In Contention

Tag: Eric Bana

  • The Great Performances: 2005

    Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain2005 was the year of Heath Ledger’s beautiful, moving performance in “Brokeback Mountain,” which I saw for the first time in Toronto.  It instantly became the talk of the festival, and the film became the one to beat for the Academy Award.

    Ledger was astonishing as the taciturn cowboy who is more surprised than anybody when his soulmate turns out to be another cowboy, portrayed superbly by Jake Gyllenhall. If there is a more deeply felt moment in film history than Ledger gently adjusting Gyllenhall’s shirt at the end of the film, his eyes filled with tears, I don’t know what it is. That’s loss, that is absolute heartbreak, that is one of the greatest acting performances of the decade.

    Phillip Seymour Hoffman would win the Oscar for his transformation into “Capote” and he’s very good, but just not in the same league as Ledger. I wondered from time to time if “Infamous” had been released earlier if Toby Jones might have won the Oscar instead of Hoffman. Each becomes Capote in a very different manner, and side by side it is difficult to choose the stronger portrayal. Certainly I prefer Hoffman’s as it is darker, and for me more realistic, but there can be no denying Jones.

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  • Eric Bana’s summer versatility

    Eric BanaOne of the highlights of Judd Apatow’s “Funny People” for me was Eric Bana’s supporting performance, a perfect blend of jack-assery and sincere complexity that stood out from the otherwise troubled film (along with Adam Sandler’s rather brilliant portrayal).  It wasn’t until later, though, that it hit me how diverse Bana’s output has been so far this year, with featured but strikingly varied roles in Apatow’s film, “Star Trek” and “The Time Traveler’s Wife.”

    I haven’t seen the latter yet, but I was pretty much on-board for Bana’s villainous turn in J.J. Abrams’s franchise reboot.  The role perhaps suffered from a lack of motivation in many ways, the only botched element of the story, but that’s not Bana’s fault and he carried across a Romulan vengeance-seeker with relative ease, I thought.

    Well I guess I’m not the only one impressed by Bana’s versatility this summer.  Writing in the pages of the Chicago Tribune, Lisa Rosen has taken note, using the occasion to remind that “Funny People” brings Bana back to his first brush with entertainment years ago in his native Australia.

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  • REVIEW: “Star Trek” (****)

    Star TrekFrom pulse-pounding beginning to edge-of-your-seat end, J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” moves at a break-neck pace that never lets up, never misses a beat and shockingly, never loses itself in its labyrinthine story.  It is a near-perfect action thrill ride that ticks off every box on the ultimate movie experience checklist and perhaps adds a few more.

    Fans of Gene Roddenberry’s series may or may not be impressed by Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s re-imagining of a sacred geek mythos, but they’ll do well to understand that their beloved universe is in tact.

    Despite the expectation that Gen-Y casting across the board would make for a moan-inducing CW-style prequel, the filmmakers have smartly devised a way to launch their own “B” timeline in a series that could go a million different directions from here.  That their brilliant scheme makes for a stand-alone classic with something for everyone is unexpected to say the least, and exhilarating as a result.

    Chris Pine stars as famed Federation Captain James Tiberius Kirk, though particulars of the story (which I dare not spoil here) put him on a different universal plane than William Shatner’s incarnation that has delighted audiences for decades.  A wildcat that seemingly breaks the hell-raiser mold, Kirk is born under chaotic circumstances in the film’s initial sequence.  We soon catch up to him as a youth racing through the fields of Iowa to the sounds of a then centuries-old Beastie Boys track before zipping ahead to encounter his bar-hopping mid-20s self in the form of Pine’s cock-sure stud.

    Intercut with the Kirk story is the equally brief introduction of the Vulcan Spock who, as a result of being half-Vulcan, half-human, is seen as disadvantaged by a society that demands a sense of perfection.  Zachary Quinto (television’s “Heroes”) takes the reins of the character, who enlists in the United Federation of Planets as one of the top minds in the corps before meeting Kirk and developing a relationship that will ultimately rest at the heart of the film.

