In Contention

Category: Daily

  • J.J. Abrams on keeping secrets

    J.J. AbramsI enjoyed this J.J. Abrams editorial in this month’s issue of WIRED magazine for the most part.  But even with his somewhat noble point (that spoilers, cheating and the “age of immediacy” have dulled the satisfaction we get out of the “process” of doing, watching or experiencing something), I can’t help but sense a heavier condoning of twists and “surprises” as a necessity in the film and television world.  Maybe it’s just me.

    Anyway, Abrams starts out like so:

    …why does it feel like the world has been ripped open, all parts exposed? Why does so much seem absolutely and thoroughly demystified? These days we can leap, all of us, from a casual curiosity about anything to a sense of satisfying understanding. Instantly. Want to fold origami? There are more than 200,000 Google results on that subject available to you, now. Need to know the capital of Mauritania? A recipe for sticky buns? How to pick a bicycle lock? You could answer all these questions in less time than it will take you to finish reading this article (which, for a second time, I suggest you skip. Remember: You know how it ends, so why are you still here?).

    What I’m getting at is hardly news to anyone: We’re smack dab in the middle of the Age of Immediacy.

    True understanding (or skill or effort) has become bothersome—an unnecessary headache that impedes our ability to get on with our lives (and most likely skip to something else). Earning the endgame seems so yesterday, especially when we can know whatever we need to know whenever we need to know it.

    After having bookended the piece with a great story about how he and his friend tried to beat Super Mario Bros. 2 (I’ve certainly never done this — anyone?), he closes thusly:

    Perhaps that’s why mystery, now more than ever, has special meaning. Because it’s the anomaly, the glaring affirmation that the Age of Immediacy has a meaningful downside. Mystery demands that you stop and consider—or, at the very least, slow down and discover. It’s a challenge to get there yourself, on its terms, not yours.

    It’s a good read. Check out the rest here.

  • What a difference two decades makes

    When I caught Gregor Jordan’s “The Informers” at the Santa Barbara Film Festival earlier this year, I had one of those “Hey, neat-o” moments when I noticed both Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger were part of the film’s ensemble.  Granted, the two never share the screen and each part is minuscule, but it was a slightly intriguing throwback to the 1980s amid all the decadence of that era on display in the film (which I quite liked, however bizarre and critically ravaged).  But then I saw a shot of the two attending the Los Angeles premiere of the film and I got, I don’t know…sad.

    (from left) Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger in 9 1/2 Weeks and at the Los Angeles premiere of The Informers

  • Get your votes in

    Part one of the first round on our big, mammoth “most influential movie ever” poll closes tomorrow and part two will launch on Thursday, so make sure you get your votes in.  I’m happy to see “Rashomon” has pushed into the top five, but poor “Battleship Potemkin” is left in the cold, apparently largely unseen and, therefore, not receiving the fair leg up.  But it’s a readership poll so I’m leaving it all in your hands.

  • Shouting match

    I can’t be the only one who read the news that David O. Russell will be directing Christian Bale in his next film and thought, “Uh-oh.”

  • You said it, not me

    Sandra Bullock in CrashSo, what does Paul Haggis have to say about the recent revelation that “Crash” (not the 1996 Cronenberg film, surprisingly enough) has remained the most rented film on Netflix since September 2005?

    “I have no idea why anyone went to see the movie in the first place, let alone rent it.”

    Truer words, etc, etc. But snarkiness aside, Haggis has a fair point here: the film was never meant to be any kind of phenomenon. Whether by calculation, alchemy or sheer good fortune, it happened to resonate with certain audiences upon its spring release four years ago — and if those Netflix numbers are anything to go by, it still does. Credit where it’s due.

    Academy voters thrust a weighty reputation onto this slender film that forever altered the way audiences would approach it, and I’ve long been unsure how it would support that weight. For my part, I disliked “Crash” immensely when I saw it in the summer of 2005, but I didn’t resent it the way I do today — though the fault there lies with me, not the film.

    “Crash” is a fascinating case study of the way the public’s relationship with art can shift with time, but the film’s evident popularity on DVD suggests that the relationship is more in flux than its detractors may have guessed.

    (more…)

  • Coppola turns down Cannes

    TetroNow here’s a curious strategic decision. Having been offered the chance to unveil his much-anticipated “Tetro” in an out-of-competition slot at Cannes, Francis Ford Coppola has responded with a polite “thanks, but no thanks”:

    “While I very much appreciate the invitation, this is an independent film, self-financed and self released, and I felt that being invited for a non-competition gala screening wasn’t true to the personal and independent nature of this film,” Coppola said in a statement released late last week. “More important than Cannes, our team can focus all our time, energy and resources into the US release this June 11th.”

    Coppola is instead opting for a considerably more low-profile bow at the Seattle Film Festival. What gives? Perhaps he just wants to avoid the pressure of a major festival environment: the Cannes crowd can be notoriously hostile towards auteur works that don’t meet certain expectations. (Just ask Coppola’s own daughter.)

