Negromancer says "Thank you!"
Also, thinking about the Red Tails and the men and women of color who fought and need to hear our praise.
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Monday, November 11, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Review: Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 2 – The Battle for Doldrey
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 2 – The Battle for Doldrey (2012)
Original title: Berserk: Ohgon jidai hen 2 - dorudorei koryaku hen
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Toshiyuki Kubooka
WRITER: Ichirô Ôkôchi (based on the manga by Kentaro Miura)
PRODUCERS: Eiichi Kamagata, Mitsuru Ohshima, Akira Shimada, and Eiko Tanaka
COMPOSER: Shiro Sagisu
ANIME/WAR/FANTASY/ACTION/DRAMA
Starring: (voices) Marc Diraison, Kevin T. Collins, Carrie Keranen, Rachael Lillis, Michelle Newman, and Patrick Seitz
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 2 – The Battle for Doldrey is a 2012 Japanese animated film (anime) from anime director Toshiyuki Kubooka. It is a direct sequel to the first film, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 – The Egg of the King, which Kubooka also directed. This film was released in Japan under its original title, Berserk: Ohgon jidai hen 2 - dorudorei koryaku hen, on June 23, 2012.
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 2 is based on Berserk, a Japanese manga (comic book) series written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. Berserk is set in a fantasy world that is modeled on medieval Europe. The story centers around the two characters, Guts (Marc Diraison), an orphaned mercenary, and Griffith (Kevin T. Collins), the leader of a mercenary group called the Band of the Hawk. The King of Midland hired the Band of the Hawk to fight against Chuder, the Midlanders’ adversary during the Hundred Years’ War.
As The Battle for Doldrey begins, the Band of the Hawk is engaged in battle with General Adon and his Blue Whale Ultra Heavy Armored Fierce Assault Annihilation Knight Corps of Chuder. Adon focuses his attention on Hawk officer, Casca (Carrie Keranen), but when Guts rides to her aid, they both end up imperiled.
The King of Midland has long sought to recover the fortress Doldrey, which is located in Midland’s territory, but which has been in the possession of Chuder for over a century. Now, the King makes a request that one of his noble lords volunteer to lead an assault against Doldrey in a bid to recover the fortress. Griffith volunteers the Band of the Hawk, but what chance do his 5000 horsemen have against Doldrey’s 30,000 troops? Meanwhile, the Band of the Hawk’s success has made Guts restless.
The first time I saw the DVD box art for Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 – The Egg of the King, I thought that the movie would not amount to much. However, I was delightfully surprised; in fact, by the end of the movie, I wanted more. Obviously I had somewhat higher expectations for Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 2 – The Battle for Doldrey, and the movie easily exceeded those expectations. This is one of the best films I have seen this year, live action or animation.
The Battle for Doldrey is like a smaller scale version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The Battle for Doldrey offers character drama in the form of romantic relationships, camaraderie among men-at-arms, introspection of past wrongs, and political intrigue. The battle scenes are even better. I have not seen the like in animated films; the blood, gore, and dismemberment was enough to both impress me and to give me pause. There were times when blood and offal rained on the characters. The nerdy kid in me yelled, “Awesome!” If the MPAA rated this, it would definitely give The Battle for Doldrey an “R” rating, if not an “NC-17.” This animated film has a rather intense and explicit sex scene and an extended torture sequence.
The animation is a mixture of computer-animation (3D) and some hand-drawn (2D) animation. I think the film also makes use of the computer-animation process of cel shading, which makes computer-animation look like hand-drawn animation. The animation looks its best during the forest scenes and during the battle of Doldrey. The castle interiors are also impressive, especially the ballroom. The character animation is good, especially in battle scenes.
As I wrote for the first film, I can say for the second Berserk: The Golden Age Arc. It is simply an all-around, high-quality, and exceptional film. As an anime, it occupies its own special place. Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 2 – The Battle for Doldrey seeks to be more than just another fantasy war movie, and that it is.
9 of 10
A+
Saturday, October 05, 2013
The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Review: "Iraq in Fragments" Gives Voice to the Voiceless
Iraq in Fragments (2006)
Running time: 94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – Not rated
DIRECTOR: James Longley
COMPOSER/CINEMATOGRAPHER: James Longley
PRODUCERS: James Longley and John Sinno
EDITORS: James Longley, Billy McMillin, and Fiona Otway
2007 Academy Award nominee
DOCUMENTARY – War, Politics, Religion
Starring: Mohammed Haithem and Suleiman Mahmoud
The subject of this movie review is Iraq in Fragments, a 2006 documentary from filmmaker James Longley. The film offers stories from modern day Iraq, as told by Iraqis living in a time of war, occupation and ethnic tension.
Iraq in Fragments earned an Academy Award nomination. The film also won 3 awards at the 2006 Sundance Festival: “Cinematography Award,” “Directing Award,” and “Documentary Film Editing Award,” as well as being nominated for the “Grand Jury Price."
In his Oscar-nominated documentary, Iraq in Fragments, director James Longley presents a portrait of Iraq, a nation divided, one at war with itself after the United States invaded the country won Operation: Iraqi Freedom. Through a collage of images and commentary from ordinary Iraqis, Longley illuminates post-invasion Iraq in three acts focusing on different regions of the country.
In Part One, entitled “Mohammed of Baghdad,” Mohammed, a fatherless 11-year old boy is apprenticed to a dictatorial garage owner, who is outraged that after several years of schooling Mohammed cannot read. In, “Sadr’s South,” the followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr rally for regional elections, but also enforce Islamic law at the point of a gun, which some residents see as similar to things Saddam Hussein did and the American are doing. In the final act, “Kurdish Spring,” a family of farmers welcome the American presence because it brings them a measure of freedom Kurdistan never knew, but one boy, Suleiman, will still see his dreams of an education dashed as he remains trapped in his elderly father’s meager occupations as a sheepherder and brick maker.
Through these interviews with Iraqis (although neither his nor his translators’ voices are ever heard), Longley, via words and images, captures the discord in the war-torn country – both in the abstract and in the literal that give the effects of war, political unrest, religious feuds deeper meaning. In this way, Longley helps the audience to understand how living in uncertainty and deepening poverty drags on the people physically and spiritually.
Sometimes, the film seems to hunger for a historical context (especially when an Iraqi subject mentions distant historical events), and the near-absence of Americans in this documentary is noticeable. That doesn’t really hurt Iraq in Fragment, for it remains a riveting film in which the images and subjects stick with you in an insistent fashion. Besides, with this documentary, Longley forces us (at least the ones who do bother to see Iraq in Fragments) to do something more Americans should – see things from the ordinary Iraqi’s perspective.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Documentary, Features,” (James Longley and John Sinno)
Monday, May 21, 2007
Updated, Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Review: Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 – The Egg of the King
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 – The Egg of the King (2012)
Running time: 77 minutes (1 hour, 17 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Toshiyuki Kubooka
WRITER: Ichirô Ôkôchi (based on the manga by Kentaro Miura)
PRODUCERS: Eiichi Kamagata, Mitsuru Ohshima, Akira Shimada, and Eiko Tanaka
ANIME/WAR/FANTASY/ACTION/DRAMA
Starring: (voices) Marc Diraison, Kevin T. Collins, Carrie Keranen, Doug Erholtz, Jesse Corti, Christopher Kromer, Rachael Lillis, Marc Thompson, and Patrick Seitz
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 – The Egg of the King is a 2012 Japanese animated film (anime) from anime director Toshiyuki Kubooka. Kubooka directed the “Working Through Pain,” segment of the 2008 direct-to-DVD film, Batman: Gotham Knight.
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 is based on Berserk, a Japanese manga (comic book) series written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. Berserk is set in a fantasy world that is modeled on medieval Europe. The story centers around the two characters, Guts (Marc Diraison), an orphaned mercenary, and Griffith (Kevin T. Collins), the leader of a mercenary group called the Band of the Hawk.
