In Contention

Tag: The Hurt Locker

  • THE LISTS: Top 10 first-half releases that deserved better

    Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston in He's Just Not That Into YouAround this time last year, we did a mid-year stocktake of sorts, wherein the site’s various contributors named the best (and worst) of what the cinematic year had presented thus far. You may have noticed that we haven’t offered up a similar piece for 2009. Time constraints may have had something to do with it, but given the slow start we had to the year, I suspect regular readers won’t have found it particularly hard to pick our favorites from the crop.

    As we’ve made clear on these pages, Kris and I are united in our admiration for such 2009 releases as “Public Enemies” on the large end of the scale, and “Sugar” on the much, much smaller end and, of course, “The Hurt Locker” somewhere in between. On our own individual tangents, Kris loudly declared his love for “Star Trek,” while back in May I went to bat for Olivier Assayas’s gorgeous “Summer Hours” – with the caveat that it wasn’t a 2009 release for me at all.

    (Release dates play havoc with such lists – using the U.S. release calendar as my guide, I could just as well hand year-best status to something like “Hunger,” if I hadn’t already done so in 2008. Even in the list below, I’ve technically cheated three times by including films that saw the light of day in my neck of the woods last year.)

    In any case, all of these are films that, wonderful as they are, either have already built devoted critical and/or public followings, or (as in the case of “Enemies”) hardly need further exposure. (Do you really need one more critic this summer to remind you about the wonders of Pixar?)

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  • 7/3 Web Round-up

    Sorority Row• A to Z on Michael Mann — all you needed to know about the director. [Empire]

    • Oscilloscope jumps on the video-on-demand bandwagon, partnering with Warner Digital Distribution. [indieWIRE]

    • The 10 sexiest gangster girlfriends of all time. [Film School Rejects]

    • Oh, by the way.  Weeks after outlets jumped the gun, David Carradine’s death has been ruled “not a suicide.” [The Guardian]

    • Patrick Goldstein talks to Michael Mann about the bank-robber technical adviser the director tapped for “Public Enemies.” [The Big Picture]

    • Eric D. Sneider is baffled by the juxtaposition of the “Sorority Row” trailer and prints of “The Hurt Locker.” [Cinematical]

    • Owen Gleiberman and Lisa Schwarzbaum talk about why they think “Public Enemies” misses the mark. [Entertainment Weekly]

  • OFF THE CARPET: The more the merrier?

    OscarsThe Academy dropped a bombshell announcement mid-week, leaving a mixture of cheers and jeers as well as a number of questions that will be answered slowly but surely as a new Oscar season approaches.

    The chief complaint from those who took umbrage with the decision to open the Best Picture category to 10 nominations is the further dilution of prestige.  What is a nomination worth if it is shared with dubious contenders that wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in a traditional field of five?

    Others felt the change instantly relegated the medium’s most cherished prize to yet another top 10 list, hardly distinguished in the increasingly dense fray that is the film awards season.

    Those who championed the bold move found comfort in the idea, however hypothetical, that the category could now find room for under-appreciated gems from the indie circuit, or better yet, avoid the unfortunate case of AMPAS members ignoring the intersection of art and commerce (i.e. the Best Picture snubs of “The Dark Knight” and “WALL-E”).

    The “bubble” virtually eliminated, Oscar’s sandbox just got a lot bigger, so what’s the harm in allowing as many kids to play as possible?

    I tend to fall in the former category.  The move is troublesome in that it has a whiff of thoughtlessness, a knee-jerk, reactionary decision and perhaps merely a chance to create a larger advertising opportunity for the organization’s telecast.  And I ask this: What will Pixar’s first Best Picture nomination really mean with an asterisk next to it?

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Box office ‘Trans’-stormed!

    Transformers: Revenge of the FallenAfter a critical mauling the likes of which is usually reserved for Uwe Boll, Michael Bay’s mega-budget sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” opened to the second largest five day opening of all-time behind “The Dark Knight.” Is that surprising? Not really.

    The original film is one of only two non-sequels in the last three years to make over $300 million at the box office and was the highest selling DVD of 2007, beating the much-higher profile third films in the “Spider-Man,” “Shrek” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises. In short, for whatever reason, people loved that film and the two years that passed was short enough to strike while the iron was hot, but long enough to significantly improve effects and get bigger, badder robots on screen for longer.

    $112 million for the three days and $201.2 million since opening Wednesday are the official estimates and that is astounding. Word of mouth could be absolutely poisonous and the film would still out-gross the original and collect over a half billion worldwide. This was the blockbuster that summer has been waiting for and it will take less than 10 days to pass “Up” as the highest grossing film of the year so far.

    The only other new action came from “My Sister’s Keeper” at number five with $11.8 million. For a cancer drama, that’s a fine start, but a troubling amount of it came from Friday, indicating some kind of fanboy rush. Are there groupies for this book like there are for “Twilight?” Just couldn’t wait to see if they added a cancer-free twist at the end? Very odd.

