Review: "Team America: World Police" is Crazy, Smart and True (Happy B'day, Trey Parker)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 209 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Team America: World Police (2004)
Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic, crude & sexual humor, violent images and strong language; all involving puppets
DIRECTOR:  Trey Parker
WRITERS:  Pam Brady, Matt Stone and Trey Parker
PRODUCERS:  Scott Rudin, Matt Stone, and Trey Parker
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Bill Pope, A.S.C. (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Thomas M. Vogt
COMPOSER:  Harry Gregson-Williams

COMEDY/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (voices) Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Kristen Miller, Masasa, Daran Norris, Phil Hendrie, Maurice LaMarche, and Paul Louis

The subject of this movie review is Team America: World Police, a 2004 satirical comedy film from the team of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the long-running animated series, “South Park.”  The film’s cast is composed of marionettes (puppets) instead of live actors.  Team America: World Police follows a popular Broadway actor who is recruited by an elite counter-terrorism organization to help stop a dictator who is plotting global terror attacks.

Team America: World Police may be 2004’s funniest film.  Some may consider it the most obnoxious and crass movie of the year, especially after viewing the graphic puppet “sex scene.”  It will certainly go down as one of the most outrageous movies not made by John Waters.  It’s a wonderful send up of action movies, especially as those made by super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and the hilarious characters that populate them.  Even the musical scores to Bruckheimer films get it up the butt and in the mouth from this movie.  It’s also a wicked satire of American military aggression and the celebrities who protest it.  However, as good as the film is (and it’s quite good), Team America: World Police frequently falls on its own spear.

Team America is an international police force dedicated to maintaining global security.  And they’re also marionettes; you may best remember marionettes as those puppets on the venerable British TV children’s series, “Thunderbirds.”  Team America’s latest mission takes them to Paris, France, where they fight a handful of terrorists with WMD’s, also known as weapons of mass destruction.  Team America also manages to destroy Paris’ most famous landmarks, and also loose a team member to a terrorist’s bullets.

Team America’s leader, Spottswoode, a gray-headed, older, distinguished gentleman, recruits a young Broadway actor named Gary to replace the fallen comrade.  Spottswoode thinks that Gary will make the perfect spy because in college he was a double major in theatre and world languages.  The other Team America members:  Lisa, Sarah, Chris, and Joe, are wary at first, but they back him up on their first mission to Cairo to infiltrate a band of Islamic fundamentalists with WMD’s.

There is however a larger crisis looming.  Power-mad dictator Kim Jong Il of North Korea has planned a series of simultaneous global terror attacks – imagine 9/11 times 2356.  He’s convinced the Hollywood Film Actors Guild, or F.A.G., and their leader, actor Alec Baldwin, to support a conference in North Korea in which all world leaders will attend.  The conference is merely a cover for the launch of the worldwide terror strikes, which will occur while Baldwin gives his peacenik keynote speech.  Can Team America stop Kim Jong Il…and the actors?

Team America: World Police is the second major studio film from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the uproarious and bawdy animated program, “South Park,” on Comedy Central.  Team America, on one hand, is a delightful and loving send up of “Thunderbirds” and the other puppet marionette shows produced by England’s Century 21.  On the other hand, the film is mostly a vicious and brutal satire of the contemporary American political landscape and American self-righteousness.  The use of marionettes instead of actors greatly takes the sense of people getting made fun of to a level that human actors couldn’t go.

Parker/Stone use clever dialogue, over-the-top violence, and hyper-patriotic songs to skewer heavy-handed U.S. military offenses, strikes, and pre-emptive attacks on international locales.  They also use marionettes that closely resemble well known Hollywood and celebrities that protest U.S. military action.  The marionettes, in some cases, barely look like the stars that they’re supposed to resemble; in some cases the resemblance is just close enough not to get the filmmakers sued.  Still, it works enough so that such stars as Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Matt Damon, Helen Hunt and others are mercilessly lampooned.

