Review: "BLUE BEETLE" is a Family Affair

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 38 of 2023 (No. 1927) by Leroy Douresseaux

Blue Beetle (2023)

Running time:  127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, language, and some suggestive references

DIRECTOR:  Angel Manuel Soto

WRITER:  Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (based on characters from DC Comics)

PRODUCERS:  Zev Foreman and John Rickard

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Pawel Pogorzelski (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Craig Alpert

COMPOSER:  The Haxan Cloak

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION/FAMILY

Starring:  Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, Damien Alcazar, Adriana Barraza, Belissa Escobedo, Elpidia Carrillo, Raoul Max Trujillo, Modesto Lacen, and Harvey Guillén, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez, and  (voice) Becky G

Blue Beetle is a 2023 superhero and action-fantasy film directed by Ángel Manuel Soto.  The film is based on the DC Comics character, Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes, that was created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner and first appeared in the comic book, Infinite Crisis #3 (cover dated: February 2006).  Blue Beetle the movie focuses on a young man who finds himself chosen to be the symbiotic host of an alien artifact that gives him a suit of armor.

Blue Beetle introduces recent college graduate, Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena), who is returning to his hometown of Palmera City.  He receives a warm welcome from his family:  his father, Alberto Reyes (Damian Alcazar); his mother, Rocio Reyes (Elpidia Carrillo); his Nana (Adrian Barraza), his younger sister, Milagro (Belissa Escobedo); and his uncle, Rudy Reyes (George Lopez).  Jaime soon learns that his family will lose their home due to financial difficulties and to Alberto's poor health.  Still, Jaime is optimistic that he will quickly get a job and make enough money for his family.

Some time later, Jaime meets Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), the daughter of Ted Kord, the currently-missing CEO OF Kord Industries.  Jenny is at odds with her aunt, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), the current CEO.  Jenny discovers that Victoria has dark plans for her recent discovery, an alien artifact called “the Scarab.”  Jenny steals the Scarab, and not knowing its true nature, she passes it on to Jaime.

 

As soon as Jaime touches the Scarab, it activates and attaches to him, creating a suit of armor around him.  The suit gives Jaime extraordinary powers, such as flight, super-strength, and invulnerability, but those powers are unpredictable.  Now, Jaime's family calls him a “superhero.”  However, Jaime isn't sure that he wants to be a superhero, and Victoria Kord will do whatever she has to do – including murder – to regain possession of the Scarab.

The Blue Beetle first appeared in Fox Comics' Mystery Men Comics #1 (cover dated: August 1939) and was the secret identity of a young police officer, Dan Garrett.  The second Blue Beetle first appeared in Charlton Comics' Captain Atom #83 (November 1966) and was Ted Kord, an industrialist and owner of KORD Industries.  I mention this because Dan Garrett is referenced in this film.  Also, Ted Kord, with a new origin, is a major subplot in this film, although the story is that he has been missing for years under mysterious circumstances.

However, this is Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes' film.  He comes across as a normal young man in his early twenties.  Warner Bros. didn't even cast some muscular young android-like actor for the role.  Xolo Mariduena's body is in good shape, but he looks more like a high school kid still in physical development.  Everything about Xolo comes across as boy-next-door, which makes him more relatable to a larger segment of the audience.  After all, Jaime seems so vulnerable that even an alien suit of armor doesn't seem capable of completely protecting him.  If there is a superhero of the people – the champion next door – Xolo makes Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle fit the role perfectly.

Like Warner Bros.'s 2019 DC Comics film, Shazam, Blue Beetle emphasizes family, and the Reyes are delightful.  George Lopez's Uncle Rudy is a scene stealer, and I'm glad the story reveals that there is so much more to him than meets the eye.  Of course, one can judge how good a family is by placing it in contrast with a problematic family, and that is the Kords.  Susan Sarandon plays the evil aunt, Victoria Kord, with relish, although she doesn't really go over the top.  The film puts Jenny Kord, smoothly played by actress Bruna Marquezine, at the center of the good family (the Reyes)-bad family (Victoria Kord) dynamic.  Which will Jenny ultimately choose?  Like Shazam, Blue Beetle shows how cool an extended or surrogate family can be, especially to someone in need.

I like what director Angel Manuel Soto does with his collaborators, cast, and crew.  Blue Beetle is an easy-going superhero film that is fun for a family audience, even with the sometimes intense action and dark plot elements.  I'm surprised that the film has as its themes, “imperialism in the name of democracy” and “militarized capitalism,” neither of which are ever portrayed as a good thing.  Uncle Rudy even calls Batman a “fascist,” which has caused a stir in some Internet circles.  This film definitely has an anti-authoritarian streak.

That aside, Blue Beetle is hugely and surprisingly entertaining, and it sparkles with humor.  By focusing on Jaime Reyes as much as it does on the Blue Beetle armor, the film gets to center on the most winning aspect of it story, family and friends.  Blue Beetle won't get the attention of bigger superhero film productions, but it has more heart than most of those other films.

[Blue Beetle has two extra scenes during the end credits.]

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, August 18, 2023

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Review: Miller, Keaton Speed "THE FLASH" Forward

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 of 2023 (No. 1915) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Flash (2023)

Running time:  144 minutes (2 hours, 24 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some strong language and partial nudity

DIRECTOR:  Andy Muschietti

WRITERS:  Christina Hodson; from a screen story by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Joby Harold (based on the DC Comics characters)

PRODUCERS:  Barbara Muschietti and Michael Disco

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Henry Braham

EDITORS:  Jason Ballantine and Paul Machliss

COMPOSER:  Benjamin Wallfisch

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION

Starring:  Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdu, Kiesey Clemons, Antje Traue Temuera Morrison, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Nicolas Cage, George Clooney, Jason Momoa, and Jeremy Irons

The Flash is a 2023 superhero and action-fantasy film directed by Andy Muschietti.  The film is based on the DC Comics character, The Flash, with the two most famous versions being created by the teams of writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert and writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino.  The film is the 13th entry in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).  In The Flash, the superhero known as “the fastest man alive” uses his super-speed to change his family's tragic past, but also creates a world without superheroes.

The Flash opens at a very important time in the life of Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller).  His father, Henry Allen (Ron Livingston), has been imprisoned, wrongfully convicted for murdering his wife and Ezra's mother, Nora Allen (Maribel Verdu).  As a police forensic investigator for the Central City Police Department, Barry has been using his knowledge and connections in a bid to free his father, whose next appeal of his conviction is a day away.

However, Barry's superhero life intrudes, so he races to Gotham City where he helps Batman (Ben Affleck) stop a terrorist group.  After that, the Flash visits his childhood home.  Overcome by his emotions, Barry starts running so fast that he does not realize that his power, super-speed, has tapped into the “Speed Force” to such an extent that he has traveled back in time.  Although Batman's alter-ego, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), warns him against doing so, the Flash travels back in time, again.

He returns to the day his mother was murdered and changes events in order to save her life, and the thing about which Bruce warned Barry occurs, the unintended consequences of time travel.  Soon, Barry comes face to face with his younger self, college-age Barry (Ezra Miller).  Not long afterwards, Barry learns that his big change to the past has also created an Earth without superheroes.  As an alien threat looms, the two Barrys seek out the one superhero everyone knows exists – or at least once existed, Batman.  However, this Earth's Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) does not want to be Batman again, even if it dooms the world.

