Review: "Client 9" Digs into Eliot Spitzer Scandal

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 51 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)
Running time: 117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – R some sexual material, nudity and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Alex Gibney
PRODUCERS: Maiken Baird, Alex Gibney, Jedd Wider, and Todd Wider
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Maryse Alberti
EDITORS: Plummy Tucker with Alison Amron
COMPOSER: Peter Nashel

DOCUMENTARY – Politics

Starring: Eliot Spitzer, Wayne Barrett, Joe Bruno, David Brown, Darren Dopp, Peter Elkind, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, Noreen Harrington, Ken Langone, Roger Stone, Cecil Suwal, Hulbert Waldroup, and Wrenn Schmidt

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer is a 2010 documentary film from Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side). Client 9 takes an in-depth look at the rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer, former State Attorney General and Governor of New York. The film includes an interview with Spitzer, who was elected as the 54th governor of New York in 2006 and later resigned when he was exposed as being involved in a high-priced prostitution ring.

The film reveals Spitzer’s beginnings as a crusading state’s Attorney General who went after Wall Street, big banks, and big insurance companies for fraud, predatory lending, price fixing, etc. Then, Client 9 chronicles his downfall by interviewing the key players, including Spitzer’s Wall Street adversaries (such as Hank Greenberg and Ken Lagone) and political enemies, (like Joe Bruno). Gibney also talks to some of the people behind Emperors Club VIP, the high-priced escort service from which Spitzer obtained call girls. The film also looks the crusade that defined Spitzer’s public and professional life – fighting corruption on Wall Street and in New York state politics. This film also suggests that shadowy and powerful figures from Wall Street and Albany (the state capitol) likely played a part in revealing Spitzer’s patronization of high-priced prostitutes.

In some ways, Client 9 is less about Spitzer than about the corruption against which he crusaded, particularly corruption on Wall Street. Even the Emperors Club, which provided Spitzer with call girls, is connected to Wall Street because it services some of the financial industry’s big players. Although Spitzer does participate in this documentary, the former governor turned cable television pundit is careful, even guarded about what he says, which is understandable, but this reticence ends up making him an ensemble player in what should be a starring role in his melodrama.

The film does offer startling insight into the way the U.S. Justice Department prosecutes crimes involving politicians. Also, the press and news media, which is obsessed with sex and scandal and overly reliant (by my estimation) on tips and leaks that offer salacious details, doesn’t come out looking too good.

Compared to Gibney’s other films, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer isn’t great, but it is good. Ultimately, it barely skims the surface of the darkness behind Spitzer and the institutions and people behind his rise and especially his fall.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

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Review: Colorful "Green Lantern" Film is Also a Bit Dim

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 50 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Green Lantern (2011)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
DIRECTOR: Martin Campbell
WRITERS: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, and Michael Goldenberg; from a screen story by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim (based upon the characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics)
PRODUCERS: Greg Berlanti and Donald De Line
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dion Beebe
EDITOR: Stuart Baird
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard

SUPERHERO/SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of drama

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Taika Waititi, Temuera Morrison, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins, Jay O. Sanders, and (voices) Clancy Brown, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Geoffrey Rush

Green Lantern is a 2011 superhero movie, and it is the fourth movie this year featuring a character that originated or made extensive appearances in comic books. Green Lantern has enough entertaining science fiction action and superhero theatrics, but not enough to hide the fact that the characters are either lame and onscreen too much or cool and onscreen too little.

First, some history: Green Lantern is a comic book superhero that first appeared in All-American Comics #16 (cover dated July 1940). The original version of Green Lantern was created by Bill Finger, the writer who essentially co-created Batman (but who doesn’t get official credit for that) and artist Martin Nodell. The original or “Golden Age” version of Green Lantern stopped appearing in comics by 1951.

