TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews: Movie review

Showing posts with label Movie review. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Review: I Have Loved Stanley Kubrick's "FULL METAL JACKET" a Long Time

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)

MPAA – R

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick

WRITERS: Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford (based upon Gustav Hasford’s novel)

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Douglas Milsome

EDITOR: Martin Hunter

COMPOSER: Abigail Mead

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/WAR

Starring: Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevin Major Howard, Ed O’Ross, and Peter Edmund

Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick co-wrote the film's screenplay with Michael Herr, a writer and war correspondent, and Gustav Hasford, a United States Marine Corps veteran who served as a war correspondent during the Vietnam War. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 autobiographical novel, The Short-Timers. Full Metal Jacket focuses on a pragmatic U.S. Marine who observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow Marines, from their brutal boot camp training at Parris Island to the bloody street fighting in Hue, Vietnam.

Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket is, to date, the best movie about the Vietnam Conflict shown from the point of view of an average Joe caught in the meat grinder of that war, and the film also makes the shortlist of the best movies about war. This is the 38th anniversary of the film's original theatrical release (specifically June 26, 1987)

Full Metal Jacket begins at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina with a platoon of fresh Marine Corps recruits – with the focus on three individuals. There is the tough Marine Corps drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey, an actual former U.S. Marine Corp Drill Instructor). Then, there are two recruits. First is J.T. Davis (Matthew Modine), whom Sgt. Hartman names "Private Joker." Next is Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D’Onofrio), whom Sgt. Hartman names "Private Gomer Pyle." The pragmatic Joker declares, much to Sgt. Hartman’s disdain that he joined the Marines to learn to be a killer, but training shockingly introduces Joker to the mortal danger of both training to kill and killing.

After Joker’s brutal basic training, the film goes into its second half. Joker is in Vietnam serving as a journalist, specifically a combat correspondent. He works behind the scenes until the “Tet Offensive” thrusts him into real combat because the military wants actual news coverage of the fighting. Joker arrives in Hue, Vietnam (in the first quarter of 1968), during what would become known as the “Battle of Hue,” a major battle during the Tet Offensive. The city is scene of much bloody street fighting. There, Joker is reunited with an old friend and fellow recruit from Parris Island, "Private Cowboy" (Arliss Howard). Joker joins Cowboy’s platoon where he must ultimately decide if he really is a killer and if the war has dehumanized him.

Full Metal Jacket is a film that is certainly worthy of long contemplation, but I’ll focus on a few things. Many people best remember this film for its first half, which takes place on Parris Island. Lee Ermey’s performance as the bestial drill instructor is like the film – relentless and straightforward. However, the beginning sells the idea that Marine recruits are basically machine made into Marines, as if the Corp were some kind of factory that produced material for war industry. The Corp makes humans with individual personalities into cookie cutter killing machines. Kubrick’s vision of this is so matter of fact and somewhat banal that the result is a work of cinematic high art that speaks of humanity, rather than being a piece of war movie entertainment. This beginning is so riveting and visceral that the second half of the film is a bit of a letdown.

When Full Metal Jacket moves to Vietnam, Kubrick keeps the film blunt and unadorned. Here, Kubrick emphasizes something that we may have missed at Parris Island; Matthew Modine’s Joker is a bit indecisive for a man who wanted to learn to be a “killer.” While Joker was more or less a supporting character at Parris Island, his are the eyes through which we see Vietnam. It’s a matter of fact world where things are as they are, without adornment and symbolism. The chaos, confusion, death, and destruction – things that Joker (and the audience) would take as abnormal – are the norm; in fact, it’s all quite ordinary. Kubrick creates a world where people are numb to upheaval and are just doing what they must to survive.

While in training, Joker tells us via voice-over that the Marines don’t want robots, but they want individuals, which doesn’t quiet seem true. Kubrick shows Joker’s need to be an individual, and how he struggles with fitting in with the Corp. Of course, there are no pat solutions. Joker’s world is so straightforward and obvious, but even the “right moves” are fraught with peril, deadly consequences, ill fates, and bad fits.

Kubrick is well served by cinematographer Douglas Milsome and editor Martin Hunter in creating Full Metal Jackets cold (not cool) mood. However, the film does sometimes seem a little too mannered, and some moments strike as obviously staged. Kubrick’s daughter, Vivian Kubrick (using the name, "Abigail Mead"), delivers an austere score. Part of it includes a stark sound partially created by her hitting kitchen implements and household, and it adds the finishing touch to the movie’s aura of an unfeeling existence. For all its aloofness, Full Metal Jacket is not just an epic war story; it is also an ultimately and painfully human story.

9 of 10

A+

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Saturday, February 18, 2006

EDITED: Monday, June 16, 2025

NOTES:

1988 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford)

1988 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Sound” (Nigel Galt, Edward Tise, and Andy Nelson) and “Best Special Effects” (John Evans)

1988 Golden Globes: 1 nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (R. Lee Ermey)

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Thursday, June 12, 2025

Review: "FRIDAY THE 13TH: A New Beginning" Fumbles a Chance to Be New and Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 27 of 2025 (No. 2033) by Leroy Douresseaux

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

Running time: 92 minutes

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: Danny Steinmann

WRITERS: Martin Kitrosser & David Cohen and Danny Steinmann; based on story by Martin Kitrosser & David Cohen

PRODUCER: Timothy Silver

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen L. Posey

EDITOR: Bruce Green

COMPOSER: Harry Manfredini

HORROR

Starring: Melanie Kinnaman, John Shepherd, Shavar Ross, Richard Young, Marco St. John, Carol Locatell, Ron Sloan, Tiffany Helm, Jerry Pavlon, Jere Fields, John Robert Dixon, Miguel A. Nunez, Jr., Debisue Voorhees, Dick Wieand, Dominick Brascia, Bob De Simone, Vernon Washington, and Corey Feldman

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is a 1985 slasher horror film from director Danny Steinmann. It is a direct sequel to the 1984 film, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and is the fifth movie in the Friday the 13th movie franchise. A New Beginning focuses on a young man who has a connection to Jason Voorhees and who is now living in an area beset by a series of brutal murders that resemble the work of Voorhees.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning begins with 12-year-old Tommy (Corey Feldman) facing the monster, Jason Voorhees, again. Now, in the present day, teenage Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd), still haunted by his past, has departed the “Unger Institute for Mental Health.” He is being transported to “Pinehurst Youth Development Center,” where he will receive treatment.

Managed by its director, Dr. Matthew Letter (Richard Young), and assistant director, Pam Roberts (Melanie Kinnaman), the center works on the “honor system” and gives its patients more freedom in their mental health journey. Tommy learns just how different Pinehurst is when he encounters a kid, Reggie the Reckless (Shavar Ross), who hangs around because his grandfather, George (Vernon Washington), is the center's cook.

Not long after Tommy arrives, however, a shocking and savage killing occurs at Pinehurst. That seems to kick off a brutal series of murders in the area. As the bodies pile-up, the area's top law enforcement official, Sheriff Tucker (Marco St. John), believes that Jason Voorhees is the killer. But Tommy Jarvis, as a 12-year-old boy, killed Jason (as seen in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter), didn't he?