When I first heard of the premise of The Flash, I knew that Warner Bros. Pictures wanted to make its on version of Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios' multiverse adventure, Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).  Unlike this very sharp Spider-Man flick, The Flash is not as crisp and as efficient.  The Flash's action scenes are always at least a minute too long and too overdone.  The drama is a bit too melodramatic, sometimes in danger of being corny.  Still, director Andy Muschietti and his editors offer a film that is often quite engaging, thrilling, and entertaining.

I believe that the persons that really carry The Flash are first, Ezra Miller as The Flash/Barry Allen and as younger Barry Allen and second, Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne.  This time around Ezra offers a superhero and alter-ego that are both far less annoying and forced than they were in Joss Whedon's 2016 superhero film, Justice League.  Miller is so good at portraying two versions of Barry that they seem like distinctly different people and personalities.  Here, Miller's Flash is more like a quirky character than in Justice League, where he seemed like bad character writing and a resulting confused and awkward performance.  Sadly, Miller's legal problems may keep them from portraying the Flash again, which is a shame.  They have finally got a bead on how to play that kind of character in a way that makes him endearing.

To a slightly lesser extent, Michael Keaton also carries this film.  His Batman/Bruce Wayne is one of the most famous iterations of the character, having appeared in director Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).  Keaton revives the beats of the way he played the character over three decades ago, while adding a lot of new flavors to his character and new engagement in his performance.  After this appearance, I would really like to see more of Keaton's Batman.

Ben Affleck also makes a really nice turn as the “DCEU Batman/Bruce Wayne.”  Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl gives a performance that makes the character seem shoe-horned into this film.  And there are some delightful cameos from other actors and characters that have appeared in DC Comics-related film and television series.  Plus, there is a surprise appearance from another cinematic Batman.  As I have said, however, Ezra Miller and Michael Keaton put a light-speed jolt into The Flash.  I found The Flash entertaining, but I'm giving it the grade I am because of Miller and Keaton.

[The Flash has one scene at the end of the credits.]

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, June 23, 2023

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Review: "CREED III" Lets Loose with Fists of Fury

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2023 (No. 1900) by Leroy Douresseaux

Creed III (2023)

Running time:  116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for intense sports action, violence and some strong language

DIRECTOR:  Michael B. Jordan

WRITERS: Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin; from a story Ryan Coogler, Keenan Coogler, and Zach Baylin

PRODUCERS:  William Chartoff, Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Jonathan Glickman, Elizabeth Raposo, Charles Winkler, David Winkler, and Irwin Winker

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Kramer Morgenthau (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Jessica Baclesse and Tyler Nelson

COMPOSER:  Joseph Shirley

DRAMA/SPORTS

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Wood Harris, Phylicia Rashad, Mila Davis-Kent, Jose Benavidez, Selenis Leyva, Florian Munteanu, Thaddeus James Mixson, Jr., Spence Moore II, Tony Bellew, Jacob “Stitch” Duran, Yahya McClain, and Stephen A. Smith

Creed III is a 2023 boxing drama and sports movie directed by Michael B. Jordan.  It is the ninth entry in the Rocky film series, which began with the 1976 film, Rocky.  Creed III is also a sequel to 2018's Creed II.  In Creed III, Adonis Creed has retired on top of the boxing game, but a childhood friend who was once a boxing prodigy returns bringing trouble with him.

Creed III finds champion boxer, Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Michael B. Jordan), defending his unified heavyweight boxing championship of the world (including the WBC titles) against an old rival.  Then, he retires to the life of a boxing promoter and manager via Delphi Boxing Academy in Los Angeles with its owner, Tony “Little Duke” Evers (Wood Harris).  His wife, music producer Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson), has a thriving career, and they have a bright, inquisitive, and hearing-impaired daughter, Amara (Mila Davis-Kent).  Life is good, but...

Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), the wife of Donnie's late father, Apollo Creed, adopted Donnie, and he must now deal with her failing health.  Also, Donnie has been teaching Amara to fight, and that causes a clash with Bianca after an incident at Amara's school.

The most shocking turn of events is the return of Damian “Dame” Anderson (Jonathan Majors).  Once upon a time, Dame was an 18-year-old, “Golden Gloves-winning,” boxing prodigy (Spence Moore II).  He was also 15-year-old Donnie's (Thaddeus James Mixson, Jr.) best friend.  However, a terrible incident separated them, and now, a reunion has become a dangerous face-off.

I did not think that I would enjoy Creed III as much as I enjoyed Creed (2015) and Creed II, but I did.  I will say, however, that Creed III is not quite as good as the earlier films.  The main reason is that the screenplay, written by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin with contributions for producer Ryan Coogler, is full of fanciful nonsense that would not happen in the real world of boxing.  Much of what happens in the planning and managing of fights seems illogical.  Still, the film's fight scenes are quite intense and even crazy, especially the fighting between Donnie and Dame.

Creed III, however, does not run on logic; it runs on emotions and passions.  The film's themes revolve around time and loss, and, to a lesser extent, love and longing.  Time does not heal all wounds, and the loss of opportunity can be devastating – as the film sees it.  Under the guidance of first time director, Michael B. Jordan, who is obviously also the film's star, the characters are direct – sometimes stunningly so – to each other about their feelings.  So can there be healing?

In that mode of raw emotions, Jordan, Tessa Thompson, and Wood Harris give strong performances.  Phylicia Rashad offers a poignant painful turn as Mary Anne, and Mila Davis-Kent steals scenes as young Amara Creed.  Jonathan Majors, currently a blazing hot movie star, presents Dame Anderson as crazy, but not too crazy, and as bull-in-the-china-shop who hides two decades of hurt behind his destructiveness and brutality.

Creed III”s maelstrom of emotions and feelings fascinated and got me past the plot holes.  For all the bitterness, wall-pounding, regret, and hurt that this film presents, it is about making amends.  I am impressed by Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut, and I think that fans of the previous films will really enjoy Creed III.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, March 4, 2023

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Review: "CREED II" Stands Strongly on Its Own

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 of 2023 (No. 1899) by Leroy Douresseaux

Creed II (2018)

Running time:  130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sports action violence, language, and a scene of sensuality

DIRECTOR:  Steven Caple, Jr.

WRITERS: Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone; based on a story by Sascha Penn and Cheo Hodari Coker (based on characters created by Sylvester Stallone and Ryan Coogler)

PRODUCERS:  William Chartoff, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin King-Templeton, Charles Winkler, David Winkler, and Irwin Winker

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Kramer Morgenthau (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Dana E. Glauberman, Saira Haider, and Paul Harb

COMPOSER:  Ludwig Goransson

DRAMA/SPORTS

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Dolph Lundgren, Florian Munteanu, Russell Hornsby, Wood Harris, Milo Ventimiglia, Robbie Johns, Brigitte Nielsen, Andre Ward, Tony Bellew, Jacob “Stitch” Duran, Max Kellerman, Jim Lampley, Roy Jones, Jr., Michael Buffer, and Scott Van Pelt

Creed II is a 2018 boxing drama and sports movies directed by Steven Caple, Jr.  It is the eighth entry in the Rocky film series, which began with the 1976 film, Rocky.  Creed II is also a sequel to 2015's Creed, which was a spin-off of the Rocky series.  In Creed II, newly crowned heavyweight champion, Adonis Creed, faces off against a boxer who is the son of the man who killed his father in the boxing ring.