In 1959, the modern version of Green Lantern, a space age and science fantasy revamp of the character, first appeared in the comic book, Showcase #22 (cover dated September-October 1959), in a story from writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane. This modern or “Silver Age” version of character is the one that stars in the new film, Green Lantern.

Green Lantern the movie focuses on brash test pilot, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Jordan’s bravado and recklessness has gotten him into trouble with his employer, Ferris Aircraft, and the company’s Vice-President, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), who is also Hal’s girlfriend. However, his strong-willed nature brings him to the attention of the alien, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), who is a Green Lantern. The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force that uses the “green essence of willpower” to keep peace. Their power is focused through a green power ring.

Sur is mortally wounded in a battle with Parallax (Clancy Brown), the ultimate being of fear, whom Sur defeated and imprisoned long ago. Sur’s ring chooses Jordan as a worthy successor, but Sur’s fellow Green Lanterns do not find Jordan worthy. Jordan is the first human to become a Green Lantern, and Thaal Sinestro (Mark Strong), something of a leader among the Corps, quickly and brutally tests Jordan, leading the new Lantern to also doubt why the ring chose him. He will, however, have no choice but to be a Green Lantern. Parallax is coming to Earth to take revenge against Hal Jordan because he is Abin Sur’s successor and to destroy Earth because it is Jordan’s home.

Early in Green Lantern, the movie’s soundtrack (music and sound) is so loud that it is hard to understand what the characters are saying. At times, this movie is merely a sound and light show that occasionally dazzles, while generally assaulting your hearing. But I suspect this sort of thing will appeal to children, especially boys, who will like the noise and the special effects, which range from striking to embarrassingly second-rate.

Young viewers are the ones unlikely to notice the thinly written drama and how good actors play laughable, pathetic characters. Here, are some examples: Peter Sarsgaard as the comical bad guy Hector Hammond; Tim Robbins as Robert Hammond, an empty suit politician and Hector’s awful father; Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, who is the standard action movie hero arm-candy/cheerleader [Belief in yourself! Sniff Sniff. You can do it, my brave hero man]; and poor, always under-utilized Angela Bassett as the generic government flunky, Dr. Amanda Waller. Then, there is Mark Strong, who builds Sinestro into an intriguing character and worthy rival of Jordan’s Green Lantern, only to see the character reduced to speechmaking.

I like Ryan Reynolds, with his physique that looks like it was molded to be an action figure, but I don’t buy him as a test pilot or superhero. With his big teeth, seemingly sculpted by a dentist who really wanted to be an artist, Reynolds looks like he should be a junior executive in some corporate sales division.

With so much going against it, Green Lantern actually entertains with its big superhero set pieces and action sequences. On the other hand, the movie grinds to a halt whenever the actors pretend to be people instead of superheroes and strange beings. It’s this mixture of fun, goofy superhero action and tedious character drama that makes Green Lantern average at best. This movie needs to be a lavish sci-fi adventure (the goofy), but it doesn’t need the derivative character motivation and conflict [Daddy was mean to me! I can’t conquer my self-doubt and fear]. Green Lantern works in fits and starts. Sometimes, it impresses; sometimes, it is clunky and ineffective.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Academy Changes "Best Picture" Oscar Rules

Academy Builds Surprise Into Best Picture Rules

Beverly Hills, CA (June 14, 2011) - The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted on Tuesday (6/14) to add a new twist to the 2011 Best Picture competition, and a new element of surprise to its annual nominations announcement. The Board voted to institute a system that will now produce anywhere between 5 and 10 nominees in the category. That number won’t be announced until the Best Picture nominees themselves are revealed at the January nominations announcement.

“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” explained Academy President Tom Sherak, who noted that it was retiring Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis who recommended the change, first to Sherak and incoming CEO Dawn Hudson and then to the governors.

During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5. After much analysis by Academy officials, it was determined that 5 percent of first place votes should be the minimum in order to receive a nomination, resulting in a slate of anywhere from 5 to 10 movies.