But is the movie good?  The answer is a resounding yes; it’s one of the funniest films I’ve seen in years.  However, it is mean-spirited, graphic, obnoxious, brutal, vicious, vulgar, filthy, foul, nasty, rank, etc.  Sometimes, I had a hard time believing that Parker and Stone were going so far in their satire and humor.  Still, they’re not frat boys out of control; every joke and satirical comment and farcical moment seems well conceived.

Team America: World Police, in the end, takes the side of the “good guys,” but Parker and Stone obviously only trust them a little more than the “bad guys.”  They insist that even the protagonists be viewed with a wary eye, so in the end, it’s as if they question that anyone can be trusted.  Fighting assholes who want to kill everyone is a dirty job, and the heroes and their charges may not be “all that” themselves.  Team America: World Police is not perfect, but it’s the work of frankly honest and only barely inhibited filmmakers.  That’s refreshing when “looking good” is so important these days.

8 of 10
A

Updated:  Saturday, October 19, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Mystic River" is Really Good, But is Too Damn Bleak (Happy B'day, Laurence Fishburne)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 92 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mystic River (2003)
Running time:  138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and violence
DIRECTOR:  Clint Eastwood
WRITER:  Brian Helgeland (from the novel by Dennis Lehane)
PRODUCERS:  Clint Eastwood, Judie G. Hoyt, and Robert Lorenz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Stern (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Joel Cox
COMPOSER:  Clint Eastwood
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/CRIME

Starring:  Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Kevin Chapman, Thomas Guiry, Emmy Rossum, Spencer Treat Clark, Andrew Mackin, Adam Nelson, and Robert Wahlberg

The subject of this movie review is Mystic River, a 2003 crime drama from director Clint Eastwood.  The film is based on Mystic River, the 2001 novel from author Dennis Lehane.  Mystic River focuses on three men who are reunited by circumstance after the daughter of one of the men is murdered.

Clint Eastwood’s film Mystic River was one of the most acclaimed films of 2003, and it earned several Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.  However, thanks to the onslaught that was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the 2004 Academy Awards, Mystic River only picked up the two “Best Actor” awards:  Leading Role (Sean Penn) and Supporting Role (Tim Robbins).

Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) are three childhood friends reunited after Markum’s daughter, Katie (Emmy Rossum), is found brutally murdered.  Their reunion is at cross-purposes, however.  Markum is small time hood, Devine is the investigator with the State Police investigating Katie’s murder, and Boyle survived being kidnapped and sexually assaulted when the three men were boys.  When Boyle becomes the lead suspect, the reunion spirals towards tragedy.

Mystic River is a very good film, but ultimately it’s a bit too cold for too long.  At times, I could have sworn that I was watching Clint Eastwood directing a drama as a formal dinner party.  Mystic River is professional and slick, as well as being raw and gritty.  The film has weight and gravity, but it all seems so laid back and cool.  Not until the last 20 minutes does the film really begin to unleash a tour de force of film drama, but those closing scenes are alien to the rest of the film.

Mystic River really plays with the idea that people are interconnected; the action or inaction of one has inevitable, although unseen, consequences upon another – neat but pat.  Besides, the award winning performances of Penn and Robbins, Kevin Bacon and especially Laurence Fishburne have the roles that anchor the film and they almost steal the show.  In the end Mystic River is all good, but waits for the closing act to show how really good it can be.  If you like dour dramas with good acting, this one is for you, but it’s not an exceptional work of movie art.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards, USA:  2 wins: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Sean Penn) and “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Tim Robbins); 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Marcia Gay Harden), “Best Director” (Clint Eastwood), “Best Picture” (Robert Lorenz, Judie Hoyt, and Clint Eastwood), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Brian Helgeland)

2004 BAFTA Awards:  4 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Sean Penn), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Tim Robbins), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Laura Linney), and “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Brian Helgeland)

