Well, they lost Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, so the Hollywood Foreign Press goes back to what they know. Ricky Gervais is going to host the Globes for the fourth time in 2016. The 2010 show will forever remain notorious for his turning it into a celebrity roast, the surprise of which he was never quite able to duplicate in his second and third gigs. Still, now that he's been gone awhile, maybe the jabs will feel fresh again. Here's hoping- that first hosting stint from him was one of the most memorable Globes ceremonies ever. They will take place January 10th, live on NBC.
BOX OFFICE 10/23-10/25: 'The Martian' Returns to No. 1 as New Releases Flop
It was kind of an epic weekend for complete bombs, as Jem and the Holograms and Rock the Kasbah suffered two of the worst wide release openings ever, ParaNormal Activity and The Last Witch Hunter bellyflopped on the back of awful reviews, and most sadly, Steve Jobs performed way under expectations in wide release after its sterling two-week run in limited. We'll start with the last one first, since Universal had fairly high hopes for the biopic on the Apple CEO, considered a heavy Oscar contender and with some exceedingly good reviews to go with it, but this is an example of a film with narrow appeal, after its scorching PTA just two weeks ago failed to translate to mainstream success with audiences. It still managed an "A-" Cinemascore, but it will be interesting to see how the low box office affects its Oscar chances.
The top five was mostly filled by holdovers, as The Martian came in first with another 15 million for a new total of 166 million- that movie's own Oscar hopes are rising by the day. Goosebumps fell to second place and Bridge of Spies pulled off a miniscule drop of just 26 percent to remain in third, also helping the Spielberg film's chances for awards recognition. The Last Witch Hunter was the only new release to crack the top five, pulling in 10 million, a low number for Vin Diesel, while Hotel Transylvania 2 rounded out the chart with another 9 million.
Top 5:
- The Martian- 15.9 million
- Goosebumps- 15.5 million
- Bridge of Spies- 11.4 million
- The Last Witch Hunter- 10.8 million
- Hotel Transylvania 2- 9 million
In limited release, Suffragette opened on 4 screens for 77k, a PTA of about 19k, not a great start for the wannabe Oscar hopeful, whose chances seem to be dimming by the day as well, with reviews not particularly glowing for the film. We're at the time of year where so many adult driven movies are crowding the theaters that many of them will inevitably end up left out in the cold, which to me is most disappointing for Steve Jobs- I'll have a review coming this week, but I really loved the film and wish they'd kept it in limited release a while longer. Next up we have the Sandra Bullock comedy Our Brand is Crisis against Bradley Cooper in Burnt- both films are not doing well with critics, so they will probably be underperformers while we wait for the release of the new Bond film Spectre on Nov. 6th.
Maureen O'Hara 1925-2015
Maureen O'Hara died peacefully in her sleep today at the age of 95. The screen legend from Hollywood's Golden Age was easily the biggest Irish movie star of the time, her breakthrough role as Esmeralda coming at the age of just 19 in the 1939 classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with Charles Laughton. Her other films included How Green Was My Valley, Dance Girl Dance, Sinbad the Sailor, Miracle on 24th Street, The Parent Trap, and five films she made with best friend and co-star John Wayne, including Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, and McLintock. O'Hara was finally awarded the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement just last year, amazingly, coming after a legendary career which earned her no individual nominations for acting.
