Latest Episodes of Bleach Anime at VIZAnime - FOR FREE!

LATEST EPISODES AIRED IN JAPAN OF POPULAR BLEACH ANIME SERIES TO START STREAMING ON VIZANIME.COM

Fans Are Invited To View New Episodes On VIZAnime.com

Beginning Today For FREE!

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, continues to generate tremendous momentum for its popular BLEACH series with the announcement that English-subtitled episodes from the most current story arc will begin streaming for free in the U.S. via the company’s premier website for anime, VIZAnime.com. Starting today with Episode 275, VIZAnime.com will stream a new BLEACH episode one week after it has aired in Japan.

BLEACH is one of the most popular Japanese anime and manga properties in the world and this near simulcast schedule is part of VIZ Anime’s ongoing strategy to bring hit animated properties to a national audience via the web.

BLEACH is a popular manga and animated series (both rated ‘T’ for Teens), distributed domestically by VIZ Media, that follows the adventures of Ichigo, a 15-year old student with the ability to see ghosts. When his family is attacked by a Hollow — a malevolent lost soul – Ichigo encounters Rukia, a Soul Reaper, and inadvertently absorbs her powers. Now, he’s dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping tortured souls find peace. Episode 275, from the newest story arc in Japan, marks the start of a thrilling storyline and guarantees a series of face-offs that are sure to excite old and new BLEACH fans!

VIZAnime.com is the official online home to some of VIZ Media’s best-loved animated series, and a burgeoning social network for fans to connect and form an interactive community. Over 1,000 episodes are currently available, and new content is added on a weekly basis.

“BLEACH remains one of the most successful and popular anime series in North America, and VIZ Media continues to break down time and distance barriers by making new episodes available within days of their original airing in Japan,” says Ken Sasaki, Sr. Vice President & General Manager, VIZ Media. “VIZAnime.com is the ultimate destination for the many popular VIZ Media animated titles, and currently contains an extensive catalog of hundreds of episodes from popular shows like BLEACH, INUYASHA, NARUTO, THE PRINCE OF TENNIS and more, all offered with accurate, high-quality streaming video that is completely free for viewers!”

BLEACH is a tremendously successful multimedia property internationally. The manga has been licensed in numerous countries around the world and has sold over 2 million copies in the US. In North America, the manga has been a sales hit and the popular animated series is viewed weekly by millions. This success also includes an array of related video games, apparel, action figures and other merchandise.

BLEACH animation can be viewed on Adult Swim and through a variety of other web-based video download and streaming outlets that have partnered with VIZ Media, including iTunes®, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Amazon, and HULU. For more information on BLEACH, please visit bleach.viz.com. To view subtitled BLEACH animated episodes, please visit VIZAnime.com.

Review: Solid Performances, Excellent Directing Shape "UP IN THE AIR"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Up in the Air (2009)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman
WRITERS: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (based on the novel by Walter Kirn)
PRODUCERS: Jeffrey Clifford, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, and Jason Reitman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Steelberg (director of photography)
EDITOR: Dana E. Glauberman
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey, Danny McBride, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliot, Zach Galifianakis, and Marvin Young (Young MC)

When I first heard all the praise for the 2009 film, Up in the Air, from director Jason Reitman (Juno), I was skeptical. Now, I have finally seen the film, and I like it. I like it a lot. Up in the Air is one of those “movies of the moment” that speak to our times, but this one works because it has excellent actors creating characters the audience will like and some may even love.

Up in the Air focuses on Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), who works for Career Transition Counseling out of Omaha, Nebraska. The job requires him to travel around the country and visit companies where he fires employees so that their bosses don’t have to do it. Ryan loves his life up in the air, and he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles. Ryan is also a motivational speaker who encourages people to live a life free of relationships and without attachments to things. But change is coming.

First, Ryan’s boss, Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman), hires a new employee, an ambitious recent college grad, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick). Natalie proposes that the company ground the employees and conduct layoffs (firings) over the Internet. Secondly, Ryan meets another frequent flyer, Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), and they begin a casual sexual relationship. Ryan’s younger sister, Julie Bingham (Melanie Lynskey), is getting married, and Ryan’s been invited, although he isn’t really part of his family’s life anymore. Now, Ryan is starting to make connections, but will that be enough to make him give up living a life with nothing and with nobody?

Whatever Up in the Air’s philosophy may be, it relies on good performances and engaging characters to sell it, especially the three major characters: Ryan, Natalie, and Alex. George Clooney is one of the few modern actors who remind me of movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Like Humphrey Bogart, Clooney seems to be playing himself, but he is so good as an actor that he makes us believe that he can be any character, from a fisherman (The Perfect Storm) to a brilliant con man (Ocean’s Eleven). Clooney sells us Ryan Bingham, and instead of coming across as shallow, Ryan comes across as a solid guy with real motivation and personality.

Vera Farmiga usually delivers deceptively smooth performances that, combined with her unique, not-cookie cutter beauty, make for attractive, even alluring characters. Alex Goran is a mysterious, rich with many layers, and Farmiga makes us want to peel back all those layers. Anna Kendrick also turns Natalie, who could have been an annoyance, into someone charming and engaging. Whenever Natalie walks away from the camera, the movie seems lonesome without her.

Perhaps, the lion’s share of the credit should go to director Jason Reitman, a major new talent. Everything about this movie works, and the director is the one who has to bring out the best in his cast and crew. Up in the Air, with its themes of loneliness, disconnected people, shallow relationships, and corporate callousness could have been a downer. When it depicts people getting fired, the movie seems too close to home, but that is a testament the sense of verisimilitude here. The truth is that Up in the Air is timeless because it tells us a story we recognize, in one way or another, and gives us characters with which we identify, in part or in whole.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 6 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, and Jason Reitman), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Jason Reitman), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (George Clooney), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Vera Farmiga), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Anna Kendrick), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published: (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner); 5 nominations: “Best Editing” (Dana E. Glauberman), “Best Film” (Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, and Daniel Dubiecki), “Best Leading Actor” (George Clooney), “Best Supporting Actress” (Vera Farmiga), “Best Supporting Actress” (Anna Kendrick)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner); 5 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Jason Reitman), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (George Clooney), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Vera Farmiga), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Anna Kendrick)

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"Bleach" Anime Stars to Appear at Anime Expo 2010

Anime Expo® 2010 Announces Musical Group, RSP, and Voice Actor, Masakazu Morita, as Official Guests of Honor

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anime Expo® is pleased to announce today that Japanese musical group, RSP, and voice actor, Masakazu Morita, will be official Guests of Honor at its July convention. Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime and manga convention, is scheduled for July 1 – 4, 2010, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. RSP and Masakazu Morita come to Anime Expo to celebrate their respective involvement with the popular anime, BLEACH.

Musical group RSP is scheduled to perform live in Nokia Plaza L.A. Live on July 1, at 1:00 p.m. RSP, or Real Street Performance, is a Japanese pop group made of members Ai and Saki. The group has released several fan-favorite singles, including A Street Story and the female version of Lifetime Respect. RSP also recorded two ending songs for BLEACH – Kansha and Tabidatsu Kimi e.

Famous voice actor Masakazu Morita is most known for his role as Ichigo Kurosaki in BLEACH. He has also lent his talents to the anime titles Final Fantasy X as Tidus, Gundam Seed Destiny as Auel Neider, and Sengoku Basara as Maeda Keiji. In addition, Mr. Morita was featured as the voice of Troy Bolton in the wildly popular Japanese version of High School Musical 1 and 2.

RSP and Masakazu Morita join Anime Expo’s 2010 guest line-up along with singer BENI; voice actresses Yui Horie and Eri Kitamura; Internet sensation Danny Choo; musical artists Megumi Nakajima and May’n; manga artist Rei Hiroe; musical artist MELL; supergroup AKB48; voice actor Katsuyuki Konishi; Eden of the East trio Kenji Kamiyama, Satoru Nakamura and Tomohiko Ishii; voice actor Kyle Hebert; animation director Toshihiro Kawamoto; seiyuu Yuu Asakawa; J-rock band Sophia; and anime director Shinichi “Nabeshin” Watanabe.

