It’s hard to believe we’re already 3 months into 2010, which means, according to mine and Rope of Silicon’s standards, it is not too early to start predicting next year’s Oscar race. While sizing up the potential contenders, I came across an interesting trend: several of them count the lovely Keira Knightley among their cast.
I know, I know, she is not the most widely beloved actress, but personally I am a fan (I’m a sucker for a good period piece). I will say, however, that her work as of late has been upsettingly one-note. How many times are we going to have to see her play women of the 18th or 19th Century who are tragically bogged down by the archaic rules and restrictions of British society before we can all agree that she does it like no one else? (I’m sorry Emily Blunt, I love you, but I almost fell asleep during The Young Victoria.)
Well luckily it seems that such a time is upon us. I am happy to say that her two most near-at-hand films BOTH take place in the 21st Century. To learn more about them and her other upcoming projects slated for a 2010 release, please follow the jump cut.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
New Feature: Movie News
First of all, I need to start coming up with cleverer names for these features. I am open to suggestions, preferably involving some sort of horrible pun.
At any rate, I figured it would be a good idea to, instead of just posting reviews, to post news items regarding film since that's pretty much all I look at for 90% of my day. So let's get to it.
- In what is perhaps my most exciting discovery, Freida Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire fame has signed on for Tarsem's upcoming big-budget epic War of the Gods, starring Henry Cavill as a young Theseus. According to Tarsem, the look of it is "Italian Renaissance painting style meets Fight Club" so...awesome. Not only is this big news because a. it means another great part for Pinto but also b. it means something is finally happening with this movie, the progress of which I've been monitoring for about a year. Part of the drag with Tarsem is that it takes him VERY long to make a movie due to his rejection of CGI. Not sure if that will hold up with this film, but I know that The Fall is pretty much entirely shot on location and took 4 years to make.
- Not sure how 'recent' this news is, but I only just found out about it so I'm going to report on it. Evidently, Gwyneth Paltrow is signed on to star in an upcoming Marlene Dietrich biopic, a role for which she was specifically chosen by the Dietrich family. However, Hollywood studios are hesitant to greenlight it because of Paltrow's attachment. Not sure if it's because they don't like Gwyneth, or they, like me, do not see any remote resemblance between her and Dietrich. I like her as an actress, so I'll be interested to see if she pulls it off, but if you ask me, it should be Diane Kruger.
- In other 40s German film star biopic news, it looks like Jodie Foster's long-awaited Leni Riefenstahl film might just have gotten the go-ahead. It's listed on imdb as in development for a 2011 release, but as it's on imdbPro, that means it is WAY early in development meaning all information is subject to change. I really hope this works out, she's been trying to make it since the mid-90s but naturally there is some controversy about how to portray Riefenstahl, as the artist or the Nazi, ideally, it would be some reconciliation of both. We'll see.
- Just continuing with the German theme (I swear this is not intentional), a new movie is in development that I am VERY excited about. It's called The Talking Cure and depicts a fictional (I think) story of Sigmund Freud, Karl Jung and a young Russian woman whom they are treating and with whom Jung begins to fall in love, much to Freud's professional frustration. The casting is PHE.NOM.EN.AL. Sigmund Freud is going to be played by Academy Award Winner Christoph Waltz, Jung by his Inglourious Basterds costar Michael Fassbender, with Keira Knightley as the patient. I will definitely keep checking updates on this.
- Straying from Germany, but not from the 1940s, there are finally some updates on the upcoming Mildred Pierce revamp with Kate Winslet as the Joan Crawford title role. It will be produced by HBO as a five-hour mini-series later this year, and other cast members include Guy Pierce and Evan Rachel Wood. It is being written and directed by I'm Not There director Todd Haynes.
- In other projects-that-I-though-were-dying-but-aren't news, we have also gotten some news about the upcoming Jane Eyre adaptation that was originally supposed to star Ellen Page but after the writers woke up from their Juno-hyped stupor, wisely recast with Alice in Wonderland's Mia Wasikowska as Jane and Michael Fassbender (this guy is cleaning up) as Rochester. Other cast members include a number of British actors I adore such as The Dench, Sally Hawkins, and Jamie Bell. This is substantially more promising than the developing Wuthering Heights reboot starring Gemma Arterton and Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick. What has Twilight done to this novel? If you want to watch a good Wuthering Heights adaptation, I recommend Masterpiece Theater's 2009 version with Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy.
