3 ½ stars I did not watch the original 21 Jump Street. I was 8 years-old and was probably still watching G.I. Joe cartoons. I knew Johnny Depp though and it was interesting hearing him in interviews years later totally lamenting the experience. He hated being on that show, he was bound only by contract, and the first movie he did after the TV show was Edward Scissorhands. He really wanted to do something different.
25 years later, Jump Street gets a remake, but thankfully it's a comedy and not a thriller. The concept, young cops who go undercover in a high school, I think is pretty good. But I don't think it could hold water as a drama. As a premise for a comedy, it works really well. 21 Jump Street is pretty great all the way through. I really laughed a lot. Jonah Hill described his ambition for the movie to be Bad Boys meets John Hughes. And that is exactly it.
Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum) went to the same high school. Schmidt was the geek but it's so awesome that he's a geek that dresses up like Slim Shady Eminem. Oh man that look is funny. Greg was the popular jock. They both end up in police academy together and become friends. Of course as the trailer notes an old undercover program gets restarted and they become Doug and Brad McQuaid. They re-enter high school with a month left in the semester to find out who is supplying this new synthetic drug that killed a student. Don't worry, it killed him in a funny way.
I think we have certain expectations about what the movie might be like. Certain awkward high school situations and such. Surprisingly the movie wants to be more than that. It's a lot smarter than that. A lot of the comedy comes from the fact that high school has changed for these two guys. Greg isn't popular at all. Being an athlete and general jerk doesn't work for him anymore. Everyone sees him as a loser and he ends up hanging out with the nerds in the chem lab. Schmidt is embraced and loved by the high schoolers. There's so much enjoyment seeing him finding friends and finding a girl who likes him, Molly (a winning Brie Larson, who was Envy Adams from Scott Pilgrim). This subplot actually fuels the loudest laugh in the movie for me. It's a line about Glee, and thank you so much that the movie is rated R. I howled at Greg's theory about what changed high school today. I could not stop laughing.
There is also some pretty good action, and a fairly clever car chase through heavy traffic. There are also tons of throwaway funny moments. Schmidt is on the phone with Molly, and things are going well for him, but then Greg comes in the room and starts hitting him and then sitting on him and then doing anything he can to annoy him. Why haven't I seen that in a movie before? That is exactly what guys do. Also there is the whole aspect of these guys so wanting cool cop moments. During their first arrest they scream Yeah! Yeah!, they start dry humping the perp on the ground, and then Jonah Hill jumps into Channing Tatum's arms. They're a really great duo and I'm finally warming up to Channing Tatum. It's taken a while, but I think he's more than just a Marky Mark clone. He's really great in the movie. Very funny. Jonah Hill is just one of my favorites. Get Him to the Greek, Moneyball, now this. He's on a great run. No I have not and will not see The Sitter. He's also a huge reason the movie is good. He's credited with the story and he's one of the exec producers. The main screenwriter is Michael Bacall, who co-wrote Scott Pilgrim. You got some good people writing the movie, and the movie is well shot by directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller whose previous directing job was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Seriously? Who knew they had a hilarious R-rated high school comedy in them.
I really hope they make a sequel. 21 Jump Street is a smart, funny movie. And I don't want to give it away, but during a standoff toward the end there is one of the more satisfying movie star moments I've had in a while. Just see it, you'll enjoy it.
4 starsI don't know how to start this review. The movie ended 2 hours ago and I'm still pretty stunned by the experience. I think we have to start with Lisbeth. What is it about Lisbeth Salander that has caught the interest of millions of people? It's not the piercings, it's not the wardrobe, it's not the dragon tattoo. That stuff is external. They protect her from the world that she believes rejects her. I think it's because we all are Lisbeth Salander. At least part of us feels that way. Hurt too much, hurt too often in the past so we do things to protect ourselves from people. We might not be as extreme as she is, but we all have our personal armor.
The Swedish version of the Stieg Larsson novel was released in 2009 and that's a great movie. It was #10 in my top ten that year. People were wondering why they should even make an English language version and I think Fincher has answered definitively. With his formidable skill, David Fincher has made a very different movie, which is among the best of the year.
Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is a publisher and part owner of a Swedish political magazine named Millenium. He's just lost a libel case involving his allegations against billionaire financier Hans Wennerstrom and although he will face no jail time, it takes his legs out financially. Because of this, he is much more willing to take on an assignment from a rich, elderly man, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). Henrik wants to hire Mikael to find out what happened to his niece Harriet who was murdered 40 years ago. The Vanger family is an assortment of wealthy and despicable people. Some of them were even Nazis, and Mikael moves up to their private island in northern Sweden to begin his investigation. Parallel to this is of course Lisbeth, who initially did a thorough (and illegal) background check on Mikael for the Vanger family and who Mikael decides to bring into the investigation as his research assistant.
That's the gist of the story, and I was concerned with having watched the original, would I be as invested in this mystery. I was, wholeheartedly, but what takes this film beyond the previous is that it is not just about that mystery. The murder of Harriet Vanger is a big part for sure, but there is a lot more here, and I don't believe I can write further without writing spoilers so scroll down past this part.
**SPOILERS BEGIN The fourth act, the events that take place after the car explosion and the last scene with Henrik, they really took the film into another level for me. It is an odd section, and part of my own screenwriting knowledge initially wanted to reject the last 15 minutes. The murder is solved, why bother showing us Lisbeth on this mini mission? I think it's brilliant. The movie is not simply a murder mystery. It's not just about finding a killer. The scene with Henrik and Harriet should not be the last scene of the movie. It's not about them, and it's honestly not even that much about Mikael Blomvkist. This movie is about a girl with a dragon tattoo named Lisbeth Salander.