Creed II opens three years after the events depicted in Creed.  Boxer Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Michael B. Jordan) finally defeats his rival, Danny “Stuntman” Wheeler (Andre Ward), to win the heavyweight championship of the world.  By his side is his trainer, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), the rival-turned-friend of his late father, Apollo Creed.  Creed's widow, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), who adopted Donnie as her son, is proud of him and his accomplishments.  His girlfriend, singer-songwriter Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson), also accepts his proposal of marriage

On the other side of the world, however, ghosts from his and Rocky's pasts stir. In Kyiv, Ukraine lives Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the former Soviet Union boxer who killed Apollo Creed during a bout in 1985.  After losing to Rocky in a subsequent boxing match, Ivan moved to Ukraine in exile.  Seeking an opportunity for redemption and a chance to regain glory, Ivan has been training his son, Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), to be a professional boxer.  Using training methods that are practically torture, Ivan has turned Viktor into a monster of a boxer who can and has broken his opponents' bodies.

Assisted by American boxing promoter, Buddy Marcelle (Russell Hornsby), Ivan is determined to get Viktor a match against Donnie.  For Donnie, it is a chance to settle his late father's affairs, but Rocky wants no part of such a match.  Can Donnie's body take the punishment fighting Viktor will inflict?  Donnie must also answer this question: why is he really a fighter?

As I said in my review of Creed, I have never watched the movie, Rocky, or any of its sequels in their entirety.  I doubt that I have ever watched enough of them to amount to an entire film.  I don't like boxing movies, but after watching these Creed films, I am thinking about diving into the Rocky series.

I thought director Ryan Coogler delivered some powerful work in the first Creed, and I think director Steven Caple, Jr. delivers an equally powerful film in Creed II.  Although Creed II's story is directly connected to 1985's Rocky IV, it is not as reliant on the Rocky franchise the way Creed, with its multiple intimate connections, was.

Like Coogler did in the first film, Caple gives Sylvester Stallone the space he needs to give one of his best performances as Rocky Balboa in decades.  Stallone, who also co-wrote Creed II's screenplay, actually evolves the character of Rocky, showing more about his character and life.

Caple also gets an excellent performance from Michael B. Jordan.  Jordan makes Adonis Creed seem genuine; all his hopes and dreams and the things that make him proud or angry resonate strongly in Creed II.  I dare say that Jordan is Adonis Creed the way great actors have seemingly made themselves into their characters (for instance, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and as Henry “Indiana” Jones).  Simply put, Jordan makes Donnie real.

Tessa Thompson as Bianca Taylor is good, but the character seems as if she is becoming a younger version of Phylicia Rashad's Mary Anne, and Rashad already does the mothering in this film quite well.  Dolph Lundgren is nice as Ivan Drago, delivering a layered performance as a fully developed character.  I must say, however, that Florian Munteanu is magnificent as Viktor Drago.  Viktor does not have many lines, but Munteanu tells the character's story and reveals his personality with his expressive eyes and emotive facial expressions.  Viktor Drago needs his own movie.

I did not think that I would like Creed II so much, but I love it.  I think its depictions of boxing matches are more intense than those in Creed (shout-out to Creed II's editors:  Dana E. Glauberman, Saira Haider, and Paul Harb).  The finale between Donnie and Viktor is the cherry on top of Creed II, a movie that can go toe-to-toe with the other boxing movies that I have deigned to watch.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, March 2, 2023

NOTES:

2019 Black Reel Awards:  2 nominations: “Outstanding Actor” (Michael B. Jordan) and “Outstanding Score” (Ludwig Göransson)

2019 Image Awards (NAACP): 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Michael B. Jordan)

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Review: "CREED" Fights Furiously in the Shadow of "Rocky"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 of 2023 (No. 1898) by Leroy Douresseaux

Creed (2015)

Running time:  133 minutes (2 hours, 13 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for violence, language and some sensuality

DIRECTOR:  Ryan Coogler

WRITERS: Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington; from a story by Ryan Coogler (based on characters created by Sylvester Stallone)

PRODUCERS:  Roger Chartoff, William Chartoff, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin King-Templeton, Charles Winkler, David Winkler, and Irwin Winker

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Maryse Alberti (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Claudia Castello and Michael P. Shawver

COMPOSER:  Ludwig Goransson

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/SPORTS

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Andre Ward, Tony Bellew, Ritchie Coster, Jacob “Stitch” Duran, Graham McTavish, Gabe Rosado, Brian Anthony Wilson, Max Kellerman, Jim Lampley, Michael Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, and Hannah Storm

Creed is a 2015 boxing drama and sports movies directed by Ryan Coogler.  It is the seventh film in the Rocky film series, which began with the 1976 film, Rocky.  Creed is also a spin-off of the Rocky series.  The film focuses on a young boxer who struggles with his legacy, but seeks out his late father's friend and former rival to be his trainer.

Creed introduces Adonis “Donnie” Johnson (Michael B. Jordan).  He is the son of former heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed via an extramarital affair.  Creed's widow, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), took Donnie into her home in Los Angeles, which opens up many opportunities for him.  However, Donnie also wants to be a boxer, but when he finds that no one will support or train him, he travels to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

There, he convinces Apollo Creed's old friend and former rival, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), to train him.  Initially reluctant to return to boxing, Rocky eventually agrees and begins training Donnie at his old stomping grounds, Front Street Gym.  When Donnie gets the offer to fight the “light heavyweight” champion of the world, “Pretty” Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew), Stallone isn't sure that he should do it.  Donnie's new girlfriend, singer-songwriter, Bianca (Tessa Thompson), also has her doubts.

To do this, Donnie will have to embrace his legacy as well as forge a new one for himself.  But is he willing to accept that the world does not want Adonis Johnson.  It wants “Adonis Creed?”

I have never watched the movie Rocky or any of its sequels in their entirety.  I doubt that I have ever watched enough of them to amount to an entire film.  I don't like boxing movies, although there is one I do like, the 1949 Film-Noir, The Set-Up.  However, I have been a fan of writer-director Ryan Coogler since seeing his powerful film debut, Fruitvale Station (2013).  I am crazy about his two films for Disney's Marvel Studios, Black Panther (2018) and its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).  I am intrigued by the upcoming Creed III, so I decided to see the one Coogler film that I'd skipped, the first film in the series, 2015's Creed.

In some ways, Creed seems entirely reliant on the first three film in the Rocky series.  It obviously would not exist with those films, but sometimes Creed acts as if it could not exist without constantly referencing the past.  Creed, as a film, struggles with its own legacy (Rocky) as it tries to become its own thing just as Adonis Johnson struggles with the legacy of Apollo Creed.  Will becoming Adonis Creed overshadow Adonis' own identity and achievements?  Can Creed escape the shadow of Rocky.  Perhaps, they find a happy medium, Adonis more so than the film that tells his story.

