It’s seldom these days that you get a trailer constructed with such care and wit — this does a bang-up job of sharply conveying tone and essence, while leaving the gift-wrap on the plot for a change. As for the film, I’m sensing a hybrid of the sober bleakness and self-reflexive zaniness that (respectively) characterized the Coens’ last two features. Intriguing.
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Venice lineup includes ‘The Road,’ ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’
(UPDATE: For whatever reason, my initial source failed to mention that George A. Romero’s latest zombie opus, “Survival of the Dead,” is also in competition.)In years past, the Venice Film Festival has unveiled several titles that went on to figure significantly in the awards season ahead — “Brokeback Mountain,”The Queen,” “Far From Heaven” and “Vera Drake” all began their journeys with major wins on the Venetian Lido. Last year alone gifted us with “The Wrestler,” “Rachel Getting Married” and this summer’s hot property, “The Hurt Locker.”
However, looking down the list of list of titles in competition at this year’s fest, it’s hard to tell if there are any selections that could go a similar distance.
As usual for the festival, it’s a Euro-loaded menu — and a tasty one at that, featuring new offerings from the likes of Claire Denis, Fatih Akin and Jacques Rivette — while, as with Cannes this year, the U.S. contingent is on the small side. (There is, incidentally, one “surprise film” film in competition, so the speculation is not yet over.)
Now is as good a time as any to reveal that I have an invested interest in the lineup, as I’m attending the festival for the first time, so we’ll be bringing you all the Venice news and reviews first-hand for a change.
(More details, and a full list of films in competition, after the cut.)
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Venice finalizes jury, readies lineup
The competition lineup for the 66th Venice Film Festival is due later today, but ahead of that major announcement, other bits and bobs relating to to yesterday’s fest have been trickling through recently.Yesterday organisers announced the complete (and pleasantly eccentric) jury lineup. It’s been known for some time that it will be headed by Ang Lee — who has a good rapport with Venice, after all, having won the Golden Lion twice in the last four years.
Now we know that he’ll be joined by U.S. director Joe Dante (“Gremlins”), French actress Sandrine Bonnaire (herself a previous Venice prize winner for “La Ceremonie”) and firebrand Italian auteur Liliana Cavani (“The Night Porter”). Rounding out the group are two less internationally familiar names: Indian multi-hyphenate Anurag Kashyap and Italian musician-filmmaker Luciano Ligabue.
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Draw it out, you ‘Basterd’
I’ll get to Quentin Tarantino’s latest misfire in due time, but for now, this David Poland video review of the film is its own special kind of brilliance, even if it provides no insight at all as to why Poland liked the film:
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Sharlto at the Four Seasons
A double feature this morning and afternoon will keep me away from the computer for a spell, but stay tuned for an interview with Sharlto Copley either later today or tomorrow. I got a few minutes with the “District 9” star yesterday and am anxious to dig into the quotes. Sharp guy, caught in the whirlwind of offers and well-wishers, but grounded. And a hell of a talent. More later.
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Sandler grows up in ‘Funny People’
I caught up with Judd Apatow’s “Funny People” last night, and the knee-jerk reaction was that the writer/director was close…oh so close. The film isn’t a failure but is an intriguing miss nonetheless, a reminder that while Apatow seems quite qualified to tell a story with these particular layers, he might have better served the project by giving it a few more years to marinate.The stand-out element of the film is definitely Adam Sandler’s performance. The actor takes on a character whose arc is curiously flat but brings a fleshed out sense of reality that, frankly, seems to be coming from the same deep, dark places of experience that Mickey Rourke must have plumbed for “The Wrestler.”
In taking a trip down Sandler movie memory lane, MSNBC’s Dave White seems to think that notion of remaining true to who Sandler is represents a good reason why the film, and the performance, works in the face of attempt after attempt at working against the grain of the actor’s personal truth.
