Warner Bros. Announces Shark Movie, "Meg" for March 2018

Meg Slated to Dive into U.S. Theaters on March 2, 2018

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures has set a March 2, 2018 U.S. release date for the new science fiction action thriller based on Steve Alten’s book, ”Meg.”

The film will be co-financed by Flagship Entertainment; Gravity Pictures, a division of China Media Capital (CMC); and Warner Bros. Pictures. Gravity Pictures will distribute the film in China and Warner Bros. will distribute the film throughout the rest of the world.

Jon Turtletaub (the “National Treasure” movies, “Last Vegas”) will direct the film. The film stars Jason Statham (“Spy,” “Furious 7,” “The Expendables” films) and award-winning Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (“Buddha Mountain,” “Iron Man 3,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past”).

Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Belle Avery and Colin Wilson are producing the film, with Wei Wayne Jiang, Barrie M. Osborne, Randy Greenberg and Gerald R. Molen serving as executive producers.

An international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, is under attack by an unknown danger, and its deep-sea submersible lies disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. With time running out, former Naval Captain and expert deep sea diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by Dr. Zhang Suyin, lead oceanographer of the program, for what is likely a suicide mission. Years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying threat, which forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew, resulting in disgrace and a dishonorable discharge. Now, Taylor must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below…bringing him face to face once more with the apex predator of all time.

Principal photography and production will begin later this year in China and New Zealand.

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Review: "Furious 7" is Furious and Bittersweet

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

[A version of this review first appeared on Patreon.]

Furious 7 (2015)
Running time: 137 minutes (2 hour, 17 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for prolonged frenetic sequences of violence, action and mayhem, suggestive content and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: James Wan
WRITER: Chris Morgan (based on the characters created by Gary Scott Thompson)
PRODUCERS: Vin Diesel, Neal H. Moritz, and Michael Fottrell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen F. Windon and Marc Spicer
EDITORS: Christian Wagner, Leigh Folsom Boyd, Dylan Highsmith, and Kirk Morri
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler

ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Kurt Russell, Djimon Hounsou, Lucas Black, Nathalie Emmanuel, John Brotherton, Tony Jaa, Ali Fazal, Ronda Rousey, Iggy Azalea, Sarah Sohn, Noel Gugliemi, T-Pain, Luke Evans, and Sung Kang

Furious 7 is a 2015 action movie from director James Wan and released by Universal Pictures.  It is the seventh installment in The Fast and the Furious movie franchise.  Furious 7 is set after the third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, but follows the events of Fast & Furious 6.  In Furious 7, a new enemy seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family.

Dominic “Dom” Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), and their friends are trying to live a normal life, but that is a bit more complicated than they imagined.  Dom is troubled that his longtime girlfriend and ride-or-die chick, Letitia “Letty” Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), is having trouble regaining her memories.  Brian struggles with domestic life as a husband to Mia (Jordana Brewster), who is also Dom's sister, and as a father to their small son, Jack.

Meanwhile, trouble is brewing overseas.  Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), the older brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), swears revenge against Dom and his racers who defeated Owen (in Fast & Furious 6), leaving him in a coma.  Deckard infiltrates the DSS (Diplomatic Security Service) office in Los Angeles to get information on Dom and company.  In the process, Deckard severely injures Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), who brought Dom and his race team into his hunt for Owen Shaw.

After Deckard launches a series of attacks on his friends and family, Dom reunites Brian, Letty, Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), and Tej Parker (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), to find Deckard.  They get help from Frank Petty (Kurt Russell) a.k.a. “Mr Nobody,” the leader of a covert ops team.  However, Deckard finds an ally in Mose Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), a mercenary and terrorist who leads a private military company.  Now, all parties are chasing Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), a computer hacktivist and her creation, God's Eye.

One cannot talk about Furious 7 without making note of the death of actor Paul Walker in November of 2013.  Walker and Vin Diesel were the face of The Fast and the Furious franchise.  Walker was only half-finished with the scenes he needed to film for Furious 7 when he died.  Stand-ins for Paul, including his brothers, Caleb and Cody Walker, and the judicious application of computer-generated imagery were used to finish the rest of Walker's scenes.

Other than for a few scenes and some dialogue/audio, I could not tell the difference between Paul and the Paul stand-ins.  Besides, Furious 7 is so full of over-the-top, eye-popping, and breath-taking action scenes and sequences that my focus was on taking it all in and not on detecting real-Paul vs. faux-Paul.  Yes, Paul's death hangs over Furious 7, but not in a morbid way.  This film is a celebration of the work for which Walker is best known and for which he will be best remembered.

I do find Furious 7 to be a little too long, but there is no point in talking about the art of filmmaking when it comes to Furious 7.  Yes, it is well acted, surprisingly so.  James Wan seems superfluous as director; any of the three directors who have helmed previous installments of this franchise could have directed this film.  The script is half well-written, in terms of drama, and half-ridiculous, as the screenplay for a movie like Furious 7 must be.

When talking about Furious 7, we must talk about the action.  I loved the Predator drone; the multi-million dollar sports car driven through three skyscrapers; the Caucasus Mountains sequence that begins with five vehicles dropped from an airplane; the Tony Jaa-Paul Walker fights; and the awesome Dwayne Johnson-Jason Statham fisticuffs, to name a few.  This is not a great film, but it is fast and furious.  So why let Furious 7 be the last one?  Keep 'em coming.