Beyond that, Creed is a really good film because Ryan Coogler is an exceptionally good filmmaker.  Here, his work makes him come across as a natural, and I now see why Marvel was willing to consider him for Black Panther all those years ago.  Coogler gives Sylvester Stallone the space he needs to give his best performance as Rocky Balboa in three decades.  The role had become a stereotype, but here, Coogler makes old and ailing Rocky seem like a genuine life lived instead of as a caricature revived.

Coogler also gets Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson to give what still seem to be the best performances of their careers.  Adonis and Bianca have weight and depth, and Jordan makes Adonis feel like an especially developed character.  Jordan carries Adonis' history and emotions as if they were real things.

It is a shame that the Oscars could only recognize Stallone – via the “Best Supporting Actor” category that he did not, but should have won.  It is as if the Academy, especially the directors and screenwriters' branches, fears Ryan Coogler colossal talent.  Still, Creed, in spite of its spin-off imperfections, will be remembered much more than many of 2016's Oscar favorites.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, February 25, 2023

NOTES:

2016 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Sylvester Stallone)

2016 Black Reel Awards:  5 wins: “Outstanding Actor, Motion Picture” (Michael B. Jordan), “Outstanding Supporting Actress, Motion Picture” (Tessa Thompson), “Outstanding Director, Motion Picture” (Ryan Coogler), “Outstanding Original or Adapted Screenplay, Motion Picture” (Aaron Covington and Ryan Coogler), and “Outstanding Motion Picture” (Sylvester Stallone, Irwin Winkler, David Winkler, Robert Chartoff, William Chartoff, Kevin King-Templeton); 4 nominations: “Outstanding Score” (Ludwig Göransson), “Outstanding Ensemble” (Francine Maisler), “Outstanding Original Song” (Tessa Thompson, Ludwig Göransson, and Sam Dew for the song, “Grip”), “Outstanding Original Song” (Donald Glover, Vince Staples, Jhené Aiko, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Göransson for the song, “Waiting for My Moment”)

2016 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Sylvester Stallone)

2016 Image Awards (NAACP):  4 wins: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Michael B. Jordan), “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Tessa Thompson), “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical” (Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington), “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical” (Ryan Coogler); 2 nominations: “Outstanding Motion Picture” and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Phylicia Rashad)

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Review: Uneven, Bombastic "BLACK ADAM" is Strictly for Fans

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 63 of 2022 (No. 1875) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Adam (2022)
Running time:  124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, intense action and some language.
DIRECTOR:  Jaume Collet-Serra
WRITERS:  Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani (based on characters created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck)
PRODUCERS:  Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, and Beau Flynn
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Lawrence Sher (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  John Lee and Michael L. Sale
COMPOSER:  Lorne Balfe

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION

Starring:  Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell, Marwan Kenzari, Bodhi Sabongui, Mohammed Amer, Jalon Christian, Henry Winkler, and Djimon Hounsou with Viola Davis and Henry Cavill

Black Adam is a 2022 superhero and action-fantasy film from director Jaume Collet-Serra.  The film is based on characters created by writers Bill Parker and Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck originally for defunct publisher, Fawcett Comics, and now owned by DC Comics.  Black Adam the movie focuses on a legendary hero who returns to life after nearly 5000 years, bringing his unique form of justice to his besieged homeland.

Black Adam opens in 2600 BC.  In the city of Kahndaq, there is a legend that the tyrannical king, Anh-Kot (Marwan Kenzari), intended to create an object of dark magic, the Crown of Sabbac, which is known to give the wearer great power.  He enslaves his own people and forces them to dig in the mountains for “Eternium,” the magical crystal Anh-Kot will use to make the crown.  A legendary hero, Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson), arises and kills Anh-Kot before the hero himself is buried somewhere in the ruins of the Anh-Kot's castle – so the legends say.

Present day Kahndaq is oppressed by members of the international crime syndicate known as “Intergang.”  They are searching for university professor and resistance fighter, Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi).  She is trying to locate the Crown of Sabbac, with the help of her brother, Karim (Mohammed Amer), and some of his colleagues.  Ambushed after finding the crown, Adrianna revives Teth-Adam, and although he kills her assailants, the risen hero proves to be something much less than a hero.

Meanwhile, from the United States, the superhero Hawkman/Carter Hall (Aldis Hodge) leads a group of heroes, the Justice Society:  Doctor Fate/Kent Nelson (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone/Maxine Hunkel (Quintessa Swindell), and newcomer Atom Smasher/Albert “Al” Rothstein (Noah Centineo), into Kahndaq to take Teth-Adam into custody.  While Adrianna and her son, Amon (Bodhi Sabongui), watch, Teth-Adam battles the Justice Society throughout the city.  However, Teth-Adam will be forced to confront the truth about himself and about his past if he and the Justice Society are going to stop a great evil from ruling Kahndaq again.

In case you are wondering, Teth-Adam does not become “Black Adam” until the end of the film.  He is neither hero nor villain.  Black Adam, in the case of this film, is not so much an anti-hero as he is simply Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.  The movie only exists because Johnson willed it into existence.  Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films' original plan was apparently to make Black Adam a supporting character/villain in the movie Shazam that was released in 2019.  Johnson wanted more for the character than to be a mere lackey, and truthfully, had he appeared in Shazam as Black Adam, Johnson, as an international movie star with a huge personality, would have dominated the film in ways that probably would have been bad for it.

In the case of Black Adam the movie, it is Johnson's will that holds this film together, otherwise, it would fall apart.  The screenplay is a disaster with a plot that is a patchwork of clumsy sub-plots.  The film's pace is uneven, being a mixture of tedious action sequences and unnecessary fighting.  The characters are either barely likable or are ridiculous.  The kid character, Amon Tomaz, is actually quite nice, but his mother, Adrianna, is really irritating.

Don't get me started on the Justice Society.  As Hawkman, actor Aldis Hodge is so intense that it makes a lot of his performance seem like overacting.  [Actor Michael B. Jordan also has a problem with being too intense.]  Pierce Brosnan is embarrassing as Doctor Fate, but Brosnan's problems could be a poorly written character and crappy dialogue.  The superhero Cyclone is … tragic.  So is Atom Smasher, but actor Noah Centineo delivers Smasher's bad dialogue in a way that sounds funny.

Twice while watching Black Adam, I wanted to walk out of the film, but I was seeing it with a friend.  Black Adam seems much longer than its 124-minute running time.  At one point, I thought the film was over, so I checked my phone and discovered that there was more than a half-hour left.  I can only recommend this films to die hard fans of superhero movies and to fans of Dwayne Johnson.  I could not recommend this film to anyone else.  I'm only giving this film a “C” grade because I am a fan of Johnson and an admirer of what he has built for himself; if not for him, I don't know how much lower I would go.  I am not sure that I could watch Black Adam again, even in bits and pieces when it becomes a cable TV staple.

4 of 10
C
★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, October 21, 2022


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Review: "SCOOBY-DOO! Return to Zombie Island" Revisits Scooby-Doo History

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 62 of 2022 (No. 1874) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island (2019) – Video
Running time:  77 minutes (1 hour, 17 minutes)
Rated TV-G
DIRECTORS:  Cecilia Aranovich Hamilton and Ethan Spaulding
WRITER: Jeremy Adams
PRODUCERS:  Amy McKenna and and Rick Morales
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Sam Register
EDITOR:  Robert Ehrenreich
COMPOSER:  Robert J. Kral
ANIMATION STUDIO:  Digital eMation

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring:  (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey Griffin, Kate Micucci, Janell Cox, David Herman, John Michael Higgins, Dave B. Mitchell, Cassandra Peterson, Roger Rose, and Travis Willingham

Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island is a 2019 straight-to-video, animated, comic mystery film.  It is the thirty-third entry in the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series from Warner Bros. Animation, and it is a direct sequel to 1998's Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, the first movie in this series.  In Return to Zombie Island, the retired Mystery Inc. gang visits a remote, but familiar island with a dark secret.

Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island opens a few months after the events depicted in Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost.  The members of Mystery Inc.: Fred Jones (Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (Grey Griffin), Velma Dinkley (Kate Micucci), Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard), and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker), have retired, and Fred is still depressed about selling the Mystery Machine.

On her television show, legendary horror hostess, Elvira (Cassandra Peterson), announces that Shaggy has won a trip to a tropical island paradise.  Coincidentally, Shaggy is allowed to bring three friends and a dog along.  Because they are supposedly retired from mystery-solving, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo make Fred, Daphne, and Velma promise that they will not solve any more mysteries and will actually try to relax on this vacation.

As they sail on a ferry toward the island, Fred, Daphne, and Velma realize the surroundings are more swamp-like than tropical.  The ferry captain (Dave B. Mitchell) says that zombies inhabit the island, which reminds some of the gang of the last time, years ago, when they visited “Moonscar Island” a.k.a. “Zombie Island,” an island with zombies on it.

When they arrive on this supposed island paradise, two people greet them off the boat, but warn them to get out.  Also, once on the island, a mysterious dark cat creature stalks them.  Even the the hotel is coincidentally named “Moonstar Island Resort.”  Still, no matter how many times they run into something that reminds them of Zombie Island, Shaggy and Scooby make their friends stick to their promise not to try to solve mysteries.  But has that promise put them all in danger of suffering a fate from which they once only narrowly escaped?

Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island, like its predecessor, 1998's Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, has an strong premise, but clumsy execution delivers an inconsistent film.  Sometimes, the sequel is fun, fast-moving, and comically horrifying, in the tradition of Scooby-Doo TV series and films, but other times, Return to Zombie Island meanders, juggling multiple subplots.  One of those subplots pops up late in the film and involves a movie, “Zombie Teenagers and the Island of Doom.”  At this point, Return to Zombie Island loses credibility, although the film-within-a-film subplot introduces a fun character, the self-absorbed movie director, Alan Smithee, voiced by John Michael Higgins, who delivers a good performance.

Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island is a children's movie, but adults who are fans of this straight-to-video series will want to watch it.  Like me, they may even find some enjoyment in it.

6 of 10

B

★★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, October 5, 2022


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Review: "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island" Started a Thing

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 61 of 2022 (No. 1873) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998) – Video
Running time:  77 minutes (1 hour, 17 minutes)
Rated TV-G
DIRECTOR:  Jim Stenstrum
WRITERS: Glenn Leopold; from a story by Glenn Leopold and David Doi (based on the Hanna-Barbera characters)
PRODUCER:  Cosmo Anzilotti
EDITOR:  Paul Douglas
COMPOSER:  Steven Bramson
ANIMATION STUDIO:  Mook Animation

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY and ACTION/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring:  (voices) Frank Welker, Scott Innes, Billy West, Mary Kay Bergman, B.J. Ward, Tara Strong, Cam Clarke, Jim Cummings, Mark Hamill, Jennifer Leigh Warren, and Ed Gilbert

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is a 1998 straight-to-video, animated, comic mystery film.  It was the first animated movie in what became the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series from Warner Bros. Animation.  In Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, the Mystery Inc. Gang reunites and visits a remote island with a dark secret.

As Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island opens, the five members of Mystery, Inc.:  Fred Jones (Frank Welker); Daphne Blake (Mary Kay Bergman), Velma Dinkley (B.J. Ward); Shaggy Rogers (Billy West), and Scooby-Doo (Scott Innes) have gone their separate ways.  They apparently became bored of mystery solving because culprits were never real ghosts, aliens, and monsters, but were practically always people in costumes.

Daphne Blake now has her own television series, “Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake,” in which she investigates claims of supernatural occurrences.  Fred Jones is her cameraman and producer.  Shaggy and Scooby are security guards, and Velma owns a book shop, “Dinkley's Mystery Book Shoppe,” which is also known as “Mystery Inc. Books.”

Daphne decides that she wants to hunt down a real ghost rather than investigating ghosts that turn out to be fakes.  So Fred calls the gang back together, and the reunited Mystery Inc. embarks on a road trip scouting haunted locations across the United States for Daphne's TV show.

That is why they end up in New Orleans, Louisiana, where they meet a curious local, Lena Dupree (Tara Strong).  She tells them that they can find real ghosts at her place of employment, a mansion and hot pepper plantation on Moonscar Island.  Skeptical at first, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby follow Lena to the island hoping to find a real ghost instead of a villain in a costume.  What they find is more than they expected in a spooky place that might as well be called “Zombie Island.”

I remember that I first heard about Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island probably about a month or so before it was released in September 1998.  It was big news in the world of the American television animation industry and in home entertainment.  I bought a copy for the elementary school age son of a close friend of mine, who was a huge Scooby-Doo fan, then.  [He is now an adult in his late twenties (as of this writing), and I don't know if he still loves Scooby-Doo.]

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was billed as the first time that a Scooby-Doo cartoon would find Scooby and Shaggy and company facing real supernatural entities.  The advertising for this straight-to-video (VHS) release declared, “This time, the monsters are real.”  However, as early as a 1980 episode of the “Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo” animated TV series, the stories featured real aliens and a real vampire.

That aside, it is nice to see Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island pit the characters against real ghosts, real zombies, and other real supernatural creatures.  My problem with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is that the writers open the movie with some nice character development, but by the time the characters reach Moonscar Island, the story devolves into Scooby and Shaggy running around and screaming or we get tedious scenes of Scooby chasing one or more of the cats that belong to Moonscar mansion's owner, Simone Lenoir (Adrienne Barbeau).

That animation is average to above average, with the best sequences being those with the zombies.  The film's direction presents an inconsistent pace to go with the inconsistent story, so sometimes even a haunted mansion and a zombie island seem like boring places.  Still, I am glad that I finally watched Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.  I've been putting it off for at least two decades.

I will say that it is an important film because it launched the Scooby-Doo straight-to-video series, of which I am a big fan.  So Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is a must see for fans of all things Scooby-Doo and Mystery Inc.

