First Burton/Depp Joint, "Edward Scissorhands" is a Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Caroline Thompson; from a story by Tim Burton and Caroline Thompson
PRODUCERS: Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stefan Czapsky (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Richard Halsey
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award nominee

FANTASY/ROMANCE

Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Alan Arkin, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker, Robert Oliveri, Conchata Ferrell, Caroline Aaron, O-Lan Jones, Dick Anthony Williams, and Vincent Price

The subject of this movie review is Edward Scissorhands, a fairy tale film from director Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp in the title role. Edward Scissorhands is the first of several films in which Burton and Depp have collaborated, including the shortly to be released Dark Shadows.

A romantic fantasy, the film opens with an elderly woman telling her granddaughter where the snow outside their window comes from (because they live in an area in which snow is not common). That story begins when a local Avon saleswoman, Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest) visits a Gothic mansion that sits on a hill just outside her suburban neighborhood. She finds Edward (Tim Burton) hiding in the castle. Edward is a mechanical young man created by an old inventor (Vincent Price), and he has scissor-like contraptions where his wrists and hands should be.

Peg takes Edward home where he befriends her son, Kevin (Robert Oliveri), meets her husband, Bill (Alan Arkin), and later meets and falls in love with her teen daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder). At first Edward fits right in with the family, and the neighbors also take to him, especially after they discover that he has skills they can put to use. However, petty jealousies, simple misunderstandings, and selfish interests soon make it difficult and dangerous for both the Boggs and Edward.

Critics and movie fans have described Edward Scissorhands as Tim Burton’s most personal film. According to the 2006 book, Burton on Burton (by author Mark Salisbury), the title character of Edward Scissorhands comes out of a teenaged Burton’s feelings of isolation and also his inability to fit in and to communicate with the people in the suburb where he grew up. The more I saw of Burton and of his work, both films and illustrations, the more Edward Scissorhands’ themes of self-discovery and isolation made sense to me. I can see Burton, a Goth-type teen with his strange drawings and stranger looks, not exactly fitting in with the conformity zone that suburban areas are (at least on the surface, cause there’s no telling what goes on behind closed doors).

Seriously though, I think Edward Scissorhands goes beyond mere commentary about familiar suburban vs. rebel themes. In the film, the Boggs live in a drab suburban world that manages to make even the pastel colors that blanket the wood frame homes seem dull and boring. When Edward comes into the Boggs’ world, it isn’t so much that he is a breath of fresh air. It is that he becomes a novelty act, and he is accepted, for the most part, as long has his talents are of use to his new neighbors and as long he entertains. The black-garbed Edward is the proverbial Negro in a white bougie woodpile.

Edward, although he is a mechanical boy, has a good soul and has an open spirit. He isn’t clueless, as throughout the film, we can observe how quickly Edward learns. He has a surprising sense of humor, born of the way he can see past the façades people put forth. The problem for Edward is that he is open-minded or, at least, open to new experiences; his neighbors are not.

In this film’s last act, the neighbors reveal themselves for what they really are – a white citizens council, a lynch mob willfully ignoring any truths so that they can kill someone. They want an excuse, any excuse, to get out the torches and pitchforks. Hell, when it comes down to it, they don’t really need an excuse. It is not a coincidence that the most understanding and sympathetic person to Edward, outside the Boggs, is an African-American police officer played by the late Dick Anthony Williams (who died in February of this year.)

One can make an argument that Edward Scissorhands is Burton’s best film. For all its autobiographical elements, it is his sharpest and most satirical drama. In the context of Burton’s apparent persecuted youth, Edward Scissorhands is the revenge of the nerd that made it in spite of the haters.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1991 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Makeup” (Ve Neill and Stan Winston)

1992 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Production Design” (Bo Welch); 3 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood), “Best Make Up Artist” (Ve Neill), and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Stan Winston)

1991 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Johnny Depp)

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Review: The First" Hulk" Movie: I Like it More Now Than When I Wrote This Review

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 94 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Hulk (2003)
Running time: 138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, some disturbing images and brief partial nudity
DIRECTOR: Ang Lee
WRITERS: John Turman, Michael France, and James Schamus, from a story by James Schamus (based upon the Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)
PRODUCERS: Avi Arad, Larry J. Franco, Gale Anne Hurd, and James Schamus
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Frederick Elmes
EDITOR: Tim Squyres
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman

SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION/DRAMA

Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliot, Josh Lucas, Nick Nolte, Paul Kersey, Daniel Dae Kim, Lou Ferrigno, and Stan Lee

The subject of this movie review is The Hulk, a 2003 superhero science fiction and action movie from director, Ang Lee. The film stars the Hulk, a Marvel comics superhero character created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962). The film explores the origins of the Hulk.

So is The Hulk a good movie, you might ask? And my answer is simply “no.” The film doesn’t even cut it as a second-rate summer thriller. This is not a joy ride. It’s a ponderous, lumbering…well, lumbering hulk of a picture, full of sound and fury signifying nothing – nothing on the screen and nothing left in the space in your wallet where that money was you spent to see this junk. There are a few good moments, emphasis on “few.”

The story goes thusly. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) and his on-again/off-again girlfriend/scientist Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly) are scientists working on a method of using nano-technology to cure injuries. Banner and Ross use gamma radiation to activate their so-called nanomeds once they’re inside the injured test subject, but one day Bruce is accidentally exposed to the gamma rays. To make things worse, Bruce is the byproduct of his father David’s (Nick Nolte’s) bizarre experiments when he was a child.

Combine the radiation with whatever weird crap Bruce’s father put in him and whenever Bruce gets mad (you won’t like him when he’s mad), he becomes the behemoth force of nature, The Hulk, a big green brute with a muscular body cut along lines any bodybuilder would kill for eight days a week. Of course, there’s the obligatory greedy scientist, Talbot (Josh Lucas), who wants to study the Hulk DNA for possible military applications. Talbot is also Bruce’s rival for some of Betty’s booty. And one more thing, Betty’s father General Ross (Sam Elliot) has to hunt the Hulk – keep it in the family.

Director Ang Lee and his cinematographer Frederick Elmes from Lee’s great film, The Ice Storm, turn the film’s photography into a series of kinetic moving pictures. They happily cut and divide the screen into multiple pictures and frames that mimic the panel grid of a comic book; sometimes the movie looks like a photo album or a photo collage. At best this is purely superficial, adding nothing to the story.

The most ironic thing about The Hulk is the tagline, “You wouldn’t like me when I angry.” It’s quite the opposite. The only time we really like the Banner character is when he is the Hulk. That’s the only time this morose, sullen, humorless picture has any life. Lee literally buries his film in the rubble of boring psychological struggles amongst the characters, in particular between the Banners. I was literally climbing the walls of the theatre. No one gives a damn about Banner’s evil daddy! Show us the Hulk. Lee races through scenes of The Hulk madly and wildly destroying his environment almost as if he were embarrassed to be making a monster movie. It’s as if actually showing a rampaging CGI Hulk is an unpleasant thing Lee had to do to appease his studio; then, it’s back to the real people and their mental and emotional baggage.