6 of 10
B

Friday, October 30, 2015


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Transporter 2" Offers Good Fight Scenes, Little Else

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 141 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Transporter 2 (2005)
Running time:  88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, sexual content, partial nudity, and brief language
DIRECTOR:  Louis Leterrier
WRITERS:  Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen (based upon characters created by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen )
PRODUCERS:  Steve Chasman and Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Mitchell Amundsen
EDITOR:  Walter Mauriot, Christine Lucas Navarro, and Vincent Tabaillon
COMPOSER: Alexandre Azaria

ACTION/MARTIAL ARTS/THRILLER

Starring:  Jason Statham, Alessandro Gassman, Amber Valletta, Katie Nauta, Matthew Modine, Jason Flemyng, Keith David, Hunter Clary, Shannon Briggs, François Berléand, and Raymond Tong

Transporter 2 is a 2005 French action thriller from director Louis Leterrier and maestro Luc Besson and stars Jason Statham in the title role.  It is a sequel to the 2002 film, The Transporter.  In Transporter 2, mercenary Frank Martin is in Miami, Florida where he is implicated in the kidnapping of  the young son of a powerful U.S. government official

Transporter 2 is set in Miami, Florida.  There, ex-Special Forces operative, Frank Martin (Jason Statham), lives in retirement, but is still providing services as a transporter.  Martin is a professional driver with almost-supernatural driving skills in a supa dupa car who can transport anyone or anything – no questions asked.  For the past month, Frank has been the driver for the wealthy Billings family, driving young Jack Billings (Hunter Clary) back and forth to school.

When Gianni (Alessandro Gassman), a powerful gun-for-hire and criminal operative, has Jack kidnapped, Frank rushes to the rescue.  However, Jack has been injected with a deadly virus as a ploy to poison his father, Jefferson Billings (Matthew Modine), and in turn spread the deadly virus, killing Mr. Billings’ government and business associates.  Frank defies and eludes the FBI, who believes that he is behind the plot, while he tries to uncover Gianni’s master plan and stop a disastrous epidemic.

There was no reason for a sequel to 2002’s The Transporter, other than that it was an international box office hit.  Transporter 2 is not as good as the first, mainly because the original had Frank Martin in a romantic entanglement that was the humanizing element of the film against its manic martial arts-inspired fight sequences and unrelenting gun violence.  Corey Yuen, the director of the first film, is back for Transporter 2 only as the fight choreographer, and while his successor, Louis Leterrier, benefits from Yuen’s work on the fight scenes, Leterrier didn’t inherit anything else from the original.  Thus, Transporter 2’s fight sequences are excellent in keeping with the spirit of The Transporter, but there just ain’t no soul.  I was only mildly entertained with this as a movie, but I bet electronic games fans would get a kick out of this as a video game.  We shouldn’t buy tickets to the cinema to see a flick and get instead a video game.  The child character, Jack Billings, could have been the soul of this film, they way the love interest was in the original, but Jack is just the object that starts the ball rolling towards a series of violent, supernatural, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Hero martial arts fight scenes.

Jason Statham has a nice film personality, but this time he wears Frank Martin as if he’s just a video game character and Transporter 2 is just the latest installment in a video game franchise.  If you waited to see the first film on home video, it would only be right to wait for Transporter 2 on DVD and home video, as it is inferior and should not be honored with the movie ticket purchase you didn’t give the first film.  This might sound nerdy and pretentious, but Transporter 2 is a pedestrian fight movie with great fights, but the kind of story that shows up in made-for-cable action movies.

5 of 10
C+

Revised: Thursday, September 3, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint syndication rights and fees.

Review: "The Expendables 3" is Best When the Old Dogs Run

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux (Support the author on Patreon)

The Expendables 3 (2014)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence including intense sustained gun battles and fight scenes, and for language
DIRECTOR:  Patrick Hughes
WRITERS:  Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, and Sylvester Stallone; from a story by Sylvester Stallone (based on characters created by David Callaham)
PRODUCERS:  Les Weldon, Avi Lerner, Danny Lerner, Kevin King-Templeton, and John Thompson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Menzies, Jr.
EDITORS: Sean Albertson and Paul Harb
COMPOSER:  Brian Tyler

ACTION with some elements of drama

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kelsey Grammer, Antonio Banderas, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Ronda Rousey, Kellan Lutz, Terry Crews, Jet Li, and Robert Davi

The Expendables 3 is a 2014 action movie from director Patrick Hughes.  It is the second sequel to the 2010 film, The Expendables, and the third movie in the The Expendables film franchise.  In The Expendables 3, team leader, Barney Ross, replaces his old teammates with some new blood for a showdown against a former friend turned arms dealer.

The Expendables 3 opens with the Expendables:  Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) the leader; his right-hand man, Lee Christmas (Jason Statham); Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren); Toll Road (Randy Couture); and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), on a new mission.  They seek to rescue Doc (Wesley Snipes), one of the original Expendables.

With Doc in tow, the Expendables head to Mogadishu, Somalia to capture billionaire arms dealer, Victor Minns.  However, Minns turns out to really be Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), who co-founded the Expendables before going rogue.  After the Expendables' mission goes horrible wrong, Barney dismisses his current team.  When he faces Stonebanks again, Ross plans on having a younger team that is also not connected to him in any personal or emotional way.  But are the new Expendables:  Thorn (Glen Powell), Luna (Ronda Rousey), Marlito (Victor Ortiz), and John Smilee (Kellan Lutz), really ready to take on an Expendables mission?

