At the Movies – December 2010 – Part 2: Hollywood Films

Part 1: Art-House Films

Part 3: Best of the Month

Romance and Rom-Coms:

How Do You Know (James L. Brooks) – Romantic Comedy – Dec 17^th

The film is about Lisa, a former athlete who feels past her prime and unsure what to do with her life or where she fits in among those with ‘normal’ plans. She finds herself in the middle of a love triangle with an old friend, who is in the midst of a personal crisis, and her current boyfriend, a player with the Nationals. Writer-director James L. Brooks makes good films, usually. He has three Oscars and nominated for five more. But his last film, Spanglish was a disappointment.  Brooks has a fantastic crew on the film with composer Hans Zimmer, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (he shot Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List) and production designer Jeannie Oppewell. The cast is also great with Reese Witherspoon starring, Paul Rudd (who is genius) and Owen Wilson co-starring and Jack Nicholson headlining a supporting cast that also features Andrew Wilson, Kathryn Hahn and Domenick Lombardozzi (from The Wire) to name a few. This film has a lot of potential to not only be the best Rom-Com of 2010 (not so hard a feat, really) but also an Oscar contender (though there is so much good stuff, it is on the outside looking in). Check out the trailer.

Serious Films:

The Tourist (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck) - Thriller – Dec 10^th

The film is about Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to get past a recent heartbreak, who gets wrapped up in an escalating series of events after meeting Elise (who seems to be a spy). The discussion of writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck beings with his first (and previous) film The Lives of Others, which won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2007 and is among many critics’ lists for best films of the year and decade. Thus, he comes into this project with a ton of expectations. Well, for his first Hollywood film he definitely put together a good crew with great cinematographer John Seale and composer James Newton Howard and good production designer Jon Hutman. Screenwriter Julian Fellowes also worked on the screenplay. He also has two of the biggest A-listers to star – Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. The supporting cast is not too shabby either with Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Steven Berkoff, and Rufus Sewell. The film looks to be a lot fun – and why not, Jolie is an action star and Depp’s quirkiness brings humor to the film – but should also make for a very good thriller. Check out the trailer.

The Tempest (Julie Taymor) – Comedy – Dec 10^th

The film is a reimagining of William Shakespeare’s play by visionary director (of stage and screen) Julie Taymor (the term visionary gets hollowly tossed around a lot in film media and marketing, but like it or hate it Taymor’s work is out there – pushing the boundaries of her work visually). She is working again with her Across the Universe composer Elliot Goldenthal and production designer Mark Friedberg, while working with cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh for the first time. The cast is fairly interesting with Helen Mirren playing the lead (a man in the play) and a great list of supporting players: Russell Brand, Alfred Molina (who is always good), Alan Cumming, Chris Cooper, David Strathairn, Djimon Hounsou, and Felicity Jones (who got on my actors to watch list with her performance in Cemetery Junction earlier this year). The film will be a visual feast (and I am interested to see how Taymor interprets one of my favorite plays). Check out the trailer.

The Company Men (John Wells) – Drama – Dec 10^th

The film is about America and the affect of the recession on three men, trying to survive corporate downsizing. It focuses on the men, their families and their communities. TV writer (ER and The West Wing primarily) John Wells makes his directorial feature debut with this film. And he has a great crew for his first with excellent cinematographer Roger Deakins and production designer David J. Bomba. The film co-stars Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper. Maria Bello, Craig T. Nelson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kevin Costner, and (Kings’ wonderful) Eamonn Walker highlight the supporting players in a great cast. The film fits the mood in America well, much like last year’s Up in the Air, and therefore should connect with audiences. The buzz has been positive from the festival circuit, but not quite Oscar caliber. Check out the trailer.

