Waypoint Entertainment Acquires Film Rights to Image Comics' "Plutona"

WAYPOINT ENTERTAINMENT ACQUIRES LEMIRE AND LENOX’S PLUTONA

Addictive Pictures to produce alongside Waypoint Entertainment under their first-look deal

LOS ANGELES — Waypoint Entertainment has acquired the rights to bestselling and award-winning author Jeff Lemire and illustrator Emi Lenox's comic series Plutona, a coming-of-age story which centers on a group of kids who find the body of a famous dead superhero in the woods. Waypoint Entertainment’s Ken Kao (The Nice Guys), will produce with partner Dan Kao and Addictive Pictures' Russell Ackerman (Mama) and John Schoenfelder under their first-look deal.

Image Comics released Plutona, a five-issue limited series, on September 2015 to critical acclaim.

"Emi and I are extremely excited to be working with Waypoint Entertainment and Addictive Pictures to help bring our vision for Plutona to the big screen,” said Lemire. “Plutona has been a labor of love for us and we were very careful about finding a home for it, and we are thrilled that the team at Addictive and Waypoint share our passion for the story and for its potential as a film."

Lemire is the author of titles including the Essex County Trilogy, Sweet Tooth, The Nobody, and wrote a run of Animal Man. He is known for his moody, humanistic stories and sketchy, cinematic, black-and-white art and has worked extensively with DC and Marvel Comics. Lenox is perhaps best known for her diary comic Emitown, as well as having work featured in such critically-acclaimed series as Nowhere Men, Madman, Glory, and Sweet Tooth.

Lemire is represented by Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company and attorney Allison Binder of Smelkinson, Genow, Stone, Binder & Christopher LLP.

Waypoint Entertainment recently acquired the rights to two Mark Millar properties, American Jesus and Supercrooks, which Ken Kao will produce with partner Dan Kao and Addictive Pictures. They are also in pre-production on the sci-fi thriller Tau, directed by Federico D’ Alessandro and starring Maika Monroe and Ed Skrein.

Waypoint Entertainment is a film and television development, production, and finance company with a slate that includes: Scott Cooper’s Hostiles starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike; Martin Zandvliet’s The Outsider starring Jared Leto; Shane Black’s detective thriller The Nice Guys starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling; Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees starring Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe, and Naomi Watts; and Terrence Malick's Weightless starring Ryan Gosling Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, and Rooney Mara.

Addictive Pictures is a film and television production company with a specialty in elevated genre films. Addictive is currently prepping Jeremy Saulnier's next film Hold the Dark for A24, and recently closed a deal for Deeper written by Max Landis starring Bradley Cooper at MGM.


ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.

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Negromancer News Bits and Bites from February 1st to 6th, 2016 - Update #32

Support Leroy on Patreon.

MOVIES - From TheWrap:  Leonardo DiCaprio to star in "Conquest" from Paramount.

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AWARDS -  From Yahoo:  Michael B. Jordan and diversity celebrated 2016 Image Awards, with complete list of winners.

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TELEVISION -  From UPI:  Adam West will be one of the guest stars on the 200th episode of "The Big Band Theory."

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COMICS - From ScreenRant:  Still, there is some fun to be had of Walt Disney and Stan Lee Media - now with a Hillary Clinton connection.

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OSCARS - From TheWrap:  President Obama weighs in on #OscarsSoWhite.

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MOVIES - From TheWrap:  Here is how next year's Oscars may not be so white.

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OSCARS - From TheWrap:  The Coen Bros. address #OscarsSoWhite in a manner befitting white privilege and with a lack of awareness that is surprising but should be.

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OSCARS - From TheWrap:  Oscars so white... literally.

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POLITICS - From CounterPunch:  Freeing Julian Assange - the final chapter.

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OSCARS - From THR:  Kareem Abdul-Jabar: Why black people are invisible to Oscar voters.

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ANIMATION - From YahooTV:  Joe Alaskey was one of the successors to Mel Blanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other Looney Tunes characters.  He died at the age of 63 of cancer on Wednesday, February 3, 2016.

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MUSIC - From YahooMusic:  Maurice White, the founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, died Wednesday, February 3, 2016.  He will always remain a "Shining Star."  R.I.P.

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CRIME - From RSN:  Exonerations in the United States hit a record high.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Steven Soderbergh is coming out of retirement to make a film with Matt Damon and Channing Tatum.
 
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OSCARS - From TheWrap:  Helen Mirren things #OscarsSoWhite is unfair to the Academy.

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COMICS - From BleedingCool:  There is some backlash against DC Comics for its "re-imagining" of Scooby-Doo, which will be seen in an upcoming comic book series.

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CRIME - From RSN:  Police across the country rethinking use of violence - 'bout time.

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POLITICS - From RollingStone:  A right-wing, hawkish FOX News analyst who claimed to be ex-CIA turned out to be a fraud and is now facing trail.

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MUSIC - From HuffingtonPost:  David Bowie leaves most of his $100 million estate to his wife, two children, and a few close friends.

MUSIC - From LATimes:  David Bowie's "Bowie bonds" were revolutionary for its time.

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COMICS - From CinemaBlend:  Marvel prepares to announce its plans for Josh Brolin as "Thanos."

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MOVIES - From People:  Kate Winslet talks about her "Titanic" co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio.

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MOVIES - From YahooMovies:  Universal sets dates for 9th and 10th installments of Fast and Furious franchise. Part 8 comes out in 2017.

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POLITICS - From RawStory:  Sarah Palin says she did not blame President Obama for her son beating his girlfriend.

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MOVIES - From ScreenDaily:  Rooney Mara to play Mary Magdalene

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TELEVISION - From ThePlaylist:  Naomi Watts and Tom Sizemore joins Netflix's "Twin Peaks" revival.  By the way, David Lynch is said to be directing all the episodes.

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BLACK HISTORY:  From IMDb:  Top 10 highest grossing Black directors by box office total.

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OSCARS - From IMDb:  The staff's Oscar snubs list.

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MOVIES:  From BusinessInsider:  Anthony Ingruber looks like a young Harrison Ford, and played a young Ford in a recent movie, so... he's young Han Solo.

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POLITICS - From YahooPolitics:  How Ted Cruz out-trumped Trump.

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POLITICS - From YahooPolitics:  Clinton vs. Sanders to close to call...

