Anne Thompson has issues with a new list of Top 100 Westerns Rob Scheer thinks Hollywood should study Hancock for the mistakes it makes and what they represent Glenn Kenny on the new and unpleasant cinematic character trend: contempt for the audience! (Wanted fits nicely in you know) <--- Sheila O'Malley on William Holden: A Different Kind of Hero JA (and the rest of the blogosphere actually) freaks over the new Dark Knight poster. It is spectacularly creepy. Seth @ Defamer warns of a possible Friends film now that Sex & the City has tested the off-the-air-onto-the-screen waters Ray Pride on the new David Cronenberg operaThe Fly J.D. believes in the bohemian revolution. So does WALL•E apparently...
And one more note on the EMMYs... (nominations announced on the 17th). I'm hearing from Low Resolution (who heard it from Gold Derby) that Mary McDonnell's towering work on Battlestar Galactica is in the finalist Best Actress list. I'd almost rather not know that. It's like a carrot dangling in front of me. The EMMY voters are a cruel undiscerning lot and they'll let my desperate bunny-self starve. I just know it. Her competitition: Patricia Arquette, "Medium", Glenn Close, "Damages", Minnie Driver, "The Riches", Sally Field, "Brothers and Sisters", Mariska Hargitay, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit", Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace", Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men", Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer" and Jeanne Tripplehorn, "Big Love". The ideal roster would surely read: Field, Moss, McDonnell and Tripplehorn... and either Hunter or Driver. But I don't suspect that the nominees will come close to matching those womanly riches.
In this week's episode of Best Pictures From The Outside in, hosted over @ Nick's Flick Picks we're discussing 'The Message Movie' since the pair of Best Picture winners that came up from either end of Oscar's timeline were All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Crash (2005).
Oscar's Best Picture battlefields are strewn with the corpses of great movies. Singin' in the Rain and Manhattan weren't even nominated for the top prize. Citizen Kane, Apocalypse Now,Bonnie and Clyde all lost the Oscars they were up for. So did...
something else...
...the name escapes me right now.
Here's my mantra which you've heard it before: Great movies are their own rewards. Who needs Oscar? Great movies last forever. The giants of the cinema keep on giving year after year, decade after decade. Great movies are like a lighthearted frolic in the river when you've been fighting on the frontlines for weeks like these soldiers here in All Quiet (pictured right) and you can't remember what it's like to be clean. Great movies are like a heavenly loaf of bread and a big kielbasa when your stomach is as empty as your soul is starting to feel.
Great movies are forever. Some of them win Oscars. Some of them don't. Next!
This post is brought to you by Nathaniel's jumbled chronologies. He refuses to adhere to the insanely disposable whims of mainstream movie culture. It's an unwritten rule but look around: you're really supposed to only talk about the movies that come out that week (i.e. Hancock) or next month and year instead of whatever comes to your mind (The Incredible Hulk).
I've become weirdly impatient waiting for The Incredible Hulk's box office to catch up with the far more polarizing Hulk's box office. Maybe it'll happen today? tomorrow? It didn't happen yesterday (day 18 results pictured left) but it's almost there. It's like I've started feeling sorry for the united front (studio / media / fanboys) who huffed and puffed in unison trying to boost it up whilst tearing Ang Lee's drama down yet again. It's not that I am a huge champion of the earlier thinkier (feelier?) film or a huge opponent of this one, but I've found the whole thing blandly hypnotic... like something you forget you're paying attention to but you are, despite yourself (like wondering when ER will ever be cancelled even though nobody ever talks about it anymore. Will it run as long as Gunsmoke?)
Things I liked about this version...
Liv Tyler's impossibly breathy voice -- seriously is something wrong with her larynx? Yet I love it. Maybe I'm still holding the torch for Arwen?
Watching Ed Norton's physique fluctuate from scene to scene --not in the CGI gamma ray way but in the "hey, didn't he have bigger muscles in the last scene?!?" kind of filmed out-of-sequence way.
