Negromancer News Bits and Bites from May 15th to 21st, 2016 - Update #41

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MOVIES - From BusinessInsider:  Legendary screenwriter Shane Black says that Mel Gibson is blacklisted in Hollywood.  Black wrote "Lethal Weapon," one of Gibson's most successful film franchises.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  The Weinstein Company has bought the worldwide rights (except for French-speaking territories) to "21 Years: Quentin Tarantino," a documentary about the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

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COMICS - From IGN:  All the spoilers for this coming week's hot comic book, "DC Universe: Rebirth #1."

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BLACK LIVES MATTER - From NYT:  When white cops can't find a black man to kill, they just might kill a white man.  Article comes with shocking video.

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COMICS - From Marvel:  Marvel confirms stellar cast for "Thor: Ragnarok."

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Michael Keaton back in the mix to play the villain in "Spider-Man: Homecoming."

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TELEVISION - From DeadlineTV:  Ewan McGregor to star in Season 3 of "Fargo" for FX.

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OBITS - From Variety:  The actor, Alan Young, has died at the age of 96, Thursday, May 19, 2016.  Young was best known for the classic sitcom, "Mr. Ed."  He played "Wilbur Post," the young architect who kept a talking horse in his suburban stable.  I was a fan.  R.I.P., Mr. Young.

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MUSIC - From YahooNews:  John Berry, one of the original Beastie Boys (from the band's punk rock incarnation), has died at the age of 52.

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COMICS - From BleedingCool:  Mark Millar, creator of "Kick-Ass" and "Kingsman: The Secret Service," wants to do a Star Wars/Marvel Comics crossover project.

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MOVIES - From HitFix:  Daniel Craig rejects the truckloads of cash offered him to play James Bond again.  So we'll have a new Bond... stay tuned.

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OBIT - From Variety:  Legendary CBS and "60 Minutes" newsman, Morely Safer, has died at the age of 84 - Thursday, May 19, 2016.

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COMICS - From YahooMovies:  "Captain America: Civil War" is now the biggest movie of 2016 - in terms of worldwide gross.

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MUSIC - From TheHill:  Sir Elton John writes a piece the ignorance of North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory concerning trans-identity.

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TELEVISION - From YahooTV:  CBS boss defends lack of diversity in its 2016-17 season's new offerings.  You'd think it was the 1950s at CBS.

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COMICS - From THR:  The fallout from "Batman vs. Superman" is a shakeup in executive positions at Warner Bros.

From Vulture:  Meet Geoff Johns, the guy who will change nothing... or very little.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Noomi Rapace is in talks to join Will Smith and Joel Edgerton in "Bright" (based on a Max Landis script) for Netflix.

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MOVIES - From ScreenRant:  Tyrese Gibson wants back in on the Transformers, specifically 2017's "Transformers: The Last Knight."  Michael Bay responds.

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COMICS - From DCComics:  DC has a new logo.

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POLITICS - From Salon:  Donald Trump, the President of the Confederacy.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Shia Labeouf for "American Honey" and Joel Edgerton for "Loving" are born-again stars at Cannes.

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MOVIES - From Collider:  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson may be the title character in Shane Black's "Doc Savage" movie.

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CRIME - From YahooCelebrity:  Bill Cosby and Playboy's Hugh Hefner are joint defendants in a sexual battery suit.

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MOVIES - From DarkHorizons:  The title of the fifth Transformers film is, "Transformers: The Last Knight."  Josh Duhamel also returns to the franchise.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  "Jurassic World" homies, Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow, reteam for family action movie, Powerhouse.

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POLITICS - From SheKnows:  This Michelle Obama caricature is not "racist" or "sexist," so much as it is simply unimaginative and is also the work of dull and marginally talented cartoonist.

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COMICS - From THR:  Warner Bros. is working on a "Harley Quinn" movie starring Margot Kidder.  She would headline the film with several other female villains and heroes.  The DC Comics character will appear in this year's Suicide Squad."

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MOVIES - From YahooMovies:  "Top Gun" is 30 years old.

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MOVIES - From YahooMovies: "Loving," the film about Mildred and Richard Loving, is hot at the Cannes Film Festival 2016.  The movie tells the story of a black woman and white man who were arrested in their bedroom in 1958 for being married.

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BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo:  The winner at the box office for the weekend of 5/13 to 5/15/2016 is "Captain America: Civil War" with an estimated haul of $72.5 million.  This is its second straight weekend at #1.

From Variety:  "Captain America: Civil War" hits over $940 million worldwide.

From Patreon:   Haven't seen "Civil War?"  Read my review, which is fairly spoiler free.

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OBIT - From Variety:  The actress Madeleine LeBeau has died at the age of 92, Sunday, May 1, 2016.  She was the last surviving credited cast member of the film Casablanca.

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MOVIES - From CinemaBlend:  Jennifer Lawrence could be the lead in that all-female "Ocean's 11" reboot.

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COMICS - From Twitter:  #BlackPantherSoLit - enjoy!

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MOVIES - From XOJane:  This article by a woman who worked in the film industry is riveting.  I think the unnamed film is "Election," a really good 1999 film and the unnamed director is probably Alexander Payne.

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MOVIES - From YahooMovies:  There may be a deal in the works for director Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro to reunited (for the first time since 1995's "Casino"), and they'd bring along Al Pacino.  The film is called "The Irishman."

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COMICS - From TheWrap:  Patrick Stewart has been confirmed to return as "Professor X" in "Wolverine 3."

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TRAILERS:

From YouTube:  Second trailer for "Star Trek Beyond" and it is kick-ass and way better than the first.


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DARWYN COOKE - on the passing, work, and life of the great American cartoonist and comic book artist.

From Deadline:  An obituary of Cooke, which is similar to his Wikipedia page.

From BleedingCool:  Professionals remember the late, great comic book artist, Darwyn Cooke.

From ComicBookBin:  More on the wonderful artist, Darwyn Cooke.

From BleedingCool:  The now-legendary WonderCon panel with Cooke.

From ComicsReporter:  A gallery of Cooke pieces.

Starz Celebrates Six Nominations at 73rd Annual Golden Globes

STARZ Receives Six Golden Globe® Award Nominations Including Best Television Series “Outlander” and Best Television Limited Series “Flesh and Bone”

Network Receives First Ever Recognition in All Three Television Categories, Including Performance Nominations for Caitriona Balfe, Sarah Hay, Patrick Stewart and Tobias Menzies

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--STARZ was nominated for six Golden Globe® awards by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards nomination ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. The network garnered category nominations for “Outlander” for Best Television Series – Drama and “Flesh and Bone” for Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

    “We are incredibly proud of our talented actors and producing partners who have been recognized for their achievements.”

