Wow. As intense as these clips have been, I'm now starting to think they might be giving too much away. The film is only 88 minutes long, after all, and I feel like we've already seen about 10. But anyway, here's the third.
Raves for Blanchett in Blue Jasmine
Coming out this week in limited release is Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, and it looks like we have our first lock for a Best Actress nomination in Cate Blanchett. The critics are raving about her for the most part, if not as much for the film itself (though the movie is looking decent too, at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes so far). A sample of some of the praise:
"Want to see great acting, from comic to tragic, and every electrifying stop in between? See Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine." - Rolling Stone
"Sooner or later, a major filmmaker has to give us someone we will never forget. Jasmine is that someone." - The New Republic
"The way Blanchett anchors this superb dramedy is a thing of beauty." - New York Daily News
"Cate Blanchett, who played Blanche on Broadway only a few years ago, give the most complicated and demanding performance of her movie career." - The New Yorker
"Blanchett, her eyes shining, makes Jasmine at once ardent, touching, off-putting and cracked in her grand delusions. It's an awesome mood ring of a performance..." - Entertainment Weekly
And here's Cate on Letterman for the movie, where Dave raves about her as well:
TRAILER: "August: Osage County"
Since this will be premiering at Toronto it seems fitting to post the trailer here. I'm not too sure about this one, though. It's based on a play by Tracy Letts and directed by John Wells- so it's sure to be an acting showcase for Meryl Streep, as almost all her movies are. It just seems like it could easily underwhelm. It's coming out on Christmas Day though, so they must have some confidence in it.
CLIP: Gravity- "Drifting"
And another one! Sandra's all alone, drifting out in space.
CLIP: Gravity- "Detached"
The trailers for Gravity look to be going a different route, opting to release one major, intense scene at a time. Looks pretty great though. Out Oct. 4th
TRAILER: "Lee Daniels' The Butler"
What was once called simply The Butler has had its name changed due to a legal dispute from WB, claiming the title from a silent film they had released in 1916. The Weinsteins fought this of course, and reached a compromise to put the director's name in front of the title. So, we now have Lee Daniels' The Butler, based on the memoir by Eugene Allen, who served as a White House butler for eight presidencies during the 20th century. The film comes out Aug 16th.
TRAILER: "Blackfish"
An early contender for Best Documentary, this is a film that's already gotten stunning reviews. From Gabriela Cowperthwaite, it begins with the shocking death of the SeaWorld trainer in 2010 and uses that to expose the horrors of an industry that's captured and exploited orcas for decades, for commercial purposes.
Toronto International Film Festival Lineup
TIFF is widely considered to launch the Oscar race when it kicks off in the fall- there's always a movie that gets its breakthrough there, last year it was Silver Linings Playbook, which of course went on to win Best Actress and become one of the major nominees of the year. Here are the expected 2013 Oscar contenders set to debut here in 2013:
Opening Night Film:The Fifth Estate (Dir. Bill Condon, starring Benedict Cumberbatch; about WIkiLeaks founder Julian Assange)
Closing Night Film:Life of Crime (Dir. Daniel Schechter, starring Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, and Tim Robbins; a thriller based on Elmore Leonard's 1970's novel "The Switch")
Other Contenders:
Gravity (Dir. Alfonso Cuaron, starring Sandra Bullock)
Labor Day (Dir. Jason Reitman, starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin)
August: Osage County (Dir. John Wells, starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts)
12 Years a Slave (Dir. Steve McQueen, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender)
The Past (Dir. Asghar Farhadi, starring Berenice Bejo; from France; premiered at Cannes and won the Best Actress Award)
Rush (Dir. Ron Howard, starring Chris Hemsworth)
Dallas Buyer's Club (Dir. Jean-Marc Vallee, starring Matthew McConaughey)
Blue is the Warmest Color (Dir. Abdelletif Kechiche, starring Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux; from France; won the Palme d'Or at Cannes)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Dir. Justin Chadwick, starring Idris Elba)
It's looking to be quite a year for Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, who not only has The Fifth Estate, but shows up in August: Osage County and 12 Years a Slave as well.
FIRST LOOK: "X-Men: Days of Future Past" Posters
EW.com has the first images. Pretty cool- although some may say this only serves to highlight how little these two sets of actors resemble their older/younger selves. What do you think?
Loki at Comic-Con
Ok, one of these days somebody's going to have to explain to me the appeal of this guy. I mean, he's not exactly the Joker- yet he's more popular than Thor! Weird.
TRAILER: "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
The new trailer premiered at Comic-Con the other day. The movie's set for release Nov 22nd.
BOX OFFICE 7/19-7/21: R.I.P.D. and Red 2 Buried Under The Conjuring
Saw director James Wan's The Conjuring scored a $41 million debut this weekend, marking the second highest opening ever for an R-rated movie. The horror film was helped by some pretty great reviews (85% Fresh) and good word of mouth (A- CinemaScore) from audiences who aren't afraid to rate horror flicks from C to F if they don't like it. It will probably hold strong in the coming weeks to make at least $100 million. The other openings of the week were less impressive, with Red 2 hauling in $18 million, which is $3 million less than the original's debut in 2010, and R.I.P.D., with Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges, flopped hard, earning just $12 million for a film with a $150 million dollar budget, and not even making the top 5. The other new release on this crowded weekend was the Dreamworks animated film Turbo, which fell victim to Despicable Me's continued dominance in the family film arena, and earned a soft $21 million.
Top 5
- The Conjuring- $41.5 million
- Despicable Me 2- $25 million
- Turbo- $21.5 million
- Grown Ups 2- $20 million
- Red 2- $18 million
The holdovers continue to do well, with Despicable Me 2 amounting a huge $276 million total so far and well on its way to over $300 million, while Grown Ups 2 is at $79 million and likely to cross $100 as well. Unfortunately, Pacific Rim fell 57% since last week and looks unlikely to impress much in its domestic gross, but overseas totals are still to come on that one. Next week, it's a pretty open weekend for Hugh Jackman with The Wolverine, and Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine (with an apparently Oscar-buzzy performance from Cate Blanchett) coming out in limited release.
