist.  Ultimately, Bobby returns to New York City, where he runs a high-end nightclub that he names “Les Tropiques.”  It is there that Bobby embraces “café society,” as the club soon becomes a famous hangout for the rich and powerful.  Bobby, however, cannot escape his recent past, nor can he avoid Ben's gangster activities.

Coup de chance, the film Woody Allen says will likely be his final directorial effort, was released in France in September (2023).  Because of the controversies surrounding Allen the last few decades, especially the last five years, the film may not get a stateside theatrical release (although there has been a rumor that it has found a thus far secret U.S. distributor).  In anticipation of eventually somehow seeing Coup de chance, I have decided to watch the recent Woody Allen films that I missed, such as the 2015 film, Irrational Man, and Cafe Society.

Cafe Society is an amiable, lightweight Woody Allen period comedy.  It's nostalgic overtones certainly recall Allen's utterly delightful and semi-autobiographical period film, Radio Days (1987).  I adore Radio Days and am tempted to call it his masterpiece.  Unfortunately, Cafe Society is nowhere near the film that Radio Days is.

The first half of Cafe Society, which is mostly set in Hollywood, ends up being a prologue to the main story.  You see, dear readers, Cafe Society's real story takes place after Bobby Dorfman returns to New York City and becomes a player in cafe society, the party scene of the Big Apple's rich and famous – from the blue bloods and celebrities to politicians and gangsters.  In fact, the film is practically sleepy until Bobby becomes the impresario of NYC's most popular and notorious nightclub.  That is when the two strands of his past – his aborted relationship with Vonnie and the natural end of Ben's activities – meet.  Of course, it is a time when Bobby has the best of everything.

Cafe Society's themes of love-at-first-sight, love lost, and yearning for what might have been are familiar, and the film deals with it all so slightly that the story feels underdeveloped.  I can't help but believe Cafe Society would work better as a television series, which would allow it to fully develop its multiple subplots and to play out a cast that is filled with potential.  Ultimately, Café Society is an average put-together of familiar Woody Allen tropes, decorated with gorgeous production values.  The cinematography, costumes, and sets are all Oscar worthy.

5 of 10
B-
★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, January 24, 2024


The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for syndication rights and fees.

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Saturday, April 1, 2023

Review: "THE BAD GUYS" is A.C.E. (Average, Cute & Entertaining)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 of 2023 (No. 1905) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Bad Guys (2022)
Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – PG for action and rude humor
DIRECTOR:  Pierre Perifel
WRITERS:  Etan Cohen (based on the books by Aaron Blabey)
PRODUCERS:  Rebecca Huntley and Damon Ross
EDITOR:  John Venzon
COMPOSER:  Daniel Pemberton

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE and COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  (voices):  Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, and Lilly Singh

The Bad Guys is a 2022 computer-animated crime comedy and adventure fantasy film directed by Pierre Perifel and produced by DreamWorks Animation.  The film is loosely based on the children's book series, The Bad Guys, by Aaron Blabey.  The Bad Guys the movie focuses on a gang of notorious animal criminals pretending to want to be rehabilitated until circumstances force them to really attempt to do something good.

The Bad Guys is set in a world in which humans co-exist with anthropomorphic animals (animals that talk and act like humans).  The film introduces “The Bad Guys,” a gang of five infamous criminal animals known for their numerous thefts and their uncanny ability to evade authorities.  The Bad Guys are Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), a cool and slick pickpocket who is the team's leader; Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), a safe-cracking snake who is Wolf's second-in-command and best friend; Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), a sarcastic hacker also known as “Webs;” Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), a sensitive and child-like master of disguise; and Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), the sharp-tongued tough guy and muscle of the group.

Their latest target is the “Golden Dolphin,” a trophy to be handed out at the “Annual Good Samaritan Awards” being held at the Museum of Fine Arts.  The Golden Dolphin will be awarded to Professor Rupert Marmalade IV, a wealthy guinea pig philanthropist whose generosity is almost as good as that of Mother Teresa.  The event will also be attended by Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) and Police Chief Misty Luggins (Alex Borstein), a husky female law enforcement who is determined to nab the Bad Guys.

When the Bad Guys are nabbed, Mr. Wolf accepts an offer from Professor Marmalade, with Gov. Foxington's approval, to reform and rehabilitate the Bad Guys.  There are problems with that.  Mr. Snake is reluctant to be reformed.  Not everyone is truthful about their roles in this plan or honest about their identity.  But a part of Mr. Wolf secretly really wants to change his ways.

I created a new acronym for big studio, computer-animated (or CG animated) feature films aimed at the family audience.  It is “A.C.E.,” which means “Average, Cute & Entertaining.”  According to an April 2022 feature in the Los Angeles Times about The Bad Guys, the film's design is inspired by Sony Pictures Animation's 2018, Oscar-winning film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which mixed both a 3D and a 2D aesthetic in its design.  Honestly, I can't tell that just by watching the film.  I can tell that The Bad Guys also mixes 2D and 3D graphics and design elements, but The Bad Guys' animation lacks the spark of the highly-acclaimed Spider-Man film.

The characters are mildly amusing and interesting, but they seem more like types than actual characters.  The only character that I really liked is a kitten that is not anthropomorphic and does not talk.  Just as Disney/Pixar's Lightyear was uplifted by the robotic cat, “Sox,” The Bad Guys receive a jolt when this unnamed kitten appears.

Even the voice acting in The Bad Guys seems only kind of inspired.  Sam Rockwell is too cool for his character, Mr. Wolf's own good.  I can't believe that Zazie Beetz provides the voice for Governor Foxington because this distinctive performer sounds like a generic female voice performer.

So there it is.  The Bad Guys is average entertainment, but cute average entertainment.  There is a good chance that young audiences will adore it, but I kinda wish I hadn't bothered with it – except I would have missed the adorable kitty.

5 of 10
B-
★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, March 31, 2023


NOTES:
2023 Black Reel Awards:  1 nomination: “Outstanding Voice Performance” (Zazie Beetz)


The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2021

#28DaysofBlack Review: Eddie Murphy's "HARLEM NIGHTS" is Still Cool

[A little over 21 years after its initial release, Harlem Nights remains unique.  It was the dream project of an African-American movie star, Eddie Murphy, who had reached heights that few African-American stars ever have.  I'm glad Eddie Murphy made this movie.]