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was apparently going to be the first in a new trilogy of Friday the 13th films featuring a different villain. Disappointing box office returns, however, meant that Jason returned as the villain in the series' sixth film, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986). Thus, A New Beginning remains only the second film in the series in which Jason Voorhees is not the main villain. The original film, Friday the 13th (1980), features (spoiler alert) Jason's mother, Mrs. (Pamela) Voorhees, as the killer.

Like the fourth film, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, A New Beginning has a high body count. I counted at least 15 people murdered. Like many of the films in the series, A New Beginning has an interesting menagerie of eccentric characters, many worth exploring, but all of them exist in the story in order to be murder victims or almost-murder victims.

This film's plot and narrative bounces around so that various characters can be killed. For me, the most interesting thing about this film is that it features some character actors whom I encounter in film and television from time to time. They are Shavar Ross, Marco St. John, and Miguel A. Nunez, Jr.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning has an interesting plot, characters, and setting, and the film's prologue or opening scene is surprisingly eerie and weird. This film in not really suspenseful, and it wants to be vulgar and raunchy as much as it is brutal and crude. Of course, it certainly is brutal and crude. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is a beginning that deserved to end after one film... but it could have been something better.

4 of 10

★★ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

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Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Review: In "THE ALTO KNIGHTS," De Niro is Twice as Nice

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 of 2025 (No. 2032) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Alto Knights (2025)

Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, three minutes)

MPA – R for violence and pervasive language

DIRECTOR: Barry Levinson

WRITER: Nicholas Pileggi

PRODUCERS: Barry Levinson, Jason Sosnoff, Irwin Winkler, Charles Winkler, and David Winkler

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dante Spinotti (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Douglas Crise

COMPOSER: David Fleming

DRAMA/CRIME/HISTORICAL

Starring: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Kathrine Narducci, Cosmo Jarvis, Michael Rispoli, Robert Uricola, Frank Piccirillo, Matt Servitto, Louis Mustillo, Joe Bacino, Anthony J. Gallo, James Ciccone, Wallace Langham, and Amadeo Fusca

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

-- Robert De Nero's standout performance in the dual roles as infamous mobsters Frank Costello and Vito Genovese is work of a artist who is aging very well

-- The Alto Knights does have a slow pace, but it is a beautiful that recounts a pivotal moment in the history of the American Mafia. So this is a film for mob movie fans

The Alto Knights is a 2025 American historical drama, biopic, and mafia movie from director Barry Levinson and writer Nicholas Pileggi. The film stars Robert De Niro in a dual role as real-life 1950s mob bosses, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. The Alto Knights focuses on two of New York City's most notorious organized crime bosses as these once best friends' distrust of one another leads to a silent and deadly mob war.

The Alto Knights introduces Frank Costello (Robert De Niro) and Vito Genovese (Robert De Niro), two New York City mob bosses. They were childhood best friends and partners in crime. Eventually, Vito found himself atop the Luciano crime family, but when he was forced to leave the U.S. in 1937 for fear of criminal prosecution, Vito put Frank in his place. When he returned a decade later, Vito was unable to reclaim his old position from Frank.

Now, the story opens in New York City, 1957. Frank returns to the apartment complex where he lives in the penthouse suite with his wife, Bobbie Costello (Debra Messing). Vincent Gigante (Cosmo Jarvis), a rising solider in Vito's crew, shoots Frank in the head near the elevator. However, the bullet does not penetrate and only seriously wounds Frank, but that attempt on his life does leaves him at a crossroads.

Sensing Vito's ambition to be the “boss of bosses,” Frank decides to retire, but Vito, who is both exceedingly ambitious and extremely paranoid, does not believe Frank's intentions. The distrust between them spills over into murderous violence. Soon, Frank realizes that his life and the safety of his wife are hanging by a thread. To be rid of the empire he painstakingly built, he may have to tear it all down.

If you watch such cable networks as “The History Channel” and “National Geographic,” dear readers, some of the real-life events depicted in The Alto Knights will be familiar to you. The Alto Knights' screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi has authored two nonfiction books about the American Mafia that were adapted into film. He wrote the screenplay adaptation of his 1995 nonfiction book, Wiseguy, which became director Martin Scorsese's 1990 film, Goodfellas. Scorsese and Pileggi brought the latter's 1995 nonfiction book, Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas, to life as the 1995 film, Casino. With his original screenplay for The Alto Knights, Pileggi takes some liberties with the relationships, both professional and personal, regarding and surrounding Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. However, the event that ends this film is a real-life turning point in the history of the American Mafia. Also, this film's title, The Alto Knights, takes its nae from “The Alto Knights Social Club,” a once prominent Mafia hangout in New York City's “Little Italy” neighborhood.

That aside, while some critics have derided this film as being full of tired mob movie tropes and of having a meandering pace, I think The Alto Knights is fantastic. Pileggi essentially distills the decades-long and complicated relationship between Frank Costello and Vito Genovese into a streamlined film that delves into history, biography, and character drama. Where some would say meandering, I would say that director Barry Levinson ruminates and dissects.

Levinson has always been a patient storyteller, perhaps a bit too much. [I found his Oscar-winning triumph, Rain Man (1988), to be painful to watch the one time I saw it.] Through the eyes of Frank and via his relation with Vito, Levinson recounts the time in which Americans really began to understand just how deeply the roots of the American Mafia were buried inside American politics and business.

The Alto Knights has visually impressive production values. The art direction and set decoration is like a “best of” edition of Architectural Digest Magazine. The costumes – from everyday work clothing to elegant evening attire – is sumptuous. The make-up and hair department, lead by Lori Hicks and Ruth G. Carsch, does the damn thing. The make-up and hair-styling in The Alto Knights deserves an art gallery show and probably its own “art of” coffee table book. This crew does as much as the actors in establishing who and what the characters are.

Speaking of acting, there are some good performances in the film, including a wry turn by Debra Messing as Bobbie Costello. However, the star here is Robert De Niro, and it should not be a surprise that De Niro convincingly fashions two distance personalities in Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. Subtly and quietly, De Niro reveals why these two men would ultimately clash; everything about each was the opposite of the other.

I seriously love The Alto Knights. It is one of the year's best dramas, thus far. I plan on watching The Alto Knights again, and I heartily recommend it to fans of historical films about the mafia.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

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Friday, June 6, 2025

Review: Netflix's "HAVOC" is Stylish, Blood-Splattered Fluff

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 of 2025 (No. 2031) by Leroy Douresseaux

Havoc (2025)

Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)

Rated: TV-MA

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Gareth Evans

PRODUCERS: Gareth Evans, Tom Hardy, Ed Talfan, and Aram Tertzakian

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matt Flannery (D.o.P.)

