Review: "RESIDENT EVIL: Welcome to Raccoon City" is Scary as Hell

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 of 2022 (No. 1825) by Leroy Douresseaux

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada/Germany
Running time:  107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and gore, and language throughout
DIRECTOR:  Johannes Roberts
WRITER:  Johannes Roberts (based upon the video game, Resident Evil)
PRODUCERS:  Hartley Gorenstein, James Harris, and Robert Kulzer
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Maxime Alexandre
EDITOR:  Dev Singh
COMPOSER:  Mark Korven

HORROR/SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring:  Kaya Scodelario, Robbie Amell, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hopper, Avan Jogia, Donal Logue, Neal McDonough, Marina Mazepa. Janet Porter, Holly De Barros, Chad Rook, Nathan Dales, Daxton Grey Gujral, and Lily Gail Reid

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a 2021 science fiction, action, and horror film from writer-director Johannes Roberts.  It is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil film franchise and a reboot of the franchise, which is based upon the Capcom survival horror video game series, Resident Evil.  Welcome to Raccoon City is set in 1998 and focuses on a small group of people trying to survive a zombie outbreak in a small town.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City opens sometime in the 1980s in the small town of Raccoon City.  The Raccoon City Orphanage is the current home of orphaned siblings, Claire Redfield (Lily Gail Reid), and her brother, Chris (Daxton Grey Gujral).  The children are subject to being experimented on by Dr. William Birkin (Neal McDonough), an employee of the Umbrella Corporation, the world's largest pharmaceutical company.  Eventually, Claire manages to run away.

On the rainy night of September 30, 1998, an adult Claire (Kaya Scodelario) returns to Raccoon City.  She hopes to convince her estranged brother, Chris (Robbie Amell), who is now an officer of the Raccoon City Police Department (RPD), that Umbrella is experimenting on the people of the city.  However, Chris is not happy to see his sister, nor does he believe what she tells him about Umbrella's activities.

In fact, Umbrella Corp. has pulled out of Raccoon City, turning it into a ghost town.  The only people still in town are a skeleton crew of the corporation's last employees and those who are too poor to leave.  Before Claire can convince anyone of anything, Raccoon City's remaining citizens start getting sick and eventually, they begin turning into hungry zombies.  Soon, Claire and Chris are each leading a small group of police officers on a quest to escape the city with neither knowing that they are rapidly running out of time.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City was not a success at the box office, which is a shame.  As the first entry in a new series of films, it is superior to Resident Evil, the 2002 film that kicked off the franchise.  I will be honest.  The characters are shallow, but character development and motivation are not the most important things in Welcome to Raccoon City.  The scares are.

To that end, it is very successful.  Writer-director Johannes Roberts turns in a film that makes superb use of nighttime settings, shadows, darkness, and a rainy night.  With film editor, Dev Singh, Roberts strangles his audience with fearsome sequences of zombies and monsters jumping out of every darkness.  There is a scene in which Chris Redfield has to ward off zombies with very little light.  Every time, he fires his weapon, there is a flash that briefly illuminates an attacking zombie.  In fact, Welcome to Raccoon City's zombies may be twenty-first century's scariest.  I felt that with every bump and thump in the night my blood was freezing.

I hope that Johannes Roberts gets a shot at making a sequel to Welcome to Raccoon City.  Online and especially on social media, I have come across complaints about this film, but these complainers must be jaded.  In the blended genre of survival horror and zombie films, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is quite an achievement.

7 of 10
A-

Thursday, March 10, 2022


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Review: "SORRY TO BOTHER YOU" is Fresh and Audacious

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 7 of 2022 (No. 1819) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Running time:  112 minutes (1 hour, 52 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language, some strong sexual content, graphic nudity, and drug use
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Boots Riley
PRODUCERS:  Jonathan Duffy, Charles D. King, George Rush, Forest Whitaker, and Kelly Williams
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Doug Emmett (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Terel Gibson
COMPOSERS:  Tune-Yards: Nate Brenner and Merrill Garbus (score); The Coup (soundtrack)

COMEDY/SCIENCE FICTION

Starring:  LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Harwick, Terry Crews, Kate Berlant, Michael X. Sommers, Robert Longstreet, and Danny Glover, Armie Hammer, and Steven Yeun with Rosario Dawson, Forest Whitaker, David Cross, Lily James, and Patton Oswalt

Sorry to Bother You is a 2018 satirical, science fiction, and black comedy film written and directed by Boots Riley.  The film follows a young African-American telemarketer who discovers the key to professional success and personal wealth, which also propels him into a world of corporate conspiracy and greed.

Sorry to Bother You opens in an alternate version of present-day Oakland, California.  Cassius “Cash” Green (LaKeith Stanfield) is a young African-American man who struggles to be gainfully employed.  He and his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), an artist, live with Cash's uncle, Sergio Green (Terry Crews), specifically in Uncle's Sergio's garage.  Cash learns about a job opportunity at the place of employment of his friend, Salvadore a.k.a. “Sal” (Jermaine Fowler).

Sal works as a telemarketer for a company called “RegalView.”  Cash manages to get a job, and his bosses, Johnny (Michael K. Sommers) and Anderson (Robert Longstreet), emphasize that he must “stick to the script” (S.T.T.P) when making sales calls.  He struggles with the job until an older African-American co-worker, Langston (Danny Glover), tells Cash that he must adopt a “white voice” when making sales calls.  After a few misfires, Cash eventually creates his own “white voice” (spoken by actor David Cross), and it works!  Soon, Cash is so good at selling products to the people he calls that his bosses dub him a “Power Caller.”

Meanwhile, Cash's coworker, Squeeze (Steven Yeun), has formed a union, and now, he wants to recruit Cash, Detroit, and Sal as union activists.  However, Cash is finally making some big money for the first time in his life, and when he moves on up to the luxurious Power Caller suite, he does not want to give that up.  When he starts selling for RegalView's main corporate client, WorryFree, Cash is forced to decide between his friends and selling his soul as part of a terrible corporate conspiracy.

