NEGROMANCER 2.0: Direct-to-Streaming

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

Review: "MEA CULPA" May Be Tyler Perry's Craziest Movie... Yet

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2024 (No. 1963) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mea Culpa (2024)

Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)

MPA – R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language, some violence and drug use

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS: Will Areu, Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, and Kelly Rowland

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Cody Burmester (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Larry Sexton

COMPOSERS: Amanda Delores and Patricia Jones

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Kelly Rowland, Trevante Rhodes, Nick Sagar, Sean Sagar, RonReaco Lee, Shannon Thornton, Kerry O'Malley, Arianna Barron, Connor Weil, Maria Gabriela Gonzalez, Paul Ryden, Ava Hill, and Angela Robinson

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

--Tyler Perry's Mea Culpa could be titled Tyler Perry's I Want to Screw My Client

--The first half of the film is a slow-burn (slightly dull) romantic thriller; the second half is an explosion of WTF moments

--Despite poorly developed and under-utilized characters and middling dialogue, Mea Culpa is a typical shameless Tyler Perry guilty pleasure – that I found somewhat pleasurable.

Mea Culpa is a 2024 drama and legal thriller from writer-director Tyler Perry. The film is a “Netflix Original,” Perry's fourth for the streamer (as of this writing), and it began streaming on Netflix February 23, 2024. Mea Culpa follows an ambitious criminal defense attorney who takes on the case of an artist accused of murder, which only further complicates her own dysfunctional marriage.

Mea Culpa introduces Chicago-based defense attorney, Mea Harper (Kelly Rowland). She and her husband, Kal Harper (Sean Sagar), are having marital difficulties, made worse by Kal's overbearing and interfering white mother, Azalia (Kerry O'Malley). Forced to financially support the two of them because of Kal's professional and personal problems, Mea decides to take on the defense of an accused murderer. Acclaimed portrait painter, Zyair Malloy (Trevante Rhodes), has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Hydie (Maria Gabriela Gonzalez). Her body is missing, but there is enough blood evidence in Zyair's loft, where he lives and paints, to get him charged with murder.

The problem is that Mea's brother-in-law and Kal's older brother, Raymond “Ray” Harper (Nick Sagar), is the assistant district attorney who is prosecuting Zyair's murder case. Also complicating matters is that Zyair does not respect boundaries and wants to f**k Mea. Eventually, Mea will have to admit “mea culpa,” but that might not save her from the myriad conspiracies that surround Zyair Malloy and this case.

Mea culpa is a Latin phrase that means “my fault” or “my mistake,” and it is also an acknowledgment of having done wrong, a wrong that could have been avoided. It's my fault that I love Tyler Perry's work so much because otherwise, I would not have watched Mea Culpa. Make no mistake, however; loving Tyler Perry films, no matter how crazy they are, is not a wrong. Mea Culpa may be Perry's craziest non-Madea film to date, being even wackier than Temptations: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013).

Mea Culpa is quite enjoyable, especially the second hour of the film. Critics tend to fault Perry's screenwriting, but the plot for Mea Culpa isn't any more nonsensical than a host of legal and erotic thrillers from the past five decades. I'm thinking of Body Heat (1981), Presumed Innocent (1990), and Primal Fear (1996), to name a few. If Mea Culpa had been released around a quarter-century ago, it would have been considered a clone of the classic erotic thriller, Basic Instinct (1992).

Where Perry's writing shows weakness is the dialogue and character development. If the actors in this film seem average or mediocre to you, dear readers, I would bet it is because they are trying to build convincing characters while mouthing stiff, unimaginative dialogue. The film's actual plot and action is not anywhere near as bland as the dialogue. In fact, when this film finally explodes in the second half, even bad dialogue can't keep Mea Culpa's cheesy, shameless melodrama and violence from being its trashiest and most glorious self. The shame of it is that there are some very interesting characters who are not fully realized and who would have made much the action in this film seem plausible, at the very least. Perhaps, Mea Culpa should have been a miniseries instead of a film.

I must say that Mea Culpa may be Tyler Perry's most beautifully photographed film; kudos to director of photography, Cody Burmester. The cinematography captures Kelly Rowland's unappreciated beauty, and when she gets nude, the camera celebrates her fineness. Yes, Trevante Rhodes as Zyair Malloy is also fine, and the camera suggests that his big muscular body also comes with... an impressive endowment. Yeah, the sex scene between Mea and Zyair is kinda funny, but they look so good pumping and bumping and grinding.

With Mea Culpa, Tyler Perry does unleash “strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language, some violence and drug use” as the “R” rating declares. However, Perry's first almost NC-17 makes me love his work even more, and it makes me hope for future movies like Mea Culpa or even better. I'll say “mea culpa” if I'm wrong and be happy about it.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, April 18, 2024

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Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Review: DreamWorks' "ORION AND THE DARK" Takes on Childhood Fears

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 of 2024 (No. 1956) by Leroy Douresseaux

Orion and the Dark (2024)

Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)

MPA – not rated

DIRECTOR: Sean Charmatz

WRITERS: Charlie Kaufman (based on the book by Emma Yarlett)

PRODUCER: Peter McCown

EDITOR: Kevin Sukho Lee

COMPOSERS: Kevin Lax and Robert Lydecker

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE and COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: (voices): Jacob Tremblay, Paul Walter Hauser, Colin Hanks, Mia Akemi Brown, Ike Barinholtz, Nat Faxon, Golda Rosheuvel, Natasia Demetriou, Aparna Nancherla, Carla Gugino, Matt Dellapina, Nick Kishiyama, Shino Nakamichi, Werner Herzog, and Angela Bassett

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

Orion and the Dark is a unique animated film that is about a child learning to accept fear as a part of life without letting it control him.

Orion and the Dark has an eclectic cast full of surprising characters, but Orion and Dark are this film's winning pair.

Orion and the Dark is a good family film, especially for parents and for children who are of middle grade age and younger. I find it to be too deep in its feelies, but it will tug on the heartstrings of its intended audience.

Orion and the Dark is a 2024 animated fantasy-adventure and comedy-drama film directed by Sean Charmatz and produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film is animated by French production company, Mikros Animation, and is also a “Netflix Original” that began streaming on Netflix February 2, 2024.

Orion and the Dark is based on the 2015 children's book, Orion and the Dark, from author Emma Yarlett. Orion and the Dark the movie focuses on a boy whose active imagination causes him to be scared of everything and on the entity that takes him on an incredible journey.

Orion and the Dark introduces 11-year-old Orion Mendelson (Jacob Tremblay). He is a severely anxious child with a long list of irrational fears. He is a schoolboy with a fear of speaking in front of class, being bullied, ending up in a toilet, and a fear of speaking to Sally (Shino Nakamichi), the girl of his dreams, of course. Outside of school, he also has a bunch of fears, including the fear of getting eaten by a shark, but at home its is worse.

Orion is afraid of the night, especially of the dark and of all the dark places in his bedroom. Orion's father (Matt Dellapina) and mother (Carla Gugino) have a difficult time getting him to bed. One night a giant, smiling creature slithers into his room. He introduces himself as “Dark,” the embodiment of Orion's worst fear, the dark. Tired of hearing Orion's constant complaints about him (the dark), Dark takes the 11-year-old on an adventure to help him overcome his fears and to appreciate the benefits of nighttime and of the dark. But there are plenty of dangers along the way, including Dark's rival, “Light” (Ike Barinholtz), and Orion's own deep-seated fears.