6 of 10
B
★★★ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, July 7, 2021


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Review: "DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS" is an Amusing Diversion ... for Children

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 60 of 2022 (No. 1872) by Leroy Douresseaux

DC League of Super-Pets (2022) - animated
Running time:  105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG for action, mild violence, language and rude humor
DIRECTOR:  Jared Stern
WRITERS:  Jared Stern and John Whittington (based on characters appearing in DC Comics)
PRODUCERS: Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Patricia Hicks, and Jared Stern
EDITORS:  David Egan and Jhoanne Reyes
COMPOSER:  Steve Jablonsky
ANIMATION STUDIO:  Warner Animation Group/Animal Logic

ANIMATION/SUPERHERO/ACTION/FANTASY

Starring:  (voices) Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski, Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, Diego Luna, Thomas Middleditch, Ben Schwartz, Keanu Reeves, Marc Maron, Olivia Wilde, Jameela Jamil, Jemaine Clement, John Early, Daveed Diggs, Dascha Polanco, Maya Erskine, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alfred Molina, Lena Headey, Winona Bradshaw, and Keith David

DC League of Super-Pets is a 2022 3D computer-animated, superhero fantasy and action-comedy film directed by Jared Stern with CGI animation produced by Animal Logic.  The film is based on characters and concepts appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.  DC League of Super-Pets focuses on Superman's dog and a group newly super-powered shelter animals who must stop a conspiracy hatched by a guinea pig that is an evil genius.

DC League of Super-Pets opens with the story of how baby Kal-El and a Labrador Retriever-like pup left the planet Krypton, as it was in the throes of destruction, in a space ship headed to Earth.  Decades later, the baby is now Superman/Clark Kent (John Krasinski) and his pet, Krypto the Superdog (Dwayne Johnson).  All is well between Superman and his super-best friend until Clark decides to take his relationship with Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde), a fellow reporter at “The Daily Planet,” to the next level.  Krypto suddenly feels that his relationship with Superman is threatened.

Meanwhile, LexCorp CEO and Superman's enemy, Lex Luthor (Marc Maron), has hatched a plot to bring a meteorite of “orange kryptonite” to Earth.  Superman and Krypto easily stop the plot with the aid of the Justice League:  Wonder Woman (Jameela Jamil), Aquaman (Jemaine Clement), Flash (John Early), Green Lantern (Dascha Polanco), Cyborg (Daveed Diggs), and the Batman (Keanu Reeves).

At LexCorp, Lex used guinea pigs as test subjects.  One of them, Lulu (Kate McKinnon), is also an evil genius.  She has reeled in her own piece of orange kryptonite, having discovered that it gives super-powers to animals.  Now empowered by flight and telekinesis, Lulu is determined to free the now imprisoned Lex Luthor and to destroy Superman and the Justice League.  Now, only Krypto and a ragtag band of shelter animals:  Ace a boxer dog (Kevin Hart), PB the potbellied pig (Vanessa Bayer), Merton the slider turtle (Natasha Lyonne), and Chip the squirrel (Diego Luna), are left to stop Lulu's plot and save Superman.

DC League of Super-Pets is cute, and I imagine that it may be a hit with certain young viewers.  While watching it, I couldn't wait for it to be over.  The first 56 minutes of the film is formulaic superhero movie drivel, except for a moment here and there, such as the baby Kal-El and puppy Krypto's exodus from a dying Krypton.  The film does not have another emotional moment that feels real until Kevin Hart's Ace tells his tragic story.  When the other shelter pets tell their story, those stories don't work as well as Ace's.  Also, I wasn't crazy with the design and art direction for this film.  Everything looks like second-rate retro and draw-by-number art deco.

Perhaps, I have mixed feelings about this movie because I have mixed feelings about the voice performances.  Dwayne Johnson is okay as Krypto; to me, his personality seems wrong for Krypto.  Keanu Reeves is good as Batman, mainly because he captures the humorous angle written for the character.  Kevin Hart is quite good as Ace; actually, Hart's Ace would have been a better lead character.  [Maybe, we can get an “Ace the Bat-Hound” movie.]  Kate McKinnon is also really good as Lulu, and she makes a character that probably shouldn't work dominate much of this movie.  No other voice performances in this film really move me.

The last act of DC League of Super-Pets offers a satisfying superhero battle with a victory for the heroes.  McKinnon is so good at making Lulu evil that I cheered when she receives her comeuppance.  I can recommend this movie to fans of superhero films, especially fans of films based on DC Comics characters, and to young audiences.  For the most part, it is like the average DreamWorks Animation or Illumination Entertainment anthropomorphic animal movie.  There are many superhero films that I watch repeatedly, but I doubt DC League of Super-Pets will be one of them.

[This film includes an end credits scene featuring Black Adam, his dog (Anubis), Superman, and Krypto.]

5 of 10
C+
★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, October 12, 2022


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Review: Baz Luhrmann's "ELVIS" Reveals That White People Ruined Presley

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 55 of 2022 (No. 1867) by Leroy Douresseaux

Elvis (2022)
Running time:  159 minutes (2 hours, 39 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for substance abuse, strong language, suggestive material and smoking
DIRECTOR:  Baz Luhrmann
WRITERS:  Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner; from a story by Baz Luhrmann and Jeremy Doner
PRODUCERS:  Baz Luhrmann, Gail Berman, Catherine Martin, Patrick McCormick, and Schuyler Weiss
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Mandy Walker (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Jonathan Redmond and Matt Villa
COMPOSER:  Elliot Wheeler

BIOPIC/HISTORICAL

Starring:  Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Luke Bracey, Dacre Montgomery, Leon Ford, Gary Clark, Jr., Yola, Natasha Bassett, Xavier Samuel, Adam Dunn, Shonka Dukureh, and Chaydon Jay

Elvis is a 2022 biopic, musical drama, and historical film from director Baz Luhrmann.  The film is an overview and fictional account of the life of Elvis Presley (1935–1977), the singer, songwriter, performer, and actor best known as simply “Elvis” and also as the “King of Rock and Roll.”  Elvis the movie examines his life – from his childhood to his rise to cultural icon status – and his complicated relationship with his notorious manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

Elvis opens in 1997 and introduces Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks).  After suffering a stroke, he is on his deathbed.  His gambling addiction has left him broke, but once upon a time, he was somebody.  He was both famous and infamous.  He was the manager of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll.

Early in his life, Elvis Aaron Presley (Chaydon Jay) was a just a kid whose family had moved into a housing project in the white section of an African-American neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee (1948).  Elvis' family was poor, and his father was in prison.  Elvis, already familiar with country music, became steeped in the gospel music of the nearby Black churches and also in the rhythm and blues of the Black clubs and music halls on Memphis' Beale Street.

Later (1955), when Colonel Parker meets the now adult Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), he is making waves as a young singer and guitarist.  Parker is already partnered with country singer, Hank Snow (David Wenham), when he hears Elvis, a young white artist who sounds black, especially on the groundbreaking single, “That's All Right.”

Soon, Parker is managing Elvis, and the young man's stage performances are making him very popular with young people, especially young women, who are driven crazy by Elvis' salacious wiggling legs, swinging hips, and thrusting pelvis.  Under Parker's management, Elvis begins a meteoric rise to stardom, but his stage act is drawing the ire of white people who don't want their kids exposed to Black music and culture.  To save Elvis from trouble, Colonel Parker exerts more control over Elvis' music, performances, and life, but what will that do to Parker and Elvis' already complex relationship?

Hard as it is to believe, Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has only directed six films in his thirty-year career, beginning with his 1992 debut, Strictly Ballroom, which I have never seen.  Other than Elvis, I have only seen Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001), and I have only reviewed the latter.

Elvis is like Moulin Rouge!, a flashy, fast-moving musical drama with excellent production values.  Everything about Elvis is lavish, spectacular, fabulous and beautiful.  The production design, art direction, and sets are the most beautiful that I have seen this year and maybe in a long time.  The costumes, regardless of the characters' wealth and social status, are gorgeous (the only word I can think of).  The cinematography and lighting create a world of fantasy, and the film editing manages to convey the seemingly incalculable number of moods and emotions that Luhrmann wants the audience for Elvis to experience.