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7/29 Web Round-up
• Quentin Tarantino set to raise funds with special Chi-town screening of “Inglourious Basterds.” [Chicago Tribune]• Andrew O’Hehir on the lawsuit that could derailed the “Hobbit” adaptation. [Beyond the Multiplex]
• In a tight economy, how do you decide what films deserve your hard-earned cash? [The Guardian]
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‘Green Zone’ also pushed to 2010
This Universal announcement isn’t as unexpected as the last one, since it’s been somewhat in the air for a while now, but Chad reminds us that Paul Greengrass’s “Green Zone” has landed a March 2010 release date, taking it out of this year’s Oscar race and leaving the studio with two summer hopefuls: Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” and Judd Apatow’s “Funny People.” Unless, of course, there’s a festival pick-up. Lots of potential still floating around on that front.
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‘The Wolf Man’ moves to 2010
This is kind of a bummer. I was actually really looking forward to “The Wolf Man,” starring Benicio Del Toro in the classic monster role and sure to be a showcase for makeup artist Rick Baker (not to mention design heads Rick Heinrichs and Milena Canonero.Today we get this, courtesy of ShockTillYouDrop.com:
You’ll have to wait a bit longer to see Benicio Del Toro howl at the moon as The Wolfman.
Universal Pictures is pushing the film out of its November 6th slot and placing it on February 12, 2010. That’s one week after the release of the creature feature The Cabin in the Woods by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon.
We can’t tell you exactly why Universal has made the shift. It could be due to the additional shooting that occurred earlier this year that reportedly involved FX artist Rick Baker. The radical release date bumps (original from April to November now next year) don’t bode well buzz-wise. Here’s hoping for the best!
Ah well. Update your predictions, I guess, but it’s a shame this couldn’t be positioned as a Halloween event.
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Focus’s ‘Boat’ gets a new title: ‘Pirate Radio’
A few weeks ago we learned that the folks at Focus Features would be re-editing Richard Curtis’s “The Boat That Rocked” for U.S. shores in an effort to whip the project, which didn’t fare well with critics across the pond, into more profitable shape. Now I’m hearing the title is also getting a change, to the more fetching (if you’re asking me, though I know no one is) “Pirate Radio.”
Thoughts?
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Herzog, Moore, Coens plan a stop at TIFF
Some exciting announcements out of Toronto today (still no “Road”). The festival is shaping up to be very, very cool this year.The film I am most excited about, announced today, is Werner Herzog’s remake “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” with Nicolas Cage in the role that Harvey Keitel made legendary. No in between with this one; they either nailed it or blew it.
Drew Barrymore will bring her directorial debut here, the roller derby flick “Whip It,” with Ellen Page. That brings back memories of Saturday afternoons with my grandparents watching roller derby. Barrymore made a startling impact in “Grey Gardens” on HBO earlier this year and hopes are high for this one.
The Coen brothers are back with “A Serious Man,” as is Michael Moore with “Capitalism: A Love Story,” his latest documentary that will take viewers into the financial brain centers of America.
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Sony Classics to distribute Yimou’s ‘Blood Simple’ remake
Director Zhang Yimou’s decision to remake the Coen brothers’ neo-noir modern classic “Blood Simple” is one of the more captivating film-related announcements in recent years. Today we learn that Sony Pictures Classics, which has been in the Yimou business since 1991’s “Raise the Red Lantern,” will distribute the currently untitled film.The press release, in part:
Sony Pictures Classics Co-Presidents and Co-Founders, Michael Barker and Tom Bernard jointly stated: “The idea of a remake of BLOOD SIMPLE as seen through the eyes of Zhang Yimou’s masterful visual elegance and clever narrative twists is genius. Our continued partnership over the years with both Zhang Yimou and Bill Kong has always been so fruitful. We are excited to be back in business with them.”…
Zhang’s film will be a thriller-comedy remake of Joel & Ethan Coen’s BLOOD SIMPLE , set in a Chinese noodle shop in a sand dune-specked desert, rather than a bar in an unnamed Texas town. The owner of the noodle shop’s seemingly simple plan to murder his adulterous wife and her lover quickly spins out of control after the introduction of a gun into the lives of characters more accustomed to knives and swords.