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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Monday, February 8, 2021

#28DaysofBlack Review: "BlacKkKlansman" is Bold and Brilliant

[Spike Lee finally earned his long-sought after competitive Academy Award, having won an “Honorary Academy Award” in 2015 at the age of 58, the youngest ever to achieve that award.  BlacKkKlansman is not so much a biopic as it is a black comedy, police procedural, crime comedy, and semi-espionage film.  Yet, this film retains Lee's fierce cinematic voice with its trademark campaign against American white supremacy/racism/privilege.  Thank the Lord.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 of 2021 (No. 1747) by Leroy Douresseaux

BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Running time: 135 minutes (2 hours, 15 minutes)
MPAA – R for language throughout, including racial epithets, and for disturbing/violent material and some sexual references

DIRECTOR:  Spike Lee
WRITERS:  Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott and Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz (based on the book, Black Klansman, by Ron Stallworth)
PRODUCER:  Spike Lee, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele, and Shaun Redick
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Chayse Irvin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Barry Alexander Brown
COMPOSER:  Terence Blanchard
Academy Award winner

DRAMA with some elements of comedy

Starring:  John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Jasper Pääkkönen, Ryan Eggold, Paul Walter Hauser, Ashlie Atkinson, Corey Hawkins, Michael Buscemi, Ken Garito, Robert John Burke, Fred Weller, Nicholas Turturro, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Damaris Lewis, and Alec Baldwin and Harry Belafonte

BlacKkKlansman is 2018 historical film drama and black comedy from director Spike Lee.  The film is based on the 2014 memoir, Black Klansman, by Ron Stallworth.  The film focuses on an African American police officer who successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate.

BlacKkKlansman opens in 1972.  Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is hired as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department.  Although he starts in the record room, he soon works his way into the position of undercover cop.  His superior, Chief Bridges (Robert John Burke), assigns him to infiltrate a local rally where national civil rights leader, Kwame Ture (Corey Hawkins), formerly known as Stokely Carmichael, is giving a speech.  At the rally, Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier), president of the Black Student Union at Colorado College, and he becomes attracted to her.

After being reassigned to the intelligence division under Sergeant Trapp (Ken Garito), Ron discovers the local division of the Ku Klux Klan in a newspaper ad.  Taking the initiative, Ron, posing as a white man, calls the division and speaks to Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold), the president of the Colorado Springs, Colorado chapter.   Since he mistakenly used his real name during the call, Ron realizes that he needs help after Walter invites him to a Klan meet-and-greet.

Sgt. Trapp brings Ron together with two detectives, Jimmy Creek (Michael Buscemi) and Phillip “Flip” Zimmerman (Adam Driver), who is Jewish.  Ron continues to talk to the Klan on the phone, but Flip pretends to be Ron, acting as Ron's surrogate when he actually has to meet up with the Klan members.  Flip gradually begins to infiltrate deeper into the local Klan organization, but some members grow suspicious of him.  The stakes grow higher after Ron starts a phone relationship with infamous Klan leader, David Duke (Topher Grace), who is coming to meet the Colorado Klan.

BlacKkKlansman is a police procedural, a racial drama, a historical film, a period drama, a biographical film, and a true crime story, or at least, a true story.  However, there is one thing that BlacKkKlansman certainly is, and that is a Spike Lee movie.

Lee's collaborators and actors certainly do some of their best work.  Chayse Irvin's cinematography is beautiful, and Barry Alexander Brown's editing creates a hypnotic rhythm that drew me ever deeper into the film so that by the midpoint, I believed that I was part of the story.  In fact, Irvin and Brown shine as a duo in the sequence that depicts Kwame Ture's speech in a sweeping interval of Black faces that captures the broad spectrum of Blackness in America.  Everything sways and flows to Terence Blanchard's (of course) outstanding, Oscar-nominated score.

I can see how Adam Driver's performance as Flip captured the attention of Oscar voters.  I also get why John David Washington and Laura Harrier's strong and beguiling performances did not capture the same attention from Academy Award voters.  All the performances are good, as the actors took character types and did something different with them.  Two short but important speaker roles, Corey Hawkins' Kwame Ture and Harry Belafonte's Jerome Turner, are the heartbeat of BlacKkKlansman.

But, as I said, this is Spike Lee's film; this is a Spike Lee film.  Spike is a visionary, a contrary cinematic artist stubbornly making his films his own and making other people's stories his own.  Spike has never been shy about putting the racism of white people on display.  He condemns white racism and white supremacy, revealing its brutal violence, banal evil, and systematic oppression in stark and often blunt cinematic language – regardless of what of criticisms that may come his way because of the way he tells stories.

BlacKkKlansman is Lee's most savage take and rigorous excavation of white racism and white supremacy in America since his seminal classic, Do The Right Thing (1989).  BlacKkKlansman is Lee's best film since Do The Right Thing, and it earned him his long overdue Oscar (for “Best Adapted Screenplay” that he shared with three other writers).  [No, I'm not overlooking Chi-Raq.]

Do The Right Thing was a bomb that angered more white people than it impressed, but BlacKkKlansman is the work of a veteran filmmaker, a mature artist, so to speak.  This time, Spike Lee acknowledged Black people's prejudices and bigotries, and many of the White characters in this film are sympathetic, are allies, and are even heroes.  Still, BlacKkKlansman makes clear that whatever Black racism that exists, it is White racism that has wielded the power in American.

With allusions and outright references to the present struggle for equality and civil rights, BlacKkKlansman makes it clear that we still have to fight the power and the White devil.  Three decades later, however, Spike Lee is willing to portray White allies, but he can still get under … honky skin.  That is why so many Oscar voters chose Green Book's sentimentality over BlacKkKlansman's black-is-beautiful power in the “Best Picture” Oscar race … when BlacKkKlansman may be the best American film of 2018.

10 of 10

Saturday, February 6, 2021


NOTES:
2019 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win for “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee); 5 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Terence Blanchard), “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele, and Spike Lee), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Spike Lee), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Adam Driver), and “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Barry Alexander Brown)

2019 BAFTA Awards:  1 win for “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott); 4 nominations: “Best Supporting Actor” (Adam Driver), “Best Film” (Jason Blum, Spike Lee, Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, and Jordan Peele), “Original Music” (Terence Blanchard), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Spike Lee)

2019 Golden Globes, USA:  4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Spike Lee), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (John David Washington), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Adam Driver)

2019 Black Reel Awards:  11 nominations: “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Director” (Spike Lee), “Outstanding Screenplay” (Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee), “Outstanding Ensemble,” “Outstanding Score” (Terence Blanchard), “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female” (Laura Harrier), “Outstanding Cinematography” (Chayse Irvin), “Outstanding Costume Design” (Marci Rodgers), and “Outstanding Production Design” (Curt Beech)

2019 Image Awards:  5 nominations:  “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture-Film” (Spike Lee), and “Outstanding Breakthrough Role in a Motion Picture” (John David Washington)

The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.


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Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Review: "Birds of Prey" is Crazy, Sexy, Tarantino

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Birds of Prey (2020)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R strong violence and language throughout, and some sexual and drug material
DIRECTOR:  Cathy Yan
WRITER:  Christina Hodson (based on characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics)
PRODUCERS:  Sue Kroll, Margot Robbie, and Bryan Unkeless
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Matthew Libatique (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Jay Cassidy and Evan Schiff
COMPOSER:  Daniel Pemberton

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/CRIME/COMEDY/ACTION

Starring:  Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ewan McGregor, Ella Jay Basco, Chris Messina, Dana Lee, and Steven Williams

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), or simply Birds of Prey, is a 2020 superhero fantasy film and crime comedy from director Cathy Yan.  The movie is based on several characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.  Birds of Prey focuses on a group of women who find common cause in their struggle against a violent crime boss.

