Animated Short Review: "A Grand Day Out with Wallace & Gromit"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 84 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Grand Day Out with Wallace & Gromit (1989) – animation
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK
Running time: 23 minutes
DIRECTOR: Nick Park
WRITERS: Steve Rushton and Nick Park
PRODUCERS: Rob Copeland and Soozy Mealing
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Nick Park
EDITOR: Rob Copeland
Academy Award nominee

SHORT/ANIMATION/COMEDY/FAMILY/SCI-FI

Starring: (voice) Peter Sallis

Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out is a 1989 animated film short. It is the first in the series of Wallace and Gromit short films that use the stop-motion animation process. A Grand Day Out earned an Oscar nomination for “Best Short Film, Animated,” while winning the BAFTA Award for “Best Animated Film.”

A Grand Day Out follows Wallace (Peter Sallis), the wacky inventor, and Gromit, his exceedingly patient and brilliantly resourceful canine. The duo builds a rocket ship that takes them to the moon so that Wallace can sample the different cheeses of which the moon is made. However, this “cheese holiday” isn’t free of trouble when they encounter a stove-like contraption. This moon resident wants to go back to earth with them so that it can ski.

A Grand Day Out is a bit technically inferior to the Wallace & Gromit films that would follow it, but its charm lies in the short’s imaginative settings and the fantastical execution of its scenario. There is lots of charm here, and Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out (also known as A Grand Day Out with Wallace & Gromit) shares something with the great fantasy films like The Wizard of Oz and classic Disney animated films, which is a sense of wonder that can capture the heart of young and old viewers alike.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1991 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Short Film, Animated” (Nick Park)

1990 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Film” (Nick Park)

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Cult Animated Film, "Wizards," Gets Anniversary Blu-ray Release

DELVE INTO RALPH BAKSHI’S CULT CLASSIC LIKE NEVER BEFORE

WIZARDS

The Fantastical Allegory Comes to Life for the First Time On Blu-ray March 13

Twentieth Century Fox’s first-ever animated film, created by renowned director Ralph Bakshi, Wizards appears in a 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray + Book release on March 13 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the “epic fantasy of peace and magic” stars the voice talent of Mark Hamill (Star Wars Saga). The special edition Blu-ray + Book release is a must-have for fans and collectors, featuring 24-pages of amazing artwork from the film, some of the artwork never-before-seen, and a special message from Bakshi!

Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, this fantasy adventure follows the story of Avatar, the kindly, eccentric sorcerer-ruler of Montagar, a rainbow paradise inhabited by elves and fairies. Avatar's evil brother, Blackwolf, dominates Scortch, a bleak land of goblins and wraiths. When the power-hungry Blackwolf attacks Montagar, Avatar, accompanied only by a spirited young woman and a courageous elf, must enter the darkness of Scortch to save his world.

WIZARDS will be available as a Blu-ray + Book release for the ARP of $19.99.

Review: Ralph Bakshi's "Wizards" is Still Distinctive

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 82 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Wizards (1977) – animation
Running time: 82 minutes (1 hour, 22 minutes)
MPAA – PG
WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Ralph Bakshi
EDITOR: Donald W. Ernst
COMPOSER: Andrew Belling

ANIMATION/FANTASY/SCI-FI/WAR

Starring: (voices) Bob Holt, Jim Connell, Steve Gravers, Jessie Welles, Susan Tyrrell, Richard Romanus, David Proval, Peter Hobbs, Barbara Sloane, Angelo Grisanti, Mark Hamill, and Adolf Hitler (archival audio recordings)

With very few Disney films to compete with his output in the 1970’s, Ralph Bakshi was certainly one of the best known directors of animation and one of the most controversial. Lacking the resources of an animation giant, Bakshi often had to be quite savvy in presenting his animated creations, mixing traditional cel animation with other techniques to make animated film, and that is the case with his 1977 film, Wizards.

Wizards is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth long after the horrors of a nuclear holocaust, when magic has returned to the earth. Avatar (Bob Holt), a good wizard, and his fairy folk comrades must battle Avatar’s evil brother Blackwolf (Steve Gravers), also a wizard, to save the world. Blackwolf has discovered a cache of 20th century weapons, tanks, and other long-forgotten instruments of war, as well as archival film footage of Adolf Hitler and of Nazi Germany. Blackwolf uses the Nazi propaganda films to whip his army of goblins and wraiths into a frenzy and sends them on to ravage Montagar, Avatar’s sanctuary of elves and fairies. Avatar, accompanied by a spirited young fairy-in-training Elinore (Jessie Welles) and a brave elf Weehawk (Richard Romanus) set off to Blackwolf’s kingdom of Scortch to stop him.

