Review: New "SCREAM" Will Entertain Scream Fans

[Fans will want to see the entertaining new “Scream” film in movie theaters – right now.  But for everyone else, there is nothing here worth a trip to the local theater.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 of 2022 (No. 1814) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scream (2022)
Running time:  114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPA – R for strong bloody violence, language throughout and some sexual references
DIRECTORS:  Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
WRITERS:  James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick (based on characters created by Kevin Williamson)
PRODUCERS:  Paul Neinstein, William Sherak, and James Vanderbilt
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Brett Jutkiewicz (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Michel Aller
COMPOSER:  Rich Delia

HORROR/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring:  Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Mikey Madison, Marley Shelton, Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Sonia Ammar, Kyle Gallner, Chester Tam, Skeet Ulrich, and Roger L. Jackson (voice)

Scream is a 2022 slasher horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.  It is the fifth film in the Scream film series, which began with the 1996 film, Scream.  In Scream 2022, a new series of murders forces familiar faces to return to Woodsboro, where they will confront a horrible legacy.

Scream opens twenty-five years after high school pals and serial killers, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher, terrorized the town of Woodsboro as the killer known as “Ghostface.”  Now, Ghostface (voice of Roger L. Jackson) has returned and high school student, Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), is the first victim.  

Informed of the attack on Tara, her estranged sister, Samantha “Sam” Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), returns to Woodsboro with her boyfriend, Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid), reluctantly along.  Sam is not only troubled by the attack on Tara, but she is also dealing with her shocking connection to one of the original Woodsboro murderers.  With this new Ghostface adding to the body count, Sam turns to an original Woodsboro survivor for help, the reclusive, Dwight “Dewey” Riley (David Arquette).

Although he is initially reluctant to get involved, he contacts two other survivors, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), and his ex-wife, television host, Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox), to inform them that the killings have started again.  Although she is the center of the new killing spree, is Sam Carpenter willing to stay and fight the killer, or will she simply run away from her past, again?

I'll start of my critique of the new Scream by repeating what I said of 2011's Scream 4.  As a slasher film, Scream 2022 is entertaining.  Ghostface remains a terrific and terrifying horror movie villain, although in the new Scream, he does lots of slashing and stabbing, whereas Scream 4's Ghostface slaughtered his victims to the point that they seemed like butchered meat and offal.  Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette are still the “old reliables,” of this franchise, no matter how old they look or how much plastic surgery they may have had done.  Scream's new cast is, for the most part, pretty good.  As Sam Carpenter, Melissa Barrera seems like she could carry this franchise going forward – at least for two more films.  When the new Scream plays it straight, it is a better-than-average slasher horror film.

Scream 4 was the work of the franchise's original writer, Kevin Williamson, and original director, the late Wes Craven (to whom the new film is dedicated).  Scream 4 was a sequel and essentially a remake of the original 1996 film, but it was critical of two huge cultural changes that had occurred since the first film – Internet celebrity and social media culture.  [Williamson is only an executive producer on the new film.]

The writers and directors have offered in Scream 2022 a film that is a sequel and also a reboot.  This film is intimately connected to the original film, but it essentially reboots Scream with a new cast of both victims and survivors.  The original Scream was self-referential and was also steeped in pop culture, especially concerning horror films.  The new Scream essentially mocks both the idea of film sequels and the fan culture that is obsessed with sequels, prequels, reboots, and every detail concerning their making.

I thought Scream 4's rant against social media and celebrity seemed like the creation of two guys whose aging was putting an every widening gap between them and the core audience for the kind of films they made.  The new Scream seems like the work of dudes who don't appreciate the kind of fans they attract with the kind of the films they make.  In a way, if they can't stand the fan heat, they should get out the slasher film kitchen.

Anyway, I think the motivation behind the Ghostface of the new Scream would have worked better for the Ghostface of Scream 4.  So, I'll say about the new Scream what I said about Scream 4: it is best when it focuses on its great villain (Ghostface) stalking his victims.  For the most part, hardcore fans of this franchise will want to see Scream 2022 in movie theaters.  Anyone else who is interested can wait for on-demand and streaming.

6 of 10
B

Friday, January 14, 2022


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Review "OLD" is a Crazy, Entertaining, Thrilling Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 69 of 2021 (No. 1807) by Leroy Douresseaux

Old (2021)
Running time:  108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for strong violence, disturbing images, suggestive content, partial nudity and brief strong language
DIRECTOR:  M. Night Shyamalan
WRITER:  M. Night Shyamalan (based on the graphic novel, Château de sable, by Pierre-Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters)
PRODUCERS:  Marc Bienstock, Ashwin Rajan, and M. Night Shyamalan
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Micheal Gioulakis (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Brett M. Reed
COMPOSER:  Trevor Gureckis

FANTASY/THRILLER/HORROR

Starring:  Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Aaron Pierre, Kathleen Chalfant, M. Night Shyamalan, Alexa Swinton, Thomasin McKenzie, Embeth Davidtz, Nolan River, Alex Wolff, Emun Elliot, and Kylie Begley, Mikaya Fisher, and Eliza Scanlen

Old is a 2021 horror-thriller and fantasy film from director, M. Night Shyamalan.  The film is based on the 2010 French-language, Swiss graphic novel, Château de sable (2010) by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, which was published in English as “Sandcastle” in 2011.  Old the movie focuses on a group of people trapped on a secluded beach where they age rapidly, reducing their entire lives into a single day.

Old introduces husband, Guy Cappa (Gael Garcia Bernal), and his wife, Prisca Cappa (Vicky Krieps).  They are going through a difficult time and decide to take their two children, 11-year-old daughter, Maddox (Alexa Swinton), and six-year-old son, Trent (Nolan River), on a family vacation to a tropical resort.  On their second morning at the resort, the Cappas get an offer from the resort's manager for a trip to a secluded beach.

Although the Cappas initially believe that they will have the beach to themselves, they soon learn they will not.  They meet a surgeon, Charles (Rufus Sewell); his wife, Chrystal (Abbey Lee); their six-year-old daughter, Kara (Kylie Begley); and Charles's elderly mother, Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant).  The late arrivals are the close-knit couple, Jarin Carmichael (Ken Leung) and his, wife Patricia Carmichael (Nikki Amuka-Bird).  Trouble starts when they meet someone who was on the beach before them, the recording artist and rapper, Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre), and then, discover the corpse of his female companion.  Accusations fly, but no one is really paying attention to the fact that the three children are changing … rapidly.

The film's of writer-director M. Night Shyamalan can be both sublime, such as his Oscar-nominated breakthrough, The Sixth Sense (1999), or ridiculous like 2004's eye-rolling The Village.  Sometimes, his films can be both, to varying degrees, such as 2000's Unbreakable.  Or his films can be surprisingly inventive and mostly entertaining, such as 2013's After Earth, 2016's Split, and now Old.