Fun Movies:

The Warrior’s Way (Sngmoo Lee) – Action – Dec 3^rd

The film is about a warrior-assassin, who comes to the American badlands to escape the tyranny of his home country, rescuing the target of his last mission and thus becoming the target himself. Writer-director Sngmoo Lee makes his debut with this film. Very good and often collaborator of Guillermo del Toro composer Javier Navarrete is scoring the film, Woo-hyung Kim is shooting it and Dan Hennah is designing it (he worked in the art department on The Lord of the Rings films). Korean action star Dong-gun Jang takes the lead role while there is supporting work from Kate Bosworth and very good actors Danny Huston and Geoffrey Rush. The film looks ridiculous, but should be entertaining for martial-arts and action fans. Check out the trailer.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Michael Apted) – Adventure – Dec 10^th

The film is the third in The Chronicles of Narnia series. It focuses on Lucy and Edmund as they return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace to meet up with Prince Caspian to embark on a journey on the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Director Michael Apted has made a lot of films and in every genre. He seems like a good fit for this franchise. Apted enlisted very good cinematographer Dante Spinotti, production designer Barry Robison and composer David Arnold (who has done memorable work on Casino Royale and Hot Fuzz). The film stars rising-star Ben Barnes and series regulars Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley. Will Poulter (who made his debut in Son of Ranbow) joins the series. The film will have supporting performances from Tilda Swinton (probably the best part of the series), Liam Neeson, (Legend of the Seeker’s) Bruce Spence, and Simon Pegg (who is replacing Eddie Izzard in his voice-role). The film does not look overly interesting (but, I am not the intended audience). However Prince Caspian was an infinitely better film than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, maybe this will be another step up? Check out the trailer.

TRON: Legacy (Joseph Kosinski) – Action – Dec 17^th

The film is the sequel to TRON (though, I imagine most people know that). It is about Sam Flynn, the son of the first film’s star Kevin Flynn. His father disappeared years ago, but one night Sam gets a message to go to his father’s old arcade. Once there, he finds himself transported to the virtual-world that took his father all those years ago. Now, he must fight the Master Control Program. The film is director Joseph Kosinski’s debut. Kosinski has a great crew for the film with cinematographer Claudio Miranda (whose work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was outstanding), former illustrator turned production designer Darren Gilford and the much buzzed about Daft Punk scoring the film. Garrett Hedlund stars, while the film has a really good supporting cast with Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, (one of the original film’s stars) Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain (who is great in The Tudors), and Beau Garrett. This is undoubtedly the biggest and probably most anticipated film of the month, and well worth seeing in theaters for the visuals (assuming you are seeing this at all). The original does not hold up amazingly well, but for those who have not seen it, check it out, but probably not a must. Check out the trailer.

Yogi Bear (Eric Brevig) – Comedy – Dec 17^th

The film is about the shenanigans of Jellystone Park’s most famous bears – Yogi and Boo-Boo. Director Eric Brevig comes from a visual effects background (overly evidenced from his first feature Journey to the Center of the Earth). The film has an ok crew with composer John Debney, cinematographer Peter James and production designer David Sandefur (but does this film really need an excellent crew…). Tom Cavanagh and Anna Faris feature as the film’s live-action stars and Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake and Christine Taylor supply the voice performances. On paper it is a great comedic cast (but I am not holding my breath for comedy gold). I realize this is a movie for kids, but it really does not look too good. Check out the trailer.

Little Fockers (Paul Weitz) – Comedy – Dec 22^nd

The film is the third in the series, this time focusing on the Fockers, now with kids and the grandparents coming to visit. Paul Weitz has directed some good films (namely About a Boy) co-directing with his brother Chris and some bad films (specifically the last two films he has made) directing alone. But John Hamburg, who wrote and directed the very funny I Love You, Man, worked on the screenplay, and  Weitz has a very good crew including superb cinematographer Remi Adefarasin, composer Stephen Trask and production designer William Arnold. Everyone from the first two films is back, headlined by Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Joining the cast are Jessica Alba, Harvey Keitel, Rob Huebel, and Laura Dern. The film looks to be a lot of the same, but that is what the fans want (right?), as the last two were fairly funny films (but I will just rent this one). Check out the trailer.

Gulliver’s Travels (Rob Letterman) – Adventure – Dec 22^nd

The film is about Gulliver, a travel writer who takes an assignment in Bermuda. The trip does not go quite as he planned when he finds himself, awaking from a storm, on the island of Liliput – where he towers over its tiny inhabitants (like waking up to find yourself trapped by Playmobil people). Director Rob Letterman makes his live-action debut, and the project seems like a good fit coming off Monsters vs. Aliens. Nicholas Stroller (writer-director of Get Him to the Greek) worked on the script, while Letterman has Hans Zimmer’s protégé of sorts Henry Jackman scoring, David Tattersall shooting (he specializes in action) and Gavin Bocquet designing the film (he has a background in epic sets working with George Lucus). The film stars Jack Black and features Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, T.J. Miller, and (two of my favorites) Emily Blunt and Jason Segel. The film looks to be entertaining, and with all its comedic talent it probably will be. Check out the trailer.