I liked the style of animation used in this film, which didn’t strive for realism, and was influenced by “underground” cartoonists, especially the work of the late Vaughn Bode. Bakshi also uses lots of rotoscoping, a process in which animators simply draw or add color over film footage to make it look “animated.” All the battle footage, including fighters, weapons, and tanks is simply hand drawing and coloring over footage from other war films or over archival documentary film. Coloring over film stock simply saved Bakshi and his crew from what would have been an impossible task, with their resources, of drawing battle scenes featuring hundreds of combatants and lots of weapons. However, what is drawn is very beautiful, and it really reminded me of cartoons and comic books. It’s not high-falutin,’ but it gives the tale a funky, out there feel. Some of the best work are the gorgeous still drawings by cartoonist Michael Ploog (who also did the storyboards for Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” video).

The story is a straight-on, blunt anti-war film. Wizards is a strong statement in the popularly held image of a hippie tradition against violence, hatred, and prejudice and for peace and love. Although it is not naïve, but it is an artistic statement based on seemingly impossible to reach ideals. I can’t help but respect what Bakshi did with this film; he delivered his message in an artistic medium that’s usually reserved for, at best, tepid commentary and for children’s entertainment, at least in American animation. The film drags a bit, and in the end, its ideal of a society based on love and peace is simplistic, underdeveloped, unrealistic, and impractical given human nature. But hey, it’s just a movie, right? However, because of the combination of the beautiful animation and colors and forceful delivery of its story about peace, Wizards is a unique film experience, unlike most live action films and most animated films you will ever see.

6 of 10
B

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Brendan Gleeson Shines in "The Guard"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Guard (2011)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Ireland
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language, some violence, drug material and sexual content
WRITER/DIRECTOR: John Michael McDonagh
PRODUCERS: Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez-Marengo, Ed Guiney, and Andrew Lowe
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Larry Smith
EDITOR: Chris Gill
COMPOSER: Calexico
BAFTA nominee

CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Katarina Cas, Laurence Kinlan, Pat Shortt, Darren Healy, Gary Lydon, Wale Ojo, and Michael Og Lane

The Guard is a 2011 Irish crime comedy starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle (who is also one of the film’s executive producers). Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh (Ned Kelly), the film focuses on an unorthodox Garda (Irish policeman) and a tightly wound FBI agent in pursuit of international drug dealers.

Straight-laced FBI Special Agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) arrives in Ireland on the trail of international drug dealers, specifically four suspects. Everett meets Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson), a wisecracking and confrontational local Garda from the village of Galway. Boyle may already have a lead on the drug smugglers, but he chooses to annoy the American instead of helping him. When the drug-related violence and murder get close to him, however, Boyle suddenly finds himself doing police work way beyond anything he has ever done before.

The Guard is a weird film. Perhaps, I did not expect an Irish film to be so quirky as to seem like a movie from Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums). This film is both a crime comedy and a black comedy, so it is violent and twisted. Also, every moment in the film that attempts to be poignant are sabotaged by the profane and scabrous.

Writer/director John Michael McDonagh gives the film satirical flourishes by poking fun at the Irish city of Dublin and also at the miscues of the highest law enforcement agencies in both the U.S. and the U.K. He defiantly fills his film with so many odd characters, like Eugene Moloney (Michael Og Lane), the weird kid obsessed with the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and a young odd duck who photographs crime scenes in loving, gruesome detail. That many eccentrics could ruin a movie, but McDonagh deftly keeps these characters and their strangeness in check.

He has to keep these characters under control so that they don’t stand in the way of Brendan Gleeson’s fragrantly pungent turn as Gerry Boyle. The verbally adroit Gleeson spits out the dialogue McDonagh wrote for him as if he were battling Eminem. It is a showy performance on the part of Gleeson, but he does it with such veteran ease that his seems natural. Boyle may be a loser living a crude life of lust and drink, but he isn’t doing it half-assed.

What keeps the film from being great is that it does not give us what its premise promises – a warped version of the buddy-cop movie. Gleeson and Don Cheadle are not together enough – for me, at least. When Cheadle’s Wendell Everett is with Gleeson’s Boyle, they seem perfectly matched for some mismatched comedy duo gold. The Guard only gives us Boyle/Everett in chopped up bits that never last that long, until the last act, which is a shame.