Released in the late summer of 2010, The Expendables was a surprising gem, an explosive action film that was a throwback to the old macho, testosterone-fueled action films of the 1980s.  However, The Expendables was not some homage, parody, or sentimental recollection of action movie days gone by.  As I said in my review of the first film, it was “an authentic ass-kicking, ass-stabbing, cap-popped-in-ass action movie...”

The Expendables 3 is full of old relic-type actors from the 1980s and 90s – stars who dominated the movie box office and one television star.  The story toys with the idea that the old folks must make way for the new stars, but ultimately, it only plays with such a notion.  Honestly, I want to see Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, and Arnold Schwarzenegger more than I want to see Ronda Rousey and Kellan Lutz (nothing against them).

I can't quite express how much I enjoyed seeing Kelsey Grammer (as Bonaparte), an actor about whom I have always had mixed feelings, and Harrison Ford (as Max Drummer).  Ford is really showing his seven decades, but he's still cool.  The Expendables 3 is at its best when it showed the old dogs in action, which is what made the original film such a treat.  So, if there is a fourth film in this franchise, I want more aged beef and less fresh meat.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, July 1, 2015


NOTES:
2015 Razzie Awards:  1 win: “Worst Supporting Actor” (Kelsey Grammer, also for Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return; Think Like a Man Too; Transformers: Age of Extinction); 2 nominations: “Worst Supporting Actor” (Mel Gibson) and “Worst Supporting Actor” (Arnold Schwarzenegger)

The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Father and Daughter Hold Down the "Homefront"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Homefront (2013)
Running time:  101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, pervasive language, drug content and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR:  Gary Fleder
WRITER:  Sylvester Stallone (based upon the novel by Chuck Logan)
PRODUCERS:  Sylvester Stallone, Kevin King Templeton, John Thompson, and Les Weldon
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Theo van de Sande
EDITOR:  Padraic McKinley
COMPOSER:  Mark Isham

CRIME/ACTION/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring:  Jason Statham, James Franco, Izabela Vidovic, Kate Bosworth, Marcus Hester, Winona Ryder, Clancy Brown, Omar Benson Miller, Rachelle Lefevre, Frank Grillo, Chuck Zito, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Linds Edward, and Austin Craig

Homefront is a 2013 crime thriller and action movie from director Gary Fleder.  The film is loosely based on the 2005 novel, Homefront, by author Chuck Logan.  Homefront the movie focuses on a former DEA agent who moves to a small town, where he soon catches the attention of a local drug lord.

Homefront is a mean, gritty little bastard of a film.  It is a true southern gothic in the tradition of such movies as White Lighting (a Burt Reynolds classic), Deliverance, and Walking Tall.

Widowed ex-solider Phil Broker (Jason Statham) works undercover for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).  After an operation goes bad, Broker retires, and he and his 10-year-old daughter, Maddy (Izabela Vidovic), move to the quiet Southern town of Rayville.  However, the small town is riddled with drugs and violence, and, after Maddy gets into a fight at her new school, Broker discovers that Rayville is not as idyllic as it seems on the surface.  Broker catches the attention of Gator Bodine (James Franco), a local drug lord with big ambitions.  Those ambitions cause Gator to go into Broker’s past, which brings trouble for everyone.

It is too easy to mock a screenplay written by Sylvester Stallone; after all, he has been writing movie scripts for four decades.  His Homefront screenplay is tightly written, perhaps a bit too tightly.  The movie runs at about an hour-and-a-half of actual story time, which is too short for the plot and characters.  Stallone introduces several characters and establishes them as potentially having a major impact on the story.  Many of them, however, end up being used sparingly, especially the teacher Susan Hetch (Rachelle Lefevre), who might have romantic feelings for Broker.  Cassie Bodine Klum (Kate Bosworth), as a character connected to both Broker and Bodine, has the most potential to improve the drama in Homefront, but, except for a few scenes, Cassie is underutilized.

What Stallone’s script gets right is the relationship between Broker and his daughter, Maddy.  The film takes the time to establish how important both characters are to each other.  The movie emphasizes two things:   as a family that recently underwent loss, Broker and Maddy are in a fragile state and also that external threats are not the only things that can damage the family.  Maddy is every bit as stubborn and determined as her father, and her love for him won’t deter her from confronting him.  So when the bad guys start attacking, the audience will buy into the threat to the family because the film made the bond and relationship between Broker and Maddy seem genuine and honest.

Fear not, Jason Statham fans; our guy gets to kick ass and pop caps.  Director Gary Fleder and film editor Padraic McKinley largely eschew CGI god-tech and instead, offer old-fashioned, no-gloss gunfights that will glue your attention to the screen.  The bone-crunching, ball-rupturing, face-smashing fights are short and to the point, and I found myself re-watching them.

Homefront is one of the better Jason Statham vehicles because his character seems more grounded in realism.  Phil Broker is both susceptible to being hurt and has something to lose.  And because this movie was not a box office success, we likely won’t get to see Statham as Broker in another film – a pity.