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MOVIES - From YahooMovies:  An article about Nate Parker, director of "Birth of a Nation."

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ANIMATION - From CBR:  See Disney classics drawn Tim Burton style.

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  Nate Parker's "Birth of a Nation" tops 2016 Sundance Film Festival; here is a winners list.

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AWARDS - From Deadline:  The 2016 Art Directors Guild Awards are announced with "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "The Revenant" among top winners.

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  "Kung Fu 3" sets an opening weekend record in China.

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MOVIES - From Complex:  FOX Searchlight pays a record $17.5 million for Nate Parker's "Birth of a Nation," the top winner at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

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BLACK LIVES MATTER - From ThinkProgress:  Before the cops killed him, Quintonio LeGrier called 911 three times for help.

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OSCARS - From Complex:  Steve McQueen, the Black director who won an Oscar as a producer on "12 Years a Slave," speaks about #OscarsSoWhite.

Review: As a Character Study, "Birdman" Has Wings

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 45 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

[A version of this review originally appeared on Patreon.]

Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
Running time:  119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – R for language throughout, some sexual content and brief violence
DIRECTOR:  Alejandro G. Iñárritu
WRITERS:  Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., and Armando Bo
PRODUCERS:  Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, and James W. Skotchdopole
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Emmanuel Lubezki (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione
COMPOSER:  Antonio Sanchez (drum score)
Academy Award winner, including “Best Picture”

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Zach Galifanakis, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough, and Amy Ryan with Lindsay Duncan

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a 2014 drama and black comedy film from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu.  The film focuses on a Hollywood actor, who once starred in a series of popular superhero movies, as he tries to forge a comeback with a Broadway play.  Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), commonly known as Birdman, won four Oscars, including “Best Picture,” at the 87th Academy Awards (February 22, 2015).

Birdman introduces Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton).  He is a washed-up Hollywood actor and former movie star best known for playing the iconic superhero, Birdman, two decades ago in a series of blockbuster films.  Riggan hopes to reinvent his career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.  Riggan's play is a loosely based adaptation of “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” a short story written by the late Raymond Carver (and first published in the former literary journal, Antaeus, in 1981).

Unfortunately, Riggan's play is beset by complications.  The play is produced by Riggan's best friend and lawyer, Jake (Zach Galifanakis), who is very demanding and high-strung.  The film's two actresses are Riggan's girlfriend, Laura (Andrea Riseborough), who claims to be pregnant, and a first-time Broadway actress, Lesley (Naomi Watts), who has a worried mind.  Riggan's daughter, Samantha (Emma Stone), a recovering addict, serves as her father's assistant.  The other male actor in the play is Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), a brilliant actor who is also volatile, disruptive, and attention-seeking.  The biggest complication, however, is the spirit of Birdman, which haunts Riggan with a mocking, critical voice, and that voice wants another Birdman movie.

Taking what the movie gives us, which is a little over one hour and fifty minutes of film narrative, Birdman is an extraordinary character study about the life of a struggling actor in a particular moment in time.  This moment in time is a two-week period, of which we only observe in select pieces.  People who watch this movie have to take Riggan at face value because the film is vague about whatever happened to Riggan's life prior to the two-week period that it depicts.

This situation helps to make Birdman ambiguous, and I think the director and his co-writers wanted their film to have many ambiguities.  Is this film a true black comedy?  Is it a drama about domestic and professional failures?  Is it real, or surreal, or both (when considering Riggan's powers)?  Is the last act and the ending a resolution via rebirth or by closure?  Birdman is a complex, different and fascinating work of cinema.

Considering its subject matter, that of a failed movie star in the tailspin of a midlife crisis, it is fairly obvious why the film was so attractive to so many Oscar voters.  How many members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which votes on the Oscars, have experienced something similar to Riggan's experiences or how many know they will... eventually.  I think that this is a tremendous movie, and I can see why it won the Oscars that it did.

On the other hand, Edward Norton and Emma Stone are good in Birdman, but there is little in their work here, in terms of substance or character portrayal, that says that either one of them gave a top five performance in the respective categories for which they were nominated for Oscars.  I also find Michael Keaton a little uneven.  He is at his best when he is emoting without dialogue and when he is giving voice to Birdman.  When he tries to give voice to anger and frustration, he is over-the-top, in his now trademark manner, familiar to us who remember him as Batman and as Beetlejuice.

Many people seem to think that Keaton was perfect for the role of Riggan Thomson who played a superhero at the height of his career and fame in Hollywood because Keaton played the title role in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) at the height of his film career.  Keaton's career seemed to diminish after Batman, gradually though, until he had seemingly disappeared from Hollywood films.  The truth is Keaton is a good actor whose full talent has rarely been utilized.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) gives him a chance, and there are moments in which Keaton shines.  This film is unique and has many moments of brilliance, in which Alejandro G. Iñárritu shows us that cinematic magic is indeed real.  Birdman has it, revealing that drama need not be tied to the ground nor to be framed in notions of stiff realism.  Birdman has a sense of wonder and of curiosity, believing that it is as exciting to explore a man's life as it is to explore a faraway magical kingdom or an island full of dinosaurs.

9 of 10
A+

Tuesday, September 15, 2015


NOTES:
2015 Academy Awards, USA:  4 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher, and James W. Skotchdopole), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Alejandro González Iñárritu), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo), and “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki); 5 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Michael Keaton), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Edward Norton), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Emma Stone), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, and Thomas Varga) and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Aaron Glascock and Martín Hernández)

2015 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Michael Keaton) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo); 5 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Alejandro González Iñárritu), “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Emma Stone), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Edward Norton) and “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Antonio Sanchez)

2015 BAFTA Awards:  1 win “Best Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki); 9 nominations: “Best Film” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher, and James W. Skotchdopole), “Best Leading Actor” (Michael Keaton), “Best Supporting Actor” (Edward Norton), “Best Supporting Actress” (Emma Stone), “Best Editing” (Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione), “Best Original Music” (Antonio Sanchez), “Best Sound” (Thomas Varga, Martín Hernández, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, and Frank A. Montaño), “Best Original Screenplay” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, and Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Alejandro González Iñárritu)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

"Birdman" leads 2015 Costume Designers Guild Awards - Complete Winners List

The Costume Designers Guild is an international group that represents motion picture, television, and commercial costume designers, assistant costume designers and costume illustrators.  The Costume Designers Guild (CDG) is Local 892 of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.).  The Costume Designers Guild Awards began in 1999 to annually honor costume designers in Motion Pictures, Television, and Commercials.

