When the announcement of the film for the upcoming Toronto International Film was happening, this film almost slipped by me. It was just so quick and subtle and really needed more attention. After all, how is Spike Lee‘s documentary Bad 25 on the power, influence and effect of Michael Jackson’s iconic album Bad not one of your top choice of films to see. It is for me as I grew up being influenced by the King of Pop.
It’s not a world premiere though as the movie will have its first public showing at The Venice International Film Festival where Lee is also receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award, however with the Toronto Fest basically the week after, I think I can handle the wait.
In advance of its world premiere, we have some stills from the film. Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, Kanye West, Sheryl Crow, ?uestlove and Mariah Carey are all going to be in the doc is seems so this should be very interesting.
Stay tuned as Xavierpop will obviously have a review of the doc. In the meantime, check out the pics below.
About The Film Spike Lee pays tribute to Michael Jackson‘s Bad on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the epochal album, offering behind-the-scenes footage of Jackson recording the album and interviews with confidants, musicians, choreographers, and such music-world superstars as Kanye West, Sheryl Crow, Cee Lo Green and Mariah Carey.
Bad 25 features captivating behind-the-scenes footage of the recording sessions for several of Bad’s biggest songs (“The Way You Make Me Feel” being among the most memorable). There are also revealing interviews with a number of fellow artists who worked with Jackson — such as Sheryl Crow, with whom Jackson shared the duet “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” on stage during the Bad world tour — and those who were inspired by him, including Kanye West, Cee Lo Green and Mariah Carey. Lee offers us a more intimate side of Jackson, one rarely glimpsed amidst the glitter and circus-like atmosphere that surrounded the notoriously private superstar, especially as his personal life (and appearance) became a scandal-rag mainstay in the years that followed Bad. As the landmark album takes shape before our eyes, we see Jackson’s dedication to his craft, his talent for inspired collaboration, and his sly sense of humour — as well as some hints of the toll that his relentless work ethic had on his psyche..
We are mere hours away from the big show and all the parties are ramping up including the specialty cocktails, the Oscar pools and the Red Carpet commenting. To say that we love the Oscars here at Xavierpop, would be a gross understatement. It is a lovely reminder of what’s fun with movies even though a lot of the time the Academy gets its seriously wrong with their choices…but that is have the fun isn’t it.
It wouldn’t be the Oscars if we didn’t have our say and over the last week I have given my predictions on who is going to take away the Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress statue at the upcoming 84th Academy Awards taking place at the Kodak Theatre hosted by Billy Crystal.
Now onto the big prizes.
I am going to include Best Director and Best Film in one because it seems that the Academy is very much wearing its heart on its sleeve as it has done so many times in the past. This year their laser focus seems to be on the Artist. I am not sure if I really dig the full on lovefest going on here as The Artist is not better than The Descendants, Tree of Life, the Help, Moneyball and my personal favourite Midnight in Paris. But here are we are, on the eve of the ceremonies and everyone seems to be on the same page by crowning The Artist the darling of the 2012 and when there is this much momentum, it’s very tough to go against the grain.
Now the reason that I have paired the Director Award an the Picture Award is because when you have this much momentum with one movie, as goes one award so does the other.
So officially, my choices for the Best Director and Best Film Oscar are :
The Best Director Nominees:
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius “The Descendants” Alexander Payne “Hugo” Martin Scorsese “Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen “The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick
Who should win? : Alexander Payne – I personally believe that The Descendants was the best movie this year powered by a great performance by Clooney and excellent direction from Payne. Hence my choice of him is emphatic and hopeful.
Who will win? : Michel Hazanavicius – The fact is that he put together a fantastic film, maybe not as fantastic as everyone thinks it is, however it is great. The reason is because of the director. He didn’t just make an homage to silent film, he made an authentic silent film. This takes a ton of attention to detail, a full commitment to going all the way and he must be applauded for that. Because his movie has so much hype and momentum behind it, the best Director going to Michel Hazanavicius is not a huge surprise and well-earned.
The Dark Horse : Woody Allen – His Midnight In Paris is easily his best movie in decades, maybe even ever. As mentioned, the Academy is extremely nostalgic and this is right in line with that. They have always loved Woody and an Oscar here would further cement that love.
