The Eyre Above

.
JA from MNPP here. If Nat were around he'd perhaps do one of his "Yes No Maybe So" posts for this, but I've got nothing but yes for this, the first trailer for Cary Fukunaga's adaptation of Jane Eyre, which isn't out until March. (via)

.

.

Fukunaga's Sin Nombre - and I know Nat agrees with me on this - is a wonderful film. Thrilling and moving and gorgeously shot. So no matter what he did next I'd have been paying attention, but an adaptation of Jane Eyre was not at all what I was expecting and that makes me even happier. Love it when a director throws a curve-ball. And the cast... the cast! Michael Fassbender, Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench, Jamie Bell, Sally Hawkins and Michael Fassbender... drool.


And that trailer is just stunning. I posted a slew of screencaps over at MNPP in case you want to ogle it that way. What do we think?
.

Thoughts I Had While Watching... Alice in Wonderland

[Sigh]. You guys...

"Where have you been lurking?"

I've been meaning to write about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland for weeks now. But every time I so much as thought about doing so I felt a pit in my stomach as deep as that rabbit hole to Underland. I hate the movie sooooooo much. The flames... breathing... on the side of my face.

Why must it exist to taunt me with its billion dollar gross? Way to reward a filmmaker for lazy stagnation. Just pick a famous property, collect your usual coconspirators and then throw shit at the screen. Literally! You can convert it to 3D later. A billion dollars will be yours! As long as the masses recognize the title and you have a bankable star, you're gold. (See also: Sherlock Holmes).

I can't bear to watch the movie a second time. I usually skim back over when I write about films -- so these are just a few scattered thoughts expanded from my notes and my tortured memories of the nightmare witnessed.

<--- Alice sees a green spotted pig because, why the hell not? Nothing has to make any sense. The very essence of the property robs the lazy of having to pick which of their visual ideas to use.

Underland
What was with the "Underland" thing anyway? If you wanna get cute about messing with the title, at least have the balls to change it. Tim Burton's Alice in Underland would still be a stinking pile, but a rose by any other name would not smell as rancid. It can be quite enjoyable and fascinating to see artists riff on past stories, concepts and ideas from previous artists which is why we should all be thankful for the public domain (which greedy corporations are always trying to end... as if they had any hand in the original blood sweat and tears creativity). Once a story has been around for 50-75 years, shouldn't it belong to the world in actuality the way it belongs to the world in the abstract sense?

But just because you can riff on a past work, doesn't mean you should. Especially if you have nothing of value to add.

Ugliness
Mia Wasikowska is a pretty young thing but Alice is a dud. And she's even slightly ugly of personality at the end. Why does the screenplay make her mean spirited? At the end of the movie she actually humiliates her suitor by mentioning an unattractive health problem he has (I forget what it was). Yes, she is right to refuse the marriage offer from Lord Doofus (I don't care what his character name is, it matters not). But to humiliate him while doing so? Most lazy pandering movies present the unsuitable suitor as SO unsuitable that virtually no one should ever marry them. Said suitor should die miserable and alone. Remember WAY back in the day (a decade back, I guess) when movie women did not have hateful suitors or fiancees? As recently as the 90s filmmakers used to trust the audience to understand the nuance of "this guy is not right for her, which is too bad because he's kind of cool/nice." (see Reality Bites, Sleepless in Seattle and others). It wasn't always "this guy MUST be humiliated because he is so awful and oh, the very thought of her with him! You go girl, dump his ugly/insufferable/rude/unfeeling/cheating ass!" I swear to God Hollywood thinks we all have the EQs of lint. "This character good *grunt*. This character bad *grunt*."

Wouldn't her film-ending decision have had more gravitas if she had to say no to a good guy because, the dull domestic life wasn't for her. She's made for larger world travelling ambitions. Wouldn't that be more stirring? Something to actually think about while the credits played? I mean who wouldn't run from the life choice presented her? What kind of a character arc is that?

But her ugly insult and lame story arc is only a tiny thing. Everything in the film is ugly, whether by design, color combinations or sheer excess: The sets, the busy costumes, the special effects. Even Anne Hathaway is ugly and how is that possible exactly? That's not possible without the aid of hideous lighting and makeup design.

It's hard to feel bad about The Court and its way of life being destroyed in The Mad Hatter's backstory exposition flashback scene because that is ALSO garish. Sure, burn it down. No one will miss it.

Johnny & Helena & Alan
Johnny Depp has starred in seven Tim Burton films. The first two collaborations are classics (Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood) The third is solid (Sleepy Hollow). Thereafter its tough to argue that he was necessary or even right for any of the roles. You can't be a daring unpredictable weirdo icon if you become totally safe, predictable and familiar in your daring unpredictable weirdness. These things don't go together. MOVE ON.