6 of 10
B

Sunday, March 09, 2014


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

Review: "The Italian Job" Remake Quite Slick

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 174 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Italian Job (2003)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and some language
DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray
WRITERS: Donna Powers and Wayne Powers (based on the 1969 screenplay by Troy Kennedy-Martin)
PRODUCER: Donald De Line
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Wally Pfister (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Richard Francis-Bruce and Christopher Rouse
COMPOSER: John Powell
Black Reel Award winner

ACTION/CRIME with elements of a thriller

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland, Jason Statham, Seth Green, Mos Def, Franky G, Gawtti, and Shawn Fanning

The subject of this movie review is The Italian Job, a 2003 heist film from director F. Gary Gray. It is a remake of the 1969 film, The Italian Job, which starred Michael Caine and was directed by Peter Collinson.

The current version is quite entertaining, but a bit on the sedate side. Perhaps, the filmmakers mistook a low-key approach and a low wattage use of pyrotechnics as being cerebral. It’s not necessarily slow, but TIJ is an action movie meant for the kind of people who prefer action crime thrillers like Out of Sight and Ronin. Because I really liked those two films, I heartily recommend this one.

Career thief John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) and his protégé Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) plan a successful heist of $35 million in gold in Venice, Italy. One of their crew, the slick and violent Steve (Edward Norton), however betrays them, kills Bridger, and steals the gold. Croker tracks Steve to Los Angeles where he’s living it up. Seeking revenge and the return of the gold, he convinces Bridger’s daughter Stella (Charlize Theron), a legitimate, professional safe cracker, to join him and his crew on a mission against Steve. The team plans to pull of the heist of their lives by creating L.A. largest traffic jam ever.

Director F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set it Off) might not stand head and shoulders above the current large group of technically talented film helmsman, but he has found his niche by producing entertaining and occasionally masterful crime thrillers. As laid back as The Italian Job seems, Gray gives each scene some special twist or essence that kept me watching. I was never bored, and I really enjoyed the film. Maybe Gray playing down loud explosions and kinetic editing is a good thing. He can certainly direct excellent helicopter/car chases, and he makes good use of a diverse cast of character actors, a pretty lead actress, and a solid leading man in Mark Wahlberg.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Film: Best Director” (F. Gary Gray); 2 nominations: “Best Film” (Donald De Line) and “Film: Best Supporting Actor” (Mos Def)

Review: "The Expendables 2" is Darker, But Still Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 88 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux - support on Patreon.

The Expendables 2 (2012)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence throughout
DIRECTOR: Simon West
WRITERS: Richard Wenk and Sylvester Stallone; from a story by Ken Kaufman & David Agosto and Richard Wenk (based on characters created by David Callaham)
PRODUCERS: David Lerner, Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton, John Thompson, and Les Weldon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shelly Johnson
EDITOR: Todd E. Miller
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler

ACTION

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Scott Adkins, Nan Yu, Charisma Carpenter, Chuck Connors, and Terry Crews with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Summer 2010 movie season offered an unexpected treat, The Expendables, an explosive action film co-written, directed, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It was a throwback to the macho, testosterone-fueled, action flicks of the 1980s.

The subject of this movie review is its sequel, The Expendables 2, a 2012 action movie from director Simon West. Like its predecessor, The Expendables 2 is not an homage to or parody of action movie days-gone-by. It is an authentic ass-kicking, ass-stabbing, cap-popped-in-ass action movie, but it is a little darker and more downbeat than the original.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is still the leader of the Expendables, an elite band of mercenaries. Ross and his right-hand man/knife specialist, Lee Christmas (Jason Statham); martial artist Yin Yang (Jet Li); unstable Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren); demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture); weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Terry Crews); and the new guy, sniper Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth), charge into Nepal on a rescue mission. It is a success, of course, but Ross and the Expendables have a debt to pay. So says secretive CIA agent, “Mr. Church” (Bruce Willis).

Soon, the Expendables are escorting one of Church’s operatives, Maggie Chan (Nan Yu), to a crash site in the Gasak Mountains, Albania. The item that the Expendables are trying to retrieve is also the target of Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme), the leader of a large mercenary band called the Sangs. After one of the Expendables is brutally murdered, Ross leads his team into hostile territory on a mission of revenge.

Early in The Expendables 2, even with the crazy opening in Nepal, it is obvious that this is a darker movie. This sequel replaces the cartoonish and stylish violence with more grit. It seems that just as many, if not more people are casually shot and also shot to pieces, but there is something meaner here. Perhaps, it is this film’s chilly shooting locations in Bulgaria, or maybe it’s the story.

More than the original film, The Expendables 2 is a Sylvester Stallone movie, and the theme, or at least emphasis, is that his character, Barney Ross, has come to a morbid conclusion about his life. He’s a tired, old soldier, but this dog still has a lot of fight in him. But Ross is simply determined not to drag any new people into the meat grinder that is his place of work and profession. The other Expendables are largely in the background compared to the first movie, which is hugely disappointing to me. Still, wise-ass Jason Statham gets many opportunities to spread his wings of sarcasm, and he has some cool, solo martial arts fight scenes. That’s worth the price of admission.

Stallone and some of his costars are starting to look real hoary because of plastic surgery. In fact, there is enough plastic surgery between some of them that it would not be too snarky to say that they are starting to look like action figure toys. Anyway, if you liked the first movie, you’ll likely like the second. The Expendables 2 is good enough to make me ready to go on a third mission with Ross and company.