And now the Best Film nominees:
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer “The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers “Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers “Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers “Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers “The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined “War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
As mentioned, there is a lot of hype and momentum for The Artist and it is probably going to take it. My personal choice is The Descendants because I feel it was a better film. However the Academy does what it does.
So, my official choices are:
Who should win? : The Descendants Who will win? : The Artist
The Dark Horse : Midnight In Paris – To me, this movie embodied everything a movie should strive to be. A great cast, a fantastic script powered by one of the most whimsical stories in film for years. And the directing – so fantastic. Sadly, the chances are very minuscule that it will in, so all I can say is make sure you check it out.
Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards
Best Picture
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer “The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers “Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers “Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers “Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers “The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined “War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius “The Descendants” Alexander Payne “Hugo” Martin Scorsese “Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen “The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick
Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life” George Clooney in “The Descendants” Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn” Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” Nick Nolte in “Warrior” Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” Viola Davis in “The Help” Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady” Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist” Jessica Chastain in “The Help” Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs” Octavia Spencer in “The Help”
Animated Feature Film
“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli “Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson “Puss in Boots” Chris Miller “Rango” Gore Verbinski
Foreign Language Film
“Bullhead” Belgium “Footnote” Israel “In Darkness” Poland “Monsieur Lazhar” Canada “A Separation” Iran
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash “Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan “The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon “Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius “Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig “Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor “Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen “A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhad
Art Direction
“The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan “Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo “Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil “War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Cinematography
“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth “Hugo” Robert Richardson “The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki “War Horse” Janusz Kaminsk
Costume Design
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl “The Artist” Mark Bridges “Hugo” Sandy Powell “Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor “W.E.” Arianne Phillips
Documentary (Feature)
“Hell and Back Again” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs “Pina” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel “Undefeated” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin “God Is the Bigger Elvis” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson “Incident in New Baghdad”James Spione “Saving Face” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Film Editing
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius “The Descendants” Kevin Tent “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall “Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker “Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen
Makeup
“Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng “The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Music (Original Score)
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams “The Artist” Ludovic Bource “Hugo” Howard Shore “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias “War Horse” John Williams
Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie “Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Short Film (Animated)
“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg “La Luna” Enrico Casarosa “A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe “Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action)
“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane “Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren “The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George “Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey “Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø
Sound Editing
“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce “Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl “War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Sound Mixing
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson “Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley “Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin “War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson “Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning “Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
Hugo is why I go to the movies.
I love this movie! I love every delicious shot. I love every breath-taking sequence.
I love that it fires our imagination and our sense of wonder.
I love that its tenderness is a respite in these cynical times.
I love every single character, even the one-dimensional ones who are given their little moments.
I love getting to use the word love this many times for a deserving masterpiece this dazzling and alive, a love letter from Martin Scorsese to the movies themselves.
I love that for my first ever review of a Martin Scorsese flick, it just happens to be his first family film and his first movie made in 3D featuring a character who was the first to use visual effects in the movies. How romantic and inspired is that? Scorsese hasn’t made anything like this before but it’s a movie with as much to say about him personally as any other movie he has ever made.
In the last 40 years, only two directors on the planet have been able to draw us so quickly inside their movie universes as do Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Five minutes into one of their films, we’re hooked. We know we’re in good hands. They pick us up and never let us down. And now Scorsese adds another triumph to his list with an opening sequence with camera moves that tip-off any avid movie-lover to his seductive style.
Hugo takes place in the 1930′s in a large Paris train station that is the stuff dreams are made of. It’s one of those grandiose movie train stations that if you were in it, you’d always seem to find yourself battling an oncoming throng of travelers no matter which direction you decide to take. Jacques Tati would be comfortable here. The place bustles with life and activity. The dust we see in the air shimmering against refracted light through the station’s large windows and openings makes us feel like we’re in a snow-globe.
Scorsese’s camera sweeps through the station, darting and whirling this way and that in a headlong frenzy.
Over there is the train station’s Inspector Gustav, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. He’s got an imperious disposition. A supercilious temperament. He’s tyrannical, even! It’s appropriate that we never see another inspector at the station since Inspector Gustav appears to be on the job 24/7, looking for trouble where there is none and using his menacing doberman to help sniff out little thieving orphans that appear to be the bane of his lonely existence.