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  • Gold Derby backs ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’

    All us awards-watchers know that Tom O’Neil’s Oscar prognostications can be a little wacky (let’s just forget that he predicted “Sweeney Todd” would sweep the top four awards last year, shall we?). Still, he knows the game better than most, and his mid-year list of frontrunners (with assistance from Pete Hammond) in the top three categories makes for interesting reading.

    All the usual suspects (“Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Revolutionary Road,” etc) are present, though there are some surprising choices – he still has “Blindness” and “Synecdoche, New York” (still without a distributor) in his Best Picture shortlist, and “W” crops up there too.

    O’Neil clearly isn’t buying into “The Road,” though Viggo Mortensen makes an appearance in his Best Actor list. Meanwhile, two unexpected choices stood out for me in his acting lists: Eric Bana in the bestseller adaptation “The Time Traveller’s Wife” (a fairly unknown quantity that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere), and the terrific Melissa Leo in Sundance champ “Frozen River.”

    What interested me the most, however, is that O’Neil singles out “Happy-Go-Lucky” for discussion, calling it:

    (The) film you may be most underestimating … Mike Leigh’s little flix are often big players (“Vera Drake,” “Secrets and Lies”) and this perky one could be the next “Little Miss Sunshine” or “Juno.” Sally Hawkins already won the Best Actress trophy at the Berlin Film Festival.

    I’ve been predicting big things for Leigh’s delightful film (which, incidentally, gets better the more I contemplate it) for a while now, so I’m pleased to see O’Neil shares my faith in it – though I’m not sure I quite agree with his comparison. It’s certainly a warm and very funny film, but there’s more melancholy and bite to it than either “Juno” or “Little Miss Sunshine.”

    Back in June, Kris wondered where “Happy-Go-Lucky” would land in Miramax’s awards priorities. Since then, the picture has cleared a little bit. With “Doubt” now seemingly the only other prestige contender on Miramax’s slate, Leigh’s film looks well-positioned to get an awards push from the studio – particularly in the event of “Doubt” disappointing. (I still don’t buy the latter as a Best Picture contender.) And with its profile further raised by its inclusion in the Toronto Film Festival lineup, the prospects for “Happy-Go-Lucky” are starting to look as sunny as its title.

  • Edward Norton and the not-so-jolly green giant

    What can be said of the fearless Edward Norton, who recently became an on-screen comic book hero?  I never understood his choice to take on the role of Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Incredible Hulk.  And now, post-release, I’m still puzzled.

    He walked into a franchise that became a fast mess just five years ago.  And according to IMDb, he turned the role down back then. Given the actor’s commitment to characterization in his performances, it makes sense that he would turn the other cheek.  After all, so much of Bruce Banner, or at the least what audiences might want to see, is a technological creation. Unlike any of the characters in “Iron Man” or in the upcoming “The Dark Knight,” Mr. Norton doesn’t get to sport a good makeup job and put his true talents on display. He has to disappear all together.  It seems so unlike him.

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  • REVIEW: “Munich” (**1/2)

    MunichSteven Spielberg’s “Munich,” the big, mysterious player in this year’s Oscar game, has come. And as anyone could have expected, no film could have held up to the expectation.

    Not only, however, does the film fail to reach the spot reserved for it in everyone’s mind throughout the summer and fall shoot, but it settles in as a slightly misguided and confused tale oblivious to its own potential.

    The screenplay, by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, is based on the extremely provocative book titled “Vengeance” by George Jonas. These two tyrants of storytelling bravado are a wet dream for those hoping for potent, pointed commentary mixed with fascinating storytelling. The mixture is, in effect, not so potent. Not so pointed.

    A story about the fallout of the Palestian execution of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics is a thematically risilient one to be committed to film in today’s times. Mossad agents seeking out – vengeance – for the heinous murders in retaliation is an eye-for-an-eye and we’d all be blind sort of reality that deserves more than the boilerplate of a squad of assassins and their tasks at hand, intricacies and all.

    These men could have served as such lighting rods as to bury any writing effort ever attempted, to be blunt, but they are rather characters to fill the void of plot instead.

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