6 of 10
B

Friday, November 23, 2012

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The Transporter: Best Chuck Norris Movie Ever

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 229 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Transporter (2002)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violent sequences and some sensuality
DIRECTORS: Louis Leterrier with Corey Yuen
WRITERS: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
PRODUCERS: Steve Chasman and Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pierre Morel
EDITOR: Nicolas Trembasiewicz

ACTION/THRILLER/CRIME with elements of martial arts and drama

Starring: Jason Statham, Qi Shu, Matt Schulze, François Berléand, and Ric Young

The subject of this movie review is The Transporter, a 2002 French action film from writer/producer Luc Besson. The film is the first in a series starring Jason Statham as a driver-for-hire who will deliver anything, anywhere with no questions asked.

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is a “transporter,” a man who makes deliveries in his 7-series BMW, moving either people or packages from one place to another, no questions asked. A serious of unfortunate events begins for Frank when he opens a “package” and discovers that it contains human cargo: a young Asian woman, bound and gagged. He falls for the young woman named Lai (Qi Shu) and decides to help her after she throws some lovin’ on him, but it sends him against a seemingly endless number of men who want to kill him.

The Transporter is the kind of big, splashy, American-style action movie that French filmmaker Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) loves to make, either as writer, producer, and/or director. The Transporter is big, dumb, highly entertaining and lots of fun, based entirely on the lead Jason Statham’s tough guy persona and also on several high-octane, chop-socky-on-steroids-fight sequences. After watching about half of it, I realized that The Transporter is the best Bruce Lee movie made since Lee’s untimely demise. Since the star Statham is white, that would make this the best Chuck Norris movie ever, since Norris was a clunky white version of Bruce Lee. So if you like Norris and lots of man-to-man fisticuffs, The Transporter is a hot one.

7 of 10
B+

"Crank" Don't Stank

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 60 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


Crank (2006)
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality, nudity, and drug use
WRITERS/DIRECTORS: Neveldine/Taylor
PRODUCERS: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Richard Wright, and Skip Williamson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adam Biddle (director of photography)
EDITOR: Brian Berdan

ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam, Carlos Sanz, Reno Wilson, Jay Xcala, Edi Gathegi, and Keone Young

In Crank, an action movie from the team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, a hit man tears through the streets of Los Angeles to get revenge on the man who fatally poisoned him, and he has to do it before the poison kills him. It’s like Speed, except instead riding a bus, we’re following a man on a mission.

Freelance killer Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) wakes up one morning to find that Ricky Verona (Jose Pablo Cantillo), a petty mob boss wannabe, has fatally poisoned him with something called the “Chinese cocktail,” which is designed to make his heart stop. The poisoning is supposed to be some kind of payback for Chelios’ hit on Chinese crime lord, Don Kim (Keone Young).

The clocks starts ticking when Chelios realizes that to stave off death, he must keep his adrenaline pumping. With no time to waste, Chelios cuts a swatch through Los Angeles, on a rampage for Verona with the hope of getting his revenge before he dies, and he has to tie up his loose ends soon. Verona made it clear to Chelios that he plans of savaging Chev’s girlfriend, Eve (Amy Smart), so Chelios races to save Eve, wreaking havoc on anyone who gets in his way – bystanders, cops, emergency workers, store clerks, etc. His hopes of finding an antidote, if it one really exists, may rest in the hands of a debauched and loony underworld physician named Doc Miles (played with creepy mellowness by Dwight Yoakum).

I don’t know if the writing and directing team of Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor are great filmmakers, but they’re highly skilled and bursting with enough visual tricks and shorthand that they can certainly make engaging movies. If talent borrows and genius steals, they’re somewhere in the middle. Watching Crank, I recognize the gigantic buffet of camera effects and editing techniques from other movies that the duo used, and I’m overjoyed that Neveldine/Taylor use them well. Crank is at heart like other American action films with their breakneck pace and testosterone, but look carefully a you’ll find a Whitman sampler of exploitation movies, Pacific Rim action films, and stylish British gangster flicks. Neveldine/Taylor cram it all into something that’s like a video game.

For all their visual cleverness and editing dexterity, Neveldine/Taylor benefit from having a truly great action movie star in Jason Statham. His moderate box office success as a leading man in action movies might be reminiscent of the late 80’s to early 90’s career of Steven Segal (or even Jean-Claude Van Damme), but Statham’s badass aura seems genuine. A tough guy with a balding buzz cut, he literally leaks testosterone, and the cameras that film the roughneck B-movie action flicks in which he stars lap it up.

Crank may seem like a completely disposable thriller for those in need of an adrenaline rush, but that’s not exactly entirely the case. Occasionally clumsy, Crank is well staged when it comes to getting the kicks out. What Neveldine/Taylor and Statham (their skills and style; his tough guy-ness) bring to this misbegotten movie-as-videogame is enough to make Crank stand out. You won’t forget this little movie because it’s the asshole that gave you a kick in the teeth when you thought all it was going to be was just another action movie.

