The worst Oscar season in my memory steadily rolls along into its second month (after a first month in which the only real Best Picture offering, Changeling, met with fairly wide-spread dismissal). Not to mention, one of the worst books I have ever read gets the lavish blockbuster treatment, starring one of the worst young actresses of whom I’m away. Huzzah!
7.11.2008
The profoundly forgettable Dreamworks cartoon Madagascar has a sequel now, that I imagine nobody was actually waiting for. Unless I’m hanging out with entirely the wrong sort of people. Anyway, it has one of those clumsy numeric titles (Madagascar: Back 2 Africa), and the trailer includes some of the most visually ugly footage I’ve seen anywhere in 2008. Bonus points: one of the late Bernie Mac’s final roles!
And…another one of the late Bernie Mac’s final roles! It must suck to be the producers of Soul Man, which has absolutely no prayer of being seen in any other light, and which is plainly too insubstantial to survive that kind of expectation.
Two twisty horror-like films: Repo! The Genetic Opera, a horror-musical directed by Darren Lynn Bousman of numerous Saw sequels, and House, which appears to be a religious-themed torture porno. And not, sadly, a reboot of the crummy ’80s franchise.
Wrapping things up for the week, there’s a warm-and-fuzzy comedy from the occassionally-brilliant David Wain, Role Models; and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a British movie about Nazis that just oozes prestigey goodness, and has one of the most mawkish trailers that you ever did see.
14.11.2008
Godawful theme song aside, and don’t let it bother you that the producers are trying to cut back on the 46-year-old catchphrases, how much awesome do we expect Quantum of Solace, the 22nd James Bond adventure, to be? I will confess, I spent several months freaking out that it was being directed by Marc Forster, and then it hit me: his primary distinguishing characteristic is his utter stylistic anonymity, and that makes him a great choice for a Bond film. Anyway, seeing Daniel Craig back in the tuxedo is more than enough to make this my “most-anticipated” for the month, damn the Oscarbait to hell.
Speaking of Oscarbait: the French dysfunctional family dramedy Christmas Tale (the latest film by the magnificently pretentious Arnaud Desplechin) and Slumdog Millionaire, the newest by Danny Boyle (and thus, unquantifiable) begin their arthouse tours this weekend.
21.11.2008
OMG, the movie version of Twilight is totally coming out! I think it would be best if I save my vitriol ’til then – and unless is this the finest book-to-movie transformation of all time, lifting what was stale and tedious on the page into the finest, purest art through the power of sheer cinema, I’ll have plenty of vitriol. If I’ve ever read a worse book in my life (it was a dare with a friend! I had to!), I cannot now think of what it was.
The only competition: Bolt, Disney’s second dog-based film in two months. This one is animated, in 3-D, and features John Travolta’s voice.
26.11.2008
This Thanksgiving weekend has something for just about every type of family out there. Which one is yours?
-For the family that indiscriminately loves holiday movies, even when their central concept is vaugely depressing (a married couple that’s been lying to their four divorced parents is found out and forced to visit), Four Christmases!
-For the family where the dad makes all of the decisions for everybody, Transporter 3!
-For the family that enjoys gorgeous scenery more than compelling storytelling, Australia! (I don’t know if this is my family, but it is, at least, me. Come on, seven years since the last Baz Luhrmann film, that’s like Terrence Malick long).
-For the family that is gay, Milk! (Best trailer of the year).
Pragmatically, of course, Bolt and Twilight are still going to be running the boards. For fuck’s sake, who wants to see a biopic of an assassinated politician right after Thanksgiving?