This marks the first time the network has received nominations in all three television categories across drama, comedy and limited-series, including Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama for Caitriona Balfe in “Outlander,” Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Sarah Hay in “Flesh and Bone,” Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy for Patrick Stewart in “Blunt Talk” and Best Performance by an actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Tobias Menzies in “Outlander.”

“Our thanks to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for honoring STARZ with nominations for our series ‘Outlander’ and ‘Flesh and Bone’ and the performances of Catiriona Balfe, Sarah Hay, Patrick Stewart and Tobias Menzies,” said Starz CEO, Chris Albrecht. “We are incredibly proud of our talented actors and producing partners who have been recognized for their achievements.”

“Outlander,” currently in production on its second season which will return to STARZ in Spring 2016, is adapted from Diana Gabaldon’s international best-selling books and executive produced by Ronald D. Moore (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation”). The series spans the genres of romance, science fiction, history and adventure as it follows Claire Randall, a married WWII combat nurse who mistakenly falls back in time to 1743. “Outlander” is produced by Tall Ship Productions, Story Mining & Supply Company and Left Bank Pictures in association with Sony Pictures Television.

“Flesh and Bone,” a gritty eight-hour limited series created by Emmy® award-winning "Breaking Bad" writer and Executive Producer Moira Walley-Beckett, follows a young dancer with a distinctly troubled past as she joins a prestigious ballet company in New York. John Melfi (“House of Cards,” “Sex and the City”), Lawrence Bender (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Good Will Hunting”) and Kevin Brown ("Roswell”) are Executive Producers. Australian filmmaker David Michôd (“Animal Kingdom,” “Rover”) directed the first episode. The limited series premiered November 8th and the entire series is currently available on STARZ Play and STARZ On Demand for STARZ subscribers.

This marks the first Golden Globe® nomination for Caitriona Balfe (Money Monster, Now You See Me) who stars as Claire Randall in “Outlander.” It is also the first nomination for Sarah Hay, who stars as Claire Robbins in “Flesh and Bone” and is a soloist dancer currently for Semperoper Ballett in Dresden, Germany after dancing professionally in the US for four years and training at the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre.

This is the third Golden Globe® nomination for Patrick Stewart and his first nomination for a comedy series. Stewart was recognized for his performance in the STARZ comedy series, “Blunt Talk” as Walter Blunt, a British import intent on conquering the world of American cable news. The series from Media Rights Capital (MRC) and executive produced by Seth MacFarlane, Jonathan Ames, Tristram Shapeero and Stephanie Davis premiered its first season on August 22nd and is greenlit for a second season to return in 2016 on STARZ.

This is the first Golden Globe® nomination for Tobias Menzies (“The Honorable Woman,” “Game of Thrones,” Casino Royale, Atonement) who plays two characters in the STARZ Original Series “Outlander,” Frank Randall the beloved husband of Claire in the 1940s and Captain “Black Jack” Randall, the Captain of the English Army in 1793, capable of monstrous acts.


About Starz
Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) is a leading integrated global media and entertainment company with operating units that provide premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television channels (Starz Networks) and global content distribution (Starz Distribution), www.starz.com.

Starz Networks is a leading provider of premium subscription video programming through the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® pay TV networks which showcase premium original programming and movies to U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies. As of September 30, 2015, STARZ and ENCORE serve a combined 55.8 million subscribers, including 23.3 million at STARZ, and 32.5 million at ENCORE, making them the largest pair of premium flagship channels in the U.S. STARZ® and ENCORE®, along with Starz Networks' third network MOVIEPLEX®, air more than 1,000 movies monthly across 17 linear networks, complemented by On Demand and authenticated online offerings through STARZ PLAY, ENCORE PLAY, and MOVIEPLEX PLAY. Starz Distribution develops, produces and acquires entertainment content, distributing it to consumers globally on DVD, digital formats and traditional television. Starz Distribution's home video, digital media and worldwide distribution business units distribute original programming content produced by Starz, as well as entertainment content for itself and third parties.

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Negromancer News Bits and Bites for the Week of August 9th to 15th, 2015 - Update #13

Support Leroy on Patreon.

NEWS:

From Deadline:  Lots of Pixar news at D23.

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From YahooTV:  AntennaTV is bringing Johnny Carson back to television starting January 1, 2016.

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From YahooMovies:  The first trailer of Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight.'

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From YahooMovies:  Entertainment Weekly has scoops from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

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From Variety:  The NWA music biopic could have a $40 million opening weekend.

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From THR:  Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's next collabo will be an adaptation of "Devil in the White City."

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From SlashFilm:  Frank Grillo in, so script for "The Purge 3" will exist.

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From Patreon:  This is my review of the Josh Trank's Fantastic Four film.  I will post a slightly altered version on Negromancer when the film arrives on DVD/Blu-ray.

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From BoxOfficeMojo:  In its second week of release, "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" wins the 8/7 - 8/9/15 weekend box office with an estimated take of $29.4 million.  It also won its debut weekend.  In its debut, the Fantastic Four reboot film finished way under early estimates and was second with an estimated take of $26.2 million.

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From THR:  Despite resisting, Bill Murray has finally agreed to appear in Paul Feig's all-female Ghostbusters.


COMICS - Films and Books:

From io9:  Talks about the "Civil War" and "Doctor Strange" reveals they saw at D23.

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From Deadline:  "RED" movies series is coming to TV.  The movies were based on a comic book series.

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From YahooMovies:  Josh Trank and Miles Teller almost came to blows on the set of Fantastic Four reboot bomb.

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From SlashFilm:  Patrick Stewart confirms that he will have a significant role in "Wolverine 3."

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From YahooNews:  More bad news for Fantastic Four film.

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From CinemaBlend:  So maybe FOX did mess with Josh Trank's "Fantastic Four" set pieces.

Review "Excalibur" is Epic, Unforgettable (Happy B'day, Liam Neeson)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 77 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Excalibur (1981)
Running time:  140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER:  John Boorman
WRITERS:  Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman; from an adaptation by Rospo Pallenberg of Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Alex Thomson
EDITOR:  John Merritt with Donn Cambern (no screen credit)
COMPOSER:  Trevor Jones
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/FANTASY/WAR

Starring:  Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi, Paul Geoffrey, Nicol Williamson, Robert Addie, Gabriel Byrne, Keith Buckley, Katrine Boorman, Liam Neeson, Corin Redgrave, Niall O’Brien, Patrick Stewart, and Clive Swift

The subject of this movie review is Excalibur, a 1981 drama and fantasy film from producer-director John Boorman.  The film is mostly based on Le Morte d’Arthur, the 15th century Arthurian romance written by Thomas Malory.  Excalibur focuses on Merlin the magician, King Arthur, and Morgana Le Fey.  It depicts how Arthur unites a land, creates the Round Table, and builds Camelot, while forces conspire to destroy it all.