Orion and the Dark is a beautifully animated film with simple, but evocative character and concept design. It took me awhile to remember that Orion and the Dark reminds me of the 2014 DreamWorks Animation film, Mr. Peabody & Sherman. Both films share a visual aesthetic, possibly because artist and designer, Timothy Lamb, served as the production designer on the two films. Both films also convey their fantastical settings and surreal environments via eye-appealing art and design that have a children's picture book quality.

I do have one gripe about Orion and the Dark. The film does have a heart – a center – which is that both Orion and Dark have to learn something about themselves and to overcome self-doubt. The film, however, also has sentiment, and it is, at times, exceedingly sentimental, which can be both heartwarming and saccharine. Orion and the Dark is sometimes too much in its emotions and feelies, so much so that by the end, I thought the film was trying to give me an insulin attack. Orion and the Dark pounds on its parent-child themes and dynamics with schmaltzy consistency.

I want to avoid spoilers. Still, I will say that Orion and the Dark does have a time-travel subplot courtesy of screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind), who is known for creating elaborate, twisty, meta screenplays. Orion and the Dark has several interesting supporting characters, especially Dark's fellow “Night Entities,” so many so that I could see it becoming an animated television series. Orion and the Dark is unique and quite well made, and many may find its heartwarming insistence just what we need in these dark times.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

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Friday, February 9, 2024

Review: "A MADEA HOMECOMING" Doesn't Come Out Quite Right

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 of 2024 (No. 1950) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Madea Homecoming (2022)

Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for crude sexual content, language, and drug references throughout

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS: Will Areu and Mark E. Swinton

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Taylor Randall (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Larry Sexton

COMPOSER: Philip White

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, David Mann, Tamela J. Mann, Gabrielle Dennis, Brendan O'Carroll, Jennifer Gibney, Brandon Black, Isha Blaaker, Candace Maxwell, Geneva Maccarone, and Amani Atkinson

A Madea Homecoming is a 2022 African-American comedy-drama from writer-director Tyler Perry. It is the 12th film in the Madea film series. The film is a Netflix original and was released to the streaming service on February 25, 2022. In A Madea Homecoming, family drama erupts and secrets are revealed during the celebration of Madea's great-grandson's college graduation.

A Madea Homecoming opens in Atlanta, Georgia. Mabel “Madea” Simmons (Tyler Perry) is preparing for the arrival of her extended family. Uncle Joe (Tyler Perry) is criticizing people, and Mr. Brown (David Mann) is about to set himself afire while preparing the barbecue pit. It is a special time for Madea's daughter, Cora Simmons (Tamela J. Mann), because of the impending arrival of her daughters, Laura (Gabrielle Dennis) and Ellie (Candace Maxwell). Laura's son, Timothy “Tim” Marshall (Brandon Black), is graduating from college. He is traveling to Madea's house with his best friend and fellow graduate, Davi O'Malley (Isha Blaaker), for a large family dinner before graduation day.

But there are some surprises arriving, also. Tim has a secret to tell his family. Laura has a secret. Laura's divorce attorney, Sylvia (Geneva Maccarone), has a secret. Richard (Amani Atkinson), Laura's ex and Tim's father, has a secret to tell, although Madea doesn't want him at her house. Davi has a secret. Davi's great-aunt, Agnes Brown (Brendan O'Carroll), and Agnes' daughter and David's cousin, Cathy Brown (Jennifer Gibney), have a secret. They're coming to Madea's, but they weren't invited. And it isn't a secret that Betty Ann Murphy a.k.a. “Aunt Bam” (Cassi Davis) is usually high, and everyone else may have to get high to make it through the family drama that is about to erupt.

2019's A Madea Family Funeral was supposed to be the final film in the Madea film series, but I ain't complaining. A Madea Homecoming is similar to A Madea Family Funeral in that it features a large cast of new extended family members that many of us didn't know that Madea had. Unfortunately, the 2019 film is better put together than A Madea Homecoming.

First, it should be noted that A Madea Homecoming is a crossover with British-Irish sitcom, “Mrs. Brown's Boys,” which is headlined by the character, “Agnes Brown,” played by Irish actor, Brendan O'Carroll. Agnes Brown has been called the “Irish Madea,” but because this is my first encounter with O'Carroll and his character, I can't say otherwise. Truthfully, neither the Agnes nor Cathy characters really add that much to A Madea Homecoming, but they are a pleasant addition, at least.

A Madea Homecoming has many, many very funny moments, but the film seems too long and too much of a rehash of scandals that have appeared in earlier films in the series. The main plot and subplot feel more flat and dry than lively and funny. The most consistently funny part of this movie is Madea Beyoncé parody that runs over the end credits, and Madea in a blonde Beyoncé wig singing off-key with the “Marcella Band” is delightful.

When I reviewed A Madea Family Funeral in 2021, I said that if it were indeed the final Madea film, I could say that the series went out on a relatively high note. Madea returns on an off-key note with A Madea Homecoming, and it isn't the final Madea film. Coming sometime in the future is Madea's Destination Wedding.

5 of 10

C+

★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, February 9, 2024

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Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Review: Prime Video's "THE UNDERDOGGS" is Vulgar, Funny and Holds The Titty

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 of 2024 (No. 1949) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Underdoggs (2024)

Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)

MPA – R for pervasive language, sexual references, drug use, and some underage drinking

DIRECTOR: Charles Stone III

WRITERS: Danny Segal and Isaac Schamis

PRODUCERS: Kenya Barris, Mychelle Deschamps, Jonathan Glickman, Constance Schwartz-Morini, and Calvin Broadus (Snoop Dogg)

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mitchell Amundsen (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Paul Millspaugh

COMPOSER: Joseph Shirley

COMEDY/SPORT

Starring: Snoop Dogg, Tika Sumpter, Mike Epps, Elias Ferguson, Jonigan Booth, Caleb Cm Dixon, Adan James Carrillo, Alexander Michael Gordon, Kylah Davila, Andrew Schulz, Thom Scott II, Kal Penn, Kandi Burruss, Tony Gonzalez, Terry Bradshaw, and George Lopez

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SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

--Snopp Dogg is excellent is this truly funny sports comedy.

--This film has a lot of profanity and bad behavior, and their reference to sex acts and sex organs is plentiful. It's family comedy that is not appropriate for viewing, unless the family is a bit daring.

--The Underdogg's scatological tale of a washed up, arrogant coach and a group of kids who know mostly disappointment does not come across as corny or phony. The Underdoggs keeps it real, perhaps, too real sometimes.

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The Underdoggs is a 2024 sports comedy film from director Charles Stone III. The film is an Amazon “Prime Original” that began streaming on “Prime Video” January 26, 2024. The Underdoggs follows a washed-up former professional football player who decides to coach a peewee football team as way to regain his fame only to learn some important live lessons.

The Underdoggs opens at the “California High School State Championship 1997.” Jaycen "Two J's" Jennings (Elias Ferguson) is the star wide receiver at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and by catching the “Hail Mary” pass thrown his way, he wins the state championship for his school. Jaycen goes on to be a star professional football player, but his ego eventually gets him tossed from the professional ranks.

