Sunday
Sep152013
Open Thread
Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 9:31AM What's on your cinematic mind? I'm prepping for three actress interviews (!!!) and tonight's podcast so I've no time to write. Your turn in the comments.
Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 9:31AM
Reader Comments (37)
Scar Jo and Under the Skin is all that's been on my mind since the reactions. The idea of another performance the calibre of Kidman in Birth is thrilling.
Should I drop the eight bucks to see Short Term 12 again or can I wait for a DVD/iTunes release?
Pumped for the podcast! After the marathon of TIFF, are you planning on seeing anything at NYFF? In a festival atmosphere, how do you filter out the noise to actually gauge your own reactions and make your own choices about what's worth seeing?
I'm so excited for fall movies!!
Jake D - yes but that's only the answer to the first part of your question. glad you enjoyed!
Saw In a World... last night and was thoroughly charmed. A bit rough around the edges, but I thought it was original, smart, and funny. Bell definitely seems like a talent to watch. Wondering if you saw it and, if so, what your thoughts were.
ScarJo is good in Under the Skin but it is so different from Kidman in Birth. With that said, I think Under the Skin is better than Birth, a movie I liked and it seems destined to make my end of year Top 5. Mica Levi's score for the movie is utterly haunting my dreams yet I demand to be able to purchase and hear it again. But seriously folks, I think this is Glazer's masterpiece.
I feel like after seeing Lav Diaz's Norte: The End of History multi-hour, marathon movies do not phase me. Bring on both parts of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and Blue is the Warmest Color!!!! I'm ready!
Because of the approaching arrival of HER, I decided to re-watch ADAPTATION. Returning to the movie was difficult due to my irrational and schizo disdain for Meryl Streep. Her first few scenes required me to talk myself out of my minority space and accept her as another element of the ensemble.
And to my greater disdain when it was all over she didn't ruin anything. Her performance was in service to the movie and not simply all eyes on her navel gazing and awaiting mass approval from awards bodies and her base. I prefer ADAPTATION. to BEING JOHN MALKOVICH because the former is a more confident sit-through.
That I am in awe of people who can sit through dozens of movies at festivals. This was my first major festival; I did 18 films, and I was rather overwhelmed. I can't wait to try it again next year, though.
I watched Malavita - The Family yesterday.
Lots of fun. Sometimes a good black comedy that knows how not to take itself seriously is good for the system.
Great pacing, great editing, great jokes, great acting (Pfeiffer is the best of all, Agron is utterly inexpressive. The characters asks for cool acting but she can't deliver in a moment in which emotion is required).
But the screenplay full of jokes maintains the fun of it. Don't take it seriously, as the movie does not take itself, and you might have a good time.
I saw This is the End for the third time last night. I shouldn't like this movie, but I still laughed my ass off the entire way through.
I'm really curious about Roberts' casting in August: Osage County at the very least from a cosmetic perspective.
I saw the original production and loved Amy Morton as Barbara. I thought it was the hardest role in the play and the most successfully pulled off--frankly, I thought Morton was unfairly overlooked in everyone's fawning over Dunagan.
But part of what, at the time, seemed crucial to my understanding of Barbara was that Morton is, well, not beautiful. That she showed her age. Frankly, it's hard not to imagine someone with Roberts' face leading a charmed life.
Obviously, this is no new practice--casting beautiful women in roles meant for plainer ones, but frankly I don't see what casting Roberts adds to this movie. It's not like they didn't already have Streep as a big name, and, frankly, is Roberts even really a big name anymore? For whom is she a draw? I don't deny that she's a talented actress, but she doesn't seem right for the part.
And in terms of all the recent Oscar category nonsense recently--Barbara, at least to me, is more of the lead than Violet. Both are lead, and it would be great to see them campaigned as such, but dropping Streep down didn't ever not make sense to me. Dropping Roberts down does.
your take on blue is the warmest colour and the controversy surrounding it
ONLY THREE WEEKS till Blue Is the Warmest Color opens here in MTL. Pretty much counting down the days.
Also thinking about Prisoners, since its the soonest big movie to open, and your brief little write-up of the LEOgend on the supporting actress page has me pretty psyched (and the thought of Hugh and Jake and Viola sharing a screen has me awfully excited, too.)
Looking forward to your interviews.
Every time I see a publicity still for "Under the Skin" all I can think about is how much they styled Scarlett Johansson to look like Cillian Murphy in "Breakfast on Pluto", right down to the fur coat.
