Review: Winning Cast Carries "Casa de los Babys"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 80 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Casa de los Babys (2003)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language and brief drug use
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  John Sayles
PRODUCERS:  Alejandro Springall and Lemore Syvan
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Mauricio Rubinstein (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  John Sayles
COMPOSER:  Mason Daring

DRAMA

Starring:  Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daryl Hannah, Marcia Gay Harden, Susan Lynch, Mary Steenburgen, Lili Taylor, and Rita Moreno

The subject of this movie review is Casa de los Babys, a 2003 drama from writer-director John Sayles.  The film focuses on a group of American women in South America where they hope to adopt babies.  Casa de los Babys was screened at various film festivals before receiving a limited theatrical release in September 2003.

In John Sayles’ film Casa de los Babys, six white American women from varying backgrounds have traveled to an unnamed Latin American country to (hopefully) pick up newly adopted babies.  However, they end up stuck in the country because of laws that require they live there while a months-long process of paperwork slowly winds itself through the red tape maze.

The women come to reside at the “casa de los babys,” a hotel run by a woman who is involved in the adoption process.  Oh, the women may very well get babies, but they find themselves going through hoops; mostly it’s about waiting – waiting and getting to know the other mothers – some with sad or scary personal stories.

It’s always hard to figure out what Sayles is trying to say in his films; that’s assuming he has a message.  His movies are always about the characters, and while story and setting aren’t necessarily secondary, the joy of watching one of his movies is in watching how characters live in their environments.

The structure and proportions of Sayles’ films suggest realism, but it’s really the best drama – rooted in reality with the conflict idealized to make it more intriguing.  There are few easy answers, and Sayles films usually leave me with so many unanswered questions.  As usual with a Sayles movie, I’ll heartily recommend this heartfelt and heart-wrenching film and also tell you you’re dumb if you don’t like Casa de los Babys.

8 of 10
A

Updated:  Friday, September 27, 2013

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

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Former Disney Execs Announce New Animation Project

The DreamVision Company Announces Development of CGI Animated Musical Motion Picture Version of the Classic Chinese Legend “The Monkey King”

BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a special global press announcement held earlier today, DreamVision Company studio executives confirmed the development of a spectacular CGI animated musical version of the beloved and legendary story of “The Monkey King”. Monkey King, or known to the Chinese old and young as Xi You Ji (Journey to the West), is one of the renowned truly classic Chinese novels dating back some four hundred years ago. Monkey King is based on an incredible true story of a famous monk, Xuan Zang of the Chinese Tang Dynasty (602-664).

In today’s announcement, The DreamVision Company CEO and Chairman, Rick Silanskas, said, “It is a true honor and privilege to bring this amazing and emotional story that has touched millions to the screen in a magnificent and culturally significant production that we hope will reach the entire globe with our emotionally driven CGI animation and music.”

The highly valued and award winning DreamVision Company encompasses one of the most powerful assembled teams in family entertainment including, The DreamVision Company Chief Creative Officer, Mr. Ron Logan, Disney Legend, Former Executive Vice-President of Disney Worldwide and Founder and First President of Disney Theatrical (Beauty and The Beast) along with a classic creative and management team currently developing motion pictures, ground breaking theme park and resort development globally, television, music and Broadway productions with studio offices in Orlando, Florida, Fort Worth, Texas and Cape Town, South Africa.

Happy Birthday, Jay

My! how time has passed. You were just eight when I first met you.  Have a Happy Birthday and many, many more.

Theatrical Pickpocket Consults on New Will Smith Movie

Apollo Robbins Brings His Expertise into “Focus”

Star Will Smith is Learning Tricks of the Trade From the Famed Sleight-of-Hand Artist

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apollo Robbins, nicknamed “The Gentleman Thief,” is serving as a consultant, conceiving and choreographing original sleight-of-hand maneuvers, for the production of Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Focus,” starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Gerald McRaney and Rodrigo Santoro.

Performing since 1998 in Las Vegas as a theatrical pickpocket, Apollo is renowned as the person who lifted the keys off a Secret Service agent who was driving former President Jimmy Carter, as well as Jennifer Garner’s engagement ring from Ben Affleck. In all instances, he always returns what he has lifted from his skeptical audience.

In “Focus,” Will Smith plays a con man who becomes romantically involved with a novice con artist (Margot Robbie), only to break up when she gets too close. Three years later, he is thrown off his game when his former flame shows up in Buenos Aires. Complicating matters even more, each of them is working separate—but equally elaborate—cons, both targeting the same billionaire international race car team owner (Rodrigo Santoro).

