Review: 2022 Version of "DEATH ON THE NILE" Is Dark and Edgy on the Nile

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 31 of 2022 (No. 1843) by Leroy Douresseaux

Death on the Nile (2022)
Running time:  127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for violence, some bloody images, and sexual material
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
WRITER: Michael Green (based on the novel by Agathie Christie)
PRODUCERS:  Kenneth Branagh, Mark Gordon, Judy Hofflund, Simon Kinberg, Kevin J. Walsh, and Ridley Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Haris Zambarloukos (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Una Ni Dhonghaile
COMPOSER:  Patrick Doyle

MYSTERY

Starring:  Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Letitia Wright, Sophie Okonedo, Emma Mackey, Rose Leslie, Ali Fazal, Rose Leslie, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Naveed Kahn

Death on the Nile is a 2022 mystery film directed by Kenneth Branagh.  It is based on the 1937 novel, Death on the Nile, written by Agatha Christie (1890-1976).  In Death on the Nile the movie, Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of a young heiress that occurs on a ship sailing the Nile

Death on the Nile finds famous detective, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), embarking on a luxurious cruise on the Nile River in Egypt.  Poirot is delighted to discover that his friend, Bouc (Tom Bateman), will also be aboard the ship named the “Karnak.”

Also aboard are the newlyweds:  wealthy heiress, Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot), and her husband, Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer).  While in Egypt on their honeymoon, they are being stalked and hounded by Simon's former fiancé, Jacqueline “Jackie” de Bellefort (Emma Mackey), who was also Linnet's close friend.

When Linnet is found shot to death aboard the Karnak, Jackie is the most obvious culprit, but there are others on board who have reason to want Linnet dead.  There is Linnet's maid, Louise Bourget (Rose Leslie), who was bitter because her mistress sabotaged her engagement.  Linnet's attorney and estate trustee, Andrew Katchadourian (Ali Fazal), was stealing from her, although they were cousins.  Linnet's godmother, Maria van Schuyler (Jennifer Saunders), is a socialist who gave away her wealth, but stands to inherit some of Linnet's estate.  Bowers (Dawn French), van Schuyler's nurse, blamed Linnet's father for financially ruining her family.

Salome Otterbourne (Sophie Okonedo), a brassy blues and jazz singer and guitarist, and Rosalie (Letitia Wright), her niece and manager, were once the target of a racist complaint by Linnet.  However, Rosalie became Linnet's friend in boarding school and admits that there are reasons to both hate and love Linnet.  Dr. Windlesham (Russell Brand) was once engaged to Linnet, but she left him for Simon.  Bouc's mother, Euphemia (Annette Bening), resented Linnet for introducing Bouc to Rosalie.

Poirot must uncover the identity of the killer.  He better hurry because the bodies are starting to pile up.

In this new version of Death on the Nile, there is an attention to detail.  The audience can see it in the lighting, the hair and make-up, the costumes, the art direction, the editing, and the score.  This is also to create Hercule Poirot's world of light and much darkness and shadows.  Early in the film, writer Michael Green and director Kenneth Branagh take us to the World War I life of Poirot, tragedy on the battlefield and off sets the stage for what would become the future great detective's world.  Shadowy nightclubs filled with earthy blues and showy jazz music; sumptuous desserts; lavishly appointed night people; sunny paradises; and exotic locales – everything has a dark side.  It does not matter how golden hued anything is; there is darkness.  Even the dark side has a darker side.

All the performances are topnotch; Branagh even gets a showy transformation from comedian Russell Brand, here, being his best PBS Masterpiece self.  Good acting sells Death on the Nile's central theme that envy, greed, lust, and pride will destroy friends and lovers.  They will even lead to murder most foul, of course.

Branagh takes the cynicism of post-war American Film-Noir and pours it all over Dame Agatha Christie's storytelling.  Rarely has such cinematic beauty dressed so much evil and darkness.  The lovely meets the lethal.

Death on the Nile 2022 starts slow and drags for some time.  For a time, it takes Sophie Okonedo lip-syncing Sister Rosetta Tharpe to give the film early heat.  Linnet Ridgeway's murder, however, lights a fire under Death on the Nile as it moves to its ending of triumphant tragedy.  There is no victory in the resolution of this case – only hurt and grief.  Maybe, hurt and grief are the victors.  The viewers are also victors, as Branagh orchestrates another unique and winning take on the cozy, old mysteries of Agatha Christie.

8 out of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, May 14, 2022


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Review: Pixar's "LUCA" is a True Disney Instant Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 of 2022 (No. 1838) by Leroy Douresseaux

Luca (2021)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA –  PG for rude humor, language, some thematic elements and brief violence
DIRECTOR:  Enrico Casarosa
WRITERS:  Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones; from a story by Enrico Casarosa, Jesse Andrews, and Simon Stephenson
PRODUCER:  Andrea Warren
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  David Juan Bianchi (D.o.P.) and Kim White (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Catherine Apple and Jason Hudak
COMPOSER: Dan Romer
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring:  (voices) Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, Jim Gaffigan, Peter Sohn, Lorenzo Crisci, Marina Massironi, Gino LaMoica, Sandy Martin, and Sacha Baron Cohen

Luca is a 2021 computer-animated, coming-of-age, fantasy film directed by Enrico Casarosa, produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.  The film focuses on a two sea monster boys disguised as humans and the human girl they befriend.

Luca opens sometime in the 1950s in and around the Italian Riviera.  Below the surface of the waters of the Riviera live a group of sea monsters.  Luca Paguro (Jacob Tremblay), a timid young sea monster, herds goatfish below the coast of the small Italian town of Portorosso.  Luca is curious about the human world, but his parents, Daniela (Maya Rudolph) and Lorenzo Paguro (Jim Gaffigan), fear that the humans might hunt him for food.  Thus, they forbid him from approaching the surface.

One day, Luca meets Alberto Scorfano (Jack Dylan Grazer), a fellow sea monster boy who lives alone above the surface on Isola del Mare.  Alberto encourages Luca to venture out of the ocean, showing him that sea monsters turn into humans when their bodies become dry, but return to their true forms when they become wet.  Alberto invites Luca to his hideout where the boys connect and dream about owning a Vespa (an Italian luxury brand of scooter) so that they can travel the world.

Venturing into Portorosso as humans, the boys discover that a local children's triathlon, the “Portorosso Cup,” is about to take place.  They run afoul of Ercole Visconti (Saverio Raimondo), the local bully and five-time champion of the Portorosso Cup.  They also meet a young girl named Giulia Marcovaldo (Emma Berman), the daughter of a fisherman, Massimo Marcovaldo (Marco Barricelli).  Giulia has participated in the triathlon, but has never won.  Hoping to win the money they need to buy a Vespa, Luca and Alberto form a team with Giulia.  Through Giulia, Luca learns that there is so much more to the surface world, but his feelings for her threaten everything, including his plans with Alberto.

I could say that Luca is one of Pixar's most beautiful films, and I will, although that is redundant.  Pixar's films always have beautiful visuals, and sometimes they are stunning and a wonder to behold.  The film is drenched in the bright colors of the Italian Riviera and reinterprets them as if they were watercolor paintings.