The only actors who seem to be working above the material are Alan Rickman, a droll voice choice for the stoned caterpillar with that resonating slightly phlegmy bass of his and Helena Bonham-Carter. Her red queen is the saving grace of the film. Or rather the life raft. The film is not saved but her impeccable timing and focused stylization generally make her scenes tolerable. It's even hard to be annoyed by the nonstop CGI "help" because she knows what she's doing and she's doing it skillfully.


"You've lost your muchness."
This line, spoken by the Mad Hatter to Alice is a good one. It could well apply to Tim Burton, though. He has definitely lost his muchness. In its absence, he compensates with MUCH. The film is always always always too much. Every scene is tricked up with gaseous CGI swirls as if the celluloid can't stop farting.

Even the Chesshire Cat, usually a textbook example of the simplicity of great illusions, doesn't really disappear so much as dissapate into computer generated fumes. Adding to the smell is the distinct impression that the print had been urinated on by someone with a Jabberwocky sized bladder. Why was garish yellow their color of choice?

The movie's over compensating muchness, most obvious in its hideous color palette, busy f/x detailing (wait, this quarter of the frame is empty... throw some weird animal into it! Hurry!!!) and super long redundant sequences which manage to convey exactly one idea each -- fall, chase, fly, fight, etcetera -- reminded me of four other movies. George Lucas's entire ugly Star Wars prequel trilogy has a similar redundancy of one note scenes as well as a shared affinity for grotesque but unappealing creature designs. And most of the action sequences, lamely executed to a one, reminded of that patience testing dinosaur run in King Kong. King Kong was a fairly successful remake but that one scene stuck out like a sore thumb. It added virtually nothing to the story, it was redundant visually, it was OBVIOUSLY special effects (so the film stopped feeling seamless) and it went on forever... at least twice its justifiable length.

These are not good things to be reminded of.
F

<--- "Goodbye sweet hat"

Some final statistics & observations

• Running time in Underland: 108 minutes
• Running time in Nathaniel's apartment: 108 hours
  
• Length of time before I became annoyed: 41 seconds. I blame the absolutely unsurprising score by Danny Elfman. Same as it ever was. I liked his score for Milk a lot recently. Step away from the Burton, Danny Elfman, Danny Elfman.
• Standard length of time before Nathaniel usually starts shifting uncomfortably in his seat hoping that the movie will soon end: 91 minutes (comedy) / 109 minutes (drama) / never (A/A- minus level movies. I just watched The Best Years of Our Lives which is 172 minutes long and I could have watched an additional 220 minutes if William Wyler had only let me. But that's a topic for a forthcoming post.)
• Moment in which I stopped hating the movie briefly but can't for the life of me remember why: Something about the Mad Hatter in his new office making hats for The Red Queen.
  
• Percentage of scenes with more f/x than there needed to be: 89%
• Missed opportunities for subtext: ∞
  
  
• Last time it was super easy to love a Tim Burton live-action movie without reservations: 1996's Mars Attacks!
  
• Last time Tim Burton made a truly excellent movie: 1994's Ed Wood
  
• Moment I began to suspect that Alice was by far the worst movie Tim Burton had ever made: The 43 second sequence in which Alice falls down through the green scree -- rabbit hole and keeps on falling. And keeps on falling. And kept on falling through sloppy green screens and random imagery, furniture and obstacles that she had to duck or collide with. Was it a movie? A video game level? A test reel? A bad drug trip? Whatever it was, it was pointless. I don't know if you've ever timed other big movie sequences but 43 seconds is a really long time. You can fit a lot into 43 seconds if you aren't phoning it in or editing on quaaludes.
  
• Offscreen moment of which I am most ashamed: Wishing Helena Bonham-Carter and Tim Burton would have a horrible row and break up for good. One should never wish ill on happy couples. But she's such a good actress and she's just stuck in ever worsening movies.




• Number of times I wished that Anne Hathaway had never seen Amy Adams' Enchanted performance: 1,194
• Number of times you miss something 3D cool if you watch it in 2D: 0
• Number of times I thought about great Tim Burton films wistfully: 94
• Number of times I even wished I was watching Planet of the Apes or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: 4
• Number of times I lost the will to live: 1*
  
• Number of times I actually died: 0
• Number of future films by Tim Burton I'd like to see: ...guess.

*I made it all the way through this article without once mentioning Johnny Depp's breakdancing. Wait, oops!
*

"The Actresses Are All Right". Best Actress Next Year?

