Review: Fun Never Ends in "This Is the End"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 66 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

This Is the End (2013)
Running time:  107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R for crude and sexual content throughout, brief graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violence
DIRECTORS:  Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
WRITERS:  Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg; from a screen story by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (based on the short film, Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse, by Jason Stone)
PRODUCERS:  James Weaver and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Brandon Trost
EDITOR:  Zene Baker
COMPOSER:  Henry Jackman

COMEDY/FANTASY

Starring:  James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Emma Watson, Kevin Hart, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Paul Rudd, and Channing Tatum with Jason Segel

This Is the End is a 2013 apocalyptic comedy film from writer-directors, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.  This black comedy features a number of Hollywood comic actors and celebrities playing fictional versions of themselves.  The movie centers on actor James Franco’s house where a small band of survivors are forced to live together after a disaster that could be the end of the world.

This Is the End begins with Jay Baruchel arriving in Los Angeles to visit his old friend and fellow actor, Seth Rogen.  Seth convinces Jay to go with him to a housewarming party hosted by actor James Franco.  Jay is reluctant because he does not like Seth’s L.A. friends, especially actor Jonah Hill.  During the party, a catastrophic earthquake occurs, and L.A. falls to fire and chaos.  Jay, Seth, James, Jonah, and Craig Robinson survive the destruction, but they are not alone.  They slowly learn that the largest earthquake in California history may be more than just a natural disaster.

In his review of This Is the End for Maclean’s, critic Brian D. Johnson basically said that there could be worse ways to experience the apocalypse than with stoned celebrities (go here or http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/06/07/was-armageddon-always-this-complicated/ for the full review).  Other than spending it with my family, there is no better way to go through the end of the world than with fun, fictional versions of Seth Rogen and his friends.  Also, much of the middle of the film works like a comedy stage play that allows each member of the ensemble to fashion a character that engages the audience.

I like many of the films in which most members of the main and supporting cast have appeared.  For the most part, I also like their public personas.  They are all really funny in this film, and James Franco’s sardonic humor (which was too understated to work during his gig hosting the Oscars) shines.  Once again, Craig Robinson finds a way to turn a supporting comedy part into a co-leading role on the sheer strength of his underrated talent as a light comic actor.  Danny McBride steals the show; if any actor deserves an Academy Award nomination as a supporting actor this year because of a comedic performance, it is McBride in This Is the End.

This Is the End was made for me.  I liked what the actors did in this movie, and I liked how they were willing to savage their public personas and work in films.  This Is the End of the review but not of my love for this movie, which will go on...

8 of 10
A

Saturday, October 05, 2013


The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Office Space" is Still a Classic (Happy B'day, Gary Cole)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 183 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Office Space (1999)
Running time:  89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR:  Mike Judge
WRITER:  Mike Judge (based upon his animated short films, Milton)
PRODUCERS:  Daniel Rappaport and Michael Rotenberg with Mike Judge
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tim Suhrstedt
EDITOR:  David Rennie
COMPOSER:  John Frizzell

COMEDY

Starring:  Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Ajay Naidu, David Herman, Gary Cole, Stephen Root, Richard Riehle, Joe Bays, John C. McGinley, Paul Wilson, Diedrich Bader, Kinna McInroe, Todd Duffey, Greg Pitts, Orlando Jones, and Kyle Scott Jackson

The subject of this movie review is Office Space, a 1999 workplace comedy from writer-producer-director, Mike Judge.  The film follows a group of workers at a software company who hate their jobs and decide to rebel against their greedy boss.

In 1999, 20th Century Fox released a comedy by “Beavis and Butt-head” creator Mike Judge that quickly disappeared from theatres.  This is, however, one of the instances since the advent of widespread home video entertainment that videocassettes and DVD’s have saved a great film from obscurity, and thankfully so.  Anyone who has ever worked as a drone in a thankless job will thrill at the outrageous and dead-on comedy of Judge’s film, Office Space.

Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a software engineer at the company Initech.  Peter is a cog at the company, writing code in an ultimately thankless job, but the job is only one portion of a seemingly meaningless life.  His difficult girlfriend takes him one Friday evening to a hypno-therapist who promptly dies after putting Peter in a state of total bliss.  From then on, Peter takes a new look at his life, and his new dismissive attitude about his job catches the attention of efficiency experts hired by Initech to fire extraneous employees.

The efficiency dudes get Peter a promotion, but get his co-workers, Michael Bolton (David Herman) and Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu), fired.  The trio then hatches a plan to steal money from an Initech corporate account using a computer virus.  But a coding error may get the guys caught and in a federal “pound me in the ass” prison, and Peter may not be able to win back his new girlfriend, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston).

All props to Judge for getting the most traction out of many of the film elements.  The script has an uncanny sense of verisimilitude about the workplace, especially the corporate cubicle world of white-collar labor, but the humor and themes capture the dead spirit of most workaday jobs.  Judge’s direction is light, breezy, and quick, and he still manages to capture the right moods in which to communicate particular messages, ideas, and themes to the audience.  Also, his use of music, he particularly 80’s, old school, gangsta and hardcore rap somehow really works for this film.

What especially makes Office Space memorable is its cast.  Ron Livingston sells himself as both the everyday working man and the frustrated white-collar worker.  Gary Cole is slimy, smooth, and cool as Peter Gibbons' do-nothing, pencil-pushing boss, Bill Lumbergh.  However, the star-making turn in the film is Stephen Root’s nerd, percolating psychopath, Milton Waddams.  I don’t know if viewers recognize Milton in themselves or their co-workers, but maybe we all just find him so funny.

If it has one major flaw, it is that Office Space is a riot of laughs almost to the halfway point until it slips on a subplot.  When the script takes the film deeply into the genre plot about the money scam, the film seems to lose focus of the fact that it’s the workers versus their workplace annoyances that really make Office Space a gem, not some half-assed sub-plot.  Thankfully, the film returns to the workers’ trials and tribulations before it closes.

8 of 10
A

Updated:  Friday, September 20, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "3:10 to Yuma" Remake a Superb Modern Western

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Running time:  122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and some language
DIRECTOR:  James Mangold
WRITERS:  Halsted Welles and Michael Brandt & Derek Haas (based on the short story by Elmore Leonard)
PRODUCERS:  Cathy Konrad
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Phedon Papamichael (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Michael McCusker
COMPOSER:  Marco Beltrami
Academy Award nominee

WESTERN/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Logan Lerman, Dallas Roberts, Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Vinessa Shaw, Alan Tudyk, Luce Rains, Gretchen Mol, and Ben Petry

Director James Mangold’s rousing, edgy Western, 3:10 to Yuma, is a remake of a 1957 film of the same name that starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin.  Mangold (Walk the Line) isn’t robbing the grave of Hollywood classics; instead, he has fashioned the Western as a modern, suspense-thriller that is as close to an old-fashioned horse opera as a modern film can be.  Both the first film and Mangold’s remake are based on the short story, “Three-Ten to Yuma,” written by Elmore Leonard and first published in the March 1953 issue of Dime Western Magazine.

Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) struggles to support his ranch and family during a long drought.  Desperate for money, Evans agrees to transport the captured outlaw, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), from nearby Bisbee to Contention, the closest town with a rail station.  There, they’ll wait for the 3:10 train to Yuma, where Wade will be imprisoned while awaiting trial for his numerous crimes, mostly murder and robbery.  Holed up in a Contention hotel, Wade attempts psychological havoc on Evans, offering Evans much more money in exchange for his freedom than he would get for holding Wade captive.  Meanwhile, Wade’s henchmen, led by the vicious Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), storm into town offering money to any man who will shoot Wade’s captors.  Complicating matters, Dan’s son, William (Logan Lerman), has stubbornly joined his father on this deadly mission.