“In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies,” said Davis. “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.”

If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.

The final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the preferential system, regardless of the number of nominees, to ensure that the winning picture has the endorsement of more than half of the voters.

Other rules changes approved by the Board include:

In the Animated Feature Film category, the need for the Board to vote to “activate” the category each year was eliminated, though a minimum number of eligible releases – eight – is still required for a competitive category. Additionally, the Short Films and Feature Animation branch recommended, and the Board approved, refinements to the number of possible nominees in the Animated Feature category. In any year in which 8 to 12 animated features are released, either 2 or 3 of them may be nominated. When 13 to 15 films are released, a maximum of 4 may be nominated, and when 16 or more animated features are released, a maximum of 5 may be nominated.

In the Visual Effects category, the “bakeoff” at which the nominees are determined will expand from 7 to 10 contenders. The increase in the number of participants is related to a change made last year in which the number of films nominated in the Vsual Effects category was increased from 3 to 5.

Previously, the Board approved changes to the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short category rules that now put those categories’ eligibility periods in line with the calendar year, and thus with most other awards categories. The change means that for the 84th Academy Awards® cycle only, the eligibility period is more than 12 months; it is from September 1, 2010, to December 31, 2011.

Other modifications of the 84th Academy Awards rules include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes.

Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar® presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide

New People Screens "Linda Linda Linda" for Japanese Recovery

NEW PEOPLE CONTINUES JAPANESE DISASTER RECOVERY FUNDRAISING EFFORTS WITH SPECIAL NEW FILM SERIES

Rock-n-Roll Drama LINDA LINDA LINDA Kicks Off A New Series Of Monthly Film Screenings To Benefit Reconstruction And Recovery Efforts

NEW PEOPLE, the nation’s only entertainment complex dedicated to Japanese popular culture, continues to drive Bay Area fundraising efforts for ongoing Japanese disaster relief and reconstruction. The venue has just announced the kick-off off a summer-long series of monthly benefit film screenings that launches on Friday, June 24th at 7:00pm with the critically acclaimed teenage rock-and-roll drama, LINDA LINDA LINDA.

Come sing, come dance, and come help Japan! Suggested donation is $10.00. Tickets and more information are available at: http://www.newpeopleworld.com/films. NEW PEOPLE is located in the heart of San Francisco’s Japantown at 1746 Post St.

100% of net proceeds will be donated to EARTH DAY TOKYO TOWER of Japan. Earth Day Tokyo Tower Volunteer Center began its activities in response to tremendous tsunami and earthquake devastation that ravaged Northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. The group sends organized groups of volunteers into devastated areas to assist with clean-up, make food, hold events for children, sets up food courts, and more.

LINDA LINDA LINDA was directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita and follows an all-girl high school rock band after an untimely break-up. Only three days before their high school festival, guitarist Kei (Yu Kashii), drummer Kyoto (Aki Maeda of Battle Royale), and bassist Nozumi (Shiori Sekine) must recruit a new lead vocalist for their band. They choose an unlikely Korean exchange student Son (Doona Bae of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), even though her comprehension of Japanese is a bit rough! It’s a race against time as the group struggles to learn three tunes for the festival’s rock concert — including a classic '80s punk-pop song by the famous Japanese group The Blue Hearts called “Linda Linda.” The film notably offers a soundtrack by ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha and a cameo by punk rock legends The Ramones. LINDA LINDA LINDA is also available on DVD from NEW PEOPLE Entertainment.


About NEW PEOPLE, Inc.
Based in San Francisco, California, NEW PEOPLE, Inc. (http://www.newpeopleworld.com/) offers the latest films, art, fashion and retail brands from Japan through its unique entertainment destination as well as through licensing and distribution of selective Japanese films. NEW PEOPLE Entertainment (http://www.newpeopleent.com/), a film division of NEW PEOPLE, Inc. strives to offer the most entertaining motion pictures straight from the "Kingdom of Pop" for audiences of all ages, especially the manga and anime generation, in North America. Some titles include DEATH NOTE, GANTZ, KAMIKAZE GIRLS, and THE TASTE OF TEA.