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  • INTERVIEW: Jeremy Renner

    Jeremy Renner at the 2008 Venice Film FestivalJeremy Renner doesn’t have one of those handy “I always wanted to be an actor” stories.  His journey to the screen was, much like the man, a rather unpretentious, play-it-by-instinct series of events that began to unfold in college.

    “I was fumbling around with different majors like most people do,” the actor says, calling from somewhere on the road to Los Angeles in Northern California.  “I was a criminology major and I was interested in science.  I took an elective, which was an acting class, and that was a pretty wonderful place for me to express 19 years of repression, and I fell in love with it.  I fell in love with the stage.”

    Even though Renner is making his screen impact felt in films like “28 Weeks Later,” “The Assassinantion of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker,” opening in limited U.S. release today, he says he still holds a special place for theater.  “There’s something that you can’t get anywhere else,” he says, “that living, breathing sort of synergy that kind of happens on stage and with your audience, it’s a wonderful cohesive feeling.”

    Nothing he had performed could serve as any sort of preparation for his role as an Army bomb squad officer, a cog in the wheel of the military’s Explosive Ordinance Detail (EOD).  Mark Boal’s thoroughly researched screenplay first crossed Renner’s path when he was in London filming Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s “28 Weeks Later.”  Producer Greg Shapiro approached him with the material and the character leapt off the page at the actor.

    “It wasn’t one of those things that I needed to decide to do it or not,” Renner says.  “There was no choice in the matter to me.  I’ve never been so affected or so interested in a project.  I just thought that EOD was a whole world that had never been explored in cinema.  On paper, he was one of the best-written characters I’d seen in a long time.  I had so many questions and answers, at the same time, to what made this guy tick and I was just so curious I couldn’t wait to figure it out.”

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  • 6/26 Web Round-up

    (from left) Johnny Depp and Michael Mann on the set of Public Enemies• Hey, why isn’t Christian Bale on the “Public Enemies” posters, too?  Money, silly. [E! Online]

    • Kyle Buchanan interviews Sid Ganis to get the skinny on the Academy’s big Best Picture announcement this week. [Movieline]

    • The 50 greatest trailers of all time.  Intriguing #1 pick.  #12 really stuck out to me back in the day. [IFC]

    • Kathryn Bigelow on the anatomy of a “Hurt Locker” scene. [New York Times]

    • Patrick Goldstein thinks a Best picture nomination for “The Hangover” would be “fantastic.” [The Big Picture]

    • John Hiscock talks “Public Enemies” with star Johnny Depp. [Daily Telegraph]

    • A considerably more in-depth discussion of the film with Micahel Mann. [Roger Ebert]

    • Looking back over Tim Burton’s stylistic career, for no real reason. [Empire]

  • 6/23 Web Round-up

    Alfred Hitchcock in The Birds• 10 things action movies teach us. [CNN]

    • And if you’re still in the mood for some learnin’, 10 insights on today’s film business. [indieWIRE]

    • Breezing through Alfred Hitchcock’s 36 film cameos. [Empire]

    • Coolest remake idea of the decade? [Associated Press]

    • Looking back through the works of Sam Mendes. [/Film]

    • David Lynch dives headlong into “The Interview Project” with son Austin. [Moviemaker]

    • A fond farewell to analog television. [Time]

    • Jennie Yabroff chats with “Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow. [Newsweek]

  • 2009’s Oscar drought…same old song and dance

    Michael Caine in Is Anybody There?Over at Variety, newly minted editor-in-chief Tim Gray writes what we’ve been mentioning around these parts for a while: the first half of the 2009 film year is decidedly bereft of anything that might be deemed “Oscar-worthy” come January 2010.

    Aside from “Star Trek” and “Up,” the recognized critical faves of the year thus far, the best films I have seen are Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker,” Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s “Sugar,” Duncan Jones’s “Moon” and Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies,” but I expect only two of those could stir the awards pot.

    Critics have also responded, intriguingly, to Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me to Hell,” but I think we all know it’s safe to strike that one from the awards roster.  And Focus Features’ “Coraline” is likely to make an impact on the animated feature race, but beyond that, you’d be hard-pressed to offer much in the way of a solid list as we approach the mid-way point.

