Tuesday, May 19, 2009
King for a Film
It hath been decreed: Spielberg has acquired the rights to produce a film depicting the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., Variety reports. Spielberg will co-produce alongside Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones. No word yet on whether or not he'll direct as well (I mean, shouldn't he be working on Lincoln?). And, of course, no word on casting yet, but I can think of someone who'd do a great job.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Speaking of Trailers....
This morning, my attention was directed to this lovely bit o' crumpet:
Holy holy holy! That's Fergie singing throughout, by the way. And sexy, sexy Penelope Cruz is sexy. And sexy, sexy Judi Dench is...well, anyway, it looks amazing! I see Rob Marshall is once again going for an actual "stage" for his musical numbers. But I guess it works, as most of the numbers in Nine are either soliloquies or fantasies.
Holy holy holy! That's Fergie singing throughout, by the way. And sexy, sexy Penelope Cruz is sexy. And sexy, sexy Judi Dench is...well, anyway, it looks amazing! I see Rob Marshall is once again going for an actual "stage" for his musical numbers. But I guess it works, as most of the numbers in Nine are either soliloquies or fantasies.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thanks, Oprah!
Ahhhh the trailer for Precious: Based on a Novel by Sapphire looks so good!
Ahhhh the trailer for Precious: Based on a Novel by Sapphire looks so good!
Ahhhh I cannot wait for this movie!
Ahhhh the trailer for Precious: Based on a Novel by Sapphire looks so good!
Ahhhh I cannot wait for this movie!
Why God?!
Nicole Kidman.
Dropped out.
Of the Woody Allen flick.
AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHKKKKKKKK!!!!!!
No! You can't sexy yourself out of this one, Nicole! This is unacceptable! This is...this is...
Ah...Great...Great director...auteur....should work with him...good roles...Bad...bad girl...naughty....
I...Ennh...Ah...
Forgiven.
Next case.
Dropped out.
Of the Woody Allen flick.
AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHKKKKKKKK!!!!!!
No! You can't sexy yourself out of this one, Nicole! This is unacceptable! This is...this is...
Ah...Great...Great director...auteur....should work with him...good roles...Bad...bad girl...naughty....
I...Ennh...Ah...
Forgiven.
Next case.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Is Anybody There?
Because I love Michael Caine, because I had a free movie ticket, because there's nothing better to do on a Summer's eve in Tally, I went with some friends to see Is Anybody There? last night at my local art house cineplex. I'd been hearing good things, and I was delighted at the ensemble of veteran actors assembled, so off to the theater did I trip and go.
Meh.
Is Anybody There? struck me as a first-timer. Clearly, it was the work of a first-time director working with a first-time screenwriter, cut together by a first-time editor. Which doesn't mean it's bad. It's actually quite a good film, about a boy (Bill Milner) living in a rest home run by his parents befriends one of the residents, a retired magician (Michael Caine). So, it was quite winning and touching and humorous at times, but generally seemed like everyone involved was just a little inexperienced.
And then I learned that director John Crowley, writer Peter Harness, and editor Trevor Waite are not only experienced, but two of them are actually sort of admired. Crowley and Waite, I mean. Doubly surprising was the revelation that I have actually seen and enjoyed other films Waite edited -- surprising because, besides Joby Talbot's intrusive and inappropriate score, the editing is the weakest part of the film, cutting away when it should linger, lingering when there is little need to, rendering confusing the simplest of scenes. As we left the theater, my roommate made sure to stay for the credits, and upon seeing Waite's name, proclaimed, "I'm never working with him." Harsh, perhaps, especially now that I know he did Prime Suspect: The Final Act. But still, there it is, the editing was jarring and the score intrusive.
OK, that's the bad. The good, fortunately, comes from Michael Caine's brilliant performance as Clarence, struggling to keep his wits while slowly slipping into dementia. In fact, that's where the great comes from. I've never seen a Caine performance like this, one in which he gets to be crotchety, fun-loving, and so nakedly vulnerable. I read where someone called this his best since The Quiet American, but I would go a step further and say this is his best since Hannah and Her Sisters. Call me crazy, but there it is. Within his performance is all the bitterness that some people experience when facing their own mortality; the regret of past mistakes; the hope that there may be an afterlife. It's a beautiful and touching performance.