The almost subliminal way the thunderous sound mix worked in the green giant's dialogue (at least the first "leave me alone" time)
Watching Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) run super fast past his fellow soldiers. I love no trick visuals that sometimes feel more special than f/x that you know cost millions. There's something awesomely David & Goliath about that.
Things I didn't like
William Hurt. He was probably my favorite actor when I was falling in love with the movies in the mid 80s but he's so inconsistent.
Hoping "Mr. Blue" was going to turn out to be Hank McCoy (aka 'The Beast' --hey, it was a decent assumption given that Marvel Studios wants to make their movie universe cohesive) and then seeing Tim Blake Nelson instead. It's the only time I've ever wished to see Kelsey Grammar in my life, god help me!
That it was actually a sequel (no shame in that) pretending it was a reboot (false advertising is so annoying)
That it was so easy to shake off after I left the theater. Hulk as a character borrows a lot from classic Internal Drama Queen concepts like Beauty & The Beast, King Kong, Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde etcetera, but he never has similar staying power. He doesn't haunt and Bruce Banner's dilemma really should.
I now return you to the right here and now, July 2nd 2008. Definitely 2005 LA & 1930 Germany next. Maybe summer 1955? Hollywood 1980s. Jamaica in 1962. France in 2000. I can never decided when or where we are. Throw out your calendars!
I'm sure I've told this story before but the oddest moment I've ever had entering a movie theater was in 1984 when I walked into David Lynch's adaptation of Dune and the usher passed me, my parents and my brother a one page glossary of terms we should all read before the movie began. Assigned reading @ the movies. Say what ?!?
<-- Mulder and Scully upon hearing that I've only ever seen four episodes of The X-Files (1993-2002) in my life
Sometimes I embrace televised entertainment that benefits from glossaries and mnemonic devotion and beg others to play along (Buffy and Battlestar) and other times I'm all exasperated "I can't be bothered to keep track of this!" (Lost and The X-Files). I suppose it's a hypocritical stance... but nobody can follow all of these incredibly complex narratives. The brain would burst. You gotta choose.
So, if you're like me and you don't have nine years of twists, conspiracies and alien oddities memorized you might need this new DVD set to prepare you for the second movie, The X-Files: I Want to Believe which opens July 25th. The DVD set is called The X-Files Revelations and it's eight episodes of the TV series specifically chosen for their relevance to the movie. Kinda like a 376 minutes long "previously on..." I have three copies to give away.
NO MORE ENTRIES BEING ACCEPTED. CONTEST CLOSED
Winners will be announced Friday, July 5th. (Although essentially we're all winners since this means we get to look at Gillian Anderson again. Mmmmm, Gillian. You just don't work enough)
tuesday top ten: for the listmaker in me and the listlover in you
Naturally the year will get better from here. "It will, won't it?" he asked in a panicky sweat. These are the ten best of 2008 from January to June (from what I've seen). The most serious omission on my part is In Bruges which won fine reviews. I'll get to it soon. [UPDATE: Have now seen it and would place it at #3 on this list and make the double feature must see, a triple feature] I expect only two of these to make my year-end top ten list. I'm discounting stuff that didn't or won't be getting proper theatrical releases though some (Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Russia's Cargo 200 and miniscule indie True Love) are better than those that did.
10 Iron Man The year's most popular picture is a fun ride. It lags a little at times, that final action sequence sure was drab (The Incredible Hulk's is much stronger for what it's worth) and I'm less impressed than most about that teaser coda but I'm totally ready for the sequel so it must have done something several things right. The most obvious smart move was casting Tony Stark to perfection rather than casting on bankability. Well done Marvel Studios. You must be feeling pretty 'hot rod red' cocky right about now. So, challenge yourself with something a little riskier and less instantly saleable. See how much of a movie empire you can build: Cloak & Dagger, The StarJammers, Doctor Strange ... surprise us! And for gods sake... if something needs a 'pretend it didn't exist' shame-faced reboot It's not Ang Lee's Hulk, it's The Fantastic Four or Daredevil. Get on it.
