Review: "Gemini Man" Strong Start, Embarrassing Finish

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Gemini Man (2019)
Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and action throughout, and brief strong language.
DIRECTOR:  Ang Lee
WRITERS:  David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke (from a story by Darren Lemke and David Benioff)
PRODUCERS:  Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dion Beebe
EDITOR:  Tim Squyres
COMPOSER:  Lorne Balfe

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong, Linda Emond, Douglas Hodge, Ralph Brown, Ilia Volok, and E.J. Bonilla

Gemini Man is a 2019 science fiction and action-thriller film from director Ang Lee and starring Will Smith.  The film focuses on an aging hit man who faces off against a younger version of himself.

Gemini Man introduces Henry Brogan (Will Smith), a government assassin who is considered the best assassin of his generation.  After completing an assassination mission in Europe that turns complicated, Henry decides to retire.  However, the government agency for which Henry kills, the Defense Intelligence Agency (D.I.A.), decides that it is time to permanently retire him, and sends an assassination squad to kill him.

Henry kills the team, and rescues a fellow D.I.A. agent, Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who had been watching him.  Henry and Danny turn to a longtime associate of Henry's, Baron (Benedict Wong), who flies them to Bogata, Colombia.  There, Henry plots his next move, but what he doesn't know is that a D.I.A. supervisor, Clayton “Clay” Varris (Clive Owen), head of a top-secret black ops unit code-named “GEMINI,” has marked him for death.  And the assassin Clay has sent to kill Henry may be the most-perfect assassin to take down the world's best assassin.

While watching Gemini Man, I thought the film reminded me of one of those mid-1990s action movies that had science fiction elements.  I am thinking of director John Woo's Nicolas Cage vs. John Travolta film, Face/Off (1997), or director Chuck Russell's Eraser (1996), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Sure enough, I later learned that Gemini Man was originally meant to go into production back in 1997, but it ended up in “development hell” until producer David Ellison bought the rights.

They really don't make movies like Gemini Man anymore.  Our current movie action heroes are superhero action heroes like Black Panther, Captain America, and Iron Man, and, quite frankly, their films are better than Gemini Man is.

Actually, Gemini Man starts off pretty strongly, kind of like a slightly less polished version of a Jason Bourne film.  The first hour or so of Gemini Man is tense, thrilling, and filled with mystery.  However, once the mystery is solved and once the film reveals the identity and origin of the killer (code-named “Junior”) sent to kill Henry Brogan, the tension and drama of the film is let out like air out of a balloon.  There is an fierce “final battle” in the film's last act, and there is a feel-good, if not weird, happy ending, but the atmosphere of high-tech thrills that initially filled Gemini Man is gone.

The special effects in Gemini Man look like special effects – in a too obvious way.  The computer-generated 23-year-old Will Smith sometimes looks weird and plastic.  I don't want to use the word “awful,” but...  I think Marvel Studios did a much better job creating a younger face for Samuel L. Jackson/Nick Fury in this year's blockbuster, mega-smash hit film, Captain Marvel.

Anyway, the performances are good, but not great.  Will Smith's performance as Henry Brogan is practically the same he gave in his previous sci-fi action-thriller, I, Robot (2004).  It is good to see that Mary Elizabeth Winstead can play an adult, and Benedict Wong is proving to be a winning character actor in roles that provide both comic relief and wit.  As usual, Clive Own proves that he can do mean, but his Clay Farris is much more menacing early in Gemini Man.  By the end of the film, Farris is practically a cartoon villain.

Gemini Man is a good and entertaining film.  It could have been so much better though; in fact, (as I keep saying), the beginning is really good and holds the promise of being the start of an exceptional action film.  Alas, Gemini Man is not exceptional.  If you are a Will Smith fan, Gemini Man is not so good that you have to see it in a theater; you can certainly wait for the home media release.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, October 12, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "John Wick: Chapter 2" Makes "John Wick" a Real Franchise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Running time:  122 minutes (2 hours, two minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence throughout, some language and brief nudity
DIRECTORS:  Chad Stahelski
WRITER:  Derek Kolstad (based on characters created by Derek Kostad)
PRODUCERS:  Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dan Lausten (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Evan Schiff
COMPOSERS:  Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard

ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring:  Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Common, Claudia Gerini, Lance Reddick, Laurence Fishburne, Tobias Segal, John Leguizamo, Bridget Moynahan, Thomas Sadoski, Peter Stormare, and Franco Nero

John Wick: Chapter 2 is a 2017 action and crime-thriller starring Keanu Reeves and directed by Chad Stahelski.  It is a direct sequel to the 2014 film, John Wick, and both the original and the sequel were written by Derek Kolstad.  The film tells the story of an ex-hit man who comes out of retirement to kill the man who viciously wrongs him.

Once upon a time, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) was a legendary hit man, a seemingly unstoppable killer also known as “the Boogeyman.”  John retired, but came out of retirement when a young gangster stole his vintage 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 and killed his dog.  John Wick: Chapter 2 opens four days after the first film.  John Wick retrieves his stolen car from a chop shop owned by Abram Tarasov, the brother and uncle, respectively, of the men who wronged Wick in the first film.

Later, John receives a visit from the Italian crime lord, Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio).  It seems that Santino swore John Wick to a “marker” (a form of contract) which allowed Wick to retire and to marry his late wife, Helen (Bridget Moynahan).  The marker is an unbreakable promise, personified by a “blood oath” medallion.  Now, Santino is calling in this marker, and he wants John to perform a hit/assassination for him, one guaranteed to leave Wick's life changed forever.

In my review of John Wick, I wrote that I had been a fan of Keanu Reeves since I first encountered him the 1980s in films like Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and River's Edge (1986), although I am not a fan of his popular 80s film, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).  I also wrote that I had never thought of Reeves as a great or even as a good actor; he is either way too stiff or too wooden as a performer.  That aside, I have enjoyed Reeves in films like the original Point Break (1991) and in The Matrix film trilogy.  Reeves' star has dimmed in recent years, but John Wick's success has been something of a revival of Reeves as an action movie star.

The sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2, released in 2017, was an even bigger hit that the original film.  I knew that I would like John Wick just from the commercials and trailers for it, but I was not sure that I would like John Wick: Chapter 2.  Now, that I have seen it, I have to admit that I like it, even more than I did the first film.

I have to be honest.  I love the violent fight scenes and bloody shoot outs that often feature gunshots to the head and blood spurting... no... ejaculating from bodies and heads.  I know the sudden spurts and ejaculations of blood are merely computer-generated effects or practical special effects, but they still thrill me.  I like this film's high-quality production design and the cinematography.  The clothing and costumes are “swell,” and the hotels and other settings are snazzy.

In the middle of it all is one of my favorite movie stars, Keanu Reeves.  I enjoy his John Wick, and I love watching him kill those trying to kill him.  Hey... I'm not the only one enjoying this wanton cinematic, stylish, and slick violence.  There is a third John Wick film set to be released in a few days, as I write this review.  After John Wick: Chapter 2, oh, I am so ready for more.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, May 15, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Us" Comes After Us

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

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

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

HORROR with elements of mystery and thriller

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 of 10
A+

Friday, March 22, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" a Fall Off From First Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril 
DIRECTOR:  J.A. Bayona
WRITERS:  Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly (based on characters created by Michael Crichton)
PRODUCERS:  Belen Atienza, Patrick Crowley, and Frank Marshall
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Oscar Faura (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Bernat Vilaplana
COMPOSER:  Michael Giacchino

SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER

Starring:  Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Ted Levin, Geraldine Chaplin, Isabella Sermon, James Cromwell, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones, and Jeff Goldblum

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a 2018 science fiction-thriller and dinosaur film from director J.A. Bayona.  It is the direct sequel to Jurassic World, the 2015 film that was a restart of the Jurassic Park film franchise, of which this film is the fifth installment.  Fallen Kingdom returns to Isla Nublar where an active volcano forces a rescue mission of the island's remaining dinosaurs, a mission that is not quite what it is supposed to be.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens on Isla Nublar, the setting of the failed dinosaur theme parks, Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, where a secret mission takes place.  A once dormant volcano on the island has roared back to life and threatens to initiate an extinction-level event for the island's remaining dinosaurs.  Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) is the former partner of John Hammond, the owner of Jurassic Park and the founder of InGen (the company that first cloned dinosaurs).  Lockwood and his aide, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), have a plan to relocate the dinosaurs to a new island sanctuary.

Lockwood summons Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), former Jurassic World operations manager, to reactivate the park's dinosaur tracking system.  She convinces Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), who trained the park's Velociraptors (raptor) to accompany her.  Grady is interested in rescuing the sole remaining raptor from his trainees, the pack leader, Blue.  With a former park technician, Franklin Webb (Justice Smith), and a paleo-veterinarian, Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda), in tow, Dearing and Grady join mercenary leader, Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine), on a rescue mission to Isla Nublar.  As the volcano destroys the island, however, Dearing and Grady soon discover that not everything about this rescue mission as it is supposed to be.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom may be described as a science fiction-adventure film, but that is what the original Jurassic Park trilogy of films were.  Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, like the first film, Jurassic World, is a science fiction-action film with elements of a techno-thriller.  Hanging over Fallen Kingdom are the threats of ecological disaster and environmental or biological apocalypse.  The original Jurassic Park films were about adventure, the chase, and the escape.  The Jurassic World films are about technology and conspiracy.

Beyond that, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a serviceable scary movie.  Director J.A. Bayona offers a by-the-numbers directing style that makes the work of Jurassic World's director, Colin Trevorrow (who returns as this film's co-screenwriter), seem more imaginative than it actually is.  At least in Jurassic World, Trevorrow was able to make the characters and their conflicts, struggles, and dilemmas seem interesting.

In Fallen Kingdom, Claire Dearing and Owen Grady are mostly wooden, except for a few moments.  When he has to play Grady as the ass-kicking hero and rescuer of white maidens in distress, Pratt does not seem to really put his heart into his performance.  I think a child playing with action figures could make his toys more convincing as heroes than Pratt in in this film.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is pass-the-time entertainment that you watch because it is the most convenient or most available thing available, the way a one-dollar McDonald cheeseburger has to satisfy your hunger because that is all that is available to you.  Would I watch Fallen Kingdom again once it starts making the basic cable movie channel rotations?  Sure, if Jurassic World is not playing.

5 of 10
C+

Friday, March 15, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "The Meg" is Enjoyably Cheesy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

The Meg (2018)
Running time:  113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for action/peril, bloody images and some language
DIRECTOR:  Jon Turteltaub
WRITERS:  Dean Georgaris and Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber (based on the novel, Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, by Steve Alten)
PRODUCERS:  Belle Avery (p.g.a.), Lorenzo di Bonaventura (produced by) (p.g.a.) and Colin Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Stern (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Steven Kemper and Kelly Matsumoto
COMPOSER:  Harry Gregson-Williams

SCI-FI/HORROR/ACTION

Starring:  Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Winston Chao, Sophia Cai, Ruby Rose, Page Kennedy, Robert Taylor, Olafur Darri, Olafsson, Jessica McNamee, and Masi Osa

The Meg is a 2018 science fiction, horror, and action film from director Jon Turteltaub and stars Jason Statham.  This movie is loosely based on Steve Alten's 1997 novel, Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.  A Chinese-American co-production, The Meg film focuses on a man who must save a group of people trapped in a sunken submersible vessel damaged by a prehistoric creature that no one but he believes still exists.

The Meg opens in the Phillippine Trench where there is a “deep sea rescue mission.”  Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) leads the mission to save the sailors aboard the damaged nuclear submarine, the “SSBN Rogue.”  Something attacks the Rogue, and Taylor is forced to leave some of his own men behind where they die when the submarine explodes.