Her life is what Fincher cares about more, and I don't know the man personally, but I imagine he relates to her as he has related to so many of the outsiders in his films. Rooney Mara has a different spin on the role than Noomi Rapace. Lisbeth is much more wounded here. I felt so much for this 24 year-old girl (and she is a girl not a woman) who lives a sad life of microwave noodles in her crappy apartment and the occasional casual sex with someone she meets at a lesbian bar. She has some great moments of force, particularly in her revenge on her new guardian, but look at all she does for Mikael during those last 15 minutes. The costume, the fake passport, flying to another country. It's not about a sense of duty. I don't think she's even bothered by what Wennerstrom's done. She has a friend. She trusts him, she likes him, both are extremely rare things for her, and look how much she will do for someone she considers a friend. This is a girl who wants to care about someone, but the world has said F you to her too many times. It has rejected and dismissed her so often. Then this man enters her life. He's honest and straightforward with her, he's intelligent, he earns her respect. He really is one in a million to her. She actually says, "I'm happy". Even writing this, I feel so deeply sad for Lisbeth. When she throws away that leather jacket, I think she's not going to try again with a person for a very long time. There's a small scene you might not care about when she asks Mikael what he's doing that night. Asking that question is a huge, enormous thing for her. For her it's like proposing. But now she's going to close up and will never again ask Mikael what his plans are, and there is tragedy to that. It's the first and only time in the movie when she cries and she's all alone. No one is there to even witness it. I would love to know Lisbeth Salander and be her friend. **END OF SPOILERS
Daniel Craig turns out to be a fantastic choice as Mikael Blomkvist. I always thought the Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist was too old, and Craig is utterly believable as a professional journalist with this searing investigative intelligence. When he's just looking at photos on a Mac, we are engaged with him. He's working things out in his head, and I'm leaning forward in my seat anticipating what he might do next. It's a great, natural performance. Rooney Mara is quite spectacular in the movie. I write about her in the spoiler section above, but let me say that her performance is very different than Noomi Rapace (who was also great) Rooney's choices made a deeper emotional impact with me. Lisbeth is not just a badass ultra goth. She's still a prodigy when it comes to technology, but I think she's much more complex here, much more is going on inside, and this 26 year-old actress in her first lead role gives a performance of a lifetime. There's a look on her face late in the film after she witnesses a car accident that really blew me away. At that moment, I saw an actress who had completely embodied another person. Some credit should go to Fincher who probably worked her to death, but goodness she's powerful in this film.
Fincher himself shows his power. Lightning quick pacing, so much information, so many characters, so much for us to keep track of, and it's all there. Along with the always stunning Fincher visuals. A lot of credit should go to screenwriter Steven Zaillian as well for crafting a great script, with wonderful economy of dialogue. I always think it's his choices that make David Fincher special. The costume design, the production design, even the choice that Lisbeth eats Happy Meals. There are of course department heads, but the choices are directed by him. Also certain images continue to stay with me. A close-up of a leather jacket, the long drive up to the Vanger mansion, a point of view shot of Mikael and Erika Berger (Robin Wright). These images mean a lot to the characters. They are images they will remember maybe for the rest of their lives, and so he wants us to remember them too. Another beautifully shot film from cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club, The Social Network).
It's not gonna be for everyone. It's surprisingly not all that violent, but there is one horrifically brutal rape scene that most people are aware is coming, yet seeing it with your loved ones around Christmas may not be such a good choice.
Lastly, this is how I know a movie is really special to me. I don't want to talk about it with anyone. I'll write my review, but I don't want to hear anything remotely negative about it. It has its flaws, but I don't want anyone taking away the personal impact it had on me. You watch hundreds of movies to find this feeling and no one is going to spoil that. I think it's a decision Lisbeth would agree with.
From my Top 10 List:
1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) The technical skill alone makes the movie worthy of being on this list. It's a masterfully told, hypnotically engaging genre film that any director would envy. But the choices made toward the end, they take it to another level. Those images are embedded in me. I cannot forget them. It's one of those films that no matter what I may write, it won't truly express how I feel about it. How I feel about Rooney Mara's performance as Lisbeth Salander and director David Fincher's presentation of her. There are extremely few times in my life when I've watched a movie and said, that's me. How he/she feels, I feel that way too. "That character is me". With Fight Club and now The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher has done it twice. And I am very grateful to him.
10 More Thoughts...
From 1.4.12
(SPOILERS. If you haven't seen it, absolutely do not read)
1. I could not watch the Swedish film again after seeing this one. Fincher’s film dominates my mind now and as much as I enjoyed Noomi Rapace in 2010, I think that movie pales in comparison to this one. The production design, the camera work, the editing. They had $90 million and one of the strongest visual directors out there now so of course it’s going to look better. There is barely any snow in the Swedish movie. Thankfully I remembered very little of the Swedish version. I did not even remember what role Martin played. Stellan Skarsgard was awesome btw. A long time since Good Will Hunting.
2. After spending the last 2 weeks pouring over the novels (I’m about halfway through book 3), I can say that Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth is much closer to the Lisbeth in the book. The visual description, the body type, it’s so much closer. Even her age is just right. The choice of less make-up is right. I realized also that her eyebrows are blonde because Lisbeth is Swedish. She dyes her hair black, but probably wouldn't dye her eyebrows. Also Daniel Craig is so on the money as Mikael. He’s even more of a ladies man in the book and that fits a slimmer, trimmer Blomkvist. I think Craig was perfect casting.
3. How great are those opening titles. To Fincher they were a way to prepare the audience for what was to come. In case anyone had any delusions about the movie being some nice, safe thriller, their expectations were going to be set. He did this with Se7en as well, which has its own classic title sequence. Also great to hear the Karen O and Trent Reznor’s cover of “The Immigrant Song” actually used in the movie. Speaking of music, Martin plays “Orinoco Flow” by Enya in the basement. A great moment. I thought later that if they played Ace of Base it would’ve been fall on the floor hysterical, and probably too much. “All that she wants, is another baby…”
4. All of the little moments with Lisbeth stick with me. She goes to a vending machine in the archives and she flips her hoodie on so the security guard won’t look at her. How she crams her mouth with fries. How she softens so much toward the end when she asks Mikael to borrow that money. It is one of the best performances by an actress I have ever seen. It’s complete immersion into another person. Also great touches from the filmmakers. Wasn’t her fight in the subway just sick? That is the real Lisbeth. She’s not a victim who allows herself to get beat up. When you provoke her she’s fast and will make you pay.
5. I did not miss seeing her mother, and I enjoyed her few extra moments with her first guardian Palmgren. Notice she brings him a gift as well. The movie focuses much more on her relationships with men and I think that’s right. Her hacker friend, the tattoo artist, the debriefing with Frode and Armansky, they’re all men. I think the only two moments she has with women are with the girl she picks up at the lesbian bar and the librarian at the archive. She has no dialogue with Harriet or Erika. I loved it when Lisbeth saw Henrik hug Harriet and she has to turn away.
