Review: "THE SWORD OF DOOM" is a Thrilling Jidaigeki

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 of 2021 (No. 1762) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

The Sword of Doom (1966)
Dai-bosatsu tôge (original title)
Running time:  119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Kihachi Okamoto
WRITER:  Shinobu Hashimoto (based on the novel by Kaizan Nakazato)
PRODUCERS:  Sanezumi Fujimoto, Konparu Nanri, and Masayuki Satô
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Hiroshi Murai
EDITOR:  Yoshitami Kuroiwa
COMPOSER:  Masaru Satô

MARTIAL ARTS/ACTION/DRAMA

Starring:  Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Yuzo Kayama, Yoko Naito, Kei Sato, Tadao Nakamaru, Ichiro Nakaya, and Toshiro Mifune

Dai-bosatsu Tōge (The Pass of the Great Buddha) is a 1966 Japanese period drama (a “jidaigeki”).  Also known by the titled, The Sword of Doom (the title by which I will refer to this film for this review), the film is directed by Kihachi Okamoto from a screenplay by Shinobu Hashimoto and is based on a novel written by Kaizan Nakazato.  The Sword of Doom focuses on a sociopathic samurai who relishes killing people.

The Sword of Doom introduces Ryunosuke Tsukue (Tatsuya Nakadai), a master swordsman with an unorthodox fighting style.  Amoral and ruthless, Ryunosuke believes that one's sword is one's soul.  We see him kill an elderly pilgrim; needlessly kill a man in a duel; and kill several of that man's clansman who ambush him shortly afterwards.

To make a living, Ryunosuke joins the “Shincho Group,” a rogue band of ronin who take it upon themselves to murder and assassinate for whatever reason they decide.  However, the wanton murders and other unconscionable acts he has committed have created a trail of vendettas that follows Ryunosuke closely.  He has also drawn the notice of two people in particular:  a young man, Hyoma Utsugi (Yuzo Kayama), whose brother Ryunosuke killed, and Shimada Toranosuke (Toshiro Mifune), another master swordsman, whose skill unnerves Ryunosuke.

First, I feel obligated to give you a warning, dear readers.  The Sword of Doom ends abruptly during the middle of a fight between Ryunosuke and dozens of assassins in a burning courtesan house.  It leaves many plot elements and subplots unresolved, including those involving Hyoma Utsugi and Shimada Toranosuke.  Apparently, Kihachi Okamoto, the director of The Sword of Doom, planned to adapt the novel upon which the film is based as a trilogy, but the other films were never made.

That said,  I think that The Sword of Doom is a tremendous samurai film, and, while I have not seen that many samurai films, it is one of the best I have ever seen.  There are three things that draw me to this movie.  First, I like the way the film focuses on Ryunosuke.  It is as if Okamoto points his camera through Ryunosuke's flesh and blood and into his soul.  This film is an examination of an amoral man's interior life; it is an investigation of how such a man lives with and justifies himself.  While Ryunosuke may act as if he does not care about anyone, as the film goes on, he clearly cannot deal with a reckoning – odd for a man who acts as if he is above it all.

The second element that makes me really like this film are the sword duels and group battles.  The battle between Ryunosuke and his victim's clansman at the end of the Spring 1860 segment is bracing, while the duel that initiates this battle is a feast of anticipation.  The fight at the end of the film is just crazy, mad, and crazy-mad-good; seeing Ryunosuke hack, slash, and stab so many of the men trying to kill him made me fell almost delirious or almost sick.  However, I think the best fight in this movie involves the character played by one of my favorite actors.

The late Toshiro Mifune could have made a toilet paper commercial exciting filmed entertainment.  His mere presence in The Sword of Doom elevates the film.  It is as if Mifune first appears in this film to let the viewer know that this movie has a higher purpose than being just another jidaigeki.  When Mifune's Toranosuke kills the perpetrators of a botched assassination attempt, he defines this movie as both a rumination on the evil actions of an evil man and as a tale about the kind of bold men who must fight powerful evil men.

The Sword of Doom is about the struggle of good men of good action against men with evil minds and evil swords.  If not for the abrupt ending, I would say that The Sword of Doom is a perfect film.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, October 22, 2017


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#28DaysofBlack Review: "LILIES OF THE FIELD" Feels Timeless and Spiritual

[For his performance in Lilies of the Field, Sidney Poitier became the first Black man to win the “Best Actor” Oscar.  Poitier received his Oscar at the 36th Academy Awards ceremony, held in April 1964.  It would be 38 years later, at the 74th Academy Awards in March 2002, when the second Black man won a “Best Actor” Oscar, Denzel Washington.  That night, Halle Berry also became the first, and of this writing, only Black woman to win a “Best Actress” Oscar.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2021 (No. 1757) by Leroy Douresseaux

Lilies of the Field (1963)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
PRODUCER-DIRECTOR: Ralph Nelson
WRITER:  James Poe (based on the novel, The Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett)
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ernest Haller (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  John W. McCafferty
COMPOSER:  Jerry Goldsmith
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring:  Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino, Francesca Jarvis, Pamela Branch, Stanley Adams, and Dan Frazer

Lilies of the Field is a 1963 drama film from producer-director, Ralph Nelson.  The film is based on the 1962 novel, The Lilies of the Field, written by William Edward Barrett.  Lilies of the Field the film focuses on a traveling handyman and the nuns who believe that he is the answer to their prayers.

Lilies of the Field opens somewhere in the Arizona desert.  Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier), an itinerant jack-of-all-trades, stops at what he assumes is an ordinary farm to obtain some water for his car, a station wagon.  There, he sees a group of women working around the farm.  These women turn out to be five nuns:  Mother Maria (Lilia Skala), Sister Gertrude (Lisa Mann), Sister Agnes (Iro Crino), Sister Albertine (Francesca Jarvis), and Sister Elizabeth (Pamela Branch).  The nuns, who speak very little English, introduce themselves as German, Austrian and Hungarian nuns.

Maria, the “Mother Superior” (the leader of the nuns), persuades Homer, whom she calls “Homer Schmidt,” to do a small job of roofing repair on the main building.  He stays overnight, assuming that he will be paid in the morning.  The next day, Smith tries to persuade Mother Maria to pay him by quoting from the Holy Bible, but she responds by asking him to read a Bible verse from the “Sermon on the Mount” (“Consider the lilies of the field...).  This won't be the last time that Mother Maria stonewalls Homer on the payment she owes him, but his strengths and skills are apparent to her and her nuns.  Mother Maria believes that Homer has been sent by God to fulfill their dream of building a chapel (which they call a “shapel”) on their land.

