Press release:
FILM DIRECTOR DAVID O. RUSSELL TO RECEIVE RETROSPECTIVE AT MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE
FILMMAKER TO BE JOINED BY SPIKE JONZE FOR SPECIAL SCREENING OF THE FIGHTER
ASTORIA, NY, January 11, 2011 – David O. Russell will be the subject of the first director retrospective at the newly expanded Museum of the Moving Image. From January 19 through February 6, 2011, Moving Image will screen all five of Russell’s feature films, from his audacious 1994 comedy Spanking the Monkey to his new film, The Fighter, which is a critical and popular success. The retrospective opens on Wednesday, January 19, with a special screening of The Fighter in the Museum’s magnificent new 267-seat Moving Image Theater. Russell will discuss the film in a post-screening conversation moderated by his friend, director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Where the Wild Things Are).
Teeming with life, Russell’s acclaimed film The Fighter is at once assured and powerful, a cinematic experience that doesn’t fit neatly into any one genre. His debut, Spanking the Monkey, is a coming-of-age story that ventures into mother-son incest without sacrificing emotional honesty or comedy. Flirting with Disaster is a screwball family comedy that cheerfully explores adoption, adultery, and many other loaded subjects. Three Kings uses wild humor to attack the absurdity of modern warfare. And I Heart Huckabees is a playful, irreverent comedy that is completely serious in its exploration of profound existential questions. “In short, Russell has firmly established himself as one of the most consistently original and inventive contemporary filmmakers. With all the attention surrounding his latest film, this is a good time to take a look at his remarkable and unconventional career,” said David Schwartz, the Museum’s chief curator, who organized the retrospective.
The Films of David O. Russell
January 15–February 20, 2011
Special screening: The Fighter
Wednesday, January 19, 7:00 p.m.
A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID O. RUSSELL AND SPIKE JONZE
2010, 115 mins. Paramount Pictures. With Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams. Russell’s vibrant new film is a true-life boxing drama and a family drama about the rivalry between two brothers and between a controlling mother-manager and her son’s girlfriend. Gaining atmosphere from its Lowell, Massachusetts setting, this film features four of the year’s most indelible performances. A labor of love for producer/star Wahlberg, the film is also a dazzling comeback of sorts for Russell, making his first feature film in six years.
TICKETS: $15 public / $10 Museum members / Free for Silver Screen members and above. Order online at movingimage.us or call 718 777 6800.
Spanking the Monkey
Friday, January 21, 7:30 p.m.
1994, 100 mins. With Jeremy Davies. In his impressive debut, which won the Audience Award at Sundance, Russell brings deadpan humor and emotional complexity to what could have been very lurid subject matter: the improper relationship that develops over a summer between a housebound mother and her college-age son.
Flirting with Disaster
Saturday, January 29, 6:00 p.m.
1996, 92 mins. With Ben Stiller, Tea Leoni. Madcap road movie meets screwball romance meets dysfunctional family comedy in Russell’s wild and assured film about an adopted man who decides to track down his biological father. Russell’s sophomore film is filled with surprises and great acting from an ensemble that includes George Segal, Lily Tomlin, Patricia Arquette, Richard Jenkins, and Josh Brolin.
Three Kings
Saturday , February 5, 6:00 p.m.
1999, 114 mins. With George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube. An audacious, satirical movie and one of the few Hollywood films set during the first Gulf War, Three
Kings, about a group of cynical American soldiers tracking down a pile of gold stolen by Saddam Hussein, was described by Roger Ebert as “some kind of weird masterpiece, a screw-loose war picture that sends action and humor crashing head-on into each other and spinning off into political anger.”
I Heart Huckabees
Sunday , February 6, 5:30 p.m.
2004, 107 mins. With Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jason Schwartzman. A down-on-his-luck poet/activist enlists the help of an existential detective agency to help solve some cosmic questions in Russell’s brilliant one-of-a-kind philosophical comedy about nothing less than the meaning of life and the nature of reality. Russell’s most provocative and unpredictable movie is also his most personal.
MUSEUM INFORMATION
Hours (beginning January 15, 2011): Tuesday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Friday, 10:30 to 8:00 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Holiday Openings: Monday, January 17 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Monday, February 21 (Washington’s Birthday), 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Closed on Monday except for holiday openings).
