Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "City Lights" (1931)

The great Charlie Chaplin's City Lights is out on blu-ray now, and if you've never seen any of his films, you're in for quite a treat with this one. Chaplin's the Tramp falls in love with a blind girl in this classic, which is still as delightful and emotional today as it ever was. I know silent cinema can seem like another language in film sensibility, but I would definitely recommend starting with Chaplin if you're new to the form- he's probably your most accessible entry point. The stunts and the physical comedy that he pulls off are still wondrous to behold, as well as the sympathetic connection he can forge with an audience- there's a reason he was once the most famous person on the planet. City Lights is one of my favorite silent films- trust me, it's worth seeing.

Original 1931 Trailer:

TEASER: "Maleficent"

Following the release of the poster yesterday, here's the first official teaser of Maleficent, with Angelina Jolie (and the little girl you see in this her youngest kid in real life):

REVIEW: "Before Midnight" (2013) Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy. Dir. Richard Linklater

Jesse and Celine, the lovers from Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, have reunited again in Before Midnight, and each time we've caught up with them it's been a richer, more rewarding experience than the last. If this third installment in their lives is lacking the magic and romance of the first two, it makes up for it in mature, emotional, grown up interaction that lets us in on the familiar, painful proceedings of a long-term relationship that can't help but lack the spark of the new in their first meeting or the longing nostalgia in their second.

It's been nine years since Jesse missed that plane in Before Sunset, and in the intervening time since we see that he moved to Paris to be with Celine, and the two are now a committed couple with adorable 7-year old twin girls. The movie starts off with Jesse dropping his now teenage son off at the airport to return to his mom after spending a summer vacation with his dad in Greece. After this scene it's revealed what Jesse and Celine's daily lives are in an extended conversation as they drive back to their summer house, filmed in a long 15-minute take by director Richard Linklater. It's the first of three perfectly written extended dialogue scenes in the film- familiar, yet new at the same time, because Jesse and Celine are now older and comfortable with each other on a day to day basis, and even though Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy now wear these roles like a glove, they allow an air of weariness and irritation to inhabit their performances, and they are both so incredibly natural and lived in that it really does feel like we're dropping in old friends in the midst of their lives.

Delpy especially shows how Celine has become much more bitter in the course of their time together, still holding on to her old anxieties and fears about men despite Jesse's unconditional and pretty much undying devotion to her and their children. She gives an incredibly complex portrayal of a complicated woman filled with ever changing emotions and would undoubtedly deserve any year end accolades showered on her performance, should they come her way. The structure of this third installment is a bit different from the first two- instead of just Jesse and Celine, the existential conversations this time are expanded to include their friends whose house they're staying at, and over an extended dinner scene we get the perspective of love from three different couples at different stages of their lives, in the second expertly written and acted scene from the year's best original screenplay.

Linklater takes advantage of the to-die-for Greek setting as we see the old stone ruins in loving fashion, just as Vienna and Paris were highlighted in the last two films, but this  is probably the most gorgeously scenic experience yet (although perhaps anyone could film the ancient ruins of Greece in such a light, it's certainly possible). And in the final incredible feat of writing and acting in the film, Jesse and Celine are pushed by their Greek surroundings into recapturing the romance of their earlier encounters, but life, as it does, interrupts and leads into a nasty and bitter fight between the two that lasts for a full half hour as all of their regrets and disappointments come spilling to the surface, along with the resentments their actions over the past nine years have created between them. It's fiercely acted and so real it feels uncomfortable as anyone with similar experiences regarding divorce, heartbreak, infidelity, money troubles and all the problems that come with a long term relationship will recognize the frustration and cringe as they hear it.

In a way Before Midnight is the truest and most hard hitting of the three films, and it deserves credit for taking Jesse and Celine's seemingly fairy tale romance to its natural conclusion, even if in retrospect it makes the first two films lose some of their luster- the ideal, romantic love it glamorized now looks trite, and all relationships seem doomed to failure, whether you stay together or not. If Jesse and Celine can't make it work, who can? But the movie leaves us with just a bit of hope for them, and as such, there's hope for us all, as long as they, and we, keep talking to each other.

* * * *

British Independent Film Awards Nominations

The various awards for independent film start releasing their nominations a bit before the year end critics awards for film in general. We've already gotten the Gotham award nominations, the Independent Spirit Awards announce on the 26th, and now here are the British Independent Film nominations. Philomena did well here, as did Under the Skin, the Scarlett Johansson starring sci-fi film set to come out here next year.