COMPOSER: Aria Prayogi

EDITORS: Sara Jones and Matt Platts-Mills

CRIME/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, Richard Harrington, Serhat Metin, Gordon Alexander, John Cummins, Jeremy Ang Jones, Yann Yann Yeo, Michelle Waterson, Narges Rashidi, Astrid Fox-Sahan, Luis Guzman, and Timothy Olyphant and Forest Whitaker

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

-- Havoc is a violent action movie with so much gun play that it would be okay to mistake it for something like a first-person shooter video game

-- Havoc seems like a video game that wants to be a movie, and as a movie it will entertain people who enjoy violent crime movies and action films

-- Otherwise, Havoc is an average film

Havoc is a 2025 crime and action-thriller film from writer-director Gareth Evans. The film is a co-production between the U.S. and the U.K. The film is a “Netflix Original” and began streaming on the service April 25, 2025. Havoc focuses on a beat-up detective who must rescue a politician's estranged son, after the son is implicated in the violent modern of young drug lord.

Havoc introduces Patrick Walker (Tom Hardy), a homicide detective who is estranged from his wife, Helena (Narges Rashidi), and daughter, Emily (Astrid Fox-Sahan). Walker is also on the payroll of the powerful real estate magnate and mayoral candidate, Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker). Beaumont's son, Charlie (Justin Cornwell), is implicated in the murder of Tsui (Jeremy Ang Jones), a young drug lord. Tsui's mother, Clarice Fong (Yann Yann Yeo), arrives in the city and demands that her legion of henchman find Charlie.

Knowing that Walker is compromised because he has been on the take from him, Beaumont demands that Walker find Charlie before he is killed. After insisting that this is the last job he will to do for Beaumont, Walker sets about searching for Charlie and his girlfriend, Mia (Quelin Sepulveda), who are on the run. However, the killing of Tsui is complicated and involves people who know how dirty Walker is because they have joined him in some of his dirtiest deeds.

I am a fan of director Gareth Evan's 2011 Indonesian crime-thriller, The Raid, which was released in the U.S. under the title, The Raid: Redemption. After that, I had not watched another of Evans films until Havoc, and I don't have a lot to say about it.

The cast is quite good. They are mostly people I don't know, but they deliver good performances. I am a fan of the film's star Tom Hardy and of Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, 2006). They also deliver good performances...

...But Havoc plays like a violent action-adventure video game that is transitioning into a violent crime and action film. In fact, the car chase scenes in this film look like game animation. The film's screenplay has back story and character drama, but ultimately Gareth Evans makes the drama and story take a backseat to the violent action. The violent gun play results in gory gunshot wounds, and every shooting victim is shot way more times than it should take to kill them.

Havoc looks like a first-person shooter video game, and it might make a good one at that. As a movie, it is average entertainment. Havoc won't be memorable, but it will help viewers pass the time.

5 of 10

C+

★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, June 6, 2025

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Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Review: "MICKEY 17" is Wacky, Withering and Awesome

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 of 2025 (No. 2030) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mickey 17 (2025)

Running time: 137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)

MPA – R for violent content, language throughout, sexual content and drug material

DIRECTOR: Bong Joon Ho

WRITER: Bong Joon Ho (based on the novel by Edward Ashton)

PRODUCERS: Bong Joon Ho, Dooho Choi, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Darius Khondji (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Jinmo Yang

COMPOSER: Jung Jae-il

SCI-FI/DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Daniel Henshall, Anamaria Vartolomei, Ellen Robertson, Michael Monroe, Patsy Ferran, Cameron Britton, Ian Hanmore, Jude Mack, and Stephen Park

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

-- Mickey 17 is an imaginative science fiction film and futuristic drama that is also a savage social critique of modern times. It is one of the best films of 2025

-- The film has the aesthetics of the European science fiction films of French director, Luc Besson, and of the work of the late French comic book author, Jean “Moebius” Giraud, but it movies like an American political comedy

-- The film has some standout performances from Naomie Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, and Toni Collette, but in a dual role, Robert Pattinson, in some ways, turns Mickey 17 into his own star vehicle

Mickey 17 is a 2025 satirical science fiction drama film from director Bong Joon Ho. The film is a U.

S. and South Korean production. It is based on the 2022 novel, Mickey7, written by author Edward Ashton. Mickey 17 follows a man who joins a space colony as a “disposable worker,” which means that he is reprinted every time he dies or is killed.

Mickey 17 opens in the year 2054 AD. Down on his luck young businessman, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), and his partner, Timo (Steven Yeun), borrow money from Darius Blank (Ian Hanmore), a murderous loan shark. Unable to pay back the loan and needing to get away, Mickey and Timo join a spaceship crew headed to Plant Niflheim as space colonists. Mickey gets the worse of the deal when he signs on an “Expendable.” It is a job filled with extremely dangerous tasks that often lead to death.

Every time Mickey dies or is killed, his body is thrown into a fiery pit. Various biological meat matter is run through a “cycler,” and Mickey is essentially cloned in a process called “Bodyprinting.” Mickey's memories, having been digitized, are inserted into the newly reprinted Mickey. During the voyage, Mickey falls in love with Nasha Barridge (Naomie Ackie), an all-in-one elite security agent on the ship. Each time, one Mickey is killed, Nasha loyally loves the next Mickey.

After arriving on Niflheim, more experimentation leads to more dead Mickey's until there is “Mickey 17.” During some reconnaissance, there is an accident, and Mickey 17 is believed to be dead. However, he is miraculously rescued in the most unexpected way. Now, returning to the ship, Mickey must face off with Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), the head of the expedition, who has sinister designs on Niflheim, and his boorish wife, Ilfa (Toni Collette). He must also solve the mystery of the planet's inhabitants, which the humans call “creepers.” Oh, and Mickey 17 has to deal with a surprising yet familiar newcomer.

I thought director Bong Joon Ho's 2013 South Korean film, Snowpiercer, was one of the best films released in the U.S. in 2014. I have yet to see his Oscar-winning film, Parasite (2019), but I was determined to see Mickey 17. Like Snowpiercer, Mickey 17 is a black comedy, but make no mistake. Mikey 17 is also a withering social critique of our modern world. From a society of have-nothings and have-everythings to a technocracy that uses people as disposable commodities, Mickey 17 skewers the current plutocracy and oligarchies. Mickey 17 holds a mirror to our modern world in which people are dehumanized on the alter of the material and technological pursuits of the powerful.

Mickey 17 reminds me of the European science fiction films of French director, Luc Besson (1997's The Fifth Element), and of the art of the late French comic book artist, Jean “Moebius” Giraud. Still, its breezy character drama and witty comedy feel like American entertainment, especially the way it skewers the film's villain, the thoroughly American Kenneth Marshall. As Marshall, Mark Ruffalo delivers a scathing send-up of whom else – our lumbering, drug-addled, egomaniac President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. I don't know if Bong Joon Ho wanted Ruffalo to play the character that way, but Ruffalo portrayal of a power-mad, racist, religious fake is both breathtaking and also a testament to his skills as an actor.

I don't want to skimp on praising the film's other stars. Naomie Ackie is a ball of energy as Nasha, and she grabs her time in the spotlight. Toni Collette is an acting treasure, and she delivers another great character performance – of course.