Birds of Prey opens after the events depicted in the film, Suicide Squad (2016).  Psychiatrist turned crazed criminal, Dr. Harleen Quinzel a.k.a. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), has returned to Gotham City with her criminal accomplice and boyfriend, The Joker.  However, Joker breaks up with Harley and kicks her out of their house, so she moves into an apartment above a Chinese restaurant owned by a man named Doc (Dana Lee).

In Gotham City, Harley Quinn was virtually untouchable... because she was the Joker's girlfriend... which she isn't anymore.  Now, it's open season on Harley,  The man who most wants her dead is Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), a sadistic gangster who masquerades as a suave nightclub owner, but Harley earns a reprieve from Sionis.  He covets something called “the Bertinelli diamond,” which is currently in the possession of a young pickpocket named Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco).

However, the quest for Cain and the diamond will force Harley to unite with three other women:  Dinah Lance a.k.a. “the Black Canary” (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a burlesque singer who works for Roman; Renee Montoya (Rose Perez), a police detective in the GCPD; and Helena Bertinelli a.k.a. “the Huntress” (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a vigilante that criminals call the “crossbow killer.”  Now, Harley and these women will show Gotham's underworld that it is the criminal class that should be afraid... of these birds of prey.

Birds of Prey's paper-thin plot:  retrieving a diamond; next, protecting a teen girl; and then, battling Roman Sionis, is not important.  This is a movie about “bad girls” having fun at the expense of really bad men, and Birds of Prey is quite good at that.  Director Cathy Yan makes the best of her ingredients:  a zany mix of actors, fantastic costumes, and eclectic sets and delivers an inspired, madcap movie of brutal, comic violence.  Birds of Prey is the kind of violent comedy that finds the wicked side of comic book stories and characters, the way the Deadpool films did.

Like the best comic books, Birds of Prey is over-the-top.  Why have a pet dog when you can have a pet hyena?  Why wear merely flashy costumes when you can wear the most fantabulous fashions?  Why hit an adversary when you can maim the mutha?  And what is a car chase without a chick on roller skates?  The women of Birds of Prey:  Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Ella Jay Basco take their performances seriously without taking their roles too seriously.  Even Ewan McGregor adds just a touch of camp to his gleefully cruel creation, Roman Sionis.

I won't pretend that Birds of Prey is a great film, but it is the kind of inspired, R-rated comic book film that I wish we saw more.  And besides the soundtrack is pretty damn good.  So I am heartily recommending Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) to moviegoers who enjoy comic book films.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, February 8, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, July 21, 2014

Review: "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" a Nice Ode to 1940s Era Films

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 255 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
Running time:  103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual content
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Woody Allen
PRODUCER:  Letty Aronson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Zhao Fei
EDITOR:  Alisa Lepselter

COMEDY/CRIME/MYSTERY/ROMANCE

Starring:  Woody Allen, Helen Hunt, Dan Aykroyd, Brian Markinson, Elizabeth Berkley, Wallace Shawn, Charlize Theron, David Ogden Stiers, and Carol Bayeux

The subject of this movie review is The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, a 2001 romance, crime-comedy and mystery film from writer-director Woody Allen.  The film follows an insurance investigator and an efficiency expert, both hypnotized into stealing jewels by a crooked hypnotist using a jade scorpion.

New York City – 1940C.W. Briggs (Woody Allen) is the top insurance investigator for North Coast Casualty and Fidelity of New York, and he is his boss, Chris Magruder’s (Dan Aykroyd) go-to-guy when it comes to solving the thefts of high value items that North Coast is insuring.  C.W. has also been sparring with the company’s latest hire, Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt), an efficiency expert with an eye on putting C.W. in his place.

At a dinner party, a crooked hypnotist named Voltan (David Ogden Stiers) uses a jeweled charm, the Jade Scorpion, to hypnotize C.W. and Betty Ann.  Soon, the combative co-workers are babbling like love struck kids.  Their colleagues think this is some kind of clever hypnosis gag, so no one realizes that Voltan has placed C.W. and Betty Ann under a post-hypnotic suggestion.  Voltan controls C.W. and makes the insurance investigator use his professional skills and inside information to steal a fortune in jewels from two prominent families that have insured their treasure with North Coast.  With the police after him for the robberies, will C.W. ever get a clue that he’s a hypnotized dupe?

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is Woody Allen’s delightful ode to movies from the 1940’s, like his delightful 1987 movie, Radio Days, was.  Jade is a nod to the light mystery films of the 40’s, but here, this material isn’t particularly strong, although the acting is quite good and gives the movie a sense of earnest fun.  The entire cast seems up to recreating both the style and ambience of 40’s era movies and the characters in them, and that’s a credit to Allen’s direction.

Helen Hunt is spicy as Betty Ann Fitzgerald, and she makes an excellent foil for Allen’s C.W. Briggs, who is the typical wisecracking character Allen plays in his comedies.  Charlize Theron glams it up to create the sexy, bold, and randy Laura Kensington, a character with an unfortunately too small part because she gives this flick a much-needed kick in the rear every time she’s on screen.  Brian Markinson, Elizabeth Berkley, and Wallace Shawn also add the right touches to their parts and add flavor to this film.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion isn’t great Allen, nor is it anywhere nearly as good as Radio Days.  It’s a minor, but good Allen flick that will entertain Allen fans to one extent or another.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Updated:  Monday, May 19, 2014

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



Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Review: "Super Troopers" Can Be Funny (Happy B'day, Jay Chandrasekhar)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Super Troopers (2001)
Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, sexual content and drug use
DIRECTOR:  Jay Chandrasekhar
WRITERS:  Broken Lizard (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske)
PRODUCER:  Richard Perello
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Joaquín Baca-Asay
EDITORS:  Jumbulingam (Jay Chandrasekhar), Jacob Craycroft, and Kevin Heffernan
COMPOSERS:  38 Special

COMEDY

Starring:  Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Marisa Coughlan, Brian Cox, Daniel van Bargen, Michael Weaver, Dan Fey, Jim Gaffigan, and Lynda Carter

The subject of this movie review is Super Troopers, a 2001 comedy starring the comedy troupe, Broken Lizard, and directed by member, Jay Chandrasekhar.  The film focuses on five Vermont state troopers, who are pranksters and screws ups, trying to outperform an overachieving local police department.  Although Super Troopers was shown at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, it did not receive a national U.S. theatrical release (by Fox Searchlight Pictures) until 2002.

Movie reviewers often take the easy road or the high-minded road when they opine on what we film lovers call the guilty pleasure – the bad movie that is “really (seriously, now) entertaining.”  So a movie often has to be taken for what it is, and what it is may not amount to very much.  Perhaps the filmmakers were expressing themselves in the only way they knew.  They were being themselves or being true to their game.  Or maybe speaking in their own voices and not in someone else’s voice, and they made a movie just to have a silly time.