As the story begins, Guts is a mercenary on the loosing side of a battle, but he turns the tide of that battle when he defeats the Goliath-like, Bazuso (Russell Nash). This victory earns Guts a contest of skills with the Band of the Hawk, a band of mercenaries so feared that they are called the “grim reapers of the battlefield. The group’s leader, Griffith, convinces Guts, a loner, to join his band of mercenaries.
Soon, the Band of the Hawk is hired by the King of Midland to fight in the Midlanders’ war against their enemy, Chuder. Guts becomes indispensable to Griffith, but a monstrous fighter named Nosferatu Zodd has something to tell Guts about the strange jewel-like object Griffith wears around his neck. It is called the Egg of the King – the Crimson Behelit. And it has the power to shape Guts’ destiny.
When I first looked at the DVD box art for Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 – The Egg of the King, I thought that the movie would not amount to much. I was delightfully surprised; in fact, by the end of the movie, I wanted more. As it is set in a medieval Europe-inspired fantasy world, the viewer would expect violent battle scenes and sword fighting, and the film delivers that. The fights and battles are well designed and staged, and the fight between Guts and Nosferatu Zodd features a 360-degree spin of the camera that recalls the bullet time effects in The Matrix. There is a lot of violence, and some of it shocked even me, who, dear reader, has seen some appalling, outrageous, and disgusting depictions of violence over my lifetime as a film semi-fanatic.
The Egg of the King is simply full of surprises. Another of the surprises is the drama. The movie is almost stiff in the way the film depicts the characters’ motivations and conflicts, as if this were a British film of manners. The character drama, however, is intense, and demands that the viewer engage with various conflicts, motivations, and intrigue. Guts and Griffith are appealing characters, and the palace intrigue and court conspiracies are engrossing. The story grasps with many themes, including those of friendship and the nature of good and evil in humans, and the question of why men are so bloodthirsty often arises.
The animation is very good, often beautiful. It is a mixture of computer-animation (3D), some hand-drawn (2D) animation, and what looks like the computer-animation process of cel shading, which makes computer-animation look like hand-drawn animation. Some of the backgrounds, castles, interiors, landscapes, encampments, and battlefronts have the quality of paintings and fantasy illustration.
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 – The Egg of the King is simply an all-around, high-quality, exceptional film. As an anime, this movie seems to be off in its own corner. It seeks to be more than just another fantasy war movie, and that it is.
8 of 10
A
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Friday, December 7, 2012
"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" Best Civil War Vampire Movie Ever
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence throughout and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR: Timur Bekmambetov
WRITER: Seth Grahame-Smith (based upon his novel)
PRODUCERS: Timur Bekmambetov, Tim Burton, and Jim Lemley
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Caleb Deschanel
EDITOR: William Hoy
COMPOSER: Henry Jackman
FANTASY/ACTION/HISTORICAL/WAR
Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, Marton Csokas, Jimmi Simpson, Erin Wasson, Jaqueline Fleming, Lux Haney-Jardine, Frank Brennan, John McConnell, and Alan Tudyk
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a 2012 vampire movie and action fantasy from Russian film director, Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted). The film is based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Seth Grahame-Smith, who also wrote this film’s screenplay. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a fake historical that imagines real-life figure, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (1865), as secretly being a vampire hunter.
Young Abraham Lincoln (Lux Haney-Jardine) saw his mother killed by plantation owner, Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), who turned out to be a vampire. Adult Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker), obsessed with avenging his mother’s death, meets Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper), who is bursting with knowledge about vampires. Henry becomes Lincoln’s vampire hunting mentor and teaches him the fine art of slaying vampires. Law student by day and vampire slayer by night, Lincoln draws the attention of Adam (Rufus Sewell), a powerful vampire leader and owner of a plantation deep in Louisiana.
After meeting his wife, Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Lincoln moves on to a life in politics. He keeps a tiny inner circle around him: William “Will” Johnson (Anthony Mackie), a young black man Lincoln knew as a child, and Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson), Lincoln’s former employer. As the Civil War rages, however, Adam and his order play a large role in the bloodshed, forcing Lincoln to make it his mission to eliminate the vampires before they take over the nation.
When I first saw Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds back in 2009, I was put off by the wild liberties with real-world history that this alternative historical film took. But thanks to Tarantino’s film, I had fewer misgivings about the ersatz history in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I still cringed at some historical inaccuracies, but not nearly as much as I did with Inglorious Basterds.
With that out of the way, I can say that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is the best Civil War vampire movie that I’ve ever seen, and it is one of the best movies that is in whole or in part about the Civil War / War Between the States that I’ve seen. If anything, it certainly cements Timur Bekmambetov’s place as an imaginative and inventive architect of special-effects-wrought action sequences.
I do think that the cast gets much of the credit for keeping this historical epic-meets-monster movie from devolving into a joke. Benjamin Walker is surprisingly good as Lincoln, no mean feat in a year when Daniel Day-Lewis is also portraying Lincoln in a film. Rufus Sewell and Marton Csokas hit the right big-budget, B-movie monster notes as vampires. And I must give Mary Elizabeth Winstead extra credit for his portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln. She almost takes this thing entirely too seriously, but that still results in a heart-felt and spry performance.
I usually like it when a big studio, event movie takes the time to be a little subversive, and this movie is subversive and sly. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is not only anti-slavery, but it is also anti-Confederate States of America. It in no way treats the “Southern cause” as noble or sympathetic. Vampires are equated with slave owners, and the vampire lust for human blood is equated with slave owners’ brutal treatment and exploitation of slaves for profit and gain. Although it is entirely fictional, having the Confederacy unite with a league of vampires in a vain attempt to defeat the Union makes perfect sense. Evil game recognizes evil game.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is in many ways silly, but it is unique and just politically daring enough to be more than just another vampire movie.
7 of 10
B+
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Original "Red Dawn" Remains an 80s Curio
Red Dawn (1984)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: John Milius
WRITERS: John Milius and Kevin Reynolds; from a story by Kevin Reynolds
PRODUCERS: Barry Beckerman and Buzz Feitshans
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ric Waite (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Thom Noble
COMPOSER: Basil Poledouris
WAR/DRAMA
Starring: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, Darren Dalton, Jennifer Grey, Brad Savage, Doug Toby, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Ron O’Neal, William Smith, Powers Boothe, Lane Smith, and Frank McRae
The subject of this movie review is Red Dawn, a 1984 war film from director John Milius (Conan the Barbarian). The film is set in an alternate version of the 1980s and depicts an invasion of the United States launched by the Soviet Union and its Cuban and Nicaraguan allies. The story follows a group of American high school students who launch a guerrilla war against the invaders.
World War III begins on a September morning. It arrives in the small town of Calumet, Colorado when paratroopers begin dropping from the sky. These are Russian Airborne Troops, and soon after them, Cuban and Soviet troops begin an occupation of Calumet. Jed Eckert (Patrick Swayze) and his teenage brother, Matt (Charlie Sheen), take a small group of Matt’s fellow high school students and flee into the surrounding mountains.
After taking in two teen girls, this group begins an armed resistance against the occupation forces. These young people start calling themselves “Wolverines.” Meanwhile, back in town, Colonel Ernesto Bella (Ron O’Neal) is punishing the townspeople for the Wolverines’ attacks on his troops. Which side will give in first?
When Red Dawn was first released to theatres in 1984, I ignored it, although I knew many people around my age who loved the movie. I recently watched it for the first time, and I found little about it worth loving or hating. Red Dawn is basically a misfire with a lot of good ideas. It is not pro-war and is not so much a war movie as it is a movie about children leading a resistance group during wartime. In fact, I guess that I can best describe Red Dawn as a poorly realized movie about guerrilla warfare and child soldiers.
I cannot say the acting is bad because the actors don’t have much with which to work. The script offers very little character development, and the action scenes that should help to develop the characters or at least help the audience to get to know them better actually make the characters’ motivations increasingly murkier.
