A note for impatient readers: My top ten list is coming (I'm aiming for January 1st / 2nd) but first there's a couple year in reviews things and an interview with Kirsten Dunst. The new site will be up soon, too. Hopefully everything will be running smoothly within the next week.
Vulture Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu speaks out. Good read. I especially liked the Woody Allen bits. /Film Remember when Buried won that surprise NBR Screenplay award. That's not the end of the film's Oscar campaign story... Wired Patton Oswalt (The United States of Tara) asks for the death/rebirth of geek culture by ETEWAF (Everything That Ever Was... Available Forever). Really interesting piece, especially if you're feeling burnt out by the internet's constant regurgitation of past things and repurposing of newish things. Playbill has a list of a ton of people's favorite theater moments of the year. I wish I could still afford theater. [sniffle] Towleroad my weekly article with a teensy bit on the "depressing" double of Rabbit Hole and Blue Valentine. Cinema BlendCasper the Friendly Ghost is coming back to the movies. In Related News: Hollywood isn't even trying anymore. True story: I saw the Christina Ricci Casper (1995) at the drive-in and my best friend cried and we all made fun of him for weeks afterwards.
Three random questions:
Do you think Anne Hathaway is pissed that her Oscar co-host gets the EW cover but Natalie Portman gets what would then, symmetrically speaking, be hers?
Will there be a single day in 2011 where we aren't staring at Natalie Portman's mug?
Was there a day in 2010 when we didn't see James Francos?
offscreen
The Awl Call this next year twenty-eleven, please not "two thousand eleven". A compelling funny argument.
Y'all remember when I did this for the ladies so I figure it's twin-time. You have to have both pieces of a matching set. Not that I'm looking forward to this one as much. Impress or surprise me fellas! You're not actresses so you have to work harder to provide Film Experience jollies. (If you have time to watch the full video it's at the bottom of the post.)
1:00Robert Duvall (Get Low) tells a rambling story about becoming an actor and reveals "my brothers were both professional singers." The Duvall Brothers, eh? I so wanna hear that record. Would it be like the Osmonds except with less smiling?
3:00 The discussion turns to acting as a rewarding profession. Colin Firth (The King's Speech) picks up this Duvall baton.
"You get to play all your life. Most people have to grow out of it. The fantasy thing stays alive which is wonderful. It can be a little hard on the people living with you..."
He then reveals the dangers in staying a child when you're a grown-up. Those who do get very susceptible to external matters of fame; they become needy about attention and far too giddy if someone pats them on the back.
4:00 The first laugh of the hour comes from Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) who pats Firth on the back. Right then.
Blazing young star and seasoned professional.
6:03 Firth is still talking three minutes later but the thing that struck me here is realizing how young Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine) is. He just turned 30 two weeks ago. I never think about this but seeing him in this context I'm suddenly like 'oh, yes. baby star' Sometimes I forget that though actresses are regularly giant stars in their 20s, the male actors take longer to ascend.
7:00 This is funny. The reporters try to lead Firth to name projects he hated.
Reporter: Have you done a film or a role where you really felt it wasn't quality and you knew it? Firth: Have you glanced at my CV?
Funny. Firth is still talking. I don't recall any of the actresses hogging the convo this much.
7:40Linguistic Trivia! Firth claims that English civilians use the word "resting" to describe time off between actor's roles but he says that actual actors don't use the word as there's nothing "restive" about it. Ruffalo says he calls this "rotting."
9:02 The toughest moment in Ruff's career? He's talking about the bi-coastal issue of theater and the perception being if you're doing theater in LA people think you're a loser. It took him forever to get his first movie role. So he's doing theater and bartending (in LA) and going "Where's my Rumblefish?" This leads to an incredibly off moment where James Franco (32) suddenly gets confused about how old Mark Ruffalo is (43). Awwwk-kwward. (From the looks of things, Jesse Eisenberg doesn't know what a Rumblefish is.)
For the record Rumblefish debuted in 1983 when Ruffalo was only 16 and not legally allowed to serve alcohol. He meant it aspirationally rather than real-time concurrently. Duh, Franco!
10:49 Ruffalo says he's from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wisconsin readers? Are you proud to claim the Ruff?
11:54 Now he is talking about seeing A Streetcar Named Desire on TV and realizing what acting was for the first time. This is the second random reference to Marlon Brando and we're only 12 minutes in. That man casts quite a long shadow with thespians.
14:00 Hmmm. Amazing descriptive nugget of great acting from Duvall "Terrific interior moment that works in the imaginary set of circumstances." I love that. But then he has to go and ruin it by bagging on critics for a split second. I hate when actors do this because it's so short-sighted. I always wish people would stop and ask themselves where the legends of entertainment would be, or rather, how large would their legend be if you removed the perceptive things that have been written about them over the years, the monuments to their performances and such. Not as legendary that's where they'd be.
17:24 Gosling explains that he worked on risky material now because of starting on undemanding television shows. He talks about growing up around a lot of crazy characters and not seeing them reflected on television or the screen.
They were good or they were bad [on film]. The people I was growing up around were everything all the time. They were good people but they were bad people. They were funny but they were doing terrible things. So I think I just naturally gravitated to those kinds or roles
He then talks about superhero films and the like and how he isn't sure he could do them and assumes they'd be hard to do, acting against nothingness rather than another actor. Brief shoutout to Michelle Williams for her difficult role in Blue Valentine.
20:54 James Franco claims that he no longer fights for roles. He thought he wasn't going to get 127 Hours but it turns out that the audition just went awkwardly because Danny Boyle thought he was stoned. The reporter, bless, says "were you?" "NO!" comes Franco's quick shocked response. Oh, Franco. Everyone always thinks you're stoned. It's the sleepy eyelids, glazed eyes and perpetual naughty smile.
