Archive for January, 2010

Short Take: It's message is clear as crystal, but what's impressive is how it sends it

Director: Lone Scherfig (English debut)

Screenwriter: Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity), based on memoirs by Lynn Barber

Cast: Carey Mulligan (Brothers), Peter Sarsgaard (Jarhead), Alfred Molina (The Hoax), Rosamund Pike (Surrogates)

Length: 1h 35m

Synopsis: A 16 year old girl in 1960s England falls for an older man who promises to take her away from her boring life and show her the cultures of the world that she only dreamt of seeing. They enjoy many glamorous times together, but at the cost of the girl’s chances at getting into Oxford University. Eventually, the girl must choose which life to pursue, and her decision is a reflection of how smart she truly is.

Analysis: The basic story of a girl being wooed by an older man who is able to show her exciting places and things is hardly new. Many films and even sitcoms have by now seemingly exhausted this simple tale, and so I withhold no trepidation in spoiling the ending of An Education because you the reader are already intuitively aware of it. However, like with many films, it is the journey and not the destination which matters most. This being said, it is indeed the journey within An Education which separates it from much of its company. Read the rest of this entry »

Disney Studio chairman Rich Ross has recently announced that Sean Bailey, current producer of Disney’s Tron: Legacy, will replace Oen Aviv as the company’s President of Production. He will oversee all aspects of live-action production and development for Walt Disney Pictures as well as Touchstone Entertainment.

“Building upon a strong foundation with the company, Sean brings great creative instincts and considerable filmmaking experience to his new role,” Ross said. “His close relationships throughout the creative community and industry at large make him an ideal leader to set the direction of TWDS’ future film slates. Sean’s talent, energy, and commitment to delivering quality content will help us achieve our goals of producing and distributing Disney-branded movies that entertain audiences worldwide.” – Hollywood Reporter

Other producing credits of Bailey’s include Matchstick Men and Gone Baby Gone.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Short Take: Visually stunning, with depth beyond the aesthetic

Director: Tom Ford (Début)

Screenwriters: Tom Ford (Début), David Scearce (Début)

Cast: Colin Firth (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually, Mamma Mia!), Julianne Moore (Blindness, Children of Men, The Hours), Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Match Point), Nicholas Hoult (Skins, About a Boy)

Length: 1 hr 41 mins

Synopsis: Eight months after his partner of 16 years, Jim (Goode) dies in a car accident, college English professor George (Firth), decides to end his life.  As George arranges his affairs on what is supposed to be the final day of his life, he is pulled away from his decision to die after visiting his longtime friend Charley (Moore) and spending time with an intriguing and handsome student, Kenny (Hoult).

Read the rest of this entry »

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zoe Deschanel in director Marc Webb's "500 Days of Summer," written by Scott Neustadler and Michael H. Weber

The Writer’s Guild of America has announced its nominees for the year’s  Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplays. The nominees for Best Original include the following:

500 Days of Summer (Scott Neustadler and Michael H. Weber), Avatar (James Cameron), The Hangover (Jon Lucas and Scott Moore), The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal), and A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen).

The nominees for Best Adapted include the following:

Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper – based on novel by Thomas Cobb), Julie and Julia (Nora Ephron – based on separate books by Julie Powell and Julia Child), Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher – based on the novel Push by Sapphire), Star Trek (Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman – based on Star Trek as created by Gene Roddenberry), and Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – based on novel by Walter Kirn).

Notable films that were not eligible for the WGA awards because they were not written under the guild’s jurisdiction were: District 9, Inglourious Basterds, The Road, A Single Man, and Up.

Source: Variety

"Avatar" looks great (see photo), but the 3D is what really makes it stunning.

IGN.com recently published an article where author Eric Moro compared the 3D image quality of the theatrical version of James Cameron’s Avatar with its Blu-Ray copy being designed for home theater use.

Almost everyone who has seen the movie in theaters praises the 3D technology for making the experience highly immersive, and Moro is no different. That being said, he claims the scenes he was able to witness for the special 3D Blu-ray player looked even better than they did in the theater. You can read the full article here.

So for those who were worried that Avatar was destined to be solely a theatrical experience that would force home viewing to be lackluster by comparison, there seems to be at least a little bit of hope. One report is hardly the final word on the issue, but it does allow for some optimism.

Joel and Ethan Coen handle directing/producing duties arguably better than anyone

In an article for Variety.com, feature writer Anthony Kaufman sheds light on the world of filmmakers who decide/are able to both direct and produce their movies. People like Peter Jackson, Clint Eastwood, and the Coen brothers are members of an elite group that has won Oscars for both directing and producing, and accomplishing such a feat is even harder than one might think.