- To wrap this up, here are some new titles out on DVD that I highly recommend:
Broken Embraces
Precious
An Education (EDIT: Not on DVD yet, coming out on March 30th, but imdb just likes to be wrong about things I guess.)
At any rate, I figured it would be a good idea to, instead of just posting reviews, to post news items regarding film since that's pretty much all I look at for 90% of my day. So let's get to it.
- In what is perhaps my most exciting discovery, Freida Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire fame has signed on for Tarsem's upcoming big-budget epic War of the Gods, starring Henry Cavill as a young Theseus. According to Tarsem, the look of it is "Italian Renaissance painting style meets Fight Club" so...awesome. Not only is this big news because a. it means another great part for Pinto but also b. it means something is finally happening with this movie, the progress of which I've been monitoring for about a year. Part of the drag with Tarsem is that it takes him VERY long to make a movie due to his rejection of CGI. Not sure if that will hold up with this film, but I know that The Fall is pretty much entirely shot on location and took 4 years to make.
- Not sure how 'recent' this news is, but I only just found out about it so I'm going to report on it. Evidently, Gwyneth Paltrow is signed on to star in an upcoming Marlene Dietrich biopic, a role for which she was specifically chosen by the Dietrich family. However, Hollywood studios are hesitant to greenlight it because of Paltrow's attachment. Not sure if it's because they don't like Gwyneth, or they, like me, do not see any remote resemblance between her and Dietrich. I like her as an actress, so I'll be interested to see if she pulls it off, but if you ask me, it should be Diane Kruger.
- In other 40s German film star biopic news, it looks like Jodie Foster's long-awaited Leni Riefenstahl film might just have gotten the go-ahead. It's listed on imdb as in development for a 2011 release, but as it's on imdbPro, that means it is WAY early in development meaning all information is subject to change. I really hope this works out, she's been trying to make it since the mid-90s but naturally there is some controversy about how to portray Riefenstahl, as the artist or the Nazi, ideally, it would be some reconciliation of both. We'll see.
- Just continuing with the German theme (I swear this is not intentional), a new movie is in development that I am VERY excited about. It's called The Talking Cure and depicts a fictional (I think) story of Sigmund Freud, Karl Jung and a young Russian woman whom they are treating and with whom Jung begins to fall in love, much to Freud's professional frustration. The casting is PHE.NOM.EN.AL. Sigmund Freud is going to be played by Academy Award Winner Christoph Waltz, Jung by his Inglourious Basterds costar Michael Fassbender, with Keira Knightley as the patient. I will definitely keep checking updates on this.
- Straying from Germany, but not from the 1940s, there are finally some updates on the upcoming Mildred Pierce revamp with Kate Winslet as the Joan Crawford title role. It will be produced by HBO as a five-hour mini-series later this year, and other cast members include Guy Pierce and Evan Rachel Wood. It is being written and directed by I'm Not There director Todd Haynes.
- In other projects-that-I-though-were-dying-but-aren't news, we have also gotten some news about the upcoming Jane Eyre adaptation that was originally supposed to star Ellen Page but after the writers woke up from their Juno-hyped stupor, wisely recast with Alice in Wonderland's Mia Wasikowska as Jane and Michael Fassbender (this guy is cleaning up) as Rochester. Other cast members include a number of British actors I adore such as The Dench, Sally Hawkins, and Jamie Bell. This is substantially more promising than the developing Wuthering Heights reboot starring Gemma Arterton and Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick. What has Twilight done to this novel? If you want to watch a good Wuthering Heights adaptation, I recommend Masterpiece Theater's 2009 version with Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy.
- To wrap this up, here are some new titles out on DVD that I highly recommend:
Broken Embraces
Precious
An Education (EDIT: Not on DVD yet, coming out on March 30th, but imdb just likes to be wrong about things I guess.)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Oscar post-mortem
So if you don't want to read my live blog, which I understand cuz it's kind of an incoherent mess, here are some highlights.
Let's start with the Screenplays. I think that's where the biggest shockers came for me. I really, really was convinced that Basterds would take original screenplay. As far as writing goes, I enjoyed Basterds more than Hurt Locker, but, when looking at the history of Academy Awards, usually the Best Picture winner also wins whatever Screenplay category it's in. So in retrospect it makes total sense. I'm sure Tarantino was PISSED though, I can't blame him, it took him 10 years to write that thing.
Adapted Screenplay was surprising too, but not in a bad way. I was really glad to see Precious win something other than Supporting Actress for Mo'Nique. Whenever they were nominated, I genuinely had a hard time watching the clips. I guess I still haven't really processed the impact that film had on me. So, bravo to that writer, and to Sapphire for writing the novel "Push" which the title has repeatedly told us is the work upon which "Precious" is based.