Sorry to Bother You is one of those hybrid comedy film that blends dark humor, satire, science fiction, and adventure in a way that comments on the contemporary times in which the film debuted.  Sorry to Bother You reminds me of films like director Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) and director Mike Judge's Idiocracy (2006).  Like those films, Sorry to Bother You eviscerates the power elites and the institutions that guide and even control society.

Like Judge's other satirical film, Office Space (1999), Sorry to Bother You perfectly captures the contemporary landscape of working America:  underpaid workers who are like drones; the difficulties of unionizing workplaces; using promotions to separate workers; pitting workers against each other; middle managers who act like overseers; and a narcissistic ownership class that doesn't know and doesn't want to know anything … that does not get them what they want.

In Sorry to Bother You, writer-director Boots Riley offers a bold vision of today with crazy, twisted apt metaphors that relate to now and to the near-future.  My one quibble with the film is that the characters are not quite one-dimensional, but they do lack true depth.  Steven Yeun adds some bump to his rabble rouser, Squeeze, as does Jermaine Fowler with his character, Sal.  However, it seems as if LaKeith Stanfield as Cash and Tessa Thompson as Detroit use their performances to bring their characters to heights to which the film's script does not aspire.  The film is almost over by the time these characters really start to command and shape the direction of the story, which Riley drives using a complex plot, an involved story line, and lots of amazing ideas.

It is a shame that upon its theatrical release audiences did not watch Sorry to Bother You the way they watched big-tent, event pictures.  At one point in the film, one of the characters in Sorry to Bother You says that when people discover a problem that they can't fix, they ignore it.  Sorry to Bother You doesn't offer easy answers, but it does ask that people get involved … and think.  Sorry to Bother You is as entertaining as most superhero movies, and without being preachy, it also asks the people to be heroes against villains and the injustice they perpetuate.  There are many home entertainment options for audiences to discover this wonderful and relevant movie.

8 of 10
A

Wednesday, February 16, 2022


NOTES:
2019 Black Reel Awards:  3 wins: “Outstanding Screenplay” (Boots Riley), “Outstanding Emerging Director” (Boots Riley), and “Outstanding First Screenplay” (Boots Riley); 4 nominations: “Outstanding Actor” (LaKeith Stanfield), “Outstanding Director” (Boots Riley), “Outstanding Ensemble,” and “Outstanding Costume Design” (Deirdra Elizabeth Govan)

2019 Image Awards (NAACP):  2 nominations: “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture” and “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Film)” (Boots Riley)

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Review: 2021 "DUNE " is Both Tremendous and Tedious

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 63 of 2021 (No. 1801) by Leroy Douresseaux

Dune (2021)
Running time:  155 minutes (2 hours, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing images and suggestive material
DIRECTOR:  Denis Villeneuve
WRITERS:  Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth (based on the novel by Frank Herbert)
PRODUCERS:  Denis Villeneuve, Cale Boyter, Joseph M. Caracciolo, and Mary Parent
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Greg Fraser (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Joe Walker
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer

SCI-FI

Starring:  Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgard, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Chen Chang, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Charlotte Rampling, Babs Olusanmokun, Benjamine Clementine, and Golda Rosheuvel

Dune is a 2021 science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve.  It is based on the 1965 novel, Dune, written by author Frank Herbert.  This the third screen adaptation of Herbert's novel after writer-director David Lynch's 1984 film and writer-director John Harrison's 2000 television miniseries.  Dune 2021 focuses on the male heir to a noble family who finds himself in the middle of conspiracy and prophecy on a desert planet where is found the most vital element in the universe.

Dune opens in the far future in the year 10,191.  The most valuable substance in the universe is “Spice,” which extends human vitality and life and is absolutely necessary for space travel.  Spice is only found on the desert planet, Arrakis.  For over eighty years, House Harkonnen, one of the noble houses of the “Landsraad,” has mined the planet for Spice.

Now, the Emperor of the Known Universe has ordered House Harkonnen to withdraw from the planet.  The Emperor has appointed Duke Leto I (Oscar Isaac) of House Atreides and ruler of the ocean planet, Caladan, as the new fief ruler of Arrakis and the one responsible for the mining of Spice.

However, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the son of Leto and his concubine, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), is the focus of the Bene Gesserit, a powerful sisterhood who wield advance mental and physical abilities, to which Jessica belongs.  The Bene Gesserit have a prophecy concerning a “superbeing,” called the  “Kwisatz Haderach,” and Paul may be this superbeing because of the machinations of his mother.  Meanwhile, Paul has dreams and visions, most of them set on Arrakis and involving the natives of Arrakis, the “Fremen.”  And of the Fremen, Paul dreams most of a mysterious young woman (Zendaya) with blue in her eyes.  Paul knows that his fate lies on Arrakis, and he will discover it if he survives the plot against his family.

Although the title of this film is “Dune,” when the movie starts the credits read “Dune: Part One.”  That's right, director Denis Villeneuve refused to adapt Frank Herbert's novel as one long film when he preferred to do it as two long films.  I have seen Herbert's novel referred to as “unwieldy” source material, but the truth is that like Robert A. Heinlein's novel, Starship Troopers (1959), which was adapted into a 1997 film, Dune is philosophical and thoughtful.  Much of the narrative takes place in the minds of its major characters, and I don't think that big-budget, event Hollywood films are really good at internal philosophical monologues.

Denis Villeneuve's Dune is visually ambitious.  It is pomp and circumstance.  It focuses on the rituals of the Landsraad (the empire's noble houses) and of the Fremen – to the point of being anthropological.  Dune is costumes, uniforms, makeup, hairdos, and lavish spectacle.  Dune offers some of the most imaginatively designed space crafts, flying contraptions, utility machines, and personal devices outside of the Star Wars films.  It leans towards opulence in its breathtaking landscapes and astonishing vistas.  This visual and design aesthetic creates the kind of overwhelming cinematic sensory experience that is exactly why we need to see some films in movie theaters.

