Posts Tagged ‘Tommy Lee Jones’

It’s that time of year again – time to predict who will win the ultimate Hollywood prize at the grandest award show in the world. The 85th Academy Awards are going to be a place where young careers get made, long careers get rewarded, and viewers get incensed that their favorites didn’t win. We’ll get ready to hear, “I’ve never even heard of that movie,” “How could she win, she didn’t even deserve to be nominated,” and of course the old favorite, “Of course that would win. The Academy doesn’t know what people actually like.”

We must keep in mind two very important things: 1) “The Academy” is not some shadowy panel of a dozen or so anonymous judges, but hundreds of well-known industry participants. 2) The winners are not meant to represent what American culutre’s favorites are. If only box office favorites were ever nominated, we’d have The Avengers going up against The Dark Knight Rises and The Hunger Games – none of which objectively deserve to be called Best Picture.

Figuring out who will win for which category takes a special sense of reasoning. So special, in fact, that all three of our writers – Dan Supanik, Marisa Carpico, and Cliff Bugle – claim to be the only one to have that sense. And yet, they disagree about who will in the six most important categories. Read on to see what the chances are of your favorites winning, and which of them will be left sitting in their seats giving disappointed claps of congratulations.

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Short Take: Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance will blow you away. And the tale of political intrigue surrounding it isn’t bad either.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Screenwriters: Tony Kushner, Doris Kearns Goodwin (book)

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Length: 2h 30m

Synopsis: It is four years into the Civil War. The country and its capital are in turmoil. President Abraham Lincoln has shifted his focus towards passing the 13th Amendment, which would illegalize slavery permanently. The Confederacy, which wants the war to end as badly as the Union, sees such an amendment as a bell tolling the death of the South’s economy. In order for Lincoln to succeed he needs enough votes in the House of Representatives, which he doesn’t yet have. Through coercion and political savvy, Lincoln works against the grain to pass an amendment that even his own cabinet questions. Should such a bill be fought for if the odds of its ratification are slim? Is Lincoln abusing his powers as Commander and Chief? The stakes could not be higher, and the pressure on the president to end the war as soon as possible is overwhelming. His faith is that the new law would actually help bring the fighting to a close, not exacerbate it. Indeed, with the costs of the war already so great, Lincoln sees the bill as the only way to save the very union he presides over.

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Short Take: Redeems the first sequel. A fun an fulfilling ride.

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Screenwriter: Etan Cohen; Lowell Cunningham (comic)

Cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson

Length: 1h 46m

Synopsis: Long before K (Jones) and J (Smith) became partners there was a nefarious alien named Boris the Animal (Clement), who by some stroke of luck was captured sans one arm back in 1969 by K and sent to a prison on the Moon. Now, forty years later, Boris has escaped and is looking to get revenge. His plan is to time travel back to 1969 and kill K, allowing himself to roam free and eventually lead his race to taking over the Earth. When J realizes K is missing, the MIB claim he had been dead for forty years. After traveling back in time himself, J must prevent K’s murder and help ensure the correct passing of events to protect the future. The trouble is, the younger K (Brolin) and ‘60s MIB have a hard time believing J’s predicament. In earning the trust of the younger version of the partner he’d known for years, J tries to take advantage of the opportunity to find out more about K than his older self would divulge. As it so happens, what he discovers changes their relationship forever.

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Short Take: Full of action and fun to watch, but not exceptional

Director: Joe Johnston

Screenwriters: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Cast: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci

Length: 2h 4m

Synopsis: The year is 1942 and America is on the verge of militarily entering WWII. Brooklyn native Steve Rogers (Evans) has been applying to join the service but keeps getting denied. Nevertheless, he refuses to give up, and on his fifth attempt he is pulled aside and offered an opportunity to enlist after convincing the recruiters he is looking to fight for freedom, not just looking for a reason to fight. Across the Atlantic the dastardly Red Skull (Weaving), an ex-Nazi, has found the Cosmic Cube, a source of immeasurable energy which he plans to use to take over the world one country at a time. To combat his efforts the U.S. military authorizes Rogers to be a guinea pig for a new Super Soldier serum, which gives him great strength and speed. With his newfound abilities he becomes Captain America, and fulfills his dreams by doing his part to protect the innocent. But even for him, defeating Red Skull will be a tall order.

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Jemaine Clement

Jemaine Clement of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords fame has reportedly been cast as the villain in the next Men in Black sequel.

Jonah Hex‘s Josh Brolin has also signed on to the project and will reportedly play a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones’ character K, though Jones and Will Smith will also return, along with director Barry Sonnenfeld.

Etan Cohen (Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder) has written the script, which some suspect entails time travel due to the involvement of Brolin’s alleged role.

Source: Ain’t It Cool News

Quick Opinion: I’ve heard many complain about how Men in Black II was not as good as the first, and not often were those complaints based on the film’s casting. The original Men in Black struck a chord with audiences because of how fresh it was, and MIB II might have failed simply because screenwriter Robert Gordon was unable to keep that element moving forward. Looking back, this is somewhat surprising being that Gordon also gave us the wonderfully self-aware Galaxy Quest. But come to think of it, a sequel to that film would probably not work either for the same reasons. So why be excited about MIB III? New pedigree has been added, again, in the form of Josh Brolin and Jemaine Clement, which is to be expected with Hollywood sequels. But the real upgrade might come through Etan Cohen’s screenplay. Idiocracy has become a sort of cult classic for its jabs at modern society and scarily convincing premise which suggests the meek may actually inherit the earth. Tropic Thunder was about as self-aware as movies get, de-glorifying the action and war movie genres as well as Hollywood in general. Because of this background it is fair to believe that Cohen can bring the freshness of the first MIB back to the series. On the other hand, I’m sure that’s what they were hoping for from Gordon. Like most things, this will probably be a game of “wait and see.”