The Oscar ceremony wrapped a mere 72 hours ago. If you look closely you can probably still see the impression of Sandra Bullock's grip on her Oscar. So it's time to start thinking about next year's Best Actress.

Would that I were kidding! Oh the life of the obsessive. Now, I won't be unveiling TFE's annual year-in-advance predictions until April 1st (April 1st... April Fools. cuz it's foolish, get it?) as is the tradition but that doesn't mean I haven't started thinking about them. And whether or not I'll do some sort of contest this year, despite the stumble last year. So I thought I'd share this brief chat I had with Guy Lodge (In Contention) as a sidebar during The Oscar Symposium a couple weeks ago.

Guy: All I'll say is that I'm CONVINCED I've seen two of next year's Best Actress nominees already.
Nathaniel: Which ones?
Guy: Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone and whichever of The Kids Are All Right ladies comes out on top.
Nathaniel: I can't believe I didn't see that [Winter's Bone] at Sundance. Dumb me.
Guy: Small distributor needs to push hard there but it's such a mammoth performance, plus she's young and hot... it was all people were talking about at Berlin.
Nathaniel: Young and Hot plus Mammoth = winner.

But I'm not convinced about The Kids Are All Right. I think there's so many things that could go wrong there, campaign wise.
Guy: Yeah, but I think they've done the right thing going for a summer release.
Nathaniel: I'm rooting for The Bening.
Guy: I prefer Moore.
Nathaniel: I don't know if you read my review but was I wrong in freaking out over that last closeup from Mia Wasikowska? She just killed me. What a perfect ending that was.
Guy: Yeah, she's terrific. Hopefully Alice doesn't damage her too much. Julianne's line reading of "But I shall return!" [edited to remove spoilers] ...just pitch-perfect coming timing. She's so rarely allowed to be that funny.
Nathaniel: I was in a weird mood when I saw it and Julianne in comedy always makes me tense. I loved the Joni Mitchell scene so much.

Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as "Nic & Jules" in The Kids Are All Right

Guy: Bening's scene on the couch reacting to [edited to remove spoilers] is one of the best things she's ever done.
Nathaniel: Yeah. And some of the little details were so funny and warm. Like the way they'd both stretch out their arms like one super-fusion mom. ha ha
Guy: I know! But that's the thing... they ARE one super-character. I think Focus needs to bite the bullet, accept that it's a two-lead Thelma & Louise type deal and let the votes fall where they may.
Nathaniel: I do too. Hey... maybe you've seen three of next year's Best Actress nominees already.
*

Beauty Break: Return of the Pixie

Two of Hollywood's most in-demand young actresses, Carey Mulligan and Mia Wasikowska are now sporting blond pixies. Who's next? Is the 'do about to take over? It hasn't been this Hollywood prominent since Winona Ryder sported it so memorably in the early 90s.


I looked at these two photos from BAFTA (previous post) and an Alice in Wonderland event this weekend and all I could think was Project Runway companion look challenge. Variations on a theme it is: black florals for blond pixies.

What do we think of Mulligan's dress? I almost love it but I really hate it, too. I plan to co-star with it in my next romantic comedy.

More Pixies from Mia Farrow through Winona Ryder. Annette Bening & Halle Berry are probably the true loyalists, always returning to the look.




edited to add: and my beloved NATALIE WOOD. How could I forget?!

Vanity Fair "Dolls"

It's that time of year again. Vanity Fair refers to these nine actresses as "dolls" and we're certainly not here to dispute their smooth porcelain loveliness (the median age here is 23 and they're all lily white). But when I hear "dolls" now I think of only the Dollhouse, and I'm wondering just what "imprints" we're dealing with here. Which one of these girls is actually a savage killer? Or skilled in all positions of the kama sutra? Or a hostage negotiator? Or a genius computer programmer?


But more importantly, which of them will seem like a big "duh" for the cover treatment seven or eight years from now and which will be like a, "who...what now?". If you click on the Vanity Fair label below you can see past investigations of this Hollywood Issue's covergirls (and boys).

Abbie Cornish. Kristen Stewart. Carey Mulligan. Amanda Seyfried. Rebecca Hall. Mia Wasikowska. Emma Stone. Evan Rachel Wood. Anna Kendrick. Where will they be in 2020: The A-List? In the land of obscurity? headlining a TV series? at the Kodak Theater? Uninsurable has-been? Box Office Queen?

I know I ask too many questions but which doll do you want for your own? And which invisible doll (in this age range) are you angry you can't see on this magazine cover?