People once called Shyamalan the next Steven Spielberg, although his films seem closer to Alfred Hitchcock's.  At the heart of most Shyamalan films is a mystery, and that mystery holds the audience in suspense.  The problem can be that when the mystery is solved in one of his films, sometimes the suspense turns to befuddlement, but that doesn't really happen with Old.

After the first twenty minutes or so of introduction, Old offers about forty minutes of the best mystery and suspense that audiences have gotten in the last two years or so of American films.  Shyamalan builds this killer thriller by depicting his characters' varied reactions to their crazy and increasingly unbelievable situation.  Watching some of them revert to their old melodramas, others fall into to their mental challenges, and some approach their situation with a sense of curiosity and wonder can be invigorating.  Through these characters, Shyamalan offers so many intriguing points of view.

The film's last forty minutes is a mixture of science fiction and horror that is captivating, even when it seems a bit over-the-top.  At this point, Shyamalan turns to the Cappas' domestic drama in a way that bounces between being poignant or edgy or stock melodrama.  There is a happy ending, but it is best, in order to avoid spoilers, that I allow you to decide whether that happy ending is plausible or appropriate, dear readers.

I have never read the comic book, Sandcastle, that inspired Old, but from what I understand, the comic's narrative is a bit more ruthless with its characters.  Still, I found Old satisfying because of Shyamalan's seamless filmmaking and because of the way his uses the characters' aging to keep things hopping in the narrative.  I don't know if M. Night Shyamalan's Old will age well, but I do believe that it will always find an audience willing to be enraptured by its mystery and thrilled by its suspense … to one extent or another … like me.

7 of 10
B+

Thursday, December 9, 2021


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Review: Young Stars Bring "GHOSTBUSTERS: Afterlife" to Life

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 66 of 2021 (No. 1804) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Running time:  124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for supernatural action and some suggestive references
DIRECTOR:  Jason Reitman
WRITERS:  Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman (based on the film, Ghost Busters, written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis)
PRODUCER:  Ivan Reitman
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Eric Steelberg
EDITORS:  Dana E. Glauberman and Nathan Orloff
COMPOSER:  Rob Simonsen

FANTASY/MYSTERY/ACTION/COMEDY

Starring:  Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Logan Kim, Celeste O'Connor, and Bokeem Woodbine with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a 2021 supernatural comedy, action and mystery film from director Jason Reitman.  It is the fourth entry in the Ghostbusters film franchise and is a kind of sequel to the original film, 1984's Ghost Busters (now known as “Ghostbusters”), which was directed by Jason's father, Ivan Reitman.  In Afterlife, a single mother and her two children arrive in small town Oklahoma, and the children discover their grandfather's amazing and secret legacy.

Thirty-two years after the events of Ghostbusters II (1989), Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and her two children, son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and daughter Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), arrive in Summerville, Oklahoma.  Currently homeless, they will try to make a new home in the rundown farmhouse owned by Callie's late father, Egon Spengler.  While rooting through some of Egon's belongings, Phoebe discovers a P.K.G. Meter (a ghost-tracking device).  While digging around, Trevor finds a beat-up old car that sports the “Ghostbusters” logo.

Phoebe, who does not believe in the supernatural, makes a friend, a boy named “Podcast” (Logan Kim), who believes in the strange and unusual and discusses it in his podcast.  Trevor makes a friend in a local, a teen girl named Lucky Domingo (Celeste O'Connor).  Eventually, the children discover that Phoebe's summer school teacher, Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), is quite familiar with their grandfather, Egon's legacy as a scientist, an inventor, and a member of “Ghostbusters,” the ghost-catching organization that was famous for its activities in 1980s New York City.  Now, the four youngsters and Callie and Gary must face the same great evil that once confronted the original Ghostbusters.

I was a huge fan of the original Ghostbusters films.  When I first saw Ghost Busters in a movie theater in 1984, I laughed so much that the other people in the theater were giving me the side eye.  I enjoyed the sequel, Ghostbusters II (1989), although many people I knew at the time did not like it all that much.  Still, I was happy, but over the years, Ghostbusters became a fond memory that I sometimes relived via my cable TV package.  In the years that followed Ghostbusters II, there was always talk of a third Ghostbusters film, but I was only mildly interested.

For some people, however, the Ghostbuster films and the related merchandise became a lifestyle choice, something to which they dedicated themselves as if it were hobby, a second career, and maybe even a quasi-religion.  Those were the people who claimed to have been traumatized by the 2016 franchise reboot, Ghostbusters, which featured an all-female cast as the Ghostbusters (and which may have since been re-titled “Ghostbusters: Answer the Call”).  I was only mildly interested in that film, and have seen most of it via cable TV.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is supposed to remedy the trauma of Ghostbusters 2016.  Afterlife director Jason Reitman once said that his film was giving Ghostbusters “back to the fans.”  I never felt like something had been taken from me.  After all, as I've said, I can see the original films at least a few times a week on television.  That said, I do like Afterlife.

Reitman offers an exciting film that is as much a mystery film as it is a comedy, and the secrets of the town of Summerville and its surroundings are quite intriguing and provide a nice setting for the story.  I do wish that the film had given us more on the town and its inhabitants.  However, there is much focus on the darkness at the edge of town – the big bad supernatural being.  Reitman and his co-writer, Gil Kenan, work overtime to make sure everyone understands that the villain is connected to the events of the original film.  I didn't find that connection necessary, but I understand why Reitman and Sony Pictures felt that it was very important to make a hard connection between the events of 1984 and the events of 2021.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife's shining light isn't the desperation to connect to a 37-year-old movie.  Afterlife's true treasures are its young stars:  Mckenna Grace as Phoebe, Finn Wolfhard as Trevor, Celeste O'Connor as Lucky, and Logan Kim as Podcast.  As Phoebe, Grace is totally capable of carrying this film's emotional center and of stabilizing its subplots and narrative threads until they come together.  When Jason Reitman focuses on his young cast, turning them into young supernatural investigators and Ghostbusters, Afterlife explodes with life and has all the magic of an old-fashioned summer blockbuster movie in spite of its November release date.

Yes, it was good to see the original cast members.  No, Paul Rudd is not the star of Afterlife, as the film's trailers and commercials suggest, but he is important to the development of the story.  Yes, Carrie Coon is good as the kid's mother, Callie.  However, it is time for this franchise to move on from nostalgia and fanservice if it is going to have a future.  These four young actors and four new characters are why Ghostbusters: Afterlife can be a true resurrection story.