This is Super Troopers, and for the sake of the usual argument, this is a poorly constructed movie.  It’s way too long, has a poor story, a predictable plot and premise, a boring setting, and is set in an indeterminate time, etc.

The plot, in which the appealing underdogs must overcome the overachieving jerks in order to save their low rent livelihoods, is the stiff upon which this cast hangs their act, and the act is the show.

Broken Lizard is a New York and Los Angeles based comedy troop made up of this movie’s director and his co-writers.  The movie is merely a vehicle for their uproarious act.  I’ve never seen them onstage, but, based upon this funny (no, really) film, I’m anxious to taste them.  They are difficult to categorize.  They aren’t slackers, because they lack the phony Gen X cool, and they aren’t thugs, ruffians, and lowlifes.  Goofy and dumb doesn’t quite fit.

They’re like regulars guys, and their extreme antics are their means to wile away the extreme boredom, continued dullness, and constant pain-in-the-ass throb of life.  Their sexual antics are loud without being raunchy.  Their act is harmful, but like “Beavis and Butthead” and “Bart Simpson,” they are mostly harmful to themselves.  Broken Lizard comes across as regular guys having a way too wild time.

When you watch Super Troopers, you can forget about what a movie is supposed to be like and what’s supposed to be in a movie, you just have a great time laughing at these clowns.

Yeah, maybe the show does go on a bit too long, as if Broken Lizard is not aware that as funny as they are, they can wear out their welcome, but that doesn’t take away from the fun, not by much.

6 of 10
B

Updated:  Wednesday, April 09, 2014

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


Friday, March 28, 2014

Review: "Rush Hour 3" Serves the Franchise Well

TRASH IN MY EYE, No. 3 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Rush Hour 3 (2007)
Running time:  91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity, and language
DIRECTOR:  Brett Ratner
WRITER:  Jeff Nathanson (based on the characters created by Ross LaManna)
PRODUCERS:  Roger Birnbaum, Andrew Z. Davis, Jonathan Glickman, Arthur M. Sarkissian, and Jay Stern
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  J. Michael Muro
EDITORS:  Mark Helfrich, Billy Weber, and Don Zimmerman
COMPOSER:  Lalo Schifrin

ACTION/COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Youki Kudoh, Max von Sydow, Yvan Attal, Noémie Lenoir, Jingchu Zhang, Tzi Ma, and Roman Polanski

The subject of this movie review is Rush Hour 3, a 2007 action movie and crime comedy from director Brett Ratner.  It is the third film in the Rush Hour movie franchise.  In Rush Hour 3, Lee and Carter head to Paris, after an attempted assassination on an ambassador, to protect a French woman with knowledge about the Triads’ secret leaders.

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker return for the long-awaited third installment of their wildly popular comic action film franchise, Rush Hour.  While Rush Hour 3 is funny and action-packed, the stars and director seem to be trying too hard.

After his dear friend, Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma), is shot, Hong Kong Police Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) finds himself guarding Han’s daughter, Soo Yung (Jingchu Zhang), from the Triads who want Han and the information he has on them destroyed.  There is, however, another complication when Lee discovers that Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada), someone from his past who is greatly important to him, suddenly appears and is associated with the Triads.

LAPD Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) leaves the doghouse of traffic detail to help his old friend, Lee.  Soon, the duo is in Paris looking for two elusive women, the sexy Geneviéve (Noémie Lenoir) and the mysterious “Shy Shen,” who may hold the secrets that the Triads guard so jealously.  But in Paris, Lee and Carter are out of their element and always in trouble and/or danger.

Rush Hour 3 has its moments – in fact, plenty of them, but there seem to be an equal number of times in which the pratfalls, explosions, gunfire, banter, sex, etc. seem forced.  The sad thing is that neither director Brett Ratner nor his two stars need to be so over the top.  With two strong comic actors – Lee being the great physical comedian and Tucker personifying the fast-talking streetwise comic – the Rush Hour franchise has the perfect opposites-attract pair.  It’s not that hard to build an action comedy around them with only the thinnest scenario.

Instead, Chris Tucker’s witty banter often turns to babbling, and Jackie Chan’s fighting and gymnastic scenes usually make him look like a tired windup toy or a beat-up action figure caught in a wind tunnel.  It is okay to refry the same old shtick; Ratner and writer Jeff Nathanson just overcooked it and let some of the fun get scorched.  Still, seeing Chan and Tucker back together is good, and the movie is not exactly bad.  In fact, Rush Hour 3 is good enough to make a fourth film worth the wait.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Updated:  Friday, March 28, 2014

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



Sunday, February 16, 2014

Review: "Kick-Ass 2" Kicks Better Ass

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 7 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
Running time:  103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and brief nudity
DIRECTOR:  Jeff Wadlow
WRITER:  Jeff Wadlow (based upon the comic books by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.)
PRODUCERS:  Adam Bohling, Tarquin Pack, Brad Pitt, David Reid, and Matthew Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tim Maurice Jones (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Eddie Hamilton
COMPOSERS:  Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/CRIME/COMEDY

Starring:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Morris Chestnut, Clark Duke, Augustus Prew, Donald Fiason, Garret M. Brown, Steve Mackintosh, Monica Dolan, Robert Emms, Lindy Booth, Daniel Kaluuya, Olga Kurkulina, Tom Wu, Yancy Butler, and Jim Carrey

Kick-Ass 2 is a 2013 British-American superhero film and crime comedy from writer-director, Jeff Wadlow.  It is based upon two comic books, Kick-Ass 2 and Hit Girl, from writer Mark Millar (the creator of Wanted) and John Romita, Jr.  Kick-Ass 2 is also a sequel to the 2010 film, Kick Ass, which was also based on a Millar-Romita, Jr. comic book of the same name.  In Kick-Ass 2 the movie, high-school superhero Kick-Ass joins a group of costumed crime-fighters who were inspired by him, while an old enemy plots revenge against him.

After the events of the first film, high school student Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) retired from fighting crime as the costumed vigilante/superhero, “Kick-Ass.”  But now, he is bored, and begins training with Mindy Macready a/k/a Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), who is now 15-years-old.  However, Mindy’s guardian is her late father’s friend, Detective Marcus Williams (Morris Chestnut), and he demands that Mindy give up being Hit Girl and become a proper high school student.

With Hit Girl taken out of action, Dave looks for a new partner and finds a group of normal citizens who were inspired by Kick-Ass to fight crime in costume.  Led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), Kick-Ass and a small band of wannabe superheroes fight crime and do charity work.

Meanwhile, Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), whose crime boss father was killed by Kick-Ass, is frustrated that his mother forced him to stop being the costumed Red Mist.  After he takes control of his family’s wealthy, Chris becomes what he calls the world’s first supervillain, The Motherfucker, and swears vengeance against Kick-Ass.

