A Single Man Teases

I realize that if I ran Hollywood, they'd be bankrupt in a year. Oh, the things I'd greenlight! And the way I'd market the beautiful motion pictures I shepherded into being. (sigh) History shows us that moviegoers like to see spoilers and lots of exposition in their trailers but I shudder when a trailer ends and I already know the entire outline, the best three moments and can guess the ending with 90% accuracy. I'd promote nearly every movie like they're promoting A Single Man. Here is the teaser -- thanks to reader Seeking Amy for pointing it out -- which is all intriguing imagery and dropped hints as to the story that awaits you.



The Good News
This is truly beautiful stuff. Julianne Moore looks ravishing and stylish. Colin Firth looks less dumpy than usual and the cinematography by Eduard Grau (a DP I'm not familiar with) looks promising, indeed. It should come as no surprise that the first feature from a reknowned image maker, fashion golden boy Tom Ford, would look good. But this looks great. The delicious cast also includes the superhumanly beautiful Ozymandias Matthew Goode, Pushing Daisies' Lee Pace, Nicholas "About a Boy Man" Hoult, model Jon Kortajarena, Teddy Sears (Dollhouse) and the always welcome Ginnifer Goodwin.


The Bad News
The movie is still for sale which means that you can't count on it showing up in your cinema any time soon. Here's to hoping that something magic occurs at Toronto and this movie can enter the upcoming Oscar fray. Which will only be a scuffle, methinks, given the barren awards landscape that 2009 seems to be turning into.
*

TIFF Day One: Antichrist and Jennifer's Body

Lev Lewis reporting from the Toronto International Film Festival

My first day at the festival yielded two opposing ends of the horror spectrum. On one end: Antichrist, the latest piece of controversy from Danish provocateur Lars von Trier; on the other: Jennifer's Body, the horror-comedy written by Diablo Cody. It's not difficult to say which one I prefer although words such as "prefer" or "enjoy" are not words that one should ever use to describe Antichrist.

Antichrist is everything you have heard and then some. I came into my screening moderately prepared for what von Trier had in store for me. I'd seen his previous work, read numerous articles detailing the controversy surrounding the film, thought I knew what I was in for. But, without trying to sound hyperbolic, nothing can prepare you for this. Perhaps, there will be people out there who will find themselves unaffected by the film, but I simply cannot imagine who they would be. Antichrist is the most audacious, disturbing, gut-wrenching, terrifying film I have ever encountered. At this point I'm still having difficulty applying any sort of critical sensibility to a work this powerful. Honestly, I'm unsure if a film has ever affected me quite as much as von Triers' has. Three quarters through I was literally shaking.

Charlotte in Eden

I need a bit more than an evening's perspective to really dissect the film, but needless to say Lars von Trier, along with Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg (who give astonishing performances as the grieving couple) have created what will likely be one of the seminal works of our time.

Willem Dafoe watched the whole film with us and then did a Q&A. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from him, but he was extremely suave, intelligent and funny.

Megan and Amanda: They know what boys want. They know what boys like.

Jennifer's Body, Diablo Cody's second foray into film, yields dull results. It's difficult to say whether Jennifer's Body feels inferior to Juno* due to a less able director (Karyn Kusama in the place of Jason Reitman), a lesser cast, or whether it is simply due to a poor script on Cody's part. So while it is certainly true that director Kusama is a) unable to combine horror and comedy in any sort of resonant way, and b) build the mood or tension very much needed for horror, blame must also be attributed to Cody who insufficiently blends her already-dated, stylized pop-culture laden dialogue with 80's camp-horror. Sadly, this is the one distinguishing element of Jennifer's Body and the only aspect that separates it from every horror film of late. Like the rest, scares are derived from characters walking slowly through dark spaces until something jumps out, which is of course complimented by appallingly loud thumps on the soundtrack. As well, the numerous flashbacks, which always begin with the obligatory dissolve to white and the contrast pumped to the max, do little to set Jennifer's Body apart from its modern-day peers.

<-- Seyfried & Fox in blood red heels at the premiere.