The film is being directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (“Crazy, Stupid, Love.”), from their own screenplay. Denise Di Novi (“The Lucky One,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”) is producing the film, with Stan Wlodkowski and Charlie Gogolak serving as executive producers.

Directors Ficarra and Requa stated, “Apollo is the foremost expert in his field and is an inspiration to us.”

Producer Di Novi added, “Apollo has been a tremendous resource both technically and creatively during this process. For ‘Focus,’ he has designed and choreographed sleight-of-hand moves that have never been seen before on film.”

Bringing his unique expertise to “Focus,” Robbins will help to enhance the authenticity of scenes involving legerdemain.

Review: Being Strange Not is Enough for "Bubba Ho-tep"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 122 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bubba Ho-tep (2002)
Running time:  92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, some sexual content and brief violent images
DIRECTOR:  Don Coscarelli
WRITER:  Don Coscarelli (based upon a short story by Joe R. Lansdale)
PRODUCERS:  Don Coscarelli and Jason R. Savage
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Adam Janeiro
EDITOR:  Scott J. Gill and Donald Milne
COMPOSER:  Brian Tyler

HORROR with elements of comedy and drama

Starring:  Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Heidi Marnhout, Reggie Bannister, Daniel Roebuck, Daniel Schweiger, and Bob Ivy

The subject of this movie review is Bubba Ho-tep, a 2002 American comic horror film from writer-director Don Coscarelli.  The film is based on the novella of the same title by author Joe R. Lansdale.  Bubba Ho-tep appeared in many film festivals, beginning in 2002, and received a limited theatrical release in 2003.

In Bubba Ho-tep the movie, Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) is alive and lives in the Mud Creek Shady Rest Convalescence Home.  He has a broken hip and a pus-filled boil on his penis.  How did the King of Rock n’ Roll end up in such a state and living in an old folks home?  It’s a long story.  Besides, President John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) is an old black man who also lives at the rest home.  Conspiracy theorists rejoice.

There is, however, no time for reminiscing about their fame, their circumstances, and how they cheated death.  These two legendary figures of American history and culture join forces when they discover that an ancient Egyptian mummy in cowboy boots and hat, to whom Elvis jokingly refers as Bubba Ho-tep, has invaded their rest home and is sucking the souls out of the residents.  So Elvis and JFK spring to action before any of the other residents lose their souls.

Film fanatics know director Don Coscarelli for his film Phantasm and its sequels, and Coscarelli’s ready-made cult film, Bubba Ho-tep, is a unique addition to his weirdo filmography.  Bubba Ho-tep is a low wattage fright flick with nice flourishes of comedy (but not the camp kind) and drama.  Lacking super special effects, the film relies on some detailed and heartfelt performances by B-movie actor Bruce Campbell and veteran Ossie Davis, a fine actor who has spent most of his career under-utilized because of he is black.  Campbell is especially good because he deftly skirts a line between being campy and seriously dramatic in his portrayal of Elvis.  It’s as if he wants us to take him seriously as an actor and as if he were mocking the entire thing at the same time.

The film however is too soft; the production values are just enough to put it on the level of real low-budget television show.  In terms of SFX pyrotechnics, Bubba Ho-tep is not even on the level of “The X-Files.”  Still, the film is pleasantly entertaining, and the characters and concept would indeed make a nice episodic TV show.

5 of 10
B-

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

Production Begins on Ron Howard's "Heart of the Sea"

Director Ron Howard Takes the Helm of Maritime Action Adventure “Heart of the Sea”

Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw, Tom Holland and Brendan Gleeson Star

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Production is now underway in the UK on the action adventure “Heart of the Sea.” Oscar® winner Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”) directs from a script by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) and Charles Leavitt (“Blood Diamond”), based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s best-selling novel about the dramatic true journey of the whaling ship Essex. The film is a co-production between COTT Productions and Enelmar Productions, A.I.E. for Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures.

“Heart of the Sea” stars Chris Hemsworth (Marvel’s “The Avengers,” upcoming “Rush”) as the vessel’s veteran first mate Owen Chase; Benjamin Walker (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) as its inexperienced Captain, George Pollard; Cillian Murphy (“The Dark Knight Rises”) as second mate Matthew Joy; and Ben Whishaw (“Skyfall”) as novelist Herman Melville, whose inquiries into the event 30 years later helped bring the story to light.