REVIEW: "Bridge of Spies" (2015) Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance. Dir. Steven Spielberg
Bridge of Spies is a movie that strikes you as a real meat and potatoes kind of movie movie, if you know what I mean. It’s an old-fashioned, well lit, well shot, well acted story of an American hero given to you straight down the middle, but the novelty here is that it’s a story most people are probably very unfamiliar with. This is a history lesson from an obscure chapter of the Cold War, and a movie about American ideals and values, very much the kind of film that somebody like Frank Capra would have made with Jimmy Stewart, and any student of movie history can see the comparison here with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
Hanks is starring in a Spielberg vehicle for the fourth time, and is once again playing a patriot like his all American WWII hero in Saving Private Ryan, but here he’s James Donovan, a lawyer who was hired to defend a Russian spy convicted of espionage in 1957. Mark Rylance plays the spy, actually not a Russian himself but working for the Soviet Union, and no one in the country thinks he deserves a fair trial of any kind, simply a “show” one, to uphold the pretend values that America supposedly stands for. Hanks of course is the idealist, although he doesn’t play an incredibly fiery one, just kind of a calm and reasonable one, the kind of aw-shucks performance from a guy that of course just wants to do his actual job and give Rylance a defense- especially when there is one, plainly sitting right there in the Constitution.
This first part of the movie can’t help but speak to today’s political climate in a strange parallel- we seem to constantly be dealing with whether we should actually uphold our constitutional values of civil liberties when it comes to national defense, and this issue has never really gone away, has it? We like to put on a good show, since we wrote a Constitution that was so righteous about sticking up for the liberties and rights of every person, even convicted non-American citizens under our laws, but how many times do we skirt the issue when it’s inconvenient for us? It’s refreshing to see common sense defended by Tom Hanks in that very old school, Jimmy Stewart decency kind of way, but the movie improves even more once we get past that first act, when Rylance is of course convicted, and his sentence ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court.
It’s in this last third or so that Hanks is suddenly called to East Berlin to negotiate a prisoner exchange when two Americans are captured, one by the Soviet Union and another by the newly formed Democratic Republic of East Germany. Hanks, as a private citizen, is sent kinda sorta on on the government’s behalf to negotiate the exchange with the assistance of the CIA, and he must engage in his own, natural instinct based kind of espionage. The negotiations are laborsome and difficult, with Hanks having to deal with the changing faces of the people who are negotiating on behalf of their own governments, some of which are secret KGB operatives in disguise and Stasi agents in the employ of the East Germans, who don’t want to be seen as pawns of the USSR. The recreation of Berlin that portrays a country just as the Wall was literally being built give us some very memorable and haunting images- an era we know won’t come crashing down for thirty years. Spielberg excels at relaying this kind of lived-in, historical period, and this film, which is in the vein of 2012’s Lincoln, does just that for the Cold War, with convincing performances, absorbing ideas on hand, and a compelling true story for audiences (history buffs especially) to sink their teeth into.
I won’t say he stays entirely away from his typical kind of sentimentalism, especially towards the end (oddly, also like Lincoln, this is yet another movie that goes out of its to not end in the obvious and appropriate shot- I have a feeling you’ll know it when you see it), but this is still one of the most restrained, subtle and mature works in his filmography. It’s immensely satisfying to see two old pros giving us a professional, intelligent and absorbing drama the likes the even older pros (Capra, Stewart) would be proud to boast on their own resumes.
* * * 1/2
Natalie Portman on the Frontier in 'Jane Got a Gun'
Okay, so this is one of those movies that's been delayed for literally years, with trouble in production, post-production, editing, you name it. Who knows how this thing turned out, but it's finally being released here in February, so we'll see a finished product soon enough. The first international trailer for it dropped today, so that explains these French subtitles, but I suspect this film probably didn't end up a masterpiece.
New Featurette for 'Creed' Explores the 'Rocky' Legacy
In this featurette Ryan Coogler explains why he wanted to make a Rocky spinoff, and how he sold Stallone on the whole idea. Interesting, because this is the first movie in the Rocky universe that Sly himself didn't write. I hope this is good, but I'm still crossing my fingers that Rocky doesn't die in it- c'mon guys, nobody really wants to see that happen.
Will Ferrell Takes on Mark Wahlberg in 'Daddy's Home'
Not sure about this one either. There always has to be some comedy released on Christmas, and this is the culprit this time. These two were funny together in The Other Guys, but I get the feeling lightning didn't strike twice for this one. We'll see, I guess.