6. The rape itself, the act, I think is less overt than in the Swedish film. However, the before and after are what really made it horrifying. Lisbeth’s screaming her head off for a long time, and that’s what was just awful. Then that brutally sad walk home and then her clean up in the shower, which is the oddly the first time we really see the dragon tattoo. Subsequently her revenge against Bjurman was sweet. Fincher does love lamps knocked over on the floor. Lisbeth must’ve loved Blade Runner since she blackens her eyes out like Daryl Hannah. And I loved that she saw him again in the elevator. This tiny girl pointing her finger in the face of this huge man. Stop looking at tattoo removal websites Bjurman!
7. Strange how much Sweden has infiltrated American culture. Volvo, H&M, Ikea. None of their words though. Everyone knows a few words of French or German, but not Swedish. I will try to start using Fröken which is a proper word for “Miss”. Fröken Salander.
8. With this and The Social Network I believe these are characters Fincher relates to. Zuckerberg, a 20 year-old intellectual phenom who adults did not take seriously. He had talent, incredible technical abilities, and was maybe a bit antisocial. Fincher got beat up by older executives on Alien 3. They didn’t take him seriously. Possibly the same with Lisbeth. Great with technology, maybe not the most personable person. She’s a loner and always the smartest person in the room. Someone said almost all his movies are about outsiders. Probably why I like them so much.
9. I was blindsided by how much the movie affected me. I thought it was going to be a good thriller from one of my favorite directors, but it turned out to be so much deeper and shockingly personal to me. The Swedish movie does not contain this movie’s last 15 minutes with Lisbeth’s mini mission. How could they not put that in? It says so much about who Lisbeth is. It says about who I am. A friend and me talked about the movie at length and we both said separately, “I am Lisbeth”. If there is a magnet or a sticker or something saying that I will buy it. Like I said in my review, this personal connection to a movie happens so rarely. I’m going to remember this one.
10. The T-shirt still rules. If you don't think so, F you, you F-ing F.
Watched this Week The Good:Game Change, Chalet Girl, The Swell Season, The Simpsons Movie, Game of Thrones Season 1, lots more of The Simpsons The Bad: None The Ugly: None Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None Blu-Rays Bought: None
Trips to the Theater: None Actors of the Week: Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, Mark Addy, Emilia Clarke Director of the Week: Tim Van Patten who directed the pilot of Game of Thrones
Trailers/Clips of the Week: Dark Shadows. Man this looks great. It's very Tim Burton.
3 stars The Swell Season is a companion piece to Once. If you possibly don't know about the movie Once, you shouldn't watch The Swell Season. You'll have no idea what is going on since so much of what this documentary is about is that film. It takes place between 2007-2010 as their band, now called The Swell Season, goes on tour.
Much of the beautifully shot black and white film is fly on the wall. We see them get ready for shows, drink with friends after, and we of course see a lot of them performing. One thing I was concerned about before watching this was would it affect my feelings about Once, which I feel is a once in a lifetime film. Sorry for using the word "once" so much. But it is, and it goes to show how powerful movies are in that those two characters in that fictional movie have nothing to do with the real people who acted as those characters. Marketa Irglova was not married with a child, she doesn't dress like her character did, and she doesn't seem much her character was. She's herself, not a Czech immigrant with a husband she doesn't love.
What does come out of the film though is her own struggle with this overwhelming new fame. She was 17 when she made film, she's 19 during their tour and it's taking its toll on her. The number of performances and the adoration of fans, which she never expected or wanted, is too much. She's a girl who loves to play music, but she does not want to be a celebrity. Glen on the other hand has been pursuing this since he's been 14. He says it himself that he's spent 17 years playing to 40 people. Now every show is sold out and he's won an Oscar. They both struggle with post success. Does the Oscar now forever define who he is? It does a little in his mother's mind. Can he match the success of that small film they made together? Maybe not.
Of course the other thing that is happening is that they are in a relationship during this tour. She says early on how she fell hard for him, despite them him being 17 years older than her. Ironically that's the same number of years he was struggling as a musician. The movie is very honest and there's one particular moment late in the movie that I can't believe has not been dramatized before. I mean I'm surprised I haven't seen a scene like that in a movie or on TV. Two people who love each other are trying to communicate that to each other, trying to support each other in what they are saying, but both of them aren't hearing it they way they want to hear it. They are different people. She is still becoming who she is going to be and it's not necessarily lining up with everything that he is. It's not a movie about shouting matches and arguments. I think the film has great things to show about how feeling love can't just be it. There needs to be a connection and agreements about how they see life. Maybe that's how I saw the film and I enjoy that complexity. I hope people don't just dismiss it and say, "Oh it's sad it didn't work out".
It's going to be hard to find The Swell Season on DVD, but I'm glad I saw it. Once can't be matched or topped or altered in perception to me. It is an incredibly special film that I'm sure I'll watch it at least once a year for the rest of my life. This documentary can't be that film, but it is still soulful and thoughtful. Review of Once
This very moment, we're in a Golden Age of Television. We'll look back on the first decades of the 2000s and marvel at how many great TV shows came out during this time. A lot of it has to do with basic and pay cable starting to make shows. They don't have to appeal to everyone and therefore they could actually be good. Sometimes they were and are amazing. Even now the best writing is on TV. Look at all of these great shows.
3 stars Game Change is entertaining, no doubt, but I think it falls short of being great. Maybe time has something to do with it. Not that 4 years isn't enough distance from the 2008 campaign, but I think we need find out more of what's going to happen to Sarah Palin. Her story is not done yet, and without a larger historical context, the movie seems strangely incomplete. Instead it's more of a dramatization of a specific time period and only these specific events.
Game Change does start in 2007 when Obama's star was white hot. McCain gets the nomination and his campaign managers lead by Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) literally say they need a game change. They need something huge that will bridge the gap between McCain and Obama. They decide that would not be another middle aged white man. No, they want a woman. And in a so crazy it has to be true moment, one of the campaign leaders goes on Youtube and searches for female politicians. He finds Sarah Palin on Charlie Rose where she is very compelling in an interview. With only a week before they have to announce, they meet her, briefly speak to her, even more briefly vet her, and decide that she has enough charisma to help them win. As most remember, she was spectacular in her debut and in her speech at the Republican National Convention.
