It’s left to be seen whether “Super 8” has the legs a number of people certainly HOPE it has (and we’ll just take the studio’s word on that $50 million price tag). But this is a better start than most were expecting, and a big win for the film overall.
(Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)
One of the most compelling films I saw at last year’s Telluride Film Festival was Errol Morris’s new documentary, “Tabloid.” The film is “masterful work with Morris’s trademark sense of humor splattered all over it,” I wrote at the time. “One of his best films in years.” I’m looking forward to seeing it again. Sundance Selects picked the film up for US release and Apple has just debuted the trailer. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.
Paramount is rolling out J.J. Abrams’s “Super 8” 24 hours ahead of schedule today with an IMAX-heavy release in over 300 theaters. That’s the #Super8Secret, and it reads to me as a desperate, though perhaps smart attempt to get some high-dollar ticket sales in the bank for a low-tracking film in advance of the weekend. Whether some like it or not, I have my own feelings on this one. But so will you. Since it’s making its way to the public today, we might as well jump the gun on this post, too. So cut loose with your thoughts below when you get around to the film this weekend.
Where to begin on “Super 8?” It’s so clearly the kind of film directors tend to make, unmolested, after a major hit, the kind where someone really needed to be pulling the strings and smoothing the edges and seeing the forest through the trees. “But I’m J.J. f***ing Abrams.” (I’m sure he’s a splendid chap.)
It’s a nostalgia wank, but you already knew that. I find myself wondering if the pitch meeting was little more than Abrams promising Steven Spielberg that the famed director’s oeuvre would be all but gilded and bronzed right there on the screen. But that can be forgiven…if there’s a story.
And there’s not. Well, there’s not a complete story. There’s a lot of mayhem that feels injected into a coming-of-age yarn that itself needed some tinkering, and then there’s a climax that is meant to bring it all together, but ultimately whiffs worse than Begbie’s scratch in “Trainspotting.”
(I figure it’s time to start bringing these back in on Sundays.)
I would have said it’ll be interesting to see if Paramount’s strategy of screening “Super 8” to the geek base and using favorable reviews to drive tracking will be enough to grab a top spot next week, but with a $56 million opening, it seems safer to expect “X-Men: First Class” to enjoy just one week at #1. You might make the argument that with no stars and no franchise staples to market, that number is a win. But it’s surely lower than Fox wanted. Still, word-of-mouth could be good enough to keep the drop manageable and keep the race for #1 interesting.
(Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)
Oddly enough, I have very little to say about “X-Men: First Class.” There was a rush to celebrate the film that felt hasty. It gets a number of things right (like the Xavier/Lensherr relationship, which is spot on), but it also feels like director Matthew Vaughn is a bit tone deaf, as the energy of the film felt incredibly unbalanced (perhaps owed to re-shooting with Bryan Singer, I’m not sure — and I haven’t been a big fan of Vaughn’s work so far). In any case, the film opens this weekend, and east coast midnight screenings should be letting out shortly, so you’ll all have your own opinions to offer. Cut loose with them here when you get around to it.
Yes, yes, more talk on “The Tree of Life.” I’ll be honest. I’ll be surprised if there is a film that occupies the space of “best” in my consideration of 2011’s film offerings, not to spoil the end of year shenanigans or anything (though one never knows what can happen to perception over the next six or seven months). It’s such a rich, rewarding, flawed, imperfect, real experience. I cannot wait for a third viewing.
In the meantime, I delighted in digging into Anthony Breznican’s lengthy deconstruction of the film over at Entertainment Weekly. Interestingly, he draws a lot of the same interpretations I did when I wrote about the film in depth last week, and he notes that in conversation, despite a heavy consideration of “subjectivity,” many viewers are coming away with similar interpretations about this or that. Chalk it up to one more note of universality in Terrence Malick’s latest.
The piece is naturally full of SPOILERS, as Breznican tackles (with what he self-deprecatingly calls “hack analysis”) the entirety of the film, beginning to end, and turns up some interesting bits of insight. I was personally fascinated by his takeaway on water imagery in the film.
Early this morning, Sony revealed the (official) trailer for David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” The studio has also unveiled the film’s official website, which debuts the first one-sheet for the film. Check out the full image after the jump.