    But they can also be welcoming towards veteran filmmakers looking to rediscover form, particularly in the more relaxed out-of-competition strand — Woody Allen has twice benefitted from such platforms in recent years. Considering that “Tetro,” an Argentinian-set family saga headlined by Vincent Gallo and Maribel Verdu, doesn’t sound like the easiest sell in the world, I’d say the Cannes exposure could have done it some good — but maybe Coppola knows something we don’t.

  • Far from heaven

    Ever since it was announced that Peter Jackson had succeeded Lynne Ramsay at the helm of “The Lovely Bones,” I have been hopeful that the project would see him veer closer to the eerie understatement of “Heavenly Creatures” than the extravagant kitsch of “The Lord of the Rings.”

    The premise of Alice Sebold’s novel may indicate delicate drama, but its fantastical elements need a light touch to avoid tipping over into gauzy sentimentality. (We will, of course, be discussing the novel in our Page to Screen series, which starts next month.)

    So I’m pleased to read, in USA Today’s chat with the filmmaker, that restraint appears to be high on his agenda. Though he rightly picks up on the redemptive aspects of Sebold’s narrative (“Susie holds on to love, and by doing so, she transcends the horror of her murder”), he’s wisely taking an open-ended cinematic approach to the issue of the afterlife:

    “It’s God-less in the sense that when Susie dies, she finds herself caught in a place between Earth and heaven — she is in an ‘In-Between,’ as Alice Sebold calls it.” When she moves on, “we’re happy for audiences to imagine this new world in whatever way makes them comfortable.”

    Empire, meanwhile, offers a still that provides an intriguing glimpse of this ‘In-Between’ world. I’m feeling more and more optimistic about this.

    Saoirse Ronan in The Lovely Bones

  • First look at Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott’s ‘Robin Hood’

    When Russell Crowe was on Letterman the other night, it totally escaped me that the filming of Rilsey Scott’s “Robin Hood” was responsible for his new “Gladiator” hair do.  Now we get our first official look at Crowe in character, courtesy of USA Today:

    Russell Crowe in Robin Hood

    And here’s Crowe pitching “State of Play” in the aforementioned Letterman segment. There’s a quasi-interesting/humorous Helen Mirren story thrown in:

  • Rock me gently

    Anvil! The Story of AnvilAlong with a lot of viewers, it seems, Jeff Wells has fallen hard for the sweetly sad rock documentary “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” — and demands that the Academy take notice:

    How can Sacha Gervasi’s Anvil! The Story of Anvil not wind up being nominated for Best Feature Documentary Oscar? It’s got heart, it’s about over-the-hill, down-on-their-luck artists getting their groove back, it’s well made, it’s connecting with audiences, it’s funny, it’s lowbrow-highbrow. How can Academy’s doc committee ignore it?

    Who doesn’t love Anvil!?

    Yours truly, for one — though I wish I did. Much like Ramin Bahrani’s “Goodbye Solo,” which I discussed recently, I saw “Anvil!” in a festival context last autumn, kinda liked it, completely forgot about it, and am now a bit befuddled by the rapturous critical reception it has received.

    I’m not completely resistant to its charms — as I wrote back in October, it’s a witty, compassionate piece of work with a keen eye for absurd detail. What it didn’t succeed in doing was to make me care more than fleetingly about the affably deluded, self-oriented figures at its centre; not having much interest in their music, I didn’t find the band members particularly compelling as personalities either, which for me meant the film never rose above the anecdotally diverting.

    Perhaps I need to give it another go. But if there aren’t five better documentaries released in the course of 2009, I’ll be both surprised and a little disappointed. In the meantime, feel free to tell me what I’m missing.

  • ‘Grey Gardens’ redefines Drew Barrymore as an actress

    Drew Barrymore in Grey GardensIn a stunning, Oscar-worthy performance that redefines her as an actress, Drew Barrymore is nothing short of miraculous as Little Edie in “Grey Gardens,” the latest knockout from HBO. Nothing the actress has shown us before will prepare you for her transformation into the eccentric character she portrays in this fine film.

    I remember seeing her and Jessica Lange presenting at the Golden Globes, holding hands, both looking like they had the most amazing secret in the room. Obviously they adored working with one another on the film, and together they create two characters who could not exist without each other. Ironically, neither actress could do what they do on film without the other.

    The film is based on the famous documentary of the same name by the Maysles brothers, which chronicled the everyday life of a mother and daughter, once affluent and wealthy, now eking out an existence in a run down, vermin-infested 14 room mansion in East Hampton. The aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy, the odd mother and daughter became cult figures in New York’s underground art world. Their story, from wealth to abject squalor, is explored in the film.

    We have come to expect high quality work from Lange, though in fairness her better efforts have been sporadic over the years. She overcame the stigma of the terrible remake of “King Kong” in 1976 with a string of outstanding performances beginning with the Angel of Death in “All That Jazz” and Cora in “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” for which she deserved an Academy Award. Lange was electrifying in the film, all but blowing Jack Nicholson off the screen.