Dear readers, perhaps you are familiar with the animated films of the Japanese master, Hayao Miyazaki.  His films are a symphony of wondrous colors and stunning locales, and those films clearly have an influence on Luca on a number of levels, especially in terms of visuals and in the tone of the story.  Luca's town of Portorosso may be named in honor of Miyazaki's 1992 animated film, Porco Rosso, which is also set in Italy.

I think the elements that really drive this film, its beauty aside, are the characters and voice performances.  The characters are very well developed:  their personalities, their goals, and fears.  From Alberto's jealousy and fear of loss to Giulia's determination and open-mindedness, the viewer can believe in these characters.  Luca is ostensibly a coming-of-age story focusing on Luca.  His sense of adventure is overcome by his fear of trying new things, whether it is actually going to the surface world or going to school.  In Luca, we see the film's themes of acceptance (accepting others, accepting help, and accepting oneself) and overcoming fear (especially the fear of change).  Luca takes on a beautiful journey as we see the evolution of the title character, and as for the coming-of-age angle, this film feels like only the first chapter of Luca's coming of age.

The voice performances make the characters seem like real people.  If there were an Oscar for voice performances, Jacob Tremblay as Luca would be worthy of being nominated.  Every performance is winning, from major characters to bit players.  I am crazy about the performances here.

Dan Romer's beautiful score highlights and accentuates the journey of change and evolution that is Luca, both the film and the character.  Luca is one of Pixar's most convincing boy characters, which is quite a feat in a filmography full of wonderfully drawn characters.  Speaking of drawn, the character design and art direction and production design are on par with Pixar's best.

I always thought that I would like Luca, and now that I have seen it, I am in love with it.  For me, Luca is one of Pixar's best ever films, and it is one of 2021's very best films  I recommend it without reservation; everyone should see it.

10 of 10

Thursday, April 28, 2022


NOTES:
2022 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren)

2022 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren)

2022 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination:  “Best Motion Picture-Animated”

2022 Black Reel Awards:  1 win: “Outstanding Voice Performance” (Maya Rudolph)

2022 Image Awards (NAACP):  1 nomination: “Outstanding Animated Motion Picture”


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Walt Disney Celebrates Six Oscar Wins at the 94th Academy Awards

The Walt Disney Company Earns 6 Academy Awards® Including Best Animated Feature Film and Best Documentary

The Walt Disney Company received six Academy Awards® at the 94th annual ceremony, broadcast live on ABC from the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 27, 2022.

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Encanto was recognized as Best Animated Feature Film. This is the second Oscar® win for director Byron Howard and producer Clark Spencer, and the first Oscar win for director Jared Bush and producer Yvett Merino. The win adds to a list of accolades for the film following recognitions from the Annie Awards, Art Directors Guild Awards, BAFTA Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globe® Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and Producers Guild Awards. Encanto is also the first Disney movie to claim a No. 1 album and a No. 1 single.

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), from Searchlight Pictures, Disney’s Onyx Collective, and Hulu, received the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. This marked the first Oscar wins for first-time director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and producers Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, and David Dinerstein. It is also Disney’s Onyx Collective and Hulu’s first Academy Award, and Searchlight Pictures’ first Best Documentary Feature award. To date, the film has won 55 awards across critics’ groups and guilds, including the BAFTA Award, Spirit Award, DOC NYC Award, American Film Institute Award, Producers Guild Award, Cinema Eye Honors, International Documentary Association Award, American Cinema Editors Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, African-American Film Critics Association Award, and National Board of Review Award.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye was honored with two awards, including Best Actress in a Leading Role for Jessica Chastain’s portrayal of Tammy Faye Bakker. This marks Chastain’s first win and Searchlight Pictures’ sixth win in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category. The Eyes of Tammy Faye also won for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, which is Searchlight Pictures’ first Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar.

Ariana DeBose was awarded Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Anita in West Side Story, marking a historic moment as the first Afro-Latina and openly queer woman of color to receive the honor. The first-time Oscar winner and Rita Moreno also made history as the first pair of women to win Academy Awards for playing the same character; their wins come 60 years apart.

Legendary costume designer Jenny Beavan won the award for Best Costume Design for Disney’s Cruella. Beavan’s work on Cruella previously resulted in a BAFTA Award, a Costume Designers Guild Award, and a Critics Choice Award.

See below for a complete list of Academy Awards won by The Walt Disney Company:

The Eyes of Tammy Faye | Searchlight Pictures

2 Academy Awards

-Best Actress in a Leading Role – Jessica Chastain

-Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Encanto | Walt Disney Animation Studios | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Streaming on Disney+

1 Academy Award

-Best Animated Feature Film

Summer of Soul(…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) | Searchlight Pictures | Onyx Collective | Hulu | Streaming on Hulu and Disney+

1 Academy Award

-Best Documentary (Feature)

West Side Story | 20th Century Studios | Streaming on Disney+

1 Academy Award

-Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Ariana DeBose

Cruella | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Streaming on Disney+  

1 Academy Award

-Best Costume Design

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Review: Walt Disney's "TARZAN" is Something Old, Something New, and Sometimes Amazing

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 114 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tarzan (1999)

Running time:  88 minutes ( hour, 28 minutes)

MPAA – G

DIRECTORS:  Chris Buck and Kevin Lima

WRITERS:  Tab Murphy and Bob Tzudiker & Noni White; from a story by numerous writers (based upon the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel Tarzan of the Apes)

PRODUCER:  Bonnie Arnold

EDITOR:  Gregory Perler

COMPOSER:  Mark Mancina

SONGS:  Phil Collins

Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring:  (voices) Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Brian Blessed, Lance Henriksen, Wayne Knight, Alex D. Linz, Rosie O’Donnell, and Nigel Hawthorne

The subject of this movie review is Tarzan, a 1999 animation fantasy-adventure film and musical directed by Chris Buck and Kevin Lima.  The film is based on Tarzan of the Apes, the first Tarzan novel written by Tarzan creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs.  Walt Disney’s Tarzan focuses on a man who was raised by gorillas, but who must decide where he really belongs when he discovers that he is a human.

Tarzan, Walt Disney’s animated version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic character Tarzan, was one of the best films of the year 1999.  In fact, it was better than the Academy Award winner for Best Picture that year, American Beauty.  Many film fans and critics point to 1989’s The Little Mermaid as Disney’s return to the kind of high quality animation that made the studio so famous from the later 1930’s to the early 1950’s.  From 1989 to 2004 (when Disney stopped making feature length animated films for theatrical release, for the foreseeable future), Tarzan stands as a high water mark, being one of the best efforts of that second golden age of Disney animation (known as the “Disney Renaissance”).

However, the film isn’t just a great effort in animation, it’s also a great film, period.  Like classic Disney films, there is something for everyone.  The drama, humor, action, and adventure reach across generations to entertain anyone, especially if adults have open minds about opening up to the story of an animated film.

In this version of the classic tale, the gorilla Kala (Glenn Close) rescues an orphaned human after she finds its parents’ murdered bodies.  She names him Tarzan (Alex D. Linz) and takes him as her own because she is left childless after a leopard killed her infant.  Years later, the adult Tarzan (Tony Goldwyn) discovers he is human when he falls in love with Jane Porter (Minnie Driver), who comes to Tarzan’s jungle home with her father, Professor Porter (Nigel Hawthorne).  His love for Jane forces Tarzan to decide where he belongs when he has to choose between staying with his gorilla family or following Jane back to England.