09 Savage Grace Remember when Julianne Moore used to say the word "cock" all the time in movies. Yeah. They had me at 'Julianne Moore has a dirty mouth again' (review)
08 Roman de Gare AFrench thriller with two very fine performances (Dominique Pinon and César nominated Audrey Dana) saving the movie from its structural red herrings and plotholes (review)
05 Sex & The City: The Movie I realize this ranking overstates its case. It's not without sizeable problems (chief among them time spent with Jennifer Hudson in an embarrassing role when the movie was already so long) but with 80% of the critical population trying desperately to undermine it any ludicrous way they can, I'm just here for a little balance. Consider the reviews for Wanted versus the reviews for Sex & The City and be alarmed that so many critics think the former was all in good fun and yet called the second for shallow and morally questionable. Hmmmm.
Anyway, my point is this: It was fun. The clothes were a hoot. The familiar friendships were lovingly put on display for one last nostalgic round. Best of all, with Samantha's plotline they corrected the biggest stumble of the series finale. Despite a fine last season on air, the finale had a weird need to pair everyone up. The series was always about the trial and error of the romantic journey --and the friends with whom you walked that road --rather than the 'happily ever after' part. I hope they don't make a sequel but I'm glad they made this.
04 Young @ Heart I resisted. Like the film at #6, I went in with a not entirely open mind. I'm allergic to excessive sentiment in movies so if a film has that in its very DNA, I'm always wary. (It's why I don't trust Steven Spielberg the way everyone else does) But by the time an old grieving man with oxygen sits down to croak out a lived-in cover of Coldplay's "Fix You" I was a goner. The movie got to me. [sniffle]
okay I'm just going to tear up again 03 Kung Fu Panda A total surprise. Who knew that Dreamworks Animation, so previously reliant on instantly stale pop-culture humor (think Shrek) and bad anthropomorphics (think Shark Tale) had this gorgeously animated comedy in them? Panda's got a sophisticated color palette plus action sequences that are more inventive than anything in The Incredible Hulk or Iron Man... and a pathetic-schlub-becomes-an-incredible-force-of-nature plot that isn't quite as mainstream pandering or morally repugnant as the office dweeb turned super assassin plot of Wanted. I don't want to overstate its quality but I thoroughly enjoyed.
Double Feature Must-See ~What are you waiting for?
02 Wall•E Post-acolyptic fare with heart? Oh my. Pixar recovered easily from their one stumble (that'd be Cars) with Ratatouille and the follow up is just as rewarding. This tale of a lonely trash collector might even be right up there with The Incredibles (i.e. better than most live-action films) as its vivid with invention, smart but accessible humor and sweet humanity... even though it's about robots.
<-- 01 Reprise Yes, clearly I'm on a mission to get you to this film about two young novelists in Oslo, Norway. But it's not just me who wants you to go. Consider Manohla Dargis's rave, smartly trumpeted in the trailer.
...one of the most passionately and intellectually uninhibited works from a young director I've seen in ages... Reprise has a lightness of touch to match its seriousness of mind, and it may move you to laughter as well as tears.
What she said. Smart girl. We both insist that you go.
Later this week: 2008's best performances thus far Previous Top Tens: new Academy members, 2008 box office, cinematic princes, TV shows, weirdos and more...
The former child star was at the heighth of her adult fame with three hits just behind her (Splendor in the Grass, West Side Story and Gypsy) and another opening at Christmas: Love with the Proper Stranger.
Time capsule:In the summer of '63 --let's pretend it was summer but it's Malibu you never know--Cleopatra and Hud were playing in movie theaters. Liz Taylor, her main rival for 60s female starpower, was dazzling in eyeliner in the former. Paul Newman, one of Wood's earliest co-stars, was delivering a magnificent performance in the latter. Newman and Wood were both nominated for an Oscar the following February, Liz was not but she ended up with the only Best Picture nominee between them. Tell me again how Cleopatra is greater than Hud? AAAaaaaargh.