Bill Milner does quite well as the boy he befriends. And old folks -- featuring Peter Vaughan, Leslie Phillips, and the late Elizabeth Spriggs -- do quite well with comic relief, but are not developed enough. Only Rosemary Harris (Aunt May in the Spider-Man films) gets a wonderful role as a former dancer who now has a plastic leg. She pulls a Hermione Baddeley, making a fully-realized person out of a sketchily-written role. Anne-Marie Duff, as Milner's struggling and strong mother, is also great, but that may also be because she is hot and a mom.
The script could have stood with some rewriting. Some polishing on the Caine-Milner relationship. Some development of the old people. Less concern with the parents, to be honest, would have suited me. But overall, some good stuff is going on here.
Bottom line: A sweet little movie whose actors are better than what they're working with. Especially Michael Caine.
Meh.
Is Anybody There? struck me as a first-timer. Clearly, it was the work of a first-time director working with a first-time screenwriter, cut together by a first-time editor. Which doesn't mean it's bad. It's actually quite a good film, about a boy (Bill Milner) living in a rest home run by his parents befriends one of the residents, a retired magician (Michael Caine). So, it was quite winning and touching and humorous at times, but generally seemed like everyone involved was just a little inexperienced.
And then I learned that director John Crowley, writer Peter Harness, and editor Trevor Waite are not only experienced, but two of them are actually sort of admired. Crowley and Waite, I mean. Doubly surprising was the revelation that I have actually seen and enjoyed other films Waite edited -- surprising because, besides Joby Talbot's intrusive and inappropriate score, the editing is the weakest part of the film, cutting away when it should linger, lingering when there is little need to, rendering confusing the simplest of scenes. As we left the theater, my roommate made sure to stay for the credits, and upon seeing Waite's name, proclaimed, "I'm never working with him." Harsh, perhaps, especially now that I know he did Prime Suspect: The Final Act. But still, there it is, the editing was jarring and the score intrusive.
OK, that's the bad. The good, fortunately, comes from Michael Caine's brilliant performance as Clarence, struggling to keep his wits while slowly slipping into dementia. In fact, that's where the great comes from. I've never seen a Caine performance like this, one in which he gets to be crotchety, fun-loving, and so nakedly vulnerable. I read where someone called this his best since The Quiet American, but I would go a step further and say this is his best since Hannah and Her Sisters. Call me crazy, but there it is. Within his performance is all the bitterness that some people experience when facing their own mortality; the regret of past mistakes; the hope that there may be an afterlife. It's a beautiful and touching performance.
Bill Milner does quite well as the boy he befriends. And old folks -- featuring Peter Vaughan, Leslie Phillips, and the late Elizabeth Spriggs -- do quite well with comic relief, but are not developed enough. Only Rosemary Harris (Aunt May in the Spider-Man films) gets a wonderful role as a former dancer who now has a plastic leg. She pulls a Hermione Baddeley, making a fully-realized person out of a sketchily-written role. Anne-Marie Duff, as Milner's struggling and strong mother, is also great, but that may also be because she is hot and a mom.
The script could have stood with some rewriting. Some polishing on the Caine-Milner relationship. Some development of the old people. Less concern with the parents, to be honest, would have suited me. But overall, some good stuff is going on here.
Bottom line: A sweet little movie whose actors are better than what they're working with. Especially Michael Caine.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day
Saturday Night Live apparently only caters to me now, seeing as how these are both the two MILFs I would most like to...well, you know.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Star Trek
I don't know what to write about Star Trek exactly. I know it wasn't the perfectest film ever made ever (I know that because it's not Nashville). But I also don't have any nitpickings. But I don't want to just go overboard with hyperbole.
Suffice to say, it is first-rate as far as popcorn movies go. I mean, I was on the edge of my seat, gripping the armrests, half-rising as I scooted forward, as though that would enable me to get a better look (I did this with Speed Racer as well, and I think we all remember how much I loved that film). I mean, I actually stopped eating my Milk Duds so that I would have enough for the whole film. It was just that exciting.