Five years later, the story moves to the underwater research facility, “Mana One,” where its billionaire founder, Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson), has just arrived to meet the facility's lead researcher, Dr. Zhang (Winston Chao).  Morris hopes to witness a mission supervised by Zhang's daughter, Suyin (Bingbing Li), an oceanographer, in which a submersible will explore a previously unknown part of the Mariana trench.  Not long into the mission, a very large creature attacks and damages the submersible, forcing it down into a place from which it will be hard to rescue.

Zhang and one of his top crew members, Mac (Cliff Curtis), head to Samut Prakan, Thailand, to convince Jonas Taylor, retired since the SSBN Rogue incident, to help them rescue the Mana One's submersible.  Although Taylor initially refuses, he accepts the mission when he learns that someone close to him is trapped in the submersible and that its crew is being menaced by a prehistoric creature that Taylor believes to still exist today, the giant shark creature, the Megalodon.

The Meg is an entertaining, but not particularly good B-movie.  The Meg manages to be more than mediocre because of some highly-entertaining and thoroughly thrilling action sequences.  It seems to me that the director, Jon Turtletaub, was reluctant to really go wild with what is essentially a monster movie.  If what paleontologists say is true, the Megalodon was the terror of the seas, yet this cinematic “Meg” only commits a fraction of the terror that it could.  Maybe, it is the screenwriters' fault that this screenplay does not seem particularly imaginative.

The characters are not imaginative, either.  The only characters presented with any depth or personality are Jason Statham's Jonas Taylor and Bingbing Li's Suyin, and even they are little more than puffed up stock characters.  Taylor is the white savior slash rescue-mission-guy damaged by a recent “mistake” who will find redemption in getting this new opportunity to save some people.  Suyin is a by-the-book smart-Asian-cookie, but at least the filmmakers let her get in some girl-hero action time.

There is a cute kid, Meiying (Sophia Cai), that steals her scenes, and there is also the stereotypical Black guy, DJ (Page Kennedy), who is constantly letting everyone know that he did not sign up for fighting or being eaten by a prehistoric monster shark.  The Meg is a B-movie, a $130 million dollar-budgeted B-movie, but a B-movie, still.  And if you enjoy movies about sharks terrorizing humans, especially humans too stupid to avoid them (and, dear readers, I do enjoy such movies), then, The Meg is must-see shark-scare entertainment.

C+
5 out of 10

Monday, December 31, 2018


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

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Review: "Get Out" is a Cinematic Revolution

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

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

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

HORROR/MYSTERY/THRILLER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10 of 10

Tuesday, September 11, 2018


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

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

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


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

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Review: "Spilt" is Shyamalan's Best Film in at Least a Decade

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2018) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Split (2016 / 2017)
Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for disturbing thematic content and behavior, violence and some language
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  M. Night Shyamalan
PRODUCERS: Marc Bienstock, Jason Blum, and M. Night Shyamalan
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Michael Gioulakis (D.o.P)
EDITOR:  Luke Ciarrocchi
COMPOSER:  West Dylan Thordson

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring:  James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, Izzie Coffey, Brad William Henke, Sebastian Arcelus, and Rosemary Howard (with Bruce Willis)

Split is a 2016 horror-thriller from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan.  The film is a standalone sequel to Shyamalan's 2000 film, Unbreakable.  The film received a film festival release in 2016, but was released to theaters in January 2017.  Split focuses on three kidnapped girls who desperately search for a way to escape their captor, a man diagnosed with 23 distinct personalities.

As Split opens, Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy), a seemingly emotionally withdrawn teenager, is hanging out with her classmates, Claire Benoit (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula).  The three teens are kidnapped by a mysterious man who has DID – dissociative identity disorder (also and formerly known as “multiple personality disorder”).  The girls' abductor, “Dennis” (James McAvoy), is one of several personalities, as many as 23 according to Dennis' psychologist, Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley).

The girls are imprisoned in an underground bunker and held in a cell.  Casey tries to befriend a young boy personality named “Hedwig.”  From him, Casey learns that time is running out, as “The Beast” (a 24th personality) is coming, and the teens are to be sacrificed to him.

Although Split has been out in the public for almost a year and a half, a little more including its film festival release, I still want to be careful about spoilers in this review.  I can say that James McAvoy gives a dramatic tour de force performance in multiple roles.

Honestly, I have thought of him as a good actor since I first saw him in two Academy Award-winning film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and The Last King of Scotland (2006).  It is this performance, however, in which McAvoy reveals that he has the techniques and skills of a top-form actor and the qualities of a movie star.  Goodness gracious!  The camera made love to this dude, and I could not get enough of him.  McAvoy took each personality that director M. Night Shyamalan revealed and gave us a unique and alluring individual.

Speaking of Shyamalan, he proves with this film that he has always been a exceptional filmmaker, even when he was making mediocre films (The Last Airbender) and box office bombs (The Lady in the Water – which I love, by the way).  I have thoroughly enjoyed his movies (Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village) even when I hate the “twists” and “shock reveals” in the last acts of those films.  Split is good, beginning to end.  Shyamalan has unleashed his inner Hitchcock to create a film that is difficult to ignore once you start watching its astonishing twists and turns.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke.  I think that she is as much the star of this film as James McAvoy is.  In a way, she embodies the heroic journey, and she spins the familiar teen female victim of horror movies and thrillers and turns her into a stalwart figure, the unbreakable, unsinkable heroine.

Obviously, I love Split.  I wish I had seen it in a movie theater, and I am not reluctant to recommend it to fans of thrillers.  It is not just a good movie; it is also one of the best films of 2017.