Film Screenings: See schedule above for schedule.
Museum Admission: $10.00 for adults; $7.50 for persons over 65 and for students with ID; $5.00 for children ages 5-18. Children under 5 and Museum members are admitted free. Admission to the galleries is free on Fridays, 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Paid admission includes film screenings (except for special ticketed events and Friday evenings) Tickets for special screenings and events may be purchased in advance online at movingimage.us or by phone at 718.777.6800.
Location: 35 Avenue at 37 Street in Astoria.
Subway: R or M trains (R on weekends) to Steinway Street. N or Q trains to 36 Avenue.
Program Information: Telephone: 718.777.6888; Website: http://movingimage.us
The Museum is housed in a building owned by the City of New York and its operations are made possible in part by public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Natural Heritage Trust (administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation). The Museum also receives generous support from numerous corporations, foundations, and individuals. For more information, please visit http://movingimage.us/.
Thursday, January 13, 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
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
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Review: "Three Kings" Prophetic, Timeless, and Timely
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 102 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux
Three Kings (1999)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic war violence, language and some sexuality
DIRECTOR: David O. Russell
WRITERS: David O. Russell, story by John Ridley
PRODUCERS: Paul Junger Witt, Edward L. McDonnell, and Charles Roven
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Newton Thomas Sigel
EDITOR: Robert K. Lambert
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell
ACTION/COMEDY/DRAMA/WAR
Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, Cliff Curtis, Nora Dunn, Jamie Kennedy, Mykelti Washington, Judy Greer, and Liz Stauber
David O. Russell’s (Flirting with Disaster) film Three Kings is set in the aftermath of the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm). Four soldiers set out to recover Iraqi gold that Saddam Hussein stole from Kuwait. Somewhere along the way, they discover that the people, the ordinary citizens caught between the United Nations (i.e. American) juggernaut and Saddam’s brutality, need the soldiers more than the soldiers need the gold.
This is obviously an anti-war picture, but that term is rather broad, as it is for many films that are war movies or take a hard look at war and strife. Shot in a palette of shifting and unusual colors, the film is as surrealistic as the experience of sudden and massive violence can be. In the end, it’s “anti-war” in the sense that it shows how the individual must confront his part in large scale violence, in which he exists as a servant and when the warlords are faceless bureaucrats and manic officers far away from the ground level violence. It’s also about how the little people, the one’s who have no say in how things are run, take the sucker punches. If this movie does one thing well, it is how it portrays the plight of the powerless.
The elements of the film: setting, story, and characters have a hard, visceral feel. The brutal edge bites deep into the soul and makes the viewer feel for the players. On the other hand, the film feels out of control and overly earnest, as if it’s screaming its message at you. That’s not off-putting, but the film often feels hollow because the chain of events are so predictable. From the first time the soldiers (ably played by George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze) encounter some Iraqi civilians getting beat up and shot, you know what’s coming. Clooney’s Maj. Archie Gates can’t leave them behind, and while Wahlberg’s Sfc. Troy Barlow first resists getting involved, he predictably relents. From that point, the Three Kings (Ice Cube’s SSgt. Chief Elgin is the third) are on an earnest holy mission; even Cube’s Elgin is made to play a pious man calling on a high authority to guide them.
Though it is well meaning and flashy, I do give Russell and story writer John Ridley credit for bluntly confronting the hypocrisy of the U.N.’s (once again, U.S.’s) public stance on why they were in Iraq the first time. Three Kings says a lot of things that needed to be said back then and are as relevant today as they were then. It’s a gut check to for a lethargic audience fat on the film treats that will inevitably lead them to tire of SFX tricks. To hear not one, but several characters, both military and civilian, in a film, confront war with such sarcasm, disdain, and sorrow is refreshing.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2000 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actor” (Ice Cube)
Three Kings (1999)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic war violence, language and some sexuality
DIRECTOR: David O. Russell
WRITERS: David O. Russell, story by John Ridley
PRODUCERS: Paul Junger Witt, Edward L. McDonnell, and Charles Roven
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Newton Thomas Sigel
EDITOR: Robert K. Lambert
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell
ACTION/COMEDY/DRAMA/WAR
Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, Cliff Curtis, Nora Dunn, Jamie Kennedy, Mykelti Washington, Judy Greer, and Liz Stauber
David O. Russell’s (Flirting with Disaster) film Three Kings is set in the aftermath of the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm). Four soldiers set out to recover Iraqi gold that Saddam Hussein stole from Kuwait. Somewhere along the way, they discover that the people, the ordinary citizens caught between the United Nations (i.e. American) juggernaut and Saddam’s brutality, need the soldiers more than the soldiers need the gold.