Dammit, we came to get down on some mindless fun. Who’s gonna like this? The kids? Hell, no. Even adults are going to be bored. If we wanted this much therapeutic confession and angst, we’d rent a Woody Allen movie. The Hulk comic book concept was a metaphor about the inherent and potential dangers of the atom bomb, not about bad daddies and emotionally distant sons. It’s like going to see an Austin Powers' film and discovering that Freud’s really the star this time.

I’ve seen three of Ang Lee’s films (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and they were brilliant. This effort is beneath him. I can’t believe that the director who had so much fun with Crouching Tiger couldn’t have fun with The Hulk. Even the effects are only okay, but in an age when the SFX is supposed to “blow you away,” the Hulk effects just blow. The most interesting and exciting scene isn’t until the end of the film, and the final battle is so beyond being ridiculous that I’m not articulate enough to tell you just how lame it is. I can understand Lee’s desire to do a big budget, Hollywood, effects extravaganza, but that doesn’t mean he should let the film do him.

4 of 10
C

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Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" Gets Soundtrack Release on May 8th

Danny Elfman’s Dark Shadows Original Score to Be Released May 8

Film Marks 14th Collaboration Between Composer Danny Elfman And Director Tim Burton

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WaterTower Music will release Dark Shadows – Original Score digitally and in stores on May 8, 2012. The album features original music by Grammy Award-winning and four-time Oscar®-nominated composer Danny Elfman, which is featured in director Tim Burton’s new gothic comedy Dark Shadows.

For more than 25 years, Burton and Elfman have collaborated on some of the cinema’s most beloved and recognizable films and soundtracks, including Big Fish, for which Elfman received an Oscar® nomination; Beetlejuice; Batman; Edward Scissorhands; Sleepy Hollow; Corpse Bride; and, more recently, Alice in Wonderland.

“Tim had some specific ideas about the music on Dark Shadows,” says Elfman. “I knew that the bigger dramatic scenes would be played in a rather grand theatrical manner, but the real treat was tapping into the retro pallet Tim had imagined. He wanted something that payed homage to both the original TV series and other '70s horror genres as well. For that we kept it minimal, eerie, and atmospheric with only electronics and a few solo instruments carrying the melodies.”

Elfman has also received Oscar® nominations for his scores for Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black, and Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting and Milk. Movie audiences worldwide have also heard Danny Elfman’s unique sound and style in some 80 film scores, including Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man; Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible; Martin Brest’s Midnight Run; Jon Amiel’s Sommersby; the Hughes Brothers’ Dead Presidents; Rob Marshall’s Academy® Award-winning Chicago; and Shawn Levy’s Real Steel.

In the year 1750, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin and the dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets.

Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, presents an Infinitum Nihil/GK Films/Zanuck Company production, a Tim Burton Film Dark Shadows in theaters and IMAX on May 11, 2012. “Dark Shadows” stars Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bella Heathcote and Gully McGrath.

The Dark Shadows -- Original Score on WaterTower Music will be available digitally and in stores on May 8, 2012; and on the same date, WaterTower Music will also be releasing the Dark Shadows –Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, containing eleven songs from the film.

http://www.darkshadowsmovie.com/

"Real Steel" Has Real Heart

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Real Steel (2011)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some violence, intense action and brief language
DIRECTOR: Shawn Levy
WRITERS: John Gatins; from a story by Dan Gilroy and Jeremy Leven (based upon Richard Matheson’s short story "Steel")
PRODUCERS: Shawn Levy, Susan Montford, and Don Murphy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mauro Fiore
EDITOR: Dean Zimmerman
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman

SCI-FI/DRAMA/FAMILY with elements of action and sports

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, Hope Davis, James Rebhorn, Karl Yune, and Olga Fonda

Real Steel is a 2011 science fiction boxing drama from director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum), and Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis are among this film’s executive producers. Real Steel’s screenplay is based upon Richard Matheson’s short story, “Steel,” which was also adapted into a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone. Although the film’s boxing sequences offer plenty of action, Real Steel’s heart is a gripping father/son story that will jerk a few tears from some viewers (as it did with me).

The film is set in the near future, the year 2020. By then, robot boxing has replaced human boxing as a top sport. Charles “Charlie” Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a former boxer turned robot boxing promoter. Charlie’s most recent robot boxer, a robot named “Ambush,” is destroyed in a fight, and his erstwhile partner/girlfriend, Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly), thinks that it is time for Charlie to make a change. Then, Charlie’s life takes a stunning turn. He learns that his ex-girlfriend has died, and that means he must show up in court to decide the custody of his 11-year-old son, Max (Dakota Goyo), whom Charlie has not seen in a decade.

Max’s Aunt Debra (Hope Davis) and her wealthy husband, Marvin (James Rebhorn), want custody of Max, which Charlie is more than happy to give. Charlie makes a $100,000 deal with Marvin that would have Charlie keep Max over the summer. Charlie and his estranged son are at odds; then, Max discovers a second generation robot, called Atom. Suddenly, Max has dreams of the Real Steel Championship, but can an old boxer and an old robot climb up from the bottom of the heap?

I would not describe Real Steel as a robot version of the Oscar-winning film, Rocky, although Atom the robot is also a little guy/underdog in a world of elite boxers. Real Steel is about a father-son conflict, and before there can be hope of reconciliation, the screenplay makes father and son fight their way back to each other. I honestly bought this film’s conceit that Charlie and Max might not ultimately make it. Yes, the loser father reunited with his chip-on-shoulder son has been done to death in Hollywood films, but when done right, as it is here, it seems so fresh and new. Real Steel is exceptionally well-written because it makes the characters really work for that happy ending, while also offering science fiction/action set pieces that had me jumping out of my seat and cheering on the heroes.

Director Shawn Levy gets everything right. The character drama has excellent character and drama, and the sci-fi is fantastic. As the father, Charlie, and as the son, Max, Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo, respectively, carry this film in way that seems effortless. They may not be Oscar-worthy, but they’re close. Although I’m a big fan of Hugh Jackman, I ignored Real Steel when it was first released to theatres. I was so wrong, but now I can do right with my Real Steel movie review by recommending it.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2012 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Danny Gordon Taylor, and Swen Gillberg)

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Review: First Tom Cruise "Mission: Impossible" is Still a Thrill

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mission: Impossible (1996)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Brian De Palma
WRITERS: David Koepp and Robert Towne; story by David Koepp and Steven Zallian (based on the television series created by Bruce Geller)
PRODUCERS: Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen H. Burum (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman

ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave, Dale Dye, and (uncredited) Emilio Estevez

The Impossible Missions Force (I.M.F.) must recover a computer disc that contains the code name of C.I.A. agents in deep cover in Eastern Europe and capture the spy who not only has the disc but also seeks the other half of the information, which gives the real identities of those same agents.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is the point man for the mission, under the guidance of Jim Phelps (a character holdover from the “Mission: Impossible” television series 1966-73 and a revival 1988-90) and leads his team (which includes parts played by Kristin Scott-Thomas and an uncredited Emilio Estevez). The mission goes awry and places Hunt, the sole survivor, under the false suspicion of betrayal.

