In Contention

Category: Daily

  • ‘Tempest’ finally ready for its close-up

    Hey, remember “The Tempest?” Julie Taymor’s adaptation of the William Shakespeare play — with Helen Mirren stepping into the gender-switching lead of Prospera – seems to have been on deck forever.  But while I believe the film truly wasn’t completed until recently, being trapped in the sinking ship that was Miramax surely couldn’t have helped matters.

    The film looks to be a below-the-line awards monster waiting to happen, with such esteemed veterans as Stuart Dryburgh, Sandy Powell and the incredibly under-appreciated Mark Friedberg on board.  Now it will serve as a fixture in what could be a banner year for Mirren, as the actress has no less than four (and maybe more) films scheduled to hit screens in 2010.

    A recent USA Today story is doing its part to stir early populist interest in advance of the December release date.  Anthony Breznican sat down with Taymor to get the goods (and the new production still featured here).

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  • CANNES PREVIEW: The best of the rest

    Okay, so you’ve combed through the 19 films in the Competition lineup for Cannes 2010, and you still haven’t found much to get excited about? Fret not. You wouldn’t know it to read most media coverage of the festival, but the Competition is only one course at the Cannes buffet – and not necessarily the most filling.

    Surrounding it are a host of alternative sidebars, both competitive and simply exhibitory, ranging from glossy out-of-competition Hollywood premieres to independent strands yielding more familiar names than the casual festival-watcher might expect. In today’s preview, I’ll pick out some potential highlights from the non-Competition hinterlands.

    The ones you’ll hear the most about, of course, fall into the Out of Competition category, a refuge both for arthouse attractions that fell between the cracks in the selection process (chief among them, Olivier Assayas’s five-hour Carlos the Jackal study “Carlos”) and big-budget studio pictures seeking the prestige of a Cannes stamp without the risk of actually competing.

    Here you’ll find the star-laden pair of Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” and Woody Allen’s “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” – both projects that have me worried for different reasons, but neither of which you really need me to remind you about.

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  • Loach’s ‘Route Irish’ joins Cannes Competition lineup

    I told you on Friday that a 19th title was going to be added to the selection of films vying for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and lo and behold, here it is. Variety reports that “Route Irish,” an Iraq War drama from festival habitué Ken Loach, has joined the lineup — just one year after Loach brought football-themed comedy “Looking for Eric” to the Croisette.

    It’s probably not the film that most people were hoping to see as a last-minute addition, but it does bump up the number of English-language titles in Competition to three, while also boosting the “venerable auteur” count.

    This marks the tenth Competition entry of the British director’s career — he won the Palme on his eighth attempt, with “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” in 2006 — and if that’s not a record, it confirms him as one of the festival’s true pets.

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  • Long live Betty

    Facebook users got their wish last night as Betty White took the stage on Saturday Night Live…and absolutely KILLED it.

    Seriously, has there been a better episode in the last five years (or more)?  I tend to find myself enjoying SNL more often than not lately because I really dig most of the cast, but we still get stinkers.  Gabourey Sidibe’s try a week or so back is the most recent example of one that just fell on its face.  But the creative invigoration of last night’s telecast was something to behold.  Everyone was firing on all cylinders.

    I think we have to look to White for that, not only for the material she herself was responsible for performing (she never missed a beat, mind you), but for the obvious inspiration she brought to the writers and the cast.  Bringing a few of the former female faves back was a shrewd move, and falling the day before Mother’s Day was perfect.  “MacGruber,” meanwhile, got a hell of a boost leading up to the May 21 release of the film.

    It really just doesn’t get any better.  I proud of and happy for all involved.  It goes down, for me, as an all time classic.  And perhaps I’m not alone.  The New York Times’ Melena Ryzik (better known as The Carpetbagger around these parts) Tweeted after the show that White “left the SNL afterparty to standing ovations and castmembers calling it a historic show.”

    What left to say, but: Bravo.  (Full episode, courtesy of NBC, after the jump.)

    [EDITED TO ADD: I also can’t remember the last time a host was literally in every single sketch, including the Weekend Update.  Maybe it’s more common than I know, but it was something that struck me.]

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  • Call it ‘Robin Hood Begins’

    Anne tips us off to the first wave of “Robin Hood” reviews, which were meant to be held until Wednesday, given the Cannes screening and all.  Alas, no one seems to follow embargoes anymore, so the trades, as usual, spilled right after Empire did the same across the pond.

    For my part, I’ve been trying to write a review of the film ever since I saw it last week.  But I never seem to get past a graph or so when I come back to it, because — truth be told — the film just never seems to get out of the gate and is quite forgettable.