Last week, a curious “leak” of the red band trailer for David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” trailer hit the web. Sony left it up until yesterday, when it was promptly pulled, likely in anticipation of the somewhat cleaned up green band trailer that Apple has released today. It’s pretty much the same footage, with a few more extreme images replaced. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.
Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” adds 16 theaters and eight new cities as it expands a little farther this weekend. If you happen to be near enough to catch it, don’t forget to keep the discussion going in our reactions thread. You can find out when the film will make its way to you at Fox Searchlight’s official site.
As a build-up to the film’s release, the Museum of the Moving Image’s Matt Zoller Seitz has been working through another series of video essays, this one focused on Malick’s filmography. He’s wrapped things up this week with a two-part dissection of 2005’s “The New World,” Seitz’s favorite of the director’s efforts.
“The net result is a profoundly warm, embracing film that celebrates life itself in all its wonder and terror,” he says of Malick’s fourth feature, “a portrait of a few distinct lives on a planet, and in a universe, that has no beginning and no end.” He could as easily be talking about any of the director’s films, not least of all his latest.
One film with reported Oscar potential that was left without a buyer at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival was Larysa Kondracki’s “The Whistleblower.” Rachel Weisz has a lot to work with and, by most accounts, gives a stellar performance in the film. Samuel Goldwyn Films eventually picked it up and it’s set for an August 5 release date. The trailer has popped up via Apple. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.
Last week we got a look at the new trailer for Alexander Payne’s first film in seven years, “The Descendants.” Today, the poster comes our way. Take a look at the full image after the jump.
UPDATE (5/31): Sony has pulled the trailer offline, just in time for the official green band version to drop (which it did, in what looks like a legit leak, but we’ll wait for Apple or whatever to deliver before passing it along).
I was going to refrain from posting the recently “leaked” trailer for David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” but there is some talk out there that it might have been a controlled leak, a bit of a marketing stunt. (And after all, no moves have been made to take it down.) If so, I TOTALLY dig it. The material itself already seems to indicate Fincher is back to his grungy days, and maybe having more fun than ever. A little shaky in-theater recording of what will be cleaned up a bit for Thursday’s official green band trailer launch adds to the flavor. So, check out it out via YouTube by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump (and delight in the best piece of marketing since the Coens’ “A Serious Man”).
One film that could slip up on the awards season with an endearing, personal journey is “50/50,” from an original screenplay by Will Reiser (it’s fully his story) and directed by “The Wackness” helmer Jonathan Levine. I’m sure Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be someone to watch, but I’ve heard Anjelica Huston steals the show. The trailer has hit via Apple, so check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.
Also opening in wide release this weekend is DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2,” which I’m hearing is pretty good. In a year that is likely to have Pixar bow out of its dominance in the Best Animated Feature Film category, it could be a rat-race for the finish (and potentially a five-horse race at that). If you get around to this sequel this weekend or whenever, let us know what you thought.
If you’ve been fortunate enough to catch Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” in its limited release already, don’t forget to tell us your thoughts in the reactions thread.
I’ve written about the film at length once (during a lunch break at jury duty downtown after sleeping on it). Guy reviewed it in full out of Cannes, where the film walked away with the Palme d’Or, and we dedicated an edition of The Lists to Malick’s work earlier this week. But I wanted to include a separate space for spoiler discussion, as I’ve had a chance to re-visit the film and taken some time to mull over its particulars more over the last week. I guess I just really wanted to write about it again.
So, if you want to stay pure, I suggest staying out of this thread. I’ll be digging into specifics of narrative and theme that you’d probably rather avoid. Or maybe you’d like to digest every morsel you can in preparation. Fully up to you, but the warning is there. SPOILERS follow…
Also opening this weekend are two films with wider releases than the Malick, so I figured I’d offer a space for those, too. We’ll start with “The Hanogver: Part II,” which I haven’t seen (and have heard is little more than a rehash, natch). I’ll be taking a look this weekend. Todd Phillips is getting a kick out of insulting journalists. Hopefully audiences are getting a kick out of his cash grab. If you get around to it this weekend, tell us your thoughts.