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  • 6/23 Web Round-up

    Shohreh Aghdashloo in The Stoning of Soraya M.• How Sacha Baron Cohen ensnares his victims. [Daily Telegraph]

    • 26 titles announced for this year’s Toronto fest. [indieWIRE]

    • Anna Pickard breaks down the recent “2012” trailer. [The Guardian]

    • Gina Piccalo talks to Shohreh Aghdashloo, star of “The Stoning of Soraya M.” [Los Angles Times]

    • Noah Forrest joins the “Year One” dogpile. [Movie City News]

    • Michael Cieply profiles “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. [New York Times]

    • An antidote of sorts to last week’s slew of dad lists with good cheer: the 10 most horrible dad movies. [Premiere]

    • Brad Brevet talks to “The Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow. [Rope of Silicon]

    • Simon Pegg profiled across the pond. [The Times]

  • Bigelow and Cameron on ‘The Hurt Locker’

    Kathryn Bigelow on the set of The Hurt LockerIn this weekend’s Sunday New York Times, film critic Manohla Dargis falls in love with director Kathryn Bigelow all over again.  I wouldn’t necessarily say the astutely written profile fawns over the “Hurt Locker” director, but it’s a more passionately open and admiring piece than one typically expects from the usually biting and removed Dargis.

    As you would expect, much of the piece concentrates on Bigelow’s unlikely career in an industry dominated by men.  But for Dargis, the fascination of the subject, of course, lies in Bigelow’s artistic attraction with the concerns of men.  That attraction is rendered with penetrating character strokes in “The Hurt Locker,” which Guy recently reviewed out of Edinburgh.  The film is a meditation on war as an addiction, packed with some of the year’s finest performances and calculated in its delivery.  In that way it is actually intriguing that the film will share multiplexes with Michael Mann’s similarly measured “Public Enemies” in a few short weeks.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Enemies’ surfaces, Edinburgh launches

    Johnny Depp in Public Enemies• Michael Mann’s much-awaited “Public Enemies” finally peeked out from behind the covers, generating much early discussion, if no permitted reviews.

    • A rumor circulated that Christopher Nolan might leave the Batman franchise, prompting heated speculation over a potential replacement.

    • Across the pond, we kicked off our coverage of the Edinburgh Film Festival, with Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” chief among the early highlights.

    • Speaking of which, we wondered whether Bigelow’s film could be one of those that prove their legs when awards season rolls around.

    • “The Hangover” maintained its hold on the box-office, securing its position as the surprise of the season.

    • Meanwhile, the newly released trailer for “2012” carried the scent of a more traditional summer blockbuster.

    • While we’re talking about money, Harrison Ford is still apparently making more of it than any other actor.

    • And finally, ahead of Sunday’s paternal celebrations, this week’s list paid tribute to the joys of father-son moviegoing.

  • Exhaustion of narrative

    Paul SchraderThe Guardian carries an excellent piece today by veteran screenwriter and filmmaker Paul Schrader (“Taxi Driver”) which offers a different take on the issue of Hollywood’s current penchant for narrative recycling — that the increasing number of media formats contributing to daily life is limiting our capacity for fresh stories.

    His argument is that, with everything from Twitter to YouTube to reality TV supplying us with a consistent feed of mini-narratives, it’s harder for the less spontaneous medium of feature film to maintain a sense of innovation:

    Writers have always known there are a limited number of storylines … We do tell variations of the same stories over and over. That’s not what I mean by the “exhaustion of narrative”. What is new is the omnipresence and ubiquity of plot created by media proliferation. We are inundated by narrative. We are swimming in storylines.

    Originality has always been in short supply. Does the proliferation of media mean that it is harder to be original today than it was 50 years ago? Well, yes. Today’s viewers live in a biosphere of narrative. Twenty-four-seven, multimedia, all the time. When a storyteller competes for a viewer’s attention, he not only competes with simultaneously occurring narratives, he competes with the variations of his own narrative. That’s real competition. The bar of originality has been raised. The media marketplace puts a premium on anything “new” or “fresh” and, at the same time, inundates its viewers with continual and competing narratives.

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  • REVIEW: “The Hurt Locker” (****)

    The Hurt Locker(Edinburgh International Film Festival)

    Put in the most glib possible terms, the longstanding industry perception of Kathryn Bigelow is that she’s something of an artistic tomboy: the girl who likes to play in the boys’ sandbox — and play roughly, at that. While true to a large extent, it’s a reputation that is rooted in the belief that genre filmmaking is principally a male preoccupation.

    Never mind that a number of her films — from vampire tale “Near Dark” to female-fronted cop thriller “Blue Steel” (to say nothing of the curious anomaly that was the brooding Elizabeth Hurley drama “The Weight of Water”) — aren’t exactly testosterone-fests; the fact that she frequently foregrounds the physical ahead of the emotional is enough to qualify her as a male-centric storyteller in most viewers’ eyes.

    So it’s somewhat surprising, upon closer inspection, to note that Bigelow has heretofore never made a film explicitly about masculinity. Yes, “Point Break” and her misfiring last feature, “K-19: The Widowmaker,” may have revolved exclusively around men, but the characters in these films were mere facilitators of action, not freestanding psychological subjects. For a woman who purportedly makes movies for men, Bigelow has never seemed particularly interested in the male experience.