If people remember Lilies of the Field, it would be for Sidney Poitier's performance, which earned him the “Best Actor” Oscar, and for the film's historical relevance.  Poitier's win for portraying Homer Smith was the first time a black man had won the “Best Actor” Oscar, and it was also the first time a black actor had won an Academy Award in a lead acting category.  To date, Homer Smith is my favorite performance of Poitier's.  Poitier presents Homer as a man full of skill, grit, and determination, with plenty of sly wit and humor.  Most of all, through Homer, Poitier makes the audience believe in man's capacity for kindness and in a man having a sense of duty and honor that he does not use to place himself above other men.

The film is blessed with several good performances.  Lilia Skala, who earned a “Best Supporting Actress” Oscar nomination for her performance, can convince the audience that Mother Maria is a real person and not just a character in a movie.  Skala makes Maria's faith seem genuine, and it is Maria's faith in God that in turn makes this film feel like a religious movie, or even a Christian movie, for that matter, without Lilies of the Field specifically being either religious or Christian.

Faith in God and faith in the goodness of man are at the heart of this film.  James Poe's screenplay and the way that director Ralph Nelson presents this story combine to send a simple message of faith in God over worrying about the things one wants to happen.  Lilies of the Field is not a Christmas movie, but I think it could be a wonderful entry in people's “Happy Holidays” playlist.

I found myself often very emotional while watching this film.  At a little more than a hour and a half of run time, Lilies of the Field seems like a fairy tale, a folk tale, or even a Biblical story.  It is magical.  It is wonderful.  And it makes faith seem like a very good thing, indeed.  When people speak of the magic of Hollywood films, I think that there is plenty of that magic in Lilies of the Field.

10 of 10

Tuesday, February 23, 2021


NOTES:
1964 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Sidney Poitier); 4 nominations: “Best Picture” (Ralph Nelson), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Lilia Skala), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (James Poe), and “Best Cinematography, Black-and-White” (Ernest Haller)

1964 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins:  “Best Actor – Drama” (Sidney Poitier) and “Best Film Promoting International Understanding” and 2 nominations:  “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Supporting Actress” (Lilia Skala)

1965 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Foreign Actor” (Sidney Poitier) and “UN Award” (USA)

2020 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  1 win: “National Film Registry”


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

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#28DaysofBlack Review: "A WRINKLE IN TIME" is Wonderfully Weird

 

[I imagine that The Walt Disney Company had to make “A Wrinkle in Time” an accounting write-off.  The film under-performed at the box office, which is a shame.  It is one of the most original science fiction and fantasy films of the 21st century.  I also honestly believe that this film is such a unique vision because it was directed by an African-American woman, Ava DuVernay.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 of 2021 (No. 1756) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
Running time:  109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG for thematic elements and some peril
DIRECTOR:  Ava DuVernay
WRITERS:  Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell (based on the novel by Madeleine L'Engle)
PRODUCERS:  Catherine Hand and Jim Whitaker
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tobias Schliessler (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Spencer Averick
COMPOSER:  Ramin Djawadi

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/FAMILY/DRAMA

Starring:  Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Levi Miller, Deric McCabe, Chris Pine, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Pena, Andre Holland, Rowan Blanchard, and David Oyelowo

A Wrinkle in Time is a 2018 science fiction and fantasy-adventure film directed by Ava DuVernay.  The film is based on Madeleine L'Engle's 1962, A Wrinkle in Time, the first book in her “Time Quintet” series.  A Wrinkle in Time the movie follows a young girl, her brother, and a school friend as they set off on a quest across the universe to find the girl's missing father.

A Wrinkle in Time introduces 13-year-old Meg Murry (Storm Reid).  She continues to struggle to adjust at school four years after the disappearance of her father, Alex Murry (Chris Pine), a renowned astrophysicist.  Meg and her gifted younger brother, Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), have also been in trouble with their school's Principal Jenkins (Andre Holland).  Even their mother, Dr. Kate Murry (Gugu Mbatah-Raw), struggles in the wake of the disappearance of her husband.  However, Meg has made a new friend, her classmate, Calvin O'Keefe (Levi Miller).

Then, the Murrys and Calvin start to get unusual visitors.  They call themselves “the Misses.”  They are Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), a trio of astral beings who claim that the “tesseract,” a method of space travel that Alex Murry was studying, is real.  These astral travelers reveal that they have come to help find Alex, who has transported himself across the universe.  They need Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin's help, and they need them to be “warriors.”  However, Meg doubts her own abilities and really doesn't like herself all that much, and that will make her vulnerable to the powerful enemy that awaits them, “The IT.”

The cinematography by Tobias A. Schliessler, the costume design by Paco Delgado, and the production design by Naomi Shohan come together to create one of the most visually beautiful science fiction films that I have seen in a decade.  The film editing by Spencer Averick and the gorgeous score by Ramin Djawadi make that beauty move and feel vibrant, creating a film like no other.

Beyond the high production values, director Ava DuVernay has fashioned a big-hearted film that is one of the most ambitious science fiction and fantasy films in recent memory.  I have never read Madeleine L'Engle's now legendary novel, so I assume that screenwriters Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell (and any other writers that contributed to the final product) condensed the character drama in order to focus on Meg Murry.  However, DuVernay and the writers, through Meg, tell a story in which love and imagination and determination and fortitude can send humans on a voyage that traverses not only our galaxy, but also the universe.

Young actress Storm Reid as Meg Murry is poignant and engaging as the young hero who must learn to both love and accept herself and to believe in herself.  Her teen (or 'tween) struggles seem honest and genuine.  In a movie full of offbeat performances of odd characters, Reid makes Meg seem solid and the driving force of this narrative.

Young Deric McCabe seems supernaturally self-assured as Charles Lawrence Murry, making the young brother an important counterpart to Meg.  Levi Miller is a pleasant addition as Calvin O'Keefe whose main role is to believe in Meg even when she doesn't believe in herself, but the story also gives Calvin his own poignant journey.

I get why adults, especially film critics, had mixed feelings about the film.  I think young viewers will get it, and this film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time is important because Ava DuVernay, once again, reinvents what a black female can be on screen in a Hollywood film.  A Wrinkle in Time may be a fantasy film dressed in the many multi-colored robes of science fiction, but this film introduces new kinds of warriors in service of the universe.  And one of those new colors is a young black girl, and that makes A Wrinkle in Time an exceptional film for this time.