The winners for the 17th Costume Designers Guild Awards, which celebrates excellence in film, television and commercial costume design, were announced Tuesday, February 17th, 2015. The winners of the seven competitive awards were revealed at the gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Continuing its long-time support of the Guild, LACOSTE returned as Presenting Sponsor of the Costume Designers Guild Awards.  LACOSTE has been featured in numerous films such as Bridesmaids, That Awkward Moment, The Heat, Chef, and Last Vegas, as well as television shows including Mad Men, Saturday Night Live, Glee, and The Newsroom. 

Acclaimed producer, director and screenwriter Richard Linklater (who recently collaborated with costume designer Kari Perkins on the 12-Years-In-the-Making epic film, Boyhood) received the Distinguished Collaborator Award in recognition of his support of Costume Design and creative partnerships with Costume Designers.  An Honorary Career Achievement Award was presented to Costume Designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers for her outstanding work in film.  The 2015 Edith Head Award for the Advancement of the Art of Costume Design was presented to costume designer, scholar, and two-term CDG past president, Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis, a CDG member and costume design activist for nearly 40 years. The LACOSTE Spotlight Award honoree was Naomi Watts, with the award presented to her by Laura Dern.

2015 / 17th Costume Designers Guild Awards winners and nominees:

EXCELLENCE IN CONTEMPORARY FILM
Birdman – Albert Wolsky WINNER
Boyhood – Kari Perkins
Gone Girl – Trish Summerville
Interstellar – Mary Zophres
Wild – Melissa Bruning

EXCELLENCE IN PERIOD FILM
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero WINNER
The Imitation Game – Sammy Sheldon Differ
Inherent Vice – Mark Bridges
Selma – Ruth E. Carter
The Theory of Everything – Steven Noble

EXCELLENCE IN FANTASY FILM
Guardians of the Galaxy – Alexandra Byrne
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 – Kurt and Bart
Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood WINNER
Maleficent – Anna B. Sheppard, Jane Clive

OUTSTANDING CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION SERIES
House of Cards – Johanna Argan
Ray Donovan – Christopher Lawrence
Saturday Night Live – Tom Broecker, Eric Justian
Scandal – Lyn Paolo
True Detective – Jenny Eagan WINNER

OUTSTANDING PERIOD/FANTASY TELEVISION SERIES
Boardwalk Empire – John Dunn
Game of Thrones – Michele Clapton WINNER
The Knick – Ellen Mirojnick
Mad Men – Janie Bryant
Masters of Sex – Ane Crabtree

OUTSTANDING MADE FOR TV MOVIE OR MINI SERIES
American Horror Story: Freak Show – Lou Eyrich WINNER
Houdini – Birgit Hutter
The Normal Heart – Daniel Orlandi
Olive Kitteridge – Jenny Eagan
Sherlock – Sarah Arthur

EXCELLENCE IN COMMERCIAL COSTUME DESIGN
Army ‘Defy Expectations, Villagers’ – Christopher Lawrence WINNER
Direct TV ‘Less Attractive’, with Rob Lowe – Mindy Le Brock, Jessica Albertson
Dos Equis ‘Most Interesting Man in the World Walks on Fire’ – Julie Vogel
Kia Soul Hamster Commercial Featuring ‘Animals’ – Anette Cseri
Smirnoff ‘The Mixologist’ – Laura Jean Shannon

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Viola Davis, Kevin Hart, Ben Affleck Among Presenters at 87th Oscars

Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Kevin Hart, Shirley MacLaine, Chris Pine, Miles Teller and Naomi Watts To Present At 87th Oscars®

Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Kevin Hart, Shirley MacLaine, Chris Pine, Miles Teller and Naomi Watts will be presenters at this year’s Oscars, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today. The Oscars, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will air on Sunday, February 22, 2015 live on ABC.

Affleck, a two-time Academy Award® winner, received an Original Screenplay Oscar® for “Good Will Hunting” (1997) and a Best Picture Oscar for “Argo” (2012), on which he served as a producer, director and star. His most recent role was opposite Rosamund Pike in “Gone Girl” (2014). He will play Batman in the upcoming feature “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “The Accountant.”

Chastain has received two Oscar nominations, one for Actress in a Leading Role for “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012) and one for Actress in a Supporting Role for “The Help” (2011). Her most recent films include 2014’s “Interstellar,” “A Most Violent Year” and “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.” She will next be seen in “Crimson Peak” and “The Martian.”

Davis has been nominated for two Oscars, one for her supporting role in the 2008 film “Doubt” and one for her leading role in 2011’s “The Help.”  She currently stars in the ABC primetime hit “How to Get Away with Murder.” Davis’s film credits include “Get on Up,” “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them,”  “Ender’s Game” and “Prisoners.”  She will next been seen in “Lila and Eve,” due out this year.

Hart, who currently stars in the feature comedy “The Wedding Ringer,” appeared in last year’s “Ride Along,” “About Last Night,” “Think Like a Man Too” and “Top Five.” His previous credits include “Think Like a Man” (2012) and “The Five-Year Engagement” (2012). He will star opposite Will Ferrell in “Get Hard” later this year.

MacLaine won an Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role for 1983’s “Terms of Endearment.” She also received nominations for her leading roles in “The Turning Point” (1983), “Irma La Douce” (1963) “The Apartment” (1960) and “Some Came Running” (1958), as well for the documentary feature “The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir” (1975), which she produced. Her next role is in “Wild Oats.”

Pine most recently appeared as Cinderella’s Prince in “Into the Woods” (2014). He also has starred in such features as “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” (2014), “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013), “People
Like Us” (2012), “Unstoppable” (2010), “Star Trek” (2009) and “Bottle Shock” (2008). His upcoming films include “Z for Zachariah” and “The Finest Hours.”

Teller stars in the current Best Picture nominee “Whiplash.”  Later this year, he will appear in the feature “Bleed for This,” as well as “The Fantastic Four.”  Teller also appeared in the 2013 film “The Spectacular Now.”

Watts has twice been nominated for Actress in a Leading Role, for “The Impossible” (2012) and “21 Grams” (2003). Her feature credits also include “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (2014), “St. Vincent” (2014), “Eastern Promises” (2007), “King Kong” (2005) and “Mulholland Drive” (2001). She will next be seen in the “Divergent” sequel “Insurgent,” While We’re Young,” The Sea of Trees,” and “Demolition.”

The 87th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars, produced by Zadan and Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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2013 European Film Award Nominations List

by Amos Semien

The European Film Awards (EFA) recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements.  They have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy. There are over ten categories, with the most important being the “film of the year” award.  Formerly known as the “Felix Awards,” the European Film Awards are restricted to European cinema and European producers, directors, and actors.

The host cities alternate, as Berlin hosts them every other year while other European cities get the chance in between the years in which Berlin hosts.

The film, The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium), a love story from Felix van Groeningen, leads the 2013 EFA with five nominations.  This film is also Belgium’s official entry for the foreign language category in this year’s Academy Awards.  Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), an homage to the city of Rome, received four nominations.

The more than 2,900 EFA Members will vote for the winners.  The awards will be presented in Berlin on December 7, 2013.

26th European Film Awards (2013) nominees:

European Film 2013:
THE BEST OFFER
Italy, 130 min
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Giuseppe Tornatore
PRODUCED BY: Isabella Cocuzza & Arturo Paglia

BLANCANIEVES
Spain/France, 104 min
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Pablo Berger
PRODUCED BY: Ibon Cormenzana, Jérôme Vidal & Pablo Berger

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
Belgium, 100 min
DIRECTED BY: Felix van Groeningen
WRITTEN BY: Carl Joos & Felix van Groeningen
PRODUCED BY: Dirk Impens

LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (THE GREAT BEAUTY)
Italy/France, 140 min
DIRECTED BY: Paolo Sorrentino
WRITTEN BY: Paolo Sorrentino & Umberto Contarello
PRODUCED BY: Nicola Giuliano & Francesca Cima

OH BOY!
Germany, 83 min
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Jan Ole Gerster
PRODUCED BY: Marcos Kantis & Alexander Wadouh

LA VIE D’ADELE: CHAPITRES 1 & 2 (ADELE: CHAPTERS 1 & 2)
France, 179 min
DIRECTED BY: Adellatif Kechiche
WRITTEN BY: Abdellatif Kechiche & Ghalya Lacroix
PRODUCED BY: Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval & Abdellatif Kechiche

European Comedy 2013:

LOS AMANTES PASAJEROS (I’M SO EXCITED!)
Spain, 90 min
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Pedro Almodóvar
PRODUCED BY: Agustín Almodóvar & Esther García

BENVENUTO PRESIDENTE! (WELCOME MR PRESIDENT!)
Italy, 100 min
DIRECTED BY: Riccardo Milani
WRITTEN BY: Fabio Bonifacci
PRODUCED BY: Nicola Giuliano & Francesca Cima

DEN SKALDEDE FRISØR (LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED)
Denmark, 111 min
DIRECTED BY: Susanne Bier
WRITTEN BY: Anders Thomas Jensen & Susanne Bier
PRODUCED BY: Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Vibeke Windeløv

SVECENIKOVA DJECA (THE PRIEST’S CHILDREN)
Croatia/Serbia, 93 min
DIRECTED BY: Vinko Brešan
WRITTEN BY: Mate Matišić & Vinko Brešan
PRODUCED BY: Ivan Maloča

European Director 2013:
Pablo Berger for BLANCANIEVES
Felix van Groeningen for THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
Abdellatif Kechiche for LA VIE D’ADELE: CHAPITRES 1 & 2 (Adele: Chapters 1 & 2)
François Ozon for DANS LA MAISON (In the House)
Paolo Sorrentino for LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (The Great Beauty)
Giuseppe Tornatore for THE BEST OFFER

European Actress 2013:
Keira Knightley in ANNA KARENINA
Veerle Baetens in THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
Barbara Sukowa in HANNAH ARENDT
Naomi Watts in LO IMPOSIBLE (The Impossible)
Luminita Gheorghiu in POZITIA COPILULUI (Child's Pose)

European Actor 2013:
Jude Law in ANNA KARENINA
Johan Heldenbergh in THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
Fabrice Luchini in DANS LA MAISON (In the House)
Toni Servillo in LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (The Great Beauty)
Tom Schilling in OH BOY

European Screenwriter 2013:
Tom Stoppard for ANNA KARENINA
Giuseppe Tornatore for THE BEST OFFER
Carl Joos & Felix van Groeningen for THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
François Ozon for DANS LA MAISON (In the House)
Paolo Sorrentino & Umberto Contarello for LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (The Great Beauty)

Here are the previously announced nominations and winners:

European Discovery - Prix FIPRESCI:
• Äta sova dö (Eat Sleep Die), Gabriela Pichler, Sweden
• Call Girl, Mikael Marcimain, Sweden, Norway, Ireland and Finland
• Miele (Honey), valeria Golino, Italy and France
• Oh Boy!, Jan Ole Gerster, Germany
• La Plaga (The Plague), Neus Ballús, Spain

European Animated Feature Film:
• The Congress, Ari Folman, Israel, Germany, Poland, Luxembourg, France and Belgium
• Jasmine, Alain Ughetto, France
• Pinocchio, Enzo d'AIò, Italy, Luxembourg, France and Belgium

European Documentary:
• The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark, Norway and UK
• L'Escale (Stop-Over), Kaveh Bakhtiari, Switzerland and France
• L'Image Manquante (The Missing Picture), Rithy Panh, France and Cambodia