9 of 10
A+

Thursday, April 26, 2018


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

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Review: "John Wick" Still Burns

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Wick (2014)
Running time:  101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong and bloody violence throughout, language and brief drug use
DIRECTORS:  Chad Stahelski and David Leitch
WRITER:  Derek Kolstad
PRODUCERS:  Basil Iwanyk, David Leitch, Eva Longoria, and Michael Witherill
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jonathan Sela
EDITOR:  Elisabet Ronalds
COMPOSERS:  Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard

ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring:  Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Bridget Regan, Clarke Peters, Randall Duk Kim, Kevin Nash, David Patrick Kelly, and Lance Reddick

John Wick is a 2014 action and crime-thriller starring Keanu Reeves.  It is directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch (although only Stahelski is credited on screen as director).  The film tells the story of an ex-hit man who comes out of retirement to kill the man who viciously wronged him.

Once upon a time, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) was a legendary hit man, a seemingly unstoppable killer.  He was the boogeyman who killed the boogeyman.  Not long after his wife, Helen (Bridget Moynahan), dies of a terminal illness, John receives a puppy that she had bought John to help him cope with her death.  He grows to love the puppy, which he names “Daisy.”

At a gas station, a young gangster named Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) sees John and Daisy in John's vintage 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1.  Later, Iosef and two of his henchman break into John's home, beats him unconscious, and kills Daisy, before stealing the Mach 1.  Now, John Wick the boogeyman is back, determined to kill Iosef.  The problem is that the young hood is the son of Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist), the head of the Russian crime syndicate in New York City, a syndicate that John Wick himself helped the elder Tarasov establish.

I have been a fan of Keanu Reeves since I first encountered him the 1980s in film like Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and River's Edge (1986), although I am not a fan of his popular 80s film, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).  I have never thought of Reeves as a great or even good actor; he is either way too stiff or too wooden as a performer.  Still, I enjoyed him in films like the original Point Break (1991) and in The Matrix films.  Reeves' star has dimmed in recent years, and he has said that he no longer gets offered the kind of projects an A-list white male actor would.

When I first saw a television commercial for John Wick, I knew that I would like the film.  However, I never got around to seeing it until early last year when I caught it on one of the premium cable movie channels.  I could not believe how good I thought it was (and I still can't).  Because of the release of the sequel (John Wick: Chapter 2), I decided to watch the first film again.

John Wick is simply a flashy, visually cool shoot-em-up movie with some good set pieces from the hit man movie wheelhouse.  This film, however, works because of Keanu Reeves.  I honestly believe that very few other actors could have made this movie memorable.  Without Keanu, John Wick would have probably ended being straight-to-DVD or VOD (video-on-demand).

If you like Keanu Reeves, you will want to see this, and you will probably want to see it a second time.  It's the magic of Keanu Reeves.  What more can I say?  That magic must have worked on a lot of movie fans because Jack Wick did get a sequel.

6 of 10
B

Sunday, March 12, 2017


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

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Review: Tom Hanks is Magnificent in "Bridge of Spies"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bridge of Spies (2015)
Running time:  141 minutes (2 hours, 21 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some violence and brief strong language
DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg
WRITERS:  Matt Charman and Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
PRODUCERS:  Kristie Macosko Krieger, Marc Platt, and Steven Spielberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Janusz Kaminski
EDITOR:  Michael Kahn
COMPOSER:  Thomas Newman
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/HISTORICAL/THRILLER

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Austin Stowell, Will Rogers, Sebastian Koch, Jillian Lebling, Noah Schnapp, Eve Hewson, and Jesse Plemons

Bridge of Spies is a 2015 historical drama from director Steve Spielberg.  This American-German co-production is based on the true story of lawyer James B. Donovan, who negotiated the exchange of a Soviet KGB spy, who was captured and convicted in the United States, for an American U-2 pilot, who was captured and imprisoned in the Soviet Union.  The film's title apparently refers to the place, Glienicke Bridge, where the exchange of prisoners took place.

Bridge of Spies opens in Brooklyn, New York in 1957.  The FBI is watching suspected Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), who lives alone as a painter of portraits.  Believing that he has recently retrieved a secret message, the FBI agents arrest him.  Because he refuses to cooperate, the FBI tries Abel, but the U.S. government wants Abel to get a “fair trial” as counter-propaganda to any Soviet propaganda and also to show the world that America is true to its ideals.  [Yeah, segregation and Jim Crow:  I get the irony.]

The bar association chooses insurance attorney James B. “Jim” Donovan (Tom Hanks) to defend Abel.  Donovan, who had previously worked on the prosecutions of Nazi war crimes in the Nuremberg trials, takes his work as Abel's attorney seriously.  However, his firm, the prosecuting attorneys, and the judge  want Donovan only to go through the motions.  When he refuses and puts all his efforts into saving Abel's life, his professional and social position, as well as his family, suffer for it.

Some time after these events, military pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) flies a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union, where he is shot down and captured.  The USSR proposes a prisoner exchange:  Powers for Abel, and Donovan agrees to handle the negotiations.  After he arrives in communist East Germany where the exchange is to take place, Donovan finds numerous complications and competing interests – on all sides.  If he is to complete his mission, Donovan will have to decide what is the best deal, but his life and freedom will be on the line.

Tom Hanks has been one of the world's best English-speaking actors of the last four decades.  If he painted his house, he could make that look like a major moment in another Oscar-worthy performance.  Hanks is a true movie star, not a faker like those young white male actors who are treated like A-list talent only because they have appeared in a hit action or superhero movie.

Hanks can carry a movie, and so, he carries Bridge of Spies, and not because this is a mediocre movie that needs to be propped up.  Bridge of Spies is a superbly written period piece that deftly balances the social and political arguments and points of contention of the late 1950s and early 1960s with riveting spy drama and international intrigue.

Of course, director Steven Spielberg makes Bridge of Spies a historical drama with bite in two ways.  First, he draws out excellent performances from his cast by allowing veteran actors to do what they do best – fashion the characters on the page of a script into characters on the screen that genuinely feel like real people (as is the case with Mark Rylance as “Rudolf Abel”).  Secondly, Spielberg captures the tensions of the time and recreates the Cold War as a moody film that evokes classic Hollywood Film-Noir with the gravitas of a muscular stage drama.