2004 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Sean Penn) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Tim Robbins); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Clint Eastwood), “Best Motion Picture – Drama” (Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Brian Helgeland)

Updated: Monday, July 08, 2013

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Review: "The Interpreter" Has Mixed Message (Happy B'day, Nicole Kidman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Interpreter (2005)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, some sexual content, and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Sydney Pollack
WRITERS: Charles Randolph, Scott Frank, and Steven Zallian; from a story by Martin Stellman and Brian Ward
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Kevin Misher
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Darius Khondji
EDITOR: William Steinkamp
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Jesper Christensen, Yvan Attal, Earl Cameron, George Harris, Michael Wright, Clyde Kusatsu, Eric Keenleyside, Hugo Speer, Maz Jobrani, Yusuf Gatewood, Curtiss I’Cook, and Byron Utley

The subject of this movie review is The Interpreter, a 2005 political thriller from director Sydney Pollack. This is the final film directed by Pollack, who died in 2008 at the age of 73. The Interpreter focuses on an interpreter who overhears an assassination plot and the US Secret Service agent assigned to investigate her allegations.

Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is a translator at the United Nations, who accidentally overhears the plot to assassinate an African despot scheduled to speak before the U.N. General Assembly. With the words, “The Teacher will never leave this room alive,” Silvia’s world is turned upside down, as she becomes the target of mysterious thrillers who know she overheard the whispered conspiracy. Still, authorities have doubts about the validity of her story, including Tobin Keller, (Sean Penn), a federal agent assigned to protect dignitaries visiting the U.S. Tobin is eventually assigned to both protect Silvia and to unravel the mystery of the assassination attempt and its seeming connection to Silvia’s past. Will Silvia’s reticence about discussing her past and Tobin’s determination to uncover what he believes she is hiding lead to the assassination of a foreign leader on American soil?

Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack’s (Out of Africa) The Interpreter is part contrived melodrama and part riveting suspense story, with the latter winning out to make this a thoroughly entertaining thriller. The characters’ personal histories and tragedies occupy much of the narrative time, and their personality traits both define how their relationship and the mystery of the assassination will be resolved. But that’s mostly window dressing for a rather nice staid, adult thriller. The Interpreter lacks the car chases and has very few gunfights and explosions – the two elements that denote most Hollywood action thrillers meant to draw in teenage boys and young men as much (if not more so) as they are meant to attract older audiences looking for involved drama and quality acting. The Interpreter certainly has evocative drama and both Kidman and Penn are excellent (and award-winning) actors, and while this isn’t their best work, they certainly try to give us something different – just enough to make this more than a run-of-the-mill tense drama.

Every time the film seems as if it will slip into being ordinary, it does something surprising, and while it doesn’t have the intensity that would make it a great film, it does have the smooth charm and the kind of engaging plot that makes it an enjoyable film. The script, co-written by two of Hollywood’s top screenwriters, Scott Frank and Steven Zallian (an Oscar winner for Schindler’s List), is novelistic in its approach to character, situation, and plot. Sydney Pollack uses it to carry us through a complex web of private tragedy, delicate political affiliations, and international intrigue. At the same time, it also gives us a small, but fierce glance at the sectarian violence rampant throughout some of Africa. That’s a lot for your money.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Updated: Thursday, June 20, 2013

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Review: "Gangster Squad" Ain't Wangsta

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 38 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux


Gangster Squad (2013)
Running time: 113 minutes; MPAA – R for strong violence and language
DIRECTOR: Ruben Fleischer
WRITER: Will Beall (based on the book Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman)
PRODUCERS: Dan Lin, Kevin McCormick, and Michael Tadross
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dion Beebe (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Alan Baumgarten and James Herbert
COMPOSER: Steve Jablonsky

CRIME/ACTION

Starring: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Michael Peña, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Nick Nolte, Sullivan Stapleton, Holt McCallany, Mireille Enos, Austin Abrams, and Jon Polito

Gangster Squad is a 2013 action and crime film from director Ruben Fleischer. The film is based on Paul Lieberman’s 2012 book, Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles. Gangster Squad the movie follows a secret crew of police officers trying to end mob king Mickey Cohen’s reign over Los Angeles.

The reality is that Gangster Squad the movie is mostly fictional. It takes the Los Angeles Police Department’s real “Gangster Squad unit” and its efforts to protect the city from Mickey Cohen and his gang in the 1940s and 50s and turns it into a fanciful tale of two-fisted cops and one crazy mutha of gangster. But Gangster Squad is a hugely entertaining fanciful tale of cops and robbers.

Gangster Squad opens in Los Angeles, 1949. In post-World War II L.A., gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) is the most powerful figure in the California criminal underworld. In fact, Cohen does not intend on letting anyone from “back east,” especially Chicago, interfere with his bid to expand his criminal enterprise across the Western United States.

In the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) wants to end Cohen’s influence over the city, which extends into the police department, the courts, and City Hall. Parker personally chooses Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin), a WWII veteran with a special operations background, to wage guerilla warfare on Cohen. With the help of his reluctant wife, Connie (Mireille Enos), O’Mara recruits fellow officers into his secret squad.

They choose the hard-headed African-American detective, Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie); wire-tap expert, Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi); and legendary gangster-killer and cowboy-type, Max Kennard (Robert Patrick). Kennard’s Latino partner, Navidad Ramirez (Michael Peña), is not initially picked, but he manages to bargain his way into the squad.

Fellow WWII vet, Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), turns down O’Mara’s offer, and focuses his attention on having an affair with Mickey Cohen’s girlfriend, Grace Faraday (Emma Stone). After he witnesses Cohen’s ruthlessness, Wooters joins O’Mara’s “Gangster Squad,” but these lawmen have no idea how truly sadistic Cohen can be when it comes to protecting his empire.

Gangster Squad has Oscar-nomination quality cinematography, art direction-set decoration, costume design, and perhaps, even sound editing. This movie’s cops vs. gangsters story is familiar material and, to some extent, is just retread. But Gangster Squad’s retread sure is entertaining. Somehow, cast, story, and action come together, and it is a combination that is a recognizable, yet tasty cinematic dish.

I rented Gangster Squad through Netflix. Normally, I watch my movie rentals over two days (or maybe even three). However, I couldn’t stop watching this mesmerizing crime/action movie. Gangster Squad is like a cool, color and colorful version of the old television series, “The Untouchables” (1959 to 1963 on ABC).

The performances are good. Sean Penn and Josh Brolin each do interesting takes on deranged, with Nick Nolte throwing in a cup of crazy, here and there. Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, there is indeed excellent chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in this film. Actually, the supporting characters played by Anthony Mackie, Michael Peña, Giovanni Ribisi, and Robert Patrick are the most interesting in the movie. I think they are what keep Gangster Squad from being just another wanna-be-great, gangster period film.

Inevitably, Gangster Squad will end up on cable television, where it will receive countless repeat plays. I’ll be watching quite a few of those repeats.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, June 07, 2013

Warner Bros. Gives "Gangster Squad" a September 7th Release Date

“Gangster Squad” to Hit Theaters on September 7

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures announced today that the release date for “Gangster Squad” is September 7, 2012. The announcement was made by Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President, Domestic Distribution.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”), “Gangster Squad” stars Oscar® nominees Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “True Grit”) and Ryan Gosling (“Half Nelson,” “Blue Valentine”), and Academy Award® winner Sean Penn (“Milk,” “Mystic River”), as well as Oscar® nominee Nick Nolte (“Warrior,” “Affliction”), Emma Stone (“The Help”), Anthony Mackie (upcoming “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”), Giovanni Ribisi (“Avatar”) and Michael Peña (“Tower Heist”).

THE STORY: Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.