Red Dawn essentially has no plot, unless the depiction of a series of skirmishes and battles is the plot. The concept has potential; it simply was not developed nearly 30 years ago when the movie was made. As it stands, Red Dawn is a time capsule movie. It is a piece of pop culture, reflective of the mid-1980s, a time of Ronald Reagan, anti-Soviet Union propaganda, paranoia, and warmongering. At the time, there seemed to be a mood in the U.S., an aching for a fight with someone we could beat, especially if it was a country or entity that could act as a stand-in for the Soviet Union/Russia.
Red Dawn delivered what reality could not. Here, white guys wearing tight jeans, wielding high-powered firearms, and packing lots of military gear get to shoot some Ruskies. Too bad no one thought to shoot a good movie.
4 of 10
C
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Review: "Lions for Lambs" is a Political Film That Roars (Happy 50th B'day, Tom Cruise)
Lions for Lambs (2007)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – R for some war violence and language
DIRECTOR: Robert Redford
WRITER: Matthew Michael Carnahan
PRODUCERS: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tracy Falco, Andrew Hauptman, and Robert Redford
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Joe Hutshing
DRAMA/WAR
Starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Michael Peña, Andrew Garfield, Peter Berg, Kevin Dunn, and Derek Luke
Lions for Lambs is a 2007 drama from director Robert Redford. The film stars Redford, Meryl Streep, and Tom Cruise in a story that connects the actions of a veteran television reporter, a powerful U.S. Republican senator, a college professor, and a stranded platoon of soldiers trapped in Afghanistan.
Tom Cruise re-launched United Artists as viable movie studio with Lions for Lambs, the Robert Redford-helmed look at America's “War on Terror.” Using a complex three-pronged narrative, Redford (who also stars in this film) connects the lives of the movie’s characters by politics and bloodshed. While a young, but powerful Washington senator goes toe to toe with a reporter, who on the down side of her career, on the issue of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, an idealistic professor and Vietnam veteran tries to keep a promising student engaged, while two of his former pupils struggle to survive behind enemy lines in Afghanistan.
At an unnamed California university, the anguished Professor Stephen Malley (Robert Redford) calls Todd (Andrew Garfield), a talented, but aimless student who usually misses class into his office for a heart to heart conversation. Malley is trying to reach this privileged, but disaffected student to hopefully encourage him to do something to make change rather than just be cynical about the current state of affairs. Two of Prof. Malley’s students volunteered to join the U.S. military and now serve with Special Forces in the “War on Terror.” This bold decision by Arian Finch (Derek Luke) and Ernest Rodriguez (Michael Peña) has left Malley both moved and distraught, but he wants to share their determination to make a difference with Todd.
Unbeknownst to Malley, Arian and Ernest are stranded on a snowy mountainside in Badakhshan, Afghanistan as Taliban fighters move in and their commanders struggle to get them out.
Meanwhile, charismatic Presidential hopeful, Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) is giving probing TV journalist Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) a bombshell of a story, as the two go toe to toe over the “War on Terror.” Sen. Irving has used his influence to launch a new phase in the war in Afghanistan – one that will affect the fates of Arian and Ernest, as arguments, memories, and battle weave these three stories ever more tightly together.
Much has been made of the lack of success at the box office of films dealing with Iraq (Rendition, In the Valley of Elah), which is really no surprise considering how disconnected so many Americans are from the “Global War on Terror,” not to mention how unpopular the Iraq War is among Americans and in other nations. This unpopularity and lack of connectivity is precisely why a film like Lions for Lambs is so important. Lions for Lambs is so indicative of our current state of affairs as Americans as to be painful. No wonder the film received mostly middling to negative reviews and was a dud at the box office. Like Spike Lee’s scandalous 1987 film, School Days, Redford’s film insists on throwing the painful but necessary truth in our faces, and so many Americans would rather be chasing the latest consumer toys or obsessing over meaningless pop culture tittle-tattle. It has been said that Lions for Lambs is too “talky,” supposedly a handicap for a film.
Lions for Lambs does talk a lot, but it has something to say and we should be listening.
Still, Cruise (who gives the film’s best and sharpest performance, by far) and Streep arguing history, politics, and war as a ruthlessly ambitious politician and a jaded reporter, while American servicemen die is a sign of the times. Watching Redford’s old school activist professor trying to get Garfield’s cynical and spoiled rich boy get engaged in change while the student’s classmates shed blood for him is deeply saddening. While Peña’s Ernest and Derek’s Arian are lions in this supposed war for our civilization, the lambs are back home holding the keys to the lions’ fates.
Redford’s film clearly asks that a country embrace a more selfless agenda and do some serious soul searching, instead of acting and lying in our own self-interests. It’s good when a Hollywood movie tackles the national mood and asks tough questions. It means that American cinema still matters beyond being mere corporate product.
8 of 10
A
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
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Thursday, June 28, 2012
Review: "Red Tails" Has Wings
Red Tails (2012)
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sequences of war violence
DIRECTOR: Anthony Hemingway
WRITERS: John Ridley and Aaron McGruder; from a story by John Ridley
PRODUCERS: Rick McCallum and Charles F. Johnson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John B. Aronson
EDITORS: Ben Burtt and Michael O'Halloran
COMPOSER: Terence Blanchard
WAR/DRAMA/HISTORICAL
Starring: Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Elijah Kelley, Ne-Yo, Kevin Phillips, Bryan Cranston, Lee Tergensen, Gerald McRaney, Daniela Ruah, Marcus T. Paulk, Leslie Odom, Jr., Michael B. Jordan, Andre Royo, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, and Lars van Riesen
The subject of this movie review is Red Tails, a 2012 war film and historical drama produced by Lucasfilm and released by 20th Century Fox. Starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding, Jr., Red Tails is a fictionalized portrayal of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American servicemen who served in the United States Air Force (USAAF) during World War II. George Lucas financed Red Tails (both production and distributions costs) and also directed re-shoots for the film.
Red Tails is set in Italy, 1944. The 332d Fighter Group of young African-American (called “Negroes”) USAAF pilots have already made it through recruitment and training in the Tuskegee training program. They have endured racism, and, now that they are in Europe, are still facing segregation from their white counterparts. In fact, they have not flown a single combat mission, but instead conduct strafing runs against German targets and also fly coastal patrols. Even their planes are secondhand, worn out Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircraft.
Back in Washington, Colonel A.J. Bullard (Terrence Howard) is fighting the white bureaucracy to get his black flyers treated as equals. Meanwhile, in Italy, Major Emanuel Stance (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is keeping his bored men in fighting shape. Opportunity comes when Bullard is asked to have his fighter pilots act as bomber escorts for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. There is an unacceptably high casualty rate among bomber crews mainly because of the actions of their current escorts. Bullard accepts and also manages to get new planes, North American P-51 Mustangs, for the 332d. With the tails of their aircraft painted bright red, these African-American flyers become known as the “Red Tails.” Now, can they prove themselves to the doubters?
Apparently, the critical consensus on Red Tails is that the film has “one-dimensional characters, corny dialogue, and heaps of clichés.” With the exception of Platoon and a few others, war movies are inherently clichéd. As for the corny dialogue, which is another staple of war films (old and new), that is true, but it is so infrequent that it stands out when someone does utter something trite or contrived.
As for the characters, they are anything but one-dimensional. They are fairly complicated, especially in terms of their motivations, external and internal conflicts, hopes, dreams, and fears. The screenplay is a bit light on the characters’ past, but the most important thing that the audience needs to know about the characters’ past is known. What is that? Well, that is the fact that they are black and that bigots and racists have been trying to hold them back and hurt them all their lives. “Nuff said.
Red Tails isn’t as heavy and dramatic as a war movie like Saving Private Ryan; in fact, sometimes, Red Tails’ drama is a little soft, like a sentimental television movie. Red Tails’ most potent drama comes from the aviation sequences, especially the aerial battles. When the Tuskegee airmen are in the air, the film soars. The scenes of aerial combat are exciting and skillfully executed, but what else would we expect from Lucasfilm, the people who gave us the soaring spacecraft in the Star Wars films.