The summer's biggest hits on the radio? The immortal "It's My Party" -Lesley Gore, "I Will Follow Him" -Little Peggy March (Hi Sister Act!) and the great and silly "If You Wanna Be Happy" -Jimmy Soul --remember when Cher, Christina Ricci and Winona Ryder danced to that in Mermaids (1990)? Good times.
Speaking of good times: President John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King were both championing civil rights and delivering famous speeches in the hot months this year.
E!Online Angelina Jolie's 9 best body parts. Ass doesn't make the list but when I saw Wanted a row of three fanboy geeks shouted "YES!" @ the top of their lungs when it made its brief cameo Just Jared she may have just given birth 12 Grand in Checking NYC + Movies (blog-a-thon) Antagony & Ecstacy doesn't want Wanted Defamer bizarre rumors about Oliver Stone's W. TBATU more Oscar talk for Heath Ledger's Joker. Can this movie just come out already before it hypes me to death? I feel bludgeoned Bauer Griffin Ian McKellen's got a new boytoy. Hmmm, Gandalf definitely has a type --this one being similar to the arm candy he took to the Oscars in '01 i09 has questions about the forthcoming Ant-Man movie. My question is this: Ant-Man (?!?) gets his own movie but we're still not getting any female hero movies greenlit? How long before the studios realize that Elektra and Catwoman failed spectacularly because they were spectacular failures in just about every sense of the word. I think the Alien franchise and Kill Bill and Wanted should prove that audiences like female action stars, too. The movies just have to be good or fun or satisfying in the plain old time-tested normal ways that everybody expects them to be. Imagine that. Argh!
I YWALL•E babblebook a totally adorable post onthis robot romance NY Post Fatties find WALL•E offensive. Have you been following this plump drama? Awards Daily EVE got knocked up, you know The Big Picture A big piece on John Lasseter and Pixar's everlasting winning streak. How ever do they do it? The piece isn't about the Oscars but the quotes from other studios, sound a bit peeved. I know people have been talking about a Best Picture nomination for WALL•E but I'm betting the Green factor (Jealousy not Environmentalism) will hurt in the long run
It's the Quantum of Solace trailer. We'll call it a teaser since it stars Daniel Craig... even if it is 2 full minutes long.
It's clear that for Craig's second outing as 007 the filmmaking team hasn't once been discouraged by the notion that they've been heavily influenced by the Bourne franchise. In November's performance, the role of "dead girl who must be avenged" normally played by Franka Potente will be played by Eva Green. The role normally played by Joan Allen will be played by Judi Dench. The role normally played by Matt Damon will be played by Daniel Craig. Watch out Daniel! Judi is not as frail as she appears. Have you seen Notes on a Scandal or Shakespeare in Love? She will cut you! With an imperious stare maybe but still... it'll hurt.
Anne Thompson has issues with a new list of Top 100 Westerns
And one more note on the EMMYs... (nominations announced on the 17th). I'm hearing from Low Resolution (who heard it from Gold Derby) that Mary McDonnell's towering work on Battlestar Galactica is in the finalist Best Actress list. I'd almost rather not know that. It's like a carrot dangling in front of me. The EMMY voters are a cruel undiscerning lot and they'll let my desperate bunny-self starve. I just know it. Her competitition: Patricia Arquette, "Medium", Glenn Close, "Damages", Minnie Driver, "The Riches", Sally Field, "Brothers and Sisters", Mariska Hargitay, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit", Holly Hunter, "Saving Grace", Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men", Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer" and Jeanne Tripplehorn, "Big Love". The ideal roster would surely read: Field, Moss, McDonnell and Tripplehorn... and either Hunter or Driver. But I don't suspect that the nominees will come close to matching those womanly riches.