This is obviously an anti-war picture, but that term is rather broad, as it is for many films that are war movies or take a hard look at war and strife. Shot in a palette of shifting and unusual colors, the film is as surrealistic as the experience of sudden and massive violence can be. In the end, it’s “anti-war” in the sense that it shows how the individual must confront his part in large scale violence, in which he exists as a servant and when the warlords are faceless bureaucrats and manic officers far away from the ground level violence. It’s also about how the little people, the one’s who have no say in how things are run, take the sucker punches. If this movie does one thing well, it is how it portrays the plight of the powerless.
The elements of the film: setting, story, and characters have a hard, visceral feel. The brutal edge bites deep into the soul and makes the viewer feel for the players. On the other hand, the film feels out of control and overly earnest, as if it’s screaming its message at you. That’s not off-putting, but the film often feels hollow because the chain of events are so predictable. From the first time the soldiers (ably played by George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze) encounter some Iraqi civilians getting beat up and shot, you know what’s coming. Clooney’s Maj. Archie Gates can’t leave them behind, and while Wahlberg’s Sfc. Troy Barlow first resists getting involved, he predictably relents. From that point, the Three Kings (Ice Cube’s SSgt. Chief Elgin is the third) are on an earnest holy mission; even Cube’s Elgin is made to play a pious man calling on a high authority to guide them.
Though it is well meaning and flashy, I do give Russell and story writer John Ridley credit for bluntly confronting the hypocrisy of the U.N.’s (once again, U.S.’s) public stance on why they were in Iraq the first time. Three Kings says a lot of things that needed to be said back then and are as relevant today as they were then. It’s a gut check to for a lethargic audience fat on the film treats that will inevitably lead them to tire of SFX tricks. To hear not one, but several characters, both military and civilian, in a film, confront war with such sarcasm, disdain, and sorrow is refreshing.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2000 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actor” (Ice Cube)
---------------------
Chris Nolan, David Fincher Among DGA Nominees
A few days ago, the Directors Guild of America announced the five nominees for the organization's best director award: Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Tom Hooper, and and David O. Russell. The nominee list for the best director Oscar usually sticks pretty close to the DGA selections. The most obvious names missing from this list are the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen (for True Grit).
I think many movie award watchers believe David O. Russell (The Fighter) may be the odd man out in favor of the Coens when the Oscar nominations are announced later this month. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Chris Nolan (for Inception) didn't get a best director Oscar nomination, as happened when he got a DGA nomination but not an Oscar nod for The Dark Knight in 2008, and also for Memento in 2001. Lord knows that Nolan fans want Oscar validation for him, and the Lord also knows that he should have received that validation already (although he did receive a screenplay Oscar nomination for Memento). Here, is the press release from the DGA:
LOS ANGELES, CA: Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2010.
"2011 marks the 75th anniversary of the DGA, making the celebration of this year's five nominees especially meaningful," said Hackford. "Their inspired films radiate the passion and unique vision of each of these filmmakers, who are about to become part of our Guild's rich history. My sincerest congratulations to all five nominees."
The winner will be named at the 63rd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 29, 2011, at the Grand Ballroom of Hollywood and Highland.
DARREN ARONOFSKY
Black Swan
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Mr. Aronofsky’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Jennifer Roth
First Assistant Director: Joseph Reidy
Second Assistant Director: Amy Lauritsen
Second Second Assistant Director: Travis Rehwaldt
Location Manager: Ronnie Kupferwasser
This is Mr. Aronofsky’s first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
DAVID FINCHER
The Social Network
(Columbia Pictures)
Mr. Fincher’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: JoAnn Perritano
First Assistant Director: Bob Wagner
Second Assistant Director: Allen Kupetsky
Second Second Assistant Director: Maileen Williams
This is Mr. Fincher’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008. He previously won the DGA Commercial Award for Speed Chain (Nike), Gamebreakers (Nikegridiron.com), and Beauty for Sale (Xelibri Phones) in 2003 and was nominated in that category again in 2008.
