Used my 5 year old as an excuse to see this over the weekend. Look for the review to hit overnight, with childish commentary. My daughter might have something to say as well...
I'm just saying,
Elijah
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
'HORTON HEARS A WHO!' MOVIE TRAILER
Anthony Minghella, Oscar Winner, Serious Director Passes
The celebrated director of "The Enlish Patient", "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain" died Sunday. He was most recently associated with the Oscar nominated "Michael Clayton" as an executive producer. The following is today Associated Press article:
LONDON - Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, who turned such literary works as “The English Patient,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Cold Mountain” into acclaimed movies, has died. He was 54.
Minghella’s death was confirmed Tuesday by his agent, Judy Daish. No other details were immediately available.
“The English Patient,” the 1996 World War II drama, won nine Academy Awards, including best director for Minghella, best picture and best supporting actress for Juliette Binoche.
Based on the celebrated novel by Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje, the movie tells of a burn victim’s tortured recollections of his misdeeds in time of war.
Minghella (pronounced min-GELL’-ah) also was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay for the movie and for his screenplay for “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”
His 2003 “Cold Mountain,” based on Charles Frazier’s novel of the U.S. Civil War, brought a best supporting actress Oscar for Renee Zellweger.
The 1999 "The Talented Mr. Ripley," starring Matt Damon as a murderous social climber, was based on a nomve by Patricia Highsmith. It earned five Oscar nominations.
Among his other films were “Truly, Madly, Deeply” (1990), and last year’s Oscar-nominated “Michael Clayton,” on which he was executive producer.
Minghella was recently in Botswana filming an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s novel “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.” It is due to air on British television this week.
The book is the first in a series about the adventures of Botswanan private eye Precious Ramotswe; a 13-part television series was recently commission by U.S. network HBO.
Producer David Puttnam said Minghella was “a very special person.”
“He wasn’t just a writer, or a writer-director, he was someone who was very well-known and very well-loved within the film community,” Puttnam told the BBC. “Frankly he was far too young to have gone.”
Minghella also turned his talents to opera. In 2005, he directed a highly successful staging of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” at the English National Opera in London. The following year, he staged it for the season opener of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. It was the first performance of the Met’s new era under general manager Peter Gelb.
Jeff Ramsay, press secretary to Botswanan President Festus Mogae, called Minghella’s death a “shock and an utter loss.”
He said the director had been coming to the country ahead of the detective film and learning about Botswana.
Ramsay said Minghella had told him how he had been forced to shoot “Cold Mountain” in Romania and that it had “seemed wrong.” He said this made the director “more sure that the film could only be shot in Botswana.”
Born the second of five children to southern Italian emigrants, Minghella came to moviemaking from a flourishing playwriting career on the London “fringe” and, in 1986, on the West End with the play, “Made in Bangkok,” a hard-hitting look at the sexual mores of a British tour group in Thailand.
He worked as a television script editor before making his directing debut with “Truly, Madly, Deeply,” a comedy about love and grief starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman.
In a 1996 interview with The Associated Press, Minghella said “English Patient,” which starred Binoche, Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas, was the pinnacle of his career at the time.
“I feel more naked and more exposed by this piece of work than anything I’ve ever been involved with,” Minghella said.
He said too many modern films let the audience be passive, as if they were saying, “We’re going to rock you and thrill you. We’ll do everything for you.”
“This film goes absolutely against that grain,” he said. “It says, ‘I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to make some connections. There are some puzzles here. The story will constantly rethread itself and it will be elliptical, but there are enormous rewards in that.”’
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
I'm F***cking Matt Damon
The one that started it all...
I wanted to put the Seth Rogen/Elizabeth Banks version on here, but felt that it was out of context. So here are all three vids in the order that they dropped.
Enjoy
I'm F***cking Seth Rogen
This was pretty obscure, but it ties in fairly well with the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck video's above.
1. Kevin Smith produced it, which keeps it in the family, because Matt, Ben and Kevin came up together in hollywood making Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma before they were all really famous.
2. The featured Actors (Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen are currently filming Kevin Smiths new movie "Zack and Miri make a porno."
3. Elizabeth Banks is one of the main actors in the movie I just reviewed below, "Definitely, Maybe".
Definitely, Maybe...Sure, why not?
Once again, Thanks go out to IMDB.com for the following spoiler free synopsis of "Definitely, Maybe": Will Hayes, a 30-something Manhattan dad is in the midst of a divorce when his 10 year old daughter, Maya, starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love. Will recounts the history of his romantic relationships with three very different women. The twist? He changes the names and forces Maya to figure out which woman ultimately became his wife and her mother.
This movie was just what the doctor ordered. That said, I'm not going to turn this movie into something it's not. What I mean is, I spend 2 - 3 months during Oscar season watching considerably heavy, probably dark, mostly depressing, sometimes suffocating, theater fare. If you're lucky, you may catch a light-hearted movie around Christmas time that doesn't totally suck. Unfortunately, I never made it to the theater to catch National Treasure 2, so it was a very long, dark winter. The one spot of sun being Juno; even that was a bit heavy in a fun quirky way. Read that review here.
Flash forward to Valentine's day and you are generally guaranteed something that will lift that cloud a little bit, if it's not all crap. Thankfully, "Definitely, Maybe" is not all crap. It helps that I've been a big fan of Ryan Reynolds since the "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" days. Throw in Isla Fisher and I'm first in line at the box office. Isla Fisher, with this movie, cemented herself on my list of 5, which the sitcom "Friends" made popular, and our fellow reviewer, Jake, made reference to in his "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" review found here.