The film's Midnight Madness premiere was packed and the audience was eating out of the hands of Cody, Kusama, Fox and even Seyfried. However I can't imagine many people getting worked up about Jennifer's Body outside of the late-night festival atmosphere. Or perhaps I'm giving moviegoers too much credit. It is also possible that people will devour the audience-baiting of Jennifer's Body. For instance, at one point Amanda Seyfried, from out of nowhere and with no motivation, sucker-kicks a nurse who has done nothing to warrant such violence. The nurse flies through the air (accompanied by mind-numbing sound editing) and falls bloody and battered into an array of tables. This lurid act of violence received huge rounds of applause from an apparently blood-thirsty audience. Grade: D+

More fun than the film itself were the proceedings. The whole cast and crew were in attendance and up on the stage were: Karyn Kusama, Megan Fox, Johnny Simmons, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman. The rowdy crowd was quite thrilled at the appearance of Fox, and asked numerous questions about the kiss between her and Seyfried. However, Diablo Cody stole the show announcing that her greatest contribution to cinema has been the words "Stick it in".

*Not that I am, by any means, Juno's biggest fan.

related posts: "Places Willem Dafoe's Ass Has Been" / Jennifer's Body trailer

Now Playing: The Dire Days of Summer

Robert here looking at new releases this week. If you hadn't noticed (of course you've noticed) we've entered a strange barren time of year when the whiz-bang of summer has died off and the post-fest Oscar season has yet to start up. Pickings are slim so I'll remind you that these films are still in theaters: The Hurt Locker, Ponyo, District 9, In the Loop.

9 - The one film attempting to position itself for Oscar recognition will have an uphill climb, especially since three Animated Feature spots have practically been snatched up by Coraline, Ponyo, and Up, and there's plenty of competition for two remaining, should there be two remaining. Critical reaction hasn't been very kind, except toward the visuals and I'm reminded of how many filmmakers today are fantastic visual artists desperately in need of writers who aren't anywhere to be found. [rotten tomatoes / metacritic]

Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself - Tyler Perry returns as Media (like you didn't see that coming) his sassy, pistol packing granny who proves that men in drag are never not funny. This time around she catches a couple of troubled youths looting her home and sends them off to their boozing, night-club singing Aunt who, judging by the title, can do bad all by herself. Taraji P. Henson plays the aunt and, judging by the poster, seems to be the selling point for this film which proves that attractive women trump men in drag every time. [rotten tomatoes]

Whiteout - Domenic Sena (director of Swordfish and Gone in 60 Seconds) could take a lesson from Michael Bay. When aspiring to an action film career better to be bombastic, successful and despised than middling, forgetful, and tolerated. After going through development hell, his latest film finally gets released and the world collectively wonders why anyone would watch Kate Beckinsale run around all actiony in a snow parka when you could see her do the same thing in a form-fitting leather suit. Ms. Beckinsale meanwhile continues her evil plan of amassing a career that utterly perplexes me. [rotten tomatoes / metacritc]

Sorority Row - Nothing I could possibly say about this film can describe it better than this: Go to IMDb, look it up and note that the very first listed actor is credited as "bra-clad sister." My work here is done. [rotten tomatoes]

Crude - Have you heard of the "Amazon Chernobyl?" Apparently Texaco hasn't been going easy on the the peoples or environments of South America. Director Joe Berlinger of Paradise Lost fame explores not just the environmental disaster but the unending and complex lawsuit that's still ongoing. [rotten tomatoes / metacritic]

No Impact Man - Another compelling documentary out this week demonstrating how the liberal doc movement of the early aughts has blossomed into something really worthwhile. Author Colin Beaven's experiment of having no environmental impact at all over the course of a year is chronicled in a film that's filled with more comedy and complexity than you'd expect. [rotten tomatoes / metacritic]

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - I admittedly had not heard of this film before I googled it and saw Michael Douglas' scowl staring at me from inside some misguided Saul Bass-inspired thriller poster. It's enough to make me wonder when exactly it was that Douglas' career took such a hard fall from grace (did One Night at McCool's really do all this damage?) and furthermore why we must be reminded of this sad fact every so-often. Douglas plays a less-than-scrupulous District Attorney. Jesse Metcalf plays a young reporter who frames himself for murder in the hopes of getting inside the story and bringing Douglas down. Expect serious men in suits and lots of dramatic pauses. [rotten tomatoes / metacritic]

The Other Man - Michael Douglas isn't going to provide your only opportunity to see respectable actors in a turkey this weekend. Here Liam Neeson plays a man who discovers his wife, Laura Linney, is having an affair with Antonio Banderas (like we haven't all been there before). Director Richard Eyre (Iris, Notes on a Scandal) has a reasonable history of leading his actors to Oscar Nominations and I recall thinking, over a year ago, that a Richard Eyre movie could only mean good things for Neeson and Linney. Turns out we should probably just expect more serious men in suits and dramatic pauses. [rotten tomatoes / metacritic]

You Linkin' To Me?