John Boorman’s Excalibur is the acclaimed director’s lushly filmed take on the Arthurian legend as adapted from Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.  Early in the film, we see Arthur’s illicit conception when his father, King Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne), use magical trickery to seduce, Igrayne (Katrine Boorman), another man’s wife, and impregnates her with the child that would become Arthur.  Later, Merlin (Nicol Williamson) claims the infant Arthur as the price Uther must pay Merlin for providing the magical disguise Arthur used to seduce Igrayne.

Later, young Arthur (Nigel Terry) pulls the sword of kings, Excalibur, from a stone, which makes him King Arthur.  The film tells the story of the rise of Arthur’s kingdom and the righteous birth of The Knights of the Round Table.  Then, things go bad when Arthur’s wife, Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi), takes Arthur’s best, bravest, and most favored knight, Lancelot (Nicholas Clay), as her lover.  Arthur’s sister, Morgana (Helen Mirren), a crafty sorceress, connives until the balance of power shifts from Merlin to her.  The film concludes with Arthur’s final battle, this against his son, Mordred (Robert Addie), whom Arthur fathered with Morgana.

Boorman, his screenwriting partner Rospo Pallenberg, cinematographer Alex Thomson (who earned an Oscar nomination for his work here), composer Trevor Jones, and costume designer Bob Ringwood (who earned a BAFTA Award nomination for his work in this film) came together to create an exquisite rendition of the tale of King Arthur and Camelot.  The film is full of Christian symbolism, in particularly dealing with Christianity supplanting the old gods and necromancy in favor of men.  There is also a lot of sexual subtext, much of it is surprisingly gay; there is lots of man love and admiration of the virility, honor, bravery, and skill of men.  Men really admire and love great men in this story, and women, for the most part, are trouble in this film.

Boorman wanted to emphasize the story over the characters in his take on the Arthurian myth, and he uses the stunning visuals to evoke feelings, but to also get the viewer to think about the things for which the stories of King Arthur and his kingdom stand.  However, the actors really don’t surrender and play the role of puppets.  They play up to the symbolism and imagery.  They don’t treat their roles as figurative, but as interpreters of the things that this myth teaches us about the better parts of human nature – humility, charity, bravery, and sacrifice, and an understanding to forgive the trespasses our friends, loved ones, countrymen, and fellow humans make against us and we against them.

In Excalibur, John Boorman composes his scenes and photographic shots as if each were a giant painting, a series of representational works meant to tell a powerful tale about universal ideals.  There is something grand in Excalibur, and in spite of its faults:  some poor dialogue, the tendency for the film to suddenly take big leaps forward in the narrative time, and Boorman’s assumption that we should be familiar with these characters and their motivations, it succeeds.

8 of 10
A

Monday, May 23, 2005

Updated:  Saturday, June 07, 2014

NOTES:
1982 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Cinematography” (Alex Thomson)

1982 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Bob Ringwood)

1981 Cannes Film Festival:  1 win: “Best Artistic Contribution (John Boorman) and 1 nomination: “Palme d'Or” (John Boorman)

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

Review: "X-Men: Days of Future Past" - Why So Serious?

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Running time:  131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action, some suggestive material, nudity and language
DIRECTOR:  Bryan Singer
WRITERS:  Simon Kinberg; from a story by Jane Goldman, Simon Kinberg, and Matthew Vaughn 
PRODUCERS:  Hutch Parker, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner, and Bryan Singer
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Newton Thomas Sigel
EDITOR/COMPOSER:  John Ottman

SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION/DRAMA

Starring:  Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, Bingbing Fan, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, and Anna Paquin

X-Men: Days of Future Past is a 2014 superhero movie from director Bryan Singer.  It is 20th Century Fox’s seventh film based Marvel Comics’ X-Men comic book franchise.  This new movie is a sequel to 2011’s X-Men: First Class and a kind of sequel to 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand.  X-Men: Days of Future Past finds the X-Men of the future sending one of their own into past in a desperate effort to change history and to prevent the destruction of the world for both humans and mutants.

The film opens (apparently) sometime in the third decade of the 21st century.  By this time, mutant-hunting machines called Sentinels have wiped out nearly all mutants and also the humans that supported them.  The last of the X-Men are about to make a desperate bid to change their apocalyptic future.  Charles Xavier/Professor X (Patrick Stewart) concocts a plan that sends the mind of Logan/The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back into the past and into the body of his younger self in the year 1973.

In 1973, Logan must contact the younger Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and convince him that they must stop Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from committing an assassination that will lead to the creation of the Sentinels.  However, Wolverine finds that the younger Charles is a mess.  Xavier wants no part of his future self’s plan, especially when he discovers that he must cooperate with Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), his dear friend-turned-bitter enemy.

Released in 2011, X-Men: First Class was a combination prequel to the original film, X-Men (2000), and a partial reboot of the franchise.  First Class was sparkly, fun, energetic, and even a bit sexy.  X-Men: Days of Future Past is ponderous and takes both its subject matter and its plot way too seriously.  I liked the film, but I only really enjoyed certain moments and a few characters.

Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic as Mystique, making the character’s emotions, mission, and anger seem real.  Nicholas Hoult is poignant as Hank McCoy/Beast; so much of his performance is restrained.  Hoult makes the most of subtle facial expressions, and his expressive eyes convey Beast in a way that gives him weight and depth.

What this film lacks is gravitas.  Days of Future Past pretends to be important serious because it metaphorically or symbolically deals with serious and important real world issues.  However, the movie is tedious instead of being weighty in any meaningful a way.  It is as if this film has so much to cover that it almost ends up sinking under the burden of its moralizing via multiple points of view, characters, and competing timelines.

In fact, after seeing Days of Future Past, I realized that Wolverine is not particularly consequential to the plot, or at least the screenplay does not make him seem so.  For what the character does, just about any other X-Men could have made that trip into the past.  [In The X-Men comic book story, “Days of the Future Past,” upon which this movie is based, Kitty Pryde travels into the past – the year 1983.]  I read a review of this movie in which the writer said that this was a movie about Mystique and Wolverine.  In a way, this movie is indeed most about what Mystique wants, and the movie would be better off if it stayed with Mystique longer than it actually does.

Although I like it, X-Men: Days of Future Past is my least favorite X-Men movie.  I found the future Sentinels particularly scary and chilling, and Evan Peters as Quicksilver is a blast.  Of all the X-Men movies, it has the best production values and the best special effects.  It is, however, full of sound and fury, and even in the universe of X-Men movies, it does not signify much of anything.

