Errol Morris's Returns to the Fog with 'The Unknown Known'

Ten years ago Errol Morris won the Best Documentary Oscar for his investigation of former Secretary of Defence, Robert S. McNamara. It’s telling that even Morris was surprised, noting in his speech that “I thought it would never happen.” Given his stance as one of the most important documentarians of his time, it genuinely was surprising that he had never even been nominated before let alone won. I guess it didn’t help that titles like Fast, Cheap & Out of Control and Gates of Heaven were likely easily swept aside as unsubstantial, but The Thin Blue Line? A Brief History of Time? It seemed like the documentary branch clearly weren’t fans.

Still, The Fog of War was fairly hard to ignore even for the Academy who have an innate ability to let grudges and bug bears continue for decades and vice versa (I hear Mia Farrow has an appointment to change her name to John Williams).

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Yes No Maybe So - Noah

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JA from MNPP here, taking a look at the first trailer for Darren Aronofsky's bible-epic Noah, giving us the titular tale of one man, one god, two of every animal, and a whole bunch of water. There have been whispers of a battle between the studio and the director over the film's tone - they want it to play straight for the church crowds and that Passion of the Christ money, while Darren Aronofsky, well, is Darren Aronofsky, and I think he probably doesn't have a lot of interest in not complicating Ye Olde Tale a little bit. Well now we've got an inkling, two and a half minutes of inkling, what's what.

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So let's break that sucker down into Nat's patented three-tiered system.

YES

-- Darren Aronofsky, of course - I might be more pro-Aronofsky than a lot of you, so perhaps you should take my opinion on this knowing that fact; I've loved deep in my bones every single film he's made (yes including The Fountain). His last film Black Swan might be my favorite even, but it was shamelessly playing right to my wheel-house so I could hardly help myself.

-- Emma Watson and Logan Lerman reunited! Let's hope they stick their heads out of the sunroof of the Ark while a David Bowie song plays.

-- You can already see the magic touch of Matthew Libatique all over it - some of that quick flashing nature photography is stunning. Speaking of...

-- Whatever this guy is! He's a big creepy plus. Do you think he's supposed to be Satan in the Garden? There's also a flash of an apple being picked, so I think I might be onto something. Anyway I hope there are all kinds of fanciful creatures mixed in with the usual elephants and giraffes and zebras we see in Noah stories.

-- The flaming sword scorching the Earth is kick ass!

NO

-- The CG animal stampede is kind of cheesy here in our first glimpse of it. Of course I don't know how you play that without it coming off cheesy. Hopefully by the time the movie's out in March they'll have made the CG a little bit more convincing, at least.

-- Similarly that shot of the Ark rocking in the waves at the end is some 2012 slash The Perfect Storm cheese. And way to give away the ending!

-- The fight scenes all look really monochromatic and good god we've seen that enough by now haven't we?

-- I never thought I'd be sick of Anthony Hopkins, but I'm sick of Anthony Hopkins.

MAYBE SO

-- Jennifer Connolly hasn't worked with Aronofsky since she gave that wonderful performance in Requiem For a Dream, which kind of kicked off her serious career. (Hey I love Labyrinth as much as the next guy.) - let's hope that the role of Noah's Wife is more than just the noble suffering "I'm With Stupid tee-shirt" role and she's got something to play. I've missed her lately.

-- I'm not the world's biggest Russell Crowe fan, and it's obvious that the studio wants us to think this is Gladiator 2: God's On His Side Now, but he looks pretty commanding with that shaved head and beard inside a tasteful yet butch rough-hewn cotton ensemble, and I'll admit, he's pretty perfect for the part.

So what say you people? Will you be boarding the ship with Darren and company on March 28th 2014, or are you feeling agnostic about this storm?
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Maleficent Teases...

We'll save the Yes No Maybe So-ing for a full trailer, but Disney is now teasing Maleficent, their Spring 2014 blockbuster hopeful, with a Pfeifferesque Pfirst Poster and a new teaser which gives us our first taste of...

Well, if not the movie itself than its...

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Beauty Break: Girl With a Pearl Earring

abstew here with a look back at 2003 with Scarlett Johansson as the Girl With A Pearl Earring and the actual Vermeer painting that inspired the film.

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True Oscar Stories: Hey Nonny, Nonny

Emma Thompson was nominated for Best Actress in 1993 for Remains of the Day in which she is very good but it really should have been for Much Ado About Nothing, in which she is utterly radiant, the classiest and most consummate romantic comedy lead the 90s could have ever dreamt up.

The following year, the Oscars made the same mistake nominating Winona Ryder for period drama Little Women instead of the post-collegiate comedy Reality Bites, which I'd argue is her single greatest screen performance if less iconic than her star turns in Beetlejuice or Heathers. 

The moral of this story: Even when they're great, comedies have such a tough time being appreciated in their time. Soon you'll be able to add Frances Ha (2013) to that infinite list of under-rewarded laughers!