    One year later Lange was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning Best Supporting Actress for her lovely comic turn in “Tootsie” and astonishing audiences with her ferocious work in “Frances” as troubled actress Frances Farmer. More nominations would come for “Country” and “Sweet Dreams,” with attention for “Crimes of the Heart,” but no nomination, however deserving.

    (more…)

  • Was it worth the wait?

    Jamie Foxx in The SoloistWhen Joe Wright’s “The Soloist” was shifted from prime Oscar territory last autumn to a considerably more low-profile 2009 slot, many presumed that the film was something of an artistic disappointment. However, word also went round that the move was a sympathetic one, aimed to place less pressure on a film that, despite the talent involved, was more crowdpleaser than prestige item.

    Meanwhile, two diametrically opposed trade reviews do very little to clear up the picture ahead of the film’s release next week. (They appeared a few days ago, but escaped my notice until now.) Todd McCarthy’s Variety pan confirms the suspicions of the sceptics, actually suggesting that the film appears uncomfortably caught between awards-baiting and more populist urges:

    Neither rarefied art film nor widely accessible inspirational drama, “The Soloist” falls between the cracks both creatively and commercially … Joe Wright’s first American feature has moments of power and imagination, but the overworked style and heavy socially conscious bent exude an off-putting sense of self-importance, making for a picture that’s more of a chore than a pleasure to sit through.

    Charismatic and dynamic as they’ve been on any number of previous occasions, both Foxx and Downey seem to labor here as they grapple with roles viewers will find difficulty warming to. Downey, in particular, fails to find either outer charm or inner soul in Steve Lopez.

    The Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt, however, sings a very different tune, describing the film as “excellent, if flawed.” His disagreement is most pronounced on the matter of the film’s lead performances, going so far as to suggest that they remain strong awards contenders:

    Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx are on fire in the lead roles: They’re both charismatic as hell without sacrificing any of the emotional honesty necessary for you to believe that these movie stars are a scruffy reporter and a mentally ill musician … True, Academy members tend to remember only the last three months of a year when voting, but these performances are extraordinary enough that the memory should not fade by fall.

    (more…)

  • ‘(500) Days of Summer’ poster and trailer

    (500) Days of Summer

  • Question of the day

    Is it really all that surprising that a film that glorifies the profession of journalism is being well-received by film critics across the board?

  • Please no

    I don’t know.  I look at this still and I think, “God, I’m destined to despise every inch of this film.”  That’s what seriously goes through my mind.

    (from left) Eli Rotha nd Brad Pitt in Ingourious Basterds

  • Kutcher wins

    You might remember that Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN post from a few days ago.  Well, it looks like Kutcher closed the Twitter gap fast and finally topped the news organization’s Breaking News feed to 1 million followers.  Now he will “ding dong ditch” Ted Turner’s home, as promised.  And this, my friends, is what is out there to cover this morning.  CNN even Twittered a congrats:

    CNN tweet

  • Happy anniversary

    As milestones go, it’s not one for the record books, but the sentimentalist in me feels compelled to note that it is precisely one year today since I made my first modest contribution to this noble site. How time flies.

    Okay, so you all forgot, but I forgive you. No need to send flowers. (But hey, if you were looking for a tenuous excuse to have a few drinks today, let this be it.) Anyway, it’s been a consistent pleasure writing for, and conversing with, you guys over the last twelve months. Long may it continue.

    (Something else that happened exactly a year ago, by the way? My beloved twins “Happy-Go-Lucky” and “In Bruges” were born on the same day in their — and my — home country. 2008 certainly got off to a good early start, didn’t it?)

  • Sofia Coppola checks into ‘Somewhere’

    Sofia CoppolaIt seems to have become fashionable to dismiss Sofia Coppola as a lightweight in recent years, so news of her fourth feature film may be greeted with trepidation by some folks.

    Not me, though. My relationship with “Marie-Antoinette” has shifted over time from guarded admiration to fully-blossomed love, while “Lost in Translation” remains, for me, the impeccably judged mood piece I always thought it was. (Detractors call it “slight”; I prefer “fragile.”)

    In any case, the many who were on board with “Translation,” but disembarked at her hyper-stylised period piece, will probably be relieved to hear that, for her next effort, Coppola is returning to the contemporary, serio-comic territory (and studio) of the former film — luxury hotel setting included. Variety reports:

    Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning will star in the Focus Features dramedy “Somewhere,” which Coppola penned. Story centers on a bad-boy actor stumbling through a life of excess at the Chateau Marmont. With an unexpected visit from his 11-year-old daughter, he is forced to reexamine his life.

    The filmmaker, who said she has been looking to make “an intimate story set in contemporary Los Angeles,” received permission to shoot at the hotel, which has become notorious in recent years as a popular address for tabloid-friendly celebs. Film will lense in L.A. and Italy in June and July.

    (more…)

  • ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ video game trailer featuring Bane

    Okay, I can’t friggin’ WAIT to play this thing.  You might recall the original trailer from January, but this shorter look at one of the plot points has the Bat fan within giddy as hell: