Citizen Kane is a second-rate film. I’m only joking
of course, but actually sort of serious.
For the first time in 50 years, Welles’ celebrated masterpiece has been
knocked out of its familiar standing as the “Greatest Film of All Time” in
Sight & Sound’s decennial poll. The defeat came by
way of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller Vertigowhich surpassedKane by a mere
34 votes.
Statistically speaking and with a hint of hindsight, it seemed only a matter of
time for Vertigo to someday take the top spot. Slowly and steadily the film has made its way upwards in
the BFI poll since its inclusion as the seventh best film of all time back in the 1982. In 1992, Vertigo was fourth and 10 years
later it would move up to number two right behind Citizen Kane. This year of
course, we see that's the other way around.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a coming of age story in a
rather unlikely way. Its main characters
are not novice youngsters or young adults feverishly searching for their life’s
purpose in the many daunting years ahead of them. Hardly.
Instead, the characters that make up this story are all well over the
hill and have had plenty of that kind of life experience. But despite its displacement in the traditional
sense of that genre, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel basks in the seemingly
youthful splendor and energy of a coming of age story.
Immediately, the audience receives a crash course of introductions
by way of the film’s seven main characters, all living in various parts of
England, all unknown to each other’s own existence. There’s the newly widowed housewife, Evelyn
(Judi Dench), looking to sell her home and pay off her family’s debts; another
woman, Muriel (Maggie Smith), in need of an affordable hip replacement (who is
also racist); a judge by the name of Graham (Tom Wilkinson), who has been
telling himself for years he will soon retire; Norman (Ronald Pickup), a single
man of the Don Juan type always looking for some fun under the sheets despite
his old age, Madge (Celia Imrie), a woman of similar stature that, despite a
few unsuccessful marriages, still hopes to be swopped off her feet by a beloved
Prince Charming. And then there’s the
groups’ only married couple, Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton), who
still appear much too young for their retirement community home, fit with too
many handrails and an emergency button- but it’s all they can afford. What groups these people together is the tight
budget they must plan their retirement on, making this comfort that much harder
to attain. The introductions become
hectic at first and almost too much too soon, but through each of their three
minutes of screen time, we see that none of these folks are cinematic
caricatures. Each one is cleverly thought
out and totally real. No doubt there is
a lonely Evelyn and a feisty old Norman out there in our world. Their individual stories make the film much
more real and relatable. In their own
ways, each character is trying to re-attain the peace of mind they had from
years prior and this subsequently takes them to the same destination- India,
where they all meet.
On the eve of his most successful box office feature, Midnight In Paris (2011), Woody Allen returns this year with the much-anticipated release of To Rome With Love, as it sits on a June 22 U.S release. Originally titled The Bop Decameron, then Nero Fiddled and now To Rome With Love.
It's hard to resist the temptation to compare it with his last production, which also had a European setting, far removed from Allen's beloved New York. Yet, comparisons do not abound because the two movies really do not share much in common with each other. Midnight in Paris gave a nostalgic glance at the charm and splendor that shined on any warm summer night in 1920s Paris. The appearances of some of the elite artists as Picasso and Hemingway gave it an
unexpected charm that propelled it to its own elite status on Allen's list. Heck, even Owen Wilson was great.
But from what we can see in the trailer, there appears to be no secret time traveling in To Rome with Love. It seems to evoke the more traditional obscure, yet witty comedy on which Allen has built his career. Then again, watching the trailer didn't clarify what the movie is about; perhaps I was distracted by the immense star power of the cast. Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page and Greta Gerwig all make it into this movie. Woody Allen's right there too, on the screen of his own movie for the first time since 2006's Scoop. But he doesn't stop there. Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful) has a role too and it has been way too long since we last saw him on an American movie screen.
