It’s Oscar season time…
2.12.2005
…and nothing says “Oscar Season” like an effects-heavy science fiction action picture with a hot woman in leather. And I probably will see Aeon Flux even though it looks like a totally unnecessary retread of the original series. The only other release of any note this week is Transamerica, which I’ve already seen, and cannot honestly recommend. Huffman deserves the Oscar she won’t win.
9.12.2005
Okay, I admit it: Timothy Brayton, militant atheist and freethinker, cannot fucking wait to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Honestly, if the filmmakers made no other right choice than to cast Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, it would still be worth a peek. Do I expect the finest film of 2005? No. I don’t even expect the best children’s fantasy film of 2005. But I’m going to see it, and probably enjoy it, because despite all of the ham-fisted Christian imagery (which evaded me when I was 9 and knocked me flat on my ass when I was 20), it’s a fun story.
Also, the long-awaited gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain, which ought to end up pretty high on my top 10 list, if the rapturous reviews coming out of Venice festival are any indication. Besides, when was Ang Lee’s last bad film. Besides that one? But if they eat pudding, I’m bailing.
16.12.2005
The weekend starts early with Peter “Fanboy” Jackson’s King Kong, which I will see despite: a) the fact that the original cannot be improved upon; b) the fact that I find Jackson to be more annoying than good as a director of long-form epics; c) three fucking hours?
Memoirs of a Geisha looks awful (can you say, “Orientalism?”), and I hated Rob Marshall’s work as a director in Chicago, but it’s a front-runner in a half-dozen Oscar races, so I’m going to see it, dammit. Lastly, The Family Stone which could be…cute. We shall see. Anyways, it has a great cast.
23.12.2005 – Christmas weekend
So, we all know that I’m a Spielberg whore, right? So we all know that I’m celebrating the birth of Christ by going to Munich, a film about a team of assassins hunting terrorists.
What a dense damn weekend, though! The Producers completes its film-stage-film journey, and I couldn’t care less (though I’m likelier to see this than Rent); Fun with Dick and Jane and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 are respectively an unnecessary remake and an unnecessary sequel, and will both make pots and pots of money; the dreadful Lasse Hallström checks in with Casanova, seeking to answer the age old question, “Can Sienna Miller act?” (no); a Johnny Knoxville “comedy” The Ringer, which I saw a trailer for in, like, March, and forgot about; Hoodwinked, which I only heard about in the process of writing this post (it appears to be a post-Shrek CGI fairy tale parody); and least of all Rumor Has It… the crypto-sequel to, of all fucking things, The Graduate. Seriously. Read the plot description if you don’t believe me.
There’s even a couple of good movies: Mrs. Henderson Presents, the best film I saw at the Chicago festival, and The White Countess, the final Merchant-Ivory production, and apparently their best in over a decade.
28.12.2005
Match Point has been pushed back a few days, to the very edge of Oscar-eligibility. Depending on who you listen to, it’s either Woody Allen’s best since Crimes and Misdemeanors, or his best since Hannah and Her Sisters. It cannot possibly be as good as I want it to be, but I’m more excited for this film than I have been for any other 2005 release. Fingers crossed. Maybe when I’m in L.A. for New Year’s Eve? (hint, hint).