To register for Anime Expo 2010, please visit the event's website.


About Anime Expo®
Anime Expo is located in Los Angeles and is the nation’s largest anime and manga convention. The Expo serves to foster trade, commerce and the interests of the general public and animation industry. This event serves as a key meeting place for the general public to express their interest and explore various aspects of both anime and manga, as well as for members of the industry to conduct business. AX 2010 will be held July 1 – July 4, 2010, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Southern California. More information can be found at www.anime-expo.org.

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation
The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment property, Anime Expo®. More information can be found at www.spja.org.

Review: Aaron Eckhart Lights it Up in "Thank You for Smoking"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 229 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Thank You for Smoking (2005)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman
WRITER: Jason Reitman (based upon the novel by Christopher Buckley)
PRODUCER: David O. Sacks
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jason Whitaker (director of photography)
EDITOR: Dana E. Glauberman
Golden Globes nominee

COMEDY with elements of drama

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Sam Elliot, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J.K. Simmons, and Robert Duvall, Kim Dickens, Adam Brody, and Todd Louiso

As Vice-President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies, Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the main lobbyist and primary spin doctor for Big Tobacco. Naylor is on a mission to make the country forget the dangers and health risks of smoking cigarettes. However, his mission gets tougher with health advocates and the opportunistic Senator Ortolan K. Finistirre (William H. Macy) determined to put a new poison label (in the form of an image of the skull & bones) on cigarette packs. Naylor goes on the PR offensive with a strategy to get big Hollywood actors to smoke on screen, as the movie stars of yesteryear did in the Golden Age of Hollywood movies. Nick enlists, Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe), a Hollywood super-agent, to help him get smoking on screen again.

However, Nicky’s newfound notoriety does not go unnoticed by Big Tobacco’s head honcho, The Captain (Robert Duvall), who gives his blessing to Nick’s Hollywood plan. Nick’s activities also get the attention of a beautiful, young investigative reporter, Heather Halloway (Katie Holmes), who is willing to use her body to get Nick to tell her his secrets. Even with a busy schedule, Nick still finds time to hold forth with two comrades – two other lobbyists for industries also facing public backlash: Polly Bailey (Maria Bello) of the alcohol industry and Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner) of the gun industry. Together, the three of them are the Merchants of Death or M.O.D. Squad. Nick’s also a father, and he’s trying to remain a role model to his young, impressionable son, Joey Naylor (Cameron Bright), who thinks his dad is a god, but Nick’s ex-wife, Jill Naylor (Kim Dickens), isn’t sure a tobacco lobbyist is the best dad material.

Jason Reitman, the son of famed comedy director, Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters), has a more cerebral approach to film comedy than his father, and that’s clearly evident in the clever, offhand satire, Thank You for Smoking, which Reitman adapted from the novel by Christopher Buckley. The film comes across as a savage satire of the tobacco industry, but Reitman directs the film with such elegance that Thank You for Smoking sometimes comes across as glib and soulless. In his attempt to impale Big Tobacco, and also throw sand in the face of shallow Hollywood, opportunistic big media, and shameless Congress, Reitman’s movie ends up gabby and has no real villains. This is a satire that comes across as if it’s teasing its targets rather than criticizing them.

While Thank You for Smoking holds up the characters and subject matter for detached scrutiny, the cast isn’t afraid to get down and dirty. The actors take delight in revealing the characters for all their oily selfishness. They’re all out for their own interests, and what little guilt they feel merely adds a light pungent flavor to the characters. The best performance is delivered, of course, by Aaron Eckhart as the film’s protagonist/quasi-villain, Nick Naylor. A character actor who can play an amazing range of lead characters, Eckhart gives Thank You for Smoking its gift of gab. Eckhart’s screen chemistry with Cameron Bright, the young actor who plays Nick’s son, Joey, is supernaturally real. It’s like a real father and son duo.

Eckhart humanizes Naylor, and makes the viewer like him and want to engage him. Thank You for Smoking is well-written and well-directed (considering the inexperience of the director), and the technical aspects are pretty good. But it’s Aaron Eckhart who makes Thank You for Smoking something more than just another satirical film essay. He makes it memorable.

7 of 10
B+

Monday, November 06, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Aaron Eckhart)

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Indie Horror Flick, "The Dead Sleep" Now on DVD

Fathom-One Releases Independent Feature Film The Dead Sleep

Paul Wells broke the rules in life and it got him killed. To save his daughter, he’ll break the rules in death.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fathom-One and Anthem Pictures releases The Dead Sleep, a new feature film available on DVD from Netflix, Amazon, and other video outlets. The film is not rated.

Shot entirely in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Dead Sleep is a supernatural thriller about Paul Wells, a father in a desperate race to save his daughter’s life. Having made transgressions during his life, Paul plans to makeup for those mistakes by twisting the boundary between the living and the dead.

"In addition to my first impression of The Dead Sleep as a compelling supernatural thriller, the film has an deeply emotional pull, especially for any parent. As a father, I could empathize with the main character's single-minded focus on saving his daughter. I appreciate a film that depicts the strength of family relationships, even transcending life and death," said Barnaby Dallas, Producer at San Jose’s Spartan Film Studios.

The Dead Sleep features Chris Armstrong as Paul Wells, Sarah Foret as Melanie Wells, Tatiana Armstrong as Claire Wells, Robert Fente as Del Craine, and Joshua Close as Tim Days.

Fathom-One is planning a screening of The Dead Sleep July 15, 2010 at 7PM at the BlueLight Cinemas in Cupertino. Further details will be shared via www.fathom-one.com and through the film’s Facebook group and fan pages.

“Stories that deal with the intricacies of life, death and dreams have always fascinated me and that's what initially drew me to James’s script for The Dead Sleep. But this story centers on a father's love for his daughter and that spoke to me not only as a filmmaker but also as a daughter. My father was a strong influence on me and I'm happy I could make this film in his memory,” said Vicki de Mey, Director and Producer of The Dead Sleep and Partner at Fathom-One.

Vicki de Mey has been making films since 2003. Her feature film credits include Unit Production Manager on Drifting Elegant, Producer on Generic Thriller and Producer/Director on The Dead Sleep. She is currently Producer on two Bay Area short films - Project Arbiter and Dearly Departed – and preparing to direct a short film in the fall. Vicki is also a Partner at r&r studios, a Bay Area production and post-production services company.

Tim O’Neill, Fathom-One’s Partner & CEO, has two decades of corporate experience to complement his 4 years as a film producer. His feature film credits as Producer include The Dead Sleep and Blur (www.blur-movie.com), which has yet to be released. Tim is assisting Vicki as Marketing Director on the short film Project Arbiter.


About Fathom-One
Fathom-One is an independent film production and development company based in San Jose, CA. More information on Fathom-One is available at www.fathom-one.com.

About Anthem Pictures
Anthem Pictures is the North American Distributor for The Dead Sleep. More information on Anthem Pictures is available at www.anthemdvd.com.

About Circus Road Films
Circus Road Films is the Producer’s Representative for The Dead Sleep. More information on Circus Road Films is available at www.circusroadfilms.com.

"Die Another Day" Mixes Bond Tradition with Loud Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux


Die Another Day (2002)
Running time: 133 minutes (2 hours, 9 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for action violence and sexuality
DIRECTOR: Lee Tamahori
WRITERS: Neal Purvis and Robert Wade
PRODUCERS: Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: David Tattersall (director of photography)
EDITORS: Andrew MacRitchie and Christian Wagner
SONG: “Die Another Day” by Madonna-music/lyrics and Mirwais Ahmadzaï-music
Golden Globe nominee

ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike, Rick Yune, Judi Dench, John Cleese, Michael Madsen, Will Yun Lee, Kenneth Tsang, Samantha Bond, and Madonna (no screen credit)

Die Another Day, Pierce Brosnan’s fourth outing as James Bond, Agent 007, is the twentieth film version of Ian Fleming’s classic secret agent/super spy, and many think that the venerable character is showing his age and signs of wear. The issue is merely one of competition. Over the years stunt coordination and computer technology advanced so much that Bond’s low-fi action looked dated next to bigger and louder explosions of other action heroes, secret agents, and troubleshooters.