The soundtrack is filled with Presley's iconic recordings, including some sung by Austin Butler.  There are a number of famous gospel and blues songs performed by their legendary originators.  There are also modern jams, some reinterpretations of classic songs, including the work of Elvis.

Simply put, Austin Butler makes you believe that he is Elvis Presley.  Butler seems to channel everything that made Elvis an icon and a legend.  Even Elvis' ex-wife, Priscilla, and daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, were awed by Butler's performance.  For anyone to beat Butler to the Oscar this year, they will have to be as amazing as him.

As for the entire film:  Elvis is at its best when it chronicles Elvis' rise before he enters the military service (the U.S. Army 1958-60).  When Elvis is close to his Memphis roots and hanging around Black singers and performers, he is happy and so is the film.  Post-military, the film is still beautiful to look like, but the film takes a darker turn as Elvis is disconnected from his roots and becomes surrounded by white people, most of whom are parasites.  And the ones that are not parasites are manipulators.

Tom Hanks' Colonel Tom Parker is one of the most ridiculously awful and awfully ridiculous film characters that I have ever seen.  Hanks' Parker is like a mix of “Pennywise the Clown” from the It films (based on the Stephen King books) and a mangy elf.  Parker epitomizes the morass that drags at the film for most of its running time.  Hanks' Parker does make one of the film's themes obvious and true.  Maybe, Elvis and Parker snowed themselves as much as they snowed each other.

My grade reflects how much I like this film's production values, music, and Austin Butler's performance.  Butler is the shining light of Elvis.  I could watch him play Elvis Presley again – in a better film.

6 of 10
B
★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, September 29, 2022


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Director George Miller Starts Filming "Furiosa" (from the world of "Mad Max") in Australia

Cameras Are Rolling in New South Wales, Australia, as Production Is Underway on Director George Miller’s Epic Action Adventure “Furiosa,” With Anya Taylor-Joy in the Title Role, Alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography is underway on Academy Award-winning filmmaker George Miller’s “Furiosa,” the much-anticipated return to the iconic dystopian world he created more than 30 years ago with the seminal “Mad Max” films, this time with an original new standalone action adventure that will reveal the origins of the powerhouse character from the multiple Oscar-winning global smash “Mad Max: Fury Road.” The new feature is being produced by Miller’s own Australian-based Kennedy Miller Mitchell banner, together with the filmmaker’s “Fury Road” partners Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. Anya Taylor-Joy stars in the title role, alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke.

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

Taylor-Joy was most recently seen in Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” and Robert Eggers’ “The Northman.” She also played the lead in the romantic comedy “Emma,” based on the Jane Austen novel. Her additional features include the sci-fi thrillers “Split” from M. Night Shyamalan, and his follow up “Glass,” in which she reprised her role from the previous film. She also starred as a chess prodigy in the massively successful miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit.”

Hemsworth is right at home with high-octane action, having starred in the “Avengers” and “Thor” films as well as the recent “Extraction.” His other film credits include “Bad Times at the El Royale,” “12 Strong,” “In the Heart of the Sea,” “Rush,” “Snow White and the Huntsman,” and “Star Trek,” among many others.

Burke is perhaps best-known for his award-nominated role in Joanna Hogg’s film “The Souvenir,” as well as playing the lead in the popular UK crime series “C.B. Strike.” He also starred as Athos in the BBC series “The Musketeers,” appeared in such feature films as Nicholas Winding Refn’s “Only God Forgives,” and played famed filmmaker Orson Welles in David Fincher’s Oscar-winning “Mank.”

Miller penned the script with “Mad Max: Fury Road” co-writer Nico Lathouris and produces alongside his longtime partner, Oscar-nominated producer Doug Mitchell (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Babe”). Miller’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes such longtime Australian collaborators as production designer Colin Gibson, editor Margaret Sixel, sound mixer Ben Osmo, costume designer Jenny Beavan and makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, each of whom won an Oscar for their work on “Mad Max: Fury Road,” as well as first assistant director PJ Voeten and second unit director and stunt coordinator Guy Norris. The director of photography is Simon Duggan (“Hacksaw Ridge,” “The Great Gatsby”).

Filming is underway in Australia. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

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WaterTower Music Announces "Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore" Soundtrack

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Now Available From WaterTower Music

FEATURES THE MUSIC OF GRAMMY- AND EMMY-WINNING COMPOSER JAMES NEWTON HOWARD

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WaterTower Music is excited to announce the release of “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” – the substantial 39-track soundtrack to Warner Bros. Pictures’ highly anticipated film “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the newest adventure in the Wizarding World™ created by J.K. Rowling, which opened in theaters internationally beginning April 7, 2022 and will be released in North America on April 15, 2022.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) features the music of distinguished Emmy- and Grammy-winning composer and nine-time Oscar nominee James Newton Howard (“The Hunger Games” franchise, “News Of The World,” “Defiance”), who returns to the Wizarding World to once again construct the music for the film, powerfully underscoring the characters and their adventures. Wizarding World fans will be quite familiar with the celebrated composer’s work from the first two “Fantastic Beasts” films, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”

“Composing the music for the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movies has been a musically fulfilling and challenging adventure,” remarked Howard. “What more could a film composer want than to be given a canvas as rich and exciting as ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore?’ It's a pleasure to collaborate yet again with director David Yates, who has made an intricate and powerful cinematic experience that fans will love.”

The Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is now available for digital purchase and streaming, and on CD. The 39-track track list is as follows:

1. I’m Expecting Someone

2. We Can Free Each Other

3. She’s Ready

4. Wyvern Rescue

5. Young Man’s Magic

6. I Know You Are There

7. Lally

8. Call Me Jacob

9. Countersight

10. A Message to Deliver

11. Insufficient Evidence

12. Do You Know What It’s Like?

13. Kama’s Memory

14. Same Blood

15. The Erkstag

16. Let Him Stand

17. Manticore Dance

18. Go to Him

19. Assassin!

20. Ted and Pick

21. The Escape

22. Kingdom of Bhutan

23. Powers of the Beast

24. Family History

25. Reanimation

26. The Room We Require

27. Surrounded

28. Hey Fellas

29. Case Chaos

30. A Full Heart

31. The Vote

32. He’s Lying to You

33. The Twin

34. He Sought to Kill, I Sought to Protect

35. I Was Never Your Enemy

36. The Promise

37. The Ceremony

38. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

39. Heaven - By Gregory Porter

ABOUT “FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE”:

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” is the newest adventure in the Wizarding World™ created by J.K. Rowling.

Professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?

The film features an ensemble cast, including Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”), two-time Oscar nominee Jude Law (“Cold Mountain,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”), Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, William Nadylam, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Victoria Yeates, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Fiona Glascott, Katherine Waterston, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Richard Coyle, Oliver Masucci, Valerie Pachner, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, and Mads Mikkelsen.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production, a David Yates film, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” in theaters internationally beginning 7 April 2022 and in North America on April 15, 2022. The film will be distributed worldwide in select theatres and IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures.