That, based on how things are looking, here's what I would, most confidently, say is going to be the seven superhero line-up for Justice League:
Batman (if Batman/Superman flops and it DOESN'T just shutter the whole thing, they'll blame it on Superman. Because, that's how studio politics works, folks.)
Green Arrow (If Batman/Superman flops (and considering the backwards creative direction, there's a strong possibility it will), the only way we COULD get a Justice League in 2017 is if they incorporate Arrow)
The Flash (We know he's going to be introduced in this next season of Arrow and I'm thinking whoever they cast might wind up in the movie as well.)
Black Canary (Again, Arrow cast member, but based on Warner's sluggish pacing and hand wringing "safest possible option" M/O, I'm guessing this is what we get in terms of a female hero as opposed to Wonder Woman.)
Martian Manhunter (You can't do a Justice League movie and NOT introduce this Oreo scarfing alien. Really sucks the New 52 has removed that. It was a fun detail.)
(These three characters taking two slots are reliant on How to Catch a Monster secretly being a DCCU film)
Aquaman: Part of How to Catch a Monster is supposedly in an "underwater utopia", so I'd hope Gosling actually has some sort of small jutting out cameo role that helps undo the pop culture joke he became in the mainstream due to Superfriends.
John Constantine/Zatanna: For John Constantine, I'm not making a case for Keanu. (If anything, I'd love to see what, say, Rafe Spall could do with this specifically British brand of a-hole.) For Zatanna, I'd see how an actress could do her and NOT cut off a lot of her career options. (She's skilled in both actual magic and sleight of hand. Yeah, I can't believe NO serious young actress who's also a comics fan hasn't come forward to some Warner Bros casting director and said (while they're holding auditions for Wonder Woman) "Um, I didn't really come for that. Could I maybe suggest that you put some effort to developing Zatanna? So actresses can compete for a good superheroine movie that DOESN'T cut off other career prospects?" (Seriously, that's the big reason (divorced from the whole Henry Cavill thing) why Gina Carano was initially offered as a choice for Wonder Woman: She didn't have much serious career prospects TO cut off. Though considering she has bad enough taste that she's consulting with Rob Liefeld on a project, I think that says it all: She's more interested in taking her brief moment in the sun to work with a childhood idol than on that big icon.) And the casting director, in their head, goes "What a nut. Who the heck IS Zatanna" while coddling them with, "Sure, I'll tell your idea to my superiors." And then nothing comes of it.)
I also have 12 Years a Slave on my mind, which just won the audience award at TIFF. As a huge fan of Shame and Hunger, it's hard to believe what I'm reading, in a way. Steve McQueen did not seem like he was going to go out and make the "hands-down-best-picture-frontrunner-and-audience-award-winner".
Right now I am watching The Doors and thinks:
"God what Meg Ryan is an underrated actress."
I want her to have a big-zised comeback à la Gloria Swanson.
Looking forward to Gravity. I liked your piece on it. I like hearing divergent views, it makes it more interesting.
Also, 12 years which is sounding more and more impressive with each review I read.
August OC. I wish Margo had the Violet part. One of he problems with casting Streep is that its Streep, with all the baggage of her talent, reputation, expectation etc. When she is less than stellar (which appears to be the case here--stellar was Dingo ate my baby, Sophie and Mama Mia (who knew she had that in her? Surprise is wonderful even if the film is so-so)), it brings the film down. Streep, at this point, needs to bring something new and exciting to each role for it to really shine and this role, which already has serious actor baggage itself, needs someone less known, less expected to make it roar. Margo would have made it roar.
The post on Pfeiffer's terrifying beauty roles made me think now she could play Glenn Close's part in Dangerous Liaisons. I could see Javier Bardem as Valmont, but I'm not sure who could play her part, though.
Is the close-up of Mulligan' Sissy singing "New York, New York" in 'Shame', the best close-up since the one of Kidman's Anna at the opera in 'Birth'?
I saw Grandmaster by Kar Wai Wong. It's really fantastic and operatic. The photography is gorgeous and elevates it to an art film. Highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of cinema and can see it in a theatre. It's at the Sundance Kabuki in San Francisco.
The Meryl hoopla over August: Osage County is whetting the appetite. I read that Tracy Letts and John Wells want to change the ending so it conforms with the play. Let's hope sanity prevails. I sense Mike Nichols' influence on this production, at least in their intention, and that is only a plus.