5 of 10
B-

Saturday, May 31, 2014


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

Review: Fight Scenes Cut Nicely in "The Wolverine"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Wolverine (2013)
Running time:  126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some sexuality and language
DIRECTOR:  James Mangold
WRITERS:  Mark Bomback and Scott Frank (based on the characters and stories appearing in Marvel Comics)
PRODUCERS:  Hugh Jackman, Hutch Parker, and Lauren Shuler Donner
CINEMATOGRAHER: Ross Emery (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Michael McCusker
COMPOSER:  Marco Beltrami

SUPERHERO/ACTION/MARTIAL ARTS

Starring:  Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Brian Tee, Haruhiko Yamanouchi, Will Yun Lee, Ken Yamamura, and Famke Janssen

The Wolverine is a 2013 superhero movie from director James Mangold.  Starring Hugh Jackman in the title role, it is also the sixth film in the X-Men franchise.  This film is not a sequel to the previous Wolverine solo movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).  In the new movie, an old acquaintance summons Wolverine to Japan, where the hero becomes embroiled in a conflict involving family, gangsters, and ninja.

Following the events depicted in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) lives as recluse in an isolated forest outside a small town in the Yukon.  He is haunted by the death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), whom he was forced to kill (in X-Men: The Last Stand).

A young Japanese woman named Yukio (Rila Fukushima) has been tracking Logan.  She tells him that an old friend who was once the young soldier he saved decades earlier during World War II wants to see Logan before he dies.  Once in Japan, Logan meets Ichiro Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), now a dying old man who is the head of a Japanese technology empire.  He makes Logan a shocking offer, one that forces Logan to confront his demons.  Logan considers himself through with being a soldier and a hero, until he is forced to protect Yashida’s granddaughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto), from several kidnapping conspiracies.  Although weakened and ailing, Logan is determined to show his adversaries that he is still the animal known as The Wolverine.

Hugh Jackman has come to embody Logan/Wolverine the way Christopher Reeve embodied Clark Kent/Superman, beginning over 30 years ago in Superman: The Movie (1978).  Jackman carries The Wolverine on his broad, muscular shoulders, but given the hoopla leading up to The Wolverine’s release, one would think the film would be an all-time great superhero movie, but it is not.

Don’t get me wrong.  The Wolverine has some superb and exhilarating action sequences and fight scenes – the kind for which fans of Wolverine in comic books have been waiting.  The fight on top of a moving bullet train recalls the great battle at the end of the first Mission: Impossible movie in 1996.  This is solid entertainment, but much of the character drama seems contrived.  The screenplay by Mark Bomback and Scott Frank, who rewrote the original version written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (who does not receive a screen credit), turns the good female supporting characters into mere accessories to Wolverine.  The mutant known as Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) is under-utilized, so she is ultimately wasted.  Many of the male supporting characters are just caricatures of Japanese men or stock bad guys.

But Jackman saves the day.  With the help of the action stuff, Jackman makes The Wolverine the best superhero movie of Summer 2013.  Just getting a chance to see him in action makes me forget about the things in this movie that bother me.  Jackman takes what could have been merely entertaining and gives it that extra-something that only true movie stars can give.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, July 27, 2013

"X-Men: Days of the Future Past" Teaser Poster #1 - Professor X Times 2

Crazy cool image of Professor Charles Xavier as a young mutant savior and as a venerable mutant survivor.

Review: "Star Trek: First Contact" is a Franchise Highpoint

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 215 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sci-fi adventure violence
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Frakes
WRITERS: Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga; from a story by Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Rick Berman (based on the TV series “Star Trek” created by Gene Roddenberry)
PRODUCER: Rick Berman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew F. Leonetti (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: John W. Wheeler with Anastasia Emmons
COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige, Neal McDonough, Robert Picardo, and Dwight Schultz

The subject of this movie review is Star Trek: First Contact, a 1996 science fiction drama and thriller from director Jonathan Frakes, who is also a Star Trek cast member. First Contact is the eighth movie in the Star Trek film franchise.

The cast of the syndicated series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” returns in their second Star Trek feature film, Star Trek: First Contact. This time, Captain Jean Luc-Picard (Patrick Stewart) leads the crew of the newly commissioned U.S.S. Enterprise-E in a battle against one of the most feared villains of the TV series, the Borg, a sinister alien race of half-machine, half-organic beings.

Once upon a time, the Borg captured Picard and assimilated him into the Borg collective, re-naming him Locutus. Although Picard escaped (which is rare), he never forgot or forgave the Borg for the experience. As First Contact begins, the Enterprise-E is on a routine patrol when Picard gets a message from Starfleet Headquarters that the Borg have entered Federation space and are on a direct course for Earth. Although his orders are to stand down, Picard has the Enterprise enter the fray, and he leads the attack that destroys the Borg ship. Before their ship is destroyed, the Borg jettison an escape pod, which the Enterprise follows. Scanning the pod, the Enterprise discovers that it is entering a time vortex, so Picard has the Enterprise follow it through the vortex.

The Borg have gone back in time to attack Earth when it is vulnerable, a dark age just after World War III. Picard and crew learn that they have come back precisely on the day of April 4, 2063, which is 24 hours before the most momentous day in human history – April 5, 2063 – First Contact. Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) land on this Earth of the past to help a shabby scientist, Dr. Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), keep his date with destiny. Meanwhile, Picard, Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn), the remaining Enterprise crew, and a guest from the Earth below, Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard), fight to keep the Borg and their Borg Queen (Alice Krige) from using the ship to destroy the future, as they know it.

Star Trek: First Contact is the best of the four films spun from “The Next Generation,” and it’s an old fashioned romantic adventure (with “romance” in this instance not meaning “love”). ST:FC blends pulp sci-fi with the optimism of the original Star Trek. The central line of conflict – Picard and Worf’s attempts to save the Enterprise-E crew from being turned into Borg drones – is riveting. Towards that end, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Alfre Woodard shine in showy roles.

The rest of the story that takes place on mid-21st Earth – Riker and La Forge’s quest to help Zefram Cochrane make history – is a pleasant diversion from the heady action on the Enterprise. It is here that the writers reveal the ingenuity of the plot – that of man both in his past self and his future self fighting all manner of obstacles to reach the stars. Humanity literally has to be ready for anything, and has to be ready to create out of chaos. If you choose only to watch one Star Trek film, First Contact would be a fine choice.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1997 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Makeup” (Michael Westmore, Scott Wheeler, and Jake Garber)

1997 Image Awards: 1 nomination for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Alfre Woodard)

Thursday, October 19, 2006

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Review: Characters Grow in "Star Trek: Insurrection"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 218 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG for sci-fi action violence, mild language, and sensuality
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Frakes
WRITERS: Michael Piller; from a story by Michael Piller and Rick Berman (based upon the TV series “Star Trek” created by Gene Roddenberry)
PRODUCER: Rick Berman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew F. Leonetti (director of photography)
EDITOR: Peter E. Berger
COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith

SCI-FI/ACTION/DRAMA with elements of mystery

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, Anthony Zerbe, Gregg Henry, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Michael Welch

The subject of this movie review is Star Trek: Insurrection, a 1998 science fiction-action movie from director Jonathan Frakes, who is also a Star Trek cast member. Insurrection is the ninth film in the Star Trek film franchise.

