Only 261 Days Until "GRAVITY" Drops

Solaris (2002)Remember that blissful time a year ago when we thought we would have Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity in theaters for 2012. It was not to be but the film finally has a release date in October 4th, 2013. There are still no official photos of this movie so enjoy this still of George Clooney in Steven Soderbergh's remake of Solaris (2002), his only previous sci-fi outing. ... unless you'd like to count Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988).

The release date is already crowded with the Vince Vaughn sperm donor comedy The Delivery Man (another sperm donor comedy... I thought we were done with those!), the 3D conversion of Revenge of the Sith, and the corporate thriller Paranoia which pairs young Liam Hensworth with Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford.

Gravity, in case you've forgotten, is an expensive 3D technological marvel (we're told) which is also an experimental dramatic two hander about a medical engineer (Sandra Bullock) and an astronaut (Clooney). The space travellers become stranded, tethered only to one another, when their shuttle is destroyed. Naturally, you need mega stars when your movie is going to cost a fortune and basically stare at the same two faces the whole time. Strangely given the synopsis it's always been reported that this is primarily the actress's show.

2013 is a big comeback year for Bullock after her, uh, big comeback year of 2009 for which she won the Oscar with the mega-hit The Blind Side. She's only made one movie in the interim (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) and she wasn't its selling point. Now she has two potential blockbusters looming. The other is the comedy The Heat (79 days away) from the director of Bridesmaids which pairs her as an FBI agent with cop Melissa McCarthy for an action comedy about two women after a drug lord. Last time Bullock led a female FBI comedy, Miss Congeniality, it was so popular a sequel followed.

Gravity might be a trickier sell.

Here's the trailer.

"Gravity" is Now Test Screening

One of 2012's most anticipated features, Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, is far enough along now that it's test screening. All we know (and want to know!) of its plot is the synopsis which goes like so "The lone survivor of a space mission to repair the Hubble telescope desperately tries to return to Earth and reunite with her daughter."

Sandra and Child and George Clooney on the set of "Gravity"

I heard from a Film Experience reader in California shortly after he exited a test screening and I thank him for not telling me plot details! (I can't be the only one who wants to be surprised at the movies anymore). He guiltily prefaced things with "I know I'm not supposed to speak about the movie" but he was too excited not to share calling Cuarón "insanely monumental" though he confirmed my suspicions that the film will prove divisive. 

Gravity is Cuaron’s masterpiece. It’s gonna be divided. Half will think it’s a self-indulgent borefest and half will think it’s amazingly brilliant. The movie is 80% just Sandra Bullock!

He went on to say that he thinks its her best work, particular in the final fifteen minutes (from which he assumes they'll draw an Oscar clip should that time come) but that the film is Cuarón's. He called likely nominations for Visual Effects, Picture, Director, Editing ("breathless" action), and Cinematography which he calls "amazing". Regarding the latter, though, did anyone expect less from eternal Oscar bridesmaid Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life, Children of Men) and Michael Seresin (Midnight Express)? 

Sandra on set. Bruise makeup?

You'll recall that the ambitious project had great difficulty finding its film-carrying female lead (supposedly Angelina Jolie turned it down twice and Natalie Portman once). So as for Best Actress...

If this is a runaway crowd pleaser, then count Bullock in."

Are you counting Sandy and Gravity in?

Related: Oscar Predictions & Oscar discussions

First Best Actress Predictions of the New Oscar Year

"Are you actress psychic?" It's a question I've often asked in conjunction with prediction contests. I'm still working out details as to what we'll do for an Oscar contest this year but in the meantime I knew I had to wrap up my April Foolish predictions in April which ends... right about now.

To answer my own question I am somewhat Actress Psychic -- as long time readers know -- since my prediction ratio is pretty good early on before we've seen any films. This year I think I dropped the ball, the crystal one that is, not the "ohmygodthis postissoooolate" ball though that one as well. So many potentially interesting leading actress roles and so little in the way of sure things.

Maggie Smith in Quartet (1981) and Maggie Smith in Quartet (2012)

But let's pause for a moment to appreciate the beautiful coincidence should Maggie Smith be nominated as an opera diva in Quartet (2012). much much Oscary more after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Red Carpet: Oscar Fashion Votes & Snubs

It's all over but for the Oscars finding their place in the expansive homes of the winners: night stand treasure? fireplace mantle trophy? foyer bragging spot? bathroom door stopper? ‪personal office knick knack? - Just a little something to brighten the room. Or each room if you're Robert Richardson or Meryl Streep. Oh and the fashion. We haven't discussed the fashion yet.