Hunt recruits a new team: Phelps’s wife, Claire (Emmanuelle Beart), a thuggish, Franz Krieger (Jean Reno), and a master computer hacker, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), all to help him discover and expose the real mole in I.M.F.

One of the smartest summer movies of all time, Mission: Impossible, upon its release, left audiences shaking their heads. The film itself is like one of the mind games for which the television series was famous. The characters in the film, other than Hunt, are not what they seem, and the writers filled the film with hints that come and go quickly that inevitably reveal the secrets and secret identities. M: I is light on plot, but deceptively simple. Hunt must obtain the object of desire, the deep cover agent list that will in turn bring all the players out of the shadows and into the light of day. Only then, can he prove his innocence.

Cruise proves to be a very good actor (in addition to be such a magnifying screen presence) in the hands of a good director, and De Palma (Casualties of War), despite his spotty box office career, is a fine director. A student of Alfred Hitchcock’s work, De Palma brings the master’s sense of suspense and mystery to M: I. As with a Hitchcock lead, we know that Hunt is innocent, but the odds are so stacked against him that we wonder if he will escape alive, let alone solve the puzzle.

Jon Voight as Phelps fairly drips with duplicity and mystery; he is simultaneously an wise old teacher and reptilian cold war era spy. Vanessa Redgrave brings a lively elegance to the proceedings as the arms dealer, Max. Henry Czerny, as Eugene Kittridge, brings to the show the similar essence of his character Robert Ritter from Clear and Present Danger.

Mission: Impossible is a fine action thriller full of riveting suspense. It demands one’s attention with its unorthodox approach to action movies. Its premise is a gorilla that hangs by a thread on the suspension of disbelief. But it engages and demands that the viewer not only pay attention but uses his mind. The creators only ask that you surrender part of your thinking to them, while most movies, especially summer fare, ask for all of your good sense.

8 of 10
A

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Review: "Chicago" is Bold and Splash (Happy B'day, Rob Marshall)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Chicago (2002)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content and dialogue, violence and thematic elements
DIRECTOR: Rob Marshall
WRITER: Bill Condon (based upon the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins and the musical by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb)
PRODUCER: Martin Richards
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dion Beebe (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Martin Walsh
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
2003 Academy Award winner

MUSICAL/CRIME/DRAMA with elements of comedy

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, Christine Baranski, Dominic West, and Mya

Adulterous Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) kills her lover after he boldly admits lying to her and stringing her along. Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) kills her song and dance partner sister and her own husband when she catches them knocking boots. Both end up in the same dark and dank prison awaiting trial, clients of William “Billy” Flynn (Richard Gere), a flamboyant lawyer who specializes in representing gals who’ve killed their husbands and lovers. Under the tutelage of Matron “Mama” Morton (Queen Latifah), the girls struggle to escape the gallows for their crimes and strive for fame in scandal laden 1920’s Chicago.

Yes, it’s good, damn good. Director/choreographer Rob Marshall’s Chicago, a film version of the famed musical, is a thoroughly enjoyable and invigorating film spectacle. If this and Moulin Rouge! represent what the return of film musicals will look like, we are in for a treat. Marshall choreographed “Annie” and “Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” for television. In his film, he creates lavish and electrical dance scenes of the musical’s songs and integrates them with the dark and gritty world of 20’s Chicago. The colorful staged renditions of the songs flit back and forth showing us the idealized worlds of the characters, juxtaposed against the brutal frankness of their real world. The dance numbers are stirring and attention grabbing, as visually attractive as anything on MTV.

Screenwriter Bill Condon, who won an Academy Award for writing his film Gods and Monsters, does an excellent job composing a story that can compete with the energy and electricity of the songs. That’s no easy feat. Condon had to structure the story so that we would be as interested in it as we were thrilled by the songs. Chicago’s central story is rife with engaging tension and conflict and with characters we can support along every step of their treacherous journey.

Can Ms. Zellweger, Ms. Zeta-Jones, and Mr. Gere sing and dance? The answer is a resounding “yes!” Seeing them in the staged numbers and in the story scenes is like watching six different performers. I had a hard time believing the actors and singer/dancers were the same people; I know these performers and to see them pull off these performances is a revelation. I didn’t know Gere had it in him. It’s simply stunning and worth every minute of your time to watch.

The supporting performances are quite nice. Queen Latifah’s presence asserts itself strongly on the film; it often seems as if Mama is the puppeteer backstage directing events. Taye Diggs adds a sense of style to the film, and John C. Reilly quietly adds a sense of innocence and moral dignity to a story of people ready to grab fame at any costs.

Chicago, like Moulin Rouge!, is not like your average film. In fact, it’s very different from most quality and “serious” films. Like a good drama, it’s thoughtful; like the best action movies, it’s quite explosive. Chicago is a dream work, a film that is as visually rambunctious as the best music videos, but with the strong story and characters that you can take to heart – a must see movie.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 6 wins: “Best Picture” (Martin Richards), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Catherine Zeta-Jones), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (John Myhre-art director and Gordon Sim-set decorator), “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood), “Best Film Editing” (Martin Walsh), and “Best Sound” (Michael Minkler, Dominick Tavella, and David Lee); 6 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (John C. Reilly), “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Renée Zellweger), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Queen Latifah), “Best Cinematography” (Dion Beebe), “Best Director” (Rob Marshall), “Best Music, Original Song” (John Kander-music and Fred Ebb-lyrics for the song "I Move On"), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Bill Condon)

2003 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and “Best Sound” (Michael Minkler, Dominick Tavella, David Lee, and Maurice Schell); 10 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Danny Elfman, John Kander, and Fred Ebb), “Best Cinematography” (Dion Beebe), “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood), “Best Editing” (Martin Walsh), “Best Film” (Martin Richards), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Jordan Samuel and Judi Cooper-Sealy), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Renée Zellweger), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Queen Latifah), “Best Production Design” (John Myhre), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Rob Marshall)

2003 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Martin Richards), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Richard Gere), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Renée Zellweger); 5 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Rob Marshall), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (John C. Reilly), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Catherine Zeta-Jones), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Queen Latifah), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Bill Condon)

2003 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actress” (Queen Latifah)

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Review: "Beetle Juice" Never Loses its Juice (Happy B'day, Michael Keaton)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 226 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Beetle Juice (1988)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren; from a story by Larry Wilson and Michael McDowell
PRODUCERS: Michael Bender, Richard Hashimoto, and Larry Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Thomas Ackerman
EDITOR: Jane Kurson
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/FANTASY with elements of horror

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara, Glenn Shadix, Annie McEnroe, Rachel Mittelman, Patrice Martinex, Dick Cavett, and Sylvia Sidney

One of my very personal favorite films and the film that made me a Tim Burton fan is Beetle Juice, the story of a young couple whose accidental deaths starts them on a journey of wildly bizarre exploits filled with uncanny events, tricky people, and fantastic creatures. Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland’s (Geena Davis) premature deaths in a car accident leaves them ghosts in their New England home. Getting used to death is one thing, but the Maitlands face an even bigger challenge. Charles (Jeffrey Jones) and Delia (Catherine O’Hara), a pretentious New York couple, have bought the Maitlands’ home and Delia is determined to transform the old-fashioned abode into a postmodern art show place.