TOM HOOPER
The King’s Speech
(The Weinstein Co.)
Mr. Hooper’s Directorial Team:
Production Manager: Erica Bensly
First Assistant Director: Martin Harrison
Second Assistant Director: Chris Stoaling
This is Mr. Hooper’s first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Movies for Television/Miniseries for John Adams in 2008.
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
Inception
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Nolan’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Jan Foster
First Assistant Director: Nilo Otero
Second Assistant Director: Brandon Lambdin
Second Second Assistant Director: Greg Pawlik
Additional Second Assistant Director: Lauren Pasternack
This is Mr. Nolan’s third DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for The Dark Knight in 2008 and for Memento in 2001.
DAVID O. RUSSELL
The Fighter
(Paramount Pictures and The Weinstein Co.)
Mr. Russell’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Mark Kamine
First Assistant Director: Michele Ziegler
Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
Second Second Assistant Director: Timothy Blockburger
This is Mr. Russell’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
www.dga.org/
I think many movie award watchers believe David O. Russell (The Fighter) may be the odd man out in favor of the Coens when the Oscar nominations are announced later this month. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Chris Nolan (for Inception) didn't get a best director Oscar nomination, as happened when he got a DGA nomination but not an Oscar nod for The Dark Knight in 2008, and also for Memento in 2001. Lord knows that Nolan fans want Oscar validation for him, and the Lord also knows that he should have received that validation already (although he did receive a screenplay Oscar nomination for Memento). Here, is the press release from the DGA:
LOS ANGELES, CA: Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2010.
"2011 marks the 75th anniversary of the DGA, making the celebration of this year's five nominees especially meaningful," said Hackford. "Their inspired films radiate the passion and unique vision of each of these filmmakers, who are about to become part of our Guild's rich history. My sincerest congratulations to all five nominees."
The winner will be named at the 63rd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 29, 2011, at the Grand Ballroom of Hollywood and Highland.
DARREN ARONOFSKY
Black Swan
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Mr. Aronofsky’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Jennifer Roth
First Assistant Director: Joseph Reidy
Second Assistant Director: Amy Lauritsen
Second Second Assistant Director: Travis Rehwaldt
Location Manager: Ronnie Kupferwasser
This is Mr. Aronofsky’s first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
DAVID FINCHER
The Social Network
(Columbia Pictures)
Mr. Fincher’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: JoAnn Perritano
First Assistant Director: Bob Wagner
Second Assistant Director: Allen Kupetsky
Second Second Assistant Director: Maileen Williams
This is Mr. Fincher’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008. He previously won the DGA Commercial Award for Speed Chain (Nike), Gamebreakers (Nikegridiron.com), and Beauty for Sale (Xelibri Phones) in 2003 and was nominated in that category again in 2008.
TOM HOOPER
The King’s Speech
(The Weinstein Co.)
Mr. Hooper’s Directorial Team:
Production Manager: Erica Bensly
First Assistant Director: Martin Harrison
Second Assistant Director: Chris Stoaling
This is Mr. Hooper’s first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Movies for Television/Miniseries for John Adams in 2008.
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
Inception
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Nolan’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Jan Foster
First Assistant Director: Nilo Otero
Second Assistant Director: Brandon Lambdin
Second Second Assistant Director: Greg Pawlik
Additional Second Assistant Director: Lauren Pasternack
This is Mr. Nolan’s third DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for The Dark Knight in 2008 and for Memento in 2001.
DAVID O. RUSSELL
The Fighter
(Paramount Pictures and The Weinstein Co.)