Villeneuve apparently also said that Dune has “power in details,” and his obsession with details, both in terms of visuals and narratives, is a problem for Dune, much in the way it was a problem for his acclaimed 2016 film, The Arrival … to a lesser extent.  For Dune, he builds a big world in pictures and images, and then, he and his co-writers Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth (the ones who are credited onscreen), drag the movie out by drowning every key scene and sequence in detail.  There is no better example of this than the scene with the “Herald of the Change” (Benjamin Clementine), when Duke Leto formerly excepts his assignment to Arrakis.  It was pointless scene about the pointlessness of the Emperor and his rituals.

At one point while watching this film, I checked my phone and realized that there was still an hour to go.  I wasn't sure if I could make.  I could not understand how a film could be so visually dazzling as Dune is and have a story that frustratingly seems to be going somewhere … slowly.  And Dune's wonderful cast goes right along with this, delivering performances that are earnest in their grimness.  Still, the actors didn't make me want to connect with their characters, and Rebecca Ferguson's Lady Jessica is just fucking tiresome.

I am giving this film a B+ because of two things – the sometimes unbelievable visuals and, surprisingly, Hans Zimmer's amazing musical score, for which he supposedly created new musical instruments.  Without his constantly inventive score, this film would put people to sleep.  If I were focusing only on story, I'd give Dune a B- or a B, because there are some characters that are fascinating the few times they are on screen, such as Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) and his nephew, Rabban (Dave Bautista).  There are also a few scenes that resonate.  I really don't know how to recommend a film that will impress you almost as much as it will tire you, but that Denis Villeneuve's Dune in a nutshell.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, October 22, 2021


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Review: First "VENOM" is Surprisingly Entertaining and Unexpectedly Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 of 2021 (No. 1795) by Leroy Douresseaux

Venom (2018)
Running time:  112 minutes (1 hour, 52 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for language
DIRECTOR:  Ruben Fleischer
WRITERS:  Scott Rosenberg and Kelly Marcel; from a screen story by Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg (based on the Marvel Comics)
PRODUCERS:  Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, and Matt Tolmach
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Matthew Libatique (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Alan Baumgarten and Maryann Brandon
COMPOSER:  Ludwig Göransson

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION

Starring:  Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, Melora Walters, Peggy Lu, Ron Cephas Jones, Stan Lee, and Woody Harrelson

Venom is a 2018 superhero fantasy-action film directed by Ruben Fleischer.  The film is based on the Marvel Comics super-villain/anti-hero characters, Eddie Brock/Venom, to which several comic book writers, artists, and editors contributed in the creation of, most especially artist Todd McFarlane and writer David Michelinie.  It is also the first film in the “Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters” series.  In Venom the film, a troubled television reporter gains superpowers after bonding with an alien entity that is part of an invasion force.

As Venom opens, a space exploration probe belonging to the bio-engineering corporation, Life Foundation, discovers a comet covered in strange lifeforms.  The probe returns to Earth with four samples of these lifeforms, but one escapes.  Later, Life Foundation CEO, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), has realized that these lifeforms are “symbiotes,” and that they cannot survive without human hosts.  However, soon after the symbiotes bond with humans, the humans' bodies start to reject the aliens.  Drake is obsessed with finding the perfect human hosts for these symbiotes, even if his experiments lead to the deaths of many humans.

Six months later, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is a failed television reporter and former star of “The Brock Report.”  He previously had a run-in with Drake, but fate has given him the opportunity to infiltrate the Life Foundation.  That is how Eddie has an unfortunate encounter with a symbiote that calls itself “Venom.”  Eddie struggles to adapt to what he calls the “parasite” inside his body and is shocked to learn that there are millions more like Venom out in space.  But Eddie will need Venom's help to stay alive when Drake and Life Foundation discover his strange union and come after him to retrieve their property – the symbiote Venom.

Except for his early comic book appearances, I have never been a fan of Venom, but I am a fan of Venom the movie.  He is one of those characters whose potential reveals itself in the movement that television and film offers.  The visual-effects crew of Venom does excellent work in creating Venom as a fascinating and alluring CGI character; noisy, chaotic, obnoxious, inconsistent, and aggressive work for this character.  In fact, there are many inconsistencies in what is supposed to be the nature of human-symbiote relationship, especially in what are the rules of Eddie Brock and Venom's merger, but I found this movie to be too much fun for me to pay attention to logic.

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake make the most of two characters that are not that well developed, and the characters make a good adversarial pair.  Even acclaimed actress and multiple Oscar nominee, Michelle Williams, manages to make Eddie's ex, Anne Weying, seem like something more than an obligatory female character.  But still, the gold in Venom is the special effect that is Venom the character.  I like Venom enough to watch a sequel...

7 of 10
B+

Monday, July 5, 2021


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Review: "Aquaman" Rides High on the High Seas

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 23 of 2021 (No. 1761) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Aquaman (2018)
Running time:  143 minutes (2 hours, 23 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language
DIRECTOR:  James Wan
WRITERS:  David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall; from a story by Geoff Johns, James Wan, Will Beall (based on the character created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger and appear ing DC Comics)
PRODUCERS:  Rob Cowan and Peter Safran
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Don Burgess    
EDITOR:  Kirk Morri
COMPOSER:  Rupert Gregson-Williams

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ludi Lin, Temuera Morrison, Randall Park, Michael Beach, and Nicole Kidman

Aquaman is a 2018 superhero science fiction and fantasy film from director James Wan.  It is the sixth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), which is comprised of films based upon DC Comics characters.  Aquaman was created by artist Paul Norris and editor Mort Weisinger and first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 (cover dated: November 1941).  Aquaman the film focuses on a half-breed who is heir to the throne of an underwater kingdom and his quest to prevent an all-out war between the worlds of the land and the seas.

Aquaman opens in 1985.  Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison), a lighthouse keeper in Amnesty Bay, Maine, rescues Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), the queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, during a storm.  They fall in love and have a son named Arthur, who has the power to communicate with sea creatures.  Eventually, however, Atlantean soldiers arrive to retrieve Atlanna, who had fled her arranged marriage in Atlantis.

The film movies to the present day, several months after the events depicted in the film, Justice League.  Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), now also known as the “Aquaman,” attempts to live a normal life in Amnesty Bay, but his Atlantean heritage is about to intrude on his life.  Arthur has a half-brother, Orm Marius (Patrick Wilson), who is the current King of Atlantis and who is also the second son of Atlanna.  Orm is attempting to rally the undersea kingdoms to his cause.  He wants to unite and to attack the surface world for polluting the oceans.  Princess Y'Mera Xebella Challa, also known simply as Mera (Amber Heard), is betrothed to Orm, but refuses to aid him or her father, King Nerius of Xebel (Dolph Lundgren), in their plans.

Mera travels to the surface where she meets Arthur and tries to convince him to help her in stopping Orm.  She also wants Arthur to take his rightful place as King of Atlantis.  Before he does that, however, Arthur must recover a magic artifact, the lost “Sacred Trident of Atlan,” which will mark its possessor as the rightful ruler of Atlantis.  The problem is that Arthur does not want to be King of Atlantis nor anywhere else for that matter.

Watching Aquaman, I could not help but notice that many of its story points and plot elements were glaringly similar to that of Marvel Studios' Black Panther, which debuted earlier in the same year that Aquaman hit theaters, 2018.  Whereas Black Panther was edgy, philosophically in tune with Pan-Africanism, and socially relevant, Aquaman is simply a grand, old-fashioned, action-adventure fantasy film, and there is nothing wrong with that.  Aquaman is solidly entertaining.

If Aquaman must be accused of copying other films, in terms of visual concepts and world-building, Aquaman leans heavily on the Star Wars prequel films and on Tron: Legacy.  And once again, there is nothing wrong with that.  Many big-budget, tent-pole films borrow from other movies of similar to its type.  Aquaman dazzles the eyes and blows the mind.  It is such a spectacular visual effects feast for the eyes, senses, and imagination that I am surprised that it did not get any Oscar nominations in the categories of visual effects, art direction-set decoration, and costume design.  That such a visually resplendent film did not get in Oscar nominations says something about the nominating process of the Academy Awards in many areas.

I must admit that I think that this film does have a few sizable problems.  Aquaman's stiff, overly-formal, highfalutin' dialogue hampers the acting, which isn't all that good to begin with.  The character writing is also average, so it is not as if the actors have much to work with in building strong dramatic characters.  Still, I'd have to be feeling generous to say that Jason Momoa was more than average as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, although he does appear to be trying hard.  Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II overact and ham-it-up as Orm and Black Manta, respectively.  Willem Dafoe is practically a wooden idol as Vulko, and Amber Heard seems to think that she is playing Mera in a spoof of a superhero movie rather than acting in a “serious” superhero film.

I would normally give a film with such average character drama on the part of the screenplay and such awkward acting a grade of “B.”  The directing by James Wan is strong enough, however, and, once again, the film is such a visual effects orgasm that I will bump up Aquaman's final grade a little.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, November 28, 2020


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#28DaysofBlack Review: "THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET" Still Out of This World

[Outside of television, no white filmmaker has presented the depth, diversity, and scope of African-American characters on the big screen to the extent that writer-director John Sayles has.  For years, I encountered black people who thought that Sayles' fourth feature film, “The Brother from Another Planet,” was a “black film.”  Why is that?  Sayles has the ability to create characters and stories from outside the mainstream of society or of storytelling, but his directorial approach is more observational than dictatorial.  The result is a film like The Brother from Another Planet, in which no one can say of those black characters, “they all look alike” or act alike.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 of 2021 (No. 1758) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some drug content and brief nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  John Sayles
PRODUCERS:  Peggy Rajski and Maggie Renzi
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ernest R. Dickerson
EDITOR:  John Sayles
COMPOSERS:  Mason Daring; Denzil Botus; Martin Brody; John Sayles and others

SCI-FI/DRAMA

Starring:  Joe Morton, Daryl Edwards, Steve James, Leonard Jackson, Carolyn Aaron, Bill Cobbs, Tom Wright, Minnie Gentry, Dee Dee Bridgewater, David Strathairn, John Sayles

The Brother from Another Planet is a 1984 science fiction and drama film from writer-director John Sayles.  This low-budget, independent film focuses on a mute alien that looks like an African-American man as he navigates the streets of Harlem and avoids the aliens hunting him.

The Brother from Another Planet opens inside an alien space craft of some kind that is in distress.  The pilot struggles with the controls of the ship that eventually crashes in the water near Ellis Island.  The alien emerges from the water, and other than his three-toed feet, he looks like a black human male.  He makes his way to New York City, specifically Harlem.

In a way, he successfully blends with the denizens of NYC, and makes his way into a bar owned by a man named, Odell (Steve James).  There, Odell and the regulars:  Fly (Daryl Edwards), Walter (Bill Cobbs), and Smokey (Leonard Jackson) begin to refer to the alien as “The Brother” (Joe Morton).  The Brother has the ability to heal his wounds and to heal or fix machines, and he soon lands a job as a technician and repairman.  Meanwhile, two men in black (David Strathairn and John Sayles) are hunting for The Brother … because he is a slave.

It has been over a decade since I last saw The Brother from Another Planet, but there was a time period when I saw it several times.  Every time I saw it, I loved it as much as I did the time before, if not more.  Before I watched it recently, I wondered how I would feel about it now, and it turns out that I am still in love with this film.  I once described The Brother from Another Planet as one of my all-time favorite films, and it must remain so.  As a low-budget, independent science fiction film, it is ripe for a remake.  However, the truth is that even with its seat-of-the-pants film-making and bare-bones special effects, The Brother from Another Planet seems to be perfect the way it is.  At least, that is what my mind keeps thinking.