9 of 10
A+

Monday, February 22, 2021


2019  Black Reel Awards”  3 nominations: “Outstanding Cinematography” (Tobias A. Schliessler), “Outstanding Costume Design” (Paco Delgado), and “Outstanding Production Design” (Naomi Shohan)


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#28DaysofBlack Review: "BlacKkKlansman" is Bold and Brilliant

[Spike Lee finally earned his long-sought after competitive Academy Award, having won an “Honorary Academy Award” in 2015 at the age of 58, the youngest ever to achieve that award.  BlacKkKlansman is not so much a biopic as it is a black comedy, police procedural, crime comedy, and semi-espionage film.  Yet, this film retains Lee's fierce cinematic voice with its trademark campaign against American white supremacy/racism/privilege.  Thank the Lord.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 of 2021 (No. 1747) by Leroy Douresseaux

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Running time: 135 minutes (2 hours, 15 minutes)

MPAA – R for language throughout, including racial epithets, and for disturbing/violent material and some sexual references

DIRECTOR:  Spike Lee
WRITERS:  Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott and Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz (based on the book, Black Klansman, by Ron Stallworth)
PRODUCER:  Spike Lee, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele, and Shaun Redick
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Chayse Irvin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Barry Alexander Brown
COMPOSER:  Terence Blanchard
Academy Award winner

DRAMA with some elements of comedy

Starring:  John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Jasper Pääkkönen, Ryan Eggold, Paul Walter Hauser, Ashlie Atkinson, Corey Hawkins, Michael Buscemi, Ken Garito, Robert John Burke, Fred Weller, Nicholas Turturro, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Damaris Lewis, and Alec Baldwin and Harry Belafonte

BlacKkKlansman is 2018 historical film drama and black comedy from director Spike Lee.  The film is based on the 2014 memoir, Black Klansman, by Ron Stallworth.  The film focuses on an African American police officer who successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate.

BlacKkKlansman opens in 1972.  Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is hired as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department.  Although he starts in the record room, he soon works his way into the position of undercover cop.  His superior, Chief Bridges (Robert John Burke), assigns him to infiltrate a local rally where national civil rights leader, Kwame Ture (Corey Hawkins), formerly known as Stokely Carmichael, is giving a speech.  At the rally, Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier), president of the Black Student Union at Colorado College, and he becomes attracted to her.

After being reassigned to the intelligence division under Sergeant Trapp (Ken Garito), Ron discovers the local division of the Ku Klux Klan in a newspaper ad.  Taking the initiative, Ron, posing as a white man, calls the division and speaks to Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold), the president of the Colorado Springs, Colorado chapter.   Since he mistakenly used his real name during the call, Ron realizes that he needs help after Walter invites him to a Klan meet-and-greet.

Sgt. Trapp brings Ron together with two detectives, Jimmy Creek (Michael Buscemi) and Phillip “Flip” Zimmerman (Adam Driver), who is Jewish.  Ron continues to talk to the Klan on the phone, but Flip pretends to be Ron, acting as Ron's surrogate when he actually has to meet up with the Klan members.  Flip gradually begins to infiltrate deeper into the local Klan organization, but some members grow suspicious of him.  The stakes grow higher after Ron starts a phone relationship with infamous Klan leader, David Duke (Topher Grace), who is coming to meet the Colorado Klan.

BlacKkKlansman is a police procedural, a racial drama, a historical film, a period drama, a biographical film, and a true crime story, or at least, a true story.  However, there is one thing that BlacKkKlansman certainly is, and that is a Spike Lee movie.

Lee's collaborators and actors certainly do some of their best work.  Chayse Irvin's cinematography is beautiful, and Barry Alexander Brown's editing creates a hypnotic rhythm that drew me ever deeper into the film so that by the midpoint, I believed that I was part of the story.  In fact, Irvin and Brown shine as a duo in the sequence that depicts Kwame Ture's speech in a sweeping interval of Black faces that captures the broad spectrum of Blackness in America.  Everything sways and flows to Terence Blanchard's (of course) outstanding, Oscar-nominated score.

I can see how Adam Driver's performance as Flip captured the attention of Oscar voters.  I also get why John David Washington and Laura Harrier's strong and beguiling performances did not capture the same attention from Academy Award voters.  All the performances are good, as the actors took character types and did something different with them.  Two short but important speaker roles, Corey Hawkins' Kwame Ture and Harry Belafonte's Jerome Turner, are the heartbeat of BlacKkKlansman.

But, as I said, this is Spike Lee's film; this is a Spike Lee film.  Spike is a visionary, a contrary cinematic artist stubbornly making his films his own and making other people's stories his own.  Spike has never been shy about putting the racism of white people on display.  He condemns white racism and white supremacy, revealing its brutal violence, banal evil, and systematic oppression in stark and often blunt cinematic language – regardless of what of criticisms that may come his way because of the way he tells stories.

BlacKkKlansman is Lee's most savage take and rigorous excavation of white racism and white supremacy in America since his seminal classic, Do The Right Thing (1989).  BlacKkKlansman is Lee's best film since Do The Right Thing, and it earned him his long overdue Oscar (for “Best Adapted Screenplay” that he shared with three other writers).  [No, I'm not overlooking Chi-Raq.]

Do The Right Thing was a bomb that angered more white people than it impressed, but BlacKkKlansman is the work of a veteran filmmaker, a mature artist, so to speak.  This time, Spike Lee acknowledged Black people's prejudices and bigotries, and many of the White characters in this film are sympathetic, are allies, and are even heroes.  Still, BlacKkKlansman makes clear that whatever Black racism that exists, it is White racism that has wielded the power in American.

With allusions and outright references to the present struggle for equality and civil rights, BlacKkKlansman makes it clear that we still have to fight the power and the White devil.  Three decades later, however, Spike Lee is willing to portray White allies, but he can still get under … honky skin.  That is why so many Oscar voters chose Green Book's sentimentality over BlacKkKlansman's black-is-beautiful power in the “Best Picture” Oscar race … when BlacKkKlansman may be the best American film of 2018.