Mr. Russell’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Mark Kamine
First Assistant Director: Michele Ziegler
Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
Second Second Assistant Director: Timothy Blockburger
This is Mr. Russell’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
www.dga.org/
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Review: "The Kids Are All Right" is Alright
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some teen drug and alcohol use
DIRECTOR: Lisa Cholodenko
WRITERS: Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
PRODUCERS: Gary Gilbert, Philippe Hellmann, Jordan Horowitz, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, and Daniela Taplin Lundberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Igor Jadue-Lillo (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Jeffrey M. Werner
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell
DRAMA/COMEDY
Starring: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Yaya DaCosta, Kunal Sharma, Eddie Hassell, Zosia Mamet, and Joaquin Garrido
The Kids Are All Right is a domestic drama, but isn’t like other dramas about the American nuclear family. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko, the film focuses on a family lead by sax-sex parents who discover that their children have found their biological father.
Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening) are a lesbian couple living in California. Each gave birth to a child via the same anonymous sperm donor. As she prepares to leave for college, 18-year-old Joni (Mia Wasikowska) acquiesces to a request by her brother, 15-year-old Laser (Josh Hutcherson), to discover the identity of their sperm donor dad. What they find is a small businessman living a bohemian lifestyle, and soon this person by the name of Paul (Mark Ruffalo) is part of the family. But how will he fit in, if he should fit in at all?
In some ways, The Kids Are All Right is sly. With its depictions of affairs, couples squabbling, marital sex, sullen teens, and assorted household dynamics and relationship dysfunction, the film seems to be the average family melodrama. However, the family at the heart of this film is not a normal family, as we generally think of what a normal family should be. Perhaps, the film’s writers, Stuart Blumber and director Lisa Cholodenko, tell this story in the way they do to show that a family headed by a same-sex couple will pretty much have the same ups and downs of a family headed by a man and his wife. This may be their sly and clever way of saying that gay couples are the same as straight couples. Well, they’re not, and that’s just fine.
In an attempt to create an average family drama around a same-sex couple, this film often seems contrived and even a little melodramatic. The Kids Are All Right is certainly a good film, with many fine performances. Annette Bening, who gives a layered and textured performance, however, stands out as genuine, real, and gritty in a film that seems too pat. Bening seems to embody the narrative’s urge to be more than just another indie drama, one with a need to be a carbon copy family dramedy with the straight parents swapped out for a gay couple.
In fact, The Kids Are All Right is really not about the children, which is disappointing because they are such good characters. Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson also give the kind of performances as Joni and Laser, respectively, that makes you really want to get to know them much more than you do.
This is not to say that the film is glaringly deficient. One of the things that makes it so attractive is that both the story and the characters seem to be searching for something more or something that is missing. Its charm is the same-sex nuclear family masquerading as straights, but the writers seem reticent about tearing off the masks and showing something different and really new. The Kids Are All Right, but everything could have been so much more.
7 of 10
B+
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
-----------------------------
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some teen drug and alcohol use
DIRECTOR: Lisa Cholodenko
WRITERS: Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
PRODUCERS: Gary Gilbert, Philippe Hellmann, Jordan Horowitz, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, and Daniela Taplin Lundberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Igor Jadue-Lillo (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Jeffrey M. Werner
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell
DRAMA/COMEDY
Starring: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Yaya DaCosta, Kunal Sharma, Eddie Hassell, Zosia Mamet, and Joaquin Garrido
The Kids Are All Right is a domestic drama, but isn’t like other dramas about the American nuclear family. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko, the film focuses on a family lead by sax-sex parents who discover that their children have found their biological father.
Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening) are a lesbian couple living in California. Each gave birth to a child via the same anonymous sperm donor. As she prepares to leave for college, 18-year-old Joni (Mia Wasikowska) acquiesces to a request by her brother, 15-year-old Laser (Josh Hutcherson), to discover the identity of their sperm donor dad. What they find is a small businessman living a bohemian lifestyle, and soon this person by the name of Paul (Mark Ruffalo) is part of the family. But how will he fit in, if he should fit in at all?
In some ways, The Kids Are All Right is sly. With its depictions of affairs, couples squabbling, marital sex, sullen teens, and assorted household dynamics and relationship dysfunction, the film seems to be the average family melodrama. However, the family at the heart of this film is not a normal family, as we generally think of what a normal family should be. Perhaps, the film’s writers, Stuart Blumber and director Lisa Cholodenko, tell this story in the way they do to show that a family headed by a same-sex couple will pretty much have the same ups and downs of a family headed by a man and his wife. This may be their sly and clever way of saying that gay couples are the same as straight couples. Well, they’re not, and that’s just fine.
