In Contention

Category: Daily

  • ‘Antichrist’ lands in the UK

    Charlotte Gainsbourg in AntichristThe Yanks have to wait until October, but it’s “‘Antichrist’ Day” here in Britain. (Hey, it might not be as popular as “‘Avatar’ Day,” but I like the ring of it.) I’m not going to dwell too heavily on the critical reception in today’s papers — you’ve got the gist by now that it’s a polarizing picture, and true to form, the reviews are split right down the middle.

    (I’m more interested to see what the weekend box-office figures are like, given that the film has been rather adventurously programmed at a few mainstream multiplexes as well as the obvious arthouse venues.)

    Of the credible broadsheets, The Times and the Telegraph are firmly in the “yes” camp (calling it “a fantastically painful mirror” and “a film soaked in the grief of its subjects,” respectively), while the Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw and the Independent‘s Anthony Quinn remain unconvinced. (“The great artist imposes shape, pattern, order,” scolds Quinn. “The mediocre artist just throws stuff at the wall and hopes audiences will gasp.”)

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  • The films you’re supposed to love, but don’t

    Gene Kelly in Singin' in the RainBound to raise many a film buff’s hackles, The Guardian carries an entertaining piece today by novelist Tim Lott on the subject of “the worst best films ever made” — in other words, the roundly lauded and canonized classics that routine appear on “all-time greatest” lists but, well, simply aren’t all that.

    It’s a wholly subjective issue, of course, and Lott is unashamedly provocative (if overly glib) in tackling it, taking down some seriously big targets along the way. Films in the firing line include “The Searchers” (which he accuses of both racism and “rude mechanicals”), “Les Enfants du Paradis” (“dated, overlong and absurdly wordy”), “On the Waterfront” (“a masterclass in ham acting”) and “Death in Venice” (“a colossal piece of soft-focus masturbation”).

    I disagree on most counts, but now and then his venom strikes a chord of with me. I wouldn’t go as far as he does in calling “La Dolce Vita” a “turgid, lazy mess of half-realised conceits,” but I agree that it’s not a film that has aged particularly well; compared to the still-pristine “8½,” its experiments in anti-narrative look idle and incomplete. And I’m glad someone else has the courage to say that subsequent decades of radical reinvention in the field of the movie musical make “Singin’ in the Rain” look like a very ordinary achievement indeed. (I’ll just come out and say it: I can’t stand Gene Kelly.)

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  • Solid sci-fi rears its head yet again in 2009

    I’ve got to eat before I pass out, but a quick iPhone post is quite necessary in the wake of “District 9,” an amazing effort that sits alongside Duncan Jones’s “Moon,” J.J. Abrams’s “Star Trek” and, hopefully (though today’s footage was a great start) James Cameron’s “Avatar” as part of a damn fine year for sci-fi cinema. And truly, a star is born in the film’s brilliant young fresh-out-of-the-gate lead actor.

    More later. Food now.

  • COMIC-CON: James Cameron unveils impressive ‘Avatar’ footage

    AvatarJames Cameron made his long-awaited trip to San Diego this afternoon for the world premiere of 25 minutes of footage from his upcoming film “Avatar,” and the reaction was as enthused as it could have been.  A scene-by-scene description is probably the best way to go about this, so first that, then quotes from the post-screening discussion.

    If you’d prefer to stay pure on this film and would rather skip the scene descriptions, go ahead and scroll down to the quotes section, indicated in bold below.  Also, for those hungry for any and all info, before I dig into the specifics of the presentation, you should really read through Cameron’s E3 address to get an idea of the film’s plot, or else you’ll be quite lost.

    Seven sequences were unveiled, beginning with a “Full Metal Jacket”-like military briefing with actor Stephan Lang front-and-center.  The scene also introduces us to the central character in the film, Jake Sully, a crippled former military officer himself with an eye toward the cosmos and the planet Pandora.

    The next scene reveals the avatars, genetic bio-suits constructed from the DNA of the Na’vi, tall, blue-skinned warrior natives of Pandora.  Floating in a tank of fluid, being prepped for integration with human consciousnesses, the imagery is quite beautiful in this scene, the avatars in a docile, tranquil state, Sully peering at them, recognizing in them the chance to walk, however virtually, once again.

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  • James Cameron says circle your calendars, August 21 is “‘Avatar’ Day”

    I’ll get to my reaction to the 25 minutes of absolutely mind-blowing “Avatar” Comic-Con footage in a few minutes, but for now, it’s worth announcing that James Cameron dropped a bit of news at today’s big Fox panel for the film.  If you weren’t able to be in Comic-Con for the big unveiling, you won’t have to wait until December to get a glimpse of the film:

    We’re going to do something unprecedented.  It’s a social marketing experiment.  We’re going to take over as many IMAX 3D theaters and other select 3D theaters worldwide on August 21 and we’re going to let an international global audience come see 15 minutes of “Avatar” for free.  It’s going to be “Avatar” day.