Unlike many Disney animated films, Tarzan is thoroughly a boys’ action/adventure tale filled as it is with jungle chases over trees and through dense foliage and with combat fought to the death.  He is a boy’s man, having fun all day, surfing by his feet over thick and long tree branches, and he’s a whirling dervish of flips, twists, spins, leaps, dives, etc.  The film is, however, also quite poignant in its drama, particularly in the romance between Tarzan and Jane and in the relationship between Tarzan and his mother, Kala.

What would a Disney cartoon be without laughter and songs?  There is plenty of humor, some of it surprisingly provided by Rosie O’Donnell as Tarzan’s gorilla playmate, Terk (performed when she was still the “Queen of Nice.”).  The musical score is also very good, soaring and emotional.  However, it is Phil Collins’ song score that really makes the film, and Collins finally won his long sought after “Best Music, Original Song” Oscar® for a track entitled, “You’ll Be in My Heart.”

9 of 10

A+

NOTES:

2000 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Music, Original Song” (Phil Collins for the song “You'll Be In My Heart”)

2000 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Phil Collins for the song “You'll Be In My Heart”)

Updated:  Saturday, August 02, 2014

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Review: "ETERNALS" is Endlessly Fascinating

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 65 of 2021 (No. 1803) by Leroy Douresseaux

Eternals (2021)
Running time: 157 minutes (2 hours, 37 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for fantasy violence and action, some language and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao
WRITERS:  Chloé Zhao, Chloé Zhao & Patrick Burleigh and Ryan Firpo & Kaz Firpo; from a screen story by Ryan Firpo & Kaz Firpo (based upon the Marvel Comics by Jack Kirby)
PRODUCERS: Kevin Feige and Nate Moore
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ben Davis (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Dylan Tichenor and Craig Wood
COMPOSER: Ramin Djawadi

SUPERHERO/DRAMA/ACTION

Starring:  Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh, Bryan Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Haaz Sleiman, Esai Daniel Cross, and David Kaye (voice) with Salma Hayek, Kit Harringston, and Angelina Jolie

Eternals is a 2021 superhero film directed by Chloé Zhao and produced by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.  It is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series.  The film is based on the Marvel Comics stories and characters created by Jack Kirby and first appearing in the comic book, The Eternals #1 (cover dated: July 1976).  Eternals the movie focuses on a race of immortal beings who have lived on Earth for millennia, protecting and shaping its people.

Eternals begins with the story of the “Celestials,” the great beings that created the universe.  They also created a race of immortals, known as “Eternals,” to do their bidding.  Seven thousand years before the present day (5000 BC), ten of these Eternals arrive on Earth from their home planet, Olympia.  They are Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Thena (Angelina Jolie), and Ajak (Salma Hayek), their leader.  They are human-like and have super-powers.

The most powerful Celestial, Arishem (David Kaye), has sent these Eternals to Earth to protect humanity from monsters known as “Deviants.”  Over several millennia, the Eternals protect humanity from the dangers posed by Deviants, but they are not allowed to interfere in the development of the humans and their civilizations.  In 1500, after believing that they have killed off the last Deviants, the Eternals break apart as a group because they have different opinions on what their responsibility is towards humans going forward.

In the present day, Sersi and Sprite live together in London.  One night, they are attacked by a Deviant, but the powerful Eternal, Ikaris, arrives to drive the creature away.  Sersi, Sprite, and Ikaris decide to reunite their group in order to be prepared for the renewed threat of the Deviants.  However, not all the members are willing to reunite as some have new lives and others hold old grudges.  Meanwhile, dark secrets from their past and about their future hinder the Eternals ability to deal with “The Emergence,” an event that threatens to destroy the world.

Eternals is Marvel Studios most unique film to date.  For all the talk of there being a formula to Marvel's films, Eternals is like nothing else that Marvel has done and like no other superhero film, for that matter.  The costumes, special effects, technology, art direction, and graphic design are key to creating a film that is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also feels separate from it, in a way.

Eternals co-writer and director Chloé Zhao won two Oscars for her work on the 2020 film, Nomadland, a film filled with characters that are fiercely independent, unique, and contrary.  Eternals is a film about a group of ten people who essentially form a family, but these ten are individually disparate people.  After their mission is complete, the Eternals discover that they have very little in common.  They know enough, however, as they saying goes, to hurt the ones they love.

Zhao deals with the ramifications of being a hero confronted by the question of which is more important in a mission – the orders or doing the right thing.  Zhao reveals that it is not so easy because individuals have differing views on the mission and what it means to “do the right thing.”  Zhao also delves into the complicated nature of a family unit, how the bittersweet can become downright sour when there are secrets and lies and also betrayal.  Eternals is a film about difficult relationships and about the heartache and pain that can come when differences cannot be bridged.

Some may find Eternals too long and boring.  There may not be enough action for fans used to the humongous action set pieces of the Avengers films.  Also, the film's ostensible lead, Gemma Chan's Sersi, is a female superhero that is nuanced in ways not seen in superhero films, especially compared to Marvel heroines like Black Widow, The Wasp, and the Dora Milaje.  Chan creates a Sersi that is beautifully gentle and compassionate, while being vulnerable in a way that makes her a better hero.  Even Angelina Jolie's Thena, an elite warrior, is as vulnerable as she is fierce and violent.

That is not the formula for girl-hero kick-ass and that is fine by me.  I find Eternals endlessly fascinating, and while I watched it, I always wanted more of it.  After all, each Eternal has 7000 years worth of stories to tell, and that's just what happened before they arrived on Earth.  Whether there is another Eternals film or not, Eternals 2021 is important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, simply because it is the kind of entry that will stand out and show that there can be truly different things in that cinematic universe.  Eternals is one of the year's best films.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, November 5, 2021


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Review: "SHANG-CHI and the Legend of the Ten Rings" Rings My Bell

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 54 of 2021 (No. 1792) by Leroy Douresseaux

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Running time: 132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and language
DIRECTOR:  Destin Daniel Cretton
WRITERS:  Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Andrew Lanham; from a story by Dave Callaham and Destin Daniel Cretton (based on the Marvel Comics)
PRODUCERS: Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: William Pope (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Elisabet Ronaldsdottir, Nat Sanders, and Harry Yoon
COMPOSER: Joel P. Best

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/MARTIAL ARTS

Starring:  Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Michelle Yeoh, Wah Yuen, Florian Munteanu, Jayden Zhang, Elodie Fong, Arnold Sun, Harmonie He, Ronny Chieng, Benedict Wong, Tim Roth, and Ben Kingsley

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a 2021 superhero film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.  It is the 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series.  The film is based on the Marvel Comics character, Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu, that was created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin and first appeared in the comic book, Special Marvel Edition #15 (cover dated: December 1973).  Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings focuses on a young martial artist who is forced to confront his past and his father's deadly criminal legacy.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (or simply Shang-Chi) opens one thousand years ago and focuses on Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), a warlord who found the “Ten Rings,” mystical weapons that grant their user immortality and great power.  Wenwu establishes a secret society of warriors called the “Ten Rings,” and begins to conquer the world.  In 1996, while searching for a legendary village, “Ta Lo,” Wenwu meets the village's guardian, Jiang Li (Fala Chen).  The two battle, but eventually fall in love and have two children, a boy named Xu Shang-Chi and girl named Xu Xialing.

