Finally, the trailer for Jason Reitman's Labor Day, starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. This romance is coming out Dec 25th in limited release.
Movie of the Day: "The Sixth Sense" (1999)
A terrific ghost movie with one of the all-time great child performances, Haley Joel Osment as the little boy who sees dead people. This now classic film is still a haunting mystery with great performances all around (Osment and Toni Collete were Oscar-nominated, and Bruce Willis is no slouch in this either). There are probably few who haven't seen it by now (and even fewer who haven't heard the famous surprise ending), but it's always a good watch, still as eerily effective as when it first came out. It's too bad director M. Night Shyamalan has had such a dismal career since Signs (2002), but perhaps it was one of those cases where huge success at such an early age fell on somebody who just couldn't handle it. But The Sixth Sense is still great and will always be remembered as his crowning achievement.
Trailer:
Oscar Roundup: Best Actress
Starting today we're going to be doing a weekly feature rounding up the Oscar contenders for the top 6 categories: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress. After that the major precursor awards will all start coming in, right around the first week of December- we'll get the various critics' awards, the Golden Globe nominations, the Screen Actor's Guild noms, and in January the British Academy Award nominations (BAFTA's). Finally, the Oscar nominations will be in on Jan 16th, but by then we'll have a pretty clear picture of who's likely to be nominated. So we start off today with Best Actress, where there's probably a good 7 or 8 candidates right now, with a couple of longshots on the outside, and at least three clear locks.
The first lock is Cate Blanchett, who ever since Blue Jasmine came out in June, has been touted as the immediate frontrunner, and has even been described as giving one of the best female performances ever in some reviews. The movie did pretty well at the box office for a Woody Allen film, and though she's a previous winner, she's never won in the lead category (she won Best Supporting Actress in 2004 for The Aviator). Blachett will be hard to beat, because she'll probably win a lot of critic's awards for this performance, but the second lock in this category is neck and neck with her right now and just as likely to win.
That's Sandra Bullock for Gravity, whose movie has made over $200 million and counting, along with garnering her the best reviews of her career in the lead performance. She totally carries this movie and is the only thing in it for the majority of its running time. Many think that if she hadn't won just 4 years ago for The Blind Side (which was kind of a popularity win in the first place) she'd be a complete lock or the win right now, ahead of Blanchett. I don't happen to think that matters though- Sandra Bullock is so popular with the public and in the industry that she could easily pull off a second win, as a kind of validation Oscar after The Blind Side. Plus, going back every decade in Oscar history you can find several people who won two Oscars in a short period of time (Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Hilary Swank, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn, etc.) It's not uncommon if they really, really like you (as Sally Field famously noted). So if you ask me, I think she could easily win here, especially if the Academy wants to award Gravity in a bigger category than just the techs (I don't think its chances at winning Best Picture are all that strong).
The third lock is Judi Dench, a six-time nominee who received rave reviews at the film festivals for Philomena, which hasn't opened yet in the United States (it comes out on the 22nd). But Dench is a beloved veteran and if there's a chance to reward her she usually gets in, so I think she's a sure thing. The last two slots are where it's kind of an open field, as there are several viable contenders looking to get in. We've got Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks, who right now looks the most likely to me, as her reviews out of London were wonderful, but the movie hasn't opened here yet, so there's a little bit of ambiguity surrounding its Oscar chances.
There's a wild card in Amy Adams for American Hustle, which hasn't been seen by anyone except at test screenings, so even though we know she's being positioned as the Lead Actress and she's a four-time nominee already, it's uncertain whether she can live up to the hype. And of course, there's perennial nominee Meryl Streep, who always gets in if she has a movie out, and this year it's August: Osage County, coming out in December. This movie got less than enthusiastic critical reaction, with some accusing Meryl of going over the top and even hammy, but frankly that kind of criticism doesn't hurt somebody like 17-time nominee Meryl Streep. If the Academy and/or the public likes the movie, she's in.
Now we come to the longshots. The first one is Adele Exarchopoulos, the 19-year old from Blue is the Warmest Color, who I'm starting to wonder lately might not be such a longshot after all. The Academy has nominated plenty of foreign language performances before (Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose, Emmanuelle Riva for Amour) and the critics adore this performance (she may be winning a bunch of critics awards soon), so the only question is whether voters would sit through a three hour French film. But with all those hyped sex scenes in it, the answer may be yes for more people than I think. Other outside contenders are Kate Winslet for Labor Day (which hasn't come out yet but got pretty underwhelming reviews out of the film festivals), Brie Larsen for Short Term 12 (outstanding reviews, but such a small movie that no one really saw it and from a brand new studio that doesn't know how to run Oscar campaigns; her chances depend on critics awards), and Julie Delpy for Before Midnight (another small movie whose chances depend on attention from the critics, she's probably the biggest longshot despite stellar reviews).