I must also note that I wish Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, and David Wilmot’s villainous characters were more developed, as they could be the stars of their own movie. There is nothing wrong with The Guard focusing on Gleeson’s Boyle, but as the film’s final moments focus on Cheadle’s Everett, it becomes obvious that The Guard misses out on being a buddy-cop classic.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2012 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Original Screenplay” (John Michael McDonagh)

2012 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Brendan Gleeson)

2012 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor” (Don Cheadle)

2012 Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Don Cheadle)

Don Cheadle Turns "Traitor" into a Hot Thriller

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Traitor (2008)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language
DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Nachmanoff
WRITERS: Jeffrey Nachmanoff; from a story by Steve Martin and Jeffrey Nachmanoff
PRODUCERS: Don Cheadle, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, and Jeffrey Silver
CINEMATOGRAPHER: J. Michael Muro (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Billy Fox
COMPOSER: Mark Kilian

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Saïd Taghmaoui, Neal McDonough, Alvy Khan, Archie Panjabi, Raad Rawi, Lorena Gale, and Jeff Daniels

Traitor is a 2008 drama and thriller starring Don Cheadle. Based on an idea by Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin), who is also an executive producer on this film, Traitor focuses on a U.S. citizen turned terrorist and the FBI agent who is tracking him.

Born in Sudan and a naturalized Arabic-speaking, U.S. citizen, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) is working as an arms dealer when he is arrested in Yemen and thrown in a Yemeni prison. There, he meets Omar (Saïd Taghmaoui), who is part of the Al-Nathir terrorist network. Omar befriends Samir, and after they escape from prison, Omar gets Samir to join the Islamic Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, FBI Special Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) has been hunting Samir, who is also former U.S. Special Operations Forces, through numerous countries. After he learns that Samir has returned to America, Clayton must discover the secrets behind this complicated man before the mysterious Risala Shukra Al-hiba event begins. Samir is a traitor, but exactly who or what is he betraying.

While it examines the beliefs and motivations behind terrorism, Traitor operates like a spy thriller similar to the 2010 Angelina Jolie film, Salt. Traitor is also a kind of dual procedural thriller, as it depicts how an FBI international terrorism investigation works and how terrorists plan (recruiting, financing, infiltrating, etc.). This is a film that seems to really know its subject matter. Of course, this is a bare-bones version of the inner workings of a terrorist organization, but the audience will get the idea that this movie isn’t something thrown together like an exploitation film.

Traitor has lots of twists and turns, and not only does it have one major reveal, but it also has a few big ones in the last half-hour, alone. Don Cheadle, who gives another high-quality performance, holds the story together, so this fast-moving narrative has dramatic heft. Sometimes, Traitor made me feel uncomfortable because it seems so plausible, and credit that to Cheadle’s performance. Traitor is his movie, and he makes it a good one. It also doesn’t hurt that the radiant Archie Panjabi appears in this film in a nice supporting role.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2009 Black Reel Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Actor” (Don Cheadle), “Best Breakthrough Performance” (Saïd Taghmaoui), and “Best Film” (Jeffrey Silver, Kay Liberman, Steve Martin, Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman, Ashok Amritraj, Steve Gaub, Don Cheadle, and Arlene Gibbs)

2009 Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Don Cheadle)

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Review: "Daddy Day Care" is Eddie Murphy Empty Calories

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 91 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Daddy Day Care (2003)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG for language
DIRECTOR: Steve Carr
WRITER: Geoff Rodkey
PRODUCERS: Matt Berenson, John Davis, and Wyck Godfrey
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Steven Poster
EDITOR: Christopher Greenbury
COMPOSER: David Newman

COMEDY/FAMILY with elements of fantasy

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Regina King, Kevin Nealon, Anjelica Huston, Jonathan Katz, Leila Arcieri, Khamani Griffin, and Max Burkholder

Once upon a time Eddie Murphy starred in movies people couldn’t get enough of like Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop. Then, according to bigoted critics, Murphy turned his back on his “white audience” with films like Harlem Nights and Boomerang, which were not blockbusters but were nevertheless both excellent films featuring mostly African-American casts. Since the mid-90’s Murphy has starred in a number of “family-oriented” films that have been huge hits: The Nutty Professor, Mulan, Dr. Doolittle, and Shrek, etc. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind a combination of the star that appeared in Trading Places and Boomerang, but I can deal with the family friendly fare like Murphy’s recent hit, Daddy Day Care.

Charlie Hinton (Eddie Murphy) and Phil (Jeff Garlin) are laid off (fired) from their well paying jobs. As the weeks of being unemployed blow by they are spending more time with their sons, not that that’s a bad thing; they’re just not used to being employed. Like a light bulb exploding in his head, Charlie gets the idea of opening a daycare center, partly because he can no longer afford the posh Chapman Academy his son was attending when he was working. After initial skepticism, a growing number of mothers begin to rely on the affordable care that Charlie and Phil provide. However, the Chapman dowager, Mrs. Haridan (Anjelica Huston), doesn’t like the competition and schemes to have Charlie and Phil’s increasingly popular Daddy Day Care closed.