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SHORT TAKE: “Julie & Julia” (***1/2)
It’s probably a little cliche to lead a review of Nora Ephron’s “Julie & Julia” with a phrase like “I’m not wired for movies like this.” It ends up being a back-handed compliment to the film and doesn’t exactly illuminate why it’s a successful piece of work, but that is, nevertheless, the first thought that popped in when, to my surprised delight, I found myself falling in love with it.Cleverly adapted from two novels by Ephron (Julie Powell’s “Julie & Julia” and Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme’s “My Life in France”), the film moves along at an airy but focused pace for an hour and a half or so before losing that momentum going into the third act, but along the way, it provides the expected showcase for a controlled Meryl Streep performance that couldn’t have been more “on.”
In some ways, it’s becoming almost unsettling, the acute level of precision with which Streep can flesh out a character. Almost as if something’s off, like the paranoid feeling that seeps in when things are too “good.” As chef Julia Child, Streep manhandles the role and makes it her own, exuding passion, dedication and a well-rounded personality that we’ve only truly known as a performance of sorts on TV throughout the years.
The film parallels the story of Child’s culinary awakening in Paris (accompanied by her loving husband, Paul Child, played by Stanley Tucci) with that of Julie Powell, living a modest but unfulfilled life in Queens and stumbling onto a raison d’être in Child’s cookbook. Powell, annoyed at her knack for never finishing what she sets out to do, commits to cooking every recipe in Child’s book over the course of one year.
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7/28 Web Round-up
• Whoa. Remember Anna Chlumsky? [CNN]• Do “Antichrist” and “The Proposal” peddle outdated views of women? [The Guardian]
• Roger Ebert talks at length with “Funny People” director Judd Apatow. [Chicago Sun-Times]
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Is “‘Avatar’ Day” a canny move to dampen expectations?
When James Cameron unveiled 25 minutes of his forthcoming film “Avatar” to Comic-Con crowds last week, the reaction was pretty solid. But there were those who were quick to tone down the ecstasy, and with due cause. While the footage was awe-inspiring and, to this viewer’s mind, quite indicative of where the medium is going, it was not the moment of stunning change many might have expected.Maybe that is the fault of the uncontrollable hype machine, more so than the material, since Cameron has merely been plugging away, hard at work on a project he believes in, while the studio has been in no necessary position to offer up promotional materials like a poster or a trailer, given that the film is still six months from release.
The announcement of “‘Avatar’ Day,” which will bring 15 minutes of the footage to IMAX theaters across the world on August 21 for free and will also mark the unveiling of an upcoming video game tie-in and action figure set, was a shrewd way to drum up the excitement further while also giving fans something tangible to experience. But Stuart Heritage over at The Guardian is thinking along different lines. Maybe, he says, the occassion will provide the first opportunity to calm the waters of anticipation.
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Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ to open London Film Festival
As the London Film Festival grows in scale and stature by the year, its opening film becomes an ever bigger deal. Last year, they scored a massive coup by kicking off with the world premiere of “Frost/Nixon,” and I’m pleased to report that they’ve maintained that standard by landing Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” to open this year’s fest.The eagerly awaited animated pic will have its world premiere on 14 October, just over a week ahead of its UK release (and a full month before its Stateside bow). Its selection continues a happy friendship between Anderson and the LFF — just two years ago, “The Darjeeling Limited” closed the festival. (Here’s hoping this is a slightly more well-received selection.)
In the press release, Anderson explains why this is the appropriate place to unveil what is, after all, a decidedly British production:
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a British film – based on a Roald Dahl book, set in the UK, produced in the UK – and so I am especially pleased to have been invited to be the opening night movie of this year’s London Film Festival. We had a wonderful experience at the LFF with my previous film, and I am eagerly looking forward to introducing Fantastic Mr. Fox to the world in this wonderful venue.