Still, the script, the directing, and the supporting actors are satellites drawn to the gravity and brilliance of Bridge of Spies' sun, Tom Hanks.  The best of America is exemplified in Hanks' Jim Donovan, and Hanks is up to the task of making this character an exemplar, rather than a caricature spouting corny bromides.  When Donovan tells a CIA agent tailing him what the Constitution of the United States means to a country full of people from a multitude of backgrounds, his words ring out from film and become a beacon – the true shining light on a hill.

Bridge of Spies is an excellent movie, but what makes it exceptional is Tom Hanks giving one of the best performances of his career.  That Hanks did not receive an Oscar, BAFTA, or Golden Globe nomination for this performance speaks to the fact that we have come to take a great American film star for granted.

9 of 10
A+

Sunday, May 22, 2016


NOTES:
2016 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Mark Rylance); 5 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, and Kristie Macosko Krieger), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Thomas Newman), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, and Drew Kunin), and “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Adam Stockhausen-production design, Rena DeAngelo-set decoration, and Bernhard Henrich-set decoration)

2016 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Mark Rylance)

2016 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Supporting Actor” (Mark Rylance); 8 nominations: “Best Film” (Kristie Macosko Krieger, Marc Platt, and Steven Spielberg), “David Lean Award for Direction “ (Steven Spielberg), “Best Original Screenplay” (Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen), “Best Cinematography” (Janusz Kaminski), “Best Editing” (Michael Kahn), “Best Production Design” (Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo, and Bernhard Henrich), “Best Original Music” (Thomas Newman), and “Best Sound” (Drew Kunin, Richard Hymns, Andy Nelson, and Gary Rydstrom)

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

Monday, January 30, 2017

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Review: "Nightcrawler" an L.A. Crime Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Nightcrawler (2014)
Running time:  118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence including graphic images, and for language
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Dan Gilroy
PRODUCERS:  Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, and Michel Litvak
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robert Elswit
EDITOR:  John Gilroy
COMPOSER:  James Newton Howard
Academy Award nominee

CRIME/THRILLER/DRAMA

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton, Kevin Rahm, Ann Cusack, Michael Hyatt, and Price Carson

Nightcrawler is a 2014 neo-Noir drama and crime-thriller from writer-director Dan Gilroy.  Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, the film focuses on a Los Angeles man who enters the world of freelance video journalism and then begins to manipulate events in order to create more lurid stories.

Nightcrawler opens in Los Angeles.  It introduces Louis “Lou” Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a thief always looking to convert his stolen merchandise into quick cash.  One night, Bloom is driving back to his apartment when he comes across the scene of a car crash.  He pulls over to witness the chaos, but most of his attention is taken by the “Stringers,” freelance cameramen who are filming live footage of the crash scene with the intent of selling that video footage to local television news stations.

Fascinated and inspired, Bloom buys his first camcorder and a police radio scanner and begins driving the streets of L.A. at night.  He looks for accidents, emergencies, and crime scenes that he can film.  He makes his first sale to KWLA, a bottom-rung television station, where he catches the notice of the station's morning news director, Nina Romina (Rene Russo).  As he muscles his way into the world of L.A. crime journalism, however, Bloom's dark side quickly emerges.

On the surface, Nightcrawler might seem like it is only a slick crime film, especially because of Robert Elswit's gorgeous cinematography.  What writer-director Dan Gilroy also offers, however, is a mean, edgy film that is classic L.A. crime story.  This film is high-quality neo-Noir that recaptures the classic, black and white L.A. Film-Noir, without being a prisoner to style and expectations.

Nightcrawler might not be the excellent film it is without Jake Gyllenhaal's marvelous performance as the sociopathic and murderously ambitious Lou Bloom.  It is now official; doubting that Gyllenhaal is a supremely talented and skilled actor is no longer okay.  I must also throw some cheer Rene Russo's way.  Hell, yeah, she's good, but Hollywood industry ageism now keeps her away from audiences.  She takes a throwaway character like Nina and makes her crucial to the execution of the narrative.  Also, I must not forget Riz Ahmed.  As Rick, Bloom's desperate-for-money assistant, Ahmed delivers a star-turn that just comes out of nowhere.

It might be easy to focus on Louis Bloom's sociopathic tendencies; one might call him an outright sociopath.  However, I think Nightcrawler speaks to the world that creates the Lou Blooms.  The world of L.A. local television news is little better than rogue capitalism.  The movie is rife with characters that are me-first and win-at-all-costs, to say nothing of the anal obsession with acknowledging achievement that comes from literally walking over dead bodies.

Nightcrawler is not perfect; some of it seems a bit far-fetched.  Louis Bloom gets away with things that stretch credulity, although I won't be specific in order to avoid spoilers.  Still, I was destined to like Nightcrawler because I like neo-Noir set in Los Angeles.  I think that what makes Nightcrawler so fascinating to watch are the things that sometimes make it hard to watch.  Dan Gilroy's gem is blunt about a morally bankrupt society in which class status is everything and in which society treats actual people as nothing more than commodities.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, February 6, 2016


NOTES:
2015 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Dan Gilroy)

2015 BAFTA Awards:  4 nominations: “Best Leading Actor” (Jake Gyllenhaal), “Best Supporting Actress” (Rene Russo), “Best Editing” (John Gilroy), and “Best Original Screenplay” (Dan Gilroy)

2015 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Jake Gyllenhaal)


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

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Review: "Terminator: Genisys" is the Worst of the Terminator Films

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

Terminator: Genisys (2015)
Running time:  126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG - 13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and gun-play throughout, partial nudity and brief strong language
DIRECTOR:  Alan Taylor
WRITERS:  Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier (based upon characters created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd)
PRODUCERS:  David Ellison and Dana Goldberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Kramer Morgenthau
EDITOR:  Roger Barton
COMPOSER:  Lorne Balfe

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Courtney B. Vance, Byung-hun Lee, and Bryant Prince

Terminator: Genisys is 2015 science fiction-action film from director Alan Taylor.  It is the fifth film in the Terminator franchise.  The film is essentially a remake, reboot, and re-imagining of the first film, The Terminator (1984).  In Genisys, a soldier travels back in time to 1984 to protect the mother of his commander, but finds that things are not the way he believed they were supposed to be.