The rest of the film goes completely behind the scenes. There is a lot of great stuff to see, but I'll only highlight a few. Due to her lack of knowledge, there are many scenes where we see Palin being taught and trying to learn much of the history of world politics. From WWI to explaining to her that Al Qaeda attacked the US on 9/11 not Saddam Hussein. These scenes feel absurd, but they did happen. However, what comes out of it is not funny. Instead I had a lot of sympathy for her. I just don't think she knew what she was getting into. She had no clue. She believed that God wanted her to lead, but she didn't know why North and South Korea are separated and she did not know that the Queen does not govern Great Britain. She could've been ready, but there wasn't enough time. She's thrust into this awful machine, she's away from her family, she's away from Alaska, and there are moments where she implodes. One brutal scene happens after the infamous Katie Couric interview. We see Palin in her hotel room watching Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live doing that interview. Oh my goodness is it uncomfortable. This woman, and she is a person, is so hurt by it. Again, I don't think she knew. She did not know what she was in for and took everything so personally. I still fault her for her lack of humility and owning up to her mistakes, but I wonder if any politician in her situation would've said no.
Woody Harrelson is great as Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt. It had to have been one of the more difficult roles for him. Schmidt the one that has to manage the campaign and Palin is making it so difficult. He's stressed during almost every moment as things continue to go bad for the campaign. She won't listen, she's telling factual untruths to the press, it's a nightmare. My problem is that I don't really want Steve Schmidt as the main character in this movie. I wanted to know more about Sarah Palin. A movie I thought about was Oliver Stone's Nixon. It does cover and dramatize the political behind the scenes in Nixon's Presidency, but it was more deeply an examination of why Richard Nixon was the way he was. Palin still seems at arms length to me. She's warm to her children and her husband, but I need the filmmakers to tell us what they think made her tick. Perhaps they were trying so hard not to be partisan, but movies need to be subjective. I think they need to have specific points of view, particularly in this kind of docudrama material. It didn't go deep enough for me. Seeing Palin in various hockey jerseys as she prepares for debates didn't do it. I kept thinking this would probably be better as a full on documentary. I want to hear from her actual speech advisers and press secretaries. I think I may read the book. If it's a dramatic film, it needs to be stronger in what it wants to say about her.
Julianne Moore is pretty astounding as Sarah Palin. I've seen a lot of Julianne Moore films, but she completely disappears into the Governor of Alaska. There's one moment after she has been groomed and given her new clothes where she walks into a room and that is Sarah Palin. The body language is right on. Also fantastic is Ed Harris as John McCain. McCain should be very happy with the film. He is shown as a real man of honor and character. He's a decent human being. He wants to win, but he feels bad for this woman who he discovered too late that she was not ready to be a candidate for Vice President. He admits it's his fault too. I don't know two other actors who could've done as well as they did.
If you watch the movie, I think you'll share my general fascination. At the end though, Game Change presents a history of what happened, but it does so rather dispassionately. Is it a tragedy of Sarah Palin or a tragedy of Steve Schmidt? I wish they made one choice. Still, Danny Strong (Recount) is a very good writer and Jay Roach does a solid job directing. It feels like a big film, despite it being a cable movie. It's strange to me that he directed the Austin Power films before this. Though he did direct Recount in 2008, which I wasn't that compelled by. There's much more Sarah Palin in the future and maybe we'll see another movie then.
Season 2 premieres April 1st. You have three weeks to watch the great Season 1. Review from 8.18.11
I don’t really care for the fantasy genre. Other than Lord of the Rings, there have been so many bad movies. I remember watching Labyrinth as a kid in class (the teacher thought we would enjoy it) and I was so unbelievably bored. I also don’t really care for the knights and armor genre either. During the big run after LOTR there were so many. Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, King Arthur, Alexander. They take themselves so seriously and the dialogue is often unpalatable. There’s a reason why no one really reads the King James Bible anymore. So considering this, I wasn’t all that excited about Game of Thrones. The books are apparently best sellers, HBO was spending a fortune on the series, but I didn’t care. Last Monday night, not having anything to watch, I decided to try the first episode, expecting I would shut it off midway. That did not happen.
Game of Thrones takes place in a fictional world. This isn’t Britain or even ancient Europe, it’s Westeros which consists of seven kingdoms. Seven kingdoms, one awesome iron throne made up of melted down swords. King Robert (Mark Addy) of course cannot be in all seven kingdoms at once, so there are appointed Hands that govern those cities. The northern kingdom is Winterfell, and it is ruled by the Stark family, its head being Ned Stark (LOTR’s Sean Bean). This is the core family of Game of Thrones. Also in this non-Earth world, the rules of reality aren’t necessarily the same. Seasons are not fixed time periods. It has been years of Summer and as Ned says, “Winter is coming”. Bad times are coming. There are supernatural beings beyond the great Northern Wall, the wealthy Lannisters (with their annoying blonde hair) have secretly murdered the Hand of the capital city, the Queen who is a Lannister is plotting to get her son on the throne, and across the sea a group of 100,000 warrior savages called the Dothraki threaten the kingdom as well. This is the great thing about television. You’re not restricted to 2 hours so there is time to set up all of these people, all of these great characters, and because it’s HBO, it’s serialized. This isn’t CSI or Law and Order where one episode has nothing to do with the other. The story unfolds episode after episode.
Why does it all work so well? Why was I so affected by it? I asked myself a lot while I was watching. I don’t even like sword fighting. But the show somehow gives us the best of the genre. We want strong, noble men with honor. The series is full of them, almost all of them complex and distinctive. For example, Ned has a bastard son John Snow. He has lived with the Starks all of his life, but he’s never been fully part of them. Because of this he decides to go to the Northern Wall and swears a life oath to protect it. Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa of the upcoming Conan remake) is the king of the warrior Dothraki and he is a terribly fascinating leader despite his character barely saying anything. They don’t elect leaders, they fight and whoever is alive wins. The winner is Khal, and he is the ultimate Alpha male. He could take on King Kong.
We also want great characters, and my favorites are by far Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen. Tyrion is a Lannister, so he is wealthy and rich and protected. But he is also a dwarf. One imagines that little people don’t survive very long in such a harsh environment, but Tyrion has massive intelligence and wit and he’s certainly given the best words to say. He’s a modern man in a brutal world. Peter Dinklage starred in The Station Agent and he is phenomenal in the role. He’s gotta win the Emmy.