Over that way is Lisette, the station’s florist played by that delicate flower herself, the enchanting Emily Mortimer. Monsieur Inspector has eyes for that one but is too bashful to make a move, self-conscious is he of a leg injury that has him wearing a brace he’s got to oil like the Tin Man.
Over there is the jolly, rotund newspaper seller Monsieur Frick, who always seems to find himself precisely in the wrong place at the wrong time. He never means to be in the way, he just always is. He’s not bashful and would love to chat up cafe owner Madame Emilie, that is if it weren’t for her over-protective little pooch who barks suspiciously at Monsieur Frick every time he approaches.
And then there’s the old man (Ben Kingsley) that owns the small but cozy toy shop. He dozes off in the afternoons just long enough for precocious Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) to discretely pocket little toys. Audiences will remember Butterfield as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
It’s through Hugo’s bright blue eyes that we bare witness to the film’s characters. Hugo lives within the walls and above the ceiling of the train station. He’s been made an orphan with the passing of his father (Jude Law) in a fire accident, leaving his drunk Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone) to take care of him, (although he passes on as well shortly after). Now that the men are gone, Hugo is left alone to keep track of the station’s mighty clock.
The plot is a neat puzzle that I won’t give away here except to say that it involves the young Hugo being caught stealing by the old man, the little notebook that the old man steals from the kid, and an automaton (a small robotic man) that can’t perform the task that it’s set up to do without a one-of-a-kind heart-shaped key.
In the care of the old man is Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), a once-orphaned girl about the same age as Hugo. She’s fast-talking and ahead of her years. She uses big words that confound Hugo, like “daunting”. We sense she’ll grow up to be Lois Lane. It’s refreshing to spend time with two smart kids instead of the greedy little obnoxious monsters we usually have to put up with in the movies. Like many wise older children, Isabelle and Hugo see right through the hard facade of the old man. They’re onto him. What secrets is he hiding? “I’ve always wanted an adventure!”, exclaims Isabelle. She takes Hugo to the place where she loves to get lost, a gigantic library photographed so well by Scorsese that it would be a deserving place for a lover of books to find themselves lost in.
Scorsese is a student of the movies. His appreciation for old movies is well-documented in two sprawling docs, one on Italian cinema and the other on old Hollywood. He personally resurrected the career of Michael Powell (The Life and Death of Col. Blimp, Peeping Tom) who was one of Scorsese’s biggest influences. With Hugo, Scorsese will resurrect interest in the old short films of Georges Melies, whose earliest credits date back to 1896 with a short film many of you might remember involving a rocket landing square in the eye of the grimacing moon.
Scorsese still makes storyboards of every film he makes and it’s true what Siskel & Ebert said years ago that most movies are designed around one “master shot”, meaning a shot to build a movie around, while Scorsese’s films you can find at least a dozen or so of them. There is a breath-taking shot of Isabelle and Hugo climbing down that chute from the ceiling in a long shot that shows the interior of the train station. There’s that haunting shot of Hugo’s face peering out of the number 4 on that great big clock as he studies one of the most romantic landscapes on the planet.
Stuck with asthma as a child and not able to play outside like everyone else, Scorsese found solace in local movie theaters. We sense much about his childhood in the young Hugo, who’s never left the train station.
Hugo is a timeless film, destined to be a classic for more mature kids and adult cinephiles alike.
It celebrates fantasy and adventure, romance and loneliness, books and movies. Hugo is not a sentimental film, but one that conjures emotion organically from the inside out. It moves and breathes with life and is made with deep love by one of our most beloved directors who wears his heart on his sleeve with Hugo, one of the very best movies of the year and without a doubt the best 3D film I’ve ever seen.
Hugo: **** out of 4
There is cause for cheer yet in 2011 at the movies because the final weeks of the year are jammed-packed with the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational mix of huge holiday season releases and promising Oscar contenders. Not least of which The Muppets are set to make a roaring comeback.
There’s enough meat and cheese on the holiday wishlist to please every kind of movie lover. The back end of the year looks ready to erase out of our memories the giant thud that marked the year’s opening with the dreadful Nic Cage mess Season of the Witch, a movie with too many seasons to care about and sadly, no witches. Not even Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy flying in on vacuums could have saved that turkey despite all the welcome ham they would have added to the proceedings.