The television cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987-94) blast into its third Trek feature film, Star Trek: Insurrection. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) leads his crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E to a mysterious world where metaphasic radiation has altered the aging process of its 600 inhabitants. The Federation (of which the Enterprise is a representative) has been secretly studying the inhabitants of the planet, humanoids known as the Ba’ku.

Data (Brent Spiner) was part of the research team on the planet, but he inexplicably rebels against them and attempts to destroy the secret research station. As Picard and company try to unravel why Data went berserk, they slowly unravel a conspiracy involving Vice-Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe), a shady Federation high official, and Ad-har Ru’afo (F. Murray Abraham), an alien leader determined to harness the planet’s power – even if it means the destruction of the Ba’ku.

Star Trek: Insurrection is an entertaining Star Trek flick, not great, but entertaining, still. As Capt. Picard, Patrick Stewart once again soars with the character, giving him more dramatic punch than in the TV series. Jonathan Frakes also improves on Commander William T. Riker, making him an affable fellow and a stout warrior (too bad we won’t get a Trek series with him as the lead). This film is notable for Oscar winner (and multiple nominee) F. Murray Abraham playing a Trek villain. Abraham is a great all-around actor who infuses his roles with drama, and his presence always enriches those films in which he appears – as he does with Star Trek: Insurrection.

6 of 10
B

Sunday, October 22, 2006

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Review: "Star Trek: Nemesis" Something of a Misstep

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 221 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
Running time: 117 minutes (1 hours, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and peril and a scene of sexual content
DIRECTOR: Stuart Baird
WRITERS: John Logan; from a story by Rick Berman, Brent Spiner, and John Logan
PRODUCER: Rick Berman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeffrey L. Kimball
EDITOR: Dallas Puett
COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/DRAMA

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Tom Hardy, Ron Perlman, Dina Meyer, Kate Mulgrew, and Wil Wheaton with Whoopi Goldberg

The subject of this movie review is Star Trek: Nemesis, a 2002 science fiction-action film from director Stuart Baird. Nemesis is the tenth entry in the Star Trek film franchise and was the last film in the franchise until the reboot, entitled Star Trek, in 2009.

The cast of the TV series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” returns for its fourth (and final) feature film, Star Trek: Nemesis. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew are celebrating the marriage of long-time lovers, Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) when the Federation sends the Enterprise-E into the territory of the Federation’s old enemy, the Romulans. Picard is shocked to learn that the Romulan government is now run by a citizen of Remas, the sister of planet of Romulus.

The new Praetor Shinzon (Tom Hardy) requests that Picard beam down to the capitol city so that he may negotiate a truce with the Federation. Upon meeting Shinzon for the first time, Picard discovers that the Praetor has a shocking connection to him, and that Shinzon’s negotiations are merely a ruse for his planned attack on Earth.

The most dour and least successful Star Trek film at the box office, Star Trek: Nemesis will probably only find deep love from Trek devotees. The dramatic conflict between Picard and Shinzon is riveting, but at times this personal conflict drags on the rest of the film. Everyone and everything else is pushed far into the background, and when another character does come forward, it seems like an underdeveloped subplot. Entertaining, Star Trek: Nemesis is also clunky and listless, and it really seems like an episode of a TV show gussied up and also stretched past the point where it should have ended. It is, however, sad to see this part of the Star Trek franchise end, and this movie is not worthy of being that closing chapter.

5 of 10
C+

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Star Trek: TNG Reunion Heads to the Big Easy

'Star Trek: The Next Generation' 25-Year Reunion Set for Wizard World New Orelans As Main Cast Members Join Patrick Stewart, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2

Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden Added To Celebration At New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

NEW YORK and NEW ORLEANS, October 3, 2012 – It has been 25 years since “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” hit the air. Now, seven main members of that historic show will reunite as Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data) and Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) will attend Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2 at New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

The series, which ran for seven seasons from 1987 through 1994, garnered 18 daytime Emmys and was a hugely successful follow-up to the original “Star Trek” from two decades earlier. The seven stars are also scheduled to appear at this month's Austin Comic Con in what would be the first gathering of the group in the U.S. since “TNG” first aired.

Stewart is scheduled to appear on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1-2, while the rest of the cast is slotted for attendance all three days. Weekend fans will have the unique opportunity to pose for a photo op with all seven actors.

Other standouts on the Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con celebrity roster include comics legend Stan Lee, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Eliza Dushku, Reservoir Dogs headliner Michael Madsen and WWE® Superstar CM Punk®. They will be joined by an All-Star collection of well-known artists and a variety of activities, exhibitors and special attractions in the final event on Wizard World's 2012 calendar.

Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, produced by Wizard World, Inc. (WIZD.PK), will bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more. Admission is free for kids 10 and under, and Sunday, Dec. 2, is “Kids Day,” filled with an array of programming specially designed for children.

For more on the 2012 Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, visit http://www.wizardworld.com/home-neworleans.html.


About Wizard World:
Wizard World produces Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate graphic novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, gaming, technology, toys and social networking. The events often feature celebrities from movies and TV, artists and writers, and events such as premieres, gaming tournaments, panels, and costume contests.

The full event schedule can be found at www.wizardworld.com.


***** SAVE THE 2012-13 DATES *****
October 26-28, 2012 – Wizard World Austin Comic Con
November 30 - December 2, 2012 – Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con
February 22-24, 2013 – Wizard World Portland Comic Con
May 30 - June 2, 2013 – Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con
August 8-11, 2013 – Wizard World Chicago Comic Con
September 20-22, 2013 – Wizard World Ohio Comic Con

Wil Wheaton Joins Wizard World Austin's Star Trek TNG Reunion

'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' 'Stand By Me' Star Wil Wheaton Added To Wizard World Austin Comic Con Lineup

Eighth Cast Member To Join 25-Year 'TNG' Reunion At Austin Convention Center, October 26-28

Wil Wheaton, who starred as a teenager in the classic coming-of-age film Stand By Me in 1986 and a year later earned an important role in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” will appear at next month's Wizard World Austin Comic Con. Wheaton joins seven other “TNG” cast members in a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the start of the landmark series, Oct. 26-28 at the Austin Convention Center.

Wheaton portrayed Wesley Crusher, son of Dr. Beverly Crusher (played by Gates McFadden) in the show. Other fellow “TNG” cast members scheduled for Austin include Patrick Stewart (Capt. Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi) and Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data).

Wheaton is also known for popular roles as Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers (1991) and portraying himself on the series “The Big Bang Theory.” He is an avid blogger, with frequent postings at Wil Wheaton Dot Net and WWdN: In Exile.