Decades later, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) has adopted the name “Shaun” and is living in San Francisco.  Along with his long time best friend, Katy (Awkwafina), he works as a valet at a fancy hotel.  One day, while taking the city bus, Shang-Chi and Katy are attacked by a Ten Rings squad led by the assassin, “Razor Fist” (Florian Munteanu), who wants to steal a pendant given to Shang-Chi by his mother.  Fearing that the Ten Rings are going to steal a second identical pendant given to his sister, Xialing (Meng'er Zhang), Shang-Chi decides to track her down.  Waiting for him, however, is a conspiracy that will inadvertently free a great evil known as the “Dweller-in-Darkness.”  To stop that, Shang-Chi will finally have to confront his past and grasp his destiny.

If I am honest, I will admit that I love martial arts fighting scenes in television and especially in movies.  I prefer fighting as performed by Asian or Asian-American actors.  Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings gives me both, and the fight scenes are spectacular, so much so that they movie could never give me enough to satisfy me.  The general choreography of the action scenes is quite good, as seen in the bus-battle sequence, and it is clear that Shang-Chi's fighting style and techniques are influenced by the martial arts films of legendary Chinese actor/stuntman, Jackie Chan.

With flashy visual effects, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings also explores Asian culture, offering nice peeks into both family dynamics and Chinese culture and myths.  In a way, Shang-Chi is a movie that blends a story of family with an an exploration of a fantasy world that is similar to the one in Disney's recent animated film, Raya and the Last Dragon.  This immersion in a different world and culture allows Shang-Chi to set itself far apart, the way Black Panther stood out from other Marvel Studios films.

Shang-Chi also offers the combination of the prodigal son and the gifted-kid motif that both Raya and other Marvel films (like Iron Man and Black Panther) offer.  In that role, Simu Liu is versatile as Shang-Chi, an incredibly talented fighter who is also a happy-go-luck every man.  I found Liu's Shang-Chi likable from the first moment I saw him on film.  Tony Leung is an intense, dramatic heavy as Shang-Chi's shady father, Xu Wenwu; it's a gritty, edgy performance that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings needs in order to keep the story from flying away in its flights of fancy.

I do think that Marvel tries a little too hard to convince us that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.  We got that with the appearance of Wong (Benedict Wong), a character that appeared in Doctor Strange (2016), but an end credits scene is ready to pound it into our heads, as if we never had a clue.  The film, especially its flashbacks and in its quiet moments, sometimes falls flat.  That keeps it from being the kind of next-level Marvel film, that Black Panther and the better Avengers and Captain America films are.

Still, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is an exceptional film, both in its story and in what it represents.  Shang-Chi is Marvel Studios' first film with an Asian director and a predominantly Asian cast, and it shows those distinctions with pride, while being wonderful and entertaining.

8 of 10
A

Friday, September 3, 2021


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The Walt Disney Company Celebrates 166 Nominations for the 2021 Primetime Emmys

Congratulations to The Walt Disney Company’s 2021 Emmy Award Nominees

The Walt Disney Company proudly announces an impressive 166 nominations across 85 categories and 38 titles for the 73rd Primetime Emmy® Awards. While the Television Academy announced the attributed total number as 146, the Company additionally recognizes all the programming produced for third party platforms and by all its production and studio entities.

For the second year in a row, Disney+ leads the way with Lucasfilm Ltd‘s The Mandalorian garnering 24 nominations including Outstanding Dramas Series. Additionally, Disney+’s limited Marvel Studios’ series WandaVision received 23 honors including a nomination for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, and nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress (Elizabeth Olsen) and Outstanding Lead Actor (Paul Bettany) in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Similarly, Disney+’s Hamilton became a fan-favorite this year with 12 total nominations including two nods for Outstanding Lead Actor—Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr.—as well as a nomination for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded); and Marvel Studios/Disney+’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier scored five including Don Cheadle’s nod for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series.

Hulu Original The Handmaid’s Tale netted a series-best 21 nominations including Outstanding Drama Series and a Lead Actress nod for Elisabeth Moss, making season four the most nominated season to date. Additionally, Pen15 earned the platform its first Outstanding Comedy Series nomination, and Aidy Bryant earned her first lead actress nomination for Shrill.  Nat Geo scored 13 total nods including Cynthia Erivo’s critically acclaimed performance in Genius: Aretha as well as reality and documentary programming City So Real and Secrets Of The Whales. Whereas FX’s Pose earned 10, including Outstanding Drama Series as well as Outstanding Lead Actor for Billy Porter and a historic first-ever nomination for a transgender nominee for Mj Rodriguez as Outstanding Lead Actress; and much-talked-about The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears scored two nominations including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

ABC’s black-ish earned a show-best of six nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series and nods for Lead Actor (Anthony Anderson) and Lead Actress (Tracee Ellis Ross). This is Anthony Anderson’s seventh nomination, making him the most nominated Black actor in Emmy history in the Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category. Additional series with multiple nods include 20th Television-produced This Is Us and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

A complete list of all The Walt Disney Company nominations follows below. (As some of the nominations overlap, these are grand totals for each entity.)

The Mandalorian (Disney +/Lucasfilm Ltd.)

24 Nominations:
    Outstanding Drama Series
    Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series—Giancarlo Esposito
    Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series—Carl Weathers
    Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series—Timothy Olyphant
    Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series—Jon Favreau
    Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series—“Chapter 13: The Jedi”
    Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series—“Chapter 16: The Rescue”
    Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Period Or Fantasy Program (One Hour Or More)—“Chapter 13: The Jedi”
    Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour)—“Chapter 15: The Believer”
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (One Hour)—“Chapter 13: The Jedi”
    Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes—“Chapter 13: The Jedi”
    Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series—“Chapter 11: The Heiress”
    Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series—“Chapter 13: The Jedi”
    Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series—“Chapter 15: The Believer”
    Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series—“Chapter 16: The Rescue”
    Outstanding Period And/Or Character Hairstyling—“Chapter 16: The Rescue”
    Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup—“Chapter 13: The Jedi”
    Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)—“Chapter 16: The Rescue”
    Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)—“Chapter 13: The Jedi”
    Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie
    Outstanding Stunt Coordination
    Outstanding Stunt Performance—“Chapter 16: The Rescue”
    Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Period Or Fantasy Program (One Hour Or More)—“Chapter 13: The Jedi”

WandaVision (Disney+/Marvel Studios)

23 Nominations
    Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series
    Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Paul Bettany
    Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Elizabeth Olsen
    Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Kathryn Hahn
    Outstanding Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—“Filmed Before A Live Studio Audience”
    Outstanding Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—“Previously On”
    Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program (Half-Hour)
    Outstanding Casting For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie
    Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes—“Filmed Before A Live Studio Audience”
    Outstanding Directing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie
    Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—“On A Very Special Episode…”
    Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—“The Series Finale”
    Outstanding Period And/Or Character Hairstyling
    Outstanding Main Title Design
    Outstanding Period And/Or Character Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)—“Filmed Before A Live Studio Audience”
    Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)—“Previously On”
    Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics—“Agatha All Along”
    Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
    Outstanding Music Supervision
    Outstanding Sound Editing For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special—“The Series Finale”
    Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—“The Series Finale”
    Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie
    Outstanding Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—“All-New Halloween Spooktacular!”