Adam and Barbara befriend the couple’s daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), who is not only fascinated with all things morbid and macabre, but she can see the Maitlands. However, Adam and Barbara turn to Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), a “bio-exorcist,” a mischievous spirit who claims he can exorcise the living, to chase Charles, Barbara, and their obnoxious friends from their house. But Betelgeuse has own evil agenda behind his guise of helping the undead young couple reclaim their home.

The concept was tailored made for director Tim Burton’s unique visual style, and he certainly molded the film with his “twisted” imagination and skewered vision, as he and his co-conspirators pack the film with clever ideas, fantastical objects and locations, and kooky gags. Beetle Juice was the last time Burton seemed to really let loose and have fun on a truly wacky filmed.

Still, some of the credit should go to the art director and set decorators, costume designers, SFX people, and make up artists, as the combination of these artists and craftsman created a film that gloriously combines pulp fiction nonsense, pop art, and modern art into one of the few films that looks and feels like a cool Looney Tunes cartoon. Also, Danny Elfman’s score for the movie is one of the great film scores of the last two decades of the 20th century.

When I first saw this film, I didn’t care for Michael Keaton’s performance as the title villain; at the time, his manic energy seemed forced and phony. Sixteen years later, it seems just right; go figure. The rest of the cast gives inspired performances that fit the film’s darkly comic tone, making Beetle Juice a unique film treat. It’s not a great film, (the third act seems rushed and… damaged), but I like it.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1989 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Makeup” (Ve Neill, Steve LaPorte, and Robert Short)

1989 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Make Up Artist” (Ve Neill, Steve LaPorte, and Robert Short) and “Best Special Effects” (Peter Kuran, Alan Munro, Robert Short, and Ted Rae)

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Review: Tim Burton and Henry Selick's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is Indeed a Timeless Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 104 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Running time: 76 minutes (1 hour, 16 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some scary images
DIRECTOR: Henry Selick
WRITERS: Caroline Thompson, from a story by Tim Burton and an adaptation by Michael McDowell
PRODUCERS: Tim Burton and Denise DiNovi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pete Kozachik (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Stan Webb
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/COMEDY/MUSICAL/HORROR/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Paul Reubens, Ken Page, and Ed Ivory

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 stop motion animation film. A musical fantasy film, it is directed by Henry Selick and is also the creation of acclaimed director, Tim Burton.

Next to Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, my favorite Christmas film is The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s a technique in which the filmmakers use models instead of hand drawn animation. To get even one second of film, the makers shoot anywhere from 25 to 35 photographs of the models, moving them ever so slightly for each photograph. Seen in film speed, it looks as if the models are moving – almost the same technique as hand drawn animation, except this is with models.

Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon; Danny Elfman provides Jack’s singing voice) is the Pumpkin King, the man who makes Halloween happen, but he’s suddenly bored doing the same thing year after year. In this story, each holiday (like Easter and Valentine’s Day) has it’s own land just Halloween has Halloweentown. Jack accidentally discovers Christmas Town, and he’s taken by the vibrant and warm colors of the holiday. He decides to kidnap Santa Claus (Ed Ivory) and have the resident bats, ghouls, and goblins of Halloweentown help him take over Christmas. However, Jack doesn’t quite get the concept of Christmas, and he replaces the traditional gifts of the season with thingies more appropriate for his holiday. The whole town is taken with the idea, and it seems that only Sally (Catherine O’Hara), Jack’s secret admirer, sees the error of Jack’s new direction.

There is so much that is wonderful with this picture. The stop-motion animation gives the film a quirky and offbeat rhythm that makes watching the film irresistible. Clearly, director Selick is in love with this method, and it shows in the lovingly moody and charmingly dark atmosphere. The animators, the art staff, and the model makers come together to make a movie that has an elegant beauty even in its darkly mysterious and gothic world. The film is a charming concoction that recalls Edward Gorey and Charles Addams (especially his “Addams Family cartoons for the New Yorker) and even Tim Burton’s brilliant film, Beetlejuice, among other things. There’s so much for the eye to take in and never has the creepy seemed so lovely. There is very little in American cinema that looks like this film.

Until I heard it, I never believed that Danny Elfman’s song score and music for this film could be so good. Not only does he make this a fine film musical, Elfman also takes the film to a higher level. As good as Nightmare is, it is Elfman who really sells the story. The concept is a novelty (born from a Tim Burton poem), and a one-note idea at that, and the script is pretty flat; sometimes the story didn’t seem to be going anywhere. However, Elfman gives it life; it’s his songs that express the longings, emotions, and ideas within the film, which are essentially about being yourself and being true to your game.

The voice acting is excellent. Clearly everyone was having a grand time doing this, and we will have a great time watching it. This is one time where I have mad love for the people who made the film.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1994 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Pete Kozachik, Eric Leighton, Ariel Velasco-Shaw, and Gordon Baker)

1994 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Danny Elfman)

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Disney's "Prom," "Nightmare Before Christmas 3D" Now on DVD and Blu-ray

PROM: Follow the delightfully-fun—and often hilarious—journey of a group of young teenagers as they navigate through the most memorable and also difficult times of their lives in the original film PROM, arriving on Disney Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Movie Download and On-Demand, August 30, 2011. This enchanting coming-of-age story is the perfect family-friendly film that captures all the anticipation, excitement, drama, and humor that accompany every young person’s journey through high school.

Consumers will not want to miss the chance to own the ultimate 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack that is exclusively packaged with bonus features including a hilarious, laugh out loud short “Last Chance Lloyd,” deleted scenes, music videos and more. PROM will be available for purchase at retail as a 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD) or a High Definition Movie Download for the suggested price of $39.99 in the U.S. and $46.99 in Canada; as well as a 1-Disc DVD or a Standard Definition Movie Download for the suggested price of $29.99 in the U.S. and $35.99 in Canada. For more information on this release, please visit www.Disney.com/Prom.

PROM stars Aimee Teegarden (“Friday Night Lights”), Thomas McDonell (“The Forbidden Kingdom”), Danielle Campbell (“Prison Break”), Yin Chang (“Gossip Girl”), Nicholas Braun (“10 Things I Hate About You”), Jared Kusnitz (“The Secret Life of the American Teenager”), Jonathan Keltz (“Entourage”), De’Vaughn Nixon (“Sonny with a Chance”), Nolan Sotillo (“Corey and Lucas for the Win”), Cameron Monaghan (“Corey and Lucas for the Win”) and Raini Rodriguez (“I’m in the Band”).