Still, let's be honest. Robert Pattinson – handsome Robert Pattinson – is a very talented actor, and he is a true movie star. The more I watched this film, the more I realized that Mickey 17 is essentially a Robert Pattinson star vehicle. There is nothing wrong with that, but Pattinson also delivers a performance that defines the film's themes of identity, independence, and empathy, as well as bring the story along as it delves into the nature of self and consciousness.

I can see why Mickey 17 did not perform well with theatrical audiences and with some critics. The film requires the viewer to wait almost an hour as it establishes its characters and settings before delivering the hook in the plot that reels the viewer into the heart of this daring and sometimes absurd film. Its mix of social sci-fi, black comedy, and satire is another example of Bong Joon Ho showing how he deftly blends genres and sub-genres into incomparable cinematic art. Mickey 17 is one of 2025's best films, and it rewards audience patience without an outstanding entertainment experience.

9 of 10

A+

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

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Saturday, May 24, 2025

Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING" is a Long Goodbye

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 23 of 2025 (No. 2029) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)

Running time: 169 minutes (2 hours, 49 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images, and brief language

DIRECTOR: Christopher McQuarrie

WRITERS: Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen (based upon the television series created by Bruce Geller)

PRODUCERS: Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Fraser Taggart (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Eddie Hamilton

COMPOSERS: Max Aruj and Alfie Godfey

ACTION/ADVENTURE/SPY/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Tramell Tillman, Rolf Saxon, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, and Henry Czerny and Angela Bassett

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

-- Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a Mission: Impossible film, and fans of the franchise will like it to one extent or another

-- However, even as a fan, I find it to be too long and not as good as the previous film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

-- I think that the possibility of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning being Tom Cruise's final Mission: Impossible film (at least as a lead) added to my desire to like it more than I probably should

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a 2025 action-thriller and espionage film directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise. It is the eighth film in the Mission: Impossible film series which began with the 1996 film, Mission: Impossible, and is based on the American television series, “Mission: Impossible” (CBS, 1966-73), that was created by Bruce Geller. This film is also a direct sequel to 2013's Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. In The Final Reckoning, Ethan Hunt learns that our lives are the sum of our choices as he and his IMF team race to stop an assassin from gaining control of a rogue AI that wants to destroy humanity.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning opens in the wake of the events depicted in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. The IMF (Impossible Mission Force) has failed to put an end to the machinations of either “The Entity,” the most powerful ever AI (artificial intelligence), or the assassin, Gabriel (Esai Morales), who wants to control The Entity. The Entity is plotting global nuclear annihilation against humanity.

IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) turns himself over to authorities and is brought before President of the United States Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), who was once the Director of the CIA. He asks her for the resources to find the sunken advanced Russian submarine, the “Sevastopol.” There, he hopes to obtain the “the Rabbit's Foot,” the core module that contains the original source code for The Entity. IMF computer technician, Luther Stickwell (Ving Rhames), has created malware in the form of a kind of flash drive that when inserted into the core module will help imprison The Entity where it can no longer be a threat to humanity.

President Sloane gives Ethan permission to act independently, and he brings together a new ragtag IMF team that includes technical field agent, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg); a professional thief, Grace (Hayley Atwell), a French assassin, Paris (Pom Klementieff), a U.S. intelligence agent, Theo Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis); CIA agent William Donloe (Rolf Saxon); and Rolf's wife, Tapeesa (Lucy Tulugarjuk). Ethan and his IMF team head to South Africa for an epic showdown while the world's nuclear powers await nuclear Armageddon.

I divide the six Mission: Impossible movies into two trilogies. Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), and Mission: Impossible III (2006) make up the first trilogy. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) form the second trilogy. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning are, for the time being, the two-part conclusion to Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise.

And let's be honest, unlike the original “Mission: Impossible” TV series, which was an ensemble espionage drama, the Mission: Impossible films are a Tom Cruise vehicle / espionage action movies. The Final Reckoning is all about Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt. Heck, the theme of this film is that Ethan's life is the sum of his choices. Yes, the other characters all get their moment or, in some cases, moments to shine, but this film is about Tom/Ethan.

Like Dead Reckoning Part One, The Final Reckoning is a non-stop thrill machine full of heart-pounding races, chases, standoffs, last-second escapes, and near death experiences with Tom Cruise running more than he ever has. I initially balked at Dead Reckoning's runtime of two hours and forty-three minutes, but the film didn't feel that long. The Final Reckoning feels too long at two hours and forty-nine minutes.

I don't really have anything else to say. Like all the previous films, The Final Reckoning is a perpetual thrill-machine. If it were any other film, I'd give it a grade of “B.” However, I am a sucker for both Tom Cruise and for his Mission: Impossible films, which I still, for the most part, re-watch. I will watch Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning again – many times, so it gets a preferential grade.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

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Saturday, May 17, 2025

Review: "THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR" Offers a Full Cup of Wes Anderson Sugar

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 of 2025 (No. 2028) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Wonderful Live of Henry Sugar (2023) – Live-Action Short Film

Running time: 40 minutes

MPA – PG for smoking

DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson

WRITER: Wes Anderson (based on the short story by Roald Dahl)

PRODUCERS: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, and Steven Rales

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Yeoman (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Andrew Weisblum and Barney Pilling

Academy Award winner

SHORT FILM – FANTASY and COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade

Roald Dahl's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a 2023 American live-action, fantasy and comedy-drama short film from director Wes Anderson. It is based on the 1977 short story, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” by Roald Dahl. [For this review, I will refer to the film as The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.] After a film festival debut and a limited theatrical release, the film began streaming on Netflix as a “Netflix Original” on September 27, 2023. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar the movie focuses mainly on the story of Henry Sugar whose life changes when he reads a story about a clairvoyant guru.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar opens in the writing hut of author Roald Dahl (Ralph Fiennes), who tells the tale of Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch). “Henry Sugar” is the pseudonym of a 41-year-old white man, a bachelor who inherited a fortune from his late father. Henry has never worked a day in his life and wanders the world aimlessly living the life of a useless rich man. While visiting the estate of his friend, “Sir William W,” Henry comes across a blue notebook containing the writings of Z Z Chatterjee (Dev Patel), the head surgeon at Lords and Ladies Hospital in Calcutta.

Chatterjee tells the story of his encounter with Imdad Kahn (Ben Kingsley), who is part of a traveling circus. Imdad is billed as “the man who sees without his eyes,” but before Imdad became this “clairvoyant guru,” he had an encountered with someone special. And the story of what happened to Imdad after this encounter will change Henry Sugar's life.

In anticipation of director Wes Anderson's new film, The Phoenician Scheme (2025), I decided to catch up on Anderson's films that I have not yet seen and re-watch some I'd previously seen. I'm also working on a “10 Best” list of Anderson's films.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the second time Anderson has adapted a work by author Roald Dahl. The other was 2009's primarily stop-motion animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was based on Dahl's 1970 children's book, Fantastic Mr. Fox. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is also one of four live-action short films directed by Anderson and based on Dahl's work. Netflix released the four of them as the anthology film, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, in March 2024.