The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu Original)

21 Nominations

    Outstanding Drama Series
    Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series—Elisabeth Moss
    Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series—O-T Fagbenle
    Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series—Max Minghella
    Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series—Bradley Whitford
    Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series—Madeline Brewer
    Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series—Ann Dowd
    Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series—Yvonne Strahovski
    Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series—Samira Wiley
    Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series—Alexis Bledel
    Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series—Mckenna Grace
    Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series
    Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series—“Home”
    Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More)
    Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
    Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series
    Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling—“Vows”
    Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)—“Pigs”
    Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)—“The Crossing”
    Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)
    Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes

Hamilton (Disney+)

12 Nominations
    Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)
    Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Lin-Manuel Miranda
    Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Leslie Odom Jr.
    Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Daveed Diggs
    Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Anthony Ramos
    Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Jonathan Groff
    Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Phillipa Soo
    Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie—Renee Elise Goldsberry
    Outstanding Directing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie
    Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming
    Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Series Or Special
    Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Special

Pose (FX /  20th Television / FX Productions)

10 Nominations
    Outstanding Drama Series
    Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series—Billy Porter
    Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series—Mj Rodriguez
    Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series—“Series Finale”
    Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series—“Series Finale”
    Outstanding Contemporary Costumes
    Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling
    Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)
    Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup
    Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series—Pose: Identity, Family, Community

black-ish (ABC / ABC Signature)

6 Nominations
    Outstanding Comedy Series
    Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series—Anthony Anderson
    Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series—Tracee Ellis Ross
    Outstanding Contemporary Costumes
    Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling
    Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance—Stacey Abrams

This Is Us (20th Television)

6 Nominations
    Outstanding Drama Series
    Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series—Sterling K. Brown
    Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series—Chris Sullivan
    Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series—Phylicia Rashad
    Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup
    Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

5 Nominations
    Outstanding Choreography For Variety Or Reality Programming—Artem Chigvintsev, Choreographer
    Outstanding Choreography For Variety Or Reality Programming—Derek Hough, Choreographer
    Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program
    Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Series
    Outstanding Contemporary Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program (Non-Prosthetic)

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (Disney+/Marvel Studios)

5 Nominations
    Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series—Don Cheadle
    Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)—“One World, One People”
    Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie
    Outstanding Stunt Coordination
    Outstanding Stunt Performance—“Truth”

The Oscars (ABC)

4 Nominations
    Outstanding Variety Special (Live)
    Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special
    Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Special
    Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Special

Ratched (20th Television)

4 Nominations
    Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series—Sophie Okonedo
    Outstanding Period Costumes
    Outstanding Period and/or Character Hairstyling
    Outstanding Period and/or Character Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)

Fargo (FX/FX Productions)

3 Nominations
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Limited Series Or Anthology Series or Movie
    Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)
    Outstanding Sound Editing For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special

Genius: Aretha (National Geographic / 20th Television )

3 Nominations
    Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited or Anthology Series or Movie—Cynthia Erivo
    Outstanding Choreography For Scripted Programming
    Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Life Below Zero (National Geographic)

3 Nominations
    Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Program (Single or Multi-Camera)
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Reality Program
    Outstanding Picture Editing For An Unstructured Reality Program

Pen15 (Hulu Original)

3 Nominations
    Outstanding Comedy Series
    Outstanding Casting For A Comedy Series
    Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series

The Politician (20th Television)

3 Nominations
    Outstanding Contemporary Costumes
    Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling
    Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)

Secrets of the Whales (Disney+ / National Geographic)

3 Nominations
    Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program
    Outstanding Narrator—Sigourney Weaver

Shark Tank (ABC)

3 Nominations
    Outstanding Structured Reality Program
    Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program—Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary
    Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program

Framing Britney Spears (The New York Times Presents) (FX)

2 Nominations
    Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Special
    Outstanding Picture Editing For A Nonfiction Program

Central Park (20th Television Animation)

2 Nominations
    Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance—Tituss Burgess
    Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance—Stanley Tucci

City So Real (National Geographic)

2 Nominations
    Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program

The Conners (ABC)

2 Nominations
    Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series
    Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series

Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC / ABC Signature)

2 Nominations

    Outstanding Variety Talk Series
    Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series

Archer (FX/FX Productions)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance—Jessica Walter

Becoming (Disney+)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program

Bob’s Burgers (20th Television Animation)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Animated Program

The Disney Holiday Singalong (ABC)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming—Derek Hough, Choreographer

Family Guy (20th Television Animation)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance—Seth MacFarlane

grown-ish (Freeform/ ABC Signature)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour)

Inside Pixar (Disney+/Pixar Animation Studios)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction Or Reality Series

Last Man Standing (20th Television)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Multi-Camera Series

Maggie Simpson in: The Force Awakens From Its Nap (Disney+ / 20th Television Animation)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Short Form Animated Program

Once Upon A Snowman (Disney+/Walt Disney Animation Studios)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Short Form Animated Program

Rebuilding Paradise (National Geographic)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program

Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (Lincoln Square Productions)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Television Movie

Running Wild With Bear Grylls (National Geographic)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Structured Reality Program

Shrill (Hulu Original)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series—Aidy Bryant

The Simpsons (20th Television Animation)

1 Nomination
    Outstanding Animated Program

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Review: "BLACK WIDOW" is Dark Drama and Spectacular Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 of 2021 (No. 1783) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Widow (2021)
Running time: 133 minutes (2 hours, 13 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, some language and thematic material
DIRECTOR: Cate Shortland
WRITERS:  Eric Pearson; from a story by Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson (based upon the Marvel Comics character)
PRODUCER: Kevin Feige
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gabriel Beristain
EDITOR: Leigh Folsom Boyd
COMPOSER: Lorne Balfe

SUPERHERO/DRAMA/ACTION

Starring:  Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, Ray Winstone, Ever Anderson, Violet McGraw, O-T Fagbenie,  and William Hurt

Black Widow is a 2021 3D superhero film directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.  It is the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series.  The film is based on the Marvel Comics character, Natalia Alianovna “Natasha” Romanova/Black Widow, that was created by Stan Lee, Don Rico, and artist Don Heck and first appeared in the comic book, Tales of Suspense #52 (cover dated: April 1964).  Black Widow the film finds the title character on the run and forced to confront the conspiracies and people of her past.

Black Widow is largely set between the events depicted in the films, Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity Wars (2018).  The film, however, opens in 1995.  Young Natasha Romanoff (Ever Anderson) lives a quiet life in suburban Ohio with her younger sister, Yelena Belova (Violet McGraw), and their parents.  But Natasha and Yelena are not siblings, and their surrogate mother, Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), is really a Russian scientist/spy, and their father, Alexei Shostkov (David Harbour), is a spy and also the costumed superhero, “Red Guardian,” Russia's super-soldier version of Captain America.  When this “family's” mission suddenly ends, Natasha and Yelena are returned to Russia and sent to the “Red Room” for further training.

Twenty-one years later, in the year 2016, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is on fugitive, on the run from U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt).  Fate reunites her with an older Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who until recently was still a “Widow,” an assassin working for the Red Room.  Now, both women, traumatized by their pasts, set out to find and kill Dreykov (Ray Winstone), the head of the Red Room and the mastermind behind the “Widow” program.  To do so, however, they must mend the broken relationships of their pasts, and Natasha must face the reality that her actions could not only alert her pursuers to her whereabouts, but could also lead to her destruction.