Ryan Reynolds Added Charm to Average "Just Friends"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 133 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Just Friends (2005)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content including some dialogue
DIRECTOR: Roger Kumble
WRITER: Adam “Tex” Davis
PRODUCERS: Chris Bender, JC Spink, Michael Ohoven, William Vince, and Bill Johnson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Anthony B. Richmond
EDITOR: Jeff Freeman

COMEDY/ROMANCE

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Anna Faris, Julie Hagerty, Stephen Root, Fred Ewanuick, Amy Matysio, Christopher Marquette and Chris Klein

Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) has it all. He’s a womanizing, L.A. music executive with money and good looks, but Chris is an ex-dork. In the 1990’s, he was a shy, overweight high school student living in New Jersey. The butt of the cool crowd’s (especially the jocks) jokes, he had only one bright spot in his life as a teen, his friendship with Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart), a super-popular cheerleader and the hottest girl in school. They were best buds, inseparable except when Jamie had a date with a jock. For years Chris harbored a secret crush on his best friend. Jamie wanted to date her – to be more than friends. In his senior year of 1995, Chris finally got the courage to make his feelings known. However, a surprised Jamie tells Chris that she does love him – but as a brother – the “just friends” speech. Chris storms off and never returns to his Jersey hometown, until now…

Ten years later, Chris has transformed himself, reinventing the shy, fat kid as a smooth talking lady-killer, living large in the music industry. Fate throws him a curveball when his record company boss insists that Chris turn Samantha Jones (Anna Faris), a Paris Hilton like spoiled socialite, diva, and magazine pin-up girl into a singing sensation. It’s bad enough that Chris used to actually date Samantha, but now he has to accompany her to Paris. An accident grounds their plane in New Jersey, so Chris takes the opportunity to visit is overly-excited mother, Carol Brander (Julie Hagerty), and his smart-aleck 18-year old brother, Mike (Christopher Marquette). Visiting high school pals now married couple Clark (Fred Ewanuick) and Darla (Amy Matysio) at a local bar, Chris runs into Jamie for the first time since he left home, and is instantly floored by her, as if 10 years had never passed. Jamie may be interested in a serious relationship with Chris because she still sees the old Chris she loved underneath the big city jive, but another old suitor Dusty Lee (Chris Klein), has also transformed himself and is making a hard push for Jamie’s affections.

There is a lot of Just Friends that is pleasantly mediocre, but this flick has a genuine, up and coming star as its lead, Ryan Reynolds, who brought much needed levity to the dour and second-rate Blade: Trinity. A charmer in the Bill Murray mold by way of Vince Vaughn, Reynolds is an appealing comic actor who can bump a comedy with a lame leg a few paces ahead of the rest of the pack of pedestrian movies. Reynolds wears a fat suit to play Chris Brander as a chubby high school kid, and his talents still shine through the makeup. There is such truth to his performance both physically and emotionally. Reynolds certainly conveys the troubles and conflicts of an outcast teen, making young Chris worthy of our sympathy rather than being some fat kid at whom we can laugh.

Anna Faris (the heroine of the Scary Movie franchise) as Chris Brander’s charge, Samantha Jones, delivers a downright delicious turn that is part parody and equal measures farce. Her performance is also a superb jibe at self-absorbed, wealthy debutantes who insist on sharing their second-rate skills and artistic ambitions with the general public in the form of entertainment for commercial consumption.

While not a great movie, Just Friends is a worthy addition to that sub-genre of high school comedies – the revenge flick, a tale of a high school outcast who gets to throw his adult success in his critics’ faces. But Just Friends isn’t mean. Instead it reaffirms the importance of old, deep-running friendship.