10 of 10

Saturday, February 6, 2021


NOTES:
2019 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win for “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee); 5 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Terence Blanchard), “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele, and Spike Lee), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Spike Lee), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Adam Driver), and “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Barry Alexander Brown)

2019 BAFTA Awards:  1 win for “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott); 4 nominations: “Best Supporting Actor” (Adam Driver), “Best Film” (Jason Blum, Spike Lee, Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, and Jordan Peele), “Original Music” (Terence Blanchard), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Spike Lee)

2019 Golden Globes, USA:  4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Spike Lee), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (John David Washington), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Adam Driver)

2019 Black Reel Awards:  11 nominations: “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Director” (Spike Lee), “Outstanding Screenplay” (Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee), “Outstanding Ensemble,” “Outstanding Score” (Terence Blanchard), “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female” (Laura Harrier), “Outstanding Cinematography” (Chayse Irvin), “Outstanding Costume Design” (Marci Rodgers), and “Outstanding Production Design” (Curt Beech)

2019 Image Awards:  5 nominations:  “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (John David Washington), “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture-Film” (Spike Lee), and “Outstanding Breakthrough Role in a Motion Picture” (John David Washington)

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

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#28DaysofBlack Review: "IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK"

[One of the emerging film talents of the last decade is writer-director Barry Jenkins.  His incredible adaptation of James Baldwin's 1974 novel, If Beale Street Could Talk, proves that Moonlight, which won the “Best Picture” Oscar, was and is not a fluke.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 of 2021 (No. 1744) by Leroy Douresseaux

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Running time:  119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)

MPAA – R for language and some sexual content

DIRECTOR:  Barry Jenkins

WRITER:  Barry Jenkins (based on the novel by James Baldwin)

PRODUCERS:  Dede Gardner, Barry Jenkins, Jeremy Kleiner, Sara Murphy, and Adele Romanski

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  James Laxton

EDITORS:  Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders

COMPOSER:  Nicholas Britell

Academy Award winner

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring:  KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Ethan Barrett, Melanni Mines, Ebony Obsidian, Dominique Thorne, Michael Beach, Aunjanue Ellis, Diego Luna, Emily Rios, Ed Skrein, Finn Wittrock, Brian Tyree Henry, Dave Franco, and Kaden Byrd

If Beale Street Could Talk is a 2018 American drama and romance film written and directed by Barry Jenkins.  The film is based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel, If Beale Street Could Talk.  The film follows the efforts of a young woman and her family as they try to prove the innocence of her lover after he is charged with a serious crime.

If Beale Street Could Talk introduces “Tish” Rivers (KiKi Layne) and Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Stephan James).  They have been friends their entire lives, and begin a romantic relationship when Tish is 19 and Fonny is 22.  They struggle to find a place to live because it is the early 1970s, and most New York City landlords refuse to rent apartments to black people.  Fonny, a young artist and sculptor, is later arrested and accused of raping a woman in an unlikely scenario.

It is afterwards that Tish announces to her parents, Sharon (Regina King) and Joseph Rivers (Colman Domingo), and to her sister, Ernestine (Teyonah Parris), that she is pregnant.  Not everyone in Fonny's family, however, is happy about the impending birth of a grandchild.  As the months drag on, Tish, Sharon, and the rest of the family realize that they will have to give an all-out effort in order to help Fonny's lawyer, Hayward (Finn Wittrock), free Fonny from a criminal justice system that will do anything to keep him behind bars.

I love the beautiful cinematography in If Beale Street Could Talk.  I think it does so much to sell the exquisite love story at the heart of this film, and If Beale Street Could Talk is a romantic movie.  It imagines love in the ruins of a society shackled by white racism and white supremacy.  In that way, director Barry Jenkins' film can literally talk to his audience about racism and oppression of black people while telling a poetic and expressionistic story of two young black people in love.

If Beale Street Could Talk is shaped by a number of excellent performances, with Regina King's Sharon Rivers as the port-in-the-storm for the tossed and turned ships in her immediate family and circle.  King is the sun queen, and in her warmth, KiKi Layne and Stephan James can grow and build their characters and their characters' love story into something that is so strong that it overcomes everything working against it.

In his Oscar-winning Moonlight, Jenkins told the story of gay boy growing into a man by taking the ordinary coming-of-age story and making it something extraordinary for the ages.  In If Beale Street Could Talk, Jenkins' racial drama is told as a timeless love story.  Perhaps, making a film set in the 1970s be timeless is most important, as the racism and oppression of then are not only symptoms of that time, but rather are also the breaths that this nation takes.

In the end, I am amazed by Barry Jenkins.  His film is about love and shows us love and is love.  Love, love, love:  I am overwhelmed.  If Beale Street Could Talk holds to the truths that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke on love (love's transforming powers).  Normally, I would feel anger after seeing a film like this, but in the end, Jenkins' fascinating aesthetic of love and Black Consciousness wins out.  This is why I am still trying to figure out which is the best film of 2018 – BlacKkKlansman or If Beale Street Could Talk?

10 out of 10

Tuesday, February 2, 2021


2019 Academy Awards, USA”  1 win for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: (Regina King); 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Nicholas Britell) and “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Barry Jenkins)

2019 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Regina King); 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Barry Jenkins)

BAFTA Awards:  2 nominations: “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Barry Jenkins) and “Original Music” (Nicholas Britell)

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

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Review: "The Girl With All the Gifts" is a Gift to Movie Audiences

 

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

 

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

Running time:  111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)

MPAA – R for disturbing violence/bloody images, and for language

DIRECTOR:  Colm McCarthy

WRITER:  Mike Carey (based on his novel)

PRODUCER:  Camille Gatin and Angus Lamont

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Simon Dennis   

EDITOR:  Matthew Cannings

COMPOSER:  Cristobal Tapia de Veer

SCI-FI/HORROR/DRAMA

Starring:  Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Fisayo Akinade, Anthony Welsh, Anamaria Marinca, Dominique Tipper, and Glenn Close

The Girl with All the Gifts is a 2016 British post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film from director Colm McCarthy.  Screenwriter Mike Carey adapted this film's screenplay from his 2014 novel, The Girl with All the Gifts.  The Girl with All the Gifts the movie is set in a dystopian future and follows the struggles of a scientist, a teacher, and two soldiers, and a special young girl who embark on a journey of survival.

The Girl with All the Gifts is set in the United Kingdom in a near future scenario.  Humanity has been ravaged by a mysterious disease that is caused by a parasitic fungus.  It is transmitted by bodily fluids, such as when an infected person bites an uninfected person.  The infected humans have turned into fast-moving, mindless zombies called “Hungries.”  Mankind's only hope is a small group of hybrid children, born with the fungus wrapped around their brains, making them part-human and part-Hungry.  These children crave living, human flesh, but they retain the ability to think and to learn.

On an army base, the scientist, Dr. Caroline Caldwell (Glenn Close), has been using a group of hybrid children in an attempt to develop a vaccine that would protect humans from becoming infected Hungries.  One of the children is a very special and exceptional girl named Melanie (Sennia Nanua), who has drawn the particular attention of Helen Justineau (Gemma Arterton), a young woman who is responsible for educating and for studying the children.

The hybrid children on the army base are essentially as held prisoners, guarded by a group of soldiers lead by Sergeant Eddie Parks (Paddy Considine).  When the base falls, Melanie, Justineau, Dr. Caldwell, Parks, and another soldier, Private Kieran Gallagher (Fisayo Akinade), head for London in the hope of finding help, but are they all in denial about the new order of things in a world of Hungries?