Mangold’s sturdy remake isn’t an exercise in pointless violence, although the film is indeed violent, and while it is more graphically violent than Westerns from the 30’s to the 60’s, this modern version of 3:10 to Yuma heals the wounded heart of the Western genre which has, with a few exceptions, been in steep decline on the big screen.  This is a grand character study, and acting its chief strength, relying on the considerable talents of Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

The good guy/bad guy relationship between Crowe’s Ben Wade and Bale’s Dan Evans has to be played just right in order to work, or the relationship will seem like a tired old storytelling cliché.  The characters that Bale usually play seem like the everyman as quiet man.  Evans isn’t a hero or even a brave man, as we usually think of bravery, and his son William reminds him every chance he gets, by words, with a stare, or in his sullen expression.  Evans, however, is determined this one time – in dealing with Ben Wade – to be heroic.

On the other hand, Russell Crowe’s Ben Wade is the devil – pure and simple.  Supernaturally wily, he seems faster, stronger, smarter, and more vicious than any other human he encounters.  He has given in to his pure instincts and wants – like an animal, but much more dangerous because he is ultimately a human without the checks and balances of ethics and morals.

The viewer wouldn’t be overdoing it by seeing Evans as the Christ-like sacrifice and Wade his devilish tempter.  The good/bad dynamic, however, is a staple of the Western, and 3:10 to Yuma is rife with the genre standards.  That is how this extremely well-acted and superbly-directed film honors the American Western, and 3:10 to Yuma honors this venerable genre with gusto.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards:  2 nominations:  “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score (Marco Beltrami) and “Best Achievement in Sound” (Paul Massey, David Gaimmarco, and Jim Stuebe)

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Review: "The Lake House" is a Good House (Happy B'day, Sandra Bullock)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 208 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Lake House (2006)
Running time:  98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some language and a disturbing image
DIRECTOR:  Alejandro Agresti
WRITER:  David Auburn (based upon the film Il Mare by Eun-Jeong Kim and Ji-na Yeo and produced by Sidus)
PRODUCERS:  Doug Davidson and Roy Lee
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Alar Kivilo, A.S.C. C.S.C.
EDITORS:  Lynzee Klingman, A.C.E. and Alejandro Brodersohn
COMPOSER:  Rachel Portman (with contributions from Paul M. van Brugge)

FANTASY/ROMANCE

Starring:  Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dylan Walsh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Christopher Plummer, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Willeke van Ammelrooy

The subject of this movie review is The Lake House, a 2006 fantasy romance movie starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.  In the film, a lonely doctor, who lives in 2006, begins a time-spanning romance with a frustrated architect, who lives in 2004, by exchanging letters through the mailbox at an unusual lakeside home.

Improbable and peculiar it may be, but The Lake House is the kind of romantic movie that deserves to have the adjective, “magical” describe it.  Having an enchanted mailbox bring the film’s lovers together is strange.  Never mind that the movie’s time travel hook is illogical, and ignore that the two leads communicate in a way that even the film admits is impossible.  This is about love.  Based upon the Korean film, Siworae (Il Mare is its international title.), The Lake House is an old-fashioned tale of star-crossed lovers who, like Romeo and Juliet, romance against all odds – even against the laws of science.

After moving away from her peaceful lakeside home – a glass house built on stilts over a lake north of Chicago, a lonely physician, Dr. Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) mails a letter back to the lake house asking whoever will be the next tenant to forward any of her stray mail to her.  It is a winter morning in 2006.  That next tenant seems to be a frustrated architect, Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves), who is confused that someone claims to have lived in the lake house before him since he is the first person to ever live in it.  After several more letters back and forth, Kate, on a lark, asks Alex, “What day is it there?”  Alex responds, April 14, 2004.

They discover that they occupy the lake house, but two years apart – Alex in the past and Kate in the present.  The mailbox at the lake house allows them to communicate across two years difference in time.  Now, they must unravel the mysteries of this wrinkle in time that allows their extraordinary romance to live before its too late, but if they meet and try to join their separate worlds, they may lose each other forever.

The acting isn’t great, and sometimes it’s, at best, lamely professional.  Reeves, best known for his stiff speaking style, spends much of the film looking pained, as if constantly on cue from director Alejandro Agresti (an Argentinean known for his film, Valentin).  Bullock’s contribution is to spend the film looking forlorn, lonely, or winsome.  Still, the two are movie stars, and they know how to work the camera, which loves them and makes them look good on the big screen.

Over a decade ago, Reeves and Bullock were a hot screen pair in the hit action film, Speed, an edge-of-your-seat thriller that appealed to the adrenaline junkie in moviegoers.  Back then, many of us ignored any of Speed’s flaws in logic because we had a good time watching it.  This time, with The Lake House, Reeves and Bullock try to get us to ignore logic again.  If the viewer responds favorably to that fundamental romantic impulse – our love affair with the love story, we’ll ignore how things about this film nag us and enjoy the romance.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Updated:  Friday, July 26, 2013

Review: "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" Remake Just a Remake

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 66 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong horror violence/gore, language and drug content
DIRECTOR: Marcus Nispel
WRITER: Scott Kosar (based upon the original screenplay by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper)
PRODUCERS: Michael Bay and Mike Fleiss
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Daniel C. Pearl (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Glen Scantlebury
COMPOSER: Steve Jablonsky
Razzie Awards nominee

HORROR

Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, Andrew Bryniarski, David Dorfman, Lauren German, Terrence Evans, Marietta Marich, Heather Kafka, Kathy Lamkin, Brad Leland, Mamie Meek, and John Larroquette (voice)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the 2003 remake of the 1974 horror film classic, is a by-the-books horror film with a few pages missing. It’s scary, and has all the requisite bumps. All jokes aside, there are some really intense moments. It seems that the idea of a chainsaw-wielding maniac chasing people, even fictional ones, is really unsettling. The characters here, however, seem a bit too dumb, and the film also has too many throwaway characters that could have been left out of the film.

The story is basically the same. Five teenagers or young people take the back roads of rural Texas to trouble where they encounter a monstrous killer who murders his victims with a chainsaw. In the original film, the kids took a detour to visit an old family estate of one of the youths. This time around, the gang gets sidetracked when they encounter a young woman wandering in a semi-daze along the road. After she kills herself, the kids look for help from the local law, and that’s how they set themselves up for gruesome deaths.

If the original TCM can be seen as a work of art in the horror genre, the remake is simply product – a professionally done movie meant to separate teens and other horror fans from their cash. There are no artistic pretensions here. It’s not half bad, and actually quite intense, creepy, and skin crawling during most of the movie. Having the cinematographer of the original film, Daniel Pearl, return to photograph this movie was an excellent choice by the producers. Pearl creates some spine-chilling and hair-raising shots in this movie that help to sell the film’s horrific atmosphere.

I have mixed feelings about the cast, but Jessica Biel is a champ and does a star turn in this film. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 is an easy recommendation for any and all who like scary movies.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2004 Razzie Awards: 1 nomination: “Worst Remake or Sequel”

Review: Sparky Zaps Uninspired "Frankenweenie"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 40 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux


Frankenweenie (2012) – Black and White
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – PG for thematic elements, scary images and action
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John August (based on the screenplay by Leonard Ripps, which was based on an original idea by Tim Burton)
PRODUCERS: Allison Abbate and Tim Burton
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Sorg
EDITORS: Mark Solomon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/COMEDY/FAMILY with elements of horror

Starring: (voices) Charlie Tahan, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer, Winona Ryder, Robert Capron, James Hiroyuki Liao, and Conchata Ferrell, with Dee Bradley Baker and Frank Welker

Frankenweenie is a 2012 black and white, stop-motion animation film, presented in 3D, from director Tim Burton. This sci-fi family film is a remake of Burton’s 1984 live-action short film, also entitled Frankenweenie. Frankenweenie the movie is a parody of and pays homage to Universal Pictures’ 1931 film, Frankenstein (an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus). Frankenweenie is the story of a boy scientist who brings his dead dog back to life.

Frankenweenie focuses on kid filmmaker and budding scientist, Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan). Victor and his parents, Susan and Edward Frankenstein (Catherine O’Hara and Martin Short), live in the quiet town of New Holland. After his dog, Sparky (Frank Welker), is hit by a car and killed, Victor falls into a depression. Inspired by his teacher, Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau), Victor comes up with an idea to revive Sparky’s corpse. Bringing his beloved Sparky back to life, however, has unintended and monstrous consequences.