In an attempt to create an average family drama around a same-sex couple, this film often seems contrived and even a little melodramatic. The Kids Are All Right is certainly a good film, with many fine performances. Annette Bening, who gives a layered and textured performance, however, stands out as genuine, real, and gritty in a film that seems too pat. Bening seems to embody the narrative’s urge to be more than just another indie drama, one with a need to be a carbon copy family dramedy with the straight parents swapped out for a gay couple.
In fact, The Kids Are All Right is really not about the children, which is disappointing because they are such good characters. Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson also give the kind of performances as Joni and Laser, respectively, that makes you really want to get to know them much more than you do.
This is not to say that the film is glaringly deficient. One of the things that makes it so attractive is that both the story and the characters seem to be searching for something more or something that is missing. Its charm is the same-sex nuclear family masquerading as straights, but the writers seem reticent about tearing off the masks and showing something different and really new. The Kids Are All Right, but everything could have been so much more.
7 of 10
B+
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
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Review: Annette Bening is Radiant in "Being Julia"
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 43 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux
Being Julia (2004)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for some sexuality
DIRECTOR: István Szabó
WRITER: Ronald Harwood (from the novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham)
PRODUCER: Robert Lantos
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lajos Koltai
EDITOR: Susan Shipton
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA/COMEDY
Starring: Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons, Shaun Evans, Michael Gambon, Juliet Stevenson, Miriam Margolyes, Bruce Greenwood, Lucy Punch, Tom Sturridge, Rosemary Harris, Rita Tushingham, and Denzal Sinclaire
Annette Bening earned an Oscar nomination (“Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role) for her searing, tour de force performance of feminine wiles and power in Being Julia. Rarely in these recent times has an actress torn up the screen the way Ms. Bening does here. In fact, her performance is worthy of comparisons to Betty Davis in All About Eve and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind. Ms. Bening’s Julia is witty and sharp, and she plays her audience like a harp. Ms. Bening makes what would have been only another costume drama, a biting stage piece that works as a movie.
Set in London, circa 1938, Being Julia follows aging stage actress, Julia Lambert (Ms. Bening), who seeing her youth fading, is looking for some spark to ignite her passions. She demands that her husband, Michael Gosselyn (Jeremy Irons), who is also her agent and a theatrical producer, give her an extended vacation. Although Michael is reluctant to do so, he gives in to Julia’s demands. However, Julia meets Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), a young accountant who works for her husband. Tom is a great admirer of Julia’s, and he makes an advance on her one evening when he invites her to his small flat for tea. Although she first resists, Julia allows Tom to sweep her off her feet in an illicit affair and romance that, if discovered, could ruin her.
All is, however, not as Julia would want it. She must rediscover herself, reconnect with her husband, and open up to her somewhat estranged son, Roger Gosselyn (Tom Sturridge). Leaning on reliable friends such as her dresser Evie (Juliet Stevenson), her long time friend, Lord Charles (Bruce Greenwood), and the “spirit” of her drama teacher, Jimmie Langton (Michael Gambon), Julia searches for the balance between two worlds, the stage and life.
Ronald Harwood’s (The Dresser) script for Being Julia focuses on characters, with setting and story being backdrops, and he creates the kind of material a fine cast of actors can transform into a suite of mesmerizing performances that make us forget that the movie might be light on plot and glosses over its settings. Harwood makes even the bit parts juicy, and he makes what could have been a nuisance, Michael Gambon’s role as a kind of ghost, spirit, or figment of Julia’s imagination, Jimmie Langton, something to enhance Julia’s back story and history.
