|
|
Fox Searchlight has posted photos from the L.A. premiere of their film (500) Days of Summer. I can’t be the only one who thinks that Zooey Deschanel is fantastic. I haven’t seen a movie with her in it that I haven’t enjoyed. Or at least enjoyed her performance in it. I still remember thinking she was the best part of the 2005 television version of Once Upon a Mattress. She can act, sing, and she’s beautiful. From now on if there’s a movie starring Zooey, sign me up!
If the movie (500) Days of Summer didn’t make you fall in love with her, the premiere photos surely will!
News (500) Days of Summer, Zooey Deschanel
It’s been a few days since I’ve compiled a news and links page mostly because the majority of coverage has just been about the recent slew of deaths and I didn’t want to beat a dead horse (bad phrase?). Anyway, here are the news and links for July 1, 2009:
Previews/Trailers:
- JoBlo points us to the NEW viral site for promoting Judd Appatow’s Funny People. It’s for Aziz Ansari’s character RAAAANDY, a comedian who I have a feeling may have been inspired by Dane Cook.
- The same day that I crowned Alvin and the Chipmunks the most critic-proof movie of all-time, the trailer for Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel was released. And yes…that is the title. JoBlo has it if you care to see it.
- /Film has posted the French trailer for Inglourious Basterds, which tells you so much more about the film than any U.S. trailer has yet.
Casting News:
- Ain’t it Cool News reports that Guy Pearce has been cast in the upcoming adaptation of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.
- Film School Rejects has the strange news that Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand are teaming up for a road trip movie called Mother’s Curse.
- JoBlo reports that the only remaining British actor who hasn’t appeared in a Harry Potter film…will star in a Harry Potter film – Bill Nighy.
- Cinematical has the news that Annette Bening and Julianne Moore will play partners who want Mark Ruffalo’s sperm in a movie called The Kids Are All Right.
Other News:
- Variety broke the news that George Clooney has parted from Warner Bros. and moved his Smokehouse Pictures to Sony. A lot of people apparently think this is a big deal.
- /Film reports that Terry Gilliam is going forward with Don Quixote, but Johnny Depp may not take the lead as originally scheduled.
Movie Lists:
News Funny People, Inglourious Basterds
Grade: A-
About once every summer an Indie film comes along that captures an audiences attention and gets out of its inner city art houses and expands with critical and commercial success. Past examples of this include movies like Once, Little Miss Sunshine, and Napoleon Dynamite. This summer, that movie will be Sundance sensation (500) Days of Summer.
(500) Days of Summer is a movie that everyone can get behind. It’s a light piece of summer entertainment, but free of fluff. The movie is creative, but it doesn’t feel completely original. Instead it feels like those romantic comedies that we have seen over and over finally done right. It has a non-linear narrative, but it never loses focus. Most of all, it’s just plain fun.
From the get-go the narration tells us that the film is not a love story. In the traditional sense, the movie is not a love story; it’s a relationship story. It jumps around the 500 days of infatuation that Tom has with Summer from their initial meeting to the height of puppy love to their eventual break-up and beyond. Director Marc Webb uses tonal montage throughout the film, so we never know exactly where we are in their relationship until the title card with Day XX appears.
Read more…
Reviews (500) Days of Summer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marc Webb, Zooey Deschanel
 Precious is looking better and better each passing day. This poster for the film is brilliant and everything about this campaign has the right stuff to make this a serious contender for Best Picture. Now with 10 films being nominated for Best Picture I would say based on the film’s initial response and clever marketing by Lionsgate, it is almost guaranteed one of the top 10 spots. The question is, can it sneak up and take the top prize at this year’s Oscars? Obviously more people need to see it to be sure, but I think it has a real legitimate shot.
For a larger, higher quality version of the poster check out Hitflix.
Precious will be in theatres November 6.
Upcoming 82nd Academy Awards, Oscars, Precious
Hitchcock month has begun at Film Misery! During the month of July we will be taking a look at Alfred Hitchcock’s life and work as part of our Career Appreciation series. Earlier this week I sent a query for reviews of your favorite Hitchcock film.
The first response came from reader G1000 who has done a review/analysis of the classic Rear Window. Here’s what he has to say:
Rear Window is one of the best thrillers ever made, and there’s a reason: the main character doesn’t behave like a superhero. Too often in modern action and suspense movies, the protagonist seems invincible, able to do anything (John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard for example)
Photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries (played by the great Jimmy Stewart) can’t do that. He can’t even walk. Confined to a wheelchair after an shooting incident, he has nothing to do but stare out the window of his apartment.
He becomes a Peeping Tom, watching everyone in the neighborhood. From the newly married couple to the lonely dancer to the husband and wife who lower their dog to the ground in a basket every day, he knows their habits, who they are, and what they do.
Read more…
Career Appreciation, Reviews Alfred Hitchcock, Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Rear Window, User Review
 Sorry this is later than I had planned due to some technical difficulties this morning. However, the new contest for July has begun. Each day I will be posting a new screenshot from a movie. The screenshot will be of the first glimpse of a major character in that movie. To answer the question just name the movie, you don’t need to know the character or the actor.
This month’s prize is The Fugitive on DVD. The winner is whoever has the most points at the end of the month.
Check it Out!
General Contest, Fugitive
This film is way more of a comedy than I had first thought. Probably not a Best Picture contender, but for sure look for it in the adapted screenplay category and maybe, just maybe Matt Damon for Best Actor. He looks fantastic in the lead role, but remember how difficult it is to get noticed for a comedy (RE: Paul Giamatti).
Upcoming Matt Damon, The Informant
It’s in German, but of the 4-minute clip there is only dialogue for about a minute and a half. It gives you a really great idea of David Yates’ style for the sixth movie – just as dark and sinister as the fifth. I already want to see this in IMAX.
I absolutely can not wait for this. It will probably be one of the best movies of the summer.
Upcoming Harry Potter, Trailers
Hugh Jackman is among the 134 new members that will be joining the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year. In Contention has the story with the full list, which you can also see after the jump.
Other additions include the better Affleck, the up and coming “buddy comedy” kings Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, James Franco, and Michael Cera, dramatic actresses/past nominees Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, and Amy Ryan, and the somehow absent from the Academy until now Viola Davis.
Directors Danny Boyle, Rod Lurie, and ::cough:: Tyler Perry get thrown into the mix as well as composers/songwriters AR Rahman, Clint Mansell, and Peter Gabriel.
The full list is after the jump…
Read more…
News, Oscars 2010 82nd Academy Awards, Academy, Hugh Jackman, Oscars
With all the discussion about Transformers 2’s nearly record box office haul, despite it’s nearly unanimous negative reviews, I decided it was time to take a look at some past films who were undeserving of their box office numbers. Transformers 2 will easily become the least deserving money maker of all-time, but let’s not forget the stinkers of yesteryear and some money that we will never get back.
10) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53% | Box Office Haul: $423.3 million
Why it Succeeded? The first Pirates of the Caribbean film became a huge sensation, making Pirates the new cool thing. The second film in this franchise made teenage girls and their mothers giddy for another chance to see Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and it made teenage boys appreciate the pirate escapism.
Sample Review: “The new plot has all the appeal of a seaweed sandwich, being dark, salty, and indigestible.” — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
Read more…
Box Office, Movie Lists Alvin and the Chipmunks, bad movies, Transformers 2
|
|
Recent Comments