    It’s a prequel to the legend we all know, which is novel and interesting in and of itself, and certainly an attractive enough premise.  After all, the legend is just that, a legend, fit with all the convolution and, in some interpretations, anachronisms that come with the territory.  What better way to strip down and streamline the iconic figure than via a prequel as epic as this, one that plants the seeds for the classic strokes to come?

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  • Oops…

    I have Tim Robey to thank for drawing my attention to this classic subbing fail in David Carr’s recent New York Times profile of Ridley Scott:

    Scott Free, with headquarters in both London and Los Angeles, has a lot of Scotts … Sons Jake (“Welcome to the Rileys” with James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart) and Jordan (“Cracks” with Eva Green) are in the mix as working directors.

    Spot the problem? A picture of Sir Ridley with his son Jordan after the cut.

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  • First images, teaser poster for ‘Biutiful’

    As I mentioned in my Cannes preview, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Biutiful” is the director’s first Spanish-language effort since his 2000 debut “Amores Perros.” That, combined with the star power of Javier Bardem, means more eyes on this one than most of its Competition rivals. Thanks to D*Hollywood for the film’s Cannes poster. Two stills after the cut.

    (By the way, the third and final part of my Cannes preview will go up tomorrow. Apologies for the delay.)

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  • ‘Waiting for Superman’ trailer

    Note the added quotes.  Something had to give with the trademark.  I’ve heard nothing but stellar things about this since Sundance.  From Davis Guggenheim:

  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Iron Man 2’

    The summer movie season launches today with the high octane, multiplex-flexing “Iron Man 2.” I’ve already offered up a few comments in today’s Oscar Talk special, and Guy gave it some ink last week, but cut loose with your own views here once you see it today, over the weekend, whenever.  Thumbs up?  Thumbs down?  In fact, while you’re at it, vote in our new sidebar poll.

  • CANNES PREVIEW: Sizing up the Competition, part two

    Continuing the breakdown of the 18 titles in contention for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, which begins Wednesday. (Catch up with yesterday’s preview here.) Among them is the film I’ve put a sneaky wager on to take the gold — though given the foolhardiness of predicting festival awards, I don’t encourage you to do the same.

    As we learned this morning, one additional title will be added to the Competition lineup over the course of the weekend; I will update accordingly. Let’s get back into it:

    “ON TOUR” (Mathieu Amalric)

    The pitch: Better known to most audiences as one of France’s finest actors, sometime filmmaker Amalric brings some lighter fare to the lineup, directing himself as the down-at-heel manager of a touring group of American burlesque dancers. Christina Aguilera does not star.

    Past form: Though his 2003 feature “Public Affairs” played Cannes in 2003, this is Amalric’s first brush (as director, that is) with a major festival competition.

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  • New ‘Inception’ trailer hits

    I’m not the biggest fan of viral marketing, so the idea of playing a game in order to see the new “Inception” trailer just…rubs me wrong.  That’s just me.  But it was, along with the new “Super 8” trailer, the best part of “Iron Man 2,” so I wanted to pass it along.  UPDATE: It seems WB took the other link down and replaced it with the old trailer.  Here’s an embed:

  • Stunningly stupid

    FINAL UPDATE (5/11/10): JoBlo has now posted an apology letter from Tom Perkins, the accused.  It’s as dubious as you might expect but at least the whole thing has some closure.

    UPDATE (5/9/10): You’ll notice that the video is now indicated as “private” and can’t be viewed.  But this guy got his comeuppance on the unforgiving internet, so it’s pretty much over.  This post does a good job of summarizing what went down.

    EARLIER: First, read JoBlo’s review of “Iron Man 2.” Then, watch FilmXTRA’s virtually word-for-word plagiarized video review below, and tell me these guys shouldn’t be hung up by their short and curlies:

    Apparently a good portion of it was also stolen from Den of Geek’s review.

    By the way, my opinion: the film fails across the board. More in today’s Oscar Talk special, coming in a few hours.

  • IFC nabs Katz’s ‘Cold Weather’

    I want to take a moment amid this typical distribution announcement to offer a big congrats to my friends Aaron Katz, Ben Stambler and Brendan McFadden, director and producers of SXSW sensations “Cold Weather.” It’s a special thing to secure major distribution for your first flick and Aaron has been working hard ever since he nabbed that filmmaking degree in the Carolina Piedmont.

    Katz’s last film, “Quiet City,” made my top 10 in 2007, and if I’m honest, I actually thought “Cold Weather” was a step down creatively.  But the filmmaking is nevertheless more refined (cinematographer Andy Reed moving over to the RED camera makes his skills leap off the screen even more).  I can’t wait to see what the boys do next.