Bennett Sisters Fight Back in 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'
The full trailer for the zombie version of Pride and Prejudice is here, and it actually looks kinda stupid now that we get a fuller glimpse of it. Yeah, I'm not so into this now, even if the graphic novel was popular. It just looks dumb without any clever jokes or anything to the premise.
Gotham Awards Nominations Give Boost to 'Carol' and 'Diary of a Teenage Girl'
The first big awards nominations of the season have arrived- the Gotham Independent Film Awards, which honor American indies and are essentially the precursor to the Independent Spirit Awards. But they usually include some eventual Oscar nominees in their ranks as well, especially in the Feature and Acting categories. I think we're looking at Spotlight and possibly Carol to be the ones that go on to make it to heavier recognition, while Diary of a Teenage Girl will probably be limited to the Indie Spirits, but it's nice to see that nodded here. The biggest acting contenders here are Brie Larson and Cate Blanchett.
Best Feature
- "Carol"
- "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"
- "Heaven Knows What"
- "Spotlight"
- "Tangerine"
Best Documentary
- "Approaching the Elephant"
- "Cartel Land"
- "Heart of a Dog"
- "Listen to Me Marlon"
- "The Look of Silence"
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director
- Desiree Akhavan for "Appropriate Behavior"
- Jonas Carpigano for "Mediterranea"
- Marielle Heller for "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"
- John Magary for "The Mend"
- Josh Mond for "James White"
Best Screenplay
- "Carol," Phyllis Nagy
- "The Diary of a Teenage Girl," Marielle Heller
- "Love & Mercy," Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner
- "Spotlight," Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer
- "While We’re Young," Noah Baumbach
Best Actor
- Christopher Abbott in "James White"
- Kevin Corrigan in "Results"
- Paul Dano in "Love & Mercy"
- Peter Sarsgaard in "Experimenter"
- Michael Shannon in "99 Homes"
Best Actress
- Cate Blanchett in "Carol"
- Blythe Danner in "I’ll See You in My Dreams"
- Brie Larson in "Room"
- Bel Powley in "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"
- Lily Tomlin in "Grandma"
- Kristen Wiig in "Welcome to Me "
Breakthrough Actor
- Rory Culkin in "Gabriel"
- Arielle Holmes in "Heaven Knows What"
- Lola Kirke in "Mistress America"
- Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in "Tangerine"
- Mya Taylor in "Tangerine"
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Back to the Future" (1985)
Today is Back to the Future day all over the world, and in honor of the occasion the movie and the trilogy are playing across theaters in special showings. We're marking it today because October 21st, 2015 was the day that Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled to the future in Back to the Future Part II- remember all the hover boards and nutty stuff going on in that universe? They did correctly predict that we'd be seeing the release of another Star Wars sequel. It's all about the first movie for me though- an instant classic that's so tightly written, perfectly cast and acted, with not a wasted scene in the entire movie. It feels just as timeless as it ever did, despite the very specific time and place it marked. The best time travel movie ever made? I think so.
Original Trailer:
Chris Rock to Host the 2016 Oscars
This is a good choice, in my opinion. Chris Rock will now officially host the Oscars for the second time, making his return appearance after first hosting back in 2005. I always thought he did a good job at that show, but the reaction from people at the time was that he didn't play as well in the room, I guess because he was edgier than the usual Billy Crystal song and dance man routine that they love. Well, I hope they're over that now, because Rock is hilarious and he'll do a great job. The Academy Awards will air Feb 28th, 2016.
Jennifer Lawrence Stars in Trailer for 'Joy'
The new trailer for David O. Russell's Joy looks very serious indeed, and early word is that it's his most dramatic film yet. Lawrence looks back in her Hunger Games/Winter's Bone stoic mode that she employs for her dramas and it looks intriguing, if nothing else. It's coming out on Christmas Day, but apparently it's being screened in several different versions right now for test audiences, as Russell tries to figure out which cut works best for the crowd.