Screenwriter John August has written two mediocre Tim Burton films, Big Fish and Corpse Bride. He also wrote Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the screenplay was not the film’s strong suit. August almost wrote a third mediocre Burton film, Frankenweenie, but there are some elements in the movie’s second half that do the heavy lifting of making this at least a good movie.

As in his best films, Burton focuses on the misfits, and since Frankenweenie is filled with misfits and oddballs, it should be a great film. But Frankenweenie isn’t great, and that is because many of the characters just aren’t that interesting or engaging. It takes practically the entire picture for Victor Frankenstein to come to life, and his mom and dad are cardboard cutout versions of parents from 1950s television sitcoms. The flat monotone voice performances from much of the cast don’t help.

There are two good human characters, neither of which have enough screen time, as far as I’m concerned. There is the sly Edgar “E” Gore (Atticus Shaffer), a hunch-backed kid who would have made a nice sidekick for Victor. Next is the Vincent Price-inspired Mr. Rzykruski, who delivers this movie’s best moment in a speech before a mob-like gathering of “concerned” parents.

The star is Sparky, or, at least, Sparky should have been the star. I think this movie would be much better if it were told from the re-animated dog’s point-of-view. Sparky is proof that when used wisely, a dog can be both the star and the saving grace of a movie. There are also a few science-created monsters that liven up Frankenweenie’s last act.

Filming this movie in black and white was the wrong decision. I know that the black and white choice had to do with all the movies to which Frankenweenie pays homage, but who cares? Referencing Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein has been done to death. Color would have made this movie visually pop on the screen, and this often-flat flick needed some pop. Animated films, even stop-motion, are best in color.

What does give this movie some pop is the musical score by Danny Elfman, a long-time collaborator with Burton. Elfman’s score is a lovely amalgamation of textures, styles, moods, and, if you can imagine it, colors. As the story advances, I could feel Elfman imposing his will on the movie. This is his best work in years.

So Mr. Burton: no more John August, no more black and white, and no more references to the films and pop culture that filled your childhood and apparently left an indelible mark on you. Your desire to parody and to homage hurt Frankenweenie.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2013 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature” (Tim Burton)

2013 BAFTA Awards: “Best Animated Film” (Tim Burton)

2013 Golden Globes, USA: “Best Animated Film”

Monday, June 10, 2013

Review: "The Italian Job" Remake Quite Slick

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 174 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Italian Job (2003)
Running time: 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and some language
DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray
WRITERS: Donna Powers and Wayne Powers (based on the 1969 screenplay by Troy Kennedy-Martin)
PRODUCER: Donald De Line
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Wally Pfister (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Richard Francis-Bruce and Christopher Rouse
COMPOSER: John Powell
Black Reel Award winner

ACTION/CRIME with elements of a thriller

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland, Jason Statham, Seth Green, Mos Def, Franky G, Gawtti, and Shawn Fanning

The subject of this movie review is The Italian Job, a 2003 heist film from director F. Gary Gray. It is a remake of the 1969 film, The Italian Job, which starred Michael Caine and was directed by Peter Collinson.

The current version is quite entertaining, but a bit on the sedate side. Perhaps, the filmmakers mistook a low-key approach and a low wattage use of pyrotechnics as being cerebral. It’s not necessarily slow, but TIJ is an action movie meant for the kind of people who prefer action crime thrillers like Out of Sight and Ronin. Because I really liked those two films, I heartily recommend this one.

Career thief John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) and his protégé Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) plan a successful heist of $35 million in gold in Venice, Italy. One of their crew, the slick and violent Steve (Edward Norton), however betrays them, kills Bridger, and steals the gold. Croker tracks Steve to Los Angeles where he’s living it up. Seeking revenge and the return of the gold, he convinces Bridger’s daughter Stella (Charlize Theron), a legitimate, professional safe cracker, to join him and his crew on a mission against Steve. The team plans to pull of the heist of their lives by creating L.A. largest traffic jam ever.

Director F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set it Off) might not stand head and shoulders above the current large group of technically talented film helmsman, but he has found his niche by producing entertaining and occasionally masterful crime thrillers. As laid back as The Italian Job seems, Gray gives each scene some special twist or essence that kept me watching. I was never bored, and I really enjoyed the film. Maybe Gray playing down loud explosions and kinetic editing is a good thing. He can certainly direct excellent helicopter/car chases, and he makes good use of a diverse cast of character actors, a pretty lead actress, and a solid leading man in Mark Wahlberg.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Film: Best Director” (F. Gary Gray); 2 nominations: “Best Film” (Donald De Line) and “Film: Best Supporting Actor” (Mos Def)

Review: "Catch that Kid" is a Kiddie Action Flick (Happy B'day, Kristen Stewart)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Catch that Kid (2004)
Running time: 91 minutes (l hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some language, thematic elements and rude humor
DIRECTOR: Bart Freundlich
WRITERS: Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (based upon the Danish film Klatreøsen by Nikolaj Arcel, Hans Fabian Wullenweber, and Erlend Loe)
PRODUCERS: Andrew Lazar and Uwe Schott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Julio Macat
EDITOR: Stuart Levy
COMPOSER: George S. Clinton

ADVENTURE/COMEDY/CRIME/FAMILY with elements of action and thriller

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Corbin Bleu, Max Thieriot, Jennifer Beals, Sam Robards, John Carroll Lynch, James Le Gros, Michael Des Barres, Stark Sands, and Grant Hayden Scott & Shane Avery Scott

The subject of this movie review is Catch that Kid, a 2004 adventure-comedy and crime film from Fox 2000 Pictures, a division of 20th Century Fox. The film is an early starring role for actress Kristen Stewart, who would go on to star in the Twilight films.

Fox’s Catch that Kid, a remake of the smash 2002 Danish film, Klatreøsen (Catch that Girl), is a kind low watt and low-tech version of Spy Kids (lacking the Spy Kids franchise’s imagination and fantastical aspects) and a juvenile version of Mission: Impossible, replete with car chases, computer hacking, and breaking and entering heavily secured structures.

Maddy (Kristen Stewart) is a budding climber, hoping to be like her father, Tom (Sam Robards), who climbed Mount Everest. Tom, however, sustained a severe injury while at Everest, that’s come back to haunt him. Without an expensive, experimental (but highly successful) surgery, he will likely remained mostly paralyzed. When a large multinational bank, for which her mother, Molly (Jennifer Beals, Flashdance), provides high tech security, refuses to loan her family the money, Maddy takes things into her own hands.

She convinces two boy friends to help her bypass the state of the art electronic security, and rob the bank of 250,000 dollars. A complication is that both boys are in love with Maddy and vie for her attention against each other. The computer whiz, Austin (Corbin Bleu), and the mechanically inclined, Gus (Max Thieriot), may, however, have just the talent that when combined with Maddy’s spunk and climbing skills could bring them success

The film is quite well directed by Bart Freundlich, a well-considered director of independent art films. Although the concept is farfetched, the action and jokes should sit well with most kids and even some teens, never mind the moral implications of robbing a bank to save your father’s life.

Catch that Kid is largely meant to be like “Kim Possible” or Totally Spies,” those animated shows where kids go on dangerous missions. Picture this as a high-octane action movie for kids, sans the pyrotechnics and violence. In that light, it’s entertaining (at times, even to more mature minds), and Freundlich keeps the level of suspense high. It may be difficult for adults to identify with kiddie action heroes, but these characters are doing the Tom Cruise or Bruce Willis things for the children.