I thought that the first Kick Ass movie wasn’t as deranged as it thought it was, nor was it as entertaining as its source material.  Kick-Ass 2 is as deranged as it thinks it is – perhaps even more so.  Sometimes, it is too deranged – with violence that is off-putting.  It is not that the violence is over-the-top, so much that it seems like the filmmakers almost seemed obsessed with spiting the critics, prudes, and people who cannot accept that this is make-believe and has nothing to do with real-world violence (like Newtown).

I think I find Kick-Ass 2 more entertaining than the first movie because the new film has one main plot.  The first movie was kind of all over the place, which is understandable as it was introducing a new kind of superhero concept.  Kick-Ass 2 is about revenge.  Yes, the story has subplots about teen angst and self-doubt, parental-child conflict, and peer acceptance, but this is a movie about payback and the mindset one has to have in order to engage in revenge.

I thought Hit Girl dominated the first movie, thankfully.  This time, Dave Lizewski and Chris D’Amico are just as fun to watch as Mindy Macready, although I honestly wish that Kick-Ass 2 has a few more hits of Hit Girl.  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse deliver excellent performances that make their characters’ respective conflicts, obstacles, and goals seem quite genuine.

I can’t say exactly what, but Kick-Ass 2 seems to be missing something.  I like the movie and had a blast watching some of it, but there were moments that I found only mildly amusing and entertaining.  I guess that should be enough.  I can say that Kick-Ass 2 has the wanton violence, foul language, and sexual content of the first film, but done a little more thoughtfully.  Plus, Jim Carrey’s turn in a small role is an amazing little thing that has to be seen.

6 of 10
B

Friday, February 14, 2014


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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Review: "2 Guns" of Fun


TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

2 Guns (2013)
Running time:  109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity
DIRECTOR:  Baltasar Kormákur
WRITER:  Blake Masters (based on the Boom! Studios graphic novels by Steven Grant)
PRODUCERS:  Andrew Cosby, Randall Emmett, George Furla, Norton Herrick, Marc Platt, Ross Richie, and Adam Siegel
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Oliver Wood (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Michael Tronick
COMPOSER:  Clinton Shorter

ACTION/CRIME with elements of a comedy

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Edward James Olmos, Bill Paxton, James Marsden, Robert John Burke, Fred Ward, John McConnell, Jack Landry, Lucky Johnson, and Lindsey Smith

2 Guns is a 2013 action and crime film from director Baltasar Kormákur.  The film is based on Two Guns, a 2007 comic book by writer-creator Steven Grant and artist Mateus Santolouco.  2 Guns the movie stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as a DEA agent and a naval intelligence officer, respectively, on the run and double-crossed after a botched attempt to infiltrate a drug cartel.

2 Guns introduces Robert Lynn Trench (Denzel Washington), who is an agent with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), and Petty Officer Michael Stigman (Mark Wahlberg), who is with United States Naval Intelligence.  They only know each other, however, as Bobby Beans and Stig, two dudes trying to make it big in the world of narcotics dealing.

The duo robs a bank in Tres Cruces, New Mexico, in an attempt to infiltrate the drug cartel controlled by Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos).  They find more than they expect:  about themselves, about their respective superiors in the worlds of law enforcement and the U.S. Navy, and about the money – the really large of sum of money.  Now, Bobby and Stigman’s shaky alliance has to stay strong if they want to stay alive.

I have described some movies as basically being “not great, but entertaining.”  That is 2 Guns.  This is not filet mignon; this is like a Big Mac®, which delivers the tastiness you expect when you buy a Big Mac.  2 Guns delivers the fun you would expect from a movie about a lone gun who is betrayed and on the run – times two lone guns.  The viewer will have to wade through about an hour of set-up and build-up before the buddy-movie action explodes in a hail of bullets and a pile of bodies.

In this film, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg are pretty much doing the kinds of characters they have done before in one form or another, except this time, there is plenty of winking and nudging.  2 Guns is an action movie with a comic edge.  It is light and fizzy, and by the end of the movie, I was hoping for a sequel.

2 Guns was something of a box office disappointment, but fans of Washington and Wahlberg will be delightfully surprised when they find this movie on DVD or on television – for years to come.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, January 22, 2014


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Sunday, January 19, 2014

Review: Silly "LiTTLE MAN" Offers Big Laughs (Happy B'day, Shawn Wayans)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 149 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Little Man (2006)
Running time:  90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual humor throughout, language and brief drug references
DIRECTOR:  Keenen Ivory Wayans
WRITERS:  Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans
PRODUCERS:  Rick Alvarez, Lee R. Mayes, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Steven Bernstein
EDITORS:  Michael Jackson and Nick Moore
COMPOSER:  Teddy Castellucci

COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Kerry Washington, Tracy Morgan, John Witherspoon, Lochlyn Munro, Fred Stoller, Damien Dante Wayans, Gary Owen, Chazz Palminteri, Alex Borstein, Brittany Daniel, John DeSantis, Dave Sheridan, Molly Shannon, and David Alan Grier with Rob Schneider (no screen credit)

The subject of this movie review is Little Man (also stylized as LiTTLE MAN), a 2006 crime comedy from director, Keenen Ivory Wayans, and starring his brothers, Marlon and Shawn Wayans.  The film focuses on a wannabe dad who mistakenly believes that a short-of-stature criminal is his newly adopted son.

As soon as diminutive criminal, Calvin (Marlon Wayans provides the face; Linden Porco and Gabriel Pimental provide the body), leaves prison, he joins his dim and hapless homeboy, Percy (Tracy Morgan, priceless as the criminally inept doofus), in the theft of a large diamond.  With the police hot on their trail, Calvin passes the diamond off to a suburban couple, Darryl (Shawn Wayans) and Vanessa (Kerry Washington).

Calvin and Percy follow the couple back to their home where they learn that the couple is struggling with whether or not they should have a child.  Percy convinces the short-statured Calvin to disguise himself as a baby, and Percy leaves Calvin on Darryl and Vanessa’s doorstep.  After discovering the “baby” Calvin on their doorstep, the couple takes him in, deciding to keep the toddler for at least the weekend until they can turn him over to child welfare authorities on Monday.  Now a part of the family, baby Calvin makes his move to retrieve the diamond he hid in Vanessa’s bag, but Pops (John Witherspoon, in a scene stealing role), Vanessa’s father who lives with them, doesn’t trust this new foundling and keeps his eyes on him.  Meanwhile, Walken (Chazz Palminteri), the cheap hood for whom Calvin and Percy stole the diamond, is moving in to retrieve his booty and he just may kill anyone in his way.

A midget or diminutive criminal passing himself off as a baby to be taken in by a naïve civilian who then unwittingly hides bogus baby from the law is a staple of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon shorts – 1954 Baby Buggy Bunny comes to mind.  The family team of director/co-writer Keenen Ivory Wayans and co-writers/stars Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans make the concept their own in the new comedy, Little Man.  Coming from the people who gave us the Fox sketch comedy series, “In Living Color,” and the reviled, but popular 2004 film, White Chicks ($113 million in worldwide box office, $42.2 of that earned internationally), we would expect Little Man to be in bad taste, and boy, is it in bad taste.