Like Anderson's brilliant 2021 film, The French Dispatch, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is an exercise in Anderson's distinctive style of storytelling, featuring his particular visual aesthetic. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar looks like a mixture of a stage play performed on a series of shifting sets that are similar to dioramas, jewel boxes, and cabinets of curiosities. I think that The French Dispatch, thus far, is the ultimate expression of Anderson's style only because The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is only thirty-seven percent as long as The French Dispatch in terms of runtime.

With a main cast that is comprised of Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade, there are bound to be good performances. However, these are also the kinds of actors that both fit in and rise above being mere figurines in Anderson's panoramas or in any other “auteur's” work for that matter.

As for the film, Anderson offers a charming parable of spiritual growth that has a fairy tale, once-upon-a-time quality. I am sure that fans of Wes Anderson's films (like myself) will consider The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar special. People not familiar with the last 20 years of Anderson's filmmaking may not care for this... cup of sugar.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, May 17, 2025

NOTES:

2024 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Live Action Short Film” (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales)

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Friday, May 9, 2025

Review: Marvel's "THUNDERBOLTS*" Wants to Be "The New Avengers" So Badly

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 of 2025 (No. 2027) by Leroy Douresseaux

Thunderbolts* (2025)

Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive and drug references

DIRECTOR: Jake Schreier

WRITERS: Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo (based upon the Marvel Comics)

PRODUCER: Kevin Feige

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Droz Palermo (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Angela M. Catanzaro and Harry Yoon

COMPOSER: Son Lux (Ryan Lott, Rafiq Bhatia, Ian Chang)

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION and DRAMA

Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan, Olga Kurylenko, and Wendell Pierce

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

--Thunderbolts* is very entertaining. It fights a lot and talks a lot.

--The film's main character is really Yelena Belova. It would have been a better film with Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier as the lead, but Florence Pugh is quite good as Yelena

--Entertainment value aside, Thunderbolts* is Marvel Studios' least interesting team movie

Thunderbolts* is a 2025 American superhero fantasy film and action movie directed by Jake Schreier and produced by Marvel Studios. It is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film features Marvel Comics' “Thunderbolts,” an antihero and super-villain superhero team created by writer Kurt Busiek and artist Mark Bagley that first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #449 (cover dated: January 1997). Thunderbolts* the movie focuses on an unconventional team of antiheroes that takes on a conniving CIA official and a dangerous super-being while confronting their own dark pasts.

Thunderbolts* opens in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) destroys an O.X.E. Group laboratory on behalf of CIA director, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Valentina is facing a Congressional committee that wants to impeach her in order to have her removed as CIA director, so she is having to conceal all her illicit programs. One of those programs in need of concealment is the O.X.E. Group's “Sentry” project, which involves experimentation on humans in order to develop a superhuman.

Valentina dispatches Yelena to a remote O.X.E. facility on a mission to destroy sensitive materials. After entering the facility, however, Yelena discovers that she is not alone. John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) are also there, under the pretense of a mission. The real reason all of them are in the facility is so that Valentina can have them and any incriminating evidence against her be destroyed simultaneously. Another of this mission's surprises is the sudden appearance of a mysterious man named “Bob” (Lewis Pullman).

Now, Yelena and this bunch of reprobates embark on mission to punish Valentina, and they are joined by Yelena's father, Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). They gather in New York City for a showdown, but there are wildcards. Who is “Sentry?” And what is “Void?”

Thunderbolts* is like a sequel, of sorts, to the 2021 Marvel Studios film, Black Widow. It also references such previous Marvel Studios films as Marvel's The Avengers (2012) and the recent Captain America: Brave New World (2025), and also the Disney+ television series, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021), to name a few.

At the center of Thunderbolts* is Yelena Belova, and the good thing is that the actress playing the character, Florence Pugh, is quite good. Pugh gives Yelena gravitas, and I find myself believing almost everything about the character. That said I would have preferred Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes a.k.a. “The Winter Soldier” as the “magnetic center” of Thunderbolts*, but I guess the character has already had plenty of time to showcase himself in previous Marvel Studios productions.

Beyond those two characters, I found myself bored with Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina, although I am a long time fan of Louis-Dreyfus because of her role in the former NBC sitcom, “Seinfeld.” I like actor David Harbour as “Red Guardian,” but the character is a bit overwrought, while Hannah John-Kamen is overly wasted as “Ghost.” Geraldine Viswanathan is very nice in the supporting role of Mel, Valentina's assistant. Lewis Pullman, who seems very skilled at creating a new personality for each acting role he takes on, is very, very good as “Bob.” Marvel Studios would do well not to waste the potential of what Pullman can bring to the MCU.

All that said, Thunderbolts* is my least favorite MCU team movie. Don't get me wrong. It is a very entertaining film because director Jake Schreier makes the most of an offbeat screenplay and of the work of the film editors, cinematographers, and other collaborators. The result is that they deliver a movie that is surprisingly humorous and is often laugh-out-loud funny.

I don't buy all the depression and battling-personal-demons melodrama of the film's story. It is often overdone, contrived, and tedious enough to drag down the moments when that does feel genuine. There is enough enjoyment in Thunderbolts* to make me give it a relatively high rating. If this movie were made by most other film studios, however, I would give it a lower rating.

[Thunderbolts* has an extra scene in the middle of the credits and one at the end of the credits.]

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, May 9, 2025

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Sunday, April 27, 2025

Review: Prime Video's "WITHOUT REMORSE" is a Michael B. Jordan Showcase

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 of 2025 (No. 2026) by Leroy Douresseaux

Without Remorse (2021)

Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)

Rating: MPA – R for violence

DIRECTOR: Stefano Sollima

WRITERS: Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples; from a screen story by Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples (based on the novel by Tom Clancy)

PRODUCERS: Michael B. Jordan, Josh Appelbaum, Akiva Goldsman, and Andre Nemec

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Matthew Newman

COMPOSER: Jon Thor Birgisson

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Jamie Bell, Lauren London, Jacob Scipio, Todd Lasance, Jack Kesy, Lucy Russell, Brett Gelman, Colman Domingo, and Guy Pearce

Without Remorse is a 2021 American action and military thriller directed by Stefano Sollima and starring Michael B. Jordan, who is one of this film's producer. Also known as Tom Clancy's Without Remorse, the film is loosely based on the 1993 novel, Without Remorse, from author Tom Clancy (1947-2013). Without Remorse was originally produced by Paramount Pictures, which was set to release it. After some delays, Amazon Studios acquired the film and released it as a “Prime Video” original on April 30, 2021. Without Remorse the movie focuses on a Navy SEAL who seeks to avenge his wife's murder only to find himself inside of a larger conspiracy.

Without Remorse opens in Aleppo, Syria and introduces Senior Chief Petty Officer John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan). He is a member of a U.S. Navy SEALs team on a mission to rescue a CIA operative taken hostage by a para-military group. The situation escalates as the SEALs discover that the captors are actually Russian military, and Kelly becomes suspicious of CIA Agent Robert Ritter (Jamie Bell), who led this rescue mission.