    All that has changed spectacularly with “The Hurt Locker,” a formally simple but startlingly layered, savage war film that, in localizing its conflict to the internal battles between three unmoored soldiers, marries her dazzling staging abilities with a newfound level of human interest and compassion.

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  • EDINBURGH: ‘Antichrist’ added to lineup, and first day jitters

    Willem Dafoe in AntichristAfter wrestling with dodgy wireless setups for the better part of the evening, I am happy to tell you that I’m comfortably installed in an Old Town coffee shop with an immaculate connection, so I can fill you in on the day’s doings.

    Outside, it’s one of those balmy Scottish summer evenings with woozy, disconcertingly long daylight hours (the upside of coming in this season) while hordes of kilted, tourist-baiting middle-aged men parade the streets playing popular tunes adapted for the bagpipes (the considerable downside).

    Anyway, I’m even happier to tell you the big festival news of the day. In a major get for a festival that usually deals in more low-key fare, Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” has made a last-minute appearance on the programme. Edinburgh likely benefited from the film’s unexpectedly early UK release date of July 24 — otherwise you can bet the London Film Festival’s Sandra Hebron would have been all over it. Score one for the little guys.

    The film will have its public screening next Wednesday, June 24. However, I’ll be seeing it at the press screening on Monday, and will do my level best to have a review for you shortly afterwards. Apologies to the Von Trier haters who thought the distraction of a festival might stem the “Antichrist” talk from my end for a while. I now await Monday with a mixture of breathlessness and extreme nerves.

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  • Edinburgh calling

    EdinburghIn a little over an hour, I’ll be hopping on a (very) early morning train and making the 300 mile journey up north to Edinburgh. Ordinarily, this alone would be cause for excitement — for me, Scotland’s capital, with its curious combination of twisty Medieval quirk, stately academia and cooler-than-thou cultural swagger, is one of the most delightful cities in Europe. On this occasion, however, it boasts an extra drawcard — the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

    It may lack the glamor of Cannes or the breadth of Toronto, but the EIFF has been modestly chugging along since 1947, making it one of the most senior of all international film festivals. It doesn’t necessarily get the glitzy international premieres that the London fest now commands, but it’s an essential date on the calendar for burgeoning UK and international filmmakers. Meanwhile, it supplements its sizable showcase of new talent with a scattering of classic retrospectives as well as new works from more established filmmakers.

    Like its London counterpart, Edinburgh takes a similar “cherry-picking” approach to programming, selecting a number of proven successes from other festivals, as well as international markets. As a result, this year’s festival brings us the UK premieres of Sundance hits such as “Sin Nombre,” “Humpday” and “The Maid,” while the event I am most anticipating is the first post-Cannes screening of Andrea Arnold’s Jury Prize winner, “Fish Tank.”

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  • Summer hopefuls that can go the distance

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt LockerOver at Examiner.com, Jeff Sneider (you know him around these parts as “The InSneider”) has put together a rundown of the 10 summer movies that have a shot at awards glory.  In my post-Cannes Oscar column I mentioned how dreadfully quiet the first half of the year has been for awards hopefuls.  After all, this time last year we’d already seen “The Visitor” and “WALL-E” as viable contenders, but this year — nothing.

    Sneider is hanging his hat on a number of films he apparently hasn’t seen yet (Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies,” Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” etc.), but most of the love goes to Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker,” which I’ll be getting to in due time.  And I can’t say I disagree.  Along with the perennial Pixar entry of the year, Bigelow’s Iraq character study clearly has the stuff if Summit is willing to go there.  It needs to make money first, of course, which is why we’re getting trailers and posters that amp up the action elements.  But it’s Bigelow’s best work ever and features awards caliber performances from Anthony Mackie and especially Jeremy Renner, both of which are mentioned in Sneider’s column.

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  • New ‘Hurt Locker’ poster

    The Hurt Locker

  • 6/8 Web Round-up

    Golden Gate Bridge• “Tonight Show” drummer Max Weinberg splits his attention between his new west coast late night gig and his east coast responsibilities with the E Street Band. [New York Times]

    • Nikki Finke reveals the real life Hollywood story that inspired the spec script for “The Hangover.” [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

    • Todd Leopold talks to “Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow. [CNN]

    • Noah Forrest questions the motivations of studios hoping to cash in on sequels nobody asked for. [Movie City News]

    • As “Land of the Lost” tanks at the box office, Chris Nashawaty asks what most of us have been wondering for a while: “Is America over Will Ferrell?” [MSNBC]

    • Patrick Goldstein treads similar territory, wonders whether Ferrell’s “movie-star credentials should be revoked.” [The Big Picture]

    • On the emo dorks actresses find appealing these days. [The Independent]

    • The Golden Gate Bridge: a sci-fi director’s favorite target. [The Guardian]