Now, Jaycen Jennings (Snopp Dogg) is a washed-up ex-professional football star – an arrogant washed up former football star, and the days of being “Two J's” are behind him. Still, he is desperately trying to hang onto fame, hopefully by landing a plum gig hosting his own Fox Sports TV show. However, Jaycen hits rock bottom when he is sentenced to community service after an accident.

Eventually, he finds his way to the Los Angeles County Community Outreach Program, where he decides to coach a peewee football squad, a group of poor kids known as “the Green Team.” Jaycen, however, sees this as a chance to get what he wants, but will he be forced to really give these kids what they need – a coach that cares?

I am shocked by how much I really like The Underdoggs. Of course, the screenplay by Danny Segal and Isaac Schamis (from a pitch by Snoop Dogg and fellow producer, Constance Schwartz-Morini) revisits familiar territory. The tale of a fallen coach, mentor, or role model and his team of poor kids, outcasts, and assorted misfits has played out in such films as The Bad News Bears (1976) and Role Models (2008). The Mighty Ducks (1992), which is referenced in The Underdoggs, is apparently a similar film, but I have never seen it (nor have I ever wanted to).

I have been a long-time fan of Snopp Dogg, and perhaps because of serendipity, he is perfect as an actor is this story of underdogs. I like that the film allows Jaycen to stay true to himself while also evolving, but the children also keep it real while learning to take pride in themselves and in their efforts. In this way, The Underdoggs is a perfect, lesson-heavy, family film, but...

The Underdoggs is rated “R” by the MPA for “pervasive language, sexual references, drug use, and some underage drinking,” and alla' that shit is actually in the film, sometimes in large quantities. There is even a funny “disclaimer” at the beginning of The Underdoggs that basically says that today's children use the same profane words spoken in the film. Perhaps, the filmmakers' argument is this is indeed a thoroughly modern family-friendly film. I think the “F-bomb” is said in The Underdoggs seemingly more than one hundred times. So its appropriateness will vary from family to family, respective of decorum and personal tastes. I have to admit that I was uncomfortable with the amount of profanity and bad behavior in this film, but...

I still laughed a lot. The Underdoggs is uproariously funny. I think Mike Epps as Kareem, Jaycen's friend who becomes his assistant coach, and Tika Sumpter as Cherise Porter, who was Jaycen's high school girlfriend, make the best of characters that are not that well written. Epps is always a scene-stealer in everything from comedy to action to horror, and he grabs all he can here. Sumpter makes Cherise an effective moral check on Jaycen's selfishness.

In the end, I feel totally comfortable recommending The Underdoggs to adult and older teen viewers. It is one of the funniest films of the new year, so far. I think some young viewers will be crazy about The Underdoggs, whether their parents approve or not.

A-

7 of 10

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

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Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Review: Prime Video's "ROLE PLAY" Offers an Odd Couple

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 of 2024 (No. 1948) by Leroy Douresseaux

Role Play (2024)

Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)

MPA – R for violence and language

DIRECTOR: Thomas Vincent

WRITER: Seth Owen

PRODUCERS: Kaley Cuoco, Alex Heinenman, and Andrew Rona

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Maxime Alexandre (ASC)

EDITOR: Gareth C. Scales

COMPOSER: Rael Jones

ACTION/THRILLER/COMEDY

Starring: Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo, Connie Nielsen, Rudi Dharmalingam, Lucia Aliu, Regan Bryan-Gudgeon, Jade-Eleena Dregorius, Stephanie Levi-John, and Bill Nighy

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SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

--Role Play is somewhat similar to the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie film, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), which was a big-budget action-comedy. Role Play is a smaller scale action-thriller with darker, edgier humor.

--Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo are an odd pairing, and for at least half of this film, they seem miscast in their roles.

--Role Play is an average, entertaining film that is better suited for Prime Video than it is for the big screens of a local movie theater. Still, the last half hour of the film really intensifies.

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Role Play is a 2024 action-thriller and black comedy film from director Thomas Vincent. The film is an Amazon “Prime Original” that began streaming on “Prime Video” January 12, 2024. Role Play focuses on an assassin whose secret life intrudes on her life as a suburban wife and mother.

Role Play introduces Emma Brackett (Kaley Cuoco). She is married to Dave Brackett (David Oyelowo) and is now the mother to his son from his first marriage, Wyatt (Regan Bryan-Gudgeon), and is mother to the daughter, Caroline (Lucia Aliu), she had with Dave. Emma and Dave have been married seven years and are living in New Jersey. But Emma has forgotten their anniversary because she was busy overseas killing someone and not in Nebraska, as she told her husband.

To make up for forgetting their anniversary, Emma suggests that they spice things up by engaging in some romantic role play at “the Royal Grand” hotel in New York City. The fun, however, is interrupted by Robert “Bob” Kitterman (Bill Nighy), who is actually a rival assassin out to claim a bounty placed on Emma by her former agency, Sovereign. Emma is forced to reveal her real self – Anna Peller, professional killer. Now, her past has returned to reclaim her.

Dear readers, as soon as you read Role Play's synopsis, you will likely think of the hit 2005 film, Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Directed by Doug Liman, the action-comedy film stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. They play a bored upper middle class couple, but both are actually assassins working for competing agencies. One day, they are assigned to kill each other.

Role Play is described as an action-comedy, but it is truthfully an action-thriller and dark comedy. The film does have a comic undertone; there are some genuinely funny moments; and the film's musical score by Rael Jones is action-comedy pitch perfect. Role Play, however, features several violent fight scenes and brutal killings, in addition to its offbeat sensibility.

One reason is the casting. Kaley Cuoco is best known for playing the role of “Penny” on CBS's long-running, former sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory” (2007-19). I found it a little difficult to picture her as an assassin or professional killer. David Oyelowo is known for his serious dramatic roles in such films as Red Tails (2012) and Selma (2014), as well as for his role in the recent Paramount+ Western television miniseries, Lawmen: Bass Reeves (2023). For about the first hour of the film, I did not find him convincing as the clueless suburban husband.

However, once Anna Peller's cover as Emma is blown, Cuoco is forced to give it her all trying to convince the audience that she is a killer, and suddenly sitcom Penny seems quite dark, indeed. Also, it is then that Oyelowo can drop the hubby routine and become the spousal partner-in-crime. In the last half hour to 40 minutes of the film, Emma and Dave actually become funnier characters. Then, Role Play takes on its action-thriller aspects with gusto.

Director Thomas Vincent makes the most of the film's more intense moments, giving Seth Owen's screenplay, which probably had more juice on the printed page, a jolt. Role Play is the kind of easy-going film that could not make it as a theatrical release, but it makes for an entertaining streaming film, especially once the leads really start to... play their roles.

B-

5 of 10

★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

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Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Review: "PREY" is the Best "Predator" Sequel to Date

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 55 of 2023 (No. 1944) by Leroy Douresseaux

Prey (2022)

Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)

MPAA – R for strong bloody violence

DIRECTOR: Dan Trachtenberg

WRITERS: Patrick Aison; from a story by Patrick Aison and Dan Trachtenberg (based on the characters created by Jim Thomas and John Thomas)

PRODUCERS: John Davis, Marty Ewing, and Jhane Myers,

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Cutter (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Claudia Castello and Angela M. Catanzaro

COMPOSER: Sarah Schachner

SCI-FI/THRILLER

Starring: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Stormee Kipp, Michelle Thrush, Julian Black Antelope, Stefany Mathias, Bennett Taylor, and Mike Paterson

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REVIEW SUMMARY:

--Prey is by far the best Predator sequel, and it is one of 2022's best films.