The mess continued from there with the lackluster Green Hornet, the unfunny comedies No Strings Attached and Your Highness, and the dreadful additions to the Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers, and Twilight series of flicks, although Harry Potter 7 Part 1 hit the mark.
In terms of adaptations, Troy was regrettable, The Smurfs only a smidge better, while Captain America got the job done and Winnie the Pooh won our hearts.
Hollywood has seen better years for movies, but here at Xavierpop, we’re flipping cartwheels in anticipation of what the calendar looks like this holiday season; a tsunami of releases that look to change the entire complexion of 2011 as a whole.
Here’s the scoop: Martin Scorsese goes 3D, we get a double-dose of Spielberg in December, the Muppets make a comeback, the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo goes Hollywood, Alexander Payne proves once more that he’s this generation’s James L. Brooks, David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortenson prove that the third time really is the charm, Michelle Williams is Marilyn Monroe, Meryl Streep is Margaret Thatcher, Glenn Close is a man, Twilight is back (did it ever go away?), Angelina Jolie makes her directing debut, Jonah Hill’s a babysitter in a movie that harkens back to Adventures in Babysitting, while Matt Damon moves into a zoo.
Here’s the naughty and the nice of it, an Xavierpop holiday checklist of movies that are must-sees from here on out in 2011;
The Descendants (Nov.16; limited release) marks another mature dramedy for Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt), starring George Clooney as an absentee father of two girls whose world turns upside down after mom dies. Like James L. Brooks in the 80′s with Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News, Payne delivers another solid effort that has the ability to make audiences smile, laugh and cry all in the same movie. Plus, being very well received at TIFF is always a good thing.
George Miller (Mad Max, Babe: Pig In the City, Happy Feet) brings us a second installment in family fave Happy Feet Two (Nov.18), with the voices of Brad Pitt and Matt Damon joining Elijah Wood and Robin Williams. And yes, apparently the sequel does get a little more serious, like the second Babe outing.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (Nov.18) brings us the fourth pic in that series, this one tracking Bella’s marriage to Edward and their uber-troubling and complicated pregnancy.
Fans of hard-hitting dramas will love the festival fave Tyrannosaur (Nov.18; limited), starring Peter Mullan (The Magdalene Sisters) and marking the second directing effort of actor Paddy Considine (In America).
The U.S. Thanksgiving long weekend is top-loaded with potential hits that should satiate every appetite. Check out this selection, hitting theaters on Nov. 23:
First, there’s Martin Scorsese, who’s set to enjoy the biggest commercial success of his career as he moves into more populist fare with Hugo, the 3-D adaptation of Brian Selznick‘s best-selling children’s book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” about a boy who lives within the walls of a Paris train station. It has a stellar cast that stars Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Then there’s The Muppets, who storm back into theaters with the help of Jason Segal and Amy Adams.
Sony Pictures also gets into the 3-D and animation ring that weekend with Arthur Christmas, a movie that is set to reveal just how Santa gets the job done on Christmas Eve. With the voices of James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent.
And then there are three bonafide Oscar contenders launching that same weekend with festival favorites A Dangerous Method, this time a historical pic that teams David Cronenberg with muse Viggo Mortenson in a drama focusing on Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud; The Artist, that mesmerizing, touching, gorgeously photographed in black & white and almost entirely silent pic that opened with a roaring standing ovation at Toronto’s Elgin Theater at TIFF, about a washed-up silent movie star (played by Cannes Best Actor winner Jean Dujardin) whose career stalls with the advent of the talkies; and My Week With Marilyn, the biopic starring Michelle Williams (Wendy & Lucy) as Marilyn Monroe.
December kicks off with deep, dark, and delicious movies, first with Shame (Dec.2), the most talked-about film at the Toronto Film Festival which re-teams director Steve McQueen (Hunger) with the star of that pic, Michael Fassbender, this time as a man tortured by his sex addiction; and then there’s the brooding Roman epic Coriolanus, with Ralph Fiennes directing and starring, along with Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave.
Luc Besson (The Professional, Arthur & the Invisibles) tries his hand at a straightforward drama with the biopic The Lady (Dec.2; limited), with Michelle Yeoh starring as Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Roman Polanski (Chinatown,The Ghost Writer) returns with the interior drama Carnage (Dec.16; limited), starring Jodie Foster.