I have no trouble recommending The Girl with All the Gifts, a fantastic and truly unique film.  It is equally post-apocalyptic science fiction, zombie apocalypse horror, and road movie drama.  I could have watched another two hours of this stunning movie.  The Girl with All the Gifts is like a new take on the three films based on late author Richard Matheson's 1954 seminal post-apocalyptic novel, I Am Legend.  Those films are The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and I Am Legend (2007), to one extent or another.

What makes this film exceptional is both the performance by and the appearance of Sennia Nanua as the film's lead character, Melanie.  She gives a honest and vibrant performance as Melanie, a child referred to as “it,” but who grows from a child seeking attention and being... hungry to a child learning to a becoming the group's guide and protector and finally to evolving into a kind of “Eve.”  Also, it is simply great to see a young actress of color as the lead in a science fiction film, especially in a movie that is led primarily by female characters.

The performances in the film are mostly poignant and quiet.  Do I have to tell you that Glenn Close gives a muscular turn as Dr. Caldwell?  Should I have to tell you that?  Well, I will tell you again that The Girl With All the Gifts is one of this decade's best genre films and that I highly recommend and might even demand that you see it.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, October 16, 2020


NOTES:
BAFTA Awards 2017:  1 nomination: “Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer” (Mike Carey and Camille Gatin)

The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "The Meg" is Enjoyably Cheesy

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

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

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

SCI-FI/HORROR/ACTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

C+
5 out of 10

Monday, December 31, 2018


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

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Review: "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is Beastly Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
Running time:  133 minutes (2 hours, 13 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some fantasy action violence
DIRECTOR:  David Yates
WRITER:  J.K. Rowling
PRODUCERS:  David Heyman, Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling, and Lionel Wigram
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Philippe Rousselot (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Mark Day
COMPOSER:  James Newton Howard
Academy Award winner

FANTASY/DRAMA/FAMILY

Starring:  Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Colin Farrell, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Samantha Morton, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Faith Wood-Blagrove, Jenn Murray, Carmen Ejogo, Jon Voight, Josh Cowdery, Ronan Rafferty, Ron Perlman, Zoe Kravitz, and Johnny Depp

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a 2016 fantasy film directed by David Yates.  This film is a continuation of the Harry Potter film series, and it is co-produced and written by J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books.  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (or simply Fantastic Beasts) is inspired by Rowling's 2001 book of the same name.  Set in J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World 70 years before Harry Potter's story, Fantastic Beasts follows the adventures of a British wizard after he arrives in New York City and clashes with its secret community of witches and wizards.

In 1926, British wizard and "magizoologist" Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) stops in New York City on his way to Arizona.  Scamander also carries with him a magical suitcase full of fantastic beasts, and one of them, a “Niffler,” escapes into the city.  During his quest to recapture the Niffler, Scamander meets a “No-Maj” (does not have magical powers) named Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), after they unwittingly swap suitcases.

This confusion brings Scamander into contact and conflict with Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), a demoted auror (hunter of dark wizards), who belongs to the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA).  Scamander also meets Tina's sister, Queenie (Alison Sudol), a flapper who has amazing powers of memory.  Now, the four of them are caught in a conspiracy involving one or more escaped beasts, with one of them being very dangerous.  Scamander has been searching for this creature, and to find it and protect it may cost him his life.

I did not expect much from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  It is not that I thought that it was a bad movie, but I guess I was comparing it unfavorably to the Harry Potter films – without having seen it...  However, I find that Fantastic Beasts compares quite favorably to the Potter films; in fact, Fantastic Beasts is a film set in the Wizarding World for us grown-ups.

Fantastic Beasts is an adult urban fantasy which presents a perilous world of magic where secrets must be kept, even unto penalty of death.  War between the world of wizards and witches and the world of the No-Maj slash humans without magical powers seems like a genuine threat in this narrative.  [In the Potter films, humans without magical powers are referred to as “muggles.”]

There is something on the line for the character; they have something to lose, and perhaps, some could lose everything, including their lives.  So the audience buys into this story.  Fantastic Beasts is not some mere, spin-off, sequel/prequel, event movie.  It is all in the writing of of J.K. Rowling's script; she makes the story matters, and once again, director David Yates understands the most important elements of Rowling's writing.  The bonds of family and friendship; the motivations of characters; the conflict central and peripheral; and good versus evil, and Yates and Rowling deliver strongly on these.

Fantastic Beasts also separates itself from the Potter films with a cast of characters that is far more eccentric than the characters Potter delivered (and there were oddballs in that lot).  Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne manages to make a introverted, strange little man into a strong lead and resilient lead character that the audience will follow, even when Redmayne makes it obvious that Scamander does not want anyone following him.

Katherine Waterston makes Tina worthy of her own film.  In her feature film debut, Alison Sudol is pitch perfect as Queenie, and Dan Fogler surprises as Jacob.  In fact, all of the cast is good – from Colin Farrell's perplexing Percival Graves to Ezra Miller's troubled Credence Barebone.  Fantastic Beasts delivers complex and engaging characters.

Yes, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them delivers and proves that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a universe that can exist beyond Harry.  Fantastic Beasts is a thoroughly enjoyable movie; it is so likable that I cannot really find fault with it.  I don't know if every Potter fan will like this movie, but for some of us, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is our part of the Wizarding World.

9 of 10
A+


NOTES:
2017 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood); 1 nominations: “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Stuart Craig-production design and Anna Pinnock-set decoration

2017 BAFTA Awards 2017:  1 win: “Best Production Design” (Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock); 4 nominations: “Outstanding British Film of the Year” (David Yates, J.K. Rowling, David Heyman, Steve Kloves, and Lionel Wigram), “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood), “Best Sound” (Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle, Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, and Ian Tapp), “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Tim Burke, Pablo Grillo, Christian Manz, and David Watkins)


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

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Review: "The Jungle Book" Goes Live with Spectacular Effects

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 23 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Jungle Book (2016)
Running time: 107 minutes
MPAA – PG for some sequences of scary action and peril
DIRECTOR:  Jon Favreau
WRITER:  Justin Marks (based on the books by Runyard Kipling)
PRODUCERS:  Jon Favreau and Brigham Taylor
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Bill Pope (D.o.P)
EDITORS:  Mark Livolsi with Adam Gerstel
COMPOSER: John Debney
Academy Award winner

FANTASY/ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY

Starring:  Neel Sethi and the voices of Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Garry Shandling, Brighton Rose, Sam Raimi, Jon Favreau and Dee Bradley Baker

The Jungle Book is a 2016 fantasy adventure film directed by Jon Favreau and produced by Walt Disney Pictures.  The film is a live-action remake of Disney's classic animated film, The Jungle Book (1967), and both films are based on stories from The Jungle Book (1894), the collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling.  The Jungle Book 2016 focuses on a boy raised by wolves who makes a journey of self-discovery after a fearsome tiger threatens his life.