Michael Giacchino once again delivers on all fronts. Much like his beautiful work with Speed Racer last year, he effortlessly integrates the original theme into his own score, creating a score that sent goosebumps down my arms. Oh, SilverScreeners, I wish I could say I was exaggerating, but there is just no exaggeration necessary when discussing the work of Michael Giacchino. He is amazing!
The plot, by the way, revolves around the "origin story" of the crew of the Enterprise from the original series, with the villain being a renegade Romulan named Captain Nero (an unrecognizable Eric Bana). That's all I'll say. I went in with a blank slate, so why shouldn't you? I will say this -- the way they explain away the differences between traditional continuity and this new one is, I think, pretty ingenious. Kudos, then, to screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
The actors are clearly having serious fun, by which I mean they touch on camp while remaining sincere, much like the performances in Speed Racer. Chris Pine is a Captain Kirk I could get behind (not that way, though he definitely is a virile one). Zoe Saldana is a smoldering Uhura, the type of gal I'm most attracted to: well-proportioned, bad-ass, and the smartest one in the room. Dare I mention the applause my row gave every time Karl Urban appeared as Dr. McCoy? They would have been thunderous were it not for the rest of the people in the theater. Simon Pegg rocked, of course, as Scotty. And yes, Hollmann Award Winner Bruce Greenwood did cause us to high-five, if only because he is just so paternal and in control.
Zachary Quinto is the real shining jewel here. The Spock in this film is torn between his two sides: human and Vulcan. And Quinto sells this turmoil, this struggle to keep his emotions in check with regards to logic, even as Kirk disregards the latter and encourages the former. I never watched much Star Trek as a kid (or as a teen, for that matter), but Spock was always my favorite. With Quinto, I feel even more justified. His performance is truly remarkable.
So, yeah, I have to say Mother's Day weekend is probably the best weekend for movies thus far. Speed Racer last year, Star Trek this year. What will Giacchino give us in 2010?
Suffice to say, it is first-rate as far as popcorn movies go. I mean, I was on the edge of my seat, gripping the armrests, half-rising as I scooted forward, as though that would enable me to get a better look (I did this with Speed Racer as well, and I think we all remember how much I loved that film). I mean, I actually stopped eating my Milk Duds so that I would have enough for the whole film. It was just that exciting.
Michael Giacchino once again delivers on all fronts. Much like his beautiful work with Speed Racer last year, he effortlessly integrates the original theme into his own score, creating a score that sent goosebumps down my arms. Oh, SilverScreeners, I wish I could say I was exaggerating, but there is just no exaggeration necessary when discussing the work of Michael Giacchino. He is amazing!
The plot, by the way, revolves around the "origin story" of the crew of the Enterprise from the original series, with the villain being a renegade Romulan named Captain Nero (an unrecognizable Eric Bana). That's all I'll say. I went in with a blank slate, so why shouldn't you? I will say this -- the way they explain away the differences between traditional continuity and this new one is, I think, pretty ingenious. Kudos, then, to screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
The actors are clearly having serious fun, by which I mean they touch on camp while remaining sincere, much like the performances in Speed Racer. Chris Pine is a Captain Kirk I could get behind (not that way, though he definitely is a virile one). Zoe Saldana is a smoldering Uhura, the type of gal I'm most attracted to: well-proportioned, bad-ass, and the smartest one in the room. Dare I mention the applause my row gave every time Karl Urban appeared as Dr. McCoy? They would have been thunderous were it not for the rest of the people in the theater. Simon Pegg rocked, of course, as Scotty. And yes, Hollmann Award Winner Bruce Greenwood did cause us to high-five, if only because he is just so paternal and in control.
Zachary Quinto is the real shining jewel here. The Spock in this film is torn between his two sides: human and Vulcan. And Quinto sells this turmoil, this struggle to keep his emotions in check with regards to logic, even as Kirk disregards the latter and encourages the former. I never watched much Star Trek as a kid (or as a teen, for that matter), but Spock was always my favorite. With Quinto, I feel even more justified. His performance is truly remarkable.
So, yeah, I have to say Mother's Day weekend is probably the best weekend for movies thus far. Speed Racer last year, Star Trek this year. What will Giacchino give us in 2010?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)