Writer-director John Sayles has described The Brother from Another Planet as being about the immigrant experience of assimilation.  In a way, both The Brother and the denizens of Harlem and NYC, in general, are aliens, depending on the perspective and point of view from which they are viewed.  In fact, Sayles' Harlem in a grimy, funky alien world of people and places.  Somehow, Sayles makes every person and every thing unique; nothing and no one is like anything or anyone else.

For all that the cast brings to the film, The Brother from Another Planet's strength is in its creator, John Sayles, and in its star, Joe Morton as The Brother.  Sometimes, the film seems like a series of documentary or anthropological vignettes – as erratic in their presentation as they are inventive in the conception.  In that he is a most imaginative filmmaker, Sayles is a genius at creating characters that the viewer will want to observe.

Joe Morton's performance, exploratory without being penetrative and aggressive, brings the disparate parts of this film together into a whole, although it is not a seamless whole.  Perhaps that is the point; very little of this film's setting should seem connected.  On this planet that is our Earth, Joe Morton's Brother explores the strange worlds within the strange world.  Morton's is one of the greatest film performances that I have ever seen.  Without saying a word, Morton becomes like the actors of the silent film era, using physicality and facial expressions (or lack thereof) to tell The Brother's story, doing so in vivid colors and with rich texture.

The Brother from Another Planet is indeed an immigrant story, focusing on a being forced to be an immigrant and to find a new place in which to live because he is a slave.  The film is not about slavery, although the fact that The Brother is a runaway slave waits patiently on the periphery of this film and its narrative.  But, then again, The Brother from Another Planet gives the viewer so much to think about, and its seems like a chapter in a larger narrative.  Perhaps, that is why every time I watch this film, I feel like The Brother, always discovering something new.

10 of 10

Tuesday, February 23, 2021


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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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Movie Review: "Bloodshot" Surprises

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 23 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bloodshot (2020)

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Running time:  109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, some suggestive material and language
DIRECTOR:  David S.F. Wilson
WRITERS: Jeff Wadlow and Eric Heisserer; from a story by Jeff Wadlow (based on the Valiant Comics character)
PRODUCERS:  Vin Diesel, Toby Jaffe, Neal H. Moritz, and Dinesh Shamdasani
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jacques Jouffret (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Jim May
COMPOSER:  Steve Jablonsky

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring:  Vin Diesel, Guy Pearce, Eiza González, Sam Heughan, Lamorne Morris, Alex Hernandez, Toby Kebbell, Talulah Riley, Siddharth Dhananjay, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson

Bloodshot is a 2020 superhero and science fiction film directed by David S.F. Wilson.  The film features the Valiant Comics' character, Bloodshot, that was created by Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin, and Bob Layton.  Blooshot focuses on a slain Marine brought back to life as a super-powered weapon.

Bloodshot introduces U.S. Marine Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel).  After leading a successful rescue operation in Mombasa, Ray and his wife, Gina (Talulah Riley), travel to a beachside town on Italy's Amalfi Coast for a holiday.  However, a notorious terrorist, Martin Axe (Toby Kebbell), kidnaps Ray and Gina and demands that Ray reveal the source of the information the Marines used for the Mombasa hostage operation.  Then, things turn ugly.

Ray awakens in a lab at the headquarters of RST (Rising Spirit Tech), a company that specializes in developing cybernetic enhancements for disabled United States' military personnel.  The company's CEO, Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Pearce), tells Ray that he is the first successful candidate that they have resurrected using a special “nanite technology.”  As he embarks on his first kill-mission, Ray does not realize that very little of what he believes is true.

While watching Bloodshot, I realized that Vin Diesel has starred in a lot of science fiction and fantasy films.  They are an odd lot of high concepts and box office misfires – for the most part.  Bloodshot is one of those films that had its release truncated by the closure of most movie theaters in North America by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.  I am not sure if Bloodshot would have been much of a box office hit if it had had a full release...

...But it is a surprisingly enjoyable movie.  The truth is that this is something I would enjoy watching on DVD (which is how I saw the film via DVD Netflix), but, because it is based on a comic book, there is a good chance that I would have made a trip to the movie theater to see it.  Now, that I have seen it, I want to recommend it to fans of movies based on comic books and also to Vin Diesel fans.  Bloodshot is not a “Fast & Furious” film, but its action is... fast and furious... coincidentally.

Bloodshot's revenge-fantasy-within-a-revenge-tale plot delivers a lot of good action sequences.  This narrative's themes, built around the ideas of freedom, choice, control, and reality actually resonate.  While watching this movie, I often found myself asking questions like, “How free am I really?” and “How much freedom of choice is actually of my choosing?”  Bloodshot is like a story by the late author, Philip K. Dick, in which the lead character faces the truth that the reality in which he thinks he lives... is not real... or at least, it is not in his control.

Bloodshot is not a mindless action movie, and it is certainly a stronger take on the story of a military-type discovering that his body or part of it has been stolen than the 2019 Will Smith vehicle, Gemini Man.  However, Bloodshot would be a much stronger film if Vin Diesel were a better actor.  Diesel's acting range mostly runs from smooth guy to menacing guy to enraged guy.  This film's script certainly gives him plenty of scenes when Diesel has to be angry or at least to seethe.  Whenever Diesel's Ray Garrison has to be thoughtful, the film quickly moves on.

As for the supporting characters, the film's writing also doesn't offer anything more than familiar character types.  Still, actor Lamorne Morris manages to make his character, the coding rebel-genius, Wilfred Wigans, excellent comic relief.  Both actor and character are worth seeing again.