The Jungle Book focuses on Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a human who is raised by the wolf Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o) and her pack, led by her mate, Akela (Giancarlo Esposito).  Mowgli is called a “man-cub” and lives in harmony with the animals in a jungle in India.  However, Shere Khan (Idris Elba), a tiger with a scar on its face, catches Mowgli's scent; Khan hates man because it was a man that scarred his face.  Now, Khan has decided to kill Mowgli.

The black panther, Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), who rescued Mowgli when he was a baby and brought him to the wolves, decides that he must take the man-cub out of the jungle and get him to a nearby man village.  Shere Khan, however, is not content with Mowgli leaving the jungle; he wants to kill him.  Mowgli must prove to everyone, including Bagheera and his new friend, Baloo the sloth bear (Bill Murray), that the jungle is where he belongs.

The Jungle Book 2016 is not a great movie, but it is a pretty good movie.  The voice acting is good, but only Christopher Walken as King Louie the Gigantopithecus (an extinct genus of ape), and Idris Elba as Shere Khan bring real power, heat and menace to their voice acting.  As Mowgli, one of the few real or non-computer generated characters, Neel Sethi gives a performance that has both strong and weak moments, but overall is good.

The most impressive things about The Jungle Book 2016 are the visual effects.  The animal characters are some of the most realistic computer-generated animals that I have ever seen in a movie.  The sheer number and variety of animals make this the greatest cinematic achievement in terms of using computer software to create animals.  If there is better, I have not seen it yet, but I want to see that movie or movies.

The Jungle Book 2016 will not make you forget the 1967 film, which I do not consider to be among the best of Disney's animated films.  Still, it is a truly nice family movie that even some adults can find entertaining, and, of course, the visual effects achievements here make The Jungle Book a must-see for film fans.

6 of 10
B

Sunday, October 22, 2017

NOTES:
2017 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones, and Dan Lemmon)

2017 BAFTA Awards 2017:  1 win: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, and Adam Valdez)


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

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Review: Disney's "The Jungle Book" is Animation That Sounds Cool

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Jungle Book (1967)
Running time:  78 minutes
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR:  Wolfgang Reitherman
WRITERS:  Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry (inspired the “Mowgli” stories written by Rudyard Kipling)
PRODUCER: Walt Disney
EDITORS:  Tom Acosta and Norman Carlisle
COMPOSER:  George Bruns
SONGS:  Terry Gilkyson; Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/FAMILY

Starring:  Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Bruce Reitherman, George Sanders, Sterling Holloway, Louis Prima, J. Pat O'Malley, Verna Felton, Clint Howard, and Ben Wright

The Jungle Book is a 1967 animated, musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Wolfgang Reitherman.  It is inspired by Rudyard Kipling's “Mowgli” stories found in his 1894 collection of stories, The Jungle Book, from which this movie also takes its name.  The Jungle Book is the 19th Disney animated feature film and is also the last film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production (1966).  Disney's The Jungle Book focuses on a talking panther and bear who try to convince a human boy that he must leave the jungle before an evil tiger kills him.

The Jungle Book opens in the deep jungles of India.  Bagheera the black panther (Sebastian Cabot) finds a human male baby in a basket in the deep and gives him to a mother wolf who just had cubs.  She raises the boy along with her own cubs.  Ten years later, the human boy is Mowgli (Bruce Reitherman, the director's son), a feral child who lives among the wolves as if he were one of them.

However, the wolf tribes learn that Shere Khan (George Sanders), a man-eating Bengal tiger, has returned to the jungle, and that the human-hating tiger wants to kill Mowgli.  Baheera volunteers to take Mowgli to the “Man-Village,” a nearby human settlement, but Mowgli is determined to stay in the jungle.  Mowgli finds a sympathetic animal in Baloo the sloth bear (Phil Harris).  The laid-back, fun-loving bear decides to raise Mowgli himself, but will Baloo and Mowgli do the right thing before Shere Khan strikes?

I love the beautiful background art for The Jungle Book, even the foliage in the foreground that is animated is nice.  The characters that most entertain me are Baloo and Shere Khan; I think I am becoming a bigger fan of the late George Sanders, who gives voice to Shere Khan, every time I see him in a movie, even if I have seen that movie previously.

Beyond that, I am not particularly impressed, amused, or entertained by The Jungle Book the way I am by Disney films I consider exceptional (Bambi, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio to name a few).  I have to admit that having seen it for the first time (as far as I can remember) I can understand why some consider it a “beloved Disney classic.”  It is simply a Disney classic that I like, but don't love.

6 of 10
B

Friday, November 10, 2017

1968 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Song” (Terry Gilkyson for the song "The Bare Necessities")


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Review: Wahlberg and Berg Drive "Lone Survivor"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

Lone Survivor (2013)
Running time:  121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
MPAA – R for strong bloody war violence and pervasive language
DIRECTOR:  Peter Berg
WRITER:  Peter Berg (based on the book by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson)
PRODUCERS:  Sarah Aubrey, Peter Berg, Randall Emmett, Akiva Goldsman, Vitaly Grigoriants, Norton Herrick, Stephen Levinson, Barry Spikings, and Mark Wahlberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tobias Schliessler (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Colby Parker Jr.
COMPOSERS:  Explosions in the Sky and Steve Jablonsky
Academy Award nominee

WAR/ACTON/DRAMA/BIOPIC

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Yousuf Azami, Ali Suliman, Eric Bana, Alexander Ludwig, Jerry Ferrar, and Rohan Chand

Lone Survivor is a 2013 war film written and directed by Peter Berg.  The film is an adaptation of the 2007 nonfiction book, Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, written  Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson.  The film is a dramatization of a failed 2005 mission to kill a Taliban leader in Afghanistan and also of Luttrell and his teammates fight to survive after the mission goes bad.

Lone Survivor opens in Afghanistan at the Bagram Air Base.  There is an Afghan Taliban leader named Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami), who is responsible for killing over twenty United States Marines, as well as villagers and refugees who were aiding American forces.  The Navy SEALs are ordered to capture or kill Shah, and as part of the mission, a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team gets the task of tracking down Shah and killing him.