    There you have it.  Circle your calendars.

  • ‘New Moon’ press conference at the Con

    The Twilight Saga: New MoonI skipped out on this morning’s “New Moon” press conference, despite the inevitable traffic spike attending would have given us.  Those bird’s-eye view photos of the masses, however, have been passed around over and over and over again just a few hours later.  Kinda crazy.

    Anyway, Jeff Wells, attending his first Comic-Con (which is its own delightful sit-com waiting to happen), was on hand and took the video below, but his matter-of-fact dismantling of the film’s stars and their attitude at the presser that is worth passing along:

    This morning’s New Moon/Comic-Con press conference began at 9:54 am — almost a half-hour late — inside a super-sized meeting hall within San Diego’s Bayfront Hilton. The film’s three stars — Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner — posed for photos and took questions from a throng of about 75 or 80 journalists…Lautner is clearly the most ambitiously press-friendly among the three. While Stewart and Pattinson did their usual usual — i.e., giving answers that suggested they’re a lot more complex and aloof and thoughtful than their participation in movies based on the Twilight series might suggest. It’s the age-old “I’ll do this but only if I can answer questions like Marlon Brando” routine. But Lautner, who has a bee-stung Beagle Boy nose , exhibited the personality of a publicist or a glad-hander. He clearly enjoys smiling and wants everyone to like him. He could be the next Regis Philbin if he wanted to go there.

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  • COMIC-CON: Disney showcases ‘Carol,’ ‘Alice,’ ‘Tron’

    (from left) Patton Oswalt and Tim Burton at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con InternationalThe first opening day studio panel has just concluded as Walt Disney Pictures brought Robert Zemeckis (“A Christmas Carol”), Tim Burton (“Alice in Wonderland”) and the “Tron: Legacy” principals to Hall H for a hefty three-dimensional dose.

    The “Christmas Carol” footage, which was an extended version of the Marley’s ghost sequence Disney has been showing for a few months, seemed to leave the audience dizzy with glee.

    Patton Oswalt sat down with Zemeckis before the unveiling for a brief Q&A, leading by questioning the director’s reason for tackling the Charles Dickens classic after so many incarnations have already been filmed.

    “If you read the actual novel, it’s very, very trippy,” Zemeckis said.  “It’s very surreal and it’s really cool, and it’s very cinematic.  I think we now have the filmmaking tools to film what Dickens wrote.”

    Oswalt addressed the issue of “dead eyes” in the performance capture technique and a term applied to the uneasy visceral feeling it summons: “the uncanny valley.”

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  • Goldenthal on scoring ‘Tempest,’ ‘Enemies’

    Elliot GoldenthalLauded composer Elliot Goldenthal doesn’t deign to work all that much in film these days — the lure of stage and opera work is great, particularly when he gets Pulitzer recognition for it — and when he does, it’s not always in projects worthy of his gifts. (Anyone want to hazard a guess why he scored “S.W.A.T.” in 2003?)

    But this year finds him thoroughly immersed in the big screen again, renewing two partnerships that have proved productive in the past. We’ve already heard his work on “Public Enemies” — his first pairing with Michael Mann since “Heat” in 1995 — which was largely muted and effective, with a contemporary acoustic edge that landed on the right side of anachronistic. (I maintain, however, that the use of Diana Krall was a miscalculation.)

    But more eyes (or ears, rather) might be on his next collaboration with personal and professional partner Julie Taymor, whose screen interpretation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” is wavering between a 2009 or 2010 release. Anne Thompson profiles the composer and drops some intriguing hints about the latter project:

    Goldenthal’s now finalizing the score for Taymor’s demi-musical “The Tempest,” starring Helen Mirren as Prospera and Ben Whishaw as a singing Ariel. The movie uses Shakespeare’s own songs. “It’s a challenge to find something mysterious and not arcane, and not Elizabethan sounding,” he says. “It has to sound like something you’ve never heard or can categorize. I have to compose around the Shakespeare meter.”

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  • Muscling in

    Alright, I’m off to push through and past the hordes in the post below to start the Comic-Con day.  Updates as I get to them, but the nature of the beast being what it is, it might be worth it to follow me over at Twitter as I’m sure any and everything that crosses my mind will be regurgitated there first.

