So, I'm pretty close to done caring about the year - the big glut of Oscar-begging releases in December never appeals to me simply because my taste and the Academy's overlap so very little, and this year seems especially dire on that front. Even the films that "should" seem exciting just really aren't. On the other hand, 2012 is shaping up very pretty in a lot of ways, so pushing through the last month of a generally flat but never outright hateful year doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
2.12.2011
Something you don't see everyday- not one single new wide release. But of the tiny releases, one that I am especially thrilled to finally see is Shame, the sophomore effort from director Steve McQueen, whose debut Hunger was absolutely phenomenal and one of the best first features of the '00s. And hey, it even brings back Hunger star Michael Fassbender!
9.12.2011
Also, if this is what wide releases look like, they're welcome to keep them: New Year's Eve, which takes the Valentine's Day/Love Actually concept of a big cast of moderate stars in a bunch of little romcom plots and takes it well beyond the point that it should have stopped. Also The Sitter, an R-rated comedy with Jonah Hill that was apparently the best thing David Gordon Green could think to do after hitting what was apparently not a career low with Your Highness.
Thankfully, there are limited releases enough to make up for it: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which has a lot to live up to, but the talent to do it; Young Adult, with re-teams Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman in a pairing that is hopefully going to be good for both of them after the terrible things that happened when they parted ways; and hell, let's even throw in W.E. since even though I cannot imagine how a costume drama directed by Madonna can possibly be good, I am desperately curious.
16.12.2011
I didn't like Guy Ritchie's edgy steampunk Sherlock Holmes, and would ordinarily say that its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, seems like an awful idea, but I am still desperately hoping that it wins the weekend box office and I have to go see it. Because if it doesn't, then I'll have to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which is undoubtedly the saddest thought that I've been plagued by all year, and coming up to it is like nearing the date of your death sentence.
Five days before its actual wide release, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol makes an IMAX-exclusive run; nothing about the film seems like it can possibly be compelling (the franchise was never truly great to start with, and Tom Cruise just keeps getting older), but shit, live-action Brad Bird. That's me in the seats the second I can possibly get there.
Limited: Roman Polanksi's apparently just kinda OK adaptation of the much-loved play Carnage. So much for a post-Ghost Writer career renaissance.
21.12.2011
The pokiness of the month generally is resoundling answered with one of the fullest release weeks of the whole year, split between three days. Besides M:I-GP breaking big, there is also The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is undoubtedly going to improve on the middling Swedish original, though I am not certain that there is a masterpiece to be carved out of this material; nor am I thrilled that ordinarily-slow director David Fincher has cranked out a second movie in hardly more than a year. But the teaser trailer was one of the best things of 2011, so that's that.
Far, far more promising, by my lights, is The Adventures of Tintin, which is in one breath Steven Spielberg's first animated film, first mo-cap film,and first 3-D movie; and deep down inside, I think that the fact I am excited for those three things does not actually change the fact that I am not actually excited by Tintin itself, especially being that I am an American and thus have no real attachment to the character.
23.12.2011
Saddled with an uncertain release date in the middle of nowhere, We Bought a Zoo looks to bring Cameron Crowe back into the world, apparently by replacing tyrannical quirkiness with uncut schmaltz, but maybe the trailers are just desperate to attract a family audience.
25.12.2011
I'll tell you what says Christmas to me: a sci-fi horror thriller, like The Darkest Hour. Shit, can anything be more horrible than being the Christmas Day counter-programming?
The real players are two of the biggest likely Oscar players of the year, assuming they both don't suck: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, the fourth feature by three-time Best Director nominee Stephen Daldry, whose best film was a tepidly charming British dramedy, and who's worst was The Reader, one of the absolute worst Best Picture nominees of all time. I am prepared to be let down. The actual wide release film is War Horse, the second Spielberg movie in four days. It is undoubtedly going to be so damn sentimental that it will hurt, but I'm more excited for this one than Tintin anyway; heck, I'm probably more excited for this than any other December film, which says more about the month than anything. But I have never been much averse to letting my emotions be ruthlessly played by Steven Spielberg.
28.12.2012
A lousy release date for a mini-budget indie, but I have it on good authority that Pariah is damn fine, and if the best it could get was a Hail Mary qualifying run, then so be it.
30.12.2012
And so the year ends with Meryl Streep playing a nice version of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
Oh, and one of the most wildly praised films of the year released anywhere in the world is crapped out to make a desperate bid at the Oscars: Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's political firebomb A Separation. Hope y'all live in a tiny segment of either LA or New York if you want to see this presumptive masterwork! Also, fuck you, Sony Pictures Classics.
30 November 2011
13 comments:
Just a few rules so that everybody can have fun: ad hominem attacks on the blogger are fair; ad hominem attacks on other commenters will be deleted. And I will absolutely not stand for anything that is, in my judgment, demeaning, insulting or hateful to any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion. And though I won't insist on keeping politics out, let's think long and hard before we say anything particularly inflammatory.