The incredible success of last year's Midnight in Paris could either help or hurt To Rome With Love. Surely, if it misses the mark, you can argue it was because of the high expectations set by the former. Then again, Midnight in Paris' warm reception could be contagious. And if success comes in pairs, then we can surely say that Allen has once again hit his stride in his 6th decade as a filmmaker. Chances are we will.
The ten year hiatus will finally come to an end this May for Men in Black fans everywhere. After 10 whole years, the series will release its third and possibly final film in a couple of months. There's not much too say about the movie that can't be picked up on by watching the trailer. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith take up their roles as Agent K and Agent J as they continue to monitor the world's alien population. Not much different than the previous two films, until Agent J must go back in time to they year 1969 to team up with the younger Agent K, who is played Josh Brolin, and save the world. For someone who constantly holds the fate of the world in his hands, Agent K (Smith) looks no less calm and cool as before; but it'll be interesting to see him have to work with the younger Agent J in 1969. Looking at the movie poster, I'd say its just about perfect casting having Josh Brolin play the younger character of Tommy Lee Jones, they look almost identical in those glasses. It should allow for plenty of jokes as we all should expect.
I know this is totally illegal but like I said before I can't stand having to publicly make these predictions. Last week I finally posted my predictions for the Oscars but that isn't enough to get me through til Sunday. As much as I want to think The Descendants is most deserving, the whole world seems set on The Artist for Best Picture. The way I see it, you have two options when making any sort of prediction. One, you do your research, find out what most people are saying and go with that. Its a conservative approach but in the end, you'll probably get most picks right. The second option then is to go with the dark horses. Picking The Tree of Life for Best Picture, is quite rebellious, but maybe too extreme. In this case where the obvious front runner is The Artist, anything besides that would work.
With the Oscars approaching in less than two weeks, I finally realized that I should get around to posting my predictions because after next Sunday, they really won't matter. I tend to dislike making predictions of any sort solely for the fear of being wrong. Of course every year I fill out a March Madness bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament, [which I will inevitably be doing within the next few weeks] but I cannot recall the last time I actually found the courage to total up my losses after the championship game. In the case of the Academy Awards, the rumors and gossip in the weeks [or months at this point] heading up to that Sunday in February seems just as important as the actually awards ceremony. Being a movie fanatic as well as movie blogger, it seems that this is post is something of a requirement. Nevertheless, Oscar predictions have become an important part of today's movie culture and if anything, it promotes further discussion and engagement with movies enabling me to start up something like FILMclatter.
+The bold selection indicates my primary prediction and anything underlined is a secondary guess
Best Picture
"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
The time for speculation is now over and we can rest assured or stare in disbelief at the Official Nominations for this years Academy Awards. Depending on how you look at it, every year a certain discussion arises toward the notable films or acting performances that bet left off the list or as the article in U.S. Weekly put is- snubbed.
After comparing my own speculative list of this year's noms in a post written a few weeks ago, I came to the realization that, much like every other year in recent memory, the nominations offer few surprises as the rumors are never few and far.
Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"
Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly
Close"
What many people look forward to in the New Year is the idea of a fresh start. The physical act of swapping last year’s calendar, covered in ink and scribble marks of varying importance in exchange for a brand new, never been touched replacement can be both reassuring and gratifying. Resolutions are made and become one’s priority for the next couple weeks (or days...) in an effort to begin the new year on the right foot. Regardless, the new year always comes forth with its fair share of optimism.
For me, the joy of a new year comes in the form of movies. Its comes on many different levels too. Whether its the long awaited witnessing of the next PTA or Quentin Tarantino film to childhood favorites returning in the form of sequels (Men In Black III), I often define a year by the movies that were released that year. Below is a list of the movies I am most looking forward to and hoping to see in the new year. If there's one a missed, let me know. Further details for each individual movie are forthcoming.
+ Because many of these movies do not have definitive release dates, I decided it would be easiest to order them alphabetically.