At the Movies – October 2010 – Part 1: Art-House Films

Part 2: Hollywood Films

Part 3: Best of the Month

Art-House Watch:

Freakonomics (Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney, Seth Gordon, Rachel Grady, Eugene Jarecki, & Morgan Spurlock) – Documentary – Oct 1 [limited]

The film is about the exploration of the hidden side of everything (basically a film version of the book by Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner). The documentary is structured into four sections – 1) Pure Corruption directed by Alex Gibney (who made the amazing doc Eron: The Smartest Man in the Room), 2) A Roshanda by Any Other Name directed by Morgan Spurlock (who made the funny and very entertaining doc Super Size Me), 3) It’s Not Always a Wonderful Life directed by Eugene Jarecki (who made the very good history, war doc Why We Fight), and 4) Can a Ninth Grader Be Bribed to Succeed? directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (who made the fairly frightening doc Jesus Camp). Seth Gordon (who made the awesomely great doc The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters) is providing the film with an introduction and transitional segments. Basically this film has a who’s who of famous, hip and good documentarians; it just needs Werner Herzog and Errol Morris to be complete. On paper the documentary sounds amazing, but will these segments each directed by filmmakers with a different style all meld together to produce a good film with a solid narrative? Check out the trailer.

Barry Munday (Chris D’Arienzo) – Comedy – Oct 1 [LA/NY]

The film is about Barry Munday, a man who one day wakes up after being attacked to find that he is missing his family jewels. And, if that were not enough, he is facing a paternity suit filed by a woman he does not even remember. Writer-director Chris D’Arienzo makes his feature debut with the film. Composer Jude Christodal is also making his feature debut, though he had worked in TV prior (TV credits include Rock of Love with Bret Michaels), while cinematographer Morgan Susser and production designer Paul Oberman have an indy-film background. However, the cast is much better known with leading roles played by Patrick Wilson and Judy Greer, and supporting work from Malcolm McDowell, Chloe Sevigny, Colin Hanks, and Cybill Shepherd among others. The buzz is so-so on the film, but it could make for an ok rental. Check out the trailer.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck) – Comedy – Oct 8 [limited]

The film is about a clinically depressed teen, Craig, who decides to check himself into an adult psych ward, only to find a new start. Writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have a certain charm to their indy-style films (critics enamored with their first two films Half Nelson and Sugar). They have done well with dramas so it will be interesting to see how they handle comedy – though from the look of the film it seems to be more of a dramedy than a comedy. They certainly have comedic talent to help them out with Zach Galifianakis and Jim Gaffigan in the film. The group Broken Social Scene is scoring the film (having also scored Half Nelson), and past collaborations cinematographer Andrij Parekh and production designer Beth Mickle return for their third go-round with the directors. Along with the comedy styling of Galigianakis and Gaffigan, the film has a strong supporting cast featuring Emma Roberts (ready to have a breakthrough role), Lauren Graham, Zoe Kravitz, Viola Davis, and Jeremy Davies (who we all know from Lost). However, the leading role is played by relative newcomer Keir Gilchrist (though he is quite good as a principal cast member in United States of Tara). The film looks to be pretty funny and probably dramatically engaging, but more geared towards an indy-film audience than the mainstream movie-goer. Check out the trailer.

Tamara Drewe (Stephen Frears) – Comedy – Oct 8 [LA/NY]

The film is about a young journalist, Tamara Drewe, who returns home to sell her recently deceased mother’s home. Having been away a while, and having changed her appearance (via a nose-job), the locals seem to marvel at her as she works to fix-up and sell the house she inherited (based on the comic strip by Posy Simmonds). Director Stephen Frears has been a bit up and down of late, with very good films like The Queen and Dirty Pretty Things, and less well received films like Cheri. But, over the course of his career he has established himself as one of the better British filmmakers. Working with him on the film he has Alexandre Desplat (the hardest working composer in show business), cinematographer Ben Davis (who has do great work for Matthew Vaughn) and production designer Alan MacDonald (who worked with Frears on The Queen). The film has a British cast (as it is a British film) headlined by 2010 breakout actress Gemma Arterton as the lead with Dominic Cooper and Luke Evans in supporting roles (among other British actors). Frears does his best work when directing dramas with thriller aspects, but as he proved with High Fidelity he can make great comedies too. Check out the trailer.