European Short Film:
• Cut, Christoph Girardet & Matthias Müller, Germany, 12' (Vila do Conde nominee)
• Dood Van Een Schaduw (Death of a Shadow), Tom Van Avermaet, Belgium and France, 20' (Valladolid nominee)
• Houses with Small Windows, Bülent Öztürk, Belgium, 15' (Venice nominee)
• La Lampe au Beurre de Yak (Butter Lamp), Hu Wei, France and China, 15' (Drama nominee)
• Letter, Sergei Loznitsa, Russia, 20' (documentary) (Krakow nominee)
• Misterio (Mystery), Chema García Ibarra, Spain, 12' (Berlin nominee)
• Morning, Cathy Brady, UK and Ireland, 21' (Cork nominee)
• As Ondas (The Waves), Miguel Fonseca, Portugal, 22' (Ghent nominee)
• Orbit Ever After, Jamie Stone, UK, 20' (Bristol nominee)
• Skok (Jump), Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva, Bulgaria, 30' (Clermont-Ferrand nominee)
• Sonntag 3 (Sunday 3), Jochen Kuhn, Germany, 14' (Tampere nominee)
• A Story for the Modlins, Sergio Oksman, Spain, 26' (documentary) (Sarajevo nominee)
• Though I Know The River Is Dry, Omar Robert Hamilton, Egypt, Palestine and UK, 20' (Rotterdam nominee)
• Yaderni Wydhody (Nuclear Waste), Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine, 25' (Grimstad nominee)
• Zima, Christina Picchi, Russia, 12' (documentary) (Locarno nominee)

Carlo di Palma European Cinematographer Award: Asaf Sudry for Lemale et Ha'Halal (Fill The Void), Israel

European Editor: Cristiano Travaglioli for La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Italy and France

European Production Designer: Sarah Greenwood for Anna Karenina, UK

European Composer: Ennio Morricone for The Best Offer, Italy

European Costume Designer: Paco Delgado for Blancanieves, Spain and France

European Sound Designer: Matz Müller and Erik Mischijew for Paradies: Glaube (Paradise: Faith), Austria, Germany and Fran.

Review: Didn't Want to Stay for "Stay"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 68 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Stay (2005)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some disturbing images
DIRECTOR: Marc Forster
WRITER: David Benioff
PRODUCERS: Eric Kopeloff and Tom Lassally
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roberto Schaeffer
EDITOR: Matt Chesse
COMPOSERS: Asche & Spencer (Tom Scott and Thad Spencer)

DRAMA/THRILLER with elements of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Ryan Gosling, Bob Hoskins, Janeane Garofalo, Elizabeth Reaser, and B.D. Wong

The subject of this movie review is Stay, a 2005 fantasy drama and psychological thriller from director Marc Forster. The film focuses on a psychiatrist who attempts to prevent one of his patients from committing suicide, while his own grip on reality slips.

A New York psychiatrist, Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor), inherits a secretive and highly unusual young man bent on suicide as his new patient. His name is Henry Lethem (Ryan Gosling), and he is capable of making bizarrely accurate predictions about the future. Henry announces to Sam that he is planning on committing suicide at midnight the coming Saturday – the day of his 21st birthday. After Henry disappears, Sam is desperate to find his patient before he offs himself, but his investigation begins to have reality-shattering effects on him.

Manhattan, where Sam lives, begins to transform into a constantly and wildly shifting dreamscape, and the deeper Sam tries to go into Henry’s subconscious, the more it changes the rational world for Sam. His search for Henry is also causing havoc in Sam’s relationship with his girlfriend, Lila Culpepper (Naomi Watts), a former patient of Sam’s who tried to kill herself. It isn’t long before both Sam and Lila are wondering where Sam ends and Henry begins.

Stay has some big names behind it. Director Marc Forster directed Halle Berry to an Academy Award in 2001’s Monster’s Ball, and his last film, Finding Neverland, earned several Oscar nominations including a Best Picture nod. The cast includes some heavyweights – Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, and a star-in-the-making – Ryan Gosling. In this film, Ryan definitely shows that something that has him marked as a movie star, a quality actor, and a matinee idol.

However, audiences will find Stay to be either fascinating or dull. It’s really a riff on Ambrose Bierce’s famous short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and the 1990 thriller, Jacob’s Ladder. The visuals are dazzling on a few occasions and quite inventive and imaginative most of the time. However, most of the time Stay also seems like an ambitious if not pretentious film from a talented novice, which means the director makes clever visual choices that still amount to a haphazard narrative. Only the film’s last ten minutes redeem everything that came before it, and that’s disappointing.

3 of 10
C-

Friday, April 7, 2006

Updated: Friday, June 21, 2013

2013 Oscar Nominations: "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva for Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts for The Impossible

Robert Zemeckis to Be Honored at Palm Springs Film Fest

ROBERT ZEMECKIS TO RECEIVE DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD AT 24th ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS GALA

The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award® winning director Robert Zemeckis with the Director of the Year Award for Flight. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 5, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hosted by Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees Helen Hunt and Naomi Watts. The Festival runs January 3-14.

“For 35 years, Robert Zemeckis has been creating some of the most iconic and indelible images in cinema, garnering international acclaim as a filmmaker of extraordinary vision,” said Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In his latest work, Flight, Zemeckis continues to tell fascinating stories by combining strong characters with groundbreaking visual effects, which includes one of the most memorable plane crashes in cinematic history, while following the compelling emotional journey of Denzel Washington’s character of an emotionally damaged man dealing with addiction. For these achievements the Palm Springs International Film Festival is honored to present the 2013 Director of the Year Award to Robert Zemeckis.”

Past Director of the Year honorees include Stephen Daldry, Ang Lee, Anthony Minghella, Alexander Payne, Sean Penn, Jason Reitman and David O. Russell.

Currently in theatres, Paramount Pictures’ dramatic thriller Flight, stars Denzel Washington as Captain Whip Whitaker, a seasoned airline pilot who miraculously crash lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe, saving nearly every soul on board. Afterwards, Whip is hailed as a hero, but as more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault and what really happened on that plane. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by John Gatins, the film also stars Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Tamara Tunie, Nadine Velazquez, James Badge Dale and Melissa Leo.

Robert Zemeckis won an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe and a Director’s Guild of America Award for Best Director for the hugely successful Forrest Gump. The film’s numerous honors also included Academy Awards® for Best Actor (Tom Hanks) and Best Picture. Zemeckis has also directed Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, Back to the Future, Back to the Future, Part II and Part III, Contact, Used Cars, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol. Presently, Zemeckis is at work on Yellow Submarine, for Image Movers Digital and The Disney Studios.


About The Palm Springs International Film Festival
The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 135,000 attendees each year for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Black Tie Awards Gala, honoring the best achievements of the filmic year by a celebrated list of talents who, in recent years, have included Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Danny Boyle, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron and Kate Winslet.