In addition to Wheaton and the rest of the “TNG” crew, top celebrities scheduled to attend include Eliza Dushku (“Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” True Lies), WWE® Superstar CM Punk®, Dean Cain (“Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” “90210”), Anthony Michael Hall (Sixteen Candles, Weird Science), Michael Rooker (“The Walking Dead,” Cliffhanger) and the Boondock Saints trio of Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery and David Della Rocco, among others.

Wizard World Austin Comic Con, produced by Wizard World, Inc. (WIZD.PK), will bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more. Admission is free for kids 10 and under, and Sunday, Oct. 28, is “Kids Day,” with an array of programming specially designed for children.

For more on the 2012 Wizard World Austin Comic Con, visit http://www.wizardworld.com/home-tx.html.


About Wizard World:
Wizard World produces Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate graphic novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, gaming, technology, toys and social networking. The events often feature celebrities from movies and TV, artists and writers, and events such as premieres, gaming tournaments, panels, and costume contests.

The full event schedule can be found at www.wizardworld.com.

***** SAVE THE 2012-13 DATES *****
September 28-30, 2012 – Wizard World Ohio Comic Con
October 26-28, 2012 – Wizard World Austin Comic Con
November 30 - December 2, 2012 – Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con
February 22-24, 2013 – Wizard World Portland Comic Con
May 30 - June 2, 2013 – Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con
August 8-11, 2013 – Wizard World Chicago Comic Con

Gillian Anderson of "The X-Files" at Wizard World New Orleans

The Truth Is Out There: 'The X-Files' Star Gillian Anderson Joins Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con

Joins Patrick Stewart, Stan Lee, Eliza Dushku, Michael Madsen, WWE® Superstar CM Punk®, Others At New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

Viewers of “The X-Files” were told to “Trust No One” and to “Deny Everything.” Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con attendees, on the other hand, can trust that Gillian Anderson, who starred as “Agent Dana Scully” in the popular Fox TV show, will be appearing at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, and confirm that she will be attending on Saturday, December 1, and Sunday, December 2, at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Anderson an award-winning film, television, and theatre actress whose other credits include the ill-fated socialite “Lily Bart” in Terence Davies' masterpiece The House of Mirth (2000) and “Lady Dedlock” in the very successful BBC production of Charles Dickens' “Bleak House.”

In 2003, she won the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Best Actress Award for her West End debut in Michael Weller's two-hander “What the Night Is For.” The following year, she starred in Rebecca Gilman's play “The Sweetest Swing in Baseball” which ran at London's Royal Court Theatre from March 25 through May 15, 2004. From May 14 through July 18, 2009, she played Nora in a new version of Ibsen's “A Doll's House” at the Donmar Warehouse in London. She received a Laurence Olivier Nomination for her performance.

Anderson joins “Star Trek: The Next Generation” actor Sir Patrick Stewart, comics legend Stan Lee, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Eliza Dushku, Reservoir Dogs headliner Michael Madsen and WWE® Superstar CM Punk® atop the standout lineup of celebrities scheduled to attend the event, Nov. 30 – Dec. 2. An All-Star collection of well-known artists and a variety of activities, exhibitors and special attractions will also be on hand in the final event on Wizard World's 2012 calendar.

Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, produced by Wizard World, Inc. (WIZD.PK), will bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more. Admission is free for kids 10 and under, and Sunday, December 2, is “Kids Day,” an array of programming specially designed for children.

For more on the 2012 Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, visit http://www.wizardworld.com/home-neworleans.html.


About Wizard World:
Wizard World produces Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate graphic novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, gaming, technology, toys and social networking. The events often feature celebrities from movies and TV, artists and writers, and events such as premieres, gaming tournaments, panels, and costume contests.

The full event schedule can be found at www.wizardworld.com.

***** SAVE THE 2012-13 DATES *****
September 28-30, 2012 – Wizard World Ohio Comic Con

October 26-28, 2012 – Wizard World Austin Comic Con

November 30 - December 2, 2012 – Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con

February 22-24, 2013 – Wizard World Portland Comic Con

May 30 - June 2, 2013 – Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con

August 8-11, 2013 – Wizard World Chicago Comic Con

Patrick Stewart, Eliza Dushku at Wizard World New Orleans

Patrick Stewart, Stan Lee, Eliza Dushku, Michael Madsen, WWE® Superstar CM Punk® Lead Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con Celebrity Roster, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2

Also To Feature Dean Cain, Michael Rooker, Jon Bernthal, Superstar Artists Greg Capullo, Neal Adams, Many Others At New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” actor Sir Patrick Stewart, comics legend Stan Lee, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Eliza Dushku, Reservoir Dogs headliner Michael Madsen and WWE® Superstar CM Punk® top the standout lineup of celebrities scheduled to attend Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, Nov. 30 – Dec. 2, 2012, at New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. They will be joined by an All-Star collection of well-known artists and a variety of activities, exhibitors and special attractions in the final event on Wizard World's 2012 calendar.

Stewart and Lee will appear on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1-2, while Dushku and Punk are scheduled to attend on Saturday and Madsen all three days.

Other headliners on the Wizard World New Orleans roster include Dean Cain (“Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” “90210”), Michael Rooker (“The Walking Dead,” Henry), Jon Bernthal (“The Walking Dead,” Night at the Museum), Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules, The Legendary Journeys,” “Andromeda”) and the Boondock Saints trio of Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery and David Della Rocco.

The lineup of superstar comic creators in New Orleans is also impressive, with Eisner Award Hall of Famer Neal Adams (“Batman,” “Green Lantern”), Eisner nominees J.G. Jones (“Final Crisis,” “Wanted”), Ethan Van Sciver (“Firestorm,” “Green Lantern”) and Ron Garney (“Captain America,” “Wolverine”), Phil Jimenez (“Spider-Man,” “X-Men”) and Michael Golden (“Hulk,” “Daredevil”) leading the way.

Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, produced by Wizard World, Inc. (WIZD.PK), will bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more. Admission is free for kids 10 and under, and Sunday, December 2, is “Kids Day,” an array of programming specially designed for children.

For more on the 2012 Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, visit http://www.wizardworld.com/home-neworleans.html.


About Wizard World:
Wizard World produces Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate graphic novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, gaming, technology, toys and social networking. The events often feature celebrities from movies and TV, artists and writers, and events such as premieres, gaming tournaments, panels, and costume contests.

The full event schedule can be found at www.wizardworld.com.