Terminator: Genisys opens in 2019, where John Connor (Jason Clarke) leads the Human Resistance.  Conner is launching what he has told his soldiers is the final offensive against Skynet, an artificial intelligence system seeking to eliminate the human race.  After infiltrating a Skynet outpost, Connor discovers that Skynet has just activated a time machine that has sent a “Terminator” (a cyborg that hunts and kills humans), back in time to kill his mother before she gives birth to him.

Connor's right-hand man, Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), volunteers to travel back in time to protect Connor's mother.  On his way through time, Reese witnesses events that shock him.  When he arrives in 1984, Reese finds that John Connor's mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), is not the woman he expected to find.  And the Terminator that should be trying to kill Sarah is called the “Guardian” (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and he/it is also acting strangely.  Skynet still wants to kill Sarah Connor, but nothing is as Reese expected to find it.

The Terminator, the 1984 film co-written and directed by James Cameron, has aged well.  The film's pre-CGI effects still look good and are quite effective.  Other than Cameron's sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the other Terminator films are CGI-heavy, and CGI does not serve Terminator: Genisys very well.  It is as if the filmmakers have vomited their imaginations onto the screen, and there is a line of code to bring every chunk and fluid ounce of it to life.

I find that some film critics easily ignore and/or dismiss that at the heart of James Cameron's best and most famous films is a love story, and that was the heart of the first Terminator film.  Kyle Reese falls in love with Sarah Connor via the stories her son, John Connor, told him.  In the end, Reese risks everything to traverse the “oceans of time” to be with Sarah.  Whether you buy that love story or not, The Terminator 1984 was more than just a story about a two soldiers from the future shooting up Los Angeles circa 1984.

Terminator: Genisys, which is (let's be honest) a remake of the original film, tries and fails to recapture all the dynamism of the original Kyle Reese-Sarah Connor dynamic.  First Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese does not work for me because I keep thinking about the actor who first played Reese, Michael Beihn.  Emilia Clarke looks like a high school girl; she lacks the maturity and world-weary aura that Linda Hamilton had as the original Sarah Connor.  Schwarzenegger is tolerable, but Terminator: Genisys features his least charismatic version of the classic T-800 Terminator that first exploded on screen in 1984.

Terminator: Genisys is wall-to-wall action, and except for a few moments (mostly in the first half of the film), I found myself not very interested.  If you, dear readers, have seen the other Terminator films, see Terminator: Genisys for the sake of completion.

3 of 10
C-

Friday, January 15, 2016


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

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Review: "Terminator Salvation" Remains a Fresh Take on the Franchise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Terminator Salvation (2009)
Running time: 130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language
DIRECTOR:  McG
WRITERS:  John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris
PRODUCERS:  Derek Anderson, Moritz Borman, Victor Kubicek, and Jeffrey Silver
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Shane Hurlbut (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Conrad Buff IV
COMPOSER:  Danny Elfman

SCI-FI/ACTION/WAR/THRILLER

Starring:  Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin, Jadagrace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, and Michael Ironside

Terminator Salvation is a 2009 post-apocalyptic science fiction film from director McG.  It is the fourth film in the Terminator film franchise.  The film is set in the year 2018, and focuses on a mysterious man who joins the resistance on the eve of an attack on Skynet, but whose side is he really on?

Seven years after the debut of The Terminator (1984), its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day arrived in 1991.  It was another 12 years before the third film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) debuted, but only six years later, the fourth film, Terminator Salvation arrives.  This shorter gestation period likely isn’t why Terminator Salvation is good enough to be considered the second best film in The Terminator franchise.

Terminator Salvation finally takes us into the world only hinted at in the other Terminator films – the post-apocalyptic future that finds the remnants of the human race fighting the all-powerful artificial intelligence, Skynet, and its army of man-killing Terminators.  John Connor (Christian Bale) is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and the Terminators.  It was his mother that Skynet marked for termination before she could give birth to John, so they sent a Terminator back in time to kill her (as seen in The Terminator).  In Judgment Day, Skynet sent a Terminator back in time to kill a 12-year-old John Connor.

This new film opens in 2018, and John Connor is not in charge of the Resistance.  Connor continues, however, to study his past, through his memories and through the tape recordings his late mother left, as he tries to determine what Skynet’s next move might be.  Then, Connor learns that Skynet has made a human civilian named Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), their top priority for termination.  Reese is a man who is of utmost importance to Connor’s existence, so Connor prepares to launch a rescue mission even if General Ashdown (Michael Ironside) and the Resistance leadership are against it.

Then, Connor meets Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row in 2003.  It seems that Wright’s appearance has altered what John knew the future to be.  Connor and Marcus embark on an odyssey into Skynet central operations in the ruins of Los Angeles, where they discover the truth of Skynet’s diabolical plans.

Any moviegoers that are familiar with the internal mythology of The Terminator films can follow all the twists and turns of this time-bending film franchise… for the most part.  Are there inconsistencies between Terminator Salvation and the original film (let alone the others)?  Yes, there are, but director McG (the Charlie’s Angels films) takes the script for this film (which apparently had at least six writers, if not more) and makes one of those great summer movies that keeps your eyes glued to the screen and just keeps you awestruck with the awesomeness of its action and special effects.  It’s fanboy eye candy.