5 of 10
B-

----------------

Review: "Dredd" is Dredd-fully Great

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux


Dredd (2012)
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence, language, drug use and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Pete Travis
WRITERS: Alex Garland (based on characters created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra)
PRODUCERS: Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald, and Allon Reich
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Anthony Dod Mantle
EDITOR: Mark Eckersley
COMPOSER: Paul Leonard-Morgan

SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Heady, Wood Harris, Rakie Ayola, Warrick Grier, Langley Kirkwood, Edwin Perry, Karl Thaning, Michele Levin, Domhnall Gleeson, Daniel Hadebe, Francis Chouler, and Nicole Bailey

Dredd is a 2012 British-South African science fiction film. Originally released in 3D, this film is based on the comic strip Judge Dredd, which appears in the British science fiction comics anthology, 2000 AD. The title character, Judge Dredd, first appeared in 2000 AD #2 (March 5, 1977) and was created by writer John Wagner (who is a consulting producer on this film) and artist Carlos Ezquerra. Dredd the movie finds the title character teamed with a trainee as he tries to take down a powerful drug gang.

In the future, Earth is an irradiated wasteland. Most humans reside in one of the huge Mega-Cities. Mega-City One is a violent metropolis where 800 million people reside and where 17,000 crimes are reported daily. There, the justice system is maintained by the Hall of Justice and its corps of Judges, who are judge, jury, and executioner – basically police officers with instant field judiciary powers. Currently, Mega-City One is dealing with a new addictive drug, the reality-altering “Slo-Mo,” which slows the user’s perception of time down to one percent.

Early in the film, Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is tasked by the Chief Judge (Rakie Ayola) with evaluating a new recruit for Judge, Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby). She is a powerful psychic, but has failed the aptitude tests to be a judge. Dredd and Anderson are sent to Peach Trees to investigate a triple homicide. Peach Trees is a mega-block, a 200-story slum tower block of apartments. After arresting a thug named Kay (Wood Harris), Dredd and Anderson run afoul of his boss, Madeline Madrigal aka “Ma-Ma” (Lena Heady), a powerful, female drug kingpin and gang boss. Now, Dredd and Anderson have to fight their way out of Peach Trees, with no back-up coming to help them.

The first adaptation of Judge Dredd to comics, the 1995 film, Judge Dredd, was really a Sylvester Stallone movie. With its realistic, visceral look, Dredd is truer to the Dredd comics. It is a futuristic cop movie that looks like a modern day crime and gangster flick. The science fiction visual elements, such as the city’s massive tower blocks, are blended into the South African locales where this film was shot. Thus, Dredd looks as if it takes place in real city rather than in some urban landscape created entirely with the use of computer imagery.

Simply and honestly, I love this movie. I think that it is a more-than reasonable adaptation of a comics series that is hard to adapt because of the uniqueness of the comics. Dredd lacks the satire of the Judge Dredd comics, but the film has plenty of gallows humor. Rather than being over the top with the ultra-violence, the film delivers the bloodshed in intervals that are like lovely layers of lasagna. So the amount of carnage always seems just right, but leaves you wanting more, because it actually seems like you never get enough – at least to me.

This well-timed mayhem looks quite good, thanks the high-quality of Dredd’s film editing, which is some of the year’s best and which is an example of the film’s excellent production and technical values. Another instance: Paul Leonard-Morgan’s musical score is certainly a delicious bag of ear-candy, accentuating the film’s drama, giving the character bits the same power as the action violence and gun battles.

The film has many good performances. Lena Heady is a subtle beast as Ma-Ma; I wish the character was onscreen more. Wood Harris makes his character, Kay, matter. Olivia Thirlby takes a part that could have been a middling sidekick and makes the character up to the challenge that being next to Dredd poses.

Speaking of Dredd, Karl Urban gives one of the best performances ever in a movie based on a comic book. His deadpan delivery of the intractable Dredd actually has color and depth. Perhaps Dredd does not change from the beginning to the end of the film, but, in Urban’s hands, Dredd gains something, somewhere in him. Because of the helmets that the Judges wear, the audience does not see Dredd’s head or the top half of his face. We only see from the bottom of Dredd’s nose and to his neck. So Urban turns Dredd’s perpetual frown and stiff chin into supporting characters. Urban’s imitation-Clint Eastwood voice tops it off, allowing for the creation of a mesmerizing Judge Dredd.

Why was Dredd a box office disappointment? I wish I knew what kept the film’s box office low. It is exceptionally good, and credit for this should also go to the film’s writer/co-producer, Alex Garland. Hopefully, at least Urban and Garland, can return to make another film like Dredd, one of 2012’s very best films; at least, I think so.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, February 01, 2013

Review: Hawke, Fishburne Carry "Assault on Precinct 13" Remake (Happy B'day, Ethan Hawke)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 90 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and language throughout, and for some drug content
DIRECTOR: Jean-François Richet
WRITER: James DeMonaco (based upon an earlier screenplay by John Carpenter)
PRODUCERS: Pascal Caucheteux, Jeffrey Silver, and Stephane Sperry
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Gantz
EDITOR: Bill Pankow
COMPOSER: Graeme Revell

ACTION/THRILLER/CRIME (GANGSTER)

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, Drea de Matteo, Gabriel Byrne, Brian Dennehy, Jeffrey “Ja Rule” Atkins, Mario Bello, Aisha Hinds, Matt Craven, Dorian Harewood

Assault on Precinct 13, the 2005 remake of the 1976 John Carpenter film, may lack the social commentary of the original, but it is a very entertaining action thriller that doesn’t try to break new ground in the tale of cops and criminals who must temporarily unite for their mutual survival. This new Assault on Precinct 13 is a by-the-books Hollywood effort that doesn’t throw any curve balls and sticks close to the original. The only thing the filmmakers wanted to go out on a limb for was to feature lots of gunshot wounds and even more kill shots to human heads. This is true R-rated action, and the film is proud of it. The actual assault on the precinct is full of sound and fury and smoke and blood – perfect for people who like the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard franchises.

Precinct 13 is a soon-to-close police station, and its last day, New Year’s Eve, is a snowy one. Stuck with the duty of closing the station one last time is Sgt. Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke), who eight months earlier saw a drug bust go really bad and his two partners gunned down. He’s reluctant to be out on the street again, or so says his sexy therapist, Dr. Alex Sabian (Maria Bello). However, Jake is forced to again confront a heavy-duty assignment when a prison bus carrying four prisoners is forced by the intensifying snow storm to make a stop at Precinct 13. One of his new charges is the infamous Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne), recently taken into custody after killing a cop.

All Roenick has with him at the precinct is a skeleton crew, which consists of Iris Ferry (Drea de Matteo), a secretary, and Jasper O’Shea (Brian Dennehy), a copy on the verge of retiring, and none of them know that Bishop was in league with a band of dirty cops, who recently turned on him. They don’t want Bishop to live long enough to reveal their corruption, so they launch an assault on Precinct 13 to kill Bishop, and they don’t want any witnesses surviving. Now, Jake, Jasper, Iris, and Dr. Sabian must join forces with Bishop and the three other criminals: Beck (John Leguizamo), Smiley (Ja Rule), and Anna (Aisha Hinds), if they want to see sunrise.

In the original film, the audience knew next to nothing about the cast, and even less about the gang laying siege to the isolated precinct. The new screenplay gives us plenty about Jake Roenick, ostensibly the hero, including his (self-perceived) professional failures, so that we might root for him to overcome his personal challenges and demons and rise to the occasion. In the end, nothing about any character here rings true. The selling point of this tale is that a tiny band of good guys and some criminals, who look good compared to the ones trying to kill them, are seemingly cut off from civilization and from help and they’re facing a large band of relentless foes with numbers and weapons on their side. If the movie can get us to picture ourselves with the outgunned, the filmmakers have won half the battle, which the makers of Assault on Precinct 13 did. However, they only win a little of the rest of the battle, just enough to win the war, but win ugly.

Laurence Fishburne is a dashing movie star with plenty of charisma, enough to make up for the fact that he doesn’t have matinee looks. His presence wins every frame that he’s in here, but that hampers the film because the usually good Ethan Hawke doesn’t seem up to the challenge of matching Fishburne. Hawke’s performance is either flat or shrill, with only a few moments of truth (to which I desperately clung). It’s best to view this film the way one might the original. Don’t think about the characters; focus on the plot (which conceptually has more holes in it than the precinct after the assault), and still more on the setting. They’re the winning combination that overcomes hamstrung characters and pick-up-a-paycheck acting.