6 of 10
B

Monday, April 02, 2007

Review: John Carpenter's Night of the Living "Ghosts of Mars"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence/gore, language and some drug content
DIRECTOR: John Carpenter
WRITERS: Larry Sulkis and John Carpenter
PRODUCER: Sandy King
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gary B. Kibbe
EDITOR: Paul C. Warschilka
COMPOSERS: John Carpenter, Anthrax, Steve Vai, and others

SCI-FI/HORROR/ACTION

Starring: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Clea DuVall, Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Richard Cetrone, Rosemary Forsyth, Liam Waite, Duane Davis, Lobo Sebastian, Rodney A. Grant, Peter Jason, Wanda De Jesus, and Doug McGrath

Ghost of Mars came and went so quickly in U.S. movie theatres that few had a chance to see it (although it’s debatable that many more wanted to see it). It is a low-tech sci-fi horror movie of the type that Carpenter is so good at making, and, for some, a Carpenter movie is always a special thing. Although not his best (that could be Big Trouble in Little China or Halloween) it’s far better than some of his lesser work (Village of the Damned and In the Mouth of Madness).

Set two centuries in the future on a Mars colony, a Martian police unit led by Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) and Natasha Henstridge (Species) are dispatched to a mining outpost to transport a dangerous criminal played by Ice Cube (Boyz in the Hood, Friday) to a prison outpost. When they arrive at the mining town, most of the inhabitants are missing. Henstridge’s Melanie Bradford and Cube’s James ‘Desolation” Williams must join together with a small band of survivors to fight miners possessed by vengeful Martian spirits determined to rid the red planet of humans.

Of all the actors, Cube is particularly shaky; obviously he was hired for his name value with black audiences. Certainly, he earned the assignment in particular to play himself, but curiously he seemed to have great difficulty doing just that. Erratic and inconsistent, he was on the verge of owning this movie if he’d only relax. His performance is forced and stiff; perhaps the SF milieu was a bit much for him.

Carpenter wastes Henstridge’s character, but that may have been more the writing’s fault than her acting. Bradford’s back-story hints at interesting possibilities, but this is an action movie, and one must never spend too much time on developing a female personality in an action movie.

There are, however, many very good moments in this movie that are quite chilling and invigorating: the discovery of the fate of Grier’s Helena Braddock, the spirit trapped in the land rover, Bradford’s possession and self-exorcism, the unleashing of the ghosts, the massing of a Martian army seen through a glimpse into the past, the reunion at the end, and many more.

The film is told mostly in flashback, and this makes it an effective ghost story. As Bradford tells the tale, the audience is on pins and needles waiting for the next bump in the night. One is anxious to get on with the macabre festivities, as if the revelation of each dark secret, which comes slowly, is necessary for the viewer’s safety, as well as that of the characters.

Carpenter, as he has many times, borrows tone and plot from the original Night of the Living Dead, his first viewing of which must have been a formative moment for him. The possessed miners, a more active version of George Romero’s zombies, are a hoot, especially Richard Cestrone’s awesome and scary Big Daddy Mars.

There are better sci-fi and horror movies, but issues of art and quality aside, there is nothing else like Carpenter’s touch. When he’s at least decent, as with Ghosts of Mars, his films are still a good thing to watch.

5 of 10
B-

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Review: Cute "Gnomeo & Juliet" Charms All Ages

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)
Running time: 84 min (1 hour, 24 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Kelly Asbury
WRITERS: Andy Riley, Kevin Cecil, Mark Burton, Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg, Steve Hamilton Shaw, and Kelly Asbury; from a story by Rob Sprackling, John R. Smith, Andy Riley, Kevin Cecil, and Steve Hamilton Shaw and from an original screenplay by Rob Sprackling and John R. Smith (based upon the play by William Shakespeare)
PRODUCERS: Baker Bloodworth, David Furnish, and Steve Hamilton Shaw
EDITOR: Catherine Apple
COMPOSERS: Chris Bacon and James Newton Howard
SONGS: Elton John and Bernie Taupin

ANIMATION/COMEDY/ACTION/ROMANCE

Starring: James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Ashley Jensen, Michael Caine, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Maggie Smith, Jason Statham, Ozzy Osbourne, Stephen Merchant, Patrick Stewart, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, and Hulk Hogan

Gnomeo & Juliet is a computer-animated film released earlier this year. A family film, it retells William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet using garden gnomes that walk and talk. Recordings of Elton John songs like “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” and “Your Song,” are the soundtrack to this classic love story with a twist.

Mrs. Montague (Julie Walters), with her blue house, and Mr. Capulet (Richard Wilson), with his red house, are next door neighbors and enemies. When they leave their homes, the objects in their backyard come to life. The Montague backyard is filled with blue garden gnomes, while the Capulet backyard has red garden gnomes, and like their masters, the blue and red garden gnomes are mortal enemies. They are constantly fighting or engaging in dangerous games like lawnmower races. The blues are led by Lady Blueberry (Maggie Smith) and the reds by Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine).

The garden gnome feud takes a complicated turn when Gnomeo (James McAvoy), son of Lady Blueberry, and Juliet (Emily Blunt), daughter of Redbrick, meet and begin a romance. When a lawnmower race goes horribly awry, Gnomeo is on the run and Juliet is confined to a fountain. Will their love prevail or will Gnomeo and Juliet come to the same tragic end as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet?

There is not much to say about Gnomeo & Juliet. It’s cute, often heartwarming, and surprisingly (at least to me) fun to watch. A movie doesn’t really have to be good to be entertaining, and while Gnomeo & Juliet isn’t by any means great, it has a few moments that you might find just delightful to watch. Exceptional animated films have great supporting characters, but this one doesn’t, although there are good ones that the film underutilizes (like Nanette the garden frog and Shroom the silent mushroom).