It’s grosser than most gross-out comedies.  In terms of sexual innuendo, bawdy humor, and sexual humor, it actually crosses the line.  There are moments that either outright offended me or stunned and shocked me into silence – killing my laughter as if someone hit an off switch.  This concept is ridiculous except in Bugs Bunny cartoons.  The execution of the narrative is illogical, implausible, improbable, and filled with impossibilities.

The CGI and visual effects that mold Marlon Wayans body with that of two dwarf  actors to create Calvin is some amazing movie technology, but it doesn’t totally work.  Marlon’s head often movies awkwardly, and sometimes his head still looks way too big for such a small body.  Sometimes the seams between the computer-created Calvin and reality are painfully obvious, and Calvin just looks as if he’s been pasted in.  On the other hand, about half the time, the “little man” in Little Man actually looks quite good.

But after all is said and done, Little Man is just frickin’ funny.  It’s laugh-out-loud funny, howl with laughter in the theatre funny, choke-on-laughter funny, funny funny, etc.  Those who like the Wayans’ unabashedly low brow humor, chocked full of bad taste and taboo busting will find this a hilarious treat.  Little Man isn’t the classic great film, but it’s the classic make-you-laugh comedy.  What Little Man lacks in serious artistic merit, it makes up for in laughter inducing nonsense.  That’s the low art of high comedy.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, July 15, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Razzie Awards:  3 wins: “Worst Actor” (Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans), “Worst Screen Couple” (Shawn Wayans, Kerry Washington, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans and either Kerry Washington or Marlon Wayans), and “Worst Remake or Rip-Off” (Rip-Off of the 1954 Bugs Bunny cartoon Baby Buggy Bunny-1954); 4 nominations: “Worst Picture,” “Worst Actor” (Rob Schneider for The Benchwarmers), “Worst Director” (Keenen Ivory Wayans), and “Worst Screenplay” Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans)

Updated:  Sunday, January 19, 2014

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



Saturday, January 4, 2014

Review: "We're the Millers" the Funniest Movie of 2013

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

We’re the Millers (2013)
Running time:  110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for crude sexual content, pervasive language, drug material and brief graphic nudity
DIRECTOR:  Rawson Marshall Thurber
WRITERS:  Bob Fisher & Steve Faber and Sean Anders & John Morris; from a story by Bob Fisher and Steve Faber
PRODUCERS:  Chris Bender, Vincent Newman, Tucker Tooley, and Happy Walters
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Barry Peterson
EDITOR:  Michael L. Sale
COMPOSERS:  Ludwig Göransson and Theodore Shapiro

COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly Quinn, Tomer Sisley, and Matthew Willig

We’re the Millers is a 2013 crime comedy from director Rawson Marshall Thurber (DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story).  We’re the Millers focuses on a veteran pot dealer and the fake family he creates as part of a plan to transport a shipment of marijuana into the United States from Mexico.  In a year when not too many comedies really thrilled me, I think We’re the Millers is not only the year’s best comedy, but it is also one of my all-time favorites, and I want to see it again.

We’re the Millers introduces low level pot dealer, David Clark (Jason Sudeikis).  An unfortunate occurrence leaves him $43,000 in debt to his supplier, drug lord Brad Gurdlinger (Ed Helms).  Brad makes David a deal:  go to Mexico and big up a small stash of weed and bring it back to him.  Realizing that one man attempting to get through customs at the Mexican border would be a bit suspicious, David comes up with the idea of creating a fake family.

David first recruits his neighbor, 18-year-old Kenny Rossmore (Will Poulter), to be his son.  Kenny recommends Casey Matthis (Emma Roberts), a 15-year-old runaway and thief, to pose as a daughter.  David’s toughest recruitment is another neighbor, Rose O’Reilly (Jennifer Aniston), a stripper, to be his wife.  Still, David manages to create a fake family, the Millers.  At first, the mission to Mexico goes well, but things turn complicated when the family runs afoul of another drug dealer and also encounters an overly-friendly family, the Fitzgeralds.

We’re the Millers’ director Rawson Marshall Thurber does his best work in allowing his cast to make gold of a screenplay filled with silliness, vulgarity, and silly vulgarity.  Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis are veteran comic actors, and they easily take this material to heights, beyond what anyone should have reasonably expected of it.  Emma Roberts and Will Poulter (who is unfamiliar to me) steal many scenes, all the better for the audience.  Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn are not only fun, but they also deliver some excellent character acting, which helps them do quite a bit of scene stealing.

We’re the Millers apparently got mixed reviews from critics, but there are no mixed feelings here.  I love it!  In the future, when We’re the Millers is a staple of cable television, I’ll think of each showing as “Miller time!”  Forgive me for going there.

9 of 10
A+

Thursday, January 02, 2014

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



Monday, December 30, 2013

Review: "Corky Romano" Has Enjoyable Cheap Laughs (Happy B'day, Fred Ward)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 140 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Corky Romano (2001)
Running time:  86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for drug and sex-related humor, and for language
DIRECTOR:  Rob Pritts
WRITERS:  David Garrett and Jason Ward
PRODUCER:  Robert Simonds
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Steven Bernstein (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Alan Cody
COMPOSER:  Randy Edelman

COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  Chris Kattan, Vinessa Shaw, Peter Falk, Peter Berg, Chris Penn, Richard Roundtree, Fred Ward, Matthew Glave, Roger Fan, Dave Sheridan, Vincent Pastore, and Kip King

The subject of this movie review is Corky Romano, a 2001 crime-mafia comedy.  The film stars “Saturday Night Live” alumnus, Chris Kattan, as the loser son of a low-level Mafia boss forced to infiltrate the FBI.

Bad movies can be hilarious, eliciting countless belly laughs; sometimes they can be uproarious, which is the case with the Chris Kattan vehicle Corky Romano.  The writers filled the scripts with such implausibility (the central premise of a bumbling idiot infiltrating the Federal Bureau of Investigation stretches the imagination; then, again, who thought 9/11 could happen?), so one must really suspend disbelief.  Chris Kattan, an excellent physical comedian, probably as good as Jim Carrey, firmly takes control of this rickety movie.  He manipulates his co-stars as ably as he maneuvers his body and makes Corky Romano quite funny.

Corky (Chris Kattan) is an assistant veterinarian with dreams of being a licensed vet.  His father “Pops” Romano (Peter Falk) is a wealthy low-rent hood specializing in rackets and gambling, but some unknown person has implicated Pops on murder charges.  The feds are after him, and he’s facing hard time (in the typical “upstate” prison).  He and his sons Paulie (Peter Berg) and Peter (Chris Penn) have hatched a plan to have Corky infiltrate the local FBI office the way the feds have obviously penetrated the Romanos’ operations.  Paulie, a functional illiterate, and Peter, a closet homosexual, have no faith in their brother Corky, but they assist him in his mission to pass as an agent of the FBI and retrieve whatever incriminating evidence they have on Pops.