Sandra Bullock. This wasn't surprising at all, but her speech was surprisingly moving. Her winning this actually made me respect her a lot more because a. she herself questions why she got the award and b. understands the gravity of the moment and really made the most of what it meant to her. I'm a sucker for when people cry during Oscar speeches, and this was one of the most genuine examples of that. Good on you, Bullock.
Kathryn Bigelow. Now I just need to get up on my little soap box here and take a minute to talk about Kathryn. Bigelow. Words cannot begin to describe how it feels, as a young woman with dreams of entering the film industry, to actually bear witness to the first woman to win a directing Oscar. And I cannot imagine anyone handling it with as much grace and poise as she did. Not once in her speech did she mention the fact that she was the first, not once in her speech did she even really make it about her on any level, but the way she spoke, the smile on her face, just, everything about her energy shouted "This one is for the ladies." Alice Guy Blache, Dorothy Arzner, Maya Deren, all of them, are applauding you, Bigs. I loved everything about this moment. Not just the speech, but Barbara's presentation. She took her time reading that name out, just looking down at that card as if to make sure she was reading it right. And then just, "The time has come. Kathryn Bigelow."
Cut to me collapsing into tears. Unreal. Absolutely unreal. And the icing of course was The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture.
Tonight was an historic night, and I feel priveleged to have bore witness to it.
Let's start with the Screenplays. I think that's where the biggest shockers came for me. I really, really was convinced that Basterds would take original screenplay. As far as writing goes, I enjoyed Basterds more than Hurt Locker, but, when looking at the history of Academy Awards, usually the Best Picture winner also wins whatever Screenplay category it's in. So in retrospect it makes total sense. I'm sure Tarantino was PISSED though, I can't blame him, it took him 10 years to write that thing.
Adapted Screenplay was surprising too, but not in a bad way. I was really glad to see Precious win something other than Supporting Actress for Mo'Nique. Whenever they were nominated, I genuinely had a hard time watching the clips. I guess I still haven't really processed the impact that film had on me. So, bravo to that writer, and to Sapphire for writing the novel "Push" which the title has repeatedly told us is the work upon which "Precious" is based.
Sandra Bullock. This wasn't surprising at all, but her speech was surprisingly moving. Her winning this actually made me respect her a lot more because a. she herself questions why she got the award and b. understands the gravity of the moment and really made the most of what it meant to her. I'm a sucker for when people cry during Oscar speeches, and this was one of the most genuine examples of that. Good on you, Bullock.
Kathryn Bigelow. Now I just need to get up on my little soap box here and take a minute to talk about Kathryn. Bigelow. Words cannot begin to describe how it feels, as a young woman with dreams of entering the film industry, to actually bear witness to the first woman to win a directing Oscar. And I cannot imagine anyone handling it with as much grace and poise as she did. Not once in her speech did she mention the fact that she was the first, not once in her speech did she even really make it about her on any level, but the way she spoke, the smile on her face, just, everything about her energy shouted "This one is for the ladies." Alice Guy Blache, Dorothy Arzner, Maya Deren, all of them, are applauding you, Bigs. I loved everything about this moment. Not just the speech, but Barbara's presentation. She took her time reading that name out, just looking down at that card as if to make sure she was reading it right. And then just, "The time has come. Kathryn Bigelow."
Cut to me collapsing into tears. Unreal. Absolutely unreal. And the icing of course was The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture.
Tonight was an historic night, and I feel priveleged to have bore witness to it.
Oscars LIVE BLOG
Hey all, so I decided to legitimately liveblog the Oscars tonight. Even though the only people who really ever look at this blog will be in the room with me, I feel like documenting my reactions. Follow the jump for more!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
The Oscars: Final Predictions
So here is my shortlist, final predictions for tomorrow night's Academy Awards.
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Original Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Best Picture: Avatar
EDIT
Best Picture: I have no effing clue. I really don't feel comfortable coming down on either Avatar or Hurt Locker. I want it to be Hurt Locker, but I genuinely have no idea.
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Original Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Best Picture: Avatar
EDIT
Best Picture: I have no effing clue. I really don't feel comfortable coming down on either Avatar or Hurt Locker. I want it to be Hurt Locker, but I genuinely have no idea.
Monday, March 1, 2010
'God loves violence.' Shutter Island.
Pictured: Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Williams
*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS, CLICK THE JUMP TO READ ON*
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