I wondered how Marvel Studios could hope to deliver a superhero movie that would satisfy their audiences in the wake of Avengers: Endgame, which was a special effects extravaganza, which changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which was a record-setting box office hit, and which saw some beloved characters die, including the Black Widow.  Black Widow does offer big action sequences: a harrowing opening air plane escape, a battle royale in Budapest, a crazy prison escape, and that final showdown on a giant aerial base.  After waiting two years for a Marvel Studios film (because of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown of movie theaters), the big action of Black Widow is big enough to sate my Marvel needs.

However, I must be honest, it is the action that really makes Black Widow for me.  The drama is good, and the interpersonal relationship conflict and drama are fitting for the story of a character like the Black Widow who past is so very dark and is filled with violence and pain.  The main cast of Black Widow:  Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz gives excellent performances in this tale of betrayal and of secrets of lies.  In a way, these performances only serve to make the drama all the more dark, edgy, and, at times, depressing.  So, that is why I must be honest.  I respected the character drama of Black Widow, which director Cate Shortland delivers in gritty detail.  But while watching the film, I was always anxious for the arrival of the next big, special effects-driven action sequence, and man, Black Widow did not disappoint!

Black Widow has a great adversary in “The Taskmaster,” but the reveal of that villain's identity is a bit of a letdown.  Ray Winstone, an actor I like, was just okay as Dreykov, a promising bad guy the script makes into a shallow character.  Still, the action scenes – I'm crazy about them.  They are both the reason that I am giving Black Widow a high grade and the reason I will watch Black Widow many more times when it starts airing on cable television in a little less than two years from now.

8 of 10
A

Friday, July 9, 2021


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

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Review: The Fabulous Lightfoot Brothers Carry "Onward"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 39 of 2021 (No. 1777) by Leroy Douresseaux

Onward (2020)
Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA –  PG for action/peril and some mild thematic elements
DIRECTOR:  Dan Scanlon
WRITERS:  Dan Scanlon, Keith Bunin, and Jason Headley
PRODUCER:  Kori Rae
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Sharon Calahan (D.o.P.) and Adam Habib (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Catherine Apple
COMPOSERS: Jeff Danna and Mycheal Danna
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring:  (voices) Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Waithe, Ali Wong, Tracey Ullman, Wilmer Valderrama, George Psarras, and John Ratzenberger

Onward is a 2020 computer-animated, comedy-drama, and fantasy film from director Dan Scanlon and is produced by Pixar Animation Studios.  Onward focuses on two elf brothers who embark on a quest to bring their late father back to life for one day.

Onward is set in an urban fantasy world that is inhabited by mythic creatures such as elves, centaurs, and pixies, to name a few.  Once upon a time, magic was common place, but over several millennia, technological advances made magic obsolete and largely discarded.  The story opens on the sixteenth birthday of an elf boy named Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland), who is shy and struggles with self-confidence.  He has an older brother, Barley (Chris Pratt), an enthusiastic role-playing gamer and fanatic about both the history of the world and about magic.  The boys live with their mother, Laurel Lightfoot (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a widow.

Laurel's late husband and the boys' father, Wilden Lightfoot (Kyle Bornheimer), died shortly before Ian was born.  For Ian's sixteenth birthday, Laurel gives both her boys a gift from Wilden.  The gift is a magical wizard staff, a rare Phoenix gem, and a letter describing a magical spell.  It is a “visitation spell” that can resurrect Wilden for a single day, and while Ian succeeds in casting the spell, he is unable to finish it.  As a result, Ian has summoned the lower half of Wilden's body.  Ian and Barley take their father (such as he is) and embark on a quest to complete the spell.  However, the brothers' quest is more dangerous than they know.  It will take Laurel; her boy friend, Colt Bronco the centaur (Mel Rodriguez); and a legendary figure, The Manticore (Octavia Spencer) to make sure that the brothers' quest to meet their deceased father does not end with them being deceased.

I don't want this review to spoil Onward if you have not yet seen it, dear readers.  I can say that one of the film's main themes is that people are often looking hard for something they already have.  Another theme is that sometimes we blame people for the mistakes we think they are making when it is really our lack of trust in them that leads to trouble.  And of course, the themes of relationships between brothers and of brotherly love dominate this film.

Ian and Barley carry this film, and Onward's off-beat, quest fantasy, role-playing game design and mood/mode keep the film from being just another tale of brotherly love.  In fact, the first forty minutes of the film are quite problematic, but once the film gets to the heart of the matter – Ian and Barley's quest and each brother's reason for the quest – Onward comes alive.  While Onward is not a Pixar classic, it does make strong use of the Pixar's formula of comedy, adventure, heartwarming relationship drama, and an emphasis on getting to the heart of the story.

I would never waste your time telling your that a Pixar film has magnificent animation, great colors, eye-popping environments, and striking graphics and visuals, in general.  I will say, as usual, that the voice performances are good.  I really like that Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Laurel and Octavia Spencer as “The Manticore” actually have important roles in both the drama and the action-adventure, and these two fine actress shine in their supporting roles.  Is it fate or magic that Tom Holland as Ian and Chris Pratt as Barley have … magical screen chemistry?

If not for the first half of the film, I would call Onward a Pixar classic.  As it is, it is still the kind of exceptional film that we expect of Pixar and, except for some missteps, they deliver.  And yes, I did find the world of Onward to be a bit odd, even weird, although Jeff Danna and Mycheal Danna's musical score is pitch perfect for this world.  Still, one of the highest compliments I can give a film is that by the end of it, I still wanted to watch more.  The way that the relationship between Ian and Barley plays out is something worth watching.  So I am recommending Onward.

8 of 10
A

Thursday, June 10, 2021


NOTES:
2021 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae)

2021 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Animated”

2021 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae)


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

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Disney Junior Announces "Rise Up, Sing Out," Focused on Race, Racism and Social Justice

Disney Junior Teams Up With Questlove and Black Thought From The Roots for New Animated Short Series 'Rise Up, Sing Out,' Focused on Race, Racism and Social Justice

-- Produced in Collaboration With Academy Award®-Winning Lion Forge Animation --

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As kids and parents continue to navigate and understand the current issues happening in our country and around the world, Disney Junior—home to the #1 preschool network—announced today the new animated short series "Rise Up, Sing Out." Presenting important concepts around race, racism and social justice for the youngest viewers, the series consists of music-based shorts that are designed to provide an inspiring and empowering message about noticing and celebrating differences and providing a framework for conversation. The shorts are slated to premiere later this year across all Disney Junior platforms.

The shorts will feature music by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter of the GRAMMY Award®-winning musical group The Roots, who are executive producing through their Two One Five Entertainment production company alongside Latoya Raveneau (Disney+'s highly anticipated "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder"), who also serves as executive producer. The Conscious Kid, an organization dedicated to equity and promoting healthy racial identity development in youth, is consulting on the series and will develop a viewing companion guide for parents. "Rise Up, Sing Out" is produced in collaboration with Academy Award-winning animation studio Lion Forge Animation ("Hair Love") for Disney Junior.