TIM BURTON’S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 3D - More astonishing and spectacular than ever before, Academy Award® nominated writer/producer Tim Burton’s overwhelmingly favorite The Nightmare Before Christmas becomes available for the first time ever to own on Disney Blu-ray 3D™ and/or 3D Movie Download, on August 30, 2011. Leaping off the screen and into living rooms this holiday season, the all-new 3D presentation of The Nightmare Before Christmas will be available as a 3-Disc Combo Pack (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray™, DVD/Digital Copy hybrid) and/or a 3D Movie Download,* providing fans and families alike with several great ways to enjoy the film.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is produced by Academy Award® nominated writer and producer Tim Burton (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride) and Denise DiNovi (Edward Scissorhands, James and the Giant Peach), directed by Henry Selick (Coraline, James and the Giant Peach) and written by Michael McDowell (Beetle Juice, Thinner) and Caroline Thompson (Corpse Bride, The Addams Family). And the spectacular characters are voiced by the talents of Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride, Fright Night) as Jack Skellington’s speaking voice, Danny Elfman (Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Jack Skellington’s singing voice and Catherine O-Hara (Home Alone, Best In Show) as Sally, to name a few.

The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-Disc Combo Pack (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD/Digital Copy hybrid) will retail for the suggested price of $49.99 U.S./$56.99 Canada and the 3D Movie Download will retail for the suggested price of $25.00 U.S.

COUGAR TOWN: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON- Jules Cobb‘s learning that the idea of family isn‘t always so traditional on her not so quiet Florida cul-de-sac. Together with her teenage son, friends, neighbors and even ex-husband, the dysfunctional, yet supportive extended family manages the next stages of their lives together. This hilarious DVD release invites audiences to collect and relive every laugh-out-loud moment, plus exciting never-before-seen bonus features!

Cougar Town: The Complete Second Season is releasing as a 3-Disc DVD set with a suggested retail price: $34.99 US/$41.99 Canada.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON - It‘s high noon on Wisteria Lane as a brand new rival stirs up even more excitement, deceit and romance in the neighborhood. This sizzling DVD release allows audiences to collect every red-hot episode, plus juicy never-before-seen bonus features.

Desperate Housewives: The Complete Seventh Season is releasing as a 5-Disc DVD set with a suggested retail price: $45.99 US/$54.99 Canada/

Review: Original "Spy Kids" a Family Action Flick

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 135 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Spy Kids (2001)
Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – PG for action sequences
EDITOR/WRITER/DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez
PRODUCERS: Elizabeth Avellan and Robert Rodriguez
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Guillermo Navarro
COMPOSERS:  John Debney, Danny Elfman, Los Lobos, and Robert Rodriguez

ACTION/COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Alan Cumming, Tony Shalhoub, Teri Hatcher, Cheech Marin, Robert Patrick, and Danny Trejo

Robert Rodriguez is a low-budget filmmaker even when he gets a big budget to make a film. His breakthrough work, El Mariachi, was an effort of gathering money from wherever he could, including selling his body for medical experiments. Even as his budgets grew larger, his films still had a low cost, B-movie feel to them including such entertaining movies as From Dusk Till Dawn (which was actually a low-budget film) and The Faculty. When he turned his eye towards making a kid-friendly film, he retained his charming visual style, and used a bigger budget to create imaginative and novel backdrops and characters – all of which are seen in Spy Kids.

In Spy Kids, Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) are retired spies with two precocious children, Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara), but Gregorio has a secret. He’s still doing spy work, and a project he worked on, named the Third Brain, is the object of desire of a bad spy, Mr. Lisp (Robert Patrick). When Lisp and his cohorts capture Gregorio and Ingrid, their spunky, resourceful children, Carmen and Juni, decides that it’s up to them to find their parents and save the world from the threat of Lisp and his band of nefarious Spy Kids.

Spy Kids has a lot in it that’s worth liking. For one thing, it’s a decidedly low-wattage action movie, which is perfect for children. It lacks the violence and intensity of many action films, but it retains the spirit of action flicks with a sense of adventure and lots of high tech gadgets and vehicles. The cast of villains is a collection of oddballs, seemingly more inspired by Tim Burton films than James Cameron films. Rodriguez fills his Spy Kids with imaginative sets and creatures that seemingly come right out of a children’s fairytale book or a comic book. It all looks so unusual in the context of an action movie, but that’s what makes Spy Kids really unique.

The acting is mostly pretty good. While Banderas and Ms. Gugino are kind of wooden as the parents, young Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara get better as the film goes along. They manage to be both serious and have a sense of fun about their work. They’re having a good time, and they manage to establish a sly, sort of winking relationship with the audience; they definitely make this picture. The cast of villains is very good, including a surprising turn by Alan Cumming as Fegan Floop, the host of Juni’s favorite TV program; he really buries himself in the character and seems inseparable from the role while on screen.

Although Rodriguez’s script belabors the point about the need for family members to have each other’s back, the film is a fine example of an action film that everyone in the family can enjoy. The plot and story are simplistic, but not simple-minded, and Spy Kids has all the things that make “real” action movies exciting – thrills, gadgets, and a sense of urgency to save the good from the bad.

6 of 10
B

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Review: "Good Will Hunting" Maintains Itself (Happy B'day, Ben Affleck)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Good Will Hunting (1997)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language, including some sex-related dialogue
DIRECTOR: Gus Van Zant
WRITERS: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck
PRODUCER: Lawrence Bender
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jean Yves Escoffier (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Pietro Scalia
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård, Minnie Driver, Casey Affleck, and Cole Hauser.

Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a charismatic, brilliant young man has spent, or rather wasted, the first 20 years of his life when an MIT math professor discovers Will’s mathematical gifts. When Will is arrested after a street fight, Professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard, Breaking the Waves) takes custody of Will determined to nurture Will’s rare genius so that it is not wasted.

Will runs through a gamut of psychiatrists as part of his court ordered treatment until he meets a grieving, career impaired shrink named Sean Maguire (Robin Williams). Maguire is from Will’s old neighborhood, and he recognizes some of the young man’s difficulties with a society so different from their ‘hood. He tries to reach the young man as Will continually enforces a wall around himself, a wall he has had since childhood to protect himself from a world seemingly always out to hurt him.

Will also meets and falls in love with Skylar (Minnie Driver, Grosse Point Blank), a pretty, young pre-med student, who eventually demands a commitment of love that Will is reluctant to give. If he embraces a new life, Will may have to abandon the impoverished, but familiar life he knows, including his childhood friend, Chuckie (Ben Affleck).