21:53 Interesting bit on 127 Hours, where Franco likens the crew to actors since he had no one to act off of. So the cinematographer, director, etcetera felt like fellow actors to him.
25:37 Franco "I can only have one master." [*numerous hands raise for volunteering at computer screens across the world*]
26:15 The reporter brings up the not so uninteresting topic of disagreement with directors but these actors are too cagey to answer. Franco sees through this immediately and here is his silent response.
Firth makes an elusive stab at the question.
If you have faith in this person than you probably give your idea up for theirs. That's exhilarating. But that's awful if you don't trust the person which is not that unusual, really.
The King with the stammer then clams up after that tantalizing confession. So damn cagey. Why will no one answer? You don't have to name names. Speak cryptically to give us some guesswork at home. Think of the audience. You're entertainers, so entertain.
28:04 Ohmygod. It's weird. You know, I enjoyed watching The King's Speech but it's one of those movies that seems boring to discuss. They're talking about the research of playing a kingzzzzzzz. Biopics put me to sleep. Speaking of which why was Christian Bale not invited to this? Is it because he would hate this sort of thing?
34:00 We're still on researching biopics. I'm going to grow old and die while watching this. Cobwebs are growing twixt keyboard and screen. It's rather remarkable that Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) is just now speaking more than halfway into this thing and it's making me realize why the Actress roundtable was so much more interesting. And it's not, I swear, just because actresses are more interesting. I believe if you watched these back-to-back you would quickly realize that the actresses actually talked to each other. Banter sprung forth. This is just a group of six men waiting to be questioned. They're not interacting. Zzz.
Jesse says he was discouraged from researching Mark Zuckerberg but he found it impossible not to.
How could I not meet a guy I'm going to be playing?... I thought it would be limiting to play somebody real and so specific but it turned out to be really freeeing... maybe it would start as mimicry but then it would have some kind of visceral response and ultimately take you into it further.
36:50 Jesse talking about reading the script from Zuckerberg's point of view and feeling he was completely justified in everything. God, being an actor would be so weird, right? Constantly removing yourself and embodying other ethos and personalities.
38:40 There's a split second where I think we're going to get a good back and forth. Jesse glances at Mark and mentions that they've both worked for him (David Fincher though he is weirdly not named) but Ruff' doesn't respond. Duvall seems totally confused by Eisenberg's description of filming The Social Network ... since he keeps talking about 50 takes.
41:00 Gosling and Ruffalo are totally laughing about Eisenberg's candor and obsessiveness. He's telling about a director being pisssed at him for keeping track of which takes he thought he was terrible in and sharing his notes about which to use. (Not Fincher)
Duvall speaks his mind. He has opinions, this one.
42:05 Finally something interesting! It seemed like Duvall was deaf or confused by the Fincher discussion but it turns out he was listening. He says he turned down a role in Se7en (!) -- but mentions that he thought it was a great movie -- but is not happy to hear about Fincher's fondness for endless takes.
"Can I say one thing? To me 'The great Stanley Kubrick' was an actor's enemy. He was an actor's enemy. I can point to movies that he's done, the worst performances I've ever seen in movies. Terrible performances. Maybe great movies but terrible performances."
We'd probably have a spirited throwdown right then in a roomful of critics or chattier actors but these are polite hesistant interviews so he then trails off into discussing Brando again who has now been mimicked twice. Both Duvall and Ruffalo have done Brando during the first 42 minutes.
43:05 Finally some interaction. It took Duvall's Kubrick smackdown to wake them up (even if they didn't join in the fight) and they're actually talking to each other. Sometimes conflict on the set is good they all agree.
44:00 Franco says he's never had a director like that (hundreds of takes) but thinks that Fincher makes great movies.
45:00 God, I love Mark Ruffalo. He seems to be enjoying this the most (or is at least the most laidback of the six) and is describing those excruciatingly long days on Zodiac. 'You hit your stride and you're on take 25 and He starts walking toward you. You're thinking to yourself 'I hope he's coming over here to fire me' [laughter in room] And then he just walks past you and moves the extra behind you an inch...'
First there was no interaction and now physical interaction. Will there now be slash fiction involving Ryan & Mark? I offer this picture up for inspiration.
Ruff' says it's in moments like this that you realize that Fincher is a director who is always thinking of the entire frame and you are just happy to be taking up your small percentage of it. If this subject intrigues you and you're new to the Film Experience you might want to check out these recent comments from Jake Gyllenhaal on the same issue.
48:00 This leads to a bit about Gosling being fired from The Lovely Bones. Funny story about Peter Jackson and Gosling not seeing eye to eye on the character. "He hired me at 150 lbs and I showed up weighing 210 lbs" His diet consisted of melting down Häagen-Dasz and when he was thirsty he would drink it instead of water. YUM. Anyway, they had different ideas about the father and he was fired. "So I was unemployed and fat." He seems glad that he got fired which can only lead me to believe that he has seen the finished movie. The Häagen-Dasz saved him!
52:00 A question about expectations versus actual experience in Hollywood is asked but doesn't get traction. Jesse talks about his experiences as a child actor and trusting your own instincts about which projects to say "yes" to. He alludes to a horror movie (I'm guessing that'd be Cursed) that his agent and his dad were at odds about whether he should do and he went with the agent's advice but says his Dad was right.
56:00 The reporter tries to end with a "great takeaway from your life/career?" proudest moment type round table question. Duvall brings up The Godfather but it sounds like he's bringing it up just because it's expected of him. What really gets his emphasis is the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove.
58: 21 Colin says he can't do it, can't answer this question. Colin is pissing me off. He talks so much but he won't answer the questions. Yet his refusals are complicated and verbose. Shut it Darcy.
59:00 Oh! Sorry. I didn't mean to force the issue. The video shut off on me just as I typed that. No joke. It's a sign from the blogging gods that I've gone too far; shut it Nathaniel.
Here's the complete video if you have a full hour free.
Footnote (just for the helluva it) Movies/TV & Stars Name Checked
Duvall: Marlon Brando, The Great Santini, Eleanor Dusa, Sarah Bernhardt, Sandy Meisner, Othello, Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Lonesome Dove, Se7en, The Godfather, American Buffalo
Firth: Christoph Waltz, Nostromo
Ruffalo: A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando, Stella Adler, Rumblefish, Zodiac
Gosling: Young Hercules, Michelle Williams, Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones, Blue Valentine
Franco: Danny Boyle, Milk, 127 Hours, James Dean, Alfred Hitchcock.
Saturday Night Live, that dinosaur of pop culture, may be good for something we never really expected: producing Oscar hosts. Both James Franco and Anne Hathaway, just announced as February's Oscar hosts, have hosted the ancient challenging live comedy program (Franco in 2009, Hathaway just recently) to fine results, so why not Hollywood's High Holy Night? I'm just glad that they didn't take the SNL alum thing to its exhaustively ubiquitous endpoint: Betty White!
Franco & Hathaway have proven themselves as versatile showpeople over the past decade but more importantly for their latest assignment, they're both good industry sports and twinkly showbiz ambassadors. They don't always need the spotlight (witness their frequent onscreen generosity to co-stars) but when it hits them they sure sparkle, they choose a mix of classy projects and check-cashing opportunities (usually a wise career move), and their onscreen personas are buttressed by offscreen personalities that read as amiable, clever and ready for a good time. In short, though they both can be the life of the party, it's just as easy to imagine them hosting one. You can practically see them taping streamers to ceilings or blowing up balloons for a friend's birthday, can't you?
But alas... AMPAS's decision to employ them is problematic. Though Hathaway's Best Actress prospects are on the fade for Love and Other Drugs, most pundits agree that Franco is one of the frontrunners for this Best Actor for 127 Hours. Therefore we can't totally cheer this otherwise sensible decision. The Tony Awards regularly use nominated hosts and The Emmys have been known to double dip, too. But no matter the organization, the event, or the temperament of the celebrity, it's unavoidably T-A-C-K-Y. It's like hosting a party and declaring yourself the Guest of Honor. Who does that?
David from Victim of the Time with one last report from the 54th BFI London Film Festival.
Craig gave you a packed wrap-up earlier today, but I couldn't let you go without getting in another word myself. I caught near to 50 films during the past month (give or take a couple I, er, nodded off during), and I'm happy to say there were an abundance of highs and a general lack of lows - maybe I just chose well, or maybe the programmers did. My standout film remains Kelly Reichardt's menacing Meek's Cutoff (review), while the festival practically brimmed over with stunning female performances, from Michelle Williams' two-hander in Meek's and Blue Valentine (capsule), to Jeong-hee Lee's damaged optimism in Poetry (Nat's review), to Lesley Manville's jittering sorrow in Another Year (capsule). Huge thanks to Nathaniel for hosting Craig and I, huge thanks to the festival for putting on such a great show, and huge thanks to you for reading.
For my final post, let's stick with the positivity, since the year's closing film proved a surprising package from a director I usually dislike...
127 Hours may give you a headache, but Aron Rolston had to hack his arm off, so maybe you I should stop complaining. Danny Boyle rather pre-empts the inevitable intensity of witnessing someone detach their arm with a blunt penknife by assaulting your senses from the very first moment; it’s all split screens, fast edits, impossible pans from inside kitchen units, close ups of taps dripping, and so forth. This is all rather disorientating and it barely lets up, but the film is enclosed in some vague, meaningless allusion to the speed of modern life with shots of commuters that resemble Koyaanisqatsi, and so the headrush of Boyle’s direction is a very straightforward interpretation of living in Rolston’s world. Once he gets trapped in the crevice, these stylisations barrage instead into his mind, continually taking us on flights of delirious imagination and memory.