Review: The Best Thing about "Ted" is Ted

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 61 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ted (2012)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, and some drug use
DIRECTOR: Seth MacFarlane
WRITERS: Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild; from a story by Seth MacFarlane
PRODUCERS: Jason Clark, John Jacobs, Seth MacFarlane, Scott Stuber, and Wellesley Wild
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Barrett
EDITOR: Jeff Freeman
COMPOSER: Walter Murphy

FANTASY/COMEDY/ROMANCE

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth McFarlane (voice), Joel McHale, Giovanni Ribisi, Patrick Warburton, Matt Walsh, Jessica Barth, Aedin Mincks, Bretton Manley, and Patrick Stewart (narrator) with Norah Jones, Sam J. Jones, Tom Skerritt, Ralph Garman, Alex Borstein, and Ryan Reynolds

The subject of this movie review is Ted, a 2012 comedy and fantasy film directed by Seth McFarlane, the creator of the long-running animated television series, “Family Guy” (FOX). The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and McFarlane, who gives voice to a teddy bear created using motion-capture CGI.

Ted opens in 1985 in the city of Boston where we meet a lonely boy named John Bennett who receives a teddy bear for Christmas. John names the toy “Ted,” and makes a wish that Ted could come to life. John wakes up to find Ted walking and talking.

The story later moves to 2012 where we find an adult John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (voice of Seth McFarlane) still living together, watching bad movies and smoking pot. John has a dead-end job, but is dating a pretty, level-headed office worker named Lori Collins (Mila Kunis). After four years of dating, Lori wants John to grow up and leave childish things behind, and that includes Ted. But breaking up is hard to do and John and Lori’s relationship is put to the test, and Ted is endangered.

The best thing about Ted is Ted, and this trash-talking, vulgar teddy bear is a delightful gift that keeps on giving delights. Motion capture CGI (or animation or whatever) has given us one of the few motion capture characters with genuine personality since Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies.

Wahlberg and Kunis are good, but the romance of John and Lori could not sustain an entire romantic comedy on its own. Wahlberg and Kunis’ characters are at their best when they form a threesome with Ted. Wahlberg has played the tough guy in so many crime and action thrillers that it is easy to forget how good he is at playing comedy with that solidly straight face of his. Kunis is expressive as an actress who trades understated for passion instead. She makes Lori’s frustration with John’s behavior and with her boss Rex’s harassment come through loud and clear.

Ted allows Seth McFarlane, as director, co-writer, co-producer, and co-star, to let loose in ways he cannot with “Family Guy,” and McFarlane and his cohorts get away with a lot on that network television series. In Ted, McFarlane and company tweak the sacred and the profane, as well as the mundane. It is also refreshing to see a mainstream comedy take on some good old-fashioned ethnic humor. Ted is not one of those comedies that fail to deliver. It’s very funny, and that’s enough.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, July 28, 2012

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Review: "Chicken Little" Has Big Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 169 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Chicken Little (2005) – computer animated
Running time: 81 minutes (1 hour, 21 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Mark Dindal
WRITERS: Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman and Ron Anderson; from a story by Mark Kennedy and Mark Dindal (with additional story material by Robert L. Baird and Dan Gerson)
PRODUCER: Randy Fullmer
EDITOR: Dan Molina

ANIMATION/SCI-FI/FANTASY and COMEDY/ACTION/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Steve Zahn, Joan Cusack, Don Knotts, Patrick Stewart, Amy Sedaris, Harry Shearer, Wallace Shawn, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, Adam West, Patrick Warburton, Mark Dindal, and Dan Molina

One day a piece of the sky falls to earth and hits Chicken Little (Zach Braff) on the head. The sky is falling her warns, but the townsfolk of Oakey Oaks, including his father, Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), conclude that an acorn hit the boy chick on the head. The incident swiftly turns Chicken Little into the town joke and embarrasses his father. However, the plucky chicken joins the local baseball team with the hopes of reviving his reputation and earning his father’s respect. Chicken Little does indeed lead the team to an upset victory, and he and his pops are on good terms again.

All is well, but another “piece of the sky” hits Chicken Little on the head. Still, he’s reluctant to cause another scene and once again be labeled crazy. Instead, he enlists the help of his friends: Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), who is also known as the Ugly Duckling because she is so… unpretty; Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), a tall, obese pig; and Fish Out of Water (“voice” created by film editor Dan Molina), a fish who wears a water-filled helmet, and the gang embark on an adventure to stop an alien invasion without sending the town into another panic.

Walt Disney’s Chicken Little, of course, spoofs of 17th century, rural English fable, “Chicken Little.” Disney’s new film is also their first fully computer animated film (2000’s Dinosaur combined computer generated characters with live-action background imagery), and also signals the famed movie company’s move away from hand-drawn (2D) animation to computer animated (3D) animation. Clearly aimed at children 12 and under, Chicken Little is filled with clever gags. The script is a hodge podge of sketch comedy, after school special storylines, and the kind of family psychology that would find its way on the “Dr. Phil” and “Oprah.”

The script is Chicken Little’s big problem. The animation is fine, sometimes even outstanding. There are a few moments when it has the quality of the first Shrek, but there are also times when it has the texture and quality of Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles. However, the film is basically pretty pictures over an ugly story. The script bludgeons the audience with the notion that at this movie’s heart (which it doesn’t have) is the story of a father and son coming together. The father, in this case, Buck Cluck, must learn to accept his son’s physical shortcomings and love him for the plucky fella he is. But unlike Finding Nemo, where the parent/child dynamic seemed so natural, Chicken Little takes that relationship and drapes a cheesy action movie cartoon for children over it.

Chicken Little looks, feels, and sounds like the kind of action movies that have been so popular over the last decade, but tamed for children. Anyone who has seen Independence Day will recognize it in this flick. Chicken Little’s setting, Oakey Oaks, is the same old idealized Midwestern small town that Hollywood has been shoving at audiences for decades. That place is a fairy tale really, but it’s a good setting for War of the Worlds, which is another source reference for this flick. Chicken Little is as noisy and/or as busy as The Rock, Armageddon, Bad Boys II, etc. This is director Mark Dindal’s (The Emperor’s New Groove) Steven Spielberg/Michael Bay movie.

Chicken Little, as voiced by Zach Braff, is actually an endearing character – this movie’s saving grace, in fact. The character itself is a cutey, sort of a riff on “Egghead, Jr.” from those “Foghorn Leghorn” Looney Tunes cartoons. He’s a plucky little fella and the animators lovingly rendered and animated him.

The rest of the cast is mostly trash. The characters aren’t really characters so much as they are stereotypes that get to do stand up routines at different times in the film narrative. I immensely disliked Abby Mallard – nothing more to say about it here – and Runt of the Litter is pathetic. Steve Zahn can play quirky characters whose humor comes through even in crime dramas (Out of Sight), but his comedic gifts are lost because we don’t him here; all we get is his voice in the annoying Runt. Fish Out of Water provides nice slapstick, but the jokes come across as desperation on the writers’ parts. Garry Marshall’s Brooklyn accent is out of place in this film, and as a father, Buck Cluck is like an overbearing mother in his demands on his son, Chicken Little.