By the late Eighties, pumped up action thrillers had run Bond out of town; The Living Daylights and License to Kill were not hits and Bond needed a makeover. Post James Cameron’s True Lies, Brosnan became Bond and his first outing, Goldeneye, exploded out of the gate. It wasn’t very good, being more action movie cum video game than secret agent/spy thriller. Maybe the concept is dated and the character a bit long in the tooth, but the producers can still find away to make an exciting action hit.

Die Another Day is high-octane action movie, and it is better than The World is Not Enough and almost as good as Tomorrow Never Dies, the third and second Brosnan Bond films respectively.

The first half is closer in tone to the old Bond. North Korea captures and tortures Bond for 14 months. After his captors work a deal to free him, his masters at M6 cut him loose because they believe the North Koreans broke him during interrogation. Separated from his future tech arsenal and his agency, Bond has to rely on his wits, his smarts, and his experience. The viewer gets to see just how good Bond is and how dangerous a rogue he can be even without an agency to back him. Brosnan was always convincing as Bond. He could be the suave lover and charming chameleon that he needs to be in order to get into places and into people’s heads. Brosnan could also instantly become the ruthless killing machine that is the mark of an agent with a double “O” license.

Bond also meets a mysterious American, Jinx, played to full sexual tilt by Academy Award winner Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball). Together they pursue the pompous Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), a wealthy jetsetter with the usual world beating schemes. Graves is actually a very good and charming villain, and he has a dangerous sidekick, Zao (Rick Yune).

Much of the second half of the film is borderline, pure sci-fi, but in the hands of Lee Tamahori (Along Came a Spider), the action is intense and has the wall-to-wall ferocity of anime (Japanese animated films) and mania of a comic book. The script by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, the screenwriters of The World is Not Enough, is well written and does a good job straddling two film genres – espionage and action. Though the movie runs a bit long, the thrills of the second half are well choreographed and relentless.

Die Another Day has some excellent small parts: John Cleese, in his best outing as Q, Judi Dench as the dour M, and Michael Madsen, always a welcome sight as a tough guy, who should have had a bigger part.

The movie is part secret agent thriller and part loud cartoon. I would like to see more of the former, but, on the whole, it is a very entertaining film and a near perfect film for people who just love loud action movies.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2003 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Madonna-music/lyrics and Mirwais Ahmadzaï-music for the song "Die Another Day")
2003 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actress” (Halle Berry)

Info on Paramount Pictures' "Middle Men"

Paramount Pictures and Mallick Media present
An Oxymoron Entertainment Production in association with Blue Star Entertainment
A George Gallo Film
Produced by Christopher Mallick, William Sherak, Jason Shuman, Michael J. Weiss
Written by George Gallo & Andy Weiss Directed by George Gallo

Cast: Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Gabriel Macht, Jacinda Barrett, Laura Ramsey, Terry Crews, Rade Sherbedgia, with Kevin Pollak and James Caan

Synopsis: In 1995, everyone had a VCR, music was sold in record stores, and the world-wide-web was a new found discovery. Businessman Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) had the perfect life – a beautiful family and a successful career fixing problem companies. And then he met Wayne Beering (Giovanni Ribisi) and Buck Dolby (Gabriel Macht), two genius but troubled men, who had invented the way adult entertainment is sold over the internet. When Jack agrees to help steer their business, he soon finds himself caught between a 23 year-old porn star and the FBI all the while becoming one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs of his time. Inspired by a true story that proves business is a lot like sex… getting in is easy, pulling out is hard.

Release: August 6, 2010

This film has been rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language, drug use and violence.

"Monsters, Inc." a Fantastic Monster Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux


Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
DIRECTORS: Peter Docter with David Silverman and Lee Unkrich
WRITERS: Andrew Stanton and Dan Gerson with additional screenplay material from Robert Baird, Rhett Reese and Jonathan Roberts, from a story by Peter Docter, Jill Culton, Ralph Eggleston, and Jeff Pidgeon
PRODUCER: Darla K. Anderson
EDITORS: Robert Grahamjones and Jim Stewart
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/COMEDY/FANTASY/FAMILY

Starring: (voice) John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bob Peterson, John Ratzenberger, Frank Oz, Dan Gerson, Steve Susskind, and Bonnie Hunt

Monsters, Inc. is the fourth collaboration between computer animation studio Pixar and Walt Disney, a match made in heaven that has already produced three brilliant films: Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and Toy Story 2. Monsters was a safe bet to be a hit, which it is, and it was also a safe bet to be a darned good movie, which it certainly is.

Monsters, Inc. is a utility company that generates its power from the screams of children. James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman) is the company’s top scream maker, but during an attempt to help his partner Michael “Mike” Wazowski (Billy Crystal), Sully accidentally lets a human child into the building and all heck breaks loose. Although they depend on children for the power to run their world, monsters are afraid of children. The child, whom Sulley names “Boo” (Mary Gibbs) touches Sulley’s heart, and he’s determined to return her to her bedroom before harm comes to her in the form of Sulley’s chief rival, Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi).

Monsters employs the same formula that made the previous Disney/Pixar films huge successes. The personable voice talent comes in the form of Goodman and Crystal, who are capable, but are not as engaging as Tom Hands and Tim Allen in the Toy Story films; their performances are closer to the work of Dave Foley in A Bug’s Life. Buscemi, as Boggs, brings a venom filled performance that drips menace much in the manner Kevin Spacey did in A Bug’s Life.

The animation is nice, but the pastel-like tones are often dull in the film. The design of the citizens of Monstropolis, the home city of Monsters, Inc. is, at times, inventive, and at other times, rather ordinary. Most of the creatures seemed to have come straight out of cheap Saturday morning animation.

Where the film really scores is its script and direction. The film is a bit slow in its setup of the story, but the slowness does allow the story to indulge in the idiosyncrasies of its characters. The writers and directors build the tension with a slow burn, the film explodes into an old-fashioned barnburner with a rousing chases that rivals the best of cinema. The movie has the kind of action movie adrenaline hit that you’d get when Indiana Jones chased the trucks in Raiders of the Lost Ark or the pod race in Star Wars Episode One: the Phantom Menace. Pixar gave is previous films the same edge of the seat chase and rescue, which made the film a thrill ride for all ages.

With its sentimental and beautiful ending, Monsters, Inc. easily overcomes any reservations that anyone might have about it. Once again Disney/Pixar has produced a picture worthy of end of year best film lists. Awards usually ignore such films because they’re only animation, and, after all, cartoons are for kids. But the truth is in the result; don’t cheat yourself of this fine movie.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Music, Original Song” (Randy Newman for the song "If I Didn't Have You"); 3 nominations: “Best Animated Feature” (Pete Docter and John Lasseter), “Best Music, Original Score” (Randy Newman), and “Best Sound Editing” (Gary Rydstrom and Michael Silvers)
2002 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “BAFTA Children's Award Best Feature Film” (Darla K. Anderson, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Daniel Gerson)

Another White Cleopatra...

BET.com's "What the Flick" blog is not happy about Angelina Jolie being cast as Cleopatra in an upcoming film.  Elizabeth "Caucasian" Taylor famously/infamously played Cleopatra 5 decades ago, and some are angry that another white woman is playing the Egyptian queen again.  Who really knows what skin color the historical Cleopatra had?

I don't think it's that big a deal, and the movie will be a flop, anyway.  If Jolie's character isn't performing oral sex or waving a pistol around, the box office isn't big.