Danenerys Targaryen was part of a royal family that was all but wiped out by the current one. She and her brother are the only ones left, and hoping to regain power, her brother forces her to marry Khal Drogo. Drogo gets a beautiful white wife, her brother thinks he gets an army. She does not want to marry him, she does not want to live among savages, and she begins as every bit a girlish princess. However, she changes so wonderfully over the course of the season. She discovers her power, her leadership, and her strength over her brother. I never heard of British actress Emilia Clarke, but she is amazing. Not to mention she has to be naked in so many of her scenes which can’t be easy in a cast full of men.
We also want absolutely gorgeous visuals, and I was more than once taken totally aback by the landscapes and the production design. Astounding stuff. And I don’t even like nature. And I don’t care about bridges and castles! It is a complete world we enter into, aided sometimes by CGI, but mostly credited to Ireland and Malta and designer Gemma Jackson. This isn’t a cheap show, it’s feature film television at a very high bar. Costume design, weapon design, even the number of extras, it’s all top rate.
More than anything though, it is the story by George R.R. Martin. It is the complex plot machinations between different families, different loyalties, and so many compelling characters. I don’t want to give anything away because so much of the pleasure comes from the unexpected. However, there is one scene I want to talk about though. In episode 4, Ned's wife Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) confronts a man she believes attempted to murder her son. She calls out the men in the pub, greeting them individually. She reminds them of their loyalty to her father and his honor to them and their masters. Her speech is rousing.
"This man came into my house, as a guest, and there conspired to murder my son, a boy of ten. In the name of King Robert and the good lords you serve, I call upon you to seize him, and help me return him to Winterfell, to await the King's justice."
All of them draw their swords and point them at this man. I was so pumped I leapt up from my couch. Yeah! Screenwriter David Benioff (25th Hour, Brothers) created the show with his writing partner D.B. Weiss and they have crafted a magnificent first season. A warning though that this is very R-rated. One expects a certain amount of violence (there are some unforgiving beheadings), but there is also a lot of strong sexuality. It doesn’t shy away from that in the least and some of you readers may be blushing already. Thankfully the show is incredibly popular so there will be more. One season covers one book, seven books in all. But argh, now we have to wait until next Spring.
Watched this Week The Good:Like Crazy, Lethal Weapon 1-2, OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies, Twins, Amelie, Priceless, Hard Eight, Finding Forrester, How Do You Know, The Color of Money, Lots of The Simpsons The Bad: Lethal Weapon 3-4 The Ugly: None Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None Blu-Rays Bought: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, How Do You Know, Like Crazy Trips to the Theater: None Actors of the Week: Felicity Jones, Audrey Tautou, Danny Glover Director of the Week: Drake Doremus
Trailers/Clips of the Week: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. From the Timur Bekmambetov, director of Wanted. But it may be this year's Cowboys & Aliens.
4 stars Like Crazy blew up at Sundance in 2011. It won the Grand Jury Prize and even though hardly anyone outside of Sundance had seen the film, everyone suddenly knew a British actress named Felicity Jones. Also, shockingly, it was shot on a Canon DSLR camera. An EOS 7D for less than $250,000. You'd never know. The movie looks great. Like Crazy is about a relationship between Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones). It begins during their senior year in college. She's studying journalism, he's a furniture designer, and they really fall in love. We really feel how they fall in love. It's not cloying or annoying or anything you usually feel when you see two people in public who are very much in love. The first strength of the movie is its lack of dialogue. Much of what they say is improvised, and we don't get traditional scenes of two people getting to know one another through awkward conversations and bad jokes. They feel connected immediately, and I imagine these kind of passionate relationships aren't necessarily about witty banter, but more about that connection. And we sense that from the moment they start to spend time together.
Anna is supposed to return to the UK after she graduates, but she decides to stay for the summer with Jacob. However, what happens is that she violates her student visa. She flies home for a wedding, but when she tries to get back into the US, she can't get passed LAX and is forced to return to London. For much of the film, it is about their long distance relationship. He starts to work and is very busy. She does as well and they inevitably can't find the right time to talk.
Beyond this I don't want to give any more away. The movie is not about plot points or immigration trials or anything you would find a bad movie. It's about these two people. These two people in their early 20s who feel an incredible connection to each other, but of course they're not connected. They're a long ways away and both their lives are still starting. At some point he comes to visit her but he says that he doesn't feel like a part of her life. He feels like he's on vacation.
I need to see Felicity Jones in another role because I don't see an actress, I just see a character named Anna. That's not a criticism, not at all. She is that character. The acting is seamless. She's a young woman in love, she's an assistant at a British magazine, she's trying to have fun with friends but she can't stop thinking about this guy in America. Anna's a bit idealized of course. She's so warm and sweet and how could anyone not want to stay with her. Jones won the Best Actress award at Sundance, and if she makes the right choices, she's going to have a great career. Anton Yelchin is still an actor I have a hard time watching for some reason. I don't know, there's an awkwardness in him. He's a different kind of guy, that's not a bad thing, but although he usually plays Americans, he himself is Russian. I don't know how to explain it. That being said, he is good in the movie. He's particularly good in scenes of silence, like when he's just looking at his phone, deciding whether or not to return a text. Those scenes in particular are very effective. Romantic longing is both pleasure and serious pain.
I know people have concerns about the ending. I understand why, but at the same time I get it. I really get the ending. The movie is called "Like Crazy". I think the title says a lot about this relationship, and as much we all want to believe that romances (particularly movie romances) are perfect forever, the reality may be something different. And they don't always make sense, and they're not always neat. I admit the end doesn't work quite as well as it wants to, and I can't help but think of Before Sunset and it's wonderful ending that I guess is in a similar vein.
Even so, it was special spending time with these two people. I cared about them, I invested in them. This is the first great movie I've seen in 2012. It will make you long to be so all consumed in love with another person. Yet for all the strong feelings in the movie, it still wants to be real. It feels like a contemporary relationship. It's not the clueless husband and the nagging wife. Anna and Jacob are smart people who really want this to work. Both of them feel that equally. I also love how they spend time together. They don't need to constantly be doing exciting things. Most of the time they just lay around and talk. Again, it feels real, and it made me realize how bad relationships are done in movies. How maybe there is too much talking and jokes and dumb best friends who give the leads advice about their relationship. Writer/Director Drake Doremus strips all of that away. As these two people are really only focused on each other, we're only focused on them. Apparently much of the script is autobiographical and that makes sense. This is a personal movie. It's an independent movie. Someone lived this, they wrote it, they made it. And they did it very well.