As of right now, I'd say these are the Top 5:
- Cate Blanchett
- Sandra Bullock
- Judi Dench
- Emma Thompson
- Adele Exarchopoulos
It may be crazy to go with Adele over Meryl Streep (who could frankly knock out anyone besides Blanchett and Bullock), but usually there is at least one outsider in the category, so right now I'm betting on her. But this could all change as the critics awards roll in and we see who's got the edge.
REVIEW: "Spring Breakers" (2013) James Franco, Selena Gomez. Dir. Harmony Korine
It's hard to describe this movie in any way that would make the average person want to see it- I guarantee you a lot of people won't make it through the first 40 minutes (I myself was struggling for a while). But if you are going to venture onto this wild ride through the surrealist underbelly of Florida "spring break culture" (if there is such a thing), it's around the 40-minute mark that James Franco makes his entrance, and he gives such a mesmerizing and memorable performance that it just might make the journey worth it.
Harmony Korine (writer of the notorious Kids from 1995) definitely wants to give you an experience with this film, which takes four college girls from so-called normalcy to dark and nightmarish depths, and this movie is filmed with an undeniable energy and vivid color palette that more or less succeeds in enveloping you as part of the intoxicating experience of spring break (I was actually getting dizzy at times in the first half hour). The girls include Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens as part of this quartet (the irony is undoubtedly intentional) who are so obsessed with going to Florida for spring break that they rob a chicken shack for the money with no scruples about it whatsoever.
Then they make it to Florida and here's where the exhausting nature of Korine's style really goes overboard with the dizzying, flashing and excessive montage scenes of drugs and partying. It's hard to discern any kind of a story for a while, even if the filmmaking is immediate and immersive- you feel you're being sucked into a vortex, which I'm sure is exactly what you're supposed to feel. But right at the moment where you can't take much more of this, James Franco walks in as "Alien," the wannabe gangsta rapper and drug dealer, armed with a heavy artillery and one serious grill as he bails the girls out of jail and seduces them with his boasting and obsession with material success and violence (which they've already shown a propensity for). He's absolutely electric in the part, very nearly disappearing into this insane character, and if we ourselves can't take our eyes off of him, it only makes sense that the girls would be drawn in too. It's here that the story takes a dark turn and starts to go somewhere, even if that destination is unpredictable and filled to the brim with silly excess and Britney Spears songs set to violent, slow-motion montages.
What's Korine trying to say with this film? I couldn't tell you, although there are seeds of all kinds of messages to read into it if you want- from the debauchery of the American college kid to the violence that goes hand in hand, and the attraction of young women who seem to run in packs toward the dominant alpha male who ultimately proves himself useless, as the women assert the control they've exhibited all along. If there really is such a thing as "great trash," that's what this movie is really trying to be (it seems to be influenced in part by a movie like Wild Things), and to that end it's mostly successful, although I couldn't say it was exactly pleasant or takes you to a place most people would ever want to go. Still, there's something to be said for boldness and originality, and the attempt to embrace all these loosely related ideas together in one hallucinatory fever dream- which is probably the best term to describe Spring Breakers in the end.
* *
TRAILER #2: "The Wolf of Wall Street"
New trailer for Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, now officially set for release on Christmas Day. This looks so awesome, I can't wait:
Movie of the Day: "Lady in White" (1988)
A really spooky and chilling ghost story involving a kid in the 1960's (the always otherworldly looking Lukas Haas) who keeps seeing the ghost of a dead little girl from years earlier, along with the re-enactment of her murder. This movie is lesser known than a lot of others but it's really worth seeking out, because the creepiness and disturbing nature of the mystery is quite effective. In fact, the dark material may be the reason that this film is not better known- the topic of child murders is unsettling enough without all the ghosts thrown in, but it really is quite scary, and the more serious subject matter adds to the weight of the story. This one will definitely stick with you, and it happens to be set on Halloween too.
1988 Trailer (this is a really weird trailer for this movie- it's trying to make it look a LOT more lightweight than it actually is, and again, I think that was due to the subject matter involving children):
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "La Notte" (1961)
Michelangelo Antonioni is not for everyone. His films tend to glide along at a leisurely pace, the plot (if there is one) unfolding seemingly despite itself. But for those who can appreciate his meditative tone and the aimless, unhappy wandering of his characters, this is one of his more accessible movies. La Notte is about a married couple who have grown bored with their life and each other, and spend one long night at a friend's party, rethinking and rekindling their marriage. It's a beautiful, introspective look at love with one of the most romantic endings in the movies.