7 out of 10
B+

Friday, November 19, 2021


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

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Review: "Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost" is a Happy Meal

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 of 2021 (No. 1741) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost (2018) – Video
Running time:  77 minutes (1 hour, 17 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Doug Murphy
WRITER: Tim Sheridan (based on the Hanna-Barbera characters)
EDITOR:  Scott Fuselier
COMPOSERS:  Matthew Janszen and Jake Monaco
ANIMATION STUDIO: Digital eMation, Inc.

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring:  (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey Griffin, Kate Micucci, Jim Cummings, Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, Marcus Samuelsson, Maya Haile, David Kaye, Salli Saffioti, Dana Snyder, Jason Spisak, and Audrey Wasilewski

Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost is a 2018 straight-to-video, animated, comic mystery film.  It is also the 31st animated movie in the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series from Warner Bros. Animation, which began in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.  In Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost, Mystery Inc. meet celebrity chefs and a relentless Revolutionary War-era ghost.

Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost opens in Newport Cove, Rhode Island, the year 1780.  Local chef and Revolutionary War hero, Chef Edward DuFlay (David Kaye), delights his neighbors with a gift, but later, disappears not long after he returns to his home and place of work, the Rocky Harbor Inn.  The last thing the townsfolk here is Chef DuFlay yelling “the Red Ghost, the Red Ghost!”

Moving to the present, we find Mystery Inc.: Fred Jones (Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (Grey Griffin), Velma Dinkley (Kate Micucci), Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard), and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) arriving at the Rocky Harbor Inn, where Fred's uncle, Bobby Flay (Bobby Flay), has invited them to stay.  Actually, Fred is surprised to learn that Uncle Bobby is a celebrity chef.

Inside the inn, Bobby informs the gang that he has remodeled Rocky Harbor Inn and has changed its name to Rocky Harbor Culinary Institute.  It is a state-of-the-art kitchen fantasy camp designed to make cooking easy and fun.  It has a high-tech kitchen where “Rocky” (Grey Griffin), an interactive computer program, keeps the kitchen humming.

The gang also meet other famous resort attendees.  The first is celebrity chef, Giada De Laurentiis (Giada De Laurentiis) and her cat, Bella.  Then, they meet fellow celebrity chef, Marcus Samuelsson (Marcus Samuelsson), and his super-model wife, Maya Haile (Maya Haile), both of whom have previously had a run-in with Shaggy.

But all is not fun and games and eating great food.  The legendary “Red Ghost” is still haunting Rocky Harbor Inn, and apparently wants to destroy it.  And there seems to be some unpleasantness tied to the memory of Fred and Bobby Flay's ancestor, Chef Edward DuFlay.  Can Mystery Inc. solve this latest supernatural mystery before Bobby Flay loses everything he has worked so hard to create with Rocky Harbor Culinary Institute?

Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost is one of the best Scooby-Doo! direct-to-DVD animated films that I have seen since I started watching the series on a regular bases a little over a decade ago.  I think the reason that I like it so much is that real-life celebrity chefs and television personalities, Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, Marcus Samuelsson, and Maya Haile (all playing themselves), bring some fresh ingredients to this series.

Writer Tim Sheridan also offers a buffet of fresh and tasty subplots that brings out the flavor of the main plot (solving the mystery of the Red Ghost).  The animation is especially good, and the directing and editing create a fast-paced, but thoughtful film, full of both engaging mystery and zany action.  I highly recommend Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost to fans of the series and to fans of Scooby-Doo!

8 of 10
A

Monday, January 18, 2021


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Review: "Knives Out" a Fresh Cut of Murder Mystery

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Knives Out (2019)
Running time:  130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic elements including brief violence, some strong language, sexual references, and drug material
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Rian Johnson
PRODUCERS:  Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Steve Yedlin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Bob Ducsay
COMPOSER:  Nathan Johnson
Academy Award nominee

MYSTERY/COMEDY

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson, Frank Oz, K Callan, Noah Segan, M. Emmet Walsh, and Marlene Forte

Knives Out is a 2019 mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson.  The film is a modern whodunit and a murder mystery inspired by the works of the legendary mystery novelist, Agatha Christie.  Knives Out focuses on a master detective investigating an eccentric, combative family after the family's patriarch is found dead.

Knives Out introduces wealthy crime novelist, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer).  He has invited his family to his Massachusetts mansion for his 85th birthday party.  The following morning, Harlan's housekeeper, Fran (Edi Patterson), finds Harlan dead, with his throat slit.  Local police Detective Lieutenant Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield) believes Harlan's death to be a suicide.  However, an anonymous party among the family has secretly paid private eye, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), to investigate Harlan's death as a homicide.  Blanc finds his suspects among the members of the family, and each one is either eccentric or combative.

Blanc learns that Harlan's relationships with his family were strained.  Blanc is keeping an eye on particular members of the family.  There is Harlan's eldest daughter, Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), a real estate mogul, and his youngest son, Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon).  There is also Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette), Harlan's daughter-in-law and the widow of his late son, Neil, and his son-in-law, Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson), Linda's husband.  Even Harlan's nurse and close friend, Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), is a suspect... or at least has knowledge that will answer important questions.  And where is Harlan's grandson, Ransom “Hugh” Drysdale (Chris Evans), the spoiled playboy son of Linda and Richard?

Whodunit... if it is true that someone did anything criminal?  Or is the truth more complicated and too obvious for even world-famous private investigator Benoit Blanc to discover?

Rian Johnson's Knives Out starts with an excellent screenplay, not necessarily in terms of the mystery's plot.  That is mostly just an exercise in genre elements and trappings – similar to the twists and terms found in the works of Agatha Christie and those stories inspired by Christie.  The best of Knives Out is in the characters, the kind that character actors can use to chew up movie scenery.

The cast of Knives Out is comprised of actors who have been at or near the top of their professions in film or television at some point in their careers.  They are not really known as character actors because they have been or still are headliners.  However, they are mostly veteran actors, and they can do what character actors do best, and that is deliver performances that create the kind of characters of which film audiences cannot get enough.

That is what Rian Johnson did with this film.  He composed a topnotch script, and then, he directed his actors to topnotch performances.  The result is a mystery film that grabs the viewers and holds them from start to finish.  I certainly felt as if I could not let stop watching Knives Out; it is truly a fun film to watch.  It is not perfect; there seems not to be enough screen time for some of the best characters, such as Jamie Lee Curtis' Linda Drysdale, Michael Shannon's Walt Thrombey, and Toni Collette's Joni Thrombey.  And Chris Evan's Ransom Drysdale seems misused...