Watchmen came out in theaters in March 2009, but they released the first trailer in the summer of 2008. Then the second in November. They're stunning.The movie isn't perfect, but it is still amazing to look at. The trailers reflect that. Review of the film
Trailer 1. "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by Smashing Pumpkins
Trailer 2. "Prophecies" by Philip Glass. "Take a Bow" by Muse
3 ½ stars I think people forget that Martin Riggs is the lethal weapon of the title. The phrase has become just a brand name for a buddy cop series, but the first movie is not that at all. Watching it again, it's very good, with a great script by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). Also, who was the last action bad ass named Martin?
I'm going to do a recap because people don't remember. Sgt. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is a 50 year-old cop in the LA police department. He's a family man with a nice home and a boat and he's called one day by a friend who he was in the Vietnam War with. The friend's daughter has committed suicide, but her death is suspicious and possibly related to a larger drug syndicate.
Murtaugh is teamed up with Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson). Riggs is a narcotics detective. He's also ex-special forces, a marksman, and deadly in hand to hand. He also is suicidal after the recent death of his wife in a traffic accident. Everyone in the department thinks he's crazy, and maybe he is. He's introduced in a great scene where someone has a gun at his head and he keeps screaming for the guy to just kill him.
The sequels are comedies, but this first movie isn't. It's pretty serious about drug runners and mercenaries and its villain Gary Busey who is surprisingly good in the film. Gary Busey plays it so serious and scary. This must've been before his brain started having changes. Gibson's character isn't a goofball wise ass, he's really broken. There is that famous scene early on where he has a gun in his mouth. It's heartbreaking, and for all of his reckless and frankly dangerous behavior, we understand that it's coming from a huge amount of pain. That's why his friendship with Murtaugh is so good. Danny Glover plays the stable guy who is living a regular life. I think we all have forgotten what a big deal it was to have the black man be the normal one while the white guy is sometimes insane. The chemistry between the two of them is the thing. That's why they made four movies. This was Gibson's first big American movie. His Australian accent does slip in every one in a while. Glover in particular is so good in the movie. They are a great combo.
Ok, now let's talk about the fun. This is an action movie. There are a lot of fun scenes in Lethal Weapon. The scene where Riggs goes to the top of a building to talk down a jumper has line a line I quote a lot. "Do you really want to jump?! Do you wanna!" Then when Glover's daughter gets kidnapped, we really get to see Riggs in action. First with a sniper rifle in the desert, then doing some brutal neck breaking while he's chained to a ceiling under a shower. The action scenes are still very good and well directed by Richard Donner who did all four movies. I love the last fight between Gibson and Busey. "How about it Jack? You want a shot at the title". A fire hydrant has broken so it's raining down water on these two guys as they go at it on Roger's front lawn. I like that the fight doesn't seem too choreographed. It's messy and rough and it's so memorable because of how it looks. They light it with a helicopter spotlight shining down and whatever light is coming from the squad cars. There's even some early Brazilian Jiu Jitsu thrown in there.
Lastly, there's a lot of good dialogue from screenwriter Shane Black. I wish he would work more, and I'm happy he's doing the third Iron Man movie. Lethal Weapon is a great movie. Can you believe Ebert gave it four stars back then? For me, this started a great run of R rated action movies in the late 80s/early 90s. Predator, Die Hard, Robocop, Total Recall, Terminator 2. The good ol' days.
3 stars Martha Marcy May Marlene is a disturbing and unsettling film. Not because it is too graphic or too shocking, it's because writer/director Sean Durkin has done an effective job of placing us into the mind of this young girl named Martha.
Martha is played by Elizabeth Olsen who is, as everyone knows by now, the younger sister of the Olsen twins. In the words of Seth Rogen, "Where were they hiding her?" At the very beginning of the film we find Martha running through the woods, obviously running away from some people who do not want her to leave. She gets to a town and calls her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) on a pay phone. Martha is obviously distraught and unnerved, not sure of where she is or what she is doing. Her sister picks her up and takes Martha to her summer home in Connecticut.
The movie cuts back and forth between present day in Connecticut and Martha's flashbacks of her time on a farm in the Catskills. It is clear from the start that Martha was part of a cult. This was a small group of young women and men who are lead by a man named Patrick who is played in a seriously scary performance by John Hawkes (Winter's Bone, Deadwood). It's not completely specified what this cult is about. They talk about cleansing themselves of the past and how much they love each other and need to be open with one another. They sleep altogether, next to each other in rooms. They swim naked together, they work together, and they really believe in everything Patrick says about how they should live. There are a lot of parallels to Charles Manson and his group of followers. Personally, I don't think cults are necessarily about their ideology. It's about vulnerable people who need to be part of something, anything, and suddenly there is this group that is inviting and loving. They belong now, and then of course they have to believe what the group believes because how could something they belong to be wrong. Even if that means Patrick forcing himself on the young women. Of course they don't see it as rape, they see it as being chosen.
As this is not a conventional film, it is often not easy to watch. Even though she has left, Martha spent two years at that farm. So much of what she was taught and believed is still in her. She has a hard time living with her sister and Lucy's wealthy and arrogant husband. I also felt that Martha's relationship with her sister was terribly true to life. Lucy isn't a great person. She's trying with her younger sister, but we can tell so much that there has been such distance between them in the past. They don't know how to connect and Martha is beyond the help of her sister. As well, there is this sense in Martha that the cult is watching her and is going to come and get her, despite being over 3 hours away. Is it in her mind? Is it a reality? Martha can't seem to distinguish between the two. And because the movie is from her perspective, we don't really know either.
The film is again very effective, but I wonder if this is all it could be. What does this have to say about cults or the young impressionable people they attract? As someone who has been around religion all of his life, that was very interesting to me, this idea of someone trying to leave what they believed. The script sadly isn't as interested in that. It's not a horror film, but it at times feels like they're making one. We experience the scenes as Martha perceives them and so many of them are scary and memorable. However the scenes don't seem to have lot of ambition beyond being scary and memorable. The film could just be an observation of Martha, an examination of her character, but I wanted more. Maybe there are no "answers", but there could've been a stronger emotional resolution to the story. A lot of filmmakers think it's cool to be open-ended these days, but I feel there are basic requirements of storytelling that need to be serviced. This movie feels like it needs another act. Btw, Martha is her given name. Marcy May is what they called her in the cult. And Marlene is a name that all the girls use when they pick up the phone on the farm as some sort of security measure. It makes sense why they chose it, but it's still a terrible title for a movie.