Sundance Day 7: The Kids Are All Right & Undertow

I wrote up the the two best gay films, the lesbian dramedy The Kids Are All Right (which sold to Focus Features) and the Peruvian closeted romance Contracorriente "Undertow" (which sold to Wolfe) for Towleroad, so click on over and read my reviews.


But for those of you who are hopeless Oscar addicts (I feel and share your pain), I'm certain you've already begun thinking about Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right. I'd advise more caution with its awards prospects than you're hearing 'round the net.

This is already a case study in how buzz becomes immediate deafening hype through the speed of online regurgitation and hyperbole. The movie is definitely a charmer but one of its best and most curious attributes is the laid back and breezy way it approaches complicated people and tense situations.

Laid back and breezy, as you may know, aren't Oscar's favorite moods. And they're also fragile feelings, the type that excessive expectations can smother. I hope that Focus releases it in the summer actually, a la Little Miss Sunshine, rather than building a year of crushingly heavy expectations onto a small and frisky film.

<--- God visiting Park City to promote Kids

It'd be politically satisfying if Oscar went for a funny lesbian family film but they're generally more conservative than that. The initial reaction to The Kids Are All Right at Sundance was compared in several articles to the Little Miss Sunshine premiere a few years ago. That's not a bad comparison point when it comes to the performances, which have definite dramatic detailing but are also comedic. No one towers above anyone else so any golden attention will have to develop organically, with no obvious slam dunk "roles", the kind that win instant awards traction. We'll see how it shakes out.

Annette Bening's performance felt unusually authentic to me. What's more you already know that darkly comic family dinner sequences are a Bening specialty. Mark Ruffalo has the most difficult role in the film I think. There are so many ways this performance could have gone wrong and he makes splendid highly specific choices about his character. It's his best work since You Can Count on Me. Julianne Moore, on the other hand, has the Oscar advantage of having the film's big climactic monologue and the most screen time. But that's a minor point since this is truly an ensemble film, all five characters getting plenty of the movie's attention.

Unless Julianne or Annette have other roles released this year that interfere with this film's eventual campaign, I assume that they'll demote Moore to supporting and push Bening as lead. It's the same "top/bottom" situation I accurately predicted for Brokeback Mountain's Oscar campaigns (before anyone knew what that movie was like) only with women so we're speaking figuratively: Bening is the bread winning head of the household and Moore, her younger flightier wife, is more of a big sister type of mom.

I hope you all see and enjoy it but I really hope this warm funny experience isn't spoiled by expectations of golden statuettes.

once again, my review.
*

Dolls, Toys and Links

The House Next Door Did you read any of these "Pixar Week" articles arriving to coincide with the Toy Story 3-D release? Interesting stuff therein and not all of it is the typical media fawning over all things Pixar. Though I'm kinda miffed that there's a defense of Cars and takedown of WALL•E. Sometimes there's no need to be contrarian. Every once in a while the general consensus is correct
Rotten Tomatoes Martial arts star Tony Jaa (Ong Bak 2) picks his five favorite flicks. Very mainstream tastes (The Dark Knight. Yep. Forrest Gump?! Ewww)
TV Munchies "15 TV characters who never came out of the closet (but should have)"
MTV Spider-Man 4 is nearing a start date (March, 2010) and a release date (May, 2011). Watch out here comes the Spider-Man (and Mary Jane) Not sure if this is a good idea but #2 was so wonderful that I'll just pretend #4 is #3. Good plan or...?


My New Plaid Pants fine piece on The White Ribbon "The Answer is the Question is the Answer"
The Auteurs Daily chooses the best film sites. I'm truly honored to be among the 57 cinephiles listed
Empire Kristen Bell has joined the cast of the already intriguingly cast Burlesque: Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci. So many possibilities
Erik Lundegaard pens a lovely review of the evocative Bright Star
Coming Soon Mia Wasikowska is going from leading Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland to leading Gus Van Sant's Restless. Can you think of a bigger aesthetic leap? Burton to Van Sant, oh my. Please pray that the largely audience-untested actress is as versatile as she sounds.

Finally... the AV Club has nice things to say about the low-rated second season of Dollhouse. I'm not as sad that the show will probably be cancelled as I once was but I'm definitely disheartened. A Dollhouse failure will only serve to teach the broadcast networks not to take chances on shows with cult followings and that's a sorry lesson to learn. They need to be moving towards the cable model which is, generally speaking, more nurturing to small audience shows with ambition.

I haven't covered Dollhouse this year because I'm trying to find a way to cover tv that's more in line with the goals of the site (movie love!) hence the switch to movie referencing tv coverage of Mad Men or stray episodes of other things. And, let's be frank, I've also been disappointed that this fascinating Joss Whedon series is still awkward and has stumbled back to early Season 1 stand-alone business. The strengths of the first season were all in the long-form storytelling and I thought that they'd realized this as well as found surer footing as they went along.