Best British Independent Film

• Metro Manila
• Philomena
• The Selfish Giant
• Starred Up
• Le Week-end

Best Director

• Jon S. Baird (Filth)
• Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant)
• Sean Ellis (Metro Manila)
• Jonathan Glazer (Under the Skin)
• David Mackenzie (Starred Up)

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)

• Charlie Cattrall (Titus)
• Tina Gharavi (I Am Nasrine)
• Jeremy Lovering (In Fear)
• Omid Nooshin (Last Passenger)
• Paul Wright (For Those in Peril)

Best Screenplay

• Jonathan Asser (Starred Up)
• Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant)
• Steven Knight (Locke)
• Hanif Kureishi (Le Week-end)
• Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan (Philomena)

Best Actress

• Judi Dench (Philomena)
• Lindsay Duncan (Le Week-end)
• Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin)
• Felicity Jones (The Invisible Woman)
• Saoirse Ronan (How I Live Now)

Best Actor

• Jim Broadbent (Le Week-end)
• Steve Coogan (Philomena)
• Tom Hardy (Locke)
• Jack O'Connell (Starred Up)
• James McAvoy (Filth)

Best Supporting Actress

• Siobhan Finneran (The Selfish Giant)
• Shirley Henderson (Filth)
• Imogen Poots (The Look of Love)
• Kristin Scott Thomas (The Invisible Woman)
• Mia Wasikowska (The Double)

Best Supporting Actor

• John Arcilla (Metro Manila)
• Rupert Friend (Starred Up)
• Jeff Goldblum (Le Week-end)
• Eddie Marsan (Filth)
• Ben Mendelsohn (Starred Up)

Most Promising Newcomer

• Haley Bird (How I Live Now)
• Conner Chapman/Shaun Thomas (The Selfish Giant)
• Caity Lotz (The Machine)
• Jake Macapagal (Metro Manila)
• Chloe Pirrie (Shell)

Best Achievement in Production

• A Field in England
• Filth
• Metro Manila
• The Selfish Giant
• Starred Up

Best Technical Achievement

• Shaheen Baig- "Casting" (Starred Up)
• Johnnie Burn- "Sound Design" (Under the Skin)
• Amy Hubbard- "Casting" (The Selfish Giant)
• Mica Levi- "Music" (Under the Skin)
• Justine Wright- "Editing" (Locke)

Best Documentary

• Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
• The Great Hip Hop Hoax
• The Moo Man
• The Spirit of '45
• The Stone Roses: Made of Stone

Best British Short

• L' Assenza
• Dr. Easy
• Dylan's Room
• Jonah
• 21

Best International Independent Film

• Blue is the Warmest Color
• Blue Jasmine
• Frances Ha
• The Great Beauty
• Wadjda

The Raindance Award

• Everyone's Going to Die
• The Machine
• The Patrol
• Sleeping Dogs
• Titus

Also of note in these nominations is that international independent film category. Blue is the Warmest Color is probably the favorite, but Blue Jasmine popping up here is a surprise and may signal its strength in some bigger categories this side of the Atlantic, aside from Screenplay and Actress.

POSTER: "Maleficent"

The first poster for Disney's Maleficent with Angelina Jolie, coming out next summer.

For Veteran's Day: "Saving Private Ryan" (1998)

This Veteran's Day I direct you to the November monthly movie picks, where I placed ten great war films for the holiday, but I neglected a major one, so I'll include it here in a special recommendation. Steven Spielberg's great WWII epic is still an affecting, masterfully directed accomplishment, especially the first 40 minutes or so, which changed the way war movies were made forever. The invasion of Normandy is incredible filmmaking, for which Spielberg deservedly won his second Best Director Oscar. But the rest of the movie is good too, and in its own way pays tribute to dozens of WWII movies from the past, made since the 1940s, that follow a group of stock character types making their way across war ravaged lands. Even though I really don't like the present day bookends of the movie (that part is way too sappy for me), Saving Private Ryan is an excellent choice to commemorate this Veteran's Day, and all the soldiers who fought and died for their country.

Trailer: 

REVIEW: "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman. Dir. Alan Taylor

Marvel Studios has embarked on a fairly ambitious path with the release of their franchise films every year- the attempt seems to be to develop a viable comic book universe on screen, which is admirable in its own way, yet so far it's starting to produce the feeling of been there, done that, with some of these films so generically made and with such similar plots that it can begin to feel really repetitive. At least the James Bond films (another series that follows a formula) take 2-3 years off between entries, enough so that you can actually miss Bond when he makes his big return. But now we have at least two Marvel movies a year, and whether it's Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, or The Avengers, it can't help getting old (especially with other studios doing their own superhero movies- we're now bombarded from all sides with capes, tights and superpowers).

Unfortunately, this latest Thor entry is one of the most mediocre and generic yet. There's no particular feel for the people on screen, no attempt at character interaction or development, and the lamest plot and most unmemorable villain in the Marvel canon to date. It's a big disappointment with nothing specific to recommend it, unless these films have simply become "must-sees" in order to keep up with each Avenger's latest mission, to prepare yourself for the next Avengers movie. But what a sorry excuse to put out a film bereft of any real creativity.