I guess the shortest and perhaps best way to describe Disney’s Chicken Little is as Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius with much better computer animation.

4 of 10
C

Saturday, November 5, 2005

Review: "Star Trek: Generations" Does Not Stray Far from the TV Series

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 211 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: David Carson
WRITERS: Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga; from a story by Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Rick Berman (based on the TV series “Star Trek” created by Gene Roddenberry)
PRODUCER: Rick Berman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John A. Alonzo
EDITOR: Peter E. Berger, A.C.E.

SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Malcolm McDowell, James Doohan, Walter Koening, William Shatner, Alan Ruck, Tim Russ, and Whoppi Goldberg

In 1994, the seventh film in the Star Trek movie franchise debuted in theatres, but unlike the previous six films, this one featured a new incarnation of the U.S.S. Enterprise (Enterprise-D) and a new crew, led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Star Trek: Generations starred the cast of the second Trek series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which ran for seven seasons from 1987-1994 in syndication.

While investigating a disaster at an outlying observation station, the crew of the Enterprise finds that the catastrophe’s sole survivor is Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell), an intense man insistent that he be allowed to complete his work on the station. Soran turns out to be of the same race as the Enterprise’s bartender, Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg, who did not receive a screen credit in the film), the El Aurian. Soran has malevolent plans for a roaming energy field called The Nexus, which involves the destruction of the Veridian solar system. When Picard tries to intervene, he becomes caught in the Nexus and meets a man presumed-dead the last time a U.S.S. Enterprise (Enterprise-B) tangled with The Nexus, the retired Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner).

Star Trek: Generations is a good, but not great film, which is the same way one can categorize it as part of the Trek pantheon – good, but not great. Perhaps, it needs to grow on the audience; in fact, I certainly liked it much more the second time I saw it than I did the first. Generations is simply an extended version of the TV show, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” put in the context of a feature film, meaning a longer story, better special effects, and improved production values (even a few scenes of exceptional cinematography).

The acting is more or less the same as in the TV show with a moment here and there of more thoughtful performances. Malcolm McDowell brings a welcome jolt of viciousness as the single-minded Soran. The actors playing the Klingons also bring the same kind of intensity to their performances, as did the actors who played the aliens in the earlier installments of the franchise. Even director David Caruso seems to spring to life when the Klingons are involved.

The best parts of the film are those that take place in the past and involve the only three cast members from the original “Star Trek” television series and films to appear in Star Trek: Generations. Seeing Shatner, Koening, and Doohan made me sad because for all intents and purposes, their Trek can only exist as artifacts from a long time ago.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

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Review: Cute "Gnomeo & Juliet" Charms All Ages

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

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

ANIMATION/COMEDY/ACTION/ROMANCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 of 10
B

Saturday, May 28, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Studio Ghibli's "Nausicaa" and "Earthsea" Anime Due on DVD in March

On March 8th, Studio Ghibli's TALES FROM EARTHSEA (DVD only) and NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack) will be available to bring home.

Goro Miyazaki's directorial debut, Tales from Earthsea, features exquisite hand-drawn animation and the vocal talents of Timothy Dalton, Willem Dafoe, Cheech Marin, and Mariska Hargitay. Bonus material includes a behind-the-scenes look at the studio and Studio Ghibli Trivia Challenge.

Nausicaa of Valley of the Wind launched the Academy Award-winning career of famed director Hayao Miyazaki! This stunning animated tale features the voices of Uma Thurman, Shia LeBeouf, and Patrick Stewart. Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes look into the recording booth and the birth story of Studio Ghibli.

Nausicca Film Synopsis: For the first time ever, the magic of Blu-ray™ high definition reveals the exquisite details in Hayao Miyazaki’s epic masterpiece, Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind. Experience the film that launched the Academy Award–winning career (2002 for best animated feature, Spirited Away) of one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animation.

After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley Of The Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.

Like Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and Ponyo, Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind will dazzle your senses with its intricately imagined storytelling and stunning animation.

U.S. Release Date: March 8, 2011
(Direct Prebook January 11, 2011/ Distributor Prebook January 25, 2011)
Rating: US-PG; Canada-PG
Feature Run Time: Approximately 118-minutes
Release Format: Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray Disc™ + DVD)
Suggested Retail Pricing: 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (BD+DVD) = $39.99 U.S./$44.99 Canada
Exclusive Blu-ray Bonus World of Ghibli including
Features: Behind the Studio
Enter the Lands
Studio Ghibli Trivia Challenge
Original Japanese storyboards
General Blu-ray & DVD Behind the Microphone
Bonus Features: The Birth Story of Studio Ghibli
Original TV trailers

Talent/Cast: Uma Thurman (Kill Bill: Vol 1, Kill Bill: Vol 2, Pulp Fiction, Gattaca), Shia LeBeouf (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Tranformers, Surf’s Up), and Patrick Stewart (Gnomeo & Juliet, Bambi II, Chicken Little)

Director: Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke)
Producers: Michio Kondô (Nausiacaä and the Valley of the Wind)
Isao Takahata (Castle in the Sky, Nausiacaä and the Valley of the Wind)
Yasuyoshi Tokuma (Spirited Away, Pulse, Ritual)

Tales from Earthsea:
Film Synopsis: From Disney and Studio Ghibli comes the epic animated adventure Tales From Earthsea, directed by Goro Miyazaki, and featuring the voices of Timothy Dalton, Willem Dafoe, Cheech Marin, and Mariska Hargitay.

Based on the classic “Earthsea” fantasy book series by Ursula Le Guin, Tales from Earthsea is set in a mythical world filled with magic and bewitchment. Journey with Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a master wizard, and Arren, a troubled young prince, on a tale of redemption and self-discovery as they search for the force behind a mysterious imbalance in the land of Earthsea; crops are dwindling,dragons have reappeared, and humanity is giving way to chaos.

Featuring a timeless story and magnificent hand-drawn animation, Tales From Earthsea is must-have DVD for every film enthusiast’s collection.

U.S. Release Date: March 8, 2011
(Direct Prebook January 11, 2011/Distributor Prebook January 25, 2011)
Feature Run Time: Approximately 115-minutes
Release Format: DVD
Suggested Retail Pricing: 1-Disc DVD = $29.99 U.S./$35.99 Canada
DVD The World of Ghibli including:
Bonus Features: Behind the Studio
Enter The Lands
Studio Ghibli Trivia Challenge

Talent/Cast: Timothy Dalton (Toy Story 3, The Tourist, The Informant), Willem Dafoe (John Carter of Mars, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Spider Man), Cheech Marin (Cars, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Spy Kids), and Mariska Hargitay (TV’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order)

Director: Goro Miyazaki (directorial debut)
Producers: Toshio Suzuki (Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke)