Alexander Payne's Nebraska is finally coming out this weekend (in limited release) and the reviews have mostly been stellar, especially for 77-year-old Bruce Dern in the lead role, who says in this video that's he's never had a role this great in his career. He's expected to get nominated for an Oscar, but as we'll see when I round it up next week, that category is really crowded. June Squibb, as his wife in the film, is also said to be terrific.
This is a fairly long video, but you may get sucked into watching the whole thing, as I did. A lot of the major directors of this year are involved in a really interesting conversation about movies, their creative process and losing their way and finding it again. THR talks to Steve McQueen, Alfonso Cuaron, David O. Russell, Lee Daniels, Paul Greengrass and Ben Stiller (even though Ben seems like the odd man out in that group, he's actually pretty good here).
Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha is a stylish, loving, impossibly cute tribute to a twentysomething Bridget Jones in the title character. Greta Gerwig (who co-wrote the screenplay with Baumbach) plays Frances Halladay, a down on her luck post college girl who lives on her own in New York, struggling to make it as a modern dancer while scraping together enough money to pay the rent and dabble in dating, hitting disasters at every turn, but with a goofy, weird, lovable quirkiness that endears us to her no matter how many cringeworthy mistakes she makes. It's everything Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls wishes it could do right.
That comparison is pretty apt, actually, because the whole concept of college grads living in New York is directly comparable with Girls (Adam Driver's even in this movie!), but the difference here is that Frances actually does struggle (she's not a rich girl living off inheritance), and she also resembles something of a human being, which is more than I can say for the unbearable Hannah on Lena Dunham's show. But let's not get dragged into my everlasting hatred of Girls (I'll save that for another day). Frances Ha is filmed by cinematographer Sam Levy in gorgeous black and white brush strokes and set to an ongoing soundtrack of sometimes classical music and 80's pop songs (the familiar jazz score from The 400 Blows even makes an appearance), which gives the whole film a neat retro feel, like a classic movie about a very modern heroine.
The movie unfolds in episodic structure, wandering through Frances's life as we follow her job, her friends, and her stumbling and clumsy interactions with people whose lives are more together than hers. Greta Gerwig anchors the whole film with a wonderfully natural and vibrant performance as Frances, who isn't quite ready to grow up and wants to remain girlfriends trotting about the city with her college best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner). But Sophie is ready to move on and appears to be passing Frances by, along with her other friends who all seem to be getting married or settling down. By contrast, Frances might be turning out a disappointment, but she never begins to wallow in that misery, instead facing the roadblocks as haplessly as she can, never quite realizing her embarrassment even though we might be cringing for her.
Frances Ha is a wonderful, minor comedy that speaks true to one specific life, the heroine of which tries valiantly hard to iron out the wrinkles that get tossed in her path, and somehow we get the feeling that she'll turn out all right in the end, despite the mishaps and misadventures along the way. It's a lovely little movie worth seeking out, most of all for Greta Gerwig, who deserves to be recognized for this (an Indie Spirit nomination, perhaps?) and who we'll hopefully be seeing again very soon.
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Good news for fans of Katniss Everdeen, as the Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, is off to a great start with the critics ahead of its release on November 22nd. In fact, it's sitting pretty at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment, with a decent number of reviews stating that the change in directors from Gary Ross to Francis Lawrence has made for a big improvement on the first film. I'm definitely happy to hear that, as my biggest complaint with that movie was the murky, unnecessarily dark camera work and annoying shakicam (not everyone can be Paul Greengrass). Although, there are some who note that the sequel is still more "safe and serviceable" than it is anything else. Honestly, my wish is for a studio to take a risk with these YA adaptations and hand one over to an imaginative and creative visionary, the way WB did with the third (and best) Harry Potter movie, Prisoner of Azkaban, by giving it to Alfonso Cuaron, who actually did inventive and cinematic things with it. If these movies are guaranteed to make so much money anyway, doesn't that free them up to at least try to make it more than just "safe and serviceable" for the fans?
"As 'The Empire Strikes Back' of young adult adaptations, 'Catching Fire' is a monumental achievement, a massively entertaining crowd-pleaser that is thought-provoking and personally inspiring in all the ways that it aspires to be." (The Playlist)
"In director Francis Lawrence's steady hands (gone are the previous film's needlessly spastic camera moves) 'Catching Fire' makes for rousing entertainment in its own right, leaving fans riled and ready to storm the castle." (Variety)
"Across the board, the new film boasts a noticeably spiffier, more confident feel than the first, even as the overriding impression is one of methodical responsibility to the source material." (Hollywood Reporter)
"On her way to becoming one of the greatest sci-fi heroines since Ripley, the avenger of District 12 is as undefined by her vulnerability as she is by her inner strength; anchoring the series with an emotional realism that upstages everyone else." (Total Film)
The second featurette for the film, this time focusing on Emma Thompson's performance as P.L. Travers, which has garnered rave reviews and Oscar buzz.