So I can honestly say that director David S.F. Wilson delivers a film that is more (at least, a little more) than it seems on the surface.  Bloodshot does not have any of those awful dry moments that make me want to fall asleep when watching an alleged action movie (which happens a lot... the aforementioned Gemini Man).  It is pretty much a fast-moving, highly-entertaining thrill machine.  Bloodshot has an excellent last act featuring a eye-spinning epic battle in and around an elevator shaft, and remember: the writing is smart enough to take its themes and ideas seriously.  In fact, Bloodshot is good enough to warrant a sequel – even if the box office... reality might keep that from happening.

6 of 10
B

Monday, September 28, 2020


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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)

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Review: "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Running time:  141 minutes (2 hours, 21 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action
DIRECTOR:  J.J. Abrams
WRITERS:  Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams; from a story by Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams and Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly (based on characters created by George Lucas)
PRODUCERS:  Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Michelle Rejwan
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dan Mindel
EDITORS:  Maryann Brandon and Stefan Grube
COMPOSER:  John Williams

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA

Starring:  Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, Naomi Ackie, Kelly Marie Tran, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Domhnall Gleeson, Billie Lourd, Dominic Monaghan, Warwick Davis, Denis Lawson, and Joonas Suotamo with Carrie Fisher (archive footage)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a 2019 science fiction, fantasy, and action film directed by J.J. Abrams.  It is the ninth movie in the Star Wars film franchise's “Skywalker Saga,” which began with the 1977 Oscar-winning film, Star Wars, created by George Lucas.  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is also a direct sequel to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).  In The Rise of Skywalker, the surviving Resistance fighters battles the First Order as the last of the Jedi faces the most powerful of the Dark Side.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker begins one year after the “Battle of Crait” (as seen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi).  Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is now “Supreme Leader” of the First Order, and he is vexed by mysterious broadcasts that carry the voice of someone claiming to be “the Emperor.”  Determined to find this “phantom Emperor,” Kylo uses a Sith device called the “Wayfinder,” which leads him to a secret part of the galaxy and the planet, “Exegol.”

There, Kylo discovers a physically impaired Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), the Emperor of the late Galactic Empire, long thought to be dead.  Palpatine reveals that he has been manipulating things behind the scenes, including luring Kylo to the Dark Side.  He wants Kylo to find Rey (Daisy Ridley) and to bring her to him.

Meanwhile, on the world the “Resistance” calls its home, Rey continues her Jedi training under the tutelage of General Leia Organa (archive footage of the late Carrie Fisher).  Thanks to a mole/spy in the First Order, the Resistance has learned of Kylo Ren's discovery.  Now, Rey, Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), BB-8, and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) leave on a mission to find a second Wayfinder, the one for which the late Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) had once searched, one that will lead them to Exegol.

Rey, Finn, and Poe will need the help of old heroes, like Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), and new friends, like Jannah (Naomi Ackie), if they are going to stop the forces of the Dark Side.  Kylo and Palpatine are plotting something called “the Final Order,” which includes a secret armada of the most powerful “Star Destroyers” ever assembled.

Hopefully, I can keep this review from running on too long.  The reviews for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, both formal and commentary from social media, are decidedly mixed.  Some think The Rise of Skywalker is the worst Star Wars movie ever.  Others have called it mediocre or average.  Some don't like one half of it and like the other half.  Some think it is the best Star Wars movie (1) in the sequel trilogy, (2) since the original trilogy (3) or the best Star Wars movie ever.

I think Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the best Star Wars film since the end of the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi, which was released in 1983.  I like everything about The Rise of Skywalker.  The directing, the writing, the CGI and the science and technology, the cinematography, editing, film score, costume design, art direction and set decoration, and, of course the acting.

Co-writer-director J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio give us a satisfying resolution to the story arcs of both Rey and Kylo Ren.  Finn and Poe Dameron finally get quality screen time that allows the audience to see the best of their characters.  A number of actors who have appeared in Star Wars films over the last four decades-plus lend their voices to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.  Lando Calrissian finally returns, with Billy Dee Williams making a star turn in each of his scenes.  Their are wonderful new characters (Keri Russell's Zorri Bliss) and the delightful return of familiar characters.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker also offers the revival of old plots, and the film contains numerous references to important moments in previous films (including the execution of a feat of power displayed by Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back).  Even the last shot of the movie references an important moment in the original Star Wars film.

I love Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker without reservation...  Well, maybe I think the movie is not long enough, because I could have watched another hour of it.  It is like a dark, but fantastic fairy tale, full of symbolism and magic.  So, you, dear reader, can take my sky-high recommendation with many proverbial grains of salt.  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is my favorite movie of the year.  It is a fine end to the “Skywalker Saga”... or it is a satisfying goodbye until we see Rey, Finn, Poe, and our favorite Star Wars characters next time.

10 of 10

2020  Academy Awards, USA:  3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (John Williams), “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, Dominic Tuohy, and Roger Guyett), and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Matthew Wood and David Acord)

2020 BAFTA Awards 2020:  3 nominations: “Original Music” (John Williams), “Best Sound” (David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson, and Matthew Wood) and “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Neal Scanlan, and Dominic Tuohy)

Friday, December 20, 2019

Edited Tuesday, March 17, 2020


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Review: "Terminator: Dark Fate" Tries... Lawd, It Tries

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Running time:  128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity
DIRECTOR:  Tim Miller
WRITERS:  David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray; from a story by James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee, Josh Friedman, David S. Goyer, and Justin Rhodes (based upon characters created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd)
PRODUCERS:  James Cameron and David Ellison
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ken Seng
EDITOR:  Julian Clarke
COMPOSER:  Junkie XL

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, Diego Boneta, and Fraser James

Terminator: Dark Fate is a 2019 science fiction and action-thriller from director Tim Miller.  The film is the sixth in the Terminator film franchise, but Terminator: Dark Fate is a direct sequel to the original film, The Terminator (1984) and its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), both of which were directed by James Cameron, who is a co-writer and co-producer on this new film.  In Dark Fate, a soldier from the future arrives in the present day to protect a young woman marked for termination by another kind of soldier from the future.