Village Voice Josh Olson (A History of Violence) says "I will not read your fucking script"
Flickr Cuteness. José Cruz draws Robert De Niro in 40 roles
In Contention on Tom Ford's A Single Man with Julianne Moore and Colin Firth
The Big Picture ruh-roh. The Road is already turning quite divisive. How do you think it'll fare in the Oscar race?
Empire unnecessary sequel news: Hancock 2. Who was clamoring for this, exactly? Besides the bank accounts of Charlize & Big Willie that is
My New Plaid Pants thinks healthcare via Trainspotting
Cinema Viewfinder is hosting a Brian De Palma blog-a-thon
MTV a stripping fan stripped of press pass after plea to George Clooney. Have you seen this?
The Critical Condition 101 Best Songs of the Aughts (in progress)
The Independent Eye George Clooney doin' the airport stare. Filmmakers love the melancholy of airports, don't they?


Finally...
Coming Soon The Coen Bros are doing another remake. Did they learn nothing from The Ladykillers? We value them for their originality most of all. That said, this reunites them with Jeff Bridges, "The Dude" himself. What's more it's a remake of the Best Actor winning John Wayne film, True Grit (1969). Intriguing or a very very bad idea? Sound off
*

Before There Were Websites... (Pt 2)

...there were scrapbooks (prev. pt 1)

Let's continue that silly reveal of my "Movies of the Eighties" scrapbook. I'm still hoping to locate the "Movie Stars of the Eighties" companion volume in which I ranked all the actors and actresses of the decade. Wouldn't that be a ROTFL experience? If I can find it I will share, despite the loss of dignity it will surely occasion.

Behold! To your left is the tv guide cover that started it all. I guess it wasn't an actual TV Guide as my personal mythology has always relayed but whatever television magazine thingie was inserted into the Detroit Free Press back in the day. That cover right there started my whole Oscar obsession -- look how worn, damaged and fingered it is. I thumbed through it so many times. What is this naked gold man they call Oscar??? This cover unlocked my latent awards mania. I had seen Tootsie and E.T. (massive family friendly hits both) but it was the center statue that seized my imagination. Soooo shiny.

Shiny shiny sha-na-na-na.
Shiny shiny bad times behind me

From there I became more and more movie obsessed. Based on the "everything I've seen" scribblings it looks like I was seeing about 25-40 films a year. Not all of the clipping collages matched the screening lists. I can't recall exactly what dragged me to theaters back then, but Dennis Quaid was a factor.


Do you know the 14 films displayed there? Some of them I barely remember...

The 1988 and 1989 pages are heavily Burtonesque with a late blooming burst of Pfandom by way of The Fabulous Baker Boys. I thought this clipping below was an interesting time capsule: a note about who might play The Joker before Batman (1989) was even filming. It was superhero casting speculation before steroids the internet.



It's smudgy but it reads

Although an unknown will be considered for Batman, Jack Nicholson (far right) has been mentioned in connection with the Joker. _____'s personal picks for the role are Ray Liotta (Something Wild, left) or Willem Dafoe (Platoon, center).

For the Record: Heath Ledger was 10 years old when Tim Burton's Batman arrived in theaters. Who imagined that Nicholson's Joker would eventually have to stand down?

If you want to see more of this scrapbook, say so in the comments.

But I wanted to wrap up this part 2 peak with this: Lists! Apparently I thought the best "losing sanity" performances of the 80s were:

Jack Nicholson Batman
Meg Tilly Agnes of God
Glenn Close Fatal Attraction
Meryl Streep Plenty

With the distance of time, I'd only feel comfortable standing by the bunny boiler. Not that there isn't much to admire in Streep's 1985 performance. But why only four performances? The magic number is five, Nathaniel, hello. Everyone knows that.