Still, get yourself to Knives Out, dear reader.  It is one of the funniest and most enjoyable murder mystery films in quite some time.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, June 20, 2020


NOTES:
2019 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Original Screenplay” (Rian Johnson)

2019 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Screenplay” (Rian Johnson)

2019 Golden Globes, USA:  3 nominations:  “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Ana de Armas), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Daniel Craig)


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

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Review: "The Hateful Eight" is Certainly Great

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

The Hateful Eight (2015)
Running time:  188 minutes (3 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence, a scene of violent sexual content, language and some graphic nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Quentin Tarantino
PRODUCERS:  Richard N. Gladstein, Shannon McIntosh, and Stacey Sher
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robert Richardson
EDITOR:  Fred Raskin
COMPOSER:  Ennio Morricone
Academy Award winner

WESTERN/CRIME/DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring:  Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoe Bell, Lee Horsley, Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson, Craig Strark, Belinda Owino, and Channing Tatum

The Hateful Eight is the 8th film from writer-director Quentin Tarantino.  A Western and mystery-thriller, The Hateful Eight focuses on two bounty hunters, a prisoner, and a new local sheriff who find themselves stranded in a cabin with a collection of nefarious strangers.  At least one of those strangers may be connected to the prisoner.

The Hateful Eight opens in the dead of a Wyoming winter some years after the Civil War.  O.B. Jackson (James Parks) drives a stagecoach through the snow-covered landscape.  Aboard his stagecoach is bounty hunter, John Ruth the Hangman (Kurt Russell), and his prisoner, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh).  Ruth is taking Domergue to Red Rock, Wyoming where she is to be tried and hanged for her crimes.

The stagecoach comes across a second bounty hunter, Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), who was transporting three dead bounties to Red Rock when his horse died.  It takes some convincing, but Ruth allows Warren to board the stagecoach.  Shortly afterwards, former Confederate, Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), who claims to be heading to Red Rock to assume the job of sheriff, hails the stagecoach.  It takes some talking, but Ruth also lets him aboard.

A sudden blizzard forces this quintet to seek shelter at the stagecoach stopover, Minnie's Haberdashery, but Minnie (Dana Gourrier) is nowhere to be found.  Instead, they are met by Bob (Demián Bichir), a Mexican who says that Minnie is visiting her mother and has left him in charge; Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth) who claims to be Red Rock's hangman; Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), a quiet cowboy; and General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern), a former Confederate officer.  John Ruth and Marquis Warren believe that at least one of the men they have found at Minnie's is in league with Daisy Domergue, but which one and when will he strike?

Although The Hateful Eight displays Quentin Tarantino's signature blend of wisecracking social commentary, action, humor, and over-the-top violence, this film is not like Tarantino's more popular films:  Pulp Fiction (1994), Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012).  These three films received best picture Oscar nominations, while The Hateful Eight did not.  The Hateful Eight is a parlor-room drama, but the parlor room is set up like a stage for live theater.

The other three films were wide-ranging epics full of hyper-kinetic violence.  They are flashy examples of Tarantino's bravura film making, while The Hateful Eight is quiet and edgy and brimming with malice, menace, and venom.  More than half the characters in The Hateful Eight really are fucking hateful, and that is a ratio that can be off-putting for the audience.

But not for me.  I would put The Hateful Eight in the top half of Tarantino's filmography.  This isn't Tarantino's best dialogue or screenplay for that matter, but his execution is impeccable, as usual.  The Hateful Eight is a riveting piece of work, three hours of glorious film narrative, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I wanted more.

Besides Tarantino's stellar work, there are a number of good performances in this film.  Samuel L. Jackson, a Tarantino regular, gives his best performance in a lead role in years.  He gives the sly Marquis Warren layers, from vengeful former slave to death-dealing former P.O.W., but Jackson suggests that there is so much more to this man that it would take at least two movies to discover what is inside him.

Jennifer Jason Leigh also turns Daisy Domergue into so much more than what she seems.  Her performances is built on subtle changes in note; it is a bouquet of scents meant to keep the viewers on their heels when it comes to what her motivations are.  Joined at the hip with Kurt Russell, who also gives a spry, spicy turn, they make a good pair.  Walton Goggins also surprises, especially since his career, thus far, has been filled with oddballs who are odd for the sake of being an oddity in a film.

Ennio Morricone's score and the film's soundtrack offer a nice backdrop, heightening the sinister mood of the story.  The Hateful Eight might not be a Tarantino audience favorite; it is too slow for the kick-ass crowd.  However, I think that it is a masterpiece, a great modern Western that stands with the very few great Westerns of the previous four decades.

9 of 10
A+

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Revised:  Thursday, July 16, 2020

NOTES:
2016 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Ennio Morricone); 2 nominations:  “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Robert Richardson)

2016 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Ennio Morricone); 2 nomination:  “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Quentin Tarantino)

2016 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Original Music” (Ennio Morricone); 2 nominations: “Best Supporting Actress” (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and “Best Original Screenplay” (Quentin Tarantino)


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

------------------------

Review: Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown (2017) – Video
Running time:  79 minutes (1 hour 19 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Matt Peters
WRITERS: Candie Kelty Langdale and Doug Landale
EDITORS:  Steve Donmyer and Craig Paulsen
COMPOSERS:  Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion, and Lolita Ritmanis
SONGS: Joshua Funk
ANIMATION STUDIO: Digital eMation, Inc.

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring:  (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey DeLisle, Kate Micucci, Carlos Alazraqui, Max Charles, Gary Cole, Jessica DiCicco, Tania Gunadi, Eric Ladin, Nolan North, Stephen Tobolowsky, Lauren Tom, Melissa Villaseñor, Kari Wahlgren, and Gary Anthony Williams with John Schwab (no screen credit)

Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown is a 2017 straight-to-video, animated, comic mystery film.  It is also the 28th animated movie in the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series from Warner Bros. Animation, which began in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.  In Shaggy's Showdown, Mystery Inc. attempts to solve the mystery of a ghost that is rampaging through a small wild west town and a dude ranch.

Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown finds Mystery Inc.:  Fred Jones (Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (Grey DeLisle), Velma Dinkley (Kate Micucci), Norville “Shaggy” Rogers (Matthew Lillard), and the Great Dane, Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker), visiting the wild west town of Sorghum City.  They are surprised to find that the people there scream and run away when they encounter Shaggy.  The gang's next stop is “Crazy Q Ranch,” a dude ranch owned and operated by Shaggy's “third cousin, twice removed,” Tawny Rogers (Melissa Villaseñor).

A long-lost cousin, Tawny invited Shaggy to her ranch so they the cousins could reconnect, but the reunion is being ruined by the ghost of a notorious outlaw, Dapper Jack Rogers (John Schwab).  The ghost bears a striking resemblance to Shaggy, who, like Tawny, is a descendant of Dapper Jack.  The ghost has been terrorizing Sorghum City and also the Crazy Q Ranch, and if the ghost continues its haunting, Tawny will be forced to sell the ranch.  Now, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Daphne, and Velma have a new ghostly mystery to solve.

Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown is the third consecutive Scooby-Doo animated film I have seen that I really like.  I think that one thing that makes this one appealing to me is the dude ranch element.  I have been a fan of films set on dude ranches, and I have enjoyed TV series in which the characters visit a dude ranch for a particular episode.  Combine a dude ranch with my love of the Scooby-Doo and Mystery Inc., and that is entertainment I cannot resist.

So take my recommendation with a grain of salt off the table at a dude ranch when I tell you that Shaggy's Showdown is one of the best recent Scooby-Doo movies.  I like the animation, especially the color, and there are some good subplots:  Shaggy riding a horse, Scooby's ability to “talk” to farm animals, and a child overcoming his fear of horses all make this particular straight-to-video Scooby-Doo film exceptional.

Seriously, Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown is a nice change of pace for the series.  A quasi-Western comedy, it means that the Scoody-Doo DVD animated movies can show a bit of freshness now and then.

8 of 10
A

Wednesday, August 28, 2019


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Review: "Us" Comes After Us

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Us (2019)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence/terror, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Jordan Peele
PRODUCERS:  Jason Blum, Ian Cooper, Sean McKittrick, and Jordan Peele
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Mike Gioulakis
EDITOR:  Nicholas Monsour
COMPOSER: Michael Abels

HORROR with elements of mystery and thriller

Starring:  Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon, Madison Curry, Ashley McKoy, and Napiera Groves

Us is a 2019 horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele.  The film focuses on a family terrorized by group of doppelgängers.

Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong'o) is married to an ambitious man, Gabriel “Gabe” Wilson (Winston Duke), and the couple has two precocious children, daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and son Jason (Evan Alex).  When she was a child, young Adelaide (Madison Curry) had a terrifying experience at the boardwalk at Santa Cruz beach after she wandered away from her parents and entered a hall of mirrors.  Now, something from her past has returned,  “Red” and “Tethered,” it threatens her family and everything she believes.

I consider Jordan Peele's Get Out to be a landmark film, with its allusions to the dangers people of color, especially African-Americans, face in America.  When you get past that, Get Out is also a clever allegory to the enslavement and exploitation of black people by white people.

Jordan Peele's new film, the much anticipated Us, is one I think that I will spend days... or even longer... unpacking.  Saying that this film has themes of oppression, the crisis of human existence, and the difficulty of really knowing even the people closest to you is just to scratch the surface.  This movie is multi-layered and rife with allegories, metaphors, and symbolism, so much so that I think that some commentators have bought in too much to the idea that this film's most dominate idea is that we are our own worst enemies.  The film does indeed point that out, but much of this film's narrative delves into the nature of evil and the suffering of the oppressed.  One might even describe this film as being about a slave insurrection, but that might be a bit too much of a stretch for some viewers, especially those who think Green Book is just the movie we need for these times in America.

That aside, Us is truly a horror movie, almost like a slasher film with a few touches of apocalyptic fiction.  The chase – the pursuit of the victim(s) by the killer(s) – has never been done the way Peele does it in Us.  Peele does what only a skilled horror movie director can do, put us right there with Adelaide and her family as they run away from a threat that not only wants to kill them, but also wants to enjoy some torture time before the stabbing and screaming.  Us' killers are as relentless as Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers.  [Meanwhile, Biblical foreboding suggests that an even larger danger looms.]  I don't think any other horror movie has made a pair of scissors as scary as Us does, although there have been some gruesome moments featuring scissors in horror movies going back decades.  Peele makes scissors scarier than horror movie machetes, axes, and large kitchen knives.

As Us' “scream queen” (of a sort), Lupita Nyong'o gives a riveting and hypnotic performance as Adelaide.  I must say that if a horror movie lead every deserved an Oscar nomination, Lupita certainly deserves one for her turn as Adelaide.  The great actress Kathy Bates won a best actress Oscar for playing Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner's film, Misery (1990), which was based on a Stephen King novel.  With that in mind, Lupita deserves at least an Oscar nomination.

I don't think that Us is quite on par with Get Out, but Us is equally (if not more) thought-provoking.  What does it all mean?  I guess in the end the meaning is all up to Us.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, March 22, 2019


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Review: "Get Out" is a Cinematic Revolution

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2018) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Get Out (2017)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, bloody images, and language including sexual references
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Jordan Peele
PRODUCERS:  Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, and Jordan Peele
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Toby Oliver (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Gregory Plotkin
COMPOSER: Michael Abels
Academy Award winner

HORROR/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring:  Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Marcus Henderson, Betty Gabriel, Lakeith Stanfield, Stephen Root, Richard Herd, Erika Alexander, Yasuhiko Oyama, and Lil Rey Howery

Get Out is a 2017 horror and mystery-thriller written and directed by Jordan Peele.  At the 90th Academy Awards, Peele became the first African-American to win the “Best Original Screenplay” Oscar.  Get Out follows a young African-American man who travels with his white girlfriend to her parents' rural estate and discovers weirdness and ultimately horror.

Get Out introduces Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), a young Black man and a photographer.  He has reluctantly agreed to meet the family of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Allison Williams). From the beginning of the trip, strange things occur.

Upon arriving, Chris discovers that Rose's parents, Dean Armitage (Bradley Whitford), a neurosurgeon, and Missy (Catherine Keener), a hypnotherapist, are nice, but make discomfiting comments about black people.  Rose's brother, Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones), is especially inappropriate.  Chris finds that housekeeper, Georgina (Betty Gabriel), and groundskeeper, Walter (Marcus Henderson), black workers on the Armitages' estate, are the most troubling of all.  After experiencing a distressing event involving Missy, Chris feels himself being trapped into something both surreal and horrifying.

Get Out is one of the most unsettling films that I have ever seen.  As an African-American and as a Black Man, specifically, I find that so much of Get Out seems to strike at my deepest fears and even at my most annoying worries.  Proverbially, this film hits “close to home.”  Get Out is essentially an allegory for the African diaspora and for the slave trade that brought stolen and captured African men, women, and children from the African continent across the Atlantic to the Americas, where they became chattel slaves.

Yes, writer-director Jordan Peele (called “mixed race” because he has a both a black and a white parent) dresses up his allegories, metaphors, similes, and symbolism in the tropes of American dark fantasy and horror films (especially those of the 1970s).  Still, his film, like quick blows in a really short fight, lays bare the cold calculations of capturing and enslaving Black people.  This is the banality of evil communicated in practicalities and practical realities.