--The Canadian landscape where this movie was filmed is an equal character in the story while offering magnificent vistas and breathtaking beauty.

--The first half of the film is a tense suspense thriller that builds a sense of mystery similar to that of the original Predator film.

--The second half of the film is an explosion of brutal violence and heart-stopping duels that leads to a showstopping finale. I highly-recommend it.

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Prey is a 2022 science fiction thriller film directed by Dan Trachtenberg. It is the fifth film in the main Predator film franchise, which began with the 1987 film, Predator, and the seventh in the overall franchise (when the “AvP” films are counted). Prey is a prequel to the four main Predator movies, and it is a direct-to-streaming film that was released as a “Hulu original film.” Prey is set in the early 18th century and pits a young Comanche woman who wants to prove that she is a warrior by taking on a mysterious creature that slaughters everything in its path.

Prey opens in the Northern Great Plains in September 1719. Naru (Amber Midthunder), a young Comanche woman, has trained as a healer, but she wants to be a hunter like her older brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers). To that end, Naru wants to embark on a “kühtaamia,” which requires her to hunt something that is hunting her.

While tracking deer, Naru witnesses strange lights in the sky, which she believes to be a “Thunderbird,” the legendary creature of Native American folklore. However, the strange lights are actually an alien ship dropping a Predator (Dane DiLiegro), something her people have never encountered. Now, Naru, Taabe, and their tribe's other hunters must take on a Predator that is the ultimate hunter. If she cannot defeat the Predator, she will lose her life and her tribe will fall as well.

I have been interested in seeing Prey since I first heard about it, but I wasn't subscribing to Hulu when it debuted, nor do I currently subscribe to it. However, my friend and collaborator, Carter Allen, an illustrator, concept designer, and comic book creator, sent me a copy of the 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray edition via Amazon.

Now, having seen it, I think it is a shame that Prey did not receive a theatrical release. It's cinematography captures the beautiful vast forest locations outside Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where this movie was shot, in a way that should be seen on a big screen. The landscape is an equal character in the film, even more so than it has been in previous Predator films. Prey's director, Dan Trachtenberg, uses the landscape to make his film feel real and to have weight and depth and not come across as if it were some kind of action or video game fantasy.

Prey is the best sequel to 1987's Predator, easily surpassing what I think is the previous best sequel, 2010's Predators. In some ways, the combatants in Prey seem more authentic and the action more visceral than in the first film. The fights are brutal and up-close-and-personal. Flesh is slashed and chopped into raw meat, and bodies are pierced, penetrated, and ruptured with artistic precision. Heads are lopped off, and limbs aren't far behind. The Predator of Prey does not kill from on high, shooting death rays as the original Predator did. In Prey, the Predator moves in for the kill in a way that is similar to what Logan/Wolverine did to the mercenaries in the X-Men film, X2 (2003). Also, the costume and creature design for Prey's Predator is as much horror movie killer as it is sci-fi monster. In some ways, he seems garbed as a super-villain.

Amber Midthunder as Naru and Dakota Beavers as Taabe give outstanding performances. Their characters are well written, and Patrick Aison's script is ambitious enough to give the actors the opportunity to explore their characters, which they do. Midthunder is mesmerizing and fierce as Naru, and she makes me care about her journey every step of the way.

I'm surprised. Prey easily exceeded my expectations. I hope that future Predator films are as ambitious as this one. In the meantime, I pray for a sequel to Prey.

9 of 10

A+

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

You can buy a copy of the PREY Blu-ray at AMAZON.

Discover Carter Allen's latest graphic novel, Ectyron vs. Des Moines here.

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Sunday, December 10, 2023

Review: Prime Video's "CANDY CANE LANE" is an Unexpected Delight

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 52 of 2023 (No. 1941) by Leroy Douresseaux

Candy Cane Lane (2023)

Running time: 117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)

MPA – PG for language throughout and some suggestive references

DIRECTOR: Reginald Hudlin

WRITER: Kelly Younger

PRODUCERS: Brian Grazer, Charisse M. Hewitt, Karen Lunder, and Eddie Murphy

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Newton Thomas Sigel (ASC)

EDITORS: Kenny G. Krauss and Jim May

COMPOSER: Marcus Miller

COMEDY/FANTASY

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jillian Bell, Genneya Walton, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Madison Thomas, Nick Offerman, Chris Redd, Robin Thede, David Alan Grier, Ken Marino, Timothy Simons, Danielle Pinnock, and D.C. Young Fly

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

I watched “Candy Cane Lane” on a lark, and I did not expect much from it. Boy, am I surprised. It is so shockingly charming and endearing that this must be some kind of Christmas magic.

Eddie Murphy is quite good in family-oriented films, and even his fans who don't ordinarily like Murphy's family films will probably find something to like in “Candy Cane Lane”

The story is ridiculous at times, but “Candy Cane Lane” is the best Christmas movie I have seen in a long time. I recommend it without reservation.

Candy Cane Lane is a 2023 comedy, fantasy, and Christmas film directed by Reginald Hudlin and starring Eddie Murphy. The film is an Amazon “Prime Original” that began streaming December 1, 2023. Candy Cane Lane focuses on a man who is so determined to win the neighborhood's annual Christmas decorating contest that he makes an unwise pact with a rogue elf.

Candy Cane Lane introduces Chris Carver (Eddie Murphy), a husband and father who crafts his own hand-carved Christmas decorations. Every year, a local television station hosts the “Candy Cane Lane Spectacular,” a contest to judge the best decorated house. Chris has never won, and he is jealous of his neighbor, Bruce (Ken Marino), who has won several times.

Shortly before Christmas, Chris' employer, the industrial plastics firm, Sydel Twain, lays him off. When Chris learns that this year's Candy Cane Lane prize is $100,000, he becomes desperate to win the money for his family, although he wife, Carol Carver (Tracee Ellis Ross), has a very good job. Chris is also oblivious to the lives of his two older children, Joy (Genneya Walton), a high school senior and track star, and Nick (Thaddeus J. Mixson), a tuba player and budding musician.

Looking for Christmas decorations and supplies, Chris and his youngest child, daughter Holly (Madison Thomas), stumble across “Kringle's,” a mysterious Christmas shop filled with all kinds of beautiful decorations, including model buildings, ceramic figures, and a strange Christmas tree. Chris is so enchanted by all that he sees, believing that these decorations could help him win Candy Cane Lane. He unwarily signs a deal with Kringle's eccentric shopkeeper, Pepper (Jillian Bell). However, Pepper is more than she seems, and so is the receipt Chris signs. Soon, he will need all the help he can get from his family and from a trio of diminutive new friends in order to keep himself out of Pepper's clutches. And he also has some Christmas lessons to learn.

Audiences first came to know and love Eddie Murphy from his stand-up comedy career; his stint as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” (1980-84); and his R-rated comedy films, such as 48 Hrs (1982), Trading Places (1983), and Beverly Hills Cop (1983). Much to the chagrin of the those fans, Murphy's film career as an A-list star eventually led him to make innocuous family-friends films, especially Dr. Doolittle (1998), Shrek (2001), and Daddy Day Care (2003).