With Elizabeth Banks (who's not universally known, but has been around for about 10 years) and Rachel Weisz to complete the womanly trio, you've got a good core group to build around. Let us not forget young Abigail Breslin who was made famous by the movie "Little Miss Sunshine" just over a year ago and you've really got some good actors to work with. Thank God, because with lesser actors, this truly could have fell flat. The result, however, is a delightful romantic comedy, with a bit of mystery thrown in to string the viewers along.
Adam Brooks wrote and directed this film and, I gather, really was able to shape the story into what he wanted. He hits all the right beats and knows just when to break the tension with a little levity. He knows when the action might be getting a little heavy for an 11 year old and finds a way out of it, with a quip or a break in the action for Abigal Breslin's character Maya. All done with a wink at the audience to remind them that this is a comedy and a story within a story.
I can think of a few leading men out there that could have pulled this movie off fairly well, but Ryan Reynolds is perfectly suited to this role and this was probably just what he needed after some heavy turns in "Smokin' Aces" and "The Nines". He doesn't knock this role out of the park, but like I said, this role suits him. It returns Reynolds to that happy place of "Two Guys and a Girl" that helped him stand out. The fact of the matter is I like Ryan Reynolds in just about everything he does and he really is becoming an everyman. I'll follow his film career anywhere, except Amityville. I'm never going back there again, no matter how many times it's remade.
Abigail Breslin's portrayal of Maya is also not a stretch for her. She really has little screen time, but her scenes set up the whole movie and we do get some comic moments when she's on screen. What really happens is that you begin to see how Maya becomes Jiminy Cricket to her father Will. Whether you agree with that comment or not, you can't deny that she grounds the film and becomes the emotional avatar for the audience. Kudos to Ms. Breslin's parents who must have approved the language and insinuations that she gets to vocalize in her opening lines. These are truly some of the funniest moments and I couldn't help inserting myself and my daughter in that conversation that will undoubtedly occur in about another 6 years.
Elizabeth Banks is solid as the first of the three women we meet in the tale. Her Emily is sweet and portrays the down-to-earth, girl-next-door character well. It strikes me that, for all her screen time, I didn't get any depth in the character. You don't really notice it and it doesn't hurt the movie, but I didn't realize that until I thought about Emily's impact on the overall story.
The second woman to enter the picture is Isla Fisher as April. She pops in and out of the movie at random intervals. Every time she comes on screen it's like a breath of fresh air. But that's probably just me. Ever since "Wedding Crashers" I'm probably a hairs breadth away from packing up the tent, moving to L.A. and joining the stalkarazzi when it comes to Ms. Fisher. I digress. Her character is fun, completely the opposite of Will in every way and truly is a free spirit. You can see every emotion that April feels coming through her eyes. This is the perfect balance to the uptight, hometown girl that we see in Emily and the goal-oriented, focused, and "experienced" third woman named...
Summer. As played by Rachel Weisz, whom most people will recognize. If not for 2005's "The Constant Gardner", then certainly for the first two "Mummy" movies. I love Rachel for this movie. Fact is I love her in almost every movie, but her Summer Hartley here is a perfect foil for Will's emotional balance. The whole time I watched this, I just felt like she was going to eat his soul and ruin him. If not with her personal drive, then by the mere fact the Will seems like a child next to her. She lights up the screen in her own way and her Manhattan, been there done that, way of living adds some life to the story.
As the story plays out and the mystery deepens, then twists, turns and the main players continue to pop in and out of Will's life, you wonder how it's all going to end. You feel it coming, you have your choice in your mind, Maya has her feelings, you want it all to end happily but you already know that it ends in divorce! This movie has a lot of cohones messing with you. But it all works! You want to know, and when you do...well, that would be telling. Let me just say that it doesn't end where you think it will.
In the end I'll give "Definitely, Maybe" 3.25 packs of Marlboro Lights out 5 packs Marlboro lights. I mean come on, it is a chick flick. That said, it's a great movie to take a date or your wife/girlfriend, or all three if that's how you roll. Personally, I didn't mind paying matinee prices to catch it. This movie isn't going to change your life, but it's great escapism that might let you forget about your life for a couple of hours. If nothing else, you get to see Isla Fisher, and that's good cinema.
I'm just saying.
Elijah
52.9%? I've seen better...
I blame it on the women. yeah that's right, the women. I must admit, even a week later I'm still baffled at the winners in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Categories.
In all fairness, I never did see Le Vie En Rose, so Marion Cotillard may very well have been the most deserving actress. But I can't remember the last time someone had so much press and soooo many people saying it was a lock as Julie Christie had, including this site. You know, because we pull so much weight.
As a matter of interest, in our pole on this site, 62% of respondents chose Ellen Page who had been predicted as a strong second in the media. Julie Christie had one vote and the winner Marion Cotillard garnered 0% of the vote.
Taking a look at our two other polls, the results tended to be a bit more in line. Best Picture nominee "There Will Be Blood" took the biggest percentage of votes at 37%. While the winner, "No Country for Old Men" took only 25%. Finally, Best Actor Winner Daniel Day-Lewis received 62% of your votes with a smattering of votes amongst the remaining nominees.
Another interesting point in this years results is that for the first time since 1965, all four acting honors went to Europeans.
Congratulations to "Ratatouille" for it's best animation win! I really wanted that film to win but had picked "Persepolis" because the academy is known for it's artistic picks rather than it's penchant for the "popular". The wild card I didn't figure in my actual pick was Brad Bird. That guy is very well respected in Hollywood circles as a great writer and director.
I'm not going to go through all of the picks, I'll just say that in the end I was 9 out of 17 picks with a bunch of dark horses pulling through this year.
I'll end with the following congratulations to "The Bourne Ultimatum": nominated for three Oscars and picked them all up. That film has a special place in my heart as the first film I reviewed for this site and my first 5 star pick.
This is Elijah, and I'm just saying.
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