Trapped in a limited space, this approach cracks open the film to a freewheeling, if no less intense than you’d expect, experience. The ‘realer’ scenes are kept vital by a dynamic use of sound to express the physicality of the situation. 127 Hours is a rather aggressive experience, but even if the schizophrenia of the visuals makes you put your head between your legs, the generous sense of irony and humour the script exudes, and that the playful James Franco expresses so engagingly, keep the film alive. Though maybe cover your eyes when he removes his contacts. (B+)
Coming-of-age dramas are ten-a-penny, yet the festival threw up a fair share of superbly imagined gems of that specificity. South Africa’s Oscar entrant this year is Life, Above All, where the adolescent Chanda deals with a useless, drunk stepfather, an ill mother, a rebellious friend and the judgmental gazes of her entire neighbourhood. Khomotso Manyaka is a vibrant, perceptive anchor for the film, never characterising Chanda either as burdened by or martyring herself, and importantly maintaining a sense of innocence and childlike fun in her gait and attitude. The script’s heavy emphasis on social judgment is intriguingly endorsed by the intensity of the style in these sequences, hammering home the point to such an extent that it takes on an extra layer of the camera’s judgment; it doesn’t merely observe, but judges the judgers. But specially, Life, Above All is a nuanced, powerful and engaging drama that eschews the ‘poverty porn’ that most African exports seem to engage in, without severing itself from the depiction of the nationhood that inspired that stunted idea in the first place. (A-)
More literally coming of age is Anna (Clara Augarde), centre of Katell Quillevere’s intriguing Love Like Poison. It initially seems set up as a reticent period story, in the 1.33 aspect ratio and dangerously cosy country settings. Very rapidly, though, we see that this is a modern story, with a handily unjudgmental and open attitude. Familial dynamics are skewed – Anna’s mother ashamedly confesses to being jealous of her daughter’s burgeoning sexuality; and Anna reveals herself to two very different males with markedly different intentions – and their tangle with the essence of religion is a set of thematics dealt with by the script on an unpredictable, deeply complex level. More essentially, Quillevere’s film has an innate sense of what the realisation of sexuality is like, and the repercussions it has on the people closest to Anna prove amusing, surprising, depressing, and memorable. (B+)
Movie|Line offers up pre 1970s horror movie suggestions for Halloween /Film James Franco making another poetry film. From behind the camera this time. MCN Halle Berry's Frankie & Alice to get Oscar qualifying release. Have I ever told you how much I hate the one week qualifier rule? "YES. SHUT UP," the readers shout in unison. I'm just sayin' movies should be eligible only if the year of their real release. It's the only way a calendar year 'future history!' eligibility system actually means anything. Serious Film wonders where the critical bar is set for Best Picture nominees in the wake of the cool response to Hereafter. As some of y'all know I don't put much stock in rotten tomatoes scores as Oscar signifiers (partially because all positive or all negative scoring (the dread thumbs!) is an inherently flawed system for reflecting worth and even true opinion. Unless of course everyone is all "A"s and "F"s these days and I realize that's the sad way it's been heading. The Spy in the Sandwich reviews an interesting-sounding film I hadn't yet heard of called Le Fil (The String), a gay film with Antonin Stahly and Claudia Cardinale (!) Hell on Frisco Bay looks at the explosion of film festivals over the last decade. I suspect this is our future since distribution has become so impossible for so many films. My guess: people attending festivals these days are the people that used to frequent their neighborhood arthouses. Paul C wrote a (spoiler-heavy) review of Never Let Me Go that I think is really interesting and perceptive ...though he likes the movie much more than I.
offcinema just cuz Before Glee revives The Rocky Horror Picture Show mania for the next few days, why not a peak at Russell Crowe in fishnets in 1987 playing Eddie & Dr. Scott. Whaaaaa? [hat tip: Cinemablend]
I wish I knew who was playing the other roles. Anyone else famous on that stage?
i09 You have taste receptors in your lungs. Wait... what? Everything I Know a perceptive review of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson which I just saw on Broadway (see "crush of the moment" in the sidebar.) I wish movie biopics had this much irreverent invention. ONTD Madonna to open fitness centers around the world. "Hard Candy"! Ha, I love this idea. Sometimes when celebrities branch out into other fields it's a big "No!" head scratcher. But this one makes perfect narrative sense. Luc Latillipe awesome drawing of Yvonne Craig's Batgirl. There are no other Batgirls if you ask me.
JA from MNPP here. New York's Comic Con went down this previous weekend in the massive Javits Center here on the island of Manhattan, and if you were there amongst the stacks of dusty Fantastic Four comics and shiny samurai sword replicas and Jason Voorhees masks you might've seen me wandering around in a glassy-eyed stupor. Every Comic Con I've been to breeds the same overstimulated dullness - within a couple of hours my pupils dilate and seeing things like a ten-foot tall Orc tickling Wonder Woman just starts to seem normal. This happens every day! Still, a couple of things stood out this year and I shall now document them.
10 Random Things I Learned at NYCC This Year
01Girls really like the Silk Spectre costume - Or maybe it's that they know the boys like seeing them in the Silk Spectre costume - either way, I saw about twenty different ladies wearing the slutty bumblebee ensemble from Zach Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's seminal comic book. The film hadn't come out yet when the last Comic Con happened here in NYC - in 2009 NYCC happened in February, while they moved it into October for 2010 (a permanent move), and Watchmen came out in March 0f 2009 - so I don't remember seeing the costume last year, but it was literally - literally! - everywhere you turned this time around. Does this make Malin "Baby Girl" Akerman a geek icon?
02 Danny McBride's a trooper - The panel for David Gordon Green's Your Highness was at the geek-freaking hour of 10:30am on Saturday. Keep in mind you've got at least an hour's wait to even get into the building at that hour, plus with the commute there... needless to say it took me some effort to drag my bum there, but I did. Then I heard through the press-vine that McBride & Co. had been partying hard until the wee hours of morning before the panel and I felt a little less super for my own efforts, since I'd been in bed by 11:30. James Franco seemed dazed, but Danny McBride was firing on all cylinders. Funny man.
And the footage they showed from the film, while definitely geared to the Comic Con audience - Natalie Portman's thong! Puppets smoking from a bong! (hey that rhymes) - was every ounce the bizarre mish-mash I could've hoped the film would be. It looks terrific. I don't entirely understand David Gordon Green's directing career, but it's been a pleasure watching it play out so far.
03 Geeks will stand in a very long line to watch a commercial - This is nothing new to Cons, I've seen it at every one I've gone to, but it always baffles me. The fine folks behind the upcoming release of the Alien Anthology, as they call it, had a booth where they'd close you up in a sleeping pod and right up in your face was a TV screen and it'd show a bunch of clips from the four Alien movies with some sound effects echoing in your ears. The end. And yet the line never stretched less than fifty people long! I suppose the T-shirt they gave you that cleverly stated "Want A Hug?" had something to do with it, but still. (I totally did it anyway, and I cherish my T-shirt.)
04 The family that geeks together, is adorable together - I wish my parents had dressed me up like a Jedi or Baby Yoda and taken me to these sorts of things. So I could immediately fall asleep. Damn you, parents!