Those fans will not be pleased with Candy Cane Lane. It is a family movie, an absurd fantasy film, and a Christmas movie full of holiday lessons to learn. For me, Candy Cane Lane is one of the best absurd movies that I have ever seen. Its concepts and ideas are as imaginative and as inventive as they are ridiculous and preposterous, yet I find the film endlessly lovable. Every time I tried to dismiss it, I found myself drawn ever deeper into its delicious, addictive fluffiness. Candy Cane Lane is a true feel-good movie. It shouldn't work, yet it works to perfection. Considering director Reginald Hudlin's past directorial efforts, I was (and still am) shocked that he could pull of this kind of Christmas movie, which is, for the most part, a warm cup of cocoa. If anything, Candy Cane Lane suggests that screenwriter Kelly Younger is certainly inventive.

Nick Offerman, Chris Redd, and Robin Thede are a delight in their voice roles, and David Alan Grier is sly and smooth in his surprise role. Jillian Bell is nearly perfect as Pepper, except for a few moments that are too over the top. I think Madison Thomas needed more screen time as Holly Carver, and Timothy Simons and Danielle Pinnock are a winning pair as TV co-hosts, Emerson and Kit.

Eddie Murphy barely breaks a sweat as Chris Carver, and neither does Tracee Ellis Ross as Carol Carver. Still, they work well together as a screen couple at the center of this delightful family fare. Despite what some fans may think, Eddie Murphy has the magic touch when it comes to family films. Murphy passes on the lessons that Chris has to learn with a knowing wink and a nudge, and I was willing to buy it all. I think I'll be watching Candy Cane Lane again, if only because, for two hours, it made me believe in that Hollywood bullshit called “Christmas magic.”

B+

7 of 10

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, December 10, 2023

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Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Review: "HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL." is Both Funny and Ruthless

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 of 2023 (No. 1891) by Leroy Douresseaux

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (2022)

Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)

MPA – R for language and some sexual content

DIRECTOR: Adamma Ebo

WRITER: Adamma Ebo (based on her short film)

PRODUCERS: Sterling K. Brown, Jessamine Burgum, Matthew R. Cooper, Amandla Crichlow, Kara Durrett, Adanne Ebo, Regina Hall, Daniel Kaluuya, and Rowan Riley

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alan Gwizdowski

EDITORS: Ali Greer and Stacy Moon

COMPOSER: Marcus Norris

COMEDY/RELIGION

Starring: Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, Nicole Beharie, Conphidance, Austin Crute, Dever Rogers, Robert Yatta, Greta Glenn, and Selah Kimbro Jones

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is a 2022 comedy-drama and mockumentary (mock documentary) film from writer-director Adamma Ebo. The film is Ebo's directorial debut and is also a feature-length adaptation of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul, her 2018 short film. Oscar-winner Jordan Peele is one of the film's executive producers. Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. the film focuses on the first lady of a megachurch as she attempts to help the pastor of the church rebuild his congregation in the wake of a scandal.

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is largely set in and around Wander to Greater Paths Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The film introduces Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) and his wife, the church's “First Lady,” Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall). Lee-Curtis preaches the “prosperity gospel,” and he and his wife live a lavish lifestyle that is a big as their megachurch.

Once upon a time, Wander to Greater Paths (WGP) had about 25,000 congregants, but Pastor Lee-Curtis became embroiled in a notorious scandal that involves multiple sexual misconduct allegations. Lee-Curtis and Trinitie were forced to close the church after backlash and a mass exodus of congregants.

Now, a year later, the Childs plan to reopen the church in one month on Easter Sunday. They have also hired a documentary film crew to chronicle their lives and the preparation during the run-up to the reopening. However, Trinitie finds the crew and its director, Anita Bonet, to be intrusive. Also, the Childs struggle to get people interested in their return, so Lee-Curtis comes up with an idea for a roadside ministry, entitled “Honk for Jesus.” Will that scheme save the church … and the couple's marriage?

Some of you, dear readers, are familiar Pentecostal televangelist (television evangelist), Jimmy Swaggart. Beginning in 1988, a series of scandals, two of them involving Swaggart's relationship with prostitutes, caused him to lose a significant number of congregants at his megachurch, Family Worship Center, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His Jimmy Swaggart Bible College also saw a drastic drop in enrollment, largely in part to his 1988 sex scandal.

A former coworker of mine was a devout Christian, and he considered Swaggart to be a hypocrite because of his scandals. I told him that I did not quite see it that way. I argued that the most successful evangelical preachers were probably intimately familiar with sin, especially related to sexual activity. I said that what made Swaggart a hypocrite wasn't him sneaking around for some kind of sexual contact with a prostitute, but rather that he frequently condemned people who were engaged in sexual activity of which he did not approve. He insisted that other sinners pay a price for sexual improprieties that he clearly did not expect to pay himself.

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is not the greatest mockumentary (which is still This is Spinal Tap), but it is a very good comedy about characters that are difficult when laid bare. Honk for Jesus. Save You Soul. makes it clear that the Childs, especially Pastor Lee-Curtis, are oblivious and lack self-awareness. Lee-Curtis condemns those engaged in the same kind of sexual activity which brought him down, and his behavior is also predatory. It is not just the nature of his sin; it is also that he betrayed the trust of the people who relied on him for help.

Sterling K. Brown shines as Pastor Lee-Curtis, depicting him not as evil, but as narcissistic, vain, and material. His faith, God, the Bible, and his success are about himself and not about salvation or about “saving souls.” He collects “saving souls” and congregants seemingly the same way he collects Italian suits and clothing, jewelry, and cars. Brown deftly conveys to the audience that the reopening of Wander to Great Paths is all about shining on Lee-Curtis and not necessarily on God.

I think the film really turns on Regina Hall's performance, a mixture of comedy, drama, and pathos. From start to finish, Hall's performance chronicles the difficulty that is Trinitie's mission to save their church. Although she is known for comedy, Hall shows serious dramatic chops in conveying the ultimate futility of the couple's quest, especially in those painful scenes in which she faces either their detractors or Lee-Curtis' victims.

Mock or faux documentary films are generally comedies, although they have dramatic and poignant moments. Writer-director Adamma Ebo pulls off the trick of producing a mockumentary that is more drama than comedy. Getting a great performance from her cast, especially Regina Hall, is what makes Ebo's film highly original and even more substantive than mockumentary films generally are. My take is that Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is both a portrayal of a corrupted megachurch pastor and first lady and also a commentary on the megachurches that pedal the prosperity gospel.

Mockumentary films generally always seem to be a tad bit longer than they need to be, and they are at their best in their first acts. The best energy in Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is in its second half, especially its last act.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

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Saturday, December 10, 2022

Review: Netflix's "THE POWER OF THE DOG" is Certainly a Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 74 of 2022 (No. 1886) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)

MPA – R for strong sexuality and language

DIRECTOR: Jane Campion

WRITER: Jane Campion (based on a novel by Thomas Savage)

PRODUCERS: Jane Chapman, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier, Tanya Seghatchian, and Emile Sherman

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ari Wegner (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Peter Sciberras

COMPOSER: Jonny Greenwood

Academy Award winner

WESTERN/DRAMA

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Genevieve Lemon, Peter Carroll, Frances Conroy, Alison Bruce, Keith Carradine, Thomasin McKenzie, Ramontay McConnell, Adam Beach, and Maeson Stone Skuggedal

The Power of the Dog is a 2021 Western drama film from writer-director Jane Campion. It is based on the1967 novel, The Power of the Dog, from author Thomas Savage. The Power of the Dog the movie focuses on a charismatic rancher who torments his brother, his brother's new wife, and her son.