In the final analysis, Get Out is also a great horror movie, as scary as one in which the monster, killer, or adversary uses knives, machetes, crossbows, axes, hooks, meat cleavers, etc. to kill its victims.  Many people have commented that Get Out is a criticism of white liberals, and there is some truth to that, but not as much as people think.  The villains here are white people who make living in America unsafe for African-Americans, Black people, and people of color.

Jordan Peele and his fine cast, especially Daniel Kaluuya, who embodies much of the modern Black man's existential crisis, deliver a film that is richly entertaining and is too-damn-scary to be just another horror movie.  Most of all, Get Out's truths are so true that I wonder how Peele and his cast and crew got away not only with making it, but also with sharing it with the world, especially with the United States of America.

10 of 10

Tuesday, September 11, 2018


NOTES:
2018 Academy Awards:  1 win: “Best Original Screenplay” (Jordan Peele); 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., and Jordan Peele), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Daniel Kaluuya), and “Best Achievement in Directing” (Jordan Peele)

2018 Golden Globes, USA:  2 nominations: Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Daniel Kaluuya

2018 BAFTA Awards:  2 nominations: “Best Screenplay (Original)” (Jordan Peele) and “Best Leading Actor” (Daniel Kaluuya)


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

----------------------

Review: "Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon" a Cool Cartoon

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon (2016) – Video
Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
DIRECTORS:   Tim Divar, Brandon Vietti
WRITERS:  Ernie Altbacker; from a story by Matt Wayne
PRODUCER: Brandon Vietti
EDITORS:  Keef Bartkus and Philip Malamuth
COMPOSER:  Ryan Shore
ANIMATION STUDIO:  Digital eMation, Inc.

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring:  (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey Griffin, Kate Micucci, Steven J. Blum, Eric Bauza, and Phil Morris; from WWE: The Undertaker, Kofi Kingston, Diego, Fernando, El Torito, Goldust, Stardust, The Miz, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Paige, Dusty Rhodes, Lana, Rusev, Michael Cole, and Vince McMahon

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon is a 2016 straight-to-video animated comedy mystery.  It is the 27th animated movie in the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series from Warner Bros. Animation.  This series began in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.  In Curse of the Speed Demon, Mystery Inc. is hired to solve the mystery of a phantom racer plaguing a WWE road race.  This film is also a co-production between WWE Studios and Warner Bros. Animation.

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon begins some time after Mystery Inc. helped the WWE (Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment) superstars solve the mystery of the “ghost bear” (known as “Vicious”).  Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) are operating a food truck at WWE's latest venture, a road race called “WWW's Muscle Moro X Off Road Challenge.”

The race's participants are WWE superstars like The Undertaker and Dusty Rhodes, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, to name a few.  During a preliminary round of the race, a demon racer known as “Inferno,” disrupts the race, injuring Rhodes.  Needing a new partner, The Undertaker takes on Shaggy (a.k.a. “Skinny Man”) and Scooby-Doo (a.k.a. “Dead Meat”).  The trio becomes “Team Taker” and races in “The Scoobinator.”

Meanwhile, WWE boss, Mr. McMahon, hires the rest of Mystery Inc. gang:  Fred Jones (Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (Grey Griffin), and Velma Dinkley (Kate Micucci), to solve the mystery of Inferno.  However, the young mystery-solvers suspect that Inferno is actually a WWE superstar!

I have failed you, dear readers.  I cannot explain why I like Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon.  It is not a great movie, but I find quite entertaining.  What are some of the things that I like.

I am not a fan of WWE, but I found these cartoon versions of select WWE superstars likable, especially The Undertaker.  The cartoon Stephanie McMahon seems personable.  I found myself attracted to “Team Taker” and their racing vehicles.  All the elements that make up monster/villain Inferno make him a good bad guy.

Of course, when it comes down to it, I am a lifelong fan of Scooby-Doo and the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang.  I don't really want to go to long without seeing them, and yes, I have come across some poor Scooby-Doo direct-to-DVD films.  Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon is not one of them.

7 of 10
B+

Monday, June 5, 2017

The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "The Wicker Man" is Still a Creepy Masterpiece (Remembering Christopher Lee)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 147 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux (support on Patreon)

The Wicker Man (1973)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  UK
Running time:  88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR:  Robin Hardy
WRITER:  Anthony Shaffer (based upon the novel, Ritual, by David Pinner)
PRODUCER:  Peter Snell
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Peter Waxman (director of photography)
EDITOR:  Eric Boyd-Perkins
COMPOSER:  Paul Giovanni

HORROR/DRAMA/MYSTERY with elements of a musical

Starring:  Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt, Lindsay Kemp, Irene Sunter, and Geraldine Cowper

The subject of this review is The Wicker Man, a 1973 British horror and mystery film from director Robin Hardy.  The film was inspired by the 1967 British horror novel, Ritual, by author David Pinner.  The Wicker Man follows a devout Christian police sergeant who goes to a remote Scottish island to search for a missing girl and runs up against pagan islanders.

Police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) travels to the remote Scottish island of Summerisle where he’s been mysteriously called to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison (Geraldine Cowper).  However, he immediately finds the locals uncooperative, and the community is nothing like he expected.

The devout Christian detective finds the islanders openly reveling in wanton lust, often having sex in public.  The pastoral community is led by Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) in the practice of a religion that recognizes the “old gods” and the islanders also recreate various rituals practiced by the Druids.  Offended by what he believes is pagan blasphemy, Sgt. Howie is blind to how dangerous this secret society actually is to him.

Director Robin Hardy and writer Anthony Shaffer’s The Wicker Man is one of the most popular cult films from Great Britain.  In fact, one of the film’s stars, Christopher Lee, calls it one of the 100 best British films ever made.  Although its shock ending (and it’s a doozy) would mark the film as a horror movie, in many ways, The Wicker Man is a melodrama – one with a highly usually subject matter for a mainstream film, but a melodrama, nevertheless.  Early on, The Wicker Man almost becomes a musical because the first half of the film is filled with the villagers in song (singing tunes written by Paul Giovanni, the film’s composer, and Gary Carpenter).  These Celtic folk song-like ditties (about pagan festivals and with an emphasis on ritual, metaphor, and fertility) add to the movie’s surreal air without making the film seem wholly implausible.

Ultimately, questions about the plausibility of The Wicker Man will decide how viewers receive it.  Granted, there are holes in logic, and some incidents in the movie just don’t make sense (There is also a 100-minute director’s cut that provide more explanations into the various concepts in the film.), but sometimes the movie seems like a weirdo documentary about an actually island of pagan hippies.  While the performances and filmmaking is generally good, it’s this touch of realness that makes the film so eerily… real?  The movie makes the viewer ask:  “Could this happen” or “Is this based on a real story,” and that makes The Wicker Man haunt you long after you watched it.