Shot entirely in and around Los Angeles, including in many of the actual locations featured in the story, “Gangster Squad” is a colorful retelling of events surrounding the LAPD’s efforts to take back their nascent city from one of the most dangerous mafia bosses of all time. The screenplay is by Will Beall (TV’s “Castle”), based on the book Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman. The film is produced by Dan Lin (“Sherlock Holmes”), Kevin McCormick (“The Lucky One”) and Michael Tadross (“Arthur”). The executive producers are Ruben Fleischer, Paul Lieberman and Bruce Berman.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Lin Pictures/Kevin McCormick production, “Gangster Squad.” The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

http://gangstersquad.warnerbros.com/

Review: "The Tree of Life" is a Spacey Family Odyssey

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Tree of Life (2011)
Running time: 139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some thematic material
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick
PRODUCERS: Sarah Green, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill, Brad Pitt and William Pohlad
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Emmanuel Lubezki
EDITORS: Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, and Mark Yoshikawa
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat

DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan, and Kameron Vaughn

The Tree of Life is a 2011 family drama written and directed by Terrence Malick. In the film, the origin of the universe and life on Earth plays side-by-side with the memories of a middle-aged man having a spiritual crisis.

Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn), an architect, is unhappy, a lost soul in the modern world. While watching the planting of a tree, Jack’s mind drifts through his memories of life as a teenager in the 1950s. His family lived in a sprawling neighborhood in Waco, Texas. There was his father, Mr. O’Brien (Brad Pitt), and his mother, Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain), and two younger brothers, R.L. (Laramie Eppler) and Steve (Tye Sheridan).

When he reaches adolescence, Young Jack (Hunter McCracken) is faced with a conflict. He must choose between accepting grace or nature, as embodied by each of his parents. Jack’s mother, Mrs. O’Brien believes in grace, which is gentle, nurturing, and authoritative. Mr. O’Brien embodies nature and is strict and authoritarian. Mr. O’Brien, who easily loses his temper, believes that you have to take what you want and also that his wife’s emphasis on love is foolish. Mrs. O’Brien teaches her children that the world is a place of wonder. Through his memories, a kind of trip through time to the past, Jack will try to reconcile his complicated relationship with his father. He also hopes to return something precious that is lost to his mother. Also, various scenes concerning the dawn of the universe and the formation of the Earth play out between scenes of the O’Briens.

In some ways, The Tree of Life is an experimental film, particularly in the way that Malick uses literal visuals in an abstract way to tell a story about the meaning of life and about the reconciliation of parent and child. The juxtaposition of both the universe and Earth’s past and future vividly recall Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. In fact, the way The Tree of Life’s special effects are created (without computer-generated imagery or CGI) is reminiscent of the special effects in 2001.

Malick’s film is both ambitious and humble in that he attempts to encompass all of existence, but channels that through the infinitesimal lives of flawed people. Those characters cannot come up with the big answers, but through love there is reconciliation and, if not answers, then, there is understanding of the relationships most precious to us.

The Tree of Life is an impressionistic story, and the viewer will have to pick and choose through images and colors to decipher the family drama at the center of the film. And this is a real family story, full of startling conflicts and ugly battles. There is, however, convergence and peace and love and beauty. The cast has to receive a lot of credit for their work; these moving, layered performances bring the literal to this often fantastic film. The trio that brings the O’Brien boys to life: Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan, gives performances of complexity and profundity that are rarely seen in young actors – even among those that have received Academy Award nominations.

The Tree of Life can be perplexing and achingly slow. Malick also needed to put more emotion on screen and could have made more of the film a conventional narrative. Still, The Tree of Life is moving and deeply spiritual and also more ambitious than most films that star actors of the caliber of Sean Penn and Brad Pitt.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2011 Cannes Film Festival: 1 win: “Palme d'Or” (Terrence Malick)

Monday, January 23, 2012

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Warner Bros. Begins "The Gangster Squad" with Sean Penn and Josh Brolin

“The Gangster Squad” Hits the Streets of Los Angeles

Shooting begins on the crime drama starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography began today on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ “The Gangster Squad,” starring Oscar® nominees Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “True Grit”) and Ryan Gosling (“Half Nelson,” “Blue Valentine”), Emma Stone (“The Help”) and Academy Award® winner Sean Penn (“Milk,” “Mystic River”), under the direction of Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”).

Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.

Shooting entirely in and around Los Angeles, including in many of the actual locations featured in the story, “The Gangster Squad” is a colorful retelling of events surrounding the LAPD’s efforts to take back their nascent city from one of the most dangerous mafia bosses of all time. The screenplay is by Will Beall (TV’s “Castle”), based on Paul Lieberman’s series of articles entitled “Tales From the Gangster Squad.” The film is being produced by Dan Lin (“Sherlock Holmes”), Kevin McCormick (upcoming “The Lucky One”) and Michael Tadross (“Arthur”).

“The Gangster Squad” stars Penn as real-life mobster Mickey Cohen; Brolin and Gosling as the LAPD’s Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters; and Stone as Grace Faraday, Cohen’s moll and the object of Wooters’ attention.

The movie also stars Robert Patrick (“Flags of Our Fathers”) as Officer Max Kennard, a deadly cop who patrols the Olvera Street beat; Michael Peña (“Battle Los Angeles”) as Kennard’s over-eager sidekick, Navidad Ramirez; Giovanni Ribisi (“Avatar”) as the force’s Conway Keeler, an electronics expert who takes as much pleasure in fixing his son’s bike as he does tinkering with experimental, military-grade equipment; and Anthony Mackie (“The Adjustment Bureau”) as Coleman Harris, a switchblade-wielding cop who proudly patrols one of the most crime-ridden areas of the city.

Joining Fleischer behind the scenes are the director’s regular collaborators, production designer Maher Ahmad and editor Alan Baumgarten (“30 Minutes or Less,” “Zombieland”), as well as Academy Award®-winning director of photography Dion Beebe (“Memoirs of a Geisha”) and Oscar®-nominated costume designer Mary Zophres (“True Grit”).

“The Gangster Squad” will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

Review: Strong Performances Carry "21 Grams" (Happy B'day, Alejandro González Iñárritu)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 98 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

21 Grams (2003)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, sexuality, some violence and drug use
DIRECTOR: Alejandro González Iñárritu
WRITER: Guillermo Arriaga
PRODUCERS: Alejandro González Iñárritu and Robert Salerno
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Rodrigo Prieto
EDITOR: Stephen Mirrione
COMPOSER: Gustavo Santaolalla
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Eddie Marsan, Clea DuVall, Danny Huston, Melissa Leo, and Paul Calderon

In the heavy drama, 21 Grams, the lives of a former drug addict, Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts), a terminally ill mathematics professor, Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), and a spiritual ex-convict, Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), intersect tragically and hopefully after a car accident. Jordan kills Cristina’s husband Michael (Danny Hutson) and her two daughters in a hit and run accident. After receiving Michael’s heart in a transplant operation, Rivers seeks and woos Cristina at the cost of his already deteriorating marriage.

The film by rising directorial star Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (the duo who collaborated on Academy Award nominee Amores Perros) is wrought with unpleasant circumstances in the lives of the characters. That’s not bad, but too much heartache and tragedy can become tragicomic. Verisimilitude becomes stark reality, and the drama is spoiled by harsh realism. The audience prefers the staged reality of drama to heavily dramatized reality. Iñárritu and Arriaga deliver the pain and suffering with the precision of sledgehammer blows, and it all becomes too much and can disengage the viewer from the characters.

That’s a pity, too, because the cast gives such good performances that make the viewer care about the characters, really get into their lives, and root for them. For this film, Ms. Watts earned an Oscar® nomination for “Best Actress in a Leading Role,” and Del Toro earned a nomination for “Best Actor in a Supporting Role.” Had Sean Penn not earned an Oscar nod for Mystic River in 2003 (which he later won), he certainly would have received a nomination for his work here.