There’s no point in beating around the bush. Daddy Day Care is an entertainment delivery vehicle meant to give the “family audience” a few chuckles while affirming the bushy middle-class, suburban lifestyle. If that’s sounds like a criticism, it isn’t, not quiet. It’s simply that this film doesn’t have to be so vapid. Even the menace of Mrs. Haridan’s attempt to close the school is at best a lukewarm threat. If not for Ms. Huston’s ability to chew into even the most cardboard cutout characters, there would have been no dramatic tension in this film. The two male leads have lost their well-paying jobs, for chrissakes. That resonates with much of the audience in these shaky-as-ever economic times. Hell yeah, there are lots of laughs; I certainly found many, but this film could have been about something – about two dads struggling with new roles, roles men are not used to playing.

Oh well, I don’t regret seeing Daddy Day Care, and there are lots of warm and fuzzy feelings. It’s a safe trip to the movies for the entire family. Steve Zahn as Marvin, Daddy Day Care’s first new employee is an absolute show stealing delight. Impossible as it might seem, I like him more each time I see him in a movie. His inspired performance and off-kilter character were more than worth my time.

P.S. Two characters speak Klingon (a language from the Star Trek television and film franchise, for those who don’t know) in this movie; that alone is worth $1 of your admission price.

6 of 10
B

Review: Refn and Gosling "Drive" to Greatness

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Drive (2011)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity
DIRECTOR: Nicolas Winding Refn
WRITER: Hossein Amini (based upon the novel by James Sallis)
PRODUCERS: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, and Adam Siegel
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Newton Thomas Sigel (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Mat Newman
COMPOSER: Cliff Martinez
Academy Award nominee

CRIME/DRAMA/ACTION/THRILLER with elements of romance

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, and Kaden Leos

I kept hearing good things about the film Drive, a 2011 crime drama and action thriller starring Ryan Gosling. Directed by critically-acclaimed Danish filmmaker, Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive centers on a mysterious getaway driver who lands himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor’s troubled husband. The good things I heard about this film turned out to be true, and it is one of the very best films of 2011.

In the film, he is only known as The Driver (Ryan Gosling), and he is a supremely skilled getaway driver for those who need to get away after pulling off a heist or robbery. The Driver is also a Hollywood stuntman and mechanic, working on both jobs for garage owner, Shannon (Bryan Cranston). Shannon wants to get involved in stock car racing with The Driver as the man behind the wheel, so Shannon brings in mobster, Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks), as an investor in this venture.

The Driver lives in a low-rent apartment building where he meets and befriends his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan), and her son, Benicio (Kaden Leos). The Driver begins to date Irene, but she is actually married to a man named Standard Gabriel (Oscar Isaac), who is about to be released from prison. After Standard is released, he must find a way to pay back protection money that he owes to a gangster. The Driver tries to help Standard and things go bad on all sides.

Drive is a hard-edged crime thriller with a neo-Film-Noir pedigree. Those who watch it may see the influence of a lot of Los Angeles-based films, including Pulp Fiction and various Michael Mann films. There is also more than a touch of John Carpenter – from the atmospheric, 1980s synth-pop score (created by the always interesting Cliff Martinez) to the somewhat Michael Myers-like Driver. I also see this as partially a blend of Carpenter’s original Halloween (1978) and The Transporter film series.

Whatever its influences are, Drive is simply brilliant. It is cool without being slick and overly produced (like many Hollywood crime movies). Drive is more modern than retro, but it has a timeless quality that also makes it seem to be from a vague near-future. Director Nicolas Winding Refn turned in one of the year’s best feats of film directing simply by making a movie that takes so many influences and inspirations and turns them into an original vision and a film apart from the rest.

This movie has a number of good performances. Of course, Ryan Gosling is the centerpiece. At first, he may come across as flat and too cool, but he slowly unveils a great big darkness that lives just under the surface. Gosling also shows a gentle, romantic, and human side that surprisingly breaks through in the most surprising moments. Plus, Gosling creates, in The Driver, a most memorable man-of-few-words anti-hero. The Driver is another performance that shows just how much talent Gosling has.

Carey Mulligan is solid in a relatively quiet and restrained performance, but she sells every scene in which she appears and matches Gosling when they appear in the same scene. Everything Albert Brooks does in this movie seems fresh and sensational, even when he does something that a movie mobster typically does. He makes the old mobster stereotypes edgy, contemporary, and original.

Drive is a crime flick that is also a dark L.A. fairy tale. It makes violence and brutality seem as if it could be no cooler than it is in Los Angeles. I would have enjoyed seeing more action sequences with cars, but I like Drive too much to complain.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2012 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis)

2012 BAFTA Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Film” (Marc Platt and Adam Siegel), “Best Director” (Nicolas Winding Refn), “Best Editing” (Matthew Newman), “Best Supporting Actress” (Carey Mulligan)

2011 Cannes Film Festival: 1 win: “Best Director” (Nicolas Winding Refn); 1 nomination: “Palme d'Or” (Nicolas Winding Refn)

2012 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Albert Brooks)

Friday, March 09, 2012

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