Once inside, Corky, through the usual movie luck, misunderstanding, and being in the wrong place at the right time somehow convince the feds that he’s a topnotch agent.  His boss Howard Shuster (Richard Roundtree) loves him, and Corky catches the eye of a comely, young FBI wench, Agent Kate Russo (Vinessa Shaw), who is, of course, trying to show the guys that she’s just as good as any male agent.  While most of his colleagues think that Corky is the not only the real deal, but a great G-man, Agent Brick Davis (Matthew Glave) is a rival with Corky for Shuster’s attention and approval, and he out to prove that Corky is a phony.

If you set your brain on dumb, you’ll have a great time because Corky is an very good, bad movie.  Although it’s short on the kind of grossness one can expect from the American Pie and Austin Powers films, Corky Romano has it’s share of bizarreness.  All the male characters in the film really crave the attention of their male peers and associates (in addition to the whole father-son-mentor subtext), and there is a not-too-subtle gay subtext of physical attraction between men, not to mention that certain male characters are always paired together.  Either way, Corky Romano is many cheap laughs, and sometimes, that is hard to find in many movies that claim to be funny.

5 of 10
B-

Updated:  Monday, December 30, 2013

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


Sunday, December 22, 2013

Review: "The Heat" is Hot

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 83 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Heat (2013)
Running time:  117 minutes (1 hours, 57 minutes)
MPAA – R pervasive language, strong crude content and some violence
DIRECTOR:  Paul Feig
WRITER:  Katie Dippold
PRODUCERS:  Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robert Yeoman (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Jay Deuby and Brent White
COMPOSER:  Mike Andrews

COMEDY/CRIME/ACTION

Starring:  Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demian Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapport, Jane Curtin, Spoken Reasons, Dan Bakkedahl, Taran Killam, Michael McDonald, Tom Wilson, Joey McIntyre, Michael Tucci, Bill Burr, and Nathan Corddry

The Heat is a 2013 crime comedy and buddy cop movie directed by Paul Feig.  The film stars Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy as (respectively) an uptight FBI Special Agent and a foul-mouthed Boston cop trying to take down a ruthless drug lord.

FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) works in the New York FBI field office, where she is very effective and skilled.  She is also arrogant and condescending, which may cost her a promotion.  Her boss, Hale (Demian Bichir), sends her to Boston to investigate a powerful drug kingpin named Larkin that few people have actually seen.  However, Ashburn’s investigation crashes into an ongoing investigation being conducted by Detective Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) of the Boston Police Department.  Mullins is quite skilled, capable, and streetwise, but she is also crass, foulmouthed, and rebellious.  Ashburn and Mullins are forced to work together, but their clash of personalities threatens to derail both lives and careers.

What can I say?  The Heat is funny.  It is yet another comedy blockbuster starring the still-red-hot Melissa McCarthy.  She is good in this film, but her obnoxious-on-steroids turn as Shannon Mullins works best because she plays off Sandra Bullock’s turn as Ashburn.  Bullock, who practically always plays likable characters, makes even the anal and snobby Ashburn emphatically likable.

The best thing that director Paul Feig, who directed also McCarthy in Bridesmaids, did was just let these two lovable movie stars and talented actresses do what they do.  The result, of course, is fast food film product that goes does quick and easy like a “Big Mac” when you’re hungry.  Feig even gives some supporting actors a chance to shine.  As Levy, Marlon Wayans quietly shows that he can easily and convincingly perform a role that is nothing more than a generic white guy whose sole purpose is to assist the lead characters.  This simple part proves that Wayans can perform just about any role.

Somewhere in the middle of this film, I thought that it seemed familiar.  Then, I realized that The Heat is a 21st century, gender roles-reversed, version of producer Joel Silver’s 1980s and 1990s film franchise, Lethal Weapon.  I would indeed like The Heat to become a franchise.  In fact, The Heat could be the perfect replacement for Lethal Weapon.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, December 07, 2013

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



Sunday, October 20, 2013

Review: "Starsky and Hutch" is Average Entertainment (Happy B'day, Snoop Dogg)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 27 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Starsky & Hutch (2004)
Running time:  101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – PR-13 for drug content, sexual situations, partial nudity, language and some violence
DIRECTOR:  Todd Phillips
WRITERS:  John O’Brien, Scot Armstrong and Todd Phillips, from a story Steve Long and John O’Brien (based upon characters created by William Blinn)
PRODUCERS:  William Blinn, Stuart Cornfeld, Akiva Goldsman, Tony Ludwig, and Alan Riche
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Barry Peterson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Leslie Jones
COMPOSER:  Theodore Shapiro

COMEDY/CRIME with some elements of action

Starring:  Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Fred Williamson, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis, Jason Bateman, Amy Smart, Carmen Electra, George Cheung, Chris Penn, Patton Oswalt, Jenard Burks, The Bishop Don Magic Juan, and Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul

The subject of this movie review is Starsky & Hutch, a 2004 crime comedy from director Todd Phillips.  The film is based on the 1970s television series, Starsky & Hutch, a police drama-thriller that was created by William Blinn and was originally broadcast on the ABC television network from 1975 to 1979.  The film is a kind of prequel to the original television series.  Starsky & Hutch the movie follows two streetwise cops who fight crime in their red-and-white Ford Torino.

With my refined tastes, I should technically be repulsed by film remakes of 70’s television programs, but repulsed or otherwise, I’ll generally see them.  Still, I’d planned on seeing the controversial Mel Gibson Jesus movie, but it was sold out, and there was the poster for Starsky & Hutch staring me in the face.  Though I had to settle on something I hadn’t planned on seeing at the time, it didn’t really affect my enjoyment of Starsky and Hutch.  It’s a fairly funny film, but you wouldn’t have missed a cinematic event that must be seen on the big screen if you’d waited for home video or TV.

Set in a sort of anachronistic version of the 1970’s, S&H is the story of two streetwise detectives who form an unlikely partnership.  David Starsky (Ben Stiller) is an anal by-the-books guy, who actually does nothing but screw up, despite his attention to rules.  Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson (Owen Wilson) is a genial kind of guy, always hanging loose, but he is also the kind of cop who breaks the law when it suits him.  Hutch robs bookies for their loot, and he uses illegal drugs.  The mismatched pair gets on the nerves of their boss, Captain Dobey (Fred Williamson), relies on tips from an omniscient street informer, Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg), and busts crime in Starksy’s 1974 red-and-white, souped-up Ford Torino.  Their first big case together involves a respectable businessman, Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn), who may be a big time cocaine dealer.  However, Starsky and Hutch’s bumbling and lack of hard evidence dog their case every step of the way.

Starsky & Hutch has some extremely hilarious moments, not as many as, say, Scary Movie 3.  S&H is structured like SM3 in that S&H’s plot, story, and script are basically an elaborate, but dumb, blueprint to layout jokes.  S&H’s script is, however, nothing like the disaster of that was SM3’s script.  S&H also reminds me of another of director Todd Phillip’s hits, Old School (2003): lots of funny scenes, but ultimately a lame, by-the-book, Hollywood yuck fest that plays it way too safe.