It’s easy for critics and snobby fans to dismiss McG (whose name is Joseph McGinty Nichol), but in the case of Terminator Salvation, he makes the best use of his actors, getting superb performances out of Bale, Worthington, Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, and Jadagrace.  Plus, McG squeezes the best from the visual effects, special effects, and stunt crews.  When a director harnesses this effort to maximum effect, he can make that kind of action flick that is the Art of the summer movie.

There are times when McG and company stumble over themselves in an effort to both connect Terminator Salvation to the original films (especially the first two) and to be respectful of the originals, somewhat to the detriment of this film.  However, McG has led his cast and creative staff to the promised land of the great action film, one so stuffed with edge-of-the-seat thrills and breathtaking visuals that it won’t soon be forgotten.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, May 31, 2009

EDITED:  Thursday, November 5, 2015


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Review: "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" Remains Entertaining

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 101 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Terminator 3:  Rise of the Machines (2003)
Running time:  109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sci-fi violence and action, and for language and brief nudity
DIRECTOR:  Jonathan Mostow
WRITERS:  John Brancato and Michael Ferris, from a story by Tedi Sarafian and John Brancato & Michael Ferris (based upon characters created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd)
PRODUCERS:  Matthias Deyle, Mario F. Kassar, Hal Lieberman, Joel B. Michaels, Andrew G. Vajna, and Colin Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Don Burgess (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Nicolas de Toth and Neil Travis
COMPOSER:  Marco Beltrami

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken, David Andrews, and Earl Boen

Terminator 3:  Rise of the Machines is a 2003 science fiction and action film from director Jonathan Mostow.  It is the third film in the Terminator film franchise.  In this film, Schwarzenegger's Terminator travels from a post-apocalyptic future to the present in order to protect 19-year-old John Connor and his future wife from a new and more lethal female Terminator.

So is it as good as T2?  Honestly, I wasn’t all that crazy about Terminator 2: Judgment Day.  Sure, the special effects were eye popping at the time; it was like watching actual, real magic on a movie screen.  There were many scenes that I liked, but overall, T2 seemed like some Gothic and ponderous beast, not at all like the lean and hungry fighting machine that was The Terminator, the original and still the best.  But rest assured, a good time is to be had in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

John Connor (Nick Stahl), the future savior of mankind in its war against the machines, is now 18.  In the nearly six years that have passed since the omnipresent Skynet sent a T-1000 to kill him and his mother, Connor has dropped out of society.  He’s off the grid:  no phone, no job, no credit card, and no home.  Judgment Day (originally set to occur in 1997), the day that the machines were supposed to launch nuclear war on humanity, has passed, and nothing happened.

John’s still afraid that something is going to happen.  He’s grown weary of his mantle when suddenly a T-X (Kristanna Loken), a female terminator, comes through time.  Vastly superior to previous terminators, the T-X is programmed not only to kill John but a future lieutenant, Kate Brewster (Clair Danes), as well.  Right behind her is the T-850 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a replica of the terminator that saved his life as a boy, but this new model is holding dark and shocking secrets deep in its computer brain.

I have to give credit to director Jonathan Mostow (U-571) and the screenwriters for going for the jugular.  T3 is a wall to wall cartoon, occasionally it’s all balls out.  Not only is it so very cartoon like; it’s has the kind of outrageous and over the top stunts and action scenes that usually drawn by the best comic book artists.  Mostow lavishes mayhem and destruction with an attention to detail when it comes to delineating the rubble and fallout from destroyed buildings and cars.  I don’t think destruction has had such chaos and beauty since the Japanese animated film (anime) Akira.  In terms of shootouts, car chases, explosions, and bloody, gore-filled deaths, this is one of the fanciest, grandest B-movies ever made.  It so fun because you don’t have to think, but the movie is still good enough to hold your attention.  As insane as the pandemonium of T3 is, it’s not strained and forced like the disabled anarchy of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

T3 is certainly not as thoughtful as its predecessors, being relatively philosophy free.  This time Arnold’s terminator is grimmer, darker, and more determined to follow his programming regardless of the feelings of the humans he has to protect, even those of his charge John.  Ms. Loken makes a fearsome T-X, and she certainly has moments when she could scare Dracula.  However, I found that her beautiful face made her seem a little too much like candy, more tart than dangerous.  The T-X is so powerful that it’s hard to believe that it could not carry out its programmed task.  Nick Stahl is an excellent John Connor, beset by doubts and fearful of the future.  Ms. Danes has her moments, but it takes awhile for her to warm up to the part.

Still, even the rough spots can’t take the fun out of this crazed trip of non-stop violent action.  Sometimes hilarious, often breathtaking, and thrilling from end to end, T3 fits right in with the other Terminator films, and it’s a hoot to boot.

7 of 10
A-

Edited:  Thursday, November 5, 2015


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

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Review: "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" a Nation onto Itself

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
Running time: 131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, and brief partial nudity
DIRECTOR:  Christopher McQuarrie
WRITERS:  Christopher McQuarrie; from a story by Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce (based upon the television series created by Bruce Geller)
PRODUCERS: Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, David Ellison, and Don Granger
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Elswit (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Eddie Hamilton
COMPOSER: Joe Kraemer

ACTION/ADVENTURE/SPY/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Simon McBurney, Jen Hultén, Hermoine Corfield, and Nigel Barber

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a 2015 action-thriller and espionage film directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise.  It is the fifth film in the Mission: Impossible film franchise, which is based on the American television series, “Mission: Impossible,” that was created by Bruce Geller and that originally aired on CBS from 1966 to 1973.

Rogue Nation finds the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) taking on their most impossible mission yet, defeating an international rogue organization that is every bit as highly skilled as IMF.  A little over three year ago, I called Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol the best M:I film since the first one, 1996's Mission: Impossible.  Now, I think Rogue Nation is the best since the first film.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation opens in Belarus.  Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is on a mission with his IMF team – technical field agent, Benjamin “Benji” Dunn (Simon Pegg) and IMF agent Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames).  They have to intercept a shipment of VX nerve gas aboard an airplane before it is flown away to be sold to terrorists.