05 In The Thing, There Be Tentacles - While I'm still unsure about a prequel to John Carpenter's brilliant 1982 film, itself a remake, the trailer for Matthijs van Heijningen Jr's film - which has made its way online in an exceptionally shaky, hand-held version - had a couple of quick glances of their take on the plant-animal alien monster things and they did excite this nerd's senses. Although only glimpsed, they look right, which in this era of lousy CG was a concern. Now let's just hope they can nail the right paranoiac tone needed too.
06 Katee Sackhoff and Tricia Helfer are pros at this - I can only imagine how many of these events these ladies have entertained at this point, but the dynamic Battlestar Galactica duo had the audience eating out of their palms. They have a terrific rapport - they are apparently great friends in real life - and joked that they're waiting for the reboot of Cagney & Lacey to come along to showcase it. I would watch that.
07 But Michelle Forbes is scary - I don't care that she told us she's nothing like Admiral Cain in Battlestar of the maenad MaryAnn on True Blood or [insert the name of every character she's ever played] and that she's really a hippie-type in real life - there's a reason she's successful for playing harsh ladies, and she made me nervous. I had to keep checking to make sure everybody's eyes weren't going all black, because with all due respect the audience at a Battlestar Galactica panel at Comic Con is not the audience I want to be having an orgy with.
08 M Night Shyamalan, amiable dude - I defended M Night for a very long time, well past when most people had bailed ship - I liked The Village, and I liked parts of Lady in the Water - but the one-two punch of that book about him and The Happening (shudder) kind of killed any arguments I could make anymore. So I only sat through half of his panel by happenstance, in order to get a good seat for the panel following him (on AMC's The Walking Dead, which looks epic by the way). But he came off really well! It was for the 10th Anniversary of Unbreakable, a terribly underrated film, and you could tell he really loves the film and that its negative reception put him into a bit of a tailspin. He came alive showcasing the storyboards for the train scene at the start of the film - you can say a lot of things about him, but I don't think you can argue about the meticulous craft on display. And he was fascinating to watch in discussion of that.
09 According to Frank Darabont, Zombies are the new Vampires - Which seems like an odd argument to make, right? The last decade has seen every iteration of zombies you could ever imagine - it's not like they need to make a comeback to be the hip thing. I get that he was selling his Zombie TV Show, and it does look terrific. But isn't it really Frankenstein Monster's time to shine again? I want sexy Frankenstein, dang it. (Yes, SNL got there already.)
10 You haven't lived until you've seen Super Mario dancing to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" - This one is self-explanatory, and true. You might not know it's true. But then you see it happen, and you understand its truth. The fundamental sort.
Before we get to today's link roundup -- I went a little crazy as I sometimes do -- enjoy the heat sensor-like photography of the All Good Things poster. Perhaps Ryan and Kiki were a bit jealous of the ruckus Jake & Annie's nude poster caused online.
P.S. Jake Gyllenhaal is obsessed with Ryan Gosling. Just saying. I would try to quote his answer from Saturday night when the audience question 'who would you like to work with?' popped up but it was so rambling and long and confusing that I can't. But let's just say it began with Ryan Gosling, was jilted by Ryan Gosling via text "I'm busy" and then ended again with a circular non sequitor shout of "Ryan Gosling!" Jake likey. Ryan Gosling is what you might call an actor's actor... since everyone seems to want to work with him.
On to the linkage... Candy Magazine A double take of pleasure. Yes, that's James Franco to your left continuing his trans formation from one of the great herd of Hollywood pretty boys to an actually interesting celebrity. My New Plaid Pants is an über fan of Let the Right One In. Doesn't hate Let Me In. Since the response has been so positively muted like "it's good: also, a recreation" I've decided not to see it. Broadway.comCarrie the Musical being revived. Wow. Cinema Blend Me pal Katey basically says all I have to say about the trailer for Julie Taymor's Tempest so I don't need to cover it here. What she said, minus the positive bits since I liked the movie even less than she. The Big Picture Tony Curtis grand sendoff in Las Vegas Hero Complex Emma Stone will play Gwen Stacy in the new Spider-Man. I'm glad that early reports were wrong. Why do the whole Mary Jane story again. That said, isn't it weird that someone known as a redhead is going to play Spidey's favorite blonde and someone known as a blonde was cast as his favorite redhead. Weirdness. The Awl Sasha Frere-Jones and Natasha VC on The Social Network. If you haven't read enough yet, it's fun as always to read these two. 50 Best Theater Blogs I'll have to investigate this list. Just Jared Joseph Gordon-Levitt lost his older brother. So sad. Towleroad celebs speaking about gay bullying on Larry King Live Movie|Line offers tips to Renée Zellweger on how she could regain her A list status. I love the suggestion of a brilliant twitter feed. I hope she calls it @Zeéeee after my new nickname for her. Zeéeeee reads me right? *
Double Duty! Movielicious Have you seen this great mashup poster for Toy Story and Tron? I wish I knew who did it to give them proper cred. Scott Feinberg "Are Bening *And* Moore All Right." Some smart words on the The Kids Are All Right Oscar campaign. John Luciano a Calvin & Hobbes mashup with Let the Right One In. Teehee. I used to love Calvin's girlcrush but can't remember her name right now
*Obviously I am kidding. Someone I am acquainted with who works in the industry once told me that every star googles themselves --whether they admit it or not -- and is familiar with their biggest cheerleaders and nemeses online. But I chose not to believe her because it weirded me out too much to think of Beelzebub, She Who Must Not Be Named, La Pfeiff and The Bening reading or even knowing of my puny existence.
My friend txt critic is completing his Toronto journey soon but he sent another batch of thoughts for your perusal. He starts by taking an against consensus stand.