The 24th annual Palm Springs International FilmFestival is presented by Title Sponsor, the City of Palm Springs, which is celebrating its 75 year anniversary in 2013. Presenting Sponsors are Spencer’s, The Desert Sun, Entertainment Tonight, Wells Fargo, Regal Entertainment Group, Bank of America and Wintec. Major sponsors are Panavision, Ocean Properties Development, Raymond Lawrence, Chihuly, Telefilm Canada. The Festival’s Awards Gala is presented by Cartier and sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.

Review: Strong Performances Carry "21 Grams" (Happy B'day, Alejandro González Iñárritu)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 98 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

21 Grams (2003)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, sexuality, some violence and drug use
DIRECTOR: Alejandro González Iñárritu
WRITER: Guillermo Arriaga
PRODUCERS: Alejandro González Iñárritu and Robert Salerno
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Rodrigo Prieto
EDITOR: Stephen Mirrione
COMPOSER: Gustavo Santaolalla
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Eddie Marsan, Clea DuVall, Danny Huston, Melissa Leo, and Paul Calderon

In the heavy drama, 21 Grams, the lives of a former drug addict, Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts), a terminally ill mathematics professor, Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), and a spiritual ex-convict, Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), intersect tragically and hopefully after a car accident. Jordan kills Cristina’s husband Michael (Danny Hutson) and her two daughters in a hit and run accident. After receiving Michael’s heart in a transplant operation, Rivers seeks and woos Cristina at the cost of his already deteriorating marriage.

The film by rising directorial star Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (the duo who collaborated on Academy Award nominee Amores Perros) is wrought with unpleasant circumstances in the lives of the characters. That’s not bad, but too much heartache and tragedy can become tragicomic. Verisimilitude becomes stark reality, and the drama is spoiled by harsh realism. The audience prefers the staged reality of drama to heavily dramatized reality. Iñárritu and Arriaga deliver the pain and suffering with the precision of sledgehammer blows, and it all becomes too much and can disengage the viewer from the characters.

That’s a pity, too, because the cast gives such good performances that make the viewer care about the characters, really get into their lives, and root for them. For this film, Ms. Watts earned an Oscar® nomination for “Best Actress in a Leading Role,” and Del Toro earned a nomination for “Best Actor in a Supporting Role.” Had Sean Penn not earned an Oscar nod for Mystic River in 2003 (which he later won), he certainly would have received a nomination for his work here.

21 Grams is worth a look for people who love to see exceptional acting, especially the kind delivered by the leads, but the supporting players also do some standout work.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Benicio Del Toro) and “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Naomi Watts)

2004 BAFTA Awards: 5 nominations: “Best Editing” (Stephen Mirrione), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Benicio Del Toro), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Sean Penn), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Naomi Watts), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Guillermo Arriaga)

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Review: "Fair Game" Got Game... Sorta

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 31 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fair Game (2010)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some language
DIRECTOR: Doug Liman
WRITERS: Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth (based on the books The Politics of Truth by Joseph Wilson and Fair Game by Valerie Plame)
PRODUCERS: William Pohlad, Janet Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jez Butterworth, Akiva Goldsman, and Doug Liman
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Doug Liman (D.o.P.) and Robert Baumgartner
EDITOR: Christopher Tellefsen

DRAMA with elements of a thriller

Starring: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Ashley Gerasimovich, Quinn Broggy, David Andrews, Adam LeFevre, Bruce McGill, Ty Burrell, and Sam Shepard

Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson are real people. About four months after the beginning of the Iraq War, Wilson wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times entitled, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” which disputed claims President George W. Bush made during the run up to the invasion of Iraq.

In retaliation, operatives within the Bush administration leaked sensitive information to Bush-friendly press toadies. This sensitive information was the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s identity as a United States CIA Operations Officer. This revelation and the subsequent scandal the revelation caused came to be known as “Plamegate” or “the Valerie Plame Affair.” Eventually, the Wilsons would detail their ordeal and experiences in two books, Valerie Plame’s Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House and Joseph Wilson’s The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir.

The 2010 film, Fair Game, directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), is a fictional account of the “Plame affair.” The film’s screenplay is based on both Wilson and Plame’s books.

As the movie begins, Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) travels around the world for the CIA, pursing nuclear nonproliferation – stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and the material and technology used to make them. Soon, her work gets caught up in the White House’s need to prove that President of Iraq Sadam Hussein is pursuing the creation of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). After the United States leads an invasion of Iraq, Plame’s husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn), writes an op-ed column for the New York Times, in which he accuses the administration of President George W. Bush of misleading the public to justify invading Iraq. In retaliation, figures inside the administration leak Plame’s status as an agency operative for the CIA. Now, not only is Plame’s career in jeopardy, but also the safety of her family and her marriage to Wilson.

Fair Game seems to want to be either a human drama or a political suspense thriller or both. It is muddled, sometimes being a character drama inside a political thriller and other times being a thriller inside drama. It also has elements of a war movie and of a political melodrama. The narrative struggles to balance a desire to be a fact-based biopic (because this film is about real people and is based on very recent events) and the need to be a taut political thriller, because of box office considerations. Fair Game ends up being all over the place.

This movie is not bad. Actually, some of it is good (Naomi Watts), and some of it is average (Sean Penn’s performance) to a little above average (the last half hour of the movie). Fair Game is not standout material, and if the “Plame affair” is going to be a movie, then that movie needs to be standout – in my (not really) humble opinion. Fair Game is ordinary rather than prominent, but it has its moments.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, April 10, 2011

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Review: "Mother and Child" Honest and Real

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mother and Child (2009/2010)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hour, 7 minutes)
MPAA – R for sexuality, brief nudity, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Rodrigo García
PRODUCERS: Lisa Maria Falcone and Julie Lynn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Xavier Pérez Grobet (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Steven Weisberg
Image Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Kerry Washington, Jimmy Smits, Samuel L. Jackson, S. Epatha Merkerson, Cherry Jones, Elpidia Carrillo, Shareeka Epps, David Morse, Eileen Ryan, Amy Brenneman, and David Ramsey

Mother and Child is an ensemble drama film released in 2010, after premiering at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Focusing on the complications and complexities of motherhood and adoption, the film is poignant, powerful, and even beautiful. It is also sometimes grueling to watch.