I don't know if I necessarily recommend it, but it was a notable independent film I felt I had to see. One thing is for certain, Elizabeth Olsen's acting career is going to blow up. It's yet to be determined if she will be as successful as Carey Mulligan or Ellen Page, but she does have the acting chops.
Watched this Week The Good:Martha Marcy May Marlene, Making of Cleopatra: The Film that Changed Hollywood, Paycheck, John From Cincinnati Season 1, more Deadwood The Bad: Zero Effect The Ugly: None Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None Blu-Rays Bought: Watchmen, Miller's Crossing, The Illusionist Trips to the Theater: The Artist Actors of the Week: Jean Dujardin, Dayton Callie, Gerald McRaney Director of the Week: The directors of Deadwood
Deadwood is my favorite hour long drama. Lost comes a close second, but for my money, there has never been a better written dramatic series on television
Deadwood takes place in South Dakota in 1876. It's a gold-mining camp in an area not yet part of America. It's technically Indian territory. No law, no government, but lots and lots of money. The series begins with Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and his friend Sol Starr (John Hawkes) setting off from Montana to Deadwood to start a hardware business. In the town we meet a vast assortment of characters, lead by Al Swearengen (Ian McShane). He owns and operates the Gem Saloon, but what he really does is run the town. He's a boss, an equivalent to a mafia head. Other characters include Alma Garret a New Yorker and wife of a wealthy man who has followed her husband to Deadwood. She's a proper woman who is also a laudanum addict (opium + alcohol). The infamous Will Bill Hickok (Keith Carradine) comes to camp with his friend Charlie Utter (Dayton Callie) and of course Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert). There are also the usual suspects of any town: a doctor, a newspaper man, a hotel owner, and a lot people connected to Swearengen.
To its creator David Milch (who also created NYPD Blue), the series is about community. It's about this town that seems to attract people who do not want to be part of society, and how those people become a society in the beginning of civilized America. To me, it's completely about those people. I think it's one of the richest group of characters assembled in any visual medium. By rich I mean filled with depth and human nature. And what Milch really offers them is his understanding of human nature, as well as tremendously beautiful dialogue. It's the mixture of the Elizabethan and the profane. If you were educated during that time, you were educated on Victorian novels so much of the dialogue is dense and poetic and sometimes incredibly complex.
Alma Garret: My beliefs about you have to do with your soul, which I feel is cold and ungenerous, unless you are a counterfeit. And if you are a counterfeit, the deception comes so naturally, I'd credit its source in such a soul. Meaning, cold and ungenerous, and as capable of counterfeit. Manipulative and treacherous as well.
At the same time Milch juxtaposes that with other characters who have come to live outside the law. So along with being some of the best dialogue I've ever heard, it's some of the dirtiest. The language is brutal and seems to fit better with the idea of the Old West. People are living rough, they would speak rough. In this scene the taller man Wolcott has killed three women and gotten away free. The shorter man is Charlie Utter who is one of the few people who know this. Forgive the language.
"Should I exhale out my ass?" Oh man. Charlie Utter is my favorite character. It's probably a little sick, how much I laugh when I watch the show.
One phenomenal thing about the series that it's filled with wonderful female characters. I dare say they're more interesting than the men. Partially because you hardly see any Westerns about women, but mostly it's because Milch is interested in them and wants to write about them. He wants to write about Trixie (Paula Malcomson), who is a prostitute under Al Swearengen, but who Sol Starr falls in love with. We see her life genuinely change for the better because of him. And we see her struggle with those changes as "being a whore" is all she has known. Or there's Calamity Jane, who is played fearlessly by Robin Weigert. A disgusting drunk, a woman who does not know how to be a woman, yet there is so much soul to Jane. Goodness my heart breaks so often for her. She also has some of the funniest foul lines. And of course there's Ms. Joanie Stubbs. She "runs" the prostitutes at a rival place, but she wants to break free and start her own business. Kim Dickens is stunning as Joanie Stubbs. And her signature gray top hat w/lace scarf ain't bad either.
The series ran three seasons on HBO and unlike many other fans, I'm happy with just the three. 36 episodes, three great seasons. There was of course more story to tell, but something about it being three seems very satisfying. And I did not want to see any drop off in quality or the introduction of too many new characters at the expense of the originals. I know there are tons of TV shows you should watch. I know a lot of them are available on Netflix and this one isn't. But if you really want to see one of the best, and I mean one of the best of all time, watch Deadwood. I can't recommend it any more highly.
Seth Rogen's great opening monologue from this year's Independent Spirit Awards.
1:52 - What's weird is this is literally the plot of a Michael Bay movie that's happening behind me. 6:32 - (on Drive) I like that all the villains were Jewish, I thought that was really cool. Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman were like horrifying in that movie which was awesome. 9:11 - Michael Shannon. LOL.
Last night I watched the making of Cleopatra, which is well known for being the most expensive movie ever made. I was curious about other costly movies and did a Wikipedia search. Surprising entries include Pirates 3, Tangled, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. That movie cost $225 million? Surprisingly, Michael Bay doesn't make the Top 15. He's at 16 with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but overall he's a comparatively frugal filmmaker.
3 ½ stars I've done this before. I remember after The Pianist won a bunch of Oscars, I immediately went out to go see it. Now after months of hype and way too many award wins, I saw The Artist tonight after the Oscars.
It was much as I expected. The Artist is about silent film star George Valentin (French actor Jean Dujardin) who is at the height of his popularity in 1927. At a press event after a screening of one of his films, an actress Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) accidentally bumps into him. He makes a moment out of it, joking with her and posing for some photos. The next day she is on the cover of Variety and gets a part in his next film. She admires him greatly, and they have an unmistakable attraction to one another. What of course happens in a few years is that movies begin to have sound. "Talkies" take over and silent actors like George suddenly become obsolete. Peppy is on the rise though. She's a new star that audiences love to see and hear.
That's the basics of the story, let's get to the basics of the film. The silent movie aspect works. It was probably a big reason I was reluctant to watch the movie until now. I worried it might be a novelty or worse an annoyance, but thankfully I got into it. I particularly enjoyed a moment when George is watching an audience watch one of his movies. He's worried about what they might think, the movie ends, and the audience bursts into applause. But of course we hear nothing, and I laughed. The movie is not trying to completely be a film of the time, as if we found some old movie no one had seen. It's a silent film made today, it comments on the conventions of silent film and about that time. The music is very good and it has to be since there is of course no dialogue. Well, there are occasional dialogue cards that note what a character is saying ("I miss you!", "Speak!"), but much of the movie is about interpreting what's going on through the reactions. I found myself trying to read lips a lot, and that was actually fun. The black and white is appropriate although not that special in my opinion. One thing I liked was that it was shown in the classic 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Think of your old tube TVs and how everything was in a square.