The Power of the Dog opens in rural Montana, 1925 and focuses on Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch). Phil is, along with brother, George Burbank (Jesse Plemons), wealthy ranch-owners. George meets Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst), a widow and inn owner, during a cattle drive. The kindhearted George is quickly smitten with Rose, but Phil, always coarse and volatile, dislikes her and considers her nothing more than a gold-digger who wants George's money.

Phil also belittles Rose's teenage son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), whom he derides as weak and effeminate – a sissy. George and Rose soon marry, and Rose comes to live at the Burbank brothers' isolated ranch estate and manor home. However, Rose withers under Phil's torment. Sometimes later, Peter comes to stay and things begin to change...

The Power of the Dog is a ridiculous title for a film, but I like it for a novel. The film is a psychological drama dressed in the rags of a Western. Its narrative focuses on two despicable characters (Phil and Pete) and two meek, but lovable and sympathetic characters (George and Rose).

I would not describe any of the characters as vague so much as they reflect a narrative that is oblique, which in turn reflects on characters with pinched personalities. Benedict Cumberbatch's Phil Burbank is mean and spiteful, but just like that, one day, he turns all … gay over a weirdo kid he only hated just a few seconds ago. Kodi Smit-McPhee's Peter may be the film's most well-developed character; it is obvious that there is a lot going on with him. He is more than the audience can imagine and apparently quite the litle psycho-sociopath.

As I said, Kirsten's Dunst's Rose and Jessie Plemons' George are lovable, but are slight characters. They both received Oscar nominations in supporting acting categories; whether they deserved them or not is a matter of opinion. I will say that Dunst spends most of the film crying and sniveling and yelling and stumbling around. Jesse Plemons is barely a whisper in the wind as George, and sometimes it seems as if George's entire screen time amounts to only a few minutes. Of course, he is onscreen more than that; it's just that he seems to be on it much less...

I can see why actor Sam Elliot questioned The Power of the Dog's credibility as a Western. The film lacks a central, focused voice, and girl, Westerns have voice. It is not a bad film. The Power of the Dog does indeed have some power and some powerful moments, but director Jane Campion sublimates the passion and the urges she says define this film. The film lacks heart and is unhurried to the point of being meandering.

My original plan was to write a review of The Power of the Dog that was comprised of a single question mark. However, the film's shock ending gave me a reason to say more. I guess I'm one critic who is not buying into The Power of the Dog.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, December 10, 2022

NOTES:

2022 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Achievement in Directing” (Jane Campion); 11 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, and Roger Frappier), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Jane Campion), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jesse Plemons), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Kirsten Dunst), “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Grant Major-production design and Amber Richards-set decoration), “Best Sound” (Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie, and Tara Webb), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Ari Wegner), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Peter Sciberras), and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Jonny Greenwood)

2022 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Film” (Jane Campion, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier, Tanya Seghatchian, and Emile Sherman) and “Best Director” (Jane Campion); 6 nominations: “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Jane Campion), “Best Leading Actor” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Supporting Actor” (Jesse Plemons), “Best Supporting Actor” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), “Best Cinematography” (Ari Wegner), and “Original Score” (Jonny Greenwood)

2022 Golden Globes, USA: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture-Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and “Best Director-Motion Picture” (Jane Campion); 4 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Kirsten Dunst), “Best Screenplay-Motion Picture” (Jane Campion), and “Best Original Score-Motion Picture” (Jonny Greenwood)

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Thursday, April 28, 2022

Review: Pixar's "LUCA" is a True Disney Instant Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 of 2022 (No. 1838) by Leroy Douresseaux

Luca (2021)
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG for rude humor, language, some thematic elements and brief violence
DIRECTOR: Enrico Casarosa
WRITERS: Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones; from a story by Enrico Casarosa, Jesse Andrews, and Simon Stephenson
PRODUCER: Andrea Warren
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: David Juan Bianchi (D.o.P.) and Kim White (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Catherine Apple and Jason Hudak
COMPOSER: Dan Romer
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: (voices) Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, Jim Gaffigan, Peter Sohn, Lorenzo Crisci, Marina Massironi, Gino LaMoica, Sandy Martin, and Sacha Baron Cohen

Luca is a 2021 computer-animated, coming-of-age, fantasy film directed by Enrico Casarosa, produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film focuses on a two sea monster boys disguised as humans and the human girl they befriend.

Luca opens sometime in the 1950s in and around the Italian Riviera. Below the surface of the waters of the Riviera live a group of sea monsters. Luca Paguro (Jacob Tremblay), a timid young sea monster, herds goatfish below the coast of the small Italian town of Portorosso. Luca is curious about the human world, but his parents, Daniela (Maya Rudolph) and Lorenzo Paguro (Jim Gaffigan), fear that the humans might hunt him for food. Thus, they forbid him from approaching the surface.

One day, Luca meets Alberto Scorfano (Jack Dylan Grazer), a fellow sea monster boy who lives alone above the surface on Isola del Mare. Alberto encourages Luca to venture out of the ocean, showing him that sea monsters turn into humans when their bodies become dry, but return to their true forms when they become wet. Alberto invites Luca to his hideout where the boys connect and dream about owning a Vespa (an Italian luxury brand of scooter) so that they can travel the world.

Venturing into Portorosso as humans, the boys discover that a local children's triathlon, the “Portorosso Cup,” is about to take place. They run afoul of Ercole Visconti (Saverio Raimondo), the local bully and five-time champion of the Portorosso Cup. They also meet a young girl named Giulia Marcovaldo (Emma Berman), the daughter of a fisherman, Massimo Marcovaldo (Marco Barricelli). Giulia has participated in the triathlon, but has never won. Hoping to win the money they need to buy a Vespa, Luca and Alberto form a team with Giulia. Through Giulia, Luca learns that there is so much more to the surface world, but his feelings for her threaten everything, including his plans with Alberto.

I could say that Luca is one of Pixar's most beautiful films, and I will, although that is redundant. Pixar's films always have beautiful visuals, and sometimes they are stunning and a wonder to behold. The film is drenched in the bright colors of the Italian Riviera and reinterprets them as if they were watercolor paintings.

Dear readers, perhaps you are familiar with the animated films of the Japanese master, Hayao Miyazaki. His films are a symphony of wondrous colors and stunning locales, and those films clearly have an influence on Luca on a number of levels, especially in terms of visuals and in the tone of the story. Luca's town of Portorosso may be named in honor of Miyazaki's 1992 animated film, Porco Rosso, which is also set in Italy.

I think the elements that really drive this film, its beauty aside, are the characters and voice performances. The characters are very well developed: their personalities, their goals, and fears. From Alberto's jealousy and fear of loss to Giulia's determination and open-mindedness, the viewer can believe in these characters. Luca is ostensibly a coming-of-age story focusing on Luca. His sense of adventure is overcome by his fear of trying new things, whether it is actually going to the surface world or going to school. In Luca, we see the film's themes of acceptance (accepting others, accepting help, and accepting oneself) and overcoming fear (especially the fear of change). Luca takes on a beautiful journey as we see the evolution of the title character, and as for the coming-of-age angle, this film feels like only the first chapter of Luca's coming of age.