Review: "Toy Story 2" is the Best Film of 1999

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Toy Story 2 (1999) – computer animated
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
DIRECTORS: John Lasseter with Ash Brannon & Lee Unkrich
WRITERS: Rita Hsaio, Doug Chamberlain, Andrew Stanton, and Chris Webb, from a story by Peter Docter, Ash Brannon, Andrew Stanton, and John Lasseter
PRODUCERS: Karen Robert Jackson, Sarah McArthur, and Helene Plotkin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sharon Calahan (director of photography)
EDITOR: Edie Bleiman, David Ian Salter, and Lee Unkrich
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, Wayne Knight, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, Estelle Harris, and R. Lee Emery

When Al McWhiggin (Wayne Knight), a nefarious toy dealer, steals Sheriff Woody (Tom Hanks), it’s up to Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (Tim Allen) to rescue him. While in captivity, Woody discovers his Howdy Doody-like previous life and his old compadres: Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl (Joan Cusack), Stinky Pete the Prospector (Kelsey Grammer). But time is running out to rescue Woody. Buzz meets an updated version of himself, Buzz Lightyear II ( Tim Allen), who is mistakenly taken in by the other rescuers. Meanwhile Emperor Zurg (Andrew Stanton), Buzz’s enemy pursues him as he races to rejoin his friends.

With the thrill of an old fashioned serial, fine voice acting talent, and the artistry of Pixar, Toy Story 2 is thrilling tale that can be enjoyed by all ages. The scriptwriters designed a story that is a virtual thrill machine that rivals many more hardcore action movies. However, they didn’t forget the children. There’s plenty of comedy, both low and high, and the guest appearances of many toys, both old and new will keep the kids’ interests.

Toy Story 2 also has many good ideas behind it, issues of growth, responsibility, loyalty, and friendship. In the hands of the talented Pixar crew, they take these ideas and weave a thoughtful and entertaining story. With a cast of excellent dramatic actors, comediennes, and character actors, the story becomes one of the best movies in recent memory. John Ratzenberger as Hamm is as funny as he ever was on “Cheers” as “Cliff” Clavin, Jr. Wallace Shawn’s Rex the dinosaur is a good thing, and in his last role, Jim Varney as Slinky Dog leaves us with one more good time. Don Rickles also entertains as Mr. Potato Head.

There’s magic in this movie – something for young and old. Only narrow minds that perceive any animated movie as being for tykes could ignore the charm and quality of this film. Perhaps the finest computer animated movie of ever, it joins the ranks of the great, animated films.

10 of 10

NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Song” (Randy Newman for the song "When She Loved Me")

2000 Golden Globes: 1win “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical;” 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Randy Newman for the song "When She Loved Me")

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Pixar: How They Do It

Want a peak at how the people at Pixar make one of their movies?  Go to this Wired.com article about the making of Toy Story 3.

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Review: "Fast & Furious" Faster and More Furious

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fast & Furious (2009)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual content, language and drug references
DIRECTOR: Justin Lin
WRITER: Chris Morgan (based upon characters created by Gary Scott Thompson)
PRODUCERS: Vin Diesel, Michael Fottrell, and Neal H. Moritz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amir Mokri (director of photography)
EDITORS: Fred Raskin and Christian Wagner

ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso, Gal Gadot, John Conley, Shea Whigham, Liza Lapira, Tego Calderon, Don Omar, Greg Cipes, Brandon T. Jackson, and Sung Kang

Fast & Furious is the fourth film in The Fast and the Furious franchise, but it is set before the events of the third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. The plot of Fast & Furious connects with the original 2001 film and actors Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez reprise their roles from the first movie. Having them return makes it feel as if this franchise got its mojo back.

Fast & Furious opens with Dominic “Dom” Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his new crew, which includes Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. A shocking murder brings the fugitive ex-con Dom back to Los Angeles looking for payback against a mysterious drug lord named Arturo Braga. Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), the FBI agent who 5 years earlier infiltrated L.A.’s illegal street racing underground, of which Dom was part, is also after Braga. Although he is still feuding with Brian, Dom will have to forge a new trust with the lawman if they are to have a hope of outmaneuvering the wily Braga. As they cross international lines to foil Braga, Dom and Brian are also forced to do what they do best – push the limits of what is possible behind the wheel of an American muscle car.

Even with its explosive beginning and shocking turn of events, Fast & Furious starts off slow. The character drama and set up of the plot are clunky, but the stars rise to the occasion. Fast & Furious, for the most part, is exactly that – fast and furious, so viewers will get what they expect from this franchise, but not exactly. The car chases and races are so fast and crazy that computer generated images obviously played a part in making them. The story is, overall, darker and edgier than ever before. However, Fast & Furious doesn’t seem derivative, even as part of a franchise, and in spite of some occasionally uninspired character moments, it is just plain fun to watch.

I thought I knew how much I missed Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, but I really had no idea. When they’re blazing, these two stars show us why Fast & Furious had to be and why there will be more.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

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Houston, San Antonio Among Cities Winning "Grease: Sing-a-Long" Showings

Press release:

HOUSTON, ORLANDO, PHOENIX, SAN ANTONIO AND DETROIT “DEMAND” PARAMOUNT’S GREASE: SING-A-LONG

CITIES TO BEGIN SPECIAL LIMITED ENGAGEMENTS ON JULY 15, 2010

Fans across the country have “demanded” GREASE: SING-A-LONG come to their hometowns. As a result, the digitally re-mastered film will expand to the following 5 additional cities: Houston, TX; Orlando, FL; Phoenix, AZ; San Antonio, TX; and Detroit, MI. These top 5 Demand it! ® cities will begin an exclusive run of the film on Thursday, July 15th.

GREASE: SING-A-LONG will begin playing on Thursday, July 8th in the first run of exclusive showings in 12 markets across the country. Tickets for these first cities are quickly selling out, including New York, NY (AMC Village); Los Angeles, CA (AMC Century City); Chicago, IL (AMC River East); San Francisco, CA (AMC Metreon); Boston, MA (AMC Boston Commons); Dallas, TX (AMC Northpark); Atlanta, GA (Regal Atlantic Station); Seattle, WA (AMC Pacific Place); Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, FL (Sunrise Gateway); San Diego, CA (AMC Fashion Valley); Austin, TX (Alamo Lamar); and Ocala, FL (Regal Hollywood).

The top 5 cities were selected based on the results of an online poll sponsored by Paramount Picture’s Insurge, with fans across the country “demanding” the musical open in their city. Tickets are available online at http://www.GreaseMovie.com

Is GREASE: SING-A-LONG not playing in your town? Demand it! ® at http://www.Eventful.com/Grease and help spread the word by tweeting #Grease on Twitter.

Demand it! ® to play in your city: http://www.Eventful.com/Grease
Official site: http://www.greasemovie.com/
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/GoGrease
Twitter Page: http://www.Twitter.com/GoGrease (#Grease)

Review: "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is Extra Special Fast and Furious

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 132 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language, and sexual content
DIRECTOR: Justin Lin
WRITERS: Alfredo Botello, Chris Morgan, and Kario Salem; from a story by Chris Morgan
PRODUCER: Neal H. Moritz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen F. Windon
EDITORS: Dallas Puett and Fred Raskin

ACTION/CRIME/SPORTS

Starring: Lucas Black, Shad “Bow Wow” Gregory Moss, Nathalie Kelley, Brian Tee, Sung Kang, Brian Goodman, Lynda Boyd, and JJ Sonny Chiba

Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is an Alabama-born teenager who defines himself as the hotheaded outsider – basically a loner at his suburban high school. He’s also a hotshot street racer, and it’s car racing that lands him in trouble with the law… again. To avoid going to jail, Sean’s mother (Lynda Boyd) sends him to Japan to live with his estranged father, Major Boswell (Brian Goodman), a gruff, career Navy officer living in Tokyo. Here, Sean’s also an outsider, a gaijin, but he eventually makes a new friend, Twinkie (Bow Wow), a fellow military brat who hustles American goods such as sneakers and electronics to local youths anxious to have hot American items. Twinkie introduces Sean to the underground world of drift racing. In Tokyo, the drag racing Sean loves is replaced by the rubber-burning, automotive art of balancing speed and gliding through a heart-racing course of hairpin turns and switchbacks – drifting.