I keep thinking about how Oprah Winfrey should be up for Lead Actress rather than Supporting Actress but we'll have to wait and see what the Academy thinks of it come nominations morning. She and Cate Blanchett will surely be nominated.
Speaking of Blue Jasmine, since Woody is getting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, I hope he actually shows up at the Golden Globes. We know Blanchett is a lock for a nomination and possible win, so Woody should go to at least support her and accept his award too. I know how much he dislikes going to any award show though. I loved his NYC tribute at the Oscars back in 2002 after 9/11 and this would be a happier note.
I hope Oprah is not nominated for her less than awe-inspiring role in The Butler... for either lead???? or supporting... there are too many other excellent choices this year...
Henry- I agree. It's not an against-type role a la Taylor as Martha. All of the plum actress-y, powerhouse roles whether real-life person, from best-sellers, to the stage all go to Meryl. Frankly, her Sister Aloysius was terrible and her and PSH seemed to swap character personality traits that made Doubt just not work. Violet needs more of a matriarch who you can see in that setting and back-drop. I get why Margo is not in that role even if she would make so much more sense but lord.
I know Sam Shepherd being in the cast means there is at least one person in the cast connected to the Steppenwolf Theatre but could they not have called Michael Shannon just once? Little Charles, Bill, Steve- I don't care which part but I know he probably would fit closer to that role than McGregor, Cumberbatch, or Mulroney (yeesh, that is the biggest case of producer Clooney helping a friend after John Wells being named director). Honestly, Martha Plimpton, Jeff Perry (Ewan McGregor is in his role!!!), Laurie Metcalf, Joan Allen, Malkovich- was there any reason to try to stuff more A-listers being Violet and Barbara rather than pay respect to the Steppenwolf legacy?
Short Term 12. Holy crap, Short Term 12 you guys. Just see it. The more eyes on this film, the better. Something this small that so perfectly hits on its subject matter with lecturing the audience needs support to go anywhere big.
If they campaign this the right way, they could easily get in for screenplay (adapted? the writer/director made a short with the same name and subject matter but different story two years before submitting this screenplay to festivals). Brie Larson should be in the discussion for actress. If enough members see it, I can't imagine it not hitting the 5% threshold for a surprise Best Picture nomination that's only a surprise because of the size of the film.
Streep's historic record breaking 18th nomination!!!!
That's all... Haters gonna hate! :)
I think Marcelo and I saw two different Malavitas. ;-)
Question for people who have seen Short Term 12: Would it be advisable to take my somewhat sheltered 16-year-old niece to the movie?
Yesterday I watched We´re the Millers and was surprised how funny that movie was! Really truly!
But the best thing is that Blue Jasmine will premiere on the 27th of September here in Bogota ( Yeah gonna live here for 1 year) so Im so looking forward to that movie and my Queen, Cate the Great
I don't think Streep is terrible in Doubt, but I realize its popular now to trash Meryl Streep (why not pick on a male star?). John Patrick Shanley wanted to direct his own production, so her performance is largely based on his choices and guidance.
"I don't think Streep is terrible in Doubt, but I realize its popular now to trash Meryl Streep (why not pick on a male star?). John Patrick Shanley wanted to direct his own production, so her performance is largely based on his choices and guidance."
Shanley's direction was terrible too. That whole movie save Amy Adams and Viola Davis was unfortunate and a textbook case of never adapting your own work.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2013/sep/16/grace-monaco-nicole-kidman-trailer-video
finally, the trailer
looks stunning
I think that Grace of Monaco trailer looks like a perfume ad, and not a particularly well-produced one.
@THeis - No, it's not.
I just finished a self-imposed Scandinavian Film Festival in which I chose 20 films as ambassadors of Scandinavian cinema and watched them. This was a treat. The standout? I haven't been able to stop thinking about 'The Emigrants' and its sequel 'The New Land'. I wish these ambitious films were discussed more. Somewhere! Here? What bold, lived-in, and encompassing movies! Every setback was my setback and every success my success on the Nilsson family's trek from a baron mid-19th century Sweden to a flourishing and promising Minnesota.
@CMG - Have you see Chbosky's film version of his own book The Perks of Being a Wallflower? That's proof that you're thinking is flawed. Anyone else who would have done that film wouldn't have been able to capture how personal and powerful it truly is.