Some viewers may be put off that Red Tails is a dramatic retelling of a real group of men and their exploits during World War II. Red Tails is more historical fiction than history, but it is still a truly exceptional film. I am just happy that someone made a film to acknowledge the contribution black servicemen made during World War II, because African-American are generally absent when Hollywood visits World War II. I bet many of those same people complaining about Red Tails’ historical inaccuracies never previously gave a thought to the absence of Black men in WWII films.
George Lucas’ 93 million dollar investment in this project is not at all wasted. It is a lovely gift to African-American history and film, and it is a damn good film, also. By the time Red Tails’ end credits faded away, I still could have watched another two hours just like it.
8 of 10
A
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
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Review: "A GUY NAMED JOE" is Sweet and Sentimental
A Guy Named Joe (1943) – Black & White
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
DIRECTOR: Victor Fleming
WRITERS: Dalton Trumbo, adapted by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan; from a story by David Boehm and Chandler Sprague
PRODUCER: Everett Riskin
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: George Folsey and Karl Freund
EDITOR: Frank Sullivan
Academy Award nominee
FANTASY/DRAMA/ROMANCE/WAR
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Ward Bond, Barry Nelson, James Gleason, Lionel Barrymore, and Don DeFore
In Victor Fleming’s sentimental and patriotic film, A Guy Named Joe, the spirit of a World War II bomber pilot who died in combat plays guardian angel to a younger pilot who also romances his old girlfriend. The film is hokey and even corny at times, but it’s a wonderful, gentle, and poignant film that plays romantic with the tragedy of World War II as the backdrop.
Major Peter Sandidge (Spencer Tracy) is a daredevil bomber pilot who has a knack for getting under his superiors’ skin with his reckless flying, and, while some may see his attitude and aggressiveness in combat as courageous, others see it as crazy. The latter might include Pete’s girlfriend, Dorinda Durston (Irene Dunne), who is also a pilot and his wife-to be. However, Major Sandidge’s plane is shot down and crashes into the ocean during a reconnaissance mission. After death, he finds himself in heaven and under the command of The General in Heaven (Lionel Barrymore). The General directs the spirits of pilots killed in the air, to return to earth where they act as guardian angels and quasi-guidance counselors to young pilots-in-training.
Accompanied to earth by Captain Dick Rumney (Barry Nelson), another angel and the spirit of a pilot he knew that died before him, Pete begins to train new pilots. He becomes an angel to Ted Randall (Van Johnson), a young college grad and recent heir to an enormous fortune. Pete likes Ted enough, and follows him around giving him advice that Ted, who of course doesn’t know his guardian angel is near, receives the advice sort of like a gentle and prodding thought. However, Pete begins to dislike Ted when he falls madly in love with Pete’s old gal, Dorinda, who is still carrying a torch for Pete. When Pete asks Dorinda to marry him and she accepts, Pete becomes jealous and decides to give the newly commissioned Captain Ted Randall nothing but bad advice. Still, Pete has to reconsider his actions when Ted accepts a dangerous bombing mission from which is highly unlikely to return, and Dorinda risks own her life to protect Ted.
Although this film features several superbly staged battle scenes and air attacks, A Guy Named Joe is nevertheless sweet and sentimental. While the cast is mostly good, it is Spencer Tracy who keeps this movie from being sappy. He is far and away the star of the picture and everyone else, including Ms. Dunne and Van Johnson’s characters, is a supporting player. Tracy was a fine actor, even in a time when film personality was more important than acting prowess, and Tracy gave films (as he does so in this one) an artistic and weighty center. Ms. Dunne’s performance is good, but not outstanding, although it’s not her fault. Dorinda is conceptually a good and (for that time) groundbreaking female part, but the script mostly regulates her to being a stereotype. Barry Nelson and Lionel Barrymore give exemplary supporting performances as Pete’s heavenly colleagues, while Don DeFore and Ward Bond are excellent earthly supporting players.
Victor Fleming’s directorial effort is exceptional. He makes A Guy Named Joe a credible fantasy film, while holding onto the film’s war story elements without using a heavy hand. Though saddled with a punch-drunk script, Fleming clearly got the spirit of David Boehm and Chandler Sprague’s original story (for which they received an Oscar nomination in the category of “Best Writing, Original Story”), and that’s what makes A Guy Named Joe a swell romantic fable about a guy, his girl, and the rival who becomes “his boy.”
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
1945 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Story” (David Boehm and Chandler Sprague)
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Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Review: "Hell and Back Again" is Not as Strong as It Should Be
Hell and Back Again (2011)
Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
Not rated by the MPAA
CINEMATOGRAPHER/DIRECTOR: Danfung Dennis
PRODUCERS: Danfung Dennis, Martin Herring, and Mike Lerner
COMPOSER: J. Ralph
EDITOR: Fiona Otway
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA – War
Starring: Sgt. Nathan Harris and Ashley Harris with The Marines of Echo Company 2nd Battalion 8th Marine Regiment
The subject of this movie review is Hell and Back Again, a 2011 documentary from director Danfung Dennis. The film was nominated for a best Documentary Oscar in 2012.
Hell and Back Again focuses on U.S. Marine Sgt. Nathan Harris who was wounded by Taliban machine-gun fire and returns to civilian life where he must deal with a badly-wounded leg and the stress of painful rehabilitation. Over time, post-traumatic stress disorder begins to take a toll on both Nathan and his wife, Ashley Harris. The film also switches back and forth between scenes depicting Sgt. Harris’ time in Afghanistan and his life back in America.
Hell and Back Again deserves credit for offering an intimate look at a serviceman’s life both at war and at home. However, I did not find the film overall to be all that compelling, although it does have some gripping moments. Early in the movie, director Danfung Dennis records the men in Sgt. Harris’ platoon, as they attend to a wounded comrade, Lance Corporal Charles G. “Sharpie” Sharp. Later, in that same scene, a caption appears over a black background informing the viewer that the medics could not save Sharp. Then, the video returns to show several men carrying and accompanying a body bag that apparently contains the body of Sharp. This is a stunning moment that made my breath catch.
The rest of the film lacks that potency, although there are a number of moving moments. At times, Nathan Harris comes across sympathetic, but other times, he seems pathetic, even crazy. I think the director made a mistake not featuring more scenes in which the wife, Ashley, talks to the camera – by herself without Nathan.
There is a scene towards the end of the film in which this does happen. Ashley is in a Walgreens Pharmacy when she opens up about Nathan’s behavior and the state of their relationship. This moment in the film tells us more about Nathan’s state of mind at the time than the entire rest of the film.
Hell and Back Again also has many good scenes in Afghanistan that give a sense of the difficulties the Marines have in-country, and how strained their relationships are with the locals in some areas. Viewers will see that the Marines are the ones who try to make the best of a bad situation, even in the face of obstinate and (understandably) frustrated locals.
6 of 10
B
NOTES:
2012 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Documentary, Features” (Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner)
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
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Saturday, April 7, 2012
Review: "Master and Commander" Was One of 2003's Best Films (Happy B'day, Russell Crowe)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Running time: 138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense battle sequences, related images, and brief language
DIRECTOR: Peter Weir
WRITERS: John Collee and Peter Weir (from the novels by Patrick O’Brian)
PRODUCERS: Samuel Goldwyn Jr., Duncan Henderson, and Peter Weir
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russell Boyd
EDITOR: Lee Smith
COMPOSERS: Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon, and Richard Tognetti
Academy Award winner
WAR/ADVENTURE/DRAMA/ACTION/THRILLER
Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D’Arcy, Edward Woodall, Chris Larkin, Max Pirkis, Jack Randall, Max Benitz, Lee Ingleby, Richard Pates, Robert Pugh, and Richard McCabe
The subject of this movie review is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, a 2003 historical war drama. Much of the film’s plot comes from the 1984 novel, The Far Side of the World.
One of the best films of 2003 is Australian director Peter Weir’s film, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It was also one of the most honored films of the year, earning many award nominations and capturing quite a few critical prizes, including wins of two Oscars (for Russell Boyd’s cinematography and Richard King’s sound editing). It’s on my very short list of best pictures of the year, and it’s one of the best films of the last half-decade.