His first night at a drifting event, Sean catches the eye of his classmate, Neela (Nathalie Kelley), but Neela has a boyfriend, a local self-styled crime kingpin, Takashi, better known as “DK” (Brian Tee) or Drift King. Sean’s attraction to Neela brings he and DK into immediate conflict. DK challenges Sean to a drift race, and Han (Sung Kang), a criminal associate of DK’s, loans his car to Sean. The race finishes in a disaster for Sean who has never drifted before. However, Han takes Sean under his wings, teaching Sean to drift while Sean pays Han back for the wrecked car by working as his driver and pickup man. However, things don’t cool off between DK and Sean, and DK also has a falling out with Han. Soon, matters escalate into violence, and DK’s uncle (Sonny Chiba), an authentic Yakuza boss gets involved. To settle the dispute, Sean challenges DK to a race in which resolution will be reached man-to-man and car-to-car in the ultimate drift.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is just as much fun to watch as the previous two films in the franchise. Although it isn’t quite as good as the original, The Fast and the Furious, it may be a technically better made film than 2002’s 2 Fast 2 Furious. Director Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, Annapolis) loves filming racing scenes way more than he concerns himself with developing characters and narrative. I lost count of the character moments in which half or all of a scene was out of focus. Still, Lin provides enough male bonding, teen romance, youth melodrama, and family dysfunction to make us at least somewhat interested in the character scenes that are just filler between racing sequences.

And that’s what this flick is – a racing movie. The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift exists to give us the vicarious thrill of living through underground, illegal, street racing – sexy cars and dangerous, mind-numbing, brain-freezing speed. This is one of those “ultimate summer movies,” made for all the young male demographics from nine (despite the rating) to 35. If you’re older than that and know how not to take every movie seriously, Tokyo Drift will make you feel young again and want to be with all those hot Asian chicks in the film.

Best thing about this movie is that none of the racing scenes are CGI; no computers were harmed in the making of these furious races through the night streets. Lin uses professional drift racers to deliver all the races, high-speed chases, and crashes you could want, and then throws in more. He also gives Tokyo’s night life: underground clubs, backroom parlors, and smoky dens of iniquity where criminals hide a glossy, candy coating that would be right at a home on MTV. Yes, indeed, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is pure summer fun: fast cars, fast girls, fast life, and dangerous hoods. It’s the high art of junk culture, and too bad there isn’t a special Oscar for movies like this.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, June 18, 2006

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"Grease: Sing-a-Long" Winners to Be Announced Soon

Paramount Pictures is re-releasing the 1978 musical, Grease (a smash hit back then), as "Grease: Sing-a-Long."  The film is digitally remastered and the song lyrics will appear at the bottom of the screen.  The release apparently will be limited - thus this contest to be among the cities showing the film:

Press release:

FANS ACROSS THE U.S. “DEMAND” GREASE: SING-A-LONG

The Top 5 Demand it! ® Cities Will Be Announced By Noon on Monday, June 14th

WHO: Fans across the country are “demanding” GREASE: SING-A-LONG come to their hometowns.

WHAT: Paramount’s Insurge Pictures will expand the digitally re-mastered film to 5 additional cities across the country beginning Thursday, July 15th for an exclusive engagement. In addition, Paramount will simultaneously launch Demand it!® Canada.

WHEN: The studio will announce the cities with the highest “demand” by noon PST on Monday, June 14th.

WHY: The announcement comes on the heels of Ocala, FL, John Travolta’s hometown, “demanding” to be among the first select cities to open the digitally re-mastered, sing-a-long version of “Grease.” Paramount selected Ocala solely based on the results of an online poll in which fans across the country could “demand” the musical open in their city. Out of more than 1,700 cities lobbying for the film, Ocala, a town of only 53,000, hit No. 1 on the poll in record time.

Said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures: “As we saw with “Paranormal Activity,” with the right amount of fan fever, even the smallest towns can win the right to have the film plan in their town via the Demand it! ® Program. We are excited to see which 5 cities top the poll next week.”

WHERE: GREASE: SING-A-LONG will begin playing on Thursday, July 8th in exclusive showings in 12 markets across the country. Tickets for these first cities are quickly selling out, including New York, NY (AMC Village); Los Angeles, CA (AMC Century City); Chicago, IL (AMC River East); San Francisco, CA (AMC Metreon); Boston, MA (AMC Boston Commons); Dallas, TX (AMC Northpark); Atlanta, GA (Regal Atlantic Station); Seattle, WA (AMC Pacific Place); Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, FL (Sunrise Gateway); San Diego, CA (AMC Fashion Valley); Austin, TX (Alamo Lamar); and Ocala, FL (Regal Hollywood).

Is GREASE: SING-A-LONG not playing in your town? Demand it! ® at http://www.Eventful.com/Grease and help spread the word by tweeting #Grease on Twitter.

Fans around the country will get a chance to re-live all of their favorite moments. Don’t wait and miss out on the fun! Get your tickets now at our official site (http://www.greasemovie.com/).

Demand it! ® to play in your city: http://www.Eventful.com/Grease
Official site: http://www.greasemovie.com/

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/GoGrease
Twitter Page: http://www.Twitter.com/GoGrease (#Grease)

Review: "2 Fast 2 Furious" Not 2 Bad

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 89 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for street racing, violence, language and some sensuality
DIRECTOR: John Singleton
WRITERS: Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, from a story by Gary Scott Thompson, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas
PRODUCER: Neal H. Moritz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew F. Leonetti (director of photography)
EDITOR: Bruce Cannon and Dallas Puett

ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Paul Walker, Tyrese, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Thom Barry, James Remar, Devon Aoki, Michael Ealy, and Mark Boone Junior

When we left Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) at the end of The Fast and the Furious, he was on his way to be stripped of his badge as an officer of the law for assisting hijacker Dominic Torreto in escaping. In 2 Fast 2 Furious, Brian has moved to Miami and plays the city’s street racing circuit for cash. However, the cops come calling again with a deal: help them infiltrate the domain of a drug lord named Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) and they will in turn clean his record.

Of course, the drug lord needs fast drivers (convenient, right), so Brian recruits Roman Pearce (Tyrese), a childhood buddy who has a grudge against Brian (which creates dramatic tension between the lead characters). Roman is also street racer, and Brian hopes Roman can help him pull off the sting better than another undercover cop could. The mission tricky with many complications, just like in TFTH. Brian is caught between anxious U.S. Custom’s officials and a jealous and violent criminal who doesn’t fear the law; neither side will let him and Roman let them down.

The first film borrowed liberally from the film Point Break changing Break’s surfer/bank robbers to street racer/hijackers. The street racing was an integral part of the film, and the original director Rob Cohen used every trick in the bag to heighten the illusion of super speed; he also had Vin Diesel.

2 Fast 2 Furious seems exactly what it is, a sequel, a by-the-book action movie that succeeds in at least being vacuous entertainment despite itself. The street racing exists solely because this film is a follow-up to a movie about fast cars. The script is lousy with action movie formulas. There’s a white guy/black guy dynamic with plenty of tension between the two. A sour incident from the past gives their partnership an extra edge and potentially endangers their assignment. Paul Walker as Brian O’Connor isn’t an energetic, kinetic action hero; he’s more stoic, so Tyrese as his partner Roman brings the comedy and raw sense of street bravado to the movie. Their chemistry is good in spite of a script intent on them not having any. Don’t forget the vaguely Latin drug lord who uses brutal methods to get his way. The cast is thoroughly mixed with sprinkles from every ethnic group, short of gypsies. The soundtrack is filled with slammin’ hip hop tracks (the first was a mixture of thrash, techno, and hip hop), and the score is surprisingly good and add fuel to the fire of the film’s best scenes.

Despite the paint-by-numbers scenario, director John Singleton manages to conjure a fairly entertaining car chase movie. While the cars were hot items in TFTF, Singleton treats them as art objects in his film. He lovingly caresses them with the camera; he suggests that they are almost as much the stars as the human actors. In fact, it’s a great move because all that attention on the hot cars distracts the viewer from some of the film’s drier moments. And don’t forget the girls; Singleton laps up the hotties when he’s not pushing up on the hot rides.