This is also one of the times that Ben Stiller’s shtick, that of the angry, quick-tempered nerd, works for the film.  Owen Wilson is a great screen presence; the camera loves him, and the role of the amiable Hutch easily fits Owen’s usually warm and generous film persona.

I generally enjoyed this film’s deep tongue in the tongue-in-cheek mode.  Starsky and Hutch is not to be taken seriously, nor does the film try to make you do so.  The quasi-70’s setting is a hoot, at least early on, but the film’s period atmosphere eventually dissolves into mere background noise.  There should have been much more Snoop Dogg because he surprisingly has good screen presence.  Also, Will Ferrell’s (who doesn’t get a screen credit) riotous turn as Big Earl, a man in the county lockup with serious man crush issues, is certainly a reason to see this film, at home or in a theatre.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
2005 Razzie Awards:  2 nominations: “Worst Actor” (Ben Stiller) and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Carmen Electra)

Updated:  Sunday, October 20, 2013

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Saturday, August 31, 2013

Review: "Rush Hour 2" Improves on the Original (Happy B'day, Chris Tucker)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 113 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Rush Hour 2 (2001)
Running time:  90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for action violence, language, and some sexual content
DIRECTOR:  Brett Ratner
WRITER:  Jeff Nathanson (based upon the characters created by Ross LaManna)
PRODUCERS:  Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Arthur Sarkissian, and Jay Stern
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Matthew F. Leonetti
EDITORS:  Mark Helfrich and Robert K. Lambert
COMPOSER:  Lalo Schifrin

COMEDY/ACTION/CRIME

Starring:  Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, John Lone, Ziyi Zhang, Roselyn Sanchez, Harris Yulin, Alan King, Jeremy Piven, Saul Rubinek, and Gianni Russo with Don Cheadle

The subject of this movie review is Rush Hour 2, a crime comedy and action film from director Brett Ratner and starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.  The film is a sequel to the 1998 film, Rush Hour.  In the new film, Chan’s Lee and Tucker’s Carter are on vacation in Hong Kong when they get caught up in a counterfeit money scam.

Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) is once again the foil for Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) as Carter comes to Hong Kong on vacation and spends much time subjecting Lee to verbal barbs.  The rest and relaxation is cut short when an explosion kills two American agents.  Lee learns that this case may be tied to crime boss Ricky Tan (John Lone).

Tan is a former policeman and was the partner of Lee’s father until Tan betrayed him.  Lee and Carter follow the case back to Los Angeles, where they meet Isabella Molina (Roselyn Sanchez), a sexy customs agent.  Isabella informs them that Tan is part of an international scheme to launder 100 million dollars in counterfeit U.S. currency.  Lee and Carter head to Las Vegas, the epicenter of Tan’s scheme, for an explosive showdown.

Rush Hour 2 is Rush Hour, but with some improvements.  The screen chemistry between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, which was quite good in the first film, is even better this time around.  It’s as if three years haven’t passed between the first film and this one.  They have a near-flawless rhythm and flow, and their performances turn this flimsy joke of a crime plot into action/comedy gold.  Rush Hour 2 does have one big problem – there’s not enough of it.

7 of 10
B+

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Updated:  Saturday, August 31, 2013

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

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Thursday, August 15, 2013

Review: "King's Ransom" is Funnier Than I Expected (Happy B'day, Anthony Anderson)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 138 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

King’s Ransom (2005)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual humor and language
DIRECTOR:  Jeff Byrd
WRITER:  Wayne Conley
PRODUCER:  Darryl Taja
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Robert McLachlan with Daniel Villeneuve
EDITOR:  Jeffrey Cooper
COMPOSERS:  Luce Gordon and Marcus Miller

COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Kellita Smith, Nicole Ari Parker, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine, Donald Faison, Leila Arcieri, Brooke D’Orsay, Jackie Burroughs, Lisa Marcos, and Charlie Murphy

The subject of this movie review is King’s Ransom, a 2005 comedy from New Line Cinema.  Starring Anthony Anderson, the film follows a despicable businessman who arranges his own kidnapping as a way to trump his gold-digging wife’s plans for his money, only to see the plot go awry.  King’s Ransom was poorly received by professional film critics, but I like it anyway.

In King’s Ransom (a kind of loose take on the 80’s comedy hit, Ruthless People), Malcolm King (Anthony Anderson), the owner of King Enterprises, is a successful and wealthy man, worth millions of dollars, but he’s also an A-#1-asshole and jerk.  He’s made a lot of enemies, from overworked and under-appreciated employees to his soon-to-be ex-wife, Renee King (Kellita Smith).  He is very concerned about his messy and likely expensive divorce, in which he may have to give up at least half of his wealth to Renee, so he devises a plan to keep his money out of her hands.  With the help of his mistress, Peaches Clarke (Regina Hall), Malcolm plots his own kidnapping in order to secure a fictitious ransom of $10 million – money he can keep away from his wife.

Malcolm, however, isn’t the only one with kidnapping him in mind.  Bitter that she wasn’t made a vice-president at King Enterprises, long-suffering employee, Angela Drake (Nicole Parker), cooks up a half-baked kidnap plot, but a dimwitted, down-on-his-luck, local bumpkin named Corey (Jay Mohr) is also plotting to kidnap Malcolm.  And it wouldn’t be a three-ring circus if Renee, with the help of her tongue-tied lover, didn’t have her own snatch and grab Malcolm plan go awry.

King’s Ransom was nearly dead on arrival when it opened in theatres this past spring, and it, of course, received awful reviews from movie reviewers.  However, the film is a comical and occasionally side-splitting laugher full of dumb jokes, bawdy humor, and low brow comedy, which is was likely deliberately written to be.  King’s Ransom is not great slapstick (and the timing seems a little off), but it works because the cast tries like heck to make it funny.  They succeeded; King’s Ransom is funny as hell.  I must repeat: it’s dumb, dumb, dumb again, but it’s supposed to be dumb, but funny, and it’s hilarious.  An urban comedy, it’s three times better than Soul Plane, but not as good as the Barbershop movies or Malibu’s Most Wanted.

Anthony Anderson is a great comic actor.  He’s as good as members of the so-called Frat Pack like Vince Vaughn and Jack Black, and is way better than Owen and Luke Wilson, but he won’t get the kind of primo movie parts they do.  He’s just a funny guy, and his acting credentials show even in a simple-minded film like this.  Almost all the cast shines, particularly Charlie Murphy (Eddie’s brother and a supporting player on “The Chappelle Show”), but Regina Hall stands out amongst the supporting players.  She is superb at playing character roles in comedies.  I hope that like Anderson, her skin color doesn’t keep her from getting at least one meaty comedy role per year.

6 of 10
B

Updated:  Thursday, August 15, 2013

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