Based upon an outline in the tenth book of Patrick O’Brian’s series of 20 novels about Lucky Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe), the British Royal Navy’s greatest fighting captain, and his ship’s doctor, Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), Master and Commander is set during the Napoleonic Wars. The brash Lucky Jack pushes the crew of his ship, the Surprise, in pursuit of a formidable French frigate, the Acheron. The Acheron launches a sneak attack on the Surprise near Brazil. Although his ship is heavily damaged, Lucky Jack, the “Master” of the Surprise and the “Commander” of his men, chases the Acheron around South America, all leading to a daring showdown near the Galapagos Islands.
As an expensive film production by three of the biggest film studios in the world (Fox, Miramax, and Universal), Master and Commander is blessed with a big production budget that guaranteed that the film would look brilliant and the technical aspects of the film would be quite good. But what makes this film is that the basics are topnotch. First, the story is a rousing sea adventure, something that is sure to please the male audience – there’s something to the lure of the sea. When a sea adventure movie is done well, we have a memorable film on our hands.
Secondly, the Peter Weir, one of the great directors of the last three or so decades (and one of the most underrated and under-appreciated in proportion to his talent and work) simply makes this a grand movie: a brilliant tale of fighting men, camaraderie, brotherhood, and old-fashioned adventure that is the superb and perfect vicarious experience for those of us that have never had to run from a cannonball or live through the hardships of naval life during wartime.
Last, but not least, is a collection of excellent performances. It goes without saying that Russell Crowe was good. Can he ever be bad? In the tradition of old Hollywood stars, Crowe allows his film personality to shine through every performance. There’s a basic template that we recognize no matter how disparate the roles he takes. Still, he’s the great method actor who can also bury himself in a part.
However, I must also give shout outs to Paul Bettany as the ship surgeon, Dr. Maturin. He well plays Maturin as both confidant and foil to Crowe’s’ Aubrey. A child talent to watch is Max Pirkis, as the young Lord Blakeney, Midshipman. I think Pirkis’ character is the one the audience lives through, as we, like him, are novices. Pirkis’ performance is open and invites us in to suffer the hardships, enjoy the good times, and learn from his experiences. His performance is so good and plays such an important part in the film’s success that it can be considered a gift.
I heartily endorse Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Not only is it good drama, it’s also an adventure film likely to stand the test of time, and if it doesn’t, it’s still damn fine for the here and now.
10 of 10
NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Cinematography” (Russell Boyd) and “Best Sound Editing” (Richard King); 8 nominations: “Best Picture” (Samuel Goldwyn Jr., Peter Weir, and Duncan Henderson), “Best Director” (Peter Weir), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (William Sandell-art director and Robert Gould-set decorator), “Best Costume Design” (Wendy Stites), “Best Film Editing” (Lee Smith), “Best Makeup” (Edouard F. Henriques and Yolanda Toussieng), “Best Sound Mixing” (Paul Massey, Doug Hemphill, and Art Rochester), and “Best Visual Effects” (Daniel Sudick, Stefen Fangmeier, Nathan McGuinness, and Robert Stromberg)
2004 BAFTA Awards: 4 wins: “Best Costume Design” (Wendy Stites), “Best Production Design” (William Sandell), “Best Sound” (Richard King, Doug Hemphill, Paul Massey, and Art Rochester), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Peter Weir); 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Stefen Fangmeier, Nathan McGuinness, Robert Stromberg, Daniel Sudick), and “Best Cinematography” (Russell Boyd), “Best Film” (Samuel Goldwyn Jr., Peter Weir, and Duncan Henderson), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Paul Bettany)
2004 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Peter Weir), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Russell Crowe)
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Friday, April 6, 2012
Flashy "Immortals" Mortally Flawed
Immortals (2011)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of strong bloody violence, and a scene of sexuality
DIRECTOR: Tarsem Singh Dhandwar
WRITERS: Charles Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides
PRODUCERS: Mark Canton, Ryan Kavanaugh, and Gianni Nunnari
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Brendan Galvin (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Wyatt Jones, Stuart Levy, and David Rosenbloom
COMPOSER: Trevor Morris
FANTASY/DRAMA/WAR
Starring: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan, Alan Van Sprang, Isabel Lucas, and Kellan Lutz
The subject of this movie review is Immortals, a 2011 3D fantasy film (which I saw in traditional D). The film, which is loosely based on various Greek myths, follows the quest of a man seeking vengeance against the ruthless king who killed his mother.
In the year 1228 B.C., Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), the mortal Heraklion king, seeks the Epirus Bow, a weapon of immense power that can be used to slay immortals and gods. Hyperion will use the bow to free the enemies of the gods, the Titans, so that they can destroy Zeus (Luke Evans) and the other gods. His search for the bow takes Hyperion and his army to the village of Koplos.
During their rampage through the village, Hyperion kills the mother of Theseus (Henry Cavill), a highly skilled warrior. Theseus is shunned by his fellow villagers because he was born a bastard child, but the gods favor him. During his mission of vengeance, Theseus meets Phaedra (Freida Pinto), an Oracle priestess. Phaedra’s visions tell her that Theseus will play an integral part in Hyperion’s quest to free the Titans, but whose side Theseus will choose remains a mystery.
Director Tarsem Singh likely first made a big impression on pop culture because he directed the music video for the R.E.M. song, “Losing My Religion,” which won “Best Video of the Year” at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. I found the video to be as pretentious and as ridiculous as the song (although I like R.E.M.). He next gained attention for directing the Jennifer Lopez movie, the visually striking, but pretentious and dumb, The Cell.
Immortals is less pretentious and less dumb than the R.E.M. music video and The Cell, but still pretentious. Immortals is certainly visually striking; there were moments during the film when certain costumes, sets, and backdrops gave me pause and made me press the rewind button on the remote. Sadly, the movie seems like little more than a fairy tale that someone could tell in less than half an hour stretched past the breaking point in order to become a nearly two-hour long movie.
Immortals can be described as 300 and Troy retrofitted with elements of Lord of the Rings. So there are epic battles, clashes of supernatural beings, and big pre-battle speeches, but there is not much of a narrative.
I must say that Mickey Rourke gives a stellar performance as the brutal King Hyperion, but Rourke’s performance fashions a character that is better than the movie in which he plays the central villain. Henry Cavill’s performance is a mixed bag. Sometimes, Theseus is rousing; other times, the character doesn’t come across as the kind of great hero that an epic action fantasy film needs. Hopefully, Cavill does better next year when he debuts as the lead in the Superman film franchise reboot, The Man of Steel.
Immortals is not bad, but it isn’t particularly good. It is a movie with potential and lots of good elements that don’t quite come together. Thus, Immortals will likely be relegated to that great pile of mediocre movies that exists between the really good and highly entertaining stuff and the stand-out bad stuff.
5 of 10
C+
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Review: Ralph Bakshi's "Wizards" is Still Distinctive
Wizards (1977) – animation
Running time: 82 minutes (1 hour, 22 minutes)
MPAA – PG
WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Ralph Bakshi
EDITOR: Donald W. Ernst
COMPOSER: Andrew Belling
ANIMATION/FANTASY/SCI-FI/WAR
Starring: (voices) Bob Holt, Jim Connell, Steve Gravers, Jessie Welles, Susan Tyrrell, Richard Romanus, David Proval, Peter Hobbs, Barbara Sloane, Angelo Grisanti, Mark Hamill, and Adolf Hitler (archival audio recordings)
With very few Disney films to compete with his output in the 1970’s, Ralph Bakshi was certainly one of the best known directors of animation and one of the most controversial. Lacking the resources of an animation giant, Bakshi often had to be quite savvy in presenting his animated creations, mixing traditional cel animation with other techniques to make animated film, and that is the case with his 1977 film, Wizards.