2 Fast 2 Furious isn’t bad, but it isn’t as good as its predecessor. But while TFTF was a hard-edged action flick, I will give 2 Fast credit for having a much better sense of humor. It never takes itself seriously. In fact, the filmmakers seem to insist on telling us that they know what this is – a perhaps dumber sequel to a dumb action movie, so let’s just relax and enjoy 2 Fast.

2 Fast is exciting and thrilling and hot and sexy. It’s a bad cartoon full of bullet-spitting guns, hot hoochies, fantastically speedy cars, explosions, and testosterone: in other words, a summer movie. When you go to see a thriller, you expect even the lamest concepts to give you that vicarious thrill of the jolt of danger, and sometimes I really believed that Brian and Roman might get a bullet to the head. So even if you don’t make it to the theatre to see 2 Fast 2 Furious, it will make a nice DVD rental.

5 of 10
C+

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Latino Film Festival Set for Mid-August

Press release:

14th Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) Thursday, August 19 – Wednesday, August 25 at Mann Chinese 6 Cinemas • Hollywood

Presenting the Best and Newest Voices of Latino Cinema in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--From Thursday, August 19, to Wednesday, August 25, the heart of the entertainment world, Hollywood, rolls out the red carpet for the best Latino Cinema from around the globe at the 14th Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) at the Mann Chinese 6 Cinemas.

LALIFF, co-founded by Oscar®-nominated & Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor, director, and activist Edward James Olmos and Marlene Dermer, celebrates the diversity and richness of the best emerging and established Latino talent around the globe. The festival’s mission: to support and promote the development and exhibition of Latin Cinema.

Since its inception in 1997, LALIFF has grown to become a premier international festival that attracts film enthusiasts from a culturally diverse Los Angeles community, as well as industry executives and Hollywood celebrities. Through the years, LALIFF has hosted the U.S. premieres of hundreds of Latino films, many of which debuted at prestigious Cannes, Toronto, Venice and San Sebastian film festivals. Last year, two LALIFF selections went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Foreign Film category.

The Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences validates the festival’s excellence by recognizing LALIFF as a qualifying festival for the Academy’s Short Film Category for Oscar® nomination consideration. LALIFF and the Academy’s Film Archive have also established the LALIFF Collection, where Latino films are available for free viewing to the public.

LALIFF 2010 will present feature films, documentaries, shorts and special screenings. In addition, filmmakers and audiences will be able to participate in industry workshops as well as musical and arts events at the Hollywood & Highland Center.

The festival will kick off with the Opening Night Gala at the most famous theatre in the world, the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, on Thursday, August 19. Festival screenings will begin Friday, August 20, through Wednesday, August 25, at the Mann Chinese 6 Cinemas, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028. The Closing Night and the Award Ceremony & Gala will take place on Wednesday, August 25, at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd. For more information on LALIFF 2010 screenings and events, please visit: www.latinofilm.org.

Become a fan of LALIFF: Facebook
Follow LALIFF: Twitter

Mel Gibson Returns in Average "Edge of Darkness"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 43 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Edge of Darkness (2010)
Running time: 117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence and language
DIRECTOR: Martin Campbell
WRITERS: William Monahan and Andrew Bovell (based upon the television series created by Troy Kennedy-Martin
PRODUCERS: Tim Headington, Graham King, and Michael Wearing
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Phil Meheux (director of photography)
EDITOR: Stuart Baird
COMPOSER: Howard Shore

CRIME/MYSTERY with elements of drama and thriller

Starring: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic, Shawn Roberts, Jay O. Sanders, Damian Young, Gbenga Akinnagbe, and Gabrielle Popa

Mel Gibson’s most recent star vehicle is the film, Edge of Darkness, which is actually a remake of a 1980s British television serial (or miniseries). This film, Gibson’s first movie as an actor since 2002, is ostensibly some kind of crime thriller, but Edge of Darkness is only truly thrilling in the scenes that feature brutal violence, usually in the form of gunfire.

The story focuses on Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson), a veteran homicide detective and a single father. Early in the movie, Craven watches as his only child, 24-year-old Emma (Bojana Novakovic), is murdered on the steps of his home by a masked gunman. His colleagues in the Boston Police Department assume that Craven was the target, and it seems as if everyone else also thinks so. Craven insists that he be part of the investigation, but he soon realizes that he can find no credible evidence that he was really the shooter’s target.

Craven embarks on a mission that slowly reveals parts of his daughter’s life to which he wasn’t privy (such as a boyfriend), but his investigation also leads him into the shadowy world of his daughter’s employer, Northmoor, and creepy company head, John “Jack” Bennett (Danny Huston). Shrouded in mystery, Northmoor has ties to an influential senator, and the corporation’s activities have apparently drawn the attention of Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a mysterious operative and “cleaner” of some sort. As Craven gets closer to the truth, dark forces begin to align against him, and Craven seems headed for the same fate as his daughter.

The advertisements for this film would lead the viewer to believe that Edge of Darkness is primarily about a determined father relentlessly on the path of his daughter’s killer. It is actually a little more complicated than that and involves government conspiracies, political cover-ups, and international intrigue. This is mildly entertaining, but it really lacks the energy and dramatic tension one would expect of a cop-out-for-revenge drama.

Edge of Darkness does have its shocking moments and a few scenes that provide the kind of edge-of-your-seat suspense a thriller will general supply. However, much of the film is hollow. The complicated, bittersweet relationship between Thomas Craven and his daughter comes across as shallow in most scenes, although the flashback scenes featuring Emma as a child (played by Gabrielle Popa) are genuinely father/daughter sentimental.

Edge of Darkness’ biggest problem is that the characters are more like character types and stereotypes than fully realized characters. The only thing Ray Winstone’s Jedburgh seems to be doing in this story is looking mysterious. Even Mel Gibson’s Thomas Craven is listless, and there are only a few moments when Gibson seems passionate about this character (such as the moment when he asks a thug tailing him, “Did you shoot my daughter?”).

The screenwriters may have tried to pretend that this movie was ultimately the story of a lonely old cop’s search for answers about his daughter’s death as way to both avenge her and to somehow redeem their relationship. Edge of Darkness is really an uninspired, though occasionally pleasurable movie, and it is also nothing special in the exceptional career of Mel Gibson.

5 of 10
C+

Friday, June 11, 2010

Hannover House Partners Announces 3-D "Dances with Werewolves"

Press release:

Hannover House Partners with Illusion Film Studios On 3-D Feature Production of “Dances With Werewolves”


NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hannover House, the entertainment distribution division of Target Development Group, Inc. (Pinksheets: TDGI) (Other: www.HannoverHouse.com), has partnered with producer Rohan Ghodsi’s Illusion Film Studios for the production of “Dances With Werewolves,” a thriller by screenwriter David Chirchirillo based on the legendary, supernatural transformative powers of some Native American Indian warriors. The film will be produced in 3-D for theatrical release in 2012 through Hannover House, which will also represent the film for sales and licensing throughout all of North and South America.

Chad Ferrin (“Someone’s Knocking At The Door”) will direct the film, with Nicole Reid and Niklas Larsson sharing producing duties with Ghodsi. Hannover House principals Eric Parkinson and Fred Shefte are Executive Producers.

“The legend of Native American warriors transforming themselves into enormously powerful wolves is centuries old,” said Hannover House C.E.O., Eric Parkinson. “But it’s a concept that for many audiences was only recently re-introduced through the successful ‘Twilight’ series of books and films. We think that screenwriter David Chirchirillo has skillfully crafted a commercial thriller around this legend, and that Rohan, Chad and the entire production team will make a terrific movie from this property.”

The film will commence principal photography on October 24, 2010 in Michigan, with full delivery scheduled for September, 2011 and U.S.A. theatrical release set for February, 2012. Casting is currently underway for principal stars, with key talent to be announced in July.

Other upcoming theatrical releases from Hannover House include the Joel Schumacher thriller “Twelve” on July 30, and the Sundance 2010 Film Festival Audience Award Winner, “HappyThankYouMorePlease” on September 3. Upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray releases from Hannover House include the action-thriller, “Boilermaker,” the critically-praised drama, “Cook County” and director Abel Ferarra’s “Chelsea on the Rocks,” starring Ethan Hawke and the late Dennis Hopper in one of his last film appearances.


SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Sections 27A & 21E of the amended Securities and Exchange Acts of 1933-34, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Although the company believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these statements included in this press release will prove accurate.

"The Pursuit of Happyness" a Sterling Debut for Jaden Smith

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 252 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Running time: 117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some language
DIRECTOR: Gabriele Muccino
WRITER: Steven Conrad
PRODUCERS: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, James Lassiter, and Will Smith
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Phedon Papamichael, ASC
EDITOR: Hughes Winborne, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, Thandie Newton, Kurt Fuller, Dan Castellaneta, Brian Howe, James Karen, and Takayo Fischer

If an actor is going to star in an important, inspirational film that is based upon a true story of triumph over adversity, and that film is also bait for an Oscar nomination (or two), then, the least that actor can do is give a knockout performance. Will Smith does just that in his new movie, The Pursuit of Happyness.

In this fictional version of a true story, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a family man struggling to make ends meet as a marginally employed salesman. Linda (Thandie Newton), the mother of his five-year old son, Christopher (Jaden Christopher Syre Smith), is struggling to keep the family afloat by earning income in a dry cleaning factory. When Linda finally buckles under the constant financial pressure, she leaves for New York, but Chris won’t let her take their son with her.

Bright, talented, and ambitious, Chris wins a spot as an intern at a prestigious San Francisco stock brokerage firm, but the internship doesn’t come with a salary. However, the internship might land Chris a coveted, high-paying position as a broker at the firm. In the meantime, without a paying job, Chris and Christopher are soon evicted from their apartment and later from a motel. Forced to live and sleep in shelters, bus stations, bathrooms, etc., Chris remains a committed and loving father to his son while working hard to be the one intern out of the six-month program who gets a job.

Will Smith gives a stinging performance in The Pursuit of Happyness (the misspelling of “happiness” is deliberate and relates to a pivotal scene), one that is free of the genial, cocky, smart-mouthed guy that usually shows up in a Smith performance. It’s rare to see a subtle performance that embodies in equal measure hope and despair or confidence and resignation. Smith is clearly as hungry to be taken seriously as an actor as his character Chris is hungry to get a good job, and that’s the obvious hook of the movie.

The Pursuit of Happyness is directed by a foreigner, Gabriele Muccino, an Italian who has received good notices for his recent films. Because Muccino is not an American, he probably understands the spirit of the American dream better than many Americans, but he also understands the universal elements of the tale, which Chris Gardner’s wants and desires and he and his son’s plight – homelessness and financial struggles are. Muccino and writer Steven Conrad quietly but decisively compare the way Chris lives to that of the people with whom he starts to associate once he begins his stockbroker internship. Muccino even gets in a few digs at America for being so wealthy, yet having so many homeless people that there aren’t enough shelters for them.

Still, in the end, any claim to greatness that this film has rest on Will Smith. Yes, his real life son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith is very good as Christopher Gardner. Thandie Newton also takes the small, almost throwaway part of Linda and makes it stick for as long as she and the character are in the story. But this is Smith’s show, and he makes the pain of a man trying to crawl out of the nightmarish cracks that riddle the American dream authentic.

If the audience isn’t paying attention, they’ll miss the best part of Smith’s performance – that even a man with nothing in terms of material wealth can still honor his commitment to his children and just be a great dad. Chris Gardener wants to have a really good job so that he can provide his son with the finer things in life. He doesn’t need to love his son any more than he already does, and his son says quite firmly at one point during their homelessness that Chris is a “good papa.” That makes the triumph of The Pursuit of Happyness even sweeter.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, December 17, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Will Smith)

2007 Black Reel Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Actor” (Will Smith), “Best Breakthrough Performance” (Jaden Smith), and “Best Film” (Will Smith, Teddy Zee, Steve Tisch, James Lassiter, Todd Black, and Jason Blumenthal)

2007 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Seal-music/lyrics and Christopher Bruce-music for the song "A Father's Way") and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Will Smith)

Tom Cruise Takes Les Grossman Back to the Big Screen

Les Grossman, the character that Tom Cruise memorably played in the 2008 film, Tropic Thunder, will be featured in his own movie, according to a press release from Paramount Pictures.  Cruise also appeared as Grossman in a dance number with Jennifer Lopez performed at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards this past weekend.

Press release from Paramount Pictures:

Paramount Announces "UNTITLED Les Grossman Project"

Paramount Pictures and MTV Films announced today that they are set to develop a movie around mega-producer Les Grossman. The announcement comes on the heels of Grossman’s groundbreaking and visionary production of the soon-to-be Emmy® award-winning 2010 MTV Movie Awards Sunday night. Tom Cruise, along with Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld of Red Hour Films will produce and have secured the life rights to Grossman.

Grossman, best known as a mega producer, has most recently mentored talents such as Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. In 2008, Grossman was introduced to the masses by Stiller in the comedy “Tropic Thunder” where the famed producer had a cameo playing himself.

Said Ben Stiller: “Les Grossman's life story is an inspiring tale of the classic human struggle to achieve greatness against all odds. He has assured me he plans to quote, ‘F**king kill the sh*t out of this movie and make Citizen f**king Kane look like a piece of crap home movie by the time we are done.’ I am honored to be working with him.”

When asked what the screenplay was about Grossman responded: “To quote my great friend Kirk Lazarus, ‘I don’t read the script, the script reads me.’”

Adam Goodman, Paramount Film Group President said, "Everything I learned in this business, I've learned from Les. I started out as his assistant, and from the first day he threw his desk at me when I got his lunch order wrong, I have loved him like a father. I am forever grateful to Ben and Stuart Cornfeld and their ability to secure his highly-coveted life rights,"

Tom Cruise is said to be in talks to portray Grossman in the film.

Michael Bacall (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”) will write the script. He is repped by WME.

WME also reps Ben Stiller and Red Hour Films.


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution. [END]

Review: "A Serious Man" for Serious Coen Fans

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Serious Man (2009)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence
DIRECTORS: The Coen Brothers
WRITERS/PRODUCERS: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Deakins (director of photography)
EDITORS: Roderick Jaynes (Ethan Coen & Joel Coen)
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus, and Peter Breitmayer

The most recent Academy Award-nominated film from the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan) is A Serious Man. This drama and black comedy centers on a Midwestern professor whose constant and unchanging life begins to unravel during a series of unfortunate events.

A Serious Man is set in 1967 in an unnamed Midwestern town. Professor Lawrence “Larry” Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university. One day his wife, Judith (Sari Lennick), bluntly informs Larry that she wants a divorce because she has fallen in love with a pompous acquaintance, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed). In truth, Larry seems to be having problems with all his family: his unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind), who sleeps on his sofa; his son Danny (Aaron Wolff) a pot-smoking, discipline problem who shirks Hebrew school; and his vain daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus), who steals money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. With all these torments, Larry struggles to be a righteous man – loyal to his family and his faith – a serious man, so he turns to his Jewish faith for answers… with wildly mixed results.

A Serious Man is an odd comedy; at times bleak and at other times surreal, the narrative is thoughtful and philosophical. With humor, both grim and sparkling, Joel and Ethan tackle life’s big questions about family and morality and also about the role of faith as a place to find answers.

A loose take on the story of Job (the Old Testament figure from the Book of Job). A Serious Man sometimes seems like a torture chamber, contrived by the Coens to allow themselves to experiment. They want to speculate about how a successful middle class man might react when everything goes wrong and it seems as if the world, existence, and God have turned against him. To that end, they get a magnificent performance from Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnick, who turns what could have been a caricature into a mesmerizing everyman who crosses racial, ethnic, and religious boundaries. If this film has a long life, it will be because of Stuhlbarg who made this Jewish intellectual from another era seem like a universal figure.