Terminator: Dark Fate opens in 1998 when events that began fourteen years earlier come to a close... of sorts.  The story moves forward to the year 2020 when two fighters from the future (the year 2042) arrive separately in Mexico City.  One is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a cybernetically-enhanced human soldier.  The other is an advanced Terminator model, the Rev-9, (Gabriel Luna), sent by “Legion,” an A.I. (artificial intelligence) built for cyber-warfare that threatens the existence of humanity in the future.

Their target is a young Mexican woman, Daniella “Dani” Ramos (Natalia Reyes); Grace wants to protect her, and the Rev-9 wants to kill her.  Grace is able to temporarily fend off the Rev-9 in order to protect Dani, but she cannot defeat the Terminator.  To do that, Grace and Dani will need the help of a mysterious woman named Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and an old T-800 Terminator that calls itself “Carl” (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and even they may not be enough help.

Ten years ago, Warner Bros. attempted to reboot the Terminator film franchise with the film, Terminator: Salvation (2009).  I really liked that film and thought that it had saved the franchise, which seemed rudderless in the wake of the entertaining, but superfluous Terminator: Rise of the Machines (2003).

Ten years later, we get Terminator: Dark Fate, and I think this entertaining sequel, reboot, re-imagining can revive the Terminator franchise, as far as the larger narrative is concerned.  Can Dark Fate save the franchise financially and in terms of popularity?  Outside of a few studios (Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm) and one genre, superhero films, predicting box office success of big-budget, “tent-pole,” event films, is a crap-shoot.

That aside, I really like Terminator: Dark Fate.  Most of the film is a series of impossible-looking action sequences.  The fate of Dark Fate is in the hands of sound editors, sound mixers, CGI artists, and film editors.  Dark Fate is an extended thrill ride, a giant thrill machine, a breathtaking race, a heart-stopping chase, etc.  The airplane duel and the entire waterfall/hydro-power battle are jaw-dropping sequences.  Dark Fate gives its audience second, thirds, and fourth servings when it comes action and thrills.

However, in terms of drama and character, Terminator: Dark Fate is skimpy.  Most of the characterization and personalities are copied or are leftovers from James Cameron and Terminator co-creator Gale Anne Hurd's work on the first two films.  Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor is good here, but she could have been better.  Dark Fate's story material is so underdeveloped that Hamilton seems forced to overact.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the rest of the cast does its best being really intense.  I must note, however, that Gabriel Luna does a wonderful job being creepy, chilling, and cold-freaking-blooded as the Rev-9 Terminator.  If this film has an actor having a star turn, it's Luna.

My quibbles aside, I think Terminator: Dark Fate points to an interesting and intriguing new direction for the Terminator films.  I found myself enjoying it so thoroughly, it wasn't until I started writing this review that I even gave a thought to the character and drama writing.  Let's be honest, what you feel immediately while watching a movie is what really counts in terms of entertainment value.  And Terminator: Dark Fate is the real fucking deal when it comes to action movies.

A-
7.5 of 10

Saturday, November 2, 2019


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Review: "Gemini Man" Strong Start, Embarrassing Finish

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Gemini Man (2019)
Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and action throughout, and brief strong language.
DIRECTOR:  Ang Lee
WRITERS:  David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke (from a story by Darren Lemke and David Benioff)
PRODUCERS:  Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dion Beebe
EDITOR:  Tim Squyres
COMPOSER:  Lorne Balfe

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong, Linda Emond, Douglas Hodge, Ralph Brown, Ilia Volok, and E.J. Bonilla

Gemini Man is a 2019 science fiction and action-thriller film from director Ang Lee and starring Will Smith.  The film focuses on an aging hit man who faces off against a younger version of himself.

Gemini Man introduces Henry Brogan (Will Smith), a government assassin who is considered the best assassin of his generation.  After completing an assassination mission in Europe that turns complicated, Henry decides to retire.  However, the government agency for which Henry kills, the Defense Intelligence Agency (D.I.A.), decides that it is time to permanently retire him, and sends an assassination squad to kill him.

Henry kills the team, and rescues a fellow D.I.A. agent, Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who had been watching him.  Henry and Danny turn to a longtime associate of Henry's, Baron (Benedict Wong), who flies them to Bogata, Colombia.  There, Henry plots his next move, but what he doesn't know is that a D.I.A. supervisor, Clayton “Clay” Varris (Clive Owen), head of a top-secret black ops unit code-named “GEMINI,” has marked him for death.  And the assassin Clay has sent to kill Henry may be the most-perfect assassin to take down the world's best assassin.

While watching Gemini Man, I thought the film reminded me of one of those mid-1990s action movies that had science fiction elements.  I am thinking of director John Woo's Nicolas Cage vs. John Travolta film, Face/Off (1997), or director Chuck Russell's Eraser (1996), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Sure enough, I later learned that Gemini Man was originally meant to go into production back in 1997, but it ended up in “development hell” until producer David Ellison bought the rights.

They really don't make movies like Gemini Man anymore.  Our current movie action heroes are superhero action heroes like Black Panther, Captain America, and Iron Man, and, quite frankly, their films are better than Gemini Man is.

Actually, Gemini Man starts off pretty strongly, kind of like a slightly less polished version of a Jason Bourne film.  The first hour or so of Gemini Man is tense, thrilling, and filled with mystery.  However, once the mystery is solved and once the film reveals the identity and origin of the killer (code-named “Junior”) sent to kill Henry Brogan, the tension and drama of the film is let out like air out of a balloon.  There is an fierce “final battle” in the film's last act, and there is a feel-good, if not weird, happy ending, but the atmosphere of high-tech thrills that initially filled Gemini Man is gone.

The special effects in Gemini Man look like special effects – in a too obvious way.  The computer-generated 23-year-old Will Smith sometimes looks weird and plastic.  I don't want to use the word “awful,” but...  I think Marvel Studios did a much better job creating a younger face for Samuel L. Jackson/Nick Fury in this year's blockbuster, mega-smash hit film, Captain Marvel.