6 of 10
B

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

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Review: "Tupac: Resurrection" is the Story of Tupac by Tupac (Happy B'day, Tupac)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tupac: Resurrection (2003)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language and images of drugs, violence and sex
DIRECTOR: Lauren Lazin
WRITER: Lauren Lazin (treatment)
PRODUCERS: Karolyn Ali, Preston L. Holmes, and  Lauren Lazin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jon Else
EDITOR: Richard Calderon
Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY

Starring: (voice) Tupac Shakur (archival)

Released theatrically in late 2003, the Lauren Lazin-directed documentary Tupac: Resurrection earned a 2005 Oscar nomination in the category “Best Documentary, Features.” The film is a look at Tupac Shakur’s life, especially his time in the public eye, and the story is told through Tupac’s own words. Ms. Lazin and her fellow filmmakers compiled the Tupac: Resurrection from home movies, photographs, and video and film footage from interviews, concerts, and news stories, as well as images and video recordings taken behind the scenes on video shoots, on film locations, and any place Pac went, lived, and played. Tupac: Resurrection’s narration is provided by Tupac himself via archival audio from the video and film footage used for this film, as well as from interviews, journal readings, poetry recitations, etc.

Tupac was a compelling figure and remains so even after his (some would say alleged) death, murdered by an unknown gunman. The film is riveting precisely because Tupac was and still is hard to ignore and an extremely controversial public personality. Tupac often said he’d be shot and murdered, so he often seemed to be speaking as if he were observing a life already lived. That makes listening to the archival audio eerie because it really seems as if he is speaking from beyond the grave, but Ms. Lazin deserves the credit for pulling off this kind of posthumous autobiography.

Tupac narrating his rise to fame is entrancing; he seems so ambitious and hopeful in spite of his early poverty and surroundings. It is, however, disappointing to watch fame turn him into a paranoid and arrogant celebrity jerk. When he was on the rise, the contradictions of his embrace of violence and misogyny and hope for peace and respect can be viewed as the inconsistencies of a young man struggling to form a philosophy or an ideology for his life. Later, when his legal troubles mount, and he publicly feuds with enemies, both real and imagined, he just seems sad, lost, and without an adequate support system – destined for an extra tragic end.

Still, Ms. Lazin should be commended for this fine film. It’s amazing both that every bit of this film is archival material and how she is able to give such a complete picture of the public figure that was Tupac. In fact, many public figures probably don’t realize how complete a portrait of their public lives can be made from publicly available visual footage and how those portraits of them may not be how they want to be remembered. Ms. Lazin, however, made an honest documentary in which the filmmaker really allows the subject to reveal himself… even from beyond the grave. Would Tupac like what he sees, or would he even care?

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Documentary Features” (Lauren Lazin and Karolyn Ali)

2004 Black Reel Awards: 3 nominations: “Film: Best Theatrical” (Paramount Pictures); “Film: Best Song” (Tupac Shakur-performer and The Notorious B.I.G.-performer for the song "Runnin' (Dying to Live)"), and “Film: Best Soundtrack”

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Ryan Reynolds and Green Lantern Salute the Troops

Ryan Reynolds to Host Advance Screening of “Green Lantern” Feature Film at MCAS Miramar

MIRAMAR, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Actor Ryan Reynolds will make an appearance at MCAS Miramar Bob Hope Theater to introduce an advance screening of “Green Lantern” on Thursday, June 16, at 12:45 p.m. for Marines and their families in celebration of Father’s Day.

About the Film:
In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, an elite, powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. Warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him the ability to create anything his mind can imagine. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan.

Bringing the enduringly popular superhero to the big screen for the first time, “Green Lantern” stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role, under the direction of Martin Campbell. Campbell directed the film from a screenplay by Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldenberg, story by Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim, based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The film also stars Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins. It was produced by Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti. Herbert W. Gains and Andrew Haas served as executive producers.