Wizards is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth long after the horrors of a nuclear holocaust, when magic has returned to the earth. Avatar (Bob Holt), a good wizard, and his fairy folk comrades must battle Avatar’s evil brother Blackwolf (Steve Gravers), also a wizard, to save the world. Blackwolf has discovered a cache of 20th century weapons, tanks, and other long-forgotten instruments of war, as well as archival film footage of Adolf Hitler and of Nazi Germany. Blackwolf uses the Nazi propaganda films to whip his army of goblins and wraiths into a frenzy and sends them on to ravage Montagar, Avatar’s sanctuary of elves and fairies. Avatar, accompanied by a spirited young fairy-in-training Elinore (Jessie Welles) and a brave elf Weehawk (Richard Romanus) set off to Blackwolf’s kingdom of Scortch to stop him.
I liked the style of animation used in this film, which didn’t strive for realism, and was influenced by “underground” cartoonists, especially the work of the late Vaughn Bode. Bakshi also uses lots of rotoscoping, a process in which animators simply draw or add color over film footage to make it look “animated.” All the battle footage, including fighters, weapons, and tanks is simply hand drawing and coloring over footage from other war films or over archival documentary film. Coloring over film stock simply saved Bakshi and his crew from what would have been an impossible task, with their resources, of drawing battle scenes featuring hundreds of combatants and lots of weapons. However, what is drawn is very beautiful, and it really reminded me of cartoons and comic books. It’s not high-falutin,’ but it gives the tale a funky, out there feel. Some of the best work are the gorgeous still drawings by cartoonist Michael Ploog (who also did the storyboards for Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” video).
The story is a straight-on, blunt anti-war film. Wizards is a strong statement in the popularly held image of a hippie tradition against violence, hatred, and prejudice and for peace and love. Although it is not naïve, but it is an artistic statement based on seemingly impossible to reach ideals. I can’t help but respect what Bakshi did with this film; he delivered his message in an artistic medium that’s usually reserved for, at best, tepid commentary and for children’s entertainment, at least in American animation. The film drags a bit, and in the end, its ideal of a society based on love and peace is simplistic, underdeveloped, unrealistic, and impractical given human nature. But hey, it’s just a movie, right? However, because of the combination of the beautiful animation and colors and forceful delivery of its story about peace, Wizards is a unique film experience, unlike most live action films and most animated films you will ever see.
6 of 10
B
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Aerial Combat Scenes Give "Flyboys" Wings
Flyboys (2006)
Running time: 139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)
Rating: MPAA – PG-13 for war action violence and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Tony Bill
WRITER: Phil Sears & Blake T. Evans and David S. Ward; from a story by Evans
PRODUCERS: Dean Devlin and Marc Frydman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Henry Braham
EDITORS: Chris Blunden and Ron Rosen
WAR/ACTION/DRAMA/HISTORICAL
Starring: James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, David Ellison, Tyler Labine, Abdul Salis, Philip Winchester, and Augustin Legrand
Flyboys is the epic World War I drama from Oscar-winner Tony Bill (which he won for producing The Sting) that tells the true story of the Lafayette Escadrille. Before the United States’ official entry into the war (1917), the Allied powers of England, France, and Italy were losing to the German military juggernaut. Many young Americans volunteered to fight for the French; some served in the infantry and others in the Ambulance Corps. The Lafayette Escadrille were the young men who wanted to be pilots. Flyboys is based upon this true story, and the film’s characters are based directly upon real men or are composites of the historical figures.
The story focuses on bankrupt farm boy, Blaine Rawlings (James Franco), who joins the Escadrille and finds himself chafing under the discipline of learning to be a pilot. Briggs Lowry (Tyler Labine) is bullied by his father into joining. Black American Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) is an American expatriate boxing in France when he decides to serve France as a thank you for being more racially tolerant than his birth country.
Under the guidance of the weary French Captain Thenault (Jean Reno) and the leadership of American veteran, Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), these young men take to the sky to face the formidable German flying armada. They fly newly invented and mechanically imperfect aircraft, but the men of the Escadrille find themselves having the kind of adventure they never imagined. Rawlings also finds time to romance Lucienne (Jennifer Decker), a young Frenchwoman who lives in a nearby town.
In this movie, the drama is simple TV movie quality melodrama, and not the kind one might get from a well-written and directed television movie. The character moments often seem like filler, and director Tony Bills just rushes the characters through scenes of intimacy and bonding. That’s why half the time the romance between Rawlings and Lucienne seems forced, and the scenes between Rawlings and Capt. Thenault are sadly thin, lacking the power relationships between soldiers in war movies generally have. Even camaraderie between the members of the Escadrille is underdeveloped, which is sad because there are so many scenes that only hint at how good this subplot of the movie could be (although there is a great moment between Lowry and Skinner about what their fathers did for a living).
Over a stirring score by Trevor Rabin, the cool and terrific aerial combat scenes make (and save) this movie. Dogfights, duels, and even a kind of jousting in the sky: they rouse you from the slumber the rest of this movie induces. It’s obvious that computers were used to create these scenes, but Tony Bill uses these scenes to bring out the humanity of his characters. It is in the sky that Bill allows the actors to develop the characters and give us reason to invest in them. Flyboys may not make serious movie lovers forget about classic World War I films, but it is in those dogfights in the sky where the director, his cast, and creative crew find the heart of Flyboys and leave the viewer delighted.
6 of 10
B
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Saturday, December 24, 2011
"Joyeux Noel" or "Merry Christmas" a Great Film by Any Name
Joyeux Noël (2005)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Belgium/France/Germany/UK/Romania; Language: French, Germany, English, and Latin
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for war violence and a brief scene of sexuality/nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Christian Carion
PRODUCER: Christophe Rossignon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Walther Vanden Ende
EDITOR: Andrea Sedlackova
Academy Award nominee
WAR/DRAMA/HISTORICAL
Starring: Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Gary Lewis, Dany Boon, and Daniel Bruhl, Lucas Belvaux, Alex Ferns, Bernard, Lo Coq, and Steven Robertson
Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) is based upon a true story, on an event that occurred during World War I on Christmas Eve 1914. That night, soldiers walked out onto the “no man’s land” between their entrenchments and shared songs and friendship. Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas), nominated for a 2006 “Best Foreign Language Film of the Year” Oscar as a representative of France, is a fictionalized account of that momentous event.
The outbreak of war during the lull of summer 1914 surprised millions of men, especially as the conflict pulled them in its wake. The first Christmas arrives, but the snow and multitude of parcels and presents from their families and their armies can’t really lift the men’s spirits. However, on Christmas Eve, a momentous event begins with songs and Christmas lights. Anna Sörenson (Diane Kruger), a soprano, and her singing partner, Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann), an exceptional German tenor; Palmer (Gary Lewis), an Anglican priest from Scotland who followed the men of his parish into the war; and Audebert (Guillaume Canet), a French lieutenant who left behind his pregnant wife when he went to war, become the major players in a miraculous event that changes their own lives and destinies.
On December 24, 1914, French, German, and Scottish soldiers come out of their trenches for an impromptu concert of Christmas carols and also for a Christmas Eve mass. For a few days, their hellish existence stops, and the soldiers swap food, wine, and stories and even play football (soccer). Not everyone, however, likes this strange turn of events.
Joyeux Noël is, make no doubt about it, an anti-war film, but director Christian Carion helms his film with such grace and subtlety. He makes his point by telling a story of the brotherhood of man, removing nationality and whatever divides humanity and going towards what made these soldiers alike. These men long for their families and homes, and amidst all the carnage, death, and destruction, they find an eye in the storm where they can relax, at least a little. For a while, they’re carefree boys again. Carion also juxtaposes these grunts in the trenches with the fat cat politicians, rulers, and officers who dine and entertain in warmth and comfort for in the rear.