The serious tone continues the first half of December with three other dramas opening around North America in major cities beginning Dec. 9 with I Melt With You, the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll soundtrack-infused drama starring Rob Lowe and Jeremy Piven; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman and Colin Firth in the feature adaptation to the John Le Carre best-seller about a cold-war era spy-hunt that climbs to the upper echelons of power at the British Secret Intel Service, directed by Tomas Alfredson who made one of 2008′s best movies with Let the Right One In; and the disturbing TIFF hit We Need To Talk About Kevin, starring Tilda Swinton as a mother haunted by her son, who appears to be a bad seed, directed by Lynne Ramsay, who indie lovers will remember from her uncompromising and challenging dramas Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar.
Lightening up the pre-Christmas rush are The Sitter (Dec.9), with Jonah Hill as a suspended student stuck babysitting young children; New Year’s Eve (Dec.9) from Garry Marshall, that schmaltzy but heartwarming of directors (Beaches, Pretty Woman, Valentine’s Day) who returns with another hyperlink movie with heapings of characters and storylines, this time focusing on year’s end; and Alvin and the Chipmunks – Chipwrecked (Dec.16), another installment in the hugely popular adaptation of the Saturday morning family fave.
Bringing wall-to-wall action pre-Christmas week is the Steven Spielberg 3D-action-fantasy The Adventures of Tintin (Dec.21), starring Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig; Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, with Robert Downey Jr. back as the famous detective; and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, with Tom Cruise returning, but this time with Brad Bird behind the camera (The Incredibles, Ratatouille), a most interesting choice.
Perhaps the single biggest event among film geeks everywhere is the anticipation of the Hollywood adaptation of the European indie hit Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Dec.21), with David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) helming from a Steve Zaillian-penned script (Searching For Bobby Fischer, Moneyball).
All of this leads to Christmas week, when a flurry of huge titles hit theaters, starting with the 3-D aliens-attacking-earth flick The Darkest Hour (Dec.25), starring Emile Hirsch; War Horse, the WWI English drama marking the second feature in as many weeks from Steven Spielberg; and Extremely Loud & Up Close (Dec.25), the 9/11 drama starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, directed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours, The Reader).
Within days of each other, Glenn Close and Meryl Streep star in their own movies, and you’ve read it here first: the Oscar winner will be one of those two ladies, either Close, who disguises as a male waiter in the wondrous 1898 British hotel drama Albert Nobbs (Dec.25), from director Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives, Mother & Child), or it’ll be Meryl picking up a long-overdue third Oscar with what will surely be her whopping 17th nomination playing Margaret Thatcher this time out in The Iron Lady (Dec.30).
Rounding out the holiday madness is the iron lady of this generation, Angelina Jolie, directing her first feature In the Land of Blood & Honey (Dec.23), set against the backdrop of the war in Bosnia, as well as another first-time directing effort from Madonna called W.E., which goes on a one-week Oscar qualifying run in late December while opening the first week of February. Last year audiences were treated to The King’s Speech, while this time around W.E. focuses on two stories, one of which follows the elder brother who abdicated the thrown to marry the American woman he loved.
There has been a lot of hype in the lead up to the premier of this show. Great cast which is led by Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald and Michael Shannon. The show, which takes place in 1920′s Atlantic City when Prohibition began, is Executive Produced by Martin Scorcese, Mark Wahlberg, Terence Winter and Tim Van Patten.
The numbers are insane with the premier garnering 4.8 million viewers (and up to 7.1 million after two repeats).
Now with this cast and that behind-the-scenes firepower, if you still need a reason to watch, here is a review from EW:
“All the ingredients aligned for this one, from Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson’s initial pitch, to Martin Scorsese’s enormous contributions as director and executive producer, to the genius of Terry Winter and the expertise of Tim Van Patten, to a stellar cast led by Steve Buscemi,” said HBO programming president Michael Lombardo in a news release. “The response from the media and our viewers has been nothing short of amazing.”
Apparently, the pilot, which was directed by Scorcese, is the weakest of the earlier episodes. Seriously?
I am ALL in.
source: /Film.