Stranger still is the "best sequels of the decade" ranking

5. Superman II 4. Star Trek IV 3. Aliens 2. The Empire Strikes Back 1. Return of the Jedi

That order is ALL wrong: Jedi is a sorry sibling to Empire, The Wrath of Khan crushes other Trek adventures and sentient humans and drooling monsters alike recognize that Aliens is the sequel of the 80s as well as one of the best action flicks ever. I like to think that somewhere inside I knew this and thus felt compelled to scribble A-L-I-E-N-S in large capital expanding letters.

Finally, there's the list of the movies I saw most often, "Again and Again and Again" This one honestly surprised me. I don't remember seeing some of these movies multiple times. I never see things more than twice in the theaters now. Unless the movies are called Moulin Rouge!

(4 times) A Chorus Line, The Empire Strikes Back, Dreamscape, Fire and Ice, The Lost Boys, The Princess Bride, The Secret of My Succe$s, Romancing the Stone, The Karate Kid, The Little Mermaid, Beetle Juice and Ladyhawke
(5 times) A Room With a View, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Clue, St. Elmo's Fire
(6 times) Batman
(9 times) Return of the Jedi
(10 times) The Breakfast Club

You know what question I am forced to ask now: What movie did you see the most in grade school, junior high and high school?
*

What's your favorite movie...

...of the 1950s?

If you don't have one, get rental suggestions from the answers.

I Am Afraid Of Harmony Korine

.

And that's precisely how he likes it, I assume.

JA from MNPP here. If y'all are familiar with my tastes at all at this point - and if you are, my prayers are with you - then you know I don't hesitate at reveling in garbage. Often. Deeply. That vile and base genre that is the horror film is my true love (and the gorier, the bad-tastier they are, there's a pretty decent chance that I will stand loud and proud to champion them), but I roll around like a pig in muck in all manner of cinematic trash whenever I can. It's a living.

And yet... somehow I'd actively avoided all of Korine's films - at least those he'd directed - for a good long while. Something about them creeped me out. Even if it was just the names. Gummo. Julien Donkey-Boy. They promised split lips and acne scars and people lying on pee-stained sofas abusing their children. I don't mind buckets of blood, but... filth... I have a problem with filth. Not the pretty painted-on grime of something like David Fincher's Seven, but movies that hit you like a shut-up trailer's cat-pee smell, those I have trouble watching. And that's what I figured I'd be getting with Korine's movies.

And then... then came the Herzog connection. I am worshipful of Werner Herzog. I bown down. He is in my opinion the greatest living filmmaker. And he started starring in Korine's films. I still haven't worked my way back to Julien Donkey-Boy (I hear his performance therein is something to behold) but I hit up Mister Lonely because, I mean come on, Samantha Morton! Diego Luna! And Werner Herzog? There's no way I could say no. And I loved Lonely. Loved. It was my #7 movie last year.

So now... now we come to his new movie. It's called Trash Humpers. (Of course it is.) And it's playing at Toronto this week, and now via Twitch comes the trailer. The delightfully deranged trailer.

.

.

So what do we think of Korine? One trick pony or cinematic wunderkind? And how about that bizzaro trailer? I'm hooked.
.

Lev in Toronto. Again.

Hello all of Nathaniel's readers. Lev Lewis here, not sure if you remember me. My words were kindly represented at the Film Experience this time last year, and I'm happy to be back covering the Toronto International Film Festival for Nathaniel once again.

Last year was my first year doing the immersive TIFF experience, so naturally, I did quite a bit "wrong". That includes seeing a number of films (Zift, Acolytes) that, had I done a bit more research, I would not have seen. However, I've been keeping up with the going-ons of festivals throughout the year and so when the final line-up was announced I found myself familiar with quite a few titles. I'm ridiculously excited for the festival, and have assembled what I believe to be a (hopefully) stellar collection of films.

So: tomorrow evening I start the festival off with a bang with a 9:00pm screening of Lars von Trier's hotly debated Antichrist. Then, directly afterwards I'm attending the Midnight Madness premiere of Jennifer's Body. I'll report back Friday with my thoughts on the two films. Wish me luck.