Also, sorry about the whole "must be a registered user" thing, but I do deeply hate to get spam, and I refuse to take on the totalitarian mantle of moderating comments, and I am much too lazy to try to migrate over to a better comments system than the one that comes pre-loaded with Blogger.
I thought "Carnage" had gotten rave reviews (at least in Europe).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I believe the Tintin movie has been compared to Michael Bay movies because of its exhausting overload of action scenes.
The Sherlock Holmes release only prompts me to long for the day when you'll review Basil Rathbone's Holmes movies. I guess you know they were released on blu-ray on a 5-disc set some time ago. They look beautiful. I guess a complete Sherlock Holmes retrospective would be too daunting a project. Maybe in time for the third Downey Jr. release?
This-
ReplyDelete"I believe the Tintin movie has been compared to Michael Bay movies because of its exhausting overload of action scenes."
-is the saddest thing I have heard in weeks.
Also, a Holmes retrospective is an idea that has drifted in and out of view ever since that box came out, but it would not only be a lot of work, the series also suffers from a bad case of diminishing returns. Though none of them that I've seen make me as unhappy as the first RDJ film.
When I went to see The Muppets with my family over Thanksgiving break, I wished I was sitting next to my five year-old niece so I could cover her eyes when the trailer for Chipwrecked played. I honestly fear that she was somehow corrupted or contaminated by her exposure to it.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, one of the most sadly poignant things about seeing The Muppets was how nearly all of the trailers that preceded it were examples of exactly the kind of cynically commercial children's entertainment that that movie so earnestly and passionately spoke out against. Even Pixar's Brave looks to be far more generic and pandering fare than what I have come to expect from that studio.
Please tell me you have some reason to believe it will be better than its trailers are making it look?
I just remind myself every time I feel nervous about the Brave trailer that Toy Story 3's trailer made it look incredibly horrible as well.
ReplyDeleteWhich means I have to remind myself about every five minutes or so.
I would absolutely forgive you for going back on your oath and skipping Chipwrecked, if it comes to that.
ReplyDeleteI'm in a bit of a conundrum concerning TTSS. I've never read the book or seen the miniseries. Which medium should I experience the story in first (i.e. without knowing the twist)?
Also, what did you hate about The Reader? Admittedly, I was in a bit of a naked-Kate-Winslet daze when I saw it, but I thought it handled the material pretty well, considering.
Colin, MrRoivas- Besides Pixar's track record of godawful trailers (Finding Nemo especially), I always remember the 3-D tease in front of Cars 2 and reassure myself that no matter how broad the comedy gets, it will look sublimely beautiful.
ReplyDeleteDaniel- I would avoid the miniseries for now, so you can properly enjoy Oldman without constantly comparing him to Alec Guiness. The book is great, and denser than the series, so I can't imagine what they'll have to cut for a 2 hour movie; it's definitely worth it if you can squeeze it in.
As for The Reader, my issue is that the material is so inherently tacky that, for me, there is no handling it "well"; only handling it with bravado after the style of Ken Russell or Italian exploitation. And bravado just isn't in Stephen Daldry's toolkit.
Of course, the original play is titled God of Carnage. Honestly, I can't imagine the movie being terrible, since the thing practically directs itself. It's just an excuse for four actors to have fun and show off their chops. I saw it twice on Broadway (with the original cast and again when Jeff Daniels came back to play James Gandolfini's part), and it's very enjoyable, but hardly great.
ReplyDeletePS. The second time was when Lucy Lui was in it, and she is positively luminous up close in real life. And she held her own (in her Broadway debut) opposite Daniels, Dylan Baker, and Janet McTeer. I was impressed.
ReplyDeleteI am just not sure about a version of WAR HORSE without giant puppets. It just seems odd.
ReplyDeleteI've not seen much on the big screen this year, but 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' was the absolute standout.
ReplyDeleteAbout SH: I understand about the "diminishing returns" feeling, although I don't think it's quite a linear downfall. I liked the one that happens in a train, and the last one of the series, better than some of the earlier ones. But yes, it's 14 movies and I guess only a handful of them have genuinely interesting things to write about.
ReplyDeleteSo if "Chipwrecked" outgrosses "The Muppets", that's when we can fully give up on this generation of children right?
ReplyDeleteAnd I believe the one and only not-horrible Pixar teaser was the "WALL-E"/Joe Ranft tribute.
I'm curious to see Carnage, because for all its conceit there really isn't much there in the actual play. Of course, content doesn't necessarily make the movie and I think Polanski does do fine things with the direction and really do enjoy the actors. I liked it a whole lot...probably on par with The Ghost Writer for me even if I think that the latter is the better film...if that makes any sense.
ReplyDelete