6 of 10
B

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"The Mummy" Always Worth Unwrapping

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Mummy (1999)
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for pervasive adventure violence and some partial nudity
DIRECTOR: Stephen Sommers
WRITERS: Stephen Sommers, from a screenstory by Lloyd Fonvielle, Kevin Jarre, and Stephen Somers
PRODUCERS: Sean Daniel and James Jacks
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adrian Biddle (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Bob Ducsay
COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith
Academy Award nominee

ACTION/ADVENTURE/FANTASY/HORROR

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J O’Connor, Oded Fehr, Jonathan Hyde, Erick Avari, Bernard Fox, Stephen Dunham, Corey Johnson, Tuc Watkins, Aharon Ipalé, and Patricia Velasquez

The subject of this movie review is The Mummy, a 1999 fantasy/adventure film from director Stephen Sommers. The film is a loose remake of the 1932 film, The Mummy, starring the great Boris Karloff, and is also the first of a three-film set.

In 1923, Richard “Rick” O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) a French Foreign Legion soldier, leads a librarian, Evelyn “Evie” Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), and her wayward brother, Jonathan (John Hannah,) to the legendary ancient Egyptian City of the Dead, Hamunaptra, on a treasure hunt/archeological dig. Pursued by a group of American adventurers and assorted ruffians, our heroes become part of bungling gang that resurrects Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a cursed Egyptian priest out to wreak havoc on the world. When Imhotep sees Evie for the first time, he decides to use her as the human sacrifice to free his love mummified lover, Anck–Su–Namum (Patricia Velazquez), from the Underworld.

Part of Universal Pictures plan to remake its classic “Universal Monster” movies as high tech updates, The Mummy, the new version of the 1932 classic, shocked Universal with its 40 million dollar opening weekend (tests and previews screenings had suggest about 25 million). With its combinations of eye-popping effects, occasional chills, and good action sequences, The Mummy (which received an Oscar nomination for “Best Sound”) is an excellent example of a movie as great entertainment – cinematic fast food that delivers on audience expectations.

Director Stephen Sommers had directed two Disney films, Tom and Huck and the live action version of The Jungle Book and the funky 1998 sci-fi/horror B-movie, Deep Rising. They may have been indications of his skill to weave effective entertainment, but the Mummy is the big payoff.

The hyped up action scenes deliver every time; not one of them is awkward or off of pace. From the opening battle scene at the ruins of Hamunaptra to the fight aboard the boat, from the giant wall of sand with the imprint of Imhotep’s face to the final fight scene, it’s the perfect movie with which to sit back and enjoy.

There is a fine cast of supporting characters. Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay, leader of the Medjai, a group that watches over Imhotep’s tomb, is handsome, dashing, and mysterious. Kevin J O’Connor’s Beni Gabor is the perfect comic relief (a nice bookend to John Hannah’s Jonathan), but he also makes a nasty villain. It’s quite entertaining to watch the three Americans: Mr. Henderson (Stephen Dunham), Mr. Daniels (Corey Johnson), and Mr. Burns (Tuc Watkins) in their cat and mouse game with Imhotep as the Mummy absorbs their “organs and fluids” to regenerate his own body.

The Mummy is also a fun and spooky horror show with enough scary scenes to match the action. What reminds of Raiders of the Lost Ark is the quite moments of character and intimacy between Rick and Evie. Sommers can’t make Fraser and Ms. Weisz as convincing as Steven Spielberg made Harrison Ford and Karen Allen, but it’s good enough. No one here seems to pretend to greatness, but they seemed determined to please the studio and their potential audience with a hit film and they did.

Here, the issues are commerce and craft rather than art, and the craftsmanship is so good that we may very well return to this gem time and again. As goofy and throw away as it might all seem to be, The Mummy is fun stuff, pure cinematic magic.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Sound” (Leslie Shatz, Chris Carpenter, Rick Kline, and Chris Munro)

2000 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (John Andrew Berton Jr., Daniel Jeannette, Ben Snow, and Chris Corbould)

Review: "The Omen" Remake is Very 666

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 126 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Omen (2006)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for disturbing violent content, graphic images, and some language
DIRECTOR: John Moore
WRITER: David Seltzer
PRODUCERS: Glenn Williamson and John Moore
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jonathan Sela
EDITOR: Dan Zimmerman
COMPOSER: Marco Beltrami

HORROR/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Giovanni Lombardo, Reggie Austin, Tonya Graves, and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick

The subject of this movie review is The Omen, a 2006 horror thriller. This film, which is also known as The Omen: 666, is a remake of the 1976 horror film, The Omen. This remake is written by David Seltzer who also wrote the screenplay for the 1976 film.

Venerated movie critic Roger Ebert (the only writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for writing film criticism) says that the new movie, The Omen, a remake of the 1976 film of the same name, is faithful to that original. It’s been well over 25 years since I’ve seen the 1976 flick, so I can’t say with certainty. However, David Seltzer, who wrote the first film, has also written the remake, and I remember enough to say that at least this new flick creeped me out just as the original did.

Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber) is a young American diplomat in Rome, awaiting the birth of his first child by his wife, Katherine (Julia Stiles). He arrives at the hospital, where the presiding priest, one Father Spiletto (Giovanni Lombardo), informs Robert that Katherine had an extremely difficult delivery, during which their infant son died. The priest also tells him that Katherine doesn’t know that their child died. He reports to Robert that another woman delivered the same time Katherine went into labor, and while that mother died during delivery, her son survived. Father Spiletto implores Robert to take this other infant as his own son, but not tell Katherine that this isn’t her infant. God won’t mind this little deception, the priest tells Robert.

Five years later, the Thorns’ son, the mystery infant they named Damien (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick), is a brooding, peculiar child who seems to be, from the point of view of his mother, the nexus of strange events. Katherine feels detached from the child, and she insists that Robert hire a nanny to help her with the boy. Into their lives arrives Mrs. Blaylock (Mia Farrow), who seems as strange as Damien. They mostly ignore the weirdness in their lives, especially Robert, but when Father Brennan (Pete Postlethwaite), a frantic priest with a haunted air and haunted look about him, continually gives Robert dire warnings about Damien, the newly minted U.S. Ambassador starts to have his own misgivings. With the help of a photographer, Keith Jennings (David Thewlis), Robert is about to discover his son’s true origins and a secret so dire that the fate of mankind may hang in the balance.

The Omen is an adult psychological thriller, a supernatural suspense story in the tradition of Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and of course the 1976 version of The Omen. Recent films of that type include such box office stumbles as End of Days, Lost Souls, and The Ninth Gate. Director John Moore takes the few changes the new movie makes to the original flick and uses them to create a creepy film with a narrative haunted by the proverbial ominous future. Known for directing commercials before helming such films as Behind Enemy Lines (2001) and Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Moore blends composer Marco Beltrami’s eerie score with his own visual gumbo of ghostly locales and engaging, but troubled characters. Moore and his crew turn their filming locations in Italy, Ireland, Croatia, and the Czech Republic into places where the supernatural is quite natural: an isolated monastery reachable only by traveling across a midst covered lake; an ancient underground Hebrew village; the forlorn mansion in which the Thorns live, and a weird Etruscan graveyard, etc.

Moore also gets superb performances from his cast, each one giving his character that something extra that makes him or her much more appealing than the standard horror movie victim. Schreiber adds of touch of Laurence Olivier circa Rebecca to Robert Thorn, while Julia Stiles is riveting and spot-on as Katherine, a mother so terrified of her child that it leads to dreams filled with terrible apparitions. Mia Farrow is the ultimate witch-hag evil nanny – all wide-eyed with intense devotion to her evil charge and a stone cold face surrounded by thick mane of hair. As for Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Damien, it’s scary that a child actor can play the bad seed so well. Seamus’s Damien is a soul spoiled - just pure rotten, like bad meat surrounded by an evil presence. Pete Postlethwaite and David Thewlis also strike the perfect notes in their respective supporting character parts.