NATHANIEL: Welcome back to the red carpet lineup, Kurt, Jose and readers. I type this with my eyes half open. It's been a long season. I actually feel like someone's train, just dragging along the ground. Though with less grace.‬

Sandy, Goop Girl, Penelope, Black Swan in Red Polka Dot, Leg

Carry me with you Penelope!

poll by twiigs.com

JOSE:  ‪You need to smoke/drink/inhale whatever Jean Dujardin's been on since November‬ 

KURT:  ‪My guess is it was that toddlers and tiaras concoction‬.

Nathaniel:  ‪Ohhhh Dujardin. If I could tap dance to revive my flailing career, I would

Jose:  ‪just teach Monty a few tricks, grow a 'stache and you're set! If not you can ask Super Gwynnie to help you‬. Yay super Gwynnie!‬

Kurt:  ‪Paltrow gets my Best Dressed in a walk. and did she ever walk. I'm just in love with super gwynnie. Damn those cape haters!‬

Nathaniel: Quoth Edna "NO CAPES!"

"NO CAPES"Kurt: LOL

Nathaniel: I was trying to think of a superhero name for her but all I came up with was "‪Goop Girl. Able to leap the Atlantic in a single bound.‬"

Jose:  ‪ugh I am so happy that we all agree on Gwyn for once, I always stick up for her, even when she does crazy ass stuff‬

Kurt:  And this is so the year of the bracelet.

Jose: Lynda Carter must be pissed they're stealing her decades old thunder.

Nathaniel: Big wrist-hiders. Somewhere Natalie Wood is smiling down from heaven.‬

more after the jump including best actress...

Click to read more ...

Happy 50th Birthday, Meg Ryan

She rose to fame just before Julia Roberts who rose to fame just before Sandra Bullock. Together the three of them inarguably ruled the Romantic Comedy genre for a full decade back when, and this is an important note, the genre was producing regular classics. (Look at any modern RomCom Queen's filmography and try to find films half as good; the qualitative dropoff is more like a horror movie!) 

Cut to 2011 and the other two members of America's Sweetheart Trinity: 1990s Division are still headliners and now Oscar Winners. So what happened to Meg Ryan and why did goodwill not follow her or rescue her as it did her royal sisters in big screen love and laughter? For a good long while people wondered when her Erin Brockovich would arrive. Eventually they stopped wondering but why couldn't she even stumble onto her own The Blind Side? 

It isn't a simple matter of talent. While Meg is mostly remembered for romantic comedy blockbusters like When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail (recently revisited at Stale Popcorn) and Sleepless in Seattle she was always alternating those films with dramatic work, sometimes chasing Oscar nominations which never materialized and sometimes, one assumes, merely to stretch herself or work with great actors (When a Man Loved a Woman, Flesh and Bone, Courage Under Fire, Hurlyburly, etcetera).

Gwyneth Paltrow and Meg Ryan in "Flesh and Bone" (1993), the year of Sleepless in Seattle

In fact, if you lay their 90s filmographies down side by side, without the benefit of knowing what came after, Ryan was demonstrating far far more range than Bullock.  

Was she simply too good at romantic comedy, making her dramatic work feel unexciting in comparison? Did she push herself too far past her natural talents in films like In The Cut (2003) that may have been better suited to miraculous dramatic thespians like, say, a Moore or a Kidman? Or did her own career stumbles tie in too chronologically well with the decline of her signature genre? Or was it just that her volatile personal life (the Dennis Quaid divorce and the Russell Crowe affair) rubbed too abrasively against her "cute" screen image? That's a problem that Julia never seemed to have despite an even more volatile love life -- maybe because her image wasn't as "cute" but leaned a little spikier and more narcissistic.

I'm just theorizing now... Join me. I'd love to hear your (non hateful) theories and your take on her best work. It's her 50th birthday so we wish her well. Her next feature is an ensemble drama called Lives of the Saints with an eclectic cast featuring Kat Dennings, Kevin Zegers, 50 Cent, and John Lithgow. 

What do you make of her more dramatic work in In the Cut, When A Man Loves a Woman, Hurlyburly, Flesh and Bone, Top Gun, Prelude to a Kiss? Which of her romcoms do it for you: ...Sally? ...Mail? French Kiss? Addicted to Love? ...Seattle? Kate & Leopold?