In Thor: The Dark World, Thor's back on Asgard, keeping order over the nine realms, while Loki sits in a jail cell for eternity as punishment for his crimes on Earth. Meanwhile a nearly inexplicable plot is formed by the Dark Elf Malekith, who wants to send the world into darkness using a weapon called the Aether. I don't know his motivation for this or how the "aether" does it, but Malekith is played by Christopher Eccleston in a completely wasted performance, as he gets nothing interesting to say or do, and may as well have been played by an anonymous actor. The fight to stop the elf king is therefore nothing to get worked up about, as I neither knew nor cared about what was happening at any point on screen, and the various fight scenes on Asgard seem random and chaotic.

Asgard was a sore point with me in the first Thor as well, so I was mildly more interested in what was going on on Earth in that film, but sadly here the Earth scenes rival the Asgard ones in irrelevance. Natalie Portman is back as Thor's girlfriend Jane, but given nothing to do, and she and Chris Hemsworth possess less than zero chemistry together. Her assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings) is also back and again here to crack wise, but given nothing funny to say in any one of her endless wisecracks, and also saddled with a pointless subplot regarding her lovestruck assistant that fails to produce any laughs.

Hemsworth himself is extremely uninteresting as Thor this time out (and I actually really liked him in the first movie), and not given a chance to develop anything that might actually make him a character, such as a relationship to his sidekicks, any of the humor that came from the last film with his godly fish-out-of-water shtick on Earth (two genuine laughs come from that this time and signal the approach they should have taken), and he becomes just a mindless fighting machine. The one bright spot in all this is Tom Hiddleston's Loki, who they actually had to bring back for reshoots in order to insert more scenes of him into the film. Seeing as he's not in the movie nearly enough as it is, I shudder to think what the original cut was. Hiddleston brings a playful snarkiness to his dialogue and elevates the material as much as he can (which is difficult, as this weak script seems to have been written by committee), but he enters and exits the story much too quickly, and takes any interest in what's happening on screen with him.

So many ideas were going through my mind as I watched this movie, for rewrites and angles they could have taken to give it a dose of originality and sharper humor, character building, anything. As it is, the film is still a bit shorter at 110 minutes than the average two hour Marvel film, and that's with all the Loki stuff added in. Thor: The Dark World was a less than middling experience, which makes me think there's not a whole lot of interest in the Thor character behind the scenes, and that this was really just a placeholder entry in the series. Better luck to him next time, but I can't say I'm optimistic, given how little effort was extracted this time.

* 1/2

BOX OFFICE 11/8-11/10: 'Thor' Hammers the Competition

Thor: The Dark World benefited from increased character exposure in The Avengers last year to pull in $86 million over the weekend, a 31% improvement on 2011's Thor, which debuted with $65 million. The movie received an "A-" from the crowds, which were 62% male and 61% over 25, and should play well to take in over $200 million total by the end of its run. Its international haul is even more impressive, where The Avengers seems to have done some very real good for each one of the individual franchises, as Thor has already made $240 million after only 12 days. Mighty, indeed.

Way behind In second place was Jackass, which took in another $11.3 million for a $78 million total, and it looks well on its way to finish with $100 million (which would make it the first Jackass movie to do so). The animated film Free Birds actually rose 29% from last week to $11.2 million (due to lack of family competition), and Last Vegas was right behind it with $11.1 million. In fifth place was Ender's Game, which plummeted 62% to a disappointing $10 million and will likely be seen as a failure, since the film did cost $110 million to make.

Top 5: 

1. Thor: The Dark World- $86.1 million
2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa- $11.3 million
3. Free Birds- $11.2 million
4. Last Vegas- $11.1 million
5. Ender's Game- $10.3 million

In limited release, 12 Years a Slave expanded to 1000 theaters this weekend and pulled in $6.6 million, giving it a $17 million total as it continues to roll on successfully, drawing Oscar buzz and sure to make more as the awards start to come in. And other Oscar contenders Gravity and Captain Phillips are sitting at $231 million and $90 million respectively, making them both big successes in their own right. Next week Alexander Payne's Oscar-buzzed new film Nebraska comes out in limited release, along with the wide release of The Best Man Holiday.

FEATURETTE #3: "12 Years a Slave"

Another great featurette for 12 Years a Slave, this time focusing on the sprawling supporting cast of the film, including Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulsen, and Lupita Nyong'o. 

TRAILER #2: "Lone Survivor"

A much more powerful trailer for this late breaking film that probably gives a better impression of the actual movie. This has been building buzz recently after a very successful early press screening where it drew comparisons to Black Hawk Down, so we may have another Oscar contender on our hands. It's a true story and the first film made about the war in Afghanistan, coming out Dec 27th.

FEATURETTE: "Saving Mr. Banks"

This behind the scenes featurette takes a look at the story of the film and how hard it was to get made, with interviews from the cast and crew.

TRAILER #2: "RoboCop"

Already there's a second trailer for the new RoboCop, coming out February 12th. Surprisingly, the movie doesn't look that bad to me, although trailers can often be very different from the eventual movies. Still, I like that they're keeping the kind of black humor the original had.