21 Grams is worth a look for people who love to see exceptional acting, especially the kind delivered by the leads, but the supporting players also do some standout work.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Benicio Del Toro) and “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Naomi Watts)

2004 BAFTA Awards: 5 nominations: “Best Editing” (Stephen Mirrione), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Benicio Del Toro), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Sean Penn), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Naomi Watts), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Guillermo Arriaga)

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Review: "Fair Game" Got Game... Sorta

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 31 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fair Game (2010)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some language
DIRECTOR: Doug Liman
WRITERS: Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth (based on the books The Politics of Truth by Joseph Wilson and Fair Game by Valerie Plame)
PRODUCERS: William Pohlad, Janet Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jez Butterworth, Akiva Goldsman, and Doug Liman
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Doug Liman (D.o.P.) and Robert Baumgartner
EDITOR: Christopher Tellefsen

DRAMA with elements of a thriller

Starring: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Ashley Gerasimovich, Quinn Broggy, David Andrews, Adam LeFevre, Bruce McGill, Ty Burrell, and Sam Shepard

Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson are real people. About four months after the beginning of the Iraq War, Wilson wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times entitled, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” which disputed claims President George W. Bush made during the run up to the invasion of Iraq.

In retaliation, operatives within the Bush administration leaked sensitive information to Bush-friendly press toadies. This sensitive information was the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s identity as a United States CIA Operations Officer. This revelation and the subsequent scandal the revelation caused came to be known as “Plamegate” or “the Valerie Plame Affair.” Eventually, the Wilsons would detail their ordeal and experiences in two books, Valerie Plame’s Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House and Joseph Wilson’s The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir.

The 2010 film, Fair Game, directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), is a fictional account of the “Plame affair.” The film’s screenplay is based on both Wilson and Plame’s books.

As the movie begins, Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) travels around the world for the CIA, pursing nuclear nonproliferation – stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and the material and technology used to make them. Soon, her work gets caught up in the White House’s need to prove that President of Iraq Sadam Hussein is pursuing the creation of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). After the United States leads an invasion of Iraq, Plame’s husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn), writes an op-ed column for the New York Times, in which he accuses the administration of President George W. Bush of misleading the public to justify invading Iraq. In retaliation, figures inside the administration leak Plame’s status as an agency operative for the CIA. Now, not only is Plame’s career in jeopardy, but also the safety of her family and her marriage to Wilson.

Fair Game seems to want to be either a human drama or a political suspense thriller or both. It is muddled, sometimes being a character drama inside a political thriller and other times being a thriller inside drama. It also has elements of a war movie and of a political melodrama. The narrative struggles to balance a desire to be a fact-based biopic (because this film is about real people and is based on very recent events) and the need to be a taut political thriller, because of box office considerations. Fair Game ends up being all over the place.

This movie is not bad. Actually, some of it is good (Naomi Watts), and some of it is average (Sean Penn’s performance) to a little above average (the last half hour of the movie). Fair Game is not standout material, and if the “Plame affair” is going to be a movie, then that movie needs to be standout – in my (not really) humble opinion. Fair Game is ordinary rather than prominent, but it has its moments.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, April 10, 2011

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Sean Penn to Be Honored for Humanitarian Work at Hollywood Film Festival

Press release:

HOLLYWOOD, CA, September 22, 2010 -- The Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards, presented by Starz, are pleased to announce that Sean Penn will be recognized for his outstanding humanitarian achievements at the festival's Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony.

Sean Penn will be bestowed with the "Hollywood Humanitarian Award" for his incredible selfless and dedicated humanitarian efforts in saving lives, as well as bringing relief to the human suffering in Haiti.

The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Festival.