That SEAL team:  leader Michael P. “Murph” Murphy (Taylor Kitsch); snipers Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) and Matthew "Axe" Axelson (Ben Foster); and communications specialist, Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), are inserted into a mountainous region near Shah's base of operations.  The team finds Shah, but the mission inadvertently goes awry.  The SEALs attempt to leave the area, but are forced to battle Taliban forces.  Injured, outnumbered, and at a tactical disadvantage, the SEALs begin a valiant struggle to survive.

Lone Survivor has visceral power, which it reveals in the way it brings the Navy SEALs mission to kill Shah to life.  Director Peter Berg and film editor Colby Parker Jr. bring the viewers deep into the action, so much so that I started to believe that the Taliban was also hunting me.

However, the film's first 34 minutes are largely about military jargon and also about forcing heavy-handed jingoism about the United States' military mission and presence in Afghanistan on the viewer.  Truthfully, Lone Survivor avoids any examination about the U.S. presence in that country.  The movie is strictly about  (1) the mission, (2) military courage, (3) the band-of-brothers ethos in the U.S. military, (4) how great the SEALs are, and (5) survival.  Lone Survivor is not so much a story as it is the depiction of a moment or perhaps, of a particularly memorable sequence of events in the history of the “War on Terror” in Afghanistan.

I think that writer/director Peter Berg attempts to dazzle his audience with muscular, physical film making and with a story of a grueling struggle to survive.  I think this makes the film light on characterization, but heavy on stereotypes and assumptions.  By the time the film presented friendly natives, it was hard for me to believe they were friendly because, except for a child character, everyone seemed like a dangerous brown person.

Still, I am impressed by Mark Wahlberg's performance.  Unable to show a deeper side of Marcus Luttrell, Wahlberg turns himself into a battered-and-bruised wounded warrior in order to make us like Luttrell.  It's like Wahlberg is channeling Mel Gibson in Braveheart (1995).  Peter Berg slyly sets us up for cathartic release when the cavalry shows up to rescue the lone survivor.  It's a cheat, but I guess you do what you have to in order to make a shallow script into a good movie.  And Lone Survivor, in its own way, is indeed a good movie.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, July 29, 2015


NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  2 nominations:  “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, and David Brownlow) and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Wylie Stateman)


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

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Review: "Mr. Holmes" Shows that Ian McKellan is as Sharp as Ever

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

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

Mr. Holmes (2015)
Running time:  104 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  Bill Condon
WRITER:  Jeffrey Hatcher (based on the novel, A Slight Trick of the Mind, by Mitch Cullin)
PRODUCERS:  Iain Canning, Anne Carey, and Emile Sherman
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tobias A. Schliessler
EDITOR:  Virginia Katz
COMPOSER:  Carter Burwell

DRAMA with elements of a mystery

Starring:  Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hattie Morahan, Patrick Kennedy, Frances de la Tour, Roger Allam, and John Sessions

Mr. Holmes is a 2015 British-American drama from director Bill Condon and writer Jeffrey Hatcher.  The film is based on the 2005 novel, A Slight Trick of the Mind, from author Mitch Cullin.  Mr. Holmes the movie focuses on an aged and retired Sherlock Holmes, who struggles with early dementia as he tries to remember his final case, which haunts him.

Mr. Holmes opens in 1947.  The long-retired Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) returns from abroad and travels to Headley House, his farmhouse in Sussex.  He shares his home with Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney), his housekeeper and a war widow, and Roger (Milo Parker), her young son.  Holmes is suffering from early dementia or “senility.”  His trip abroad was to Japan, specifically Hiroshima, where he hoped to find the prickly ash plant, as he believes a “jelly” made from the plant can act as an elixir and help his failing memory.

Holmes is trying to recall his last case, which occurred over 30 years prior.  A suspicious husband, Thomas Kelmot (Patrick Kennedy), had asked Holmes to investigate his wife, Ann (Hattie Morahan).  Something happened, leaving the case unfinished and causing Holmes to retire.  Unhappy with his ex-partner, Dr. John Watson's account of the case, Holmes hopes to write his own account.  However, he has trouble recalling the details, but young Roger's curiosity drives the legendary detective to close a troubled chapter in his famed career.

Sherlock Holmes first appeared in the 1887 detective novel, A Study in Scarlet, which was written by British author, Arthur Conan Doyle.  Just over a decade later, the Holmes character began appearing in films, and after a little more than a century, Holmes has appeared in over 200 films (according to the British newspaper, The Telegraph).

Although I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I would be surprised if I have seen even 30 of those films.  I am certainly happy to have experienced Mr. Holmes.  It is one of the best Sherlock Holmes films that I have ever seen, primarily because of Ian McKellen's tenderly-wrought and alluring turn as Holmes.

As the 93-year-old Holmes, McKellen fashions a vulnerable man, who doggedly fights a losing battle with his health.  Still, he maintains his dignity and learns to change and to acknowledge his errors and misjudgments, both in the past and in the present.  As the Holmes seen in this film's flashbacks, who is in his late 50s or early 60s (which is somewhat unclear), McKellen presents a Holmes who is clearly a man of some age, but who is also clearly still a detective in full.  It is a testament to McKellen's skills and talent as a thespian that he can make two versions of “old-man Holmes” that are distinct from one another and are of different states of mind and intellect.

Laura Linney is potent and fiery as Mrs. Munro, although the script mostly keeps her restrained, even silently suffering.  Once again, a consummate actor takes what is given to her and makes it more than an actor of lesser skills could.  Young Milo Parker steals the movie as the brash Roger, who is on the cusp of young manhood and whose curiosity is a torch that brings light to what could have been a dark and moody film.

I recommend Mr. Holmes without reservations to fans of Sherlock Holmes movies and to fans of director Bill Condon.  He seems always to deliver interesting films that grab the audience with their unique way of being film narratives.  I think that there must simply be at least a few film award nominations in its future because Mr. Holmes does Sherlock Holmes so differently and so delightfully.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, November 21, 2015


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

Review: "Never Die Alone" Uneven, but Inspired

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 132 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Never Die Alone (2004)
Running time:  88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, drug use, sexuality and language
DIRECTOR:  Ernest Dickerson
WRITER:  James Gibson (based upon the novel by Donald Goines)
PRODUCERS:  Alessandro Camon and Earl Simmons (DMX)
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Matthew Libatique
EDITOR:  Stephen Lovejoy
COMPOSER:  George Duke
Black Reel Awards nominee

CRIME/DRAMA

Starring:  DMX, David Arquette, Michael Ealy, Drew Sidora, Antwon Tanner, Luenell Campbell, Clifton Powell, Tommy “Tiny” Lister, Aisha Tyler, Jennifer Sky, Reagan Gomez-Preston, and Art Evans

Never Die Alone is a 2014 crime drama from director Ernest R. Dickerson.  The film is based on the late author, Donald Goines' 1974 novel of the same name.  Starring rapper DMX, Never Die Alone the film focuses on a drug kingpin whose return home touches off a turf war.