Mother and Child opens almost 40 years earlier on a scene in which a 14-year-old girl prepares to have sex with a teen boy. She gets pregnant and later gives up her baby for adoption. 37 years later, we learn that the baby is Elizabeth Joyce (Naomi Watts), a high-powered attorney returning to Los Angeles, the place of her birth. Elizabeth takes a job at a law firm owned by a man named Paul (Samuel L. Jackson). Elizabeth begins an affair with Paul, but this is but one affair of many for a woman who uses her sex appeal to have the upper hand in situations in which she does not have control.

Meanwhile, her birth mother, Karen (Annette Bening), is a 50-something physical therapist still riddled by the guilt of giving up her baby. Although initially resistant, she begins a relationship with Paco (Jimmy Smits), a co-worker who seems to be therapeutic for Karen. At the same time, a small businesswoman, Lucy (Kerry Washington), and her husband, Joseph (David Ramsey), begin the process of adoption. However, the birthmother, a difficult young woman named Ray (Shareeka Epps), interrogates Lucy and seems hostile to Joseph.

Top to bottom, Mother and Child is filled with splendid acting, and there isn’t an actor, regardless of the size of his or her part, who does not deliver the kind of first-class performance that a professional actor should always give. Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Sam Jackson, and Shareeka Epps give distinctive performances that add both surprising nuance to a film that rages with dark emotions and strong feelings (particularly anger, bitterness, and regret).

Writer and director Rodrigo García composed a sumptuous screenplay rich with characters and vivid characterizations. It is Garcia’s directing, however, that is the star here, as he gives his actors the space they need to develop these characters and to deliver on the characters’ promise without slowing the film.

Still, there are moments in Mother and Child that feel contrived and overwrought, as if Garcia doesn’t trust his cast to deliver or his audience to understand his film, which is as spiritual as it is dramatic. Garcia captures how vulnerable people are when they open themselves to relationships, and he accurately depicts the bitterness people feel over perceived betrayals. Sometimes the raw emotions are too much to bear (or watch). As good as this film is, and Mother and Child is exceptionally good, I sometimes got a feeling or a notion that things were a little overdone. But don’t let that keep you from seeing one of 2010’s very best films.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2011 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Supporting Actor” (Samuel L. Jackson) and “Best Supporting Actress” (Shareeka Epps)

2011 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Samuel L. Jackson); 2 nominations: “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture” and “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Rodrigo García)

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Review: Woody Allen's "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" is Not an Exciting Encounter

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Woody Allen
PRODUCERS: Letty Aronson, Jaume Roures, and Stephen Tenenbaum
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Vilmos Zsigmond
EDITOR: Alisa Lepselter

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Pauline Collins, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ewen Bremner, and Zak Orth (narrator)

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is the fourth London-set film from famed director Woody Allen. The film follows a pair of married couples in some state of marital dissolution.

After her husband, Alfie Shepridge (Anthony Hopkins), divorces her, Helena Shepridge (Gemma Jones) consults Cristal (Pauline Collins), a psychic, to learn what fate has in store for her. Alfie, in the midst of an old man’s version of a midlife crisis, is engaged to a prostitute named Charmaine Foxx (Lucy Punch). Helena and Alfie’s daughter, Sally Channing (Naomi Watts), and her husband, Roy Channing (Josh Brolin), are having their own marital problems. Sally is smitten with Greg Clemente (Antonio Banderas), the owner of the art gallery where she works. Roy, a struggling writer, falls in love with Dia (Freida Pinto), a grad student who is already engaged to be married. Meanwhile, Helena waits for the tall, dark stranger Cristal predicted would come into her life.

When one considers the films Woody Allen made in the 1970s, 80s, and even into the 90s, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, like most of Allen’s films from the last decade, does not measure up. Parts of this film are dull and uninspired, but some of it is also shocking and sincere in its depiction of how a person’s dissatisfaction with his or her life can manifest itself.

I think credit should go to the cast who seem to not only make the best of this middling material, but in some cases, make it better. Gemma Jones and Anthony Hopkins are the best examples of that in this film. I’m not familiar with Jones, but I am with Hopkins. As much as I always expect him to be good, Hopkins surprises me with his fantastic turn as the vain, confused, and ultimately tragic Alfie. Hopkins brings complexity to a character that needs complexity.

The themes of this film seem to be vanity and discontent, and the characters yearn for material things while ignoring how bankrupt they are spiritually. However, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger doesn’t seem to yearn for anything, being largely philosophically and spiritually empty. This movie doesn’t even have an ending so much as the story just seems to fade away.

I have to be honest. If anyone else other than Woody Allen pulled what he does with this movie, I would be intolerant. So if you are a fan of Allen or of at least one of the cast members, you may want to meet this movie. Otherwise, you will not want to meet You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

5 of 10
C+

Saturday, February 19, 2011

I Heart "I Heart Huckabees"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 41 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

I Heart Huckabees (2004)
Also known as I ♥ Huckabees
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and a sex scene
DIRECTOR: David O. Russell
WRITERS: Jeff Baena and David O. Russell
PRODUCERS: Gregory Goodman, Scott Rudin, and David O. Russell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Deming
EDITOR: Robert K. Lambert

COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, Isabelle Huppert, Angela Grillo, Ger Duany, Jean Smart, Talia Shire, Bob Gunton, and Shania Twain

A “mid-life crisis” is an example of an “existential crisis.” Other examples can be summed up by such laments as “What am I doing with my life?” “my life has been a mistake?” or “my life is a joke.” These are the kind of issues David O. Russell (Flirting with Disaster and Three Kings) tackles in his inventive and daring film, I Heart Huckabees (or I ♥ Huckabees).

Husband and wife existential detectives, Vivian (Lily Tomlin) and Bernard Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman), solve the mysteries that are made of a maze of emotions. Their first client, Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), comes to them to learn why he keeps running into a tall African named Steve Nimieri (Ger Duany). However, the Jaffes discover that Albert’s problems are rooted in his work for the Open Spaces Coalition. It is an environmental organization that is fighting a giant retail chain, Huckabees, over the corporation’s plans to build a new mall in a marshland and wooded area.

The Jaffes’ work with Albert brings them other clients: Brad Stand (Jude Law), a PR guy for Huckabees who is feigning interest in Albert’s organization as a ploy to remove the troublesome do-gooder Albert as an obstacle to Huckabees building plans and Dawn Campbell (Naomi Watts), the beautiful face and spokesmodel of Huckabees, who is also Brad’s girlfriend and to whom Brad won’t commit. Meanwhile, Albert encounters a soul mate, Tommy Corn (Mark Wahlberg), an existential fireman who introduces Albert to Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert), a French radical philosopher and former student of the Jaffes, who he claims will help Albert more than the Jaffes. It all adds to one big existential meltdown.