Joe D'Ambrosia, senior vice president, Original Programming and general manager, Disney Junior, said, "We recognize that many kids are experiencing a multitude of feelings around what's happening in our world today and know that many families are struggling with how to discuss sensitive issues around race. Our goal with these shorts is to open up the conversation and provide families with the tools and knowledge to address these important topics with their preschoolers in an age-appropriate manner through music and relatable kid experiences."

In a joint statement, Thompson and Trotter said, "It is an honor to work with the Disney Junior team to help create a series of shorts that will empower and uplift the future generations in the way we know best, through music. We hope these shorts will encourage the young audience to recognize and celebrate our differences as human beings while learning the tools to navigate real-world issues of racial injustice."

Follow on Instagram and Twitter for up-to-date news on #RiseUpSingOut

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Review: "THE NEW MUTANTS" is the Final Stinker ... Finally

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 of 2021 (No. 1772) by Leroy Douresseaux

The New Mutants (2020)
Running time:  94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violent content, some disturbing/bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material
DIRECTOR:  Josh Boone
WRITERS:  Josh Boone and Knate Lee (based on the Marvel Comics characters)
PRODUCERS:  Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner, and Karen Rosenfelt
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Peter Deming (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Andrew Buckland, Matthew Rundell, and Robb Sullivan
COMPOSER:  Mark Snow

SUPERHERO/HORROR/FANTASY/ACTION

Starring:  Blu Hunt, Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Henry Zaga, Alice Braga, Adam Beach, Thomas Kee, Colbi Gannett, and Happy Anderson

The New Mutants is a 2020 superhero movie from director Josh Boone.  It was 20th Century Fox’s thirteenth and final film film based on Marvel Comics’ X-Men comic book franchise.  The film uses comic book characters and stories created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod and Bill Sienkiewicz.  The New Mutants movie focuses on five young mutants held in a secret facility where they try to deal with their powers, pasts, and sins.

The New Mutants opens with Danielle “Dani” Moonstar (Blu Hunt), a young Cheyenne Native American, experiencing the devastation of her entire reservation by what seems to be an “F5” tornado.  After falling unconscious during the tornado, Dani awakens in an empty hospital room to find herself secured to a bed by restraining straps.

Dani soon meets Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga), who comforts Dani.  Dr. Reyes explains that Dani is not an ordinary human being, but is rather a “new mutant,” a mutant who is just awakening to her mutant abilities and powers.  Dr. Reyes also explains that Dani will be confined to this mysterious and unnamed medical facility until they discover what exactly Dani's mutant power is and also until Dani learns to control that power.

Dani is introduced to four other new mutants:  Sam (Charlie Heaton), Illyana (Anya Taylor-Joy), Roberto or “Bobby” (Henry Zaga), and Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams).  Rahne befriends Dani and the two set out to discover the secrets of both the facility and the identity of the mysterious entity (Essex Corporation) that controls it.  Dani discovers that she isn't the only one trying to escape the traumas of her past.  Will her mysterious power and her past, personified by a mythical creature called the “Demon Bear,” destroy not only Dani, but also the other new mutants.

Apparently, Josh Boone, the co-writer and director of The New Mutants,” described the film's same-sex love story and subplot between Dani and Rahne as “character-driven stuff.”  That pretty much describes the character drama and development in The New Mutants; it's all just stuff.  Dani and Rahne's gay-teen-puppy-love is actually sweet, and when The New Mutants focuses on that, the film is actually enjoyable.  All the other character-driven … stuff is the usual young adult tropes:  (lame) bullying; (lame) guilt, (lame) grief, and (lame) teen squabbling and conflict.  And the rotten cherry on top is Anya Taylor-Joy's awful, lazy, and deplorable Russian accent as Illyana.

I am a decades-long fan of The New Mutants, going back to the original Marvel Graphic Novel (written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Bob McLeod) in which the characters made their debut and to the first issue of their own comic book, The New Mutants #1 (cover dated: March 1983).  The screenplay for The New Mutants film is not so much an adaptation of any particular New Mutants comic books, but is rather a cherry-picking of a few elements from particular stories like “The Demon Bear Saga” (written by Claremont and drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz).

The New Mutants is an explosive concept, especially considering that it follows kids with traumatic pasts who have largely unknown and untested, dangerous extraordinary powers.  The New Mutants film is a misfire instead of an explosion.  It is not that this film's story is incoherent; it is simply an easy-to-follow, but boring story.  I wanted the characters to save themselves and to have a happy ending because I simply wanted this tiresome and uninspiring movie to end.

When I first heard that 20th Century Fox was making a horror movie set in the X-Men franchise, I thought that this film could be a disaster, but I secretly hoped that they could pull it off.  But my first instincts were right, and luckily Disney absorbed Fox and put an end to Fox's parade of trashy X-Men movies.  As bad as The New Mutants is (and it is awful), its ending also signals the end of a nightmare series of movies in a franchise that had a very promising start back in 2000 with the film simply entitled, X-Men.  I won't recommend The New Mutants to anyone, even to the fans that feel they have to watch every X-Men movie.

2 of 10
D

Wednesday, April 14, 2021


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Review: "Dark Phoenix" is a Failed X-Men Resurrection

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 33 of 2021 (No. 1771) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Dark Phoenix (2019)
Running time:  114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action including some gun play, disturbing images, and brief strong language
DIRECTOR:  Simon Kinberg
WRITERS:  Simon Kinberg (based on Marvel Comics characters)
PRODUCERS:  Hutch Parker, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner, and Todd Hallowell
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Mauro Fiore
EDITORS:  Lee Smith
COMPOSER:  Hans Zimmer

SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION/DRAMA

Starring:  James McAvoy, Sophie Turner, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Summer Fontana, Scott Shepherd, Ato Essandoh, and Jessica Chastain

Dark Phoenix is a 2019 superhero movie from writer-director Simon Kinberg.  It is 20th Century Fox’s twelfth film based on Marvel Comics’ X-Men comic book franchise.  This movie is also a sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).  In Dark Phoenix (also known as X-Men: Dark Phoenix), one of the X-Men begins to develop incredible powers that will force the rest of the X-Men to decide if this one mutant's life is worth more than all of humanity.

Dark Phoenix opens in 1975 and introduces eight-year-old Jean Grey (Summer Fontana) and depicts the automobile accident that changes her life and brings Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) into her life.  Then, the story moves to 1992 and to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.  There, Xavier has turned the X-Men into what some describe as a team of superheroes that steps in to protect and help mankind when no one else can.

The latest emergency involves a distress signal from a recently launched space shuttle, which has been critically damaged by a solar flare-like energy.  Xavier sends his strike team, “the X-Men”:  Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Ororo Munroe/Storm (Alexandra Shipp) to rescue the astronauts aboard the space shuttle.  Raven goes along on the mission, but she is furious that Xavier puts his students in danger for the rest of humanity, which she still regards with suspicion.

The X-Men arrive in their jet, the Blackbird, to find the situation rapidly deteriorating and the strange energy mass approaching the shuttle.  While saving the astronauts, Jean is struck by the energy and absorbs it into her body.  This apparently helps her to miraculously survive the blast of the shuttle explosion.  The X-Men and Xavier's other students start calling Jean “Phoenix” because of her miraculously survival.