Later, CIA Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) and IMF Field Operations Director William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) testify before a U.S. Senate committee.  The IMF is currently without a secretary in charge, but Hunley believes that the Senate should not appoint new secretary.  He believes that the IMF is dangerous and destructive and that any successes its agents have are the result of luck.  Hunley wants the IMF disbanded and absorbed into the CIA.

Ethan Hunt has been trying to prove the existence of the Syndicate, an international criminal consortium.  He believes that the Syndicate is both the equal and the opposite of the IMF.  It is an anti-IMF that acts as a “rogue nation,” committing acts of terror and assassination.  Hunley believes that the Syndicate is a figment of Hunt's imagination and sends CIA agents and assets to capture Hunt.  Hunt believes that a mysterious operative, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), is the person who can lead him to the Syndicate and its formidable leader, the mysterious Solomon Lane (Sean Harris).

I always want to be honest with you, dear readers, even when I'm being a fanboy who really loves a movie in spite of its faults.  I absolutely love Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, and I think that it is a genuinely good movie.  I don't know if it is possible that any other filmmakers could do a better job than director Christopher McQuarrie and film editor Eddie Hamilton did with Rogue Nation.  Maybe James Cameron could?

I think it is preposterous that this movie is so entertaining.  The action is so bracing and invigorating.  The ebb and flow of the thrills could cause you to ask for a cigarette after seeing this movie.  Rogue Nation is a way more entertaining action movie than Jurassic World, which made three times as much money at the box office as Rogue Nation did.  I kinda have to admit that I enjoyed watching Rogue Nation more than I did watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens three nights ago.  It hurts me to write this, cause I love me some Star Wars, but...

Seriously, Tom Cruise is as glorious as ever as Ethan Hunt.  This time, however, the mix of quality supporting cast as IMF agents and as allies, adversaries, and people somewhere in the middle is just right – like a stew or soup with that almost-perfect blend of ingredients, preparation, and cooking.  Yes, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a golden gumbo of flavorful characters, settings, plot, and execution.  I plan on experiencing this cinematic dish many, many more times.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, December 25, 2015


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

Review: "Mad Max: Fury Road" is the Real Fast and Furious

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 48 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

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

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Running time:  120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – R for intense sequences of violence throughout, and for disturbing images
DIRECTOR:  George Miller
WRITERS:  George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris
PRODUCERS:  George Miller, Doug Mitchell, and PJ Voeten
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  John Seale
EDITORS:  Margaret Sixel
COMPOSER:  Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg)

ACTION/SCI-FI/THRILLER

Starring:  Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, and Courtney Eaton

Mad Max: Fury Road is a 2015 post-apocalyptic action film from director George Miller.  Written by Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris, Fury Road is the fourth film in the Mad Max film franchise, which began with the 1979 Australian film, Mad Max.  Actor Tom Hardy replaces actor Mel Gibson as the title character; Gibson portrayed Max in the franchise's first three movies.  Mad Max: Fury Road follows a warrior who escapes with a group of female prisoners and takes them on a search for her homeland, with the aid of a drifter named Max.

Mad Max: Fury Road is set some years after a nuclear holocaust has left civilization collapsed and the world a desert wasteland.  One oasis is The Citadel, which is ruled over by the tyrannical Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), who has an army of “War Boys” to carry out his orders.  Early in the story, Joe sends one of his lieutenants, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), in an armored truck to collect gasoline.  After she goes off-route, Joe realizes that Furiosa has escaped with his five wives:  Angharad (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Capable (Riley Keough), Cheedo (Courtney Eaton), The Dag (Abbey Lee), and Toast (Zoë Kravitz).

Immortan Joe leads his entire army in pursuit of Furiosa and her armored truck, a “war rig.”  A sick War Boy named, Nux (Nicholas Hoult), seeks to make his name stopping Furiosa.  But the fate of Furiosa and her fellow escapees may rest in the hands of a drifter recently caught by the War Boys, the former “Road Warrior,” Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy).

If Mad Max: Fury Road is not the best genre film of the year, it is one of the best and sits near the top.  Compared to its summer action movie competitors, Fury Road features relatively little use of CGI and other computer-generated special effects.  What is even more surprising is that the hero of Fury Road is really a female character, Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa.  Tom Hardy's Max is, at best, a partner, if not a kind of sidekick.

The Furiosa-Max dynamic allows Miller and his co-writers to drive this film with themes of survival and redemption, rather than with male-centered, goal-oriented themes like revenge or the pursuit of something (like gas and guns).  Thus, Fury Road seems more hopeful than the other films in this franchise, which were about the desperation to survive.  In fact, this film's thoughtful approach to both character and to the drama of the big “Fury Road” chase, allows even an ostensible villain, Nux the War Boy, to have an arc of redemption.

I could talk more about the performances, the characters, and the drama, which are all good, but I would rather talk about the action.  Mad Max: Fury Road is a whirling dervish of action sequences and scenes.  I see, at least, a best editing Oscar nomination in Fury Road's future, and some love from whatever awards that are given for the men and women who perform stunt work in movies.  The road races and vehicle pursuits surpass even the amazing chases in 1981's Mad Max 2 (known as The Road Warrior for its 1982 U.S. release).  The action is so good that it makes Fury Road seem like one long action scene, which it most certainly is not.

Mad Max: Fury Road is one of those films that has to be seen to be believed.  I don't think I can convey in a review how awesome an action movie it is and how surprisingly good a post-apocalyptic drama it also is.  Director George Miller proves once and for all that he is one of the great film directors and that he only gets better with age.

9 of 10
A+

Tuesday, October 6, 2015


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

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

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

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

ACTION/MARTIAL ARTS/THRILLER

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

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

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

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

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

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

5 of 10
C+

Revised: Thursday, September 3, 2015


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