From his quirky, satirical comedies in The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou to his last film, the stop-motion animated Fantastic Mr. Fox, complete with talking animals, anyone who is familiar with the work of Wes Anderson knows the age old phrase "expect the unexpected" thoroughly applies to this man almost more than anyone. His latest film, Moonrise Kingdom, in which he resorts back to live animation, is no exception to this.
Other than Fantasctic Mr. Fox, Anderson's films have generally been seen as comedies aimed at adult audiences. Yes, they are sometimes crude but what adult comedy isn't these days? In tune with the laughter, what Anderson does so marvelously in his films is create these "grown up comedies" with a charming and nostalgic hint to them. His ensemble pieces tend to have more than their fare share of off-beat characters who can do nothing else but screw up and yell at each other. One can feel no shame in laughing at these people but more so, in the case of The Royal Tenenbaums, a smile might arise when instinctively seeing your own family members on the screen. Thus, more times than not, the laughter then comes from these engaging and seemingly personal moments.
It appears no different in the case of Moonrise Kingdom. Set amidst a children's summer camp in the 1960s, two young campers, Suzy and Sam, take on a relationship that provokes them to run away from their camp. As a result, all hell breaks loose at the camp. All of the adults in this film are completely inept and dysfunctional as superiors to these kids and Anderson has an elite cast of A-listers to go with in Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Harvey Keital, who between the six of them have nine Oscar nominations (two wins). With that bunch on had, its anyone's surprise that none of them take a lead role in the film. Instead, Anderson leaves the top bills to the youngsters who play Suzy and Sam, both of which have never acted on the big screen before. It looks terrific, but I expect nothing less from Anderson these days. It's certainly a top pick of mine for 2012.
Moonrise Kingdom is set for a May 25th release in the United States
With the Academy Awards looming (Feb 26th) and most of the big hitters out by now, I decided to post some predictions for the major categories. Not that sound-mixing and make up are not important, I just can't differentiate explosions or eyebrows as easily. As we near the date and the official nominations come out, I will post those and then make my final predictions.
+ these are in no particular.
+ designates additional nomination beyond allowed five
Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
The Ides of March
The Help
J. Edgar
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Tree of Life
War Horse
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius The Artist
Tomas Alfredson Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Alexander Payne The Descendants
Terrence Malick The Tree of Life
Martin Scorsese Hugo
+ Sean Durkin Martha Marcy May Marlene
Actor In A Leading Role
Leonardo DiCaprio J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin The Artist
Gary Oldman Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Brad Pitt Moneyball
Demian Bichir A Better Life
+ Michael Fassbender Shame
Actress In A Leading Role
Viola Davis The Help
Michelle Williams My Week With Marilyn
Glenn Close Albert Noobs
Charlize Theron Young Adult
Meryl Streep The Iron Lady
+ Elizabeth Olsen Martha Marcy May Marlene
Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer Beginners
Patton Oswalt Young Adult
Nick Nolte Warrior
Jonah Hill Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh My Week With Marilyn
+ Armie Hammer J. Edgar
Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer The Help
Bérénice Bejo The Artist
Shailene Woodley The Descendants
Jessica Chastain The Help
Carey Mulligan Shame
+ Melissa McCarthy Bridesmaids
Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen Midnight in Paris
Tom McCarthy and Joe Tibani Win Win
Diablo Cody Young Adult
Mike Mills Beginners
Jeff Nichols Take Shelter
+ Dustin Lance Black J. Edgar
Best Adapted Screenplay
Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan Tinker, Tailor
Soldier Spy
Tate Taylor The Help
John Logan Hugo
Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian Moneyball
Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne & Jim Rash The Descendants
+ Steven Zaillian The Girl With The Dragon Tattooo
I decided to stop after the main eight categories. Like I said, I don't know enough to make guesses on each and every category, and these eight are always the most talked about. The selections above seem to be the general consensus around the web, with a few of my own particular hopes thrown in the mix.
By the way, here's a short little trailer for the upcoming ceremony hosted by Billy Crystal. Its a bit goofy, but I think their off to a better start than last year.
