One of the films coming to the Toronto and Venice film festivals in the next couple of months is The Wind Rises, the new film from Hayao Miyazaki, the director of great animated films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. If this is released in the U.S. this year it would presumably have a good shot at the Oscars in the Animated Feature category, especially given the dearth of quality animated films this year.
Writer/director John Turturro accomplishes the rare feat of getting Woody Allen to appear as an actor in somebody else's movie. Looks like it has potential.
Jim Henson's original Muppet Movie is now out on Blu! Probably the best of the many Muppet movies (although my personal favorite is 1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol).
The movies still holds up and is just as funny and off the wall as it ever was. My favorite part :
More of Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin, in preparation for the Blu-Ray release:
Supposedly Judi Dench's next Oscar push, but this feels like an extremely small scale film to me. Still, director Stephen Frears has a very good track record and has directed Dench to a nomination before, in Mrs. Henderson Presents. His other credits include The Queen, Dirty Pretty Things, High Fidelity and Dangerous Liaisons, so maybe this will be another hit.
The Matt Damon/Neil Blomkamp sci-fi thriller Elysium opened to $30 million this weekend, which is fairly soft, given recent sci-fi openings of Oblivion and Pacific Rim to at least $37 million, and District 9's own performance, also to $37 million in 2009. The reviews were so-so, along with audience reaction as it received a middling "B" Cinemascore, so the legs on this one may not be too strong.
Stronger was the Jennifer Aniston/Jason Sudeikis comedy We're the Millers, which took in $26 million over the weekend, for a total of $38 million since opening on Wednesday. Despite the mixed-negative reviews on the film (41% RT), this goes to show that Jennifer Aniston probably is a draw under certain circumstance- a lot of her movies bomb, but she does have five $100 million dollar grossers to her name, and it might be six after this one's run, given the "A-" rating from crowds.
As for the other new releases, Disney's Planes took in a mediocre $22 million for a film that was originally headed straight to DVD, but with no other family films on the horizon for the next month or so, it may hold on for a decent gross in spite of itself. Meanwhile, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters opened with a weak $14 million compared to the first one's $31 million a few years ago, so this was basically a sequel nobody asked for.
Top 5
In holdovers, 2 Guns had a massive drop of over 59% and may not reach that $100 million mark, while The Conjuring has now crossed $120 million and has a shot at passing The Blair Witch Project's $140 million dollar total to become the second highest grossing horror film of all time (behind The Exorcist, of course, which remains untouchable). Next week it's a slew of new releases again, with Lee Daniels' The Butler, Kick-Ass 2, Jobs, and the thriller Paranoia.
The third film in the Iron Man franchise may not be the best in the series, but nonetheless, I think it's actually my favorite. Directed and co-written by Shane Black, who works well with Robert Downey Jr., having previously directed him in 2005's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, it's the wittiest, fastest paced film in the series, and the one that understands that Tony Stark out of the armor is the kind we like best. Indeed, in this film there are entire action sequences where RDJ is taking on the villains himself, wisecracking his way though the whole thing of course. He's become so closely associated with his onscreen character now that it's almost impossible to distinguish him from it- and in fact, I don't think there's any point in doing so. You go to see the Downey persona, similar to past screen stars like Sean Connery or Steve McQueen. Without him there's no other spark to these movies, and it's what distinguishes them now from the generic superhero films that flood the market every single summer.
The plot this time around involves the Mandarin, one of the famous Iron Man villains from the comics, who's played by Ben Kingsley in theatrical fashion, and who's enacting a string of terrorist bombings in the U.S. When one of these bombings injures Tony's loyal security chief Happy (Jon Favreau), Tony reacts by vowing vengeance against the Mandarin. This endangers his home base and his love Pepper Potts (again Gwyneth Paltrow), and sends him on a wide ranging journey first to rural Tennessee and then back to New York, encountering genetically enhanced agents of the Mandarin along the way. James Badge Dale plays one of these agents in a flashy, charismatic turn- be on the lookout for this guy in future roles, he's been popping up in scene-stealing supporting parts for a few years now (Shame, Flight, The Grey). There's a final plot twist involving the villain and true identities that everyone probably knows by now, and that had more than a few fanboys up in arms about the deviation from comic book continuity. But since I've never picked up a single issue, this third act reveal worked well for me, as I found it a surprising and decently unfolded twist.
As I mentioned before, Shane Black (who wrote the original Lethal Weapon) scripts the movie with his trademark wit and there are barbs launched left and right, not just from Tony, but from others as well. Even though it's the funniest Iron Man film, Tony is also dealing with recurring panic attacks resulting from the events of The Avengers, and Downey again excels at flaunting casual wit mixed with weighty existential crises. Regardless of plot twists and a final action climax that turns fairly routine, the whole movie is essentially a showcase for one of our most famous movie stars, which in and of itself isn't a bad thing- unless of course you find his schtick annoying or obnoxious, which he could be unless restrained. Luckily, he is here by the talented Black, who balances comedy and action with considerable skill. I was thoroughly entertained by Iron Man 3, and what more could you ask for from a summer tentpole?
* * *
The George Clooney directed film is set to come out Dec 18. Normally, this is exactly the kind of movie that the Oscars love- WWII, big stars, little known story with a happy ending...could be the Argo or King's Speech of this year. On the other hand this trailer kinda makes it look like Ocean's Eleven in Germany, so it may be too lightweight to win anything. We'll see.
This second trailer for the Paul Greengrass thriller shows more of the story and it looks intense. It's been selected to be the opening film of the New York Film Festival and the London Film Festival, so it looks like there's quite a bit of confidence in it. In theaters Oct 11th.
Variety reports that Zhang Yimou is in talks to direct Quasimodo for Warner Bros., with Josh Brolin attached to star. Yimou is one of the great Chinese directors, having made Raise the Red Lantern, Hero and House of Flying Daggers. I can't wait to see what he does with this story, filmed many times of course. My favorite is the 1939 version with Charles Laughton as the hunchback and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda.
Check out the great "Sanctuary" scene from the 1939 film below. Laughton was an amazing Quasimodo:
The latest from director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), coming out Nov 20th. Look pretty great- I'll bet Joaquin Phoenix is in contention for Best Actor again for this one.
Finally, the real trailer for Ridley Scott's The Counselor drops. With a screenplay written by Cormac McCarthy, set to come out Oct 25th.
The Movie Seasons
Use this site for movie and television recommendations throughout the year- we have picks for the changing seasons, holidays, and moods, along with new releases and recaps of the best shows on TV