However, the result of absorbing that energy causes Jean's psychic powers to be greatly amplified.  In turn, that causes her emotional state to begin to deteriorate, leading to tragedy.  Soon, the X-Men are hunting Jean Grey, and so are the X-Men's adversary/rival, Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and also the U.S. military.  Vuk, the leader of a shape-shifting alien race known as the D'Bari, is also searching for Jean, specifically for the power Jean harbors inside her.  Can Xavier and the X-Men save Phoenix, or will their act of salvation doom humanity?

Both film adaptations of the classic X-Men comic book story arc, “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2019's Dark Phoenix, fail to approach the riveting melodrama and enthralling soap opera that readers found and continue to find in Marvel Comics's The X-Men #129-138 (publication cover dates:  January to October 1980).  The writers of both films alter the core original story – to the movies' detriment.

Writer-director Simon Kinberg apparently directed some of 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past and much or most of 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, although Bryan Singer is credited as the director of both films.  I consider both films to be disappointments, one more than the other.  True to form, Simon Kinberg delivers in Dark Phoenix a film that is mostly a dud.

The storytelling feels contrived, and the screenwriting offers laughable concepts, especially the entire D'Bari alien subplot; that's just some stupid shit.  Dark Phoenix is one of two final films in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film franchise (the other being the long-delayed The New Mutants, which was finally released in 2020).  I say that Dark Phoenix is deeply disappointing, but honestly, I did not expect much of it, from the moment I first heard that it was going into production.  In fact, this film is a devolution from the franchise's peak, which was released 16 years prior to Dark Phoenix, the fantastic X2: X-Men United (2003).

Even the acting is bad.  Playing Vuk the alien is the lowest low point of Jessica Chastain's career, which includes two Academy Award nominations.  James McAvoy as Xavier, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, and Michael Fassbender as Erik are overwrought, and when they are trying to have serious conversations, they deliver hackneyed and derivative dialogue and unoriginal speeches.  Maybe their bad acting is a result of uninspired script writing.  However, I did find that Tye Sheridan as Scott, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt, and Alexandra Shipp as Ororo made the most of their scenes, especially Sheridan.  If his Scott Summers/Cyclops were the center of Dark Phoenix, the film would be much better.  Because of him, I am giving this film a higher grade than I planned to do.

Dark Phoenix just doesn't work, and it rarely connected with me.  I don't think that it will connect with audiences the way some of the best and most popular X-Men films did.  Oh, well – let's hope that Marvel Studios does better with its planned X-Men films...

4 of 10
C

Thursday, March 25, 2020


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Review: Takes a Bit, But Pixar's "Soul" Finds its Soul

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 30 of 2021 (No. 1768) by Leroy Douresseaux

Soul (2020)
Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes0
MPAA –  PG for thematic elements and some language
DIRECTORS:  Pete Docter with Kemp Powers (co-director)
WRITERS:  Pete Docter, and Mike Jones, and Kemp Powers
PRODUCER:  Dana Murray
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Matt Aspbury (D.o.P.) and Ian Megibben (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Kevin Nolting
COMPOSERS: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with Jon Batiste (jazz compositions and arrangements)
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring:  (voices) Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, Donnell Rawlings, Ahmir-Khalib Thompson a.k.a. Questlove, Angela Bassett, Cora Champommier, Margo Hall, Daveed Diggs, Rhodessa Jones, Wes Studi, Sakina Jaffrey, Ochuwa Oghie, Jeannie Tirado, Dorian Lockett, and Marcus Shelby

Soul is a 2020 American computer-animated, comedy-drama, and fantasy film from director Pete Docter and co-director Kemp Powers and is produced by Pixar Animation Studios.  Soul is also the first Pixar film to feature an African-American protagonist.  Soul focuses on a jazz pianist who finds himself trapped in a strange place that exists between Earth and the afterlife.

Soul introduces Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a pianist living in New York City and who dreams of playing jazz professionally.  He is also a middle school music teacher at M.S. 70, and the school's Principal Arroyo (Jeannie Tirado) has just offered to make him a full-time teacher.  Joe's mother, Libba, (Phylicia Rashad) insists that he make teaching a full time job, fearing for his financial security as a jazz musician chasing gigs and sessions.

One day, a former student, Lamont “Curley” Baker (Ahmir-Khalib Thompson a.k.a. Questlove), who is now a jazz drummer, tells Joe that there is an opening in the jazz group, “the Dorothea Williams Quartet,” and that auditions are being held at “The Half Note” jazz club.  Dorothea Williams is a legend, and playing in a jazz outfit like hers has been Joe's dream for years.

But an accident causes Joe's soul to be separated from his body, and Joe ends up trapped between “the Great Beyond” and “the Great Before.”  And perhaps the only thing that can save Joe is helping a wayward soul known as “22” (Tina Fey).

Soul may feature Pixar Animation Studios' first African-American lead, Jamie Foxx's Joe Gardner,, but it is not really a “black film.”  The film is not a celebration of ordinary black people, but it dares to imagine black people as ordinary folks who have the same ups and downs, successes and failures, and hopes and dreams as everyone else.  Also, Soul is the most adult film that Pixar has produced to date.  I think children could enjoy it, but Soul deals with the kind of existential questions that adults face.  In fact, I found that the film's story seemed to confront me about my life on more than a few occasions.  I also like that the film asks a lot of questions, but bluntly and stubbornly refuses to answer all of them.

I did find the first 50 minutes of Soul to be muddled in terms of the narrative.  Everything about it is technically proficient, but the story lacks … soul.  It is not until Joe and 22 reach Earth that Soul really begins to grapple with the struggle between living a life with a purpose as in goals and living a life in which once enjoys living.

Whenever I review a Pixar film, I really don't get into the quality of the animation.  From the standpoint of technology and art, Pixar has practically always been astounding and awesome.  For a long time now, Pixar's computer-animation (or 3D animation) has been so good and so beautifully rendered and colored that it makes me forget that I am watching an animated film.  Soul, in its dazzling colors, inventive characters, and imaginative settings (“the Great Beyond” and how it welcomes a soul), is about as strong as its predecessors

Soul's film score recently won an Oscar.  Jon Batiste's jazz compositions and arrangements are captivating, and made me feel like I was right there in the performance.  Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score, especially when the story moves into the realms of the soul, is ethereal, magically, and futuristic, and sounds like music from another world.

I like the voice performances.  Jamie Foxx does not fully sound like Jamie Foxx, and, in that, he makes Joe Gardner feel like a genuine character.  What more can I say about Tina Fey?  As “22,” she shows, once again, that she has talent to burn.  Also, I think Phylicia Rashad makes the most of every line she has in the film; she makes Libba Gardner seem like a real mother.

Ultimately, Soul reminds me that I really need Pixar Animation Studios in my life.  Pixar's feature films find the best of humanity and emphasize the beauty in us all.  This time, Pixar gives us Soul to remind us to look up and notice the beauty in us and in the world around us.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, May 2, 2021


NOTES:
2021 Academy Awards, USA:  2 wins:  “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste) and “Best Animated Feature Film” (Pete Docter and Dana Murray); 1 nomination: “Best Sound” (Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott, and David Parker)

2021 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins: “Best Motion Picture – Animated” and “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste)

2021 BAFTA Awards:  2 wins: “Best Animated Feature Film” (Pete Docter and Dana Murray) and “Original Score” (Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross); 1 nomination: “Best Sound” (Coya Elliott, Ren Klyce, and David Parker)


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

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