Good Will Hunting is a beautiful, moving story that pulls not too gently on the heartstrings. Affleck and Damon won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay of 1997 for the film’s script. They crafted simple, yet evocative characters for both themselves and the rest of the cast. Hunting is the most complex of the lot, but he isn’t difficult to understand. He’s been hurt, so he lashes out at the world. He’s made a safe little hovel in which he can live, and he doesn’t intend to venture far from it. He knows it and he feels safe in it, only occasionally peeking his head out of his hole to delight people with his brilliance and wit.

Williams’s portrayal of Sean Maguire earned him a long overdue Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Like his Dr. Malcolm Sayer in Awakenings and Parry in the Fisher King, Maguire is a man in pain. You can feel a great building up in the shell, that these men have created for themselves, ready to break out and violently splash the world. In the end, they learn to gradually release their pent up pain and emotion and to reach a sense of balance. The parts that Williams usually take are usually so flamboyant and loud, begging for attention, like Williams himself. When he takes a part like Maguire, he has to control himself, and we can feel, along with him, the struggle to remain in his containment unit. To see him so controlled may have attracted Academy voters to his cause.

Good Will Hunting isn’t a smart movie. Damon and Affleck are occasionally stiff and forced in their parts, and there is still a rough edge to their acting abilities, especially Affleck’s. Driver is good, but the script only allows hints at her personality. Skylar’s one outburst about her troubled past piques the interest, but is gone as suddenly as it came.

Gus Van Zant does a credible job here, but one mostly gets the sense that he was just following a sort of paint by numbers plan. This is more about Damon, Affleck, and Williams than the director. But Van Zant assists them in bringing some tears forward; it’s a empathic, feel sad movie with a tacked on feel good ending. But done well, it’s worth repeated viewings.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1998 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Robin Williams) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck); 7 nominations: “Best Picture” (Lawrence Bender), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Matt Damon), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Minnie Driver), “Best Director” (Gus Van Sant), “Best Film Editing” (Pietro Scalia), “Best Music, Original Dramatic Score” (Danny Elfman), and “Best Music, Original Song” (Elliott Smith for the song "Miss Misery")

1998 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck); 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” (Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Matt Damon), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Robin Williams)

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Tim Burton Begins Filming "Dark Shadows" with Johnny Depp

Filming Begins on Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows”

Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter head an all-star cast.

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Filming begins this week on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ “Dark Shadows,” which brings the cult classic television series to the big screen under the direction of Tim Burton. The film’s all-star ensemble cast includes Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloe Moretz, and newcomer Gulliver McGrath.

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Brouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

Burton is directing and producing “Dark Shadows” from a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, story by John August and Grahame-Smith, based on the television series created by Dan Curtis. Also producing are Oscar® winner Richard D. Zanuck (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Driving Miss Daisy”), continuing his long association with Burton; Oscar® winner Graham King (“Rango,” “The Departed”), continuing his collaboration with Depp; Johnny Depp, Christi Dembrowski, and David Kennedy. The executive producers are Chris Lebenzon, Nigel Gostelow, Tim Headington, and Bruce Berman.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, Oscar®-winning production designer Rick Heinrichs (“Sleepy Hollow”), Oscar®-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (“Alice in Wonderland”) and editor Chris Lebenzon (“Alice in Wonderland”). The score will be composed by Danny Elfman.

“Dark Shadows” is being filmed entirely in England, both at Pinewood Studios and on location.

“Dark Shadows” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

"The King's Speech" Wins Original Music BAFTA

ORIGINAL MUSIC

THE KING’S SPEECH Alexandre Desplat WINNER

127 HOURS AR Rahman

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Danny Elfman

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON John Powell

INCEPTION Hans Zimmer

Review: "Planet of the Apes" is the "Razzie Award" Winner for Worst Remake, But It's Not So Bad

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Planet of the Apes (2001)
Running time:  119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sequences of action/violence
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: William Broyles, Jr., Lawrence Konner, and Mark D. Rosenthal (based upon the novel by Pierre Boulle)
PRODUCER: Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
BAFTA Award nominee

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/THRILLER with elements of adventure

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, David Warner, Kris Kristofferson, Erick Avari, and (uncredited) Charlton Heston

When Captain Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) leaves the safety of a United States Air Force space station, he is on an unauthorized mission to save his favorite chimp. He enters some kind of electro-magnetic storm, and his space pod crashes on an uncharted planet.

Before long, he is running through the jungle with a back of wild humans, chased by half glimpsed pursuers. A group of talking apes led by General Thade (Tim Roth) capture Davidson and the humans. Ari (Helena Bonham-Carter) buys Davidson because his intelligence and demeanor piques her interest. He convinces her to follow him on a quest to find his shipmates whom he believes are on the planet in search of him. However, a deeper mystery resides in the desert heart of their destination.

Directed by one of cinema’s finest visual stylists, Tim Burton, Planet of the Apes, the 2001 remake of the 1968 classic is noisy spectacle that is not without some nice moments. Burton has admitted to not knowing a good script when he sees one, but when he inadvertently gets one, he makes good movies (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and Sleepy Hollow). When he gets a troubled piece of writing, the audience writhes in pain at the cinematic potential clumsily handled before their eyes (Batman Returns); this one falls somewhere in the middle.

The script is a simple cat and mouse chase story with a battle scene thrown late into the movie for a faux epic aura. Here and there are smatterings of issues of freedom, slavery, intelligence, friendship and betrayal, but the smart stuff doesn’t get in the way of the fun, dumb stuff – fist fights, gunfire and explosions. Burton expertly wields the story and creates a nearly two-hour movie that feels much shorter. It is a “lite” affair meant to entertain by keeping the protagonists in a constant state of discomfort and definite sense of entertainment.

The acting is mostly adequate professional work. Ms. Bonham-Carter creates the illusion that her character Ari has quite a bit of depth, more so than with which the action movie script can deal; there’s not too much time for character in many action movies. Michael Clarke Duncan as Thade’s right hand man-ape, Colonel Attar, is wonderfully convincing as an officer and as a leader of soldiers. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Krull, the disgraced soldier, is equally compelling; between Attar and Krull is some interesting back-story that would have greatly embellished the movie had that story been give a chance. But this is a summer bang-bang.

Planet of the Apes wastes the talented Roth, who can portray layered, multi-dimensional villains (such as the vile Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy, which earned him an Oscar nomination) behind a heavy costume. Here, the mask hides that which truly makes Roth’s gifts work, his face of a thousand expressions – exaggerated and otherwise. This is no criticism of the fantastic work of makeup effects artist Rick Baker. Once again, he uncannily delivers brilliant work. However, the glare from Baker’s skills dim the light of Roth’s thespian talents.

Light fare for sure, Planet of the Apes’ massive box office success is a surprise. But it’s clear and linear movie and it properly strings the audience along until it’s pitiable ending. By then, one gets the feeling that this entire exercise was merely the testing ground for a long lasting franchise similar to the franchise birthed from the original.