Carion’s cast is as earnest as he is, but their determinism carries over to the story, revealing the characters to be people merely determined to have at least a little control over their lives and to be able to object to their situation even if they must ultimately submit. Scottish actor Gary Lewis is a standout as the brave and devout Anglican priest, Palmer, who calmly takes on that which tests his faith. Diane Kruger and Benno Fürmann as the opera singers give the film a humanizing romantic subplot that actually works. Guillaume Canet as Audebert and Dany Boon as Audebert’s valet, Ponchel, provide a nice subplot about a friendship that grows stronger once the men go to war. It’s these small stories that Carion weaves so well together that makes Joyeux Noël a Great War movie, and an ever greater Christmas film.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES
2006 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film of the Year” (France)
2006 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Film not in the English Language” (Christophe Rossignon and Christian Carion)
2006 Golden Globes: 1 nomination for “Best Foreign Language Film” (France)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Review: "Days of Glory" Chronicles the Forgotten WWII Fighters, the "Indigenes"
Indigènes (2006)
Days of Glory (2006) – International English title
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – R for war violence and brief language
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: FRANCE with Algeria, Morocco, and Belgium; Languages: French and Arabic
DIRECTOR: Rachid Bouchareb
WRITERS: Olivier Lorelle and Rachid Bouchareb
PRODUCER: Jean Bréhat
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Patrick Blossier
EDITOR: Yannick Kergoat
2007 Academy Award nominee
WAR/DRAMA/HISTORICAL
Starring: Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Roschdy Zem, Bernard Blancan, and Matthieu Simonet
Indigènes or Days of Glory (as the film is known by its English title) earned a 2007 Oscar nomination for “Best Foreign Language Film” as a representative of Algeria. Indigènes recreates a chapter largely erased from the pages of history and pays overdue tribute to the heroism of a particular group of forgotten soldiers who fought and died during World War II. Days of Glory chronicles the journey of four North African soldiers who join the French army to help liberate France from Nazi occupation during World War II.
Saïd Otmari (Jamel Debbouze), Yassir (Samy Naceri), Messaoud Souni (Roschdy Zem), and Abdelkader (Roschdy Zem) leave their country, Algeria, a French colony, to fight for France, which they call the “Motherland.” They chafe under the command of the Sergeant Roger Martinez (Bernard Blancan), a French Algerian. The men fight passionately for France, although they’ve never been to the country. Still, despite the North Africans’ bravery and loyalty as they travel fight from Italy to France, they face daily humiliation, inequality, and naked bigotry from the French. The four men eventually find themselves alone in a small French village defending it from a German battalion. This pedagogical or educational film is also a reminder that the controversies of French World War II history remain today, especially as the French government has denied the surviving North African soldiers their pensions.
Days of Glory is a good, but not great, historical film. Its strength is in the chronicling of the prejudice and bigotry these non-white or non-European soldiers faced while sacrificing their lives, limbs, and peace of mind for France, a country that many still believe largely did not fight for itself against the Nazis. For war movie buffs, the best combat sequence takes place in the movie’s closing act.
6 of 10
B
NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Algeria)
2006 Cannes Film Festival: 2 wins – “Best Actor” (Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, Bernard Blancan – To the male ensemble cast) and “François Chalais Award (Rachid Bouchareb); 1 nomination: “Golden Palm” (Rachid Bouchareb)
2007 Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Foreign or Independent Film”
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Friday, November 11, 2011
Review: "Blood Diamond" Has Strong Leads in DiCaprio and Hounsou (Happy B'day, Leonardo DiCaprio)
Blood Diamond (2006)
Running time: 143 minutes (2 hours, 23 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and language
DIRECTOR: Edward Zwick
WRITERS: Charles Leavitt; from a story by C. Gaby Mitchell and Charles Leavitt
PRODUCERS: Edward Zwick, Marshall, Herskovitz, Paula Weinstein, Graham King, and Gillian Gorfil
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eduardo Serra (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Steven Rosenblum
2007 Academy Award nominee
ACTION/DRAMA/WAR
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Sheen, Arnold Vosloo, David Harewood, Basil Wallace, Ntare Mwine, Jimi Mistry, and Kagiso Kuypers
Set during Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war in 1999, director Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond blends challenging themes, social awareness, and riveting entertainment into a rip-roaring story about two different African men on a common quest. Along the way, Zwick creates a lovely thriller out of the devastating chaos of civil war in a Third World country.
While imprisoned, Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) turned diamond smuggler, discovers that fellow inmate Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) may have found a large, rare pink diamond. Rebels had taken Solomon from his family and forced him to work in their diamond fields where he found the extraordinary gem. Solomon hid the diamond in hopes of retrieving it and using it to help his family escape their war torn country. Now, Solomon will also have to find the diamond to save his son, Dia (Kagiso Kuypers), who was taken by rebels and brainwashed into becoming a murderous child soldier.
Enter idealistic American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), in Sierra Leone to uncover the truth about conflict diamonds – diamonds used to finance war. Archer and Solomon have formed a reluctant partnership, with the former guiding the latter back to the buried diamond. Maddy uses her journalistic credentials to help the duo embark on a dangerous track through rebel held territory, although each member of this intrepid trio has his or her own agenda. Maddy wants the journalistic expose. Danny wants the diamond that will help him to finally leave Africa. Solomon is seeking something far more precious – his son.
Zwick turns in one of the top directorial efforts of 2006. He dresses his powerful polemic into a breathtakingly handsome travelogue through Africa, whose striking beauty is marred by horrific and mind-numbing violence. He creates a drama as engaging as any other about civil war, but Zwick makes it into an international social cause – to close the market for conflict diamonds. Zwick grabs the viewer by the heart with his gut-wrenching action and explosive violence. Then, he squeezes your heart to wring out the tears at the sight of such misery and despair and also at the sight of such devotion and kindness amidst the cruelty.
It helps that Zwick has a fine screenplay and story that is of the same epic proportions at just under two-and-a-half hours as a movie over three hours long. And the characters are so rich and well formed that even the script’s preachy dialogue that tends to show up sounds so much better coming out of the mouths of highly skilled actors. The cast brings a stunning sense of authenticity to the roles. For some of them, I could almost believe that they are the characters in the film.
Right now, I’m having a hard time believing that Leonardo DiCaprio has ever been better. He takes the whole cloth of the screenplay and creates in Danny Archer a real, living and breathing person. To hell with those who say that his white African dialect was weird. It sounds so real coming from him. He is Danny Archer; it’s in every word he says, every move he makes, and even in his eyes.
Djimon Hounsou isn’t very far behind. He is rapidly revealing that he is a great dramatic actor with the kind of power and stage presence for which we’ve usually only credit British actors of the Shakespearean stage of having. Hounsou is magnificent. I could make a movie just with him… on a stage empty of props and sets. Jennifer Connelly starts off rough, but her performance grows into the film just as Maddy Bowen starts to really feel Africa.
It’s great that Blood Diamond will make people aware of conflict diamonds, but the drama is so good that the film’s social conscious gets lost behind the beautiful fiction and sweeping storytelling. Blood Diamond is that thing for which movie lovers hope when they go to the theatre – a film with winning characters, a magnificent setting, and a great story. What more is there to say? It’s all on screen.
10 of 10
NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 5 nominations: “Best performance by an actor in a leading role” (Leonardo DiCaprio), “Best performance by an actor in a supporting role” (Djimon Hounsou), “Best achievement in editing” (Steven Rosenblum), “Best achievement in sound editing” (Lon Bender), and “Best achievement in sound mixing” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, and Ivan Sharrock)
2007 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Leonardo DiCaprio)
2007 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Supporting Actor” (Djimon Hounsou)
2007 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Djimon Hounsou); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Motion Picture”
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sunday, September 11, 2011
"My Country, My Country" is a Family Story
My Country, My Country (2006)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
CINEMATOGRAPHER/DIRECTOR: Laura Poitras
PRODUCERS: Joceylin Glatzer and Laura Poitras
EDITORS: Erez Laufer and Laura Poitras
Academy Award nominee
DOCUMENTARY – Family, Politics, War
Starring: Dr. Riyadh & family, Peter Towndrow, and Edward Wong
In her Oscar-nominated documentary, My Country, My Country, filmmaker Laura Poitras provides an inside look at war-torn Iraq from the perspective of a Baghdad doctor and his family. The film follows the doctor from mid-summer 2004 to shortly after the January 30, 2005 elections.