ABOUT JAMES NEWTON HOWARD:

James Newton Howard is one of the film industry’s most versatile and honored composers, with a career spanning over thirty-five years and encompassing more than 140 film and television projects. He is a nine-time Oscar nominee, and Emmy and Grammy winner. Howard has also been honored with ASCAP’s prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement and the BMI ICON Award.

As a record producer, arranger, and songwriter, he has collaborated with some of pop’s biggest names, including Elton John; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Barbra Streisand; Earth, Wind and Fire; Bob Seger; Rod Stewart; Toto; Glenn Frey; Diana Ross; Carly Simon; Olivia Newton-John; Randy Newman; Rickie Lee Jones; and Chaka Khan.

In 1985, he was offered his first film, “Head Office,” and he quickly knew he had found his calling. He has since created the scores for a broad range of films, recently including “Jungle Cruise,” “News of the World,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” “Red Sparrow,” “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” “Detroit,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” all four installments of “The Hunger Games” franchise, “Concussion,” “Nightcrawler” and “Maleficent.” His long list of credits also includes “Snow White and the Huntsman,” “The Bourne Legacy,” “Salt,” “Water For Elephants,” “Batman Begins,” “Collateral,” “Snow Falling on Cedars,” “Outbreak,” “The Village,” “Hidalgo,” “Peter Pan,” “Wyatt Earp,” “Lady in the Water,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” “Freedomland,” “Dinosaur,” “Treasure Planet,” “Signs,” “Falling Down,” “Primal Fear,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Waterworld,” “The Devil’s Advocate,” “Dave” and “Pretty Woman,” among many others.

In 2017, Howard completed his first live concert tour, 3 Decades of Music for Hollywood, visiting 15 European cities, with the premiere being held at Royal Albert Hall.

In addition to his contributions to film and television music, Howard has written a number of concert works. He has written two pieces for the Pacific Symphony: “I Would Plant a Tree,” which debuted in 2009; and his “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra,” which premiered in 2015, featuring renowned violinist James Ehnes. He was also commissioned to write one of the encores for Hilary Hahn’s collection, 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores, entitled “133 . . . At Least.” His chamber work entitled “they have just arrived at this new level” was commissioned and premiered in 2018 by the Seattle Chamber Music Society, of which James Ehnes is principal violinist and artistic director. Most recently, his “Concerto for Cello and Orchestra” was premiered with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

ABOUT WATERTOWER MUSIC:

WaterTower Music, the in-house label for the WarnerMedia companies, releases recorded music as rich and diverse as the companies themselves. It has been the soundtrack home to many of the world’s most iconic films, television shows and games since 2001.

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Review: Hurt and Turner Put All the Heat in "BODY HEAT"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 of 2022 (No. 1829) by Leroy Douresseaux

Body Heat (1981)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Lawrence Kasdan
PRODCUER:  Fred T. Gallo
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Richard H. Kline (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Carol Littleton
COMPOSER:  John Barry

DRAMA/ROMANCE/CRIME

Starring:  William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J.A. Preston, Oscar Grace, Mickey Rourke, Kim Zimmer, Jane Hallaren, Lanna Saunders, and Carola McGuinness

Body Heat is a 1981 romance and crime drama written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan.  The film is set in Florida during a searing heat wave and focuses on a small-town lawyer and a sultry woman who conspire to murder her rich husband.

Body Heat introduces Ned Racine (William Hurt), an inept lawyer who operates out of Okeelanta County, in southern Florida, which is in the middle of a searing heatwave.  One night, he chances upon a very attractive woman, who is all alone.  Although she initially rebuffs his amorous attempts, she eventually gives in to Ned's advances and identifies herself as Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner).  She lives in a posh mansion with her mysteriously wealthy husband, Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna).  Edmund is usually away on business during the week, so that is when Matty is alone.

Ned and Matty begin a torrid affair.  When they can be together, they have lots of sex in the sweltering heat of the night.  When Edmund is home on the weekends, Matty longs to be with Ned, as he longs to be with her.  If Matty were to divorce her husband, an onerous marital prenuptial agreement would leave her with very little, but she would get half his estate if he died...  Matty wishes Edmund was dead, and Ned presents her with a way to get rid of him.  Ned believes that he has figured out how to get away with murder, but has he figured out Matty Walker?

William Hurt (1950-2022) recently died after a reported battle with cancer, and I was taken aback.  William Hurt was one of the biggest names in Hollywood in the 1980s when I was first coming of age an a film fan.  I have decided to go back and watch some of his films that I'd previously seen and also to watch some for the first time.  One of those first time films is Body Heat, which was only the third film in which he'd starred.  It is apparently the film that made him a “bankable” Hollywood movie star.

Body Heat is also the film debut of Kathleen Turner.  Her physicality and obvious and frank sexuality made her a star of the 1980s.  Her adventurousness in choosing movie roles created an eclectic filmography, but Turner's star waned in the 1990s.  In Body Heat, however, she is ready to unleash her unique skill set on the world.  Matty Walker is Turner's signature work, and bits and pieces of the character and her performance of the character continued to show up in her work in the decades that followed the original release of Body Heat.

Here, in Body Heat, Hurt and Turner are stars ascendant.  At first, I wondered if they would have screen chemistry, and from my point of view, they are magnificent together.  The fact that they are willing to be naked together so often in this film speaks to their professionalism and also the depth of their skill as actors.  Both had performed on stage before they entered the world of Hollywood films, so they had acting experience.  That experience was needed in filming what has been described as many explicit sex scenes that were not included in the finished film.

Still, what is left on screen is hot and nasty.  Turner and Hurt are so hot together that they damn near burned this film down, which it needs.  The truth is that Body Heat is rather tepid.  The film is described as a “neo-noir,” a modern version of the classic Hollywood film genre, “Film-Noir.”  Outside of the depictions of sex and nudity, Body Heat's story and the execution of its narrative, to me, seem rather tame compared to a film like, for instance, 1950's Gun Crazy, another romantic crime drama about a killer couple.  Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan, one of the best writer-directors and screen writers of the last five decades, apparently found inspiration for Body Heat in the 1944 Film-Noir classic, Double Indemnity.  Well, it's time for me to see that one.

Beside Ned Racine and Matty Walker, I like the other characters in this film.  Richard Crenna is really good in a small role as Edmund Walker; he deserved more screen time.  Ted Danson's Peter Lowenstein is good, but seems extraneous in this film, and J.A. Preston's Oscar Grace, a police detective, has his best moments in Body Heat's last act.  Also, if you ever wondered what Hollywood executives saw in Mickey Rourke that would make him a star, his small but potent turn as Teddy Lewis, an explosives expert and former client of Ned's, reveals the first glimmer of his movie star potential.

Body Heat is not William Hurt's best work, but his quirky takes make Ned Racine an interesting character.  Kasdan throws out hints about the general sloppy nature of Ned's skills as an attorney and also his inability to see the big picture.  Hurt takes that the rest of the way, creating a Ned Racine that is not savvy enough not to be a fall guy, but too smart not to figure it out eventually.  Body Heat is not a crime fiction classic, but it is a classic “erotic thriller.”  Hurt and Turner make it so.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, March 26, 2022


NOTES:
1983 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination:  “Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles” (Kathleen Turner)


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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