The voice performances make the characters seem like real people. If there were an Oscar for voice performances, Jacob Tremblay as Luca would be worthy of being nominated. Every performance is winning, from major characters to bit players. I am crazy about the performances here.

Dan Romer's beautiful score highlights and accentuates the journey of change and evolution that is Luca, both the film and the character. Luca is one of Pixar's most convincing boy characters, which is quite a feat in a filmography full of wonderfully drawn characters. Speaking of drawn, the character design and art direction and production design are on par with Pixar's best.

I always thought that I would like Luca, and now that I have seen it, I am in love with it. For me, Luca is one of Pixar's best ever films, and it is one of 2021's very best films I recommend it without reservation; everyone should see it.

10 of 10

Thursday, April 28, 2022

NOTES:
2022 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren)

2022 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren)

2022 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture-Animated”

2022 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Voice Performance” (Maya Rudolph)

2022 Image Awards (NAACP): 1 nomination: “Outstanding Animated Motion Picture”

The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Friday, March 18, 2022

Review: "COMING 2 AMERICA" is Simply a Nice Reunion Movie

Coming 2 America (2021) – streaming film
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language and drug content
DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer
WRITERS: Kenya Barris and David Sheffield & Barry W. Blaustein; from a story by Justin Kanew and David Sheffield & Barry W. Blaustein (based on characters created by Eddie Murphy)
PRODUCERS: Eddie Murphy and Kevin Misher
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Joe “Jody” Williams (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: David S. Clark, Billy Fox, and Debra Neil-Fisher
COMPOSER: Jermaine Stegall
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/ROMANCE

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne, Wesley Snipes, James Earl Jones, John Amos, Teyana Taylor, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Nomzamo Mbatha, Bella Murphy, Paul Bates, Akiley Love, Rotimi, Louie Anderson, Trevor Noah, and Morgan Freeman

Coming 2 America is a 2021 American comedy film from director Craig Brewer. It serves as a sequel to the 1998 film, Coming to America. The film originally streamed on Amazon Prime. In Coming 2 America, the crowned prince of a prosperous African nation discovers that he has an illegitimate son in America.

Coming 2 America opens in the African nation of Zamunda. It is the 30th anniversary of the wedding of Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) to Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley). They have three beautiful daughters: the eldest, Meeka (KiKi Layne); the middle, Omma (Bella Murphy); and the youngest, Tinashe (Akiley Love).

Akeem is summoned before his dying father, King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones), and the King's shaman, Baba (Arsenio Hall). King Jaffe is upset that Akeem never sired a son, and by Zamundan law, only a male can inherit the throne. However, Baba reveals that Akeem did indeed sire a son in Queens, New York City when he visited the United States over three decades ago (as seen in Coming to America). In fact, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), Akeem's best friend and aide, knows the circumstances that led to Akeem conceiving a son with a bar patron.

Akeem and Semmi again travel to America where they meet Akeem's “bastard,” a young man named Lavelle Junson (Jermaine Fowler); his mother, Mary Junson (Leslie Jones), the bar patron; and Kareem “Uncle Reem” Junson (Tracy Morgan), Mary's brother and Lavelle's uncle. Akeem really needs Lavelle to return to Zamunda with him. He requires a son who can marry the daughter of General Izzi (Wesley Snipes), the leader of Zamunda's neighbor, Nexdoria. Izzi is a threat to Akeem and Zamunda, unless the two nations can be united by marriage. Can Lavelle be the heir Akeem needs, and if so, what about Akeem's eldest daughter, Princess Meeka?

Coming to America remains one of my favorite Eddie Murphy films, topped only the fantastic 1983 film, Trading Places. Coming 2 America is not so much a sequel as it is a film that acts like a sequel to Coming to America. The new film is more like one of the TV reunion movies of old 1950s and 1960s television series that used to pop up on network television in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Like them, Coming 2 America gives us our favorite old characters (at least the ones that are still alive) and some new characters, and sprinkles in some cameos, for instance, Morgan Freeman and his famous voice.

As usual, Ruth E. Carter delivers solid gold with her costume design, and the film's production values are marvelous. The film has a good song score and soundtrack. There are a lot of funny scenes in Coming 2 America, but overall, the film's narrative drags. Most of the film takes place not in America, but in Zamunda, although the scenes that take place in America (Queens, NY) pop and are generally fun.

There is not much else to say other than that I really like Coming 2 America as a reunion movie. I have been a fan of Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall for decades, and I am always happy to see them. So, to be honest, I am happy that Coming to America has a sequel, of sorts, in Coming 2 America.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, March 18, 2022

NOTES:
2022 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling” (Michael Marino, Stacey Morris, and Carla Farmer)

2022 Black Reel Awards: “Outstanding Costume Design” (Ruth E. Carter)

2022 Image Awards (NAACP): 2 nominations: “Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture” and “Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation Album” (Eddie Murphy, Craig Brewer, Kevin Misher, Randy Spendlove, Jeffrey Harleston, Brittney Ramsdell for the album “Coming 2 America” – Amazon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Thursday, February 3, 2022

Review: "HALLOWEEN KILLS" is the Best "Halloween" Sequel in Decades

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 of 2022 (No. 1815) by Leroy Douresseaux

Halloween Kills (2021)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence throughout, grisly images, language and some drug use
DIRECTOR: David Gordon Green
WRITERS: David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Scott Teems (based on the characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill)
PRODUCERS: Malek Akkad, Bill Block, and Jason Blum
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Simmonds (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Tim Alverson
COMPOSERS: Cody Carpenter, John Carpenter, and Daniel Davies

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Nick Castle, Will Patton, Thomas Mann, Jim Cummings, Dylan Arnold, Robert Longstreet, Anthony Michael Hall, Charles Cyphers, Scott MacArthur, Michael McDonald, Kyle Richards, Nancy Stephens, Diva Tyler, Lenny Clarke, Brian Mays, Sr., Michael Smallwood, Carmela McNeal, Jibrail Nantambu, and Omar Dorsey

Halloween Kills is a 2021 slasher-horror film from director David Gordon Green. It is the twelfth installment in the Halloween film series and is a direct sequel to the 2018 film, Halloween, and to the original Halloween, the 1978 film that was the first in the series.

Halloween Kills opens on October 31, 1978 in Haddonfield just after the events depicted in the original Halloween (1978) film. Michael Myers failed to kill Laurie Strode, but he survived being shot by Dr. Samuel Loomis. Now, the sheriff's department is desperately searching for Michael. While searching for him in the ruins of his childhood home, Deputy Frank Hawkins (Thomas Mann) accidentally shoots his partner, Peter McCabe (Jim Cummings), dead while trying to save him from Michael. Hawkins also prevents Dr. Loomis from executing Michael.

Forty years later, on October 31, 2018, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis); her adult daughter, Karen Nelson (Judy Greer), and Karen's daughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), have escaped Laurie's fortified house. They believe that they have defeated Michael Myers who had returned to do what he had not forty years earlier – kill Laurie Strode. They believe that Michael will die in Laurie's now-burning house, even as they see firefighters responding to the blaze.

