Monthly Wallpaper - August 2011: Toon Heroes

The wisecracking sidekicks and scene-stealing villains usually get all the attention, but it is the brave and bold Toon Heroes who get the spotlight in this month's Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper.

The animated action heroes and heroines of August include such American faves as Pocahontas, Hiccup and the Iron Giant, as well as such international favorites as Kiki, Akira and Wallace & Gromit, plus Roger Rabbit, the original 'toon' star.

All you have to do is click on the picture above to enlarge it, then simply right click your mouse and select "Set as Background". (You can also save it to your computer and set it up from there if you prefer.) The size is 1024 x 768, but you can modify it if needed in your own photo-editing program.

Reel Thoughts: Absolution Day

If potential and casting were all that mattered, Cowboys & Aliens would be a surefire hit. Unfortunately, perhaps driven by the oh-so-serious Daniel Craig, everyone involved decided to fight every impulse to inject humor, lightness and originality. Don’t get me wrong, Cowboys & Aliens is extremely well made and Craig, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde give good performances. It’s just that they could have called the thing “Absolution Day” and called it a day. It is so by rote, I expected Bill Pullman to show up as President Grant to deliver a rousing battle speech before they kick alien butt. Cowboys & Aliens is perfectly serviceable and gets the job done, but it could have been so much better.

Craig plays a mysterious stranger who isn’t Clint Eastwood, who shows up in the lawless town of Absolution in the New Mexico Territory circa 1875. He has a strange bracelet and no memory, but it appears that he is a train robber named Jake Lonergan, who is wanted for murder. Wilde plays a prairie knockout named Ella, who seems to know where Jake has been and what the bracelet means.

Ford is Colonel Dolarhyde, the iron-fisted boss of the town, whose ne’er-do-well son Percy (Paul Dano) is a drunken blowhard itching for a fight. Soon, the townsfolk have more to worry about than Percy’s random shooting of deputies; alien ships appear and start snatching people and blowing things up. Jake’s arm shackle activates and helps him blast one of the invaders out of the sky, and he realizes that he is the only one who can beat the aliens.

Cowboys & Aliens echoes Super 8 with its underground slimy creatures, but it is totally missing the latter’s sense of wonder and exuberance. Director Jon Favreau knows action and he does a good job with the battle scenes. Craig gives gravitas to his character, and makes you feel for the loss of his love (Abigail Spencer). If the screenwriters had just embraced the premise’s campier aspects, Cowboys & Aliens could have been out of this world fun.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Double Vision

History has proven that Saddam Hussein, the late long-ruling dictator of Iraq, was no Mr. Nice Guy. If The Devil's Double is to be believed, however, Hussein's son Uday — a.k.a. "The Black Prince" — was even more decadent and vicious. This fact-based, no-holds-barred exposé of political corruption and immorality opens today in New York and Los Angeles.

"We must have discipline," proclaims Uday, just prior to beating the unfortunate soldier coerced into serving as his body double. Former schoolmates and similar-looking enough to have been confused as brothers, Latif Yahia and Uday form an uneasy partnership, with the safety of Latif's parents and siblings serving as necessary collateral.

As Latif and Uday, Dominic Cooper's performance blew me away. Cooper is probably best known for his role as the fiancé of Meryl Streep's daughter in the movie version of Mamma Mia!, but can also be seen currently in Captain America: The First Avenger as Howard Stark. The Devil's Double marks Cooper's first lead in a feature film. It's a terrific double-turn, and he is particularly good as the unhinged Uday. It doesn't hurt that director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) doesn't refrain from showing off Cooper's impressive physical attributes as well.

Actually, the entire cast is excellent. French actress Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool) utilizes an effective mix of bravado and fear as one of Uday's prostitute mistresses who falls for Latif. Raad Rawi memorably portrays the Husseins' head of security as, in the words of Latif, "a good man in a bad job." As Saddam Hussein, Australian actor Philip Quast inspires no small degree of sympathy once the audience has gotten to know his spoiled, sociopath son (Quast also plays Saddam's double). Mimoun Oaissa has fun as Uday's gay assistant/dresser.

The screenplay by Michael Thomas is insightful, although scenes seem to become repetitive and the violence numbing as the film goes on. According to the press notes, Tamahori drew inspiration from Brian DePalma's 1983 version of Scarface, and it shows in the amounts of cocaine snorted and brutal bloodletting depicted. Like Scarface, The Devil's Double is definitely over the top at times, no less so than during a climactic birthday party Uday throws for himself where the guests are forced to disrobe. But then again, that's likely the way it was in Hussein-era, pre-Gulf War Iraq. Sam McCurdy employs gorgeous photography in desert shades of red, brown and gold of the story's setting, opulence and decadence (the movie was actually filmed in Malta).

"One day when God visits, we'll have justice," one character says. While Iraq is at present still taking slow steps toward democracy, at least the Husseins have been removed from power there once and for all. The Devil's Double makes it abundantly clear that this couldn't have happened a day too soon. See the movie if for no other reason than Dominic Cooper's revelatory performance, and watch a star being born.

Reverend's Rating: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Toon Talk: Reel American Hero

Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941, the star-spangled Marvel Comics hero known as Captain America has been fighting for truth, justice and the American way for 70 years now. In his long, illustrious career, the good Captain’s four-color exploits have taken him from the battlefields of World War II to the far reaches of outer space. But Cap’s greatest challenge was making a successful leap to the silver screen.

Now in theaters, Captain America: The First Avenger achieves that feat with flying colors. This period-perfect film boasts superior production values, an embarrassment of acting riches cast-wise and plenty of flag-waving enthusiasm that carries this never campy, always gung-ho summer actioner to blockbuster heights. As directed by Joe Johnston (who also helmed the similarly-set cult favorite The Rocketeer), Captain America smartly sidesteps the typical pitfalls of the superhero genre, playing more like a WWII spy thriller… albeit one that just happens to have a super-powered leading man.

Chris Evans (who has plenty of cinematic super-powered experience thanks to two Fantastic Four flicks, Push and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) is said leading man...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Captain America: The First Avenger at LaughingPlace.com.

UPDATE: Captain America: The First Avenger is now available on DVD and Blu-rayfrom Amazon.com.