After a small-time drug kingpin known as King David (DMX) is murdered, Paul (David Arquette), a young white reporter who witnessed the murder and brought King David to the hospital where he died, decides to investigate the circumstances leading up to King’s death.  Paul wants to use that as research for a investigative report that he hopes will get him a newspaper job, but David’s death also sets off a small, but very violent turf war.

As Paul listens to King David’s audiotape journal (heard as a voice-over narration that frames the film) which depicts King David’s rise, his hopes for the future and for redemption, and (unbeknownst to him) the final hour of his life, people are dying in an ever increasingly violent conflict.

Directed by Ernest Dickerson, Never Die Alone is a gritty, vulgar, violent, entertaining, and ultimately quite poignant crime drama.  Sadly, the film had a somewhat limited theatrical release and the studio never really gave it a chance to catch on; hopefully, many viewers will discover it on home video.

Two things work against Never Die Alone being a great film.  The first is that the film is really three movies.  The first half hour or so is a tension filled street-crime drama with wonderfully intriguing characters who have the all-important element that really sells a story – motivation.  The second film is a flashback of King David’s life, as narrated by his audio journal.  The third is Arquette’s Paul character prowling the streets where King David was murdered in an attempt to feel the gangsta life. On the surface, any of these three would make a good movie if the filmmakers focused on one and fully developed it, especially the first sequence and incidents surrounding King’s death.  Actually, the separation from David’s return and death to move to another story line is quite jarring and, for all its interesting moments afterwards, the film never really recovers from that.

The second thing that really works against the film is DMX’s narration.  It is acceptable that he isn’t a great actor, but the thing for a director to do is to not lean on him so much.  He’s credible as a hood-type, and he can certainly get better over time with more experience as an actor and maybe some acting lessons (like that’s gonna happen).  But the worst thing to give an inexperienced actor is extensive narration duties in a film.  Simply put, the syncopation and rhythm that made DMX such an admired rapper is missing in his narration for Never Die Alone.  That’s bad for this film because so much of King David’s character and about his motivation is told rather than shown.  Sometimes, what DMX is saying comes across as stiff, but to be fair, there are times when he really sells a scene and King David with inspired moments of pure passion.

Warts aside, DMX and David Arquette do fairly good jobs as this film’s stars, but there are some good supporting performances; the best of the lot is Michael Ealy.  Excellent in the Barbershop films, he should have acting jobs pouring in, and we should see him more.  Just as talented as a slew of young stars like Orlando Bloom, Ashton Kutcher, and Heath Ledger, I wonder why we don’t see Ealy more.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2005 Black Reel Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Director” (Ernest R. Dickerson)

Edited: Wednesday, February 3, 2016

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

Review: Christopher Lee Still a Sexy Beast in "Horror of Dracula"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 31 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Horror of Dracula (1958)
Dracula – original title
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK
Running time:  82 minutes (1 hour, 22 minutes)
Not rated by MPAA
DIRECTOR:  Terence Fisher
WRITER:  Jimmy Sangster (based upon the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker)
PRODUCER:  Anthony Hinds
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jack Asher (D.o.P)
EDITOR:  Bill Lenny
COMPOSER:  James Bernard

HORROR

Starring:  Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, Olga Dickie, John Van Eyssen, Valerie Gaunt, and Janine Faye

Dracula is a 1958 British horror film from director Terence Fisher.  Written by Jimmy Sangster, this was the first in a series of movies from Hammer Films that were inspired by Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.  For its release in the United States, the film's title was change to Horror of Dracula so that it would not be confused with the 1931 film, Dracula (starring Bela Lugosi), which was apparently still quite popular in the U.S. at that time.  In Hammer's Dracula, vampire expert Van Helsing fights to stop Dracula from taking revenge against the family of a former colleague of Van Helsing's.

Horror of Dracula opens on May 3, 1885, Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) arrives at a castle near Klausenburg (in Romania).  It is the home of Count Dracula (Christopher Lee), and Harker is there to take up his post as Dracula's librarian.  Almost immediately, Harker experiences a series of strange events, including meeting a young woman who claims to be Dracula's prisoner.

A few days later, Harker's colleague, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), arrives in Klausenburg, looking for Harker.  What he finds chills his blood.  Van Helsing returns to Karlstadt to inform Harker's fiancée, Lucy Holmwood (Carol Marsh), of the bad news.  Lucy's brother, Arthur Holmwood (Michael Gough), and his wife, Mina (Melissa Stribling), are reluctant to give any bad news to Lucy, who has been ill of late.  Van Helsing alone suspects that the terrible evil of Count Dracula's castle has arrived in Karlstadt to haunt the Holmwoods.

Horror of Dracula was the first of seven movies for Hammer Films in which Christopher Lee played Count Dracula, which is why Lee is arguably the second most famous Dracula in film history, after Bela Lugosi.  Lee made Dracula both sexual and dangerous, like a creepy guy who ignores any rejection to his advances.  [He just knows that he can “love” you good, girl.]  There is a moment in this film when Dracula rubs his face against Mina's face which encapsulates Dracula's power of seduction.  He is essentially a home invader slash rapist, but his moves make him see like the masculine hero of a romantic tale that is also a rape fantasy.

While fans remember this 1958 Dracula film for Lee, I remember it equally for Peter Cushing, one of my all-time favorite actors.  Cushing is the consummate stoic and stalwart horror and scary movie hero.  Cushing's monster fighters can keep their cool even when surrounded by killer monsters and other strange creatures.  Throw in a natural disaster, and maybe a Cushing hero will break a little sweat.

Cushing and Lee, who were close friends in life, formed one of the best hero-villain combinations in film history.  I wish Horror of Dracula were a longer film in order to give us more of the two locked in conflict.  [There is apparently various longer versions of this film.]  I must also make note of another British actor that I like, the late Michael Gough, who played Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, in four Batman movies, beginning in 1989.  Gough manages to keep his Arthur Holmwood from turning invisible behind Van Helsing and Dracula.

With Christopher Lee's recent passing, I decided to see this movie again, which I had not seen in its entirety in over a decade.  I am glad I did.  It was good to see Cushing (who died in 1994) and Lee in action.  They don't make movies like Horror of Dracula anymore.  There aren't actors like Lee and Cushing anymore, either.

7 of 10
A-

Wednesday, July 1, 2015


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