In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Melville’s Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. “Heart of the Sea” reveals the encounter’s harrowing aftermath, as the ship’s surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.

The film also stars Tom Holland (“The Impossible”) as young seaman Tom Nickerson, and Brendan Gleeson (“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”) as the same man, 30 years later. Spanish actor Jordi Mollà (“Riddick”) is the captain of another ship, the Archimedes, who tries to warn the Essex of what may lie ahead.

“Heart of the Sea” is produced by Paula Weinstein (“Blood Diamond”), Joe Roth (“Oz the Great and Powerful”), William Ward, Brian Grazer (“J. Edgar”) and Ron Howard. Serving as executive producers are Sarah Bradshaw, Palak Patel and Bruce Berman. William M. Connor is co-producer. The film is based on the novel In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Production, which began September 10th, will shoot at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Herfordshire, UK, and on location in the Canary Islands.

“Heart of the Sea” is a Warner Bros. Pictures presentation, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a COTT Productions-Enelmar Productions, A.I.E. co-production, a Roth Films/Spring Creek/Imagine Entertainment Production. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

Review: "But I'm a Cheerleader" is Weird and Wonderful (Happy B'day, Clea DuVall)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 70 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)

Running time:  85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language and sexual content involving teens

DIRECTOR:  Jamie Babbit

WRITERS:  Brian Wayne Peterson; from a story by James Babbit

PRODUCERS:  Leanna Creel and Andrea Sperling

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jules Labarthe (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Cecily Rhett

COMPOSER:  Pat Irwin

COMEDY/ROMANCE/GAY 

Starring:  Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarity, RuPaul, Eddie Cibrian, Melanie Lynskey, Katharine Towne, Dante Basco, Ione Skye, and Katrina Phillips

The subject of this movie review is But I’m a Cheerleader, a satirical film and romantic comedy from director Jamie Babbit.  The film focuses on a naive teenager who ends up in a conversion therapy camp after her straitlaced parents and friends come to suspect her of being a lesbian.

You are who you are.  The only trick is not getting caught, sez Clea DuVall’s character in the uproarious satire about modern America’s desire to “get rid” of homosexuals, But I’m a Cheerleader.

Megan Bloomfield (Natasha Lyonne, American Pie) has a picture of a cheerleader in her locker, a poster of Melissa Etheridge on her bedroom wall, and likes tofu, so her parents (Mink Stole, Bud Cort) are sure she’s a lesbian.  They enroll her in True Directions, a “dehomosexualing” program that purports to make gay kids straight.  Megan, already confused, is then caught between two extremes:  the cruel, hateful, and spiteful headmaster Mary J. Brown (Cathy Moriarity) and an unrepentant rebel lesbian Graham Eaton (Clea DuVall, The Faculty) who is attracted to Megan.

But I’m a Cheerleader is probably the best satire I’ve ever seen on the subject of the American bigoted mindset about homosexuality.  It is a hilarious comedy, and the romance between Megan and Graham is heartfelt and touching in the portrayal of the girls’ awkwardly advancing towards each other.  However, the film’s sharpest barbs are simply aimed at the crass behavior and sheer ignorance of bigotry and hate directed at homosexuals.  It’s one thing to disagree with a “lifestyle;” it’s an entirely different thing to try to destroy that with which you disagree.  I won’t resort to boring speeches and politics, but But I'm a Cheerleader hilariously makes its points.

Director Jamie Babbit and screenwriter Brian Wayne Peterson are sneaky in the way they communicate the messages under cover of outrageous characters and outlandish humor.  I laughed a lot, but I have to admit that you’d have to be really dense not to get the obvious points.  Homophobes that can get the message may hate this film; after all, the creators don’t go out of the way to camouflage their satire.  It’s blunt, but not annoying.  The film is funny, even when it’s being sad.  The film does drag heavily at some moments, and sometimes I was ready for the joke to end; still, the film always picked itself up with something delightful and surprising.

It’s in the power of the film’s sarcasm and irony that we can laugh at human folly, but a part of us sees the folly in ourselves when we watch Cheerleader.  Will we ever live in a free country where people don’t have to be discriminated against because of sexual orientation?  Hell no!  People will discriminate and hate, and then go to church on Sunday and proclaim their love for GOD in vigorous screams, because GOD is all about hating faggots, right?

And that’s fine in way because human folly will keep us knee deep in really good satire like But I’m a Cheerleader for the foreseeable future.  The soundtrack’s cool, too.

7 of 10
A

Updated:  Wednesday, September 25, 2013

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

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