Sometimes, this movie can be almost too bleak and too belittling of its characters to sit through. Like most movies from the team of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, however, A Serious Man is beguiling even when it seems intolerable, but worth seeing.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Screenplay – Original” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Michael Stuhlbarg)

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

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VIZ Cinema to Screen Four Films by Kenji Mizoguchi

VIZ CINEMA CELEBRATES DIRECTOR KENJI MIZOGUCHI WITH FOUR FILMS IN JUNE AS PART OF UNTOLD LEGENDS SERIES

VIZ Cinema and NEW PEOPLE spotlight another of film’s greatest directors -- Kenji Mizoguchi – with four just-announced films that will screen Saturday, June 19th – Thursday, June 24th as part of the theatre’s Untold Legends series with runs throughout June.

Director Kenji Mizoguchi’s signature is the expression of strength, sorrow, and fragility of women, and his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène are legendary. His 1953 film, Ugetsu, won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and his films went on to have a tremendous impact on Western directors including Jean-Luc Godard, Andrei Tarkovsky, Jacques Rivette, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Theo Angelopoulos. VIZ Cinema proudly presents four of Mizoguchi’s greatest works – Sisters of the Gion, Ugetsu, Street of Shame, and Utamaro and His Five Women – in crisp 35mm with English subtitles.

Tickets, screening times and more details are available at: www.vizcinema.com.

Sisters of the Gion, June 19th – June 21st and also June 24th
(1936, 69min, 35mm, with English Subtitles)
Sisters of the Gion follows the parallel paths of the independent, unsentimental Omocha and her sister, the more tradition-minded Umekichi, who are both geishas in the working-class district of Gion. Mizoguchi’s film is a brilliantly shot and provides an uncompromising look at the forces that kept many women at the bottom rung of the social ladder.

Ugetsu, June 19th – June 22nd
(1953, 94min, 35mm, with English Subtitles)
Ugetsu is a ghost story like no other and the Japanese director’s supreme achievement. Derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, this haunting tale of love and loss – with its exquisite blending of the otherworldly and the real – is one of the most beautiful films ever made.

Street of Shame, June 19th – June 20th and June 22nd – 23rd
(1956, 87min, 35mm, with English Subtitles)
For his final film, Mizoguchi brought a lifetime of experience to bear on the heartbreaking tale of a brothel in Tokyo’s red light district, full of women whose dreams are constantly being shattered by the socioeconomic realities that surround them in post-war Japan.

Utamaro and His Five Women, June 19th – June 20th and June 23rd – June 24th
(1946, 106min, 35mm, with English Subtitles)
Inspired by the life and work of the wood block print artist, Utamaro Kitagawa (1753-1806), who revolutionized the medium by capturing human emotion into his artwork, Utamaro and His Five Women is a fascinating study of a man’s dedication to his art and adherence to self-expression in a time of rigid conformity.


VIZ Cinema is the nation’s only movie theatre devoted exclusively to Japanese film and anime. The 143-seat subterranean theatre is located in the basement of the NEW PEOPLE building and features plush seating, digital as well as 35mm projection, and a THX®-certified sound system.

NEW PEOPLE offers the latest films, art, fashion and retail brands from Japan and is the creative vision of the J-Pop Center Project and VIZ Pictures, a distributor and producer of Japanese live action film. Located at 1746 Post Street, the 20,000 square foot structure features a striking 3-floor transparent glass façade that frames a fun and exotic new environment to engage the imagination into the 21st Century. A dedicated web site is also now available at: www.NewPeopleWorld.com.

Review: Scorsese, DiCaprio Revived Old Hollywood Style with "The Aviator"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Aviator (2004)
Running time: 170 minutes (2 hours, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language, and a crash sequence
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
WRITER: John Logan
PRODUCERS: Sandy Climan, Charles Evans, Jr., Graham King, and Michael Mann
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Richardson
EDITOR: Thelma Schoonmaker
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, Ian Holm, Danny Huston, Adam Scott, Matt Ross, Gwen Stefani, Jude Law, Brent Spiner, Willem Dafoe, Kelli Garner, and Frances Conroy

Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator recounts the years of Howard Hughes’ (Leonardo DiCaprio) life from the late 1920’s to the late 1940’s. In that epoch, the eccentric billionaire industrialist was a Hollywood film mogul producing scandalous and infamous films. However, he was best known even in Hollywood as the daring pilot who was test flying innovative aircraft he built and designed. The film begins with Hughes’ four-year odyssey making his war epic film, Hell’s Angels, and ends with him preparing to take the next big steps in aeronautics after the successful flight of his giant wooden plane he called The Hercules, but others derogatorily called the Spruce Goose. In between, the wealthy playboy has passionate but doomed affairs with legendary actress Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and the no-nonsense, independent starlet, Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale). Hughes, owner of TWA (Trans World Airlines), also has a feud with Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), owner of Pan Am Airlines, and Senator Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), a Maine senator in Trippe’s pocket.

The Aviator has three things going for it. First, it’s a brilliant technical achievement in terms of its special effects and photography (easily the year’s best). Secondly, Martin Scorsese’s directorial effort is spectacular, not in terms of being showy, but because of his choices. For instance, he designed each year in the film to look just like color film from that time period would have looked. The photographic color technique actually drives the film narrative forward. Whereas, his 2002 film Gangs of New York, fell apart by basically tacking on a fourth act, The Aviator almost, but doesn’t fall apart by the end of it’s nearly three-hour running time. The Aviator is lively and energetic, and, at times, seems as if it is actually a film made in the golden age of Hollywood. Only a few moments of weirdness (especially an ending that hints at or suggests Hughes ultimately disintegration) hamper (barely) the film. Still, the good moments, such as the aerial scenes, both flights and crashes, may finally earn Scorsese an Oscar. [It didn't; Clint Eastwood won for Million Dollar Baby.]

The acting more than anything else makes this a special film. It goes without saying that Leonardo DiCaprio gives a great performance. He makes Howard Hughes his own, and turns him into a magnetic presence that stalks the film stage as if he were the king of the world. However, it is Hughes’ mentally unstable side that hamstrings DiCaprio’s performance. That part of the act is more odd and embarrassing than skillful. Although I personally don’t like people imitating Katherine Hepburn, Cate Blanchett does a fine job turning a caricature into an engaging, three-dimensional character. However, Kate Beckinsale’s turn as Ava Gardner is a scene-stealer, and Ms. Beckinsale makes Ms. Gardner an intriguing and appealing figure. Suffice to say, the rest of the supporting cast also go a long way to making this a cinema must-see.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 5 wins: “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Dante Ferretti-art director and Francesca Lo Schiavo-set decorator), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Robert Richardson), “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Sandy Powell), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Thelma Schoonmaker), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Cate Blanchett); 6 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Michael Mann and Graham King), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Martin Scorsese), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Tom Fleischman and Petur Hliddal), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Leonardo DiCaprio), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Alan Alda), and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (John Logan)

2005 BAFTA Awards: 4 wins: “Best Film” (Michael Mann, Sandy Climan, Graham King, and Charles Evans Jr.), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Morag Ross, Kathryn Blondell, and Sian Grigg), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Cate Blanchett), “Best Production Design” (Dante Ferretti); 10 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Howard Shore), “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Robert Legato, Peter G. Travers, Matthew Gratzner, and R. Bruce Steinheimer), “Best Cinematography” (Robert Richardson), “Best Costume Design” (Sandy Powell), “Best Editing” (Thelma Schoonmaker), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Leonardo DiCaprio), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Alan Alda), “Best Screenplay – Original” (John Logan), “Best Sound” (Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Petur Hliddal, and Tom Fleischman), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Martin Scorsese)

2005 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Howard Shore), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Leonardo DiCaprio); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Martin Scorsese), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Cate Blanchett), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (John Logan)

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