PASSION PLAY By far the most loathed and eviscerated film of the festival, Mitch Glazer's brazenly out there, 20-years-in-the-works labor of love is extremely slow paced, unafraid to be laughed at for its sincerity and ridiculousness, and -- though I seem to be alone on this -- perpetually interesting. The plot basically boils down to "Mickey Rourke falls in love with circus-freak-with-giant-wings Megan Fox, and has to fight to protect her from violent gangster Bill Murray," so yes, it's silly, but I admired its audacity. Rourke is very very strong, Murray is always fun to watch, and... dare I say it? I thought Megan Fox was *gasp* pretty good (though, again, alone on this). Based on the response, though, who knows if this will ever see the light of day outside of the festival circuit. (B)
That is the sad thing about festivals, even if you're wise enough to mostly see films without release dates (I've never understood why people see things that will be out within in a few weeks) some of them will remain things that only you have ever seen.
SUPER Basically a rougher, sloppier, darker version of "Kick-Ass," James Gunn's homemade super 'heroes' flick has some moments of madcap dark humor, and a surprisingly solid central performance from Rainn Wilson, but it suffers from a severe imbalance of tone, bizarre flourishes that don't add up to much, and a perpetual mean-spiritedness that left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Ellen Page steals the movie with her childlike ADD energy and karate moves, but Liv Tyler and Kevin Bacon are squandered and seem like they wandered in from another movie. (C-)
127 HOURS Danny Boyle's true story of survival has been received raputurously on the festival circuit so far, but while I liked it overall, I can't really jump on the bandwagon of fervor. Boyle's energetic directorial style and a bravura physical performance from the normally boring James Franco go a long way towards keeping us involved; But at the end of the day, a guy with his arm pinned under a rock just isn't an inherently cinematic or compelling story, and the jittery editing and flashbacks and hallucinations -- while understandable on a conceptual level -- almost seem like a betrayal of the realities of the situation. Also, as good as Franco is, we never (or at least I never) feel like we know anything about this guy, or why we should have vested interest in his fate. That said, Boyle and Franco do keep us wrapped up in the goings-on, and there are about a half-dozen sequences (including the insanely intense climax) that are pretty remarkable... at least until the epilogue steps on the "uplifting" pedal a little too hard/disingenuously to try to push this into Slumdog territory. It's a solid effort, and will likely go over big with audiences, but I was only intermittently feeling it. (B / B-)
Interesting take. Especially in regards to the betrayal of a gut wrenching terrifying monotony of the experience as it must have been to live. I'm nervous about this one primarily because I thought Slumdog was only OK and it actively started annoying me when people wouldn't shut up about it. Will we see a repeat of that mass hysteria? And if so does that mean Boyle will get to do anything he wants from now on?
And finally txtcritic disputes the positive notices for Robert Redford's Oscar bait and joins many in loving Darren Aronofsky's latest.
THE CONSPIRATOR Robert Redford's dull as dishwater History Channel re-enactment depicts the true but little known story of Mary Surratt, the mother of the accused collaborator of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. While it's admirable that Redford would like to teach us all about a oft-overlooked footnote in history, he sure as hell doesn't do much to make it engaging, even with a pretty fantastic cast including Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Tom Wilkinson (sporting ridiculous old-timey mutton chops) and Kevin Kline. History nuts may be enraptured, but as an actual movie, it never breaks out of its dry, dusty courtroom procedural paramaters. All I could think of during the film (especially with the presence of Tom Wilkinson) was "John Adams" and the comparison is certainly not flattering. Blech. (C-)
BLACK SWAN I hate to pile on more advance hype, but Aronofsky's much-anticipated psychological ballet thriller is truly staggering. A tightly-wound examination of the obsessive quest for artistic perfection, the film packs in one staggering sequence after another, and never allows us to breathe easy or get comfortable. Simultaneously beautiful and grotesque, it'll likely offput as many as it seduces, but this is a movie that will still be held on a pedestal a decade or two down the line. The comparisons being made to "The Red Shoes" and "The Wrestler" are apt, but there are strong traces of "There Will Be Blood" in here as well, in regards to the extremes to which it burrows into its central character. Portman does easily her best work here, carrying the entire film on her shoulders, and Winona Ryder and Barbara Hershey are terrifying perfection. (A)
So... that's the first I'm hearing of someone really mentioning Noni. Could this be a comeback of sorts (I had assumed it was a teensy-tiny cameo since I'm purposefully not reading reviews I don't know one way or the other)? Since this film is not playing the New York Film Festival I will have to wait along with the rest of you until December 1st.
Come again?!? I can't have heard the release date correctly. I'm dying here.
Noni, Aronofsky, Natalie, and Barbara Hershey
Just for fun, here's what the Black Swan team wore to their big Canadian premiere. Mila Kunis did not attend. *
It's a true story double feature for this installment of Yes, No, Maybe So, in which we break down personal reaction to movie trailers.
We'll start with Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire follow up -- and boy does this trailer not let you forget that this is the follow up -- which is called 127 Hours. In the movie, James Franco plays Aron Ralston who gets pinned under a rock and the rest is, well,his arm is history.
Yes James Franco is on the rise and this could be the movie where he finally proves the extent of his talents. He does have to hold the screen for virtually the full running time. If I've understood the prerelease mumblings correctly, what we're seeing in the trailer is only clips from the first half hour ish of the movie. I'd actually love to have that be the rule for Hollywood. You may not use anything past the 30 minute mark in your trailers. Begone Spoilers! (Not that people don't know what happened in this particular story since it's so easy to sum up and everyone has already been summing online for months.)