While the medical staff of Haddonfield Memorial Hospital try to save the badly injured Laurie's life, survivors of Michael original rampage celebrate the 40th anniversary of Michael's imprisonment. Two of them are the adult Tommy Doyle (Michael Anthony Hall) and the adult Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards), the two children Laurie Strode was babysitting back in 1978 the night Michael attacked. When Tommy learns that Michael Myers has returned to Haddonfield, Tommy forms an every-growing mob of vengeful Haddonfield residents to hunt down and kill Michael. Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Laurie and an older Deputy Frank Hawkins (Will Patton) wonder if Michael can really every be stopped.

Halloween Kills is the sequel to Halloween 2018, which is both a direct sequel to Halloween 1978 and a reboot of the entire franchise. Halloween 2018 literally made all the sequel films to the 1978 film irrelevant. Halloween Kills, however, takes elements from one of those sequels, the excellent Halloween II (1980), and rewrites them to explain what happened to Michael immediately after the events of the 1978 film. In Halloween II, Michael escapes the police and stalks Laurie to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. In Halloween Kills, the sheriff and his deputies and Dr. Loomis capture Michael before he ever makes his way to the hospital to attack Laurie again.

In fact, Halloween Kills pretty much keeps the now-elderly Laurie Strode in the hospital and out of the fight this time around. Halloween Kills is the first Halloween film that pits Michael Myers against the residents of Haddonfield rather than having him stalk Laurie Strode, a version of her, or a descendant, while killing anyone who happens to be connected directly or indirectly to his target.

I like that. It refreshes the franchise in a way that Halloween 2018 did not. Halloween Kills is honest, in a way. Michael Myers won't be killed off because, as a movie character and as intellectual property, he is a cash cow. In the world of the film, Michael suffered injuries in Halloween 1978 and 2018 that should have caused his death. The very nature of his violence creates the atmosphere and conditions that keep him alive and returning to kill more. Michael can't be killed, even in the world of these films.

I like Halloween Kills much more than I liked Halloween 2018. The inventive script and David Gordon Green's aggressive and confrontational directing style result in two good things. First, the actors' performances are individualized, so no one is the same. Thus, when Michael kills a character, it feels like he is killing a real resident of Haddonfield rather than a generic victim in a horror film's typically high body count. Let's be honest, dear readers, the main problem with the Friday the 13th horror film franchise is that the vast majority of the victims seem like the same people.

Secondly, Green and company offer some of the most creatively brutal kills that the audience will find in a slasher horror film. No one killing is the same, and they all seem well thought out even when they happen quickly. I really enjoyed Halloween Kills, and several times, I caught myself cheering and whooping it up. I will say that Halloween Kills is a near-masterpiece of the genre, and it is a more worthy successor to Halloween 1978 that Halloween 2018 is.

8 of 10
A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint syndication rights and fees.

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Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Review: "Nomadland" is Frances McDormand's Land

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 64 of 2021 (No. 1802) by Leroy Douresseaux

Nomadland (2020)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – R for some full nudity.
DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao
WRITER: Chloé Zhao (based on the non-fiction book by Jessica Bruder)
PRODUCERS: Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, and Chloé Zhao
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Joshua James Richards (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Chloé Zhao
COMPOSER: Ludovico Einaudi
Academy Award winner including “Best Picture”

DRAMA

Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, Charlene Swankie, and Bob Wells

Nomadland is a 2020 drama film directed by Chloé Zhao. The film is an adaptation of the 2017 nonfiction book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, by author Jessica Bruder. Nomadland the film depicts the real-world phenom of “nomads” people who live as transients, traveling around the United States and living in motor vehicles (“vandwelling”). The film portrays this through the eyes of a woman who leaves her hometown to live as a vandwelling working nomad.

Nomadland opens sometime in 2011. Sixty-something Fern (Frances McDormand) recently lost her job after the “US Gypsum Corporation” plant in Empire, Nevada shut down. Fern had worked there for years along with her husband, who recently died. Empire, a company town of US Gypsum, basically becomes a ghost town as almost everyone leaves after the jobs disappear.

Fern decides to sell most of her belongings and purchases a van, which she names “Vanguard.” It becomes her new home. Fran travel the country searching for work, sometimes working at an Amazon fulfillment center. When she isn't at Amazon, Fern embarks on a journey through the American West, a modern-day nomad, living in her van. Is this her new life or is it just a temporary state?

It has been noted that a number of real-life nomads and vandwellers appear as themselves in Nomadland, especially of note, Bob Wells, one of the best known proponents of vandwelling. However, Nomadland, despite its title, is not so much about nomads and vandwelling as it is about Fern's journey. The film's writer-director Chloe Zhao chronicles Fern's evolution from someone who becomes a vandweller out of necessity into someone who seems to fully embrace the life of a nomad.

In that, I can see why McDormand would go on to win the Academy Award for “Best Actress” for her performance as Fern. McDormand creates in Fern a character that seems so real that I found myself believing that Fern was a real person. This certainly helps to sell the docudrama mode Zhao sometimes adopts to tell particular chapters of this film. In a career filled with virtuoso performances, Nomadland presents one of McDormand's very best. Although the film does have another professional actor, David Strathairn, playing a character named “Dave,” a nomad who falls in love with Fern. However, Strathairn and his character seem like a sapling trying to stay rooted in the hurricane that is McDormand's performance.

Nomadland is poetic and poignant; sometimes, it is poignant to the point of being too sorrowful to watch. The film captures the restlessness in Fern, and its director captures the precariousness of Fern's new lifestyle. Nomadland is about Fern's journey and life in Nomadland. The “nomadland” and its nomads, are there to serve the purpose of her story. If the film's title were more honest, it would be entitled “Fern” or “Fern in Nomadland.” Nomadland is like a series of vignettes about Fern more than it is an actual story about something.

Still, Nomadland is a powerful character study that is successful because it is in the hands of both a powerful actress, Frances McDormand, and highly-skilled film director, Chloe Zhao, who can create multiple layers within the story of a character. Nomadland reminds me of director Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980). People see it as a great film, while I see it as a good, but meandering film that has built a great reputation largely on a truly great, generational performance by by its leading man, Robert DeNiro (who also won the “Best Actor” Oscar for this role). Nomadland is a really good, but meandering film that has built a great reputation on...

As a character study, Nomadland is an exceptional film, but it has no larger meaning beyond being an exceptionally well-made film. Nomadland is one of those film's that will make some people ask, “What's the point of this?” Art for art's sake? Oscar bait? – I couldn't really answer that question. However, I will give Nomadland a higher grade than I gave Raging Bull.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, October 31, 2021

NOTES:
2021 Academy Awards, USA: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, and Chloé Zhao), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Frances McDormand), and “Best Achievement in Directing” (Chloé Zhao); 3 nominations: “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Chloé Zhao), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Chloé Zhao), and “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Joshua James Richards)

2021 BAFTA Awards: 4 wins: “Best Film” (Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, and Chloé Zhao), “Best Leading Actress” (Frances McDormand), “Best Director” (Chloé Zhao), and “Best Cinematography” (Joshua James Richards); 3 nominations: “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Chloé Zhao), “Best Sound” (Sergio Diaz, Zach Seivers, and Mike Wolf Snyder), and “Best Editing” Chloé Zhao)

2021 Golden Globes, USA: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Chloé Zhao); 2 nominations: “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Chloé Zhao) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Frances McDormand)

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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