The two different, and arguably opposing functions of directors and producers is perhaps the number one reason for the high level of difficulty in doing both. It’s the job of the director to make sure the artistic quality of a film is the highest it can be, and the producer’s job is to manage and organize all aspects connected to a film’s financing. Being that art can be very costly, directors and producers naturally clash every so often during the making of a movie. And aside from this, the simple fact that one person is doing two jobs makes the endeavor daunting.

A positive way of looking at the added responsibility is to say that having to keep both art and practicality in mind while making all decisions is a very useful skill to have because it keeps either from getting out of hand. If a film’s artistic side is met with too few limitations it can make it appealing to too narrow an audience, while if the budget hampers the art’s ability to express itself sufficiently the overall quality of the product suffers.

Director Lee Daniels (Precious) sums up the job of director/producer like this: It’s “powerful, but a powerful curse.” Read more about the job of being a director/producer by clicking on the link below.

Source: Variety

In Other News…

Blake Lively

Gossip Girl and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star Blake Lively has been cast in Warner Brothers’ Green Lantern. She will reportedly be the romantic interest opposite star Ryan Reynolds, who is playing the supernatural superhero.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Short Take: Complex and subtle, yet intuitive and readily understood. It could not be more inspired

Director: Rob Marshall (Chicago)

Screenwriters: Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella; Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston (American Broadway musical); Mario Fratti (Italian musical)

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies), Penéope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), Nicole Kidman (Cold Mountain, Moulin Rouge), Kate Hudson (Bride Wars), Sophia Loren (La ciociara), Fergie (Planet Terror)

Length: 1h 50m

Synopsis: Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) is a famous Italian film director who is having tremendous trouble making his newest movie. Suffering from writer’s block and feeling pressure from everyone around him to make this next picture something incredible, Guido looks to escape in any way that he can. Try as he might to find it, inspiration remains elusive for him even though he is continually reminded that said inspiration has often come from the many women in his life. Read the rest of this entry »

Former RottenTomatoes.com parent IGN Entertainment has sold majority ownership of the review aggregator site to Flixter, whose services center on movie listings and trailers. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.

IGN Entertainment will still have a minor stake in RottonTomatoes.com, and IGN Ent. president Roy Bahat is even joining the Flixter board.

“Joining RottenTomatoes with Flixster creates a company that can dominate the online movie category,” Bahat said – HollywoodReporter

IGN Ent. has stated that it wants to focus more on its own operations, which primarily include covering videogames and men’s lifestyle. The news corp. also covers movies and movie-related topics, which you can access at movies.ign.com.

Source: HollywoodReporter

Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"

The National Society of Film Critics has announced that the Kathryn Bigelow directed Hurt Locker has won their awards for this year’s Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Jeremy Renner).  The film is the first one since 1997′s L.A. Confidential to win Best Picture honors from the top three – the National Society, and the L.A. and New York Critic Societies.

The other NSFC award winners include the following:

Actress: Yolande Moreau, Seraphine

Supporting Actor: (tie) Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds, and Paul Schneider, Bright Star

Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, Precious

Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Foreign-Language Film: Summer Hours

Nonfiction Film: The Beaches of Agnes

Cinematography: Christian Berger, The White Ribbon

Production design: Nelson Lowry, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Source: Variety

Quick Opinion: While even we here at Movie-Thoughts thought very highly of Hurt Locker, it would be a surprise to us if it went on to win Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards. The film will doubtless be nominated, as the nomination pool has grown to 10 this year, but with contenders like Avatar, Inglourious Basterds, and Precious to compete with the Best Picture Oscar is hardly in the bag. However, such high praise at this time of year has proven to give a number of films the momentum needed to pull off the feat (American Beauty, Crash, and Slumdog Millionaire come to mind). So if you are someone pulling for Hurt Locker to win it all, you may not need to cross your fingers.

Short Take: No longer just a sleuth, Holmes is also a hero

Director: Guy Ritchie (RocknRolla, Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels)

Screenwriters: Michael Robert Johnson (Début), Anthony Peckham (Invictus)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Tropic Thunder), Jude Law (Cold Mountain, Closer), Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, Red Eye), Mark Strong (The Young Victoria, Stardust)

Length: 2 hrs 8 mins

Summary: The film begins with famed detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) and his partner Dr. John Watson (Law) finishing their last case together.  They stop Lord Blackwood (Strong) just before he commits another ritualistic murder and a few days later witness him hanged for his crimes.  However, Blackwood seemingly comes back from the dead and Holmes and Watson, with some help from Holmes’s old flame Irene Adler (McAdams), try to discover Blackwood’s endgame before he kills anyone else. Read the rest of this entry »