Still, the magic is in what Burton does. This is a very entertaining movie and remains so even as one tries to poke holes in it. One can hold the same light up to Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Sleepy Hollow and find all manner of ridiculousness, but they remain fun films, always ready to be popped into a VCR or DVD player and become a filling midnight video snack.

Planet of the Apes is like that and it pretty much delivers on being the vacuous treat it started out to be. Not much of a goal, but a goal attained, more or less.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2002 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood) and “Best Make Up/Hair” (Rick Baker, Toni G, and Kazuhiro Tsuji)

2002 Razzie Awards: 3 wins: “Worst Remake or Sequel,” “Worst Supporting Actor” (Charlton Heston), and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Estella Warren)

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Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross Win Golden Globe for "The Social Network"

Best Original Score - Motion Picture:

The Social Network (2010): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross WINNER

127 Hours (2010): A.R. Rahman

Alice in Wonderland (2010): Danny Elfman

Inception (2010): Hans Zimmer

The King's Speech (2010): Alexandre Desplat

Review: "Spider-Man 2" is a Superb Sequel

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 112 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for stylized action violence
DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi
WRITERS: Alvin Sargent, from a screen story by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and Michael Chabon (based upon the comic book created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)
PRODUCERS: Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bill Pope
EDITOR: Bob Murawski (D.o.P.)
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award winner

SUPERHERO/ACTION/DRAMA/ROMANCE with elements of sci-fi

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Donna Murphy, Daniel Gillies, Dylan Baker, Bill Nunn, Willem Dafoe, and Cliff Robertson

I had mixed feelings about the first Spider-Man, released in 2002. The action sequences featuring Spider-Man rescuing folks, being his Spidey self, and fighting the Green Goblin were for the most part pretty cool. The (melo)drama was well conceived, but was too dry and flat. Director Sam (Evil Dead) Raimi’s sequel, Spider-Man 2, doesn’t suffer from flat drama, and the action is even better than the first time. After X2: X-Men United, this may be the best superhero movie ever.

As SM2 starts, a myriad of personal problems beset our hero, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), and being Spider-Man doesn’t help any of them. He’s broke, and the bank is about to foreclose on his Aunt May’s (Rosemary Harris) home. He isn’t making enough money taking photos for the Daily Bugle, and his newspaper boss, J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), doesn’t cut him any slack. Parker is in love with his longtime friend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), but he’s afraid to let her into his life for fear that one of Spider-Man’s enemies will eventually use her as a pawn in their revenge schemes against him. His best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) believes that Peter and Spider-Man have a close professional relationship, and Harry hungers to avenge his father Norman’s aka, the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) death (he believes) at the hands of the web-slinger. Peter’s also still haunted by the death of his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson), for which he blames himself. If that weren’t enough, Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), a scientist Peter admires, becomes a dangerous fiend known as Dr. Octopus, who has four monstrous mechanical arms attached to his body and who blames Spider-Man for his fate.

For years, my friends and I wondered if any Hollywood studio could make a good Spider-Man movie. Thanks to computer generated imagery and computer rendered images, at least the gravity defying antics of superheroes can be seamlessly translated from the four-color page of the comic book to the big screen. The SFX filmmakers on Spider-Man do extraordinary work creating a CGI Spider-Man who soars, spins, dips, hops, leaps, slides, dives, jumps, flips, and break dances across, through, and over the landscape of NYC, the city that is a very well used character in this film.

The writing, the second element very necessary for translation of superhero to screen, is much improved over the first film, likely because the three writers of the screen story are very familiar with superheroes. The strong writing of this film is combined with the fine acting of the first film, which carries over to SM2, and that’s what makes the drama so palatable. Of particular note is Rosemary Harris as Aunt May; Harris not only brings a solemn note to this fantasy film, but she also helps to humanize the Peter Parker character and lend credence to the idea of the hero as a regular guy dealing with the ups and downs of life.

Much credit to Sam Raimi, known for his horror and fantasy films, he is actually a very talented director who is equally at home with drama as he is with the fantastique. If he didn’t prove it in A Simple Plan, he certainly proves it with Spider-Man 2. Raimi can bring tears to your eyes with the drama and romance, and he can knock you back into the seat with heart-stopping action. Raimi’s new film will make your spirit soar vicariously with Spider-Man as he swings on his magical webbing over the city.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, John Frazier); and 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Paul N.J. Ottosson) and “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Joseph Geisinger)

2005 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier) and “Best Sound” (Paul N.J. Ottosson, Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Jeffrey J. Haboush)

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Review: Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" is Really Gassy in Blunderland

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: Linda Woolverton (based upon the books, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll)
PRODUCERS: Joe Roth, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd, and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dariusz Wolski (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman

FANTASY

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Christopher Lee with the voices of Michael Gough and Imelda Staunton

Director Tim Burton is a maestro. He can gather film actors, artists, artisans, craftsmen, etc. and bring them together to create cinematic worlds that dazzle our eyes and capture our imaginations. He has done that time and again in such films as Nightmare Before Christmas and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among many. Yet three times, I almost fell asleep in the theatre while trying to watch Burton’s new film, Alice in Wonderland.

Tim Burton once said that he wouldn’t know a good movie script if he saw one, and Alice in Wonderland testifies to that. Alice in Wonderland is dazzling to look at, but the story is nothing but hot air. In the hands of screenwriter, Linda Woolverton, this return journey to Wonderland is a trip to nowhere.

This new Alice in Wonderland is actually a kind of sequel to the original stories. The Alice of Lewis Carroll’s famous books, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872), is now 19-year-old Alice Kingsley (Mia Wasikowska). Alice is about to become engaged to a wealthy nobleman, when she once again follows the White Rabbit (voice of Michael Sheen) down the rabbit hole to Underland, the place she visited 13 years earlier and named “Wonderland.” Underland is in trouble, oppressed by a reign of terror launched by the Red Queen (Helen Bonham Carter), who now rules Underland.

Alice doesn’t remember much about her first trip to Underland, but it turns out that she may be the chosen one, prophesized to end the tyranny of the Red Queen and restore her sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), to the throne. Alice falls in with a conspiracy or rebellion against the Red Queen. Some of the members are the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). The Hatter seems to be the leader, but his madness has left him broken down. Regardless of what help her friends may or may not be able to give her, Alice will have to face her destiny alone. She must slay the Jabberwocky (voice of Christopher Lee), the dragon that the Red Queen uses to terrorize the land.

The original Alice in Wonderland stories didn’t have plot or characterization (a deliberate move on the author’s part, I think). For this new film, screenwriter Linda Woolverton made Alice a heroine and gave her a cause, obstacles, and a goal to achieve. Now, Alice in Wonderland seems like just another big budget, Hollywood, fantasy action movie. It’s like Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia, but with grrl-power. Who is going to believe that this pale, skinny girl can take on the world, let alone save another world?