Nowhere Boy (Sam Taylor-Wood) – Biography – Oct 8 [limited]

The film is about the early days of John Lennon – how he got into music, his first bands, first loves, and how he met the other members of and ultimately became a part of the Beatles. Director Sam Taylor-Wood makes her feature film debut (and in the process meets her fiancé and film’s star Aaron Johnson). Taylor-Wood has an interesting crew on the film with very talented cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (Atonement and The Hours, yeah he is good), production designer Alice Normington (who did good work on Brideshead Revisited) and a score from British pop group Goldfrapp members Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp. The film stars Aaron Johnson (best known as Kick-Ass to Americans) as John Lennon and features supporting work from Thmoas Sangster (as Paul), Sam Bell (as George), David Morrissey, Anne-Marie Duff, and Kristin Scott Thomas. The film was well received when it opened in the UK last year receiving four BAFTA nominations. It looks to be an interesting examination of how the young John Lennon became the John Lennon we all know and love (and probably a nice early-years companion piece to 1994’s Backbeat). Check out the trailer.

Legacy (Thomas Ikimi) – Thriller – Oct 15 [limited]

The film is about a back ops operative, Malcolm Gray, who returns home after a failed mission. He hides out in a Brooklyn motel room as he is being hunted down. Torn between thoughts of retribution and personal salvation, he begins to mentally unravel. Director Thomas Ikimi makes his second film with Legacy, but it is his first to receive distribution in the U.S. and his first to work with more well known actors. His crew is made up of relative newcomers, production designer Gordon Rogers and cinematographer Jonathan Harvey, and veteran action composer Mark Kilian (worked on Traitor and The Matrix Reloaded). The film starts the very talented Idris Elba, who is also an executive producer, and co-stars the excellent Eamonn Walker, Monique Gabriela Curnen, and Richard Brake. The buzz on the film is very mixed. However, the film has played very well for adult viewers and looks quite good based on its trailer. Check it out.

The Company Men (John Wells) – Drama – Oct 22 [LA/NY]

The film is about the affects of corporate downsizing by a major company on the communities and families of its employees – focusing on three men in particular. Director John Wells is a prolific film and TV producer (a few of his better projects are: One Hour Photo, Far From Heaven and The West Wing). He is also a successful writer having written many episodes of ER and The West Wing. This film marks his feature debut as a director (as he has done a number of ER episodes).  And to make him look good, he has director of photography Roger Deakins on the film (who is easily one of the top five cinematographers working today) and production designer David J. Bomba (who’s best work to date has been on Walk the Line). Along with the likely wonderful photography from Deakins, the potential highlight of the film is its cast, which is quite good and full of star power. Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, and Chris Cooper star with supporting work from Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Rosemarie DeWitt and Craig T. Nelson.  The film received a lot of good buzz out of the festivals and is in contention for a number of Oscar races (Best Picture, Acting, Director, Screenplay), though probably on the outside looking in. It looks to be a good character based drama set perfectly to address the financial times currently affecting America (and elsewhere) much like last year’s Up in the Air. Check out the trailer.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Daniel Alfredson) – Crime/Drama – Oct 29 [limited]

The film is the third in the series (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, being the most widely known). It is about Lisbeth who is awaiting trial for three counts of murder, recovering in the hospital and plotting revenge against those who put her in this situation. Meanwhile, Michael is trying to prove her innocence. While the first film of the series was made for a theatrical release, given more of a budget (and frankly a much better director and crew), the second and third were made merely for Swedish TV. Director Daniel Alfredson, who directed the second, returns at the helm. Series composer Jacob Groth also returns, as does the second film’s cinematographer Peter Mokrosinski. But most importantly, stars Noomi Rapace (who is making her Hollywood debut in next year’s Sherlock Holmes sequel) and Michael Nyqvist return. Much like the second, this film is not nearly as well received as the first of the series; but for fans, it is probably  still well worth a look (especially if you cannot wait for or are upset about the U.S. remakes on the way, the first will be by David Fincher). Check out the trailer.