"It is an honor to recognize the inspiring humanitarian efforts that Sean Penn and his J/P Haitian Relief Organization have been providing to the great people of Haiti," said Mr. de Abreu.

Prior recipients of this prestigious award include director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, Father Rick Frechette, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ms. Jody Williams.

The gala ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 25, 2010.


ABOUT SEAN PENN
Two-time Academy Award® winner Sean Penn has become an American film icon in a career spanning nearly three decades. Penn has been nominated five times for the Academy Award® as Best Actor for "Dead Man Walking," "Sweet and Lowdown," "I Am Sam" and won his first Oscar® in 2003 for his searing performance in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" and his second Oscar® as Best Actor in 2009 for Gus Van Sant's "Milk." The performance as gay rights icon Harvey Milk also garnered Penn "Best Actor" awards from The Screen Actors Guild, New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

As a journalist, Penn has written for Time, Interview, Rolling Stone and The Nation magazines. In 2004, Penn wrote a two-part feature in The San Francisco Chronicle after a second visit to the war-torn Iraq. In 2005, he wrote a five-part feature in the same paper reporting from Iran during the election which led to the Ahmadinejad regime. Penn's landmark interviews with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and Cuba's President Raul Castro, were published in The Nation and The Huffington Post. Penn's interview with President Castro was the first-ever interview with an international journalist.

Penn's humanitarian work has found him in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and more recently in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. In January 2010, Penn founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization which focuses on medical aid, protection, and re-location. His organization is currently serving as UN IOM designated Camp Management for one of the largest IDP camps in Port-au-Prince and established the first emergency re-location in the country. They work with both government and non government agencies to deliver immediate results where the need is greatest. Their efforts include but are not limited to providing emergency medical and primary care services, delivering badly needed medical equipment and medicine, distributing food and water purification systems, improving communication systems, and rubble removal in the neighborhoods surrounding the Petionville Camp when they are camp managers. J/P HRO's goal is to help lift the nation of Haiti out of the rubble and give the Haitian people a better life

The J/P Haitian Relief Organization have recently started clearing rubble, on average about 3,500 - 4,000 cubic meters of rubble a week. Each neighborhood has an average of 150,000 cubic meters of rubble which needs to be removed. The rubble clearing has encouraged Haitians to participate in spontaneous clearing efforts themselves. Each day, as they return to work sites, the J/P HRO volunteers can see evidence of people clearing rubble from their home sites by hand, almost doubling the effectiveness of their work. Town squares, now cleared of rubble, have quickly filled with children playing kickball. Teachers, police, nurses, and residents of local IDP camps have already settled into temporary shelters in their old home sites. The emotional, physical and spiritual impact of the rubble removal cannot be underestimated.

For his efforts in Haiti, Penn received the Commander's Award for Service (US Army 82nd Airborne Division), 82nd Airborne Award for Meritorious Service, the Operation Unified Response JTF Haiti Certificate from Lieutenant General, US Army Commander P.K. Keen, along with the 1st Recon 73rd Division Coin of Excellence, 2nd Brigade Combat Team Coin of Excellence, Commendation of Excellence United States Southern Command, and Award of Excellence by the Deputy Commander US Southern Command. Earlier this year, Penn was honored with the "Children's and Families Global Development Fund Humanitarian Award" presented by the Ambassador of the Republic of Haiti, Raymond A. Joseph and his wife, Lola Poisson-Joseph. Additionally, in July 2010 Penn was knighted by Haitian President Rene Preval in a ceremony in Port-Au-Prince.

To learn more about the J/P Haitian Relief Organization and to join this cause please visit http://www.jphro.org/

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(r) and Encore(r) brands with approximately 17.1 million and 31.1 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies and new original series every month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to Liberty Starz, a tracking stock group of Liberty Media Corporation.

Festival Contact: 1.310.288.1882
Hollywood Film Festival®
433 N. Camden Drive, Suite 600
Beverly Hills, CA 90210