Original Trailer from 1961:
TRAILER: "X-Men: Days of Future Past"
The trailer for the new X-Men movie is here! Looks pretty good. The movie comes out in May of next year:
FEATURETTE: "Veronica Mars"
The Veronica Mars movie has a new behind the scenes featurette today! Filled with lots of new footage, but the interviews are mostly a defense of the decision to bring back Piz, the most useless and hated character in Veronica Mars history (fans know what I'm talking about), as Veronica's boyfriend. I don't know what that's about- frankly, it seems like a move to purposely anger the fans for some reason (seriously, they've been together for 10 years???). Anyway, here's a look:
Movie of the Day: "Poltergeist" (1982)
"They're here."
With Halloween just 4 days away we're going to do one last Movie of the Day series this week leading up to it. And the theme this time is "ghosts." Another favorite category of horror movies, and there's been plenty of great ones, including this, which might be my favorite. Ostensibly directed by Tobe Hooper, but Steven Spielberg's fingerprints are all over this movie, from the screenplay to the direction and the way certain shots are set up- in fact, in many circles it's been widely assumed for years that he did in fact direct the movie himself (I'm convinced he did most of it). The story of a suburban family whose house is built on a cemetery and their little girl Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) who gets sucked into the walls and stuck between two worlds, still has the power to scare but occasionally make you laugh and as always with Spielberg, leave you moved with the power of a mother's love for her child. The effects may be dated now (though state of the art at the time), but the movie's timeless. Check it out.
Original Trailer from 1982:
POSTER: "Muppets Most Wanted"
Poster for the new Muppets movie! Coming out next March:
REVIEW: "Mama" (2013) Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Dir. Andres Muschietti
Mama is, for the most part, a nifty little ghost story that's at times unpredictable and happily, not your average horror flick that's totally dependent on false scares and stops. There are some of those in here, yes, but there's also an emotional undercurrent that's genuinely affecting, until the disappointing and bombastic ending practically ruins it.
It starts out as a unique and chilling mystery, with two little girls whose father (Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who later plays his own twin brother) kills their mother and crashes their car in the woods, hiding them out in a cabin and intending to kill them too until a mysterious entity stops him. Five years later, the girls are found, still young (8 and 5) and nearly feral, having been raised in the wilderness by an invisible being only they can see. Now they're brought back to civilization and taken in by their uncle and his girlfriend Annabel, played by Jessica Chastain, a tattooed and somewhat Goth rocker who doesn't like or want kids in the first place. Of course, their friend "Mama" comes with them, and the spookiness continues in the girls' new domestic setting.
There are further plot complications, as a court appointed psychologist tries to drag the truth out of the older girl, Victoria, but what works best in the movie is Chastain and her evolving relationship with the girls and eventual rivalry with Mama over guardianship of them. Annabel at first comes across as abrupt and nearly mean to these poor kids, but Chastain is such a good actress that she conveys Annabel's changing emotions so clearly and gradually that we believe it as we see it happen, and we start to root for the logical ending, which is for Annabel to save the kids from Mama's firm, ghostly grip on them.
Unfortunately, despite a few good scares and some effective creeping atmosphere as Annabel tries to figure out what's haunting them, the movie gets way too caught up in the plot, which becomes unnecessarily complicated and starts to lose its way with certain characters like Uncle Luke (Coster-Waldau). He serves a very real purpose in setting up the story, as the brother who wants his nieces, but after a while it becomes obvious there's no more role for him to play, and so the movie simply gets rid of him by putting him in a coma for what should have been the remainder of the film. When Coster-Waldau returns to the story the character is now completely out of place and is part of the overstuffed climax that takes things to a dark and unsatisfying turn that leaves you highly disappointed and almost angry at what passes for the finale.
Despite the last 15 minutes however, I did like most of the film and the story itself kept me interested, entertained and contained enough good scares to recommend itself to horror fans (Mama herself looks extremely creepy and is a very well designed CG creation). But, man, that ending. Sometimes knowing how to finish a film and take it to its logical conclusion is all you need to do, and trying to add unnecessary last minute twists to avoid cliches is going a bit too far when you've done more than enough already in that department. I suppose I sound a bit like I'm saying give the people what they want, but in this case, yes, that would have been wise.
* *