I would compare The Omen to the 2005 film, The Skeleton Key. Both are entertaining supernatural thrillers aimed at an older crowd, each one at times a little illogical and having holes in both concept and execution. Good, but not great, The Omen delivers not less, but a little more than it promises.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Razzie Awards: 1 nomination: “Worst Supporting Actor” (David Thewlis, also for Basic Instinct 2)

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Review: "The Maltese Falcon" is an All-Time Great (Remembering John Huston)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Maltese Falcon (1941) – Black & White
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
DIRECTOR: John Huston
WRITER: John Huston (based upon the novel by Dashiell Hammett)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Arthur Edeson
EDITOR: Thomas Richards
PRODUCER: Hal B. Wallis (executive producer)
Academy Award nominee

MYSTERY/FILM-NOIR

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan, and Elisha Cook, Jr.

The subject of this movie review is The Maltese Falcon, a 1941 film noir detective film. It is based upon Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel of the same name and was the film debut of actor, Sydney Greenstreet, who earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his performance. The Maltese Falcon was also John Huston’s directorial debut and went on to earn a best picture Oscar nomination.

Before the word “thug” entered the popular lexicon via Hip-Hop culture, there were men we could have called “thugs.” If we go by popular rapper Nas’s definition, a thug is “a man who answers to no one.” That describes one of my favorite characters of the golden age of Hollywood, “Bogie,” a popular nickname for that famous actor Humphrey Bogart, to a tee. Bogie was a thug, and he gave the ladies and not-so-lady-like his thug lovin;’ he answered to no man and even used cops to further his own agenda. And in no film is that more evident than in the beautiful and fantastic The Maltese Falcon, one of the great detective dramas and one of the films that created the template for film noir.

After someone kills his associate Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) during a seemingly routine assignment, Samuel “Sam” Spade (Bogart) reasons, “When a man’s partner is killed, he’s supposed to do something about it.” He’s not “all talk,” and is certainly going to do something about the murder of his partner. Along the way of finding the killer, Spade becomes involved in a desperate quest to find and to possess “The Black Bird,” the Maltese Falcon, a legendary treasure so prized that it tangles Spade with some of the most devious and eccentric characters he’s ever faced.

There’s the damsel in distress Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) who first catches Archer’s eye and later Spade’s. Close on her heels is the shifty and effete Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) who always finds himself on the wrong side of slap or a punch even when he has the gun. Finally, there’s “The Fat Man,” Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) and his tag-along gunman (or “gunsel” as Spade slyly calls him), Wilmer Cook (Elisha Cook, Jr.). Gutman is the main mover and shaker in the scheme to get the Falcon, the man with the most dough and who is a gourmand when it comes to the finer things.

The performances are heightened to a fever pitch, and the actors play their characters with a theatrical flair. Even the dialogue crackles with energy, bite and wit, but it’s all for a good purpose. It adds style and even color to the black and white film. Most of the players fairly drip with deceit and duplicity, but the mack daddy, the playa, is Bogart’s Sam Spade. A crouching tiger and a hidden dragon, he’s always on top even when it seems as if he’s just got the bad end of things. With the ladies, especially Ms. Astor’s Brigid, he’s tough but romantic. He’s world weary, but savvy, and he has an unbreakable code of honor when it comes to his profession as a detective. It’s what drives him through the maze of weird foes and police traps to find his partner’s murderer.

Spade would define the kind of characters Bogart would play for the rest of his career, but even in this highly stylized performance, we can see a man with superior talent and ability to act in front of a movie camera. Both Bogart and his character Spade are intriguing and exciting; let this performance go down as one of the great ones.

The Maltese Falcon was the debut of legendary director and filmmaker John Huston. Although he would continue to do fine and challenging work, Huston caught lightning in a bottle with Falcon. He gave life to a genre of film and a style of filmmaking that continues to influence all of popular culture to this day. It’s a great work, and if you like movies, you should have seen it already.

10 of 10

NOTES:
1942 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Picture” (Warner Bros.), “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Sydney Greenstreet), and “Best Writing, Screenplay” (John Huston)

1989 National Film Preservation Board, USA: National Film Registry

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Mark Wahlberg Gets Down and Dirty in Down and Dirty "Contraband"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2012) by Leroy Douressaux


Contraband (2012)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, pervasive language and brief drug use
DIRECTOR: Baltasar Kormákur
WRITER: Aaron Guzikowski (based on the film, Reykjavik-Rotterdam, from a screenplay by Arnaldur Indriðason and Óskar Jónasson)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Baltasar Kormákur, Stephen Levinson, and Mark Wahlberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Barry Ackroyd
EDITOR: Elísabet Ronalds
COMPOSER: Clinton Shorter

CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, Caleb Landry Jones, J.K. Simmons, Kevin “Lucky” Johnson, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, David O’Hara, Diego Luna, Connor Hill, Bryce McDaniel, Jaqueline Fleming, Jack Landry, J. Omar Castro, Jason Mitchell, and William Lucking

Contraband is a 2012 crime thriller starring Mark Wahlberg. It is a remake of Reykjavik-Rotterdam, a 2008 film from Iceland. Contraband’s director, Baltasar Kormákur, starred in the original film. Contraband is about a former smuggler who temporarily returns to smuggling in order to protect his brother-in-law from a violent street-level drug lord.

Former smuggler, Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg), now runs his own small business installing security alarms. He lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, and enjoys a happy and peaceful life with his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), and their two sons. However, his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), recently botched a drug smuggling job for Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), a ruthless drug lord.

To pay back Andy’s debt to Briggs, Chris sets up an operation to smuggle ten million dollars in high-end counterfeit money out of Panama and back into New Orleans. To protect his family from Briggs’ threats, Chris asks his old partner, Sebastian Abney (Ben Foster), to watch over Kate and the children. However, there are many others players in this game, both in New Orleans and in Panama, and this contraband run will put all of Chris’ smuggling skills to the test.

I consider time spent watching a Mark Wahlberg movie (one in which he is the lead or one of the major characters) to be time well spent, and Contraband was time well spent. I enjoyed the hell out of it. The film is plot heavy with a large cast of characters, and both elements are well done. However, the film focuses on the plot, subplots, and all the twists and turns they take, more than it ever delves into the characters.

That is a shame because there are some good supporting characters and some good supporting performances. I generally like everything Giovanni Ribisi does, and he is Oscar-worthy as the crazy mutha, Tim Briggs. The always-reliable J.K. Simmons is riotous as the butt-hole-ish, Captain Camp. Even Kate Beckinsale manages to eek out some intensity as the wife/female victim, Kate Farraday. With more emphasis on character development and character drama, Contraband could have been a great film. Instead, it is just a really good film. Oh, well.

The focus is, of course, on the star, and Mark Wahlberg is a fine actor and a true movie star. Movie stars carry movies, and Wahlberg’s streetwise, don’t-mess-with-me, don’t-betray-me, screen persona is alluring – at least to me. If you like Mark Wahlberg, you will probably like Contraband. If you like crime thrillers, Contraband is criminally thrilling.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, June 02, 2012

Review: "The Debt" is Good, But Unfocused

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Debt (2011)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R for some violence and language
DIRECTOR: John Madden
WRITERS: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman, and Peter Straughan (based on the film, Ha-Hov, by Assaf Bernstein and Ido Rosenblum)
PRODUCERS: Eitan Evan, Eduardo Rossoff, Kris Thykier, and Matthew Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ben Davis
EDITORS: Alexander Berner
COMPOSER: Thomas Newman

DRAMA/HISTORICAL/THRILLER

Starring: Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciarán Hinds, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Martin Csokas, Jesper Christensen, Romi Aboulafia, and István Goz

The Debt is a 2011 drama and espionage thriller from director John Madden. It is a remake of a 2007 film (directed by Assaf Bernstein) of the same name from Israel. In the 2011 film, a former Mossad intelligence agent relives a 1965 mission in which she and two other agents pursued a Nazi war criminal. At times quite riveting, The Debt often comes across as a broken movie because it tries to be different things at different times in the story.