Admittedly, I Heart Huckabees is hard to follow. There is way more existential discussion in this film than practically any other film financed by a mainstream American studio. While I found Russell’s Three Kings to be off-putting at times, I Heart Huckabees totally engaged me. Not only is the script the most ingenious screenplay written outside of anything by written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich), it is also witty and captivating. And the next best thing Russell does is allow his cast to have fun with their parts.

There are no great characters in this film. What is there is greatly played characters. Schwartzman, Hoffman, Ms. Tomlin, Law, and Wahlberg really dig into these roles and give them life, and they had to or the movie would collapse into utter nonsense. The characters aren’t deep or special, for that matter. They’re dealing with deep and weighty matters, and the actors seem to understand that. So their performances are not about chewing scenery or showing off their chops, but rather about playing ordinary people trying to deal with extraordinary and plaguing questions. The only really wacky characters are the Jaffes, and Hoffman and Lily Tomlin make them appealing to ordinary people, in spite of their sometimes creepy intrusiveness.

This film isn’t for everyone, but viewers who’ve tackled the work of David Lynch and Spike Jonze should be able to handle I Heart Huckabees. Liking it, however, is a whole ‘nother thing. Except for a few rough patches, I think this is brilliant and hilarious.

10 of 10

Review: Thandie Newton Makes Star Turn in "Flirting" (Happy B'day, Thandie Newton)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 64 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Flirting (1991)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Australia
Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – R for scenes of teen sexuality
WRITER/DIRECTOR: John Duigan
PRODUCERS: Terry Hayes, George Miller, and Doug Mitchell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Geoff Burton
EDITOR: Robert Gibson

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Noah Taylor, Thandie Newton, Nicole Kidman, Bartholomew Rose, Felix Nobis, Josh Picker, Kiri Paramore, Marc Gray, Kiri Paramore, Jeff Truman, Marshall Napier, Kym Wilson, and Naomi Watts

Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) is a free-spirited young man attending St. Alban’s, an all-boys prep school in rural Australia, circa 1965. Called “Bird” by his classmates, Danny is an outcast. He meets Thandiwe Adjewa (Thandie Newton), a sophisticated girl from Uganda, the daughter of Ugandan dissidents living in Australia. Thandiwe is a student at Cirencester Ladies College, an all-girls prep school across the lake from St. Albans. Danny and Thandiwe began an interracial romance that blossoms despite some prejudice they face from fellow students. Nicole Kidman plays Nicola Radcliffe, at first a rival, then eventual confidant of Thandiwe.

Flirting, a follow up (or sequel) to the 1987 John Duigan film, The Year My Voice Broke, is one of the best and least contrived depictions of first love ever put to film. Taylor and Newton bring verisimilitude to this tale of surprising and unexpected love. One can just feel the spark between them and how their love grows, so that as the relationship progresses, their actions seem so natural.

The film also has a numerous supporting performances; many are small, but add just the right touch for the film’s setting and narrative. Bartholomew Rose as Danny’s friend, Gilbert “Gilby” Fryer, is full of advice for Danny and perhaps a little envious of him (or has a “boy crush” on him as boys sometimes do have on particular male friends). Nicole Kidman also adds a nice touch in a small but motherly role as the “it” girl at Cirencester. John Duigan’s gentle film has touches of John Hughes’ teen romances (Pretty in Pink) with the dramatic narrative detail of a John Sayles (Passion Fish, Lone Star) film.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, April 2, 2006

Review: Viggo Mortensen is Incredible in "Eastern Promises" (Happy B'day, Viggo Mortensen)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Eastern Promises (2007)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, and nudity
DIRECTOR: David Cronenberg
WRITER: Steven Knight
PRODUCERS: Robert Lantos and Paul Webster
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Suschitzky (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Ronald Sanders
Academy Award nominee

CRIME/DRAMA with elements of a thriller

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent Cassell, Sinead Cusak, Jerzy Skolimowski, and Tatiana Maslany (voice)

What makes a great performance is more than just the ability of the actor to crawl into the skin of the character he is playing. It’s also the ability to give the character depth and weight – the illusion of belonging in the time and place in which the film is set. This is the kind of performance that Viggo Mortensen gives in Eastern Promises, and that performance has resulted in a 2008 Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Eastern Promises is set in London and revolves around the mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family, itself a part of the Vory V Zakone (thieves in law) criminal brotherhood, is headed by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Semyon exudes courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant, but that is an impeccable mask to cover a cold and brutal core. Semyon's volatile son and enforcer, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father, and Kirill uses Nikolai as his clean-up guy – disposing off bodies and killing at Kirill’s command.

Nikolai's carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a midwife at a North London hospital and a child of Russian immigrants. Anna has possession of a diary belonging to Tatiana, a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby girl. Anna resolves to use the diary to try to trace the baby's lineage and relatives, and also to perhaps discover who harmed Tatiana.

Semyon wants the diary. When Nikolia learns that Anna has discovered incriminating evidence against his “family,” he finds his normally steely resolve compromised. Nikolia unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided, wanting to protect Anna, for whom he is developing strong feelings, and wanting to be loyal to Vory V Zakone. This begins a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution that will reverberate through the darkest corners of Zemyon’s criminal empire and through the London Russian underworld.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Viggo Mortensen, so will remember for his role as “Aragorn” in The Lord of the Rings, has come of age as both an actor and a movie star. His turn as Nikolai is not an ordinary crime thriller performance; he simply isn’t just another film thug. Mortensen creates an aura of deep mystery and daunting ruthlessness around Nikolai, and being the center of the film, this rich character makes Eastern Promises an unusually strong crime thriller.

The measured, smoldering confrontations that shape and define Eastern Promises come from the well of Nikolai’s soul, a soul given to a fictional character by a great actor coming into his own.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Viggo Mortensen)

2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best British Film” (Paul Webster, Robert Lantos, David Cronenberg, and Steven Knight) and “Best Leading Actor” (Viggo Mortensen)

2008 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama. “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Howard Shore), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Viggo Mortensen)

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