Three months later, Kelly is living in Washington D.C. with his pregnant wife, Pam (Lauren London), when Russian FSB operatives invade their home and kill Pam and their unborn child. The attack is part of a series of attacks on members of the SEAL team that took part in the Aleppo mission. With the blessing of his SEAL team leader, Lt. Commander Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith), and Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay (Guy Pearce), Kelly joins a mission led by Greer and Ritter to Murmansk, Russia. There, Kelly hopes to avenge his wife, but he is about to discover that he is really just a pawn in a wide-ranging conspiracy that may lead to a war between the U.S. and Russia.

The late Tom Clancy was a prolific author of military-style action adventures and thrillers. I have not read any of his books, although I actually had or have copies of a few of them. Of the six feature films adapted from Clancy's work, I have previously watched and reviewed three: The Hunt for Red October (1990), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014). I saw Patriot Games when it was originally released to theaters back in 1992, but I have never reviewed it. Concerning Without Remorse, I would put it behind Clear and Present Danger, which is one of my all time favorite films (as well as being a favorite of my late mother's), and The Hunt for Red October, which has stood strong over the years.

Without Remorse has a riveting battle scenes and shoot outs. Sometimes, I felt as if I was also there in the film ducking certain death and bullets. Without Remorse's director Stefano Sollima makes excellent use of his film editor, sound team, and stunt performers. I am surprised that the intense and gripping action did not earn Without Remorse better reviews than it received.

There are reasons for that. The film's labyrinth of conspiracies ties the film's narratives in knots and confuses things. Sometimes, I had trouble keeping up with all the Russian bad guys and how they fit in as threats to the U.S. and to the Navy SEALs. Kelly's quest for vengeance and his relationship with Lt. Commander Greer have depth and weight, but most of the other characters are more espionage and military adventure stereotypes than they are full-formed and interesting characters.

Truthfully, I mainly wanted to catch up on my Michael B. Jordan films in the wake of seeing him star in director Ryan Coogler's incredible recent film, Sinners. Its imperfections aside, I really enjoyed Without Remorse and found it to be a very good and very entertaining film in a number of ways. I look forward to the planned sequel.

B+

7 of 10

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, April 27, 2025

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Thursday, April 24, 2025

Review: "STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH" is Darker Than Ever

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 82 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Running time: 140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some intense images

DIRECTOR: George Lucas

WRITER: George Lucas

PRODUCER: Rick McCallum

CINEMATOGRAPHER: David Tattersall (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Roger Barton and Ben Burtt

COMPOSER: John Williams

Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/FANTASY and ACTION/ADVENTURE and WAR/THRILLER

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, (voice) Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lee, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Silas Carson, Ahmed Best, and Kenny Baker

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American science fiction, war, action, and epic space opera film from writer-director George Lucas. It is the sixth film in the Star Wars film franchise, which began with 1977's Star Wars. Revenge of the Sith is chronologically the third film in the “Skywalker Saga,” and is a direct sequel to the second film in the saga, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Revenge of the Sith opens near the end of the Clone Wars, as a Jedi Master pursues a new threat, while his former apprentice is lured into a sinister plot for galactic domination.

George Lucas had access to digital cameras, computer generated images, or CGI, and better special effects for his Star Wars prequel trilogy, technology he didn’t have when he made his original trilogy. Still, after the first two films of the prequel trilogy, it was obvious that the newer series lacked the heart of the original series. It didn’t seem to resonate with audiences, critics, and hardcore Star Wars fans the way the original had.

That changes with the closing film of the prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Revenge of the Sith is about three times the film that Episodes I and II are, at least the second half of Sith is. The first hour gets bogged down in those SFX that Lucas loves so much and that, because of his over reliance on them, hurt the first two prequel films, but this time improved digital photography makes the merger of the real and CGI appear seamless. Watch this film and you realize that Lucas has learned one thing – make it look so good that they don’t see the smoke dissipating and the mirrors crack.

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith opens three years after the events depicted in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. The war between the Republic and the separatist’s droid army is at a standstill. Led by General Grievous, the separatists have laid siege to the Republic’s capitol home world, and Grievous is holding the Republic’s leader, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), hostage. The Jedi heroes, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), arrive just in time to rescue the Chancellor. After Anakin rescues him, the Machiavellian Palpatine, who has always taken an interest in the young Jedi hero, entices Anakin to become closer to him and takes him into his confidence.

As Jedi leaders, Obi-Wan, Yoda (voice of Frank Oz), and Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) try to hold the Republic together and defeat the separatists. Meanwhile, Anakin begins his journey to the Dark Side, putting his friendship with Obi-Wan and his marriage to his wife, Padmé (Natalie Portman), who is pregnant, at risk.

The CGI (computer generated imagery) and special effects blend in so well with the real actors and (what there is of it) props, better than they have in previous Star Wars films, perhaps because the film was shot using digital cameras. Don’t know, but I know the film looks darn good. Beautiful cinematography, riveting battle scenes set deep in space, over great cities, and in exotic alien locales. Maybe, Lucas decided that Star Wars films work best when they look like the kind of video games that really click with gamers – tight story, but even tighter action. Don’t let drama get in the way of great duels, spectacular battles, and awesome explosions.

The acting is shaky, and the actors deliver 98 percent of the mediocre dialogue in a mantra-like neutral monotone. Hayden Christensen waffles between acceptable and lame. Ewan McGregor is about the same as before. Samuel L. Jackson and Natalie Portman were better than I’d heard in early reviews of this film (at least to me). Ian McDiarmid is suave and deliciously evil as the Supreme Chancellor; he’s the great villain as superb cinematic dessert. Sadly, only the CGI Yoda matches the intensity that McDiarmid brings to his performance as the wicked Palpatine.

I won’t blame it all on the actors because it’s not as if the plot, script, and concept often make sense. Anakin is lame, unlikable, and whiny. The Jedi, at least the prequel version, aren’t as bright and as perceptive as one would assume of a group that wields such power; they certainly don’t have their shit together. Watch them interact with Anakin, and this whole “chosen one” thing just seems like malarkey; he doesn’t act like one, and the rest of the Jedi certainly don’t seem like they know how to handle one or at least monitor one.

Still, in spite of shaky internal logic and the senses-shattering siege of digital glory, Revenge of the Sith is, not only the best of the prequels, it competes with Return of the Jedi to be the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back. It’s fun, and the second half is so thrilling that it makes up for a meandering first half full of overdone effects. It’s tragic. It’s dark, and it sweetly unites the prequel trilogy with the original, answering some old questions and justifying some of the revisions Lucas has been putting the original series through for two and a half decades. It’s a grand finish, and if you’ve ever seen the 1977 film, Star Wars, or any other Star Wars film, then you must also see this one.

I must add that Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is my favorite of the prequel films for nostalgic reasons. It is the only Star Wars film that I watched with a group of friends, whereas I saw the others alone.

It is not that this is a great film, and it’s more skillful than artful. This is simply the best that a Star Wars prequel film could be. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is the one that brings balance to the Force.

