Movie News!

So let’s dive right in here with a story I literally just read but am very jazzed about. Several months ago, the History Channel announced that they would be airing their first scripted drama in 2011 in the form of an 8-part miniseries about the life of JFK called “The Kennedys”. Some people (myself included) have expressed some concern over the fact that it is being written and produced by the people who made 24 as they are openly conservative. However, I have faith that the History Channel is aware of how much hype this thing is already getting and they’ll make sure it’s as legit as it can be. And with the new announcement of casting, it sounds like they will be successful. John F. Kennedy will be played by Greg Kinnear with Katie Holmes as Jackie. They have also cast Barry Pepper as Robert F. Kennedy and ultimate mini-series actor Tom Wilkinson as Joseph Kennedy. Personally, I am stoked. Kinnear is one of my favorite actors and I never actually realized how much he looks like JFK until just now. And finally, FINALLY Katie Holmes has found her chance to actually prove herself as an actress and not just the brain-washed kept woman of a psychopath.

= ? Really?

Other casting news, Penelope Cruz has dropped out of Lars Von Trier’s upcoming film “Melancholia” to be replaced by…Kirsten Dunst? This is where the info gets fuzzy because Charlotte Gainsbourg is also cast and I have a much easier time believing that she could take over a Penelope Cruz role than Kirsten Dunst, who I’m pretty sure is the complete visual opposite of Penelope Cruz. Not surprisingly, Cruz has opted to do the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film over Von Trier’s film. On the one hand, I’m sad because I’m sure she would be phenomenal in it and I’m always looking to see her in meaty roles, but on the other, a gal’s gotta make money. And she is literally the only reason I will see the Pirates movie so I think it’s for the best.

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Now for some DEVASTATING casting news. As you recall, in my last Movie News post, I expressed utter glee and delight at the news that Christoph Waltz would be playing Sigmund Freud in the upcoming film “The Talking Cure.” Well….now he isn’t. It’s Viggo Mortensen. I love Viggo, I really do, but if there was ANYONE who was truly meant to play Freud it is Christoph Waltz. On top of this, they’ve changed the name of the film to “A Dangerous Method” which, at the risk of sounding stupid, sounds really stupid.



In lighter events, Carey Mulligan has now officially been cast in Emma Thompson’s remake of My Fair Lady AND an English version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Not sure what’s happening with the film of The Seagull, but if I find out it’s been scrapped I will probably injure someone. This Christoph Waltz business is bad enough.

Their Lives in Art: Summer Hours.

Pictured (from left to right): Jeremie Renier, Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling


It is a shared belief among many a writer that a person’s true nature is best seen through his or her coping mechanisms. Indeed, the death of a loved one is probably the most direct route by which one can discover what is truly important both emotionally and materially speaking. Such is the thematic backbone of Olivier Assayass’ hypnotically restrained Summer Hours.

The plot follows the siblings Marly: Frederic (Charles Berling), the eldest, Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), and Jeremie (Jeremie Renier), the youngest, as they cope with the death of their mother Helene while attempting to decide what to do with her extensive and valuable art collection. Frederic is a romantic, believing that it is in everyone’s best interest to preserve their mother’s idyllic country home for future generations to enjoy and act as a kind of home base for the family. Adrienne and Jeremie, however, find their lives taking them abroad, Adrienne to New York to be with her American fiancé, and Jeremie to China as a move up the corporate ladder with no use for the house but a need for the financial stability selling it would create. Yet Frederic remains loyal, unable to part with the objects and locations that defined him as a child and that he desperately wishes would define him as an adult.

Despite the film’s ebb and flow that does indeed evoke a feeling similar to that of a cool summer’s day, there is an underlying magnitude assigned to these objects and to the mother’s life in general that gives the film its richness. In several moments throughout the film it is alluded that Helene had a relationship with her uncle, the artist whose work adorns the house, that went beyond affectionate relatives. Adrienne and Jeremie have already made their peace with this notion, but Frederic cannot nor does he want to wrap his head around such an idea. When their lawyer describes to him that Helene was the artist’s “last great passion,” Frederic assumes the least offensive definition for that term. However we can understand his decision to do so, as he so dearly holds this place to his heart. To learn that it contains secrets even he cannot unravel would naturally come as a hindrance to his need for preservation.

It is this idea, this need for preservation, that makes the ending so perplexing to me. Without going into too much detail, I found it quite troubling to see this beautifully intricate study of three adults finally coming of age boil down to a message of little more than “kids these days.” The last image pulls it enough out of this rut to be satisfying, but I confess it did leave me with an unpleasant taste in my mouth. That aside, the rest of the film is fascinating enough that it is more than worth the watch.


NOTE: Of course, with any quality foreign film, an American remake is bound to happen. Tom Hanks snapped up the option for this almost immediately after it came out. The main issue I have with this is that there is something about this film that is unique to France. I’m sorry but I don’t know of anywhere in the United States that can truly mimic the feeling of a lush garden home in Provence. This is also annoying because let's face it, there is a 99% certainty that Hanks is going to cast himself as Frederic (or whatever 'American' name they give him).

2010: The Year of Knightley?

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.

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.)

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.

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!

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.