On the surface, Burton effectively creates a twisted vision of Wonderland, complete with deranged characters, warped personalities, and wonderfully ingenious creatures – like the computer-generated, way-cool, smoky Cheshire Cat (superbly given voice by Stephen Fry). The story, however, is just dull and, as hard as Woolverton tries to be inventive, the best this tale can do is replace your sleeping pills.

What starts off seeming so enchanted becomes tiresome. Johnny Depp’s take on the Mad Hatter mirrors this movie’s problem – pretty, colorful, creative, but a bumbling mess of misfires and mumbled lines. As bad as Depp is, Anne Hathaway is so impossibly bad as the White Queen that I’m just at a loss to explain it. As the Red Queen, Helena Bonham Carter gives the only coherent, quality performance of any of the Underland characters. Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland 2010 is not a turd. I don’t think Tim Burton could ever make a truly bad film, but as amazing as it looks, this mediocre movie sometimes comes across like a loud fart.

5 of 10
B-

Monday, March 08, 2010

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Review: Tim Burton's "Big Fish" Out of Water

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Big Fish (2003)
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for a fight scene, some images of nudity and a suggestive reference
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John August (from a novel by Daniel Wallace, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions)
PRODUCERS: Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks, and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA with elements of comedy and fantasy

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard, Matthew McGroroy, David Denman, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito, Ada Tai, Arlene Tai, Deep Roy, and Hailey Ann Nelson

Tim Burton is an imaginative, creative, and innovative filmmaker, but his eccentric vision is traditionally wasted on studio fare. He’s sometimes managed to make average to very good movies out of junk, as in Planet of the Apes. He’s made visually appealing films that sadly misfire, Mars Attacks. He’s made fairy tales and fables into visually appealing films like Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow. He occasionally makes a films that live up to people’s expectations of him as a great filmmaker, as in Beetlejuice and Ed Wood. His new film Big Fish belongs in the category with Planet of the Apes.

Will Bloom (Billy Crudup) has a father Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) who likes to spin tall yarns. It’s how Ed tells the story of his life, mixing tall tales (or big fish stories) with what actually happened; that must mean his stories have a life lesson somewhere inside. As the Young Ed (Ewan McGregor), he claims to have had many adventures: as a star athlete, as a circus worker, and as a soldier. Will grows to hate those stories and what he sees as his father’s dishonesty. He goes away, until his mother Sandra (Jessica Lange) calls Will and his wife Josephine (Marion Cotillard) home because Ed is dying. Ed wants to make peace with his father, so he tries again to figure out fact from fiction, but maybe he’s missing the point.

For all his visual aplomb and quirkiness, Tim Burton made a pleasant, but ultimately safe father-son movie with a few oddball characters thrown into the mix. And when it’s all said and done, there’s nothing really odd about them other than they might not look or act like the average folks. On the surface, they may appear strange, but underneath, they’re just your typical country witticism-spewing role players. There’s potential in each one, but Burton wastes it by making them less dangerous. Fairy tales and oddities are dangerous because they challenge our preconceived notions of what is and what is not. To make them little more than weird looking is to take away what makes them truly different and all you have left is fluff.

It’s not entirely Burton’s fault; he’s admitted before that he wouldn’t know a good screenplay if he saw one, and weak screenplays are often the biggest flaw of his films. He focuses on making his movies look unusual, but the story ultimately fails to live up to his visual promise.

The acting in Big Fish is pretty good, but it’s wasted. How can you have a major talent like Jessica Lange and regulate her to making sad faces with sad smiles. Don’t get me started on Robert Guillaume playing the patient and wise Negro who just so happens to say those typically wise-Negro words that finally make Will “get it” about his father.

Big Fish isn’t bad; it’s just pleasant. It’s not a bad time at the movies. There are some laughs and some clever moments. There’s a bit of magic in the air, but be careful you don’t choke on maudlin and sentiment.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Music, Original Score” (Danny Elfman)


2004 BAFTA Awards: 7 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Kevin Scott Mack, Seth Maury, Lindsay MacGowan, and Paddy Eason), “Best Film” (Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks, and Richard D. Zanuck), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Jean Ann Black and Paul LeBlanc), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Albert Finney), “Best Production Design” (Dennis Gassner), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (John August), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Tim Burton)


2004 Golden Globes: 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Danny Elfman), “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Eddie Vedder for the song "Man of the Hour"), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Albert Finney)

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Review: First "Spider-Man" Flick Entertaining, but Average

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Spider-Man (2002)
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
MPAA – PG-13 for stylized violence and action
DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi
WRITER: David Koepp (based upon the comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)
PRODUCERS: Ian Bryce and Laura Ziskin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Don Burgess (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Arthur Coburn and Bob Murawski
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/FANTASY/ACTION/SCI-FI

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Joe Manganiello, and Bill Nunn

When a genetically modified spider bites high school outcast Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), Parker gains powers and abilities based upon the natural characteristics of spiders. After a robber Parker failed to stop when he had a chance kills his Uncle Ben, Parker becomes Spider-Man (again, Maguire), a costumed superhero to use his super powers for the greater good. Spider-Man soon encounters a destructive costumed super villain named Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe, The Last Temptation of Christ), who is the alter ego of a wealthy industrialist Norman Osborn. In addition to dealing with super crooks, Parker has domestic troubles. He is in love with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst, Interview with a Vampire), who is also the love interest of his roommate, Harry Osborn (James Franco), the son of Norman.

Directed by the diverse Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, A Simple Plan) and based upon the Marvel comic book of the same name, Spider-Man revels in the excellent execution of the fight scenes of its two antagonists. A combination of computer animation, close-ups, and stunt doubles, the confrontations between hero and villain burst with energy. Raimi, no stranger to SFX, knows how to compose a movie that takes advantage of effects and how to shape the effects around the movie or to shape the movie around the effects.

The script David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Panic Room) is another thing entirely. The plot is simple: Spider-Man is in the Green Goblin’s way, and Goblin wants to remove him. The story is fairly straightforward, and it’s nothing special. Whether the fault of the director or of the writer, the character drama between the action is boring and dry, and you could find your mind wandering while waiting for the next get together between Spidey and the Goblin. While the drama is clunky, the fights are so exciting; getting them is like getting a Christmas gift.

The acting is on the whole professional work. Both Maguire and Dafoe play the roles with class and are quite believable as Parker/Spider-Man and Osborn/Goblin respectively. Maguire totally sells us as the nerdy Parker, and when he becomes super powered, Maguire shifts into a whole other gear. Dafoe is funny, wacky, and intense as both Norman Osborn and as the Goblin. His prowess as an actor bleeds through the Goblin’s mask and gives the villain depth and dimension.

Spider-Man is a summer blockbuster: light on drama but heavy on the eye candy of the effects. Luckily the effects really work, because the drama is weak. Fans of comic books and action movies will likely get a jolt out of this movie. However, if you’re looking for something really special, or at least, very good, this is not it. Spider-Man is, at best, an average product with a big ad campaign behind it.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Sound” (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Ed Novick) and “Best Visual Effects” (John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier)

2003 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier)

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