Weirdly in the comment discussion following this AV post some fans seem to only now be realizing that Enver Gjokaj (who plays Victor) is the best actor on the show. It took a gay dancing scene to convince them? We've known he was the MVP for a long time. He's virtually the only "doll" that doesn't seem like he's acting a role once imprinted... he merely is the new person he thinks he is. He does spot on impressions of people you wouldn't think you could mimic -- like fellow actor Reed Diamond -- and he's engaging in blank state, too. None of this can possibly be easy, as the uneven performances elsewhere indicate. If you ask me he should have been in the running for a Supporting Actor Emmy nomination last year. I'd like to predict a huge career for Gjokaj post-Dollhouse but Hollywood has a weird self-defeating way of putting blinders on when it comes to newish actors doing great work within the sci-fi world. For instance, in anything resembling a sane world Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica) would be a huge star by now, inundated with film and tv offers. Instead she just has to work the ensemble on aging TV shows like 24 or Nip/Tuck? Boo. If I were a casting director, I'd have Gjokaj and Sackhoff on speed dial.
*

Best of the Fest ~ Goodbye Nashville

As you read this I am quite possibly thousands of miles above you in a huge aluminum alloy vessel, travelling back to NYC. Nashville was a treat and I hope I get invited back to NaFF in some capacity. Here's a quick run down of the cinematic highlights for me. I was on the short film jury and didn't have a chance to see some of the narrative features so this is from a limited pool.

Best Overall Prodigal Sons Filmmaker Kimberly Reed tells me she'll be ineligible for the Oscar for Best Documentary because of something to do with BBC screening or funding (?) which is a real shame because I could see it getting nominated. Other goodies: (500) Days of Summer and That Evening Sun, pictured left. [more on Prodigal / more on Summer]
Best Actress Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer
Best Actor Hal Holbrook as "Abner Meecham" in That Evening Sun. It's based on the short story by William Gay about a farmer who escapes the old folks home and returns to his beloved farm only to find it occupied by new tenants. The film is well directed by Scott Teems, graduating from short films to his first feature, and an Oscar campaign could materialize for Holbrook if this movie gets a solid enough release. Holbrook plays a stubborn old ornery codger... one could say it's an Eastwood'ish role with less of Clint's squinty menace and more of Hal's weary sensitivity. Honorable mention: Joseph Gordon-Levitt in (500) Days of Summer

Best Supporting Actress Three standouts for me. Don't make me choose. It's actresses.

Kaitlin Olsen in Weather Girl pictured right. At first I thought she was doing just an amusing but generic perky blonde sendup. Then she took a late film monologue much farther than I believed it could go. Laugh out loud funny. 4realz. I actually LOLed. Shellie Marie Shartzer in Make-Out with Violence. She has no lines to speak of as dead girl "Wendy" but man does she sell the conceit and work her physicality [more on Make-Out]. Remember that woman that Clive Owen comically seduced over martinis in Duplicity? That's Carrie Preston who is moving in That Evening Sun as a woman who is trying to stand by her man. Mia Wasikowska is also good as her restless friendly daughter. [You'll be seeing the In Treatment regular a lot onscreen soon. She's in Amelia later this year and then Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland]. She wants to get away from Daddy as soon as possible.

...speak of the devil.

Best Supporting Actor Ray McKinnon as Lonzo Choat in That Evening Sun. He plays the tenant of Meecham's old farm. They both want each other off the land. They both intend to stay. McKinnon never once lets his white trash role teeter towards dimensionless bad guy, even though he does despicable things and is pitted against the ultra sympathetic Holbrook. That's quite a feat and this treatment of the character really girds up the central conflict. You might remember McKinnon as Revered HW Smith on Deadwood.

I didn't see the performance that won a special prize for acting from the main jury here (Vincent D'Onofrio in The Narrows) but since the character is disabled I don't know how much to trust that prize. You know how disabled equals kudos as acting goes.

I don't know if I'll have time to talk about the dozens upon dozens of short films I screened but Nick has done a frankly awesome job of relating what our jury decisions were about and reviewing many of the best shorts along his way.

Here's his take on the animated shorts (my favorite was Western Spaghetti) documentary shorts (The Witness was tops and I wanted Steel Homes for our honorable mention but I couldn't convince my fellow jurors to go with it for the prize. grrrr) and several posts on the plethora of live action shorts. We watched for hours upon hours.

Oh, look here's Western Spaghetti. It fills me with delight.

*