    The press release, in part:

    IFC Films, the leading American distributor of independent and foreign films, announced today that the company has acquired North American and multiple foreign rights including Asia, the Middle East and East-Central Europe to Aaron Katz’s critically acclaimed COLD WEATHER…IFC Films will release COLD WEATHER via its IFC in Theaters platform which brings critically-acclaimed independent movies to on-demand viewers at home the same day they premiere in theaters.

    President of IFC Entertainment Jonathan Sehring said: “We’ve always been fans of Aaron Katz’s work but, with COLD WEATHER, he has made a great step forward as a filmmaker. It’s great fun to see him play with the detective/mystery genre and he’s aided by a wonderful cast and fantastic creative team. This is one of the most original American independent films of the year and we can’t wait to bring it to audiences via all of our various platforms.”

    Bravo.

  • Dancing on the ceiling

    The “Inception” marketing finally goes all Escher on us with this rather terrific poster. Is now as good a time as any to admit that, as much as I’m looking forward to Christopher Nolan’s latest, I wish it had another title?

    [Source: Yahoo! Movies]

  • Bated breath

    Cédric Succivalli (AKA @OnTheCroisette), the first person you should be following for Cannes updates, just posted this tweet that will bring hope to the hearts of Cannes-watchers everywhere:

    A new film is going to be added to the official competition today or over the week-end! Which one do you think it’ll be?

    Before you ask, it won’t be “The Tree of Life” — apart from anything else, Alexandre Desplat’s presence on the jury would represent an unallowable conflict of interest.

  • Tarantino to head Venice jury

    Berlin went with Werner Herzog. Cannes with Tim Burton. Now Venice clearly felt they had to follow suit by tapping an eccentric auteur as jury president for the 67th Venice Film Festival in September. Quentin Tarantino will take the job.

    It will, of course, be Tarantino’s second stab at chairing the jury of a major European festival: in 2004, he held the position at Cannes, somewhat contentiously throwing his weight behind the decision to award the Palme d’Or to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Tarantino made no bones about wielding his influence on the awards that year (the runner-up, Park Chan-wook’s “Oldboy” was also a film after his own heart), so it’ll be interesting to see if he’s similarly persuasive in Venice.

    Interestingly, unlike Cannes and Berlin, Tarantino has never actually taken a film to Venice — in contrast to last year’s president, two-time Golden Lion champ Ang Lee.

    Meanwhile, Variety reports that, in addition to Julian Schnabel’s “Miral,” the Venice lineup will also include Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere,” Monte Hellman’s “Road to Nowhere” and Francois Ozon’s “Potiche.” If all goes according to plan, I’ll be on the Lido once more to let you know how it all goes down. For now, I’ve got Cannes on the brain.

  • CANNES PREVIEW: Sizing up the Competition, part one

    (This is the first of three Cannes preview pieces we’re running before my festival coverage begins on Wednesday. The first two will break down the 18 films in the running for this year’s Palme d’Or; the third will comb through potential highlights that lie outside the Competition, as well as listing my own most anticipated titles of the festival.)

    The groans were almost audible from across the Atlantic as Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux unveiled this year’s Competition lineup, unusually trim at 16 (eventually 18) titles, and shorter than expected on big-ticket auteurs. Where was Terrence Malick, journos wailed. (Not yet ready, ran the simple answer.) Where were Julian Schnabel, Olivier Assayas, Darren Aronofsky? (Not wanted, not eligible, and not ready, respectively.)

    As they looked down the very global-flavored list — only two English-language films, only one of them American — more than one blogger suggested that Cannes may not be worth the trip this year.

    I say it’s too soon to be disappointed. Frémaux and his team have hardly been obscure in their choices: the list abounds with esteemed critical pets ranging from Mike Leigh to Abbas Kiarostami, Alejandro González Iñárritu to Apichatpong Weereasethakul. It is perhaps a more granola selection than last year’s all-star lineup of Almodóvar, Haneke, Campion, Von Trier, et al, but that one drew just as many accusations (justified, I think) of being too insular and unadventurous — 19 of the 20 directors chosen had been in Competition before. Frémaux, it seems, can’t win.

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  • UK trailer for ‘The Killer Inside Me’

    Sorry for the second lazy embed in a row, but the day serves up what the day serves up. I already offered my thoughts on Michael Winterbottom’s controversial Jim Thompson adaptation from Berlin — it’s a bit of a mixed bag, with Casey Affleck’s riveting lead turn slightly overwhelming the structurally uncertain film. (And yes, Jessica Alba is pretty good in it too.) Still, this British trailer does a superb job of highlighting its atmospheric strengths. It debuted at The Guardian today; a less crisp YouTube version is below.