In 1997, Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren), a former Mossad agent, and her ex-husband, Stefan Gold (Tom Wilkinson), who is still a Mossad agent, are celebrating a new book written by their daughter, Sarah Gold (Romi Aboulafia). Sarah’s book recounts a 1965 mission in which Rachel, Stefan, and another former Mossad agent, David Peretz (Ciarán Hinds), pursued a notorious Nazi war criminal. The trio targeted Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), infamously known as “the Surgeon of Birkenau,” believed to be living in East Berlin.

The story flashes back to 1965 where we meet the younger versions of the trio: Rachel (Jessica Chastain), Stefan (Martin Csokas), and David (Sam Worthington). They find Vogel living as “Doktor Bernhardt” and operating an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in East Berlin. The team’s mission was eventually accomplished, or was it? Rachel must confront her past when two figures from it reemerge.

The Debt takes place across two different time periods, which I think inhibits the movie from sustaining suspense or building character relationships with any traction. The Debt certainly has potent moments, and the last act is a killer suspense thriller. Of course, any movie starring Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson would, at least, be interesting. I’m down to see anything with Mirren, and she doesn’t disappoint – once again, I mention that last act of this movie.

I see The Debt as a broken movie because it is really two films – one that takes place in 1965 and the other in 1997 – instead of being one complete narrative. That is what can happen to a movie that has so many flashbacks that it seems as if they are half the film. The Debt is good, but it would have better by focusing on 1965 or 1997 – not both.

5 of 10
B-

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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Review: "The Thing" 2011 Suffers Next to "The Thing" 1982

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Thing (2011)
Running time: 103 minutes; MPAA – R for strong creature violence and gore, disturbing images, and language
DIRECTOR: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
WRITER: Eric Heisserer (based upon the story “Who Goes There” by John W. Campbell, Jr.)
PRODUCERS: Marc Abraham and Eric Newman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michel Abramowicz
EDITORS: Peter Boyle, Julian Clarke, and Jono Griffith
COMPOSER: Marco Beltrami

SCI-FI/HORROR/THRILLER/MYSTERY

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Paul Braumstein, Trond Espen Seim, Kim Bubbs, Jørgen Langhelle, Jan Gunnar Røise, and Stig Henrik Hoff

One thing that becomes clearer to a budding writer as he or she develops writing skills is the importance of conflict. Sometimes horror movies are less about conflict than they are about cheap scares.

Who Goes There? is a novella written by John W. Campbell, Jr. under the pen name Don A. Stuart. It was first published in the August 1938 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. The story is about group of scientific researchers in Antarctica and their encounter with an alien that assumes the shape, memories, and personality of any living thing it devours. The Howard Hawks/Christian Nyby film, The Thing from Another World (1951), is a loose adaptation of the Who Goes There? The 1982 John Carpenter movie, The Thing, was a remake of the 1951 film, but Carpenter’s version (written by Bill Lancaster) was more faithful to Campbell’s novella. There is a third film adaptation of Who Goes There?

The Thing is a 2011 science fiction horror film that acts as a prequel to the events depicted in Carpenter’s 1982 film. Not only are the Hawks and Carpenter films among my favorite movies, but I also consider them two of the great science fiction and horror movies of all time. The Thing 2011 pits scientists against a sneaky alien menace, but much of the movie lacks conflict or struggle.

The Thing 2011 is set in and around Thule Station, a Norwegian research station in Antarctica. The scientists and researchers at the station have just discovered a spacecraft buried deep beneath the ice. One of the scientists recruits American paleontologist, Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), to come to Thule, where Kate learns that the scientists have also discovered a survivor from the spacecraft buried in the ice. The scientists return the alien to the station in a block of ice, but they soon learn that the alien is still alive. Now, it is consuming and replicating people in the station, and Kate seems to be the only one who truly understands the situation. But will she be able to tell the difference between the real humans and the copies?

The Thing 2011, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., is loving and respectful of John Carpenter’s 1982 film. In some ways, Heijningen’s film is as much a remake of Carpenter’s film as it is a prequel, but I think that’s why the new film comes out being a fairly average science fiction horror film. The first hour of this movie seems like nothing more than procedure, as if the director and screenwriter were more determined to set up a scenario rather than tell a story. I could feel the weight of Carpenter’s classic film weighing down the narrative of this new movie. Perhaps, Universal Pictures would have been better off remaking Carpenter’s movie or making (dare I say) the more daring choice and producing a sequel to the 1982 movie.

It doesn’t help that the characters are not interesting. They seem like a bunch of dull people standing around a boring party hoping that something will happen to liven up things. That “something” is the alien, and when it finally starts attacking like a mad-monster big dog, Kate and a few other characters suddenly seem interesting. That’s because the story finally embraces conflict and struggle. The human/alien conflict creates a struggle to live, and when human characters struggle to live in fiction, we pretty much always pull for them. The alien’s struggle to survive (which means killing humans) certainly makes the story more interesting.

When there is no conflict, the movie is a bust, but for about 20 minutes during this movie’s second half, it is actually first-rate science fiction-horror. Then, it starts to misfire again, alternating ridiculous and cool. The Thing has such cheap scares as what’s-around-the-corner, the monster attacks, and the ambiguous shadows, etc. There is potential here, but most of it is wasted. The Thing 2011 is mostly just an awkward love letter to a better movie, so please watch John Carpenter’s The Thing, if you haven’t seen it already. Or if you have, see it again; it’s always a pleasure to watch.

5 of 10
C+

Thursday, March 01, 2012

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"The Fog" Remake Lost in a Fog

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 155 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Fog (2005)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR: Rupert Wainwright
WRITER: Cooper Layne (based upon the 1980 screenplay by John Carpenter and Debra Hill)
PRODUCERS: David Foster, John Carpenter, and Debra Hill
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Nathan Hope with Ian Seabrook (underwater)
EDITOR: Dennis Virkler

HORROR/THRILLER/MYSTERY with elements of fantasy

Starring: Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, Selma Blair, DeRay Davis, Kenneth Welsh, Adrian Hough, Sara Botsford, Cole Heppell, Mary Black, Jonathon Young, R. Nelson Brown, and Rade Sherbedgia

In the new horror flick, The Fog, Antonio Bay, a small community on Antonio Island, is about to celebrate the dedication of a monument to its four founding fathers. However, a thick fog, with seemingly mystical powers, engulfs the seaside town bringing with it a curse tied to the founding of Antonio Bay. Nick Castle (Tom Welling, Clark Kent of “Smallville”) and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Williams (Maggie Grace), must solve the mystery of the fog and the malevolent, vengeful spirits it hides if they are going to save Antonio Bay.

Apparently, famed horror movie director John Carpenter (Halloween, Ghosts of Mars) currently struggles to get financing in order to make new films. The irony of this is that 2005 has seen the release of two remakes of earlier films. In January, audiences got an interesting re-imagining of Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, and now two weeks before Halloween, we get a remake of Carpenter’s well-regarded 1980 film, The Fog. This new film has a bigger budget and something else that the original film didn’t have, computer generated special effects. The result is an entertaining ghost story/thriller that is the fast food equivalent of a horror movie – a favorable respite one is just as likely to forget as to remember.

The film has something absolutely necessary for even a half-decent horror flick, creepy atmosphere, and on a few occasions in the film, that creepy atmosphere can be described by using phrases like “heart pounding” and “spine-tingling.” The film’s problems are the directing, script, and cast. The Fog drags and lists like director Rupert Wainwright’s previous effort at making a mediocre horror film, Stigmata (1999). One has to wonder what Wainwright did to get the assignment to direct this film. The only thing that he has directed since Stigmata is a failed TV series, “Wolf Lake,” in 2001. His claim to fame before Stigmata was directing seminal rap group N.W.A.’s video for “Straight Outta Compton” and directing videos for MC Hammer. You don’t need a cooking school graduate to make Big Mac’s, so the producers or the studio might as well have hired a film school student and given him class credit to make the same run-of-the-mill scary movie that Wainwright did.

The script is a re-imagining if one considers arbitrarily making changes to the source material as a sign of imagination; in fact, most of what is changed from the original film seems to have been done for the sake of change or because it, when combined with CGI, would make a cool scene, although cool doesn’t equal logical here. The characters are underdeveloped and treated in such an offhanded way that they don’t even make sympathetic victims. There is so little to so many of the characters that literally every one except maybe three seems like extras.

The cast leaves something to be desired. Tom Welling is sort of a cute beau-hunk, but his acting talent only goes as far as the material. He doesn’t have the chops to rise above the watery tale Cooper Layne wrote for this film. Maggie Grace is good at showing anxiety or pouting on cue when another character is so unfair to hers; that’s pretty much what she does on the hit TV show, “Lost,” and it serves her well here. DeRay Davis’ Spooner is a token; I don’t think the studio and filmmakers fooled the audience in that regard. Spooner has one really great line near the end of the film, and gets a few chuckles early in the flick. Lately, horror movies have become just like The WB TV network – all white, as in television shows full of pretty young white actors.

The Fog 2005 will make a fine cheesy horror rental. Unlike 2005’s Boogeyman, The Fog 2005 doesn’t totally screw up the excellent frightful atmosphere it establishes in the first act with a dreadful second and third act. Even Wainwright, Layne, and a weak cast can’t take the bite out of a ghost story that mixes in the mysteries of the deep seas. Try as they might, incompetence and mediocrity can’t outright destroy one of horror master John Carpenter’s better blueprints.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, October 15, 2005

"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" More Fantasy Than Horror

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)
Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and terror
DIRECTOR: Troy Nixey
WRITERS: Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins (based on the 1973 teleplay by Nigel McKeand)
PRODUCERS: Mark Johnson and Guillermo del Toro
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Stapleton
EDITOR: Jill Bilcock
COMPOSERS: Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders

FANTASY/HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Julia Blake, and Jack Thompson

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a 2011 dark fantasy film, and it is also a remake of a 1973 ABC made-for-television horror movie of the same name. Co-written and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro, the new Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is sort of a cross between a horror film and a scary movie for kids. It is certainly an atmospheric film, but it is never truly scary as it could be.

Although she wishes she didn’t have to do so, 8-year-old Sally Hirst (Bailee Madison) arrives in Rhode Island to live with her father, Alex Hirst (Guy Pearce), and his girlfriend, Kim (Katie Holmes). Alex and Kim are living in Blackwood Manor, the former home of the late renowned painter, Lord Blackwood. The couple is also restoring the manor in order to put it back on the market for sale.

Not long after moving in, Sally begins to hear strange, small voices in the walls of the manor. She even discovers that the mansion has a long-hidden basement where Lord Blackwood once worked. There, Sally opens an old fireplace and unleashes creatures that want to claim her as one of their own.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark features a theme familiar to horror films – how often victims go unheard or ignored. With that in mind, Sally Hirst is ostensibly the lead character, and she should be both protagonist and hero. However, the screenplay doesn’t mind telling a story of a small child being menaced, but the writers seem to blanch at the idea of that same small child fighting back.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark also juxtaposes fantasy and horror, and ultimately comes across as a really scary fairy tale. Because so much about the creatures, the film’s adversaries, remains in the dark, however, the movie isn’t as scary as it could be. In the bid to remain mysterious and secretive, the film, instead, views like a slice from a larger and far more interesting story. It doesn’t help that the creatures often look like bad CGI creations, which makes some of the sequences in which they attack seem more comical than scary. I could not help but feel disappointed in them; it is a vague disappointment, but still a feeling of discontent.

I still like that Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark has imagination, and the art direction and sets are museum-worthy. The photography by Oliver Stapleton is perfect for fantasy and horror and also resembles the work Guillermo del Toro’s frequent collaborator, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro. To be honest, I’d take Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’s imperfection over other films’ perfection.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Review: New "Fright Night" is Sexy and Mean

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 104 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fright Night (2011)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – R for bloody horror violence, and language including some sexual references
DIRECTOR: Craig Gillespie
WRITERS: Marti Noxon; from a story by Tom Holland (based upon the film, Fright Night, written by Tom Holland)
PRODUCERS: Michael De Luca and Alison R. Rosenzweig
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Javier Aguirresarobe
EDITOR: Tatiana S. Riegel
COMPOSER: Ramin Djawadi

HORROR/COMEDY/ACTION

Starring: Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Toni Collette, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Dave Franco, Sandra Vergara, and Chris Sarandon

Fright Night is a 2011 comic horror film. It is also a remake of the 1985 film of the same name from writer/director Tom Holland. Like the original film, the new Fright Night is about a teen boy who believes that his new next door neighbor is a vampire and tries to stop the monster’s killing spree.

Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) has a new neighbor, Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell), who claims to work construction at night. Charley doesn’t like the way Jerry looks at his mother, Jane Brewster (Toni Collette), and his girlfriend, Amy Peterson (Imogen Poots). Charley’s former best friend, Edward “Evil Ed” Lee (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), claims that Jerry is the reason people have been disappearing from all over the Las Vegas suburb where they live… because Jerry is a vampire. After Ed disappears, Charley realizes that he needs help, so he turns to Las Vegas magician, Peter Vincent (David Tennant), whose Vegas stage show, Fright Night, chronicles his vampire-hunting adventures. But can the reluctant Vincent really help Charley fight a powerful vampire?

I like to distinguish how movies mix laughs and chills. A horror comedy is a comedy that tries to act and look like a horror movie. A comedy horror is a horror movie that desperately wants to have it both ways – be funny and scary, usually with disastrous results. The best is the comic horror film. This type of movie is truly a horror movie. It looks and acts like a horror movie because it is a horror movie. It is scary, violent, and thrilling, but there is humor of some type: sarcasm, satire, slapstick, and camp. Successful comic horror films include a classic, The Evil Dead, and the more recent Zombieland, and of course, the vampire send-up, the original Fright Night.

The new Fright Night is a superb comic horror film. In fact, it’s batshit crazy with its gleefully vicious villain and its hero – some kid trying to be the protector, rescuer, and savior. I like how screenwriter Marti Noxon re-imagines the original film into a story of a large transient and disconnected population that is easy prey to the monster next door. It’s as if these people don’t notice that their friends, neighbors, classmates, and sometimes even entire households have seemingly disappeared into thin air (or that there is a small war going on between a vampire and a kid). I cannot help but believe that this film is a biting commentary of our foreclosure and alienation society.

Director Craig Gillespie offers so many exciting action set pieces, and he imaginatively stages some of the wackier elements of the screenplay in ways that create a comic edge vampire films rarely have. The action in this film is also aggressive. In the first Fright Night, the part of the plot that dealt directly with the vampire was like a mystery story, and the villain was a suave ladies’ man. In the new film, there is little pretense about what Jerry Dandrige is; thus, the conflict between boy hero and vampire becomes practically a small war. In this way, Fright Night 2011 is more visceral than the original. It is a wild, bloody ride with generous helpings of jest and sarcasm.

This comic horror film has a few key, droll and witty performances, but first, I have a complaint. Christopher Mintz-Plasse as the new “Evil Ed” is an insult to Stephen Geoffreys as the original. It’s not Mintz-Plasse’s fault; the new version doesn’t seem to care much for the character, and it seems as if Ed is included out of a sense of obligation. Conversely, David Tennant’s loutish spin on the Peter Vincent character is a winner; early in the film, this interpretation seems as if it will be a disaster, but, by the end of the film, I wanted more.

Colin Farrell’s Jerry Dandrige is part bully, part predator, and pure carnivore. Farrell is funny, and this performance testifies to his largely untapped talent. Farrell’s Dandrige is similar to a description of baseball pitcher Roger Clemens by a commentator: a big white Republican who believes that he can do whatever he wants – damn the rules.

However, the new Fright Night hinges on Anton Yelchin, and he is fantastic. In the new Charley Brewster, Yelchin creates a complex, layered teen. When the story focuses on Brewster as the reformed nerd, his stubborn determination to be the cool kid, no matter the cost to his soul, to say nothing of the cost to his former friends, is painfully realistic. That is why Brewster’s transformation into teen warrior also rings true. The new Fright Night is a delight, and the reasons are many for this well-made film – with Yelchin being the most important one.

7 of 10
A-

Friday, December 16, 2011

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