The film drifts in the middle of the second act and early in the third act.  However, the final ten minutes or so may leave the viewer shivering and feeling a strong sense of dread, fear, and maybe shock and confusion – just like a good horror flick should.

7 of 10
B+

Thursday, July 13, 2006

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

Review: "The Wicker Man" Remake is Whickety Whickety Whack

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 201 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux (support on Patreon)

The Wicker Man (2006)
Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for disturbing images and violence, language, and thematic issues
DIRECTOR:  Neil LaBute
WRITER:  Neil LaBute (based upon the screenplay by Anthony Shaffer)
PRODUCERS:  Nicolas Cage, Norm Golightly, Avi Lerner, Randall Emmett, John Thompson, and Boaz Davidson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Paul Sarossy, B.S.C., C.S.C. (director of photography)
EDITOR:  Joel Plotch
COMPOSER:  Angelo Badalamenti

MYSTERY/HORROR/THRILLER with elements of drama

Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Beahan, Frances Conroy, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski, Diane Delano, Michael Wiseman, and Erika-Shaye Gair

The subject of this movie review is The Wicker Man, a 2006 horror film and mystery thriller from director Neil LaBute.  The film is a remake of the 1973 British film, The Wicker Man, and this remake sources both the 1973 screenplay by Anthony Shaffer and the 1967 horror novel, Ritual, that was the source material for the original film.  In the 2006 version of The Wicker Man, a policeman searches a small island for his missing daughter, but meets resistance from the island's secretive neo-pagan community.

After failing to save a little girl from a fiery car crash, California Highway Patrol officer Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) sinks into months of pill-popping.  He finds his chance at redemption when another opportunity arrives to save a little girl in danger.  He receives a mysterious and desperate letter from his former fiancée, Willow (Kate Beahan): her daughter, Rowan (Erika-Shaye Gair), is missing.  Willow begs Edward to come to her home on a private island in Washington’s Puget Sound, Summerisle.  Edward soon finds himself on a seaplane headed for the islands of the Pacific Northwest.

He finds, however, the community on Summerisle to be exceedingly strange.  The local culture, built around honey harvesting, is dominated by its matriarch, Sister Summerisle (Ellen Burstyn), and the community is in fact a commune and a matriarchy where the women apparently rule over the men who speak nary a word.  Malus finds Willow, now Sister Willow, vague about the disappearance of her daughter, saying only that she believes her fellow islanders have taken Rowan.  The secretive women of Summerisle only ridicule his investigation insisting that Rowan doesn’t exist or that she did but is no longer alive.

Edward also finds the islanders bound by arcane tradition, and they are preparing for a festival to which they refer as “the Day of Death and Rebirth.”  As Edward navigates these bizarre (to him) ancient traditions, he believes that he is getting closer to finding Rowan, but he is also moving towards something unspeakable and perhaps closer to a mysterious figure known as The Wicker Man.

If you’ve ever seen the Robin Hardy-directed British film, The Wicker Man, which stars Edward Woodward as a strongly-devout Christian (and virginal) cop investigating the disappearance of a little girl and Christopher Lee as the leader of a pagan community on an isolated Scottish isle, you’re probably angry that anyone would remake the cult classic.  The original (written by famed playwright Anthony Shaffer who was in turn influenced by actor/writer David Pinner’s novel, Ritual) was genuinely creepy (and occasionally kitschy) with a killer ending.  This film is required viewing for true film fanatics who must experience the pagan villagers swaying like mad trees in their happy, smiling dance of death.

Neil Labute’s remake, also entitled The Wicker Man, is an American “re-imagining” that does have its inventive moments, but is mostly so-so – the kind of thing that seems like a strange CBS television movie.  Some of LaBute’s (an indie director known for such films as In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors) new touches and ideas are rather sweet.  There is something uncomfortably charming about Summerisle as an old-fashioned agrarian society (this one sustains itself by harvesting honey).  Building the film’s costume and production design around the beehive motif adds for some cool visuals.  The beehives are in a field in which the layout resembles a honeycomb (super cool!).  The villagers are still creepy, but whereas they seemed like clueless Jonestown yokels in the original, they’re more dangerous, like Charles Manson’s followers.

Ellen Burstyn gives a simply delicious performance as Sister Summerisle, her every appearance dominates the screen and she literally eats up a script that cannot contain her performance nor satisfy her fire.  Nicolas Cage is actually pretty good as Edward Malus, but once again I think he would have played better had LaBute written stronger supporting characters to go up against Malus, as well as given some of them more lines.  The implausible aspects of this concept show more here than they did in the original.  Also, like the original, this would work better as a longer film, and like the original, the sight of The Wicker Man and that killer ending still hit hard.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, September 23, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Razzie Awards:  5 nominations: “Worst Picture,” “Worst Actor” (Nicolas Cage), “Worst Screen Couple” (Nicolas Cage... and his bear suit), “Worst Remake or Rip-Off,” and “Worst Screenplay” (Neil LaBute based on the original screenplay by Anthony Shaffer)


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

Review: "Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness" is Rather Tame

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux (support on Patreon)

Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness (2015) – Video
Running time:  72 minutes (1 hour, 12 minutes)
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR:  Paul McEvoy
WRITER:  Mark Banker
EDITOR:  Kyle Stafford
COMPOSER:  Andy Sturmer

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring:  (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey DeLisle, Mindy Cohn, Diedrich Bader, Eric Bauza, Jeff Bennett, Jennifer Hale, Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Fred Tatasciore

Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness is a 2015 straight-to-video, animated, comic mystery film.  It is also the 23rd animated movie in the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series from Warner Bros. Animation, which began in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.  In Moon Monster Madness, Mystery Inc. travels to an elaborate moon base where they attempt to unravel the mystery of an alien monster.

Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness introduces the billionaire Sly Baron (Malcolm McDowell).  His latest venture is to make “space tourism” more readily available.  To that end, Baron and his brother, Hudson (Fred Tatasciore), create the first space cruise ship, the “Sly Star One.”  Baron has picked an elite crew to accompany him on the Sly Star One's maiden voyage:  hero astronauts: Zip Elvin (Mark Hamill) and Colt Steelcase (Jeff Bennett); rising astronaut star, Shannon Lucas (Jennifer Hale); self-proclaimed alien hunter, Ridley (Jennifer Hale); football star, Uvinious Botango a.k.a "U-Boat" (Kevin Michael Richardson); and H.A.M. (Diedrich Bader), a robot who just wants to be useful and to be liked.