Dr. Riyadh is a physician who serves the people of his community in the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya in the city of Baghdad. Working from the Adhamiya Free Medical Clinic, Riyadh is a healthcare provider, but he’s also an advocate for the people in many other areas of their lives. For instance, he helps some of his patients get much needed cash.
Dr. Riyadh, a Sunni, is a critic of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, but he supports the idea of democracy as a way to save Iraq. He runs for office during the tumultuous January 2005 elections as a candidate for the Baghdad Provincial Council representing the Iraqi Islamic Party. Poitras follows Riyadh as he campaigns for office, visits the notorious Abu Ghraib prison where he counsels prisoners (including a 9-year old boy), and consults with American military officials. Poitras also observes varied groups, interests, and parties involved with the buildup to the election including the U.S. military, an Australian private security contractor (OAM), and a New York Times reporter.
Laura Poitras’ camera is very revealing as she captures the weary Riyadh in the six months leading up to the election of the Transitional National Assembly. The Sunni doctor’s weariness is evident as he examines patients and engages his family in caustic debates and acerbic conversations – often accompanied by gunfire outside the family home or on TV. Although the election occurred just a little over two years ago, My Country, My Country isn’t dated because the Iraq War is ongoing and so are the repercussions of the January 2005 elections.
Although Poitras gives her viewers that you-are-there immediacy, the film seems too interior and insular. There are glimpses of the larger outside world, but much of the film is inside something – a doctor’s office, a home, an office, meeting hall, etc. My Country, My Country, which was broadcast as an episode of the television documentary series, P.O.V., is more about Riyadh’s dismay and malaise, and less about Iraq. Although her film is engaging, Poitras seems to have not noticed that both her camera and her narrative yearned to break free from Riyadh and see more of post-invasion Iraq. Still, My Country, My Country will remain an essential look at the personal cost of the war from the standpoint of an ordinary Iraqi man.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Documentary, Features” (Laura Poitras and Jocelyn Glatzer)
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, August 1, 2011
Review: "Seven Beauties" is Fine Cinema (Happy B'day, Giancarlo Giannini)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 37 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
Seven Beauties (1975)
Pasqualino Settebellezze – original Italian title
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Italy
Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Lina Wertmüller
PRODUCERS: Arrigo Colombo and Lina Wertmüller
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tonino Delli Colli
EDITOR: Franco Fraticelli
COMPOSER: Enzo Jannacci
Academy Award nominee
COMEDY/DRAMA/WAR
Starring: Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, Shirley Stoler, Elena Fiore, Piero Di Iorio, Enzo Vitale, Roberto Herlitzka, Lucio Amelio, and Ermelinda De Felice
In Pasqualino Settebellezze or (by its English title) Seven Beauties, Pasqualino Frafusco (Giancarlo Giannini) is a small time crook and hood wannabe who lives in Naples with his mother and seven sisters. As the movie begins, Pasqualino and a fellow soldier (Piero Di Iorio) are lost behind enemy lines, somewhere in Germany, during World War II. German soldiers eventually capture the duo, and they are interned in some kind of prisoner camp (which may also double as a concentration camp for Jews).
Because he has by his own estimation always been a ladies man, Pasqualino decides on a plan to woo an evil female German commandant (Shirley Stoler) in an attempt to save his life, a plan that of course goes horribly awry. Pasqualino’s camp trials are interspersed with scenes from his life in Naples and the time he spent in a mental institution for killing a man who he believed had insulted him and his family by turning one of Pasqualino’s sisters into a prostitute.
Seven Beauties earned Lina Wertmüller the first Oscar® nomination for a woman as Best Director. The film is part satirical and part farce, and it’s also a tragicomic drama that focuses on the soul of a common man. Giannini also earned a Best Actor nomination for his performance as a man who sells his body to the Germans and ends up loosing his soul or, at the very least, his spirit to them. Giannini’s performance is one of the great comic masterpieces, but many people may miss this because of the film’s darker tones. Pasqualino is a womanizing clown who thinks he has the world by the balls until the horrors of war and the internment camp show him how brutal people can be to one another. He thought he knew, but his imprisonments really show him how ugly dog eat dog can be.
Seven Beauties might be one of the best films about internment camps, except for the fact that it’s not really about that. Still, the film makes a salient point about the evil, greediness, and selfishness at the core of the human soul. If the film has a fault (and it’s a minor one), it’s that Wertmüller’s script glosses over the impact of Pasqualino’s mother and sisters on him and his character. Otherwise, this is an example of the great cinema Italy has given the world.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
1977 Academy Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Giancarlo Giannini), “Best Director” (Lina Wertmüller), “Best Foreign Language Film” (Italy), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Lina Wertmüller)
1977 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Film” (Italy)
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Saturday, July 23, 2011
"Captain America: The First Avenger" a Fun Adventure Film
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
DIRECTOR: Joe Johnston
WRITERS: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (based upon the comic books by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby)
PRODUCERS: Kevin Feige and Amir Madani
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shelly Johnson
EDITORS: Robert Dalva and Jeffrey Ford with Michael McCusker
COMPOSER: Alan Silvestri
SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION/WAR
Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Richard Armitage, Stanley Tucci, Samuel L. Jackson, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, Kenneth Choi, JJ Field, Bruno Ricci, Lex Shrapnel, Michael Brandon, and Martin T. Sherman
Captain America is a superhero character created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (cover dated March 1941), which was published by Timely Comics (the predecessor of Marvel Comics). Over the seven decades of his existence, Captain America has appeared in comic books, a 1944 movie serial, a 1990 film, and live action and animated television series.
Captain America returns to the big screen in Captain America: The First Avenger, the fifth film produced by Marvel Studios (a sister company of Marvel Comics). The film follows the adventures of a young man deemed unfit for military service during World War II who becomes a superhero dedicated to defending America’s ideals.
The story begins in March 1942, a time of momentous events, obviously with World War II being the main event. In Europe, Nazi officer, Johann Schmidt AKA the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), has stolen a mysterious cube-like tesseract, which he believes will provide the power to make him and his terrorist organization, HYDRA, more powerful that Hitler and the Third Reich. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in New York City, Brooklyn native, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a short, scrawny, sickly young man, is rejected for military service as 4F for the fifth time. Rogers’ best friend, Sgt. James “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan), tries to comfort him, but Rogers won’t be consoled and is desperate to serve his country.
Rogers’ convictions capture the attention of Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), an immigrant scientist working for the U.S. government’s Strategic Science Reserve. Erskine’s secret project is a serum that he hopes will create super soldiers, and Erskine wants to test it on Rogers. With the help of military inventor, Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Erskine finds success and the serum turns Rogers into a tall, muscular marvel.
After a very public battle with enemy agents, Rogers dons a colorful costume and begins selling War Bonds, but he wants to do more for the good old U.S. of A. While touring Europe, fate gives Rogers a chance to be a hero again and Captain America (Chris Evan) is born. Now, only Captain America and a small band of soldiers can save the world from the Red Skull and HYDRA.
At times, Captain America: The First Avenger is intensely violent, thus its PG-13 rating. Besides that, the film is really a family action adventure that blends the superhero and war movie genres. It cleverly mixes light-hearted, golden nostalgia for Depression and World War II era America with good old two-fisted tales of American fighting men. For the most part, director Joe Johnston seamlessly blends the period film elements with the action set pieces featuring red-bloodied American men kicking evil, Euro-trash ass. In fact, Captain America: The First Avenger reminds me of Johnston’s underrated 1991 Depression-era flick, The Rocketeer (which was also adapted from a comic book).
Although the acting is mostly good, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers and Captain America is the clear standout. Evans is so good that you soon forget the special effects that transform this strapping young actor into the small, frail kid that Steve Rogers is before the super soldier serum turns him into beefcake.
The last third of the film lacks the punch and humor of the first two-thirds. By the end, Captain America’s square-jawed optimism and the film’s gentle humorous tone are replaced by a Captain America that is a fighting machine and by standard action stuff. Still, Captain America: The First Avenger is not really like most superhero movies. It’s a different-looking fantasy action adventure and a fun one, at that.
6 of 10
B
Saturday, July 23, 2011
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