The film is also well directed, and the sets and costumes are equal to all but the most spectacular costume dramas and period films. But in the end, this film belongs to Annette Bening. She gives radiant, fiery life to Julia and makes the audience take this annoying woman into their hearts. Julia isn’t just compelling and winning, as a film character, she’s a beautiful painting created by a performing artist. Ms. Bening takes this character with a shallow personality and by the end of Being Julia, makes her whole.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Annette Bening)
2005 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Annette Bening)
Being Julia (2004)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for some sexuality
DIRECTOR: István Szabó
WRITER: Ronald Harwood (from the novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham)
PRODUCER: Robert Lantos
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lajos Koltai
EDITOR: Susan Shipton
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA/COMEDY
Starring: Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons, Shaun Evans, Michael Gambon, Juliet Stevenson, Miriam Margolyes, Bruce Greenwood, Lucy Punch, Tom Sturridge, Rosemary Harris, Rita Tushingham, and Denzal Sinclaire
Annette Bening earned an Oscar nomination (“Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role) for her searing, tour de force performance of feminine wiles and power in Being Julia. Rarely in these recent times has an actress torn up the screen the way Ms. Bening does here. In fact, her performance is worthy of comparisons to Betty Davis in All About Eve and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind. Ms. Bening’s Julia is witty and sharp, and she plays her audience like a harp. Ms. Bening makes what would have been only another costume drama, a biting stage piece that works as a movie.
Set in London, circa 1938, Being Julia follows aging stage actress, Julia Lambert (Ms. Bening), who seeing her youth fading, is looking for some spark to ignite her passions. She demands that her husband, Michael Gosselyn (Jeremy Irons), who is also her agent and a theatrical producer, give her an extended vacation. Although Michael is reluctant to do so, he gives in to Julia’s demands. However, Julia meets Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), a young accountant who works for her husband. Tom is a great admirer of Julia’s, and he makes an advance on her one evening when he invites her to his small flat for tea. Although she first resists, Julia allows Tom to sweep her off her feet in an illicit affair and romance that, if discovered, could ruin her.
All is, however, not as Julia would want it. She must rediscover herself, reconnect with her husband, and open up to her somewhat estranged son, Roger Gosselyn (Tom Sturridge). Leaning on reliable friends such as her dresser Evie (Juliet Stevenson), her long time friend, Lord Charles (Bruce Greenwood), and the “spirit” of her drama teacher, Jimmie Langton (Michael Gambon), Julia searches for the balance between two worlds, the stage and life.
Ronald Harwood’s (The Dresser) script for Being Julia focuses on characters, with setting and story being backdrops, and he creates the kind of material a fine cast of actors can transform into a suite of mesmerizing performances that make us forget that the movie might be light on plot and glosses over its settings. Harwood makes even the bit parts juicy, and he makes what could have been a nuisance, Michael Gambon’s role as a kind of ghost, spirit, or figment of Julia’s imagination, Jimmie Langton, something to enhance Julia’s back story and history.
The film is also well directed, and the sets and costumes are equal to all but the most spectacular costume dramas and period films. But in the end, this film belongs to Annette Bening. She gives radiant, fiery life to Julia and makes the audience take this annoying woman into their hearts. Julia isn’t just compelling and winning, as a film character, she’s a beautiful painting created by a performing artist. Ms. Bening takes this character with a shallow personality and by the end of Being Julia, makes her whole.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Annette Bening)
2005 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Annette Bening)
------------------------------------
Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis Join "The Hobbit"
Thanks to IMDb.com, I found this article at Aceshowbiz.com, which reports that Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis have signed on to reprise their Lord of the Rings role in The Hobbit movies. McKellan, who played Gandalf, and Serkis, who played Gollum, join Cate Blanchett and Elijah Wood, who are already signed to reprise their roles.
Orlando Bloom is still in talks to return as the elf Legolas. [NOTE: I loves me some Legolas.] Christopher Lee is reportedly in talks to return as the wizard Saruman, and Ian Holm may return as an older version of Bilbo Baggins.
Martin Freeman will portray the main character, (the younger) Bilbo Baggins. The Hobbit, based upon the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, will be adapted as two movies. Part 1 is scheduled to arrive in December 2012, and "The Hobbit 2" in December 2013.
Orlando Bloom is still in talks to return as the elf Legolas. [NOTE: I loves me some Legolas.] Christopher Lee is reportedly in talks to return as the wizard Saruman, and Ian Holm may return as an older version of Bilbo Baggins.
Martin Freeman will portray the main character, (the younger) Bilbo Baggins. The Hobbit, based upon the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, will be adapted as two movies. Part 1 is scheduled to arrive in December 2012, and "The Hobbit 2" in December 2013.
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