The Elton John songs, some of which are turned into instrumental melodies or interludes, are a mixed bag. The duets, with Lady Gaga on “Hello, Hello” and with Nelly Furtado on “Crocodile Rock,” are disappointing, especially the Gaga joint, which sounds like a symphony of warring cats. The film, however, makes good use of the classic songs.

That aside, Gnomeo & Juliet will delight its intended audience – children, but many adults are in for a surprise. They will find this wacky take on Romeo and Juliet sometimes witty and often charming.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, May 28, 2011

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"Gnomeo and Juliet" Arrives on Disney DVD and Blu-ray May 24th

This coming summer to the U.S., don’t miss the chance to bring home GNOMEO & JULIET - the hilarious twist on William Shakespeare’s legendary tale Romeo & Juliet as you’ve never seen it before, perfect for the whole family. Enter the secret world of garden gnomes and meet two adorable gnomes from completely different worlds who fight the odds to be together. From a director of Shrek 2, and featuring fun, all-new music by Sir Elton John, the out-of-the-ordinary animated comedy GNOMEO & JULIET releases on Blu-ray™, Blu-ray 3D™, DVD, Movie Download and On-Demand – May 24, 2011.

Uniquely packaged with families’ top of mind, GNOMEO & JULIET will be made available for purchase by Walt Disney Studios as either a 3-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray 3D + DVD with Digital Copy), a 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray 2D + DVD) and/or a 1-Disc DVD. Disney Blu-ray Combo Packs provide families with an enhanced entertainment experience – with the value and flexibility to enjoy your favorite movies on a variety of platforms of choice.

And for those who enjoy to learn more about the making of the film, GNOMEO & JULIET discs come enclosed with never-before-seen bonus features including “Elton Builds A Garden,” “Frog talk with Ashley Jensen,”, “Crocodile Rock Music Video featuring Elton John and Nelly Furtado.” And for those who purchase the Blu-ray Disc, it includes hours of extra exclusive bonus features including alternate endings, deleted scenes and more.

GNOMEO & JULIET is brought to life by the extraordinary voices of Golden Globe nominee James McAvoy (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) as Gnomeo; Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) as Juliet; Academy Award winner Michael Caine (Inception) as Lord Redbrick; Jason Statham (The Trasnsporter franchise) as Tybalt; Ashley Jensen (TV’s Ugly Betty) as Nanette; Patrick Stewart (X-Men franchise) as William Shakespeare; Ozzy Osbourne (TV’s The Osbournes) as Fawn and Maggie Smith (Harry Potter franchise) as Lady Blueberry.

Bonus Features:
DVD & Movie Download:
• Elton Builds a Garden
• Frog Talk with Ashley Jensen
• “Crocodile Rock” Music Video, featuring Elton John and Nelly Furtado

Blu-ray:
• DVD Bonus plus:
• 2 Alternate Endings with Filmmaker Introductions
• Deleted & Alternate Scenes with Filmmaker Introductions, including: 1 Alternate Opening, 1 Alternate Scene and 6 Deleted Scenes
• The Fawn of Darkness, featuring Ozzy Osbourne

Film Synopsis:
From a director of Shrek 2 comes your chance to step into the secret world of garden gnomes — Gnomeo & Juliet. Perfect for the whole family, this fresh and funny makeover of one of the world’s most timeless stories features music from Sir Elton John, and the voice talents of Emily Blunt, James McAvoy and Sir Michael Caine. Caught up in a feud between neighbors, Gnomeo and Juliet must overcome as many obstacles as their namesakes. But with flamboyant pink flamingos and epic lawnmower races, can this young couple find lasting happiness? Complete with hilarious never-before-seen bonus features, Gnomeo & Juliet is an out-of-the-ordinary animated comedy your entire family will love. We just gnome it!


Gnomeo and Juliet (Three-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy)

Review: Mediocre "The One" Has Lots of Good Jet Li (Happy 'B'day, Jet Li)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

The One (2001)
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 intense action violence and some language
DIRECTOR: James Wong
WRITERS: Glen Morgan and James Wong
PRODUCERS: Steven Chasman, Glen Morgan, Charles Newirth, and James Wong
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert McLachlan
EDITOR: James Coblentz
COMPOSER: Trevor Rabin

SCI-FI/ACTION/MARTIAL ARTS

Starring: Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham, and James Morrison

Longtime television writer (“X-Files,” “Millennium,” “Space: Above and Beyond”), James Wong begins his sci-fi, action-adventure movie, The One on an alternate earth where Al Gore is President of the United States (which elicited some delighted clapping from the audience with whom I saw the film). Within minutes of that opening, an unbelievable fast and powerful villain has killed a convict who looks exactly like him. After a protracted chase, two armed men Roedecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Stratham), apprehend the super criminal.

We then learn that he is Yulaw (Jet Li), a former cop like Roedecker and Funsch, who has been killing alternate versions of himself. The universe is actually a multiverse, several universes instead of one. Yulaw finds his other universe opposites and kills them, thereby absorbing some of their energies. When he kills the last one, number 124, he may become like a god.

Cut to “our” world, Yulaw’s earth-twin, number 124, is a sheriff’s deputy named Gabriel (Jet Li again) happily married to his soul mate T.K. (Carla Gugino). When Yulaw intrudes upon Gabriel’s world, he finds that Gabriel has also absorbed the power of the other 123 versions of himself that Yulaw killed. Confused and unsure of Funsch as an ally, Gabriel must stop Yulaw without killing him lest Gabriel himself become a god and endanger all of existence.