Also Moab, Utah is ridiculously beautiful even when shot by cinematographers far less gifted than Oscar winner Anthony Dod Mantle or Enrique Chediak. I know because I once lived in Utah and every photographer, good or un, has a million photographs capturing the rocky beauty of southern half of the state.
No For lost in the desert existential survivalist drama, I'll take something more contemplative like Gus Van Sant's Gerry. Will this be too tricked up to combat those nerves filmmakers so often have about how long they can hold the audiences attention? (Hence the current ridiculous average shot length being under 2 seconds problem.) Maybe So Even though I wasn't crazy about Slumdog Millionaire -- it's actually my least favorite of his filmography (that I've seen) -- I do think Boyle is an energetic and often interesting filmmaker. My Boyle heirarchy would break down like so.
Trainspotting ...choose life
28 Days Later ...choose the future
Shallow Grave ...choose a starter home
Sunshine ...choose a fucking big television
The Beach ...choose a family
Slumdog Millionaire ...but why would i want to do a thing like that?
Love the top three and admire the fourth quite a lot. Slumdog and The Beach are like weird twins of the B-/C+ overrated & underrated fraternal variety. So I'm curious about this movie. Where will it fit in?
Verdict: I'm a yes all told. I'll see it opening weekend in early November if I somehow miss the critic's screenings.
* In Fair Game, Naomi Watts plays CIA Operative Valerie Plame and Sean Penn her husband the journalist in this true story that's already been covered at the cinema in a movie with Kate Beckinsale and Vera Farmiga that nobody went to see called Nothing But the Truth. (It's on that annually expanding list of December Glut Plague victims)
Yes We need to be reminded of stories like this. Particularly since the sins of the past administration are still haunting us. It's definitely a compelling and resonant story about a nation that chucks their integrity and bedrock values for political point scoring (sound familiar? see also: current events).
No On the other hand, do we need to be reminded of it again this quickly? And doesn't the casting of Sean Penn in a liberal political type movie feel a bit too preaching to the choir, a bit too on the nose?
Maybe So I'm intrigued that they choose to end the trailer with Naomi Watt's defiant line reading...
They push you until they find the point at which you break. You can't break me. I don't have a breaking point.
(even though the underscore is laughably OTT) because I feel the exact opposite about her as an actress. She often seems so broken before a movie even begins. I think she's Oscar worthy in Mulholland Dr and nomination worthy in The Painted Veil (easily her two best performances) but my principal problem with her intensely pitched work is that she always seems ahead of the character arc, rather than developing it organically towards narrative peaks. I'm hoping she's calm and nuanced her at least before they threaten to break her.
Verdict: I'm a no in terms of desire, but I try to see everything if Oscar buzz becomes involved. So if awards seasons starts calling on Naomi, I'll definitely catch it.
How do these trailers breakdown for you in the yes no maybe so sense? Have at it in the comments. Whether you're pinned under a rock or your dangerous secret has just been outed, nothing is more urgent than blog commenting! *
Well hell, if I didn’t feature James Franco on Take Three now I never will. His largely supporting career is likely to spill over into full-time leading man status any day now. I’d bet my Spider-Man box-set that in seven months he’ll have either a Best Actor Oscar sat on his desk or at least a well-deserved nomination as consolation; his lead role in Danny Boyle’s freshly-completed true-life tale 127 Hours will surely see him shunted up a few rungs on both the awards and career ladder.
<-- Franco in the true story 127 Hours
Either way, this time next year Franco may very well be beating off his peers for bigger, meatier roles in even more substantial fare (The Rise of Franco may coincide with The Rise of the Apes), or he may continue alternating occasional leads with further supporting roles and directing acclaimed - and award-winning, no less - short arthouse films, all whilst chiselling away at his off-screen, one-man Creative Arts Industry (studying, writing, painting, most likely sending out the gallery invites, and all-round general arts appreciation when he’s not in front of the camera).
There has been a sprinkling of leads, mainly in slightly derivative stuff such as Sonny (Nic Cage’s Own Private Gigolo), rote military-boxing drama Annapolis and period snog-a-thon Tristan + Isolde. (These sit just above the near-lead performances to be filed under Quickly Forgotten: did anyone who's not a Franco completist see Camille, Blind Spot or Mother Ghost?)
But it feels like Franco’s on the verge of the Big Time, doesn’t it? The 127 Hours role, and other recent work, feel neatly positioned to bring home the gold: working with hot-off-Slumdog Danny Boyle on real-life source material; a well-praised turn in Ginsberg biopic Howl; more Appatow-ing the line in Your Highness out soon. He’s currently making good on the adulation from 2008’s Pineapple Express and Milk (see below for both) by grafting away in solid roles in the currently-on-release Eat Pray Love and the incoming indie William Vincent. So what better time to look at his (mostly) supporting career so far: back to the here and now with three Franco takes.
Take One: With great Goblins come not-so-great costumes
It was the ‘01-‘02 double of the James Dean TV biopic (snagging him a Golden Globe win and Emmy nom) and his role as Willem Dafoe’s Goblin son Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002)* that lifted Franco out of relative anonymity and stretched his acting chops on screens big and small. He played Osborn as a privileged and ultimately petulant second-tier villain caught between friendship with snap-happy flatmate Peter Parker and kinship with Dafoe’s angry paterfamilias over the course of three Spidey flicks.
Like-father-like-son he eventually got so wound up with the webslinger that, by the time Spider-Man 3 came swinging onto our screens, he'd ended up dusting off dad’s green helmet to become the New Goblin, adding a fifth to the trilogy’s baddie quartet assault of Dafoe’s original Goblin, Octo-Molina, Sandy-Haden Church and a Venomous Topher Grace.