The trailer for Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah, starring Russell Crowe in the lead role. It looks surprisingly conventional for an Aronofsky movie (he did Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream, remember) but hopefully that's more a function of the trailer and he still has some tricks up his sleeve for this. Coming out next March.
The latest trailer for the new sci-fi film based on a YA novel, Divergent, coming out March 21st. Looks a bit like The Hunger Games to me, but at least this new trend of action sci-fi flicks starring girls in the lead role is kind of refreshing.
Today, it's time to take a look at the candidates for Best Director, which is a very fluid race at the moment, with lots of possible names floating around. It's also worth keeping in mind the the director's branch often goes out of their way to nominate people whose films aren't necessarily in the running for best picture (back when there were just five best picture nominees, the directors would often not line up exactly with them, now that there are five to ten nominees it usually does, but not always).
I think the first lock is Steve McQueen, who's also the frontrunner to win. 12 Years a Slave is an incredible cinematic achievement, the importance of which cannot be denied, not to mention the fact that no black director has ever won before. At the moment I really don't see who could beat him out for this honor, actually. It looks pretty unequivocal, even if the film somehow doesn't land Best Picture. Splits are not uncommon, especially if the voters like another movie better but feel obligated to reward the film in a big category. Alfonso Cuaron would be the second lock for Gravity, another directorial achievement the likes of which cannot be overstated. What he pulled off with Gravity was nothing less than amazing, the kind of directing job that blows people away, as everyone knows by now. There's no way he's not getting nominated, and he would be a likely contender for the win, the only challenge being Steve McQueen of course.
And after those two it gets murky, with many potential candidates. I think Paul Greengrass is very likely for Captain Phillips, which was an impressively made, claustrophobic thriller that pretty much took place in just one setting, and he's respected by the director's branch, having been nominated before for United 93. He seems the third most likely to me, and after him there are several possibilities. Alexander Payne is one for Nebraska, which is getting good reviews, and he's a two-time previous nominee (for Sideways and The Descendants), having not won yet, and possibly starting to look overdue (although so many great directors have never won an Oscar that that statistic is fairly meaningless).
The Coen Brothers are always in the mix when they have a film out, and this year it's Inside Llewyn Davis, which is a smaller, more personal film of theirs. It's gotten great reception as well, but we'll have to see how it does when it's officially released in December. I think that Peter Berg has an outside shot for Lone Survivor, which is now reported to be a harrowing, butal war film whose battle scenes are drawing comparisons to Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan (both of which were touted for their direction of course, with Ridley Scott a lone director nominee for the former and Spielberg winning for the latter).
Other names floating around are Lee Daniels for The Butler (a former nominee for Precious), Stephen Frears for Philomena (beloved veteran nominee in the past) and JC Chandor for All is Lost (a feat of filmmaking with just one actor on screen for the whole film). And finally, there are two major contenders whose movies haven't been seen yet, and that's Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street and David O. Russell for American Hustle.
Russell's been on a major hot streak lately, with nominations for his last two films, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook- he's another one who's beginning to look overdue and if American Hustle lives up to the hype he could easily take a slot. And you never, ever count out Scorsese, one of the greats, whose last film Hugo was showered with 11 nominations, and The Wolf of Wall Street looks like it's going to be great as well. Either one of these two, or both, could fill out that list of five. Last year this category provided the biggest upset in nominees, with the director's branch snubbing heavy frontrunners Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck for lesser known names Michael Haneke and Benh Zeitlin, and then Ang Lee won the big prize on Oscar night. You never know what could happen with this group.
My current predictions:
1. Steve McQueen
2. Alfonso Cuaron
3. Paul Greengrass
4. Martin Scorsese
5. Peter Berg
It could all change and probably will, but this is my shot in the dark for now. I feel that the director's branch usually recognizes someone outside the box and this year I think it could be Peter Berg, but we'll see. Next week we'll look at Best Actor, where at least ten people are trying to crowd into a five slot list.
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:
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):
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.
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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
Best Director
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)
Best Screenplay
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Most Promising Newcomer
Best Achievement in Production
Best Technical Achievement
Best Documentary
Best British Short
Best International Independent Film
The Raindance Award
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.
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