Baron also creates the “Sly Me to Space” sweepstakes, a lottery that give the last 5 seats on the Sly Star One to ordinary folks.  And the winners are Fred Jones (Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (Grey DeLisle), Velma Dinkley (Mindy Cohn), Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard), and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker).  The cruise is not filled with fun, however, as rivalry, jealousy, and hero worship cause trouble.  And the space tourists soon discover an alien monster wants to ruin their trip to end their lives.

Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness is somewhat inventive.  It is sometimes funny.  It references and has allusions to famous science fiction movies and films about space travel, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), and The Right Stuff (1983).  The problem is that Moon Monster Madness just does not come together.  It is a little too long; has too many guest or supporting characters; and does not fully utilize many of the characters or sub-plots and themes.  Personally, I would have liked more screen time for “U-Boat” and H.A.M.

To be honest, it is also possible that I had high expectations for Moon Monster Madness coming off the previous Scooby film, Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy, which I loved so much, to an extent that still surprises me.  Still, I will recommend Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness, because... well... I always recommend Scooby-Doo movies.

5 of 10
B-

Monday, May 25, 2015


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

Review: "Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy" is One of the Best Scooby-Doo Movies Ever

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy (2014) – Video
Running time:  74 minutes (1 hour, 14 minutes)
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR:  Paul McEvoy
WRITER:  James Krieg
EDITOR:  Kyle Stafford
COMPOSER:  Andy Sturmer
ANIMATION STUDIO:  Digital eMation, Inc.

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring:  (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey DeLisle, Mindy Cohn, Diedrich Bader, Dee Bradley Baker, Eric Bauza, Jeff Bennett, Candi Milo, Susanne Blakeslee, Kevin Michael Richardson, Corey Burton, and Fred Tatasciore

Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy is a 2014 straight-to-video, animated, comic mystery film.  It is also the 22nd animated movie in the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series from Warner Bros. Animation, which began in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.  In Frankencreepy, Velma discovers that she has inherited a family castle that also comes with a curse.

Early in Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy, Velma Dinkley (Mindy Cohn) gets a call from Cuthbert Crawley (Kevin Michael Richardson), a lawyer.  It seems that she has received an inheritance from her great-great-uncle, Basil Von Dinkenstein (Corey Burton) – property and a castle in the town of Transylvania, Pennsylvania.

However, Crawley informs Velma that the castle comes with the Dinkenstein family curse, which destroys what a person loves the most.  Not long after that warning, the Ghost of the Baron (Corey Burton) makes his appearance, and something beloved by the Mystery Inc. gang is destroyed.  Never ones to ignore a mystery, Fred Jones (Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (Grey DeLisle), Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard), and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) join Velma and travel to the strange village of Transylvania, where angry villagers and a bizarre creature await them.

Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy is not only one of the best Scooby-Doo direct-to-DVD films; it is also one of the best Scooby-Doo cartoons ever.  The superb script by James Krieg recalls the first Scooby-Doo series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-1970), both in spirit and in deed.  Frankencreepy is an homage to the classic, original Scooby-Doo, but it is also a modernization that stays true to what is beloved about this franchise.  The story is also a breath of fresh air for this direct-to-DVD franchise, in that it makes the characters do unexpected things.  The mystery at the center of the film is both executed and solved in surprising fashion.

Frankencreepy has a striking visual aesthetic that also harkens back to “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” with an art deco twist.  The backgrounds, village, Von Dinkenstein castle, interiors, etc. recall the classic animation art of Looney Tunes masters, Chuck Jones, Maurice Noble, and Phillip DeGuard.  The animation almost seems like the cartoons of Charles Addams brought to life.  Frankencreepy is truly one of the most beautiful animated films that is not also a major feature film production.

Obviously, I am crazy about this Scooby-Doo movie.  Director Paul McEvoy keeps the story moving with an occasional offbeat moment or pace that assures that no one will think Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy is just another Scooby-Doo cartoon.  I would like the creative team behind this movie give us at least one more Scooby-Doo movie.

9 of 10
A+

Saturday, October 4, 2014


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

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

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

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

COMEDY/CRIME/MYSTERY/ROMANCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 of 10
B

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Updated:  Monday, May 19, 2014

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

Review: Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery (2014) – Video
Running time:  84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR:   Brandon Vietti
WRITER:  Michael Ryan
EDITOR:  Kyle Stafford
COMPOSER:  Ryan Shore
ANIMATION STUDIO:  Digital eMation, Inc.

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring:  (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey DeLisle, Mindy Cohn, Charles S. Dutton, Bumper Robinson, Mary McCormack, Corey Burton, and Fred Tatasciore; from WWE: John Cena, Kane, Brodus Clay, AJ Lee, The Miz, Triple H, Michael Cole, Santino Marella, and Vince McMahon

Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery is the 21st animated movie in the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series from Warner Bros. Animation.  This series began in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.  In WrestleMania Mystery, Mystery Inc. joins WWE wrestling superstars to solve the mystery of a marauding ghost bear.  This film is also a co-production between WWE Studios and Warner Bros. Animation.

Early in Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery, Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) win tickets to WrestleMania.  The two then cajole the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang:  Fred Jones (Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (Grey DeLisle), and Velma Dinkley (Mindy Cohn), into taking them to the event.  The entire gang boards the Mystery Machine and heads to WWE City, the site of WrestleMania.

An accident on the way gives the friends the chance to meet WWE (Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment) superstar, John Cena (John Cena).  They even meet WWE boss, Mr. McMahon (Vince McMahon), and the gang gets an invite to visit the WWE training camp.  The good times are interrupted, however, by Vicious, a ghost bear whose attacks threaten to ruin WrestleMania.  WWE stars join Mystery, Inc. to solve the case and to also protect the health and freedom of Shaggy and Scooby.

I actually did not expect much from Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery, because I am not a fan of professional wrestling.  I was when I was a child (and I was huge fan of it, then).  However, I liked this movie … a lot.  In fact, I found myself wishing for a sequel as soon as I finished watching WrestleMania Mystery.

There are a few reasons.  First, WrestleMania Mystery is one of the better recent Scooby-Doo direct-to-DVD movies, with the animation, production values, and voice acting being mostly good.  John Cena, or at least the cartoon version of him, comes across as a nice guy, the kind of fella who would make a good mystery-solving pal.  The Miz (regular name: Mike Mizanin) is funny in a small role, and I think that he’d also make a good sleuthing buddy.  WWE star, Sin Cara, is fantastic in a non-speaking role.

At 84 minutes in length, WrestleMania Mystery is more like a full-length movie than most of the Scooby-Doo movies of the last several years.  For the most part, the story does not seem padded.  Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery works.  It is genuinely good and funny, and it has a nice, action-filled last act.  I like it enough that it almost makes me want to watch some real-life WWE action … almost.

7 of 10
A-

Saturday, May 17, 2014


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