Franco’s gradual emergence as Goblin Junior ran parallel with Maguire’s evolving path to arachnid superhero. He has to straddle the emotional divide where friends become enemies and enemies become friends. Sozzled by booze and riled for revenge, by the third film he’s taken up his dead father's position as head of Oscorp and vows to avenge his death by being very mean and moody indeed. He doesn’t quite want to destroy best mate Spidey but a magical mirror reflecting Dafoe tells him otherwise: so he gets dolled up in Goblin get-up and zips around New York on a souped-up surfboard. Nice work if you can get it.
The villains were always the better roles in Spider-Man - as they are in most superhero flicks - and Franco gets to loose the more insidious side of Harry's persona, and do it well. Over the course of the trilogy he went from perky nerd to stroppy Goblin novice. He kinda looks like he's having fun (early on at least), but by the end of Spider-Man 2 he looks as though it's all an irksome bother. Harry doesn't take defeat well - he's more green gobshite than green goblin - but Franco ensures we commiserate his comeuppance all the same. The exposure Franco received undoubtedly helped him snag better parts after this, but it was a savvy role to take, key for an actor wanting to further his stardom.
*Take One is about all three Spider-Man flicks. It seems daft to just talk about him in one of them.
Take Two: Got Milk?
It’s ideal to watch Milk (2008) two or more times to really grasp how good Franco is as Scott Smith - Harvey Milk’s lover, companion and first man of the future Mayor of Castro Street. Not because he isn’t immediately noticeably good, but because he imparts so many tiny flickers of variable emotion over many fast-cut, piecemeal scenes (particularly over the film’s first hour) that grasping just how good his performance is can be easily missed with a sole viewing.
The spirited early ‘70s scenes (roughly the 1972-1977 period coinciding with Harvey's relationship with Scott) are some of Milk’s best. Franco lends them an easygoing affability: flared and curly-haired, he fits Gus Van Sant’s favoured era of cinematic exploration like hand in glove. Cinematographer Harris Savides does some of his most stellar work yet, and captures Franco at his most relaxed; he lights him in beamy, radiant fashion. Whenever he and Penn share an intimate moment, the camera closes in on his searching, smiling eyes - once or twice in extreme close-up - or it casually frames how laid back he is in the role.
The performance is complimented and enhanced by the smooth surety of the filmmaking. (It may not be Van Sant’s best film, but it features some of the most guaranteed acting he’s coaxed from his actors.) The editing generously assists in shaping Franco’s often silent, fragmentary moments. In a late dinner scene with Milk, Scott expresses his concerns about the social and political implications of his burgeoning career, and struggles to verbalise what he means coherently. (As the film’s tone darkens, that bright smile flattens, barely hiding his interior worries.)
Editor Elliot Graham abruptly cuts from this moment to a strikingly composed shot of Scott alone, behind the window of Milk’s HQ/camera shop; he’s pensively searching the street outside with a blankly dimmed expression. Castro Street, the site of much political and sexual upheaval, becomes reflected back inside the shop, blurring the frame into a confused clutter denoting Scott's interior state:
The juxtaposition of these two minor-seeming moments/images subtly and crucially reflects some of our own investment in the story, largely thanks to the way Franco quietly expresses Scott’s illimitable anxieties. Here, and indeed elsewhere in the film, Franco creates in Scott a soul mate for Milk - initially carefree, latterly tender - and gives one of his best performances to date in the process.
Take Three: Dude, where’s my carnage?
He had me at “Who is iiit?”
It was Franco’s gleefully amiable, high-pitched way of answering his intercom system - a small, probably ad-libbed vocalisation - which made me chuckle long into the scene it introduced; he playfully riffed and expanded on the cheeky charm of this throwaway moment throughout the remainder of the film, and gave one of 2008’s best male comedy performances. His Saul Silver - a cheeky, unofficial fleshing out of Brad Pitt’s stoner character from True Romance on writer combo Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg’s part - made Pineapple Express what it was.
They clearly saw the latent potential for further comedic mileage inherent in the Pitt character, and gave him a film of his own to have a riot in - and in the process allowing Franco a gem of a part in which to flex his funny bone. If it were just Saul’s story, without Rogan’s Dale Denton, he’d have carried the film just fine, and would’ve likely blissfully traded quips with nothing but the joint-fumed air around him. But every good supporting slacker needs a leading man to mooch around; the cute, affectionate banter of the film is derived purely through their odd-couple-but-not-so-odd-couple relationship. (Think of a spliffed-up Walter Matthau needling a baffled Jack Lemmon.)
But there’s little need to waste too much time pontificating on all the ins and outs of subtle craftsmanship and intricate soul-bearing performance style (though those things are somewhere surely present and correct) in pondering how good Franco’s extended remix stoner was: it’s simply, to my eyes and ears at least, solid, no-fuss comic acting, refreshingly free of either method or madness. He simply got on with it, and made genially funny look effortless; his role a breeze across the screen. Reaching for depth is unneeded - ingesting the Class-A charm he easefully brought to the film is enough.
By the time the film turns into a carnival of bloody carnage, a Lethal Weapon with laughs, Saul and Dale are firm mates; they end on a best bud love-in. Saul is the kind of guy you may know of (or met during college?), but never became too friendly with - he's 'that drug guy' over there, someone's sidelined sidekick. What Franco, director David Gordon Green and co. did was give a guy like Saul a life beyond the sofa. He was still the sidekick but he took his best sluggish stab at the opportunity to shine for a few days. If it looks like the work is too easy for Franco, that shouldn't fool us into thinking it's lazy acting. Far from it - the character is so well defined and fleshed out it's like we were close with 'that drug guy' all along. Franco's been grafting hard in the movies for quite some - but I feel his best is yet to come. *