Anyway, the performances are good, but not great.  Will Smith's performance as Henry Brogan is practically the same he gave in his previous sci-fi action-thriller, I, Robot (2004).  It is good to see that Mary Elizabeth Winstead can play an adult, and Benedict Wong is proving to be a winning character actor in roles that provide both comic relief and wit.  As usual, Clive Own proves that he can do mean, but his Clay Farris is much more menacing early in Gemini Man.  By the end of the film, Farris is practically a cartoon villain.

Gemini Man is a good and entertaining film.  It could have been so much better though; in fact, (as I keep saying), the beginning is really good and holds the promise of being the start of an exceptional action film.  Alas, Gemini Man is not exceptional.  If you are a Will Smith fan, Gemini Man is not so good that you have to see it in a theater; you can certainly wait for the home media release.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, October 12, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Men in Black: International" is Poo Doo

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Men in Black: International (2019)
Running time:  114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi action, some language and suggestive material.
DIRECTOR:  F. Gary Gray
WRITERS:  Matt Holloway and Art Marcum (based on characters created by Lowell Cunningham)
PRODUCERS:  Laurie MacDonald and Walter F. Parkes
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stuart Dryburgh    
EDITORS:  Zene Baker, Christian Wagner, and Matt Willard
COMPOSERS:  Chris Bacon and Danny Elfman    

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/COMEDY

Starring:  Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Liam Neeson, Rebecca Ferguson, Rafe Spall, Emma Thompson, Laurent Bourgeois, Larry Bourgeois, Kayvan Novak and Kumail Nanjiani (voice)

Men in Black: International is 2019 science fiction-fantasy and action-comedy from director F. Gary Gray.  This is the fourth film in the Men in Black (MiB) film series, and the first in a new MiB series that is part reboot and part sequel.  Men in Black: International finds the organization that has always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe searching for a spy working within MiB.

Men in Black: International introduces Molly Wright (Tessa Thompson), an overachiever who, as a child, had an experience with an alien.  This encounter led to Molly discovering the existence of “The Men in Black.”  Molly, after years of searching, has finally found the Men in Black's New York City base.  That earns her a meeting with “Agent O” (Emma Thompson), the head of MiB's U.S. branch, who is impressed by Molly's tenacity.

Molly becomes a probationary MiB agent and is sent to London where she answers to the head of MiB's United Kingdom branch, “High T” (Liam Neeson).  Soon, Molly finds herself partnering with “Agent H” (Chris Hemsworth) on an assignment to protect an alien VIP, the Jababian party animal, Vungus the Ugly (Kayvan Novak).  Vungus' death will spark a hunt for the most destructive weapon ever made and also for a traitor hiding within the ranks of MiB London.

While visiting the IMDb page for Men in Black: International, I discovered a member review of the film that declared, “This movie is politically correct (You've been warned!).”  I don't know what the person who posted this means by “this movie is politically correct.”  Among those for whom “PC” has become a battle cry are malcontents who think fictional characters in popular entertainment must fit their personal tastes and ideals in physical appearance, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, to name a few.  Coincidentally or ironically, the aforementioned review is as unimaginative and as clueless as the movie, Men in Black: International, is.

I don't often hold screenwriters solely responsible for a bad movie, but, by my estimation, screenwriters  Matt Holloway and Art Marcum, are largely responsible for the fact that Men in Black: International is an all-time franchise low in the Men in Black film series.  Everything about the writing is weak:  the flimsy, clumsily convoluted plot; the dull, insipid characters; and the pointless settings.

Chris Hemsworth's Agent H is amiable and forgettable; he is a charming (alien) womanizer, whose charm is about effective as a pretty knick-knack.  When he isn't onscreen, he isn't worth a second thought.  H is like a tepid version of Kevin Beckman, the character Hemsworth played in the 2016 Ghostbusters film.  Tessa Thompson's Molly/Agent M is no better, and M may actually be worse.  It is as if Thompson is not sure if she should play M as a cool and reserved female agent or as a curious and determined investigator of the weird.  The screenplay gives neither Hemsworth nor Thompson enough material from which to fashion a character that is more than a type.  They could not do much more with two characters that barely register above a whisper.

Liam Neeson's face is so frozen that I thought he was healing from a face lift, and his character, High T, is not the kind of magnetic character Neeson normally plays.  An actor who usually brings passion to his performances was like stiff, wet underwear frozen on the clothesline by cold weather.

Men in Black: International does have a few characters that are engaging.  Rafe Spall makes the best of his “Agent C,” an excellent rivalry type character (to H and M) who is largely wasted.  Every time Emma Thompson is onscreen in Men in Black: International, one can only think of the wasted opportunities – great actress, not great material.  Kumail Nanjiani provides some much needed laughs in his voice role as the diminutive alien (and CG creation), “Pawny.”

Men in Black: International's plot, about a threat to MiB, is full of misdirection, that cannot hide an sterile and uninspired plot.  The film manages to make the settings, from New York to London to Marrakesh (why?) to Paris, appear indistinguishable from one another.

I can never forget the unique feelings of joy I felt the first time I saw the original Men in Black (1997), which I have seen in its entirety at least three times.  That film retains its freshness, inventiveness, and its endearing weirdness after repeated views.  The sequels have struggled to capture the original film's sense of something amazing and new.

Men in Black: International may be the start of a new series of MiB films, but it feels too tired and too worn out to be an ignition.  It is clumsy and contrived in its action scenes, which is why I blame the screenwriters.  If director F. Gary Gray is really good at anything, it is in directing action movies and thrillers, and even he can't generate excitement from the hapless blueprint that is this film's script.  Men in Black: International is a bore and a chore to watch.  Yes, there is an occasional good moment here or there, but I was embarrassed that I had convinced two friends to see it with me.

And that title, Men in Black: International, is clunky, too.  Start over... again, Sony.

3.5 of 10
C-

Official "Men in Black: International" trailer is on YouTube.

Sunday, June 16, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint syndication rights and fees.

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