8 of 10

★★★★ out of 4 stars

May 22, 2005

Reedited and rewritten: Tuesday, April 22, 2025

NOTES:

2006 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Makeup” (Dave Elsey and Nikki Gooley)

2006 Grammy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media” (John Williams)

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Review: Merchant Ivory's "THE WILD PARTY" Gets Wild... Eventually

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2025 (No. 2025) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Wild Party (1975)

Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: James Ivory

WRITER: Walter Marks (based on the narrative poem by Walter Moncure March)

PRODUCER: Ismail Merchant

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Walter Lassally (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Kent McKinney

COMPOSERS: Laurence Rosenthal; Walter Marks (songs)

COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: James Coco, Raquel Welch, Perry King, Tiffany Bolling, Royal Dano, David Dukes, Annette Ferra, Eddie Laurence, Bobo Lewis, Regis Cordic, Dena Dietrich, Baruch Lamet, Fred Franklyn, J.S. Johnson, Tom Reese, Michael Grant Hall, Skipper, Jennifer Lee Pryor, Mews Small, and Geraldine Baron

The Wild Party is a 1975 comedy-drama and music film from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. The film is loosely based on The Wild Party, a book-length narrative poem written by Joseph Moncure March and first published in 1926. Walter Marks wrote the film's screenplay and the song score. The Wild Party the movie focuses on a silent film comedian who throws a lavish party where he will screen his new silent film in hopes that it will save his failing career.

The Wild Party opens in 1929 at “St. Mark's Hospital” in Los Angeles, California. There, we meet James Morrison (David Dukes), who has heavy bandaging around his neck. He begins to recount the activities of the previous day, and the story moves to “Casa Alegria,” the palatial home of the silent film star and comedian, Jolly Grimm (James Coco), born “Carlo Grimaldi.”

James is a poet, but he did some screenwriting for Jolly's latest silent film, “Brother Jasper,” a comic and dramatic biopic about a monk. Jolly seems to have everything: wealth; a mansion; a faithful manservant and friend in Tex (Royal Dano), and an excellent maid and housekeeper in Wilma (Bob Lewis). Jolly also has a beautiful and faithful mistress, the former vaudeville dancer, Queenie (Raquel Welch). But Jolly no longer has Hollywood's interest.

Jolly was once a great star of the silent era, but sound film is taking over, and it has been a long time since Jolly has had a hit. Although he has self-financed the production of “Brother Jasper,” Jolly still needs to sell the film to a studio for distribution. He decides to throw a huge party at his mansion where he will screen the film for perspective buyers, especially the studio heads, A.J. Murchison (Regis Cordic) and Kreutzer (Eddie Laurence).

The party is complicated by the fact that Hollywood power couple, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, are also throwing a lavish gathering at their mansion and estate known as “Pickfair,” and some of the people Jolly and Queenie want to invite would rather go to Pickfair. Jolly is a heavy drinker, and at the party, the more he drinks, the angrier he becomes. The arrival of the virile young actor, Dale Sword (Perry King), and Queenie's interest in him are about to make a wild party have an ending wilder than anyone expected.

2025 is the fiftieth anniversary of the original theatrical release (1975) of the Merchant Ivory's film, The Wild Party. This month (April 2025), the cable network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), is screening several films from Merchant Ivory Productions. The Wild Party is scheduled to be one of them. After early, moderate success in the 1960s with such films as The Householder (1963) and Shakespeare Wallah (1965), Merchant Ivory suffered some lean years in the 1970s, and The Wild Party, which yielded disappointing box office results, was one of the films that defined the lean years.

The Wild Party's wild party doesn't really turn crazy until the last 40 minutes or so of the film. Until then, the film really talks too much – for a film about the end of “Silent Film era.” Still, James Coco's strong performance as Jolly Grimm and Raquel Welch's luminous looks and subtle portrayal of Queenie have a surprising allure.

However, I must say that The Wild Party's following departments: hair and make-up, costumes, and art direction and set decoration, are also this film's stars. The American rapper who goes by the stage name, “Da Brat,” once said that she liked Old Hollywood movies because (not an exact quote) they had class and everyone dressed up and went to clubs and parties. This Wild Party, a 1975 feature film, recalls the lavish backdrops and non-stop reverie of a certain kind of Old Hollywood film.

The Wild Party was apparently a troubled production, and neither director James Ivory nor producer Ismail Merchant found the endeavor pleasant. That aside, I like this film (although director Damien Chazelle's 2022 film, Babylon, is better at depicting the chaos of the transition from silent film to sound motion pictures). Although it never really comes together until the party really gets wild, there are a number of stand-out scenes, and many of the supporting actors and actresses have a moment to really shine. The Wild Party isn't a typical Merchant Ivory film, but it shows that everything they touch has, at the very least, the air of high quality, even if the substance of high quality is not present.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, April 24, 2025

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Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Review: "STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES" is Stuffed with Spectacle

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 93 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

Running time: 142 minutes (2 hours, 22 minutes)

MPAA – PG for sustained sequences of sci-fi action/violence

DIRECTOR: George Lucas

WRITERS: Jonathan Hales and George Lucas; from a story by George Lucas

PRODUCER: Rick McCallum

CINEMATOGRAPHER: David Tattersall (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Ben Burtt with George Lucas

COMPOSER: John Williams

Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/FANTASY and ACTION/ADVENTURE/WAR

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz (voice), Ian McDiarmid, Temuera Morrison, Jimmy Smits, Ahmed Best (voice), and Anthony Daniels & Kenny Baker

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American science fiction, war, action, and epic space opera film from director George Lucas. It is the fifth film in the “Star Wars” film franchise, which began with 1977's Star Wars. Attack of the Clones is chronologically the second film in the “Skywalker Saga,” and is a direct sequel to the first film in the saga, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Attack of the Clones finds a Jedi Master investigating the mystery behind a secret clone army allegedly created at the behest of the Jedi, while his young Jedi apprentice engages in romance forbidden by the Jedi Order.

What a difference a year makes. When I first saw Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones in theaters last year, I hated it. Now a year later, I’ve watched it on home video, and the movie sure seems a lot better. Attack of the Clones is the second of three prequels to Star Wars, the 1977 film that had two sequels. The prequels, of which includes this film and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, are the backstory to Star Wars, what happened before the 1977 film that is now called Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. For one thing, the plot of Episode II is much better than Episode I’s plot.

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones begins something like 10 years after Menace. Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is now the Padawan learner (apprentice) to his master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). The Jedi Council assigns master and student to guard Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), who has had two close attempts on her life.

While Anakin guards Amidala, Kenobi rushes across the galaxy to track the assassin who targeted her, a bounty hunter named Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison). Kenobi discovers a mysterious Clone Army supposedly ordered ten years earlier by representatives of the galactic Republic. That is just the outer strand of an ever-widening web of mystery and intrigue that began with an attempt on Amidala’s life. Meanwhile, Anakin and Amidala are dangerously falling in love against a backdrop of political turmoil.

There are two holdovers from The Phantom Menace that I had hoped would not make it to Clones, mediocre acting and wooden dialogue. Although the actors seem more comfortable and there is a tad bit more rhythm to the acting, the performances are still too stiff and formal and the dialogue is delivered in an awkward fashion as if everyone in the cast were rank-amateurs. Sometimes I get the feeling that director/creator George Lucas thinks he’s making some great sprawling British epic film in the vein of Sir David Lean, so all of his actors’ speeches must be affected. It just comes across as fake.