When one views a Jet Li movie, one hopes to see the man who moves like a dance artist; in his body, the martial arts are indeed a performance art, and gymnastics are a fatal, beautiful craft. Like Jackie Chan, his body bubbles with enthusiasm. Both their screen gifts are not in the craft of how an actor uses language, but in emotions, exaggerated facial expressions, and movement. They both recall the film greats from the silent era and the golden age of Hollywood, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. They do have a major difference.

Whereas Chan is a comedian, Li is hardcore action star. Imagine a pint sized Clint Eastwood who uses his hands and feet rather than a big, phallic pistol. Picture a Bruce Willis hero with the charmed nine lives of a cat that uses Far Eastern methods of self-defense over a pistol. Best of all, filmgoers get a fine heir to the Bruce Lee film hero.

Li, who was the wildcard in Lethal Weapon 4, doesn’t need a great script or director behind him; he is the movie. He gets neither in The One. Wong and Glen Morgan’s script is standard sci-fi claptrap, and Wong is a serviceable director who at least manages to capture dynamic movement of his star. Still, the story does occasionally get in the way of Li’s brilliance. Having to balance the nonsensical, fantastic elements draws the audience’s attention away from Li. Worm holes, black holes, and psuedo physics get in the way. We don’t need the science, but the fiction of this impossible superman played by a gifted screen actor is just what we want.

Delroy Lindo’s (Li’s co-star in Romeo Must Die) enormous talents are usually wasted or ignored in supporting roles, but it’s good to see him, even in a bad part. At least he got this job; it easily could have gone to a white actor. Stratham is an odd piece here as he was in John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars. So far he has only really seemed a good fit in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, but like Lindo, it’s fun to watch him most anytime.

See The One for its star, and forget the phony plot and sci-fi trappings, watching Li is a privilege.

5 of 10
C+

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Review: "The Expendables" is the Real Kick Ass

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 73 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux -
The Expendables (2010)

Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong action and bloody violence throughout, and for some language
DIRECTOR: Sylvester Stallone
WRITERS: David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone; from a story by David Callaham
PRODUCERS: Kevin King, Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton, and John Thompson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeffrey Kimball (director of photography)
EDITORS: Ken Blackwell and Paul Harb
COMPOSER: Brian Tyler

ACTION

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Giselle Itié, Charisma Carpenter, Gary Daniels, and Terry Crews with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger

The late summer 2010 box office season has offered one surprising gem, The Expendables, an explosive action film co-written, directed, and starring Sylvester Stallone. Much has been made of this film being a throwback to the old macho, testosterone-fueled action films of the 1980s. Indeed, this movie does have a First Blood and friends, Team Rambo vibe to it. In fact, 80s action stars, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, swagger (and wheeze a bit) through cameo appearances.

The Expendables, however, isn’t some homage, parody, or sentimental recollection of action movie days gone by. The Expendables is an authentic ass-kicking, ass-stabbing, cap-popped-in-ass action movie, and boy, is it good. [No panty-waists allowed!]

The story focuses on the Expendables, an elite band of mercenaries led by an American named Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone). The teams consists of Ross’ right-hand man, former Special Air Service soldier, Lee Christmas (Jason Statham); martial artist Yin Yang (Jet Li); sniper Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren); demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture); and weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Terry Crews).

Ross accepts a high-paying assignment from the mysterious “Mr. Church” (Bruce Willis) to assassinate General Garza (David Zayas), the brutal dictator of (fictional) Vilena, a small Caribbean island nation. On a reconnaissance mission, Ross and Christmas learn that Garza is being backed by James Munroe (Eric Roberts) a corrupt ex-CIA agent. With his henchmen, Paine (Steve Austin) and The Brit (Gary Daniels), Munroe manipulates Garza and his military into terrorizing the island’s inhabitants, while Munroe seeks to control the drug trade he once fought as CIA. Inspired by Sandra (Giselle Itié), a beautiful islander, Ross becomes determined to stop Munroe and Garza, even if he has to do it alone – although his Expendables obviously won’t let him.

I don’t remember 80s action movies being quite as violent and as gory as The Expendables, although Die Hard 2 had an equally high body count. The violence, however, is not a problem for me. Movies like the Jason Bourne franchise and the recent Live Free or Die Hard offer so much high-tech gloss that the low-tech, bloody mayhem of The Expendables is like cool, sweet lemonade on a scorching hot summer day. This is a meat and potatoes action movie in which brute force does the ass kicking without computerized weapons.

Of course, the acting is mostly mediocre, but still surprisingly sincere. Watching The Expendables, you might get the idea that these guys had fun making this movie, but still took their work very seriously. Jason Statham is the standout here, and Terry Crews’ Hale Caesar should have had more screen time, while Jet Li’s Yin Yang felt extraneous.

Stallone has surprised everyone and made a real action movie, a man’s man action movie. At his age and after plastic surgery, Stallone is starting to look like Boris Korloff’s Frankenstein. Still, by sticking to his old guns, he and his cinematic kitchen staff have made an action movie meal that sticks to the ribs. Hollywood should ask for The Expendables’ recipe.

7 of 10
B+

Monday, September 06, 2010

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