Snip Snip Go the Posters

Glenn from Stale Popcorn again with another entry while Nathaniel helps his parents move house across the country.

As anybody who reads my blog is that I have a mild obsession with movie poster art. The good, the bad, the very bad and the occasionally deranged. One of absolute favourite key art designers is Jeremy Saunders (his official site) who is an Australian designer. His poster work tends to be for Australian films or Australian exclusive versions of international films.

Recently on his Twitter feed he started going on about "the best poster design he's ever done" and "Praying (to whatever) that @lars_von_trier approves my poster for the Australian release of Antichrist". While I'm not sure if Von Trier accepted it, but he posted the poster on his website and I thought, considering the number of people who want to see this movie desperately, I'd share it.


As anybody who has seen the film (such as myself) can attest to, the image represented on here is... somewhat apt. I do like to imagine this hanging up in the local arthouses and having some unsuspecting victims moviegoers mulling to themselves or their friends "well that's looks intriguing!"

And just to spread the word of Jeremy Saunders here are some of his most amazing work for you to drool over. Aah, the beauty of it all.

Oh Susana...

Jose here with a dose of religious controversy, Mexican divas and whippin' fun...

Even if it's dated, slightly campy and a very minor entry in Luis Buñuel's filmography, 1951's Susana contains some wonderful elements that would resonate throughout the Spanish auteur's entire career.

The plot centers around Susana (Rosita Quintana pictured above) a mysterious woman who escapes jail with help from-gasp- God! She is locked up in a cell with rats, bats and scorpions and prays for the Lord to help her out of there. Before you can be shocked Buñuel is already giving us a cross symbol after which Susana acquires superhuman force, breaks the bars and escapes.



She finds shelter in an hacienda where she lowers her cleavage, bounces her blonde hair, pouts her lips and seduces all the men-including the owner and his son- and causes the otherwise God fearing wife (Matilde Palou pictured below) to go all devil like...



...but not before she also prays and asks the Lord to give her strength to whip Susana and find a way to kick her out of her home.

Buñuel always had issues with Catholicism and whatnot, but what intrigued me about this film was how he implies religion isn't always used for rightful deeds. Not only that, it's exclusively the women in the film who use God to their convenience as if he was another man they could flirt with and get their way. Chauvinism? Social satire? or plain old scandal-seeking behavior from his part? You be the judge. Buñuel himself was never pleased with how Susana turned out (too happy for his taste) but like everything he made it's quite worth the look.
*

Before There Were Websites... (Pt 1)

...there were scrapbooks!

My parents are moving, abandoning my childhood home, and I spent my holiday going through old boxes in storage. It's hard to part with any of these secret keys to unlock my childhood. There's heaps and heaps of homemade comic books featuring my own superhero creations which I shan't share (because they were never optioned for movies... not because they are totally embarrassing. Uh, yeah. Not because of that). Plus lots and lots of drawings of various X-Men, Madonna, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

Many photo scrapbooks were uncovered including "MOVIES OF THE EIGHTIES"

front cover: Raging Bull (I hadn't seen it. I just knew it was
"important" somehow), E.T. and Aliens

Turns out The Film Experience was no fluke. I was always writing about movies... but when I was in junior high and high school, the writing was in list-making form and smelled like rubber cement instead of Apple computer.

inside covers: Silkwood , Crimes of Passion, Terms of Endearment

The front and back covers are completely mainstream / boy friendly, and yet the inside jackets are so actressexual. It's as if my love for actresses was still reasonably contained, with Meryl Streep and Kathleen Turner whispering to me in pupa stage.

I was absolutely obsessed with the unseen-by-me Crimes of Passion (MPAA ratings scandal!) though I'm not sure I ever asked myself why... Kathleen Turner was enough cover for and emblem of any prurient reason.

back cover: the infamous gold bikini, Return of the Jedi

Somewhere -- I cannot find it! -- there is a half-formed MOVIES OF THE NINETIES scrapbook which I began in college... but abandoned once the glorious internet took over my life and made scrapbooks actual items of nostalgia rather than just containers for the same.

Part 2 coming soon. some random funny clippings from the book.
*