The action sequences and fight scenes are good, especially the Yoda (voice of Frank Oz) and Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) lightsaber duel, which has to be seen to be believed. I never knew Yoda had it in him. The special effects in The Phantom Menace were impressive, but no thanks to The Matrix, released the same year, the SFX in The Phantom Menace suddenly seemed dated, compared to the revolutionary work in The Matrix. The SFX are still good in Attack of the Clones, and there is so much of it; sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between what’s live action and what’s computer-generated. However, Star Wars SFX is no longer as awe-inspiring as it once was; now it comes across as looking like the effects in a really good video game.

The film does have the feel of a sprawling epic, but Lucas’s direction hops around too much. He seems uncomfortable dealing with emotion and love in his story lines. He doesn’t have to turn on the waterworks as if this was some Technicolor melodramatic weepy, but he should give the actors enough screen time to make the emotions palatable. Before any kind of mood can be established, Lucas is racing off to the next battle scene. He comfortable staging awesome battles filled war machines of the most fantastic and imaginative designs. However, his “character moments” feel as if he shoehorned them in, if only to remind his audience that this is supposed to be the love story of Anakin and Amidala that would later lead to such tragedy and heartbreak. Before any heat can generate, he drops the personal moments like soiled diapers and is off to the next videogame-style battle scene.

Still, Star Wars fans should like Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (which Disney renamed Star Wars: Attack of the Clones) for the most part, and I imagine that it will hold up over time. I know Star Wars fans always have such high hopes. However, after the first two prequels, I think we should understand that the films are meant simply to enforce brand awareness and sell merchandise. Any pretense to cinematic art is just that – a pretense...

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

RE-edited with some rewriting: Monday, April 21, 2025

NOTES:

2003 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Visual Effects” (Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll,and Ben Snow)

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Saturday, April 19, 2025

Review: Ryan Coogler's "SINNERS" is Crazy, Sexy, Cool, and Incredible

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 of 2025 (No. 2024) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sinners (2025)

Running time: 137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)

MPA – R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and language

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler

PRODUCERS: Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Autumn Durald Arkapaw (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Michael P. Shawver

COMPOSER: Ludwig Goransson

HORROR/HISTORICAL/THRILLER

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Canton, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O'Connell, Tenaj Jackson, David Maldonado, Li Jun Li, Yao, Helena Hu, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Bert Dreimanis, Loka Kirke, Saul Williams, Andre Ward-Hammond, Mark L. Patrick, and Delroy Lindo and Buddy Guy

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

Sinners is crazy and incredible, and there is no other supernatural horror film like it.

Part period film, part Southern Gothic, and part African-American historical, the film's story packs a lot of explosive energy into a short period of time

Writer-director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan collaborate Sinners into a film that could set Mississippi burning all over again

Sinners is a 2025 American supernatural horror, vampire, and period film from writer-director Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan, who plays twins. In Sinners, twin brothers return to their Mississippi home to start a new business only to encounter the old enemy of racism and a surprise new enemy in a charismatic monster.

Sinners opens in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on the morning of October 16, 1932. Sammie Moore (Miles Canton) staggers into his father's church, the broken neck of a guitar clutched in his right hand. As his father demands that he drop the guitar, give up music, and repent, Sammy recalls the previous 24 hours.

Early in the previous day, Sammie's cousins Elijah “Smoke” Moore (Michael B. Jordan) and Elias “Stack” Moore (Michael B. Jordan), identical twins and World War I veterans, return to Mississippi after spending several years in Chicago. Arriving with a lot of cash and a shocking amount of expensive Irish beer and Italian wine, the brothers announce their intention to start their own juke joint. In the morning, they buy an old sawmill from a racist landowner, Hogwood (David Maldonado), and start the process of preparing to open their juke joint that very night.

They recruit Sammie, a talented blues guitarist; Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), a local legend on the piano and the harmonica; and Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a sultry songstress, to provide the club's music. They also hire Smoke's estranged wife, Annie (Winmu Mosaku), a hoodoo woman and root worker, and Delta Chinese shopkeepers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao), to cater opening night.

Smoke and Stack start selling the idea of a juke joint to the local black community, with the food and the music as the main draw. What Smoke and Stack don't know is that their very talented cousin Sammie's singing and guitar playing will attract the attention of both the human world and the spirit world – including a great evil ready to welcome every person inside the juke joint into its family.

Just before I saw Sinners, I realized that Ryan Coogler is one of the few directors of which I have seen and reviewed all of his feature films: Fruitvale Station (2013), Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). I am still trying to process what I saw during a Sinners' Thursday night preview showing, but right now, I still cannot find anything that would make me say this film is not perfect. Coogler's talent is greater than I ever imagined, and I imagined a lot of greatness for him. Still, I was unprepared for this hurricane called Sinners that he has created.

Sinners is like a folk tale, and it is steeped in Southern African-American folk, religious, and superstitious tradition. Sinners is also deeply immersed in Mississippi Blackness. There is a scene in the film in which the past and future join the present to celebrate transcendent African-American art, Black excellence, and a spirit world connected to all humanity. Ryan Coogler's also screenplay recognizes the links between African-Americans and Native American and Indigenous, to Chinese-American, and to some reluctant poor White people.

Sinners is truly an American work of fiction and cinema, authentic in a way that the Hollywood film industry generally avoids marginalized, oppressed, and impoverished communities. Sinners is salt-of-the-Earth and no-ways-tired American cinema. Also, it sets the record straight on what the Great Migration of Black folks found when they went to Northern cities like Chicago.

Sinners also has a remarkable number of exceptional performances. I know that some people still have doubts about Michael B. Jordan as an exceptional actor, but as the twins, Smoke and Stack, he proves that his doubters are only hapless haters. Jordan makes the twins distinctive from one another in subtle shifts and sleight-of-hand moves. In a way, Jack O'Connell, in a supporting role as the lead villain, Remmick, matches Jordan's intensity by smoothly altering the way his character reveals his wickedness. O'Connell makes Remmick, a charismatic prince of lies and deceit, deserving of his own film, a prequel to Sinners.

Back in the aughts, Paramount Pictures put out a casting call for the female lead in the Coen Bros.'s 2010 Western film, True Grit. The casting call stated that young females vying for the role “must be able to portray Caucasian.” Hailee Steinfeld won the role in True Grit, and in Sinners, she proves that she can portray mulatto as Mary. I am not sure that a White actress has been as convincing as Steinfeld is as a Black and White biracial person in Sinners since Susan Kohner received a “Best Supporting Actress” nomination as “Sarah Jane” in Imitation of Life (1959).

So... I'm still reeling. I'll build a fortress around my heart to protect my belief that Sinners is perfect or as near to perfect as a supernatural horror film can get. As of today (Friday, April 18, 2025), it is my pick for best film of the year.

10 of 10

Saturday, April 19, 2025

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