Jean Dujardin deserves that Oscar. He is very special in the film, both as the self-centered mega movie star and the very sad man who no longer has money and has to sell his belongings at a pawn shop. It's a subtle performance and yet it can't be too realistic. He doesn't have anything to say, so a lot of the gestures and behavior need to be a bit bigger. He gets the tone just right, and I was surprised how much I felt for George Valentin all the way through the film. That's a lot do with Dujardin, who has such a winning personality. Berenice Bejo is Argentinian, but grew up in France. Apparently she was in A Knight's Tale and I think I remember her. She's also very good in the film. It helps that Peppy is a such a good person and she cares deeply for George and only wants to help him. Bejo is also married to the director Michel Hazanavicius. Much of the rest of the cast is a lot of familiar faces from the 90s like John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller, and James Cromwell. Most everyone is good, and I didn't find any over acting in any of the performances and that was surprising as well.
It's a good movie, no doubt. I enjoyed it, I cared, what more can you ask. The silent movie aspect works and it's not just a novelty, but honestly it's a movie about Hollywood and actors in the 1930s and it's a little hard to be personally moved by that material. Also I can't help but think of Sunset Blvd. and how the storyline has a lot of similarities. Although I think that movie is better in its tragedy. The Artist is also not as funny as I had hoped. And yes, there's a bitter taste about Harvey Weinstein campaigning hard again to get an Oscar win like he did last year with The King's Speech, like he's done many years since Miramax got into the game. Still, Dujardin is the reason to see this movie. He's the real artist.
8:42pm - Bret won an Oscar for Best Song. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won an Oscar for Best Editing. I'm happy. A bit over 3 hours. That's pretty fast for the Oscars. Not particularly memorable, but thankfully brief. Of my predictions I only missed one, Meryl Streep for Best Actress. The Help surprisingly won very little tonight, and I think Hugo won the most awards altogether. Of the nominees, you gotta see Midnight in Paris and Moneyball.
8:36pm - Of course. The Artist. Harvey Weinstein wins again.
8:21pm - I haven't seen The Artist yet, but I'm sick of it winning so much over the past months. It's the Miami Heat of the Oscars.
8:15pm - Clooney's girlfriend is very attractive.
8:13pm - A lot thanking themselves for a great show, during the show.
8:11pm - "If I see myself on screen, I know I exist". -Gabourey Sidibe
8:10pm - These commercials for Ashley Judd's new show ain't bad.
8:02pm - One of the fastest telecasts I can remember.
7:47pm - 4 awards left.
7:41pm - It's not great to say, but the Short Films should be cut from the broadcast. Whoever wins, I usually just shrug.
7:36pm - Hello. I was once in The Fifth Element and even in a Spike Lee film He Got Game. And now I will spend the rest of my career doing Resident Evil movies. Thank you.
7:30pm - Congrats Woody! You wrote a phenomenal film at 77. He's the king of not showing up for the Oscars. This is win #4 for him.
7:28pm - When did Moby start writing with Alexander Payne?
7:25pm - 2 weeks ago I saw an early Angelina Jolie classic again, Gone in 60 Seconds.
7:18pm - Yeahhhh! Bret wins! Flight of the Conchords! He wrote You Don't Have to Be a Prostitute and Too Many D--ks on the Dance Floor. And now a song that won an Academy Award. Jemaine must be pissed!
7:13pm - Very happy they don't have performances of the 5 nominated scores. Those are always a snore horse.
7:12pm - How come Owen Wilson doesn't age?
7:02pm - Hooray for Christopher Plummer. He had a great year with GWTDT as well. Have you watched Beginners? You should. He was also great as Klingon General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It's funny, but I'm serious!
6:55pm - I tried to watch Hugo again last week, but I still can't embrace it. I can't stand the sad, whiny boy. Boo hoo I live in a clock.
6:47pm - Gore Verbinski directed the first 3 Pirates films. The behind the scenes of Rango, where we see the cast act out the movie in cowboy costumes, is better than the movie.
6:46pm - I think the average work schedule for an actor on an animated film is a week. Jason Lee said he did The Incredibles in 4 days. They spend more time promoting it than working on it.
6:29pm - Geez, this thing is moving fast. 1 hour and 9 awards already.
6:28pm - Hugo's winning everything. Similar to The Aviator which took home a bunch of technical awards in 2004, but still lost to Million Dollar Baby.
6:24pm - Oh man! Completely deserving. I'm really happy about this one. Back to back, these guys won Best Editing last year for The Social Network. They always work with Fincher. He works them to death. Yeahhhh!
6:19pm - If you don't know, it's the cast of Christopher Guests' films. Christopher Guest is in the front with the bad wig.
6:14pm - I remember Octavia Spencer from Bad Santa.
6:11pm - I bet even less people have seen Albert Nobbs than The Iron Lady.
6:09pm - How many people do you think are discovering that Christian Bale is not American?
6:04pm - Billy Crystal's last movies were Analyze That (2002) and Tooth Fairy (2010) with The Rock.
5:59pm - Has anyone even seen The Iron Lady? Who is the cinematographer lighting the interviews against black? They look amazing.
5:57pm - We're going to hear that silly theme from The Artist all night. I'm enjoying the small interviews when they list the nominees.
5:54pm - Bob Richardson, one of the best DPs out there. Worked with Oliver Stone for a decade, now mostly w/Tarantino and Scorsese. Kill Bill, Basterds, Shutter Island. Dante Ferretti, also one of the best. Works almost exclusively w/Scorsese but did win his previous Oscar for Sweeney Todd with Tim Burton. 2 quick wins for Hugo, that's surprising.
3 ½ stars I did not watch the original 21 Jump Street. I was 8 years-old and was probably still watching G.I. Joe cartoons. I knew Johnny Depp though and it was interesting hearing him in interviews years later totally lamenting the experience. He hated being on that show, he was bound only by contract, and the first movie he did after the TV show was Edward Scissorhands. He really wanted to do something different.