  • COMIC-CON: Bird’s eye view of ‘Twilight’ hordes

    Comic-Con crowd

    Comic-Con crowd

  • 3D presentations ready for their close ups at Comic-Con

    Jim Carrey in A Christmas CarolAs I look out my 29th floor window I can see the Hall H line, peppered with air matresses and tents, is already at epicly ridiculous proportions, but most of those nutcases are “Twilight” obsessives hoping to a secure a spot for Summit’s panel later today.  The big stuff, however, will revolve around the 3D presentations of Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” and James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

    Over at the LA Times, John Horn has previewed today’s festivities, coming at it from the angle of 3D being perhaps a last ditch effort to cash in for a business that sees profits slipping yearly.  The buzz studios and filmmakers are aiming to drum up here in San Diego is crucial.  Horn talked to a number of artists involved with today’s unveilings, among them, “Christmas Carol” director Robert Zemeckis.

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  • Jeff Bridges: due for Oscar

    Jeff BridgesYesterday Guy kick-started the Best Actor conversation on “Crazy Heart” star Jeff Bridges.  The film, recently acquired by Fox Searchlight, is currently scheduled for a Spring 2010 release but seems to be all but begging for an autumn awards run given the buzz circling Bridges’s performance.  I imagine similar discussions are happening at Searchlight, and without any real muscle in the lead actor race so far (I’m not sure Joseph Gordon-Levitt can survive the year), it would make some sense to jerk it into a qualifying release pattern.

    Bridges, of course, is well overdue for some Oscar glory.  He’s cranked out worthy performance after worthy performance, going all the way back to his first nomination for “The LAst Picture Show” and his first leading bid in “Starman.”  His work in Rod Lurie’s “The Contender” (another nomination) still stands as my favorite presidential depiction on film yet.  Nathaniel Roges over at The Film Experience is thinking along the same lines today, but offers sound reasoning for the actor’s consistently bleak Oscar track record.

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  • When Harry met Weasley

    No reason really, I just think this photo of the day “Harry Potter” actor Daniel Radcliffe met co-star Rupert Grint, shared with Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher by producer David Heyman, is a touching, somewhat historic shot:

    (from left) Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint

  • 7/23 Web Round-up

    Kevin Spacey• Kim Voynar wonders where the Brat Pack for today’s generation is. [Movie City News]

    • Judd Apatow gets the MOMA treatment in NYC. [Movieline]

    • Andrew O’Hehir talks “Shrink” with actor Kevin Spacey. [Beyond the Multiplex]

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  • ‘Shutter Island’ poster

    Shutter Island

    (Courtesy: Yahoo! Movies)

  • Another look at ‘Enemies’

    Christian Bale in Public EnemiesI must say, while I’m still struggling to see the use of The Auteurs as a social networking site, it’s a smashing source of film writing. The range and intelligence of discourse there is a joy to read, and is rapidly making the site a daily essential.

    A case in point is today’s superb three-headed discussion of “Public Enemies” — well-timed given that today (as noted at the Film Experience) marks the 75th anniversary of John Dillinger’s death.

    I’ve said before that I don’t think the film has generally received the critical credit it deserves, so it’s a treat to read three equally well-informed writers debating its complexities, and its relationship to the Michael Mann canon, in more detail than any review I’ve read. Daniel Kasman is upfront in his enthusiasm, declaring it the year’s best American film so far. (Short of “The Hurt Locker,” I don’t disagree.)

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  • COMIC-CON: Settling in for the “con”

    San Diego Convention CenterI’m just settling in here at the Bayside Hilton next to the San Diego Convention Center.  Killer view, badge pick-up within the hour.  It’s all happening, etc.  But I find myself pondering the “Con” aspect of it all more and more these days.

    Of course, I disagree with David Poland’s notion that the festivities here don’t manage to move the needle at all.  The mood is set, legions of journalists (every Tom, Dick and Harry with a Blogspot or a Live Journal gets in as “press” these days) spread the word and a culture is born right here, every year.  It’s an unknowable variable, of course.  Things can go one way or the other, and nothing will necessarily be made or broken.  But the publicity opportunity is rather undeniable.

    Which brings me back to a point I made just this afternoon, the idea of the web universe largely playing the role of extended mouthpiece for a studio system more and more desperate to reach audiences and drum up excitement in advance of their product’s unveiling.  It’s marketing 101.  But it’s not journalism, any more than the cut-and-paste press releases you find in the trades every morning.

    So why do we cover it?

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  • ‘Alice in Wonderland’ teaser trailer

    As someone who is both fanatical about Lewis Carroll and agnostic on Tim Burton, I’ve been a little wary about this project from the outset. Burton and his team have given something of a CGI Gothic distortion to John Tenniel’s immortal illustrations — I don’t know how I feel about it, but suffice to say we can probably fill some 2010 Oscar slots in the design races.

    I am concerned, however, about the solo star billing of Johnny Depp, and his first-person narration — this story shouldn’t be The Mad Hatter Show. Thanks to Cinematical for the heads-up: